Shades of Green
First Post
How do you all think I could get my ideas to work, while circumventing the above-mentioned pitfalls?
-
The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Small Gods, Epic (Six) Heroes
- Thread starter Shades of Green
- Start date
Tom Servo
First Post
I just wanted to say that I really like this idea. It is similar to what I was thinking about doing in E6. I might have to do a blend now.
I don't think there is really a major flaw here at all. From what I understood you were talking about more subtle (though large in scale) manipulation of plants and weather, Umbran is talking about combat spells. The ability to influence when the rains come is very different than blasting people with lightning.
Also what Wik said is helpful. Religions and cults can spring up for many reasons. Perhaps the dryad is just a dryad, but the local human population has built a mythology around her. Perhaps she uses this to her advantage, perhaps she ignores it, perhaps she tries to deny it (since when do facts get in the way of a good cult?) There are many ways to approach this.
I do agree however, you have to be very careful what powers you give these creatures if you don't want their CR increased. Making sure the added powers aren't combat oriented and/or quick to use is a good start.
I don't think there is really a major flaw here at all. From what I understood you were talking about more subtle (though large in scale) manipulation of plants and weather, Umbran is talking about combat spells. The ability to influence when the rains come is very different than blasting people with lightning.
Also what Wik said is helpful. Religions and cults can spring up for many reasons. Perhaps the dryad is just a dryad, but the local human population has built a mythology around her. Perhaps she uses this to her advantage, perhaps she ignores it, perhaps she tries to deny it (since when do facts get in the way of a good cult?) There are many ways to approach this.
I do agree however, you have to be very careful what powers you give these creatures if you don't want their CR increased. Making sure the added powers aren't combat oriented and/or quick to use is a good start.
Fanaelialae
Legend
Cool idea!
Seems like it would work especially well for the world of [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Waterborn-Chosen-Changeling-Book/dp/0345396707/]The Waterborn[/ame] and [ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345418808/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0345396707&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=16B7E4EFMPV3JDHQ1WE4]Blackgod[/ame] (definitely worth reading if you can find copies). It's the same setting as the Fool Wolf short stories, if you remember those from older issues of Dragon magazine.
I'm not sure the CR change is all that important in this case. Small gods, if I understand things correctly, start at CR 6 and can be much higher than that, meaning that a single god can range from a reasonable to an impossible challenge for an epic party.
The CR system isn't all that precise to begin with. The designers admitted at one time that they made dragons significantly stronger than their CR would indicate because they felt that dragons should always be a challenge. That was certainly my experience with 3.x.
Based on that logic, it hardly seems unreasonable that a god should be an unusually significant threat for its CR as well. I say give your gods whatever thematic abilities you feel are appropriate and leave the CR as is. It'll make the PCs think twice before going into the godslaying business.
Seems like it would work especially well for the world of [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Waterborn-Chosen-Changeling-Book/dp/0345396707/]The Waterborn[/ame] and [ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345418808/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0345396707&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=16B7E4EFMPV3JDHQ1WE4]Blackgod[/ame] (definitely worth reading if you can find copies). It's the same setting as the Fool Wolf short stories, if you remember those from older issues of Dragon magazine.
I'm not sure the CR change is all that important in this case. Small gods, if I understand things correctly, start at CR 6 and can be much higher than that, meaning that a single god can range from a reasonable to an impossible challenge for an epic party.
The CR system isn't all that precise to begin with. The designers admitted at one time that they made dragons significantly stronger than their CR would indicate because they felt that dragons should always be a challenge. That was certainly my experience with 3.x.
Based on that logic, it hardly seems unreasonable that a god should be an unusually significant threat for its CR as well. I say give your gods whatever thematic abilities you feel are appropriate and leave the CR as is. It'll make the PCs think twice before going into the godslaying business.
Last edited:
Fanaelialae
Legend
Similar Threads
