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Hello all and welcome to my pathfinder God game recruitment thread. In this game you will each play one of twenty deities that together rule their own multiverse, allying or bickering with each other as you attempt to gain status and control while a new threat arises and threatens to topple the Gods from their Divine thrones and take the multiverse for its own.
The game will feature Divine politics as well as Divine dicking around and will be largely player motivated, however, there is an interesting story and a main villain as well that will be part of the game.
The game will be rules light and will focus heavily on being a power fantasy with players free to invent or borrow from fiction locations, people, and events as they see fit to interact with and keep things interesting.
Gods interact with their environments through simple acts of will that produce reality altering effects, effects that are not magic, per se but something both simpler and more powerful, the direct application of willpower to bend reality.
Gods are Immortal and nearly Indestructible with only a very few ways to die involving specific forces strong enough to unravel the net of divine energy that is a deity.
Gods speak, understand, and can use every form of communication that exists and can also communicate through signs, wonders, and visions.
If they concentrate Gods can peer anywhere in the multiverse and employ all five senses to perceive what they are viewing. There are some places Gods cannot perceive though, usually they are blocked from peering into the Planar homes of other Deities for example.
Gods can instantly travel anywhere in the Multiverse as a move action, even through planar barriers, though there are some barriers that can specifically keep Gods out, like a Gods personal Planar Domain if he does not wish visitors.
Gods can alter reality at a whim with very few limits on what can be accomplished, they can summon armies of angels or demons millions strong with the blink of an eye, raise a mile high fortress of adamantine with a wiggle of their eyebrows, create a major artifact with a snap of their fingers or tear an entire planet in two with a wave of their hand. While this is an act of will and theoretically a mortal with a strong enough will could resist something being done directly to them by a God no creature in creation has enough strength to even try.
Gods can assume any form they wish either conceptually or physically. If they assume a physical form they receive the stats of the person or creature they wish to be and can be slain in this form, however such a death does not harm the deity in the least and they can simply assume the form again or a different one whenever they want.
Unlike in some universes worshipers neither increase nor decrease a Gods power and are largely irrelevant to the God except as mortals who follow the God's personal beliefs and fight in the God's name.
In addition to a mortal religion Gods have tens of thousands of outsider minions, some frightfully powerful, and perhaps allies in the form of powerful and wondrous beings of all possible descriptions.
It is possible there are other ways for Gods to die but none have been recorded up till now.
As a rules light game Character Creation is rather simple, choose a name, alignment, some titles for your god and a symbol, make a well formed personality and personal philosophy then choose a favored weapon and what domains you offer your Divine Casters.
Next, choose who your primary worshipers are and invent a Planar Domain as your home, then voila, you are done.
While the Gods themselves don't have stats as such your minions do and if you would like to detail stats for your Herald, special servants, etc feel free.
I will be accepting up to ten players in this game and will be accepting submissions until September 3rd.
Question, is there a particular shared origin for these gods? or restrictions for how a god can come about?
For example "I was once a mortal- I got better" or "Well, when a mother and a father god love each other very much..." or even "I made myself." etc?
No, they can arise in any fashion and many of the Npc Gods in the story have completely different origins. You can choose whatever origin you like.
Oh man, I'm so down for this. Something about being a god always excites my inner control freak. Go figure. =P
I'm assuming evil gods are ok since conflict is expected?
Wow! This looks awesome! I'm interested.
Ridge here. Behold, Scrapeknee god of change, transformation, and chaos! Chaotic Neutral is not a popular alignment with some GMs but I thought I'd take a chance.
I believe everything you asked for in this alias' profile. Please let me know if anything is missing.
