Using one Deity to represent another

[Steve_MND]

I have a small question. Since Sharindlar is not available for a Dwarf to worship, Cleric or Acolyte wise, would it be possible to use someone like Sune but state that you worship Sharindlar through her or as her? I am trying to make a dwarf that worships Beauty and Love.

While 'technically' illegal, as Greg said, I haven't met a DM yet who would have a problem with everything on the sheet game-mechanics-wise being Sune, but your character just roleplaying it as if it were Sharindlar at the table. YMMV, of course.

Personally, so long as all the game mechanics are identical, I'd view it in the same vein as to how the PHB says if you want your character to wield a katana, just take the longsword stats from the book and call it a katana.

 

[Tyranthraxus]

I think it matters more only in the context of any mechanical situations that arise

ie the Acolyte feat and an in game reference to 'Clerics of Sune' etc. If an in game Expeditions scenario said 'Clerics of Sune are not stripped of their weapons when they end the Glade of Love', then the character in question would or would not lose their weapons? Mechanically they are following Sune but roleplaying Sharindlar.

 

[skerritthegreen]

To clarify, my point was that if you want to worship a love deity, why not just worship Sune? There is nothing that says she won't take a dwarven worshiper. That also solves the issues brought up here.

 

[steeldragons]

There is also nothing to say that Sharindlar (or whatever her name is) is not, actually, Sune in a dwarven aspect.

It's a pure matter of story/description. There is no "rules" to apply to this.

You want your character worshiping a dwarvish deity of love/beauty named whatever you want? Go right ahead. What matters to the cleric is which domain you choose...if Sune matches the domains you think a love/beauty deity should have access to, then use one of those and worship Dwarfrodite. For the acolyte background, it really matters not at all.

 

[Steve_MND]

To clarify, my point was that if you want to worship a love deity, why not just worship Sune? There is nothing that says she won't take a dwarven worshiper. That also solves the issues brought up here.

Probably because the Realms, if nothing else, has a huge amount of lore and mythology behind it, and if you're looking for roleplaying hooks, sometimes it's just not as good of a fit to handwave all the lore out there just to satisfy the (imho awkward) artificial limitation of deities in AL. You might not want your character to worship Sune, but instead one of the other deities, even if their portfolios are mechanically identical.

 

[Tyranthraxus]

Agreed. Generally in the Realms, Dwarves worship Dwarven Deities as the Elves worship their own Deities.

(It also matters more to the Gods since their power was tied to worshipper numbers). Thats entirely a story fluff viewpoint though. Hopefully the SCAG can put a bit more of this topic to rest.

 

[Pauper]

Unfortunately -SCAG is not yet available for any story origin. Even if it does include new deity options, you can't use them unless SCAG is listed for your story origin

Just realized, with respect to deities, that this creates the potential for weirdness. Specifically, if the deity list is updated in SCAG, but SCAG is only declared to be legal for some, not all, AL storyline seasons, then it is possible for characters in some seasons to be ineligible to worship deities listed in SCAG that aren't listed in the Player's Handbook.

This opens up the possibility that different sections of SCAG might be made legal for different seasons or combinations of seasons: the deity list is legal for all seasons, for instance, but the new classes are only legal for Season 4.

--
Pauper