mireigi wrote:How do priests (clerics) ascend within their respective faiths, and to what extent is their connection with the divine and their patron deity (spellcasting level) included in such considerations?
Is it merely a matter of the priest achieving the appropriate levels to be recognized as high priest, and eventually leader of the faith, or is there something more at play beyond faith and connection with one's patron deity?
I'm looking for both standardized guidelines that govern all faiths, as well as specifically for Lathander, if there is a difference between the two.
Prior to reaching 5th level spells, a priest cannot offer atonment to paladins of his/her faith. I've found no mention of other requirements beyond simple levels, which is what makes me wonder what the requirements are for becoming a high priest.
Characters become priests/clerics one of three ways:
1) Church has a Building Model - they approach a denomenation and ask for admission, there is a period of training/indoctrination, vows taken/some form of formalization of the relationship, then the character is assigned a role within the organization, learns more about their god/faith, and depending on abilities rises through the ranks of their church depending on role/availability of positions/necessity of positions/internal politics, etc.
2) Marketplace no Church Building Model - they have a moment of epiphany where a god becomes very real to them, they study/learn about the god either through divine guidance or seeking out a "mentor" priest or other figure to help them, they learn and grow in their faith
3) They are a Favoured Soul and just know stuff/already have an idea of what their god wants from them
In terms of "ascending within faith" not all religions have an established ecclesiastical hierarchy, so divine favour in the game then becomes defined by level of the character - the higher the level, the "closer" the respective character is to their god i.e. more favour they have from the god, and this is demonstrated by the number and type of spells that they can cast. It does not confer a title to the character necessarily. I remember in old v2.0 maybe rules seeing XP/level progression charts for the various classes with titles listed beside each level. In that case the title automatically came with the level.
In faiths where there is an established hierarchy, this is a political entity within their church - candidates are elevated to their respective offices/titles by a vote/assasination/other ceremony where a decision is made to give them that title. With the title usually comes some political responsibility within the organization as well and the title does not necessarily reflect on the characters level/abillities; the High Priest of Gardening in the church of Illmater may just be a nice way of calling a low-level alcolyte the guy who picks the beets, for example.
With respect to Lathander, "Wealthy and popular, the church of Lathander has opulent temples throughout the North, some of which push back the borders of good taste, as well as less audacious and more serviceable structures in most towns and cities and dotting all of Faerûn. The main room of a temple faces east and is open to the horizon, at least in part, so that the faithful can see the dawn. The high priest or priestess of a shrine or temple is often called a prior or an abbess, although titles vary throughout the church.
Specialty priests of Lathander call themselves morninglords. Clerics of Lathander call both themselves and their specialty priest and crusader brethren dawn priests, ignoring any difference. About 35% of the organized priesthood are specialty priests; the remainder are clerics or crusaders. A larger number of the adventuring priests who serve the Morninglord are specialty priests.
The Lathanderian religion has no overarching hierarchy from church to church and no central authority. When issues of doctrine or policy come up that must be decided upon, a conference is called at the church who initially presented the problem for consideration, and the issue is resolved. Regardless of rank or experience level, each Lathanderite priest is considered the master of the temple, shrine, or parish she or he is responsible for no matter the number of priests staffing the facility under him or her.
Novices in the Lathanderian faith are called the Awakened, and they gain the title of Dawnbringer upon becoming full priests. In ascending order of rank, the titles in general use by the Dawnbringers are: Dawngreeter, Dawnlord (the church does not use feminine form of titles often), High Dawnlord, Dawnmaster, Morninglord, High Morninglord, Mornmaster, High Mornmaster, and Sunrise Lord. "
IMHO for purposes of ascention in the ranks for a character in our game, there could be RP amongst the characters in the church to accomplish this. In the absence of too many other players to help in a ceremony to confer the title, a DM could help. Titles denoting a very high rank/special privaledges that have impact outside of the church would need DM approval, and changes to the name of the character on the character sheet would be limited/restricted and taken on a case by case basis, i.e. you can RP anything you want to around having a title(s) but it won't necessarily be on your character sheet.
