Becoming a God.

[Theone0581]

Hello friends, I have an interesting question for all who are interested...So in my campaign there is a main NPC who's goal is to become a god. (if possible) Now I am unfamiliar with how things work when it comes to Deities, as I don't have a book nor am I familiar with a book that would be based of such information. So if you guys could help me out with this question, it would be much appreciated. The God he is trying to overthrow is Nerull. Please give me some insight how how a task might be possible, if its not possible then what would be some ways that this NPC could go about becoming a God. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Jack Simth]

Hello friends, I have an interesting question for all who are interested...So in my campaign there is a main NPC who's goal is to become a god. (if possible) Now I am unfamiliar with how things work when it comes to Deities, as I don't have a book nor am I familiar with a book that would be based of such information. So if you guys could help me out with this question, it would be much appreciated. The God he is trying to overthrow is Nerull. Please give me some insight how how a task might be possible, if its not possible then what would be some ways that this NPC could go about becoming a God. Any advice would be much appreciated.

If you're the DM? Homebrew it. An ancient artifact that allows one to slowly drain a deity's power over the course of a very long-running ritual that simultaneously requires the deity not exercise power anywhere near the point of the ritual (any followers/clerics/priests will be drained of their life energies (even the undead ones) if they go near, ditto any of the deity's divine servants, if the deity tries to step in directly, the ritual completes the job well ahead of schedule), and the guy picked Nerull because he knows that particular deity doesn't exactly have good relations with the others deities, and they'd like to see him kicked out, and so don't do anything to stop the guy running the ritual. So a priest of Nerull (several, actually... but only one follows up with the PC's; others see about manipulating other groups) is now handed the task of convincing the good-aligned PC's to go stop a ritual from being fulfilled... que quest.

If you're not the DM, there's the method pun-pun uses to ascend: make an Ice Assassin (Spell from Frostburn) of a deity, have the ice assassin make you into a Divine Proxy, dismiss the ice assassin, invest your new divine rank into a squirrel (making you Divine Rank 0, and the squirrel Divine Rank 1), and repeat. Once you've got the number of rank-1 squirrels as you want Divine Ranks, you then take as many standard actions as it takes to retrieve all those divine ranks from your proxies... leaving you with an arbitrary number of Divine Ranks.
Edit: Oh yes, and when doing this method, it behooves you to use several different deities. As your Ice Assasin gets a full copy of their Salient Divine Abilities, and when they invest in you, you get all their abilities... which means you can have the full set of SDA of the entire pantheon... once you've retrieved enough ranks to use them all.

 

[Sigurd]

I think you have to decide how tough this should be first.

From the GHWiki,

Nerull is the Flan god of Death, Darkness, Murder, and the Underworld, worshiped on countless worlds. He is known as the Reaper, the Foe of All Good, the Hater of Life, and the Bringer of Darkness. His symbol is a skull and scythe.

Nerull - Ghwiki


I think you have to settle in your mind what they are achieving. A simple strait-forward answer might be:

"Simply supplant Nerull in the hearts and minds of all his worshipers on the countless worlds."

Ask yourself how Nerull got to be a deity, against what odds, and after how long. What could the player be or do to have an easier time him\herself?

Does the player want your help to simply walk in and take his desk? Does your player want you to carve a zipper through your world design so that a player can become a major god in a couple of dungeons? It's not just your problem to figure out. If your deities simply change in a month and a half of adventuring what should your world look like?

You and your player should decide what the players strengths and abilities are. Tell the player the universe is not labeled with tabs that say 'how to become a deity and depose Nerull'. What can you decide together that might be reasonable goals - IS THIS REASONABLE?

How long will you both play a Roleplaying game if you need this level of achievement to have fun? What will you guys get together to do next?


I'd say you need to find a structure for godhead and start there.

What sort of character does he have now?


S

 

[Theone0581]

A little more information.

