Tenets of Godhood
B
eing a god requires just one thing, a worshiper.
How many, and how active the worshipers are
greatly enhances the god's abilities though. It
may be that the god has more influence over a
small group of followers, or they may create and
destroy planes with a modicum of will.
For players, the journey to godhood can be a long, arduous
process requiring dedication across multiple adventures and
years of work. It can also be the central tenet of a campaign as
players seek to build their religion's prominence across the
multiverse, or a way of extending your campaign beyond Level
20.
Levels of Godhood
Level 1
Prerequisites: 1 Worshiper. An act of godly prowess.
The faith of your first worshiper grants you better fortune
and health. Raise your HP by 1d4+1. If multiple characters in
the party earn this level at the same time, the highest roll of
the group is used by the whole group.
Level 2
Prerequisites: 10 Worshipers. A shrine. Two acts of godly
prowess (in addition to your first); or a miracle.
The faith of your worshipers grants you greater influence
and confidence. Gain +1 Charisma (Minimum Charisma 10).
You also gain a portfolio of godly responsibilities and duties.
Level 3
Prerequisites: 100 Worshipers. Five shrines or a temple.
Three acts of godly prowess; or a miracle.
Your ability to craft the world around you has grown
stronger, and the divine energies are beginning to flow
through you. Gain an additional spell slot of your highest level
(Minimum 2nd level). If you do not know any spells, you may
learn 3 sorcerer spells as well.
Grant Patronage
Once a day you may expend a spell slot to provide that number
of worshipers with 1/2 that number spell slots. For example: A
4th level spell slot can be used to grant 4 worshipers a 2nd
level spell slot. Their worship keeps the tie to you strong and
channels divine energy from you to them. You do not need to
do anything to maintain the spell slot. These beings are your
clerics or paladins.
Level 4
Prerequisites: 1,000 worshipers. Fifty shrines or five temples.
Four acts of godly prowess; or a miracle.
You gain advantage on all checks made regarding your
portfolio. When you roll a natural 20 on such a check, you can
add, change, edit, or remove an aspect of the thing. For
example; if you need healing herbs and roll a 20 to identify a
species of healing herbs, you can choose to make herbs
already in your possession capable of healing, because you
said so.
Level 5
Prerequisites: 10,000 worshipers. Five-hundred shrines or
fifty temples. Five acts of godly prowess; or a miracle.
Your followers are pervading the world and you are
recognized in many places you go. Add +2 to your charisma
score.
Holy Text
Your teachings and wisdom are being drafted for others to
read. Pick 3 spells that are linked to your portfolio. You and
your followers may cast them in addition to the normal spells
for your class, clerics, and paladins.
God Skills and Feats
You gain access to one Indomitable type feat. If your
alignment or portfolio change drastically, your DM may grant
you the ability to exchange the feat later in time.
Level 6
Prerequisites: 100,000 worshipers. 5,000 shrines or 500
temples. Six acts of godly prowess; or a miracle. 200 paladins
or clerics under your patronage.
You are the god of your portfolio on your home plane. If
another god of your portfolio exists, you and they are seen as
parts of the same being. You may be called to provide aid to
your worshipers often. Their faith in your abilities grants you
capabilities you only dreamt of before. Gain one level in any
class.
Godly Blessing
You may spend a spell slot to provide ten times as many
worshipers with a bonus equal to the slot's level when they are
working on things in your portfolio. For example; A 9th level
slot may be used to grant 90 worshipers +9 on Animal
Handling checks if animals, wilderness, or similar is part of
your portfolio.
Level 7
Prerequisites: 1,000,000 worshipers. 50,000 shrines or 5,000
temples. 1,000 paladins or clerics at level three or higher. A
creation tale.
Your followers faith grants you long-lasting, possibly even
eternal, effects. Pick a second god feat. It may be an
Indomitable feat, or an Unending feat.
Level 8
Prerequisites: 10,000,000 worshipers. A theocratic state or
enclave.
Your worshipers have found their way across the multiverse
and their faith grants you vitality. You are immortal for as long
as you have 100,000 worshipers or legends of you are told
amongst creatures.
Omnipotence
You may cast plane shift, demiplane, astral projection, and
teleport at will. You may teleport to any location where a
worshiper of yours has been in the last year; or a temple or
shrine of yours has been.
Level 9
Prerequisites: 100,000,000 worshipers. Eat the heart of an
ancient dragon that shares your alignment.
