Post by Cpt Micha on Jul 21, 2008 17:12:15 GMT -5
Eidolons are the 'gods' of Argoth. Each one represents an ideal, an element and an individual who has come to be worshiped. Eidolons are living gods, who were once mortal. They are living gods in the sense that they can actually be found on the material plane.
Eidolons are beings who can be slain, providing someone is powerful enough to defeat them. However this gaurantees you nothing in terms of divine power. You do not ascend for killing an Eidolon, and providing that the Eidolon is still worshiped your efforts would be in vain as they are as much an ideal and Faith as they are corporeal beings. They would simply manifest in their home temple some days after. To truly destroy an Eidolon you must also destroy their Faith. To do otherwise is to simply disable the deity for a time.
Eidolons grant power to clerics and paladins, and it is possible to become an Eidolon yourself, providing you have enough beings that believe in your divinity. (Eidolons have also been known to ascend posthumously)
1. They are more powerful or tend to be more powerful than individual party members of their level. I make them Elites with some Special Bonus Deity powers thrown in. (nothing too extravagant. just more powers than a normal monster of their level would have, or slightly more powerful abilities) Though I do have one that is a Solo, basically that one is a Shadowfell Centipede from Hell. I have another Solo but he's an Epic deity figure that was a Red Dragon before he Ascended.
2. Occasionally, sometimes they don't know they were gods at the time depending on theirs and the god's motivations. Sometimes the pcs know who the god is on the spot, (due to knowledge via research, or perhaps the minor Eidolon is their patron saint etc)
3. Yes, Divine power in Argoth (the world with the mortal deities) comes from Faith more so than it does the gods themselves. The gods are simply the simplest access to the powers of Faith. The more the god is known the more power it can channel, or give to others and the more powerful the god is as well. All deities lend a measure of their own personal power as well to their followers. All deities have some measure of a sphere of influence, so the farther away from their sphere they are, the weaker they can become as well. (though for a "major" god would have to be quite a ways off from where he is known to be reduced down to a heroic god status)
Devas are quite often slivers of gods or particularly powerful ancestral spirits. (that's how I fit Devas into Argoth, and was able to keep the Aasimaar)
4. Yes. some gods are allies with stronger gods (to avoid being predated on by other larger gods) while some are enemies with others above or below their power. Gods can get power by destroying other gods and taking over the spheres, so naturally that alone is going to generate conflict between the gods, and then you have other conflicting interests as well
1. There are quite a large number of weak (Heroic Tier)deities. There's a god of mantle places, among other things. Alot of the weaker gods, represent parts of a more powerful god already, (such as the one of mantle places, being inside of the sphere of the god of hearth and home) which, gain power from the minor ones gaining power as well, by their overlapping spheres so in some cases the more powerful gods have incentive to defend the lesser gods interests.
Gods can also be created fairly quickly in Argoth, in some ways all of the Pcs are gods when you think about it in normal D&D, get enough people following and believing in you and you start to become something more than yourself. Some deities are especially obscure to the rest of the world, are harder to notice by other larger gods, they simply fall beneath notice.
2. Well that's not every deity's goal, technically it's less risky to ones self to simply gain worshipers than it is to go risking your neck gutting other gods and taking their stuff. Especially if you tick off their followers in the process and end up with a Holy war on your hands. Death doesn't even necessarily end a god's life sometimes it's the beginning. One of my deities actually ascended after he died because he died a martyr and a hero of his people. If he died again though, he'd be gone.
You will gain a measure of their power simply by killing them, but to get the full package it usually entails total replacement of the god and it's former responsibilities. Alot of the minor gods as I somewhat alluded to above, are also kind of like middlemen themselves. Handling minor issues for the more powerful gods. Kinda like Divine Secretaries. So even if alot of minor gods get killed off, just to lighten the work load on the major gods they sometimes will create a Saint, or minor god.
3. Some are actually truly mortal, depending on the nature of the faith and culture they have in their sphere. Some animals which are simply possessed by primal spirits for example ascend to "god hood" and might be revered by local tribes in life, until it dies of old age, in which the spirit leaves and finds a new "host". Or if the culture has no real value placed on Everlasting life, the god will die of old age and usually the power flows to another being. Usually in that case there is a replacement chosen at a fairly young age.
