GODS OF THE XENAVERSE [SPOILERS, SEASON 2-6]

Since gods by their very definition can have great impact on stories and
campaigns, I can't stress enough that this is my own interpretation and
attempt to establish rules that explain the behaviour of gods in the series.
That said, heres my attempt to capture the gods of the Xenaverse in game
terms. Ive focused on what they actually say and do in the series, and tried to
avoid using mundane mythology (except as inspiration when glaring
omissions had to be filled). This means that only those gods who are in some
way active in at least one episode are described. It also means that there are
differences compared to the traditional portrayal of the deities.

LIST OF GODS
UNIVERSAL GODS (known in every culture)
Deity
Dahak

Spheres of Influence
Global destruction, fire
(D&D 4E: CE,

Typical Worshipers
Malcontents of all kinds

Destruction, Fate)
(D&D 3.5: CE, Evil,
Destruction, Fire,
Strength)
Corruption, suffering
(D&D 4E: CE, Darkness,
Tyranny)
(D&D 3.5: CE, Death,
Evil, Magic, Trickery)
Healing, mercy, selfsacrifice
(D&D 4E: LG, Life, Love,
Sun)
(D&D 3.5: LG, Good,
Healing, Protection, Sun)
Corruption, suffering
(D&D 4E: CE, Darkness,
Tyranny)
(D&D 3.5: CE, Death,
Evil, Magic, Trickery)
Corruption, suffering
(D&D 4E: CE, Darkness,
Tyranny)
(D&D 3.5: CE, Death,
Evil, Magic, Trickery)

The Darkness

The Light

Lucifer

Mephistopheles

Any evil

Any good

Any evil

Any evil

AFRICAN GODS
Anubis
Osiris
Ra
Set
CELTIC GODS
Deity
Badbh
Cernunnos

Spheres of Influence
War
Chaos, nature

Typical Worshipers
Warriors
Any

GRECO-ROMAN GODS
There are several Greco-Roman pantheons shown in the series. They are
shown in order of prominence.
GRECO-ROMAN GODS: OLYMPIANS
Deity
Aphrodite

Apollo
Ares

Artemis

Asclepius
Athena

Bacchus

Bliss
Calliope

Spheres of Influence
Typical Worshipers
Love (in all forms and aspects)
Any
(D&D 4E: U, Love, Luck,
Madness, )
(D&D 3.5: CN, Knowledge, Luck,
Trickery)
Awesomeness, hope
Any
(D&D 4E: U, Hope, Sun, Tyranny)
War
Warlords, thugs, soldiers,
(D&D 4E: E, Strife, War)
fighters, warriors
(D&D 3.5: NE, Protection, Strength,
War)
Animals, Hunting, the Moon
Mostly females, Amazons,
(D&D 4E: U, Moon, Strength,
hunters
Wilderness)
(D&D 3.5: N, Animal, Protection,
Travel)
Healing
Healers
(D&D 4E: U, Hope, Life, Protection )
Wisdom, warfare, weaving
Any except evil or very
(D&D 4E: LG, Knowledge, Skill,
chaotic beings
War)
(D&D 3.5: LG, Knowledge,
Protection, War)
Wine, intoxication, bacchae
Farmers, bon vivants,
(D&D 4E: CE, Change, Madness) adventurous women,
(D&D 3.5: CE, Animal, Chaos,
alcoholics, bacchae
Plant)
None yet
None yet
Heroic tales
Bards, people of Paleos

(D&D 4E: U, Hope, Love, Luck)

Celesta
Death (not the Underworld, just the
infinitesimal boundary between life
and death)
(D&D 4E: U, Arcana, Death, Fate)
(D&D 3.5: LN, Death, Law, Travel)
Cupid
Romantic love
(D&D 4E: G, Hope, Love,
Protection)
Deimos
Strife
(D&D 4E: CE, Strife, Trickery)
Demeter
Harvest, seasons, vegetation
(D&D 4E: U, Justice, Life,
Wilderness)
Discord
Quarrel, retribution (from s4)
(D&D 4E: CE, Freedom
(Vengeance from s4), Strife
The Fates
Life and death, destiny
(D&D 4E: U, Death, Fate, Life)
Fortune
Luck
(D&D 4E: U, Change, Hope, Luck)
The Furies Proper vengeance
(D&D 4E: E, Justice, Madness,
Vengeance)
(D&D 3.5: LE, Knowledge, Law,
Travel)
Hades
The Underworld
(D&D 4E: U, Death, Earth, Justice)
(D&D 3.5: LN, Death, Earth, Law)
Helios
The Sun
(D&D 4E: U, Civilization,
Knowledge, Sun)
Hephaestus Arts and crafts
(D&D 4E: U, Creation, Earth, Skill)
Hera
Wives, queenship
(D&D 4E: E, Tyranny, Vengeance)
Hermes
Messages, theft, business

