Hodgepodge Pantheons

[jester47]

So most settings "Pantheons" are mixtures of different pantheons:

Forgotten Realms has a mix of Earth gods with some native Torilian gods thrown in for good measure.

In Greyhawk the pantheon is actually a mix of Baklunnish, Seul, Oeridian, and Flan gods.

In the Wilderlands we have a mix similar to the Forgotten Realms.

What other settings have mixed (either from earth or not) pantheons?

Do you like these? Why or why not? How would you prefer it?

Aaron.

 

[Starglim]

Planescape, of course, where the most influential beings mostly seem to be historical deities.

Historical pantheons, such as the Norse and Greek gods, are almost all of mixed origin once you start to look into them. They tend to have family trees, alliances, myths of war and conflict among the gods, and so on bolted on over the top to connect together a whole lot of formerly unconnected deities. Transmuting defeated pantheons into monsters, devils and fey was popular too.

 

[rounser]

How would you prefer it?

When it comes to pantheons, I think the wackier and more gimmicky the better. I had a DM who would always incorporate a god called "Om" somewhere into the setting as a major deity. What the priests chanted during meditation was kind of obvious...

Also, unlikely domain combinations, like the goddess of healing also being the goddess of evil and destruction. And tinpot or sorta-deities, like...a levitating inanimate Easter Island statue with propellers that ends up being worshipped and attaining a very vague semblance of sentience*...a quasigod (a failed demigod with only a handful of followers and problems with self-confidence)...an archdevil seneschal who's are standing in for the real deity (and answering prayers until he gets back from his thousand year exile spent Beyond The Pale)...a deity who deceives her entire flock as to her true alignment and intentions....a mindless cthulhuesque Old One-type whose cult keeps trying to summon it...and so forth.

Wacky soap opera-like pantheons, in other words, are fun IMO.

*: Idea stolen from a website somewhere.

 

[Sigurd]

A pantheon's organization is very much a function of your point of view. I've always believed that gods are sometimes worshipped by different names, by different peoples and only the gods can really figure it out.

Also peoples (intelligent races) tend to trade their worship for useful things and that will draw dieties into the strangest places. Most dieties might direct the worshippers to a better more secure pantheon\worshipping circle or they might nurture the new personification of themselves as an option if one circle dies out.

Secondly I think every world has a pool of worshippers that most of the dominant powers dont care about ie vagrants, half orcs, soldiers etc..... Dieties tend to spring up to receive these people's prayers because they are sincere and plentiful. They might never be told that Clangadin is a dwarven god (that is an extreme example) .


On the edges of all the neat and organized pantheons are religeons that mix and match so there is always latitude among the less powerful peoples. The players may not want to worship an underdog or a minor diety but then....


S

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

I think Scarred Lands had the best pantheon I have ever seen. Each alignment had one diety associated with it and the story behind all the gods made the most sense and seemed to really mesh well with one another. I guess it is one of the rasons why the Scarred Lands will always have a special place for me.

 

[jonesy]

What other settings have mixed (either from earth or not) pantheons?
Do you like these? Why or why not?

The Krynn gods are a mix of ones adapted from ancient Earth myths, ones created completely from scatch and ones with just the name based on something from Earth.

They work well, because their characteristics are well established in the novels and game material, and because they are uniquely different from their origins.

How would you prefer it?

I will always have a soft place in my heart for the Mystara Immortals who could all very well be ascended mortal heroes and villains. It grounds them firmly into the world because they know it from the ground up instead of being these high and mighty creators (not that they can't be those too).

 

[Vigwyn the Unruly]

I think Scarred Lands had the best pantheon I have ever seen. Each alignment had one diety associated with it and the story behind all the gods made the most sense and seemed to really mesh well with one another. I guess it is one of the rasons why the Scarred Lands will always have a special place for me.

Yes, the Scarred Lands pantheon is very nice and tight. It seems to have basically everything you need without having a hundred deities. I really like what the Scarred Lands people have put together. If I ever DM anything that strictly adheres to a particular campaign setting, it will probably be Scarred Lands.

That being said. I mostly will allow deities from any of the standard settings into my game. The gods don't directly interact with the plot very much, so there's no harm in having a hodge-podge group, even if they don't make very much sense together. If a player wants to play a cleric of god X, why not?

 

[Davelozzi]

The Krynn gods are a mix of ones adapted from ancient Earth myths, ones created completely from scatch and ones with just the name based on something from Earth.

Really? I haven't looked at the gods of Krynn in quite some time, but I had never noticed this. What culture/cultures' mythology are they based on?

 

[jonesy]

Really? I haven't looked at the gods of Krynn in quite some time, but I had never noticed this. What culture/cultures' mythology are they based on?

Here's the source telling the tale:
http://www.dl3e.com/features/articles/11339.aspx
http://www.dl3e.com/features/interviews/11253.aspx

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

I think the reason why I like he tightness of the Scarred Lands is because it works so well with the campaign world that they put together. The history, politics and personalities of the nations are all reflected in the gods (and vise versa).

By contrast the problem with opening up a book of gods and starting to pick is that it just seems so out of place in some worlds. Of course, the problem with the pantheon in FR is that there is just too much and they all don't feel like they fit in properly with everything else.