I’ve been using the Greek and/or Norse gods in my own campaign settings, but I want to start making my own deities and pantheons going forward, if you have any advice, I’d love to hear it please. Same for anything you’re willing to say about your own gods and goddesses, or any art of gods or related entities like angels.
I like how shin megami tensei uses the old gods
>>96537281One way to make gods and pantheons feel organic and natural is giving them more than one domain, even if they may clash.To name a real life example: Ishtar is the goddess of war, and sex/love. Does this make sense? Maybe, maybe not. But it made sense to the people that worshiped her. Or they saw how much violence and lust are intertwined, and this formed their idea of this goddess.The characteristics and domains of a god should also always tell you something about the people that worship them.
>>9653728177 Thrones for Within the Ring of Fire is always great for inspiration.
>>96537281>been using the Greek and/or Norse godsI’ve done the same, my players don’t care enough about the gods for it to be worth it to me.
>>96537281Have any of you given your Gods elemental domains? My plan for my setting is that there are for sub-pantheons (or just one God for each element, still debating on that), each with a focus on one of the four elements of Flame, Wind, Earth, and Water, the Gods in each pantheon having a secondary domain or two that has a connection, be it thematic or symbolic, etc., with their respective element. Some of the domains I’m considering for each pantheon are obvious, like the Oceans and Sailors for Water, War and maybe Love for Flame, Trickery for Wind, and Stability for Earth, etc., but what would you suggest? Much appreciated in advance, a bit stuck on this.
>>96537281If you're going from settings, don't start from the gods. Most of the time, it's better to start at the day to day worshipping and beliefs.And diss everything DND does with religion.
>>96542492>Most of the time, it's better to start at the day to day worshipping and beliefs.Why is that, and why only MOST of the time? Also, as someone who tries to avoid DND with a five foot pole, what precisely do they mess up with religion specifically?
>>96542556I think you might end up with decent top-down gods, but my impression is that the average worldbuilder can't really grok religion enough to suggest that approach. He's not Robert Graves.>what precisely do they mess up with religion specifically?I can hardly think of something they do decently, to be frank.This is quite clear from the "realistic" aspects of religion in a pre-industrial setting to what I can only see as the absolute pedestrian "non-mystical" (non-mysterious) feel of its deities.
>>96542471silence bumpfag
>>96542662I swear, people here use that term like a boogeyman and use it to decry posts they don’t like. If he really exists, don’t react to their posts, especially if you might lump multiple anons in one thread together in the process. Just to stay on topic, and because I liked the concept, how about Water gets the unknown due to the hidden ocean depths? There’s a reason Lovecraft has so many tentacles in his books.
>>96537281why are you asking for advice when you haven't even written anything yethow do you expect people to give you reasonable advice apropos nothing? The only real advice you can get at this points is to just write and that the first version you come up with is never the best.
>>96542471Sky Father / Earth Mother is probably the most common divine pairing out there.You gonna copy that or ignore it?
>>96542635>He's not Robert Graves.Never heard of him, what makes his stuff so great?Also, I’d love to hear more about your feelings on this.
>>96537281Something to nail down is how powerful a god actually is. If a mortal or mortal+ can best them in -thing- of if they're untouchable.
If you're an atheist IRL, it won't work because you don't understand religious people.If you're a Christian, best you can do is follow JRRT and just not introduce an explicit religion to your games.If you're neither, you are probably not White, and should go to /v/ instead.
>>96537281What systems (not D&D, as >>96542492 has already stated) handle gods best mechanically? Particularly if you can actually play as gods, especially if creating a world is involved.
>>96546858Good question anon. I know Exalted has rules for playing spirits, but that’s all I can name off the top of my head. Hopefully someone else has something.
>>96546858>>96548364Scion 2e
>>96537281What are some settings that do gods well, especially if the gods actually exist, versus ones that botch things completely? Also, >>96542492 mentions that DND typically does a bad job, but is the approach to the divine in Eberron any better?
>>96546858>>96549125>>96548364There's Nobilis, Tiny Gods, Part-Time Gods, and New Gods of Mankind, if I missed any not already listed please let me know!
>>96551624I am a fan of the way Eberron handles religion. The Eberron method is more "realistic," for lack of a better term: different competing models of the divine, some of which are compatible with one another, some of which boil down to faith in gods whose existence can never be truly verified.A religion is more akin to a real-world religion in that it presents its own "rules of the divine," which may or may not be compatible with other religions. There is no one universal pantheon in Eberron that all gods get filed into.Do you like it when a fantasy setting uses this method for distinguishing its religions?
>>96541942Same for me, but I use the Hindu gods to better fit the culture in my setting.
>>96559594Myself, I tend to prefer it when the gods concretely and definitively exist, but the way Eberron handles things does sound like an interesting change of pace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR-K2rUP86M
>>96579958The heck am I looking at?
>>96537281Gods grow and wither in power depending on how many worshippers they have in each unique Material Plane. Some element of any god is probably bumping around some ruin or forest but the most powerful in that realm are the ones worshipped the most. In my shitbrew, the Roman gods are the state religion but no one actually worships them except perfunctorally during official state events. This leads to problems like Jupiter being drunk in a salaryman bar.
>>96537281Given that TES has already been mentioned by >>96579958… technically, let’s talk more about what settings you personally look to when handling gods and religions in your own, or just like in general.
>>96583146>In my shitbrewCan you share more about it please?
