Demonic Cults and Worship Made Easy


5th Edition (And Beyond)


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My world of Darknoth is centered on the worship of the most powerful Demons and Devils in the game, ex. Asmodeus, Demogorgon, Mammon, etc. I'm having a problem making this functional in the game. I've read through the descriptions and there really doesn't seem to be much of a difference between them. I've consulted Tyrants of the Nine Hells and Hordes of the Abyss from 3.5 edition as well. To match the tone and feel of the world I wanted to push standard Deity worship to the side and replace most gods with cults of demons and devils. I would like some of these cults to be out in the open while others are more hidden and secretive than others. I expect these cults to oppose one another as well, competing for worship. I see some of these cults purposely attracting worshippers of neutral and good alignments using fear and manipulation to acquire them.

To also match the world, both Bahamut and Tiamat would be elevated to worship as well.

I'm also adding few of my own deities to fill in gaps.

To match 5th edition Cleric rules, I need to assign at least one (or more) domains to each deity. With homemade deities selecting domains is simple, it doesn't present a problem. With demons and devils its an issue. I have thought about rewriting each demon or devil to give it a unique spin in the world to solve some of these problems.

I want to make the list more complete yet streamlined, eliminate unnecessary ones, add needed deities, and tweak the existing ones so they are better. I'm open to adding or subtracting domains, changing worshippers, and alignments.

Here's what I have so far....

Greater Gods are worshipped in the larger more populated areas of the world. These are the primary deities of the campaign.

Asmodeus: God of Tyranny, Knowledge and Evil (LE), Worshippers: Neutral and Evil Humans, Humanoids, Domains: Knowledge.

Bahamut: God of Dragons, Good, Justice and Nobility (LG), Worshippers: Good and neutral Dragons and Dragonborn, humans, demi-humans. Domains: Life and War.

Darknoth: God of the Cosmos and Magic, (N), Worshippers: Dragons, Dragonborn, Kobolds, Humans, Demi-humans, Domains: Light, Nature

Glaysa: Goddess of Beauty, (LE), Worshippers: Humans, Domains: Trickery

Magog: God of Murder, Torture (CE), Worshippers: Evil Humans, Humanoids, Domains: Trickery, War

Mephistopheles: God of Fire and Magic, (LE), Worshippers: Neutral and Evil Humans, Humanoids, Domains: Tempest and Trickery

Orcus: God of the Undead, Blood (CE), Worshippers: Neutral and Evil Humans, Giants, Domains: Trickery, War

Tiamat: Goddess of Dragons, Tyranny, Evil (CE), Worshippers: Evil Dragons, Evil Dragonborn, Kobolds, Domains: Trickery, War

Lesser Gods. The Lesser Deities receive some worship but not a lot and are losing favor with people and have been pushed to more select areas of the world.

Baphomet: God of Savagery, Destruction (CE), Worshippers: Humanoids, Monsters of the Underdark, Domains: War

Belial/Fierna: God & Goddess of Secrets, Domination, Seduction (LE), Worshippers: Neutral and Evil Humans, Humanoids, Domains: Trickery

Carnage: God of War and Destruction, (CN), Worshippers: Humans, Giants, Humanoids, Domains: War

Demogorgon: God of Fear, Hate, (CE), Worshippers: Evil Humans, Lizardfolk, Troglodytes, Yuan-Ti, Domains: Tempest

Dispater: God of War,(LE), Worshippers: Neutral and Evil Humans, Domains: War

Entropy: Cod of Chaos, (CN), Worshippers: Humans, Domains: Trickery

Hospice: Goddess of Health & Healing, (LG), Worshippers: Good Humans, Demi-humans, Domains: Light

Lolth: Goddess of the Drow, Spiders, (CE), Worshippers: Drow Elves, Domains: Trickery

Maelstrom: God of Weather and Storms (CN), Worshippers: Humans, Domains:Tempest

Malcanthet: Goddess of Lust and Seduction, (CE), Worshippers: Neutral and Evil Humans, Domains: Trickery

Mammon: God of Greed and Lust (LE), Worshippers: Neutral and Evil Humans, Humanoids, Domains: Trickery

Oracle: Goddess of Divination and Fate, (N), Worshippers: Humans, Elves, Domains: Knowledge, Light

Pacifiss: God of Peace, Serenity, and Reason, (LG), Worshippers: Monks, Domains: Knowledge, Light

Shemayn: Goddess of Nature and Agriculture, (N), Worshippers: Humans, Druids, Elves, Halflings, Domains: Nature

Yeenoghu: God of the Gnolls, (CE), Worshippers: Gnolls, Domains: War

Quasi Deities (These deities are dead but could return to life if they start to regain worshippers in great enough numbers)

Commercius: God of Money, Trade, Barter, (N), Worshippers: Humans, Demi-humans, Domains: ?

Oceanus: God of the Oceans, Lakes and Rivers, (N), Worshippers: Humans, Domains: ?

Raven: Goddess of Skies, Birds (N), Worshippers: ?, Domains?

Songstress: Goddess of Music and Beauty, (LN), Worshippers: Humans, Elves, Domains: Light, Nature

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Are you asking which deities to trim or a way to make each deity stand out and be unique?

One thing I can suggest is to just focus on the deities the PCs are interested in and will be interacting with. Well, the followers they will be interacting with.

For example, you might want one big LE public deity, and maybe a 2 or 3 chaotic cults that fight amongst themselves when they're not fighting against Big LE.

Your world seems pretty dark and demonic, so you don't need a lot of goody two shoes deities. Maybe a LG for the good church goin' folk to worship, and a N one for everyone else. Or maybe a LN deity that says it's good, but also has (secret) LE members... And a CN for fun. And zest.

You don't want to fill your player's heads with long confusing lists unless they're really into that kind of thing.

Also, since there are a lot fewer domains in 5th Edition, one of the ways to really make deities pop is to have only a few of them, so each domain is only available from one or two deities.

Don't forget the Death domain from the DMG!

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