List of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' nonhuman deities

This is a list of nonhuman deities of Dungeons & Dragons, defined as those fictional deities worshipped in the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) roleplaying game primarily by nonhuman races. Religion is a fundamental element of the D&D game because it is required to support both the cleric class and the behavioural aspects of the ethical alignment system. Most of these deities appear in both the Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms campaign settings, and each setting has nonhuman gods which do not appear in the other setting.

Publication history

The first two nonhuman deities described in the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons were creations of Gary Gygax: Lolth in the adventure D1 Descent into the Depths of the Earth (1978),[1] and Blibdoolpoolp in D2 Shrine of the Kuo-Toa (1978).[2] The original Deities and Demigods (1980) by James M. Ward presented a section with over 20 nonhuman deities from races such as bugbears, centaurs, dwarves, elves, giants, gnomes, goblins, halflings, hobgoblins, kobolds, kuo-toa, lizard men, locathah, mermen, ogres, orcs, sahuagin, and troglodytes, and introduced gods such as Moradin, Corellon Larethian, Vaprak, and Gruumsh.[3] Roger E. Moore expanded the demihuman pantheons by four to five deities each in Dragon magazine in 1982, featuring the dwarves in Dragon #58,[4] the halflings in Dragon #59,[5] the elves in Dragon #60,[6] the gnomes in Dragon #61,[7] and the orcs in Dragon #62;[8] these new gods were reprinted in the original Unearthed Arcana (1985).[9] In Dragon #63, Moore also added a deity each to the kobold, goblin, hobgoblin, and gnoll pantheons.[10]

In second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the book Monster Mythology (1992) by Carl Sargent covered more than 100 nonhuman deities, including nearly all of those introduced previously, as well as making gods out of the dragons Bahamut and Tiamat and demon lords Demogorgon, Juiblex, and Yeenoghu – all five from the original 1977 Monster Manual, and the demon lords Baphomet and Kostchtchie from the original Monster Manual II (1982). Monster Mythology more than doubled the count of nonhuman deities from first edition, and detailed new gods for Underdark races such as beholders, illithids, myconids, and svirfnebli, new undersear gods, new draconic gods, and new faerie gods.[11] Rillifane Rallathil, an omission from the book, was detailed in Dragon #191 (1993).[12] Chris Perry expanded the elven pantheon in Dragon #236,[13] and Dragon #251.[14]

Bahamut and Tiamat appeared in a preview article for the third edition, in Dragon #272 (June 2000).[15] In third edition Dungeons & Dragons, Corellon Larethian, Garl Glittergold, Gruumsh, Moradin, and Yondalla were made part of the core pantheon of deities presented in the Player's Handbook (2000),[16] and were more fully detailed in Deities and Demigods (2002), along with Bahamut, Tiamat, Lolth, and Kurtulmak.[17] The priesthoods of these gods were detailed in Complete Divine (2004).[18] Some of the pantheons were detailed again, some with completely different compositions, including the dwarvish and gnomish pantheons in Races of Stone (2004),[19] the elvish and halfling pantheons in Races of the Wild (2005),[20] and the draconic pantheon in Races of the Dragon (2006).[21]

In fourth edition Dungeons & Dragons, Corellon, Gruumsh, and Moradin remained part of the core pantheon presented in the Player's Handbook (2008), and Bahamut, Tiamat, and Sehanine was added.[22]

Greyhawk

In Dragon #92 (December 1984), Gary Gygax indicated many of the demihuman deities as legal for the Greyhawk setting.[23] From the Ashes (1992) by Carl Sargent detailed some the nonhuman gods active in the second edition Greyhawk setting,[24] while the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer did the same for the third edition.[25]

Forgotten Realms

Dwarves Deep (1990) by Ed Greenwood detailed the dwarven pantheon as it appeared in the Forgotten Realms setting, and added four new gods.[26] The Forgotten Realms version of the draconic pantheon first appeared in the original Draconomicon (1990).[27] The Drow of the Underdark (1991) by Greenwood detailed the drow pantheon of the Forgotten Realms, introducing three new gods as well.[28] The drow, dwarven, elven, gnomish, and halfling pantheons were given very details description for their role in the Forgotten Realms in the second edition book Demihuman Deities (1998),[29] and were revisited along with the orcish pantheon in the third edition book Faiths and Pantheons (2002).[30]

Planescape

The nonhuman deities made appearances throughout the Planescape line, but were heavily detailed in On Hallowed Ground (1996) by Colin McComb.[31]

Categories

  1. Demihuman powers - This refers to deities worshipped by core races besides humans (such as elves and dwarves).
  2. Monster powers - This refers to the deities of the monstrous races intended as enemies of the players rather than player races. Whether they should be considered true deities or not is debated.

