New God Template

Former God Template

Cosmology
 

GODS OF THE XENAVERSE [SPOILERS, SEASON 2-6]
Since gods by their very definition can have great impact on stories and campaigns, I can't stress enough that this is my own interpretation and attempt to establish rules that explain the behaviour of gods in the series.
   That said, here’s my attempt to capture the gods of the Xenaverse in game terms. I’ve focused on what they actually say and do in the series, and tried to avoid using mundane mythology (except as inspiration when glaring omissions had to be filled). This means that only those gods who are in some way active in at least one episode are described. It also means that there are differences compared to the traditional portrayal of the deities. 
 
 

UNIVERSAL GODS (known in every culture)

Deity	Spheres of Influence	Typical Worshipers
Dahak	Global destruction, fire (D&D 4E: CE, Destruction, Fate) (D&D 3.5: CE, Evil, Destruction, Fire, Strength)	Malcontents of all kinds
The Darkness	Corruption, suffering (D&D 4E: CE, Darkness, Tyranny) (D&D 3.5: CE, Death, Evil, Magic, Trickery)	Any evil
The Light	Healing, mercy, self-sacrifice (D&D 4E: LG, Life, Love, Sun) (D&D 3.5: LG, Good, Healing, Protection, Sun)	Any good
Lucifer	Corruption, suffering (D&D 4E: CE, Darkness, Tyranny) (D&D 3.5: CE, Death, Evil, Magic, Trickery)	Any evil
Mephistopheles	Corruption, suffering (D&D 4E: CE, Darkness, Tyranny) (D&D 3.5: CE, Death, Evil, Magic, Trickery)	Any evil

AFRICAN GODS
Anubis
Osiris
Ra
Set 
 

CELTIC GODS

Deity	Spheres of Influence	Typical Worshipers
Badbh	War	Warriors
Cernunnos	Chaos, nature	Any

 

GRECO-ROMAN GODS
There are several Greco-Roman pantheons shown in the series. They are shown in order of prominence.

GRECO-ROMAN GODS: OLYMPIANS

Deity	Spheres of Influence	Typical Worshipers
Aphrodite	Love (in all forms and aspects) (D&D 4E: U, Love, Luck, Madness, ) (D&D 3.5: CN, Knowledge, Luck, Trickery)	Any
Apollo	Awesomeness, hope (D&D 4E: U, Hope, Sun, Tyranny)	Any
Ares	War (D&D 4E: E, Strife, War) (D&D 3.5: NE, Protection, Strength, War)	Warlords, thugs, soldiers, fighters, warriors
Artemis	Animals, Hunting, the Moon (D&D 4E: U, Moon, Strength, Wilderness) (D&D 3.5: N, Animal, Protection, Travel)	Mostly females, Amazons, hunters
Asclepius	Healing (D&D 4E: U, Hope, Life, Protection )	Healers
Athena	Wisdom, warfare, weaving (D&D 4E: LG, Knowledge, Skill, War) (D&D 3.5: LG, Knowledge, Protection, War)	Any except evil or very chaotic beings
Bacchus	Wine, intoxication, bacchae (D&D 4E: CE, Change, Madness) (D&D 3.5: CE, Animal, Chaos, Plant)	Farmers, bon vivants, adventurous women, alcoholics, bacchae
Bliss	None yet	None yet
Calliope	Heroic tales (D&D 4E: U, Hope, Love, Luck)	Bards, people of Paleos
Celesta	Death (not the Underworld, just the infinitesimal boundary between life and death) (D&D 4E: U, Arcana, Death, Fate) (D&D 3.5: LN, Death, Law, Travel)	None
Cupid	Romantic love (D&D 4E: G, Hope, Love, Protection)	Lovers
Deimos	Strife (D&D 4E: CE, Strife, Trickery)	Lowlifes
Demeter	Harvest, seasons, vegetation (D&D 4E: U, Justice, Life, Wilderness)	Farmers
Discord	Quarrel, retribution (from s4) (D&D 4E: CE, Freedom (Vengeance from s4), Strife	Gossips, young males
The Fates	Life and death, destiny (D&D 4E: U, Death, Fate, Life)	Philosophers
Fortune	Luck (D&D 4E: U, Change, Hope, Luck)	Gamblers, adventurers
The Furies	Proper vengeance (D&D 4E: E, Justice, Madness, Vengeance) (D&D 3.5: LE, Knowledge, Law, Travel)	Bounty hunters, temporarily those who have been wronged
Hades	The Underworld (D&D 4E: U, Death, Earth, Justice) (D&D 3.5: LN, Death, Earth, Law)	Philosophers, assassins, bureaucrats, morticians
Helios	The Sun (D&D 4E: U, Civilization, Knowledge, Sun)	Farmers
Hephaestus	Arts and crafts (D&D 4E: U, Creation, Earth, Skill)	Craftsmen, engineers, inventors
Hera	Wives, queenship (D&D 4E: E, Tyranny, Vengeance)	Any
Hermes	Messages, theft, business (D&D 4E: U, Civilization, Creation,Trickery)	Messengers, thieves, businessmen, travellers
Hestia	Chastity, peace (D&D 4E: LG, Civilization, Life, Protection)	Any
Lachrymose	Despair (D&D 4E: U, Madness, Protection, Trickery) (D&D 3.5: N, Protection, Trickery, Water)	Virtually none
Morpheus	Dreams (D&D 4E: U, Darkness, Hope, Madness)	Mystics
Nemesis	Retribution (D&D 4E: U, Civilization, Strength, Vengeance)	Bounty hunters
Poseidon	The sea (D&D 4E: CE, Sea, Wilderness) (D&D 3.5: CE, Animal, Strength, Water)	Sailors, traders, fishermen, coastal dwellers, cyclopses
Strife	Strife (D&D 4E: CE, Strife, Trickery)	Brawlers, arms dealers
Therpsichore	Music (D&D 4E: G, Freedom, Skill)	Musicians, festive types
Zeus	Weather, cosmic balance (D&D 4E: U, Civilization, Protection, Storm) (D&D 3.5: N, Air, Protection, Strength, Water)	Any

