Bringing the 'gods' back?

Yeah, she sounds like more of the selfish/greedy type in regards to Nok’s stick (artifact?). Too bad she did not get scratched in the Pristine Tower, eh? Either way, she only wields that power during the day, right? My players will be right quick to discover that weakness, then ‘nighty night Sadira’! XD

Will get that book (if i don’t that i have it already).
Yeah, have not kept up with Batman since before the Dark Knight… so i was referring to the ‘god’ of war, Bane. Though you sparked my interest for the new Bane. :smile:

Yes, the only Achille’s heel of the Sun Wizard is that those powers works only during the day.

Lol, you meant the “Forgotten Realms” Bane. Yes, I think that Hamanu may be similar to Bane or Hextor. He’s the closest thing that Dark Sun has of the “lawful evil god of war”.

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lol XD
Rikus needs permission to die!
My players will be promtly informed that they need Hamanu’s consent to out him (on the condition of burning Tyr to the ground)!
They detest competing adventurers and normally try to eliminate them no matter their alignments!

Edit 1: Maybe he was cursed with immortality until Tyr is no more? Probably not, just a thought.

Edit 2: I believe we have gone off topic. Is that against the rules?

I wrote out a 3.5 edition template for Sadira (or perhaps a PC that goes to the Pristine Tower Instead of her).

The one off sun wizard isn’t even the worst innovation of the revised edition of Dark Sun. The preserving/defiling dilemma is totally removed by wizards that can draw magical energy from the Gray, the Cerulean storm, and so on.

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Agreed, i do think it is a good option for Epic Tier characters of any edition. At such a high level of power it would be logical for them to have alternate ways to use arcane magic without using Athas’ life energy (preserving/defiling). I mean what player would want to feel like they are limited by that into Epic? And besides those Epic Prestige classes do add an Epic feel to them. They earned it, right?

By the way, has any body homebrewed these as Epic Destinies in 4e?

I know the Athasian Dragon, Avangion, Order Adept were converted in the DSCS.

But the following were not:
Element Lord (Maybe use the Emergent Primordal ED from the HotEC?)
Shadow Shifter
Spirit Initiate

I brought the greyhawk core gods back into my campaign when the characters averaged 9th level. The gods scattered after release and the party bumped into them occasionally. They were not gods so I chose their core or core class, i.e. Heironeous is a 20th level paladin, and dumped the rest. They got to keep any special equipment. The party found Heironeous in a tavern with his head on the bar, sobbing about how horrible and corrupt the world had become. Good times! St. Cuthbert helped the dwarves finish the bridge connecting north and south Ledopolus. Hextor gathered an army near the mekillot mountains. The other gods have slipped into obscurity for the time being.

I am also giving the players a chance the bring back Rajaat. He is the closest Athas has to a real god. It should be very interesting depending on what the players do. They choose not to release him. They will have to fight Sadira, Rikus and company to let Rajaat out and that should be fun.

Removing the Grey is an option is you want to truly bring in some gods; however, athas might actually be worse off for it. The gods are bound to battle and we all know what that does to population centers. Just my 2 cents.

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Haha! Those do sound like good times! And great ideas!
Yeah, i was thinking of de-leveling the ‘gods’ in my campaign too, perhaps to around the 25-30 level range. So they would be in the same level range as the SK’s.

I got my stat blocks from here (thx Frylock!):

Although the desert nature of Athas may appear to lend itself to the Egyptian pantheon, I think that’s a little too on the nose. In addition, the “older” more established cultures of Athas tend to be more south asian-y, in the sense of the Indian pantheon. You’ve got the random seemingly out-of-place cultures like Draj and Gulg, but the rest seem to lean heavily towards the far-middle east, south asia, and SE asia.

I agree, Naggaramakam.

I wouldn’t introduce gods to Athas, but if I did it would be selections from the Indian, Babylonian, and Sumerian pantheons.

“What’s Gozer?”
“Gozer was very big in Sumeria. Big guy”

Sorry! Couldn’t resist! :joy:

Well, i have always been a stickler for the Ancient Ægyptian Mythology and i know the most lore about them (,aside from Greek)… i was thinking of Raam, it’s Egyptian flavored right? And i know for a fact that they would abhore the lack of Ma’at (Order) there.

May look into the Indian pantheon, which one is it? What region in specific? Is it the Hindu one with the Trimūrti (trinity) of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva?

My forté for mythology are the Phaoronic, Olympian, and Nordic legends, so i am understandibly a little short on Indian lore… though i have studied a few of the Hindu legends (,quite awhile ago i might add).

