*literally everyone*: "you can't kill gods without a very rare and secret weapon, powerful rituals, genocide, and plane hopping." Party of level 6 murder hobos: "so you're saying....there's a chance?"
I mean... Kind of, at least If you're like my first DM... But you need to start the game weirdly overpowered because you had a "standard" array of 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, become a lesser lord of baldur's gate, give some opressed groups a pint of hope and you might kill a Yuan-ti Anathema. It also could turn you into a god, at least that's how our party's Cleric and Ranger became demigods...
I mean to be honest who doesn't want a crack at God's that on a whim they could eradicate you from existence if anything I'm surprised there hasn't been any deals/alliances with Titans and Aboleths with humans in a joint effort to kill em all. They always cause more harm then good. At least in my experience in watching lore videos xD lol
@@lukepatterson8676 how have they caused more harm then good? Honestly they've helped more often then not in these lore videos. I mean yeah some Death Gods create Mummy Lords, but those are explicitly Evil Deities and their have been a few that have been horrible, but those are explicitly Evil gods like Tiamat or Panzurial. They explicitly exist to cause harm while the Good Gods exist to oppose them, aid thier worshippers, and whatever other purpose pertains to them in their portfolio.
Hey guys, a quick correction to the video. There **ARE** stats for some gods as given by the book Deities and Demigods for 3.5e. It is more focused on Greyhawk content than Forgotten Realms so there are differences, but we do get stats for some of the deities. My mistake. As always i do want to mention that whenever i get conflicting information, i will always use Forgotten Realms content as canon for my videos.
Yup, I have the book. Was gonna comment that. Still a great video though! Deities and Demigods is a dry read anyway, so having you explain it was very helpful.
Dragonlance Adventures (1st edition book) would disprove that statement as well. Paladine has 999 hit points and can deal anywhere from 1d10 to 1d10x100 per attack (his choice). He has 5 attacks per round.
@@Arkino1498 Remember that if you have a custom setting, you can do whatever you want! All of this stuff is only guaranteed to hold if you are trying to stick to Forgotten Realms canon specifically. For example, Ao's power as overgod canonically only covers the deities inhabiting Abeir-Toril.
@@AaronRotenberg Also this video seems to be heavily influenced by 2nd edition, and there's Deities and Demigods from 3.5 if anyone wants some more ideas on how they can run god-heavy campaigns.
Sounds like the best way to get power as a deity is to have domain over stuff like parties. Think about it. Some dwarven god of parties, alcohol and rough housing could probably be one of the strongest gods in existence.
Well its a bit of a tradeoff because not all ceremonies are equal, like he said in a prior video this is why most evil deities are even able to still function. Despite having a small number of followers their 'ceremonies' wind up producing more divine energy.
i mean i know this is a joke but im pretty sher that thay wuld have to be someware that that culd aculy happen so in other words that wuld work in a cave or somthing but a intermediate god culd not do that to you if you where les say standing a a feild
Regarding reliance on worshippers: allegedly Ao removed that as of the second sundering which caused deities to distance themselves a bit more from mortal affairs. To those claiming mystryl/mystra was one of the weaker greater deities: her power was second only to Ao himself. In fact, to offset that, she had to split her portfolio with lesser powers such as Azuth, Savras, Velsharoon and Leira. Her control over the weave is so absolute she can cut off any other deity should she choose to do so, making them essentially powerless (this is also why so many other powers desired her portfolio - Talos and Shar most notably). The only deity that found a workaround was Shar with her shadow weave but even she miscalculated the amount of power held by Mystra when she got Cyrik to kill her. Mystra's 3rd death not only did not give Shar control over the weave, it caused her to lose control over the shadow weave as well. So ye. The most frequently killed god in FR history is technically the most powerful one as well.
@Alistair Stormbreaker The fabric of magic inside dnd can be exploited at least lore wise. Also just because there are weapons to kill a god, doesn't mean you will actually be able to pull it off.
@Alistair Stormbreaker they technically do have stats. And those are probably not even that crazy they're probably around another creatures of their CR. The thing is no god is really limited by them. God's CR probably ranges around slightly lower than 30 (as some are weaker than the tarrasque) to 50 (as the titan is stronger than all of them). That doesn't mean they're as strong as their CR as their abilities far surpass their own CR. They cannot really be killed easy. Can have multiple bodies. Almost no limitations on spellcasting. Matter manipulation, etc... Mental abilities that recreate omniscience. The capability of knowing and modifying mortal life's to a certain extent. That without taking into account the abilities on their domain. Having a higher CR than a god doesn't mean you're really more powerful than them... Not at all... It just means you're more capable on a fight. And even there there's a lot of things a god can do.
@@rosure7 The problem is that flavor text and actual printed stats often missmatch. Despite all the bluster in Cronos lore from that dragon article, he actually stood no chance to take down those deities with his printed stats vs. theirs. Fighting athousand passes against both Hextor and Heironeous? He would not stand a chance against either one of them, lest alone both. And it wouldn't take a thousand blows either.
But that was the fun part killing a God and it added so much roleplay like how you killed someone’s God and now you are giving rise to a new Pantheon a stronger Pantheon
@@arnox4554 I do agree with you there. Though, I think it should be more interesting and involved than "hit it a bunch". The problem with them having normal stats and no special caveats is that it can allow people to min/max super hard and kill a god in some relatively trivial/non-epic manner. Now, those weird combos that can let you do that are usually pretty silly in the first place and should be directly prevented when possible, because they really don't fit the game as intended, just as written. However, anytime you include actual stats and no special caveats/requirements.. you're opening yourself up to a god being killed be some kind of min/maxing.. when it should always be far less mundane imo.
@@Elluem "should be directly prevented when possible, because they really don't fit the game as intended, just as written. " That's called the DM saying "Nope.".
/\ I feel like avatars are the answer to PCs getting a cheap cheesy win on a deity..If it goes down too easily you just say " oh it was an avatar" and adjust the gods tactics and give it some allies the next time to prevent the same trick twice. Which isn't metagaming since the deity would experience everything the avatar did and learn from it
One of the best examples of being able to arrange “accidents” is the angel Uriel from the show Lucifer, who has the ability to see patterns, which he can use to set in motion massive chain reactions of mundane stuff that ultimately lead to the demise of a person (among other things). Kind of like a Rube Goldberg machine.
Lol I'd just imagine it as increasingly bad situations happen to the party, enemies always target the guy first, heck maybe the targeted player even starts getting disadvantage on all his rolls if it goes on long enough.
Since Greater Gods auto suceed on Saving Throws, does that mean karsus's Avatar didn't even give Mystryl a saving throw? (I doubt Mystryl wasn't a greater God) Damn. karsus's spell keeps getting more and more crazy.
My DM actually found a write up for the spell that was done. It effectively removes the saving throw by making the casting DC astronomically high. There are rules for making epic spells in dnd, and rules on how hard the roll is to make the spell based on what you want to do. Given Karsus was level 42, and spent over ten years working on the spell and gather components for it, it's not easy to make that spell work.
@Calvin Schuster I'm pretty sure karsus was a mortal when he cast karsus's avatar. Unless the spell gave him a temp Greater god status? Though I could be mixing somethign up here
They do have stats! They gods were given states! This was in a 3.5 special edition book "Deities and Demigods" that gave each god stats. They all have 2 classes, each at level 20 at least, and they have epic feats (which make regular feats look like jokes). Though, to be fair, these might just be their avatar's in which case...still, holy shit they're strong.
Yo, Mr Rhexx, if you happen to see this, AJ Pickett(from the channel of the same name) would like to speak with you about possibly making some sort of collaboration video but is unsure exactly how to get in touch with you. If you could hit him up on his channel’s discord or leave a comment on his most recent video letting him know how to contact you, he would greatly appreciate it. Also, the greatest power a deity can use is the ability to allow two content creators to make a video together(hint hint...) Great Video! Keep up the amazing work!
Also Amonkhet and Hour of Devistation sets. MTG is basically the same universe. there are several "cross-over" MTG and DnD, the latest example being Ravnica
@@legendaryoutcast4440 technically the canon explanation is that the MTG universe(multiverse really) exists in a separate crystal sphere than the DnD one. This is pretty much the explanation for every official released source that contains a different set of planar universe. This also means technically any character that can figure out how to leave and breach a different crystal sphere could technically travel between say Ravnica and Eberron.
@@themadichib0d I can't help but wonder what the crossover explanation for the Planar Bridge and the Blind Eternities are... Also tbh, the Blind Eternities are far more terrifying than D&D outer space.
becoming a planet is its own thing. theyre not creating the matter of the planet, they are becoming it. They need to rest when they use their energy (life essence?) to create matter out of nothing. this makes sense. it seems tiring. but its still crazy.. think about how big a ton is, they just need to take a deep breath and they can do it again...
pvic they have to become the planet somehow. They are either making the matter out of nothing or are changing the energy that makes them into an entire planet, both of which would definitely be harder than making a ton of anything.
@@Aplesedjr I thought of it like polymorph or beast shape (is that what its called). Imagine a gnome wizard polymorphs to a stone giant. wheres the extra mass for the giant's form coming from? Or if a druid shifts into a form of a giant eagle, same thing In the other way, what if someone polymorphs into a snail? where does all that mass go? or if a druid shifts into a rodent?
brodeeo gonna be honest. I didn’t even know he got it wrong until I read the comments after I made this comment. I play pathfinder so I’m unfamiliar with dnd lore but I watch the videos to compare and to get inspiration and stuff for my campaign
there is 3.5e deities & demigods alongside faiths and pantheons who give stats to deities also to their avatar also mstra and coralian are greater magic deities
hell go back to first edition, visit them on their home plane, and if you are good enough you too can kill loth or any of the other gods... though doing so was even then meant to be beyond a epic quest. look to krynn we find epic tales of attempts to usurp the gods that where foiled, not by the raw power of the gods themselves, but my the interference of mortal men (with some assistance from the other gods despite in some cases said gods not being on the best of terms with each other. I find myself envisioning the conversation between paladin (bahamet) and tahiskis (tiamat) after the second war of the lance "I just more or less saved your bacon... shall we resume our war next tuesday then?")
