D&D 5E Trying to pick a FR deity for a character concept
Scrivener of Doom
Adventurer
Shaundakul, the Rider of the Winds, might also be an interesting alternative. He's very similar to Fharlanghn (sp?).
Plaguescarred
D&D Playtester for WoTC since 2012
What about Clangeddin Silverbeard, dwarven diety of battle and honour in warfare?
Argyle King
Legend
Thanks for sharing. I can, in many ways, see that fitting my concept pretty well.
edit: The only conflict I see is one of law/chaos. Though, in some respects, I suppose -despite the somewhat rigid personal code I see the character having- he might be able to fit into a chaotic alignment; chaotic in the sense that where he employs his sword is often in flux. I'm not sure if that makes sense though; unfortunately, I seem to have a tendency to make characters who are hard to define within D&D style alignment. Maybe he was a follower of Torm and is having a crisis of faith; still having access to clerical abilities due to a combination of lingering power given to him by Torm and a spark generated by starting to pay reverence to a new deity.
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Li Shenron
Legend
IMHO the FR deity closest to Kord is Uthgar. It does come with some baggage relationship with barbarian tribes, and that might get in the way of your PC concept.
But, if you don't find a deity that exactly matches your character concept, just remember that each character has its own traits, even if it's a Cleric, it doesn't have to be 100% identical with his deity description. You can choose a deity that doesn't have any dogma conflicting with your concept, and add the rest. Even if that means that your PC's main trait (e.g. battle) has to be part of that "rest".
But, if you don't find a deity that exactly matches your character concept, just remember that each character has its own traits, even if it's a Cleric, it doesn't have to be 100% identical with his deity description. You can choose a deity that doesn't have any dogma conflicting with your concept, and add the rest. Even if that means that your PC's main trait (e.g. battle) has to be part of that "rest".
Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
95% of Faerun is agnostic, which is why the gods are always running around, blowing things up, and otherwise trying to attract attention to themselves. You have to go to pretty extreme measures when most of the population's response is "meh".
Scrivener of Doom
Adventurer
According to Ed, 99.999999999% of Faerûn firmly believes in the deities and pays homage to whichever one is appropriate at any time, regardless of alignment.
What I think you mean is that 95% of Faerûn looks at the deities running around, dropping Spellplague bombs, and generally reshaping the Realms and go, "Damn, it really was much safer living here before those novels started to get written."
Herobizkit
Adventurer
Pre-Spellplague, Lathander would have been a great choice - he was all about physical perfection (as well as Sun god) but he got absorbed into Amaunator (who, to me, seems far more stuffy).
On a different tack, Asmodeus might be an interesting choice. A Lawful Neutral follower of Asmodeus might take the deity's self-important attitude and take it to heart, striving to be the best 'whatever' above all others.
In the opposite direction, a worshipper of Ilmater might beef himself up in order to best withstand to take on the constant suffering in the world.
... it really is a shame that the Spellplague took away a LOT of the 'cool' deities of the FR Pantheon.
I would have also suggested Malor as a bestial "Kraven" type who worships strength out of superiority.
On a different tack, Asmodeus might be an interesting choice. A Lawful Neutral follower of Asmodeus might take the deity's self-important attitude and take it to heart, striving to be the best 'whatever' above all others.
In the opposite direction, a worshipper of Ilmater might beef himself up in order to best withstand to take on the constant suffering in the world.
... it really is a shame that the Spellplague took away a LOT of the 'cool' deities of the FR Pantheon.
I would have also suggested Malor as a bestial "Kraven" type who worships strength out of superiority.
Argyle King
Legend
Yesterday was the first session of the new season. What follows is the character concept I went with:
mechanics - Warforged Fighter 1 (protective style)/Cleric 1 (war domain)
brief fluff - Name: Saracen; Deity: Tempus* (sort of)
longer fluff/explanation - Saracen was not always a Warforged. Even though he's (according to the game mechanics) a Warforged, he's not a Warforged in the sense of the Eberron race. He was once a living breathing (I'm thinking human, but leaving it ambiguous is fine) follower of Helm (or possibly The Eyes of Justice, which would have been his way to still follow Helm despite the god supposedly being dead.) For reasons Saracen neither knows nor understands, he (Saracen) did not cross over to the other side when he died. Some time after the death of his mortal body, he awoke without it; his spirit bound to his armor. He now appears as a suit of armor, but with a white glow of sorts filling the eye slits of the helmet. Unsure of what else to do, he now tries to find a place in the world as well as to understand what happened to him. He, in a sense, became a cleric of Tempus, but he still also holds onto his old beliefs as well. He believes (but is not sure) he still has access to Helm's power in some way while also drawing upon Tempus -a deity with a similar portfolio.
In a longer campaign (one at home or with a group somewhere other than Encounters,) seeking out answers to what he is, what happened to him, and what he's supposed to do now (try to cross over again? find his body? continue to serve his faith? his old faith or the new one) would be long running themes of the character. For Encounters, I don't have much time to get into all of that, so -while I still do use it to guide my roleplaying- he's pretty much the big strong metal sentinel of the group; acting as a protective anchor to the group's battle formation while also being something or a moral (though a somewhat cold one; LN) guide for the group when need be. Originally, I went with defensive style to get more AC, but one more point of AC (heavy armor, shield, warforged, defensive style) seemed overkill at level 2; plus, I felt as though it was worth it to sacrifice one point of AC (since it would still be very high) for Protective Style so I could better aid whomever ended up being my party members. That turned out to be a good choice because I ended up at a table with three other party members: two bards, and a mage. I enjoyed the session as a player; in-game, my character (as a cleric of War) was somewhat annoyed at the two bards wanting to talk to everyone. Perhaps not annoyed, but having little patience for negotiating with people/goblins/whatever when it seems to him that the negotiation attempt is pointless. He's not dumb or thick-headed; just very direct in how he views things. Ironically, being a character so focused on conflict lead to a lot of roleplaying opportunities.
