Custom Pantheon

[Atanuero]

How would you go about making one? The don't really need to be statted

[bosssmiley]

Sketch out what the major concerns of the gods in the setting are. This will be to some extent universal (Sun god, god of magic, god of crops, god of death, etc.), but aspects of the pantheon will be heavily setting dependent (is the death god an Anubis-style guardian of the dead, or a Nerull-style reaper, or a Wee Jas/Midas judge of the dead?).

Keep the pantheon small in number initially. 6-8 is probably the most casual players will want to keep straight in their heads. Add other gods (racial, or specialised) as the needs of the game dictate.

Cheers.

[Thiel]

Before you do anything you should decide whether the gods are actual beings or something more along the lines of a sentience or some such. Can they manifest themselves on the material planes or do they have to use avatars or do they only show themselves in dreams?
This will have a large impact not only on the gods, but also on how their worshippers behave/act. A person who knows that the god in question is quite capable of smiting him personally is a lot less likely to go against his teachings than one who knows that the god can't.

Another thing you'll have to decide is how things like death and magic works in relation to religion. Is there an afterlife? Does the worshippers go to their god or do they go to the same place? Is there a kind of Hell? What happens to atheist? And what about sinners?
Does magic come from the gods? Is there a god of magic?

And lastly can gods die and can mortals become gods?

[Azerian Kelimon]

If it's a comedy campaign, remember to include Haruhi suzumiya as the overgod. Else, just make a bunch of people embodying concepts, and make them behave like monkeys in suits, or insane psychos. Bam, instant gods.

[The_Werebear]

Keep it simple and tie it into things that the players won't easily forget. Racial deities are good for this, as are vague, nonspecific beings who cover a wide variety of things. It helps to cover all the bases by making them four diametric alignments (LG, CG, LE, CE, or NG, NE, LN, CN, TN) so as to form associations as well. Tying them to elements can help with both of them.


Quick example.
As a reward to players in previous games of legendary quality, I made their characters into deities. They aren't the real ones, but were inspired by them with history shifting them around slightly to make it shinier.

The Priestess
NG- Flails of any sort.
The deity of loving protection and self sacrifice, valuing steadfastness and loyalty. Connected to the growing of crops. There is a martial strain of the religion that values protecting others. (Earth)
Bodyguards, Farmers, Mothers.

The Warrior
LG- Axes of any sort.
The deity of martial valor and warfare, valuing honor and courage. Also connected to successful business ventures. (Fire)
Soldiers, Merchants, Government Officials.

The Mage
CG- Rods (club stats)
The deity of magic and things related to that, valuing intellect and creativity. He also governs the crafting of items and art works. (Water)
Mages, Artists, Craftsmen

The Traitor
NE- Bows of any sort.
Originally, the Scout. However, he rebelled against the government back when he was an actual person, and was thus villified in history. However, he already had a cult following, which remains today. He is the patron of anyone who uses subtle means, and has a following of spies, assassins, and thieves, but also of master diplomats and bards. (Air)
Diplomats, Rogues, Bards.

Andur the Benevolent
NG- Staves
The mage lord of the original campaign from which these players spring, he was widely despised by the players. I have two returning ones, and they are already furious that he was made their superior after deification as well. This ensures that they will always remember the way the pantheon falls. In game, he is the general, benevolent protector and overlord, and is always respected along with the others.

Hope this helps.

[Thiel]

Tempting as it I'd recommend against using characters from popular media because the players also knows about them and have their own ideas about how they should react to a given situation. This leads to situations where player 1 argues that god a wont do b because of x y and z. These discussions does nothing for the game and tends to annoy both the GM and the players.

[Xuincherguixe]

Feel free to use this as a chance to go nuts.

Your gods don't have to be anthropomorphic representations of various aspects of humanity.

You can also make them strange and unapproachable.

How they manifest themselves can be weird too. Like a cloud of radioactive vapor, or an explosion.


Just throwing that out there.

[Trog]

Make sure you have at least two choices for each class and each alignment. Usually worshipers can be one step removed from the faith's alignment but not two (CG, LG, and N okay for NG deity, for example). Once you have enough spots for everyone you have enough deities to give everyone a choice. Also a creator deity for each race. Overlap as much as possible to get the minimum amount of deities too keep the pantheon from sprawling.

So bare minimum you need 6 deities (CG, LG, CN, LN, CE, LE) but making one of each will probably give you more variety. So 9.

For example:

CG Elven God
NG Life/Radiant God
LG Halfling God
CN Gnome God
N Human and/or Nature God
LN Dwarven God
CE Orcish God
NE Death/Necrotic God
LE Tyrrany God

or something like that. Make each one relate to two classes and you'd be good. Mix and match however you please of course.

[Hal]

In addition to the good advice already given, you should decide how great of a role religion is going to play in your campaign. If it's just a flavor thing, kind of a background detail, then details aren't really important. As long as your "religious" characters worship a deity with a name and a general alignment, you're good to go.

On the other hand, if your characters are going to be messing with cosmic affairs, then you need more details. What's the creation story? Where did all of the gods come from? Why does anything exist? Is there conflict between the gods? Why do the gods grant their power to worshipers? Why does anyone choose to worship each god? What is the afterlife like? Can a person visit that plane when they're not dead? Are there creatures from each plane (Astrals/Devils/Demons)?

Again, these may not be important questions, but if your players start getting curious about worshiping The Great and Almighty Fred, then you might want to think about such things.

[Thane of Fife]

I'm going to disagree with a bunch of people here.

First, don't feel the need to limit your number of gods too much. As long as the players can recognize each important deity, you're fine, even if you have to remind them. Note, however, that giving gods easy names makes this much, much easier. Knowing that Uos is the god of war is easier than knowing that Ikthulicanios is.

Second, each god should needs six things: Portfolio, Alignment, Gender, Name, Flavor, and Relationships.

Portfolio is fairly simple, but it's the most important one. Often, picking several unrelated things makes the god more pre-determined, which makes creating him easier. For example, Uos the God of War and Rulership is more easily defined than Uos the God of War. Note that the god's overall flavor will determine how his portfolio is seen in the world. If fire is associated with the god of healing and life, it will be seen differently than if it is associated with the god of destruction.

Alignment is harder. Personally, I recommend keeping gods Neutral as often as possible. Other alignments should be used only if the portfolio calls for it. For example, the god of wisdom is probably neutral - good and evil can both be wise. The god of justice is almost certainly lawful, though. Remember that people will revere the gods of things important to them, and that may determine their alignment.

Gender is fairly simple. Just pick one. Some things are stereotypically male or female, but you can easily ignore that.

Name is pure preference, but can reflect how the god is viewed. The Reaper sounds more sinister than Canyur, God of Death.

Flavor is very important, as it describes how the god acts. Does the goddess of death seek to bring all souls to her kingdom ASAP, or does she merely collect them when they die? Does the god of love support young, star-struck love, or does he advise allowing the maturation of relationships? This will seriosly affect how priests of the deity are supposed to act, and how the god's portfolio will be portrayed.

Relationships offer opportunities for adventure, for they reflect how the gods view each other. Do the goddess of knowledge and the god of secrecy view each other as bitter rivals, or friendly competitors? Are the gods of death and war friends, or just partners? Are two gods married? Do they get along? All of this can prove to be great feed for adventure.

Just my $2.