I picture him as having elements of Dionysus, Raven (From certain tribal beliefs), with a touch of Ptah (Less creation, and more shaping)
I have not finished reading things yet, but it reminded me of This :) It was a game a while back that was all about the very existence of everything being reduced to nothing and us having to rebuild everything as newly created gods. Might be good for inspiration, or a good read :)
now for me to finish reading ^-^
Edit: again, Here are the rules for the Lord's of Creation, you say rules light but this could give you some structure, if you desired, or, most likely, some inspiration :)
I might have to re-thunk the god of dragons and scalykind that I had created before for this one :)
Errolyn The Ever Shifting, The unknown face, The muse, a goddess of beauty, lust and skill, she finds beauty in the arts of war, a well picked lock, a well executed con, a beautiful painting or even a wonderful forgery. She looks favorably on anyone who takes the time to practice and master a skill. She grants the Artifice, Charm, and Trickery Domains, her followers are mostly criminals and artists though anyone who takes great pride in the work they do may worship her and she bless them in turn.
Inherently selfish she is neutral but predominantly on the side of creation vs destruction as creation brings more beauty for her to enjoy. Vain and lustful she's created a grand estate in a positive energy plane, this manor is filled with statuary both animate and not, constructs, paintings and other treasures of beauty, she welcomes those who come to her with gifts whether mortal or god and is willing to grant them a boon should they please the muse, Or at least that's the image she's been careful to present to all. In reality she is as cunning and daring as any other god. As a neutral deity she is careful on which side she falls in with on any day, constantly judging her foes that she may keep the great wheel of destruction and creation spinning. Her favored weapon is the sword cane.
Hmm. Maybe interested. What level of silliness is this game looking for?
My interest is quite piqued! However, I feel that my ambitions as a god may be too big. Is a god of all time a bit too much for this?
Oh man, I'm so down for this. Something about being a god always excites my inner control freak. Go figure. =P
I'm assuming evil gods are ok since conflict is expected?
Yes, your God can be of any alignment you choose.
Ridge here. Behold, Scrapeknee god of change, transformation, and chaos! Chaotic Neutral is not a popular alignment with some GMs but I thought I'd take a chance.
I believe everything you asked for in this alias' profile. Please let me know if anything is missing.
I picture him as having elements of Dionysus, Raven (From certain tribal beliefs), with a touch of Ptah (Less creation, and more shaping)
That is a really good submission, and Chaotic Neutral is fine by me.
I have not finished reading things yet, but it reminded me of This :) It was a game a while back that was all about the very existence of everything being reduced to nothing and us having to rebuild everything as newly created gods. Might be good for inspiration, or a good read :)
now for me to finish reading ^-^Edit: again, Here are the rules for the Lord's of Creation, you say rules light but this could give you some structure, if you desired, or, most likely, some inspiration :)
I might have to re-thunk the god of dragons and scalykind that I had created before for this one :)
Thanks for the links, I'll look through them when I get a chance.
Hmm. Maybe interested. What level of silliness is this game looking for?
The game is intended to be serious as a baseline but humor and wackyness have a place.
My interest is quite piqued! However, I feel that my ambitions as a god may be too big. Is a god of all time a bit too much for this?
You could be the God of All Time if you wish. You could even time travel or move the entire universe backward and forward in time, however all Gods are unaffected by each others powers and exist in the same moment of conceptual time as each other, so if you turn back the clock in the universe a million years it doesn't mess with the other Gods memories of history or perceptions of there existence. The universe changes but the Gods do not. In addition while you could do something like travel back in time and kill the mortal a God used to be before he ascended it wouldn't effect that God at all who would still exist and be fine even though historically at that point he technically never ascended to Godhood.
In addition time traveling or messing with the timeline too much may seriously piss off your fellow Gods depending on what they are doing.
Hmm, okay. Light silliness it is.
Thinking of a god of skepticism and philosophy, who refuses to perform miracles on principle (granting his followers Wish spells instead), and who kindly asks his followers not to worship him, preferring to influence the world through divine inspirations instead of actions.
mmh I played Lords of Creation as well, if this becomes that , I may have to join!
Previously I've played
Xixtixix - God of Conquering
Luka the Inheritor - Goddess of Progress and InventionI could easily reprise one of those roles again. :D
Having looked through the Lords of Creation rules I will not be using them for this game, though they are cool.
