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Deities and Demigods
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<blockquote data-quote="Voadam" data-source="post: 2009098" data-attributes="member: 2209"><p>Dieties and Demigods is a $29.95 224 page hardbound sourcebook on divinty by Wizards of the Coast.</p><p></p><p>It contains full color art that ranges from amazing quality such as the pictures of Zeus, Bast, and a pair of battling dwarves, to the incredibly ugly (The eqyptian dwarf god, Ptah, and Thoth who looks like he is molting). Also the elvish and vanir gods look like lanky pushovers. If I was Gruumsh, I would have attacked Correlion as well. Freya the norse goddess of passion looks more like she would be singing at Lillith Fair than anything she is described as doing in the Eddas.</p><p></p><p>Content wise the book contains rules and advice on statting and portraying gods, stats on Selected Gods in the Greyhawk, Eqyptian, Greek, and Norse pantheons as well as some temples, monsters, and prestige classes. Sample pantheons are provided at the end for monotheistic and dualistic pantheons.</p><p></p><p>Gods as a default are immortal and cannot be killed but options are given for other defaults.</p><p></p><p>The rules for divine characters create a new attribute called divine rank that is similar to character level but applied to divine power. Hero deities and Quasi deities are divine rank 0 or 1, Demigods are up to rank 5, Lesser gods are up to rank 10, Intermediates are up to rank 15 and Greater are up to 20. Gods gain divine abilities based upon their divine rank and the effects of these abilities are often tied to divine rank, such as attack bonuses that equal divine rank, etc. Divine abilities are similar to super feats with sometimes epic prerequisites for class level or divine rank. A god gets one divine ability per divine rank plus a certain amount based on what category of divinity they are (demigod, lesser, etc.). One ability with interesting consequences is extra domain which adds one domain that the god can use and grant access to. This means that gods with lots of domains have fewer slots for developing other powers. </p><p></p><p>A couple ubiquitious powers are the ability to generate avatars, lesser versions of the god that are sent to interact with mortals, annihilating strike which can destroy anything of lesser divine rank with one blow (with a fortitude save DC based in part on divine rank), and alter reality which allows the use of any magical spell or ability at will.</p><p></p><p>There are many offensive, defensive, and super class-like abilities for gods, as well as general use ones.</p><p></p><p>The divine abilities are generally workable and provide useful abilities and options for gods.</p><p></p><p>Gods receive access to their domains as spell-like abilities. Gods have maximum hit points and generally 20 HD of outsider, and lots of class levels. None presented, however, have more than 20 class levels in any individual class. Divine Epic rules are given for advancing gods past 20th character level if not 20th class level. These epic advancement rules seem overly generous if applied to nondivine characters..</p><p></p><p>As a default Gods can sense within a certain radius of miles for all their senses depending upon rank. They can also sense activities within their portfolio so Gruumsh, for instance can sense events that are affecting the Orc race. Depending upon divinity power category the god can sense events in the past and at greater power levels the future as well that affect their portfolio.</p><p></p><p>One aspect of divine statting that is not explained is how they assign or generate divine attribute points. There are only the examples from the sample pantheons to go on and the fact that many abilities require prerequisites of stats above 20. Also there are no rules for advancing divine rank, although there is some discussion of the nature of divinity and ascension to god status.</p><p></p><p>The god write-ups generally take 2 pages each and they are in-depth down to the skill bonuses a god has and which is their favored race if they have levels of ranger. There is only a paragraph or two about the actual gods’ history or churches, but they are useable, fully statted entities that can be interacted with mechanically in a game.</p><p></p><p>The pantheons and accompanying mythological figures are not fully developed, but the major figures and most common ones are presented. For the Greyhawk patheon this includes every deity from the PH plus a smattering of other common ones. Included in the Greyhawk pantheon are the non-human deities although only the heads of various race pantheons are presented. Beyond those in the PH are Lolth for Drow, Kurtulmak for Kobolds, and Bahamaut and Tiamat for Dragons. Noticeably absent here is Maglubiyet for the Goblins. Vecna is noticeably weak for a god, lacking the 20 outsider Hit Dice of most gods and having far fewer hit points than any other god due to his undead status and lack of a (often substantial) con modifier to the many levels that almost every god has.