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Thread: Voodoo-esque loas as deities.
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2007-10-04, 11:10 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2007
Voodoo-esque loas as deities.
Assuming you had a cleric who followed deities based on voodoo loa, what kinds of domains would you think they'd have?
Ogoun: fire, war, metal (?)
Shango: lightning/air/storm?
Legba: protection, healing
Those are just some thoughts off the top of my head from random things I recall reading. Any other ideas?
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2007-10-05, 12:19 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2005
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Re: Voodoo-esque loas as deities.
I dunno, if you like voodoo, check out the binder class in Tome of Magic. They replaced loa and other rider-spirits with weird monsters and in-jokes from previous editions, but the mechanics are pure voodoo. At least, IMO- accepting spirits into the supplicant's body, using "seals" that even look like veves, moral complexity rather than "good spirits" and "evil spirits" etc.
As for domains, I don't know a lot about voodoo off the top of my head, but Baron Samedi would be Death and Chaos at least, and Erzulie might be, I dunno, Love and Luck?
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2007-10-05, 12:23 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2006
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- Croatia
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Re: Voodoo-esque loas as deities.
I played a voodoo themed spirit shaman or cleric a few times and it was quite fun while it lasted; doing so in a world themed like that would be pure bliss :)
Voodoo does have a large number of loas that each deserves some of domains, with shamans serving the entire pantheon, basically. Your best guess would be finding a list on Wikipedia or somewhere and checking who has to do with what domain.... but as Greenfaun said, binders also fit the bill rather well. You can rename some vestiges if you are bothered by names.There is no good and evil. There is only more and less.
- Khorn'Tal
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Kalar Eshanti
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2007-10-05, 05:58 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2007
Re: Voodoo-esque loas as deities.
Oh, I've got Tome of Magic and I heartily agree that binders fit the whole "ridden by the loa" archetype quite well. That's just not what I'm as interested in from a crunch standpoint. I've checked out Wiki, which has (as with all things) some great entries, some so-so entries, and a number of stubs, but nonetheless each loa does seem to claim certain domains.
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2007-10-05, 07:23 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2005
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- Ēast Seaxna rīc
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Re: Voodoo-esque loas as deities.
Green Ronin made a 3rd party d20 campaign setting called Skull and bones that had some Voodoo rules. Binders still work well.
As for cleric domains, they should be quite easy to assign. Worshiping an entire pantheon is too hard to do with the core cleric however,"that nighted, penguin-fringed abyss" - At The Mountains of Madness, H.P. Lovecraft
When a man decides another's future behind his back, it is a conspiracy. When a god does it, it's destiny.
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2007-10-05, 09:25 AM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2006
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- Wandering in Harrekh
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Re: Voodoo-esque loas as deities.
Well, other than a nitpick that the loa aren't exactly deities so much as spirits...
Ghede: Death, Trickery, Healing, Magic, Earth, Undeath, Repose, Necromancy, Darkness
Legba: Good, Travel, Luck, Protection, Balance, Sun, Portal, Oracle
Carrefour: Evil, Travel, Destruction, Chaos, Moon, Spirit
Erzulie: Charm, Joy, Passion, Pleasure, Moon
Azacca: Plant, Animal, Feast
Ogoun: Fire, Metal, Strength, War
Xango: Storm, Air, War
Agwe: Water, Weather, Ocean
Agassou: Law, Knowledge
Damballah: Nobility, Scalykind, Sky
Ayizan: Trade, City, Commerce
The Marassa: Law, Truth
It's a little harsh on Carrefour, but there really aren't any loa that are explicitly evil (just dangerous or less dangerous). Making him the mirror of Legba works, I think.
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2007-10-05, 02:49 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2007
Re: Voodoo-esque loas as deities.
Wow, great list. Thanks!
(Did you have that already written down, or snag it from somewhere?)
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2007-10-05, 03:06 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2006
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- Wandering in Harrekh
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Re: Voodoo-esque loas as deities.
Nah, just worked from the Wikipedia loa page, some not-strictly-OGL webpages listing all of the d20 Cleric domains, and memory of my "Religions of the African Diaspora" college course a couple years ago. (I'd recommend "Divine Horsemen" by Maya Deren and "Working the Spirit" by Joseph Murphy if you're interested in some more scholarly work about Voudou and other Haitian religions).