Gods of Wandrossa (Playing a God) | New Optional Rules for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition

Recently, I announced a new “mini-game” for my Patrons over on Patreon to play where they get to be the gods of our crowdsourced world, Wandrossa. Today, I hope to expand upon that somewhat by fleshing out the actual god “class.”

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Playtest Content

The material here is presented for playtesting and to spark your imagination. These game mechanics are in draft form, usable in your campaign but not refined by final game design and editing. They aren’t officially part of the game.

Constructive feedback is welcome and appreciated in either comments or social media. If you can give me a valid reason with examples why something is off, 9/10 I’m likely to make changes to the content and credit you for doing so. Otherwise, feedback without anything to back it up gets ignored (or at most a smile emoji like this 🙂 ) Thanks!

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Gods of Wandrossa Design Notes

Boy, this took a lot of work, but I think I’ve hammered out some interesting things here. When developing this ruleset, I knew that I wanted it to stay within the flavor of Fifth Edition. The gods would have 20 levels, there’d be subclasses (domains), you’d get chosen ones that acted like ASIs, etc.

In addition to keeping with the 5e vibe, I also needed to make sure that it was doable within the realm of what Patreon offers with its CMS. Furthermore, it had to balance up to 134 (and probably more) patrons taking actions each day.

Therefore, the system works more or less like a voting system. For example, a deity announces that they want to crush a village. The village has a defensive value of 2, therefore, the deity must have at least 3 might to do it themselves. Other deities can join the deity in destroying the village or protecting it by adding their might to the original action or subtracting it. Or the deity can use one of its powers to boost its Then, it simply becomes a matter of tallying all the actions up.

Divine powers work differently, giving the gods special abilities such as protecting all of the settlements in a region (giving them all a +1 boost to DV), or even leveling settlements. In addition, it also allows for patrons to make requests beyond their initial sign-up request. For example, the 2nd level power “create lifeform” allows a patron to create a new creature which is added to Wandrossa’s lore. There are also secondary benefits, too, giving the god advantages on its checks for 1 or more years.

As I wrote before, there’s still a lot of fleshing out here. Hopefully, I’ll get most of the ideas I have drafted by Monday so we can all start playing.

Anyways, here are the base rules. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Divine Status

Divine Rank	Status
1	Quasi-deity
2-4	Demigod
5-10	Lesser Deity
11-16	Intermediate Deity
17+	Greater Deity

Gods of Wandrossa

A volcano explodes, its hot magma destroying the village in its foothills; however, devout worshippers of the demi-god for whom the volcano was named are miraculously spared. Two factions–one of evil and one of good–collide on the battlefield, the banners of their greater deities flying high in the air. Deep in a primordial forest, a strange old man makes his home; there are hushed rumors that he is actually a powerful intermediate deity who can command the green dragons of the wood.

Gods are the movers and shakers of the Wandrossan world. Be they petty quasi-deities or powerful greater gods, geography, history, space, and time all fall under the purview of these divine powers.

History Builder

As a god of Wandrossa, you help set the course of history through your actions and influence. You might convince your followers to sack a major city. Or you could erect a dungeon in the middle of an ancient forest. Perhaps you will erode the coastline of the continent with your crashing waves. Maybe you will strike down a pesky politician that is interfering with your grand scheme. Everything you do affects the world and is recorded as part of the lore and canon of the Wandrossan campaign setting.

Creating a God

When creating a god, think about what its ambitions are. Does your god wish to improve the life and well-being of all living creatures of Wandrossa? Or are you a god of destruction, who only wishes to bring pain and suffering?

How did your god come to be? Were you willed into existence at the start of the world? Or were you a mortal that ascended to godhood? Work with the overdeity to determine the best story for your god.

The God

Followers	Divine Rank	Might Bonus	Feature	Powers Known	Power Slots	Slot Level
0	1st	+2	Portfolio, Divine Powers	2	1	1st
300	2nd	+3	Godly realm	3	2	1st
900	3rd	+3	Domain feature	4	2	2nd
2,700	4th	+3	Lesser Aspect feature	5	2	2nd
6,500	5th	+4	–	6	2	3rd
14,000	6th	+4	Domain feature	7	2	3rd
23,000	7th	+4	–	8	2	4th
34,000	8th	+4	Lesser Aspect feature	9	2	4th
48,000	9th	+5	–	10	2	5th
64,000	10th	+5	Domain feature	10	2	5th
85,000	11th	+5	Epic Power (6th level)	11	3	5th
100,000	12th	+5	Lesser Aspect feature	11	3	5th
120,000	13th	+6	Epic Power (7th level)	12	3	5th
140,000	14th	+6	Domain feature	12	3	5th
165,000	15th	+6	Epic Power (8th level)	13	3	5th
195,000	16th	+6	Lesser Aspect feature	13	3	5th
225,000	17th	+7	–	14	4	5th
265,000	18th	+7	Epic Power (9th level)	14	4	5th
305,000	19th	+7	Lesser Aspect feature	15	4	5th
355,000	20th	+7	Agesetter	15	4	5th

Class Features

As a god, you gain the following class features.

