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Are "evil gods" necessary? [THREAD NECRO]
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<blockquote data-quote="GreenTengu" data-source="post: 8021279" data-attributes="member: 6777454"><p>It does strike me that D&D tends to do evil gods very badly.</p><p></p><p>The first issue is that there are "demons and devils" who basically feed on there being chaos and suffering in the world, and that's in and of itself a fine idea, though since they are fundamentally opposed to all gods-- then evil gods cannot be the same thing.</p><p></p><p>So what benefit is this "evil god" going to be getting that is fundamentally opposed to what empowers devil and demons?</p><p></p><p>Furthermore-- whether it be an evil god or a demon, it needs to be able to grant its followers something of meaning and value. Yet, all too often, it feels within D&D that the followers gain nothing and instead simply get disfigured or infected or have their freedoms or abilities curtailed. If that's what's happening, then why on earth is anyone following such a god, or demons for that matter?</p><p></p><p>I suppose if it was a God of War, then probably their sole goal would be to drive people to cause wars, often entirely unnecessary ones, whenever possible and it could grant those who are particularly faithful strength. That really makes so much sense that I can hardly imagine that there should ever be any sort of good-aligned "god of war" with perhaps the good aligned equivalents being like "god of justice" where they avoid outright wars whenever necessary so as to avoid innocent casualties and inflict their aggressive powers narrowly upon the evil doers.</p><p></p><p>But if you have like-- "god of disease" or "god of death" or "god of famine" or something-- what on earth could they possibly be offering their followers?</p><p></p><p>I think WarHammer does this pretty well. Their evil gods involve a "God of War" who grants one strength in battle and often empowers one to exact revenge on those that have wronged them but having the power becomes addicted and soon one is just making war on everyone, a God of Excess who can grant one beauty and riches but when ones every base desire gets fulfilled easily they are driven to do more and more extreme things that cause greater and greater harm to others in order to satiate their boredom, a "God of Change" who can help one with their revolutionary plans or help them discover lost lore or magic in order to have the power to change the world-- but the more power one acquires, the more flippant and reckless they become with it and the more they want to acquire and closer they want to guard what they know so they can keep having leverage over others, and a god of plagues who grants his followers ever lasting life, immunity to pain, and ever-lasting jovial feelings even as their bodies bloat and become hotbeds of viruses and bacteria that they spread to the world as the god simply wants the world to be filled with more and more life-- which means more and more bacteria, fungus and viruses.</p><p></p><p>But the motivations behind why someone would join a particular cult or follow a particular god never seems particularly well explored in D&D. Instead it so often comes down to simply "they are evil for the sake of being evil" and the question of "what are they actually getting out of this?" is not nearly often enough considered.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="GreenTengu, post: 8021279, member: 6777454"] It does strike me that D&D tends to do evil gods very badly. The first issue is that there are "demons and devils" who basically feed on there being chaos and suffering in the world, and that's in and of itself a fine idea, though since they are fundamentally opposed to all gods-- then evil gods cannot be the same thing. So what benefit is this "evil god" going to be getting that is fundamentally opposed to what empowers devil and demons? Furthermore-- whether it be an evil god or a demon, it needs to be able to grant its followers something of meaning and value. Yet, all too often, it feels within D&D that the followers gain nothing and instead simply get disfigured or infected or have their freedoms or abilities curtailed. If that's what's happening, then why on earth is anyone following such a god, or demons for that matter? I suppose if it was a God of War, then probably their sole goal would be to drive people to cause wars, often entirely unnecessary ones, whenever possible and it could grant those who are particularly faithful strength. That really makes so much sense that I can hardly imagine that there should ever be any sort of good-aligned "god of war" with perhaps the good aligned equivalents being like "god of justice" where they avoid outright wars whenever necessary so as to avoid innocent casualties and inflict their aggressive powers narrowly upon the evil doers. But if you have like-- "god of disease" or "god of death" or "god of famine" or something-- what on earth could they possibly be offering their followers? I think WarHammer does this pretty well. Their evil gods involve a "God of War" who grants one strength in battle and often empowers one to exact revenge on those that have wronged them but having the power becomes addicted and soon one is just making war on everyone, a God of Excess who can grant one beauty and riches but when ones every base desire gets fulfilled easily they are driven to do more and more extreme things that cause greater and greater harm to others in order to satiate their boredom, a "God of Change" who can help one with their revolutionary plans or help them discover lost lore or magic in order to have the power to change the world-- but the more power one acquires, the more flippant and reckless they become with it and the more they want to acquire and closer they want to guard what they know so they can keep having leverage over others, and a god of plagues who grants his followers ever lasting life, immunity to pain, and ever-lasting jovial feelings even as their bodies bloat and become hotbeds of viruses and bacteria that they spread to the world as the god simply wants the world to be filled with more and more life-- which means more and more bacteria, fungus and viruses. But the motivations behind why someone would join a particular cult or follow a particular god never seems particularly well explored in D&D. Instead it so often comes down to simply "they are evil for the sake of being evil" and the question of "what are they actually getting out of this?" is not nearly often enough considered. [/QUOTE]
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