@@mattlewandowski73 Sounds like a divorced couple that secretly harbor feelings but don't want to try again because fucking hell the last time didn't work out...
As a DM i would say no, the deity "Bane" would not be able to use his vision/senses if some cleric of "Mystra" asked his god to give him the power to harm his foe i.e. the spell bane. To use the common "Name" of a deity is to know and think of that god, therefore you draw it's attention.
They absolutely WERE given stats, then they were taken away when players starting killing them. All you have to do is convince the GM to run the campaign long enough. The gods are not even optimized. They just stacked numbers high without a plan.
This is actually incredibly useful information. My character became a diety at the end of the last campaign and now I’m dming this next one , which in a sense is still my character acting as a diety. Also one of my players made a cleric whose God is me and I personally find that flattering and amusing .
I'd love a role-playing game like this. Like, you start as a mortal, and your aim is to become the greatest god. Ascend, choose portfolio, gather followers, destroy rival gods and rewrite reality in your own image!
In 3e there is a book called Deities and Demigods, that lists the stats for several pantheons and gives instruction on how to create a god: Divine Rank, Divine Salient Abilities, and other special abilities. I don't know how the lore has changed from then to 5e but gods were killable back in the olden days, they were tough, but killable.
"Deities have never had stats, they dont have stats." Me looking at my book 'Deities and Demigods' printed by wizards of the coast for dnd 3.5 guess it doesn't exist...
Hey bud, 1 correction. Deities have had stats in some older editions. Not all of them but check out 3rd ed Dieties and Demigods. There have been templates for some of the Greyhawk setting dieties as well as some mythic pantheons like the Greek and Egyptian
@@cflotronsong in 3rd Ed the stats are for the dieties themselves and the only difference between a diety and its avatar is half the divine rank. Also not all dieties have enough divine ranks for an avatar and a good number of monsters in the epic level handbook could seriously hurt or kill lesser dieties or lower.
0:03 There was actually the book Faiths and Pantheons which had the goods of THE FORGOTTEN REALMS, not Grayhawk. And it was glorious because you were allowed to compare what a high level character would be able to do against a god, and the difference was astounding. Especially considering that the gods of the Realms may walk the planes and do stuff more commonly than in some other settings (they are at their strongest in their corresponding realm) and at their weakest maybe in their avatar forms. All of this without making them, funnily enough, overpowered for gods as Ao is.
This is great! I'm running a campaign where the players have stumbled into a massive game of divine politics (plus one of my players has married a lesser god and wishes to become divine herself). This is really helpful! Thanks!
@@SuperAmaton Well, it started as a quest to stop a Yuan-ti sorceress who was seeking to unite her people by becoming a god, as they wouldn't unite under anything less (a prophecy foretold her method of ascending to godhood could irreparably damage magic itself). But then they discovered the Yuan-ti are merely pawns in a larger divine game between my homebrew god Chaos (a greater diety of freedom, hope, death, and destruction imprisoned in Carceri) and some unknown, but stronger being. They just discovered that being is Asmodeus. The player who married a lesser god ended up hitting it off with him. The player is a changeling wizard who was found half-dead in a river and ever since has lived multiple lives under many masks, one of which had a wife who recently died. The lesser god is a brother to Chaos whose portfolio includes magic, knowledge, the night, and weather. He was formerly a mortal who lived a rather lonely life studying in his tower, eventually stumbling across the secret to godhood. When he became a god, he was given the job of guarding divine secrets, which only increased his isolation. So they ended up bonding, quickly forming a relationship, and now they're getting married in a month's time. The reason the changeling wizard player wants to become a god is kind of a long one, but to sum it up, she thinks the gods are too disconnected from mortal suffering and wants to change that by becoming a god who understands and has lived through that suffering. Sorry for the long reply, but the story's a bit complicated. :P
@@tabithaalphess2115 Funny, i am currently playing a Shadow-Sorcerer Changeling in my Campain :) But back to your Story: Is the Chaos in your story all good? I am asking because any "Aspect" taken to it's extreme can be pretty bad. Absolute Law can easily be a life without any choice. But Absolute Chaos can just as easily be a life, where no choice matters. For the Marriage: I assume it's gonna be a Party? Beware Party-Crashers, maybe invite a Greater Deity as a honorary Guest for security? And for you Wizard: Daaaangerous. Bringing Mortal Suffering into the Divine "Realm"? I am rather certain a few Gods will dismiss her as dillusional or straight up try to kill her. Even worse? Well if she becomes a Deity, becoming one with this goal could maybe lead to her becoming the God(dess) of (mortal) Suffering. A VERY ugly thought.
@@SuperAmaton Nice! If you put a few levels in rogue, that could be really interesting. No, Chaos is chaotic neutral. He's characterized as a highly personal, ancient greater deity who has existed since the beginnings of the multiverse. He has a love for mortals and often takes the downtrodden for warlocks. However, he's also characterized as wildfire, destroying the old to make way for thee new. As a result, he spent much of his time "purging corruption" (slavery in any form). This came in the form of mass death, the fall of civilizations, and the death of numerous gods slain by his own hand. He carried out these deeds with his sister - a greater deity known as Desire (goddess of emotions and passion) - and was kept in check by his brother, Fate, greater god of law and order. At some point, however, Chaos was imprisoned and bound in Carceri for an unknown crime, and he's been trying to escape ever since. That's the plot my players have gotten tied up in Yeah, there's going to be a party. In fact, it will take place at Desire's palace (the changeling wizard befriended her). Fate, Desire, Chaos, and the god the wizard is marrying are all part of the same Pantheon, and they refer to one another as family. So a number of gods will be present for the wedding (3 greater deities, 3 intermediate, and 4 lesser). Ooooooh yeah, it's something the changeling wizard hasn't considered. Chaos has been heavily involved in the party's journey (one of them is even a warlock to Chaos), and the wizard in particular has had many conversations with him. It's even convinced her that he should be free (albeit with conditions). Chaos is often thought of as a radical by many of the gods, but he's also incredibly persuasive (even convinced the paladin in the party - who was previously opposed to Chaos - that he wasn't so bad). The changeling wizard hopes to become a god of healing and make the gos more aware of mortal suffering, but the process of becoming divine could shift that
I wonder if it would be interesting to have players play as gods, trying to rise in the ranks and keep eachother standing tall or betraying one another, or running multiple adventures at the same time. Might be a bit confusing, but I think it would be interesting.
Your’e ability to explain this lore on Dungeons and Dragons is the best iv’e seen. Cant wait for the final video of this series and maybe a new series of videos where you explain about the different realms? I would love to hear you talk about Hades, the shadowfell and the far realm
I love your videos dude! I actually have a question though: Are avatars "mortals" with personalities? What do they do when Gods are not controlling them?
The gods are always controlling them. They aren't things that they create as an empty vessel to control, they are extension of them. The difference would be like a remote control toy and one of your limbs. The Avatar is more like a limb
You’re confusing avatars with divine aspects, which are individual creatures with personalities similar to a god, but autonomous and much, much weaker than even the weakest avatar. Divine aspects are usually created when a deity urgently needs to accomplish something, but can’t spare an avatar. Aspects also typically only exist for several days or months before vanishing.
@@SuperCuriousFox I'm relatively certain I'm right. Especially since I've never heard of a Divine Aspect. Every time I've heard it referenced, everyone refers to Avatars with a similar metaphor to that. Though maybe a Divine Aspect is just a more powerful Avatar that uses a higher percentage of the God's power. If I reuse the metaphor, an Avatar would be a God's finger or hand while the Divine Aspect would be a Hand or the Arm respectively. Of course it's relative, the Full Arm of one god could equate to just the thumb of another.
@@Master_E444 why can't you both be right? Avatars are like a limb, whereas divine aspects are like prosthetic limbs. You are always in control of your limb, but not a prosthetic device. However, when you are in control of it, it's effectively another limb. I know I said limb way too much.
I'm actually using Erebos (center god in the thumbnail) in my one off campaign. Background: Our campaign took us to a world on some astral dimension that was housing a threat to our world where we had to stop a lich from unleashing a tarrasque from that world. While there we gained some serious powers and gear, and because of use of milestones, we leveled up fairly quickly, ending the campaign at 17 when we killed Tiamat after dealing with the tarrasque. Everyone but my character went back to the home world. In the interim time between end of part 1 of the overall campaign, my Character, a Dragonborn Barbarian Zealot, stayed behind to make sure things were kosher and to play around with his dragon lair - because he seeks to eventually become a dragon. Setup: In the process of my character's travels, Erebos took note and approached him with an offer. He basically tricked and kidnapped my character and maxed his power to lv 20 and twisted his body to take on Adult Black Dragon attributes and is completing this process on an astral demiplane of his trying to turn him into one of his most powerful thralls. It's effectively a rescue mission where they'll have to battle him in his full glory and somehow break him from the control of Erebos. Anyone who dies on this plane gets jettisoned back home
@@johnclover2156 level doesnt have anything to do with dieityship. At 1st level PCs could in theory become Gods. It's a separate addition to the core rules. And if you want to talk about them rivaling a demigod in power per deities and demigods, you are talking lvl 3o. For 5th edition it feels like they removed the deities from playability.
