Characters / Forgotten Realms Gods

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The Forgotten Realms setting of Dungeons & Dragons has an entire laundry list of gods.

This is by no means a complete list, as Forgotten Realms gods come and go.

For the gods worshipped by dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings, see Dungeons & Dragons: Demihuman Deities. For the gods worshipped by goblins and their kin, orcs, kobolds and others, see Dungeons & Dragons: Goblinoid Deities. For the gods worshipped by the drow and other denizens of the Underdark, see Dungeons & Dragons: Underdark Deities.

Ao, the One who is Hidden

The Overgod, The Hidden One, The Watcher, The One Who is Hidden

God of creation, maintainer of cosmic balance

Overgod

Alignment: None

The creator of Abeir-Toril and its associated realms. Ao rarely gets involved in the affairs of Abeir or Toril, having only directly intervened in the Tearfall, the Times of Trouble, and the Second Sundering. Ao's primary duty (that we know of) is overseeing the deities, making sure the rules of divinity are followed.

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• All-Powerful Bystander: His entire deal — he's the most powerful divine entity around, but avoids direct interference with the universe.
• Character Alignment: invoked A noted exception. Ao exists beyond the alignment system and thus has no official alignment at all.
• God Is Neutral: As Overgod, Ao is only a hands-off boss of the other gods, and discourages worship.
• God of Order: His role in the pantheon is basically to lay down the law for gods and make sure the rules of gods are obeyed. He has no counterpart in this role and as such disobeying the laws will not go well for any offending deities.
• Gods Need Prayer Badly: A notable subversion. Unlike all the other gods, he doesn't need any worship to survive, and doesn't even want anyone to worship him.
• Godzilla Threshold: Ao only intervenes when things are inconceivably bad.
• Grandpa God: He has appeared as an old man with a beard at times, although it's strongly implied to just be A Form You Are Comfortable With.
• The Older Immortal: As the creator of the universe, he's older than everything else, including the previous older immortals, Shar and Selûne.
• Outside-Context Problem: To mortals during the Time of Troubles. Prior to that only the gods had known of his existence and (possibly under his instructions) had never mentioned him to anyone else. The idea of an entity able to effortlessly force every single deity into mortal form and exile them to the mortal world just to teach them a lesson took everyone by surprise.
• Stop Worshipping Me: Ao has no domain over the lives of mortals at all and provides no benefits or afterlife to mortal worshipers. Few mortals even know he exists at all, as his existence was completely hidden to them before the Time of Troubles, making worshiping him the domain of mystery cults rather than organized worshipers. Most such cults tended to suffer misfortune and disband in short order after their creation, indicating that someone seems to be discouraging Ao worship.
• Top God: His actual title is Overgod, meaning a god of gods.

The Dead Three

General Tropes

Not a pantheon, but a group of evil humans-turned-into-gods. The Dead Three caused the Time of Troubles by stealing Ao's tablets of fate, a caper that saw all three of them slain by the end.

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• Ambition Is Evil: Being gods wasn't enough for them, so they stole artifacts belonging to Ao and kickstarted the Time of Troubles.
• Brought Down to Badass: In 5e, they seemingly got downgraded to quasi-deities and cursed to Walk the Earth. However, they still are Physical Gods, mind you.
• Character Death: All of them were slain during the Time of Troubles. To no surprise, all three were brought back after this, though the means of each were different.
• Dark Is Evil: All three of them use black and darkness heavily in their motifs, and all three are irredeemably evil.
• Deity of Human Origin: Is one of the earliest examples in the Forgotten Realms mythos. The three sought out Jergal, Lord of the End of Everything, hoping to kill him and divide his power. Luckily for them, Jergal was bored with his power, and gave it up willingly, making Bane the god of strife, Bhaal the god of death, and Myrkul the god of the dead.
• God of Evil: Bane is the god of strife (reimagined as tyranny, fear and hatred), Bhaal the god of death (reimagined as murder), and Myrkul the god of the dead (he decided to be a colossal dick about it).
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: While DnD has more than its fair share of evil gods, these three are some of the biggest troublemakers among them, often going out of their way to hatch apocalyptic schemes that benefit absolutely nobody, sometimes even themselves, and all three of them are a Deity of Human Origin.
• Rage Against the Heavens: They originally gained their godhoods by attempting to kill Jergal. The Realms might have been better off if he'd taken their challenge.
• Religion of Evil:
  • Averted with Bane and Myrkul, who took on some 'legitimate' aspects of their domains (Bane is worshipped as a god of authority and order, and Myrkul as the caretaker of the dead). Bhaal played it straight, turning his 'church' into a cult of assassins.
  • Later played much straighter. After the events of the Second Sundering, all three were restored to normal, with Myrkul being brought back to life in the process. However, all three accepted voluntary demotion to quasi-deities since they did not want to play by the new rules Ao had set forth preventing divine interventions outside specific circumstances, and so all three are technically now (offscreen) corporeal leaders of their own churches.
• Villain Team-Up: The Dead Three were originally an adventuring group.
• With Friends Like These...: Having become gods they decided to part ways and became rivals, Bhaal usually playing the more powerful Bane and Myrkul against each other. When they finally decided to work together again they caused the Time of Troubles.

Bane, the Black Hand

Bane, the Black Lord

Bane's symbol

Lord Bane, Lord of Darkness, The Dark One, The Black Lord, The Black Hand, Bane the Accursed

God of oppression, terror, and hatred

Quasi-deity

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Domains: Order, War

Symbol: Upright black right hand, thumb and fingers together

Formerly the Greater God of Tyranny, Fear and Hatred, first and greatest member of the Dead Three. Bane is perhaps the single most powerful force of evil in the Forgotten Realms (at least since Cyric started leaking portfolios). Following his death at the hands of Torm, Bane's domains were passed to his half-demonic son Iyachtu Xvim, who turned out to be Bane's Soul Jar and allowed his return a few decades later. After the Second Sundering, he and the other Dead Three returned to a quasi-deity state; still obscenely powerful and able to grant spells, but far weaker overall.

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• Arch-Enemy: Since he stands for tyranny and Torm is god of duty, honor, and paladins, it stands to reason they are and have always been opposed. During the Time of Troubles this ends up somewhat enforced, since Bane wishes to recover the Tablets of Fate and one of them is in Torm's temple in Tantras (so he has to oppose him in order to claim it). But it's quite clear they see each other as great threats and the embodiment of an opposed dogma, and would likely have fought each other eventually anyway. Their battle in the harbor, in the form of two colossal giants, certainly underscores their unyielding opposition.
  • Mystra hates him because he captured and tortured her predecessor as well as trying to do the same to herself and her friends when they were mortals; he's also engaged in a sectarian war with the Church of Cyric since the latter supplanted him for a few decades and deliberately humiliated his most loyal followers like Fzoul Chembyrl, with Cyric having a lifelong grudge against Bane as he grew up as a slave of his church anyway. It would probably be easier to list the deities he doesn't have a deep personal beef with or vice-versa.
• Ascended Extra: Went from being a (dead) Realms Deity from 1st Edition to being one of the main evil gods in Dungeons and Dragons as well as a major villain in Exandria.
• Back from the Dead: Consumed the essence of his son, Xvim, and became reborn anew after his death during the Time of Troubles.
• Benevolent Boss: Bane used to promote in-fighting and was firmly into a You Have Failed Me style of leadership. Upon the Time of Troubles, Bane finds himself actually caring about his most loyal followers. When he revives, Bane actively understands his old methods were flawed and enacts reforms to promote reasoned debate and cooperation among his followers. He likewise understands the prospect of reward and treats his priests and followers far better.
• Big Bad: Bane has the largest church of all evil gods by far, as to a certain extent he is a constructive god whose followers respect law and order (as long as it doesn't interfere with their own schemes), thus making him the most active and present threat in all of Faerun. He usually takes the lead whenever the Dead Three pull a Villain Team-Up and while none of them are above betraying the other, Bane is usually the one who comes out on top regardless, even if solely by luck. He can also count other evil deities like Loviatar as his consort and Beshaba, Malar and Umberlee as his occasional servants as well, making him the head of an unofficial evil pantheon of sorts as well.
• The Chessmaster: He isn't a greater god of tyranny for nothing and is well capable in planning and strategy.
• Despotism Justifies the Means: Bane is more of a "tyrannical god" than a "god of tyranny", especially in earlier stories, motivated primarily by his own ruthless quest for power more than anything else. He becomes slightly more concerned with law and order as he matured however.
• Evil Makes You Ugly: Enforced. Bane was originally a human who ascended to godhood, but during the "Time of Troubles" he used magic to assume a more fearsome, inhuman and demonic form in order to keep his followers in-line through fear, and afterwards he has often either taken or been depicted in that or similar forms rather than his natural appearance of a regular human warlord.
• Evil Versus Evil: The sectarian conflict between the churches of Bane and Cyric after the latter briefly held Bane's old portfolio during Bane's spell as a dead power amounts to this- neither side was in any sense "good", and the war was mostly about Order Versus Chaos from the perspective of their followers, and a personal dispute about vengeance and power from the perspective of the deities themselves.
• Genius Bruiser: He's both strong and intelligent and encourages his followers to achieve power through strategy and manipulation as well as warfare. Strength and Intelligence are among his highest stats according to Faiths and Pantheons, 36 and 30 respectively.
• He's Back!: When he emerged from the remains of his son Iyachtu Xvim, he signalled his return to his former followers by making their right hands glow a sickly green color similar to his divine emblem. Those followers were so thrilled that they migrated en masse to his reformed church. They gave him a such a massive surge of divine energy that he was catapulted right back to the status of greater god he held before the Time of Troubles.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Played With. On the one hand, he's arguably the "least evil" (or "least pointlessly cruel", anyway) amongst the Dead Three as far as his goals and general behaviour are concerned- at least he didn't create the Wall of the Faithless (like Myrkul) and his religion has some legitimate aspects (unlike Bhaal's). On the flip side, he's almost always the most powerful of the Dead Three with the largest pool of followers and greatest divine rank, and also the one most likely to be taking the lead in the evil scheme, and is generally the quickest to resort to coercion and treachery to put the other two in their place.
• Light Is Not Good: In the Baldur's Gate Magic: The Gathering set he's given a (partly) white card and his worshippers are in white cards, since white is the color of order and Bane is Lawful Evil.
• Magic Knight: According to "Faiths and Pantheons" he has classes in Fighter, Blackguard, Cleric, Wizard and Rogue.
• Maker of Monsters: The Faiths And Avatars sourcebook says that he created the beholders of Toril as the ultimate symbols of tyranny. Hence their nickname of "eye tyrants" and their affiliation with the Zhentarim, which have long associated with Bane's church.
• Manipulative Bastard: He isn't above manipulating his enemies into fighting with each other so that he can strike while they're weakened, for example.
• Mr. Fanservice: This depiction◊ by Billy Christian is not ugly.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Bane, also known as the Black Hand and the Lord of Darkness.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Bane commands order in his church, and his followers are as likely to solve disputes through reasonable debate as through show of force. This is a relatively new development since his return from the dead—before, the church was marked by infighting and sectarian violence, but eventually Bane came to realize this was only harming his long-term interests.
• Power Fist: His church favors the use of spiked gauntlets called The Black Hands of Bane as their weapons.
• The Power of Hate: He's currently the god of it.
• Rage Against the Heavens: He and the Dead Three made a pact to conquer not just the world, but the Heavens themselves and to slay all the other gods. Though Bane is more than willing to make alliances for his own long-term benefit, he regards every other god as his enemy (including the other members of the Dead Three) as he cannot stand to be subservient to another or to share power with anyone, even in theory. Given the chance, he would likely kill the lot of them.
• Red Right Hand: A nearly literal example. His symbol is a clenched fist that glows with sickly green energy. When he came back from the dead, he made the right hands of all his former clerics glow green for an hour to show them that He's Back!. They quickly and eagerly returned to his service, catapulting him right back to the greater god status he had before the Time of Troubles.
• Soul Jar: The bastard made a soul jar out of his own son (who was evil, but still); his Back from the Dead gambit ended up killing the latter.
• The Starscream: He tried to be this to Ao, the Top God of Realmspace. His and Myrkul's stealing the Tablets of Fate was the final straw for Ao, who cast the gods down and started the Time of Troubles.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Bane usually finds himself working with Myrkul and Bhaal, but make no mistake: they are not friends. Bane strives to be the only one at the top and would happily kill the other two if he got half the chance. While the trio are frighteningly effective working together, they're always watching one another's backs.
• Took a Level in Badass: Bane was always dangerous, but possessed a petty and sadistic streak that hampered him enormously. Following his resurrection after the Time of Troubles, Bane recognises his own flaws and sets about fixing them. Reforming his priesthood and following to be far more effective, Bane conquers the Goblin pantheon and shows Cyric who the real God of Tyranny and Strife is. After also converting most of Thay to his worship, Bane is far more deadly than he ever was.
• War God: Both he and Asmodeus are gods of tyranny, but while Asmodeus is all about politics and subtle manipulations, Bane, a former adventurer and warlord, is the god who tries to achieve world domination through strength of arms, and his portfolio explicitly includes war and destruction. He is still principally a schemer, though—he is a war god of The Strategist school of thought, and his modus operandi is not just waging war on his enemies, but manipulating his enemies into waging war on each other (or themselves), creating chaos from which HIS order can be imposed.
• We ARE Struggling Together: Before the Time of Troubles, Bane's church was fractured into several different factions who all fought against and competed with one another. Bane allowed this because he was amused by the strife and thought that it would weed out the weakest parts of his church. After his return, he realized that it was only undermining his power. His re-established church works on very strict, hierarchical lines with clear lines of command and its leaders receiving orders from him personally.
• What Is This Feeling?: In Shadowdale, a loyal follower who'd rescued him earlier dies in one of the Time of Troubles' magical backlashes. Much to his own shock, he finds himself screaming with grief.
• When the Clock Strikes Twelve: Priests of Bane pray for their spells at midnight, pledging their eternal loyalty and service to the Black Hand.
• You Have Failed Me: The punishment for treason or failure for any of his followers is agonising torture or death, followed by yet more agonising torture in the afterlife if they died failing him in the first place.

Bhaal, Lord of Murder

Bhaal, Dread Lord (possessing Kae Deverell)

Bhaal's symbol

Lord of Murder, Dread Lord

God of violence and ritual murder

Quasi-deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil / Lawful Evil (formerly)

Domains: Death

Symbol:Skull surrounded by a ring of bloody droplets

God of Death, Murder and Assassins and the second member of the Dead Three. Bhaal was slain and replaced by Cyric after the Time of Troubles. He re-emerged with his old domain a hundred years later, having used his children the Bhaalspawn as a blood sacrifice to fuel his return.

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• Archnemesis Dad: To the Bhaalspawn, having intended for them to all slaughter each other in his name.
• Ax-Crazy: Bhaal was a genius at making plans but had no real interest in anything other than mayhem and slaughter for its own sake.
• Back from the Dead: It turned out the Bhaalspawn missed one other Bhaalspawn and their death resurrected him.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: It's noted to be a recurring thing with him (and as a bonus, he's literally the god of backstabbing). His entire ploy for resurrecting himself involved his children hunting each other. He regularly pits his worshippers against one another, or encourages them to kill those closest to him. He's prone to turning on those who have his mercurial favor.
• Death by Irony: Bhaal, Lord of Murder, is himself murdered by Cyric.
• Did Not Think This Through: Trusted his priestess, Amelyssan, to gather his essence from his sacrificed children to resurrect him. Instead, his Chaotic Evil High Priestess decided to seize his essence for herself.
• Dystopia Justifies the Means: His ultimate goal is to empower his followers and children to go on a planet-wide murder spree and rule over a blood-soaked world rampant with violence and death.
• Evil Is Petty: Bhaal was previously the God of Death rather than murder but focused entirely on the murder portfolio aspect to the point that he was a far less influential god than he could have been.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Myrkul and Bane are at least capable of civility. Bhaal is a cruel and savage beast that even the other two look down upon. Neither even bothered to involve him in the theft of Ao's tablets which led to the Time of Troubles.
• Greater-Scope Villain:
  • Of The Moonshae Trilogy. Bhaal manipulates a lot of events throughout the first two books before making a personal appearance at the end.
  • Of the Baldur's Gate series. He is the one who sets the plot for all three games in motion by siring dozens of children as part of a Resurrection Gambit.
• Human Sacrifice: To kill is to sanctify in Bhaal's dogma. His most faithful followers had to kill something in his name at least once a tenday.
• Humiliation Conga: Starting from the "Time of Troubles", Bhaal had to endure the indignity of being reduced to an avatar following Bane and Myrkul stealing the Tablets of Fate (one of the few times he wasn't involved on one of their evil team-ups), Bane using Myrkul to sacrifice all of Bhaal's followers to give Bane a temporary (and ultimately fruitless and fatal) power boost to fight Torm, being killed by the mortal Cyric and the god Mask who subsequently inherited his portfolio of Death and Murder (and the only ones Cyric never really lost, with Bhaal now having to settle for "Violence and Ritual Murder"), and his Evil Plan to resurrect himself through his Bhaalspawn being thwarted for a century as the prime candidate realised what was going on and evaded it for as long as possible. He died in 2nd edition and only returned from death in 5th, only to find himself having to settle for measly quasi-deity status almost as soon as he came back anyway.
• Mad Artist: Bhaal commanded his followers to not just kill to strengthen him, but to kill in particularly gruesome, public and inventive ways.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Besides Bhaal himself, there's his avatar, the Slayer, and his favourite minions, the Deathstalkers.
• Offing the Offspring: His plan for revival entailed the mass murder of his children to revive from the released godly essence.
• Omnicidal Maniac: As God of Murder, Bhaal seeks to eventually slaughter everything in existence.
• Religion of Evil: Unlike his comrades Bane and Myrkul, there really was no "legitimate" aspect to Bhaal's worship. Just murder.
• Resurrection Gambit: He sired many children and when they died, their essence would join together to bring him back to life.
• Serial Rapist: He committed hundreds, maybe thousands, of rapes to spawn most of his children across numerous species.
• Soul Jar: He sired the Bhaalspawn, mortals imbued with some of his essence and driven to kill each other in his name. Eventually only one of them was left with all his essence and Bhaal was resurrected.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Bhaal is part of the Dead Three trio with Bane and Myrkul. He doesn't like either of them and would happily murder them if he was able and it served his purposes. It just helps his ends, and so he assists but with intent to betray and murder them in the future.
• Token Evil Teammate: All of them are evil, but Bhaal manages to be even more so than his fellows. While both Bane and Myrkul's domains can be interpreted positively (The Dead is usually a neutral domain, Myrkul was just being a dick about it; Bane's domain of tyranny also includes authority and order), Bhaal's domain of murder has no positive connotations.
• Would Hurt a Child: His original plan to resurrect himself was to have his priestesses sacrifice all of his children as infants.
• You Have Outlivedyour Usefulness: He loves pulling this on followers. Ironically, he was on the receiving end from his Chosen, Amelyssan the Blackhearted who'd been tasked to oversee the murder of his kids to bring him back to life. He did not foresee Amelyssan going offscript, leaving him dead, and deciding godhood was better than servitude.

