RP Guide - Divine Trivia (Cleric Alignments, Churches, Frictions)
Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2015 7:48 pm
The RP Discussion Forum has been used previously to give plenty of information about the gods, to ask and answer questions about them directly and about some servants of them, specifically paladins. There is a comprehensive topic regarding Polytheism in Faerun, made by EdinSumar, which will hopefully soon be re-uploaded. Stay tuned.
A list of TER's deities & domains is here:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15
Below you will find no information on how Polytheism works in the Realms, nor how the Gods are or are not, nor how they are revered. You will read about "fun facts" regarding various aspects of worshiping the Gods; how clerical alignments are defined; how some faiths display schisms, small or large; and how evil deities and their churches have a place in the Forgotten Realms.
I'd like to share information that likely your characters won't know directly, but that might inspire you to make new characters or to add new details to your existing PCs' backgrounds, even to their opinions.
Note that I make no assumptions that TER's Team also enforce these lore snippets or if they have houseruled some of them, meaning that they altered or ignored some of the canon rules for their own setting. While FR resources are handy to have, no server or campaign is obliged to follow the established FR rules.
This post has the following primary topic:
Clerical Alignments
The One-Step-Rule
In this thread I'd like to start with clergy alignments allowed by the deities. There are a few that have interesting or contradictory rules on who receives spells and abilities.
Note that, while TER has adjusted the class name from cleric to priest, I will keep referring to clerics in this post. This is to differentiate them from those clergymembers who do not have access to spells. Priests and preachers can receive titles, but technically speaking a Tyrran priest could still be an evoker wizard, of which there is a concrete example in the Waterdhavian temple of that god.
As you know, deities' servants abide by the one-step-rule: only those aspiring clerics receive powers that are maximum one alignment-step away from their deity's. A LG deity can have LG, NG and LN clerics.
There are however specifications and even exceptions to this, especially in the human ie. Faerunian pantheon. The pantheons of the other humanoid races do not seem to show deviations from the one-step-rule.
Specifications: The NG and NE Deities
One would assume that NG and NE gods apply the one-step-rule just like any other deities, and as such have alignment prerequisites that allow four respective alignments, rather than but three which the one-step-rule otherwise always implies. Where a LG deity allows LG, NG and LN (3) servants, a NG deity should in theory allow NG, CG, LG and TN (4), and the same applies to NE.
This is however not the case for many NG and NE deities: apparently neither of the two, generally, allow for clerics of TN alignment. The clerics of a NG god can only be NG, CG and LG; idem for NE.
For example, Lathander, NG only gives spells to NG, CG and LG servants; Shar, NE only has NE, CE and LE clerics.
This seems intentional; perhaps FR's developers aimed to further enhance the contrast between light and dark, good and evil, by allowing less of a greyzone for NG and NE deity priesthoods. Perhaps they wished to differentiate clerics more from druids, or better separate the Good, Evil and Neutral deities. It might also simply have been made this way so that NG and NE deities still only have "claim" over three specific alignments instead of four.
There is more to be said about this topic however.
Exceptions on the NG and NE Ruling
Over all, the NG and NE deities seem consistent about only allowing good and only allowing evil clerics respectively.
The exceptions to this ruling are: Chauntea, who grants spells also to TN clerics; and Mystra, whom I'll discuss in the next point in detail. Chauntea's granting of power to TN clerics might stem from her role as a nature deity and a counterpart to Silvanus, or because she has an aspect called The Earthmother venerated on the Moonshae Isles where she is herself TN.
As for Mystra and a handful of other deities...
Exceptions on the One-Step-Rule
Several deities besides the NG and NE ones do not limit themselves to the one-step-rule. Again, this is mainly something that occurs in the Faerunian pantheon, as the gods of dwarves, elves and gnomes keep themselves more limited. No surprise; humans and their cultures and religions have always been more exposed to change and incredible diversity, compared to the other races.
The exceptions are as follows:
The aforementioned Mystra, who, in her newest incarnation after 1358DR, is of NG alignment but still allows the alignment range that her predecessor (the LN Mystra) permitted for her clerics: Mystra's clerics can be NG, CG, LG, LN and LE. The high priest of the House of Wonder in Waterdeep is LE and a necromancer. One might appreciate some irony in this.
Kossuth, god of fire, is an elemental higher power. Unlike the other elemental lords he is rather active in supporting and guiding his clergy, and despite his TN alignment allows for clerics of a bigger range: anything except CG and CE.
On the topic of TN deities, Oghma and Gond are peculiar as well. They are both TN and focused on pure, "blank" ideas - that of knowledge and invention respectively - and perhaps because of this feel no need to limit themselves to specific alignments. Both of them value ideas above alignments. As such both allow clerics to be of any alignment, whether that is LG or CE.
