I got Faiths & Pantheons!

[darkdancer]

Paladin,

I just wanted to thank you for posting the stuff about the sword dancer. I plan to buy F&P as soon as it makes its way over the ocean to Japan (should be about December), but this at least allows me to steer my present character in the right direction!

 

[Pseudonym]

I picked up Faiths and Pantheons yesterday, and so far I'm happy with my purchase, though I am annoyed that a good chunk of each major deity's entry is a verbatim reprint of the write up in the 2nd Edition Faiths and Avatars. A minor annoyance at best, as I can understand that this book was meant as a stand alone supplement for those without any prior exposure to the FR deities.

The artwork is good, though some of the deity depictions are a bit off from my preconceptions. On the whole I have no complaints in that regard.

The prestige classes seem okay so far, nothing too unbalancing. One thing seems a little off, though. One of the requirements for the Heartwarder PRC is Spell Focus (Enchantment), yet at 4th level they gain Spell Focus (Enchantment), but only when applied to spells with verbal components. Does that stack?

 

[daTim]

Anything you can post on Illmater would be great, also does he have his own prestige class? I didnt see the painbearers but just wanted to make sure... my comic shop doesnt get it for another week :/

 

[Zaukrie]

I looked at this in the store, but it didn't appear to be nearly as good as the 2-3 books in 2E that described the gods of FR and their followers. The flavor and descriptions of their followers and whatnot did not appear all that good. A book on Gods should have lots of information on how the churches/followers influence the world.

Also, for those that have this and the last 2 years of Dragon magazine, how many prestige classes are re-prints from Dragon? It looked like several were.

I guess I'm having a hard time seeing why I should buy this if I already have the 2E books and the prestige classes from Dragon.

 

[Zaukrie]

Oh yeah, one more question. Are Orcus and the other demons Gods in this book, or demons that are worshipped? If I read Monte's description of "Book of Vile Darkness" correctly, it will have rules on Demon/Devil worship, and explains how demons and devils are different than Gods.

 

[Nightfall]

The only ones I saw were for Orcus and Baphomet. I didn't see any other familiar names in the Monster Section other than those that are already gods in their own right.

I do know tBoVD WILL deal with Demon/Devil Cults and worship. Again I don't know HOW that will done but I imagine it will be pretty good considering the source. Still have to wait and see.

 

[Acmite]

Weird

Bane DR 17
Chauntea DR 19
Cyric DR 17
Lathander DR 17
Mystra DR 18
Shar DR 18
Silvanus DR 18
Tempus DR 17
Tyr DR 18

Now I'm not a big FR-Fanboy, but it strikes me as kinda strange that Chauntea is the most powerful force save Ao.

Is there any explanation given for this? I would have figured Mystra, Lathander, Tempus, Tyr, et al would have been on par with Chauntea, specially since power in the Realms is based on the number of worshippers. I have yet to read any canonical FR material that suggests Chauntea is the most worshipped deity.

 

[Staffan]

Re: Weird

Now I'm not a big FR-Fanboy, but it strikes me as kinda strange that Chauntea is the most powerful force save Ao.

Is there any explanation given for this? I would have figured Mystra, Lathander, Tempus, Tyr, et al would have been on par with Chauntea, specially since power in the Realms is based on the number of worshippers. I have yet to read any canonical FR material that suggests Chauntea is the most worshipped deity.

Chauntea is the godess of agriculture, e.g. farming. That gives her a bloody *huge* worshipper base.

Then again, I think the whole worshippers = power thing is a pretty bad idea anyway. I did like it the way it worked in The Primal Order, where worshippers were one of many different power sources for a god, but generally not the primary one.

 

[Pseudonym]

Re: Weird

I have yet to read any canonical FR material that suggests Chauntea is the most worshipped deity.

I'd say she easily is the most venerated, though not in the elaborate temples and pagentry sense. The common man in an agrarian society would devote the bulk of his venerations to Chauntea, be it working in the field, or saying a small prayer of thanks before each meal. Though not much of an adventurer's deity, the vast majority of the populace at least pays her some small measure of veneration.

 

[Godofredo]

Paladin, please give me class and levels of Helm, Torm and Tempus (stats if you can too, str, dex ..)

Thanks

Godo