The Problem with D&D Gods (and how to make your own)

D&D gods are confusing, DnD gods are complex, and there sure are many of them. So why would you want to make your own god?
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[ggoodaysir]

imagine being a god and an animated hat starts clowning on you like this

[onimonkey]

For the fellow Umberlee lovers, in one game I ran, the temple of Umberlee was decorated with water filled glass coffins that people were drowned in. In the main chamber, Umberlee spoke through the mouths of the drowned dead.

[Halophage]

Shinto has a quintillion gods, but you also have to remember: each one of those gods has multiple faces, and many of those gods are secretly the same guy.

[Atlas]

I recall one homebrew I was especially proud of. It involved Life and Death's gods being a married Halfling couple. Life was the mother, always cheerful, always wanted to feed her children (the world's people) but also one who would talk to her husband about someone's passing. Her husband, Death, was a rather dour faced grump of a Halfling but never really mean. He knew someone's end scared them, so he took it as a stern but loving father approach to let you know the end was happening.

A new death experience or something like reincarnation could be something as simple as them talking over a kitchen table while you sat between them, as if parents wondering what to do with a naughty child. Death telling his beloved, "This one's time is now sweat pea." while she patted your hand to settle you down and say "Ooooh but pumpkin, this little one really does need to say goodbye to their spouse, please, just at least one last message?!"

She knew her husband's work was important, it created room for hers, but like all creators it was sad to see her babies go. He loved how she built things, but also knew he had to put things away when their time was done. There was no struggle for ultimate power in the cosmos, there was simply hot apple stellar pies, the smell of sweet weed grass from Death's pipe, and a crackling fire you could admire while they weighed your options if you were a soul of great significance to them.

[hookshot]

Fun, potentially live-saving tip: It's funny you bring up the "no service" thing in horror movies, because even if your phone says no service you can still call 911 and have it work. Cellphones ping off every tower, not just their own provider's network, because of this they are legally required to let emergency calls go through on ANY tower it can ping off of. Even if it's out the network and you have "no service."

[patrickstar]

20:25 As a dweeb who went trough a mythology phase I'd like to point out that the greek and roman (not sure about the norse) mythology also had tons of minor gods of whatever the local landmark was. But since the religion isn't really practiced anymore people only tend to know/care about the big 12.

[Thunderscreamer]

I love how you made a whole video warning against gods as “Plot Contrivances” without ever saying “Deus Ex Machina”

[mythshaper]

When I was creating my homebrew setting I made it on the surface seem like there were hundreds of gods, but if players actually dig deeper into the lore they would find, for example, that no there are not 40 ocean gods, there are 40 cultures that all have a different name and interpretation of a singular ocean god.

[LadyTsunade]

One good explanation I've seen for having _huge_ numbers of gods in a setting, with many or even most overlapping, is: different cultures incidentally worshipping the _same deity of a thing/concept but in their own ways._
For example, maybe culture A that lives near the peaks of a mountain range worships Icaros, the handsome young man God of the Sun; while culture B that lives in the deep shadowed valleys and into the underground worships Scoura, the sun-bleached elderly woman Goddess of the Sun; and culture C across the ocean worships Phlrgl, the radiant sunfish God of the Sun; BUT these are in actuality all the _same singular entity._

[ninryu]

Pointy Hat: "DnD has too many gods"
Shintoism: "that's cute"

[abramfriesen]

Apos'trophee Hyphen-Name must be stopped before he overruns all Examplia.

[BluegrassGeek]

Yes, animism! This is my personal favorite take on doing a D&D pantheon. Just make everything have a spirit, and you have to appease them if you don't want bad luck, or just need a boost. You can have minor side quests about how to pacify the river spirit so you can cross without having to travel days to find a bridge, etc.

[jldragongames]

Pointy Hat, please make a tip of the hat video about ttrpg travelling, it tends to be SO boring, its aways either a boring timeskip or some goblin encounters, i love the concept of traveling and just dont know how to execute it well, and its also such a big part of an adventure, thank you.

[zacks.]

I think the funniest about the D&D (Specifically Forgotten Realms) gods is that they were like, "Ao the overgod, he keeps the others in their lane, " but that wasn't enough so then they were like, "There is the Luminous Being, they keep everything in check because they are the DM, the DM is a canonical god and whatever they say goes!"

[dman]

"How do I make this relatable to brain rot...?"

**proceeds to attack your mind in multiple atrocious and unforgivable ways**

[Pengalen]

I'd just like to point out that, in the Greek pantheon, there are at least, like 135 named deities that have specifics known about them and are all directly related to the core pantheon. This does not include the endless variety of nymphs, daimones and other nebulous deity like things that are in fact the god of that rock over there, that are not specifically named.

[EgoreTR]

"Lesser Deities have no gyatt, L rizz and get mogged by Sigma, Intermediate and Greater Gods... Skibbidi."

[jamesm]

Well, I didn't really think about gods when making my campaign, but my little sister decided to play a paladin that took an oath to the god of concrete, and my friend is playing a warlock that made a pact with Barbossa. Yes, Hector Barbossa from pirates of the Caribbean. Yes, he met him while out at sea.

[lupussilvermoon]

No way, I was literally writing my settings pantheon when I got this notification!!!

[morganhann]

So ive had players ask some of the questions you pointed out, and my answer was
1. They only appear to certain cultures, like an elven moon goddess and goblin moon goddess will only appear to elves and goblins
2. They are helping stop other ends of the world and you get help from the clerics god since one of their followers is with you
3. They only appear to their favorite followers
And 4. They are busy making their domain function