Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Todesherr 09-23-07, 03:51 AM	Assuming that the pantheon is whittled down to size I think things will go back to where they were during Netheril, to some extent and the Greater Powers will grab the lost portfolios of the (possibly) dead intermediates and lessers; some predictions of portfolio additives: Tyr: protection, duty Lathander: sun, endurance, creation Sune: mercy, peace Bane: pain, cold, winter, Shar: murder, illusion, intrigue, poison, disease, necromancy Talos: beasts, sea Oghma: music, art, glyphs Kelemvor: law, time Silvanus: no change Chauntea: healing, forests, nature Tempus: no change Hmm....it gets tough now; Shar it seems will definitely become an all in one evil power...like she used to be back in the day.... Of course only IF they rehaul everything and only leave the greater powers....
MerrikCale 09-23-07, 08:13 AM	they better keep Selune
Miryana 09-23-07, 01:34 PM	I hope Sune, Shar and Chauntea won't end up being the only human goddesses in the Realms. If only greater deities can survive, give Selune, Tymora and possibly Umberlee power boosts; let them have some of the portfolios of the unfortunate lesser/intermediate deities.
Arbourean 09-24-07, 01:06 AM	You know, I have my doubts they're getting rid of all deities lower than Greater. It's only their realms that were swept away, not the gods themselves. Probably wishful thinking on my part though...
Selvarin 09-24-07, 06:32 PM	First of all, Torm is closer to the ideal of guardianship than Tyr. So I'd bet a bag of walnuts that Torm will get Helm's portfolio. Cyric isn't going anywhere so he's keeping his portfolio (with maybe one or two bits snitched back by Mask in the ensuing chaos); Rather, he'll be imprisoned. Likely that means he can't send his aspects or avatars anywhere, therefore he can't trot off to kill anymore deities in the meantime. And while I'm at it, Arbourean is correct. It only said the planes of lesser than Greater power were swept away. Just means everyone else loses their homes and starts running for the planar 'islands in the stormy sea'. Don't count the other deities out. It appears they're creating more collective planar homes for the gods. Mystra's spot will either be taken over by another deity (Sune? Certainly not Shar!) or likely a Chosen, eventually. Only reason why they didn't say who is because they haven't written that chapter yet, just as with the battle between Lolth and Eilistraee. I have no doubt there will be a standalone novel about it.
Todesherr 09-25-07, 01:42 AM	If Torm gets Helm's portfolio I will be happy, maybe with a power boost to intermediate deity as well. Torm, the True (Intermediate Power) Divine Rank: 14 Portfolio: Duty, protection, guardians, loyalty, paladins Domains: Good, Healing, Law, Planning, Protection, Strength Etc......etc....etc....
Selvarin 09-25-07, 03:30 AM	He'll easily get a power-boost, after all Helm himself is an Intermediate power. If he loses the LE arm of the following they'll just turn to Bane in all likelihood.
jameadows77 09-25-07, 05:29 PM	I'm lost. Haven't read too many of the books lately. Which ones do I need to get caught up with Mystra dying and the other gods vying for power.
Selvarin 09-25-07, 10:39 PM	I'm lost. Haven't read too many of the books lately. Which ones do I need to get caught up with Mystra dying and the other gods vying for power. The upcoming third Mystryl/Mystra death isn't in a novel yet, just stated in the GHotR. Don't worry, there will be Cliff Notes on who dies soon enough.
jameadows77 09-26-07, 07:15 AM	Thanks for the update. I'll go get it to check it out.
Chloramantis 09-26-07, 10:37 AM	It seems to me that the end of the Forgotten Realms seems to involve the merging of all the good god/desses and evil god/desses into two. I always thought the human Realms would someday become monotheistic. Good verses Evil is one of the oldest form of rivalries (next to the Red Sox and Yankees!) in the world. It only seems fitting that a merging of powers will occur. The only problem is who will the two powers be? Shar seems to have a pretty good chance on being the supreme evil, with maybe Bane in second. Lathander, Chauntea, Tyr or even Selune may be good choices for the Supreme good. Any suggestions?
Selvarin 09-26-07, 08:45 PM	That would be the most boring Realms ever.
