How do your Gods get Power?

[MarauderX]

Ever played the game 'Black & White'? I use a system sorta like that, only it's on a plane-wide scale instead of towns. Sure there are other gods out there, but having more and/or stronger followers pushes their influence further. Having holy places purges other gods from penetrating, while followers can come and go as they please. Could it get complicated? Sure can, which is what godly politics are all about. Do they provide influences? Sometimes, perhaps, but rarely are they witnessed directly; instead they are thought to flow through a devout follower.

 

[Sejs]

I run a Forgotten Realms game where there are no gods. Or rather, religion there is exactly the same as it is in reality: completely based upon faith.

That's similar to how I do it, also. The gods don't interfere. Ever. Period.

It'd be like asking someone to stop two colonies of ants from fighting. Or, I guess an ant from one colony asking a human to stop the other ant colony.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

I do not have a homebrew world, but if I did. It would be like this. There really would not be any gods, but all Clerics and Druids would draw from a sort of divine pool of power for spells. Althogh some races, such as Humans would have this power with in them.

 

[SSquirrel]

They have to pay the great power company in the sky just like their followers do.

Hagen

 

[Nellisir]

Age. The Elder Host of my campaign didn't create the world, they were called into it from Nothing. In their passage across the world, celestials, fiends, elementals, and all the other outsiders and elementals came into being where the shadows of the Elder Host fell. There was a typical rebellion, the oldest of the gods was slain, and giants, dragons, gnomes, and humans were created from his body (bunch of evil races created from his head, too, but that's a different thread).

The Elder Host had "relations" for various reasons with the mortal races, and the children of these affairs became the Dalerain.

The Elder Host are the oldest and most powerful; they hold the broadest and most important portfolios (life, death, elements, change, entropy, knowledge, ignorance....). The oldest Dalerain are next on the hierarchy of power, though not all of them have seemingly very important portfolios (the god of smiths, being the firstborn Dalerain, can kick hinny on the god of all the oceans and seas in the world, 'cause he's older).

Generally the youngest are the Envidier, quasi-divine heros. Envidier are alot like saints; they are well-known and honored, but not actual deities.

There are Ascended, non-divine mortals who somehow acquired a portfolio. The god of trade and commerce, once a mortal, managed to convince (or trick) the Dalerain god of trade and commerce into selling his portfolio to him (that Dalerain is now an Envidier placated by those seeking to avoid a bad or foolish bargain).

Cheers
Nell.

 

[Snapdragyn]

What most IMC call 'gods' are members of any sapient race who have attained immortality (a dangerous & usually fatal endeavor) & divinity (in game mechanics, level 30+ & some mojo mystical uber-difficult stuff). There are currently almost 300 of these Undying, although most are unknown to any mortal. They don't technically 'grant' spells, but instead serve as a conduit through which their followers draw on the power of the Spirit Realm (although this is not common knowledge).

The thing is, these 'gods' don't necessarily LIKE this set-up; serving as a mystical conduit in this manner restricts their actions since they become bound by the mystical demands of their worshippers. Unworshipped 'deifics' are free to roam the world; worshipped deifics are stuck in the near layer of the Spirit Realm & can only rarely break free. Some accept this as 'the natural order of things', some do it 'to serve the greater good', some go along with it 'just for kicks', & some do it for their own 'nefarious ends'. Others, however, actively seek to avoid worship -- either by trying to obscure knowledge of their divinity (or even their existance), or even by destroying any who dare restrain them so (though this becomes more difficult for them to do as they get more worshippers, since they're then more strongly tied to the Spirit Realm).

This results in a world in which there are many extremely powerful beings wandering around who do absolutely nothing to reveal their great power, & a few dozen 'gods' who almost never directly intervene. The few who do intervene are generally young 'gods' who still have a bit of freedom, although that usually ends quickly with all of the fresh converts following a major divine act. For example, the newest god (see below) intervened once at the moment of his ascendance to turn the tide of a great battle; since then the most he has managed to do directly is animate a statue in his main temple when a new leader of his church needs to be appointed (which he then does personally).

The general populace is aware that exceptional mortals may ascend to divinity -- the last commonly known occurance was a LG (as opposed to UA variants) paladin about 200 years ago, & his church currently rules a major nation. The laity don't typically know that worship works in quite the manner that it does. There are actually a few deities who have been driven mad by the pressing demands of their worshippers: the restriction, the constant barely audible murmurings of their prayers, the divinations which COMPEL answers.... The priesthoods of those churches are interesting places at higher levels, as the entrenched hierarchy seeks to maintain the secret of worship's true effects, & thus the status quo.. for personal power? to protect the poor masses who need a god's power? Who knows.

Of course, there IS the Spirit Realm itself... though no one now alive remembers, it is concious, & sparked the creation of the first material planes out of the chaos-stuff of the Dream. It hasn't said whether it's a god or not, though perhaps no one has ever thought to ask.

The 'infernals' & 'celestials' of typical D&D are simply natives of two planes, Sinistra & (not yet named); I'm debating whether they should follow standard good/evil dichotomy, go law/chaos instead, or masquerade as one while actually being the other.

 

[DGFan]

The gods in my campaign world fall into two categories. The first is the one god that existed originally. This god has no sentience. It represents the elements of creation. The other gods came about later. They were exceptionally powerful people that something happened to. That "something" has a number of possibilities. Now that these beings are gods they can't just head back to the prime material plane. They do get some of their power from worship but it's not the majority.

As far as worship goes, you can worship a god for any reason. Pallas is the god of paladins, virtue, honor, and good things like that. But if you want to worship him as the "god of shiny pieces of metal" you could. It is your devotion and worship that powers the divine magic. Of course if you are a priest of a god but your actions work against the god's purposes a great deal you're likely to get a very unpleasant visit.

 

[Nightfall]

Let's see...I'm the Sage of the Scarred Lands...so how did my gods get power? Well it wasn't by being pansies I can tell you that!

 

[Salad Shooter]

The gods in our setting gain their power through worshippers. The more worshippers, the more power. The worshippers were created by the gods. Its a fine symbiotic relationship, the mortals were created by the gods and a lot depends on the gods for them to live, and the gods require the worshippers for the power they gain. Anyone can become a god, if they obtain enough worshippers. Granted...it takes a LOT of worshippers.

 

[CaptainCalico]

In my homebrew the gods have power by virtue of being gods, but worshipers are their main connection to the Prime Material Plane - each worshiper and active scared site is a conduit for the god's power to affect this world. Which is why they get testy if somone messes with a temple..