I would think priest and paladin of pholtus would stay alone for their whole life, but waht about other? about polygamy?
Really, rpg cannot abord the sexuality problem without being ridiculous most of the time. BUt in roleplay it often becomes a problem for me and my players, can my paladin have sex with a waitress without faling in disgrass? May the priest of olidammara of this little town have sex with half the women of the village? etc etc..?
Subject to change, since this is just based on a skim and off the top of my head:
I don't think you need the book to handle the questions you're asking about unless sex is such a central element of your campaign that it requires the degree of elaboration provided by the rules in the book.
If you're asking how to handle the roleplaying elements, it seems to me that you don't need rules. I thought that the portion of the book that addressed how the rules could be integrated into roleplaying was skimpy and disappointing. When you get a bunch of rules, you want to figure out how you're going to apply them beyond merely having more reasons to roll dice.
But I digress...
My suggestion would be that you answer your questions about religious attitudes, paladin behavior, marital norms, and sexual conduct of NPCs by making deliberate choices about how "the world" interacts in a way that is consistent with the flavor and individuality of your particular campaign.
They're fundamentally design questions, but I think your players would be better off if you try to imagine how a particular NPC's alignment philosophy, experiences, or quirks would lead them to react in the sexual situations that you're talking about rather than hoping that some set of rules will be adequate.
As for clerics and paladin conduct, well...depends on what your assumptions are about the impact of sexual conduct on alignment. You could decide that certain paladins and clerics must remain celibate or you can decide that the dogmas of their faith don't touch upon sexuality and hence don't constrain their behavior on doctrinal grounds. Likewise, you could decide on how big an impact sexual misconduct may have within a particular faith. It's not like there aren't sexual miscreants in churches. The question is when a deity decides to require acts of atonement or when you (the DM) decide that enough is enough and the misconduct warrants an alignment change.
What it all gets back to is this: as you pointed out, this is the roleplaying part. So roleplay. ;)
Originally posted by makoma
can my paladin have sex with a waitress without faling in disgrass? May the priest of olidammara of this little town have sex with half the women of the village? etc etc..? [/b]
Question #1. It depends. If they just met, NO. Casual sex is a chaotic act and is not available to the Paladin. Sorry. Now, after wooing her for several months (years) but before the marriage, that is a much harder call. Can Paladin have a live in girlfriend? Depends on the god, and the morals of the community probably.
Question #2. Of course. Its a chaotic fun loving God he serves, he can be the same. The reaction of the community however, may be quite different than that of his God.
You don't need sourcebooks for these and other situations, You just need to apply the knowledge you have of the community and the diety to figure out what the consequences should be.
Anyway, thank you, but i am surprised you haven"t been confronted to this problem many times. We all have a judeo-Chretian precepts, even if we are not because we are immersed in this culture. But in a polyethist wolrd as greyhawk everything should be ignored. I don't know about greek, egyptian or norse priest and behavior recommandation about sexuality.
I just fear we tend to copy our today world religion on greyhawk clergy a little bit easily. And i surely don't think we can reduce gods recommandation to god's alignement.
Everywhere i am reading abou the lack of Canon, and i read here: "Ok do as you want, as you feel it, sex is not so much important.". Hum. But i will do it and etablish it in my world, religion by religion each time i need it.
Marriage, sex but no mariage, obligation to have 5 children at least, castration, one woman and no more in his whole life, only boys in his descendace, 2 women per priest, and so on. This kind of things (and there are lot more) adds to the roleplay , but ,as we say, It's only my humble opinion...
Originally posted by makoma
I am quite disaponted [sic] by the answers i found here because i was exactly asking if something was written about that( i was not speaking about "rules" with dice thanks!), not if i have to do it myself, i can guess it alone.
Anyway, thank you...
Sorry we disappointed you, but your response is a pretty good way of ensuring that many of us will never take the trouble of trying to help you out in the future.
Good luck with your campaign.
:invasion:
I don't know if it will be of any more help to you, makoma. Actually, now that I've glanced through it again, you posted on the thread so I guess it wasn't any help.
Oh well.You've got to admit, though, that dealing with sexual issues can be touchy (hence the mature section of these boards), and so there wouldn't really be much published material about it. I suppose there are certain topics (sex among them) in which WotC has left completely to the discretions/tastes/convictions of the DM and his players. It's an issue for which we have to decide the particulars ourselves.
-wn
Originally posted by makoma
Are there any articles specifying whether priest of particular gods must observe abstinence, can marry, or really dont care about sexuality? the same for paladins?
I would think priest and paladin of pholtus would stay alone for their whole life, but waht about other? about polygamy?
Really, rpg cannot abord the sexuality problem without being ridiculous most of the time. BUt in roleplay it often becomes a problem for me and my players, can my paladin have sex with a waitress without faling in disgrass? May the priest of olidammara of this little town have sex with half the women of the village? etc etc..?