GRECO-ROMAN GODS: TITANS

Deity	Spheres of Influence	Typical Worshipers
Crius	Earth, stone (D&D 4E: U, Earth, Protection) (D&D 3.5: LN, Earth, Law, Protection)	Virtually none
Gaia	Creation, Earth, Mercy (D&D 4E: G, Creation, Earth, Life) (D&D 3.5: CG, Earth, Healing, Wilderness)	Healers, giants, farmers
Hyperion	Sky, sun (D&D 4E: CE, Storm, Sun) (D&D 3.5: CE, Air, Chaos, Sun)	Virtually none
Mnemosyne	Memory (D&D 4E: U, Justice, Knowledge, Madness) (D&D 3.5: LN, Knowledge, Law, Water)	Intellectuals, chroniclers, bards
Prometheus	Fire, healing (D&D 4E: G, Civilization, Hope, Protection) (D&D 3.5: NG, Fire, Healing, Protection)	Non-evil people of all kinds
Theia	Light, gold (D&D 4E: G, Love, Moon, Sun) (D&D 3.5: NG, Air, Earth, Fire)	Virtually none

GRECO-ROMAN GODS: ILLYRIANS

Deity	Spheres of Influence	Typical Worshipers
Kal	War (D&D 4E: E, Strife, War) (D&D 3.5: NE, Animal, Strength, War)	Warlords, thugs, soldiers, fighters, warriors

GRECO-ROMAN GODS: ROGUE GODS

Deity	Spheres of Influence	Typical Worshipers
Caligula	Megalomania (D&D 4E: CE, Madness, Tyranny) (D&D 3.5: CE, Chaos, Luck, Protection)	Roman citizens (by law)
Callisto	Vengeance (D&D 4E: CE, Torment, Vengeance) (D&D 3.5: CE, Fire, Travel, War)	None
Velasca	Destruction (D&D 4E: CE, Destruction, Storm) (D&D 3.5: CE, Air, Chaos, Destruction)	Amazons

GRECO-ROMAN GODS: SUMERIANS
Dumuzi
Ra (yes, this busy boy is involved in two pantheons)
 

INDIAN GODS

Deity	Spheres of Influence	Typical Worshipers
Kali	Fighting demons (D&D 4E: E, Destruction, Vengeance) (D&D 3.5: NE, Chaos, Luck, Protection)	Warriors and others in trouble with evil entities
Krishna	Supreme god, karma (D&D 4E: LG, Civilization, Fate, Protection) (D&D 3.5: LG, Good, Law, Protection)	Any
Rama	Human perfection, heroism (D&D 4E: LG, Justice, Love, Skill) (D&D 3.5: LG, Law, Strength, Travel)	Any

