Firstly I’m not a D&D player or DM myself, I’ve mainly gotten into it so far as watching others play online, so my knowledge of lore and how things should work probably isn't the best. That being said, I was wondering why there didn’t seem to be a deity in the D&D universe that represented the DM during a game so that they could have their own character during the games and the players in character had a deity to blame or praise.
I gave it some thought and I came up with this idea for a potentially new deity for D&D to try and do just that. (I don’t think I’m the first to come up with such an idea but I was wondering what you all think about my ideas for it.)
(This is mainly more of a concept idea and draft, but you should be able to get the idea and feel from it. I also tried to put a hint of cosmic-horror into the idea.)
Name: Quaenioa
Moral Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Titles: The Game Master/Mistress, Lord/Lady of Change, The Cosmic Muse/Manipulator/Editor, and Fickle Mistress.
Holy Symbol: Cosmic tentacles form an infinite symbol, and in the middle of each gap in this infinite symbol is a many sided shape (a d 4 to 100 whatever is preferred at the time) with an eye on each side of that shape. Around the outside of the infinite symbol made of tentacles are individual Oracle Cards and/or Tarot Cards laid out in a circle around it. All of this hovers/levitates over a pile of books and scrolls. (Their Followers use simplified versions of this, choosing one or 2 aspects to focus on and create things that show their connection to Quaenioa.) Sacred Numbers: 1, 4, 6, 8, 10,12, 20, and 100 Sacred Creatures: Cephalopods, Mimics, and The Flumph.
General Idea - The Great Game Quaenioa sees all of existence as "The Great Game." Their single, overarching goal is to ensure this game is unending and the story/narrative being told is interesting, complex, and entertaining for them. This interest isn’t limited to just action, but also includes situations such as unexpected romances, mysteries that need investigating, or politics and intrigue, as these elements still cause drama and perhaps even conflict as a result.
Domains Quaenioa’s domains of influence are the core of their being and who they are, these are:
Destiny/Fate - They are fundamentally a deity of Destiny/Fate.
Change - Their aspect of fate is not to follow it, but to change it and open up new possibilities and prevent stagnation.
Chaos - To accomplish this change they cause chaos.
Arcana & Knowledge - Their preferred methods for causing chaos and their preferred weapons.
Order - They see fate and existence (life) as “The Great Game” and while they enjoy freedom and change, they understand that all Great Games need rules in order to be enjoyed and so enforce what they perceive to be fundamental rules/laws that should be followed (such as the fundamental laws of physics and how magic should work before Mystra made her rules for mortals), and will ignore all others.
Trickery (Mischief & Schemes) - They also think that this Great Game should always be interesting and entertaining (for themselves if no one else), and will work behind the scenes plotting and deceiving in order to make it so.
And Liberation - They have a core belief for Freedom from oppression, constraints, and mortal laws, so long as it’s within the bounds of the rules of “The Great Game”. Things that tend to hold people back from doing what they want, pushing boundaries, and being interesting.
Quaenioa Creations & Phenomena
They are the source of “Wild Magic”.
They are the source of the Inspiration Mechanics.
They are the creator and/or reason that Mimics exist in the universe, just to mess with people.
They created The Flumph. Though they are not what they originally envisioned for their creation, they kept them anyway as a beautiful mistake.
Physical Form Quaenioa’s true form is too beautiful and unsettling for mortal comprehension and description, and they can change their form and gender at will. To avoid driving mortals mad with their true form Quaenioa will create and use avatars when interacting with them in the form and shape that most suits their purposes and preferences at the time, though their preferred appearance usually leans towards a feminine one. (Note: I made it this way so the DM can have whatever form they wanted and change things up whenever the mood took them, as well as have actual disguised characters appear in the game that the players might interact with directly, and find out later that they interacted directly with a mischievous deity. I said they lean towards a feminine form only because that’s how my mind sees them but I’m not limiting the idea to that.)
Quaenioa’s Role/Place as a Deity Quaenioa sees life and the cosmos as one big “Great Game” and narrative, and they enjoy watching and playing this game very much. Their main goals are selfish ones. They don’t want the narrative of the game to get boring and they don’t want “The Great Game” to end.
To this end Quaenioa intervenes quite regularly where most other deities may be more stand-offish. They're not trying to be benevolent or malevolent in their interventions, they’re just rewarding mortals for being entertaining, or stopping the game as they see it from becoming boring or potentially ending. Their interventions also aren’t limited to those of mortal matters alone, Quaenioa also interferes with the plans of other deities so that they don’t end “The Great Game” or cause the game to stagnate and get boring.
