GlassEye
Adventurer
Speaking as a disinterested outsider, 38 deities doesn't seem like a lot to me.
It's not. And particularly considering the creation or source of deities in our setting. I've looked and it seems it hasn't been fully ported/explained from the old social group but there are seven beings (archetypes; powerful well beyond the level of gods, more along the lines of cosmic forces) that can only manifest a facet (aspect) of their power when interacting with the material. Mortal perceptions of these aspects define the gods/pantheons of the world.
Some of these - such as Kaven and the other Gnomish deities - are likely on the old Social Group but never got ported over to the Wiki. I've put this one on the Wiki under Tal Hallow.
I didn't put them on the wiki because I don't think they were ever fully approved by judge vote. My recollection is that a couple of judges voted 'yes' but not enough for full approval. (I felt they needed further looking over.)
Before any of this goes anywhere, there's a biiiiiiig question that LPF needs to answer. And that's specifically: Do you want to define the world because it's there, or do you want to leave it as open as possible until someone needs it?
Considering the above background I don't think it is necessary to define all the gods or even desirable to do so. I think we could fill out and define some major pantheons, sure, but I like leaving a bit of openness.
The deities needs something built and hashed out for balance...
That which affects tens of thousands of inhabitants should be fleshed out so we have a good idea which way the prevailing wind is taking us while writing. Deities fall in that category, as we have no small gods. Or do we?
The big part right now is that some races have their pantheon all built up, while others don't have much done at all.
We only need something built if someone plays a character that receives some sort of boon from a deity (spells, powers, etc.). I think having a few major detailed pantheons is enough, especially if we leave the field open for additional deities.
I don't necessarily believe that all the races need separate pantheons. Dwarves and Elves, in particular, seem to me to be tapped into the 'true' background of the planes. However, since both are 'fallen' (or at least have some members that are fallen) they could have pantheons of deities.
When I wrote Serroth, I was under the impression that Landadel had tons and tons of small-ish gods, almost like Shinto or at the very least like ancient Greece/Rome, since a full pantheon hadn't been fleshed out. Or even proposed, really. And there's the impression in Penk's writeup that worship varies quite a lot from place to place.
Looking at many of the pantheons as they stand, I'm not sure they're complete enough for full fleshing out. And I'm not sure that potential munchkinism is really a problem, because that's what judge approval is for.
I think it might be a good idea to tag which pantheons are 'Open' and which are 'Closed,' though. Is the Venzan religion accepting applications, or is it full?
Since the Landadel Baronies have tons and tons of small nation-states I think it is only logical that they have tons and tons of deities. The idea was that there are a multitude of cultural groups (each with their own gods probably) so that players could have a bit of free reign in defining where their characters came from. Players haven't really taken advantage of that like I thought they might, though. I guess there is uncertainty on what is allowed and so people go with what exists or create only brief additions or vague locations. The openness also gives DMs a bit more leeway in their creations; the problem now is that much of the stuff that has come up in games hasn't been added to the wiki.
Many of the 'pantheons' are incomplete because of the open creation method we used in the past. People usually only created what they needed. A few people went on to flesh out things more fully (the gnomish pantheon, for example) and most of those were discussed and voted on. The incomplete pantheons, the casual references to deities by non-divine casters, none of that was fleshed out or voted on.
As far as Open and Closed pantheons, my belief is that they are all open within limits. The Venzan pantheon has all the major players sketched out and so I think it would be difficult to bring in another major god without significantly altering relationships that have already been created. But, I think there is room to fill the holes with lesser deities, saints, divine servants, etc. Just as an example, the Stormlords, Hinotheus, and (to a lesser extent) Penk were added to the pantheon after the major players were designed and took on roles and filled out deity storylines.