When Celestials Attack... and Small Gods... an idea...

[Nik_the_Pig]

Question. What powers/domains would be granted to a cleric of a small god??

I'm working on a campaign setting where the founder of a civilization has been deified but most of the clergy of the of the other (good) religions see him as a saint and not a god in his own right. Although the clergy of this religion has a lot of political clout I don't feel they should have that much divine clout if you get my meaning.

 

[Breakstone]

Hm... maybe a cleric of a small god would only get one domain, but get something else special...

 

[Valkys]

The Dragon article says that most small gods have adepts instead of full clerics. So, the real difference is probably that small gods are very limited in the number of full clerics they have. In the case where the small god is viewed as a saint by other religions, his clergy is probably very small and underpowered, with the High Priest and perhaps 2 or 3 others being his only clerics, and the rest are adepts. This works out really well for a PC cleric, I would think, since he is automatically headed for a leadership position within the church.

 

[Sammael99]

Very interesting thread.

The powers of clerics of Small Gods IMO should be lesser than the power of clerics of greater gods, except maybe in the area directly around the gods' abode. Maybe the clerics can only access Spell levels 1-5 but can cast them spontaneously while in the god's area of influence ?

There are two interesting books to flesh this out if anyone is interested. One is, obviously, Terry Pratchett's Small Gods (one of the better late Discworld novels IMO) which is quite humorous, but a little bit philosophical as well, and Neil Gaiman's American Gods (check out http://www.neilgaiman.com/) which is more or less what you're looking for, a war of gods, although it's more of a new small gods vs old small gods kind of thing.

 

[Dougal DeKree]

less clerics -> small gods?

Hey again.

Well, i am not sure, but could it be, that greater gods aren't small gods BECAUSE they have more clerics? and, if so, wouldn't the small god have a close watch at what his few clerics do to enlargen their group of believers (thereby boasting their status)? I guess you should give a cleric (not the adepts!) of a small god the full range of clerical abilities, but remind him frequently, that if he isn't doing a thing to gain followers, the god might just choose someone else and demote him to adept...should give enough hooks for quests .-)

Dougal DeKree, Gnomish Illusionist

 

[Breakstone]

Good point.

Now, my question is this:

If I were to start this whole Small God/Authority's Celestials Attacking/Other Gods Abandoning World to Make a New One thing in my current campaign, what should I do with the cleric of Moradin character?

(note- the player isn't the biggest roleplayer in the world, but still a fun guy)

 

[Dougal DeKree]

Moradins Cleric

Hmm, maybe Moradin has some interest in one of the small gods and gives the char the mission to go and help this particular small god. Then maybe the small god may assure help to moradin in exchange for this nice guy that helped him out, so the moradins cleric would become a small-god-cleric suddenly...

 

[Breakstone]

Well now, that's a good idea!

Hm... Moradin's son?

 

[HalfElfSorcerer]

This is sooooo COOL!

Idea: Maybe after the small god that granted the PCs the quest to unite the small gods (better name: Spirits of the World?) each PC becomes the "collector" of a particular brand of small god. For example, the dwarf PC could be called "Awakener of Stone and Steel," and be in charge of awakening small gods in mountains, metallic objects, and buildings. The druid could be "Awakener of Wood and Wild," and be able to awaken animal and forest gods. If you have many "god categories," other NPCs might be awakeners as well. An awakener would probably be marked by a tattoo representing their particular god category on their right forearm. We could work on an Awakener template...

Just some ideas. I really like this whole small gods idea!

 

[Breakstone]

Woah... or a prestige class?