Re: Polygot Faiths & Planar Churches (Was: HeroSpace and Planar Churches)

From: "Thatotherguy" <spellj@??????????.com>

<snip>

>  Planar churches
> believe in an ideal, represented by an outer plane.  Hell worshippers
> might see rigidity, order, and power over all else as their ideals
> while Abyssal would look for change, difference, freedom, and power.

<snip>

> That's a good description of a pantheonic church.  Since a pantheon
> theoretically includes gods over everything important in their
> worshippers' lives, a pantheonic god is simply able to enact the
> ceremonies for all the gods of the pantheon, rather than being
> dedicated to one.  They can also regain spells anywhere even one member
> of the pantheon has access to.  Now, some multi-alignment pantheons are
> based on a single plane but that's irrelevant to the distinction.  The
> planar priest serves no deity/ies, just an ideal (theoretically it
> could be the nonplanar creatures of the plane, the very embodiment of
> that plane just as demons, devils, and modrons embody the essence of
> their planes, that grant planar priests power).

I'm afraid you are also incorrect about Planar Churches. And have also written something
that is either a typo or wrong about the Polygots. I think it is worth looking at the
original source material here.

The sidebar on pages 16 and 18 of the Concordance of Arcane Space says this about the
Polygot Faiths (Pantheon Churches):

*****************
THE POLYGOTS:

The Polygots are a pantheistic faith that worships entire organisations of Powers as
opposed to a particular Power. A priest of the Greek mythoi, or the Norse gods, would
qualify as a polygot priest. If *any members* of a particular polygot priest's pantheon
are present in the sphere then that cleric regains his spells normally. For example, Tyr
of Toril is originally a native of the Norse mythos (though Thor, Odin, and Loki have
never made beacheads on the planet or attracted a large following). A cleric worshiping
the Norse polygot (*all* the Norse gods) would regain spells on Toril since Tyr is a
native. With the expansion of the Polygots in space civilisation, representatives of the
various polygot sects can be found in most organised shells. Polygot priests are not
popular on the ground, however, because it is there that the various gods struggle one
against another for worshippers. A polygot priest of the Lendore Isles of Oerth would find
himself under increasing pressure from the various faiths of Oerth to "choose sides" if he
spent any amount of time in those isles. Most nonhuman (elvish, gnomish, dwarvish, etc.)
priests found in space are polygot clerics of their racial mythoi.
*****************

This can be compared with what the Concordance has to say about the Planar Churches on
page 24:

*****************
PLANAR CHURCHES:

A fractious merging of both the Path and the Polygots, the planar priests respect and
venerate *all* the powers of a particular inner or outer plane. A planar priest venerates
the Seven Heavens and *all* the Powers within regardless of portfolio, position, or
attributes. A planar priest of Arvandor/Olympus would venerate both the Greek and elvish
mythoi which live in that plane.
*****************

The *stress* in the above quotes is TSRs, not mine.

As you can see from this your statement that a planar cleric "serves no deity/ies" is
wrong. The planar cleric serves *all* the gods on one inner or outer plane.

Your mention of "a pantheonic god" is also wrong. There is no such thing as a pantheonic
god. The polygot priest serves *all* the gods in one pantheon. The gods don't get rolled
into one for the purpose of worship.

Both these clerics do the same thing: worship more than one god (something that is
normally taboo in a groundling campaign). The difference between them is their "shopping
list" of gods. The planar cleric looks at who lives in his chosen plane and prays to them
and the polygot priest picks a pantheon from a culture they like and prays to them.

Because both of these clerics (and clerics of The Path and The Way) serve multiple gods
they are able to regain spells (above 2nd level) in any sphere where at least *one* of the
gods they worship is also worshiped by the locals. However, in a sphere where none of
their gods is present they are as helpless as a normal (single god) cleric who's deity
doesn't live there. Both of them would have to cast a Contact Home Power (once a week) to
gain spells above 2nd level.

I've posted more about this (but without the Concordance quotes above) in another email.
For more information about both of these faiths I would recommend looking at Legends and
Lore (where you can see several pantheons) and the Manual of the Planes (where you can see
which gods live on which planes).

Alternatively you could put your feet up and wait for me to finish my research on this!

;-)

David "Big Mac" Shepheard