D&D General Reducing Faerun pantheon (The Dawn War treatment)

[cbwjm]

You could go back to the original pantheon (well, not original but the arcane age version). These were their portfolios and I've included domains which I would probably use for them. Because the FR loves their world shattering events so much, you could even run a game during or after the gods fighting and merging, becoming a much smaller portfolio. You might still have a number of cults surviving as different aspects of the gods such as the churches of Gond, Oghma, and Mystra being separate branches of the new faith and having to learn to get along in the new cosmology.

• Amaunator - Bureaucracy, law, order, rulership, the sun
  • Light, Order
• Jannath - Wild nature, forests, the seas, agriculture (and farmers and gardeners), the fundamental elements, summer
  • Life, Nature
• Jergal - Death, the dead, order in death, funerals and tombs, undeath, old age, tyranny, dusk
  • Death, Grave
• Kozah - Storms, destruction, rebellion, strife, ravaging beasts and monsters, ocean storms, conflagrations, earthquakes
  • Nature, Tempest
• Moander - Rotting death, decay, corruption, parasites
  • Death
• Mystryl - magic, spells, the weave, creativity, knowledge, invention, song, time, spring
  • Arcana, Forge, Knowledge
• Selune - moon, moonlight, stars, dreams, purity, beauty, love, marraige, navigation & tracking, wanderers, diviners, good/neutral lycanthropes, autumn
  • Life
• Shar - Dark, night, hatred, loss, sleep, nightmares, illusions, lies, trickery, secrets, betrayal, seduction, thievery, murder, winter
  • Trickery
• Targus - War, skill-at-arms, duels, berserkers, plunder
  • War
• Tyche - Fortune, luck, fate, misfortune, accidents, accountability, adventurers, explorers, trade
  • Trickery

 

[opacitizen]

I had an experimental alternate timeline mini-campaign in which AO, following the Time of Troubles, took over as the one and only god, absorbing the portfolio and essence of most gods who didn't resist him seeing this as a form of ascension.

Some of them retained a kind of semi-consciousness in AO (kinda like the most favorite and memorable characters you play or a writer writes), and were known as saints from then on.

Other gods refused to join him and fled to the Depths to take rebellious, resistant and usually evil dominion over devils and demons, becoming one with those (ironically absorbing devil and demon rulers just as AO did gods.)

 

[gyor]

Hey fine people,

just as an exercise of thoughts, I'd like to reduce the number of gods of Faerun (across all pantheons) to a small number, much like 4e Dawn War pantheon. Which would you keep to create a comprehensive, yet not saturated, pantheon that could cover all races and important folios?

This defeats the point of playing in the Forgotten Realms.

Still if your going this route you can have the Adama as the only God, but with other gods as aspects of the Adama. This is already a canon religion on Faerun. You can't reduce the gods below 1, unless you make the setting Atheist.

 

[DEFCON 1]

• Amaunator - Bureaucracy, law, order, rulership, the sun
  • Light, Order
• Jannath - Wild nature, forests, the seas, agriculture (and farmers and gardeners), the fundamental elements, summer
  • Life, Nature
• Jergal - Death, the dead, order in death, funerals and tombs, undeath, old age, tyranny, dusk
  • Death, Grave
• Kozah - Storms, destruction, rebellion, strife, ravaging beasts and monsters, ocean storms, conflagrations, earthquakes
  • Nature, Tempest
• Moander - Rotting death, decay, corruption, parasites
  • Death
• Mystryl - magic, spells, the weave, creativity, knowledge, invention, song, time, spring
  • Arcana, Forge, Knowledge
• Selune - moon, moonlight, stars, dreams, purity, beauty, love, marraige, navigation & tracking, wanderers, diviners, good/neutral lycanthropes, autumn
  • Life
• Shar - Dark, night, hatred, loss, sleep, nightmares, illusions, lies, trickery, secrets, betrayal, seduction, thievery, murder, winter
  • Trickery
• Targus - War, skill-at-arms, duels, berserkers, plunder
  • War
• Tyche - Fortune, luck, fate, misfortune, accidents, accountability, adventurers, explorers, trade
  • Trickery

I had just looked through this Netherese pantheon as I had incorporated Moander into my Lost Mines game and was doing a little research on him. I thought this very condensed group would be exactly what @vincegetorix would be looking for, and I'm pleased to see you had already come upon the idea yourself.

