'You shell find the shard before it awakens' says the seer at the circus. Shrugging Amell the sniper put his hands into his pocket 'well what does the shard look like?' Taking his hand out holding a clear gem. 'Like that.'
I have an idea for a warlock of a fragment of Mystral the first goddess of magic. The divine shard contains the chaotic aspect of Mystral and wishes to be reborn so the warlock acts as a vessel in exchange for access to 10th, 11th, and 12th level spells at 18th, 19th, and 20th level respectively.
I am going to use the shit out of this. And I have just the god and champaign to use it. When Eilietraee died to her own blade as it was swung by The Lady Penitent she left this shard as the fraction of her power that was lost during this dark time. When Mystra died at the hands of Helm the new Mystra returned Eilistraee to her previous form this shard remained. My players, who are going to help Eilietraee defeat Lolth by finding the Crescent Blade, will stumble across it. Eilistraee, in her benevolent and loving ways, will cut her own shard into 4 and tell the party to use them and nurture the now shards of a shard of her power to ascend so they may defeat Lolth together. It will be harder to ascend with them considering they are now forths of a fraction but they will use them as the Chosen of the Dark Dancer.
Lol just thought of it. DIE VECHNA DIE campaign, if your party beats Vechna. Id6 rounds later, this little marble pops out of the wall that Vechna was pulled into the portal and defeated. Dub it "the True Eye of Vechna" And I will let the DMs take it from here. But Vechna said he would make it back one way or another. So here's another.
I feel like a fun way to to use this item is to create a cult that identifies one of the players as the "Choosen One" to become their one true god, but with a portfolio that the player hates. Then as they follow the player around, they worship everything they do as some lesson mired in mystery and interpretation. Whether or not they've accurately found their savior is of course up to how the table plays out.
Okay but imagine a Player Character intentionally allowing the Divine Shard to consume them in order to use the act of Ascension itself as a last-ditch Hail-Mary attack.
Imagine the cosmic fallout if said character did this in the midst of a Blood War battlefield, like Avernus. Would it devastate the legions of devils and demons? Would it change the landscape of the lower planes? Would it bring up the character as a new force of evil in the cosmic order, or as a benevolent force inside the lower planes? Would that level/domain become their native plane? Could Avernus become home to an oasis for good, or would the plane quickly corrupt the new god? So much to consider...
Lots of cool possibilities here. Seems like there's no guarantees the divinity within is even inherently humanoid, imagine finding one of these and it's a remnant of one of the gods of the lost creator races or even the far realm.
Well technically speaking divine beings could bless someone's bloodline the same way an evil one could curse them. Could just say you had such and such ancestor who was either a champion or very devoted to their diety and as such said diety blessed their bloodline. Could also just be a random thing like my ancestor witnessed x diety use some power and they absorbed some of that divine magic by accident.
@@goolabbolshevish1t651 Imagine being a champion who saves the world, sees friends go, and is rewarded by none other than the gods themselves... only for your blessed bloodline to be graced with a sorcerer who accidentally fucking kills someone before they can completely control their magic. Not sure why that's where my mind went, I think it's just funny.
Once again AJ kicking it out of the park with the story prompt inspiration! Imagine a divine shard popping up after the death of a god and the rebirth mechanic is a way for the multiverse to keep the domains of that previous god taken up. You could give the PC a couple bonus abilities that are related to that god's domains as you come closer to full awakening past the point of no return.
This sounds like a great item for a character to carry around unknowingly, maybe because it's a family heirloom passed down for generations by the last priests of the dead god. Maybe it's been passed down unused for so long that the priests' descendants forgot why they were keeping it, and the character just thinks it's a really really really rare rock. Until they attune to it, of course.
An idea just popped into my mind. Imagine a just absorbed person being sent to another plane where they need to face of with the old dead god in a duel. If the god win they get resurrected, if not the newely absorbed person become a new god. A third possibility could be that they simply call of the duel where the old god offer to take over the newcomers mortality. From the point of view of the people around they see someone dissapear just to be replaced by another person. This person that just recently was a long dead god but now, willingly a very much living and indeed mortal, all divinity gone.
I created something similar for my homebrew world. If the Divinity is complete eventually it'll reform in to a new god of the same domain. If it's a fragment of Divinity is shattered (the way to completely kill a god) then if a compatible being devours it and assimilates it, they gain some power npc may become demigods if a pc they gain feats or epic boons (depending on their lvl). If not compatible they die just like that no saving throws. They can get power from it but there's a 97% chance of dying
Currently playing thru a 'Restore the Gods' arc, and boy oh boy my Monk would be looking at this thinking "We are currently looking for a God of Balance right now..."
The initial description sounds like a weaponized Silmaril. For RPing flavor, I think I'd start adding impulses from the original god after the first failed save. Naturally the impulses would have escalating saving throws based on failures. Even a similarly aligned god could have different priorities and tendencies...
Sounds like a back up plan by the local Overgod/ Equivalent to make sure deific balance is maintained. Since invariably thats who that soothsayer just happens to be. In a very roundabout internship to full employment package fail the old one returns.
Planning to use this as the peak of the netherese city in Icewind dale, a hag (the banshee from LMoP) asked my party for find it, once they get it back to her she will unlock it's arcane cage, reveal the gem, a destructive fight breaks out between the hag and a set of fiends looking to use this power they've just detected leaving the party in this battle crater, shard in hand. I don't know what god the gem should come from, Karsus, a mote of his research residing within this city, an uber-powerful magic jar effect after his destruction or a piece of Mystryl caught by his folly, still eager to gift the power of the weave to mortals with no limit, helping drive another arcane ascension to godhood. Perhaps the gem is dim within it's cage till Auril has been defeated, that being the entity to drive her into owlbear from, a failed capturing completed with her defeat, then activating the city and being a beacon to help guide the players their. Or no god at all, some other arch-mage of Netheril had formulated a way to ascent to godhood and for whatever reason didn't manage it, either wiser than Karsus, scared to let go of their earthly possessions and the consequences on their psyche, preparing safeguards before Karsus broke the weave, perhaps trying to find Ostoria and the Necklace of Ulutiu to provide enough cooling to fuel this immense experiment and all it's safe guards.
