Is a Pantheon Really Νecessary ??

A friend and I, thought to make our own setting (or should i say"world") to play our campaigns on it...
nothing complecated... a custom World map, towns societies,economy etc etc..
we ll use class and races available in 3,5 .. nothing homebrewed..

My question is...
Why i need to have a pantheon???

the problems I see,i solve em this way:

• Divne Casters: Will draw their powers from the raw powers of the world.
• Pr.C. Requiremnts: Patron deity changes to Alignment with 1 step diff.
• Interaction with Gods spells: Changes to "Oh! you just had an Epiphany" or "you must be a subject of a mutation!"

either way...
is there any other reason(s) to have a pantheon?

Not really. Dark Sun more or less handles it this way, with the clerics drawing from elemental powers or being directly empowered by the sorcerer-kings.

Then there are real-life religions such as Shintoism that believes in the spirits in everything, mostly in natural items rather then gods (although they did have them).

I once tried to make a world that didn't rely on deities at all, but rather had divine casters like Clerics rely on their own spirit or the spirits of others/nature. Granted I never truly finished making the world I can't say how well it worked out.

Yeah, unless you intend to introduce a god into your campaign at some point in time, it's not really necessary.

There's no need for a pantheon mechanically, due to how easily the mechanics are replaced. Not having any gods is a valid setting choice, as is one god or true pantheism that goes way beyond a mere pantheon. You'll be fine.

3.0's Deities and Demigods offers advice on creating a Dual-Divine faith and a Monotheistic faith. Dual-Divine is the typical one god is Good, the other is Evil. Their Monotheistic faith is a sun goddess who is not directly active upon the world. She's Neutral. Good favors her creation aspect while Evil favors her destroyer aspect, but they recognize they worship the same deity.

You can also have faiths of Philosophy. They may or may not recognize the existence of deities but don't worship them. They're more likely intellectuals who adhere to Reason and Logic. For the game world magic exists, and the so called Divine Path is just a separate branch. A Wizard of Reason and Cleric of Reason would be of the same college.

Mechanically, clerics will need a way to pick domains and favored weapons. Of course, you could just let the player choose. There may be a certain temptation to powergame, but probably not game-breakingly.

You can always follow an ideal, and draw strength from yourself and what represents your soul and idea. I always play that kind of cleric or wizard, if you can dig it. You don't need gods, they're just there to give you more of a magic feel to the setting if you can dig it, but there aren't neccesary.
Edit: Incarnum does that doesn't it?

That said, you might have people *believe* in gods, without there being any. And you might have very powerful beings set themselves up as "gods", like a Great Wyrn Red Dragon deciding she wants to be worshipped.

And you might want to have a "mechanical" explanation of things like reincarnation, resurrection, ghosts and other undead, etc.

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Originally Posted by Particle_Man

That said, you might have people *believe* in gods, without there being any. And you might have very powerful beings set themselves up as "gods", like a Great Wyrn Red Dragon deciding she wants to be worshipped.

And you might want to have a "mechanical" explanation of things like reincarnation, resurrection, ghosts and other undead, etc.

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Or.... what if... Everyones right. People do reincarnate sometimes, there really is a giant world creating dragon, and an evil deity, and the world was formed on its own and doesn't need them, but they disagree. Also, there are robot overlords in space who give cyborg powers.... Yeah, that sounds cool. Everyone wins! or goes crazy.
edit: the joke was that all of these are options, be you have all or none..

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Originally Posted by Particle_Man

And you might want to have a "mechanical" explanation of things like reincarnation, resurrection, ghosts and other undead, etc.

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Or leave them out entirely. There's nothing saying you need to allow the entire monster manual and every class into every campaign setting.

The Pantheon is there for story. Your story can include whatever you want, as long as you have one.

Mechanically the only thing they affect is clerics. Some way to limit domain selection should prevent clerics from becoming more powerful. There's also a loose fluff-mechanic connection where a cleric cannot go strongly against their diety's ideals or he'll fall. But such is rare and usually falls more under story than any significant mechanical risk.

You don't need a pantheon, just let divine characters decide for themselves where they get their powers from and that's about it. The only things gods are good for is restricting access to domains, favoured weapons and PrCs. They are really more of a nuisance than an advantage, unless you do what I did and make them actually important in the setting and the campaign's plot. And even then they're likely to be more trouble than they're worth.

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Originally Posted by Shadowknight12

You don't need a pantheon, just let divine characters decide for themselves where they get their powers from and that's about it. The only things gods are good for is restricting access to domains, favoured weapons and PrCs. They are really more of a nuisance than an advantage, unless you do what I did and make them actually important in the setting and the campaign's plot. And even then they're likely to be more trouble than they're worth.

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from the srd...

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If a cleric is not devoted to a particular deity, he still selects two domains to represent his spiritual inclinations and abilities. The restriction on alignment domains still applies.

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Originally Posted by Righteous Doggy

from the srd...

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Huh? What are you trying to say? I don't follow.

If you play a cleric of Pelor, your domains ARE restricted, whether you like it or not. You cannot pick the Water domain, or the Magic domain, if you worship him. Hence why I'm saying that having gods around restricts the domains a character can choose from. You cannot play a cleric of a god and still have the freedom to pick whatever two domains you like best, unlike the cleric of an ideal.

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Originally Posted by Shadowknight12

Huh? What are you trying to say? I don't follow.

If you play a cleric of Pelor, your domains ARE restricted, whether you like it or not. You cannot pick the Water domain, or the Magic domain, if you worship him. Hence why I'm saying that having gods around restricts the domains a character can choose from. You cannot play a cleric of a god and still have the freedom to pick whatever two domains you like best, unlike the cleric of an ideal.

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erm... its a quote from the srd... thats all. I don't see a problem with a cleric picking his favoured weapon nor him picking his domains myself, but I was just pointing out what the text says.

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Originally Posted by Righteous Doggy

erm... its a quote from the srd... thats all. I don't see a problem with a cleric picking his favoured weapon nor him picking his domains myself, but I was just pointing out what the text says.

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I don't understand what that quote has anything to do with what I said. I never spoke of clerics following ideals, so that quote is entirely irrelevant to what I was talking about.

P

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Originally Posted by Shadowknight12

I don't understand what that quote has anything to do with what I said. I never spoke of clerics following ideals, so that quote is entirely irrelevant to what I was talking about.

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Chill bro, I think he misinterpreted your post to mean that you had no knowledge of cleric of ideals. And to be fair to him it not uncommon for even long time players to have that view