Help me with the gods

[LordDeath666]

I have been planning a pathfinder game with Greek gods and demigods. I need some help coming up with ideas on what ability would each demigod get from their God parents.

[Magentamist]

Could you give details on what pantheon you're using, so we know what gods we're working with?

[brian 333]

A similar thread is here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?546414-Creating-new-gods-for-Pyria-all-ideas-and-suggestions-welcome). It may not suit your needs, but it may spark ideas.

Demigods in D&D are typically ascended mortals, though they need not be. Japanese culture hosts millions of minor deities called kami, many of which have power only over a single spring, or tree, or stone. On the other hand, Ancient Greeks attributed minor deity status to a hero's family connections on Mt.Olympus.

The question then is, what do you consider a demigod? Must they have divine DNA? Can common folkascend to godhood through heroism? Do minor deities hang around certain places accepting grain or wine as sacrifices?

I wouldbegin with the part most important to your theme and work from there.

Suppose, for example, worshippers venerate demigods which serve greater beings? This celestial bureaucracy runs much as an Empire might, with local councils reporting to lords or judges, which in turn report to nobles of various ranks, who in turn answer to a senior council presided over by an emperor. Thus, the commoner would offer sacrifices to a demigod who would answer to a lesser god who reports to a greater god who would report to a supreme god. Nobles get to bypass the lower ranks and sacrifice to deities more appropriate to their rank, while the emperor reports directly to the supreme deity.

But these ideas need not be the only way things can be done. The point is to create a 'culture' for your gods, allowing the decisions you make to fit in, or to directly conflict with the celestial status quo.

[Goaty14]

I have been planning a pathfinder game with Greek gods and demigods. I need some help coming up with ideas on what ability would each demigod get from their God parents.

I would just either grant them the ability to use a domain's spells each 1/day as per wizard progression (no casting 9th lvl domain spells at 6th lvl, but yes at 17th) or a domain granted power (if that's in PF) keyed on their HD.

[Deepbluediver]

I assume that this is referring to the same thing as the OP's other thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?549041-Percy-jackson). He's running a game set in a Percy Jackson/Young Olympians (by Rick Riordan) setting, if that helps anyone envision what sort of stuff might be appropriate.

[brian 333]

Ah, I mistakenly assumed the OP was asking for ideas on a Greek inspired pantheon of his own choosing.

Brainstorming here, but the children of each god would have powers unique to that god, except that children who are bathed in the River Styx are immune to mortal weapons, requiring +1 weapons or better to hit.

So:

Zeus: the children of Zeus are smart and strong, but most importantly they are charming. Everyone loved Hercules even though he acted like a bunghole most of the time. Unfortunately, Zeus' children have to contend with Hera's jealousy.
Storms, Charm

Hera: Mrs. Uptight and Righteous is not the kind to step out with anyone but Zeus, probably because she is obsessed with appearances. If she does have illegitimate children they are probably monsters.

Poseidon: Well, that's Percy, right?
Water dwellers and elementals, horses

Demeter: She was a very passive goddess, but being a Fertility goddess, if a seed got planted it probably grew. Her daughter Persephone was depicted as having flowers bloom as she walked. I'd imagine her sons are much like buck rabbits. Imagine the child support payments if every time you get romantic your girlfriend gets pregnant.
Plants, Farmers and gardeners.

Hestia: Perpetual virginity means never having to say you're sorry.

Hades: While not the sort to act frivolously, even Hades succumbed to the temptation od Persephone, so it's entirely possible he had a few mistresses along the way. Secrecy and plots are his thing, so his children, (Murder is among his offspring,) will tend to be manipulative, domineering, and controlling.
Darkness, Death, Torment

Apollo: Before he stole the sun he was a shepherd and musician. His children would tend towards beautiful with golden hair.As the father of the Muses, he is patron of the arts.
Music, Beauty, Art

Hermes: Typically considered a thief nowadays, in his time he was considered crafty and clever, having taught a turtle to sing to earn his godhood. However, his only real theft was of Apollo's sacred cows and he only did that as a display, giving them back once he attained godhood, but Apollo got the first lute, strung over a turtle shell. No door bars him because he is the messenger of Zeus, not because he is a lock picker. Though, leave him alone with a lock and a good reason and he'll figure it out. Cleverness, not intelligence, is his thing.
Luck, Charm, Travel

Vulcan: Poor guy works 24/7. He married Venus, but never leaves the workshop. His "children" are mechanical women he built to serve him as helpers. Of course, one might not know it's mechanical if he had a reason to allow it out of the Mt. Versuvius Iron Works.
Crafts and craftsmen, creation

Ares: Unfortunately this god is prone to taking the spoils of his campaigns, and many unwilling females very likely bore his children. Females would tend to sadism, males to brutality. Both types would tend to cowardice.
Strategy, Competition, Fear, Skill at arms.

