Gods, Philosophy & Magic in 5e Dungeons & Dragons

millennion now right like where does it come from I think it comes from an imperfect understanding of the infinite reality that would be God if God existed right but it just it or the fact or the fact that people are uncomfortable with if if if everything that exists in creation was created then that means horrible things were created for a reason yeah or you could go the Gnostic route and go there are two gods yeah there's the God that created everything and that's why everything [ __ ] because that God is evil as [ __ ] and then there's the other god that had come to rescue us from that from from existence yes from the evil God created the matrix and we're all stuck here and it's horrible and the better God came along was like I could free you from this let's have a show on philosophy Jim Davis let's talk about you're happy to talk I think about the gods enriched my experience quite immensely what's that sure yeah are you filming now so Jim are we in the matrix are we in a computer simulation does it matter would be my real question I think that's why I think I like Dungeons & Dragons because you are simulating the world yeah it might not be with a computer that has AI and everything but if you treat the people in it they're real people than you are in fact hyper intelligent beings creating a simulated environments that that's then populated by entities that you play with as on your own whim so it's all a matter of what you're willing to suspend your disbelief about right it's my favorite way of playing Dungeons & Dragons it's pretending as if the place is real yes then of the people and NPCs and PCs are real people and [ __ ] but I like philosophical D&D because I think it enriches the world-building experience and those might say that well isn't that why dungeon dragons is dangerous because you can lose your grip on reality sure but I just think back to like the cartoons of the the sheepdog in the end the wolf going in clocking in together right they go in they do their job and then that clock out right yeah kind of like that as the DM and the players you're like alright we're gonna go in and we're gonna do this thing because this is what we're supposed to do uh-huh some things we know exist in Dungeons & Dragons are a soul we know that a soul exists young indie and so where does that soul live before it inhabits a body is inside I go to platonic philosophy for that anywhere like there's a realm of forms that exists independently of the world and people reside maybe you can travel there with magic yeah you exist as a higher like an incorporeal consciousness young you come here but you were at one game Iran where it was like you guys we started the campaign literally at the instant of creation of the world yeah I was like there's nothing and then you hear a clarion call of creation and suddenly existence is around you and it's mutable and weird the Sun doesn't always rise at the same place at the same time right because that hasn't been set yet and then you know distance is a more matter of will and intention than like any objective sort of sense and like slowly the world solidifies and becomes objective yeah the more we did things in areas like things became permanent spend like active purposeful action mm-hmm in an area it set it in stone and it was just like these two poles of the primal and the ethereal sort of the mind and the body coming together to create a world and you mend different characters were a mix of somewhere more body somewhere more mind and that home room that Iran was was very philosophical to me and its underpinnings if not necessarily it's the execution of it but I know there's a lot of fun things you can do like one of the gods like what are they they're not all-powerful they have their specific little yeah they have a purview a domain but then there's AI is like who created the planes in Dungeons and Dragons is is it a visit of creation is it some or is it just the natural outgrowth of of cosmic forces that create these things and then are parameterised kind of sentient beings and then their activity gives rise to deities and gods and things like that that's how I've always liked to see it it's like there were no gods before people and dungeons dragons world invented them the reference is is that when they invented gods and Dungeons and Dragons worlds they invented real beings real power the exact that exists on these planes yes their their belief and aligning of purpose and ritual gave rise and form these beings filled them with the power that they then asked back so does that mean that we are gods in that case I mean if you take it literally then yes the players and the DM are the real gods of a DMV setting everything else is just fiction you know it's just a narrative that forms around it and I think that if you were to take it literally in like this place is real these characters are real Forgotten Realms is a real place that you could that you could you know doesn't matter that it just exists on paper and in people's imaginations like right you could pretend that these things people were real the thing that I really like thinking about is like the philosophy of magic it's like who was the first person the first the first people to practice magic the harness man what is magic I kind of think like druidic magic would be the first magic that comes about well how'd you do the natural way yes because I mean all things come from the natural world so it would seem that there should be some kind of sustaining force that you could then harness these good in hard as to manipulate and then like after that I kind of see clerical magic it's coming next in the natural world the natural processes and there's gods that govern those things which the arrests rise to right then gives rise to clerical magic faith based and devotion to another world and then later on our Cain magic comes about because it's like well we don't need to worship the natural forces we can harness them we don't need to worship personalized entities that we've kind of unconsciously created we can like harness this magic ourselves for our own purposes and maybe like warlock magic came first contract with one of these beings and share in its power or maybe sorceress magic came first because it was like just from within just from within and then later on wizardly magic is sort of the apex of that because it's like well we're people who aren't connected to the arcane otherwise they're able to study and harness and