D&D 5E Two more Classic Settings to go

[doctorbadwolf]

And yet he was tied to a bed by other gods. Fooled multiple times. He was afraid of Nyx. Hardly omnipotent. Baldur was killed by mistletoe. D&D doesn't use omnipotence as the standard for the gods.

Except Baldur isn’t actually dead, and you’re oversimplifying the entire affair.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

And yet he was tied to a bed by other gods. Fooled multiple times. He was afraid of Nyx. Hardly omnipotent. Baldur was killed by mistletoe. D&D doesn't use omnipotence as the standard for the gods.

Don't confuse simplistic literalist understandings of mythology with the actual religious beliefs of the ancients. Look beyond Homer at the works of the Neoplatonists, the Orphics, the Stoics, Chaldean Oracles (what is left of that knowledge anyways), and others.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Except Baldur isn’t actually dead, and you’re oversimplifying the entire affair.

Exactly if he was actually seen as dead and unable to intervene in the affairs of mortals, why would the ancients still worship him? It's much more complicated then just reading some myths.

 

[Rikka66]

Don't confuse simplistic literalist understandings of mythology with the actual religious beliefs of the ancients. Look beyond Homer at the works of the Neoplatonists, the Orphics, the Stoics, Chaldean Oracles (what is left of that knowledge anyways), and others.

I get what you're saying, but it's a little beyond his point that D&D gods typically have more in common with the popular culture version of these mythologies. They fear, they die, often they get better. But you guys are arguing about different things at this point.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

And yet he was tied to a bed by other gods. Fooled multiple times. He was afraid of Nyx. Hardly omnipotent. Baldur was killed by mistletoe. D&D doesn't use omnipotence as the standard for the gods.

D&D doesn't use omnipotence for the Gods, but even in D&D they are also far, far more powerful then say Thor and Loki in Marvel Comics.

4e and 5e do an absolutely horrible job of depicting God stats, 2e was far better and even 3.5e was better.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

D&D doesn't use omnipotence for the Gods, but even in D&D they are also far, far more powerful then say Thor and Loki in Marvel Comics.

4e and 5e do an absolutely horrible job of depicting God stats, 2e was far better and even 3.5e was better.

I think 4e did a great job, by having the gods not really have stats (with a couple exceptions) and instead be forces of the universe.

 

[Maxperson]

D&D doesn't use omnipotence for the Gods, but even in D&D they are also far, far more powerful then say Thor and Loki in Marvel Comics.

4e and 5e do an absolutely horrible job of depicting God stats, 2e was far better and even 3.5e was better.

Here we agree. 3e was by far the best edition for the gods. The weaker ones(demigods) could be challenged by mortals, but beyond that if the DM was playing the god properly, any group going after one without a plot coupon was just dead.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I get what you're saying, but it's a little beyond his point that D&D gods typically have more in common with the popular culture version of these mythologies. They fear, they die, often they get better. But you guys are arguing about different things at this point.

I would say it depends on the edition. In 2e you never actually faced a God directly, only their Avatars. Read the stats and look at what the Gods were capable of because 4e/5e reduced them to simple combat encounters. 2e was better at this.

The powers of D&D God's are way above the Superhero genre.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I would say it depends on the edition. In 2e you never actually faced a God directly, only their Avatars. Read the stats and look at what the Gods were capable of because 4e/5e reduced them to simple combat encounters. 2e was better at this.

The powers of D&D God's are way above the Superhero genre.

Even the avatar thing is a compromise to allow epic PCs to fight gods for no good reason.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I think 4e did a great job, by having the gods not really have stats (with a couple exceptions) and instead be forces of the universe.

The stats they had were horrible. I think 2e's approach of only statting up the Avatars, never the God itself was better. Interestingly the last adventure functional does this, because even if you beat all of Auril's forms, she just retreats to the Planes, annoyed but fine, so those forms were functionally Avatars.

Even the avatar thing is a compromise to allow epic PCs to fight gods for no good reason.

True, in practice Gods should be statted at all.