I can't say much about how I feel this season's adventure path is going so far. The hooks at the beginning might be considered a little bit weak; even after the DM described what was going on with something of a prologue, I still felt as though I wasn't quite sure what to do. Sure, I needed to go hunt the goblins and other creatures in the area, but getting moving forward to where the group is actually doing that seems to take a little while; at least it seemed to 'take a little while' in the sense that it was hard to get the party moving. I still did very much enjoy the session. The guy running it seems like he'll turn out to be a really good DM; he's been at Encounters before, but I've never been at a table where he was running the sessions. I think he did a good job. The only problem I has was my character (literally) being half-way up the river toward an objective before I felt as though I had a good sense of what was going on.
So, in short, game-mechanics-wise, he's a Warforged, but I would not call him a Warforged in the same sense as the Eberron race. He's the spirit/soul/divine energy/whatever of the warrior he once was; now bound to the armor he wore in life after (for reasons which are not clear to him) not being able to fully cross over to the afterlife. On a less serious note, it became something of a joke, and then an actual part of the character that his 'eyes' turn blue when 'sleeping' in a manner similar to some modern day electronics when in sleep mode.
mechanics - Warforged Fighter 1 (protective style)/Cleric 1 (war domain)
brief fluff - Name: Saracen; Deity: Tempus* (sort of)
longer fluff/explanation - Saracen was not always a Warforged. Even though he's (according to the game mechanics) a Warforged, he's not a Warforged in the sense of the Eberron race. He was once a living breathing (I'm thinking human, but leaving it ambiguous is fine) follower of Helm (or possibly The Eyes of Justice, which would have been his way to still follow Helm despite the god supposedly being dead.) For reasons Saracen neither knows nor understands, he (Saracen) did not cross over to the other side when he died. Some time after the death of his mortal body, he awoke without it; his spirit bound to his armor. He now appears as a suit of armor, but with a white glow of sorts filling the eye slits of the helmet. Unsure of what else to do, he now tries to find a place in the world as well as to understand what happened to him. He, in a sense, became a cleric of Tempus, but he still also holds onto his old beliefs as well. He believes (but is not sure) he still has access to Helm's power in some way while also drawing upon Tempus -a deity with a similar portfolio.
In a longer campaign (one at home or with a group somewhere other than Encounters,) seeking out answers to what he is, what happened to him, and what he's supposed to do now (try to cross over again? find his body? continue to serve his faith? his old faith or the new one) would be long running themes of the character. For Encounters, I don't have much time to get into all of that, so -while I still do use it to guide my roleplaying- he's pretty much the big strong metal sentinel of the group; acting as a protective anchor to the group's battle formation while also being something or a moral (though a somewhat cold one; LN) guide for the group when need be. Originally, I went with defensive style to get more AC, but one more point of AC (heavy armor, shield, warforged, defensive style) seemed overkill at level 2; plus, I felt as though it was worth it to sacrifice one point of AC (since it would still be very high) for Protective Style so I could better aid whomever ended up being my party members. That turned out to be a good choice because I ended up at a table with three other party members: two bards, and a mage. I enjoyed the session as a player; in-game, my character (as a cleric of War) was somewhat annoyed at the two bards wanting to talk to everyone. Perhaps not annoyed, but having little patience for negotiating with people/goblins/whatever when it seems to him that the negotiation attempt is pointless. He's not dumb or thick-headed; just very direct in how he views things. Ironically, being a character so focused on conflict lead to a lot of roleplaying opportunities.
I can't say much about how I feel this season's adventure path is going so far. The hooks at the beginning might be considered a little bit weak; even after the DM described what was going on with something of a prologue, I still felt as though I wasn't quite sure what to do. Sure, I needed to go hunt the goblins and other creatures in the area, but getting moving forward to where the group is actually doing that seems to take a little while; at least it seemed to 'take a little while' in the sense that it was hard to get the party moving. I still did very much enjoy the session. The guy running it seems like he'll turn out to be a really good DM; he's been at Encounters before, but I've never been at a table where he was running the sessions. I think he did a good job. The only problem I has was my character (literally) being half-way up the river toward an objective before I felt as though I had a good sense of what was going on.
So, in short, game-mechanics-wise, he's a Warforged, but I would not call him a Warforged in the same sense as the Eberron race. He's the spirit/soul/divine energy/whatever of the warrior he once was; now bound to the armor he wore in life after (for reasons which are not clear to him) not being able to fully cross over to the afterlife. On a less serious note, it became something of a joke, and then an actual part of the character that his 'eyes' turn blue when 'sleeping' in a manner similar to some modern day electronics when in sleep mode.
TwoSix
Dirty, realism-hating munchkin powergamer
For some reason, this makes me imagine the FR dieties all looking for people to sign up via a web page, sort of like buying healthcare (at least in the US).
"Hmm, how about the Bane plan? The payments are cheap, but the co-pays are murder."
