Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Naderion 03-31-07, 09:21 AM	I created a world wich has several gods, but I didn't give them devine ranks or put them into greater, intermediate and lesser category. But of course, there are noticable differences in their power and I'm wondering if it would be somehow usefull to assign some sort of ranks to them. In this world (wich is generally animistic), deities are completely different from mortals and even outsiders. There are divine realms in the outer planes, where there are huge castles or cathedrals where their most powerfull and important celestial/fiendish servants reside and which are the central places of their worshippers organisation. Though they might create an image that appears like a person if they want to communicate directly with mortals or most but the most powerfull outsiders, they don't have a body or a form, but are more like cosmic forces. There are no living mortals more powerfull then 24th level and probably no creatures above level 30 at all in all the planes, so there are no means in that a mortal or even most outsider lords could possibly affect a god in any way and because of that they don't havy any stats. They are above everything. In the mortal world, the gods influence is determined by the number and personal power of their clerics and though they could intervene directly, they usually don't. Worship might increase the chances of avoiding desasters but if a city is under siege, no praying will cause the sky to open and the attackers be smiten by thunder and lightning. The gods have a very different understanding of significance and nothing short of complete genocide might cause them to intervene directly. Of course, when you create a greek phanteon where the gods are just powerfull outsiders, it makes sense to apply and numbers to them, but with gods as abstract forces of several principles, would there be any use for that?
StalkerEntreri 03-31-07, 09:43 AM	You could do it; for simple reason of flavor and comparison of power to others such as the high level outsiders. The way you described them they sound almost like over Deities, with no care of what mortals or even some of the lesser gods do. Statting them seems pointless, since the Over Deities are not statted even in Deities and Demigods
Khael 03-31-07, 09:58 AM	If they're cosmic powers, with no true body or form, there's no real need to stat them - You can't directly fight them, so any challenge will be an outright one-hit-kill or useless. But saying that the lack of high epic beings in the game means little - Those outsider lords can still in effect destroy a god whether by spell or mass cull of worshippers. And although these gods would intervene, if said outsider is supported by a god... things might get silly, so it would be best to use a ranking system, even on like this: 1-lesser god, 2-greater god 3-head of pantheon (Or similar) just so you know a lesser god can't itself stop a greater god, and a head god although likely not more powerful, can call upon other gods to aid him, thus trumping a single greater god. All it needs is a simple ranking, DvR and so forth are only needed if you're going to use apply normal rules to the gods, or go for specific differences in power.
Janusunaj 03-31-07, 04:44 PM	Well here's how I do it. Lesser, greater, intermediate are only mechanical stats. What I do is have some lesser gods be more powerful than even greater gods. The greater gods might HAVE more power than the lesser god, but the lesser gods would in effect have some sort of indirect advantage. Thus, you can have the head of a pantheon be a mere DvR 11 deity, but possibly have something like massively over charged stats, or very high epic level spells, or unique SDAs.
Praedoran 04-02-07, 01:49 PM	Assigning ranks can help players, as well as you, see the power structure of the Gods you have made with only a glance. This can be important for several reasons: 1: Crusades. It can give a general power base of a deity's worshipers. Assuming a vacuum (no special variables) X will win over Y. 2: Avatars and Aspects. While they don't directly influence the realms, they might appoint or manifest a small portion of their power in the Mortal realms. 3: Cosmic Shifts of Power. If they comes to disagreement over the structure of the universe, who exerts the most influence? 4: Direct Intervention. You said they -can-, so you should probably have a categorization set up for what happens if they do. Lesser Deity can call down a rain of fire on a city, Greater Deity can call down that on a country. These are just some ideas for you though.