Struggling with a "religous" PC

[Rumple C]

Hey folks.

So I am playing a pc with cleric levels. But am struggling with the RP. Perhaps because I am not religous in RL?

So seeking advice. I would be interested in hearing others opinions/experiences on how to RP a religous (Azuthian for the record) PC effectively. Should I be emoting diety praise with every gifted spell? etc etc.

I have trawled the sourcebooks, and have a fairly good handle on the religion itself, its just translating that into ALFA RP that I am finding difficult/uncomfortable.

help?

[Greasemang]

In most faiths that aren't to some gibbering destruction god, I consider the cleric to operate a lot like one would imagine of a "Priest". They might like to offer guidance to fellow Azuthians (and wizards in general?), and try to coax people's alignments all lawful. Whether they'd consider that sort of role to be theirs or only fighting Azuth's enemies via cleric powers depends on the character, I suppose; he could certainly view his religion as a largely internal practice that's reflected in his actions. Either way, they're certainly a person as well as a cleric.

[Swift]

Rumple, catch me in chat later if you want. Of the 4 PCs I have had in ALFA, the two that have survived the longest are a Divine Champion and a Favored Soul, both very deeply religious based classes, despite being an Agnostic IRL. Happy to have a chat about it.

[Zelknolf]

There are a lot of roles that dudes with cleric roles play in the various churches, too. A cleric could be an evangelist, sure (dump everything into social skills; get out your soap box and preach the word); some tend to congregations (find temple, hang out); some are knights and champions (keep an eye on the previous two and the folk they convert or tend to; bring wrath and hellfire upon any who mess with them-- also, pimpslap traditional enemies of the faith); some are atypically-equipped folk who seek out and resolve errata for the church (the stereotypical "adventurer cleric").

And there are some faith-specific roles: Lathander's church pumps out a lot of athletes, the Red Knight's a lot of military commanders, Tempus' a lot of soldiers, etc. -- in Azuth's case, the faith specialty is probably magic-centric. Either directly researching wizardry or studying some particular facet of magic.

In any case, don't get bogged down in modern reflections of religion-- the stuff you see practiced in the modern English-speaking world is very much a product of the Enlightenment, when it started becoming common for people to learn how to read and to try to philosophically reconcile their lives with their direct access (as translating scripture into English was an old hat by this point, and pretty much everyone had accepted it) to what that old social institution they've been using for generations actually teaches.

Try to wiggle yourself into that medieval mindset, wherein gods aren't "faith," they're just reality-- churches are social institutions; people go there in the evening to pray, sure, remember that in their minds all that faith just real, and some undefinable being in the sky might actually get mad at you and turn you into a pillar of salt and/or ruffle your hair and call you a cutie depending on how you behave. But there's no modern forms of entertainment; folk aren't even reading pulp novels for entertainment (the means to produce them doesn't exist; no movable type, so making cheap paper and glued bindings makes no sense-- it'd be like serving caviar on sporks to them). If there's nothing to do, no festival on, and the spouse isn't sufficiently randy, church is what there is to do, and clergy serves as a social institution there.



Note to self: Add "Caviar on Sporks" to list of potential band names

[Dorn]

Some stuff that helps flavour RP...

All clerics, specialty priests, and monks of Azuth receive religion (Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. All priests of Azuth can cast priest spells faster than other priests. Their casting time on all priest spells of one round or less is reduced by 3 (for example, a casting time of 7 would be reduced to 4). Those spells that take more than one round to cast still take them the usual amount of time. Priest spells cast by priests of Azuth always have a casting time of at least 1.

Azuthan clergy tend to be folk who love magic for its own sake. They do not exeult in power, for that is the tendency of those who enjoy what magic can allow them to do to others, but in in elegance, complexities of dweomer, and deft use of spells. Wizards, clerics, specialty priests, and monks serve in the clergy of Azuth. Within the church hierarchy, 45% of the titled clergy are wizards. Another 30% are clerics, who form the strong right arm of the faith, 20% are specialty priests, and 5% are monks. Relationships between the three groups are good, though there is some resentment against a current trend to promote specialty priests into positions of power. However, because of this trend, more novices of the Azuthan faith have chosen the path of a specialty priest than a cleric. Specialty priests of Azuth are known as magistrati.

In areas where Azuth has temples, shrines, and monastic communities, the ruling (not necessarily the most powerful) clergy member holds the title of "the First" and is addressed as "Revered One." Other clergy members in large clerical communities have expanded on this idea: The most powerful user of alteration magic is called First Transmuter, the leading specialist in divination magic is First Diviner, etc. The First may bestow or revoke such titles within his or her parish. Clergy members of high rank and long years in the church are granted the title of Master. Azuthan clergy eschew most further titles.

Dogma: Followers of Azuth feel that reason is the best way to approach magic, and that it may be examined and reduced to its component parts through study and meditation. Calm and caution are the watchwords of Azuthan clergy members as they strive to avoid mistakes that even magic cannot undo. They are taught to use Art (magic) wisely and to be always mindful of when it is best not to use magic.

Novices in the faith are charged to: "Teach the wielding of magic, and dispense scrolls, items, and spellbooks throughout Taerun that the use and knowledge of magic may spread. Encourage everyone to try their hand at wielding magic. Drive home the lesson that with magical power comes grave responsibility, and live that lesson yourself. Try to gain a copy of every new spell, spell variant, or magical idea you encounter without regard for its worth or importance—and make a copy of that copy for a temple library. Train others in what you know of magic, not hoarding your knowledge for yourself, and encourage creativity in magic in all ways and at all times.

