Hercules in Deities and Demigods

[Vrylakos]

GRRRRRRR

Ok.... once upon a time I wrote a reply twice and the boards ate it. So, this will be abbreviated and I"m working from memory...

The art is very very nice. Full color, and the better artists (IMO).

Hercules, Str 55 before raging, +65 to hit with first attack, 800 hp, demi god.divine rank 5....

Hermes, 680 hp (?) AC 84 (?)
Can make any magic item instantly worth 200,000 gp or less.
Is a 20th level wizard, 20th level rogue. Has crippling strike amongst others... divine rank either 8 or ten, I forget...

Hestia's picture is also in the preview, and it's very nice... for a sec I thought diTerlizzi had done it.

Divine Rank seems to allow higher ranked gods to use their abilities on divinities of lower rank, but not vis-versa.
Also, divinities DO NOT fail a save on a roll of 1.

More perhaps later...

VRYLAKOS

 

[Rubeus Hagrid]

As an aside...

(Any resemblances between the mythological Hercules and a character played by Kevin Sorbo are almost coincidental. Sorry, as someone who has read and enjoyed the Illiad, the Odyssey and other works, I kept on wincing at the series.)

A bit off-topic, but there's a reason for that. After the Network screwed over Gerard Christopher to move from being Superboy to Superman, Sorbo had locked in the part as Kal-El on Lois & Clark. That went away the moment Dean Cain and Terry Hatcher evoked the Christopher Reeve/Margot Kidder chemistry and ramped it up to Moonlighting levels (Thus making a fantastic Moolighting 2, but a hideously awful Superman).

So really, Hercules (and Dylan Hunt, thank Goddess that Andromeda is back to normal.. It was getting grim, dark, dreary, realistic, and all the other things I hate and half the EN Members worship) is Kevin Sorbo playing Superman in another venue.

 

[Methinkus]

(Any resemblances between the mythological Hercules and a character played by Kevin Sorbo are almost coincidental. Sorry, as someone who has read and enjoyed the Illiad, the Odyssey and other works, I kept on wincing at the series.)

Hey I thought that the show was very entertaining – though admittedly in almost no way related to actual myths – and I was sorry to see it end so quickly. I am saying this as a person who likes to consider himself reasonably well read and defiantly familiar with Greek legends. In fact, I thought that the Iliad itself was almost too boring to be tolerated. Let me tell you, I’m no fan of book burning, but the occasional epic poem might be better off inside a fireplace than a library . . . . . .

 

[jasamcarl]

About Divine Rank

If what has been said is true, then the class/level breakdown might only dictate battles between gods, presuming non-divine have a rationg of 0. Or perhaps it simply dictates a certain loyalty to a pantheon, as the discretions the head of a pantheon has over his underlings is qualitativly different than what a god excercises over followers, in which case it is possible for a mortal to battle a god with a hope of success but the sworn vassal of Zeus is in some respects less effective in that particular role. This could open the way to an interesting realm of worshiper/divine politics.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

By today's standards, the ancient mythical Herc wasn't very heroic, not in the sense we commonly mean today. I've read a lot of Greek epics, and not many of the characters in any of them are heroic in the modern sense - they're usually a bunch of self-centered, murderous thugs. Yep, they're interesting to read about, but I always hoped they'd get thoroughly thrashed by someone halfway decent. That someone just never seems to show up. It just shows the differences between societies and times. Sorta like how Aristophanes' plays were rather like the Saturday Night Live of his time, with satirical commentary on figures and events that were contemporaneous with the writing and performance of those plays, but which today can be baffling to the reader .

I like the idea of heroes reflecting their times. So Sorbo's Herc was a real goody-two-shoes in a thoroughly silly TV show. I still would root for him over his dimwitted, hair-triggered counterpart from ancient mythology. Matter of fact, it would've been cool if they'd actually tried something like that on the show - maybe even a "meeting of the Hercs" from a multitude of parallel dimensions, each different, each reflecting the society he's from.

 

[William Ronald]

You are right as usual, ColonelHardisson. Most of the heroes of Greek myth were not exactly glorious. Women were chattel to many and few of the heroes were heroic. (I sometimes winced at the TV show because it seemed to be almost a whitewash.)

The paucity of truly good heroes in Greek myths made such bold figures as Perseus and Theseus (although he did kidnap the young Helen away from her island) truly refreshing. Indeed, Theseus demonstrated the value of friendship in standing with Hercules after he killed his family.

It must be said that the ancient world was not a gentle place. Its heroes were, by today's standards, vicious. Many would be considered war criminals. (I will not even get into the Roman Empire. Let us say I fully understand why the defenders of Masada chose death over Roman slavery and torture.)

 

[Darkness]

Re: GRRRRRRR

Hercules, Str 55 before raging, +65 to hit with first attack, 800 hp, demi god.divine rank 5....

Hermes, 680 hp (?) AC 84 (?)
Can make any magic item instantly worth 200,000 gp or less.
Is a 20th level wizard, 20th level rogue. Has crippling strike amongst others... divine rank either 8 or ten, I forget...

Ouch!! Niiice! Heh. Upper Krust will love this, I'd wager...

 

[jasamcarl]

On the topic of heroes

If we are specifically referring to the archaic/classical conception on the heroic figure, let us not forget the political overtones of that view, specifically the Homeric one. Many of these tales represented a condemnation of the feudal institutions that had preceded the dark ages, a time when individual power took stage over that of the community (future polis). Note the tragic overtones in Epic Cycle, in which men of power are continuously brought low. No, there were no 'Good' heroes, specifically because the Greeks did not take much note of the the abstract 'Good' that is being referenced here (Only with Plato, and only at a much later stage). Virtue was always attached to material power relationships.

 

[AmerginLiath]

Sorta like how Aristophanes' plays were rather like the Saturday Night Live of his time...

Ha! Never thought of it quite that way before...

 

[mmadsen]

So Sorbo's Herc was a real goody-two-shoes in a thoroughly silly TV show. I still would root for him over his dimwitted, hair-triggered counterpart from ancient mythology. Matter of fact, it would've been cool if they'd actually tried something like that on the show - maybe even a "meeting of the Hercs" from a multitude of parallel dimensions, each different, each reflecting the society he's from.

In rereading some tales of Heracles recently, I felt shocked that modern writers (in the Herc TV show) would drop the "modern" idea of a troubled hero trying to overcome his fits of rage and melancholy (manic depression?), and stuck with the very bland Superman ideal instead.

Further, how can you not have Herc dressed in a lion skin carrying a club?