All other deities seem to follow the one-step-rule for their clerics. One exception still deserves mention: Sune, who allows for paladins but is herself a CG deity. While she does call on paladins she does not have LG clerics.
Next I would like to address friction within churches and, later on hopefully, the public image of some of the evil gods.
A list of TER's deities & domains is here:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15
Below you will find no information on how Polytheism works in the Realms, nor how the Gods are or are not, nor how they are revered. You will read about "fun facts" regarding various aspects of worshiping the Gods; how clerical alignments are defined; how some faiths display schisms, small or large; and how evil deities and their churches have a place in the Forgotten Realms.
I'd like to share information that likely your characters won't know directly, but that might inspire you to make new characters or to add new details to your existing PCs' backgrounds, even to their opinions.
Note that I make no assumptions that TER's Team also enforce these lore snippets or if they have houseruled some of them, meaning that they altered or ignored some of the canon rules for their own setting. While FR resources are handy to have, no server or campaign is obliged to follow the established FR rules.
This post has the following primary topic:
Clerical Alignments
The One-Step-Rule
In this thread I'd like to start with clergy alignments allowed by the deities. There are a few that have interesting or contradictory rules on who receives spells and abilities.
Note that, while TER has adjusted the class name from cleric to priest, I will keep referring to clerics in this post. This is to differentiate them from those clergymembers who do not have access to spells. Priests and preachers can receive titles, but technically speaking a Tyrran priest could still be an evoker wizard, of which there is a concrete example in the Waterdhavian temple of that god.
As you know, deities' servants abide by the one-step-rule: only those aspiring clerics receive powers that are maximum one alignment-step away from their deity's. A LG deity can have LG, NG and LN clerics.
There are however specifications and even exceptions to this, especially in the human ie. Faerunian pantheon. The pantheons of the other humanoid races do not seem to show deviations from the one-step-rule.
Specifications: The NG and NE Deities
One would assume that NG and NE gods apply the one-step-rule just like any other deities, and as such have alignment prerequisites that allow four respective alignments, rather than but three which the one-step-rule otherwise always implies. Where a LG deity allows LG, NG and LN (3) servants, a NG deity should in theory allow NG, CG, LG and TN (4), and the same applies to NE.
This is however not the case for many NG and NE deities: apparently neither of the two, generally, allow for clerics of TN alignment. The clerics of a NG god can only be NG, CG and LG; idem for NE.
For example, Lathander, NG only gives spells to NG, CG and LG servants; Shar, NE only has NE, CE and LE clerics.
This seems intentional; perhaps FR's developers aimed to further enhance the contrast between light and dark, good and evil, by allowing less of a greyzone for NG and NE deity priesthoods. Perhaps they wished to differentiate clerics more from druids, or better separate the Good, Evil and Neutral deities. It might also simply have been made this way so that NG and NE deities still only have "claim" over three specific alignments instead of four.
There is more to be said about this topic however.
Exceptions on the NG and NE Ruling
Over all, the NG and NE deities seem consistent about only allowing good and only allowing evil clerics respectively.
The exceptions to this ruling are: Chauntea, who grants spells also to TN clerics; and Mystra, whom I'll discuss in the next point in detail. Chauntea's granting of power to TN clerics might stem from her role as a nature deity and a counterpart to Silvanus, or because she has an aspect called The Earthmother venerated on the Moonshae Isles where she is herself TN.
As for Mystra and a handful of other deities...
Exceptions on the One-Step-Rule
Several deities besides the NG and NE ones do not limit themselves to the one-step-rule. Again, this is mainly something that occurs in the Faerunian pantheon, as the gods of dwarves, elves and gnomes keep themselves more limited. No surprise; humans and their cultures and religions have always been more exposed to change and incredible diversity, compared to the other races.
The exceptions are as follows:
The aforementioned Mystra, who, in her newest incarnation after 1358DR, is of NG alignment but still allows the alignment range that her predecessor (the LN Mystra) permitted for her clerics: Mystra's clerics can be NG, CG, LG, LN and LE. The high priest of the House of Wonder in Waterdeep is LE and a necromancer. One might appreciate some irony in this.
Kossuth, god of fire, is an elemental higher power. Unlike the other elemental lords he is rather active in supporting and guiding his clergy, and despite his TN alignment allows for clerics of a bigger range: anything except CG and CE.
On the topic of TN deities, Oghma and Gond are peculiar as well. They are both TN and focused on pure, "blank" ideas - that of knowledge and invention respectively - and perhaps because of this feel no need to limit themselves to specific alignments. Both of them value ideas above alignments. As such both allow clerics to be of any alignment, whether that is LG or CE.
All other deities seem to follow the one-step-rule for their clerics. One exception still deserves mention: Sune, who allows for paladins but is herself a CG deity. While she does call on paladins she does not have LG clerics.
Next I would like to address friction within churches and, later on hopefully, the public image of some of the evil gods.