[Dieties and Demigods] Good for general info?

[shouit]

Four words......Book of the Righteous.....

What Deities and Demigods should have been. I have gotten 100 times more use out of the former then the latter..


PS- Creative Mark stuff is really good as well.

 

[Torillan]

Can I get an amen?!

Four words......Book of the Righteous.....

What Deities and Demigods should have been. I have gotten 100 times more use out of the former then the latter..

I couldn't have said it any better myself. This book isn't the #1 pick on EN World's Top 20 List for nothing!!!

This book is an exceptional buy. If you don't have it yet, get it! You will NOT be disappointed!

 

[Psion]

I don't need it to have the players battle Gods or have the Gods battle one another (i.e. I can not forsee any reason to have the Gods fully stat blocked out). Frankly, the only things I do with Gods in my campaign is have them as beings to worship with personalities and followings, etc.

So, from that perspective (I only use Gods as a pantheon) does anyone have any insight as to if this book can provide assistance in that regard? Or might it not be that helpful if that is all I would use it for ...?

It sounds to me like you could better spend your money elsewhere. The only thing you are likely to get out of the book is a list of deities and their domains (which, if you dig through mythology or older game materials you could probably make yourself.) DDG says precious little about the worshippers and religions of the deities listed therein.

I'll join the chorus of praise for BotR. If you already have a pantheon in mind, the utility of BotR is a little limited. Otherwise, do yourself a favor and run out and get it. The myths all feel very authentic, lavish details are provided for the faith of each religion, and the mechanics material is well done (and more importantly, the point that DDG missed) pertinent.

 

[haiiro]

Deities & Demigods doesn't seem like a terribly good fit based on your needs. As others have noted, it doesn't have much in the way of background info, as it is essentially an MM for deities; it also doesn't stack up well with the ELH.

Faiths & Pantheons is certainly more interesting, and has more utility in a fantasy setting than the Earth-based pantheons featured in De&De (Greyhawk being the exception). It is FR specific, but if you're only going to mine it for ideas that shouldn't matter too much.

The Divine and the Defeated -- the Scarred Lands god book -- is also quite good. It includes stats (and they don't mesh with De&De, or with the ELH for that matter), but it also has a lot of flavor and background material. Depending on the nature of your homebrew, it might be more or less useful than F&P -- the Scarred Lands has a feel all its own, and it diverges a lot from "standard" fantasy. Even though I don't plan on using it, I found it to be a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Book of the Righteous is probably your best bet: no stats and a ton of background info, all wrapped up in a beautiful and well thought-out package. The only area it fell short for me was in its lack of options for evil/villainous deities -- a staple of most fantasy campaigns, IMO. Everything in it ties together very well, however, and you can probably dovetail in details from other sources to cover the dark side.

Hope this helps.

 

[Psion]

The Divine and the Defeated -- the Scarred Lands god book -- is also quite good. It includes stats (and they don't mesh with De&De, or with the ELH for that matter), but it also has a lot of flavor and background material. Depending on the nature of your homebrew, it might be more or less useful than F&P -- the Scarred Lands has a feel all its own, and it diverges a lot from "standard" fantasy.

I wouldn't generally recommend Divine & Defeated for general gamers the way I would Relics and Rituals. However, I think it is a pretty important work for Scarred Lands. It has a lot of juicy stuff when it comes to adventure ideas in the scarred lands. If you would like villains like the titans, it might be worthwhile.

 

[Glyfair]

Well, I've been sold that the Book of the Righteous is something I will look into.

However, glancing at the reviews, I don't see one point covered that is somewhat important to me. How "hands off" does this book treat the deities? My campaign world's pantheon (what I've developed so far) has some of its flavor derived from Greek mythology. That means the players can expect to meet the Gods & Goddesses at some point. A book that has a strong philosophy of "the Gods don't mettle in the world" would be of less use to me.

Glyfair of Glamis

 

[Voadam]

I would go with the 2e FR god books as pdf ESDs from svgames.com There is faiths and avatars, Powers and Pantheons, and Demi human deities, each at $5. They have tons of specific religious deity personality and worshipper info and cover all the FR gods which includes eqyptian and Babylonian pantheons, as well as a few random celtic, norse, finnish, and other real world deities. There is a ton of info in each of these and they are great. I have the original print editions of each of them and highly recommend them.

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

My favorite religion book for D&D was On Hallowed Ground, from second edition. You might want so see if you can locate that. It doesn't have the 3e info like domains, though, of course.

[Bitter]
Oh yeah, lot's of freakin' luck.
If you're rich go right ahead.
[/Bitter]

*sniffle*

 

[Nightfall]

I pretty much echo everyone sentiments. Book of the Righteous, while it might not be as useful as some, does help with some people's homebrews in terms of offering religions and cults. Divine and the Defeated, while probably more useful if you're in the Scarred Lands, does offer some ideas. But Book of the Righteous is safer bet in most cases.

I am curious how your panethon is organized since it might help people determine your needs.

 

[Nightfall]

Well, I've been sold that the Book of the Righteous is something I will look into.

However, glancing at the reviews, I don't see one point covered that is somewhat important to me. How "hands off" does this book treat the deities? My campaign world's pantheon (what I've developed so far) has some of its flavor derived from Greek mythology. That means the players can expect to meet the Gods & Goddesses at some point. A book that has a strong philosophy of "the Gods don't mettle in the world" would be of less use to me.

Glyfair of Glamis

From what I can read, they deal more with religions and clerics, but you can impliment more hands on approach if you wish.