God Popularity

[hivedragon]

Which gods do your players most often worship?
Which god's clergy do you most often use as NPCs?

[DiBastet]

The goddess Dheia of my campaign setting. She's got basicaly the same porftolio of Sune Firehair of the realms: She's the goddess of beauty, art, sex and birth. And her prc lets people use Appearance (char for games without this stat) as armor and as main spellcasting ability. People love her.

In other games I see is usually Pelor if basic or, again, Sune if realms. But then we're brazilians, we only care for looks.

[Lateral]

Lessee...

Well, one of my friends always worships one of two gods: O-Chul, if he's good, and Pelor if he's neutral or evil. Whenever he worships O-Chul, he inevitably will be at loggerheads with another friend who often worships Chuck Norris or Bruce Lee, depending on whether he's playing a Warblade or a Swordsage.
This other guy likes to worship any sort of meme- related god; he's made a Warlock who worshipped "the floating lazor in the sky," a battle cleric whose battle cry was "For my deity! LEEROY JENKINS!" (actual quote), and one barbarian/warblade. Y'get one guess as to what he said every time he used Iron Heart Surge.

...Yeah, I have a weird party. But I love 'em anyway. :smallsigh: :smallbiggrin:

[Honest Tiefling]

Typically, any god whose domain is crowbars, looting, and destruction. No, I am not kidding. One of my players was told that her super hero could not be 'Collateral Damage' before we found Mr. Welsh's list. She is also the one who always requests a crowbar for looting, which is a practice that is being picked up by the rest of the party.

[The-Mage-King]

I, personally, make every melee focused character who's alignment falls in the CN-G area worship the best god ever (http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Cayden_Cailean).

You know it to be true.

[Vent Reynolt]

Nearly every cleric player that I have gamed with either worshiped either Wee-Jas or Pelor.

Personally my favorite D&D Deity is Fharlanghn. Something about exploring a nearly endless larger-than-life fantasy world seems really fun to me. Perhaps it is because I watch too much Doctor Who and One Piece.

[Xanmyral]

God that my character normally pray to? None/Eyth of Infidel (Obscure Game Reference). I personally blame my deep seated, yet often tempered and redirected, seething hatred for anything that has the immense control and ability to deny freedom of thought/action. Don't know how it got there, but it's there. If I were forced to pick, it would probably be some profane mixture of Vecna, Nerull, and Boccob with a true neutral spin on it. For NPC's, I just pick one closest to their personality, or just roll a properly sided die with choices to choose randomly.

I've played in a group with someone who worshiped a Greyhawk (Can't recall the name of the setting, hope this is right.) god for honor, was interesting.

@The-Mage-King ~ Wow, just wow. Not your typical deity, is he? I will admit, best I've heard so far, or at least the most humorous.

[Talya]

Which gods do your players most often worship?
Which god's clergy do you most often use as NPCs?


Last several characters created with intent to play them (successful or not):
Ehlonna
Eilistraee
Hanali Celanil
Sune x2
Lurue
Wee Jas
Sif
Beshaba
Manethak, the wise hunter

[The-Mage-King]

@The-Mage-King ~ Wow, just wow. Not your typical deity, is he? I will admit, best I've heard so far, or at least the most humorous.

He's prehaps the best thing to come from the Pathfinder setting, other than maybe the Pathfinder (organization (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/core-rulebook/pathfinder-chronicler)) prestige (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/n-r/pathfinder-delver) classes (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/n-r/pathfinder-savant). Those are pretty nifty.

[Amphetryon]

Sovereign Host in Eberron.

In FR, Meilikki (SP?) usually wins, though I had one player who insisted on worship of Finder Wyvernspur. I'll leave you to figure out why.

In the default "Greyhawk Lite" cosmos, Bahamut usually wins.

