Hello all. today after doing research an the drow gods i've become fascinated with the gods of all the worlds. so i'd like to know what your favorite gods are and why
for me right now i love eiliestree the good drow god. i like her in particular cuz she sounds so sweet and wholesome as she just wants drow to live peacefully with other races on the surface world.
Gorm Gulthyn for Dwarves because he represents the defensive and protecting nature of Dwarves in a martial way, Shevarash for FR Elves as I was playing campaign after campaign in the Underdark and I couldn't stand to see even one single Drow anymore, Mellifleur as "evil" God because due to how he stole his power from a lot of other evil gods he now has to work against them to keep safe and what Wizard doesn't want to become a Lich and Vatun for the Greyhawk setting because there is something tragic about being locked away for centuries by another god of winter.
Arvoreen - Halfling God of Protection, "The Defender" or "The Wary Sword".
It's cool that halflings have the equivalent to a war god...much more of a protector, and is sort of where I'd imagine most halflings get their sense of bravery from.
Gaerdal Ironhand - Gnomish God of Protection
For similar reasons, I find it amusing that gnomes have a god of war...for a race filled with a culture from tinkering, magic, and nature, it's pretty sweet that they have a goddess who knows how to fight.
Haela Brightaxe - Dwarf Goddess of Luck, "The Lady of the Fray"
Dwarves being dwarves, their goddess of luck is the sort of deity who likes her followers to seek out challenging fights in order to "test their luck"...and she bestows good fortune on her followers so that they can overcome these challenges.
Helm - God of Protection
He's just a dude in armor, wandering the world, slaying monsters...who just happens to be a god. So he's very, VERY hard to kill.
And he's the quiet type...seldom says a word. In my headcannon, he's just shy, or socially awkward.
He won't hesitate to protect the innocent, though, or those who can't defend themselves...so he's a really reliable god.
Lliira - Goddess of Joy
She's a goddess who believes in spreading joy, making people happy, and celebrating with festivals & dancing.
In my humble opinion, this makes her one of the best deities in D&D, period.
Mystra - Goddess of Magic, "Lady of Mysteries"
A goddess who is not only the deity of magic; she is sort of the EMBODIEMENT of magic.
That's a really neat concept.
Vecna - God of Magic, God of Secrets
I see Vecna as the opposite of Mystra...worshippers of Vecna are about selfish ambition, keeping secrets, and hoarding knowledge & power...no matter who they hurt.
The fact that Vecna was once a human, who was SO wicked & power-hungry, that he managed to ascend to godhood...is terrifying.
Bhaal - God of Murder
Just a very, very scary god...his clerics make PHENOMENAL villains for campaigns.
Bane - God of Evil, Subjugation, Tyranny
Bane is perfectly evil...he's incredibly intelligent, patient...and most importantly, when he DOES have to fight...he is a physical beast.
He's like the Thanos of D&D...his greatest strength is that he has no real weakness.
If you vow to serve him, and are loyal to him...he rewards you, and showers you with riches & power.
If you oppose him...he obliterates you, and enslaves everyone you know and love.
If he has one real weakness, it's his ego...he truly believes that the universe exists to serve him, and that if everyone bows before him, he'll turn it into a utopia.
I like Eillistraee - a deity full of joy, song and dance after spending millenia is trying to salvage the Drow is someone I can support. Most of my characters (and myself for that matter) are wanderers and fighters for freedom and mutual respect so FR’s Shandukul is a frequent choice for my non Drow rangers. But my favorite has to be myself 😁🤪😳. Early on I pissed off a DM and he dumped me into the game to kill me off. Problem was I survived. A few years later I accidentally (on purpose) killed Lolth and absorbed her powers. With help from the elven and Dwarven deities he managed to purify the powers before they corrupted him and eventually (after about 150 game years) ascended to become a NG deity of half elves, good surface Drow males, Dragonborn, half breeds of all sorts, rangers and multiclassed adventurers. ( a lot of little little portfolios totaling an intermediate deity) of course he is only available in my own homebrew version of FR.
ya been there done that. a god (cyric) pissed off my character so her whole goal was to kill cyric and take his place. she eventually did after years of grinding. and she created guns in the world i was playing.
