D&D 5E Little Worshipped Deities (Forgotten Realms)

[Irennan]

I personally think one of the problems with FR is far too many dieties!

And yet one of the main things that infuriated FR fans was how WotC got rid of some really neat deities between the end of 3e and with 4e. There's a reason why the Sundering restored basically all the FR deities to life.

I also never understood this complaint. If people have trouble with the number of deities, what's the difficulty in picking the list of the greater gods of Faerun and ingoring the rest?

 

[Eltab]

-A cleric of knowledge, devoted to the Red Knight. A strategist who uses their divine spells to devise the best path to victory.

When I had to convert my HotDQ Paladin to an NPC, I did just about that. I got curbstomped to within one Death Save of dying for keeps; when he woke up naturally She had appeared in a vision and gave him a few clues about things that would be useful / important beyond their immediate appearance. One is that telescope-looking thing atop the "swamp castle".

-A complete pacifist devoted to Eldath. Only uses healing or protective spells on their allies, refusing to harm anyone. Could be tricky (or boring, depending on your taste) to RP.

Without opening a whole can of worms, 'pacifist cleric' has more than one interpretation. If you find one that involves denouncing the other PCs and making moralistic sermons dedicated to propagating your superior (self-)righteousness, you are using the wrong interpretation.
(I like the concept that strikes no blow on his own but casts Bless, Aid, Bane, Guidance, &c to make the violence be short / swift / Good is victorious.)

OP:
Nobanion, Shaundakul, the elven and dwarven pantheons beyond Moradin and Corellon, Auppenser are all gods that are rare to find in AL, in my experience.

I did find a cleric of Loki, even though he's not an FR deity; we hand-waved that he had discovered a heretical teaching - and name - of whoever is the well-known FR God of Trickery. But listening to him denounce Thor when a rainstorm washed away the tracks we were trying to follow, was IRL entertaining.

 

[Irennan]

When I had to convert my HotDQ Paladin to an NPC, I did just about that. I got curbstomped to within one Death Save of dying for keeps; when he woke up naturally She had appeared in a vision and gave him a few clues about things that would be useful / important beyond their immediate appearance. One is that telescope-looking thing atop the "swamp castle".

I would enjoy to have such a character in my group, if played properly. Which is not always easy to do, IMO.

Without opening a whole can of worms, 'pacifist cleric' has more than one interpretation. If you find one that involves denouncing the other PCs and making moralistic sermons dedicated to propagating your superior (self-)righteousness, you are using the wrong interpretation.
(I like the concept that strikes no blow on his own but casts Bless, Aid, Bane, Guidance, &c to make the violence be short / swift / Good is victorious.)

No, I didn't mean the ''holier than thou'' pacifist, but someone who contributes to the mission by healing and blessing their allies. They would also prefer to heal and protect, rather than giving offensive tools to their allies (not that it couldn't happen, if the situation required it).

OP:
Nobanion, Shaundakul, the elven and dwarven pantheons beyond Moradin and Corellon, Auppenser are all gods that are rare to find in AL, in my experience.

I don't think that Auppenser is currently alive or legal in AL.

 

[Demetrios1453]

OP:
Nobanion, Shaundakul, the elven and dwarven pantheons beyond Moradin and Corellon, Auppenser are all gods that are rare to find in AL, in my experience.

I've played a cleric of Clangeddin Silverbeard before - it's great fun being a dwarven cleric rushing into battle with battleaxe swinging! I've also run a game with a player playing a halfling cleric of Brandobaris - I believe he multiclassed rogue if I remember right, but in any case he got the group into lots and lots of trouble!

For our Princes of the Apocolypse campaign we just started, I'm playing a cleric of Akadi. Not only is it thematically appropriate, but it's interesting because before SCAG was released, all of the FR deities with the Tempest Domain that had been listed in the PHB were evil; now I can play a good cleric with that domain...

 

[Demetrios1453]

I personally think one of the problems with FR is far too many dieties!

I think that's part of the charm of the setting! Players get a wide variety to choose from, and it makes the Religion skill worthwhile in the setting. If you think there are too many, it's not hard, as others have said, to just pare it down to the Greater deities.

When most people think of Greco-Roman mythology, they think of a small pantheon that basically consists of the Olympian gods and a few others. In reality, there were dozens, if not hundreds, of unique minor deities and demigods worshiped all around the Greco-Roman world. Heck, just read Hesiod's Theogony for massive lists of divine beings! So the Realms is hardly unique in this matter.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I really thought this was going to be a thread about Deities of short stature ...

As did I, until I thought about it for a sec.

Instead of the sarcastic post I was going to make (referencing the gnomish pantheon), I'll just say this: OP, in English, when you want to link one modifier (e.g. "little") to another modifier (e.g. "worshipped"), you should put a hyphen between the two words ("little-worshipped"). It's the difference between "a dog eating chicken" and "a dog-eating chicken!!!" Or between a little known person (such as a famous child actor or actor with dwarfism), and a little-known person, such as you or me (unknown to most people).

That said though, the pantheon of an infrequently-played race like gnome is not a bad place to start. Most people aren't even necessarily aware that gnomes have a pantheon of their own.

You could also go out on a limb and play a character from one of the "faraway" countries like Rashemen, with their unique spin on many things.

 

[El Mahdi]

...Nobanion...

Nobanion is one of my favorites; and definitely rarely seen. I've liked him ever since Ed Greenwood linked Nobanion to Aslan in an old Polyhedron magazine article from the 90's. The backstory was that he's actually a Greater God in his own world, but only a Minor God in FR; having been invited in by Ao.

I don't know if he's AL legal though...


I just checked the FR wiki, and they have that backstory there also. http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Nobanion#History

 

[Eltab]

I don't think that Auppenser is currently alive or legal in AL.

Alas, I agree.

My AL Monk - which doesn't matter, mechanically or otherwise, what deity he worships - venerates Auppenser. (He thinks his monk abilities are manifestations of psionic power.)
There is no Clerical Domain that distinctively reflects 'I worship the god of psionics' currently available.

P.S. Playing a character with 'divine inspiration' is easy if you are also DM'ing the adventure for another group, and pick only a few of the 'easter eggs' to expand on.
In my case, (1) the Farseer of Illusk, and (2) a "Manhattan Project" - excuse to make factions work jointly - to figure out the summoning ritual, and sabotage the Cult's version.
The Manhattan Project is a plot device so the DM can give the PCs the "Tiamat is weakened if X happens, and Y, and ..." list, piece by piece.