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SpiderKoopa
2007-07-15, 09:24 PM
I've recently had a character ascend into diety hood. Rank one. He has the portfolio of evil, and is currently looking for followers.
Apparently other gods get ticked when you directly head to the prime, kidnap one of masque(spelling?)'s thieves and force him into telling others of your new found prowess, and hades promptly summoned myself and my companion (a blackguard who also became a rank one, portfolio = chaos) to tell us off and give us the rules on being a diety.
So, upset as my character is, he knows he's no match for either the FR or the Greek gods, let alone if the two pantheons decide to work together to eliminate the two new dieties, he has relunctantly decided to shower certain cities with a small number of holy symbols (10 in waterdeep and 15 in helm's deep).
So, my real dilemna is thusly, what is a diety to do to get followers w/o being able to go there directly?

The_Werebear
2007-07-15, 09:26 PM
Find a bard to spread legends.

If you can, go into someone's dreams and appoint them your prophet.

Matthew
2007-07-15, 09:41 PM
You are in the Forgotten Realms and you are trying to acquire followers of a new (weak) religion? Good luck doing that without powerful allies or making powerful enemies. My ideas:

1) Find an isolated Humanoid Tribe or two, try and bring their Shamans on board with some impressive Deity like miracles and promises of future power.

2) Find a sponsor. You couldn't stand up to one Deity by yourself, never mind a coalition. Find a Deity with similar objectives and agree to serve his ends in return for a measure of protection. Plot to betray him and steal his portfolio and expect to be betrayed by him.

3) Secretly start a war or crusade of some sort and capitalise on the strife.

4) Strike up a deal or two with some Demons/Devils. Get involved in the Blood War, establish a power base through alliances.

5) Start looking for powerful artifacts to augment your power.

6) Tempt some Good/Neutral mortals with promises of power, corrupt them and start a cult or two that enjoys immediate gratification of desire.

7) Try and bring Deities of a similar Rank into an alliance or coalition that shares a common goal. See above with reference to betrayal.

A Gray Phantom
2007-07-15, 09:43 PM
It's tough to be a god. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG5e8VwtcCE)

But seriously, you should consider taking drastic measures. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0274.html)

If all things go to plan, you will never have to worry about other gods bothering you ever again.

BRC
2007-07-15, 09:52 PM
Appoint a local ruler as your prophet with a dream, if you find the right one you could end up as a state religion

ByeLindgren
2007-07-15, 09:54 PM
You could hire an epic wizard to kill the other gods for you.




What?

Pirate_King
2007-07-15, 10:04 PM
heh, I just watched that movie the other night. s'a good one

I've actually played a prophet when my friends gnoll character became a god some how. I can't remember exactly how it happened, but I think the deck of many things was involved some how.

Anxe
2007-07-15, 10:14 PM
Go to them in their dreams. Visions. That sort of thing.

CASTLEMIKE
2007-07-15, 10:33 PM
You are an Evil DR1 Demi-Power.

I would determine your portfolio and make it attractive to mortals. Ask your DM for some more guidelines and clarifications.

Normally powers have at least 3 Domains and you have listed Evil as one.

Again I would probably go with something popular or powerful for your two other domains as the Intermediate and Greater Powers tend to have the most worshippers according to Dieties and Demigods.

Commerce (Most people want to become rich)

Farming related domain (world is 90% commoners primarily farmers who live in Thorps, Hamlets and Villages)

Death (Everyone dies, (A Sun God them and Autumn, Dusk and Sunset as a theme) Death is only the next step and your followers will be specially rewarded.

Luck (For Freebie Miracle you get as a Demi Power with the Domain as part of your Divine Abilities (It could be used for a "Psychic Reformation" on a willing mortal and changing their commoner levels to Adept or Cleric and granting them wealth for taking you as their Patron Power.

In FRCS or similar it could be used for the newly departed dead souls on the Fugue Plane awaiting judgement and offering them a guaranteed immediate promotion to a Petioner, Imp, Quasit or other Minor Fiend depending on your alignment NE probably works the best particularly for sorcerer and wizard types)) or Magic Domain.

