Free simplified pantheon: Alignments as gods!

[Thoughtbot360]

So, basically...

Law: Unity
Neutral: Prosperity
Chaos: Diversity


I've noticed that there are already divine roles associated with each of the nine alignments to varying degrees. They correspond pretty well to 5th Edition Cleric Domains, unsurprisingly, since those are meant to cover the common archetypes.

Lawful Good: The paladin god of paladins and justice. Strongly favors peace in general but the smiting of evil in particular. Protection domain.

Neutral Good: Nice, friendly goddess of healing, agriculture, family, and community. Wonders why everyone can't just get along. Tells followers to treat others with kindness and help those in need. In a position of power but somehow seemingly not a jerk of any variety, which deserves considerable respect. Life domain.

True Neutral: The druid god of druids and the wilderness. Regards this whole "civilization" business as frequently out of control and seeks to protect natural environments from artificial disruption. Nature domain.

Lawful Neutral: The death god of death and things staying dead and not moving around any more, dammit. Every life's beginning must be balanced with that life's eventual end. Hates mortals circumventing the whole mortality thing and undead in particular. Will allow someone to temporarily return to mortal life for a price. Is patient like that. Fees non-negotiable. Grave domain.

Lawful Evil: The tyrannical god of tyranny and conquest. Favored deity of those who want to take over the world or just part of it. Sees great honor to be had in battle, and greater honor to be had in victory. War domain.

Neutral Evil: The secretive god of murder, undeath, evil, darkness, and secrecy. Hates life and seeks to end it. You'd be alarmed to know how many cultists there are worshiping this deity, but on the plus side you never will. Lures followers in with promise of POWER, UNLIMITED POWER, MWAHAHA. Opportunities for advancement are many because there are always new openings. Death domain.

Chaotic Evil: The destructive god of destruction, storms, and raiders. Remember: pillage, then burn. Everything's gonna fall apart one day, and trying to build anything to last is a futile endeavor, so instead, get while the getting's good and smash anything and anyone who stands in your way. Tempest domain.

Chaotic Neutral: The trickster god of tricksters, thieves, and pranks. Sees sticking it to The Man as an end in itself. Possibly crazy; sanity is just so limiting, you know? Trickery domain.

Chaotic Good: Fun goddess of entertainment, art, and beauty. Wants to make the world a happier place. Likes music and dancing. Popular with hedonists too moral to follow the Trickster and peaceniks not altruistic enough to live up to the NG fertility goddess's standards. (She'll still take them, but her teaching make some people feel guilty.) Light domain.

You know, that sounds dangerously close to something I once did. I took the domains and paladin oaths from the 5e Player's handbook, and took the non-evil gods from the SIMPLIFIED! (Seriously, there are 500k or so gods in Greyhawk proper) Greyhawk pantheon from the 3e Player's handbook, and I realized that they could fit as another simplified pantheon/world-building springboard. One thing I did differently was instead of tying clerics and other worshippers to the alignment of each odd, I abstracted the god's alignments.:


Hieronious, god of Justice: worshipped by non-evil (Knightly) Fighters and Oath of Devotion Paladins*.


Pelor, god of the Sun: Non-evil Life and Light domain Clerics. Two sides of the same idea. The Light Clerics purge undead, and the Life Clerics run disaster prevention/mitigation to help random civilians not become dead, which is a prerequisite to becoming undead.

Elhonna, goddess of the woodland: Non-evil Rangers and Oath of Ancients Paladins*.

Kord, god of Strength: Non-evil Barbarians and Tempest Clerics.

St. Cuthbert, god of the totally not contradictory concepts of Common Sense and Zealotry: Non-evil War Clerics and Oath of Vengence Paladins. Favored weapon is supposed to be a simple mace, but when his title is "St. Cuthbert of Cudgel", I think of the war domain. I like to think that a "Cudgel" could be a Morning star, Maul, War hammer, a "Gutentag" which uses the stats for the Great axe or Halberd, or any number of martial weapons.

Wee Jas: Non-evil Necromancers and Death Clerics. The splatbooks give Wee Jas the grave domain, but she was much more the poster girl for Neutral Clerics who chose to channel negative energy instead of positive energy.

Fharlaghn, god of roads and travel: Non-evil Bards and Knowledge Clerics. Temple builds relations with foreign cultures. And roadside shrines. And roads. And bridges. And roadside inns that offer discounts to wandering minstrels.

Boccob the Uncaring, god of magic: Non-evil Wizards and Arcana Clerics. Fharlagn took Knowledge, and honestly, the Arcana domain was MADE for Boccob, he probably grandfathered the idea in by being in the 3e PHB with the "Magic" domain, which is basically the same thing.

Obad-hai, god of nature: Non-evil Druids and Nature Clerics.

Olidamarra, god of thieves: Non-evil Rogues and Trickery Clerics.

Moradin, god of Dwarves: Dwarves, duh.

Corellian Latheron, god of Elves: Elves, duh.

Garl Glittergold, god of Gnomes: Gnomes, duh.

Yondolla, goddess of Halflings: Halflings, duh.


-Bonus chapter: THE BAD BOYS!-

Hextor, god of tyranny: Evil Fighters and Oathbreaker Paladins. Fight me, Hieronious!

Vecna, god of secrets: Evil Wizards and Knowledge/Arcana Clerics.

Nerull, god of Death: Evil Assassins and Death Clerics. Because the Raven Queen blows. psst. Hail Sithis.

Erythnul: Evil Barbarians and War Clerics.

Gruumsh, god of Orcs: Orcs, duh.


Monks and Warlocks: Don't really have cooresponding gods. Monks were originally a kind of variant Cleric, which is the real reason they add Wisdom to Armor class, but the reason being is they are actually supposed to be Xaiolin monks trying to find inner spiritual perfection instead of engaging in external theism. Warlocks might've had a typical god before but now that they sold their soul to their Patron will remind them, everyday, exactly who their god is.

*-What? No Clerics!? The temple of Hieronius more of a knightly order than a true temple, but despite not having "Clerics" as the player class it has many monasteries full of non-Kung Fu-practicing Franscian-esque monks who devote their lives to worship and protect the bones and other relics of long dead saints and paladins which contain a little bit of leftover holy power. Despite no living clerics, these dead heroes help these holy places do clerical services. Elhonna's has a similar set up with shrines that double as recruitment centers for her orders of rangers and paladins. Also, all of those non-cleric classes can end up serving in an ecclesiastical role instead of just worshipping as laymen.


But, the reason to use this pantheon is just to forget about lore (seriously, Wee Jas is an ancient Suelian god, St. Cuthbert are Oeridian gods, and the story behind the Oeridian and Suel culture causes conflict between these two lawful neutral deities becauseOH NO I RAN OUT OF ****s TO GIVE) and just have a grab-bag of generic gods for new players to assign to their character when the DM homebrews a new setting.

Its a great idea. I'm not throwing shade at your pantheon. Its just very similar.

Your LG Protection God= Hieronious
Your TN Nature God= Obad-hai
Your LN Grave God= Okay, more Raven Queen than Wee Jas. Understandable trope for LN.
Your LE War God= Hextor
Your NE Death God= A little of Vecna, a little of Nerull. Especially that hating all life thing.