I like the rebirth of an old god plot hook. Take a setting with a lot of dead gods, and drop one of these in there. No one can identify the shard, but a good aligned character in the party feels a certain connection to it. Then, as the shard grows and ascension approaches, watch to the party's horror as what they thought would be a noble act of sacrifice to bring back a long dead force of good instead incarnates the slain greater god of evil and darkness, using the good aligned PC as fuel for it's return, annihilating their soul and destroying their legacy. Then, next campaign has the PC's looking for something to stop this deity of darkness incarnated on the mortal plane. Something like the Tarrasque, a rival deity, an 11th level spell, Zargon the Returner, or even all of the above perhaps?
I can picture after an a celebration of EPIC proportions after using the Divine Shard to defeat the BBEG of the campaign the holder transforms into Bilious, the OH GOD! of hangovers the next morning.
If a layer of the abyss made from the corpse of a dead god was ever healed, it might become one of these? You might be walking the dunes in the planes of dust or salt and see a glitter on the horizon? edit: Could you use one to heal an abyssal layer? edit2: These would have to sell for a nice amount on the soul trade...
Okay, give me a chaos magic artificer who hunts shards down and finds the people who are destined to attune to the shards along as bait to contain these keys to godhood.
I wonder what a Divine Soul Sorcerer would feel, being capable of both Arcane and Divine Magic? (They are also a Charisma-based class) Had a scary shudder of an Idea, 3 shards attune to a character!
Stuff like this is why even though I grew up poor I always managed to keep all the basic books and even some extras for every edition from 2nd to 3.5 (I literally know nothing about 4th edition other than a lot of people seemed to not like it) BG3 has been bringing those feels back and this video has just convinced me that I want to go buy all the 5th edition books I can afford and probably all of them eventually lol
Just max out Charisma first as a Paladin and be awake dawn (or play a race that doesn't need sleep)... Your minimum Charisma save is 15 by level 9. All the benefits with none of the fear of awakening an evil god.
This is almost a perfect item for what I offers in terms of fun, storytelling, and mechanics, and its just to tantalizing for a player to not use it. Like he said no player is going to hear all the things they get from the shard, and the chance to become a god and not jump at it.
My favorite "noisy cricket" was a failed "Ring of the Ram" that worked - but it didn't violate Newton's laws, so "every action is opposed by an equal and opposite reaction". My party outsmarted the curse & gave it to a gnome theif who used it to "yeet" himself up cliffs to ledges & up walls to balconies.
Wow. Just wow. Yes I cant think of one. Just one of my characters that would begrudgingly use this to ascend into godhood. But he would also make plans. Clone is form, and before full ascension he would send a shard or as much of his personality into the clone and basically start over at level 1 but with the knowledge and experience of a 20th + level character, things would come to him in dreams. Lots of deja vu moments. Running into a old friend that's new to him. Oh what rp gold!!!!
I can see this item being a piece of a god who willingly removed a piece of themselves and hurled to a safe location to preserve their essence incase of their possible demise or potentially looking for a worthy vessel to use as a champion for their cause. Imagine, after the body is consumed, your mind is now in a golden palace hall with you looking face to face with said god. Depending on the character/god in question you could be given a choice. 1.Let yourself become an aspect of the deity's will and be a champion 2.Get a free pass in becoming a part of the god's collective consciousness (Like in your video about practitioners) 3.Use your body as a starting model for their newest potential avatar and have you as the pilot until they need to take control temporarily, kinda like a workaround to obtaining more avatars than a specific deity should own depending on their status as a Quazi, lesser, intermediate, or greater deity. Kinda like how Tiamat stole another dragon god's avatar and used it as her second one. But that one is dedicated to combat. witch was destroyed in the Tiamat adventure so now she's down one of her avatars and the one she has left isn't suited for combat (i mean it is, just not a CR 30 avatar). The difference here is that the Devine shard created avatar created has another person piloting it when the god is not using it. This for me would be an interesting thing to see in a campaign later on. Honestly number 3 is my favorite. what's your opinion on it?
Rogue to Party's Mage: Hey... Lookie here, I found this amazing crystal! I don't wanna put it down and can't stop staring at it, but I think it's got some magic writing on it... Is it magic? Is it Cursed? .... What's it say? (mage takes it from reluctant rogue, mumbles, then casts a cantrip) Oh. (hands it back promptly) Oh? OH what? What does it say? Hm... Well, I would tell you to put it back, but... But? BUT WHAT? WHAT DOES IT SAY!!!??? (gently chuckles to self) um... "Property of Osiris"
This sounds interesting. Just imagine a character has become one with the divine shard and they roleplay the new deity as a demigod. Depending on the deity you could see a character's mannerisms change. For example an orc whose a wild soul barbarian who become a god of justice and literally lashes out at evil characters and decides to make other orcs his worshippers.
What happens if the gem fails to consume the host. That person lives their full life and dies of old age? Depending on which kind of God it was I might willingly fail those saving throws.
@Ian Robertson the shape of the shard is up to the DM's discretion it could be shaped like an eggplant, a star, an ... thematically Crenshinibon could be equated to a divine shard it even does similar things to the wielder's body, hell a divine shard can corrupt a user, personally I'm head-canoning that Errtu helped by giving this court of liches a divine being's corpse that he personally helped slay. And It DOES draw its power from the sun in a twisted joke made by the seven powerful liches who willed it into being, but since this abomination they created was powered by the sun which is a deadly laser it obliterated their bodies.
