Whatever happened to the gods, anyways?

[ScorpiusRisk]

This is something I'm very interested in. I will comment more in the next couple of days when Im not nearly as tired/have more time.

For now I am subscribing.

 

[garyh]

I remember that I really liked THB's domain suggestions.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

Should the gods have more than 3 domains? All the greyhawk ones have only 3.

 

[garyh]

I prefer sticking to 3 domains.

 

[TwoHeadsBarking]

For those interested, here's my original matching, now with responses to other people as well. Mostly to Tomalak, because he justified his choices.

So, here’s how I would associate the DP domains to the Twelve Gods. When performing this matching, I had three goals in mind, listed in order of importance.

1) Every domain would be associated with at least one god.
2) Every god would get three domains.
3) The domains associated with a god wouldn’t all boost the same powers.

I managed to more-or-less succeed, although I did end up cheating on the first two.

I would like to reiterate that my matchings do follow the above restrictions, sort of. Athena currently has four domains and I had to add Hekate to get Undeath in, but as a result every domain is represented at least once. And Athena could drop one, I guess. This also means that not every god has every domain they could feasibly be associated with.

It's vital that every domain be represented. If someone wants to use a domain, there should already be a god ready to take them in.

Joven: Justice, Storm, Tyranny
Reasoning: So, it’s a little weird having Justice and Tyranny in the same god. The way I see it, Tyranny is sort of like Justice taken too far. And someone had to take Justice, might as well give it to the boss.

Can't really change these. No one else has these domains, and everyone else has domains that fit them better. Which is sort of a shame. Destruction and Civilization are certainly not bad matches.

Juna: Life, Protection, Vengeance.
Reasoning: Hera was the goddess of childbirth, so Life and Protection seem to fit for her. And she was always taking revenge against Zeus for his infidelity, so Vengeance fits nicely here. Well, technically she targeted the women/resulting children, so she should have the Petty Vengeance domain, but that will have to wait for Divine Power 2.

Childbirth still says Life and Protection to me. I think Vengeance fits better than Tyranny for the punishing aspect, because her actions were always in response to a betrayal. However, it's not really Justice, because she targeted the wrong person. Again, no Petty Vengeance domain, yet. Also, no one else has these domains.

Lauto: Earth, Death, Fate
Reasoning: Why Earth? In Greek mythology, Hades was depicted as being beneath the earth. As a result, he had access to gemstones and precious metals, making him very wealthy. Yeah, it’s not a particularly strong match, and I could see it being changed. Death and Fate, however, fit like a glove. A gloomy, fatalistic glove.

I still think these are good. Trading Earth for Darkness makes him a little too gloomy in my opinion. Also, Darkness has connotations of secrecy and trickery, while Hades is more of an inevitable kind of guy. Winter belongs to Peresefa, as I describe below. I'm curious as to why Ozy gave him Civilization. I'd like to hear the reasoning.

Netari: Destruction, Sea, Wilderness
Reasoning: Not sold on Wilderness, but it seems to be a decent enough fit.

It may be that the Atlanteans saw Neptune as a patron of science and learning. To bad they all drowned before they could write out their body of mythology. Daunton seems to be taking things from the Greek perspective. I suppose one could drop Wilderness for Civilization. It would have to be Wilderness, because no one else has Destruction or Sea.

Apoli: Arcana, Poison, Sun
Reasoning: In addition to the arts (Arcana) and the sun, Apollo was also associated with plagues.

I could see giving Apoli Skill, and then swapping out Change for Arcana with Hekates. I'd like to keep Arcana in the main pantheon though. I still want to keep Poison here. Apollo's arrows were dipped in excruciating poison, which he used to murder the sons of some braggart woman. If Poison is an inappropriate domain for the god of doctors, then mass murder is an inappropriate activity for said god as well. However, every Greek god has their darker, petty side. Also, someone has to have Poison.

Peresefa: Hope, Torment, Winter
Reasoning: Hope and Torment to represent her imprisonment, Winter for her ties to the seasons.

Persephone is pretty much defined by her trials in the mythology. The only things I remember her ever doing is being abducted and crying at a song. Oh, and there was that idiot mortal who tried to woo her away from her husband. Winter may be Lauto's "fault", but she is its keeper. And Lauto already has three domains that fit him better. I don't think Undeath fits her at all, frankly.

