Character & Deity Guide for Mythic Odysseys of THEROS! | 50 Ideas for when GODS walk the earth! 🏛️☀️

[@Tarotlynx]

I am a big fan of Pharika for my druids. The idea of poison on one hand and medicine on the other makes perfect sense if you understand medicine. Tylenol will kill your pain, but if too much is taken, it will kill your liver as well. Conversely, Coumadin is a deadly poison prized in pest control as a blood thinner. But taken in trace amounts under a doctor's supervision, that same Coumadin becomes lifesaving medical treatment for heart patients like my Mother. Pharika's dual nature makes a lot more sense looked at this way. And for druids, she represents the perfect balance between life and death, flawless neutrality incorrectly listed as neutral/evil (making her the only evil deity who has the Life domain). I played two different druids under Pharika who solved the matter of healing for a price. Half-orc Cinnamon believed that one death paid for one life, and he was a willing poisoner to his enemies, feeling that this allowed him to heal those who were innocent. His leonine friend, Kastienne, holds a different point of view. She doesn't expect a price from her healing, and she doesn't poison people. Instead, she made a bargain with Pharika and pays the price herself in the form of disabling joint pain to the extent she needs a wheelchair. Pharika watches this to see how long Kastienne will keep at it before poisoning someone (and breaking the joint pain curse), while Kastienne believes she can reform Pharika and teach her the true meaning of compassion.

[@AutkastKain]

I love these magic the gathering crossover books, mostly because DND and MTG are my two biggest hobbies. I just can't wait until I can get a group to play in this or Strixhaven eventually! Thanks for the video!

[@TheClericCorner]

Yeah! I don't know as much about mtg, but I think the crossovers were well done!

[@conanmaolcheann5088]

Theros is cool and all but I have a love for the entire ancient world not just Greece. I want a setting that allows for the same kind of greek mythology-style adventure but in a world that also incorporates the Celts, the Germanics/Norse, the Persians, the Egyptians, Rome and Carthage, and beyond!

[@Elgranmentor1]

A tritonid fathomless warlock would be awesome, being Thassa her patron. Also a war forged could be another possibility for a creation of Purphoros himself. Once again, a great contribution for the DND/MTG roleplay community. Greetings from Spain!!

[@TheClericCorner]

Sounds like a character that needs to be played! Haha greetings!

[@Elgranmentor1]

Another excellent background: there are these creatures called Returned, who are those who once died and somehow managed to escape the underoworld at the cost of losing their memories. It’s an excellent background to use the Returned character traits from Ravenloft, alongside the piety to Phenax. Hell! You could even have an Agent of Destiny of Kloths chasing you around without even remember die in the first place!

[@JodeciD]

What a great video. Severely underrated

[@hemmelgarndesigns]

A reflavored hexblood that used to be a human dying from a mortal illness and sought out a coven of Medusas. They saved her by altering her blood, making her the first mortal made Medusa. She is a blood domain cleric (critical role subclass), worships Pharika for her aid in her transformation, and is slowly developing her powers as a Medusa. Clerics have a lot of stone themed spells that would work well for this. Her casting is all about utilizing her unique blood to help or harm others.

[@d4n737]

Huh... Just got an Idea for the Nyxborn Ruoge. Every time you "Stealth", you actually become ethereal. "As I stare both at the mercs surrounding us, my comrades, fallen and beaten, then at my own hands... I never wanted this. Why couldn't I be normal, like the rest of them...? But now... I have no choice... My skin fades to reveal a vast sea of the cosmos, like looking through a window into a sea of stars, just like the books depiction of the gods. Soon my eyes turn into shiny stars and my form blurrs, akin to fog made of the night sky, my cloak flutters and falls to the ground, the owner nowhere to be found." "So.... you ditched us?"

[@1996jgm]

oh my god you have no idea of how much i'm loving you right now for doing this video

[@TheClericCorner]

Lol your welcome!!

[@1996jgm]

@@TheClericCorner i am dming Theros to a newbie playgroup and this vdeo will help me a lot to explain the Gods, merci!!

[@rolancritz1853]

Wooo! So much info here! A lot just have gone into this one!

[@TheClericCorner]

A whole pantheon is no small feat! 😂

[@victorvicg]

Well I got to the end I have to say this is a masterpiece of video for one of my favorite scenario ever. I bite my tong because you talked about the construct power and the correlation with purphoros that I have a highly regard because I played a dragonborn reforged to work in the mountain forge. Awesome video as always!!!!!

[@TheClericCorner]

Thank you!! There's really so much information on the setting! So hard to narrow it all down in a video 😂

[@secondchance5914]

Purphorus and erebos worship for the win! All my homies hate heliod.

