What happens if an FS begins to worship a different god?

[jester]

Title pretty much says it all.

[DM Ioulaum]

Complete Divine page 6 describes the class like this,

Divine magic is intuitive to a favored soul, not a matter of careful prayer. This intuitive nature leads to a freer interpretation of faith and doctrine (It is still required to be present, though intuitive), and so favored souls tend slightly toward chaos over law. A favored soul is often of the same alignment as her deity, though some are one step away (Just as a Cleric). For example, a favored soul could serve a lawful good deity and be neutral good herself. A favored soul may not be neutral unless her deity is neutral.

Switching to worship a different deity means that the divine connection to the old deity is forfeited and replaced with a new deity. A new divine connection.

This effectively means a player character must use the RCR mechanic because his or her original favored soul abilities would work differently for the new deity. For example you gain a different weapon focus / specialization, a different energy resistance & damage reduction, and different spells. However, a player cannot not simply assume that a new deity will accept the existing character as its new favored soul. The choice to do so is the Deity's and not the character's. For that reason the DM Team should be asked for a reaction from the deity. If no reaction is forthcoming, or the request for a favored blessing is rejected, then the former favored soul may not become a favored soul of the new deity.

There is a known exploit where characters continue to roleplay their previous favored soul levels under a new deity, retaining the original weapon focus, spells, and other class feats. The prevailing opinion is that the class feats are tied to the character's natural divine connection and are thus lost when that connection is severed. The usual penalty if this is done is to force the offender to undertake an RCR, with the added risk of additional experience loss depending on the circumstances.

A dispensation can be granted in select cases when the original patron is a vassal or ally of the new deity. Of course this means that the player must gain DM Team approval before simply proceeding in the assumption everything will be fine. Generally it is enough to demonstrate an intimate relation between the mentioned deities and a committed as well as relevant level of roleplay with the character and deities in question.

[DM Ioulaum]

After discussion with the DM Team I have added the following, meant to discourage rapid deity switching by favored souls.

However, a player cannot not simply assume that a new deity will accept the existing character as its new favored soul. The choice to do so is the Deity's and not the character's. For that reason the DM Team should be asked for a reaction from the deity. If no reaction is forthcoming, or the request for a favored blessing is rejected, then the former favored soul may not become a favored soul of the new deity.

DM Ghost supplied the reasoning that the complete Divine source book emphasizes favored souls discover their blessings while young. While this paragraph is contradicted by other other paragraphs it does indicate that a majority of favored souls discover their powers at a young age, and that they have a tendency to be loners.

It is therefore unlikely that a deity would welcome an older favored soul into its ranks as a convert from another deity. Nevertheless we do not wish to remove the possibility that a deity might bless a converted favored soul as his or her own favored soul later in life. But because deities are involved: Please contact the DM Team if this comes up!

Kind regards,

[jester]

Thank you