Switchblade
First Post
"Yeah, now prove that those are form a god, and not from some other source."
I think the "evidence of the existence that the gods exist" is way, way overstated. There's all sorts of sources of various magical events in the D&D rules - any edition. Everyone gets to produce fantastic effects. Miracles abound. What proof is there for the root origin of any of them?
Especially when the 3e rules explicitly state you can have clerics and paladins who don't follow gods. Sorry, that blows the whole, "gods clearly exist" right out of the water.
Consider: you can change the metaphysic out from under all divine powers - so they come from belief, rather than an actual god - and nothing else changes. The players don't even have to know! How strong is the case the gods must exist then?
I wasn't actually thinking divine magic being the only proof. (I've read to many fantasty novels where the priests were all secretly wizards).
I was more thinking people going to the afterlife and coming back, planar travel and that only those who seem to follow a faith can manifest certain spells while faithless wizards utilize a different sort of magic, only the faithful clerics can turn undead etc. That and clerics who stop following their god lose all their powers.
It's certainly not watertight and there is room for a skeptic to not believe but it is compelling.