Cleric that worships a fake god?

[AlwaysSummer Day]

I am considering rolling a character that worships a god that does not exist. Obviously S/he would not be able to use divine magic or anything granted from domains or even divine feats. Would this be allowed for strictly RP purposes or not? I cannot think of a better class for a character that intends to preach the word of a god (albeit a false one).

[DM Nilbog]

I do not think you need approval to do this just do not take a god on selection. I have seen a few do this sort of like a Charlatan the last was a bard making the false claims using sleight of hand and whatnot just trying to not get caught using arcane magic was his trick.

[DM Nilbog]

We have the you have to play your sheet rule and I am not sure you cannot get by in game without selecting a god I must admit I haven't tried to do that.

[Eclypticon]

It might be worth considering adding a new option to the deity list to compensate for such a PC along with player guidelines. Its worth debating.

[thids]

By D&D rules you can even play an actual cleric class who can cast spells and who worships a fake god. Cleric's don't necessarily get their powers from a deity, according to the PHB, but can get them simply from their beliefs and devotion to greater cosmic powers/ideals.

Some clerics devote themselves not to a god but to a cause or a source of divine power. These characters wield magic the way clerics devoted to individual gods do, but they are not associated with any religious institution or any particular practice of worship. A cleric devoted to good and law, for example, may be on friendly terms with clerics of lawful and good deities and may extol the virtues of a good an lawful life, but he is not a functionary in the church hierarchy.

It indicates that a cleric devoted to causes of law, good, evil, or chaos would instead gain powers from those causes. Of course, FR is not exactly the same as the core rule books, but it would seem sensible that the same would apply here - and maybe even that your divine powers were being granted by a real deity devoted to the causes your cleric represents even though he worships a false/fake god. Not necessarily, but hey, this is a world that was meant to be ours to create and not simply to be obeyed, and pouring into the source books for stuff like this only gets you so far.

If your cleric is not devoted to a particular deity, you still select two domains to represent his spiritual inclinations and abilities.

That should also be considered.

I do not believe this applies to Forgotten Realms.

[PiaMango]

Its always wondered me what to do if you want to play a cleric from a far away land like Kara-tur or Mulhorandi and wish for them to worship one of their own pantheon. Its it against the rules since its technically not playing your character sheet as the Mulhorandi Pantheon and Celestial bureaucracy are not available deity choices, or allowed due to the limitations of the game engine?

[Deathgrowl]

By D&D rules you can even play an actual cleric class who can cast spells and who worships a fake god. Cleric's don't necessarily get their powers from a deity, according to the PHB, but can get them simply from their beliefs and devotion to greater cosmic powers/ideals.

Not in Forgotten Realms.

"Faerûnian clerics function as described in the Player's Handbook, except that no clerics serve just a cause, philosphy or abstract source of divine power.

(...)

All clerics in Faerûn serve a patron deity. (In fact, most people in Faerûn choose a deity as their patron.) It is simply impossible for a person to gain divine powers (such as divine spells) without one."

[JCVD1]

By D&D rules you can even play an actual cleric class who can cast spells and who worships a fake god. Cleric's don't necessarily get their powers from a deity, according to the PHB, but can get them simply from their beliefs and devotion to greater cosmic powers/ideals.

Some clerics devote themselves not to a god but to a cause or a source of divine power. These characters wield magic the way clerics devoted to individual gods do, but they are not associated with any religious institution or any particular practice of worship. A cleric devoted to good and law, for example, may be on friendly terms with clerics of lawful and good deities and may extol the virtues of a good an lawful life, but he is not a functionary in the church hierarchy.

It indicates that a cleric devoted to causes of law, good, evil, or chaos would instead gain powers from those causes. Of course, FR is not exactly the same as the core rule books, but it would seem sensible that the same would apply here - and maybe even that your divine powers were being granted by a real deity devoted to the causes your cleric represents even though he worships a false/fake god. Not necessarily, but hey, this is a world that was meant to be ours to create and not simply to be obeyed, and pouring into the source books for stuff like this only gets you so far.

If your cleric is not devoted to a particular deity, you still select two domains to represent his spiritual inclinations and abilities.

That should also be considered.

That is, sadly, the rules with the playerhandbook's gods. In the Forgotten realms setting, you MUST serve a god, or you won't gain powers.

[Archaos]

Make a Bard, choose no deity (or Ao) or Leira (deception) get the armor feats and pretend that you're a Cleric of some other god.

Perform "miracles" like healing, protection etc. Pump Bluff and cheat and lie to people thinking that you're not a Cleric.

[DM Eurydice]

I am considering rolling a character that worships a god that does not exist. Obviously S/he would not be able to use divine magic or anything granted from domains or even divine feats. Would this be allowed for strictly RP purposes or not? I cannot think of a better class for a character that intends to preach the word of a god (albeit a false one).

You don't strictly need a cleric class for this purpose, I'd suggest you pick one of the other classes that most fits your characters actual profession.

A rogue or bard sounds like decent proposals, or roll a fighter with a decent charisma and put skill points into diplomacy and the like to emulate his philosophical nature

If you pick the actual cleric, I think you'd more be misrepresenting what your character actually is. Nothing prevents you from claiming to be a cleric though, even if your charactersheet disagrees with you.

This has potential to be a very fun and entertaining character concept - I wish you the best of luck pulling it of, and look forward to finding your character in game

[Nyeleni]

Actually there are known examples of gods who have perished and are still worshipped and granting still spells; thanks to other gods taking over without telling the followers. I think one such case involved Lolth and another god she killed or just took the portfolio over...

Of course if you just want to worship a false god then you would not have spells at your disposal, which would render the whole exercise very futile, as the believers want to see miracles granted by the god or goddess...

[AlwaysSummer Day]

We have the you have to play your sheet rule and I am not sure you cannot get by in game without selecting a god I must admit I haven't tried to do that.

This was what I was talking about. The character thinks their god is real but for some reason never grants any powers. Can this be done without conflicting with a character sheet that says faithless?

[V'rass]

Play a warlock and rp him as a priest of whatever entity gave him his powers. Its what I am doing.