Might also polish up my Balylonian and Sumerian lore.

Also thought that i might only have ONE outcast god come across the Grey, probably be evil.
Do you guys know of any outcast Babylonian, Indian, or Sumerian deities that would fit the bill? Even better would be one that has the goal of global destruction.

I am using the Broken Builders, so i thought Shiva (god of destruction and rebirth) fit perfectly!
Of course the cultists would think that they had awoken a primordial (or, ‘heck!’ I could just make Shiva a primordial! What element/s though?)

Though i really liked the article ‘Faded Power’ in Dragon 408, and plan on using Divine Boons in my campaign (will be rare though!), and other alternate rewards in place of magical items. Though i will include converted versions of Psioning Artifacts.

As a side note, does any one know where the Blue Shrine should be?
I have seen it just south-east of Celik, just south of the Ringing Mountains, in the Endless Sand dunes, and FAR west of the Deadlands! WTF!!!

Where the heck is it really supposed to be?
What all can it do?
Is there a book/article that goes into more detail about it?

Sorry for my ‘rant’ and thank you all for your contributions!

If you’re looking for exiled Babylonian or Sumerian deities of Destruction, how about Big T herself: Tiamat?
Edit: I know in classical Babylonian mythology Tiamat was more the embodiment of Primodial Chaos, but hey!

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Primordial Chaos…?
(Starts laughing maniacally)
Perfect!
Thanks!

You aren’t thinking of 8-pointed stars, grim darkness and the Ruinous Powers I hope Felix! :wink:

Uhhhhh… nope. Why?
Looked her up, she was a sea serpent… bummer. Silt serpent?

What are you referring to? If it’s babylonian I’m lost.
Or this?

The real reason i want to deviate a little (okay, maybe that’s an understatement) from the setting is because once we start a campaign there’s one player that has to read every single book that was ever released for the setting and then tells the the rest of the table “oh, yes! I read that from book XXX!” When ever i “reveal” a “new” piece of world lore or history. Which is why i made my own world. HA!
Though i really love DS! So i will move to to regions unknown (Deadlands, Jagged Cliffs, Last Sea, Crimson Savanna, east of the Silt Sea, etc.), since there is less lore for these areas i can exercise more creativity.

He knows all the monsters too, telling off my weaknesses! Which is why i homebrew all my bosses. >:D

Any one else have a player like that?

You got me Felix - when I’m not D&Ding I’m Warhammering away :sunglasses:

I’m unsure how related this contribution is, as I never have had any interest in bringing gods back to Athas (it’s up to people fix the world’s problems damn it). However since gods did exist in my dark sun campaign but straight up died they did leave a considerable legacy behind. A key part of their legacy is that the core twelve of the pantheon aren’t completely dead as even the corpse of a god carries power and something resembling awareness. Although the physical remains of these deities exists no one knows where they might be. The Dead Gods (or Heresies as they are called in the campaign) have all been altered terribly in death, having been driven mad and twisted into terrible nightmares. They exist hidden in the world, whispering into the dreams of the desperate to make malign pacts so they might regain a portion of their power.

The servants of these Heresies are known as Apostates these guys are almost always bad news, consumed by their god’s desire for vengeance. However some do seek to rebuild nations in the image of their deity these would be empires just as bad as the realms of the Sorcerer Kings, in many cases worse. Apostates have ritualistically bound the dead essence of their god to their own soul to rekindle something resembling a connection. This leaves overt physical effects on the Apostate and can alter their thoughts and emotions but grants terrible power indeed. Apostates function as normal priests of a god under their specific mythos but also gain powerful divine gifts (a guideline is they function similar to the blessings clerics gain in forgotten realms’ Faiths and Avatars, except taken a notch further). Furthermore the divine appearance Apostates gain may be overt but also grants physical boons. This can leave the altered cleric looking quite unsettling and also tends to reflect the magic Apostates gain and wield. Apostates can even summon entities as spell-like abilities, but those creatures are now… wrong.

Note: My rules guidelines are for ADnD 2nd Edition, if you want apostates in 3.5 you would basically give them super domains that offer spell-like abilities and alter their attributes, natural armor, and natural attacks to reflect any mutations appropriate for the Heresy they serve. Apostates weren’t made to be balanced but as extremely dangerous antagonists. Since none of my players want to serve a cosmic horror bent on indiscriminate vengeance I didn’t see the need to make them a PC option.

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WOW! You, sir, just blew the my mind with your awesomeness. PHENOMENAL!
Now to choose an eastern “god” for the BBEG.

P.S. STOLEN!