Consecrate and Temples

[Denalor]

I have only now seen that the divine spells Consecrate now need a Runepriest or Runelord to cast and to maintain.

In (M)RQI even sites had a consecrate on them (albeit a small one, only Mag 1 or 2).
Only Minor Tempels actually have a RunePriest residing (50% chance) there, a shrine most likely only has an Acolyte.

I can't really imagine that a Runepriest will spend his divine spells for a consecrate at some small shrine where he doesn't even live himself.

So, the question is: will the rules for temples be revised ? Or should it be assumed that sites and shrines do simply not have a consecrate cast in their area ?

I guess, I will go for a change to the Consecrate spells in that it may be learned by Acolytes, too

 

[Loz]

I have only now seen that the divine spells Consecrate now need a Runepriest or Runelord to cast and to maintain.

In (M)RQI even sites had a consecrate on them (albeit a small one, only Mag 1 or 2).
Only Minor Tempels actually have a RunePriest residing (50% chance) there, a shrine most likely only has an Acolyte.

I can't really imagine that a Runepriest will spend his divine spells for a consecrate at some small shrine where he doesn't even live himself.

So, the question is: will the rules for temples be revised ? Or should it be assumed that sites and shrines do simply not have a consecrate cast in their area ?

I guess, I will go for a change to the Consecrate spells in that it may be learned by Acolytes, too

You don't have to live in a temple or shrine to want to consecrate it. Perhaps a shrine has mythical significance and adventuring Rune Lords or absent Rune Priests want to be aware of who enters it?

The whole idea is to to be able to create a sacred place with the cult's protection. The caster doesn't need to be present; but he does have to keep a spell maintained, which keeps his Dedicated POW occupied whilst that is happening.

I can see a Rune Priest running a tour around shrines during Sacred Time, making sure all is well and consecrating where he needs to. Acolytes living near by are then free to focus on other magic for keeping the shrine protected.

 

[Denalor]

You know what I actually find the very best about RQ II ?

The quick and detailed responses of the two persons responsible for this edition.

That's really something I appreciate a lot !

Thanks guys ! Thanks a lot !

As for the actual answer for this thread.
Okay, I can see your point.
So it's actually a matter of putting dedicated POW for use to the community rather than personal gain.
So that HighPriest will prefer to keep up several Consecrates (for the temple he's residing in and a couple more, say three, shrines/sites in the near area) rather than keeping a couple more, well, Sunspears or whatever.
Actually, I really like that, the whole "Furthering the Cult"-idea instead of the typical "Personal Power"-approach. Typical for D&D-games etc, that is !
I sort of "blush" when I realize the complete different RolePlaying-approach, the whole community-"thing" etc.. It's so different - and so much more appealing - from what I played (as a player, not GM) the last couple of years. Shame on me, really, to continue to play on such a ... "low" ? ... RP-level. After all these years I really should know better and grab the GM-scepter again to offer the group something "more" than what we currently play every other week for a couple of hours.

I simply M U S T try to convert my group !

 

[jarulf]

I'm probably missing something here but, if Consecrate cannot be recovered or released while it is maintained, how can the priest cast it at more than one place?

 

[Denalor]

Page 116 :"The same Divine Spell can be learned multiple times".

So in this case, the said High Priest would learn the spell more than once.

 

[jarulf]

I was convinced it was the other way around

Thanks.

 

[Denalor]

BTW: since High Priests are supposed to have at least 75% in 5 cult skills and we can assume that Pact is one among those skills, all places of worship consecrated will actually have a Mag 7 or 8 Consecrate on them !

That's 70m radius (easily a hamlet or small town) where all cult members have +35% to their Lore (Specific Theology)...

However, once there are more than one cultic centre (i.e. different cults) within the same area it really all cancels out again.

Pretty weird.

I'd say, within the confines of the actual temple building, the bonus will apply regardless of the vicinity of another cult... but then again, that would be like linking the whole spell to a mere building and some cults might not wish to have buildings !

 

[Deleriad]

BTW: since High Priests are supposed to have at least 75% in 5 cult skills and we can assume that Pact is one among those skills, all places of worship consecrated will actually have a Mag 7 or 8 Consecrate on them !

That's 70m radius (easily a hamlet or small town) where all cult members have +35% to their Lore (Specific Theology)...

However, once there are more than one cultic centre (i.e. different cults) within the same area it really all cancels out again.

Pretty weird.

I'd say, within the confines of the actual temple building, the bonus will apply regardless of the vicinity of another cult... but then again, that would be like linking the whole spell to a mere building and some cults might not wish to have buildings !

That's pretty cute. The area is, I reckon, a maximum and I suspect that in places with multiple temples you would end up with temples deliberately reducing the area of the consecrate in order to prevent a magic war.

That said, I would suspect that higher Magnitude Consecrates would cancel out lower Magnitude ones they overlap.

Also, I would say that every consecrate has to be anchored physically in some way or other that makes sense to the god. Normally this would be a building but it could be stonehenge, a mystic mountain top or even a wagon train. That is somewhat setting specific. Ultimately though it seems to me that consecrate can only be cast on a place where worship - however defined - occurs.

I quite like the idea of a Pratchettian style setting where all the temples in a city are secretly trying to out-consecrate each other. Heck you could get all Mafia-like and have protection rackets where shop owners have to agree to a consecration or suffer the consequences...

 

[andyl]

I quite like the idea of a Pratchettian style setting where all the temples in a city are secretly trying to out-consecrate each other. Heck you could get all Mafia-like and have protection rackets where shop owners have to agree to a consecration or suffer the consequences...

All sorts of fun to be had - paying little boys a few coppers to go and distract that nice man for a few minutes whilst he is spending his hours consecrating. Assassins targeting the opposing cult's rune-priest who has done the consecration.

 

[soltakss]

Established Temples might have a Guardian Spirit of some kind. If the Guardian Spirit has access to Divine Magic then it could cast the Consecrate spell and keep the Temple going.

That's how I'd do it for larger temples. Smaller shrines could have a priest wandering around keeping things going.

RQ3 had Temple Defences, based on the number of worshippers at regular ceremonies, and one of those could be a Consecrate spell, generated by the mana of the flock and kept going by regular worship.