Deities & Demigods

[jasamcarl]

Well...

I trust Wotc to have more knowledge of their business interests and the proper allocation of resources (ex: space) that would maximize the former, versus the somewhat self-interested speculation of a message board denizen...as a customer, i resign myself to to judge the utility of a book AS WRITTEN versus price as oppossed to assume knowledge i do not have of various input costs and expected revenue streams...but hey, who am i?

 

[FireLance]

Hi, all. Some more quick replies before I head off for another fun, fun day at my chosen profession.

Divine Monsters
Only Sleipnir is statted, as a standard Legendary Horse out of MOTW, except that he has a fly speed of 100 ft (good), 4 hoof attacks and the Muliattack feat.

I agree that Fenris could easily be portrayed as an advanced Legendary Wolf with the half-fiend template. With D&Dg, you could also make him a DR0 creature, which provides additional benefits.

Deity Meta
Proxies are defined as mortals in whom whom the deity has invested 1 DR. This is not lightly done as the deity actually has to give up some of his power. The proxy becomes a DR1 demigod and has access to some of the deity's salient abilities. No mention is made of what happens if a proxy dies, but if the proxy is aware of impending death, he can use remote communication to inform his deity, who can recall the divine power as a standard action.

There is a small discussion on what happens when a deity dies ("Immortal Turnover"). Essentially, if the divine portfolio passes on to another deity, clerics can switch patrons or gain spells from abstract principles or forces.

Deities have a home realm which they can alter to suit their tastes. If you have the MoP, they can alter several planar traits in their home realms. More powerful deities can enhance or impede the effectiveness of certain types of spells in their realms. Presumably, you'd enhance your most powerful abilities and impede those you are vulnuable to. Surtur (DR14/Rgr20/Ftr20; 1160 hp) would probably enhance fire magic in his realm and impede ice magic, for example, and the opposite would go for Thrym (DR14/Bbn20/Ftr20; 1200 hp). That's why it's not a good idea to face off with a deity in his home realm.

Salient Abilities
Divine Aura is not a salient ability (which some may have, but not others) but a divine characteristic (a property of all deities). Within a certain radius depending on DR, a deity may inspire daze, fright or resolve in mortal beings or deities of lower rank (Will DC 10+DR+Cha avoids). The deity can choose which effect every round as a free action.

Divine Blast is a ranged touch attack that deals DRd12+Chad12 damage. Range 1 mile/DR, usable 3+Cha times per day. Mass Divine Blast gives the option of using Divine Blast against up to 5 targets within DR miles, a cone up to 100 ft long/DR, a burst or spread of radius up to 50 ft/DR or a cylinder radius up to 50 ft/DR and height 10 ft/DR. The deity may choose the exact form and dimensions.

Indomitable Strength does not add to Str, but gives a +25 bonus to oppsed Str checks, including grapple checks. No salient ability improves ability scores.

Extra Domain does what you expect. It still is useful for deities apart from giving them an extra domain for their worshippers because they can use the domain power once per day per DR and use the domain spells at will as spell-like abilities.

Free Move allows the deity to move up to his speed every round as a free action.

Divine Storm creates a vortex of divine force that stops missile attacks, repels creatures with a law-chaos alignment opposite the deity, and damages creatures with a good-evil alignment opposite the deity.

Off now.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I agree for the most part; but with that logic you could say why do we need anything more than a handful of monsters, why do we need ten dragon types in the Monster Manual they are all same; more or less. But the bottom line is that variety is the spice of life.

Actually, though, I look at it like this - the Monster Manual provided many of the various monsters from myth and legend, with their origins in mind. That is, Titans are the Greek Titans, dire animals were included because so many legends and myths involve them - such as the Norse legend of the Fenris wolf, and templates help customize them all to taste, to give any given creature a touch of the divine, infernal, or supernatural. In effect, the Monster Manual is one big appendix for Deities & Demigods. Variations on the monsters from individual myths and legends have already been worked into the system. As I've tried to show, many of the most famous critters from myth and legend are already integral elements of D&D. Sure, there are lots of dragons, but the Monster Manual provides guidelines for the creation of an almost infinite array of monsters, and gives many examples of a number of them. Giants, for example. Creatures of fairy are also well represented.

I guess my main point is that most of the monsters from the pantheons that are in Deities & Demigods are already well-represented in D&D. I can't think of many that aren't. Maybe a bit of fluff text in Deities & Demigods explaining how these critters fit into the myths the pantheon are drawn from would've been appropriate. For example, they could've explained Fenris wolf and his place in Norse mythology, and said something like: "for Fenris Wolf's stats, use a Dire Wolf of maximum advancement, with the Half-fiend Template and DR of..." You get the idea, I'm sure.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

FireLance beat me to the punch in some respects. However, do they repeat anything about legendary animals in Deities & Demigods? I'd've figured they would have stuck with Dire Animals, since they're in the Core Rules.

 

[hong]

FireLance beat me to the punch in some respects. However, do they repeat anything about legendary animals in Deities & Demigods? I'd've figured they would have stuck with Dire Animals, since they're in the Core Rules.

Pfaugh. There's nothing "legendary" about legendary animals. They're basically just bigger bundles of hit points compared to regular and dire animals. I'll bet that the only reason they were introduced was to give the druid a more convenient pet than a dire animal in confined surroundings -- like dungeons.

 

[Desdichado]

I agree, legendary animals are about as boring as they get. I also agree with the Colonel; I hope the rules allow us to make cool divine creatures out of already existing monsters. That'd be even more fun than a barrel of mythical creatures, IMO.

 

[Nightfall]

Well at least SOME of my questions were answered. Thanks Flame.

I guess I'll have to read it myself to get it. I'm dense that way.

 

[Skarp Hedin]

Fenrir? Call the cobbler.

I agree that it doesn't seem too hard to stat up various creatures like Fenrir and Jormungandr and the like. Also, I can easily see why they would leave them out -- who's going to use them? If you're using the Norse pantheon, then odds are you're using the whole thing, with all the concepts of Ragnarok in place.. and if you're doing that, then you don't need stats for beasts like Fenrir -- I mean, sure, he's big and mean, but he chokes to death on a shoe, no one else -can- kill him, what with his demise covered by prophecy and he's imprisoned until it's time to die anyhow.

In such a situation, it seems pretty reasonable to leave out beings such as him who have no worshippers, allies (his feud with the AEsir seems personal, separate from the feud with the giants, and for good reason), or friends and have more space to put in some other stuff

And if you're -not- using a predestined Ragnarok scenario, then it shouldn't be too hard to come up with something appropriately deadly for the wolf.

However, on the other side of things.. boy, wouldn't it be cool to sit there and read about how dangerous is Loki's most popular son

 

[Staffan]

Re: Fenrir? Call the cobbler.

However, on the other side of things.. boy, wouldn't it be cool to sit there and read about how dangerous is Loki's most popular son

Who, Sleipner?

 

[BOZ]

baloo?