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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 6350911" data-attributes="member: 59082">The question of whether this is allowed in the RAW in 5E is besides the point of the spirit of 5E. It certainly is allowed in 5E, but it is up to the specific DM--and perhaps petitioning player--to come up with an explanation as to how this could be.So what exactly is the difference, in your mind? In most polytheistic religious systems, the gods are "very, very powerful beings" - even if they are also personifications of natural forces and cultural archetypes. Take the Rig Veda, for instance, which is possibly the oldest known religious text. It says at one point that even the gods don't know the origin of the universe. In most forms of Hinduism, there are many gods but only one Brahman - the One being. Or in Kashmir Shaivism, all existence is perceived as the dance of Shiva. In most Hindu traditions, the core and underlying assumption is that everything is divine, everything (and everyone) is God.You see this in other pantheons - many gods of different orders, and then one overgod, or "true" god. Take even Tolkien, who has Iluvatar or Eru the One, and then the greater deities, the Valar, and the lesser deities or demigods, the Maiar. Both are, in a way, races of powerful beings that were created by Iluvatar, and then helped Iluvatar create the rest of the universe.Or look at how the Norse pantheon was portrayed in the Thor movies - they were very powerful, extraplanar beings.You could also take more Jungian/Campbellian approach where the gods are archetypes of consciousness that are personified. So, for instance, Athena is not a being "out there" but a representation of certain aspects of consciousness that we all can tap into - insight, courage, wisdom, etc. So if a cleric worships Athena, they are worshipping those qualities as personified in a deity form, and their power (spells) come through connecting with that deep archetypal energy.Anyhow, I think it is really up to the DM, perhaps with input from players, to come up with a campaign-specific explanation. Going back to 1E, there was the idea that PCs could ascend to divine status; this seems to be borne out in different campaign settings.</blockquote>

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