I know this question is odd... But... Let's say a deity decided to take a mortal form/avatar/etc. Would they then be able to grant said form their own power (I.E. a divine soul) in essence becoming their own deity? Or would this require something else/not work/etc? Kind of like the Holy Trinity in Christianity, but in D&D form. A being separate from their deity, yet, at the same time, the same being as their deity? I don't know how to really describe it?
Do you mean something like a god's mortal form being a paladin who worshipped themself? If so, I think it would definitely be possible. And if you're asking, "Hey, can this god take mortal form as a cleric and use Divine Intervention and get it automatically?", I'd still say yes, since, well, they're a god.
Do you mean something like a god's mortal form being a paladin who worshipped themself? If so, I think it would definitely be possible. And if you're asking, "Hey, can this god take mortal form as a cleric and use Divine Intervention and get it automatically?", I'd still say yes, since, well, they're a god.
This falls heavily into the realm of "Ask your DM." First of all, you're asking to play as a god, and most DMs are going to immediately answer that with a big "No way, nope, not happening." Unless your DM is the type to say rules don't really matter and game balance is for squares there's no way even most homebrew-happy DMs are going to let somebody straight up be a god in their campaign. It's simply not the kind of thing the game is made to accommodate in any way.
That being said, if you're willing to explicitly not have any divine powers beyond the abilities granted by your class features you might be able to convince the DM to let your character be a god that has somehow become trapped in a mortal form and explicitly and unconditionally lost all of their divine powers except for those they gain from taking class levels as a regular PC. Basically you've been depowered somehow and you're stuck being a squishy little mortal just like any other PC. This assumes that the setting allows for this to happen and the DM agrees to place your god character into it as part of the pantheon, or possibly as a god from another plane that got banished to the dimension/plane the game takes place in as part of your downfall. That means that, flavor wise, the absolute most you can do as a god is empower one mortal champion (yourself), and levelling up as the champion grants you the extra power to fuel your own increasingly powerful class features within the normal limits of the rules. Again, this would require a lot of allowances from the DM, but would functionally be nothing but a colorful reflavoring of the lore around an otherwise mechanically normal character. It would also make sense to have your race fitting to your diving nature, such as Aasimar/Tiefling, or something you're otherwise connected to, like Gnome if you're a child/grandchild/nephew/niece/etc of Garl Glittergold (creator deity of Gnomes).
RP-wise, your primary long term character goal would likely be to regain your godhood, which is not out of the ordinary considering that a lot of long running campaigns include some possibility of ascension to divine status (it isn't built into the game but level twenty characters tend to be bonkers powerful to begin with and if everyone is invested to that point a popular finale/conclusion is to cap it off with an ascension arc). Of course whoever or whatever depowered you will probably not be happy to see you regain your old mojo so you could expect them to be looking to finish the job so you'd likely want to keep your nature under wraps whenever possible. This also provides the DM with a (possibly extra) BBEG to have menacing you and any of your allies (ie the rest of your party), along with any followers, minions, etc that they have. Again, this would all require a thorough discussion with your DM to cover and be entirely dependent on their approval, but it could make for a good story if the DM is into the concept.
Edit: All of the above is based on the initial question referring to a PC. If you're the DM and asking about a god in your world assuming a mortal form to interact with the mundane world as an NPC then the short answer is yes. Not all gods do it, but at least some are known to disguise themselves as mortals to go slumming with the meatlings, and classical mythology is full of examples. Older editions of D&D included supplements that even include stats for such divine avatars, though I'm unaware of any such material for 5e.
Oh. I'd definitely not ask for any special exemptions/powers/etc. I'm not looking to break the game. Just to have a character be able to say 'I am my own prophet!' or something similar.
Theology is separate from mechanics, at least in D&D. It doesn't really matter what the PC says or the lore of the world declares about them, mechanically they're still a Divine Soul Sorcerer. That said, if your character's conceit is going to be so ... grand ... make sure your DM is ok with said conceit since you're treading on the pantheon of the DM's world, etc. Some may accommodate it and work it into the game, others will say "You can say that, and your character can believe that, but it's not true" and withhold their plans for the real divine powers behind your PC false messiah.
Actually as a DM, my world's theology and metaphyiscs are in such flux I'd probably say "ok, let's see where that goes" and I won't be sure whether the godhood is true or not till levels down the line. It's more fun that way I feel.
As official lore goes, I would say that a single mortal isn't nearly a sufficiently powerful influence on the world to grant spells and related powers to anyone, even themselves. Your DM might allow it, but that's their call as they are the ultimate authority in their game.
It's worth noting that, by official lore, a Divine Soul is still a Sorcerer who's power is naturally inborn and they just happen to be able to cast divine spells because of some influence from an appropriate source on their bloodline or such. So if they want to tell people, or even believe themself, that they are divinely empowering themself then I'd allow that even if the fact is that they're just full of crap or have a vastly overinflated opinion of themself.
