One of my players is keen on becoming a vampiric demigod, he is a good aligned Aasimar monk and I need steps for the process. I've already established with him that he needs to become a vampire before he transcends to Godhood. Problem is, how does one acquire a Divine Spark, do you need a magical item, a ritual, or does he need to just steal the Divine Spark from other things?
As the DM, you can do whatever you want. Here is what I use: Gods have a spiritual component known as their divine mantle--the mantle is the very aspect of the god, such as a Mantle of Assassins might be the spiritual augmentation required to undergo an apotheosis and become the god of assassination. Mantles can be taken from existing gods through their willing surrender or through forcibly taking them. As an alternative, you can create a mantle through worship--get enough people to believe you are the god of such and such and that might become true.
Worship is also necessary to sustain godhood--the mantle feeds off those who worship it, nourished by their devotion. The fewer who worship, the weaker it is, and the weaker the god it attached to would be.
This has worked pretty well for me in the past, with characters working to obtain godhood through various mechanisms. In the event someone does become a god in the campaign, I do not let them fully realize their powers--it takes them a while to really understand their powers, which is my in-universe justification for keeping them from becoming too powerful. The characters that do become gods might show up in future campaigns in the form of statues or cults dedicated to them--a fun little throwback for repeat players.
This is interesting, I kind of want to veer off of you have to take a Mantle and instead you are able to create it through some ritual of sorts. (My campaign is wierd). Thanks 👍
Keep in mind that it should be very difficult/nearly possible to actually become a deity. Otherwise all the demonlords, arch devils and Epic level characters would already be one. If it were something you could do with just a ritual (even an epic ritual) why would there be any lichs? Generally ven in the novels becoming a deity is the end of the story not something in the middle. I have one character that became a deity - really by accident. A (1e) called shot headshot with an arrow of slaying by a L20 character. Rolled a Nat 20 to hit then rolled the required 1% or 5% roll the DM had me roll to overcome the deification protections and survive the absorption of the deification energies and stay sane ( well sort of). By All rights the deity shouldn’t have died and if it did the character shouldn’t have survived the rush of power but every long once and a while excrement occurs and a 1/whatever ridiculous number you choose. Event does occur just by accident.
It's an interesting question because any answer has world building implications... Do you need a magical item? Well, if a magical item can house a Divine Spark, how did the Spark get in there in the first place? Also, you've created a world in which immanence is a demonstrable quality. That ought to shape the nature of worship in the world. Do you need a ritual? Well, why doesn't everyone use the ritual? Also, you've justified the primacy of clergy. That ought to shape the nature of power in the world. Do you need to steal the Divine Spark from... presumably a deity? Well, who did that deity steal their spark from? Also, you've just made godhood much more like bank account details. That ought to shape peoples' perceptions of the gods in the world. There isn't a right or wrong answer, except insofar as the answer you choose helps you to tell your story. What theme are you going for?
There are three ways i would go about obtaining godhood
1: Get a blessing of AU. AU is the overgod, the zeus of Zeus's. Getting his attention is the first step, second is getting his blessing. this will be an incredibly difficult, nigh impossible task, as AU almost never interacts with mortals, in fact he doesn't give spells or divine anything to his followers, which unlike any other gods, he doesn't need. But when he does interact with mortals it is because he sees a figurative spark of godhood, and gives them a literal spark of goodhood. He also has the outright ability to make a mortal a god
2: Karsus avatar. This is a spell of immeasurable power. It is the only known way for a mortal without a divine spark to even taste godhood. However it is an insanely difficult and dangerous spell. for starters it is a 12th level spell, requiring hundreds of spellcasters to cast on a single target. It has been cast once in known dnd history, The result. The collapse of a spellcasting nation as the spell failed. It has been outlawed by the gods, But being the dm you can implement a way to get to this spell
3: Force/replacement. Steal a god's divine spark and replace him as the one that mortals worship. No easy task, many mortals may be able to tell that your not the same person, And you also have to usurp the power of a god for this to work
There was a method in AD&D, I'll summerize as best as i can:
Step 1: Be a minimum of 20th level and all ability scores had to be 13+. Once this process of ascending has started the character could no longer gain class levels and must now act with a new "higher" purpose in mind. This Higher Purpose was one which would help gain the attention of an exisiting entity that would act as a sponsor, usually a Deity but in 5e you could extend that to the various Fiends, Fey, GOO and other creatures powerful enough to grant powers to a Warlock.
