Mind of tempest
(he/him)advocate for 5e psionics
it is more lust could also be for almost any sensory thing there is a reason it is called a lust for power and to me it is clearly unrelated they just sometimes hang out in the same bar.I disagree. Hate is "caring, but wanting bad things to happen." Lust--and attendant things like obsession, manipulation, stalking, etc.--that's "love, but made bad." Something shared, reciprocal, freely-offered, becoming something demanded, acquisitive, controlling. It's still targeted at others--but it's no longer ABOUT others. Yes, bad love is extremely selfish. Heedless lust is also selfish; it's not about seeking pleasure together, it's about getting your own pleasure whatever the cost. Lewis referred to corrupted (erotic) love as "Venus". There's a very good reason for that.
runs into be too like real life and just repeats the indo-aryan derived faiths I care more about common functions in pantheons as those determine what you need a god for topic wise.For a definitive pantheon, I'd say you'd need the following things/portfolios met, for a fantasy gaming world. I will throw in some characters as I understand them, but my knowledge of "D&D Specific/only" (the Greyhawk ones, the Forgotten Realms ones, who knows who else) deities is limited. So, I'm just going to do the deities, and people can throw in who they think fits the bill...
1. "The Sky Ruler": Obviously, the world pantheon needs a "Ruler/King/Overseer of the conduct of the deities and the cosmos. The deity doesn't have to be "LG" or "LN" but is concerned with keeping the other gods (and the areas of the world to which they are born/assigned/created from/out of) in line, Order, & generally the Good of the world. Not destroying it. Not exterminating its inhabitants. Ya know, gotta have a vibrant world to have worhsippers. Traditionally, for many Real World mythologies, this is a "Sky deity." It may include the Sun or Stars or Moon specifically. But usually is associated with "Light", and ergo for humans anyway, "Good." It may just be the "firmament" of the whole sky itself, with separate entities for Sun/Moon/Stars (which I prefer), but generally has a "bird's eye view"/can "see all" from their coverage...basically, anything under the Sky is theirs to behold. The entity is generally male, for most real world myth, but not exclusively. A pantheon led by a Sky QUEEN might be different and interesting. A Dowager, perhaps, whose noble "Kingly" partner was slain in ages past by the great Evil entity. Which brings us to entity #2...
2. "The Adversary": You need the deific "thwart." The entity who is against the rest...or leads some small alliance who is against the majority of "rules abiding" deities. This could be someone of just pure Evil out to ruin the cosmos and world of mortals, burn it all down or enslave everything. Or, this could be someone like a Hades who just has a portfolio/assignment that is unliked/feared/avoided by mortals...and so viewed as a "Dark/Evil" force of the universe. Nobody wants to go to Hades. But everyone's going to have to eventually. They may be a lord/advocate of Chaos or could as easily just be a power-hungry tyrant of Lawful/Ultimate Evil. It could be a wholy annihilating force/entity, like an Apophis or Tiamat, some monstrous creature who the gods defend the world from. OR, against whom, even the normally disagreeable gods, good and evil, join forces against because the creature is SO uncontrollable/dangerous to (not just mortal, but THEIR) existence. Traditionally, however, these great divine monsters of catastrophe tend to be led or manipulated or controlled by some deific character/"person." So, I think you still need a persona who is assigned the "Ruler/Leader/Tainter/Manipulator of and for Evil."
3. "The Shining Son/Sun": Whether the ruling deity is male or female, they will probably have a male "child" (possibly a female one as well, lookin' at you Athena) who has grown into the space of "Hero," force of honor and bravery and all the virtuous things, the "Warrior extraordinaire" who also has magical/supernatural ablities and apitutude. The "Hero god." The "Sun god." The "God of warriors" - could/would probably also include/be associated with things that elicit "Strength" or "Honor" or "Indomitability." Lions, bears, mountains, storms, metal/steel/iron, and such like. This is Thor/Horus/Apollo. Each is also, usually, associated with some things that are not "war/battle" but also have some element of loss or a melancholy or longing that gives them some underlying sadness...but they rise to victory -with/like the dawn- at every challenge (another association with/to the sun, for many such characters).
