D&D General Which Gods/Pantheons do you use in your D&D setting?

[Minigiant]

Do you pick a single pantheon?

There are multiple pantheons. Some members are in multiple.

Do you pick a pantheon for each kind of people (elves, humans, dwarves)? Do you pick pantheons for regions? Do you use real-world pantheons, D&D setting ones, or totally homebrewed ones?

Depends on which setting.

I usually do actual homebrew religions so gods are in pantheons based on the religion.

In my Classic setting, gods are in "racial families". There is a Human Pantheon, Dwarven Pantheon, Elven Pantheon, Dragon Pantheon, etc. Some are D&D members. Some are real world members. Pelor and Zeus are brothers as sky gods and members of the Human Faith. Their sister is Canada, human goddess of winter.

But in my Klassic setting, the Sky, Earth, Sea, Space, Cities, and Underworld have their own pantheons. Each with their own gods. They are all general personifications like Mother Earth or Father Time

Does this only matter if there are cleric PCs?

In the K setting, every major faction is blessed and you get free spells casted on you in emergencies if you help a faction beloved by a god.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

For my current setting Artra I started with the assumption that whilst gods may be distant and mysterious, they're nevertheless quite real. This means that most powerful of these deities are known throughout the world, and these Great Gods for the core of the pantheon. They may be known with different names and present different aspects in various places, but they're still these same deities. In addition to these Great Gods, there are lesser gods which are more local. Worship is polytheistic, so whilst priests will dedicate themselves to one god (or god group) and the city states might have their favoured patron deities, the common people nevertheless worship all of these and pray and make offerings to whichever god's domain is relevant to their needs. The gods, either greater or lesser, are source of magic for clerics and paladins.

In addition to the gods there are also nature spirits. These are basically tiny gods which take care of the nature working properly. These are also the source of the magic of druids and rangers, who make offerings to these spirits.

There is also ancestor worship, particularly prevalent among orcs. The orcish ancestor spirits linger in the Shadowlands, the liminal realm of the dead, trough which all souls must pass on their path to reincarnation. These ancestor spirits can lend their aid to their honourable descendants, powering the ancestral guardian barbarians.


The Great Gods of Artra

• Tiammut, the Primordial Serpent
• Khanda Aruna, the Sun Gods, the Divine Lovers, Creation and Destruction (both are both.) Ator, the Yellow Sun, Rana, the Red Sun
• Ennunagi, the three Moon Gods, the Fates, Ennu, Ulai, Shar
• Belet Ummur, the Shepherd of the Dead, the God of Liminal Gates
• Vajuru, the God of Journeys, the Protector of Travellers, the Divine Guide, the Lodestar
• Nhebel, the God of Love, Wine, Art and Dreams
• Khalit Kamada, the God of War, the Red Maiden, the Lady of Strife
• Atar Penjat, the Scalekeeper, the God of Commerce and Law
• Pthar, the Smith God, the God of Artisans
• Okanna, the Storm Maiden, the Sky Dancer, the Rain Bringer

 

[DrJawaPhD]

I use the same ones as Critical Role since many people are familiar with that show, and with the total number of gods being relatively low, it is feasible for me to actually remember the details on all of them and incorporate most/all of them into a campaign setting

 

[Krachek]

Pelor as main ruler, revered by most humanoid npcs.
otherwise any gods bring a player : Cleric or background or interest.
No evil god, usual ones would be Demons, Devil or simply Fiend.

 

[aco175]

I used and left the FR gods and then came back to them. In 4e the PHB had the other gods and it worked but 5e seems to come back the FR and it works.

I find the players do not care that much and they seem to know the basic ones. I have the old Powers and Pantheons books describing them in detail, so I am familiar with them.

 

[Juxtapozbliss]

My homebrew world is set on the great tree YggdrasiI. I have imagined Yggdrasil as a living tree the size of a planet, floating in space and orbiting a sun. As such, I use all the Norse gods primarily as my pantheon, but with some customization, depending on what my players are interested in. I’ve also incorporated the Abyss and demonic gods from the Forgotten Realms.

 

[Micah Sweet]

My homebrew world is set on the great tree YggdrasiI. I have imagined Yggdrasil as a living tree the size of a planet, floating in space and orbiting a sun. As such, I use all the Norse gods primarily as my pantheon, but with some customization, depending on what my players are interested in. I’ve also incorporated the Abyss and demonic gods from the Forgotten Realms.

Sounds awesome. Reminds me looking up into the sky when you're playing video game Valheim. The Yggdrasil is literally stretching across the sky.

 

[Zardnaar]

Midgard and Norse pantheon. The Midgard one is only a few of the Norse Deities so I allowed the phb ones as well.

 

[overgeeked]

The Dawn War pantheon and the World Axis cosmology from 4E.

 

[Tonguez]

I'm panentheistic at heart so I let players define their own too. Instead I tend to concentrate on the Religious Factions (Sects) rather than the gods and the players choose the factions they want to align with, or they can set up their own Sect. I find having religious factions is a better way to engage players in the politics of playing clerics

I have used a Polytheist family of gods made up of Father Sky, Mother Earth and their Primordial children, but most of my worlds are animist with all kinds of spirits, elementals, genius loci, immortals and similar living in the world.

I also did do one setting set in 17/18th Century Europe where the Grand Inquisition, The Pontifical States, The Orthodoxy, Puritan Commonwealth, various Reformist and the Ottomans were all present as relgious factions (and were often at war).