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In the description of the Demigod in Pantheons of the Megaverse, it says they get an extra power from their parent, besides the power they pick from the Godling list. Is what they can pick defined anywhere? Can they pick another power from the godling list? A super power? The powers of another occ?

What is allowed in your games?

Mystically Bestowed Abilities, Any master psionic rcc, if Warlock is chosen all four elements as the minor or multi Warlock, Cosmo knight like abilities, exact same but powered by the god not the forge.

Godslayer wrote:In the description of the Demigod in Pantheons of the Megaverse, it says they get an extra power from their parent, besides the power they pick from the Godling list. Is what they can pick defined anywhere? Can they pick another power from the godling list? A super power? The powers of another occ?

What is allowed in your games?

The 'extra power' is something they inherit from their parent directly. Examples that have been selected in my games include: A child of Ratri (Goddess of Shadows) who had shadow magic, a child of Dionysus who could use her fathers power to make alcohol, A child of Ares who commanded a small force of mercenaries in his fathers name, a demigod/true Atlantian who, by the grace of their mother, was able to use tattoos even though they were not fully 'human', a psychic demigod who had their third eye opened, a child of Hecate who was taught some of her secrets, and thus was allowed to be a Rune Smith, a child of a goddess of shadows who was allowed to pick Shadow Warlock as their OCC, and other such things.
Each 'parental gift' was something unique that related to their parent and was a sign of their heritage. Anyone could pick psionics, or magic or what ever as their 'demigod powers' after all....but if your parent has a special link to something then you can go above and beyond and take special links yourself.

I find limiting it to the Godling pantheon power chart as the occ suggests to be the best way. But as ask always gm fiat.

say652 wrote:I find limiting it to the Godling pantheon power chart as the occ suggests to be the best way. But as ask always gm fiat.

There are two demigod powers
The first power is that you get to select a power off of the Godling chart. That one is pretty easy, go look on the list of powers and choose one.
Then you get a second power from your godly parent. That power is the one where creativity is needed.

I see no two power clause in the occ.

You get to choose an occ and one pantheon power.
I offer a lot of flex on pantheon power because, God's and all.
But s written no.

say652 wrote:I see no two power clause in the occ.

You get to choose an occ and one pantheon power.
I offer a lot of flex on pantheon power because, God's and all.
But s written no.

"Listed below are the common abilities of all demigods. The GM will have to assign specific abilities depending on who the father was. In general, besides the powers listed below, most demigods will have ONE extra power, similar to that of the godly father or mother."

Thus most demigods get one other power from their parent on top of the RCC abilities.

I guess I had always (perhaps erroreously) considered the

"...most demigods will have ONE extra power"
and
"...And select any one power from those listed under godling"

to be one and the same. The first sentence being simple "fluff text", while the second sentence is the "real statistics."

So if the player wanted to be the child of a trickster god he may get the invisibility power
If the player wanted to have the super-strong power he would be the child of a god of strength.


I do recognize that "In general, Besides the powers listed below..." would seem to indicated a seperate power from the one stated in the stat block. However I don't usually play it that way. If the player wanted something other than the Godling powers, I would likely have it replace the godling ability. (depending of course on the general theme and powerlevel of the game and request)

I have one Demigod char that has the power from her parent to turn any liquid into a inebriating drink, along with the magic (warlock) DGL power.
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say652 wrote:I see no two power clause in the occ.

You get to choose an occ and one pantheon power.
I offer a lot of flex on pantheon power because, God's and all.
But s written no.

The power gained from the deity parent is within the 'RCC' descriptive text.
If I had everyone make up new chars and one of the players wanted to make a Demigod I would have a discussion with the players about the char and it's relationship with it's deific parent and most likely have one of that parent's personal powers. This is along with the GL power they get from the race stats.

However, if the player was bringing in a pre-made char I might requirer just the one GL power.

This is something well in the gray area that calls for the GM of the game to decide on something.

