Post/Author/DateTime	Post
JuniperTree 11-22-07, 09:38 PM	I have a player who I want to make the grand daughter of Erevan Ilesere (in a FR setting), it's going to be a suprise for her as part of the main plot. The rest of her bloodline would be wood elf. The back story would be that her grannie had been (or still is) a Chosen of Erevan and had a child by him, and later that child had a daughter. She would be a Bard, probably multiclassed. The whole party is going to be somewhat Rouge based, so I like the idea of having them under the scruitiny of the elven god of thieves. I'd love some suggestions on character creation and rping. Thanks!
Jaxgaret 11-23-07, 03:41 AM	How exactly are you planning on signifying that this character is a 1/4 god mechanically? The lowest divine rank, Divine Rank 0 (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineRanksAndPowers.htm#rank0), which is usually for quasi-deities or the offspring of a god and a mortal, is just about a 7 level adjustment (+7 LA). You could take that and water it down a bit to suit your needs. Here are the benefits that having Divine Rank 0 nets you: Receive maximum hit points for each Hit Die. A deflection bonus to their AC equal to their Charisma bonus (if any). The natural attacks of deities, as well as any weapons they wield, are considered aligned the same as the deity for the purposes of bypassing damage reduction. Immune to polymorphing, petrification, or any other attack that alters its form. Any shape-altering powers the deity might have work normally on itself. Not subject to energy drain, ability drain, or ability damage. Immune to mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects). DR 10/Epic. Fire Resistance 5. SR 32. Naturally immortal and cannot die from natural causes. Do not age, and they do not need to eat, sleep, or breathe. The only way for a deity to die is through special circumstances, usually by being slain in magical or physical combat. Alternatively, you could simply apply the Half-Celestial (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/halfCelestial.htm) template to their character. That's a +4 LA. Another possibility is to make them a Planetouched (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/planetouched.htm). Simply modify the Aasimar to however you think your 1/4 god character would fit, mixing it with the Wood Elf (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/elf.htm#woodElf) traits. If you need any more help, let me know :)
Killer_Rabbit 11-23-07, 04:37 AM	Perhaps she doesn't get any bonuses until she realizes her power?
CitiesxOfxThexNight 11-23-07, 01:23 PM	I was thinking about a Reincarnation of a fallen god, what would that be?:confused:
CryoSilver 11-23-07, 01:25 PM	A second generation descendant might be a half-celestial. Or even an aasimar (I assume this goddess is Good). Just apply half celestial or aasimar traits to a normal elf, for the +3 or +1 LA.
Dog_O_War 11-23-07, 01:46 PM	There is a template in the DMGII that puts the power of a god into perspective. I will be the nay-sayer of this bunch and state... A character that is 1/4 god is too powerful for anything besides a story. It sounds like there will be too much favoritism for this one PC. Even if the character is mechanically crap (and I'm not saying that she will be, just to point out that if she were), it is still a mark of power that everyone else will resent. I wouldn't be happy in a group with someone that had such a clear advantage/disadvantage (disadvantage if they have a high LA and the party is level equivalent - this makes for one really weak PC). It is too much of a strain on the rest of the group.
teamfireyleader 11-23-07, 05:23 PM	It is possible to have a rank 0 god character, but you need to play it right. At the beggining of the game her power is diluted from non-usage and doesn't grant any power apart from maybe one. right in my opinion there are 2 options. 1; Every so often you play out a dream with an evil god using the dream to kill the demi-god and the party are pitted against forces of evil in the demi-gods mind. after the dream the demi-god (if not dead) becomes seriously ill from the contact of the opposing gods mind and her/his mind. he is disabled for the next adventure loses some exp from inactivity but gains a power frtom his/her god list. the party aught to have gathered some exp from the adventure to balance the power. 2;The character has insane moments as his/her power develops, he might lose a class ability, feat, wisdom, and/or exp (due to godly power in an elf's form) but gains a diluted power. If the character gets to level 20 he loses four (or more) levels but becomes a true minor god with all the 0 rank power and gains back wisdom but nothing else. Hope you like these sugestions, but in any case you need to put the "god in making" under heavier stress and/or disability. Also where in the DMG 2 is there that template (it seems cool) because i can't find it.
tenguroEd 11-23-07, 05:33 PM	How about the template from MM5,I think it's called God-blooded, has a LA of +1 I think.