None

Lovers

Lowlifes
Farmers

Gossips, young males

Philosophers
Gamblers, adventurers
Bounty hunters, temporarily
those who have been
wronged

Philosophers, assassins,
bureaucrats, morticians
Farmers

Craftsmen, engineers,
inventors
Any
Messengers, thieves,

(D&D 4E: U, Civilization,

businessmen, travellers
Creation,Trickery)
Hestia
Chastity, peace
Any
(D&D 4E: LG, Civilization, Life,
Protection)
Lachrymose Despair
Virtually none
(D&D 4E: U, Madness, Protection,
Trickery)
(D&D 3.5: N, Protection, Trickery,
Water)
Morpheus
Dreams
Mystics
(D&D 4E: U, Darkness, Hope,
Madness)
Nemesis
Retribution
Bounty hunters
(D&D 4E: U, Civilization, Strength,
Vengeance)
Poseidon
The sea
Sailors, traders, fishermen,
(D&D 4E: CE, Sea, Wilderness)
coastal dwellers, cyclopses
(D&D 3.5: CE, Animal, Strength,
Water)
Strife
Strife
Brawlers, arms dealers
(D&D 4E: CE, Strife, Trickery)
Therpsichore Music
Musicians, festive types
(D&D 4E: G, Freedom, Skill)
Zeus
Weather, cosmic balance
Any
(D&D 4E: U, Civilization, Protection,
Storm)
(D&D 3.5: N, Air, Protection,
Strength, Water)
GRECO-ROMAN GODS: TITANS
Deity
Crius

Spheres of Influence
Earth, stone
(D&D 4E: U, Earth,
Protection)
(D&D 3.5: LN, Earth, Law,
Protection)

Typical Worshipers
Virtually none

Gaia

Hyperion

Mnemosyne

Prometheus

Theia

Creation, Earth, Mercy

(D&D 4E: G, Creation, Earth,
Life)
(D&D 3.5: CG, Earth,
Healing, Wilderness)
Sky, sun
(D&D 4E: CE, Storm, Sun)
(D&D 3.5: CE, Air, Chaos,
Sun)
Memory
(D&D 4E: U, Justice,
Knowledge, Madness)
(D&D 3.5: LN, Knowledge,
Law, Water)
Fire, healing
(D&D 4E: G, Civilization,
Hope, Protection)
(D&D 3.5: NG, Fire, Healing,
Protection)
Light, gold
(D&D 4E: G, Love, Moon,
Sun)
(D&D 3.5: NG, Air, Earth,
Fire)

Healers, giants,
farmers

Virtually none

Intellectuals,
chroniclers, bards

Non-evil people of all

kinds

Virtually none

GRECO-ROMAN GODS: ILLYRIANS

Deity
Kal

Spheres of Influence Typical Worshipers

War
Warlords, thugs, soldiers,
(D&D 4E: E, Strife, War) fighters, warriors
(D&D 3.5: NE, Animal,
Strength, War)

GRECO-ROMAN GODS: ROGUE GODS

Deity
Caligula

Spheres of Influence
Megalomania
(D&D 4E: CE, Madness,

Typical Worshipers
Roman citizens (by
law)

Callisto

Velasca

Tyranny)
(D&D 3.5: CE, Chaos, Luck,
Protection)
Vengeance
(D&D 4E: CE, Torment,
Vengeance)
(D&D 3.5: CE, Fire, Travel,
War)
Destruction
(D&D 4E: CE, Destruction,
Storm)
(D&D 3.5: CE, Air, Chaos,
Destruction)

None

Amazons

GRECO-ROMAN GODS: SUMERIANS

Dumuzi
Ra (yes, this busy boy is involved in two pantheons)
INDIAN GODS
Deity
Kali

Krishna

Rama

Spheres of Influence
Fighting demons
(D&D 4E: E, Destruction,
Vengeance)
(D&D 3.5: NE, Chaos,
Luck, Protection)
Supreme god, karma
(D&D 4E: LG,
Civilization, Fate,
Protection)
(D&D 3.5: LG, Good,
Law, Protection)
Human perfection,
heroism
(D&D 4E: LG, Justice,
Love, Skill)
(D&D 3.5: LG, Law,
Strength, Travel)