[FMArthur]

Bahamut is the god I make most NPC champions of Good worship, even though he is totally dead in my current campaign, having died to save the material plane from the Far Realm eons past. His worshippers unknowingly receive their spells from Heironeous, with the uneducated believing it means he is still alive and the more educated believing that it comes from the divine source of ideals.

For evil folk I like Vecna quite a bit. I can't help but litter my campaign worlds with dark secrets, often kept by mysterious cultists of Vecna. Hextor receives the most followers out of the evil ones, being viewed as a Good god by various evil empires.

Neutrals get Fharlanghn (travellers) and Olidammara (thieves). Most people may be Neutral in D&D, but 99% of them believe they are good and worship the good gods in my settings, so neutral worship doesn't come up much among NPCs.

My players don't seem interested in gods. The one with the most mention is probably Moradin on account of the one player who's always a dwarf and needs to establish his status as a dwarf by speaking of the dwarven god of dwarfism.

[byaku rai]

Banjo, with the domains of Puppets, Musical Instruments, and Comedy.

[crazyhedgewizrd]

i like venca as a god, one time i was playing a cleric of venca and the big evil organisation was the church of venca we had to fight, i had to make a big choice my god or party members.

i find common is the fact that DM dont pay atention to the gods the players use.

[Draig]

Banjo, with the domains of Puppets, Musical Instruments, and Comedy.

Epic Deity Win.

I personally always like Pelor because while for the entire history of my groups DND campaigns they have seen Pelor as the unstoppable force of good they are just starting to realize that Pelor is not all sunshine and rainbows as they assumed.

[gorfnab]

Mystra is always a decent choice. There are quite a few feats, prestige classes, alternate class features, and other stuff associated with worshiping her.

[Gnome Alone]

I'll throw another vote in for Fharlangh, god of roads. Dude spends all his time just strolling down the road on the material plane, briefly talking politely with travelers. Gotta love that.

[big teej]

Which gods do your players most often worship?
Which god's clergy do you most often use as NPCs?

gods my players worship the most
by my count, I have
1 worshipper of heiroinious
1 worshipper of moradin
1 worshipper of Garl Glittergold
1 worshipper of Kord?

in the other campaign (I'm not DMing) we have...
1 worshipper of garl glittergold
2 worshipper of Olidammara?
1 worshipper of Kord
1 worshipper of sigmar

NPC gods
the great majority of my NPCs are affiliated with non-deities... sooo....I may have one or two that worship say... vecna? or erythnul

and as for my own characters (going through all of my characters)
also, for the record, a few characters worship multiple deities

Boccobx4
Olidammarax5
Ehlonax3
Taalx1
Grimnirx1
Grungix2
Vallayax2
Khornex1
Obad-Haix2
Wee-Jasx8
Kordx4
Kavakix1
Sigmarxx
The Great Mawx2
Pelorx2
Gorkx1
Morkx1
Optimus Primex1
Heironiousx1
Kryptax1
Abstaintionistx3
"undevoted"x2
Kaela Mensha Kainex1

interesting.... I had no idea so many of my character's worshipped wee-Jas

[Falin]

Well, Clucky (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVHtDoPLkAM&feature=related) of course.

[Alleran]

I've had a fairly wide variety. Some of the more common ones, though:

Mystra (for particularly magic-oriented individuals, or the occasional few looking to make a Cheater of Mystra)
Tyr (for the Paladins)
Bahamut (Lord of the North Wind, the Platinum Dragon... you get the drift)
Kamina (WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?!)
Vecna (usually evil PCs and NPCs, but I've had a few neutral ones)
Pelor (The Burning Hate variety)
Optimus Prime (no joke - I had a player go for a Paladin worshipping Optimus, and oh lawdy did he outright nail that characterisation)
Shaundakul (always good for adventurers and explorers)

[Midnight_v]

Pelor (The Burning Hate variety)
That is so awesome, I though everyone had forgotten that. :smallsmile:

I like to have my pcs worship little known gods, and often forgotten gods, but its dependant on the campaign.
Grumbar (The Gnarly One!)
Garagos (The reaver, the lord of war)
I've done both of them in faerun and my brother had a pally that worshiped siamorphe.
Sadly I don't get to play so much as dm.
I have waaay to many insane cultist, but its so cool have them worship this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z65s0fqDw4
or something very similar to him. Its funny to see the looks on people faces when they realize....

