afroakuma's Planar And Other Oddities Questions Thread VIII

[Fable Wright]

Doresain was a boss in the "Kingdom of the Ghouls" adventure (Dungeon #70)
It's the ultimate proof he wasn't a deity back then: in the 2E, even the weakest deity in the game could wipe the floor with a party of arbitrary high level and numbers

I believe Libris Mortis had the full story of Doresain. Long story short, he ascended after that adventure. He's a demigod now.

As you mentioned below, "doesn't ≠ couldn't"
But let me point also: people who worship Lady on the Planes getting their spells just fine...

There are no people who worship the Lady of Pain on the planes. There are a few flayed corpses lying around from people who tried, though. Her reach is not limited to Sigil.

Just because we unaware of her portfolio, it doesn't mean she don't have one


This part always was inconsistent:
Who the heck worships Elemental deities? Yet they're not just don't starving, but, actually, among the strongest...
Deities such as Gorellik and Ramenos are practically not worshiped at all. While neither of them are "fine", they're still not "starved to death" yet...
Orcus managed to be a deity with just one worshiper (Quah-Nomag)!
Also, if lack of worshipers makes deities weaker, then why Tharizdun is still the strongest god ever? And why Doresain isn't Overgod yet - with his untold billions of worshipers?
Let alone the Mythos deities...

First—canonically, per Libris Mortis, most of Doresain's worship gets stolen by Yeenoghu, IIRC, and not all ghouls worship him. Also, the prayers of undead are weaker, at least according to what I remember of afrocanon, than those of living souls. What with, you know. Their souls not entirely being in it.
Second—there are entities that are powerful in their own right that become gods. Demon princes ascend to godhood and are no less powerful for low numbers of worshippers. This may be the case of the Elemental deities and was definitely the case with Orcus. Or they might just get a tithe of all worship thanking the gods for the elements. It's unclear. This can cause a god with almost no worship to be stronger than deities with stronger worship, based on preexisting power.
Third—We don't know what Tharizdun is exactly. It could be something beyond a god that can only be understood in terms of deific power. He does not come from the same cloth as other gods, as anyone else should have starved by now for lack of worship. I find it possible that Tharizdun and the Lady of Pain could be the same kind of entity. But it should be emphasized Tharizdun is very, very different beast than a normal deity. We categorize him as a god because he can grant spells and has power that can dwarf divine abilities without worship. The Lady has the latter, and we don't know about the former.

If you want to do a campaign on the Lady being a deity, or... whatever Tharizdun is? Great! But canonically, none of the Factions in Planescape would dare consider her a deity. That's just the canon stance for the time being.