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Thematically, a character can worship as many deities as he likes. Rules wise, only a single deity will provide any mechanical bonuses.
If one Cleric can worship two gods, what's to stop another from worshiping his dog?
I guess my question is more of a rule question than a house rule question.
I was just wondering if there is a pathfinder rule, FAQ or errata that does not allow a PC to worship more than one God.
A cleric's deity influences her alignment, what magic she can perform, her values, and how others see her. A cleric chooses two domains from among those belonging to her deity. A cleric can select an alignment domain (Chaos, Evil, Good, or Law) only if her alignment matches that domain. If a cleric is not devoted to a particular deity, she still selects two domains to represent her spiritual inclinations and abilities (subject to GM approval). The restriction on alignment domains still applies.
Emphasis mine. Bold letters indicate SINGULAR deity. Otherwise the printed rules for Domains would say "deity or deities (or deity(ies), or perhaps some other form of pluralism. The written rules state singular format on all accounts of worship in all paragraphs of flavor text and mechanical rulesets. That clearly shows the RAW and RAI is for a Cleric to worship one god.
Italics indicates RAW exception to the deity rule.
In the flavor text for Cleric, it says if they don't worship a specific deity (again, singular use of the word), they must devote themselves to an ideal (battle, justice, etc...).
As is everything, this is all subject to DM input. IMHO, a Cleric will always have a single deity. I might buy into other circumstances for an Oracle.
If your DM allows you to worship multiple deities, take care that you don't become an EX-Cleric. You'd be subject to the codes of both gods.
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In my home brew world no one worships just one deity. Even clerics pay homage to the other deities. Clerics may focus on one in particular but it is the power of ALL that gods that they get their spells and powers from not just one.
I look at it like the Norse. No one worshiped just one deity. And to pay homage to Loki would bring disaster on that person, but you best pay homage to him or else disaster will also strike you.
On Golarion I think it is up to the DM to say yes or no.
No, you have to pick one patron and run with it(to my knowledge anyway). If it were a homegame you could probably do otherwise, but RAW in PFS no.
Why do you have to worship Gorum to learn how to hit people with spiked armor anyway?
Thematically you can worship more than one until the GM says no. There is no rule against it because that would be more of a campaign setting rule, and the game tries to be neutral in that regard.
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Yes, a cleric has a single deity for the purposes of determining her domain powers. That is not my question, however.
Look, you're clearly trying to skirt rules here to qualify for a feat. Any DM worth their salt will see right through this. And then you keep asking us what rule prevents it? I've listed them for you. But you want to nit-pick and say those paragraphs only apply to domain powers. Sure, that's cool, if your DM lets you get away with it, fine. I wouldn't.
If you are a Cleric, and you worship a god to get Domain powers, you worship ONLY THAT GOD. (See my first post for RAW and RAI). Any other god you pay homage to is basically lip service. You can thank in prayer to Erastil for the rains and good harvest, even if you worship Sarenrae. But you do not worship that god. Worship indicates devotion and servitude.
If you state that you are going to worship another God (other than your domain choice) to qualify for a feat, only your DM can tell you if that violates your holy Code, in which case, you may or may not fall to EX-Cleric status.
You can try to argue the rules all day long, but I've shown you in the Cleric class text (and every other indication of it, including the entirety of Ultimate Magic) where it says singular god, per RAW and RAI. Anything else is up to your DM to decide.
What about Inquisitions in the place of Domains
You can take an inquisition in place of a domain, if you do you don't have to have 2 inquisitions. You can have an inquisition and a domain, 2 inquisitions, or 2 domains. However some inquisitions do have required gods, meaning if your worshipping a god without inquisitions you can only use the inquisitions that say Any. If I remember right anyway.
Thematically you can worship more than one until the GM says no. There is no rule against it because that would be more of a campaign setting rule, and the game tries to be neutral in that regard.
This is the answer. If you are the GM, just say you don't like it, especially if the the two deities would not like each other, or it would not make sense for your game. In golarion you may be able to enforce it more.
edit:The only mechanical reason to worship a deity are the domains. Anything beyond that is just flavor. There are no rules for worshipping(lip service) more than one deity...
You can only mechanically worship(get domains) from one cleric by the rules however.
edit2:In short there is no rule against following two deities for the purpose of charcter development only.
Mr. Sin where is that covered?
Mr. Sin where is that covered?
Here you go. Inquisitions are usually weaker than domains, but some are more frontloaded and dip friendly.
Thematically you can worship more than one until the GM says no. There is no rule against it because that would be more of a campaign setting rule, and the game tries to be neutral in that regard.Thanks Wraithstrike. Would you know if this is preventing in PFS? Further, can a cleric take inquisitions in PFS.
I posted those questions in PFS forum, but I know you are pretty knowledgeable, so I ask you as well.
Well PFS falls under Golarion so PFS is not campaign neutral. I would have to check the PFS book in order to be sure..
PS:Ignore my other post. I thought you had overlooked it.
Correct. the biggest detriment to inquisitions to domains for clerics is the loss of the bonus spells. But if your are happy with the granted spells of your one domain then go nuts.
After reading the section on religion they assume you would only worship one deity, but there is no outright restriction against two. You may have to get an official answer from the Mike Brock(I think he runs PFS).
I missed the inquisitions question..Standby...
Thematically you can worship more than one until the GM says no. There is no rule against it because that would be more of a campaign setting rule, and the game tries to be neutral in that regard.Thanks Wraithstrike. Would you know if this is preventing in PFS? Further, can a cleric take inquisitions in PFS.