You are a full deity. You may cause miracles at will in your
portfolio. Your word is law to your followers and in your
theocratic states. You may select three more god feats.
Godly Presence
Your charisma score is raised to thirty, you have advantage on
all charisma checks and god skills.
Level 10
Prerequisites: 1,000,000,000 worshipers. Be directly
responsible for the death or downfall of another god.
Your actions shape reality itself. The qualms of mortal
beings are meaningless when you can, and likely have, created
more realities than any living being could ever hope to visit.
You may designate lesser gods as subservient to you. They
answer to you and serve your desires. You can craft and build
new universes, planes, and multiverses at will.
Statless
You cannot lose your godhood or ever die as you have created
an entire multiverse filled with your worshipers.
God Abilities
Being a god grants you a number of abilities that mere
mortals cannot hope to emulate. You can also attempt to
shape reality and beings in ways that normal people cannot.
God Skills
All gods have access to these skills and may make checks
using them. All god skills are charisma skills.
Unlike normal skills, god skills utilize your proficiency
bonus when the check deals with your godly portfolio. For
instance; a Bless check by a god who has "Fields and
Harvests" in their portfolio would add their proficiency bonus
when attempting to bless a field of grain, but not when
attempting to bless a chariot or weapon.
Inspire
You inspire one of a variety of emotions amongst your target.
Select Heroism, Lust, Joy, or Anger before you roll the check.
On a successful check, your target is overcome by the emotion
and acts upon it.
If the target is a worshiper of yours, you have advantage on
the check.
Guide
Give guidance to a worshiper of yours. On a successful check,
you gain insight into possible futures and your worshiper's
best path forward. AFter hearing your guidance, they have
advantage on checks made to follow your guidance.
Lead
Push or pull a being to actions they would not take on their
own. You do not force them to do anything, but place obstacles
in their way to prompt them to act in certain ways. On a
successful check, the target has disadvantage on checks made
to perform actions that go against your leadership.
Frighten
Cause fear to take hold in a creature. You learn their
weaknesses and exploit them to put thoughts of their fears in
their mind. For example; you may lead them to think spiders
are swarming around them, or that their friends are
conspiring against them. On a successful check the target
cowers and follows your will.
Punish
You poke at your target's most cherished things and learn how
to remove or change them. On a successful check, gain
advantage on all Sculpt Reality checks related to the target's
cherished items for one minute. Sometimes, just the fear of
losing a cherished thing can be enough to punish the target.
Bless
You grant your target a gift or boon from your power. On a
success, you may give a portion of your power to the target.
You may grant them temporary hit points, wealth, or
something else that benefits them. The same is taken from
you for as long as you give it. For instance, if you bless a
worshiper by granting them one of your class abilities, you
cannot use that ability.
Curse
You place a burden upon your target from your power. On a
success, you may use your power to make the target's life
more difficult. You may cause them to have disadvantage,
lower their hit points, remove their wealth, or something else
that is a detriment to them.
Condemn
You condemn a worshiper to life without you. They are
anathema and anytime they seek you out, you can readily
grant them the opposite of their request, or a bastardised
version of their request. The further a worshiper's behavior is
from your ideals, the easier it is for you to condemn them.
Redeem
You redeem a worshiper from another force. You accept them
as one of your worshipers and their deepest requests are
easier for you to understand. You have advantage on Bless
checks made regarding that worshiper for as long as they
remain your worshiper.
Commune with Worshipper
You may speak with a worshiper openly and readily. If they are
seeking you out, you have advantage on the check to
commune with them. On a failed check, you can only get a
handful of words through, or a simple phrase. On a successful
check, you can appear to them and carry on an extended
conversation.
Sculpt Reality
The skill needed to make miracles occur. The change can be
as simple as changing the color of a cup or as extreme as
removing an entire world from existence and history. On a
successful Sculpt Reality check, your charisma changes
reality to suit your wishes. Not all of these acts are considered
miracles though.
God Feats
Being a god means the faith of your followers has granted you
access to special abilities and powers. You gain access to an
Indomitable feat at God Level 5 and to an Unending feat at
God Level 7. Your DM may choose to limit feats to ones that fit
your alignment or portfolio.
Indomitable Feats
Indomitable Will
Once a day you may ignore a d20 roll and choose to make it a
20.
Indomitable Might
Once a day you may inflict a critical hit against a target as a
bonus action.
Indomitable Love
Once a day you may resurrect one allied creature or worshiper
for free. You may choose to resurrect a nonworshiper or
nonally by expending a spell slot of Level 4 or higher instead.
