Deities

The deities of Toril take an active interest in their world, channeling power through their clerics, druids, rangers, paladins, and other worshipers and sometimes intervening directly in the affairs of mortals. At the same time, they plot, war, intrigue, and ally among themselves, between themselves and powerful mortals, and with extraplanar beings such as elemental rulers and demons. In this they resemble their mortal worshipers, for to an extent deities are defined and shaped by their worshipers, their areas of interest, and their nature—for many deities are actually mortals who have gained the divine spark. Because they lose strength if their worship dwindles away and is forgotten, deities task their clerics and others to whom they grant divine spells with spreading their praise and doctrine, recruiting new worshipers, and keeping the faith alive. In exchange for this work and to facilitate it, deities grant divine spells.

Worship

A weaponsmith might take Gond as his patron deity, but also pray to Tempus, Lord of Battles, before attempting to forge a fine sword. During a difficult forging or when striving to make a blade lucky for wielders, the same smith prays to Tymora. A weapon forged for guardians would involve prayers and offerings to Helm. A weapon to be wielded for justice (an executioner’s blade, perhaps) would be dedicated to Tyr.

Most people of Toril worship more than one deity on a daily basis, even if they dedicate their lives to one patron deity. Some folk of Faerûn believe deities are akin to awesomely powerful mortals and are therefore prone to foibles, tempers, and the haste, mistakes, and emotions of mortals. Others see them as beyond mortal flaws or mortal comprehension. Overlaid on these extremes are beliefs as to whether deities like to intervene in mortal affairs daily, at crucial junctures, on whims, or to further mysterious or stated aims—or whether they remain aloof, influencing mortals only in subtle, hidden ways or through dream visions or cryptic auguries. With these widely varying views come a correspondingly wide range in practices of worship.

With that said, many folk make offerings both to deities they revere and appeasement offerings to deities of markedly different alignment and interests from their own to ward off holy vengefulness, spite, and divine whim. The simplest offering to a deity is to toss a few coins into a temple bowl or make another suitable offering (blood to Tempus or Malar, for example, or particular sacred or token objects to most other deities) while a plea is murmured. The formalization of this practice is the payment of a set temple fee to clergy of the deity to be appeased, who either provide the payer with a short prayer to be performed at an auspicious later time or perform a rote prayer for the payer.

Patron Deities

The deities of Faerûn are deeply enmeshed in the functioning of the world’s magical ecology and the lives of mortals. Characters of Toril nearly always have a patron deity. Everyone in Faerûn knows that those who die without having a patron deity to send a servant to collect them from the Fugue Plane at their death spend eternity writhing in the Wall of the Faithless or disappear into the hells of the devils or the infernos of the demons.

Sins and Penance

Some members of the clergy believe their deities watch over every act, thought, and consequence of the deeds of every mortal worshiper. Most priests, however, see their deities as judging mortals only on deeds or on acts plus obvious intent rather than ultimate consequences.

A cleric or druid who commits a minor offense against her deity or ignores portions of the deity’s dogma is guilty of a sin. He has to do some penance appropriate to the seriousness of the sin in order to remain in good standing with the church, other clerics or druids, and the deity. Paladins, rangers, and other divine spellcasters are held to this standard (to a less exacting degree) also.

Typical penance for lesser infractions includes spending an hour in prayer, making a small monetary donation to the temple (1 to 10 gp), performing minor duties in the temple (which vary by religion), and so on.

Penance for moderate infractions includes spending anywhere from a day to a tenday in prayer, making a moderate monetary donation to the temple (100 to 500 gp), or going on a small quest for the church (a short adventure).

Penance for major infractions includes a month or more of prayer, a large donation (1,000 gp or more), a quest, and possibly an atonement spell (which might require its own quest).

Continued abuses of the church’s dogma may result in a divine spellcaster losing his class features (but not any class-related weapon and armor proficiencies) until he atones for his sins.

Changing Deities

It is possible for a cleric, druid, paladin, or spellcasting ranger (or any other divine spellcaster) to abandon his chosen deity and take up the faith of another deity. In doing so, the divine spellcaster loses all class features of the abandoned deity. To progress as a divine spellcaster of another faith, the character must go on a quest for his new church (often the recovery of a lost item of some importance to the deity), then receive an atonement spell from a representative of his new faith. Once these two conditions are met, the character becomes a divine spellcaster of the new deity, and if a cleric, he chooses two domains from the new deity’s repertoire. The character then resumes the class features lost from leaving the old faith (so long as they are still applicable—turning or rebuking undead ability might change, for instance).

Pantheons

A pantheon is a group of deities organized along geographic or species lines. Sometimes members of a pantheon are related to each other through familial ties. The majority of the continent of Faerûn is under the control of the Faerûnian pantheon, a group of native and immigrant deities largely unrelated to each other. The exception is the countries of Mulhorand, Unther, Semphar, and Murghôm, which are watched over by the Mulhorandi pantheon, which is mainly composed of a family group. The major humanoid races (dwarves, elves, and so on) have their own pantheons as well. Outside Faerûn, the Kara-Turan pantheon guides the peoples of Kara-Tur, and so on. Clerics of a foreign deity may travel within another pantheon’s region and receive spells normally, but they are likely to be driven off or assaulted by representatives of the local deities if they attempt to convert people to their faith, establish a temple, or start a holy war. The clergy of nonhuman deities are immune to this persecution as long as they refrain from such activities while in human lands; instead, they focus their recruiting and building efforts in places owned by their own kind or frontier areas unclaimed by civilized folk.