In the latest spelljammer sourcebook, those characters with a background as Astral Drifters
have a table they can roll on to determine which divine being they had an encounter with,
but they don't provide any details as to who these gods are, so, here is a quick expansion
on that information for those who would like to know more.
I will list them in the order they appear on the table and time stamps in the video
description can be used to simply skip to the specific god you wish to know more about
immediately.
On the table most of the gods are of Intermediate level, which means they are one rank below
that of a Greater god and have at least hundreds of thousands of worshippers.
Anyway, let's get started.
1 Corellon, god of art and magic (chaotic good).
James M. Ward created Corellon Larethian for the sourcebook 'Deities & Demigods' published
in 1980.
Ruler of Arvandor, first of the Seldarine pantheon and creator of the elves, Corellon
Larethian is a greater god and has enormous powers of perception, able to perceive of
and operate in multiple locations on multiple planes of existence at once, and able to manifest
lesser physical forms in order to operate in the prime material plane without disrupting
reality and destroying the minds of any worlds and life forms he interacts with.
Most often found manifesting on the outer plane of Arborea.
As a greater god, Corellon has supreme powers over his portfolios of Art and Magic, which
means Corellon can simply overrule any activity within those portfolios attempted by any lesser
being and will be fully aware of any acts of creation or destruction involving any aspect
of those portfolios on any plane of existence that Corellon is active in.
Corellon has no biological sex but is referred to by the elves as their Father, thus he is
always referred to in the male pronouns of He/Him even if he chooses to manifest in a
female form his normal appearance is that of an exceptionally beautiful androgynous
male elf.
While Corellon is a force for good generally, and most elves believe that he represents
the perfect state of elfdom, he does approve of the slaughter of Orcs and Drow, and is
angered by any elf who makes use of the Shadow weave form of magic, he also has a long list
of enemies and has been complicit in historic acts of attempted genocide and mass murder
by the elven race.
As of 1379 DR, a High Magic ritual performed by Q'arlynd Melarn transformed hundreds among
those drow who were not tainted by Wendonai's blood (spoiler alert, most drow are descended
from Dark Elven Tieflings) or who followed Eilistraee back into dark elves, and Corellon
thus permitted the souls of the newly transformed dark elves to enter his domain in Arvandor.
Paving a path of reconciliation, finally, for their race, originally in the court of
the seldarine, the dark elves were considered to be the most beautiful of the elven subraces
and their goddess who later became lolth was Corellon's wife.
Corellon is a master of all traditional elven martial arts, he carries a longsword named
Sahadrian, a longbow named Amlath'hana (with perfect accuracy over a mile) a powerful amulet
of good and a wand of exceptional power.
He is immune to everything that inhibits his ability to move, causes wounds, or tampers
with his mind, as well as to all illusion spells and it is normally impossible to hurt
any of his physical forms without a magic weapon of at least +3 enchantment.
2 Tymora, god of good fortune (chaotic good).
Mostly associated with the planet Toril in Realmspace for the Forgotten Realms setting,
Tymora is both a goddess of the Halfling pantheon and also a general goddess of the portfolio
of good fortune and trickery worshipped by most other races in one way or another, but,
she is actually the second incarnation of the luck goddess, after an event where the
greater god Lathander attempted to reshape the faerun pantheon more in his own image,
which destroyed or transmuted several gods at that time, leading to it being known as
the Dawn Cataclysm, but it is poorly understood exactly what happened and how the original
luck goddess named Tyche died and became both Tymora and her evil counterpart named Beshaba,
goddess of misfortune.
Both Tymora and Beshaba are intermediary deities.
Not known to physically manifest all that often, Tymora typically manifests an avatar
that appears as a tall, thin, almost boyish, yet graceful maiden with long, flowing, unbound,
platinum blond or silver hair, a regal face and blue-black eyes, but when manifesting
for a specific race, she always appears as a member of that race.
To the halflings, there is nothing particularly unified or consistent in their worship of
this goddess, even down to the name they call her, so Tymora is more like a category of
deity of good fortune, despite all of that worship ending up empowering the one goddess
in practical effect.
