In exploring the Glory from God system, we’ve outlined spellcasting, and discussed spell creation. Now we’ve got to talk about the stars of the show: the gods themselves. Since their individual flavor is so important to spell creation, we need an effective means of creating, recording, and communicating that flavor. We need a divine character sheet.
What we don’t need is any numbers. Whether or not the god is killable is immaterial*. The only purpose we’re concerned with here is preparing a creative aide for divine spell creation. If the referee is making a 1st level abjuration spell, what form will that spell take? Will the god bestow their protection by raising a wall of earth? Or will they temporarily turn the target incorporeal? Or will they place a shimmering shield of light that deflects attacks? These three spells could have dramatically different impacts on the game. So how do we decide which one to use?
I’m going to provide tables in this post, because it feels like a meatier contribution, and I like writing tables. But they’re just here if you need them. If you’d rather come up with this shit on your own, more power to you. It’s probably what I would do.
*Though, in point of fact, killable gods are awesome. I’m fully in support of the idea that most gods are terrestrial creatures. Perhaps they are beyond any means of death we understand, that’s part of what makes them divine. But there is some way to end their existence.
Domains
Domains are the most simplistic abstraction of a god. They are a single idea, often expressed with a single word, which indicate the god’s sphere of influence. When we say that Ares was the god of War, or that Eros was the god of Sex, we are referring to these god’s domains.
Each god should have between 1 and 3 domains. This is not a hard limit, and gods may have as many or as few domains as you wish. But, too many domains can create an unfocused divinity. If the goal here is to gain a strong sense of the god’s style, then it’s best to keep the list short.
If you want to keep the system light, domains could be the only thing on a divine character sheet. It provides plenty of information on its own, and you’d probably be able to use it to generate spells without too much difficulty.
d20 Domains (Even)
- Life
- Death
- Knowledge
- War
- Wisdom
- Love
- Trickery
- Lies
- Pain
- Light
- Darkness
- Stone
- Agriculture
- Winter
- Summer
- Sex
- Leadership
- Wealth
- Forgiveness
- Vengeance
D20 Domains (Odd)
- Nature
- Civilization
- Craftspeople
- Fear
- Snakes
- Bears
- Birds
- Sailors
- Fire
- Earth
- Wind
- Water
- Mathematics
- Strength
- Competition
- Law
- Chaos
- Neutrality
- Armageddon
- Revelry
Mythology
If you’re interested in adding a little more texture to your god than a sampling of individual words can offer, myths are a good second step. A myth is the god’s own story. It doesn’t need to be a fleshed out narrative–in fact if it is, I’d say you’re probably over-thinking things. Each myth should be a single sentence, maybe two.
There are three kinds of myths: Myths of Birth detail how the god came to exist. Myths of Events tell a short story that takes place in the past. Something which the god did, or something which happened to the god. Myths of Occupation refer to an ongoing phenomenon which the deity claims responsibility for.
No doubt a hundred deities claim responsibility for pulling the sun across the sky each day, this need not be a problem. Each could be a single aspect of the same deity. Perhaps all of the deities are lying, simply making grandiose claims to followers who don’t know any better. Or, it could be human error! 1,000 years ago some high priest of Yubbles the Sky Bear got into an argument with a cleric of Zandar the Memeist about whose god was better. Both of them started making shit up, and the gods aren’t petty enough to bother with correcting their misled followers.
Myths of Birth
- The god was born of a deity and (1. Another Deity, 2. A Mortal, 3. An Animal, 4. A Mythical Creature, 5. A Natural Object, 6. A Crafted Object.)
- The god was once mortal, and earned their divinity.
- The god emerged fully formed from (1. A Mountain/The Earth, 2. The Sea, 3. A Great Fire, 4. Another God, 5. The Sky, 6. A Tree)
- The god was created by another god by some means other than standard reproduction. Perhaps in a forge, or by weaving, or glass blowing, or pooping.
- The god emerged in response to some phenomena, such as the fury of a battle, or the fear of a refugee people.
- The god has always existed. There is nothing before them.
