D&D General The Generic Deities of D&D

[Hoffmand]

I’m cool with what anyone wants to homebrew. I prefer it better than corporate creates. But I don’t want realism in my fantasy religions or games. I don’t want a realistic church hierarchy that has all
The internal politics and theological discussions of blah blah blah. I just want a cool concept and premise to plan with. And i personally don’t want complex moral realism. That being said. Go for it if that is your thing. Have a ball with it.

 

[dave2008]

Bit of random lore I learned about the Arachne myth?

The main source we have for that myth comes from a writer who had a real hatred for authority figures (like the politicians who kicked him out of cities and such), and when looking at their collected works, they always tried to make the gods seem unreasonable and cruel while the mortals were repressed geniuses who were always unjustly punished.

Which is why the Arachne myth is so out of character for Athena.

Yes, you see a lot of those types of myths (the ones that paint the gods in a poor light) as being deemed borderline heretical by some.

 

[DammitVictor]

I am incredibly frustrated by the way D&D mistreats polytheistic religion... and I have a very strong preference for those few settings in which it doesn't: primarily Dark Sun and The Known World, and Eberron.

If I were to offer any advice for someone trying to design the religions in their setting, it would be to treat divine magic, deities, and religions as three completely separate entities and then design the relationship between them deliberately and from scratch.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I am incredibly frustrated by the way D&D mistreats polytheistic religion... and I have a very strong preference for those few settings in which it doesn't: primarily Dark Sun and The Known World, and Eberron.

If I were to offer any advice for someone trying to design the religions in their setting, it would be to treat divine magic, deities, and religions as three completely separate entities and then design the relationship between them deliberately and from scratch.

What would be the goal of designing the deity and there religion separately?

 

[Parmandur]

4e interestingly changed most of this with its core pantheon. Tiamat wasn't just a dragon goddess, she was the goddess of avarice and revenge. So much so that some didn't believe she or Bahamut were actually dragons. It also introduced new deities like Torog and Erathis. So, humans, elves, dwarves, etc. could all worship a version of the same pantheon.

EDIT: And it was insinuated that Moradin was the head of the pantheon.

My takeaway was that Bahumat or Pelor were more in the leader role, bit my 4E experience was limited to the very beginning of the Edition.

It's been very cool reading the latest book, which brings back the Dawn War and that Pantheon in a big way.

 

[Minigiant]

What would be the goal of designing the deity and there religion separately?

The deity and the relationship between it, other deities, and mortals are two very different things.
D&D mixes different pantheons together that have vastly different relationships in the source inspiration but treated the same in game.

 

[Garthanos]

My takeaway was that Bahumat or Pelor were more in the leader role, bit my 4E experience was limited to the very beginning of the Edition.

I agree that was my take as well.

 

[Parmandur]

I agree that was my take as well.

My other takeaway was that the coherent metaphysics underpinning the 4E approach (thank you, James Wyatt) meant that the good gods were by nature collaborative team players, and sliding down the alignment scale represented less of an ability to be mature in dealing with the other gods: so Bahumat, Pelor and Moradin in that Pantheon probably cooperate and aren't major jerks. A little un-Mythical, but sensible.

This also shows on the new book, where the Good and Neutral gods form a cooperative Pantheon, while the Evil "Betrayer Gods" are jerks who can't organize a trip to the beach between themselves.

 

[Minigiant]

My takeaway was that Bahumat or Pelor were more in the leader role, bit my 4E experience was limited to the very beginning of the Edition.

It's been very cool reading the latest book, which brings back the Dawn War and that Pantheon in a big way.

I agree that was my take as well.

I always saw it as changing leadership. Basically the leader is whoever isn't currently distracted fighting their "sworn enemy"

Corellon has 2 enemies so he's constantly distracted. But he leads when he's free. Same with Bahumat and Moradin. Pelor is usually in charge he doesn't get distracted because the Burning Hate is always upset.

But it's not like a Classical European pantheon. They are a team and pick a leader at a given time based on who shows up as long as they aren't Evil. I think that's how they win the Dawn War. One time they all showed up and wrecked the bickering Primordials when the demons are busy CEing themselves.

 

[Garthanos]

I always saw it as changing leadership. Basically the leader is whoever isn't currently distracted fighting their "sworn enemy"

Corellon has 2 enemies so he's constantly distracted. But he leads when he's free. Same with Bahumat and Moradin. Pelor is usually in charge he doesn't get distracted because the Burning Hate is always upset.

But it's not like a Classical European pantheon. They are a team and pick a leader at a given time based on who shows up as long as they aren't Evil. I think that's how they win the Dawn War. One time they all showed up and wrecked the bickering Primordials when the demons are busy CEing themselves.

Interesting.