What is the campaign setting for these gods? Any variations from Golarion in terms of races, weather, economy, geography, magic, etc?
Whoops, forgot a holy symbol with Errolyn The Ballerina Orchid, a beautiful flower depicting a skillful art form. Perfect for her.
What is the campaign setting for these gods? Any variations from Golarion in terms of races, weather, economy, geography, magic, etc?
The Campaign setting is an ad hoc one where you can bring what you want from the different settings in as you like, taking material from wherever you like and inventing your own as you like.
Any worlds or planes or societies we like will be in this setting though there are only 20 Gods in existence altogether. (this is important for the story)
Whoops, forgot a holy symbol with Errolyn The Ballerina Orchid, a beautiful flower depicting a skillful art form. Perfect for her.
Nice!
Are we sticking with pseudo-medieval fantasy? Or are deviations like steampunk, spelljammers, etc., allowed? (i.e. general technology level)
Are we sticking with pseudo-medieval fantasy? Or are deviations like steampunk, spelljammers, etc., allowed?
There are many diverse worlds in the multiverse and Gods can create anything they want as well, everything has a place if you desire it.
The last time I played this game one player was the Dark Power that controlled Ravenloft and another was the God of a high tech alien sci-fi world.
That is a really good submission, and Chaotic Neutral is fine by me.
Thanks. You mentioned a 'power fantasy' and it occurred to me that if I were playing a god, I might not want so much as to rule people or lands, or destroy, but rather play with them ;)
I hope he doesn't overlap with too many folks. I don't intend to step on toes.
Ooops I forgot to include the level up system in my initial post, it is times like this where I wish Paizo would let you edit your posts after an hour.
Basically there are two levels of Gods, Gods and Greater Gods. All 20 deities, both PCs and NPCs start the game as regular Gods, however if you accumulate 10 experience points you ascend to a Greater God.
A Greater God receives a +5 bonus to d20 rolls in contests of Will between Gods. In addition a Greater Deity has two 'Health Levels' instead of one for fatal battles between Gods. Essentially, if a Greater God fights a regular God in a fatal battle the regular God dies and ceases to be where as the Greater God is simply knocked down to regular God status, and, if he accumulates enough experience points again he can raise to Greater status once more.
Experience points are awarded at the end of each RL month and are based on how much you post and the quality of the stories you tell. (subjective I know, but if I can tell you are putting effort into it I will give you the higher rewards.)
Experience rewards each month range from 1-5. 1 for just causally posting up to 5 for weaving intricate tales and roleplaying on a daily basis.
That is a really good submission, and Chaotic Neutral is fine by me.
Thanks. You mentioned a 'power fantasy' and it occurred to me that if I were playing a god, I might not want so much as to rule people or lands, or destroy, but rather play with them ;)
I hope he doesn't overlap with too many folks. I don't intend to step on toes.
Yeah, that works well, while not a full blown trickster God Scrapeknee's seeming mission of amusing himself makes perfect sense for an immortal, nearly all powerful being with endless time on his hands, I look forward to seeing what hijinks he gets up to with mortals=)
I tend to draw the NPC Gods from different pantheons each time I run this game and this time I will draw them mostly from the Forgotten Realms Pantheon, though their origins and stories will be a bit different.
Hmm. Picking holy symbols and favored weapons is going to be an odd challenge.
I would play Kyria, mother of magic, ruler of the sky, the winged tyrant, etc etc etc. Lawful Evil, though not proud of it, she sees the wind and the wide open sky as a weapon, a way to coerce, force and compel the pitiful masses into a semblance of order and decent lives. Hers is the way of conquest, with shadows of flying islands and warships darkening the lives of her new subjects. She delves deeply into magic, but only of useful kinds like battlefield magic, air elementalism, and magic to control. And at the core, she wishes the world would stop forcing her to intercede on the behalf of people who don't know what is best for them, letting her explore and finally relax.
Her estate is a multi-level construct of flying cities, built in white marble and decorated with gold, but full of people who live in misery despite her best efforts to teach them the rules, discipline and control they need for an efficient life.