Divine Portfolio

Starting at 1st level, you have a divine portfolio, a domain and a lesser aspect the areas of influence you have over the world of Wandrossa.

Portfolio Domain

Choose one domain that you oversee: Arcana, Death, Forge, Grave, Knowledge, Life, Light, Nature, Order, Tempest, Trickery, or War. Each domain is detailed at the end of the class description. Your choice grants you domain powers and other features when you choose it at 1st rank and again at 3rd, 6th, 10th, and 14th rank.

Lesser Aspects

In addition to your portfolio’s domain, you start with one lesser aspect of your choice. Your lesser aspect gives you special traits at 1st level as detailed in the aspect’s description. At 4th rank, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th rank, you gain an additional benefit from your chosen lesser aspect.

Ability. Choose Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma. You become the patron deity of those who best represent this ability. Starting when you select this lesser aspect at 1st level, choose one of the NPC types based on the ability that you chose; the campaign overdeity then creates a variant NPC which is added to Wandrossan lore:

• Strength. Cultist, guard, or tribal warrior.
• Dexterity. Bandit, guard, or cultist.
• Constitution. Cultist, guard, or tribal warrior.
• Intelligence. Apprentice wizard, cultist or noble.
• Wisdom. Acolyte, apprentice druid, or cultist.
• Charisma. Apprentice bard, cultist, or noble.

Note: the apprentice wizard appears in VgtM. Apprentice bards and druids are CR 1/4 NPCs similar to acolytes and apprentice wizards but with bard and druid spell lists, respectively.

When you reach 4th rank, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th rank, you receive a lesser aspect feature. You may choose one of the following:

• Improve your variant NPC. The NPC type gains 4 hit dice to a maximum of 18 hit dice.
• Create a chosen one. Select one of your variant NPCs; you create a legendary NPC.
• Grant one of your chosen ones a divine boon.
• Create a new village for your variant NPC. The village cannot be within 6 miles of an existing village (1 regional hex). The village automatically has a 1st-level temple devoted to you. In addition, the village is immune to conflict and divine powers for 5 years.

Creature. Choose one non-construct monster or beast of CR 1 or lower from the MM. Alternatively, you can select one non-human race from the PHB. You become a patron deity of that creature. Starting when you select the creature at 1st level, you can improve a characteristic of that creature, selecting one of the options below; the campaign overdeity then creates a variant creature which is added to Wandrossan lore:

• Increase one of the creature’s ability scores of your choice by 2, or you can increase two of the monster’s ability scores of your choice by 1. You can’t increase a monster’s ability score above 22 using this feature. In addition, the creature gains +1 hit die and one skill proficiency of your choice.
• Increase the creature’s Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 22. In addition, choose one cleric, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard cantrip. The creature can now innately cast the cantrip at will. If it does not already have a spellcasting ability, it uses Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma–whichever is highest–as its spellcasting ability for that spell and any additional innate spells it might gain from this benefit.
• Change the alignment of the creature. In addition, the creature gains two skill proficiencies of your choice.
• The creature gains a special feature selected from the list on page 280-281 of the DMG; the feature cannot have an effect on the monster’s Challenge Rating. You may not select one of these features more than once.
• Increase the creature’s Strength or Constitution by 1, to a maximum of 22. In addition, the creature gains a new type of movement. If the new movement type is climb, fly, or swim, its speed is equal to its normal walking speed. If the new movement type is burrow, its speed is half its normal walking speed.
• Choose one of the following damage types: acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder. The creature gains resistance to that type. If the creature already has resistance to that type of damage, it gains immunity instead.

When you reach 4th rank, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th rank, you receive a lesser aspect benefit. As your benefit, you may choose one of the following:

• Choose one of the improvements from above.
• The creature becomes a playable race (or subrace if it is already a playable race).
• Create a chosen one. Select one of your variant creatures; you create a legendary creature of that type.
• Grant one of your chosen ones a divine boon.
• Create a new village for your creatures. The village cannot be within 6 miles of an existing village (1 regional hex). The village automatically has a 1st-level temple devoted to you. In addition, the village is immune to conflict and divine powers for 5 years.

