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<blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 1713822" data-attributes="member: 812">Um, no. The rules do not say that, at any rate. They do say that there are clerics who, rather than devote themselves to a particular deity, but &quot;to a cause or source of divine power&quot;. Not *something*. There's nothing to suggest that a guy who believes the world was created by sentient bananas gains spellcasting abilities simply because he REALLY believes it. I mean, if you want your world to work that way, great, but that's not what the rules say.They say that there exist sources of divine power besides the gods. That doesn't mean that anyone can make up any source of divine power anytime they like, just by wishing really hard.People will still see that some people's worldviews result in them getting free power, and some people's worldviews do not. This is different than anything that happens in our world, and it's unlikely that a world that demonstrates such behaviour would resemble ours. And I submit that such demonstrations of power will not supply the human need to believe in something greater than we can comprehend.And what sort of moron joins a Church of Big Badness, anyway? Where's the fun in being bad if everyone else is bad -- they'll just be bad to you, and your badness won't give you any advantage. Being bad is only advantageous as long as most other people are being good.It's like driving on the shoulder of the road. Sure, you can zip by all the suckers who are playing by the rules -- as long as they keep playing by the rules. Once everybody decides to break the rules, nobody gets ahead by breaking the rules, so there's no real incentive to breaking the rules. So what's the incentive to join up with a bunch of rules-breakers? Well, you might be stupid, I guess. Never been a shortage of stupid people around.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="barsoomcore, post: 1713822, member: 812"] Um, no. The rules do not say that, at any rate. They do say that there are clerics who, rather than devote themselves to a particular deity, but "to a cause or source of divine power". Not *something*. There's nothing to suggest that a guy who believes the world was created by sentient bananas gains spellcasting abilities simply because he REALLY believes it. I mean, if you want your world to work that way, great, but that's not what the rules say. They say that there exist sources of divine power besides the gods. That doesn't mean that anyone can make up any source of divine power anytime they like, just by wishing really hard. People will still see that some people's worldviews result in them getting free power, and some people's worldviews do not. This is different than anything that happens in our world, and it's unlikely that a world that demonstrates such behaviour would resemble ours. And I submit that such demonstrations of power will not supply the human need to believe in something greater than we can comprehend. And what sort of moron joins a Church of Big Badness, anyway? Where's the fun in being bad if everyone else is bad -- they'll just be bad to you, and your badness won't give you any advantage. Being bad is only advantageous as long as most other people are being good. It's like driving on the shoulder of the road. Sure, you can zip by all the suckers who are playing by the rules -- as long as they keep playing by the rules. Once everybody decides to break the rules, nobody gets ahead by breaking the rules, so there's no real incentive to breaking the rules. So what's the incentive to join up with a bunch of rules-breakers? Well, you might be stupid, I guess. Never been a shortage of stupid people around. [/QUOTE]

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