Dungeon Master's Guide
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The cult's ritual of initiation follows the pattern of its<br />
foundation myth. Neophytes retrace the god's footsteps<br />
in order to share the god's ultimate fate. In the case of<br />
dying and rising gods, the symbolic death of the initiate<br />
represents the idea of death to the old life and rebirth<br />
into a transformed existence. Initiates are born into<br />
a new life, remaining in the world of mortal affairs<br />
but feeling elevated to a higher sphere. The initiate is<br />
promised a place in the god's realm after death, but also<br />
experiences new meaning in life.<br />
MONOTHEISM<br />
Monotheistic religions revere only one deity, and in<br />
some cases, deny the existence of any other deity. If you<br />
introduce a monotheistic religion into your campaign,<br />
you need to decide whether other gods exist. Even if<br />
they don't, other religions can exist side by side with<br />
the monotheistic religion. If these religions have clerics<br />
with spellcasting ability, their spells might be powered<br />
by the one true deity, by lesser spirits who aren't deities<br />
(possibly including powerful aberrations, celestials, fey,<br />
fiends, or elementals), or simply by their faith.<br />
The deity of a monotheistic religion has an extensive<br />
portfolio and is portrayed as the creator of everything, in<br />
control of everything, and concerned with every aspect<br />
of existence. Thus, a worshiper of this god offers prayers<br />
and sacrifices to the same god regardless of what<br />
aspect of life is in need of divine assistance. Whether<br />
marching into war, setting off on a journey, or hoping<br />
to win someone's affections, the worshiper prays to<br />
the same god.<br />
Some monotheistic religions describe different<br />
aspects of their deity. A single god appears in different<br />
aspects as the Creator and the Destroyer, and the clerics<br />
of that god focus on one aspect or the other, determining<br />
their domain access and possibly even their alignment<br />
on that basis. A cleric who venerates the Destroyer<br />
aspect chooses the Tempest or War domain, while<br />
one who worships a Creator aspect chooses the Life<br />
or Nature domains. In some monotheistic religions,<br />
clerics group themselves into distinct religious orders to<br />
differentiate clerics who choose different domains.<br />
DUALISM<br />
A dualistic religion views the world as the stage for<br />
a conflict between two diametrically opposed deities<br />
or divine forces. Most often, the opposed forces are<br />
good and evil, or opposed deities representing those<br />
forces. In some pantheons, the forces or deities of law<br />
and chaos are the fundamental opposites in a dualistic<br />
system. Life and death, light and darkness, rna ter and<br />
spirit, body and mind, health and illness, purity and<br />
defilement, positive energy and negative energy-the<br />
D&D universe is full of polar opposites that could serve<br />
as the foundation for a dualistic religion. Whatever the<br />
terms in which the dualism is expressed, half of the pair<br />
is usually believed to be good- beneficial, desirable,<br />
or holy-while the other half is considered bad, if not<br />
explicitly evil. If the fundamental conflict in a religion is<br />
expressed as the opposition between matter and spirit,<br />
the followers of that religion believe that one of the two<br />
(usually matter) is evil and the other (spirit) is good, and<br />
so seek to liberate their spirits from this material world<br />
and its evils through asceticism and contemplation.<br />
Rare dualistic systems believe that the two opposing<br />
forces must remain in balance, always pulling away<br />
from each other but remaining bound together in<br />
creative tension.<br />
In a cosmology defined by an eternal conflict between<br />
good and evil, mortals are expected to take sides. The<br />
majority of those who follow a dualistic religion worship<br />
the deity or force identified as good. Worshipers of<br />
the good deity trust themselves to that god's power to<br />
protect them from the evil deity's minions. Because<br />
the evil deity in such a religion is usually the source<br />
of everything that is detrimental to existence, only the<br />
perverse and depraved worship this god. Monsters<br />
and fiends serve it, as do certain secretive cults. The<br />
myths of a dualistic religion usually predict that the<br />
good deity will triumph in an apocalyptic battle, but the<br />
forces of evil believe that the outcome of that battle isn't<br />
predetermined and work to promote their deity's victory.<br />
Deities in a dualistic system maintain large portfolios.<br />
All aspects of existence reflect the dualistic struggle,<br />
and therefore all things can fall on one side or the other<br />
of the conflict. Agriculture, mercy, the sky, medicine,<br />
and poetry reside in the portfolio of the good deity, and<br />
famine, hatred, disease, and war belong to the evil deity.<br />
ANIMISM<br />
Animism is the belief that spirits inhabit every part of<br />
the natural world. In an animistic worldview, everything<br />
has a spirit, from the grandest mountain to the lowliest<br />
rock, from the great ocean to a babbling brook, from the<br />
sun and moon to a fighter's ancestral sword. All these<br />
objects, and the spirits that inhabit them, are sentient,<br />
though some are more aware, alert, and intelligent<br />
than others. The most powerful spirits might even<br />
be considered deities. All are worthy of respect if not<br />
veneration.<br />
Animists don't typically pay allegiance to one spirit<br />
over the others. Instead, they offer prayers and sacrifices<br />
to different spirits at different times, as appropriate<br />
to the situation. A pious character might make daily<br />
prayers and offerings to ancestor spirits and the spirits<br />
of the house, regular petitions to important spirits<br />
such as the Seven Fortunes of Good Luck, occasional<br />
sacrifices of incense to location spirits such as the<br />
spirit of a forest, and sporadic prayers to a host of other<br />
spirits as well.<br />
An animistic religion very tolerant. Most spirits don't<br />
care to whom a character also offers sacrifices, as long<br />
as they receive the sacrifices and respect they are due.<br />
As new religions spread through animist lands, those<br />
religions typically win adherents but not converts.<br />
People incorporate new spirits and deities into their<br />
prayers without displacing the old ones. Contemplatives<br />
and scholars adopt complex philosophical systems and<br />
practices without changing their belief in and respect<br />
for the spirits they already venerate.<br />
Animism functions as a large tight pantheon. Animist<br />
clerics serve the pantheon as a whole, and so can<br />
choose any domain, representing a favorite spirit for<br />
that cleric.<br />
12<br />
CHAPTER I j A WORLD Of YOUR OWN