Myrkul, Lord of Bones

Myrkul, the Reaper

Myrkul's symbol (5e)

Crown Prince of Murghôm, Lord of Bones, Old Lord Skull, The Reaper, The Deathless Lord of Death, Formerly: Lord of the Dead

God of the dead, decay, and exhaustion

Quasi-deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Domains: Death

Symbol White human skull

Last member of the Dead Three, Myrkul was the god of the dead until he was slain by Mystra in the Time of Troubles. Like his fellow members of the Dead Three, Myrkul had contingencies in place to keep himself "alive", although his took the longest to come to fruition and thus he's been the least active of the three for a good while.

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• And I Must Scream: The Wall of the Faithless was created by Myrkul, as a means to punish atheists by slowly consuming their sense of identity. Given the size of the Realms, millions have probably suffered in it by now.
• Artifact of Doom: The Crown of Horns, reportedly the headband he wore while alive, is now a powerful artifact infused with some of Myrkul's consciousness. It has been sundered several times and yet is never truly lost.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Not Myrkul, but his priest weren't necessarily evil themselves despite serving one of the most evil gods in the setting, as seen in Mask of the Betrayer. They were often just caretakers of the dying and the dead and offered priestly services, just like any clerics.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Myrkul took great glee in ironies and paradoxes. Needless to say, what Myrkul found "ironic" most people probably just found horrible.
• Evil Is Petty: Thought nothing of appearing in person on Faerûn just to crash people's funerals and remind the mourners that they'd eventually die too.
• A Fate Worse Than Death: When he was the one in charge of the dead, he was very fond of this. Just look what he did to his rebellious High Priest Akachi. He stuck him in the Wall of the Faithless and tore him out just before Akashi was fully absorbed by the wall. This resulted with Akachi becoming the Faceless Man, or the Spirit Eater, a Humanoid Abomination constantly hungry for souls.
• God of the Dead: He was a necromancer who became a deity and installed himself as the god of death and old age. He was less concerned with ensuring an orderly process of death and governance of the dead than with constantly reminding mortals of their eventual fate, using his domain as a means of furthering his power.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: Although stealing the Tablets of Fate was technically his idea, it was Bane who pressured him to ultimately go through with it and Myrkul spent the Time of Troubles almost as Bane's Beleaguered Assistant who quickly realised the whole thing was not worth it but stayed out of peer pressure and morbid curiosity. Even after Bane died and he became the Big Bad of the story, Myrkul was more concerned with restoring the status quo and somehow avoiding punishment for his theft than he was with using the Tablets to gain ultimate power after all.
• The Grim Reaper: He took this form post-apotheosis, mostly so he could show up across the mortal world and make people afraid of death.
• It's All About Me: He has no problem in creating a curse that has erased countless beings from existence in order to prolong his own.
• Jerkass Gods: Jergal was cold and nihilistic, ruling his realm as an all-powerful and uncaring tyrant. Myrkul, on the other hand, was actively malevolent, taking great glee in the pain he inflicted on the living by reminding them of the inevitability of death.
• Long Game: Both while he was God of the Dead, and in death as well.
• Nerd in Evil's Helmet: Easily the most intellectual and cerebral of the Dead Three; Myrkul is a former humanoid necromancer who was fascinated with death and was probably the least ambitious of the trio after actually attaining his power, happy to have found a job that he loves if that involved ruling over the dead as a tyrant and tormenting living and deceased alike as if they were ants and he a child with a magnifying glass.
• Not Quite Dead: While the Crown of Horns and the Spirit Eater still stalk Faerûn, Myrkul isn't truly dead.
• Sadist: Built the "Wall of the Faithless" so that apostates and atheists could suffer an eternity of imprisonment trapped on a wall regardless of any other behaviour and character traits, simply because he could; he also enjoyed travelling Faerun as a Grim Reaper and showing up at battlefields, funerals and any place associated with death purely to make mortals afraid of dying.
• Sinister Scythe: His favored weapon, suitably enough.
• Undeath Always Ends: Myrkul had no problems with employing undead. In his view, they were simply taking a slightly longer route to his domain.
• You Will Not Evade Me: He enjoyed materializing at funerals to stare silently at the mourners and remind them that he was waiting for them all.

Good Gods

Amaunator, God of the Sun

Amaunator, Keeper of the Sun

Amaunator's symbol

The Yellow God, Keeper of the Yellow Sun, Keeper of the Golden Sun, Keeper of the Eternal Sun, Keeper of the Sun, Keeper of Law, Light of the Law

God of the sun, order, law, and time

Greater deity

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Domains: Life, Light

Symbol: Golden sun

The Netherese solar deity of order, the sun, law, and time. He is viewed as a harsh but fair deity, revered by many rulers, soldiers, and powerful wizards. He perished during the fall of Netheril, but was later reborn as Lathander.

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• Back from the Dead: He died after the fall of Netheril, when his worshippers either died or abandoned him. He was later reborn as Lathander, and reborn again after the Spellplague.
• Forced to Watch: During the fall of Netheril, he was contractually prohibited from interfering in matters of magic, which were Mystryl's domain, despite his own concerns with the situation. As a result, he was forced to watch the people he was the god of doom themselves.
• Light Is Good: Currently played straight: Lathander was Neutral Good and Amaunator is Lawful Good. In Netherese times, however, he was Lawful Neutral.

Chauntea, the Great Mother

Chauntea, Earthmother

Chauntea's symbol

The Great Mother, The Grain Goddess, The Golden Goddess, Goddess of Agriculture, Earthmother, The Forest Mother, She Who Shapes All, Guardian of the Wilds and Deeps, Keeper of the Wild, Goddess of Bountiful Nature, The Mother of All Flowers, The Lady of the Harvest

Goddess of life, bounty, nature, and agriculture

Greater deity

Alignment: Neutral Good

Domains: Life

Symbol: Sheaf of grain or a blooming rose over grain

She is the goddess of agriculture, plants cultivated by humans, farmers, gardeners, and summer. Her most despised enemy is Talona, the lady of pestilence.

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• Distaff Counterpart: To Silvanus; he represents the wild untamed nature, while Chauntea is the more humanity-friendly agricultural farmland that feeds and sustains people.
• Expy: It has been stated she is based on Demeter (Ceres for the Romans).
• Fertility God: The goddess of agriculture, and one of the most popular deities among Faerûnian commoners. Her followers often claim that she is the progenitor of all the mortal races, and her major holiday Greengrass is essentially the Celtic holiday Beltane with the serial numbers filed off. Other fertility deities include Shiallia, Sharindlar from the dwarf pantheon, Aerdrie Faenya and Angharradh from the elven pantheon, Sheela Peryroyl and Yondalla from the halfling pantheon, Hathor, Isis, and Osiris from the Mulhorandi pantheon, and Luthic from the orc pantheon.
• Sinister Scythe: Averted; she is depicted with a scythe, but uses it for its intended purpose: agriculture.

Deneir, Scribe of Oghma

Deneir's symbol

Lord of All Glyphs and Images, The Scribe of Oghma, The First Scribe

God of art, cartography, glyphs, images, knowledge, literature, and scholars

Lesser deity

Alignment: Neutral Good

Domains: Arcana, Knowledge

Symbol: Lit candle above an open eye

A minor deity of the arts, literature, writing, images and scholars. He served Oghma as a scribe, but when the Spellplague wracked the world and threatened to unravel the Weave of magic entirely, Deneir took it upon himself to hold the Weave together, ultimately writing himself into the Weave to ensure its survival. He was Back from the Dead in 5e.

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• Back from the Dead: He returned in 5th edition, rendering his heroics in 4e moot.
• Heroic Sacrifice: When the strain of maintaining the Weave became too great, he is said to have written himself into the Weave, essentially using his own divinity as raw material to repair it.
• Heroic Willpower: Like you wouldn't believe. Mystra is the most powerful god, and maintaining the Weave takes most of her magic. Deneir is a very minor god with only a few worshippers, yet he managed to pull of double-duty as the god of magic when Mystra died, though it ultimately killed him.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: He's the sidekick to Oghma, and while the rest of the pantheon were running around in a panic or trying to exploit the situation during the Spellplague, Deneir was actually working to fix things.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He never really had any big role in the story, but it was his efforts that saved the entirety of existence.

Eldath, the Green Goddess

Eldath, Mother of the Waters

Eldath's symbol

Mother Guardian of Groves, Mother of the Waters, Goddess of Shining Waters, Goddess of Singing Waters, The Green Goddess, The Quiet One

Goddess of peace, calm waters, serenity, comfort, and healing

Lesser deity

Alignment: Neutral Good

Domains: Life, Nature, Peace

Symbol: Waterfall plunging into a still pool

A lake spirit who acts as the guardian of groves and watersheds, her presence is felt wherever there was calm. She is a pacifist who avoids hostile action, even if threatened. Although shy, quiet and enigmatic, Eldath possesses an unknown depths of character and unexpressed resolve that cannot be broken. Her holy symbol is a waterfall emptying into a calm pool.

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• Actual Pacifist:
  • She's the goddess of peace, so naturally she abhors violence. She also gives a sanctuary to those who are fed up with violence, such as a certain Gold Elf vampire, and collected the whole colony of disillusioned Malenti. Offerings to her often take the form of broken weapons.
  • Eldath's dogma is pacifistic, and her followers only resort to violence in defense of themselves, of their friends and loved ones, and of pools and groves.
  • This doesn't mean she's not decisive or strategically savvy. At least two novels did show her at active and well-timed work on expansion and conversion — Eldath is non-violent, and smoothly subversive, so her acquisitions go quietly.
  • This is also extensible to some of her followers at least in AD&D: the specialty priest(esse)s ("Peacemen" and "Peacewomen"), who could not use armor and were very restricted on the types of weapons they could use (and especially when), and especially the priestly kit "Stillwater" for standard Eldathyn clerics who could not use any kind of weapon or armor as well as magical objects and spells that caused either diseases or spells to others.
• Arch-Enemy: Averted. Although Eldath is diametrically opposed to Tempus, the Lord of Battles and a War God, they're not enemies. Tempus thinks Eldath is naïve, but appreciated her convictions. Tempus even punished any of his followers that harmed Eldath's faithful or desecrated her shrines and temples, suggesting that the Lord of Battles might even consider the Green Goddess as a Worthy Opponent.
• Empowering Lake Lady: Though she is generally in the business of sheathing weapons than handing them out.
• Ghibli Hills: The terrain of preference is quiet glades, pools, springs and waterfalls. Any waters blessed by her are known to cure sickness and madness. They could also calm the dying, giving them peace and a natural passing.
• Giant Woman: Her avatar is a ten-foot/three-meter tall woman. Depictions in religious art and known appearances has her as a human, wild elf, sea elf, dryad, and nereid.
• Healing Hands: In addition to being a nature goddess, she's also a goddess of life and peace.
• Improbable Hairstyle: Justified, as she's a god. Sometimes she was said to have dark hair while at others her hair was colorless like water, and seemed more like spun glass or flowing ice; as a dryad or wild elf, her hair was blue and green.
• Mother Nature: Her holy symbol is a waterfall, and she is all about preserving life and protecting nature peacefully. Druids in particular find an easy kinship with her ideals. Many rural communities had a designated pond or glade which served as a holy site for local parishioners. These places were traditionally used as places to reflect and meditate. Usually a body of water (either the pond itself or a stream near those glades considered holy sites) served as a repository for offerings to Eldath in connection with these holy places.
• Nude Nature Dance: The AD&D's Faiths and Avatars supplement mentions her worship should be performed as unclad as possible. Given she's a water-based goddess it's justified to a point.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: She's in an almost sisterly relationship with Mielikki — they generally divide jobs at "nurturing" vs. "protection".

Ilmater, the One Who Endures

Illmater, the Broken God

Illmater's symbol

The Crying God, The Broken God, The Lord on the Rack, The One Who Endures, The Rack-Broken Lord, Our Martyred Father

God of endurance, martyrdom, perseverance, and suffering

Intermediate deity

Alignment: Lawful Good

Domains: Life, Twilight

Symbol: Hands bound at the wrist with red cord

Good god of martyrdom, endurance, and suffering.

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• All-Loving Hero: It doesn't matter who you are or what you have done; Ilmater doesn't forsake anyone who suffers.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Many patriars in Baldur's Gate (and probably elsewhere) champion his worship at least in part because it makes workers less likely to protest poor wages and living conditions. Recently, threatening notes have appeared at the estates of these patriars, warning that those who falsely champion the Crying God will soon have their sufferings multiplied.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: He is essentially Jesus on the cross. Just to hammer it home he was part of the Triad, a three-as-one arrangement with the gods Tyr and Torm (Tyr was the father, Ilmater the son, and Torm the holy ghost).
• Determinator: His avatar is a short man who shows signs of extreme torture, with scars, burns, broken bones, and more, and even moving causes him pain. He takes it in stride, for he is the god of endurance and martyrdom, and he encourages his followers to ease others' sufferings and, if necessary, take it on themselves.
• Healer God: His dogma focuses on taking on and alleviating others' suffering, and healing others is a major duty for his worshipers.
• Made of Iron: Given he's the god of endurance, suffering and martyrdom, he's very experienced in taking on the hurt. Even his avatar form reflects this, what with its extreme wounds.
• Named After the Injury: He's covered with Wounds That Will Not Heal that represent his attempts to remove suffering from the world by taking it into himself. His titles include the Broken God and the Rack-Broken Lord.

Lathander, the Morninglord

Lathander, Bringer of the Dawn

Lathander's symbol (5e)

Morninglord, Commander of Creativity, Inspiration's Dawn, The Rose-and-Gold God, Bringer of the Dawn, Lord of Birth and Renewal, Patron to Spring and Eternal Youth, Mentor of Self-Perfection

God of the sun, birth, renewal, spring and youth, athletics, self-perfection, vitality and creativity

Greater deity

Alignment: Neutral Good

Domains: Life, Light

Symbol: A road traveling into a sunrise

Good god of the sun, mornings, strength, renewal, optimism, creativity and self-perfection. He's claimed by some to be the reincarnation of the Netherese sun god Amaunator, a viewpoint generally met with disapproval by his clergy until it was made canon in the fourth edition.

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• Ambition Is Evil: Averted by default — Lathander was the god of self-improvement but always in a non-destructive fashion — but played straight with the Dawn Catalcysm, where Lathander tried and failed to reshape the Faerûn pantheon in his own image, a plan that went awry and resulted in the deaths of several gods, and which Lathander still thinks was a good idea that he wants to try again.
• Arch-Enemy: To Shar, Goddess of Darkness, Loss and Despair. Their portfolios are almost totally opposed, and Lathander believes Shar sabotaged his "Dawn Cataclysm" plan, while in turn as both Lathander and Amaunator he and his faithful were crucial in thwarting her Cycle of Night ritual which would have destroyed all of Toril.
• The Bus Came Back: The Lathander persona has become the dominant one as of the fifth edition, having temporarily disappeared under the guise of Amaunator.
• God of Light: He's the god of the dawn and morning. His portfolio also includes spring, birth, renewal, vitality, youth, and beginnings.
• Healer God: He's strongly associated with birth, renewal, and healing.
• Hope Bringer: Hope was one of Lathander's prime spheres of influence in addition to the sun.
• Humble Hero: His dogma specifically disapproves of Pride, although he is probably more guilty of it than he would like to admit.
• Light Is Good: The Realms' crown example of this trope for the first three editions, being a Neutral Good deity that represents such things as hope and creativity, though the Dawn Cataclysm calls it into question.
• Never My Fault: Lathander's selfish attempt at reshaping whole pantheon in his image has caused the Dawn Cataclysm, that killed several deities. Out of the survivors some never forgave Lathander, including Helm and Tyche, who broke off their relationship in disgust. Lathander promptly decided... that the plan was good, his actions were righteous and it's all fault of the agents of Shar that it didn't work out. He is working on a second attempt.
• Noodle Incident: The Dawn Cataclysm, an attempt by Lathander to "improve" the gods themselves (read: remake them more in his own liking), which caused at several divine casualties and led to long-standing resentment between Lathander and Helm, particularly as one of the victims was a goddess Helm was in love with.
• Put on a Bus: Lathander disappeared in the fourth edition and was replaced by Amaunator, the Netherese sun god, with the understanding that the new Amaunator was both gods united. He's back for fifth edition, although Amaunator is also still around and the connection between the two is murky.

Lliira, Mistress of Revels

Lliira, Joybringer

Lliira's symbol

Joybringer, Our Lady of Joy, The Goddess of Joy, The Everchanging Goddess, Mistress of Revels

Goddess of joy, happiness, contentment, dance, festivals, and freedom

Lesser deity

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Domains: Life

Symbol: Triangle of three six-pointed stars

A minor deity of joy, happiness, contentment, dance, festivals, and freedom. Few things were sufficient to bring down Lliira's joyful revelry as she went about enjoying life without a care in the world, remaining somewhat detached from everyday events. She had a flair for performance, but was neither ambitious nor greedy, willing to resist temptation and abstain from power out of loyalty and respect for promises made.

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• Actual Pacifist: She's said to abhor violence and be driven away by the unsheathing of a sword not in ceremonial fashion, or when serious violence breaks out.
  • Back in the AD&D days, one kit for her priest(esse)s was the Festbringer, that rejected to use weapons and armor and were described as noncombatants.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Among her faithful are counted the Order of the Scarlet Mummers, a militant order of Llira-worshiping Dance Battler assassins which formed to avenge the murder of one of Llira's high priestesses/lovers by a cult of Loviatar, and is dedicated to hunting down agents of the Lady of Pain.
• For Happiness: Her priests, known as joybringers, are dedicated to spreading joy and levity and preventing the spread of misery.
• The Pollyanna: It takes a lot to bring down Lliira's joyful revelry, and she consistently goes about her day without a care in the world.

Mielikki, the Forest Queen

Mielikki, the Supreme Ranger

Mielikki's symbol (5e)

Mistress of the Forest, Lady of the Forest, The Forest Queen, Our Lady of the Forest, The Supreme Ranger, Daughter to Silvanus

Goddess of the forest, forest creatures, rangers, and druids

Deity

Domains: Nature

Alignment: Neutral Good

Symbol: Unicorn's head

Godddess of the forests and forest creatures, and patron of druids and rangers. As a master ranger and druid, she was skilled in all aspects of survival, hunting, wilderness lore, and more, and she was particularly skilled in bowmaking.

