Dieties in a homebrew world

[Starglim]

Just following a line of thought to the very end:

Ylyma
Ylyma is chaotic evil. She is called the White Goddess and often depicted either as a humanoid figure with its face and body concealed by flowing white robes, or as a female mongrelfolk. Ylyma's domain is bodily change, disease and deformity. Mongrelfolk say that she was once without gender, but chose to become female in order to bring forth the first mongrelfolk, and thus they call her the Maker. She is venerated by those outcast as a result of illness or birth defects. Ylyma is served by several orders of priesthood that are detailed further below. Her domains are Chaos, Evil, Trickery and Healing. (Wait, it gets better) Her favoured weapon is the unarmed strike. Her holy symbol is the two-fingered hand.

White Priests
This secretive clerical order dresses in white rags. Those encountered in the city are generally clerics or adepts, while those in the countryside include druids as well. They minister to the poorest of the poor (as well as giving theological guidance to certain less-than-sane mages) and are sworn to provide healing to all who ask.

All White Priests are infected with leprosy, and everyone who is affected by their spells (including ranged spells) is exposed to the disease. White Priest spells of 3rd level or higher bear the direct curse of Ylyma, thus the disease that they transmit is magical, affects paladins also and can only be cured if the victim first receives remove curse.

Ylyma does not grant the raise dead, resurrection or true resurrection spells, but favours reincarnate instead. Anyone reincarnated by a White Priest becomes either a mongrelfolk or an aberration of CR 0-3 of the GM's choice (this change in type is an exception to the usual effect of reincarnate).

Deacons of the Maker
These sturdy and insightful mongrelfolk guide their community and protect them from persecution. They include clerics, adepts, paladins and other mongrelfolk without spellcasting ability. Note: Deacons are not White Priests and do not transmit disease with their spells, though they receive the same altered version of reincarnate.

 

[DanielJ]

did you just make that up just then? and if so where did you get your inspiration ? from teh conversation weve been having or something else?

 

[Starglim]

Could you please give me an example of what you mean, i'd really really appreciate it. thanks alot

Just agreeing with you - the sentence you posted seems to sum up your ideas well and should be a good starting point.

 

[DanielJ]

am i allowed to use those gods you posted to tinker with to shape to my style? and you came up with those on the spot right?

 

[Starglim]

did you just make that up just then? and if so where did you get your inspiration ? from teh conversation weve been having or something else?

I read something like it years ago (the secret order of healers and disease-bringers part) in a series of books called something like The Book of Silence and The War God's Own. I probably have that completely wrong - someone help me out here? Overmen, Horse-Stealer tribes, the city of the Seven Gods of Darkness, the sword of the war god? Ring any bells?

Most of it I fleshed out through thinking about an evil god of healing. There was a question on the boards about Chaotic Evil gods having paladins a couple of weeks ago.

 

[DanielJ]

fair enough, thanks for your help.

*gets to work*

any more ideas/suggestions from people are welcome i'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[Tonguez]

"a generic low magic fantasy setting with heavy focus on old medieval things like knights, kings and with a romantic style of fantasy (do you know what i mean? dragonlance is seen as being romantic fantasy)"

is that the kinda sentance your meaning?

Yes that kind of thing (although more on if you are featuring elfs and dwarfs or fairy would be cool too)
Anyway from your sentence we can determine

1. Low magic
2.Romantic - 'Love' is going to be a major element
3. Knights and Kings etc (Medieval trappings)

Taking a hint from the Greek theogony we could start with

First their was Emptiness without form, without passion, without spirit
and for ages upon ages was Emptiness until Passion arose and was given form and the name of Passion was Lamor who is the motivation and drive within all things

So far we have a Primal deity in the form of Lamor ('Passion') who is a central motivator of Romantic Fantasy. You could set up a primal conflict between Lamor and 'Emptiness' or go any other direction from here - I'll leave that to you atm...

PS gotta fit Ylyma in here somewhere too

 

[shady]

I have started creating my own homebrew world and was wondering if anyone can tell me how many gods i will need and what basic fields of influences i need over all to address as what can be considered (core) to any setting.

Note : i plan on making these deities myself.

thanks in advance.

The 2E World Builders Handbook has a good section on it, and is generally excellent on building homebrew settings ... http://www.svgames.com/tsr9532esd.html

 

[fusangite]

DanielJ,

I might be able to help out but first I need to know this: what about the world has already been decided/sorted-out? Gods should be logical entailments of the world they are in, not something imposed on top of it. So, what things about the world have you already decided?

 

[Saime]

I have started creating my own homebrew world and was wondering if anyone can tell me how many gods i will need and what basic fields of influences i need over all to address as what can be considered (core) to any setting.

I can’t tell you how many gods you need, but I can tell you what I did in my homebrew. First, I used the distinction between greater-, intermediate-, lesser and demi gods. Second, I wanted the greater- and intermediate gods the represent basic concepts of the world.


For the greater gods I decided on four concepts: renewal, growth, decay and death. Each concept is associated with one god, so there are four greater gods.


For the intermediate gods I decided on the five elements: air, earth, fire, water and magic. Again each concept is associated with one god, so there are five intermediate gods.


The lesser deities. Any aspect of mortal life can be associated with a lesser deity. Thus, there are (or rather can be) gods of justice, child birth, beauty etc. In other words, lesser deities come in all shapes and sizes. This is the reason I haven’t been too concerned with the alignment of the greater- and intermediate deities. The flexibility of the system is not found in the top, but at the bottom so to speak.


Demi gods. These are local gods and house gods. Ancestral worship is also included in the category.


So far the system has worked out quite well in my homebrew. It allows for large local differences between gods and worshippers (i.e. the demi god category), thus making it possible to customize different regions on a religious level, while maintaining gods that can be worshipped anywhere. It also allows for the introduction of just about any god as either a lesser god or demi god, without upsetting the system as a whole.


I hope this gives you some inspiration for the creation of your own pantheon.