Jahkin
2015-06-02, 08:28 AM
Twilight of the Gods
In a seemingly endless field in rural Iowa, a stout, bearded man watches corn rustle in the night breeze. His sledgehammer rests against the tailgate of this idling old truck, a tailgate that he leans back against while he drinks thick, homemade beer from a beaten metal cup in his left hand. He can feel the cornstalks, and the flow of life to them from the rich, loamy soil beneath. He smiles in delight and, if anyone else was there would swear that the air smells of that one perfect spring day from their childhood.
In an unknown village in western Africa a woman rises with the dawn from where she collapsed the night before, her feet itching to move already to the beat of an unheard wardrum. Anger mars her face and her hand flexes around her bloodstained cane. The northerners would be driven back, their heathenish, pale god driven away. So many of them had died at her hands already, their guns and bullets nothing to her but fuel for her anger. Around her, nine children stir, her children, hefting bloodstained, crude cudgels and buckets full of river water.
In a cramped, efficient bureaucratic building in Beijing a portly man, face flush bright red from stress, brushes aside his beard as he pours over reports and tallies, his hands in constant motion as he notes, amends, and tabulates. His pen strikes through with force, elsewhere a dozen die from a dozen causes. He writes in the margin, and across the land a dozen more citizens are borne into the world.
The Gods stride the Earth once more. Borne back into the world on the souls of humanity, the gods have returned, bringing with them a rebirth of magic and the true world. This is the story of their return, of the return of magic to the world. This is the story of the last war between the gods. This is the story of the Twilight of the Gods and the End of All Things.
Hi, I'm putting together a campaign to run on Roll20 called "Twilight of the Gods" and am looking to get some feedback and suggestions.
The campaign is set in the modern world and the players take on the role of reborn gods. The reborn gods are not literally the return of that specific entity, but are the divine spark of that entity that joins to the soul of an existing mortal, similar to how exaltation works in Exalted. The divine spark comes with a suite of domains and history, as well as some influencing personality, but the character is a hybrid personality between the person that they were prior to their apotheosis and the deity that joined with them. The campaign is suppose to begin with the return of the gods to Earth, meaning that all the people that undergo apotheosis come to grips with their deification; the campaign is not intended to beginning with fire in the skies and 20th level wizards hurling spells at each other, but instead is meant to build to that as the plot works towards a final conflict between all of the gods, which is in part a struggle for dominance and part a war between the light and the dark.
The characters themselves start with little more than a PC Class, which in the campaign is meant to be considered significantly more powerful that the average person (see more on Character Creation below). The characters are meant to obtain Divine Rank 0 when they are getting close to 10th level, and then proceed up Divine Rank as they level, reaching approximately Divine Rank 10 around level 20. I have co-oped the Divine Rank rules from 3.5, chopped out some powers and changed others, either in content or DR requirement (see below.) Some of the removed divine power will be supplemented by questing for their divine artifacts later in the game. In part the idea is that they are expanding a church devoted to them in downtime, mostly through clerics and "prophets" that they empower, but there are not any hard and fast rules on how that maps to Divine Rank gains as that seems as though it would take the focus away from a party-based game and make it into more of a strategy game.
Base Rules. Unless otherwise noted, the Rule System in use is Pathfinder. Specifically, the game will focus on the use of the Pathfinder SRD.
Advantage. Advantage is a mechanical condition that a PC or NPC can possess, typically granted by the domains that fall within the portfolio of the divine character up to that character’s Wisdom bonus in times per day. Having the Advantage means that the character, when making a D20 roll in regards to the situation that qualifies for Advantage, they may elect to roll 2 D20’s and take the best result, which if they do so consumes a daily use of Advantage. For example, a character that possesses the War domain may, in a combat situation, choose to provide themselves with the Advantage on their next D20 roll which consumes a daily use. This is performed as a free action on the player’s turn. This is a supernatural effect.
1. Background and Deity. Integral to the character and plot development is the construction of the character as a fully developed entity, which means starting with a person. Think of what you want to play as a personality and construct a background for that character that you are interested in exploring; Here is a link to an excellent set of 20 questions to think about in order to make a well-rounded character. If you can provide me with a documented response to these questions for ease of reference while developing plot down the line it would be greatly appreciated, but not necessary. In addition to those, you also need to think about how the mortal side of your character feels about and interacts with his divinity; having his mortal soul joined with his divine spark could be the character’s wildest dreams of wish fulfillment come true, or a violation of the most fundamental possible that repulses that person. A well-adjusted, modern human, for example, would probably have some issues with being a reincarnation of Hel.
In regards to the deity that you select, here is decent breakdown of deities, structured for somewhat ease of navigation. Get creative! In a lot of ways, juxtapositioning your deity with your mortal half is a key theme of gameplay. Most deities (PC and NPC) should originate from the real world (i.e. Thor, Set, Fujin, etc.), but fantasy gods (such as those found here) will be considered on a case by case basis, but this will be strongly considered since this could distort the game; elven and dwarven deities, for example, might be considered since the players will, at some point, gain access to Planes on which these races persist, but it would be better to selected deities from the Earth cultures that gave rise to those races and eventually expand domain to them. Keep in mind that monotheistic gods are not an option as them simply are difficult to interplay with the plot as it advances and because of mechanical issues having to do with divine tiers and what domains fall into their portfolio (monotheistic deities would necessarily have to have all domains, which would not only be unfair to other players but would complicate divine mechanics later in the game.)
Here is a list of all of the domains that are available in game. Specifically, only the domains published by Paizo are authorized, but 3rd party publisher domains will be considered on a case-by-case basis, which will then add them to the list available to the other PCs and make me more inclined to utilize them for various NPCs. While creating your character and selecting what deity the possess the divine spark of, you need to select 2 domains (to begin with) similar to a cleric, which best represent the god’s portfolio, not necessarily what the mortal side of the character would be interested in. If you feel that 2 domains are too limiting, don’t worry; they will be expanded on and added to when the characters begin to obtain Divine Rank. For levels 1-6 the mechanics of selecting domains will simply provide the Advantage on rolls relating to those domains up to the character’s Level plus Wisdom bonus in times per day. Note that these domains are independent from any gained from cleric levels; selecting domains as a cleric will provide those class benefits but not alter the benefits of your divine domains, and vice versa.
2. Alignment. While your alignment can vary from that of the deity in question, radically different alignments between the mortal half and the divine essence, such as a Lawful Good mortal empowered with the essence of a Chaotic Evil Tiamat, lead to problems with the character being able to harness their divine power. If that is a plot that you are interested in pursuing, i.e. watching a mortal fall (or rise) to the alignment of their divine essence as that personality grows dominate or wanting to try to redeem the nature of a deity and change it to meet the worldview of the mortal with all of the difficulty that road would entail, then by all means play that and work with me to develop that story. It is worth noting, though, that typically the divine spark is going to be attracted to a mortal that resonates with it in some way, although that is not necessarily the case.