Athena: Permanent virginity kind of gets in the way of having children, aside from those who are removed from an opened skull. In which case, they would be Athena Jr, not half human. But I'm told Athena has a daughter in the books.
Spiders and weavers, Philosophers, Intelligence, Tactics

Dionysus: Hard to kill a guy who regrows from his roots. This god probably has more children than any other. Live for fun now, regret later is his motto, and fun always comes with regrets.
Wine, Dance, Hedonism, Passion


I'd pick one trait and one domain each. For example, a daughter of Ares might excel at arms and be a Strategist, while a son might be a bully who excels at creating fear. Or the other way around. Of course, exact domains available could be listed and each player would choose one, but I'd let them know the domain powers and spells only after they have chosen to circumvent minmaxers.

[LordDeath666]

I plan on having the primal gods too

[gooddragon1]

Idea for demeter:

Druid Spell - Entangle (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/entangle.htm)
The pathfinder equivalent anyways. Have the check scale with HD and more importantly it doesn't require any plants to be in the area (or even for the area to be hospitable to plant life).

[aimlessPolymath]

How high level do you expect the players to get? Gods should be a few levels higher than the players.

For statting them out, I dug through my bookmarks to find some classes that should fit:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?306621-So-you-want-to-play-a-god-(3-5-Base-Class-PEACH)
The easy way. This is very "gods as PC-level", and is probably pretty well balanced with equivalent characters. It translates easily and directly into normal characters.

http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=7008.0 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?306621-So-you-want-to-play-a-god-(3-5-Base-Class-PEACH))
Fair warning, this is probably ridiculous. Like, there is some really powerful stuff here, such as Salient Divine abilities, maneuvers in a custom school that goes up to 10th level maneuvers, and a third talent method. It's intentionally emulating Deities and Demigods, and that's not necessarily a good thing. There's also a particular attitude towards gods implied in the maneuvers.
Warning given.

Edit:
Wow, I really misread the prompt here, sorry.
Well, the simplest way to give demigods abilities in an extensible way is to grant them access to their parent's domains in some fashion. This is easiest to do in Pathfinder, where you get a wide variety of domain abilities & spells, mysteries, witch patrons, etc to choose from.
Maybe:
At 1st level, choose a patron, mystery, or domain.
You get the spells from that source at a regular progression.
Ex:
1st level: 1st level spell 1/day
3rd level: 1st and 2nd level spells, 1/day each
(4th level: Choose a special ability from a domain or mystery)
5th level: 1st level spell 2/day, 2nd and 3rd level spells 1/day each
etc.

Bloodlines (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?192154-Half-Blood-Bloodline) are another good way to handle this, and lets you balance somewhat between demigods of "strong" and "weak" deities- one has a stronger bloodline, but a lower level due to having to take more bloodline levels.

[LordDeath666]

How high level do you expect the players to get? Gods should be a few levels higher than the players.

For statting them out, I dug through my bookmarks to find some classes that should fit:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?306621-So-you-want-to-play-a-god-(3-5-Base-Class-PEACH)
The easy way. This is very "gods as PC-level", and is probably pretty well balanced with equivalent characters. It translates easily and directly into normal characters.

http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=7008.0 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?306621-So-you-want-to-play-a-god-(3-5-Base-Class-PEACH))
Fair warning, this is probably ridiculous. Like, there is some really powerful stuff here, such as Salient Divine abilities, maneuvers in a custom school that goes up to 10th level maneuvers, and a third talent method. It's intentionally emulating Deities and Demigods, and that's not necessarily a good thing. There's also a particular attitude towards gods implied in the maneuvers.
Warning given.

only issue is that I plan on having gods and demigods as a class