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Originally Posted by Skywatcher  I think another twist on this is the alignment and dogma of the specific deity. For instance Toran is a compassionate god with an emphasis on forgiveness and restoration. There is a particular Mistite who has declared that she would watch Clarissa bleed to death before healing her. That's an understandable RP from the Mistite perspective but when that same Mistite was trapped in the bottom of the rift and needed rescuing and ressurecting a couple of Toranites came to her aid since it is in their dogma to help others in need. The Toranite perspective would still be one of tension since it would be understood that there would be no recognition of the sacrifice involved and no thanks for the help but would feel pity for the one incapable of understanding the importance of that compassion. So there is still tension on both sides but different actions are both justified based on the dogma of the deities.
The botttom line is that deity relations and personal relationships are very complex. In RL there are lots of people who are friends that have divergent beliefs. So it depends on whether the situation is asking your character to act against your deities dogma or not as to whether a particular action or friendship should be avoided. |
That's not Toran's only focus, but it's important all the same. And often parts of the dogma of any deity may come into conflict with themselves, and it's how that conflict is played out that can make things most interesting. If it's just shrugged off because one inconvenient aspect is simply tossed away or ignored, then that's not really keeping with the way things should be.
And yep, this makes things complex, and people should play it complex and not distill it down to what's simple and easy in all cases....which of course is the "Everyone is my friend" approach.
And as I said before, the degree to which people should take deity relationships and dogmas into account is directly related to the "grade" of their faiths. Champions are pretty much in lock-step, Paladins and Clerics coming next, followed by non-divine followers in order of decreasing responsibility.