After days of incredibly hard travel, the death of her animal companion, and a near total renunciation of her faith, Nest finds her starting to feel better and after a couple of days experiences the following.

She has another good day. Despite her hunger she very much feels that the only thing keeping her alive and continuing to move at this point is the blessings she is receiving from Manmaclir. She feels her faith growing and growing by the day to the point where there are times throughout the day when she doesn’t feel hungry at all. Forgetting that physical food is something people actually need and not just the blessings of their god. She camps and continues to press on the next day. But before taking off she spends time praising Manmaclir and continuing to ask for his blessing.

I first introduced Nest in my post reviewing Ironsworn. She is an acolyte of Manmaclir, whose adventure mainly focuses around challenges to her faith and attempts to rebuild the pieces of it which are important to her. I’ve also taken this character and played Lighthouse at the End of the Universe with her near the end of her life. For Nest, Manmaclir is her primary focus.

I developed Manmaclir while doing some GM exercises years ago. Since that time I’ve used the same pantheon and Manmaclir in particular in a number of different games. So I thought I would share how I developed this god and how I’ve used him in the past.

The template I use for god creation is one that I got from a DM-Gnastics challenge, called Create a God. There were 16 items for the challenge and I have added a few along the way.

I’ve used this template for all of the gods that I have used in games. Some of them are totally complete like Manmaclir, others have a few things in them, and others are still just a few sentences. I should also say that I was chest deep in D&D 5e when I created this god and there are still a lot of D&D elements about it.

So let’s go through the categories.

1. Name
2. Domain(s)
3. Symbol(s)
   1. Constellation
4. Alignment
5. Core tenet #1
6. Core tenet #2
7. Core tenet #3
8. Name of worshipers
9. Name of Clerics
10. Name of Paladins
11. Name of Realm where god dwells
12. Name & Description of relic filled with gods power
13. Name & Description of artifact filled with gods power
14. Name & Description of holy day #1
15. Name & Description of holy day #2
16. Name & Description of temples
17. Name & Description of ceremonies.

Name is an easy one to create your own name or use your favorite table to create one.

Domain is going to be the area of influence for your god. When I create Manmaclir I was DMing a lot of D&D 5e so I used the cleric domains as a guide.

Most gods and religions have some simple symbol which followers can wear or have as a symbol of their faith.

Constellation can be a way to add more flavor to the world. Because Manmaclir is a god of oceans and wind, I used our north star and instead of a bear or dipper, I made it part of a ship constellation which represents Manmaclir’s ship The Wayfarer.

Next, I have alignment. This is one that I added when I was DMing 5e, but I don’t really use all that much any more. I would probably skip it.

For me, the three core tenets of the religion are the meat and potatoes of the religion. These are going to be the underlining and guide principles of the religion. I usually add a few sentences after each tenet to help further explain it. For example, one of Manmaclir’s core tenets is “The ocean is life,” and underneath that I write, “Between the incredible amount of food given by the ocean to the weather it produces, all life rotates around the ocean. Without it there would be no life.”

In addition to giving the worshipers a name, I usually try to create a nickname for them. Manmaclirists are often called Mannies.

I give the clerics a name and I create an order for paladins which stems from the religion. Again, this is D&D focused, so it is skipped or changed to suit your needs. I usually write up a paragraph with each to explain the primary function of the two. For Manmaclir, clerics are called The Keepers and usually tend lighthouses and record obseravtions of the ocean, flora, and fauna. Paladins of Manmcalir are members of The Order of the Tide and they usually work on Temple Ships which spend their time exploring the vast oceans of the world.

Realm is something that I don’t usually put too much into. If I do anything it is give it a name and throw down a couple sentences about it.

Relic and artifact are also things that I don’t usually worry about to begin with. I have created them and used them as plot hooks, not had them at all, or created them on the fly as needed. For Manmaclir I created a magical compass for his relic and a book of charts for his artifact.

Holy days, like relics and artifacts, are things I usually create on the fly. Most of the gods in my world’s pantheon have only one holy day, but I would add more if it was needed. Manmaclir has two, one related to the highest spring tide and the other for the launching of a Temple Ship.

I usually put more into the description of temples. Given how they can often be places of safe harbor for adventurers in areas that aren’t their normal territories, I flesh them out because they are visited often, are the starting location for many characters, the quest givers, or just generally present in the flavor of the town.

Finally, I include ceremonies. In my mind these are the ceremonies which people follow who are causal followers of the religion. How a family can worship in their home or maybe a specific ritual that the clerics of the religion do daily.

Oftentimes, I have the basic shape and form of a religion drafted out before a game. So I give the players the pantheon but only start to build the god once it has been selected by the player. Or in a solo game, I pick out one god to focus on in some way in order to develop it more and bring it to life.

One of my favorite additions to Manmaclir since playing with him in my campaigns is that sailors are often seen wearing shells and other flotsam they have found in their travels. They believe that these “trinkets” are gifts from Manmaclir and that they will help to give them good favor with the god in their travels. This came from a player who was looking for ways to make their pirate character stand out a little bit.

Please share how you create the gods in your games. Do you have a similar system? Do you use ones that are published in a setting book? Or some other way?