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Elemental Wildshape. [Might not be available in PF, but I distinctly remember a means of this in 3.5]So... which feat of Zeus [barring weird procreation things] can't be done by a Level 20 Druid?Shape change into rain? (to be fair, that's a 'weird procreation thing,' but it implies that he could turn into rain whenever he wanted).
What type of elemental would you turn into to become a rain? I'm possibly missing something, but a water elemental wouldn't work, because they have defined shapes which aren't "thousands of droplets of water falling from the sky."
Successfully throw a mountain?An Earth version of Tsunami slightly reflavored.
No, literally pick a mountain up with your hands and throw it. In this case, Mount Etna. Not only is tsunami a spell, as opposed to a purely physical act, but the scale is totally wrong. Mount Etna is over 10,000 feet tall, and has an area of hundreds of square miles. Your tsunami is 40 feet tall and 200 feet wide? I mean, it's impressive and all, but it's kind of like comparing a bottle rocket to an ICBM.
Get angry and flood the world, killing nearly everyone, then repopulate the world by turning stones into humans at the request of someone who survived?Not familiar with this one, can I get a reference?
Even so though, that sounds totally appropriate for a level 20 Druid to me. Maybe not flooding the WHOLE world, but just a swift flood raising water levels by 100 feet over the course of a few hours would kill more than 50% of the population.
Deucalion's Flood is one writeup of it. Depending on the version, either only a few people on the top of mountains + Deucalion and his wife, who were in an ark survived, or only Deucalion and his wife survived. Again, the scale is totally wrong for what a Druid can do. At least an entire country (tens of thousands of square miles), and water so deep only the highest mountains aren't covered (tens of thousands of feet).
Don't forget the whole "making a new human race from scratch" thing, too, since I'm pretty sure that's one a druid can't even weakly emulate.
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I think you should take a long look at 3rd edition Forgotten Realms Faiths and Pantheons. They break down the gods, give example avatar stats, and show how to build them. I've used it a few times myself and it's logical and balanced...for gods. I ran a few epic level 3rd and 3.5 edition campaigns where the pcs could hold their ground against demi-gods and lesser deities' avatars. Which brings up a good point that I think should be addressed, if it hasn't been already. This gave players and gms alike the idea of the scope of those entities. At first glance, "stating the gods" would give everyone the idea that this would lead to deicide and general world chaos. However, to my recollection, these statistics given were for only the AVATARS of said deities. Physical manifestations. Truly killing a god was impossible for mortal and, typically, fellow deity alike unless under special circumstances, a.k.a plot devices. You may be able to defeat the avatar, but that didn't kill the deity. It just pissed it off. In addition, deities are loathe to take a heavy handed direct manifestation in the lives of mortals lest their rival deities do the same to "even the score" so to speak. Therefore, avatar appearances are rare indeed. Finally, entering the godly home plane of a deity is impossible unless the god allowed such an action, barring even other deities if he or she wishes. That all being said, I think using that kind of framework presented in Faiths and Pantheons and using what I mentioned as an understanding of sublime politics/physiology should work nicely. I wish I had the time. Sorry I don't.
Lucifer actually seems pretty meh. He doesn't have much in the way of invulnerabilities and his action economy isn't good.His only strength is big numbers(high spell resistance, high attack bonus, etc), but if you can get around that(and high level casters can) its not a hard fight.
I agree. The Prince of Darkness himself! A glorious victory against all those bible-thumping, "that game is Satanic" people out there that Frog God Games finally put that dude in print. However, I think Frog God Games should have come to the table with a lot more than they did.
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Thanks everyone for all your suggestions, ideas, advice, critiques, etc. etc. I appreciate it!
Currently I am in the process of stating Rovagug. I should have a rough draft for the rough beast finished sometime this weekend. Until that time I would like to share one of Rovagug's abilities.
Here's an errata for the 10th level spell I made earlier, thanks to feedback from Tacticslion. Thank you!
