Divine Powers of the Deities of Krynn

Gods and Goddesses in standard fantasy RPG settings usually watch over a world, busying themselves with their portfolio (or acquiring someone else's portfolios).

This is actually desirable in a "theme park" setting designed to accomodate to every game master's campaign need. The pantheons themselves are not even closed, welcoming new gods without really changing anything (unless resulting in a portfolio transfer).

For example, D&D's Forgotten Realms or Pathfinder's Golarion are such settings.

But I feel Dragonlance is different.

First, the pantheons are closed: There a 21 deities, and that's all. Zeus, Isis, Sarenrae or Bane will never set foot on Krynn, and if for some reason their priests do, they would find themselves immediately without power (sorry for those liking to hop between worlds). And the reason is deeper than just hostility to outsiders: There's symmetry and geometry everywhere in Krynn's design, and that is something that is very "Dragonlance". Any change would break that.

Second, the first part result in a very interesting effect: Not all domains/vocations/portfolio are attributed (there are more than 21, after all), which means that you cannot "create a god from a portfolio/domain", but you must give that god itself its rightful share and responsibility in Krynn's mythology (e.g. creation of Krynn). One such share is the division between Good, Evil and Balance, each pantheon a pillar of creation, and giving mortals one specific gift.

But beyond the division between good, evil and balance, there is another concept that, in my humble opinion, really enrich the Dragonlance setting: The Divine Power...

 

Divine Powers

Divine Powers were first described in the excellent Holy Order of the Stars sourcebook.

Most of the Divine Powers below are the same, but the description has been "inverted" (you'll see).

And for those who has been changed, the reason is that Divine Powers should inspire souls to evolve, not drag them to entropy. Which means each deity related to a divine power is themself a force of evolution for souls.

In essence, divine powers both inspire the souls, and is a constant motivation for the deities embodying them: For example, in a dilemma, unless exception, Mishakal will choose the choice related to restoration, while Sargonnas will choose instead the choice related to retribution.

Divine Powers of the Good Pantheon

Discipline

This divine power enables souls to rise through focus on what matters, self-work, systematic practice, and austerity.

The discipline is embodied by Majere.

Inspiration

This divine power enables souls to ascend through imagination, and the sharing of that imagination.

Inspiration is embodied by Branchala, who encourages souls to rise through beauty and joy.

Majesty

This divine power enables souls to rise up by serving as an example or by following the examples of those with great nobility of soul.

Majesty is embodied by Paladine.

Persistence

This divine power allows souls to rise through trial confrontation, and struggle against adversity.

Perseverance is embodied by Habbakuk, who encourages souls to elevate themselves through perseverance for the common good.

Restoration

This divine power allows souls to continue to rise despite the damage suffered, to reconstitute themselves.

Restoration is embodied by Mishakal, who encourages souls to learn from their mistakes, and to diffuse and share regenerative energies.

Unity

This divine power enables souls to ascend through unification and cooperation and support into a larger whole for a common purpose.

Unity is embodied by Kiri-Jolith, who encourages souls to rise up through solidarity and brotherhood.

Vigilance

This divine power allows souls to rise by identifying obstacles and dangers, to avoid them, or possibly face them in the best possible conditions.

Vigilance is embodied by Solinari, who has since concentrated his efforts on magic, and on Orders of High Sorcery, in order to ensure their use in the greatest possible security, for the common good.

Divine Powers of the Balance Pantheon

Creation

This divine power enables souls to ascend through physical creation and of a lasting nature.

Creation is embodied by Reorx, who encourages souls to rise through the practice of craftsmanship, skill and artifice. It recognizes and promotes the will of mortals to shape, build and produce.

Instinct

This divine power allows souls to rise by freeing themselves from the constraints and heaviness of reason and conscious thought, by relying on the primordial impulse.

Instinct is embodied by Chislev.

Interaction

This divine power enables souls to ascend through communication and interaction with other souls.

Interaction is embodied by Shinare, who encourages souls to rise through exchanges, and entrepreneurship, stripped of ephemeral notions like desire or morality.

Knowledge

This divine power enables souls to ascend through the experience of knowledge in all its forms, without judgment or limitations.

Knowledge is embodied by Gilean.

Mystery

This divine power allows souls to rise through wonder and curiosity, and not fear, of the mystery and the unknown, to unveil and share them in a neutral way, through freedom of expression.

Mystery is embodied by Lunitari, who has since focused his efforts on magic, and on the Orders of High Witchcraft, in order to ensure the exploration and discovery of all its secrets.

Transformation

This divine power enables souls to ascend through constant change.

Transformation is embodied by Sirrion, who encourages souls to embrace a passionate and creative existence.

Wisdom

This divine power enables souls to ascend via enlightenment, to see the world around them as a fluid and continuous river of experience.

Wisdom is embodied by Zivilyn.