>>96585150Sure, no problem.This particular Prime has really porous borders with neighboring primes and other planes. The Earth equivalent world was purged of most life by demonic forces until reconquered by elves and their human slave-soldiers. There is a small, fractured population of Native American peoples scattered in the arid (safer) parts of the world, with their very active gods already. In this new world, they find aspects of the old gods of their homeworld to worship. The homeworld is a low-magic, early imperial Rome so they bring Jupiter, Neptune, Hera and Hercules to the new world. Other humans migrate in over the millenia, bring Norse and Japanese beliefs that affect the composition of gods worshipped. So, gods and spirit beliefs derive from the power of these beliefs.In the century after the human revolt against their elven masters, the first new religion arises, that is the belief in One. One is not a god, One is. With the discovery of elemental magic, the Elemental Church also started. Neptune worship is rapidly supplanted into Njord worship. One nation has a goddess of their home islands that they created out of thin air, she appears as a shimmering light that heals and sometimes grants favors. Other spirit practices exist, such as summoning enormous animal spirits, again through the power of belief. This is also the root of clerical or divine magic. So, in this context (apologies for the length), the old world's gods are still officially worshipped by the major empire on the world. This is only done by state bureaucrats and the imperial family during festivals. It's just enough mana to keep the old gods visible as humanoid entities, except Njord who is worshipped by many merchants and sailors. This is how you end up finding Jupiter angry-drunk at a bar.
>>96537281Can we get some more good art of deities please? What about angels? Also, what more can you say about angels in your settings? Mine essentially have a hive mind that allows them to act as one, at least for angels serving the same god.
Never been a fan of how often gods are just basic humanoids most of the time.
>>96537281Gods are often used to explain certain questions that the monkey brains we have struggle to think of. For example where do we go when we die? Seeing as you said you used Greek Gods alot you are aware of Hades the ruler of the underworld who cares for the dead in the after life, you probably also know Thanatos the actual god of death. There's also the various psychopomps like Hermes who guide souls to Hades.Keeping on with the Greeks theres Gods like Nyx, goddess of Night and Erebus Primordial God of Darkness. Used to explain two things that are essential to the world but further delving into the concepts of their domains makes the brain hurt.Whilst the pantheon can be as you want you have to remember not everybody will worship a God. Your average pleb isnt committed to Hephestus for example because they arent a smith of any kind, famously Sparta worshipped Ares alot because of their war centric culture whilst other places rarely worshipped the guy mostly cause Ares was the unfun parts of War to many cultures.My pantheon is broken down mostly into stuff that explains why a piece of nature is there and stuff that comes about from mortals, example I have a God of Life called Life, he is the flow of life itself his followers depict him as an eternal wanderer as even when someone stands still life still walks on, an example of a God that comes from mortals is Morok the God of Philosophy and Enlightenment a very mortal centric God seeing as Philosophy and the search for Enlightenment are things we as people invented for various reasons and each have a want for in our own way.
>>96588982>With the discovery of elemental magic, the Elemental Church also started.I would love to hear more about the Elemental Church please.
>>96537281What are some of the major divine myths in your setting, how accurate are they to reality, and what would you advise about coming up with original myths? I was thinking of using a Ragnarok-like event to explain why the gods lost their physical forms and justify their lack of physical these days for instance.
>>96591405@Grok is this true?
>>96591405>this is all in background developmentThe Elemental Church began out of the discovery of a new school of magic that deals with the five classical elements. The school focuses on material control and summoning elementals, and the church follows by using elemental forces to heal, bless and modify the environment. This is all done as something of a nature-oriented religion, having been used by freed human colonists to help heal a ravaged world. There are clerics with standard cleric abilities that wield elemental or elementally-blessed weapons. There are no known rivalries inside the church between elements, most clerics will have a range of elemental spells. In practice, each season is represented by an element, so different elementals and themes will be encountered throughout the year, but occasionally with opposing or complimentary element days during feasts and celebrations.
>>96537281How do you prefer to handle domains with your setting’s gods? Especially if gods can have multiple domains. I like the idea that gods are assigned domains in a region by the celestial bureaucracy, and if they show promise they can gain more domains, usually related, like the goddess of winter also holding command over skiing.
>>96537281Make religions, not gods. Most TTRPGs take a totally wrong-headed approach to building out a pantheon. Start with the rituals, sayings, holidays, taxes, ceremonies, prayers and festival of the people. Build those out. Then put gods in where you feel like it makes sense.No one will ever read your 10 pages of lore on then relationships between your gods.Players will get interested in the festival in the town square where the naked ladies firedance.
>>96559594NTA but I do like the idea of competiting models of divinity. Then again, my interpretation is that everything is a rat race and being a transcended being doesn't change that so being part of a particular group is more like declaring allegiance to a political party and your party affiliation can change for any number of reasons
>>96588982This sounds incredibly based, what system does this use?
>>96596938>Start with the rituals, sayings, holidays, taxes, ceremonies, prayers and festival of the people>nake firedancing festivalThis is good advice. >>96598400Thanks, fren. First edition AD&D shitbrew. It's modified mechanically enough to be fairly unique but recognizable. The takeaway should be that, games-wise, gods are as real as the belief in them. This allows for an easy mechanic for ascension to sainthood or higher for humans, per Mystara and other D&D worlds. For example, in my campaign world, there are many humans that have ascended to some level divinity, usually a saint, but there is an albino buffalo that is the world's demigod of overwhelming odds from being the mount of a hero-king, purely on people's belief.
>>96601195>Thanks, fren. First edition AD&D shitbrew. It's modified mechanically enough to be fairly unique but recognizable.Post it please?
