Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Opunaya Mar 05, 2015 4:22:05	Hello all,    I am trying to build a few custom enemy characters and while reskinning has worked for most of them, I'm having trouble finding any information of demigods/gods D&D builds. Can anyone give me any advice on how to build one? This would end up being the big bad, final boss of this campaign. Let me know if there's any other information I can give.  Thank you!
#2 Kalani Mar 05, 2015 7:32:32	Monsters and NPCs are not made using the same tools as PCs (although can certainly do so if you want to). There is an entire section in the DMG about creating custom monsters. Since you are uncertain where to begin, I would suggest looking at the following entries to get some ideas:   Tiamat (Rise of Tiamat), a L30 god - and the only example of a god we have in 5E. Lich and Demilich - powerful undead spellcasters which often border on godly power - certainly equal to a demigod. Powerful fiends (such as Balors, and Pit Fiends) Powerful Celestials like the Archon or Solar. As a rule of thumb, I would build a demi-god to be between CR21 and 23, just slightly more powerful than a L20 character, and would make sure to give it a few flavorful abilities that PCs cannot hope to get.    Gods are CR30 and above. Mere mortals should not stand a hope of defeating them on their own turf. Even in the case of Tiamat, that was only her aspect that was CR30 (Gods lack the discorporation ability on their own plane, and if slain there - will be slain outright). I suspect Tiamat to be a CR35 creature in Avernus (1st layer of the Nine Hells).   The only change I would make to her stats would be that she would also be considered a L20 spellcaster, with access to 9th level spells from both the Wizard and Cleric spell lists.
#3 Archon007 Mar 05, 2015 7:44:22	Their a God you don't need stats. Hit Points:enough, Attack:enough, Damage:enough Spells:all Spell Slots:enough   Gods are killed by other Gods, not mortals. The exception being when the Gods where made mortal, but that is no longer the case in FR.
#4 EmpactWB Mar 05, 2015 16:32:44	I don't stat the gods in my worlds because they are aspects of reality merged with a mortal will so powerful that death and the afterlife couldn't stop them from attempting to fulfill a goal. For example, the sun goddess was a warrior queen who died to master the fires of heaven and make the world more hospitable for her people (there's a longer version, but that's the core). She's the mind inside a 1.4 million kilometer thick ball of fusing plasma. I don't need stats for that.
#5 Illithidbix Mar 05, 2015 19:25:50	Exactly what a god is, what it's powers and limitations are and whether it can be physically fought in a meaningful sense varies greatly between different settings and cosmologies. (fictional and real!)   Some people balk at the very idea of putting in a god as a direct, defeatable adversary.   Even with historical faiths, the conception and mortality of Norse and Greek deities were very different to Hindu and Abrahamic faiths.   … That obvious thing aside.   Kalani has good advice and also think about:   What do you want the players to be fighting?   The God itself? An avatar? A possessed mortal vessel? If you defeat it do you just destroy a physical manifestation, what implications does that have?   Or is the battle more abstract? In defeating the manifestation or champion do you disprove the concept it embodies and thus weaken it?
#6 Sands666 Mar 05, 2015 20:47:01	Some people don't like to stat out a god but I think it's fine. As long as you're ready to allow that god to lose. The only thing I say is make sure there's a reason for everything. Why are high level mortals able to slay a god? Did they destroy the gods followers and make the god just weak enough to fight mortals? Do they have an artifact? Would the other gods be okay with the death of a different god, or would they find it to be more like "biting the hand that feeds" or creating an imbalance. What would be the repercussions of destroying this particular god? The myth of your god will be able to dictate its powers. For instance, the ultimate big boss in my campaign is a demi-god who was once a very powerful Lich, whose soul became bound to a Jaan (an old school type of genie). They became one, and serve each other. The powers I use will be based on those creatures. Gods are so powerful that their stats may seem abstract at times, but you can ground it in the mechanics of the monster creator in the DMG. I would suggest making it well above a CR20 and include lair actions too, let the flavor guide power selections.  Otherwise follow what Kalani suggests I say.
#7 Opunaya Mar 06, 2015 9:31:46	Thanks for all of the input so far, I guess I should clarify a little more:    I am doing a fairly unqiue setting (as far as I know, anyway), so there won't be a bunch of gods running around (at least, not at this stage of planning) so I guess 'god' was a poor choice of words, it will be an ongoing opponent my players will face, more of the abstract aspect of the chaos and/or decay in the universe made into a semi-physical manifestation that can be injured and captured, but is immensely powerful and dangerous and capable of warping reality and whatnot--which is going to be most of what its attacks are based around, I'm fairly new to most of the larger world of D&D so I'm not sure what you would classify that as.  One of the powers it will have is a corrupting factor on the landscape and creatures around it, which spreads the longer it is not sealed and active. The initial battle will be with a humanoid figure though I was thinking that I would have it transform into something larger later on, especially after looking back at Tiamat's stats   They will accidentally help unseal it about mid-way through the story and will then have to try to seal it back and will encounter it a few times before the final battle. I'm planning on the party to be about level 10 when they first encounter it, and maybe close to 20 by the time the final battle occurs. Most of the first encounters for the party will be more enduranced-based as opposed to trying to defeat it. I'm planning on customizing some weapons for them to use to help them out towards the end but I wanted to build a greater sense of progression within the story, one issue I've had with the D&D games that I've played with others is that we really haven't had a sense of growing stronger and more experienced.  Here are the books I own right now:  5e DMG The Rise of Tiamat 5e Monster Manual Hoard of th Dragon Queen From what Kalani is saying, the way I'm picturing this enemy, its power should be around CR23-25? I was also thinking about getting the Deities and Demigods book and using that as a springboard as well, would that be a good idea?  Again, thanks to everyone for giving me their input! I appreciate everything and I hope ramblings on here help clarify my ideas a little more.