School conjuration (healing); Level demigod/deity 10
Casting Time 1 minute
Components V, S, M (diamond worth 50,000 gp), DF
Range touch
Target dead creature touched
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw none, see text; Spell Resistance yes (harmless)
You restore life to a deceased creature. You can resurrect a creature that has been dead for as long as 1,000 years per caster level. This spell can even bring back creatures whose bodies have been destroyed, provided that you unambiguously identify the deceased in some fashion (reciting the deceased's time and place of birth or death is the most common method). In addition, the subject's soul must be free and willing to return. If the subject's soul is not willing to return, the spell does not work; therefore, a subject that wants to return receives no saving throw.
Upon completion of the spell, the creature is immediately restored to full hit points, vigor, and health, with no negative levels (or Constitution points) and all of the prepared spells possessed by the creature when it died.
You can revive someone killed by a death effect or any effect that states “Only the direct intervention of a deity can restore the character back to life.” It can revive someone who has been turned into an undead creature and then destroyed. This spell can also resurrect elementals, outsiders, constructs and undead creatures. You can even revive someone who has died of old age.
Any constructive feedback on what I have made so far would be much appreciated, as well as suggestions for stating Rovagug.
So... which feat of Zeus [barring weird procreation things] can't be done by a Level 20 Druid?
Taking down the Titans doesn't qualify as anything special because they're the same general type of god.
'Having an afterlife to syphon souls from' where is this listed and what is it stated to do?
Smiting Titans, that were to the Bestiary Titans what a god is to a human with his lightning to start with... the Titans of Greek Myths were forces of nature more than the overfed giants of the Bestiary, who are their lesser scions.
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Sounds like stuff that's in the Miracle/Wish territory. I don't think Druids get Miracle, do they?So... which feat of Zeus [barring weird procreation things] can't be done by a Level 20 Druid?Shape change into rain? (to be fair, that's a 'weird procreation thing,' but it implies that he could turn into rain whenever he wanted).
Successfully throw a mountain?
Get angry and flood the world, killing nearly everyone, then repopulate the world by turning stones into humans at the request of someone who survived?
So he's also a top level cleric, not to mention a top level Ranger (his fighting prowess being close to that of Ares himself, and he having begotten the greatest fighter of all times, Herakles himself, but I don't see him being a fighter or paladin)
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Smiting Titans, that were to the Bestiary Titans what a god is to a human with his lightning to start with... the Titans of Greek Myths were forces of nature more than the overfed giants of the Bestiary, who are their lesser scions.So... which feat of Zeus [barring weird procreation things] can't be done by a Level 20 Druid?
Taking down the Titans doesn't qualify as anything special because they're the same general type of god.
'Having an afterlife to syphon souls from' where is this listed and what is it stated to do?
Pretty sure Titans such as the Elysian Titan Prophet and the Formorian Titans can be used as stand ins for these Titans. The Elysian Prophet can cast as a 20th level Cleric and thus has a butt load of Miracles, and The Formorian has Wish on top on its many Spell like abilities. They can pretty much create any effect using such abilities with GM consent (GM is controlling them, after all) and it would be RAW. It might sound like a cop out to do it this way, but that's what the spells are good at for story purposes in a Campaign setting
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Rovagug in my game:
Level 21 Magical Beast
21 hit dice
21 Skill Ranks
Magical Abilities [possibly passive amplification of raw power] appropriate to a level 21 Magical Beast that went a level beyond.
21 feats
BAM, Done.
Why not just tweak (or just use) the Tarrasque?
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The Tarrasque (in Galorion) is basically Rovagug's child, One of his 5 spawn.
Big T is a CR 25 Magical beast though so Rovagug should probably be more powerful than his spawn.
Also Given his lore Rovagug should also be unkillable by a unified host of deities while simultaneously being capable of slaying much of said host in direct combat.
