D&D 5E Atheism/Agnosticism in 5e?

[Erechel]

I think that a definition of what a god is is a must. Very powerful beings in the Realms are quite common, and not all of them are gods. If your only definition of deity is "A very+ powerful being" Elminster is a god, so as the vast majority of extraplanar entities (as djinnis, efreet, fiends, angels, powerful elementals and undead, Cthulhu or the Archfey). They even can ressurect dead people via Wish spell, or grant powers via magical items/spells. I think that the worshipping or the word god is different than powerful beings. So, the merit of worshipping/right to ruling over a certain domain is key to the concept of gods. And I recall certain ideas back to AD&D when the worshipping itself (the faith) is the food of the gods: those gods who lack believers (AKA fans of Justin Bieber) just die like any other being. So an Aboleth or a Lich can outlive a so-called god. In my world, the elves (specially ancient ones) are considered gods themselves, because they don't die and are very powerful phisically or magically. But rather than worship, the people fear them and try to make amends with them. But not every people agree with this deffinition, and treat them like very powerful beings, nothing else. Not quite the gods of FR.

 

[Erechel]

So gods in the FR are powerful vampires that feed on thought: the most time you spend thinking on them, the most powerful they grow.

 

[Sunseeker]

I know I've said this before, but this assumption is simply not true of all campaigns. In some games (all of mine, for instance), the only contact people of the world have with deities is through the clergy. Certainly, there is room for skepticism--for all the layperson knows, that cleric is just a charlatan casting another brand of arcane magic. And even the clergy can't know for sure where their power comes from.

And, where there is room for skepticism, there also is room for faith.

This is not the general assumption in the majority of published D&D worlds. You can certainly run your home games however you choose of course, but that's not how Faerun, Greyhawk(depends on the era) or Eberron are established.

 

[Rune]

This is not the general assumption in the majority of published D&D worlds. You can certainly run your home games however you choose of course, but that's not how Faerun, Greyhawk(depends on the era) or Eberron are established.

Which is why I didn't say anything about a majority. I was refuting your blanket claim that all of D&D is as you described.

Not even all published settings are. Eberron's deities don't walk the world--there is room for both faith and skepticism there. Neither Athas, nor Mystara have deities at all. Nor Ravenloft, for that matter. Powerful entities, yes, but not the sources of clerical magic, nor generally beings to be worshipped. Even in the Forgotten Realms, most laypeople (if there is such a thing in the Forgotten Realms) will never have seen a god personally and, hence, can not be sure that they exist. Many may not have even seen a cleric performing miracles.

Even if they have, though, witnessing a cleric perform miracles does not equate to knowing that deities exist.

But who cares about published settings, anyway? The rules transcend the settings and they very definitely don't mandate that, in your words, "everyone knows the gods exist."

 

[Hussar]

I thought in Mystara you could actually ascend to godhood. Isn't that what the immortals rules say?

 

[Shiroiken]

I thought in Mystara you could actually ascend to godhood. Isn't that what the immortals rules say?

The "gods" of Mystara are actually called Powers. They are just a step up in the evolutionary chain, but were once mortal.

 

[Shiroiken]

This is not the general assumption in the majority of published D&D worlds. You can certainly run your home games however you choose of course, but that's not how Faerun, Greyhawk(depends on the era) or Eberron are established.

Realms and Dragonlance (post War of the Lance) almost everyone would know of or believe in the gods because of their direct impact on the world. Other worlds have much less direct intervention, and only a few (spellcasters and those powerful enough to travel the outer planes) would "know" that the gods exist. That said, in any magical world it would be unlikely for there to be more than a handful of true skeptics, and most of that would likely be theological debates (is Lolth truly a goddess or just a powerful being).

 

[Rune]

I thought in Mystara you could actually ascend to godhood. Isn't that what the immortals rules say?

The "gods" of Mystara are actually called Powers. They are just a step up in the evolutionary chain, but were once mortal.

Also, they aren't the source of clerical magic; clerics get their power through their ideals, as I recall.

 

[guachi]

Clerics got their powers through their ideals in D&D when gods didn't exist at all.

 

[aramis erak]

The "gods" of Mystara are actually called Powers. They are just a step up in the evolutionary chain, but were once mortal.

Not in the books I've got...
They're called Immortals. The older, more powerful generation are "the Old Ones" (Mentzer, Immortal DM Pg 12). In Wrath, whether the Old Ones are some Gods-to-the-Gods or are just really powerful ex-immortals, or are some aspect of the initiator of the multiverse is intentionally undefined and is explicitly left to the DM to decide.

The term "Greater Powers" includes "(whatever forces of nature, greater spirits, or legendary Immortals the DM has created for this campaign world)." (Alston, D&D Cyclopedia, p. 37) It's not what they nor the locals on Mystara call them - 'tis a game-term for an inclusive array of options.

Ravenloft has "the Powers."