Typical Worshipers
Warriors and others in
trouble with evil entities

Any

Any

NORSE GODS
Balder
Frigga
Loki
Odin
Thor

DAILY LIFE OF A GOD

Since a day only has 24 hours, being immortal isnt that great an advantage in
the daily routine. And once a god has accepted a portfolio, she had better
manage it well, or face the displeasure of the head of the pantheon and
growing indifference or hostility from her worshipers.
The goal of an organized pantheon is usually to maintain status quo.
Therefore, gods gather information, interpret it, and act to prevent
disturbances from getting out of hand. The additional goal of an individual god
is to further her own status and power. This means constant plotting and
manipulation.
As a result, it is safe to assume that gods have very little free time. 24
hours/year can be used as an estimate. Note that this time is used for actions
that arent related to either of the goals mentioned. Note also that continuity
devices become an interesting option with this limitation.
So much for the gods of the organized pantheons, the Olympians, the Indian
gods, etc. But what about rogue gods like Callisto and Velasca? Well, simply
put, they do what they want. Rogue gods are per definition outside the
established structures, and answer only to themselves. If they want to travel
around the world and zap everything in sight, they can do so - until someone
stops them.

GAME MECHANICS (4E)

The gods of the Xenaverse are a bit different than standard D&D gods. Some
key differences:
- Xenaverse gods are meddlesome, prone to follow whims, and generally not
very bright.

- While dangerous in a fight, they are normally within the mortal level 1-30
range, rather than routinely level 30+. Permanently killing one is a major
undertaking, but accomplishing your objectives in an encounter with an
opposing god is doable for low-epic and sometimes even paragon characters.
- They have certain extremely powerful abilitites that are of little use in fight,
but nevertheless need to be sharply defined.
- They are quite powerless if unable to move their arms.

GOD TRAITS
Both PC and NPC gods have certain traits:
A god don't age, and don't need to eat, sleep or breathe.
Name Sense: Whenever a god's name is spoken, it hears and can locate the
speaker and get a visual image of her. This is only true in cultures where the
god is worshiped.
Temples: A god can see and hear everything that happens within its temples,
and see everything within a 1 mile radius around them.
God Levels: A god has at least one god level and no one but a god can
have god levels. A god usually gains god levels by attracting more worshipers
and strenghtening its portfolio. God levels have no connection to other levels
in the game (except on a very basic level (:-P) as a measure of power).
Miracles: A god knows one miracle per god level. If the god level changes,
the number of miracles known changes too. Miracles are akin to class powers,
but vastly more powerful and often ill-suited to everyday adventuring. Unless
otherwise noted, a miracle takes a standard action to perform. The god
mustn't be restrained or otherwise unable to use its arms in order to perform a
miracle.
Miracle
Archetype
Bring Knowledge
Create Creature
Design Creature
Destroy Town
Extended Resistance

Description
(Constant) Link yourself to a phenomenon
(Daily) Grant extra levels to a small group
(Daily) Cause a creature to appear
(Yearly) Learn how to create a certain creature
(Yearly) Strike a settlement with a geological or
meteorological disaster
(Constant) Gain resistance against a new damage type

Rapture

(Daily) Grant visions to mortals

But then there are some things specifically for PC gods, that NPCs need not
adhere to. After all: many NPC gods have been gods or nearly so from birth,
something far beyond the normal D&D rules. Then again, there are several
examples in the show of mortal NPCs ascending to godhood.

PC GODS
Becoming a God: When you become a god, you take on the new god
template. You also cease to earn XP. Instead you increase your power by
getting more worshippers and strengthening your portfolio.
Advancing a God Level: Getting your first temple gives you god level 1.
Getting 9 more temples gives you another god level. You advance a new god
level every time you manage to get 10 more temples consecrated to you.
When advancing a god level, you either learn a new miracle, or you get one
character level. The character level advancement follow all the normal rules,
except that any new powers can be chosen from any character class. If you
wish to retrain a power, you can also pick the new power from any character
class. The only restriction is that you have to reskin the description to fit your
character, its portfolio, or how gods are portrayed in the series.