In general, the more "conservative" (ie, "Lawful") a god is, the important celibacy, chastity, & marriage will be. St Cuthbert & Pholtus would definitely forbid premarital sex, but would likely allow their priests to marry. Paladins would be less likely than priests to be allowed to marry, as fighting evil takes precedence over raising a family. Hieroneoan paladins & priests seem the least likely of all LG faiths to allow marriage.
IMC, Olidammarans are very sexually open, to the point of many churches doubling as brothels (no safer brothel in town than the one with ready access to cure disease spells).
Here's my take on a few faiths:
Allitur, St Cuthbert, Al'Akbar, Azor'alq: Premarital sex (PMS) forbidden, marriage encouraged (priests & paladins).
Pholtus: PMS forbidden, marriage allowed for priests (but not paladins).
Rao, Mayaheine, Pelor, Zilchus: PMS frowned upon (allowed only under special circumstances), marriage encouraged (priests & paladins).
Hieroneous: PMS forbidden, marriage forbidden for paladins & discouraged for priests.
Hextor: PMS discouraged, marriage allowed but discouraged.
Olidammara: PMS encouraged, marriage allowed but neither encouraged or discouraged.
Erythnul: PMS (especially via ****) encouraged; marriage neither encouraged or discouraged.
Wee Jas: PMS allowed under certain circumstances, marriage allowed.
Myhriss, Kord, Ehlonna, Beory, Obad-Hai: PMS & marriage both allowed.
Nerull, Incabulos: No official doctrine on PMS or marriage.
In fact gods of war like Hextor would be open to PMS, while not wishing for their warriors to be locked into marriage unless both members were a priest (Paladin). Unless of coarse you were no longer capable of leading head long into battle then marriage would be deemed acceptable.
While Heironious priests and paladins would be forbidden from PMS, and marriage could only be granted if the other partner was a member of the church. The Prefect, Canon, or Pope like individual would have to approve such a union.
Many death priests would be forbidden from both as creating life is opposite to their gods portfolio. Though certain union could be made with proper approval as the priest of a death god has given himself to tending the dead and toiling away wasted hours of sexuality are considered wasted time.
Gods of light would be pro marriage all the way while PMS could be forbidden depending on how strict and rigid the church is viewed.
But as was mentioned earlier you will have the ultimate decision in your own campaign.
But i also realized that sexuality and marriage are'nt not speaken easily about in RPG, company don't touch about that (they may have some fear/recommandations) and even some gamers seems to be unease about.
Just for Advocatus: I am sorry you reduce "most of us" to you, but i am sorry we misunderstood. I was just asking for existing rules or for Dm's way of dealing this fact in a PRATICAL way. Anyway, thank you for your contribution, maybe i haven't been clear enough, as you can guess English is not my native tongue.
Thanks all.
I know of only a few likely candidates in GH who are or probably are G/L/BS: Gaspar, the GH beggarmaster & his lover; Rufus & Burne of T1, T1-4, & RttToEE; & one of the female characters in Isle of the Ape, whose description mentions that she is "strangely attracted to Reynard" Yargrove, who is now Great Druidess of the Sheldomar (I hear this is actually an editing mistake, as Reynard was originally intended to be male).
Aside from that, which deities do you think would tolerate G/L/BS worshippers? I think Myhriss & Olidammara wouldn't care, but St Cuthbert, Pholtus, Beory, & Ulaa would.
I am sorry you reduce "most of us" to you, but i am sorry we misunderstood. I was just asking for existing rules or for Dm's way of dealing this fact in a PRATICAL way. Anyway, thank you for your contribution, maybe i haven't been clear enough, as you can guess English is not my native tongue.
Don't worry about it. Their are some people whose native language is English. But you couldn't tell it by reading their posts or speaking to them. I understood what you meant. Besides sometimes we all get a little abrasive.
When I first saw this thread, I thought it was going to be about prevalence of G/L/BS characters in Greyhawk.
Yeah, I thought the same thing originally but as makoma has stated this area is more taboo than demons.
Aside from that, which deities do you think would tolerate G/L/BS worshippers? I think Myhriss & Olidammara wouldn't care, but St Cuthbert, Pholtus, Beory, & Ulaa would.
I think the stricter the religion the less likely it is to be accepted. Though I could see many clergy members hiding behind their religion in order to find potential lovers.
Please redirect discussions related to this topic over there.
Originally posted by Robbastard
Hieroneoan paladins & priests seem the least likely of all LG faiths to allow marriage.
I'm not so sure of that. As the god of "Chivalry", I'd think that Heironeans might well include nobility as paladins in some areas. And I would think that the church would definitely want a Lawful succession in those areas which follow primogeniture. (I hope I used the right term ... eldest son/ child inheriting the title)
A lot depends on just what the character's exact role in the faith is.
There should be a lot more variety in the responses on the mature boards, since many of those folks don't come here much, so there may be some new, good ideas that arise. It should be worth a look anyway.
-wn
Closing this one now.
*click*