</p><p></p><p>The Eqyptian Pantheon apparently is from a later period of Eqyptian history when the commonly known Ra and Horus are combined into one deity, much as they are in the Forgotten Realms. There is a little bonus material for followers of Set.</p><p></p><p>In the Greek pantheon they do not include any of the titans but they do include a race of fauns and an academy of philosophers.</p><p></p><p>In the Norse mythos, there are some missing deities but most striking is the lack of development of Jormungandr the world serpent and the Fenris Wolf. They do have a berserker prestige class and sample einherjar that is divine rank 0 dead heros.</p><p></p><p>There are a good number of samples to model creations on for making your own deities with the powers presented in this book. For instance you could check out gods of strength at different levels of divine power by checking Hercules (demigod) and comparing him to Kord (lesser/intermediate (I forget which) god) and Thor (greater god). For gods of magic you have Boccob, Vecna, Isis, Hecate, Odin and Freyja to compare.</p><p></p><p>At the end it includes domains from Domains of the Faithful and a few other WotC sources.</p><p></p><p>Overall I was disappointed in Deities and Demigods. While the individual write-ups are neat and the god rules are developed so they can be uber tough yet interactable, I was ultimately unsatisfied with the overall sourcebook, particularly for its price.</p><p></p><p>The incompleteness of the pantheons is one bone of contention, I would have been happy with just the greyhawk pantheon if it had been complete but instead there is only a smattering of the common gods. Also the amount of implementable information was lower than I was hoping for, particularly compared to prior divine sourcebooks. While it does have new domains, prestige classes, and monster type things, it was much less than I was hoping for.</p><p></p><p>I enjoyed the first edition Deities and Demigods, and the second edition Legends and Lore, Monster Mythology, Faiths and Avatars, Powers and Pantheons, and Demihuman Deities. While the second edition products did not provide for interaction beyond the avatars of the deities, they did a better job giving history and flavor information on the deities and providing specialized follower classes for every deity.</p><p></p><p>This 3e sourcebook allows you to determine if a god would hit if it picked up a rock and threw it at you, but leaves any impacts on society and characters of having a deity to worship to be developed outside of this sourcebook. I found the Living Greyhawk Journal and 1e and 2e sources to be a better source of info on the Greyhawk gods than this book.</p><p></p><p>In the end I thought it was an ok book with some neat aspects but not nearly worth the price I paid for it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Voadam, post: 2009098, member: 2209"] Dieties and Demigods is a $29.95 224 page hardbound sourcebook on divinty by Wizards of the Coast. It contains full color art that ranges from amazing quality such as the pictures of Zeus, Bast, and a pair of battling dwarves, to the incredibly ugly (The eqyptian dwarf god, Ptah, and Thoth who looks like he is molting). Also the elvish and vanir gods look like lanky pushovers. If I was Gruumsh, I would have attacked Correlion as well. Freya the norse goddess of passion looks more like she would be singing at Lillith Fair than anything she is described as doing in the Eddas. Content wise the book contains rules and advice on statting and portraying gods, stats on Selected Gods in the Greyhawk, Eqyptian, Greek, and Norse pantheons as well as some temples, monsters, and prestige classes. Sample pantheons are provided at the end for monotheistic and dualistic pantheons. Gods as a default are immortal and cannot be killed but options are given for other defaults. The rules for divine characters create a new attribute called divine rank that is similar to character level but applied to divine power. Hero deities and Quasi deities are divine rank 0 or 1, Demigods are up to rank 5, Lesser gods are up to rank 10, Intermediates are up to rank 15 and Greater are up to 20. Gods gain divine abilities based upon their divine rank and the effects of these abilities are often tied to divine rank, such as attack bonuses that equal divine rank, etc. Divine abilities are similar to super feats with sometimes epic prerequisites for class level or divine rank. A god gets one divine ability per divine rank plus a certain amount based on what category of divinity they are (demigod, lesser, etc.). One ability with interesting consequences is extra domain which adds one domain that the god can use and grant access to. This means that gods with lots of domains have fewer slots for developing other powers. A couple ubiquitious powers are the ability to generate avatars, lesser versions of the god that are sent to interact with mortals, annihilating strike which can destroy anything of lesser divine rank with one blow (with a fortitude save DC based in part on divine rank), and alter reality which allows the use of any magical spell or ability at will. There are many offensive, defensive, and super class-like abilities