Bane? Alternative names for deities.

[Quantarum]

In the 3.5 version of my homebrew Tiamat was called "The Crushing Hand" playing off the five heads-five fingers motif. None of her worshipers would dare utter her real name while outside a temple for fear of drawing her attention.

For the 4E rework I decided to dump as much of the earthly mythology as I could, Tiamat has become Agamaestra the prismatic dragon. I rolled five gods into her including Banlor my Bane equivalant.

-Q.

 

[Jesus_marley]

I kinda like the name Phat Loot for a deity of wealth and prosperity.

 

[NexH]

Here's what I used in the Freeport game I ran a little while ago. I also re-worked them slightly and used them again in my "Pirates of the Mezzovian Main" game, which had a similar feel anyway.
The thing is; in character, these were just the gods, right? But out of character, they were rather obviously all demon lords, which made for an interesting vibe to religion.

Very interesting.

What were the consequences of worshipping such false gods? Did those demon lords gain something (souls? power? influence?) from neutral, or even good, followers who only venerated them for their "neutral" aspects (strenght, magic, etc.)?

 

[Kris]

Also: ¿Have you renamed or reimaged any god for your campaign?

In my home campaign, gods are known by multiple names (based on culture or prevailing opinion towards them)....
...similarly, my Pelor-equivalent is often referred to as "The Shining One", my aquatic deity is "The Sea Dragon", and my forest god is "The Emerald Huntress". Any of these titles could be spoken with reverence or distaste, depending on the speaker's preference.

I did something very similar to Lancelot for the core 3.0 gods ...and also kinda divided them into two opposing factions... so I have something like the following:

Soldeus is more commonly known as the Sun God or the Shining One - though to the elves he is Anoraen and to the dwarves he is Rothull. (i.e. Soldeus = D&D Pelor).

(more can be found here is it's of interest to anyone: The Powers 1)

 

[Desdichado]

Very interesting.

What were the consequences of worshipping such false gods? Did those demon lords gain something (souls? power? influence?) from neutral, or even good, followers who only venerated them for their "neutral" aspects (strenght, magic, etc.)?

No, that was the whole pantheon right there. They weren't false gods; they were the gods.

I know, I know, tough break for that world.

EDIT: I should point out that I also almost completely ignore alignment. I really liked the idea from 4e of most regular guys being completely unaligned, since that's pretty much what I was already doing to begin with.

EDIT EDIT: It also occurs to me that maybe you were just legitimately asking me some further questions about this instead of not "getting it." As I said at the beginning of the quoted portion, these gods aren't really into worshippers in the traditional D&D sense, and Freeporters in this version of Freeport weren't often religious, but they were highly superstitious. Basically, they respected the ability of a really powerful supernatural entity to really screw with their day if it wasn't properly appeased. I didn't give any thought to metaphysical or afterlife considerations; basically the gods were just angry pricks who needed to be propitiated so they didn't destroy you. I kinda looked at the relationship of the Aztecs with their pantheon as an example for how this would work. Or, for that matter, most other real world pantheistic religions. It's not a question of gods trying to attract worshippers by means of their agenda, their promises of an afterlife, or anything like that. It's a question of the gods demanding respect, and threatening to wipe you out if you didn't give it to them.

That said, they were still rehabilitied from a PR standpoint sufficiently that it isn't unthinkable that someone would worship them. Someone who spends a lot of time on the sea might decide to devote more than the customary prayers and pre-journey rituals to Dagon, for instance.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

Given the popularity of Diablo 2, I'm thinking you plan might not pan out well. Unless you want people to assume he's a god of destruction and phat loot drops

Perhaps. But by similar logic D&D's Bahamut should have his name changed to avoid any confusion with Bahamut's appearances in Final Fantasy!

 

[Mallus]

All I can think of right now is "Murderlicious"... which probably isn't what the OP was looking for.

 

[NexH]

I did something very similar to Lancelot for the core 3.0 gods ...and also kinda divided them into two opposing factions... so I have something like the following:

Soldeus is more commonly known as the Sun God or the Shining One - though to the elves he is Anoraen and to the dwarves he is Rothull. (i.e. Soldeus = D&D Pelor).

(more can be found here is it's of interest to anyone: The Powers 1)

Great site: good layout, images (I'm particulary impressed with the custom religious symbols), and information. It gave me various ideas for alternate names, so thank you.

EDIT: I should point out that I also almost completely ignore alignment. I really liked the idea from 4e of most regular guys being completely unaligned, since that's pretty much what I was already doing to begin with.

EDIT EDIT: It also occurs to me that maybe you were just legitimately asking me some further questions about this instead of not "getting it." As I said at the beginning of the quoted portion, these gods aren't really into worshippers in the traditional D&D sense, and Freeporters in this version of Freeport weren't often religious, but they were highly superstitious. Basically, they respected the ability of a really powerful supernatural entity to really screw with their day if it wasn't properly appeased. I didn't give any thought to metaphysical or afterlife considerations; basically the gods were just angry pricks who needed to be propitiated so they didn't destroy you. I kinda looked at the relationship of the Aztecs with their pantheon as an example for how this would work. Or, for that matter, most other real world pantheistic religions. It's not a question of gods trying to attract worshippers by means of their agenda, their promises of an afterlife, or anything like that. It's a question of the gods demanding respect, and threatening to wipe you out if you didn't give it to them.

That said, they were still rehabilitied from a PR standpoint sufficiently that it isn't unthinkable that someone would worship them. Someone who spends a lot of time on the sea might decide to devote more than the customary prayers and pre-journey rituals to Dagon, for instance.

Thanks for the clarifications.

I find this kind of religious setup very thought-provoking and propitious for the creation of various adventures. I think it may work better in the 4e cosmology than in the previous one, given that now the afterlife is much more uncertain. But in any case, such setting has a feeling that seems very fitting for certain types of horror campaigns or adventures; for me, at least, it has reminiscences to some Clark Ashton Smith's and Lovecraft's stories.

 

[Kris]

Great site: good layout, images (I'm particulary impressed with the custom religious symbols), and information. It gave me various ideas for alternate names, so thank you.

No problem. Glad you found it useful.

But in answer to your original question... if Bane were to exist in my campaign world - then he might be named Dagnir by the elves and Blárherra by the dwarves (or something like that anyway ).