D&D General If faith in yourself is enough to get power, do we need Wizards and Warlocks etc?

[Micah Sweet]

The concept of "the divine" is largely Christian/monotheistic. It's largely used as a synonym for holy (set apart).

Although the origin of the word is the same as divination - foretelling the future.

But the best thing to do is to allow these concepts to evolve naturally, and try to keep up.

Strong disagree. You want something different, find or make something different. That way, you actually get what you want and not what the gestalt has decided you want.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Strong disagree. You want something different, find or make something different. That way, you actually get what you want and not what the gestalt has decided you want.

"Powered by Faith" is the cleric - it's not really different. Nor is the idea that the faith need not be in a traditional pseudo-Christian deity remotely new to D&D.

But being out of touch with the gestalt is not a healthy place to be. Not if you want to be relevant (or find new players). Not to say that old ideas are necessarily bad, but they need to have intrinsic merit beyond "what I grew up with". Young people are quite happy to adopt old ideas, if they are actually good.

 

[Micah Sweet]

"Powered by Faith" is the cleric - it's not really different. Nor is the idea that the faith need not be in a traditional pseudo-Christian deity remotely new to D&D.

But being out of touch with the gestalt is not a healthy place to be. Not if you want to be relevant (or find new players). Not to say that old ideas are necessarily bad, but they need to have intrinsic merit beyond "what I grew up with". Young people are quite happy to adopt old ideas, if they are actually good.

There are plenty of folks who like the old ways, and I am offended by the idea that not being on the leading edge of popularity is "unhealthy", to be perfectly frank.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

There are plenty of folks who like the old ways

That's because they have forgotten how much they sucked.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That's because they have forgotten how much they sucked.

Tell us how you really feel.

 

[Tony Vargas]

That's because they have forgotten how much they sucked.

I never did get those rose-colored glasses in my prescription.... I shoulda gotten better insurance.

Young people are quite happy to adopt old ideas, if they are actually good.

Or if that 'authenticity' is part of the draw. Come-backs may be touched off by empty nesters and mid-life crises and the like, but they create a curiosity about the past for younger potential adopters, too.

 

[Deadstop]

The concept of "the divine" is largely Christian/monotheistic. It's largely used as a synonym for holy (set apart).

Although the origin of the word is the same as divination - foretelling the future.

But the best thing to do is to allow these concepts to evolve naturally, and try to keep up.

While the word "divine" is connected to languages associated with Christianity, and a lot of the study on the subject has been done by Westerners brought up in a Christianish milieu, I'm pretty sure the concept of the divine/holy/sacred/numinous is not specific to Christianity or even monotheism.

 

[Clint_L]

Ironically, the word "divine" derives from Latin and was originally used in the context of Hellenistic (i.e. pantheistic) religion. So...not Christian at all, to start with. Quite the opposite!

 

[Tonguez]

.

 

[Yaarel]

Re Cleric. "Faith" is a 3e thing. In 5e, the divine power source is the Astral Plane, especially the alignment planes.