How do you become a god?
- Thread starter Jack99
- Start date
Crothian
First Post
IMC it depends on a lot of different factors like what you are going to be the god of and if it is actual divinity you are after. There are plenty of powerful creatures that can claim to be a god and not get much of an argument from anyone, except that they aren't technically gods.
There are a number of greater gods and the easiest way to become a god is to choose one of them and basically get a sponsor of sorts. The god might require you to kill another demi god to take his place or go on a quest or do something for it. What each god would require varies considerably.
edit: there is an artifact that allows someone to skip all of that and become a greater god. The book is a series of instructions (100's of pages long) that have to be done. So far no player character has gotten past page 2.
There are a number of greater gods and the easiest way to become a god is to choose one of them and basically get a sponsor of sorts. The god might require you to kill another demi god to take his place or go on a quest or do something for it. What each god would require varies considerably.
edit: there is an artifact that allows someone to skip all of that and become a greater god. The book is a series of instructions (100's of pages long) that have to be done. So far no player character has gotten past page 2.
Get a whole lot of worshippers. Like Neil Gaiman's American Gods or that game Black & White, it's the love, devotion and/or fear of mortals that gives gods their divine power. A PC (or NPC) attempting to rise to godhood will need enough 'worship points' to ascend. This could be a motivation for many cult leaders... although to reach true divinity, you'd need more than a small cult. An evil god wannabe might attempt to conquer an entire region and demand that its citizen worship him, while a good god wannabe might engage in holy crusades, hoping to become a saint-like figure.
Practice!
After having fell in love with Exalted's handling of Gods, I generally subscribe to the "Prayer and Belief = Divine Mojo". The ticket to becoming a God is worship and belief.
An interesting byproduct is that you can result in Folk Hero gods. A legendary hero who died, but was given enough belief and reverence that he becomes a minor God. (China has a few of these).
Celebrim
Legend
1st Edition Deities & Demigods version.
1) Obtain followers.
2) Obtain power roughly comparable to a demigod, which according to the guidelines would be roughly twice the normal 'high level' characters in your world. In my campaign, being 30th level would about do it. In FR, I suppose you'd need to be about 60th.
3) Convince your followers you are a god and that you should be worshipped.
4) Wait a few decades to accumulate enough numina (personably, to gods what XP is to mortals) to actually act like a god, while trying not to get destroyed by any actual dieties or similarly powerful beings.
5) Proliferate your worship while trying not to get more powerful gods angry at you.
Killing a god and taking his spot wouldn't do it, although it would go a long way toward fulfilling #3 and would obviously satisfy #2. You kill a god, all it really means is that the dieties numina and sphere of influence is up for grabs for whoever could take it. Persumably, the slayer would be able to take a first cut of the profits, but you'd have to know how (and I'm the DM and even I don't know how, because its never come up). Slaying a god is also a bad start on #5 though.
1) Obtain followers.
2) Obtain power roughly comparable to a demigod, which according to the guidelines would be roughly twice the normal 'high level' characters in your world. In my campaign, being 30th level would about do it. In FR, I suppose you'd need to be about 60th.
3) Convince your followers you are a god and that you should be worshipped.
4) Wait a few decades to accumulate enough numina (personably, to gods what XP is to mortals) to actually act like a god, while trying not to get destroyed by any actual dieties or similarly powerful beings.
5) Proliferate your worship while trying not to get more powerful gods angry at you.
Killing a god and taking his spot wouldn't do it, although it would go a long way toward fulfilling #3 and would obviously satisfy #2. You kill a god, all it really means is that the dieties numina and sphere of influence is up for grabs for whoever could take it. Persumably, the slayer would be able to take a first cut of the profits, but you'd have to know how (and I'm the DM and even I don't know how, because its never come up). Slaying a god is also a bad start on #5 though.
Asmor
First Post
You don't.
I'm currently running Eberron, which is fairly ambiguous when it comes to deities and it's not even clear whether they exist or not.
