[RPG] the complete list of good-aligned gods of hunting

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I'm building a group of bandits who worships a hunting god for D&D 5e. The god needs to be of a good alignment. The bandits are being mislead by the leader of a cult in a nearby city.

What's the comprehensive range of options for good-aligned gods that are closely tied to hunting?

I'm not tied to a specific pantheon, but the closer to actual D&D lore, the better.

Best Answer

Based on deities found in the “3.5e revised edition” of D&D—which is fairly old at this point—I have some suggestions: Ehlonna, Gwaeron Windstrom, Hiatea, Mielikki, and Skerrit are probably your best bets. Hiatea and Skerrit are strongly associated with particular types of creatures (giants and centaurs, respectively), though they’re also the two most strongly associated with hunting. Mielikki is almost too “wild” to be about hunting; her protege Gwaeron Windstrom would be more appropriate. Ehlonna is a good choice too, though it would be quite a perversion of her faith to engage in banditry since her entire faith revolves around taking no more than you need (this “issue” might actually make her perfect for your purposes). Note that Mielikki and Gwaeron Windstrom are specific to the Forgotten Realms,1 while Ehlonna, Hiatea, and Skerrit are part of D&D’s “generic” setting.2

How I found these:

IMarvinTPA is a website with a whole lot of useful searching and filtering tools for D&D 3.5e, including the Find Deity feature. Since it is for 3.5e, which is two editions old at this point, some new deities may be missing, and it may include some old deities that have been either killed off or retconned out. Furthermore, since it searches by the cleric domains that each deity offers, and there is no hunting domain in 3.5e, we have to search for related ideas, and then research each deity separately to see what they’re really about.

Searching for LG, NG, CG, and NG (LN) deities (I have no idea what “NG (LN)” means but I included it and would research more if it came up) that offer one or more of the Animal, Bestial, Endurance, Hunger, Moon, Plant, Thirst, Travel, or Weather domains (I’m really stretching on some of these but false-positives can be weeded out, false-negatives we just miss), we get this list: Arawai, Baervan Wildwanderer, Chauntea, Ehlonna, Eldath, Gwaeron Windstrom, Hathor, Hiatea, Hleid, Ilmater, Kikanuti, Marthammor Duin, Mielikki, Nobanion, Osiris, Shiallia, Skerrit, Solanil, Sovereign Host pantheon, Valarian, and Whale Mother.

Several of these I recognize, but quick web searches on each pulls up details:

  • Arawai—Sovereign of Life and Love from Eberron’s Sovereign Host pantheon. While “the wilderness” is in her portfolio, she’s primarily an agriculture and weather (and fertility) deity.
  • Baervan Wildwanderer—the deity of forest gnomes in the Forgotten Realms, he’s much for about travel and wandering (shocking, given his name) than hunting.
  • Chauntea—Another agriculture goddess, this time from the Forgotten Realms. She’s noted as being the parallel of Silvanus, god of the wilds, but Silvanus is neutral.
  • Ehlonna—Finally, a huntress! Though Ehlonna is very much about care and love and appreciation of nature, and so thoroughly detests those who would hunt for sport, or otherwise exploit nature. Ehlonna is from Greyhawk.
  • Eldath—A goddess of calm, cool, healing waters from Forgotten Realms. Way too pacifistic for a hunter deity.
  • Gwaeron Windstrom—Another hunter, this time from the Forgotten Realms. He was a mortal ranger who was raised to deity status by Mielikki after several heroic deeds. Tracking is explicitly his thing, and he’s revered by rangers.
  • Hathor—Appearing as a cow-headed woman, Hathor is really an Egyptian goddess, though the Forgotten Realms stole her for the Mulhorandi pantheon. She’s a mother goddess, about birth, fertility, healing, life, and so on. The Egyptian conception of her was more detailed and varied than the Mulhorandi one, but she wasn’t a huntress there either.
  • Hiatea—Hiatea is the first diety on the list to just straight-out list “hunting” in her portfolio. She is a deity of giants, and a major power at that. Hiatea didn’t really come attached to any particular setting, and as such is a kind of “core” deity (Ehlonna is similarly “core” though she originated in Greyhawk).
  • Hleid—Random ice deity from a single book, Frostburn—as will become a theme, the “Outside” books introduced deities that never got mentioned again.3 Exists primarily to be the good counterpart for Iborighu, also introduced in the same book and who serves as the dark power behind all the frosty adventures in it.
  • Ilmater—This Forgotten Realms deity is all about suffering and sacrifice and so on. Nothing to do with hunting.
  • Kikanuti—Another one-off deity from one of the “Outside” supplements, Sandstorm.3 Mother goddess to the bhuka race introduced in that book, no hunting.
  • Marthammor Duin—Forgotten Realms deity from the dwarvish pantheon, devoted to wandering and exploration. While hunting probably happens when out exploring the wilds, it’s not his focus.
  • Mielikki—The goddess who deified Gwaeron Windstrom, and sister of Eldath, both mentioned above. She’s all about forests, and the wilds, and doesn’t care much for civilization. Hunters would worship her, but she’s not about the hunt, per se.
  • Nobanion—The Lion King, and yes, that is literally one of his titles. Another Forgotten Realms deity, and while he’s god of lions and other great cats, who are certainly hunters, that’s not really his focus.
  • Osiris—Another Egyptian deity co-opted for the Mulhorandi in the Forgotten Realms. As in Egypt, Osiris is a really big deal in Mulhorand, god of kings and justice who weighs the hearts of the dead to judge their worthiness. Also god of agriculture and life and resurrection and a host of other things, because he’s a really big time god with a lot going on. Hunting isn’t one of them, though.
  • Shiallia—Another demigoddess under Mielikki (that is, Forgotten Realms again), by 4e she was an exarch and she hasn’t even been mentioned in 5e. She’s a patron of pregnancy, particularly pregnant wild creatures, and also of seeds. Hunting isn’t really her thing; she’s a protector.
  • Skerrit—Debuted alongside Hiatea, whose divine realm also happens to be alongside his. The god of centaurs and balance in nature, he’s described as a hunter. Also a strong fey connection, being a member of the Seelie court.
  • Solanil—Another of the one-off deities from Sandstorm,3 this time of the bizarre asherati race found in that book. She’s the goddess of oases; nothing to do with hunting.
  • Sovereign Host pantheon—Listed because Arawai is a member.
  • Valarian—The god of unicorns from 3.5e’s Book of Exalted Deeds. There’s honestly not a lot more offered about him.
  • Whale Mother—The last one-off deity from an “Outside” book,3 this time Stormwrack. The racial goddess of the darfellan (orca people) race from that book. Not especially related to hunting.

  1. Though due to the way the multiverse in D&D works, Mielikki and Gwaeron Windstrom are probably known on other worlds as well, particularly Mielikki.

  2. Ehlonna was originally from Greyhawk, the setting Gary Gygax developed for D&D’s first campaigns, but 3.5e used “Greyhawk but with the serial numbers filed off” as the semi-default setting and Ehlonna has only become bigger and more core since.

  3. The so-called “Outside” supplements are Sandstorm, Frostburn, Stormwrack, Cityscape, and Dungeonscape—also known as “It’s Hot Outside,” “It’s Cold Outside,” “It’s Wet Outside,” “It’s Crowded Outside,” and “It’s Not Outside.”

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