I think the four essential cults for adventuring – and for quickly getting the setting – are probably Orlanth Adventurous, Chalana Arroy, Issaries, and Lhankor Mhy (which also introduces sorcery). Think of them as setting the four corners of *entry play. Now there are a hundred cults, but if we confined it to just four, I’d say those are it. That certainly was Greg’s strong belief.
*Entry play assumes the current default setting of Sartar or New Pavis.
The only one I wiffle about is Chalana Arroy, as I think Ernalda is now easier for entry play than Chalana Arroy with her rigid pacifism and vegetarianism.
So are the real four essential cults for entry play Orlanth Adventurous, Ernalda, Issaries, and Lhankor Mhy?
Thoughts welcome, but keep them within the scope of the post.
I don’t think Humakt really is one of the essentials if I was going to limit them to four.
Definitely not Storm Bull. The default setting is not Prax. (In most of Sartar, Chaos is rarer than in Prax or Dorastor.)
Is Sorcery something truly essential? I can understand the role of Lhankor Mhy as a Knowledge Character, that is without question something every party needs, but do they need a Sorcerer? Yes, for my purposes.