ASKING GODS FOR HELP

Few gods genuinely care for human needs, but many are wise enough to
realize that some effort is needed to ensure worship and sacrifices. In the
show, gods sometimes appear when important heroes call for their aid. But
they are not often as helpful as said heroes wishes. The same should hold
true for PCs. Asking a god to intervene is a gamble.
To illustrate this, the following method can be used:
A PC praying for help makes a Religion check DC 30. A sacrifice gives a +10
bonus. If it succeeds, and the god belongs to the local culture, the god
appears.

1d20

What the god does before leaving

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

Gives advice.
Gives advice if the subject is clearly within the god's portfolio.
Compliments the sacrifice.
Performs a spectacular but unhelpful miracle.
Holds a lecture on how busy the god is.
Hangs around for a while, cheering the PCs on but not otherwise
helping.
Performs a helpful miracle with an effect that could just as easily have
been done by a couple of unexeptional mortals working for an hour.
Performs an heroic ritual or daily power.
Performs a paragaon ritual or daily power.
Performs an epic ritual or daily power.
Fetches a confused mortal totally unsuitable to the task at hand.
Fetches a confused mortal competent enough to help with the task at
hand.
Buys some time for the PCs.
Demands another sacrifice. If the god gets one, roll again on this table.
Solves the immediate problem.
Solves the immediate problem but demands a sidetour quest.
Starts to help but is stopped by a fellow deity. If either one is
persuaded with a skill challenge, the immediate problem is solved.
Performs a miracle that (unintentionally?) makes the situation worse
without solving the problem.
Performs a miracle that solves the problem but creates an even worse
new one.
Needs persuading before solving the problem.

GAME MECHANICS (D&D 3.5)

GOD
A god is a powerful supernatural being. Most gods exist in a kind of symbiosis

with their worshipers, helping or impressing them, and basking in their awe
and worship. All true gods have at least 1 level in the god prestige class.
Hit Die: 10 hp. A god gains 10hp per level, but no extra HD.
Requirements
To qualify to become a god, a character must fulfil one of the following
criteria:
Ascension by Ingestion: Consuming one dose of the Food of the Gods.
OR
Ascension by a Helping Hand: Another god must sacrifice one god level
and invest that power in making you a god.
Class Skills
The god has all skills as class skills. Furthermore, there is no upper maximum
for skill ranks for gods. This only applies to distributions of skill points gained
from god levels, not from other classes that the character may have.
Skill Points at Each Level: 20 skill points. This is not modified by
Intelligence.
Class Features
All of the following are features of the god prestige class.
Weapon and Armour Proficiency: The god gains no proficiency with any
kind of weapon or armour. Nor do they get any attack-, or saving throw
bonuses.
Name Sense (Su): Whenever your name is spoken as part of a prayer,
invocation, battle cry, or simply with the desire to get your attention, you hear it
and can locate the speaker and get a visual image of her. This is only true in
cultures where you are worshiped.
Immortal Traits (Ex): Fast healing 10, heal ability score loss 1/day, immune
to acid, cold, death attacks, disease, fire, poison, sonic attacks. Dont need to
eat, drink or breathe. Dont age.
Damage Resistance (Ex): 30/Deicide
Spells: A god has a limited number of spells. From her store of spells, the
god can cast a maximum of 3 per god level, each hour. There is no ability
score requirement for these spells. Saving throws against these spells have a
DC of 20 + the god level.
These spells need not be prepared in any way. They have only somatic
components, regardless of what the description says. But even spells that
normally lack somatic components now have them. No XP-cost needs to be
paid.
Each time the god advances a god level, she can choose any spell of any

level from any spell list as her new spell, except limited wish, wish,or miracle.
Feats: Each time the god advances a god level (or rather 2 levels out of 3,
with the regular 1/3 levels feat that everyone gets on the "empty" levels), she
gets to pick a new feat. The feat can be general, metamagic, item-creation,
epic, or cosmic. Only gods have access to cosmic feats. As befits an
unbalanced prestige class, these feats are immensely more powerful than
other feats (or spells, for that matter), but not all are equal in power.

Cosmic Feats
Alter Time
Archetype
Global
Archetype
Bring
Knowledge
Continuity
Device
Create
Creature
Create Deicide
Create Pocket
Universe
Death Body
Decide Afterlife
Decree
Dethrone
Event
Awareness
Favourite
Grant Ability
Grant
Immortality
Home

Prerequisites
God level 5.
God level 1, no other god can have that particular Archetype
God level 5, Archetype, no other god can have that particular
Global Archetype.
God level 5, Wisdom 19.
God level 5.
God level 15.
God level 21.
God level 10.
God level 5.
God level 10, need active permission from gods of the culture
to designate a plane.
God level 10.
God level 10.
God level 5.
God level 1.
God level 5, 19 in the relevant ability.
God level 5.
God level 1.

