D&D 5E Everybody's got to have a Patron deity. Where did it come from?

[Mercule]

I think that it stands to reason that any world in which gods were demonstrably real would be very different from our own. In a world where clerics could bring people back to life or strike people dead would see a lot more faithfully observant people. So to me (assuming I understand the premise of your question) it seems likely that any organization or archetype would be a reflection of one of these world shaping forces in some way.

Like, would we have organized crime if everyone truly 100% believed there was a god who would punish them for eternity for commuting crimes? I dunno. However, if there was a trickster god who promised people great reward for such things and we 100% knew he was real I can guarantee we'd have thieves guilds.

Humans have a remarkable ability to rationalize whatever they want, regardless of facts. Just look at climate change: Believers will show various scientific models and cannot fathom why anyone would argue. Deniers will point out there are email leaks and other evidence of doctoring the data as well as several predictions that have not panned out, so why would anyone buy into such a flawed premise. In the middle are folks who'll acknowledge climate change, but deny substantive human involvement or just don't see it as a bad thing. (Note: I picked something I thought I could present in a neutral way to illustrate the point. I tried to balance both sides in a non-political way. Please don't actually argue the merits/flaws of climate change.)

Also, very few people in jail believe they did anything wrong -- at least not that wrong. There's almost always a rationalization for why they had to do what they did and how they're actually a victim.

You'd end up with atheists in a D&D world just because Wizards have finger of death, so Clerics are just trumped up Wizards. Even if Pelor, himself, popped in for tea, there'd be some folks who would say, "Well, he's just a potent angel. No way I'm going to worship someone with that kind of ego."

 

[akr71]

... you would still have something to write in the "Hair" field if your character was bald.

I'm not saying that you could never have an atheistic, non-mammalian, or eye-less character. I'm just saying that the default assumptions for a character are that they have hair and eyes and worship one of the many gods of the setting, which is why the character sheet was presented as it was.

Why? Why would you have to fill in all the blanks on your character sheet? Does your DM check your character sheet and make sure everything is filled out before you sit down to play? Do the dice not work until everything is filled in?

Sarcasm aside and getting back on point - as a DM I have never insisted that a player choose a Patron Deity. Even clerics - the player chooses a Domain and from there, that suggests who their Patron might be and I suggest to the player that they give it some thought, but it is not essential.

Edit: I just took another look at the character sheet pdf I downloaded from the WotC site and I do not see Patron Deity/God(s)/Religion anywhere on it.

 

[TwoSix]

Why? Why would you have to fill in all the blanks on your character sheet? Does your DM check your character sheet and make sure everything is filled out before you sit down to play? Do the dice not work until everything is filled in?

Sarcasm aside and getting back on point - as a DM I have never insisted that a player choose a Patron Deity. Even clerics - the player chooses a Domain and from there, that suggests who their Patron might be and I suggest to the player that they give it some thought, but it is not essential.

It's fun to imagine the OCD required to get flustered by the Patron Diety box on the character sheet. Imagine when they encounter the Address Line 2 box on an online form!

"But I only live in one place! Maybe I'll put the number in the first box, and the street in the second!"

 

[ccs]

If that's the logic you want to use, then it would be the only such space on the entire character sheet which worked that way. Every other field expects to have some sort of value. Barring extremely strange exceptions, you can't have a character without a Name or Class or Eyes.

I beg to differ. I most definitely have a character without a name. On the Name: ______? There's a /. It's actually just a random mark that didn't get erased when I reused the character sheet.
OTHER people in the group assumed the characters name was "Slash". Some people figured I'd named him after the guy from Guns & Roses.
In almost 30 years though (I) have never referred to the character by any name. I just state that I do/say _____.

In truth? He's not named after Slash of G&R. Nor was I aiming for a Clint Eastwood style "Man-With-No-Name" character. His name (or lack of) isnt even on par with how Melf (Male Elf) us said to have been named. That at least took effort. I just didn't name the character because it was for a one-shot adventure. What his name was wasn't important, & wasn't going to be needed in the future. Hell, even the adventure wasn't going to be remembered. Or if it was it'd be as "oh yeah, that week you couldn't make it Jim ran a one-off dungeon crawl".

Except after that one shot "/'s" character sheet got tucked into the back of the folder. And the next time we did a one off? It got pulled out & used again. And again. And again.... Because if the character was the right lv for the one shot in question it was faster than making yet another character (even in 1e/2e).
But to this day I've not named him.