 

NORSE GODS
Balder
Frigga
Loki
Odin
Thor
 
 

Since a day only has 24 hours, being immortal isn’t that great an advantage in the daily routine. And once a god has accepted a portfolio, she had better manage it well, or face the displeasure of the head of the pantheon and growing indifference or hostility from her worshipers.
   The goal of an organized pantheon is usually to maintain status quo. Therefore, gods gather information, interpret it, and act to prevent disturbances from getting out of hand. The additional goal of an individual god is to further her own status and power. This means constant plotting and manipulation.
   As a result, it is safe to assume that gods have very little free time. 24 hours/year can be used as an estimate. Note that this time is used for actions that aren’t related to either of the goals mentioned. Note also that continuity devices become an interesting option with this limitation.
   So much for the gods of the organized pantheons, the Olympians, the Indian gods, etc. But what about rogue gods like Callisto and Velasca? Well, simply put, they do what they want. Rogue gods are per definition outside the established structures, and answer only to themselves. If they want to travel around the world and zap everything in sight, they can do so - until someone stops them.
 
 

The gods of the Xenaverse are a bit different than standard D&D gods. Some key differences:
- Xenaverse gods are meddlesome, prone to follow whims, and generally not very bright. 
- While dangerous in a fight, they are normally within the mortal level 1-30 range, rather than routinely level 30+. Permanently killing one is a major undertaking, but accomplishing your objectives in an encounter with an opposing god is doable for low-epic and sometimes even paragon characters.
- They have certain extremely powerful abilitites that are of little use in fight, but nevertheless need to be sharply defined.
- They are quite powerless if unable to move their arms.
 
 

Both PC and NPC gods have certain traits:

A god don't age, and don't need to eat, sleep or breathe.
Name Sense: Whenever a god's name is spoken, it hears and can locate the speaker and get a visual image of her. This is only true in cultures where the god is worshiped.
Temples: A god can see and hear everything that happens within its temples, and see everything within a 1 mile radius around them.
   God Levels: A god has at least one god level and no one but a god can have god levels. A god usually gains god levels by attracting more worshipers and strenghtening its portfolio. God levels have no connection to other levels in the game (except on a very basic level (:-P) as a measure of power).
   Miracles: A god knows one miracle per god level. If the god level changes, the number of miracles known changes too. Miracles are akin to class powers, but vastly more powerful and often ill-suited to everyday adventuring. Unless otherwise noted, a miracle takes a standard action to perform. The god mustn't be restrained or otherwise unable to use its arms in order to perform a miracle.

Miracle	Description
Archetype	(Constant) Link yourself to a phenomenon
Bring Knowledge	(Daily) Grant extra levels to a small group
Create Creature	(Daily) Cause a creature to appear
Design Creature	(Yearly) Learn how to create a certain creature
Destroy Town	(Yearly) Strike a settlement with a geological or meteorological disaster
Extended Resistance	(Constant) Gain resistance against a new damage type
Rapture	(Daily) Grant visions to mortals

But then there are some things specifically for PC gods, that NPCs need not adhere to. After all: many NPC gods have been gods or nearly so from birth, something far beyond the normal D&D rules. Then again, there are several examples in the show of mortal NPCs ascending to godhood.
 
 

Becoming a God: When you become a god, you take on the new god template. You also cease to earn XP. Instead you increase your power by getting more worshippers and strengthening your portfolio. 

Advancing a God Level: Getting your first temple gives you god level 1. Getting 9 more temples gives you another god level. You advance a new god level every time you manage to get 10 more temples consecrated to you. 
   When advancing a god level, you either learn a new miracle, or you get one character level. The character level advancement follow all the normal rules, except that any new powers can be chosen from any character class. If you wish to retrain a power, you can also pick the new power from any character class. The only restriction is that you have to reskin the description to fit your character, its portfolio, or how gods are portrayed in the series.
 
 

Few gods genuinely care for human needs, but many are wise enough to realize that some effort is needed to ensure worship and sacrifices. In the show, gods sometimes appear when important heroes call for their aid. But they are not often as helpful as said heroes wishes. The same should hold true for PCs. Asking a god to intervene is a gamble.
   To illustrate this, the following method can be used:
   A PC praying for help makes a Religion check DC 30. A sacrifice gives a +10 bonus. If it succeeds, and the god belongs to the local culture, the god appears. 
 
