How To Create a Pantheon for Your Homebrew DnD or TTRPG World [Ep. 05]

[@matterhorn731]

I feel like "mortals" is the word I'd most commonly use within a game world to refer to humanoids as distinguished from gods, spirits, etc. Obviously there's some fuzziness with elves and warforged and the like, but it feels like a pretty natural term a god or angel or demon might use to refer to all the various races and peoples of the material plane, which could also impact how religious doctrines refer to those races and peoples.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Yep great suggestion. From our actual real life perspective I think we’d have to invent a new word if we wanted a “singular” vs “plural” term cause we just don’t have the need for one lol.

[@alexandersvideopicks8735]

“Mortals” works great, especially if any portion of the residents of your particular world, or civilians of that world are not humanoid in appearance, e.g. snake men, lizard folk, insect people, etc…

[@tabletopalchemy]

This is exactly right

[@tolkienfan1972]

Perfect!

[@tarvoc746]

Philosophically speaking, the terms Mortals or Speakers could both work.

[@EssentialNPC]

I enjoy listening to you. One of my favorite things is that I don't have to be watching the video; I can just listen to it while I do work. Also, we have a similar thought process when it comes to D&D. Cheers!

[@tabletopalchemy]

Awesome, much appreciated and I’m glad you dig the content!

[@lennart_glimpsel]

just from listening to you talking about your catholic background, gender, and humanity this tactfully, and with respect and insight, i already enjoy this content if only for your character. the way you combine how you work creatively with the concrete example of coming up with a pantheon out of nothing is amazing. I feel like you've taught me stuff on 3 different levels that go far beyond writing for d&d or writing in general. i'm gonna watch more of your stuff and recommend you to my friends for sure.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Well I appreciate this, I’m glad you enjoyed it! My topics can get a little wide ranging lol hopefully you find some more you like. 🍻

[@mathmusicandlooks]

The “go with the flow” creativity exercises really help! When creating my pantheon, I had at one point randomly had the thought of a monastic order following the “journey of a thousand mis-steps.” I pulled on that thread and eventually came up with a god whose followers prize proactivity and learning from one’s own experience above all. Their order is very involved with community service, and are often sought ought for advice. They always reflect back to a person what they feel or what they want to hear. No matter if it is good advice or bad advice (and it is very frequently bad advice), either way a person is going to learn from their experiences. What matters is that they make a decision and do something. My players have had a lot of fun with the temple following this god they’ve come across. After being set up, thrown in prison, and busting out, they found a stable belonging to this temple. They met an NPC inside they’d met once before tending to the horses. They all told with with their firmest convictions that they felt like taking the horses for no cost was what they really should do. The NPC about crapped his pants and ended up running away, completely unable to come up with any doctrinal argument against them. 😂

[@tabletopalchemy]

Lol a perfect recipe for true anarchy! Very interesting the whole monastic order! I’m just starting to work on some religious factions for my world and now strange monks will almost certainly be included lol.

[@Saluno375]

This video helped me move past a months-long blockade on how to structure divinity in my setting. Your process is very informative, thank you!

[@tabletopalchemy]

Ah, super glad that helped! 🤙🍻

[@WolfKingAdam]

This was awesome! Really loved the way you presented it. I've had issues coming up with pantheons in the past so having someone break down their process really helped.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Awesome, I’m glad it was worth watching lol, thanks!

[@ItsWindHere]

This video felt like I was having a chat with a really chill professor. I often zone out when watching videos such as this, but you made me really want to rewind enough to get everything you said.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Well that’s pretty cool lol much appreciated! 🍻

[@gopro_audio]

You might love Alignment Languages. It's like a Catholics knowing Latin. Then imagine dialects of Latin that match alignments, and those languages craft magical items. Oppositional alignments seek out and destroy magical items in opposition of a belief such as law, chaos, evil, and good.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Ooh I like this concept a lot! Great stuff, especially the factions destroying each other’s artifacts!

[@shaunhall960]

Nice!

[@mordicai4296]

Keep truckin dude, you’ll get to 100k in no time. Your content is really helpful. Im a UE5 dev making a multiplayer RPG. Your world building content is useful for more than tabletop.

[@mordicai4296]

My only caveat is that us game devs need more inspiration that is platform agnostic (tabletop, d&d, 40k, etc). Better games will be made if we can iron out the core creative philosophies.

[@mordicai4296]

Also, also, Im new to your channel and love your vibe and knowledge but am confused by your labeling of videos. Im a programmer so I think systematically. Grouping information is essential for us devs so we can more easily reference material. Also also also, I love you.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Well thanks! I’m glad you dig some of the content (which is maybe frustratingly wide ranging for a programmer lol - I try to trim on logic but uh well you see how that goes 😂). Super awesome that you work with UE5, from a definite layman’s perspective I see huge possibilities for games coming along! And storytelling!🍻

[@garygallimore4620]

For the pantheon in my game is just took the domain of the god and translated it to latin. Love = Amare, Wealth = Fortuna, Time = Tempus. Keeps it simple and easy to add new gods as needed when they become relevant.

[@tabletopalchemy]

I use this same concept for coming up with names, mashing up different language translations of thematic words! Probly another video topic to explore there!

[@lumagatto1191]

FYI i don't know latin but I am Italian, "amare" means "to love". Idk what it is in Latin, in italian "love" as a noun is said "amore". I am pretty sure in latin "love is said "Amor"

[@lordstronghold7189]

​@@lumagatto1191 Yep amare = to love Amor = love.

