Adding crunch to the pantheon fluff.

[the_david]

So I'm working on a pantheon for a new campaign. I've got a couple of ideas for deities that I think are interesting, but I was wondering about the opinions of other people. In particular, I'd like to know what domains, mysteries, inquisitions, favored weapons, etc. you'd think these deities would have. Now to be honest, I haven't worked them out that much. I don't even have names for them at this point.
Now keep in mind that I'm using the Pathfinder rules. I'm probably going to toss out alignment, including the alignment domains. I also don't care much for the 5 domains per deity rule.

God/Goddess of Beauty and Jealousy.
This deity is the most beautiful creature in the universe. In fact, as soon as someone else becomes more beautiful than the goddess of beauty, that person will take her place. The jealousy is a natural fear or paranoia for everything that might become more beautiful than her, and as such her portfolio contains an odd contradiction: She is a goddess of everything that is beautiful, unless it is "too beautiful".

God of Knowledge and Civilization.
This god is mainly included because the main city will include a large library. As such, he is seen as the patron god of the city, as well as the library. I'd say he's not that interesting except for one thing.

God of Secrets and Assassins.
In a way, this is the scion of the god of knowledge and civilization. He originated from his father first and only secret. He's not so much a god of assassins, but more a god of "making sure that secrets are taken to the grave". Players initially won't know this god exist.

God of the Abyss.
This is where my setting deviates in cosmology. Instead of the Infinite Layers of the Abyss there will be an endless abyssal sea. As such this is the god that rules over the abyss and everything in it. This includes storms, sea monsters, those that are buried at sea, flotsam, etc.

Dwarven Ancestors.
The dwarves don't follow a god, but worship their ancestors instead. A big part of their religion is having children. You can't become an ancestor if you don't have children.

About the afterlife:
If you die at sea you'll end up in the abyss.
The god of secrets and assassins takes the souls of those who took secrets to the grave.
Dwarves join their ancestors if they have children.

[Arael666]

God/Goddess of Beauty and Jealousy.
This deity is the most beautiful creature in the universe. In fact, as soon as someone else becomes more beautiful than the goddess of beauty, that person will take her place. The jealousy is a natural fear or paranoia for everything that might become more beautiful than her, and as such her portfolio contains an odd contradiction: She is a goddess of everything that is beautiful, unless it is "too beautiful".
Caotic Neutral - Miseria
Favored Weapon: large steel shield ("the mirror")
Domains: Envy, Charm, Pleasure, Madness



God of Knowledge and Civilization.
This god is mainly included because the main city will include a large library. As such, he is seen as the patron god of the city, as well as the library. I'd say he's not that interesting except for one thing.
True Neutral - Madeho
Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff ("the pillar")
Domains: Knowledge, Community, City, Trade



God of Secrets and Assassins.
In a way, this is the scion of the god of knowledge and civilization. He originated from his father first and only secret. He's not so much a god of assassins, but more a god of "making sure that secrets are taken to the grave". Players initially won't know this god exist.
Lawful Evil - Lavise
Favored Weapon - Stiletto
Domains: Planning, Destiny, Evil, Destruction



God of the Abyss.
This is where my setting deviates in cosmology. Instead of the Infinite Layers of the Abyss there will be an endless abyssal sea. As such this is the god that rules over the abyss and everything in it. This includes storms, sea monsters, those that are buried at sea, flotsam, etc.
Caotic Evil - Morgawr
Favored Weapon - Shamshir ("the wave crest")
Domains: Storm, Suffering, Ocean, Caos



Dwarven Ancestors.
The dwarves don't follow a god, but worship their ancestors instead. A big part of their religion is having children. You can't become an ancestor if you don't have children.
Lawful Neutral - The Venered Dead
Favored Weapon: any dwarven themed weapon
Domains: Family, Renewal, Protection, Dwarf

[Syrus Terrigan]

Hello, there! This is my first post at GitP! My condolences! lol

I am not as familiar with the inquisitor and oracle classes as I should be, but I *love* building clerics and warpriests. I'm going to focus on domains and subdomains, keeping with avoiding the alignment categories.

