D&D 5E Forgotten Realms Deities

pukunui · Nov 16, 2015

JohnLynch said:
They spend their days encouraging other people to invent new things and then spread about this new idea so that it doesn't die with the death of the inventor. However these new inventions need to be practical and are limited by the imaginations of specialists in a particular field.

OK, but where are these practical new inventions? Why is the Realms still such a medieval backwater?

hawkeyefan said:
He plays a pretty large role in a campaign I've been running for years, so I'm curious. He's not necessarily part of the FR pantheon proper, so maybe that's why he gets overlooked?

I'm not sure the list in the SCAG was meant to be exhaustive. I guess you'll have to make up your own story about him. If something "official" ever gets published about him, you can either adapt your story or ignore it as you see fit.

hawkeyefan · Nov 16, 2015

pukunui said:
OK, but where are these practical new inventions? Why is the Realms still such a medieval backwater?

I'm not sure the list in the SCAG was meant to be exhaustive. I guess you'll have to make up your own story about him. If something "official" ever gets published about him, you can either adapt your story or ignore it as you see fit.

Yeah, I'm okay with that. What I've done is probably drastically different than what they'll decide to establish, anyway. But I find that even when I've departed drastically from the source material, there's still some inspiration to be had from new related material.

garnuk · Nov 16, 2015

pukunui said:
OK, but where are these practical new inventions? Why is the Realms still such a medieval backwater?

The magic industry and lobbyists are holding back the inventions so that magic users don't lose their monopoly and usefulness. Its a big vast anti-utility conspiracy.

Gnomes, especially tinkerer gnomes, however, are training up the resistance.

Mirtek · Nov 16, 2015

Well the laws if physic of Toril are slightly out if sync with earth and Gond is always arguing with Oghma because the later is holding back inventions that Gond wants to spread among mortals

pukunui · Nov 16, 2015

To be honest, for me it's not so much a question of "Why doesn't the Realms look more like Eberron?" as it is a question of "What purpose does a deity like Gond serve in a world that never seems to change?"

hawkeyefan · Nov 16, 2015

pukunui said:
To be honest, for me it's not so much a question of "Why doesn't the Realms look more like Eberron?" as it is a question of "What purpose does a deity like Gond serve in a world that never seems to change?"

I imagine for some campaigns, there may be such progression, and for those, Gond and similar deities could play a big part.

For those campaigns that don't focus on tech, he's just kind of there.

He could be altered pretty easily to be a deity of inspiration and innovation in all aspects.

Staffan · Nov 16, 2015

Well, I'd be the first to admit that the Realms have way too many gods (one of the many ways in which I prefer Eberron). But regarding Gond in particular, I see him as primarily being a god of crafts (1e described him as god of blacksmiths, artificers, crafts, and construction), with invention being a distant second (or fifth, as the case may be).

2e pushed Gond in a more inventive direction, probably as a result of the introduction of smokepowder weapons in the core rules. They gave an explanation involving Gond appearing on Lantan during the Time of Troubles, and giving the gnomes there the secret of smokepowder as well as pushing them. This was, at the time, supposed to be fairly limited to Lantan, but then things got out of hand.

pukunui · Nov 16, 2015

[MENTION=6785785]hawkeyefan[/MENTION]: Yeah, I guess. I think maybe Gond's just on my mind at the moment because the PCs in my Tyranny of Dragons campaign have been running around Baldur's Gate for the past few sessions, and he plays a fairly important role in society there - and there *is* actual evidence of technological progress in that city, since its port, at least, has definitely gone through a bit of an industrial revolution, what with its steam-powered cranes that run on rails and the like.
[MENTION=907]Staffan[/MENTION]: Yeah. I asked the same question over at Candlekeep, and someone else pointed out that the Realms had been going in a slightly more technologically-advanced direction under TSR, but it seems that WotC put a stop to that starting with 3e.

And yes, Gond is the described as being the god of craftsmen and such, not just invention, but the way he's described in the SCAG seems to put the emphasis back on the latter. For example: "Anyone who is crafting something might say a prayer to Gond to guide the work, but folk know that Gond smiles most brightly upon new inventions that others find useful." It goes on to talk about how Gond's priests "keep journals in which they record ideas, inventions, and innovations discovered in their travels, and take great delight in meeting fellow priests and sharing their finds ... Wandering priests turn their journals over to the resident scribes at such temples, who then record the priests' observations for posterity and the benefit of all."

This all makes it sound like invention is a big part of his dogma and that the Gondar want to make sure everyone benefits from their inventions ... but as far as I can tell, they've had no real effect on the tech-level of the setting.

Ugh. I know I'm overthinking it. I'll try to stop.

By the way, the SCAG seems to imply that Lantan has returned as a more magitech nation than it was before, so perhaps WotC has got plans to make the Realms a little more Eberronish in the future (or at least Lantan).