Originally Posted by GM4Him
Originally Posted by geala
The question remains, why are Shar or other evil gods worshipped? They offer nothing special to their followers what not other better gods can give, and what the baddies offer generally is destruction, period. For example why would you sacrifice your child to a god (like in the case of Baal-Hammon as worshipped in Carthage) if all he/she wants in the end is destruction?

In the human context really bad gods like Shar simply don't exist. The gods of DnD (and admittedly quite often other fantasy universes) often appear to me as if created by a group of 20 year olds during lunch break. Shiva for example is a totally different kind of god than Shar. But here is not the place to discuss such things. So I let it be (you won a discussion, great, isn't it?) and live with Shar et al. smile

Um... History. People - lots of people - in the ancient days, worshipped evil gods that demanded virgin and child sacrifices and such. History is full of people worshipping gods that promoted evil actions and deeds; gods of war and violence and bloodshed and torture and lying and so forth.

And it's a game. So naturally things are magnified. It's boring if there aren't tons of evil cultists and monsters and such.
For these things in our world, you have to look at them as if you were a person who lived during those times. Stuff like that was not evil then, it was just how things were. Much of history is written by people who have particular biases and opinions of their own, and a lot of the gods were converted into demons or something evil later on to try and discourage their worship. Also, the gods of our world often had a dual nature, in games they are often simplified a bit more. A lot of the FR deities are based on a particular version of ones in our world but they are still quite a bit less complicated, probably because they have to fit into alignments. As for why evil game deities are worshipped or at least honoured in some way, there are many reasons people could have. Power being one of course, but someone who has lost everything could easily turn to a god who promises revenge or one who claims to ease the pain of loss. Fear too can be a strong motivator (sailors making offerings to Umberlee for instance.)