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• Angel Unaware: Older supplements (AD&D's "Faiths and Avatars" at the very least) mention she likes to test rangers appearing as a mortal woman lost and alone in the forest… except for her feet, that never touch the ground, thus leaving no tracks.
• Expy: Based on the Finnish goddess of the same name, with older material mentioning she's precisely such deity having come to Faerûn from Earth. She has also a fair bit in common with the Greek goddess Artemis, albeit if Mielikki is described as considerably nicer than the former.
• Forest Ranger: She's said to prefer to appear that way, and one of her titles is "The Supreme Ranger."
• Horse of a Different Color: She rides on Lurue, the unicorn demigoddess (also venerated on Faerûn — mostly by non-humanoids).
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Unlike Eldath, who is calm, peaceful, and patient, Mielikki is quite boisterous, eager to go into battle to defend her forests, and a strong and vigorous fighter when she does so. They're even properly color-coded, since Eldath tends to wear blue (or is even depicted as composed of blue water) while Mielikki has red hair.
• Sinister Scimitar: Averted. Despite her weapon of choice being the scimitar she's a neutral good deity.
• Unicorn: Her holy symbol.

Mystra, Mother of All Magic

Mystra, Mistress of Magic (as depicted in 2e)

Mystra's symbol

The Lady of Mysteries, The Mother of All Magic, Mistress of Magic, Our Lady of Spells, The Mother of Mystery, Lady Magic, Lady of Magic, Lady of Might, One True Spell, Goddess of Magic

Goddess of magic

Greater deity

Alignment: Neutral Good

Domains: Arcana

Symbol: Blue-white star

The currently Neutral Good (formerly Lawful Neutral, formerly True Neutral) greater goddess of magic and magi. Mystra in her first incarnation as Mystryl was involved in the fall of Netheril when a powerful archmage tried to tap directly into her power; Mystryl sacrificed herself to save the existence of magic. She then died a second time during the Time of Troubles before being reincarnated into her current form, who was formerly a human mage called Midnight who ascended to godhood and took her name.

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• Curb-Stomp Battle: The first Mystra's battle with Helm. She unleashed her magic on him, magic that could destroy mortals and shatter continents. He... swatted her away like a fly.
• Deity of Human Origin: Midnight-Mystra was formerly a human. The original Mystra was a young girl before Karsus messed up.
• God's Hands Are Tied: The human Midnight learned this the hard way when she ascended as Mystra. She started denying magic to mortals of evil alignment under the justification of "protecting the mortals of Faerun." The other deities reminded her that her job was to maintain the balance of magic, not pick and choose who got to wield it based on her personal preferences.
• God of Knowledge: Mystra is the goddess of magic, and is widely worshiped by wizards. Her chief priority is the growth and safeguarding of arcane knowledge and practice, and she gives her favor or protection to mortals based on how much they contribute to this. One of her favored servants is the archmage Elminster; another is the Dracolich Daurgothoth the Creeping Doom, whom she has protected from her other followers due to how much his single-minded obsession with expanding his magical knowledge has contributed to the study of the Art.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Mystryl, who sacrificed herself to save the Weave.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • The second Mystra's attempt at returning to her domain against Ao's orders, in order to fix things, only made them worse.
  • The 3rd Edition sourcebooks noted that Midnight-Mystra's activities, particularly in favoring good-aligned people when granting access to the Weave, pissed off a lot of mortal worshippers. They defected to other gods, particularly Shar.
• Soul Jar: Just prior to the Time of Troubles, Mystra forged a necklace and bound much of her power in it before gifting it to the mortal mage Midnight. She recovered it after being imprisoned by Bane and used its power to attempt to return to her domain. Queue Helm.
• They Killed Kenny Again: She has a tendency to die and either be reformed, reborn, or have someone else become her to justify the new magic rules in each edition.
• Too Dumb to Live: During the Time of Troubles, Ao explicitly forbade the gods from trying to return to the Outer Planes, and kept Helm at full power, guarding the Astral Plane, to keep them from trying. Mystra tried to force her way past him anyway, first attacking him with magic and then trying to wrestle him out of the way, with predictable results.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Arguably. The original Mystra got her powers during the fall of Netheril. Not after, during, while cities were literally falling from the skies. Keep in mind, she was described as a "peasant girl with rudimentary magical training", meaning that she had at most minutes to adjust to her power before catching 3 cities falling from the sky.

Selûne, the Moonmaiden

Three avatars of the Moonmaiden

Selûne's symbol

Our Lady of Silver, The Moonmaiden, The Night White Lady, She Who Guides, Selûne Moonmother

Goddess of the moon, stars, navigation, navigators, wanderers, questers, seekers, and non-evil lycanthropes

Greater deity

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Domains: Knowledge, Life, Twilight

Symbol: Pair of eyes surrounded by seven stars

Goddess of the moon and divination.

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• Arch-Enemy: She's one to Shar, and vice-versa.
• Cain and Abel: With her twin sister, Shar. It was averted at first; they were so close they believed themselves to be one person. Nowadays... not so much.
• God of the Moon: She's Faerûn's primary lunar deity. She is also associated with stars, navigators, non-evil lycanthropes, and cycles—the phases of the moon itself, the rising and falling of the tides, the reproductive cycles of living beings, and the shifting of lycanthropes' forms. This is reflected in her physical appearance as well; she appears in a number of forms, primarily as one of the three stages of the maiden/mother/crone triad, and if observed for long enough she can be seen to gradually age and fade before just as gradually rejuvenating. Her greatest enemy is her twin sister Shar, the evil goddess of darkness and the night, and the two are locked into a constant struggle for control of the nighttime hours.
• Gold and White Are Divine: Technically, in appearance. She's actually dressed in silver.
• The Hecate Sisters: She's described as noted below to appear as either a young woman, a matronly one, or an old lady following the phases of the Moon. This does not mean her power waxes and wanes.
• Homosexual Reproduction: Created the first Goddess of Magic, Mystryl, by hurling a magical chunk of her body through the body of her twin sister, Shar, during a fight between them. And earler, before Shar and Selûne were enemies, they created Chauntea together.
• Incest Subtext: As described under Homosexual Reproduction, she has this going on with Shar big time. The creation myth of the Realms would probably make more sense with them as lovers rather than sisters.
• Lunacy: As the goddess of the moon, she has power over the tides and women (with the majority of her clergy being female and the AD&D days giving a priest kit for her priestesses ("Silver Ladies"), one of whose tasks was precisely to help women) and tends to feminine needs (such as pregnancy and menstrual cycles). She is known for her diviners and having great divinatory powers herself as well as illusion magic, and her changing appearance (and power level), as noted above, reflects the phases of the moon. She's also a patron of lycanthropes, a position she shares with Malar, with the explicit power to help them control their affliction when it cannot be outright cured and thus keep them on the side of good. Lastly, her priestesses and temples are known for providing hospice-type care for the insane or otherwise mentally-unbalanced—partly due to their opposition to her archnemesis Shar, since the latter tends to either cause insanity or use the insane as her instruments, but also out of simple compassion.
• The Older Immortal: She's one of the first two deities to come into being, along with her twin sister Shar.

Sune, Lady Firehair

Sune, the Lady of Love (as depicted in 3e)

Sune's symbol

Firehair, Lady Firehair, The Lady of Love, Goddess of Love, Goddess of Beauty and Love, Beautiful One, The Fickle and the Beautiful, The Princess of Passion

Goddess of love, beauty, and passion

Greater deity

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Domains: Life, Light

Symbol: Face of a beautiful red-haired woman

Goddess of love, beauty, and fine, artistic things.

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• All-Loving Hero: By her nature, it was difficult for any being to be angry at Sune for long. The only gods she doesn't get along with are the evil Gods of Fury.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Her church believes that being beautiful makes one good, or else is a sign of one's inner goodness; thus it encourages others to be as good-looking and well-presented as possible, only allows the most attractive people to become clergy, and rejects anyone who they deem ugly or marred in any way, even through no fault of their own. Sune herself is a bit more nuanced about it.
• Ethical Slut: She encourages all manner of love and desire between mortals (and is herself interested in pursuing and bedding many Faerûnian deities), but only to encourage beauty and goodness, and always with proper consent and never exploitation.
• Expy: To Aphrodite (Venus for the Romans). It was even stated in the Dragon issue where she first appeared that she's based on Aphrodite, and her name is Venus backward minus the "v." Although Sune is much nicer than Aphrodite or Venus.
• Fiery Redhead: Sune Firehair has red hair and is a goddess of passion.
• Flaming Hair: She's called "Lady Firehair" for a reason, as sometimes her red hair assumes the appearance of flames.
• Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul: One of the spells she can grant her priests is "Rapture", which can leave the one affected in an "enraptured state" that can cure most ailments but also has a chance of leaving them stunned or overwhelmed by pleasure (with a Forced Orgasm being heavily implied).
• Good Bad Girl: She's a Nice Girl and a benevolent goddess who's still known for being promiscuous, vain, and has hedonist tendencies.
• Head-Turning Beauty: When she appeared to the mortals she did so as a human female who's described to be unearthly beautiful.
• Hot Goddess: As expected from a goddess of beauty, she's described as being a supernaturally beautiful woman
• Long Hair Is Feminine: While details of her appearance tend to change, the one thing that is consistent in all the permutations in her appearance is her lustrous and impossibly long red hair, likely to illustrate her status as a Love Goddess.
• Lovable Sex Maniac: She's very promiscuous and has hedonistic tendencies, but she's a firm believer that Sex Is Good, and is an Ethical Slut who only likes and encourages sex that is Safe, Sane, and Consensual.
• Love Goddess: One of the main tenets of her faith is to "perform a loving act each day, and seek to awaken love in others". In general they are encouraged to spread love, whether enabling couples to wed, inspiring courtships and sexual encounters, or even aiding in quests to rescue true loves from danger.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: Depictions of her often accent her impressive decolletage, often exposing her navel.
• Nice Girl: One of the nicest gods, who promotes beauty and goodness all around the world. Her only major flaw is her vanity.
• Proud Beauty: She's incredibly proud and confident about her beauty, and believes herself the most beautiful being in existence.
• Really Gets Around: She has been romantically involved with many people in many of the myths of the Realms, though she's said to tire of lovers quickly, and soon moves on to another.
• Sex Goddess: She's not explicitly a sex deity (that's more Sharess' domain) but she herself and her followers are still known for their hedonistic tendencies and mastery of carnal pleasures. Sune's sexual prowess is legendary and she is said to be one of "most passionate beings in existence".
• Vanity Is Feminine: As expected of a Proud Beauty Love Goddess, she's known to be one of the most vain entities in the cosmos.

Torm, the Loyal Fury

Torm, the Brave

Torm's symbol

Torm the True, The True Deity, The Loyal Fury, The Hand of Righteousness, The God of Duty, The True God, The Brave

God of paladins, duty, loyalty, righteousness, obedience, and law

Greater deity

Alignment: Lawful Good

Domains: War

Symbol: White right gauntlet

The god of paladins, honor, and duty.

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• Arch-Enemy:
  • As a god who stands for defending the weak and innocent from tyranny, he's a natural enemy of Bane the tyrant god. Their mutual loathing led to their killing each other during the Time of Troubles, although Ao later resurrected Torm because he died fulfilling his duty.
  • Torm's being a loyal and steadfast deity of honor and righteousness also means he utterly loathes Cyric. As Cyric was a god of murder, lies, strife and deception, he stands for pretty much everything Torm despises.
• The Atoner: During the Time of Troubles, Torm's clergy persecuted other faiths in the city of Tantras because they thought it was meant to be his city. Torm was livid when he found out. When the Troubles ended, Torm directed his clergy to atone by performing the Penance of Duty. As part of the Penance of Duty, Torm's clergy must perform at least one of three tasks every other level:
  • The Debt of Persecution requires Torm's followers to help other goodly religions re-establish themselves.
  • The Debt of Dereliction requires Torm's followers to oppose the plots and agendas of the churches of Cyric, Bane and Iyachtu Xvim, as well as the Zhentarim.
  • The Debt of Destruction requires Torm's followers to report the areas of dead and wild magic that appeared after the Troubles so that they can be restored to normal.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: The greatsword is the favored weapon of his clergy.
• The End of the World as We Know It: Supposed to "end and rebirth" Toril after a battle to the death with Cyric, god of various nasty things. His worshipers seem to think this is a GREAT goal, however. Apparently, Cyric's death is worth ending the world as we know it.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Torm was willing to die to take out Bane and this impressed a lot of Faerun worshipers disillusioned with their gods during the Time of Troubles.
• Humble Hero: Notably one of these despite being a god and hero in his own right.
• Knight Templar: Notably averted with Torm himself but not his followers.
• Nice Guy: Torm is easily the most earnest, approachable, and compassionate of the gods of law.
• The Paladin: Actually the god of paladins, and he certainly exemplifies the virtues of duty, honor, and loyalty ascribed to the idealized chivalric paladin. In addition, before rising to intermediate and eventually greater god status, his major duty involved defending Celestia/the House of the Triad from invasion by fiends and other evil forces.
• Take Up My Sword: After Tyr was manipulated by Cyric into murdering Helm, he retired from the pantheon in disgrace, and Torm took up the mantle as god of justice.
• Took a Level in Badass: Twice; was originally a fairly minor demigod who managed to take out Bane during the Time of Troubles; this got him upped to intermediate god. When Tyr decided he was no longer cut out for the job, he passed his power and duties onto Torm, promoting him to greater god.
• Top God: Was notably this for Lawful Good deities in the Realms for a short time. This included even Bahamut.

Tymora, the Lady Who Smiles

Tymora, Lady Luck (as depicted in 3e)

Tymora's symbol

Lady Luck, The Lady Who Smiles, Our Smiling Lady, Bright Smiling Lady, Beshaba's Bright Sister, Tyche's Fair-Haired Daughter

Goddess of good fortune, skill, victory, adventurers, and justice

God

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Domains: Trickery

Symbol: Face-up coin

Goddess of good fortune, skill, and adventurers. Commonly known as Lady Luck, Tymora shone upon those who took risks and blessed those who dealt harshly with the followers of Beshaba.

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• Alternative Character Interpretation: In-Universe; halflings consider her a halfling Goddess who has tricked other races into worshipping her too.
• Badass Boast: "Fortune Favors the Bold!", used to encourage worshippers and others to trust in Tymora's luck and take high risks in return for high rewards in the pursuit of what they want.
• Cool, but Inefficient: Her favored weapon is the shuriken, one of the weakest weapons that exist.
• Lady Luck: Goddess of good luck and victory.
• Odd Job Gods: She was also the goddess of commerce for a time, as her friend Waukeen left her in charge of her portfolio during the Time of Troubles as she tried a trick to get back to her divine realm that involved briefly giving up her divinity. Waukeen ended up trapped in the Abyss for several years so Tymora answered prayers and empowered clerics in her name until she finally got free and Tymora willingly returned her portfolio.
• Split at Birth: Tymora and Beshaba were both literally formed when Tyche the Goddess of Luck, was split in half by Selûne after being corrupted by Moander. The myth goes that Beshaba got all of Tyche's beauty and frivolousness, while Tymora got all of the heart and kindness.

Tyr, the Maimed God

Tyr, God of Justice (as depicted in 3e)

Tyr's symbol

God of Justice, The Even-Handed, Grimjaws, The Maimed God, The Evenhanded, God of Justice, Blind, Blind Tyr, Wounded Tyr, The Lord of Justice, The Just God, The Blind Overlord, The Wounded One, The One-Handed, Blind One, The Eyeless One

God of justice, law, bravery, and self-sacrifice

Greater deity

Alignment: Lawful Good

Domains: Order, War

Symbol: Balanced scales resting on a warhammer

The greater god of law and justice, and leader of the coalition of deities known as the Triad.

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• Disabled Deity: He's blind and missing a hand. He isn't called the Maimed God for nothing! Interestingly, while the missing hand is (as in the mythology he was imported from) due to an encounter with a ferocious supernatural canine (Kezef the Chaos Hound, rather than Fenrir), the blindness is thanks to Ao as punishment for his failing to witness or stop the theft of the Tablets of Fate.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He gave his life to defend Faerûn against an army of demons. He got better.
• My God, What Have I Done?: His reaction upon accidentally killing Helm due to Cyric's manipulations. He was so wracked with guilt that he abdicated his position as God of Justice.
• Named After the Injury: He's blind and missing his right hand. His titles include the Maimed God, Blind Tyr, Wounded Tyr, the Blind Overlord, the Wounded One, the One-Handed and the Eyeless One.
• The Paladin: He's the former god of paladins, and tends to embody the more Knight Templar aspects of the class/role, being a god of justice and law (but often harsh and strictly interpreted). Yet in all things he still aims to accomplish and serve only the cause of good.
• Public Domain Character: He is an import from Norse Mythology, missing hand and all. Unlike his fellow Norse god counterpart Helm, he even has the same name. Also unlike Helm he is implied not to be a mere Expy but in fact the actual Tyr from the Norse pantheon chosing to travel to Toril from Earth, much as the Mulhorandi pantheon are the actual Ancient Egyptian gods.
• Redemption Equals Death: His Heroic Sacrifice was viewed as this by himself, since despite Cyric's machinations in the event, he blamed himself for the death of Helm just before the Spellplague.
• Take Up My Sword: After Helm's death, he decided he was no longer fit to be the god of justice and passed his powers down to Torm and Bahamut.
• Unwitting Pawn: To Cyric during the buildup to the Spellplague. He wasn't happy about it.

Neutral Gods

Deneir, the First Scribe

A seneschal to Oghma and god of writing, maps, recordings, art and literature. Mostly a footnote in the grand conflicts of the gods, until he took up the slack for Mystra when she was murdered at the onset of the Spellplague.

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• Almighty Janitor: The most prolific example of this in the Forgotten Realms. When the Spellplague hit, and gods and mortals alike were running around like headless chickens, he got to work holding the Weave together, essentially saving the multiverse by doing a job far beyond his power level. Despite this monumental task, he was only a minor god, a seneschal to Oghma.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Being only a minor god, his power was nothing compared to that required to keep the Weave together. He ended up writing himself into the Weave, essentially replacing the broken parts with himself.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: An interesting example. While there's nothing to indicate he's better at his job than Oghma, he did pull double-duty as god of magic during the Spellplague.
• Reality Warper: As the god of writing, he was able to manipulate the Metatext that governs reality. He never really used this until it became necessary to save the multiverse during the Spellplague.

Gond, the Wonderbringer

Gond, Lord of All Smiths

Gond's symbol

Holy Maker of All Things, Lord of All Smiths, The Gearsmith, Inspiration Divine, The Meddler, Wonderbringer

God of craft, smithing, inventiveness, innovation, and prosperity

Intermediate deity

Alignment: True Neutral

Domains: Forge, Knowledge

Symbol: Toothed cog with four spokes

God of craft, smithing, and inventiveness. The Lord of All Smiths had many forms and names, and under all of them pushed for innovation and imaginativeness, sometimes to a dangerous degree, as a result of his short-sighted desire to create.

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• Expy: To Hephaestus. It was even stated in the Dragon issue where he first appeared that he's based on Hephaestus.
• For Science!: He promotes prosperity, but yes, he's a very much Neutral power. This sometimes becomes easy to forget, and sometimes important to remember (e.g. his work for Cyric).
• Ultimate Blacksmith: As a smithing god, he has to be.