Step 2: Find a "Sponsor". The character must then make an offering to this sponsor (usually another god of similar alignment to the character) and the value of this offering must be of a GP value at least equal to the XP of he character. So for 5e that would mean an offering worth at least 355,000 gp.
Step 3: The character must make a journey to the "abode" of their sponsor and present their offering. Finding and travelling to this "abode" was an adventure in itself but getting there did not guarantee an audiance with the sponsor. If the character has been true to the principles of their "higher purpose" the sponsor is likely to accept their offering, however, there was a chance the Sponsor would be offended and destroy the offering forcing the character to effecticely start over and create a new offering and try again.
Step 4: Assuming the sponsor accepted the offering it would then assign the character an "heoric task" designed to test the mettle of the character. Examples given were: Found a new Dynasty, Create a Magic Item or Spell that others seek to imitate, Destroy an artifact of an opposing God, Find and defeat an avatar of a rival God or Build a lasting monument to the sponsor. This task was something that would take several adventures to complete.
If all of this was successful the character would become a Demi God and a companion to their sponsor, HOWEVER, at that point they became NPC's and were no longer playable as a character, the end goal being to add to the campaign world rather than play as a god in the world.
One of my players is keen on becoming a vampiric demigod, he is a good aligned Aasimar monk and I need steps for the process. I've already established with him that he needs to become a vampire before he transcends to Godhood. Problem is, how does one acquire a Divine Spark, do you need a magical item, a ritual, or does he need to just steal the Divine Spark from other things?
Everyone in here has nailed down a lot of great points...
Another thing to consider... simply because a player (or character) want to attain something... doesn't mean they have to.
Especially a good aligned character wanting to become a Vampiricanything. But nature alone, becoming Vampiric means feeding on people. That's going to throw your good alignment right out the window. (Most people even rule, once a player becomes a Vampire or a Lycanthrope, that they lose control of their character). But, let's not worry about losing that character... let's focus on a good character wanting to become a Vampire. That's going to present some problems right there. They could go the route of a Fallen Aasimar, should they become a vampire - and redesign whatever type of Aasimar they may have selected, to give it more of the feel of what a vampiric Aasimir looks like (Necrotic angel wings and such).
Now assuming they become Vampiric - how does the rest of the party react to a Vampire in their midst? How does this character control their urges? It could make for potential fun RP - if you create like a Con DC they must meet to control their hunger impulse. So say we're all good with that... good Aasimar becomes a Fallen Aasimar... becomes Vampiric however you want it to go down...
So if that's all good... One must assume... the gods would not want people ascending either... so they'd probably send things in the way of stopping it from happening...
And if they ascend does it disrupt the balance? (See Dragonlance Legends when Raistlin ascended to godhood to see what I mean)...
I just remebered, there is a sort of playable Vampire race, you could go the Dhampir route in Van Richtens Guide or the UA version or if you dont mind a little influence from Magic: The Gathering, you can use the Vampire race from Planeshift: Innistrad or Ixalan (link ot free pdf with info here: https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Plane_Shift). Although as a disclaimer I feel I should point out there is a certain "conquistador" vibe to the ixalan setting.
Just to quote a couple of bits from the Ixalan pdf:
"The society of the Legion of Dusk is built around the rites and devotion of a powerful church, led by undead paladins who sustain themselves on the blood of their enemies. After seven hundred years of war that saw them march across the entirety of their home continent, the vampires of the Legion have come to add Ixalan to their territory. Certain leaders among them also seek the Immortal Sun, which is dimly remembered in their own legends as a source of true immortality—eternal life, in contrast to the endless undeath they now endure
Classes: Cleric, Paladin and Monk which mentions "Certain vampire clerics live under strict rules of fasting, prayer, and martial discipline, and might be considered monks of the Way of the Open Hand or the Way of Shadow. The latter often act as agents for Queen Miral"
So you could have this character from your original post be a memebr of a similar organisation, in search of a similar object. It might be a specific quest they have been tasked with and part of it is to transcend from whatever race they start off as into a vampire (using the stat block in the pdf instead of the monster manual version) and then locating the artifact known as the Immortal Sun and taking it back home for the organisation elite to use.
