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Running a homebrew and need some thoughts on the condition of NPCs who are restored after 10,000 years of petrification.
1) Divine casters: Would they still have their spells or would they need to pray again?
2) Arcane casters (other than sorcerors): Would they need to select and memorize spells for a new day or would they still have the spells they memorized before they were petrified?
3) Sorcerors: What would the status of their spells be?
4) Others: Would number of rage rounds be reset for a barbarian? Rounds of bardic performance reset? Ki pool? Etc.....
Your thoughts please.
-Rodney
My ruling would be that any character that's been petrified comes out of it with the exact same spells/abilities/what-have-you that they had when they went in. Doesn't matter how much time passes.
No word on how sane the NPCs are going to be after 10,000 years...
My ruling would be that any character that's been petrified comes out of it with the exact same spells/abilities/what-have-you that they had when they went in. Doesn't matter how much time passes.
No word on how sane the NPCs are going to be after 10,000 years...
I would rule it the same way, and by the next day it shouldn't make any difference.
1. with 1) I have an interesting query: What if the god/dess of the cleric is gone?
Would that mean the cleric lost all power?
Would it mean the cleric now casts spells from its own might?
Would it mean it would have to pick something like the "Heir" of the original entity to be target of its worship?
Or would it mean that with the return of one priest of the god/dess, the entity also gets revived as it is no longer forgotten and has a worshiper once more?
Running a homebrew and need some thoughts on the condition of NPCs who are restored after 10,000 years of petrification.
1) Divine casters: Would they still have their spells or would they need to pray again?
2) Arcane casters (other than sorcerors): Would they need to select and memorize spells for a new day or would they still have the spells they memorized before they were petrified?
3) Sorcerors: What would the status of their spells be?
4) Others: Would number of rage rounds be reset for a barbarian? Rounds of bardic performance reset? Ki pool? Etc.....
Your thoughts please.
-Rodney
1&2&3) they have the spell energy from when they went into hibernation. There is no precedent that I am aware of for magical energy half life. So they have it until they use it. For the sorcerer I wouldn't consider being trapped as a statue as "rest" hence they do not regain spell energy.
4) I would consider their status as "frozen in time." They are in the exact capacity as when they were frozen. Same for the casters.
Quick suggestion:
Flesh to stone prison. Suddenly the guards vanish and the prisoners are trapped for far longer than they should be. 10K years in this case. Could be an interesting idea.
TCG: so, considering my question, would you say the cleric still has the spells granted by its god even if the god was gone meanwhile?
TCG: so, considering my question, would you say the cleric still has the spells granted by its god even if the god was gone meanwhile?
There were some Faerun books that this happened. Specifically Loth disaperared. Basically the clerics lost special abilities (domain powers) and the ability to regain spells, but they had any that they were previously imbued with.
It makes sense. Once the god gives you a spell it's no longer directly tied to the divine. It really depends on how divine metaphysics work in your world, but I like my interpretation. Naturally. ;-)
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They are quite disoriented when confronted by PCs with strange clothes, customs, and accents who have been foolishly alerting the NPCs to the amount of time that has passed. Some don't get it for a while and are acting as they would have before Grumbar rather forcefully stopped their battle, while others are in a fetal position on the ground sobbing. And others are lashing out at whatever they can lash out at.
The PCs are up against a villain who is restoring selective ancient perceived allies as speedbumps for the party while racing them to get to an artifact Grumbar left in the temple. The PCs, in turn, are restoring others who they perceive as allies while racing the bad-baddie.
These comments are helpful as I needed to decide whether I had to get around a general nerfing of restored clerics of Grumbar in the temple. It could matter in the ensuing conflicts!
Best,
Rodney
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@Merlaine: It depends upon whether the spell power is granted at the time of the original praying to the god back in the day or if the spell power is actually granted by the god in the time of need.
Another thought is that if the god is gone, another might have assumed the original god's portfolio and *might* honor past spells. To a god, of course, 10,000 years is probably a trifle.
Interesting question!