Unless you are CE I would get a few outsiders like Devils to become your agents and Cultmasters from the Fiend Folio for your religion as they would probably be a little more reliable and willing to work for you for a Personal Miracle every decade or two to get some willing devoted immortal agents and followers.

If you are NE get some or make some Succubi agents and Harvester Devils from Tyrants of the Nine Hells.

For the living you can communicate with them divinely and make them offers using your Miracle Domain ability or Alter Reality Ability. Only poach on Greater and Intermediate Powers with several hundred thousand or more worshippers. They won't miss a few and understand the need to establish a base of followers. You could be a potential ally now or in the future.

Make a deal with the Godless and marginal mostly lip service mortals without a divine patron which shouldn't upset your fellow powers.

A commoner with a few or several levels you make into an Adept will receive power immediately along with a major lifestyle increase for an hour of prayer a day (I generally assume that the Power receives more from than hour of prayer than the spellcaster and that a Power normally receives more benefit in sincere prayer belief from a devoted follower or clergy like an adept than a layman) and the occassional sermon to spread the word (grass roots ministry). Grant a wronged mortal revenge or resurrect a loved one or heal a maimed and crippled warrior or artisan.

Have several messages doctrines which will appeal to non evil alignments like Neutrals. Promise a paradise in oppressed lands in the afterlife.

Find a few venerable Bards about to die of old age and grant them conditional youth in return for telling one of the stories or tales regarding your exploits. As long as they tell at least one interesting tale or story to people (impressionable children maybe) regarding a deed or exploit they age at half rate and every day they don't they age 10 days.

If you could have another 7 years of life without telling those daily tales or 140 or so years for telling them once a day.

Do the same for non specialized Pantheon Clergy willing to do the same thing and promote your religious philosophy.

Xuincherguixe
2007-07-15, 10:42 PM
You'll want to find some people to serve as your priests. Have them found a religion based on you. You can offer people things for sacrifices and worship. Not sure about how the rules are about interfering when it comes to things like revenge.

"This guy stole my girlfriend. Kill him! Have a goat."
"Kay."

On a similar note, how about driving someone to suicide? Planting evidence against them? I mean, come on, you have to be able to get away with SOMETHING evil.

Also, you should have all your followers promise their souls to you. This may actually be of benefit to them too, because then they get to live forever. Or, you get them instead of someone far worse. Rather then being digested in the stomach of a giant worm for all eternity, they can continue existing much as they did in life, as self serving bastards. The most effective kind of evil is the kind that gives rewards. You can decide what are good rewards for yourself depending on what sort of game it is.


edit: Especially great would be if you could turn dead followers into some of those fiends listed.

SpiderKoopa
2007-07-16, 12:38 AM
Ok, here are the details I left out before, which thinking about them, I shouldn't have. ><;;
1) My character is a preist3/necromancer3/truenecro10/mystictheurge4. NE alignment.
2)The portfolios of the god myself and my aforementioned blackguard companion killed is the source of our portfolios... Now, one might ask how the god was defeated... well... we had hades on our side. -Whistle whistle.- I... er... sort of gave him a whole tribe of elves by stranding the lot of them in the gray wastes. Anywho, Hades demanded a portion of the gods power... And so it was that his portfolios were devided amongst us three. Hades gained more power over death, the blackguard took chaos, I took evil, and we sort of threw insanity away. No one wanted it...
And so, I'll talk to the DM, but I don't know if I can just spontaneously have death without... "earning" it. Or so he would put it.
-Edit.-
3! Forgot about this, I've decided to make my home plane a prime that I've been living on for a while. During a mass flight from a prime in which the crimes I and my small nation (killed a king, took over, easy as pie) my company and I were traversing the astral looking for color pools to jump through. My DM a bit embarassed I think about a misshap that had happened the last time we played (gave every member of a gyth[gith?]'s group the silver vorpal swords... we threw that part of the campaign out, calling it jokingly, a dbz movie ^^) hadn't put any monster encounters... and after coming to the abyss once and almost stepping into the seven heavens another, the most incredible random roll for a prime happened. From 1-100, 100 being the most inhabitable and welcoming, the DM rolled a 100. Making up on the spot that the roll was special and required another to see how awesome the plane would be, he proceeded to roll another 100. It's basically paradise. All resources magically grow back, fruit, animals, vegetables, trees... even minerals and metal ores.
The catch? Yes there is one. Every 108 years (because there is only one night every 108 years, all other time the sun shines) The tarrasque appears and reaks havoc. That is to say, even if you kill it, it'll come back in 108 years... and it never sleeps. ;_; And apparently 108 cycles of that comes a monster so vile it could level the gods in one swoop. I call it MitD's mother.