SIDEBAR: I *am* a fan of the "5-domain/6-subdomain" pattern, but I'll be offering a 4/5 split.

1) Beauty/Jealousy --
Domains: Charm, Trickery, Glory, Luck
Subdomains: Captivation, Lust, Espionage, Hubris, Curse

Rationale: Since this "divine mantle" is one that changes hands periodically, true love seems unlikely to be a significant portion of the bailiwick; however, Charm is strongly indicated, and this points to the Captivation and Lust subdomains. Glory opens up the Hubris subdomain, playing into the powerful presence of this being, as well as the amount of pride that goes along with the role. Trickery (Espionage) and Curse (Fate) are in keeping with the idea of preserving one's holding the office -- keep tabs on any "threats", and try to "eliminate" the competition.

2) Knowledge/Civilization --
Domains: Artifice, Community, Knowledge, Rune
Subdomains: Industry, Education, Memory, Language, Legislation

Rationale: This one is pretty self-explanatory.

3) Secrets/Assassins --
Domains: Death, Trickery, Knowledge, Darkness
Subdomains: Murder, Deception, Espionage, Thought, Loss

4) Abyss --
Domains: Air, Luck, Water, Weather
Subdomains: Lightning, Fate, Flotsam, Ocean, Storms

5) Dwarven Ancestors --
Domains: Community, Glory, Repose, Strength
Subdomains: Family, Ancestors, Souls, Heroism, Resolve

[Goaty14]

Caotic Neutral - Miseria
Favored Weapon: large steel shield ("the mirror")

Why not a dagger (or other easily concealed weapon for backstabbing)? Like, a dagger is perfect for hiding in your clothes and viciously stabbing the people who might usurp your position of power. I get that narcissism is a good idea to base it off of, but IMO, the goddess has more important things to worry about.

[Arael666]

Why not a dagger (or other easily concealed weapon for backstabbing)? Like, a dagger is perfect for hiding in your clothes and viciously stabbing the people who might usurp your position of power. I get that narcissism is a good idea to base it off of, but IMO, the goddess has more important things to worry about.

The way she was described implied that her highest priority is her own beuty. The way I see it she would try anything to become more beautifull, only when that failed she would resort to try and destroy that wich is more beautifull than her. Hence the mirror.

[Psyren]

God/Goddess of Beauty and Jealousy.
This deity is the most beautiful creature in the universe. In fact, as soon as someone else becomes more beautiful than the goddess of beauty, that person will take her place. The jealousy is a natural fear or paranoia for everything that might become more beautiful than her, and as such her portfolio contains an odd contradiction: She is a goddess of everything that is beautiful, unless it is "too beautiful".

Sounds a lot like Calistria (except paranoid rather than spiteful) so I'd say CN bordering on CE.



God of Knowledge and Civilization.
This god is mainly included because the main city will include a large library. As such, he is seen as the patron god of the city, as well as the library. I'd say he's not that interesting except for one thing.

TN or LN. If he had to choose one or the other, would he save the knowledge or save the city?



God of Secrets and Assassins.
In a way, this is the scion of the god of knowledge and civilization. He originated from his father first and only secret. He's not so much a god of assassins, but more a god of "making sure that secrets are taken to the grave". Players initially won't know this god exist.

Seeking to kill someone just to keep a secret is Evil. This description doesn't tell me much about his ethics so I'd go with NE.



God of the Abyss.
This is where my setting deviates in cosmology. Instead of the Infinite Layers of the Abyss there will be an endless abyssal sea. As such this is the god that rules over the abyss and everything in it. This includes storms, sea monsters, those that are buried at sea, flotsam, etc.

CN or CE depending on how malicious/targeted the monstrous aspect is.