In 3d edition Demigod status just give you Divine Rank 0 ageless status and some immunities and ability to get higher in rank if you amass followers or defeat other deity you can't even have Avatar. All the real powers come at Divine Rank 1+. And highest ranked Deity in each pantheon got Divine Rank 20. There is few gods above gods - prime example is Ao which have no stats at all.
@@zachzorn9930 Dnd 5e becoming a diety Requirements: Step 1: Raw power At least lvl 25 At least 1 attribute of 21 or higher and 1 attribute of 19 or higher Step 2: combination of at least 2 -The performance of special ceremony -Spell of alaborate complexity with great personal danger -The use of an artifact -Sponsorshipof a diety Often by rituals and use of artifacts ascension is denied and mortal becomes a lich,some other form of undead creature or being destroyed If ascension is denied by sponsorship of a diety then mortal is given a second chance to overcome whatever the reason for rejection was or or dies and becomes a powerful servant of sponsored diety
Always a good day when you upload amazing lore! Definitely one of my favorite uploads since theirs such little lore about what gods can do, how they ascend further, etc. unless you dig deep.
Loving this content bro you and a few other d&d TH-camrs have sparked a inner fire for dungeons n dragons 🐉 an I even got a few fam n friends down for a campaign, keep up the awesome work. Much Love from Tampa Florida
Dieties and demigods from 3.5 provides stats.... Example: Pelor Cleric 20, Druid 10, Fighter 10 Divine rank 17 HP: 20d8+180 (outsider) +20d8+180 (Cleric) +10d8+90 (Druid) +10d10+90 (Fighter) (1040 average). This is not listed as the avatar of Pelor but as Pelor himself.
Sigh... these are such fantastic videos and the creator (MrRhexx) is exceptionally easy to listen to and to understand. I have had interest in this game since shortly after it was created. (I started playing in 1977 “ish”) It has been a while and exact time frame is something I cannot exactly remember 100% accurately. This past time has changed so much (mainly for the better) in the past 44+ years but I am still enjoying this information greatly. I wish good health and all the best to you and yours!
The Gods had stats in 1st edition, Deities & Demigods (abbreviated DDG),[1] alternatively known as Legends & Lore (abbreviated L&L or LL),[1] is a reference book for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game (D&D). The book provides descriptions and game statistics of gods
No power level is superior to the one of a DM, and no DM is stronger then the ultimate lore master, MrRhexx! Anyhow, excellent video as always and I wish everyone the best.
19:55 fusion ha! A side question is there any info on if Annam All-Father has ever produced an Avatar? Those DM NPCs that could seemingly do anything seem like they could fit the bill.
Pessimistic Pomegranates Actually no. The book itself gives rules for making avatars based on the stats of said deities. Namely that a avatar would have some of the class levels from their stat blocks.
In my world I'm thinking of treating Gods as slightly lower on the totem pole, almost like saints. Second only to the aspects. Aspects are Gods who idealizes war, light, life, ect. This is so a player can pick any God from Eberron to Faerun. I'm still new to dnd so I'm still creating What my DM world would look like. Trying to keep as many player options open as possible.
Rhexx, you should "teach" some of these other AD&D video guys "how" to deliver on a video. They just don't seem to have the style to carry it like you do. I tend to get bored with some of these other videos, i never get bored listening to your videos.
Dude you are great at doing this. I really enjoy each one of your videos and will rewatch them just to "like and comment" (I didn't know it helped you as TH-camr). With the way you explain and dig into details, I'd love to see your take on Ravenloft Dark Lord's from 2e and 3e, it would be awesome!!!
I think some Demon Lords also qualify as Demigods or even Lesser Gods, but according to this video that would require a lot of willing followers, which Demon Lords and Archdevils rarely have many of. Demigods are basically cult gods. Lesser gods have a foot in the door, while Intermediary and Greater would be full-fledged religious movements. We are talking percentages of a plane's population at this point, probably several planes for the Intermediary and Greater.
@@rosalynnejames6346 wasn't there a bit about how Asmodeus can destroy the multiverse if he wants to but he doesn't because he's incredibly injured? Also isn't he part of the main pantheon now?
I think this system is super cool (so detailed, makes alot of sense!), but very annoying. It's a form of annoying that makes sense, but still. Greater Gods can basically do whatever and are invulnerable to practically everything. Great. Super helpful for my worldbuilding purposes. Thanks a lot. The only type of God that can be feasibly killed by Heroes are Demigods. I bet my party will be happy when they learn that after so many levels and years of gaming, all they managed to do was kill the most minor of gods. Hooray. Besides the mortality (or lack thereof) of Gods, I think one of my main issues is that Dnd doesnt always make it clear as to what rank any specific God is. Also, none of this is especially helpful for us DMs who prefer homebrew content. Either you have to make your stuff fit this mold, or make a new set of rules and regulations for deities. Which I've done for my world of Hildran. Because of course I did... Mostly cause I dont like the idea of Ao/Io the Overgod. Personal preference.
That's incorrect. Want to kill Bahamut? Kill some demigod. Absorb its power as you do. Then kill a few more. Then a lesser god. Then a few more... Work your way up to that scale. There are rules for this. The book is called Deities and Demigods. Also he's wrong. The gods DO have stats.
@@MeepChangeling I know about Deities and Demigods. I think the book was considered non-canon not long after it's release because of the whole "giving stats to Gods" thing. Also, yeah, the idea of working your way up the divine ladder makes sense and works, but by then, are you really playing dnd anymore? After all, you'd need to increase your power mostly by getting more worshipers. Soooo...yeah. Good luck with that. Which is why in my setting it is plausible for a supremely powerful Hero (with the help of a God or two backing them) to kill a God. In Hildran, most Gods have a specific weakness tied to their mythos, generally in the form of some artifact. If the Hero finds that artifact and can kill a God's Avatar with it, that God is wounded, enough that a weaker God could kill them.
I mean. You can make up your own canon as a DM if you don't like the "official" one. Whenevet I watch MrRexx vids on DnD I always see it as someone else's headcanon. Mainly because there is always a couple things I don't agree with ot things I think would be better if done differently. You can still keep gods as they are, but give your players the opportunity to play at a higher level. Look at this from the god's perspective. They take years, centuries, millennia or even longer to get to their position. Being backed up by a ton of prayers and other means of empowerent. Then comes along a little party of 6 mortals with their tiny weapons trying to kill you. You gotta give your players more power, but not just randomly. It has to take effort and time. Also, imo, if it means to kill a god it has to be a specific weapon. Something crafted by special means specifically meant to kill that god. There has to be a build up for it. Or you could run a god-killing campaign where the PC are a party of titans.
@@MeepChangeling The Gods don't have a fixed set of stats after a certain rank, they have a preference for their avatars and how they manifest, but they could shapeshift themselves to mountains, rocks, intelligent artifacts... The stats you see at deities and demigods are exactly that, the preferred shape of their avatar/favorite avatar. that doesn't mean they will choose that to face a particular enemy that decides to kill them. But yes, the system is designed so you can theoretically climb the stairs of divinity and replace any deity, and there are many moments in the lore when deities where defeated and killed, in Forgotten Realms (the reference scenario used by the channel), most of those events happened at the time of troubles, when most deities in forgotten realms were trapped in their own avatars by Ao, the overgod.
One thing I liked about the World of Greyhawk was that the gods weren't dependent on the devotion of their followers. The most powerful gods were concerned with the cosmic forces of the world. It was the lesser deities who dealt with the people
You said at the start of the video that deities have NEVER been given stats. But I have the original AD&D Deities & Demigods book from 1980 (the one with Cthulhu in it), and many of these deities have stats. just to name a few. (25 was the max back then) Hades: S:24 I:24 W:20 D:24 C:25 CH:24 Odin: S:25 I:25 W:25 D:25 C:25 CH:25 Cthulhu: S:25 I:20 W:23 D:20 C:25 CH:-7 Moradin: S:25 I:23 W:20 D:21 C:25 CH:19(25 to dwarves) Yondalla S:19 I:25 W:25 D:25 C:23 CH22 But on another note, I did like this video and all of your D&D videos so far.
Pretty sure that was for their Avatars. If deities had stats, that would imply that players could kill them. Which they can't, barring some VERY specific circumstances involving rituals or special weapons.
@@H240909 The players could kill them, there were explicit rules about how to kill a God, which were similar to how you destroy an artifact. If you didn't fulfill the requirements, they would simply discorporate and reform after a few months when they were bloodied.
@@viserproductions1 Yes, that's what I said but that's from a narrative perspective. If a creature or being has a stat block, it implies that your mortal player characters can kill them in straight up combat. No mortal character can initiate combat with a god and win. There's always some plot macguffin involved like a ritual or an artifact. Unless the DM just doesn't care. Also, the god in question would dead by god standards. They wouldn't actually be dead. Its more of a cosmic level coma.
I assume it's the same as the 3(.5)rd edition, those are the stats for the most common avatar, the deity itself can either be in a similar shape as her avatar just chillin' inside it's own domain where it has hundreds of thousands of minions to protect itself or shapeshifted into a mountain or any other object without stats in said domain and spawning avatars as decoys. to kill a deity, you have to destroy whatever shape it is currently, in her own domain AND be a deity with a higher rank yourself, or using an artifact or epic spell/ritual capable of giving you that capability. I guess when he says that a deity doesn't have statistics, it means it doesn't have fixed stats, only a list of divine abilities/immunities, a portfolio and the capability of spawning avatars with a number of thematically fitting divine salient abilities proportional to the deity's rank.
The thing that players forget or not understand about deities-vs-everyone/everything else is that being a deity is a state of consciousness not just an issue of power. Gods can do hundreds, thousands, or millions of things at the same time, can think about thousands of things and communicate with thousands of beings at the same time. Therefore, although a player character can learn things like epic spells and do amazing, reality-bending things at higher levels, a mortal sentient being simply does not have the consciousness of a god, and therefore can't accomplish anything near to what even a lowly demigod can do.
same, as someone who has played MTG I honestly think the artists don't get enough credit as is. Their art is amazing and they deserve more recognition.