They might, however, go mad if they become un-petrified and suddenly realize they are 10000 years adrift in time...
That is what I was hinting at...
TCG: so, considering my question, would you say the cleric still has the spells granted by its god even if the god was gone meanwhile?There were some Faerun books that this happened. Specifically Loth disaperared. Basically the clerics lost special abilities (domain powers) and the ability to regain spells, but they had any that they were previously imbued with.
It makes sense. Once the god gives you a spell it's no longer directly tied to the divine. It really depends on how divine metaphysics work in your world, but I like my interpretation. Naturally. ;-)
I have the personal opinion that gods exist as long they are worshiped, and their power level depends on amount of worshipers. This is basically something the Japanese culture also believes in RL, where hundreds of gods exist but if a local one is forgotten it dies.
This is why the question about a returning cleric for me is of special interest, I would say the cleric's faith would revive the divine entity, even if it is just a divine spark or as a demigod due to loss of power. This would happen due to regaining a priest/worshiper.
Of course in a setting where a god is gone = gone for good this makes no sense, but with my version of religious system for a world a lot of interesting options may occur. Like return of forgotten faith through revived petrified worshipers, or maybe a faith got so twisted through passing of time that the return of original worshipers would basically create a second entity and a religious split would happen :)
They are quite disoriented when confronted by PCs with strange clothes, customs, and accents who have been foolishly alerting the NPCs to the amount of time that has passed. Some don't get it for a while and are acting as they would have before Grumbar rather forcefully stopped their battle, while others are in a fetal position on the ground sobbing. And others are lashing out at whatever they can lash out at.
The PCs are up against a villain who is restoring selective ancient perceived allies as speedbumps for the party while racing them to get to an artifact Grumbar left in the temple. The PCs, in turn, are restoring others who they perceive as allies while racing the bad-baddie.
These comments are helpful as I needed to decide whether I had to get around a general nerfing of restored clerics of Grumbar in the temple. It could matter in the ensuing conflicts!
Best,
Rodney
Consider drastically different social issues. For example, IRL Humans only began agriculture 10K years ago. Imagine one such human in our modern world.
You may not want to open this can of worms, but what about magical and non-magical evolution? They wouldn't look drastically different, but perhaps enough to notice.
Ryu: as far as divinity goes, it depends heavily on the system (so, in other words, that's a good question). In Golarion it doesn't matter: the god's gone, so a worshiper ain'ta-gonna make 'em better (and is going to be devoid of spells). In Faerun, it also doesn't matter, 'cause one worshiper isn't enough. Either way, though, they'd likely have their spell compliment on them.
In other news, Paizo created something called "Atrophy", for critters who've been sleeping a long, long. Specifically 10,000 years ago. You might like it.
If you want simplicity, go with what's above. If you want atrophy, however (I've tried to reduce the spoilers)...
Atrophied Lich (Ex) A lich that remains immobile and insensible for extended periods of time (as <SPOILERED> did after he was imprisoned in his tomb just prior to Earthfall 10,000 years ago) can grow atrophied. The exact effects of atrophy vary from lich to light. In <SPOILERED>'s case, his effective wizzard level has declined from 20th to 9th. Note that these are not negative levels - <SPOILERED> must earn back the lost XP normally. More troubling to the lich is the fact that until he achieves at least 11th level as a lich, his phylactery is unusable - if he's destroyed, he crumbles to dust, forever dead.
Shorter, less spoilery version, while it varies from case-to-case (these variations are not spelled out), the 10,000 years of insensate time passing dropped this critter from 20th level to 9th, and, unlike negative levels, s/he's actually got to earn the XP back to gain levels again. True, this is a <REDACTED> we're talking about here, not a petrified creature, but the <REDACTED> was immobile and insensible during the whole time, and is functionally immortal thanks to its natural state, so it could apply.
But really, I'm just throwing that in for you to ogle at. I'd probably go with the "nothing's changed for them" interpretation (although maybe some temporary negative levels, ability damage, and/or hit point damage or even mild scarring/disfigurement to represent erosion to the stone over time, regardless of protective barriers as alternate possibilities).
