Deities of Faerûn

The Deities

A deity is a being of great power that controls some aspect of mortal affairs, referred to as that god's portfolio. True gods are called Estelar and differ from the Dawn Titans (primordials). All deities are either elevated to their positions by Lord Ao (the overseer) or are approved by Ao to be worshiped in the Realms, in the case of interloper deities. No divine power finds a permanent faith and power base without his approval, though there have been cases of short-term semi-divine beings who gathered faith from worshipers without being deities. The most noted examples of this were the various fiendish cults that have arisen over the ages. In at least two cases, the worship from these cults provided enough power or filled a niche that was not otherwise filled, and the fiends in question became deities in their own right. Both Gargauth and the minotaur deity Baphomet became deities by building on the power foundation of a fiendish cult.
Worshipers are necessary for the continued existence and powers of a deity. The numbers and fervor of a god's worshipers determine, in large part, the power of the deity. Deities without worshipers or who are fading in popularity fade in power, and in extreme cases can even die from neglect.

Types of Deity

Deities can be divided into categories, either by rank, origin, or by living and dead.

Types by Rank

Deities are ranked in increasing divine power from the so-called quasi deity, to demigod, to lesser deity, to intermediate deity, to greater deity up to overdeity. The two factors that determine the strength of a deity are number and devotion of its followers. So it is possible for deities with a small follower base to have a higher standing, when the said followers consisted of fanatics.

Quasi-deity

A quasi-deity, or hero deity, is a creature with divine characteristics, such as immortality. Children of real deities are generally quasi-deities. It is possible for mortal true dragons to become quasi-deities by becoming and fully developing their capabilities as a Dragon Ascendant. Unlike normal quasi-deities, who can't grant spells to their worshipers, these dragons can do so after the worshiper in question formally swore loyalty to the dragon.

Demigod

A demigod is, contrary to its name, not a half-god but a full deity, though the weakest of these and only capable of the most basic abilities of a god, which are still of superhuman nature. They generally represent one aspect of mortal life and have hundreds, or even thousands, of followers, and are capable of granting spells.

Lesser Deity

A lesser deity is more powerful than demigods and have more abilities. They generally have thousands, if not tens of thousands, of followers.

Intermediate Deity

An intermediate deity is more powerful than lesser ones and have more abilities. They generally have over 100,000 followers.

Greater Deity

A greater deity is more powerful than intermediate ones and have more abilities. They generally have millions of followers.

Overdeity

An overdeity is, as the name suggests, over everything, including mortals' abilities to understand them. They don't react in any way to anything a mortal can do, nor do they grant spells. They generally have no followers, if mortals kneow of their existence at all.

Types by Origin

Native Deities

The native deities of Faerûn are those whose worship arose during the creation of Abeir-Toril, or shortly thereafter, and who are only worshiped there. In general, the native deities are worshiped by the native races of Abeir-Toril, those that arose from the primordial chaos at Ao's creation of Realmspace. Humans, dragons, lizardfolk, nagas, yuan-ti, locathah, doppelgangers, and the fey races are the most common worshipers of native deities.

Interloper Deities

Humans, elves, and other creatures have made their way onto the face of Abeir-Toril over the millennia. Many of them brought their own divine patrons with them. Those gods who serve portfolios where no native Faerûnian power existed seemed to almost automatically achieve divine status. Those whose portfolios conflicted with an existing deity were either absorbed into the existing deity, or contested them for the power of their worshipers. In the last case, it was be a "winner take all" type of event, or the loser was forced to accept a smaller portfolio and a subservient position within the pantheon.
The gods of the dwarves, elves, illithids, halflings, and gnomes followed their respective peoples into Abeir-Toril. Later, the gods of the orcs and other goblinoid races did the same, following and supporting their worshipers.

Types by Life and Death

Deities can also be categorized as being alive or not alive. This category holds because a dead deity isn't necessarily unable to influence the world.

Dead Deities

Deities, while immortal, are capable of dying. Conflict with other deities, conflict with great mortal heroes, and neglect are the most common causes of a divine demise, though it is also possible for a god to lapse into apathy, drift into sleep on the Astral Plane, and eventually perish. Ulutiu is a prime example of this last possibility.
Though a deity can die, at least a part of them always remains. There are instances of worshipers of these deities tapping into these remnants to wield divine magic. Dead deities also have the potential to be resurrected if they maintain some kind of physical or metaphysical presence and a significant base of worshipers. For example, Garagos was thought to have revived himself in this way.