In advanced Dungeons and Dragons. They had stats for the gods in Deities and Demigods. I played in a campaign that fought a god. We almost won that fight. It was a fun campaign and an epic battle to end the campaign. We were 20th lvl party. And wanted to to start new characters. Our DM made an adventure to end all adventures. We had a great time and almost killed Loki, God of Mischief.
I recognize a lot of what he mentions from the 3.5 book Deities and Demigods but some of the abilities he mentions seems to be scaled way up. Like their ability to sense things is described in Deities and Demigods as being 1 mile pr. divine rank. A greater deity can at max have 20 divine ranks. Is this based on a previous version of rules for divinity or does anyone recognize his source for this?
In 3.x everything was basically made to go on forever. There was 6 groups of deities based on Divine rank: Rank 0 which are Quasi-Deities or hero deities, basically the rank that would apply to children of deity and a mortal or things with that little power of Deific magnitude. Ranks 1-5 are called Demi-gods and are actually the weakest group of deities that have to use avatars to access the material plane. Ranks 6-10 are lesser deities. Ranks 11-15 are intermediate deities. Ranks 16-20 are Greater Deities and ranks 21+ are called overdeities and these entities are so powerful that they do not even need followers to worship them, because they are so firmly in control of what they hold dominion over. It’s really interesting to see how much has changed and how much stayed the same from then
Closest physically of those who could enact it, was my interpretation. There's also what happened when Lamashtu killed Curchanus; where parts of the portfolio were willed to a specific deity, so that could be another option, for at least parts of a portfolio which do not fit the killer, but that was Pathfinder wiki, so... keep or trash; your choice. ^^ pathfinder.fandom.com/wiki/Lamashtu
With the Alduin example - you already play as a god's avatar. The Dragonborn is an avatar of Shor, the god that created the mortal world. They are heralded as such and Shor is found missing in Sovngarde due to, presumably, currently being in an avatar state. It doesn't quite work the same way in TES lore as it does for D&D
This right here, I am wondering who Overlord is as well. Is he just a god who's domain is to give out domains? Or is Overlord just another name for Ao?
respect to you , mr D&D scholar. your indepht knowledge , inspires me , i specialized in Oriental Adventures, AD&D 2nd edition, made my own maps, you have made me better with my inside lore, you actually answered questions i wondered about years ago. here is one for you sir "Gargantua" lol.
😑 *”Hold my beer.”* _pulls out his 3.5 character who ascended to godhood and the list of deities, elder gods, and Old Ones he killed_ *”How you ask? Well to start, what was that about gods not having stats?”* _breaks out ‘Deities & Demigods’ with the 3.5 Errata, ‘Draconomicon’ (The Book of Dragons), and ‘Epic Level Handbook’_ *”Years of playing the same elf”*
I’m actually in the final act of a campaign where we have to strike down two evil gods. The only way we could do this was through a world altering event that diluted the flow of power the gods received. And we had access to weaponry that were enchanted with supreme magics. Many of the subjects brought up in this video are elements we have incorporated in our campaign.
Warlock with Eldritch sight walking into a cathedral instantly being locked onto by all the scrying eyes summoned by worship. (I like to think that uttering a deities name summons a scrying orb so imagining a whole cathedral full of em is very funny to me)
"Deities in Dungeons and Dragons do not have stats. They have never been given stats." Objectively false. The 3e expansion "Deities and Demigods" not only gives you templates, feats, and guidelines for making deities, but explicitly stats out (including class levels) several pantheons of deities, from Greyhawk, to the generic racial deities like Moradin, to pantheons prominent in pop culture like the Egyptian Pantheon. And this isn't even the first book to do this. All the way back to 1e, TSR (the company that owned D&D before WotC), put out the first "Deities and Demigods", giving them Monster Manual-like entries, and they even got into legal trouble for using Cthulhu mythos and Melnibonéan material. They even had a name change during later printings to "Legends and Lore" to avoid upsetting religious groups. They put out another Legends and Lore for 2e as well, and then there's the previously mentioned 3e book which went back to the original name. You can argue deities shouldn't have stats, but you shouldn't lie about whether or not they have had them in the past.
@@CptnJaymz 3e's Deities and Demigods actually specifies the difference between the two. Normally an avatar of a deity will have the same stat block as their deity, except they'll have half the divine rank, restricting the amount of their creator's advantages they have access to, such as Divine Bonuses and Salient Divine Abilities. Additionally, an Avatar can't create more avatars or possess mortals (Though there is a process by which a deity might invest Divine Ranks in mortals known as creating a "Proxy").
*literally everyone*: "you can't kill gods without a very rare and secret weapon, powerful rituals, genocide, and plane hopping."
Party of level 6 murder hobos: "so you're saying....there's a chance?"
Not for them.
I mean... Kind of, at least If you're like my first DM... But you need to start the game weirdly overpowered because you had a "standard" array of 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, become a lesser lord of baldur's gate, give some opressed groups a pint of hope and you might kill a Yuan-ti Anathema. It also could turn you into a god, at least that's how our party's Cleric and Ranger became demigods...
My party met another player's god and immediately planned on killing him.
I mean to be honest who doesn't want a crack at God's that on a whim they could eradicate you from existence if anything I'm surprised there hasn't been any deals/alliances with Titans and Aboleths with humans in a joint effort to kill em all. They always cause more harm then good. At least in my experience in watching lore videos xD lol
@@lukepatterson8676 how have they caused more harm then good? Honestly they've helped more often then not in these lore videos. I mean yeah some Death Gods create Mummy Lords, but those are explicitly Evil Deities and their have been a few that have been horrible, but those are explicitly Evil gods like Tiamat or Panzurial. They explicitly exist to cause harm while the Good Gods exist to oppose them, aid thier worshippers, and whatever other purpose pertains to them in their portfolio.
Hey guys, a quick correction to the video. There **ARE** stats for some gods as given by the book Deities and Demigods for 3.5e. It is more focused on Greyhawk content than Forgotten Realms so there are differences, but we do get stats for some of the deities. My mistake.
As always i do want to mention that whenever i get conflicting information, i will always use Forgotten Realms content as canon for my videos.
Was just about to comment about this. Before the avatar stats there are stats for gods in that book.
Yup, I have the book. Was gonna comment that. Still a great video though! Deities and Demigods is a dry read anyway, so having you explain it was very helpful.
Ah noticed this too late, you can ignore my comments.
Great video though. Love your content.
Doesn't Tiamat have a statblock in 5E Tyranny of Dragons: The Rise of Tiamat? She's a lesser deity, but a deity nonetheless.
0:03 "They have never been given stats" *The book of Deities & Demigods would like a word with you*
Dragonlance Adventures (1st edition book) would disprove that statement as well. Paladine has 999 hit points and can deal anywhere from 1d10 to 1d10x100 per attack (his choice). He has 5 attacks per round.
Glad someone else mentioned Deities and Demigods.
Yep. I believe the strongest had 200 hit points.
Was about to comment this
What he means really is, "Deities in FORGOTTEN REALMS have never been given stats." Then the statement would b true...I think.
I was just about to begin to make a god-heavy campaign, so these are really helpful!
Probs to you. I'm about to redcon mine, because this is just awesome
I had to retcon my settings after a few of these videos
@@Arkino1498 Remember that if you have a custom setting, you can do whatever you want! All of this stuff is only guaranteed to hold if you are trying to stick to Forgotten Realms canon specifically. For example, Ao's power as overgod canonically only covers the deities inhabiting Abeir-Toril.
Good luck
@@AaronRotenberg Also this video seems to be heavily influenced by 2nd edition, and there's Deities and Demigods from 3.5 if anyone wants some more ideas on how they can run god-heavy campaigns.
Sounds like the best way to get power as a deity is to have domain over stuff like parties.
Think about it. Some dwarven god of parties, alcohol and rough housing could probably be one of the strongest gods in existence.
Myy that's genial. Bacchus must be the most powerful God without have to engage in a very complex scheme.
Eh, i'd go further with a God of Desire. That encompass next to all things in the Universe.
Goddess of Love.
@@SuperAmaton Ah, Slannesh. That's one way to do it, yes.
Well its a bit of a tradeoff because not all ceremonies are equal, like he said in a prior video this is why most evil deities are even able to still function. Despite having a small number of followers their 'ceremonies' wind up producing more divine energy.
15:15
So "Rocks fall, everyone dies" is an intermediate god's fault!
Finally, we get an explanation on how these mysterious rocks slay adventurers.
i mean i know this is a joke but im pretty sher that thay wuld have to be someware that that culd aculy happen so in other words that wuld work in a cave or somthing but a intermediate god culd not do that to you if you where les say standing a a feild
Regarding reliance on worshippers: allegedly Ao removed that as of the second sundering which caused deities to distance themselves a bit more from mortal affairs.
To those claiming mystryl/mystra was one of the weaker greater deities: her power was second only to Ao himself. In fact, to offset that, she had to split her portfolio with lesser powers such as Azuth, Savras, Velsharoon and Leira. Her control over the weave is so absolute she can cut off any other deity should she choose to do so, making them essentially powerless (this is also why so many other powers desired her portfolio - Talos and Shar most notably).
The only deity that found a workaround was Shar with her shadow weave but even she miscalculated the amount of power held by Mystra when she got Cyrik to kill her. Mystra's 3rd death not only did not give Shar control over the weave, it caused her to lose control over the shadow weave as well.
So ye. The most frequently killed god in FR history is technically the most powerful one as well.
