You were once a being of divine power. You possessed magic beyond anyone could ever imagine. You were prayed upon for guidance and miracles. You had many worshippers in cities or even across the lands. Then you did something you shouldn't have. You angered a more powerful deity, you touched a corrupted artifact, or you underestimated a small group of cultists serving another god. Either way, you are now reduced to a mere mortal, vulnerable and stripped of your divine power, living alongside the creatures you love or despise.
- Skill Proficiencies: Arcana, History, Religion, Acrobatics, Athletics, Medicine, Nature, Stealth
- Tool Proficiencies: One of your choice (one type of your choice if it has any).
- Languages: One of your choice. (Language of the Gods. By default, all deities speak Celestial. This is how they communicate with other deities and with their servants, the angels. If you decide to pick a language other than Celestial for your choice of language, work with your DM to come up with a reason why you don't speak Celestial. Perhaps part of your curse is having your native tongue erased from your memory, or perhaps the god who turned you mortal made Celestial look and sound gibberish to you.)
- Equipment: A holy symbol (related to your divine self), a set of common clothes or traveler's clothes, robes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp.
| d9 | Deity Specialisation |
|---|---|
| 1 | Knowledge |
| 2 | Life |
| 3 | Death |
| 4 | Light |
| 5 | Darkness |
| 6 | Nature |
| 7 | Technology |
| 8 | Peace |
| 9 | War |
You have a little problem convincing worshippers working at a place dedicated to you that you are the deity they serve. It takes you a few minutes to a few hours to do so. You can achieve this thanks to your extensive knowledge of all the scriptures, artifacts, symbols, stories, and divine domains related to you. You also know the names of your clerics, as well as a brief background of their lives before you anointed them. You can correct misinterpretations, clear misunderstandings, or call workers out on improper temple decor. Either way, what you tell them makes so much sense that the only way for you to know such things is for you to be their god.
After convincing them of your true identity, you gain their protection from hostile members of other faiths and organizations seeking to assassinate or capture you, as long as you are within the city or town where the place of worship is located. They will use violence if it means protecting you. If you ask them to, they will try to cover your tracks or delay your pursuers. They will not attack powerful monsters or any creature that is more than they can handle.
Suggested Characteristics
Former deities once possessed the gift of immortality and unlimited power, until it was extiguished from them. This sudden turn in their countless years of existence leaves a significant mark on how they view themselves, their fellow deities, the mortals, and the multiverse.
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I don't mind telling people who I really am. They won't believe me, anyway. |
| 2 | I try to make people convert their faith to the worship of me. |
| 3 | I sound like I know everything. Mainly because I do. |
| 4 | I always perk up or get curious when I hear my divine domain come up in a conversation. |
| 5 | I dress to blend in (or stand out). |
| 6 | It irks me that mortals take a long time to do anything. It doesn't help that I'm practically the same. |
| 7 | I accept (or condemn) people of other faiths. I try to get along (or argue) with them. |
| 8 | I have little to no experience interacting with mortals. I have trouble socializing with them. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Divinity. Being stripped of my divine power does not make make me any less divine. It's still my responsibility to watch over mortals. (Good) |
| 2 | Compliance. I must get along with mortals and live by their rules if I wish to mingle with them. (Lawful) |
| 3 | Liberty. Now that I am no longer a deity, I can pursue a new passion and do what I want. (Chaotic) |
| 4 | Tyranny. Being stripped of my power will not stop me from lording over the mortals. (Evil) |
| 5 | Secrecy. I must keep my identity a secret if I wish to avoid real trouble. (Neutral) |
| 6 | Redemption. Someday I'll get my divine power back. (Any) |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | I will not rest until I've finally confronted those who took my power. |
| 2 | When my divine family abandoned me, the mortals took me in. I choose them over the gods any day. |
| 3 | My worshippers are valuable to me. They are the only ones I have left. |
| 4 | Regardless of the circumstances, I will still do anything to protect other deities from suffering the same fate that I have. |
| 5 | I have come to appreciate the peaceful, quiet life of a mortal. Anyone who disturbs it will pay. |
| 6 | I will do anything for the mortal I fell in love with. |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | Admitting failures and mistakes is a thing mortals do. |
| 2 | I don't understand the value of a single mortal life. Mortals can always create more mortals. |
| 3 | My temper makes me forget that I am no longer a powerful deity. |
| 4 | I hardly feel sorry after doing something "wrong" to anyone. |
| 5 | I feel miserable whenever all my friends do better than me. |
| 6 | I will do anything to get my divinity back. Anything. |
You are an ancient deity lost to history. Perhaps, once upon a time, you were older and more powerful than most gods admired by the common folk. But as the more revered deities take dominance, fewer and fewer people remained faithful to you, and soon there were little to none of them left. You have become forgotten, both in memory and in power. Today, you live your life as a mortal destined to die.
If you decide that your predicament is caused by a lack or absence of worshippers rather than an accident, a crime, or a mistake, choose the Old Ruins to feature below instead of the Protection of the Faithful feature.
If your character has a former deity background, you may select this background feature instead of Protection of the Faithful.
You know the locations of abandoned places of worship dedicated to you, hidden from civilization. Each of them is as large as any other place of worship of the same type. Aside from being completely abandoned, there's no food to be found, and there are very few or no objects aside from furniture.
Although all these places are in varying stages of decay, they remain mostly intact, enough to be used as shelter. However, they can still collapse if enough pressure is applied to their structure.