A God outside it's Domain

[Mabbly]

So for my world, I want a small-time evil god to be gaining massive influence in towns across the continent. His clerics would travel around creating wealth and happiness for people to convince them of this god's superiority, meanwhile skimming over the universe-dominating part of the plan.

But how can I justify these clerics being able to create wealth (like bless agricultural bounties, hunts, trade, etc) when their domain is like malice and caves?

Any ideas?

[Berenger]

"Welcome to the Blood Diamond Mines of Death Happyness!"

[Keltest]

He's really good at faking it? Maybe the results of the hunt are nutritionally lacking and eventually make people sick. The wealth attracts bandits and the like. The crops look healthy but end up being susceptible to plagues. And the priests claim that it is the people's lack of faith that is causing their gifts to spoil in that way, so some people grow even more devoted in an attempt to fix the problems the priests cause.

A lot can be done through malice.

[Jormengand]

There's no reason clerics shouldn't be able to cast outside their domains. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0954.html)

[NRSASD]

If he's a small time god, why aren't bigger and more powerful deities not creating even more prosperity than he can? Maybe the head cleric of our evil god has found a fragment of the forge of creation and is flooding the world with treasure, regardless of the imbalance it creates? Maybe the evil god has a secret alliance with the demons/lovecraftian entities/titans that's giving him all these powers, but the god has no clue that his secret partners mean to betray him?

[Honest Tiefling]

"Welcome to the Blood Diamond Mines of Death Happyness!"

Diamonds (Through diamonds may not have been valuable until recent times, depending on your technology levels) mines are good. Sources of good water underground are another. Valuable metals are another good thing to encounter. Lost treasures from ancient civilizations buried underground are always good, especially if you have a lost empire thing going on.

For hunting, perhaps the clerics lure dangerous beasts into caves who then murder each other. Free pelts and meat, and all without endangering a hunter. Also, limestone caves make for good grazing. They might not understand what is going on, but they might get the concept of soil enrichment. I guess you could always kill whatever people they don't like and put them into the ground to help enrich it. If they're on the squeamish side, don't tell them where their new fertilizer is coming from.

[Ashtagon]

There's no reason clerics shouldn't be able to cast outside their domains. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0954.html)

True, but that's not the question being asked.

As for the actual question, it depends what a "god" is in your setting.

Wizards of the Coast's The Primal Order, from their pre-D&D days, is a surprisingly good book on the subject in some ways (and epic fail in others).

Is he the god who thinks caves and malice are cool? No reason he couldn't think other stuff is cool too. He may or may not be less effective in areas outside the areas he thinks are cool, similar to how a specialist wizard is less effective in his non-specialist areas of magic. That "less effectiveness" should only extend to his clerics to the extent of the cleric domains available for them to choose; it's better to express the bulk of that less effectiveness through campaign metaplot.

However, if he is the god who is caves and malice, that could be trickier to justify. He could no more be sunshine and laughter than a lake could be a shelter from the wind.

And which he is depends a lot on how you have defined how the gods work in your cosmology.

[Jormengand]

True, but that's not the question being asked.

That's a good point, let me think ab...


But how can I justify these clerics being able to create wealth (like bless agricultural bounties, hunts, trade, etc) when their domain is like malice and caves? (Emphasis mine)

Oh wait, that's exactly the question being asked.

[Ashtagon]

Ok, fair point. It's still a worthy theological question to ask though.

[TheCountAlucard]

System's a factor too, mind. What, even, is a cleric? :smalltongue:

[Jormengand]

Also, that was meant to say "About" only cut off three-fifths of the way through. I forgot it would be blocked. I'll edit it to two-fifths of the way through.