@Ian Robertson technically speaking the shard wasnt actually destroyed, it was converted into a dracolich's phylactery and making it a truly dark object of evil. so in effect the priest cadderly did an oopsie, but ya know when you mess with powerful objects big gears start spinning.
When Anubis has exhausted his patience with tampering his charges, a plan forms, and he gives you the "gift" that you seek. However, the gift, he recieves is the release of one dead god and allowing the cosmic war to continue.
If it looks like a stone it must have the consistency of air. If it looks like gas, it must have the consistency of stone. And all kinds of temperatures at the same time.
I wonder what would happen if a evil cleric like say a Ixitxachitls found it? Would they see it as a blessing from demogorgon? Would they renounce their evil way of worshipping demogorgon? Would they see it as some sort of evil magic by the false gods? 🤔 Also excellent video aj! Love seeing the new things in the DM Guild!🧙♂️
@@AJPickett or maybe they could use it to become a Ultra super vampire Ixitxachitls!🧛♂️ Also do vampire Ixitxachitls get hurt by Divine spells? If so they're playing one dangerous Russian roulette game!
My current campaign is about the players assembling the First Hymn, the divine song of creation used at the beginning of time. If they succeed, godhood is their reward.
it's literally a divine spark, so long as the one using it is powerful enough to not get burned out they should only ever get bumped up to demi/lesser god status.
Another great item that will probably have to be at least part of the story line, and I cant imagine it being anything less then session consuming when it matures.
Like you said, this is a cool way to retire a character. You could even make that character a new religion in your next campaign taking place however many decades of centuries later😂
I'd like to hear how you achieved God hood! I drew from The deck of many things and drew any 3 question cards asked where torm was king as a human and what was his name then where could I find a Large greatsword holy avenger of torm. It's in his dogma in the faiths and pantheons from 3r
It just struck me that you haven't done a wereraven video yet as I am so used to searching aj picket (subject name) haha well I guess I'm requesting a video.
@@AJPickett Huh...scrolled through the entire comment section and didn't see the joke when I went to post. Then again, I do tend to overlook comments. Oh well.
Does make me think; Perhaps such an item can be reskinned as a piece of the Shard of Ultimate Evil. Rather than ascend you to Godhood, it instead just consumes you. (Or maybe you're transformed into some uber-powerful Demon, either is fun.)
I apologize if I missed this in the video. The gem is very difficult to analyze naturally, but is there any means of determining which godly essence is inside the shard? Becoming a god is normally the highlight of a character's career, but I would feel terrible if my 20th level paladin was consumed and became the next Lord of Murder. Also, can you willingly fail the save each morning to fuel the gem and complete apotheosis as fast as possible? If so it would make a great final adventure. You have one week to stop Obox-ob (or your own favorite evil entity) from ascending to godhood, cutting down the overmatched diabolic defenders like wheat from the scythe, and drowning the Multiverse in buzzing, chittering death.
Another video that tickles my imagination, AJ. I've created artifacts that potentially end the character's story arc in awesome ways too... this would fit nicely among them. When I have a player retire his character as a newspawn god (as opposed to go to the divinity role playing I have, where he begins his godhood story there), I usually let the player decide how his cults behave when they pop up. Well, nobody can become and maintain godhood (in Loom) without worshipers.
Esper The Bard creation, Hero Paragon, add a Divine Shard, does that then equal Broken? You could have a natural success once a day on those charisma saving throws. The "fates" theme is also very strong between this item and that class.. I really want to play it out.
Remember, the ultimate voice of fate in your game is the Dungeon Master, thus I don't tend to indulge in the "This combination will break your game" debates... it can never break the game if it never happens because the DM says "Yeah nah, that doesn't happen". Artifacts do not show up in the game unless the DM puts them there.
@@AJPickett So true, but the flavor between both the Artifact and class is pretty delicious. Always, enjoy your content and expertise. Thanks for all the great content.
AJ - I want to give you an update on my paladin. He was doing well. Level 6. But then he got mind controlled by a Lamia and started hacking up his fellow adventurers. So they had to put him down. 😔 It was so sad end to a great warrior of Torm.
My campaign has a lot to do with time-travel and the scope of the gods across the multi-verse. In it there's a known myth about the creation of the multi-verse revolving around a game of marbles played by the gods. The chaos of this game of marbles creates the Astral Sea. These thirteen magic marbles are also referred to as Thrones and they're the source of authority in the universe. The origin of these marbles isn't known. In my campaign some time-travel shenanigans threaten to collapse the multi-verse, all due to the experiments of a mortal with god-like intellect. This character has had two minor experiments in my setting that resulted in great cataclysms. The locations of these experiments are largely avoided and those that come out of them are never the same. The players are going to explore both of these locations, and I'm thinking that one of the would be a great place for something like this to have been "created". I'm thinking it's an unintended side effect of what happened there with the folding of time (there's a time loop there that connects several places in the timeline), and it would be interesting if it were somehow connected to the origin of these magic marbles.
Ok what I wanna know is...Which of your characters became a deity!?! How? Of What? My players had a campaign where their characters ascended into godhood to fight a collection of invading demon lords (lead by Eshabala) and you can tell a lot about their personalities based on which portfolios they chose. So I'm really curious how your ascension went.
Belchimeral, a Psion character (also an Illumian from 3.5 edition) he died something like 3-4 times before he hit level three (once from randomly looking under a rock, where a poison spider bit him and killed him on the spot), eventually, he helped save the town of Salushen, and the nation and then the world, the last chapter saw the characters take the path to godhood, where he became Bel, a god of psionics, among other things, he remained a part of the pantheons of future campaigns in that world, which ran for several years.
