Ecology of the Deva
ppaladin123
Adventurer
The connection between primal spirits and deva reincarnation was interesting. I liked the section on what happens between a deva's incarnations. Some of them apparently commune with shamans and druids and continue to influence events in spirit form.
The first thing I thought of was a shaman whose spirit companion is a deva rather than a bear or panther or some animal. The shaman would basically have a spectral warrior that protects him and offers him guidance.
Alternatively, if the shaman is a deva he could simply be projecting a phantasm of one of his previous incarnations. Essentially he'd be manifesting a fragment of his own personality.
I also saw connection to Neil Gaiman's The Endless in the cycle of reincarnation. Each deva, if killed, is reformed with a new body, new personality, new appearance, etc. It is the same being but a different aspect of its personality and nature is manifesting as dominant in this particular incarnation. The other aspects are still there, they have simply become secondary.
Mechanically, battle insight is a great feat for orb wizards, clerics, invokers and retribution avengers. Retribution avengers in particular will love it since it erases one of the advantages that censure of pursuit has over censure of retribution.
The first thing I thought of was a shaman whose spirit companion is a deva rather than a bear or panther or some animal. The shaman would basically have a spectral warrior that protects him and offers him guidance.
Alternatively, if the shaman is a deva he could simply be projecting a phantasm of one of his previous incarnations. Essentially he'd be manifesting a fragment of his own personality.
I also saw connection to Neil Gaiman's The Endless in the cycle of reincarnation. Each deva, if killed, is reformed with a new body, new personality, new appearance, etc. It is the same being but a different aspect of its personality and nature is manifesting as dominant in this particular incarnation. The other aspects are still there, they have simply become secondary.
Mechanically, battle insight is a great feat for orb wizards, clerics, invokers and retribution avengers. Retribution avengers in particular will love it since it erases one of the advantages that censure of pursuit has over censure of retribution.
This was exceedingly cool, if only because it's about time somebody quoted the Buddha in a D&D work. 
This bit intrigues me though:
Is this spirit realm supposed to be the Feywild? Or something different? A part of the 4E cosmology that hasn't been seen until now?
This bit intrigues me though:
Whatever the case with the body, a deva’s soul doesn’t go to the Shadowfell like the souls of other mortals do. Instead, the soul stays in the world where it is bound by the ancient primal pact. The soul undergoes the “bodiless dreaming,” as devas call the period between incarnations. During this time, the soul wanders the spirit realm of the world, and some claim it experiences up to an entire lifetime in that ephemeral region of time and space. What the soul does in the spirit realm is a mystery, but the few revelations that exist suggest that the deva acts as a powerful ancestor spirit and caretaker of the world even in this in-between space.
Is this spirit realm supposed to be the Feywild? Or something different? A part of the 4E cosmology that hasn't been seen until now?
Mustrum_Ridcully
Hero
Somehow I have the idea of the party encountering the rebirth of a Deva during their travels, a flash of radiance, accomponied by thunder and lightning, and a Deva appears. (Maybe in a similar posture as the Terminator? )
But I have yet to figure out what's his or her story is...
- Maybe she is a redeemed Rakasha?
- Did he die shortly before, fighting a villain the PCs are looking for to, and his "birth place" was selected to enable him to fulfill his previous life destiny?
)But I have yet to figure out what's his or her story is...
- Maybe she is a redeemed Rakasha?
- Did he die shortly before, fighting a villain the PCs are looking for to, and his "birth place" was selected to enable him to fulfill his previous life destiny?
Mustrum_Ridcully
Hero
That was brilliant and very fitting, but it might have been even better if they had quoted the Dalai Lama, since the belief says that he is still reincarnated.This was exceedingly cool, if only because it's about time somebody quoted the Buddha in a D&D work.
This reminds me of another idea... A further plane or realm, the "Dreamspace" (Psions refer to it as Mindscape). Parallel to every other plane, it is the place of our subconscious thoughts, a place we can only remember from our dreams...
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ppaladin123
Adventurer
This was exceedingly cool, if only because it's about time somebody quoted the Buddha in a D&D work.