In general the 'bonus' ability is (at least to me) something that should be a lesser power that makes the character 'fit' more. Back when I still used the Physical Beauty stat for instance I let a character who had Venus as their parent just swap their PB stat to automatically be a 31 (so they were prettier than any other human could possibly be). I would not allow a major ability (like a second OCC, or magic powers) but I would allow a minor one (picking an OCC that they normally cant take, or slightly wider magic powers).

Be Thoth's kid, select that power that lets him copy the OCC of a worshipper, obtain many allies, profit

Tor wrote:Be Thoth's kid, select that power that lets him copy the OCC of a worshipper, obtain many allies, profit

Assuming that is an ability that can be inherited.....
I don't personally think that a prototypical deific power would come under the list of things that a demigod can get as their 'perk'

It never goes into specifics, so I don't see why not. Back before D+G I'm sure there were Enki-sons picking free anti-magic clouds as their power.

I would give access to the pantheon, and possibly similiar aliened deities of other pantheons. Networking with gods, sure.

Additional Power direct from parent, no, calling parent to use that ability, yes.

Tor wrote:It never goes into specifics, so I don't see why not. Back before D+G I'm sure there were Enki-sons picking free anti-magic clouds as their power.

If by "sure" you mean "Unsupported Assumption"

Nekira Sudacne wrote:

Tor wrote:It never goes into specifics, so I don't see why not. Back before D+G I'm sure there were Enki-sons picking free anti-magic clouds as their power.

If by "sure" you mean "Unsupported Assumption"

Well if that is what the GM allowed them to have as their parental power then sure I guess.

It doesn't say "pick any power your parent has" it just says you get a power from your heritage.
It is quite possible that Enki's kids just got the spell Anti-Magic Cloud as a starting spell (cast as normal).....

Part of the problem is the Gods in CB2 aren't given consistent powers in this regard. Some don't really have extra powers. Some have a lot. Some have "balanced" powers. Some are just crazy out there superbeings. The RAW are ungainly here, as we all recognize. I think, as often happens in Rifts books, the "fluff" text really implies that story should trump strict codification.

I think the demigod asks for a lot of GM intervention. Not only should the GM incorporate antagonistic issues relating to the relevant pantheon (politics, enemies), but elements of the character should be defined by the GM, or be controlled by the GM, as well.

I think a player should create a good backstory, show understanding of pantheon related issues/mythology, and BOTH powers should flow from that understanding. I'd let a player go off book, as long as they stuck closely and creatively to the mythology.

A son of Apollo shouldn't get warlock powers. He should be a healer/artist/warrior/magician (to the extent that magic is very much a scholarly knowledge). In this example, thanks to the mythology, there's a lot a player can work with.

I have an example NPC: 1'st pick is the psychic power, in this case all healing and sensitive like Apollo. I would allow a player the super psionics that Apollo has as well (a master psi with a small and limited amount of super psi's is in no way a shocking power grab, especially given that Buster and the like can be the selection). The NPC is also a shifter tied to Apollo. I actually wrote the character as a dual profession. His starting OCC is a monster-hunter type (like in Yin Sloth--hopefully a good update coming in the Atlantean book). A few magic spells. Lots of combat oriented skills abilities. He then is contacted by Apollo (who, in mythology, kept close contact with his children) and is persuaded to become a shifter (with a tie to Apollo--the God of magic selection). That tie, the bonuses, and the fact that, being an emissary of Apollo may make summoning powerful beings of light more probable (good Shifters should ask nicely, and not fight their hopeful minions), is plenty "extra power" for anybody.

That's a nasty combo, a bit of everything, and heroic/epic/demigod-like. The backstory legitimizes the choices, and gives the player some of the limitations that make role-playing worthwhile, despite the power.

In general, demigod or not, I would ask for a lot of care (backstory, etc.) to be put into characters made for a campaign. Such care limits the difficulty of choices created by the rules as written in cases like the demigod, and keeps things fair enough and fun for all.

