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D&D 5E I'm working on a homebrew pantheon for my upcoming campaign, any sugestions?

Ath-kethin

Elder Thing
Think of some cool names. Think of some natural phenomena. Mix and match. Stop.

Unless you are desperate for super powerful monsters, that's all the "gods" you need.

I find the concept of "a pack of ill-disposed squabbing children" as deities to be hackneyed and simplistic. Religions in a world where "gods" literally walk among the populace would be off the rails, and it's difficult to rationalize skepticism of any sort in a situation where you can literally watch a literal answer to the "whose god can beat up whose" question.

If you still want physical beings for gods, I'd look more to examples like Dark Sun, where the most powerful creatures in the world rule it directly, and the path to join them known (if poorly understood).

Otherwise you end up with goofy situations that beg questions like "if a magic item is stealing souls and messing up the literal progression of the dead in the afterlife, why doesn't the god of magic just step in and, you know, make it not work?" Gods are the ultimate lousy DMPCs.

Not every creation myth needs to be literal truth.

That's my 2 coppers.
 
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MechaPilot

Explorer
I don't know precisely what the OP is looking for, but my homebrew Tenesia setting has a relatively small and tight-knit pantheon of seven sister goddesses. I have reproduced the deities section of my homebrew document below, in case it helps.

Deities & Religions
The Tenesian pantheon is comprised of seven sister goddesses who gain their divine powers from the souls of worshipers, living and dead. Consequently, they compete for souls, jealously guarding the souls that belong to them. This has led to to many personal appearances by the deities.
The deities no longer walk the land as they once did. A pact between them bars direct personal interference while also establishing rules for allocating the souls of the dead among them. The rules of the pact rely heavily on the religions and rituals of mortals to determine a soul's final resting place.
Because the goddesses compete eagerly for souls and rely on religions and rituals for the disposition of souls, they tolerate many varying religions in their names. Additionally, they tolerate varying depictions of themselves by those religions. For example, despite the deities all being beautiful humanoid goddesses, they are willing to appear in dreams and visions as males, non-humanoids, or hideous in form.


Deities
This section describes Tenesia's goddesses as they truly are, independent of how different religions view them. People who do not ascribe to one of the faiths presented in the subsequent “Religions” section may still worship Tenesia's gods on an individual or pantheon level.

Ariel.
Goddess of the sun, the sky, weather, storms, and medicine.
Description: White hair, gold eyes, dressed in sky blue. Ariel bears a morningstar whose gold head is shaped like a sun emitting rays of light, a javelin engraved with lightning & storm-clouds, and a sling embossed with snowflakes.
Depictions: Ariel is seen as a personification of purity, light, and goodness.
Dwarves. Dwarves depict Ariel as a kindly old dwarf grandmother, often surrounding her with children and younger adults, whom she dotes upon.
Elves. Elves see Ariel as an effeminate male deity who, with Faedra (below), combines to create an image of fertility (the rains bringing life to fertile soil). Storms are seen as omens of romance.
Ophiliths. Ophiliths view Ariel in virtually the same way the elves do. The primary difference is that ophiliths depict Ariel as being part male and part female.
Sirens. Sirens see Ariel as a kindly woman prone to fits of extreme anger. When visually depicted, she is usually shown in two adjacent pieces of art; with one showing her kinder side and the other her wrath. Sometimes she is depicted in only one piece of art, but with two heads, one kindly and the other wrathful.
Slimes. Slimes see Ariel as a creature of clouds and rain, bringing refreshing moisture to the caves where they dwell.
Domains: Life, Light, Tempest

Faedra.
Goddess of the earth, agriculture, wilderness, animals, hunting, childbirth, & mother of beasts
Description: Brown hair with a crown-like wreath of flowers woven into it, yellow cat eyes, dressed in green & brown with leafy embroidery and fringes. Faedra carries a bow engraved with animals and leaves, and wears a quiver of arrows strapped to her back.
Depictions:
Most races depict Faedra through the lens of the plants, animals, and beasts in their native lands.
Dwarves. Dwarves depict Feadra with ram's horns and the claws and eyes of a mountain lion.
Elves. Elves depict Faedra with wolf ears, cat's eyes and claws.
Ophiliths. Ophiliths depict Faedra with ram's horns; goat legs; and the eyes, tongue, & fangs of a venomous snake.
Sirens. Sirens depict Faedra in much the same way as elves. However, the Siren depiction also gives her wings and taloned bird feet.
Slimes. Slimes see Faedra as a fungal creature swarming with insects and small lizards.
Domains: Life, Nature.

Kess.
Goddess of beauty, love, desire, pleasure, marriage, music, arts, wine, madness, and drunkenness
Description: Dark purple hair, green eyes, dressed in pink embroidered with black, silver, and gold paintbrushes, musical notes, and musical instruments. Wears grape-bunch earrings and her cloak clasp is a golden chalice. Kess carries a spear whose blade is shaped like an inverted heart.
Depictions: Each race sees Kess in the light of their standards of beauty.
Dwarves. Dwarves depict Kess as a jolly, plump female dwarf, often bearing glasses or pitchers of beer.
Elves. Elves depict Kess as an androgynous and graceful elf who is frequently playing a flute, harp, or other musical instrument.
Ophiliths. Ophilith depictions of Kess show her to be a beautiful ophilith artist. She is usually shown playing a musical instrument, holding a paintbrush, or with her hands caked in potter's clay. She is often depicted as being pregnant.
Sirens. Kess is shown in Siren art as a beautiful naked female siren. She is typically singing or playing a musical instrument, with musical notes scattered around her, and she may be brushing her hair or sunning herself on a small island or beach.
Slimes. Slimes see Kess as a bubbling, turbulent mass of commingled slimes.
Domains: Life, Love.

