Firstly, the basics. The shorthand basic differentiation between a cult and a religion is that a cult is typically small (compared to a national population), and somehow "different" compared to what is considered mainstream in the dominant culture where the cult exists. They're not necessarily "evil", usually just different in a way that advertises themselves against the local mainstream. They will typically have a charismatic leader or leadership group who can attract followers by force of personality. (This is not to say mainstream religions won't.) Religions are large and organised, by which they tend to have: recognized public festivals and rituals; codification (i.e. scriptures, but the medium can vary depending on literacy level) and consistency (i.e. there is a right and wrong way to "do" the religion as per the code); a class of religious leaders.
For constructing religions and cults in a DnD world, you need to establish some baselines regarding the role of religions and deities. Are deities well-known and open revealed? This could lie in a spectrum - they might be revealed to local populations but not globally, or they could be hidden, hard to find, almost clandestine. Are the deities a pantheon? Are there competing deities/sets of deities (i.e. more than one pantheon)? Are there other deity level beings who could fulfil the role of a centre of a cult?
The reason for these baselines is to help with differentiating what might be the established religions that operate amongst the broad populace such as national religions (which you'd associate with clerics, etc.), less formal belief systems such as spirit or ancestor worship (perhaps what the druids are into, for example), and small but tight groups such as cults. In a typical fantasy setting, your average cult will have, as well as your charismatic leader, some worship of a non-standard deity or deity level being such as a powerful demon. For adventuring purposes, these are typically evil, but don't have to be. They could just be weird.
So hopefully, that helps you figure some things out.
You could look at it as a simple argument of perspective/semantics. Do cult members see themselves as being in a cult? Or do they see themselves as being followers of the "One, True" religion? Is that perspective any different than a follower of a mainstream religion? I'd argue that the distinction lies on an individual's point of view. Sorry if that's not very helpful; perhaps you can provide some more context for your question?
Most DnD books don't deal with religion in a sociological sense.
An illustration from history will help. In the early days of Christianity, the Romans considered it to be an evil cult, more or less. Christians didn't see themselves as such, but when Romans needed someone to pick on to blame for whatever random bad things were happening, well, yeah.
Point is, a cult is generally defined by its comparison to the mainstream. Christianity wasn't really mainstream until Constantine made it the official religion. The same kind of thing could work with any other cult - once it becomes dominant, it's gone from 'alternative' to 'mainstream' and is now a religion.
Broadly speaking a cult can be the ritual part of any religion. But it's used more often to refer to religions that are secretive, exclusive and authoritarian, or that are divergent from the main stream religion. I think in D&D terms it tends towards the first definition. Cults tend to be smaller and secretive. Often they are cast as evil but this is not always the case. In my homebrew world I cast any religion that is not part of the main stream religions as cults, but most are not evil (most of them), they are just fairly fragmented.
Not sure if this will be helpful or not but in my game I differentiate cults from religions in one of two ways. 1st, and most common, cults worship the powerful beings that aren't gods such as devils, demon lords, elemental princes, etc. 2nd, cults worship a non-standard aspect of a god. For example, if I have a LG god of justice but there is a small group that worships him as a LE god of revenge, then those would be a cult because the god is actually LG and justice is his domain. Now, for me the size of the flock does not matter. In my game Lolth is not a god she is a demon and therefore all the drow who worship her are in a cult. However, the various NPCs and PCs rarely feel like they are in the cult. Again, for example, a cleric in my game worships the "god" Helm as the god of protection. However, in fact, Helm is actually an aspect of Bahamut. So that player's PC is in a cult since he worships a non-standard aspect of a god. But if anyone tells the dwarf he is in a cult, he is likely to get a mallet to the face.
J
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As for me, I choose to believe that an extinct thunder lizard is running a game of Dungeons & Dragons via Twitter!
I'm not entirely sure where a cult ends and where a religion starts (for DnD).
Any tips from fellow DMs?
Just an average metalhead who plays DnD in his spare time.
