D&D General Gods: What role do they play in your campaigns?
hopeless
Adventurer
The game that inspired the one I mentioned above I was asked to convert my Ranger into a Cleric so knowing what I knew of his campaign from before (he used star trek characters as deities) I came up with a variation of Sehanine Moonbow named after Deanna Troi's deceased sister.
He then decided to go with the Dawn War Pantheon, which was when I first asked him if he was running Exandria and he said no.
First session my character was stuck as a cleric of Ioun despite my efforts, but following the mess he made of that adventure I ran my game so I could explain why my character was a Cleric of Kestra a Celestial Archon in service of Sehanine Moonbow and due to being part of the Celestial Bureaucracy was a Knowledge domain deity!
Eventually she became a Vestigal Diety of Moonlight looking up everything I could to develop that deity and her faith and then he decided his game was indeed located on Exandria despite my character having been banished from Exandria to another world where his setting had been.
Yes I wasted my time the setting he had before was very good, but he just couldn't get past his Critical Role Obsession despite claiming otherwise!
The annoying part I should have seen this coming and just run my game at the hamlet he thought worthless instead and continued his game with the back up character based on the character I had run in his older campaign.
I put more work into my deity and her background than he did keeping his game from jumping the railroad tracks.
Sorry still annoyed at that.
He then decided to go with the Dawn War Pantheon, which was when I first asked him if he was running Exandria and he said no.
First session my character was stuck as a cleric of Ioun despite my efforts, but following the mess he made of that adventure I ran my game so I could explain why my character was a Cleric of Kestra a Celestial Archon in service of Sehanine Moonbow and due to being part of the Celestial Bureaucracy was a Knowledge domain deity!
Eventually she became a Vestigal Diety of Moonlight looking up everything I could to develop that deity and her faith and then he decided his game was indeed located on Exandria despite my character having been banished from Exandria to another world where his setting had been.
Yes I wasted my time the setting he had before was very good, but he just couldn't get past his Critical Role Obsession despite claiming otherwise!
The annoying part I should have seen this coming and just run my game at the hamlet he thought worthless instead and continued his game with the back up character based on the character I had run in his older campaign.
I put more work into my deity and her background than he did keeping his game from jumping the railroad tracks.
Sorry still annoyed at that.
In my Greyhawk the gods use mortals like chess pieces, moving them to advance their agendas. This means that clerics, druids, paladins, and even rangers can be used to forward plots by divine will. Priests have a lot of influence in the world, and crossing a church can be problematic.
Sword of Spirit
Legend
My D&D multiverse is basically the Planescape version (when I don't want to use D&D setting IP, I play something other than D&D).
In general I treat personal appearances as rare, but signs, omens, or manifestations of divine power as less so. For instance, in Ghosts of Saltmarsh a sidebar mentions Procan messing with people who loot shipwrecks. If this had come up I would have rolled a random chance of him doing something, and if so had it be something like unusually bad luck with weather or monsters while sailing for a month or so.
If you head to the Outer Planes you could theoretically gain a personal audience with a deity, and seeing an avatar would still be rare, but less so.
In general, the Planescape/D&D assumption seems to be that while deities might communicate with individual followers, they mostly let their religions just act on their own rather than overtly directing them like a workforce or army. That seems rather odd, but I think diverging from it turns the whole setting into a strategy game played by the gods, which is probably why they don't do that by the default assumptions, and why I'll probably stick with it. I suppose a reasonable justification might be that they gave their religion some teachings originally, and as long as the religion overall is more or less doing that sort of thing, it is advancing their portfolio and doesn't need micromanaging.
In my current campaign, the tiefling (non-standard) PC's backstory is that they are a distant descendant of Beshaba, who is also his warlock patron. She communicates with him in dreams (which we play through on-screen) and sent an avatar to physically interact with him in his backstory.
I'm also considering revamping the Piety rules along the lines of the Theros book, because the tiefling has piety and I've been using a modified form of the DMG version.
In some cases, deities might manifest an active interest working against, in favor of, or parralel to the PCs, by the dirt's if means mentioned, but whether or not that happens is highly campaign dependant.
So basically, some general guidelines about how things work in the setting, with individual campaign divine activity being highly variable based in the individual campaign.
In general I treat personal appearances as rare, but signs, omens, or manifestations of divine power as less so. For instance, in Ghosts of Saltmarsh a sidebar mentions Procan messing with people who loot shipwrecks. If this had come up I would have rolled a random chance of him doing something, and if so had it be something like unusually bad luck with weather or monsters while sailing for a month or so.
If you head to the Outer Planes you could theoretically gain a personal audience with a deity, and seeing an avatar would still be rare, but less so.
