Demi God Question

[DarkForce]

Say one was to start an RPG about a fantasy world were the players are demi gods. There would be no magic in the game unless the NPC or player is a demi god or a god.

I was thinking of using a threshold system and DF-clerics for the abilities the Demi gods can us.

Like for example, the Player choose the storm God from DF-Clerics. they they get access to the spell list of the storm. They would need to take the normal abilities like Power investiture and such.

What is the general opinion of this?

[Stripe]

No way would I use the Magic system, and I'm a big fan of it. It would be 100% magic as powers. PI makes even less sense since the PCs are not worshipers.

I'd just make some templates and help them make a few powers.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by Stripe

No way would I use the Magic system, and I'm a big fan of it. It would be 100% magic as powers. PI makes even less sense since the PCs are not worshipers.

I'd just make some templates and help them make a few powers.

That was my first thought as well. Power Investiture implies that they are drawing their power from an external source. It's also draining and requires a lot of knowledge and experience (is, skills). For a God, exercising control over their chosen domain should be as simple as breathing. Powers are definitely the way to go for that. Take a look especially at Control (Powers p.90) and Create (Powers p.92). I'd also give them a broad set of Alternate Abilities, or even an aspected Modular Ability, to provide them with more versatility.

On the other hand, if you just want something you can grab and go with, you could use the existing Magic rules and just declare that their Power Investiture is actually their personal power. They'd have access to every spell within their purview, at a high enough level to cast with a thought. Only the largest spells would cost any energy, and these characters should have a very high threshold and recovery rate. I'd expect a god of healing to be able to cast Resurrection, if not casually, at least safely on a fairly regular basis. To keep down bookkeeping I'd use the Wildcard Colleges option (Thaumatology p.75).

[roguebfl]

If you demi-gods are like the Demigods of Camp-Halfblood, I would use the Powers system

[DarkForce]

The demi gods I was thinking of, are like the greek Demi gods.

like Hephestus, Achilies, Sapredon, Heracles.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by dchsknight

The demi gods I was thinking of, are like the greek Demi gods.

like Hephestus, Achilies, Sapredon, Heracles.

Oh, so more along the lines of "Epic Heroes". In that case, Power Investiture would work fine, since the power they are channeling is coming from their Parent rather than from themselves. You might also consider Powers: Divine Favor, which basically involves asking your Patron for intervention on your behalf. I think it well represents the need to stay on the good side of Mr. Big.

[DarkForce]

How ever their immortal god parents do not mettle or care about the Demi gods. They sort of "hit it and quit it" mentaility. They would be somewhat cruel.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by dchsknight

How ever their immortal god parents do not mettle or care about the Demi gods. They sort of "hit it and quit it" mentaility. They would be somewhat cruel.

Wait, so the gods don't really have anything to do with their offspring? In that case the demi-gods only have what power was inherited by blood. Their powers would be god-like (ie, inherent, natural-as-breath) just not very strong compared to the gods themselves.

[DarkForce]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

Wait, so the gods don't really have anything to do with their offspring? In that case the demi-gods only have what power was inherited by blood. Their powers would be god-like (ie, inherent, natural-as-breath) just not very strong compared to the gods themselves.

Ok so powers would still work best. what about limiting the powers to make sense with the parents. Like a water god only passing on water like powers. or a fire god passing on fire powers and so on and so on?

[BaHalus]

oh, hercules like demigods? I thought you were aiming higher, like resurrecting and shaping landscape with ease. For that i would really suggest aspected cosmic modular abilities (something like 1000 points in it and maybe 500 for attributes and other more fixed stuff). If using magic i would suggest making the skill high enough for using without effort, except for the bigger levels. And great levels of magery so missile spells can be pretty devastating.