Helm, the Vigilant One, the Watcher

Helm, the Watcher

Helm's symbol

He of the Unsleeping Eyes, God of Guardians, The Great Guard, The Watcher, The Vigilant, The Vigilant One

God of guardians, protectors, watchmen, lawkeepers, vigilance, and protection

Deity

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Domains: Life, Light, Twilight

Symbol: An upright left gauntlet with a staring eye on it

Patron god of guardians, watchmen and lawkeepers. Dead in 4e but was resurrected just in time for 5e.

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• Arch-Enemy: Cyric, who eventually got him killed, and Lathander, whom Helm never forgave for death of Murdane, whom Helm was in love with, during Dawn Cataclysm.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: His "battle" against the first Mystra can be best described as him swatting away a fly.
• Expy: To Heimdall, both being watchers. Helm even guards the Celestial Stairway, which is even sometimes called the "Rainbow Bridge", just like Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge Heimdall guards. Bifrost and the Celestial Stairway also serve the same function.
• The Faceless: As shown by his name, Helm always wears a, well, helm. The only person who has seen the face underneath was the first Mystra, as he lifted his visor to her shortly before killing her. Interestingly, even Helm himself might be unaware of what he looks like, as almost a century later he found himself guarding an imprisoned Mystra (the second one) who had been charged with neglecting her duties, and her rescuers distracted him with a mirror that showed what he truly looked like in his heart...and he was disturbed to see a tired old man staring back at him, and he felt haunted both at the toll he was taking on himself and at the burden he must be placing on his own faithful followers.
• Honor Before Reason: His response to Mystra's attempt to force her way back into the Planes was to kill her (after, it should be noted, giving her a chance to back off and shrugging off her magic attacks without a response), further damaging the already-strained power of magic and creating the hitherto unknown phenomena of Dead Magic Zones and Wild Magic Zones. His fellow gods hate him for it. It got even worse when some of his worshipers traveled to Maztica, the Realms Mexico-analogue, where they proceeded to act like conquistadors.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Slew Mystra, causing incredible devastation and unleashing the phenomena of Anti-Magic and Wild Magic onto Faerûn. This is one of the moments he can't live down. Interestingly, it seems he himself feels much the same way about the event, as a major artifact in 2e, a jewel known as the Guardian's Tear, formed when he wept a single tear after killing Mystra. Said Tear contains an image of her murder as seen from his point of view, endlessly replaying forever.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: His deicide of Mystra didn't make him many friends.
  • On the flip side, he has never forgiven Lathander for the events of the Dawn Cataclysm, which killed several deities including the goddess Murdane, whom Helm had unrequited feelings for. The fact that Lathander is unrepentant and blamed interference from Shar rather than his own hubris doesn't help matters either.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: While Mystra's death was definitely not his best move, it should be said that he gave her every chance to back down. She, in her deteriorated mental state, refused to see reason.
• The Reliable One: During the Time of Troubles, Ao kept Helm at full power and commanded him to guard the Outer Planes and prevent any of the gods from returning to their domains, knowing Helm was the one god he could rely upon to do it (and also the one god he knew wasn't responsible for taking the Tablets of Fate). Helm ended up performing this duty to the letter, even though it caused his Once Done, Never Forgotten moment.
• Single Tear: The Guardian's Tear, mentioned above, formed from one of these, and this is in fact the only time he has ever been shown to feel any emotion. So it's not only the only one he wept at the time, it's presumably the only one he ever wept.

Jergal, Lord of the End of Everything

Lord of the End of Everything, The Pitiless One, The Forgotten One, The Final Scribe, Scribe of the Doomed, The Bleak Seneschal, Seneschal of the Crystal Spire

Former god of death, strife, fear, fate, and the dead

Exarch

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Domains: Knowledge, Death

Symbol: A skull biting a scroll

Former god of Strife, Fear, Fate, Death and the Dead. He gave away his domains willingly to the Dead Three, becoming seneschal of the realm of the dead instead. Jergal currently serves Kelemvor as he once served Cyric and Myrkul.

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• Almighty Janitor: One of the oldest and most competent gods, and he generally serves as the seneschal to whoever's the god of death at the moment.
• Expy: Somewhat to the nearly identically named Nergal (who did exist as one of the Untheric gods before dying in the Orcgate Wars).
• Giant Bug: For some reason that has never been explained, Jergal is usually depicted as a human-sized, often mummified, insect similar to a preying mantis. Possibly due to his being the god of the dead since primordial times, when dinosaurs (and giant insects) roamed the lands.
• God Is Neutral: Canonically a Lawful Neutral deity.
• God of the Dead: He's a lesser deity who has served every god of death, and is tasked with keeping records of every mortal soul's final fate. He's a grim, emotionless figure with little interest in anything beyond watching the world's slow decline into entropy and death.
• Heel–Face Turn: Used to be Lawful Evil. Turned Lawful Neutral as he gave away his old role.
• The Older Immortal: Jergal was ancient even to the Netherese, when he was known as Nas'r; nobody knows exactly how old. Only Ao, Shar and Selûne might know.
• Vetinari Job Security: He's been around since long before Netheril, and served multiple masters, largely because he's too competent to get rid of.
• You Can't Fight Fate: He's still the god of fate and destiny. In fact one of his explicit remaining powers is to write someone's name in his scroll, with the result they are instantly teleported forward in time to the moment of their death, which cannot be evaded in any way, and after which they can never be resurrected.

Kelemvor (Lyonsbane), Lord of the Dead

Kelemvor, God of Death

Kelemvor's symbol

Lord of the Dead, Judge of the Damned, The Great Guide, Master of the Crystal Spire, Lord of the Crystal Spire, Lord Death, Death Lord, God of Death

God of death and of the dead

Greater deity

Alignment: Lawful Neutral / Lawful Good (formerly)

Domains: Grave, Death

Symbol: Skeletal arm holding up scales in balance

Fair yet cold, Kelemvor was the god of death and the dead—the most recent deity to hold this position, following in the footsteps of Jergal, Myrkul, and Cyric. Unlike these other deities, whose rule as gods of the dead made the afterlife an uncertain and fearful thing, Kelemvor promoted that death was a natural part of life and should not be feared as long as it was understood.

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• Ambiguous Situation: The Wall of the Faithless, created by Myrkul and maintained by Cyric, was destroyed by Kelemvor at the moment of his apotheosis near the end of the novel Prince of Lies, and its direct sequel Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad makes clear that Kel never restored it. However, some sources indicate that it either never fell or Kel was forced to bring it back for some reason, which could be a change or a mistake- as of 5e, the Wall is not mentioned in any official source and any claim that Kel restored it should probably be considered non-canon.
• Arch-Enemy: With Cyric. They used to be friends, but this very quickly soured as both had unrequited feelings for the wizard Midnight (who became the goddess Mystra), and both Midnight and Kelembor became horrified as they saw Cyric degenerate into an Ax-Crazy, power hungry Serial Killer before their eyes. When Midnight and Cyric both ascended after the death of Kelemvor and Cyric became God of the Dead, Cyric had every intention of torturing Kel for all eternity but was unable to find his soul because it was being hidden by Mask and per the machinations of other gods that Cyric had made enemies of, Kelemvor returned to lead a rebellion against Cyric at the moment his church was attacked by other faiths, and Kelemvor was named the new God of the Dead to replace him with Cyric settling for the God of Lies and Murder.
• Deity of Human Origin: Together with Cyric and Mystra (Midnight). The three were humans who ascended to godhood.
• Don't Fear the Reaper: While not particularly nice or friendly, Kelemvor goes a long way to minimize fear of death.
• Dramatic Irony: As a mortal, Kelemvor Lyonsbane suffered a cursed bloodline to transform into a panther-like creature every time he performed a good deed without personal gain, and he could only become human after the panther had killed someone. He was finally free of his family's ailment when the god Bane literally tore the curse out of him, but Kelemvor died not long after this. After his soul was named God of the Dead he operated for decades as a Lawful Good deity in-line with his true nature at last, but once again fate intervened as his new job was Lawful Neutral by default and so even as a divinity, he must once again sacrifice his altruistic nature for the Greater Good.
• God of the Dead: He took over this role after the Time of Troubles and Cyric's later loss of the portfolio, decided to clear the courts of the dead from his predecessors' corruption, and eventually remade the courts of the dead into a grey, neutral place where souls unclaimed by deities are judged by Kelemvor, sent to areas of his realm alongside others of similar ethical and philosophical beliefs, and left to arrange things for themselves. Unlike his predecessors, Kelemvor deeply detests the undead, seeing them as perversions of the natural order.
• God's Hands Are Tied: Kelemvor isn't very fond of several things his predecessors did for judgment and the afterlife, but he is loath to reverse too many of them because reversing gods' decrees sets down bad precedents, especially in a place where divinity is as fluid as in the Forgotten Realms. In particular, he was put on trial at one point for showing favour to good souls over evil ones, but admitted his error when he was shown how this just encouraged good people to be more reckless with their lives while evil people got more desperate to avoid being killed.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: As a mortal, Kelemvor wanted to be a hero and wanted to help people. However, he had a curse that turned him into a panther and forced him to kill someone if he ever did anything for reasons other than personal gain.
• Mercy Kill: Priests of Kelemvor have this trope as part of their duty in the event that someone in an And I Must Scream situation needs to be put out of their misery. And also insist that only they can be entrusted with that somber duty.
• Necessarily Evil: He maintains the Wall of the Faithless, an And I Must Scream punishment for the Realms' atheists and agnostics. This is a motivation for one of the party members in Mask of The Betrayer renouncing her faith in him. However, what most who bring this up fail to mention is that he actually tried taking it down soon after becoming a god, and, well... let's just say it didn't work out. Note that this is a retcon of dubious canon as originally Kelemvor destroyed the Wall within moments of his ascension to godhood, and as of 5e the Wall seems to be gone again.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • In his first years after becoming God of the Dead, he took the moral judgment of souls upon himself, whereas previous death gods only judged whether a soul had been true to his or her patron god. He constructed places of reward and punishment for the faithless souls in his realm. As a result, good and heroic mortals stopped worshipping their own gods because they could count on Kelemvor's judgment, becoming reckless in their certainty of a paradise after death, while more evil types were terrified of dying for fear of being condemned and went to extreme lengths to keep themselves alive. This screwed with the Balance Between Good and Evil on Faerûn, as well as the natural cycles of death and birth, and resulted in a pantheon of seriously disgruntled deities on both sides.
  • Also applies to the person who cursed his family line. His original cursed ancestor was forced to turn into a panther if he ever did something for selfish reasons, but the curse reversed itself on his descendants because innocent babies had no corruption to punish and thus forced them to turn into panthers if they ever did something for selfless reasons, spawning a line of ruthless mercenaries.
• Odd Friendship: Maintained an alliance with Lathander, God of the Sun. Despite the two deities controlling very different portfolios, Lathander shared Kelemvor's desire to destroy the undead.
• Our Werebeasts Are Different: As a mortal, Kelemvor was a werepanther due to a curse.

Leira, the Lady of Mists

Leira's symbol

The Guardian of Liars, Lady of Mists, Lady of the Mists, The Mistshadow, Mother of Illusionists, The Lady of Deception, Mother of All Illusion, Guardian of Decption

Goddess of illusions, deception, and lies

Diety

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Domains: Trickery

Symbol: Point-down triangle containing a swirl of mist

Leira was the goddess of deception and illusions and patroness of illusionists and liars. Months after the Avatar Crisis, Leira was slain by the new deity of death, Cyric, at the village Blackfeather Bridge, wielding the sword Godsbane, which was in fact an avatar of Mask. Her portfolios were subsequently absorbed by the mad god. Some still believed Leira was alive and that she had used her death as a grand illusion, but the general consensus was that she was a dead power. Leiran traditionalists on Nimbral who believed her to be alive in fact gained spells from Cyric. By the late 15th century DR, it became known that Leira was in fact alive and delighted in the confusion created by rumors of her demise and return.

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• Arch-Enemy: Downplayed with Oghma. He never hated Leira, but he did oppose her due to viewing her lies a hinderence to knowledge.
• Back from the Dead: She was murdered by Cyric and had her portfolios absorbed by him, but at some unknown time, she reportedly came back to life and regained her lost domains. The Player's Handbook 5th edition also lists her in the "Deities of the Forgotten Realm" table, indicating that she is officially considered alive once again in the 5th edition of the setting.
• The Faceless: Her true appearance is a complete mystery, as Leira never showed her true face to anyone. Her priests also typically wear faceless masks in public.
• Master of Illusion: Naturally, as goddess of illusions, everything she says and does is shrouded by illusions and mystery.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Some believe that Leira faked her own death as a part of some grand illusion, and during the late 15th century DR, this was found to be the case and Leira was thoroughly amused at how much confusion and rumor had been caused by her supposed demise.
• The Trickster: She's infamous for her manipulations and lies, and her clergy are notorious for following her example.

Mask, the Master of All Thieves

Mask, Lord of Shadows

Mask's symbol

Lord of Shadows, Master of All Thieves, The Shadowlord, God of Thieves, Blackheart

God of thieves, shadows, and trickery

God

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral / Neutral Evil (formerly)

Domains: Trickery

Symbol: A black mask

God of shadows, thieves and trickery. Known for his constant scheming, cool head, and oft-reserved biting comment, he lost a significant portion of his power, the intrigue portfolio, to Cyric. This, of course, led to two things: an enduring hatred of Cyric, and the Lord of Shadows leading himself to be more direct than he was in his prior, elaborate plots. His symbol is a black mask.

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• An Arm and a Leg: Lost a limb to Kezef the Chaos Hound after Mask manipulated and betrayed him; this and his failed attempt to usurp the power of Cyric resulted in Mask losing much of his divine power and having to constantly be running from Kezef (who could track him anywhere, even across the planes) and repeatedly shapeshift to temporarily hide his scent- regardless of what form he took though, he was always missing a limb because of the damage Kezef had done to him, and only regaining his full divine power allowed him to regrow it.
• Antagonistic Offspring: He's Shar's son in how gods measure it, and firmly opposed to his nihilistic monster of a mother. When Shar tries to unmake reality, Mask is the reason she fails. He probably loves the irony that the Realms owe their continued existence to him.
• Back from the Dead : He reliquished his divinity and his life to Shar to repay a millenia-long debt to her, but was later brought back when the Shadowlord's plans to thwart the Cycle of Night perpetuated by Shar on countless worlds resulted in Mask's divinity (both the Shar-consumed and Kesson Rel portions) being gathered back into a single being.
• Benevolent Boss: Mask is actually pretty swell to work for. While he promotes intrigue and competition, he loves his Chosen and takes steps to reward his faithful. He will even safeguard the families of his top followers and does his best to keep them safe.
• Beware the Honest Ones: His followers believe that honesty is for fools, but still value it as a necessary skill.
• The Chessmaster: Mask can pull off some very long cons on people, and even deities . He once tried and failed to steal the power of Cyric in an elaborate plan that took centuries to come to fruition, and only failed because Cyric unwittingly turned him Brainwashed and Crazy via his cursed book; he pulled an even more elaborate plot against his mother Shar that spanned worlds and millenia, and this time he succeeded via a Heroic Sacrifice, which itself he managed to undo by engineering his own (partial) resurrection through another century-long plot.
• Didn't Think This Through: Despite essentially being the god of Gambit Roulette, several of his plans blow up in his face, notably resulting in the death of Bhaal (and subsequently the Bhaalspawn Crisis), the ascension of Cyric to godhood, his loss of the Intrigue portfolio and the release of Kezef, an Eldritch Abomination that promptly turned on him.
• The Faceless: No one knows what Mask truly looks like, as he's constantly changing his appearance.
• Honor Among Thieves: While his dogma advocates accumulating as much wealth as possible, it also specifies that followers should only take what is necessary.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Back when he when he was full-on evil, Mask was the most likely of all the villainous gods to ally with the neutral and good-aligned characters against some greater problem or menace, but it was almost always for some self-serving reason like gaining more power. The 2nd edition sourcebook Faiths And Avatars said that even Neutral Good and Chaotic Good people could worship him, a nod to that edition allowing thieves to choose those alignments. Unfortunately, when he worked with others he always betrayed at least some of them to further his own ends, not to mention he was perfectly willing to kill innocent people whose only crime was being in his way and encouraged his followers to do the same. Even as a more morally neutral god, he's still a ruthless killer and cannot be wholly trusted, except that he's usually still opposed to more malevolent deities regardless.
  • Case in point- the cursed sword Godsbane, which had a nigh-unquenchable bloodlust that compelled those who wielded to go on murderous rampages and massacre whole villages of innocent people (as well as making the wielder homicidally paranoid and possessive, driving one to suicide since he could no longer own it), and assisted Cyric in his ascension to godhood and advised him in his numerous atrocities and bid for absolute power? It had no curse- it was just an avatar of Mask in disguise, and everything it did was just Mask being a manipulative Jerkass trying to set up Cyric for treachery down the road so Mask could take his place.
• Manipulative Bastard: While no god or mortal really trusts him, he's nonetheless able to play them all like fiddles in his various schemes and is fond of playing multiple factions against one another for his own personal benefit, or in rare cases for the greater good of the realms (though such cases are themselves usually Mask trying to clean up a mess of his own making).
• My Death Is Just the Beginning: He saw his death at Shar's hands coming and left ways to undermine his mother and return to life with his clever scheming.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Although he's generally regarded as one of the weaker and less important gods, he's actually played crucial roles in the death of Bhaal, the rise and fall of Cyric, thwarting the plans of dark gods like Myrkul and even Shar, and many other major events in FR history.
• Sticky Fingers: He's the patron god of thieves, and his worshippers follow the belief that wealth rightfully belongs to those who can acquire it.
• Token Good Teammate: The 2nd Edition Faiths And Avatars sourcebook notes that he can have Neutral Good or Chaotic Good worshippers, a nod to some thieves being of good alignment.
• Too Clever by Half: He started out as an intermediate deity, but he spent so much time manipulating Cyric that he neglected his church and fell to lesser status. Then he made the mistake of reading the Cyrinishad and had to shed some of his power to break free of it, reducing him to a demipower. Worst of all, he ended up with Kezef the Chaos Hound after him. Faiths And Avatars noted that since then Mask has tried to be more direct in his plots. He also put effort into restoring his church, returning to the status of a lesser deity and gaining the domain of shadows for his portfolio.
• Trickster God: Zigzagged. He's not the actual god of trickery or lies, but he and his followers still consider them very useful tools. He also was the god of intrigue before the Time of Troubles, although Cyric gained that portfolio when Mask broke away from him.

Oghma, the Lord of Knowledge

Oghma, Patron of Bards

Oghma's symbol

The Binder, The Binder of What is Known, Lord of Knowledge, Patron of all Bards, Patron of Bards, The Wise God, Lord of All Knowledge, God of Wisdom, The Wise, The Bard

God of inspiration, invention, knowledge, bards, writing, arts, and creativity

Greater deity

Alignment: True Neutral

Domains: Knowledge

Symbol: A blank scroll

God of inspiration, invention, and knowledge and the patron of bards, as well as patron of the arts and everything beautiful and creative in all genders.