Kelmourne 11-23-07, 07:06 PM	MM5 doesn't deserve the paper it's printed on. They stretched the MM series too far. 3 was good enough. Hell one was good enough. Oh well. Back on topic, you don't have to conform to any rules based on templates or divine rank or any of that stuff. Come up with some house rules that fit the senario your characters are in. I suggest level replacements (I think thats their name) which is where at certain intervals (Such as level 2,6,8 whatever you want really) instead of a level, the character gains some bonuses like save bonuses, maybe the ability to commune with the deity she is decended from. Also a really long lifespan is a must.
jradd777 11-23-07, 07:37 PM	Perhaps she doesn't get any bonuses until she realizes her power? ...Like an activation ritual for a legendary weapon. I could see something like that working; completely latent powers until a certain point and even then they have to scale up. Dog_O_War makes a good point, but you can change it to more like 1/32 god or something to help that out.
JuniperTree 11-23-07, 08:12 PM	Thanks guys! We are doing character creation tomorrow. I think I will start her off as more of an Aasimar/wood elf and she will slowly build up to a watered down version of divine rank 0. I love the ideas for revealing her true nature. I understand the concern about fairness amoungst the players. Let me explain. My group is all women in our late twenties, as such we are all students, wives, moms of young kids, building new careers etc. It is normal for players to have to leave for months at a time because of this. As such, we have created a tradition for this over the years. Whenever we know someone will be leaving for a while I create for her character a "Devestating Destiny". Basically the character will aquire power, pestige, wealth, a wicked magic weapon or some such thing, only to wind up having to commit some hilarious act of heroism that results in her death, imprisonment etc. Going out with a bang an all that ;) A favorite of the girls was when an wild mage got a hold of a very powerful staff that had a one in six chance of any spells it cast to backfire. The mage wound up turning herself to stone in the town square of a halfling village. When the spell was finally reversed, (after returing from a honeymoon in real life) she was shocked to discover the halflings had begun to idol worship the beautiful stone elf maid in their town. They were less than thrilled to find out their new goddess was false, and ran her out of town via an angry mob complete with pitchforks and torches. The staff was destroyed in the scuffle. The player with the 1/4 god character is moving away for good in the spring. So the girls expect me to come up with quite the send off. There will be much nuge-nuge-wink-winks to be had when they find out she is semi-divine. I'm still toying with ideas on how to kill her off. I'm terribly off topic now I bet. Thanks for all the suggestions agian. Feel free to keep them comming! I will post the stats we come up with if you guys are interested.
jradd777 11-23-07, 08:23 PM	That's amazing! I love that, please keep posting anything good.
teamfireyleader 11-24-07, 06:59 AM	Ok forget sickness and insanity, just blow it out of proportion (no joke) and have it so something like the demons and devils have teamed up the take arcaidia (or something like it) and your bard finds out in a shop/pub etc, and the gods/stronger angels/stronger celestials don't believe her/don't have the time to hear her out/think it was just some fantasy idea of 2 drunks. They say find proof . In finding proof her powers awaken slowly until she can turn her friends into demi-gods for short periods, she finds proof and God/angels/celestials relise what she is and sends her, her friends and an army of angels to battle the demons. Mass sides. spells with multiple targets deal 1 hp of damage to a side (en mass) per target. normal attacks only deal 1/3 damage. 1hp per demon/devil/celestial per side. side attacks as a unit, 20 minutes to a battlefield round. Angels win if they drive off the demons (more than double the no. of angels than demons) then Orcus turns round and kills his guard as sacrifice (cr 27) (been preparing for all battle to transform the character into a ring permanently. Demons win for opposite circumstances, God tries to gate everyone back to arcadia (or somewhere else) but character is traumatised by the battle and goes insane and marches off to the gates off hell to kill all (and dies). Hope you like these.
ieattrollsforbreakfast 11-24-07, 10:57 AM	So you're looking for a mechanical way to describe a character with a magically powerful, otherworldly ancestor, who for balance reasons it would be best to have realise her power over time, eventually surpassing all 'normal' people with amazing abilities? Sounds exactly like a character with sorcerer levels to me. Seriously, though, I think sorcerer levels, or even favoured soul levels, are the best way to represent this. Adding templates like half-celestial or a divine rank introduce all kinds of problems with level adjustment, especially since those LAs are so high. Another advantage to this approach is that you can keep the character's ancestry from the player until the time is right. As far as your player is concerned, her character is a particularly talented sorceress, leaving you room to ask the question 'just where do you think those talents came from?'
teamfireyleader 11-24-07, 02:30 PM	but she is a bard! how are you going to add class levels in sorceror, when she is going to continue being a bard? Also she said that the player was going out in a bang, no sorceror, it has to be something big but easy to do. Mine wasn't very good but something like that with big battle at the end or dealing with an enemy semi-deitie or something eaqually spectacular.
