Recently I've been messing with some ancient mythology pantheons for a campaign I'm working on. I've got the Greek pantheon sort of worked out and I'm working on Egyptian and Celtic pantheons. I may also throw in the Mesopotamian pantheon, although I don't know much about Mesopotamian mythology.
I've left out the alignment domains on purpose. Each deity will have one or more cults and each cult will have it's own alignment. If a cleric belongs to a cult he/she/it will get access to that cult's alignment domains. This was a lot easier than trying to assign alignments to each deity, and seems to fit better with how deities worked in ancient mythology.
Opinions, suggestions, alternate domain lists, etc are all very welcome. I'm not the best at coming up with things like this, so the more feedback I get the better.
Anyway, here's the Greek pantheon I've come up with:
Aphrodite (goddess of love and beauty): Charm, Trickery
Apollo (god of prophecy, healing, and the sun): Glory, Healing, Knowledge, Sun
Ares (god of savage warfare): Destruction, Strength, War
Artemis (goddess of wildlife and the wilderness): Animal, Healing, Plant
Athena (goddess of wisdom and tactical warfare): Knowledge, Protection, War
Demeter (goddess of agriculture): Earth, Plant
Dionysus (god of wine and madness): Charm, Madness
Hades (god of wealth and the dead): Death, Earth, Repose
Hecate (goddess of magic and ghosts): Darkness, Knowledge, Magic, Trickery
Hephaestus (god of fire and smithing): Artifice, Fire, Strength
Hera (goddess of marriage and vengeance): Community, Nobility, Protection
Hermes (god of travel, commerce, and thievery): Liberation, Luck, Travel, Trickery
Hestia (goddess of hearth, home, and family): Community, Protection
Poseidon (god of the sea): Destruction, Strength, Water
Zeus (god of the sky): Air, Nobility, Strength, Weather
I'm not sure what the Rune domain is supposed to represent. If it's supposed to be magic then it should go to Hecate. If it's more about crafting then it should go to Hephaestus.
Demeter should have Law and Dionysus should have Plant.
I think you can be pretty liberal with domains. A major deity might have all the domains over the space of the world.
I think it's more likely a humanoid limitation that there are only a couple of types available locally.
I find it painful when a cleric with a game concept reworks everything to get a particular domain from an unlikely deity. I'd rather they have an unlikely domain from the appropriate deity.
Sigurd
I'm not even a small supporter of roll-playing and I will say if you are aiming for a particular domain, but don't want a deity it goes with, you are doing it wrong.
You should have no concern for the deity if it is the domain you want. If you are roll-playing it's more likely that it's the deity you want and the domain you want is out of your hands unless you want a different concept. If it is DM limitation, complain to them about adaptation because they are being overbearing.
And no, no deity is going to have every domain over the space of the world for several reasons: one deity is unlikely to be worshiped the world over; if they are worshiped the world over, it is unlikely that they take up portfolios diametrically opposed to their original portfolio; in a pantheistic world, no single deity is going to occupy every space.
Altogether, one deity may have alot more domains in their portfolio than originally guessed at, but no one deity will have both Law and Chaos or Good and Evil, etc.
Also, Hecate isn't an Olympian.
From elsewhere on the Interwebz:
Here's what I plan on doing for my next campaign. Alignment domains won't be tied to any particular deity, but will be available for clerics of the appropriate alignment. I've not gotten too much on paper, but my basic take will be something like this:
1. Start with the deity's portfolio. What are the primary areas that fall under the deity's influence. So, for Pluto, it would included wealth, death, the underworld, and the undead. For most of Pluto's followers, this would translate into acquiring wealth, avoiding death, securing a more comfortable place in the underworld, and avoiding the undead.
2. Work from the portfolio to the domains. For Pluto, Darkness, Death, Earth, Nobility, Protection, and Repose seem like good possibilities. Paradoxically perhaps, so does Healing (based on the idea of avoiding that which Pluto is lord of).
3. A good Plutonic cleric could add Good to the list. If he were lawful, toss in Lawful as well. Evil Plutonists would obviously have access to Evil, and would represent an inversion/perversion of the main Plutonic ethic: stealing or destroying wealth, encouraging death (at least in others), controlling the undead, et cetera. In both sects, adherents would believe that their actions would merit a more comfortable place in the underworld. Which side is right? Either-or, both-and, or neither. Pluto's not telling.
