Visions from a Deity

[Omegaxicor]

I am playing 3.5 but I assume it is relevant regardless of the edition, How would you describe a Cleric receiving Visions from their God.

I want the Gods to be severed from the world, temporarily perhaps, but before they are the party member receives a vision which tell him that the Gods have lost their power and can no longer reach the Material plane with their power. (Thanks to another poster for pointing out that the gods do more than cast magic) There is no Sun, Moon or Stars, Natural Arcane Magic (a alternative is available), Weather is more unpredictable, Nature is beginning to wither, the Dead wander the Astral Plane and can occasionally cross over as destructive Soul hunters. Any other examples of the effects of no deities controlling the world would be appreciated...

but I am curious how a god would present "We are losing our power and without us you are all going to die" because they wouldn't be clear there would be room for misinterpretation, any ideas?

 

[Kinak]

It depends a lot on the god and the setting, but I usually go for dreams.

Dreams let you show instead of tell, giving flashes of imagery like you're thinking (the stars going out, the trees dying, the dead being trapped, etc.) where explaining it would just sound melodramatic. It also means you can show off your big villain at the beginning without even giving his name out.

As for the "how," I usually write up dreams like that and print them as a player handout. If you wanted to go the extra mile you could actually use images instead, but I've found describing them works fine.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Greenfield]

Are you asking medium, message, or mechanics?

The mechanics are simple: god said so.

The medium? A dream would work well. Think of the Nightmare spell, but with specific, directed visions. And what could be more of a nightmare for a Cleric than to be told that his god is being banished from this world?

Now, if you're looking for the box-text to read to your player's character...

"Almost as soon as you close your eyes you are beset with a vision. You see the world spread out below you, the order of laid out fields and roads balanced against the verdant beauty of the wild places outside of man's control.

You realize that you are on a cloud, and across a relatively short distance you see another cloud, dark and roiling. On that cloud you see more observers. One is your god, and he's straining to reach you as the clouds drift apart. But the distance widens into a chasm as the stormy winds draw you apart.

The gap widens still more, and you realize that the gods are being carried away by forces beyond even their control. Thunderheads billow and rise between you, and you are completely cut off from them now.

And then the rains come, and the world below darkens, your view of it obscured by storm and chaos. You find the cloud you stand upon dissolving, and you fall with the rain. The beauty, the balance of order and chaos you saw from on high is vanishing as you lose that godlike perspective, and are once again thrust into the here and now. And you feel cold and alone, an emptiness where the spirit of your god once was. The ground rushes at you and... you awaken, sweating and shaking.

But the emptiness remains, that part of you that you never really noticed until now, when it's gone. The night remains, somehow darker than you ever remember it being. Outside you hear the dark drumming of the rain..."

Will something like that do the job?

Contact with a Sage or a good Knowledge - Religion check will help them interpret the dream. The message is pretty clear though, the gods are leaving,not of their own choice, and the world is in for a dark and chaotic time. The storm is upon you.

 

[Omegaxicor]

hahaha great minds think alike, I was thinking of a waking dream, a true vision, but I was asking what sort of images because if you show the players just death, darkness, ghosts and then glowing eyes in the dark, that doesn't quite explain the situation.

I was thinking a single image with lots of metaphor (which I can explain if they roll high enough Knowledge(Religion) or "explain" if they don't or someone else can decipher it for them, in case they get the wrong idea) but all I can thinking of is:

"A Paladin of Heironeous defending a group of Faceless innocents from an encroaching darkness, in the Darkness can be heard the sounds of battle and the cries of pain and death, the Paladin casts Detect Evil and the "ping" of auras shows numerous overlapping and competing auras of varying strengths numbering in the thousands. 'The player is over come by a feeling of helplessness'. The Paladin summons the power within and his sword glows with Holy energy but then it fades and the sword turns to dust as the Darkness consumes everything".