Personally, I find Kurtalmak, god of Kobolds to be the only god worth dying for in DnD. He stresses loyalty to kin more than anything even to the point of dying for them. Kobolds hold on to this belief and are said to be reincarnated after death into the next Kobold egg. To me, Ellistraee seems to be sort of weak, not willing to get her hands dirty and take out Lolth and her matrons. But that is just my opinion.
Personally, I find Kurtalmak, god of Kobolds to be the only god worth dying for in DnD. He stresses loyalty to kin more than anything even to the point of dying for them. Kobolds hold on to this belief and are said to be reincarnated after death into the next Kobold egg. To me, Ellistraee seems to be sort of weak, not willing to get her hands dirty and take out Lolth and her matrons. But that is just my opinion.
that's cool. loyalty is good to give out as an ideal. almost as much as freedom i think. especially as a god. gods run on belief and worship from there followers (this gives them their divine rank. the more followers the god has the more rank they have) but to have a belief that you get reincarnated in an egg after you die is super cool
there is actually a point where i belive she sent someone to kill lolth though the assassination failed.
but knowing her personality i think if given the chance she would do it herself. the issue with this is gods have a power scaling. the one i talked about above. lolth has a power ranking of 16 due to the sheer amount of drow that worship her (most drow are trained to worship and ear lolth from birth). a divine rank of 16 makes lolth a greater deity. whereas eilistraee has in-between 6-10 in rank this is because most of her followers she had to earn (most not all. she has a few that chose to follow her). she had to unbrainwash lolth's followers to get them to worship her which is hard to do because lolth has her priests destroy or hide information about eilistraee. a power rank between 6 and 10 makes eilistraee a lesser deity.
as she is right now she would not stand a chance in a fight. it would be like sending a 6 year old to fight a master martial artist. she would be slaughtered . this isn't to say she is weak. but on a godly level she is on the weaker side she is actually a really good fighter. she was a really good archer (though she doesn't use it anymore) and she doesn't have a sword for show. so i think that she simply can't kill lolth. if she could i belive she would. or at the very least steal lolth's portfolios to boost herself to a major deity.
so while yes she is weak on a godly level she is more than willing to get her hands dirty if she knows she can win. after all lolth is encouraging violence. and eilestraee's teachings on violence is to respond with violence as fast as possible to save as many lives as possible.
also for the matrons Eilistraee doesn't want to kill them (though she will order their destruction if it is needed). she wants to help them to realize what they are doing is wrong. she wants to give them the chance to be free
Personally, I find Kurtalmak, god of Kobolds to be the only god worth dying for in DnD. He stresses loyalty to kin more than anything even to the point of dying for them. Kobolds hold on to this belief and are said to be reincarnated after death into the next Kobold egg. To me, Ellistraee seems to be sort of weak, not willing to get her hands dirty and take out Lolth and her matrons. But that is just my opinion.
that's cool. loyalty is good to give out as an ideal. almost as much as freedom i think. especially as a god. gods run on belief and worship from there followers (this gives them their divine rank. the more followers the god has the more rank they have) but to have a belief that you get reincarnated in an egg after you die is super cool
there is actually a point where i belive she sent someone to kill lolth though the assassination failed.
but knowing her personality i think if given the chance she would do it herself. the issue with this is gods have a power scaling. the one i talked about above. lolth has a power ranking of 16 due to the sheer amount of drow that worship her (most drow are trained to worship and ear lolth from birth). a divine rank of 16 makes lolth a greater deity. whereas eilistraee has in-between 6-10 in rank this is because most of her followers she had to earn (most not all. she has a few that chose to follow her). she had to unbrainwash lolth's followers to get them to worship her which is hard to do because lolth has her priests destroy or hide information about eilistraee. a power rank between 6 and 10 makes eilistraee a lesser deity.
as she is right now she would not stand a chance in a fight. it would be like sending a 6 year old to fight a master martial artist. she would be slaughtered . this isn't to say she is weak. but on a godly level she is on the weaker side she is actually a really good fighter. she was a really good archer (though she doesn't use it anymore) and she doesn't have a sword for show. so i think that she simply can't kill lolth. if she could i belive she would. or at the very least steal lolth's portfolios to boost herself to a major deity.
