|
2 years ago ::
Jul 25, 2011 - 2:19PM
#21
|
|
|
That's an interesting way to break up structured Divinities while keeping them in. Which gods turned mortals will have an impacting presence on the game at large?
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Jul 26, 2011 - 9:34PM
#22
|
Date Joined:
Jan 24, 2004
|
On my world there is a group of immortal heroes who serve as the defenders of the planet and act as deities for any relevant game mechanics. Currently there are 7 of them. Some of them were PCs at one point. Before them were the Eladrin Druids who ruled from places of power. They were overthrown by the archdukes of hell, who the current crop of immortals defeated after a 7000 rule of evil. A long time ago my world was Earth and any deities from that time have ascended into the beyond. This has happened numerous times since.
My current campaign focuses on a new generation of immortals (half-brother and sister) based on Norse gods (Tyr and Sif) but the first set was more varied.
I don't do evil gods. That's what demon lords etc are for. Before I begin a campaign I select my end villian - Orcus, Cthulhu...and build a hierarchy of evil underneath them.
If a homebrew pantheon is something you really want to get into Gurps Religion is a great book. The 3.5 Deities and Demigods is also decent.
I don't work up new mechanics (channel divinity powers, feats, or domains). Since I don't have that many deities, each one has a large set of available choices from the material for whatever game I'm running. Works well enough, there's usually only one divine character going at a time so focus the work on that deity after the basic outline is created and it should work fine. Then you can build on it for a later game/campaign.
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Jul 27, 2011 - 7:26PM
#23
|
Date Joined:
Aug 21, 2003
|
I didn't have room for Primordials in my world, but the idea of the uber-powerful elementals was intruiging, especially as a kind of foe that unified ALL deities, regardless of alignment.
I introduced them, not as an ancient evil, but as a relatively recent threat. Kind of like what FR did, but without the lame, transparent retcon (Oh, yes...the primordials are the gods' ancient enemies...we've just NEVER MENTIONED THAT BEFORE). That was the aforementioned cataclysm that rocked my pantheon (and my cosmology, but the link in my sig goes into detail on that). The primordials were created/summoned from another reality (by Tharizdun, but almost nobody-not even the other gods-knows that). There was a great conflict, now called the Godswar. 500+years after that began, my campaign setting resumes. That's the gist of my 3e-4e transition.
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Jul 29, 2011 - 3:27AM
#24
|
Date Joined:
Jul 15, 2011
|
My world is inhabited by the e4 God pretty standard right
But what i enjoy is the fact that my Gods are not distant in the campian i have been running. So far the group has meet the Raven queen who set the hero's on there loftly quest (Kill an immortal lich capable of leveling a city). they have even taken pity on there followers, Marcus a Captain of the gaurd and Paladin of Bahumat saddy got his chestplate smashed and his ribs relocated But Bahumat granted him 1 min of life to avange his death in whince he became the Avatar of his god and kicked some serious booty (Saving the PCs) before ascenting to become part of the essance of Mount Celestia. ^.^
Do need a Vampire goddess :/ if anyone has a suggestions for a Homebrewed deity
"Can i set the water on fire?"
