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metaofantioch
2004-11-30, 09:58 PM
Short time lurker, first time poster here, to try out my skills in a contest. Since I love a good parody, I've decided to create a pantheon around fantasy cliches, the unlikely hero, the damsel in distress, et cetera. So, without further ado...


Victor, Patron of Unlikely Heroes
Neutral Good
Portfolio: Victory, Courage, Heroism, and Quests
Role in the Pantheon: Leader of the Pantheon
Clerical Domains and Options: Good, Strength, Luck, War
Granted Weapon: Longsword

Long the god of victory (hence the name), Victor led those faithful to him to victory over there enemies, until evil was vanquished from the land and peace and tranquility prospered. This was all well and good for a while, but… Victor got bored. It was the prevailing view among the gods that strife was needed again in the realms. It was at this time that Victor, who was de facto leader of the gods, was contacted by a mysterious power, known only as “Vehementis.” Vehementis offered to make things more interesting in the realms, if he were only allowed to enter himself. Victor foolishly agreed, thus Vehementis spawned a new wave of darkness and chaos throughout the world and declared himself God-Emperor. His armies proved to be too powerful for even those favored by Victor.
Most deities might be disturbed by this turn of events, but Victor looked upon it with the enthusiasm of a three-year-old child in a candy shop. Abandoning the great armies that had helped the forces of good in the past, he proceeded to grant extraordinary powers to farm boys, brooding mercenaries, and amnesiacs everywhere. Victor believed these “unlikely heroes” would be the key to stopping Vehementis’ reign of terror… and if not, oh well, the resulting conflict would be rather fun to watch.
Victor has the personality of a small child with the powers of a god. Although good at heart, he doesn’t seem to grasp that mortals are much more than really cool toys. He will help his followers when they are in dire need, but his absent mindedness may very well rend his aid less than helpful. Victor delights in giving “quests” to random adventurers, and he will often bid heroes to quest for useful artifacts rather than offer his help outright. As the god of victory, Victor falls in the domains of strength, luck, and war, and being a mostly benign deity, he also falls in the domain of good.
Typical followers of Victor include unlikely heroes, those who seek out unlikely heroes, and those who wish they were unlikely heroes. Some Kings and Generals still follow him in his old role as god of victory.

metaofantioch
2004-11-30, 09:59 PM
Lenore, Patron of Damsels in Distress
Lawful Good
Portfolio: Protector of Royalty and Royal Bloodlines
Role in the Pantheon: Minor goddess, sister of Victor
Clerical Domains and Options: Law, Good, Protection, Trickery
Granted Weapon: Dagger

The sister of Victor, Lenore was content with her role as the protector of royalty and royal bloodlines. When Vehementis began to threaten the traditional rulers of the land, she decided to take it upon herself to serve a more proactive role in protecting royalty. Her chief concern has become safeguarding “damsels in distress,” a new phenomenon with the proliferation of evil in the world. Lenore’s clergy, rather than relying on “unlikely heroes,” devote themselves to not only protecting said damsels, but also teaching damsels to help themselves through clever subterfuge, thus encouraging postitive female role models ( ;) ). Kidnapping victims and their families also pray to Lenore.
Lenore is a kind and loving deity, taking personal interest in the protection of her worshippers (unlike her somewhat thick-skulled brother, Victor). When a princess or other royal is kidnapped, she may, however, delegate the rescue attempt to adventurers rather than intervening too much in the affairs of mortals. Lenore’s chief domain is protection, but she also teaches her disciples tricks of deception to avoid capture and to bide their time.
Typical followers of Lenore include the royals she protects and others dedicated to this cause. Nursemaids of royalty will often devote themselves to Lenore. Some princesses actually become her clerics.

metaofantioch
2004-11-30, 10:09 PM
Vehementis, Patron of Evil Megalomaniacs
Neutral Evil
Portfolio: Evil Plots, World Domination, Mad Cackling, and anything created “To Rule Them All”
Role in the Pantheon: Outcast god
Clerical Domains and Options: Evil, Strength, Trickery, War
Granted Weapon: Flail

The origins of Vehementis remain shrouded in mystery. He is seemingly unrelated to the other deities of the realms, though he has claimed to be the father of… well, nearly every deity and demigod. Upon entering the realms, Vehementis began gathering to his side all the forces of evil he could find. His chief followers were those like-minded beings who sought world domination at any cost… or, barring that, world destruction. It was these who he taught the subtle arts of evil laughter, secret lair construction, and how to leave the hero in an overly complicated trap and merely assume he gets taken care of. Although he is basically a God-Emperor to his followers, Vehementis generally rules from a more distant position, allowing the Evil Overlords who serve him to do most of the work. (Note that Vehementis resides in the realms themselves in avatar form, but if it suits your campaign better, he may take a less active role like the other gods.)
Vehementis is an evil megalomaniac like many of his followers. He is egotistical, grandiose, and even a bit mad. He also has a habit of creating evil artifacts “to rule them all.” His tenets are war upon the forces of justice, destruction of all that is good, trickery of the good guys to reach your own ends, and general evil-ness.
Typical followers of Vehementis include evil megalomaniacs and their henchmen.


Coming soon (I hope!): the patron gods of Wise Old Sages and Trusty Henchmen.