That would be tough to translate narratively to Pathfinder as many gods are worshipped on multiple planets.Perhaps, but we only really focus on one planet, so we don't really have to worry about all of the others.
Quite frankly, I think Paizo painted itself into a corner by making Golarion's dieties be reflected on a cosmic stage. It would have been better to have each world have it's own collection of dieties than transplant Golarion's on every single one.
The devs did it because it allows the deities to be a lot less involved in the world.
If the deities only had Golarion then it would beg the question "why isn't every Golarion god involved in every potential world ending disaster? Their ass is on the line too.". As is, the gods can interfere and help out, but they have lots of other planets to look after too.
For instance, Wrath of the Righteous would be very different if Iomedae and Torag were fighting in the battles.
Funny though, that was never a real problem with Greyhawk, Mystara, or Dragonlance. Or Arcanis. And it only became a problem with Forgotten Realms, because every other novel set in the Realms is about god shenannigans. Having the Gods confined to one world does not mandate their constant physical presence on it.
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Yea, FR had all kinds of direct intervention. The Seven Sisters came about because Selune I think directly possessed a woman who had seven girls with her husband. Such an act killed the woman in the end because she pretty much literally burned out from having a goddess possess her.
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Yea Rovagug is basically a giant mouth with spider legs that eats everything.
I don't think any of his other spawn really resemble him either
That link is missing one his spawn are:
- Chemnosit (The Monarch Worm) CR 23
- Festering Ulunat (The Unholy First) CR 24
- Volnagur (The End-Singer) CR 22
- Xotani (The Firebleeder) CR 20
- Tarrasque (The Armageddon Engine) CR 25
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EDIT: ninjas! :)
Quote added for clarity of conversation flow, I hope.
Stuck on a phone - sorry about editing problems.
Funny though, that was never a real problem with Greyhawk, Mystara, or Dragonlance. Or Arcanis. And it only became a problem with Forgotten Realms, because every other novel set in the Realms is about god shenannigans. Having the Gods confined to one world does not mandate their constant physical presence on it.That would be tough to translate narratively to Pathfinder as many gods are worshipped on multiple planets.Perhaps, but we only really focus on one planet, so we don't really have to worry about all of the others.
Quite frankly, I think Paizo painted itself into a corner by making Golarion's dieties be reflected on a cosmic stage. It would have been better to have each world have it's own collection of dieties than transplant Golarion's on every single one.
The devs did it because it allows the deities to be a lot less involved in the world.
If the deities only had Golarion then it would beg the question "why isn't every Golarion god involved in every potential world ending disaster? Their ass is on the line too.". As is, the gods can interfere and help out, but they have lots of other planets to look after too.
For instance, Wrath of the Righteous would be very different if Iomedae and Torag were fighting in the battles.
Actually it was a pretty big problem in Dragonlance until they were forced away. And even then they came back. That said, I don't their continued existence hinged on the faith of their believers, so less motivation to manifest directly - and manifesting directly made them more vulnerable in canon (if I recall) which is another reason they didn't. Consistency through mechanics, and all that.
(Although their level and power fluctuated relatively wildly in the actual mechanics in a bit of real life dramatic irony, depending on who was writing them.)Greyhawk specifies that many of their gods were worshipped on other worlds as well (though not on all of the other worlds - they were not universal gods, but were known in multiple worlds as the god - or at least a god - of the thing they represented). Unless you're talking about the quasi gods, who were regularly captured by powerful mages and led personal crusades on the planet; or lesser or intermediate gods who were fought and even (hypothetically) killed by moderately leveled adventurers (depending on your edition). Although those gods weren't exactly on the planet anymore by the time you faced off against them - they were busy invading other worlds and realities and trying to enforce their alien presences elsewhere.
