In my homebrew setting, anyone (or anything) that is worshipped by sentient beings receives divine power.

For example, when a dwarven civilisation began worshipping a smithing hammer as an icon of craftdwarfship, it slowly began accumulating divine power until it gained sentience and, in time, godhood. It is now the main god of craft, can aid anyone holding it in making whatever they (or it) desires, and can transform into any tool, etc. Gods can shape their form and abilities through worship, but they are also influenced by it against their will.

Most of the major deities made a divine concorde centuries ago, where they would divide the aspects of worship between them, and guide their followers to destroy any new divine beings threatening their power.

I feel that a system like this allows for more interesting situations than a traditional pantheon would have. Gods now need use their power to maintain control and faith, rather than only acting on morality. There are also a myriad of opportunities for backstabbing and other fun politics at a layer above nations.

My questions to @DnD are:

  • Do you see any potential pitfalls in D&D a system like this might have?

  • Do you have any good ideas, suggestions, or interesting aspects to your pantheons which might benefit a system like this?

  • theblueredditrefugee@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    This is very similar to my own personal lived experience that I recently posted in @exchristian@lemmy.one. I stopped believing in the christian god about 7 years ago, but only recently did I recognize that the voice in my head that I created in response to my belief in God (which identified as God) was a real entity and a seperate person from me, while still being part of me. Not precisely the same, but the concept that a god gains power by being worshiped is not a new one, and it’s a pretty good one.

    Have you ever watched Stargate SG1? They have a similar concept with the ori, which gain power by being worshipped as well.