Rating: 
Summary: Cool, but Superfluous, really
Review: *Deities and Demigods* is pretty straight-forward.
It begins with some facile definitions of religious concepts e.g., "monotheism," "mystery cults," "animism," and the like; those who know this stuff will be pretty annoyed by it. It then continues this definitional discussion with notes on types of divinity, divine relations with mortals, and a pantheon-building schematic. Some brief repetition here of the standard Great Ring cosmology, distilled down from *MotP*.
The second chapter is the crunchiest section, with a listing of "divine ranks," as in *Faiths and Pantheons*, and then lengthy explanations of portfolios, divine abilities, and so on. Useful if one is building a pantheon, or foolishly plans on actually including deities in combats with PCs.
Next, a chapter that develops the official Greyhawk pantheon--each deity gets a full stat block. Generally, very similar to FR's *FP* in format and effect. Several gods not in the *PH* are noted here, such as the kobold Kurtulmak and (expanded from *MotP*) Tiamat and the Platinum Dragon.
Students of mythology might be a little annoyed by the following 3 chapters, which reduce Greek, Norse, and Egyptian myth down to 3E stat blocks. It is overall decently done for the game (whether anyone would actually use it is another issue), though much of the nuance, dynamic, and contradiction from the mythology is stripped away. Furthermore, the pantheons are incomplete--no Horus, Amun, or Khepera in the Egyptian section; no Nords, Fenrir, Midgarth Worm, Magni, Modi, etc in the Norse; and no Erinyes, Muses, Fates, etc etc etc in the Greek. But that's really not too big a deal, really--except for geeks like me who actually want to see all of the hundreds of minor deities for each mythos set in stat blocks ("What? No stats for the River Xanthus? No Persephone?") Fans of 2E's *Legends and Lore* might be annoyed that this text sacrifices breadth for depth--but do we really miss the stats for Arthur, Lancelot, and so forth? (Achilles would've been nice, however.)
The text ends with some examples of "other religions," with attention to how to design them--complete with PrCs and the like. Appendices featuring new spells and guidelines for "divine ascension" conclude the endeavor (perhaps silly, but in a good way, like *Throne of Bhaal*).
In terms of art, this text is by far the best that WotC has produced. Wayne Reynold's work is good, as usual, with Sam Wood's and Donato Giancola's being attractive also for differing reasons. Arnie Swekel is likewise very fine (his Set in particular), and Jeff Easley's Tiamat is pretty slick. The star for graphic design, however, is Glen Angus; the stylized portraits of Apollo, Athena, Heimdall, Sif, Surtur, Thor, and Tyr are easily the best in the text, and rival anything else published by WotC.
On the whole, this is not an essential text, though the rules for deities and pantheons are decent (one complaining amazon reviewer, who notes the lack of rules for churches, should of course read the title of the text again). In this way, it is much like *MotP*, where it attempts to provide a basic cosmological setup for orthodox games in progress as well as tools to build one's own cosmology. Insofar as it (and *MotP* for that matter) provide an introduction to such issues, *DD* is well accomplished; one looking for more advanced and developed information will of course need to spend more moneys.
Rating:
Summary: Cool, but Superfluous, really
Review: *Deities and Demigods* is pretty straight-forward.
It begins with some facile definitions of religious concepts e.g., "monotheism," "mystery cults," "animism," and the like; those who know this stuff will be pretty annoyed by it. It then continues this definitional discussion with notes on types of divinity, divine relations with mortals, and a pantheon-building schematic. Some brief repetition here of the standard Great Ring cosmology, distilled down from *MotP*.
The second chapter is the crunchiest section, with a listing of "divine ranks," as in *Faiths and Pantheons*, and then lengthy explanations of portfolios, divine abilities, and so on. Useful if one is building a pantheon, or foolishly plans on actually including deities in combats with PCs.
Next, a chapter that develops the official Greyhawk pantheon--each deity gets a full stat block. Generally, very similar to FR's *FP* in format and effect. Several gods not in the *PH* are noted here, such as the kobold Kurtulmak and (expanded from *MotP*) Tiamat and the Platinum Dragon.