[@kuraidoscope]

I like the aspect of the gods as a reflection of their followers belief. Except Kruphix and Klothis of course. It gives Discworld vibes. The next mtg expansion actually shows an alien invasion turning Heliod to their side by infecting the followers. By warping the follower's beliefs they also warped the god. Imagine an Ilithid invasion using this same concept.

[@TheClericCorner]

Dang that's insane! The freaking worldbuilding is incredible

[@kuraidoscope]

@@TheClericCorner Yes they’ve really picked up the lore in the recent expansions. My favorite planes to convert are Theros, Amonkhet and Ixalan. The focus on heroic stories really makes for some good dnd adventures. Theros heroes are about following one’s destiny or defying that fate. Amonkhet is about overcoming trials to ascend (be careful what you wish for you might have to betray a friend or two). Ixalan is your quest for riches, artifacts and hidden treasures with dinosaurs.

[@andrewtuttle9645]

I love the piety system, but there are some areas that show up. With a lot of the buffs and spells you get are pseudo class locked. I'm DMing for a group that has three party members using charisma as a primary ability score. Rules as written they would mostly be restricted to worshipping the three gods that buff charisma. Flavor wise it is a bit strange that they have Klothys, but not Xenagos or the titans Uro or Kroxa puts the setting in the middle of the Theros beyond death set, but not a relevant story released. I think getting some rules for piety for a titan, rules for making a titan, or a piety system for Xenagos would have made a better book. That said I do love the jumping point this system gives for launching a Theros game and the piety system is a great way to handle player rewards.

[@TheClericCorner]

Great points! Would've been nice to have that better fleshed out. Hope you were able to homebrew what you needed!

[@Drudenfusz]

Is it possible to hold piety with more than one deity? I guess not, since too often in the hobby people simply do not understand that polytheism means that people hold multiple deities in high regard,not just one. Would really like to see worldbuilding get that right and not always construct pantheons basically still through a monotheistic lens.

[@victorvicg]

In the setting is sayed that most of people have faith in diverse gods, but you could just choose one as "patron" most of the gods have a rivalry among themselves.

[@victorvicg]

I think is most a mechanical parth this monotheism but in the stories the characters interact and have a lot of polytheism showed. And a DM can accept more than one god if is okay, most of this can worked out.

[@TheClericCorner]

Maybe you can, maybe you can't. But it's DnD, so totally possible either way!

[@jamesrollins6226]

I've always just assumed Henotheism was the base belief structure in most campaigns.

[@matthewsinclair4322]

I would say that in most cases, you only gain piety to one god, but I would say that if you want to serve multiple gods, I would recommend being an oracle, since that gift replaces piety. Canonically, there are some oracles that serve multiple gods. There is an oracle in Meletis, called Eutropia the Twice-Favored, who has visions from Thassa and Nylea. There is also a minotaur oracle in Skophos, called Olakia the Torn, who recieves visions from Ephara as well as Mogis. However, the only oracle confirmed to hear all gods is Daxos of Meletis (although he didn’t hear Klothys because she was still left forgotten in the underworld), who eventually became a demigod in service to Heliod.

[@joaquinandrews2986]

19:47 typo, les go

[@_henzo3259]

Is there a version with the Greek gods instead of these ones ?

[@syaoran5476]

The difficulties lie in of the 15/16 Theran gods, they can take multiple inspirations and apply them to different Theran gods. As mentioned, Keranos is similar to Zeus in the lightning theme, but Heliod who sees himself as king of the gods, is the god of the Home and Family, so you have two inspirations from Zeus' facets and Hera right there. Broadly, however the notable inspirations can be interpreted as such: Ephara: Athena and Apollo Heliod: Helios, Zeus, Hera, Hestia Keranos: Zeus, Athena Thassa: Poseidon/Typhon & Echidna Purphuros: Hephaestus and Prometheus Kruphix: Apollo, Zeus (Judge of the Gods) Erebos: Hades (With some extra Pluto tossed in for flavor), Erebus (Darkness Incarnate) Athreos: Charon the Ferryman Nylea: Artemis Karametra: Demeter, the book even alludes to the dark side of Demeter, Klothys: The Moroi/Fates, Hades, Tartarus Xenagos the Usurper: Dionysus Phenax: Hermes, Sisyphus (cheated death) Mogis: Ares (Slaughter), Deimos, Phobos Iroas: Ares (Glory), Nike Pharika: Hippocrates, Apollo (Apollo is both healer and bearer of plague when cursing), Medusa And these are just nods and allusions I've noticed as an amateur. Apollo and Zeus have a LOT in their portfolios that are applied to multiple of the Theran gods especially due to their popularity throughout time, which I suppose through the power of nyx is mind of meta!

[@syaoran5476]

I forgot Karametra and Heliod are both Gods of Family with Karametra getting a bit of Hera's domains.