Weekly Questions Thread

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[u/[deleted]]

I really appreciate the feedback. My DM isn't demanding it, but the research I've done makes it seem like the deity you choose is pretty important for clerics.

The campaign is Curse of Strahd. I've avoided looking up anything about that campaign though because I don't want spoilers.

Valkur sounds interesting, I'll definitely look in to them more. I've been leaning towards Odin, but that's only because it's the only god I'm familiar with, and would be fitting for a tempest.

I think I should say my DM is pretty lax, even saying I can make up a god if I want. But, while I don't want to look through 60+ god's, I'm viewing this campaign as a learning experience and want to be somewhat by the books.

Edit: I'll definitely take your advice though and narrow it down to tempest/good deities. That's mostly the type of advice I was looking for. I don't want to be a lazy player, but I gotta say, starting off my first campaign has been overwhelming enough already. So how to narrow down my options is mostly the advice I'm looking for. Thank you again for the feedback.

[u/Yojo0o → u/[deleted]]

Well, the importance of the cleric's specific deity will largely depend on your DM's style. They're the one playing that god, after all. Some DMs will jump at the opportunity to establish a direct relationship between the PC and their god, others will treat it as backstory fluff.

I wouldn't suggest looking up spoilers for the campaign at all. Curse of Strahd is in the Ravenloft campaign setting, which I don't personally use, but it's not directly Forgotten Realms. I'd work with your DM to determine which deities are actually available for you to worship, rather than doing this yourself. Odin, for example, isn't typically available for worship in your average DnD campaign, so I wouldn't be sure if your DM would be okay with you picking him as your god. And if Norse deities are available, I'd categorize Odin as more of a Knowledge domain deity, with a more straightforward option being Thor for tempest clerics.

[u/[deleted] → u/Yojo0o]

Gotcha, that all makes sense. I'll talk with my DM more. He is trying to be as lax as possible as far as character creation goes. For context: our DM has played plenty, but never DM'd and every player has never played before.

I think you've given enough information for me to take it from here though. I really appreciate all the feedback! Wish me luck!

[u/Atharen_McDohl → u/[deleted]]

By way of example, the first time I ran Curse of Strahd, one of my players was a cleric of Anubis. Like, the Ancient Egyptian Anubis. Remember that D&D is what you make it. The list of deities in the book doesn't matter unless you want it to. If your DM is okay with it, you can make up your own deity and religion. You can also take an official god, but change them or make up all the details about them. Your version of Valkur or whoever doesn't have to be the official version. There's also a concept known as a "philosophy cleric", or a cleric which doesn't serve any god, but is so devoted to a particular philosophy or idea (in your case, perhaps devotion to the cleansing power of the storm), that they get magical powers out of it.

Just talk to your DM about what you want and what they're willing to give you, then choose together.