3. Ability Scores. Use the standard point buy system for Pathfinder found here using 25 points. While 25 is a high amount (classified as ‘Epic Fantasy’), it is not necessarily the case that your character was an Olympian body builder or a member of MENSA prior to their apotheosis; it can certainly be the case that the infusion of divine energy altered one or more stats. Note that you do get refunded points for lowering an ability down to a 7; you can take a score lower but there will not be any points gained from it. Someone possessing the soul of Vulcan, for example, would be expected to have an extremely low Dexterity, due to being crippled, but a high Strength and Intelligence.
4. Races. The only initial race available to players will be human. Characters, as a natural aspect of their divinity, will be able to alter their race beginning at 4th level. When the player decides to change the race of the character they inform the DM, at which time the DM will assign a level value for the race in question. The difference between this level value added to the character’s current level and the character’s current level is the amount of XP that the character will have to expend in order to change their race, which is thereafter lost. For example, the player of the reincarnation of Lugh has reached level 4 and wants to change his race to Elf to better reflect the concept and pantheon origin of the deity. Elf (as well as all core races) have an level value of 1, which means that the player looks up the XP value of level 5 (15,000 since we are using the Medium advancement found here) and subtracts the XP for their current level (9,000 in this case); the character undergoes a thematic rite (agreed upon with the DM) and immediately changes their race. Thereafter, the character expends XP until the difference is met (6,000 XP in this case) and then begins to gain XP for the purposes of leveling again. These rules also apply to the application of templates (complete list found here) which can be more thematically appropriate to the character than a racial change. Typically, CR is interchangeable with level value for cost calculation but this is subject to the discretion of the DM. A character can only possess one race at a time and no more templates than their Divine Rank, although characters with DR-0 are allowed to possess one template.
5. Base Classes. All Core Classes (with exception of the Monk class; see below) are available, as well as their Archetypes. All of the Base Classes (Alchemist, Cavalier, Gunslinger, Inquisitor, Magus, Oracle, Summoner, and Witch) are available as well, as well as the Alternate Classes (the Antipaladin would be of interest to players that wish to create an unholy warrior that best reflects their particular divine spark.) Hybrid Classes may be used if the player feels that they better fulfill the character concept. The Monk Unchained Class is presumed to replace the Core Class. Prestige Classes will be considered on a case-by-case basis, as the characters qualify for them. Third Party Classes are not under consideration for this game.
Regarding casters, characters that begin with a class that utilizes magic in a non-innate way (Wizards, Clerics, etc.) are expected to roleplay the development of their casting as they gain levels; their apotheosis provided them with the initial comprehensive knowledge concerning magic, but magic has been gone from the world for so long that the existing magical traditional are nothing really more than shadows of ancient knowledge. For example, the mystical (clerical) knowledge possessed by the Masons, itself a distortion of older teachings, doesn’t amount to the knowledge, in regards to divine magic, that a 1st level cleric possesses. A student of the occult possesses only a small fraction of arcane knowledge that a wizard does, much of which is wrapped in nonsense and contradiction. This will change as the game progresses. That aside, PCs with divine magic tap into their own divinity while characters with arcane magic tap into mystical forces that exist naturally in the world.
6. Feats. The Feat list available is comprehensive; the exception is that third party feats are unavailable. A player must meet all requirements for taking a feat, which include Monster feats. Monster feats, as well as Racial feats, become available when the character has completed paying off the cost of changing their race or adding a template (see above.)
7. Traits & Drawbacks. Each player may select up to two Traits and one Drawback, which grants an additional trait. Please note that traits (or drawbacks) that cannot be qualified for (such as non-human Racial traits) cannot be taken at character creation.
8. Other Considerations. Beginning wealth is determined as per class. For ease of recordkeeping, all monetary units will be kept in the standard GP denominations, but characters are expected to under contextual expression, i.e. while the DM may give a price for something in GPs, the characters are expected to discuss money (in the US) in terms of dollars.
Equipment lists can be found here (and here for technological goods.) Equipment that does not exist in the modern world (i.e. force fields) is not available for purchase at character creation. Players should feel free to re-skin items to better fit a modern setting (Marine combat knife rather than a dagger) and items that are not listed will have a price provided by the DM as it would be impossible from a practical perspective to generate a comprehensive list of modern goods.
In order for a character to have access to resources, financial or social, beyond that they must take the Prince/Princess, Rich Parents, or other social Trait as applicable. The Rich Parents trait may be used to simply make the character independently wealthy, rather than coming from a wealthy family. Any combination of up to three traits (after taking a drawback) and possibly a feat might be necessary to meet the desired social standing a character might possess.
Divine Ranks
Each deity has a divine rank. A deity’s divine rank determines how much power the entity has; the following ranges of rank are descriptive rather than proscriptive. Also, non-deity NPCs and monsters, such as Cerberus, may be provided with a divine rank despite not technically being deities.
Rank 0: Creatures of this rank are sometimes called quasi-deities or hero deities. Creatures that have a mortal and a deity as parents also fall into this category. These entities cannot grant spells, but are immortal and usually have one or more ability
scores that are far above the norm for their species. They may have some worshipers. Ordinary mortals do not have a divine rank of 0. They lack a divine rank altogether.
Rank 1–5: These entities, called demigods, are the weakest of the deities. A demigod can grant spells and perform a few deeds that are beyond mortal limits. A demigod has anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand devoted mortal worshipers and may receive veneration or respect from many more. A demigod controls a small godly realm (usually on an Outer Plane) and has minor control over a portfolio that includes one or more aspects of mortal existence. A demigod might be very accomplished in a single skill or a group of related skills, gain combat advantages in special circumstances, or be able to bring about minor changes in reality itself related to the portfolio.
Rank 6–10: Called lesser deities, these entities grant spells and can perform more powerful deeds than demigods can. Lesser deities have anywhere from a few thousand to tens of thousands of worshipers and control larger godly realms than demigods. They also have keener senses where their portfolios are concerned.
Rank 11–15: These entities are called intermediate deities. They have hundreds of thousands of mortal worshipers and control larger godly realms than demigods or lesser deities.
Rank 16–20: Called greater deities, these entities may have millions of mortal worshipers, and they command respect even among other deities. The most powerful of greater deities rule over other deities just as mortal sovereigns rule over commoners.
Rank 21+: These entities are beyond the ken of mortals and care nothing for worshipers. They do not grant spells, do not answer prayers, and do not respond to queries. If they are known at all, it is to a handful of scholars on the Material Plane. They are called overdeities. In some pantheistic systems, the consent of an overdeity is required to become a god.25
Divine Characteristics
Unless otherwise noted, deities receive the following traits upon obtaining Divine Rank 1. Upon reaching Divine Rank 1, add an “Outsider” subtype to their type but are still subject to spells such as resurrection. Unlike other outsiders, they have no darkvision unless they receive the trait from another source.
Levels: Characters’ levels are unaffected by Divine Rank.
Hit Points: Deities receive maximum hit points for each Hit Die.
Speed: Deities can move much more quickly than mortals. A deity’s base land speed depends on its form (biped or quadruped) and its size, as shown on the following table. Some deities are exceptions, with speeds faster or slower than the norm. A character with Divine Rank 0 gains the benefit to speed.
Size Biped* Quadruped**
Fine 20 ft. 40 ft.
Diminutive 25 ft. 50 ft.
Tiny 30 ft. 60 ft.
Small 35 ft. 70 ft.
