D&D General A Gruumsh Of A Different Type

[Fenris-77]

Oh for sure, I’m just saying he wouldn’t be opposed to their fury.

In battle? No, not at all. While they're dropping a deuce or eating their wheaties? Maybe counter productive.

 

[Cadence]

I find it odd that there would be a god "in charge" of wrath, fury, and destruction. Because who exactly would feel the need to pray to or ask a blessing from this deity, and when would that happen?

I can feel a lot of spurned folks wanting revenge who might do so. (Do the Kindly Ones fit this at all, say as used in the Sandman?). Was Nemain of the Morrigan prayed to?

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I think it could work without changing his areas. After all, fury does not have to be a bad thing - there's the fury of the wronged, the downtrodden, the oppressed. Destruction could also be the destruction that brings renewal. The storms that irrigate, that bring life in their wake. War, that's probably a bigger question than I can answer. In a fantasy world with defined, tangible good and evil, is war always bad?

So, he’s a god of Fury, War, Destruction, and Orcs.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think it could work without changing his areas. After all, fury does not have to be a bad thing - there's the fury of the wronged, the downtrodden, the oppressed. Destruction could also be the destruction that brings renewal. The storms that irrigate, that bring life in their wake. War, that's probably a bigger question than I can answer. In a fantasy world with defined, tangible good and evil, is war always bad?

The fury of the wronged is better worded as Wrath. And a more specific Battle-fury would be more interesting. As for destruction, it just feels redundant with the other two.
Instead, give him something that can be good, like protection of kin, or Patron of the battle-maimed, or of overcoming disabling injury, or simply overcoming adversity / perseverance.

 

[Kurotowa]

I think it could work without changing his areas. After all, fury does not have to be a bad thing - there's the fury of the wronged, the downtrodden, the oppressed. Destruction could also be the destruction that brings renewal. The storms that irrigate, that bring life in their wake. War, that's probably a bigger question than I can answer. In a fantasy world with defined, tangible good and evil, is war always bad?

On the contrary. War is what elevates the followers of Gruumsh. Fury and Destruction alone is just violence for the sake of violence. To fight a war means to stand with your sworn comrades against a common foe, working to overcome obstacles in pursuit of a specific goal. It unifies your group and gives purpose to your violence. War defines who you are and what you're willing to fight for.

So yes, Gruumsh encourages regular wars to clear the deadwood and keep everyone sharp, but it's not like he's a Bane or Maglubiyet who teaches conquest and domination. It's more on the order of cattle raiding, clan feuds, and the occasional personal vendetta. It's only very rarely that an existential threat appears and a great horde needs to be raised to fight it.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

On the contrary. War is what elevates the followers of Gruumsh. Fury and Destruction alone is just violence for the sake of violence. To fight a war means to stand with your sworn comrades against a common foe, working to overcome obstacles in pursuit of a specific goal. It unifies your group and gives purpose to your violence. War defines who you are and what you're willing to fight for.

So yes, Gruumsh encourages regular wars to clear the deadwood and keep everyone sharp, but it's not like he's a Bane or Maglubiyet who teaches conquest and domination. It's more on the order of cattle raiding, clan feuds, and the occasional personal vendetta. It's only very rarely that an existential threat appears and a great horde needs to be raised to fight it.

I could see Aeil style raids and other skirmishes, where it’s a greater victory to spare your foes, and the raids are basically elaborate “full contact” war games.

 

[Krachek]

You ask the question, another Gruumsh, I will ask why Gruumsh?
IMO I always see too much gods in DnD pantheon.
5 or 6 deities to which you assign existing domains, that is quite enough.
Evil gods are more like fallen angels or banished one, and can be treated as fiend.
That´s quite enough for a home brew setting.

 

[Mecheon]

Evil gods are more like fallen angels or banished one, and can be treated as fiend.

One culture's god is another's fiend. And worshippers hardly consider them evil, hence what we're doing in this thread to make a more presentable sort and me equating him with Ares (Generally more of an evil god to Athens, but as Mars, was considered the ancestor of the Roman people and had a far different place) ties into that

There's def some D&D gods that are superfluous, but Gruumsh has enough to him that he's one I'd keep around

 

[Minigiant]

You ask the question, another Gruumsh, I will ask why Gruumsh?
IMO I always see too much gods in DnD pantheon.
5 or 6 deities to which you assign existing domains, that is quite enough.
Evil gods are more like fallen angels or banished one, and can be treated as fiend.
That´s quite enough for a home brew setting.

I think the real problem is that settings like FR and Greyhawk just have too many deities. Especially racial deities.

Unpopular Opinion: Either have only racial deities or none at all.

Racial deities in D&D just serve to reflect their relationships on mortal beings and subvert their free will. That's the point of this thread.
Evil Gruumsh before just serves as a vehicle for orcs to hate elves and dwarves and rope humans and halflings in the mix as allies. It'san excuse to copy LOTR's racial diplomacy over without the story and premise.

That's why I like @Kurotowa's Punk Rock Gruumsh. Now his destruction and fury is more sensible and his relationship with the civilized gods makes sense. You can understand wh Gruumsh hates some of them and can make sense of nonorcs following him.

 

[Eltab]

What does the Warrior God of Peasants do? Hmmm...

• Very protective of property, especially farm gear, seed stocks, draft beasts, the things you need to start the cycle of Nature again next year.
• Upholds and enforces something like the IRL Truce of God and Peace of God: certain people (unarmed, unarmored, healers, pregnant women, elderly, young) and certain places (churches, homes, hospitals) and certain times (holy days) are off-limits for fighting.
• Favored weapons: torch and pitchfork
• Called on for desperate last line of defense or using force to right an acknowledged wrong.
• Also patron god of militia (especially part-timers) and characters with the Folk Hero background.
• Signature campaign: a plundering horde went into a city to loot and pillage. First they found quantities of alcohol. Then they found themselves in small groups, lost in unfamiliar narrow twisty streets with short line-of-sight surrounded by a thousand foes who knew the terrain, recognized each other vs strangers, liked to shoot / drop things from the roofs (out of sword-reach) or hide in ambush around corners, could trap soldiers in dead-ends (rooms without exit door / window) and used anything from knitting needles to cauldrons of boiling-hot water as a weapon. A few stragglers escaped to flee from the nest of angry hornets they had aroused.