My New Pantheon--Please Examine and Offer Advise! [Archive] - Wizards Community

My New Pantheon--Please Examine and Offer Advise! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Silversheen197
09-15-07, 02:54 AM Alrighty, I'm creating my own campaign setting, and I decided to give a crack at making up a pantheon. I've got the basics set up, but I could use help, mostly with alignments and domains (I've got some tentative suggestions, but I'd like to see the board's take on them), and with any major concepts I'm missing:

Alocius
Greater Deity
Alignment: ????
Titles: The Creator, The Beginning
Typical Worshipers: ????
Domains: ????
Favored Weapon: Longsword
Alocious is the god of Creation. When he created the universe, he also created his mortal opponent, Omut, the god of the Apocalypse, because nothing can have a beginning and no end. As time moves on, his power is drawn from him to Omut, and when his power is gone (and therefore he himself is gone) Omut will destroy what Alocious created.

Alunneré
Intermediate Deity
Alignment: ????
Titles: Mistress of the Harvest, Queen of the Woodlands
Typical Worshippers: Farmers, druids
Domains: Plant, Time, ????
Favored Weapon: Sickle
She is the goddess of the forests and the seasons, as well as the wife of Obad-Hai. She controls the change of the seasons, and is often praised by those who wish for a plentiful harvest.

Bii
Lesser Deity
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Titles: The Muse, ????
Typical Worshippers: Bards, performers
Domains: ????
Favored Weapon: Rapier
The youngest of the three daughters of Magerius, the god of the moon, Bii presides over music and the arts. Bards and other minstrels and musicians commonly worship her, as do artists of all kinds.

(G) Dresnon—Dresnon was a powerful wilder anarchic initiate who by all appearances died at the heart of Limbo, and emerged as a deity three hundred and seventy-six years later; [chaotic neutral] Chaos

(I) Fealav—The goddess that brought a soul and emotion to all thinking creatures. She is the triplet sister of Sintorion and Heruont; [chaotic neutral]

(I) Ferrnum—Deity of the underground. It is often worshiped by dwarves and other subterranean races; [lawful good]

(L) Fione—One of the daughters of Magerius. She presides over anarchy; [chaotic evil]

(L) Forune—The god of strength and valor, Forune also has affinities with the fire and the earth;
[lawful good] Strength, Fire, Earth,

(G) Gaia—The deity of the Earth, it is the sibling of Magerius and Horan. It spawned three young that watch over the most ferocious environments on the planet; []

(I) Heruont—The deity that brought free will and morality to all thinking creatures. It the triplet sibling of Sintorion and Fealav. It does not tolerate immorality in its followers; [lawful neutral]

(G) Horan—The deity of the Sun. His brother is Magerius, and his sons are Zeden Arkon, Forune, and Hydarius; [neutral good] Sun, Fire, Air, Good, Protection.

(L) Hydarius—One of the sons of the Sun; [chaotic good] Water, Wind,

(G) Magerius—The deity of the Moon. His brother is Horan, and his daughters are Bii, Zereidia, and Fione; [lawful neutral] Balance, Force, Moon, Air

(I) Manikir—The draconic deity of death. He is often worshipped by the evil Manakete, who take great pleasure in following his orders of oppression and destruction; [neutral evil]

(L) Meera—The daughter of Tourna. She is often believed to not be a true deity, but instead an considerably powerful archangel; []

(L) Melonnasa—Goddess of Healing. She is the wife of Horan, and the mother of Zeden Arkon, Forune, and Hydarius; [neutral good] Healing, Good, Protection.

(L) Mernanta—The goddess of love, she is known as the Wishgiver because of the frequent miracles she gives to those who worship her. She is the wife of Magerius and the mother of Bii, Zereidia, and Fione; []

(I) Obad-Hai—The primary deity of nature. His wife is Alunneré; [neutral]

(G) Omut—The god of the Apocalypse, his power can do nothing but destroy. As the end of time draws nearer, he gains power. His enemy is Alocius;

(I) Orodiem—God of Earth and tyranny; [lawful evil] Earth

(I) Rozune
Intermediate Deity
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Titles: ????
Typical Worshippers: ????
Domains: Destruction, Evil, Knowledge, Magic, War
Favored Weapon: Greatsword
Rozune was at first an aspect of Zune, but at one point an event (there is disagreement on whether it was the spell of a powerful archmage, or that Heruont accidentally gave him free will because he mistook him for a mortal) caused Rozune to break free of the control of Zune. The rogue aspect soon rebelled against the purpose of his creator, and eventually rose to a divinity of his own as a god of chaos and destruction. He is an exceptionally adept mage, and his clerics usually take up levels of wizard or (if their deity will grant them magic blood) sorcerer. Rozune hates Zune with all his might, but, even though Rozune has become more powerful than his creator, he will not attack him, for reasons unknown.