Nekira Sudacne wrote:

Tor wrote:It never goes into specifics, so I don't see why not. Back before D+G I'm sure there were Enki-sons picking free anti-magic clouds as their power.

If by "sure" you mean "Unsupported Assumption"

I support this fact because I imagined 2 Enki-son demigods with this power, picking it for them although I never played them, so that is why I was sure.

eliakon wrote:It doesn't say "pick any power your parent has" it just says you get a power from your heritage.

Actually it says "most demigods will have ONE extra power, similar to that of the godly father or mother" so I guess you're not even obligated to pick it Similar rather than Identical certainly gives a window to de-power it as you describe.

Jorick wrote:A son of Apollo shouldn't get warlock powers. He should be a healer/artist/warrior/magician (to the extent that magic is very much a scholarly knowledge).

He's a god of the sun, has a dad who was a dual-class air/water warlock, and a half-brother who's a fire warlock, and has pyrokinesis, so a son of his getting some fire warlock powers isn't that horrible an idea.

So a son of Thor could gain a free Summon storm ability?

Or maybe just summon rain without the wind, since 'similar' but not identical, and going with 'similar-but-weaker' seems more what a demi should be as opposed to similar-but-better even though that's the path Herakles seemed to go, possibly Magni, not sure who Magni's mom is though.

say652 wrote:So a son of Thor could gain a free Summon storm ability?

Or maybe they just gain the spell Thunderclap useable at will
Or maybe they know the spell Call Lightning even though they are not a magic user
Or maybe they get W.P. Blunt as a bonus skill
Or.......
There are lots of options, nothing is fixed. This is one of the major areas where a GM is going to be needed.

I have a character who is a Demi-God/Atlantean son of Hermes from the UWW world of Alexandria. He has the Magic Power option (Chose the Ley Line Rifter from RUE) and the GM gave him the power Extraordinary Speed to represent the power he gained from his father. He is a Galactic Tracer who specializes in tracking people who escape into other dimensions (using the Teleportational Hitchhiking ability of the LLR).

I read that as getting the one listed power. But the RAW are less than helpful.

When it comes to my playing, I try to err on the side of the "more interesting" approach. Thus, having a power that seems associated with one's godly parent seems appropriate, but I'd prefer something that either doesn't have direct combat applications or is a bit more quirky than a straight-up godly smiting. For instance, if Zeus is your daddy, then the extra power might allow the character to call lightning at will, but only during a storm.

When we played, I don't remember ever having a demi-god start with an extra power, but I do remember the GM occasionally having something manifest during play.

I reread this and yes they get the extra power, but that power could be anything the player and GM agree upon. This might also be one of the priest powers listed in the same book. I am writing up a pantheon so this is very interesting to me.

Godslayer wrote:In the description of the Demigod in Pantheons of the Megaverse, it says they get an extra power from their parent, besides the power they pick from the Godling list. Is what they can pick defined anywhere? Can they pick another power from the godling list? A super power? The powers of another occ?

What is allowed in your games?

I've always interpreted it as you get to choose another power on the list with the caveat that it must be similar to a power the god parent has and not just pull one out of your butt.

Perhaps the question of interpretation can be resolved by looking at a Demigod N.P.C. as an example. White Raven from Splynn Dimensional Market, has the following powers:
+50% resistance to fire/cold (common to all demigods, according to the text)
+regenerates 1D6*5 M.D.C. per minute (common to all demigods)
+she appears to have selected the "super-tough" ability, as her P.E. base is 4D6, and her P.E. is listed as 32 (Her M.D.C. total seems high, and this would account for that as well)
+Nightvision 800 feet (not on the official list of godling/demigod powers)
+Sense coming of storms within 3D6 minutes (not on the official list of godling/demigod powers)

This seems consistent with the "one power from the list plus one godly-parent-type power" interpretation.

Hadn't noticed her PE before, makes sense though. Thanks....