Very Simplistic First Homebrew

[GM_3826]

So, I just noticed that I had already made my first homebrew. It had escaped me this entire time, apparently. I statted out the Shinto gods, or the major kami (according to Wikipedia, anyway; There's no twelve Olympians or anything, so sorting out what is major or non-major generally requires an expert), according to the stat tables at the end of the Player's Handbook. Here they are.



Deity
Alignment
Suggested Domains
Symbol


Amaterasu, goddess of the sun
Neutral Good
Light, Life
Red sun


Ama-no-Uzume, goddess of dawn and revelry
Chaotic Good
Light, Trickery, Life
Sake


Fujin, god of wind
Neutral Evil
Tempest
Bag of winds


Hachiman, god of war and agriculture
Lawful Good
War, Life
Dove


Inari Okami, deity of rice and fertility
Neutral Good
Life, Nature
Fox


Izanagi, god of creation and life
Lawful Good
Life
Spear


Izanami, goddess of creation and death
Chaotic Evil
Death
Maggots


Ninigi, god of rice
Neutral Good
Life
Rice


Omoikane, deity of wisdom and intelligence
Lawful Good
Knowledge
Mirror


Otohime, dragon goddess
Lawful Neutral
Life
Sea serpent


Raijin, god of thunder and lightning
Neutral Evil
Tempest
Drum


Ryujin, dragon god of the sea
Neutral
Tempest
Tide jewels


Suijin, god of water
Neutral Good
Life, Nature
Stone


Susanoo, god of storms and the sea
Chaotic Neutral
Tempest, Trickery
Kusanagi


Tenjin, god of scholarship and storms
Lawful Good
Knowledge, Tempest
Ume tree


Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto, god of the moon
Neutral
Light
Rabbit

[Princess]

This looks more like world-building than general homebrew (which usually refers to homebrew mechanics in these parts), but everything looks functional to me. My only question would be, were you making a deliberate decision to make the War and Death domains more rare by only giving them to one faith? Because every other domain shows up more than once here, and it's generally best to include more than one deity of any given domain, as the domains are intended to be rather vague and flexible.

[GM_3826]

This looks more like world-building than general homebrew (which usually refers to homebrew mechanics in these parts), but everything looks functional to me. My only question would be, were you making a deliberate decision to make the War and Death domains more rare by only giving them to one faith? Because every other domain shows up more than once here, and it's generally best to include more than one deity of any given domain, as the domains are intended to be rather vague and flexible.

I attempted to give as many domains to as many deities as possible, but the War and Death domains don't fit most of these, and looking for some more gods to represent them would be tough as I'm not even certain Shinto HAS a word for god. They're there, but trying to distinguish which is which (since both gods and spirits are called kami) would be difficult.

As for this being general world-building, I wouldn't really count this as general world building because of the domains. Still, I can see why you'd think that.

[Princess]

I attempted to give as many domains to as many deities as possible, but the War and Death domains don't fit most of these, and looking for some more gods to represent them would be tough as I'm not even certain Shinto HAS a word for god. They're there, but trying to distinguish which is which (since both gods and spirits are called kami) would be difficult.

As for this being general world-building, I wouldn't really count this as general world building because of the domains. Still, I can see why you'd think that.

Right, but you aren't making new rules in so much as you are applying them to a new faith - Shinto. And if I had to guess WotC probably considered putting something like this in the core book but may have decided against it as it has too many current subscribers (Because the other historical religions they did convert were both altered and definitely represent a minority of currently religious folks).

Susanoo is neither a spirit of death or war per se, but he does go to battle and slay things, so consider whether a cleric of Susanoo could take either of those. It doesn't have to be the most obvious choice to still be a good one, and that way you'd be adding a way for a an almost opposite alignment to have access to the War Domain.

Ōhoyamatsumi was a brother of Amaterasu associated with Nature and War. Sarutahiko Ōkami has associations with Martial Arts and as a protector, so he might serve as a useful more Neutral source of the War domain.

Izanami could also use another domain due to her Creation aspect - which one, I'm not sure, but Life would actually make some sense, as she does create life at one point. Just because Life and Death seem opposite doesn't make them so, and there's already an example of a Death/Life deity in the main book. Of course, this may be something you've chosen to change to D&D-ify Shinto, and/or emphasize the dichotomy between her and Izanagi.

But for the most part, this is a pretty solid D&D pantheon based on Shinto, so good job.