Becoming a God?

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Tinker Dragoon
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by Tinker Dragoon »

Strictly speaking, no, there are no rules for a mortal being to ascend to godhood. The Demigod and Godling R.C.C.s are assumed to be born divine, although Phase World's resident Godling, Thraxus, is said to have been a mortal adventurer who somehow attained divinity by unknown means.

There are any number of ways in mythology and fantasy by which apotheosis might be achieved, from consuming the Food of the Gods, to being transformed by another deity, to technologically infusing one's body with the primordial energies of the cosmos.

I would consider a newly deified character to be equal to a Demigod or Godling, with further advancement in divinity requiring the character to attract worshippers, per the rules in Dragons & Gods.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by MaxxSterling »

I actually had the same question. Running a massive multi-year campaign where at the end, the character will become the deity they worship (They don't realize that their god doesn't exist yet because they are their god).

The only other times I saw this tackled was with Ambrosia and by having other very powerful gods make the characters into gods. Basically, you have to make it all up.
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Re: Becoming a God?

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This would make for a great Rifter article.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by flatline »

Any existing god that you gain the favor of could make you a demigod or even god. There are lots of examples in CB2 of gods that were "promoted" to godhood by other gods.

--flatline
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by Zamion138 »

Id base it off a number of followers.
gods powers are based off how many worshipers they have, start having the pc's notice people making sacrafices to them and praying for them. if they heavily prevent it or try hard to prevent worship make it a longer road. Id make it they start becoming dimie-gods at some pretty high numbers maybe 100k worshipers for just immortality and kinda work it up from there , id make full god hood when they make it over a very heavy 2.5 million. keeping in mind most gods are worshiped on more than one world.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by CyCo »

Wasn't there something in one of the PFRPG books about becoming a God? Maybe within an adventure or hook/line/sinker kinda thing?
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by The Dark Elf »

If someone asks you if you are a god....
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Re: Becoming a God?

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The Dark Elf wrote:If someone asks you if you are a god....

Say, "Yes" give them your name, and tell them to masturbate 3 times a day while saying my name to honor me. Demigods to love tantric offerings. LOL. Plus it's a sure way of getting a cult started.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by One Hand Clapping »

flatline wrote:Any existing god that you gain the favor of could make you a demigod or even god. There are lots of examples in CB2 of gods that were "promoted" to godhood by other gods.

--flatline



Very true. IIRC, there is a deity in Dragons and Gods who offered godhood to a close mortal friend and servant (I think it was Od of the Northern Pantheon). The mortal declined the offer, but it shows that such a thing is at least possible.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by glitterboy2098 »

also Geshbourn from rifter 9 1/2. the god of hopeless causes, who despite being just a mortal kept trying to become a war god by deposing the existing Deity in that spot.. after getting his rear end kicked by every pantheon, he kept at it, to the point the different pantheons were impressed enough by his determination that they elevated him to godling status. which hasn't stopped him from his self set goal, mind you..
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by Ectoplasmic Bidet »

There is one mention in either Dragons & Gods of Pantheons of the Megaverse of a god being in serious risk of fading away if their followers drop below 10,000 and several instances in other books pointing out how certain beings[typically demons or other powerful supernatural creatures] began to achieve semi-divine status/power due to having hundreds of thousands of worshipers.

Going by that, the catalyst for apotheosis is likely much more demanding than maintaining the deific state. A strong enough god could conceivably funnel a large portion of the power granted by their followers prayers/worship to raise another being to godhood, then cut back on the flow until the new god had secured a power base of their own. It would likely function in a similar way to how demon and deevil lords empower their lieutenants and regents with prototypical deific powers and significantly raised stats.

If a regular mortal were to gather a large cult with hundreds of thousands or even millions of devout worshipers, I doubt they could attain spontaneous godhood. Without a supernatural origin to serve as a base to grow from, maybe a powerful practitioner of magic or some other being well versed in manipulating PPE could do it.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by glitterboy2098 »

so 10,000 active followers looks to be the rough minimum limit? good to know... hmm..
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by Juce734 »

Ectoplasmic Bidet wrote:There is one mention in either Dragons & Gods of Pantheons of the Megaverse of a god being in serious risk of fading away if their followers drop below 10,000 and several instances in other books pointing out how certain beings[typically demons or other powerful supernatural creatures] began to achieve semi-divine status/power due to having hundreds of thousands of worshipers.

