D&D General Requesting Advice on FR Pantheon

[Theory of Games]

You're thinking of the Greyhawk setting. The Faerunian god of the sun is Amaunator.

The link is literally from the FR site. Sometimes the supernatural beings "travel", like how Asmodeus is in Greyhawk, the Realms and Golarion.

 

[dave2008]

I am starting an FR game (2014 5e) soon, and I would like to give the Piety subsystem from Mythic Odysseys of Theros a try. For those unaware, Theros offers players a detailed breakdown of 15 gods, with associated benefits depending on how much the player furthers their patron god’s agenda. My intention is to do the same for the FR pantheon, in a campaign that makes heavy use of all matters divine.

My players are enthusiastic about a divine-driven campaign, but are mostly unfamiliar with FR lore. I would like them to come in with a passing idea of who the main players in the pantheon are. Therefore, I will prepare a handout that somewhat mimics the player-facing section on the gods in Mythic Odysseys of Theros. The idea is that each player will pick a god as a patron, and that will shape the campaign ahead. As I create this handout, I would kindly request some advice from other DMs and players on two topics:

Roster

FR has dozens upon dozens of gods. I would like to present a number that can be reasonably read or skimmed by players interested (20 at maximum). The rest will be available should players like them, they just won't be explicitly detailed. In this list of "Core" gods, I would like to (a) include the best-known deities of the setting, (b) cover a good range of portfolios, and (c) include the “main” deities of each playable race in the 2014 PHB.

I'm thinking that the best way to deal with racial deities is probably to lean onto 4e’s idea that some gods in the Faerûnian pantheon go by a different name for other races. 4e explicitly called out that Chauntea is Yondalla, Selûne is Sehanine, Talos is Gruumsh, etc. Corellon and Lathander could also probably be one and the same.

My questions to anyone who has played or DM-ed in FR are: have you ever prepared/received a similar “core” roster of the deities? If so, which gods made it? Did it include evil gods? Are there any portfolios/domains that you felt were missing that I should make sure to include? What gods are so intrinsic to either your D&D experience or your love for the FR setting that they should be included no matter what? Any and all advice is welcome.

Presentation

The player-facing section on gods from Theros includes all sorts of bits for each god: a description, presentation, influence, goals, divine allies and enemies, as well as typical worshippers. It adds suggested classes, races, backgrounds, a random table for that god’s ideals reflected by the PC, and a random table of how that god called the PC.

To anyone who has either issued handouts on gods or received them, is there anything that is missing, or that is perhaps overkill? If you were a player, what do you like to see, when you are reading through a pantheon to select a deity that will have considerable impact on the game? Are things like holidays, texts and rites (found in other 5e products describing religions) useful to create an evocative idea, or just too much? Experiences from those who have played any game heavily featuring gods (e.g. Pathfinder) are also very welcome.

I whole heartedly agree with giving the piety system a try. I am not very familiar with the FR pantheon, but here is the piety systems I developed for my Tiamat project. I did it a little different from the ones on Theros and gave Champions of Tiamat different paths to her boons. Anyway, here is my draft:

 

[cbwjm]

The link is literally from the FR site. Sometimes the supernatural beings "travel", like how Asmodeus is in Greyhawk, the Realms and Golarion.

That's a fandom site, not an official FR site. the link even places him in Oerth not the forgotten realms. He's never been a part of the FR.

 

[plecostomus]

If your players have also played BG3 they might enjoy references to the prominent gods in the game. Alternately, if you want to make the gods your own and you don't want preconceptions, maybe these are some to avoid:

1. Dead Three (Bane/Baal/Myrkul) - the villains
2. Mystra - featured in Gale's sidequest, physically appears in-game
3. Shar / Selune - featured in Shadowheart's sidequest, Shar physically appears in-game, Selune has a daughter who appears in-game
4. Ilmater - has a sidequest and temple
5. Umberlee - has a sidequest and temple
6. Lathander - has a sidequest and dungeon (set in a temple)
7. Loviatar - has a devotee who um, explains Loviatar's role
8. Kelemvor - has a devotee who explains Kelemvor's role and guards a graveyard
9. Jergal - plays a prominent role in the game, but in his case it makes more of an argument for not including him since his character is very defined

Lolth and Gond have some factions associated with them. Maglubiyet has a single angry worshipper. Other gods get mentioned in text or by NPC dialogues. You can also look at the BG3 deities list to see which ones are selectable by player clerics if you're curious how they handled it. Notable on this list is Vlaakith, who is not actually a god.

The 3P supplement Dragonlance Companion has a similar piety system to what you've described, with divine items players can "power up" by gaining piety, and a list of actions which gain/lose piety for each god. Most Dragonlance gods can be easily exported to one FR god or another.

 

[James Gasik]

You're thinking of the Greyhawk setting. The Faerunian god of the sun is Amaunator.

Lathander, I say!