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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ilbranteloth" data-source="post: 7157217" data-attributes="member: 6778044">There's actually a difference between polytheism (where a religion recognizes and worships multiple gods) and a world where there are multiple religions, each with their own god(s). I'm sure there's a term for the second, but I can't find it. But in the second case, one of the defining features is that each religion doesn't recognize the other gods as divine, and may not even recognize them at all.Of course, this is quite different in D&D where the gods are not based on the faith of a religion (although they gain power from it), but are explicitly designed beings that live in their own planes and can actually be verified in person by characters or other creatures from the material worlds in many different ways. So when the church of Cyric states that Cyric is the only god, and the only being worthy of worship, that's technically a monotheistic religion. But there are other beings classified as "gods" which in game terms means they are able to grant divine powers to clerics (although this is a bit less explicit in 5e).Absolutely. No dragonborn or tieflings! (Actually, I have them, but very, very different.) But yes, to your (and really @<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=58172" target="_blank">Yaarel</a>'s) point. Home-brew is king. Especially in OD&D, AD&D (1e) and 5e. I'd argue that 5e is really more about home-brew than any other edition. As you pointed out, AD&D (and OD&D before it) was home-brew because it had to be. There wasn't enough published. This changed dramatically in 2e. But more importantly, 5e is a better designed and simpler rule system, and extremely easy to tweak. Plus it has the benefit of the internet, with DMsGuild for "official" home-brew, and all of the various forums and blogs for "unofficial" home-brew. They also dialed the fluff way back in 5e, compared to 4e, in the PHB and DMG. What fluff is there encompasses most of the previously published worlds, and even some historical elements too. It's the first edition since 2e that doesn't include a specific set of deities for the core rules.Actually, looking at it, 2e is the most non-specific about religion. It states that in general, all you really need to know is that clerics "serve religions that can generally be described as "good" or "evil." Nothing more needs to be said about it."There's quite a bit more discussion, but it's very non-prescriptive. Thinking back (and glancing through the PHB), I had forgotten how much the edition moved away from the strict presentation of 1e. Of course, the downplay on religion also coincided with the removal of demons and devils to appease the hysteria of the time regarding it being an occult game teaching actual spells and condemning us all to hell.</blockquote>

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