mm-hmm I know that's why I like Jack Vance so much cuz they go in so much detail about how spells work and what they are yeah yeah these brain demons that that you have to spend a lifetime learning to control and you can only carry like three or four of them in your mind at the same time and then real wizards yeah but they're consume your intellect right they that they summon entities that perform the magic for them whatever they're called Sam Sanderson's or it's been too long man yeah it's been a while since I read them but the ones were it's like you summon this creature yeah who then enact the spell but lesser wizards just like go through the motions and kind of create the same spell effects with a minor yeah well in that case you know wizardly magic is like the the Enlightenment like the Renaissance imagine oh right my way yeah well you're getting to the rational thinking about it and in the fact and accepting the fact that this is a pre-existing force right and it can be manipulated it can't move in it and it like and it's predictable right yeah the way magic works in Dungeons & Dragons it's it's this a fireball as a fireball it ranch the way it works now I sometimes like taking the assumption that the magic and the players handbook is ideal form of certain spells and that there are fireballs out there that have variable characteristics than the rather most votes there yeah a radiant fireball or a fireball that doesn't blow up into a ball per se are so there are ones that are unstable and the range on them is you know makes them dangerous to cast or or even just like a throwback to other additions where it's like yeah you don't want to cast this well and in a tight corridor and order in closed space cuz it'll kill everybody yeah there's a set amount of force that's gonna come out and based on the dimensions of where it comes out yeah but like the fact that the spells have a they work for usually a fixed iteration I mean if not a fixed duration is long like you concentrate on them or as long as someone keep failing they're saving throws but it's like there's not enough variability in spells for them to be that random they're pretty predictable and you could study them that line of thinking though that means that how many generations of wizards had to go through like study and refinement of the fireball to get it where it goes this long spells get it yeah blows up to this big it does about it or do this much don't like to be like that refined hmm where you know if this is a scientific venture every time you cast a fireball you're just confirming is your peer reviewing yeah right it's like yep nope that's a fireball that's how that works right yeah so maybe it's the players handbook spells are the most studied to the most well practiced in the most sort of available spells yeah and that they're really hundreds and hundreds of other spells that are less than or unreliable or something like that but they could be more or they could be more refinement yeah that's why there's all those students that get turned away because they search for dangerous knowledge and all they're trying to find is that variable fireball that variable fireball where's the first level summoning spell that lets you summon like a massive pit pit fiend or something at first level right you know I mean that's the other thing about the about magic and fifth edition it's like it's less dangerous to the user yeah then then previous versions of magic or if dungeon dragons magic was ever really dangerous to the user but it's like those those stories of like yeah this apprentice wizard accidentally summoned something it shouldn't have well there's not really a chance of that happening outside of the deal the DM saying this is what happens yeah they find a scroll like that's a that's really kind of they might be able to with the scroll might be yeah they roll it 20 on their check and okay well you summoned a demon mister first level wizard with your two spells whether your two spells new to spell slots don't you know protection from evils and only gonna last like ten minutes yeah yeah and then your apt in the a yeah in that case Jim Davis yeah we're in our real world of Forgotten Realms our semi area or a real simulation our real simulation we're playing Roy we're not going to go back to the carpet store no no we're gonna go out and go on the life of adventure is the best video game that could ever be creative that idea right I mean every time we play D&D it is a like a like a version of that idea and to go back to the original kind of thing that started this whole conversation that was is this a simulation yeah like in that case aren't all games just like a meta like level down of just a simulation inside a simulation inside a simulation I mean if you assume reality as it exists as a simulation yeah yeah I don't I think it's a clever mental exercise that a bunch of tech [ __ ] bros like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk have latched on to and well you know we're all brains in a jar and a vat somewhere it's just like you could take your crazy ass [ __ ] yeah and go out to sea land eeeh that you want to build and and peddle that [ __ ] there I just you see so you don't buy it I don't buy into it no see for me I I think that reality is one of two things and I think it is the simulation idea but it's a little bit different yeah I do I I would like I would like to believe that we are higher consciousness beings we are incorporeal we have evolved past all of this okay and this is to remind us of where we came from so to keep our humanity because once you become an incorporeal you do anything you could probably lose a little perspective I think I could see something like that it's it's a very shitty simulation well it's the thing is it's designed to keep you in check a hellscape simulator again life is you know life is a dream you know you come down this is real for while you're here uh-huh and then the second it's over you wake up in the booth you go out you're like all right and you go out and you have a drink with your buddies or like dude you're not gonna believe what I just [ __ ] did no one did this and we did that I do that's the case I have my I have a message for my player character and wherever they're out they're out there use some cheat codes yeah just use them that's fine I don't care I don't know you're one of those gamers who doesn't believe in cheating or hacking the game or anything at your next I roll luck that you should do that wherever you are out there