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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 786598" data-attributes="member: 8461">Second Edition had quite a few alternatives to god-worshipping clerics, and quite a bit to say on the subject of atheism as well.The most famous example is Planescape's Athar faction, which denied that the gods were gods. Oh yes they were powerful beings who could smite you, but they weren't really deities. How could they be, when they needed worship to live, and could kill each other? The Athar factioners had powers allowing them to resist divine abilities, since their belief in the faults of the gods empowered them (on the planes, belief translates to reality). Its a secret that some Athar worship the Great Unknown of the Astral Plane and receive divine spells for it.A slightly-related example was the offshoot of the Athar, the Godslayers. This Astral Plane-based group is dedicated to slaying deities, despite never having actually accomplished such a goal.The old Cleric's Handbook for 2E mentions that clerics can worship a god, a force, or a philosophy. Forces are things like nature or entropy, and philosophies are things like the notion that mankind is divine in nature and must ascend. Examples of these came up again and again in the game.Finally, the Guide to Hell reveals that any mortal who dies not only disbelieving the gods, but also disbelieving in any sort of afterlife has their soul go straight to Ahriman, where he slowly, painfully consumes it over the centuries to heal his wounds until he can crawl out of Hell and bring down the planes themselves.In 3E, we haven't seen so much of any of this, but the seeds are there. Clerics don't need to worship a specific god; they can just be a godless cleric and still pick two domains. The trick here seems to be in wondering if D&D-style atheism means denying the gods, or denying all divine spellcasters. It's one thing to shun the gods specifically, its quite another to turn your back on anyone who can cast a divine spell, whatever the source.</blockquote>

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