Upper_Krust said:
I would have made Io and Annam Divine Rank 25.
[/B]
Heh heh heh...
I agree.
Have you had your review yet, UK? Well, here's one.
The most recent expansion from WoTC, Deities and Demigods, provides a broad description of how deities, gods, powers, or whatever term suits a DM's needs can be created and used in a d20 system. Like so much of the 3ed D&D game, this book pays homage to the "classic" 1ed. There are pictures of each god and the pictures are by and large spectacular (Surtr, Hades, and Set are great... Why is that always the case with the bad guys?); descriptions as to how a gods come to being, including information on ascension; and, most importantly and most assuredly to receive the most discussion, the return of statistics for the actual deities.
By allowing stats for the gods, the book does an excellent job in explaining how gods can be built using established character creation rules. Of course, there are a fair number of god specific "feats" called Salient Divine Abilities (SDA). These abilities are available only to gods of Demigod rank and higher and, in some cases (Create Artifact, Alter Reality), really clarify how powerful gods can be using established rules. (Some of these divine abilities will reappear in lesser form in the up-coming Epic Level Handbook).
Ever wonder how one Greater god truly compares to another? Well, this is the first D&D book that does a god job in illustrating this (very helpful if you're into letting gods duke it out, if you're into deciding who would win a battle royal, or if you're a so-called "munchkin"). Each rank of godly power, from Quasi-Deity to Overgods, has a Divine rank. Greater god always have a rank from 16 to 20, are immune to certain components of lesser gods, and have access to the most SDA. The higher the rank, the greater the bonuses as well with regard to SDA, AC, and other elements.
Finally, for those interested in religion or mythology, the book does a fairly good job of addressing these concepts and how they can be used in a D&D game. There are many suggestions and springboards offered to DMs for their campaigns that make the gods and their potential interaction in the Prime Material Plane interesting and meaningful.
One of the things a lot of fans will miss will be breadth of mythologies. The book is limited to just four "official" groups and a few additional gods in the appendix. The groups include the D&D pantheon (some of the Greyhawk gods, including godly stats for both Bahamut and Tiamat, and the Demon Queen of Spiders, Lolth), the Greek gods, the Egyptian gods, and the Norse gods. Still, there is a lot of information on the gods that are here with regards to their powers. When compared to the 2ed incarnation of DDG (Legends and Lore), this book provides a lot more information on the gods that are represented. When compared to the Forgotten Realms (FR) books like Faiths and Avatars or Demihuman Deities, the book is seriously lacking with regards to how the gods interact with the world, the nature of their clergy, religious holidays and the like. However, many fans will recall that there was a lot of overlap with regards to information in 2ed (the Egyptian gods appeared at least twice... once in Legends and Lore and once in Powers and Pantheons; Tiamat also appeared twice, in Monster Mythology, and Powers and Pantheons. In both cases, the stats were drastically different). It is likely that more gods and pantheons not represented in this text will appear over time, likely in web enhancements and Dragon.
Another point of contention will be the missing Arch Fiends of Hell (in 2ed referred to as the Lords of the Nine... a cool name) and the Demon Princes (referred to as the Abyssal Lords in 2ed... not a cool name). There is a brief blurb about these entities in which WoTC takes the official stand that they are no more than quasi-gods. This will no doubt be a disappointment to some fans and implies that some statements about Asmodeus in the Manuel of the Planes will be revisited in the future. However, remember Rule 0! This DM will!
All in all, this is a superb addition to the D&D game. Even if you don't plan on using the gods in your game, having this book as a benchmark for your own deities and their avatars, or having access to innovative god building techniques makes this book well worth the cost of $30.00.