(I) Shauin—Goddess of Water; [lawful good] Water

(I) Shastrei—Deity of the waste and deserts; []

(I) Sintorion—The god that brought intelligent thought and magic to all thinking creatures. He is the triplet brother of Fealav and Heruont; [neutral] Magic, Knowledge,

(L) Tourna—A minor goddess of the sea. She is worshipped by good sea-faring races; []

(I) Uusharda—Deity of the frostfell and tundra. It is often as cold as the areas it watches over; [lawful neutral] Cold

(I) Vilyaloki—Goddess of Wind; [chaotic good] Air

(I) Volkune—God of Fire; [chaotic evil] Fire

(L) Yus Aria—The goddess of the east wind, she represents the beginning of a journey. Her brother is Yus Oreon; [chaotic neutral] Air, Travel, Chaos, Luck

(L) Yus Oreon—The god of the west wind. He represents the coming to an end of a journey. His sister is Yus Aria; [lawful neutral] Air, Travel, Law, Luck.

(L) Zeden Arkon—One of the sons of the Sun; [neutral good]

(L) Zereidia—One of the daughters of the Moon; [chaotic neutral]

(I) Zune—A minor deity that is nonetheless the deity of Life. One of his aspects was corrupted by mortal magic and rebelled, eventually becoming Rozune. Because an aspect is part of its creator, Zune and Rozune are considered by some to be the same being; [neutral good] Animal, Plant,

(G)=Greater deity
(I)=Intermediate deity
(L)=Lesser deity

Also, tell me what you think of my names :) . Oh, and if it's not obvious, if there's nothing inside the [brackets], then I haven't decided on an alignment yet.

EDIT: Okay, I'm in the process of updating this with everything I know about the deities already. Anything with red ????'s means I don't know, and would like suggestions (and suggestions or comments about stuff I already know is always welcome, too ;) ). Thanks for your help!
goldomark
09-15-07, 03:14 AM Just to tell you, the ranks of the gods are listed has: Greater God, Intermidiate God, Lesser God, Demi-God and Quasi-God (althought quasi-gods can't give spells).
Return of the Flumph
09-15-07, 08:45 AM I'm going to need more information about each god before I can offer any reliable critique.
Silversheen197
09-15-07, 05:13 PM What sort of additional information do you require? I've never done the deity-creation thing, so I don't really know what's necessary...
LordofNightmares
09-15-07, 06:23 PM At least some information about their religions, maybe their domains. Definitely information about what their priests do.
Silversheen197
09-15-07, 07:47 PM Except that that's kind of what I'm asking for advise about: what sort of religions and domains should these deities have? This is actually the first time I've ever done anything in D&D relating to deities, so I have absolutely 0 knowledge of how they work.

I was required to come up with the doctrine for one of my deities, so here's what I came up with--

Omut: Omut is the god of the apocalypse. His power can do nothing but destroy, and was created at the precise moment when Alocius created the universe, because nothing can begin without having an end. [Alignment not determined yet, but I'm thinking neutral evil]. His favored weapon is the morningstar.
His followers and priests believe that (or at least, publically they believe) the world that Alocious created was one of suffering and misery, and that by doing Omut's work of destroying things (mostly lives) they are relieving people of the suffering Alocious cursed them to. Typical services include reading from the "Word of Omut," and torturing believers in other religions for hours on end before finally killing them. The two major (un)holy days of their religion are the rites of ascention, which occurs every four and a half years, and the purging, which occurs every twenty-six years.
The rites of ascention are when the current leaders of the church, the Sincallers, are ritualistically killed (promoted to destroyed), and those just under them in power in the church are promoted to Sincaller. The purging is when the church members bring in anyone outside the church they can find (usually only those who agree to come, but they'll take by force if they can), and then the Sincallers conjure up the physical embodiment of every sin those people have performed. The sins (which the clerics of Omut say are "the sufferings") of those people then attack and destroy those who created then, and are themselves destroyed, because their creator is dead.