Going by that, the catalyst for apotheosis is likely much more demanding than maintaining the deific state. A strong enough god could conceivably funnel a large portion of the power granted by their followers prayers/worship to raise another being to godhood, then cut back on the flow until the new god had secured a power base of their own. It would likely function in a similar way to how demon and deevil lords empower their lieutenants and regents with prototypical deific powers and significantly raised stats.

If a regular mortal were to gather a large cult with hundreds of thousands or even millions of devout worshipers, I doubt they could attain spontaneous godhood. Without a supernatural origin to serve as a base to grow from, maybe a powerful practitioner of magic or some other being well versed in manipulating PPE could do it.


Yeah because otherwise Kings and Queens could attain God status just by having enough followers. They need some sort of divine help I feel
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by glitterboy2098 »

i disagree to a point.. i think that the only critera required is the belief in the other than mortal nature of the being in question.
most kings and queens never really claimed to be divine or supernatural. divinely appointed certainly, but never divine themselves. you did have some ancient chinese emperors who seem to have been promoted to godlike status after their reign, and quite a number of ancient egyptian, mesopotamian, and asian rulers were considered to be children of gods or mortals avatars of the divine.. but not much of any who actually claim to be divine. and even with those examples of divine connection, there is little evidence that the people they ruled actually worshiped those rulers during their reign.

but if a person where to start a cult, and convince that cult that they were divine, and get enough followers to seriously believe that and be good worshipers.. i think even a mortal being would become at the very least comparable to a demi-god.


i'd even argue that with enough believers, a focus of worship and belief that doesn't have a physical form would come into being. so if someone invents a Deity that doesn't exist, but gets a lot of people to worship it in honest belief, that deity would come into being due to sheer faith by the followers.
that last would seem to be the best explanation for the northern pantheon in PFRPG, by the way. started as worship of the Norse pantheon of Odin, loki, and so on, but over time the stories and faith mutated, bringing into being Od and the rest of the northern Pantheon in the palladium world, almost but not quite like their Norse originals, the result of how oral religion can mutate and bear surprising fruit.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by Zamion138 »

if i rember right Hades has rules on become a demon prince and thats like a godling for demons
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Re: Becoming a God?

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Ambrosia is one way to go. You can make it a circle of godhood or as others have suggest, that a god grant you demigod status or even godling. Then collect whorshippers to step up in power.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by Ectoplasmic Bidet »

paxmiles wrote:
glitterboy2098 wrote:i disagree to a point.. i think that the only critera required is the belief in the other than mortal nature of the being in question.
most kings and queens never really claimed to be divine or supernatural. divinely appointed certainly, but never divine themselves. you did have some ancient chinese emperors who seem to have been promoted to godlike status after their reign, and quite a number of ancient egyptian, mesopotamian, and asian rulers were considered to be children of gods or mortals avatars of the divine.. but not much of any who actually claim to be divine. and even with those examples of divine connection, there is little evidence that the people they ruled actually worshiped those rulers during their reign.

but if a person where to start a cult, and convince that cult that they were divine, and get enough followers to seriously believe that and be good worshipers.. i think even a mortal being would become at the very least comparable to a demi-god.


i'd even argue that with enough believers, a focus of worship and belief that doesn't have a physical form would come into being. so if someone invents a Deity that doesn't exist, but gets a lot of people to worship it in honest belief, that deity would come into being due to sheer faith by the followers.
that last would seem to be the best explanation for the northern pantheon in PFRPG, by the way. started as worship of the Norse pantheon of Odin, loki, and so on, but over time the stories and faith mutated, bringing into being Od and the rest of the northern Pantheon in the palladium world, almost but not quite like their Norse originals, the result of how oral religion can mutate and bear surprising fruit.

I think you, and others, are confusing religion and deities in the RPG setting.

Deities in the RPG context represent actual NPCs of near-GM levels of power. If a player character becomes this powerful, they are effectively a deity, whether they want to be or not. It isn't about followers, as a character this powerful - their actions will warrant holy/unholy followers every time they display their power. It's a human thing, to drop to your knees when faced with such overwhelming power.