Medium 40 ft. 80 ft.
Large 45 ft. 90 ft.
Huge 50 ft. 100 ft.
Gargantuan 55 ft. 110 ft.
Colossal 60 ft. 120 ft.
*Or any form with two or fewer legs.
**Or any form with three or more legs.
Note: Use the Biped column for burrow and swim speeds for all deities regardless of form. Use half the value in the Biped column for climb speeds for all deities. Use twice the value in the Quadruped column for fly speeds for all deities capable of flying.
Armor Class: A field of divine energy encompasses a deity’s body, granting it a divine Armor Class bonus equal to its divine rank. This bonus stacks with all other Armor Class bonuses, is untyped, and is effective against touch attacks and incorporeal touch attacks. All deities also have a deflection bonus to their AC equal to their Charisma bonus (if any) which does not stack with other deflection bonuses.
Attacks: A deity gets its divine rank as a divine bonus on all attack rolls.
Always Maximize Roll: Greater deities (rank 16–20) automatically get the best result possible on any check, saving throw, attack roll, or damage roll. Calculate success, failure, or other effects accordingly. When a greater deity makes a check, attack, or save assume a 20 was rolled and calculate success or failure from there. A d20 should still be rolled and used to check for a threat of a critical hit. This quality means that greater deities never need the Maximize Spell feat, because their spells have maximum effect already.
Saving Throws: A deity’s character level determines its base saving throw bonuses. A deity gets its divine rank as a divine bonus on all saving throws. Deities of rank 1 or higher do not automatically fail on a natural saving throw roll of 1.
Checks: A deity gets its divine rank as a divine bonus on all skill checks, ability checks, caster level checks, and turning checks. Lesser deities (rank 6–10) may take 10 on any check, provided they need to make a check at all. Intermediate and greater deities (rank 11–20) always get a result of 20 on any check, provided they need to make a check at all.
Deities and Synergy Bonuses: For every 20 extra ranks a deity has in a skill, the deity’s synergy bonus from the skill (if any) increases by +2.
Immunities: Deities have the following immunities. Individual deities may have more immunities. Unless otherwise indicated, these immunities do not apply if the attacker is a deity of equal or higher rank.
Transmutation: A deity is immune to polymorphing, petrification, or any other attack that alters its form. Any shape-altering powers the deity might have work normally on itself.
Energy Drain, Ability Drain, Ability Damage: A deity is not subject to energy drain, ability drain, or ability damage.
Mind-Affecting Effects: A deity is immune to mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).
Deities of rank 1 or higher are immune to disease and poison, stunning, sleep, paralysis, and death effects, and disintegration.
Deities of rank 6 or higher are immune to effects that imprison or banish them. Such effects include banishment, binding, dimensional anchor, dismissal, imprisonment, repulsion, soul bind, temporal stasis, trap the soul, and turning and rebuking.
Damage Reduction: A deity has damage reduction as shown below
Divine Rank Damage Reduction
Quasi-deity (0) 10/epic
Demigod (1-5) 15/epic
Lesser deity (11-15) 20/epic
Intermediate deity (11-15) 25/epic
Greater deity (16-20) 30/epic
If the deity also has damage reduction from another source this damage reduction does not stack with the damage reduction granted by divine ranks. Instead, the deity gets the benefit of the best damage reduction in a given situation. Whenever a deity has a second kind of damage reduction that might apply to an attack, that damage reduction is listed in parentheses after the damage reduction entry in the deity’s statistics block.
Resistances: All deities have at least the following resistances.
Energy Resistance: A demigod or greater possessing an elemental type as a domain possesses Energy Resistance equal to twice their Divine Rank for the same type that stacks with other Energy Resistances of that type.
Spell Resistance: A lesser deity (DR 11+) has SR equal to their Divine Rank + Charisma bonus, if any.
Domain Powers: A deity of rank 1 or higher can use any domain power it can grant a number of times per day equal to its divine rank (if the power normally can be used more often than that, the deity gets the greater number of uses). If a domain power is based on a cleric’s level (or one-half a cleric’s level), a deity with no cleric levels has an effective cleric level equal to the deity’s divine rank (or one-half the deity’s divine rank) for this purpose.
Spell-Like Abilities: A lesser deity (DR 11+) can use any domain spell it can grant as a spell-like ability at will. The deity’s effective caster level for such abilities is 10 + the deity’s divine rank. The saving throw DC for such abilities is 10 + the spell level + the deity’s Charisma bonus (if any) + the deity’s divine rank.
Immortality: All deities (even those of rank 0) are naturally immortal and cannot die from natural causes. Deities do not age, and they do not need to eat, sleep, or breathe. The only way for a deity to die is through special circumstances, usually by being slain in magical or physical combat. Deities of rank 1 or higher are not subject to death from massive damage.
Senses: Deities of rank 1 or higher have incredibly sensitive perception. Such a deity’s senses (including darkvision and low-light vision, if the deity has them) extend out to a radius of 500 ft and are not subject to magical effects that interfere with perception, except those of another deity of greater divine rank. Perception is limited to the senses a deity possesses. A deity cannot see through solid objects without using its remote sensing ability or some sort of x-ray vision power.
Remote Sensing: As a standard action, a deity of rank 1 or higher can perceive everything within a radius of 200 ft. per rank around any of its worshipers, holy sites, or other objects or locales sacred to the deity.
Divine Rank Remote Locations
1–5 2
6–10 5
11–15 10
16–20 20
Once a deity chooses a remote location to sense, it automatically receives sensory information from that location until it chooses a new location to sense, or until it can’t sense the location.
Block Sensing: As a standard action, a deity of rank 1 or higher can block the sensing ability of other deities of its rank or lower. This power extends for a radius of one mile per rank of the deity, or within the same distance around a temple or other locale sacred to the deity. The deity can block two remote locations at once, plus the area within one mile of itself. The blockage lasts 1 hour per divine rank.
Portfolio: Every deity of rank 1 or higher has at least limited knowledge and control over some aspect of mortal existence. A deity’s connection to its portfolio gives it a number of powers.
Portfolio Sense: Demigods have a limited ability to sense events involving their portfolios. They automatically sense any event that involves one thousand or more people. The ability is limited to the present. Lesser deities automatically sense any event that involves their portfolios and affects five hundred or more people. Intermediate deities automatically sense any event that involves their portfolios, regardless of the number of people involved. In addition, their senses extend one week into the past for every divine rank they have. Greater deities automatically sense any event that involves their portfolios, regardless of the number of people involved. In addition, their senses extend one week into the past and one week into the future for every divine rank they have. When a deity senses an event, it merely knows that the event is occurring and where it is. The deity receives no sensory information about the event. Once a deity notices an event, it can use its remote sensing power to perceive the event.
Automatic Actions: When performing an action within its portfolio, a deity can perform any action as a free action, as long as the check DC is equal to or less than the number on the table below. The number of free actions a deity can perform each round is also determined by the deity’s divine rank.
Divine Rank Maximum DC for Automatic Action Free Actions per Round
1–5 20 2
6–10 25 5
11–15 30 10
16–20 35 20
Create Magic Items: A deity of rank 1 or higher can create magic items related to its portfolio without any requisite item creation feat, provided that the deity possesses all other prerequisites for the item. The maximum item value a deity can create is a function of its divine rank (see the table below). The item’s cost and creation time remain unchanged, but the deity is free to undertake any activity when not laboring on the item.