EDIT: NINJA'D BY ALOT! And Ryu... why do I see your alias now?
ANYWAY, one other thing to think of, if you're using Faerun, is that Magic and how it functions has changed radically during the time frame you propose... twice (or even three times!). This is going to leave some very confused spellcasters (both divine and arcane).
Ryu: as far as divinity goes, it depends heavily on the system (so, in other words, that's a good question). In Golarion it doesn't matter: the god's gone, so a worshiper ain'ta-gonna make 'em better (and is going to be devoid of spells). In Faerun, it also doesn't matter, 'cause one worshiper isn't enough. Either way, though, they'd likely have their spell compliment on them.
In other news, Paizo created something called "Atrophy", for critters who've been sleeping a long, long. Specifically 10,000 years ago. You might like it.
If you want simplicity, go with what's above. If you want atrophy, however (I've tried to reduce the spoilers)...
** spoiler omitted **Shorter, less spoilery version, while it varies from case-to-case (these variations are not spelled out), the 10,000 years of insensate time passing dropped this critter from 20th level to 9th, and, unlike negative levels, s/he's actually got to earn the XP back to gain levels again. True, this is a <REDACTED> we're talking about here, not a petrified creature, but the <REDACTED> was immobile and insensible during the whole time, and is functionally immortal thanks to its natural state, so it could apply.
But really, I'm just throwing that in for you to ogle at. I'd probably go with the "nothing's changed for them" interpretation (although maybe some temporary negative...
I like that, but these people aren't immortals who are just laying there. They're actually frozen by magic and transmogrified. Flesh to stone in this case. They're minds are as incapacitated as their bodies. The time doesn't seem to pass for them. They just blinked and 10K years passed.
Again, it depends on how metaphysics work in your world, but a lich laying there is different than being frozen in carbonite. ;-) One of the two never even notices any time pass.
Sure. The idea was that s/he was actually "gone" as well. But I see what you're saying (and that's why I advocated the "nothing's changed" idea, or perhaps variants due to stony erosion).
joriandrake: no worries, the "short version" actually contains literally everything you need to know game-rules-wise about the "Atrophied (Ex)" condition.
Also, duh, you're running a home brew, which is exactly what you said at the beginning. NEVERMIND THE MAGIC-CHANGE THEN (unless you wish to incorporate that).
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Consider drastically different social issues. For example, IRL Humans only began agriculture 10K years ago. Imagine one such human in our modern world.
You may not want to open this can of worms, but what about magical and non-magical evolution? They wouldn't look drastically different, but perhaps enough to notice.
Awesome thoughts here. Personally, as a science teacher, I love opening cans of worms like this.
The humanoid and other races in the world I am running are actually quite a bit older than the ones in ours though, and have spent the last 10,000 years recovering from a rather large mistake a cohort of Fey made in unwitting collaboration with forces of Abbadon. Now new unwitting allies of Abbadon are attempting to make the mistake again with gusto.
Lots has changed and evolved over time, and since Grumbar is a major element in the campaign, geologic/magical processes are a big deal.
Consider drastically different social issues. For example, IRL Humans only began agriculture 10K years ago. Imagine one such human in our modern world.
You may not want to open this can of worms, but what about magical and non-magical evolution? They wouldn't look drastically different, but perhaps enough to notice.
Awesome thoughts here. Personally, as a science teacher, I love opening cans of worms like this.
The humanoid and other races in the world I am running are actually quite a bit older than the ones in ours though, and have spent the last 10,000 years recovering from a rather large mistake a cohort of Fey made in unwitting collaboration with forces of Abbadon. Now new unwitting allies of Abbadon are attempting to make the mistake again with gusto.
Lots has changed and evolved over time, and since Grumbar is a major element in the campaign, geologic/magical processes are a big deal.
10K years isn't a lot for natural evolution, but it could be enough to have a bigger forehead or something. Personality issues aside.