Is that basically what I should do for all of these?
LordofNightmares
09-15-07, 11:15 PM Omut, the destroyer
Neutral Evil (I would make him true neutral if he truly believes what his priests claim)

Destruction, (Evil), Strength, War

I would also employ a special rule that allows his priests to be any Evil, True Neutral and Chaotic Neutral.

Is that basically what I should do for all of these?

Only for the most important/commonly worshiped ones. For background deities you can get away with a lot less information detailing them, especially if you don't plan on employing their clergy or other servants often.
Rogue Elendae
09-16-07, 06:16 PM Personally, when I've been working on deities for a homebrew setting, I set down their rank (Greater, Intermediate, Lesser, and in the case of my setting, one Over-Deity who might not still exist in such a form), what sort of god/goddess they are (god of war, trickery, etc.), a few titles if they have them (Moon Mother, Queen of Thieves, Lord of Betrayal, etc), their domains based upon the characteristics of the deity, their favored weapon, and their symbol.

Then I write a blurb on them. Sometimes it's just about their general disposition and how they appear when they choose to manifest (my world has fairly present deities, who have forms they're known to appear in that may or may not be entirely human-looking), and where they might come from (as in, are they related to or otherwise tied to another deity, etc.).

Then, if they have a history or important story I want to tell, I write it down as well. One of my deities has a rather extensive tale of darkness and redemption, while another has a brief blurb concerning how she was the first deity to come about after a brief but ugly war between various gods, and therefore is vastly more carefree and innocent than those who came before. It all depends on how detailed you want that deity to be...most of the time, I'd suggest that more powerful deities in a setting have more told about them, but it all depends on what you come up with.

As for doctrines, I often only have brief mention of a few particular practices of the worshipers of a deity, but more often I'll have a few sentences of their standard dogma (such as, for a god of tyranny, "All fall before the might of ----!" or some-such) that help put forward the standard beliefs of a follower of this deity. Just as often, I let some of it percolate as things go...if the PCs are going to encounter a temple of this deity, I might let it happen when a ceremony or other festival is taking place, to show the doctrine at work, etc.