4. "The Earth Guardian": You need the deity who is responsible for the Land, "the World," the Ground. This may be/include both "Green things/Plants/Nature" and "Earth/Dirt/Stone" or may be split among separate entities, but is a persona who is responsible for -if not personification of its self, like a Gaia - the earth/ground. Generally, in RL myth, this individual would be gendered as the opposite of the Sky...so as to allow for the offspring of Earth and Sky. (aside: My own homebrewed world pantheon, has these founding entities - Earth and Sky- both understood as males. in a gay relationship. But things still got "created" before they moved on "beyond the Veil.") This deity should not be confused with individual elements of Nature: e.g. wild animals, trees, gemstones, mountains, etc...; though may encompass them. It is almost universally NOT inclusive of the element of water, the seas, rivers, or anything else involving water, though might have elements of Fire, vulcanism/volcanoes/magma and so on. In most cases, there is a DEEP concept for such entities in the "Keeping/Holding/Defending of Secrets" - typically the "secrets of the earth," like gems and precious metals, the secrets of making/smithing (weapons of unearthly power), lost/unknown magic, etc... And the mysterious/godly power of "knowing anything that occurs upon or within the earth." So there can be/is often a cthonic component of the mysteries of subterranean realms. This, almost certainly, is an entity of purest Neutrality, seeing to its own interests/affairs and keeping things close to the proverbial vest.
5. "The Sea Master/Mistress": Another entity often associated with "Secrets" and "Unkown" things deep beneath the waves. May have sway anywhere there is water, might just be a sea deity with a gazillion lesser/demi-god/elemental/nymph children to cover each separate river, swamp, lake, spring, pond. But anything that touches the water, they're going to know about it. They're going to have control over weather (at least near the coasts). Coastal communities - which largely in human civilization has been every large community/first cities - are almost certainly going to be verrrry sure not to tick this deity off. Oddly (or odd to me) from the Mesopotamian Ark to Atlantis to the magic pearls of sea dragons in Asia and modern comic book/fantasy representations of "Poseidon's Trident," there is often an element of "strange technology" associated with the gods/goddesses of the Sea. Items and/or magics that you are not going to be able to find/access from the land. And obviously there are creatures -of unearthly beauty and incomprehensible danger- unlike any other found on the dry realms, deep beneath the shimmering waves. Generally speaking, there is an element of "temper" to these entities (given the wildly swaying ferocity of weather and waves to be found at.near the sea), a capriciousness to concern for the lives of mortals. Yet -for most worlds- the moon(s) still "controls the tides" and keeps some semblance of order to the raging sea that could be worshipped as "Lawful."
6. "The Moon-gician": Interestingly, for nearly all real world mythologies, whether there is a deity of stars, or "the Night" as a whole, there is almost always a deity ascribed to "the Moon." Its constant motion. Its growth, fullness, waning, newness/rebirth. Its "protective" qualities (for humans), by providing light in the dangerous darkness of night when the predators and monsters and spirits lurk unseen. So, sometimes associated with monster-hunting/protecting travellers -or for entities of a darker slant, creating/conjuring those monsters. There is also the element of "revelation" to be found in the mythoi of the moon. A holding/wielder of knowledge. So, in many cultures, associated with the "mental/intellectual" pursuits of time, following the year/seasons, recordkeeping, collecting/archiving knowledge, thus also associated with writing and language. The general connection to nighttime, lends itself to sleep, and thus the magic/creation of dreams and dreaming. For some cultures male, for some female, often (but not always) the opposing gender to the Sun. Its associations with knowledge, revealing secrets, dreams, and endless transmutation (changing its shape) lends the Moon to almost certain association -if not full control/personification of- Magic/Sorcery. This final association would be particularly potent for a fantasy/magic-wielding world.