[@trassop6448]

Possibly Sapients/Sapience or Sentient/Sentience, that'd include non-player races as well that are intelligent.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Ooh “sapience” is kinda cool! Yeah I like this direction, thank u!

[@trassop6448]

@@tabletopalchemy 👍 Glad I could help! I just found you and I loved the video!

[@tabletopalchemy]

Awesome, glad u liked the vid, much appreciated!

[@EarlYager173]

I would go with The Sapient

[@aaronpapke5240]

When I was recently building my Pantheon I chose to make it deliberately vague, where the individuals more or less spawn the gods through their own sense of being. Emotions made manifest as entities brought into being by the thoughts of people. I didn't realize it then, but this was vague enough and inscrutable enough to allow me to make a deity for any player that needed one that could also grow along with the player. Or have a pre-existing rich and complex history having a lack of details doesn't need to be vague, and having a framework doesn't need to be restrictive. I think the god being connected to cyphers is an absolutely benign and a brilliant idea.

[@tabletopalchemy]

This an excellent approach I love it! Really helps both players and DMs build the world together too, very cool. 🙏🏼🍻

[@adamcgeller4545]

You're really good, man. As a presenter and a speaker. I'd be keen to see your other work.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Well thanks, much appreciated! I’m always petrified of pubic speaking lol. As far as “other work” what are you referring to? I’m happy to point you in the right direction if I can.

[@Shards-of-Narsil]

Wow, not only was that one of the best videos I've ever seen it's also one of the best world building videos I've ever seen. Took a chance and it payed off big. Great vid.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Well thank you very much, I appreciate the kind words and glad you enjoyed it! 🍻

[@hungrymatador213]

I use the term "Namegivers" as a catch-all term for sentient creatures that players can use. This is applied to any type of creatures that are intelligent enough, and conversant enough that they can create and apply 'Names' to things.

[@tabletopalchemy]

I got that as soon as I read “name givers”, very clever!

[@hungrymatador213]

@@tabletopalchemy Well I wish I could claim it 100% but I first ran across it in Earthdawn 1e back in 1993 (Greg Gorden) and never stopped using it. Love the channel man, keep up the great work!

[@tabletopalchemy]

Thank u, much appreciated!

[@grimmtales503]

So hard to make gods that feel... godlike. I am thankful that this video is double-size, it is a big topic. Totally Off Topic (ToT?): it is also enjoyable how connected you are to your audience. Please make a top-ten-tip video on how to connect to your viewer. You come across as a Best Friend - and that's impressive for a guy i will not ever meet.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Hey, you know what they say: never say never lol. Anyway, that’s mighty kind of you! I’m working on a video for next month that kinda brings up personality types and what mine is, so we’ll see how that goes lol.

[@thedoctor6265]

we called them sapiens

[@TranscendStream]

Great episode! Thanks for sharing how you organize your pantheon! There is some serious fun to be had here. 🤩

[@tabletopalchemy]

U should come on the show interview style we could build a trippy pantheon together with all our esoteric conversations lol

[@svlarpstories]

I like the word "Panspirity" as a substitude to Humanity in this world of yours!

[@tabletopalchemy]

That’s a great one! 🤙🏴‍☠️🍻

[@Tempesta]

Working on gods for my campaign and this was extremely helpful. I was starting to get overwhelmed by the standard Pantheon. Definitely need a way to organize the chaos

[@tabletopalchemy]

Hey, organizing chaos might be the thing humans are best at 😂 Happy writing! 🍻

[@moonchock4390]

This man is incredible

[@beastmaster1219]

Good, very inspiring video! A starting point for inspiration I've been using for my pantheon lately is astronomical signs. Because the planetary signs are linked to Roman/Greek deities and because they played a role together with the zodiac signs in alchemy and esotericism, they already have a kind of "mystical" connection that you can build on.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Awesome! I agree the zodiac is a perfect framework to build out on, should work out great 🍻

[@hughdooley3249]

This is amazing and so helpful! Thank you

[@tabletopalchemy]

Awesome glad you enjoyed it! 🍻

[@daneshansigamoney6215]

Man how I have I missed this channel. This is awesome. Thanks for the great content. Just subscribed

[@tabletopalchemy]

Thank you, much appreciated!

[@WintryRPG]

really enjoyed this breakdown! ty youtube for pointing me here :D

[@tabletopalchemy]

Awesome, glad u dug it!

[@BardTender_Coel]

Just seeing this video for the first time and really enjoyed the content! I use Sentients instead of "humanoids," but also use it to encompass the other DND Races that aren't technically under the Humanoid umbrella

[@tabletopalchemy]

Nice, I dig that, it’s closest to what I’m going for too. Glad you liked the vid, much appreciated. I cover some pretty random (tabletop-related) topics lol, I don’t wanna burn out on just one thing 😬🏴‍☠️🍻

[@nicka3697]

I always liked to call them the peoples of the world. Plurals of plurals is neat, and easily understood, even if not grammatically sound.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Valid point!

