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RabanoDOOM
2016-04-09, 12:50 PM
I'm running a campaign (actually the 1st campaign I've ever dm'd) with 2 of my friends, where, instead of using D&D gods, the main races follow actual mythologies. Most of the humans follow greek gods, dwarves and gnomes follow norse gods, the orcs follow japanese gods, and the halflings blend with wherever they live. I'm having trouble choosing a suitable pantheon for the elves, though. Does anybody know a good pantheon of gods that would thematically suit the elves very well?

ImNotTrevor
2016-04-09, 12:57 PM
I'm running a campaign (actually the 1st campaign I've ever dm'd) with 2 of my friends, where, instead of using D&D gods, the main races follow actual mythologies. Most of the humans follow greek gods, dwarves and gnomes follow norse gods, the orcs follow japanese gods, and the halflings blend with wherever they live. I'm having trouble choosing a suitable pantheon for the elves, though. Does anybody know a good pantheon of gods that would thematically suit the elves very well?

Hindu, or rhey could follow a Zen path like Bhuddism.

Kitten Champion
2016-04-09, 12:58 PM
The Tuatha De Danann, maybe?

Gildedragon
2016-04-09, 01:17 PM
They could practice a form of ancestor worship with certain individuals ascending to familial, local, or cultural god-heroes

Similar to that they might have a handful of powerful gods, a triad or ogdoad...

They could also practice a monist or monotheistic religion

I'd look to Egypt, Levant and Mesopotamia for mythologies you haven't touched on.

Though if separating religions by race, maybe split the gnomish and dwarvish faiths: not unlike geek-roman religious distinctions or germanic-scandinavian religion. Similar, not identical.

Also consider that polytheistic religions are prone to mishmashing, a god that works well for one region might be imported into another.

2D8HP
2016-04-09, 02:19 PM
If your using 5e D&D since they're in the PHB, I would just use the Celtic pantheon listed. It's right there but still unfamiliar enough (compared to Greek and Norse) that it would be sufficiently "alien" (Japanese for Orcs? I never would have thunk it).
Years ago I found that as fun as it is for the GM, most players just don't care that much about elaborate "world building ". I remember some of the most successful sessions I GM'd were basically cribbed from movie plots, they don't need to be "high quality films" either (I remember that a mash-up of "Conan the Destroyer" and "Young Sherlock Holmes" worked very well). In fact while it was frustrating at first, I found that the less I pre-prepared, and the more I improvised on the spot, the better the players liked it.
Sadly most of my earlier RPG materials are deep in storage ( 3e and earlier D&D, with more other RPG's then I have the courage to guess), but now that my son has turned the age I was when I first picked up an RPG (the "blue book" D&D basic set), while I can probably still run 1970's D&D or 1980's Call of Cthullu by memory, I just went to our local library where they had all the 5e core books, plus "Princes of the Apocalypse"and the 3.5 PHB! Cheap and Easy!
Except for character creation, try to open the rulebooks as little as possible when your actually playing. If you misremember a rule? So what! It's your game! Usually keeping the action flowing is more important. You can cop to your mistake later, or just declare it "home brew".
Good luck, and have fun!

Comet
2016-04-09, 02:22 PM
If elves equate to archers living in nature I might go with with slavic, celtic or north american.

If elves equate to wizards living in white towers I might look towards the middle east, asia or south america.

If I wanted elves to be weird and smug and fingers in every pie I'd make them straight up thelemic.

Regitnui
2016-04-09, 02:31 PM
Celtic as ancestor worship. They are descended from fey, after all, and fey are descended from the Celtic tradition.

SirBellias
2016-04-09, 02:38 PM
You could make them all slightly off the wall cultists types. I've always wanted to make a race particularly weak to some mad god. Have you found the yellow sign?

But yeah, using Celtic or Egyptian is a good idea if you're using 5e, because they're already in the book for easy reference.

Keep in mind that your players may be all "hey, that cool" and then completely ignore it from then on. One of my groups does that with just about every detail meant to flesh out the world without clear use for them.

2D8HP
2016-04-09, 02:44 PM
Keep in mind that your players may be all "hey, that cool" and then completely ignore it from then on. One of my groups does that with just about every detail meant to flesh out the world without clear use for them.
Now that's the wisdom of an experienced DM!

