Picking a deity for a non-cleric PC

[Remathilis]

Ok, this is a poll. When you've created a new PC, what (if anything) do you write down in the "deity/religion" section of the char sheet? How do you go about picking deities for non-clerics (clerics get messier in deity picking, so we'll exclude them).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

That decision is purely based on PC concept.

 

[Luthien Greyspear]

It's a toss-up between "based on race or class" and "based on cultural background". In general, I go with a deity that matches my race and class (together; for instance, if I'm playing a Dwarven warrior-type, I'll go with Clangeddin specifically, rather than Moradin as the overall dwarven god). On the other hand, one of my all-time favorite characters (my sig, in fact) worshipped a god that was specifically opposed to his class. He's a necromancer, and his deity is a protector of the dead that is opposed to necromancy in general. (Clerical spells are cool, but that atheistic arcane magic is a religious no-no.)

The character was conflicted for much of his adventuring career, until he entered into a romance with a priestess of his god that convinced him that he could use his knowledge of the undead to help destroy them. There was a lot of fun role-playing both before and after that union, and he's still my defining character for a lot of my friends.

 

[Starglim]

Multiple choices would have been good. I consider the character's alignment, class and race (as a whole, but more or less in that order) and then pick a deity as a further point of definition or difference for the character.

For example, my CG ranger worships Sylvanus in order to make him clearly different from a ranger of Mielikki, since he is much more about supporting the common people and the purity of nature despite its dangers and often cruel indifference, rather than regarding nature as a benevolent or easy protector. My NG dwarven fighter 1/wizard 5 follows Kord in order to represent his background as a wandering sword-crafter for hire who is more at home with human warrior bands and mercenaries than with his own people.

I wrote up a half-elf character who needed at least three deities of very different nature and alignment to describe his attitudes and beliefs. edit: Sorry, four: Torm, Tymora, Mystra and Mask.

I would usually pick a deity for a non-cleric, depending on the character and setting - I don't think atheists are very realistic in most mediaevally-based settings, though they fit well in Planescape - but would consider most non-clerics, even divine casters, as more than a little polytheistic. The ranger would advocate and practice honouring Tymora to gain favour for adventuring pursuits. I like the precedent of Sparhawk and his order as paladins who are explicitly both knights of the Church and followers of the old religion to gain helpful magical powers (sorry, the specific names escape me).

 

[Timeron Malachi]

For me, the choice of religion depends on the character: Sometimes, it's a lip-service sort of thing, "I'm a merc, so I worship the god of strength."

Other times, it's a big part of their character. I don't like playing clerics, but I like playing paladins and religious fighters. I've got a goliath character that worships nature, the sun specifically, and adventures with a cleric of Lathandar. My goliath recently converted from sun-worship to Lathandar worship, but it wasn't a big leap for him, either.

I've had fighters who are knights for the church, or just men of faith who aren't quite cut out to be paladins.

I played a half-dragon named Rurik who worshiped Garagauth, the chaotic evil god of slaughter...he was a real people person...

 

[Fedaric_the_Axe]

Race. Then class. Rarely alignment.

 

[EdL]

I don't often bother. But when I do I look at class first, then alignment, and finally race.

 

[Aeric]

I usually don't pick one single god to venerate to the exclusion of the others. If I did, what would be the point of having a pantheon in the first place? I pray to whichever god can help me the most at the given moment. If I'm on a storm-tossed ship at sea, praying to the god of agriculture ain't gonna do me much good. Big battle on the morrow? Give a shout out to Crom. Unlucky in love? Sacrifice a few dozen roses to Aphrodite. That's the beauty of pantheism: specialization. Specific gods for specific needs.

 

[WayneLigon]

I try to match alignment because, well, nothing else make much sense. If I'm Good, I'm certainly not worshipping an Evil diety just because the party, my culture, or whatever does.

If there's a broad choice of deities that match my alignment, I try to find something that matches culture. Usually station in life, or profession.

I will always try to pick a diety, and do things related to that diety (make the appropriate sacrifices at the appopriate times, try to abide by whatever restrictions they have, etc)

 

[arscott]

Two things inform my choice of patron diety: culture and temprement

Culture basically defines the pantheon. If I'm a viking, I won't be worshipping Quetzelcoatl, and If I'm an Aztec, I won't venerate Odin. Depending on the campaign world, this might be connected to race, but I won't be drawn to a "god of elves" that exists within the framework of an otherwise human pantheon. I'm more likely to pick a god of music, or god of agriculture, from a seperate elvish pantheon.

Second is temprament. I'll pick a god (from the pantheon selected in the previous step) based on who my character actually is. Sometimes this is alignment, sometimes this is class, but sometimes it's neither one. My Neutral-Good Ranger might worship a Chaotic-Neutral trickster god because of the trickery element.

Occasionally, this might even go significantly against alignment type. A neutral-good merchant might worship a lawful-evil god of wealth and death. But only if alignment plays a relatively minor role in terms of difining the god or the structure of the pantheon, and/or how much alignment matters in the day-to-day life of the character.