Couldn't say what was up with Mystara's or Arcanis' crews. :)
(No one can say what's up with Eberron's gods, exactly - the Silver Flame is a lawful good epic magic effect created by the sacrifice of couatls in ancient times to keep the demons and other evil outsiders bound away; otherwise the gods seem to be either powerful entities that are faking it or are only "divine" as a collective, or are actually outside the scope of the world itself and do little except provide a focus for faith and maaaaaayyyyyybe act in extremely subtle ways to influence things for the good of their faithful. Or were just some powerful dragons people once worshiped that did stuff and took on favored non-dragon forms and had subsequent myths and legends attributed to them until the faith as it now exists came about. Or something else entirely. Drives me up the wall, but it's interesting.)
You're not a god unless you can cast miracle at will as a free action, have at least a 90% chance to negate critical hits from a non-mythic source (75% non-deific source), automatically save versus non-mythic effects, and have magic and damage immunity against non-mythic or deific sources. And at least +40 on all skills.Why do people WANT 'gods' like this? These aren't characters in the world, they're unapproachable freaks.
Well the Miracle thing is non-negotiable, since any full deity can grant the miracles of any number of worshippers simultaneously. The other stuff is mostly there to allow for the vague chance of gods being killed or defeated by non-gods. I admit that there should probably be some skills that they do not automatically have at least +40 to, since mortals seem to be able to defeat gods at skill-related challenges far more often than in outright battle.
Also, as a note, I'm of the opinion that NORSE Gods could probably reasonably be statted as demigods (albeit probably with five domains) under current pathfinder rules; they're not only not immortal but they routinely have trouble with Jotuns, unless you would have the entire race of Jotuns also be deific. Greek gods are far more force-of-naturey and do things like the aforementioned crushing-the-father-of-monsters-under-a-mountain.
Yea, FR had all kinds of direct intervention. The Seven Sisters came about because Selune I think directly possessed a woman who had seven girls with her husband. Such an act killed the woman in the end because she pretty much literally burned out from having a goddess possess her.
Mystra, actually, instead of Selune. But yeah, otherwise correct.
(Also the last one turned out to be a drow for reasons.)
I get it. You see divine magic as the hand of god. I see it as magic caused by Faith, the object of said faith having little to no relevance.Well the Miracle thing is non-negotiable, since any full deity can grant the miracles of any number of worshippers simultaneously.You're not a god unless you can cast miracle at will as a free action, have at least a 90% chance to negate critical hits from a non-mythic source (75% non-deific source), automatically save versus non-mythic effects, and have magic and damage immunity against non-mythic or deific sources. And at least +40 on all skills.Why do people WANT 'gods' like this? These aren't characters in the world, they're unapproachable freaks.
Not all divine magic necessarily, but Miracle specifically I consider to be an act of a god.
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Well the Miracle thing is non-negotiable, since any full deity can grant the miracles of any number of worshippers simultaneously.You're not a god unless you can cast miracle at will as a free action, have at least a 90% chance to negate critical hits from a non-mythic source (75% non-deific source), automatically save versus non-mythic effects, and have magic and damage immunity against non-mythic or deific sources. And at least +40 on all skills.Why do people WANT 'gods' like this? These aren't characters in the world, they're unapproachable freaks.I get it. You see divine magic as the hand of god. I see it as magic caused by Faith, the object of said faith having little to no relevance.
...
Core PF Rules and setting calls out it begin the actual forces (or Deities) themselves granting the spells (or literally preforming the Miracle) to their followers.
So if we make the assumption that we are statting within those requirements then the ability to both preform miracles and grant spells to N followers should be mandatory.
Although If we're statting for some other Mythos though then that all goes out the window. Really its a question of what bounds were putting on a deities power and then codifying that in rules.
Not all divine magic necessarily, but Miracle specifically I consider to be an act of a god.I get it. You see divine magic as the hand of god. I see it as magic caused by Faith, the object of said faith having little to no relevance.Well the Miracle thing is non-negotiable, since any full deity can grant the miracles of any number of worshippers simultaneously.You're not a god unless you can cast miracle at will as a free action, have at least a 90% chance to negate critical hits from a non-mythic source (75% non-deific source), automatically save versus non-mythic effects, and have magic and damage immunity against non-mythic or deific sources. And at least +40 on all skills.Why do people WANT 'gods' like this? These aren't characters in the world, they're unapproachable freaks.
