D&D General Which Gods/Pantheons do you use in your D&D setting?

[ThrorII]

In my 'adult' B/X-OSE game, it is set in the 1e Forgotten Realms, inland from the Sword Coast (starting in Iriaebor). The primary powers are those listed in FR5 - Savage North. Those are the common deities of that region. In keeping with the L-N-C axis of B/X, there are the 'gods of civilization' [Tymora, Helm, etc.] (law), the 'gods of nature' (neutral), 'barbarian gods' (chaos), and 'evil gods' (chaos). If someone wants to follow a different power, that is fine, but there are no formal temples or shrines...

In my 'kids' B/X game, it is set in "Mike's World", with the Keep on the Borderlands, with the Caves of Chaos replaced with Stonehell. I use the Strict Law-Chaos dichotomy and have a Zoroaster-styled "Church of Law" and "Temple of Chaos".

 

[bedir than]

Mine is a fully custom set of pantheons, with some of the gods being in multiple pantheons. One who is the central figure in the most popular church is considered minor in another. The monotheists worship a god that exists in two other pantheons.

One kingdom worships a person who became a high saint and though not actually a god still the worship grants powers to clerics.

Overall there are fewer than 20 gods with four main faiths.

 

[Distracted DM]

Oh boy, great question.

My deities are based on the age that the world is currently in. Gods rise and fall with the turning of the world and its people.

In the current age, the primary gods are two brothers who rose to divinity, and who in turn raise up worthy folk to be saints and harrows- those are the deities people actually pray to, not so much the two gods; they're too busy to answer individual prayers.
But this age is an aberration- only two gods? And both of them once mortal? In past ages there were many, more like classic DnD: pantheons.
Why things are the way they are in the current world is one of the "great mysteries" of my setting.

I also like to sprinkle gods from our world into my ancient pantheons- my players have found ancient sunken temples to Poseidon, they've seen ancient carvings of Artemis bringing low a child of Fenrir, and they've spoken and/or fought with echoes of dead Babylonian and African gods.

One of the players had their character convert and found a new cult to Poseidon, potentially bringing that faith back after it was dead for millennia.

 

[TwoSix]

Gods and pantheons generally fall into the "setting info that players don't actually care about" bucket, in my experience. If I'm not using a published setting, the general religious practice is local veneration of various spirits.

The fact that very few of my players are interested in playing clerics, paladins, or other religiously motivated concepts plays a role in my general neglect of the concept, as well as my belief that trying to get players interested in detailed homebrew info is usually a waste of time.

 

[Scribe]

The fact that very few of my players are interested in playing clerics, paladins, or other religiously motivated concepts plays a role in my general neglect of the concept

Which in itself is interesting, to me. Paladin has been my go to class, and Mythology/Cosmology/Religion, in a Fantasy Setting is a huge component of what makes a setting 'real' and interesting.

Age thing? I dont know, but to me Fantasy without Gods and Religion just isnt it.

 

[TwoSix]

Which in itself is interesting, to me. Paladin has been my go to class, and Mythology/Cosmology/Religion, in a Fantasy Setting is a huge component of what makes a setting 'real' and interesting.

Age thing? I dont know, but to me Fantasy without Gods and Religion just isnt it.

Takes all types, right?

Like, I just posted my personal "fantasy touchstones" in the Appendix N thread a few days ago; perhaps unsurprisingly, the majority of properties I listed don't have anything like a fantasy pantheon.

 

[Charlaquin]

I typically use the 4e pantheon, with my own twist. But I recently discovered Epic: the Musical, which has put me on a big Greek mythology kick. And I realized that if you count both Hestia and Dionysus, the number of Olympians plus Hades is the same as the number of Cleric domains that currently exist in WotC-published 5e sources. And they map to each other pretty decently. Grave is a bit of an odd fit for Hermes, but he is a Psychopomp, so I think it works. So, yeah, thinking about doing an Ancient Greece-themed campaign at some point.

 

[Gorck]

I use the Prime Deities, Betrayer Gods, and Lesser Idols of Exandria.

 

[Distracted DM]

Gods and pantheons generally fall into the "setting info that players don't actually care about" bucket, in my experience. If I'm not using a published setting, the general religious practice is local veneration of various spirits.

The fact that very few of my players are interested in playing clerics, paladins, or other religiously motivated concepts plays a role in my general neglect of the concept, as well as my belief that trying to get players interested in detailed homebrew info is usually a waste of time.

If you do want to make setting up stuff relevant, I would suggest looking up the Matt Colville video on the topic... I'd like to be of more help but I can't remember the title, haven't seen the video in years

 

[Oofta]

I use the Norse gods as a start and then add in some gods for the other races, mostly taken from Greyhawk. Lore has been swapped around a bit so Moradin crafted Mjolnir and Gungnir, Berranor Truesilver wove Sif's golden hair and so on. The gods of the elves became the Vaenir. I use Yggdrasil and the 9 worlds to replace the planes of existence with a bit of modification so Svartleheim has become the underdark, Feywild is Alfheim, Nifleheim is the Shadowfell and so on.

Most priests aren't really dedicated to a specific deity, only specific clerics are. Most people revere the entire pantheon and pray to gods as appropriate.