Divine Rank Maximum Market Price
1–5 4,500 gp
6–10 30,000 gp
11–15 200,000 gp (any nonartifact)
16–20 No maximum (including artifact)
If a deity has the item creation feat pertaining to the item it wishes to create, the cost (in gold and XP) and creation times are halved.
Divine Aura: The mere presence of a deity of rank 5 or higher can deeply affect mortals and beings of lower divine rank. All divine aura effects are mind-affecting, extraordinary abilities. Mortals and other deities of lower rank can resist the aura’s effects with successful Will saves; the DC is 10 + the deity’s rank + the deity’s Charisma modifier. Deities are immune to the auras of deities of equal or lower rank. Any being who makes a successful saving throw against a deity’s aura power becomes immune to that deity’s aura power for one day. Divine aura is an emanation that extends around the deity in a radius whose size is a function of divine rank. The deity chooses the size of the radius and can change it as a free action. If the deity chooses a radius of 0 feet, its aura power effectively becomes non-functional. When two or more deities’ auras cover the same area, only the aura that belongs to the deity with the highest rank functions. If divine ranks are equal, the auras coexist.
Divine Rank Divine Aura Size
5–9 10 ft./rank
10–14 100 ft./rank
15–19 100 ft./rank
21+ 1 mile/rank
The deity can make its own worshipers, beings of its alignment, or both types of individuals immune to the effect as a free action. The immunity lasts one day or until the deity dismisses it. Once affected by an aura power, creatures remain affected as long as they remain within the aura’s radius. The deity can choose from the following effects each round as a free action.
Daze: Affected beings just stare at the deity in fascination. They can defend themselves normally but can take no actions.
Fright: Affected beings become shaken and suffer a –2 morale penalty on attack rolls, saves, and checks. The merest glance or gesture from the deity makes them frightened, and they flee as quickly as they can, although they can choose the path of their flight.
Resolve: The deity’s allies receive a +4 morale bonus on attack rolls, saves, and checks, while the deity’s foes receive a –4 morale penalty on attack rolls, saves, and checks.
Grant Spells: A deity of Divine Rank 2 or greater automatically grants spells and domain powers to mortal divine spellcasters who pray to it. Most deities can grant spells from the cleric spell list, the ranger spell list, and from three or more domains. Deities with levels in the druid class can grant spells from the druid spell list, and deities with paladin levels can grant spells from the paladin spell list. A deity can withhold spells from any particular mortal as a free action; once a spell has been granted, it remains in the mortal’s mind until expended.
Communication: A deity of rank 1 or higher can understand, speak, and read any language, including nonverbal languages.
Remote Communication: As a standard action, a deity of rank 1 or higher can send a communication to a remote location. The deity can speak to any of its own worshipers, and to anyone within one mile per rank away from a site dedicated to the deity, or within one mile per rank away from a statue or other likeness of the deity. The creature being contacted can receive a telepathic message that only it can hear. Alternatively, the deity’s voice can seem to issue from the air, the ground, or from some object of the deity’s choosing (but not an object or locale dedicated to another deity of equal or higher rank than the deity who is speaking). In the latter case, anyone within earshot of the sound can hear it. The deity can send a manifestation or omen instead of a spoken or telepathic message. The exact nature of this communication varies with the deity, but it usually is some visible phenomenon. A deity’s communication power can cross planes and penetrate any barrier. Once communication is initiated, the deity can continue communicating as a free action until it decides to end the communication. A deity can carry on as many remote communications at one time as it can remote sense at one time (see Remote Sensing, above).
Godly Realm: Each deity of rank 5 or higher has a location that serves as a workplace, personal residence, audience chamber, and sometimes as a retreat or fortress. A deity is at its most powerful within its godly realm. A deity has at least modest control over the environment within its realm, controlling the temperature and minor elements of the environment. The radius of this control is a function of the deity’s rank and whether the realm is located on an Outer Plane or some other plane (including the Material Plane).
Divine Rank ——— Radius of Control ———
Outer Plane Material Plane
1–5 100 ft./rank 100 ft./rank
6–10 1 mile 100 ft./rank
11–15 10 miles 100 ft./rank
16–20 100 miles 100 ft./rank
Within this area, the deity can set any temperature that is normal for the plane where the realm is located (for the Material Plane, any temperature from –20ºF to 120ºF), and fill the area with scents and sounds as the deity sees fit. Sounds can be no louder than one hundred humans could make, but not intelligible speech or harmful sound. The deity’s ability to create scents is similar. Deities of rank 6 or higher can create the sounds of intelligible speech. A demigod or lesser deity can erect buildings and alter the landscape, but must do so through its own labor, through magic, or through its divine powers. A deity of rank 6 or higher not only has control over the environment, but also controls links to the Astral Plane. Manipulating a realm’s astral links renders teleportation and similar effects useless within the realm. The deity can designate certain locales within the realm where astral links remain intact. Likewise, the deity can block off the realm from planar portals or designate locations where portals are possible. A deity of rank 11 or higher can also apply the enhanced magic or impeded magic trait to up to four groups of spells (schools, domains, or spells with the same descriptor). The enhanced magic trait enables a metamagic feat to be applied to a group of spells without requiring higher-level spell slots. Many deities apply the enhanced magic trait to their domain spells, making them maximized (as the Maximize Spell feat) within the boundaries of their realm. The impeded magic trait doesn’t affect the deity’s spells and spell-like abilities.
In addition, a deity of rank 11 or higher can erect buildings as desired and alter terrain within ten miles to become any terrain type found on the Material Plane. These buildings and alterations are manifestations of the deity’s control over the realm.
A greater deity (rank 16 or higher) also can perform any one of the following acts:
• Change or apply a gravity trait within the realm.
• Change or apply an elemental or energy trait within the realm.
• Change or apply a time trait within the realm.
• Apply the limited magic trait to a particular school, domain, or spell descriptor within the area, preventing such spells and spell-like abilities from functioning. The greater deity’s own spells and spell-like abilities are not limited by these restrictions.
Once a deity sets the conditions in its realm, they are permanent, though the deity can change them. As a standard action, the deity can specify a new environmental condition. The change gradually takes effect over the next 10 minutes. Changing astral links, planar traits, or terrain requires more effort, and the deity must labor for a year and a day to change them. During this time, the deity must spend 8 hours a day on the project. During the remaining 16 hours of each day, the deity can perform any action it desires, so long as it remains within the realm. The astral links, planar traits, and terrain remain unchanged until the labor is complete.
Travel: A deity of rank 5 or higher can use teleport without error as a spell-like ability at will, as the spell cast by a 20th-level character, except that the deity can transport only itself and up to 100 pounds of objects per divine rank. A deity of rank 10 or higher also can use plane shift as a spell-like ability at will, as the spell cast by a 20th-level character, except that the deity can only transport itself and up to 100 pounds of objects. If the deity has a familiar, personal mount, or personal intelligent weapon, the creature can accompany the deity in any mode of travel if the deity touches it. The creature’s weight counts against the deity’s weight limit.