Quaenioa is as whimsical as they are scheming, they have many plots on the go at any given moment but can change their mind on what would be most entertaining in a given moment suddenly and without warning living up to the phrase “Fate is a Fickle Mistress”.
They aren't an anarchist who wants to burn everything down. They understand that a game needs rules. But they believe those rules should be the bare minimum required to allow for an interesting game, (such as The laws of physics, the fundamental workings of magic, etc). Most mortal laws about property, social castes, forbidden knowledge, and the like, Quaenioa sees as pointless restrictions on people’s agency.
Quaenioa is the source of inspiration and seemingly lucky moments for heroes on a grand adventure, these are their blessings for pleasing and entertaining them. But they are also the cause of some of the adventure’s unexpected developments and seeming misfortunes in their journey/quest.
While Quaenioa isn’t strictly speaking a benevolent or malevolent deity, they are against peace and stability because it leads to boring narratives and stagnation. This leads many to see them as an evil deity as they misunderstand them and their true nature and don't see the deity for who they truly are and that they can be as much the cause for good things as they are the bad, because the bad outcomes are always so much easier for mortals to remember compared to the good ones. Because of this Quaenioa’s followers operate in the shadows behind the scenes where possible since they being open about their connection to their deity is so problematic.
Quaenioa also doesn’t hold their own plan and schemes any higher than that of other deities. If someone attempts to interfere with their plans, they would be happy for the challenge and amused by the turn of events and in the case of mortals their audacity. They would be just as likely to bless and aid the mortals and encourage other gods for their attempts as they are to try and hinder their efforts and mess with them some more.
Quaenioa’s Prophecies As a Deity of Fate Quaenioa is capable of giving prophecies if they so desire, and they very well wish to do so. The problem with their prophecies is that its accuracy is dependent on how interesting the truth of the original prophecy is. To this end they have three kinds of prophecies that they give:
True Prophecies (The Original) - The Prophecy as is, is more than interesting enough of a development and aligns with their own goals that they don’t see a need to change it.
Altered Prophecies - The original prophecy has an outcome/result they want, BUT! They feel that the events leading to that outcome could be more interesting and so will spin the story in such a way that there is a strong likelihood that the outcome they want will happen but whether or not it does, the journey towards it will be a far more interesting one.
And Potentially (they could be) Prophecies - Sometimes they give prophecies that are initially false and don’t actually exist. Instead it is their own goal(s)/plan(s) that they present as a prophecy to others for a more interesting narrative but it isn't a real prophecy, they just make them look and feel like one. If they come true fantastic Quaenioa’s prophecies were right all along, and if these potential prophecies fail they feign annoyance and anger saying it's because someone meddled with their prophecy and what should have been (which is the very thing Quaenioa does to the other deities and their prophecies) all whilst secretly enjoying the spectacle that lead to that failed outcome.
Quenioa’s Spice If someone particularly catches Quaenioa’s eye as being really interesting or really boring in some way, Quaenioa will bless or curse them (which one it is, depends on how the person she blessed/cursed feels about it) with permanent wild magic. This character/person doesn’t become a wild magic sorcerer, they just now have a chance to cause a wild magic surge like a wild magic sorcerer has. This blessing/curse can be set by Quaenioa to be triggered by one or more specific abilities, actions, or the use of spell slots (I recommend just one thing being the trigger unless a character build is particularly troubling for you as a DM).
(Note: Quaenioa wouldn’t announce that they’ve given this gift to a character, so the first clue the players would have that they are now affected by this would be that they are asked to roll a D20 by the DM with no explanation after doing something, if nothing happens the DM just says to carry on, the true purpose of it won’t be revealed until a wild magic surge is actually triggered. Which would cause that player then to wonder what other abilities or actions they do will cause a wild magic surge, their only hints being if they paid close attention to the moments when the DM randomly asked them to do a D20 roll for seemingly no reason.)
It’s possible to remove Quenioa’s Gift with a specific ritual of some kind that the party will have to go on a quest for, but Quaenioa can always reapply it as well if they catch their attention once again after removing it.