However if the rest of the world is interbreeding with fey then they may look VERY different. Interesting concept.
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Sure. The idea was that s/he was actually "gone" as well. But I see what you're saying (and that's why I advocated the "nothing's changed" idea, or perhaps variants due to stony erosion).
joriandrake: no worries, the "short version" actually contains literally everything you need to know game-rules-wise about the "Atrophied (Ex)" condition.
Also, duh, you're running a home brew, which is exactly what you said at the beginning. NEVERMIND THE MAGIC-CHANGE THEN (unless you wish to incorporate that).
Just to clarify, I'm (Rodney) actually the one running the homebrew. I believe Joriandrake is someone who is actually in a Kingmaker campaign.
But to your fascinating point! I love the idea of Atrophy. Not sure how to apply it in the current case, but it would allow me to have some more epic villains in the temple who have degraded in their power.
Also, I really like the idea of scars from the inevitable weathering of the petrified NPC's. I have already be throwing a variety of variant erosion and weathering specialized elementals at the PCs so this would fit well with the flavor of the campaign!
Best,
Rodney
you can add a bit of "patriotism/racism" to the situation
Sorry I have no better example, but I hope you know of the Dragon Age setting
in that, elves lost their power, became weak shadows of their former selves, there is not even an elven realm anymore, they are either nomadic or slaves or live in slums (or a mix of these), the living elves are also "tainted" with human blood, meaning it is likely none of them are pure-elves
Now, I took this example because: imagine the people you un-petrify, they meet with the "modern society", and the new cultures, "advanced" races, faiths, technology. Would they be awed by it? maybe fear it? be abhorred by it? Would they even consider the ones in the "new era" true [race/religion/culture], the old ones may love what they see or hate it, or some mix of these, they may also consider everything terrible and only worth to burn and destroy, to conquer and restore what once was
In the end the old revived ruler race/faith could love ice cream, pop music, and cars, and hate everything else
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10K years isn't a lot for natural evolution, but it could be enough to have a bigger forehead or something. Personality issues aside.
However if the rest of the world is interbreeding with fey then they may look VERY different. Interesting concept.
You are correct about natural evolution, though a lot can be sped up when you through magic and gods into the mix. It can allow me to include some unknown monsters that have been hunted to extinction in the last 10,000 years.
There are different factions of Fey, some of whom have been assimilating into this world after giving up on their dream of returning to the First World. There are others who want to get the power to smash through the barriers of their exile and are striving (somewhat successfully) to remain "pure" and yet others who have "unearthed" powerful magicks that appear to allow them to recreate the First World here in this world. Those powerful magicks, were actually placed there for them to find by daemonkind and will help in their effort to unravel all things.
Back to things that have changed: Communication is very difficult between the PCs and the NPCs, and is requiring high intelligence checks since dialects have evolved dramatically over the years. The religious symbols have changed a great deal as well, though Terran doesn't seem to have changed a great deal as a languange, and that is helping with communication since the party also includes a modern priest of Grumbar.
Thanks to all for really great thoughts on the main question and the others it has spawned. Keep it coming if you have more ideas.
Best,
Rodney
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you can add a bit of "patriotism/racism" to the situation
Sorry I have no better example, but I hope you know of the Dragon Age setting
in that, elves lost their power, became weak shadows of their former selves, there is not even an elven realm anymore, they are either nomadic or slaves or live in slums (or a mix of these), the living elves are also "tainted" with human blood, meaning it is likely none of them are pure-elves
Now, I took this example because: imagine the people you un-petrify, they meet with the "modern society", and the new cultures, "advanced" races, faiths, technology. Would they be awed by it? maybe fear it? be abhorred by it? Would they even consider the ones in the "new era" true [race/religion/culture], the old ones may love what they see or hate it, or some mix of these, they may also consider everything terrible and only worth to burn and destroy, to conquer and restore what once was
In the end the old revived ruler race/faith could love ice cream, pop music, and cars, and hate everything else
LOVE IT! The current world includes elven ghettoes and a newly developed Elven-Orcish Confederation, so there is a lot of racial disharmony to play with here. In the major cities, the power of the Order of the Burning Witch is spreading a paranoid authoritarianism, and the PCs are on the Most-Wanted List in the capital. They live in interesting times.