RabanoDOOM
2016-04-09, 02:59 PM
If your using 5e D&D since they're in the PHB, I would just use the Celtic pantheon listed. It's right there but still unfamiliar enough (compared to Greek and Norse) that it would be sufficiently "alien" (Japanese for Orcs? I never would have thunk it).

One of the players is a Half-Orc Rogue named Shuko, and we agreed that it'd be cool if the orcs had a sort of samurai culture, so that's where that idea came from. :smallbiggrin:

Talakeal
2016-04-09, 04:08 PM
Celtic could work.

In my setting elves worship the Vanir pantheon of Norse gods, a group which is distinct from the typical Aesir gods like Thor and Odin.

You could also go with the Greek Titans.

falcon1
2016-04-09, 04:16 PM
Celtic or ancestor worship seems like it could work.

Also, what's thelemic?

Beleriphon
2016-04-09, 04:26 PM
I'm running a campaign (actually the 1st campaign I've ever dm'd) with 2 of my friends, where, instead of using D&D gods, the main races follow actual mythologies. Most of the humans follow greek gods, dwarves and gnomes follow norse gods, the orcs follow japanese gods, and the halflings blend with wherever they live. I'm having trouble choosing a suitable pantheon for the elves, though. Does anybody know a good pantheon of gods that would thematically suit the elves very well?

I'm a fan of the Celestial Bureaucracy found in Taoist/Chinese Buddhism.

JoeJ
2016-04-09, 04:51 PM
In my setting elves worship the Vanir pantheon of Norse gods, a group which is distinct from the typical Aesir gods like Thor and Odin.

That fits perfectly with the myth that has Alfheim ruled over by Freyr.

Rumpus
2016-04-09, 04:51 PM
Lots of good ideas here. You could also go with an "immortal" god-king. Or, if you're looking to go truly off the wall, have them worship the Lovecraftian pantheon. Cthulu fthagn!

Friv
2016-04-09, 05:02 PM
I'm running a campaign (actually the 1st campaign I've ever dm'd) with 2 of my friends, where, instead of using D&D gods, the main races follow actual mythologies. Most of the humans follow greek gods, dwarves and gnomes follow norse gods, the orcs follow japanese gods, and the halflings blend with wherever they live. I'm having trouble choosing a suitable pantheon for the elves, though. Does anybody know a good pantheon of gods that would thematically suit the elves very well?

Definitely either Celtic or Egyptian, for my two cents. Celtic would be a very "classic/traditional" feel, since a lot of existing elven stuff is based on a mixture of Celtic and Norse myth. Egypt would give you that "we believe in continuity, stasis, and justice" feel that the high elves often have in traditional D&D settings, while adding whole layers of interesting new stuff.

Personally, I think Egypt would be more fun and unique. A lot of Egyptian mythology is heavily inspired by the fact that Egypt was simultaneously in a desert, and on the Nile, with incredibly fertility side-by-side with near-wasteland, so if your elves are entirely forest-dwellers, the mythology might be that writ large. The forest is safe, the forest is bounteous, and beyond the forest lie the Children of Set, who are violent, and untrustworthy. The land where there are elves gives to you, and you give back, and the lands beyond are a savage wasteland. Do not go to the lands beyond.

Anonymouswizard
2016-04-09, 05:11 PM
I agree with Egyptian gods being interesting. Give them a sect that believes Aten is the only God (so they can say their God is literally better than your God, due to him existing).

Or, if you want to play up 'elves think they are better', some form of atheism or agnosticism. Have them split along philosophical lines, and have fun.

2D8HP
2016-04-09, 07:10 PM
Celtic or ancestor worship seems like it could work.

Also, what's thelemic?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDVLMS_Yhe4

Just so damn METAL!

Douche
2016-04-09, 07:37 PM
If your using 5e D&D since they're in the PHB, I would just use the Celtic pantheon listed. It's right there but still unfamiliar enough (compared to Greek and Norse) that it would be sufficiently "alien" (Japanese for Orcs? I never would have thunk it).

Ive seen orcs be sorta Japanese in a few media. I believe Skyrim had it that way a bit. Warcraft also makes their Blademasters be all samurai-esque.