 

1d20	What the god does before leaving
1	Gives advice.
2	Gives advice if the subject is clearly within the god's portfolio.
3	Compliments the sacrifice.
4	Performs a spectacular but unhelpful miracle.
5	Holds a lecture on how busy the god is.
6	Hangs around for a while, cheering the PCs on but not otherwise helping.
7	Performs a helpful miracle with an effect that could just as easily have been done by a couple of unexeptional mortals working for an hour.
8	Performs an heroic ritual or daily power.
9	Performs a paragaon ritual or daily power.
10	Performs an epic ritual or daily power.
11	Fetches a confused mortal totally unsuitable to the task at hand.
12	Fetches a confused mortal competent enough to help with the task at hand.
13	Buys some time for the PCs.
14	Demands another sacrifice. If the god gets one, roll again on this table.
15	Solves the immediate problem.
16	Solves the immediate problem but demands a sidetour quest.
17	Starts to help but is stopped by a fellow deity. If either one is persuaded with a skill challenge, the immediate problem is solved.
18	Performs a miracle that (unintentionally?) makes the situation worse without solving the problem.
19	Performs a miracle that solves the problem but creates an even worse new one.
20	Needs persuading before solving the problem.

 
 
 

GOD
A god is a powerful supernatural being. Most gods exist in a kind of symbiosis with their worshipers, helping or impressing them, and basking in their awe and worship. All true gods have at least 1 level in the god prestige class.

   Hit Die: 10 hp. A god gains 10hp per level, but no extra HD.

Requirements
   To qualify to become a god, a character must fulfil one of the following criteria:
   Ascension by Ingestion: Consuming one dose of the Food of the Gods.
   OR
   Ascension by a Helping Hand: Another god must sacrifice one god level and invest that power in making you a god.

Class Skills
The god has all skills as class skills. Furthermore, there is no upper maximum for skill ranks for gods. This only applies to distributions of skill points gained from god levels, not from other classes that the character may have.
   Skill Points at Each Level: 20 skill points. This is not modified by Intelligence.

Class Features
All of the following are features of the god prestige class.
   Weapon and Armour Proficiency: The god gains no proficiency with any kind of weapon or armour. Nor do they get any attack-, or saving throw bonuses.
   Name Sense (Su): Whenever your name is spoken as part of a prayer, invocation, battle cry, or simply with the desire to get your attention, you hear it and can locate the speaker and get a visual image of her. This is only true in cultures where you are worshiped.
   Immortal Traits (Ex): Fast healing 10, heal ability score loss 1/day, immune to acid, cold, death attacks, disease, fire, poison, sonic attacks. Don’t need to eat, drink or breathe. Don’t age.
   Damage Resistance (Ex): 30/Deicide
   Spells: A god has a limited number of spells. From her store of spells, the god can cast a maximum of 3 per god level, each hour. There is no ability score requirement for these spells. Saving throws against these spells have a DC of 20 + the god level.
   These spells need not be prepared in any way. They have only somatic components, regardless of what the description says. But even spells that normally lack somatic components now have them. No XP-cost needs to be paid.
   Each time the god advances a god level, she can choose any spell of any level from any spell list as her new spell, except limited wish, wish,or miracle.
   Feats: Each time the god advances a god level (or rather 2 levels out of 3, with the regular 1/3 levels feat that everyone gets on the "empty" levels), she gets to pick a new feat. The feat can be general, metamagic, item-creation, epic, or cosmic. Only gods have access to cosmic feats. As befits an unbalanced prestige class, these feats are immensely more powerful than other feats (or spells, for that matter), but not all are equal in power.
 
