SRD5:Fantasy-Historical Pantheons

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Appendix PH-B: Fantasy-Historical Pantheons

The Celtic, Egyptian, Greek, and Norse pantheons are fantasy interpretations of historical religions from our world’s ancient times. They include deities that are most appropriate for use in a game, divorced from their historical context in the real world and united into pantheons that serve the needs of the game. The

Celtic Pantheon

It’s said that something wild lurks in the heart of every soul, a space that thrills to the sound of geese calling at night, to the whispering wind through the pines, to the unexpected red of mistletoe on an oak — and it is in this space that the Celtic gods dwell. They sprang from the brook and stream, their might heightened by the strength of the oak and the beauty of the woodlands and open moor. When the first forester dared put a name to the face seen in the bole of a tree or the voice babbling in a brook, these gods forced themselves into being.

The Celtic gods are as often served by druids as by clerics, for they are closely aligned with the forces of nature that druids revere.

Celtic Deities
Deity	Alignment	Suggested Domains	Symbol
The Daghdha, god of weather and crops	CG	Nature, Trickery	Bubbling cauldron or shield
Arawn, god of life and death	NE	Life, Death	Black star on gray background
Belenus, god of sun, light, and warmth	NG	Light	Solar disk and standing stones
Brigantia, goddess of rivers and livestock	NG	Life	Footbridge
Diancecht, god of medicine and healing	LG	Life	Crossed oak and mistletoe branches
Dunatis, god of mountains and peaks	N	Nature	Red sun-capped mountain peak
Goibhniu, god of smiths and healing	NG	Knowledge, Life	Giant mallet over sword
Lugh, god of arts, travel, and commerce	CN	Knowledge, Life	Pair of long hands
Manannan mac Lir, god of oceans and sea creatures	LN	Nature, Tempest	Wave of white water on green
Math Mathonwy, god of magic	NE	Knowledge Staff
Morrigan, goddess of battle	CE	War	Two crossed spears
Nuada, god of war and warriors	N	War	Silver hand on black background
Oghma, god of speech and writing	NG	Knowledge	Unfurled scroll
Silvanus, god of nature and forests	N	Nature	Summer oak tree

The Greek Pantheon

The gods of Olympus make themselves known with the gentle lap of waves against the shores and the crash of the thunder among the cloud-­enshrouded peaks. The thick boar-­infested woods and the sere, olive-covered hillsides hold evidence of their passing. Every aspect of nature echoes with their presence, and they’ve made a place for themselves inside the human heart, too.

Greek Deities
Deity	Alignment	Suggested Domains	Symbol
Zeus, god of the sky, ruler of the gods	N	Tempest	Fist full of lightning bolts
Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty	CG	Light	Sea shell
Apollo, god of light, music, and healing	CG	Knowledge, Life, Light	Lyre
Ares, god of war and strife	CE	War	Spear
Artemis, goddess of hunting and childbirth	NG	Life, Nature	Bow and arrow on lunar disk
Athena, goddess of wisdom and civilization	LG	Knowledge, War	Owl
Demeter, goddess of agriculture	NG	Life	Mare's head
Dionysus, god of mirth and wine	CN	Life	Thyrsus (staff tipped with pine cone)
Hades, god of the underworld	LE	Death	Black ram
Hecate, goddess of magic and the moon	CE	Knowledge, Trickery	Setting moon
Hephaestus, god of smithing and craft	NG	Knowledge	Hammer and anvil
Hera, goddess of marriage and intrigue	CN	Trickery	Fan of peacock feathers
Hercules, god of strength and adventure	CG	Tempest, War	Lion's head
Hermes, god of travel and commerce	CG	Trickery	Caduceus (winged staff and serpents)
Hestia, goddess of home and family	NG	Life	Hearth
Nike, goddess of victory	LN	War	Winged woman
Pan, god of nature	CN	Nature	Syrinx (pan pipes)
Poseidon, god of the sea and earthquakes	CN	Tempest	Trident
Tyche, goddess of good fortune	N	Trickery	Red pentagram

The Egyptian Pantheon

These gods are a young dynasty of an ancient divine family, heirs to the rulership of the cosmos and the maintenance of the divine principle of Ma’at — the fundamental order of truth, justice, law, and order that puts gods, mortal pharaohs, and ordinary men and women in their logical and rightful place in the universe.

