Mulletmanalive
2010-11-19, 11:35 AM
Ok, this may sound a little out-there, but there is a certain logic to it. Please read yon wall'o'text because I'd really like suggestions and methods of implementation for this but it'll take a moment to explain:
On Gods...
I know this might sound alien, but D&D gods are, to my logic, massively overpowered for what they can do...
I'm not saying that slaying gods should be easy, but just that they have kind of left the myths way behind in power levels.
Ok, in myth, Gods tend to have a certain level of power, but when you peel the surface off them, especially in the case of the Mesoamerican, AEsir [norse gods] and the Olympians, that tends to come from being something powerful BEFORE you take their role as worshipped beings into account.
This isn't meant as a discussion of real world religion so we'll stop there on the examples, but suffice to say that even in the case of the latter, where the nearest thing i can find to Gaia in the sourcebooks is a Genius Loci, the gods don't tend to warrant the massive 80 odd HD many of them have.
And then you factor in the lesser entities. The Vanir are part of the Norse pantheon but these were only the greatest of their kind, with others from their realm hanging around in the world and playing god/devil with mortals. Often, folks would kind of adopt one and make sacrifices to it to get a benefit [good weather, good crops, better butter, winning lottery tickets, whatever].
Anyway, my reason for this basic introduction is that I'd like to create a set of rules to allow for 'Small gods.' I know there is Legends and Lairs but that's not really what i'm going for. Those act to grant spells but don't have the "hey, I have genuinely impressive abilities" angle.
What was the point of all that drivel?!
Ok, so we have that out of the way; what i'm hoping for is suggestions for bringing the Divine Salient abilities and any connected feats down into the realm of normal play, ideally with the goal of making a component based +1 or +2 CR template that could be, say, applied to a Dryad to make that Scarecrow creature from season 1 of Supernatural.
If it helps, assume that this is intended for E6 play...
Ideas should ideally include a name, abasic description and maybe some suggestions on the mechanics that it could run off.
Vanir:
Vanir are something between full gods and mortals. As close to being gods as it makes little difference to mortals. The trick is that while Vanir are powerful, swift and strong beyond anything that normal mortals can comprehend easily, they are fairly limited in the scope of their "Godlike powers." In general, a Vanir is able to affect only one sphere of influence in an area, often fertility, and they are bound by an eternal hunger for sacrifice to power their magics.
Vanir is an acquired template that can be added to any creature with an Intelligence score of at least 8 and the ability to speak a mortal tongue.
Type/Size: the Creature's type and size remain unchanged. It gains the Divine subtype.
Hit Dice: The Vanir receives maximum hp for each hit dice they possess.
Defence: A Vanir gains a +1 Luck bonus per 3 HD it possesses on Defence
Attack: A Vanir retains its original attack forms and gains a +1 Luck bonus per 3 HD it possesses on all attack and damage rolls.
Special Attacks: The Vanir retains the special attacks of the base creature and Gains the Awesome Blow feat as a special ability, ignoring the prerequisites, representing their baffling strength.
Special Qualities: A Vanir retains the Special Qualities of the base creature and gains the following:
Divine: The Divine subtype renders the owner immortal by conventional measures, as long as she gains at least one point of potence per year. Immortal creatures cannot be subjected to death spells and receive two saves against all mortal magics [those cast by those without the Divine subtype]. In addition, Divine creatures can ignore the Symbolic Immunity of other gods by lowering their own...admittedly, a risky option...
Symbolic Immunity: All Vanir are nigh indestructable except for certain weapons. They gain DR 10 per 5 HD or part thereof and blanket Energy Resistance equal to twice their DR. These resistances can only be negated by a specific material [which may be used as a material component]. For instance, a Vanir Dryad may be vulnerable only to her own oak tree; wood for weapons and leaves as material components...
Region: A Vanir's ability to affect the region around it is limited by geography. This is limited by the number of towns the Vanir can affect. Divide its HD by 5 and round up. This is it's Vanir rank. A Vanir may affect up to the square of its rank [rank x rank] in towns, the total population of which cannot excees the cube of their rank x 1000 [rank x rank x rank x 1000].
Abilities: +2 to any two stats, +4 to Charisma
Feats: Vanir gain Awesome Blow as a bonus feat.
Epic Feats: Within their realm, Vanir benefit fron the feat Epic Reputation.
Environment: As base creature
Challenge Rating: +1, +1 per Divine ability.
Alignment: Usually Lawful [OCD level habits and ritualism], rarely Good
Special: In addition, a Vanir gains one of the following powers per rank she possesses. A Vanir gains Potence by accepting sacrifices in a specific format [Knowledge (Religion) DC 15 + HD reveals how to gain the favour of a specific Vanir] and all powers have a passive and Potence driven component. Starving Vanir have been known to arrange sacrifices directly...