Most gods in the parts of the world the Pcs come from (barbarian players aside usually) are mortal in the sense that Natural Causes won't kill them. It usually takes an act of violence to do them in.
Eidolons are beings who can be slain, providing someone is powerful enough to defeat them. However this gaurantees you nothing in terms of divine power. You do not ascend for killing an Eidolon, and providing that the Eidolon is still worshiped your efforts would be in vain as they are as much an ideal and Faith as they are corporeal beings. They would simply manifest in their home temple some days after. To truly destroy an Eidolon you must also destroy their Faith. To do otherwise is to simply disable the deity for a time.
Eidolons grant power to clerics and paladins, and it is possible to become an Eidolon yourself, providing you have enough beings that believe in your divinity. (Eidolons have also been known to ascend posthumously)
1. They are more powerful or tend to be more powerful than individual party members of their level. I make them Elites with some Special Bonus Deity powers thrown in. (nothing too extravagant. just more powers than a normal monster of their level would have, or slightly more powerful abilities) Though I do have one that is a Solo, basically that one is a Shadowfell Centipede from Hell. I have another Solo but he's an Epic deity figure that was a Red Dragon before he Ascended.
2. Occasionally, sometimes they don't know they were gods at the time depending on theirs and the god's motivations. Sometimes the pcs know who the god is on the spot, (due to knowledge via research, or perhaps the minor Eidolon is their patron saint etc)
3. Yes, Divine power in Argoth (the world with the mortal deities) comes from Faith more so than it does the gods themselves. The gods are simply the simplest access to the powers of Faith. The more the god is known the more power it can channel, or give to others and the more powerful the god is as well. All deities lend a measure of their own personal power as well to their followers. All deities have some measure of a sphere of influence, so the farther away from their sphere they are, the weaker they can become as well. (though for a "major" god would have to be quite a ways off from where he is known to be reduced down to a heroic god status)
Devas are quite often slivers of gods or particularly powerful ancestral spirits. (that's how I fit Devas into Argoth, and was able to keep the Aasimaar)
4. Yes. some gods are allies with stronger gods (to avoid being predated on by other larger gods) while some are enemies with others above or below their power. Gods can get power by destroying other gods and taking over the spheres, so naturally that alone is going to generate conflict between the gods, and then you have other conflicting interests as well
1. There are quite a large number of weak (Heroic Tier)deities. There's a god of mantle places, among other things. Alot of the weaker gods, represent parts of a more powerful god already, (such as the one of mantle places, being inside of the sphere of the god of hearth and home) which, gain power from the minor ones gaining power as well, by their overlapping spheres so in some cases the more powerful gods have incentive to defend the lesser gods interests.
Gods can also be created fairly quickly in Argoth, in some ways all of the Pcs are gods when you think about it in normal D&D, get enough people following and believing in you and you start to become something more than yourself. Some deities are especially obscure to the rest of the world, are harder to notice by other larger gods, they simply fall beneath notice.
2. Well that's not every deity's goal, technically it's less risky to ones self to simply gain worshipers than it is to go risking your neck gutting other gods and taking their stuff. Especially if you tick off their followers in the process and end up with a Holy war on your hands. Death doesn't even necessarily end a god's life sometimes it's the beginning. One of my deities actually ascended after he died because he died a martyr and a hero of his people. If he died again though, he'd be gone.
You will gain a measure of their power simply by killing them, but to get the full package it usually entails total replacement of the god and it's former responsibilities. Alot of the minor gods as I somewhat alluded to above, are also kind of like middlemen themselves. Handling minor issues for the more powerful gods. Kinda like Divine Secretaries. So even if alot of minor gods get killed off, just to lighten the work load on the major gods they sometimes will create a Saint, or minor god.
3. Some are actually truly mortal, depending on the nature of the faith and culture they have in their sphere. Some animals which are simply possessed by primal spirits for example ascend to "god hood" and might be revered by local tribes in life, until it dies of old age, in which the spirit leaves and finds a new "host". Or if the culture has no real value placed on Everlasting life, the god will die of old age and usually the power flows to another being. Usually in that case there is a replacement chosen at a fairly young age.
Most gods in the parts of the world the Pcs come from (barbarian players aside usually) are mortal in the sense that Natural Causes won't kill them. It usually takes an act of violence to do them in.