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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    In this thread, I attempt to near-completely revision Divine Ranks and Salient Divine Abilities, as well as that being a God or Demigod actually means in D&D. It is meant to be used together with this feat fix, but should be usable without it. In addition, this variant replaces all Epic rules, expect for Epic Feats, which are already included in the feat fix, and Epic skills, which are assumed to be available in non-epic play by the aforementioned feat fix.

    Important Warning: Using this variant, almost anyone, or anything can become a god or demigod, at any character level. Using this variant, gods and demigods are made significantly weaker than they are in core. A high-level non-divine character can trivially be more powerful than a low-ranking god. Furthermore, low-ranking gods will have continuous and serious incentive to constantly get involved in matters of non-gods, as otherwise they cease to be gods.

    Without further ado:

    Becoming a God

    To have a shot at becoming a god proper, you must first become a quasi-god, also known as Venerated Hero. A quasi-god is a being with Divine Rank 0. To become a quasi-god, you must fulfill two conditions: you must have enough worshippers, and must have undergone a Legendary quest. Knowing the specifics of becoming a god requires a DC 30 Knowledge (Religion) check - each succesful check takes a week of research, and reveals one condition pertaining to becoming a god. It is possible to become a god accidentally, as long as you fulfill all the proper conditions.

    Gaining worshippers: Persuading people to worship you is a special Bluff, Diplomacy or Intimidate check. It can only be attempted towards creatures who have first been brought to at least Friendly. The base check DC for this is 60. Several special modifiers apply:

    1. If you are using Diplomacy, you may substitute your Wisdom for Charisma for purposes of making this check.
    2. If you are using Intimidate, you may substitute your Strenght for Charisma for purposes of making this check.
    3. If you can present a fully thought-out ethos to govern everyday life of your subjects, the check DC is lowered by 10.
    4. The check DC is lower by further 10 points if you are accompanied by a devout cleric of yours.
    5. If you roll a natural 20 on your check, your target will entertain your delusions out of pity and/or sense of humour, but only for 1 day.


    This check takes 10 minutes per each person you are trying to convince at once. You need at least 200 worshippers to have a shot in becoming a quasi-deity.

    Undertaking a legendary quest:

    For a quest to count as a legendary quest, it must fullfill the following conditions:

    1. You must defeat a dangerous creature in single combat. The creature's CR must be at least 4 greater than your character level. The following conditions count as defeating such creature: killing it, bringing it to negative hitpoints and rendering it unconscious, trapping it for a minimum of 7 days, or persuading it to be your worshipper.
    2. This event must take place at least 200 miles away from your place of birth
    3. You must return to your place of birth within 7 days of completing the challenge.
    4. At least 1 worshipper of yours must witness the whole journey.


    Once you succeed in become a quasi-deity: You must pick yourself a holy symbol and one portofolio item. Your portofolio item must be such that its existence is easily verifiably and quantifiable.

    At Divine Rank 0, your portofolio includes only a single instance of that portofolio item. For example, if your portofolio item is "furniture", you are quasi-deity of one, specific piece of furniture, such as "that chair over there". If your portofolio item is "war", you are quasi-deity of one specific war, such as "the hundred year war". If your portofolio item is "love", you are god of love between two specific creatures, such as "god of love between Joe and Jill.

    You can't share a portofolio instance with any god of equal or lower Divine Rank than you before your Divine Rank exceeds 5. For example, there can never be two quasi-deities of year 2013. If your desired portofolio instance is taken, you must succesfully contest it to gain it.

    Note: Character classes are legitimate portofolio items, save for Clerics or Druids. You are (obviously) always a god to Clerics deriving their powers from you, and not of those who aren't. Druids, on the other hand, derive their power from nature - to them, worship of gods is coincidental. You can be a god to other divine casting classes, but can only affect members of those classes who worship you. You also can't be a god of gods - gods worshipping other gods is already taken into account in the rules for advancing in Divine Rank. Finally, you can't be a god of "divinity" or "divine magic", for a similar reason to why you can't be god of clerics - you already have control over your divine powers, and don't have control over powers of other gods.

    If a suitable instance of your portofolio does not exist, you have 7 days to create one.

    If all instances you are a god of are destroyed: This misfortune means you become an unemployed god. An unemployed god has 7 days of time to create new instance of his portofolio to be a god of, or his Divine Rank drops by 1. A quasi-deity will hence cease to be such.

    Benefits of Divine Rank 0:
    1. You can never be harmed by the instance of your portofolio you are a god of. Expection goes to creatures and magic items: creatures with HD exceeding your Divine Rank (and all their special abilities) can still harm you. Items with Caster Level exceeding your Divine Rank can also still harm you.
    2. You can always hear prayers of any creature praying to you while who is holding your holy symbol, or involved in the instance you control. If the number of simultaneous prayers exceeds 1 per round, it takes a DC 20 Listen Check to single out a prayer said by particular creature or holding particular keywords. The check DC increases by 10 per each additional prayer you want to listen to per round. Failure means that you listen to one random prayer instead.
    3. You can grant Orisons (0th level divine spells) from the Cleric list to any divine caster worshipping you, or from spell list of any divine casting class you, the god, have.


    Alternative ways of becoming a god:

    1. Defeating a god in single combat. The following conditions count as defeating a god: killing it, bringing it to negative hitpoints and rendering it unconscious, trapping it for a minimum of 7 days, or persuading it to be your worshipper. You automatically gain Divine Rank of 1 point lower than the god you defeated, and inherit its holy symbol, all of its portofolio items and anathemas, and all of its worshippers. The god you defeated ceases to be a god.
    2. Being an heir to a god. A god who is dying of old age can designate any creature as its heir by touching it within 7 days before its death. Once the god dies, you automatically gain Divine Rank of 1 point lower than the dead god, and inherit its holy symbol, all of its portofolio items and anathemas, and all of its worshippers. You also gain access to all of your predecessor's memories, but your experience, skill etc. don't rise to match.
    3. Being a child of two gods. If you happen to be so blessed, you gain Divine Rank 1 point lower than your lowest-ranking parent. You can pick one portofolio item from those your parents have, and have your own holy symbol.


    Advancing your Divine Rank:

    There are multiple ways to gain a higher Divine Rank. The first method is to increase your number of worshippers and completing more legendary quests. However, the number of worshippers required, as well as the requirements of a legendary quest, become more stringent with each rank. A god's Divine Rank can never exceed its Hit Die.

    Getting more worshippers: Gaining worshippers follows the same rules as before. However, the number required is 200 multiplied with your current Divine Rank+1 squared. These must all be new worshippers. Whether or not worshippers you used to gain prior Divine Ranks worship you still is of no consequence. After Divine Rank 5, all new worshippers must be from a plane of existence you have not previously visited!

    Example: Moving from Divine Rank 1 to Divine rank 2 requires (200x2^2)= 800 new worshippers.

    Completing more legendary quests: New legendary quests must fulfill the following conditions:

    1. You must defeat a dangerous creature in single combat. The creature's CR must be at least 4 greater than your character level. The following conditions count as defeating such creature: killing it, bringing it to negative hitpoints and rendering it unconscious, trapping it for a minimum of 7 days, or persuading it to be your worshipper.
    2. This event must take place at least (200x[Your Divine Rank+1]^2) miles away from your place of birth. After Divine Rank 5, all new legendary challenges must take place in a plane of existence you have not previously visited!
    3. You must return to your place of birth within 7 days of completing the challenge.
    4. At least (Your Divine Rank +1)^2 worshippers of yours must witness the whole journey. After Divine Rank 5, these worshippers must come from as many planes of existence as you have previously visited.



    Alternative ways of advancing Divine Rank:

    1. Defeating another god in single combat. The following conditions count as defeating a god: killing it, bringing it to negative hitpoints and rendering it unconscious, trapping it for a minimum of 7 days, or persuading it to be your worshipper. Your Divine Rank automatically increases by 1, as long as the god you defeated had Divine Rank at least one point higher than yours. At your option, you can take 1 of its portofolio items, but must take 1 of its anathemas as well if you do. The defeated god loses 1 Divine Rank and respective portofolio items and anathemas.
    2. Being an heir to a god. A god who is dying of old age can designate any creature as its heir by touching it within 7 days before its death. Once the god dies, your Divine Rank automatically increases by 1 as long as the god who died had Divine Rank at least one point higher than yours. You also inherit its holy symbol, all of its portofolio items and anathemas, all of its worshippers, and gain access to all of your predecessor's memories, but your experience, skill etc. don't rise to match.


    Issuing a challenge: Single Combat

    These rules make a lot of references to the concept of "single combat". For purposes of gaining or advancing Divine Rank, the rules for this are simple: you, the challenger, must be alone, save for one familiar, psicrystal, animal companion or unintelligent mount. Your possible cohorts, worshippers or followers can watch, but if they interfere, your challenge is void. Summoning of monsters is allowed, if it's done after the challenge has started.

    At the start of the challenge, your opponent must be unrestrained, and holding at least one weapon of his choice. Unlike you, your opponent is under no obligation to fight alone. Using your opponent's allies against him, through domination or the like, is allowed, as long as they were previously not your allies.

    Each detail of a combat challenge takes a DC 30 Knowledge (Religion) check to know for sure and takes a week of work to uncover.

