I ran an epic Paladin devoted to Pelor.
By the time the campaign ended, he was a demigod, still in service to Pelor, and had married an angel. He had called upon Pelor to do a number of things, including instantly befriending a very nice cleric NPC with a staff of true resurrection, getting a mass t-res after one boss quickened teleported in, wail of the banshee'd, and quickened tp'd out, and having a direct audience with his holiness on multiple occasions.
Not to mention countless other characters devoted to the real OG, greatest god. More paladins than I can count, a couple rangers, a monk, a handful of clerics, and one interesting artificer.
I've had this idea for a cleric who would worship a god older than the others but only now demanding worshipers, and he'd be the first one. He'd introduce his faith as follows.
"My god is powerful enough to make all other gods his bitches. Well, I say his but my god is fickle in many things, including their gender. Sometimes they're a woman, but usually a man. They are the writers of the story that is existence, but they only make the guideline, so that heroes and villains may rise according to their actions. They place the challenges in their paths, be those challenges monsters, traps, or other obstacles. They write the rules of our existence, but are fully willing to leave some things to chance. And their name is the great Deh-em!"
And I would be saying it all in an accent so that "Deh-em" sounds vaguely like "Damn", so hopefully somebody else at the table will in character go "The great damn?" to which the response would be:
"No, no, no. 'Deh' and 'em'. I... I actually don't know how it's supposed to be pronounced, as the only only revealed their name to me in written form and it's literally two letters. Their name is spelled with a D and an M."
My first D&D game. Tried it out with some friends for the first time, so we took premade characters and just saw how it went. I got stuck with a hoighty toighty healer that praised bahamut (which i had no idea who he was), while other people got the better characters. Deciding to make the most of it, i became a fervent follower of bahamut (i had no idea what he was the god of, just that he was righteous and all). I made it my personal mission to smite all enemies of bahamut personally. Before each battle, i'd ask if there were any followers of bahamut, and when i was given a negative answer, i would leave my team behind and take the enemies head on (to my companions dismay). During random intervals in the battle, i would try and roll for intimidation to get the enemy to convert to my deity before pommeling them further to death. Once, i succeeded in converting i think it was a goblin through an intimidation roll, who ended up taking his own life to atone for his sins against bahamut. By the end of the campaign, I had healed other players i think a grand total of twice, since i had been so busy smashing skulls in the name of a god i didn't know. overall 8/10 pretty fun experience.
Had a Toy Maker Guy in my pantheon once. He was not a god, per say, but he was eternal and undying and lived on a different dimension than the gods and the earthly universe. The other gods could not create life, but they commissioned him to do so. The other gods could change or "taint" the races of other gods, however.
For instance, the God of humility, hard-work, and simple pleasantries asked for a race of his own to love, so the Toy Maker created the humans, the first sentient life in the universe. The God of the arts, pride, and beauty was always looking to one-up the other gods, and asked for a race which were far superior. Thus came the elves, who still think themselves superior.
The God of hatred, war, and monstrosity asked of the Toy Maker for a brutal, evil race. The Toy Maker gave him the gnomes who were in this setting, an irredeemable, always chaotic evil race of merciless and ruthless Garden Gnomes, played mostly for laughs , but the God casted the runts aside because they didn't look terrifying enough. He changed his mind, however, when he saw how brutal and hate-filled the gnomes were, and loves those bearded fiends to this day.
In case of a race being changed or "tainted" by a different god, we had the Orcs. The Goddess of the Home, Food, and Family asked for the Orcs Orcs in this setting, in addition to being a proud warrior race, were the best cooks and chefs in the land , to clean and cook for the humans as servants. They got along well though, and it was common in those days for the house orc to eat at the table with the family and were treated like a member of the family.
When the God of hatred, war, and monstrosity saw how well the humans and orcs lived together, despite the orcs being permanently indentured servants, he tainted the orcs into becoming far more savage, but were still great chefs and workers. They got better over time, but orcish bandits and highway men are not uncommon still have a poor reputation.
Lots of the other gods were so amazed and amused by the elves, humans, orcs and gnomes that they all commissioned the Toy Maker for races of their own, and many came back for seconds.
It is during this short time that the other races and species, dwarves and goblins, kobolds and gnolls, golems and mushroomfolk, trolls and slimes, pixies and dragons, angels and demons, and all the various unintelligent beasts and creatures such as wolves, birds, fish, or sheep, were all commissioned and created.
One of our parties even met him. He spook in a soft, friendly, and inviting Irish accent. He was not handsome, but had a sort of warmth to his face. He had a dark reddish brown mane, the pointy ears of an elf, and a dark green cap. He showed no anger that his workshop had been intruded, and had shown the party his work. They saw small, wooden figurines of themselves, a few people they knew, and thousands of people they had never seen before; and that was just what he displayed in his workshop! The back was told to have a figurine of every living creature from the past and present on the shelves, but our party only got a glimpse before he sent them on their way. He didn't look that much like the picture, but the idea and mood is similar.
I made three entire pantheons for the last Pathfinder game I ran. There was a large human pantheon (based largely off of the Greek pantheon), an elven pantheon, and a dwarven pantheon.
The human pantheon was ruled by a lawful good king and a lawful good queen who shared power equally. The primordial gods of the elements and energy planes were both genderless deities of their own right and aspects of the uberdeity that spawned the first generation of gods. In essence, "many are the one and the one in many" concept.
The elven and dwarven pantheons would be recognizable to all D&D players, but I added in a few of my own creation to each.
Seems I've struck a chord. My guild mages will bring back the horde ten fold! Also I ain't playing that weak **** homeslice, I'm bringing 3/3 centaurs.
Illness in the Ranks gives all tokens -1/-1. Enchantment. Gaze of Granite kills all creatures with mana cost X. Pay 0 mana, only kills tokens. I am literally ace at killing Selesnya. That's all my friend played until he found Abzan.
Tim, the lord of time.
started as a joke because while I was proof reading an article for the school newspaper there was a typo. something like "since the begining of tim." Ive used him as a sort of deus ex machina during tabletop gaming.