so while yes she is weak on a godly level she is more than willing to get her hands dirty if she knows she can win. after all lolth is encouraging violence. and eilestraee's teachings on violence is to respond with violence as fast as possible to save as many lives as possible.
also for the matrons Eilistraee doesn't want to kill them (though she will order their destruction if it is needed). she wants to help them to realize what they are doing is wrong. she wants to give them the chance to be free
Personally, I find Kurtalmak, god of Kobolds to be the only god worth dying for in DnD. He stresses loyalty to kin more than anything even to the point of dying for them. Kobolds hold on to this belief and are said to be reincarnated after death into the next Kobold egg. To me, Ellistraee seems to be sort of weak, not willing to get her hands dirty and take out Lolth and her matrons. But that is just my opinion.
that's cool. loyalty is good to give out as an ideal. almost as much as freedom i think. especially as a god. gods run on belief and worship from there followers (this gives them their divine rank. the more followers the god has the more rank they have) but to have a belief that you get reincarnated in an egg after you die is super cool
there is actually a point where i belive she sent someone to kill lolth though the assassination failed.
but knowing her personality i think if given the chance she would do it herself. the issue with this is gods have a power scaling. the one i talked about above. lolth has a power ranking of 16 due to the sheer amount of drow that worship her (most drow are trained to worship and ear lolth from birth). a divine rank of 16 makes lolth a greater deity. whereas eilistraee has in-between 6-10 in rank this is because most of her followers she had to earn (most not all. she has a few that chose to follow her). she had to unbrainwash lolth's followers to get them to worship her which is hard to do because lolth has her priests destroy or hide information about eilistraee. a power rank between 6 and 10 makes eilistraee a lesser deity.
as she is right now she would not stand a chance in a fight. it would be like sending a 6 year old to fight a master martial artist. she would be slaughtered . this isn't to say she is weak. but on a godly level she is on the weaker side she is actually a really good fighter. she was a really good archer (though she doesn't use it anymore) and she doesn't have a sword for show. so i think that she simply can't kill lolth. if she could i belive she would. or at the very least steal lolth's portfolios to boost herself to a major deity.
so while yes she is weak on a godly level she is more than willing to get her hands dirty if she knows she can win. after all lolth is encouraging violence. and eilestraee's teachings on violence is to respond with violence as fast as possible to save as many lives as possible.
also for the matrons Eilistraee doesn't want to kill them (though she will order their destruction if it is needed). she wants to help them to realize what they are doing is wrong. she wants to give them the chance to be free
Outside of that, I don't like gods as they fail to provide an explanation for the origin of existence.
the god your looking for is named au. the overgod. he created all of existence (at least in the forgotten realms i believe) and all the first gods
It provides no "explanation for the origin of existence" of au. If au exists (if he is in existence) then he did not create all of existence.
He is simply The God, the only true almighty and all powerful being in the material plane
The way I would see it, Au simply exists, he always has, and he always will. The one true constant of the material plane. We cannot, and will never be able to comprehend the ways of true divine power. They provide explanation, we simply cannot grasp it.
None of them really leap out at me, as fully realized concepts, but I think there are some with very fun, useful, and memorable pieces of lore about them. Like how most cities will have little shrines to Sune with a mirror for you to fix your hair, or how the worship of Auril is basically just hurting yourself in the hopes that it'll amuse her enough to cut you some slack this year. There's some interesting intersectionality between domains or ideas, like how Sharindlar blesses livestock with fertility, and blesses dwarves similarly, or how Tymora's priests will heal you if your daring escapade didn't pan out in your favor.