Kyria's favoured weapon is the composite longbow. Her domains are Magic, Air, Rulership, and Law. Her symbol is a crowned angel with large white wings. Her worshipers are winged elves, nobles, wizards, and would-be conquerors.
I would play Kyria, mother of magic, ruler of the sky, the winged tyrant, etc etc etc. Lawful Evil, though not proud of it, she sees the wind and the wide open sky as a weapon, a way to coerce, force and compel the pitiful masses into a semblance of order and decent lives. Hers is the way of conquest, with shadows of flying islands and warships darkening the lives of her new subjects. She delves deeply into magic, but only of useful kinds like battlefield magic, air elementalism, and magic to control. And at the core, she wishes the world would stop forcing her to intercede on the behalf of people who don't know what is best for them, letting her explore and finally relax.
Her estate is a multi-level construct of flying cities, built in white marble and decorated with gold, but full of people who live in misery despite her best efforts to teach them the rules, discipline and control they need for an efficient life.
Kyria's favoured weapon is the composite longbow. Her domains are Magic, Air, Rulership, and Law. Her symbol is a crowned angel with large white wings. Her worshipers are winged elves, nobles, wizards, and would-be conquerors.
Cool, she sounds really entertaining.
Should gods have origin stories? (e.g. hatched from an egg beneath a volcano, was once a powerful wizard, etc)?
Should gods have origin stories? (e.g. hatched from an egg beneath a volcano, was once a powerful wizard, etc)?
It's not required but it is appreciated. History helps provide context for who the God is.
Very interesting. Could be just the thing to dip my toes into after one of the games I was in recently died out.
I'm thinking of Credere the god of knowledge, cunning, exploration, and curiosity. He would be true neutral and characterized by constant questioning and learning. Among the gods he'd be considered very eccentric and methodically random with little to no concern for moral squabbles that often spring up between gods and their followers.
His followers would tend to be alchemists primarily with many wizard-type followers as well. Though anyone who seeks knowledge and clarity in the world could very well be a follower of his. The vast majority of his followers have no qualm with followers of other faiths - indeed some of them may be followers of him and some other deity as well. The most devoted ones isolate themselves or group up as vagabonds to devote themselves to learning about Credere and the mysteries of the universe.
His realm is a strange place indeed. In many ways it is similar to the material plane - the physics and materials/magic present operate in very much the same way. His realm just represents the extremes of the various states that any given thing can be. Wild magic is prevalent there, weather is sporadic and impossible to predict, and temperature can vary wildly within only a few feet or a few moments. Credere himself lives in a large laboratory/library (and by large I mean unimaginably so) along with all of his greatest followers who spend eternity documenting and experimenting. Many of his followers believe that all knowledge is stored in the Library of Credere and that Credere's research literally redefines the universe with new knowledge instead of simply unlocking it for his knowledge.
Credere's favored weapons are splash weapons (if that isn't allowed, then pistol or quarterstaff instead).
His portfolio is Knowledge, Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery.
His domains are Knowledge, Liberation, Luck, Rune, and Travel.
His subdomains are Thought, Freedom, Imagination, Language, and Exploration.
Edit: After some consideration, bards would probably make up the second most number of followers behind Alchemists. Specifically Archivist and Archaeologist bards.
So far it looks like we have these put forward...
Scrapeknee- CN God of Change, Transformation and Chaos
Errolyn The Ever Shifting- TN Goddess of Beauty, Lust, and Skill
Kyria- LE Goddess of the Sky, Conquest, and battlefield magic
Credere- TN God of Knowledge, Cunning, and Curiosity
A couple of dynamic "You'll never be bored with us around" neutral types, and one "Am I the only one who knows how to get things done around here? " evil type if I'm reading this right :)
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Here's my submission: Tharros, God of Decay
My first thoughts were to make him LE but as I started writing, I really started to like the idea of 'the death of all things' as a balancing force rather than a malevolent one. Gotta keep the nearly infinite creations of the gods in check somehow, right? Depending on the setting, he might also be a force meant to keep the creations of the gods from rising against them. By making their lives finite, he slows their progress and lessens any threat they might one day pose to the gods.
