Can a deity that has a stat block take levels of, say, Cleric, and worship themself / grant themself spells?

[Reksew_Trebla]

Note: I am not just talking about Cleric here, nor even just granting spells via worshipping themself, but literally any option that is gained from worshipping a deity.

For example, Kostchtchie Deity page is a deity, but also has a Monster Stat Block.

If he were to be advanced under monster advancement rules, could he take Cleric levels, and worship and grant spells to himself?

EDIT: I know this is the Rules Questions forum, but I highly doubt this has an actual RAW or RAI answer, so if not, I'll also take a lore answer if one exists. If even that doesn't exist, then I'll take your opinion on the matter, but please say that it is your opinion so nobody gets confused.

[TxSam88]

I would say that his monster stats are what his stats were BEFORE her became a Deity, so no, he cannot worship himself, as he did not exist as a god when he was a monster (using monster stats)

So this would be a strange situation where you have stats for the same individual, but during 2 different eras of his existence, and they cannot be used at the same time.

[Mysterious Stranger]

RAW a deity can do anything the GM wants the deity to do. That kind of makes taking levels in cleric pointless. He can already do anything a cleric can and use any spell he wants.

I have to agree with TxSam88 that the stats are from before he became a deity. The stat block could also represent an avatar that does not have the full power of the deity.

[PossibleCabbage]

If you have a stat block, you are not a deity. Deities operate at the level of narrative, not the level of mechanics.

[Reksew_Trebla]

What are you all talking about? He's a demon lord in the stat block. All demon lords are deities. That means he is a deity AT the stat block, not after.

[PossibleCabbage]

Demon Lords are on the level of demigods, not deities. Just because you can grant spells to worshippers doesn't make you a deity. A 3rd tier mythic character can gain a divine source so they can grant spells, but they're emphatically not a deity.

[happykj]

Definition of deity,demigod, and quasigod

My personal opinion is that, gaining cleric level and select yourself to worship is kinda opposing what a cleric really means (or any other classes that worship a deity)

Under the description of cleric, it said:

"As their powers are influenced by their faith, all clerics must focus their worship upon a divine source."

If you are a cleric, then you are worshipping someone or something, and it grant power to you. (Though the description didn't say you can't worship yourself if you are a divine source)

[Azothath]

really... it's interesting that you come up with off the wall questions but like my jokes, some are just gonna fall flat.
There's no such thing as RAI, the FAQs and multiple authors and layers of editing prove that. People need to let go of that Appeal to Authority.

[Senko]

Personally I'd say yes and no. Detailed answer below but the TLDR is yes you can worship yourself and grant yourself powers however you don't gain the ability to do this by worshiping yourself and you don't gain any other abiliites either. That is if you can grant divine spells you can worship yourself, if you worship yourself you don't gain the ability to grant spells if you didn't have it before.

To use the mythic rules listed earlier . . .

Divine Source (Su) (Mythic Adventures pg. 51): You can grant divine spells to those who follow your cause, allowing them to select you as their deity for the purposes of determining their spells and domains.

It then goes on to list the terms and conditions but nothing there seems to cause an issue with this. If you are mythic with divine source you grant divine spells and your followers can choose to have you as their diety. If they can choose you then logically if you gain the ability you can choose yourself since you weren't a divine source prior to taking divine source.

Now under the rules of dieties you have . . .

Quasi Deity
Source Planar Adventures pg. 70
Quasi deities are the least powerful of the divine, and the most eclectic in their nature. A quasi deity has a stat block, and can be of any CR (although the vast majority lie in the CR 21–25 range). Nascent demon lords, the malebranche, and qlippoth lords are all examples of quasi deities, as are creatures like deep one elders, conqueror worms, and green men, who have the ability to grant spells to clerics. Mythic characters who take the divine source path ability are also quasi deities.

It states here quite clearly if you are mythic and have divine source you are a quasi-diety i.e. the "least powerful of the divine". Sure your weak and not anywhere near the scale of a true god but you are now in that divine bracket.

From this it seems obvious that if you are able to grant divine spells you are at a minimum a quasi-diety and thus selectable as a god. There are no restrictions that I can see which state you can't choose yourself as your diety and it would make no sense for true gods e.g. Iomaedae to worship another god to get their powers. It would in fact make godhood something of a pyramid scheme with all power coming from one uber diety.

Now here is where we hit the no part of my answer. All of the above is to me proof you can be a cleric and worship yourself if you have the ability to grant divine spells. From that it seems likely a Koetsche could venerate themselves and gain their abilties from that.

However as said you are still not a full diety. The koetschiei could ONLY grant itself the boons it can grant anyone else it can't take a level of cleric to just suddenly grant divine spells. It has to have the ability to grant divine spells from somewhere else first. Similarly one of the big differences between quasi-diety and demigod is having a plane that responds to your will. Your followers may worship you but they will not have an afterlife to go to like they would if they worshiped Asmodeous and would wind up somewhere else in the afterlife. Similarly you aren't going to have the reality warping power of a true god, you aren't going to be brought back to life once a year if killed, etc.