 

Divine Powers of the Evil Pantheon

Ambition

This divine power gives souls the desire to elevate themselves spiritually.

Ambition is embodied by Nuitari, who has since focused his efforts on magic, and High Sorcery Orders, in order to use their power without limitation.

Control

This divine power allows souls to rise through membership in an organization hierarchised by power, an organization emerging from the soul abandoning part of its freedom and power for the benefit of those who are more. important and more powerful; but also the acquisition of freedom and power to the detriment of others, less powerful.

Control is embodied by Takhisis, creating an unbroken chain of power and loyalty that is embodied in the spiritual fervor of his followers.

Exploitation

This divine power allows souls to rise at the expense of others, weaker.

Exploitation is embodied by Hiddukel, who encourages souls to turn every connection with another soul to their advantage.

Ordeal

This divine power allows souls to rise through the confrontation of painful and traumatic trials, in order to free themselves from their weaknesses, and to grow spiritually.

Ordeal is embodied by Morgion.

(for more information, please see: https://paercebal.blogspot.com/2022/01/morgion-divine-power-of-ordeal.html)

Permanence

This divine power allows souls to ensure their permanence and stability, resisting external influences, whatever they may be.

Permanence is embodied by Chemosh, who is particularly opposed to the changes brought about by the natural cycle of life and death, preferring an eternal existence to it.

Retribution

This divine power allows souls to rise up, through retaliation and retribution, against anything that damages it, in order to protect themselves, and to take back what has been stolen from them.

Retribution is embodied by Sargonnas, who is the lord of revenge and retribution, the patron of wars fought for passion, anger, and broken promises.

Strife

This divine power enables souls to rise up, against anything that inhibits, controls or hinders it, by releasing their deepest, most shameful impulses, fully acting when one is overwhelmed by aggressiveness or repressed frustrations.

Strife is embodied by Zeboim, who encourages unrest, lawlessness, disorder and rebellion, in a systematic attempt to counteract imposed order and law.

 

Divine Prayers & Favors

Gods and Goddesses of Krynn are much, much more meddling in Krynn's mortals' affairs than other deities in their own mortals' worlds.

This home rule is designed to reflect that.

Divine Favor

Once per day, a character can pray to a deity for a favor in relation to some aim related to the deity's divine power or domains, vocations or portfolio.

This needs a success in a Persuasion (Charisma) skill roll (or it could be another skill, if better adapted, as decided by the game master), whose difficulty is to be determined by the game master, with a bonus/malus related to the wording of the prayer itself. If successful, the character gains a divine favor.

Unless exception, one can only have one divine favor at a time.

This Divine Favor works as a Bardic Inspiration (and can stack with it), with the caveat that the deity might decide, at any moment, to deny it, no matter how successful (game master's choice).

Considerations

Divine Favor will usually acts like a level-1 Bardic Inspiration, but should the relation between the character and the deity be special (e.g. a priest and their god, or someone wearing that god's symbol for moral, ethical and/or philosophical reasons), this might act like an higher level Bardic Inspiration.

Fun Facts about the Divine Favor

Most mortals will pray for favor, and will receive it or not, resulting in some change, or not. It is part of life for the mortals of Krynn. But some mortals have the power to affect things beyond their own person, which means these mortals' prayers also can have the same reality changing effects.

Amusingly, no matter if the prayer is successful or not, it can might attract the deity's attention to the character, and what he's doing (the higher the roll result, the higher the probability).

Also, when the Divine Favor itself is used, it means the deity's attention has definitively been attracted, even if the favor is denied at the last moment (or its effects cancelled).

Please note that Krynn deities are not judgemental over who prays for favors, as long as the favor is related to the deity's divine power. A Knight of Solamnia praying Sargonnas for revenge against the murderer of their family would be as likely as Dragon Highlord to receive that favor, with no strings attached, even should the guilty party be a priest of Sargonnas.

Last, but not least, one doesn't need to explicitly name a deity: A strong wish for something related to a divine favor might be enough to attract the favor of the deity embodying it. (If that happens, the deity usually leaves a sign behind...)

In the end, the character itself will never know if they were successful thanks to the prayer or not: A character might fail to attract a deity's attention, and yet succeed in the task, and then might believe they succeeded through divine help. Such is the nature of the mortal mind.

 

Is that all?

I'm not really happy with each individual principle, because some have overlap (e.g. Instinct and Strife, or Ordeal and Persistence). In some cases, the overlap is welcome, in others, it makes differentiating them difficult.

So, you can expect updates on this post.

Conclusion

Divine power is an awesome way to give Krynn's deities a flavor not found in other worlds/settings, and also to blur the distinctions between pantheons good/balance/evil borders.

The Divine Favor gives their divine power an actual effect from a gameplay perspective. Which, for a character, makes being a faithful, or "atheist" (in the sense of denying the gods the legitimacy of their self-proclaimed rights to affect the life of the mortals) something important.

This might become handy, later...

😉