This bit intrigues me though:Whatever the case with the body, a deva’s soul doesn’t go to the Shadowfell like the souls of other mortals do. Instead, the soul stays in the world where it is bound by the ancient primal pact. The soul undergoes the “bodiless dreaming,” as devas call the period between incarnations. During this time, the soul wanders the spirit realm of the world, and some claim it experiences up to an entire lifetime in that ephemeral region of time and space. What the soul does in the spirit realm is a mystery, but the few revelations that exist suggest that the deva acts as a powerful ancestor spirit and caretaker of the world even in this in-between space.Is this spirit realm supposed to be the Feywild? Or something different? A part of the 4E cosmology that hasn't been seen until now?
I think it is the same place that the world serpent and the great bear reside. It doesn't seem to be a defined plane in the 4e cosmology.
Hellzon
First Post
Somehow I have the idea of the party encountering the rebirth of a Deva during their travels, a flash of radiance, accomponied by thunder and lightning, and a Deva appears. (Maybe in a similar posture as the Terminator?
"Your clothes... give them to me, now."
FireLance
Legend
Maybe they thaw out a deva bard who was frozen in an iceberg, and discover that they must help him multiclass to invoker, warden and sorcerer before achieving his epic destiny as a primal avatar.Somehow I have the idea of the party encountering the rebirth of a Deva during their travels, a flash of radiance, accomponied by thunder and lightning, and a Deva appears. (Maybe in a similar posture as the Terminator?
But I have yet to figure out what's his or her story is...
One of my players wanted to switch his dragonborn wizard to a deva invoker. They are in a campaign set about 10 years after the godswar (spellplague+ in my version) in the Forgotten Realms. I set it in that time period for two reasons:
1. The godswar isn't over, and it gives me chances to involve the PCs if they want to be.
2. With two panteons fighting, and the death of several gods actually happening on the planet, it gives me the excuse of new powers appearing, and new races. Each side brought races and powers with them never before seen. The planes are now much closer together. Devas were unknown, anyone dealing with spirits was generally regarded as a faker, no such thing as invokers and avengers.
So, yesterday, we played for the first time in some time. They went through a portal (the campaign is supposed to be like stargate, with magical portals instead of ships), and the wizard came out looking like a deva. One player role played it something like you'd expect, not completely trusting him. I've told the player that he may have trouble recalling his past experiences (we are playing him like he is the same person, but different). The eladrin of Feywild referred to him as a reborn, and didn't seem happy to see him/it. (of course, this is before I see this article, we'll see what I think after reading it).
so, in my world, the Deva suddenly have appeared. No one knows who/what they are, or their purpose, not even them yet. Invokers and avengers are beginning to appear, and the shamans and druids are actually able to work with spirits now. We'll see where this goes (I have some outiline ideas, but we'll see which way the players take it), but it will be interesting when they return to their military base with a completely different being...
1. The godswar isn't over, and it gives me chances to involve the PCs if they want to be.
2. With two panteons fighting, and the death of several gods actually happening on the planet, it gives me the excuse of new powers appearing, and new races. Each side brought races and powers with them never before seen. The planes are now much closer together. Devas were unknown, anyone dealing with spirits was generally regarded as a faker, no such thing as invokers and avengers.
So, yesterday, we played for the first time in some time. They went through a portal (the campaign is supposed to be like stargate, with magical portals instead of ships), and the wizard came out looking like a deva. One player role played it something like you'd expect, not completely trusting him. I've told the player that he may have trouble recalling his past experiences (we are playing him like he is the same person, but different). The eladrin of Feywild referred to him as a reborn, and didn't seem happy to see him/it. (of course, this is before I see this article, we'll see what I think after reading it).
so, in my world, the Deva suddenly have appeared. No one knows who/what they are, or their purpose, not even them yet. Invokers and avengers are beginning to appear, and the shamans and druids are actually able to work with spirits now. We'll see where this goes (I have some outiline ideas, but we'll see which way the players take it), but it will be interesting when they return to their military base with a completely different being...
