12 Gods - The basic Pantheon

[Bluelantern]

How a basic pantheon would be?
I mean, there is portfolios that are just necessary: life, good, evil, the elements, etc.

So I was thinking in trying to create a "generic pantheon" and I am here to ask your help.

If you had to do a pantheon of only 12 "basic" gods, what would they be? what would be they portforlios, power and themes?

[DaMullet]

There'd be the four gods of direction (North, South, East, West) who would control the winds.

There'd be a sun god, a moon god, an Good god, and an Evil god. The last four would have elemental control.

That's the most generic pantheon I can think of.

Portfolios: Each of the wind gods would have the Air domain, and a different one depending on direction (North Wind is typically colder, for instance) and all four wind gods would be cousins or brothers.

The sun god would basically be Pelor, but without the Good. All the gods except the Good and Evil would be neutral in nature. The moon god would be the 'nature' god, because I can't think of any other niche for the moon to fill. The elemental gods would all grant the appropriate elemental domains, as well as some generic unifying structure.

Good and Evil would be exactly that, and would probably be at odds with each other like Hieronious and Hextor are now.

There's a generic pantheon, created in less than 7 minutes.

[Matthew]

Probably follow the Olympian model?

Difficult question really, as a lot depends on how you want to work such a mythology. Easier to answer which core three Deities I would use - Sky, Earth and Sea - also known as Zeus, Hades and Poseidon

[Vorpal Pete]

How about balancing it along alignment lines? Something like:

Good gods:
Light
Love
Valor
Fertility

Neutral gods:
Wisdom
Travel
Wealth
Nature

Evil gods:
War
Disease
Death
Treachery

[Rama_Lei]

Water/Sea, Sky/Air/Heaven, Earth/Plants, Death, Wisdom, War, Love, Speed, Healing, Travel, Destruction, Creation. All possible from the basic greek pantheon.

[Holocron Coder]

Generally I do it this way

Major Gods:
Life
Death
Magic
Nature

Moderate Gods:
Fire
Air
Earth
Water

Lesser Gods:
Law
Chaos
Good
Evil


Sometimes I put in a racial god for all the major races (as lesser) or a "champion" of each core class (Divine Rank 0)

[InaVegt]

My gods and their names in a family loving culture

War (The widowmaker)
Death (the orphaner)
Love (the source of children)
Life (the bringer of happyiness)
Chaos (the devider)
Law (the glue)
Evil (the merciless)
Good (the lover)
Nature (the beaty)
Sky (the wealthy one)
Earth (the farmer)
Sea (the trader)

[NullAshton]

I'd choose the OOTS gods. 12 gods, quick and easy!

[Maglor_Grubb]

Think about the culture these gods originated from. Those people though the gods up to fill something they needed in their lives, to reassure them and to explain the world. How did this culture develop, what does it think important? From which other cultures are the people and did they bring old gods into the bunch?

[Maroon]

For a relatively primitive culture (not sure about domains):

First Tier, primal forces: Order, Balance, Chaos

Second Tier, realms: Sky, Earth, Ocean

Third Tier, 'powers': Sun, Moon, Stars

Fourth Tier, civilisation: Crafts, Arts, Travel

I'm not a fan of 'twelve universal gods' type things, though. I like a more democratic approach to godhood.

[apocalyte]

Creation (Life) God/Goddess
Destruction (Death) God/Goddess
Fire God
Water Goddess
Wind God
Earth Goddess
Sun God
Moon Goddess
Time God
Magic God/Goddess

[Maglor_Grubb]

Leadership/heaven/thunder
War/warriors/strength
Animals/hunting
Farming/fertility
The sea/fish/fishing
Sun (can be part of the first god, and then the thunder will have a different god)
Common environment (dessert, mountains, rivers, all depending on location)
The past/creater/father of some of the gods
Smithing/magic/steel
Travel/speed/news
Protection/home
The Others/monsters

[Krellen]

My simple pantheon was 10 gods, though it wouldn't be hard to remodel to 12:

One god for each alignment - LG, LN, LE, NG, N, NE, CG, CN, CE.
The tenth god was the "Balance" god, who was the neutral of the sort that believed good/evil/law/chaos should all be about equal in the world.
The simple change is to replace the balance god with three overgods representing the major conflict of your world: either Good/Neutral/Evil or Law/Neutral/Chaos.