    Benefits of Divine Rank:

    1. Increased portofolio access: the number of portofolio instances you are a god of equals (your Divine Rank+1)^2 . After Divine Rank 5, you become god of all instances of your portofolio within your plane of origin, and can extend your influence to one more plane each Divine Rank afterwards.
    2. You can grant Divine spells from the Cleric spell list, or any list you can access through your class levels, up to a maximum spell level equal to your Divine rank.
    3. You can hear prayers of all creatures who pray to you while holding your holy symbol or while involved in any portofolio instances you control. Once the number of simultaneous prayers exceeds 1 per round, it takes a DC 20 Listen Check to single out a prayer said by particular creature or holding particular keywords. The check DC increases by 10 per each additional prayer you want to listen to per round. Failure means that you listen to one random prayer instead.
    4. You can pick 1 Salient Divine Ability at each Divine Rank. You must fulfill all prerequisites of SDA before you can use it.
    5. You can never be harmed by instances of your portofolio you are a god of. Expection goes to creatures and magic items: creatures with HD exceeding your Divine Rank (and all their special abilities) can still harm you. Items with Caster Level exceeding your Divine Rank can also still harm you.
    6. You get cumulative +1 Epic Base Attack Bonus at every odd Divine Rank. This means all your attacks bypass Damage Reduction/Epic. Your EBAB is added to all attack rolls you make against Outsiders, Undead, Extraplanar creatures of any kind, and other gods. EBAB stacks with all other attack bonus. EBAB does not grant you any extra attacks. Any time a feat, prestige class, or other rule refers to your base attack bonus (except for gaining additional attacks), use the sum of your base attack bonus and epic attack bonus.
    7. You get cumulative +1 Epic Save Bonus at every even Divine Rank. You add your ESB to your AC and all Saving Throws when dealing with Outsiders, Undead, Extraplanar creatures of any kind, and other gods. ESB stacks with all other save bonuses. Any time a feat, prestige class, or other rule refers to your base save bonus, use the sum of your base save bonus and epic save bonus.
    8. You instantly sense when any portofolio instance you're a god of ends or is destroyed, or when a new portofolio instance free for you to claim comes to being.
    9. For each three Divine Ranks, you can pick one Domain. You can grant all spells and powers of this Domain to your Clerics. Once per day per each Divine Rank you have, you can also use any Domain power you can grant.


    Disadvantages of Divine Rank:

    1. For each portofolio item after the first, you must pick one anathema. (See below.)
    2. Gods can only be raised from the dead by a True Resurrection spell.
    3. When a god dies, its soul will not travel to any sort of afterlife. Instead, it becomes diffused into their plane of origin, becoming a non-sentient part of that plane's native divine background magic. (This background magic is why Clerics worshipping concepts instead of proper gods can have any power at all.)
    4. A god who neglects his worshippers can become target of a Blood Curse or Oath of Vengeance. (see below.)


    Expanding your Portofolio, and Anathemas:

    Two methods of gaining more portofolio items have already been mentioned: Defeating or being heir to another god. There are three more ways to gain more Portofolio items:

    1. Pioneering a phenomenom: if you are the first being on your plane to ever attempt and succeed at something, you add that phenomenom to your Portofolio. For example, if you are the first being to ever build an aircraft, you can become god of aircrafts.
    2. Completing a legendary task: you succeed in five checks relating to your desired portofolio item with a DC in excess of 20+(your Divine Rank+1)x10. These checks must take place within 24 hours of each other, and must be performed in succession. Even one failed check ruins the attempt, meaning Taking 20 by ordinary means is disallowed.
    3. Stealing a portofolio item: stealing a portofolio item from another god is a Sleight of Hand check with base DC 50. For each point the target god's Divine Rank exceeds yours, the DC increases by 10.


    A god's amount of portofolio items can never exceed 1 + ½ its Divine Rank.

    Contesting portofolio instances: as mentioned before, you can't share a portofolio instance with any god of equal or lower Divine Rank than you before your Divine Rank exceeds 5. If you desire to add that instance under your influence, you must prove you are a better god for that instance than its owner.

    For this purpose, you must devise a challenge and present it to your opponent. This challenge can be anything as long as your opponent accepts it. Next, you will need a witness. If the instance being fought over is a sentient creature, it can serve as a witness - in this case, the witness is utterly immune to all divine powers from either party until the challenge is over. Last, you need to place a wager - something you will give up to your opponent if you lose the challenge. Usually, this is a portofolio instance of your own, but it can be anything. If you win, you now hold control of the desired instance. If this was the last instance of a portofolio in your opponent's control, your opponent completely lose the portofolio item it fell under. Same goes in reverse.

    Example: A recently ascended quasi-deity of stars wants Betelgeuse, but Betelgeuse is already held by an older god of stars. Quasi-deity proposes a speed contest - whoever can make it from Earth to Mars first wins. If quasi-deity succeeds, he will get Betelgeuse. If he loses, he will instead give his wife to the older god. The older god acepts, and they call God of Mars to serve as a witness.

    Against the odds, the quasi-deity wins. Because this was the last star held by the older god, he is no longer a god of stars. If this was the last instance of any portofolio item the older god had, the poor god is now unemployed.

    Contesting portofolio instances at Divine Ranks above 5: A high-ranking god, as noted before, is not bothered by lower or equal level gods sharing instances with them, as a god with Divine Rank above 5 governs instances on a planar scale. However, they can still contest portofolio instances with other gods of Divine Rank 5 or higher - in these cases, a "single" instance is actually all instances of given portolio item in a single plane.

    Example: Loki is the god of fire in prime material and elemental fire. Surtur is the god of fire in the Abyss and Hell. Loki can contest Surtur for the spot as either Abyss's or Hell's god of fire, following the normal contesting rules.

    Anathemas: Holding more than one portofolio item comes at a price. For each portofolio item after the first, you must choose one anathema. An anathema is something diametrically opposed to your portofolio - for example, a god of fire might have water or ice as his anathema. For a god of agriculture, his anathema might be famine, or mice.

    Anathemas are very dangerous to a god. A god is entirely unable to affect an anathema with his Salient Divine Abilities. If an anathema would cause damage to a god, it bypasses all Resistances and Damage Reduction the god might have. Finally, each round when a god is within 50 feet of an anathema, he must succeed in a Fortitude Save against (DC20 + ½ HD of the anathema [when applicable] + number of anathemas within range [if possible to count]). If he fails, he will be Nauseated for that round. Even if he succeeds, he will be Sickened instead. This conditions apply even if the god would ordinarily be immune to them!

    Managing your worshippers

    Once a god has attained his desired Divine Rank, he no longer needs worshippers to keep it. Indeed, accumulating worshippers can be a major pain in the behind, as the number of prayers will eventually drown a god. However, there are penalties for neglecting your worshippers. Below are few things you should know about managing your worshippers:

    Granting spells: You can grant Divine spells to your worshippers, with maximum level of spells depending on your Divine Rank, as detailed above. When a Divine spellcaster worshipping a god meditates to prepare spells, part of his spirit travels to his god. Once the spirit has arrived, it will bargain the god, in this case you, for spells.

    In exchange, you can ask a favor or favors in return from the petitioning spirit. These favors can be anything from something as simple as fixing your socks or watering your flowers, to slaying dragons if you so wish. You can make the petitioning spirit physical for the duration of the task if necessary.

    It is considered good courtesy that the task(s) do not take up more time than 1 hour times the level of the highest spell being prepared. However, 1 hour times the level of the highest spell is the minimum the process of channeling divine energies will take regardless. A spellcaster's spirit can refuse from attempting risky or impossible tasks, but in that case, you are under no obligation to give him spells either. Gods typically reserve asinine or lethal tasks for spellcasters who have drawn their ire.

    Keep in mind, however, that divine casters are valuable boon to all gods, because just being a god does not allow you to cast Divine spells without levels in a proper class!

    Banning spellcasters: If you deem a divine spellcaster who gets his powers from you has been too much of a burden, or has broken your conduct, or for whatever other arbitrary reason, you can ban him. A banned caster's spirit can no longer find you, and thus the caster is incapable of preparing more spells unless he finds another god.

    In addition, banning a caster immediatly bestows one negative level upon him, and all other servants of yours can immediately tell that he is being shunned by his god.

    Delegating prayers: Once you have enough worshippers, it becomes impossible for even a god to keep track of all their wishes and needs. Because of this, most gods delegate answering prayers to other creatures.

    Delegating prayers requires Truespeak skill - you must know the true name of the creature whose prayers you are delegating. After finding out the true name of a character, you must find someone to relay his prayers to - this can be any creature not immune to mind-affecting effects. Next, you must touch this creature of your choice - the creature is entitled to a Will save against (10 + your Divine Rank), but if it fails or forgoes its check, it will from that point on hear all prayers of the creature whose true name you relayed to it, while you will no longer be bothered by them.

    Selective Listening: Alternatively, you may restrict what kind or whose prayers get through to you. The easiest way to do this is through a Code of Conduct - anyone who fails to follow it will not have their prayers reach you. Another way is to simply specify which sorts of beings will have their prayers heard - this can be very specific, such as stating the true name of a character who you want to hear, or more general, such as stating that only elves (for example) will be heard, or that only prayers recited at 4 AM while wearing pink pajamas will be heard.

    Obviously, selectively listening prayers has the setback that you might miss a legitimately important or sincere prayer.

    Once you have implemented selective listening, it takes 10 minutes of time to undo the mental barriers and resume listening all prayers said to you.

    Neglecting worshippers: As noted, a god does not strictly need worshippers until he wants to rise in Divine Rank. However, this doesn't mean a god doesn't have obligations towards his subjects.

    Whenever only one worshipper remains on a plane, that lone worshipper has legitimate reasons to think his god has abandoned him. Either on purpose or accident, this lone worshipper can then level a Blood Curse or Oath of Vengeance against the neglectful god. Knowing the specific rhymes and reasons of either requires a DC 30 Knowledge (Religion) check, but just cursing the god's name in perfectly ordinary manner is enough to invoke them.

    Blood Curse causes a similar effect to Bestow Curse spell, with two key differences. First, the god it's placed upon can not break it by any means, other than personally making things up to the one who recited it. Second, a Blood Curse will afflict all offspring of said god, whether present or future.

    Oath of Vengeance makes the one swearing it, and all of his descendants (whether present or future), an Anathema for the target god.

    A god can also become a legit target for Blood Curse or Oath of Vengeance if he makes the mistake of personally slaying any faithful worshipper. A faithful worshipper is one who has flawlessly obeyed the god's Code of Conduct continuously for at least 5 years. Any leftover spouse or offspring can then recite the Curse or Oath.
    Last edited by Frozen_Feet; 2013-02-22 at 04:30 PM.
    "It's the fate of all things under the sky,
    to grow old and wither and die."

