Campaign: Wussiest Gods Ever

[Wolfwood2]

Agreed. I've got some fun story stuff happening, but I also want to let people play with their new toys occasionally.

Any thoughts on where I can find out where D&D angels come from?

I like the Ebberonish idea that outsiders such as angels are living manifestations of their respective planes. As such, there are a constant number of them. When one dies another immediately respawns from the stuff of the plane and contrariwise they can't increase their numbers.

Of course, this takes away some of the fun from the idea of lower ranked outsiders being promoted to new forms.

You could mix and match some varieties as eternal and unchanging in number while others may have a changing population.

 

[tbug]

I like the Ebberonish idea that outsiders such as angels are living manifestations of their respective planes. As such, there are a constant number of them. When one dies another immediately respawns from the stuff of the plane and contrariwise they can't increase their numbers.

Ooh, so deities are competing for servants. If there are new gods then any servants they have mean fewer for everybody else.

Thanks.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

What's the Standard Divine Array? That's not in the SRD.

That's what the deities in Deities and Demigods and Faiths and Pantheons get:

"Essentially deities have a standard array (see DMG, Chapter 2): 35, 28, 25, 24, 24, 24 Add +1 for every 4 class levels the deity has. Also add +1 of every point of divine rank.
+ Racial Adjustments."

So the theory is that there are little baby angels and demons and devils running around the outer planes?

Maybe. Maybe they're born fully formed, or grow up within a day or something. They don't have to follow the laws of the flesh.

Is this supported anywhere in canon, or just a logical extension of what's known?

The part about demons/devils is in the books (Fiendish Codex I and II). I don't know about anything concerning celestial outsiders, but I think that it works that way. Anyway, since there's no Celestial Codex (at least not yet), you can pretty much make something up. And, as you said: It's the logical extension of what's known.

 

[Voadam]

Possible sources for research

1 Book of exalted deeds 3.5

2 warriors of heaven 2e

3 planes of law 2e

4 planes of chaos 2e

5-7 Planescape MC 1-3 2e

8 Deities and Demigods 3e

9 Faiths and Avatars 3e

10 Manual of the Planes 3e

11 Planar Handbook 3.5

 

[tbug]

Thanks for all the research help, everyone!

I have a guest player joining for the first session. She'll be playing a hound archon sent along from the dwarf pantheon to invite the dwarf PC to join them. For now I'm just going to say that she came about in the usual, biological way. I can always incorporate some of these other ideas later.

 

[Voadam]

Certain outsiders are transformed from petitioners while others exist independently from mortal souls emerging from the plane itself.

I think I read somewhere that all archons are transformed petitioners.

 

[tbug]

Certain outsiders are transformed from petitioners while others exist independently from mortal souls emerging from the plane itself.

Where can I read about this?

I think I read somewhere that all archons are transformed petitioners.

Even hound archons? Cool. Why are they big dogs then?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Even hound archons? Cool. Why are they big dogs then?

I'd say because dogs are a symbol for lawfulness: They're loyal, you can train them to be very obedient, they're all for company.

Cats, on the other side, are a symbol for chaos: Very independant, free spirits, value their freedom, and often show behaviour that we can't follow, so we call it "random".

 

[kigmatzomat]

I recommend people go find a really old WotC product: The Primal Order from back in, oh, 1993. TPO was lawsuited to death because it dared to refer to other game system's mechanics. The lawsuit didn't actually kill the product but it stalled it so long that only the MtG cash infusion kept WotC a viable concern. (It also explains the weird dualism between Rich Garfield Games and WotC).

TPO is an excellent generic ruleset for managing divinities. It provides a variety of rules and their supporting logic, so each DM can choose the mechanics that fit their cosmology appropriately. I know that SeaWasp, one of the authors, used to post to rec.games.frp.dnd pretty regularly and I think I saw him posting here.

 

[tbug]

Thanks!