How important is a god?

[efuincarnate]

Specificaly, how important is a god to a fighter, mechanicaly speaking. I know from an rp standpoint, it is can be a game changer, but mechanicaly, how important is it.  

Also, is it pretty easy for a fighter type to change gods, as he is not tied to a diety like a cleric. So conversion from one god to another would not be a complicated manor? (Rp wise here)

I ask, mostly because I am working up a proper background for an alt I have on the server, and made him long ago, at the time of the new server's switch, and cannot remember what god I choose at the time of creation.  I guess a third question is ..is there a way to find out what was typed in that field??

Thanks all,

-Efui

[Random_White_Guy]

DMs can check the field pretty easy, I believe.

It also depends on how devout a character is, for conversion business I imagine.

A Tymoran Mercenary who donates and prays regularly will have a harder time than someone who serves "Just in name" to speak, to a deity, if he wished to switch.

[barbaric_badgers]

Mechanically speaking, as far as I'm aware, choice of God is only used when your PC is a druid/cleric/paladin etc.

As for seeing the God you chose, it shows up on EFUSL, I believe!

[efuincarnate]

Wow..so that is what that login box was for..Thanks Badgers!! Now I just need to decide if that is the god that fits!

Epic fail, his alignment and his god's dogma are basicaly at odds, well, a flaw to exploit for now

[madaket]

it's always a chore to fit FR deities to your characters unless you tailor them to Greenwood's idea of a rounded pantheon. sometimes its best to pick a deity or dogma that only loosely fits your character's personal code or course of actions. if played up, it can incite some interesting interactions with characters who follow the dogmas to the word, of which there are a good deal.

[Snoteye]

Patrons are only necessary for classes with divine spell casting. If you do not pick one you will register as faithless, but all that does is screw with our statistics. Switching patrons is trivial, too, but we usually don't bother unless the engine will reflect it or it's a special situation. Besides that, madaket's right.

[ScottyB]

Fuck.
Ed.
Greenwood.

If you have a question about a deity or group of deities, metropakt's explanation will be way cooler. Or Dan's. Or DrDragon's. We should only invoke Greenwood's name to blame him for something awful in the Realms, like Lurue or Elminster. And Lurue/Elminster slash.

Also, non-divine classes have had their endludes affected by their deity, or lack thereof with the Wall of the Faithless (keep in mind that endludes aren't exactly common, though). It's up to you if you care about putting forth the effort for the RP value.

[Kiaring]

I demand Lurue/Elminster slashfics.

[Egon the Monkey]

@ScottyB:
[The spirit of The Balladeer rises up and curses you]
You're lucky I didn;t use that PC to write Lurue/Elminster slash IC. By divine command. ;)

[Professor Death]

Here's a quick, rambling, roleplaying tip and idea from someone who teaches college courses in "Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion" (yes, that is the name of the course, and yes, I work at a real university).

If you go back far enough in human history, people truly believed in the existence of spirit beings in the world around us (Mom got sick suddenly and died?  It's a spiritual magical attack!).  Religion helps us cope with the hard parts of life, makes us feel in control, and helps us explain the unexplainable.  People in traditional cultures with about 99 percent certainty ALL had spiritual beliefs, even though all might not have had a true patron deity.  Heck, most would have paid homage to several spirit beings or at least revered their power (i.e. listened with respect and fear to priests for the power they can bear).

With that said, I would not say it is important for a NWN character to choose a particular patron unless the character is defined by the player as particularly devout for IC reasons.  Instead, most people would pay homage to whatever spirit being was most apporopriate at the time (going on a sea voyage?  Time to visit Umberlee's shrine!).  That's sort of the point of a PANTHEON.  The only participants in society who are likely to get in your face about deity choice are the ones who are ultra-devotees of one god or another (re: clerics or zealots).  Even good characters would sometimes have to pay their respects to so-called evil gods if that being's portfolio happened to intersect with a particualr activity in which the character seeks fortune.

I think our tendency to think characters HAVE to pick a deity is a remnant of our monotheistic cultural heritage and a general misunderstanding of the way things REALLY worked "back in the day".  Take it for what it's worth.  Try playing a ahcracter with no patron but who invokes the names of LOTS of different gods as needed.  Could make for some great RP fun (You named Beshaba?  You must be evil!)

just my two cents.

[ScottyB]

It's a mix of both. Someone in the Forgotten Realms MUST choose a patron, or forever be essentially abandoned in the City of Judgement; having a patron and being devout enough to eventually get picked up by a servant of your primary deity is your only hope for a sort of life after death.