Demihuman deities

Demihuman deities refers to the gods of the core races besides humans (E.G... Elves, Dwarves, ETC. Note that Goliaths, Illumians and Raptorans are special, additional core races that were described in the Races of Stone, Races of Destiny and Races of the Wild supplement books respectively. An article does not currently exist for any of these races.)

Dwarven deities

Elven deities

Most of the elven deities (other than Corellon Larethian) are found in the Races of the Wild supplement. They are organized in a pantheon called the Seldarine — a term which originated in Dragon magazine issue #60, but has been most widely used in the Forgotten Realms setting.

Gnome deities

Halfling deities

Monster deities

Monster deities refers to the gods of the monstrous races; in other words, those of races that are primarily to fight and are not generally intended as player characters. It should be noted that most of these beings are not actually gods. The dividing line between a god-like being and a true god in the D&D cosmology really seems to be the ability to grant divine spells to cleric worshipers and other divine casters. Most of the beings listed below are actually just very powerful extra-planar beings, though many have designs on godhood.[42]

Dragon deities

Bahamut and Tiamat are described in the primary materials for Dungeons & Dragons 3rd and 3.5th editions. Other draconic deities are described in sources such as Draconomicon and Races of the Dragon.

Drow deities

The deities of the Drow, an evil, underground-dwelling subrace of true Elves, are arranged in a corrupted version of the Elven pantheon called the Dark Seldarine.

Fey deities

The deities of fey and other mystical, nature-loving creatures are arranged in a pantheon called the Seelie Court. The Seelie Court is its own planar realm that travels between the various Upper Planes as its members desire, most frequently on the Beastlands, Ysgard, and Arborea. It is divided into two circles. The Inner Circle is closely associated with Queen Titania, and includes her consort Oberon, their children Damh and Verenestra, their court jester Squelaiche, and Eachthighern, their steed. The Outer Circle is more loosely allied, and either do not consider Titania to be their liege, as Skerrit does not, or spend most of their time away from the court, as Fionnghuala does. Still, Titania bears them as much love as she does the members of the Inner Circle.

Evil-aligned fey venerate a dark, corrupted version of the Seelie Court called the Unseelie Court. This consists of only one member, who was exiled from the Seelie Court due to her evil ways:

Giant deities

Goblin deities

Lycanthrope deities

Orc deities

Other deities

Goliath deities

The gods of the goliaths are mentioned in Races of Stone:

Illumian deities

The gods of the illumians are mentioned in Races of Destiny:

Raptoran deities

The gods of the raptorans are mentioned in Races of the Wild:

See also

References

  1. Gygax, Gary. Descent into the Depths of the Earth (TSR, 1978)
  2. 1 2 Gygax, Gary. Shrine of the Kuo-Toa (TSR, 1978)
  3. 1 2 3 4 Ward, James and Robert Kuntz. Deities and Demigods (TSR, 1980)
  4. Moore, Roger "The Gods of the Dwarves." Dragon #58 (TSR, 1982)
  5. Moore, Roger E. "The Gods of the Halflings." Dragon #59 (TSR, March 1982)
  6. Moore, Roger E. "The Gods of the Elves." Dragon #60 (TSR, April 1982)
  7. Moore, Roger E. "The Gods of the Gnoms." Dragon #61 (TSR, May 1982)
  8. Moore, Roger E. "The Gods of the Orcs." Dragon #62 (TSR, June 1982)
  9. Gygax, Gary. Unearthed Arcana (TSR, 1985)
  10. Moore, Roger E. "The Humanoids: All About Kobolds, Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Gnolls." Dragon #63 (TSR, July 1982)
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Sargent, Carl. Monster Mythology (TSR, 1992)
  12. Sargent, Carl. The Elven Pantheon — Completed! Dragon Magazine #191 (TSR, 1993)
  13. Perry, Chris. "The Seldarine Revisited." Dragon #236 (TSR, 1996)
  14. Perry, Chris. "Magic of the Seldarine." Dragon #251. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1998
  15. Williams, Skip. "Bahamut and Tiamat." Dragon #272 (Paizo Publishing, 2000)
  16. Tweet, Jonathan, Cook, Monte, Williams, Skip. Player's Handbook (Wizards of the Coast, 2000)
  17. Redman, Rich, Skip Williams, and James Wyatt. Deities and Demigods (Wizards of the Coast, 2002)
  18. Noonan, David. Complete Divine (Wizards of the Coast, 2004)
  19. Noonan, David, Jesse Decker, and Michelle Lyons. Races of Stone (Wizards of the Coast, 2004)
  20. Williams, Skip. Races of the Wild, Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2005
  21. Kestrel, Gwendolyn FM, Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, and Kolja Raven Liquette. Races of the Dragon. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2006
  22. Heinsoo, Rob, Andy Collins, and James Wyatt. Player's Handbook. (Wizards of the Coast, 2008)
  23. Gygax, Gary (December 1984). "From the Sorcerer's Scroll: Clerics live by other rules". Dragon. Lake Geneva WI: TSR (92): 22.]
  24. Sargent, Carl. From the Ashes (TSR, 1992)
  25. Holian, Gary, Erik Mona, Sean K Reynolds, and Frederick Weining. Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (Wizards of the Coast, 2000)
  26. Greenwood, Ed. Dwarves Deep (TSR, 1990)
  27. Findley, Nigel, Christopher Kubasik, Carl Sargent, John Terra, and William Tracy. Draconomicon. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1990
  28. 1 2 Greenwood, Ed. The Drow of the Underdark (TSR, 1991)
  29. Boyd, Eric L. Demihuman Deities (TSR, 1998)
  30. Boyd, Eric L, and Erik Mona. Faiths and Pantheons (Wizards of the Coast, 2002).
  31. 1 2 3 4 McComb, Colin. On Hallowed Ground (TSR, 1996)
  32. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Noonan, David; Decker, Jesse; Lyons, Michelle (2004). Races of Stone. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3278-3.
  33. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Williams, Skip (2005). Races of the Wild. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3438-7.
  34. 1 2 Running the Realms by Ed Greenwood and Jeff Grubb, copyright 1993 TSR Inc.
  35. Ward, James and Robert J. Kuntz. Deities and Demigods (TSR, 1980)
  36. 1 2 3 Moore, Roger; Moore, Georgia (April 1982), The Gods of the Elves (PDF) (60), Dragon, p. 11
  37. Moore, Roger E. "The Elven Point of View." Dragon #60 (TSR, April 1982)
  38. 1 2 Mentzer, Frank. "Ay pronunseeAY shun gyd" Dragon #93 (TSR, 1985)
  39. 1 2 3 Moore, Roger E. "The Elven Point of View." Dragon #60 (TSR, April 1982)
  40. Gygax, Gary (December 1984). "From the Sorcerer's Scroll: Clerics live by other rules". Dragon. Lake Geneva WI: TSR (92): 22.
  41. [Forgotten Realms #15 - 18]
  42. 1 2 Redman, Rich; Williams, Skip; Wyatt, James (2002). Deities and Demigods. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-2654-6.
  43. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Kestrel, Gwendolyn F.M.; Wilkes, Jennifer Clarke; Liquette, Kolja Raven (2006). Races of the Dragon. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3913-3.
  44. Boyd, Eric L. Demihuman Deities (TSR, 1998)
  45. Boyd, Eric L, and Erik Mona. Faiths and Pantheons (Wizards of the Coast, 2002).
  46. 1 2 Sargent, Carl (1992). Monster Mythology. TSR. ISBN 1-56076-362-0.
  47. 1 2 Baker, Richard, Joseph D. Carriker, and Jennifer Clarke-Wilkes. Stormwrack (Wizards of the Coast, 2005)
  48. "Gzemnid". planewalker.com. Archived from the original on May 28, 2009. Retrieved November 23, 2008.
  49. McComb, Colin. On Hallowed Ground (TSR, 1996)
  50. Caralya, Anson. "Quicksilver Hourglass." Dungeon #123. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2005
  51. Tweet, Jonathan; Cook, Monte; Williams, Skip (2003). Player's Handbook: Core Rulebook I v.3.5. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-2886-7.
  52. Ward, James, and Robert Kuntz. Deities and Demigods (TSR, 1980)
  53. Cook, Monte. Dead Gods (TSR, 1997)
  54. Baker, Richard; Jacobs, James; Winter, Steve (2005). Lords of Madness. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3657-6.
  55. slade, Ed Greenwood, Julia Martin, Steven E. Schend, Paul Jaquays, and Steve Perrin. The North: Guide to the Savage Frontier, TSR, Inc., 1996. ISBN 0-7869-0391-0
  56. Baker, Richard, and Joseph D. Carriker Jr, and Jennifer Clarke Wilkes. Stormwrack. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2005
  57. Ward, James and Robert Kuntz. Deities and Demigods (TSR, 1980)
  58. 1 2 Schwalb, Robert J. "Demonomicon of Iggwilv." Dragon #364, June 2008. Available online:
  59. Gygax, Gary. Monster Manual (TSR, 1977)
  60. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cagle, Eric; Rosenberg, Aaron (2004). Races of Destiny. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3653-3.
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