My *least* favorite gods are the ones whose godhood has changed status, especially recently, because I'm really tired of the "actually,, X is/isn't a god now" discussions that keep creeping into my games for no reason. :P
I think if I had to pick just one, then Tymora strikes me as the ideal god for a dice-based game of adventure like D&D. She's nuanced enough to allow multiple points of view from her worshippers, and dubious enough to credibly have non-believers. You can see why she'd be loved, hated, respected, and feared by all kinds of people in every walk of life. She's close enough to aspects of real world religions to be immediately understandable and resonant, but different enough to make you consider her as her own thing. Her blessings can be inscrutable, invisible even, but they can just as easily be extremely simple and direct. (Advantage on your next roll!) Her domain isn't really good or evil, lawful or chaotic, or even neutral -- but *she* is chaotic good, which I think is interesting. It implies a sense of general optimism that I think reflects the overall attitude of the Forgotten Realms: things will get bad and weird, but if you take action and do good, it'll usually work out in the end. You could redefine a lot about your setting just by changing Lady Luck's alignment.
Outside of that, I don't like gods as they fail to provide an explanation for the origin of existence.
Why does it matter? Flumphs don't provide an explanation for the origin of existence, but that doesn't mean they aren't rad. I understand in our universe why this is may be an issue given certain theological arguments. But in our gaming realms, the gods often interact more directly in the world and the evidence of their existence is often more tangible. There are many appreciably aspects of their existence beyond explaining the origin of the universe or any other phenomena.
I like clerics because they give tangible gaming mechanics. Beyond that, gods will be rad or not and will interact directly in the world or not to any extent a DM chooses. Other than that they mainly just give further detail to backstory and potential to deny power if, according to a set of values, you're naughty.
Outside of that, I don't like gods as they fail to provide an explanation for the origin of existence.
Why does it matter? Flumphs don't provide an explanation for the origin of existence, but that doesn't mean they aren't rad. I understand in our universe why this is may be an issue given certain theological arguments. But in our gaming realms, the gods often interact more directly in the world and the evidence of their existence is often more tangible. There are many appreciably aspects of their existence beyond explaining the origin of the universe or any other phenomena.
I like clerics because they give tangible gaming mechanics. Beyond that, gods will be rad or not and will interact directly in the world or not to any extent a DM chooses. Other than that they mainly just give further detail to backstory and potential to deny power if, according to a set of values, you're naughty.
I asked you why it matters that the gods don't provide an explanation for the origin of existence. Your reply does not answer that question. While each campaign is different, the OP seems to be referencing source material. In the source material, there are gods. Not liking any of them because they don't explain the origin of existence is, of course, your prerogative, but to me it's a bit like not liking my microwave because it doesn't play DVDs.
Thank you and, as per "I don't like gods as they fail to provide an explanation for the origin of existence", that's exactly my position.
Gods, in real-world belief, are frequently synonymous with origin. If your DVD player came with the inference that it could, for instance, explain the question of existence when it failed to live up to expectations that might add to my reasons to prefer alternate options to access parallel content such as hard drives.
Outside of that, I don't like gods as they fail to provide an explanation for the origin of existence.
Why does it matter? Flumphs don't provide an explanation for the origin of existence, but that doesn't mean they aren't rad. I understand in our universe why this is may be an issue given certain theological arguments. But in our gaming realms, the gods often interact more directly in the world and the evidence of their existence is often more tangible. There are many appreciably aspects of their existence beyond explaining the origin of the universe or any other phenomena.
I like clerics because they give tangible gaming mechanics. Beyond that, gods will be rad or not and will interact directly in the world or not to any extent a DM chooses. Other than that they mainly just give further detail to backstory and potential to deny power if, according to a set of values, you're naughty.
I asked you why it matters that the gods don't provide an explanation for the origin of existence. Your reply does not answer that question. While each campaign is different, the OP seems to be referencing source material. In the source material, there are gods. Not liking any of them because they don't explain the origin of existence is, of course, your prerogative, but to me it's a bit like not liking my microwave because it doesn't play DVDs.
Thank you and, as per "I don't like gods as they fail to provide an explanation for the origin of existence", that's exactly my position.
Gods, in real-world belief, are frequently synonymous with origin. If your DVD player came with the inference that it could, for instance, explain the question of existence when it failed to live up to expectations that might add to my reasons to prefer alternate options to access parallel content such as hard drives.
