D&D General The Role and Purpose of Evil Gods

Pain and oppression are just descriptives for his death domain. If there were pain and oppression domains, he'd have those two. There aren't, so he gets death to be described as Pain and Oppression. He uses that domain to hurt and oppress others.
But Iuz is not god of death. Just as there are not so friggin many gods and goddesses of light.

Domain are nothing but a mechanical expression for the cleric class and there are only a very limited number of them. There are hundreds of porfolios.
 

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But Iuz is not god of death. Just as there are not so friggin many gods and goddesses of light.
He doesn't have to be god of death. He gets the death domain and gets his portfiolio description from it. Torturing others to death, oppressing others through killing, etc. They are tied together.

Ideally, there would be pain and oppression domains as well, but since there aren't death was the closest and we have to make it fit as best we can. Still, it's pretty clear that in 5e domain and portfolio are tied together.
Domain are nothing but a mechanical expression for the cleric class and there are only a very limited number of them. There are hundreds of porfolios.
If you look at the PHB, portfolio is mentioned all of three times. All three in the section that equates it with domain. If you look in Appendix B, there are no portfolios listed. In the DMG it does talk about it in respect to what they are god of. In 5e, though, those portfolios are also tied to domain like I described above.

Edit: This is also said in the DMG on page 287

"Similarly, different cleric domains might reflect entirely separate religions associated with different races or cultures."

So here we have domains equating to religions, which means that they are far more than just clerical abilities. They are also portfolios, religions, and more that Acolytes will need to know in order to worship and follow their god properly.
 
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If you look in Appendix B, there are no portfolios listed.
There are, directly after the deities name. Auril is goddess of winter, etc.

Nature and tempest are just the best fitting domains out of the only 8 available at the time of the PHB.

The PHB also says:

As a result, there’s a great deal of overlap in their portfolios: Pelor is the Flan god of the sun and Pholtus is the Oeridian sun god, for example.

Yet neither of them has a sun domain, which doesn't exist (at least not back then, I am not up to date of every new cleric domains since then)

The SCAG also uses the term in the classical way and merely states that some domains map to some portfolios
 

There are, directly after the deities name. Auril is goddess of winter, etc.

Nature and tempest are just the best fitting domains out of the only 8 available at the time of the PHB.

The PHB also says:

As a result, there’s a great deal of overlap in their portfolios: Pelor is the Flan god of the sun and Pholtus is the Oeridian sun god, for example.

Yet neither of them has a sun domain, which doesn't exist (at least not back then, I am not up to date of every new cleric domains since then)
Right. There aren't enough domains to match up perfectly, so we have to imagine how the existing domains, which are also portfolios per RAW, can be explained. I did so for Iuz above.

Pelor gets light, which equates to Sun(gives off light) and he also has Life, which equates to his portfolio of healing. They match up better than Iuz did and Iuz still matched up pretty well. Pholtus is light and law and there is no domain for law, but they added in Order after the PHB which should be added to him. His domain(s) also match up well as his portfolio.

They really ought to add in a lot more domains.
 

This is also said in the DMG on page 287

"Similarly, different cleric domains might reflect entirely separate religions associated with different races or cultures."

So here we have domains equating to religions, which means that they are far more than just clerical abilities. They are also portfolios, religions, and more that Acolytes will need to know in order to worship and follow their god properly.
I'm mostly skipping this tangent, because I think @Chaosmancer, @Voadam and @Mirtek are so obviously correct.

But I felt unable to hold back here.

Different cleric domains might reflect entirely separate religions does not equate domains to religions. First, the word used is might. That is a weak modal verb. It is consistent with does not. Second, nothing is said in the opposite direction - eg maybe there can be entirely separate religions associated with a god even in the absence of multiple domains - eg Aphrodite as per @Chaosmancer's post upthread.

All this stuff about gods, portfolios, which domains go with which gods, etc is the most optional of campaign-design advice.

If I decide that rogues can sneak attack with a halberd (say because I want to emulate Moldvay Basic, where thieves could use and backstab with any weapon), that is a house rule. If I and/or my GM decide that my cleric of Frey or Freya uses the Nature domain - because they are fertility gods after all - that's not a house rule, it's just a decision about how to mechanically represent those gods in our particular campaign.
 

I'm mostly skipping this tangent, because I think @Chaosmancer, @Voadam and @Mirtek are so obviously correct.

But I felt unable to hold back here.

Different cleric domains might reflect entirely separate religions does not equate domains to religions. First, the word used is might. That is a weak modal verb. It is consistent with does not. Second, nothing is said in the opposite direction - eg maybe there can be entirely separate religions associated with a god even in the absence of multiple domains - eg Aphrodite as per @Chaosmancer's post upthread.

