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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 8013019" data-attributes="member: 2629">This has been codified in my main campaign setting since the 1980s, with expansion over time to include patrons and pact magic into the lore.Divine beings are powerful, all by themselves, but the majority of their power comes from the souls of mortals.  That soul power can be collected by harnessing the dead, or by collecting it from the living.  The living can give it freely, in worship, or contractually, via pacts.  Worship inherently is a gift.  There is no promise exchanged and no universal force requiring anything to happen.  It is done when a mortal believes that the being they worship, and what that being represents, are worth giving their life and soul to support.  Gods often reward their most faithful with magic as a thank you, but there are no promises.  Some of the most devout never receive anything from the Gods.While warlocks are one example of pact magic, there are many others.  Devils, in the service of Asmodeus, are the masters of pacts for souls.   While the pacts tend to appear more on the evil side, they also appear in other (mostly) lawful situations - I have an organization similar to the Night's Watch where joining requires you to swear your life and soul to a Divine Being that is dedicated to stopping intrusions from the Far Realm, and the Fey (although quite chaotic) love contracts with mortals as a way to obtain power (but are far less likely to pay attention to the details than a Devil).</blockquote>

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