(Note: DMs during their campaign can use this as another way to spice things up or send the party on a side quest. And can also use it for disrupting those who make overpowered characters for their campaign by making one (possibly more if absolutely necessary) aspect(s) that makes that character build so powerful cause a random effect making the player think carefully about if and when they now want to use the skill or combo that made them so good, as it could potentially cause more trouble for them and their party now than what they planned for it to. It doesn’t stop them from doing their overpowered combo, it just adds risk to it and with wild magic the resulting surge could be just as good as it is bad. This should make the player/character try and think of other options their character can do first rather than relying on the overpowered element. Also if the DM is happy with how things are they don’t need to use this element of Quaenioa at all and just reason that no one has yet to do anything to truly catch their eye.)
Quaenioa’s Mortal Agents First it’s important to note that Quaenioa’s mortal agents do not have to work with each other. They could be solitary individuals or work in cells/groups, with different and perhaps even conflicting aims for how to make The Great Game more interesting. These individuals and groups may not initially even realise each other as working for the same deity as they may not disclose the fact that they serve Quaenioa openly to strangers since Quaenioa is misunderstood and considered evil by the majority of the populace. Quaenioa won’t care about this and most likely would encourage such developments as they would make for highly interesting narratives.
That being said, once they recognise each other as working for Quaenioa, and after a brief discussion on their thoughts on how a narrative of The Great Game their all trying to influence should play out, they would be as likely to come to a consensus and agreement for a shared goal on what the most interesting outcome should be and what the rough journey for achieving that outcome should look like and so work together towards it, as they are to stay conflicted/divided and so try to hinder each other efforts.
Classes that may potentially be one of Quaenioa’s mortal agents’:
All Wild Magic Sorcerers - They start their lives out as unwitting and often unwilling agents of Quaenioa, who may or may not have chosen these people randomly just to see chaos spread. These sorcerers may learn to embrace Quaenoia’s gifts/influence in time, or they may fear and fight against them.
Warlocks - The most common form of willing agents of Quaenoia, some of which are Wild Magic Sorcerers who choose to embrace Quaenoia’s gifts/influence. They do not worship Quaenoia understanding that’s not what Quaenoia is after, but rather their promise to Quaenoia in exchange for power is usually to do with keeping The Great Game interesting, and also to be their pawns/instruments if Quaenoia wishes it to achieve their goals. These individuals who become Quaenoia's warlocks are often various combinations of being free-spirited, curious, innovators, risk takers, and various degrees of both questionable morality & lacking concern for mortal laws.
Clerics - They see their job as inspiring change in others, getting people to be creative and not worry so much about what others think and to do what they want. Getting various artisans to come up with more interesting stories, art, inventions, spells, etc… Giving people nudges to act on the desires they keep held back because it'd be more interesting than bottling them up. They also share Quaenioa's prophecies with those willing to listen even when knowingly or unknowingly that those prophecies are altered or fake. Possible Domains for Clerics would be: Arcana, Fate, Knowledge, Order, and Trickery
And Paladins who work for Quaenioa aren’t “good” as their oaths are geared towards keeping things interesting rather than some notion of morality, such as possibly: The Catalyst - They seek out long standing powers of various kinds and aim to defeat and remove them from their "thrones" that are the cause of long term stability in some way (stagnation). which then creates power vacuums that bring change and interesting developments back to the area that source of power had influence over. or The Narrative Guardians - They see their job as secretly protecting and watching over what they think are very interesting elements of an ongoing narrative of The Great Game as they understand it, to keep that interesting narrative going until it comes to a conclusion worthy of how interesting that particular narrative had become.
I've done something similar to this for my own campaign setting. Not a god, but three elder hags I call 'The Sisters Three' that watch the players through a bubbling cauldron. The short version is that the hags have stolen one of the eyes of the god of fate and bound it to a wheel. I purchased a 20-sided wheel spinner dice (it even has a little eye at the center!) I call the wheel of fate, and when the players want to use their inspiration to try and change a dice roll I have the hags spin the wheel. Now if it comes up another failure, they can spin again at the cost of the hags draining their hit points - 1 hit point per level of the character.I usually begin or end my sessions with a small scene where the three hags comment on the successes or failures of the party, or sometimes I have them whisper or encourage the players to spend their inspiration in dire moments.
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Firstly I’m not a D&D player or DM myself, I’ve mainly gotten into it so far as watching others play online, so my knowledge of lore and how things should work probably isn't the best. That being said, I was wondering why there didn’t seem to be a deity in the D&D universe that represented the DM during a game so that they could have their own character during the games and the players in character had a deity to blame or praise.
