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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aldarc" data-source="post: 9405486" data-attributes="member: 5142">I typically prefer a more Eberron-like approach to religions in my TTRPGs. (Also, I'd give a shout out to religions in Iron Kingdoms.)A lot of religion in Eberron is based around the worldviews of people who live in the world in relation to the realities and mysteries of the world. For example, three different elven religions are rooted in fearing both death and losing their ancestors in Dolurrh, particularly after losing their "Moses" figure: i.e., positive-energy necromancy, negative-energy necromancy, and embodying the ancestral spirit. There is a similar worldview about death that then bleeds over among (mostly) non-elves to become the Blood of Vol, though it also diverges from necromantic beliefs of the elves. Then we have the ethno-religious worldview of the kalashtar represented in the Path of Light. There is the Church of the Silver Flame and its theology formed around an actual spirit(s) that exists within a Silver Flame that manifests on Khorvaire. So when you look at Eberron, it's not just about picking from a pantheon of deities; instead, it's about picking your worldview.I don't use the same religious set-up in all of my settings that I have run or created for D&D or otherwise. However, I do have a lot of common tropes that I often find myself remixing and reusing:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">animistic religions dealing with the reality of spirits, whether in this world or in a spirit world</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">a humanistic ethical/legalistic religion, which often ends up something like a sort of hybrid of various influences: Islam/Judaism/Confucianism/Qun (Dragon Age)/Khala (Starcraft Protoss). So there are not so much priests as there are legal scholars, ethical philosophers, and teachers concerned with a harmonious society, governance, as well as good/proper living.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">a nature-oriented belief system (life/death/rebirth): sometimes includes a Green vs. the Dark or Fey Lords</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">dead gods whose spirits inhabit the earth in geographically-bound locations and seal ancient evils within</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">astrological gods embodied in constellations who reveal the will of the heavens through the stars</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">a Trimurti-like set of draconic deities (i.e., creator, preserver, destroyer)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">cults of ascended heroes/immortals: lit. hero-worship cults</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">veneration of an angelic host, which is sometimes accompanied by a belief in a cast out an Adversary (and their minions) who sought supreme power over the entire host</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">an iconoclastic mystery cult that believes in a single engimatic deity who created existence with a single word. They venerate the power of words, language, writing, runes, and symbols but prohibit images of their deity.</li> </ul>Overall, I like showcasing a diversity of religions, cultures, differing worldviews, and syncretistic beliefs in my settings. You may have a land or nation where a people may commonly believe in one or more views above at the same time.</blockquote>

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