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From your list, my thoughts;
Dionysus - add Plant
Hecate - remove Knowledge, add Death (or Repose), add Travel
Hera - regardless of 'cult,' she's pretty much all about the Law
Hestia - add Fire
Poseidon - remove Strength, add Weather
Zeus - remove Strength?
other minor gods;
Herakles - Strength, uh, other stuff?
Eris - Madness, Chaos, ?
Tyche - Luck
Nike - War, Glory
Iris - Travel, Knowledge
Favored Weapon thoughts;
Apollo and Artemis - longbow
Ares and Athena - spear
Dionysus - quarterstaff
Hecate - sickle
Hephaestus - warhammer
Hera or Hermes - light mace or club ('rod of rulership' or 'caduceus')
Poseidon - trident
Zeus - javelin
Aphrodite - dagger or shortbow (shortbow for Eros, anyway)
Demeter - flail
Hades - mace?
Hestia - torch, used as club?
In pantheonic mythology no deity will have every domain. The whole point of the pantheon is that each deity has their specific areas of control. So, each deity should only have a handful of domains.
I think I may add alignment domains to a couple of the deities. As Set points out, I don't think any cult of Hera will be anything but lawful.
What are favoured weapons for exactly? They just give proficiencies right? Since clerics are already proficient with all simple weapons what's the point of having simple weapons as favoured weapons? Are there other effects that utilize favoured weapons, like certain spells or something?
I'm reworking the Greek pantheon a bit. Hopefully I can get it and the Egyptian pantheon up soon.
Since we do not see it as often, I'd really like to see your suggestion on the Celtic Pantheon.
It's worth pointing out that there are basically 2 ways of looking at the gods: the gods do things because they are right, and/or things are right because the gods do them. I think it is a good idea to work this out in your campaign world. Most us moderns probably lean toward the former, while the ancients were perhaps more likely to tend toward the latter. For example, when we read Greek mythology we are likely to think,"It was wrong of this god to smite that mortal in a fit of pique."
I'm certainly no expert on ancient religion, and it's hard to make such a broad generalization, but from what I can glean an ancient would have been more likely to think,"God did it, so therefore it's OK." Perhaps it's a question of moral absolutes, or of the idea of a moral standard existing independent(ly) of the gods.
This kind of decision clearly has important implications for alignment. Does it make sense to call a deity lawful or chaotic if you believe that the deity's actions are the law? It's certainly different from judging a deity's actions according to some external standard of law/chaos/good/evil.
One thing that I always try to keep in mind when working on a campaign like this is that it's just for fun, it's not supposed to be 100% historically accurate. If you were to make a Greek pantheon for a D&D campaign what would it look like? There are some things that have to be done because that's the way it works in D&D. You can't make every deity lawful good just because the people of the ancient world would have thought "God did it, so therefore it's OK." The historical stuff is a good starting point, but in the end you have to think of it more from a gamer point of view and not an historians point of view.
Also, Hecate isn't an Olympian.
That maybe, but she was still worshiped.
Also, Hecate isn't an Olympian.That maybe, but she was still worshiped.
If you are going to count in non-Olympians, you have a ways to go.
If you are going to count in non-Olympians, you have a ways to go.Also, Hecate isn't an Olympian.That maybe, but she was still worshiped.
But she is a staple in most of the cults in Greece, look back in 2nd Ed. D&D. They also included Hecate. I'm not saying you have to use her, I'm just saying that is was worshiped as if she was an Olympian.
But she is a staple in most of the cults in Greece, look back in 2nd Ed. D&D. They also included Hecate. I'm not saying you have to use her, I'm just saying that is was worshiped as if she was an Olympian.If you are going to count in non-Olympians, you have a ways to go.Also, Hecate isn't an Olympian.That maybe, but she was still worshiped.
There were alot of gods and goddesses worshiped as if Olympians, that was my point.
The Christian God was also worshiped...well sort of, that is until Paul came to town. LOL.
There were alot of gods and goddesses worshiped as if Olympians, that was my point.But she is a staple in most of the cults in Greece, look back in 2nd Ed. D&D. They also included Hecate. I'm not saying you have to use her, I'm just saying that is was worshiped as if she was an Olympian.If you are going to count in non-Olympians, you have a ways to go.Also, Hecate isn't an Olympian.That maybe, but she was still worshiped.
