In the Player's Handbook it says that clerics can follow ideals just as much as they can follow divine beings. Often a god will take on that worshiper-of-the-nebulous secretly, and through that deity that cleric will be granted spells and divine power. I have not often seen this in any D&D-related game. Mostly, a cleric will take on a patron god and become that entity's banner-flier, upholding their dogma constantly in all respects.

If I want to make a cleric who has basically formed a dogma for himself, is it acceptable to choose a Forgotten Realms deity whose dogma is closest to that of the character's. whose portfolios are most in line with the character's beliefs. and whose domains allow the cleric to best function in accordance to fulfilling that ideal? This situation would show that a character is whorshiping a divinity of some sort knowingly and fulfilling fidelity to a belief, but that belief is beyond and not fully inclusive of any deity; but a deity decides to take on that person as a worshiper indirectly.

Or

Is it preferable to make an application to the DMs so that they can judge?

Or

Does this concept not fit in EfU at all? Are clerics, in the Forgotten Realms, solely the items of a divine mind rather than channels for a divine concept?

Probably easiest to catch someone on IRC and talk it over.

Secutor Are clerics, in the Forgotten Realms, solely the items of a divine mind rather than channels for a divine concept?

MrCheezIt Faerunian clerics do not serve just a cause, philosophy, or abstract source of divine power. The Torilian deities are very real, and events in recent history have forced these divine beings to pay a great deal of attention to their mortal followers. All clerics in Faerun serve a patron deity. (In fact, most people in Faerun choose a deity as their patron.) It is simply impossible for a person to gain divine powers (such as divine spells) without one.

For reference, that quote is from the informational post on clerics.

Alright. Let me twist the question then. Can a cleric of a deity choose to follow much or part of their patron's dogma, but not its entirety? Is dogma a strict code or is it a basis of fidelity? Can a cleric develope their own dogma that uses some parts of their deity's dogma (but not all) and uses some parts of their own beliefs?

OOC'ly a character, regardless of class, can IC'ly do whatever they like. A character with a totally radical and crazy interpretation of a particular deity's dogma is fine -- it's just the character may get spellfailure at some point.

I'm assuming your question is more along the lines of whether a particular cleric can have an unusual interpretation of a particular deity's dogma and still get spells, and I'd say it depends on the situation but in many cases yes. It really does depend though.

You could argue that not sharing your deity's alignment is a way of portraying twisted dogma. The permissible alignments for a god are also a good way of determining how much and in what ways you can stretch it.

A Banite, for instance, can be less brutal than Bane (LN). He could also be less organized and more out for himself than Bane (NE). He cannot be both, and he certainly cannot be altruistic.