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Galactic GOds & Planar Pantheons (3E & 4E)| blessings

Throne of Orcus (pt.1)

Known Old Ones

Galactus

New Special Materials

Demogorgon

Various Monsters

Clay Colossus

Revising Epic Feats

Weapons (Final Fantasy)

New Feats (and Spell System)

Crown Naga

Revising Salient Divine Abilities

Talos

Epic Tarrasque

King Ghidorah

Godzilla

Conversion Table 2: Divine Rank by HD/Levels

Conversion Table 1: Divine Rank by Comparisons

The subject of pantheon size always bothered me. Are all pantheons created equal? If one pantheon has a million worshippers and another has a billion should they still be equally powerful? Our own original immortal's campaign was born out of the 1E Deities & Demigods. Therein all the Skyfathers are supposedly equally powerful (more or less), as are the pantheons themselves (roughly speaking). I think the assumption was that just because one pantheon had more worshippers on Earth than another, didn't mean it had more worshippers overall, because pantheons could be worshipped on multiple prime material worlds.

However, over time I have come to think of that idea as a bit weak. The Immortals Handbook: Ascension uses a method whereby each basic worshipper is worth 1 QP. A typical pantheon is assumed to have around 1 billion worshippers. This nets the pantheon:

  • 1-4 Skyfathers
  • 9 Intermediate Gods (typically one of each alignment)
  • 9 Lesser Gods (typically one of each alignment)
  • 99 Demigods
  • 999 Quasi-deities

Or a monotheistic religion:

  • 1 Elder One (arguable - see Galactic Pantheons below)
  • 999 Quasi-deities or Saints

For 4th Edition you want to set things up as follows:

  • 1-4 Skyfathers (Levels 46-50 unadjusted*) If the Pantheon has one Skyfather then make it Level 50, if there are two both should be Level 48, three would average Level 47 and four would average Level 46)
  • 10 Gods (Levels 41-45 unadjusted*)
  • 100 Demigods (Levels 36-40 unadjusted*)
  • 1000 Quasi-deities (Levels 31-35 unadjusted*)

*Standard monsters (reduce by 4 for Elite versions and by 9 for Solo versions)

  • 1 Elder One (Levels 51-55 unadjusted*)
  • 1000 Quasi-deities or Saints (Levels 31-35 unadjusted*)

As initially noted, these figures are for Pantheons with 1 billion worshippers. But what happens when we reduce or increase the base power of the pantheon?

  • 1+ billion worshippers (Catholic Church)
  • 333+ million worshippers (Hinduism)
  • 100+ million worshippers (Chinese Gods c. 1 A.D.)
  • 33+ million worshippers (Roman Gods c. 1 A.D.)
  • 10+ million worshippers (Norse Gods c. 1000 A.D.)
  • 3+ million worshippers (Shinto)
  • 1+ million worshippers (N. American Gods c. 1500 A.D.)
  • 300,000+ worshippers (Church of Scientology)

For 4th edition, each drop of roughly 1/3rd total worshippers, reduce overall levels by 2.5 (4th Edition) rounding down.

e.g. If we assume Thor is Level 45 in a tyical 1 billion worshipper Pantheon, then he would only be Level 35 if the Norse pantheon had only 10 million worshippers (which is roughly what it had at its height of power a millenia ago).

For 3rd Edition the (slightly harder) equation is as follows:

  • ECL -50% for a drop to 1% or less
  • ECL -40% for a drop to 3% or less
  • ECL -33% for a drop to 10% or less
  • ECL -25% for a drop to 33% or less

e.g. If we assume Thor is a Level 76 Intermediate God (ECL 136) in a typical 1 billion worshipper Pantheon, then he would become a Level 37 Demigod (ECL 67) if the Norse Pantheon only had 10 million worshippers.

Most powerful single deity based on number of worshippers for 3rd Edition.

  • 10 billion = Elder God (monotheism); Greater God (polytheism)
  • 100 million = Greater God (mono); Intermediate God (poly)
  • 10 million = Intermediate God (mono); Lesser God (poly)
  • 1 million = Lesser God (mono); Demigod (poly)
  • 100,000 = Demigod (mono); Quasi-deity (poly)
  • 10,000 = Quasi-deity (mono); Hero-deity (poly)
  • 1000 = Hero-deity (mono); Prophet (poly)
  • 100 = Prophet (mono); Disciple (poly)
  • 10 = Disciple (mono)

Most powerful single deity based on number of worshippers for 4th Edition.

  • 10 billion = Level 51-55 (mono); Level 46-50 (poly)
  • 100 million = Level 46-50 (mono); Level 41-45 (poly)
  • 10 million = Level 41-45 (mono); Level 36-40 (poly)
  • 1 million = Level 36-40 (mono); Level 31-35 (poly)
  • 100,000 = Level 31-35 (mono); Level 25-30 (poly)
  • 10,000 = Level 26-30 (mono); Level 21-25 (poly)
  • 1000 = Level 21-25 (mono); Level 16-20 (poly)
  • 100 = Level 16-20 (mono); Level 11-20 (poly)
  • 10 = Level 11-20 (mono)

Okay so what happens when we go in the opposite direction and start adding worshippers rather than reducing them. Drake's Law hypothesises there are 10,000 inhabited planets in the Milky Way Galaxy and an estimated 125 billion galaxies in the Universe. If we assume the average inhabited planet has 1 billion sentients upon it then a Pantheon worshipped by an entire Galaxy would have 10 trillion worshippers (1E15). A pantheon of an entire universe would have in excess of 1 septillion worshippers (1E24).

However, these figures don't exactly parallel with the IH: Ascension (as I recall the Table would have been too big for the page counting the real numbers so I reduced it for simplicity), so what we need to do are make x100 increases in worshippers above greater powers, count as x10 increases in Worship Points/Quintessence (or you could simply increase the QP totals instead). Beyond First One status, count jumps of x1000 worshippers as only giving x10 QP.

  • Elder God requires 10 billion worshippers
  • Overgod requires 1 trillion worshippers (10% of a galaxy)
  • First One requires 100 trillion worshippers (10 Galaxies)
  • Demiurge Stage I requires 100 quodrillion worshippers
  • Demiurge Stage II requires 100 quintillion worshippers (A supercluster: assuming approx. 1 million galaxies per super-cluster)
  • Demiurge Stage III requires 100 sextillion worshippers
  • Time Lord requires 100 septillion worshippers (a full universe)

So a Galactic Pantheon would have a First One (monotheistic) or Old One (polytheistic) deity as its leader.

Note that in the Marvel Comics, the Alien Pantheon of the Skrulls had 973 slave pantheons. Which probably puts its twin leaders (mother and father) in the Elder One categories.

Skrull Pantheon (Duality* worshipped by approx. 10% of a galaxy)

  • Kly'bn (Eternal Skrull): Elder God
  • Sl'gurt (Skrull Mother): Elder Goddess
  • Up to 9 other Greater Gods
  • Up to 9 other Intermediate Gods
  • Up to 99 Lesser Gods
  • Up to 999 Demigods (probably the Slave Pantheon leaders)

*A Duality is two ruling deities.

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