Day-to-Day Activities: Azuthan clergy members very often serve as messengers between mages. They strive to remain above reproach and to be regarded as trusted neutral parties by all. They organize annual Mage Fairs, and at those Mage Fairs they try to settle feuds, curb overly destructive or deceitful magic, and sponsor spellweaving contests. They also give out scrolls of the winning spells from previous years and small, useful magical items as prizes in these contests.

Most wizards see the priesthood as helpful, but members of the church of Azuth may go to great lengths to serve a prime goal that many wizards do not find so pleasing: They try to ensure that no spell or magical item is unique to one mage in Faerûn so that the death of a single wizard does not take any spell or the knowledge of how to construct an item out of the world forever. Azuthan clergy members do this by magical spying (and even temporary thefts), by copying every wizardly writing they can find including command words and cryptic phrases (not just complete incantations), by encouraging the barter of spells, and by organizing tome drives in which wizards are paid handsomely to contribute a spell to the latest folio of the ongoing Azuthan spell syclopedia (a written collection of spells from various mages duplicated magically in bulk, bound, and distributed by the priesthood for a minor fee covering production costs).

Sometimes i feel clerics are played a little bit too much like armoured mages. They are the priests of a god and the gods dogma is a fairly strong guide if they want to keep getting spells. It's a powerful class and perhaps the tradeoff is that it culd have the most RP "requirements" of any i'd say. Certinaly a lot more than just reading a spellbook.

Great opportunities however.

It's also one of the reason some priests make poor PCs. Talosian priests for example i've tried to find a way of playing true to the dogma and description of those rare priests/stormlords without having the PC hunted down and killed or locked up for destroying peoples stuff....but i struggle.

If we had a wizard/sorc in the part i think you'd find it easier (serve and protect!!).

Clerics aren't not paladins or favoured soul (you can even play a reluctant favoured soul!), divine champions or devout warriors.

So after that ramble:
- pray, and not just as part of the sleep/replenish spells cycle
- know the dogma and stuff backwards
- grow the flock, or those with belief in the god (casters who have lost their way and covet badness)
- do things that honour Azuth (orgaisae a mage context, train a orphan to become a mage etc)
- refuse quests that contradict the faith (Gasp!!)


Would you do the stock standard plate wearing divine caster? or would you not out of choice as it is an impediment to magic?

Would you try and convert Magnus the 'barbarian' to not distrust and think of spelcasters as weak and susceptable to evil? (as opposed to amystran who may try and convince him magic itseflf didn;t lead to evil) Would you discount his view as foolish and have little to do with him if you could avoid it?

Would you encourage your group to seek out meanie spellcasters giving wizardy a bad name including necromancers etc? ((compared to a mystran who may hunt out dead/wild magic zones instead))

In your spare time do you try and invent new cantrips and spells within your capacity and then delightedly show as many other casters how it's done?

Do you embody Azuth (a stern but caring father figure...even to mystra!), or are you a bit of a wildcard in the faith and get people to like wizards by cracking funny wizard jokes?...ok that a bit silly

How do you work with wizards of elves, dwarves and humans (all with their own gods of 'magic'....not wizards..i think) to have their

How do you help/advise the various casters in your party bar/barb, FS, ftr/wiz, x/pally, cleric and clr/wiz all work together to get teh best outcome? Do you remind the wizards much about their abilities and other spells they coudl use for situations?

Do you researech lore about particular spellcasters...dragons for example:)...to see if anything can be learned to help human casters?

Does he spend his time crafting intricate mischevious spells the confound his unsuspecting comrades or others?

Does he becomea regular at candlekeep and push his party on missions to discover lost magics to share with others instead of for a 'customer'?

[Glitterdust]

Remember to pay attention to the Domains that a deity has, as well. Those suggest an affinity, a personality or simply character tastes/preferences that you might be able to tailor a PC to. Magic, for example, might have a studious person or someone at least deeply seated in knowing the Weave and the spells around them etc. etc. I tend to play a cleric more to the domains he has, with a loose-stringing of the dogma to tie it up. For a more priestly-character, I'd go the other way around.

[kid]

I just go

"Yer blessed! NOW WERE ME LOOTZ!"

[Rumple C]

Thanks all for the advice, in thread and in chat. It has all been very helpful.

Aside from Kid.

[fluffmonster]

A good start is to look for divine interpretations of this and that. Lay rationality aside a bit.

[dergon darkhelm]

A good start is to look for divine interpretations of this and that. Lay rationality aside a bit.

I had one very seriously religious PC.

Rathalan's perspective.-- Try to view *everything* through the prism of Helm and the hierarchy of His church.

[Riotnrrd]

I had one very serious absolute bastard of a religious PC.

Fixed that for you

[Vendrin]

Agnostic real life, played some very devout pcs in the past, what has always helped me is focusing on the concept that drew your character to that specific god. You don't have to be preachy, just let your actions show your faith.

[jmecha]

I always think of Old Ben when I think of Azuth's Clergy. Dry witted and enjoying such humor, and occasionally seeming cold....though ultimately they are actually trying to spread some knowings to others be it the secrets of mage craft to those who deserves such or even just simple wisdom to those who are in need.

[Dorn]

You don't have to be preachy, just let your actions show your faith.

I guess for me this is true for devout holy pcs, but not for the cleric. Any pc can do things in the name of a god. But the cleric is part of the church and often would wish to grow the faith snd hence followers and hence power of they're god or undertake particular quests for the church. Sure pcs are by definition not going to stay in a village and tend a local church, but I believe a greater responsibility than just "live like your god would like" comes with being given part oh your gods powes to the significsnt extent a cleric does.

But of course all opinions are relevant:)

[kid]

Meh. Not all priests are peachers. There's a build of personality that goes into being a preacher that doesn't fit some.

Also, some gods would not want you to be preachy very much. Some would understand that need for other faiths, while others would simply want to destroy other believers and not teach them.
well... 'tleast thats the way I see it.