D&D General The purpose of deity stats in D&D.

[Lanefan]

If we assume that the gods are real, and actually personifications or at least in charge of their portfolios, having multiple pantheons with duplicate gods for same roles always seemed weird to me. On my world Artra, there is only one god of death, only one god of war etc. And they may have different aspects and people may know of them by different names, and different cultures might emphasise different collections of gods, but ultimately, on the metaphysical level, there is just one pantheon.

Yep, that's about how I do it too, though sitting on top of a "forever" structure in the background that I can import into any game I run. There's 21 actual true deities, who between them have spawned and maintain a huge number of different aspects etc. to suit various cultures and-or worshipper groups; and some of those aspects bear very little resemblance to the original other than a) gender and b) alignment.

It sometimes comes as a major shock if-when a Cleric finds out that the deity they've been getting their spells from isn't really who they think it is.

 

[Lanefan]

Typically Clerics and Worshipers can be one alignment step removed from the Deity's alignment (or preferred alignment). So a Neutral deity could have clerics and worshipers of any alignment. A Neutral Good deity could have any Good, CN, N and LN alignment.

I have it that Clerics have to match the deity's alignment. Where there's a choice, i.e. a deity spans more than one alignment, the Cleric can choose within that span. Thus, if you're a Cleric to a true-N deity then you're expected to be more or less true N yourself.

Lay worshippers can be of any alignment; which kind of has to be the case in a pantheistic society where you'd pray to or invoke different deities (of different alignments) for different reasons. An ancient Greek commoner, for example, might pray to Demeter (N) for a good harvest, Aphrodite (CG) if in love, Zeus (N/NG) most of the time, and Hades (NE) if death is near; all the while living life as a LN individual.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Still find it super-weird that gods are beholden to alignment at all.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

Still find it super-weird that gods are beholden to alignment at all.

Maybe the idea is that alignment comes from gods in the first place. Makes as much sense to me as anything at all about alignment.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Still find it super-weird that gods are beholden to alignment at all.

I think it is less weird than people being beholden to it. But it is a crap idea either way.

 

[Theory of Games]

But for a lot of D&D there has been statted full gods that can be interacted with if a DM wants them to show up as more defined than a voice from a communion or miracles happening or not without a hard line between lesser divine beings with stats and unstatted gods.

Answered your own question

 

[Lanefan]

I think it is less weird than people being beholden to it. But it is a crap idea either way.

Oh, so you wanna fight that fight, do ya? Alright, then, let's go...

<throws gloves and stick to the ice and puts up the dukes>

 

[Voadam]

Typically Clerics and Worshipers can be one alignment step removed from the Deity's alignment (or preferred alignment). So a Neutral deity could have clerics and worshipers of any alignment. A Neutral Good deity could have any Good, CN, N and LN alignment.

I believe that is a 3e specific thing of a cleric needing to be within one step of a god's alignment. 1e and 2e had worshiper alignments which varied fairly widely by individual gods and 4e and 5e have no specifications that I can recall. '14 PH lists a god's alignment but the cleric entry says nothing about alignment.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I have conflicting feelings on this topic. I enjoy ending campaigns in fighting gods as much as the next person, but from a worldbuilding perspective I prefer my gods to be transcendent supreme entities that are difficult to prove even exist. In the setting I’m currently developing, the main religions believe the gods both good and evil (Aeons and Archons) are fragments of the original “Overgod” Ennoea that was killed when the world was created. I prefer the Eberron-style deities where no one, not even the angels, know if the gods actually exist. I feel this leads to more interesting religions (the Blood of Vol, Church of the Silver Flame, and Eberron’s Elven religions) and allows for the kind of religious diversity we have in the real world. But D&D’s gameplay loop is about getting stronger and fighting more powerful monsters, eventually ending with fighting monsters that are godlike in power. I can always use Archfiends, Elder Evils, Elemental Lords, and other monsters as substitutes for true deities as my campaign-ending boss fights. But saying “We killed the God of War” just feels cooler than saying “We killed Rak Tulkesh, the Demon Overlord of War.” And that preference towards the Rule of Cool is hard to reconcile with my desire for deep and interesting religions.

So for worldbuilding, I prefer gods to not have stats. But for gameplay and story, I prefer gods to have stats.

 

[James Gasik]

All one really has to do is make it impossible to assault a god under normal circumstances. Then if you want your high level party to fight a god, you can invoke those circumstances; for example, The Time of Troubles in the Forgotten Realms where the overdeity declared that the gods would temporarily be rendered vulnerable and have to prove their worth.

Alternately, the stats of a god is merely those of their avatar, and the real deal unassailable without the intercession of another god of equal or greater power, or an artifact of some kind.

I know in the AD&D game I've played in for many years, any deity or quasi-deity that is killed anywhere but their home plane cannot be permanently killed (I think this is spelled out in the rulebooks somewhere but I can't be sure without doing some digging). And of course, to assault a deity on their home base, where they can manipulate the surroundings to their will, and no doubt have a ton of Petitioners and servitors (including high level champions and powerful extraplanar beings) is virtual suicide under most circumstances anyways.

It's not like you turn around a corner in a dungeon, see Hermes, and roll initiative, after all, lol.