V3 Spell Suggestion : Divination : Divine Relation Enhancement

[SquareKnot]

Another repost in the spirit of "one spell per thread"...  How about a refinement to Divine Relation to make it work as an area of effect, perhaps giving more information (like the actual deity) depending on the caster level or something? Or maybe just change the 2da entry so the range is longer and the vfx more subtle. It's one of my favorites but I don't use it as much as I'd like because it tends to make characters and players mad as it is. Too many times I've had a character ask whether I've just "checked them out" since I "must think they're evil" which isn't what the spell does and would not be something they'd know anyway.  There are a lot of opinions on this one, so I'll understand if it is not changed.  See this post for some thoughts.

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

I suggest refining it to Range: Medium and removing the visual effects.

[EdTheKet]

Too many times I've had a character ask whether I've just "checked them out" since I "must think they're evil" which isn't what the spell does and would not be something they'd know anyway

I would then like to see that somehow people couldn't see you cast it or something. So they won't be able to make remarks like that.

[Dorganath]

EdTheKet - 12/2/2006  4:06 AM  

Too many times I've had a character ask whether I've just "checked them out" since I "must think they're evil" which isn't what the spell does and would not be something they'd know anyway

  I would then like to see that somehow people couldn't see you cast it or something. So they won't be able to make remarks like that.

 Two opinions there.
  1) It's probably possible to remove the casting animation, drop casting time to nothing (or close to it), remove the casting audio, remove the casting VFX, remove the impact VFX of the spell and whatever else I'm forgetting, but there will still be that "Curious Cleric is casting Divine Relation" message and the cleric will still turn toward the target, both of which are Bioware things that I'm not sure we can change.
  2) I'm a little surprised that people think the cleric is "checking them out" ...almost as if they have something to hide. Though I guess it can be an IC thing just as much as casting the spell is IC for the cleric. So if it's in the proper RP for the target character and the casting cleric, then the player of the cleric shouldn't let himself be bothered by what the target thinks about having Divine Relation cast upon him/her.
  I recall at least one instance before we had the spell where a cleric raised a fallen character who followed Corath, an enemy deity of the cleric's deity. This was done outside the context of a quest, it was done with little or no RP on the subject and was just outside of Hlint, if I recall. It was also done while a GM was watching, and the cleric in question was figuratively smacked by his deity (beyond the normal penalty for raise/res of an enemy).
  There is almost no reason. outside of a quest or similar situation of need, where a cleric should or would want to raise a follower of an enemy deity, and then a strong "maybe" when it comes to followers of unfriendly deities. About the only clerics, in my opinion, who might raise without question are those of Az'atta.
  By the way, that's my personal opinion, not any sort of official statement.  

[EdTheKet]

1) Awww, to bad
2) I'm surprised too.

[Weeblie]

The points taken up are the main reasons of why I hardly ever uses the spell anymore (except for raises).

One could probably call it metagaming, but I actually prefer to look it up on the LORE Status Page instead. As the spell can't "fail", the result is the same for myself.

[Acacea]

Dorganath - 12/2/2006  7:59 AM    2) I'm a little surprised that people think the cleric is "checking them out" ...almost as if they have something to hide.  Though I guess it can be an IC thing just as much as casting the spell is IC for the cleric.  So if it's in the proper RP for the target character and the casting cleric, then the player of the cleric shouldn't let himself be bothered by what the target thinks about having Divine Relation cast upon him/her.  

 I think the point was simply that the target is under most circumstances not meant to be aware of the casting, because it's not actually casting a spell AT them; the cleric merely gains the knowledge from his own deity about the relation between them. The reactions are often (not always) kind of just automatically assumed someone is casting a spell right at them.