[Almagesto]

Which gods do your players most often worship?
Which god's clergy do you most often use as NPCs?

My players usually go for either Pelor, St. Cuthbert, or Corellon Larethian.

My good NPCs are either Pelor of St. Cuthbert and my evil NPCs are Vecna or Wee Jas more often than not.

[Honest Tiefling]

Another post! I'll toss in another vote for Wee Jas, as she is one of my personal favorites. I like gods that take on unusual concepts, rather then being 'That good ol' sun god' 'God of Stabbingation, CE'. She has enough mystery to her to feel like a god, such as her relationship with Norebo.

I just wish I could find a Greyhawk game occasionally just to play a follower of her. :smallfrown:

[Malimar]

I once played in a campaign where almost all the PCs worshipped Olidammara. That was, uh, weird.

Villains in my first campaign mostly worshipped a homebrew demigod (Quasxthe, an ascended Mind Flayer), Sekolah (in league with Quasxthe for never-adequately-explained reasons), and Vecna (opposed to Quasxthe, and some cultists of Vecna had prepared a plan and equipment to take Quasxthe down. The PCs beat up the cultists and took their stuff, for the purpose of attempting to take down Quasxthe themselves).

My current campaign, set after the half-failure of the first one, has Quasxthe as one of the more popular gods of the ruling class, even for non-evil characters. (The common people generally worship Valkur (god of sailors) and Yondalla (who has repurposed herself as an agriculture&fertility deity with the near-extinction of halflings)). The current PCs haven't had all that much in the way of dealings with religion yet, though they did recently kill some priests of Pelor and take their stuff.

My players don't generally tend to favour any gods in particular, though I've got one player who usually plays misotheists. (His character from my first campaign, now a high-powered NPC, is on track to becoming the god of misotheism, an oxymoronic concept with which I intend to have some fun.)

[Callista]

I once played in a campaign where almost all the PCs worshipped Olidammara. That was, uh, weird."If I can pry it loose, it's not nailed down"?

I have made it a policy never to have a devout character worship the same deity as any I've played before. Once I go through all of them, I suppose I'll make an exception.

[Kantolin]

I'm fond of Fhar myself. I like the traveling fighter archetype quite a bit. ^_^

Pelor and Kord are most often used in my groups.

[Hazzardevil]

I, personally, make every melee focused character who's alignment falls in the CN-G area worship the best god ever (http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Cayden_Cailean).

You know it to be true.

I thought you were saying the most epic god ever was Kamina for a moment.
Mind you, he sounds like a fun god to worship.
Speaking of which in Religous Education at my school recently we are doing a topic called the smart guide to religion, and we have to make up religions.
I chose Tropism, the worshipping of the almighty tvtropes.

My chosen gods are either Mystra, simply because I like having a physical manifestation of a god I worship, or I acidently made up a evil god of war called zanus, I'm sure he was in the crystalkeep files though.

[Shadowknight12]

As a DM:

Players: The CG goddess of fey, charm, pleasure and joy.

NPCs: The TN goddess of knowledge, wisdom and magic in the first place, followed by the TN god of the harvest, elements and nature and then the aforementioned CG goddess of fey. A handful of NPCs still worship the LE god of elves, tyranny, hatred and domination.

As a player:

The fey goddess, again (she's VERY popular) and the LN goddess of death, laws, community, undead and fate. I really like that last one.