In a seemingly endless field in rural Iowa, a stout, bearded man watches corn rustle in the night breeze. His sledgehammer rests against the tailgate of this idling old truck, a tailgate that he leans back against while he drinks thick, homemade beer from a beaten metal cup in his left hand. He can feel the cornstalks, and the flow of life to them from the rich, loamy soil beneath. He smiles in delight and, if anyone else was there would swear that the air smells of that one perfect spring day from their childhood.
In an unknown village in western Africa a woman rises with the dawn from where she collapsed the night before, her feet itching to move already to the beat of an unheard wardrum. Anger mars her face and her hand flexes around her bloodstained cane. The northerners would be driven back, their heathenish, pale god driven away. So many of them had died at her hands already, their guns and bullets nothing to her but fuel for her anger. Around her, nine children stir, her children, hefting bloodstained, crude cudgels and buckets full of river water.
In a cramped, efficient bureaucratic building in Beijing a portly man, face flush bright red from stress, brushes aside his beard as he pours over reports and tallies, his hands in constant motion as he notes, amends, and tabulates. His pen strikes through with force, elsewhere a dozen die from a dozen causes. He writes in the margin, and across the land a dozen more citizens are borne into the world.
The Gods stride the Earth once more. Borne back into the world on the souls of humanity, the gods have returned, bringing with them a rebirth of magic and the true world. This is the story of their return, of the return of magic to the world. This is the story of the last war between the gods. This is the story of the Twilight of the Gods and the End of All Things.
Hi, I'm putting together a campaign to run on Roll20 called "Twilight of the Gods" and am looking to get some feedback and suggestions.
The campaign is set in the modern world and the players take on the role of reborn gods. The reborn gods are not literally the return of that specific entity, but are the divine spark of that entity that joins to the soul of an existing mortal, similar to how exaltation works in Exalted. The divine spark comes with a suite of domains and history, as well as some influencing personality, but the character is a hybrid personality between the person that they were prior to their apotheosis and the deity that joined with them. The campaign is suppose to begin with the return of the gods to Earth, meaning that all the people that undergo apotheosis come to grips with their deification; the campaign is not intended to beginning with fire in the skies and 20th level wizards hurling spells at each other, but instead is meant to build to that as the plot works towards a final conflict between all of the gods, which is in part a struggle for dominance and part a war between the light and the dark.
The characters themselves start with little more than a PC Class, which in the campaign is meant to be considered significantly more powerful that the average person (see more on Character Creation below). The characters are meant to obtain Divine Rank 0 when they are getting close to 10th level, and then proceed up Divine Rank as they level, reaching approximately Divine Rank 10 around level 20. I have co-oped the Divine Rank rules from 3.5, chopped out some powers and changed others, either in content or DR requirement (see below.) Some of the removed divine power will be supplemented by questing for their divine artifacts later in the game. In part the idea is that they are expanding a church devoted to them in downtime, mostly through clerics and "prophets" that they empower, but there are not any hard and fast rules on how that maps to Divine Rank gains as that seems as though it would take the focus away from a party-based game and make it into more of a strategy game.
Base Rules. Unless otherwise noted, the Rule System in use is Pathfinder. Specifically, the game will focus on the use of the Pathfinder SRD.
Advantage. Advantage is a mechanical condition that a PC or NPC can possess, typically granted by the domains that fall within the portfolio of the divine character up to that character’s Wisdom bonus in times per day. Having the Advantage means that the character, when making a D20 roll in regards to the situation that qualifies for Advantage, they may elect to roll 2 D20’s and take the best result, which if they do so consumes a daily use of Advantage. For example, a character that possesses the War domain may, in a combat situation, choose to provide themselves with the Advantage on their next D20 roll which consumes a daily use. This is performed as a free action on the player’s turn. This is a supernatural effect.
1. Background and Deity. Integral to the character and plot development is the construction of the character as a fully developed entity, which means starting with a person. Think of what you want to play as a personality and construct a background for that character that you are interested in exploring; Here is a link to an excellent set of 20 questions to think about in order to make a well-rounded character. If you can provide me with a documented response to these questions for ease of reference while developing plot down the line it would be greatly appreciated, but not necessary. In addition to those, you also need to think about how the mortal side of your character feels about and interacts with his divinity; having his mortal soul joined with his divine spark could be the character’s wildest dreams of wish fulfillment come true, or a violation of the most fundamental possible that repulses that person. A well-adjusted, modern human, for example, would probably have some issues with being a reincarnation of Hel.
In regards to the deity that you select, here is decent breakdown of deities, structured for somewhat ease of navigation. Get creative! In a lot of ways, juxtapositioning your deity with your mortal half is a key theme of gameplay. Most deities (PC and NPC) should originate from the real world (i.e. Thor, Set, Fujin, etc.), but fantasy gods (such as those found here) will be considered on a case by case basis, but this will be strongly considered since this could distort the game; elven and dwarven deities, for example, might be considered since the players will, at some point, gain access to Planes on which these races persist, but it would be better to selected deities from the Earth cultures that gave rise to those races and eventually expand domain to them. Keep in mind that monotheistic gods are not an option as them simply are difficult to interplay with the plot as it advances and because of mechanical issues having to do with divine tiers and what domains fall into their portfolio (monotheistic deities would necessarily have to have all domains, which would not only be unfair to other players but would complicate divine mechanics later in the game.)
Here is a list of all of the domains that are available in game. Specifically, only the domains published by Paizo are authorized, but 3rd party publisher domains will be considered on a case-by-case basis, which will then add them to the list available to the other PCs and make me more inclined to utilize them for various NPCs. While creating your character and selecting what deity the possess the divine spark of, you need to select 2 domains (to begin with) similar to a cleric, which best represent the god’s portfolio, not necessarily what the mortal side of the character would be interested in. If you feel that 2 domains are too limiting, don’t worry; they will be expanded on and added to when the characters begin to obtain Divine Rank. For levels 1-6 the mechanics of selecting domains will simply provide the Advantage on rolls relating to those domains up to the character’s Level plus Wisdom bonus in times per day. Note that these domains are independent from any gained from cleric levels; selecting domains as a cleric will provide those class benefits but not alter the benefits of your divine domains, and vice versa.
2. Alignment. While your alignment can vary from that of the deity in question, radically different alignments between the mortal half and the divine essence, such as a Lawful Good mortal empowered with the essence of a Chaotic Evil Tiamat, lead to problems with the character being able to harness their divine power. If that is a plot that you are interested in pursuing, i.e. watching a mortal fall (or rise) to the alignment of their divine essence as that personality grows dominate or wanting to try to redeem the nature of a deity and change it to meet the worldview of the mortal with all of the difficulty that road would entail, then by all means play that and work with me to develop that story. It is worth noting, though, that typically the divine spark is going to be attracted to a mortal that resonates with it in some way, although that is not necessarily the case.
3. Ability Scores. Use the standard point buy system for Pathfinder found here using 25 points. While 25 is a high amount (classified as ‘Epic Fantasy’), it is not necessarily the case that your character was an Olympian body builder or a member of MENSA prior to their apotheosis; it can certainly be the case that the infusion of divine energy altered one or more stats. Note that you do get refunded points for lowering an ability down to a 7; you can take a score lower but there will not be any points gained from it. Someone possessing the soul of Vulcan, for example, would be expected to have an extremely low Dexterity, due to being crippled, but a high Strength and Intelligence.