7. "The Battlelord/Warmonger": Most mythologies, ata certain point of their civilization's development, end up with a deity who is a warrior of bloodlust, of powerful violence versus unmatched skill, but also of "leading men into battle" vs. the solo artist most "heroes" are. They are usually depicted as unbeatable in battle. Someone who revels in war and the woes that war brings. Someone for whom Strength and Commanding is the ultimate power, the "Stronger/Strongest" should/deserve/MUST conquer/hold power over the weaker. This entity will certainly be a warrior of darker slant -and perhaps direct opponent of "the Shinign Son/Hero god." They are most revered by those who live by the sword and/or seek power through the use of combat or conquest. They may have an element of "valor" or "battleskill." But they are/can, more often, be the ravaging warmonger and are thus not always the most "Goodly" of gods.
8. "The Grower of Green/Grain": Anytime you get peoples congregating in numbers (of any size, really), you need to worry about how to feed everyone. This is, of course, the role of the keeper of the Bounty of the land. What does Nature -writ large- provide for mortals to keep them alive, AND importantly, keep them HEALTHY. Discerning the nutritious from the poisonous also lends itself to a deity of health/healing/medicine, as a more broad personage than just the "makes the plants grow" entity, but both elements are important. This is probably the entity more immediately associated as the ruler of "Nature," capital "N", vs. the entity of Earth (see #4 above). This probably includes some degree of weather influence - regardless of sky, storm, and/or sea entities. It may or may not include animals, animal training/hudbandry/domesitcation. If it does, there could be a hunter/huntress persona for this entity. If not, the maiden of birth/rebirth and/or matron of bountiful harvest are both quite common concepts for this, largely, botanical deity...and the "birth/rebirth" aspect of plantlife almost immediately associates this entity with a "female" persona. But, again, the skills of agriculture, just plain hard physical work of farming, traversing the wilds, "planting/sowing of seed," could all easily be ascribed to a more "male" persona...and/or like the elves, themselves (for several worlds), an androgyny that is "all encompassing" of the fertility and virility of Nature.
9. "The Death Keeper": Whether or not they are a dealer of or personally responsible for Death (a la a Grim Reaper), and several are, this is the deity who "oversees the dead/spirits of the dead." They may have a prophetic aspect, i.e. "knowing when a mortal is going to die," or a JUDGEMENT aspect, i.e. "deciding what happens to a given spirit/where/what afterlife they are sentenced to." This can be a "Protector of the Dead"/psychopomp like Anubis or Arawn, a completely nonplussed, uninterested, "Watcher" over the Underworld, like Dis pater or Hel (and sometime depiction of Hades), as easily as a frightful "Bringer of Death." For the fantasy game world, this could be a patron of death, a harbinger as much as/as well as assassin, responsible for the end of a mortal's time. So, anyone "dealing" in death would be intersted in such a character. I find male and female depections of such entities equally plausible.
I probably don't think you need many more thn this. Some odd number is always my preference. But as we have seen in the histroy of D&D, as in real world mythologies, these lists can figuratively go on forever. Gods of the hunt, the shadows, crafts/maker of amazing stuff, the law/justice, beauty, relationships, motherhood, fatherhood, sex but not love, love but not sex, arts/artists - but not music/musicians, they have their own god... the merchants - but not the money/coins; the stars -but not the night (or vice versa); the hearth or torch or lantern - but not the element of fire as a whole; gods of specific monsters - but a separate deity of the undead; deity of this type of tree or that sort of weather (winter/blizzards often gets called out from weather/stroms), and so on and so on depends on the terrain, the climate, the core beliefs or pursuits of a given tribe/community/civilization.
Here, we have a lore keeper for the bards. The Death dealer for assassins. The nature and "Land/World" and sea deities for ranger or druidic types (if you use personaifcations of Nature for your druids. I do not.). Clerics and Paladins can work for just any of these....they're "the gods." A magic deity -as well as multiple "secret keepers/revealers" for magic-types. Hero/warrior deity for the fighters/barbarians/paladins.
It's "bare bones" just the largest/most common entities, I think. But, if I do say, a solid start for any campaign.
Of course, the farming god is likely to be similar as those guys are boring in every faith
I also feel although not even god needs clerics every class should have a god that would logically be a viable patron to it
it might help if it is specific demon prince to show what the culture feels is evilI'm not sure if you even need "the Adversary" as long as you have powerful enough demon princes and archdukes of hell.
