jerichothebard said:
The following gods have died or been cast down as a part of the backstory of my campaign:
The God of Trickery, Luck, Gambling and Love
The Goddess of Hearth, Home, Protection and Craft
The Goddess of Time, Arcane Magic and Good Fortune
The God of War in all its aspects
What possible effects might this have on the mortal world, as their portfolio goes unfilled? I'm not looking for other beings to ascend - it's assumed that their place in the cosmos is simply, for the moment, empty. I'm more looking for a list of things that are going wrong which will serve as foreshadowing for a later quest to raise the Seven back to their thrones.
Okay, I'll admit I am a little confused. Why is Love and Trickery in the same portfolio? Why are Hearth and Craft in the same portfolio? And Arcane Magic and Good Fortune together? The latter should be with Luck. Also, why do you refer to a quest to raise the seven when only four are mentioned (unless the two examples you give are in fact two of three other cast down / dead deities). As for how I would deal with it:
The God of Trickery, Luck, Gambling and Love
Chance is less common. (Critical hits require rolling to confirm, and the confirmation must also be within the critical range. Or Critical hits do not work at all.) Trickery is less successful (-5 to all Bluff, Disguise, etc checks).
I cannot fully comment on Love as some might mean Passion, some might mean Infatuation, and some might mean Compassion, and each has its own affects for being lessened.
- Decreasing Passion, and everything is less intense. Rage requires a Will save to successfully enter, and if the save fails the Rage is still used up. Everyone gains a +4 vs fear effects that would send them into a panic (the more extreme form of fear).
- Decreased Infatutation, and romantic love becomes mere interest. Marriages - if based on love in your campaign setting - are now more a matter of affectionate friendship than actual love.
- Decreased Compassion, and everyone is more cold hearted, less empathic, more readily committing harsh acts.
The Goddess of Hearth, Home, Protection and Craft
Hearth has long been a symbol of family unity, so perhaps with its lessening families are more nuclear than extended, and in regions where families were already nuclear the entire family structure crumbles. In such a situation children might be raised communally or in (semi-) official 'orphanages' and marriage is less common. This might tie into the first deity (Love), such that marriages are more symbolic than anything else, and perhaps children are less common overall as a result.
Protection lessened is more difficult, but you might impose a -2 penalty to all ACs in the game. This represents the fact that nothing is truly protected anymore, so all hits are a little more likely. Objects should be treated as having 2 less points of hardness for the same reason. This makes sundering more common, which ties in nicely with the final deity (war).
Craft decreased: all craft checks to make a new item have a -5 penalty, and all repair checks have a -2 penalty. Items are slowly wearing away and falling apart. The skill to replace or even fix them seems muted somehow. Great smiths now seem just barely above average, and average smiths can barely perform tasks they mastered as apprentices. Prices for crafted items double as sources dwindle. Fewer enter the trade as the years required to build up any real skill is so much longer now than it used to be.
The Goddess of Time, Arcane Magic and Good Fortune
Good Fortune lessens: Everyone takes a -1 to all saves. Everyone seems to be a little worse off, a little more likely to suffer whenever chance of harm occurs.
Time and Arcane Magic: regions exist where one or the other (or both) are wild. In some areas time seems to pass faster than outside, or slower. In some areas magic is muted (-1d4 to caster level for effects) or empowered (+1d4 to caster level). Overall, all casters cast as if one level lower, and magic that affects time or aging is a level higher (meaning that time stop is basically epic). Overall, creatures are aging a little faster (1.5x or 2x normal).
The God of War in all its aspects
Weapons, as crafted items, are less common. As items used in defense, they are also more brittle. Of course, armor itself is also affected in the same manner - and thus less useful and less common. As armor and weapons become less common and less useful war becomes less common - as both sides eventually fall to fisticuffs and wrestling. Perhaps war becomes more a matter of politics and symbolic (wrestling) games. If you tie in the cold hearted way people may be feeling / thinking (due to decrease in passion / compassion) then suddenly gladiator type games may decide the fate of city-states, but the spectators would watch with dispassionate interest, not feeling much excitement at the spectacle. I imagine that harsh / cold hearted political intrigue would take the place of warfare, perhaps, with gladiators and sport-type 'combat' exhibitions being the tokens that shift the balance slightly one way or the other, another aspect of many in a vast game of intrigue.
- - - -
Note that the final results will be far worse than what I have written. In the end a synthesis of all the results must be taken into account. The core of a society is the family unit. With that dissolving society itself may have trouble staying together. With crafts, weaponry, etc falling apart and difficult to repair, I imagine that civilization is slowly falling apart. Magic cannot aid it (as arcane magic is weakened and often wild, and divine magic is less available as there are less deities to draw upon, if any). Political intrigue can only slow the inevitable. And with fewer children being born every year, it is possible that civilized races may slowly be fading towards extinction.
This has the potential to be a great Dark / Grim world.