Don't worry too much, unless you figure all your PCs know all about these various deities...you've probably got time to let yourself stew on it, unless one of your players is planning to be some sort of religious scholar-type PC.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Silversheen197 09-15-07, 02:54 AM	Alrighty, I'm creating my own campaign setting, and I decided to give a crack at making up a pantheon. I've got the basics set up, but I could use help, mostly with alignments and domains (I've got some tentative suggestions, but I'd like to see the board's take on them), and with any major concepts I'm missing: Alocius Greater Deity Alignment: ???? Titles: The Creator, The Beginning Typical Worshipers: ???? Domains: ???? Favored Weapon: Longsword Alocious is the god of Creation. When he created the universe, he also created his mortal opponent, Omut, the god of the Apocalypse, because nothing can have a beginning and no end. As time moves on, his power is drawn from him to Omut, and when his power is gone (and therefore he himself is gone) Omut will destroy what Alocious created. Alunneré Intermediate Deity Alignment: ???? Titles: Mistress of the Harvest, Queen of the Woodlands Typical Worshippers: Farmers, druids Domains: Plant, Time, ???? Favored Weapon: Sickle She is the goddess of the forests and the seasons, as well as the wife of Obad-Hai. She controls the change of the seasons, and is often praised by those who wish for a plentiful harvest. Bii Lesser Deity Alignment: Chaotic Good Titles: The Muse, ???? Typical Worshippers: Bards, performers Domains: ???? Favored Weapon: Rapier The youngest of the three daughters of Magerius, the god of the moon, Bii presides over music and the arts. Bards and other minstrels and musicians commonly worship her, as do artists of all kinds. (G) Dresnon—Dresnon was a powerful wilder anarchic initiate who by all appearances died at the heart of Limbo, and emerged as a deity three hundred and seventy-six years later; [chaotic neutral] Chaos (I) Fealav—The goddess that brought a soul and emotion to all thinking creatures. She is the triplet sister of Sintorion and Heruont; [chaotic neutral] (I) Ferrnum—Deity of the underground. It is often worshiped by dwarves and other subterranean races; [lawful good] (L) Fione—One of the daughters of Magerius. She presides over anarchy; [chaotic evil] (L) Forune—The god of strength and valor, Forune also has affinities with the fire and the earth; [lawful good] Strength, Fire, Earth, (G) Gaia—The deity of the Earth, it is the sibling of Magerius and Horan. It spawned three young that watch over the most ferocious environments on the planet; [] (I) Heruont—The deity that brought free will and morality to all thinking creatures. It the triplet sibling of Sintorion and Fealav. It does not tolerate immorality in its followers; [lawful neutral] (G) Horan—The deity of the Sun. His brother is Magerius, and his sons are Zeden Arkon, Forune, and Hydarius; [neutral good] Sun, Fire, Air, Good, Protection. (L) Hydarius—One of the sons of the Sun; [chaotic good] Water, Wind, (G) Magerius—The deity of the Moon. His brother is Horan, and his daughters are Bii, Zereidia, and Fione; [lawful neutral] Balance, Force, Moon, Air (I) Manikir—The draconic deity of death. He is often worshipped by the evil Manakete, who take great pleasure in following his orders of oppression and destruction; [neutral evil] (L) Meera—The daughter of Tourna. She is often believed to not be a true deity, but instead an considerably powerful archangel; [] (L) Melonnasa—Goddess of Healing. She is the wife of Horan, and the mother of Zeden Arkon, Forune, and Hydarius; [neutral good] Healing, Good, Protection. (L) Mernanta—The goddess of love, she is known as the Wishgiver because of the frequent miracles she gives to those who worship her. She is the wife of Magerius and the mother of Bii, Zereidia, and Fione; [] (I) Obad-Hai—The primary deity of nature. His wife is Alunneré; [neutral] (G) Omut—The god of the Apocalypse, his power can do nothing but destroy. As the end of time draws nearer, he gains power. His enemy is Alocius; (I) Orodiem—God of Earth and tyranny; [lawful evil] Earth (I) Rozune Intermediate Deity Alignment: Chaotic Evil Titles: ???? Typical Worshippers: ???? Domains: Destruction, Evil, Knowledge, Magic, War Favored Weapon: Greatsword Rozune was at first an aspect of Zune, but at one point an event (there is disagreement on whether it was the spell of a powerful archmage, or that Heruont accidentally gave him free will because he mistook him for a mortal) caused Rozune to break free of the control of Zune. The rogue aspect soon rebelled against the purpose of his creator, and eventually rose to a divinity of his own as a god of chaos and destruction. He is an exceptionally adept mage, and his clerics usually take up levels of wizard or (if their deity will grant them magic blood) sorcerer. Rozune hates Zune with all his might, but, even though Rozune has become more powerful than his creator, he will not attack him, for reasons unknown. (I) Shauin—Goddess of Water; [lawful good] Water (I) Shastrei—Deity of the waste and deserts; [] (I) Sintorion—The god that brought intelligent thought and magic to all thinking creatures. He is the triplet brother of Fealav and Heruont; [neutral] Magic, Knowledge, (L) Tourna—A minor goddess of the sea. She is worshipped by good sea-faring races; [] (I) Uusharda—Deity of the frostfell and tundra. It is often as cold as the areas it watches over; [lawful neutral] Cold (I) Vilyaloki—Goddess of Wind; [chaotic good] Air (I) Volkune—God of Fire; [chaotic evil] Fire (L) Yus Aria—The goddess of the east wind, she represents the beginning of a journey. Her brother is Yus Oreon; [chaotic neutral] Air, Travel, Chaos, Luck (L) Yus Oreon—The god of the west wind. He represents the coming to an end of a journey. His sister is Yus Aria; [lawful neutral] Air, Travel, Law, Luck. (L) Zeden Arkon—One of the sons of the Sun; [neutral good] (L) Zereidia—One of the daughters of the Moon; [chaotic neutral] (I) Zune—A minor deity that is nonetheless the deity of Life. One of his aspects was corrupted by mortal magic and rebelled, eventually becoming Rozune. Because an aspect is part of its creator, Zune and Rozune are considered by some to be the same being; [neutral good] Animal, Plant, (G)=Greater deity (I)=Intermediate deity (L)=Lesser deity Also, tell me what you think of my names :) . Oh, and if it's not obvious, if there's nothing inside the [brackets], then I haven't decided on an alignment yet. EDIT: Okay, I'm in the process of updating this with everything I know about the deities already. Anything with red ????'s means I don't know, and would like suggestions (and suggestions or comments about stuff I already know is always welcome, too ;) ). Thanks for your help!