Students of mythology might be a little annoyed by the following 3 chapters, which reduce Greek, Norse, and Egyptian myth down to 3E stat blocks. It is overall decently done for the game (whether anyone would actually use it is another issue), though much of the nuance, dynamic, and contradiction from the mythology is stripped away. Furthermore, the pantheons are incomplete--no Horus, Amun, or Khepera in the Egyptian section; no Nords, Fenrir, Midgarth Worm, Magni, Modi, etc in the Norse; and no Erinyes, Muses, Fates, etc etc etc in the Greek. But that's really not too big a deal, really--except for geeks like me who actually want to see all of the hundreds of minor deities for each mythos set in stat blocks ("What? No stats for the River Xanthus? No Persephone?") Fans of 2E's *Legends and Lore* might be annoyed that this text sacrifices breadth for depth--but do we really miss the stats for Arthur, Lancelot, and so forth? (Achilles would've been nice, however.)
The text ends with some examples of "other religions," with attention to how to design them--complete with PrCs and the like. Appendices featuring new spells and guidelines for "divine ascension" conclude the endeavor (perhaps silly, but in a good way, like *Throne of Bhaal*).
In terms of art, this text is by far the best that WotC has produced. Wayne Reynold's work is good, as usual, with Sam Wood's and Donato Giancola's being attractive also for differing reasons. Arnie Swekel is likewise very fine (his Set in particular), and Jeff Easley's Tiamat is pretty slick. The star for graphic design, however, is Glen Angus; the stylized portraits of Apollo, Athena, Heimdall, Sif, Surtur, Thor, and Tyr are easily the best in the text, and rival anything else published by WotC.
On the whole, this is not an essential text, though the rules for deities and pantheons are decent (one complaining amazon reviewer, who notes the lack of rules for churches, should of course read the title of the text again). In this way, it is much like *MotP*, where it attempts to provide a basic cosmological setup for orthodox games in progress as well as tools to build one's own cosmology. Insofar as it (and *MotP* for that matter) provide an introduction to such issues, *DD* is well accomplished; one looking for more advanced and developed information will of course need to spend more moneys.
Rating: 
Summary: Three Parts Divine Spark, One Part Mortal Ascension
Review: A good resource for the divine in your campaign. The rules on how to create a deity, while quite good, are lacking in some areas (such as how to determine a deity's ability scores), but the examples given in later chapters will help you through most snags. This book fits in very well with the new mantra of options and choices. My only real complaint is that they used the Egyptian deities over the Celtic deities.
Rating:
Summary: Why Not Kill Gods?
Review: As has been noted, this book is most useful if you run as campaign where gods can be killed. It is highly detailed with stats and powers of gods and frankly I can't see of what use it would possibly unless it were used to either have gods fight one another or to have PCs eventually kill some gods.And why not? There seems to be a strange prejudice of many DMs that gods should be "unkillable" and beyond the abilty of mortals (no matter how powerful) to affect. This is ridiculous... Killing gods shouldn't be easy in D&D. It should be a challenging dramatic campaign-defining moment. And that is just what this book provides: completely detailed, tough, almost unkillable gods that should take years of game-play to defeat. That's good D&D. That's good modern myth. That makes this book a useful tool for any group of gamers that see more to D&D than endless goblin slaying.
Rating:
Summary: A good addition
Review: Deities and Demigods is a very good addition to the 3rd edition of Dungeons and Dragons. While it's possible to play the game without this book, Deities and Demigods contains a great deal of source material for Dungeon Masters to spice up their campaigns. It can also be used by players to add flavor to their characters, especially clerics.