And, despite being killed several times, she hasn't actually yet been usurped. Yeah, she's not going anywhere anytime soon
Meanwhile in the previous episode: How to kill gods
@Alistair Stormbreaker The fabric of magic inside dnd can be exploited at least lore wise. Also just because there are weapons to kill a god, doesn't mean you will actually be able to pull it off.
@Alistair Stormbreaker they technically do have stats. And those are probably not even that crazy they're probably around another creatures of their CR.
The thing is no god is really limited by them. God's CR probably ranges around slightly lower than 30 (as some are weaker than the tarrasque) to 50 (as the titan is stronger than all of them).
That doesn't mean they're as strong as their CR as their abilities far surpass their own CR. They cannot really be killed easy. Can have multiple bodies. Almost no limitations on spellcasting. Matter manipulation, etc... Mental abilities that recreate omniscience. The capability of knowing and modifying mortal life's to a certain extent.
That without taking into account the abilities on their domain. Having a higher CR than a god doesn't mean you're really more powerful than them... Not at all... It just means you're more capable on a fight. And even there there's a lot of things a god can do.
Kratos waits very eagerly for the next episode xD
@@Kirkmaximus Well, then Kratos is very late to the news as that episode was the previous video.
@@rosure7 The problem is that flavor text and actual printed stats often missmatch. Despite all the bluster in Cronos lore from that dragon article, he actually stood no chance to take down those deities with his printed stats vs. theirs. Fighting athousand passes against both Hextor and Heironeous? He would not stand a chance against either one of them, lest alone both. And it wouldn't take a thousand blows either.
Gods totally used to have stats! The problem quickly became "If it has stats, it can be hunted and killed". So gods nolonger have stats
But that was the fun part killing a God and it added so much roleplay like how you killed someone’s God and now you are giving rise to a new Pantheon a stronger Pantheon
Counterpoint: Who cares if they can be hunted and killed as long as it's really really really hard to do?
@@arnox4554 I do agree with you there. Though, I think it should be more interesting and involved than "hit it a bunch". The problem with them having normal stats and no special caveats is that it can allow people to min/max super hard and kill a god in some relatively trivial/non-epic manner. Now, those weird combos that can let you do that are usually pretty silly in the first place and should be directly prevented when possible, because they really don't fit the game as intended, just as written. However, anytime you include actual stats and no special caveats/requirements.. you're opening yourself up to a god being killed be some kind of min/maxing.. when it should always be far less mundane imo.
@@Elluem "should be directly prevented when possible, because they really don't fit the game as intended, just as written. "
That's called the DM saying "Nope.".
/\ I feel like avatars are the answer to PCs getting a cheap cheesy win on a deity..If it goes down too easily you just say " oh it was an avatar" and adjust the gods tactics and give it some allies the next time to prevent the same trick twice. Which isn't metagaming since the deity would experience everything the avatar did and learn from it
One of the best examples of being able to arrange “accidents” is the angel Uriel from the show Lucifer, who has the ability to see patterns, which he can use to set in motion massive chain reactions of mundane stuff that ultimately lead to the demise of a person (among other things). Kind of like a Rube Goldberg machine.
Lol I'd just imagine it as increasingly bad situations happen to the party, enemies always target the guy first, heck maybe the targeted player even starts getting disadvantage on all his rolls if it goes on long enough.
Since Greater Gods auto suceed on Saving Throws, does that mean karsus's Avatar didn't even give Mystryl a saving throw? (I doubt Mystryl wasn't a greater God)
Damn.
karsus's spell keeps getting more and more crazy.
I mean probably, but she still got to perform a single action before he took control since she still had the ability to kill herself.
My DM actually found a write up for the spell that was done. It effectively removes the saving throw by making the casting DC astronomically high. There are rules for making epic spells in dnd, and rules on how hard the roll is to make the spell based on what you want to do. Given Karsus was level 42, and spent over ten years working on the spell and gather components for it, it's not easy to make that spell work.
@Calvin Schuster I'm pretty sure karsus was a mortal when he cast karsus's avatar.
Unless the spell gave him a temp Greater god status?
Though I could be mixing somethign up here
@Calvin Schuster yes because it effects self also intermetide deities can do so too
They actually don't succeed automatically, they just got the best they can have according their stats.
They do have stats! They gods were given states! This was in a 3.5 special edition book "Deities and Demigods" that gave each god stats. They all have 2 classes, each at level 20 at least, and they have epic feats (which make regular feats look like jokes).
Though, to be fair, these might just be their avatar's in which case...still, holy shit they're strong.
There is also D&D 3rd Edition - Forgotten Realms - Faiths and Pantheons.
no they are their stats their avatars have tgeir stats righ after the deity no deity has more than 20 in a class unless you hombrew buffs
I do not believe those are intended as the avatars. I was also going to comment on this.
And in 2nd AD&D : Faiths & Avatars . Forgotten Realms - Powers and Pantheons
Those were avatars typically.
However the first edition had everything and was filled in with various dragon magazine articles.
Yo, Mr Rhexx, if you happen to see this, AJ Pickett(from the channel of the same name) would like to speak with you about possibly making some sort of collaboration video but is unsure exactly how to get in touch with you.
If you could hit him up on his channel’s discord or leave a comment on his most recent video letting him know how to contact you, he would greatly appreciate it.
Also, the greatest power a deity can use is the ability to allow two content creators to make a video together(hint hint...) Great Video! Keep up the amazing work!
I love how you used to represent gods in D&D is that of the Theros Gods from Magic: The Gathering
Also Amonkhet and Hour of Devistation sets.
MTG is basically the same universe. there are several "cross-over" MTG and DnD, the latest example being Ravnica
@@legendaryoutcast4440 technically the canon explanation is that the MTG universe(multiverse really) exists in a separate crystal sphere than the DnD one. This is pretty much the explanation for every official released source that contains a different set of planar universe.
This also means technically any character that can figure out how to leave and breach a different crystal sphere could technically travel between say Ravnica and Eberron.
Yeah, I see ashiok and I ask myself what he/she/it is doing here, then elspeth in stained glass window… ?
We are also about to get the 15 theros gods in 5e😁😁😁
@@themadichib0d I can't help but wonder what the crossover explanation for the Planar Bridge and the Blind Eternities are... Also tbh, the Blind Eternities are far more terrifying than D&D outer space.
Greater powers:
*can become planets
Also greater powers:
*takes an action to rest for every ton they create
They create a ton in 6 seconds then take a six second break before doing it again, maybe there is some sort of somatic component
becoming a planet is its own thing. theyre not creating the matter of the planet, they are becoming it. They need to rest when they use their energy (life essence?) to create matter out of nothing. this makes sense. it seems tiring. but its still crazy.. think about how big a ton is, they just need to take a deep breath and they can do it again...
pvic they have to become the planet somehow. They are either making the matter out of nothing or are changing the energy that makes them into an entire planet, both of which would definitely be harder than making a ton of anything.
@@Aplesedjr I thought of it like polymorph or beast shape (is that what its called). Imagine a gnome wizard polymorphs to a stone giant. wheres the extra mass for the giant's form coming from? Or if a druid shifts into a form of a giant eagle, same thing
In the other way, what if someone polymorphs into a snail? where does all that mass go? or if a druid shifts into a rodent?
Logan Sanders Actually changing form takes way less energy than creating mass. Just think about it, a ton of matter is like 200 nukes of energy.
Great video man, this really helps me since one of my characters became a demi god. Now i have a better idea for how to use him in a pantheon.
Word: Portfolio
MrRhexx: "Puortohpholio"
... and he says that in every sentence
Its clear English was not his first language bit he is fluent. Its part of his charm lol
Just weird that it is just this specific word
@@Arborerivus And reproduction
He can't pronounce anything right 🤣🤣🤣
Sometimes I put my headphones in and listen to this like music and not even watch it...I've never once played D&D..
The most powerful God is the DM. Second is Io. Then Mr. Rhexx the lore keeper
That isnt entirely wrong XD
But he is wrong this time thought
Lore keeper that couldn't read lore this time?
brodeeo gonna be honest. I didn’t even know he got it wrong until I read the comments after I made this comment. I play pathfinder so I’m unfamiliar with dnd lore but I watch the videos to compare and to get inspiration and stuff for my campaign
@@haylongwang3002 Have proofs within your comment before to post them little Green Wangle 😠😤
there is 3.5e deities & demigods alongside faiths and pantheons who give stats to deities also to their avatar
also mstra and coralian are greater magic deities
It was so much fun going through that book back in the day and pitting the gods against each other.
Ya shame he doesnt mention it
hell go back to first edition, visit them on their home plane, and if you are good enough you too can kill loth or any of the other gods... though doing so was even then meant to be beyond a epic quest. look to krynn we find epic tales of attempts to usurp the gods that where foiled, not by the raw power of the gods themselves, but my the interference of mortal men (with some assistance from the other gods despite in some cases said gods not being on the best of terms with each other. I find myself envisioning the conversation between paladin (bahamet) and tahiskis (tiamat) after the second war of the lance "I just more or less saved your bacon... shall we resume our war next tuesday then?")
@@mattlewandowski73 Sounds like a divorced couple that secretly harbor feelings but don't want to try again because fucking hell the last time didn't work out...
@@toshomni9478 I love how in the dnd pantheon there is a god of common sense
Surely this means that “Bane” can see like - everywhere if you just need to day a gods name and his name being a cantrip
If i were a deity I'd make my name "Eldritch Blast" or "Fireball"
As a DM i would say no, the deity "Bane" would not be able to use his vision/senses if some cleric of "Mystra" asked his god to give him the power to harm his foe i.e. the spell bane. To use the common "Name" of a deity is to know and think of that god, therefore you draw it's attention.