4. Races. The only initial race available to players will be human. Characters, as a natural aspect of their divinity, will be able to alter their race beginning at 4th level. When the player decides to change the race of the character they inform the DM, at which time the DM will assign a level value for the race in question. The difference between this level value added to the character’s current level and the character’s current level is the amount of XP that the character will have to expend in order to change their race, which is thereafter lost. For example, the player of the reincarnation of Lugh has reached level 4 and wants to change his race to Elf to better reflect the concept and pantheon origin of the deity. Elf (as well as all core races) have an level value of 1, which means that the player looks up the XP value of level 5 (15,000 since we are using the Medium advancement found here) and subtracts the XP for their current level (9,000 in this case); the character undergoes a thematic rite (agreed upon with the DM) and immediately changes their race. Thereafter, the character expends XP until the difference is met (6,000 XP in this case) and then begins to gain XP for the purposes of leveling again. These rules also apply to the application of templates (complete list found here) which can be more thematically appropriate to the character than a racial change. Typically, CR is interchangeable with level value for cost calculation but this is subject to the discretion of the DM. A character can only possess one race at a time and no more templates than their Divine Rank, although characters with DR-0 are allowed to possess one template.
5. Base Classes. All Core Classes (with exception of the Monk class; see below) are available, as well as their Archetypes. All of the Base Classes (Alchemist, Cavalier, Gunslinger, Inquisitor, Magus, Oracle, Summoner, and Witch) are available as well, as well as the Alternate Classes (the Antipaladin would be of interest to players that wish to create an unholy warrior that best reflects their particular divine spark.) Hybrid Classes may be used if the player feels that they better fulfill the character concept. The Monk Unchained Class is presumed to replace the Core Class. Prestige Classes will be considered on a case-by-case basis, as the characters qualify for them. Third Party Classes are not under consideration for this game.
Regarding casters, characters that begin with a class that utilizes magic in a non-innate way (Wizards, Clerics, etc.) are expected to roleplay the development of their casting as they gain levels; their apotheosis provided them with the initial comprehensive knowledge concerning magic, but magic has been gone from the world for so long that the existing magical traditional are nothing really more than shadows of ancient knowledge. For example, the mystical (clerical) knowledge possessed by the Masons, itself a distortion of older teachings, doesn’t amount to the knowledge, in regards to divine magic, that a 1st level cleric possesses. A student of the occult possesses only a small fraction of arcane knowledge that a wizard does, much of which is wrapped in nonsense and contradiction. This will change as the game progresses. That aside, PCs with divine magic tap into their own divinity while characters with arcane magic tap into mystical forces that exist naturally in the world.
6. Feats. The Feat list available is comprehensive; the exception is that third party feats are unavailable. A player must meet all requirements for taking a feat, which include Monster feats. Monster feats, as well as Racial feats, become available when the character has completed paying off the cost of changing their race or adding a template (see above.)
7. Traits & Drawbacks. Each player may select up to two Traits and one Drawback, which grants an additional trait. Please note that traits (or drawbacks) that cannot be qualified for (such as non-human Racial traits) cannot be taken at character creation.
8. Other Considerations. Beginning wealth is determined as per class. For ease of recordkeeping, all monetary units will be kept in the standard GP denominations, but characters are expected to under contextual expression, i.e. while the DM may give a price for something in GPs, the characters are expected to discuss money (in the US) in terms of dollars.
Equipment lists can be found here (and here for technological goods.) Equipment that does not exist in the modern world (i.e. force fields) is not available for purchase at character creation. Players should feel free to re-skin items to better fit a modern setting (Marine combat knife rather than a dagger) and items that are not listed will have a price provided by the DM as it would be impossible from a practical perspective to generate a comprehensive list of modern goods.
In order for a character to have access to resources, financial or social, beyond that they must take the Prince/Princess, Rich Parents, or other social Trait as applicable. The Rich Parents trait may be used to simply make the character independently wealthy, rather than coming from a wealthy family. Any combination of up to three traits (after taking a drawback) and possibly a feat might be necessary to meet the desired social standing a character might possess.
Divine Ranks
Each deity has a divine rank. A deity’s divine rank determines how much power the entity has; the following ranges of rank are descriptive rather than proscriptive. Also, non-deity NPCs and monsters, such as Cerberus, may be provided with a divine rank despite not technically being deities.
Rank 0: Creatures of this rank are sometimes called quasi-deities or hero deities. Creatures that have a mortal and a deity as parents also fall into this category. These entities cannot grant spells, but are immortal and usually have one or more ability
scores that are far above the norm for their species. They may have some worshipers. Ordinary mortals do not have a divine rank of 0. They lack a divine rank altogether.
Rank 1–5: These entities, called demigods, are the weakest of the deities. A demigod can grant spells and perform a few deeds that are beyond mortal limits. A demigod has anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand devoted mortal worshipers and may receive veneration or respect from many more. A demigod controls a small godly realm (usually on an Outer Plane) and has minor control over a portfolio that includes one or more aspects of mortal existence. A demigod might be very accomplished in a single skill or a group of related skills, gain combat advantages in special circumstances, or be able to bring about minor changes in reality itself related to the portfolio.
Rank 6–10: Called lesser deities, these entities grant spells and can perform more powerful deeds than demigods can. Lesser deities have anywhere from a few thousand to tens of thousands of worshipers and control larger godly realms than demigods. They also have keener senses where their portfolios are concerned.
Rank 11–15: These entities are called intermediate deities. They have hundreds of thousands of mortal worshipers and control larger godly realms than demigods or lesser deities.
Rank 16–20: Called greater deities, these entities may have millions of mortal worshipers, and they command respect even among other deities. The most powerful of greater deities rule over other deities just as mortal sovereigns rule over commoners.
Rank 21+: These entities are beyond the ken of mortals and care nothing for worshipers. They do not grant spells, do not answer prayers, and do not respond to queries. If they are known at all, it is to a handful of scholars on the Material Plane. They are called overdeities. In some pantheistic systems, the consent of an overdeity is required to become a god.25
Divine Characteristics
Unless otherwise noted, deities receive the following traits upon obtaining Divine Rank 1. Upon reaching Divine Rank 1, add an “Outsider” subtype to their type but are still subject to spells such as resurrection. Unlike other outsiders, they have no darkvision unless they receive the trait from another source.
Levels: Characters’ levels are unaffected by Divine Rank.
Hit Points: Deities receive maximum hit points for each Hit Die.
Speed: Deities can move much more quickly than mortals. A deity’s base land speed depends on its form (biped or quadruped) and its size, as shown on the following table. Some deities are exceptions, with speeds faster or slower than the norm. A character with Divine Rank 0 gains the benefit to speed.
Size Biped* Quadruped**
Fine 20 ft. 40 ft.
Diminutive 25 ft. 50 ft.
Tiny 30 ft. 60 ft.
Small 35 ft. 70 ft.
Medium 40 ft. 80 ft.