 

[Oofta]

As others have said, it's never been required. For several character classes it is pretty important and is important from an RP perspective to many non-casters.

In my campaign, if you regularly profess loyalty to a church, give money on a regular basis you will have greater support from the clergy. You may also get more direct intervention, although that is quite rare.

But my atheist wizard just put "none" in the deity box. The way he looks at it, deities may indeed be supernatural/extraplanar beings but that doesn't make them worthy of worship. In his mind eternal souls are just a myth perpetrated by these beings so that people will pray to them and channel a small amount of magical energy to them every time.

Heck, with the current rules even traditionally religious characters like paladins don't have to have a deity, and can just have an oath.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I beg to differ. I most definitely have a character without a name. On the Name: ______? There's a /. It's actually just a random mark that didn't get erased when I reused the character sheet.

Great. You're that rare exception that I mentioned. The reasonable assumption by the game designers is still that every character will have a name, and that still holds true in the vast majority of cases.

You can totally play a character without a name, or without hair, or without eyes, or without a patron deity. Just know that it is an exceptional deviation from the expected norms. It's weird that your character doesn't have a name. It's weird if a character doesn't follow a deity.

And of course, the DM is empowered to build their own setting, where typical conventions are turned on their head. You can totally build a custom setting where people don't have names, and it would be noted as unconventional because of that fact, in much the same way that Dark Sun is noted as unconventional because of the lack of gods.

 

[SmokingSkull]

Honestly I don't know where the idea came from, however I view that little box as completely optional, just because it's there doesn't mean it needs to be filled. Not every character is going to have some kind of deity/god they believe in, after all some people are born into environs that do not talk of gods but perhaps spirits. Beings far separated from gods, yet their power is undeniable. And not all beings of power are gods, look at one of the patrons a warlock could take: the Great Old One is usually (not always) associated with Cthulu, Old Gods, Far Realms and the like. They're not gods, more like inscrutable beings of Eldritch power that go beyond the definition of a god.

And what of spirits of Nature? They're not gods either, persistent and just is, not unlike elementals in a way. It takes all kinds to make up a world, both believers and non believers. For what it's worth this is nothing more than a matter of RP choice, do you want to play a character who believes in a deity or not? It's just another question to be asked and answered at character creation.

 

[Mouseferatu]

The 1E character sheet had space for a character's last will and testament, for Pete's sake. The notion that a line is somehow mandatory to fill that out because it's on the sheet is absurd on the face of it.

 

[Chaosmancer]

The 1E character sheet had space for a character's last will and testament, for Pete's sake. The notion that a line is somehow mandatory to fill that out because it's on the sheet is absurd on the face of it.

Though I did not know this (and somehow I think that is something that should be added to certain characters) I completely agree with the sentiment

Because there is a space for it is a dumb reason, even if it is the factually correct answer (which I don't think it is) it is a dumb reason.


I'd give a dumb analogy as an example, but I can't think of anything good beyond saying you burnt the wood pile because it was flammable.

 

[dagger]

Here is a rule that might have added to the everyone needs a deity line of thinking. I know we use to use this rule, but it was not heavily enforced.


Deities & Demigods, p.9.
First and second paragraphs under the heading CLERICS AND DEITIES

CLERICS AND DEITIES
When a DM is deciding which gods will be commonly worshiped in his or
her campaign, he must be aware of the fact that not all gods are equally
powerful, and that this affects their ability to grant spells to their clerics. As
is explained in the DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE, 1st and 2nd level spells
are gained through the cleric's knowledge and faith. All other spells are
gained through prayer. Third, fourth and fifth level spells are granted by
the supernatural servants or minions of the cleric's deity. These servants
range up to demigod level. Clerics whose patrons are demigods (and not
lesser or greater goo's) will receive their 3rd through 5th level spells directly
from their deity. A demigod cannot grant spells above 5th level, so a
cleric of a demigod could never receive 6th or 7th level spells,

Sixth and seventh level spells are granted to clerics directly from their
deities. Only the greater gods may grant 7th level spells.

Which is sort of spelled out in the 1e PHB:

1E PH p.40

First, second, third, and even fourth level spells are granted to the cleric through meditation and devout prayer. This spell giving is accomplished by the lesser servants of the cleric's deity. Fifth, sixth,
and even seventh level spells can be given to the cleric ONLY by the cleric's deity directly, not through some intermediary source.