D&D General Death of a god

[Coroc]

Well some of the best campaigns revolve around dead gods, there was BG and there was some planescape stuff. So the question here are:
Do people besides the deities priesthood notice something is out of place?
If they notice, do they make the connection?
How did the god die? Was it some rival for his portfolio? Then he might be replaced by his killer.
IS it possible to ressurect the god?

How are the PC involved in any of the above?
Be careful here: 2e allowed a priest to go for a while without spells, but even Goldmoon did get her blue crystal staff, How that works out in 5e is unknown territory.

 

[Uller]

A different god takes over the portfolio.

The god of x dies because his worshippers are defeated, conquered and scattered. Whoever replaces those people replaces the god with their own. After all...why do the gids care at all about the humanity? Because they draw their power from their worshippers. And they use their power to help and protect their worshippers and destroy those who would harm them.

So...if in my game the PCs were to slay a god on its home plane, back on the prime material plane events would be happening that would be destroying that gods followers.

 

[Legatus Legionis]

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[Bohandas]

lf we're listing books that deal with this topic, I'd like to recommend Small Gods and Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

 

[R_J_K75]

"No One Is Ever Truly Gone"!, so the dead god will just come back in Ep. IX.

Seriously though pretty sure that its pretty much impossible to kill a true diety. Their corpses just float in the astral plane and can be resurrected/awakened by the prayers and wills of their worshippers. OTOH, the same is true for gods who are forgotten and lose worshippers, they just wither and "die". Anyhow in the case of a dead god, one effect on the game would be what happens to its clergy and what will that do to society?

 

[Son of the Serpent]

"No One Is Ever Truly Gone"!, so the dead god will just come back in Ep. IX.

Seriously though pretty sure that its pretty much impossible to kill a true diety. Their corpses just float in the astral plane and can be resurrected/awakened by the prayers and wills of their worshippers. OTOH, the same is true for gods who are forgotten and lose worshippers, they just wither and "die". Anyhow in the case of a dead god, one effect on the game would be what happens to its clergy and what will that do to society?

Since this thread is not specific to an edition I'll respond in this manner:

True full death of a god in permanent and irreversible fashion is possible but just barely so. And the number of ways to do it and what those ways are are themselves different from edition to edition. That said, its actually not that much easier to truly fully and irreversibly kill a mortal. Only slightly easier. Consider thay when a "dead god" comes back to life its as the result generally of extreme circumstances. And then its usually just a reasonable facsimile of the dead god. Rarely is it a true resurrection. When a mortal is thoroughly enough killed, like when a barghest outright eats and digests their soul, or the same happens from the consumption of a soul by a demilich perhaps, that nortal can still come back. Its just rare and thr options are fewer and more extreme. The ways to kill a god also vary with the type of god to some extent. The same goes for types of mortals. There is not a single right answer. But not just any answer will suffice either. There are right and wrong ones.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

if a god created a major race a single surviving member probably guarantees that the full resurrection of that god is possible for instance. Though its likely a long shot. That race existing is an example of the god's surviving influence. And as such essence of the god's existance.

This brings me to my example of something that can happen. Something to answer OP's question. One thing that may happen when a god well and truly dies is that all races created by it may suddenly die out or even just poof out of existance. Especially if that god was the sole creator of said race. So an example of what can happen would be a race either poofing out of existance or being severely changed. That's my answer to OP. Has lolth died? Expect the drow to be massively effected. And so on.

 

[5atbu]

In Glorantha when the Rebel Orlanth killed Yelm the Sun Emperor, it caused the Lesser Darkness.

However Yelm was dead so like all beings in GodTime he went to Hell. There his burning light was so fierce that it drove the Troll Gods of Darkness up into the Upper World. Thus started the Greater Darkness, and great conflict.

Though the conflict Chaos entered the World.

Orlanth had to collect together the Lightbringers and quest into Hell to rescue Yelm so the Sun rose again.

In the "I Fought, We Won" battle, Chaos was defeated and the Great Compromise was made, no more did gods have free will but mortals did.

----------

www.glorantha.com

 

[R_J_K75]

The ways to kill a god also vary with the type of god to some extent. The same goes for types of mortals. There is not a single right answer. But not just any answer will suffice either. There are right and wrong ones.

I was with you up until the text I quoted here but Im not sure what you were trying to say?

I cant remember which 2E book its in but I think that its either Faiths & Avatars or On Hallowed Ground where it states that a gods existence is directly related to its worshippers. Most likely F&A. Depending on the pantheon, game edition, campaign setting and DM, all will determine how dieties, religions and their clergy work in their game.

 

[dave2008]

I was with you up until the text I quoted here but Im not sure what you were trying to say?

I cant remember which 2E book its in but I think that its either Faiths & Avatars or On Hallowed Ground where it states that a gods existence is directly related to its worshippers. Most likely F&A. Depending on the pantheon, game edition, campaign setting and DM, all will determine how dieties, religions and their clergy work in their game.

But that is not the default for D&D or specifically 5e.

For instance, gods in my 5e game get more power from worshipers, but they don't require it. However, the fact the gods can get power from worshipers is a big reason there are not constant divine wars, because the other major source of power is other gods and their artifacts.

So I god will not die if it has no worshipers, but it will be harder for it to gain power for itself or its projects.