View source for God (3.5e Prestige Class)/Task of Ascension

===Task of Ascension===

The path to godhood is not a single road, but one of many paths and many ways.  Each way is different for each person, but a few common trends are possible.  The path to godhood is known as the task of ascension and it is often a dangerous route.  A creature must first establish a connection to the divine by connecting themselves to the planes, and then they must somehow obtain a divine spark and hope their bodies can take it.  The process is two-step (for those that are not outsiders).

====Becoming an Outsider====

There are several ways to become an outsider, from class features to swapping bodies, but for those who have not been born or made into an outsider, there is a ritual which grants the outsider type to those who take it.  The Transfiguration into an Outsider ritual requires the blood of an outsider as appropriate to your alignment, 10,000 gp in materials, and 24 hours of casting.  At the end of the ritual, you become bonded to your soul and gain the Outsider type.

====Becoming a God====

There are several ways for one to rise to godhood.  Here is a list of the most common methods:

*'''Kill A God:''' The most direct way is to find and kill another god, stealing their divine spark as they perish. Killing a god is never easy, but if you manage to successfully kill the god, then within one minute of the god's passing, you may attempt to absorb its divine spark, a violent process that blasts you and the surroundings with massive bolts of energy. You must make a opposed special level check (character level + highest mental ability score modifier + divine rank of the creature) against the fallen god. On a failed save, you explode and die, and the divine spark is lost to the void, on a successful save you take 2d6 damage per divine rank absorbed and gain divine rank, which can still kill you if you are weak enough (rank 0 counts as 1d6). This is a risky and dangerous method, but by far the most direct.

*'''Mass Genocide:''' They say everyone has a little divine spark in them, so if you kill everyone, you can gather the sparks and make yourself a new spark. This vile method requires the mass death of many creatures all at the same time, at least (divine rank squared x 10,000) people within the space of 24 hours (rank 0 counts as half of rank 1, or 5000 people). This method requires the construction of a focusing crystal or other McGuffian costing 50,000 per divine rank intended to be drawn from it (a rank 0 crystal is 25,000 gp, a rank 20 is 1 million). After the slaughter, the crystal is charged and must be broken, provoking a special level check against exploding, as above. The effective character level + mental ability of the crystal is your level, plus whatever amount of divine rank you have collected.

*'''Mass Worship:''' The far kinder and more gentle means of godhood is earning your worship yourself. You must have the fanatical devotion of a great mass of people before the task can begin. They must be willing and not under any mind controlling effect. Quasideities need 100 worshipers, Demigods need 1000, Lesser Deities need 10,000, Intermediate Deities need 100,000, and Greater Deities need 1,000,000. The worships must be gathered in a week of mutual fervent prayer following whatever dogma you see fit, with a focusing device (as above) to gather the prayers. The synchronized efforts of hundreds to millions of worshipers is enough to charge the crystal, which may be broken with the effects as above.

*'''Receive the Gift:''' Rarely, you may parry favor to the gods and they will grant you godhood as a gift. This method, while the most rare and unpredictable, is the safest, as there is never a threat of explosion. Deities are reluctant to gift divine rank, as they lose it from their own amount. Divine rank 0 counts as 0.5 a rank for determining how many ranks a deity loses when gifting a mortal with godhood.

Once you receive the divine spark ,you gain the [[Godspark (3.5e Template)|godspark template]] and may take levels in [[God (3.5e Prestige Class)|God]] (or if it is a DM's monster who wants to quickly add the statistics, any of the [[quasideity]], [[demigod]], [[lesser deity]], [[intermediate deity]], or [[greater deity]] templates.) Until you take levels or obtain the template, you are considered a quasideity with only the godspark template benefits.