In religion, part of the concept is that the deity is not a real thing to those that do not believe in it. Those that don't believe, may encounter the deity or be affected by their actions, but will rationalize the encounter as something else. Likewise, some religious people will take a normal encounter and rationalize it as the work of their deity (or deities).

Have actual stats for a deity, kinda destroys any sense of religion in an RPG. Deal is that if god is a fact, rather than a faith, it isn't a really a religion at all...Would be like worshiping TV or the internet...
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I'm not sure if you understand how deities work in the context of the Palladium system. There can be no gods without a religion of some sort, because it is the devotion and prayers of worshipers(transmitting vast amounts of PPE to their gods) that allows the gods to exist. Without those followers, a god can fade away to nothing. The only deities in the game that aren't totally reliant on this are the few alien intelligences that are worshiped as gods or adopted into a pantheon, alien intelligence/deity hybrids, or elemental intellience/deity hybrids.

It's covered pretty thoroughly in the Dragons & Gods book.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by glitterboy2098 »

actually, i disagree, because in palladium games you can't separate deities and religion. one begets the other.

the deities of the Pantheons of the megaverse might have started as merely powerful beings, but they eventually founded religions, be it intentionally or inadvertently. and those religions have powered them up (Pantheons says so) because of the belief of those followers.
we also know from examples like the Northern Pantheon in PFRPG that new deities can be generated purely from belief. the northen pantheon is very clearly a mangled, time distorted version of the norse faith... but the northern pantheon exists quite separately from the Norse pantheon in the current PFRPG setting.
we also know from the priest abilities that faith can empower a person. even without a deity being directly involved. so it is not a two way street. faith empowers the deities.. but it also lets those of sufficient belief borrow that deities power.

and you can give stats to gods. the thing is, most of the religions that palladium has written up in Pantheons, or made up in Dragons and gods, are the kind with gods you actually can stat up. they are religions that worship beings that are limited in nature. they have limits on there power, limits on their knowledge, and exist in discrete forms that can only be in a few places at once. they can be very powerful, but they are not all powerful.

now, for something like christianity, Islam, or Judiasm, where the worship is of an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscience ultimate being.. yeah, you can't stat that up. and you'll notice that palladium never has. there is no point to stats for something that is all knowing, all present, and all powerful.

so basically, your right for YWHY - Allah - The Almighty - I AM - ELOHIM - El Shaddai - the Word - Jehovah - The Light - Yeshua - Shangdi..
or any other of the names for the judeo-christian-islam names for God-big-G.

but not for the rest. they are limited beings, for all their abilities, and thus can be stated out. plus they can be recognized as existing.. even by those not of their particular religion. Pantheon religions were never big on disbelieving in other religions. they always beleived their own to be 'better', their own pantheon to be stronger.. but they never rejected the existence of the pantheons of other faiths. since their gods were limited beings, why should they be the only ones, was basically their thoughts.
and even christinaity never rejected the existance of them. read the bible. the old testament, and the new testament both have the followers of YHWY speaking much about how YHWY is more powerful than all the gods of the various pantheons of the other cultures. but never do they claim those other pantheons don't exist at all. the subtext is that those pantheons are filled with beings that are basically pretenders, claiming credit for things that YHWY had created, and duping people.
this was a stance held pretty much until the protestant reformation by the way. afterwards the whole "our way is the true way" started demonizing anything that wasn't part of a christian creed.. and usually quite a few things that were christian, just not their own type of christian.
the idea that you can't believe in the existence of other deities outside your own is a concept only a few centuries old. but religion is hundreds of thousands of years old.
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Re: Becoming a God?

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To become a god one must eat a god.....
If a PC was able to it the heart liver and brain of a godling shortly after killing one id give them a 50% shot of becoming a minor godling in an opposing group of gods.
If they they eat a few godlings from one pantheon Id say the opposing pantheon would probaly embrace you and you might get more than minor mdc and longgevity. Of course youd have to be a pretty evil sadistic person to eat anouther person so this would only work for evil pc's and the rare cuaght in the mountains starving type, add few mental problems from there on out.

If you were the wife/husband of a god that was mortal I think till you start to bore them or they move on youd probaly get minor mdc and immortality just from constent closeness to defic power as well, after enough years if your abel to keep them youd probaly end up keeping the powers about like a demigod. heck you could end up pregnate even as a male if you couple with a god long enough.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by PhellaOne »

I've got something for that. Blew the dust off some of my projects and I came across the Divinity article just yesterday. It was one of the topics I wanted to address in a book I hoped to call Conversion Book Four: Legends. Might have to flesh that out.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=127307
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Re: Becoming a God?