dawnbringer 11-24-07, 04:37 PM	Why not make her a Bhaalspawn :P
JuniperTree 11-26-07, 03:15 AM	I love everyone's suggestions! Thanks and feel free to keep them coming :) Alrighty. While watching Battlestar Galactica: Razor (a two hour movie) last night, we got the characters rolled and created. Then the girls took three hours going over what their charries look like, the backstories, how they all met etc etc . Finally I booted them outta the house lol. They are off to find miniatures for their new characters. So for all Mel knows, her charry is a Wood Elf/Aasimar, being decended from some minion of Erevan Ilesere. Statistically, she has been treated exactly like any Wood Elf, but with the typical additional abilities of an Aasimar; +2 Wis, +2 Chr Proficient w/ long sword or rapier May cast Light once per day as a sorcerer of their character level resitance of 5 to acid, cold, and electricity darkvision to a 60-foot range +2 racial bonus to Spot and Listen Level adjustment +1 I am still working out exactly how I want her to progress into a level 0 deity. I want the girls to have played the campaign for a little bit and have leveled up a couple of times before I really kick things off. I think it shall start as visions. Since she is a Bard, I may have her become overwhelmed and find herself singing songs about things she shouldn't know about. Have seeemingly random lines of poetry run through her head, or have her start doing some automatic writing. Little clues to what is going on. Since the party is all Elves and Half-elves and is Rouge oriented, the party Cleric is a cleric of Erevan Ilesere. I didn't even have to hint at it, she just picked that all on her own. So I think our Cleric will start having the odd vision or feeling that something is going to happen as well. Which will help keep the heat off of Mel's Bard. Eventually I will have her be visited by her Grandmother, now a minion of Erevan Ilesere, who will explain things. I will try to drag things out as long as possible, the girls are smart, so I have to be careful or they will figure out the suprise before I had planned. In the end I think I shall have her "die" and become a messinger of Erevan, that way Mel's last character with us will still be around after she leaves. I am going to run with the struggle against another god. I wonder who would want to pick a fight with the Elven god of thieves? Vhaerun, perhaps. Or maybe some tough a** followers of his. Hmmmm He he. It's funny Bhaalspawn was mentioned. Mel was introduced to D&D through the Baldur's Gate series. She became quite obsessed with it. She has been begging me since day one to let her play a "godspawn" like in Baldur's Gate. But I never let her of course. *rubs hands together* I can't wait to see the look on her face. Mechanically, I think I will gradually add the bonouses etc of a level 0 deity. Starting with the increased resistances and immunities. I think as the different clues are figured out and as they embark on the quest, her godly powers will start to develop. PS: The other party members are a Moon Elf Cleric of Erevan Ilesere, a Moon Elf Rouge, a Wood Elf Scout and a Half-elf Fighter.
JuniperTree 11-26-07, 03:22 AM	whoops, double post
narack 11-26-07, 08:35 AM	If i had to that i would put the god abilities dormant (sleeping). And when the realization of her real existence is found, she would make an ascension to her real plane of existence. Which would be the god plane of her attendance. I no way a god should stay on the material plane, i can cause a lot of problems (personnal experience). But what's good is after PC help the Semi-god finding his true reality they now have a god as a friend. They could now for example received each battle they fight the Blessing of the god (Blessing as the spell) of 1 true resurrection per years...
teamfireyleader 11-26-07, 11:17 AM	How are you going to let her realise her power? The characters might be led to believe that some evil spirit is trying to take her soul etc. You might want a back up plan for it.
Kiioro 11-26-07, 02:29 PM	You can also make her a descendent of a god but the god himself chose not to impart any divine spark on his offspring. You could do it just for the flavor of it. You could even twist it with the idea you already have, she's an aasimar and maybe later she can struggle to win her divine spark (kind of a Hercules kind of plot) when she finds out her lineage. On the other hand, the LA of someone that descends from a god could be terrible unless you see alternatives, like the unearthed arcana bloodline thingie. That could mean she's an aasimar as far as she knows, but every 4 or so levels she gets an additional bonus (you can decide if that costs extra XP, if it replaces some other skill, etc), and not when she levels up, you could bring it up when they're in risk. That way she doesn't have to associate the idea of growing powerful every level she gets, but think of it as a more random kind of bloodline. She could be hunted because of her lineage when someone deciphers it before they do. Hell, if creatures with spellfire have a hard time living, do you think that someone with godly genes wouldn't be a perfect experiment/spell component/source of power?
teamfireyleader 11-26-07, 02:53 PM	I'm sorry to point this out but this (i think judging by posts by juniper tree) is supposed to be a good bye "party" and should go off with a bang. usually though i would do something along the lines of that.
