Gamer Forge Listener Email: Do I Follow My Fallen Diety?

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Nevin Oswald

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Hey guys I'm sitting here writing hoping you remember our little group. We are the group who'd DM wrote in about his group that went into the under-dark and made some choices and ended up stuck facing a Red Dragon and then we wrote back giving our side of things.

Well i'm writing in to give a report and then ask for your help.

So i'd like to say your help was great we were able to work things out and we did survive the encounter with the dragon but not in any amazing way and no dragons were hurt in the success of our escape. Basically our DM allowed our wizard to make a check and found a magical item that would allow us to transport our of the cave to one location of the wizards choosing. So the wizard cast some invisibility spells, a spell of heat resistance, and a masking spell to mask our location and sent form the dragon. We were able to rush across the distance and get to the item and teleport out moments before being found by the dragon.

So now here is the problem I am facing. My character is a cleric and some of the things we have seen and faced have changed him. Not only that but some of the things that have been going on have been changing the gods themselves because they are having to do things that they normally wouldn't do to save all life. So my cleric has found himself at odd with his owe feelings and those tenets of his priesthood which he feels his Good has betrayed. Which honestly is really awesome! But some of the other players are saying that my character would accept the changes and be willing to embrace the changes in his good. Which would allow me to work more at ease with the group then opposed to some of the more chaotic actions of some of the group. My cleric is a Lawful Good alignment and my god has become more of a Chaotic Good because of the wars with the other goods and forces of evil and events that have changed him.

My question is do I change with me God and accept what has happened or do I keep to my character, his tenets, and remain conflicted while searching for another God to follow?

Gamer Forge Response:

Maybe we should start having a word count limit on questions, seeing as we only have a set amount of time to answer them? But when it comes to a crisis of faith (or lack thereof), DCR says:

1. Remember that a set of tenets are adopted by the person in question. You have willingly accepted them to be the right way to go, and incorporate them into your identity. There is no law, no rule, no nothing, that says you have to change with your deity. Indeed, your character's choices are yours, and yours alone, so don't bend to the whims of anyone, not even your DM.

2. This crisis can be a truly great story to add to the mythos of your game. Now, it may mean that you lose favor with the deity, and will need to either select a new religion, or start down a new path. Don't see this as a failing of the game system or the DM, or even yourself. Make it a point to tell the story of how this cleric made a difficult choice and came out stronger for it. Maybe your fellow players will learn a lesson from your trials.

3. Show a little respect! Your friends around the table may want to have a bit of sympathy for your plight. There's no need to give him a hard time for it; that's just mean. Especially because if he decides to stay a "cleric", he will be responsible for healing you should you almost die.



*Bonus XP: To make sure you understand just how important and awesome it is to support your local adventuring cleric, watch The Exorcist here. It's his/her duty, nay, choice to throw themselves on some landmines in order to stem the tide of corruption and evil through the land. Your cleric works hard for her money, so you better treat her right!

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