I included Hecate because she fills a hole in the pantheon and because she's fairly recognizable by people today. The other gods and goddesses are mostly just splinters of existing deities anyway, none of them fill a role not already covered by the deities on my list. They'll still exit in the campaign, but really they aren't worth including in the main pantheon lists.
OK, here is the updated Greek Pantheon and what I have for the Egyptian pantheon.
Is there a Greek deity of writing? That seems to be the only kind of deity I can think of that would have the Rune domain.
A couple of the Egyptian deities ended up being a bit too similar than I'd have liked. It's hard to figure out how to make, for example, Nut and Shu different when one is the goddess of the sky and the other is the god of air. Some suggestions on how to make the deities a bit more different would be appreciated, if they should even be made more different. Maybe having a couple similar deities is OK?
There are some domains I wasn't able to find deities for in the Egyptian pantheon. I'm not sure if I should just leave them out, or if I should try to find other deities I could add, or there are deities already in the list the domains can be given to. The domains I wasn't able to place are: Community, Liberation, Luck, Madness, and Travel
I'm working on the Celtic pantheon now. It's going to take a while as it is not an easy pantheon to put together.
Greek Pantheon
Aphrodite (goddess of love and beauty): Charm, Trickery
Apollo (god of prophecy, healing, and the sun): Glory, Healing, Knowledge, Sun
Ares (god of savage warfare): Destruction, Strength, War
Artemis (goddess of wildlife and the wilderness): Animal, Healing, Plant
Athena (goddess of wisdom and tactical warfare): Knowledge, Protection, War
Demeter (goddess of agriculture): Earth, Plant
Dionysus (god of wine and madness): Charm, Chaos, Madness, Plant
Hades (god of wealth and the dead): Darkness, Death, Earth, Repose
Hecate (goddess of magic and ghosts): Darkness, Death, Magic, Trickery
Hephaestus (god of fire and smithing): Artifice, Fire, Strength
Hera (goddess of marriage and vengeance): Community, Law, Nobility, Protection
Hermes (god of travel, commerce, and thievery): Liberation, Luck, Travel, Trickery
Hestia (goddess of hearth, home, and family): Community, Fire, Protection
Poseidon (god of the sea): Destruction, Water, Weather
Zeus (god of the sky): Air, Nobility, Strength, Weather
Egyptian Pantheon
Anubis (god of death and judgement): Death, Repose
Bast (goddess of cats, pleasure, and home): Animal, Charm, Protection
Geb (god of the earth): Earth, Plant
Horus (god of the vengeance, and pharaohs): Glory, Nobility, Strength
Isis (goddess of fertility, medicine, and magic): Healing, Magic
Nephthys (goddess of death and rebirth): Protection, Repose
Nut (goddess of the sky): Air, Darkness, Weather
Osiris (god of agriculture and the dead): Death, Plant, Repose
Ptah (god of creation and craft): Artifice, Law
Ra (god of the sun): Fire, Glory, Sun
Seth (god of trickery and desert storms): Chaos, Destruction, Trickery
Shu (god of air): Air, Weather
Sobek (god of war, crocodiles, and the Nile): Animal, Strength, Water, War
Tefnut (goddess of moisture): Air, Water
Thoth (god of wisdom and magic): Knowledge, Magic, Rune
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What are favoured weapons for exactly? They just give proficiencies right? Since clerics are already proficient with all simple weapons what's the point of having simple weapons as favoured weapons? Are there other effects that utilize favoured weapons, like certain spells or something?
Pretty much no game benefit for a god to grant Favored Weapon with a weapon that Clerics already have proficiency with, but it's a pretty common thing anyway (Pharasma with the dagger, Nethys with the quarterstaff, Asmodeus with the mace, Abadar with the crossbow).
I just stuck to the closest I could find for 'iconic' weapons, which was great for servants of Apollo and Artemis (longbow! woot!) and not-so-great for servants of Zeus (javelin? meh.).
For the Ennead types you have listed, I'd consider;
Anubis - Protection?
Ptah - Travel
Set - Darkness and / or Weather
Shu - Travel, possibly Animal? (while most Egyptian gods are associated with some sort of animal, I believe that Shu was more strongly associated with birds)
Sobk - Scalykind (OGL, but not officially Pathfinderized yet)
That's something to consider, as Creation, Mind, Scalykind and Void are all OGL Domains as well, although you'll have to work up your own Pathfinderization for them (or use other fan-created adaptations).