[@gameraven13]

For my world, I started with the game mechanics and then abstracted it from there and I have really enjoyed creating the pantheon of my world. It is absolutely the part of my world building I am most proud of for sure. I picked 15 clerical domains I wanted present as the prominent forces of the world, assigned each domain to an extraplanar domain like the hells, the abyss, one plane that serves a Sigil, City of Doors stand in that has portals to all the other planes, etc. I then assigned one "prime deity" to each plane, which would be more like your "S Tier" gods and I also gave the different divine ranks names as well, these "S Tier" gods given the title The Paragons, as in my world, they are embodiments of these different domains. They serve as cosmic "batteries" of sorts for this cosmic energy, and, as the word paragon means, they are regarded as the perfect, most pure embodiment of these different facets of this cosmic energy. The tier below them, known as The Exarchs, as the name implies, have power, but are still beneath someone else. They are embodiments of the god they serve + one other domain, each Paragon having a group of Exarchs that form multiple pantheons in the cosmos, and there is an Exarch for each domain pairing, though no duplicates. My god of the sun, who is the Paragon of the light domain, has a pantheon of 6 Exarchs that tie to the common races of my world, human, beastfolk, dwarf, elf, gnome, and orc. I borrowed this idea from the game Divinity: Original Sin II, as it also has "prime deities" of the various fantasy races in its world that play a role in the overall plot of the game. My moon goddess, who is the paragon of the life domain, has a pantheon of 4 Exarchs relating to the phases of the moon and druidic pursuits. The full moon is a god of lycanthropy and circle of the moon druids, the waning moon is a god of rebirth and symbolizes that an end can lead to new beginning and relates to the circle of wildfire, the new moon is a goddess known as The Dreamer and relates to the circle of dreams druid, with the Waxing moon being circle of the shepherd and is a goddess of kinship of sorts (though the actual god of kinship is the light beastfolk deity mentioned prior). There are these multiple pantheons for sure. My World's Archdevil stand-ins are just Exarchs of the death domain in hell, with my Demon Princes stand ins being Exarchs of darkness and night in the abyss. After that, there are also entities known as "Immortals" that serve that more demigod layer of the cosmos between mortal and god. Entities that are either just powerful due to age, like ancient dragons, or something like a great beast of a god's creation / a pet of a god like Uk'otoa, the purple phoenix, and the many eyed worm thing from Season 2 of Critical Role. This is, of course, where I can toss a little nod in for fellow real world mythology nerds, by having like Greek god stand-ins existing in contrast to society much the same way that they do in God of War or the Magic the Gathering plane of Theros. These are the entities that are more likely to strike shadowy deals with mortals and be warlock patrons, as they are not quite powerful enough to just grant their magic and energy to a whole following of clerics, but those supernatural pacts and bargains work just fine. This whole system also influenced my world's magic system, as this cosmic energy is HOW people wield magic, something I borrowed from an anime called Magi Labyrinth of Magic / Magi Kingdom of Magic, and the energy that is used for magic present in that series. It's been really fun being able to describe spellcasting better simply because of the choices I made in pantheon creation for sure. It is definitely a complex, not at all simple system on the surface, I mean there are 15 Paragons and 105 Exarchs, but I think dividing them up into smaller, bite-sized pantheons helps keep it seem simpler than it is. Also, the primary denizens of the world would really only worship and revere the paragons primarily, and even that is cut down to just a few of them since some of the paragons are, after all, figures like my world's stand-in for Asmodeus as king of the hells and what not. Not exactly a socially accepted god to widely worship out in the open. then the Exarchs are more worshipped on a personal / regional level depending on trade, life experience, etc. I really do like the whole "many facets of the same entity" serving as "different" gods though for sure and might potentially toss that in. perhaps The Exarchs are actually just avatars that a paragon summons in order to interact with followers based on who they are. The sun god, for example, could appear as what many know as the human's patron deity / exarch when appearing to a human, whereas a beastfolk seeking guidance from the same deity may get visions of the beastfolk patron deity Exarch, when really they're both facets of the sun god. Definitely something I'll have to think on and see if I like it! Always enjoy videos that get my brain moving about how I could alter/edit what I already have in new, interesting ways.

[@tabletopalchemy]

This is super cool! Really neat. I dig that term Exarch too never thought of that one. Awesome, glad u liked the vid!

[@VelociraptorsOfSkyrim]

Love the video! It really got me thinking again about my own Pantheon. I have two S Tier Gods, representing Light and Darkness. Rather than being Rivals, they're together. Like a Yin and Yang kinda thing. The world cannot exist without one or the other. The God of Light also represents Time. The God of Darkness represents Death. There are a number of gods a tier below, representing certain aspects. You have the Ocean, Nature, Knowledge, Honor, things important to society. Then you have the Lords of Chaos/Demon Lords. They tend to be dark reflections and rivals of the Gods. Honor vs Barbarism Nature vs Disease and illnesses Knowledge vs the Unknown Death vs Murder. A new one i thought of recently: Ocean vs the Void.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Excellent work, very fun! Glad u enjoyed the vid too, thanks!🍻

[@VelociraptorsOfSkyrim]

@@tabletopalchemy Thank _you_ for reawakening some of my creative thoughts. Of a similar vein, like your pantheon, each God is viewed as a different aspect depending on the Sapient worshiping them. All the Elves view the God of Light as a Sun God, but each individual subrace of Elf views them differently. The High Elves view them as a loving mother wishing only the best for their children, where as the Drow view them as an angry tyrant who aggressively punishes those who oppose her will (explaining the Sunlight sensitivity Drow Typically have.)

[@Frederic_S]

The worldbuilding video realy is a blast!

[@tabletopalchemy]

Thank you!

