[Tywyll]

Originally Posted by soltakss

Unless I've misunderstood you completely, which is quite likely, this really only applies to an all-powerful god. If you have a polytheistic model then each god has his own sphere of influence and grants spells according to his own powers. So, a rain god frants rainmaking spells, a wargod grants war magic and a darkness god grants darkness magic.

Yeah that wasn't what I was getting at. Yes, the kind of god you worship should dictate the kinds of magic you get. What shouldn't happen (in my opinion) is that you learn specific spells, especially in advance. Priests preying ahead of time, in a vancian or quasi-vancian system (which I consider RQ Divine Magic to be) just doesn't seem like it models a good view of magic gifted from on high.

Also, if you go to a pilgramage to a certain specific holy place then you will probably get the spell associated with that holy place. So, you might get a spell to cure the Black Pox at a particular healing shrine where a goddess first cured the Black Pox.

Only if you view the god's power as being limited to places like that. I think a different way to handle it would be:
a) You prove yourself worthy of receiving the ability to wield the blessing by journeying to a forgotten shrine and reclaiming it for the faith.
b) You find a relic hidden at such a shrine lost to the faith
c) The affliction is so potent only a place dedicated to your god can handle enough power for them to remove the pox.

All of these things maintain the element of the quest or the adventure, without leaving the PC the one 'in charge' of the ability.

Possibly. I don't have a problem with that as a concept. I'd still restrict spells according to the function of the deity, though, otherwise you get the same problem as AD&D used to have where all the clerics had the same spells regardless of the deities they worshipped.

I personally preferred the Sphere system of 2nd Ed AD&D, as that dealt with the magic spread amongst various faiths quite well.