Goals and Purposes

First, what are the goals and purposes of the god (or force or philosophy), and therefore of the faith?

Often, that's self-evident, because it's usually tied to the attribute of the god, or the explanation of the force or philosophy.

For example, if the faith's god is a God of Love, then the goals and purposes of the faith will probably include:

Promotion of Love, which might include the helping along of lovers, opposition to those who interfere in the development of romantic relationships, punishment of those who defy the god and refuse to love, etc. This could also include "social services" to the community, through the god's temples: Counseling to young lovers, for instance.

Promotion of the God, which includes the building of temples or churches, carrying the word of the god to those who have not heard it, and keeping the stories of the god ever-present in the ears of the population.

Opposition of Enemies, which means subtle or direct opposition to enemy gods and their followers; obviously, a god of Love is likely to be opposed to a god of Hatred, Misanthropy, Misogyny, etc.

Those are some basic goals, but you obviously aren't limited to goals which are that direct and simple.

For instance, a god may represent only a small part of his attribute. A God of War does not have to be just a god of all types and elements of warfare. He could be the God of the Chaos of War, the God of Intelligent Warfare, the God of Naval Warfare (in which he might share traits with a god of Oceans), the God of the Sword (in which case he might share traits with a god of Metalworking), and so forth. If you choose, you can always make a god's personal attribute more specialized, and can choose more specialized goals for the faith based on that choice.

In addition, a god isn't defined just by his attribute. In the campaign history, he also has a personal history, likes and dislikes, relationships with other gods, and ambitions, all of which can provide more goals for the faith.

As one example, Zeus, the king of the gods of Greek mythology, had many attributes and associations. He was the king of the gods, a sky-god, a god whose emblem and weapon was the lightning bolt, a god of Wisdom (he had swallowed and absorbed the wisdom-goddess Metis, mother of Athena), a god of oracles (though he was eventually supplanted by Apollo in this role, he had a major oracle at the city of Dodona), a protector of fugitives, a lover of many goddesses and women . . . In short, he had many characteristics and attributes, and in an AD&D® game campaign his priesthood would embody and promote most or all of them.

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