Necris.
Goddess of death, darkness, and disease.
Description: Black hair, black eyes, dressed in black with red and silver accents. Necris carries a sickle whose pommel bears a ruby-eyed silver skull; the blade perpetually appears wet, as if slick with fresh blood.
Depictions: Each race sees Necris through their cultural interpretations of death, and the fear commonly associated with it.
Dwarves. Dwarves depict Necris as a spectral being who no wall or barrier can ward off when your time is at hand.
Elves. Elves see Necris as being emaciated and ghoulish in appearance, with a concave stomach and all her bones visible beneath taut skin. Elves refuse to depict Necris in any visual medium. Such depictions are thought to invite tragedy & death.
Ophiliths. Ophiliths depict Necris as a shadow being who consumes all the beauty of life in an impenetrable darkness.
Sirens. Sirens depict Necris as a great hungering leviathan who can swallow entire families whole.
Slimes. Slimes see Necris as a desiccated mummy-like creature who dries-out everything she touches and leaves grains of sand or salt in her wake.
Domains: Death.

Mari.
Goddess of seas, oceans, lakes, rivers, sailing, fishing, and mother of monsters
Description: Seaweed green hair, black eyes, dressed in blue-black. Her hair and clothes cling damply to her. She wears a cutlass on her brown leather seashell-buckled belt. A small clump of writhing tentacles juts from the hilt and pommel of the sword. Her cloak is fastened with a jeweled serpent's head, and she wears teardrop shaped emerald earrings.
Depictions:
Dwarves. Dwarves depict Mari as a female dwarf who dwells at the bottoms of lakes amid a pile of glistening gems. By day she is beautiful and kind, sharing the bounty of the lake; by night she is monstrous and predatory, luring the unsuspecting into deep waters to drown them.
Elves. Elves depict Mari as an androgynous but beautiful elf who, like the dwarf version, dwells at the bottoms of lakes. She is also frequently shown walking upon rivers. In every depiction of her, monsters are hidden in the background.
Ophiliths. Ophiliths depict Mari as a beautiful but maternal figure that largely matches her actual appearance. She is usually envisioned as walking upon water or emerging from water onto a beach. As the “mother of monsters,” she is often represented as being pregnant.
Sirens. Sirens depict Mari in the same way that Ophiliths do. However, instead of showing her above the waves, they frequently depict her sitting on a throne of coral or seashells with sharks, giant octopi, giant squid, and other sea monsters swimming distantly around her.
Slimes. Slimes envision Mari as a swampy plant creature that oozes newborn slimes.
Domains: Life, Water.

Tene.
Goddess of magic, the moon, knowledge, and wisdom
Description: Glittering silver hair, white eyes, dressed in silver and white with black accents. She wears a necklace depicting the phases of the moon. Has a large bleeding wound on her right side and carries a walking stick.
Depictions:
Tene is a rarity in that she is typically depicted by all races just as she truly is. Minor details like her race, her garb, or her hair and eye color may change, but she is always a beautiful woman with a large bleeding wound on her right side. She is also typically depicted at night, under a full moon.
Domains: Arcana, Knowledge.

Uora.
Goddess of war, bloodshed, violence, metalworking, and trade. Mother of dragons.
Description: Blood red hair, fire-orange eyes, dressed in black, silver and red armor bearing images of dragons and slaughter. Carries a shield and a warhammer, which doubles as a smith's hammer.
Depictions:
Dwarves. Dwarves depict Uora as a female, dwarf blacksmith. Typically, she is fashioning a hammer or axe at an anvil, and it is common for a dragon to be shown firing metal in her furnace.
Elves. Elves depict Uora with a dragon (riding it, or standing near it). They are often depicted in a scene of desolation, like a burning forest or a city ruin.
Ophiliths. Ophiliths typically depict Uora as a temperamental artist who lovingly crafts great works only to find flaw with them and destroy them. Often, there is a pile of shattered art objects in the scene while she adoringly holds up her latest creation. She is often seen wearing a dragon head necklace.
Sirens. Sirens depict Uora as a siren with a draconic upper body (i.e. similar to a dragonborn with a siren's lower body). She is always accompanied by a great, draconic sea-serpent whose size dwarfs the greatest predators of the deep, and she is frequently depicted working steel near a steamvent on the sea floor.
Slimes. Slimes see Uora as a being of searing flame, and they worship her out of fear and appeasement alone.
Domains: Trickery, War.
 

TwoSix

"Diegetics", by L. Ron Gygax
You could go with a pantheon in the form of a sort of deified royal family, a King & Queen of the Gods, a loyal, honorable, heroic Son, and a shifty Trickster-God second son or fosterling.
I like that. Or maybe some sort of "mother, maiden, crone" triumvirate. Tying the gods into the Fates fits thematically for a lawful-oriented pantheon.
 

cbwjm

Seb-wejem
Trinities are fairly common, you might want to make a very basic group of 3 deities, Lawful Good, Lawful Neutral, Lawful Evil with the following domains as suggestions although you might also want to cross over some domains. Arcana might cover white, gray, and black magic for instance.

LG: Knowledge, Life, Light
LN: Arcana, Nature, Tempest
LE: Death, Trickery, War

Since these deities are lawful, you might want to decide on what they collectively oppose. Law could represent the god's act of creation from a primeval chaos, perhaps these self-same titans are trying to tear the down the barriers that will return reality into chaos.
 

77IM

Explorer!!!
Supporter
One idea I saw is to have each god represent a duality. So a single deity might be the god of both life and death; another of both nature (hunting) and civilization (agriculture); light and dark; mind and body; fire and water; war and peace; home and road; etc. If you pick the right poles, you could easily squeak a lot of mileage out of just a handful of gods.
 

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