The initial campaign arc for that character might be just locating rumours and stories of vampire and powerful artifacts and this can run parallel to whatever other story you want to tell and allow others to have their stoies unfold but you can then use it as a plot hook to take the campaign off in some other direction when needed. As long as the player of that character is aware it is not a given thing that will occur but somethign they can certain roileplay as their motivation for adventuring then you should be ok.
Aasimar can arise in any race. Perhaps a dhampir aasimar. Aasimar are created by a divine spark, so that's an as written rule. Look the Aasimar race in D&D Beyond, also as written. God's are gods because of worship, an energy source that can be tapped by many creature types. So here's a methodology. you are what you eat:
Research the weakest deities. Choose a target.
Eat a well balanced diet of virgins, commoners, and 1st level cultists, Preferring those attached to your target.
Clerical priests and political powers in the cult. num num
Form cults
Cleric's and sacred animals.
Party clerics. Then whole parties.
Magic users, and aberrations
Monsters.
Modest levels
Substantial powers .
Celestial servants
build power, then attack your target god. absorb it. then apotheosis
There are some abridged rules for it In the Dungeons and Dragons Rules Cyclopedia which come from the Immortals Boxed set assuming you can lay hands on it.If you can't you can use this in a pinch Guide to the Immortals
You might be interested in the Heretic's Guide to Devotion & Divinity (link to info and sample here). There's a whole chapter on becoming a god, as well as class levels and advancement ideas for playable deity characters.
Since the PC in question is an aasimar, perhaps they need to go on an epic quest to awaken the divine spark that's lying dormant in their blood. Only after that's attained can they possibly hope to wield the power of a god's portfolio.
One thing Heretic's Guide suggests that I really liked was the concept that gods are by definition Outsiders - beings of and from the Outer Planes that have transcended the boundaries of mortal existence. Perhaps part of becoming an Outsider involves a process (slow or sudden) of losing one's ties to the material and temporal world. Maybe gods use avatars because they had to sacrifice their physical natures, becoming aggregates of insubstantial energy and will. Maybe the road to godhood involves struggles (CON/CHA saves??) with maintaining corporeality or accidentally time-traveling/planes-hopping as the PC gets closer to wielding divine power. Gods don't have stats in 5e, so becoming one should probably reflect that in some narrative way.
you said he was a Vampyre, no? he must drain the divine spark from other divine beings
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About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /Moderator of Vinstreb School for the Gifted /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
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One of my players is keen on becoming a vampiric demigod, he is a good aligned Aasimar monk and I need steps for the process. I've already established with him that he needs to become a vampire before he transcends to Godhood. Problem is, how does one acquire a Divine Spark, do you need a magical item, a ritual, or does he need to just steal the Divine Spark from other things?
As the DM, you can do whatever you want. Here is what I use: Gods have a spiritual component known as their divine mantle--the mantle is the very aspect of the god, such as a Mantle of Assassins might be the spiritual augmentation required to undergo an apotheosis and become the god of assassination. Mantles can be taken from existing gods through their willing surrender or through forcibly taking them. As an alternative, you can create a mantle through worship--get enough people to believe you are the god of such and such and that might become true.
Worship is also necessary to sustain godhood--the mantle feeds off those who worship it, nourished by their devotion. The fewer who worship, the weaker it is, and the weaker the god it attached to would be.
This has worked pretty well for me in the past, with characters working to obtain godhood through various mechanisms. In the event someone does become a god in the campaign, I do not let them fully realize their powers--it takes them a while to really understand their powers, which is my in-universe justification for keeping them from becoming too powerful. The characters that do become gods might show up in future campaigns in the form of statues or cults dedicated to them--a fun little throwback for repeat players.
