D&D 5E MCU's Asgardians in 5E D&D terms

[Yaarel]

Regarding Uppsala, the founders of royal Temple are Inglings from around Denmark, who maintained trade connections with foreigners - which is why it is important international center (non-indigenous).

Remember not all Scandinavians are ‘Indo-Europeans’. The Indo-Euros invaded an aboriginal Scandinavian people, genetically identified with yDNA haplogroup I, and speculated to be identical with Cro-Magnum fossiles. There is a Europe that pre-exists the Indo-Euros. The Indo-Euros, identified with haplogroup R, seem to originate somewhere west of the Black Sea, and slowly migrate around it then splitting into Turkey and into the north of the Swiss Alps. From the Swiss Alps the Indo-Europeans fan out into the continent. These invaders were violent and tended to kill the men and force the women into marriage. In many places the eradicated the indigenous male lines. However, in Scandinavia, the climate was too hostile for the Indo-Euro farming techniques. So the incursions into the Scandinavian peninsula were modest. The animistic Scandinavians and the (probably) polytheistic Indo-Europeans coexisted with the south of Denmark forming porous border between them.

There are reasons Scandinavia - including both the aboriginal Scandinavians and the arctic Sami remained remote and profoundly animistic.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Well obviously, I agree with the school of thought that views the aboriginal Scandinavians interpret the invading Proto-Indo-Euro traditions within the aboriginal animistic worldview.

Wait. What. You're going back to the Indo-European invasion? That's three or four thousand years before the Viking Age! The Thor of the sagas is millennia closer to the present day than he is to whatever they believed back then! Calling the medieval Norse animist on that basis is like calling the Catholic Church polytheist on the basis of classical Roman paganism!

Regarding Hrafnkels, the Saga mentions him by name as inventing his own tradition, in light of foreign traditions that were also part of Iceland.

Umm... it doesn't say that he invents the tradition, much less that it has any relation to foreign traditions. It just says Frey was his favorite goð, so he threw a blót and built a hof.

 

[Yaarel]

What is the distinction between "god" and "nature spirit" you think is so important, anyway?"

To not understand the difference between a ‘god’ and a ‘nature spirit’, is the problem.

 

[JeffB]

Not sure if anyone mentioned it, but seek out Exemplars and Eidolons, and Solo Heroes on DriveThruRpg.. They are written with OD&D in mind but will provide a good foundation. They are free to download, and I have used them.

 

[MPA2000]

As I talk about here, I am in the process of re-watching the Marvel Cinematic Universe and just finished Thor: The Dark World. I like how Marvel depicts the Asgardians more as highly evolved beings with an advanced technology then actual "gods."

Greetings, as an former comicbook collector of predominantly Thor and Doctor Strange, I just wanted to chime in. While it is true that the movie versions are not gods, this was actually borrowed from the alternate universe of marvel comics called, "Thor 2099" and somewhat from "Earth X". Basically aliens with technology so advanced that they are "indistinguishable from magic". Although that does not explain the actual powers Loki, Heimdall and later Thor was shown to posses without the use of any weapons.

The rpg geek in me started to wonder, how would the Asgardians translate into D&D terms, specifically 5E? How would you handle them?

A couple things come to mind. First of all, 5E is obviously lacking any kind of epic or mythic play. Certainly levels 17-20 are considered "epic tier," but we don't know what is beyond that, or at least how WotC will handle it.

I think some of you young whippersnappers have been spoiled by Epic characters in the now defunct edition. In any version (except Epic) of D&D any character over 20 is epic level. Given that normal humans can hope to achieve 3rd level and even fewer having reached 9th level named types etc. In 5e, 20th level is nearly godlike in itself, with characters able to gain ability scores well over 18 and in the 20s. Granted level doesn't mean exactlly the same thing as it did in the old days (ie Basic and AD&D 1 and 2), it is still a a measure of the characters prowess.

