[crossfire] [Rebootworld] Priests and prayers and cults

[Lalo Martins]

quoth Mark Wedel as of Wed, 24 Dec 2008 14:41:59 -0800:
> Lalo Martins wrote:
>> Some thoughts on Rebootworld religion.  This is mostly to set priestly
>> types further away from magic-users.
> 
>   Quick question - how does this affect non priests?  Does it make
> sense for a fighter to decide to worship a good just for the cool
> bonuses but otherwise never do anything for that good?  One thought
> may be the bonuses adjust based on priest level (so a level 1
> follower gets very little resistance bonus or other benefits, while
> that level 100 follower gets really good bonuses?)

In-story I think that makes most sense; as most religions in history
or fiction have both priests and followers :-)

I don't know if we need to change the code though.  Maybe the
resistances are good enough as they are, and higher level priests are
rewarded with altar gifts, such as is already the case, for example,
for Valkyrie and Mostrai at least.  (And Gaea, Gorokh, Devourers and
IIRC Rugilli get nifty spells.)

Also with "branch cults" that is kind of handled as well... as you get
initiated in higher and higher orders you get cooler bonuses.

>> - No prayerbooks.  Prayers will be learned in the temple and
>>   different for each cult.  (Sometimes it will be the exact same spell
>>   but with different name; same internal spell code but different
>>   archetype.)  The only spell off the top of my head I see pretty much
>>   every cult having is Cult Monsters (which will probably have a better
>>   name though).  Maybe Word of Recall.
> 
>   What about the healing spells?  One things that make priests somewhat
> specialized is they get healing, and wizards don't.

I don't think *all* cults should have healing.  Even in 1.x it's
denied for some.  But it does make sense for both the Imperial cult
and Valrielianism, which I think will account for the majority of
players... if you want to play something advanced, then you probably
understand that things will be different :-)

One question wrt healing: if a player really wants to focus as a
healer, how would he level up?  In the pre-skill days, he could just
join a party and get his share of exp.  Now that still works, in a way
(he gets more HP), but his praying level won't go up.


>   In the past, there has been discussions about some form of
> reputation.  It may make sense to revisit it.  A starting character
> would have a reputation of 0 in their home city, and perhaps a
> negative reputation in foreign cities (foreign in this context could
> be elf or dwarf).  So the character would actually have many
> reputations - one for each well defined region.

Yes, I like this idea and it would be very enriching to the content.


>> - I don't really think orcs, goblins, etc should have an
>>   organized religion.  I'd like at least one species to scoff at gods
>>   in general.  Others should be more shamanic or animistic.
> 
>   Most all intelligent societies tend to have some religion.  That
> said, reasonable that in some cases it may not be organized, or even
> none at all.

I'd say "some sort of spirituality", in some cases it may be something
that we wouldn't recognize as religion.  And I believe all historical
civilizations started on that path through some form of animism;
personally, I don't see, say, ogres or kobolds, being able to
elaborate much more than that.

>>   It would be cool if there was some kind of reputation/gossip system
>>   so that if your allegiances got out, soon everyone would know it. 
>>   But that's coding, and not top priority, so let's shelve it for now.
> 
>   Hmm. See my note above.
> 
>   Note that for many things, actions may speak louder than an item.
> Not a lot of weight should be given to someone wearing a holy symbol
> if anyone can pick them up for a few silver.  Things like skill
> level may be recognized - that tends to suggest you've done enough
> that folks may recognize you as a hero of Gaea or something.

Ideal is a reputation system as you proposed.  You'd get minor cult
reputation simply by being seen regularly in the temple... wearing a
holy symbol could have a minor influence as well.  Cult-related quests
could do a lot more (although I'm not too sure what those quests would
look like).  I suppose known membership in a restricted sub-order
could also impress people, as it implies a minimum level in the parent
cult, but that requires further thought and it has exceptions (being
known as a Gorokhist certainly doesn't make you look better with
Valrielians, even though it's a restricted sub-cult).

>   Likewise, one has to be careful about just being able to hide ones
> affiliation.  If someone is a level 50 priest of Gorokh, they've
> probably done enough that there are at least rumors floating about
> town about that affiliation, etc.

Yeah.

Being seen with other people of very high reputation could have an
effect too... if you're always walking around with a group of known
Gorokhists then you'll start being treated as "probably one of them".

>   That said, I think there still has to be some balance in the
> religions here - there isn't a lot of point spending time detailing
> a god and his spells if no one ever uses it because it sucks badly.

Certainly.

best,
                                               Lalo Martins
-- 
      So many of our dreams at first seem impossible,
       then they seem improbable, and then, when we
       summon the will, they soon become inevitable.
                           -----
                  http://lalomartins.info/
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