This is interesting, I kind of want to veer off of you have to take a Mantle and instead you are able to create it through some ritual of sorts. (My campaign is wierd). Thanks 👍
Keep in mind that it should be very difficult/nearly possible to actually become a deity. Otherwise all the demonlords, arch devils and Epic level characters would already be one. If it were something you could do with just a ritual (even an epic ritual) why would there be any lichs? Generally ven in the novels becoming a deity is the end of the story not something in the middle. I have one character that became a deity - really by accident. A (1e) called shot headshot with an arrow of slaying by a L20 character. Rolled a Nat 20 to hit then rolled the required 1% or 5% roll the DM had me roll to overcome the deification protections and survive the absorption of the deification energies and stay sane ( well sort of). By All rights the deity shouldn’t have died and if it did the character shouldn’t have survived the rush of power but every long once and a while excrement occurs and a 1/whatever ridiculous number you choose. Event does occur just by accident.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
It's an interesting question because any answer has world building implications... Do you need a magical item? Well, if a magical item can house a Divine Spark, how did the Spark get in there in the first place? Also, you've created a world in which immanence is a demonstrable quality. That ought to shape the nature of worship in the world. Do you need a ritual? Well, why doesn't everyone use the ritual? Also, you've justified the primacy of clergy. That ought to shape the nature of power in the world. Do you need to steal the Divine Spark from... presumably a deity? Well, who did that deity steal their spark from? Also, you've just made godhood much more like bank account details. That ought to shape peoples' perceptions of the gods in the world. There isn't a right or wrong answer, except insofar as the answer you choose helps you to tell your story. What theme are you going for?
There are three ways i would go about obtaining godhood
1: Get a blessing of AU. AU is the overgod, the zeus of Zeus's. Getting his attention is the first step, second is getting his blessing. this will be an incredibly difficult, nigh impossible task, as AU almost never interacts with mortals, in fact he doesn't give spells or divine anything to his followers, which unlike any other gods, he doesn't need. But when he does interact with mortals it is because he sees a figurative spark of godhood, and gives them a literal spark of goodhood. He also has the outright ability to make a mortal a god
2: Karsus avatar. This is a spell of immeasurable power. It is the only known way for a mortal without a divine spark to even taste godhood. However it is an insanely difficult and dangerous spell. for starters it is a 12th level spell, requiring hundreds of spellcasters to cast on a single target. It has been cast once in known dnd history, The result. The collapse of a spellcasting nation as the spell failed. It has been outlawed by the gods, But being the dm you can implement a way to get to this spell
3: Force/replacement. Steal a god's divine spark and replace him as the one that mortals worship. No easy task, many mortals may be able to tell that your not the same person, And you also have to usurp the power of a god for this to work
If you're looking for a RAW answer to this, there is none. Focus on the narrative path you think the character should follow to ascend.
There was a method in AD&D, I'll summerize as best as i can:
Step 1: Be a minimum of 20th level and all ability scores had to be 13+. Once this process of ascending has started the character could no longer gain class levels and must now act with a new "higher" purpose in mind. This Higher Purpose was one which would help gain the attention of an exisiting entity that would act as a sponsor, usually a Deity but in 5e you could extend that to the various Fiends, Fey, GOO and other creatures powerful enough to grant powers to a Warlock.
Step 2: Find a "Sponsor". The character must then make an offering to this sponsor (usually another god of similar alignment to the character) and the value of this offering must be of a GP value at least equal to the XP of he character. So for 5e that would mean an offering worth at least 355,000 gp.
Step 3: The character must make a journey to the "abode" of their sponsor and present their offering. Finding and travelling to this "abode" was an adventure in itself but getting there did not guarantee an audiance with the sponsor. If the character has been true to the principles of their "higher purpose" the sponsor is likely to accept their offering, however, there was a chance the Sponsor would be offended and destroy the offering forcing the character to effecticely start over and create a new offering and try again.
Step 4: Assuming the sponsor accepted the offering it would then assign the character an "heoric task" designed to test the mettle of the character. Examples given were: Found a new Dynasty, Create a Magic Item or Spell that others seek to imitate, Destroy an artifact of an opposing God, Find and defeat an avatar of a rival God or Build a lasting monument to the sponsor. This task was something that would take several adventures to complete.
If all of this was successful the character would become a Demi God and a companion to their sponsor, HOWEVER, at that point they became NPC's and were no longer playable as a character, the end goal being to add to the campaign world rather than play as a god in the world.
Hope that helps a little.
Everyone in here has nailed down a lot of great points...
Another thing to consider... simply because a player (or character) want to attain something... doesn't mean they have to.
Especially a good aligned character wanting to become a Vampiric anything. But nature alone, becoming Vampiric means feeding on people. That's going to throw your good alignment right out the window. (Most people even rule, once a player becomes a Vampire or a Lycanthrope, that they lose control of their character). But, let's not worry about losing that character... let's focus on a good character wanting to become a Vampire. That's going to present some problems right there. They could go the route of a Fallen Aasimar, should they become a vampire - and redesign whatever type of Aasimar they may have selected, to give it more of the feel of what a vampiric Aasimir looks like (Necrotic angel wings and such).
