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demonandpriest
2013-03-22, 07:21 PM
Does anybody want to share stories of creating (not becoming) a god, as a PC in a campaign?

Ozfer
2013-03-22, 08:30 PM
...Could you be more specific?

-sarcasm-

AcerbicOrb
2013-03-22, 08:37 PM
Sticking a few things together with selotape and it becomes a god.

ArcturusV
2013-03-22, 08:45 PM
Well... I had one campaign with a guy, who wanted to follow the goddess of Seduction as a cleric type. And his ultimate plan was to actually seduce and usurp the Goddess in question, taking all her power and making said goddess into his booty call love slave. :smallsigh:

Yeah, serious plan.

Unfortunately for him, I was opposed to his character, since his character was kind of a douche, a rapist, a thief, etc.

So he basically played Corporate Ladder Climb with the domain of his Goddess... Summoning up smaller spirits which he dominated and basically "practiced" on until he could summon up the next highest, etc. Eventually ran into the Queen of Succubi, and cuts a deal with her. Next step up is the Goddess in question. So he's in the process of taking her power and sharpening his proverbial fangs on her.

... then he tossed her aside prematurely (As he tended to do), and almost got said Queen of the Succubi killed for no good reason. Commanding her to do a suicide action. My character saves her, helps heal her. And flips said Succubus to my side and against my Douchebag Teammate.

... so that when he finally "talked" the Succubi Queen into taking him to the realm of the Goddess, she teleported him into a trap where the Goddess already knew about him coming and what not, and was defended against his magics. And just for ****s and giggles literally threw him out of the celestial realms when he tried his mojo out on her. Critical Failure.

scurv
2013-03-22, 08:55 PM
Well if there is other players in the party that kinda makes for issues in power difference. Unless they are nearing that level of power anyway.

I have had OP Chars before, I have had chars who were well built in a campaign world were no one else actually knew how to build a char with synergy And by and large I have found it to be a somewhat empty experience. I mean yea it is kinda cool to own something when everyone else is swinging a wiffle bat at it. But that kinda buzz gets old quick.

demonandpriest
2013-03-22, 09:17 PM
My apologies, there appears to have been some ambiguity in my phrasing, I meant your PC creates a god by gathering believers and forming a cult.

scurv
2013-03-22, 09:33 PM
Not sure I have ever gone down that rout. Seems kinda ikky to me.

ArcturusV
2013-03-22, 09:38 PM
Not something I've done. I've revitalized dead religions and such. Or reformed current religions that were twisted in a campaign setting.

E.g.: The same campaign I mentioned above, my character ended up revitalizing the faith that my nemesis was a cleric was. And reform it from kind of the... rapey... ways that they practiced to a more Good Aligned philosophy.

demonandpriest
2013-03-22, 09:56 PM
I got onto this subject because my GM and I recently had a dispute over my character's god I made up: It wasn't canon. I was just a fighter so it didn't matter much to me, but through skilled negotiation I managed to convince her to let me start an evil cult devoted to him. The more members the cult gets, the more real he becomes. Eventually she might even give me powers as his first prophet during the endgame.

ArcturusV
2013-03-22, 09:58 PM
This is basically how Faerun runs, if I remember. If you can get something like 20,000 "True Believers" or something in a God, a God will come into being. A weak god, but still a god, still able to grant spells, etc.

Not all settings work that way. See for example: Krynn. No matter how many people followed one of the cults post-Catacylsm, their priests never would get divine powers, or even have real evidence that the gods existed. Krynn Gods had a "No Competition" clause on divinity.

demonandpriest
2013-03-22, 10:04 PM
So in Faerun Elan's god could actually exist?

ArcturusV
2013-03-22, 10:15 PM
Banjo already exists. He managed to channel a miracle to smite Roy. :smallbiggrin:

Least in their setting, just takes a handful of followers.

Barmoz
2013-03-22, 11:06 PM
The way I did it in one of my games was to develop two different epic spells. They required elven high magic, epic magic, and epic psionics. The first spell stole the "divinity seed" from a dead god floating in the astral plane, after a significant amount of time meditating and achieving a resonance with the remaining pieces of consciousness. The second spell (power actually) involved assimilating that seed into the PC's being, it required a sanctum and ley line. It granted a cosmic rank which was a fraction of the divine rank held by the source diety.

Fighter1000
2013-03-22, 11:17 PM
In any of my campaigns I have never started a cult as a PC, but I am playing in a campaign that my friend is running and us players are trying to defeat a cult who is trying to make their leader ascend to godhood by gathering all the divine artifacts in the world.

Asmodai
2013-03-23, 08:15 AM
Not all settings work that way. See for example: Krynn. No matter how many people followed one of the cults post-Catacylsm, their priests never would get divine powers, or even have real evidence that the gods existed. Krynn Gods had a "No Competition" clause on divinity.

Considering that people with other Faiths who came from the Planes can still operate on Krynn, I always found that a bit suspect.

And honestly, as for the OP's question. I've seen all sorts of attempts and had all sorts of folks attempt (and occasionally attain) godhood. It usually wasn't in the proper believer collecting manner, though. Everyone wants to steal power, use mystic artifacts, do doomsday gambits and similar mad ****.

