How to play a demigod PC

[HamsterKun]

I recently had the idea of making a PC who (unbeknownst to him) is the son of Lathander (https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Lathander). How would I set up his racial traits, and should it be an entirely different race or a tag of sorts to their mortal parent’s race (i.e. Race: Human, Demigod)?

One of the ideas I had was that they gain access to domain spells based on their deity regardless of their class, but the trick is balancing that.

[darknite]

Balance? With a demigod? I don't get it. Is your DM on board with this?

[HamsterKun]

Balance? With a demigod? I don't get it. Is your DM on board with this?

Oh, he’s cool with it, so long as it doesn’t break the game (or the story).

And besides, it can be used as a plot device like Star-Lord from GotG.

[Brookshw]

My immediate hesitation is that I don't know what the rest of the party looks like, so it's not easy to propose something that would also be balanced for them. In previous editions, Demigods received lots of benefits such as stat bonuses, max hp every level, etc.

Without knowing anything about the balance of the party and what everyone else is going to get I'd recommend using an Eladrin and maybe fluff in some Aasimar, glowing eyes when hyped up or something.

[Sirithhyando]

Mechanically, Aasimar divine soul sorcerer. And roll for stats and hope for your best rolls ever (all stat at 16-18... that's pretty much god-like)

The rest would be from RP.

If your DM is on board with this, maybe take a ribbon ability from the sorcerer and switch it for divine health from the paladin. Small tweak but could empowered a little more your divine self.

[darknite]

There are so many levels to take this.

The baseline would be to just play an aasimar. But you said Demigod, which implies a lot of divine energy has been imbued to your character. I would work with your DM to determine how that would balance with respect to their world and the other PCs. Next step up would be to start as a Divine Soul Sorcerer aasimar. In my world you'd start this way and then have to engage in a series of quests to unlock the potential of your heritage, provided you prove worthy.

[Kintar]

The DM is one thing, how do the other players feel about it.

"Hey, I'm a folk hero cause I killed a single kobold I found in the sewers, and from that day on I just knew I wanted to be a fighter. I got together with my rascally urchin friend, Maya...she's always stealing farmer Joe's oranges. We met Jimmy, he just finished his first year or seminary school, so hopefully he can keep us healthy. And oh, ya...were stuck travelling around with Adonis, coffelock demi-god son of Lathander, who's annoyed that we agreed to help the village against a small tribe of goblins, and says we should follow him to slay Acerak...since we 'got the time'"

[HamsterKun]

Look, allow me to make this clear, I am NOT making this character a Mary Sue of any sorts. Maybe it’s one of those things that’s cool in theory but busted in practice :P

[Particle_Man]

Aasimar wild mage sorcerer and have the dm make you roll for the surge every single time you cast a spell. Having all that power and controlling it are two different things. :smallsmile:

[Kintar]

Look, allow me to make this clear, I am NOT making this character a Mary Sue of any sorts. Maybe it’s one of those things that’s cool in theory but busted in practice :P

I'm sure you don't intend to, but you gotta understand that thinking to Homebrew a class like a fighter to then receive domain spells at the rate of a cleric, would inerrantly lean to the desire of making a Mary Sue.

It's one of those things that's cool in a novel, but horrendous in a team cooperative game. Of course, if your game is everyone's a demigod, then it's all good.

[Millstone85]

Have you ever played the Baldur's Gate video games?

The main character is a child of Bhaal (no, it is not much of a spoiler). S/he can be whatever race and class you choose, just with additional spells to cast once or twice per day. That being said, many recruitable companions also have features beyond what their race and class would normally allow.

The time when the main character felt most divine, IMO, was in the last game, Throne of Bhaal, where they get their own demiplane, complete with a sassy imp butler named Cespenar. It is a great place to retreat to, though it doubles as a dungeon where the main character is confronted by their inner demons, manisfesting as many things, including literal demons. This is something the whole group could have fun with.

[HamsterKun]

I'm sure you don't intend to, but you gotta understand that thinking to Homebrew a class like a fighter to then receive domain spells at the rate of a cleric, would inerrantly lean to the desire of making a Mary Sue.

It's one of those things that's cool in a novel, but horrendous in a team cooperative game. Of course, if your game is everyone's a demigod, then it's all good.

But there’s always the idea where his powers as semidivine don’t awaken until very late into the campaign as an 11th-hour superpower (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EleventhHourSuperpower) of sorts. It’s just a matter of avoiding making it a deus ex machina.

[Brookshw]

Look, allow me to make this clear, I am NOT making this character a Mary Sue of any sorts. Maybe it’s one of those things that’s cool in theory but busted in practice :P

Didn't think you were. It's just that without more context it's impossible to suggest something that might be balanced with the rest of the party. Not busted in practice, but you might need to work directly with your DM to figure out an appropriate ability level in contrast to the rest of the players before anyone can give detailed practical advise on what might be good for fluff or crunch.

[moonfly7]

You should be fine, just don't give yourself mechanical benefits or it will be broken. Be an aasimar or a human, and mostly fluff stuff. Maybe ask the DM to make you a custom cantrip you can take in place of light if you go aasimar. Assimar divine soul sorcerer has been played as demigods many times to great affect. Just do that.

[HamsterKun]

You should be fine, just don't give yourself mechanical benefits or it will be broken. Be an aasimar or a human, and mostly fluff stuff. Maybe ask the DM to make you a custom cantrip you can take in place of light if you go aasimar. Assimar divine soul sorcerer has been played as demigods many times to great affect. Just do that.

Thanks. :smile:

[Damon_Tor]

A while ago I had a PC in my campaigns who discovered he was the son of a God.

How we handled this mechanically was that the powers of a god were incompatible with mortality: he only manifested them when near death, and in manifesting them drew himself even closer to death, making it a very risky choice.

It worked like this:

When the PC's hitpoints hit zero he could choose not to fall unconscious, instead activating his divine powers. This is a visually obvious, impressive transformation.
This gives him a CHA score of 24 and could cast spells as if he had gained a number of sorcerer levels equal to his current character levels, so he would gain many more spells known, spell slots, and sorcery points. His sorcerer class features also advanced accordingly, though his hitpoints and proficiency bonus did not change, nor did he gain any ASI. Spellcasting beyond 20th level was possible in this way, gaining additional 6th, 7th, 8th and eventually even 9th level slots.
At any time he can release this divine energy and choose fall unconscious, at which point he becomes and ordinary character with 0 hitpoints.
If at any point his hitpoints become greater than zero this state ends (though he could keep concentrating on a spell he cast during his demigod state).
At the end of his turn, if he's still manifesting these powers, instead of rolling a death save he accumulates an automatic death save failure. (Taking damage in this form also results in failed saves accumulating as normal)



So at level 12 he was a Paladin 7 Sorcerer 5, but when he dropped to zero hitpoints he could become a Paladin 7 Sorcerer 17 in terms of spellcasting. This made him tremendously powerful, but it was also very easy for him to die. Eventually he did wind up killing himself doing this, trying to get more than one turn out of his demigod form meant that he auto-failed a save, and his obvious increase in power made him a target for the enemies, so after they hit him twice he went down for good. After his death he ascended to his father's divine realm where he became a lesser God, and though the PC had to roll up a new character, his old PC would make cameos in his new divine role from time to time.