Fighting a God, Divine Strategies

[roguerouge]

Have Vecna have a ridiculous ability for one round, only to be negated dramatically by the divine patron. Make that choice by the players useful.

Also, shouldn't someone be ready to replace Vecna in the pantheon?

 

[Prisoner6]

I suspect you're missing the point of this exercise.

Think Deities and Demigods, circa 1e. Think of Lolth and her 66 HP...

Oh, I get the point. I just disagree with it.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Good thread, some day the PCs in my game will have to slaughter the gods, and I'm terrified thinking about how I can run that...

I wanted to ask, though. Are they going straight for Vecna, or have they been "weakening" him? I mean, taking out his champions, anyone he might have loaned a divine rank to, razing his temples, etc..? The rules probably don't have stipulations for such things weakening a god, but I'd think it would help. In my case, I want the PCs (gestalt) to start deicide by level 20 if not earlier. I'm already going to have to lower the power of the gods for that to even be remotely feasible. But I thought I could at least structure adventures around doing those kinds of things first, to set up a god for destruction (and give a mechanical justification for why the hell they can be killed by the PCs).

Also, what are the rules for what happens to a god's divine rank when he's slain? Do the slayers just get it? Does it dissipate (you can only "earn" divine ranks over time or whatever)? I figured the party's deity would have most of the power go to him, and I'd eventually reward them with rank 0, to become demi-gods.

EDIT: As far as AMF goes, just use the level 6 version, not some epic version. Thus, all of Vecna's spell work in it, but the wizard, who should have some epic spells by now can still do something. He just won't have many spells he can use. Really, not much different than level 1. Of course, I don't consider epic spells to be "mortal magic." Maybe that goes against RAW.
The other option would be a Warblade or Fighter with some Martial Study feats punching through the AMF with Iron Heart Surge.

 

[Primal]

Well, Deities & Demigods has 3.0 stats for Vecna, which would be a good starting point for his abilities (just upgrade them to 3.5 and give him some epic feats, spells and magic items).

It was about 20 years ago when we played 'Vecna lives!', and as far as I can recall, our 15th level PCs couldn't even *touch* him in battle (it didn't matter that we wielded the Sword of Kas). Our 11th level PCs in FR managed to kill a demigod's avatar, though, but only via supercareful planning and tactics plus powerful allies (including using some devilish Wild Magic spells and Psionics that ignored Magic Resistance). Even then it was a very, very close call, and we lost a couple of PCs in the battle. A deity's avatar or true form... in 3E I wouldn't even dream of killing them, even at epic levels.

 

[Cyberhawk]

One thing you may want to play with: Vecna is not just a god of magic, he's also a god of secrets.

If any of the PCs have anything hidden in their pasts, any adventures where they maybe hit the wrong target or screwed up somewhere this is where it comes back to bite them.

 

[Dragongrief]

It's been a while since I've looked at Deities and Demigods, so I'm going on the assumption that Divine Ranks can be bestowed to another being (lowering the Diety's rank until they are reclaimed).

My thoughts on what an undead evil god of magic and secrets would do:

1) Gather up 2-5 of your most powerful and trusted servants (preferably epic level liches).

2) Give them each 1 DR.

3) Disquise them as you.

4) One at a time (possibly assisted by other servants) send them to ambush the PCs.

5) If all of your servants have been defeated, engage the PCs ONLY if it appears they have been sufficiently drained. (most likely ignored to enable a climactic fight instead of a TPK).

This process allows you to drain the PCs of resources with no threat to yourself - liches come back to unlife with your Divine Ranks intact. The PCs hunting for you will likely not be looking for OTHER liches phylacteries.

If they HAVE succeeded in destroying Venca's phylactery, imagine the fear and self-doubt having Vecna attacking you after being destroyed would cause.