>>96537281You missed the worldbuilding general nogames kun
>>96605470When it's closer to publishable, thanks for the encouragement.I'm currently working on integrated movement mechanics and improved hand fighting, but will update the worldbook with notes from this amazingthread. I'm looking for playtesters, too.>if you see the white buffalo on a hill above your battle, a great victory is possible
>>96537281What spheres of influence go well with War besides things like Death?
>>96537281How do you design the temples and other trappings of the religions of your gods?
>>96617341The standard approach is to have some space that is sacred and that only the priesthood may enter, and then a larger space used to communicate with the faithful and generally persuade the rubes to worship the deity and respect the priesthood. There's lots of different ways of achieving this, but the separation of the sanctum from the rest of the holy space, and the impressive space, those seem to be very common features, so it's a really good idea to put them in your temples of invented religions too.
>>96537281My main advice for creating deities and pantheons is to strongly tie them to the things that the people worshipping them consider important, or are impactful to them in some way.In my own homebrew, I'm leaning heavily on Finnish pagan gods and folklore. It has been interesting to delve into it, and has required delving into actual books, since it is pretty obscure stuff even in Finland.At a deeper lore level, I'm leaning towards the idea of the deities of the world being known by many names across the world, the same divine entities being worshipped with various names, retaining their portfolio for the most part. In addition to major deities with relevance all around the world, there can also be lesser local deities born around more narrow, less universal ideas. To use the pagan Finnish pantheon for obscure deities examples, most staple crops had their own deities in addition to multiple other agriculture related ones, and there is a whole family of deities related to winter and cold, spanning four generations.Pic related is Väinämöinen, the legendary singer and poet from Kalevala. In my setting, he is a lesser deity, whose domain includes poetry, music (kantele), magic and shipwright, primarily.
>>96612198The Romans saw war as an honorable and virtuous thing, a test of excellence and skill. Also, anything pertaining to anything involved in war, eg, weapons-making crafts.
>>96542771Bumpfag exists, and sucks, but your post is not their style, because it actually has content. Everything they say is empty endless questions never giving any actual ideas.To >>96542471, consider approaching the same concept from different angles across the pantheons. So the Unknown is the broad concept, and you get something like Water being deep darkness that hides secrets forever, Fire is divination (revealing the unknown through esoteric means), Earth is about uncovering the truth through steady careful work for great reward (mining), etc. Each concept doesn't need to hit all 4 subpantheons every time, but it gives you a chance for different perspectives, and if a player gets into a specific god/archetype you have a model for some NPCs with different belief systems to bounce off of. Pic semirelated about how interlocking ideas make for better stories.
>>96537281After Fertility, Harvest, and perhaps War, what domains go well with a goddess of Love? I found this art and got inspired. I'd love to hear your takes on love deities as well.
>>96639283Well, there's beauty of course. And craftsmanship perhaps. Drawing a blank on other ideas, I'll come back to you later.
>>96639283The arts
>>96537281I've been looking over Greek mythology for ideas again, and the tale of Medusa, among others, got me thinking; just how many monsters in your settings only exist because the gods cursed someone or made a mistake? For instance, I was thinking that vampires in my world might be the result of a demigod child of the son god being turned down by a woman.
>>96639283Madness could work.
>>96537281Honestly, if you're just going to make the Greek/Roman Pantheon with the serial numbers filed off, then just use the Greek/Roman pantheon. Peoples familiarity with it will go further.If you're going to make your own Pantheon, go nuts. Make gods dedicated to things you wouldn't normally see in a Pantheon.Only real gods i designed for a setting were the Twin Gods of the Sea's, One of Storms, one of Mercy, because the Sea is kinda a dick and depending on who you run into is how your voyage will go. (I called the Eugen and Carpathia respectively.)
>>96551624It features a Loli Pope who doesn't waer shoes. Take from that what you will.
>>96639283Birds and other animals associated with love and/or beauty like butterflies.
>>96537281>greek/norseJust say "European" as they are (with a multitude of name variations) the same gods for all of Europe.
>>96542635>"non-mystical" (non-mysterious) feel of its deities.When your gods are so unquestionably real that they occasionally walk around to meet & greet the worshipers, it takes away a lot of the ineffable mystery.
>>96639283Maybe they could be the queen of the gods like Hera, with marriage as a domain? It makes sense, right?
>>96656959I agree there. How would you advise handling such gods then? Or at least adding some mystery back into them besides making it so that said appearances among mortals are just avatars and some aspect of the true nature of said gods is still unclear?
>>96537281I went with the highlander model of divinity. Any god can seize a heavenly throne from another. But to do so requires having both magical power, and a following that believes in you large enough to overpower an already enthroned rival.Not an easy feat.Two major enthroned are El, a deity born from a myth that was created by rebels against a dragon empire to keep their slave rebellion going.It worked, but the belief began manifesting a deity, and the eastern kingdoms and citystates are now advised by his priests. With him as their primary god of protection and life.There's a great deal of tension between his genuine beliefs, and those of more self serving High-Abbots.The other major enthroned I'll post later.
>>96662993I think I remember seeing you before. Any new setting developments since the last time you posted a thread?
>>96666712Mostly borrowed him from a friend, and now running my own. As that group moved on to World of Darkness for a while.My group is trying to figure out how to heist relics from the holy city of Annd. Knowing if the Abbot-Magi or their followers catch the group, they're toast.But if they can get enough shit back to the rising Olmish republic. They'll be able to retire.
>>96668928Fingers crossed. Is what their plan is a spoiler?
>>96673794Depends on the rolls.The one I'm running has Olm as a group of citystates on the rise. Dark age Italy on it's way to become democratic industrial germany.If they get caught, they'll most likely be fried by the abbots of their monks. If El himself finds them, he'll just teleport them into the middle of nowhere and we get to play "survive the jungles"
>>96675477I'd love to hear more on that and what has happened in the group so far.