In general, the Planescape/D&D assumption seems to be that while deities might communicate with individual followers, they mostly let their religions just act on their own rather than overtly directing them like a workforce or army. That seems rather odd, but I think diverging from it turns the whole setting into a strategy game played by the gods, which is probably why they don't do that by the default assumptions, and why I'll probably stick with it. I suppose a reasonable justification might be that they gave their religion some teachings originally, and as long as the religion overall is more or less doing that sort of thing, it is advancing their portfolio and doesn't need micromanaging.
In my current campaign, the tiefling (non-standard) PC's backstory is that they are a distant descendant of Beshaba, who is also his warlock patron. She communicates with him in dreams (which we play through on-screen) and sent an avatar to physically interact with him in his backstory.
I'm also considering revamping the Piety rules along the lines of the Theros book, because the tiefling has piety and I've been using a modified form of the DMG version.
In some cases, deities might manifest an active interest working against, in favor of, or parralel to the PCs, by the dirt's if means mentioned, but whether or not that happens is highly campaign dependant.
So basically, some general guidelines about how things work in the setting, with individual campaign divine activity being highly variable based in the individual campaign.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
Varies by campaign. Of the two I'm currently running, one they are almost non-referenced - except that there's an open secret among the players and in-world among the druids that the entire world is the body of a slain deity, and that's where all magic comes from. Her decapitated head, now just a lumpy circular skull, is the moon.
In the other one, about the only god that's been important so far has been Elistratrae, and that's because of one character's backstory. But they have archfey and other beyond-mortal-ken powers fiddling in the world.
In one that I play, it's ancient Greek themed and all but one of us are members of Athena's legions. We are dealing with god-related and god-adjacent (oracles, prophecy, etc) all the time. We have a devout cleric and paladin in the group.
The other I play is Strahd, and religion is a cold comfort that seems far away. Both the paladin (myself) and the cleric try to be a bastion of faith, but it's such a dark place and no one believes.
Last campaign I completed (4.5 years), it came up occasionally. Like dealing with this particular sect of a god of knowledge, etc. But there was no well defined pantheon. It was 13th Age (a d20), not D&D, and there are 13 archetypal Icons which while not deities do in some way fulfil the "very powerful meddler" role.
Previous completed campaign I ran (D&D 3.5, 7 years) the gods were a major point. There were well defined pantheons, genius loci, fisher-king like connections between the monarch and the land, and ascension as both one of the overarching plots and as something that one of the characters decided to try to do.
In the other one, about the only god that's been important so far has been Elistratrae, and that's because of one character's backstory. But they have archfey and other beyond-mortal-ken powers fiddling in the world.
In one that I play, it's ancient Greek themed and all but one of us are members of Athena's legions. We are dealing with god-related and god-adjacent (oracles, prophecy, etc) all the time. We have a devout cleric and paladin in the group.
The other I play is Strahd, and religion is a cold comfort that seems far away. Both the paladin (myself) and the cleric try to be a bastion of faith, but it's such a dark place and no one believes.
Last campaign I completed (4.5 years), it came up occasionally. Like dealing with this particular sect of a god of knowledge, etc. But there was no well defined pantheon. It was 13th Age (a d20), not D&D, and there are 13 archetypal Icons which while not deities do in some way fulfil the "very powerful meddler" role.
Previous completed campaign I ran (D&D 3.5, 7 years) the gods were a major point. There were well defined pantheons, genius loci, fisher-king like connections between the monarch and the land, and ascension as both one of the overarching plots and as something that one of the characters decided to try to do.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
For the next homebrew setting I do, I have compiled a large list of possible domains (not Domains like cleric subclasses, more general, like Hearth and Family, etc.). With lots of close variations - like Passion could be Zeal, could be Hatred, could be all sorts of things.
Plan is to randomly pick a bunch for gods, and then randomly pick 1-2ish for each god as minor domains that have be absorbed by the deity as peoples worshiping other pantheons have been assimilated. Then try to work out these random and organic groupings to make fitting gods and a cohesive pantheon.
Plan is to randomly pick a bunch for gods, and then randomly pick 1-2ish for each god as minor domains that have be absorbed by the deity as peoples worshiping other pantheons have been assimilated. Then try to work out these random and organic groupings to make fitting gods and a cohesive pantheon.
cbwjm
Seb-wejem
My gods are distant but known to exist since the restored the world after a great war in the mythic age. Exact beliefs of the gods can vary with different people forming different pantheons. Working on the setting I've slowly changed things around so that rather than being a priest of a specific god, you're typically a priest of one of these religions with clerics choosing a domain based on those granted by the gods in that religion.
