Talk:Idol

Constructs vs. intelligent items

Idols are described in two very different ways mechanically in What Lies in Dust and Occult Realms, although they share several non-mechanical similarities, such as potentially being spontaneously created through worship, becoming animated sculptures, and sharing their powers with those nearby.

Occult Realms describes idols in the framework of intelligent items, and employs more complex systems and indicates that their powers ebb and wane with the number of worshipers and sacrifices. The article describes in more detail how to create new idols and model their progression over time. It also employs a version of the divine source ability similar to Mythic Adventures that can transform a sufficiently specialized idol into an entity similar to a deity, though only with sufficient Ego and with significant limitations for all but the most powerful idols. It suggests modeling them as constructs should they gain enough power to become more similar to them in abilities. While the text suggests they can be intentionally created in-universe, it doesn't describe the process or provide examples.

What Lies in Dust describes idols exclusively as a type of construct that can share its spell-like abilities with nearby allies, and describes them mostly in the context of the provided examples (bone idol, jade idol, wood idol, stone idol). While they can be formed spontaneously, they also have specific crafting rules.

These conflict mechanically in several ways. Are they compatible as canon concepts, or should they be separated, and if so, how? -Oznogon (talk) 04:02, 7 January 2019 (UTC)