Clerics pages from C&R said:
Ok, "God of Doorways" I get. I'm picturing a little old guy in a red suit with gold buttons that always gets to stand outside the gates to the higher planes and help the other gods out of their chariots.
But I really hope there is an example of some sort of god more suitable for the rural settings and that they aren't all dictated by the usefulness of praying to them before going into a dungeon. Yes, that's sociology, but I think it's also silly to think that such a god can't be adventure-worthy.
Take a look at this guy:
That's Cernunnos. God of the Hunt, the Wild God. Strongly associated with fertility and produce. Spread from Gaul, Italy to the Celts. Inspired all of those "green man" ornaments you see from gardens to architecture. One of organized Christianity's prime targets back in the day to convert the rural pagan folks.
Now, he doesn't quite look like a sissy to me. Or someone that just delivers you a rabbit carcass and an apple. I certainly wouldn't turn him down if he wanted to go into a dungeon with me - I'd say "you first!"
I guess I just disagree that gods that fulfill a sociological niche have to be boring, not as useful in RPGs, or necessitating a large pantheon. The great horny one above covered a lot of territory in terms of his 'portfolio' over the years.
I think they should have a generic god that more simple, rural peoples might worship. Someone like that guy up there, whose portfolio extends well beyond growing pumpkins and potatoes to the Hunt, all the creatures of the forest, and so forth, shows that it's possible to have a "successful" rural god without being boring, unimposing or limited.
Aside from making clerics "adventure-capable", it's also for the sake of adventure seeds that something like that should be included. There's a lot of interaction that can be gotten out of a good, solid "pagan" god in a pantheon of dignified city gods of War or Strength. A god that gives flavor to all those little "points of light", something that says that Greenacres is a very different place from Baldur's Gate. A god with ignorant (and not so ignorant) followers - from the perspective of others. Someone that the city clerics might distrust or seek to turn the heathen pagans from the farmlands away from. A god more directly in conflict with those worshipped by the wild races of the land (kobolds, lizardmen, etc.) Thief: The Dark Project was centered, in part, around people who basically worshipped that world's version of Cernunnos - "The Woodsy God". One of the first third party D&D adventures readily available for 3.0 D&D was Crucible of Freya, about some chunky Earth-mama agricultural goddess and the jerks that stole her priest's cup.
So I fail to see how it doesn't relate directly to D&D adventuring.
Anyway, I know it's a bit silly because even I'll likely just make my own religions if/when I DM... but it's the example and tone that it sets that bothers me. Because I as much as I'd like to world build with the game, I'd also like to be a player - inevitably I'll probably wind up in at least one game that's based more on the 'default' setting than not - and it's never really suited me that all the villagers far from the city just worshiped the same guy they do in town. It especially doesn't make sense for a "points of light in darkness" oriented setting, in my opinion.
"Ah, you're a wizard! You probably worship the goddess of magic and knowledge." "Ah, a fighter! You might be interested in this god of strength and fortitude!" Oh, well, they certainly look fancy. But actually, we're from Bumpkinville, and this guy is our god.
Maybe they already have plans like this for their pantheon, I don't know. But mention of things like "gods of agriculture" mentioned in the same breath as "gods of doorknobs" doesn't bode well to me.
This isn't an "oh my god(s), 4e is going to be horrible" thing. It's one of the few things I've seen so far that I don't like on some level. But it does bother me that perhaps they're going to make the assumption that the preferred, default setting for D&D should be "points of light between dungeons where people go to buy more arrows and meet henchmen in a tavern." If everything has to be directly useful for dungeoneering and adventuring, I hope it also supports the potential for rich, detailed worlds.
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