Pathfinder 1E Olympian Gods... suggestions welcome

[wlmartin]

Some brainstorming right now, new Campaign world starting at the very bottom and working up.

I am basically looking to transplant the entire Greek Pantheon into Pathfinder. It is going to be fun aligning the politics, domains etc and I just wondered if anyone has any suggestions or tips on accomplishing this? Anyone that has done it before so I can draw inspiration or any resources.

Thanks much

 

[Nagol]

Greek was one of the three pantheons that covered the civilised world in my last 3.x campaign.

I used the original Deities and Demigods for inspiration. I think the Greek pantheon can be found in the 3rd edition Deities and Demigods if you want a more modern write-up.

Here are the domains I assigned:
[sblock]

Aphrodite Passion (Love), Charm, Chaos

Apollo Sun, Healing, Good, Knowledge

Ares War, Evil, Chaos, Destruction

Artemis Animal, Law, Moon, Plant

Athena War, Good, Community, Protection

Demeter Plant, Earth, Protection

Dionysus Passion (all), Chaos, Travel

Hades Death, Knowledge, Darkness

Hecate Magic, Knowledge, Darkness

Hephaestus Creation, Artifice, Fire, Community

Hera Knowledge, Protection, Community

Hermes Law, Trickery, Travel

Nike War, Law, Protection

Pan Chaos, Animal, Passion (All), Plant

Poseidon Water, Creation, Earth

Tyche Luck, Trickery, Travel

Zeus Air, Leadership, Strength, Weather
[/sblock]

 

[wlmartin]

Thanks

Will be going into it myself with structure, setup, relations etc.. i was big into Ancient Greek Mythology in my younger years and think the dynamic fits well in a D&D/PF style universe.

Sure, you need to come up with some heaven type politics (which godly realms to setup, ruled by who etc) and since the Greek system is based on a house-gods idea, it isn't like modern religion where it is ONE god you pick like a sports team and you stay loyal to them no matter, since they all cover different areas you pray to them all in different ways... You can still create conflict (those who pray to Athena are similar but different than those that pray to Ares) but overall it looks interesting

Looking for inspiration so the source you suggested sounds good

 

[fjw70]

I am looking to do something similar. I am repurposing my Nentir Vale world for 5e and want to use the Greek gods. Here are some thoughts I have so far.


Apollo is the primary god of the elves.
Hephaestus is the primary god of the dwarves.
Artemis is the primary deity for Druids.


Typical evil D&D deities (e.g. Lolth, Gruumsh) are demon lords or possible archdevils (Asmodeus is not a god).


The god and demon/devil worshipping is a major division in the world. The gods and their worshipers represent Law/Civilization and the demon lords/archdevils and their followers represent the forces of Chaos/Destruction.


That is as far as I have got so far.

 

[Nagol]

Thanks

Will be going into it myself with structure, setup, relations etc.. i was big into Ancient Greek Mythology in my younger years and think the dynamic fits well in a D&D/PF style universe.

Sure, you need to come up with some heaven type politics (which godly realms to setup, ruled by who etc) and since the Greek system is based on a house-gods idea, it isn't like modern religion where it is ONE god you pick like a sports team and you stay loyal to them no matter, since they all cover different areas you pray to them all in different ways... You can still create conflict (those who pray to Athena are similar but different than those that pray to Ares) but overall it looks interesting

Looking for inspiration so the source you suggested sounds good

The way I set up the priest orders was the default cleric was a pantheist -- he knew all the common rituals for all the gods and was often called upon for services. A generalist cleric could take any two domains offered by the pantheon (the three pantheons each had one or two domains the others did not). There were also clerics dedicated to specific gods. Less a prestige class and more a specialist, the dedicated cleric had to have two domains offered by the patron deity and had a couple of minor social benefits or restrictions -- clerics of Ares and Athena would have nothing to do with each other, for example. Dedicated clerics often filled more specialised roles -- so a cleric of Hermes might be called to adjudicate a complaint or witness a contract, for example. If a dedicated cleric failed his deity in a major way, he got treated thereafter as a generalist though it never came up in the campaign.

Some of the gods had specific base or prestige classes that could only be accessed by devout worshippers -- Ares had a berserker cult. Athena had paladins. Artemis had druids. These prestige classes had similar restrictions on behaviour as dedicated clerics.

 

[Kinak]

I don't think I've seen the Greek gods for Pathfinder. They had 2nd Edition stats in Legends and Lore, but clerics looked very different back then. Pathfinder does have much of the Egyptian pantheon in Empty Graves.

I'd say the biggest trick for converting a pantheon to Pathfinder is getting the right spread of domains and alignments. I'd actually list the domains, then list which deities could have each. Then you can go over that to trim down to the deities' actual list.

In Pathfinder full gods will have five domains but up to two of those will be filled in with alignment domains (one for each non-neutral part of their alignment). You can ignore those guidelines if you want, but restrictions like that force you to keep things a bit cleaner and give the deities a clearer role.

Similarly, most mythical figures could be justified as many alignments. By having it plotted out where they can go, you can make sure you don't end up with a bunch of gaps.

In many real-world pantheons, it's actually sort of hard filling in the lower part of the alignment spectrum. With the Greeks you have the titans, which clears that up nicely... and many of the Greek gods can be considered neutral anyway.

For what it's worth, I'd aim for a dozen to (at most) two dozen deities. You have the advantage of players probably being familiar with them already, but a full listing can get daunting quite quickly.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Umbran]

The god and demon/devil worshipping is a major division in the world. The gods and their worshipers represent Law/Civilization and the demon lords/archdevils and their followers represent the forces of Chaos/Destruction.

And the Greek goddess Eris looks at you funny, and tosses a golden apple in her hand thoughtfully....

One of the things to note here is that, traditionally, the Greek gods are by no means a united front. They are a dysfunctional bunch of squabbling misanthropes always trying to one-up each other and taking vengeance for perceived affronts out on mortal favorites. This is *not* a bunch that bands together for common cause against much of anything. You don't need demon lords to oppose civilization, when you are talking about gods who will bring war to level cities over an insult.

 

[fjw70]

And the Greek goddess Eris looks at you funny, and tosses a golden apple in her hand thoughtfully....

One of the things to note here is that, traditionally, the Greek gods are by no means a united front. They are a dysfunctional bunch of squabbling misanthropes always trying to one-up each other and taking vengeance for perceived affronts out on mortal favorites. This is *not* a bunch that bands together for common cause against much of anything. You don't need demon lords to oppose civilization, when you are talking about gods who will bring war to level cities over an insult.

LOL at Eris.

Well the Greek gods did ban together to defeat the Titans and in my world the demon and devils are defense where henchmen of the Titans.


Also, civilization has plenty of internal conflict so the in-fighting will be there when a greater threat isn't around.


It will definitely be a re-imagining of Greek mythology.

 

[mr_outsidevoice]

Is Hercules/Herakles going to be ascended to Olympus in your Campaign, or is a wandering Hero with Mythic ranks? Or is he even born yet?

Is Prometheus still bound and serving Titan pate' to an eagle?

Will the city of Troy exist?

 

[Hand of Evil]

Check out the following:


http://www.giantitp.com/forums/show...ogy-Variant-Pantheon-Spell-Lists-Base-Classes

and for background on them I recommend: http://www.pantheon.org/ (not as user friendly as it once was)