GOD RULES: Player's Guide (5e) Previews/Discussion

[Upper_Krust]

Hey Upper_Krust.

Hey Wolfdragon2 mate!

What are the damage multipliers for demigods, lesser gods, intermediate gods, greater gods, Elder Ones and Old Ones?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but based on the Kratos and Nezha posts, Intermediate gods have a divine multiplier of x5, while demigods have a divine multiplier of x3. Is this correct in the official book?

Good question.

The backbone (of the system) is the Power Multiplier. Its doing most of the 'heavy lifting'.

That is a staggered doubling, albeit with a few simplifications here and there (x10 rather than x12, x15 rather than x16 for instance):

x1.5, x2, x3, x4, x6. x8, x10,
x15, x20, x30, x40, x60, x80, x100
x150, x200...etc.

Now initially I had Intermediate Deity at x5 (not x6) because all my testing showed that when we made the jump from x4 to x6 it had a notably higher impact than my plotted damage curves.

So I flip-flopped on that a bit during the lengthy design process but for the sake of the overall system I went with x6 for the Intermediate Deity status.

Therefore an updated Kratos should have x6: 120 Hit Dice etc.

I do expect when people are fighting Intermediate Deities or CR 32 monsters for the first time the damage difference will be a bit of a shock - I should maybe add a Sidebar on that in the book just giving GMs a heads up.

Thank you so much for your time and work,

I appreciate the support amigo, rule books are very tricky to get right (especially one that covers this much ground) and hopefully once this is done all the upcoming monster books in 2027 will be much swifter and easier to complete.

and may the adventure never end!

Lets just hope this development process does end and I finish the book.

 

[Dante & Vergil]

I can't wait!

 

[therealselah]

I was looking over some Tolkien mythology yesterday, particularly thinking about Melian the Maia. And I wondered whether God Rules works for the Tolkienverse - what do you think?

The highest DR of a named entity - outside of Iluvatar/Eru - would be (prime) Melkor (Morgoth). That DR is likely 6 I think - greater god. Manwe, despite not being as powerful in the text, probably needs to also be DR6. And perhaps all of the Valar are DR6. I think there are cases where entities need to push in between one DR and the next - justifiably taking up spaces within the 4 CR spacing that you've created between each DR.

If we accept this, then Morgoth would perhaps be at the pinnacle of that in between space, +3 CR beyond a typical DR6 entity, particularly before he starts expending his power to invest in his corrupted creations (i.e. overspending quintessence). Perhaps this is a function of messing with the multiplier, since there is a little space there. Perhaps this includes pushing ability scores slightly as well. And then custom boons designed only for him and his situation.

Anyway, I said I started with Melian. If the Valar are DR6 and perhaps 5 as well (not clear how close they all are in power, so perhaps its just Melkor and Manwe at DR6, the remaining Valar at 5), then the Maia would run DR4 to DR1. Melian, with her described capabilities, seems to fit in at the higher end, and I think you could make a creditable build of her at DR4.

What then do we do with Elu Thingol, her husband, one of the greatest elves to ever live? The most powerful of the elves - like Feanor - performed deeds that even the gods (Valar) were impressed by (like creating the silmarils). My thinking is that the greatest of the elves/eldar might hit DR2, because then we also need space for the greatest of men (edain), who might hit DR1. Balrogs are maia. The greatest of dragons are equivalent to maia.

So in all this, with Melian at 4, I think I can treat Doriath as her divine realm (actually a joint divine realm with Thingol if he is a godling). She is powerful enough in that realm that it is never invaded by Morgoth. Melian's powers may need to be covered by unique boons.

Anyway, those were my musings.

 

[therealselah]

Thread 'Melian "the Maia" [Upper_Krust God Rules build]'

Jul 30, 2026

Note: The following uses Upper_Krust's God Rules. I don't imagine I need to explain who Melian is, but just in case...

Melian the Maia, Queen of Doriath
Lesser deity of Music and Wisdom, CR28 Controller
Medium Immortal Humanoid (Maia), NG
AC 30 (natural, Irmo's Net); Damage Threshold 24
HP 760 (80d8+400), Bloodied 380 Regeneration 0
Speed 30 ft, fly 60 ft. (spell) Initiative +19 (Alert)

Str​

Dex​

Con​

...

• therealselah
• Replies: 0
• Forum: Monster Homebrews

• 
• 

Here is my Melian build. I'm looking forward to: updates to epic spells and their rules (I think she probably needs some custom epic spells to be more in theme), artifact rules, and clarity for T5 and above boon properties (I imagine I've not understood how 1/turn legendary resistance works!).

