D&D 5E Need advice: Making Religions, Not Just "Here's The Gods. Pick One"

The Grassy Gnoll said:

As an example, let's say your world has 12 god/desses (gods for the sake of brevity). And that each god has one of the months as its own. During its "home" month, certain domain magics have precedence over others, and outside of that month, especially on a month belonging to a God whose role is in opposition, their magic fades.

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Sounds something like what I've done.

Cliffs Notes: In my homebrew setting, elves have a strong faith and tie to nature divinity (as do gnomes, centaurs, dryads, and similar such creatures). In this Faemyr pantheon, there are four major deities, one for each of the four seasons. They function/behave/exist something like a cross between the greek pantheon (for how they interface with mortals and each other socially) and sort of a Seelie Court* (for to how mortals see them and how they relate to each other politically).

The god who's season is current leads the Court. As you can imagine, being in charge means they generally get to dictate the focus of the court's interests. And the current chair wins any tie votes between the four.

Anyway, your idea just made me want to share my own...


(*and there is of course the equivalent of an Unseelie Court for the darker fey races. But they are not seasonally based. A story for another time.)

This work has been done for the Realms already -- even though it's not fully published, the Faiths & Avatars series and Elminster's Forgotten Realms have a lot of what you want. The 'pick one patron god' thing is largely a 3E rules artefact. On the other hand, while doctrine (and orthodoxy) is a little more important in Faerûnian religion than in our-world polytheism, it's not the most important element.

ChrisCarlson said:

Just spitballin' here...

What if you devised a homebrew system that treated each available faith similarly to backgrounds? In that, they provide one or more "ribbon features". These would help guide/describe the characters, because of how/why they are drawn to (and/or identify with) a particular faith?

Example: So someone closely identifying with an agricultural deity/faith could have a natural gift of a green thumb. Or is the salt of the earth type (gets along well with the peasantry). Or any number of other things that may go towards explaining why they connect so well with that faith.

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An excellent idea. I created feats that provided religious-flavored powers in 3e, with the flavour text providing a little bit of info for the players.

So my advice is this: whatever info you create for your religion, present it to the players in chunks they will actually consume, and provide hooks for all characters to embrace your religious creation. Even if a player passes on these options they will still have at least glanced through what you've done.

Some ideas and questions on how I've done religion in my low-magic sword & sorcery version of Pathfinder's world Golarion:

1) Is the god as it is presented in the book necessary and interesting? If not, discard or change it.

2) What kind of social role does the religion have?

E.g. in my campaign Pharasma is an cryptic version of Catholicism. They have somber rites, gothic cathedrals, dark robes and tall hats, and their role is to help people with life's transition phases (birth and death). They often upkeep and guard the cemeteries, and keep the dead where they belong. As an organization they're old and hierarchical with formal education.

In Cheliax, the church of Thasaidon (instead of Asmodeus; inspired by Clark Ashton Smith's stories) is the social glue of the nation. Think of the Roman state religions. People do the rites but don't really believe in them, and are free to worship any other deities (except the previous state religion). Any threat to its sovereignty is a threat to civilized society and the rightful rule of the queen. Inside the church it's a mystery cult with very few adherents. Thasaidon is the lord of the seven hells and is thematically tied to Thassilonian seven virtues/sins. It's dark and intimidating, but ultimately indifferent toward the average subject of the Empire.

Desna is venerated by the nomadic Varisians. Their beliefs are passed mostly orally, and are intermixed with folklore and superstitions. She is said to protect travelers and sometimes send prophetic dreams. The favored ones often have deformities or unusual features. There no priests but soothsayers and Varisian witches are thought to best represent Desna's wishes.

3) Fewer religions is better, especially if you make them interesting. Tell stories through imagery, imply things through rituals and legends, let players imagine what you leave unsaid.

4) Limit the religions geographically, have different religions make conflicting statements of the nature of reality. Have sects and different forms of religions (mystery cults, evangelistic, secularized old institutions etc.).

Every man worships Thasaidon in his heart and his sovereignty is indisputable in Cheliax. In the south, in Sarenrae's (Sufist) theology, Thasaidon is the brother of Ahriman the beast who is trapped in hell, and he is the one holding the keys of the prison.

5) Think about the 'face' of the religions. What do priests and rituals look like? What do the fanatics look like (self-castration, child preachers, anything crazy from real history)? Do they have a clear and knowable goal that is present in every day life (Razmirans gather wealth)? Or are they just interwoven to the life of average people (farmers' gods)?

6) Who or what comes in conflict with the religion and its dogmas?

I like to make adversary religions for every religion I create. For Pharasma who wants to keep the dead dead, Urgathoa represent victory over death. For Desna who wants to protect travelers, Lamashtu represents the lusty untamed dangerous wild places and creatures.

7) Invent a couple of major tenets, and a couple of major sins for each religions.

A Pharasman male priest's job is to bless the dead and see that people are given a proper burial. They won't desecrate the dead, or dabble in anything sinister that has something to do with the dead. A strict sect might persecute people wanting to make autopsies, or be merciless towards those who even touch the dead without proper authority.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Seeing a lot of good stuff here.

From my experience, the thing that really takes the most time, and what players have seemed to care the most about, is the structure of the given religion and how it interacts and is tied to society. This is what the players will interact with the most likely, and not so much the Gods/Godesses themselves.

My 5e home brew world has 8 main Gods in the pantheon. Widely accepted around the major empire as the 'state religion'. While each sect or church of a particular Deity is different from another, there is also a group that worships all equally. (the order of Eight).

Taking time to make clear distinctions on how the different acolytes of these varying divinities act, and appear and feel. More than just a different colored tabard or robe with the correct symbol. Different roles that they would hold in society. Different standings among the other churches (gotta have some internal power struggle).