Large 45 ft. 90 ft.
Huge 50 ft. 100 ft.
Gargantuan 55 ft. 110 ft.
Colossal 60 ft. 120 ft.
*Or any form with two or fewer legs.
**Or any form with three or more legs.
Note: Use the Biped column for burrow and swim speeds for all deities regardless of form. Use half the value in the Biped column for climb speeds for all deities. Use twice the value in the Quadruped column for fly speeds for all deities capable of flying.
Armor Class: A field of divine energy encompasses a deity’s body, granting it a divine Armor Class bonus equal to its divine rank. This bonus stacks with all other Armor Class bonuses, is untyped, and is effective against touch attacks and incorporeal touch attacks. All deities also have a deflection bonus to their AC equal to their Charisma bonus (if any) which does not stack with other deflection bonuses.
Attacks: A deity gets its divine rank as a divine bonus on all attack rolls.
Always Maximize Roll: Greater deities (rank 16–20) automatically get the best result possible on any check, saving throw, attack roll, or damage roll. Calculate success, failure, or other effects accordingly. When a greater deity makes a check, attack, or save assume a 20 was rolled and calculate success or failure from there. A d20 should still be rolled and used to check for a threat of a critical hit. This quality means that greater deities never need the Maximize Spell feat, because their spells have maximum effect already.
Saving Throws: A deity’s character level determines its base saving throw bonuses. A deity gets its divine rank as a divine bonus on all saving throws. Deities of rank 1 or higher do not automatically fail on a natural saving throw roll of 1.
Checks: A deity gets its divine rank as a divine bonus on all skill checks, ability checks, caster level checks, and turning checks. Lesser deities (rank 6–10) may take 10 on any check, provided they need to make a check at all. Intermediate and greater deities (rank 11–20) always get a result of 20 on any check, provided they need to make a check at all.
Deities and Synergy Bonuses: For every 20 extra ranks a deity has in a skill, the deity’s synergy bonus from the skill (if any) increases by +2.
Immunities: Deities have the following immunities. Individual deities may have more immunities. Unless otherwise indicated, these immunities do not apply if the attacker is a deity of equal or higher rank.
Transmutation: A deity is immune to polymorphing, petrification, or any other attack that alters its form. Any shape-altering powers the deity might have work normally on itself.
Energy Drain, Ability Drain, Ability Damage: A deity is not subject to energy drain, ability drain, or ability damage.
Mind-Affecting Effects: A deity is immune to mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).
Deities of rank 1 or higher are immune to disease and poison, stunning, sleep, paralysis, and death effects, and disintegration.
Deities of rank 6 or higher are immune to effects that imprison or banish them. Such effects include banishment, binding, dimensional anchor, dismissal, imprisonment, repulsion, soul bind, temporal stasis, trap the soul, and turning and rebuking.
Damage Reduction: A deity has damage reduction as shown below
Divine Rank Damage Reduction
Quasi-deity (0) 10/epic
Demigod (1-5) 15/epic
Lesser deity (11-15) 20/epic
Intermediate deity (11-15) 25/epic
Greater deity (16-20) 30/epic
If the deity also has damage reduction from another source this damage reduction does not stack with the damage reduction granted by divine ranks. Instead, the deity gets the benefit of the best damage reduction in a given situation. Whenever a deity has a second kind of damage reduction that might apply to an attack, that damage reduction is listed in parentheses after the damage reduction entry in the deity’s statistics block.
Resistances: All deities have at least the following resistances.
Energy Resistance: A demigod or greater possessing an elemental type as a domain possesses Energy Resistance equal to twice their Divine Rank for the same type that stacks with other Energy Resistances of that type.
Spell Resistance: A lesser deity (DR 11+) has SR equal to their Divine Rank + Charisma bonus, if any.
Domain Powers: A deity of rank 1 or higher can use any domain power it can grant a number of times per day equal to its divine rank (if the power normally can be used more often than that, the deity gets the greater number of uses). If a domain power is based on a cleric’s level (or one-half a cleric’s level), a deity with no cleric levels has an effective cleric level equal to the deity’s divine rank (or one-half the deity’s divine rank) for this purpose.
Spell-Like Abilities: A lesser deity (DR 11+) can use any domain spell it can grant as a spell-like ability at will. The deity’s effective caster level for such abilities is 10 + the deity’s divine rank. The saving throw DC for such abilities is 10 + the spell level + the deity’s Charisma bonus (if any) + the deity’s divine rank.
Immortality: All deities (even those of rank 0) are naturally immortal and cannot die from natural causes. Deities do not age, and they do not need to eat, sleep, or breathe. The only way for a deity to die is through special circumstances, usually by being slain in magical or physical combat. Deities of rank 1 or higher are not subject to death from massive damage.
Senses: Deities of rank 1 or higher have incredibly sensitive perception. Such a deity’s senses (including darkvision and low-light vision, if the deity has them) extend out to a radius of 500 ft and are not subject to magical effects that interfere with perception, except those of another deity of greater divine rank. Perception is limited to the senses a deity possesses. A deity cannot see through solid objects without using its remote sensing ability or some sort of x-ray vision power.
Remote Sensing: As a standard action, a deity of rank 1 or higher can perceive everything within a radius of 200 ft. per rank around any of its worshipers, holy sites, or other objects or locales sacred to the deity.
Divine Rank Remote Locations
1–5 2
6–10 5
11–15 10
16–20 20
Once a deity chooses a remote location to sense, it automatically receives sensory information from that location until it chooses a new location to sense, or until it can’t sense the location.
Block Sensing: As a standard action, a deity of rank 1 or higher can block the sensing ability of other deities of its rank or lower. This power extends for a radius of one mile per rank of the deity, or within the same distance around a temple or other locale sacred to the deity. The deity can block two remote locations at once, plus the area within one mile of itself. The blockage lasts 1 hour per divine rank.
Portfolio: Every deity of rank 1 or higher has at least limited knowledge and control over some aspect of mortal existence. A deity’s connection to its portfolio gives it a number of powers.
Portfolio Sense: Demigods have a limited ability to sense events involving their portfolios. They automatically sense any event that involves one thousand or more people. The ability is limited to the present. Lesser deities automatically sense any event that involves their portfolios and affects five hundred or more people. Intermediate deities automatically sense any event that involves their portfolios, regardless of the number of people involved. In addition, their senses extend one week into the past for every divine rank they have. Greater deities automatically sense any event that involves their portfolios, regardless of the number of people involved. In addition, their senses extend one week into the past and one week into the future for every divine rank they have. When a deity senses an event, it merely knows that the event is occurring and where it is. The deity receives no sensory information about the event. Once a deity notices an event, it can use its remote sensing power to perceive the event.
Automatic Actions: When performing an action within its portfolio, a deity can perform any action as a free action, as long as the check DC is equal to or less than the number on the table below. The number of free actions a deity can perform each round is also determined by the deity’s divine rank.
Divine Rank Maximum DC for Automatic Action Free Actions per Round
1–5 20 2
6–10 25 5
11–15 30 10
16–20 35 20
Create Magic Items: A deity of rank 1 or higher can create magic items related to its portfolio without any requisite item creation feat, provided that the deity possesses all other prerequisites for the item. The maximum item value a deity can create is a function of its divine rank (see the table below). The item’s cost and creation time remain unchanged, but the deity is free to undertake any activity when not laboring on the item.