The only game in which this happened was Exalted, but this was without a plan, and Exalted is very flexible about this. A character worked as a faceless, diligent and humble protector long enough in an area that over years a cult sprang up praising him and burning him offerings so that he would keep protecting them and give them blessings. In Exalted this was enough for him to gain certain benefits, and I was starting to consider an actual God being spawned with similar features to him.

ArcturusV
2013-03-23, 08:27 AM
Really? I remember that if they came from another plane, they could never refresh their spells, use their powers, etc (I guess they could still cast the spells they had memorized at the time), operating as Heathen Priests until they adopted a Krynn God/dess.

Either that or I'm remembering it backwards and Clerics from Krynn could never get powers on other planes.

But I remember it was kinda weird. I mean even if I got sucked into Ravenloft, my Cleric could still get spells and powers. But if I got sucked into Krynn I couldn't. Least as I recall. From about 15+ years ago.

... so my mind might have slipped admittedly.

TheCountAlucard
2013-03-23, 11:17 AM
The Exalted engineered gods in their factory-cathedrals by blessing their royal warstriders during construction; the careful workings, the continual prayers, the glyphs carved into the magic materials, ensured that the spirit of the machine awoke into a sentient god to serve as the warstrider's animating intelligence.

Lord Torath
2013-03-24, 12:06 AM
Not all settings work that way. See for example: Krynn. No matter how many people followed one of the cults post-Catacylsm, their priests never would get divine powers, or even have real evidence that the gods existed. Krynn Gods had a "No Competition" clause on divinity.
Really? I remember that if they came from another plane, they could never refresh their spells, use their powers, etc (I guess they could still cast the spells they had memorized at the time), operating as Heathen Priests until they adopted a Krynn God/dess.

Either that or I'm remembering it backwards and Clerics from Krynn could never get powers on other planes.

But I remember it was kinda weird. I mean even if I got sucked into Ravenloft, my Cleric could still get spells and powers. But if I got sucked into Krynn I couldn't. Least as I recall. From about 15+ years ago.

... so my mind might have slipped admittedly.The 2nd Edition Player's Guide to the Dragonlance Campaign indeed stated that clerics from other worlds no longer had access to clerical spells unless they converted to worshiping Krynn's gods. But that was before Spelljammer was introduced, which allowed spells of up to 2nd level, one of which allowed spells up to 7th level to be regained.

The 1st Edition "Dragons of Despair" module said that clerics and paladins from other worlds could regain no spells until the True Gods were rediscovered. I didn't get the idea that they were required to convert, however.

Suffice it to say there have been different restrictions at different times.

Anderlith
2013-03-25, 12:54 AM
Just avoid Crystal Dragon Jesus, & you'll be fine


To share, I created a handful of "aspects" (basically gods with a different name & role) There was the Wanderer, The Wyrd, the Artificer, The Stormcrow, The Dragon, The Frost Giant, The Hunter, & the Hero Ascendant. Most of these concept are familiar in mythology, just fluff them up a bit & they work great

The Fury
2013-03-25, 09:15 PM
A guy I know once made a character who worshiped a tree, creatively named "Treeyus." Said player was really just doing this as a joke, purposefully making his character a delusional hayseed who called himself a "Paladin of Treeyus" even though he started off as a level 1 commoner. Not only that but a level 1 commoner riding a donkey, wearing armor made from a rain-barrel and a bucket and wielding a rusty sword he found somewhere. I think he may have even been an honest rolls character.
Despite the drawbacks this character started with he actually survived the whole campaign and was beloved by the rest of the party, even becoming a Quixotic hero of sorts. Naturally, the Paladin of Treeyus preached of the glories of his made-up deity and the question was raised to the DM whether the tree could actually become a god. I think the player thought that if Treeyus did become a god that would ruin his character concept, so I don't think it ever came to pass that tree ever gained legit godhood. Even so, I think the DM might have allowed it if the player was on board with the idea.

Analytica
2013-03-26, 06:04 PM
This is basically how Faerun runs, if I remember. If you can get something like 20,000 "True Believers" or something in a God, a God will come into being. A weak god, but still a god, still able to grant spells, etc.

Not quite, I think. Prior to the Time of Troubles, number of worshippers had no effect. Afterwards, by decree of the Overdeity AO, to make the lesser deities accountable, each would be limited in their power based on how many (and/or relevant?) worshippers each have. This is not the same as saying worship in and of itself being directly necessary or sufficient for divinity, nor does it mean that worship of anything can make that thing divine. Faerun does also state how the express allowance of AO is needed for anything to become a deity.

Not sure where the concept of deities gaining divine power from worship comes from. I first saw it in the Discworld, and suspect others who use it may have been inspired by that. I don't think it's safe to assume it will hold in an arbitrary D&D setting though it certainly does in some. Planescape, for example, I guess?

Anderlith
2013-03-26, 08:48 PM
I've always disliked the idea that worshipers equal power. Doesn't seem right to me.

The earliest I've seen the idea though is in The Elenium & the Tamuli by David Eddings

Bucky
2013-03-27, 04:28 PM
Not sure where the concept of deities gaining divine power from worship comes from. I first saw it in the Discworld, and suspect others who use it may have been inspired by that.

TVTropes says it's a leftover scrap from a bunch of mostly extinct real-world polytheistic religions.