What Happens When You Eat A God?

[Leliel]

Situation: Let's say you, a PC, are a tribesman. Your party has accomplished the impossible, and killed Venca(permanently). You decide, being a good guy, decide to give him a funeral in your tribe's tradition. That would be fine, and is, except your particular tribes funerary rites happen to involve cannibalism, so as to return the deceased soul to the living (Yes, there are actual practices like that in real life).

So, aside from being put on the top of the bateezu's hit list-and moved an equal number of steps up the celestial's "protect" list (they realize you were honoring a fallen foe, plus, its nice to see Venca get his comeuppance)-and indigestion("Man, Bob, that is an evil bit of bone marrow!"), what would happen to you?

Aside from exploding from the amount of power contained in Venca's body and/or his divine wrath or otherwise dieing (thats just too simple a plot hook), becoming possesed by his less-than-happy spirit (I say that dead-is-dead for a deity), or changing your alignment (you become evil by choice, no matter what stupid Taint rules say, and "honoring a foe" is not an evil action),
you are allowed to make any consequences you desire, barring those.

Let's Begin.

[Solo]

Heartburn?

[Alleine]

Well, in general I'd say that after eating a god you get a really good nap. I'd imagine that gods tend to be pretty tasty, and everyone loves a good nap after a big meal.

With Vecna, I'd say you all get indigestion, whoops, you said aside from that. Dang.

Probably some form of a curse, or special knowledge because of a lingering divine power left in his body(god of secrets and all that jazz). Maybe gaining a small portion of his powers, like REALLY small. No sense in having a village of mini Vecnas running around.

[bugsysservant]

Well, Vecna is an ancient lich, so I imagine that anything that applies to beef jerky applies to him.

In practical terms, I would rule that you never need to eat again. Deities have divine power right? And if you metabolize that divine power it should either be used to energize your body, or...pass through your system. A body nourished by divine energy should therefore never need to eat again.

[Fiery Justice]

Remains of power if god-flesh is power-bearing, undead may randomly start obeying you, or they may crumble in your presence as you destroyed the master undead. Since you and your fellow tribesmen were probably already fairly powerful (having killed a deity with a CR of at least 30.), you can probably bet that your powerful enough to kill any undead. Or maybe not, maybe someone has the Sword of Kas and is now delivering it to possess you, maybe someone is angling for the god power you've taken.

[Machete]

You lose your sense of taste, then horrible gas, then a stomach ache, then constipation and maybe you gain an eldritch blast from your... mouth for 1d6 points -1 per every day passed for a week (minimum 1 damage applies) then you are fine.

[....]

Uh, all the other gods hunt you down and take you out, since you just managed to kill and eat a major deity and who knows if you decided gods are like potatoe chips and you can't have just one.

[InkEyes]

Well since Vecna has been dead for quite a while now I'd say all the edible flesh has rotten off him. If I had to eat any god I'd go for something a little meatier. Kord, maybe?

[Fax Celestis]

...you've read Goats, haven't you?

For the uninitiated, one of the main characters tricks God into turning himself into a pork chop, and then consumes him.

[Stormcrow]

Is there a Vecna-Blooded template in MM5?

[Fax Celestis]

Is there a Vecna-Blooded template in MM5?

Yup. Pg 66.

[Raven T.]

Since someone mentioned secrets (where is my mind some days?), I'd say those that consume him would suffer from sudden fits of madness from the sheer magnitude of what they know. Force a Will save or be catatonic for d10 rounds whenever you feel like it (but don't abuse it.)

[Leon]

Jugged God

[Belteshazzar]

Isn't Venneca rather ... Bony? How exactly does one consume an enemy whose physiology stopped being edible hundreds of years ago? Does one grind his bones to make ones bread?

As a side note you did remember to dispose of his phylactery, right? If not you will soon be the father of the worlds most powerful waste product as he is still a litch despite also being a deity.

[Donovan]

If memory serves, when you kill a god you get at least one divine rank so at that point you would be a god, or at least a godling. So after snacking on Vecna, I would think you would probably get a power portfolio or something along those lines; maybe tribes and cannibalism.

[Stormcrow]

Since someone mentioned secrets (where is my mind some days?), I'd say those that consume him would suffer from sudden fits of madness from the sheer magnitude of what they know. Force a Will save or be catatonic for d10 rounds whenever you feel like it (but don't abuse it.)

I'd go one further and have them wake up with knowledge they didn't have before.

[Starbuck_II]

Isn't Venneca rather ... Bony? How exactly does one consume an enemy whose physiology stopped being edible hundreds of years ago? Does one grind his bones to make ones bread?

As a side note you did remember to dispose of his phylactery, right? If not you will soon be the father of the worlds most powerful waste product as he is still a litch despite also being a deity.

Dude, you've never eaten bones before have you? Just cook it enough and you can eat bones.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

The marrow is especially good.

[DraPrime]

Oh man, I just had the image of how big a deuce that would make. Anyway, onto more mature subjects I'm guessing that the god has the possibility of controlling whoever ate it, since they are immortal.

[Leliel]

Yes, it is possible to eat marrow (as I specifically said in my post).

And yes, I did say "permanently" kill him.

[Raolin_Fenix]

Fort save or be immediately slain. I know you said to avoid this, but it should be done anyway. The DC shouldn't be too high -- DC 20 or so, which is easily makeable at any level with which you'd be killing a god.

On a successful save, you're still nauseated, probably for like a week. After that, I would consider giving freebie Warlock invocations, as you pretty much consumed a bottomless source of energy.

And finally, if you rolled a natural 20 on your save, you seize his divine spark and ascend to demigodhood. Get enough worshippers, maybe you'll attain real godhood.