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Alter Reality
    Prerequisite: Divine Rank 1
    Benefit: Once per year per Divine Rank, you can create an unusual instance governed by your portofolio. This unusual instance will behave like normal example of its kind save for one, specific rule it ignores. An unusual instance is considered to be perfectly mundane in nature - no matter how logic-defying, it is immune to dispelling, disjunction, anti-magic field or other magic-nullifying effects.

    Examples of valid effects: A god of fire could create a flame that never consumes its fuel, or that doesn't radiate heat, or that doesn't shed visible light. A god of plants could create a tree with fruits that never rot. A god of water could create a lake that never freezes. A god of war could decree that in some war, no gun-powder weapon works, or that the war can end in no truce.

    At Divine Ranks above 5, you may instead choose to change how all instances of your portofolio work in one plane. However, this ties up use of Alter Reality SDA for a century, or until you undo the change.

    Note: You can't use Alter Reality on yourself or gods of higher rank than yourself.

    Annihilating Strike
    Prerequisites: Divine rank 1, base attack bonus +10
    Benefit: Once per day per Divine Rank, you can make a special melee touch attack. This is an Extraordinary ability. Any creature struck by your attack takes 2d6 points of damage per point of BAB. Any creature reduced to 0 or fewer hit points by this attack is entirely annihilated, leaving nothing behind. All non-magical equipment carried by the creature are reduced to dust.

    When used against an object, your attack annihilates as much as one 10-foot cube of nonliving matter per Divine Rank. Thus, your attack annihilates only part of any very large object or structure targeted. Your attack affects even objects constructed entirely of force, such as forceful hand or a wall of force, but not magical effects such as a globe of invulnerability or an antimagic field.

    A creature or object that makes a successful Fortitude save against (DC 10 + your BAB + your Divine Rank) is partially affected, taking only 5d6 points of damage. If this damage reduces the creature or object to 0 or fewer hit points, it seemingly remains in one piece, though any of its movements are halted. However, even the slightest breeze or touch will cause this petrified visage to quickly crumble away.

    Craft Artifact
    Prerequisites: Divine Rank 2, Alter Reality, Any [Item Creation] feat
    Benefit: Using any of your [Item Creation] feats, you can make one Artifact per Divine Rank. You can never have more Artifacts under your name than you have Divine Ranks. If an Artifact you have made gets destroyed, you do not get to make a new one to replace it. Each Artifact you make permanently reduces your Constitution by 2, or your Charisma by 2 if you have no Constitution score.

    Consumables Artifacts (potions, scrolls etc.) are not truly consumed after use, but can only be benefited from once by any given character. Items with multiple charges cease to be useful for a character once he has expended all charges. At your option, you can decide all such items disappear and return to you when "expended".

    Divine Blast
    Prerequisite: Divine Rank 1
    Benefit: Once per day per Divine Rank, when making an attack using a ranged weapon or a spell, you can declare that attack or spell to be a Divine Blast.

    A Divine Blast will automatically destroy any one magical barrier, such as wall of force, prismatic wall, or prismatic sphere it hits (all layers in a prismatic effect are destroyed), and the original attack or spell will then continue to strike its target. Alternatively, if you hit a creature directly with a Divine Blast, you can automatically rob them of any one defensive buff spell, one type of damage reduction, regeneration, natural armor bonus or fast healing. In case of a buff spell, that spell is automatically dispelled, and that same spell can't be re-applied on your target for rest of the day. In case of DR, regeneration, fast healing or natural armor, the ability will not be restored until the victim sleeps for at least 8 hours. Your target gets no save.

    A Divine Shield will stop a Divine Blast without letting anything through.

    Divine Shield
    Prerequisites: Divine Rank 1
    Benefit: Once per day per Divine Rank, you can divinely prevent yourself or someone else within (30' x your Divine Rank) from coming to harm. This is a free action. A Divine Shield last for 10 minutes per Divine Rank, and within that time will prevent one attack or spell per Divine Rank from affecting its target. It can also protect from any natural hazards, such as falling, being burned by fire etc.. A Divine Shield is invisible, and to beings incapable of perceiving invisible objects, the presence of the Shield is not obvious - they will think they survived due to luck or their own abilities unless otherwise informed.

    A Divine Shield will stop a Divine Blast without letting anything through.

    Divine Messenger
    Prequisites: Divine Rank 1, Character level 15th
    Benefit: You get a special Astral Deva companion to serve as your messenger. This Astral Deva is not a typical example of its kind: it comes without any equipment, and its alignment is the same as yours. Its alignment subtype is changed to match: if you are Evil instead of Good, your companion will be [Evil]. If you are Lawful or Chaotic Neutral, its subtype becomes [Lawful] or [Chaotic] respectively. If you are True Neutral, your companion has no subtype whatsoever. Your Divine Messenger will not have the following spell-likes (regardless of alignment): detect evil, dispel evil, holy smite, holy word. Its supernatural Protective Aura ability is changed to protect it from those with opposite alignment to its new alignment subtype, or if no subtype exists, all alignments that don't have a neutral component in them (Lawful Good, Chaotic Good, Lawful Evil, Chaotic Evil). Finally, it becomes an Outsider native to your plane of existence, meaning it has to eat and sleep.

    No matter where you and your messenger are in relation to each other, you can always send a telepatic command for it to come to you. Your messenger will then use its abilities the best it can to arrive to your location as soon as possible. Your messenger can also always instantly notify you if something is preventing it from doing so, and should your messenger die, you will know exactly when and where this happened.

    Your messenger is not your slave. It will not do your laundry, you have worshippers for that. It expects you to provide it shelter and food in exchange of its services. If your messenger dies, you will not get a new one unless you retake this Salient Divine Ability at your next Divine Rank - to get your messenger back, you are expected to raise it. A sufficiently peeved messenger may refuse to do its job, though in that case, you can lay a Blood Curse on it that remains until it remains to work.

    A Divine Messenger will never directly assail you, though evil or neglected messengers may scheme behind your back. Should you ever die or cease to be a god, though, your messenger will perish as well.

    Special: You can take this Salient Divine Ability multiple times. Each time, you get a new Divine Messenger.
    Last edited by Frozen_Feet; 2013-02-14 at 11:20 AM.
    "It's the fate of all things under the sky,
    to grow old and wither and die."

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    I'm now looking forward to being the god of furniture.

    I will be immune to chairs, and I shall create chairs that massage the one sitting upon them!
    Quote Originally Posted by segtrfyhtfgj View Post
    door is a fake exterior wall
    If you see me try to discuss the nitty-gritty of D&D 5e, kindly point me to my signature and remind me that I shouldn't. Please and thank you!

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Divine Palace
    Prerequisite: Divine Rank 1, Knowledge (Architecture & Engineering) 6 ranks, Craft (Any building related) 6 ranks.
    Benefit: You can designate any building you have planned and built by yourself to be your Divine Palace. At your leisure, you can make your palace invisible to all creatures you specify (such as all elves, or anyone who doesn't wear a top hat). When in your Divine Palace, rate of natural healing is tripled for you and all guests you have welcomed. On the other hand, any unwelcome guests, or guests you decide you don't like very much, will be denied of all natural healing within your palace, and wake up fatigued if they decide to sleep here. Two or more nights of unwell sleep stack to exhausted.

    Whenever your Palace or any inanimate object within suffers 10 or less hitpoints of damage, you can automatically fix that damage with a full round of concentration, even if the object was broken. In the case your palace is ever destroyed, you can put it back together in 10 minutes if you succeed in a Craft check with a DC 10 points lower than what it took to originally construct it. A failure only means that fixing your palace takes (24 - your Divine Rank) hours.

    As long as you are present within the limits of your palace, your larder will never run out of food and beverages that are brought there.

    Divine Leadership
    Prerequisite: Divine Palace, Leadership
    Benefit: Whenever your worshippers die, their spirits come to you first before going to their destined afterlife in the Outer Planes. At your consent, any dead worshipper of yours can stay with you instead of moving on. If you don't desire for your deceased worshippers to always follow you, you can decide they flock into your Divine Palace instead.

    Spirits of dead worshippers are mostly useless. They float around as invisible visages of what they looked like just before their deaths. At your leisure, you can discuss with any dead worshipper of yours. A dead worshipper has access to all of his memories of life (even those he might have forgotten during it), but has no skills or experience level.

    If you wish, you can give a new, corporeal form to a deceased worshipper. This can be any inanimate object you can craft or find (examples: rock, chair), or any animal or plant creature with 1 HD or less. They will act (or not act) in the limits of their new form. Deceased worshippers in these forms do not count against your limit of followers.

    Alternatively, you can make a deceased worshipper into a petitioner.

    Rules for creating petitioners: A petitioner counts as one of your followers gained from your Leadership feat. As such, a petitioner's maximum level upon creation is based on how many and which spots for followers you have empty.

    The following creature types may become petitioners depending on the deity: aberrations, animals, dragons, fey, giants, humanoids, magical beasts, monstrous humanoids, and plants, oozes, and vermin with Intelligence and Wisdom of at least 1. Undead, constructs, elementals or outsider may not be.

    A petitioner becomes a low-level character of the type and species it was in life. If it had class levels, it may now have class levels in any NPC class. Its feats, skills etc. are reselected, but should be reselected to reflect what the petitioner used to be at that level when alive.

    Petitioners are tied to the plane of existence they were created in. Petitioners cannot leave this plane by any means beyond raising of their original body. They are teleported one hundred miles in a random direction if an attempt is made to force them to leave.

    Divine Proxy: In addition to having your dead worshippers at hand and the ability to create petitioners, you also gain a special cohort character. This special cohort, called your Divine Proxy, is in addition to your normal cohort from the Leadership feat, but you can also make your existing cohort into a Proxy.

    Attracting a Divine Proxy follows the normal rules for attracting cohorts. A Divine Proxy can grant spells to your worshippers from the same lists as you can, and its effective Divine Rank for these purposes is your Divine Rank minus 1.

    While a Divine Proxy may help you in your adventures, it mostly expects to stay in safety and manage spirits of your dead followers in your holy place. You may also decide that all divine spellcasters worshipping below a certain level automatically go to get their spells from your Proxy instead of you. However, if you made your mundane cohort into a Proxy as well, both will be understanding if they occasionally have to switch places.

