Deities & Demigods

[Skarp Hedin]

Sleipnir

Sleipner is indeed Odin's horse -- without going into too much detail here, Loki changed himself into a mare in order to distract a certain stallion. So then Loki was pregnant, and the child was Sleipner.

Loki's other children, as a minor piece of interesting information are: Sons: Ali, Narfi, Jormungandr (the Midgard serpent), and of course Fenrir and Sleipner. His daughter is Hel. There's an obscure reference to him getting pregnant again by consuming a woman's heart, but there aren't many details about that.

Edit: weird, the post I replied to disappeared.

 

[BOZ]

Re: Sleipnir

Edit: weird, the post I replied to disappeared.

my bad. i read Steffan's post as "Who is Sleipner?", rather than "Who, Sleipner?" as it really reads. when i noticed that, i deleted it, hoping it hadn't been read yet. but don't let that influence you, keep your post up, i like it.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hi Flexor mate!

Man Krusty they should have let you write the book!

Well, theres always 4th Edition Deities & Demigods I suppose.

We still may see some of the Monsters in a web enhancement though?

 

[Knight Otu]

I finally got Dragon #294 (though I am still waiting for #293 ), and found one thing I am curious about (except for the fact that Pholtus has abilities he shouldn't have): Both Tharizdun and Rao have spell slots for spells of level 10+, while Iuz and Pholtus do not. Does D&Dg include any special rules for obtaining such spell slots? (Maybe via a salient abilizy - though those listed in the stat blocks didn't seem to fit into this)?

 

[Daeinar]

Rules for spell slots above 9th level are provided in the FRCs, and will certainly be provided in detail in the ELH.

 

[Knight Otu]

Rules for spell slots above 9th level are provided in the FRCs, and will certainly be provided in detail in the ELH.

I know that they are detailed in the FRCS - But to my understanding the Epic Level rules will differ from the ones given in the FRCS, plus the two deities in Dragon didn't use Epic Level benefits to raise their number of spell slots (actually, they don't use any of the Epic Level benefits in the FRCS), and none of their other abilities seemed to fit for giving higher-level spell slots.
Thanks for answer though

 

[Daeinar]

Well, taking a closer look at the salient abilities of the gods presented in Dragon #294, both Rao and Tharizdun have the "Divine Spellcasting"salient ability and spell slots abvove 9th level, while neither Iuz nor Pholtus have either.

How this ability works out in detail remains to be seen, but I guess it *could* have something to do with it...

 

[Gez]

Just some random comments:

However, Gruumsh's home plane is listed as Acheron? Huh? Someone forgot to read the alignment change for 3E...

Well, myself, I switch Acheron and Carceri's places among the Great Wheel, and their alignment traits. My reasonning, in short, being that a prison is a lawful thing, while a fantasy medieval battlefield is chaotic: although planning a battle and elaborating strategies and tactic seems lawful, the actual melee is totally chaotic. If its only at the XXth century that uniforms began to be in camouflage tones, it was because for a long time, it was more important to make sure you're not swinging your mace/sword/baionette/shovel at an ally that to avoid being noticed at a distance. With long-range weapons, the battlefield have much changed, but Acheron's battles are not sniping party with IFF devices.

But I also look forward to the MM2, mainly because it will include d20 monsters!

It will ? I found it cool, in a way, as it would mean WotC is going to support the d20 license to a new level. But on the other hand, I just had the feeling, for now, that they stayed cautiously aside from using anything non-WotC made, for avoiding publishing new d20-OGL products. Or mainly *cynism mode on* because they didn't wanted to convince their die-hard WotC-only customers that other publishers make good stuff also.

However, this didn't prevented some similarities sometimes... Nighttfall, have you got Lords of Darkness ? If yes, compare the spell Lesser Shadow Tentacle with R&R's Animate Shadow... But since both are a variation of Animate Rope, and since both could very well have been inspired by a spell that existed in 2e, maybe I'm only seeing evil everywhere

However, I doubt the Slarecian Dragon will be in. Sure, the flavor text cannot be retaken and they would have to come with a new, but still Slarecians are pretty much SL-specific. But who knows ?

18 separate artists, with quite a few by Wayne Reynolds and Sam Wood (WAR is my fave D&D artist of all time)

Yeah, I've noticed WAR is very liked, at least by the ENBoarder. Personally, I prefer Sam Wood, Todd Lockwood, Daren Bader, Tony DiTerlizzi, Brian Despain or Scott Fisher. Any of these names (apart Wood) ?

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hi Firelance mate!

Thanks again.

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.

Well at least thats something!

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.

Presumably Legendary Wolf 14HD (Medium) (as with Freke & Gere)

If we extrapolate (elementals double HD as they increase one size category)

Garm would be Huge: perhaps 56HD
Divine Rank 0, Fire Breath* 28d10, CR24

Fenris Wolf would be Colossal: perhaps 224HD*
Divine Rank 0, Fire Breath* 112d10, Swallow Whole, Magic Immune, CR44

*Divine Blast effect would make things more interesting.

Though these Hit Dice seem quite a lot in the face of Azathoths mere 72HD!?

Perhaps Garm 42HD (CR20) and Fenris 70HD (CR27) might sit better?

Any comments?

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.

This is confusing. A deity has to 'deduct' (albeit temporarily) 1 Divine Rank to imbue a Proxy with that amount of power, yet much more powerful Avatars (with multiple Divine Ranks) are effectively created for free*..!?

*One Salient Divine Ability slot!?

Salient Abilities
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.

I wonder is that the same premise as Squamous Blast? (If so shouldn't Azathoth deal 32d12 damage...then again I don't know the properties of Squamous Blast yet, perhaps it gains +10d12?)

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.

How in heck does Hercules have a Strength 55 then I wonder? Or Thor a Strength 92*!?

*Not counting his Belt I presume?

Is there some sort of automatic ability score increase per Divine Rank?

Do Zeus ability scores average in the high 30's/low 40's?

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hi Gez mate!

However, I doubt the Slarecian Dragon will be in. Sure, the flavor text cannot be retaken and they would have to come with a new, but still Slarecians are pretty much SL-specific. But who knows ?

Slarecian Dragon! What idiot came up with that idea! Waste of space if you ask me!

Yeah, I've noticed WAR is very liked, at least by the ENBoarder. Personally, I prefer Sam Wood, Todd Lockwood, Daren Bader, Tony DiTerlizzi, Brian Despain or Scott Fisher. Any of these names (apart Wood) ?

WAR is amazing! I would love to see a book of illustrations by Mr Reynolds: some old work, some new work and a detailed account of some peices in stages to show how he works.

Would anyone else go for that!?