All this stuff about gods, portfolios, which domains go with which gods, etc is the most optional of campaign-design advice.

If I decide that rogues can sneak attack with a halberd (say because I want to emulate Moldvay Basic, where thieves could use and backstab with any weapon), that is a house rule. If I and/or my GM decide that my cleric of Frey or Freya uses the Nature domain - because they are fertility gods after all - that's not a house rule, it's just a decision about how to mechanically represent those gods in our particular campaign.
None of which counters that Domain = Portfolio per 5e RAW.
 

Not by RAW. By RAW they are the deity's portfolio as well, and therefore RP for everyone who follows a god, cleric, acolyte or other.

Go to pages 58 and 59 in the PLayer's handbook. Tell me what Cleric Subclasses are called. Then try and tell me again what RAW says a Domain is.

You can't win when you try to refute what is clearly written by arguing that the designers are wrong with what they said.

No, I can't win when you are gleefully chortling that you "got me" and then ignoring anything that even hints that you are wrong. Making this about "winning" doesn't help either.

If you needed different domains to make different sects, then most gods would have most domains. They don't. Because Domains =/= sects. Domains are cleric subclasses. Yes, you can tie a sect to a domain, shockingly you may find that if you read about Apollo, the GOD OF THE SUN and learn that he INVENTED MEDICINE that he is associated with healing (life domain says hi) and Light (there is something called the light domain).

There was also Apollo Alexicacus, representing his role as a leader (he takes over Olympus in one mythology). That would put him in charge of civilization, that's the Order domain right? Huh, he doesn't get that.

Well,he is one of the most famous archers as Apollo Argyrotoxus, so for hunting or using a bow in war he would have War or Nature right? Oh, wait, he doesn't get that domain either.

Oh, but of course he is literally most famous for prophecy and oracles, that's why he was the patron of The Oracle at Delphi, as Apollo Manticus. That's a shoe in for the Knowledge domain, and hey, that ties into his creating the knowledge of medicine and his invention of muscial instruments. Oh wait, he doesn't get that domain either.

Death domain for his role as a speader of disease towards those he acted against? Nope. Twilight domain for his role as a protector (that's why Helm gets Twilight)? Nope.

So, we've got a sliver of what he was ACTUALLY known for, ignoring some of his most famous depictions. Sects for all of these would obviously exist. And yet, no domains. And I can keep doing this with god after god after god. Domains =/= sects. If we were limited only to the domains that are given, we'd have such a smaller and less diverse set of religions for these beings.

Not that it matters to you, you only care about "being right" by ignoring anything that challenges your preconceived notions.
 

Go to pages 58 and 59 in the PLayer's handbook. Tell me what Cleric Subclasses are called. Then try and tell me again what RAW says a Domain is.
From page 59.

"All the domains over which a deity has influence are called the deity's portfolio."
If you needed different domains to make different sects, then most gods would have most domains.
Bad logic is bad. I didn't say you need that. I said the game calls it out in the DMG. You also know that I explicitly said in response to you that there can be different sects in the same domain. Remember the Tempus example?

It's almost as if you deliberately try to ignore what I say. I wonder why you do that. :unsure:
There was also Apollo Alexicacus, representing his role as a leader (he takes over Olympus in one mythology). That would put him in charge of civilization, that's the Order domain right? Huh, he doesn't get that.
You mean he doesn't have a domain that doesn't exist in the PHB, which is where Apollo is? Shocker!

I'm cutting out the rest of the gymnastics. What domains he might or might not have due to real life is just a big ole Red Herring. The Apollo from the game is loosely based on the real Greek myth. He has what they give him and nothing more.
 


The RP tool are the portfolios of the deity which are listed right after her name.
Actually those description after the name are not termed portfolios in the 5e PH.

Check out page 293 "The gods of Greyhawk come from at least four different pantheons, representing the faiths of the various ethnic groups that populated the continent of Oerik over the ages. As a result, there's a great deal of overlap in their portfolios: Pelor is the Flan god of the sun and Pholtus is the Oeridian sun god, for example."

Using the page 59 description of portfolios are the domains, Pelor's portfolio is the Life and Light domain while Pholtus's portfolio is the Light domain, showing a great deal of overlap in their portfolios. Their descriptions as gods are actually not as overlapping, "Pelor, god of the sun and healing" and "Pholtus, god of light and law"
It's important for RP that Iuz is the god of pain and oppression and is CE. That he grants the death domain is superfluous for any character that does not get domains as a mechanical tool.

It adds nothing that "CE god of oain and oppression" doesn't already tell you
I agree here.

There is no need for Iuz's pain and oppression to be changed to be narratively pain aspected death and oppression in 5e simply because he has the suggested death domain for his clerics.
 

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