D&D 4E 4e Races and Classes: "Why we changed the gods"

[The Ubbergeek]

Good ideas, there.

Wonder which gods will be announced later...

 

[Wolfspider]

The entire debate about the "god of agriculture" seems to be a straw man to me (no pun intended). I just looked in the 3.5 PHB and saw no god of agricultre listed there at all. As someone else mentioned earlier, all the gods there lend themselves well to providing adventure hooks for their clerics.

Once again, we have a case of "3.5 sucks, 4e rules."

 

[Lackhand]

The entire debate about the "god of agriculture" seems to be a straw man to me (no pun intended). I just looked in the 3.5 PHB and saw no god of agricultre listed there at all. As someone else mentioned earlier, all the gods there lend themselves well to providing adventure hooks for their clerics.

Once again, we have a case of "3.5 sucks, 4e rules."

The link between your point and your conclusion is lost to me. I think it's a case of "Huh. Let's talk about this", and is more or less edition independent.

 

[JohnSnow]

Pelor: sun and good
Zehir: night
Sehanine: moon

I actually don't like this. There is no deity of the "day" as there is of the "night". Why did they do this? Pelor: sun and day and Sehanine or Zehir: moon and night.

Because it's relatively in keeping with traditional mythology. Which usually has a god (or goddess) of the sun, one of the moon, and another for night and darkness.

Because the moon waxes and wanes, there's often an inherent assumption that the moon is "battling the night." Moreover, the sun god(dess) and moon god(dess) are often siblings - like Apollo and Artemis/Diana.

As for Egyptian myths, don't get me started. Those roles changed so much through time that it's difficult to sort out. However, they did have a god of the sun (Amun or Re/Ra), a couple associated with the moon (Thoth and Khonsu), and at least one associated with night (Apep). The latter is also a serpent god, and probably the basis for Zehir. Off-topic, Apep is also the god upon which they based Apophis on Stargate: SG-1.

 

[Silent Cartographer]

Glados is the Goddess of Portals.

BRILLIANT!!!

Bonus points for fitting her into the whole PoL setting thing, hehehe...

 

[JohnSnow]

Zehir: night
He needs a bit more. Since we have Pelor during the day, let's go the other way with Zehir -- he is the patron of those who lurk in shadows of all kinds, a dark god whispered in hidden cults. Prayers are offered to him to satiate him, so that he doesn't envelop you in darkness, never to be seen again.

As I pointed out above, I think Zehir is a reimagining of the Egyptian god Apep (or Apoph). Here's a bit from the wiki article on Apep.

"As the personification of all that was evil, Apep was seen as a giant snake, crocodile, serpent, or in later years, in a few cases, as a dragon, leading to titles such as Serpent from the Nile, and Evil lizard...

After the end of the Middle Kingdom, the foreign Hyksos, now rulers over Egypt, chose Set, as their favorite deity, since he had been protector of Ra, and was associated with Lower Egypt, where their power base was. Consequently, because the foreign overlords were hated by nationalistic groups, Set became gradually demonised, and...eventually became thought of as the god of evil, and gradually took on all the characteristics of Apep. Consequently, Apep's identity was eventually entirely subsumed by that of Set...

Apep was not so much worshipped, as worshipped against. His defeat each night, in favour of Ra, was thought to be ensured by the prayers of the Egyptian priests and worshipers at temples. The Egyptians practiced a number of rituals and superstitions that were thought to ward off Apep, and aid Ra to continue his journey across the sky."

This sets Zehir naturally in opposition to Pelor. Which works for me. He's the personification of Chaos as well as darkness. And interesting, he was purported to have a hypnotic gaze (the "Serpent's Eye?")...

I certainly think we've found the source material for ol' Zehir, and maybe the basis for the Serpent's Eye wizard tradition, as well.

 

[Shortman McLeod]

Isazabasob, the Vicious God of Harvest, wreacking havoc and reaping the souls of so many countless thousands like threshing wheat with his terrible, holy Scythe of the Heavens.
. . .
Seeing as how adventurers and other gods seem to be going around killing each other, how can a helpless god of doorways even hope to compete? Maybe by making a mad fortress of opening and closing doors, extending forever beyond the fringes of sanity, and filling it with creatures man was not meant to know about, bwahaha.

Dystmesis, thanks for these two tidbits. I fully intend to print them out and stick them in my DM binder for future use. Very cool imagery here.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's "Lolth," even in the Forgotten Realms, and officially so for some years now.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

This sets Zehir naturally in opposition to Pelor. Which works for me. He's the personification of Chaos as well as darkness. And interesting, he was purported to have a hypnotic gaze (the "Serpent's Eye?")...

I certainly think we've found the source material for ol' Zehir, and maybe the basis for the Serpent's Eye wizard tradition, as well.

I think you're right, because in an earlier version of the human myth Zehir was likened to Set.

I think Pelor will borrow a lot from Apollo, who fought a serpent himself I believe.

 

[Betote]

If instead of "this is a list of the gods in the D&D World", the PHB list of gods states something akin to "this is a list of suitable gods for PC clerics", there'll be no problems. As simple as that.