Core Deities
There are over 100 deities in the Greyhawk setting, and when creating Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition Wizards of the Coast selected a subset to become iconic deities. They selected and altered deities to correspond to "iconic" aspects of core D&D. Most core deities are human deities; except for the chief gods of the demihuman races. Certain aspects of the deities were altered to make them more generic - for example: the "Core" Heironeous favors the longsword (in order to make the favored weapon of the "God of Chivalry" more traditionally knight-like), as contrasted with the original "Greyhawk" Heironeous, who favors the battleaxe.
The designation of "greater" vs. "intermediate" comes from Legends & Lore (1990). It is not used in any edition of the Player's Handbook, but it is used in Deities and Demigods (2002) and various v3.5 Edition materials.
Read more about this topic: List Of Dungeons & Dragons Deities
Famous quotes containing the words core and/or deities:
“It is possible to have a strong self-love without any self-satisfaction, rather with a self-discontent which is the more intense because one’s own little core of egoistic sensibility is a supreme care.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“The gods themselves,
Humbling their deities to love, have taken
The shapes of beasts upon them. Jupiter
Became a bull, and bellowed; the green Neptune
A ram, and bleated; and the fire-robed god,
Golden Apollo, a poor humble swain.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)