[@misomiso8228]

I really like how Dragonstar handled this; they created a universal pantheon of '12 gods' that all other gods were said to be derivative of. It gave a legitimate universal idea of how to handle Religion in a galactic Empire of many different cultures. They also had an 'underground' or 'alternate' relgion based on Daosim and duality, so PCs had a different option if they didn't like the universality.

[@tabletopalchemy]

This sounds pretty cool, I'll look into Dragonstar, I haven't checked that out before.

[@misomiso8228]

@@tabletopalchemy It's very good. It's a d20 setting from the old days of the OGL. Very interesting concept.

[@eoinmccormack1940]

An interesting video! I made a pantheon for a game world I've been working away on and I approached it from my background in history and languages. I drew a lot from the gaelic mythological cycles and from the stories of invasion cycles in Ireland. I like that they turned out more like the feuding squabbling gods that are seen in old myths but there's always room for improvement so thanks very much for the ideas.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Awesome!

[@jamesscott305]

this was a fascinating look into someones creation process. loved the idea of different aspects to the S Tier gods, especially the Symbol one as MY mind went straight to scribes or ruins! Gnomes and Dwarves (and even wizards). worshipping a god as a symbol and how it runs deep into their society...

[@jamesscott305]

oooh! and a play on the 3 dea. build up from body, mind and soul

[@tabletopalchemy]

That’s a great idea!

[@Slyeyewalker]

I really needed this. I had just decided to make three different gods for each race and didn’t really know how to hash it out until I found your video so thank you. As for what to call collective humanoid species, I would just say intelligent species.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Right on, hope u have fun making cool gods lol! 🍻

[@shaunhall960]

Joseph Campbell comes to mind... If you have the time I would recommend reading two of his books that might help in designing deities and pantheons... The Hero's Journey and The Power of Myth. You can also find him on KZbin talking about how important Myth is in our society. Fantastic video and very in depth! Just followed the link to World Anvil.... Wow, this site is awesome! Thank you for sharing this.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Awesome, thank you! I’m roughly familiar with Campbell and his concepts (as well as some counter philosophies) but I’ve never taken the big dive so to speak. Something to look forward too!

[@MarinaPacowski]

That is just GREAT!! Bravo 🎉!

[@tabletopalchemy]

Thanks lol!

[@helixxharpell]

Young man, why, after the 1000s of RPG-related videos I've watched, your channel is just now showing up on my feed? Nice work! Instant subscribe! 🫡

[@tabletopalchemy]

Lol bless the algorithm! But just FYI ttrpg specific content is only part of what I do on here, so ymmv lol. 🏴‍☠️🍻

[@helixxharpell]

@tabletopalchemy Well, I'm subscribed now so let's see what that dreaded algorithm does! 😉

[@tabletopalchemy]

@helixxharpell lol much appreciated!

[@helixxharpell]

@@tabletopalchemy Please, call me Steve! 🫡 But never call me late for dinner! 😉

[@tabletopalchemy]

@helixxharpell lol copy that!

[@SombraWatEva]

Sentient Races is my go-to

[@NapGod]

I like yout ideas, magick man.

[@scotmcpherson]

I think the word or phrase you probably want to mean is “sentient beings”. Whether they are humanoid shaped or not isn’t so material so long as they are more self aware or even close to becoming self aware.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Yeah this is probably the closest - I really wanted a single word but it may not exist (or has to be smithed lol).

[@scotmcpherson]

@@tabletopalchemy how about Sentients (as opposed to sentience).

[@andrewluchsinger]

I have been in a lot of D and D games when a god or gods were being used. The very best game I was part of was one where there was no god being used. It was all about taking out a evil ruler who was just a bad guy. He needed to be taken out and somebody needed to replace him. Most of us came from some kind of odd background. Radio Announcer and Producer, English Teacher, Mechanic, Karate Instructor and of all things a Chef. Plus a few others of different professions. The DM was a Marine.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Very cool! Playing with a variety of backgrounds I think is always interesting.

[@tyruskarmesin5418]

Maybe “Mortals” or “The Mortal Races”? Or something like “The Peoples”.

[@tabletopalchemy]

“Peoples” is an interesting concept to run with, I like that. I was trying to come up with a singular vs plural term but peoples has a ring to it.

[@nathanvarade5820]

Mortals/ Mortality it’s a fitting name for the sentient races since Divine mortal and Demonic can represent three “layers of existence” to help split everything up.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Yeah I’m liking the stratification!

[@nonya9120]

Geezer here.... Great vid on an often utterly overwhelming subject. Deities, modern and what is often called ancient humans sure seem obsessed with it. No offense to any real world believers, but history shows it often ends up little more than an excuse to commit atrocities. Great game material. At the risk of dating myself here. A question.... Does anyone still allow for characters to "ascend" to "godhood"? Best homebrew pantheons I have come across or had in my own games were always some form of successful adventurers. That said ya got to have something. Not suggesting for example anyone turns their kittens loose with demigods to start. We did that by the way, back about 1978. It was a hooooooot. Gaming on.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Lol agreed! The idea of PCs ascending to godhood does ring an 80s bell for me. It’s definitely something to keep in a DM’s back pocket for sure.

[@nonya9120]

@@tabletopalchemy Geezer again... Stormbringer (after eating Elric) made a great big bad, far scarier than anything else any of my characters encountered, were slaughtered by or ran away from... Then too we ended up with a split personality elf that made it to demigod also. Made visiting the "temple" a real cr_p shoot. All things good to you. Gaming on.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Lol the split personality crap shoot sounds just about perfect!