The Egyptian pantheon is unusual in having three gods responsible for death, each with different alignments. Anubis is the lawful neutral god of the afterlife, who judges the souls of the dead. Set is a chaotic evil god of murder, perhaps best known for killing his brother Osiris. And Nephthys is a chaotic good goddess of mourning.

Egyptian Deities
Deity	Alignment	Suggested Domains	Symbol
Re-­Horakhty, god of the sun, ruler of the gods	LG	Life, Light	Solar disk encircled by serpent
Anubis, god of judgment and death	LN	Death	Black jackal
Apep, god of evil, fire, and serpents	NE	Trickery	Flaming snake
Bast, goddess of cats and vengeance	CG	War	Cat
Bes, god of luck and music	CN	Trickery	Image of the misshapen deity
Hathor, goddess of love, music, and motherhood	NG	Life, Light	Horned cow's head with lunar disk
Imhotep, god of crafts and medicine	NG	Knowledge	Step pyramid
Isis, goddess of fertility and magic	NG	Knowledge, Life	Ankh and star
Nephthys, goddess of death and grief	CG	Death	Horns around a lunar disk
Osiris, god of nature and the underworld	LG	Life, Nature	Crook and flail
Ptah, god of crafts, knowledge, and secrets	LN	Knowledge	Bull
Set, god of darkness and desert storms	CE	Death, Tempest, Trickery	Coiled cobra
Sobek, god of water and crocodiles	LE	Nature, Tempest	Crocodile head with horns and plumes
Thoth, god of knowledge and wisdom	N	Knowledge	Ibis

The Norse Pantheon

Where the land plummets from the snowy hills into the icy fjords below, where the longboats draw up on to the beach, where the glaciers flow forward and retreat with every fall and spring—this is the land of the Vikings, the home of the Norse pantheon. It’s a brutal clime, and one that calls for brutal living. The warriors of the land have had to adapt to the harsh conditions in order to survive, but they haven’t been too twisted by the needs of their environment. Given the necessity of raiding for food and wealth, it’s surprising the mortals turned out as well as they did. Their powers reflect the need these warriors had for strong leadership and decisive action. Thus, they see their deities in every bend of a river, hear them in the crash of the thunder and the booming of the glaciers, and smell them in the smoke of a burning longhouse.

The Norse pantheon includes two main families, the Aesir (deities of war and destiny) and the Vanir (gods of fertility and prosperity). Once enemies, these two families are now closely allied against their common enemies, the giants (including the gods Surtur and Thrym).

Norse Deities
Deity	Alignment	Suggested Domains	Symbol
Odin, god of knowledge and war	NG	Knowledge, War	Watching blue eye
Aegir, god of the sea and storms	NE	Tempest	Rough ocean waves
Balder, god of beauty and poetry	NG	Life, Light	Gem-­encrusted silver chalice
Forseti, god of justice and law	N	Light	Head of a bearded man
Frey, god of fertility and the sun	NG	Life, Light	Ice-­blue greatsword
Freya, goddess of fertility and love	NG	Life	Falcon
Frigga, goddess of birth and fertility	N	Life, Light	Cat
Heimdall, god of watchfulness and loyalty	LG	Light, War	Curling musical horn
Hel, goddess of the underworld	NE	Death	Woman's face, rotting on one side
Hermod, god of luck	CN	Trickery	Winged scroll
Loki, god of thieves and trickery	CE	Trickery	Flame
Njord, god of sea and wind	NG	Nature, Tempest	Gold coin
Odur, god of light and the sun	CG	Light	Solar disk
Sif, goddess of war	CG	War	Upraised sword
Skadi, god of earth and mountains	N	Nature	Mountain peak
Surtur, god of fire giants and war	LE	War	Flaming sword
Thor, god of storms and thunder	CG	Tempest, War	Hammer
Thrym, god of frost giants and cold	CE	War	White double-­bladed axe
Tyr, god of courage and strategy	LN	Knowledge, War	Sword
Uller, god of hunting and winter	CN	Nature	Longbow

Sources

• SRD-OGL v5.1

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