I mean its really down to your DM but its basically just water that's been blessed, its not even strictly magical so I wouldn't expect any difference for a non-undead/non-fiend character. The fact they're an atheist makes no difference as holy water doesn't harm creatures that don't believe in gods it harms creatures that are inherently unholy/'evil'.
I suppose it *might* be possible that whatever god it was blessed to, might take umbrage at the disrespect being shown... but that would be entirely up to the DM.
For example, the next day, the cleric tries to cast cure wounds on the guy who disrespectfully drank Thor's holy water, and the healing doesn't work fully (they roll 1d4 instead of 1d8). The cleric gets the sense almost that Thor doesn't really want this character healed by his powers. That kind of thing.
If the holy water is being drunk in a desert to avoid death, of course, I wouldn't do that. But if the atheist elf is like "Imma drink this holy water to prove to you there is no such thing as Thor," then yeah, Thor's probably going to have something to say about that.
If we assume all Holy Water is made using the Ceremony spell, then it might contain a few stray bits of powdered silver (the spell's material component), but other than that, nah, there doesn't seem any downside to drinking Holy Water other than wasting whatever time and/or money you spent getting it in the first place.
tl;dr: It's a fun question if you want to explore your game's theologies, since I don't believe 5e has any real orthodoxies as to how any of the faiths attached to game pantheons are practiced.
I'm not sure if it was on this forum or elsewhere in 3rd party realm or maybe even an official product, but I've seen discussions of varieties of Holy Water with effects dependent on the deity/clerics' domain.
I think as the consensus has pointed out, ultimately it's up to the DM. But my thoughts, leading with NSFW comment:
I could see a creative player get curious over whether the water maintains its holiness when it's converted by the body into urine.
As Biowizard indicated, two things to consider is whether drinking holy water would be thought of as profaning the sacred, or sacrilege by the particularly divine entity whose name was used in the blessing or the religious community who created or caretake the water. Some faiths see iterations of "holy water" as a means through which to ritualistically anoint an spread its community, so glugging down a font of it may not necessarily get divine reprisal, but the temple guards may at least give you some side eye.
Some real life religions believe in transubstantiation, that is the ceremony that blesses a substance actually transforms the substance into something else, while other faiths take almost identical rites as more symbolic transformation. It's that time of year for one of the major calendars so a timely example would be the actual wars fought over, among other things, whether blessing wine creates a symbol of a god's blood or the result is in fact actually that god's blood. In a game world, a faith that say believes the water is like their god's literal tears or something, they may be a bit anti-chug. Those who think the reflecting pool is more symbolic would be more likely to recognize sometimes water needs to be used to meet human needs.
One other thing to note, while “Holy Water” may be free from any “spiritual impurities,” it is usually heavily laden with germs from all those people dipping their fingers in it. So you may want to bust out some diseases:
If the PC is not undead or a fiend, nothing happens (though you wasted 25gp for your refreshment, assuming its not the holy water with a bunch of salt and herbs mixed in, in which case you might not even be refreshed). A particularly prickly deity might take offense though, and disprove your PC's atheism dramatically, but that would be per the DM, not the rules.
As a side note; barring a specialized setting where the gods don't exist (or exist, but don't directly intervene in an attributable way), being an atheist in D&D is kind of silly to the point of delusion. Saying "i don't believe in gods" in most D&D settings is akin to saying "I don't believe in asteroids" in the real world...you can say it, but it won't stop you from being smashed into a pulp should one happen to hit you. Heaven and Hell are real places you can visit, and the gods (either themselves or through their avatars) can and do intervene in the world in a direct, perceivable, and attributable way
One other thing to note, while “Holy Water” may be free from any “spiritual impurities,” it is usually heavily laden with germs from all those people dipping their fingers in it. So you may want to bust out some diseases:
One parishioner who doesn’t wash their hands properly after a poo could theoretically taint an entire basin of Holy Water with dysentery.
Interesting aside, I attended an Episcopalian wedding several years ago where communion was given to all attendees who wanted to participate via a shared cup...and half the attendees were nurses. I've never seen so many devout believers refuse communion before.
As a side note; barring a specialized setting where the gods don't exist (or exist, but don't directly intervene in an attributable way), being an atheist in D&D is kind of silly to the point of delusion. Saying "i don't believe in gods" in most D&D settings is akin to saying "I don't believe in asteroids" in the real world...you can say it, but it won't stop you from being smashed into a pulp should one happen to hit you. Heaven and Hell are real places you can visit, and the gods (either themselves or through their avatars) can and do intervene in the world in a direct, perceivable, and attributable way
Well Hell is literally among the lower planes in the D&D default cosmology and draws a lot from Dante and Milton's literature, Mount Celestia and the Upper Planes aren't quite the jive with Heaven.
That said, being an "atheist" in D&D as someone who "doesn't believe" in the existence of gods is problematic (and I've read discussions about tables where atheists object to the presence of gods, even though they accept the supernatural otherwise in the game). Any case, for me in D&D or the way I offer it in my games in "atheism" is more living one's life irregardless of what the gods may expect or assert, so literally inconsiderate of the gods, which may or may not bother some of them (DC's Constantine is sort of a atheist warlock in my book, divine and infernal forces are just parts of the greater physics of the universe to work with. The Theros book has the iconoclast within its divine gifts that provides an interesting opportunity to take living in rejection or contempt of the gods to the next level, so to speak.
