D&D General What D&D Religion Is Your Favorite, And Why?

[Fifinjir]

I’m usually not too impressed with most D&D religions, but I have some fondness for the Church of Ezra. On one hand, there’s the draw that there might just be something in the Mist that’s on our side. On the other, what if it’s just another trick?

 

[rgoodbb]

But...D&D is my religion.

I'm playing in a Norse style campaign right now and I think I like it best.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

I confess that religion and gods usually are little more than framing for roleplaying and divine magic Duracells in my campaigns, even if I have fun developing church practices etc as GM. But I have a fondness for Dragonlance style divine avatars that walk the material plane, like Paladine/Fizban, and Golarion living gods.

 

[Aldarc]

I have an appreciation of the Temple of the Silver Flame and the Blood of Vol as religions / faiths. Having undead being not necessarily inimical to the average peasant, even gilded with a type of nobility, is an interesting take. It blends well with the city-state of Hollowfaust from the Scarred Lands. (Although that's a culture and not a religion.) The Silver Flame I enjoy as it has a complexity that I could see existing in the real world, as mentioned above. I've read some short stories that may have inspired it, so that's also a cool little novelty there. Now that I think about it, the Mithril city-state from the Scarred Lands meshes well with that, too.

Even though I enjoy the Dawn War Pantheon, either Temple of the Silver Flame or the Blood of Vol are probably my favorite official D&D religions.

I have a strong appreciation for Wee Jas from Greyhawk as she strikes me as a very syncretic deity. Death, Beauty, Magic I think are her spheres of influence? What happened in history for that to come about?

Wee Jas is maybe my favorite deity in Greyhawk. You may already know, but there is an answer. Wee Jas was originally just the goddess of magic (and law) for the magocratic Suel Imperium; however, after the Rain of Colorless Fire destroyed their empire, the distraught Suloise people began desperately looking to Wee Jas in concern about their dead. So Wee Jas took on that mantle, becoming a caretaker of the dead for the Suloise people.

Also as a point of trivia, Wee Jas was the basis for the Raven Queen. There are even some sources that imply that they were originally conceived as being one and the same, but rebranded since Wee Jas is pretty cool about undead, since "magic is magic," but WotC wanted a death goddess who wasn't. There is even a statement by Erik Scott de Bie, co-author of the 4e The Shadowfell sourcebook, wrote:

"Most of the Raven Queen-related lore is my baby [...] I interpret the Raven Queen as basically being Wee Jas, albeit having absorbed Nerull's power and become a blacker deity".

This is his personal intepretation, but I personally like the idea that the Raven Queen is actually Wee Jas. Since the history of the Nentir Vale is not the same as Greyhawk, Wee Jas could have very well once been the haughty sorcerer-queen that Nerull renamed to "Nera" who then became the Raven Queen or maybe the whole ascended mortal story is a facade to conceal her true origins.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

No faves. Which faith- if any- I choose for a PC depends on the PC in question. I don’t know if any individual faith has been chosen more than a half-dozen times since they really started fleshing out the various pantheons.

 

[Synthil]

Blood of Vol for me as well. The faiths in Eberron in general feel more like actual religions, than the weird prevalence of henotheism, that's the default in most settings.
I've never felt compelled to make a religious character in D&D, except in Eberron.

 

[Atomoctba]

Perhaps not the religion I like most, but one I think that has one of the most interesting origins are the Cerilian gods of 2e's Birthright setting. You have these gods because the old gods slain themselves in a huge battle and mortal followers near them when they fall absorbed the liberated divine essence and turned into new gods.

 

[AnotherGuy]

No favourites, but I have had two deities with whom I have had the most fun (for the first) and momentous (for the second) in my roleplaying experience.

• Forgotten Realm's At'tar (deity of the sun) because it is questionable if the deity actually exists as she has no clerics and that given only the Bedine worship her whom I suspect derived her from their masters, the Netherese, who worshipped Amaunator (also a deity of the sun). Essentially At'tar is the end part of Amaunator. So when a player approached me to play an out-of-time Bedine who was in the service to At'tar and receiving cleric abilities and whose sole purpose being to resurrect his fallen deity - I said hell-yes as this spawned a whole campaign's worth of ideas to answer the mysteries behind an existence of such character and his powers. I enjoy the creative thinking that went behind weaving this character into the various FR lore.
• Mystara's Ka, The Preserver, who was a patron to a cleric whose player became seriously ill in the course of our campaign and at one point decided to not continue with treatment that was necessary to extend his life. For over a year prior, when his character had been separated from the party, I had slowly (and secretly) steered the storyline for his character to attain immortality (gentle railroad). The character was battling to return to his friends whom he had left in Toril, but his patron had other plans - answering correctly a riddle in the midst of a reoccurring dream/nightmare saw him come face-to-face with a being who seemed familiar and emanated a sense of comfort and peace. A chessboard lay before them and as they played, a conversation ensued between the two and it quickly became apparent who his chess opponent was - Ka could indeed help him in his quest to Toril, he assured him his friends were more than capable of looking after each other without him. But a far greater purpose was standing now before the cleric, Ka needed an ally in what he feared would be a coming war amongst the Immortals (BECMI's Wrath of the Immortals). He needed someone he could trust and rely on and to possibly take over should anything happen. Moreso, as an Immortal he could do more for his friends should something befall them. This was our last session with the player and it all came as a surprise to him and the table. It worked out beautifully. The fact that he had chosen Ka, The Preserver, did not go unnoticed. I was fortunate to play his character 2 years after we had lost our friend. He petitioned in Kelemvor's court for one of the souls of the PCs who had died in Toril, in an attempt to save his friend's soul from the Wall of the Faithless and rather return it to its native plane of Mystara.

 

[Weiley31]

Raven Queen.

 

[CleverNickName]

I use the Greyhawk gods, but I put them into custom pantheons that fit my Renaissance Europe setting. Without going into too much detail (unless you want more detail, in which case I'm happy to indulge you!)...there are two main religious factions for the players: the Old Faith, and the Temple of Dawn. A third, The Fell Gods, is a collection of evil cults and fanatics, and isn't typically open to players.*

The Old Faith is the preferred religion of druids, firbolgs, elves, and outlanders. Light on the dogma, heavy on oral tradition, thousands of years old, it's a thinly-veiled analog for Paganism. The pantheon is led by Obad-Hai, and includes Ehlonna, Fharlanghn, and Boccob. They don't have grand temples; they have sacred enclaves and groves, and small roadside shrines.

The Temple of Dawn is the highly-structured, dogmatic religion of paladins, clerics, humans, and cloistered monks. Heavy on dogma and the written word, and comparatively new in the realm, it is a thinly-veiled analog for Catholicism. The pantheon is led by Bahamut, and includes St. Cuthbert, Heironeous, Pelor, Yondalla, Kord, Moradin, and Corellon Larethian. They have large, magnificent temples that serve the community as libraries, schools, and--in times of crisis--hospitals, orphanages, and garrisons.

The Fell Gods aren't organized or united under a single pantheon...they are all individual cults, each one trying to outcompete the other. The Cult of Nerull, the Cult of Tiamat, the Cult of Lolth, etc., all fall under this one umbrella term.

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*if a player wants to worship one of these gods, they have to make special arrangements with me first, so that I can shape an interesting story around them. I have special backgrounds ("Former Cultist," "Redeemed Heretic," etc.) for them and everything. So far, no takers.