Forgotten Kingdoms Forums

I recently had a thought regarding the priesthoods of certaind dark faiths. Understanding of certain Gods tends to make mortals insane-- as the Gods themselves are sometimes said to be. Cyric is probably a great example of this, and Shadow Weave Magic (for followers of Shar) actually decreases Wisdom to reflect the insanity caused by such a deep understanding of the Void.

Should priests of these religions still have high wisdom, or might there be another more appropriate way to mechanically represent such a character's understanding of their God?

The knowledge of certain gods will bring insanity to their priesthood. Shar is a bad example.. One of the aspects of shar is to take knowledge and hoard it. An average zealot of Shar will seem almost mindless and there are some great great books out there detailing Shar's faith and describing some of her ceremonies to bring the followers into a mindless frenzy ... Her priests however are different. Shar values those who can work subtley and manipulate others into doing work so it is hard to pin point WHO exactly was behinde that certain task. Knowledge, cunning and manipulation is highly valued.. The shadow weave is different. Priests cannot access it... The shadow weave is a tool that is often used to keep wizards faithful. Shar controls it as a whim and those who are bound by it lose their ability to commune with the light so to speak. By AD&D standards, the wizard who is connected to the shadow weave loses all of their ability to cast light based spells (witch light, continual light, etc etc) and is barred access from Mystra's weave. Illusion spells and necromantic spells are empowered and cast with greater accuracy and destructive power then they did when connected to Mystra's weave but, the wizard does lose something ... Judgement. They are still as bright as they were before but they are usually more rash, more ... zealot in a fashion. And I'll stop babbling..

On a different note, there are other gods that DO provoke insanity. Cyric is one of them.. A huge one. Talona is another.. there is about a half/half version of what talona does to her faithful. Some retain their sanity while others are corrupted by the disease she places on them. ALL of her priests are marked in some way by disease, famine or poison. Scarrifation is a practice by them as are grutesque tattoos etc. Lloth can sometimes inflict insanity on her priests ... same theory. Insanity would be an interesting thing to bring into the game but would it be best to have it forced or optional? If all priests of evil gods were forced to grow more and more insane where would the head of the church come in? Would they all be a disorganized mess because none have the mentality to plan things on a bigger scheme?

What plans would you have for the insanity? And which dieties and classes would it effect?

Yes. In fact, in canon, those religions ARE disorganized messes that have constant internal struggles and conflicts. In fact, in the Trial of Cyric fiction (which I believe is canon, but...meh?), one of the charges against him was incompetence for setting up his faith in such a self-destructive fashion, in fact bringing most of the Strife to his own faith's doorstep.

So, though I don't like the idea of forced insanity (though it is likely a job requirement...some truly damaging activity goes on in those faiths, and many derangements by no means makes someone LESS dangerous), I have no problem with 'disorganized faiths'.

Nearly every chaotic inclined religion in faerun is darn near impossible to figure out any sense of leadership or cooperation. At this faith level it's actually encouraged by the deities edicts to be free thinking, independent, self serving (alignment pending)...yadda yadda yadda

But that's part of the allure of the chaotic religions, gaining personal freedom in interpreting the deities will at the expense of potentially a less stable collective base. It's not less powerful, it's just different. And I think it should be considered when playing a faith.

With the attribute, i think it's appropriate to stay being wisdom. While many gods edicts are corruptive and dangerous...wisdom is still the attribute to understand your deity - whether its corrupted wisdom or not, is something to be roleplayed (in this medium, at least...and in my opinion)

It's merely an academic concern. I have no intention of suggesting some grand re-coding of stats simply because some Gods are insane.

Though it's rather off-topic, I must refute the claim that Shar doesn't fall under the insanity heading. The pre-creation void is by its very nature inimical to all mortals, since they are a part of creation, so for a mortal to work towards the goal of resuming nothingness requires a certain lack of normal psychology. There's a good reason nihilism isn't exactly respected as a philosophical viewpoint.

That said, those who are channeling the power of a being whose very nature is akin to that pre-creation void are bound to be tainted by it. Yes, Shadow Weave Magic has a mechanical aspect that reflects that taint whereas simple priesthood for Shar does not, but we aren't talking game mechanics here.

An average zealot of Shar may seem mindless, but a good zealot of Shar will be totally unrecognizable as a Sharran and seem normal, even wise, to those she encounters-- Shar's favorite trick, after all, is to offer solace and give bitterness.