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How many gods is too many gods?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7403484" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>I find deities are one aspect of world design that will, if allowed, inevitably expand to fill any available space plus 10%.</p><p></p><p>You think you've got all the deities you need, and then the party find a new culture which would logically have its own local deities; and even if these are just reskinned deities already written up elsewhere you've still got to write them up again in their reskinned form to show how they differ from the established norm.</p><p></p><p>As for how I do it overall: there's 1 prime deity (who is, in effect, the living universe) who stays in or becomes the background most of the time.</p><p></p><p>Then there's 4 deities below that, one for each paired combination of Good-Evil and Male-Female.</p><p></p><p>Below that there's 16 more deities, one for each paired combination of the 8 non-pure-Neutral alignments and Male-Female (so Female CG, Male CG, Female CN, Male CN, etc.). So, 1 + 4 + 16 = 21 deities. That's it...for the actual real deities.</p><p></p><p>Just about every other deity - and I've got lots of 'em - is in fact an aspect of one of these 21, though it's sometimes nigh-impossible to tell who is an aspect of who (and many worshippers would probably be highly offended if they ever found out!). Thus, of the 12 full deities in my Greek pantheon, going by memory one is actually in the 21 and the rest are a bunch of other deities' aspects. Zeus, for example, is an aspect of Moradin (!); who is one of the 21...one of the top 4, in fact; he's the Male Good. I don't have my notes on this stuff in front of me right now and thus I forget which of the Greeks is in the 21 - I want to say Athena or Artemis?</p><p></p><p>Immortals - i.e. those who've risen to quasi-divinity from mortality (a not-uncommon end-game career goal for PCs!) - are a different matter. These beings have divine powers in some ways but cannot support Clerics or grant spells etc. Most associate with a pantheon, some might serve a deity or even another immortal; but others are completely independent.</p><p></p><p>Lanefan</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 7403484, member: 29398"] I find deities are one aspect of world design that will, if allowed, inevitably expand to fill any available space plus 10%. You think you've got all the deities you need, and then the party find a new culture which would logically have its own local deities; and even if these are just reskinned deities already written up elsewhere you've still got to write them up again in their reskinned form to show how they differ from the established norm. As for how I do it overall: there's 1 prime deity (who is, in effect, the living universe) who stays in or becomes the background most of the time. Then there's 4 deities below that, one for each paired combination of Good-Evil and Male-Female. Below that there's 16 more deities, one for each paired combination of the 8 non-pure-Neutral alignments and Male-Female (so Female CG, Male CG, Female CN, Male CN, etc.). So, 1 + 4 + 16 = 21 deities. That's it...for the actual real deities. Just about every other deity - and I've got lots of 'em - is in fact an aspect of one of these 21, though it's sometimes nigh-impossible to tell who is an aspect of who (and many worshippers would probably be highly offended if they ever found out!). Thus, of the 12 full deities in my Greek pantheon, going by memory one is actually in the 21 and the rest are a bunch of other deities' aspects. Zeus, for example, is an aspect of Moradin (!); who is one of the 21...one of the top 4, in fact; he's the Male Good. I don't have my notes on this stuff in front of me right now and thus I forget which of the Greeks is in the 21 - I want to say Athena or Artemis? Immortals - i.e. those who've risen to quasi-divinity from mortality (a not-uncommon end-game career goal for PCs!) - are a different matter. These beings have divine powers in some ways but cannot support Clerics or grant spells etc. Most associate with a pantheon, some might serve a deity or even another immortal; but others are completely independent. Lanefan [/QUOTE]
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