@@AJPickett Sounds like an awesome character! Well mainly I just love psionics and Illumians. (I'll never forgive WoTC for killing the mystic) But that does sound like a super satisfying character to have played and have referenced. Hopeful you'll have another character like that someday soon! Also...I can't stop imagining Belchimeral being sued by Bel of Avernus for copy right
@@AJPickett I regret my decision and now have to ask. Can I teleport inside and back out to get the Shard? If I cannot teleport then should I get an Umberhulk or Purple Worm to make me an exit route outside the Tarasque? These are the questions that will save us from a bad decision.
Its more likely that it is just one of the 333 gems. I have a theory where, the orbs of dragonkind and the infinity spindle are also a few of those 333 gems. A few of those gems are probably still on some of the deities and archfiends, and a few of them are probably even lost, lost somewhere in the deepest caverns of pandemonium, chucked deep into the astral sea, or even into the far realm itself. Where ALL of the gems are, only deities of knowledge and Vecna knows. But a few of them might be right under everyone's noses.
I have a character who his goal is to gain godhood because he's madly in love with the goddess loath and wants to be with her I imagine if he got a hold of this artifact he would swallow it so no one could take it from him and he would then do everything he could to absorb the power in a way that when he ascends he isn't overtaken by whatever God it was originally made from
There are many ways to become a deity in dnd but this is among the worst (unless you keep your memories and become your own deity instead of becoming some random deity) easier ways I can think of right now are becoming a lich (you possibly could wish for it) and siphon off divine power from a deity (perhaps it could be a dead deity) you could get a wish from a genie or other using methods (in this case you can choose more stuff about this just be careful with the wording) or you could be a cleric and eventually get this as a reward (the downside in this case is you would mostlikely have to just be a cleric (from levels 1 to 20) and it would take a while however you can choose the type of cleric you are so you indirectly can choose the type of deity you would become so you have to choose what path to follow and stay on that path)
To be fair I didn't say it would make them a true deity and vecna is an example of a lich becoming a deity (all that is required to become a lich deity is you need to become a lich and acquire some Divine energy (it doesn't have to be from any particular source) and do a certain ritual)
A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON!
NO WHY did I have to spam take all...
Opened the video specifically to add this, lol, was my first thought! I'm a little disappointed it wasn't the first comment 😋
But Meridia I'm a vampire!🧛♂️
"LISTEN, HEAR ME AND OBEY..."
or I'll carry this rock for the rest of my life.
The Divine Yeet, goodbye siege engine.
'You shell find the shard before it awakens' says the seer at the circus.
Shrugging Amell the sniper put his hands into his pocket 'well what does the shard look like?' Taking his hand out holding a clear gem.
'Like that.'
Just imagine how the PC, and the actual player reacts to that
TFW
AJ, you are the best salesman I’ve ever met. I have bought almost every single product you’ve highlighted in videos.
AJ has the finest wares. 😺
@@AJPickett I've said it before and I'll say it again. Someone should be sponsoring you.
@@Zasek2112 I am hoping to hear back from a cheese company. Fingers crossed.
:)
@@AJPickett :o
I have an idea for a warlock of a fragment of Mystral the first goddess of magic. The divine shard contains the chaotic aspect of Mystral and wishes to be reborn so the warlock acts as a vessel in exchange for access to 10th, 11th, and 12th level spells at 18th, 19th, and 20th level respectively.
I am going to use the shit out of this. And I have just the god and champaign to use it. When Eilietraee died to her own blade as it was swung by The Lady Penitent she left this shard as the fraction of her power that was lost during this dark time. When Mystra died at the hands of Helm the new Mystra returned Eilistraee to her previous form this shard remained. My players, who are going to help Eilietraee defeat Lolth by finding the Crescent Blade, will stumble across it. Eilistraee, in her benevolent and loving ways, will cut her own shard into 4 and tell the party to use them and nurture the now shards of a shard of her power to ascend so they may defeat Lolth together. It will be harder to ascend with them considering they are now forths of a fraction but they will use them as the Chosen of the Dark Dancer.
Lol just thought of it. DIE VECHNA DIE campaign, if your party beats Vechna.
Id6 rounds later, this little marble pops out of the wall that Vechna was pulled into the portal and defeated.
Dub it "the True Eye of Vechna"
And I will let the DMs take it from here.
But Vechna said he would make it back one way or another. So here's another.
I feel like a fun way to to use this item is to create a cult that identifies one of the players as the "Choosen One" to become their one true god, but with a portfolio that the player hates. Then as they follow the player around, they worship everything they do as some lesson mired in mystery and interpretation. Whether or not they've accurately found their savior is of course up to how the table plays out.
Okay but imagine a Player Character intentionally allowing the Divine Shard to consume them in order to use the act of Ascension itself as a last-ditch Hail-Mary attack.
Imagine the cosmic fallout if said character did this in the midst of a Blood War battlefield, like Avernus.
Would it devastate the legions of devils and demons? Would it change the landscape of the lower planes? Would it bring up the character as a new force of evil in the cosmic order, or as a benevolent force inside the lower planes? Would that level/domain become their native plane? Could Avernus become home to an oasis for good, or would the plane quickly corrupt the new god?
So much to consider...
Lots of cool possibilities here. Seems like there's no guarantees the divinity within is even inherently humanoid, imagine finding one of these and it's a remnant of one of the gods of the lost creator races or even the far realm.
so that's how you make a Divine Sorcerer's origin that's not "a god banged my mortal parent"? that's amazing!
Well technically speaking divine beings could bless someone's bloodline the same way an evil one could curse them.
Could just say you had such and such ancestor who was either a champion or very devoted to their diety and as such said diety blessed their bloodline.
Could also just be a random thing like my ancestor witnessed x diety use some power and they absorbed some of that divine magic by accident.