Still, I enjoyed trying to write a T5 custom purview boon (for her mythic boon).

 

[Upper_Krust]

Thread 'Melian "the Maia" [Upper_Krust God Rules build]'

Jul 30, 2026

Note: The following uses Upper_Krust's God Rules. I don't imagine I need to explain who Melian is, but just in case...

Melian the Maia, Queen of Doriath
Lesser deity of Music and Wisdom, CR28 Controller
Medium Immortal Humanoid (Maia), NG
AC 30 (natural, Irmo's Net); Damage Threshold 24
HP 760 (80d8+400), Bloodied 380 Regeneration 0
Speed 30 ft, fly 60 ft. (spell) Initiative +19 (Alert)

Str​

Dex​

Con​

...

• therealselah
• Replies: 0
• Forum: Monster Homebrews

• 
• 

Here is my Melian build. I'm looking forward to: updates to epic spells and their rules (I think she probably needs some custom epic spells to be more in theme), artifact rules, and clarity for T5 and above boon properties (I imagine I've not understood how 1/turn legendary resistance works!).

Still, I enjoyed trying to write a T5 custom purview boon (for her mythic boon).

Very nice amigo, was the custom boon easy to balance in your opinion?

 

[Upper_Krust]

I was looking over some Tolkien mythology yesterday, particularly thinking about Melian the Maia. And I wondered whether God Rules works for the Tolkienverse - what do you think?

The highest DR of a named entity - outside of Iluvatar/Eru - would be (prime) Melkor (Morgoth). That DR is likely 6 I think - greater god. Manwe, despite not being as powerful in the text, probably needs to also be DR6. And perhaps all of the Valar are DR6. I think there are cases where entities need to push in between one DR and the next - justifiably taking up spaces within the 4 CR spacing that you've created between each DR.

If we accept this, then Morgoth would perhaps be at the pinnacle of that in between space, +3 CR beyond a typical DR6 entity, particularly before he starts expending his power to invest in his corrupted creations (i.e. overspending quintessence). Perhaps this is a function of messing with the multiplier, since there is a little space there. Perhaps this includes pushing ability scores slightly as well. And then custom boons designed only for him and his situation.

Anyway, I said I started with Melian. If the Valar are DR6 and perhaps 5 as well (not clear how close they all are in power, so perhaps its just Melkor and Manwe at DR6, the remaining Valar at 5), then the Maia would run DR4 to DR1. Melian, with her described capabilities, seems to fit in at the higher end, and I think you could make a creditable build of her at DR4.

What then do we do with Elu Thingol, her husband, one of the greatest elves to ever live? The most powerful of the elves - like Feanor - performed deeds that even the gods (Valar) were impressed by (like creating the silmarils). My thinking is that the greatest of the elves/eldar might hit DR2, because then we also need space for the greatest of men (edain), who might hit DR1. Balrogs are maia. The greatest of dragons are equivalent to maia.

So in all this, with Melian at 4, I think I can treat Doriath as her divine realm (actually a joint divine realm with Thingol if he is a godling). She is powerful enough in that realm that it is never invaded by Morgoth. Melian's powers may need to be covered by unique boons.

Anyway, those were my musings.

Apologies for the slow reply. I'm no expert of LotR lore but I think once you make the Balrog = the Balor and Smaug = an Ancient Red Dragon, the rest should be hopefully easy to figure out.

 

[therealselah]

Very nice amigo, was the custom boon easy to balance in your opinion?

I followed the rules fine, I think, but I'm still not sure about the T5 benefit in the mythic boon. That said, I feel pretty good about it.

 

[Upper_Krust]

New Update and Preview on the Kickstarter page.

Energy Forms

Note: the following is only the first page, check out the link above for the other.

 

[GreatestHonor]

Hi @Upper_Krust !

I recently found your 3.x rendition of these rules and i was wondering a who is the guy with the dragon fingers and what DR would they be under your new rules? (I would guess 7 or 8 since they dont seem to care at all about the tarrasque biting them)

 

[Alzrius]

Hi @Upper_Krust !

I recently found your 3.x rendition of these rules and i was wondering a who is the guy with the dragon fingers and what DR would they be under your new rules? (I would guess 7 or 8 since they dont seem to care at all about the tarrasque biting them)

I know this wasn't fielded to me, but I hope you don't mind my chiming in anyway: if you're referring to the character on the cover of The Immortal's Handbook: Ascension, that's Surtur. Given that he's an Elder One in the 3.5 book, that would make him Divine Rank 7 under the 5E rules.