D&D General what would a standard human pantheon look like?

[Laurefindel]

Humanoids and monstrous pantheon are based on the assumption that these species are basically mono-cultural across all settings (which kinda make sense if your gods show up saying « that’s who we are, that’s what you are, and that’s how we want you to act »). Moreover, most non-human pantheons double down on their race/species standard D&D identity, which again, makes sense if the gods act as direct influencers of culture.

So having a uniformed human pantheon would also assume that the gods have introduced themselves and taught humans, otherwise there would be too much cultural variance - that’s of course assuming that humans are a culturally diverse people. Again, assuming that humans are a culturally diverse people, this pantheon of gods probably presented itself slightly differently to conform to (or engineer) local cultures, possibly interchanging major and minor roles within the pantheon, and changing their names. It would be a pantheon that enjoys (or somehow sees importance in) presenting itself differently to different populations, but there would also be constants.

It would also be a relatively unified pantheon, like that of humanoids and monsters, perhaps with one pariah that is nevertheless part of the group, or some bickering/enmities among the group but still working together.

Also, humanoids and monstrous pantheon all have leaders that best represent their race/species in a nutshell; that should also be true about the human pantheon, in this case, a representation of the culture. So either the pantheon’s leader is always the same god or goddess (most historical polytheistic religions had some kind of ‘king of gods’ with a prominent female consort/spouse/equivalent), or different gods and goddesses take on the role of pantheon-leader based on the culture. Either way, there would be some degree of standardization between cultures to conform to the pantheon.

As for what it would look like, I’d need to give it more thoughts but the basic assumption would be that the same gods could make culturally diverse pantheons across many settings, but their number would be similar (through in some pantheons, two or three gods could present themselves as a single entity, or each have different aspects of themselves. Hummm)

 

[jmartkdr2]

When I was brainstorming a law vs. chaos world. law got dwarves, goblinoids, tieflings, dragonborn and dragons in general, chaos got elves, beastfolk, and giants (and giantkin such as goliaths). Humans were the neutral race, though they could be any alignment.

The human pantheon was made up of deities of neutral concepts: war, secrets, death, love, travel - and the story goes like this:

The goddesses decided to each make their own race, as the gods of law and chaos had done. So they wet to their own palaces, and made a race for themselves. But as they worked, they each individually saw a flaw in the plan: a race that's really good at one of these things would be overly limited: if all they can do is war, how do they build? If all they do is manage death, how do they live? So they all decided to make sure their race had the potential to be great at their chosen field, but were flexible enough to chose whatever path was needed.

When they cam back together to share their creations, they all noticed the same thing in the others' work. And so the goddess of love borrowed the creation of the goddess of death, and worked them together, into a being that could love or grieve with equal potential. And then the others were mixed in, and the first humans were made: a man and a woman who could be anything.

 

[Minigiant]

Usually

Sky god. Either Sun, Moon, Wind, or Storm.
Sea god. Either Seas, Storms, Lightning, or just Water
Earth god. Either Earth, Nature, Hunting, or Plants
Fire God. Either Forges, Hearth, Volcanos, or just Fire.
Life God. Either Life, Healing, or Parentage
Death God. Either of Death realm or Death itself
War God. Either of Battle or Strength
Knowledge God- Either of Information, Trickery, or Wisdom
Civilization God. Either of Cities, Kings, Peace, Wealth, Trade, or Luxury

Usually humans pick one of each or 2 of each as their major gods for a polytheistic pantheon in real life or fantasy,

 

[Mind of tempest]

Because real world mythology was invented by actual humans, I might start by looking there. For example, among those listed in 5e, pretty much all the expected (non-monstrous) portfolios seem to be covered. Mix and match to include whatever domains you need, then change the names, symbology, etc, to fit the setting.

For a setting I did many years ago, I started with a bunch of moon goods from various real-world mythologies and merged them into a single pantheon that covered all the bases.

I just used the Norse pantheon and took a few liberties. So Odin's spear and Thor's hammer were forged by Moradin, the Aesir became the elven gods and so on. I did that because there's a bit of familiarity but also a lot of lore that I can reuse. I don't see a need to break anything down by alignment even if I do list a general alignment for the gods. It also gives me evil gods. Loki of course, but also Thrym and Surtr along with some mythical legendary monsters in Jormungand and Fenris (or Fenrir depending on who you ask). The PCs will never face those legendary monsters, but there are still cults running around that revere them.

Another option is to just not create deities and base it on shamanism, animism or ancestor worship.

I don't see a need to reinvent the wheel so to speak for human pantheons, we have plenty to borrow from.

people seem to be mixing up me wanting to make a pantheon for me, versus my goal of what would a default human pantheon look like, what refects us?

 

[Bagpuss]

I once did a basic pantheon which consisted of nine deities (one per alignment) that filled a generic set of gods that could be used anywhere. I'm sure they could have been used a human pantheon.