Myths of Events
- The god played some role in creating humans, or helping them advance.
- The god created some well known animal or monster.
- The god created some well known object with an unknown origin.
- The god was betrayed by a friend or servant.
- The god fought a great battle, and won, lost, or reached a stalemate.
- The god is the first to invent some artistic medium.
- The god is responsible for giving some order to the universe which did not previously exist -or- for removing order which once did exist.
- The god founded a kingdom.
- The god held a great revelry.
- The god established some important ritual. Like lunch. Lunch is an important ritual.
Myths of Occupation
- The god is responsible for something that happens constantly, like the passage of time, or the the air we breathe, or the flowing of water.
- The god is responsible for something that happens often, like the rising of the sun or moon, the coming of the tides, or the changing of the weather.
- The god is responsible for something that happens on a slow timescale, such as the changing of the seasons, or the movements of the heavens.
- The god is responsible for something that happens rarely, but unexpectedly. Like natural disasters, economic collapse, or invasion by a foreign enemy.
- The god is responsible for something that happens naturally, but on no fixed schedule, like birth or death, artistic inspiration, or the coming of the tax collector.
- The god is responsible for maintaining something that happened long ago, such as giving humans free will. Alternatively, the god is responsible for something that has not yet happened, but which will happen, such as the end of the world.
Laws, Proscriptions/Taboos
Most gods come with associated rules they expect you to follow. It’s a bummer, but hey, it’s a small price to pay for not getting smote, amirite?
I don’t imagine rules would have any particular impact on spell creation, but they would go some way towards making a god feel a little more real if they were enforced on clerics of that god. Like domains, I’d recommend between 1 and 3 to keep things simple and manageable.
The real key is to make rules which don’t affect the rest of the party. It’s better for a rule to be completely trivial than for it to become a hindrance for the party members who decided against rolling clerics.
- Cannot wear any knots in their clothing, including wrapping knotted rope around themselves.
- Must always spend some amount of money on sacrifices.
- Cannot initiate combat against someone who has done them no harm.
- Must always spend some amount of money helping the poor or improving the community.
- Cannot engage in any sexual relationship.
- Must always offer comfort to any who seek it, even those who have wronged them deeply.
- Cannot be seen naked by anyone.
- Must always defer to others in non-religious matters.
- Cannot speak their own god’s name.
- Must always remember to attribute all good things to their god.
- Cannot witness devotions being paid to any other god.
- Must always spend time praying on a frequent periodic schedule.
- Cannot tell a lie.
- Must always lie.
- Cannot look upon or touch a dead body.
- Must always perform specific funeral rites.
- Cannot eat any but a specific sort of food.
- Must always keep themselves clean, and wearing well maintained clothing.
- Cannot bathe.
- Must always announce when they fart–with neither pride nor shame.
Spells
Spells shouldn’t be recorded in advance, they are created one by one as the cleric prays for them. But these spells are not simply the gifts bestowed on a single cleric, they are the god’s repertoire of miracles. If ever another cleric chooses to worship this god and prays for a spell, there is an 80% chance they will learn a spell from the god’s already-existing repertoire. Otherwise the spell will be created as normal.
Evolution through Play
What I’d really like to emphasize about divine magic in my games is that there’s a second party involved in casting. An NPC that happens to be divine. Clerical magic isn’t like wizard magic, where the caster is manipulating the fabric of reality through the sheer power of their art. Clerical magic is done by drawing upon a personal relationship with an NPC. By petitioning that NPC for favors.
Clerics are not free agents, vaguely attached to an alignment. They have willingly subjugated themselves to a higher authority. In a sense, the cleric is a slave. A very high status slave whose master is beyond earthly concerns, but a slave none the less.
Given that, it is only natural that the god will grow and develop through play the way any other NPC does. Each time some new interesting facet of the god is discovered through play, it can be added to the character sheet, and later be drawn upon when creating new spells.
Next week, we’ll explore the divine character sheet by writing up a sample, complete with a few spells. If you enjoyed this post, consider checking out my Patreon campaign, and helping me produce more posts like it!