Defeating a D&D god

[Shemeska]

Maybe i'm wrong, but i think that all stats about god in books are only the stats of their physical form.

No, they've made it clear that those stats are for the deity itself and not just an avatar. *sigh* Biggest design mistake of the past decade IMNSHO.

Certain settings may have rules on top of that though. FR for instance has gods as unkillable by mortals unless they have divine patronage for the act.

 

[Shemeska]

Personnaly i think this sad to represent devil/demon lord and prince with stats. They are more the plane conscious according to me and the stats are only their physical form.

Indeed. I'd give stats to a physical manifestation much as how I'd give a deity's avatar stats, but I'd not stat the archfiend or the deity themselves. I just find it silly and misguided. However I'd considering giving demigods and 2nd tier archfiends stats (ie minor noble baatezu, lesser Abyssal Princes, certain unique yugoloths, etc)

 

[MoonZar]

No, they've made it clear that those stats are for the deity itself and not just an avatar. *sigh* Biggest design mistake of the past decade IMNSHO.

Certain settings may have rules on top of that though. FR for instance has gods as unkillable by mortals unless they have divine patronage for the act.

Well i just don't like the idea to put god in the same system as motal (HP, AC etc...)

This should be something out of the chart that you can't hurt as mortal. The only way you could kill a god is to become a half god at least or have very powerful power granted by a god. But this only a personal opinion !

 

[MoonZar]

Indeed. I'd give stats to a physical manifestation much as how I'd give a deity's avatar stats, but I'd not stat the archfiend or the deity themselves. I just find it silly and misguided. However I'd considering giving demigods and 2nd tier archfiends stats (ie minor noble baatezu, lesser Abyssal Princes, certain unique yugoloths, etc)

Anyway even if you're able to kill one of the manifestation writed in the books, you have to kill everything in your path in hell only to meet the devil you want to kill.

I would like to see someone make the road to the pit (nine layer of hell) to kill Asmodeus.

I don't think this possible even for high level of character, you can't take on a army of pitfiend in a row and thousand of other devils without rest.

Even if you are able to do it, the devil lord will simply flee before you're able to find him and you'll be stuck in hell killing devil for eternity...

 

[Dakkareth]

This should be something out of the chart that you can't hurt as mortal. The only way you could kill a god is to become a half god at least or have very powerful power granted by a god. But this only a personal opinion !

As a great fan of Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen I rather like the idea, that maybe only mortals can kill gods.

Ultimately it's less of issue of mechanics than one of settings, though - depending on what world you want to play in the gods may be utterly beyond human reason, may be anthropomorph and invincible, may be no more than powerful mortals who've attracted followers or whatever you like. A book like Deities & Demigods that gives stats for gods, can do no more than give proposals for what powers they might possess and how to model this kinds of power within the framework of DnD rules.

 

[fafhrd]

I would like to see someone make the road to the pit (nine layer of hell) to kill Asmodeus.

I don't think this possible even for high level of character, you can't take on a army of pitfiend in a row and thousand of other devils without rest.

Ever check out Sepulchrave IIs story hour? You bring your own celestial/infernal armies with you of course. I guess I fall on the other side of this argument. I feel it smacks of DM protectivism to not stat an evil magnate. If archfiends occasionally bump each other off, PCs should be able to do it as well, however difficult.

 

[Jdvn1]

One problem is calculating a gods CR.

I think gods are intentially CR-less. There's no objective way to calculate it. The Divine Salient Abilities vary too much in power.

 

[J-Buzz]

Wasn't it the Avatar Series of Forgotten Realm Novels where Cyric released a chaos hound that killed some gods before being captured again?

Been along time since I read those novels so my memory is a little foggy. So I am not sure of the beast that he released or who/how it was captured again.

 

[Sammael]

Heh. We are just talking about the pitifully underpowered version of Kezef the Chaos Hound that was printed in Champions of Ruin.

 

[Talmun]

In numbers/powers comparisons, the d20 versions of the big boys of the Mythos for COC d20 could eat many of the gods listed in the 3e Deities and Demigods for lunch...

IMC and IMO though, killing a god is/should be as story driven as it is stats driven. I have had a grand total of two gods die in my version of Greyhawk, both were killed by other gods and both were culminating events of an adventure...certainly not something that should happen every day.