Now explaining that the innocents are faceless because they aren't just a village it is everything, Orcs, Goblins, Elves, Dwarves, Dragons, Humans, Halflings, Ogres, etc and the Battle sounds are due to rival and competing enemies (arguing over who is going to kill you first ) or that the failing of the Paladins power is due to either the Gods being too weak to help or the Paladin being too corrupted (it is the former but the latter might be an option given they party don't know yet what is going on) will all be difficult, so I was looking for better ideas??

EDIT: @Greenfield I didn't mention that the gods in my world aren't figures, what does Allah/Jehovah look like? so that doesn't quite work, but that is the sort of thing I was looking for and is a lot easier to explain than my idea...

The Gods are simply a voice or glowing energy rather than a particular form (they can assume any form if they are "Gods")

And The God he serves is a modified Heironeous who believes in Mercy and Defending the Weak more

 

[Greenfield]

What does Jehovah look like? Take a virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel, or the artwork of any Renaissance artist working for the church. There are dozens of depictions. People anthropomorphize deities all the time.

More to the point, even if the person's particular church doesn't have images or illustrations, the person himself has certainly envisioned their deity.

And if the deities aren't human, but simply images of power or aspects of nature, it still works. Heck, images of their holy symbols would do. All the person has to know is that they saw the gods growing distant, separated.

Now one obvious challenge for the dream scenario is the Elf: No sleep, no dreams, after all.

In our games we refer to the trance time as "walking the paths of memory", a time when the Elf reviews their own past and tries to fit the days' events into it.

And as DMS we haven't been above hijacking that trip down memory lane to insert a "dream sequence".

 

[Omegaxicor]

That's why I like the "day-dream" sequence, no sleeping just "you're walking and you're walking and you're walking and BAM!!! Vision from Heironeous"

IIRC the Sistine Chapel is filled with Saints, only the "God giving Adam knowledge" painting shows what "God" is but that was painted by someone else, the name escapes me, but to be fair I know as little about Christianity as I do Islam so if you say God is depicted then I will take your word for it.

I suppose you could have the Avatar for the God moving away which might work, not quite the same but close enough, seeing "your holy symbol floating on a cloud reaching for you in vain" doesn't have the same effect (mostly because it doesn't make sense)

I like the idea but I would like to see if there are any other thoughts while I design the details

 

[Kinak]

I tend to make dreams like this completely non-interactive. They're being sent a message and it's up to them how to handle it, but you don't get to interrupt your god and ask questions.

But, as far as how to frame it so it's not just darkness, I'd stick with a before and after theme.

The paladin sees a great city that could only be Heironeous's city in the heavens, then sees dark mists consume it and obscure it from view. He sees the high temple of Heironeous, then sees it in ruins, forgotten and neglected. He sees Heironeous's symbol flash out in the darkness, then fade. The sun dims, becoming blood red, then black. The stars shine, then wink out one by one, each echoing the symbol of a god. In the world below, blossoming trees turn to withered husks and the oceans freeze in endless night.

I'd include something about the threat in the very first image. Foreshadow the big threat by having it be the thing sealing off Heironeous's domain. Giant dragon, Aboleths, Cthulhu, whatever they're going to have to defeat to set things right.

I'd keep the skill checks and mechanics largely out of the initial revelation. If they ask around, make it entirely plain (no skill check required) that things are going terribly wrong and the gods aren't responding to prayers as they usually do.

If the players go off on the wrong track, you can also have them run into the followers of other gods (possibly even enemy gods). Just because you're the god of undeath or whatever doesn't mean you're not going to warn your minions when things go bad.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Omegaxicor]

good points, the dream would definitely be one-way you are watching a movie in a cinema...no interactive features

The End of the World isn't close enough that everyone knows it is happening but the other gods are sending similar messages, Good, Evil, Law, Chaos and Neutral they are all afraid of something that is awakening...

yea I actually like Greenfield's idea with a few changes from Kinak, thanks to both of you