player it's time to it's a couple of twenty it's time to roll a couple of 20s up in this [ __ ] I think that the idea of it being a simulation is one of those things it's a it's a clever exercise and in sort of thinking about reality but I'm not sure that I buy it to me it's just calling what do you remember before you were born nothing I just don't think there's anything it's just like you get a little bit done I think that's where part part partial instinct and habit comes from yeah like where you have certain instincts to do certain things or ways of behavior that don't really reconcile that that can't be reconciled by your experience uh-huh you know and and that gives rise to people believing in reincarnation in previous lives sure but if we're talking about this being simulation where you have done previous things then you might once you play the game long enough remember certain little things about previous times you've been in it right so when you make a character that you play it in a previous edition of Dungeons & Dragons is that that's like a reincarnation your reincarnating that character completely is yeah that's [ __ ] bastard it's all your doing hey we do Emma how many times she reincarnated Fabian Fabian's been reincarnated at least eight times yeah so how's his soul doing well I mean if we take that one campaign his soul is fine and well on its way to becoming a solar or something like that it's true but everything from eBay bein through the Lantern arc on that baby eventually becomes Dungeons and Dragons as a simulated reality it's a simulated reality that's what fun thing about it you could do whatever you want with it it's like horrible calamities on these people the shitty life I would not want to live in forgotten rooms yeah it's horrible tres with dragons and monsters and demons that regularly and routinely flagrantly invade I did live in ever on I think everyone might not be a bad place to live in you're never gonna pick a place or I guess maybe if I was picking any place to live in I'd pick probably the blue rose world it's like a romantic fantasy setting where it's like a magic deer chooses a magic deer looks into the heart of the candidates for King and picks the best one for the job it's you know that it's the most just wise kind monarch you could have and probably live in something like that so they have a magic deer here we have what is that is the octopus that picks things here on earth close down and picks like like winners of the Olympics and all that yeah that's another way to think about it sure let's see but yeah whoever's out there controlling this thing yeah bust out the cheat codes yeah this is [ __ ] this is a [ __ ] simulation you can do better recently maybe just they just need to reboot the computer then we'd all be dead that's the dilemma right like that's the dilemma of it being a simulation is that this whole thing could end at any moment and even if you are a simulation your existence is important to you can only can saver dice the simulacrum is not gonna risk its life it can't come back from the dead right if it's it can't be remade and it won't be the same so that simulacrum is like no I'm not gonna help you fight this demon I want to live I'm gonna be unique right creation that has existence so let me let me let me ask you another thing no this is my other other viewpoint of what this all could be what if we are just the summit table subatomic level of existence of a higher being as in our galaxy is basically kind of like a molecule our solar system is the atom we're rolling around on a freakin electron mm-hmm right because when you look down atoms kind of look like solar systems yeah they're like mirror each other yeah yeah look at those pictures of the universe and you put it next to a scan of the brain of you know and it looks almost the same alright so what if that was the case and we are in fact basically just these microscopic entities inside the body of a higher being that's just probably you know maybe it's just a bird on a tree right now yeah in in its timescale it's you know a couple years old and here's what I think about that you need to get in some philosophy classes where they answer these kinds of questions I owe you you should they're really interesting and the other one is just like does it matter yeah that's what I'm saying though it's so in that case it really doesn't matter say we're in a version of human on a higher level huh would it not then behoove us to not have a space program and to not spread because in that scenario we would technically be kind of like cancer and if we spread and started affecting other areas would that not then attract the attention of the higher entity and though it's we a giant laser would burn us out of the sky as they I mean do some kind of chemotherapy and again suppose in mind this is why I can't get anything done because I think about this [ __ ] should really take a class there's been like I'm serious man they've been thinking about this [ __ ] for thousands of years and it can be very helpful did you thought of as your thoughts no you got a there's the thoughts or not I don't believe there's an original thought that's ever existed ever anywhere anymore who said that first I don't know but I'm sure someone else has thought that well by your own thinking they would have to have thought that somebody else has already thought that and written a book about it yeah there's a TED talk I'm sure and yeah they they gotten a war over it and you know mm-hmm some philosopher thought it up and his apprentice was like sir I read that in a book from a thousand a book from a long time ago yeah well [ __ ] yep that's how you get your mind blown yeah [Music] if you ever wonder if your D&D characters are actually real living creatures in a real living world and that you are [ __ ] up their lives every single day or maybe this reality isn't actually real and we're all just brains in a jar in some elicits laboratory that could be the case or it couldn't or does it really even matter I don't know let's talk about it on web DM we're not even high right now yeah not yet

Channel: Web DM

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Keywords: Dungeons, Dragons, Role, Playing, Tabletop, Game, 5th, Edition, 5e, Web, DM, WebDM, D&D, DND, dungeons and dragons, how to play dungeons and dragons, gods, philosophy, magic, spells, high magic, how to play, theory, economy

Id: NXKVGOKgz_U

Length: 17min 56sec (1076 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 16 2017