[D&D 3.5] Building a world without Deities?

[whitefalconiv]

I'm new to D&D, honestly, but I'm a former GM of a few other games, including a fantasy LARP that I'm adapting the story of to fit into a tabletop game.

The issue I'm running into is that the game I'm adapting had a strict "no religion, no gods or deities of any kind". Healers of any practice (priestlike, druidlike, and herbalist) were lumped into one big category of "healers".

I'm not really sure how to work it in D&D. Clerics and Paladins are invariably tied to their deities, and I'm not sure how to separate that from the game without removing both classes.

Like I said, I'm new to the D&D game in general (not the d20 system), and this could be a really simple adaptation. I just don't know it :(

Feel free to call me an idiot.

[Elemental]

The way I see it, you have a couple of options open to you. You could just make clerical and paladin magic something that those classes study from books which they believe to be gifts from a higher power, but are actual ancient tomes of forgotten healing magic. Or, you could just have all your clerics dedicate themselves to a cause, and have their power stem from their devotion and or piety.

[DodgerH2O]

Doesn't change much, actually. Yes the flavor changes, but little reason for the mechanics to change in most instances. As mentioned, let faith itself be the power source. Paladins are just champions of "Good", and not even necessarily DnD black'n'white "Good" but merely devoted to an unselfish cause. Druids merely have such an attunement with Nature that they learn its ways and can guide its growth. Clerical magic doesn't need deities, just discipline and perhaps faith or faith-neutral "spiritual" practice. Domains can be the forces in the world that the Cleric relates to most, rather than associated with a specific deity.

Some specific spells and powers may have to be altered or removed altogether, but those are minimal and with enough creativity can probably stay relatively unchanged.

[B!shop]

Let your divine casters follow a principle, an idea, a virtue (or a vice), or even simpler, a domain (war, death, healing, sun, etc..).
So you will have john, paladin of the moon and eddie, holy priest of the justice.

[Fera Tian]

Clerics choose the domains their ethics are based around and Paladins become roaming judges.