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Beyond the mechanics of becoming a deity, one should also consider the ramifications of deification for one's campaign. A player character who becomes a deity is not just becoming a powerful entity, he or she is potentially becoming a permanent fixture of that campaign world.
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Re: Becoming a God?

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Tinker Dragoon wrote:Beyond the mechanics of becoming a deity, one should also consider the ramifications of deification for one's campaign. A player character who becomes a deity is not just becoming a powerful entity, he or she is potentially becoming a permanent fixture of that campaign world.


And good luck fast talking your way out of the enemy hide out, watch out for other pantheons and gods to send assassins your way, dont forget to mind your worshipers or youll start loosing them and then youll loose your powers.
really its like bruce all mighty in that its a full time job, you cant just say yes or say no to everything you have alot more work than you used to once your looked up to and all spiffy god like and such.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by say652 »

my two cents. let them "dual class" to a demigod no new occ one ability BUT instead of expeience points they need the equivilent number of worshippers to advance in level. then when and if that reaches level 15 allow them to finally take the godling occ at level 1 plus three additional abilities.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by glitterboy2098 »

Zamion138 wrote:really its like bruce all mighty in that its a full time job, you cant just say yes or say no to everything you have alot more work than you used to once your looked up to and all spiffy god like and such.

it helps that unlike in bruce almighty, the gods in palladium settings don't have omnipotence. they don't handle individualized prayer, they work through their priests. they have limited ability to alter the world, their interventions tend to be via either intermediary's (minions, priests, agents, etc), or directly (personal intervention, often in disguise)

mytholgical gods and demi-gods in palladium games are more like Thor and Loki from the recent marvel films, or the greek gods in Disney's Hercules. really powerful, yet limited, individuals.


that said, if your player becomes a godling or even a full god (say the way Geshbourn, god of lost causes was deified), you run into the publicity issue. as a deity, you'd have to encourage worship of yourself. set up priests, gather followers through your actions, etc. which means your identity is going to need to be spread around. you'll get enemies showing up to challenge you to make a name for themselves (even loosing they can become famous!), you'll have really powerful monsters going after you to show "puny gods" their place... but you'll also have things like people always asking for your help everywhere you go, even for things beyond your ability (blessings on items when you can't give blessings, asking for sickness to be cured even when you don't have healing powers), and people always asking you to go out and solve some really tough issue (bandits, enemy kingdoms, stop famines, etc..) the common people are not likely to realize that your not particularly powerful yet.
on the converse, you'll also run into people who are like "your a god? oh yeah, and i'm the queen of [country]". it's a catch 22. without getting your name out there your not going to be recognized when you want to be recognized as a Deity.. but once you get your name out it is much harder to not be recognized.

and of course you'll now have an entire pantheon giving you tasks as well. while the pantheon should have a better idea of what you can actually do, odds are they'd be giving you some fairly important missions.. including "stop the end of the world" level important stuff.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by twingle93 »

In-universe, apparently no one knows. The Dark Council in Pantheons of the Megaverse have been trying for centuries to figure out how to become gods. So far those experiments have been gaining immortality and gaining worshipers to experiment with their P.P.E. All three are very powerful, very knowledgeable beings, and even they don't know for sure.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by KillWatch »

I use D&D's method. Get the PC to say 15th level or so. find a god that would approve the character and would be willing to set them on the path of immortality.
My system works like this;
Immortal>Demi God>Godling>God. 15 levels each. and each would have to be approved of by the god. I mean you are going to give cosmic power to someone, you had better make sure they can handle it or at least make sure it doesn't hurt you.
Unless you want to call it quits and retire them.
OR you might want to look at WW's Hero>Scion>God line for ideas
OR you can go on a quest to find an artifact that makes them into a god. Make it epic. Maybe find out someone else is going for the same thing. This being is very similar to the player but evil. And the player has to ask whether or not they are worthy of the power knowing how easily the power could corrupt him
The entire experiment may ultimately not work. But as Tiger Woods tears into the springbok, his mouth crimson with blood, he looks to have all the makings of a natural-born killer.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by flatline »

KillWatch wrote:I use D&D's method. Get the PC to say 15th level or so. find a god that would approve the character and would be willing to set them on the path of immortality.


