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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jmartkdr2" data-source="post: 8842385" data-attributes="member: 7017304">For my own (unused) homebrew setting, there's not really a clear distinction of who is and isn't a god - many beings are worshipped and sometimes people will refer to all worshipped beings as "gods," but most are better described by the subset they belong to.The archangels have always existed as far as anyone not an archangel knows. They don't seek worship for it's own sake or for magical power, but they do see having churches as a good way to influence the world without needing to manifest all the time (which does require a lot of magical power and has many risks). Theoretically, they could just have a bureaucracy but they went with a church way back when and haven't really changed.The draconics (kolbolds, dragonborn et al) worship Tiamat because she's the Empress and because she enjoys it. Even without worship she'd be the most powerful individual in the setting. They worshipped Bahamut before he died and Io before that. Io enjoyed it (though he wasn't quite as egotistic as Tiamat) and Bahamut tolerated it - and he used it to shape the concept of honor to what he wanted.The Hochjotun are the closest to what DnD normally calls gods: they're the giant pantheon + Moridin, and they can live without worship. They don't really ask for much worship per se (there aren't a lot of temples and they can't really use sacrifices) but do extol specific virtues because they themselves believe in them. The Shinma are created by the desires of elves; the elves are created by the dreams of the Shinma. They exist because they are worshipped and know it.The Ancestor Herds/Packs/Prides of the beastfolk have the social and cultural roles of gods but are really collectives of many spirits. They are revered and enjoy that, though they are more motivated to ensure the continuation of their own tribe/species. Individual spirits do fade over time, so if, say, the Leonin sop having babies the Ancestral Pride will eventually fade away.In actual play, I find this sort of question rarely matters - if a pc worships a god it might, but I default to working with the player to find the answer for that god. The answer being "it depends on the god" is probably better for both the story and the game than coming up with one answer for all gods.</blockquote>

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