Shattered Kingdoms

Then you just wear any other gear. Simple as that. Traditionally, tabletop games measure a god's influence by the amount of worshippers at any given time; for you to have access to the sacred loot, your religion needs to be active enough to warrant it being used.

How about the religious gear exsists but it's scripts vary on the number of followers?

No

Personally, if I were Dulrik (IC) and there weren't any followers of my faith, and one paladin showed up and was like "Lord Dulrik, I wish to serve thee and smite all evils in the land forthwith! Even though none may follow me, I will be a bastion of light in this dark and unholy world" then I would be -more- inclined to have that guy wearing my sacred armor than go "lol good luck dawg, maybe if you can get some more dudes doing the same I can give some lewt to one of you."

My biggest beef though, is that I already don't like sacred EQ because it gives gameplay incentives, sometimes very strong ones, to joining a religion without putting the correct forethought and RP into it. It seems that adding requirements like a certain number of followers to get the same gameplay rewards is a step in the wrong direction, not the right one.

roll char, get to level 2, invest, never play char again

I am sure that is an abuse that can be tracked and punished.

That won't do you a lot of good; you need to be present to get the sacred equipment.

Which means your faith needs to agree on who will have it, and then you all three have to go get it.

I think she meant as far as getting followers to boost the gear's power.

I agree with Edoras. This is a bad idea.

This!

People roll characters just for aspects of the sacred loot. It is really lame!

Also, size of a flock has nothing to do with the activity level of a flock; why should my ability to get the armor be based on that?

Still, I would like to point out to players that if you are going to be inactive for an extended period of time (more than a week) and you have the sacred armor, GIVE IT UP. There is no reason to hoard the armor until the deletion of your character or your return. At minimum, ask a fellow member of the faith to wear it proudly until you return.