Do people actually have characters who reach level 15?

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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by KillWatch »

...price of godhood...
The entire experiment may ultimately not work. But as Tiger Woods tears into the springbok, his mouth crimson with blood, he looks to have all the makings of a natural-born killer.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by Looonatic »

why would anyone want to so severely reduce their taco quota? :(
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by Zamion138 »

flatline wrote:
KillWatch wrote:I use D&D's method. Get the PC to say 15th level or so. find a god that would approve the character and would be willing to set them on the path of immortality.


Do people actually have characters who reach level 15?

--flatline

I have never made lv15 in all my years of palladium products.....in DnD 3.5 ive made two levels in a night hahaha so his method is fine for dnd but for palladium, thats basicly a 1 years of gamming every week goal
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KillWatch
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by KillWatch »

I think you are missing the point. it isn't supposed to be easy. Its godhood. If you can't make it to 15th level then you shouldn't be a god either because you don't have the fortitude, will, desire, obsession or greatness to deserve it. This isn't like joining a band of mercenaries, or becoming president, this is serious power. And then the gods have to wonder if they even want you in their club? what can you do for them? Should they just make you a saint or minor god to serve their causes, which by then should also be your causes.

Then again in my game I got the 15 levels each. I took pages out of D&D and 3.5. But we are talking godhood like in the immortals set of D&D, creating life, creating worlds, creating an entire megaverse, or destroying it. The gods in rifts and palladium are tough, but the way they are written up they aren't "stats? why would I have stats?" power

But getting on the road at 15th level as a godling, that opens up a whole new world of intrigue danger, enemies and allies
The entire experiment may ultimately not work. But as Tiger Woods tears into the springbok, his mouth crimson with blood, he looks to have all the makings of a natural-born killer.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by Nightmask »

KillWatch wrote:I think you are missing the point. it isn't supposed to be easy. Its godhood. If you can't make it to 15th level then you shouldn't be a god either because you don't have the fortitude, will, desire, obsession or greatness to deserve it. This isn't like joining a band of mercenaries, or becoming president, this is serious power. And then the gods have to wonder if they even want you in their club? what can you do for them? Should they just make you a saint or minor god to serve their causes, which by then should also be your causes.

Then again in my game I got the 15 levels each. I took pages out of D&D and 3.5. But we are talking godhood like in the immortals set of D&D, creating life, creating worlds, creating an entire megaverse, or destroying it. The gods in rifts and palladium are tough, but the way they are written up they aren't "stats? why would I have stats?" power

But getting on the road at 15th level as a godling, that opens up a whole new world of intrigue danger, enemies and allies


It shouldn't be utterly impossible either, saying 'well technically it's possible but the game will never last long enough for you to meet the requirements' is anti-climactic to say the least. Godhood is as often thrust upon someone or a result of right place right time as it is a result of grueling effort.
Fair warning: I consider being called a munchkin a highly offensive slur and do report people when they err in doing so.

'Reality is very disappointing.' - Jonathan Switcher from Mannequin

It's 'canon', not 'cannon'. A cannon is a big gun like on pirate ships, canon is what you mean when referring to something as being contained within one of the books such as how many dice to roll for a stat.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by KillWatch »

often? like when?

But it doesn't matter what I do. If you want to run a god campaign then do so
The entire experiment may ultimately not work. But as Tiger Woods tears into the springbok, his mouth crimson with blood, he looks to have all the makings of a natural-born killer.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by Nightmask »

KillWatch wrote:often? like when?

But it doesn't matter what I do. If you want to run a god campaign then do so


Forgotten Realms, the Time of Troubles. You have several mortals become greater gods (the highest tier of god) just by Lord Ao saying 'poof you're a god'. When Cyric later loses control of the realm of the Dead *poof* the soul of Kelemver takes up the mantle of the God of the Dead, again a Greater God position. No long tedious quest for godhood (indeed none of them, other than maybe Cyric, even sought godhood) just granted to them. Didn't take much for Xena's enemy to become a god either. Many stories have godhood occurring as noted here, not from epic quests grinding up from peasant to renowned warrior/wizard/etc they just get in the right spot and time and get it.
Fair warning: I consider being called a munchkin a highly offensive slur and do report people when they err in doing so.

