The gods will fight the gods, and throw
their spears at mortals down below.
They often help the faithful, though,
And that is all we need to know.
--Muldine the Sage, Theological Fragments
Here’s a guide to the gods of Panora that I, a former religious studies major, decided to cobble together tonight. Before I start, you need to know a few things.
1. GODS OVERLAP CHAOTICALLY
The denizens of most of Panora worship the sky god El, who is the ruler of heaven, king of the gods, and controller of storms. And yet there are northern sailors who worship the older god Thunor, who is also a god of storms, but isn’t king of anything. (The ruler in that pantheon is Queen Erga, goddess of the sun.) All pantheons probably exist, and there’s no single storm god who wants to be in charge of all the storms, and maybe they fight about it and maybe they don’t care. Depends on the temperament of the gods in question. Philosophers have suggested that they’re all the same god under different names (or as different avatars), while others suggest that there are indeed different gods who divide their attentions according to the worshiper’s desire and expectation. What’s important is that clerics get their spells and devout prayers are regularly answered.
2. GODS DO NOT LINE UP WITH ALIGNMENT
Alignment is a rather unhelpful concept (see the article on my blog for a very long discussion of its problems), and the gods exist before their worshipers project an alignment onto them. Sometimes there’s a correlation (the Sun God’s followers really do tend to be good), and sometimes there isn’t (see Rana the Plague Goddess, in the next section). That said, each of the Seven (plus the lesser gods) has a suggested alignment with their listing here. It is not to be taken too seriously.
3. EVIL GODS DO NOT USUALLY HAVE EVIL FOLLOWERS
No human actually self-identifies as “evil” unless they’re especially demented. What is often thought of as “evil” is either an unpleasant part of nature (death, plague, grief) or a concept that some people think of as an alternative good (you may think War is evil, but someone else might think that War is a sensible alternative to corruption; most people don’t like Death, but for an undertaker, it’s a living). Pure evil is more of a concept associated with demons and other extraplanar creatures. Most human deities aren’t exactly evil in this way.
Example: New Harbor contains a very large temple to Rana, the goddess of plague and patron of rats. She’s certainly an evil goddess, and no one wants her around, but that’s the point of having a temple: to keep her appeased and keep plagues away! The chief priest of the temple to Rana (Brother Bollus) is by all accounts a very good man who works to keep the docks clean and its people free of sickness. (He collects unusually large rats and euthanizes them, en masse, according to respectful ritual. If you see such a rat, why not bring it to Brother Bollus?)
DOMAINS
The 5e Players Handbook doesn’t have nearly enough domains to accurately reflect actual gods in actual pantheons, so I’ve expanded a bit. Existing domains in Panora include arcana (Sword Coast Adventurers Guide), forge (Xanathar), grave (Xanathar), knowledge, life, light, nature, tempest, trickery, and war. I have also added three new domains: darkness, disease, and travel. Their details are spelled out at the end of this document.
MAJOR GODS
I’m afraid the following lists of major and lesser gods is not alphabetical. Fortunately it’s a short list, so it shouldn’t be too hard to cross-reference. As I write this, I’m just too tired to want to subindex anything.
EL, God of the Sky (LN)
(nature, knowledge, tempest)
Symbols: eight-pointed star or compass rose with an eye at the center, eagle
Weapons: bow or sword
El is the king of the gods, and is generally humorless and aloof. He brings storms, waters the earth and helps things grow, but aside from farmers, he isn’t widely worshipped and isn’t even represented in humanoid form. However, an avatar of his (Yudan the Lawgiver) is venerated by lawmakers, judges, politicians, and other civil officials. His symbol in these contexts is a balance scale held up by a sword, or a robed bald man holding a sword in one hand and balance scales in the other.
GEA, Goddess of the Earth (NG)
(life, light, nature)
Symbols: vine-covered tree, deer
Weapons: sickle, scythe or staff
Gea is the goddess of nature, growth, the harvest, and all the other things we generally associate with nature deities--including the fact that she actually has a dozen or so symbols and is worshiped by even more names. If any deity can be said to be a single deity behind a thousand names, it is Gea. Compared to most other nature goddesses, however, Gea is a bit more feral. It is said that she is so opposed to civilization that, even in the Council of the Gods, she does not sit in a chair, nor does she drink wine from a cup, preferring instead to squeeze grape juice straight from the cluster.
THUL, Goddess of the Ocean (CN)
(nature, tempest, travel)
Symbols: seashell, octopus
Weapons: spear, trident (with or without net)
A sailor’s saying goes “The goddess of the sea will kill you or spare you, whether you pray to her or not.” And yet she is devoutly and desperately worshiped by sailors, who really have no one else to plead so. Interestingly, though Thul is usually worshiped as a goddess, in her avatar forms, she often appears as an androgynous young man. (Possibly played by Tilda Swinton)
LUX, God of the Sun (LG)
(light, life, forge)
Symbols: gold/yellow disc, hawk
Weapon: bow or axe
Like most sun gods, Lux is also the god of intelligence and creativity. In the Panoran myth cycle, Lux gave the secret of fire to mortals willingly, instead of anyone having to steal it. That said, Lux is mostly associated with sudden bolt-from-the-blue inspirations, while people who are creative for a living tend to follow Eida instead.