It sorta makes sense, orcs are usually presented as the "proud warrior race" which sorta goes along with the pop culture version of bushido

Joe the Rat
2016-04-09, 09:35 PM
I keep wanting to give my Dwarves a japanese / bushido base. Honor, clan before self, warrior culture... only you have better metal, and fewer horses.


I like the idea of Egyptian Elves - in part because of the perception of it being so old. It's like the original mythos, man!

Amphetryon
2016-04-09, 09:45 PM
Fan of the 'Native American mythos Elves' idea, myself.

Admiral Squish
2016-04-09, 10:12 PM
'Native american' isn't exactly descriptive.
Aztec or Mayan would work if the elves live in a forest/jungle. Blood sacrifices to the sun god, feather and animal-hide ceremonial garb, massive stone pyramids rising suddenly from the dense jungles...
Inca could be made to work too, if you adapt some aspects of mountain life to dwelling in titanic trees. A proto-communist society with tiered farms built on trees, incredible bridges connecting structures woven out of living branches...
Pacific Northwest's pretty good, if you're thinking more of a temperate jungle kind of thing.

Personally, Egyptian's cool as hell, but environment's important to consider. Unless they live on a verdant river delta in the middle of the desert, it wouldn't really fit. Would you worship a crocodile god if you didn't live anywhere near crocodiles and rivers weren't an important water source?

2D8HP
2016-04-10, 12:29 AM
Fan of the 'Native American mythos Elves' idea, myself.
Even though this contradicts my previous post, I second this! From what I read in the book "Empire of the Summer Moon", the Cheyenne were pretty badass to!

Amphetryon
2016-04-10, 05:47 AM
'Native american' isn't exactly descriptive.
Aztec or Mayan would work if the elves live in a forest/jungle. Blood sacrifices to the sun god, feather and animal-hide ceremonial garb, massive stone pyramids rising suddenly from the dense jungles...
Inca could be made to work too, if you adapt some aspects of mountain life to dwelling in titanic trees. A proto-communist society with tiered farms built on trees, incredible bridges connecting structures woven out of living branches...
Pacific Northwest's pretty good, if you're thinking more of a temperate jungle kind of thing.


1. I was seconding another poster's verbiage in using the broad 'Native American' descriptor. Leaving it broad was just possibly a deliberate choice based on lack of information about the GM's geo-political and societal positioning of Elves within the world being run, as all those things can influence the most appropriate Native American mythology from which to draw.

2. At least one older version of D&D uses it in the same broad sense, so a person using that edition would have an actual prefabricated mythos, complete with stats for the deities, by searching under those parameters.

3. Given that none of the other suggestions left Eurasia (excepting the Egyptian suggestions which - for complicated real-world reasons - tie heavily to the European), 'Native American' is still a divergent suggestion from the others here.

4. "Mediterranean microclimate" is the term you're thinking of for the Pacific NW, rather than 'temperate jungle'. . . assuming it references the region of the contiguous United States with that designation, and not, for example, the Pacific northwest region of Canada.

Admiral Squish
2016-04-10, 10:37 AM
1. I was seconding another poster's verbiage in using the broad 'Native American' descriptor. Leaving it broad was just possibly a deliberate choice based on lack of information about the GM's geo-political and societal positioning of Elves within the world being run, as all those things can influence the most appropriate Native American mythology from which to draw.

2. At least one older version of D&D uses it in the same broad sense, so a person using that edition would have an actual prefabricated mythos, complete with stats for the deities, by searching under those parameters.

3. Given that none of the other suggestions left Eurasia (excepting the Egyptian suggestions which - for complicated real-world reasons - tie heavily to the European), 'Native American' is still a divergent suggestion from the others here.

4. "Mediterranean microclimate" is the term you're thinking of for the Pacific NW, rather than 'temperate jungle'. . . assuming it references the region of the contiguous United States with that designation, and not, for example, the Pacific northwest region of Canada.

Sorry, it's just that saying 'native american' and implying that's anything more specific than 'eurasian' has become one of my pet peeves ever since I started researching native american cultures. I didn't mean to sound confrontational, I just wanted to get a little more specific.

'Temperate jungle' wasn't the right term, but I was referring to the pacific temperate rainforests (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_temperate_rainforests_(WWF_ecoregion)), not a mediterranean microclimate.