-Thorten Dwarf fighter Day 1
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Aug 06, 2011 - 9:16PM
#25
|
Date Joined:
Jul 26, 2011
|
Each Nation/Area has seperate gods in my Homebrew, but the Ogypian (blatent rip off of egypt in my world) Gods are my favorite. It's a small pantheon, but they all have their own agenda. The Children of Ra Ra- the sun. who took earth into his harem of stars so that she might bear his children. god of agriculture and perseverance. Summer solstice is dedicated to him and people fast for the day and smoke opium to receive his visions for the next year. Amun-Ra's youngest son, who tricked his father into gaining power over night, and escaped Ra's prison with his sisters help. god of shadow and secrets. lovers trysts, and anything done in the night. his temples are windowless and no candles may enter their doorways. his priests cut their tongues and are struck blind with a ritual. confession are given to these priest/esses in order to cleanse sins. A priest of Amun may not venture into the warmth of Ra. eclipses mark his feastdays, so that people may honor him without Ra's wrath. he has the head of a raven and body of a man. Bast- The goddess of the sea, trade and the great nhysh river. sailors often give tribute to her after a safe voyage and wear wedding rings to sea less she find the sailor attractive and claim him. remorseless and mysterious. spring sacrifices of lambs are given to her at the beginning of Basthag. (3 day festival) her form is that of an ibis' head and a pregnant woman's body Beset- god of war and arms and protection. he takes only priestesses into his temples and they train to be his army and harem. the pharaoh is always accompanied by two besetan priestesses. he has no feast days but large parties in his honor are given after successful battles. his form is that of a crocodile headed man. Nephthys-goddess of love, passion and prostitution. She slept with her father in order to allow her brother amun to sneak out of his prision. to serve nephthys is not shameful in Ogypia, but not all countries feel the same. her festival is the winter solstice and lasts a week. she demands no sacrifices but asks for wine to flow and people to pay her homage. her image is that of a woman's, with serpent eyes. Lefu-god of death and afterlife, he judges the worthiness of a soul in death. he has ever stayed out of his families squabbling. he is not a dark or feared god. he is known to be patient and fair. His feast day is in the autumn where people beseech he give their dead loved ones messages and he is prayed to at funerals. If he judges a soul worthy, it is allowed into Ra's palace. If the soul in unworthy they are doomed to relive their shames and mortal pains for all eternity. His face is of a jackal.
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Aug 06, 2011 - 11:22PM
#26
|
Date Joined:
Dec 16, 2006
|
I'm working on a campaign where the gods are phonies. They actually come closer to the immortals from Mystara.
The closest thing to a god is the planet itself, Yrth. It's actually a machine that has created most of the races that populate the surface. When members of a race develop sentience they usually escape to the surface of Yrth.
The immortals are aware of this but they try to keep it a secret.
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Aug 11, 2011 - 6:50AM
#27
|
Date Joined:
Jun 30, 2008
|
In my worlds basically any sufficiently powerful being can call himself a god. Most gods started out as adventurers and worked their way up. Some of these try to influence many planes at once but many just try to settle on one world and try to gather as many followers as they can there.
Also I don't actually use alignment as such. This means gods aren't good or evil, they just choose to associate themselves with certain values.
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Aug 12, 2011 - 6:45PM
#28
|
Date Joined:
Jul 18, 2011
|
I just use the 3.5 core gods as the major religions, as it simplifies things for my players. However, they are just the Divines, the most widely worshipped godlike beings, which on the rare occasion they are killed, transfer their energy and power into someone they deem worthy to carry on their legacy. There are also Primordials (not to be confused with the ancient elementals), collosal beings which are native to the Prime Material Plane that ruled in days gone long past, the Ascended, who are mortals who using their own resources gained Divine Status rather than inheriting it, Transcendants, who are beings even more powerful than the divines, Outer Gods, which are Lovecraftian abominations from outside the great wheel, and finally, the Magister De Lacu - creator and auditor of reality (whose name means Dungeon Master in latin).
|
|
|
|
2 years ago ::
Aug 13, 2011 - 11:01AM
#29
|
Date Joined:
Jan 25, 2008
|
As I don't have a gaming group currently (damn you, geography), I'm working on developing my own campaign setting. I plan to design my own set of deities. FWIW, I'm using Pathfinder rules. Here are the principles I'm working with so far:
- The gods are real, but, for reasons I haven't decided yet, either can't or don't intervene directly in the world. They count on their proxies, whether outsiders or mortal clerics, to work their will on the material plane.
- Clerics and inquisitors get their powers from their god. There are no godless clerics or inquisitors.
- Similarly, although they may respect and even worship gods that fit their ideals, druids, oracles, paladins, and rangers do not get their powers from the gods. Druids and rangers get their powers directly from nature, oracles' powers come from the concepts present in their mysteries, and paladins get their powers from purity and righteousness.
- There are no arch-outsiders that fall short of being gods. For example, the archdevils are a specific subgroup of lawful evil gods. Even the least of these archdevils is a lesser god, granting spells and domains to his devoted clerics and inquisitors.
That's about all I can think of right now. I think I'll spend the afternoon working on some ideas.
|
|
|