Hamunaptra has Domains listed for the various Egyptian gods, including a bunch of 'lesser' gods like Bes, Hathor and Khonsu.
Demeter still needs Law. It is actually in her portfolio if you look around.
Anubis (god of death and judgement): Death, Repose
Add Law?
Bast (goddess of cats, pleasure, and home): Animal, Charm, Protection
Something that symbolize love of battle/rage in combat. Strength?
Seth (god of trickery and desert storms): Chaos, Destruction, Trickery
I'm glad you didn't go Lawful Evil with this one. Also, I suggest adding Weather. Some cults could have the Animal domain instead of Trickery.
I was just looking over the Pathfinder deity list and I suddenly realized that all of the deities have 5 domains. Was this intentional? Should each deity have 5 domains? Was this just a decision made by the writer of the book? Or was it just coincidence?
Demeter still needs Law. It is actually in her portfolio if you look around.
I think I'm going to remove all alignment domains again. It would be better just to limit the alignments of the cults that worship each deity. So, for example, Dionysus can have cults with Chaotic, Good, and Evil domains, but not Lawful. So for now I think I'm just going to try and figure out 2-3 non-alignment domains for each deity.
Weren't the big pantheons covered in Deities and Demigods?
I only have the 2nd edition version of Deities and Demigods. I've been using Testament and Lore of the Gods as reference, but both of them were made for D&D 3.0. Neither of them have the new domains that were added to Pathfinder, and they both have a bunch of new domains that aren't in Pathfinder.
OK, regarding alignment domains, how does this sound: It's always seemed strange that just because a deity is Lawful Good he should have Law and Good as domains. What if the deity's portfolio has nothing to do with law and order? I think that the Law and Chaos domains should be treated as ordinary domains. A deity of law and order should have the Law domain, a deity of chaos should have the Chaos domain. The actual alignment of the deity shouldn't have anything to do with it.
The Good and Evil domains are a bit trickier. I don't think there were any deities that specifically have "good" or "evil" as part of their portfolio. Maybe it would be best to have the Good and Evil domains depends on the cleric and not the deity. A good cleric of Dionysus will have Charm, Chaos, Good, Madness, and Plant as domains. A neutral cleric of Dionysus will have Charm, Chaos, Madness, and Plant as domains. An evil cleric of Dionysus will have Charm, Chaos, Evil, Madness, and Plant as domains. Of course, alignment domains are optional, so a CE cleric of Dionysus could have neither Chaos or Evil as his domains, maybe choosing Charm and Madness as his two domains.
The alignment domains in D&D are so confusing. It's difficult to tell exactly what they're supposed to represent. It would be really nice if the Good and Evil domains are just removed entirely, and the Law and Chaos domains had all alignment-specific rules removed so they better represent the actual concepts of law and chaos. I may think about doing this actually.
Poseidon probably deserves the Earth domain as well. He is the Earth-shaker after all.
Artemis and (especially) Apollo were closely associated with plague-bringing and death as well as healing. Not sure which domain would be good for that, though - the death domain is more about undeath than anything, and I don't see anything else appropriate either. No domains that include diseasy stuff. Oh well, forget that one then.
War might work for Zeus as well.
On alignments, Ares should certainly get Chaos, Athena should most likely get Law. Maaaybe Zeus should have Law as well, its more a pick and choose there. There are myths where he is the upholder of justice, protector of the legal rights of travelers and guests, punisher of infractions against divine law/morality, there's also ones where he goes the f+~$ off and does what he wants. Pagan Greek mythology was hardly internally self consistent - so choose whatever mythological version works best for the pantheon. I think Law probably has more going for it though. Zeus was the divine protector of a good many of the rules of Greek society.
Good and Evil domains is again going to be a spot where you pick and choose what mythological versions to follow and what ones not. There's no way not to contradict one myth or another. I think it might be simpler to leave them out entirely, though.
OK, here are the revised Greek and Egyptian pantheons. The Good and Evil alignment domains have been left off, but I added Chaos and Law to a few of the deities.
I removed some of the deities from the Egyptian pantheon (Geb, Nut, Tefnut, and Shu) as their portfolios are already pretty well covered by the other deities. I also added a couple new deities to the Egyptian pantheon (Khonsu and Sekhmet). The Egyptian list is still missing the Community and Madness domains. Madness I may leave for Apep (the demon-god of chaos, darkness, and destruction. Today he's more well known as Apophis) but I'm not sure what to do with Community.