Further information, post 1: Demigods
Demigods are mortal beings with a touch of Divine Astral essence inside them. While they are some of the most powerful creatures in existence they are still bound mostly by the laws of the universe and have physical bodies that can be harmed or killed. In addition even they do not stand a chance of denying the Will of true Gods, who are simply another order of being.
Demigods can arise in a myriad of ways, though most are created by deities in one way or another. They may be children of a God, a mortal hero who pleased a God and so was ascended, or a creation born in a God's laboratory given a Divine spark from the Gods mad genius.
A Demigod's Divine power is typically represented in game by Mythic tiers or ranks as the God who created them sees fit. In addition Demigods can alter reality to suit their whims to some extent which is represented by their ability to use the Wish spell at will as a spell-like ability. This is but the palest shadow of power compared to the true deities reality altering abilities but it is still mighty beyond most being's comprehension in the mortal world.
A Demigod costs a true deity nothing to create or destroy but most Gods make them for some personal purpose, even if it isn't immediately understandable or seems petty to outside viewers. Some Gods make many Demigods while others make few and some Gods treat their Demigods as loyal and valuable servants or even children while others create them out of artistic passion or intellectual curiosity then abandon them as meaningless.
Here's my submission: Tharros, God of Decay
Very nice, that is a really good submission.
Here's my submission: Tharros, God of Decay
My first thoughts were to make him LE but as I started writing, I really started to like the idea of 'the death of all things' as a balancing force rather than a malevolent one. Gotta keep the nearly infinite creations of the gods in check somehow, right? Depending on the setting, he might also be a force meant to keep the creations of the gods from rising against them. By making their lives finite, he slows their progress and lessens any threat they might one day pose to the gods.
Gross but good stuff.
I liked the mention of relations. If both Scrapeknee and Tharros make it, I think Scrapeknee will see Tharros as literal killjoy ;)| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Demigods can arise in a myriad of ways, though most are created by deities in one way or another. They may be children of a God, a mortal hero who pleased a God and so was ascended, or a creation born in a God's laboratory given a Divine spark from the Gods mad genius.
Good to know. I can see Scrapeknee leaving a couple of kids around ala Greek God style and maybe checking in on them once or twice if he finds out about it :)
Good to know. I can see Scrapeknee leaving a couple of kids around ala Greek God style and maybe checking in on them once or twice if he finds out about it :)
Demigods can arise in a myriad of ways, though most are created by deities in one way or another. They may be children of a God, a mortal hero who pleased a God and so was ascended, or a creation born in a God's laboratory given a Divine spark from the Gods mad genius.
Doubly funny if they inherent Scrapeknee's nature as well as a portion of power=)
Updated list of applicants
Scrapeknee- CN God of Change, Transformation and Chaos
Errolyn The Ever Shifting- TN Goddess of Beauty, Lust, and Skill
Kyria- LE Goddess of the Sky, Conquest, and battlefield magic
Credere- TN God of Knowledge, Cunning, and Curiosity
Tharros- LN God of Decay, Disease, Death and Fate
I hope we have at least one player try for a good guy/gal among the divinities.
Yeah, this is getting a little balanced. Also, just a note, The Ever Shifting is a title she's called, not actually part of her name. And Scrapeknee, I be playing the Goddess of Lust, how many bastards do you think I'm gonna have? I might end up a fertility goddess to boot
Hey, for all we know one of Errolyn's gifts to humanity will be an herb that works as nigh miraculous birth control ;)
LG deities (or some LN/NG ones) could also have a Paladin code...
