Canonfire! Forums-viewtopic-Does GH have a "Malar" equivalent?

Tue Apr 19, 2016 12:12 am Does GH have a "Malar" equivalent?

I don't yet have a good feel for all the various deities of Greyhawk. I'm looking for a nature god, but not your typical benevolent or neutral forest tender. This has to be a "beast" type that revels in the cruelty of nature, but not in the random and indiscriminate action of a lightning strike or a volcano flow, but specifically the thrill of the hunt, bloodletting, bestial savagery, the predator slaughtering weaker prey, those sorts of themes. In Forgotten Realms this would be Malar to a tee, I'm hoping to find a deity with a similar outlook in Greyhawk.

Tue Apr 19, 2016 1:34 am Re: Does GH have a "Malar" equivalent?

Tue Apr 19, 2016 8:07 am

You could use Karaan from the Book of Vile Darkness.

Tue Apr 19, 2016 12:13 pm

The closest Greyhawk equivalent to Malar is Erythnul, a chaotic evil god of savagery and bloodlust.
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Tue Apr 19, 2016 1:52 pm

You won't find anything quite like Malar in Greyhawk. Llerg is indeed a god of beasts, but he is not evil, and is more like a type of savage barbarian. Erythnul is more like the blood-thirsty savage, and his clerics CAN summon beasts (Major access in 2e to Summoning which allows animals to be brought forth). I cast my vote with Cebrion's choice.

-Lanthorn

Tue Apr 19, 2016 2:29 pm

What's interesting is that the Karaan article in the Greywiki lists Erythnul as his (its?) possible superior. I actually think Karaan better fits the dark nature god that VikingLegion described, as Erythnul is not a nature-deity. So if s/he is willing to use Karaan (a non-standard Oerth god), i think that works. If not, Erythnul or Llerg might have to do.

Tue Apr 19, 2016 2:42 pm

A demon lord like Yeenoghu or Baphomet might work, too. Or even the archdevil Geryon.

Wed Apr 20, 2016 4:08 pm

Thanks for the suggestions all. I was actually looking at both Erythnul and Llerg based solely on their portfolio descriptions, but neither felt like a good fit to me for reasons already discussed. Karaan sounds absolutely perfect though. He even has "patron of evil lycanthropes" in his description, making him almost a GH clone of Malar. I never got around to purchasing the Book of Vile Darkness, so this somewhat obscure deity escaped my notice. Great find Rasgon, as usual.

Wed Apr 20, 2016 10:59 pm

I pass over most of the gods introduced in extraneous books (mainly because Greyhawk has plenty of gods already..except for the Baklunish Cry

), but Karaan is dead on what you are looking for should you wish to include him in your Greyhawk pantheon.
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Thu Apr 21, 2016 8:01 pm

There's also Daragor, from Monster Mythology. http://www.canonfire.com/wiki/index.php?title=Daragor

Fri Apr 22, 2016 5:40 pm

Although not a full-blown deity, I'd recommend the Cat Lord or the various other animal lords of the Beastlands. They are vastly underused.

Sat Apr 23, 2016 10:48 am

To my knowledge, CatLord (not really a blood-thirsty, rapacious individual) and Daragor (a great choice for your Malar portfolio), though fine choices, do not have actual clergy, and thus, no spell-casting clerics. They would, however, make decent 'totems.'

-Lanthorn