Vulkar: Creation, Earth, Skill
Reasoning: Creation and Skill for the forge, Earth for volcanoes.

If I could give him a fourth, it would be Torment. In fact, I think my first draft gave him Torment instead of Skill. But that was my first draft, and there's only room for three.

Maros: Strength, Strife, War
Reasoning: Pretty straight-forward. This one was easy.

Madness is a good one for him. If I were to give him four, the fourth would be Madness.

Merkari: Change, Luck, Trickery
Reasoning: Again, this is self-explanatory.

I still think I nailed it. I don't think Strife or Arcana are particularly strong matches to him. Certainly not strong enough to bump off one of the three that's up there.

Mireva: Civilization, Knowledge, Skill, War
Reasoning: Ok, yes, there are four domains, not three. But each one is so very Athena that I can’t bring myself to drop one of them. If one had to go, it would be Skill or War, because nobody else currently holds the other two.

I still would really hate to drop any of these. If I absolutely had to, I'd drop War, but then I'd also cry myself to sleep that night. Athena and Ares had this rivalry that I'd really hate to lose. Alternatively, if someone else picks up Civilization, then I would drop that. There would still be some sobbing though.

Dayna: Freedom, Moon, Wilderness
Reasoning: Again, easy-peasy.

I still think this is perfect. Vengeance is a pretty good fourth domain for her, but, well, you know the deal.

Vena: Freedom, Love, Madness
Reasoning: I’m not sold on Freedom, especially since she wouldn’t really be representing a version of Freedom different from Artemis, unlike how Athena and Ares represent different types of war. I was thinking Life, but Life and Love give similar benefits to their associated At-wills. Maybe Arcana? I dunno.

Yeah, still not wild about Freedom, although I think it's better than Life. Maybe she could lose a domain, and then Mireva could keep her four, and then it averages out to three domains per god.

Hekates: Change, Darkness, Undeath
[FONT=&quot]Reasoning: Hey! How did she get here? Well, I needed someone to take the Undeath domain, and Lauto seems to be pretty much against that sort of thing. Hekates has enough of a cult following among the L4W players that she can count as a full god. Ditto with Darkness; it fits for her, but not really for others. Change for it’s more disruptive aspects, and because I wanted her to have a domain that wasn’t associated with spooky-badness.[/FONT]

Again, trading Change for Arcana could make sense. This would mean that none of the twelve gods share domains with Hekates. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Yeah, no Demeter. No Dionysus either. Some gods didn't make the cut into the major pantheon. "The Twelve Gods" has a better ring than "The Fourteen Gods" though. And I'm going to preemptively hush anyone who mentions that I have thirteen gods up there. That's a baker's dozen, and a dozen is twelve, so it still fits. Also, it would take a lot of shoehorning to get Undeath and Darkness into the main pantheon.

 

[Tomalak]

One thing I feel it important to note about the domains, is the nature of the 'evil' domains. While each of the traditional greek/roman gods had their darker, pettier sides, and thus qualify for one or more 'evil' domains. However, Divine Power suggests that the purpose of these domains is more for the use of NPCs. So while a god may have the right to a given domain, do we want to give those domains to the players? I personally am thinking that domains that are traditionally evil should be left out of the hands of players. Then again, the definition of 'evil' is someting we can work out here - after all, in Forgotten Realms, the only gods of the sea are evil, so Sea is a domain not available to players there.

 

[renau1g]

I like THB's suggestions and rationale.

 

[TwoHeadsBarking]

I really loathe WotC's "no evil PCs" policy. We have evil PCs in L4W, so that line has already been crossed. If someone is going to play a tyrannical paladin of Joven, they aren't going to be stopped just because the Tyranny domain is unavailable.

 

[renau1g]

I remember I made Murphy unaligned at first, because of that whole no evil PC stuff, but luckily the judges (Dunamin) helped me get over that hump and I realized I can play an evil PC who doesn't necessarily not work with others.

 

[Tomalak]

True. But if we allow 'evil' domains, perhaps we should consider doing four domains per god. Otherwise, you limit the interactions of the non-evil domains, and as we're trying to keep a small pantheon (I'd personally like to keep it to the main twelve, but that's just me) it means less options for divine characters.