>>96542471>Some of the domains I’m considering for each pantheon are obvious, like the Oceans and Sailors for WaterThat might seem like an obvious connection, but it really isn't. From the perspective of sailors, the ocean is a hungry, greedy, and irrepressible beast. What sinks does not return except as fish-bitten remnants of what was before, if it ever returns at all. Being immersed within is death, and every wave seems a claw. One can never overthrow the ocean, only apply protections (and are those protections a negotiation, or a shield?). Think about why the people of your setting consider the connection between oceans and sailors as "logical". You seem to have taken the concept of fire in the register of "intense and often chaotic emotion", but for a chef, or a blacksmith, fire brings lesser things higher, and I think a bird would disagree with the connection between wind and trickery. Stability for earth does make sense... assuming you don't live on a fault line.
>>96639283FateFestivalsBirth (or children)Blood (in the sense of "bloodline")Nature (not quite the same as fertility)Wine (or any/all type of alcohol)Persuasion (or all speech, or poetry)
>>96537281steal from everywhere. Find a basis and build off of it. Don't be afraid to just copy and paste or mix and match, you can make a god out of anything.
>>96579958Best concept for a god ever conceived in fantasy.
>>96537281Who are the king and/or queen of your divine pantheon? And besides things like the Earth and Sky, Sun and Moon, and monarchy, what kind of spheres of influence work well for such figures?
>>96679494Not much, mostly based the group out of Olm and it's attempted rebuilding. Some citystates better than others, and the group is running around being sneaky thief boys.
>>96537281Who is the god of Knowledge and/or Magic in your setting? My setting is basically fantasy Egypt, so I use him.Also, besides the aforementioned two domains, and War, Love, Death, the Sun, the Moon, Justice, Creation, Destruction, Chaos, Order/Law, the Earth, the Sky, the Forge, Disease, Time/the Seasons, Harvest, and Fertility, what domains are important to include in a pantheon, or are just things that you wish were more represented in general? Not to mention combinations of domains. For example, not many pantheons seem to have separate gods of Death and judges who determine the actual afterlife of a person like the Egyptians do. And the god of War also holding dominion over Disease and Death is an idea I haven’t really seen despite its thematic sense either.
>>96688119Beauty is a good one.
>>96688119Art and/or Madness.
>>96537281Do your gods produce demigods? If so, how much divine power do they inherit? My gods make demigods for specific tasks, and they’re all Hercules level.
>>96537281I was basing my pantheon extremely loosely on the Warhammer Chaos gods (though I plan on having more than four deities) with an opposing pantheon of Law/Order gods, though each side will be much more morally neutral than Warhammer’s take. What does the /tg/ chef recommend, and besides some of the more common options like Thieves and Justice respectively, what spheres of influence go well with either the Chaos side or Law side?
>>96639283Death perhaps?
>>96626711Wow, sorry I didn't reply sooner, I'd almost given up on someone replying to this, and hadn't been checking for a while, thanks! Okay, this is a cool idea, thanks again! You still here? I'd love to talk to you more on this.
>>96704467>I'd almost given up on someone replying to thisthe bumpfag lies as easily as he breathes
>>96537281There are multiple entities claiming to be the creator, or at least one of them, and there’s evidence both for and against each one.
>>96593059I like a very popular heartland religion that worships a mortal that underwent apotheosis, with well-recorded miracles for them to reference. Make the faith just old enough to be well established and have cities with architecture devoted to it, but still something of an upstart compared to the really old faiths of the lands that surround it, beliefs that are geographically being pushed out to the boonies.
>>96694198If you want to make it at all morally neutral you need to give the chaos guys some strongly good-coded domains like freedom, and make the good gods be the dicks-that-maintain-civilization with a few real asshole domains like tyranny spread in. That's asusming you want it to be a two-sided conflict of pantheons and not something a little more complicated.
My goddess is a cat who randomly received the power of the old god.
>>96698851>Death perhaps Why death? Not really seeing it.
>>96717181nta you can pair the love domain with any other domain to give the culture that worships that god a semi-interesting take on that second domain.
>>96717181I admit that I was kind of stretching things, but I think my logic at the time was that the god of death loves all and welcomes them when the time comes.>>96717239Okay, how have you done this/would do this?
>>96720209>Love and WarA nation that has been or at one point had been consistently fighting aggressors for centuries came to see the making of love, the creation of life, and the giving of one's children to the effort as the ultimate act of love. A man's highest act of love is to love his nation so much that he fearlessly marches off to the same war that, for centuries, has only cost lives. A woman's highest act of love is to create life only that it be given to the defense of her people.>Love and DeathAn ancient and incredibly powerful sorcerer cursed the nation that conquered his homeland - the firstborn of every union is stillborn. The nation, which had always had treated morbid matters with the utmost sanctity, rationalized this in order to avoid being totally mindbroken. Their goddess so loves them that the first child of every union is added to her family, and in propagating their nation, they also propagate the celestial heavens with their kin. Prophecies are made that one day a host of the earth and a host of the heavens will encircle and destroy the armies of evil.>madnessThis society developed an incredibly rigid code of honor regarding personal relationships. While it was not uncommon around the world to respond to adultery and the like with honor killings, duels often abounded when a man simple gazed for too long at another man's wife. Men often started brawls to declare their love for the women they pursued. Men driven to go on a rampage through town, tear down market stalls, shout in strange tongues, and prade nude, are seen as imbued with madness by the goddess of love herself, for these people have come to know: in the face of mortality and evil in this world, is giving yourself entirely to love not the greatest act of madness? How can love and madness ever be separated, how can we not venerate them both?For a few, off the top of my head.