Dwarven Ancestors.
The dwarves don't follow a god, but worship their ancestors instead. A big part of their religion is having children. You can't become an ancestor if you don't have children.

Putting the community before the individual is Lawful. Morals would depend on how forceful/punitive they are about it; collectively they are probably LN.



About the afterlife:
If you die at sea you'll end up in the abyss.
The god of secrets and assassins takes the souls of those who took secrets to the grave.
Dwarves join their ancestors if they have children.

Yeah, the assassin guy and the ocean guy are definitely evil.
What about childless dwarves?

[the_david]

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that people missed the Pathfinder bit and the no alignment bit in my post. Very well then, let's move on.

This is what I had in mind:

God of Knowledge and Civilization.
Domains: Community, Knowledge, Magic, Rune.
Subdomains: Arcane, Education, Language
Mysteries: Lore
Favored Weapon: ?

God of Secrets and Death.
Domains: Death, Knowledge.
Subdomains: Espionage, Murder.
Inquisitions: Secrets.
Mysteries: Intrigue.
Favored Weapon: Kukri.

Father Dagon.
Domains: Death, Madness, Water, Weather.
Subdomains: Insanity, Oceans, Storms, Undead.
Mysteries: Waves.
Favored Weapon: Trident?

Goddess of Beauty and Envy.
Domains: Charm, Madness.
Subdomains: Captivation, Insanity.
Inquisitions: Seduction.
Favored weapon: ?

Dwarven Ancestors.
Domains: Community, Earth, Repose.
Subdomain: Ancestors, Metal, Family.
Mysteries: Ancestors, Metal, Stone.
Favored weapon: Heavy Pick?

I'm not yet sure what happens to the childless dwarves. It's probably gonna be any of the other afterlifes instead of a specific one. Not being with your loved ones is bad enough.

As for favored weapons, I really dislike giving deities simple weapons because clerics have proficiency in all simple weapons anyway. There are plenty of martial and exotic weapons to choose from.

[Lapak]

For the goddess of beauty and envy, it seems clear that her favored weapon would be one that can mar the beauty of others: give her the scorpion whip. (Her priesthood probably favors helmets which include full masks, which lets you protect your own beauty while showing the world an idealized representation of hers at the same time.)

Trident is a very traditional sea-god weapon. Maybe too much so for the sea of chaos. I'd have leaned toward a maul/earth-breaker myself, to shatter whatever is built and punch holes in ships.

I will need to think about the others.

[Lapak]

For the God of Knowledge and Civilization, I went around several times before realizing that this is campaign-dependent. He should have whatever weapon is emblematic of the highest/most revered civilization. E.g. if this was a setting with a Rome-analogue as the height of civilization, a gladius. Greece, a spear. Egypt, a khopesh. Etc.

[the_david]

I don't think that followers of a goddess of beauty would hide their own faces, but it does make me wonder why anyone would worship such a deity. I think I'll need to add some stuff to her portfolio, but I'm not sure what. I don't want her to be yet another fertility goddess.
Maybe I should look at this from another angle? Her priests are chosen by her for their beauty. The souls of beautiful people will join her in the afterlife.
She's still missing a dogma.

[Psyren]

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that people missed the Pathfinder bit and the no alignment bit in my post. Very well then, let's move on.

Granted, mea culpa, but you don't have to be so dismissive about it. Best of luck then.

[Lapak]

I don't think that followers of a goddess of beauty would hide their own faces, but it does make me wonder why anyone would worship such a deity. I think I'll need to add some stuff to her portfolio, but I'm not sure what. I don't want her to be yet another fertility goddess.
Maybe I should look at this from another angle? Her priests are chosen by her for their beauty. The souls of beautiful people will join her in the afterlife.
She's still missing a dogma.I was basing that on her pride and jealousy. Yes, her people have to be beautiful, but not as beautiful as her. So they protect their looks and glorify her at the same time. And we add only talking about in dangerous situations, of course.