Next Deities & Demigods (now with poll!)

[GQuail]

Come to think of it, it would've been awesome if 4E had used Andral instead of Pelor. God knows I'm sick to death of hearing the name "Pelor".

This is something I've heard a few times online, although not something I've ever really experienced - I almost always play in homebrew settings with my own pantheons or adopted historical ones, so only now in my current 4E game am I using Pelor's name in a session for the first time. I assume because of the connection to healing and sun, two useful domains which occupy the traditional Cleric niche (plus the implication that he's one of the biggest churches for the ley-people of D&D worlds) that he's rather over-used in some quarters?

 

[Green Knight]

It isn't so much an issue of having it ingame as seeing Pelor's name constantly appearing in 3E supplements. I remember reading a posters description of a recently released WotC book as "now having 400% more Pelor!". Something new would've certainly been nice.

 

[Nymrohd]

Lathander is so much better than Pelor and they ditched him We should have had Lathander!

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Another vote for the Raven Queen.

For myself my appreciation for her is multifaceted.

First and foremost it is her connection to actual mythology and actual gods from mythology. The most obvious being that of The Morrigan from Celtic mythology, she shares many similar aspects:

• Raven = Crow
• Death = Death
• Fate = Prophesy

While this doesn't come from anything official being a Death Goddess and such my initial image/personality for her was of Death from Sandman. That well stuck

I quite enjoy the way afterlife works in 4e so that certainly benefits my like of the Raven Queen given how involved she is with that. She is also just well involved in stuff in general there is a nice sense of history but also mystery (like her actual name) with her.

 

[Nymrohd]

Btw by the fluff of the Darklord in the new Dragon article, i'd say the Raven Queen is the Dark Powers of Ravenloft, or at least related to them.

 

[Starsunder]

I vote for The Raven Queen, and following her, probably Torog and Asmodeus.

Also, while im at it, I would also like to say that I'd like to see the deities actual stats along with all of that juicy fluff. I know people say that they'd be too strong, blah blah, but let me decide that as a DM (and I dont believe that to be the case at all incidently). After all, just because they are there doesent mean you have to use them, but if they're are not there at all nobody can use them! And, what can I say, im a stat whore; I love reading stat blocks for all levels.

 

[Mercule]

Hmm... Maybe I should have read the blurb a bit better, but I mentally translated Raven Queen as "Wee Jas with a more pronouncible name and a familiar".

 

[Green Knight]

Btw by the fluff of the Darklord in the new Dragon article, i'd say the Raven Queen is the Dark Powers of Ravenloft, or at least related to them.

That remains to be seen, leastways until we see a couple more Domains of Dread, and if the Demiplane of Dread exists or not. A couple things, though:

1) Sunderheart getting formed was loud and ostentatious, with Sorrowsworn buzzing all around it. Have any domains in Ravenloft been pulled in like that? Been a while since I've read how the various domains ended up there, but most of the time it's just things get misty, and next thing you know, there you are. Or a domain is created in the image of the land the darklord is from, rather than ripped from the prime material world along with whole populations.

2) The Raven Queen only has power in the Shadowfell of the core world. The same isn't true in the Toril Shadowfell, Oerth Shadowfell, Krynn Shadowfell, Eberron Shadowfell, Athas Shadowfell, etc. That's in contrast to the Dark Powers, whose reach extends all across the cosmos.

We'll have to see how things shape up for Ravenloft in 4E, but being able to imitate some of what they can do doesn't make her one of the Dark Powers, much less all of them.

 

[caudor]

Ah man, my vote went to Sehanine, and guess who is currently dead last.

Seeing that this deity has a major temple in Fallcrest, I wanted to know more from the start.

As for coming in last, I think much of the reason lies with the name. I bet many people are not exactly sure how to pronounce it, and who wants a deity name you don't know how to pronounce. (Kinda reminds me of Obad-Hai).

 

[Ripzerai]

Zehir doesn't seem very mysterious: just add in details about Set, Merrshaulk, Sseth, Yig, and any other gods that obviously inspired the deity.

Sources: Powers & Pantheons, Faiths and Pantheons, Monster Mythology, any book on Egyptian mythology, The Scarlet Brotherhood accessory by Sean K. Reynolds (with two evil snake gods, one of them representing both serpents and night), Robin Laws' yuan-ti article in Dragon Magazine #305, books on the Lovecraft mythos and its Serpent People, books about Conan the Barbarian and his evil Stygian nemeses, books on Aztec mythology, etc.

I agree that Torog needs the most fluff. The Raven Queen is very cool, but I kind of think the less we (the players and DMs) know about her the cooler she is. Mystery is her asset. Making her too specific could ruin her. That said, research on the Morrigan, Persephone, Ereshkigal, and Hel could help in portraying her effectively.