    Divine Realm
    Prerequisite: Divine Palace, Knowledge (Architecture & Engineering) 12 ranks, Craft (Any building related) 12 ranks.
    Benefit: With 7 days of continuous work, you remove your Divine palace and everything within 1 mile radius of it from your plane of origin and transfer them into a conterminous demiplane. In the previous location of your Palace, the surrounding terrain warps and knits together in such way it seems your Palace and its surroundings never were there.

    By default, your demiplane shares the traits of the plane it was created from. You can adjust alignment traits, magic traits, elemental and energy traits as well a gravity to suit. Changing any of these traits takes 10 minutes of concentration. Your demiplane will always share its time trait with the plane it was created from.

    Your demiplane is divinely morphic in respect to you in the following ways: you can adjust terrain, temperature, lighting and weather to suit. Altering any of these things is a swift action. You get no special sway over living creatures or buildings besides those granted by your other abilities - you must, for example, change vegetation or toilets on your demiplane through other means.

    By default, your demiplane is accessible from the place your Divine Palace used to be in, though you can restrict access to it for kind of creatures or things you specify (your anathemas are immune to these restrictions). The point of connection is also invisible to those creatures. The point of access can be any portal or vaguely portal-like object, such as an arc formed by arching tree braches, or a tunnel through a rock. Through it, your Realm can be perceived. Walking through the point of access will always transport a creature 1 mile away from your Palace.

    Once per year per Divine Rank, you can change the point of access to your demiplane to any other point in the plane it was created from. Each time you rise in Divine Rank, you can expand radius of your demiplane up to a maximum of (Your Divine Rank + 1)^2 miles.
    Last edited by Frozen_Feet; 2013-02-15 at 04:49 AM.
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    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    So, I can be a god of war, who makes all wars in the material plane not allowed to cause death?

    A god of spoons who makes a spoon that turns all water it touches into delicious soup?

    A god of life who reduces all maximum ages to middle age?

    Also, it seems any campaign running this would have dozens to hundreds of low-divine rank gods and very few with a divine rank above five. Most gods who get to 6 ranks will not be able to get to enough planes to keep getting new ranks (depending on your cosmology) and will have so many followers they are bound to make a mistake or so few that they are relatively unknown.

    Basically, it is a hard life for the gods.

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    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    So, I can be a god of war, who makes all wars in the material plane not allowed to cause death?

    A god of spoons who makes a spoon that turns all water it touches into delicious soup?

    A god of life who reduces all maximum ages to middle age?
    If you're using Alter Reality, yes, no, and yes.

    The second example is invalid, because instead of ignoring one rule, it introduces a brand new one. However, you could make such spoon as an artifact.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Also, it seems any campaign running this would have dozens to hundreds of low-divine rank gods and very few with a divine rank above five. Most gods who get to 6 ranks will not be able to get to enough planes to keep getting new ranks (depending on your cosmology) and will have so many followers they are bound to make a mistake or so few that they are relatively unknown.

    Basically, it is a hard life for the gods.
    This is entirely intended. It is my intention that a high-level character could trivially become a god, but might not want to, because being a god is not easy.

    Also, it is intended that just being a god is one major plot hook, leading to more and more shenanigans to remain one.
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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    If you're using Alter Reality, yes, no, and yes.

    The second example is invalid, because instead of ignoring one rule, it introduces a brand new one. However, you could make such spoon as an artifact.
    With regard to the third one (max age = middle age), what makes that valid? Taking away the rule of "you don't die at this age"?

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    This is entirely intended. It is my intention that a high-level character could trivially become a god, but might not want to, because being a god is not easy.

    Also, it is intended that just being a god is one major plot hook, leading to more and more shenanigans to remain one.
    It seems like most gods would emerge situational (the god of this harvest, the god of that persons fertility, ect) and would swap in new portfolios as theirs expired. I mean, you could probably get a few guys taking a quest like this once a generation for however many generations there have been a world (in fantasy settings, usually like 1000 or something) so by now you have the village god, or people you pay to be the god of x for x amount of time. If that's also what you are going for, I think a world like this would be very interesting indeed.

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    smile Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    I'm liking this idea. We can expect more from you right? because I really want to start throwing "little" gods in a good mechanical way.

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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    This would be awsome for pbp, just saying
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    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by Allnightmask View Post
    I'm liking this idea. We can expect more from you right? because I really want to start throwing "little" gods in a good mechanical way.
    You can expect a whole lot. I will not consider this project done until I have reworked how all Salient Divine Abilities and character levels beyond 20 work.

    For hints of how far this project will go, you can check my related Feat Synergy project. That project started with the goal of reworking each Fighter feat in the d20 SRD to be synergistic - I'm now well on my way to reworking all feats in d20 SRD.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    With regard to the third one (max age = middle age), what makes that valid? Taking away the rule of "you don't die at this age"?
    You can formulate it as "[Instance] does not live past middle age", which is a valid formulation.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    It seems like most gods would emerge situational (the god of this harvest, the god of that persons fertility, ect) and would swap in new portfolios as theirs expired. I mean, you could probably get a few guys taking a quest like this once a generation for however many generations there have been a world (in fantasy settings, usually like 1000 or something) so by now you have the village god, or people you pay to be the god of x for x amount of time. If that's also what you are going for, I think a world like this would be very interesting indeed.
    You are correct, expect it's not (strictly speaking) portofolios that expire, it's portofolio instances. For an example, take this quote from a hypothetical character:

    "I am a god of death. This is my bird. For six days, I will treat this bird like it was my only child. On the seventh day, I will slaughter it. Then I will find myself a new bird."

    So when a low-ranking god's portofolio instances expire, he will swap it out for next available one. A god of year 2013's harvest will have a problem in creating a new harvest in 7 days, though.

    This will also have a great deal of power explaining why gods of death, war, or other disasters are not liked very much. They have to go around killing people or otherwise causing misery constantly. So you will have people bribing them to look another way.

    "Please, Mr. Death, don't kill me. I have wife and kids. Instead, take this rooster. I can bring you a new rooster every six days, is that enough?"
    "It's the fate of all things under the sky,
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    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Area Divine Shield
    Prerequisites: Divine Shield
    Benefit: This ability conveys benefits of Divine Shield to every creature within a certain area. The deity produces an invisible barrier whose area is up to one 10-foot square per rank, or a sphere or hemisphere with a radius of up to 1 foot per rank. The barrier can be placed anywhere within (30 x Divine Rank) feet from the deity. The deity can place the barrier so that it is mobile with respect to some unattended object or willing creature.

    Mass Divine Blast
    Prerequisites: Divine Blast, BAB+15
    Benefit: Each use of this ability counts as a use of the deity’s Divine Blast ability. You can declare the use of this ability when making a full attack using a ranged weapon, or when using a Quickened spell. All attacks you make as part of a full attack count as Divine Blasts, or both the Quickened Spell and the spell after it count as Divine Blasts.

    Mind Of The Beast
    The deity can make plants and animals sentient, and it can reduce sentient creatures to animal level.
    Benefit: Once per week per Divine Rank, you can give any plant or animal you touch Intelligence 3, as well as minimum of Wisdom 3 and Charisma 3 if the creature doesn't already have better scores. If you attempt this on a hostile animal or animate plant creature, you must make a succesful touch attack to succeed. This effect is permanent

    Alternatively, you can touch any creature with Intelligence 3 or more, and reduce them to Intelligence 1. The subject is allowed a Will save (DC 10 + ½ your HD + your Divine Rank) to resist. This effect lasts for 7 days. It can be undone with a Remove Curse spell.

    Undying
    Prerequisites: Divine Rank 1, Portofolio Item: the Undead
    Benefit: The deity becomes an undead creature. Undead have the following benefits:

    • No Constitution score.
    • Darkvision out to 60 feet.
    • Immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).
    • Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, and death effects.
    • Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, or energy drain. Immune to damage to its physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion effects.
    • Cannot heal damage on its own if it has no Intelligence score, although it can be healed. Negative energy can heal undead creatures, while positive energy harms them. The fast healing special quality works regardless of the creature’s Intelligence score.
    • Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless).
    • Uses its Charisma modifier for Concentration checks.
    • Not at risk of death from massive damage, but when reduced to 0 hit points or less, it is immediately destroyed.
    • Not affected by raise dead and reincarnate spells or abilities. Resurrection and true resurrection can affect undead creatures. These spells turn undead creatures back into the living creatures they were before becoming undead. (In case of deific undead, the last two spells cancel Undead Qualities Salient Divine Ability for 7 days.)
    • Undead do not breathe, eat, or sleep.


    In addition, you gain Turn Resistance equal to your Divine Rank. As an undead, you cease to age and won't die from old age (since you are already dead).

    Possess Mortal
    Prerequisites: Divine Rank 1
    Benefit: Once per day per Divine Rank, you can possess any of your worshippers whose prayers you are listening to. Unwilling mortals can attempt Will saves (DC 10 + ½ your HD + your Divine Rank). If you succesfully possess someone, your own body falls into deep slumber for the duration of the possession.

    Notes: Spells that prevent possession block this ability if the mortal is unwilling. Likewise, spells that end possession drive out the deity if the mortal is unwilling. If the mortal is willing, however, the deity cannot be blocked or driven out.

    The possessed mortal effectively becomes an avatar of the deity. The possession lasts as long as you, the deity, desire. The possessed mortal can reveal any memories or knowledge it has to you if it so wishes.

    While the deity is in possession, the mortal’s abilities are unchanged, except as noted below.
    • Hit Points: Same as the mortal, +1 for each rank of the deity and further +1 for each HD the deity has more than the mortal.
    • Armor Class, Saves & BAB: Add deity's EBAB and ESB to mortal's values.
    • Ability Scores: Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution are unchanged. Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma become those of the deity (or remain as the mortal’s scores if they are higher).
    • Skills: The mortal can use its own skills and the deity’s skills. If the mortal and the deity have the same skill, use the skill of whichever has more ranks in the skill. Use the mortal’s effective ability scores to determine skill modifiers.
    • Divine Rank & Salient Divine Abilities: the mortal counts as having your Divine Rank for the duration of the possession, and you, the deity, can use all your Salient Divine Abilities through the mortal.