But not the origin of existence itself, which is to say why there is something rather than nothing. That is not something any god really does or likely even can do. There is always some presupposition of a force or phenomenon that calls all other existence, shape and form into being. The gods in 5e source material do, in many cases, explain origins of various phenomena, just as gods in general often do, but they don't tackle the seemingly paradoxical inquiry into why there is existence in the first place.
Exactly. 5e gods are presented as great powers that are worshipped and adored, yet they fail to provide answers to ultimate questions.
I don't like the idea of entities gaining control of aspects of mortal affairs as their portfolios and demanding/entreating worship. I prefer the idea that "... there's no fate but what we make for ourselves" and that characters can be in more direct control. It's a personal preference.
Outside of that, I don't like gods as they fail to provide an explanation for the origin of existence.
Why does it matter? Flumphs don't provide an explanation for the origin of existence, but that doesn't mean they aren't rad. I understand in our universe why this is may be an issue given certain theological arguments. But in our gaming realms, the gods often interact more directly in the world and the evidence of their existence is often more tangible. There are many appreciably aspects of their existence beyond explaining the origin of the universe or any other phenomena.
I like clerics because they give tangible gaming mechanics. Beyond that, gods will be rad or not and will interact directly in the world or not to any extent a DM chooses. Other than that they mainly just give further detail to backstory and potential to deny power if, according to a set of values, you're naughty.
I asked you why it matters that the gods don't provide an explanation for the origin of existence. Your reply does not answer that question. While each campaign is different, the OP seems to be referencing source material. In the source material, there are gods. Not liking any of them because they don't explain the origin of existence is, of course, your prerogative, but to me it's a bit like not liking my microwave because it doesn't play DVDs.
Thank you and, as per "I don't like gods as they fail to provide an explanation for the origin of existence", that's exactly my position.
Gods, in real-world belief, are frequently synonymous with origin. If your DVD player came with the inference that it could, for instance, explain the question of existence when it failed to live up to expectations that might add to my reasons to prefer alternate options to access parallel content such as hard drives.
But not the origin of existence itself, which is to say why there is something rather than nothing. That is not something any god really does or likely even can do. There is always some presupposition of a force or phenomenon that calls all other existence, shape and form into being. The gods in 5e source material do, in many cases, explain origins of various phenomena, just as gods in general often do, but they don't tackle the seemingly paradoxical inquiry into why there is existence in the first place.
Exactly. 5e gods are presented as great powers that are worshipped and adored, yet they fail to provide answers to ultimate questions.
I don't like the idea of entities gaining control of aspects of mortal affairs as their portfolios and demanding/entreating worship. I prefer the idea that "... there's no fate but what we make for ourselves" and that characters can be in more direct control. It's a personal preference.
But they do. Au CREATED existence, they give explanation, we fail to accept it because it does not fit in with our beliefs
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Hello all. today after doing research an the drow gods i've become fascinated with the gods of all the worlds. so i'd like to know what your favorite gods are and why
for me right now i love eiliestree the good drow god. i like her in particular cuz she sounds so sweet and wholesome as she just wants drow to live peacefully with other races on the surface world.
Gorm Gulthyn for Dwarves because he represents the defensive and protecting nature of Dwarves in a martial way, Shevarash for FR Elves as I was playing campaign after campaign in the Underdark and I couldn't stand to see even one single Drow anymore, Mellifleur as "evil" God because due to how he stole his power from a lot of other evil gods he now has to work against them to keep safe and what Wizard doesn't want to become a Lich and Vatun for the Greyhawk setting because there is something tragic about being locked away for centuries by another god of winter.
Arvoreen - Halfling God of Protection, "The Defender" or "The Wary Sword".
It's cool that halflings have the equivalent to a war god...much more of a protector, and is sort of where I'd imagine most halflings get their sense of bravery from.
Gaerdal Ironhand - Gnomish God of Protection
For similar reasons, I find it amusing that gnomes have a god of war...for a race filled with a culture from tinkering, magic, and nature, it's pretty sweet that they have a goddess who knows how to fight.