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I know this question is odd... But... Let's say a deity decided to take a mortal form/avatar/etc. Would they then be able to grant said form their own power (I.E. a divine soul) in essence becoming their own deity? Or would this require something else/not work/etc? Kind of like the Holy Trinity in Christianity, but in D&D form. A being separate from their deity, yet, at the same time, the same being as their deity? I don't know how to really describe it?
Do you mean something like a god's mortal form being a paladin who worshipped themself? If so, I think it would definitely be possible. And if you're asking, "Hey, can this god take mortal form as a cleric and use Divine Intervention and get it automatically?", I'd still say yes, since, well, they're a god.
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Basically the first part, yes.
This falls heavily into the realm of "Ask your DM." First of all, you're asking to play as a god, and most DMs are going to immediately answer that with a big "No way, nope, not happening." Unless your DM is the type to say rules don't really matter and game balance is for squares there's no way even most homebrew-happy DMs are going to let somebody straight up be a god in their campaign. It's simply not the kind of thing the game is made to accommodate in any way.
That being said, if you're willing to explicitly not have any divine powers beyond the abilities granted by your class features you might be able to convince the DM to let your character be a god that has somehow become trapped in a mortal form and explicitly and unconditionally lost all of their divine powers except for those they gain from taking class levels as a regular PC. Basically you've been depowered somehow and you're stuck being a squishy little mortal just like any other PC. This assumes that the setting allows for this to happen and the DM agrees to place your god character into it as part of the pantheon, or possibly as a god from another plane that got banished to the dimension/plane the game takes place in as part of your downfall. That means that, flavor wise, the absolute most you can do as a god is empower one mortal champion (yourself), and levelling up as the champion grants you the extra power to fuel your own increasingly powerful class features within the normal limits of the rules. Again, this would require a lot of allowances from the DM, but would functionally be nothing but a colorful reflavoring of the lore around an otherwise mechanically normal character. It would also make sense to have your race fitting to your diving nature, such as Aasimar/Tiefling, or something you're otherwise connected to, like Gnome if you're a child/grandchild/nephew/niece/etc of Garl Glittergold (creator deity of Gnomes).
RP-wise, your primary long term character goal would likely be to regain your godhood, which is not out of the ordinary considering that a lot of long running campaigns include some possibility of ascension to divine status (it isn't built into the game but level twenty characters tend to be bonkers powerful to begin with and if everyone is invested to that point a popular finale/conclusion is to cap it off with an ascension arc). Of course whoever or whatever depowered you will probably not be happy to see you regain your old mojo so you could expect them to be looking to finish the job so you'd likely want to keep your nature under wraps whenever possible. This also provides the DM with a (possibly extra) BBEG to have menacing you and any of your allies (ie the rest of your party), along with any followers, minions, etc that they have. Again, this would all require a thorough discussion with your DM to cover and be entirely dependent on their approval, but it could make for a good story if the DM is into the concept.
Edit: All of the above is based on the initial question referring to a PC. If you're the DM and asking about a god in your world assuming a mortal form to interact with the mundane world as an NPC then the short answer is yes. Not all gods do it, but at least some are known to disguise themselves as mortals to go slumming with the meatlings, and classical mythology is full of examples. Older editions of D&D included supplements that even include stats for such divine avatars, though I'm unaware of any such material for 5e.
Oh. I'd definitely not ask for any special exemptions/powers/etc. I'm not looking to break the game. Just to have a character be able to say 'I am my own prophet!' or something similar.
Theology is separate from mechanics, at least in D&D. It doesn't really matter what the PC says or the lore of the world declares about them, mechanically they're still a Divine Soul Sorcerer. That said, if your character's conceit is going to be so ... grand ... make sure your DM is ok with said conceit since you're treading on the pantheon of the DM's world, etc. Some may accommodate it and work it into the game, others will say "You can say that, and your character can believe that, but it's not true" and withhold their plans for the real divine powers behind your PC false messiah.
Actually as a DM, my world's theology and metaphyiscs are in such flux I'd probably say "ok, let's see where that goes" and I won't be sure whether the godhood is true or not till levels down the line. It's more fun that way I feel.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
As official lore goes, I would say that a single mortal isn't nearly a sufficiently powerful influence on the world to grant spells and related powers to anyone, even themselves. Your DM might allow it, but that's their call as they are the ultimate authority in their game.
It's worth noting that, by official lore, a Divine Soul is still a Sorcerer who's power is naturally inborn and they just happen to be able to cast divine spells because of some influence from an appropriate source on their bloodline or such. So if they want to tell people, or even believe themself, that they are divinely empowering themself then I'd allow that even if the fact is that they're just full of crap or have a vastly overinflated opinion of themself.