Probably the most concrete shit on god seeds thus far

I’ve been working out some more concrete details on my suggestion for the god seeds. My opinion is that trying to do something that is too much like Epic Spellcasting or True Sorcery will involve too much math for most people and won’t go over well, so instead I think going for a “fluffier” approach would be better. It’ll leave the mechanics somewhat more vague, but honestly I think that works for god tier abilities.

Let’s take the Life seed as an example.

Life
Range: Touch
Target: Corpse touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Resistance: No

You can restore life to a creature who has been dead for no more than 1 round. Wounds are healed just enough to restore the creature to life. Major injuries, such as missing appendages, are not restored by this ability.

Augmentations
You can bring a corpse that has been dead longer than 1 round back to life by expending more effort. For every Augment you increase the seed by, the time since the person died expands, according to the following chart:

Base – 1 round
1 Augment – 1 minute
2 Augments – 1 hour
3 Augments – 1 Day
4 Augments – 1 Week
5 Augments – 1 Month
6 Augments – 1 Year

This is a good time to explain terminology I’m using, and the ideas behind them. My idea is, instead of True Sorcery, where different augmentations increase the DC of the Spellcraft check needed to cast the spell, the god seeds work by Augments, which are essentially boosts in power to the seed. Some Augments are specific to the seed itself, like the above with the Life seed, while others are broad and can apply to multiple seeds, such as Augments for number of targets, area of effect, or duration.

The players are limited to a maximum number of Augments equal to their proficiency bonus. This ties it to the mechanics of the existing system, but also makes it so that achieving god tier doesn’t immediately overwhelm them in terms of power; there is still a reason to level up normally, and benefits for doing so.

I still think that a good mechanic for resources of the god seed would be something like “Roll 1d10; if you roll equal to or less than the number of Augments used in the god seed, you have overextended yourself and cannot use this god seed again until you complete a long rest.” This makes it so that there is a risk/reward set up for using more powerful god tier abilities. You could even make the die rolled increase in size as the players get more levels, so that their ability to use weaker god tier abilities increases over time. If using that idea, I would start them off rolling 1d4, and then increase the die size by one step per X number of levels, culminating in 1d12.

You might also notice that the Augments of the Life seed listed above increase exponentially rather than linearly; this is intentional. Because there is less crunch to this implementation of the system, I think using an exponential system of increases, like how Mutants & Masterminds does things, makes the most sense. There is a limited number of Augments the players can use at any one time, and there is a definite risk/reward set up, so it should be something of a thought as to when to use a god tier power and how much effort to put into it.

Looking at other examples of god tier abilities in the comic, we have John doing the windy thing. He does it on a small scale and on a large scale, which is a good example of a change in area of effect Augments. The base seed would look something like this:

Air Lore
Range: Close
Duration: 1 round
Resistance: Fortitude negates

You create a gust of wind (up to 10 mph) in a close range to yourself. There is a 50% chance of extinguishing candles, torches, and similar unprotected flames. In addition to the noted effects, this seed can do anything a sudden blast of wind would be expected to do: create a spray of sand or dust, fan a large fire, overturn delicate awnings or hangings, rock a small boat, blow gases or vapors to the edge of its range, or anything else which makes sense.

Augments
You can increase the potency of the winds created through this seed by increasing the Augments, as noted below:

Base – 10 mph winds
1 – Strong Wind: Gust automatically extinguishes unprotected flames; strong winds can make it hard to hear or use ranged attacks; disadvantage imposed on Perception checks and ranged attacks.
2 – Severe Wind: In addition to automatically extinguishing any unprotected flames, winds of this magnitude cause protected flames (such as those of lanterns) to dance wildly, with a 50% chance of being extinguished; disadvantage on all Perception checks and ranged attacks.
3 – Windstorm: Powerful enough to bring down branches, if not whole trees, windstorms automatically extinguish all flames, even protected ones; ranged weapon attacks are impossible, and even siege weapon attacks are made at disadvantage.
4 – Hurricane-Forced Winds: All flames are extinguished; ranged attacks are impossible, with even siege weapons rolling at disadvantage; Perception checks are impossible, as all characters can hear is the roaring of the wind; hurricane-force winds often fell trees
5 – Tornado: You create a literal tornado. All flames within 150 feet are automatically extinguished; all ranged attacks, even with siege weapons, are impossible; all Perception checks based on hearing automatically fail.

So, looking at the above, there are discrete rules for producing different powered winds. However, they only last for 1 round. To increase the duration, you would need to use the following Augments, which apply to multiple god seeds:

Duration
1 – 1 round
2 – 1 minute
3 – 1 hour
4 – 1 day
5 – 1 week
6 – 1 Month
7 – 1 Year

Furthermore, we can look at a different god tier feat of John’s, namely becoming living air, and see how that would work. By combining the Air Lore and Transformation god seeds, you could transform into living air, becoming impossible to harm. Combining god seeds would increase the Augment by 1 for each additional god seed involved in the ability, which allows for the players to get creative, but still limit them.

The goals of the god seed system is to provide rules where possible, to cover a variety of possible outcomes, but still leave it somewhat vague, so as to allow for creativity and unexpected mixtures. If a player uses a god seed in a way which doesn’t have explicit rules associated with them, it can be ad hoc’d for that time, and then the DMs can come together and work out balanced versions, which can then be added to the official list of uses, making this a self-perpetuating system with balance somewhat built in.