[Kojiro]

Hm. Despite liking Good characters for most of my character concepts, most of my favorite deities are neutral. Olidammara (who, now that I read this article about him, is a pretty awesome trickster god, and interestingly not malevolent, to the point of even planning less-friendly tricks for the more evil gods), Boccob, and St. Cuthbert; Fharlanghn, and Wee-Jas are somewhere behind them, and all of these appeal to me more than any of the Good or Evil gods, with one possible exception. Nerull would get points from me were he not Evil, because, well, death isn't an inherently evil thing, although I suppose that if he opposes all life (including that of Evil things), then his alignment makes sense. Out of all the Good deities, Ehlonna's probably my favorite, and she's the only Good one who competes with Neutrals on my list up there, although some of the other good ones are alright, I suppose. Also, while I probably wouldn't use it in an RPG I was running (unless I felt like being ridiculous), I find the idea of Pelor, the Burning Hate to be hilarious.

Hm, just noticed that my favorite three DnD deities cover the three different [blank] Neutral alignments, and both of the "edge" deities (who are also lesser deities, as opposed to Boccob's greater status) prefer Good to Evil, despite being Neutral themselves (St. Cuthbert's clerics can't even be Evil, while Olidamarra, as mentioned above, generally lacks actual malice in what he does and is more opposed to the Evil gods than the Good ones).

Edit: Oh, huh. Just noticed that none of the deities I have as favorites are the sort that would be widespread in a world I created, due to their various natures. Interesting.

Also, if I ever do play as a cleric, it's definitely going to be one of Olidamarra. It'll have to wear the mask, too, although whether or not it'll be the character's holy symbol is something I'll decide later.

[Mordokai]

Good: Mielikki or Sune, or a local variation of it.

Neutral: Fharlangh or Traveler. I just love those dudes.

Evil:... huh. Let me get back to you on that one.

[Geigan]

My first cleric worshipped shaundakul from FR. He once used the holy day to escape from certain death. I also did Talos once and have been meaning to use him again. Other than that I as a cleric I'll tend to honor several gods to try and cover all my character's values. I mean there are more than enough gods to fill a pantheon with so why worship only one?

[SuperFerret]

Had a dwarven paladin for a while that worshipped Moradin as a primary, but mentioned the other dwarven gods often (Clangeddin being second most common). He felt that he had lost his honor and left his clan (and shaved his beard!) because of that, so he had an interesting relationship with his god regarding his perceived fall from grace and the increasingly difficult tasks he undertook to regain the favor of a pantheon that always looked kindly upon him.

[Malimar]

Oh yeah, as for the characters I've played:

CG half-orc fighter/barbarian worshipped Kord.
LN factotum's deity was "all of them, as needed"; I had a list of the holy symbols he had around (basically one for each of the PHB gods, plus Bahamut, Tiamat, and Lolth). He prayed to a different god each night (I rolled a die). I wish I could have played that character more; I was planning to ham it up so much whenever he used the divine healing ability, "Oh great and grumpy Heironeous, please grant me the power to heal this man Thine cleric, so that he may continue to do great violence to Your foes for Thy glory!"
LE psion/thrallherd worships respects Ilsensine, though there are a couple characters in that party who worship Orcus, so he might switch his allegiance if he thinks it might benefit him; though he's also probably going to order all his believers to worship him as a god, so he's just as likely to switch his deity to "himself".
LG half-ogre paladin of Pelor. Her moral code basically boils down to "smite no non-evil things and leave no evil thing unsmote"; "unsubtle" is probably the best word to describe her.

[big teej]

I'm somewhat familiar with the phrase.

but........

what's this "burning Hate" version of Pelor? it sounds intriguing.

[jvluso]

Pelor, the burning hate is described here (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19558798/Pelor,_the_Burning_Hate).

As a PC, the most common deity of worship is Fharlanghn.

As a DM, the campaign setting has tons of deities, but the people in the city-state where the PC's are from universally worships Pelor, though corruption to the burning hate definitely exists.