If that was true, it would not be subject to standard restrictions. Gods can grant miracles that are far beyond the scope of that spell.
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Keep the suggestions, ideas, etc. etc. coming!
Rovagug in my game:
Level 21 Magical Beast
21 hit dice
21 Skill Ranks
Magical Abilities [possibly passive amplification of raw power] appropriate to a level 21 Magical Beast that went a level beyond.
21 feats
BAM, Done.
Hey kyrt-ryder! Have you actually statted up any of the Pathfinder deities? Because if you have that would be cool to share on this thread. I know I'd love to see them.
And if you don't mind me asking, how does leveling up work in your campaign? Do characters become demigods, and then later deities just by leveling up to a certain level? Or it something else?
Wraith of God:Wrath of God CASTING
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components VEFFECT
Range 1 mile
Area nonfollower creatures in a 1 mile-radius spread centered on you
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw Will partial; Spell Resistance noDESCRIPTION
HD _____________________ Effect
Greater than caster level __ 1d6 damage/level
Equal to caster level ______ 1d6 damage/level
Up to caster level -1 ______ Blinded, 1d6 damage/level
Up to caster level -5 ______ Paralyzed, Blinded, 1d6 damage/level
Up to caster level -10 _____ Killed, Paralyzed, Blinded, 1d6 damage/level
Any non-follower creature within the area of a Wrath of God spell suffers the following ill effects.The effects are cumulative and concurrent. A successful Will save reduces or eliminates some of these effects. Creatures affected by multiple effects make only one save and apply the result to all the effects.
Damage: The creature takes 1d6 divine damage/level. Save reduces this damage by half.
Blinded: The creature is blinded for 2d4 rounds. Save reduces the blinded effect to 1d4 rounds.
Paralyzed: The creature is paralyzed and helpless for 1d10 minutes. Save reduces the paralyze effect to 1 round.
Killed: Living creatures die. Undead creatures are destroyed. Creatures that die this way cannot be resurrected without direct deific intervention. There is no save.
Furthermore, if you are on your home plane when you cast this spell, the radius expands to a 10-mile radius.
Creatures whose HD exceed your caster level are unaffected by Wrath of God.
SPECIAL
This ability may be used by deities only once a (week? month? year?). This is meant to be a good spell for purging the riffraff (low-level enemies, such as commoners, dretches, town guards, etc.) but a poor spell for killing divine or close-to-divine enemies (Demon Lords, Empyreal Lords, Cthulhu) who are only a few HD lower than you.Depending on the portfolio of the deity, the secondary effects may change.
Permanent confusion may be substituted for paralysis. Confusion is reduced to 1d10 minutes by a successful save.
Undeath may be substituted for killed. Creatures that are killed by this effect or that die in the radius in the next 10 minutes are resurrected as skeletons or zombies under a Desecrate effect. You may create any number of undead this way, but the number you can control is limited as per Animate Dead. Uncontrolled undead attack enemy survivors of Wrath of God and other enemies outside its radius, but not you or your followers. Intelligent undead are compelled to attack enemies for 1d10 minutes as if by Control Undead, but with no save to negate.
Permanent petrification may be substituted for killed. Creatures are turned to salt, trees, gold, or some other material befitting your portfolio. Creatures cannot be un-petrified or resurrected without direct deific intervention.
This spell is awesome! Thanks for making this! I'll probably stat up most some variation on it!
Next errata for Divine Resurrection here we go!