>>96537281Bumping a bumpfag thread
>>96691406That's really cool anon, what kinds of tasks are common for your demigods? Expanse of power for the divinity, welfare of the followers, kindling faith?Because of how godhood works in my world, offspring of gods are always slightly more powerful than mortals, but nowhere near gods, even if both of their parents were gods. Divinity is achieved through a sort of limit break of the soul, usually a moment of intense emotion or spiritual enlightenment. Demigods are one step ahead of normal mortals in that regard, as they have extremely extended lifespans (though they can still be killed through force).
>>96714349That's cool, what other powers of old gods can (we) use in our games?
I read a story recently where the real Gods appoints beings from mortal world as a sort of minor gods. These new gods then run the day to day affair of the world, they are the ones who answer to prays, bestow blessings and do all sort of things you'd consider too mundane of hands-on for a God. Meanwhile, the Gods never really shows up in the story.I liked the idea. It keep the mystery of the Gods while not making the divine presence tangible and significant.In hindsight it's not too far from stories like Gabriel (or was it Michael?) showing up to Jeanne d'Arc.
What an incredibly boring thread, and why is there two threads about gods up at the same time?
>>96724848
>>96537281Relating to >>96694198's question, how does the Pantheon of Discord from Doctor Who rate, both as a whole and individually? From Sutekh the God of Death to Lux Imperator, the God of Light, they're not all things that one would associate with Chaos, like Music or Games.
>>96694198Are you familiar with Sigmar specifically?
>>96537281I would suggest checking out other gods and making an idea of what you want to do with gods and all. I made a few custom pantheons for settings and all. One I like using for bare bones custom world is the 9 or 25 of the alignments. So you can have your lawful gods your chaotic and your basic good evil and neutral gods. (Also have a set of Rebel and Social as well as Moral and Vile in the table and a set of gods for them.)
>>96736334>I made a few custom pantheons for settings and allBased, can you please share them with us here?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxScTbIUvoALove Lovecraft stuff
If you went on a chain with the order set for a bunch of jumps determined beforehand, would the you from four to twelve jumps in be annoyed with the you from before the chain started for a sudden shift into horny degeneracy after decades of becoming an extremely capable non-gooner?
>>96741578Thanks for the link, got any other Lovecraft stuff worth sharing please?
>>96537281I’ve been getting into Cultivation lately, the idea of a mortal human transcending the flaws of their being and ascending to a higher state of existence, even a divine one. How do you feel about mortals become gods, and what non-Cultivation settings do the concept justice?
>>96743665Why do so many deities and horrors in Lovecraft stories have tentacles? Surely there should be a bit more variety there.
>>96537281Bully! My favorite part of Homebrew!>Have a sense for what is good/evilIn my campaign, all those who want to defend the weak are good, while all those willing to take from or consume the weak are evil>BalanceYou have to have balance, this includes a neutral god able to tip the scales when they get out of whack, even if the problem is too much lawful good.>DemigodsThe main gods should be above mortals, focused on keeping the multiverse together, while lesser gods are the ones that travel the land and grant powers to adventurers.>NumbersI have one major god per alignment, as well as three lesser gods to each, who in turn have clerics, druids, pals, and warlocks.>They need to do shitLet your evil gods kill an entire city, better yet, make them take control of a cleric to lead a death cult and make the city sacrifice themselves in his name granting him so much power the neutral gods had to step in!>They should be differentSome gods can talk normal with mortals, some are animalistic, others are regal. Mix it up.>They should be able to be called uponMake it so if a player really REALLY needed to talk to them, they can find a way.>Let their history be a mysteryYou will go absolutely fucking insane if you try to have a whole history with all your gods, maybe just have a few canon wars and such, but a whole religion is a pain to write and keep track of. Most religions alive today aren't even fully documented.This is by far my favorite part of a new world! Good luck.
>>96755044>I have one major god per alignment, as well as three lesser gods to each, who in turn have clerics, druids, pals, and warlocks.We would 'love' to learn more about your gods. Please post more on these deities anon!
>>96756553I'll just detail my Neutral Evil Gods:>Kaelin, Devil of ConsumptionBasically just a representation of eating the weak and developing your own strength. Will eat and eat, he's a bear like figure that is always hungry. Followers will wear tattered hoods and hunt in his woods to gain his favor.>Ocha, Omen of BeastsThis is the lesser goddess of Instinct and Wisdom, making sure the woods are respected and talking to animals, although she advocates for carnivores to eat the weak. She was originally a wolf in the greater god's pack, he raised her because of how talented she was at Instinct.>Vora, Pathos of DecayThe lesser goddess of Necrosis and Decay, was a lion dying on a hill after a fight with a poisonous spider, selected to embody the end of animals' life cycles.>Fenrath, Dire WolfMajor god of Consumption and Necrosis. He was born when the first peaceful creature ate another, embodying the pure urge to consume the weak. He represents Evil, taking from the weak in my world. His enemies wish to stop him, but my Neutral gods will defend him, and they have the most power.Basically, I wanted Evil to not be a twirling moustache dude, I wanted them to be logical.
>>96756620>Basically, I wanted Evil to not be a twirling moustache dude, I wanted them to be logical.I can relate. What inspired these Evil deities? And what about the Good gods?