If the idea was to use this old pantheon but wanted to keep it with a bit more modern flair... most of these deities have new names that they currently use or are exarchs of more powerful deities, so a "new" version of the Netherese pantheon could be:

Lathander (formerly Amaunator)
Chauntea (formerly Jannath)
Kelemvor (Jergal is his exarch)
Talos (formerly Kozah)
Moander (currently dead, no new persona or domain owner that I know of)
Mystra (formerly Mystryl)
Selune
Shar
Tempus (Garagos, formerly known as Targus is his exarch)
Tymora (formerly Tyche before she was split in half, Beshaba being the other half)

 

[Tallifer]

The more gods the better as in India and the ancient Middle East. A god for every city, river, mountain, race, trade, emotion and narcotic herb. But none of them powerful enough to create a world or anything. And all their worshippers claim them to be best, and everyone worships more than one god and goddess.

 

[bedir than]

The more gods the better as in India and the ancient Middle East. A god for every city, river, mountain, race, trade, emotion and narcotic herb. But none of them powerful enough to create a world or anything. And all their worshippers claim them to be best, and everyone worships more than one god and goddess.

My most recent PC is a Dwarf from the Realms. He has six gods he primarily worships.

Mystra, Dugmaren Brightmantle (the Explorer), Tarsellis Meunniduin (Elven God of Mountains), Tethrin Veraldé (Elven God of Bladesingers), Thautam (Dwarven God of Magic), Hanseath (Dwarven God of War & Carousing)

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Lathander (formerly Amaunator)
Chauntea (formerly Jannath)
Kelemvor (Jergal is his exarch)
Talos (formerly Kozah)
Moander (currently dead, no new persona or domain owner that I know of)
Mystra (formerly Mystryl)
Selune
Shar
Tempus (Garagos, formerly known as Targus is his exarch)
Tymora (formerly Tyche before she was split in half, Beshaba being the other half)

I like this.

My take would be:

Lathander: Summer, youth, sun, healing, purity
Chauntea: Wild nature, forests, the seas, agriculture (and farmers and gardeners), the fundamental elements
Corellon: Fey, talking beast, forest, art, nobility
Kelemvor: Death, funerals and tombs, undeath, old age, dusk, autumn
Talos: Storm, sea, winter, the hunt, wild beast, cataclysm
Cyric: tyranny, strife, murder, the One God, madness, betrayal, lies
Grummsh: Conquest, grudge, fertility, chaos
Ghaunadaur: Destruction, the Underdark, slime, corruption,
Moradin: earth, artifice, forge, honor, protection
Mystra: Magic stuff
Selune: moon, stars, dreams, beauty, love, navigation & tracking, wanderers
Shar: Dark, night, hatred, loss, sleep, nightmares, illusions, trickery, secrets, seduction, thievery, hags
Tempus: War, skill-at-arms, duels, berserkers, plunder
Tymora: Fortune, luck, fate, misfortune, accidents, accountability, adventurers, explorers, trade

 

[Voadam]

Didn't the transition from 3e to 4e winnow down a bunch of gods for 4e? I remember the late 3.5 era timeline book Grand History of the Realms advancing the timeline and striking down a bunch of the gods. 1e to 2e Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul were prominently murdered (all came back in one form or another) as were a bunch of others we later came to find out.

 

[jgsugden]

Cyric. Done. Because that is where it is going to end up, anyways.

I recently worked out the pantheons and powers for my next campaign. There are over 80 primary spell granting powers defined, and rules to allow anyone to create a lesser God. I've spent the last few months thinking the opposite of you - where do I need to expand to fill an open role?

 

[Demetrios1453]

Didn't the transition from 3e to 4e winnow down a bunch of gods for 4e? I remember the late 3.5 era timeline book Grand History of the Realms advancing the timeline and striking down a bunch of the gods. 1e to 2e Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul were prominently murdered (all came back in one form or another) as were a bunch of others we later came to find out.

5e basically brought them all back, including even previously dead ones who hadn't previously come back, like Bhaal and Myrkul.