New Design and Development: Pantheon

[Irda Ranger]

Heck, I've had the Monk of Ilmater in the group agree with me more often than not.

You allow an Ilmaterite to travel with you? Fzoul is coming here, and he is most displeased with your apparent lack of zeal.

P.S. - "Darth Hitler" Awesome.

 

[Kesh]

No we are not. And you can pin the blame on those damn preview books they want to sell. I bet that until those come out we aren't going to see anything about mechanics.

That's funny, considering that it has been stated the preview books will contain no mechanics.

 

[Zamkaizer]

That's funny, considering that it has been stated the preview books will contain no mechanics.

Perhaps we'll start seeing Design & Development articles online that discuss mechanics after the preview books come out. Did I just blow your mind?

 

[Rechan]

Gods with no alignment, just conflicting value systems?

I would eat that with a frickin' spoon.

I just don't really ever see it happening.

Even in Eberron, the "Shades of Grey" setting, you got "This is a good god" and "This is a bad god".

My dream pantheon is basically something that looks like Hinduism; Three Gods, their wives and avatars, and sects devoted to each, and everyone arguing that the specific avatar of their specific God is the that rules over all the other gods and avatars. Naturally you're going to have different interpretations, and churches devoted to different aspects of the Diety. The Sustainer of Life god will, naturally, have undead because their life is sustained - which usually angers the Destroyer, who is all about snuffing things out.

 

[ruleslawyer]

I'm not an FR person, so bear with me, but what's so cool about Bane?

He has good flavor text. (Any evil god depicted "as a looming, brooding black hand ready to crush the world in its palm, as an empty black throne, or as a shadowy, vaguely human-shaped figure garbed in garments of black streaked with red sitting on a throne of skulls" gets the bad@$$ vote in my book.) Plus, in the FR at least, he backs a number of "legitimate" rulers and powerful societies, so his temporal reach is quite vast (contrast with, say, Hextor in Greyhawk). Lastly, the schism between Bane's Orthodox and Transformed churches gives you a more evil-flavored version of the inquisitions and religious wars of Europe's Middle Ages/Renaissance/Reformation period.

 

[Loincloth of Armour]

Even in Eberron, the "Shades of Grey" setting, you got "This is a good god" and "This is a bad god".

True, but it is a bit more flexible in Eberron than other settings. Because good people can worship elements of evil gods and evil people can worship elements of good gods.

"I'm a person who feels the pain of the injured, the downtrodden, the weak! I give thanks to The Fury for the passion of my feelings!" (ie: A CG person worshiping a NE goddess.)

"I'm a person who believes in my community and the links we have forged together. I will also messily and horrifically murder anyone who even speaks out against those I consider my friends. It's Us against Them. I worship Boldrei, goddess of the community." (A LE person worshiping a NG goddess.)


The best way to bring such things into the game world is for non-interventionist deities like in Eberron. I really like that about the setting. Moral ambiguity in the religions.

But if you must have walking-the-world deities, you can add colour to their religions by making the deities somewhat... vague... in their explanations of doctrine.

Cleric: I cast Commune. My deity, is doing X a sin in your eyes?

Voice From Beyond: No.

Cleric: Is doing Y a sin in your eyes?

Voice From Beyond: No.

Cleric: But this can't be! X and Y are in direct conflict with each other!

Voice From Beyond: It makes sense to me. Figure it out for yourself, mortal.

 

[StarFyre]

powers

are the gods going to give unique powers to their worshippers?

it be awesome if clerics, paladins got very unique sstuff from each god. but even other followers, mages, warriors, etc could even get some powers from them every few levels or constantly from the start.

Sanjay

 

[Li Shenron]

Well, the defining mark of Hextor is that he's the evil brother of Heironeous. Sure, he's the god of evil and tyranny and related bad stuff, but there's plenty of those gods to choose from. So if you remove Heironeous, there's no longer any reason to choose Hextor over anyone else.

Why not going that Hextor has finally killed Heironeous and took his stuff?

 

[(contact)]

I will personally beat them to within an inch of -10 HP.

Since 3e, that's been five feet.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Remember, the gods aren't required to give mortal-useful answers to commune:

The entities contacted structure their answers to further their own purposes.

Someone with a brain the size of a moon, metaphysically speaking, can surely find a way to give an answer that doesn't give followers a literal guide to life, since free will is presumably worth something to many gods, especially the non-lawful ones.