Greek Pantheon
Aphrodite (goddess of love, beauty, and fertility): Charm, Healing, Trickery
Apollo (god of prophecy, healing, and the sun): Glory, Healing, Knowledge, Sun
Ares (god of savage warfare): Chaos, Destruction, Strength, War
Artemis (goddess of wildlife and the wilderness): Animal, Healing, Plant
Athena (goddess of wisdom and tactical warfare): Knowledge, Law, Protection, War
Demeter (goddess of agriculture): Community, Earth, Plant
Dionysus (god of wine and madness): Charm, Chaos, Madness, Plant
Hades (god of wealth and the dead): Darkness, Death, Earth, Repose
Hecate (goddess of magic and ghosts): Darkness, Death, Magic, Trickery
Hephaestus (god of fire and smithing): Artifice, Fire, Strength
Hera (goddess of marriage and vengeance): Community, Law, Nobility, Protection
Hermes (god of travel, commerce, and thievery): Liberation, Luck, Travel, Trickery
Hestia (goddess of hearth, home, and family): Community, Fire, Protection
Poseidon (god of the sea): Destruction, Earth, Water, Weather
Zeus (god of the sky): Air, Law, Nobility, Strength, Weather
Egyptian Pantheon
Anubis (god of death and judgement): Death, Law, Protection, Repose
Bast (goddess of cats, pleasure, and protection): Animal, Charm, Protection
Horus (god of the sky and pharaohs): Air, Glory, Law, Nobility, Weather
Isis (goddess of fertility, medicine, and magic): Healing, Luck, Magic
Khonsu (god of the moon, travel, and healing): Darkness, Healing, Liberation, Travel
Nephthys (goddess of grieving and protection of the dead): Darkness, Protection, Repose
Osiris (god of agriculture and the dead): Death, Earth, Plant, Repose
Ptah (god of creation and craft): Artifice, Earth, Knowledge
Ra (god of the sun): Fire, Glory, Sun
Sekhmet (goddes of destruction and war): Chaos, Destruction, Strength, War
Seth (god of trickery and desert storms): Chaos, Trickery, Weather
Sobek (god of strength, crocodiles, and the Nile): Animal, Strength, Water, War
Thoth (god of wisdom and magic): Knowledge, Magic, Rune
Artemis and (especially) Apollo were closely associated with plague-bringing and death as well as healing. Not sure which domain would be good for that, though - the death domain is more about undeath than anything, and I don't see anything else appropriate either. No domains that include diseasy stuff. Oh well, forget that one then.
A plague domain would be great. Anyone want to take a stab at making it?
Seriously, Demeter = Law. I'm not kidding. It's in her portfolio.
Seriously, Demeter = Law. I'm not kidding. It's in her portfolio.
Really? I can only find info about Demeter being the goddess of agriculture and sometimes the seasons. Do you happen to know where you found the info about law being part of Demeter's portfolio?
There is a plague god for the Greeks. You ready? It's Apollo. Yep, Apollo is the god of plague who fires arrows into the Greek camps, ravaging them as they lay siege to Troy because of an insult to his priest. Iliad, Book I. (He may have also been known as Apollo Smintheos, Apollo the mouse god.)
I'm not making the Demeter - Law connection. Hopefully, Cartigan will elucidate.
Seriously, Demeter = Law. I'm not kidding. It's in her portfolio.Really? I can only find info about Demeter being the goddess of agriculture and sometimes the seasons. Do you happen to know where you found the info about law being part of Demeter's portfolio?
She is related to laws/legislation.
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A plague domain would be great. Anyone want to take a stab at making it?
While Apollo was associated with plague, I'm not entirely sure it was enough for him to have a Domain of that. Zeus was associated with shapeshifting and rape, after all, and I don't think he needs Domains for those favored past-times. :)
But, in any event, here's a Contagion Domain I whipped up for Druids of Chern (from the Scarred Lands setting);
Contagion Domain
Granted Powers: You command the forces of plague and pestilence. You can carry disease, but do not suffer the effects, harmful or otherwise.