-Rodney
Your OBW reminds me of the Witch Queen religion I made for a game, using the related alias to post now, stuff of faith inside alias desc. Might be useful (game is core rulebook only, so as example other domains could have fit better if more stuff would have been an option)
Rodney! joriandrake! Sorry! (I'm bad with names. I'm better with faces! * *)
I'm glad you like the Atrophy thing, Rodney, though it's not mine, per se, it's Greg A. Vaughn's (the author of AP#33 - I'm avoiding the name for spoiler reasons).
I love your stuff Merlaine/Ryu! (Which would you prefer I call you?)
And, oh man, don't forget the difference in societal mores! I mean, just look at, say, the Biblical sampling of the Hebrews.
Within the span of a few hundred years they went from monotheists, to polytheists, back to monotheists, back to polytheists (and this time more debauched than ever), and then back to monotheists who were - on the whole - super-conservative (though there were, of course, dissenters).
Then their country disappeared for, you know, 1,878 years and they were a scattered people. I'd guarantee that virtually no one in the early Jewish culture would recognize a "Jew" now days. That's not to say that Jews aren't fulfilling their heritage: they are! But all of society has changed during that (comparatively) brief time - all that in less than two millennia - so just imagine the difference in 10,000 years.
Most of the "most powerful nation(s) in the world" in history have ceased to exist by this point. Those who come back literally wouldn't have a nation anymore. The land wouldn't look the same. Culture, politics, language, everything would be different. Imagine an ancient Athenian dropping by modern day Athens. That would drive them insane! Added to that is that virtually no modern Athenian would accept the ancient one as being ancient, not only because it's not believable, but because the ancient one knows how things actually happened... but the modern ones think they do.
Example: did you know the Parthenon, that majestic piece of marble, was once painted in bright, hideous, primary colors? That's what all our testing has told us recently! How tacky! And yet the creators at that time either didn't think so, or had powerful people forcing a weird idea on them. But we think of the ancient Greek cities as beautiful and refined marble, because that's our exposure.
Anyway, really cool things to think about.
* I really hope it's obvious that I'm joking with these statements.
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Your OBW reminds me of the Witch Queen religion I made for a game, using the related alias to post now, stuff of faith inside alias desc. Might be useful (game is core rulebook only, so as example other domains could have fit better if more stuff would have been an option)
I would be interested to learn more of this Witch Queen religion. One of my PCs is a witch, and upon arriving in the capital city discovered that a new bully was in town, a group of inquisitors and others who billed themselved as the Order of the Burning Witch. While there are some true believers, they are really an excuse for real estate and power grabbing.
But they post very helpful bills around town alerting people about how to recognize "witch-signs". Includes things like milk souring, babies crying, rain on festival days, broken tools, etc. With the help of some bards, they have a lot of the populace whipped up into a frenzy, which has been a lot of fun for the PCs to try to navigate. Especially since the Order has been pushing an anti-orc and anti-nonhuman racial agenda and half the party are half-orcs or full-orcs.
-Rodney
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Rodney! joriandrake! Sorry! (I'm bad with names. I'm better with faces! * *)
Hey Tacticslion,
I am brand-spanking new to this message board and actually would like to put in my own avatar. Being new though, I have not been able to figure out the way to do so.
If you or someone else could PM me and give me some pointers that would be awesome.
Best,
Rodney
After ten thousand years of natural corrosion, wouldn't those revived basically be faceless, barely humanoid lumps of flesh?
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After ten thousand years of natural corrosion, wouldn't those revived basically be faceless, barely humanoid lumps of flesh?
Under normal circumnstances yes, but they are frozen in statue state in a lost temple of Grumbar, an earth god, so preservation of stone is stronger here.