'Reality is very disappointing.' - Jonathan Switcher from Mannequin

It's 'canon', not 'cannon'. A cannon is a big gun like on pirate ships, canon is what you mean when referring to something as being contained within one of the books such as how many dice to roll for a stat.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by KillWatch »

ok,... i that's how you want to handle it, go ahead, I don't care
I am just saying that if I was a god, I'd be very careful who I give that much power to, either creating a friend, a nuisance or an enemy sometimes in the span of eternity. And in my opinion that was all cheese. But go for it. Don't even bother with stats. just say I want and let it be done
The entire experiment may ultimately not work. But as Tiger Woods tears into the springbok, his mouth crimson with blood, he looks to have all the makings of a natural-born killer.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by Nightmask »

KillWatch wrote:ok,... i that's how you want to handle it, go ahead, I don't care
I am just saying that if I was a god, I'd be very careful who I give that much power to, either creating a friend, a nuisance or an enemy sometimes in the span of eternity. And in my opinion that was all cheese. But go for it. Don't even bother with stats. just say I want and let it be done


Sounds pretty touchy to me, and I never said that's how I'd handle it I simply pointed out godhood is not always some super-epic trial that no PC will ever have any reason to bother trying because they'll never ever have the chance of achieving it. Anyone who's read the novels wouldn't think it 'cheesy' that the characters managed the achievements that they did, they certainly struggled but they did earn it in the end without needing impossible tasks to be met. It's called good storytelling, epic tales with epic rewards without requiring epic level characters to achieve it. Indeed by the time a character's like that it's boring if they achieve it as they've already got so much it's just 'ho hum more of the same'.
Fair warning: I consider being called a munchkin a highly offensive slur and do report people when they err in doing so.

'Reality is very disappointing.' - Jonathan Switcher from Mannequin

It's 'canon', not 'cannon'. A cannon is a big gun like on pirate ships, canon is what you mean when referring to something as being contained within one of the books such as how many dice to roll for a stat.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by KillWatch »

ok wait, gods aren't epic level?

and if godhood is ho hum, you might be doing it wrong

and if that isn't how you would do it why bring it up.
The entire experiment may ultimately not work. But as Tiger Woods tears into the springbok, his mouth crimson with blood, he looks to have all the makings of a natural-born killer.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by Nightmask »

KillWatch wrote:ok wait, gods aren't epic level?

and if godhood is ho hum, you might be doing it wrong

and if that isn't how you would do it why bring it up.


By the time characters in games like AD&D become gods they're already as powerful as the average demi-god or low-level god, and you might have noticed that the original post was about characters becoming demi-gods or gods and possible methods and if there were any canon rules for such. Being the sort to provide someone with a variety of options even if I wouldn't make use of them I naturally pointed out instances whereby characters have obtained godhood in a variety of settings and how it does not by any means require one to have to basically become a god before really becoming one. I do not assume that just because someone suggests something that's how they'd do it, not unless they specifically note it to be what they'd do.

And no I didn't say anything about gods not being epic level, I said you don't need an epic level character to become a god or some super-epic trail to become one and that it's if anything boring when some epic level character that's already outclassing some gods ends up becoming a god. People most enjoy tales of actual mortal, non-epic characters achieving the impossible such as godhood rather than 'already pretty much gods' becoming gods.

Given the animosity towards players building up their characters that I've seen around here you couldn't complete any tasks to legitimately struggle towards godhood anyway, you'll get a string of slurs tossed your way and most likely your character killed or the player banished from the game for daring to have such lofty goals. There is no way from the way you apparently advocate that anyone could ever legitimately achieve even demi-god status in a game, no matter how excellent an Rper they are and how much they're willing to do to earn it.
Fair warning: I consider being called a munchkin a highly offensive slur and do report people when they err in doing so.

