How much do the gods "talk" to their followers?

[Fromper]

So obviously, clerics and paladins pray to specific deities for powers, and receive those powers every day. That's one form of direct communication.

But other than that, how and how often do the gods communicate with their followers?

I know one PFS scenario where the cleric of an evil god knew where to find the magic items to hatch his evil plan because the god told him directly.

I have a PFS cleric of Desna whose back story involves becoming a cleric because Desna came to him in a dream and asked him to. He also has the Good Dreams trait that gives him nightly warnings of the dangers he'll be facing in the coming day. As the goddess of dreams, among other things, this fits pretty well as her preferred method of talking to her followers.

Also in PFS, I have an oracle cursed by Iomedae who recently found out the source of his curse when she gave him a known spell that only her worshipers are allowed to cast. I'm not entirely sure if that's legal, since he wasn't really a worshiper of hers when he got the spell, but she was always the source of his power. I think it fits his story, and he's destined to become a true worshiper, so I'm sticking with it.

So just how much do the gods talk to their followers, and how exactly does that communication take place?

[CalebTGordan]

I would say it varies by god in both respects.

If you read up on each of the gods in the AP write-ups there is always a paragraph that talks about how they show their pleasure and displeasure with people. It is pretty clear in some of those just how often a god speaks to their followers.

Gorum, for example, probably doesn't speak to his followers very much. Being a god of action he communicates through miracles and direct action. Desna would certainly speak to followers that please her in dreams. Sivanah uses reflections and shadows to directly communicate to her followers, and most likely communicates to the most devote frequently but is never completely clear with what her end goals are.

They certainly do communicate with more than just divine spell casters but I can't find anything that would suggest the frequency.

[Kerney]

As much as the GM says they do.

I once had a goddess show up at a harvest festival, have a conversation and dance with the party paladin, and walk away....unnoticed by everyone but the pally....and to a little girl who later became an important npc.

In Golarion, I'd say Oracles are talked to a bit more then the other divine classes, because the were recruited, perhaps needed some convincing, and may be 'on a mission from god' in the blues brothers sense of the word more so then the cleric who went to seminary.

But others will play it otherwise.

[CalebTGordan]

Don't forget witches. They may be arcane casters, but they have patrons that could be anything from powerful outsiders to a god.

[Cpt_kirstov]

also read deaths heretic on how Pharasma communicates - through an embsarry, even to a favored person in her orgamization. I would think this would be much more common.