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Exactly. Atheism and agnosticism have their equivalents in D&D simply by the way the character conducts themselves in regard, relationship, or disregard of the divine entities. The results of that bearing depends on the game world. It's been pulled from most recent lore, but FR for example had some sort of Wall of Faithless for the afterlife of those who didn't follow a deity for instance. My guess is its pulled from official lore because 5e wanted to loosen up the games implied theism and pivot away from dogmatism. PLAYER AGENCY and Table Rules for the win!
And again the iconoclast gift in Theros takes exactly what Lurky is talking about to the next level.
So back to the water, an atheist drinking holy water in contempt of divine instruction would be faced with whatever consequences defying or defiling that rule exists in your game, regardless of the character's theology or anti-theology. On the other hand, maybe the water is actually consumed to commune with the god, in which case it may be awkward conversation time. Or maybe it's not consumed, but the communion is normally practice through say baptism, in which case maybe the imbibing still creates that communion and the first thing the god says, "you know, most of my followers immerse themselves in my waters rather than drink them ... for many it's the first bath they've had in months, sometimes years or lives. Just sayin', your funeral."
The talk of Atheisms in a setting like D&D always reminds me of this mc chris skit where, in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, on character remains in denial of zombies because its physically impossible, and everyone just kind of lets him believe that because they're too busy hanging out in their tree house and getting high.
Being an atheist in D&D is easy. Those powerful beings you call "gods"? they are just powerful beings. Whether it is "true" or not, is beside the point, and far beyond the original question.
That's pretty much the stance of the Athar faction from Planescape. The "gods" are not real gods as evidenced by the fact that they aren't infalliable, they can die, and there are other beings of similar power levels that don't call themselves gods.
Now, as far as drinking holy water goes, I'd say that if you drink Thor's holy water, your blood alcohol level will slightly rise.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
The character knows gods exist (at least conceptually) she just has no reverence for them and thinks they are just very powerful entities
I certainly don't want to dictate what language you use to describe your character, but at least to my knowledge, the concept of gods in D&D is squarely in the "mythic pantheon" typology, and the gods are not necessarily depicted as omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, or infallible. Furthermore their existence, regardless of how you perceive them, is concrete and irrefutable (at least in standard FR settings). What you are calling atheism I would just call "irreverent", because saying that the gods are just "very powerful entities" is really just saying the same thing in different, non-worshipper language (at least IMO). But ultimately, if that language works for you and your character, thats perfectly fine.
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Can a non undead character drink holy water?
What if anything what would be the consequence?
The character in question is a half elf atheist
Cool
I mean its really down to your DM but its basically just water that's been blessed, its not even strictly magical so I wouldn't expect any difference for a non-undead/non-fiend character. The fact they're an atheist makes no difference as holy water doesn't harm creatures that don't believe in gods it harms creatures that are inherently unholy/'evil'.
It's water. That someone has prayed over. Yes you can drink it.
Might have salt in it. Or other stuff. Some religions have entire mixologies for their holy water.
Yes, it is just normal water to non-undead.
I suppose it *might* be possible that whatever god it was blessed to, might take umbrage at the disrespect being shown... but that would be entirely up to the DM.
For example, the next day, the cleric tries to cast cure wounds on the guy who disrespectfully drank Thor's holy water, and the healing doesn't work fully (they roll 1d4 instead of 1d8). The cleric gets the sense almost that Thor doesn't really want this character healed by his powers. That kind of thing.
If the holy water is being drunk in a desert to avoid death, of course, I wouldn't do that. But if the atheist elf is like "Imma drink this holy water to prove to you there is no such thing as Thor," then yeah, Thor's probably going to have something to say about that.
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If we assume all Holy Water is made using the Ceremony spell, then it might contain a few stray bits of powdered silver (the spell's material component), but other than that, nah, there doesn't seem any downside to drinking Holy Water other than wasting whatever time and/or money you spent getting it in the first place.
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The character would be less thirsty.
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Thanks all 🙂
tl;dr: It's a fun question if you want to explore your game's theologies, since I don't believe 5e has any real orthodoxies as to how any of the faiths attached to game pantheons are practiced.
I'm not sure if it was on this forum or elsewhere in 3rd party realm or maybe even an official product, but I've seen discussions of varieties of Holy Water with effects dependent on the deity/clerics' domain.
I think as the consensus has pointed out, ultimately it's up to the DM. But my thoughts, leading with NSFW comment:
I could see a creative player get curious over whether the water maintains its holiness when it's converted by the body into urine.
As Biowizard indicated, two things to consider is whether drinking holy water would be thought of as profaning the sacred, or sacrilege by the particularly divine entity whose name was used in the blessing or the religious community who created or caretake the water. Some faiths see iterations of "holy water" as a means through which to ritualistically anoint an spread its community, so glugging down a font of it may not necessarily get divine reprisal, but the temple guards may at least give you some side eye.