    If your own body is killed while possessing a mortal, you become permanently trapped in the mortal's body until the time your own body is raised. Unlike usual, Raise Dead and Resurrection are sufficient. If, while bodiless, you are driven out of the mortal you're possessing, you die.
    Last edited by Frozen_Feet; 2013-02-15 at 06:20 AM.
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    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Avatar
    Prerequisites: Craft (Sculpture) +8 ranks, Divine Rank 1, Portofolio item: any base character class
    Benefit: By 7 days of continuous work, you create a life-sized effigy to serve as your avatar. You must also make a miniature copy of the effigy using the same materials - exact size of the copy is not dramatically important, as long as its proportions are in a correct scale compared to the original and it can fit on your palm. Quality and cost of construction are likewise not terribly important - they only affect how presentable and hard to destroy your avatar is when you're not using it. Creating an avatar takes (1000 x your Divine Rank) experience points.

    Once the effigy is ready, you can, once per day per Divine Rank, move your spirit into or out of the effigy. While your spirit is in it, the effigy springs to life and turns into a real creature. Your original body falls into deep slumber for this duration.

    However, your avatar is not you. Rather, it is a caricature of you, representing one limited aspect of your portofolio. You must pick one base class you're a god of; your avatar will be a single-classed character of that class, with ECL of (your character level - 4). By default, it is the same type and species as you, but if you are the patron of some other species or race, you can decide your avatar to be of that species or race instead. Your avatar will use the Elite array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) for its abilities. Its alignment will be same as yours.

    The first time you use your avatar, all of its feats from class and levels, all of its skill points and all of its spells or powers known (etc.) are unallocated. It only has its abilities, racial features, BAB, base saves, basic class features and hitpoints determined. It also lacks any equipment, save for those you might have made and placed on your effigy. To get your avatar to its full potential, you must train while in it. Each feat takes 1 month of training to acquire, and they must be trained in proper order to meet all prerequisites. Each skillpoint takes 1 day of training in the proper skill to allocate. Each spell or power known (or similar) must be researched, not costing any money or XP, but taking as much time as it ordinarily would. Once you have completed all this work, however, you can essentially become an entirely different character. When you are inhabiting your avatar, it has Divine Rank equal to yours, and you can use all your Salient Divine Abilities through it, except for Avatar.

    An avatar does not gain levels or experience the ordinary way. Instead, it increases in level and experience at the same rate time you do. These changes don't take place before the next time you inhabit your avatar, however.

    Once you have trained your avatar to its peak, its capabilities are set - any retraining (etc.) for the avatar must be done using the normal rules while you're inhabiting it. While your spirit is absent from the avatar, it returns to its original state as an inanimate effigy. At such times, your avatar is vulnerable to being destroyed or being robbed of its equipment. The former is, fortunately, not much of a setback as long as your miniature copy of your avatar is in your possession. Whenever your avatar is broken, the copy breaks too, so you will know what has happened. Fixing the copy is an easy task - it takes 10 minutes of work per Divine Rank if you succeed in a Craft check with a DC five points lower than what it took to originally build the copy. The latter is best solved by having loyal worshippers guard your avatar's belongings.

    If your avatar "dies" while you're inside it, your spirit will return to your own body. Getting back into your avatar is merely a matter of fixing the miniature copy. However, hilarity ensues should you ever lose possession of the miniature: anyone who succeeds in an Use Magic Device or Use Psionic Device check with a DC of 30 + your Divine Rank x 10, can inhabit your avatar and use all of its abilities, save those granted by Divine Rank! If you can't get your miniature back, there is only one other solution: you must smash your avatar. However, if you do this, your avatar is permanently lost - you must build a new one from scratch.

    If the miniature copy is destroyed while you are inhabiting your avatar, nothing adverse happens. If the copy is stolen instead, you lose the ability to return to your until you regain it. If your original body is destroyed while you're inhabiting your avatar, you permanently become your avatar, lose 1 Divine Rank and the associated Avatar Salient Divine Ability. (Adjust your abilities according to your new Divine Rank)

    Special: this Salient Divine Ability allows you to have only one avatar at once. However, you can take it multiple times to gain the ability to build multiple avatars.

    Avatar Autonomy

    Prerequisites: Divine Rank 3, Avatar
    Benefit: Sometimes, it's just too much work to control your avatar by yourself. For such lazy gods exists this ability. Once per day, when leaving your avatar, you can order it to keep working under specific guidelines. These guidelines must fit in 77 words in whatever language your avatar can understand. Based on these guidelines, as well as your alignment at the moment you leave. This is important to note: if you suffer alignment drift while away, your avatar's alignment will not update before you inhabit it again! While you have an avatar running around autonomously, your effective Divine Rank lowers by one point, and you must choose one Salient Divine Ability that is not Avatar or Avatar Autonomy; you are barred from using that ability until you resume control of your avatar, or return it to inactivity.

    While working autonomously, your avatar can gain experience and increase in level, up to a maximum ECL of (your character level - 2). If any effect would make it go past this level, it instead stays one experience point short of rising a level. These gains don't go away when you re-inhabit your avatar.

    While you are away, your avatar has effective Divine Rank equal to half of yours. At the moment of departure, you can decide which ones of your Salient Divine Abilities it can access. Your avatar can't rise in Divine Rank by its lonesome.

    However, leaving your avatar to work autonomously for long periods is risky. If you gave it conflicting guidelines, it may suffer alignment drift. This may change its behaviour and how it goes about following your guidelines. While working autonomously, no-one but you can asume control of the avatar.

    You are in serious trouble should the following happen: if your autonomous avatar becomes of opposite alignment than you (such as Chaotic Evil to your Lawful Good) and you lose possession of its miniature copy (it is destroyed etc.), your avatar runs amok (literally, if it is of Evil alignment. Read: it goes on a killing spree). You lose all control of it, and even worse, your out-of-control avatar becomes an Anathema to you and you become an Anathema to it. You also lose the portofolio item your avatar was made to represent, as well as instances related to it, to your avatar. Finally, a link between your divine powers means that if your out-of-control avatar dies, you die as well. On the other hand, if you die, so does your out-of-control avatar. Defusing this situation requires some sort of a truce or agreement between you and your out-of-control avatar. If you have Ritual of Reunion Salient Divine Ability, you can use it to reabsorb your avatar into your being.

    Special: An out-of-control avatar can gain Divine Ranks and character levels in excess of you. If you use Ritual of Reunion when this has happened, your avatar will absorb you!

    Ritual of Reunion
    Prerequisite: Divine Rank 1, Perform (Any) 6 ranks
    Benefit: Once per week per Divine Rank, you can perform a special ritual to make a splintered soul whole again. The ritual takes 10 minutes to perform and can do the following things:

    • Cure any confusion or insanity
    • Restore 1d4 sanity points per Divine Rank (if using that variant)
    • Remove 1d4 points of taint per Divine Rank (if using that variant)
    • Allow you to reabsorb an out-of-control avatar
    • Cure any non-permanent negative levels
    • Cure any ability score loss to mental attributes from ability drain
    • Dispel any fear effect
    • Free a subject of soul bind or trap the soul. This works regardless of the location of the gem, as long as the True Name of the subject is known. Only one subject may be freed at once.
    • Cure lycantrophy
    • Dispel any curse that affects mental abilities, such as feeblemind, or Mind of the Beast SDA
    • Render a lich's phylactery useless by forcing its soul to remain in its body
    • Return beings under the effects of Magic Jar back to their original bodies.


    Unless otherwise specified, the ritual affects all creatures within (30 x your Divine Rank) feet.

    ---

    Yes, all the new rules for Avatar and Avatar Autonomy are inspired by Kami and Piccolo from Dragon Ball.
    Last edited by Frozen_Feet; 2013-02-14 at 01:49 AM.
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    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    So, can a god of agriculture be a god of 2013's harvest? If so, after the 2013 harvest could it be a god of Steve's potted tomato plant in the front room until the 2014 harvest?

    Could a god of death make someone immune to natural death or death from hit point loss? A god of life? If so with regard to death, the less scrupulous nations will most likely employ these gods to keep their sovereigns alive for eternity (sacrifice a peasant on Sunday to keep the 1000 year old king alive). If so with regard to life, every nation will have ancient kings and God of Life special forces (can't get killed).

    Are you also anathema to your out of control avatar? If so, most of the eldest gods would most likely be a Progenitor god and a rebelled avatar, because though they diametrically oppose one another, they both have a vested interest in keeping the other alive.

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    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    So, can a god of agriculture be a god of 2013's harvest? If so, after the 2013 harvest could it be a god of Steve's potted tomato plant in the front room until the 2014 harvest?
    That is a legit progression, yes. If the poor tomato dies, the god could swap to Steve's illegal cannabis farm in the closet for the interim.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Could a god of death make someone immune to natural death or death from hit point loss? A god of life? If so with regard to death, the less scrupulous nations will most likely employ these gods to keep their sovereigns alive for eternity (sacrifice a peasant on Sunday to keep the 1000 year old king alive). If so with regard to life, every nation will have ancient kings and God of Life special forces (can't get killed).
    I presume you're talking about Alter Reality again. A god of death can make a person immune to dying in a certain way, though that is a bit counter-productive, because a god of death depends on, you know, people dying.

    A god of life can do the same, though it takes awful lot of uses of Alter Reality to make someone truly immortal. There are multiple weakpoints in your proposed strategy, however. Most glaringly, you don't need to kill a god to make it lose its divinity. With a group of benevolent life gods, extending the "best before" date of your sovereigns is certainly possible, but as time passes, the chance of someone overthrowing you or your gods approaches 1 regardless.