I gave it some thought and I came up with this idea for a potentially new deity for D&D to try and do just that. (I don’t think I’m the first to come up with such an idea but I was wondering what you all think about my ideas for it.)
(This is mainly more of a concept idea and draft, but you should be able to get the idea and feel from it. I also tried to put a hint of cosmic-horror into the idea.)
Name: Quaenioa
Moral Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Titles: The Game Master/Mistress, Lord/Lady of Change, The Cosmic Muse/Manipulator/Editor, and Fickle Mistress.
Holy Symbol: Cosmic tentacles form an infinite symbol, and in the middle of each gap in this infinite symbol is a many sided shape (a d 4 to 100 whatever is preferred at the time) with an eye on each side of that shape. Around the outside of the infinite symbol made of tentacles are individual Oracle Cards and/or Tarot Cards laid out in a circle around it. All of this hovers/levitates over a pile of books and scrolls. (Their Followers use simplified versions of this, choosing one or 2 aspects to focus on and create things that show their connection to Quaenioa.)
Sacred Numbers: 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 20, and 100
Sacred Creatures: Cephalopods, Mimics, and The Flumph.
General Idea - The Great Game
Quaenioa sees all of existence as "The Great Game." Their single, overarching goal is to ensure this game is unending and the story/narrative being told is interesting, complex, and entertaining for them. This interest isn’t limited to just action, but also includes situations such as unexpected romances, mysteries that need investigating, or politics and intrigue, as these elements still cause drama and perhaps even conflict as a result.
Domains
Quaenioa’s domains of influence are the core of their being and who they are, these are:
Quaenioa Creations & Phenomena
Physical Form
Quaenioa’s true form is too beautiful and unsettling for mortal comprehension and description, and they can change their form and gender at will. To avoid driving mortals mad with their true form Quaenioa will create and use avatars when interacting with them in the form and shape that most suits their purposes and preferences at the time, though their preferred appearance usually leans towards a feminine one.
(Note: I made it this way so the DM can have whatever form they wanted and change things up whenever the mood took them, as well as have actual disguised characters appear in the game that the players might interact with directly, and find out later that they interacted directly with a mischievous deity. I said they lean towards a feminine form only because that’s how my mind sees them but I’m not limiting the idea to that.)
Quaenioa’s Role/Place as a Deity
Quaenioa sees life and the cosmos as one big “Great Game” and narrative, and they enjoy watching and playing this game very much. Their main goals are selfish ones. They don’t want the narrative of the game to get boring and they don’t want “The Great Game” to end.
To this end Quaenioa intervenes quite regularly where most other deities may be more stand-offish. They're not trying to be benevolent or malevolent in their interventions, they’re just rewarding mortals for being entertaining, or stopping the game as they see it from becoming boring or potentially ending. Their interventions also aren’t limited to those of mortal matters alone, Quaenioa also interferes with the plans of other deities so that they don’t end “The Great Game” or cause the game to stagnate and get boring.
Quaenioa is as whimsical as they are scheming, they have many plots on the go at any given moment but can change their mind on what would be most entertaining in a given moment suddenly and without warning living up to the phrase “Fate is a Fickle Mistress”.
They aren't an anarchist who wants to burn everything down. They understand that a game needs rules. But they believe those rules should be the bare minimum required to allow for an interesting game, (such as The laws of physics, the fundamental workings of magic, etc). Most mortal laws about property, social castes, forbidden knowledge, and the like, Quaenioa sees as pointless restrictions on people’s agency.
Quaenioa is the source of inspiration and seemingly lucky moments for heroes on a grand adventure, these are their blessings for pleasing and entertaining them. But they are also the cause of some of the adventure’s unexpected developments and seeming misfortunes in their journey/quest.
While Quaenioa isn’t strictly speaking a benevolent or malevolent deity, they are against peace and stability because it leads to boring narratives and stagnation. This leads many to see them as an evil deity as they misunderstand them and their true nature and don't see the deity for who they truly are and that they can be as much the cause for good things as they are the bad, because the bad outcomes are always so much easier for mortals to remember compared to the good ones. Because of this Quaenioa’s followers operate in the shadows behind the scenes where possible since they being open about their connection to their deity is so problematic.
Quaenioa also doesn’t hold their own plan and schemes any higher than that of other deities. If someone attempts to interfere with their plans, they would be happy for the challenge and amused by the turn of events and in the case of mortals their audacity. They would be just as likely to bless and aid the mortals and encourage other gods for their attempts as they are to try and hinder their efforts and mess with them some more.
