Homebrew Worlds: Racial Gods?

[Ralif Redhammer]

In my homebrew, the main religion is monotheistic, but the different races may worship different aspects of the same deity. The Dawnbringer is known as the Stonefather to the dwarves, for example.

When I do use pantheons, I just go with the core book defaults. But I did like the level of detail that the Kingdoms of Kalamar core book used with the various deities.

 

[Wild Gazebo]

I usually set up a pantheon of gods in terms of mythological associations (family tree, creator...destroyer, ect) and then have each god/dess represent different or multiple aspects (love, hate, vengence, compassion, ect). I then give each god multiple names based on cultural perspective (usually without the knowledge of the mortals). Therefore there is a managable amount of gods...and a slightly unmanagable number of names. But, then I don't make each god/dess represented in each culture.

Well, that's how I do it...hope it helps.

 

[Odhanan]

I do use several pantheons in my AE/D&D game. A sort of monotheistic religion organized into cults of the elements themselves patronizing different deities related to this or that type of element (for instance a worshipper of a War God would go to the Fire cult and so on). But each deity may be worshipped by people not recognizing this monotheism above their head. All religion in my homebrew is matter of interpretations - two people can worship two different gods of the forge, and in most (not all) cases, these two gods are two aspects of a single entity.

Now this entity may face itself using two different avatars. Usually, as "humans", we think in terms of deities as human beings themselves. It's a sort of greco-roman type of conception that contaminates the design of Gods in D&D works (don't get me started about Evermeet: Island of Elves). For me, Gods can be truly omnipotent and not only two or three dimensional but awesome entities ruling contradictory domains with agendas much more complicated than one could think. What you get with the background of the homebrew is just a glimpse at what these agenda may be, or what churches believe these agenda to be, if they even realize what the nature of the powers they worship is.

 

[Woas]

Sort of. I use a theme that shows up in real-world religions though. All the races believe in the same over-diety/being/creator. But each race believes that their particular race has the latest mesiah/profit and call the over-diety/being/creator by a different name based on racial languages.

 

[painandgreed]

I have various racial and regional pantheons that have gods that cover the same domains. IMC, "As above, so below" as there is a spiritual world where all the gods, paragon creatures, and much other weirdness exists. The lower, material world mimics this world to some extent. The darven and elven gods have produced dwarves and elves in the material world. Later, human gods were born and so humans came to be in the material world. This is also where things like owlbears and such weird magical creatures come from. In the spiritual world, things aren't as bound by biology and an owl and bear and have union and produce a vaible litter of owlbears that might wander into the material world and reproduce as a new species. Half-elves exist because an elven and human god got together and had a child. There are no half-dwarves because no such thing has happened in the spiritual world. While there are realativly few gods, there is nothing keeping different gods from having the same domains as there are keeping PCs from having the same classes. A pantheon might be composed of all gods dedicated to war just as an adventuring party might be composed of all fighters, but typically they vary for similar reasons.