Then every PC has a god that fits their alignment.

For me, the portfolios were the following:
LG - War, Protection
LN - Sun, Strength, Knowledge
LE - Knowledge, Magic, Trickery
NG - Animal, Earth, Plant
N - Air, Water, Travel
NE - Luck, Trickery
CG - Healing, Sun, Trickery
CN - Fire, Earth, Strength
CE - Destruction, Death, Fire
Balance - Death, Sun, Protection

[Fuum Bango]

LG - War, Expansion
LN - War, Smithing
LE - War, Tactics
NG - War, Travel
N - War, Unity
NE - War, Secrets
CG - War, Liberation
CN - War, Trade
CE - War, Lies

What?

[Krellen]

That's a Klingon pantheon, is it?

[Fuum Bango]

That's a Klingon pantheon, is it?

You know, the more I look at it, it doesnt look to bad, its amazing how different a War God can be if you add another domain and a different alinement to it.

[Logic]

There'd be the four gods of direction (North, South, East, West) who would control the winds.

There'd be a sun god, a moon god, an Good god, and an Evil god. The last four would have elemental control.

That's the most generic pantheon I can think of.

Portfolios: Each of the wind gods would have the Air domain, and a different one depending on direction (North Wind is typically colder, for instance) and all four wind gods would be cousins or brothers.

The sun god would basically be Pelor, but without the Good. All the gods except the Good and Evil would be neutral in nature. The moon god would be the 'nature' god, because I can't think of any other niche for the moon to fill. The elemental gods would all grant the appropriate elemental domains, as well as some generic unifying structure.

Good and Evil would be exactly that, and would probably be at odds with each other like Hieronious and Hextor are now.

There's a generic pantheon, created in less than 7 minutes.

You can't have 4 gods each devoted to a direction, and give them control over the winds that come from that direction and have an additional god of air. 5 of the 12 gods are air deities? Sounds like a windy place to me.

[Fuum Bango]

Hmm, lets 'ave another go. Bardic Land.

LG - Destiny
LN - Travel
LE - Disguise
NG - Theater
N - Music
NE - Suduction
CG - Romance
CN - Art
CE - Thievery
NG - Hope
LE - Greed
N - Luck

XD

[Bluelantern]

1 - Fire and blacksmithing
2 - Earth and fertility
3 - Wind and Comunication
4 - Water and sea travel
5 - Sun and ligth
6 - Nigth and darkness
7 - Life, healling, possible nature and moon
8 - Order and Fate
9 - Chaos and freedom
10 - Magic and Knowledge
11 - Good and hornor
12 - Evil and Treachery

[Haedrian]

1- Fire 2- Water
3- Love 4- Hate
5- Life 6- Death
7- Air 8- Ground
9- Order/Justice 10- Chaos

11 - Knowledge

12- Balance

[ArlEammon]

1. Chinese food
2. Mexican food
3. French food
4. Italian food
5. Greek food
6. English food(neutral evil)
7. German food
8. Japanese food
9. African food
10. Hawaian food
11. Middle Eastern food
12. Mystery meat?

[Sage in the Playground]

1. Chinese food
2. Mexican food
3. French food
4. Italian food
5. Greek food
6. English food(neutral evil)
7. German food
8. Japanese food
9. African food
10. Hawaian food
11. Middle Eastern food
12. Mystery meat?

American Food?

[thehothead]

I don't think there IS such a thing as american food. We stole almost EVERYTHING from another culture.

[Krellen]

American food is "stuff on bread, stuff with cheese, and stuff on bread with cheese."

[Haedrian]

Why do you need all those gods of food, when you can just have SPAM :)

[thehothead]

American food is "stuff on bread, stuff with cheese, and stuff on bread with cheese."

Just because americans like to eat it, doesn't make it american. Pizza for instance falls under your discription of american food, and it's italian.