[@Octa9on]

q.v. Godbound 🥳

[@jshud3]

Speaking of symbols... if you'd like some good rule books to check out... Numenera Discovery and Destiny by Monte Cook Games. Awesome videos by the way!... and know that the little sfx transitions don't go unnoticed! Plus your audio... so easy on the ears! Thank you!

[@tabletopalchemy]

Right on, thanks! I’ve def heard a lot about Numenera but I have yet to read it, it’s on my list lol.

[@frog8220]

@@tabletopalchemy I’ve never played Numenera, but boy does that game have incredible character-sheets! That design sent me down a rabbit hole of character sheet design for RPGs, that’s become my current obsession:)

[@tabletopalchemy]

Character sheet design is super cool! I’m always looking for the simplest graphical way to show information. Not that I’m personally any good at it lol.

[@michaelmullenfiddler]

Lol. "They won't let me out of here" lol

[@AmorinJuan]

Late to the party but I use "people" or "folk" or "mortals" interchangeably. And I also run games in Spanish (my native language), I then use "gentes", "personas" or "mortales", also interchangeably. In my settings very few type of creatures are immortals (mostly deity or demideities, and the classic liches or beholders), so "mortals" works great. "people and peoples" also works great, and folk works when adding to the species name.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Yeah this is great! I like the “mortals” catch-all and I might use the Spanish word, it’s awesome. 🤙🏴‍☠️🍻

[@Peydrous]

The "Sentient" would be a good word to use.

[@renatobfa]

Inteligent creatures

[@Dagg58]

I like the term Sapients, or a derivative there of, even though it's in our own scientific name, it means "thinking". So any denizen species can be referred to as such. You can also add gatekeeping aspects to that term, if so inclined to create inequities in your world that can be used for world flavor, story hooks, or commentary, much like how "white" is used to make in/out groups of political/social power with the line moving to include or exclude those the "higher" species deem "thinking".

[@tabletopalchemy]

Good suggestions!

[@TheyCallMeCarg]

I used your facet concept. Originally there was a single creator entity, Arra, but as the sentient races and cultures, split, fractured, warred, and evolved, the differences in their worship, scripture, and customs became so vast that Arra herself began to develop different personalities that reflected each focused form of worship. Basically it's a single god recognized dozens of different ways by everyone in the game world. Seeing this, various powerful celestial and fiendish entities took advantage of Arra's weakened state and began assuming the identities of all of these facets, and Arra, confused and diluted in her status as she was, was unable to prevent them from doing so. So the gods that the people of my homebrew world worship gods, but they actually receive their power and divinations from imposters that basically committed a deific version of identity theft. Oh, and my division of gods was a little more simple. There is one major deity for every domain in the official published works, plus an additional domain I homebrewed.

[@tabletopalchemy]

This is a great concept! I like the implication that people can influence what their god is or becomes too that’s a great concept to play further with (and resonates with our real world imo lol). The setup of the masquerading entities carries tons of story options too, well done! 🍻

[@dox5520]

In the lore of my world, the collective intelligence in ancient times was referred to as Morta. Humans eventually changed the word to Mortal, and Mortals. However some older beings still use the old terms.

[@tabletopalchemy]

I dig this idea, very cool. Maybe I’ll go with something similar, like “sentia”. 🍻

[@Lucasfenrir]

Hello from brazil. Thats what i came out with, after this video and using the basic dnd pantheon as starting point: i thought 7 (m lucky number) gods was enough for campaign, not too much to bother me as a DM, but also not boring or lacking some "domain" of the world. Then i created 3 females , 3 males and 1 hibrid god. I don't see knowledge and magic as domains, so i skipped it. I like thinking that gods are somehow ambiguous and all have your reasons to be devoted and prayed (Stronger on top) 1-Kindred - God of both life and death, light and darkness, love and hate 2- Mirkul - God of war and vengeance, shame and fear 3- Bahamut - God of bravery and honor, hope and justice 4 - Bhaal - God of criativity, god of laughter and madness 5 - Milora - Godness of the Earth, all animals, plants and plagues 6 - Avandra - Godness of the sky and all the stars, of destiny and time 7 - Mana - Godness of all seas and tempest, godness of the lonely and forgotten

[@tabletopalchemy]

These are great, I like em a lot! A god of loneliness and the forgotten, very cool, lots of flavor there. 🍻

[@Lubapuppy]

I have two thoughts, the first is on your cry for help. I've also always had the same issue. I tend to use the word humanoid to describe upright standing creatures with opposable thumbs; this is a pretty broad umbrella that is only a physical description (in my use). Calling fantasy and sci-fi races 'races' even irks me, technically it makes more sense to use species but even that's arguable. My 2nd thought is about the 'morally grey' gods. I've always appreciated moral and ethical nuance and perspective. For both thoughts I'm brought back to the most formative video game of my adolescence; Star Wars Knights of the old Republic 2: The Sith Lords. I'm not going to rob anyone of the pleasure of this game (which is actually playable on PC thanks to the restored content mod). But suffice to say that 'grey' morality and philosophy is an enormous theme which scratches an amazing itch when applied to star wars with its usual light and dark dichotomy. In reference to the 'humanoid' conundrum, KOTOR II also gracefully handed me something for that! They never explicitly call humans humans in star wars, but we all kind of 'know' they're humans; actors are humans and so the budget demands humans be in your setting. And in universe when someone at the cantina wanted to remark that I was one of the few 'humans' around the called me a 'sapient'. Sapient is the perfect word for describing thinking species because 'sentient' describes qualities that also apply to animals and beasts. It's a bit bookish, but I think it works for both Sci-fi and Fantasy.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Interesting! Yeah, I like “sapience” or “sapients”.