Indomitable Hate
Once a day you may force a creature wtih less than 30 max
HP to go to 0 HP. It has disadvantage on death saving throws,
if it has any.
Indomitable Passion
Once a day you may sense the emotion of every creature
within 1 mile of you. You can enflame or deaden the emotions
readily. For 1 hour, you may try to change their emotion
entirely too. Nonworshipers make a charisma save of to avoid
the effect. Worshipers readily accept your emotional push.
This is not a charm effect. The saving throw DC is calculated
as follows: Charisma Save DC=8+ your proficiency bonus +
your Charisma modifier
Unending Feats
Unending Love
You may resurrect any creature with less than 30 HP max as
an action and at will. The creature must have been alive after
you attained godhood. If it was not, you may spend a 4th level
spell slot in order to resurrect the creature.
Unending Torment
You may capture a creature's soul if it has less than 20 HP
when you kill it. You gain a spell slot of your highest level for
every 100 HP of souls captured. Resurrection may redeem
souls from your capture.
Unending Life
You may craft a demiplane outside the material planes for
your worshipers to go upon their death. It is one acre for each
worshiper in it, and ten acres for each paladin or cleric level a
dead worshiper had at their death.
Unending Battle
You followers join you in battle. As an action, you may
summon 1d6 + your charisma modifier shades to fight
alongside you each day. You may use this feature a number of
times equal to your charisma modifier each day. You may use
this feature at will when you reach God Level 8.
Building a Religion
Bringing worshipers to your temples and shrines is wonderful,
but without a religion for them to practice, it is meaningless.
Your actions as a god dictate what type of worshipers you
attract, the prayers they make to you, and what sort of abilities
their belief grants you.
Building a Portfolio
Your portfolio dictates what your proficiency bonus applies to
when attempting miracles or God Skill checks. These vary but
are most easily figured out through gameplay and role-playing.
Your acts of godly prowess and character class can also help
influence your portfolio. A druid is more likely to be a god of
the forest than a fighter for example. There are no hard limits
though, so if the fighter's Acts of Godly Prowess are linked to
the forest, they may be a god of the forest.
Acts of Godly Prowess
These actions highlight your godly abilities for your followers.
They may be real, legend, or real actions mistaken for those of
legend. It's rare to plan an act of godly prowess though. Often,
such actions occur naturally and are identified after they
occur. For instance, players besting a dragon in combat
without taking damage may be an act of godly prowess.
Likewise, resurrection spells may be misconstrued by
worshipers unfamiliar with magic.
Miracles
Miracles demonstrate a god's powers by shaping reality into
something fitting their whims. To create a miracle, players
describe a change to reality they want to make and the DM
determines the proper DC for a Sculpt Reality check.
Generally, a miracle should be at least DC 35 in order to
reflect the impossibility of the task at hand. Something like
turning all water in a room into wine, raising a corpse to life,
regrowing an amputated limb, or calming a storm would
readily constitute a miracle.
For every twenty followers witnessing the miracle, the DC
reduces by one.

Variant: Spells as Miracles

If your players seek changes that may radically
change your game (like turning all books into fish),
you may have them select a spell from outside of
their class' list to cast and let the sculpt reality
check be to achieve the spell's effects. If so, the DC
should generally be 30 + 5 times the spell level. For
instance, a Cleric using Sculpt Reality to cast
Animate Objects would need to pass a DC 55
sculpt reality check to cast the 5th level spell.

Worshipers
Followers and worshipers provide the lifeblood for your
religion, sometimes literally. It is their collective faith that
grants you your powers and ability to shape reality.
Worshipers need not worship you alone. You may be part of a
pantheon, or just worshiped at the times your skills are
needed. It only matters that a worshiper believes you are able
to grant aid through their worship of you.
While the idea that worshipers primarily seek aid may lead
to easier godhood for good, or neutral, characters, evil
characters can still become gods. Their worshipers will likely
pray for selfish reasons though. A character who constantly
steals and cheats their way through life may become a god of
trickery and deceit for instance. Their worshipers could then
pray to them for help with a con or heist.
Shrines & Temples
Worshipers need a place to worship. Shrines sprinkled across
the countryside grant travelers with a place to practice your
rites. As you grow shrines will give way to temples with
edifices of you and clergy of their own. What these look like
and are made of varies according to your believers. Gods of
nature may have temples built of living wood sculpted into
spires, while a god of the mines may have temples built of
obsidian or marble blocks.