FallingStar wrote: ↑Fri May 28, 2021 6:58 pm
Tabletop is too rigid and annoying, we shouldn't just follow blindly. Why keep the same nonsensical requirements when the class is losing a big bonus?
Who would have thought that Deities themselves could
demand something from their followers before granting them superpowers. That is aside from how abusable would the PRC be without the mentioned restrictions.
As for the opening deity-restricted classes to followers of more deities:
Watering down lore-flavourful classes is how you slowly remove bricks from enjoying the lore of the setting, just like it happened with Darkflame Zealot. Single deity restricted classes are meant to further the roleplay and certain aspects of faith. Heartwarders aren't even the majority of Sunite priesthood. They are an order that focuses on passionate aspects of love and beauty, which is why their typical societal works centre around that. They are also THE Sunite priests that abhor violence the most.
Comparing that to Sharess (who has her own PRC, Celebrants of Sharess, btw)... I mean, Sharess is a deity of downright lust and excess. Sharess' goals are
not
close to Sune, since Sharess only ever cares about bodily pleasure and not passionate
love.
Furthermore, Hanali Celanil having access to this class is the toppest of keks. Worshippers of Hanali are people that create celebrations, oversee the passage of elves into adulthood and preside over the marriage of elves. According to Elves of Evermeet and Evermeet: The Isle of Elves, the most extremist and zealous Hanalites marry for life with the first person that they see upon Midsummers' Eve. Her goal in supporting love between elves is likewise for it to "reach the fullest bloom", which is in a form of conceiving a child- the greatest creation of beauty that they believe in. Hanalites are also much more interested in natural beauty- most of them being gardeners as a result.
Yeah, sure, they are both goddesses of beauty and love, but they all take it differently.
Sharindlar, on the other hand, focuses primarily on fertility, courtship and mercy. Her priests within dwarven communities have a gigantic focus on helping the downtrodden, promoting mercy and funding charities for dwarves in need. The other focus is on teaching
traditional ways of courtship and encouraging young dwarves to marry early and have the most amount of children that is possible. Dwarven love is INCREDIBLY intimate and private. Nothing a Heartwarder does.
As for becoming a fey: Yeah sure, transcendents beauty of mortals. But anyone that can read can realise that when you take upon Fey creature type, it means you do actually become a FEY. Hanalites don't need that, because elven beauty is eternal- a gift to Hanali from Labelas. They aren't marred by time. Their physical allure is close to feyish one (nymphs, for example).
Dwarves are
opposed to Fey, due to their innate Lawful Nature. There are very few fey creatures they tolerate and all of them are earth-bound. Sharindlar is a bit of a weirdo in the Dwarven Pantheon, being CG, but she also has very few fey servitors. Only dryads, sylphs and korreds, which compared to other deities of love-related stuff is nothing.
The weirdest assumption ever I've seen is that
Oghma, Isis or Eilistraee could have the class open to themselves. Especially Oghma. He is NOTHING about love and beauty. Absolutely nothing. Isis is closer, but she's a lifegiver, not a deity of Beauty. Her goal is to encourage marriage and births through love- more close to Shialia than anyone else. Eilistraee? Sure. She has a portfolio of Beauty, but she isn't about any romance or love. Her primary work is trying to encourage peace between drow and others. Promoting kindness among her followers. Beauty is just a side aspect in her entire worship. Besides, she also has her own PRC (Sword Dancers).
I understand that there are concerns for "Lack of fairness" because of certain faiths having their own PRCs. In all honesty, none of those cleric PRCs is needed at all. Pure clerics tend to be a better choice to play, often, if we care about mechanics. PRCs are meant to give priests of a particular deity a roleplay flavour with certain okay but not groundbreaking powers and that's about it. If you want to make the game fair, you need to kill off the majority of deities that are not Greater Deities and leave the game with one to three deities for every species in the game. Otherwise, nothing will be fair as gods against each other themselves have unfair battles
In case of dev time in regards to it- Devs decide what they want to spend time on. It's not ridiculous if they want to bring more flavour roleplay to the setting and server that is
meant to be a roleplay server, where you roleplay characters living in Forgotten Realms setting and its reality. As such, any addition that enhances the experience of certain aspects of the lore of the setting is absolutely opposite to "ridiculous". It is something that is, in fact, expected to happen.
TL;DR
Leave Heartwarder as Endelyon described it. Meddling with allowing other gods' worshippers to have the class is doing a major disservice to every deity involved. Let everyone have their fun with the lore they absolutely adore about Forgotten Realms, that is the reason for the setting's existence. And remember, pineapple belongs on pizza.