Good day fellow gamers,
My apologies if this has been answered, I couldn't find it in my albeit fairly brief search.
My question is as follows: Knowing that a character with the Acolyte background must choose a deity, can this deity be an established deity from the FR that is not in the PHB? My current concepts are an OV pally that worships Hoar, or an OA pally of Lurue, and I was thinking about taking Acolyte. I can choose a different background if needs be, but if I can keep it as is it woud be great.
I imagine if it's a cleric the answer would be no simply because we would be guessing at domains, but there isn't really that conflict with Acolyte.
Thanks for your time folks! 
*edit to correct spelling*
The choice of deity for the Acolyte background (and cleric) is constrained by the allowed player options in your story origin. So, currently, nothing not in the PHB.
Ainulindalion wrote:
I am under the impression that the only allowed Gods are from the FR list and the non-human list. But to be honest, I'm not sure where I got that impression.
Coredump00 wrote:
I have a feeling that list may expand quite a bit with the book comming out in October/November. It's going to update the currently active dieties for FR. It's a bit confusing who is alive, dead, secretly another God pretending to be a proxy, or a Primordial after Sundering 2.0. One of the key features of that book is clearing that confusion up.
After that who knows, you might be able to worship one of the obscure dragon gods, like chronepsis, or the orc goddess of fertility..I forget her name because that lore is so obscure, and I havent looked at the orc pantheon sience 2nd edition. It's all about gruumsh now.
The list will not expand until Season 4 at the earliest, as SCG is not legal for any story origin.
The only mechanical impacts are largely the choice of Domain or where your acolyte might be able to get free spellcasting. The story impact is that it is not entirely clear yet which FR dieties are still alive/worshipped beyond those specifically listed in the Player's Handbook. Once we know that, we will be may be more open on deity choice.
Greg Marks
DnDAL Associate Resource Manager
The domain you choose is sort of restricted by diety. While you're supposed to be upholding the dogma of your diety, there is very little penalty for failing to do so. But it's a bit of a proactive thing to begin with. A player will likely pick a god they want to uphold the virtues of and base a character around that theme, even if they picked a diety just to get access to a certian domain., With most of the dieties, it's somewhat difficult to violate the virtures of.
Based on the FR wiki, Hoar no longer has an established faith, so while I could advise you to choose "I worship no deity" and reflavor that to Hoar, it makes no sense to take the Acolyte background, since there's literally nowhere for you to be an acolyte.
Skerrit wrote:
TiaNadiezja wrote:
Ive generally been lucky. FR Knowledge at my table is pretty average for the games I run, so nobody has picked an off the table choice. In fact I just ask that people pick from the non human deities or FR table from the PHB and nobody has complained so far
Skerrit wrote:
It's not as simple as that. While WotC has the licence for FR - part of the original contract with Ed Greenwood meant that he retains a lot of creative licence on things. Sure - the whole Spellplague thing was WotC but Greenwood and Salvatore have a lot of creative input.
The Sundering was their way of fixing things they didn't like about the Spellplague (similar to how Weiss and Hickman used the War of Souls to correct the horrid 5th Age plot line with the great dragons).
Perhaps Greenwood and Salvatore have yet to tell WotC which of the lesser gods still exist (unlikely) or perhaps WotC knows but has plans to release it in an upcoming product or novel.
Those that know aren't saying either way however.
My guess is we'll get updated pantheons with the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. Hopefully it will contain everything we're looking for.
TiaNadiezja wrote:
Andi it may be that WotC doesn't know yet. Everything decided takes time to decide, which means money and effort, which means it has to be prioritized. Exactly which Gods are around, and fleshing out they Why's When's How's etc.... takes time. And it really isn't *that* important. There is a list of Gods to pick from already, so anymore is just 'extra'......
Ainulindalion wrote:
TiaNadiezja wrote:
A D&D movie is currently in the works
Kalani wrote:
This discussion seems a little silly - neither the future of the Realms nor the future of AL is going to be determined by whether the Red Knight is still a deity and what domains she possesses.
If there's a mechanical question related to clerical or Acolyte abilities, then choose a deity listed in the Player's Handbook and say that it's the esoteric deity you want your character to worship -- reflavoring is legal as long as mechanics don't change, and there's no currently published info regarding the esoteric deities to contradict you. If your character isn't a cleric or Acolyte, then worship whomever you want; just don't expect there to be any support for your choice in published adventures or source material (yet).
--
Pauper
Can you worship an evil deity? (Something not Bane/Zentarim?) I wanted to play a Tempest cleric, but in FR only evil deities (CE, even) have that domain. I fluffed him into a Many-Arrows half-orc cleric of Talos and just fluffed it that Talos, like Gruumsh, had been "civilized" a bit.
Is Talos a separate deity again, or still an aspect of Gruumsh?
Yes you can worship any deity you like. You aren't even required to be the same alignment (or nearly so). It might be more difficult to justify, but you can generally find an in-character reason for everything.....
Heck, you could even be a LG cleric of a CE deity who agrees in principle with their deities motives, but may disagree with their methods. As such, you may represent a heretical branch of that deities worship, or may simply have come to different conclusions about their holy texts than the majority of your faith. No, you won't lose any of your class abilities for being a LG cleric of an evil deity - but you might come to blows/cross purposes with your church hierachy, or face other ROLEPLAYING consequences.
Lets use a real example to illustrate this point:
LG cleric of Gruumsh
- You believe that the official history is false as it was written by the winner. Gruumsh was the victim in the conflict between Corellon Larethon and himself. He was justified in seeking retribution for the underhanded and unprovoked attack.
- You sympathize and empathize with his plight, and can understand the reasons behind his actions. You however, disaprove of his chosen course of action. It's fine to seek justice, but brutal vengeance should be tempered with restraint.
- You have a soft-spot for Orcs, and see Orcs as suffering undue racism. How often are the homes and lairs of orcs invaded by marauding adventurers intent on murdering their womenfolk and children? Worse yet, were it not for the racist humans who forced them from their homelands - the orcs wouldn't be forced to dwell in areas with little sustenance, forcing them to raid and pillage in order to sustain their families. Orc savagery is justifiable and sad - and you seek to help reintegrate orcs into civilized society, while at the same time tearing down the walls of hatred, intolerance, and persecution.
- You understand the reasons behind the savage brutality of your faith, but you are idealistic and seek to shift your church into one of reform and reintegration - to let go of the grudge and work toward a solution to the problems that cause it, rather than continuing the same cycle of repression, intolerace, hatred and vengeance.
Regarding Talos: PHB p293 (Forgotten Realms Deities) lists Talos as a separate deity from Gruumsh (who is on the non-human list). You can worship Talos himself, without issue.