They absolutely WERE given stats, then they were taken away when players starting killing them. All you have to do is convince the GM to run the campaign long enough. The gods are not even optimized. They just stacked numbers high without a plan.
This is actually incredibly useful information. My character became a diety at the end of the last campaign and now I’m dming this next one , which in a sense is still my character acting as a diety. Also one of my players made a cleric whose God is me and I personally find that flattering and amusing .
I've been planning on a little pantheoncide ever since I've heard of the Wall of the Faithless.
This video only makes me want to carry it out more.
Viva revolution
I'd love a role-playing game like this. Like, you start as a mortal, and your aim is to become the greatest god. Ascend, choose portfolio, gather followers, destroy rival gods and rewrite reality in your own image!
That's how the old Basic set series worked. Start on the Basic Set and move up through to Immortals.
And next thing ya know Ao intervenes and you lose horribly
In 3e there is a book called Deities and Demigods, that lists the stats for several pantheons and gives instruction on how to create a god: Divine Rank, Divine Salient Abilities, and other special abilities. I don't know how the lore has changed from then to 5e but gods were killable back in the olden days, they were tough, but killable.
"Deities have never had stats, they dont have stats."
Me looking at my book 'Deities and Demigods' printed by wizards of the coast for dnd 3.5 guess it doesn't exist...
It's not there; it's just a pigment of your colorful imagination.
Arek Petrosian
“pigment”
Hey bud, 1 correction. Deities have had stats in some older editions. Not all of them but check out 3rd ed Dieties and Demigods. There have been templates for some of the Greyhawk setting dieties as well as some mythic pantheons like the Greek and Egyptian
I keep reading comments saying that those stats are for their avatars and not the actual gods themselves. Which stats are they for?
@@cflotronsong in 3rd Ed the stats are for the dieties themselves and the only difference between a diety and its avatar is half the divine rank. Also not all dieties have enough divine ranks for an avatar and a good number of monsters in the epic level handbook could seriously hurt or kill lesser dieties or lower.
i got really distracted with all the gods and angels from MTG lolol
0:03 There was actually the book Faiths and Pantheons which had the goods of THE FORGOTTEN REALMS, not Grayhawk. And it was glorious because you were allowed to compare what a high level character would be able to do against a god, and the difference was astounding. Especially considering that the gods of the Realms may walk the planes and do stuff more commonly than in some other settings (they are at their strongest in their corresponding realm) and at their weakest maybe in their avatar forms. All of this without making them, funnily enough, overpowered for gods as Ao is.
This is great! I'm running a campaign where the players have stumbled into a massive game of divine politics (plus one of my players has married a lesser god and wishes to become divine herself). This is really helpful! Thanks!
How did that happen?
@@SuperAmaton Well, it started as a quest to stop a Yuan-ti sorceress who was seeking to unite her people by becoming a god, as they wouldn't unite under anything less (a prophecy foretold her method of ascending to godhood could irreparably damage magic itself). But then they discovered the Yuan-ti are merely pawns in a larger divine game between my homebrew god Chaos (a greater diety of freedom, hope, death, and destruction imprisoned in Carceri) and some unknown, but stronger being. They just discovered that being is Asmodeus. The player who married a lesser god ended up hitting it off with him. The player is a changeling wizard who was found half-dead in a river and ever since has lived multiple lives under many masks, one of which had a wife who recently died. The lesser god is a brother to Chaos whose portfolio includes magic, knowledge, the night, and weather. He was formerly a mortal who lived a rather lonely life studying in his tower, eventually stumbling across the secret to godhood. When he became a god, he was given the job of guarding divine secrets, which only increased his isolation. So they ended up bonding, quickly forming a relationship, and now they're getting married in a month's time. The reason the changeling wizard player wants to become a god is kind of a long one, but to sum it up, she thinks the gods are too disconnected from mortal suffering and wants to change that by becoming a god who understands and has lived through that suffering.
Sorry for the long reply, but the story's a bit complicated. :P
@@tabithaalphess2115 Funny, i am currently playing a Shadow-Sorcerer Changeling in my Campain :)
But back to your Story: Is the Chaos in your story all good? I am asking because any "Aspect" taken to it's extreme can be pretty bad. Absolute Law can easily be a life without any choice. But Absolute Chaos can just as easily be a life, where no choice matters.
For the Marriage: I assume it's gonna be a Party? Beware Party-Crashers, maybe invite a Greater Deity as a honorary Guest for security?
And for you Wizard: Daaaangerous. Bringing Mortal Suffering into the Divine "Realm"? I am rather certain a few Gods will dismiss her as dillusional or straight up try to kill her. Even worse? Well if she becomes a Deity, becoming one with this goal could maybe lead to her becoming the God(dess) of (mortal) Suffering. A VERY ugly thought.
@@SuperAmaton Nice! If you put a few levels in rogue, that could be really interesting.
No, Chaos is chaotic neutral. He's characterized as a highly personal, ancient greater deity who has existed since the beginnings of the multiverse. He has a love for mortals and often takes the downtrodden for warlocks. However, he's also characterized as wildfire, destroying the old to make way for thee new. As a result, he spent much of his time "purging corruption" (slavery in any form). This came in the form of mass death, the fall of civilizations, and the death of numerous gods slain by his own hand. He carried out these deeds with his sister - a greater deity known as Desire (goddess of emotions and passion) - and was kept in check by his brother, Fate, greater god of law and order. At some point, however, Chaos was imprisoned and bound in Carceri for an unknown crime, and he's been trying to escape ever since. That's the plot my players have gotten tied up in
Yeah, there's going to be a party. In fact, it will take place at Desire's palace (the changeling wizard befriended her). Fate, Desire, Chaos, and the god the wizard is marrying are all part of the same Pantheon, and they refer to one another as family. So a number of gods will be present for the wedding (3 greater deities, 3 intermediate, and 4 lesser).
Ooooooh yeah, it's something the changeling wizard hasn't considered. Chaos has been heavily involved in the party's journey (one of them is even a warlock to Chaos), and the wizard in particular has had many conversations with him. It's even convinced her that he should be free (albeit with conditions). Chaos is often thought of as a radical by many of the gods, but he's also incredibly persuasive (even convinced the paladin in the party - who was previously opposed to Chaos - that he wasn't so bad). The changeling wizard hopes to become a god of healing and make the gos more aware of mortal suffering, but the process of becoming divine could shift that
I wonder if it would be interesting to have players play as gods, trying to rise in the ranks and keep eachother standing tall or betraying one another, or running multiple adventures at the same time. Might be a bit confusing, but I think it would be interesting.
D&D immortals was a thing, a supplement / rule set that I remember as existing in unison with the early basic and expert rule sets.
Love the crossover with Skyrim, brings back memories
Your’e ability to explain this lore on Dungeons and Dragons is the best iv’e seen. Cant wait for the final video of this series and maybe a new series of videos where you explain about the different realms? I would love to hear you talk about Hades, the shadowfell and the far realm
I love your videos dude! I actually have a question though: Are avatars "mortals" with personalities? What do they do when Gods are not controlling them?
The gods are always controlling them. They aren't things that they create as an empty vessel to control, they are extension of them. The difference would be like a remote control toy and one of your limbs. The Avatar is more like a limb
You’re confusing avatars with divine aspects, which are individual creatures with personalities similar to a god, but autonomous and much, much weaker than even the weakest avatar. Divine aspects are usually created when a deity urgently needs to accomplish something, but can’t spare an avatar. Aspects also typically only exist for several days or months before vanishing.
@@SuperCuriousFox I'm relatively certain I'm right. Especially since I've never heard of a Divine Aspect. Every time I've heard it referenced, everyone refers to Avatars with a similar metaphor to that. Though maybe a Divine Aspect is just a more powerful Avatar that uses a higher percentage of the God's power. If I reuse the metaphor, an Avatar would be a God's finger or hand while the Divine Aspect would be a Hand or the Arm respectively. Of course it's relative, the Full Arm of one god could equate to just the thumb of another.
@@Master_E444 why can't you both be right? Avatars are like a limb, whereas divine aspects are like prosthetic limbs. You are always in control of your limb, but not a prosthetic device. However, when you are in control of it, it's effectively another limb.
I know I said limb way too much.
@@A._Person that's a good point. That could be a good analogy, but I don't think it's 100% accurate but I'm just gonna agree for now.
I'm actually using Erebos (center god in the thumbnail) in my one off campaign.
Background: Our campaign took us to a world on some astral dimension that was housing a threat to our world where we had to stop a lich from unleashing a tarrasque from that world. While there we gained some serious powers and gear, and because of use of milestones, we leveled up fairly quickly, ending the campaign at 17 when we killed Tiamat after dealing with the tarrasque. Everyone but my character went back to the home world. In the interim time between end of part 1 of the overall campaign, my Character, a Dragonborn Barbarian Zealot, stayed behind to make sure things were kosher and to play around with his dragon lair - because he seeks to eventually become a dragon.
Setup: In the process of my character's travels, Erebos took note and approached him with an offer. He basically tricked and kidnapped my character and maxed his power to lv 20 and twisted his body to take on Adult Black Dragon attributes and is completing this process on an astral demiplane of his trying to turn him into one of his most powerful thralls.
It's effectively a rescue mission where they'll have to battle him in his full glory and somehow break him from the control of Erebos. Anyone who dies on this plane gets jettisoned back home
This is all fantastic info for High level campaigns. Thanks!
love that you use magic the gathering cards as backgrounds for your videos. and good choices as well.
Demigods just sound like high level mortals
Essentially, yes. Some of the core 5e rulebooks imply, vaguely at least, that after hitting lvl 20 one can actually become a demigod.
They cannot fumble themselves to death. Put any adventurer up against 10,000 tadpoles. The PC will fumble themselves to death. The demigod will not.
