God's List: Sep 22, 2006

God's List: Sep 22, 2006

A list of useable deities for the (A)D&D game. By Shane “Alzrius” O’Connor Special thanks to Ryan and Static for help with this list! I couldn’t have done it without you guys! And extra special thanks to Clueless, for her tireless work on the technical aspects of formatting and posting this online. What follows is a listing of the myriad deities of the (Advanced) Dungeons & Dragons game. While basic information about the various deities is listed, this work is primarily intended to be a reference, and not a replacement, for the various products that describe these deities. What this list is Each entry on this list is broken down into the following format: Name:This is the deity’s name as it appears in various products. If the deity has another name that it is listed under in a product, then that name appears after the deity’s primary name in parenthesis. Which name is the deity’s primary name is judged by which name appears in the most products. Note that minor aliases (such as, for example, those found in the “Aliases” listing inFaiths & Avatars) aren’t listed in this way. Rank:This is the deity’s ranking as to what type of god they are. The listings, in ascending order, are Quasi-deity, Hero God, Demigod, Lesser deity, Intermediate deity, Greater deity, and Overdeity. In cases where a deity’s divine ranking is unknown, they are simply listed as “divine level unknown”, though if there are any products that list a divine rank for that deity, that rank is used instead. Where products give differing divine ranks for the same deity, the rank listed first here is the one from the most recent product, and the secondary rank from the older product is listed after a slash mark. This pattern holds true if there are multiple listings for a deity from various products (or if a single product has multiple listings for the same deity from different times). Note that no divine rank is listed twice for a single deity. That is, if a deity was given a rank of Greater deity in one product, then switched to Intermediate deity in a later product, only to even more recently have been published as a Greater deity again, their listing here would only reflect being a Greater deity now and an Intermediate deity previously. Note that in cases where a later product gives a deity’s rank from the distant past, said rank will be listed after earlier products that weren’t set back as far. For example, Selune is listed as being a Lesser deity in theForgotten Realms Adventuresbook. However, she is listed as being a Greater deity in theArcane Age: Empire of Netherilboxed set, which was released later. Since the latter product is set in a time before the former product, the Greater deity listing is listed after the Lesser deity listing. Hence, the listing of multiple divine ranks may be understood as a record of how the deity’s power has waxed and waned over time (this assumes that, unless otherwise mentioned, Planewalker.com, Sep 22, 2006 : Page 1 newer products represent the passage of time). It is also worth noting that the Third EditionDeities & Demigodsholds that Quasi-deity and Hero God are two different terms for the same divine rank. However, although this product remains the most recent product to speak of these ranks, that stance contradicts myriad earlier products from all editions of the Dungeons & Dragons game. As such, this list holds to earlier works in terms of Quasi-deities and Hero Gods being separate ranks (with the latter higher than the former). Similarly, some First Edition and Second Edition works give deities the ranks of “Major God” and “Minor God”. These have been understood here to mean Greater deity and Intermediate deity, respectively, and are listed as such. Alignment:This is the deity’s alignment. Note that, as with rank, the alignment from the most recent product is given as the primary alignment. Differing alignments from previous products are given in parenthesis, and multiple differing alignments are each listed separately in order of their product listing. As with divine rank, this may be assumed to represent changes in the deity’s alignment over time. As with divine ranks, no alignment is listed more than once for a deity. Note that some deities do not have alignments (such as Overdeities, or deities from theLand of Fate boxed set). Because this was done intentionally, these deities have an alignment listing of “N/A”. In other cases where a deity simply was not given an alignment in their listing, it is listed here as “not listed”. Portfolio:This is the deity’s area of control; what they are god of. Unlike rank and alignment, no attempt has been made to segregate differences in the deity’s portfolio where various products list differing portfolios. This is done to present the most holistic view possible of what the deity represents. In some instances, the deity listed did not have an entry explicitly defining exactly what its portfolio is. In this case, the deity’s entry was combed to determine what it was god of, and this was listed in its Portfolio line here. When this happened, it is delineated by the first word in the Portfolio entry not beginning with a capital letter. In a small number of instances, no portfolio could be determined. When this occurred, the Portfolio line here reads “not listed”. Sources:These are the products in which the deity has a listing. The products here are listed in order of release, with the most recent products being listed first. While every effort was made to try and be comprehensive, it is understood that there are many other sources that could have been listed for many deities. “Sources” is understood here to mean all relevant books, magazines, website content, etc. Since this list is for the (Advanced) Dungeons & Dragons game, all the sources here are either first-party or second-party. First-party means that they are printed by the owners of the (A)D&D game (TSR Inc., and later Wizards of the Coast Inc., which later became a subsidiary of Hasbro Inc.). Second-party is materials for the (A)D&D game that were made by another company, but with permission. Second-party materials usually still have the (Advanced) Dungeons & Dragons logo on Planewalker.com, Sep 22, 2006 : Page 2 them. Examples of companies that have produced second-party materials are Judges Guild, Kenzer Co., and Paizo Publishing. A special case worth noting is theCall of Cthulhu d20game by Wizards of the Coast. Although not a Dungeons & Dragons product, Appendix One is specifically called out as being in reference to the D&D game. Since that Appendix (and its web enhancement) is listed under that banner, the deities there are included here. No third-party works are referenced in this list. Third-party here is understood to be works that, although they may be compatible with the (A)D&D game, were not approved by the company that owns said game. Examples of third-party materials are the Role Aids line by Mayfair Games, and myriad d20 products by various publishers. Note that even (A)D&D materials that were licensed to another company are treated as third-party here, such as the Ravenloft line from Sword & Sorcery Studios, or the Dragonlance line from Sovereign Press. This also includes works from official fan websites. What this list is not The following is what this list does not cover: Forces:Forces are non-sentient powers that can nonetheless grant divine spells. Forces include things like Fire, Nature, and the Sun. Philosophies:Philosophies are an abstract ideology, usually about how sentient beings should conduct themselves. Although philosophies are not gods, believing in a philosophy to the point of faith can result in receiving divine spells. No divinity:Third Edition states that clerics need not worship gods at all, but still gain spells. While they could come from an above-listed source, there is room to understand that the cleric may be granting themselves spells from faith alone (this is the case with the Mystics of the Third Edition RevisedDragonlance Campaign Setting). Religions:In some cases, there are listings of a religion that provide very little (if any) information about the deity they serve. As such entries provide nothing about the deity itself, they are not included here. Non-divine entities:Some entities are not gods, but have the ability to grant divine spells. In previous editions of the (A)D&D game, these included (but were not limited to) Abyssal Lords, Archomentals, and others. Third Edition has remained somewhat unclear if such powers are still able to grant spells themselves. “Non-divine entities” includes Immortals (from Mystara and its related settings), although products that listed Immortals in terms of being deities (e.g.Warriors of Heaven, and a few issues ofDragon Magazine) are used in this list. In instances of there being a non-divine figure in one source that is presented as divine in another, the non-divine listing is not cited as a source (e.g. Dahak is not listed as a god in the First EditionDeities & Demigods, but is in Sandstorm. As such, no entry for the First EditionDeities & Demigodsis given in Dahak’s listing here). Planewalker.com, Sep 22, 2006 : Page 3 “Referenced” deities:This list is only meant to include deities that have enough information presented about them to be useful in a campaign. There are many other deities that are only obliquely referenced, and these have not been included here.

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