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<blockquote data-quote="jdrakeh" data-source="post: 2725746" data-attributes="member: 13892">Well, if one assumes the old 'power of gods flows from mortal belief in them' paradigm, then the answer is obvious - power. The more people that believe in a given god, the more powerful they are, thus the longer they will exist. In short, warring for followers is a kind of self-preservation tactic. This makes a lot of sense in most D&amp;D settings.Then you have simple self-righteousness, which is the other primary motivation for this behavior in D&amp;D settings. Gods view it as their duty to protect a certain race/class/culture of people, and thus war with other gods who would seek to subvert or harm this same said group of people. D&amp;D gods are much more 'human' than the gods of various pantheons drawn from our own history, whose exact relationship with mortals remains largely undefined. In D&amp;D, the relationship between gods and their mortal followers is typically well defined in theory, if not actual mechanics. In Roman, Greek, and Norse mythology gods were usually more concerned with petty arguments amongst themselves than with expanding or caring for their collective mortal flocks. Sure, they might have had their favorite individual mortals, but they commonly utilized mortals like many roleplayers utilize minis.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jdrakeh, post: 2725746, member: 13892"] Well, if one assumes the old 'power of gods flows from mortal belief in them' paradigm, then the answer is obvious - power. The more people that believe in a given god, the more powerful they are, thus the longer they will exist. In short, warring for followers is a kind of self-preservation tactic. This makes a lot of sense in most D&D settings. Then you have simple self-righteousness, which is the other primary motivation for this behavior in D&D settings. Gods view it as their duty to protect a certain race/class/culture of people, and thus war with other gods who would seek to subvert or harm this same said group of people. D&D gods are much more 'human' than the gods of various pantheons drawn from our own history, whose exact relationship with mortals remains largely undefined. In D&D, the relationship between gods and their mortal followers is typically well defined in theory, if not actual mechanics. In Roman, Greek, and Norse mythology gods were usually more concerned with petty arguments amongst themselves than with expanding or caring for their collective mortal flocks. Sure, they might have had their favorite [i]individual[/i] mortals, but they commonly utilized mortals like many roleplayers utilize minis. [/QUOTE]

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