D&D 5E Eliminating Non-Human Deities from FR

[Samloyal23]

So, a deity has aspects worshiped by different races under different names. What does that deity do when the races are in conflict?

 

[SkidAce]

a. get some popcorn and watch.
b. whine and moan about the arbitrary "non-intervention policy" established by the cosmic council.
c. sigh, and shake head as followers are obviously missing the point but "hey free will".

 

[SkidAce]

...double post...

 

[SkidAce]

ooo! ooo!

d. watch in horror as the aspects take on a life of their own and steel the original god's essence.

 

[SkidAce]

ooo! ooo!

d. watch in horror as the aspects take on a life of their own and steel the original god's essence.

 

[Maxperson]

At some point, Forgotten Realms reduced the number of non-human specific deities by revealing that some of them were just aspects of the Faerunian pantheon. For example the halfling goddess Yondalla is just Chauntea, and Gruumsh and the storm god Talos are the same being.

This got me thinking about eliminating the non-human deities altogether (they were all imported from Grayhawk anyway). This allows monstrous humanoids to serve the same evil gods as human and demi-human villains (IIRC there's been a coupe of Forgotten Realms novels where sauhagin are depicted serving Bhaal and Umbrelee anyway). It also makes it easier to have gods with priests and other followers among various races,


I can easily find appropriate Faerunian deities to assume the aspects of deities for most races: Lathander and Selune for high elves, Silvanus for wood elves, Shar for drow, Mielikki for forest gnomes, Gond for rock gnomes, Bane for goblinoids, and so on.


But I can't seem to find a good fit for dwarves. Gond as a god of crafts would fit somewhat but doesn't seem to jive with the typical dwarven ethos. Tyr seems to have the militantly lawful good aspect but not the craftsmanship domain. For dwarves there just doesn't seem to be a Forgotten Realms deity that can be synonymous with Moradin.


Any suggestions?

In my opinion non-humans are as likely to generate gods as humans are, so it makes sense for them to exist. Under that scenario Gruumsh and Yondalla are separate.

The other side of that coin is that gods have no race at all. There are no human gods, orc gods, elvish gods, and so on. There are just gods with no race, but who take on aspects of the various races. You won't find find the vast majority of orc worshiping Talos. They will still be worshiping Gruumsh.

It just makes no sense to me for human gods to attract all the followers of non-human races, so I'd go with one of the above two systems. If you want the odd orc paladin of Helm, go for it. It wouldn't be unheard of for a member of one race to worship the god of another race.

 

[Li Shenron]

For me this is probably as much of a thought experiment as something I'll really do. I just wondered if you kept on revealing that the nonhuman deities were just aspects of the same one's that humans in FR claim, how it would all shake out. Who is the equivalent to Corellon, Gronolator, Maglubiyet, Lolth, Yondalla, etc.

Overall Tyr is the most like Moradin, I'd think. He even favors a hammer as a weapon in FR. He's just not also a god of creation.

You don't have to explain everything, things don't need to be logical, and they don't need to be known.

Say it shakes out... as a milk shake Can you really tell where the milk ends and the strawberry juice starts? In the same way, you can't really tell "where Tyr ends and Moradin starts", they are blurred.