Fecund Realm: The Vanir is a power of the earth and growth, allowing it to spread or deny plenty at its whim.
Passive: While unable to control the weather or anything else directly, the Vanir's Region adapts to their mood. When they are happy, flowers bloom, leaves are green and animals are docile. Cha based chechs made to instill positive emotions gain a +2 Divinebonus per rank of the Vanir and Random encounters drop to 5% per hour/day. When negative emotions reign, he shadows are darker, the animals seem cruel or non-existant and colours fade. Random encounter frequency doubles and checks to create negative emotions gain a +2 Divine bonus per rank of the angry Vanir.
Potence: At the cost of one Potence, the Vanir can bless the area with great fertility. animals breed profusely, doubling their numbers or crops produce double their normal yield. This taxes the area, however, and if this blessing is withdrawn, the land produces only half yield for 3 years.
Deathly Hallowed [Dharkini]:The Vanir is a minor power of death; the reaper or perhaps a minor psychopomp. She can control death and the dead.
Passive: The Vanir's touch is deathly in and of itself, inflicting a Wound [one negative level] with each successful attack, including those made with weapons. In addition, undead within 60ft obey the commands of the Vanir with no save, much like the Command Undead clerical power.
Potence: At the cost of a point of Potence, the Vanir can recall one being from the depths of death and restore them to life, whether they wish it or not. The target is restored to full hp, though they are restored in their remains, which is an issue for those who were buried.
Gentle Mistress: Named because most Vanir of healing of female, this power allows a Vanir to halt disease, heal wounds and cancel poison.
Passive: Mere contact with a Vanir with this ability grants Fast Healing 1 for 20 rounds [as per the spell Vigour] and as a Standard action, the Vanir can remove any natural affliction from the target including Disease, Ability Damage and Poison, though not negative levels or Ability Drain.
Potence: By spending a point of Potence as a Full action, the Vanir can cure all aliments and damage on the target, basically restoring them to factory defaults. This includes neutralising curses, curing poison, disease, all ability score reductions and all negative levels and conditions. In addition, the target becomes an anti-carrier for any diseases they possessed at the time, meaning that anyone they touch from that point on becomes immune to those diseases [this is how a minor goddess of healing would go about curing a plague].
Wise Elder: Kung Fu is as much an art of combat as it is a path to inner enlightenment. What then but a Vanir could be seen as the one standing at the end of such a dual existence?
Passive: A Vanir has the Martial Study; Grand Master feat even if it does not normally qualify for it and is treated as if having the ranks in Martial Lore necessary for taking the feat. (These virtual ranks only count towards Manuevers known, not any actual checks with the skill.) Additionally any mortal who trains under the Vanir requires only one and a half months of training to acquire the Martial Study; Novice feat and requires one less rank in Martial Lore to take Martial feats.
Potence: At the cost of one Potence a Vanir may unlock the true potential hidden within every mortal. As a 10 minute action [training montage] that requires contact with the intended recipient of this effect, the Vanir grants the mortal the Martial Study; Master feat even if they don't qualify and gives them a permanent +2 increase to their Str, Dex and Con scores.
Soul of the Storm: The Vanir controls the local storms, usually in an area that is plagued greatly by such things. Many a tall mountain or tiny, stormwracked isle is home so such a being.
Passive: The area of the Vanir's Region is prone to storms. As a Standard action, the Vanir can call one up from nothing after a 5 round delay. These storms include high winds [30mph+] and heavy rain, plus thunder and lightning. In winter, the natural storms are destructive and riddled with hailstones. In addition, the Vanir adds +1d6 Lightning damage to its melee attacks per Vanir Rank and may cast Gust of Wind at will as a Spell-like ability.
Potence: At the cost of a point of Potence, the Vanir can ward an area from storms for an entire year, with the exception of those he calls himself.
Beauty of the Sun: The Vanir is the essence of life and beauty. It is difficult to deny someone so beautiful anything.
Passive: The Vanir's Beauty grants it a +7 bonus on all Charisma based skill checks and sheds light rather like the sun, though only as powerfully as a bonfire. As a Standard action, he can dim this down to the light of a candle or intensify it to be bright enough to cause blindness to everyone within 60ft [Save DC 10 + 1/2 HD + Rank + Charisma]. The blindness it causes lasts for about an hour.
Potence: The sun is the source of all energy and nutrition. By spending a point of Potence, the Vanir can double the nutrition value of all vegetation in the Vanir's Region. While this remains in effect, the Vanir may will, as a free action, any fruit consumed in his Region to heal one hit point for the eater. As this is so valuable to him, the Vanir may well relocate if his sacrifice is not given that year.
