Campaign where PCs are the gods???

[Kerilstrasz]

For a while now, i'm flirting with the idea of making a campaign where the players will be the gods of the realm, each one be and representing 1 of the 4 far edge alignment (Lg Le Ce Cg), and i as DM and higher power of the realm, representing the TN.

The problem is i know too little about how to pull this off. I have ideas on how to make this interesting for them etc etc.. but i don't really know the mechanics of a God..

The only book i have about gods is "deities & demigods".. but i think it is, by far, not enough.
What books, sites, guides etc , can you point out, to help me learn more about god creation, interaction, rules ???

Thank you all in avance

[Ortesk]

Generally speaking, making them gods just adds more "fluff" in my experience. For one, losing followers=losing power. Have to appease the followers, hooks galore. And running a game that powerful is really as easy as running a regular game, the spellcasters rock and the melee suck. God abilitys can give the martial classes more toys, which is good

To answer your question i dont remember any other book going as depth as deities/demis did, my advice would be to use dm fiat and grant abilities/powers/etc fitting to each character, and just use alot of creativity.

[TypoNinja]

For a while now, i'm flirting with the idea of making a campaign where the players will be the gods of the realm, each one be and representing 1 of the 4 far edge alignment (Lg Le Ce Cg), and i as DM and higher power of the realm, representing the TN.


How do you plan on stopping a good/evil party PK attempt in the first five sections of play outta curiosity?

[weckar]

You have to consider how they became gods in the first place, and how long they have been there. Are there other gods, or just the 4 of them? Did they usurp the power from earlier deities or create the universe? Even among divine ranks, power can vary so much, that upper gods can be as far removed from lower gods as they are to mortals...

[Kerilstrasz]

You have to consider how they became gods in the first place, and how long they have been there. Are there other gods, or just the 4 of them? Did they usurp the power from earlier deities or create the universe? Even among divine ranks, power can vary so much, that upper gods can be as far removed from lower gods as they are to mortals...

How do you plan on stopping a good/evil party PK attempt in the first five sections of play outta curiosity?

My idea so far is.. (that's a basic plan.. i ll add more story to it later)

4 "normal" PCs, stranger to each other, each representing 1 of the edge alignments, found themselves into a castle (or a forest or whatever.. dont know yet) where is the home of the NN God (me).. he tells them that from now on the fate of this realm is in their hands as from now on they will be know as the four edges. He will show them a miniature 4 sided pyramid floating mid air upside down. The NN god is the base tip, balancing the divine forces. they are from now on the rest four. He will explain the "divine rules" ( <<--- that is what im looking for ) that they will use to ascend to higher divinity (divine ranks).
He will warn them though that they will have to ascend at the same rate or else the pyramid will eventually loose balance and the world will be destroyed.
He ofc will provide oog tips to each (as well as ig "lessons") so each "fill their shoes" accordingly.

What i expect? alliances switch all the time, backstabbing, etc etc... I'll see brains on fire when a player plans a scheme to gain more power by helping the rest gain power, or 2 or 3 of them form an alliance to stop the 4th from ascending too fast etc etc..

But as by OP, i need material to read about how god mechanics work.. and ofc get ideas..

PS: also i think i would allow them, when they create their "normal" PCs, ANY race with base intelligence 10 or more and restrict them from choosing the same.

[Clistenes]

Are you going to allow Alter Reality? If you do, once they realize that they can have every buff spell permanently active on their characters they will do so, and it will be a hell to keep track of it...

[TypoNinja]

My idea so far is.. (that's a basic plan.. i ll add more story to it later)

4 "normal" PCs, stranger to each other, each representing 1 of the edge alignments, found themselves into a castle (or a forest or whatever.. dont know yet) where is the home of the NN God (me).. he tells them that from now on the fate of this realm is in their hands as from now on they will be know as the four edges. He will show them a miniature 4 sided pyramid floating mid air upside down. The NN god is the base tip, balancing the divine forces. they are from now on the rest four. He will explain the "divine rules" ( <<--- that is what im looking for ) that they will use to ascend to higher divinity (divine ranks).
He will warn them though that they will have to ascend at the same rate or else the pyramid will eventually loose balance and the world will be destroyed.
He ofc will provide oog tips to each (as well as ig "lessons") so each "fill their shoes" accordingly.