I posted those questions in PFS forum, but I know you are pretty knowledgeable, so I ask you as well.
From the Guide to Organized Play, pg. 10
Clerics, inquisitors, paladins, cavaliers of the order of the star,
and samurai of the order of the star must choose deity
as all classes in Golarion that receive spells and abilities
from a specific divine source receive their powers from a
deity. Druids, oracles, and rangers are the exception to this
rule.
So, no, you need to choose a single deity for PFS play.
You may choose an inquisition as a cleric, and I don't see any PFS houserules against it.
While a cleric or other domain-using class can select an inquisition in place of a domain (if appropriate to the character's deity), inquisitions do not grant domain spell slots or domain spells, and therefore are much weaker choices for those classes.
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@OP - Is this for a home game? Are you the GM?
These are two important questions. The answer is that it might be possible, however, it states in the core rulebook that any such deviance must be approved by your GM. Simply, as a GM, I ask, "Does it make sense?" If the answer is yes, then I consider if that is something I want in my campaign. If the answer is no, then the answer is no.
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Even if you could worhsip more than one god (which I don't believe you can as a cleric) you could not worship two gods with very different alignments. you have to be within 1 step of your god. Gorum is CN, so as a Cleric you could be NN, CG, CN, or CE. Depending on what alignment you choose the 2nd god would have to be within one step of you again. Still, I believe there is enough evidence already presented to create a precedent of intention that a Cleric cannot have more than one god.
Thematically you can worship more than one until the GM says no. There is no rule against it because that would be more of a campaign setting rule, and the game tries to be neutral in that regard.Thanks Wraithstrike. Would you know if this is preventing in PFS? Further, can a cleric take inquisitions in PFS.
I posted those questions in PFS forum, but I know you are pretty knowledgeable, so I ask you as well.
From the Guide to Organized Play, pg. 10
So, no, you need to choose a single deity for PFS play.Clerics, inquisitors, paladins, cavaliers of the order of the star,
and samurai of the order of the star must choose deity
as all classes in Golarion that receive spells and abilities
from a specific divine source receive their powers from a
deity. Druids, oracles, and rangers are the exception to this
rule.
Good find..I see I need to download the updated version.. :)
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You can't have two gods, especially to mix and match their domain powers.
From a roleplaying and flavor standpoint, there is nothing stopping a Cleric from worshiping multiple deities. I could certainly see a Neutral Cleric worship two diametrically opposed deities as a duality or even worship a whole pantheon in general. Such a character could be very interesting to role-play.
However, in terms of jobbing the system to gain access to different domains or feats, only your GM can approve something like that. There is nothing RAW that I'm aware of to support having more than one deity from a crunch perspective.
In a pantheistic universe, I would assume that everybody worshiped more than one god. But I would also assume that becoming a member of a specific religion's clergy would probably preclude being a member of another religion's clergy. I would expect the gods to be jealous enough that they don't want their clerics having more than one master.
That said, this is a case where the heretic archetype comes into play - being a member of one clergy but having a domain from another deity's portfolio.
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In the real world, would an ordained minister in the Anglican Church also be an ordained rabbi?
I think the answer is more complicated in a polytheistic world. A Cleric of Cayden would have little problem making a quick prayer to Desna when traveling, or to Sheyln or Gorum when he is struck by the beauty of something. Would he attend services and participate under some circumstances--yes, though they would not be the ones in charge.
Is their circumstances where faiths may have some priests doing some things while clerics of another diety are involved another part of a ceremony--yes, much like in the ancient Olympics when a priestess of Hera was in charge of lighting the flame, even though the festival overall was dedicated to Zeus.
But it doesn't change the fact that, for that cleric, Cayden is his primary focus and who he serves.
Whether said Cayden cleric would extend that same courtesies to Asmodeus under the right circumstances, probably not or at best, only under highly unusual circumstances.
So a cleric could 'worship two or more gods' but only one would be the source of their divine power and their primary focus.
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Let's say that a character is a cleric with a domain god other than Gorum. Will he be able to take the feat spiked destroyer by worshipping two gods (Gorum and his Domain God) or will he have to select Gorum for his Domain God if he wants to take Spiked Destroyer?
Though the Cleric PRD description repeatedly refers to "her deity," suggesting the cleric can have but one, the rules do not specifically say that is the case. In fact, the description does state what should be done if the cleric has no deity at all:
If a cleric is not devoted to a particular deity, she still selects two domains to represent her spiritual inclinations and abilities (subject to GM approval).
So, if you're seeking a specific rule you won't find one. The only rule here is "subject to GM approval." Thus, you'll have to take or leave the recommendations others put forth.
That said, I recommend allowing it, with the following two limitations:
1) The cleric doesn't violate the alignment rule (must be within 1 step) of either deity. I would add that the deities also must be within 1 alignment step of each other. This would be to prevent, say, a Neutral cleric from worshiping a Neutral Good and a Neutral Evil deity.
2) The deities must share the domains the cleric chooses. Between this and the alignment restrictions, there might not be a lot of options for the cleric. If that turns out to be the case, I would say the player and the GM will simply need to review the options and come up with some sort of agreement/compromise.
Since there is no RAW precedence for this question, the obvious solution is for the GM to stay open minded (a good GM says "Yes" when in doubt) and to work with the player to come up with a 2-deity concept that works for the player and the campaign alike.