Custom PnP Pantheon

[Lanoi]

Now i don't really know if this is the right forum to ask about this in, but here goes..

I'm about to create a PnP Pantheon and i would like to ask you guys if you any ideas for God characteristics personal and physical, portfolio sets, holy symbols, etc.
(also i like to draw, that's why i ask for physical characteristics and holy symbols..)

Thank you

[cal1s]

why dont you start with looking into the gods the aztecs had .. or the maya culture ... and try to inspire your work ... personally i found these two cultures quite interesting ...

since im not into drawing at all i cannot help you there :)

[arathalion]

pick up a book written by <insert phylosophers name here> get a concept he talks about, make a deity around that...

you could come up with some interesting stuff.

lol

turn darwin into a god.

[Lanoi]

Nah.. i get enough philosophy shoveled into my head at school..

Volutarily reading it would only end up causing more damage than anything else.. Though i like the idea of making Darwin a god.. :D

Hmm.. Mayan culture could work.. Though i'm not sure whether Incan culture would inspire or confuse me..

Thanks to both of you though :)

[kgambit]

Now i don't really know if this is the right forum to ask about this in, but here goes..

I'm about to create a PnP Pantheon and i would like to ask you guys if you any ideas for God characteristics personal and physical, portfolio sets, holy symbols, etc.
(also i like to draw, that's why i ask for physical characteristics and holy symbols..)

Thank you

What type of world are you planning? The type of world will likely drive the Pantheon.

As for holy symbols, check out the Dieties OC section - it might give you some ideas. :D

I always thought about using Chess Pieces as a basis for a pantheon. Black Knight, Bishops, Queens - you can cover the entire gamut of good, evil, war, etc.

[Lanoi]

What type of world are you planning? The type of world will likely drive the Pantheon.

As for holy symbols, check out the Dieties OC section - it might give you some ideas. :D

I always thought about using Chess Pieces as a basis for a pantheon. Black Knight, Bishops, Queens - you can cover the entire gamut of good, evil, war, etc.

Well i was thinking of using Toril/Faerun, but in some era where the entire pantheon had been switched out..

I like the symbols with the gods's gauntlets, but there's so many of them..

And that chess idea isn't bad.. but i don't think i will make the entire pantheon like it.. just one or two.. like Red Knight :p

[arathalion]

well, eclassic litrature is a good place to find names and all these other things, but some example ideas for portfolios...

you have your standards

love
war
the hunt
death
chaos
knowledge
luck

grab a couple of other abstract ideas, think about reasons behind them and you can work on that.

you can then have more physical things

the forrest, humans, elves, etc

and then get into more specifics
rouges, trees, etc.

the more specific the less power as teh less belief...

as for what the god is, dragon gods, other mythological creatures are good, also think about how one becomes a god... if i remember correctly all the ways to do so in deities and demigods boiled down to belief... that however may have just been my interpretation...
by mythological creatures of great power, like dragons, are good.

i dunno, really im just ranting.

i might do so again (i have to re read several philosophical dialogs to find a quote at some point) so i might have more abstract ideas you may be able to expand on

[Lanoi]

Thank you, with this, i've actually more or less created the outline of the first god..

So i will look forward to more of your philosophical ranting :D

[arathalion]

ugh, i just read a thing on the disposal of bodies.
didnt find that quote though.

so the undead come to mind.

then i suppose anything i could come up with using that as insperation is fairly standard dnd stuff.

god gets angry, raises the dead.
the lady of the lake
fire elementals

an epic spell that floods the area with unholy watter, raising and corpses under its flow.

ill go read the next dialog.

well, i just read about the hunt and the evolution of the human species. im to tired to go on much father so lets see.

huntting is soemthing that could need a deity.

the theory is that when our ansetors used tools to kill they became human. basic evolution stuff. goes on to talk about how the only reason this theory is the popular one is because of ideology and that you cant say anything with scientific backing cause, while there is evidence to support this theory's, there isnt enough to make a scientific conclusion.

dont know how helpful that is.

ideas that come to mind in my tired state:
portfolios;

stories
dreams


still didnt find that quote though.

[Lanoi]

Wow!

Don't think i need more portfolios now..
You've already given enough to give each god 6 of them :p

Keep those ideas rolling in :D

[arathalion]

"science is incapable of examining unique phenomena to which generalised patterns do not apply."
hume

thats what i wanted

i was kinda tired when i read through that last bit

lets see
it was a history of science and scientific thought in relation to evolution of the human species and its difference from animals

i had the thought about a vegetarian god. that could be kind of amusing

otherwise the prevalent themes in that were suffering. you could have crazy mage priests for some god running around experementing on something... why am i thinking gnomes...

[Lanoi]

A vegetarian god?

As for the gnomes, too much WoW influence mayhap? :p

Anyways the crazed mage priest cult, thing.. uhm.. something.. should be able to work ^^

[arathalion]

no no, gnomes always liked experimenting with machinery. i think that might have been it.

t

[Lanoi]

Machinery AND magic..

I have yet to see a game with gnomes that doesn't like to experiment with machinery and magic..

[arathalion]

yeah, someone got the idea they like it then it became a sterotype and everyone used it.

i dunno, havent read much folklore about gnomes.

[Lanoi]

Well.. let's see now, in danish folklore they're called Nisser.. and they're pranksters.. uhm.. you have to give them food.. because otherwise they'll burn down, your house, farm, barn etc.

and uhm.. in german folklore kobolds are nearly the same.. except they're more human-like in appearance.. and gremlins are the ones that like to play with machines..

[arathalion]

ahh kay.
i grouped all that lot into fey cause alot of folklore is just different interpretations of the same thing.

i have heard so many different versions of little red ridding hood/cap (not the sanatised one told today where everyone lives happily ever after).

i believe that originally orcs and goblins were two names for the same type of fae. but then just different faces, perhaps i should say masks on this forum, of the same thing.

did you know that the brothers grimm were originally linguists that traveled the countryside recording these stories to look at the differences in language and culture by examining the difference between stories between towns?

[Lanoi]

Actually i did.. my teachers in early school life, did force that fact into my little head
along with their praises to H.C. Andersen for his child friendly faerie tales :rolleyes:

Oh and i actually think that we have some lore about both orcs and goblins in denmark too.. though goblins are more or less the same as nisserne (the gnomes).. the orcs (can't remember the names) but huge green skinned hog faced humanoids that lived near ponds or other small bodies of water.. but no real relation to the goblins..

[arathalion]

pfft. the originals were child friendly. tell them the stories and scare your kids. its good for them. lol

trogladites? or something similar... *picks up a monster manual* troglodyte? hmmm, judging by the picture thats not it. ahh well. donest really matter. though perhaps its something i should look into.

[Lanoi]

Or maybe even a thread.. if others want to know about something, but are too lazy to search themselves.. ;)

[arathalion]

pfft. but then i have no way of knowing if ill get information.

think ill read a book
books, the original internet.