@@goolabbolshevish1t651 Imagine being a champion who saves the world, sees friends go, and is rewarded by none other than the gods themselves... only for your blessed bloodline to be graced with a sorcerer who accidentally fucking kills someone before they can completely control their magic. Not sure why that's where my mind went, I think it's just funny.
My DM hints that my previous PC may have become a God.
Which could explain his children longevity
Once again AJ kicking it out of the park with the story prompt inspiration! Imagine a divine shard popping up after the death of a god and the rebirth mechanic is a way for the multiverse to keep the domains of that previous god taken up. You could give the PC a couple bonus abilities that are related to that god's domains as you come closer to full awakening past the point of no return.
Exactly so, like the transformation into a more and more lawful being as the rod of seven parts is reassembled.
This sounds like a great item for a character to carry around unknowingly, maybe because it's a family heirloom passed down for generations by the last priests of the dead god. Maybe it's been passed down unused for so long that the priests' descendants forgot why they were keeping it, and the character just thinks it's a really really really rare rock. Until they attune to it, of course.
An idea just popped into my mind. Imagine a just absorbed person being sent to another plane where they need to face of with the old dead god in a duel. If the god win they get resurrected, if not the newely absorbed person become a new god. A third possibility could be that they simply call of the duel where the old god offer to take over the newcomers mortality. From the point of view of the people around they see someone dissapear just to be replaced by another person. This person that just recently was a long dead god but now, willingly a very much living and indeed mortal, all divinity gone.
I created something similar for my homebrew world. If the Divinity is complete eventually it'll reform in to a new god of the same domain. If it's a fragment of Divinity is shattered (the way to completely kill a god) then if a compatible being devours it and assimilates it, they gain some power npc may become demigods if a pc they gain feats or epic boons (depending on their lvl). If not compatible they die just like that no saving throws. They can get power from it but there's a 97% chance of dying
Currently playing thru a 'Restore the Gods' arc, and boy oh boy my Monk would be looking at this thinking "We are currently looking for a God of Balance right now..."
"...if you think I've earned your subscription." Of course you have. I love this channel.
Thank you Sage :)
The initial description sounds like a weaponized Silmaril. For RPing flavor, I think I'd start adding impulses from the original god after the first failed save. Naturally the impulses would have escalating saving throws based on failures. Even a similarly aligned god could have different priorities and tendencies...
Sounds like a back up plan by the local Overgod/ Equivalent to make sure deific balance is maintained. Since invariably thats who that soothsayer just happens to be. In a very roundabout internship to full employment package fail the old one returns.
Planning to use this as the peak of the netherese city in Icewind dale, a hag (the banshee from LMoP) asked my party for find it, once they get it back to her she will unlock it's arcane cage, reveal the gem, a destructive fight breaks out between the hag and a set of fiends looking to use this power they've just detected leaving the party in this battle crater, shard in hand. I don't know what god the gem should come from, Karsus, a mote of his research residing within this city, an uber-powerful magic jar effect after his destruction or a piece of Mystryl caught by his folly, still eager to gift the power of the weave to mortals with no limit, helping drive another arcane ascension to godhood. Perhaps the gem is dim within it's cage till Auril has been defeated, that being the entity to drive her into owlbear from, a failed capturing completed with her defeat, then activating the city and being a beacon to help guide the players their. Or no god at all, some other arch-mage of Netheril had formulated a way to ascent to godhood and for whatever reason didn't manage it, either wiser than Karsus, scared to let go of their earthly possessions and the consequences on their psyche, preparing safeguards before Karsus broke the weave, perhaps trying to find Ostoria and the Necklace of Ulutiu to provide enough cooling to fuel this immense experiment and all it's safe guards.
bought the book, definitely working this artifact into my campaign. I have the perfect place for it.
Im literally joining a campaign where a civilization is mining shards of gods. I could absolutely see this as a superior shard.
It’s beautiful right now in Kansas y’all as I’m gathering acorns to make up some Fluor or a quick treat for the fall time
I've tried several times to use acorns. They are always bitter. What do you do with them.
Great job
I like the rebirth of an old god plot hook. Take a setting with a lot of dead gods, and drop one of these in there. No one can identify the shard, but a good aligned character in the party feels a certain connection to it. Then, as the shard grows and ascension approaches, watch to the party's horror as what they thought would be a noble act of sacrifice to bring back a long dead force of good instead incarnates the slain greater god of evil and darkness, using the good aligned PC as fuel for it's return, annihilating their soul and destroying their legacy. Then, next campaign has the PC's looking for something to stop this deity of darkness incarnated on the mortal plane. Something like the Tarrasque, a rival deity, an 11th level spell, Zargon the Returner, or even all of the above perhaps?
I can picture after an a celebration of EPIC proportions after using the Divine Shard to defeat the BBEG of the campaign the holder transforms into Bilious, the OH GOD! of hangovers the next morning.
If a layer of the abyss made from the corpse of a dead god was ever healed, it might become one of these?
You might be walking the dunes in the planes of dust or salt and see a glitter on the horizon?
edit: Could you use one to heal an abyssal layer?
edit2: These would have to sell for a nice amount on the soul trade...
Okay, give me a chaos magic artificer who hunts shards down and finds the people who are destined to attune to the shards along as bait to contain these keys to godhood.
Hmu for the good enough, I love your videos
I wonder what a Divine Soul Sorcerer would feel, being capable of both Arcane and Divine Magic? (They are also a Charisma-based class)
Had a scary shudder of an Idea, 3 shards attune to a character!
Stuff like this is why even though I grew up poor I always managed to keep all the basic books and even some extras for every edition from 2nd to 3.5 (I literally know nothing about 4th edition other than a lot of people seemed to not like it)
BG3 has been bringing those feels back and this video has just convinced me that I want to go buy all the 5th edition books I can afford and probably all of them eventually lol
Oh yeah!
