Why some deities have more domains than others?

[Dr TPK]

Let's look at Core.
Saint Cuthbert is an intermediate deity of retribution. He gets four domains, including Law domain.
Wee Jas is a lesser deity of magic and death. She gets three domains. She is lawful, but doesn't get Law domain.
Nerull is a greater deity of death. He gets three domains.

I'm trying to understand the logic why some deities get more domains than others. Can you help me?

In addition, I'm creating a deity of critical hits and fumbles. It's going to a chaotic neutral demigod. I have chosen Chaos, Luck and Destruction as his domains, but would he get a fourth domain and what should be suitable? I was thinking Suffering...

[DrMotives]

Suffering, Hatred, Wrath, & Patience all seem in line. And as for why the number of domains is like it is, I bet the designers just told themselves to pick 3 or so for every deity. Non-core they just added new domains to whatever god felt appropriate to them, which really mixes up how many each god gets.

[Âmesang]

From what I recall regarding Deities and Demigods, all deities start with three Domains by default and can obtain more via their salient divine abilities — assuming you chose to give deities "stats." :smalltongue:

As for the desparity between the amount of Domains, well… do more specialized, focused deities really need so many Domains? Wee Jas is an intermediete Suel deity who received the Death Domain as a result of the destruction cause to the Suel Imperium by the Rain of Colorless Fire, but was a deity of magic and beauty/vanity prior to that. Nerull, while being a greater deity of the Flan people, really does nothing but death, no?

Fewer spheres of influence seem to indicate (to me) a lesser need for Domains. If Nerull were also a god of winter, I'm sure there'd be some sort of Cold Domain you could tack onto him. Granted, this kind of discussion might be why Complete Divine added/switched some Domains to the core/GREYHAWK® pantheon.

[GilesTheCleric]

Suffering, Hatred, Wrath, & Patience all seem in line. And as for why the number of domains is like it is, I bet the designers just told themselves to pick 3 or so for every deity. Non-core they just added new domains to whatever god felt appropriate to them, which really mixes up how many each god gets.

This is my leaning as well. If you look at a list of all deities, core deities for each setting tend to have far more choices than lesser-known deities simply because they were in more books that added domains. Of course, one could argue that these core deities are more general and over-arching than the other deities, and thus make sense to have more domains.

Why is this thread listed as an index?

[Lekgolo137]

As I replied on the Simple RAW thread:


A deity has at least three domains. Deities can have more than three domains if they possess the Extra Domain salient divine ability.

Deities start with only 3 domains, they can have more if they possess the Extra Domain salient divine ability, and since you can take it multiple times, there is no real limit to the amount of domains a deity can have.

[Darth Ultron]

I'm trying to understand the logic why some deities get more domains than others. Can you help me?

.

There is, of course, the real world answer:

Core only has the 22 domains and the 19 gods. Some domains like fire and healing were made with only one god in mind, others like good and evil with more. So with the limited domains and gods there was just not enough for everyone to get an equal number. Not without making like a dozen more domains.

The Deities and Demigods is a good example of an ignored rule. After all, lots of books add lots of more domains. And suddenly some gods get lots of extra domains.

[Dr TPK]

Why is this thread listed as an index?

Because I couldn't figure out any better option.

[nedz]

Its the old thing of things in one splat book rarely assume the existence of another.

Basically lots of deities were added in certain settings books and these will only include core domains or domains from that setting. Further domains were added in various books, CDiv for instance, and these domains will only get added to Core deities.

But the DM can change this - and should in their own setting.

[the_david]

The Deities and Demigods explanation seems vague. It sounds more like a retroactive solution for Deities and Demigods.

Sean K. Reynolds mentioned that all deities should always have their alignment domains. I've seen people disagree, but the reasoning is that if your a lawful deity should have a lawful dogma and thus the lawful domain.
Pathfinder just gave 5 domains to each true deity. Lesser deities gain 4, and mythic characters can get 2-4 domains and up to 4 subdomains.

[nedz]

Well not all domains are equal, but that also varies depending upon how you are using them.

For Clerics: the alignment domains are quite poor. Also some deities have different alignments in different sources. Some domains overlap too {Weather, Windstorm, Storm} etc.

[AeonsShadow]

Wee Jas is a lesser deity of magic and death. She gets three domains. She is lawful, but doesn't get Law domain.

MORTALS LAWS ARE FOR MORTAL MEN, TO WHICH THEY USE THEM TO RUN AND HIDE. BUT IN YOUR FINAL BED, WEE JAS WILL FIND YOU, FOR DEATHS ONLY LAW IS TIME.

To a god, their domains represent not only what they govern, but who they are and thier very natures. Not every god NEEDS a bunch of domains, because the more domains they govern, the more thier core personality gets altered and distorted. Too many domains in thier folder could hurt them more than help them.