In my world, Halflings worship their ancestors. How would a Halfling Cleric (who doesn't convert to another pantheon) work? What Domain would you have? Maybe you a domain related to your ancestors, like if they were a blacksmith, you would have the Forge Domain?

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In my world, Halflings worship their ancestors. How would a Halfling Cleric (who doesn't convert to another pantheon) work? What Domain would you have? Maybe you a domain related to your ancestors, like if they were a blacksmith, you would have the Forge Domain?

It depends on the culture, but a common animistic outlook is, the ancestors never leave the world. Before they were a human body, but now they are the corpse of the ground and the breath of the wind. Their forms change but they are still living beings and are still around. They can still communicate in dreams, visions, and sometimes dramatic apparitions. Their mindful presence influences the world around. The ancestors especially care about the wellbeing and the success of their descendants.

For a cleric, focus on the sacred aspect of being in a good neighborly relationship with the entire natural world, including ancestors in their new forms.

Regarding domain, any domain is possible. More important is how you interpret the domain as part of the character concept.
• Death, Grave. Understood as ancestors being part of the earth, whence the dreamlike underworld.
• Forge. A particular ancestor is a revered smith, and is your guardian spirit.
• Knowledge. Ancestors can inspire memory, wisdom, and find help.
• Life. As a guardian spirit, an ancestor can sometimes facilitate miraculous healing and assistance.
• Order. Some ancestors care about the sacred customs of a family.
• Nature. As wind and dust, the ancestors are now aspects of nature, giving nature an uncanny fateful mood.
• Tempest. Some ancestors as wind have special affinity with weather.
• Peace. Neighborliness is a sacred ethic among animistic communities.
• Trickery. Shamans often use the power of trickery for good!
• War. Some ancestors are fierce warriors and now are guardian spirits protecting their family.

And so on.

A related concept is, the more good deeds that an ancestor did during life as a human, the more powerful their influence continues to be after they pass on.

I would think it would depend on the Ancestors in question as in the example you gave (Blacksmith Ancestor = Forge Domain) so the player could pick which ever Domain fits the character's backstory/character concept.

Thanks for the ideas. I don't know much about animistic religions, but I'm open to learning!

You might want to look up Chinese religious practices. A lot of what the traditional Chinese folk religion represented was ancestor worship. You could swipe some ideas from them.

Note, "ancestor veneration" is usually more accurate. "Worship" is a theistic concept, whether polytheistic or monotheistic. Nontheistic cultures dont "worship".

(Some Chinese traditions are polytheistic, and according to these traditions, some ancestors did become gods, but not all. Many ancestors became troublesome ghosts. Still, there are many regions in Asia that preserve strong nontheistic animistic traditions.)

BioWizard makes a really good suggestion if you are seeking inspiration. However, I would warn against pulling too deeply from real world religions and cultures as you risk coming across as offensive or insensitive of the beliefs of others whether you mean to or not.

Thanks for all the help! My Halflings will turn out much better with this information!