Tymora noticeably has a total lack of malice or vengeance in her heart, as she is literally
the better half of Tyche, full of good cheer, grace and kindness, she is particularly adventurous
and an encounter with one of her avatars is bound to be very exciting indeed, also, she
is known to be very generous with her divine powers, so recieving a boon from a pleased
Tymora is much more certain than with other gods.
Scholars of the outer planes (notably the Rilmani) claim that as no body of Tyche can
be found in the regions of dead gods in the astral plane, Tymora is still actually Tyche,
but she learned how to manifest as twin deities instead of dying.
3 Fharlanghn, god of horizons and travel (neutral good).
A well-known deity on the world of Oerth for the Greyhawk setting, Fharlanghn manifests
most often as an elderly man, weathered from a life outdoors but with intense green eyes
that sparkle with life.
He wears unremarkable clothing and is very in tune with the prime material plane, where
he spends most of his time.
Fharlanghn is the patron of all those who travel long distances so, if an Astral wanderer
has encountered him along the way, being on such a journey automatically will put you
in this god's good graces.
The faith of Fharlanghn includes a library of folk tales and fables which contain lessons,
many of them involve a wise old man and a foolish young man, often crossing a river
or other difficult path, as such, encounters with this god can be very beneficial to those
who are lost, stranded or imprisoned somehow in the midst of their intended journey.
4 Istus, god of fate and destiny (neutral).
Another deity of the world of Oerth for the Greyhawk setting, the goddess of fate is callous
and often unkind, with worshippers and clerics tending to be more stoic, cynical and less
inclined to ask their goddess for any favours, instead often relying on divination magic
to discern what fate will bring.
As a greater goddess, Istus has enormous powers of perception and can operate on multiple
locations on multiple planes of existence at once and she controls the portfolios of
Fate and Destiny that are shared by many intermediary and lesser deities, so Hecate, who also appears
on the random divine encounter table as well would have to bow to the authority of Istus
in regard to anything governed by the Knowledge domain.
Istus is very aloof and really only concerns herself with the fate of the multiverse, not
the lives of other beings, she also has a lot to do with the mysterious realms within
the deep ethereal and also the Demiplane of Time.
The very concept of a weave of magical energy is taken to extremes in the dogma of Istus,
where all of reality is said to be connected by the web of fate and there are deeper, far
more fundamental layers than the fleeting flows of magic and the elements.
Istus favors those who accept their fate with humility and hold honesty to be sacred.
An encounter with Istus is very unpredictable, it could be just observing an avatar of the
goddess involved in some activity that is completely unfathomable, or the keen attention
of the goddess could be upon you due to some critical cosmic events that you know nothing
about, resulting in you being transformed or transported instantly and for reasons that
you are not privy to know about.
5 Nuada, god of war and warriors (neutral).
This one is a bit of an odd choice, as Nuada is a figure from Irish mythology with some
basis in historic events that have been confirmed with physical evidence, but, there is a lot
of overlap between Nuada of the silver arm, the British deity Nodens, the Roman deity
Mars, the welsh deity Lludd of the silver hand and the Norse deity Tyr, who is also
a deity of the Forgotten Realms setting, so you can just use the stats and lore for Tyr
if you so desire.
Nuada was the mortal king of the mystical Irish ancestors called the Tuatha Dé Danann
who are equivalent to an Irish pantheon, there are many myths of the battles between the
pantheon and the pre-existing inhabitants of Ireland, the Fomorians, including Balor
of the One Eye, and the people of Nemed and the Fir Bolg, ancient celtic mythology is
a pretty wild read on Wikipedia and is a great source of inspiration for epic Dungeons & Dragons
adventures.
Nuada's sword is a classic artifact, one of the four treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann,
it's name is Finias, it glows brightly and once drawn, nobody escapes from it or can
resist it.
An encounter with Nuada is a step into the wild and unpredictable legends of Celtic folklore,
so expect heavy involvement with the fey realm and some of the most powerful forces of light
and dark in the realms of dream and fable, the very heart of parallel dimensions where
imagination itself becomes manifest into reality.
6 Zivilyn, god of wisdom (neutral).
Is a major god of the Dragonlance campaign setting, so the origin is Krynnspace and the
planet Krynn.
