[lonnarin]

I'd like to see the landscape speckled with shrines to the gods all over where people can pray for temporary blessing benefits akin to those deadra shrines in Oblivion. Perhaps one could sacrifice gold and items to them if they're good gods, and lure monsters to them for bloody evil sacrifice, ritually scar oneself for Grand, leave a gemstone for Beryl, leave crafted works for Dorand, wine for Xeen, sing to Ilsare (spellsinging check) etc... Dependant on the type of god, a different kind of sacrifice other than gold could be required, and the type of blessing could vary from religion to religion. Ilsare might grant bonuses to ranged weapons and spellsinging, Corath for darkweaving, Pyrtechon for fire based spells, Shadon for sneaking skills, AC from Toran, AB from Vorax, etc.

If the shrines and blessings of the gods kept in theme with the type of god they were, you'd see many players choose gods according to the type of skills they themselves venerate. So naturally archers would be ilsarians and Folianites, fighters would be Toranites and Voraxians, rogues would choose Branderback and Shadon, and so on. Given the skill-based system, one could really go wild with the archetypes of priests, whereas in Bioware we always had to diminish ourselves a bit in crossclassing. A god who venerates a certain type of tactic would give bonuses to it specifically rather than a generic attack bonus... for example, why would Aeriden bless anybody with bonuses to attack other people? More likely he'd bless you with healing at his shrines.

For the shrines, the art department could go wild making the models in the rough image of the dieties. Corathite shrines would be black obellisks with skulls adorning them, Pyrtechite shrines to always have a lit brazier, Shadonite shrines hidden well in dark and tricky places, Katian shrines being more like actual trees with holy imagery carved into them, etc. Their locations could be dependant on the deomains of the god. Katian shrines only in heavily forrested woods, Corathite ones in graveyards and haunted battlefields, Aeridenite ones near rivers and lakes for the whole healing waters theme, Toranite one's near the cities, Caduz and berylite ones deep in caves, Dorandite shrines in the crafthall.

I think in this method, the presence of the gods would surely be felt, and what it means to serve a god would be totally individualized per each faith. Given that the system is skillbased and no two clerics are alike, we'd see them follow trends as to the types of skills they chose since those certain dieties would bolster them... so sneaky shadonite priests with sneak blesses, fiery-spewing Pyrtechite priests with their prayers of mayhem, Voraxian battlepriests who pray for more damage and the like. It would behoove a shadonite priest to make a sneaky character, because those are the blessings his god gives, and his skills are the ones that his god appreciates.

We could even script shrines to be consecratable/desecratable... so that enemy clerics stumbling upon heretic shrines can nullify them or cleanse them if another cleric had them nullified. Then the laymen who could pray to the shrines would have to seek their faith's preists out to help go on crusades against enemies or heal their own shrines so that the gods can channel their powers through them again. That would totally change what it meant to be a priest... not just a healer but also a champion of his religion's holy wars.

Plus I'm just a really big fan of consecrated and desecrated holy grounds, heheh. Undead could be held at bay if one fled to an Aeridenite shrine, Animals pacified at a Katian one, Undead Bolstered near a Corathite one. The physical area within and around the holy land could shift the stats of battle according to the god's preferences. The influence of gods should empower their followers and strike utter terror in the hearts of their enemies.

Now if there was only some way to measure the level of devotion one has to the god and make the blessings scale appropriately. A priest or paladin totally devoted to a faith would get more out of it than somebody more casually associated. I would like to see cross-faith praying to some extent however, people should be able to pray to their gods allies in certain cases. Those who try to pray at enemy altars could be cursed or smitten by lightning or divine fire, and those who pray to neutrally aligned gods would only get a very light blessing at best... though they should get some since the god wants to win them over and doesnt hate them necessarily.

Ideas off the top of my head for shrine blessings

Corath: Darkweaving bonus, undead created near shrine are bolstered and last longer
Pyrtechon: Character does extra fire damage in both spells and melee
Aeriden: Weakens undead near area, regenerates HP as you pray
Lucinda: Bonus to all magic skills, Regenerates mana as you pray
Goran: Boilsters constructs, equipment is temporarily improved or repaired
Grand: sends character into a blood frenzy and bonus dmg vs dwarves
Dorand: The only shrine which temporarily improves your craftskills
Vorax: Biggest bonus to attack and damage of all shrines
Toran: Biggest bonus of AC and DR of all shrines
Rofirien: bonus dmg and defense vs chaotic beings
Kitharian: highly noticeable bonus to running speed, regenerates fatigue as you pray, mostly near roads
Katia: animals docile to character unless attacked, even predators like wolves and dires (1 hour)
Folian: archery bonus out the wazoo (10 mins)
Shadon: sneaking bonus, shrines are always hidden from plain view
Mist: Dmg bonus and mana cost reduction for lightning based spells
Ilsare: archery and spellsinging bonus
Aragen: temp bonus to XP gained from being a fast and studious learner
Sulterio: Iconoclastic, bonus protection vs spells, especially divine ones
Grannoch: bonus to all spells involving fire, water, earth and wind
Branderback: bonus to sneak attack damage
Caduz: all weapons are blessed with poison
Vierdra'ira: bonus to darkweaving and summoning vermin
Azatta: lifts afflictions like disease and poison, can be prayed to by all without fear of being cursed
Deliar: bonus to mercantile haggling
Prunilla: bonus to harvesting herbal and crop CNR
Shindaleria: waterbreathing or waterwalking without spells and potions
Beryl: makes you invisible

And for curses if you happen to be of an enemy faith. One should also fear these if they try to desecrate the shrines

Corath: struck by negative energy, level drained (10 mins)
Pyrtechon: character spontaneously combusts
Aeriden: Cannot heal hp for short time (10 mins)
Lucinda: Prevented from casting ALL spells for 10 mins
Goran: your gear gets sabotaged
Grand: orc spirits are summoned to attack
Dorand: craftskills diminished for long time (24 hours)
Vorax: dwarven spirits are summoned to attack
Toran: smitten by a huge holy light
Rofirien: townguards become hostile for an hour
Kitharian: encumbered and runs painfully slower (10 mins)
Katia: animals go berserk and attack character on sight, even peaceful herbivores (1 hour)
Folian: marksmanship diminished greatly (10 mins)
Shadon: a big splash of green slime covers the character and you hear a snicker on the wind, not so much damaging as it is embarassing
Mist: lightning strikes character in the head
Ilsare: cant carry a tune, spellsinging impossible for 10 mins
Aragen: Can't learn/gain xp for 10 mins
Sulterio: spellpraying impossible for 10 mins
Grannoch: character is shrunken for 10 minutes with half physical stats
Branderback: strange halfling spirit picks your pocket
Caduz: poisoned
Vierdra'ira: attacked by swarm of vermin
Azatta: doesnt judge or smite, she just prays for you to be nicer
Deliar: negative mod to haggling for 1 hour
Prunilla: vines spring up and entangle you for 2 minutes
Shindaleria: cannot swim for 1 hour, character walks on river floor and drowns quickly
Beryl: gems in inventory shatter