    Besides, to quote one certain Disney character, "it's amazing what you can live through". Trap the Soul, Imprisonment and the like were probably devised precisely to get rid of unwanted immortal god-kings.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Are you also anathema to your out of control avatar? If so, most of the eldest gods would most likely be a Progenitor god and a rebelled avatar, because though they diametrically oppose one another, they both have a vested interest in keeping the other alive.
    I waffled on it for a bit, but yes, you now become anathema to your rebel avatars. And yes, your scenario is pretty much what the rules are for.
    "It's the fate of all things under the sky,
    to grow old and wither and die."

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    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    I presume you're talking about Alter Reality again. A god of death can make a person immune to dying in a certain way, though that is a bit counter-productive, because a god of death depends on, you know, people dying.
    I was referring to Alter reality again. And gods of death would make a king immortal for the permission to kill anything (or any one) they needed to survive.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    A god of life can do the same, though it takes awful lot of uses of Alter Reality to make someone truly immortal. There are multiple weakpoints in your proposed strategy, however. Most glaringly, you don't need to kill a god to make it lose its divinity. With a group of benevolent life gods, extending the "best before" date of your sovereigns is certainly possible, but as time passes, the chance of someone overthrowing you or your gods approaches 1 regardless.
    Well, its just kill a god or destroy all its portfolio instances, right? And a god can replace its portfolio instances within a week before it looses divinity. Also, kings with a court of gods would also have access to a plethora of artifacts.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    Besides, to quote one certain Disney character, "it's amazing what you can live through". Trap the Soul, Imprisonment and the like were probably devised precisely to get rid of unwanted immortal god-kings.
    And the parrot got better, didn't it? Again, one could be made immune to those by a god of magic, could they not? If not, there are always artifacts.

    I realize these regimes would be hard to keep up, but many kings, great or vile, would probably be able to pull it off. One through love of his people, the other through fear and oppression.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    I waffled on it for a bit, but yes, you now become anathema to your rebel avatars. And yes, your scenario is pretty much what the rules are for.
    Would the rebel avatar be a god of the same thing the progenitor god was a god of, just opposed in alignment? If so, you get interesting things like evil gods of fertility and good gods of famine.

    Now for totally new questions!

    1) Would a god of magic need to start as a god of a specific spell, specific magical effect (like the spell bob cast last Tuesday), or a school of magic?

    2) Can a god of life be a god of their own life? Can a god of a class be a god of themself in that class? More stuff like that.

    3) Can a god of nobility be the god of a noble or royal line, or would they have to be a god of a specific noble or monarch?

    4) Are gods immortal by nature, or are the just as mortal as ever, the only difference being they have new god-powers? If they are immortal, do they still have to eat, drink, and breath?

    5) What would be a specific portfolio item of a god of darkness? light? betrayal? Deception? An emotion? Water?

    6) Can a god be a god of gods? If so, see question two.

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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Well, its just kill a god or destroy all its portfolio instances, right?
    Or bring a god to negative hitpoints and unconscious, or trap it for 7 days, or convince it to be your worshipper. If the one doing this is mortal, the god loses its divinity, do not pass go, do not collect 4000 zorkmids. If it is another god, the victim god loses 1 Divine Rank and one portofolio item.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    And the parrot got better, didn't it? Again, one could be made immune to those by a god of magic, could they not? If not, there are always artifacts.
    Certainly, if you have near-unlimited wealth and can curry favor from enough gods (and sufficiently strong ones. Remember, weak gods can't share instances), you can become nigh-indestructible. That's not much of change from core D&D, just replace "god" with "high-level caster".

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Would the rebel avatar be a god of the same thing the progenitor god was a god of, just opposed in alignment?
    It's a god of the thing(s) you made it to represent, and that you consequently lose if it rebels. For example, if your rebelling avatar was a Fighter, it is now a god of fighters and you are not.

    Now for totally new questions!

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    1) Would a god of magic need to start as a god of a specific spell, specific magical effect (like the spell bob cast last Tuesday), or a school of magic?
    Specific spells, spell-likes, supernatural abilities and magical schools are all valid instances. They would also be valid portofolio items. (So would be bardic spells, or wizard spells, or...) I have to say, though, "magic" as one, undivided portofolio item is problematic because there are so many "magical" elements in the game, and many of them don't even share the same rules. So it'd be reasonable to ban "magic" as a singular portofolio item on these grounds.

    Less problematic ways to be a "god of magic" would be though being a god of Wizards, or other casting class.

    "Spell bob cast last tuesday" is a valid instance, with the problem that unless it was permanent or really long duration, it is already gone, and you are now unemployed.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    2) Can a god of life be a god of their own life? Can a god of a class be a god of themself in that class? More stuff like that.
    Technically, the answer to both is yes. In practice, it should not matter much outside few specific instances I plan to detail. I am considering the idea that you can't use Alter Reality on yourself, or other gods, though.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    3) Can a god of nobility be the god of a noble or royal line, or would they have to be a god of a specific noble or monarch?
    Bloodlines are valid portofolio items or instances, though it'd be more in the spirit of the rules to start with a singular noble character.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    4) Are gods immortal by nature, or are the just as mortal as ever, the only difference being they have new god-powers? If they are immortal, do they still have to eat, drink, and breath?
    I purposedly excised immortality as being part of the package of being a god. Gods are explicitly not immortal unless they find a specific way to become so. They need to eat, drink and breath as usual.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    5) What would be a specific portfolio item of a god of darkness? light? betrayal? Deception? An emotion? Water?
    Shadows would be a good start.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    6) Can a god be a god of gods? If so, see question two.
    Well, under these rules, it's technically legit. I should make an exception for them, I suppose.
    "It's the fate of all things under the sky,
    to grow old and wither and die."

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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    Or bring a god to negative hitpoints and unconscious, or trap it for 7 days, or convince it to be your worshipper. If the one doing this is mortal, the god loses its divinity, do not pass go, do not collect 4000 zorkmids. If it is another god, the victim god loses 1 Divine Rank and one portofolio item.
    Ah. Man, gods in this world must be paranoid.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    Certainly, if you have near-unlimited wealth and can curry favor from enough gods (and sufficiently strong ones. Remember, weak gods can't share instances), you can become nigh-indestructible. That's not much of change from core D&D, just replace "god" with "high-level caster".
    I wasn't trying to imply it was too powerful, just thinking of how it would be used.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    It's a god of the thing(s) you made it to represent, and that you consequently lose if it rebels. For example, if your rebelling avatar was a Fighter, it is now a god of fighters and you are not.
    So you could theoretically get the Evil god of paladins? Or the chaotic god of monks?

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    Specific spells, spell-likes, supernatural abilities and magical schools are all valid instances. They would also be valid portofolio items. (So would be bardic spells, or wizard spells, or...) I have to say, though, "magic" as one, undivided portofolio item is problematic because there are so many "magical" elements in the game, and many of them don't even share the same rules. So it'd be reasonable to ban "magic" as a singular portofolio item on these grounds.

    Less problematic ways to be a "god of magic" would be though being a god of Wizards, or other casting class.

    "Spell bob cast last tuesday" is a valid instance, with the problem that unless it was permanent or really long duration, it is already gone, and you are now unemployed.
    Alright. I believe I understand what exactly specific portfolio instances are now.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    Technically, the answer to both is yes. In practice, it should not matter much outside few specific instances I plan to detail. I am considering the idea that you can't use Alter Reality on yourself, or other gods, though.
    I understand not being able to use it on other gods (at least other gods of equal or higher divine rank), but if anything it makes sense to be able to use it on yourself even if you are not specifically one of your portfolio instances. A god of fire should not get burned.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    I purposedly excised immortality as being part of the package of being a god. Gods are explicitly not immortal unless they find a specific way to become so. They need to eat, drink and breath as usual.
    Hm... sorta puts a damper on the presence of thousands of gods if they still have a maximum age...

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    Well, under these rules, it's technically legit. I should make an exception for them, I suppose.
    Or make it so that only gods with more than 5 divine ranks can have gods in their portfolios?

    Also, as it is written, under Divine realm, you could potentially have a maximum radius of 127 miles. It says you increase the radius by those amounts, not to those amounts. Was that intended? Also, you cannot have its radius increased until you gain a divine rank after having taken it.

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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Ah. Man, gods in this world must be paranoid.
    As said, it's hard work to be a god.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    So you could theoretically get the Evil god of paladins? Or the chaotic god of monks?
    Hilariously, yes. (It's a feature, not a bug! ) Of course, such rebellious avatar would be less of a threat than usual, as a fallen Paladin loses most of its class features, and a chaotic monk can take no more monk levels.

    Paladins and monks likely wouldn't be too happy about it, either.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Alright. I believe I understand what exactly specific portfolio instances are now.
    I think, once I remember how, I'll make a big table with example portofolios items and instances, with values required for different Divine Ranks precalculated.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    I understand not being able to use it on other gods (at least other gods of equal or higher divine rank), but if anything it makes sense to be able to use it on yourself even if you are not specifically one of your portfolio instances. A god of fire should not get burned.
    I appreciate your sentiment, but Alter Reality is not the extent of power or godhood. A god still has character levels, magic items, domain powers and such to make himself hard to damage.

    Being a god is hard work. A big part of this fix was to remove blanket immunities from gods and make players work for their divine might.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Hm... sorta puts a damper on the presence of thousands of gods if they still have a maximum age...
    Well, achieving Divine Rank 1 is not much more difficult than achieving Divine Rank 0. And if you have two Divine Rank 1 gods, they can have a lot of cute little Rank 0 quasi-deity babies.

    Or, if a DR 1+ god can't have babies, it can make some unrelated creature its heir.

    So while some gods will certainly disappear between generations, most of the time it just means the next generation has gods of 1 Rank lower, necessitating young gods to take on their own legendary quests.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Or make it so that only gods with more than 5 divine ranks can have gods in their portfolios?
    After thinking of it, I excluded gods as a valid portofolio elements. Other gods worshipping you is already factored into rules for rising in Divine Rank. Excluding gods as a portofolio elements also makes sense for the same reasons as excluding divine casting classes.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Also, as it is written, under Divine realm, you could potentially have a maximum radius of 127 miles. It says you increase the radius by those amounts, not to those amounts. Was that intended? Also, you cannot have its radius increased until you gain a divine rank after having taken it.
    I fixed the wording so that it is clearer. When you rise in Rank, you can expand your Realm's radius to a potential maximum of (Divine Rank +1)^2.

