Deities and Demigods ~ Thank You God!

[Kae'Yoss]

I'd also rather have that they use DDg rules in F&P, Epic Rules in both, and make the books modular (so you find rules for things in the one book in other books), but that's because I'll get most of the books, anyway, and I understand that this is not the only possibility, and not the best, either. I approve of Wizards' policy to make the books independent, so they won't force people to buy books only in order to properly use books they already have.

They could make web enhancements or something like that, though, to make the books more useful for people who actually buy all the books, or two books that work well together. The're already doing something like that: in the Epic Level Handbook, we'll find a section with new stats for (all ?) the e-Pigs () of the realms, using the full epic rules, superseding the FRCS versions with the basic rules. I hope they do more stuff like that!

 

[Information]

I don't believe that Moradin would just wipe out every lesser god.

First off, he's lawful good, so he's not given to mindless destruction. That would be both evil and chaotic.(Give Cyric that ability and the Faerûnian pantheon, as well as a lot of the racial pantheons that are used in the Realms, would be much smaller in a split second!).

Second, he, being the very image of a dwarf, would rather fight them directly than using any fancy magic.

Third, what would he gain from destroying everyone else? Whom would he insult if there is no more Gruumsh and other orc or goblin gods (except Lord Corellon and the rest of the Seldarine, of course ;-)) He just likes trading blows and insults too much for robbing himself of all that fun!

I think ultimately the problem is balance. Whether or not Moradin would "abuse" this power is irrelevant to the fact that he has it. And there is nothing to keep evil deities from possessing it.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I see the problem here. But I responded to the statement, that Moradin could whipe them all out on a whim. He won't, cause he's lawful. But you're right: an evil god (especially a chaotic evil god) would gladly abuse that power (give Cyric this ability and Ao has to work overtime ).

That ability would be good for a neutral deity that is the leader of it's pantheon, though: When one of his children (or whatever they are to him) oversteps it's bonds, he can preserve the balance with one quick stroke.

 

[Psion]

Faiths & Pantheons (out next month) has write-ups of all of the demihuman deities. By "write-ups" I mean half-page entries with domains, church info, dogma, and stuff like that--NOT DDG-style deity stat blocks with hit points, ability scores, etc.

Aaargh! Why couldn't have DDG been like that!!!

 

[Desdichado]

die_kluge:
I'm sorry. I just don't see the point. Stats for Gods.
Ok, they're _gods_, folks. Call me a stick-in-the-mud 2nd edition gamer. Giving stats to gods is just dumb, IMHO.

Or better yet, informed. Obviously you know very little to nothing about real-world mythology if you think the gods don't need stats.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Aaargh! Why couldn't have DDG been like that!!!

I think that's because DDG is for general D&D, and D&D Rules Supplements usually are intented to show the rules themselves, and give some excemples to show the DM (or player) what to do with those rules. They're not there to do all the work for him. So DDG gives you rules for creating gods, and showing you a couple of (pantheons full of) excamples. These are to be integrated into your own campaign and adapted as you see fit. In your very own campaign which you created yourself (including gods) you should know best how the gods interact with each other, how they expect their followers to behave and so on.

The Forgotten Realms, on the other hand, is for DM's who like to have the campaign world ready to use, so they can concentrate on the adventures or fit a little area of their own creation into a bigger, ready world. So the realms supply you with a myriad of gods, each with his own history and relationships.

Most deities from the Realms are just mentioned shortly, though: the deities who only showed up in the tables in the deities section of the FRCS get an entry exactly like the one the other deities already got in the FRCS. Exactly. They don't even have their class levels or DR listed.

 

[rounser]

I think that's because DDG is for general D&D

Almost across the board, the FR books strike me as being of somewhat higher quality one way or another than most non-core WotC generic D&D books...anyone else get this impression?

EDIT: Not intended as a slam of WotC's generic D&D books, but an impression I have of the especially good work done on the FR books.

 

[Victim]

Yes, even the FR rulebooks are high level munchkins compared to their Greyhawk/generic counterparts. Magic of Faerun is so powerful, it can defeat 2 class books by itself.

One quick reason for divine stats is the Bead of Summons.

 

[rounser]

Magic of Faerun is so powerful, it can defeat 2 class books by itself.

I think Monte Cook mentioned that the prestige classes in Magic of Faerun struck him as slightly underpowered. I've heard rumblings about the Incantatrix from elsewhere, though. Some people think that the Spellfire feat is slightly overpowered, though - but it's clearly optional, even in a book full of optional stuff...

 

[Gez]

I really don't find most MoF classes underpowered. The only one I would mention in this category is the Spelldancer, 'cause it has too steep requirements (lots of feats) who do not serve the class' strength (that class main asset is its capacity to use metamagic feat with extended casting time rather than heightened spell level; and none of the numerous feats it requires is metamagic).


The Incantatrix is overpowered, and you have to own the 2e Cult of the Dragon sourcebook (happyfully available as free download) to know the whys and wherefors of it's abilities.

Spellfire Wielder is a very special feat. It *can* be overpowered at some times, but is useless most of the times (the reasons why have been debated on dozens of threads already). So, it's like balancing a huge advantage by making it unusable most of the time. Hard to use properly in a campaign, especially if the players assume to much and don't read the rules.



Orcs have always claimed Gruumsh was a cyclop, elves have always claimed Corellon took one of his eyes out. Given that none of them are lawful, both of them are liars. Hehe. Just go with the explanation you want. Ultimately, this is of no influence. If the orcs are right, they are angry at those pretentious elves that libel their deities by claiming their puny effeminate god mutilated the mighty Gruumsh. If the elves are right, orcs are angry at those blasphemous elves whose puny effeminate god dared to mutilate the Great Gruumsh by using cowardly tactics and cheating. So, this has no importance.


As for the Realms being a munchkin's wet dream... Hey, to the contrary, the presence of epic-level NPCs makes it harder for munchkins wanting to be the top dog here. In Greyhawk, with 21 levels, you're a master of the world. In the Realms, you're not yet.