CASTLEMIKE
2007-07-16, 01:35 AM
DR1 dieties normally have 3 domains (Amended as per Dieties and Demigods) so you should pick two other useful ones. Technically you did earn a claim to the portfolio of Death when you killed another god.

Caxton
2007-07-16, 02:47 AM
The DM would be me... (incidentally I was very tired when the Githyanki thing happened.) And yes he does only have one domain.

The_Snark
2007-07-16, 03:29 AM
DR1 dieties normally have 3 domains so you should pick two other useful ones. Technically you did earn a claim to the portfolio of Death when you killed another god.

I'm not too familiar with it, but in Forgotten Realms, to acquire a portfolio you have to get it from the god who currently has it. Usually, that means prying it from the previous deity's cold, dead fingers. A little ambitious for two rank 1 deities.

Well, you've got a realm of paradise, and you're presumably powerful enough to deal with the Tarrasque when it pops up, since you're gods. (If not, see if you can wrangle a favor out of some other god.) So... find yourself a prophet or somebody to preach, and have it be central dogma that those who worship you faithfully will live forever in paradise when they die.

Now do that. It's not traditional for evil deities, but do it anyway, and have the souls appear in dreams to their descendants and relatives and explain that they really are in paradise, that they shouldn't feel sad, and that they should follow (insert your name here) so that they can join them in paradise when they die.

Respond to prayer actively, if selectively; if a cultist prays to you for revenge, appear to them and help them out with it.

The problem with both of these, of course, is spreading your name. People have suggested bards and prophets; I suggest doing both. Casual mention of your name is a good thing, as it'll give you more opportunity to respond to prayers, and a good prophet definitely helps convert people, especially with the Paradise deal.

In game terms, a bard or prophet would probably be acquirable through Leadership, if nothing else.

Awetugiw
2007-07-16, 04:06 PM
Turn people to evil.

Promise, and give, neutral or good people revenge or something they want equally bad. Don't ask anything in return, not even their souls. Just make sure their revenge gets out of hand, and they'll come to you freely.

Well, they're supposed to in a world that works like D&D, anyway.

You're not stealing followers from other evil deities, so they're not likely to be very angry. Of course some good guys will get angry, but since you're a god of evil it will be a bit hard to avoid that anyway.

Once you have a fair amount of followers, let them do the converting, and only step in yourself to convert the occasional high level adventurer.

skeeter_dan
2007-07-16, 05:23 PM
I'm getting flashbacks to Black & White.

Start small with the followers. Find an outlying tribe and convert them into a cult. Small miracles do wonders in small villages. Carrot and the stick; you may be evil, but you still want followers, so you'll have to give them something in return for their loyalty. Farming would be a good place to start. Increase the bounty of their crops when they sacrifice a member of a rival tribe in the field!

SpiderKoopa
2007-07-16, 11:45 PM
Well, I have found a prime wherein the place is stuck in a sort of pseudo-stupor about magic and gods. There are shamans who get spells from worship of their ancestors, but no gods to speak of. I've plucked one already, his lack of ability to cast even orisons after a month or so of training and praying leads me to believe he is too different in alignment to get spells (LN more than likely), and so I am teaching him instead the arcane arts. =D New necromancer follower anyone? Anyways, I'm thinking I'll slowly show him how he can manipulate laws to get his way, let him indulge in immediate gratification of using loopholes in laws to get his way, slipping into lawful evil and then multiclassing him into preist. >D