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• The Bard: He's considered to be the patron deity of all bards, and is commonly depicted carrying a lute.
• God of Knowledge: Oghma is the god of knowledge, inspiration and invention, and his clerics are encouraged to practice free thinking and to spread knowledge and literacy across the realms.
• Leitmotif: Faiths and Avatars mentions that Oghma's manifestations are accompanied by a specific musical flourish ... one which nobody can play, sing, or transcribe, only recognize as his.
• Riddle for the Ages: The Grand Patriarch used to be the head of Oghma's faith before the Time of Troubles, but he mysteriously disappeared after the gods returned to the outer planes. In a very uncharacteristic move for a god of knowledge and inspiration, Oghma gave confusing, contradictory answers when his clergy asked him about it. His church broke into factions arguing over what happened and whether there should be a new Patriarch.
• Secret Test of Character: What some of Oghma's clerics think he did by making the Grand Patriarch vanish and being evasive about his fate. They believe Oghma did it to test his clergy to see if they would continue recording knowledge or be consumed with power struggles.

Red Knight, the Lady of Strategy

Red Knight, Crimson General

Red Knight's symbol

Lady of Strategy, Grandmaster of the Lanceboard, Crimson General, Red Lady, Red Lord

Goddess of strategy, battle tactics, and planning

Exarch

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Domains: War

Symbol: Red knight chess piece with stars for eyes

Deity of strategy and battle tactics and an exarch of Tempus. Her dogma dictates the use of careful tactics in battle to achieve victory, under the belief that sound strategy is the best way to win a battle with the most favorable outcome. Her symbol is a red knight-errant chess piece with stars for eyes.

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• Chess Motif: Her holy symbol, representing her preference for strategy over brute force.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Red Knight keeps her real name secret from everyone except Tempus. If anyone were to know it, that person would be privy to the plots and stratagems of all rulers of Faerûn, and of all gods as well.
• Lady of War: Specifically of planning and long-ranging strategy.
• The Lancer: To Tempus, as she was elevated to godhood by him specifically to act as a backup fighter, strategist, and commander. Unlike some lancers, she is completely loyal to her boss, even seeing him as a father-figure.
• The Strategist: Strategy, planning, and tactics all fall within her domain.
• War God: One focusing specifically on strategy and tactical warfare.

Silvanus, the Forest Father

Silvanus, the Oak Father (as depicted in 3e)

Silvanus' symbol

Oak Father, The Old Oak, Old Father Tree, The Forest Father, Treefather, God of Wild Nature, Green Father

God of wild nature

Greater deity

Alignment: True Neutral

Domains: Nature

Symbol: Oak leaf

God of nature, though formerly considered only the god of wild nature and druids. Silvanus is one of the oldest and most prominent deities in Faerûn, and the wilder counterpart to Chauntea the Earthmother. His worshipers protect places of nature from the encroachment of civilization with vigor and are implacable foes of industrious peoples.

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• Balance Between Good and Evil: As a Neutral deity, Silvanus seeks only to maintain equilibrium between growth and destruction. He also doesn't always show much compassion for people or animals who are seriously harmed by natural disasters or other animals, since that type of violence and death is also part of the natural cycle.
• Carry a Big Stick: His favored weapon is an enormous maul known as the "Great Mallet of Silvanus."
• Gaia's Vengeance: While not proactive about it, Silvanus is more than willing to employ violence and other bloodthirsty tactics to punish those who harm or despoil nature and its creatures, particularly loggers and such. He can also be more subtle about it, as he directs his followers to sponsor brigands and selectively breed and place predators to either get revenge upon or deter those who encroach on his forests, but insists this be done secretly with no connection back to his church. He also directs his followers to breed wildlife, nurse sick animals back to health, and replant trees and other plant life in very public fashion so as to promote a more benign view, making his vengeance far more covert than the usual.
• Good Parents: Despite philosophical differences with his daughter, the good aligned, openly benevolent rather than balanced Mielikki he is never anything but supportive of her and the two get along very well.
• Spear Counterpart: To Chauntea; while she represents the tamed nature of agriculture and farming, Silvanus represents the wild forests.
• True Neutral: invoked The Forest Father takes no side but nature's, even having a blatantly evil deity like Malar serving under him as an exarch. Malar's predation, bloodshed and violence are a necessary part of the natural cycle. He only dislikes it when Malar takes things too far.

Tempus, Lord of Battles

Tempus, the Battle Lord

Tempus' symbol

Foehammer, Lord of Battles, The Battle Lord

God of war, honorable combat, and courage

Greater deity

Alignment: True Neutral

Domains: War

Symbol: Upright flaming sword

Supreme god of war in the Faerûnian Pantheon.

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• Arch-Enemy: Tempus shares the portfolio of War with Garagos, who embodies the destructive aspects of war in contrast to Tempus embodying its glorious, honorable aspects. The two mutually loathe each other, but Garagos is the weaker of the two deities, and Tempus refuses to completely destroy Garagos because it would mean being forced to take control of his portfolio.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Tempus became and maintains his position as god of war by defeating all others who would claim the title.
• Blood Knight: About halfway. Tempus does enjoy fights the most, but the warfare should be about honour and glory—he opposes meaningless carnage and destruction, or endless blood feuds. Conversely, cowardice and other dishonorable behaviour is punished, as are attacks on what belongs to Eldath: his followers are supposed to search for a tough opponent, not push pacifists around.
• Boisterous Bruiser: His style—honest, feasting, active, not holding grudges, but eager for the next fight. He even gave the Strategy part of the portfolio to the Red Knight and left Destruction to Garagos.
• Bully Hunter: A downplayed example. Tempus enjoys conflict between Worthy Opponents, not strong people bullying weaker ones. He specifically reminds his followers not to disrespect any potential foe, since anyone can show courage. He also punishes any of his followers who abuse Eldath's temples and clergy, given that the latter goddess and her followers are much weaker and more nonviolent by nature.
• Dating Catwoman: He has romantic ties to Beshaba, evil goddess of bad luck. While Tempus is a neutral god, he's one of the only non-evil gods to have an affair with a blatantly evil one.
• Due to the Dead: Those who fought well are praised and remembered. Indeed, followers of Tempus frequently hang all around the worship site collected shields of fallen warriors, whether allies or foes.
• Everyone Has Standards: Even though he stands opposite to Eldath, the goddess of Peace, he doesn't wish for her demise since War has little meaning without Peace to define it. However, he does find her weak and way too naïve for her own good. But attacking and/or desecrating her shrines and her priests is something he strictly forbids his followers from doing.
• The Faceless: Tempus never removes his full-face helmet.
• Gods Need Prayer Badly: The fact that gods in the Forgotten Realms are empowered by worship means that Tempus, to whom practically every combatant on the planet says a prayer on the eve of battle, is one of the most powerful deities in the entire pantheon.
• The Voiceless: He never speaks (aside from growls in battle or grunts of exertion) in front of mortals. He communicates with his worshipers through omens and visions. Word of God is that he's intended to be a lot more mysterious than most war-gods of legend.
• War God: His dogma (as illustrated by "object lessons" of The Trail of Tears):
  War is fair in that it oppresses all sides equally and in any given battle a mortal may be slain or become a great leader among his or her companions.
  Acquit yourself honorably and tirelessly in battle, but do not fear to retreat from hopeless fights.
  War should not be feared, but be seen as a natural force that civilization brings by its very existence. Pestilence and famine are the true scourges of civilization, for they too afflict all equally yet without the opportunity for valor.
  Defend what you believe in, lest it be swept away, and remember the dead who fell fighting before. Disparage no foe and respect all, for valor blazes in all, regardless of age, gender, or race.

Ubtao, Father of the Dinosaurs

Ubato, The Deceiver (as depicted in 3e)

Ubato's symbol (3e)

Creator of Chult, Founder of Mezro, Father of the Dinosaurs, The Deceiver

God of creation, jungles, dinosaurs, and creator of Chults

Primordial

Alignment: True Neutral

Domains: Balance, Planning, Plant, Pride, Protection, Scalykind

Symbol: Maze

Not truly a god, but a Primordial. During the Dawn War, Ubtao the Deceiver betrayed his fellow Primordials, tipping the scales in the gods' favor. After the war ended, the gods awarded Ubtao the peninsula of Chult in gratitude, where he would reign as the supreme god. In return, Ubtao promised to guard the Peaks of Flame, where Dendar the Night Serpent was imprisoned. In recent times, Ubtao's influence has been divided into a number of minor spirits and vestiges, and many worry that his covenant to guard Dendar's prison has been broken after Shar usurped one of these spirits.

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• Founder of the Kingdom: Ubtao built the sacred city of Mezro, and appointed his chosen to lead it.
• God Is Displeased: The lost city of Omu managed to piss Ubtao off something fierce by way of extreme debauchery, conquest, and enslaving their neighbours. In response, Ubtao withdrew his favor, causing the clerics to lose their power and a slave rebellion ensued. Omu did survive thanks to the favor of some nearby forest spirits. Until Acererak arrived.
• The Maze: Ubtao's symbol is a maze, and he really loves mazes. One landmark in Chult is a bridge with a maze pattern carved into it. Using a finger or tool to complete the maze while passing over will please Ubtao, and he will not have a stone golem crush you to death as an award.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He appointed seven Chosen known as the barae to rule Chult. One of them, Ras Nsi, ended up going mad with power, was banished and raised an army of undead that still plague Chult to this day.
• Pieces of God: Ubtao eventually distanced himself from mortal affairs, and his influence was split up between a variety of vestiges.
• Red Baron: Ubtao the Deceiver. Unusually, this is actually a positive title, as the ones he deceived were the primordials.
• Top God: Of Chult, though he's not actually a god.

Waukeen, Merchant's Friend

Waukeen, Our Lady of Gold

Waukeen's symbol

Liberty's Maiden, The Coinmaiden,, Merchants' Friend, Merchant's Friend, The Golden Lady, Our Lady of Gold, Lady of Trade

Goddess of trade, wealth, merchants, money, and commerce

Lesser deity

Alignment: True Neutral

Domains: Knowledge, Trickery

Symbol: Upright coin with Waukeen's profile facing left

Also known as Our Lady of Gold, Coinmaiden, Liberty's Maiden, the Golden Lady. Waukeen's domain was everything related to commerce and the accumulation of wealth through free and fair trade, as well as the beneficial use of wealth to improve civilization. She was also the patron of illicit trade.

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• The Almighty Dollar: A wealth goddess of money and merchants.
• Horrible Judge of Character: For a goddess of trade and commerce, Waukeen showed unbelievably poor judgement in trusting a demon prince, given that demons are literally Always Chaotic Evil. Graz'zt then kept her as a slave for several years, using her divine power and knowledge of wealth to fill his coffers.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Subverted. The demon prince Graz'zt had Waukeen completely at his mercy, and he forced her to serve him. Instead of physically harming her, he forced her to help him increase his wealth.
• Puppet King: A Harlot Coin heresy within her own church stipulates that Waukeen wasn't actually saved from Graz'zt's domain but has to pay him off with her power, making him the one her church is really serving and her merely a figurehead. The ones spreading this heresy, Six-Fingered Gentlemen, apparently are perfectly fine with this predicament.
• Too Clever by Half: During the Time of Troubles, she schemed to get back to the outer planes by effectively giving up her divinity and smuggling herself back to her divine realm. It was a good plan...except the part where she enlisted the help of Graz'zt, the Always Chaotic Evil demon prince. Graz'zt saw the benefits of having a hot, wealthy goddess of trade and riches as a slave, so he double-crossed Waukeen and kept her as his prisoner. He forced her to use her divine knowledge of wealth and trade to line his pockets until she was eventually freed in the adventure "For Duty and Deity."
• Too Dumb to Live: She decided to trust Graz'zt, a demon prince who is literally Always Chaotic Evil, and thought that he would return her to her planar home.

Evil Gods

Asmodeus, Supreme of the Nine Hells

Asmodeus, the Lord of the Ninth (as depicted in 5e)

Asmodeus' symbol

Supreme Master of the Nine Hells, Lord of Nessus, The Lord of the Ninth, The Lord of the Ruby Rod, Lord of Lies, Prince of Evil, The Cloven, Old Hoof and Horn, The Archfiend, The Raging Fiend, The Reigning Serpent

God of indulgence, oppression, and patron of all devils

Greater deity

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Domains: Knowledge, Order, Trickery

Symbol: Three inverted triangles arranged in a long triangle

Asmodeus was a patron of oppression and power, the greatest devil, and the Lord of the Ninth and overlord of the Nine Hells as a whole.

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• Affably Evil: Is generally calm and polite. Just don't piss him off.
• Ambition Is Evil: The path of Asmodeus is the way to great and unattainable power, so clerics of Asmodeus are often men and women of great influence and charisma and end up in positions of leadership. His own ambition is nothing short of conquering and corrupting every single plane of existence—and he seems more than capable of pulling it off.
• Arch-Enemy: He seems to have made a hobby out of this; every single archdevil, while nominally his subordinate, hates his guts and dreams of overthrowing him; the Chaotic Evil demons of the Abyss consider him their long-term enemy (insofar as they think "long-term", anyway), and he is directly opposed to every Good-aligned deity and the entirety of the Celestial realms, working long and hard to corrupt them all.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: As with most evil deities, he maintains power mainly by being smart enough and strong enough to stop anyone from taking it from him. He is far more powerful than any of his closest rivals and has more worshippers than every other archdevil combined, and those devils have to share their worshippers with him anyway. And now he is a full-blown god, as strong or stronger than he has ever been.
• Big Bad: Possibly the Biggest Bad of the whole setting. Apparently he views the entirety of the forces of Evil, including rivals and enemies, to be nothing but pawns on a cosmic chessboard with himself as the player against the forces of Good, who are barely aware that they are playing. And given what an utterly brilliant chessmaster he is, he may well be right. His recent ascension to godhood has certainly put him up there, at the very least.
• Carry a Big Stick: The Ruby Rod of Asmodeus, besides having a very...unfortunate name, is one of the most powerful weapons in the Realms, able to perform a wide range of magical spells. His church favors great clubs and maces crafted in the Rod's image.
• The Chessmaster: Possibly the best chessmaster of all greater deities; probably the best of all evil deities and definitely the best throughout the Nine Hells. He has spies and assassins on every plane of existence and in every court of power, and his plans are intricately detailed and may take centuries if not millennia to come to fruition, but almost always manage to benefit him in some way once they do.
• The Corrupter: Par excellence. He loves tricking people into falling or becoming tools for him or the Devils of Hell. Of particular note is Zariel, who provoked a battle among angels when she jostled her way forward to testify against him; whether he influenced her emotions or simply took an interest in her, he was seen smirking as the brawl escalated, and later recruited her as a Lord of the Nine after she was struck down in the Blood War.
• Deadpan Snarker: Even the Lord of Nessus has his moments.
  Asmodeus: (to the celestial jury during his trial) I literally sit beneath eight tiers of scheming ambitious entities that represent primal law suffused with evil. The path from this realm leads to an infinite pit of chaos and evil. Now, tell me again how you and your ilk are the victims in this eternal struggle?
• Deal with the Devil: His modus operandi; and of all the evil deities, he is the one most likely to play this trope literally, with a contract and everything, or at least to hold onto his side of the bargain (From a Certain Point of View, of course).
• Decadent Court: Baator as a whole is run on this premise. Asmodeus always comes out on top.
• Demon Lords and Archdevils: One of the classic modern examples and possibly the most influential after actual demonology.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Suggested to have genuinely cared for his (deceased) wife and (still living) daughter. Levistrus is currently stuck in an iceberg due to having killed the former. Granted, both were/are evil themselves, but still.
• Evil Versus Evil: The Blood War between Devils and Demons which has raged on for tens of thousands of years at the very least. Asmodeus technically won the conflict, but really only delayed it for a bit before it continued anyway. That said, it's really more of a successful Enforced Cold War. Preventing relatively easy access between the two races of fiends put a damper on it, but didn't really stop it.
• Evil Genius: Asmodeus is without question one of the smartest beings across the Forgotten Realms. He knows most things going on, how best to exploit any given situation, and even when things go wrong seemingly, he almost always has some control.
• Evil Virtues: Ambition, patience, resourcefulness, and valor.
• Exact Words: He is the undisputed master of the carefully worded diabolical contract and will always take care to carefully word any agreement so that it ultimately benefits him. However, he will never, ever tell a flat-out lie, and his dogma explicitly forbids his followers from doing so—not out of standards, of course, but because having people know they can at least technically trust you is efficient Pragmatic Villainy.
• Faux Affably Evil:
  • On the surface, Asmodeus is the most well mannered, reasonable and soft spoken of all archdevils, with mortals that interact with him being surprised by how casual he seems and how generous his deals are. This is due to the fact that he is so powerful that he has no need to posture and his generosity is due to him knowing he'll eventually get whatever he gifted back with interest as his unwitting victims signed away their souls and become pawns for his dark designs.
  • Instead of gaining new followers through lies, his cult is upfront to new prospects that they'll be signing their souls away to an immoral archdevil. The appeal of worshipping him is the fact that Asmodeus promises that they can spend their lives doing whatever they want without fear of divine reprisal and when they die, they be whisked to the Nine Hells immediately instead of waiting a lengthy period to be judged and they'll avoid the tortures that other damned souls have to suffer. What Asmodeus is less open about is the fact that they'll more than likely be turned into near mindless lemures with no memory of their past lives and be used and abused at the whims of higher ranking devils.
• God-Eating: One version of his ascension to godhood happened when the god of wizardry, Azuth, fell into Nessus after Mystra's realm unravelled during the Spellplague. Asmodeus consumed the god, and ascended.
• God of Evil: His official position within the pantheon is God of Sin.
• The Legions of Hell: His to command. He doesn't personally lead them though, instead having the various layers be governed by others while he acts as essentially an overseer.
• Magic Knight: Most gods are like this, really, but descriptions of Asmodeus go out of their way to cite both his skill with magic and as a warrior.
• The Man Behind the Man: He has innumerable mortal followers including countless who end up in positions of leadership, almost certainly including many kings and other monarchs as well as members and perhaps even heads of various rival religions, including Good-aligned ones. Every single time a mortal worships an archdevil, their worship actually goes all to Asmodeus, whether they know or wish it or not. And he is said to be the secret master of the Chaotic Evil demon lord Graz'zt...and maybe even his father.
• Multiple-Choice Past: Different versions name him as either a Fallen Angel or a fallen god, and the details of his fall are given conflicting accounts—in the main, this is just clumsy writing and Retcon-itis at work, and was not intentional. The only canon things we know about Asmodeus is that he has fallen and that he has a legal right to everything he does.
• Nightmare Fetishist: If the theories Demon Prince Graz'zt is actually son of Asmodeus and Pale Night are true, it would mean Asmodeus somehow procreated with an entity so horrible anyone who looks beyond her veil dies and many believe said veil was imposed by the will of the Universe itself, unable to stand her visage.
• The Omniscient: Possibly. Apparently he is at least aware of every single plot that is ever hatched against him—which is one of many reasons why none of them ever succeed. In addition, his godly domain includes the realm of Knowledge. He is probably not literally omniscient, but may be within the realms of Baator and possibly in some wider sense as well, and this would go a long way to explaining why he is so successful.
• Papa Wolf: Implied. His daughter, Glasya, has been known to invoke her relation to Asmodeus to get out of trouble with other devils, implying that if they tried anything with her, they'd face his wrath. Also, after Asmodeus' victory in the Reckoning, he personally ordered Mammon to end his relationship with Glasya, though whether this was out of pragmatism, punishment, or if he simply felt that Mammon was an inappropriate match for his daughter is unclear.
• Rules Lawyer: Weaponized as part of his Exact Words and Villains Never Lie process. He knows what rules and restrictions are important and how he can use them to get what he wants.
• Satanic Archetype: Zig-Zagged. Satan himself actually does exist in the cosmology in some accounts of Asmo's backstory, but he is the deposed ruler of Hell and a Sealed Evil in a Can that nobody is in any hurry to let out, and might be weaker and less dangerous than Asmodeus anyway. While Satan and Lucifer (specifically mentioned as separate entities) are mentioned in previous editions, and Satan himself was even deposed at one point, their current status as canon is highly questionable. Moreover, Asmodeus has the classic characterization of Satan as made popular in Christian fiction such as Paradise Lost—which is significantly different from the mythological Asmodeus/Asmodai's characterization as a lustful trickster, which for all his cunning, Asmodeus certainly is not.
• Smug Super: He has the gall to take credit for every single act of evil committed, thinking of other Evil gods and his traitorous underlings as just unaware pawns in his own personal war with the forces of Good, and is competent and silver-tongued enough for that to be a genuine possibility. His entry in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes states that "[i]f Asmodeus were any less capable, his arrogance would have led to his undoing long ago", and that everyone, his celestial enemies and devilish rivals included, still acknowledges that he's very talented at what he does.
• Torture Technician: Well, he is a devil, after all—torturing mortal sinners for eternity is part of the whole deal. In fact, one (probably false) version of his backstory has him actually creating Hell for this exact purpose, meaning he invented the very concept of punishment (sources very over whether he created the concept of punishment for his personal benefit or to gain energy for the Blood War). Torment is actually listed as one of his domains.
• Took a Level in Badass: Went from the most powerful Archdevil for the first 3 (and a half) editions of D & D to a full-blown Greater God by the time the 4th came about. It is implied that he has basically done nothing but become more and more powerful ever since he took up ownership of Hell all those millennia ago. Yes, even that one time he was overthrown was just part of an elaborate Evil Plan on his part to root out traitors.
• Villains Never Lie: Half-truths, Exact Words, From a Certain Point of View etc. etc. are all fair game though.
• We Are Everywhere: His cultists are rarely if ever out in the open, but they infest every sector of society from the highest to the lowest. He even has followers in the Good-aligned religions, working to subvert them from within. He also has agents in the Celestial realms, the demon planes of the Abyss, and within the ranks of his own archdevils, all secretly answering to him.
• Wicked Cultured: Among other things, his clothes alone are said to cost more than a country spends on food in an entire year.

