Domains for A God of Secrets?

[Palanan]

What would be some good domains for a god of secrets? I’m aware of Norgorber, but the god I have in mind is true neutral, so Death and Evil don’t apply, and Charm doesn’t quite work either.

“Secrets are not my concern—keeping them is.” That’s the basic philosophy for this god: the concealment of information, whether it’s an illicit love affair, a tortured past, a tome of lost knowledge or a fisherman’s favorite trout hole, anything that anyone wants to keep undisclosed, without regard to the moral context of what is concealed.

So far Knowledge and Protection seem appropriate, but I’m not sure what else would work. What other domains would fit a neutral god of secrets?

[Wartex1]

Maybe Rune, Community, or Nobility?

[Geddy2112]

Nethys and Pharasma are not necessarily deities of secrets, but they do cover magical knowledge and prophecy, and the secrets thereof...

Both have knowledge as well, and you are right to have knowledge for a deity of secrets. Secrets are just uncommon knowledge after all. The espionage and memory subdomains of knowledge are extra fitting.

I also agree about protection being a good choice, since a secret is worthless if you cannot keep it. The solitude domain might be applicable for a deity of secrets.

I disagree about death being something a deity of secrets would not have. What better way to ensure a secret stays safe than to take it to the grave? Dead men tell no tales. Likewise, spells like speak with dead can reveal the secrets of the dead.

I would certainly add trickery to a deity of secrets. Trickery covers lies, deception, misdirection and the like, all useful for keeping secrets. The deception and espionage domains here.

Other good domains would be charm, chaos, law, and darkness.

[Kurald Galain]

Obviously you shouldn't tell your players what the domains are...

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Probably Trickery, possibly one or more alignment domains.

Maybe Illusion and/or Mind as well.

[afroakuma]

• Darkness (Loss subdomain)
• Knowledge (Memory subdomain)
• Protection (Solitude subdomain)
• Trickery (Espionage subdomain)

This gets you accessing forgotten information, as well as obscuring, concealing, and erasing traces of information.

[Psyren]

I disagree about death being something a deity of secrets would not have. What better way to ensure a secret stays safe than to take it to the grave? Dead men tell no tales. Likewise, spells like speak with dead can reveal the secrets of the dead.

This; it seems to me that Death and Secrets would go hand in hand.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Wartex1
Maybe Rune, Community, or Nobility?

I thought about Community, but the granted power doesn’t really fit, and conceptually it’s the opposite of what I’m going for. When I think about information in a community, I think gossip rather than secrets.


Originally Posted by Geddy2112
I would certainly add trickery to a deity of secrets. Trickery covers lies, deception, misdirection and the like, all useful for keeping secrets. The deception and espionage domains here.


Originally Posted by Biffoniacus_Furiou
Maybe Illusion and/or Mind as well.

Okay, I’m sold on Trickery, and Mind is a possibility as well.


Originally Posted by afroakuma
• Darkness (Loss subdomain)
• Knowledge (Memory subdomain)
• Protection (Solitude subdomain)
• Trickery (Espionage subdomain)

This gets you accessing forgotten information, as well as obscuring, concealing, and erasing traces of information.

That’s quite a package there. Suddenly I’m seeing a divine PrC, cleric/rogue hybrid, devoted to protecting hidden knowledge and recovering what’s been stolen.


Originally Posted by Psyren
…it seems to me that Death and Secrets would go hand in hand.

Thanks, but that doesn’t fit the concept I have in mind.


Originally Posted by Kurald Gurain
Obviously you shouldn't tell your players what the domains are...

I see what you did there.

[afroakuma]

That’s quite a package there. Suddenly I’m seeing a divine PrC, cleric/rogue hybrid, devoted to protecting hidden knowledge and recovering what’s been stolen.

Sounds appropriate. I feel Solitude is the right variant of the Protection domain as it deals with the sequestering of the self and of other things from the curious - includes silence and detect scrying in the spell list, though the granted power does puzzle me somewhat. In any event, take a look over the various granted powers and adjustments to the domain spell lists - they're all available through the SRD. I hope it helps.

[daryen]

So, it seems like you have settled on Knowledge, Protection, and Trickery thus far. So that means two more (for a major god).

Obviously Chaos and Law are right out, as you said they were True Neutral.

I do think both Rune (particularly Wards) and Darkness (and Shadow) would work, too.

One not mentioned thus far is Void. The base domain looks like it could work, depending on the flavor you are wanting.

Also, depending on how secrets are kept, you could theoretically include Magic.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by afroakuma
I feel Solitude is the right variant of the Protection domain as it deals with the sequestering of the self and of other things from the curious - includes silence and detect scrying in the spell list, though the granted power does puzzle me somewhat.

The granted power is definitely a head-scratcher, and weaksauce to boot. But Silence is excellent, and Detect Scrying is perfect. And just for pure concept, Solitude is the right aspect of Protection to be invoking.


Originally Posted by daryen
One not mentioned thus far is Void. The base domain looks like it could work, depending on the flavor you are wanting.

I like the Void Domain, but it’s more focused on madness and a taste of cosmic horror, which doesn’t quite work for me here. And the domain spells, while handy, have more to do with modes of transportation than anything else.

I really like afroakuma’s selection, and at this point I’m sold on everything except the Loss subdomain. The baseline Darkness domain is actually more tempting right now. It’s all about concealment and obscuration, and Blind-Fight as a bonus feat is a nice bit of icing.

[Nifft]

[CLASSIFIED] - This domain's powers and spells are unavailable for your own protection.
[REDACTED] - This domain's powers and spells never existed. Why are you looking for them, citizen?
[TOP SECRET] - You don't have sufficient clearance to see this domain's powers or spells.

[Psyren]

Thanks, but that doesn’t fit the concept I have in mind.


Understood, I was just explaining why they go together. (Secrets and assassination - peanut butter and jelly!)

[daryen]

A quick defense of including Void:

If the god is simply focused on keeping things secret and hiding knowledge, then, no, the Void domain is not appropriate.

However.

If the god is really focused on Secret Things and Hidden Knowledge, then it can get interesting. It is one thing to encourage keeping secrets and keeping what you know from others. It is an entirely other thing to place secrets inside secrets locked in a secret, wrapped in a secret, buried in secrets, and placed under a final secret. At that point, the descent into madness and the void is inevitable. In that case, the presence of the Void domain in the god's portfolio should serve as a warning to their potential followers (that will, of course, almost always be ignored) as to how all of these Secrets will inevitably end.

But, for simple secrets, no, Void doesn't fit.

[denthor]

Veccna in 3.5 has the secrecy domain.

Knowledge