Dimensional_Drifter 09-27-07, 08:43 AM	Why get rid of the lesser and demipowers? I don't see that happening, nor do I want this to happen. Besides, some of the things you listed don't make sense. (Peace, Sune?? no. Kelemvor, law?? no.)
dragonheart 09-30-07, 01:19 PM	I really don't see the deities to reduced to 1 good and 1 evil, the realms aren't earth and all feeling of the realms would be lost if you did that. they do seem to be trying to reduce the sheer number of deities so eihter we will see a merger of the faerunian and mulhorandi pantheons or they will take their time reintroducing the different intermediate, lesser and demigods as they hear the clamor of complaints from us. the gods except for helm, savras and mystra are not dead, even Azuth and Velasharoon are only swept away into their new astral plane and would be able to be brought back given enough feedback from players.
MarkusTay63 09-30-07, 01:35 PM	For years now, the trend has been to group the various gods by their concerns - 3e made this more official with it's cosmology. The statement in the GHotR further reinforces this - "Only Greater deities prove strong enough to maintain their realms against the resultant chaos". What we will most likely see is the gods formerly grouped by their main areas of concern - Nature, Warfare, Magic, Learning, Hope (love?), etc... and PCs will pick a pantheon to follow rather then a single god. Priests may still specialize in a single god, I suppose, but I think following several like-minded gods is more in keeping with the original Realms, which is something I think the designers are trying to recapture with this retcon. Like evrything else they appear to be changing, it's not such a bad thing in and of itself - let's just see how badly they f__k it up before we start complaining. ;)
Selvarin 09-30-07, 02:46 PM	It just means they wiped out some real estate and forced the gods to bunk up a bit. They had to get rid of The Great Wheel (as opposed to having the FR sages say, "Whoops! Our theories were incorrect, actually it works like this...") and so...*shrugs*... One good development would be to have 'pantheic priests'--a misnomer, but the idea being that a cleric would serve the greater interests of a shared group (such as The Triad, for example).
MarkusTay63 09-30-07, 03:05 PM	There already are Paladins of the Triad, Rangers like Drizzt worship more then one nature deitiy, and several 'heavy hitters' venerate more then one god, even Chosen (having Qilue in mind here). The concept isn't new to FR - it's just becoming more formalized (using deicides to explain away most of it in 4e).
Dark Wizard 09-30-07, 03:34 PM	I'm not against the idea of mini-pantheons based on closely linked gods and portfolios. It actually comes rather close to how I treat the gods in my Realms and is something I've hoped for in the Realms for a long time, mainly more discrete pantheons rather than the single Faerunian uber-pantheon. Hopefully the execution will not be too heavy-handed (such as the cleric alignment rule or the single patron deity concept in 3e). The success of this I think is also contingent on WotC not killing off too many lesser deities since a bunch of greater gods lording over individual domains are not pantheons on to themselves. Then you just have a weird form of monotheism with a bit of Highlander thrown in.
Selvarin 09-30-07, 03:35 PM	Not quite. With the advent of 3e they decided that everyone had to worship one god--some token observances of others was expected/allowed but the idea was that if you didn't have a primary god then no one would pick you up from the Fugue Plane. Prior to that I used to see NPC's whose profiles mentioned worshipping up to two or three gods. (I could be very wrong about it but after a while I was like "whatever" and just went along with it.) Personally I liked the old 1e FR NPC profiles from the FR Campaign set. As little in the way of stats in most cases, there was more than enough with which to build them up yourself. And the way they'd indicate certain things, such as paying only lip service to one god or another. Come to think about it, I liked the way the paper was, too. I'm getting nostalgic. :weep: Hey, when is someone going to do a 'Chris Crocker' about the Realms? *crying* "Leave the Realms ALONE! It's just trying to entertain us, why do you designers keep having to mess with it?!" *more tears*
gomeztoo 09-30-07, 03:46 PM	The battle of good vs evil is Selune vs Shar. These are the two primal goddesses. Selune and Shar created most of the others, excepting those that came from outside. Mystra and Chauntea are 'children' of Selune and Shar. I never understood why Selune has less power and serves Sune - she should be far more important.
Selvarin 09-30-07, 03:51 PM	More people need love than they need the moon. :D Perhaps it's because her powers wax and wane with the moon's, therefore Intermediate is the best level for her. Or perhaps she has to expend a lot in fighting Shar, after all she is the blackness of oblivion incarnate.
Dimensional_Drifter 09-30-07, 07:49 PM	I still think Todesherr's predictions of merges if only greater powers are left are dumb, besides it gets rid of deities like Mielikki which last time I checked was the patron deity for a few important NPCs in the Realms. It probably won't happen that way.
MerrikCale 09-30-07, 10:14 PM	I never understood why Selune has less power and serves Sune - she should be far more important. Thats no longer the case
Selvarin 09-30-07, 11:12 PM	When did Selune get a boost?