Abilities

Deities have a number of inborn and learned skills. Just like any other sentient creature, these abilities grow in potency as a deity grows in divine power, yet they are in no way omnipotent, though superhumanly powerful and skilled in a chosen area and those related to it. For example, it isn't the case that just because Mystra was a greater deity, that she was also a master huntress like Malar, the lesser deity of hunting, or a genius merchant like Waukeen, the demigoddess of trade. Mystra’s abilities started and ended with magical abilities and those related to magic.
A prime example of how divine status isn't always the determining factor between deities was the fight between Vhaeraun and Selvetarm during the Silence of Lolth. Vhaeraun, the lesser drow deity of thievery, tried to kill the comatose Lolth, which Selvetarm, the drow demigod of battle prowess, tried to hinder him, leading to an open frontal battle between the two. This competition of battle prowess ended with Vhaeraun, the god with the second largest following among the drow faiths, being driven off, effectively with Selvetarm’s, whose church was so small to the point of practical nonexistence, victory.

Special Abilities

Deities with increasing rank gain increasing magical powers, both in terms of strength and potency.

Basic Abilities

A deity grows in its mastery of its skills with increased divine rank and from demigod status upwards learn to rapidly conduct actions that have something to do with its portfolio. The number and complexity of these actions increases with its rank. Once they are a lesser deity, a deity's skills stop fluctuating and once intermediate are always conducted at its maximum capabilities, not only their skills but at everything they do.

Physical Attacks and Defenses

With increasing rank, it becomes more and more difficult to hit a deity with a physical attack, and even when hit, deities are resistant to attacks made by weapons that aren't enchanted with, from mortal perspective, exceedingly strong magic, this all while their own attacks increase in accuracy and ignore the resistance against creatures, whose resistances are keyed to a creature's philosophical orientation against the deity.

Defenses Against Magic

With increasing rank, spells have a decreasing likelihood of working against them and even if they do, they are less and less likely to work because a deity’s physical resilience, reflexes, and strength of will increase with its rank. They also gain an increasing resistance against fire and gain outright immunities against some effects, though these immunities are generally ineffective against higher standing gods.
A quasi-deity, for instance, is immune to effects that force alteration of its physical form, try to sap vitality, temporarily or permanently decrease its physical and mental capabilities, or addle their minds. From demigod onwards, deities gain additional immunities against harm from acid, cold, and electricity. These immunities are effective, no matter the enemy, as well as against various physical disabling effects and sources such as poison, diseases, sleep, stunning and paralysis, disintegration, and magical effects that could kill them if not for the immunity. A lesser deity is also immune to any magic that is directed at binding or imprisoning it.

Movement

A deity generally moves fast. They can move through the earth, can swim and climb, but not necessarily fly. Once at demigod status, they can use greater teleport as often as they want and once at lesser status, they add free plane shift to their abilities.

Magical Abilities

A deity is capable of granting divine spells and special abilities called domain abilities, once they are at demigod status. When they can grant spells, they can cast domain spells as often as they want at increased strength, use the abilities associated with these domains with increased frequency and strength and, given they have sufficient training as a cleric themselves, can cast clerical spells with great flexibility. Demigods and stronger can turn one of their favoured animals into their familiars. Greater deities can cast all their spells at maximum strength at no cost and without fluctuation in their effectiveness. All deities can create magic items that are associated with their portfolio, just by being able to cast the magic associated with the item in question. This process is more efficient when they also have the theoretical knowledge to create the item in question. Truly unique to deities is their auras and a set of abilities called salient divine abilities. Their auras can be used to cause fear and awe among mortals, bolster the resolve of their mortal allies, and crush the resolve of their enemies.

Senses and Communication

A deity's ability to sense things extends to a length counted in miles from demigod status and upwards. Their most dangerous ability, however, is the ability to sense things without being in a place. This ability to sense remote things functions by centring their sense around something dedicated to them, a shrine or other sites or a follower of the spying deity. This ability can be used only a limited number of times in parallel and deities can use this ability to also block the senses of lower ranking deities or to send omens and telepathic messages to their followers. Creating an avatar is, as useful as it was, risky because it stunts the deity’s ability to sense remotely as long as the avatar exists - with heavier limitations as more avatars are made. Their portfolio gives true deities - demigods upwards - the ability to sense whatever happens on Toril concerning their portfolio, though with some limitations. A demigod is only able to sense it when a thousand or more are somehow associated with the event, a lesser deity when five hundred or more. Meanwhile, intermediate and greater deities can sense every event regardless of scale. A lesser or intermediate deity is able to continuously sense an event a number of weeks in the past, greater deities can actually sense future happenings.

Divine Realm

A deity has some kind of place it called its own, where it is at its strongest and has a measure of control over the location. They can fill the place with sensory environmental impressions, sound, smells and so on, a lesser deity even with sounds that hold a meaning. Intermediate deities and upwards are capable of creating buildings and alterations to the landscape at will. Even more profound abilities to change start with lesser deity status. A lesser deity can manipulate its realm’s ties to the Astral Plane and bar or limit magical travel inside it. From intermediate status onward, a deity can strengthen or weaken certain magic of its choosing, while greater deities can even change gravity and time.

Pantheons

A pantheon is a grouping of deities, often with overlapping worshipers. All of them are based on races or cultures, usually with strong geographic ties. Ao ensures that no two deities in the same pantheon claim the same portfolio.

