The aim is to stop religious developments becoming a go-to tool for general income generation. I also want to add more substance and flavour to the world, in a way that help PCs to build and Role Play as a part of the world – rather than as an outsider passing through.
Religious developments are attractive in a lot of ways, they help balance Economy and then (as they develop) start to generate an income, through Magic, that doesn’t need balancing, which has advantages over other developments. That was done purposefully, to keep religious developments comparable with businesses and strongholds. However, that ‘special’ income is generated by a priest’s commitment and promise to a deity, and the priests’ powers are dependent on the deity’s goodwill. A priest who doesn’t follow their deity’s philosophies falls out of favour, and is liable to lose their spells and other divine abilities. Sure, most DMs are fairly generous in their interpretation of PC actions - but we are a lot less generous in our interpretation of NPC actions :} The implication of this, is that NPC priests NEED to stay on the right side of their deity, and NEED to make sure they are promoting the deities philosophy – or else they will lose their divine powers and they won’t be priests anymore. And, let’s face it, Adepts with no spells are about as useful as a Commoner. NPC priests will insist that money they generate is used to promote their deity’s philosophies.
For these purposes, a priest is a member of any Character Class who can cast divine spells. Cleric, Druid, Oracle, Inquisitor, Adept, Paladin, Ranger etc. Religious Developments for Income Generation
Just about every fantasy world is polytheistic, there are lots of different deities and, generally, only divine casters are required to choose one deity (or philosophy) as a patron. Most characters get along in life by making offering, donations and prayers to which every deity is convenient at the time – and that is a very reasonable approach to a polytheistic setting. If you are going on a journey? Make an offering to the patron of travellers. Setting up a business? Make an offering to the patron of trade and commerce. You father just passed away? Call in a priest of a Psychopomp but, if you can afford it, you will have to donate something. Even priests with a Patron Deity follow the same philosophy – when it falls outside the Patron Deities area of interests. I don’t want to stop PCs from developing a religious side of their character, nor do I want to stop PCs from supporting or making significant offerings to a deity - or even two or three deities. That is good role-playing. I can see that a wealthy PC might want the blessings of a deity, or two, on a regular basis – and the easy way to achieve that is to build a shrine, of some sort, to the deity. However, except at the most basic level, that isn’t a commitment to further the deity’s philosophies.
So religious buildings that do not produce Magical Items (Hermitages, Shrines, Great Shrines & Graveyards) should be available for anyone to develop. It is a nod in the deity’s direction, recognises the deity as important to the character. It also gets the character regular blessings, leaves the character in good standing and brings that deity a little bit more influence in the world. However, it doesn’t tie the PC to the deity in any significant way, nor does it really advance the deity’s agenda.
Some characters, without divine abilities, might want to take a deity as their patron, or promote a deity’s philosophies, however that implies commitment, and the PC needs to roleplay that commitment. The entourage rules provide a good way of doing t good way of doing this, by allowing the PC to take a priest as an entourage member. It is worth noting that a character’s entourage includes squires, cohorts and other followers generated by feats as well as those defined within the entourage rules. PCs can have quite a large entourage, so this isn’t a particularly onerous requirement. However, the priest must select a deity or philosophy to follow – and this will affect the way they expect their employer to behave. Which brings us back to the PC role-playing their commitment to the deity.
Two things underlie this section – World Demographics and Economic crunch. When I build a world, I use a slightly unusual demographic mix. It doesn’t quite match with the data published in the book, but it seems to match quite closely with to level spread that I have seen in publish modules. Most Characters who only have NPC classes max out at level 5 and secondary characters with PC classes tend to max out at around level 10. There are exceptions, of course. PCs will face higher level enemies, and they will meet ex-adventurers that are higher level. Most won’t quite match a PC in terms of power and ability, but they will be much closer. A very few, generally antagonists, will be a match for the PCs, some will be more powerful. There will be more powerful monsters – but normal, civilized, humanoid NPCs aren’t a match for the PCs. That is what makes the PCs special and the focus of the game :] However, it means that Entourages and even Cohorts are not as ‘special’ as PCs, and they will all be lower level than the PC.
By Economic Crunch, I am thinking of the rules around crafting magical items. Even the smallest shrines encourage donations by casting spells, performing ceremonies and helping the local people out. That just goes towards the running costs of the shrine. Many of those ‘donations’ will be food, clothes, good will, bundles of firewood etc – although there will be some coin involved. However, that isn’t enough to make a profit or serious income for that the priests need to make and sell magic items – and that means characters with feats, and the appropriate levels to gain them. So a quick look at the rules …