Could Pandorym actually do it?

[Creaturemaster971]

Planning to run a wacky epic-level campaign which will feature multiple aspects of D&D lore, and I was wondering about a hypothetical scenario.

Pandorym's lore and quest state that it will end the multiverse by killing all the gods.

My question is, could he actually do it? Or would the Lady of Pain and/or Ao or someone come and smack him upside the head? Or rather, would we assume that Pandorym's lore doesn't imply his being above them?

 

[Mr. Bambu]

Depends on how you take his lore and the lore of Lady/Ao/Etc.

A valid interpretation would be that Pandoyrm may well be a creature of the Far Realm, putting him in 1-A territories of power. As of VSBW understanding, Lady could do nothing to stop him, nor could Ao. Lumi is a coin toss since... well, Lumi is you in this scenario.

A similarly sorta valid interpretation of the lore is that the Lady both A. beats everything else, meaning Far Realm creatures are equally as powerless as any given adventurer, and B. she wouldn't care in the slightest. She cares only for Sigil specifically, though the multiverse may contain sigil, she has no love for the gods of this place. This means The Lady is unlikely to step in to assist the gods unless the multiverse/sigil itself is threatened. So if we assume it doesn't end the multiverse in such a way that Sigil is threatened, it could realistically slaughter the gods in their entirety and never see a hint of repercussions from Lady.

I suspect Ao would be infinitely powerless against Pandorym, as it is outside of his capacity to interact much with things outside of his sphere of influence. Pandorym is one such thing. Ergo, Ao is powerless to stop him as per the decrees of Lumi.

It really depends on how you take Lady's lore and Pandorym's lore, but in my opinion... yeah, it could do it.

 

[Creaturemaster971]

Ah, I had always assumed that the Lady cares for Sigil because of it being the cornerstone of the multiverse, and her protecting it is a means of guarding all of existence. Meaning if the multiverse is destroyed, but Sigil still stands, it would render her being in Sigil pointless anyway. In which case I would assume she would begrudgingly help the gods and delet him, if she can.

 

[Mr. Bambu]

I doubt this is the case, for a couple reasons. One, the multiverse has been almost destroyed a couple times. Maybe she called the bluff, maybe not, but there have been instances of zero outreach from her where the multiverse was damaged beyond repair (see: Spellplague). Two, I just don't find that argument credible- we don't know her point in Sigil, that's the whole point. So you could say it is for that reason, but the character is specifically made so nobody can figure out her motives.

 

[Creaturemaster971]

Very fair. In that case, I'll probably go with the second interpretation.

Is Ao's influence limited only to the maintenance and activities of deities?

 

[Mr. Bambu]

No, he has pretty much infinite and absolute power... concerning stuff in his Crystal Sphere. He can't really do much to anything from a different Sphere.

 

[Creaturemaster971]

Seems funny to have infinite multiversal power but be essentially isolated to a planet or two. I would assume that's why he couldn't do anything to stop the Lady rewriting the multiverse either? Or help with the Vecna situation?

 

[Mr. Bambu]

Pretty much, yeah. Ao has very weird powers.

 

[Creaturemaster971]

I know that was something I was planning to homebrew differently. That divine ranks come from worship and influence across all the different spheres (or possibly even planes), and as such, Ao would have far more widespread influence.

 

[Mr. Bambu]

That's already a thing. After the Time of Troubles Ao got pissed at the gods for ignoring their duties, temporarily stripped them of their godhood, and once they got it back stated they needed worship in order to remain powerful.

 

[Creaturemaster971]

Yes, but in that story, doesn't that only apply to worship coming from Toril?