Know
Geometry
Know Name
Lend Ability
Miracles
Madness
Omens
Revelations
Praise Me
Read Life
Soul Exchange
Temples
Miracles
Sacrifice
This is the Way
It Must Be
Undo

God level 1.
God level 5.
God level 1.
God level 5, Temples.
God level 1.
God level 5.
God level 5, Omens.
God level 1.
God level 5, Spot skill, Sense Motive skill.
God level 5.
God level 5.
God level 5, Temples.
God level 5, Temples.
God level 21.
God level 5.

ARTIFACTS
Continuity Device
Deicide
Food of the Gods
Ixion Stone
The Rheingold

EPIC GODS
Gods with more than 20 levels as gods are so infused with primal power that
they can't enter the Known World directly. The only way for them to do this is
through a mortal child born under very specific circumstances - the exact
circumstances vary from god to god.
Epic gods have no life-threads in the Loom, unlike gods of level 20 and

below.

LOSING DIVINITY
A god who for some reason loses her divine powers loses not only all benefits
of the god class. The physical and emotional shock also numbs her and
depresses her to no end, giving her -20 on all attack rolls, skill checks and
ability checks. This lasts for a number of years equal to the maximum god
level she achieved. Then the -20 penalty is removed, but she doesn't regain
any god class benefits.
If she were to become a god again, she regains all god class benefits and
her former god level.

DIVINE INTERVENTION
Most gods of the Known World meddle routinely in many aspects of the
acitivties of mortals. Having a god appearing is certainly the major event of the
day, but it isn't that uncommon and doesn't necessarily result in more than a
chat.
Whenever a spellcaster engages in a major and/or important project, there
is a 1% chance per class level that the god mentioned in that character's
divine orientation takes an interest in what happens.
"Taking an interest" can mean a lot of things. But unless the circumstances
are vitally important to the god, she stays only for 1d10 rounds, spending the
first round in hiding (invisible if she is able) observing.
The divine orientation rule for spellcasters is meant to balance the rarity of
their powers. If the appearing god is very much against the action of the
character, she will not hesitate to use force. Unlike many RPG settings, being
a god in XWP doesn't automatically mean that you are an artillery piece. But
many of the gods have spells and attacks that are enough to defeat most
characters of moderate levels.

Why not use Deities and Demigods?

The DaD rules produce gods who are good at everything; all skills, combat,
saves. They also all have enormous spell capabilities. At the same time, they
are not integrated in religions, other than the universal ability to grant (and
cast) divine spells to their clerics, a very rare phenomenon in XWP anyway.
This does not fit my view of XWP gods as powerful, but specialized
characters with some few but vital religious links.
Then there is the added nuisance that DaD preceded the Epic Level
Handbook, and thus has no references to levels above 20, or 3.5E for that
matter.
When I decided to make my own rules for XWP gods, I had a number of
alternatives. I could make a new set of mechanics, a parallel to DaD. Or, I
could use the framework of an existing concept. This concept could be a
creature type, a creature template, a race, or (I reasoned) a prestige class.
As noted elsewhere, Im not too fond of the prestige class concept.
Consciously unbalancing a new class instead of creating the few feats and/or
spells necessary to describe the desired character type with core classes is
bad judgement (except from a business point of view ;-)).
But the idea of a class more powerful than all the other classes works well
with gods. They ARE supposed to be superior in at least some way. And it
allows me to design the gods with existing tools (spells, normal feats, skills,
ability scores), and only when absolutely necessary add new things (cosmic
feats).
Warnings and disclaimers
For you gamers who will in all likelihood skip the rest of this paragraph, just
one note: the god prestige class is not in any way balanced compared to any
existing core- or prestige class. If you allow PCs to take this prestige class,
your PCs will become powerful as gods, literally. The feats presented are also
intended for gods only. They can NOT be taken as regular or even epic feats.
And now for some general disclaimers:
The god prestige class is designed to allow the inclusion of gods in XWPcampaigns.
This is NOT an attempt to define the real-word concepts of god or God.
This is NOT propaganda for or against any form of religion.
The beings described here have very little in common with their real-world
namesakes. For Zeus sake, do NOT use the info here as basis for any kind of
serious research.