>>96758218NE is based on consumption of innocent life. The NG counterparts are typically tree or plant based, often growing large gardens and healing sick animals.LG is often creating things and is the pantheon of most kings.CE is the wanton destruction of all things, especially things with order and logic.Neutral is the pantheon of balance, often tipping the scale when need be, understanding that without evil, good wouldn't be a thing either, but never allowing evil to consume too much.LE is mainly demons who focus on making deals for souls. This major god is the master of "Hell" for lack of a better term. All evil souls or those that have made deals, go to him in the end, often not torture, just a worse existence than heaven.CG is the pantheon of the Muses. They are crafted from unique instruments and control the idea of "Heaven." In all, they try to free souls from their contracts at all times.LN is the judge of the universe. He is given as much power as the founding god, only when seeing over a trial with two other gods as those involved. He is completely fair and his lesser gods are all forms of robots.CN is the pantheon of the tricksters, who wish nothing more than to flip the world on its head over and over. They are known as incredibly slippery, especially in court. The followers will often call themselves the main god's name when performing, because in some tavern hall somewhere, the real on probably is putting on a show for an unaware crowd!
>>96759156>CG is the pantheon of the Muses. They are crafted from unique instruments and control the idea of "Heaven." In all, they try to free souls from their contracts at all times.Which muse is tied to which instrument? And how did the gods interact with your players?
>>96763720>Seraphine, Angel of the BlessedA perfect note played on a string long in the past, her song is what leads good and neutral souls to their afterlife in the heavens.>Elyndra, Harbinger of SerenadesOne of the pianos being played by a master on the mortal plane, she was elected to be the goddess of Philosophy and Grace, often with the pattern of many keys on her flowing robes.>Thayo, Ethos of WindCrafted most recently, he is born from a flute turned into a powerful master of the winds and embodies freedom.>Lyrael, Melodic SorceressThe main Chaotic Good goddess. When the first soul died, she was born as the song meant to hold them to heavenly bliss. She doesn't guide the souls after Seraphine, she is the embodiment of all of heaven.The CG gods are known for inspiring mortals and welcoming them into heaven. The lesser gods will often speak in dreams, occasionally appearing on the material plane to observe epic songs and plays, kind of like offerings. They also frequently break sinners out of their deals with devils, just for fun's sake.
>>96763913Interesting that Thayo is the only male Muse. Or was that a typo?
>>96537281What animals are associated with your gods and why? I mean, a certain blue Chaos god is associated with birds for some reason, never really got that, and IIRC Dionysus has a dolphin motif because he turned some sailors into some, right?
>>96769167I know that Hera had a peacock association for some reason.
>>96537281Just found this image and it got me thinking, what offerings do your gods prefer?
>>96779363Nails.>elaborate on thatNo.
>>96744102Any setting I'd make would have this setting. There is a clear boundary between things that call themselves gods and actual Gods which I consider to be so far above everything or merely natural forces where talking to them would be akin to trying to talk to an earthquake
>>96768148Yup, he's the only one. But there are some saints that inspire songs and stories too that are male. Just not actual gods.
>>96781615>Be god of fire and mischief because fire is unpredictable>Only ever depicted as a flavor of Joker instead of doing cool shit with fire
>>96542635How about actually answering the question?
>>96537281I wouldn't worry too much about it. Lore for lore's sake is pretty pointless at the end of the day, and expounding on your setting's religions isn't mandatory.
>>96786339What are some settings that 'do' depict Loki as having a Fire association besides Scion then?
>>96792756The Order of the Stick has Loki as a fire god. Notice how the female cleric of his here has her spells look vaguely flame-like?
Do you guys let your players interact with gods? Or are they like the Greek pantheon and make little speeches before doing crazy shit and fucking off?
>>96801207Kill yourself bumpfag
>>96801207Just the Greeks?
>>96786339Actually Loki's association with fire was apparently less of him being the god of it. Heck, in one myth he actually loses an eating contest to a wildfire disguised with illusions.>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6XeP9gQPmg
>>96537281Trying to come up with themes/symbology for a winter goddess. I know she's at least supposed to be "friendly" but im not sure if its in a "hearth and home in the middle of a blizzard" way or "helps you find food in a frozen forrest if you are worthy/tough love" way. Also I think I may want her symbol to be a "winter sun" but Im not quite sure how to depict it, maybe a Sun with a snowflake over it?
>>96769167>certain blue Chaos god is associated with birds for some reason, never really got thatTzeench had ONE deamon model that was a bird a long time ago, then someone at GW realised that birds are really marketable and easy to design, so boom now everything is a bird.
>>96810876>maybe a Sun with a snowflake over it?This is so generic that I can already feel my brain forgetting it as soon as I look away. The problem with this design is that it isn't a symbol, it's two separate symbols that happen to be on top of each other. In a way, it reduces the goddess to list of associated elements. Something like, say, the Christian crucifix works because the crucifixion of Jesus was a fundamental part of Jesus' story, not because the crucifix was something he 'represented'. Other people might have been crucified, but Jesus is THE crucified.At the very least, blend the symbols. For example, a "spoked" sun where (some or all of) the spokes are snowflake-arms. It would also be an easier symbol for people to draw/impress/artifice, although I think if any adherent was dedicated enough to be working on projects that called for explicit religious symbolism then they would take a lot of time to painstakingly recreate even complex symbols.
>>96810637Okay, I hadn’t heard of this myth, thanks! What other relevant videos do you have?
>>96537281Are there any dragons worshiped as gods in your setting? And what is their relationship with the gods in general? There are several evil dragon cults in mine, and there’s a dragon god who’s MIA.