 

Cosmic Feats	Prerequisites
Alter Time	God level 5.
Archetype	God level 1, no other god can have that particular Archetype
Global Archetype	God level 5, Archetype, no other god can have that particular Global Archetype.
Bring Knowledge	God level 5, Wisdom 19.
Continuity Device	God level 5.
Create Creature	God level 15.
Create Deicide	God level 21.
Create Pocket Universe	God level 10.
Death Body	God level 5.
Decide Afterlife	God level 10, need active permission from gods of the culture to designate a plane.
Decree	God level 10.
Dethrone	God level 10.
Event Awareness	God level 5.
Favourite	God level 1.
Grant Ability	God level 5, 19 in the relevant ability.
Grant Immortality	God level 5.
Home	God level 1.
Know Geometry	God level 1.
Know Name	God level 5.
Lend Ability	God level 1.
Miracles	God level 5, Temples.
Madness	God level 1.
Omens	God level 5.
Revelations	God level 5, Omens.
Praise Me	God level 1.
Read Life	God level 5, Spot skill, Sense Motive skill.
Soul Exchange	God level 5.
Temples	God level 5.
Miracles	God level 5, Temples.
Sacrifice	God level 5, Temples.
This is the Way It Must Be	God level 21.
Undo	God level 5.

 
 

ARTIFACTS
Continuity Device
Deicide
Food of the Gods
Ixion Stone
The Rheingold
 
 

Gods with more than 20 levels as gods are so infused with primal power that they can't enter the Known World directly. The only way for them to do this is through a mortal child born under very specific circumstances - the exact circumstances vary from god to god.
   Epic gods have no life-threads in the Loom, unlike gods of level 20 and below.
 
 

A god who for some reason loses her divine powers loses not only all benefits of the god class. The physical and emotional shock also numbs her and depresses her to no end, giving her -20 on all attack rolls, skill checks and ability checks. This lasts for a number of years equal to the maximum god level she achieved. Then the -20 penalty is removed, but she doesn't regain any god class benefits.
   If she were to become a god again, she regains all god class benefits and her former god level.
 
 

Most gods of the Known World meddle routinely in many aspects of the acitivties of mortals. Having a god appearing is certainly the major event of the day, but it isn't that uncommon and doesn't necessarily result in more than a chat.
   Whenever a spellcaster engages in a major and/or important project, there is a 1% chance per class level that the god mentioned in that character's divine orientation takes an interest in what happens.
   "Taking an interest" can mean a lot of things. But unless the circumstances are vitally important to the god, she stays only for 1d10 rounds, spending the first round in hiding (invisible if she is able) observing.
   The divine orientation rule for spellcasters is meant to balance the rarity of their powers. If the appearing god is very much against the action of the character, she will not hesitate to use force. Unlike many RPG settings, being a god in XWP doesn't automatically mean that you are an artillery piece. But many of the gods have spells and attacks that are enough to defeat most characters of moderate levels.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Why not use Deities and Demigods?
The DaD rules produce gods who are good at everything; all skills, combat, saves. They also all have enormous spell capabilities. At the same time, they are not integrated in religions, other than the universal ability to grant (and cast) divine spells to their clerics, a very rare phenomenon in XWP anyway.
   This does not fit my view of XWP gods as powerful, but specialized characters with some few but vital religious links.
   Then there is the added nuisance that DaD preceded the Epic Level Handbook, and thus has no references to levels above 20, or 3.5E for that matter.
   When I decided to make my own rules for XWP gods, I had a number of alternatives. I could make a new set of mechanics, a parallel to DaD. Or, I could use the framework of an existing concept. This concept could be a creature type, a creature template, a race, or (I reasoned) a prestige class.
   As noted elsewhere, I’m not too fond of the prestige class concept. Consciously unbalancing a new class instead of creating the few feats and/or spells necessary to describe the desired character type with core classes is bad judgement (except from a business point of view ;-)).
   But the idea of a class more powerful than all the other classes works well with gods. They ARE supposed to be superior in at least some way. And it allows me to design the gods with existing tools (spells, normal feats, skills, ability scores), and only when absolutely necessary add new things (cosmic feats).
 

Warnings and disclaimers
For you gamers who will in all likelihood skip the rest of this paragraph, just one note: the god prestige class is not in any way balanced compared to any existing core- or prestige class. If you allow PCs to take this prestige class, your PCs will become powerful as gods, literally. The feats presented are also intended for gods only. They can NOT be taken as regular or even epic feats.
   And now for some general disclaimers:
   The god prestige class is designed to allow the inclusion of gods in XWP-campaigns.
   This is NOT an attempt to define the real-word concepts of “god” or “God”.
   This is NOT propaganda for or against any form of religion.
   The beings described here have very little in common with their real-world namesakes. For Zeus’ sake, do NOT use the info here as basis for any kind of serious research.