Just max out Charisma first as a Paladin and be awake dawn (or play a race that doesn't need sleep)... Your minimum Charisma save is 15 by level 9. All the benefits with none of the fear of awakening an evil god.
This is almost a perfect item for what I offers in terms of fun, storytelling, and mechanics, and its just to tantalizing for a player to not use it. Like he said no player is going to hear all the things they get from the shard, and the chance to become a god and not jump at it.
My favorite "noisy cricket" was a failed "Ring of the Ram" that worked - but it didn't violate Newton's laws, so "every action is opposed by an equal and opposite reaction". My party outsmarted the curse & gave it to a gnome theif who used it to "yeet" himself up cliffs to ledges & up walls to balconies.
Wow. Just wow. Yes I cant think of one. Just one of my characters that would begrudgingly use this to ascend into godhood.
But he would also make plans. Clone is form, and before full ascension he would send a shard or as much of his personality into the clone and basically start over at level 1 but with the knowledge and experience of a 20th + level character, things would come to him in dreams. Lots of deja vu moments. Running into a old friend that's new to him. Oh what rp gold!!!!
I can see this item being a piece of a god who willingly removed a piece of themselves and hurled to a safe location to preserve their essence incase of their possible demise or potentially looking for a worthy vessel to use as a champion for their cause.
Imagine, after the body is consumed, your mind is now in a golden palace hall with you looking face to face with said god. Depending on the character/god in question you could be given a choice.
1.Let yourself become an aspect of the deity's will and be a champion
2.Get a free pass in becoming a part of the god's collective consciousness (Like in your video about practitioners)
3.Use your body as a starting model for their newest potential avatar and have you as the pilot until they need to take control temporarily, kinda like a workaround to obtaining more avatars than a specific deity should own depending on their status as a Quazi, lesser, intermediate, or greater deity.
Kinda like how Tiamat stole another dragon god's avatar and used it as her second one. But that one is dedicated to combat. witch was destroyed in the Tiamat adventure so now she's down one of her avatars and the one she has left isn't suited for combat (i mean it is, just not a CR 30 avatar).
The difference here is that the Devine shard created avatar created has another person piloting it when the god is not using it. This for me would be an interesting thing to see in a campaign later on.
Honestly number 3 is my favorite. what's your opinion on it?
Rogue to Party's Mage: Hey... Lookie here, I found this amazing crystal!
I don't wanna put it down and can't stop staring at it, but I think it's got some magic writing on it...
Is it magic? Is it Cursed? .... What's it say?
(mage takes it from reluctant rogue, mumbles, then casts a cantrip)
Oh. (hands it back promptly)
Oh? OH what? What does it say?
Hm... Well, I would tell you to put it back, but...
But? BUT WHAT? WHAT DOES IT SAY!!!???
(gently chuckles to self) um... "Property of Osiris"
This sounds interesting. Just imagine a character has become one with the divine shard and they roleplay the new deity as a demigod.
Depending on the deity you could see a character's mannerisms change. For example an orc whose a wild soul barbarian who become a god of justice and literally lashes out at evil characters and decides to make other orcs his worshippers.
1:05 Now all I can think of is a stereotypically “kewl” pc with slicked back hair using these as toothpicks.
Is that a puffinforest reference?
4:21 That is now the must awasem thing ever!!!
First time i hear about artifacts of guild, thanks!
What happens if the gem fails to consume the host. That person lives their full life and dies of old age? Depending on which kind of God it was I might willingly fail those saving throws.
Possibly, and sure, one can always choose to fail a saving throw.
Epic level magic items! This is why I play DnD! 💫
What if the crystal shard from the novels of R. A. Salvatore was one of these bad bois
Crenshinibon technically could be since it draws power from the sun
@Ian Robertson the shape of the shard is up to the DM's discretion it could be shaped like an eggplant, a star, an ...
thematically Crenshinibon could be equated to a divine shard it even does similar things to the wielder's body, hell a divine shard can corrupt a user, personally I'm head-canoning that Errtu helped by giving this court of liches a divine being's corpse that he personally helped slay.
And It DOES draw its power from the sun in a twisted joke made by the seven powerful liches who willed it into being, but since this abomination they created was powered by the sun which is a deadly laser it obliterated their bodies.
@Ian Robertson technically speaking the shard wasnt actually destroyed, it was converted into a dracolich's phylactery and making it a truly dark object of evil.
so in effect the priest cadderly did an oopsie, but ya know when you mess with powerful objects big gears start spinning.
When Anubis has exhausted his patience with tampering his charges, a plan forms, and he gives you the "gift" that you seek. However, the gift, he recieves is the release of one dead god and allowing the cosmic war to continue.
Thanks aj, this should be good!
...wait, so a paladin can't fail the save, right? 5 (from charisma), 6 from prof, 5 from the aura, for a total of 16... I see what they did there :)
You can always roll a 1.
@@AJPickett Is it possible to choose not to resist the shard?
@@AJPickett The problem is that "nat 1"s aren't special (outside of attack rolls). That's still a total of 17.
@@michaelpettersson4919 Sure
@@aliince9372 Agree to disagree.
this is perfect to use as a macguffin for the Sunday game I run, will have to check the supplement out
Reminds me of Dragonlace's Graygem
If it looks like a stone it must have the consistency of air. If it looks like gas, it must have the consistency of stone.
And all kinds of temperatures at the same time.
ill tell you one thing: I should not have tried acid for the first time and then...watched this. great work.
always ensure you have a buddy with you in such circumstances, one who has previous experience and is not more messed up than you are.
I wonder what would happen if a evil cleric like say a Ixitxachitls found it? Would they see it as a blessing from demogorgon? Would they renounce their evil way of worshipping demogorgon? Would they see it as some sort of evil magic by the false gods? 🤔
Also excellent video aj! Love seeing the new things in the DM Guild!🧙♂️
One could use it to murder all the vampire elite.
