Priest and God Spells Levels

[Hell Hound]

Howdy,

Played 1e BitD and now hope to run a game soonish.

One concern I have is how gods can only grant spells to Priests (and demons/devils to Witches?) that they themselves have access to. The reason this bugs me is it promotes min/maxing at the cost of role-play. If you want to cast spells from 1-11 your choice is limited and you're likely to choose a God for rules reason over character concept.

Obviously, I can house rule this but just wondering if I am understanding it correctly and if so what have others done regarding this - accept it, reject it, house rule it, etc.?

[kiralon]

That rule is first ed palladium only.
Second Ed fixed that particular problem by saying you can pick spells lvls 1 - 3, it doesn't matter what your god knows.
Playing palladium means there will be a bit of house ruling going on, so prepare your players by telling them that some of the rules can be a bit odd, but you will sort them out as you get to them.

Are you playing first ed or second ed palladium. The dragons and gods book is fairly helpful for priests, but it is a second ed book.

I mostly play frankenpalladium v1.75. Based off first ed but rules borrowed from second ed and other places. There are a few threads on house rules and are worth a look for both first and second ed. Prysus's website, kitsune and a few other a good for a look too.

[Hell Hound]

Hey kiralon,

Yeah, first edition. Thanks, I'll check out those threads.
One house rule already is to use the I.Q. skill bonus chart as a guide for skills that would do better with P.P. or P.S. etc. instead of just using I.Q. for a straight across the board bonus. For example, pick pockets is a P.P. skill and if it got a bonus would use that stats number. I digress.

[kiralon]

I actually house ruled that you get an extra skill with the number matching the PP bonus, so if you have an IQ of 18 for example, you also get to pick 2 extra skills (pp of 18 = +2)

[Soldier of Od]

Howdy,

Played 1e BitD and now hope to run a game soonish.

One concern I have is how gods can only grant spells to Priests (and demons/devils to Witches?) that they themselves have access to. The reason this bugs me is it promotes min/maxing at the cost of role-play. If you want to cast spells from 1-11 your choice is limited and you're likely to choose a God for rules reason over character concept.

Obviously, I can house rule this but just wondering if I am understanding it correctly and if so what have others done regarding this - accept it, reject it, house rule it, etc.?

As Kiralon says, in 2nd edition that is no longer an issue. When we played 1st edition we used to say that a priest has access to spells from any of the gods in their pantheon - they are all worshipped as a whole. Even if a priest leans towards a particular god in their pantheon, the other gods would allow access to their knowledge, powers and blessings as well, so long as the priest shows respect to all. It is one of the reasons to worship a pantheon of gods rather than the loners.

[Hell Hound]

Second Ed fixed that particular problem by saying you can pick spells lvls 1 - 3, it doesn't matter what your god knows.

So in second edition if your god knows only level one spells, you still cast/choose up to level three but nothing past? So you'd still miss out on levels 4-11?

One of the reason for this question was, way back when, I had a major pact maker witch (changeling) and I wanted Modeus as his master and not Satan, damn it!

[Nekira Sudacne]

Huh? Where is this. I've not seen any rule saying the spells a Deity grants is limited to spells that the deity knows. at any level.

[Hell Hound]

Huh? Where is this. I've not seen any rule saying the spells a Deity grants is limited to spells that the deity knows. at any level.

First edition. pg. 140 under Priest/ Priestess: Choosing and Gaining Spells

[Soldier of Od]

Second Ed fixed that particular problem by saying you can pick spells lvls 1 - 3, it doesn't matter what your god knows.

So in second edition if your god knows only level one spells, you still cast/choose up to level three but nothing past? So you'd still miss out on levels 4-11?

One of the reason for this question was, way back when, I had a major pact maker witch (changeling) and I wanted Modeus as his master and not Satan, damn it!

Witches are different from priests! 1st edition witches can choose any spells up to their current level of experience - the entry does not have the same "spells available are limited by the deity's spell knowledge" statement that the 1st edition priest O.C.C. has. Although the ability to cast spells is provided by the master, the demon lord does not have to know the spells itself, just like it can grant the ability to be impervious to fire or command rats without personally having those abilities.

[Hell Hound]

Second Ed fixed that particular problem by saying you can pick spells lvls 1 - 3, it doesn't matter what your god knows.

So in second edition if your god knows only level one spells, you still cast/choose up to level three but nothing past? So you'd still miss out on levels 4-11?

One of the reason for this question was, way back when, I had a major pact maker witch (changeling) and I wanted Modeus as his master and not Satan, damn it!

Witches are different from priests! 1st edition witches can choose any spells up to their current level of experience - the entry does not have the same "spells available are limited by the deity's spell knowledge" statement that the 1st edition priest O.C.C. has. Although the ability to cast spells is provided by the master, the demon lord does not have to know the spells itself, just like it can grant the ability to be impervious to fire or command rats without personally having those abilities.

Awesome. Thanks!

Hail Modeus!