Help! I'm making a homebrew world and I need an Evil aligned deity of secrets and subterfuge but I don't want Vecna. Also need a suggestion for a Good deity that would be considered the most powerful or the most clutch to sustaining life and the domain of 'good' any ideas?
I always use the Behind the Name site for figuring out deity names. I type the meaning I want and look for a good one. For secrets the name I suggest is Tajana, for life I suggest the name Asha. Both names are female.
Generally I find that its a good idea to use the basic idea behind the Greco-Roman 12 Olympians (Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Ares, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Hestia, Aphrodite, Hephaestus) to define your deities. It gives you a basic set of portfolios, 6 Males, 6 Females you can then add up to 8 more using some of the more common other deities (Dionysus, Hades, Nemesis, Tyche, Hacate, Gaia, Heracles, Ouranos for instance).
Thanks for the advice! I was hoping to use a pre-existing DnD deity but I think I need to make my own after all. I'm thinking of calling them the Whispering Darkness.
My idea for him is it's a deity nobody has seen, there's no iconography or descriptions(him/her/race/species) because no one has seen it. It whispers in the mind of those it wants to serve a purpose. If they accept they're granted abilities(either a blessing if they already have abilities or magic if they don't already have it) and they see a brand appear on their wrist and they can see this brand on other servants of the Whispering Darkness but the brand is visually different for every follower thus no formal iconography can be formulated. This brand cannot be hidden from other followers, if it's covered it will glow through and it resists magical attempts to hide it.
If someone refuses the will of the Whispering Darkness when whispered to then it drives them mad and releases them back into the world gibbering with insanity unable to be restored or believed by others.
Breakdown:
Name: Whispering Darkness / The Hushed God
Identity : Race unknown, gender unknown
Domain: Chaos / Death / Secrets and Subterfuge
Iconography: Unknown / Whatever a follower imagines as they're conscripted
Lore: Largely unknown to exist. Most deeds and triumphs of the Whispering Darkness are credited to Vecna or other evil deities though a rare few scholars believe another entity is responsible and are researching its existence but they are largely discredited for the belief. The one unifying belief, if it exists, is that the Whispering Darkness is one of the oldest deities.
You already seem to have a good idea for your evil deity, reminds me of my own God Ineltir, God of Memories and the Abyss of Dreams. His whole shtick involves using the spells like modify memory to remove any knowledge of itself during people's sleep. So I think your good to go on the evil deity.
As to the good aligned deity, you could always go with a nebulous title like God of Creation or Life to give them a great sense of importance to the world, this gives you an extremely powerful god, but not one that is omniscient so as to allow for the reason why good hasn't already triumphed long ago.
Hope that helped a little. 😁
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Help! I'm making a homebrew world and I need an Evil aligned deity of secrets and subterfuge but I don't want Vecna. Also need a suggestion for a Good deity that would be considered the most powerful or the most clutch to sustaining life and the domain of 'good' any ideas?
I always use the Behind the Name site for figuring out deity names. I type the meaning I want and look for a good one. For secrets the name I suggest is Tajana, for life I suggest the name Asha. Both names are female.
Generally I find that its a good idea to use the basic idea behind the Greco-Roman 12 Olympians (Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Ares, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Hestia, Aphrodite, Hephaestus) to define your deities. It gives you a basic set of portfolios, 6 Males, 6 Females you can then add up to 8 more using some of the more common other deities (Dionysus, Hades, Nemesis, Tyche, Hacate, Gaia, Heracles, Ouranos for instance).
Thanks for the advice! I was hoping to use a pre-existing DnD deity but I think I need to make my own after all. I'm thinking of calling them the Whispering Darkness.
My idea for him is it's a deity nobody has seen, there's no iconography or descriptions(him/her/race/species) because no one has seen it. It whispers in the mind of those it wants to serve a purpose. If they accept they're granted abilities(either a blessing if they already have abilities or magic if they don't already have it) and they see a brand appear on their wrist and they can see this brand on other servants of the Whispering Darkness but the brand is visually different for every follower thus no formal iconography can be formulated. This brand cannot be hidden from other followers, if it's covered it will glow through and it resists magical attempts to hide it.
If someone refuses the will of the Whispering Darkness when whispered to then it drives them mad and releases them back into the world gibbering with insanity unable to be restored or believed by others.
Breakdown:
Name: Whispering Darkness / The Hushed God
Identity : Race unknown, gender unknown
Domain: Chaos / Death / Secrets and Subterfuge
Iconography: Unknown / Whatever a follower imagines as they're conscripted
Lore: Largely unknown to exist. Most deeds and triumphs of the Whispering Darkness are credited to Vecna or other evil deities though a rare few scholars believe another entity is responsible and are researching its existence but they are largely discredited for the belief. The one unifying belief, if it exists, is that the Whispering Darkness is one of the oldest deities.
Hey. Check this page for list of gods: https://dnd5e.fandom.com/wiki/Gods_of_the_Multiverse
I think Cyric fits your setting: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Cyric
My current projects, One click download PDFs:
- Clam Island campaign questbook: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/By3s5Uqqf (Levels 1-4)
- Frostglade Tundra campaign questbook: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/SyZ_4eEyKE (Levels 1-4)
- Goldfish Archipelago campaign questbook: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/-3HajWXM (Sequel to Clam Island, Levels 5-8)
You already seem to have a good idea for your evil deity, reminds me of my own God Ineltir, God of Memories and the Abyss of Dreams. His whole shtick involves using the spells like modify memory to remove any knowledge of itself during people's sleep. So I think your good to go on the evil deity.
As to the good aligned deity, you could always go with a nebulous title like God of Creation or Life to give them a great sense of importance to the world, this gives you an extremely powerful god, but not one that is omniscient so as to allow for the reason why good hasn't already triumphed long ago.
Hope that helped a little. 😁