[@michaelmullenfiddler]

You really should check the world of Harn. The gods of Harn are very well developed

[@tabletopalchemy]

I will do so, thanks!

[@YodasTinyLightsaber]

I use 'mortal' in the World that I am building. I have also seen 'sentient' used in fantasy settings that are more scientific than Medieval/Renaissance Europe.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Yep keeping it simple is probably best 🤙🍻

[@michaelmullenfiddler]

The whole "triune god" thing can easily be looked ar as a form of polytheism: so, is that one God, or three? Interesting, the thing about a deity having various descriptions, varied aspects, a multiplex of motivations, realms of power, and commandments, because they are essentially reflections of the humans who worship them.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Good points yup!

[@bregalenonodrim543]

As a replacement for the word Humanoid you should consider Sophont. It is used in sci-fi to refer to any sentient being, and thus includes many creatures the word Humanoid excludes, like Centaurs and Dragons. Also, it is a generic term carrying no species-centric connotation.

[@tabletopalchemy]

I like the sound of this word, it’s got a ring to it. Honestly I specifically want a replacement for “humanity” but that may not be possible lol.

[@Nalfordus]

could use a vague generic term that still leaves room for more options. "most cultures" could work.

[@dreadqueenmaeve]

I tend to refer to the various races of my games as “mortalkind” and it works because there are no immortal races in my worlds.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Oh “mortalkind” is one of the best ones I’ve seen! That’s very cool. 🍻

[@meatKog]

Perhaps your symbol should be a 90 degree turned Scalene Triangles, with white at the top, grey in the middle and black at the bottom.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Ah, like for a sect that worships the “whole”, interesting🍻

[@GGLumberjack]

Sapient(s) would be a good one to describe humanoids

[@tabletopalchemy]

Yeah I’m leaning towards that one. 🤙🍻

[@garryhorvath2648]

SENTIENTS. There's a word for beings in the grey area.

[@therealdoomsage]

"certainly; it's going to work better than mine." You... have either extraordinary luck when it comes to your day to day social interactions, or you have exceedingly few of them. ;)

[@tabletopalchemy]

Might be a bit of both lol.

[@sirnukesalot24]

How about "the capable races"? Capability implies enough sentience or sapience to competently shape their immediate circumstances and surroundings, while also implying the limit that you're only referring to those peoples within the scope of the material plane. There are all sorts of fun and realistic ways this could erupt into conflict, including arguments about who is more capable and who isn't capable enough. You could even have a well known cautionary children's tale about the fatal fool who thought goblins weren't capable at all, before being subdued by an ambush where he gets his face ripped off! There can even be an idiom said when someone is about to step in it, "the fatal fool is faceless tonight"

[@tabletopalchemy]

Oh very nice! I like that idiom too very “world flavorful”!

[@TheMichaellathrop]

Sapiency might be a good word for what your intending, especially if not all your intelligent races are humanoid... or even animals. Two good resources for this kind of stuff are a pair of second ed dnd books the complete priest and the catacomb builders guide. Lastly it could be fun to make a worlds "devil" it's original heroic godking, take a stand in for Marduc of the 60 names who slew primordial chaos to create the world, but then take a Morkockian view of chaos and order and go the other direction from Warhammer which has written out the lords of order and instead of fighting against warping chaotic mutation there is a calcifying crystalizing force of overwhelming order.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Oh I haven’t heard of the catacomb builders book that sounds interesting! Yeah great ideas here!

[@TheMichaellathrop]

@@tabletopalchemy catacomb builders guide; the first half is nothing special just a tool for making cave and catacomb dungeons... but the second half weirdly has one of the best world building tools in any dnd book of any edition.

[@tabletopalchemy]

I gotta track this down then, curiosity has been piqued lol

[@Stoat2319]

Person is the word I use

[@eddietowers5595]

I just ran into this channel and found your videos interesting, if I may, Dude! you’re far from having a face for radio, lol, you look like you could be related to actor Paul Gleeson, Principal of “Breakfast Club” fame, brother, son….? The options are endless! Awesome channel. Very Informative, your video look as though they’re of masterclass scenes, specially in the way you convey your subject.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Breakfast Club - one of top ten favorite movies of all time! Thank you very much, much appreciated!

[@rangleme]

For an alternative to "HUMANITY", I've always like "FOLK" - includes any sentient or anthropomorphic beings.

[@ZestonN]

Elder Scrolls uses Man, Mer, Beast-Folk, Aedra (High Entities), and Daedra (Low Entities). Even within the World of Elder Scrolls, Who Is What is Debatable. Including a Conundrum like that, would enliven your World. :)

[@tabletopalchemy]

Yeah that’s a good one! 🏴‍☠️

[@helixxharpell]

What if a TTRPG world setting was based on the "zoo hypothesis"? Where the gods (beings of a higher level of consciousness) were invited to repopulate a world that was decimated by a cataclysm by the only god that remained? And the governments that evolved on that world were all theocracies? How long would those theocracies last before being overthrown? That's the premise behind our new Kickstarter campaign entitled, "Khor The World of Many Portals." Kickstarter campaign in 2025. Look for it!

