Re: Priest Scrolls

In <URL:news:local.spelljam> on Sat 23 Sep, Paul Westermeyer wrote:
> Does it strike anyone else as odd that a priest of Thor could
> scribe a Cure Light Wounds or Bless or Augury spell on a scroll,
> somehow lose said scroll before casting the spell from it, have
> the scroll discovered by a priest of Loki, and then had that
> priest of Loki cast the Bless spell, for example, perhaps even on
> a group of giants about to attack one of Thor's Temples?
> 
> I'm strongly contemplating specifying deity for priest scrolls
> when they are discovered in treasure hoards, basically treating
> such scrolls as not just magic items, but holy items of their
> specific religion.
> 
> Since priesthoods vary so much in most AD&D/HM games, with large
> polytheistic pantheons, perhaps priests could use the scrolls
> that come from allied deities, deities from the same pantheon, or
> deities of the same alignment.
> 
> Thoughts?

In Original DnD you had Clerics and Anti-clerics, the first lot
had the 'good' spells, the second the 'evil' ones.  If a cleric
picked up an anti-cleric's scroll they could cast the utility
spells, but more often they burnt the scroll because they were so
offended by the evil spells on it.  Anti-clerics could get into
trouble with their gods by using 'good' spells that had not be
directly approved of by their god for a particular purpose (if
their god found out somehow).  Druid scrolls, if such existed,
were only usable to druids, and druids couldn't use
(anti-)clerical scrolls.

In some games DMs were 'kind' enough to say that a scroll 'looked
like a Norse one, probably Frey', and then clerics got to decide
if using it might upset their god.  This was a 'house rule', but
1st-4th level spells that were not opposed to your alignment
could usually be read without attracting divine notice.

Under AD&D things were nailed-down more, and by AD&D 2nd Edition
it was clear than the priest was casting 1st-2nd level spells
using their own knowledge and power, and using their own power
and divine guidance, either from a divine servant or direct from
the god or power, to do higher level spells.  This logic is
relied on in Spelljamming, for example in terms of what works in
foreign spheres, or the phlogiston.

When a cleric makes a scroll they are taking their own power and
any required divine guidance and binding that into a form that
can be used at some point in the future, independent of the
divine source.  All the power of the spell is in the scroll - it
will even work in spheres where the cleric's god or power doesn't
exist.  Anyone who will be able to let that power flow through
them as the scroll is read can use it.  A possible risk is that a
god might 'scent' the use of the spell, and disapprove, either
the creating cleric's god, or the god of the scroll user.

Now, you might be able to tell from the style of the scroll, say
marginal embellishments praising one particular god or power,
which priesthood is responsible for creating it.  But, if you
can't put anything on the scroll bar the divine spell(s) to be
cast, for fear of upsetting the magic, it might not be possible
to do this.  You could try spells that detect alignment, but the
DM may rule that scrolls don't have such - all that is there is
the divine magical energy to make the spells work.  The only hint
might be the presence of the nice or nasty versions of spells.


So, you can argue it either way, that a scroll is almost
completely independent of the originating religion, or a DM may
say that a scroll has a tie back to the god who provided the
knowledge to create it, and that if they sense its use, they get
to decide whether they approve.

If scrolls are religion specific, there may be some religions who
make scrolls that are sold so as to be usable to anyone - Mammon
comes to mind.  Someone using a scroll tied to your religion is
arguably celebrating your god!

You could also argue for a compact between the gods that all can
use scrolls created by any of their religions, so that the
priestly scrolls are not any 'weaker' than magic-user ones.

If you wanted to do this under 3rdEd you could say that a priest
could use a scroll of another religion if the two gods shared a
domain, as long as the spell is not opposed to their alignment.


I recall similar arguments about Holy Swords - but these were so
uncommon that if they were tied to a religion then paladins had
practically no chance of obtaining one just by being lucky.

-- 
Dreamer
dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk
http://www.romsys.demon.co.uk/