LUNN, Moon Goddess of Magic (N)
(arcana, darkness, knowledge)
Symbols: silver disk, owl or black cat
Weapons: staff or dart
NOX, Moon God of Darkness (CE)
(arcana, darkness, trickery)
Symbols: black disk, bat or black cat
Weapon: dagger (especially curved or wavy)
Lunn and Nox are a single two-faced god, with female Lunn ruling the moon when it is mostly full, and male Nox in charge when it is mostly dark. They are the same deity--sort of a Siamese-twin sibling to Lux--but are treated slightly differently by their worshipers. For example, Nox is the only deity actually associated with the Underdark and with thieves, while Lunn is the one associated with protection from shadows. Their non-evil worshipers do hold joint gift-giving celebrations every month on the night of Lunnox, when the two deities equally share the moon.
SUSS, Goddess of Death (LE)
(grave, disease)
Symbols: skull with top cut off; scorpion
Weapons: scythe or bow
Suss has two handmaidens, Paxa and Grima, who divide the soul harvest between them: Paxa for those dying quietly in their sleep, and Grima for those dying painfully or by sudden accident. Paxa’s symbol is a smiling Suss-style skull, and Grima is a grimacing one. Paxa wields a garrotte and dagger, and Grima has a flail.
VELLA, Goddess of War (N/NE)
(war, grave)
Symbols: red sword; black horse
Weapons: sword and shield
Vella is a traditional war deity: armored, armed, and dedicated to conflict. However, Vella does not actively sow dissension or seek out conflict; she simply rides in on her black horse (Confusion) and settles things whenever wars start. And they will always start. As soldiers put it, “War is Vella’s father, not her son.”
LESSER GODS
Some of these gods have more worshipers than the greater gods (especially Halmo, beloved by merchants everywhere), but they tend to have more specific focus and can offer their followers fewer domains.
HALMO, Lesser God of Luck/Messenger of the Gods (CG)
(trickery, travel)
Symbols: winged staff; pigeon
Weapons: short sword and sling
Halmo is the trickster god of this pantheon, meaning he tends to have a lot of associations, including travel, luck, music, and shrewdness. Though popular (like most tricksters, he has the best stories), he is almost never worshiped officially within the walls of a city, since his traditional shrines are only at crossroads. Finding a shrine to Halmo is a good way to find food or equipment that an earlier traveler has donated to whoever comes next.
RANA, Lesser Goddess of Plague (CE)
(disease)
Symbols: gray skull on its side; rat
Weapon: darts
As mentioned above, Rana the Rat Goddess is technically evil, but it is quite common to find temples in port towns and other such places where it might be considered wise to appease her to make sure she stays away. That’s usually the only reason she’s worshiped at all, outside the occasional colonies of wererats. In art, she is portrayed as a giant rat with a human head.
EIDA, Lesser Goddess of Invention (N)
(forge, knowledge)
Symbols: anvil; bee
Weapon: hammer
Eida probably started as a gnomish deity who was adopted by especially creative humans, but she is officially part of lower tier of Panoran deities--though she is by far the shortest one--and excels at literally everything creative: not just inventions and forging, but writing, dance, acting, music, and even original research. (An avatar of Eida, named Muse, is the patron of scholars) Veneration of Eidola is why, in Panora, anvils are often created with bee symbols engraved on them for luck.
NUL, Lesser God of the Undead (CE)
(grave, darkness)
Symbols: flaming skull; spiked mace
Weapon: spiked mace or scythe
No mortal actually worships Nul, except for those pesky necromancers who never seem to stop reappearing. But the symbol is quite common in places overrun by intelligent undead, so it’s worth knowing about them. Nul is a skeleton shrouded in a cloak, and its gender is forever uncertain, so “they” is a pretty common pronoun to use, though you can also find Nul called “he” or “she” quite often. Nul doesn’t seem to care.
NEW DOMAINS
I’m still working out the details, but I can declare the following things true if you choose the following domains. These are rough drafts and subject to tweaking since I’ve probably gotten some rules wrong somewhere.
DARKNESS
At 1st level, clerics of this domain suffer no disadvantage in dim light (per 5e Hardmode rules, p.6). For PCs that already suffer no disadvantage (e.g dwarves), their opponents do not gain advantage against them when attacking under cover of darkness.
At 2nd level, a cleric with this domain can Channel Divinity to turn shadows, and outsiders from the plane of Shadow, as if they were undead.
DISEASE
At 1st level, clerics of this domain gain advantage on checks to resist or overcome disease.
At 2nd level, a cleric with this domain can Channel Divinity to give a target this same advantage.
TRAVEL
Ar 1st level, clerics of this domain find good fortune on the road; once per session, they may reroll any failed perception, skill, or luck roll whenever they are on a road or a ship. (This does not apply to combat or healing, but it can apply to reactions from strangers.)
At 2nd level, a cleric with this domain can Channel Divinity to heal one level of exhaustion in themselves or another target.