Deities and Demigods is a supplement work for 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. It was released by Wizards of the Coast in April of 2002, and explores a small section of the variety of gods available in the Dungeons & Dragons game. Unlike its predecessor from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, this release only details four of the major pantheons that are in the game. These are the D&D pantheon, the Olympian pantheon, the Pharaonic pantheon, and the Asgardian pantheon. When compared to the volume from the late 80's, this seems to be pretty thin. However, don't be fooled by that because this release contains far more information than mere stats on the gods themselves.
What is a God?
The first chapter discusses the ideas behind the development of the Gods in the first place. What are Gods? What kinds of religions have been spawned for or by these beings? Most importantly, how should they be used in the game? In my vast experience of role playing, the Gods themselves seldom take a direct interest in the affairs of mortals. Most of the time it is their minions or servants that make an appearance and more often than not, a mere cleric is the impetus that starts a chain of events moving into some epic adventure. This also holds true for real history. The Greeks and Romans invaded dozens of countries based on the say so of some high placed priest of this or that God. The Kings of Europe invaded the Holy Lands to reclaim them for God (the Crusades) from the heathens who followed Alah. I could go on, but won't. The point is simple, belief in a higher being can inspire people to do things that they normally would not. The same is true for fantasy role playing games.
In Dungeons & Dragons, the deities play a much larger role in most campaigns than one would think. They can and will directly intervene in certain events that to their benefit and they indirectly influence the world by granting spells to clerics and other spell casters who rely upon the faith of a God for their powers. The very nature of religions has a profound impact on the way a deity can exert his/her will upon the world. The larger and more organized a group of followers that the deity has access to, the more power it has outside of its own realm. Here the different types of pantheons, cults and various other methods of organizing a religious order are discussed.
As for the nature of divinity, exactly how does that come about? I mentioned above that the more followers, the more power a deity has, but how did he/she GET those followers in the first place? Is the divine nature of the deity something it is born with? Are deities even born? Is this something that has to be earned and then imparted upon the individual by some other deity? If so, where did THAT guy get his power? These are all good questions and some fairly good answers are given.
Why do the Gods do what they do? Good question. The attitudes of the Gods are also covered in this area. Are they kind, indifferent or hostile? Why are they worshiped at all? Why do they need the mortals? Where do they live? In the AD&D game system, the various Gods lived on different planes of existence and could only appear in the real world through great effort. Here, the first seeds of the other planes is established for the 3rd Ed D&D world. This will become a stepping stone for a much greater detailed work regarding the other planes, and it will be needed if the local Game Master wishes to take his adventurers plane hopping.
So just how powerful is my character's God?
The next major section of the book defines the Gods by game standards. In order to accommodate this into the 3rd Ed rules, something called Divine Rank was created. This is what sets the deities apart from mere mortals. Even a Divine Rank of 0 has abilities that it grants to the deity in question. Divine ranks have no “upper” limit, but the game mechanics still limits it to 20 or so (by definition). According to this section, a deity with a Divine Rank of 21 or higher is so powerful that it no longer even cares about mortals. Most likely, at that level of power the deity is being worshiped by other divine beings and has his hands full dealing with that mess.
Next is a section covering the aspects of control and influence that a deity has as well as what divine domains they have. This gives GMs a nice background to use for creating their own deities in the D&D world. Very few, if any, deity has control of everything and if they did, they would be far too powerful to waste their time with mortals. Also the powers and feats of the deities are covered. The powers are based on wizard spells, but vastly more powerful while the feats seem to be little more than a reprint of the normal feats that a mortal can gain, making them seem rather weak when applied to a deity.
The Pantheons
The four pantheons are next, each one having about 30 pages of text devoted to it. This was the impressive part of the volume and a great improvement over the old AD&D release where 10 times as many pantheons were covered in about 120 pages total. Each is detailed with the complete stats of each God, and a picture of the being is provided.
Some of the additional features in these chapters include monsters specific to that pantheon and the various divine beings that are often used as messengers for the greater Gods. A fifth chapter follows that provides a look at some of the other religions of D&D. Not much to go on here, but it provides excellent examples for creating your own Gods.
The last of this volume is in the form of a pair of appendix. The first is one that gives a listing of all the divine domains and details the new spells that are released in this book. I found it rather well organized and was thankful that all this information was gathered into a single volume instead of leaving it spread out in the various books as it had been up until this point.
The second appendix allows rules and options for player characters to gain divine ranks. There are a couple of nice adventure ideas that tie into the various methods and reason for ascension. It also talks about how to still play the game with a character who has reached the level of Godhood.
This is a great book for the GMs to own and it helps the players to understand the powers and abilities of their characters who rely upon the favor of the Gods. It is full of highly valuable information and is very well organized. Many of the tidbits of knowledge gleaned from this book can lead into massive games that are far reaching in scope and adventure for the players. The artwork was fantastic, just as it has always been since Wizards of the Coast took over this game series. About the only thing I could wish for is an index or a quick reference chart somewhere in the book. Without this, it takes a large amount of time to find something unless you are intimately familiar with the book. And then there is the noise of releasing a 3.5 version of this same book as well as the current 4th Edition Rules of the game that is currently hitting the stores. Has the game already progressed to even need an updated rules set? I wouldn't think so. After all, AD&D lasted close to 20 years without an update.
Recommended:
Yes
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