[@tabletopalchemy]

Awesome! I will make a note to check it out, and best of luck with it!

[@helixxharpell]

@@tabletopalchemy Thank you! We're hoping to hook up with content creators out there to help further their channels as well. A strong community prevents big corporations from dominating the algorithm. 🫡😉

[@rafaelcastor2089]

After you put your first thing in the paper i immediately thought you were making Lil Jon a god. Either him or the fine girl he was talking about

[@tabletopalchemy]

Lol

[@samuelkeding910]

Sentient life?

[@michaelmccall2687]

I've used either People or Folk a lot.

[@tabletopalchemy]

People is definitely a good one, I just really want a replacement for “humanity” lol but it may not exist.

[@michaelmccall2687]

@@tabletopalchemy I think replacing "humanity" directly is a chore. Sapients or sophonts are okay, but they aren't very fantasy-sounding.

[@tabletopalchemy]

sophonts is interesting!

[@Winter420]

Sapient is the term used in traveller to refer to anyone of human-like intelligence of ant race

[@tabletopalchemy]

Yes I like this one too.🍻

[@HelicopterShark]

Word to replace Humanoid.... "Materian" My suggestion for a word to either replace the typical "humanoid" creature type or be another type to refer to a collective of races of DND. Now it's actually very obvious and I'm trying to convince myself that it's to simple but honestly I think it only needs to be used to make sense. So you think of people from a country as a label that plays on the name of the county. It's not so much just the location they live but something used to describe what they have in common with others who share the title that other who don't go by the title do NOT share. An Australian living in America is still an Australian and you get the picture. I didn't have to explain they have some form of citizenship of Australia, you understand that from the use of the word. In comes my word that describes most of these creatures by an origin point they have a strong connection to... the "Material Plane" Just like Pixies and Satyrs are different races but can be collectively called Fey for their connection to the Feywild. Materian is both singular and generic plural although in some cases it can feel natural to add an "s" suffix for plural. That Materian Man, The Materian People, Those Materian. Why base it on Material Plane? Because other broad creature types can often be associated with a plane even if they can differ within that category, Celestrial, Demon, Devil. With Monstrosity being "other" or "Eldrict" in nature

[@tabletopalchemy]

Ah very interesting, I like this use of the planes. Pretty cool!

[@davidmorgan6896]

I went for a similar cosmology to Light/Dark. There is The Source and there is The Void. The Material is the infinite boundary between these two fundamental opposites and protects each from the other. Life exists in The Material. The Gods are holes in The Material through to The Source and they appear as the suns in the sky. Such is the power of The Source that these rends in the fabric of nature are hugely intelligent cosmic entities and, despite their lack of interest in humanity, they are seen as divine. There may be holes to The Void, but humans are creatures of Light and cannot perceive them. Others might.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Ooh this is nice! Very cool!

[@davidmorgan6896]

@@tabletopalchemy Thanks. As I'm on a roll: there are three Celestial gods in the sky, but there is also a god at the heart of the world. She has been imprisoned in matter by the other gods and has created life as part of her attempt to escape. Civilization is the celestial gods doing, as they suborn humanity's attempts to live with nature. The meta idea here was that players might naturally align with the Earth Goddess, but if she wins and breaks free then all life ends.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Perfect conundrum to put humanity in lol! Very cool!

[@geoffchurchill5492]

maybe because intelligence is the defining factor, go with sentient beingsperhaps?

[@tabletopalchemy]

Yep this probly about as close as I can get 🍻

[@SecretSquirrelFun]

Physicalness. Physicality. Physicalist.

[@tabletopalchemy]

A physicalist sounds like a new character class! I might use that lol.

[@malcolmgriffin5079]

folkdom is a word i use for groups of people

[@tabletopalchemy]

Oh that’s a nice one 🤙🍻

[@jamestaylor3805]

Latest homebrew "pantheon". The official pantheon(organization made by people) recognizes hundreds of gods for worship even though very very few have ever been confirmed to exist. The real power is beyond these paltry gods, and is held by The Fabric. The rules of existence woven through all things. But, a major event ruptured this universal constant, letting loose unimaginable energy and chaos which has coalesced into the Three Aspects, nearly anthropomorphized godlike beings that are connected yet separate. One aspect looks to repair the rupture potentially ending the existence of the three. One seeks to study the rupture and learn how to further the universal power of The Fabric. One seeks to find peace with current paradigm and let life continue as is. One very physics based "true diety" that doesn't get involved and isn't an "entity" or even "exist" persay that has three very real physical beings within it now. All of the minor gods are in turnoil trying to figure out how they fit in now. Ill accept any idea fo a Godling that a player wants to introduce to this world. Will likely just say some version of every god identified in any campaign setting has some followers here.

[@tabletopalchemy]

This is pretty cool! A cleric calling on their godling is unwittingly drawing power from one of the three Aspects?

[@jamestaylor3805]

@@tabletopalchemy the vast majority.

[@masterroshi1015]

Bi-pedal ,collective hierarchical command structure with dilutions of grandeur? Robbed and apated from the TNG episode "The Nth Degree" featuring Lieutenant Barclay lol

[@tabletopalchemy]

Lol - Best. Suggestion. Yet. 😂

[@foxtoxic9722]

Subbed. Thank you this was great. I'll be back for more later. 👈🙂 See ya.

