OgreBattle wrote:Well what are the mechanics of being a god and granting powers to your clerics then? That's the part that I'm not clear on when it comes to Dungeons & Deities.
It differs between the settings and editions, duh. Sometimes you have gods who are just prayer-eating extraplanar parasites. Sometimes you have gods who literally are the concepts they embody, so when you kill the goddess of Greed, greed is no more. Sometimes you just have quasi-pagan pantheons, with gods overseeing things they like.
Personally an at the moment I'm using transcedent gods who operate on a higher level or reality and can't even theoretically be hurt by mortals unless they diminish themselves into avatars. At the same time they are incapable of precise manipulations in the mortal world without doing going avatar. Sure, they can interfere anytime, but when the tiniest possible manifestation of their full glory can sink continents or leave nations as brainwashed drones they are reserving this shit for real emergencies (I don't have much in the way of outright evil gods). Even communicating with mortals is troublesome, in a way a man may find hard explaining his desires to a cat. As about clerics, all power always comes from a cleric himself, he simply learns to channel it a certain way by attuning himself to a deity through appopriate behavior and worldview. Heretics/fallen clerics cannot gain any more cleric levels serving their old god, but they retain all of the clerical powers they've already obtained, so you can have schisms, and secret devil worshippers having a chance of remaining secret, and whatever.
Why do the gods even care about mortals? Why did they decide to wipe them all out and what is stopping them from finishing the job after it becomes clear the party wants to facestab them?
What do the gods do all day, except for watching their constituents fornicate?
Maxus wrote:-Keep direct interference to a minimum; mortals are supposed to advance your agenda. If you pick 'em right, they will.
-If you directly interfere, any rivals or enemies will also be allowed a commensurate direct interference.
So why did the gods agree to this? Why would a trickster / dick god stick with it? How far can you push a god before it interferes? Are there plots to specifically push gods into interfering?
-Gods ARE allowed retribution--like curses and all--in cases of extreme blasphemy or direct insult.
Well as a god, I personally find it blasphemous if you worship someone else / don't worship me / are out to kill me. Let me just curse everybody.
Gary Gygax wrote:The player’s path to role-playing mastery begins with a thorough understanding of the rules of the game
Bigode wrote:I wouldn't normally make that blanket of a suggestion, but you seem to deserve it: scroll through the entire forum, read anything that looks interesting in term of design experience, then come back.
Might be relevant as a part of "powered by belief" concept and nicely flesh out Deity system (I don't really like the idea of each lake, tree, and stone having an elemental, but there has to be some transition between mundane peasant and lightning bolt-throwing deity).
tl;dr (non-player, as a rule) characters receive levels from being important.
Mayor got elected, but is only Expert 3, while he should be 7th level? He gets 4 temporary levels as long as he keeps the post. New Duke of Wherever is 9 year old kid and doesn't have a level? He gets 9 levels just because he got the title.
Might be relevant as a part of "powered by belief" concept and nicely flesh out Deity system (I don't really like the idea of each lake, tree, and stone having an elemental, but there has to be some transition between mundane peasant and lightning bolt-throwing deity).
tl;dr (non-player, as a rule) characters receive levels from being important.
Mayor got elected, but is only Expert 3, while he should be 7th level? He gets 4 temporary levels as long as he keeps the post. New Duke of Wherever is 9 year old kid and doesn't have a level? He gets 9 levels just because he got the title.
Friendship really is magic.
The first rule of Fatclub. Don't Talk about Fatclub..
If you want a game modded right you have to mod it yourself.