School conjuration (healing); Level demigod/deity 10
Casting Time 1 minute
Components V, S, M (diamond worth 50,000 gp), DF
Range touch
Target dead creature touched
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw will negates (harmless), see text; Spell Resistance yes (harmless)
You restore life to a deceased creature. You can resurrect a creature that has been dead for as long as 1,000 years per caster level. This spell can even bring back creatures whose bodies have been destroyed, provided that you unambiguously identify the deceased in some fashion (reciting the deceased's time and place of birth or death is the most common method). In addition, if the subject's soul is not willing to return, the subject gets to make a will saving throw to resist returning to life. A subject that wants to return receives no saving throw.
Upon completion of the spell, the creature is immediately restored to full hit points, vigor, and health, with no negative levels, and all of the prepared spells possessed by the creature when it died. also dispels all magical effects penalizing the creature's abilities, Divine Resurrection cures all temporary ability damage, and restores all points permanently drained from all ability scores. It also eliminates fatigue and exhaustion, and removes all forms of insanity, confusion, and similar mental effects.
You can revive someone killed by a death effect or any effect that states “Only the direct intervention of a deity can restore the character back to life.” It can revive someone who has been turned into an undead creature and then destroyed. This spell can also resurrect elementals, outsiders, constructs and undead creatures. You can even revive someone who has died of old age.
I changed it so that deities can resurrect those who don't want to be brought back to life. This new version can also remove more debuffs than the previous versions.
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(Also the last one turned out to be a drow for reasons.)
That sentence right there feels like spoilers for about 85% of the Forgotten Realms canon...
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If that was true, it would not be subject to standard restrictions. Gods can grant miracles that are far beyond the scope of that spell.Not all divine magic necessarily, but Miracle specifically I consider to be an act of a god.I get it. You see divine magic as the hand of god. I see it as magic caused by Faith, the object of said faith having little to no relevance.Well the Miracle thing is non-negotiable, since any full deity can grant the miracles of any number of worshippers simultaneously.You're not a god unless you can cast miracle at will as a free action, have at least a 90% chance to negate critical hits from a non-mythic source (75% non-deific source), automatically save versus non-mythic effects, and have magic and damage immunity against non-mythic or deific sources. And at least +40 on all skills.Why do people WANT 'gods' like this? These aren't characters in the world, they're unapproachable freaks.
Miracle doesn't have many restrictions at all, outside of effects that clearly state that miracle can't reverse, which is very few.
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]Also, as a note, I'm of the opinion that NORSE Gods could probably reasonably be statted as demigods (albeit probably with five domains) under current pathfinder rules; they're not only not immortal but they routinely have trouble with Jotuns, unless you would have the entire race of Jotuns also be deific. Greek gods are far more force-of-naturey and do things like the aforementioned crushing-the-father-of-monsters-under-a-mountain.You raise a decent point, most Norse gods might be between level 13 and 16, though I figure Odin may be an exception. [And Thor if we include marvel thor in his abilities.]
Odin is clearly a top notch god, Master Shaman, Master wizard, Master Bard, not a bad rogue and warrior... and as for Thor, he's got Mjöllnir and his belt of completely out of the scale strength and the gloves to catch the hammer even when red hot from one shotting some poor jötunn with lightning...yeah, he may not be the brightest bulb in the lamp shop, but he's fully up to Marvel Thor shenanigans.
Keep the suggestions, ideas, etc. etc. coming!
Rovagug in my game:
Level 21 Magical Beast
21 hit dice
21 Skill Ranks
Magical Abilities [possibly passive amplification of raw power] appropriate to a level 21 Magical Beast that went a level beyond.
21 feats
BAM, Done.
Hey kyrt-ryder! Have you actually statted up any of the Pathfinder deities? Because if you have that would be cool to share on this thread. I know I'd love to see them.
And if you don't mind me asking, how does leveling up work in your campaign? Do characters become demigods, and then later deities just by leveling up to a certain level? Or it something else?
** spoiler omitted **...
I like the jeweler newer newest edit - the one thing I'd recommend is noting how it deals with people who've died of old age. My recommendation? It otherwise (outside of the specifics mentioned here) behaves similarly to reincarnate except the God gets to choose the new body.
