Complete Divine info?

[Celtavian]

There is one little tidbit that I can post.

The end of the Expanded Psionics Handbook has a listing for two deities with psionic(-related) matter as part of their portfolios. The format for how they're listed is new, and a sidebar says that it's the formatting used in Complete Divine and other sources. It looks like so:

DEITY NAME
divine level (alignment)
Description of deity, description of deity's clerics' actions in soceity, deity's favored weapon.
Portfolio: deity's portfolio is listed here.
Domains: deity's domains are listed here.
Cleric Training: How new clerics of this deity are instructed.
Quests: Why clerics of this god would go adventuring.
Prayers: How basic prayers to this god begin, or are properly done.
Rites: Holy rites done in this deity's name.
Heralds and Allies: Heralds are creatures sent to the Material plane by a deity when it wants to personally intervene in affairs there. Allies are beings that would respond to the various planar ally spells.

This looks like a step in the right direction. I didn't want Deity stats except the avatars. You shouldn't be able to kill a deity unless you can destroy their followers IMO or are a god yourself. If peopled wanted to play gods, they should have done a book like Ghostwalk creating a specific campaign setting for playing gods.

I want fluffy stuff about gods. I still use my 2nd edition god books for the Forgotten Realms. They were some of the best D&D religion books ever done. Great information on all the religions of the Realms.

 

[Olive]

Thank's Alzarius!

How much info is given there? A page? More or less?

I'm looking forward to this book, but I don't think it's surprising that we haven't seen anythign yet. A new in the works must be due soon and I suspect that we'll see something then, plus a web enhancement around the due date.

When is the actual street date anyhow?

 

[Olive]

This looks like a step in the right direction. I didn't want Deity stats except the avatars. You shouldn't be able to kill a deity unless you can destroy their followers IMO or are a god yourself. If peopled wanted to play gods, they should have done a book like Ghostwalk creating a specific campaign setting for playing gods.

I mostly agree, but I think that one aspect of stating out a god is useful: the salient divine abilities. Figuring out the abilities and limits of the god is a great way to stimulate the imagination when workign out the fluff around the god - legends etc.

 

[Alzrius]

Thank's Alzarius!

What is it about my name that no one can ever get it right?

How much info is given there? A page? More or less?

Assuming you mean how much total info is given on each god there; each deity receives a little over half a page of info total, broken down into the subcategories listed above. Just to be clear, the two gods dealt with in the Expanded Psionics Handbook are Zuoken and Ilsensine.

This looks like a step in the right direction. I didn't want Deity stats except the avatars.

Well, to be fair, the only time in D&D that WotC has given us stats for gods themselves has been in Deities and Demigods (and it's accompanying article in Dragon), because that book was deity-centric. All the other material we've seen about gods has been from a priest-centric standpoint, so I'm not at all surprised that Complete Divine apparently won't be giving us stats for the gods themselves.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Well, to be fair, the only time in D&D that WotC has given us stats for gods themselves has been in Deities and Demigods, because that book was deity-centric. All the other material we've seen about gods has been from a priest-centric standpoint, so I'm not at all surprised that Complete Divine apparently won't be giving us stats for the gods themselves.

Faiths and Pantheons did the Deity stats too. Now, I don't really mind the stats that much, but I WOULD like a lot more generic info and such about the Clergy.

 

[Alzrius]

Faiths and Pantheons did the Deity stats too. Now, I don't really mind the stats that much, but I WOULD like a lot more generic info and such about the Clergy.

Whoops! Forgot about that! I stand corrected!

For what it's worth though, I think that Faiths & Pantheons honestly did the best it could. Considering that it was being judged against Faiths & Avatars, Powers & Pantheons, and Demihuman Deities, all of which aren't too terribly old, and have a wealth of useful information, there was just no way F&P could match them in terms of that, so it did best by mostly giving us mechanical information.

 

[Nightfall]

Al,

Hey I was closer than some! Alzrius verus Alzirus.

Personally I favor an approach similar to the Divine and the Defeated. Stat avatars and their "heralds".

 

[Speaks]

Card Speculation - As a member of the RPGA they are giving out these speical cards to be used for their green regent campaign and they reference things in the books like hex balde-cw for complete warrior. On a card I recently received they gave me the impression that the following will be in the Complete Divine (CD) by the notation they have made.

New classes or reprints in the complete divine - Favored Soul, Spirit Shaman
Prestige classes - Contemplative, Divine Oracle, Geomancer, Sacred Exoricst (guessing reprints of DotF)
Feats - Augmented Healing, Disciple of the Sun, Glorious Weapon, Practiced Spellcaster

I have no idea about the feats. Anyhow this is best guessing based on something the WotC and RPGA sent me.

Speaks

 

[the Jester]

Card Speculation - As a member of the RPGA they are giving out these speical cards to be used for their green regent campaign and they reference things in the books like hex balde-cw for complete warrior. On a card I recently received they gave me the impression that the following will be in the Complete Divine (CD) by the notation they have made.

New classes or reprints in the complete divine - Favored Soul, Spirit Shaman
Prestige classes - Contemplative, Divine Oracle, Geomancer, Sacred Exoricst (guessing reprints of DotF)
Feats - Augmented Healing, Disciple of the Sun, Glorious Weapon, Practiced Spellcaster

I have no idea about the feats. Anyhow this is best guessing based on something the WotC and RPGA sent me.

Speaks

Excellent, thanks Speaks! I for one am looking forward to CD- after CW, I have high hopes for the series.

I hope it has about five million new domains in it, including the racial FR domains.

 

[DM_Matt]

They put the Favored Soul in a not extremely uncore book? Ugh. Now if only Sorcs got all that for having that spell progression...