Secondly, there are clearly different "tiers" within the Asgardians themselves. We don't ever see "normal people" or citizens except in the background, but presumably they exist because Asgard is depicted as a sizeable city. In terms of combat-capable Asgardians, we start with the Einherjar warriors, who are essentially the "fodder" in the battles. And then we have the "heroes" like the Warriors Three, and then there are the "epic" characters or "gods" like Odin, Thor, Loki, Heimdall, Frigga, etc. Now while it would be tempting to correlate those three tiers with 4E's three tiers of Heroic (Einherjar), Paragon (Asgardian heroes), and Epic ("gods"), I think we have to start higher.

I guess I don't really understand why you would want to create a group of beings that have the same names as gods, who are already present in 5e? But it isn't my place to question, it's your creation. So I will just add, that Asgard does in deed have a population of normal Asgardians. They have families, tend farms, etc. It quite mirrors the Nordic/Germanic age of living, inspite of the great technology in the halls of Thor, Odin etc. Most do not have any powers, but are still as strong or stronger than many superheroes. For example, normal gods in Marvel Comics, could bench press/power lift 30 tons! Thor could lift over 100 tons. Which made them superior even to the mythical gods they were reincarnated from. Whether these alien types, except Thor, can lift 30 tons or even a ton, is up for debate. Since I don't remember any of them having tossed around any cars, trucks or tractors.

But whatever you are creating. I wish you well. I use the Immortals from the revised Wrath of the Immortals and I have spoken with Frank Mentzer on another message board about comparing PCs to superheroes. To which he agreed. PC's are indeed the superheroes of their worlds. The Immortals, IMO would be equivalent to mystical entities like Dormammu or Agammatto, despite their ability to create celestial bodies and even move entire planes!

 

[MostlyHarmless42]

Were I to roll Loki, I envision him as a Fey patron warlock with pact of the blade and possibly a couple levels in rogue. Trickery cleric works as well, but sorcerer or warlock seem to fit him far better as he is very clearly more a charisma character than an intelligence or wisdom one.

 

[Monte_Piethon]

Realistically, for martial characters? Thor and Hulk are level 50 characters in 5e terms. Probably more, maybe a 100.

Ability score wise, a 20 STR is the strongest human being alive. Hulk can lift tens of thousands, if not millions of tons. STR score for linear progression... 1 STR score = 30 pounds. So you'd need a STR score in the millions to match Hulk or Thor onscreen.

HP? A level 20 fighter can survive a good 2, maybe 3 falls from the sky. Thor and Hulk tango with people who (spoiler alert ish) can disintegrate moons. Disintegrating a moon would take something on the scale of quintillions, sextillions of more force/energy/whatever metric than falling. That's talking millions of millions of millions.

On the other hand, bounded accuracy is meant to suggest that level 20 characters will always be threatened by enough mooks. If Thor blows up a a small, moon sized planet housing lives, that's many billions of creatures dead.

Only casters can be used to contend with any fictional characters, and thats not because of their raw destructive power but because of their ability to shape reality and time. Meanwhile Fighters can swing a sword better than regular humans and possibly a couple of times faster too. Realistically martial characters in DND are weak as piss because of stats confining them to a certain level and bookkeeping an honestly epic progression would be tiresome. Who would want to double or triple your hit die every level?

 

[dave2008]

Unfortunately, the rules as written of the Cleric class requires the Cleric to worship gods.

You said the same thing in another thread and I spent some time trying to find such a requirement and I could not. Can you please clarify where you getting this idea from? I see lots of descriptive text about gods in the flavor text, but I see no mechanical requirement to worship gods. I could easily be wrong though, since...

... if you don't like how clerics get their magic, you still have druids, bards, rangers, paladins, warlocks, wizards, etc. who get their magic a different way. You don't need clerics, they are not baked into the system.

My current group has a ranger, wizard/fighter, druid, warlock, rogue, and fighter. No cleric and the game works just fine.

 

[pemerton]

Out of curiosity, how does Thor not count as cultural appropriation?

Because Norway wasn't a relatively recent site of extremely culturally invasive colonisation?

 

[jgsugden]

It is like none of you have read the true histories. They're available on Marvel Unlimited.

As for their stats: Dead, dead, dead, dead, really dead, dead for a while, likely dead (but you never know), and barbarian 20 (Storm Herald) with the Hammer of Thunderbolts and a wand of chain lightning.