Zealotry and the rewards of faith; A minor cleric/relic guardian spell revamp

Started by Dhund, June 12, 2022, 10:27:44 PM

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Dhund

The Lady-In-Waiting has waited enough; Those whom are faithful will find it requited.

Clerics of the Small Gods, Relic Guardians, Preachers, by whatever name, aren't uncommon to find.  Their job is to represent the faith, aid the faithful, and convert new believers; but I find that for as important as faith should be, there's never been a big push to actually convert people ingame. Maybe I've missed it, maybe its just rare.

What I propose is a few small changes, to reward being of the same faith as a cleric you travel with, and maybe/hopefully getting some uncommon spell selections made more of a tempting choice. While the specifics will vary, the general thrust of the idea is that being of the same faith brings bonus effects, and more of the faithful brings boons.

Faithful in this regard will refer specifically to someone with a Deity tag that matches the casting cleric. This should usually include said cleric as well. These only apply when CAST, not when used from items or abilities.

Zoo Buffs
When cast on a faithful, take the best of 2 rolls as if you had Spell Focus Transmutation. If you have Spell Focus Transmutation, take the best of 3, as if you had Greater Spell Focus.

Bless
All faithful allies in the area of effect also gain 1d2 Temp HP per faithful affected. (1d2 instead of a flat 1 hp, so you can't just cast and metagame who has converted or not in a big crowd)

Divine Favor
Provides all nearby Faithful  (excluding the caster) (medium AoE) +1 Bonus to attack and weapon damage rolls, for 1 round per faithful affected. (Similar to casting True Strike with Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment)

Shield of Faith
Also grants faithful 5% Physical immunity for the duration

Aid
Grants faithful a +1 Divine Damage bonus to damage rolls

Darkfire
+1 Divine Damage added when cast on a Faithful.
Caps at 1d4 for non-Faithful.  Level 8+ get the 1d6 only when cast on a Faithful

Magic Vestment
Also grants a 1 damage Divine Damage shield to Faithful

Prayer
Faithful Allies in the area of effect also gain 5% move speed, and 1d6 Temp HP

Shield Other
If shielding a Faithful, grant them a 1d4 Divine Damage Shield for the duration

Divine Power
The faith of your party is rewarded as you channel your god's might in their defense! Gain +1 CON per faithful in a small AoE, to a maximum of 16 CON. If your CON is already 16 or higher,  it is not raised further.

Battletide
Allied faithful in range also gain the circumstance bonus as the caster does.



The specifics of course are up to change and balance, but thats the general theme of the idea. Cleric spells should be more potent when used on and around a party of people sharing that faith. If you're constantly traveling with a cleric, receiving the holy blessings of a god...maybe its worth considering converting
<@Mort> Dhund is on the money, imo

Don Nadie

I like this, or something like this :) A small flavor improvement to spells for those sharing the faith = neat in my book!

Blue41

I do like the idea but I dislike making religion matter to people through mechanics, when that shouldn't be the driving factor behind making the decision to convert.  The unfaithful shouldn't get less benefit from the cleric's spells, they should get no benefit. But that's pretty hardline and it isn't for everyone-- just like clerics.

Whyleth

I'm on the fence about this.
In a sense it makes clerics slightly less useful in the regard that you'd have to be very static in a group and with people who share a faith from what I gather? Which then limits your sphere of interraction greatly in my opinion.

It also makes it harder on others who decide to make their own custom religion which is hard enough to relistically push already when there is always so many current in game options.
I already hate forcing my own religion onto those in game because its something I made for my own enjoyment.

It makes clerics play rather greedy now too instead of being in that flexible caster space like wizards.  Because if I HAVE to be religious myself to get buffed correctly why would I not just take another wizard and not have that penalty?