ArlEammon
2004-11-30, 10:34 PM
Make a cliche god of magic. ;D, and please tell their divine ranks.

metaofantioch
2004-12-06, 01:35 AM
Okay, finally, two more dieties to give the pantheon a total of five. If I have some time between now and the deadline, I may tweak these a bit.

Armin, sorry, but what do you mean by divine ranks? I'm a bit new to designing dieties, as may be apparent.


Esras, Patron of Wise Old Sages
True Neutral
Portfolio: Wisdom, Teaching, and Plot Spoilers
Role in the Pantheon: Elder minor god
Clerical Domains and Options: Knowledge, Magic, Death
Granted Weapon: Quarterstaff

Esras is one of the oldest gods in existence. Esras is the god of wisdom, and has always taken pride in possessing all knowledge. However, after some millennia, he realized that knowing everything isn’t very fun… unless you can rub it in the face of those who know less than you. So it was that Esras granted a small fraction of his wisdom to certain humans, who would become the requisite ‘wise old sages’ of the realms. These followers of Esras constantly seek to increase their own knowledge, and then to flaunt it towards everyone else. Some of these will give plot points freely, while others will only reveal their wisdom after receiving some sort of payment or after a quest of sorts has been completed.
Esras is extremely wise, and he likes to make sure everyone knows this. However, he does not share mortals everything he knows: this resulted in a few exploding heads early on. Rather, he grants only select knowledge, and only to those deemed worthy. His primary domain is knowledge, but he also knows the mysteries of magic, as well as that most mysterious phenomenon to humans: death.
Typical followers of Esras are those who seek knowledge and wisdom, including sages, scholars, wizards, and philosophers, as well as teachers.


Sedgewick, Patron of Trusty Sidekicks
Lawful Neutral
Portfolio: Loyalty, Steadfastness, Comic Relief, and Henchmen
Role in the Pantheon: Minor god
Clerical Domains and Options: Law, Protection, Travel
Granted Weapon: Shortsword

Back in the early days of the divine realm, chaos ran rampant. The mostly egotistical deities, though they had no problem performing feats of… well, gods, they would always ignore everyday tasks like cleaning the halls of Valhalla or remembering to stop the flooding of the Nile. The minor deity Sedgewick was created specifically for these sorts of tasks. In order to stop him from becoming lax, Sedgewick was made loyal above all else. When chaos began to take hold of the earthly realm, Sedgewick took notice of the plight of those like him: hirelings, henchmen, and sidekicks. He has since used his powers to grant these poor fellows protection from the dangers often brought upon them through association with heroes and adventurers.
Sedgewick is loyal to the extreme and excruciatingly optimistic. Besides being devoted to order, he is concerned with the issues concerning trusty sidekicks, such as traveling to the ends of the Earth and protection from untimely death.
Typical followers of Sedgewick are themselves trusty sidekicks. Cleaners, menial laborers, and temp workers may also pray to him. Note that Sedgewick tries to protect all loyal henchmen, whether they serve the forces of Good or Evil.

Hydro
2004-12-06, 10:20 AM
Ha! I LOVE them! :D


Divine rank is a concept intriduced in Dieties and Demigods. It represents a given god's exact status among the dieties (on a scale from one to twenty, I believe); the normal "demigod", "intermediate diety", etc. labels are in fact a generalization of divine rank. In a god's stat block, divine rank is applied as a divine bonus to pretty much everything (skill checks, ac, etc.). It's not realy all that useful, just something fun that some gamers like to think about.

Divine ranks are not required in the contest, though, and in this particular case I don't think they would add anything to your creation in terms of utility or humor.


One day I am going to run a game using this pantheon . . . ^_^
Well done Meta!

metaofantioch
2004-12-06, 10:24 PM
Hydro, thanks! The pantheon started as a joke-idea, but the more I develop them, the more I'm growing connected to these guys! Since I don't own Deities and Demigods, I'll skip divine ranks, as I'd just be guessing basically.

Rune
2004-12-09, 09:14 PM
If you really want to know about Divine Ranks, they are part of the SRD. You can find the rules in the downloads from WotC, or read them on the web here: http://www.d20srd.org/

However, creating such detailed descriptions of the deities is hardly ever necessary.

Great pantheon, by the way ;D

The Giant
2004-12-10, 12:25 PM
This is hilarious. I love that the God of Knowledge exists to rub his wisdom in other people's faces.

If I may be so bold, I think your pantheon needs a God of Thieves Who Seem Tough But Really Have a Heart of Gold. Also, maybe a Goddess of Elves Who Are Better at Everything, ;D

metaofantioch
2004-12-10, 04:18 PM
Thank you, Rune and Rich. I probably won't throw in any Deities and Demigods material here, but the SRD is very useful for future reference. The "God of Thieves Who Seem Tough But Really Have a Heart of Gold" is similar to my idea for a God of "Charming Goodhearted Rogues." I hadn't thought of the Elven one, but I really like it. It also opens a whole new realm of racial dieties... the Lord of Grumpy Dwarven Mercenary-Smiths, the God of Stupid but Lovable Half-Orc Barbarians, the Goddess of Obvious Halfling Thieves, etc. Hm, if I have time between finals, I might throw in some extra stuff today. I'll have to check the rules again though, I forget if today or yesterday was the last day to make edits.