'Reality is very disappointing.' - Jonathan Switcher from Mannequin

It's 'canon', not 'cannon'. A cannon is a big gun like on pirate ships, canon is what you mean when referring to something as being contained within one of the books such as how many dice to roll for a stat.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by KillWatch »

By the time characters in games like AD&D become gods they're already as powerful as the average demi-god or low-level god,
-ok no they aren't. Lesser gods don't get stats. Gods only have avatars with stats.

and you might have noticed that the original post was about characters becoming demi-gods or gods and possible methods and if there were any canon rules for such. Being the sort to provide someone with a variety of options even if I wouldn't make use of them I naturally pointed out instances whereby characters have obtained godhood in a variety of settings and how it does not by any means require one to have to basically become a god before really becoming one. I do not assume that just because someone suggests something that's how they'd do it, not unless they specifically note it to be what they'd do.
-excellent

And no I didn't say anything about gods not being epic level, I said you don't need an epic level character to become a god or some super-epic trail to become one and that it's if anything boring when some epic level character that's already outclassing some gods ends up becoming a god. People most enjoy tales of actual mortal, non-epic characters achieving the impossible such as godhood rather than 'already pretty much gods' becoming gods.

Given the animosity towards players building up their characters that I've seen around here you couldn't complete any tasks to legitimately struggle towards godhood anyway, you'll get a string of slurs tossed your way and most likely your character killed or the player banished from the game for daring to have such lofty goals.
-um ok either they are lofty because they are hard to attain or they are not and easy. And what kind of players handle non god hood so poorly as to begin with the slurs? and why would they be banished?

There is no way from the way you apparently advocate that anyone could ever legitimately achieve even demi-god status in a game, no matter how excellent an Rper they are and how much they're willing to do to earn it.
-um of course their is. Big deeds, clear focus and purpose. Doe things that get the attention of the gods,... in a good way. God hood is hard to get because it is worth it. But then again, its never come up as a goal of a character. I suppose I could always throw in cursed objects, artifacts like the golden throne. but godhood is a path to retirement, or the ultimate munchkin.

Is there canon? Kind of. Look at the immortals in mystic china. Gods are beyond that
The entire experiment may ultimately not work. But as Tiger Woods tears into the springbok, his mouth crimson with blood, he looks to have all the makings of a natural-born killer.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

The only in-cannon way I know of to become a god is to become an enlightened immortal and get to the sixth or sevenths refinement, at which point the celestial heavens offer the immortal a chance at godhood.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by Nightmask »

Nekira Sudacne wrote:The only in-cannon way I know of to become a god is to become an enlightened immortal and get to the sixth or sevenths refinement, at which point the celestial heavens offer the immortal a chance at godhood.


Mystic China's really odd on that, while it mentions them and those magical artifacts that are unstatted and gives you a path to Godhood it's clearly written well below just about every other Palladium setting such that the PC are NEVER meant or expected to achieve high levels of power or ability (in general, a very high level chi master with a few stacks of doubling has devastating levels of Chi to work with in chi attacks). The higher ranking Infernals are basically beyond threat from mortals and if one looks like it isn't it's just pretending.
Fair warning: I consider being called a munchkin a highly offensive slur and do report people when they err in doing so.

'Reality is very disappointing.' - Jonathan Switcher from Mannequin

It's 'canon', not 'cannon'. A cannon is a big gun like on pirate ships, canon is what you mean when referring to something as being contained within one of the books such as how many dice to roll for a stat.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by twingle93 »

According to Lord Coake's backstory, one of his dungeon-crawling companions held up an artifact that granted wishes and then wished for himself and all his companions to become gods. Even then it was too much for the artifact, and Lord Choake and his companions merely got longevity and his companion became a Godling.

P.S. I believe that this companion is supposed to be Thraxus of the Three Galaxies, who is a godling.
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Re: Becoming a God?

Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

twingle93 wrote:According to Lord Coake's backstory, one of his dungeon-crawling companions held up an artifact that granted wishes and then wished for himself and all his companions to become gods. Even then it was too much for the artifact, and Lord Choake and his companions merely got longevity and his companion became a Godling.

P.S. I believe that this companion is supposed to be Thraxus of the Three Galaxies, who is a godling.


No, that's a common rumor, but it was actually Abzerdra, the Monk of the defilers who became the level 1 god of Sobriety, played by Thom, the pally forums administrator.
Sometimes, you're like a beacon of light in the darkness, giving me some hope for humankind. ~ Killer Cyborg

You can have something done good, fast and cheap. If you want it done good and fast, it's not going to be cheap. If you want it done fast and cheap it won't be good. If you want something done good and cheap it won't be done fast. ~ Dark Brandon
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