I agree with how others have said, make your religions pervasive throughout the world that you are crafting, and it will seem more natural for your players to interact with it, and build upon it.

Be ready to build upon it yourself as well. I can almost assure you, if you get even one player interested in the politics or mechanics of your world's religion, then that player will ask something about it that you never thought of up until that point.

Think about the relationship between the population and the church(es), as well as between the civil authorities (nobles, city council etc) and the church(es). It is likely that the general population follows multiple gods (if you are trying to have a baby, go see the temple of fertility, if you are going on a journey the goddess of the roads etc etc). So to the average person, a cleric devoted to one god is strange indeed.

Also think about the conflict between the gods (if any). Are the "fundamental" (good vs evil, life vs death etc) or... petty? Like Hera is mad at Zeus because he's been sleeping around? And how do the general populace react to these? Or the church? It could be that mortals are far more mature and level headed than the gods...

Don't limit yourself to just one religion per deity, especially if that deity is worshiped by more than one race. Religions are social institutions created by the worshipers, and it makes sense for there to be different religions, or at least different denominations, in different areas.

Here's an example from my Homebrew world of Tenesia:

Necris is the Goddess of Death. She is depicted in many forms, with paleness being one of the common threads. In areas where starvation is a big concern, she is usually depicted as being woefully emaciated (imagine the pictures of the Nazi concentration camp survivors). In war torn areas, she is often depicted as carrying her own severed head in one hand and a sword in the other. Elves (who are immortal and more like fey in Tenesia than on other worlds) see her very much in the form of a ghoul, and they find it offensive to even craft an image of her, because they think it invites tragedy. Dwarves (who are immortal beings of elemental fire and stone in Tenesia) see her as a specter that no stone or fire can hold at bay if she wishes to come for you.

There are a few religions around Necris.

The first focuses on appeasing her so she doesn't bring death and ruin upon the living. The dogma of the religion involves the belief that her vanity rivals the pleasure she takes in killing the living, and they offer prayers and sacrifices in the hope that doing so will persuade her to stay her hand if only for another day. This religion is not exclusive of most other religions, and people who are sick or elderly may engage in such worship even if they are of other religions. Hiring priests to pray and sacrifice on one's behalf is a common practice for the wealthy, particularly among kings and queens.

Another religion sees her not just as the embodiment of death, but they also believe that death is the door to new life. They see Necris as a goddess of "endings and beginnings." The acceptance of a perpetual cycle of death and rebirth is a central tenant of this religion, and accepting death when it comes for you is considered by them as one of the highest acts of faith. This religion also has a high rate of suicides, as those who are in truly desperate straights may see death and rebirth as a way out of an existence they despise. The religion tries to mitigate how often this happens by teaching that suicide is only an act of faith if it is not quick: you must have time to be able to regret or accept death when you see it coming. Therefore the most common methods of suicide approved by the religion are being buried alive, or being burned alive.

A third religion sees Necris, whose realm is one of demons and the damned, as a jailer of all that is unclean. They worship her and offer sacrifice so that she may keep a tight reign on the demons and the ghosts of the evil dead that would otherwise walk the earth without her intervention.

Mechapilot gives really good advice. Even schisms in existing churches make for a lot of fun conflict.

In my setting, the Westbearn, the most common monotheistic religion Mayarchism had a schism about a century ago when the queen of Rhoenia was declared a saint by the current bishop of Rhoenia due to her performing miracles and seemingly not aging. The Mayarch church proper (in a larger kingdom/empire/league of city-states to the south of Rhoenia called Carnosca) considered this a heresy, so a schism in the church happened, a war was fought. The queen was able to repel the invasion and is still considered a saint by the newly reformed church in Rhoenia (called now the Avaistic Church), which she still rules.

That conflict is pretty central to the plot of my current campaign, which involves a new crusade from Carnosca into Rhoenia.

Patrick McGill said:

Mechapilot gives really good advice.

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Patrick McGill said:

Even schisms in existing churches make for a lot of fun conflict.

In my setting, the Westbearn, the most common monotheistic religion Mayarchism had a schism about a century ago when the queen of Rhoenia was declared a saint by the current bishop of Rhoenia due to her performing miracles and seemingly not aging. The Mayarch church proper (in a larger kingdom/empire/league of city-states to the south of Rhoenia called Carnosca) considered this a heresy, so a schism in the church happened, a war was fought. The queen was able to repel the invasion and is still considered a saint by the newly reformed church in Rhoenia (called now the Avaistic Church), which she still rules.

That conflict is pretty central to the plot of my current campaign, which involves a new crusade from Carnosca into Rhoenia.

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That's interesting. I have to admit that I've never used a living saint before. Generally, I've always used saints who've already passed as part of the mosaic of the religions: churches or temples are named after them*; magic items of divine magic origin were created by them, entombed with them, named for them, or somehow involved a reliquary containing a part of them; etc.

Our Lady of the Laughing Flame is a temple named after a saint of the beginning and endings religion of Necris. She was a noblewoman's daughter, renown for her beauty, who fell in love with the blacksmith's apprentice. Her father decided to marry her off to another noble's son in exchange for a favorable land contract. When she met the vile man she was about to be forced to marry, she confessed her love for the blacksmith's apprectice and begged her father to let her marry the apprentice instead. When he refused, they tried to run away together. The apprentice was killed by the noble's men, and the girl immolated herself in the center of town. It is said that her laughter at the joy of being reunited with her love in their next life rang through the town square like a church bell.

I would say if you were looking for other games or settings that go more detail than typical settings do, check out Runequest or Glorantha (the setting for RQ). The amount of information is vast and it relies heavily on myth, but if you take the time in can be a good resource.