Haela Brightaxe - Dwarf Goddess of Luck, "The Lady of the Fray"
Dwarves being dwarves, their goddess of luck is the sort of deity who likes her followers to seek out challenging fights in order to "test their luck"...and she bestows good fortune on her followers so that they can overcome these challenges.
Helm - God of Protection
He's just a dude in armor, wandering the world, slaying monsters...who just happens to be a god. So he's very, VERY hard to kill.
And he's the quiet type...seldom says a word. In my headcannon, he's just shy, or socially awkward.
He won't hesitate to protect the innocent, though, or those who can't defend themselves...so he's a really reliable god.
Lliira - Goddess of Joy
She's a goddess who believes in spreading joy, making people happy, and celebrating with festivals & dancing.
In my humble opinion, this makes her one of the best deities in D&D, period.
Mystra - Goddess of Magic, "Lady of Mysteries"
A goddess who is not only the deity of magic; she is sort of the EMBODIEMENT of magic.
That's a really neat concept.
Vecna - God of Magic, God of Secrets
I see Vecna as the opposite of Mystra...worshippers of Vecna are about selfish ambition, keeping secrets, and hoarding knowledge & power...no matter who they hurt.
The fact that Vecna was once a human, who was SO wicked & power-hungry, that he managed to ascend to godhood...is terrifying.
Bhaal - God of Murder
Just a very, very scary god...his clerics make PHENOMENAL villains for campaigns.
Bane - God of Evil, Subjugation, Tyranny
Bane is perfectly evil...he's incredibly intelligent, patient...and most importantly, when he DOES have to fight...he is a physical beast.
He's like the Thanos of D&D...his greatest strength is that he has no real weakness.
If you vow to serve him, and are loyal to him...he rewards you, and showers you with riches & power.
If you oppose him...he obliterates you, and enslaves everyone you know and love.
If he has one real weakness, it's his ego...he truly believes that the universe exists to serve him, and that if everyone bows before him, he'll turn it into a utopia.
I like Eillistraee - a deity full of joy, song and dance after spending millenia is trying to salvage the Drow is someone I can support. Most of my characters (and myself for that matter) are wanderers and fighters for freedom and mutual respect so FR’s Shandukul is a frequent choice for my non Drow rangers. But my favorite has to be myself 😁🤪😳. Early on I pissed off a DM and he dumped me into the game to kill me off. Problem was I survived. A few years later I accidentally (on purpose) killed Lolth and absorbed her powers. With help from the elven and Dwarven deities he managed to purify the powers before they corrupted him and eventually (after about 150 game years) ascended to become a NG deity of half elves, good surface Drow males, Dragonborn, half breeds of all sorts, rangers and multiclassed adventurers. ( a lot of little little portfolios totaling an intermediate deity) of course he is only available in my own homebrew version of FR.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
ya been there done that. a god (cyric) pissed off my character so her whole goal was to kill cyric and take his place. she eventually did after years of grinding. and she created guns in the world i was playing.
Personally, I find Kurtalmak, god of Kobolds to be the only god worth dying for in DnD. He stresses loyalty to kin more than anything even to the point of dying for them. Kobolds hold on to this belief and are said to be reincarnated after death into the next Kobold egg. To me, Ellistraee seems to be sort of weak, not willing to get her hands dirty and take out Lolth and her matrons. But that is just my opinion.
that's cool. loyalty is good to give out as an ideal. almost as much as freedom i think. especially as a god. gods run on belief and worship from there followers (this gives them their divine rank. the more followers the god has the more rank they have) but to have a belief that you get reincarnated in an egg after you die is super cool
there is actually a point where i belive she sent someone to kill lolth though the assassination failed.
but knowing her personality i think if given the chance she would do it herself. the issue with this is gods have a power scaling. the one i talked about above. lolth has a power ranking of 16 due to the sheer amount of drow that worship her (most drow are trained to worship and ear lolth from birth). a divine rank of 16 makes lolth a greater deity. whereas eilistraee has in-between 6-10 in rank this is because most of her followers she had to earn (most not all. she has a few that chose to follow her). she had to unbrainwash lolth's followers to get them to worship her which is hard to do because lolth has her priests destroy or hide information about eilistraee. a power rank between 6 and 10 makes eilistraee a lesser deity.