Choosing not to have a patron (or choosing to worship something that is niether a god nor an aspect of a god) will lead to Kelemvor judging you Faithless, and feeding you to the Wall, where your only hope for escape from oblivion is to make a deal with a devil, or be abducted by a demon, before the agonizing process of becoming mortar is done. For this reason (or more likely, allusions to unspeakable torment and fate worse than death) most people will consider a specific deity as their patron. As long as they regard that deity as the one they serve, they can at least end up as False (if they are so off-base with their deity's teachings that they will never be claimed).

That said, people who don't have powers that depend on good standing with their god tend to be pragmatic while still alive, giving lip service to whatever power may be paying attention (because they actually might be, in the Realms). This doesn't change the fact that they have a patron deity; during the storm at sea they may pray for Umberlee's mercy, but every night they thank Tempus for the courage that got them through the day.

Of course, why pray to Umberlee when there's Valkur? Why Beshaba when there's Tymora? When there's chaos running rampant, why choose Bane over Helm, Red Knight, TYR? When you're sick, why Moander or Talona instead of Ilmater (hell, the choice between Moander and Talona, since they're both evil)? It's a choice to reflect your character.

[Professor Death]

Certainly I will accept the situation below, given that it reflects the manner in which Faerun has been portrayed over the years.  Let me perhaps adjust my point to reflect that we ARE talking about a game here, designed and tweaked by people who largely don't have a  good grasp of the realities of real world workings beyond what any basically well educated adult might expect to have.  As a result, it tends to reflect what we THINK things would be like, not what they most likely would have been like had they a more solid grounding in reality.  Given that it is a game, and a FANTASY game at that, I can accept the argument that you MUST have a deity since canon says you're going to get nailed without it in the long run.

As someone with a science background, I always tended to overthink the plausibility of things anyway (my PnP campaign had an entire real-science based justification for the existence of so many bipedal humans, demi-humans, and humaooids each with such different powers and backgrounds, as well as magic and more. As the plyers worked their way through they began to unravel some of the mysteries I built in from the get-go that would reveal their fantasy world as more real than you might think. Yes, I overthink things. *blushes sheepishly* It was something to do on my long commutes to and from work.

It's a mix of both. Someone in the Forgotten Realms MUST choose a patron, or forever be essentially abandoned in the City of Judgement; having a patron and being devout enough to eventually get picked up by a servant of your primary deity is your only hope for a sort of life after death.

Choosing not to have a patron (or choosing to worship something that is niether a god nor an aspect of a god) will lead to Kelemvor judging you Faithless, and feeding you to the Wall, where your only hope for escape from oblivion is to make a deal with a devil, or be abducted by a demon, before the agonizing process of becoming mortar is done. For this reason (or more likely, allusions to unspeakable torment and fate worse than death) most people will consider a specific deity as their patron. As long as they regard that deity as the one they serve, they can at least end up as False (if they are so off-base with their deity's teachings that they will never be claimed).

That said, people who don't have powers that depend on good standing with their god tend to be pragmatic while still alive, giving lip service to whatever power may be paying attention (because they actually might be, in the Realms). This doesn't change the fact that they have a patron deity; during the storm at sea they may pray for Umberlee's mercy, but every night they thank Tempus for the courage that got them through the day.

Of course, why pray to Umberlee when there's Valkur? Why Beshaba when there's Tymora? When there's chaos running rampant, why choose Bane over Helm, Red Knight, TYR? When you're sick, why Moander or Talona instead of Ilmater (hell, the choice between Moander and Talona, since they're both evil)? It's a choice to reflect your character.

[Lansert]

Polytheistic Deity = Patron Saint

You can pray to some and respect others still.

Whore your soul around a little.  "I'm sure she won't mind if she saw me praying in another deity's temple, it was just a fling."  D&D worlds tend to leave little room for (good) monotheistic religions anyway.

After all, if you believe in Ao as the one true god, you get ignored.  If you believe in Bane as the one true god, you're evil.  If you believe in Cyric as the one true god, then you're crazy and will likely die young.

[Sternhund]

Gods are only as important as you make them. Some characters don't need them to add an interesting dimension to the character, while others can use religion to their benefit.

We can check the deity field, but it's generally unimportant to us. Those characters who can pull off their religion in a well, accurate, and interesting fashion have proven to be successful and admired by both players and DMs.

So, it's up to you, really.

[Nuclear Catastrophe]

Put me as your deity and I will grant you spells.

(p.s. my domains are Chaos, Destruction, Hatred, and the lesser know but much coveted 'Sexytime').