PbP Character: Roberta Thalan, Void Beyond the Stars Otherside
PbP Character: Primus Eidolon, Eotha 2
PbP Character: Usmor Illiqai, Tomb of Corrosion
PbP Character: "Templar" Danver, You're the Villains
Homebrew stuff
Firstly, the basics. The shorthand basic differentiation between a cult and a religion is that a cult is typically small (compared to a national population), and somehow "different" compared to what is considered mainstream in the dominant culture where the cult exists. They're not necessarily "evil", usually just different in a way that advertises themselves against the local mainstream. They will typically have a charismatic leader or leadership group who can attract followers by force of personality. (This is not to say mainstream religions won't.) Religions are large and organised, by which they tend to have: recognized public festivals and rituals; codification (i.e. scriptures, but the medium can vary depending on literacy level) and consistency (i.e. there is a right and wrong way to "do" the religion as per the code); a class of religious leaders.
For constructing religions and cults in a DnD world, you need to establish some baselines regarding the role of religions and deities. Are deities well-known and open revealed? This could lie in a spectrum - they might be revealed to local populations but not globally, or they could be hidden, hard to find, almost clandestine. Are the deities a pantheon? Are there competing deities/sets of deities (i.e. more than one pantheon)? Are there other deity level beings who could fulfil the role of a centre of a cult?
The reason for these baselines is to help with differentiating what might be the established religions that operate amongst the broad populace such as national religions (which you'd associate with clerics, etc.), less formal belief systems such as spirit or ancestor worship (perhaps what the druids are into, for example), and small but tight groups such as cults. In a typical fantasy setting, your average cult will have, as well as your charismatic leader, some worship of a non-standard deity or deity level being such as a powerful demon. For adventuring purposes, these are typically evil, but don't have to be. They could just be weird.
So hopefully, that helps you figure some things out.
You could look at it as a simple argument of perspective/semantics. Do cult members see themselves as being in a cult? Or do they see themselves as being followers of the "One, True" religion? Is that perspective any different than a follower of a mainstream religion? I'd argue that the distinction lies on an individual's point of view. Sorry if that's not very helpful; perhaps you can provide some more context for your question?
I mean, when does a cult become an evil religion?
Can a cult be that of an actual god?
Most DnD books don't touch on such a subject.
Just an average metalhead who plays DnD in his spare time.
PbP Character: Roberta Thalan, Void Beyond the Stars Otherside
PbP Character: Primus Eidolon, Eotha 2
PbP Character: Usmor Illiqai, Tomb of Corrosion
PbP Character: "Templar" Danver, You're the Villains
Homebrew stuff
Most DnD books don't deal with religion in a sociological sense.
An illustration from history will help. In the early days of Christianity, the Romans considered it to be an evil cult, more or less. Christians didn't see themselves as such, but when Romans needed someone to pick on to blame for whatever random bad things were happening, well, yeah.
Point is, a cult is generally defined by its comparison to the mainstream. Christianity wasn't really mainstream until Constantine made it the official religion. The same kind of thing could work with any other cult - once it becomes dominant, it's gone from 'alternative' to 'mainstream' and is now a religion.
Broadly speaking a cult can be the ritual part of any religion. But it's used more often to refer to religions that are secretive, exclusive and authoritarian, or that are divergent from the main stream religion. I think in D&D terms it tends towards the first definition. Cults tend to be smaller and secretive. Often they are cast as evil but this is not always the case. In my homebrew world I cast any religion that is not part of the main stream religions as cults, but most are not evil (most of them), they are just fairly fragmented.
Not sure if this will be helpful or not but in my game I differentiate cults from religions in one of two ways. 1st, and most common, cults worship the powerful beings that aren't gods such as devils, demon lords, elemental princes, etc. 2nd, cults worship a non-standard aspect of a god. For example, if I have a LG god of justice but there is a small group that worships him as a LE god of revenge, then those would be a cult because the god is actually LG and justice is his domain. Now, for me the size of the flock does not matter. In my game Lolth is not a god she is a demon and therefore all the drow who worship her are in a cult. However, the various NPCs and PCs rarely feel like they are in the cult. Again, for example, a cleric in my game worships the "god" Helm as the god of protection. However, in fact, Helm is actually an aspect of Bahamut. So that player's PC is in a cult since he worships a non-standard aspect of a god. But if anyone tells the dwarf he is in a cult, he is likely to get a mallet to the face.
J
As for me, I choose to believe that an extinct thunder lizard is running a game of Dungeons & Dragons via Twitter!
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