[Alleran]

Pelor, the burning hate is described here (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19558798/Pelor,_the_Burning_Hate).
Also here (http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/10476666/). (Note: It is not technically 4chan, but a site that archives particularly interesting threads from the Traditional Games board.)

[Draig]

I have made it a policy never to have a devout character worship the same deity as any I've played before. Once I go through all of them, I suppose I'll make an exception.

That is, of course, unless you begin worshipping previous characters of yours, as well as the DMan and sometimes, when caught on the spot, I have decided to be a devout follower of the nearest furry or aquatic pet nearby. You haven't played a cleric until "my pet kitten Chowder" fills your deity box...

[big teej]

-reading the burning hate article-

-jaw drops-

ooh..... myyyyy.

I can't even.
what.
I


-inarticulate noises-

world.
upside down.
left is right
right is wrong?

I
arg!!!!

[CockroachTeaParty]

Among my players, Kord is rather popular. I've played a lot of Red Hand of Doom, so Tiamat is a recurring villainous goddess in many of my games.

I've played a lot of Eberron too. One of my players loves to worship the Shadow, and the Traveler is always popular as well.

In one of my homebrew settings, far and away the most popular god I ever saw was the Black Rabbit, basically stolen from Watership Down. In the setting, you saw the Black Rabbit approach just as you were about to die, and rabbits were seen as dark omens. My players loved it, for reasons I'm not entirely sure of.

[Gensh]

In my first campaign, half of the players worshiped Ledena, my desert world's CG goddess of hope and oases, being recently-freed slaves, while the other half were atheists. Part of the main quest involved either shutting down or joining the cult of the prophesied god of deicide, and they ended up joining. From then on, any character in my games who wasn't an atheist worshiped him, regardless of the campaign world, and even then, he's technically also the god of atheism, so really the whole party was among his faithful. :smallbiggrin:

[Rethmar]

I've always had a pretty big crush on Mask. Something about his plots within plots, and always getting himself into crazy schemes, even though they don't always work out in his favor. He's so bad ass. :P

He's been well written in all the forgotten realms books he's been used in, as well.

He's the god of thievery, his greatest theft being godhood itself.

[TurtleKing]

For me several have worshiped Garl Glittergold, Moradin, and Pelor. The one that always sticks out in my mind is Wee Jas that my Deathless Fleshgrafter worshiped. Then there is my Prinny who became a Demigod with a long story to that one!

Edit: Oh yea I forgot about my Shadow Marshal ended up becoming the Herald to Zygag. :smallbiggrin:

[Gullintanni]

Another post! I'll toss in another vote for Wee Jas, as she is one of my personal favorites. I like gods that take on unusual concepts, rather then being 'That good ol' sun god' 'God of Stabbingation, CE'. She has enough mystery to her to feel like a god, such as her relationship with Norebo.

I just wish I could find a Greyhawk game occasionally just to play a follower of her. :smallfrown:

Her Greyhawk fluff is superb. I'm going to chime in in favor of Greyhawk Wee Jas too. Honourable mention goes to Sif, from the Norse pantheon. And Pelor, the Burning Hate.

[profitofrage]

Khorne...it always ends up khorne.


Feral World Assasin:
started his thirst for blood when he went up against a road toll. He had to pay 3 gold to pass without problems...another character was going to pay for him...a twig snapped and he decided that for the principal of the matter they all must die. they were level 3...outnumbered 3 to 1...yet 6 rounds later there lay the bodies of the heavily armed bandits..He wanted to remember this moment forever..so he cut off the ears of a few of them..doom style.

End? well hes now carrying around a sack of skulls...human skulls...skulls he cleaned himself...Hes taking crafting skills in order to make a cape out of them. Not armor...just a cape...made of skulls.

Scum:
Started by stealing things..got caught and had to stab a guy to get away...couldnt leave any way of identifying the corpse..so he cut off the guys face O.O Character now has a cape of faces.....

