Clerics and scrolls of other gods..

[garhkal]

Who here, ever bothers having scrolls be linked to the god of the priest who writes them? If they're so linked, do pcs ever have issues casting spells OFF of scrolls, say they earn by defeating evil priests, thus would have been made to that god?

[Lukafio]

Rather than linking the scroll to a deity, I used them more like a language that may or may not be readable by the user. If the alignments matched they could read it, depending on xp too. If they didn't oh well.

[JadedDM]

I've never done anything like that. Depending on the setting, such a rule would be pretty harsh. In my homebrew world, for instance, there are only four gods. So that's a 1/4 chance a priest scroll would work for you. But say, in Dragonlance, where there are 16-18 gods (depending on the era) or Forgotten Realms, where there are hundreds of gods? Ouch.

[garhkal]

But it does make some sense.. Why would god A, allow penned scrolls of his, to be used by priests of god B.

[JadedDM]

Is that how scrolls even work, though? You aren't praying to a god to cast from them, after all. And scrolls can be used by thieves and bards (of a certain level), so would that restriction apply to them, as well?

[Lyrwik]

You aren't praying to a god to cast from them

I agree with this. I've always found the idea of divine scrolls a little odd, but I imagine the prayer/divine communion occurs as part of the creation of the scroll, rather than at the time of using the scroll. As such, once the scroll is made, the power has already been granted and is effectively locked into it.

Why would god A, allow penned scrolls of his, to be used by priests of god B

I agree in principle. However, I think any restrictions on the usage of the scroll would have to be effectively embedded in the scroll upon its making (which maybe that does happen). Alternatively, it might be that the power being released from the scroll (potentially through the reader) is inherently incompatible with some readers (eg. those of an inappropriate alignment, or those of an opposing deity) due to its source.

Overall, I think a DM could easily go either way.

[Lukafio]

You aren't praying to a god to cast from them

I agree with this too.

I've always found the idea of divine scrolls a little odd ...

Yeah I scratched my head at this, but hey it's fantasy setting.

... once the scroll is made, the power has already been granted and is effectively locked into it. ... I think any restrictions on the usage of the scroll would have to be effectively embedded in the scroll upon its making (which maybe that does happen).

I could see this as a possibility.

Why would god A, allow penned scrolls of his, to be used by priests of god B

Alternatively, it might be that the power being released from the scroll (potentially through the reader) is inherently incompatible with some readers (eg. those of an inappropriate alignment, or those of an opposing deity) due to its source.

This makes the most sense to me and is similar to how I've done it in the past across the different editions.

For the most part, K.I.S.S. (keep it simple silly) has been my motto. When a player would ask why, I gave the example of blood types. While not perfect it made my point.

[New Hegdeh]

You remember Ocarina Of Time when Link gets to the guy in the entrance to Death Mountain and gives him proof that he is on liason with his princess, the legendary Zelda? He uses the seal of the royal house of Hyrule, that is what I think a priest scroll is, a sign that whoever has it has been blessed by a servant of the god that the scroll prays too, because that is what the text in the priestly scroll is to me, a form of praying, praying varies even within the same religion, it is not the same a hail mary than a you divine father that is on earth and all that mumbo jumbo from christianity...

So when the character prays the deity's attention is brought to the prayer, the deity reacts because his phone recognized it was an allowed number, but if the person doing the praying is incompatible with them the deity gonna get angry and gotta try punish the "thief" who acquired an unlicensed scroll and if the thief is a priest of an opposing deity it is even worse, praying has a ringtone and whenever someone prays the deities will hear the ringtones of those praying to them and those they have admited as priests, they are attuned to them, so God A will know when God B, his mortal enemy even before they both ascended to divinity, has been preyed by a priest of God A, and God B will also know, and both will be angry for the action, one would see it as blasphemy and betrayal, what is my priest praying to that upstart? He will say...

For the other priest I said it, it would be thievery of the worst kind. How they got my number? Why does caller ID says I am being called by my priest when this one is obviously of the wrong faith and wrong alignment? Are they calling for a ransom on my priest? of course mortals make these questions, to a deity wanting to know the answer to that is the same as immediately knowing the answer. And they have the power to handle this at multiple places in space at the same time and through time.