All right, nearly everything is good and ready to go for Gods of Wandrossa starting in less than eight hours. The only thing left to do is get the actual powers ready to go (Chosen Ones are going to come in later) and give stats for the preexisting locations.
This entry is more for me than anything, but as always, you can get a look behind the curtain at my design process.
What should the powers do?
The divine powers should have two main functions.
First, powers should affect either the world in some way or another god.
Second, powers have to give the gods a reason to use them. This can be done through bonuses to abilities or gaining followers.
How powerful are the powers?
There are five levels of powers followed by four epic power levels. The epic power levels are one-time only, so obviously, those are the most powerful, with 9th level powers being at the very top.
Ninth level powers are only available to 17th rank gods. Platinum patrons start at 17th level, so I have to make sure that’s a consideration.
Gold patrons get 7th level powers to start. Electrum starts with 5th and Silver starts with 3rd.
Finally, all gods can use 1st level powers, even those at Copper level.
1st -Level Powers
At 1st level, there will be a number of “one-shot” powers. These can reduce populations, gain followers, boost wealth, and other functions that happen only once–sort of like cantrips. None will have a duration longer than 1 day unless the overall effect is balanced against it.
2nd -Level Powers
2nd-level powers open things up a bit. Monster creation powers appear here, giving a bonus to followers, too. In addition, there are powers that have longer durations and more potent effects.
3rd -Level Powers
At 3rd level, powers have much longer effects and start affecting multiple targets. Gods can change the actual landscape and map, raising mountains and seas or causing entire forests to rise. In addition, gods can create magic items at this level.
4th-Level Powers
4th level introduces dynamic powers that allow gods to directly affect each other and their actions. Thwart and block appear at this level. Gods can create subclasses and monster variants at this level.
5th-Level Powers
At 5th level, divine powers can affect entire regions. Gods can create spells at this level.
6th-Level Powers
The first of the epic power levels, 6th-level powers allow gods to create races and feats, both of which boost their follower counts. Settlement targeting spells can have devastating effects.
7th-Level Powers
7th-level powers are extraordinarily potent. They allow gods to imprison other gods and smite entire civilizations. But they can also offer great protection as well. Gods can create legendary creatures.
8th-Level Powers
At 8th level, gods can create subclasses. In addition, 8th level allows gods to build new settlements and other locations of power. 8th-level powers can also target
9th-Level Powers
Powers at 9th level are world changing and catastrophic. Only the most powerful gods can use these powers. Gods can create artifacts at this level. They can also permanently change the entire dynamic of a region, creating volcanoes, primordial forests, magic rifts, and other incredible locations.
Divine Domains
Like the schools of magic, all powers fall under a divine domain. The divine domain acts not only as the “category” for the spell but builds a spell tree as well.
As I go to develop the powers, each of the powers will have a larger “department” that is with. These will help me organize and also “cookie-cutter” a lot of these powers.
Here are the departments that I have so far.
Background Types. Artisans, charlatans, criminals, entertainers, hermits, nobles, outlanders, sages, sailors, soldiers, and urchins.
Class Types. Barbarians, bards, druids, fighters, monks, rangers, rogues, sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards. I intentionally left out clerics and paladins, ’cause… duh.
Creature Type. Aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, giants, humanoids, monstrosities, oozes, plants, and undead. Humanoids can further be seperated by sub-types (such as humans, elves, orcs, etc.)
Domains. Arcana, Death, Forge, Grave, Knowledge, Life, Light, Nature, Tempest, Trickery, and War. Order was left out due to the Godly alignments features.
Element Type. Air, earth, fire, and water for the primary elementals.
Terrain Types. Arctic, coastal, desert, forest, grassland, hill, mountain, swamp, underdark (probably need a new name for this), and urban.
Of course, this is an overwhelming number of domains, therefore, a lot of the powers will simply just be “this does this as this.” IE, a god of the forest can turn grassland into a forest and a god of the coast can turn grassland into water.
Now it’s just a matter of fleshing all of these damn things out.
Next: Fleshing All These Damn Things Out
All right, I’ve got my notes, you’ve got my notes, we’ve all got my notes. Time to actually build these things.
I’ve only got six hours. No sweat, right?
Gulp.
Art by Wizards of the Coast.