In general, I don't like the idea of gods having stats and godhood being "attainable." That said, as part of the epilogue from my last campaign, one of the PCs who worshiped Kord did become a god. Unbeknownst to him, Kord had been killed hundreds of years earlier and this PC was Kord reincarnated.
I'm currently running Eberron, which is fairly ambiguous when it comes to deities and it's not even clear whether they exist or not.
In general, I don't like the idea of gods having stats and godhood being "attainable." That said, as part of the epilogue from my last campaign, one of the PCs who worshiped Kord did become a god. Unbeknownst to him, Kord had been killed hundreds of years earlier and this PC was Kord reincarnated.
That's why I like the "Faith = Power" model. Even if no god exists, if the individual believes strongly enough in that God, they get the divine magic.
Keith Baker has proposed other ways in which it works. For instance, he revealed in some article that there's an ancient artifact in Xen'Drik that the Qualabrin created - it's a tapestry of hundreds of souls woven into it. It's incredibly powerful. This is the source of divine magic for the Blood of Vol - their rituals are funneling power into the artifact, and their prayers are tapping into the magic inside of it, which is granting their divine spells.
So a hybridization of these ideas is that there's no god, but just a giant pool of Divine Magic. You have to Believe, and your faith is like a power line that connects to the Pool, and you draw stuff in.
El Mahdi
Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
Along with the ideas above, I think there's the self directed path. Although a simple recipe, I think this road would take considerable time (however I guess there's the possibility of very sudden achievement).
It reqires two crucial things: the accumulation of power considerably beyond peers or fellow mortals, and aquiring imortatlity. The accumulation of power in and of itself may lead one to the secret of immortality. Once immortality is achieved one must continue to accumulate power. The threshold of accumulated power for one to be considered a God is probably variable (and depends upon ones personal definition of a God).
The accumulation of power can be through knowledge, physical objects of power, and through influence (to name a few).
Immortality may be achieved through advanced knowledge (ascension), the use of an object of power (magic item, artifact, etc.), powerful magic (whether self cast or cast upon), or through technological advancement.
I think this would be very rare due to the long road one must travel, and the pitfalls that could end the quest forever before success is achieved. Pitfalls could include; dying while attempting to aquire knowledge or power; destruction by another power attempting to stop one before achieving godhood; inability to find the required knowledge or power.
To me, this describes the route many powerful wizards pursue, espcecially those that choose lichdom.
A non-spellcasting type would probably have to go the course of finding an item or some type of magic (potion, spring, etc.), or discovering the existential knowledge or realization required for ascension (spiritual, philosophical, nirvana, etc.) in order to achieve immortality - and then use the time granted by immortality to aquire the power necessary for godhood.
Of course, this is all just hypothetical and in no way related to my personal experience.
(...or not)
It reqires two crucial things: the accumulation of power considerably beyond peers or fellow mortals, and aquiring imortatlity. The accumulation of power in and of itself may lead one to the secret of immortality. Once immortality is achieved one must continue to accumulate power. The threshold of accumulated power for one to be considered a God is probably variable (and depends upon ones personal definition of a God).
The accumulation of power can be through knowledge, physical objects of power, and through influence (to name a few).
Immortality may be achieved through advanced knowledge (ascension), the use of an object of power (magic item, artifact, etc.), powerful magic (whether self cast or cast upon), or through technological advancement.
I think this would be very rare due to the long road one must travel, and the pitfalls that could end the quest forever before success is achieved. Pitfalls could include; dying while attempting to aquire knowledge or power; destruction by another power attempting to stop one before achieving godhood; inability to find the required knowledge or power.
To me, this describes the route many powerful wizards pursue, espcecially those that choose lichdom.
A non-spellcasting type would probably have to go the course of finding an item or some type of magic (potion, spring, etc.), or discovering the existential knowledge or realization required for ascension (spiritual, philosophical, nirvana, etc.) in order to achieve immortality - and then use the time granted by immortality to aquire the power necessary for godhood.
Of course, this is all just hypothetical and in no way related to my personal experience.
(...or not)
Last edited:
Jack99
Adventurer
If it were to happen, it would also be as the conclusion of my campaign. I do not plan on players running gods.
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