Players naturally project their own morality on PC's.
Everyone does it. I do it. It's human nature.
And it is the way D&D is played at the table.
Which is 100% ok. Nothing wrong with it at all.
As for the point I was making:
"This topic is about the Moral philosophies of heroic characters in a fantasy world. Not considerations and reflections on Fantastical Theology."
Morality and Theology are intertwined. For example; In western society we live in a culture that has been shaped by 2000 years of Christian morality. It doesn't matter if you are an atheist. Your notions of right and wrong are shaped by the general cultural mores and values you grew up with. Which in western society happens to have been largely shaped by Christianity.
If you are truly trying to imbue what a character that lives in a fantasy world's morality is like - then that morality will be shaped by the Fantastical Theology of the setting. The PC would have grown up under the influence of some gods moral tenets. Which should be reflected in how the character is played.
As much as this is NOT reflected in actual play in most D&D games is a commentary on how ridiculous D&D's cosmology actually is, as it is usually one of the first things that gets ignored. And deservedly so. (Yes clerics/paladins/warlocks etc. have to pay cosmological lip service - but this is all in the name of getting cool powers, so it is a small price to pay.)
So if we really are discussing the Moral philosophies of heroic characters in a fantasy world...
Then the Fantastical Theology of that world should be part of the discussion.
Insomuch as the OP doesn't want it to be part of the discussion just goes to show just how good a job D&D's Fantastical Theology actually does of getting players to really engage with the theological tenets of their supposed gods into who their character is as a person in the setting. i.e. A really bad one.
Basically if you want a guide on how not to make a believable or engaging fantasy theology for your fantasy setting; look no further than your copy of the 5e DMG.
I will refrain from further injections of D&D's Fantastical Theology in a discussion about morality in D&D Fantasy Worlds as everyone seems to agree that it should be ignored anyway.
You say some very right things... but for some very wrong reasons.
Yeah. The topic is about the moral philosophies of heroic characters and not theologies. Yeah, players tend to project their own morality on PCs.
With those two facts established: D&D Theology is irrelevant unless the player, separate from the character, ascribes to D&D Religions and has for enough of their life that such things shape their moral identity.
That said, of course, the player can also chose to engage in Role Morality (Almost all of us do) in which the morality of a given situation in our experience replaces our own to some degree or another. Such a thing could be influenced by D&D Theology, but since the theology of most deities amounts to Virtue Ethics, since the designers of a campaign setting have never attempted to write a full canon for every deity to the point of rituals, hymns, community involvements, and sacred texts... we've already got it covered in the OP.
But I can see...
@Flamestrike is utterly unwilling to accept that this thread is not about D&D's Cosmology or the Theology (Really scientific fact thereof) so screw it. I guess he gets to decide what this thread is about...
Hey, Flamestrike? You're wrong about D&D Cosmology being Moral Relativism. It is 100% Utterly and Violently ordered to an external viewer's Morality wherein good things are good because they are good and bad things are bad because they are bad, IE Deontology.
That Morality is the Writer's. Oh, you can argue that a follower of Llolth is "Doing Good" within their society when they follow the tenets of Llolth and murder whoever she tells them to as part of her Rites. But her alignment, and that character's alignment, are Evil. Maybe Neutral. Maybe Lawful. Maybe Chaotic. But Evil.
Llolth is not a "Good" god according to literally any source. Ergo Moral Relativity and specifically the sticky wicket of Subjective Morality (Honestly, that's what I should've titled that heading, foolish in hindsight) is irrelevant.
D&D has an external central moral authority over the -entire- cosmology of -every- world and it declares that Evil Gods are Evil, Good Gods are Good, and the matter is settled.
Now if you'd like to argue the matter further, feel free to create your own thread on the Theology of D&D Campaign Settings. Hell. Copy-Paste or Quote this post, there, and argue to your heart's content.
But get it out of here.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This topic is about the moral philosophies of heroic characters in a fantasy world. Not considerations and reflections on Fantastical Theology. It is meant to highlight the myriad ways that we, as players and storytellers, tap into moral philosophy to construct characters, situations, and stories, and help us to recognize these motivations in our characters and the characters of others to better understand the characters themselves.
If you wanna talk D&D Theology, feel free to make your own thread about it! I'll happily talk about it, there!