Incidentally, there might be a companion or similar spell that's a Divine Reformat or something that fil unctions similar to a reincarnate effect plus enough modify memory effects to entirely rewrite the creature's lifetime (maybe maxing out at 1000 years - I don't think there's a PF player race that lives that long? - which would prevent the deity from just pooping new ancient immortals with memories older than dirt into existence just because). Main difference is that it affects mental scores as well - racial scores are dropped and new ones applied (though only if the deity desires it? Maybe? I don't know, I'm on a phone kind of thought-splurging now). This allows a deity to take a dead creature and entirely reformat their past. If it applies to the living, casting time is probably ten minutes and the effect allows three saves - one each fortitude, reflex, will - to negate. It creates a cocoon like sphere of divine energy from which emerges an entirely new creature. Unlike the base spells referenced, the duration is instant instead of permanent. It cannot allow a creature to gain hit dice, but it can exchange creature hit dice for class hit dice or the reverse. Might be limited to once a millennium for a given creature/soul?
Blarg stuck on a low power battery/phone sucks! XD
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A big difference with the Pathfinder deities is that they don't have the 'Must have worship' baggage that the FR deities and perhaps the DL deities have. So slipping up and down the divine ladder isn't something that happens.
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^Might be interesting to have a campaign setting where both types of deities exist -- those that are super-powerful entities that don't depend upon worshippers, and those that do depend upon worshippers. The former obviously gives safety in case of loss of worshippers, but is usually easier to kill by other means, and is harder to make as powerful as the latter. The latter is the easiest route to power, and gives some insurance against being killed by means other than loss of worshippers, but carries the risk of dependency upon worshippers, as well as the temptations that go with the combination of this dependency with the increasing power that comes with more (and/or higher quality) worshippers. It is even possible to convert between the former and the latter (or even to exist in a hybrid state), but the forward direction is easier and more tempting.
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Long story short, a friend of mine and I are running a Gods campaign, where the central plot(s) involves a rather newly ascended God (who was once an epic level gestalt pc). What we did was take in all of the contents for high level play from 1st, 2nd, and 3.5 d&d, with the core rules for gods taken from the Immortals box set by TSR and the Deities & Demigods by WotC. We pretty much converted it all to 3.5 mechanics.
I won't be able to go into detailed lengths here but basically we identified different types of "gods." The reasons why the deities are interested in mortal worship include replenishing their numbers, cataloging and maintaining a hierarchy among themselves based on divine ranks, a source of power (similar to experience points), and the means by which they can extend their influence across the multiverse in order to gain power and knowledge.
Now, not all of these reasons apply to all of the different types of deities but at least one does apply.
Statting up a deity isn't a problem because, for the most part, mortals typically cannot kill a deity (most deities has at least 60 HD, and their divine salient abilities ignore all mortal magic and immunities). That being said, there are processes by which a mortal could kill a deity but it's extremely difficult (the process is similar to how to kill a demon lord or archdevil, but the challenge is ridiculously high).
The primary goal for a deity is the formulation and execution of projects, i.e., plots that they have enacted to increase the numbers of worshippers they have, the accumulation of divine ranks, and defeating the plots of their enemies. So, much pretty much the same motivations as mortals but on a cosmic scale.
Back in the Immortals boxed set, they explicitly stated that the only way to "win the game," so to speak, is for an entity to become at least a level 21 deity, give up all of your powers to reincarnate as a mortal, become a deity and ascend to level 21 again, and then you attempt to pass through the final Barrier.
Crazy, eh?
CB out.
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A big difference with the Pathfinder deities is that they don't have the 'Must have worship' baggage that the FR deities and perhaps the DL deities have. So slipping up and down the divine ladder isn't something that happens.I personally don't care for that. Having gods depend on the amount of worship they receive nicely gives them an incentive to care about what's happening on the mortal plane. Otherwise, you need to come up with another reason for why the gods care so much about how things are going on the Material Plane.
