FR gods, too many?

[Clumsy Bob]

Okay I have been thinking about this for a few days now so I will ask the community for their views.
In the Forgotten realms there are dozens upon dozens of gods in one form or another, IMO way too many.
(As I type I am awaiting delivery of an old grey box to see how many gods were in the original boxed set.)
Why are there so many gods, I am specifically referring to human deities in this thread. In any campaigns I have played or published material when you encounter a city or town you will find maybe on of two temples and a couple of shrines. Now add this to the total number of cities in the realms and there are probably more gods than temples!

I would have preffered to see a select few major deities with lesser gods within their pantehenons. In that way although there would still only be one or two temples per city a larger number of gods could be worshipped.
Just my opininon, whats yours?

Bob

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Well, I think it is fair to say that most of the Forgotten Realms are rather small fry. And even some of the more powerful gods are only worshipped in small regions. Think of the Elemental Gods - Kossuth is the most popular of them, and even his worship seems to be mostly restricted to Thay. Remember, the Forgotten Realms are a vast place, with tens of millions of people, and so therre is plenty of room for all sorts of religions.

Small towns will in all likelyhood only have one temple, and perhaps a small shrine that a priest of that religion might visit on a few days in a year (I'd expect that especially shrines of Chauntea will be ubiquietous). Bigger towns might have two or three temples with a permanent staff. True cities might have a dozen temples or more - but then again, they can afford them.

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

I kind of agree. While I think it's interesting that there are so many, it makes it very hard to select a deity to follow when creating a character. My first long term RPG character is for a campaign set in the FR and I've been playing her for some 7 months now and to be honest, I still don't have a deity that she folllows, partly because when I was trying to figure out which one out of the many, I couldn't pick one.

 

[John Crichton]

If you have read any of the FR novels it would probably help a bit in running things. I ran a few campaigns using the very grey box set you have on order and there are a good number of gods in there as well. There haven't been that many added in the new FRCS. The number can be daunting but if you remember that most of the Gods are not major deities then you are ok. Most campaigns will ignore a healthy amount of them anyway.

For example: I find out which of the Gods the PCs worship and make sure to include them in any planning, especially if there are any clerics, paladins, druids or rangers in the group. From there I'll pick a few other Gods that may have an influence on the adventures. That really narrows it down. I think that the campaign books do a very good job of describing what Gods hold domain over what aspects of life so that makes it pretty easy once you familiarize yourself with them. Sure, that can take a little time but it is only a problem if one of the players knows more about the FR than you do.

If you try to use all the Gods in one campaign (in anything more than a passing mention) you will drive yourself and your players insane. The trick is moderation. Think of our world - it is rare to incorporate every relogion or God out there into any story. Usually there are just a few major players and some supporting cast (minor deities).

 

[Zogg]

It's a lot for players that are new to the setting - but after awhile you should get used to it. And some of the gods are so obscure it's quite possible that many residents of the Realms will never encounter any worshippers of the deity (Jergal, anyone?). Nevertheless, I dig the sheer number of gods in the Realms. Makes it cool.

 

[BOZ]

for the most part, the major gods have stayed the same from the beginning. a few died, and a few came on, but the number is not much different. what you might be thinking of is all the demigods (there are lots) and nonhuman dieties...

 

[TheAuldGrump]

And if you compare it to our own world you will see what a dearth of gods they really have. I seem to recall from my classes (mumble) years ago that there are over 1000 gods that are still being woshipped even now. In my estimation this number is small, just take a look at Shinto and Hindu, both very actiive, each with many, many more gods than I can name. And a lot depends on whether you call a being a god or a spirit.

In other words, no, in my estimation FR does not have too many dieties.

The Auld Grump

 

[Benben]

I'm just the opposite actually. I want more gods in FR. There is a huge amount of redundancy and a few areas that are left oddly uncovered.

It's very confusing to start with, but I really like the freedom it gives to players wanting/forced to play clerics.

 

[Lord Ravinous]

It's a lot for players that are new to the setting - but after awhile you should get used to it. And some of the gods are so obscure it's quite possible that many residents of the Realms will never encounter any worshippers of the deity (Jergal, anyone?). Nevertheless, I dig the sheer number of gods in the Realms. Makes it cool.

*raises hand* Jergal worshiper (when I'm not devoted to Bane or Velsharoon), but I agree, his following is pretty sparse, but he is, IMO, one of the best deities to have an ancient ruined temple devoted to.

 

[Lord Ravinous]

oh, and just to add, I perfer the number of FR gods, because you can often times find the "perfect" deity to fit your character, the Demi-gods of Faerun are, IMO, the cream of the crop. Savaras, Velsharoon, Red Knight, Denier, all are great choices, and then there is Lesser deities, which are also great, but I aint got enough time to praise all the deities that deserve it. So I'll leave it at that.