    I'm a bit puzzled about where did you get 127 miles, though, because the equation was the same. As it depends on your rank, at first possible expansion at Rank 3, it's (3 + 1)^2= 16 miles, and at Rank 20 it becomes (20 +1)^2= 441 miles. The equation doesn't result in 127 miles at any Rank, the closest is at Divine Rank 10, where it ends up in (10 + 1)^2= 121 miles.
    "It's the fate of all things under the sky,
    to grow old and wither and die."

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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    I am liking these feats... and I am VERY tempted to use them in a campaign.
    Can't write. Can't plan. Can draw a little.
    Quote Originally Posted by Craft (Cheese) View Post
    "In his free time, he gates in Balors just so he can kill and eat them later!"

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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    As said, it's hard work to be a god.
    I thought you just meant to become one and stay one, not to make sure the friendly bar keep doesn't drug your meed then put you in a cage for a week to steal your godhood. I feel like most nations would have laws against this sort of thing, to keep their gods happy and working with the current regime rather than against it.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    Hilariously, yes. (It's a feature, not a bug! ) Of course, such rebellious avatar would be less of a threat than usual, as a fallen Paladin loses most of its class features, and a chaotic monk can take no more monk levels.

    Paladins and monks likely wouldn't be too happy about it, either.
    Well, he could always make himself into a god of blackgaurds with his next rank, right? And you can't tell me there isn't a chaos monk PrC out there.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    I think, once I remember how, I'll make a big table with example portofolios items and instances, with values required for different Divine Ranks precalculated.
    That would certainly be helpful.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    I appreciate your sentiment, but Alter Reality is not the extent of power or godhood. A god still has character levels, magic items, domain powers and such to make himself hard to damage.

    Being a god is hard work. A big part of this fix was to remove blanket immunities from gods and make players work for their divine might.
    I agree with and understand what you are saying. Still, being able to divinely alter themselves to fit with their portfolio makes sense. Maybe only one use per divine rank? Or at least one use per divine rank - 5.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    Well, achieving Divine Rank 1 is not much more difficult than achieving Divine Rank 0. And if you have two Divine Rank 1 gods, they can have a lot of cute little Rank 0 quasi-deity babies.

    Or, if a DR 1+ god can't have babies, it can make some unrelated creature its heir.

    So while some gods will certainly disappear between generations, most of the time it just means the next generation has gods of 1 Rank lower, necessitating young gods to take on their own legendary quests.
    Ah, so most gods were born that way and have been a god of ______ either their whole or almost their whole life? That's got to mess up some childhoods.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    After thinking of it, I excluded gods as a valid portofolio elements. Other gods worshipping you is already factored into rules for rising in Divine Rank. Excluding gods as a portofolio elements also makes sense for the same reasons as excluding divine casting classes.
    Honestly, I've always thought divine casters should be valid portfolio items. What if a god wants to specialize in paladins? I mean, non-fighters might still worship a god of fighters for strength or whatever, and all fighters will not worship the god of fighters.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    I fixed the wording so that it is clearer. When you rise in Rank, you can expand your Realm's radius to a potential maximum of (Divine Rank +1)^2.

    I'm a bit puzzled about where did you get 127 miles, though, because the equation was the same. As it depends on your rank, at first possible expansion at Rank 3, it's (3 + 1)^2= 16 miles, and at Rank 20 it becomes (20 +1)^2= 441 miles. The equation doesn't result in 127 miles at any Rank, the closest is at Divine Rank 10, where it ends up in (10 + 1)^2= 121 miles.
    Before, it started with a 1 mile radius, then you added 16 miles to that radius, giving you a total of 17 miles as a radius. Keep doing that once a rank and you get 127 mile radius at rank 5(which I forgot to say in my op). Which, since you changed it to increase to a maximum radius when ones divine rank goes up, can no longer happen.

    Also, how big is the portal to ones divine realm? From what I can tell, its always a mile radius circle, even if you choose to move said mile radius circle.

    If a god has a large enough divine realm, can another god create his divine palace in it?

    What happens to the place the divine palace used to be? Is it a giant two-mile-wide crater?

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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Still, being able to divinely alter themselves to fit with their portfolio makes sense. Maybe only one use per divine rank? Or at least one use per divine rank - 5.
    I still have a lot of SDAs to rework. I may make other SDAs similar to Undying, that change the type of a deity.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Ah, so most gods were born that way and have been a god of ______ either their whole or almost their whole life? That's got to mess up some childhoods.
    I consider it hilarious.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Honestly, I've always thought divine casters should be valid portfolio items. What if a god wants to specialize in paladins? I mean, non-fighters might still worship a god of fighters for strength or whatever, and all fighters will not worship the god of fighters.
    After some thinking, I changed it so that the exception only touches Clerics and Druids. You can be god to other divine casting classes, but if they opt to worship someone else, you can't affect them.

    Divine casting classes are an exception because they are, well, divine. It'd step on the toes of other gods pretty hard if you could alter their clerics.

    Non-divine classes have no such protection, but on the other hand, they can always work to become anathemas.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Also, how big is the portal to ones divine realm? From what I can tell, its always a mile radius circle, even if you choose to move said mile radius circle.

    ...

    What happens to the place the divine palace used to be? Is it a giant two-mile-wide crater?
    Hmmm, good catch. I will edit the ability to answer these questions.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    If a god has a large enough divine realm, can another god create his divine palace in it?
    Sure, why not? Nothing precludes it.
    "It's the fate of all things under the sky,
    to grow old and wither and die."

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    Quote Originally Posted by Doorhandle View Post
    I am liking these feats... and I am VERY tempted to use them in a campaign.
    By feats, do you mean salient divine abilities? There are no feats in this whole thread...

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    I still have a lot of SDAs to rework. I may make other SDAs similar to Undying, that change the type of a deity.
    Could you put something in Undying to let you be a deathless instead? It would be easier than writing up a whole new sda with basically the same thing.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    After some thinking, I changed it so that the exception only touches Clerics and Druids. You can be god to other divine casting classes, but if they opt to worship someone else, you can't affect them.

    Divine casting classes are an exception because they are, well, divine. It'd step on the toes of other gods pretty hard if you could alter their clerics.

    Non-divine classes have no such protection, but on the other hand, they can always work to become anathemas.
    Can a god of paladins still effect paladins who do not follow a god?

    Also, why are druids exempt?

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    Hmmm, good catch. I will edit the ability to answer these questions.
    So, just making sure, the portal into a divine realm is any doorway-like in a one mile radius, either centered on where the divine palace used to be or centered on a location selected by the god? If so, what if he selects a point in the middle of a city? Would everyone trying to walk through a door in that city go into the divine realm instead?

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    Sure, why not? Nothing precludes it.
    If a god dies, what happens to their divine realm, palace, artifacts, ect?

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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Could you put something in Undying to let you be a deathless instead? It would be easier than writing up a whole new sda with basically the same thing.
    I do not support goofy positive energy undead.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Can a god of paladins still effect paladins who do not follow a god?
    No.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Also, why are druids exempt?
    Historical reasons. The original idea of druids in D&D was that they revered and received their powers directly from nature, rather than gods. They are hence exempt.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    So, just making sure, the portal into a divine realm is any doorway-like in a one mile radius, either centered on where the divine palace used to be or centered on a location selected by the god? If so, what if he selects a point in the middle of a city? Would everyone trying to walk through a door in that city go into the divine realm instead?
    If not barred from entering, yes, anyone stumbling through that door ends up in the realm. (Hilarity ensues.) And yes, the point of access is centered where the Palace used to be, or whatever arbitrary place a god shoves it to.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    If a god dies, what happens to their divine realm, palace, artifacts, ect?
    They stay where they are. Where di d you think all those abandoned artifacts came from, huh?
    "It's the fate of all things under the sky,
    to grow old and wither and die."

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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    I do not support goofy positive energy undead.
    Well, why can't positive energy be used to bring immortality to people just like negative energy?

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    No.
    Why not?

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    Historical reasons. The original idea of druids in D&D was that they revered and received their powers directly from nature, rather than gods. They are hence exempt.
    Fair enough, I suppose.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    If not barred from entering, yes, anyone stumbling through that door ends up in the realm. (Hilarity ensues.) And yes, the point of access is centered where the Palace used to be, or whatever arbitrary place a god shoves it to.
    Evil gods could use this to depopulate an enemy population. Move your connection to an enemy capital and slaughter the confused people as they walk through into your realm.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    They stay where they are. Where di d you think all those abandoned artifacts came from, huh?
    This makes all those plane restrictions a lot less problematic. There have got to be tens of thousands of mini-planes by now, with who knows how many people living in each.

    Edit: D&D being polytheistic, worshipers don't have to be exclusive, right?
    Last edited by Omnicrat; 2013-02-15 at 07:19 AM.

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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Elemental Body
    Prequisites: Divine Rank 1, Portofolio item: one of fire, earth, water or air
    Benefit: You become an Elemental, of the subtype you control. If you control multiple, pick one. You gain following traits of being an elemental:
    • Darkvision out to 60 feet.
    • Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, and stunning.
    • Not subject to critical hits or flanking.
    • Unlike most other living creatures, an elemental does not have a dual nature—its soul and body form one unit. When an elemental is slain, no soul is set loose. Spells that restore souls to their bodies, such as raise dead, reincarnate, and resurrection, don’t work on an elemental. It takes a different magical effect, such as limited wish, wish, miracle, or true resurrection, to restore it to life. (Since you are a god, this has no bearing on you.)
    • Elementals do not eat, sleep, or breathe.


    If you have the Fire subtype, you get immunity to fire. You also gain vulnerability to cold, which means you take half again as much (+50%) damage as normal from cold, regardless of whether a saving throw is allowed, or if the save is a success or failure.

    If you have the Water subtype, you get Swim speed equal to your land speed.

