The New Core Pantheon

[Baby Samurai]

I think the All Star line-up will be something like:

-Asmodeus
-Bahamut
-Lolth
-Vecna
-Zeus
-Thor
-Set
-Tiamat
-Ra
-Hercules
-Ares

I wonder if they will stretch out into any Babylonian, Finnish or Chinese mythos etc?

 

[Thurbane]

Hmm, Thor, Set...sounds a little like the "defualt" pantheon at Necromancer Games...

http://www.necromancergames.com/pdf/gods_and_demons.pdf

Thyr
Muir
Freya
Arden
Orcus
Tsathogga
Hecate
Set
Hel

 

[hong]

Set! Hel! Rol ovr! God dog.

 

[Baby Samurai]

Hmm, Thor, Set...sounds a little like the "defualt" pantheon at Necromancer Games...

I have no idea; maybe it will be Magni and Ptah for all we know.

 

[Klaus]

Make up your own damn pantheon. Why should the designers do all the work for us? If you're using a pre-published setting, fine; if you aren't, make up your own gods. Exercise a bit of right brain.

It's called "shorthand" and "baseline". If they include a sun god named Pelor, who's Good and against all things undead, and later include a class like, say, Radiant Servant of Pelor, you already know where that class stands. It reduces the ammount of explaining needed and saves up page space for more important things.

As for "right brain", I use it for a living, thankyouverymuch.

 

[howandwhy99]

I'd very much like it if they put more emphasis on pantheons, as opposed to individual gods. Thus you could be a follower of the "Norse religion", for instance, instead of a worshipper of Thor specifically (which makes little sense from a historical perspective).

Or they could get rid of elaborate pantheons and have three major gods: say Protector/Nurturer/Destroyer. Or Guardian/Avenger/Betrayer. Or something. Trinities are cool.

I agree with Hong. Use the Deities & DemiGods book. Not Greyhawk Gawds.

 

[GreatLemur]

Thor: Simply because he's been mentioned. Various real world Pantheons have been used in D&D since the early days. Other "classical" gods might make their way to the Core.

This would kind of annoy the hell out of me.

 

[Jer]

Make up your own damn pantheon. Why should the designers do all the work for us? If you're using a pre-published setting, fine; if you aren't, make up your own gods. Exercise a bit of right brain.

Meh. Over the last 20+ years I've done it all - created my own pantheons, used pre-published campaign setting pantheons, told my players to "pick a god" from mythology, asked my players to collaborate in setting up a pantheon, run a campaign set in a world with only dead gods where clerics were more like mages and got their powers by tapping into the spirits of the dead gods, used the "core pantheon" from the 3e books, etc.

What I've found is that it doesn't tend to matter much in the end, other than varying the amount of work I do for a campaign. My players aren't there to critique my world building prowess - they're there to play a game. Sometimes they want deep narratives, with fully developed characters and a ton of backstory with resolutions spread out over the whole campaign. Sometimes they want to kill orcs and take their stuff. Regardless, my pantheon building efforts don't tend to contribute much to the game at all for my players (other than some unintentional hilarity when some name that I've chosen for a god turns out to sound like something funny) - they care about their characters, the narrative their characters are in, and the NPCs in the world far more than the pantheon. The only times the pantheon has mattered is when the gods are an active plot point in the storyline -- in games where the gods are a mere background element they might as well be named "Groucho, Harpo and Chico" for all the import my players put on them.

So my take is - if you like detailed worldbuilding yourself, and you want to create your own pantheon for your own sake it can be a lot of fun. If you happen to have a group that likes to do collaborative worldbuilding and they want to make up a new pantheon that can also be a lot of fun. But if you are running a game where the gods don't really matter much at all, and your players are there mainly for their own characters and aren't into worldbuilding, then the pantheon your game has doesn't make much difference. The "core pantheon" from the 3e book covers most of the bases and gives a selection of gods suitable for a game like that. And having a "core pantheon" of some sort lets those types of games get off the ground from go without the DM having to worry about what is in essence a trivial detail for his campaign.

 

[Flynn]

I think there needs to be a sample pantheon or two in the core rules, because otherwise Cleric characters will feel suddenly limited when different settings introduce gods in their games. "The core rules says I get to choose my domains, not that you get to limit my choices. Let's play with the core rules!" Optionally, they could follow 2nd Edition's approach.

However, this assumes that domains still exist in 4E.

As for content in the core pantheon, I'd prefer real-world inspired selections or generic gods of various categories (the unnamed "God of Magic") to what we've seen so far.

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[Bugaboo]

WotC has already contacted me and asked if I would serve as one of the new gawds. I'm still thinking it over.