DariusSolluman/AlternateLittleGods

Heavily inspired by late night musings regarding Nobilis, Exalted, and resource management vs dice cluster bombs.

Also, because I wanted to have Gods more strongly associated with their duties in the Celestial Bureaucracy. And have Nobilis in an Exalted game ;)

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Gods are creatures more strongly tied to the Weave of Fate than any other. They are almost entirely deterministic beings, created as they were to tend Creation while the Primordials took their leisure at the Games of Divinity. Ergo, the rules governing their abilities is slightly different than it is for the Exalted or mortals, or even demons.

Definitions

Charms: The Charms of the Gods; they no longer rely on Virtue, but rather on the individual expression of that God.

Domain: The aspect of Creation placed in the God's charge; what they are supposed to ensure is functioning properly.

Ephemeral: The Attribute of Spirits governing interaction of the mental and social worlds; rated between 0 and 5. Spirits can spends motes of Essence to temporarily exceed their Ephemeral rating, up to their Essence.

Essence: A rough measure of power; Little Gods have 3x their Essence in motes of Essence, and many Charms are unable to effect those with a higher Essence than the user.

Material: The Attribute of Spirits governing interaction with the physical world; rated between 0 and 5. Spirits can spend motes of Essence to temporarily exceed their Material rating, up to their Essence.

General Success Table

Material/Ephemeral Attribute | Successes
              0              |     1
              1              |     3
              2              |     6
              3              |     8
              4              |     12
              5              |     15

+1 success per mote of Essence spent, up to the Spirit's Permanent Essence.

When a Little God performs some action, they have a number of automatic successes determined by their Material (for physical) or Ephemeral (for non-physical) Attributes. If this isn't enough, they can spend up to their Permanent Essence in motes to gain additional successes. They are, in this fashion, entirely deterministic.

Domain

Gods are just Gods of nothing. Even the littlest God is given charge over some aspect of Creation; their duty is to tend and promote it, and their supernatural abilities often have their root in it.

A God can reflexively use any effect of their Domain, once per turn, up to their Domain level. Performing Domain Miracles beyond that point costs 1 point of Essence for each additional level, and is a Simple Charm instead of Reflexive.

Level 0: Estate-Driven Dominion\\ The God knows if his Domain is under attack. This does not count against the 'one Charm per turn', and will always alert the God if the attack is signficant enough to actually threaten destruction.

Level 1: Ghost Miracles\\ The God can perform minor tricks with their Domain. The God of Bureaucracy could conjour some paperwork from nowhere; the God of Luck could create a walkaway from a recgular horseshoe.

Level 2: Divinations\\ The God can now sense examples of his state, far and wide. The God of Lies Spoken in the East may hear every lie spoken about him- if it's in the East; the God of Booze could point the way to the nearest bar.

Level 3: Preservation\\ The God can now enhance the qualities of the Domain that keep in the same. The God of Armor could make someone's armor unbreakable, while the God of Roads could enchant a road to never end. In general, a Lesser Preservation adds +3 or more to Bashing and Lethal soaks, and turns the material enchanted into one of the Five Magical Materials as far as hardness is concerned. For non-combat purposes, it adds +5 to the difficulty of accomplishing a task.

Level 4: Creation and Control\\ The God can now create single instances of his Estate whole cloth, or take control of existing instances. The God of Statues could possess a statue, allowing it to walk and fight; the God of Fire could engulf a huge area in a firestorm. In general, solid animated objects have the attributes of a Loyal Golem (from the Book of Three Circles), while direct miraculous attacks need to be judged on a case by case basis.

Level 5: Destruction and Knowledge\\ The God can now destroy instances of his Domain at will; the God of Light can plunge an area into darkness, while the God of War can bring peace. They also can gain a far greater knowledge from their Domain- functionally being able to see anywhere through it. The God of Birds may be watching you any time a single raiton sails past.

Health Levels And Godly Soak

Little Gods have 3 types of Health Level; minor injuries do not worry the gods, until they are far more badly hurt. These three types of Health Levels are Deadly, Serious and Surface. Furthermore, the natural soak of the Gods is Godly; if an attack does not deal enough health levels of damage to bypass it by at least 1, the soak reduces the damage to zero. Gods can also wear normal armor, which acts normally, but their natural armor functions like Lunar Oversoak.

While a God has even 1 Deadly Health Level remaining, they have a natural Bashing and Lethal Soak equal to their successes on a Material action. When they are out of Deadly Health Levels but have at least one Serious level remaining, they have a Bashing and Lethal Soak equal to half the successes on a Material action, rounded up. When they are out of Deadly and Serious Health Levels, but still have Surface, they have a Bashing and Lethal Soak equal to their Material Rating.

Gods cannot spend Essence to increase their soak.

Gods baseline at having a number of Health Levels equal to their Material Rating +1, divided as equally between Deadly, Serious and Surface as possible. Excess Health Levels first go to Surface, and then Serious, Health Levels.

A few Sample Charms of the Gods

Durant

A God which is Durant is far more durable than normal. They add +1 to their Bashing and Lethal soaks. Durant can be taken once per point of Permanent Essence the God has.

Glorious

A Glorious God has the ability to inspire some emotion in mortals far more strongly than their Ephemera would suggest. When inspiring or using the emotion, the Glorious God gains a base of 8 successes for his first mote of Essence spent; additional expenditures function normally.

Immortal

An Immortal God is just that; Immortal. They recover all Lethal and Bashing Health Levels per turn. All Immortal Gods also have some sort of weakness, however; a hidden way of bringing true harm upon them. This weakness inflicts Aggravated damage to the God.

Flight

A God with Flight is capable of moving as quickly through the air as they are of running; activating Flight requires 1 mote of Essence for the scene.

Cleanse Corruption

A God with Cleanse Corruption can repair mortal frames of illness and posion; they can spend up their Permanent Essence in motes to try and counter each such ill. They must spend a number of motes equal to the target illness or posion's Virulence or Strength.

Sacrosanct

A God with Sacrosanct is especially beloved of Heaven, and attacking them invites the wrath of the Celestial Bureaucracy. Anyone who successfully inflicts damage upon the God is considered guilty of violating an Eclipse Caste Oath (1 botch), while anyone who actually kills the God is deemed far more loathesome (Permanent Essence botches). Before any blow lands home, the knowledge of the God's Sarosanct status is made obvious to the attacker, and they can always choose to avert their weapons; normal mortals always will.

More to come later, once I figure out a good way to handle Domain :) - DS

Comments

This is all quite cool. Any chance I might borrow some of this for my campaign setting? - EwindaleMoss