Aspects of the Gods

Aspects of the Gods


An aspect is a portion of a god’s divine essence clothed in
mortality, created by that deity to interact with and walk
among his followers. Each aspect is associated with one or
more of the god’s domains and typically acts in accordance
with those domains as they represent the god’s interests.
Aspects are not completely synonymous with the god that
creates them, for mortality brings new perspectives and
limitations to the manifestation that the god does not itself
possess. In this fashion, the gods can at least partly identify
with their mortal charges and may even express some
degree of autonomy, but aspects are still fragments of a god
and thus unable to completely hide their divine natures.
If an aspect is killed or destroyed on the material plane,
it serves as a minor setback to the god that created it, but
only in terms of their interests being hampered. However,
if the aspect is harmed or destroyed through the efforts
of a mortal backed by the power of another god, such as a
hero using a blessed (holy or unholy) weapon or a cleric
using divine spells of 3rd level or greater, the god that
created the aspect feels the shock of it. This is a traumatic
experience for the god and one that it will usually seek
to avoid, for it brings the conflict to the god’s own level
and has far-reaching consequences. Huma’s use of the
dragonlance upon Takhisis’ dragon aspect was in essence
an attack upon Takhisis by Paladine in the only manner
possible by the edicts of the High God, giving Takhisis
every reason to swear an oath at that point to withdraw
from the world.

A deity may have more than one aspect active at a time,
but usually no more than one for every domain the god’s
clerics have access to. A deity can generate or disperse
an aspect at will, although the process can become a
distraction and is not carried out lightly. Most of the time,
Krynn’s gods prefer to send divine messengers as heralds
or one of their celestial, elemental, or fiendish minions
to act within the mortal realm. By sending an aspect, the
god is indicating that something requires their immediate
and personal attention. Used sparingly, aspects can
therefore make extraordinary and unique encounters in a
DRAGONLANCE campaign.