Non-epic RAW ways to get a divine rank?

[danzibr]

I have these grand plans about DMing a campaign that ends (or well, nearly ends) with at least one of the players getting a divine rank of 0. Now, as a DM I can just make it happen, but what are some (if any) RAW ways of getting a divine rank other than pleasing a really powerful god? I assume an epic spell could probably do it, but I'm not really interested in that.

[tyckspoon]

Get a god to invest you with power as a Proxy. That's about it in RAW as far as I know- everything else dealing with the gain/loss/transfer of Divine Rank is left up to a particular DM, so he can make divinity work whatever way fits with his campaign.

[BIGMamaSloth]

http://dndsrd.net/divineMinions.html A Proxy is the only thing I can think of which is pretty much just rules for pleasing a god.

[Little Brother]

NutPun does it.

Ice Assassin/Simulacrum a god->Be given a divine rank->Give it to squirrel->Repeat however much you want->Recall all bestowed ranks.

[Jack_Simth]

I have these grand plans about DMing a campaign that ends (or well, nearly ends) with at least one of the players getting a divine rank of 0. Now, as a DM I can just make it happen, but what are some (if any) RAW ways of getting a divine rank other than pleasing a really powerful god? I assume an epic spell could probably do it, but I'm not really interested in that.
It's specifically designed to be a bit of DM handwavery. Seriously. As you said - as the DM, "just make it happen" is, as nearly as I can tell, how it's intended to actually work.

Now, you can do the pun-pun route: Make an Ice Assassin of something with divine ranks, have it invest you as a proxy, then destroy it. That can get you Divine Rank 1 (pun-pun turns around, invests that divine rank in something else, dropping his own Divine Rank to 0; he then repeats, until he's invested an arbitrary number of divine ranks into other creatures - which he then recalls to make his divine own rank arbitrarily high).

But really, no. There's not really any way to gain divine ranks. Well, there's the Dragon Ascendant class, but really, it's unlikely the players will qualify.

[Little Brother]

Ilithid Savant, maybe?

[VGLordR2]

IIRC, a Divine Rank can be achieved with a certain number of followers. A Diplomancer might be able to do it.

[Lateral]

IIRC, a Divine Rank can be achieved with a certain number of followers. A Diplomancer might be able to do it.

Pretty sure there aren't actual rules for that. There are things that say how many worshippers a type of god is likely to have, but that's not the same as 'someone with this many worshippers becomes a god'.

[Larkas]

I recommend reading the Appendix 2 of Deities and Demigods, page 218, specifically the section called "Methods of Ascension" (pg 219). It is pretty much DM fiat, but it is intended to be. Unlike other things in the game, attaining a Divine Rank should be "impossible until stated otherwise". The folks above mentioned some RAW ways to get it, and even though they indeed work by the rules, it is perfectly fine for the DM to disallow even that. Likewise, you can make it possible through whatever means you want to. :smallsmile:

[CTrees]

Wasn't there a class that got divine rank 0 as its capstone? Or was that some homebrew I'm misremembering?

[marcielle]

Lawfully good adventuring. As hard as you possibly can. Save the world a couple of times. Make sure EVERYONE knows about it. Eventually, you'll hit the worshipper cap and achieve divinity.

Craft a resetting create food/water trap and run for god of charity or something.

[Alleran]

Wasn't there a class that got divine rank 0 as its capstone? Or was that some homebrew I'm misremembering?
Dragon Ascendant.

Unfortunately, I'm fairly sure that you can't meet the conditions for it pre-epic without shenanigans.

[CTrees]

Dragon Ascendant.

Unfortunately, I'm fairly sure that you can't meet the conditions for it pre-epic without shenanigans.

Ah, yeah, that was the one I was thinking of, and you're definitely correct.

[TheGeckoKing]

Symbiotic Template? One option is to find is something with a DvR, slap on the Half-Fey (can be applied to any living creature) and Greenbound template (can be applied to fey) in that order, and shrink it down to Tiny Size. I'm not sure how that would occur.
Anyway, seeing as there's no need to explain how your Guest/Attachment came to be, we could always just use the Einherjar template (Deities and Demigods Update Booklet) on a Tibbit Ranger 10. Now with a Tiny cat imbued with DvR 0, attach it to the LA+0 Medium Humanoid or Abberation of your choice with the Symbiotic Template, and gain all the goodies of DvR 0 for the low, low cost of +1 LA.
But that's a bit clunky for my liking. PAZUZU, PAZUZU, PAZUZU!