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Small Gods, Epic (Six) Heroes
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<blockquote data-quote="Shades of Green" data-source="post: 5697866" data-attributes="member: 3297"><p>I've been thinking about this for the last year or so: <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/297842-shintoesque-d-d.html" target="_blank">this thread</a> and <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/206323-e6-game-inside-d-d.html" target="_blank">E6</a> go together like chocolate and peanut butter.</p><p></p><p>Imagine a world where all (or almost all) monsters above CR 6 are more powerful than any ordinary mortal, any monsters above CR10 are more powerful even than the mightiest epic heroes, and any monsters above CR 12 cannot be slain in a stand-up fight (as opposed to trickery and/or special strategies and/or exploiting weaknesses) even by the greatest heroes of legend. An adult dragon, for example, would be a mighty god in such a world - standing clearly above any mortal; a being to be worshiped.</p><p></p><p>Imagine a world with an animistic cosmology where there are no omniscient gods, no transcendental gods, no main pantheon, but rather a huge number of small, local gods with limited power and areas of influence. The divine becomes personal; no longer you are praying to a distant, impersonal deity, but rather trafficking with the nymph of the nearby stream for safe passage, with the local dragon for luck, with your ancestors' spirits for prowess in war, and with a local satyr or dryad for bountiful harvests. All gods are personal; all gods are NPCs; and all religious activity involves role-playing the trafficking between mortals and the numerous, local small gods.</p><p></p><p>With E6, everything is reframed in power, making otherwise weaker monsters powerful on the overall power scale. A Nymph, at CR 6, is no longer a relatively weak being, but rather a significant local goddess who equals in power to great heroes; a Dire Bear, at CR 7, is a mighty Bear God, king of the forest, a horror if provoked; a mighty hero cursed with vampirism (a CR 8 vampire) would be the focus of a curse set upon an entire valley. So even ordinary D20 MM creatures can become local gods.</p><p></p><p>Magic Items above a Caster Level of 6 would either be forged by some small god, or actually <em>be</em> a small god - the embodiment of a powerful ancestor in the form of a sword, for example. Most magic weapons with a bonus of +3 and more would actually be sentient - and divine in nature.</p><p></p><p>Gods could be fought with and sometimes defeated by mortal heroes, even through combating the mightier gods would require the hero to resort to trickery and/or to do research and find out the god's weaknesses.</p><p></p><p>Gods should probably be given "divine" or "thematic" powers, some replicating spells (including ones that are above and beyond the reach of ordinary mortals), others being broader. Ritual magic would involved negotiating with gods and getting them to use their powers on one's behalf.</p><p></p><p>I'm even thinking of a cleric/druid replacement - a Shaman? A Priest? - who would probably be similar to a Sorcerer (or replace the sorcerer?) and learn spells directly from Gods; maybe even Wizards will learn their spells as well from these spiritual beings (imagine a Wizard negotiating with a mighty dragon in order to get that dragon to teach him Fireball)?</p><p></p><p>What do you think about these ideas?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Shades of Green, post: 5697866, member: 3297"] I've been thinking about this for the last year or so: [url=http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/297842-shintoesque-d-d.html]this thread[/url] and [url=http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/206323-e6-game-inside-d-d.html]E6[/url] go together like chocolate and peanut butter. Imagine a world where all (or almost all) monsters above CR 6 are more powerful than any ordinary mortal, any monsters above CR10 are more powerful even than the mightiest epic heroes, and any monsters above CR 12 cannot be slain in a stand-up fight (as opposed to trickery and/or special strategies and/or exploiting weaknesses) even by the greatest heroes of legend. An adult dragon, for example, would be a mighty god in such a world - standing clearly above any mortal; a being to be worshiped. Imagine a world with an animistic cosmology where there are no omniscient gods, no transcendental gods, no main pantheon, but rather a huge number of small, local gods with limited power and areas of influence. The divine becomes personal; no longer you are praying to a distant, impersonal deity, but rather trafficking with the nymph of the nearby stream for safe passage, with the local dragon for luck, with your ancestors' spirits for prowess in war, and with a local satyr or dryad for bountiful harvests. All gods are personal; all gods are NPCs; and all religious activity involves role-playing the trafficking between mortals and the numerous, local small gods. With E6, everything is reframed in power, making otherwise weaker monsters powerful on the overall power scale. A Nymph, at CR 6, is no longer a relatively weak being, but rather a significant local goddess who equals in power to great heroes; a Dire Bear, at CR 7, is a mighty Bear God, king of the forest, a horror if provoked; a mighty hero cursed with vampirism (a CR 8 vampire) would be the focus of a curse set upon an entire valley. So even ordinary D20 MM creatures can become local gods. Magic Items above a Caster Level of 6 would either be forged by some small god, or actually [i]be[/i] a small god - the embodiment of a powerful ancestor in the form of a sword, for example. Most magic weapons with a bonus of +3 and more would actually be sentient - and divine in nature. Gods could be fought with and sometimes defeated by mortal heroes, even through combating the mightier gods would require the hero to resort to trickery and/or to do research and find out the god's weaknesses. Gods should probably be given "divine" or "thematic" powers, some replicating spells (including ones that are above and beyond the reach of ordinary mortals), others being broader. Ritual magic would involved negotiating with gods and getting them to use their powers on one's behalf. I'm even thinking of a cleric/druid replacement - a Shaman? A Priest? - who would probably be similar to a Sorcerer (or replace the sorcerer?) and learn spells directly from Gods; maybe even Wizards will learn their spells as well from these spiritual beings (imagine a Wizard negotiating with a mighty dragon in order to get that dragon to teach him Fireball)? What do you think about these ideas? [/QUOTE]
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