hello to all
i m running a adventure path (runelords)and one of my player is playing a female cleric of calistria.
So far so good,but...
Her character is ready to fall in love with a npc and she`s feeling really awkward about this.She`s trying really hard,not to let this happen,but finally i got the feeling that it will.
Calistria`s dogma clerly says that " love is weakness ", so that means that clerics of calistria is forbidden to fall in love? and if it does,what`s the consequences?
will be forced to change god shifting for example to shelyn?probably with a curse from Calistria?
thank you in advance!
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Go the romantic comedy route and have the big bad professional woman, too busy / smart / enlightened to just fall into some bodice-ripping fairy-tale love affair, brush off the depth of her feelings as some sort of fling or infatuation or animal attraction or whatever.
Calistria, being goddess of trickery and revenge, among other things, with a wicked sense of humor, will find it all-too amusing in the end when her wayward priestesses heart gets broken (it being a world of adventure, with demons, monsters, etc. around every corner, it's not like Calistria even needs to raise a finger to arrange such an occurence...).
Indeed, given Calistria's jaded and bitter nature, she probably expects her clergy to fall head over heels at some point, considering it an important part of their development, and after that all goes to hell, come to take the more hard-hearted 'scorned lover' approach towards romance that she favors. All part of life's rich pattern, she thinks.
Young love. The taste of ashes. The wisdom of Calistria's hands-on, heart-off approach coming with experience.
Heartbreak (followed by a Quarterflash / Gloria Gaynor video montage) is probably a rite of passage, with this faith.
I'd say Set has a good point here. If Calistria's dogma states that "love is a weakness", I don't see this as the goddess stating her followers shouldn't fall in love. They should however realize that being in love with someone creates a weakness that can be exploited. So it is something to both defend or hide if you are stricken with it yourself and something to notice and take advantage of in your enemies.
Lots of options here!
Out of game sit with your player and discuss what *she* wants to have happen?
I do really like Set's idea that maybe a broken heart is a rite of passage for Calistrians... And that opens all kinds of possibilities. What does the Priestess do when she falls madly truly deeply in love with the "prince of her desires"? and then catches him with another woman! It doesn't take a murder to make a broken heart...
Or, does the love blossom as you would hope it should... and become a barrier between Miss Priestess and her Deity? Does she have to decide between Career and Family?
In any event, as this is a big deal to the PC, find out how you and the player can agree to make this a good, intense roleplay device! :D
GNOME
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What does the Priestess do when she falls madly truly deeply in love with the "prince of her desires"? and then catches him with another woman!
And, since she's a priestess of Calistria, to whom 'love is weakness' is doctrine, *other* priestesses of Calistria may feel the need to 'teach her a lesson' by seducing her love, rationalizing the home-wrecking deed as 'for her own good.'
"I've decided, Superman, that you'd have more time to save people and be a hero, if you didn't spend so much time with that reporter. So, for the good of everyone, and your betterment as a superhero, I've killed Lois Lane..."
And, since she's a priestess of Calistria, to whom 'love is weakness' is doctrine, *other* priestesses of Calistria may feel the need to 'teach her a lesson' by seducing her love, rationalizing the home-wrecking deed as 'for her own good.'
Or her superiors may command her to perform certain "services" of the lust type for the church that might not sit well with her beloved. The whole Calistrian church is likely to be backbiting in the extreme, so this relationship is going to be like Melrose Place on steroids. (Am I too old? Does anyone remember Melrose Place? Substitute whatever you kids are into nowadays.)
Heck yeah! This is a great set up for solid long term RolePlay/Conflict!
And would she lose her powers as a Priestess of Calistria? Maybe. Calistria is described as being mercurial: maybe it suits her whim to 'support' her Priestess... Or, maybe as the young Priestess feels the good, warming side of love she sees it more as Shelyn describes it: passionate and perfect?
The reason I suggested discussing it with your player is that you both have a vested interest in how it will turn out: neither of you want to 'cheat' the other, so don't force a transition unless she decides to snub Calistria in a direct, vulgar/physical way. Nor should her transition (if there is one!) be ...easy. Caslitria would *never* be so kind.
Just imagine, some months after the Priestess has left Calistria's service and every time she thinks of her lover, she gets wasp stung...
If your player is this involved in the world, you are doing something right as a GM! congratulations :D
GNOME
Or her superiors may command her to perform certain "services" of the lust type for the church that might not sit well with her beloved. The whole Calistrian church is likely to be backbiting in the extreme, so this relationship is going to be like Melrose Place on steroids. (Am I too old? Does anyone remember Melrose Place? Substitute whatever you kids are into nowadays.)
And, since she's a priestess of Calistria, to whom 'love is weakness' is doctrine, *other* priestesses of Calistria may feel the need to 'teach her a lesson' by seducing her love, rationalizing the home-wrecking deed as 'for her own good.'
'Remember' Melrose Place? They're making (have made?) a new series thereof, with Heather Locklear reprising her old character (now the apartment-complex manager).
... why are you all looking at me like that? ~.^
I don't think Calistria forbids her clerics to fall in love. She considers love as a weakness when it prevents you to "have fun" with other people.
For Calistria, having sex with people is ok, having sex with people you love is better. having sex only with the one you love is BAD !!
thank you , all of you for your advices
I would like to explain the style that my group likes to play.
five years ago i ve started with 5 players,totally unexpirienced.
from the first session i tried to explain that the really difficult is to play a character.
a character with desires and needs,dilemmas and hard choices,phobias,feelings,weakness,beliefs,and social needs.
After they tried to made a character like this, the next step is evolution of the character.
how his surroundings/friends/obstacles/dilemmas/feelings changes a character?
the result of this is that sometimes we playing 3-4 sessions only rp and no battles at all.
Its a heavy social style rp,with many npc and interaction between them and the pc`s.
they have seen frienships bloom and fade away,their characters to get marry and have children,bitter betraysls, parents die, husbands possesed etc.
This group ended from rp,not from battle,(the ranger sold his soul to a demon for some charisma point,to make a female character to fall in love him,after some years she totally ignored him because he was ugly)
as for the priestess now
she knows that falling in love is wrong for her deity,but she wants to do it because she wants to get the flavour of a forbidden love (even against a deity) .
She asked me several times if i m okay with this and i answered ,that i like it very much.
Generally me and my players we dont like the invulnerable-super hero-nothing can harm me stereotype.we like weakness that sometimes drive a character...
She knows that she has to pay a heavy price,and she`s ready to pay it.
I dont want to simply kill her beloved,or possess him.I have done all this with their previous characters and i want some thing else.
something hard and new,something to torn her character apart and to see how she will copy with,something, but what?
thank you again in advance
and
excuse me for my bad english