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--- consolidated:religion:cosmology [2025/07/30 16:47] – johnb
+++ consolidated:religion:cosmology [2025/08/01 08:55] (current) – [Deification] johnb
@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 ===== Divinity =====
-Simply put - once you can grant divine spell use to another being, you are a deity of some sort - and that ability comes from having absorbed enough Shards of Divinity. It doesn't matter if the rules classes them as a god, goddess, devil, demon, or something different -  if they can cast spells, they are (under these rules) a deity.
+Simply put - once you can grant divine spell use to another being, you are considered to be a deity of some sort - and that ability comes from having absorbed enough Shards of Divinity. It doesn't matter if the rules classes them as a god, goddess, devil, demon, or something different -  if they can grant spells, they are (under these rules) a deity.
-Most of the time, this isn't important as characters don't really come into contact with an actual deity  :) Even so, the powers of deities are defined within their source rules - a D&D deity follows the D&D rules, a PF deity follows the PF rules, etc.  Somewhere in the rules it specifies "They can grant //these// spells and domains" and "They have //these// personal abilities" - and that is what the players get and see. Homebrew deities have their abilities listed in their personal entry on the [[.:homebrewdeities:start|Deities]] page - Unless, of course, the DM chooses differently  :)
+Most of the time, this isn't important as characters don't really come into contact with an actual deity  :) Even so, the powers of deities are defined within their source rules - a D&D deity follows the D&D rules, a PF deity follows the PF rules, etc. Somewhere in the rules it specifies "They can grant //these// spells and domains" and "They have //these// personal abilities" - and that is what the players get and see. Homebrew deities have their abilities listed in their personal entry on the [[.:homebrewdeities:start|Deities]] page - Unless, of course, the DM chooses differently  :)
-Most deities can select spells that are available to different priests.  There is Cleric/Oracle list, Paladin List, Adept list -  and there are still other religious practitioners who all have other lists that are categorized as divine.  Again, not a problem - as the various rules books specify what is available to whom.  Nor do priests who follow philosophies cause a problem, because the rules cover that.  For me, I rationalize those spells as coming from unnamed deities, who approve of the concept, in much the same way as Oracles receive their spells.
+Most deities can select the spells that are available to different priests.  There is Cleric/Oracle list, Paladin List, Adept list -  and there are still other religious practitioners who all have other lists that are categorized as divine.  Again, not a problem - as the various rules books specify what is available to whom.  Nor do priests who follow philosophies cause a problem, as those spells come from ritual, unnamed deities or spirits who approve of the concept, in much the same way as Oracles receive their spells.
-More interesting, is the question of how mortals become deities - at the moment I am aware of a number of ways.
+Note, however, that not all gods are created equal.  In this world, Quasi-Deities are restricted to granting spells from the Adept Spell List, an unusual mixture (for a priest) and limited to L5 spells.  Some general faiths (such as the Cult of the Small Gods) are restricted to granting spells of up to 3rd level -  these spells are granted by taught ritual, rather than by the deity or any of their servants.   If you are playing a priestly character, choose your deity wisely.
+==== Deification ====
+More interesting, perhaps, is the question of how mortals become deities - at the moment I am aware of a number of ways.
   * **Gift of the Gods** - there are all sorts of stories where a mortal (or some other creature) has been raised to a deity by another god.  For Example, '//Nivi Rhombodazzle traded a special gem to Torag in exchange for becoming a demigoddess//'and of my homebrew deities, at least two (Takri and Arth) were gifted their deific status by other deities. There are similar stories in just about every other rules set. That just tells us that many deities have more Shards of Divinity than they actually need, or can gather them very quickly, to be able to bestow them on another.
   * **Inheritance** - sometimes a god dies and passes their divinity and/or portfolio to another, for example Midnight became Mystara, in the 3.5 universe. However, it might be that a deity is killed in a fight, and the portfolio is 'stolen' by the victor.  That could be another deity, feeding on the death or a peer, or a particularly powerful mortal (devil, demon etc) taking on a weakened deity and stealing their powers.  Often times there will be a few shards of divinity left over, that just get lost in the ether ...
   * **The Starstone** - Pathfinder has the Starstone as a shortcut to deity.  You jump across to it, face various trials and, if you succeed, become a deity of some sort.  Cayden Cailean, The Lucky Drunk, is probably the most well known of these.
-  * **Mythic Deeds** - as PF Mythic characters progress, they can gain mythic levels by becoming involved in events of cosmic / mythological importance.  In my system, that just means they are in a position to absorb a stray Shard of Divinity.  Each 'Trial' gains them one shard of Divinity - unless the DM decides differently.  A character needs something like thirty trials/shards before they are a real power.  However, by choosing the right abilities, they can become a quasi-deity after four trials (when they become tier 3)  However, the spells that they can grant are very limited.  I tend to restrict quasi-deities to Adept spells - just to add a bit of differentiation.  I miss the days when Demi-gods could only grant 5th level spells, etc  ...
+  * **Mythic Deeds** - as PF Mythic characters progress, they can gain mythic levels by becoming involved in events of cosmic / mythological importance.  In my system, that just means they are in a position to absorb a stray Shard of Divinity.  Each 'Trial' gains them one shard of Divinity - unless the DM decides differently.  A character needs something like thirty trials/shards before they are a real power.  However, by choosing the right abilities, they can become a quasi-deity after fewer trials (when they become tier 3)  However, the spells that they can grant are limited their Mythic Tier and Powers/Domains need higher tiers.  I restrict quasi-deities to Adept spells - just to add a bit of differentiation.  I miss the days when Demi-gods could only grant 5th level spells, etc  ...
-++++ Sources|
+++++ Notes and Sources|
 The Mythology contains elements from a number of creation myths (Korean, Serer(Senegal), Pangu(Chinese), Mande(Mali), Celtic and Norse amongst others)
-The first three generations of deity are'borrowed' from folk lore and a number of different mythologies -  but sometimes using a variant or less common name.
+Some deitie are'borrowed' from folk lore and a number of different mythologies -  but sometimes using a variant or less common name.
+Core D&D/PF deities follow the rules in their own game system.  This holds for any other system that you care to introduce.
 ++++