Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Toran_A_Sunder 02-28-08, 06:29 PM	For 4e I will be, essentially, destroying my campaign setting and starting over from scratch. The current incarnation of my setting uses strictly the Dragonlance pantheon of gods, but I wanted to do something slightly different for the new 4e setting*. My idea was to mix a number of deities from various pantheons, both real world and fantasy, to create basically a conglomerate of differing pantheons** (Why the real world deities are no longer on earth and why there are deities from different campaign settings is unimportant to the following question, though I will elaborate on it if asked). So here's my question: taking into the context the following deities I have chosen, what would be the overall opinion you, as the greater gaming community, would hold if introduced into a campaign setting where the pantheon ran along similar lines? Would you be for it, against it, indifferent, or something else? Thanks for your input everyone! Paladine & Takhisis: The only two DL deities who survived the death of the "Old World," and thus head up the pantheon of the current incarnation of my setting. Tyr: Norse god of Justice. Patron of the Dragonborn Ares: Greek God of War. Progenitor of the Orcs and Goblinoids. Artemis: goddess of woodlands and the hunt. Patron of the elves and fey Amun-Ra: Egyptian sun god. Once ruler of the Pharonic Pantheon, now struggles with being "second best" to Paladine and Takhisis. Anubis/Hades: Both Gods of death of the Pharonic and Hellenic pantheons respectively. Currently, both gods are at war for position and title as God of Death. Vecna: Core/Greyhawk deity of Secrets Asmodeous: Core/Greyhawk Deity of...evil? And stuff. Obad-hai: Core/Greyhawk deity of nature. Patron of druids. Not as much at odds with Artemis as he once was with Elhonna, but the two dont always see eye to eye. Loki: Norse god of luck and trickery. Kokopelli: Native American deity of fertility, agriculture, and music. These are just a few ideas I have had, but you see where I am going with this. Again, all input is appreciated. *I realize this should maybe go somewhere in the 4e forum, but I dont visit there often. More importantly, I value the opinions of certain regular posters on [I]this forum, and rarely see them over in 4e territory. Plus, this is less about 4e and more about the pantheon. **The list of deities is by no means exhaustive or complete, and I am taking into consideration that there will be new, as yet unknown gods released with 4e. Its not so much the list of deities I'm curious about as it is the idea of mixing so many pantheons.
Nogitsune_Teumessia 03-03-08, 09:01 AM	For 4e I will be, essentially, destroying my campaign setting and starting over from scratch. The current incarnation of my setting uses strictly the Dragonlance pantheon of gods, but I wanted to do something slightly different for the new 4e setting*. My idea was to mix a number of deities from various pantheons, both real world and fantasy, to create basically a conglomerate of differing pantheons** (Why the real world deities are no longer on earth and why there are deities from different campaign settings is unimportant to the following question, though I will elaborate on it if asked). So here's my question: taking into the context the following deities I have chosen, what would be the overall opinion you, as the greater gaming community, would hold if introduced into a campaign setting where the pantheon ran along similar lines? Would you be for it, against it, indifferent, or something else? Thanks for your input everyone! Paladine & Takhisis: The only two DL deities who survived the death of the "Old World," and thus head up the pantheon of the current incarnation of my setting. Tyr: Norse god of Justice. Patron of the Dragonborn Ares: Greek God of War. Progenitor of the Orcs and Goblinoids. Artemis: goddess of woodlands and the hunt. Patron of the elves and fey Amun-Ra: Egyptian sun god. Once ruler of the Pharonic Pantheon, now struggles with being "second best" to Paladine and Takhisis. Anubis/Hades: Both Gods of death of the Pharonic and Hellenic pantheons respectively. Currently, both gods are at war for position and title as God of Death. Vecna: Core/Greyhawk deity of Secrets Asmodeous: Core/Greyhawk Deity of...evil? And stuff. Obad-hai: Core/Greyhawk deity of nature. Patron of druids. Not as much at odds with Artemis as he once was with Elhonna, but the two dont always see eye to eye. Loki: Norse god of luck and trickery. Kokopelli: Native American deity of fertility, agriculture, and music. These are just a few ideas I have had, but you see where I am going with this. Again, all input is appreciated. *I realize this should maybe go somewhere in the 4e forum, but I dont visit there often. More importantly, I value the opinions of certain regular posters on [I]this forum, and rarely see them over in 4e territory. Plus, this is less about 4e and more about the pantheon. **The list of deities is by no means exhaustive or complete, and I am taking into consideration that there will be new, as yet unknown gods released with 4e. Its not so much the list of deities I'm curious about as it is the idea of mixing so many pantheons. If it works for you I would say go for it. I wouldn't destroy an existing campaign just to try and force it to fit into 4e rules (as they apparently plan to do to the Forgotten Realms and goodness knows what they're going to do to Eberron...). If you really feel it's a good idea to have something after a universal cataclysm, though, and want to include deities from all around the world you may want to consider the roles the deities will play. Wikipedia might be able to help you in this regard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deities I might advise you to pick only a few deities from D&D and use the rest from real myths. It's quite easy for several deities to have overlapping domains, so you might want to consider how you want the deities to interact. You may also want to consider whether the world reflects the nature of the deities, that is if the deities somehow managed to bring a small part of their shattered worlds along with them so you, say, have a bit of Krynn next to a bit of anchient Greece, next to a bit of the Orient, next to a bit of Greyhawk, etc. Thoughts?