Anguish2 11-27-07, 12:51 PM	This is a very impressive thread and idea. Kudos to you, JuniperTree, for making the effort to make your players feel special. I have a suggestion; plot out a menu of abilities (potentially from the Divine 0 list) and create situations that are likely to make one or two useful. Then spring them. What I'd do with Mel's character is to have evil outsiders seem to "recognize" her. Have them puzzled, and ask things like "what ARE you?!" She won't realize what's happening, given she's Aasimar. Then, have the outsiders prefer to attack her in particular, and have say... a spell-like-ability cast at her. Give her a Spellcraft check, then start to ask her for a saving throw, and finally let her ability kick in. "The devil does something at you. Spellcraft please?" "15." "Well, you know it's casting something like inflict moderate wounds. <<ROLL>> And it reaches out it's hand and touches your shoulder, barely. Okay, I'm going to need a Will s-- wait. Something strange happens. The negative energy seems to form into a black fluid, and it rolls off your body, drops on the ground, and kills a few blades of grass, leaving you unharmed. The devil looks confused." "What?!? Can I do a Spellcraft check to see why? Knowledge(arcanar)? Bardic Knowledge? Anything?" "Yes." "18." "Please add SR15 to your character sheet and remind me in the future that I need to make caster-level checks against you." "What!?!" "Don't look at me. I'm just telling you what happened." My point is that I'd try real hard to reveal her abilities in-game, most in combat. Try to design events that let you pick between a couple abilities you want to unlock at that level, so depending on character action, you can give out one or the other. Things like giving either some SR or DR/evil. Things like the maximized hit dice... I'd do a bit differently. I'd wait until the character is injured, and when the party healer heals Mel's character, ask the healer to roll an extra 1d4. Tell Mel to add the result to her permanent hit point total as the positive energy just... persists. Don't have every healing attempt do that. Dole it out whenever you feel fit, up to the appropriate number. You can start small and scale things up. Increase SR as the character levels, for instance. The deflection bonus to AC you can add a bit here or there by depicting an arrow or a sword that would have hit her AC exactly actually miss because... "well, you're not sure why that arrow changed direction at the last possible moment, but a +1 deflection bonus to AC might go a long way to explain it. Please note that on your character sheet." What I'm saying here, in a big way, is to play the divine blood yourself. It's on her side. It helps her when she most needs it. It keeps giving, literally making her into something more than she was. You, the DM, can play that role. I'd also probably not have Grandma spill the beans. Have a few screaming, drooling, untrustworthy demon-assassins who have it out for her let out the truth. Maybe she believes it. Maybe not. Over time, when enough evil outsiders act berserk around her, she'll catch on. Anyway, again, really cool effort, and I commend you for your tradition.
Brownie 11-27-07, 05:34 PM	Well she doesn't have to get the power and LA right away, you could make it into a class and take levels if she wants to get powers that come with the template. It would represent her becoming more divine or figuring out the powers she had all along.
jradd777 11-27-07, 05:39 PM	I like Anguish2's idea a lot. I also would think that eventually she could learn of a ritual to do to invoke a large amount of powers at once, toward the end of this storyline (maybe it would even end up being what "kills" her?).
JuniperTree 11-30-07, 03:08 AM	Grrrr! I wrote a wonderful and long post, spell checked it and everything … and then the computer crashed before I posted it. *Sighs* So you guys are getting a short version. Once again, thanks all of you for wonderful ideas! Anguish2, I am going to work in your ideas for revealing her abilities and true nature. Thanks! Iretha the CG “Aasimar” Bard and her friends are off to track down a Tiefling who is in possession of an expensive and magical amulet their patron wants. Their patron being a Wizard/Rouge Half-elf who lives near Evereska and pays them well for “recovering” items for him. The girls will be caught by the Tiefling and his cronies, of course, and have to fight their way out, that way I can have the Tiefling have a rather strong reaction to Ireth, but not give out any info as to why. I do not want the other players to feel left out, so I am trying to tie them into the story a bit as well. I tweaked some of their back-stories and how they all met so that they are all joking about how they seemed destined to meet. I want it to be as if they were all chosen to help Iretha to achieve her Devastating Destiny. Once the girls figure out that this is the Devastating Destiny, they will be very gung-ho, I just need to keep them interested until then. Hmmm hmmm The Cleric especially will gain favour from Erevan Ilesere for this when all is said and done. I still want her to have the odd strange thing or vision happen to her, to help keep the girls from focusing too much on Iretha right away. It will also provide the back-up plan teamfireyleader suggested, as I can always give the Cleric some kind of divine inspiration if the girls decide Iretha needs killing or is going crazy or something. I like the idea of a ritual that winds up making her ascend/die The group is playing again on Saturday… PS thought you guys would find this funny. I kept calling Iretha "Urethra" all game, I couldn't help it! Mel threatened to kill me twice.