Divine Magic issues

[Scut Farkas]

I know Divine Magic has been discussed elsewhere on these boards, but I haven't seen anything that embodies the issue I'm having in my own gameworld. So, here goes...

The game world I created (originally intended for D&D and probably therein lies the problem) consists of "New Gods" that either do not exist or have no real tangible power, and "Old Gods" who are long-forgotten but, once awakened through the liberation of their ancient temples, have a very real impact on the world.

Issue: one of my players (my wife, actually, which is why I need to sort this out) is playing a character who is completely caught up in awakening the Old Gods and has chosen to follow one in particular. However, because the world has for millennia been without these gods, their temples are very far and few between, not found in current day cities and towns. Specifically, her god has only one known temple in the world so far. A guardian (the equivalent of a Rune Priestess, I suppose) has reoccupied the temple and will likely initiate her character into the temple's cult. Meanwhile, when she's out adventuring, she could theoretically be so far from that one temple for a such a long period of time that Divine magic is likely to be a total waste of time in this campaign.

I've been trying to work out a way to get around the going back to pray at a temple bit, simply because it isn't logistically sensible (at all) in this game world. I realize the single skill to cast and twice magnitude vs sorcery and rune dispels are obvious advantages to Divine magic, but with the world set up the way it is, this still doesn't balance out.

Any words of wisdom, ideas etc?

 

[Rurik]

In your case maybe something like a portable shrine or holy relic is in order that the character could bring with them and use to establish the link necessary to the god to pray for spells.

Such religeous relics would solve that problem for all worshippers of 'old' gods that don't have an organised worship infrastructure.

 

[zozotroll]

Ordain her. Make her a step below a priestess, and let her hold services that she can renew spells at. If you have a specific holy day each week then she can renew somewhat often, but still has to be careful. Of course you need to scrap the one spell a day bit, but that needs to go anyway.

If you played any of the older versions, or have access to the books there are spells laid lot that do this. If not, just whip up your own. And while you are at it, look at Ruriks idea for a spell pool. It adds a bit of needed flexibility to Divine casters.

 

[Ssendam]

I think that for people not used to a Runequest style campaign or those who prefer to have longer campaigns in the outer reaches of the world, divine spells will be an issue.

My suggestion would be ...

Allow the character to use a shrine to pray for spells, possibly limited to a specific magnitude.

You could use a portable shrine, as suggested, but it would make more roleplaying sense for the character to establish shrines where ever she went. She would need to have the Consecrate spell to properly "power" the shrine of course.

Just my 2p

Stay Frosty

 

[weasel_fierce]

THeres consecrate (which fits perfectly with trying to awaken old gods), otherwise just scatter "places of power".. places that were once temples, that she can pray at

 

[RosenMcStern]

Best of all, instead of horribly tweaking Divine Magic to let PCs use spells during long adventures, just let your gods provide Rune Magic to believers.

 

[Scut Farkas]

These are all great ideas. I especially like the Consecrate spell use. Maybe, (to mix two suggestions) she could have a relic given to her that casts Concecrate so that she can create shrines when needed. I like, too, the idea of rune magic in place of divine magic, though I'm currently using a hybrid anyway (she uses a Plant rune associated with her deity, for instance) of rune/divine magic.

I will definitely take these pointers to the gaming table! Thanks!

 

[Halfbat]

In an old campaign we also had a relic that could be used as a mobile 'temple' or shrine to allow Divine Magic to be regained. it meant the character (and so the group) could disappear off into the wilds...

However, if on long, walkabout campaigns, I prefer to allow the players to spend some time in prayer to recover their spells without forcing a temple. In some campaigns (heavily populated, perhaps), the temple works, but otherwise I let them set up a few assortments to make a temporary altar or similar or to go through some particular rites to gain Divine Magic.

 

[Deleriad]

Back in the day I ran DragonLance using RQ3 and the exact same issue turned up; how do you deal with a priest of a god that has no, or very few, temples? Basically she ended up with a relic that acted just like a major temple and allowed her to recover Divine Magic.

Conceptually, you can argue that your PC's relationship with their God is akin to a spirit cult and that she has a direct, immediate tie due to her God being rather keen to get established. As the cult becomes more established then it becomes more bureaucratic and the deity insists on layers of priests and ritual and so on. For now then, the deity will channel what magic it can to her.

 

[Scut Farkas]

Good idea, Deleriad.

I think what I've decided on is a relic that casts Consecrate. I liked the idea of using that relic/spell to also liberate existing temples that have long since been inhabited by other things. I'm also treating POW as a pool, rather than actually deducting from her physical POW. That way she's not constantly recalculating skills. The limitation will still be that she cannot store more spells/magnitude than her POW allows, and she cannot receive a new spell until she has discharged one of sufficient magnitude. Further, she cannot wastefully discharge a spell just to make room - the god would almost certainly be offended at such a blatant disregard of his gift. Another limitation I'm toying with is that she cannot use rune magic that would be opposed to her god's philosophy and sphere of power. Chaos, for instance, would be a no-no. Hopefully this will balance things since she has the clear advantage of only one skill roll (Theology) to cast any given spell and of course the double magnitude for opposed spells. Maybe that'll be fair.