Orchomenos 03-03-08, 09:39 AM	I think it's a good idea to mix and match deities from different pantheons. You could in fact create some traffic at some position (Tyr, Paladine, Amun-Ra are all leading LG gods), while letting some portfolios unoccupied (healing, music, magic, etc). So the ones who will adapt to claim more portfolio will thrive, while some other ones could fall to oblivion. And all this struggle could be the object of your next campaign: if your players decide to help Paladine, then Tyr and Amun-Ra could fall in the back seat. Artemis is in fact really different than Elhonna. The later is more a squirrel and deers protector, while the former is more a wolf pack goddess... What version of Egyptian gods are you using? The really Egyptian ones, or the FR Mulhorand version?
Toran_A_Sunder 03-03-08, 10:27 AM	If it works for you I would say go for it. I wouldn't destroy an existing campaign just to try and force it to fit into 4e rules (as they apparently plan to do to the Forgotten Realms and goodness knows what they're going to do to Eberron...). If you really feel it's a good idea to have something after a universal cataclysm, though, and want to include deities from all around the world you may want to consider the roles the deities will play. Wikipedia might be able to help you in this regard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deities I might advise you to pick only a few deities from D&D and use the rest from real myths. It's quite easy for several deities to have overlapping domains, so you might want to consider how you want the deities to interact. You may also want to consider whether the world reflects the nature of the deities, that is if the deities somehow managed to bring a small part of their shattered worlds along with them so you, say, have a bit of Krynn next to a bit of anchient Greece, next to a bit of the Orient, next to a bit of Greyhawk, etc. Thoughts? I definitely see what your saying about destroying one capaign setting just to fit 4e in. For me it isn't such a big deal because my capaign setting is very new and I've done hardly any work on it. I definitely like having the deities and there "flavor" side by side, even mixed and matched a litle bit. The dragonborn, for instance, originally had Ares as their patron. My story line has Tyr basically usurp that position, so the dragonborn have a look half greek, half norse (think centurion helmets and gladius swords with nordic runes and knotwork). I think it's a good idea to mix and match deities from different pantheons. You could in fact create some traffic at some position (Tyr, Paladine, Amun-Ra are all leading LG gods), while letting some portfolios unoccupied (healing, music, magic, etc). So the ones who will adapt to claim more portfolio will thrive, while some other ones could fall to oblivion. And all this struggle could be the object of your next campaign: if your players decide to help Paladine, then Tyr and Amun-Ra could fall in the back seat. Artemis is in fact really different than Elhonna. The later is more a squirrel and deers protector, while the former is more a wolf pack goddess... What version of Egyptian gods are you using? The really Egyptian ones, or the FR Mulhorand version? Unless and until they release a 4e deities and demigods, the egyptian gods from the 3e book of the same name. I love what you said about leaving some portfolios unoccupied and having certain gods pick them up. That'd be sweet :D And I'm glad to hear your take the differences between elhonna and artemis. Makes it much better for me :D Makes the elves a bit more badass too, methinks. Thanks for the input guys :D I appreciate it.
Nogitsune_Teumessia 03-03-08, 12:21 PM	I definitely see what your saying about destroying one capaign setting just to fit 4e in. For me it isn't such a big deal because my capaign setting is very new and I've done hardly any work on it. I definitely like having the deities and there "flavor" side by side, even mixed and matched a litle bit. The dragonborn, for instance, originally had Ares as their patron. My story line has Tyr basically usurp that position, so the dragonborn have a look half greek, half norse (think centurion helmets and gladius swords with nordic runes and knotwork). Unless and until they release a 4e deities and demigods, the egyptian gods from the 3e book of the same name. I love what you said about leaving some portfolios unoccupied and having certain gods pick them up. That'd be sweet :D And I'm glad to hear your take the differences between elhonna and artemis. Makes it much better for me :D Makes the elves a bit more badass too, methinks. Thanks for the input guys :D I appreciate it. I think mixing things up is a good idea. You have the flavor of settings mixing and matching, you choose a few deities, the ones that most appeal to you and look at their portfolios. After that you figure out what portfolios are now up for grabs, who gets them, how they get them and how that affects things. Be careful about certain things, though. Ares was the god of war, but seen as the more brutish aspects of war. Athena was the goddess of war but seen as the more intellectual aspects of it. There's a big difference between them even though they are both war deities.