Image by intographics from Pixabay

When a deity shows up in your game, how do you make sure the PCs – and more important, the players – know what they are dealing with? How do they recognize that the being that stands before them is something more than mortal?

Of course, sometimes it’s obvious that the creature before them isn’t human, but is not animal either – but in a Fantasy world full of strange creatures, some of them sentient, that’s not enough. And besides, a great many Gods look, well, human.

Cleanliness

In a game in which bathing is an infrequent luxury or a once-a-week ritual, an immaculate appearance might be a clue – but the nobility generally adhere to higher standards of personal hygiene and present just such an appearance of cleanliness, as much to associate themselves with Divinity as anything else. So that’s not enough.

Divine Aura

You could have the deity radiate an emotion that is appropriate to their divine nature and/or portfolio – but telling players that their characters feel a particular emotion can put noses out of joint, or (almost as bad) simply be ignored and discounted by the players. It’s not good roleplaying, but when the principles of good roleplaying and the principle of player independence collide, the latter tends to win, hands down, every time.

What’s more, this solution compromises your ability to express the emotional state of the NPC deity, either masking their emotion or their divine ‘aura’, or sending mixed messages.

Recognition

One of the worst possible solutions is simply telling the players that their characters recognize “X” the deity. This immediately posits the reaction, “what makes them so special?”, undermining the entire objective of introducing a deity.

Image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay

Miracles / Productions

That tends to leave doing something “impossible” to establish their bonafides. But that’s a solution with a number of problems, too; for one thing, it’s not always appropriate, and for another, it makes the Gods look like arrogant show-offs. Which is fine if that’s how you want to characterize them, but not so good otherwise.

Incognito

There is a long history of Gods walking incognito amongst men, recognized only after their departure (and sometimes only with uncertainty even then). Perhaps this is the solution you’re looking for?

The problem with this approach is that it makes Deities too easy to ignore. You WANT the players paying attention when one turns up. As with the “do something spectacular” option, this is a choice that might be useful in some situations but not as a general rule.

And we’re fast running out of solutions.

Proxies

Perhaps the Gods only work through their priests, and only through dreams and visions? I’ve made the point before that it’s one thing to ignore the shouting man or woman standing on a soapbox, and quite another to ignore them when their God has given them the power to create Miracles and cast lesser spells. Even being able to summon the likeness of a God without retribution is a big deal, and would go a long way to silencing critics – of the Priest.

This solves the problem by putting it in the too-hard basket and saying “It will never happen.” Sometimes, that will work, depending on the campaign – and sometimes it won’t.

And woe betide the deity if he attempts to persuade a cynic under this model!

Image by Jills from Pixabay

Divine Aura II

What if there was something compelling about the Deity, something that forced saving throws for things that a PC would normally be able to do without a second thought – like turning away, or interrupting the deity?

We had earlier dismissed the notion of forcing actions on the PCs, but this uses an already-established mechanism for doing so. Of course, judging the difficulty involved is a bit of a tricky art – too high, and you might as well not permit a saving throw in the first place; too low and once again, you might as well not bother, because the PCs will do what they want to do, anyway.

There’s something to be said for the following approach to this question: Rate the Deity’s desire for the PCs to pay attention, his intensity, on a 1-10 scale, and set the difficulty equal to the average save value of the PCs plus this amount plus 3, 4 or 5. That means that the ‘average’ PC needs to roll something like 15 or better on the dice to break the compulsion – some may have a better chance than that, and some a worse one, but it’s not often that there is a five-point difference in save values between characters. And if there is? Instead of the +5, use a +3 or whatever to broaden the scale. Yes, it makes it easier for the characters with a good save – but it preserves the principle that even characters with a bad save have SOME chance, however small, of resisting.

And this is not a compulsion to obey – unless the instruction is “Listen Closely” or words to that effect; it’s simply to hear the Deity out and be inclined to judge him as sincere. Which means he either is sincere or is a very good liar – either works!

Another interesting option to contemplate is making this save of a type that would not be expected. The most common expectation would be for a WILL save or its equivalent – which makes it attention-getting when you need a FORT save instead, to physically force yourself to look away or stop listening. This implies that the connection is somehow more primal than conscious, at an instinctual level – which suggests interesting things about the relationship between Deities and Mortals, a bonus!

This is definitely a contender for our default position. But I always like to offer at least one alternative, on the assumption that a single choice might not suit every GM and every campaign. The more solutions, the better!

Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay

Proxies II

If I had been too quick to dismiss Divine Auras as a solution, perhaps I was also too quick to dismiss Proxies. After all, biblical manifestations have the voice of God coming from all manner of animals and even a pillar of flame – and such manifestations are, in their own relatively low-key way, as spectacular as a full-blown light-show.

Alas, it’s my feeling that the existence of a Ventriloquism spell undermines the drama and miraculous sense of this answer – especially since Ventriloquism is such a low-level spell (second level, from memory).

But that doesn’t completely rule this solution out; the column of fire shows that a relatively low-key manifestation in combination with the Voice can still work.

Of course, there’s a vast range of possibilities in between “just noticeable” and “over-the-top”, and that gives each deity room to exhibit their personalities. Differences between the deities can also be manifested through changes to the basic theme that reflect those differences. If you’re crossing a desert and suddenly a spot by the side of the path ahead sprouts and blossoms and erupts into greenery, centuries of growth in a few seconds, the message is pretty clear, and there is a very short list of candidates as the sender. A column of fire that doesn’t burn anything is equally good as a signature move, and so on.

That makes this a valid second default option.

Gateways

And, of course, if someone should walk out of one of these manifestations, using it as a gateway, that personage will probably do as a Deity until something better comes along, if you get my drift.

So that provides a third default answer.

This combines an image of Thoth by ErikaWittlieb from Pixabay with a beautiful Egyptian background by beate bachmann from Pixabay.

The moving finger

“The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.” – from Edward Fitzgerald’s translation of the poem The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, 1859, with thanks to The Phrase Finder for providing the accreditation and full quote.

One of the most compelling ways a Deity can establish their divinity is by interrupting the normal flow of events – at least long enough to say their piece, maybe bestow a gift or two, and then get out of the way again. When everything except you and ‘this guy’ freezes in the middle of combat – full bullet-time effect – you tend to pay attention to ‘this guy’. Or girl. Or dog, or cow, or whatever.

I have used this approach once or twice myself as an exception, not as a default, because of a subtle undercurrent: the implication that whatever happens in that frozen moment won’t be noticed unless something is changed when time resumes. Then it’s like a jump-cut in a piece of film, the jump in a piece of looped tape that reveals the deception – see Speed if you don’t know what I mean, but it’s a gimmick that has been used a number of times!

Minor discontinuities can be ignored or pass unnoticed. But everyone should be back in their places when time resumes.

I have also employed a variant in which the universe forced the PCs to “assume their proper places” at the end of such a freeze.

Of course, the implication is that this assistance or advice or warning or whatever is forbidden – raising the question of who has the power and authority to both forbid a Deity from doing something and to make the prohibition stick – at least, up to a point. There’s a sense of evasion, of being surreptitious and covert, that you simply can’t get any other way. So, while this option could be employed as a default, I prefer to keep it in my back pocket until that special occasion for which this added sense is appropriate.

The Rarity Of Exotic Spice

Of course, none of these options should be overused, or they will lose their magic. Divine visitations should be rare events, signals that matters of greater significance than any that have come before are in the offing. Nor should they be positive from the PCs point of view, at least not all the time. It’s perfectly acceptable for a deity to turn up and warn the PCs that they are in over their heads and should go home and leave the celestial problems to “the big boys” – and just as acceptable for the PCs to disobey the instruction.

Not every manifestation should be by a friend to the party – not even a friend they haven’t met yet!

And, always remember that if the PCs receive divine assistance or instruction, so can their enemies…

Afterthought

It might behoove you to contemplate a Divine Visitation on three scales of reaction. One for the ordinary folks, one for the followers of some other deity, and one for the worshipers of this particular Deity. Ask yourself who the Deity is trying to impress? and go from there.

Personally, I would add something along the lines of reinforcement of personal convictions in the latter case, and would vary the drama of the Visitation for the other two depending on how the two Deities in question get along. If allies or neutrals, save the big production for the infidels sorry, for the non-priests. If they normally tread on each other’s toes and antagonize each other, go all out for the worshipper of the misbegotten Deity. But that’s a nuance that can sometimes over-complicate things – if in doubt, one size should fit all.

You can also think about the visitation in terms of what each character will take away from it, and put your variations there – giving a lead to your players for roleplay with pointed questions, NOT decreeing what those takeaways are going to be (except in the broadest possible terms).

Which takes me back to the earlier question: Who is the Deity trying to impress, and how are they going to react?


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