Arbitrator..... this was a lawful good character in a DH game.
Was playing with the other two...after 5 months of turning a blind eye..and was determined that tagging along and making use of there skills was "worth it" He finally snapped and had a spree through a feral world village with his automatic Incendary shotgun because "I cant save these people SO ILL KILL THEM NOW!" He later wore a cape with the names of all he killed....Capes seem to be a theme here....

[Mordokai]

I've always had a pretty big crush on Mask. Something about his plots within plots, and always getting himself into crazy schemes, even though they don't always work out in his favor. He's so bad ass. :P

Yes. Yes, he is :smallbiggrin: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzdR421Ekv8)

[stainboy]

Forgotten Realms:
Players: Tymora, Mystra, Velsharoon, Gruumsh, and Oghma.
Antagonists: Helm and Orcus.

Eberron:
Players: None, really.
Antagonists: Silver Flame (corrupt), Blood of Vol.

Homebrew Setting:
Players: Archangel of war, patron saint of agriculture, patron saint of graveyards (psychopomp, basically).
Antagonists: Archangel loosely based on Metratron, demon lord loosely based on Cernunnos.

[FelixG]

Whenever I have a chance: Lord of Blades

When I cant worship LoB: Science

[big teej]

stealing the cape idea for my skulltaker 30 points for you!

[Telonius]

Fairly eclectic mix in the party I'm DM'ing. It's a mixed setting, with pretty much all gods available. We have one human Pelorite, his Selunite elvish cohort, one dwarf Paladin of St. Cuthbert, a Warforged worshipper of Moradin (who's edging towards Thor (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0743.html)), a Druid for Obad-hai, and a Half-orc Bard (housrule no CHA penalty) worshipper of Heironeous.

When I play, I favor tricksters and travel deities. The Traveler (in Eberron) and Fharlanghn come to mind. Next Cleric I play is probably going to be a Neutral Good cleric of Wee Jas. (Playing him like a funeral home director).

[zyborg]

Garl Glittergold is a good one. My "puppet of mirth" worships Giggles, the god o' Slapstick comedy, and my Kobolds worship Tucker the Strategist. Currently, I'm homebrewing an awesome deity...

[Yorae]

Tymora (i.e., Lady Luck) comes up a surprising amount for a lot of my characters, especially CN or CG ones.

Mystra, as mentioned by lots of people, for any of my characters who are really into magic.

I've got a neutral good necromancer who is really into Evening Glory (she's awesome, look her up).

Sehanine/Selune fairly often for CG characters either instead of Kord (so less about competition/MANLY POWER) or alongside Kord (because he's they are both awesome).

Also have a LG paladin devoted to Tamara / Bahamut, though circumstances push him towards draconic deities -- not sure which others I would use if I wasn't picking draconic ones.

[BlueInc]

My players tend to start religions.

In one of the first campaigns I ever ran, a player came up with the idea of "DMism," worshiping the mystical force that controlled the universe by means of a 20 sided Wheel of Fate. People still occasionally ask me in campaigns if they can worship the DM and I say NO. At first it's hilarious and insightful, but then everything gets too meta.

A different player was a crazed cleric of a god called "Gullah," who was a giant goose with absolutely ridiculous forms of worship. One example: The player started preaching that doing good deeds would get you "heaven points" which were then stored in your feathers or hair. Later, he converted a group of lizardfolk who (I decided) were very concerned that because they had scales and no hair, that they would not accumulate heaven points. So he told them to slaughter wicked unbelievers and take their hair. Oooooh lordy.

My players are always interested in the religions of the worlds I make, but they rarely commit their characters to them.

* * * * * *

Myself, I've worshiped a fair few gods. Right now, I'm playing a Hobgoblin Cleric of a deity of a god called Punt (from a friend's homebrew setting). The hobgoblins in his setting are LN, but incredibly warlike. My character sees dying in GLORIOUS BATTLE to be the greatest goal in life, and tends to say it in caps.