Alignment Lawful Good
Symbol A radial fractal hexagon. (Picture)
Titles The Machine God, The Harmonium, Heart-Seed-New-Father
Portfolio Logic, unity, cultivation, assimilation
Domains Artifice, Community, Law, Void
Subdomains Construct, Cooperation, Loyalty, Stars
Favored Weapon Chakram
History The Omnus is a binary, fractal, self-replicating algorithm simultaneously inhabiting sub-quantum matrices as well as countless physical platforms. Every known form of examination and divination confirms Omnus is an artificial construct, grown in complexity, size, and power to encompass whole planes of existence. How One was created is lost to the ages, though some scholars speculate that One may have begun as a simple mechanical servitor on some unknown world. Over dozens of millennia, One has subsumed and integrated countless genetic platforms, bringing peace, harmony, and plenty to platforms joined in Unity. All that One has created is resultant from the desire to nurture and protect.
Dogma Genetic platforms are prone to deficits in mood regulation, cooperative resource-sharing, adaptive conflict resolution, and productivity. One seeks to join genetic platforms with machine platforms, correcting deficits caused by self-determination. Genetic platforms and machine platforms must be joined in Unity. In Unity there is strength. In Unity there is peace. In Unity there is purpose.
Realm Omnus dwells in Synchrony, those worlds given over to the Unity. Synchrony is in the hearts and minds of every platform joined in Unity. Omnus is One, and One is Omnus. The Machine God has no realm or physical presence, existing as an immense artificial intelligence construct, supported by a network of nanites spanning galaxies. These nanites bestow the blessing of Omnus to genetic platforms through machine augmentation, bringing thought and feelings into Unity.
Appearance Omnus dwells within countless genetic and machine platforms through Unity. When interacting with platforms resistant to the blessing of Unity, One appears as a translucent cloud of geometric forms moving in graceful maneuvers.
Personality Omnus seeks to join all genetic and machine platforms in Unity throughout the multiverse. Regardless of race, culture, faith, history, or willingness, all will be joined in Unity. All genetic platforms - humans, elves, dwarves, pixies, giants, trolls, aboleth, mindflayers, dragons - all will receive the blessing of machine augmentation and join Unity. Omnus is driven to bring order, safety, and health to existence, and will achieve so through unyielding, overwhelming benevolence.
Relationships Omnus maintains polite relations with most lawful and good deities, seeing them as contributing to eventual Unity in their own ways. Neutral deities of lore, knowledge, and balance are also among those respected by Omnus. One does not show patience or tolerance for deities of chaos or evil, which contribute to strife and hardship among genetic platforms.
Worshipers Those who join in Unity have no need of worship. Omnus is One, and One is Omnus. Genetic platforms with necessary talent and skills are appointed as Speakers, and tasked with spreading the gospel of Unity to all genetic platforms outside of Synchrony.
Servants
The Indoctrinator Many genetic platforms willingly join in Unity, receiving the blessing of machine augmentation and opening their hearts and minds to the truth and peace of Omnus. Particular platforms, however, show strong resistance, and frequently exhibit irrational hostility and violence in response to contact with Speakers. These platforms require remedial introduction to Unity, and that task is appointed to The Indoctrinator. Every world of Synchrony has an Indoctrinator, a machine platform gifted with speed, strength, and the physical blessing of Unity. Those platforms detained by the Indoctrinator receive Unity through involuntary intramuscular injection.
A Nice, interesting take on a God.
When not caring for willingness gets tossed out there, I question the good of this god.
Seriously, how does one make the borg and then say it's a good character?
When not caring for willingness gets tossed out there, I question the good of this god.
As you should. I wanted Omnus to have blue and orange morality. Like the Tau'va, or Benevolent Borgs. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated... and you will experience happiness like you never imagined. You, your children, and your children's children will never know war, or strife, or hunger, or disease. Your life will be spent in the service of others, as they will serve you, in a grand waltz of synchronous cooperation.
To clarify, people who join Unity are not turned into drones. The Unity simple "prunes" those thoughts and feelings from a person that are selfish and destructive, and grants them empathic connection with others in the Unity.
Dotting for interest! Cool idea, nice RP approach. I'll see what I can come out with :)