To quote from a dragonlance wiki page, "Zivilyn is deity of wisdom, enlightenment, and insight.
His realm is awareness, balance, and understanding.
His branches reach into every time and place in the River of Time, into the past and into
the future.
He exists in all times and places simultaneously and is wisest of the gods.
Zivilyn was called from the Beyond by the High God to serve as counsellor to Gilean,
to give insight to his mate Chislev’s instinct, and to bear witness to the world and share
this divine experience with mortals.
Zivilyn opposes the consuming hatred by deities such as Sargonnas and Takhisis, and the martial
ambition of Kiri-Jolith, but calls no god his enemy.
Many believe that The World Tree is the physical manifestation of Zivilyn, upon the world of
Krynn.
An encounter with an aspect of this powerful god could seem like a visit to the world tree
Ygdrassil, but of course, far more fantastic, as time and space could be wildly distorted
and actually take a wanderer forward or backward in time, to locations right across the whole
prime material plane, so the avatar is like a living and enormously aware planar nexus
and a repository of vast knowledge of historic, distant and future events.
A sage basically.
7 Arawn, god of life and death (neutral evil).
"Long is the day and long is the night, and long is the waiting of Arawn" Arawn is a god
from Welsh folklore, and if you thought norse gods got up to some adventures, the legendary
kings of celtic myth were constantly up to crazy capers, and their folklore has loads
of tall tales similar to the legendary feats of figures like Thor, Maui and Herakles who
all embodied the best virtues and most admirable traits of manhood according to the cultures
they sprang from, so there folktales and deeds were the foundation for teaching ethics, morals,
wisdom and sneaky tricks to children, while providing entertaining yarns to tell around
the fire on long nights in the common house.
In Arthurian legend, the tales of the Green Knight and Sir Gawain mirror the legends of
Arawn and Pwyll Pen Annwn, lord of Dyfed and husband of Rhiannon, whose tales make up the
first branch of the four branches of the Mabinogi mythology.
Welsh folklore was influenced by the culture of the ancient Roman empire in Britain, so,
again, lots of parallels and lots of great legends to draw on for inspiration, but an
encounter with this god is again going to be heavily influenced by the Fey and the Shadowfell,
primal power and some very cool ancient artifacts, as well as giant mystical pigs.
For inspiration I would go and binge read all the Slaine comics from Rebellion comics,
published around 20 something years ago, but wow, very good reading and stunning art, pure
dungeon master imagination fuel that stuff!
8 Hecate, god of magic and moons (chaotic evil).
In Dungeons & Dragons Hecate (Hek-ah-tee) is an interloper of abundance, magic, and
moons that originated from ancient Greece but left that place long ago to become a power
in the multiverse.
Her original form was that of a three-headed, extremely attractive woman with scarlet nails
and clothing, milk-white skin and eyes that burned like embers, her hair is always dark
and lustrous in her various avatar forms.
Widely regarded for her cutting wit and great eloquence, she is a goddess of abundance,
magic, the moon, night and crossroads, with an irrepressible and capricious nature, but,
she embodies the ideal of abundance without waste, so is not needlessly hedonistic, and
yet, she usually appears with twin spheres of annihilation flanking her like the multiverses
most scary guard dogs.
She is unusual among deities in that she has divine realms on two different planes of existence,
one located in Hades on the layer of Pluton, the other in the Nine Hells of Baator on the
layer of Minauros, but both of her realms have the same name.
She is a bit of a power hungry mercenary, always wheeling and dealing, selling her evil
magical inventions to infernal powers in exchange for fresh souls to power her infernal machines
in Minauros, but she is fickle and may get involved with some mortal adventurers just
on a random whim because she is bored.
As a historic example of how an encounter with mortals plays out occurred in approximately
1357 DR, Hecate grew infatuated with the deity Enki, but at the time he was in a relationship
with the Faerûnian deity Lliira.
Unwilling to let this get in her way, she cursed Lliira so that she could return no
man's love and imprisoned her in a "Pleasure Palace" called Zannibar on an unnamed world.
Hecate eventually lost the feelings she felt for Enki, but neglected to remove the curse
she had placed upon Lliira, because she is selfish and evil.
