I’m working on a campaign where my players will meet a king of a super-prosperous city, but find out that the city’s prosperity is due to regular sacrifices to some deity.
I’m just not sure what deity makes the most sense, or even what alignment.
It sounds like you are looking for a sinister god who has control over luck or the natural world. If the campaign is using Forgotten Realms deities, consider Auril, Beshaba, or Umberlee. For Greyhawk deities consider Incabulos. Dragonlace, Morgion or Zeboim.
However, those are simply existing deities, you could make your own. Or, you could take a good or neutral deity, like Chauntea, Beory, or Chislev, and have this god twisted by the city. If you have a cleric or a paladin in your group, you may want to make the god their god.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
What pantheon are you using? What role do dieties play in your society? These are important questions to know the answer to in order to give you a good answer.
However, here's a mediocre answer instead: It can be just about any diety, and the diety you choose will largely determine How and Why they are prosperous.
It could be as simple as a God of Wealth (in my cosmology that's Garl Glittergold) and they're being favored in mercantile trade.
It could be a god / goddess of nature (Chauntea or Obad-Hai are obvious choices) and they're having huge bountiful crops and excess healthy animals to trade, etc.
It could be a god / goddess of fortune (like Tymora) and things are swinging their way (such as a huge increase in iron or some other resource they have) or of misfortune (like Beshaba) and misfortune strikes others in such a way as it benefits them (all other iron mines are infected with rot, so theirs is the only usable source). It could be a god of war (like Hextor or such) and their fortune is earned off of the successful conquest of their neighbors. It could be a god of knowledge (like Oghma or Boccob) or of secrets (like Vecna), and they could have recently discovered a great ruin, or treasure horde, or valuable natural resource, or a magical item or artifact they are using to generate wealth. Finally, it could be less of a diety per se and more of a hugely powerful entity like a demon or dragon, and the sacrifices are simply to remain in the shadow of its protection and be exempt from its wrath, which is again a matter of them being lifted up because they're not being held down like everyone else is.
In short, think about how you want the city to have earned its wealth. What's nearby? What are its resources? Why does it exist in the first place, and overall? Then, what dieties have domains which could be leveraged to gain an edge with that resource? Or, if you don't want to go that route, how DID they get their wealth? Once you know the means, picking a diety becomes pretty easy.
Well i’m thinking something along the lines of having people of skilled trade as well as bountiful harvest and the like, so maybe a deity involving luck/fortune…
Gods in themselves can shift and mask who they truly are. Beshaba as the maid of Ill Fortune is a good choice, but I would honesty recommend Asmodeus. As the Lord of the Nine Hells and a recent God in some pantheons he is prone to hiding behind other faiths. Now perhaps you use a god like Waukeen. Goddess of Coin, but instead of it truly being Waukeen it's actually Asmodeus. Toying with the city, trying to gain worshipers and the like. Perhaps, only some know who they truly work for while others are ignorant to the fact.
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I’m working on a campaign where my players will meet a king of a super-prosperous city, but find out that the city’s prosperity is due to regular sacrifices to some deity.
I’m just not sure what deity makes the most sense, or even what alignment.
Any tips?
Lawful evil sounds like the way to go, at least to me. Which pantheon are you using?
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
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I’m not tied to any pantheon yet.
It sounds like you are looking for a sinister god who has control over luck or the natural world. If the campaign is using Forgotten Realms deities, consider Auril, Beshaba, or Umberlee. For Greyhawk deities consider Incabulos. Dragonlace, Morgion or Zeboim.
However, those are simply existing deities, you could make your own. Or, you could take a good or neutral deity, like Chauntea, Beory, or Chislev, and have this god twisted by the city. If you have a cleric or a paladin in your group, you may want to make the god their god.
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"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
What pantheon are you using? What role do dieties play in your society? These are important questions to know the answer to in order to give you a good answer.
However, here's a mediocre answer instead: It can be just about any diety, and the diety you choose will largely determine How and Why they are prosperous.
It could be as simple as a God of Wealth (in my cosmology that's Garl Glittergold) and they're being favored in mercantile trade.
It could be a god / goddess of nature (Chauntea or Obad-Hai are obvious choices) and they're having huge bountiful crops and excess healthy animals to trade, etc.
It could be a god / goddess of fortune (like Tymora) and things are swinging their way (such as a huge increase in iron or some other resource they have) or of misfortune (like Beshaba) and misfortune strikes others in such a way as it benefits them (all other iron mines are infected with rot, so theirs is the only usable source). It could be a god of war (like Hextor or such) and their fortune is earned off of the successful conquest of their neighbors. It could be a god of knowledge (like Oghma or Boccob) or of secrets (like Vecna), and they could have recently discovered a great ruin, or treasure horde, or valuable natural resource, or a magical item or artifact they are using to generate wealth. Finally, it could be less of a diety per se and more of a hugely powerful entity like a demon or dragon, and the sacrifices are simply to remain in the shadow of its protection and be exempt from its wrath, which is again a matter of them being lifted up because they're not being held down like everyone else is.
In short, think about how you want the city to have earned its wealth. What's nearby? What are its resources? Why does it exist in the first place, and overall? Then, what dieties have domains which could be leveraged to gain an edge with that resource? Or, if you don't want to go that route, how DID they get their wealth? Once you know the means, picking a diety becomes pretty easy.
Well i’m thinking something along the lines of having people of skilled trade as well as bountiful harvest and the like, so maybe a deity involving luck/fortune…
And on the subject of deity importance… I’m thinking of using deities primarily as smaller plot points, not the focus of the campaign.
Gods in themselves can shift and mask who they truly are. Beshaba as the maid of Ill Fortune is a good choice, but I would honesty recommend Asmodeus. As the Lord of the Nine Hells and a recent God in some pantheons he is prone to hiding behind other faiths. Now perhaps you use a god like Waukeen. Goddess of Coin, but instead of it truly being Waukeen it's actually Asmodeus. Toying with the city, trying to gain worshipers and the like. Perhaps, only some know who they truly work for while others are ignorant to the fact.