Inanimate Object As A Deity

[Bartmanhomer]

Is it possible to use an inanimate object (such as a chair) as a deity? I know this sounds very silly. LOL!

[Malphegor]

Hm. That’s basically animism but confined to a single object.

Perhaps the worship of it involves fetishism- you build copies of the God-Who-Is-A-Chair (Gwiac) in the hope of attributes that Gwiac has being granted by the fetish?

Now whether Gwiac is an actual god or not is probably meaningless for d&d- if people worship it and the clerics get powers, then is it really not a god? (in practice it’s probably more like a binder’s vestige formed from the collective belief in the divinity of this chair)

(I’m also reminded that Titania’s throne got statted out as a creature in one of the fairy focused web articles)

[RedMage125]

Look into the 5e lore on Kuo-Toa. They do this.

[unseenmage]

Spirit realm from Manual of the Planes could be of interest.

[Bohandas]

Check out the movie Beneath the Planet of the Apes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BfmPdut2x4)

[RatElemental]

I like to make philosophy clerics who misattribute their clerical gifts as coming from some source that isn't actually a god. Made a villain once who deified himself that way and thought he was meant for greater things when he started getting spells.

I figure it could work for a chair. Maybe a god of madness is so amused by the character's delusions that he grants them magic just to see what they do with it?

[Afghanistan]

It depends on what domains the chair would grant. If it grants any of these domains:

Planning (planning how to make the best chairs)
Spells or Magic (spells to conjure forth the mightiest of chairs)
destiny (the destiny to find the comfiest of chairs)
family (for family gatherings)
Undeath (to sit with the coolest of undead)
Time (to sit down and relax)
Fate (for the fated day you take your seat in a chair)


It might have an unusual amount of worshipers. Iä! Iä! Chairthulhu fhtagn! Ph'nglui mglw'nfah Chairthulhu Real-e'yeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

Jokes aside, I believe you can worship whatever you please as long as your DM is okay with it.

[RatElemental]

clearly the chair's domains would be stability, strength, wood, comfort and law.

[NNescio]

So a literal cargo cult, eh?

Forgotten Realms had one in Chessenta. Cult of Entropy. They worship a giant sphere of annihilation. Of course they later retconned it in 4E saying that they actually worship some "primordial" literally called Entropy that was trapped in the SoA... but let's go with 3.5e canon and pretend that didn't happen.

Also on OOTS-verse, we have Banjo and Giggles.

[ThanatosZero]

That reminds me of Alundra.
Within the setting, there were the Gazeck, giant stone statues crafted by humanity. They came to life as the humans began to pray to them. Before long, the Gazeck became greedy, and desired all of humanity's worship from themselves and thus a war began.
As humans began to turn away from them, so even fell the remaining Gazeck immobile and eventually lifeless again.

[unseenmage]

There are several Constructs in 3.x and PF whose fluff is that they were originally statues which recieved enough worship to become divinely powered Constructs.

The PF one even runs its own brainwashed cult iirc.

[False God]

There's nothing stopping anyone from worshipping a chair(or other object), chairs in general, or the Ideal Chair. Though strictly speaking, any object of worship that is not capable of granting spells can't ya know, be your deity for a cleric or a druid since they can't grant you spells. Unless of course, your DM says you can.

The Great Chair may be an extension of some crafting god, or be a member of the Housewares pantheon. Depending on what kind of chair you worship can determine your domains, table? rocking? lay-z-boy? stool (trickery domain ofc, 'cause a stool isn't really a chair)?

[Braininthejar2]

or it coul've started as a living creature.

You could apply the "psychic sandwich" thing to a creature with divine ranks...

[Quentinas]

See in Elder Evils within one of the last elder evils (that one with the planetar which become evil) in that it is said that one could venerate even a mountain if one want if i remember well

[ShurikVch]

Is it possible to use an inanimate object (such as a chair) as a deity? I know this sounds very silly. LOL!Well, the "Leveled Treasures" article in Dragon #289 allow items to take levels too; at 20th-30th levels, take the Demigod epic destiny (http://web.archive.org/web/20090602015028/https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080428). Done!

Also, a chair? What's it, an idol of Chairface Chippendale (https://tick.fandom.com/wiki/Chairface_Chippendale)?

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/tick/images/8/82/ChairfaceChairDiamond.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/310?cb=20130223212439

[NontheistCleric]

Though strictly speaking, any object of worship that is not capable of granting spells can't ya know, be your deity for a cleric or a druid since they can't grant you spells.

Just wanted to point out that in general, druids do not get their spells from deities.


See in Elder Evils within one of the last elder evils (that one with the planetar which become evil) in that it is said that one could venerate even a mountain if one want if i remember well

That doesn't necessarily make the mountain a deity, though. The book also says a cleric could venerate himself, but that wouldn't instantly elevate the cleric to godhood.

[Particle_Man]

You might want to look at the Sapphire Hierarch prestige class in Magic of Incarnum. They venerate a giant solid sphere of incarnum (composed of lawful soul energy) that is a talking prognosticating computer. So is that animate or inanimate? The Sapphire Hierarchs avoid worship of gods but must have the Law domain. I love these guys.

[Bohandas]

You might want to look at the Sapphire Hierarch prestige class in Magic of Incarnum. They venerate a giant solid sphere of incarnum (composed of lawful soul energy) that is a talking prognosticating computer. So is that animate or inanimate? The Sapphire Hierarchs avoid worship of gods but must have the Law domain. I love these guys.

If its made of soul bits I'd say its animate

[Telonius]

The Becoming God (Faiths of Eberron) has some things in common with this idea.

[Evil DM Mark3]

If I recall one of the few things 3.5 didn't publish a slap book on was furnature, or comparative metaphysics. I think "who gets to grant spells" and its overlap with "deities" is one of those setting specific things...