@@AJPickett or maybe they could use it to become a Ultra super vampire Ixitxachitls!🧛♂️
Also do vampire Ixitxachitls get hurt by Divine spells? If so they're playing one dangerous Russian roulette game!
A potent magical plot device not even trying to hide its nature.
What happens if a demigod finds one of these? Will they grow in divine power or be overridden by the shard?
Probably won't work on a demigod.
It may be up to the demigod to make multiple will saves while interacting with the shard, to prevent the shard from overcoming it's psyche?
The saves will decide.
I'll have to get the book! This item is perfect for my next session!
My current campaign is about the players assembling the First Hymn, the divine song of creation used at the beginning of time. If they succeed, godhood is their reward.
You have read the cleric quintet series by R.A Salvatore? Because you are on the money there.
@@AJPickett am I? Huh. Never read it, though I've scimmed through some of the Drizzt books.
@@dbensdrawinvids8390 you will love it.
it's literally a divine spark, so long as the one using it is powerful enough to not get burned out they should only ever get bumped up to demi/lesser god status.
Not a spark it's a seed and you're just fertilizer.
Soul Power
Good video AJ will check out the book
Another great item that will probably have to be at least part of the story line, and I cant imagine it being anything less then session consuming when it matures.
Ooooh. The every day check...
Feels like it should take more time to shove a whole god into a dude...
I made it to a live premier
Like you said, this is a cool way to retire a character. You could even make that character a new religion in your next campaign taking place however many decades of centuries later😂
The faith of Bel, god of psionic powers. Thanks to my Psion character Belchimeral.
Ivaldi is currently working towards something like that.....just needs more adamantine....so much more adamantine.
DA ORKZ MADE IT LIVE!!! WAAAAGH!!!
Oh great its a Ork Waaagh in the comments. I wonder how long its gonna take this time to get of all of you and your spores... I wish Vulkan was here.
I'd like to hear how you achieved God hood! I drew from The deck of many things and drew any 3 question cards asked where torm was king as a human and what was his name then where could I find a Large greatsword holy avenger of torm. It's in his dogma in the faiths and pantheons from 3r
It just struck me that you haven't done a wereraven video yet as I am so used to searching aj picket (subject name) haha well I guess I'm requesting a video.
Can do.
Someone should throw this in to the abyss.
Imagine if the divine shard is touched lightly to the tip of Asmodeus's Ruby Rod... pure evil meets divine essence... oooooo fun and games ya'll!
@@AJPickett man it would be really funny if it just turned out to be like a Mentos in a coke thing and Just squirts a lot of foam everywhere lmao!
"Divine Shard"
Sounds like some god had one too many burritos if you ask me
-10 points for repeating a joke in the comments already.
@@AJPickett Huh...scrolled through the entire comment section and didn't see the joke when I went to post. Then again, I do tend to overlook comments. Oh well.
Does make me think; Perhaps such an item can be reskinned as a piece of the Shard of Ultimate Evil. Rather than ascend you to Godhood, it instead just consumes you. (Or maybe you're transformed into some uber-powerful Demon, either is fun.)
Yes, nobody said it has to be a shard of a good god...
I apologize if I missed this in the video. The gem is very difficult to analyze naturally, but is there any means of determining which godly essence is inside the shard? Becoming a god is normally the highlight of a character's career, but I would feel terrible if my 20th level paladin was consumed and became the next Lord of Murder. Also, can you willingly fail the save each morning to fuel the gem and complete apotheosis as fast as possible? If so it would make a great final adventure. You have one week to stop Obox-ob (or your own favorite evil entity) from ascending to godhood, cutting down the overmatched diabolic defenders like wheat from the scythe, and drowning the Multiverse in buzzing, chittering death.
Dms choice since artifacts are plot device
another gem to set our minds awanderin'!
(pun intended)
and the artifact is cool as well...
14:49 I'm getting a weird "trompe l'oeil" effect on this image. Even if I pause it it seems ever so slightly in motion.
Interesting! I just had a couple of flagons of mead, so... everything is moving a little bit.
Another video that tickles my imagination, AJ. I've created artifacts that potentially end the character's story arc in awesome ways too... this would fit nicely among them. When I have a player retire his character as a newspawn god (as opposed to go to the divinity role playing I have, where he begins his godhood story there), I usually let the player decide how his cults behave when they pop up. Well, nobody can become and maintain godhood (in Loom) without worshipers.
I think your study was leaking phlogiston there in the side during the intro, AJ. lol
Aspect ratios are the branch of wizardry I sacrificed in order to specialize in another school.
AJ Pickett understandable. Lol
Best material for a Philactery AHAHAHAHAHA
I would love to play this in a spell jammer campaign and work around a god trapped phlogiston
I'm actually setting this plot up for my players! Just dropped the first hint on the shards!
@@jeremyrose4551 Nice 👍🏾
This is when a PC casting glibness or enhanced ability attain unlimited power.
Good plan, lets see how such plans survive contact with the Dungeon Master :D
Any other bleach fans get a huge hogyuku vibe from this?
Esper The Bard creation, Hero Paragon, add a Divine Shard, does that then equal Broken? You could have a natural success once a day on those charisma saving throws. The "fates" theme is also very strong between this item and that class.. I really want to play it out.
Remember, the ultimate voice of fate in your game is the Dungeon Master, thus I don't tend to indulge in the "This combination will break your game" debates... it can never break the game if it never happens because the DM says "Yeah nah, that doesn't happen". Artifacts do not show up in the game unless the DM puts them there.
@@AJPickett So true, but the flavor between both the Artifact and class is pretty delicious. Always, enjoy your content and expertise. Thanks for all the great content.