[@thunderbird909]

I usually use people or peoples when talking about all the “sentient” (playable) races, and if I’m talking about humans I just say humans.

[@brutal6653]

I think a great term better than Humanoid would be Races. It's simple however, then there's war forge and centaurs but they can be easily put in their own category like Mythical Beasts and Constructs. This term may be flat, but it's simple.

[@brutal6653]

you could also use Racial for describing stuff like "Racial Personality", like I said it sounds ridiculous.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Yeah! It’s a tough one for sure. “Races” vs “humankind” … I think I’m struggling to find a singular descriptor vs a plural one but it may not be possible lol. I’m gonna look into some possibilities with races as a starting point. 🏴‍☠️

[@joven_drawsart]

Anthropormorphic is a good word, it's still to an extent human centric but I usually use it in a sense of a crature that holds great intelegience or presents with inteligent/social behaviors such as wearing clothes, talking or walking up right

[@joven_drawsart]

So the greyzone of athro creatures or anthropity(an-thraw-pih-tee

[@tabletopalchemy]

Anthropity - good one!

[@shadeofnod]

Try sentient life/ sentients instead of humanoid. The ability to worship comes from/ is linked to the ability to reason

[@tabletopalchemy]

That’s an interesting concept! Worshippers vs heathens lol (I know it’s not that). Yeah u got my mind spinning with that one 🍻

[@tristansuarez-perez2346]

A bit late but a word that may fit is gestalt

[@tabletopalchemy]

Ooh that’s a good one! Thanks!

[@dirtywhitellama]

"Anthropomorphity" doesn't do what you want either, anthro = man, morph = shaped, it's basically the same as humanoid. You could go various ways with it in the religious context with things like souled beings or something like that perhaps.

[@tabletopalchemy]

It is not easy coming up with a new word that works right when we just don’t have that category (and don’t need it lol).

[@dirtywhitellama]

@@tabletopalchemy yeah, inconvenient that, not needing words for nonhuman intelligent beings in day to day life xD or I should say, a collective word for human and non human!

[@Mac_Laoch]

The collective intelligence could just be called " Sentience" or "sentient life"

[@TheCmachine2005]

In contrast with the human centric term "humanoid", you may collectively refer to all combinations of races and all genders together as "Organic Meat Sacks with Sentience"

[@tabletopalchemy]

OMSS! Pretty perfect lol. But what about … sentient plants …? OMSSS - Organic Meat Sacks and Salads with Sentience 😂

[@shaneokeigan6150]

I tend to use “person” or “people” for referring to all sentient races. An awakened animal is sentient but not humanoid, but I would still call them a person.

[@tabletopalchemy]

I dig that for sure. “Peoples” might be the way to go.

[@trollsmyth]

A word for sentient beings can be "sophonts," but that doesn't imply two arms and two legs, so maybe you want something more constrained?

[@tabletopalchemy]

Ooh I’ll look into that word, that one’s new to me. Thanks! I mean, not all intelligent races would be bipedal necessarily 🏴‍☠️

[@therealdoomsage]

Sapient Species, or 'sapients' (pronounced the same as sapience). Unless you want your animals to have their own gods too, in which case sentient species. Also, speaking of alliteration; S-S-S-Subscribed.

[@tabletopalchemy]

Lol love that alliteration. 🍻

[@garyjenson8262]

Denizens?

[@tabletopalchemy]

Definitely could work!

[@danielsanders7538]

"sentient beings"

[@philipmeade7789]

Inventing pantheons, a human pastime since 30,000 BC

[@tabletopalchemy]

Hear hear! Lol 🍻

[@kelpiekit4002]

'Sapients' works well for covering all life of complex intelligence since some may be distinctly non-humanoid. I like divinity being complex and messy. Some will believe in humanoid gods or a single perfect god. Others may believe in animistic forces or non-sentient animalistic gods. Others may see gods as powerful beings within the world or reincarnated souls. Others may believe nothing is actually divine but philosophy can channel power. I think a good thing from real life that could be brought into more games is doubt and uncertainty. Your clerics should have faith rather than knowledge. Throw in those inconsistent myths, fundamental contradictions, and annoyingly inconclusive interactions. Give them sufficient reason to doubt the morality, power, and existence of their god or similar figure. It makes the faith of their cleric or paladin so much more meaningful and irrational rather than simply a choice between known powers.

[@tabletopalchemy]

This is fantastic advice!! I love the idea of “testing faith” 100%! This is inspiring another video lol.

[@kelpiekit4002]

@@tabletopalchemy Well then. I'd better subscribe to see it.

[@brakazar76]

Try sentient beings.

[@Joulederschreckliche]

I don't know if my solution is stupid or smart. Basically I call them humans, BUT I don't have any humans as a playable race. So human becomes an umbrella term by default. Of course that has the consequence that anyone who wants to play white, round eared "normal" person is now out of luck but that can be mitigated by the other 3billion other races plus mixed heritage

[@tabletopalchemy]

It’s right if it works for you, for sure. I dig that concept of a no-human human world, that’s gotta be fun to play in 👍

[@davidmorgan6896]

I went for the opposite - there are only humans. Well, there is another intelligent species, but they are very different and not available as PCs.

[@tabletopalchemy]

I know someone else who does that too, I find it interesting! Is your game/world more low fantasy vs “high” fantasy? Or sci-fi?

[@rasplundjr]

Collective intelligence - Sapience?

[@tabletopalchemy]

That seems to be the most popular suggestion!