Later that same year she sent her jester out to the World Serpent Inn to acquire some suitable
adventurers to obtain her a hound from the Wild Hunt, wanting to crossbreed it with her
hell hounds.
As the adventurers were guided through the planes by the jester and got caught up in
other transactions they learned of Lliira's fate.
They went on to free the goddess from her imprisonment, offering the captured hound
to Hecate in return for her removing the curse.
9 Celestian, god of stars and wanderers (neutral).
Another Greyhawk setting deity, Celestian is a legit cosmic Wanderer though, so can
be encountered anywhere.
He is one of the few powers worshipped on the Rock of Bral where he is also referred
to as the Star Wanderer.
Rarely manifesting in physical form, his appearance would be that of a humanoid who looks like
space, all black and full of stars, probably carrying a magic short spear, but he is known
to have a lot of different weapon types and he has potent powers gathered from all those
star entities your spooky warlock gets their creepy spells from, so, not to be messed with.
He is very powerful on the astral plane itself, all of its realms, its colour pools, its epic
secrets, its lost gods are known to him and many astral residents believe that all good
deities relate to the stars as aspects of Celestian, no matter over which worlds they
held sway, so for them, Celestian is a sort of a god mentor, not an overgod, but certainly
one that has a lot of influence with a lot of different pantheons and a very good relationship
with a LOT of different divine beings even if his odd habits and interests keep him constantly
on the move, seeking new experiences, new vistas, new realities.
Celestian encounters will probably involve encounters with Astral Devas and other astral
powers such as Anubis.
On the world of Toril, Celestian played a significant role in the Time of Troubles recently
by agreeing to transport (a now mortal) Waukeen from Toril to the Astral Plane so that the
overgod Ao would not discover her leaving.
(Her plan was to make her way from there back to the Outlands, but because of the machinations
of Graz'zt, she was instead trapped in the Abyss for many years.)
Celestian had owed her a favor, which was why he agreed to her plan, but he refused
to also transport her ally Lliira, whom he did not know.
Initially, the worshipers of Ptah, the final god on this random roll table and also worshipped
by many astral travellers, greatly outnumbered those of Celestian.
However, towards the end of the 13th century DR, though Greyspace itself was said to be
"dying", Celestian was beginning to gain so many new worshipers among the various planes
of existence that some scholars postulated that he might soon be elevated to the power
of a greater deity.
Perhaps an encounter with him could involve his coming ascension and attempts by evil
beings to thwart it somehow.
10 Ptah, god of knowledge and secrets (lawful neutral).
Ptah Truly has a place on this table as a god of planar travel, known also as the Opener
of the Ways and to some religions, as the creator of the universe.
By multiverse standard, Ptah is an Intermediate Deity, below the rank of a Greater Deity,
thus Ptah can be summoned by Greater Deities and Overgods such as Ao to perform services
for them.
An intermediate deity has at minimum, hundreds of thousands of worshippers but he may have
once been a greater god of the Mulhorandi and Egyptian pantheon and simply stepped down
to let Ra take on his role.
Long ago in Realmspace, home of the forgotten realms setting and the world of Toril, Ptah
was summoned by Lord Ao and asked to carry a message to the deities on the homeworld
of the Mulan people, who had been kidnapped from ancient Earth by the Imaskari empire.
Ptah invited them to create powerful avatars that could accompany him to Realmspace where
their people had been taken, bypassing the barriers put up by the Imaskari.
Most of them agreed to make the sacrifice and the journey, so Ptah led the way using
an artifact known as the Beacon of Light.
Thus the Mulhorandi and Untheric pantheons came to Toril, landing on what was later called
the Godswatch Mountains.
An encounter with Ptah is like a close brush with eternity, I would suggest binge-watching
some episodes of Moon Night and watching some original stargate SG-1 episodes to get that
vibe and lots of inspiration for your game.
And there we have it, a bit more depth of information for you to make use of in your
game if you so desire!
My name is AJ Pickett; I make videos about Dungeons & Dragons lore from every edition
of the game; thanks for listening and special thanks if you share this video link widely
to make sure the resource gets into the hands of anyone who wants to use it, and I will
be back with more for you, very soon.