What about other kinds of priests? Besides druids? It made me think, can some priests simply get their spells if they say sincere prayers? Especially evil priests want some personal power/something in return for their worship/service. Are all of them expected to carry out the will of their deity/bring new followers/worshippers to their god, or are there some that just gets spells for praying to do with what they wish? Not sure how a cleric carries out the will of their god, unless it's through performing good and bad deeds, depending on their alignment.
Other kinds of "priests": Zealot Barbarians, Druids, Paladins, Favored Soul Sorcerers, Warlocks, technically any class and subclass depending on backstory and how you play them. As for Clerics the idea is usually either that they are given those powers on loan or that they are directly petitioning their deity to do something when they "cast a spell". In the end it all depends on the campaign and the character.
Clerics are supposed to be devout characters, but devout to what? You can be devout to non-religious things. Are scientist not devout to the power of science? Ideologues are devout to their ideology. Buddhism is largely unconcerned with deities and certain sects are atheist, not all religions have gods in them. Some Clerics may be dedicated to a pantheon of gods, some may be Confucianist and speak only of societal topics, some may not be priests at all. Clerics don't necessarily have a deity, they are just devout.
When I read the OP, my first idea was comparing clerics and god to parasites and host. Some parasites actually help the host in some way and the relationship can become symbiotic, the host gives something to the parasite and gets something in return. Many parasites don’t cause any problems so they take something but don’t really help the host in return. They are tolerated by the host but won’t get anything extra. Then there are parasites that hurt the host. Usually the host fights back with an immune reaction or they might start scratching to dislodge the parasite. The host can also signal to beneficial organisms that the parasite is causing a problem and needs to be attacked.
If in your campaign you don’t like the idea that the gods are actively messing around in the daily lives of their clerics, this might be a better analogy to use.
Now I have the image in my head of a cat god covered on cleric fleas. They are making the god miserable but it just can’t get rid of them.
What about other kinds of priests? Besides druids? It made me think, can some priests simply get their spells if they say sincere prayers? Especially evil priests want some personal power/something in return for their worship/service. Are all of them expected to carry out the will of their deity/bring new followers/worshippers to their god, or are there some that just gets spells for praying to do with what they wish? Not sure how a cleric carries out the will of their god, unless it's through performing good and bad deeds, depending on their alignment.
Other kinds of "priests": Zealot Barbarians, Druids, Paladins, Favored Soul Sorcerers, Warlocks, technically any class and subclass depending on backstory and how you play them. As for Clerics the idea is usually either that they are given those powers on loan or that they are directly petitioning their deity to do something when they "cast a spell". In the end it all depends on the campaign and the character.
Clerics are supposed to be devout characters, but devout to what? You can be devout to non-religious things. Are scientist not devout to the power of science? Ideologues are devout to their ideology. Buddhism is largely unconcerned with deities and certain sects are atheist, not all religions have gods in them. Some Clerics may be dedicated to a pantheon of gods, some may be Confucianist and speak only of societal topics, some may not be priests at all. Clerics don't necessarily have a deity, they are just devout.
When I read the OP, my first idea was comparing clerics and god to parasites and host. Some parasites actually help the host in some way and the relationship can become symbiotic, the host gives something to the parasite and gets something in return. Many parasites don’t cause any problems so they take something but don’t really help the host in return. They are tolerated by the host but won’t get anything extra. Then there are parasites that hurt the host. Usually the host fights back with an immune reaction or they might start scratching to dislodge the parasite. The host can also signal to beneficial organisms that the parasite is causing a problem and needs to be attacked.
If in your campaign you don’t like the idea that the gods are actively messing around in the daily lives of their clerics, this might be a better analogy to use.
Now I have the image in my head of a cat god covered on cleric fleas. They are making the god miserable but it just can’t get rid of them.