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How Might D&D Religions Differ From Real Life Religions?
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<blockquote data-quote="Goblyns Hoard" data-source="post: 4508682" data-attributes="member: 19970"><p>As long as there is 'obvious' evidence of a god's existence, i.e. the ability of his/her priests to do magical things, then it's going to make a dramatic difference to the world.</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Atheists will not exist - or would be considered crazy. It would be like not believing in elephants, or possibly like being a Holocaust-denier (not wanting to raise politics, just provide an analogy)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Most people will probably not worship one god exclusively, particularly if your gods have the fairly standard 'portfolio' divisions. There's no point praying to Avandra for sun for your crops, or Pelor for a safe journey.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Some people will be dedicated to a specific god in a big way considering that god to be the most important. Pelor-type gods will probably dominate here (sun worship being fairly popular as the bringer of all energy to the world). I imagine it's harder to consider Avandra as that sort of 'primary deity' in the same way. Those who have this view may consider the other deities as 'angels' in service of their chosen god.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Holy War/Jihad may be significantly greater. If a god's power in the heavens is directly proportional to the amount of worshippers it has on the mortal plane then it will inspire its followers to convert the non-believers. While not all gods will want to use war to do that, war-like gods will be more effective if they do, so their clergy may spend a very significant amount of time at war with opposing religions.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Heresy is harder to establish if a god's 'opinions' are clear cut. One of the major factors in real world religions is schisms between different factions following the same gods. Protestant vs Catholic, Sunni vs Shia, etc. These can only really occur if there is any question about the god's actual opinion on issue X. If when Martin Luther posted his proclamations on the door of the church in Wittenberg god had struck him dead (or he'd lost his cleric powers) there would have been no reformation. This may or may not come into a fantasy religion depending on how clear cut a god's opinions are and how much that god interacts with the mortal plane. You do also have the possibility of a god of lies providing power to heretics of another god to create a schism in the flock.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Congregational worship - if there are multiple gods with different portfolios then congregational worship (going to church every sunday) becomes much more complicated. Does each god have a holy day of the week, do you have enough days for each god, do you worship the pantheon, how do those priests that are dedicated to a single god feel about you not attending their 'mass'. I would expect that assuming pantheon type worship is the norm that people would attend worship when they could, or when they wanted to beseech the aid of the gods. Small communities would be limited to just a temple with a lay priest follower of the pantheon as a whole. Cities may have a 'Parthenon' (a massive cathedral but again dedicated to the pantheon) and then also have more intimate shrines to each of the deities. Or maybe on Holy day the congregation are expected to make their way around the temples of all the gods, maybe spending more time, or attending the 'main mass' at ones they consider more important.</li> </ul><p></p><p>Just some thoughts for now... might come up with more later.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Goblyns Hoard, post: 4508682, member: 19970"] As long as there is 'obvious' evidence of a god's existence, i.e. the ability of his/her priests to do magical things, then it's going to make a dramatic difference to the world. [LIST] [*]Atheists will not exist - or would be considered crazy. It would be like not believing in elephants, or possibly like being a Holocaust-denier (not wanting to raise politics, just provide an analogy) [*]Most people will probably not worship one god exclusively, particularly if your gods have the fairly standard 'portfolio' divisions. There's no point praying to Avandra for sun for your crops, or Pelor for a safe journey. [*]Some people will be dedicated to a specific god in a big way considering that god to be the most important. Pelor-type gods will probably dominate here (sun worship being fairly popular as the bringer of all energy to the world). I imagine it's harder to consider Avandra as that sort of 'primary deity' in the same way. Those who have this view may consider the other deities as 'angels' in service of their chosen god. [*]Holy War/Jihad may be significantly greater. If a god's power in the heavens is directly proportional to the amount of worshippers it has on the mortal plane then it will inspire its followers to convert the non-believers. While not all gods will want to use war to do that, war-like gods will be more effective if they do, so their clergy may spend a very significant amount of time at war with opposing religions. [*]Heresy is harder to establish if a god's 'opinions' are clear cut. One of the major factors in real world religions is schisms between different factions following the same gods. Protestant vs Catholic, Sunni vs Shia, etc. These can only really occur if there is any question about the god's actual opinion on issue X. If when Martin Luther posted his proclamations on the door of the church in Wittenberg god had struck him dead (or he'd lost his cleric powers) there would have been no reformation. This may or may not come into a fantasy religion depending on how clear cut a god's opinions are and how much that god interacts with the mortal plane. You do also have the possibility of a god of lies providing power to heretics of another god to create a schism in the flock. [*]Congregational worship - if there are multiple gods with different portfolios then congregational worship (going to church every sunday) becomes much more complicated. Does each god have a holy day of the week, do you have enough days for each god, do you worship the pantheon, how do those priests that are dedicated to a single god feel about you not attending their 'mass'. I would expect that assuming pantheon type worship is the norm that people would attend worship when they could, or when they wanted to beseech the aid of the gods. Small communities would be limited to just a temple with a lay priest follower of the pantheon as a whole. Cities may have a 'Parthenon' (a massive cathedral but again dedicated to the pantheon) and then also have more intimate shrines to each of the deities. Or maybe on Holy day the congregation are expected to make their way around the temples of all the gods, maybe spending more time, or attending the 'main mass' at ones they consider more important. [/LIST] Just some thoughts for now... might come up with more later. [/QUOTE]
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