The Gods of Theros

A pantheon of fifteen gods guides religious life on Theros. From the sun and agriculture to death and passage into the Underworld, the gods oversee the forces of nature and the most important aspects of mortal life. These gods are quite real to the people of Theros, who see them moving across the sky at night and sometimes encounter them face to face. Thus, most people perform rituals and devotions that honor various gods, hoping to win their favor and stave off their wrath. They tell and retell the stories of the gods’ deeds—even as they watch those stories continue to play out in the vastness of the night sky.
Not every mortal serves or acknowledges the gods, though. Some philosophers in the schools of Meletis teach that the gods of the pantheon are subordinate to a higher reality, perhaps Nyx itself. And other people, particularly leonin, believe that the gods are undeserving of mortal reverence.
The gods of Theros are far more active than the deities of most D&D worlds. But that doesn’t mean they are ordinary creatures—they aren’t mere mortals, nor are they monsters that can be fought. Further, the gods of Theros aren’t omnipotent. Although they are physically and magically powerful, ageless, and all but indestructible, their actions are bound by the decrees of Klothys. They can tangle the threads of destiny to a point, but they are forbidden from overstepping their assigned places in the pantheon. The god Kruphix is able to confine them to Nyx, preventing any direct interaction between the gods and the mortal world.
Likewise, the gods aren’t omniscient, though they see and hear everything that occurs inside their temples and before their altars. They have perfect recall of everything they experience. Certain liminal spaces—cave mouths, shorelines, crossroads, forest edges, and so on—enable mortal voices to reach the gods as well, though most gods have little reason to pay attention to what is spoken there.
Gods can speak directly to their oracles. They can appear in the dreams of mortals or manipulate natural phenomena to create omens. They can also create Nyxborn creatures to serve as messengers or emissaries.
Gods grant their clerics the ability to cast spells, and they can effortlessly duplicate the effect of any spell they could grant (any spell on the cleric spell list, as well as any domain spell from their domains). They also have broad influence over aspects of the world associated with their portfolios, beyond what can be defined by spell effects. For example, Purphoros can make a volcano erupt, and Thassa can call up a tidal wave. Gods can bestow supernatural blessings on mortals, and they can lay terrible curses (such as when Mogis turned a herd of cattle into catoblepases).
The gods can assume any form they choose. They most commonly appear as humanoids—the form in which the people of Theros most easily imagine them—but on an enormous scale. They often seem to be walking across the dome of the sky, with their feet disappearing just below the horizon. Any part of a god’s body that isn’t directly lit takes on the appearance of the starry night sky of Nyx. The gods sometimes also appear as animals or magical creatures, or they manifest in insubstantial forms like sunlight or wind.
When physically present in the mortal world, a god is capable of devastating physical attacks. Heliod’s spear striking the polis of Olantin caused it to sink forever into the sea, and an errant blow from Purphoros’s hammer shaped the mountains.
The power of the gods exceeds that of any mortal being. Even so, a god killing another god—let alone a mortal attempting the task—is virtually inconceivable. Any kind of direct confrontation against a god by mortals would require the assistance of at least one other god, and ideally more than one, to have any hope of success. A group of adventurers might try to convince a group of gods to lend their aid against a god who has become a threat to the mortal world, hoping to get the gods to band together to restrain or punish the offender. Kruphix or Klothys might be able to force a god into a physical form that doesn’t fill the sky (perhaps something similar to an empyrean or the tarrasque), which could enable adventurers to battle the god, especially if they have access to a divine weapon. But defeating the god in that form would merely weaken the deity, allowing other members of the pantheon to capture, bind, or punish them.
Below is a list of the gods, their role and alignment, and a link to their page.
Atheros, god of passage - Lawful Evil
Ephara, god of the polis - Lawful Neutral
Erebos, god of the dead - Neutral Evil
Heliod, god of the sun - Lawful Good
Iroas, god of victory - Chaotic Good
Karametra, god of harvests - Neutral Good
Keranos, god of storms - Chaotic Neutral
Klothys, god of destiny - Neutral
Kruphix, god of horizons - Neutral
Mogis, god of slaughter - Chaotic Evil
Nylea, god of the hunt - Neutral Good
Phenax, god of deception - Chaotic Neutral
Purphos, god of the forge - Chaotic Neutral
Thassa, god of the sea - Neutral