    If you have the Earth subtype, you gain Burrow speed equal to half your land speed.

    If you have the Air subtype, you gain Flight speed equal to 1½ your land speed with average maneuvrability.

    As an elemental, you live much longer than normal. Recalculate your lifespan, tripling the time you'd have spend in each age category based on your previous form. If this causes you to fall in a younger age category than previously, adjust your ability scores accordingly.

    Divine Inspiration

    Prerequisite: Divine Rank 1, Perform 6 ranks, Portofolio Item: at least one of courage, despair, dread, frenzy, hope, rage, love or lust.
    Benefit: Through your performance, you become able to inspire the emotions that are part of your portofolio. If you expand your portofolio to contain more of the listed emotions, you become able to inspire them as well.

    Divine Inspiration is a special performance that takes 10 minutes. You can perform once per day per Divine Rank, and each performance can affect a number of creatures equal to twice your Divine Rank. All affected creatures must be within your line of sight. All effects are mind-affecting compulsions.

    Courage: The enchanted creatures become immune to fear effects and receive a +2 morale bonus on attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, skill checks, and Will saves.

    Despair: The enchanted creatures are affected as by an improved version of the crushing despair spell: affected creatures suffer a -4 penalty on attack rolls, damage rolls, saves, and checks unless they make a successful Will save (DC= deity's perform check result). The effect lasts one day.

    Dread: The enchanted creatures must make successful Wisdom checks (DC= deity's perform check result) to attack or fight. If the check fails, the creature flees in panic for 1d4 rounds. If the check succeeds, the creature does not have to check again for 10 minutes. The enchanted creatures also suffer a -2 morale penalty on attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, skill checks, and Will saves.

    Frenzy: Frenzied creatures spend themselves in drinking, feasting, and dancing unless provoked or incited to violence. Frenzied creatures turn violent if they are attacked or perceive a threat to their safety. Frenzied creatures receive a +4 morale bonus to Strength and Dexterity, a -4 penalty to Wisdom, and a -2 penalty to AC. Subjects can attempt Will saves (DC= deity's perform check result) to resist the effect.

    Hope: The enchanted creatures gain a +4 morale bonus on saving throws, attack rolls, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls.

    Rage: The enchanted creatures receive a +4 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution scores, a +2 morale bonus on Will saves, and a -2 penalty to AC. They are compelled to fight heedless of danger. Subjects can attempt Will saves (DC= deity's perform check result) to resist the effect.

    Love and Lust: A love effect causes the target to fall in love with the specified creature, seeking every opportunity to be near that creature and making every effort to win the creature’s affection. A lust effect is similar, but the target seeks any opportunity to become physically intimate with the specified creature. Subjects can attempt Will saves (DC= deity's perform check result) to resist the effect.

    Divine Focus
    Prerequisite: Craft Artifact, Possess Mortal
    Benefits: Your Divine Focus can be any wearable or wieldable item you can craft. You can only ever have one SDA. Crafting of a Divine Focus takes 77 days in addition to what it would take to ordinarily craft the item. At its completion, you lose 4 points of Constitution and 4 points of Charisma, or 8 points of Charisma if you have no Constitution score. You can only ever have one Divine Focus.

    Once your crafting is done, pick one new Salient Divine Ability you meet the prerequisites for. That ability becomes imbued in your Focus.

    The mere existence of a Divine Focus conveys the following benefits:
    • You cannot be brought to lower than Divine Rank 4. Any event that would ordinarily remove your divinity reduces you to Divine Rank 4 instead. You always retain Alter Reality, Create Artifact and Divine Focus SDAs.
    • Defeating you in single combat does not make your challenger a deity, or convey him more Divine Ranks. (You still lose Divine Ranks in excess of 4 if you are defeated.)
    • If you die, your spirit stays whole and lingers on your home plane. You can be brought back from the dead by raise dead and resurrection despite being a god.
    • The time you live as a venerable creature before dying extends by 100 years per Divine Rank.
    • If you ever get an heir, you can testament your Focus to him to convey to him at least Divine Rank 4 and the Alter Reality, Artifact Creation, Possess Mortal and Divine Focus SDAs.
    • You can try to possess any mortal creature within your line of sight who touches your Focus. The save DC is increased to (DC 20 + ½ your HD + your Divine Rank)
    • You can try to possess any mortal creature who tries to kill you while in possession of your Divine Focus. The save DC is increased to (DC 25 + ½ your HD + your Divine Rank)


    Wearing or wielding your Divine Focus grants further benefits:
    • You immediately gain effective Divine Rank of 1 point higher and gain access to the SDA you imbued in your focus.
    • You get +2 Divine Bonus to all skills you have more than 6 ranks in, and +4 Divine Bonus to all skills you have more than 10 ranks in.
    • You get +1 to all attack rolls and saving throws.


    The drawbacks of having a Divine Focus are as follows:
    • Your children will not be gods.
    • If you lose possession of your Divine Focus, you suffer -3 profane penalty to all rolls.
    • If your Focus is ever destroyed, you immediately die and your soul is reduced into a pathetic wreck. Instead of fusing into your plane of origin, you are reduced to a mute, imbecile shadow, lower than the lowliest ghost. You can never be restored and can never regain divinity.


    If a mortal wields or wears your Divine Focus:
    • He gets +2 Divine Bonus to all skills he has more than 6 ranks in, and +4 Divine Bonus to all skills he has more than 10 ranks in.
    • He gets +1 to all attack rolls and saving throws.
    • He slowly suffers alignment drift towards your alignment.
    • If he thinks of destroying your focus and is more than 1000 miles away from you, he has to make a Will save against (DC 5 + ½ your HD + your Divine Rank) or dismiss the idea as ludicrous. If he is more than 500 but less than 1000 away, the DC increases by 5. If he is more than 100 but less than 500 miles away, the DC increases by further 5. If he is more than 10 but less than 100 miles from you, the DC again increases by 5. If he is closer than 10 miles, the DC increases by another 5 points, and a failed save immediately alerts you to the presence of the mortal.
    Last edited by Frozen_Feet; 2013-02-17 at 04:24 AM.
    "It's the fate of all things under the sky,
    to grow old and wither and die."

  26. - Top - End - #26
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Well, why can't positive energy be used to bring immortality to people just like negative energy?
    I'd rather people just find a more creative solution to do so than be positive undead.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Why not?
    For a similar reasons to druids and clerics of different gods. Atheist Paladins get their powers from Universal Goody-Two-Shoeness, not you, so you don't get to affect them. Paladins of other gods are under a clause similar to clerics.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Edit: D&D being polytheistic, worshipers don't have to be exclusive, right?
    I plan on writing a treatise on that. You can already pray to multiple gods, as long as you have proper holy symbol at hand, or are involved in a god's instance. There's more to come regarding this.
    "It's the fate of all things under the sky,
    to grow old and wither and die."

  27. - Top - End - #27
    Orc in the Playground
     
    Chimera

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    Mar 2012

    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    I really like this concept, and I understand why having "God of Clerics" wouldn't work due to your given example. I also understand the historical reasons for not wanting the "God of Druids" option to be valid. However, what about God(s) of Nature? Would they be able to exercise influence over Druids?

    For example: Say you have a God of Lightning. Would s/he be able to keep Druids from using Call Lightning (or any other lightning-based magic)? Presumably nature gods would excise some sort of payment from Druids once they got strong enough; sacrifice X number of people/animals/etc to me, or I won't let you call forth your lightning.

    Now sure, at that point maybe the Druid moves on to cast a Fire spell. Until the God of Fire demands sacrifice...

  28. - Top - End - #28
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    BardGuy

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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    For a similar reasons to druids and clerics of different gods. Atheist Paladins get their powers from Universal Goody-Two-Shoeness, not you, so you don't get to affect them. Paladins of other gods are under a clause similar to clerics.
    Fighters don't get their power from a fighter god, so why should non-god-worshiping paladins be any differant?

    Also, if this is the reason clerics (and druids) are exempt then shouldn't a god of druids be possible? I mean, there are nature gods.

    Quote Originally Posted by Frozen_Feet View Post
    I plan on writing a treatise on that. You can already pray to multiple gods, as long as you have proper holy symbol at hand, or are involved in a god's instance. There's more to come regarding this.
    I look forward to it.

  29. - Top - End - #29
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    Quote Originally Posted by Matticussama View Post
    For example: Say you have a God of Lightning. Would s/he be able to keep Druids from using Call Lightning (or any other lightning-based magic)? Presumably nature gods would excise some sort of payment from Druids once they got strong enough; sacrifice X number of people/animals/etc to me, or I won't let you call forth your lightning.
    A sufficiently powerful druid (read: higher level than the god) flips a bird at the arrogant godling and zaps him with lightning regardless. Other than that, you are correct.

    As a sidenote, i think it's likely most "Nature gods" are infact ascended druids.

    Quote Originally Posted by Omnicrat View Post
    Fighters don't get their power from a fighter god, so why should non-god-worshiping paladins be any differant?

    Also, if this is the reason clerics (and druids) are exempt then shouldn't a god of druids be possible? I mean, there are nature gods.
    Paladins are different from Fighters in that they are already divine and fighters are not. The paladin's personal connection to divinity overrules that of a god's.

    And while there are "nature gods", I think for the purposes of these rules it's better to split them into gods of plants, lakes, forests etc.. Nature as a whole is problematic portofolio element for the same reasons magic is. It's too abstract and governs too many different things to pin down properly.
    "It's the fate of all things under the sky,
    to grow old and wither and die."

  30. - Top - End - #30
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    GnomeWizardGuy

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    Default Re: Re-imagining Deities and Demigods [3.5]

    I love this! This is perfect for my new campaign. Though I do have one question. Lets say a god with.....8 divine ranks is dieing of a disease and hands off his divinity and his name. That god catches the disease and passes the divinity off again. Eventually we're down to a divine rank 1 god without ANY of his followers realizing that the first god died.

    So this divine rank 1 god with thousands if not hundreds of thousands of followers can still give out cleric spells and such, but he needs to do some legendary quests to advance in rank, correct?
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