Human Pantheons

Of all the races, humans have the most pantheons, although many of those have since vanished or have been combined with the larger Faerûnian pantheon. Some, however, remain distinct, such as the Mulhorandi pantheon and the Chultan pantheon. Additionally, the Maztican pantheon, the Zakharan pantheon, and the Celestial Empire of Kara-tur, all remained distinct by virtue of geographic separation.
Vanished human pantheons included the Talfiric pantheon, the Netherese pantheon (which was worshiped by the middle and lower classes of Netheril), the Jhaamdathan pantheon (from what would later be called the Vilhon Reach and the Dragon Coast), the Coramshite pantheon (based in ancient Coramsham - which became Calimshan), and the Untheric pantheon (which was of similar source as the Mulhorandi pantheon, but lost all but two of its members during the Time of Troubles)

Faerûnian Pantheon

The Faerûnian pantheon is the primary human pantheon venerated across Faerûn. It is composed primarily of native deities, and is the result of millennia of cultural blending of various other pantheons to bring out a moderately unified whole. There are remnants of other human pantheons that have been combined into a single pantheon, as their source cultures blended, merged, and conquered one another.
The Talfiric pantheon is worshiped in contemporary of Netheril, and is the source of at least Garagos, who lost in a clash with Tempus and was reduced to demigod status. The Netherese pantheon itself claims the worship of the lower and middle classes of Netheril, and the survivors of the Netherese pantheon are perhaps the most numerous of the survivors of the gods of old, boasting Jannath (later known as Chauntea), Targus (now known as Garagos), Mystryl (whose power lived on in Mystra), Selûne, Shar, Kozah (who became known as Talos), and Tyche (who split during the Dawn Cataclysm and became Tymora and Beshaba).
The Jhaamdathan pantheon is worshiped in what was later called the Vilhon Reach and the Dragon Coast. The Coramshite pantheon is based in ancient Coramsham (which became Calimshan). The Untheric pantheon once maintained a separate status similar to the Mulhorandi pantheon (covering Unther, Chessenta, and the Raurin desert), but collapsed during the Time of Troubles, and the survivors became a part of the main Faerûnian pantheon. Only two of the old Untheric deities survived, Assuran (as Hoar), and Tiamat; the others died during or before the Time of Troubles.

Mulhorandi Pantheon

The Mulhorandi pantheon is a group of interloper deities that followed their people when the wizards of the ancient Imaskari Empire brought legions of slaves through gates from another world. At first, the gods could not reach their worshipers directly, and were compelled to create manifestations to contain a portion of their divine power. Those manifestations walked among their mortal followers, guiding, protecting, or dominating according to their natures until the Time of Troubles. After that perilous time, the ancient barriers that had separated them from their true divine essences dissolved, and the Mulhorandi pantheon left their manifestations behind as powerful mortal servants and took up their natural divine positions.
The worship of the Mulhorandi pantheon at one time covered Mulhorand, Thay, Semphar, and what is now the Raurin Desert. During the Age of Upheaval, they began struggling to hold onto Mulhorand itself, with their worship waning in Thay and Semphar. They tried striving to convert the followers of the collapsed Untheric pantheon, but couldn't survive the SpellPlague, disappearing without a trace when the divine realms were forced to rearrange themselves. However, they returned to Toril during the Second Sundering.

Chultan

The people of the Chultan peninsula tend to worship Ubtao, a primordial, and others of Chultan pantheon though an aspect of Shar also held sway in the region and Cyric ruled over the nation of Samarach in the guise of their national god Leira, who was killed during the Time of Troubles. Dwarves in the region almost universally worship Thard Harr. In addition, there are the Nine Trickster Gods of Chult.

Demihuman and Monstrous Pantheons

Beyond the many human pantheons, various other races have their own pantheons of gods and goddesses. These include the Seldarine, pantheon of the elves, and the drows' Dark Seldarine. The dwarves worship the Morndinsamman, the gnomes favor the Lords of the Golden Hills, and the halflings name their pantheon of deities Yondalla's Children. The orcs have their own unnamed pantheon, while the giants have the Ordning. The pantheon of the dragons is among the most ancient pantheons. And finally, the good-aligned races of Serôs worship a loose pantheon called the Asathalfinare, which is led by the elven god Deep Sashelas.

Other Monstrous Faiths

Monsters tend not to want to worship the deities of the more civilized races. Many monsters have their own gods, whose portfolios consist of dominion over the creatures that worship them, such as the kobold god, Kurtulmak. Some species however, have a whole pantheon of gods, such as the Yuan-Ti pantheon (that has actually been secretly subsumed by Set).

Fiend Worship

Some fiends have gained enough mortal followers on Faerûn to achieve a divine portfolio. Most of these fiends are demons from the Abyss, such as Yeenoghu (Demon Prince) and Baphomet (one of the Demon Lords), while devils such as Gargauth have also managed to ascend. Asmodeus even ascended to join the Faerûnian pantheon when he stole the divinity of Azuth.

Type

Religious, Pantheon