Quaenioa’s Prophecies
As a Deity of Fate Quaenioa is capable of giving prophecies if they so desire, and they very well wish to do so. The problem with their prophecies is that its accuracy is dependent on how interesting the truth of the original prophecy is. To this end they have three kinds of prophecies that they give:
Quenioa’s Spice
If someone particularly catches Quaenioa’s eye as being really interesting or really boring in some way, Quaenioa will bless or curse them (which one it is, depends on how the person she blessed/cursed feels about it) with permanent wild magic. This character/person doesn’t become a wild magic sorcerer, they just now have a chance to cause a wild magic surge like a wild magic sorcerer has. This blessing/curse can be set by Quaenioa to be triggered by one or more specific abilities, actions, or the use of spell slots (I recommend just one thing being the trigger unless a character build is particularly troubling for you as a DM).
(Note: Quaenioa wouldn’t announce that they’ve given this gift to a character, so the first clue the players would have that they are now affected by this would be that they are asked to roll a D20 by the DM with no explanation after doing something, if nothing happens the DM just says to carry on, the true purpose of it won’t be revealed until a wild magic surge is actually triggered. Which would cause that player then to wonder what other abilities or actions they do will cause a wild magic surge, their only hints being if they paid close attention to the moments when the DM randomly asked them to do a D20 roll for seemingly no reason.)
It’s possible to remove Quenioa’s Gift with a specific ritual of some kind that the party will have to go on a quest for, but Quaenioa can always reapply it as well if they catch their attention once again after removing it.
(Note: DMs during their campaign can use this as another way to spice things up or send the party on a side quest. And can also use it for disrupting those who make overpowered characters for their campaign by making one (possibly more if absolutely necessary) aspect(s) that makes that character build so powerful cause a random effect making the player think carefully about if and when they now want to use the skill or combo that made them so good, as it could potentially cause more trouble for them and their party now than what they planned for it to. It doesn’t stop them from doing their overpowered combo, it just adds risk to it and with wild magic the resulting surge could be just as good as it is bad. This should make the player/character try and think of other options their character can do first rather than relying on the overpowered element. Also if the DM is happy with how things are they don’t need to use this element of Quaenioa at all and just reason that no one has yet to do anything to truly catch their eye.)
Quaenioa’s Mortal Agents
First it’s important to note that Quaenioa’s mortal agents do not have to work with each other. They could be solitary individuals or work in cells/groups, with different and perhaps even conflicting aims for how to make The Great Game more interesting. These individuals and groups may not initially even realise each other as working for the same deity as they may not disclose the fact that they serve Quaenioa openly to strangers since Quaenioa is misunderstood and considered evil by the majority of the populace. Quaenioa won’t care about this and most likely would encourage such developments as they would make for highly interesting narratives.
That being said, once they recognise each other as working for Quaenioa, and after a brief discussion on their thoughts on how a narrative of The Great Game their all trying to influence should play out, they would be as likely to come to a consensus and agreement for a shared goal on what the most interesting outcome should be and what the rough journey for achieving that outcome should look like and so work together towards it, as they are to stay conflicted/divided and so try to hinder each other efforts.
Classes that may potentially be one of Quaenioa’s mortal agents’:
The Catalyst - They seek out long standing powers of various kinds and aim to defeat and remove them from their "thrones" that are the cause of long term stability in some way (stagnation). which then creates power vacuums that bring change and interesting developments back to the area that source of power had influence over.
or The Narrative Guardians - They see their job as secretly protecting and watching over what they think are very interesting elements of an ongoing narrative of The Great Game as they understand it, to keep that interesting narrative going until it comes to a conclusion worthy of how interesting that particular narrative had become.
I've done something similar to this for my own campaign setting. Not a god, but three elder hags I call 'The Sisters Three' that watch the players through a bubbling cauldron. The short version is that the hags have stolen one of the eyes of the god of fate and bound it to a wheel. I purchased a 20-sided wheel spinner dice (it even has a little eye at the center!) I call the wheel of fate, and when the players want to use their inspiration to try and change a dice roll I have the hags spin the wheel. Now if it comes up another failure, they can spin again at the cost of the hags draining their hit points - 1 hit point per level of the character.I usually begin or end my sessions with a small scene where the three hags comment on the successes or failures of the party, or sometimes I have them whisper or encourage the players to spend their inspiration in dire moments.