Inquiring Clerics Want to Know: God Crunch

[CleverNickName]

When my gang gets together to play D&D, I am normally the DM. But on the rare occasion that I roll up a PC, it is almost always a cleric...even back in the red box days, when clerics sucked.

It is wonderful that WotC has opened the valve a little wider on the flow of new information...instead of a dripping faucet, we've got a nice steady trickle of scoops and art. Which is awesome, and I'm not complaining. But if I could make a request, the one thing that I would like to see more than Random Monster X or New Class Y, is some crunch about gods. Because so far, we've been shown little more than a list of names and a description of their hometowns.

EDIT: A compiled list of deity names, along with their speculated portfolios, can be found in this thread.

My biggest questions:

How restrictive is alignment, regarding deities and their followers?
Do gods still have domains? if so, do they still have granted powers? spells?
Are favored weapons still in?
What about other "favored" things...favored spells, favored skills, favored races?
Are there special rituals keyed to each deity in the pantheon?
Do non-divine classes have a reason to follow a particular deity, other than fluff?
Divine ranks? Divine powers?
Do gods have stat blocks? Can you "kill" a god? Can you "become" one?

And it's not just about playing a divine spellcaster, either. When I'm developing a new campaign, I almost always start with the pantheon...to me, nothing showcases a culture more comprehensively than its religion. So having some information on how to create gods would make world-building much smoother.

 

[Unlogic]

Do gods still have domains? if so, do they still have granted powers? spells?

Do gods have stat blocks? Can you "kill" a god? Can you "become" one?

The only info I've heard so far comes from the podcast. I'll dig through for the exact quote if you like, but they said something to the effect that they're holding off on many specific deity-related stuff in the PHB, since deities are pretty setting-dependent.

From the D&DXP pregen cleric, it looks like there won't be domains, and "deity-specific powers" are going to be encounter powers based off the "channel divinity" cleric class feature, gained through feats. Just speculation though.

As for Gods' stats themselves, in another bit of podcast, they mentioned something like "We've been toying with the idea that greater deities like Moradin could take on Orcus, but not Orcus and Demogorgon together." Which sounds like they're not going to have any deities' stats in the MM1, but maybe in later books, and they'll be epic level encounters over level 30 (they mentioned Moradin might be level 38), such that it might be feasible for a party of level 30 characters to, as the chief epic achievement of their career, be able to, with greatly favorable conditions on their side, be able to take on a greater deity.


I'm eagerly waiting for any real info on clerics to be leaked too. I'm really hoping there's enough options between power selection and feats for clerics of different deities to play and feel different.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

There is some indication that feats will be used to diversify Clerics.
I remember that the pregen Cleric had a "Power of Aumantor" (spelling might be wrong) that he got through a feat.

 

[webrunner]

God Crunch...

Is part of your balanced daily divine breakfast!

 

[Clawhound]

My understanding is that deities will mostly be fluff. The player then chooses the options which he feels best matches the character and the deity.

If gods fall within settings, and class abilities will only fall in a few class books, then I would not expect to see abilities associated with gods.

 

[hamishspence]

god Crunch

God Crunch wants fight. no mess with god Crunch!
(sorry, thinking too much of Myth books)

I'd be surprised if there aren't rules: previous mentions of CR37 Moradin.

 

[CleverNickName]

My understanding is that deities will mostly be fluff. The player then chooses the options which he feels best matches the character and the deity.

If gods fall within settings, and class abilities will only fall in a few class books, then I would not expect to see abilities associated with gods.

This would make me very sad, indeed. I really liked the way that deities were integrated into the game under the 3.x rules. If the only things that make one cleric different from another are a couple of feats and a paragraph of background fluff, I don't see the need for deities to exist at all.

Maybe that was the intent.

 

[Halivar]

Do gods have stat blocks? Can you "kill" a god? Can you "become" one?

I've always thought the d20 system was inappropriate for this sort of game. If you're playing a campaign with "god" PC's, you're dealing with powers and abilities that are completely outside what is contemplated in the core mechanics. WotC's attempt at creating mechanics for gods (like divine ranks) are more of a kludge onto the system to meet player demand, but they fall short, IMO.

At the point a PC attains "godhood," they are no longer subject to the trivialities of mortal skill checks or saving throws. Struggles are titanic, cosmos-spanning, and possible even metaphysical in nature. Depending on your cosmology, checks in divine "encounters" can be decided by concrete stats like number of worshipers, or abstract stats like "divinity" or divine rank. TMK, no such game exists that fulfills this need; but if one existed, at the point you're struggling with gods, the game changes.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

There is some indication that feats will be used to diversify Clerics.
I remember that the pregen Cleric had a "Power of Aumantor" (spelling might be wrong) that he got through a feat.

Yeah, that's what Mearls said at I-Con.

 

[Darth Cyric]

Hopefully the list of Cleric powers will be diverse and large enough to allow different Clerics of different gods to feel completely different from one another. Same for Paladins, too.