Some real life religions believe in transubstantiation, that is the ceremony that blesses a substance actually transforms the substance into something else, while other faiths take almost identical rites as more symbolic transformation. It's that time of year for one of the major calendars so a timely example would be the actual wars fought over, among other things, whether blessing wine creates a symbol of a god's blood or the result is in fact actually that god's blood. In a game world, a faith that say believes the water is like their god's literal tears or something, they may be a bit anti-chug. Those who think the reflecting pool is more symbolic would be more likely to recognize sometimes water needs to be used to meet human needs.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
One other thing to note, while “Holy Water” may be free from any “spiritual impurities,” it is usually heavily laden with germs from all those people dipping their fingers in it. So you may want to bust out some diseases:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/running-the-game#Diseases
One parishioner who doesn’t wash their hands properly after a poo could theoretically taint an entire basin of Holy Water with dysentery.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
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If the PC is not undead or a fiend, nothing happens (though you wasted 25gp for your refreshment, assuming its not the holy water with a bunch of salt and herbs mixed in, in which case you might not even be refreshed). A particularly prickly deity might take offense though, and disprove your PC's atheism dramatically, but that would be per the DM, not the rules.
As a side note; barring a specialized setting where the gods don't exist (or exist, but don't directly intervene in an attributable way), being an atheist in D&D is kind of silly to the point of delusion. Saying "i don't believe in gods" in most D&D settings is akin to saying "I don't believe in asteroids" in the real world...you can say it, but it won't stop you from being smashed into a pulp should one happen to hit you. Heaven and Hell are real places you can visit, and the gods (either themselves or through their avatars) can and do intervene in the world in a direct, perceivable, and attributable way
Interesting aside, I attended an Episcopalian wedding several years ago where communion was given to all attendees who wanted to participate via a shared cup...and half the attendees were nurses. I've never seen so many devout believers refuse communion before.
Well Hell is literally among the lower planes in the D&D default cosmology and draws a lot from Dante and Milton's literature, Mount Celestia and the Upper Planes aren't quite the jive with Heaven.
That said, being an "atheist" in D&D as someone who "doesn't believe" in the existence of gods is problematic (and I've read discussions about tables where atheists object to the presence of gods, even though they accept the supernatural otherwise in the game). Any case, for me in D&D or the way I offer it in my games in "atheism" is more living one's life irregardless of what the gods may expect or assert, so literally inconsiderate of the gods, which may or may not bother some of them (DC's Constantine is sort of a atheist warlock in my book, divine and infernal forces are just parts of the greater physics of the universe to work with. The Theros book has the iconoclast within its divine gifts that provides an interesting opportunity to take living in rejection or contempt of the gods to the next level, so to speak.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Knowing that gods exist and “believing” in them are not mutually inclusive.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
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Exactly. Atheism and agnosticism have their equivalents in D&D simply by the way the character conducts themselves in regard, relationship, or disregard of the divine entities. The results of that bearing depends on the game world. It's been pulled from most recent lore, but FR for example had some sort of Wall of Faithless for the afterlife of those who didn't follow a deity for instance. My guess is its pulled from official lore because 5e wanted to loosen up the games implied theism and pivot away from dogmatism. PLAYER AGENCY and Table Rules for the win!
And again the iconoclast gift in Theros takes exactly what Lurky is talking about to the next level.
So back to the water, an atheist drinking holy water in contempt of divine instruction would be faced with whatever consequences defying or defiling that rule exists in your game, regardless of the character's theology or anti-theology. On the other hand, maybe the water is actually consumed to commune with the god, in which case it may be awkward conversation time. Or maybe it's not consumed, but the communion is normally practice through say baptism, in which case maybe the imbibing still creates that communion and the first thing the god says, "you know, most of my followers immerse themselves in my waters rather than drink them ... for many it's the first bath they've had in months, sometimes years or lives. Just sayin', your funeral."
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
The talk of Atheisms in a setting like D&D always reminds me of this mc chris skit where, in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, on character remains in denial of zombies because its physically impossible, and everyone just kind of lets him believe that because they're too busy hanging out in their tree house and getting high.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
That's pretty much the stance of the Athar faction from Planescape. The "gods" are not real gods as evidenced by the fact that they aren't infalliable, they can die, and there are other beings of similar power levels that don't call themselves gods.
Now, as far as drinking holy water goes, I'd say that if you drink Thor's holy water, your blood alcohol level will slightly rise.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Interesting convosation has been sparked by this.
The character knows gods exist (at least conceptually) she just has no reverence for them and thinks they are just very powerful entities
I certainly don't want to dictate what language you use to describe your character, but at least to my knowledge, the concept of gods in D&D is squarely in the "mythic pantheon" typology, and the gods are not necessarily depicted as omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, or infallible. Furthermore their existence, regardless of how you perceive them, is concrete and irrefutable (at least in standard FR settings). What you are calling atheism I would just call "irreverent", because saying that the gods are just "very powerful entities" is really just saying the same thing in different, non-worshipper language (at least IMO). But ultimately, if that language works for you and your character, thats perfectly fine.