Divine Rank Maximum Market Price
1–5 4,500 gp
6–10 30,000 gp
11–15 200,000 gp (any nonartifact)
16–20 No maximum (including artifact)
If a deity has the item creation feat pertaining to the item it wishes to create, the cost (in gold and XP) and creation times are halved.
Divine Aura: The mere presence of a deity of rank 5 or higher can deeply affect mortals and beings of lower divine rank. All divine aura effects are mind-affecting, extraordinary abilities. Mortals and other deities of lower rank can resist the aura’s effects with successful Will saves; the DC is 10 + the deity’s rank + the deity’s Charisma modifier. Deities are immune to the auras of deities of equal or lower rank. Any being who makes a successful saving throw against a deity’s aura power becomes immune to that deity’s aura power for one day. Divine aura is an emanation that extends around the deity in a radius whose size is a function of divine rank. The deity chooses the size of the radius and can change it as a free action. If the deity chooses a radius of 0 feet, its aura power effectively becomes non-functional. When two or more deities’ auras cover the same area, only the aura that belongs to the deity with the highest rank functions. If divine ranks are equal, the auras coexist.
Divine Rank Divine Aura Size
5–9 10 ft./rank
10–14 100 ft./rank
15–19 100 ft./rank
21+ 1 mile/rank
The deity can make its own worshipers, beings of its alignment, or both types of individuals immune to the effect as a free action. The immunity lasts one day or until the deity dismisses it. Once affected by an aura power, creatures remain affected as long as they remain within the aura’s radius. The deity can choose from the following effects each round as a free action.
Daze: Affected beings just stare at the deity in fascination. They can defend themselves normally but can take no actions.
Fright: Affected beings become shaken and suffer a –2 morale penalty on attack rolls, saves, and checks. The merest glance or gesture from the deity makes them frightened, and they flee as quickly as they can, although they can choose the path of their flight.
Resolve: The deity’s allies receive a +4 morale bonus on attack rolls, saves, and checks, while the deity’s foes receive a –4 morale penalty on attack rolls, saves, and checks.
Grant Spells: A deity of Divine Rank 2 or greater automatically grants spells and domain powers to mortal divine spellcasters who pray to it. Most deities can grant spells from the cleric spell list, the ranger spell list, and from three or more domains. Deities with levels in the druid class can grant spells from the druid spell list, and deities with paladin levels can grant spells from the paladin spell list. A deity can withhold spells from any particular mortal as a free action; once a spell has been granted, it remains in the mortal’s mind until expended.
Communication: A deity of rank 1 or higher can understand, speak, and read any language, including nonverbal languages.
Remote Communication: As a standard action, a deity of rank 1 or higher can send a communication to a remote location. The deity can speak to any of its own worshipers, and to anyone within one mile per rank away from a site dedicated to the deity, or within one mile per rank away from a statue or other likeness of the deity. The creature being contacted can receive a telepathic message that only it can hear. Alternatively, the deity’s voice can seem to issue from the air, the ground, or from some object of the deity’s choosing (but not an object or locale dedicated to another deity of equal or higher rank than the deity who is speaking). In the latter case, anyone within earshot of the sound can hear it. The deity can send a manifestation or omen instead of a spoken or telepathic message. The exact nature of this communication varies with the deity, but it usually is some visible phenomenon. A deity’s communication power can cross planes and penetrate any barrier. Once communication is initiated, the deity can continue communicating as a free action until it decides to end the communication. A deity can carry on as many remote communications at one time as it can remote sense at one time (see Remote Sensing, above).
Godly Realm: Each deity of rank 5 or higher has a location that serves as a workplace, personal residence, audience chamber, and sometimes as a retreat or fortress. A deity is at its most powerful within its godly realm. A deity has at least modest control over the environment within its realm, controlling the temperature and minor elements of the environment. The radius of this control is a function of the deity’s rank and whether the realm is located on an Outer Plane or some other plane (including the Material Plane).
Divine Rank ——— Radius of Control ———
Outer Plane Material Plane
1–5 100 ft./rank 100 ft./rank
6–10 1 mile 100 ft./rank
11–15 10 miles 100 ft./rank
16–20 100 miles 100 ft./rank
Within this area, the deity can set any temperature that is normal for the plane where the realm is located (for the Material Plane, any temperature from –20ºF to 120ºF), and fill the area with scents and sounds as the deity sees fit. Sounds can be no louder than one hundred humans could make, but not intelligible speech or harmful sound. The deity’s ability to create scents is similar. Deities of rank 6 or higher can create the sounds of intelligible speech. A demigod or lesser deity can erect buildings and alter the landscape, but must do so through its own labor, through magic, or through its divine powers. A deity of rank 6 or higher not only has control over the environment, but also controls links to the Astral Plane. Manipulating a realm’s astral links renders teleportation and similar effects useless within the realm. The deity can designate certain locales within the realm where astral links remain intact. Likewise, the deity can block off the realm from planar portals or designate locations where portals are possible. A deity of rank 11 or higher can also apply the enhanced magic or impeded magic trait to up to four groups of spells (schools, domains, or spells with the same descriptor). The enhanced magic trait enables a metamagic feat to be applied to a group of spells without requiring higher-level spell slots. Many deities apply the enhanced magic trait to their domain spells, making them maximized (as the Maximize Spell feat) within the boundaries of their realm. The impeded magic trait doesn’t affect the deity’s spells and spell-like abilities.
In addition, a deity of rank 11 or higher can erect buildings as desired and alter terrain within ten miles to become any terrain type found on the Material Plane. These buildings and alterations are manifestations of the deity’s control over the realm.
A greater deity (rank 16 or higher) also can perform any one of the following acts:
• Change or apply a gravity trait within the realm.
• Change or apply an elemental or energy trait within the realm.
• Change or apply a time trait within the realm.
• Apply the limited magic trait to a particular school, domain, or spell descriptor within the area, preventing such spells and spell-like abilities from functioning. The greater deity’s own spells and spell-like abilities are not limited by these restrictions.
Once a deity sets the conditions in its realm, they are permanent, though the deity can change them. As a standard action, the deity can specify a new environmental condition. The change gradually takes effect over the next 10 minutes. Changing astral links, planar traits, or terrain requires more effort, and the deity must labor for a year and a day to change them. During this time, the deity must spend 8 hours a day on the project. During the remaining 16 hours of each day, the deity can perform any action it desires, so long as it remains within the realm. The astral links, planar traits, and terrain remain unchanged until the labor is complete.
Travel: A deity of rank 5 or higher can use teleport without error as a spell-like ability at will, as the spell cast by a 20th-level character, except that the deity can transport only itself and up to 100 pounds of objects per divine rank. A deity of rank 10 or higher also can use plane shift as a spell-like ability at will, as the spell cast by a 20th-level character, except that the deity can only transport itself and up to 100 pounds of objects. If the deity has a familiar, personal mount, or personal intelligent weapon, the creature can accompany the deity in any mode of travel if the deity touches it. The creature’s weight counts against the deity’s weight limit.