@@johnclover2156 level doesnt have anything to do with dieityship. At 1st level PCs could in theory become Gods. It's a separate addition to the core rules. And if you want to talk about them rivaling a demigod in power per deities and demigods, you are talking lvl 3o. For 5th edition it feels like they removed the deities from playability.
In 3d edition Demigod status just give you Divine Rank 0 ageless status and some immunities and ability to get higher in rank if you amass followers or defeat other deity you can't even have Avatar. All the real powers come at Divine Rank 1+. And highest ranked Deity in each pantheon got Divine Rank 20. There is few gods above gods - prime example is Ao which have no stats at all.
@@zachzorn9930 Dnd 5e becoming a diety
Requirements:
Step 1: Raw power
At least lvl 25
At least 1 attribute of 21 or higher and 1 attribute of 19 or higher
Step 2: combination of at least 2
-The performance of special ceremony
-Spell of alaborate complexity with great personal danger
-The use of an artifact
-Sponsorshipof a diety
Often by rituals and use of artifacts ascension is denied and mortal becomes a lich,some other form of undead creature or being destroyed
If ascension is denied by sponsorship of a diety then mortal is given a second chance to overcome whatever the reason for rejection was or or dies and becomes a powerful servant of sponsored diety
Always a good day when you upload amazing lore! Definitely one of my favorite uploads since theirs such little lore about what gods can do, how they ascend further, etc. unless you dig deep.
"They (Dieties) have never been given stats."
*Tiamat and Bahamut would like to have a word with you.*
Loving this content bro you and a few other d&d TH-camrs have sparked a inner fire for dungeons n dragons 🐉 an I even got a few fam n friends down for a campaign, keep up the awesome work. Much Love from Tampa Florida
Can we get a video on the Great Old Ones? Please? I'm curious how they relate to deities.
I like your narration, feeling of your enthusiasm and love is all over your voice!
Dieties and demigods from 3.5 provides stats....
Example: Pelor
Cleric 20, Druid 10, Fighter 10
Divine rank 17
HP: 20d8+180 (outsider) +20d8+180 (Cleric) +10d8+90 (Druid) +10d10+90 (Fighter) (1040 average).
This is not listed as the avatar of Pelor but as Pelor himself.
Deities and Demigods, Copyright 1980.
Gods in D&D have had stats since 1st edition.
Sigh... these are such fantastic videos and the creator (MrRhexx) is exceptionally easy to listen to and to understand. I have had interest in this game since shortly after it was created. (I started playing in 1977 “ish”) It has been a while and exact time frame is something I cannot exactly remember 100% accurately. This past time has changed so much (mainly for the better) in the past 44+ years but I am still enjoying this information greatly.
I wish good health and all the best to you and yours!
MrRhexx: "Gods in D&D don't have stats."
Deities & Demigods books: "Allow us to introduce ourselves."
In 3.5e they made the Deities and Demigods book, which stats the gods. It even goes over portfolio building and what divine ranks give you
If i was a god and had a portfolio it would be making shitty abstract art/theater seem more meaningful that it is
I just wanted to say that I’m very appreciative for all of your videos Rhexx. You are by far my favorite d&d TH-camr our there.
The Gods had stats in 1st edition, Deities & Demigods (abbreviated DDG),[1] alternatively known as Legends & Lore (abbreviated L&L or LL),[1] is a reference book for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game (D&D). The book provides descriptions and game statistics of gods
No power level is superior to the one of a DM, and no DM is stronger then the ultimate lore master, MrRhexx!
Anyhow, excellent video as always and I wish everyone the best.
Remember that the power and abilities of these deities would change depending on the setting.
I really dig this dudes videos. The enthusiasm is refreshing.
19:55 fusion ha!
A side question is there any info on if Annam All-Father has ever produced an Avatar?
Those DM NPCs that could seemingly do anything seem like they could fit the bill.
That’s a great idea, now you can make a DM Npc and then reveal their an avatar.
0:05 actually incorrect. Deities and demigods in 2E had stats for a bunch of gods. Most of the surprisingly mortal for a high level group.
Yeah, and 3rd and 3.5th had the Deities and Demigods Handbook. The entire point of that was yup give stats to gods.
2nd AD&D : Faiths & Avatars Forgotten Realms - Powers and Pantheons
So do they have in 3e.
Those were for Avatars
Pessimistic Pomegranates Actually no. The book itself gives rules for making avatars based on the stats of said deities. Namely that a avatar would have some of the class levels from their stat blocks.
This was SO interesting, thank you so much! I love your channel! ♥
"When MrRhexx post 3 seconds ago."
My fingers to click the video: I AM SPEED.
In my world I'm thinking of treating Gods as slightly lower on the totem pole, almost like saints. Second only to the aspects. Aspects are Gods who idealizes war, light, life, ect. This is so a player can pick any God from Eberron to Faerun. I'm still new to dnd so I'm still creating What my DM world would look like. Trying to keep as many player options open as possible.
In 3.5 they were, in the Deitis and Demi-Gods, or at least their avatars were given stats.
Rhexx, you should "teach" some of these other AD&D video guys "how" to deliver on a video. They just don't seem to have the style to carry it like you do. I tend to get bored with some of these other videos, i never get bored listening to your videos.
last time I was this early, I was stuck in Ravenloft.
Dude you are great at doing this. I really enjoy each one of your videos and will rewatch them just to "like and comment" (I didn't know it helped you as TH-camr). With the way you explain and dig into details, I'd love to see your take on Ravenloft Dark Lord's from 2e and 3e, it would be awesome!!!
Where do Demon Lords and Archdevils fit into this hierarchy? Do they also get some of these powers? What about Primus?
No.. they are not Deities. They get demon and devil traits
I think some Demon Lords also qualify as Demigods or even Lesser Gods, but according to this video that would require a lot of willing followers, which Demon Lords and Archdevils rarely have many of.
Demigods are basically cult gods.
Lesser gods have a foot in the door, while Intermediary and Greater would be full-fledged religious movements.
We are talking percentages of a plane's population at this point, probably several planes for the Intermediary and Greater.
@@rosalynnejames6346 I've seen the stats for the demon lords, and so far none have had deity levels.
@@rosalynnejames6346 wasn't there a bit about how Asmodeus can destroy the multiverse if he wants to but he doesn't because he's incredibly injured? Also isn't he part of the main pantheon now?
@Stygian Eons oop?
Thank you so much, i'm trying to build a prestige class of my own with a demigod influence and it made things so much clear now
I think this system is super cool (so detailed, makes alot of sense!), but very annoying. It's a form of annoying that makes sense, but still.
Greater Gods can basically do whatever and are invulnerable to practically everything. Great. Super helpful for my worldbuilding purposes. Thanks a lot.
The only type of God that can be feasibly killed by Heroes are Demigods. I bet my party will be happy when they learn that after so many levels and years of gaming, all they managed to do was kill the most minor of gods. Hooray.
Besides the mortality (or lack thereof) of Gods, I think one of my main issues is that Dnd doesnt always make it clear as to what rank any specific God is. Also, none of this is especially helpful for us DMs who prefer homebrew content. Either you have to make your stuff fit this mold, or make a new set of rules and regulations for deities.
Which I've done for my world of Hildran.
Because of course I did...
Mostly cause I dont like the idea of Ao/Io the Overgod. Personal preference.
That's incorrect. Want to kill Bahamut? Kill some demigod. Absorb its power as you do. Then kill a few more. Then a lesser god. Then a few more... Work your way up to that scale. There are rules for this. The book is called Deities and Demigods. Also he's wrong. The gods DO have stats.
@@MeepChangeling I know about Deities and Demigods. I think the book was considered non-canon not long after it's release because of the whole "giving stats to Gods" thing.
Also, yeah, the idea of working your way up the divine ladder makes sense and works, but by then, are you really playing dnd anymore? After all, you'd need to increase your power mostly by getting more worshipers. Soooo...yeah. Good luck with that.
Which is why in my setting it is plausible for a supremely powerful Hero (with the help of a God or two backing them) to kill a God. In Hildran, most Gods have a specific weakness tied to their mythos, generally in the form of some artifact. If the Hero finds that artifact and can kill a God's Avatar with it, that God is wounded, enough that a weaker God could kill them.
"a lot", not "alot".
I mean. You can make up your own canon as a DM if you don't like the "official" one.
Whenevet I watch MrRexx vids on DnD I always see it as someone else's headcanon. Mainly because there is always a couple things I don't agree with ot things I think would be better if done differently.
You can still keep gods as they are, but give your players the opportunity to play at a higher level.
Look at this from the god's perspective. They take years, centuries, millennia or even longer to get to their position. Being backed up by a ton of prayers and other means of empowerent.
Then comes along a little party of 6 mortals with their tiny weapons trying to kill you.
You gotta give your players more power, but not just randomly. It has to take effort and time.
Also, imo, if it means to kill a god it has to be a specific weapon. Something crafted by special means specifically meant to kill that god. There has to be a build up for it.
Or you could run a god-killing campaign where the PC are a party of titans.
@@MeepChangeling The Gods don't have a fixed set of stats after a certain rank, they have a preference for their avatars and how they manifest, but they could shapeshift themselves to mountains, rocks, intelligent artifacts... The stats you see at deities and demigods are exactly that, the preferred shape of their avatar/favorite avatar. that doesn't mean they will choose that to face a particular enemy that decides to kill them. But yes, the system is designed so you can theoretically climb the stairs of divinity and replace any deity, and there are many moments in the lore when deities where defeated and killed, in Forgotten Realms (the reference scenario used by the channel), most of those events happened at the time of troubles, when most deities in forgotten realms were trapped in their own avatars by Ao, the overgod.
