There have been tons of “deity” books for fantasy roleplaying games over the years, but in my mind The Book of the Righteous remains the one to beat. Written for d20/3.5, it offers more than just “gods of X” who provide player characters with spells from certain spheres. It creates not only an integrated pantheon that can be dropped who into any fantasy game, it creates actual religions for each of the deities. Actual doctrine, structure, holy days, saints, prayers and practices and other details of organized religion are fleshed out in just the right amount of detail. There’s an overall mythology, including creation myths for all of the standard D&D races of the era. There’s a timeline of the deities activities in the world. And there’s a cosmology, explaining how all of the standard planes of existence fit in with the pantheon.
Best of all, it takes religion beyond clerics and paladins. Each god, regardless of alignment, has a new Holy Warrior class with abilities reflective of the deity and religion. There is a prestige class for each deity that allows devoted followers of any class to be rewarded for their faith. It makes religion accessible to anyone, which increases its role and importance in the game world.
Since the book was released, I’ve used it as my default pantheon for any fantasy game I’ve run. The deities are interesting and original, not just the Nth knockoff of the Greek or Norse pantheons. I’ve used it regardless of system. When Green Ronin ran an inventory clearance sale a while back, I bought a second copy to loan out to players, and have considered buying a third if I can get one cheap. There’s only one other game book that I own multiple copies of. That should tell you how impressed I am with The Book of the Righteous.
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