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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MrMyth" data-source="post: 5106449" data-attributes="member: 61155">In many campaigns, it is about how you relate to them. Gods are protectors and guardians - they are on your side, albeit with their own days of wrath and ruin, and the expectation of worship and devotion.  The Fey are legends and lore - and some races (elves, gnomes, eladrin) might have a similar kinship to them as to gods, but to everyone else they are strange and wonderful beings only partly believed in. Or, occasionally, beings to haunt one's nightmares. One traveling in their domain might pay them respect or fear, but rarely worship from afar in the manner of the gods. Even for the learned or those close to them, there is probably a much more personal relationship to their court and to their power.  Primal Spirits are probably somewhere between the two. Some tribes may worship them, but the spirits have no need or desire for this as the gods do - the spirits are simply there, facets of the landscape. Those who bond with nature may have ties to them or, again, far more personal connections to them - but the protection they offer the world is simply the nature of such spirits, rather than part of any contract between them and their followers.  Demons and Devils are also mythic beings, and ones spoken of in whispers and fear. There may be times and places when there is no difference between Archdevils and simply evil gods - they are the stuff of cults and ill-thought out bargains. For the commonfolk, they are not simply the nightmarish stories that darker fey might be, but instead are truly horrifying reflections of the consequence of evil acts.  Primordials are also the stuff of stories, but more relating to ancient, ancient legends. As with Demons, they are something feared - perhaps more in the fashion of a natural disaster then a thinking enemy. Only those with inborn elemental ties might be involved with their worship or beliefs - most will shy away from them, if they know of them at all. These are all beings of similar power, certainly, but the real difference is in their goals and in their connections to mortals. Devils, fey, and others may form pacts and bargains with specific individuals, but deities have a contract with mortal civilizations as a whole. They are the caretakers of mankind, as the primal spirits are the caretakers of the world. Mortal worship may or may not empower them, but it is clearly important to them in an instrinsic way. And the power flows both ways - through the blessings they share with civilization, there is the stability of clergy and priests to provide hope and healing.  Even the gods of other aspects are an important part of society, each helping mankind to understand those aspects of the world and their connection to it. They can make an offering to the goddess of the sea, in order to seek a calm sea voyage. They can pray to the god of the harvest when planting their crops. They can call upon the goddess of the dead to see their departed to a peaceful afterlife.  That's my take on it, at least. I might not necessarily run it as such in every campaign - I have a bad habit of thoroughly messing with cosmology in my games - but the above is how I'd view the default D&D environment. There are many powers out there, but deities are how mortal civilization compartamentalizes the world. Without them, it would be a wild and alien place, and mankind would be truly alone.</blockquote>

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