I can't find where, but I've seen people bring this up to James Jacobs, to which he's replied "the reason why the gods have an interest in mortal worship is a secret," which strikes me as an evasion rather than an answer.
Maybe because it is way easier to have someone else doing stuff for them. Allows them to kick back with some Samosas and relax for awhile before someone screws crap up. I mean, not every god in Golarion has a lot of followers, but often they've got some really cool stuff that they hold domain over.
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I am willing to take requests though, just understand it might take up to a week depending on my obligations.
Hey kytr-ryder, I have a request for you. Stat any deity you want, but keep it a surprise as to what deity you stat until you share it on this thread.
Long story short, a friend of mine and I are running a Gods campaign, where the central plot(s) involves a rather newly ascended God (who was once an epic level gestalt pc). What we did was take in all of the contents for high level play from 1st, 2nd, and 3.5 d&d, with the core rules for gods taken from the Immortals box set by TSR and the Deities & Demigods by WotC. We pretty much converted it all to 3.5 mechanics.
I won't be able to go into detailed lengths here but basically we identified different types of "gods." The reasons why the deities are interested in mortal worship include replenishing their numbers, cataloging and maintaining a hierarchy among themselves based on divine ranks, a source of power (similar to experience points), and the means by which they can extend their influence across the multiverse in order to gain power and knowledge.
Now, not all of these reasons apply to all of the different types of deities but at least one does apply.
Statting up a deity isn't a problem because, for the most part, mortals typically cannot kill a deity (most deities has at least 60 HD, and their divine salient abilities ignore all mortal magic and immunities). That being said, there are processes by which a mortal could kill a deity but it's extremely difficult (the process is similar to how to kill a demon lord or archdevil, but the challenge is ridiculously high).
Hey Canadian Bakka, could you share any of the deities you and your friend statted here on this thread? I'm curious to see what you made.
Now a new rule I came up with.
DR/Divine (Ex): Few can penetrate the defense that DR/Divine provides. An Artifact weapons can bypass DR/Divine if it has an enchantment bonus of +6 or greater. In addition creatures with the deity and demigod subtype can bypass DR/Divine.
I think I have finally perfected Divine Resurrection! Feel free to critique it.
School conjuration (healing); Level demigod/deity 10
Casting Time 1 minute
Components V, S, M (diamond worth 50,000 gp), DF
Range touch
Target dead creature touched
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw will negates (harmless), see text; Spell Resistance yes (harmless)
You restore life to a deceased creature. You can resurrect a creature that has been dead for as long as 1,000 years per caster level. This spell can even bring back creatures whose bodies have been destroyed, provided that you unambiguously identify the deceased in some fashion (reciting the deceased's time and place of birth or death is the most common method). In addition, if the subject's soul is not willing to return, the subject gets to make a will saving throw to resist returning to life. A subject that wants to return receives no saving throw.
The deity can bring the subject’s body back to life at any age it chooses except those the subject has yet to experience. For example a deity could bring someone who died at age 86 back to life at any age between 0 and 86, but could make that same person 87 or older with this spell.
Upon completion of the spell, the creature is immediately restored to full hit points, vigor, and health, with no negative levels, and all of the prepared spells possessed by the creature when it died. also dispels all magical effects penalizing the creature's abilities, Divine Resurrection cures all temporary ability damage, and restores all points permanently drained from all ability scores. It also eliminates fatigue and exhaustion, and removes all forms of insanity, confusion, and similar mental effects.
You can revive someone killed by a death effect or any effect that states “Only the direct intervention of a deity can restore the character back to life.” It can revive someone who has been turned into an undead creature and then destroyed. This spell can also resurrect elementals, outsiders, constructs and undead creatures. You can even revive someone who has died of old age.
The most recent change makes it clear (hopefully) how a deity can bring back someone who has died of old age.