Element. Choose an element: air, earth, fire, or water. You gain the following benefits at 1st level:

• Modify Terrain. You change part of the world. The type of change you can make depends on the element you chose:
  • Air. You can change 3 mountain hexes into hill hexes, or 3 hill or forest hexes into grassland hexes.
  • Earth. You can change 3 grassland or mountain hexes into hill hexes, or 3 hill hexes into mountain hexes.
  • Fire. You can replace one mountain hex with a volcano hex, or you can replace 3 grassland hexes with desert hexes.
  • Water. You can change 3 forest or grassland hexes into swamp hexes, or you can move a coastline inward by 3 water hexes or expand a lake or river by 3 hexes.
• Elemental Creature. Choose a monster of CR 1 or less from the monster manual. That monster becomes an elemental of your chosen type and is added to the Wandrossan lore.

When you reach 4th rank, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th rank, you receive a lesser aspect benefit. As your benefit, you may choose one of the following:

• Modify terrain as detailed above.
• Create a new elemental creature as detailed above.
• Create a chosen one. Select one of your elemental creatures; you create a legendary creature of that type.
• Grant one of your chosen ones a divine boon.
• Create a new village for your elemental creatures. The village cannot be within 6 miles of an existing village (1 regional hex). The village automatically has a 1st-level temple devoted to you. In addition, the village is immune to conflict and divine powers for 5 years.

Divine Powers

Your divine nature grants you incredible powers which you can use to change and modify the world of Wandrossa and beyond.

Power Slots

The God table shows how many power slots you have. The table also shows what the level of those slots is; all of your power slots are the same level. To use one of your divine powers of 1st level or higher, you must expend a power slot. You regain all expended power slots at the end of a 20-year cycle (the 1st of each month).

For example, when you are 5th rank, you have two 3rd-level power slots. To use the 1st-level power slot miracle, you must expend one of those slots, and you use it as a 3rd-level power.

Powers Known of 1st Rank and Higher

At 1st level, you know two 1st-level powers of your choice from the divine powers list.

The Powers Known column of the God table shows when you learn more divine powers of your choice of 1st level and higher. A power you choose must be of a level no higher than what’s shown in the table’s Slot Level column for your level. When you reach 6th rank, for example, you learn a new divine power, which can be 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level.

Additionally, when you gain a rank, you can choose one of the divine powers you know and replace it with another power from the divine power list, which also must be of a level for which you have power slots.

Might

Starting at 1st rank, your divine nature allows you to harness the forces of the multiverse. Your access to these forces are represented by a might bonus. Your divine rank determines your might bonus, as shown in the Might Bonus column of the God table.

When you take an action or use one of your divine powers, you apply your might bonus to the check (if applicable).

Godly Realm

Starting at 3rd rank, you have a location that serves as a workplace, personal residence, audience chamber, and sometimes as a retreat or fortress. You are at your most powerful within your godly realm. You have at least modest control over the environment within your realm, controlling the temperature and minor elements of the environment. The radius of this control is a function of your rank and whether the realm is located on an Outer Plane or some other plane (including the material plane).

Divine Rank	Radius of Control
	Outer Plane	Material Plane
2-4	100 ft. / rank	100 ft. / rank
5-10	1 mile	100 ft. / rank
11-16	10 miles	100 ft. / rank
17+	100 miles	100 ft. / rank

You choose the location of your godly realm and it is permanently added to the Wandrossan map (if on the Material Plane) or cosmology (if on an Outer Plane).

Epic Power

At 11th rank, your connection to the multiverse imbues with you an incredible power, known as an epic power. Choose one 6th-level power from the divine powers list as this epic power.

At higher levels, you gain more epic powers of your choice that can be used in this way: one 7th-level power at 13th level, one 8th-level power at 15th level, and one 9th level power at 18th level.

You can use this feature to use an epic power once without expending a power slot. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until the start of a new 20-year cycle (1st of the month).

Agesetter

At 20th rank, you actually determine the overall theme for a 20-year cycle. More details to follow on this feature.

 

Next: Divine Domains

These are just the basics of how gods will work in the Wandrossa campaign setting. As more rules are added, they’re likely to evolve and change a little.

If you’re interested in getting in on the fun, be sure to head over to Patreon and sign up today.

It’s only $3 to get started. Just $3 to become a God!

Art by Paizo publishing.