as she is right now she would not stand a chance in a fight. it would be like sending a 6 year old to fight a master martial artist. she would be slaughtered . this isn't to say she is weak. but on a godly level she is on the weaker side she is actually a really good fighter. she was a really good archer (though she doesn't use it anymore) and she doesn't have a sword for show. so i think that she simply can't kill lolth. if she could i belive she would. or at the very least steal lolth's portfolios to boost herself to a major deity.
so while yes she is weak on a godly level she is more than willing to get her hands dirty if she knows she can win. after all lolth is encouraging violence. and eilestraee's teachings on violence is to respond with violence as fast as possible to save as many lives as possible.
also for the matrons Eilistraee doesn't want to kill them (though she will order their destruction if it is needed). she wants to help them to realize what they are doing is wrong. she wants to give them the chance to be free
Interesting, thanks for the clarification.
no problem
Gary Gygax.
Outside of that, I don't like gods as they fail to provide an explanation for the origin of existence.
the god your looking for is named au. the overgod. he created all of existence (at least in the forgotten realms i believe) and all the first gods
It provides no "explanation for the origin of existence" of au. If au exists (if he is in existence) then he did not create all of existence.
He is simply The God, the only true almighty and all powerful being in the material plane
The way I would see it, Au simply exists, he always has, and he always will. The one true constant of the material plane. We cannot, and will never be able to comprehend the ways of true divine power. They provide explanation, we simply cannot grasp it.
None of them really leap out at me, as fully realized concepts, but I think there are some with very fun, useful, and memorable pieces of lore about them. Like how most cities will have little shrines to Sune with a mirror for you to fix your hair, or how the worship of Auril is basically just hurting yourself in the hopes that it'll amuse her enough to cut you some slack this year. There's some interesting intersectionality between domains or ideas, like how Sharindlar blesses livestock with fertility, and blesses dwarves similarly, or how Tymora's priests will heal you if your daring escapade didn't pan out in your favor.
My *least* favorite gods are the ones whose godhood has changed status, especially recently, because I'm really tired of the "actually,, X is/isn't a god now" discussions that keep creeping into my games for no reason. :P
I think if I had to pick just one, then Tymora strikes me as the ideal god for a dice-based game of adventure like D&D. She's nuanced enough to allow multiple points of view from her worshippers, and dubious enough to credibly have non-believers. You can see why she'd be loved, hated, respected, and feared by all kinds of people in every walk of life. She's close enough to aspects of real world religions to be immediately understandable and resonant, but different enough to make you consider her as her own thing. Her blessings can be inscrutable, invisible even, but they can just as easily be extremely simple and direct. (Advantage on your next roll!) Her domain isn't really good or evil, lawful or chaotic, or even neutral -- but *she* is chaotic good, which I think is interesting. It implies a sense of general optimism that I think reflects the overall attitude of the Forgotten Realms: things will get bad and weird, but if you take action and do good, it'll usually work out in the end. You could redefine a lot about your setting just by changing Lady Luck's alignment.
I like clerics because they give tangible gaming mechanics. Beyond that, gods will be rad or not and will interact directly in the world or not to any extent a DM chooses. Other than that they mainly just give further detail to backstory and potential to deny power if, according to a set of values, you're naughty.
Thank you and, as per "I don't like gods as they fail to provide an explanation for the origin of existence", that's exactly my position.
Gods, in real-world belief, are frequently synonymous with origin. If your DVD player came with the inference that it could, for instance, explain the question of existence when it failed to live up to expectations that might add to my reasons to prefer alternate options to access parallel content such as hard drives.
It's AO and even it had superiors as seen at the end of the Avatar trilogy.
Exactly. 5e gods are presented as great powers that are worshipped and adored, yet they fail to provide answers to ultimate questions.
I don't like the idea of entities gaining control of aspects of mortal affairs as their portfolios and demanding/entreating worship. I prefer the idea that "... there's no fate but what we make for ourselves" and that characters can be in more direct control. It's a personal preference.
But they do. Au CREATED existence, they give explanation, we fail to accept it because it does not fit in with our beliefs