Name:Description
Passive:
Potence:
Well...this what i needed help with...
On Gods...
I know this might sound alien, but D&D gods are, to my logic, massively overpowered for what they can do...
I'm not saying that slaying gods should be easy, but just that they have kind of left the myths way behind in power levels.
Ok, in myth, Gods tend to have a certain level of power, but when you peel the surface off them, especially in the case of the Mesoamerican, AEsir [norse gods] and the Olympians, that tends to come from being something powerful BEFORE you take their role as worshipped beings into account.
This isn't meant as a discussion of real world religion so we'll stop there on the examples, but suffice to say that even in the case of the latter, where the nearest thing i can find to Gaia in the sourcebooks is a Genius Loci, the gods don't tend to warrant the massive 80 odd HD many of them have.
And then you factor in the lesser entities. The Vanir are part of the Norse pantheon but these were only the greatest of their kind, with others from their realm hanging around in the world and playing god/devil with mortals. Often, folks would kind of adopt one and make sacrifices to it to get a benefit [good weather, good crops, better butter, winning lottery tickets, whatever].
Anyway, my reason for this basic introduction is that I'd like to create a set of rules to allow for 'Small gods.' I know there is Legends and Lairs but that's not really what i'm going for. Those act to grant spells but don't have the "hey, I have genuinely impressive abilities" angle.
What was the point of all that drivel?!
Ok, so we have that out of the way; what i'm hoping for is suggestions for bringing the Divine Salient abilities and any connected feats down into the realm of normal play, ideally with the goal of making a component based +1 or +2 CR template that could be, say, applied to a Dryad to make that Scarecrow creature from season 1 of Supernatural.
If it helps, assume that this is intended for E6 play...
Ideas should ideally include a name, abasic description and maybe some suggestions on the mechanics that it could run off.
Vanir:
Vanir are something between full gods and mortals. As close to being gods as it makes little difference to mortals. The trick is that while Vanir are powerful, swift and strong beyond anything that normal mortals can comprehend easily, they are fairly limited in the scope of their "Godlike powers." In general, a Vanir is able to affect only one sphere of influence in an area, often fertility, and they are bound by an eternal hunger for sacrifice to power their magics.
Vanir is an acquired template that can be added to any creature with an Intelligence score of at least 8 and the ability to speak a mortal tongue.
Type/Size: the Creature's type and size remain unchanged. It gains the Divine subtype.
Hit Dice: The Vanir receives maximum hp for each hit dice they possess.
Defence: A Vanir gains a +1 Luck bonus per 3 HD it possesses on Defence
Attack: A Vanir retains its original attack forms and gains a +1 Luck bonus per 3 HD it possesses on all attack and damage rolls.
Special Attacks: The Vanir retains the special attacks of the base creature and Gains the Awesome Blow feat as a special ability, ignoring the prerequisites, representing their baffling strength.
Special Qualities: A Vanir retains the Special Qualities of the base creature and gains the following:
Divine: The Divine subtype renders the owner immortal by conventional measures, as long as she gains at least one point of potence per year. Immortal creatures cannot be subjected to death spells and receive two saves against all mortal magics [those cast by those without the Divine subtype]. In addition, Divine creatures can ignore the Symbolic Immunity of other gods by lowering their own...admittedly, a risky option...
Symbolic Immunity: All Vanir are nigh indestructable except for certain weapons. They gain DR 10 per 5 HD or part thereof and blanket Energy Resistance equal to twice their DR. These resistances can only be negated by a specific material [which may be used as a material component]. For instance, a Vanir Dryad may be vulnerable only to her own oak tree; wood for weapons and leaves as material components...
Region: A Vanir's ability to affect the region around it is limited by geography. This is limited by the number of towns the Vanir can affect. Divide its HD by 5 and round up. This is it's Vanir rank. A Vanir may affect up to the square of its rank [rank x rank] in towns, the total population of which cannot excees the cube of their rank x 1000 [rank x rank x rank x 1000].
Abilities: +2 to any two stats, +4 to Charisma
Feats: Vanir gain Awesome Blow as a bonus feat.
Epic Feats: Within their realm, Vanir benefit fron the feat Epic Reputation.
Environment: As base creature
Challenge Rating: +1, +1 per Divine ability.
Alignment: Usually Lawful [OCD level habits and ritualism], rarely Good
Special: In addition, a Vanir gains one of the following powers per rank she possesses. A Vanir gains Potence by accepting sacrifices in a specific format [Knowledge (Religion) DC 15 + HD reveals how to gain the favour of a specific Vanir] and all powers have a passive and Potence driven component. Starving Vanir have been known to arrange sacrifices directly...
