Overview
Dionysus is a god of agriculture with power over fertility of the land and creatures; however, Dionysus is limited to wine, grape vines, and the influence that wine has on mortal creatures. As the god of wine, Dionysus has dual natures: on one hand, he is the embodiment of joy, pleasure, and camaraderie; while on the other, he embodies brutality, idiocy, and madness. His twin natures are a reflection of the dual properties of wine: imbibed in moderation, it brings pleasure and comfort, but in excess, it brings nothing but depraved misery.
Dionysus is a raucous, unruly deity who likes nothing better than drinking to excess and wild uninhibited behavior. If left alone, he and his boisterous worshipers are usually no more than a minor annoyance. But if someone tries to put a stop to his worshipers fun, or to drive them away, Dionysus is quick to mock them. If that doesn’t work, he won’t hesitate to use his power to inflict madness and frenzy against the intruders.
Description
Dionysus appears as a handsome young man wearing a purple robe, carrying an amphora of wine, a lyre and a thyrsus. He often likes to take on the form of a lion, a panther, a dolphin or a bear.
Holy symbol
Dionysus's symbol is a staff topped with a pine cone and twined with ivy known as a Thyrsus.
Favored weapon
Dionysus wields a Thyrsus, a staff topped with a pine cone and twined with ivy, which can inflict confusion (as per the spell) on any opponent it strikes.
Possessions
Dionysus possesses a Thyrsus (a staff topped with a pine cone and twined with ivy), that can restore the dead to life (as per the raise dead spell); allows the user to teleport from one plant they are touching to any other plant; and can function as a mirror of life trapping with a touch.
Dionysus rides within a chariot that is drawn by panthers.
Realm
Great Wheel cosmology
In the Great Wheel cosmology, Dionysus resides within the planar realm of Olympus, which is located on Arvandor (also known as Olympus), the first layer of the Olympian Glades of Arborea. Dionysus resides within a palace overrun by vines heavy with grapes, located in the center of a vineyard. A domain of constant, comfortable warmth, the grapes are heavy with juice and are always ready for plucking or for making into wine. When they are not accompanying Dionysus on his travels across the planes, the bacchae make their home within the vineyard where they constantly hold parties.
Olympian cosmology
In the Olympian cosmology, Dionysus resides within the outer planar realm of Olympus, a great mountain which stands at the center of the world. This mighty peak rises so high above the world, that its heights form a distinct planar realm. It serves as home to the majority of the Olympian deities, not including Hades, and each deity maintains their own personal domain within this realm.
Worship
Those who have come to serve Dionysus typically like to carouse and engage in wild parties. Dionysus expects them to view life as one long celebration, and their only true duty is to cultivate grapevines and make wine, which they sell to earn money to support their temple. They lead ecstatic rites celebrating Dionysus, which usually involve heavy drinking and feasting. The priests of Dionysus are also all initiates into the Orphic Mysteries, and rites conducted within the confines of the Mysteries often involve the tearing apart of a bull's flesh and eating it raw, in imitation of the grisly death of Zagreus, the previous incarnation of Dionysus, at the hands of the Titans.
Omens from Dionysus often take the form of hallucinations, especially while drinking wine.
In Spelljammer
The inhabitants of Greatspace revere the gods and goddesses of the Greek pantheon, especially Zeus, meaning that Dionysus can be considered a native deity.