What i expect? alliances switch all the time, backstabbing, etc etc... I'll see brains on fire when a player plans a scheme to gain more power by helping the rest gain power, or 2 or 3 of them form an alliance to stop the 4th from ascending too fast etc etc..

But as by OP, i need material to read about how god mechanics work.. and ofc get ideas..

PS: also i think i would allow them, when they create their "normal" PCs, ANY race with base intelligence 10 or more and restrict them from choosing the same.

Deities and Demigods should spell out the mechanics of making a god well enough, the "Why" bit is up to the DM. Gaining divine power was (probably deliberatly) left in the DM hands, it sounds like you are going for a "chosen ones" route, something is granting them power because reasons.

If you keep your players low on the god scale, (say only one or two Divine Ranks) the power they gain is not amazing. Its a buff to be sure, but with planning is not game breaking. Mostly the newly inherited piles of immunities are it. Only greater gods get the really silly stuff.

Faiths and Pantheons is the Forgotten Realms deities book, my DM owns it but I don't, though if memory serves its mostly just lots more stats for pre-existing gods, rather than new rules.

Power of Fearun has expanded leadship rules, as well as some stuff on how to run a church. Of course they didn't write it with the PC running the church being a god, but it might help you out with ideas there anyway.

Finally I think it was the DMG2, has rules on affiliations, joining, and of course creating your own. This might help the PC's in designing and customizing their respective churches and doctrine and their goals.

[Vaz]

Provide them with a free Cleric casting progression, and 2 domains to choose from to represent their portfolio's, in addition to their extreme's of alignment.

A character which takes a class which provides spellcasting does not gain the spell progression of the class they chose, but they may swap one of their existing domains spells with one from their current caster list.

For example - one character takes Wizard and X Domain and Y Domain. They do not gain Wizard spellcasting, but gain Cleric spellcasting instead. To make wizard worthwhile, they may swap one spell from X or Y domain of a level they can cast with an equal level or lower spell from the Wizard spell-list. Another example uses a Ranger base - at 9th level, it doesn't have 5th level spells to learn, it only has 4th level. So it may take another 4th level (or even lower) if it desires.

As you can see, this favours martials more than anything else, although dips in casting classes could be quite useful - Abrupt Jaunt Conjurer at ECL7 could net you Polymorph and 10ft teleport say.

Of course, Druid is still beastly, but with Cleric spellcasting on all other classes, it shouldn't be too far ahead.

[Slipperychicken]

What if the PCs get their necessary power (mana?) by advancing their domain-objectives, ensuring stories about them are told, that sacrifices to them are made correctly and regularly, and acting sort of like the stories portray them? For example, Dionysus would gain power by encouraging drunken revelry, Zeus would gain power by banging mortals and performing his duties as king of gods, Odin would get powers by protecting travelers and being a mother****ing boss, and so on. The gods must feast upon mana (i.e. Divine Nectar) constantly just to exist, and if a PC loses all his mana, he fades to obscurity and dies. This encourages them to go around doing cool god-stuff like harassing travelers, ensuring that priests are acting properly, eradicating "heresy" (i.e. misbehaving priests+), and interacting with heroes to generate a mythos, and gives you the flexibility to determine how mortals perceive the PC and essentially assign quests via prayer.

Of course, the PCs will need to appease the King of Gods (or at least act like he's the King, because that's what the stories say), keep other gods from stepping on the PCs' turf, and even defend their world against would-be conquerors from outside (such as shadow-realm denizens, demons, mind-flayers, gods from other pantheons, and even the nameless horrors of the Far Realm).