goldomark 09-15-07, 03:14 AM	Just to tell you, the ranks of the gods are listed has: Greater God, Intermidiate God, Lesser God, Demi-God and Quasi-God (althought quasi-gods can't give spells).
Return of the Flumph 09-15-07, 08:45 AM	I'm going to need more information about each god before I can offer any reliable critique.
Silversheen197 09-15-07, 05:13 PM	What sort of additional information do you require? I've never done the deity-creation thing, so I don't really know what's necessary...
LordofNightmares 09-15-07, 06:23 PM	At least some information about their religions, maybe their domains. Definitely information about what their priests do.
Silversheen197 09-15-07, 07:47 PM	Except that that's kind of what I'm asking for advise about: what sort of religions and domains should these deities have? This is actually the first time I've ever done anything in D&D relating to deities, so I have absolutely 0 knowledge of how they work. I was required to come up with the doctrine for one of my deities, so here's what I came up with-- Omut: Omut is the god of the apocalypse. His power can do nothing but destroy, and was created at the precise moment when Alocius created the universe, because nothing can begin without having an end. [Alignment not determined yet, but I'm thinking neutral evil]. His favored weapon is the morningstar. His followers and priests believe that (or at least, publically they believe) the world that Alocious created was one of suffering and misery, and that by doing Omut's work of destroying things (mostly lives) they are relieving people of the suffering Alocious cursed them to. Typical services include reading from the "Word of Omut," and torturing believers in other religions for hours on end before finally killing them. The two major (un)holy days of their religion are the rites of ascention, which occurs every four and a half years, and the purging, which occurs every twenty-six years. The rites of ascention are when the current leaders of the church, the Sincallers, are ritualistically killed (promoted to destroyed), and those just under them in power in the church are promoted to Sincaller. The purging is when the church members bring in anyone outside the church they can find (usually only those who agree to come, but they'll take by force if they can), and then the Sincallers conjure up the physical embodiment of every sin those people have performed. The sins (which the clerics of Omut say are "the sufferings") of those people then attack and destroy those who created then, and are themselves destroyed, because their creator is dead. Is that basically what I should do for all of these?
LordofNightmares 09-15-07, 11:15 PM	Omut, the destroyer Neutral Evil (I would make him true neutral if he truly believes what his priests claim) Destruction, (Evil), Strength, War I would also employ a special rule that allows his priests to be any Evil, True Neutral and Chaotic Neutral. Is that basically what I should do for all of these? Only for the most important/commonly worshiped ones. For background deities you can get away with a lot less information detailing them, especially if you don't plan on employing their clergy or other servants often.
Rogue Elendae 09-16-07, 06:16 PM	Personally, when I've been working on deities for a homebrew setting, I set down their rank (Greater, Intermediate, Lesser, and in the case of my setting, one Over-Deity who might not still exist in such a form), what sort of god/goddess they are (god of war, trickery, etc.), a few titles if they have them (Moon Mother, Queen of Thieves, Lord of Betrayal, etc), their domains based upon the characteristics of the deity, their favored weapon, and their symbol. Then I write a blurb on them. Sometimes it's just about their general disposition and how they appear when they choose to manifest (my world has fairly present deities, who have forms they're known to appear in that may or may not be entirely human-looking), and where they might come from (as in, are they related to or otherwise tied to another deity, etc.). Then, if they have a history or important story I want to tell, I write it down as well. One of my deities has a rather extensive tale of darkness and redemption, while another has a brief blurb concerning how she was the first deity to come about after a brief but ugly war between various gods, and therefore is vastly more carefree and innocent than those who came before. It all depends on how detailed you want that deity to be...most of the time, I'd suggest that more powerful deities in a setting have more told about them, but it all depends on what you come up with. As for doctrines, I often only have brief mention of a few particular practices of the worshipers of a deity, but more often I'll have a few sentences of their standard dogma (such as, for a god of tyranny, "All fall before the might of ----!" or some-such) that help put forward the standard beliefs of a follower of this deity. Just as often, I let some of it percolate as things go...if the PCs are going to encounter a temple of this deity, I might let it happen when a ceremony or other festival is taking place, to show the doctrine at work, etc. Don't worry too much, unless you figure all your PCs know all about these various deities...you've probably got time to let yourself stew on it, unless one of your players is planning to be some sort of religious scholar-type PC.