One thing I liked about the World of Greyhawk was that the gods weren't dependent on the devotion of their followers. The most powerful gods were concerned with the cosmic forces of the world. It was the lesser deities who dealt with the people
“Deities in dungeons and dragons do not have stats, they have never been given stats” *Cough Cough* 3.0 Deities and Demigods *Cough Cough*
Great video. Really enjoy learning about deities. Helps put things in perspective.
Last time I was this early the oldest dragon was about cr 10
You said at the start of the video that deities have NEVER been given stats. But I have the original AD&D Deities & Demigods book from 1980 (the one with Cthulhu in it), and many of these deities have stats.
just to name a few. (25 was the max back then)
Hades: S:24 I:24 W:20 D:24 C:25 CH:24
Odin: S:25 I:25 W:25 D:25 C:25 CH:25
Cthulhu: S:25 I:20 W:23 D:20 C:25 CH:-7
Moradin: S:25 I:23 W:20 D:21 C:25 CH:19(25 to dwarves)
Yondalla S:19 I:25 W:25 D:25 C:23 CH22
But on another note, I did like this video and all of your D&D videos so far.
Born of Osiris album cover :D
The Discovery is such a good album!
@@stelarfoil71 Every album has good songs :)
I would personally love one of the follow-ups of this to be a list of the most powerful deities, though I doubt much can compare with/top Io and Ao.
So basically were in the gods playground :/
Keep on the good job man, we will be here supporting you as well.
MrRhexx: gods have never had stats
4th edition: am I a joke to you?
Pretty sure that was for their Avatars. If deities had stats, that would imply that players could kill them. Which they can't, barring some VERY specific circumstances involving rituals or special weapons.
@@H240909 The players could kill them, there were explicit rules about how to kill a God, which were similar to how you destroy an artifact. If you didn't fulfill the requirements, they would simply discorporate and reform after a few months when they were bloodied.
@@viserproductions1 Yes, that's what I said but that's from a narrative perspective. If a creature or being has a stat block, it implies that your mortal player characters can kill them in straight up combat. No mortal character can initiate combat with a god and win. There's always some plot macguffin involved like a ritual or an artifact. Unless the DM just doesn't care.
Also, the god in question would dead by god standards. They wouldn't actually be dead. Its more of a cosmic level coma.
And 3th edition Gods and pantheons there you get the actual Gods and Avatars with stats.
I assume it's the same as the 3(.5)rd edition, those are the stats for the most common avatar, the deity itself can either be in a similar shape as her avatar just chillin' inside it's own domain where it has hundreds of thousands of minions to protect itself or shapeshifted into a mountain or any other object without stats in said domain and spawning avatars as decoys. to kill a deity, you have to destroy whatever shape it is currently, in her own domain AND be a deity with a higher rank yourself, or using an artifact or epic spell/ritual capable of giving you that capability. I guess when he says that a deity doesn't have statistics, it means it doesn't have fixed stats, only a list of divine abilities/immunities, a portfolio and the capability of spawning avatars with a number of thematically fitting divine salient abilities proportional to the deity's rank.
The thing that players forget or not understand about deities-vs-everyone/everything else is that being a deity is a state of consciousness not just an issue of power. Gods can do hundreds, thousands, or millions of things at the same time, can think about thousands of things and communicate with thousands of beings at the same time. Therefore, although a player character can learn things like epic spells and do amazing, reality-bending things at higher levels, a mortal sentient being simply does not have the consciousness of a god, and therefore can't accomplish anything near to what even a lowly demigod can do.
I wish you would credit the artists when showing pictures from D&D and Magic: The Gathering artwork.
They get paid enough
same, as someone who has played MTG I honestly think the artists don't get enough credit as is. Their art is amazing and they deserve more recognition.
@@rhysjonsmusic I meant at least list their name with the picture... like "Illustrated by John Smith". It isn't always about the money.
Don't forget all the Warhammer art.
@@christmas6666yeah like a watermark or smth in the corner.
In advanced Dungeons and Dragons. They had stats for the gods in Deities and Demigods. I played in a campaign that fought a god. We almost won that fight. It was a fun campaign and an epic battle to end the campaign. We were 20th lvl party. And wanted to to start new characters.
Our DM made an adventure to end all adventures. We had a great time and almost killed Loki, God of Mischief.
I recognize a lot of what he mentions from the 3.5 book Deities and Demigods but some of the abilities he mentions seems to be scaled way up. Like their ability to sense things is described in Deities and Demigods as being 1 mile pr. divine rank. A greater deity can at max have 20 divine ranks. Is this based on a previous version of rules for divinity or does anyone recognize his source for this?
In 3.x everything was basically made to go on forever. There was 6 groups of deities based on Divine rank: Rank 0 which are Quasi-Deities or hero deities, basically the rank that would apply to children of deity and a mortal or things with that little power of Deific magnitude. Ranks 1-5 are called Demi-gods and are actually the weakest group of deities that have to use avatars to access the material plane. Ranks 6-10 are lesser deities. Ranks 11-15 are intermediate deities. Ranks 16-20 are Greater Deities and ranks 21+ are called overdeities and these entities are so powerful that they do not even need followers to worship them, because they are so firmly in control of what they hold dominion over. It’s really interesting to see how much has changed and how much stayed the same from then
Is there any God that's strong enough to destroy astro plane so no Gods will ever resurrect again?
Yes
Ao- the god of gods.
probably overgods?
Keep the incredible content coming!
2:12 closest physical god that can enact it, or closest morally?
Closest physically of those who could enact it, was my interpretation.
There's also what happened when Lamashtu killed Curchanus; where parts of the portfolio were willed to a specific deity, so that could be another option, for at least parts of a portfolio which do not fit the killer, but that was Pathfinder wiki, so... keep or trash; your choice. ^^
pathfinder.fandom.com/wiki/Lamashtu
this becomes very confusing when taking different planets into account
Could we get a video about litches?
He did a video about dracoliches and I think he talks about regular liches in that one as well
Yeah I would love to see a video on liches and discuss them in detail. Although I hope it’s not just restricted to the Forgotten Realms
Maybe a video on liches AND the undying court of Ebberon
With the Alduin example - you already play as a god's avatar. The Dragonborn is an avatar of Shor, the god that created the mortal world. They are heralded as such and Shor is found missing in Sovngarde due to, presumably, currently being in an avatar state. It doesn't quite work the same way in TES lore as it does for D&D
Who the hell is this Overlord guy and does he have browns, greens, reds and blues?
This right here, I am wondering who Overlord is as well. Is he just a god who's domain is to give out domains? Or is Overlord just another name for Ao?
Thomas Sapp Yes the Overlord is Ao and he decides the rules of the forgotten realms.
@@lebanemcarl68 thanks for the clarification. 🙂
respect to you , mr D&D scholar. your indepht knowledge , inspires me , i specialized in Oriental Adventures, AD&D 2nd edition, made my own maps, you have made me better with my inside lore, you actually answered questions i wondered about years ago. here is one for you sir "Gargantua" lol.
damn Deities and Demigods since the beginning of DnD has had stats for Deities.. Guess that's just fake too lol
Useful information. Thanks for the video. Deities are underutilized in my games and I want to focus more on their importance.
"Deities in Dungeons and Dragons do not have stats... except in the book I am quoting from!"
Thank you for this video, it really helps in worldbuilding a pantheon :)
😑 *”Hold my beer.”* _pulls out his 3.5 character who ascended to godhood and the list of deities, elder gods, and Old Ones he killed_
*”How you ask? Well to start, what was that about gods not having stats?”*
_breaks out ‘Deities & Demigods’ with the 3.5 Errata, ‘Draconomicon’ (The Book of Dragons), and ‘Epic Level Handbook’_ *”Years of playing the same elf”*
I’m actually in the final act of a campaign where we have to strike down two evil gods. The only way we could do this was through a world altering event that diluted the flow of power the gods received. And we had access to weaponry that were enchanted with supreme magics. Many of the subjects brought up in this video are elements we have incorporated in our campaign.
Corellon Larethian has a Divine Rank of 21. The highest Rank in the Forgotten Realms Deities and Demigods.
Warlock with Eldritch sight walking into a cathedral instantly being locked onto by all the scrying eyes summoned by worship. (I like to think that uttering a deities name summons a scrying orb so imagining a whole cathedral full of em is very funny to me)
"They have never been given stats"
Uhhh.... 3.5e Deities & Demigods Handbook?
This is an amaizing video! I was looking for this information and this sums it up very well.
"Deities in Dungeons and Dragons do not have stats. They have never been given stats."
Objectively false. The 3e expansion "Deities and Demigods" not only gives you templates, feats, and guidelines for making deities, but explicitly stats out (including class levels) several pantheons of deities, from Greyhawk, to the generic racial deities like Moradin, to pantheons prominent in pop culture like the Egyptian Pantheon. And this isn't even the first book to do this.
All the way back to 1e, TSR (the company that owned D&D before WotC), put out the first "Deities and Demigods", giving them Monster Manual-like entries, and they even got into legal trouble for using Cthulhu mythos and Melnibonéan material. They even had a name change during later printings to "Legends and Lore" to avoid upsetting religious groups. They put out another Legends and Lore for 2e as well, and then there's the previously mentioned 3e book which went back to the original name.
You can argue deities shouldn't have stats, but you shouldn't lie about whether or not they have had them in the past.
Headcannon: Those stats are for their avatars, not the gods themselves.
@@CptnJaymz 3e's Deities and Demigods actually specifies the difference between the two. Normally an avatar of a deity will have the same stat block as their deity, except they'll have half the divine rank, restricting the amount of their creator's advantages they have access to, such as Divine Bonuses and Salient Divine Abilities. Additionally, an Avatar can't create more avatars or possess mortals (Though there is a process by which a deity might invest Divine Ranks in mortals known as creating a "Proxy").