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Anathema are only mechanically restrictive to clerics/champions/etc.
However, if you are worshiper of a deity, their anathema probably color your life to one degree or another. In the case of Rovagug, yeah. He's the embodiment of destruction. Creative types probably aren't too common and banditry/pillaging is likely a big thing.
Need a greataxe? Choke someone who has a greataxe.
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Anathema are only mechanically restrictive to clerics/champions/etc.
However, if you are worshiper of a deity, their anathema probably color your life to one degree or another. In the case of Rovagug, yeah. He's the embodiment of destruction. Creative types probably aren't too common and banditry/pillaging is likely a big thing.
Need a greataxe? Choke someone who has a greataxe.
Or just do like most people do and buy one, really. You can't be tied to material substance, but the anathema doesn't say you can't exploit them to further your goals of destruction.
Also, if it came down to it, unarmed combat can be extremely practical in a world with monks, animal instinct barbarians, humanoids with claws, etc.
If simply creating an item from scratch counts as creating something new, it would be hard for Rovagug worshippers to make their own weapons and they would either depend entirely on pillaging or fight unarmed, both are impractical and above all for clerics who should use the greataxe as their main weapon. Hard to understand how Rovagug worshippers would be a real threat there.
I think you're really overestimating the number of people who make their own equipment with this statement. Most people, Rovagug worshippers are not, probably aren't going to have handmade equipment.
If simply creating an item from scratch counts as creating something new, it would be hard for Rovagug worshippers to make their own weapons and they would either depend entirely on pillaging or fight unarmed, both are impractical and above all for clerics who should use the greataxe as their main weapon. Hard to understand how Rovagug worshippers would be a real threat there.I think you're really overestimating the number of people who make their own equipment with this statement. Most people, Rovagug worshippers are not, probably aren't going to have handmade equipment.
Even if they did, I think the Rough Beast isn't going to object too much if the creation is only used to destroy other stuff. Hand-make a club, an axe, a Kalashnikov, just destroy stuff with it and he's..well, still angry but not quite as angry at you.
Rovagug worshipers are NPCs anyway. So I take it as saying "you take what you need, you don't make it." Pillaging as a way of life is all well and good for Rovagugians. I mean, this is the chaotic evil big bad of the setting who is generally worshiped only by those who abhor civilization or are lone mad nihilists.
Plus the anathema only binds the clerics. So if you have say a group of orcs who worship the Rough Beast, only the actual spiritual leader needs to be someone who contributes nothing positive to society- everybody else can make stuff.
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It's pretty explicit in the Belkzen book, among other places, that yes, creating a weapon is anathema to Rovagug, just as all other acts of creation. Now, not all Orcs worship Rovagug, and most who do probably consider breaking that tenet a minor sin at best, resulting in them treating craftspeople like dirt rather than actively killing them or anything, but the Clerics and Champions of Rovagug must abide by it, well, religiously.
So, in short, they survive and remain a threat because only the true fanatics actually abide by that tenet. But it's a real tenet and one people who actually want Rovagug's magical blessings must abide by.
Wait, why did he create the Spawn if he's against creating anything?
Wait, why did he create the Spawn if he's against creating anything?
They may not literally be his spawn. Or maybe they are weird divine fleas that he shakes off. Spontaneous creation?
/shrug
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They should add "pointing out flaws/contradictions in this deity's theology" to each deity's anathema. :-P
Creative Director
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Birth is not what the anathema is talking about. It's specifically talking about building things. If you worship Rovagug, you're not suposed to build bridges, buildings, armor, or weapons. You're supposed to take those things from others and use those resources to destroy. And if you're making a magic item, it's better to craft the item from an object someone else made. Rather than forge the sword or craft the ring or carve the figurine or sew the cloak that you're trying to turn into a +1 sword or ring of fire resistance or figurine of wondrous power or cloak of the bat, you should take a normal sword or ring or figurine or cloak from someone else and go from there. Either that, or craft something that's flawed or cursed or simply appears to be old and worn.
Keep in mind that Rovagug is a god of destruction. He wants to ruin things, not make new things. He expects nothing less from his faithful. Does this make him a tougher deity to worship as a PC? Perhaps... and that's kind of by design. He's meant to be a bad guy, not a friend.
I think a cleric of Rovagug is one of the things that would not even work in an evil Party. But it would be a reason for good and evil to work together^^