for gods, as well as general use ones. The divine abilities are generally workable and provide useful abilities and options for gods. Gods receive access to their domains as spell-like abilities. Gods have maximum hit points and generally 20 HD of outsider, and lots of class levels. None presented, however, have more than 20 class levels in any individual class. Divine Epic rules are given for advancing gods past 20th character level if not 20th class level. These epic advancement rules seem overly generous if applied to nondivine characters.. As a default Gods can sense within a certain radius of miles for all their senses depending upon rank. They can also sense activities within their portfolio so Gruumsh, for instance can sense events that are affecting the Orc race. Depending upon divinity power category the god can sense events in the past and at greater power levels the future as well that affect their portfolio. One aspect of divine statting that is not explained is how they assign or generate divine attribute points. There are only the examples from the sample pantheons to go on and the fact that many abilities require prerequisites of stats above 20. Also there are no rules for advancing divine rank, although there is some discussion of the nature of divinity and ascension to god status. The god write-ups generally take 2 pages each and they are in-depth down to the skill bonuses a god has and which is their favored race if they have levels of ranger. There is only a paragraph or two about the actual gods’ history or churches, but they are useable, fully statted entities that can be interacted with mechanically in a game. The pantheons and accompanying mythological figures are not fully developed, but the major figures and most common ones are presented. For the Greyhawk patheon this includes every deity from the PH plus a smattering of other common ones. Included in the Greyhawk pantheon are the non-human deities although only the heads of various race pantheons are presented. Beyond those in the PH are Lolth for Drow, Kurtulmak for Kobolds, and Bahamaut and Tiamat for Dragons. Noticeably absent here is Maglubiyet for the Goblins. Vecna is noticeably weak for a god, lacking the 20 outsider Hit Dice of most gods and having far fewer hit points than any other god due to his undead status and lack of a (often substantial) con modifier to the many levels that almost every god has. The Eqyptian Pantheon apparently is from a later period of Eqyptian history when the commonly known Ra and Horus are combined into one deity, much as they are in the Forgotten Realms. There is a little bonus material for followers of Set. In the Greek pantheon they do not include any of the titans but they do include a race of fauns and an academy of philosophers. In the Norse mythos, there are some missing deities but most striking is the lack of development of Jormungandr the world serpent and the Fenris Wolf. They do have a berserker prestige class and sample einherjar that is divine rank 0 dead heros. There are a good number of samples to model creations on for making your own deities with the powers presented in this book. For instance you could check out gods of strength at different levels of divine power by checking Hercules (demigod) and comparing him to Kord (lesser/intermediate (I forget which) god) and Thor (greater god). For gods of magic you have Boccob, Vecna, Isis, Hecate, Odin and Freyja to compare. At the end it includes domains from Domains of the Faithful and a few other WotC sources. Overall I was disappointed in Deities and Demigods. While the individual write-ups are neat and the god rules are developed so they can be uber tough yet interactable, I was ultimately unsatisfied with the overall sourcebook, particularly for its price. The incompleteness of the pantheons is one bone of contention, I would have been happy with just the greyhawk pantheon if it had been complete but instead there is only a smattering of the common gods. Also the amount of implementable information was lower than I was hoping for, particularly compared to prior divine sourcebooks. While it does have new domains, prestige classes, and monster type things, it was much less than I was hoping for. I enjoyed the first edition Deities and Demigods, and the second edition Legends and Lore, Monster Mythology, Faiths and Avatars, Powers and Pantheons, and Demihuman Deities. While the second edition products did not provide for interaction beyond the avatars of the deities, they did a better job giving history and flavor information on the deities and providing specialized follower classes for every deity. This 3e sourcebook allows you to determine if a god would hit if it picked up a rock and threw it at you, but leaves any impacts on society and characters of having a deity to worship to be developed outside of this sourcebook. I found the Living Greyhawk Journal and 1e and 2e sources to be a better source of info on the Greyhawk gods than this book. In the end I thought it was an ok book with some neat aspects but not nearly worth the price I paid for it. [/QUOTE]
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