Okay... some campaign I've been planning has a slight problem...
How to define out the workings of player deities.
So far, I've only managed to remember one specific 3.5 Supplement that deals with it, and it has the unfortunate side effect of one specific ability it gives deities being... well... not just over powered, but actively makes spell-caster classes for them redundant.
I'll go on record now as saying it was "Dieties and Demigods", and the Divine ability in question was "Alter reality" (At will use of any spell up to LVL 9)
Is there anything I should do?
Use a different supplement? (I don't remember any others)
Use a house rule that Nerfs the ability? (Suggestions on what rule would help, if that's what you recommend)
Something else?
Your help is appreciated.
Do you mean the deities of player characters, or (more likely) PCs who are themselves gods?
If the latter, then honestly you'd do better to try a different system. I suggest Scion, Nobilis, or Exalted, in roughly that order.
D&D rules (and therefore Pathfinder rules) start to break down at that level of power.
Sir Ophiuchus wrote: Do you mean the deities of player characters, or (more likely) PCs who are themselves gods?
If the latter, then honestly you'd do better to try a different system. I suggest Scion, Nobilis, or Exalted, in roughly that order.
D&D rules (and therefore Pathfinder rules) start to break down at that level of power.
Exalted is just Pathfinder if only named NPCs get levels. I don't put them past 5th or 6th level in PF terms.
Sir Ophiuchus wrote: Do you mean the deities of player characters, or (more likely) PCs who are themselves gods?
If the latter, then honestly you'd do better to try a different system. I suggest Scion, Nobilis, or Exalted, in roughly that order.
D&D rules (and therefore Pathfinder rules) start to break down at that level of power.
...Both!
I mean; It's like this.
-Gods walk among mortals as if they were equals.
-Heroes follow them around in their quests for... whatever.
-The Gods actively participate. And fight on their side of the conflicts.
-Gods are at war on the mortal plane.
-Mortals often ascend to godhood.
-Any combination of the above is likely to happen to the player.
As a side note, whatever system is used for working with godlike powers; it would be good if the system treated god powers as "A great boost to existing talents, but not an excuse not to apply yourself at one of the classes you use."
A god ability that makes class levels redundant is overpowered, even for a god.
A god ability that augments existing class abilities, even to great degree is fine though.
...After all, the campaign in question is Notably "epic level".
See if you can locate an old book called Primal Order. It is game system independant but has conversions for most of the old games. The conversions for D&D should work for pathfinder.
Mysterious Stranger wrote: See if you can locate an old book called Primal Order. It is game system independant but has conversions for most of the old games. The conversions for D&D should work for pathfinder. I took a look at the idea, and found that it looks like it would take a great deal of effort just to find the conversion notes.
However, it did give me an idea.
The Primal Order uses a system of points for channeling divine abilities, based loosely on the same way their divine rank works.
So...
If one applies that idea to the Deities and Demigods supplement, then naturally they'd have a number of "Divinity Points" about equal to their divine rank, that could be used to activate most Salient Divine abilities.
Such a method could probably work...
Thanks Mysterious Stranger!
(Aside: Wow, that's a bizarrely satisfying phrase to say)
Primal Order looks like it would work just fine. Alternatively, maybe try cranking up the challenge level so high that it renders OP abilities like Alter Reality almost necessary for their survival somehow?
BlueStorm wrote:
Thanks Mysterious Stranger!
(Aside: Wow, that's a bizarrely satisfying phrase to say)
When the Mysterious Stranger comes out and kills 3 Hellfire troopers for you, you'll stop saying it's "bizarrely" satisfying. =)
Rynjin wrote: Primal Order looks like it would work just fine. Alternatively, maybe try cranking up the challenge level so high that it renders OP abilities like Alter Reality almost necessary for their survival somehow?
BlueStorm wrote:
Thanks Mysterious Stranger!
(Aside: Wow, that's a bizarrely satisfying phrase to say)
When the Mysterious Stranger comes out and kills 3 Hellfire troopers for you, you'll stop saying it's "bizarrely" satisfying. =)
Personally, it's not so much that it's overpowered "Per say", its more that it makes my setting's main requirement of mastering the sorcerer class to become a deity redundant. Or rather it makes even mentioning that the character has those levels redundant once they achieve deity hood.
...So yeah, A point system for how many times they can use Divine abilities would alleviate that.
BlueStorm wrote:
Personally, it's not so much that it's overpowered "Per say", its more that it makes my setting's main requirement of mastering the sorcerer class to become a deity redundant. Or rather it makes even mentioning that the character has those levels redundant once they achieve deity hood.
...So yeah, A point system for how many times they can use Divine abilities would alleviate that.
He said something about Alter Reality at will in the OP I thought, which I would think WOULD be pretty ridiculous.
If not then I also don't see a problem other than the "why be a caster?" conundrum.
Rynjin wrote: BlueStorm wrote:
Personally, it's not so much that it's overpowered "Per say", its more that it makes my setting's main requirement of mastering the sorcerer class to become a deity redundant. Or rather it makes even mentioning that the character has those levels redundant once they achieve deity hood.
...So yeah, A point system for how many times they can use Divine abilities would alleviate that.
He said something about Alter Reality at will in the OP I thought, which I would think WOULD be pretty ridiculous.
If not then I also don't see a problem other than the "why be a caster?" conundrum. Technically, the supplement describes Alter Reality being a Standard action... But that's beside the point.
The real problem is what you just mentioned... "Why be a caster?"
I want to avoid that conundrum.
I would look into the Godling books from Super Genius Games. They may not be as powerful as true deities, but it's a lot more balanced than something that gives a player to freely alter reality whenever they want. Even Wish/Miracle have limits.
I don't see how the eating habits of your players is at all relevant to the game process, unless there's conflict over what topping to put on the pizza.
(;D)
|
