Raven Crowking said:
Why does anyone in your world worship gods? 3.X establishes pretty well that clerics (etc.) gain their divine spells and powers whether or not they worship anyone. What is the purpose behind gods in your world? Does anyone get any direct benefits from worshiping them? Indirect benefits?
You're conflating two questions:
1) why do clerics worship deities, and
2) why does ANYONE worship deities.
Since you hinge it on benefits, it sounds as if you are primarily talking about mechanics. Obviously, WotC has made the default mechanics very permissive. But really, as it stands, that says little about what lies beyond the mechanics. You may not worship any personified deity but a principle, but you are still being given power by following a religious principle of some sort.
As for my game world specifically, it is NOT good enough to just follow "good" or "strength". Though you may be empowered by a deity personifying such characteristics, but that deity has the power to rescind their power.
As for anyone worshipping deities, that's a cosmology question. I adopt an attitude for PS that the divinity is sort of a divine beacon that your soul homes in on in the afterlife. Further, it gives you a principle that likewise guides it to that plane. If you don't follow a patron deity, you may get to the afterlife safely, or you may not. Do you feel lucky, punk?
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