Outside though erosion has moved at a breathtaking pace as evil forces have unleashed specialized erosion and weathering elementals to tear a towering mountain down so they could get to the temple buried deep below. It took them a long time though..... The final stone barriers were turned into flesh by an antipaladin and then subjected to corrupting touch and a fireball that was aimed at the antipaladin. It was pretty gross.
-Rodney
Hey, Rodney, I sent you a message! (As I've never received one, I'm unsure how that looks).
That'd be kinda neat.. awaken after 10k years and only be able to speak clearly to dragons, with some difficulty to elves, and barely to dwarves. maybe share a word or two with Halflings and be clueless to the rest of the world.
-S
1. with 1) I have an interesting query: What if the god/dess of the cleric is gone?
Would that mean the cleric lost all power?
Would it mean the cleric now casts spells from its own might?
Would it mean it would have to pick something like the "Heir" of the original entity to be target of its worship?
Or would it mean that with the return of one priest of the god/dess, the entity also gets revived as it is no longer forgotten and has a worshiper once more?
Depends on why the deity is gone, I imagine. Usually, however, when a deity is lost, other/s subsume that god/goddesses portfolio's. You can find several references (at least one in PF) where a deity grants powers/spells to the followers of the fallen/lost god.
If an allied deity got the portfolios the cleric may not need to change a thing about it's behavior.
I doubt a single cleric could restore a deity thought worship, at least it wouldn't restore it as a deity. Maybe some demigod like entity. Though, if the deity's portfolio's were free, and the cleric was high enough level the cleric could probably try for deification, replacing the god.
Hey, Rodney, I sent you a message! (As I've never received one, I'm unsure how that looks).
At the very top of the screen (scroll alll the way up) beside Yuor name is a little mail icon.. When you have mail, it also has (1) beside it., (or whatever number of unread mails you have in the box)
From what I can tell, it updates when you reload the page.
-S
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My ruling would be that any character that's been petrified comes out of it with the exact same spells/abilities/what-have-you that they had when they went in. Doesn't matter how much time passes.
No word on how sane the NPCs are going to be after 10,000 years...
Flesh to stone say: "The subject, along with all its carried gear, turns into a mindless, inert statue.", so why it should have become insane? He had no perception of the time that passed while he was a stone statue.
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TCG: so, considering my question, would you say the cleric still has the spells granted by its god even if the god was gone meanwhile?There were some Faerun books that this happened. Specifically Loth disaperared. Basically the clerics lost special abilities (domain powers) and the ability to regain spells, but they had any that they were previously imbued with.
It makes sense. Once the god gives you a spell it's no longer directly tied to the divine. It really depends on how divine metaphysics work in your world, but I like my interpretation. Naturally. ;-)
I have the personal opinion that gods exist as long they are worshiped, and their power level depends on amount of worshipers. This is basically something the Japanese culture also believes in RL, where hundreds of gods exist but if a local one is forgotten it dies.
This is why the question about a returning cleric for me is of special interest, I would say the cleric's faith would revive the divine entity, even if it is just a divine spark or as a demigod due to loss of power. This would happen due to regaining a priest/worshiper.
Of course in a setting where a god is gone = gone for good this makes no sense, but with my version of religious system for a world a lot of interesting options may occur. Like return of forgotten faith through revived petrified worshipers, or maybe a faith got so twisted through passing of time that the return of original worshipers would basically create a second entity and a religious split would happen :)
In Golarion a deity power isn't linked tot eh number of followers he has. Naturally there is the not little factor that most greater deities have followers not only on Goalrion but on and in other planets in the same solar system and in other solar systems, so it is improbable they will be totally forgotten.
Local deities could be more susceptible to that but James Jacobs has said that the status of Golarion deities isn't dependant on their number of followers.|
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They are quite disoriented when confronted by PCs with strange clothes, customs, and accents who have been foolishly alerting the NPCs to the amount of time that has passed. Some don't get it for a while and are acting as they would have before Grumbar rather forcefully stopped their battle, while others are in a fetal position on the ground sobbing. And others are lashing out at whatever they can lash out at.