Auril, the Cold Goddess

Auril, the Frostmaiden

Auril's symbol

The Cold Goddess, The Queen of Cold and Frost, Queen of Frozen Tears, The Frostmaiden, Brittle Maiden, Frost Sprite Queen, Lady Frostkiss, Lady Icekiss, Storm-bringer, Soverign of Summers Lost, General of Winter's War, Winter's Womb, Icedawn

Goddess of winter, snow, ice, and cold

Lesser deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Domains: Tempest

Symbol: Six-pointed snowflake

The embodiment of winter's cruelty and all its deadliest aspects, Auril was the goddess of winter and cold. Arrogant and vain, Auril was incapable of true feelings of love, honor, or other noble emotions, yet adored her ice and all forms of beauty. From natural wonders, to art objects, to the artists themselves, the Frostmaiden froze them all in magical ice, preserving them from the ravages of time and hoarding them away for her viewing pleasure alone. Her symbol is a six-pointed snowflake.

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• Big Bad: She is the main villain of the 5th edition module Icewind Dale Rime Of The Frostmaiden, putting Icewind Dale under an Endless Winter called the "Everlasting Rime".
• Clingy Jealous Girl: She's rather peeved whenever Talos gets credit for the freezing misery people suffer, and tends to make it even worse in retaliation.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: An almost literal example in that one of her rituals involves a cleric forcing some hapless victim to pray to Auril for the length of time that it takes for a piece of ice to melt against their bare skin.
• The Corruption: Auril was originally the non-malevolent Aurilandür the Frost Sprite Queen, sister of Titania, princess of the Seelie Court. This all changed for the worse when one day dwarven miners brought a black gemstone they had unearthed as a well-intentioned gift to the Seelie Court. Sadly, this black, ten-faceted gem, was a creation of a "Dark God" of the Underdark (almost certainly the god Tharizdun from Greyhawk), slowly corrupted the princess, and turned her into her current, utterly evil self.
• The Fair Folk: In 4th edition Realms, Auril was revealed to be the Queen of Air and Darkness, Queen and Goddess of Evil Fey.
• Giant Woman: Her second form is a ten-foot-tall humanoid made of snow and ice called Lady Icekiss. However, this form also has a Logical Weakness to fire damage.
• An Ice Person: She has dominion over cold, ice, and the winter season. She's worshipped by cold-dwelling monsters like frost giants and ice mephits, as well as humans such as fur trappers and barbarians. She can also grant ice-based spells to her clergy. She also frequently appears as a woman made entirely of crystalline ice.
• Kill It with Ice: This is one of her favorite activities, and she expects her clergy to follow her example. Every cleric of Auril is required to kill at least one living thing by cold during the winter.
• Logical Weakness: Her second form is a ten-foot-tall humanoid made of snow and ice called Lady Icekiss. Seeing as how she's made of ice, Lady Icekiss is weak to fire damage. Her third form is a giant crystal called Winter's Womb, which likewise is weak to thunder.
• Ominous Owl: Her physical form in Icewind Dale Rime Of The Frostmaiden is that of a giant humanoid owl.
• Pet the Dog: Auril demands that her each of clergy kill at least one living thing every winter. Some clerics target personal enemies or threats, but others kill wild animals for food that they provide to lay worshippers and potential converts.
• Token Good Teammate: Many of her lay worshippers are trappers, fur traders and other northerners who aren't evil but worship her simply out of fear.
• Villainous Breakdown: As a god, she can't truly be killed and destroying her physical form will only banish her for a time. However, if she is killed by the party in Icewind Dale Rime Of The Frostmaiden, she's so unused to being bested by mortals she'll flee into isolation to avoid being bested by them again.
• White Hair, Black Heart: She has snow-white hair in keeping with her portfolio, but she's as nasty and spiteful as they come.
• Worf Had the Flu: In Icewind Dale Rime Of The Frostmaiden, maintaining the Everlasting Rime takes the majority of her power, weakening her greatly. This is the main reason the party stands a chance of defeating her in a straight up confrontation. Even then, she's still a very dangerous foe.

Beshaba, Lady Doom

Beshaba, the Maid of Misfortune (as depicted in 3e)

Beshaba's symbol

Black Bess, Lady Doom, The Maid of Misfortune, The Maid of Misrule

Goddess of misfortune, bad luck, accidents, and mischief

Intermediate deity

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Domains: Trickery

Symbol: Black antlers

Goddess of accidents, bad luck, misfortune, and random mischief, and a member of Tempus' pantheon during the Spellplague. Lady Doom was the equally acknowledged counterpart of Tymora, Lady Luck, and demanded worship to keep her misfortunes at bay. Most feared her presence, but few would risk not invoking her name and inviting her to any event, lest she take offense and wreak havoc upon all involved.

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• Cain and Abel: Shares this dynamic with Tymora, being the Cain to her Abel.
• Comedic Sociopathy: Basically the goddess of this. She's the god of bad luck and delights in turning those who displease her into the Butt-Monkey.
• Evil Twin: She's this to Tymora.
• He Who Must Not Be Named: Most mortals avoid referring to her by name, as they believe that doing so will attract her attention and incur her wrath.
• Lady Luck: Goddess of ill fortune and accidents.
• Villainesses Want Heroes: Romantically involved with Tempus, the antiheroic War God. One of the very few instances of an evil deity being involved with a non-evil deity.

Cyric, the Prince of Lies

Cyric, the Dark Sun

Cyric's symbol

Prince of Lies, The Dark Sun, The Black Sun, The Mad God, The Lord of Three Crowns, Lord of Four Crowns, The Fateless, The One, The All, The Face Behind the Mask, The Everything, The Most Mighty, The Highest of the High, Almighty, The One and the All, The Mad One, Dark Prince, Prince of Madness, The Assassin

God of lies, trickery, and strife

Greater god

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Domains: Trickery

Symbol: White skull on a black or purple sunset

Evil god of Combo Platter Powers supreme, Cyric was a mortal who ascended after the Time of Troubles after having taken the combined portfolios of the Dead Three as well as illusions and trickery from Leira and several aspects of Mask. The second, third and fourth editions would see his fortunes (and threat level) wax and wane. He is currently the imprisoned god of madness, strife and trickery, having lost several of his old domains.

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: Depending on the Writer really. In some books, he is described as classically handsome and extremely charismatic, such as by the Succubus in The Fractured Sky and throughout most of James Lowder's works, and as hideous and twisted in most other works. WotC Canon has him pictured mostly as a normal-looking guy. Cyric has more appearances than perhaps any god/goddess except Mystra, who seems to change appearance after each "death/reincarnation" cycle. Of course, having been the god of lies, trickery and deception, it's entirely natural for him to change his appearance as it suits him.
• Arch-Enemy: Formerly with Mystra; currently with Kelemvor and Bane. He also hates a lot of other deities in multiple pantheons, and they hate him right back.
• At Least I Admit It: Admits his lies and murders very easily, since he is the god of such things and he is not at all going against his specific "code of honor" if he has one. Even the Overgod agreed with Cyric on the case of murdering other gods. Except, it seems, when he murdered Mystra, Azuth, Helm, and Tyr. That seemed to be even more than Ao could handle (if Ao exists in 4E anyway).
• Ax-Crazy: Most of the time, though his lucid moments are far scarier than his crazy moments.
• Bad Boss: It sucks working for Cyric. Most worshipers get by on some level of distance, but he's a petty and abusive jackass who on a good day dramatically complicates the lives of those closest to him. Bites him hard when Bane returns, as many former Banites were thrilled to work for the old boss who at least understood the concept of reward.
• Believing Their Own Lies: One of Cyric's first acts after ascending to godhood was to sponsor the creation of a holy text for his religion, the Cyrinishad, and place an enchantment on the first copy that mind-controlled anyone who read it into believing that Cyric is the only god worthy of worship. When Cyric decided to re-read it to himself, the enchantment took control of his mind, pushing him to new heights of insanity and megalomania.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Cyric was once set up to be one of the most powerful Gods after the Time of Troubles after inheriting the portfolios of Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul and becoming the greatest threat to the Realms. After losing the portfolio of the Dead to Kelemvor, numerous resurrections swipe away pieces of Cyric's portfolio and ultimately the Second Sundering undid his greatest triumph and resulted in him being locked away. He's still a Greater God, but his power has waned significantly.
• Blessed with Suck: During his trial, a mortal worshiper managed to steal a reversed copy of the Cyrinishad away from the middle of Candlekeep and a pair of guardians a hell of a lot more skilled and violent than he was. While under Mystra's (lifelong, as it turns out) enchantment to speak the truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth, he read the book aloud at Cyric's trial, curing him of the original Cyrinishad's curse and restoring him to sanity. As a reward, Cyric promoted him to be his Seraph of Lies. When the man protested that he couldn't lie, Cyric told him that made him perfect for the job.
• The Caligula: A cackling, sadistic lunatic when he ruled over the realm of the dead and delighted in not only torturing anyone who got sent his way, but actively lured mortals into faithless and false deaths to get them there.
• The Chessmaster: As a god of lies, illusion, intrigue, trickery and deception, Cyric directed his clergy to manipulate, lie and betray anyone and everyone they could to gain power and benefit him. Even after he lost many of these portfolios, this continues to be his preferred tactic.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: All the time.
• Consummate Liar: Note title, of course, even though he doesn't have to lie most of the time.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Cyric took Bane's place as the Realms' most powerful evil god after the Time of Troubles. Bane was open and brutal in his tyranny, wanting to ruthlessly conquer everything he can and terrify his subjects into obedience. Cyric was more subtle, preferring to use trickery, lies and manipulation to undermine his foes. Clever assassinations and murder were preferred to open warfare that gave Tempus more power.
• Dark Is Evil: One of his titles is the Black Sun.
• Deity of Human Origin: Together with Mystra (Midnight) and Kelemvor (Lyonsbane). The three were humans who ascended to godhood.
• Depending on the Writer: His sanity, appearance, and relationships with the other gods. In the Avatar series, he seems to have unrequited love for Mystra and seems to resent brawny, handsome Kelemvor for winning her heart. In Denning's works, he is just a megalomaniac who wants everyone to worship him. In WotC timeline, he's actually a brilliant Trickster and ends up proving himself not so harmless after all, and NOT too insane to be effective. He causes Shar to lose a massive amount of power, her own Weave AND Mystra's Weave, the deaths of Helm, Tyr and Azuth, and the Spellplague. Sure he gets locked up for a thousand years, but that's a small price to pay for causing all that chaos that Cyric loves so much. Besides, as master of lies and illusion it's only a matter of time before he's out of his prison.
• Dirty Coward: Runs away when he knows he can't win at all, turns to stealing and lying instead of fighting to get what he wants.
• Evil Versus Evil: Is commanding his church into a holy war against the church of Bane. Was also commanding his church to war against EACH OTHER when he was "insane".
• Fate Worse than Death: His punishment for the deaths of Helm and Mystra and the Spellplague? Eternal banishment to a pocket plane, unable to communicate with anyone or anything, although he can still grant spells to his clerics.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: He started out as a human slave but during the Time of Troubles he killed many gods; absorbing their portfolios and becoming a greater deity himself.
• Godhood Seeker: Even when he was mortal, this was all he could think of.
• Hated by All: Pretty much everybody else in the Realms, both mortal and divine, truly and utterly hates him. Other major evil gods like Bane, Talos and Shar could have allies and servant gods, but everybody knows that Cyric is a backstabbing, manipulative asshat who lies every time his lips move. Not only does every god in the Faerunian pantheon hate him, but so do many of the gods of various demihuman pantheons.
• Inadequate Inheritor: In-universe, Cyric was viewed this by a great majority of Myrkul and Bane's former followers, including Fzoul Chembryl. Given that he got Zhentil Keep destroyed by his own armies and drove himself insane, there may be something to this. Notably, he started to mellow after Bane and Kelemvor took away most of his stolen portfolios.
• It's All About Me: Had his followers create a tome that convinced anyone who read it that Cyric was the only true god. Then he read it himself.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: He starts off having redeeming qualities. Little by little, he throws it away to finally become a horrific murderer who seizes godhood on the sole basis of his own evil.
• Mad God: As Dragon Magazine put it, "When it comes to madness, Cyric leads by example."
• Manipulative Bastard: This is Cyric's preferred mode of operation. His clergy are to use treachery, strife, and lies to spread evil and gain power, without making everything explode into open warfare that only benefits Tempus.
• Not Good with Rejection: What fully cemented his fall into evil was Midnight rejecting him in favor of loving Kelemvor.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: For a while, he was considered something of a harmless villain because he was too crazy to be effective. Then he killed Mystra and set off the Spellplague.
  • He orchestrated the death of Helm, and subsequently Tyr's fall from grace.
  • He brought about Shar's loss of BOTH her own Shadow Weave and Mystra's Weave. A massive loss of power for the Lady of Loss. Oh, he also indirectly killed Azuth, which most people forget. Making his total of murdered gods (directly or indirectly) in 4E... well..., four.
• Professional Killer: A major part of his worship comes from this profession. He was the actual god of murder for quite a while.
• Pyrrhic Villainy: The Spellplague and Mystra's murder was unquestionably his greatest moment. It was undone by the Second Sundering, which stole away most of Cyric's power and resulted in some very angry gods tossing him into his realm, unable to leave.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one to an entire council of murderous greater gods in the Trial of Cyric... and gets away with it. He also gives Mystra and Kelemvor various speeches throughout the book. Cyric is also on the receiving end of such a speech in the same book, but it isn't near as epic as his chewing out an entire pantheon of angry battle gods, some who absolutely HATE him, such as Kelemvor and Tempus.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Was banished to his realm, "The Supreme Throne" (he's a very humble god ) for the aformentioned killing of Mystra.
• Self-Made Orphan: Murders both his adoptive and biological fathers. In the original story (possibly a lie, possibly just different writers not getting the story straight) he simply ran away from his adoptive parents and then murdered his biological father. In Prince of Lies, it's made clear by Oghma, God of Knowledge, that he murdered BOTH sets of parents. Self-Made Orphan indeed.
• Self-Proclaimed Liar: Note his title.
• Start of Darkness: In Shadowdale (the book), it's made clear that he absolutely LOVES watching gods kill each other. This is possibly the start of his future God of Murder status. Then he gets rejected by Midnight in favor of Kelemvor and that is what really pushes him over the edge toward evil.
• That Liar Lies: Called by Torm "nothing but lies" when he claims he didn't kill the former goddess of Illusion. (He was technically NOT lying, since it was MASK who killed her, in the guise of Cyric's sword, Godsbane.)
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • After he takes over as the chief God of Evil for a time, some of his top followers are former Banites who hated his guts when he was mortal and have to suppress their serious disdain for him. Cyric is well aware and rubs it in their face as much as he can.
  • This also applied to his broader clergy, which were amalgamated from Bane's, Bhaal's and Myrkul's often mutually-hostile churches. Later averted after Cyric regained his sanity, as he put more effort into consolidating his church and many of the followers he inherited from the Dead Three were replaced by followers who specifically chose him as their patron.
• The Trickster: Sort of. He makes it very clear that he prefers trickery and lies over such petty things as judging the dead, but he isn't a funny jokester at all. More like an Evil!Trickster.
• Villains Never Lie: Despite his title, he doesn't have to, most of the time. Like with Malik, the best lie is the most unbelievable truth.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Kelemvor/Lyonsbane (and Midnight/Mystra), as a mortal. He was brains to Kel's brawn. After Kel slept with Midnight... their relationship went out the window. After he crossed the Moral Event Horizon by killing one of Midnight's friends, that relationship also went down the drain. He really has No Social Skills.
• We ARE Struggling Together: When Cyric ascended to godhood, he received the combined priesthoods of the entire Dead Three. This led to a lot of infighting and backstabbing among the different factions of Cyric's new church, since most of them were rivals under their previous deities. It got even worse after Cyric went crazy and started giving his priests contradictory orders. Cyric mostly managed to fix this once his sanity was restored, as he put more effort into consolidating the different factions of his church. It didn't hurt that many of his former clerics of Myrkul converted to worshipping Kelemvor after the latter also became a god, or that many of his former clerics of Bane returned to the Black Hand after Bane's resurrection. As time went on, the priests he inherited from the Dead Three were also replaced by priests who joined him based on his own divine persona.
• We Used to Be Friends: He was once dear friends with Mystra and Kelemvor. None of that remains and they despise one another in present day.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Cyric is a master of this. Just read the novels he's in and see how he turns every situation to his advantage, even if it looks like it's going to pot. The Trial for example. His plot to have the Cyrinishad read at the Trial gets squashed quite quickly, but Cyric had another way to win the Trial. He had planned for the eventuality of the trial failing, even though he is about as arrogant as it gets and doesn't believe he could possibly fail. Of course, in the end, we realize the trial was ALL CYRIC'S DOING IN THE FIRST PLACE! At the start, he had planned it to expose the other gods to the Cyrinishad, but when that failed, immediately decided ending Mystra and Kelemvor's love would also serve his evil just as well.