Alright so to answer the first question, yes I am the DM of this game. I am running with players (4) that are all around level 8. Anyways, that not really important right now. This NPC is level 18 (if you think he should be higher level to take on the role of a Deity, let me know) Anyways, the players who are in the campaign are clueless about his goal even though they have encountered him many times and as of right now working on a quest for him. He comes off as neutral alignment character, but his true alignment is Neutral evil. Now if we fast forward in the campaign, the players will figure out that they have been cluelessly working for this NPC on completing his evil mind twisted goals all along, and will then live in a region where they are/along with everyone else are being forced to worship this NPC when he comes the god, as this becomes the law of the land enforced by his dissidence, and at the very end, (probably epic level) they will have to face off against him and regain things to how they once where.

So that pretty much what I got going on in a nut shell. I was thinking Nerull because he the same alignment, if any of you guys got any suggestion, please let me know.

PS: If anyone knows of any other Deities that this NPC would rather take over due to his alignment, please share your ideas.

 

[pneumatik]

How would I do it?

Nerull lives on Carceri, one of the levels of Tartarus. His home is a castle of ice. In it is a giant throne so skulls and bones, and on that throne sits Nerull, hating. He hates his brother Pelor, who lives in light and the heavens. He hates Pelor's wife Beory, source of life and vitality. He hates the life they created in the prime material. Trapped in his ice castle in Carceri he can only take the dead, and then only their immortal souls. The worst of them, the most horrible, he traps in the ice of his castle. Frozen solid and alive forever, seeing them damps his burning hatred but doesn't quench it. So he takes more souls and adds them to his castle, and it slowly grows.

To steal Neull's power, then, the PC has to travel to Carceri, walk through Nerull's castle to the throne in the center, and then kill him.

Plan-hopping to Carceri is easy, but it's a one-way trip; once a soul enters Carceri it can never leave. Carceri itself is freezing cold and full of daemons and other monsters, so you'll have to fight your way to the castle. Once inside you have to walk past the stares of all the trapped souls while avoiding devious traps and guards; Nerull isn't concerned for his safety, but he's learned to enjoy his isolation. Turning one corner they come face to face with Nerull on his throne of bones and skulls.

Nerull has several forms. Maybe he's a wizened old man, wrapped in rags and coughing sickly. Or he could be a black-haired man with a full beard. Or he could take a supernatural form, with pitch-black skin stretched tight over a skeletal frame. Whatever the form, he will assault the PCs simultaneously with divine and arcane magic, physical force, blood-freezing evil, and acidic spittle. He is as old as any sentience and has defended his position against demon princes, dukes of hell, and other deities. If the PCs are lucky they'll only end up adding to his castle. If not, their remains will add to his throne.

The souls in ice suffer idly. Those in his throne get personal and active attention.

 

[Herobizkit]

The catch-all d20 book would be [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Deities-Demigods-Dungeons-Roleplaying-Supplement/dp/0786926546"]Amazon.com: Deities and Demigods[/ame].

It's 3.0, but the information regarding the different types of divinity and paths to reaching divinity is non-system specific.

 

[Dandu]

I believe you do it by being extremely badass.

 

[akbearfoot]

Level 18 isn't nearly bad-ass enough to become a god.

Level 18 isn't even bad-ass enough to become an epic-level character.

A whole troop of level 18 characters shouldn't even be able to stop the wimpy avatar of a god. Much less have a hope of invading their home plane, beating their legions of minions and defeating a god in actual combat.

So, I mean its your NPC, so you can snap your fingers and make him a god. But then what do you tell your PCs when they realize how easy it is and they all want to become gods too?

 

[Dandu]

Level 18 isn't even bad-ass enough to become an epic-level character.

Though you can beat up some of them.

 

[PolterGhost]

In my opinion, if you're 18th level there is no reason you shouldn't be battling demi-gods. It just seems natural. If the NPC is going to be 18th level, then he should have some way of depleting the energy from Nerull before taking his place, and of course being much less powerful than any of the other gods to start with- which of course is when the PCs should strike, when he's at his weakest.

If the PCs do go epic, then it shouldn't be a stretch to have them fighting a god (consider that the gods are epic level as well. Most gods are Class 20/Class 20 characters.)