>>96537281Usually gods and goddesses have roles/domains they fill. So if there is a domain you think is not covered by your existing gods, that is a good place to start. Also, there is the question as to how the gods function in your setting. Are they more like extremely powerful entities that can theoretically be killed or are they forces of nature that cannot be killed (at least in traditional means). Are they one, defined personality or more abstract like the domains they cover? For example, a goddess of love and sex encompassing ALL aspects of those interactions thus people worship only the "aspects" of the goddess they wish to take from.
>>96537281Develop the societies first, gods second. The gods should reflect what each society values, and their relative power levels reflect how much value is put into their domains. The more you look at ancient societies, the more you realize the majority of ancient tutelary gods had the standard envelope of war, weather, and fertility. As you develop each society and how they interact with other neighbouring societies, you can start to incorporate things like the gods of two societies being considered different aspects of the same god, but treated differently because the societies have different values. For example, the Roman Mars and the Greek Ares are ostensibly aspects of the same god, but Ares was vilified by the Greeks due to the chaos and death war brings, while Mars was beatified by the Romans under the belief that war could secure order and peace against the hordes of barbarians beyond the borders of civilization.Even if you take the approach of "the gods came first and created human societies," the values of each society will reflect their patron god and will in turn reflect how they view other gods.
>>96537281I mean how realistic do you want it? Real world religions went through things like syncretism meaning people in different regions had different beliefs despite worshipping the same gods. Rituals and ceremonies also often go unutilized in fictional pantheons despite being massively important to actual religious practicioners. What's important is to avoid developing these complex pantheons and then make all the people practicing them act like generic medieval european peasants. Religion should influence every aspect of their lives from law to seemingly innocuous acts.
>>96810876In real world mythologies, seasonal deities are usually minor deities or part of the portfolio of more important ones. Winter is usually associated with death for obvious reasons so while that doesn't necessarily prevent a friendly god it's something to bear in mind. Making her a goddess of hearth is also a bit strange. Hearth and home is usually important enough to have its own dedicated deity. Winter isn't a thing in some places, but the idea of a home is a universal concept.
>>96823372Counter point, some people do exactly what you said and build the gods first. It's different, but if they're a big part of your history, I'd give that a pass. However, in a game where gods aren't the main focus, yes, build them to your society needs first.>>96823418Good point, I'll have to add some tertiary details to my gods and variants.>>96823663Again, I feel that in a world where the gods actually "do shit" means that seasonal ideals are less common, whereas the goblin monster deity eating babies is more than just a metaphor.
>>96826008>Again, I feel that in a world where the gods actually "do shit" means that seasonal ideals are less common, whereas the goblin monster deity eating babies is more than just a metaphor.Yeah, the mechanics of religion are probably a fair bit different when the gods are undeniably real and interact with their followers on at least a semi-regular basis.
>>96537281How do the gods and mortal perceptions of them differ between Western and Eastern religions, and thus the settings based on them/their mythologies?
>>96681676Huh, I never considered that perspective on the ocean. I was just thinking of how the oceans are what sailors use to get around, so the ocean having dominion over sailors just made sense. What are the pros and cons of the protections being a negotiation versus a shield? I was considering the blacksmith/forge angle for fire as well. So, should fire get transmutation/change as well? Okay for wind, what about illusion, because of mirages caused by distortions in the air, or something tied to the voices the wind can carry? Or earth getting strength?
>>96849919>having to dig up a comment from 3 weeks ago because nobody has replied to your thread since Thursdaysad
>>96850576I stopped checking the thread for a while because no one was replying and missed it, okay?Also, why IS Poseidon's symbol a trident, and besides fish and shells, what other symbols work for ocean gods?
>>96537281Minor gods are kino.Cosmic battle between god of !NotZeus and !NotCronos? Pass.A dumb feud between god of pottery and a god of a particular river that didn't want it's clay bank stolen? Causable and solvable by player interaction. Room for divine NPCs with flavor beyond "I'm super duper inportant and mighty tremble ye mortal." Tanglible effect on the world and easily writable follow up when somebody's shit gets flooded.
>>96537281How do your gods prefer to manifest to their followers? Mine tend to go for a “simple but elegant” look unless they need to make a point. If they DO need to make a point or deal with a skeptic or something along those lines, they go full on “be not afraid”.
>>96860771My gods love their bling, lol. Seriously, it's nuts. Even their priests get concerned sometimes.
>>96854088Sails, Waves, Anchors, Crabs are few different symbols to use from a ocean god.
>>96546193If you're christian, you probably don't understand as well since ancient people viewed religion as highly transactional which is a fundamental difference on how religion is experienced nowadays
>>96854088Spearing fishes, if you don't dwell much on hypiotesis on indoeuropean religion. Worth noting that Poseidon, Hades and Zeus do form a sort of trinity anyway.Other symbols: Agwé has a connection with blue (and white, oddly enough), with nautical instruments (like telescopes) and nets. I like Ryujin's connection with the jewel of the tides, but if you're asking for mundane shit I'd just go for the moon. Manann mac Lir has a underworld twist and is associated with traders (make sense, right?) but I don't think there is really a symbolification.Poseidon himself has also the bull (moon connection), the horse (cthonic) and dolphin (pretty obvious); for plants the pine (I would guess in Greece makes more sense) and... Wild celery (I got nothing on this).
>>96870607>If you're christian, you probably don't understand as well since ancient people viewed religion as highly transactional which is a fundamental difference on how religion is experienced nowadaysReally? Huh. Any idea why that changed? Or any tips on how to capture that spirit of things?
>>96870607I take inspiration from olden religions for the history of my pantheon, but I typically have a more modern view on current affairs. In my perfect world, players won't even know if the gods are real despite their stories. Adds a level of fun, especially to clerics and pals.