Garagos, the Reaver

Garagos, Lord of War

Garagos' symbol

Lord of War, Master of All Weapons, The Reaver

God of war, destruction, plunder, and slaughter

Exarch

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Domains: War

Symbol: A counterclockwise circle of five arms clutching swords

In the pantheon of ancient Netheril, there was once a war god named Targus who was worshipped as a Greater Deity. At some point, Tempus fought and defeated all of the other war gods in Faerûn in order to claim their powers for himself. However, he decided there were certain aspects of war he had no interest in embodying, so he decided that Targus could continue to exist on condition that he served Tempus as an Exarch and took those aspects of war as his own; thus Targus became Garagos, God of plunder, destruction and mindless slaughter.

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• Arch-Enemy: Garagos loathes Tempus but lacks the strength and support needed to destroy him.
• Ax-Crazy: At times, he can seem more like a physical manifestation of rage than a sentient being. It says a lot that he makes Tempus (the main War God) seem reasonable by comparison.
• Blood-Splattered Warrior: According to Faiths and Pantheons "The goal of every worshipper of Garagos is to be covered in their enemies blood at the heart of a conflict they initiated."
• Destroyer Deity: God of the destructive aspects of warfare.
• Expy: Like Ares from Classical Mythology, he's a god of one particular aspect of warfare, has a rivalry with another War God and is seen as inferior to his rival because the aspect of war he embodies isn't looked on favorably by most people.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: When he was still part of the ancient Netherese pantheon, He was a Greater Deity in his own right and well respected - in more modern times, he's become an Exarch (the lowest rank of god), has been forced into servitude by Tempus, and is worshipped only by the most Ax-Crazy of individuals, all of which he despises.
• Loser Deity: Being forced into a position of subservience by Tempus, and having to share the portfolio of war with him while the rest of Faerûn recognises Tempus as the more powerful of the two gods, has left Garagos with an enormous chip on his shoulder about his situation.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Frequently depicted with 6 arms, and his holy symbol, the Tentacus, consists of 5 well-muscled arms each carrying a sword.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Plunder and mindless slaughter are part of his divine portfolio.
• War God: Shares the war portfolio with Tempus, though his portfolio focuses more on the destruction caused by war than on war itself.

Loviatar, the Maiden of Pain

Loviatar, the Willing Whip

Loviatar's symbol

The Maiden of Pain, The Willing Whip, The Scourge Mistress, Patroness of Torturers

Goddess of pain, agony, and torture

Intermediate deity

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Domains: Death

Symbol: Nine-tailed barbed scourge

Queen and servant to the greater god Bane, Loviatar is a cold-hearted bully, calculating and despotic; she is the master of inflicting physical and psychological suffering and her portfolio includes Pain, Hurt and Torture. Her symbol is a nine-stranded whip, with barbed strands.

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• Blue-and-Orange Morality: She believes that nothing should be given without being earned through suffering and that kindness is only useful in making cruelty that much more potent.
• Bondage Is Bad: Loviatar's holy rituals resemble BDSM rites to the extreme — her clergy often making livings as professional dominatrixes or the masters of brothels catering to that fetish — but she and her followers are all evil by invoked Character Alignment.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She seems to have genuinely loved her sister, Kiputytto, which may be another reason for her hatred of and rivalry with Talona, who slew her.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: It is said that Loviatar always makes the assumption that all other beings are as innately selfish as her when trying to comprehend their motives. Because of this, acts of genuine heroism, charity or self-sacrifice can end up ruining her schemes.
• Unholy Matrimony: With Bane, to whom she serves as consort.
• Whip of Dominance: She is goddess of pain, torture, and sadism, whips are the favored weapon of her clergy, and her associated weapon is the scourge (multi-lashed whip).

Malar, the Beastlord

Malar, the Wild Hunter

Malar's symbol

The Beastlord, The Black-Blooded One, The Wild Hunter, Master of the Hunt

God of the hunt, evil lycanthropes, savagery, and bloodlust

Lesser deity

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Domains: Nature

Symbol: Clawed paw

The Beastlord, the lesser deity of the hunt, evil lycanthropes, bestial savagery, and bloodlust. His dogma concerns savage hunts, the spreading of the curse of lycanthropy, and general contempt for civilization. Currently serves as an exarch for Silvanus.

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• Ax-Crazy: Though he specifically forbids the hunting of pregnant women and children, everyone and everything else is fair game to the Black-Blooded One.
• Beast Man: Helps that he's also the patron of evil lycanthropes.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: No one, not even Silvanus, likes Malar. The only other deities who tolerate him are the other Deities of Fury.
• Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: The most important religious festival amongst Malar's worshippers is the High Hunt, where they kidnap sentient beings and hunt them for sport.
• Pet the Dog:
  • The Feast of Stags, a practise in which Malar's worshippers travel to Faerûn's remote villages during harsh winters and use their hunting skills to make sure the villagers have enough food to survive. Villages that benefit from this practise are generally more tolerant of Malar worship than the more civilized areas.
  • Any sentient being who manages to survive the above-mentioned High Hunt is allowed to go free and is granted a boon.
• Pragmatic Villainy: That rule about not hunting children or those with child? It's not there because Malar has a soft spot, but to ensure that prey for him and his followers will always be plentiful.
• Social Darwinist: Despises civilization, viewing it as a weakness that leaves only chaos in its wake.
• The Wild Hunt: The previously mentioned High Hunt.

Shar, Mistress of the Night

Shar, Lady of Loss

Shar's symbol

Mistress of the Night, The Nightbringer, Nightsinger, Singer of Eternal Night, Dark Lady, Dark Goddess, Lady of Loss, Goddess of Loss, Mistress of Pain, God of Thieves, Greater Power of the Gray Waste

Goddess of darkness, night, loss, secrets, and forgetfulness

Greater deity

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Domains: Death, Trickery

Symbol: Black disk with a purple border

Twin sister of Selûne, one of the first goddesses to come into existence at the dawn of creation. Despises her sister for introducing life to the universe that they helped make. Her dominions include the night, loss, bitterness, unrevealed secrets, forgetfulness, caves, dungeons and the underground.

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• Abusive Parents: Shar is the "mother" of Mask, god of shadow and intrigue. She treats him horribly and Mask is firmly opposed to her. Shar eventually even unmade and consumed him, though Mask left steps to revive himself. She is also the mother of Chauntea, who she despises for wanting more "light" in the universe so that "life" could exist, and her epic battles with Selûne resulted in the creation of many primal gods like Tempus, Talos and many others, all of whom she would like to kill to assimilate their power too.
• Ambition Is Evil:
  • Oddly literal example—hope and ambition are explicitly forbidden in the dogma of Shar, and you are only allowed to question your superiors if you forfeit your life to do it. Trying to improve your lot in life in any way is sinful. Since Shar is a God of Evil, this is both played straight and an inversion.
  • Her own ambition becomes an issue as well. Since she made moves at Ubtao's realm in Chult to increase her power, he decided Screw This, I'm Outta Here and abandoned his duty of watching over Dendar.
• Ancient Evil: Cosmically speaking she is, being the first evil, at least in the FR cosmos.
• Arch-Enemy: With Selûne, her twin sister. They despise each other ever since Selûne helped bring more light and life into the cosmos and Shar treated it as an insult and a threat, both seeing this as a personal betrayal by the other. Shar has done everything from Gaslighting Selûne into thinking she wasn't actually a goddess, to making followers of the Church of Selûne into prime targets for corruption, abduction, torture and murder for Shar's own worshippers, solely out of spite for her sister.
  • Mystra regards Shar as one of her deadliest enemies for creating the Shadow Weave and for her repeated attempts to Kill and Replace her as the Goddess of Magic, a position Shar has coveted since the dawn of time when the original Goddess of Magic (Mystryl) was born for the sole purpose of aiding Selûne in her fight against Shar. The enmity only intensified when Shar orchestrated Mystra's murder, resulting in the Spellpague, in a failed attempt to steal her power.
  • Lathander is completely opposed to Shar as they have totally opposing portfolios and philosophies, and each of them have been involved in thwarting the plans of the other across the millennia.
• Bad Boss: A mantra in her Church is "Your suffering is pleasing to the Lady", because she takes genuine pleasure in the pain, misery and hopelessness of those who follow her, who end up inflicting misery on others as well out of obedience and spite. She also has a habit of using and discarding even her most loyal and devoted worshippers as well, no matter how well they have served her, and they are expected to put up with it on the grounds that everyone and everything is supposed to be her personal property anyway.
  • Followers of Shar are expected to surrender a dark, personal secret that they would never tell anybody every time they enter one of her temples; Shar herself sometimes reveals these secrets to close friends and family of said follower to hurt and estrange them, and don't be surprised if you end up torturing or murdering those closest to you to prove your loyalty somewhere down the line either.
  • During the "Cycle of Night" she was trying to destroy the world along with all of her followers, resulting in several of them actively working against her Evil Plan, and she still expected absolute loyalty and seemingly enjoyed pitting them against one another, as her servants openly questioned why she was giving them such contradictory orders but received no reply- the implication was that she was simply enjoying their suffering and confusion as she thought her victory was inevitable anyway.
• Beneath the Earth: She became the goddess of caves, dungeons and the underground after killing Ibrandul, the god who previously held those domains.
• Black Eyes of Evil: Those who have looked into her eyes include Ax-Crazy murderers and even the God of Thieves himself- all of them describe the most bone-chilling, pitch-black and empty eyes they have ever seen.
• Cain and Abel: She and her sister Selûne are in constant conflict, ever since Selûne created the sun without talking to Shar about it first.
• Casting a Shadow: Darkness is part of her domain. One of her channel divinity possibilities is "Cloak of Shadows," which is essentially this.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Ibrandul, the god of caves, dungeons and the underground began subverting people who lived in the dark away from her worship. Shar killed him and took his portfolio and his worshipers instead.
• Combo Platter Powers: Shar is the goddess of everything from the night to loss, bitterness, secrecy and forgetfulness, caves, dungeons and the underground. She received the last three domains from the god Ibrandul when she killed him during the Time of Troubles.
• The Corrupter: Shar preys on people at their lowest to embrace their inner nihilist and turn to her worship.
• Dark Is Evil: She's the goddess of night, as well as of loss, sorrow and bitterness. Her clergy lives to foster misery and sorrow for everyone else.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Curiously enough (though probably just to improve her reputation) a priestly kit in AD&D, the Darkcloaks, while sharing the same dogma as other Sharrans and being clad from head to toe in black trimmed with purple are considered far more benevolent than other members of the church, functioning as oracles and giving counsel to people who are emotionally damaged even if it includes to use a perfume that may cause inhalers to forget things for a day.
• The Evils of Free Will: She traps those who enjoy their freedom in a place called the Tower of Loss, a place with no obvious entrances or exits, in order to savour their despair. In general, she detests freedom- at least, the freedom of everyone who is not her.
• Evil Counterpart: She was created at the same time as Selûne and Selûne brings light to the darkness she creates.
• Evil Matriarch: One of the oldest and most evil deities in the Realms, and the co-mother of Chauntea and Mystra.
• Evil Twin: Selûne and Shar were created at the same time, and Selûne is constantly fighting against Shar's evil.
• God Guise: An interesting example where a god impersonates another god. In one story arc of the Advanced D&D comic, Shar shows up in Waterdeep disguised as Selûne, and sets up shop in her temple. Selûne was at the time living among mortals as an innkeeper, so Shar hoped that by pretending to be the real Selûne and severing "Luna"'s connection to the divine, she'd make her think that she was mad and had imagined being a goddess.
  • Some of her temples are hidden inside those of other gods, including gods that they just outright made up.
• God of Darkness: Shar is the goddess of darkness and the night, and one of the creator deities of the mythology.
• Homosexual Reproduction: Kind of; Mystryl, the first Goddess of Magic, was born when Selûne hurled a piece of her own body through Shar's body. Earlier, Shar and Selûne created Chauntea.
• Incest Subtext: Got this big time with her sister Selûne, with them once having been as close that they were nearly a single entity, and being the parents of Chauntea and Mystryl.
• Living Shadow: As the goddess of shadows, she can take the shape of one.
• The Maker: One of the oldest deities in the mythos and one of the co-creators of the entire universe; her beef with the others, such as her sister, was when they wanted to add that annoying thing called "life" to the once-perfect bleak, dead infinity.
• Misanthrope Supreme: She hates everyone and everything that doesn't worship her (and, really, those who DO). As the goddess of misery and loss, she actively fosters despair in other beings, wanting them to be as bitter and nihilistic as Shar is herself.
• The Older Immortal: The Oldest, along with her twin sister Selûne, although Shar would claim that she was actually as old as Ao or even older, as she identifies with the primordial darkness that existed before creation itself.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Shar is the goddess of entropy and loss. She wishes to reduce all the world to nothingness.
• The Omniscient: In a limited sense; she can see anything and everything that happens or lies in the dark.
• Planet Killer: The "Cycle of Night" is a ritual Shar has initiated through her more divine servants on numerous worlds across the eons- it involved opening a portal to the Plane of Shadow and allowing the world to be consumed until everything is assimilated or dead, giving her arguably the highest body count of any FR deity. She attempted to pull this on Toril as well, and thwarting it took an entire century and resulted in the loss of an entire city.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Shar expects this of her clergy. They are not to follow orders that would get them killed, or engage in widespread slavery or warfare, since Shar wants to gain followers, not lose them. Her clergy should subtly try and undermine peoples' self confidence and corrupt them to her worship.
  • Shar also does this with the followers she gained when she murdered Ibrandul and took his portfolio. Ibrandul tended to ignore his clergy when they were relatively safe, not converting them into specialty priests or giving them enough divine power to let the ibrandlin (a magically created breed of giant lizard) breed on their own. Shar actively worked to fix this, making new followers of Ibrandul specialty priests and enabling the ibrandlin to breed on their own. If anything, Shar is better at supporting Ibrandul's followers than Ibrandul himself was.
• Put Them All Out of My Misery: Shar wants everyone else to suffer and die to relieve her misery and loathing of them. She regards the mere existence of light and life themselves as a cruel injustice against herself as she views herself as the embodiment of primordial darkness and living beings as an intrusion on her property, although she might be open to converting them all to undead, shadowspawn and other creatures that can live only in darkness so long as they worship her for all eternity, though even this would require The Night That Never Ends and would result in the deaths of trillions of organic lifeforms that require sunlight to live.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: She's one of the oldest and original Greater Deities and one of the most powerful; her realm, the Shadowfell, is the largest of any in the Astral Sea despite several other deities creating their own planes of existence there, including several that are infinite.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Downplayed. The average humanoid knows that Shar is "evil", but her Church is so shrouded in secrecy that they don't really know how she differs from any of the myriad of other evil or even neutral or good gods out there, and Shar and her worshippers exploit this to paint themselves as unfairly persecuted and misunderstood by other faiths, and claim that Shar actually promotes relief and escape from pain and despair in order to recruit new followers, some of whom even resort to wilful Mind Control and Laser-Guided Amnesia so they can fully believe in her lies and rationalise or forget all of the horrible things she actually commands them to do, like torturing and killing their own friends and family. Her followers are also not above pretending to be worshippers of completely different faiths in order to hide their activities and manipulate others into joining them as well.
• Villain Team-Up: Worked together with Cyric to orchestrate the Spellplague. However, once the Spellplague began, Cyric promptly stabbed her in the back and stole her Shadow Weave.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Sharrans are divided into two categories: true omnicidal nihilists and those who believe there's a material reward at the end of the tunnel. Both function only as pawns and Shar is only too happy to use and abuse them as she sees fit.
• You Kill It, You Bought It: Shar was pissed off at Ibrandul, the god of caves, dungeons and the underground, for subverting people who worshipped the dark away from her. She murdered him during the Time of Troubles, and in turn received his portfolio and responsibilities. Not that she was complaining about the extra power and followers. In fact, she put more effort into supporting Ibrandul's worshippers than he did.

Talona, Lady of Poison

Talona, the Mother of All Plagues

Talona's symbol

Lady of Poison, Mistress of Disease, Mother of All Plagues, The Plague-crone

Goddess of poison, disease, and pestilence

Lesser deity

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Domains: Death

Symbol: Three teardrops in a triangle

Goddess of poison and disease. She was blamed for all manner of ailments, ranging from common sicknesses and devastating diseases to brackish wells and failing crops. Prior to the Time of Troubles, Talona was a servant of Bhaal and had a heated rivalry with her fellow servant Loviatar. During that time she was often teased and tormented by her. Mocked for her appearance, the size of her portfolio, and her small number of followers. Her symbol is three teardrops in a triangle.

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• Acquired Poison Immunity: Her followers devoted much of their lives to building up an immunity to various diseases and poisons, by means of both inoculation and magic. They also tended to be hired by paranoid members of high society, such as wealthy merchants or rulers, to test their food for any poison.
• Arch-Enemy: She despises Chauntea, Mielikki, Kelemvor, and Tyr, but reserves special hatred for Chauntea, who she loathes for restoring the damage caused by her pestilence. She also has a deep-seated rivalry with Loviatar, who frequently tormented her during her time in service to Bhaal.
• Enemy Mine: She will sometimes provide aid to adventurers of good alignments if she viewed their goals as something that would damage Loviatar's reputation.
• Fan Disservice: Her depictions in religious texts portray her as a gaunt, withered old crone with a scarred face. The bodies of her avatars seemed like they had been beautiful and voluptuous at one point, but their frames and charms had been ravaged by the march of time, horrific diseases, and starvation.
• Mood-Swinger: Talona is notorius for having rather sudden and abrupt mood swings. She has been compared by sages to a greedy and petulant child, switching between the juvenile desire for attention at any cost to the aloofness of a discarded paramour.
• Plague Master: Pestilence and plagues are part of her divine domain, and many of her worshippers tend to be survivors of pestilence. One of her titles is also the Mother of All Plagues.
• Poisonous Person: She's the goddess of poison and pestilence, and many of her followers are skilled in the art of creating poisons.
• You Dirty Rat!: One of Talona's favored animals, which are notorious for being carriers of disease.

