Constructed Religions

[EvilMountainDew]

I'm trying to come up with a few different deities for a homebrew. Generally, I run religions similar to that of the modern world, there are a few different religions which may have their own pantheons, and they all think that they are correct. Deities aren't so active as in other settings and their existence is entirely up for debate. Anyway, I've had a few interesting pantheons in the past, and I'm curious what sort you have come up with.

If you can, include the sort of religious symbols that deities have, and if you have any actual images of them drawn up or something, feel free to include in the post.

Thanks

I'll share when I get home, if I remember.

 

[haakon1]

I'm trying to come up with a few different deities for a homebrew. Generally, I run religions similar to that of the modern world, there are a few different religions which may have their own pantheons, and they all think that they are correct. Deities aren't so active as in other settings and their existence is entirely up for debate. Anyway, I've had a few interesting pantheons in the past, and I'm curious what sort you have come up with.

If you can, include the sort of religious symbols that deities have, and if you have any actual images of them drawn up or something, feel free to include in the post.

Thanks

I'll share when I get home, if I remember.

For Greyhawk, I use the Greyhawk/default 3e pantheon for the Oeridian culture.

The Norse gods for the Suel culture.

The Greek gods for the Baklunish culture.

And a combination of Sumerian and American Indian gods for the Flannae culture.

Norse and Greek have the advantages of being semi-familiar to almost everybody and having a lot of mythological baggage with them. They are also detailed in 3e Deities & Demigods, or whatever it is called in 3e.

Greyhawk gods also have the advantages of rules and familiarity.

Sumerian and American Indian have the advantage of being UNFAMILIAR, but with a very old school and somewhat druidic feel, which fits for Greyhawk's aborigines (Flannae) in my campaign.

I wouldn't bother making up your own religion, unless you are seeking donations.

 

[NealTS]

I've always favored dualistic religions. Good and Evil, set up in eternal struggle. Maybe with a few Pantheistic Druids (as in "God in all things," not as in "pantheon") thrown in for good measure.

Paladins of Helm and of Lathander banding together to fight an alliance of Blackguards of Talona and Cyric seems excessive to me. Just have Paladins versus Blackguards, with the Good Guys worshipping the Good God and the Bad Guys following the Bad God.

This may seem like you're closing the door on church intrigue plots. Not true. If you want religion to be a major focus, you're much better off detailing one or two churches really well than trying to spread your attention over a 25-god pantheon. Set up heresies, schisms, and the like. Too many gods and they and their followers just end up being stereotypes.

 

[Voadam]

I have gods in my games but they are not omniscient and I run the world as if all clerics were actually godless, so any alignment for clerics of any god. Infiltrator cleric and corrupt church plots work better in such situations IME.

 

[Set]

I see 'constructed religions' and the first thing I think of is Scientology...

 

[Starman]

I see 'constructed religions' and the first thing I think of is Scientology...

You have let the thetans cloud your mind.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

In general I keep gods out of the campaigns I run. Religions on the other hand I love.

In my Greyhawk game I use the standard pantheons for the Baklunish, Suloise and Flan, but give the Flan a stronger Amer-Indian flavour. For the Oerdians I use a mix of Norse and Greyhawk deities. The non-human races get their standard DnD non-human pantheons.

So in general the religions are are big jumble of polytheistic beliefs, with most folk cheerfully worshipping which ever god or gods suit them. ANd in fact many of the different gods are suspiciously similar, such that some more learned folk suspect that many of the different gods are simply different names for the same supernatural force/being. But since the gods are very distant, never takling a direct hand in affairs, no-one can say with any empirical certainty whether this is true or not.

I like my church structures to be very broad, able to accomodate a variety of moral codes and gods. Thus although there are temples to specific gods, all religions include a variety of gods as equals. Many temples will include shrines to several gods. This allows for church intrigue similar to that which NealTS mentioned. Opposing churches would be based more on their cultural background than the moral codes of the gods worshipped. So Baklunish Churches oppose Suloise ones in my Greyhawk game.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

You have let the thetans cloud your mind.

It's fun I know but that line of thought should probably be avoided to prevent a thread lock

 

[Kahuna Burger]

One of my favorite constructed religions was the worship of a god which encompassed seeming contradictions. The god was not neutral per se, but rather both Good and Evil, Chaotic and Lawful. Clerics choose domains which were opposing on some level, and I was working on a feat to allow them to both cure and inflict spontaneously. The background was that two opposed gods had been locked away in a pocket dimension by greater gods lest the wreck creation in their struggles and had reconciled and formed a whole without yielding on the matters they differed on.

 

[exile]

I used wikipedia to research the Hittite pantheon which as many of you know was a precursor to the Norse and Greek pantheons. It has an even more ancient feel than either of those two pantheons, and the names are a little less familiar to most people. All in all, I think it makes an excellent fantasy pantheon.

Chad