Persimmon wrote: ↑Sun May 22, 2022 12:43 pm
In the case of clerical spell failure, it's not the god failing, it's the cleric/vessel. Maybe they've not properly followed their deity's tenets so they've incurred disfavor.
I am totally in favor of the notion that a deity might cutoff the priest from the powers if he misbehaves. But in a spell check system, failure is ultimately random. One spell may fail, and a moment later the next spell succeeds, then the third fails... If the priest has lost the deity's favor, then
nothing should work. It's like a paladin losing his powers: paladin powers don't randomly fail every day, the paladin either has the deity's trust, or doesn't. It's determined by roleplaying and CK judgement. The same should apply to priests (though to a lower standard than a paladin).
Or they aren't versed enough to channel certain energies. Or they simply have only so much power their mortal body can handle in a day.
Recall the saying... gods never give us more than we can handle...
Also, what would failure say of the deity? The priest says "I smite thee with the power of Haelyn..." and then the spell sizzles... wouldn't exactly convince the opposition that Haelyn is powerful, does it? It'd be rather embarrassing for both priest and deity. "Ha ha- your deity abandoned you!" or "Ha ha- your deity is weak!"
And I suppose a god's power could fail when confronted with a more powerful entity. Do they still use the level limits for spells granted by deities in 5e? I recall that in 1e demigods could grant up to 5th level spells; lesser gods 6th level; and greater gods 7th. I thought that made sense in delineating power levels for deities.
Yes, and this works for any spellcasting system. We'd just need a tweaked system for this since C&C spells go up to 9th. Maybe 5th, 7th, 9th respectively?
-Fizz