Fecund Realm: The Vanir is a power of the earth and growth, allowing it to spread or deny plenty at its whim.
Passive: While unable to control the weather or anything else directly, the Vanir's Region adapts to their mood. When they are happy, flowers bloom, leaves are green and animals are docile. Cha based chechs made to instill positive emotions gain a +2 Divinebonus per rank of the Vanir and Random encounters drop to 5% per hour/day. When negative emotions reign, he shadows are darker, the animals seem cruel or non-existant and colours fade. Random encounter frequency doubles and checks to create negative emotions gain a +2 Divine bonus per rank of the angry Vanir.
Potence: At the cost of one Potence, the Vanir can bless the area with great fertility. animals breed profusely, doubling their numbers or crops produce double their normal yield. This taxes the area, however, and if this blessing is withdrawn, the land produces only half yield for 3 years.
Deathly Hallowed [Dharkini]:The Vanir is a minor power of death; the reaper or perhaps a minor psychopomp. She can control death and the dead.
Passive: The Vanir's touch is deathly in and of itself, inflicting a Wound [one negative level] with each successful attack, including those made with weapons. In addition, undead within 60ft obey the commands of the Vanir with no save, much like the Command Undead clerical power.
Potence: At the cost of a point of Potence, the Vanir can recall one being from the depths of death and restore them to life, whether they wish it or not. The target is restored to full hp, though they are restored in their remains, which is an issue for those who were buried.
Gentle Mistress: Named because most Vanir of healing of female, this power allows a Vanir to halt disease, heal wounds and cancel poison.
Passive: Mere contact with a Vanir with this ability grants Fast Healing 1 for 20 rounds [as per the spell Vigour] and as a Standard action, the Vanir can remove any natural affliction from the target including Disease, Ability Damage and Poison, though not negative levels or Ability Drain.
Potence: By spending a point of Potence as a Full action, the Vanir can cure all aliments and damage on the target, basically restoring them to factory defaults. This includes neutralising curses, curing poison, disease, all ability score reductions and all negative levels and conditions. In addition, the target becomes an anti-carrier for any diseases they possessed at the time, meaning that anyone they touch from that point on becomes immune to those diseases [this is how a minor goddess of healing would go about curing a plague].
Wise Elder: Kung Fu is as much an art of combat as it is a path to inner enlightenment. What then but a Vanir could be seen as the one standing at the end of such a dual existence?
Passive: A Vanir has the Martial Study; Grand Master feat even if it does not normally qualify for it and is treated as if having the ranks in Martial Lore necessary for taking the feat. (These virtual ranks only count towards Manuevers known, not any actual checks with the skill.) Additionally any mortal who trains under the Vanir requires only one and a half months of training to acquire the Martial Study; Novice feat and requires one less rank in Martial Lore to take Martial feats.
Potence: At the cost of one Potence a Vanir may unlock the true potential hidden within every mortal. As a 10 minute action [training montage] that requires contact with the intended recipient of this effect, the Vanir grants the mortal the Martial Study; Master feat even if they don't qualify and gives them a permanent +2 increase to their Str, Dex and Con scores.
Soul of the Storm: The Vanir controls the local storms, usually in an area that is plagued greatly by such things. Many a tall mountain or tiny, stormwracked isle is home so such a being.
Passive: The area of the Vanir's Region is prone to storms. As a Standard action, the Vanir can call one up from nothing after a 5 round delay. These storms include high winds [30mph+] and heavy rain, plus thunder and lightning. In winter, the natural storms are destructive and riddled with hailstones. In addition, the Vanir adds +1d6 Lightning damage to its melee attacks per Vanir Rank and may cast Gust of Wind at will as a Spell-like ability.
Potence: At the cost of a point of Potence, the Vanir can ward an area from storms for an entire year, with the exception of those he calls himself.
Beauty of the Sun: The Vanir is the essence of life and beauty. It is difficult to deny someone so beautiful anything.
Passive: The Vanir's Beauty grants it a +7 bonus on all Charisma based skill checks and sheds light rather like the sun, though only as powerfully as a bonfire. As a Standard action, he can dim this down to the light of a candle or intensify it to be bright enough to cause blindness to everyone within 60ft [Save DC 10 + 1/2 HD + Rank + Charisma]. The blindness it causes lasts for about an hour.
Potence: The sun is the source of all energy and nutrition. By spending a point of Potence, the Vanir can double the nutrition value of all vegetation in the Vanir's Region. While this remains in effect, the Vanir may will, as a free action, any fruit consumed in his Region to heal one hit point for the eater. As this is so valuable to him, the Vanir may well relocate if his sacrifice is not given that year.
Name:Description
Passive:
Potence:
Well...this what i needed help with...