The PCs are up against a villain who is restoring selective ancient perceived allies as speedbumps for the party while racing them to get to an artifact Grumbar left in the temple. The PCs, in turn, are restoring others who they perceive as allies while racing the bad-baddie.
These comments are helpful as I needed to decide whether I had to get around a general nerfing of restored clerics of Grumbar in the temple. It could matter in the ensuing conflicts!
Best,
RodneyConsider drastically different social issues. For example, IRL Humans only began agriculture 10K years ago. Imagine one such human in our modern world.
You may not want to open this can of worms, but what about magical and non-magical evolution? They wouldn't look drastically different, but perhaps enough to notice.
Human evolution will be hardly noticeable, but disease evolution ...
Read Jared Diamond book "Guns, germs and steel" or simply look the effect of European diseases on the American natives.|
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Human evolution will be hardly noticeable, but disease evolution ...
Read Jared Diamond book "Guns, germs and steel" or simply look the effect of European diseases on the American natives.
Brilliant connection! Thanks!
Big shifts on political structures, languages, customs, religions, and such. Small shifts in humanoid evolution, though some may be more significant in a world influenced by magic. Extinct monsters preserved in the petrified time-capsule. Some of these I alreay had incorporated, but not the disease element. That is rife with diabolical opportunity, especially since there is one petrified pestilence focused daemon in the temple.Best,
Rodney
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That'd be kinda neat.. awaken after 10k years and only be able to speak clearly to dragons, with some difficulty to elves, and barely to dwarves. maybe share a word or two with Halflings and be clueless to the rest of the world.
-S
True, though many of the NPCs and one of the PCs speak Terran, which I would imagine would have an even longer stability than draconic languages.
I like the jist of what you are saying. It definitely helps frame the cultural and communication questions.
Best,
Rodney
First of all... Man there was alot of posts in the last 4 hours :P
Makes my ideal post a lot less relevant, but here goes.
There is some information on demon lords dieing out and being forgotten and could quite easily work for other, less evil deities as well.
That Which is Dead...
Nascent demon lords exist in a sort of limbo. Though unique and powerful, they have not yet tied their reality to an Abyssal realm to an extent that they can be called proper demon lords. Thus, when they die, the Abyss absorbs and reclaims them. What comes of this recycling, none can say.
Yet when a true demon lord dies, it leaves behind a legacy. In the short term, its worshipers remain—either desperate to ignore the death of their god or hoping that through their faith they might return their demon to life. In a way, their faith can do just that, for the body of a demon lord does not discorporate when slain—it returns to the Abyss as a whole. The body leaves behind its material tools and relics, and even the flesh and bone of its form, yet what might be regarded as a soul forms a sort of blasphemous pearl in a region of the Abyss known to travelers as the Rift of Repose.
Here, strange stony forms emerge from the walls of an endless chasm, immense bodies preserved as if they were giants in the earth, monstrous fossils of vanquished evil. That these demon lords are dead is indisputable—their realms, if the Abyss doesn’t reclaim them, quickly fall to squabbling underlings or victorious demonic conquerors. Their clerics go mad and lose their magical powers. And in time, as stories of their depredations fade into obscurity, they are forgotten. All that remains in most cases is a name scribbled in the marginalia of decaying tomes, yet on these pages a select few of those names shall persist forever—a final testament to accompany the stony forms that hang over the black in the Rift of Repose. For if a name is preserved long enough, might not that name give rise to life again?
Here is the link, just scroll almost all the way down (9/10ths, its a long page)
Lotta interesting info in that one, also gives some info on dead demon lords that could prove insightful.I really like that last line. Potental to have a long lost demon lord be reborn because you revived one of his long lost 'dead' followers. Would be huge rp effects if the cleric was the sole one responsible in restoring a long lost god of death or something! Could even create a new BBEG, maybe even have the old villain have to team up with the party to try to bring it down!