Whether you’re creating your own pantheon or using a pre-made one inDungeons & Dragons, they can be an excellent way to explore the awesome power you wield as a Dungeon Master. Being able to literally change the fabric of reality as you please and just saying it’s the will of a god makes things so much easier if you’re trying to make small changes to your campaign.
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For players, taking down a god as the final boss is one of the most classic, and satisfying, endings. Actually running a god is a different story, and it will put your skills as a Dungeon Master to the test.
7Keep Their Distance - Good
Generally giving your players access to an incredibly powerful being throughout the campaign in an unrestricted manner isn’t a good idea. More than likely they would end up becoming reliant on your god’s help to get them out of dangerous situations, so it’s important for your god to keep their distance throughout the campaign.
Any impact made should be through the players as their intermediaries, rather than being actively involved in changing the outcome of the campaign. Your god should function as a bit more of a guide with the rare boon here and there, rather than sailing the ship for your players.
Make them great for storytelling purposes, but in combat it should be your players that shineif you want to keep both elements balanced.
6Ultimate Final Boss - Evil
If you’re going to make an evil-aligned god an actual enemy in your campaign then you need to consider the fact that you don’t come back from killing or imprisoning a god. Gods are generally hailed as the most powerful lifeforms in the entirety of existence; they are both creation and destruction.
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If you are going to make an evil-aligned god your final boss they should be your final boss because everything after a god will look fairly pitiful in comparison with a few small, personally targeted exceptions. In the lead-up to the final boss, however, don’t hesitate to introduce various enemies.
The scarier that those enemies are, the scarier the final boss encounter will likely end up being.
5Use The God To Give Boons - Good
If you can get away with it, you really shouldn’t involve your good-aligned gods in a fight alongside your players. Even if your players are level 20 you have to keep in mind that they’re still technically mortal (with a handful of exceptions), and a god would probably outshine them if it happened that god was on their side.
That doesn’t mean you can’t involve your god in the fight, by you should consider involving them by proxy or through a boon. Offering something to boost your player’s abilities or possibly some of the god’s followers would work better than involving the god in their full physicality.
4Have Them Corrupt Other Gods - Evil
If you’re looking for an interesting plot point to look at how your evil-aligned god may prove a genuine threat to your good-aligned gods, consider having them corrupt other gods. If it ends up being one of your player gods, you should probably consider how that would affect them and their class.
If possible, attempt to avoid affecting your players directly and instead create a sense of urgency by showcasing gods becoming corrupted and turned evil through local temples or NPCs that the players know.
3They Know They Have Limits - Good
Giving your god limits will not humanize them, but it will help to ground them and easily explain the reason why they can’t just take charge of everything to make it “perfect.” Your god should, more than likely, be aware that they are not all-powerful and that their reach only extends so far.
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However, rather than be distressed by this fact or upset that they can’t take the helm and be in control of everything, you should consider that your god is likely okay with this. It’s all part of the delicate power balance in the pantheon and where one god cannot help, another can gently take the reins to help out.
2Your God Wants To Be All Powerful - Evil
Power is a great motivation, but you need to remember when crafting your god and your story, that power is just a means to an end. Take a moment to consider why your evil-aligned god wants to be all-powerful (or if they even do want to be all-powerful).
Are they trying to seek revenge? Perhaps they want to wipe the slate clean and start again despite the wishes of the other deities?
Whatever the case may be, it’s important to think about how your god would go around trying to culminate more power, whether that’s through corrupting other gods, gathering relics, or perhaps trying to absorb the magic out of something like the Feywild, so they can become more powerful. This could result in some fun trips throughoutsome of the coolest places in Dungeons & Dragonsif you really want to take the last idea and run with it.
1Your God Can Die
Your god can die, and that applies to both your evil-aligned and your good-aligned gods. Whether that is by the hands of exceptional individuals or other gods you should consider how killing a god would affect your campaign.
How would it shift the power balance of the pantheon?
If they die at the hands of exceptional individuals, would that scare your other deities into some kind of counter-action against your players? If your gods are revered as the pinnacle of existence and hailed as immortal, would suddenly proving that they can die, cause any disillusionment with the pantheon for people? That is, assuming that the general populace ever finds out what your party did.
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