[Tallis]

I could easily imagine them becoming immortal, possibly with divine ranks. If they do gain divine ranks they'd probably also gain Vecna's portfolio. Stat increases are possible (probably int or wis in this case). The could slowly transform into liches themselves, maybe becoming sorcerers. Clairaudience/clairvoyance as spell like abilities? Telepathy? Permanent non-detection, mind-shielding or undetectable alignment? Spell Resistance? Bardic lore as a natural ability? There are any number of powers they might get.
On the bad side, 1000 year old flesh is probably not all that good for you in large doses. They could be poisoned, cursed, gain an evil aura, detect as undead, or gain a permanent hunger for flesh. They could go mad from the power and knowledge. Maybe the power sometimes erypts from them in an eldritch blast, but they have no control over it, making them dangerous to be arround. Undead might home in on them from miles away, sensing their presence.
They've certainly got the attention of the other gods, who may or may not be too happy about the situation. Mortal power-players and demons might hunt them down thinking to take the power from them, whether they actually have it or not.
Their life should get a lot more interesting in any case. Though I suppose if they just killed a god it was probably pretty interesting before.

[joe]

http://nuklearpower.com/redmage37.php

Last question on the page (and yea, I'm the same Joe)

[Citizen Joe]

I seem to recall that the Githyanki Lich Queen consumes dead gods that are floating around in the astral plane. They are planetoid sized objects there. I can only presume you defeated an avatar of Vecna. So, either it is WAY bigger than you could possibly eat, or it is simply some corpse that Vecna inhabited. In either case, all you get is bragging rights.

[AtomicKitKat]

Just to nip it in the bud. It will not taste like chicken. Stuff only tastes like chicken if you boil it in chicken stock, or pour chicken broth over it, or drop chicken cubes in the soup, etc.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Just to nip it in the bud. It will not taste like chicken. Stuff only tastes like chicken if you boil it in chicken stock, or pour chicken broth over it, or drop chicken cubes in the soup, etc.

What? You can't do that with Vecna's tasty tasty...bones?


In any case I'm most curious about how you've IRREVOCABLY killed Vecna...just saying cause big evil guys like him have a distinct habit of coming back to life from sheer will alone (take Orcus for example, and he's only a demon prince). I'd be on the look out for Vecnites and Vecna himself if the campaign continues for much longer...

In any case I'd say you temporarily gain certain powers or abilities (Evil and Knowledge related) until....well until you pass Vecna...which might make for a hilarious little scene if what you ate grows into a full on or even mini-verison by the time you need to empty the payload so to speak.

[gaymer_seattle]

Despite all the whimpering about whether or not you can permanently kill a god (if the DM says you can, then you can) here is a list of things that seem plausible

- You become undead (probably a lich, but maybe something else)
- You gain some undead traits (No CON score, some immunity, immortality etc etc)
- You gain divine ranks (I don't know what these are but someone said it earlier)
- You gain divine qualities (God's and Outsiders recognize you, you gain godly knowledge or senses)
- You move to the top of Vecna's followers most wanted list (because actions have consequences)
- You move to the top of other deities' most wanted list (because god's don't like god-slayers)
- Maybe nothing at all (because the universe is funny like that)

Things not likely to happen
- Possession (I think the DM should be forthright about the possibilities of god-ghosts. I think Dead is Dead for a god, unless somehow resurrected. Wouldn't that suck too. Be stuck in a realm of a rival god with no power at all. Eap! Karmic retribution is +20, keen and vorpal for dead gods)
- Alignment change (because alignment should be a matter of moral and ethical choices. Killing is not good. Killing a bad god is an acceptable not good. eating remains of said god, icky, but acceptable as a cultural process)
- Godhood of any kind (Unless the DM wants to open that can of frostworms)

[Telonius]

Eventually, Holy Sh**.

[Yakk]

Thoughts:

1> You never eat or drink again. Anything you eat, you throw up. You feel hunger and thirst, but you cannot keep anything down. As the days go on, you gain a sickly pallor, as your flesh dries out and your muscles shrivel up. This does not change your stats in any way, but it can result in people reacting to you funny. Any charisma bonuses become sufficient to overcome your unearthly appearance, unless the being you are interacting with is behind a protection from evil type spell.

2> When you die, you come back as undead. If you die as undead, you come back as a ghost. Each time you get a bit more crazy. You don't get to die anymore.

3> Cast a up to 1/2 character level as Sorcerer. This does not add to existing Sorcerer levels, but rather provides an additional pool of spells known and spells/day. Occasionally these spells go off without your will or action.

4> Detect as Evil, and held back by Protection from Evil spells, and can be Smited as Evil, etc.

5> On a 20 on any Knowledge skill roll, go mad for 1d6 rounds, then make a will save against (20, +2 for every bout of madness in the last week) or stay mad for 1d6 days, then make another will save at the same DC. On the plus side, you come out of the madness knowing what you wanted.

6> Lose your constitution score. Use your charisma to modify your HP and Fort save.

7> You no longer have any natural healing. Cure spells harm you. Harm spells heal you.

[Roderick_BR]

First thing: Ewww....

Okay, with it out of the way... Maybe give them a half-fiend template? Them, as it was suggested, some form of evocation.
Although I wonder how one kills a god, short of being at least epic level...

And this thread made me remember the Marvel Zombies short series...

Spoiler

Show

Basically, a "zombie" virus spreads through one of the alternative Marvel universes (it started as a story of the Fantastics Four in the Ultimate comics).
All "edible" beings are eaten, or turned into zombies (that they say to taste horribly). At one point, Galactus arrives, and a group of zombies manage to eat the Silver Surfer (!) making them gain a small version of his powers (flight, energy beans, some degree of invulnerability), and they finally take on Galactus himself, and ate him(!!). After that, they take over his space ship, and start to travel through the universe, as the "devourers of worlds".