I think it was something like this:

LG: civilization and crafts
LN: law and justice
LE: domination and war
NG: Sun and agriculture
N: Magic
NE: Death
CG: arts and travel
CN: battle and storms
CE: destruction and madness

Obviously, you can see how some are pretty close to the 3e Greyhawk pantheon minus racial deities and a little rejiggering.

Seems to me if you are going pantheon route this is a good way to go, if you want to keep alignments as part of D&D. However personally I would have Death as Lawful Neutral, it is something that just follows the rules, it isn't evil.

However a number of folks are all for getting rid of alignments and so this later post is also a good example.

Almost every pantheon or pantheon-like structure tends to have the following (note, I am using "god" without gender):

1. At least one sky-god, who may or may not also be the storm-god or the sun-god but not both
2. At least one earth-god, who may or may not also be the fertility-god
3. At least one death-god, who may pull double duty in any other category
4. At least one war-god, ironically more often than not separate from the death-god
5. At least one "wilderness" god, whether embodying, hunting, or guarding nature
6. At least one "civilization" god, which may or may not also be associated with healing and/or skill
7. Usually, but not always, a deity associated with light (who may or may not be a solar deity)
8. Usually, but not always, a deity associated with the dark depths of the earth
9. Usually, but not always, a deity linked to madness, chaos, or otherwise rule-breaking things
10. Usually, but not always, a deity of wealth and (often) the power that comes with it

You could probably combine some of those if you wanted less gods, 2, 5, 8 might all be one god for example. Or you could go the countless gods route, where smaller weaker god are like we have patron saints. Their is a God of Fire, but there is also a God of Baking that works under the god of fire, and an even lesser known God of Pizza ovens.

You could also have gods fighting over portfolios, who is responsible for Fire? The Sun God? The God of Destruction or the God of Civilization, seems like a good excuse for a war (with lots of things burning).

 

[Minigiant]

One thing that the nonhumans do with their pantheons is they have deities for everything that is a part of their traditions, cultures, and aspects of their biology.

So the dwarves would have separate gods for mining, smithing, war, defense, trade, and greed.

D&D humans being the "can be anything" species might have a god for each Origin Feat.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I know the OP is looking for setting-agnostic pantheons but I don't know if that's really possible. Inevitably a pantheon will either create themes for the campaign or reflect the history and themes of the setting. Even creating something as basic as a "god of the sky" means that people live in view of the sky (rather than underground or in a perpetual storm) and believe in personified gods rather than, say, saints or animism.

I like to create bespoke pantheons for my campaigns based on the history, central conflict, and themes. I was recently playing around with the idea of a campaign based on a war between Gods of Nature and Gods of Civilization. This was for the Ironsworn RPG so I based each god on one of the character abilities: Iron, Shadow, Edge, Wits, and Heart. I made a list of words based on how each ability is expressed in Civilization, and then created gods based on those lists.

I came up with:

Ruen, Breaker of Chains
Myth, the Faceless Beggar
Hestia, Queen of the Hunt
Obsidikis, Crown of Fire
Enzo, the Laughing Boar

Then I could do the same for Nature Gods and have two interesting, conflicting pantheons.

 

[aco175]

Does Game of Thrones have something right?

the Father, the Mother, the Maiden, the Crone, the Warrior, the Smith, and the Stranger.

Seems like it could work.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I know the OP is looking for setting-agnostic pantheons but I don't know if that's really possible. Inevitably a pantheon will either create themes for the campaign or reflect the history and themes of the setting. Even creating something as basic as a "god of the sky" means that people live in view of the sky (rather than underground or in a perpetual storm) and believe in personified gods rather than, say, saints or animism.

I like to create bespoke pantheons for my campaigns based on the history, central conflict, and themes. I was recently playing around with the idea of a campaign based on a war between Gods of Nature and Gods of Civilization. This was for the Ironsworn RPG so I based each god on one of the character abilities: Iron, Shadow, Edge, Wits, and Heart. I made a list of words based on how each ability is expressed in Civilization, and then created gods based on those lists.

I came up with:

Ruen, Breaker of Chains
Myth, the Faceless Beggar
Hestia, Queen of the Hunt
Obsidikis, Crown of Fire
Enzo, the Laughing Boar

Then I could do the same for Nature Gods and have two interesting, conflicting pantheons.

human bones go soft underground without sunlight I assume dnd humans are still mostly genetically human thus they must live under sky

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

It might look like the Roman pantheon
Or the Greek
Or the Norse
Or Hinduism
Or Shintoism
Or Wiccan

Polytheistic religions were/are much more common than monotheistic religions. In fact, the Abrahamic religion(s) are thought to have sprung from a local Hebrew familial/nomadic deity that existed within a larger polytheistic culture. So, it was part of a larger sphere of gods but became, first a national god (who was considered better than the rest by followers) and then evolved to be monotheistic (the only god that exists).

It's probably an oversimplification and I'd need to look up old text books to get the exact details but I'm sure there's other people here with actual expertise in the subject who could elaborate if needed.

Anyways, my point is, look to any real world polytheistic religions and take spin off of those. Or as others have mentioned, build them around your own campaign setting - which usually starts with an Origin/Creation Story.