Currently, I haven't had the gods interfere in the game however, a dragon elder (a massive dragon with power near equal to that of a god) is being disturbed and if it awakens, who knows what will happen.
Currently, I haven't had the gods interfere in the game however, a dragon elder (a massive dragon with power near equal to that of a god) is being disturbed and if it awakens, who knows what will happen.
Hriston
Dungeon Master of Middle-earth
My default approach to this type of lore is that the "gods"/demigods/godlings/celestials/fey/fiends/etc. are immortal spirits originating from the Positive Plane that entered into the created multiverse at the beginning of time and had a hand in its realization and development which continues to unfold and play out, especially on the Material Plane.
So, yes, there is ongoing involvement from the outsiders assumed, but what that looks like in the game depends on the players and their characters' relationships with whatever gods they choose. I, as DM, leave it up to the players to define those relationships. Other "gods" might get pulled in as monsters or as representatives of one side in a conflict between opposing alignments.
For example, in my current game, one of the PCs is a shadow sorcerer who has a connection to Mask, the god of thieves, who dwells on the Plane of Shadow. While providing a service for her "patron", as she calls him, the sorcerer came into direct conflict with a chaotic evil worshipper of Cyric, the god of strife, lies, and murder, suggesting some conflict between the two gods over the fate of the city in which the campaign is taking place. Subsequently, when another chaotic evil NPC, an otherwise non-descript wine merchant, was encountered, the NPC's involvement in Cyric's machinations became an issue to be resolved through play.
So, yes, there is ongoing involvement from the outsiders assumed, but what that looks like in the game depends on the players and their characters' relationships with whatever gods they choose. I, as DM, leave it up to the players to define those relationships. Other "gods" might get pulled in as monsters or as representatives of one side in a conflict between opposing alignments.
For example, in my current game, one of the PCs is a shadow sorcerer who has a connection to Mask, the god of thieves, who dwells on the Plane of Shadow. While providing a service for her "patron", as she calls him, the sorcerer came into direct conflict with a chaotic evil worshipper of Cyric, the god of strife, lies, and murder, suggesting some conflict between the two gods over the fate of the city in which the campaign is taking place. Subsequently, when another chaotic evil NPC, an otherwise non-descript wine merchant, was encountered, the NPC's involvement in Cyric's machinations became an issue to be resolved through play.
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
In Islands World the gods are very present but not in the same way as FR or Theros.
Instead;
Instead;
- The gods are the world- Pelor, the sun father, is the wind in a sail, the lucky break that saves a thief’s neck at the last second, the glimmer of light on the horizon that catches your gaze and makes you wonder what’s out there, and the joy of dawn blazing the sea into a surging roil of golden fire (he’s basically Maori Saint Nicolaus, patron of thieves, children and their protectors, the sun, surfing, and exploration on the sea). Artemis is the thrill of the hunt, the cold focus of the moment before you loose your bow, the fear and joy of a secret tryst.
- You are the gods- When you emulate the gods, and your deeds become legends, your story becomes a story of the god you emulate. When you steal a boat and sail desperately into unknown waters to save a child or loved one, and that story becomes legend, it is retold as an exploit of Pelor.
- The Gods are always with you- When you do soemthing exceptional that inspires a god, they…inhabit that moment. You find yourself able to push yourself harder, to see more clearly, to think and feel more fully, as you essentially become the deity in that moment. You embody Them. Even when this doesn’t happen, Artemis is present with every hunt, every archery training session, every secret liaison under the moonlight. Pelor is the sun and also the light from the sun and also the work and joy of sailing.
- The gods cannot be fought- If you were to run Tyrrany of Dragons here, there is no scenario wherein you fight Tiamat. Tiamat is the firmament, and the body of the world, and the divine well of chaotic powrr from which springs gods and cosmic monsters. What you can fight is a being that has embodied Tiamat so fully, with such devotion, that they have been given the power of a demigod, and the form of a great many-headed dragon. Tiamat will be fine, though. She’s beyond your ability to touch, no matter how powerful you become.
I generally scale the gods back in my games-- if you ask yourself the question "what is the difference between a Cleric's patron and a Warlock's patron?", in my games the answer is frequently "nothing".
Mostly, patrons interact with their clients to simply follow their ethos in the world, to do what the patron wishes they could do. Younger or more focused patrons still have material goals they wish their clients to pursue for them.
Churches and religious institutions are frequently much more important in my games than gods.
Mostly, patrons interact with their clients to simply follow their ethos in the world, to do what the patron wishes they could do. Younger or more focused patrons still have material goals they wish their clients to pursue for them.
Churches and religious institutions are frequently much more important in my games than gods.
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