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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 8399095" data-attributes="member: 2629">D&D is an RPG - a role playing game.  Characters, and NPCs, including Gods and Archfiends, play a role in a story.  Figure out the story and most of this takes care of itself.How and why did a being end up as a God?  How and why did they end up being evil?  How and why do people worship the sinister thing with which they are associated?  Archfiends have different stories, goals and motivations.  How did they end up in their position of power?  How do they hold it?  What sets a God of Tyranny apart from an Archfiend - and what sets the Archfiends apart from each other?Figuring out questions like these gives you a deeper campaign setting.Generally speaking: In my homebrew, the Gods do not plan and strategize in terms of Good and Evil.  They are individual beings with their own goals and desires - and having people worship them grants them the power to pursue those goals.  The faith of free willed beings is a source of vast power for Divine beings. As a means to an end, the Gods need ways to encourage people to give them power through faith, and the concepts of Good and Evil are an easy way to sell the stories that generate faith.  It is a simplification that is accessible to the masses.  Some of these Divine beings honestly seek the betterment of all, but they have to make sure they are worshipped in order to have the power to make those good things happen - lest only Dark Powers have the power to shape the realms. As PCs advance, they discover more and more that the Gods are less mysterious than they thought - and they start to see them more like politicians than magic.  In comparison, Archdevils and other non-divine powers get power through deals with mortals.  It isn't faith they seek, it is the power drawn from your soul, especially if you're one of the special folk out there that can change the world with your abilities.  The Archfiends interact with people quite differently.  They don't need you to like them or support them - they need you to concede to them and submit to them.  They want to treat you like a battery, but you have to give them the option to do so.  Your soul is a commodity to them, and your free will is just a problem they have to solve to get that commodity.  Of course, your soul isn't the only thing you have to offer Archdevils, fiends, etc...In D&D skill terms, the Gods tend to use persuasion (though not exclusively) while Archfiends use intimidation and deception more often (although persuasion is also a tool they can use).</blockquote>

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