D&D 4E A Quibble About 4e Gods (rural)

[Primitive Screwhead]

Ever look at the Eberron pantheon? I like they way that they are set up...depth of fluff while maintaining the crunch. The setting book also describes how 'normal' people relate to the pantheon and avoid pigeon-holing characters based on their class.


As an aside, is posting a pic that says right on it "Do not use without permission" on a board like this a good idea?

 

[Klaus]

Originally Posted by Clerics pages from C&R
We wanted deities to be designed for play in the D&D world. Sure, it’s realistic in a sociological sense to have a deity of doorways or of agriculture, but it’s hard to figure out how a cleric who worships such a deity honors his god by going on adventures

The God of Doorways could also be honored by the cleric unlocking the secret doors underground. He could also be the Trickster God (you honor him in hopes the door to your home doesn't attract the wrong type of interest).

The God of Agriculture could also be the one that presides over the seasons, the Sun God. He's the one who makes the orchards bloom, and his gaze is the fiery sword that cuts out undead like poison ivy.

 

[Aristotle]

I see a smaller published pantheon as one that focuses on the most used gods in your typical campaign. The most powerful ones that shape the pantheon, and the ones with "cool" portfolios that players always seem to choose as their patron deity.

They can use the room saved by not publishing a "complete" pantheon to expand on the presented gods or provide more meat to other sections of the book.

That gives the individual DM room to fill his or her region of the PoL setting with lesser gods with less "cool" portfolios that are simply not as well known compared to the published deities, or regional demigods that may have strong followings locally but are all but unknown elsewhere.

That's how I intend to use in anyway.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I wonder if people think of Ianua (Roman deity of doorways). The Romans had many gods, most of whom weren't Roman. The best known ones were renamed Greek deities, but they also had Numinae (faceless, possibly genderless, and certainly nameless deities) whose influence was so small they wouldn't fall under the role of DnD gods. They'd be spirits.

So instead of creating a raft of unneeded deities, couldn't the settings include spirits instead? They don't need rules and wouldn't have clerics, but could be an important part of a setting.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

D&D does not contain rules and write-ups for the agricultural techniques used by farmers to grow enough food to support city poulations. Does that mean people in the cities don't eat? No, it is just that they don't bother taking up page space to explain it because they feel that it is not relevant to adventuring.

I see other gods in the core pantheon in the same light. They probably exist, but they aren't going to bother making a standard God of Agriculture for everyone to use, at least to begin 4e, because probably something close to (or exceeding) 99% of D&D players won't really care about the name of the God of Agriculture, his Domains etc.