Shuddersome Touch (Sp): You can cause shuddering illness to wrack a creature with a melee touch attack. The subject is staggered and sickened for 1 round, as long as its hit dice do not exceed your own, and is sickened for rounds thereafter equal to one half your Cleric level (minimum 1). Once a creature has been affected by the shuddersone touch, you cannot affect it again for 24 hours. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
Cloud of Flies (Su): At 8th level, you can emit a 30 ft. aura of buzzing flies that afflict all within with Filth Fever (Fort save 10 + ½ Cleric level + Wisdom modifier to resist initial infection, DC 12 thereafter) that immediately inflicts damage, as if delivered by a contagion spell, and then recurs (at much lowered efficacy) each day thereafter until cured. Creatures that succeed on their saving throw cannot be affected by this aura again for 24 hours. You can create this aura for a number of rounds equal to your Cleric level, and these rounds do not need to be consecutive.
Domain Spells: 1st – ray of enfeeblement, 2nd – blindness/deafness, 3rd – stinking cloud, 4th – confusion, 5th – eyebite (sicken only), 6th - harm, 7th – insanity, 8th – mass inflict critical wounds, 9th – horrid wilting
There is a plague god for the Greeks. You ready? It's Apollo.
It actually makes some sense in a weird way, at least in the context of Greek mythology, for the god of healing and knowledge to also be the god of plague and madness. The opposites-combined theme is pretty common in general in Greek myth.
The opposites-combined theme is pretty common in general in Greek myth.
Don't forget that at this time (and it is still partially true today), poisons formed the basics of medicine. This can still be seen today as the symbol for health is a snake and around a staff.
'findel
A plague domain would be great. Anyone want to take a stab at making it?While Apollo was associated with plague, I'm not entirely sure it was enough for him to have a Domain of that. Zeus was associated with shapeshifting and rape, after all, and I don't think he needs Domains for those favored past-times. :)
True enough, Set. But multiple gods were associated with altering their appearance and rape; were any other Olympians associated with plague?
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Here's the Celtic pantheon. Well, actually it's the Irish Tuatha de Danann with a few additions from Welsh, Pagan British, and mainland Celtic pantheons. This was not easy to put together. I'm still not sure I got all the portfolios correct, but all the domains have been covered (except Madness. I'm not sure if there were any Celtic deities that had madness/loss of control as part of their portfolio). The only D&D book I have that includes a Celtic pantheon is the AD&D 2nd edition version of Deities & Demigods, which doesn't include domains in it. So, this list is mostly based on my own opinions and some reference to the other pantheons. Hopefully I haven't made a complete mess of it. As always, suggestions and comments are very welcome.
Aengus (god of love and beauty): Charm, Luck, Trickery
Arawn (god of the dead): Darkness, Death, Repose
Brigid (goddess of smithing and healing): Artifice, Fire, Healing
Cernunnos (god of wildlife and the wilderness): Animal, Plant, Strength
Dagda (god of agriculture and weather): Earth, Plant, Protection, Weather
Diancecht (god of healing): Community, Healing, Protection
Epona (goddess of horses and travel): Animal, Liberation, Travel
Lugh (god of the sun and the sky): Air, Sun, Weather
Manannan Mac Lir (god of the sea and all the animals of the sea): Animal, Water, Weather
Morrigan (goddess of war): Chaos, Destruction, Strength, War
Nuada (god of kingship and justice): Glory, Law, Nobility, War
Ogma (god of magic and wisdom): Charm, Knowledge, Magic, Rune
Interesting stuff. I may have to steal this for a future game.
What are favoured weapons for exactly? They just give proficiencies right? Since clerics are already proficient with all simple weapons what's the point of having simple weapons as favoured weapons? Are there other effects that utilize favoured weapons, like certain spells or something?
In 3.5e, the War Domain granted Weapon Focus in your deity's weapon.
Since this was removed from the switch over to Pathfinder, I'm not really sure it matters anymore. It's pretty much a flavour thing, unless it's a martial or exotic weapon (which, keep in mind, gives a slight, barely noticeable boost towards the followers of that deity).
Considering the number of Domain choices are all over the map (some have 2 or 3, while others might have 5+), I think deity choice is an area that doesn't have a big enough weight on balance to matter.
Personally, I'm usually pretty flexible as a DM to work with the player's requests (within reason). The game designers can't think of every little nuance with these kinds of things.
@Shad0wdrag0n: I think I have a copy of the 3.5 Deities book by WoTC that I bought a while back. If you want I can email it to you.