This is how I like gods in OD&D

[Zulgyan]

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Caminaru, evil god of travel: AC 2, Move 24, HD 12; hit only by +2 or better magic; 60% resistant to magic; regenerates 1 hit point per round; he may “see” anyone who is in the course of a journey, of at least 1 day long, anywhere in the world; he understands all languages; at will powers: Infravision, Slow and Haste spells, Polymorph self, Water Breathing, Dimension Door, Hallucinatory Terrain, Pass-wall, Quest; special power: six times per day he may “summon” a random encounter at will to occur anywhere in the world. The random encounter must be rolled on the table the referee has pre-chosen for that particular place where the deity decides it should happen. Just like any other random encounter. The monsters that appear do not necessarily serve him. They will act according to their nature, just as when encountered by chance. He may also prevent random encounters at will, for he can foresight them; finally he may travel at a speed of 5 miles per hour, unhampered by obstacles or unfavorable terrain, but it takes one turn before he can reach that speed; Caminaru wields his +3 walking staff in combat. Anyone hit by it must succeed a saving throw vs. magic or be teleported 1d100 miles away in a random direction. Disposition: 1) Bored; 2) Angry; 3) Playful; 4) Envious; 5) Magnanimous; 6) Merciless. A highly chaotic being, the one to be blamed for all traveling perils and misfortune resembles an elderly man dressed with simple and comfortable traveling clothes and a walking staff.

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He is indeed strong and his abilities look divine in nature. Yet he is not all-mighty and a well prepared and armed party could certainly resist an offensive by him and even kill it if he doens't manage to escape.

Have any of you stated out gods in a similar manner?

[Deleted]

Jan 31, 2009 21:47:40 GMT -6 Zulgyan said:

Have any of you stated out gods in a similar manner?

I don't give statistics to deities IMC. The gods therein are able to simply will PCs out of existence with a mere thought, making the idea of combat rather laughable. I realize, however, this is not a popular line of reasoning with the fan community.

Your Caminaru seems reasonably statted out, however. Good job.

[geoffrey]

Yep, that's the sort of god I like. I have a number of such in Supplement V: CARCOSA. Here's one such:

SUCKERED ABOMINATION:

Armor Class: 7
Move: 12
Hit Dice: 14
% in Lair: 95%
Treasure: E

This god is a roughly 10’ diameter sphere of countless writhing tentacles with a single protruding eye. It levitates itself about. Its gaze causes one character per round to become a mindless zombie (save vs. spells at -2 to avoid). Such victims then walk into its mass of tentacles to be sucked dry in two rounds by the tiny suckers covering the tentacles (results in death). The Suckered Abomination can, instead of using its gaze attack, send a blast of pure mental energy against all within 50’. Those failing their saving throw vs. spells will be overcome by fear and will flee. Such unfortunates in the future must automatically make a saving throw when encountering the Suckered Abomination or flee in fear.

Psionics: 1-3 powers up to three times per day

to conjure: The Tentacled Desiccating One
to banish: Obstruction of the Suckered Abomination
to bind: The Ineluctable Pallid Commandment
to imprison: Tomb of the Writhing One
to torment: Dirge of the Outer Dark

[murquhart72]

Call me old school but my idea of gods in OD&D are:

Crom: He don't give a f#@k. You can't encounter him because he's a GOD. If you're a Cleric, you may have dreams/visions of his urges, or even visits from intermediaries. But otherwise, his existence is theological or theory at best.

OR:

Spider God: elephant-sized, hairy spider with sword-like fangs. AC=3, HD=7, save vs. poison on successful strike. Surrounded by several spider cultists (2 Veterans, 6 normal men, 1 Thaumaturgist).

[Scott Anderson]

I just have God and the Devil. The Gods is also acceptable, but I presume an Abrahmic tradition.

[howandwhy99]

Admittedly, I prefer the myths and legends of D&D's deity lists and would ask any group I ran beforehand about introducing real world religions. (Barring stuff like neopaganism)

[jcstephens]

In my campaigns, there is no proof that the Gods even exist. Law and Chaos are the sources of Divine magic, and Saints and Demons are the major players. Clerics are free to make up whatever personification of the Divine they please, and attempt to spread the word Lankhhmarian Street of the Gods style. One of the most popular for adventurers is the Dark Avenger, who stalks evil by night and who's symbol is a Bat.

Yes, I have Clerics of Batman. My campaigns tend to be like that.

[tetramorph]

Good stuff.

IMC: clerics are crusaders of the church of law. What other campaigns would call gods are patron saints in this case. The real God never needs to be mentioned so no one worries about blasphemy or religiousity at the table.

In terms of religion: the gods are real and they are in charge at cosmic and chthonic levels. Most of the major monsters that are not undead or constructs are actually simply incarnations of some type of demon (or demons). The most unique and special pagan gods get incarnated as unique one-off monsters. I had a kobold temple worshiping a giant praying mantis that ate your head off and coughed out locust plagues. Fun times.

Some of the old gods (before the church of law) are still around: they are either actually angels, or they are neutral powers, or they are demonic lords. It just depends. Some of the old pagan gods are actually all three, depending upon the aspect under which you meet them. Sometimes Thor is Jupiter, sometimes Jupiter is Thor. It's all crazy syncratisitic mishmash.

But over all it is more like Poul Anderson or C S Lewis than it is like either Tolkien on the one hand or AD&D on the other.

[CivilianZero]

If any of my players play a cleric (or believe religion is important to their character) I hand them the AD&D book, Deities & Demigods (also known as Legends & Lore), and tell them to pick something obscure that personifies their character's beliefs and then feel free to make up stuff about their new god.

The most well-known god ever chosen at my table has been Baldur, though the tendency is toward the Mayan, Aztec, and lesser Japanese deities which gives my campaigns a very strange "aftertaste" of sorts.

Usually these deities either never show their face, commonly walk among their people (and are probably just some weird immortal who decided to let someone worship them), or are actually an AI living in a satellite and NPCs and players tend to pick and choose multiple deities to follow. Needless to say, the typical good vs evil, monotheistic stuff bores me and is as uncommon in my fantasy worlds as it has been in the whole of human history.