Talos, the Storm Lord

Talos, the Raging One

Talos' symbol

The Destroyer, The Storm Lord, The Stormstar, The Raging One, The Wildfire

God of storms, destruction, and natural disasters

Greater deity

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Domains: Tempest

Symbols: Three lightning bolts radiating from a point

Evil god of destruction, storms and natural disasters. Worshipped by the Netherese as 'Kozath' and said to be the third deity to exist, formed by the first battle between Selûne and Shar. Head of the Gods of Fury, with Auril, Malar, and Umberlee under him.

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• Bad Boss: He treats his underlings in the Gods of Fury rather badly, including siphoning off part of their worship and divine power.
• Bolt of Divine Retribution: Talos's displeasure is as unsubtle as you'd expect from the god of lightning.
• Destroyer Deity: As the leader of the Deities of Fury, each of whom represents a particular destructive or violent aspect of nature. He's mostly associated with thunder and lightning but also has some control over earthquakes, volcanoes, forest fires, and cyclones.
• Expy: He looks like Odin (including having only one eye and favouring the spear) and acts like the more destructive aspects of Zeus.
• God of Fire: Downplayed. He is a God of Thunder, first and foremost, but his connection to natural disasters gives him limited control over forest fires and volcanic eruptions.
• God of Thunder: He's a deity of storms and destruction and an angry and fickle god, plaguing mortals with storms and lightning unless appeased.
• Hijacked by Ganon: Talos was turned into an aspect of Gruumsh in the 4th edition and returned to his old form in the 5th.
• Illegal Religion: Many nations in Faerûn forbid worshipping him due to his association with destruction and his demand for Human Sacrifice. As a result his centres of worship are often found in hard-to-reach areas of wilderness.
• Might Makes Right: Talos has absolutely no church hierarchy at all: If you're strong enough to take a position, you deserved it.
• Psychopathic Manchild: He is described as a divine version of one who takes a sadistic pleasure in watching helpless mortals suffer from his storms, earthquakes, and rampant destruction.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: The god of it. His priests are essentially a bunch of self-serving, destructive hedonists.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: His relationship to Umberlee, their relationship being described as "flirtatious rivalry".

Umberlee, the Bitch Queen

Umberlee, Queen of the Depths

Umberlee's symbol

The Bitch Queen, Great Queen of the Sea, Queen of the Depths, The Wavemother, Goddess of Oceans, Goddess of the Deep Wilds, Stormgoddess of the Seas, Sea Queen, Sea Bitch

Goddess of the sea and the depths

Intermediate deity

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Domains: Tempest

Symbol: Wave curling left and right

Evil goddess of the sea and the depths. Patron both of people who travel atop the sea, like sailors and fishermen, and a lot of sentient evil sea creatures that kill them. Unfortunately she's the only god of the sea in the pantheon, and most of her worship involves sailors praying to her to let them live.

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• Arch-Enemy: Umberlee has a bitter rivalry with at least four deities for separate reasons: Selûne, whose stars guide navigators at sea; Sune, whose beauty drives Umberlee mad with jealousy; Valkur, who guides travellers safely home; and Chauntea, for her vast dominion over land.
• Card-Carrying Villain: That title above is her official title. Not a very pleasant goddess all around.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Umberlee's church derives much of its power and wealth from legitimate businesses seeking to placate their mistress. The church hires out its own acolytes as insurance policies for ships, as ships with a cleric of Umberlee aboard are safe from being sunk.
• For the Evulz: She just plain likes watching people drown or get eaten alive by sharks.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Part of the reason why she hates Sune so much is because Lady Firehair has the audacity to be prettier than her.
• Kraken and Leviathan: She created many of these creatures, and they worship her in turn. One of them, the kraken wizard Slarkrethel, is even her Chosen.
• Lord of the Ocean: She rules over the oceans of Faerûn, and in particular over the perils of the seas — storms, tidal waves, sudden doldrums, sea monsters and the like are all under her power. While she does have some dedicated cults, she ultimately appeased more commonly than she is worshipped — sailors and coastal communities fear her deeply, and go out of their way to give her prayers and offerings to persuade her to stay her wrath.
• Protection Racket: Priests of Umberlee are often able to make a comfortable living by charging shipping companies a fee to either travel on their ships or mention them in their prayers, so that Umberlee will be less inclined to destroy them.
• Sea Monster: She's the patron goddess of most of them, and will happily send krakens, sea serpents, giant sharks and worse against ships or seaside towns that offended her or which simply didn't give her enough praise and treasure for her liking.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Her dynamic with Talos, with Umberlee positioning herself as a flirt in order to stay in Talos' good graces, although she'd much rather overthrow him and take his portfolio for herself.
• The Starscream: She puts up with Talos's abuse of her and the rest of the Gods of Fury, but she would be quite willing to kill him and become the deity of destruction and storms herself if she had the power.
• Threatening Shark: Sharks are one of Umberlee's favorite species. She also created the weresharks as a plague on the seas.

Iyachtu Xvim, The Godson

Iyachtu Xvim, also known as Godson, was the half-demonic son of Bane and for a time, the lesser deity of fear, hatred, and tyranny. Iyachtu Xvim was consumed in 1372 DR when his father used his body to re-emerge from death, taking Xvim's portfolios as his own.

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• All for Nothing: All of his efforts to destroy his father's church and replace him when Bane was reborn through him.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Xvim's religion is called The Church of Darkness and he is the god of tyranny, fear, and strife.
• Despotism Justifies the Means: The religion believes all obedience must be at the point of duress. Hence leaders are expected to rule through fear and violence.
• Dirty Coward: When Xvim was still a demigod, he had no hesitation to flee from battle and would run away if things turned against him.
• Divine Parentage: Is the son of Bane with a demon, fallen paladin, or other being of pure evil.
• The Dragon: Xvim gained the majority of his influence when he offered himself as a substitute for Bane to his father's former renegade priest, Fzoul Chembryl.
• Dramatic Irony: Growing strong enough as a god by absorbing all of his father's faithful eventually allowed his father to be reborn through him.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Xvim was served by beholders, dragons, humans, dark nagas, and other creatures.
• Fantastic Nuke: Xvim unleashed the Banefog, a massive green cloud that proceeded to wipe out every surviving Banelich, most Cyric worshipers, and a massive chunk of Bane's remaining worshipers in order to prove his uncontested dominion over his father's former church.
• Fate Worse than Death: What he's reduced to after his father is reborn through him.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Xvim used to be nothing more than a powerful servant and messenger for his father. It was only after Cyric's failures as God of Tyranny that Xvim swooped in and recruited many of his followers.
• God Needs Prayers Badly: Xvim more than most due to the fact he lost all of them to his father (see Not Quite Dead).
• Green and Mean: Xvim's clergy's colors that eventually applied to Bane were bright green. The Banefog was more a Sickly Green Glow.
• Hidden Depths: Xvim actually had a cult of half-breeds who believed that they should be treated as equals to their parent races.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: Xvim only managed to get as far as he did through the efforts of recruiting Fzoul Chembryl to recruit his father's former church as well as those who found Cyric to be a fool.
• Killed Off for Real:
  • In The Halls of the High King, if Xvim is summoned then he can be killed permanently.
  • In Third Edition, Xvim exploded and Bane emerged from his ruins to claim his entire church as his own.
• Lawful Evil: His official in-universe alignment according to the games.
• Like Father, Like Son: Xvim's religion is almost identical to his father Bane's and, for the longest time, was just an extension of it.
• Mouth of Sauron: In The Halls of the High King, Xvim shows up to serve as this for his father in place of his father's avatar actually manifesting.
• Not Quite Dead: According to Ed Greenwood for Fifth Edition:
  "Most folk in the Realms think he's still dead and gone, but his clergy and most devout lay followers, and the Chosen of Mystra know differently; they perceive him from time to time as a ghostly whisperer in their dreams/nightmares. He doesn't seem to have any stronger presence. Yet. Nor does he, as a ghostly presence, seem all that sane or firm of purpose. He mostly seems to crave worship, hungrily and desperately."
• Red Right Hand: Is a scaly and deformed monster in his true form but covers it in illusions. He shape-changes when he becomes a full-deity.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Both in and out of universe. After Cyric proved unpopular with a lot of gamers, Xvim was offered as a replacement for Bane that eventually became the vehicle for his return.
• Soul Jar: Turned out to be one of these for his father, Bane.

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Elder Eternal Evils

The Elder Eternal Evils are not true gods, but exist on a similar cosmic scale. Ancient beings of immense evil, they exist as existential threats to the rule of the gods and banes to mortal life.

For other beings with similar appellations, see Dungeons & Dragons: Elder Evils.

Dendar

Dendar, the Night Serpent

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Dendar was born the first time a living creature had a nightmare. She has lurked in the Gray Waste since, glutting herself on nightmares and waiting until she will be strong enough to destroy the world.

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• Beast of the Apocalypse: Dendar is prophesied to one day bring about the end of the world, although the precise way she will do differs between tellings.
• Captain Ersatz: Her serpentine appearance, association with the night, and prophesied role in ending the world by swallowing the sun are all extremely reminiscent of the ancient Egyptian serpent-god Apep, though it is also implied that she is the Norse serpent Nidhogg, who gnaws as the base of the World Tree and may play a role in Ragnarok.
• Dream Stealer: Dendar feeds on nightmares, which is the one good thing she does for existence — if she didn't, all living beings would be forced to remember all of their nightmares forever, with perfect clarity.
• I Have Many Names: To the ancient Rus, Dendar was known as Nidhogg; in Calimport, she is the Mother of the Night Parade; in the jungles of Chult, she is the Eater of the World.
• Nightmare Weaver: Dendar's bite causes her victims to fall into a sleep haunted by a continuous stream of nightmares, and she can force any being anywhere to instantly relive the worst nightmare they ever had.
• Snakes Are Sinister: An ancient, evil serpent who delights in the nightmares of others and dreams of the day when she will be strong enough to end the world.

Kezef

Kezef, the Chaos Hound, the Ravager of Heavens

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Kezef is a writhing mass of maggots in the shape of a monstrous dog. He stalks endlessly along the Outer Planes, hunting the souls of the faithful.

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• Acid Attack: Kezef's body is saturated with powerful acid, which drips from his form to pool on the ground, coats his fangs and is released in caustic clouds whenever he's struck. He can also exhale clouds of corrosive gas.
• Animalistic Abomination: A supernatural predator in the form of a dog made of maggots that devours the souls of the faithful, is capable of endlessly tracking his prey through multiple planes of existence as he hunts, irreversibly scars the very land he walks on as seen with the Death Shallows and is strong enough to take on the gods themselves when they tried to deal with him.
• Arch-Enemy: Despises Mask for unleashing, manipulating and then betraying him, which led to Kezef biting Mask's leg off and chasing a diminished Mask across the planes for decades in an ultimately futile attempt to finish him off.
• Expy: Has several traits in common with Fenrir, the monstrous wolf from Norse Mythology. Perhaps most notably, Kezef bit off and devoured Tyr's missing hand when the gods tried to subdue him, just as Fenrir did to the Norse version of Tyr.
• Hellhound: A monstrous, evil, maggot-covered hound who hunts mortal souls to eat and is a flawless, inescapable tracker.
• Soul Eating: Kezef's favored prey are the souls of pious mortals; he has no taste for the souls of atheists and the faithless, and finds the "unripened" souls of the still living to be repulsive. The souls he devours are destroyed forever, and cannot be restored even by divine intervention.
• Supernatural Fear Inducer: Kezef's howl induces supernatural terror in those who hear it.
• Villainous Legacy: Kezef hasn't visited Faerûn in a very long time, but the last time he walked its surface he left behind several acid-filled footprints. Those prints, named the Death Shallows, remain there to the present day, disgorging a steady stream of oozes, paralementals and other foul beings into the world.
• The Worm That Walks: His form consists of a writhing mass of maggots clinging to a canine skeleton.
• You Will Not Evade Me: Kezef is an inescapable hunter, and can follow the "scent" of his prey's life to follow them anywhere, teleporting across planes and over any distance if need be. Once Kezef has caught your scent, it is impossible to hide from him.

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Elemental Lords of Toril

The primordials, or Dawn Titans, were god-like beings made of manifest entropy and elemental energy whose domains were the Elemental Chaos and Abeir, unlike the gods (Estelar), whose domains were the Astral Sea and Toril. There were a few primordials who never fought the gods and chose to remain in Toril when Abeir split away. Five such primordials were known as the Elemental Lords and ruled over the Inner Planes, worshipped like gods. All were true neutral in alignment except Bazim-Gorag, who was chaotic evil.

Akadi, the Queen of Air

Lady of Air, Lady of the Winds, Queen of Air

Embodiment of air

Primordial

Alignment: True Neutral

Domains: Tempest

Symbol: Cloud

Akadi was the embodiment of the element of air and goddess of elemental air, speed, and flying creatures. As an immortal being of freedom and travel, the Queen of Air instructed her followers to move as much as possible from place to place and from activity to activity.

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• Arch-Enemy: She has a fierce rivalry with fellow elemental Grumbar.
• Blow You Away: She was the divine personification of the wind, and her wings were said to send the winds across Faerun.
• Earth/Wind Juxtaposition: She is the goddess of elemental Air, and has a rivalry with Grumbar, the embodiment of Earth.
• Elemental Embodiment: Of air.
• God's Hands Are Tied: While she can be appealed to alter or stop the wind, or to provide good flying currents and gentle rain, she would neither stop nor create true storms, for such things were within the domain of Talos and Umberlee, and to interfere could be viewed as trespassing on another deity's divine domain.
• Winged Humanoid: Akadi was often depicted as a giant, blue, translucent woman with huge feathery wings that trailed away into the clouds.

Bazim-Gorag, Lord of the Pandemonium Stone

The Firebringer, Lord of the Pandemonium Stone

Ascended batrachi, slaad lord, and elemental force of fire and destruction

Primordial

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Domain: Chaos

Bazim-Gorag was an ascended batrachi, a slaad lord as well as one of the five primordials worshiped in Toril. Bazim-Gorag was a champion of Chaos whose evil and corruption rivals that of a demon prince; his brand of Chaos is the spreading death, destruction, and despair wherever he goes. A prisoner of an ancient magical warding, he has remained imprisoned beneath the ruins of a fallen wizard tower in Faerûn for centuries, over time developing a bitter hatred for the mortal world and a strong desire to see it burn. After being freed during the magical chaos of the Spellplague, the Firebringer returned to being an active player in planar politics and is sometimes counted among the Primordials.

Bazim-Gorag the Firebringer debuted in the days of 3rd Edition, first appearing in Dungeon magazine's 101st issue as the final boss of the adventure "Prison of the Firebringer".

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• Deity of Human Origin: Well, deity of mortal origin at least, because he's most certainly not human. Though originally a batrachi, he had been tainted by the same malignant energy that transformed gray slaadi into death slaadi, and as his power and influence grew, he eventually became one of the five primary primordials worshipped in the Realms.
• Elemental Hair Colors: When in his humanoid form, Bazim-Gorag has bright red and orange hair to match his fiery powers.
• Frog Men: He resembles a two-headed anthropomorphic frog
• Horse of a Different Color: His favored mount, the Beast of Nine Flames, is a fiendish pyrohydra with nine heads.
• Kill It with Fire: His ultimate goal involves setting the Realms on fire and just watching everything burn.
• Multiple Head Case: He has two heads, which mainly act in concert but do possess independent wills. In 3E, this gives him the Double Mind rules, which allows him to multitask without penalty — for instance, having one head control his body while the other focuses on spellcasting or surveying the battlefield, or casting two different spells at once — as well as counting him as two creatures for the purposes of mind-affecting spells.
• Playing with Fire: While he's not the embodiment of fire (although he'd like to be), Bazim-Gorag has power over fire and has a fondness for using fire in his various plots.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Bazim-Gorag was sealed in an enchanted chamber beneath the tower of a minor Faerûnian wizard order, whose archmage kept his unbinding ritual tightly secret. The archmage died when a troll horde razed the tower, leaving Bazim-Gorag imprisoned beneath it for centuries before the Spellplague broke him free.
• Wreathed in Flames: In his 3E statblock, Bazim-Gorag can cover himself in an aura of fire at will.

Grumbar, Earthlord

Earthlord, Gnarly One, King of the Land Below the Roots, Boss of Earth, Boss of the Earth Elementals

Embodiment of earth

Primordial

Alignment: True Neutral

Domains: Knowledge

Symbol: Mountains

The elemental embodiment of earth in the Realms. Grumbar was a quiet and resolute being, who resisted change more so than other divine powers. He bore the weight of secret knowledge and protected the great riches that were found within the earth.

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• Arch-Enemy: He has a fierce rivalry with Akadi, due to viewing her flimsy and ever-changing ways as counter to his.
• Dishing Out Dirt: As the primordial embodiment of earth, he has divine control over this domain.
• Earth/Wind Juxtaposition: He is the god of elemental Earth, and has a rivalry with Akadi, the embodiment of Air.
• Elemental Embodiment: Of earth.

Istishia, the Water Lord

The Water Lord, King of the Water Elementals, God-King of Undines

Embodiment of water

Primordial

Alignment: True Neutral

Domains: Tempest

Symbol: Wave

The primordial deity of elemental water and purification. While other powers governed oceans, pools, streams, storms, or simply those that had business with the water, Istishia was far more abstract. The Water Lord was mutable and dynamic, representing constant change with an essential constant at its core, the god not of any specific body or state of water, but the water itself.

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• Arch-Enemy: To Kossuth, with whom he has a literal elemental rivalry.
• Elemental Embodiment: Of water.
• Fire/Water Juxtaposition: He has a fierce rivalry with fellow primordial Kossuth, who embodies fire while Istishia embodies water.
• Making a Splash: His primordial domain is water, but in a much more abstract way. While other gods were viewed as having various aspects of water as part of their portfolios, Istishia was seen as the very embodiment of water itself.

Kossuth, the Firelord

The Firelord, Lord of Flames, The Tyrant-King, Tyrant Among Fire

Embodiment of fire

Primordial

Alignment: True Neutral

Domains: Light

Symbol: Flame

The god of elemental fire and purification through fire. The Lord of Flames rarely intervened in affairs in the mortal world, spending most of his time embroiled in the intrigues of the Inner Planes.

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• Fire/Water Juxtaposition: He and his clergy vehemently oppose Istishia, who's embodiment of water is anathema to Kossuth's.
• Fire Purifies: One of his divine domains was the concept of purification through fire.
• God of Fire: In case it wasn't obvious from the page you're currently reading and the other tropes listed here, he's this.
• Gods Need Prayer Badly: Arguably averted. Despite being the only Elemental Lord to bother maintaining any sort of worship, he, like the rest are considered greater gods. This may tie into the fact that they're Primordials rather than true gods (though at the level they operate at, the distinction is largely pedantic).
• Playing with Fire: His divine element is fire.
• Wreathed in Flames: Kossuth is commonly depicted as being constantly enveloped by red-hot flames.