>>96879858So a bit like in Eberron?
>>96883084Eh, kinda? They do a little more than nothing, basically teasing that they exist while never giving any proof.
>>96537281Alongside Harvest and Fear, what spheres of influence would make sense for a god with a Halloween-like holy/festival day? And what are the main things to consider for holy days as a whole?
>>96885967Trickery (& Treatery)GivingRevengeReturn of Souls
>>96885967Death, rebirth, harvest, mediumship, trashy movies.
>>96769167>a certain blue Chaos god is associated with birds for some reasonbecause back in the day GW was a d&d distributor and had a bunch of daemon figurines based on d&d demons; the vrock became the lord of change, balors became bloodthirster. don't know which demons were rebranded into great unclean ones and keepers of secrets>>96771097>I know that Hera had a peacock association for some reason.because he had a minion called Argus, a giant with a hundred eyes. guy got killed while blueballing Zeus in the name of Hera and she got so sad about it that she decorated her holy birb with the giants' eyes>>96860771these days they send their angel-like servants in their stead. Their days of full manifestation on earth were left behind because that shit tends to cause huge issues among mortals
>>96887162>Their days of full manifestation on earth were left behind because that shit tends to cause huge issues among mortalsThis sounds like a plot hook, like what?
>>96889015nta, but Hera killed a ton of bitches after her husband, literally god, seduced them. Aside from this, creatures enjoyed killing demigods more than anything else, kind of like a fucked up sport.
>>96889096what are some heras in settings
>>96889346You can just have gods act like Hera, jealous and petty, treating mortals like bugs. Any god can do it. You do know who Hera is, right?
>>96889354interesting, can you please elaborate
>>96889015>This sounds like a plot hook, like what?the last time all gods descended to the mortal realm they did so in order to wage war upon the god of chaos that was fucking everything up; this resulted in a new almost Apocalypse that laid waste to a big chunk of one of the four continents in the setting, an the epicentre of said clash is still to this day a semi barren wasteland where shit like chimeras, basilisks and hydras live and breed. It isn't a nice place.This led to the Pact of the Pantheon; gods would stay in their respective divine realms and influence mortals through their prophets and more subtlely through their "angels", and any god incarnating directly on earth could be seen as a declaration of war. violations of this pact through the millennia have led to the creation of orcs(the guy who did it got killed with the only god killer weapon in existence), the invention of necromancy and undeath(that guy is now chained to a throne in the underworld) and the sinking of not!Atlantis (that was because their god was a dick; now he is locked inside some ancient ruins in the Mariana trench for all eternity).There are a couple of gods that have been granted a dispense from fulfilling the pact, but since they're the Earth Mother and a bunch of other Nature aligned gods that haven't tried to pull any funny shit in a couple thousand years the rest of the Pantheon let them be for now
>>96890113nice plot hook, can you elaborate further
>>96890148i'd be happy to, anon. what would you like to know?
>>96890203what are some nature gods
>>96890247the most important and powerful is the Earth Mother. Basically your classic Gaia figure; most cultures worship her in one form or another, and she's especially important for the different elven cultures.She's the only goddess to have been permanently dwelling in the mortal plane since the defeat of the Chaos gods, residing in a big fucking magical forest (it's about the size of half of Europe) protected by a dedicated cult of giant amazons (because giants consider her to be their actual mother, not just their goddess).No other god has disputed her right to ignore the Pact of the Pantheon simply because her only concern is nurturing the natural world and has no ulterior motives nor has she made any move for higher powers (that the other gods know of). Her current project, beyond maintaining her current station, is resurrecting a species of gigantic, magical trees that used to exist all over the world but of which only two remain (one in her own forest, a female, and another one that lives in another magic forest way up in the northern polar circle. Think of somewhere in Siberia halfway between Finland and China). I want to write a campaign around this, but I don't think I could ever DM the whole thing to a satisfactory point.There's also my version of Artemis/Diana, who used to be the goddess of woods but lost a lot of influence by refusing to participate in the struggle agaisnt the god of chaos, instead focusing on protecting forests and wild animals. She's quite bitter about that, since she considers those aspects of the world survived the divine war due to her own efforts. She has survived by becoming a second in command of sorts to the earth mother, and over the millenia since the war she has managed to rebuild part of her lost power from the worship of elves and other cultures of the wild, and shifting to more chaotic domains.
>>96563525Does it take place in a subcontinent?
>>96537281Another post here got me thinking, what kinds of domains would go well with gods of each of the four seasons, assuming that they're the only gods/the pantheons are divided between the seasons (a spring pantheon, a summer pantheon, etc.)? Some are clear, like Spring having Renewal, Summer having Fire and the Sun, Fall having the Harvest, and so on, but what would you add to this?>>96885967Doorways/openings between spaces.
>>96554072bumpI ran a New Gods of Manking campaign some 10 years ago. Homebrew setting, and it was fun, but it's better played as tabletop strategy game with rpg elements
>>96897442Remainder that harvest doesn't necessarily happen in fall. Spring wheat is generally harvested in august, so late summer. This is more a matter of flavour, but considering it's more a mediterrenean crop and that august is still very hot there, the association with the archetypal fall thing might not be optimal.I don't think seasonal gods are too much to my taste (or at least they seem more "artificial" than what I tend to, basing them more on IRL gods), but that being said what about using them as emotional themes? Changeling the Lost associated each season to one feeling, spring being desire, summer wrath, fall fear and winter sorrow. It would depend on what you associate each season to, of course, maybe summer is about freedom and the ocean and... I don't know, fall is about culture and hard work.