Shards of Io campaign get!
Can it appear on world's without gods like athas? And would gods possibly hand them out to replace a lost member of their pantheon?
Sure.
Throw this at your teifling friends to completely annihilate them!
Or, perhaps change them into asimar. Or another being DM's choice.
You made me forget all about ❤️ craft country
AJ - I want to give you an update on my paladin. He was doing well. Level 6. But then he got mind controlled by a Lamia and started hacking up his fellow adventurers. So they had to put him down. 😔
It was so sad end to a great warrior of Torm.
My campaign has a lot to do with time-travel and the scope of the gods across the multi-verse. In it there's a known myth about the creation of the multi-verse revolving around a game of marbles played by the gods. The chaos of this game of marbles creates the Astral Sea. These thirteen magic marbles are also referred to as Thrones and they're the source of authority in the universe. The origin of these marbles isn't known. In my campaign some time-travel shenanigans threaten to collapse the multi-verse, all due to the experiments of a mortal with god-like intellect. This character has had two minor experiments in my setting that resulted in great cataclysms. The locations of these experiments are largely avoided and those that come out of them are never the same. The players are going to explore both of these locations, and I'm thinking that one of the would be a great place for something like this to have been "created". I'm thinking it's an unintended side effect of what happened there with the folding of time (there's a time loop there that connects several places in the timeline), and it would be interesting if it were somehow connected to the origin of these magic marbles.
Ok what I wanna know is...Which of your characters became a deity!?! How? Of What? My players had a campaign where their characters ascended into godhood to fight a collection of invading demon lords (lead by Eshabala) and you can tell a lot about their personalities based on which portfolios they chose. So I'm really curious how your ascension went.
Belchimeral, a Psion character (also an Illumian from 3.5 edition) he died something like 3-4 times before he hit level three (once from randomly looking under a rock, where a poison spider bit him and killed him on the spot), eventually, he helped save the town of Salushen, and the nation and then the world, the last chapter saw the characters take the path to godhood, where he became Bel, a god of psionics, among other things, he remained a part of the pantheons of future campaigns in that world, which ran for several years.
@@AJPickett Sounds like an awesome character! Well mainly I just love psionics and Illumians. (I'll never forgive WoTC for killing the mystic) But that does sound like a super satisfying character to have played and have referenced. Hopeful you'll have another character like that someday soon!
Also...I can't stop imagining Belchimeral being sued by Bel of Avernus for copy right
Makes me think of the Lochnar from the firstHeavy Metal film
Can a vial of the Universal Solvent, dissolve a divine shard?
No
@@AJPickett
Sky Cleaver?
I hear wheel of time refs all over the place. I approve.
Heh! Indeed, I had not thought of that... now we just need Perrin's axe and the Dragon Rider armor....
I just realized that every D&D character is getting played. . .
(twas a pun ;))
Ok so it's a One Ring kind of item that turns someone into a deity.
Tarasque. Eat this for me.
Do you want a god of the Tarasques?! Because this is how you get a god of the Tarasques.
@@AJPickett
I regret my decision and now have to ask.
Can I teleport inside and back out to get the Shard?
If I cannot teleport then should I get an Umberhulk or Purple Worm to make me an exit route outside the Tarasque?
These are the questions that will save us from a bad decision.
@@TheKing-qz9wd nope, it's too late, better start building really big temples.
@@AJPickett
Heh, well, if there's no saving then I'll just go down swinging. I never liked deities in DnD anyways.
Big Temple, very Big Temple with swooping arches so vast one could only wonder what kind of deity this three mile high concave structure was made for.
The 333 gems of Tharizdun have matured
Its more likely that it is just one of the 333 gems. I have a theory where, the orbs of dragonkind and the infinity spindle are also a few of those 333 gems. A few of those gems are probably still on some of the deities and archfiends, and a few of them are probably even lost, lost somewhere in the deepest caverns of pandemonium, chucked deep into the astral sea, or even into the far realm itself. Where ALL of the gems are, only deities of knowledge and Vecna knows. But a few of them might be right under everyone's noses.
Just curious, what's better for you as a creator? UA-cam memberships or Patreon support?
I heard Subscribestar and Patron are better. I can't wait to buy Frozenfar.
It's up to you, Patreon is currently the most common, and has the larger archive of exclusive content for you.
Here wuz Seamus!
FUN! I think I will nerf this for blade lock!
I have a character who his goal is to gain godhood because he's madly in love with the goddess loath and wants to be with her I imagine if he got a hold of this artifact he would swallow it so no one could take it from him and he would then do everything he could to absorb the power in a way that when he ascends he isn't overtaken by whatever God it was originally made from
Best of luck with that mission.
There are many ways to become a deity in dnd but this is among the worst (unless you keep your memories and become your own deity instead of becoming some random deity) easier ways I can think of right now are becoming a lich (you possibly could wish for it) and siphon off divine power from a deity (perhaps it could be a dead deity) you could get a wish from a genie or other using methods (in this case you can choose more stuff about this just be careful with the wording) or you could be a cleric and eventually get this as a reward (the downside in this case is you would mostlikely have to just be a cleric (from levels 1 to 20) and it would take a while however you can choose the type of cleric you are so you indirectly can choose the type of deity you would become so you have to choose what path to follow and stay on that path)
To be fair I didn't say it would make them a true deity and vecna is an example of a lich becoming a deity (all that is required to become a lich deity is you need to become a lich and acquire some Divine energy (it doesn't have to be from any particular source) and do a certain ritual)
So essentially Belgarion's Cathrag Sardia?
It isn't so bad in Oklahoma we're eating acorns yet;P
Don't you damn lie to me. I seent it!
I enjoy being Nerdy. Thanks for the great video.
Just make a paladin with 20 charisma, auto save DC15 charisma save ;)