Only when serving the god's purpose

[Jfry]

I have a new High Fantasy hero that I'm creating. He's a bit of a reluctant prophet - not so much a worshipper as a conscript of the Storm god. I have a clear idea of some of his background and motivation, but realize in conversation with the GM that I'm a bit foggy on what exactly his god is telling him to do, so...two questions. I'd love to have folks answer either or both.

(1) In general, what are some manifestations you have used (or might use) to make 'only when serving the god's purpose' a bit more specific?

(2) I'll describe some specifics of his background and motivation below. Given that, any brainstorms of a manifestation of 'only when serving the god's purpose' that might work in this scenerio in particular?

Thanks in advance for the ideas,
Jeff

-- The Character --
Alder lived life as a sailor and fisherman. One day a sudden storm tossed him from his boat, and he washed up on the shore days later - changed and claimed for service by Akron, God of Storms and Strength. Since that day he hears Akron and that tempest nightly in his dreams.

The Storm is surging inside his head most of the time. The only time he finds peace is when he enters battle or prophecy and the Storm is able to come out. When it does, he appears to surge like the wind and the sea - faster and more powerfully than his frame would indicate was possible.

A reluctant prophet of Akron, He often wants to return to life on the sea, but his dreams keep him from from finding peace unless he is in acting in Akron' service. Akron has marked him to fight on His behalf and to herald the coming storm.

Powers: uncontrolled precognition, bonuses in combat when in good standing with god (heightened CHARS, guided strike represented by AP naked mod on Hammer strike, etc.), and a good bit more, but with a tendancy to charge into battle as a representative of the divine will.

[Labrat]

I have a new High Fantasy hero that I'm creating. He's a bit of a reluctant prophet - not so much a worshipper as a conscript of the Storm god. I have a clear idea of some of his background and motivation, but realize in conversation with the GM that I'm a bit foggy on what exactly his god is telling him to do, so...two questions. I'd love to have folks answer either or both.

(1) In general, what are some manifestations you have used (or might use) to make 'only when serving the god's purpose' a bit more specific?

(2) I'll describe some specifics of his background and motivation below. Given that, any brainstorms of a manifestation of 'only when serving the god's purpose' that might work in this scenerio in particular?

Thanks in advance for the ideas,
Jeff

-- The Character --
Alder lived life as a sailor and fisherman. One day a sudden storm tossed him from his boat, and he washed up on the shore days later - changed and claimed for service by Akron, God of Storms and Strength. Since that day he hears Akron and that tempest nightly in his dreams.

The Storm is surging inside his head most of the time. The only time he finds peace is when he enters battle or prophecy and the Storm is able to come out. When it does, he appears to surge like the wind and the sea - faster and more powerfully than his frame would indicate was possible.

A reluctant prophet of Akron, He often wants to return to life on the sea, but his dreams keep him from from finding peace unless he is in acting in Akron' service. Akron has marked him to fight on His behalf and to herald the coming storm.

Powers: uncontrolled precognition, bonuses in combat when in good standing with god (heightened CHARS, guided strike represented by AP naked mod on Hammer strike, etc.), and a good bit more, but with a tendancy to charge into battle as a representative of the divine will.

The easiest approach to this is this, if the GM wants to go ahead and stick to the storm god's patronage of the character then go ahead and take the limitation. Otherwise a limitation isn't a limitation unless it limits the power that it affects.

Real-world prophets are usually a reluctant bunch, that keeps them in a separate pile because self-proclaimed prophets are usually self-serving. A prophet usually shows that he is worthy of listening to because his patron usually gives him something to show to prove to the listeners that he means business (see the Bible's OT for many many examples, and of course the NT stories of John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, the Apostles in Acts and Paul). Of course many other religeons have similar stories but I'm only familiar with the ones I listed. Fantasy priests are not supposed to be 'nice wizards', they have a job to do and when they are not representing their host then that host can skip them and find someone else who will do the job better.

SO, if the prophet is willing to 'take the message to the people' and represent the god in question then he will be acting 'only when serving the god's purposes'. If not, then can the god get it done by another means, or even appear himself/herself?

Those are the things worth considering.

[sbarron]

The Storm is surging inside his head most of the time. The only time he finds peace is when he enters battle or prophecy and the Storm is able to come out. When it does, he appears to surge like the wind and the sea - faster and more powerfully than his frame would indicate was possible.

A reluctant prophet of Akron, He often wants to return to life on the sea, but his dreams keep him from from finding peace unless he is in acting in Akron' service. Akron has marked him to fight on His behalf and to herald the coming storm.You need to better define what the god's purpose for the character is. What is it the god wants the character to forsee and battle about?

To say the character serves the gods purposes by battling seems really weak. He needs to be fighting "for" something, to further some cause. What does the storm god have to fight for or about, and what is "the coming Storm?" You have to define the reason that the god felt the need to choose a warrior/prophet in the first place. If you can answer that, then I think the ways of serving him will be clear.

Some random ideas...

Is the god working against other gods that are responsible for the coming storm? If so, then the character is serving the gods purpose by fighting the followers of these gods...thwarting their plans in general.

Is the "coming storm" the storm god coming to earth in person, and this character has to "ready His arrival?" If so, then trying to gain converts and slay heretics, and reassembling the pieces of the portal might be the gods purpose for him.

Is some great cataclysm approaching, for which the god is trying to warn his followers to prepare? Then that's the purpose.

I think it might be cool if the character didn't know what his purpose was specifically. Maybe he gets power when he does certain things, but not others, and he has to piece together what the god wants on his own. The "Storm in his head" is the punishment for not doing it, and the power he recieves when he does do it is his reward. It may take several sessions to get the gist of what the god wants, and it could take even longer to figure out exaclty what the god wants...

Anyway, I hope this helps.