Now assuming they become Vampiric - how does the rest of the party react to a Vampire in their midst? How does this character control their urges? It could make for potential fun RP - if you create like a Con DC they must meet to control their hunger impulse. So say we're all good with that... good Aasimar becomes a Fallen Aasimar... becomes Vampiric however you want it to go down...
So if that's all good... One must assume... the gods would not want people ascending either... so they'd probably send things in the way of stopping it from happening...
And if they ascend does it disrupt the balance? (See Dragonlance Legends when Raistlin ascended to godhood to see what I mean)...
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I just remebered, there is a sort of playable Vampire race, you could go the Dhampir route in Van Richtens Guide or the UA version or if you dont mind a little influence from Magic: The Gathering, you can use the Vampire race from Planeshift: Innistrad or Ixalan (link ot free pdf with info here: https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Plane_Shift). Although as a disclaimer I feel I should point out there is a certain "conquistador" vibe to the ixalan setting.
Just to quote a couple of bits from the Ixalan pdf:
"The society of the Legion of Dusk is built around the rites and devotion of a powerful church, led by undead paladins who sustain themselves on the blood of their enemies. After seven hundred years of war that saw them march across the entirety of their home continent, the vampires of the Legion have come to add Ixalan to their territory. Certain leaders among them also seek the Immortal Sun, which is dimly remembered in their own legends as a source of true immortality—eternal life, in contrast to the endless undeath they now endure
Races in the Legion: Vampire, Human
Suggested Backgrounds: Acolyte, noble, sage, soldier, urchin (human only)
Classes: Cleric, Paladin and Monk which mentions "Certain vampire clerics live under strict rules of fasting, prayer, and martial discipline, and might be considered monks of the Way of the Open Hand or the Way of Shadow. The latter often act as agents for Queen Miral"
So you could have this character from your original post be a memebr of a similar organisation, in search of a similar object. It might be a specific quest they have been tasked with and part of it is to transcend from whatever race they start off as into a vampire (using the stat block in the pdf instead of the monster manual version) and then locating the artifact known as the Immortal Sun and taking it back home for the organisation elite to use.
The initial campaign arc for that character might be just locating rumours and stories of vampire and powerful artifacts and this can run parallel to whatever other story you want to tell and allow others to have their stoies unfold but you can then use it as a plot hook to take the campaign off in some other direction when needed. As long as the player of that character is aware it is not a given thing that will occur but somethign they can certain roileplay as their motivation for adventuring then you should be ok.
DMSGUILD has a PDF book called Path to Godhood you can check out.
Aasimar can arise in any race. Perhaps a dhampir aasimar. Aasimar are created by a divine spark, so that's an as written rule. Look the Aasimar race in D&D Beyond, also as written. God's are gods because of worship, an energy source that can be tapped by many creature types. So here's a methodology. you are what you eat:
There are some abridged rules for it In the Dungeons and Dragons Rules Cyclopedia which come from the Immortals Boxed set assuming you can lay hands on it.If you can't you can use this in a pinch Guide to the Immortals
You might be interested in the Heretic's Guide to Devotion & Divinity (link to info and sample here). There's a whole chapter on becoming a god, as well as class levels and advancement ideas for playable deity characters.
Since the PC in question is an aasimar, perhaps they need to go on an epic quest to awaken the divine spark that's lying dormant in their blood. Only after that's attained can they possibly hope to wield the power of a god's portfolio.
One thing Heretic's Guide suggests that I really liked was the concept that gods are by definition Outsiders - beings of and from the Outer Planes that have transcended the boundaries of mortal existence. Perhaps part of becoming an Outsider involves a process (slow or sudden) of losing one's ties to the material and temporal world. Maybe gods use avatars because they had to sacrifice their physical natures, becoming aggregates of insubstantial energy and will. Maybe the road to godhood involves struggles (CON/CHA saves??) with maintaining corporeality or accidentally time-traveling/planes-hopping as the PC gets closer to wielding divine power. Gods don't have stats in 5e, so becoming one should probably reflect that in some narrative way.
you said he was a Vampyre, no? he must drain the divine spark from other divine beings
Pronouns: Any/All
About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /Moderator of Vinstreb School for the Gifted /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Fun Fact: i gain more power the more you post on my forum threads. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
did you say god, I meant goat.