Rating: 
Summary: How this book is useful to a DM
Review: Deities and Demigods is one of the many books I own for my 3E campaigns and I consider it to be one of the most useful in setting up a fantasy setting for my players. The book goes into detail about a gods stats, abilities, and equipment. But more importantly, its portfolio and mannerisms. The book is valuble to a DM in the sense it can add personality to a god and allow for more sympathy toward a religion. This is vital for not only characters that need to emulate their god's gamut in order to roleplay correctly. But it also provides DM's with a rule for how a deity would act in relation to it's followers and other deities. The stats given to each god provide a guide to how a deity reguards another in terms of divine rank. Not all god's are created equally and this book allows for diversity in your campaign. I recommend this book only for those that wish to add a definate element of religion to the game. The book is not required but it is a definate help. And on a personal note. I love the artwork.
Rating:
Summary: Some Use but Not Much
Review: I am a long time Dungeons and Dragons player who loves playing divine characters. I bought Deities and Demigods to add more knowldge to my Divine Characters. If you want to do the same, you dont need this book. Demigods is about 30 pages of great info on the gods in general and becoming divine. The rest of the book is just stats for the Dungeons and Dragons gods and 3 other pantheons. I found the indepth look at the Deities to be great, however they were only short paragraphs. The rest of the book was just stats, stats and more stats. If you are a DM running a campaign all about the Gods then this book has its uses, however if you are a PC then dont bother.
Rating:
Summary: Not a bad book but could have been better
Review: I'll start by saying that I'm still glad I bought this book. It's not perfect, but I like it. The book defines four pantheons (the Greyhawk pantheon too, which appealed to me a lot) and tells the reader how to create a pantheon of gods for his or her game. The things I didn't like... the artwork is hit and miss, some of it was awesome, some so so, and some TERRIBLE. My other, and more important complaint, is that too much space is wasted on the statistics of the gods... I mean, come on... what on earth (or Oerth) can this possible be useful for? You gonna take on a God? Why a Dungeon Master would ever need that info is beyond me, gods are so far above mortal PC's that there stats are, to me anyway, irrevelant. The space wasted on this stuff could have been better used, specifically, it could have been used to give more info on the deities religious ceremonies, what is required of the worshipers of the gods... just more of what the deities beliefs and dogma would have been nice. So, to conclude, this book is a so, so offering... could have been MUCH better but is still worthwhile. Oh yeah, and where the hell was Tharizdun or Iuz in the D&D pantheon??? To leave out those two Greyhawk gods... makes me wonder if the editors really understand the greyhawk campaign at all.
Rating:
Summary: Not a bad book but could have been better
Review: I'll start by saying that I'm still glad I bought this book. It's not perfect, but I like it. The book defines four pantheons (the Greyhawk pantheon too, which appealed to me a lot) and tells the reader how to create a pantheon of gods for his or her game. The things I didn't like... the artwork is hit and miss, some of it was awesome, some so so, and some TERRIBLE. My other, and more important complaint, is that too much space is wasted on the statistics of the gods... I mean, come on... what on earth (or Oerth) can this possible be useful for? You gonna take on a God? Why a Dungeon Master would ever need that info is beyond me, gods are so far above mortal PC's that there stats are, to me anyway, irrevelant. The space wasted on this stuff could have been better used, specifically, it could have been used to give more info on the deities religious ceremonies, what is required of the worshipers of the gods... just more of what the deities beliefs and dogma would have been nice. So, to conclude, this book is a so, so offering... could have been MUCH better but is still worthwhile. Oh yeah, and where the hell was Tharizdun or Iuz in the D&D pantheon??? To leave out those two Greyhawk gods... makes me wonder if the editors really understand the greyhawk campaign at all.
Rating:
Summary: Something to believe in.
Review: I've been a D&D player for going on 22 years now and up until the 3rd edition came out, I was a die-hard 1st edition supporter. The old Deities and Demigods opened up worlds that may not have been considered by many DM's and players but it left a lot of holes. The 3rd edition Deities book may not have as many pantheons described BUT the pantheons are finally described in VIVID detail. And the best part...it allows you to create your own deities if you wish! The artwork is beautiful throughout and the writers definately did their homework! Well worth owning by all players!
|
