I have a friend from work who has talked me in to starting up a D&D gaming group with a few other friends. I chose to play a Cleric because i have enjoyed playing a healer in most multi-player video games that have the option. I have all of the stats figured out at this point, but i cant make a decision on a Deity.
The character is the heir of a small kingdom that was destroyed during a war between the two surrounding larger kingdoms. He then escapes and planes on adventuring to gain the money/allies to retake his homeland and return a little retribution on the two kingdoms that destroyed it.
I would prefer a Chaotic Good Deity with the Retribution Domain but have been unable to find one.
P.S. - The game is using the Forgotten Realms Deities along with the default D&D ones, and is using the 3.5 rule set.
Unless explicitly stated otherwise, my GMs assumed any list of deities was incomplete; if you wanted a deity which wasn’t in the list but which made sense, you just invented it.
I propose to you that you worship the twin creator/destroyers Ogette and Og (or Og and Ogette), and that the excuse your neighbors had for attacking your country was a war of religion.
As stated above, you can make up your own if you can’t find one to fit your needs, or else you can not be devoted to any particular deity, but rather just select two domains that represent your spiritual inclinations.
I would really rather stay away from creating a deity for the moment, it seems daunting enough getting into D&D for the first time as is, and as for playing with no deity the DM has already stated that I will not be able to use some of the higher level spells such as resurrection without a deity.
@CandidGamera: I had already rejected Shev because I just didn’t like his style… that business with killing one of his own because he fell in love with a Drow…
As for Uthgar I had skimmed his page and rejected him for being unduly complicated, but now that i take a closer look i might go for the Black Lion Clan.
@Gyrate: Trickster isn’t exactly what I’m going for… I want my character to worship a god that will support and even forward his goal towards taking back and restoring what should of been his.
As for race, the character is Human and I would like to go for the Chaotic Good alignment
Those aren’t necessarily incompatible but you’d end up having to hustle your enemy into giving you what you want which is complicated and not as much fun as just hitting them with a sword until they fall apart.
Well, Shevarash only really works for an Elf or Half-Elf. Uthgar’s your closest match out of the default FR pantheon that gives the Retribution domain.
Thor is Chaotic Good, and all about thunder and battle and such. Dunno about revenge, but I wouldn’t put it past him. Particularly if giants or their ilk were involved.
Also think Horus was a god of vengence, dunno about alignment though.
I take your point, and yeah i really would like to go the way of beating up on them.
Thor is a good idea although I can’t tell if hes part of the forgotten realms?
As for Horus he is a god of vengence but you have to be born into his order from what i read and my character is converted to the order while escaping…
P.S. - as for domains I know I will take the Retribution one if its available with the god I pick, but what then would be a good second one since I will also be the groups healer? The protection domain seems a little bleh, or am I missing something?
If you are CG, and want to be a cleric, your deity has to be CG, NG or CN.
If you were actually in the Realms, there would be mechanisms to steer you to taking a deity rather than a force or principle. If you’re not actually in the Realms, you could worship the Principle of Karma.
I’d try talking to the DM about allowing an existing deity access to the Retribution domain. A variant church of Kord, perhaps, losing Luck for Retribution? Or Tempus from the Realms.
Hoar is a Realms deity who has the Retribution domain. Unfortunately, his alignment is Lawful Neutral, so that won’t fit your desire for playing a CG cleric.
Itzama, spirit of early mist and showers.
Ixtaub, goddess of ropes and snares.
Ixchel, the spider web, catcher of morning dew.
Zooheekock, virgin fire patroness of infants.
Adziz, the master of cold.
Kockupocket, who works in fire.
Ixtahdoom, she who spits out precious stones.
Ixchunchan, the dangerous one.
If you want my advice, you’ll take advantage of the fact that you’re playing D&D, not some computer game. What that means is that the rules aren’t laid down in stone (or, uh, silicon) by some far-off game designer; the rules are whatever you all agree they are. If you think it would be more fun (for whatever ‘fun’ means for you) to change a rule, then do it. Most particularly, the gods and mythos in your game is whatever you all agree they are. There are plenty of books for inspiration, but in the end whatever you say goes.
Which is a really long-winded way of saying: Make up the diety you want to worship! Go for it. I mean, if you really dig the idea of some already-known diety, either in established myth (“By Thor’s Hammer!”), or some author’s work (“My faith believes in the Power of Greyskull to protect us”), then sure worship that. But if there’s nothing there, then make something up (May I suggest Cecil, the God of Wisdom and Snark?). As long as it fits the mood you all want in your game, of course, because the whole point is to have fun creating a mood, but why not be creative?
Though, to that, I’d add, “check with the DM to make sure he’s OK with it.” Between the Forgotten Realms pantheons, and the “core” D&D pantheon, there are a ton of deities, but there isn’t going to be every possible combo of alignment and domain.
Your DM may be just fine with your cleric worshipping a deity which you’ve made up, or brought in from a different game world (or, for that matter, serving an idea or philosophy rather than a specific deity, which is given as an option in the 3.x rules). On the other hand, your DM may well want you to stay “by the book”, and use an established deity.
If the GM is okay with a Human worshiping Grabthar, then I like their suggestion!
My sidetrack: The last time I played a cleric (AD&D 2nd ed), I played against the type. The standard cleric stays in the back in combat, casting healing spells and doing pretty much nothing else. My cleric was in full armor, with war hammer and throwing hammers, in the thick of the fight with everybody else. And I styled my healing spells after boxing corner coaches.
True, but in Forgotten Realms, those who don’t follow a specific god have significant issues from a setting standpoint. As MHaye mentioned, there are mechanics to steer you towards a god. One of the biggies is it’s very hard to bring a godless back from the dead since their souls do not go to a godhome but instead wind up in the wall of souls with the rest of the heathens. From a role-playing standpoint, you also have a lousy afterlife as a result of this.
