Being in the Necropolis, and being a god of death, reminded me of necromancers, especially liches, who consumed souls for sustenance and power. As could be expected, this was something few gods could tolerate since it was taking away a soul that might have gone to them. However, they didn’t stop the practice completely since many followers of evil gods would use this method to nourish not only themselves but their gods. It was the typical trope of sacrificing a million lives to awaken a dead god.

Because the gods of good didn’t want to lose a saint’s soul to an evil god, in the long-forgotten past, the gods who were associated with goodness made a deal with the evil gods. They worked together to prevent souls from being completely consumed unless that person’s soul was within a god’s domain. From that point in time onwards, when a person was sacrificed to a god, or when a lich devoured a person’s soul, a portion of that person’s soul would survive.

Despite this, few good gods were happy with the situation. While they could condemn the practice, it was common practice, even among the gods of light. Paladins would often slay demons with sacrificial swords. The “purified” demon would die, but some of their energy would be absorbed by the paladin’s deity. Because of this, nothing was usually done as long as enough of the soul survived. The more that remained of a person’s soul after being sacrificed or devoured, the less likely the gods were willing to do something about the offense.

What I needed to do was to find a way to utilize this loophole for my benefit. Perhaps I could give them an ability that drained a soul’s energy. However, the ability would also need to send some of that power to me. A comparison might be giving an unemployed taxi driver a new car which they could then use to earn money. The only caveat was that the taxi driver then had to give me a percentage of their profit they made while using the vehicle. Of course, I didn’t want the taxi driver to use my car to run over a lot of innocent people either.

That was my main concern. If I gave the spellcasters such a gift or favor, I was worried that they might abuse the power they were given. Even police officers, who were supposed to uphold the law, would sometimes cross to the line, knowing that other officers would back the blue. Politicians and judges would accept bribes while corporate CEOs would use their power to unfairly crush their competition and take advantage of their customers.

Although not everyone abused the power that they were given, many people wouldn’t hesitate to do so if it benefited them enough. What I was worried about was a few bad apples ruining it for me. I couldn’t risk becoming an enemy of every god in Guthheimr.

Fortunately, I already possessed two powers that could be used in that way that I could use as a template for the divine gift. Both of them were Eldritch Mind class features. Deathbringer allowed me to regain health points when I killed someone with a spell. The other was Soul Collector, which allowed me to collect small soul pieces of anyone that I killed and then use the power within those soul fragments to cast a spell.

Still, neither one was exactly what I was looking for. Although such powers were very strong, they only gave temporary benefits. I wanted to create something that could improve over time. The believers would be motivated to become more powerful. However, I also needed to make sure that they didn’t grow too quickly or too slowly.

It was sort of like playing a game. If it took forever to level up, the believers would lose interest. However, if they progressed too fast, that could create a host of other problems. I could easily see the other gods being offended if they lost too many followers to me.

Therefore, instead of turning them into my believers, I needed to find some way to provide benefits that believers of any god could use. If the believers of other gods were benefiting, and the gods did not use their believers, they were much less likely to take offense and do something that I might regret.

I wondered if I could introduce some new type of system into the world, where I could skim some of the faith off as payment for creating it. Maybe I could give everyone a mini system that allowed them to direct their own direction of growth. Then I wouldn’t be limited to only those believers who normally would worship a god of death.

I frowned as I tried to imagine the possibilities. My ideas had already stretched far beyond my original intention. Now I was considering if I could allow users of my system to purchase things which I had stored in my domain. In fact, I could even allow users of my system to level up by contributing magic items and potions. That would open up more users for me since I wouldn’t have to focus only on adventurers.

One of the biggest difficulties would be paying for my system’s upkeep and providing powers through my system. At first, I had planned to siphon off some of the soul energy from creatures that my believer killed. They would advance normally. The only difference would be that I would get soul fragments from everyone. Then I would use those soul fragments to grant the believers powers, gifts, or some other benefit.

Actually, I could still use that idea. I wasn’t sure if I should incorporate something like a prestige class that increased the experience for advancement, much like my dragon bloodline. Maybe I could modify my bloodline to give various benefits. For instance, kobolds would become draconic kobolds. Humans and other races, however, could choose something else. Of course, figuring out how to allow users of my system to level up would be difficult.

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Then again, I did have a cheat. I could just use faith. Faith points could actually create real miracles. It was sort of like my class feature, Shape Magic. If I were powerful enough, I could even use it to cast the Wish spell. However, since I still had a long way to go before that happened, I would have to start with low level abilities that people would go crazy over. Then I could slowly add features as I grew more powerful, sort of like a system update or upgrade.

Suddenly, an idea came to me. I was able to form a familiar bond with Alsvartr. Now that I was a god, could I form some type of bond with mortals in order to create a system? Initially, it had been my system that had asked if I wanted to form a companion contract with my familiar.

Perhaps there were other contracts I could create. I could then offer mortals a chance to form a contract and receive the Dragon God’s System. The users would have to pay a tithe of soul fragments to the system in order to advance, just as I had earlier envisioned. Things like this had actually been done already, although a little differently. Demons made pacts with anyone willing to pay the price.

In fact, I could be the being that was providing power to a warlock. All their magic was because they made such a pact. However, I didn’t want to limit myself to only those people who were willing to become a warlock through my bloodline. Instead, I would make it more of a prestige class that could be added to any other class. All that would be required was that the person gain additional experience to level up.

I could start with everyone having to ingest a “magic potion” that had a drop of blood. Either that, or they could conduct a magic ritual that would activate the system. To keep the system active, the user would need to provide one faith point every day. After the system was active, the users could then conduct ritual sacrifices in order to purchase something from the system.

I could also have it so that when they killed a creature, they would split the experience with me. In addition, since I was “part” of the kill, I could use Soul Collector to obtain a soul fragment. I could also use the experience to level up my class level, much like how I could get experience points when Alsvartr slew a creature.

Of course, I couldn’t call it faith points. While it might be fine for people to worship multiple gods, I didn’t want to risk offending other gods until I became stronger. Instead, I could call it something innocuous. Instead of the Death God System, I could call it the Dragon God System. In fact, I probably shouldn’t call it a system. As for the faith points, I could convert faith points to something else, such as Draconic Points.

I paused there, suddenly realizing I might have made a mistake. Could I still convert kobolds into draconic kobolds? Afterall, I was a god now. Then again, I was a demigod before and that was fine. The twilight bloodline was still listed on my information sheet as well. I would probably just need to refine, dilute, or filter out the divine blood.

In my last life, I would often become obsessed with my projects. Sometimes I would be obsessed for hours. Other times I would be obsessed for weeks. However, sometimes I could become obsessed for months or years. I soon found myself lost in the thrill of a new obsession.

I didn’t know how long it had taken for my transformation. As for my designing a new system, that actually didn’t take as long as others might think. I was a god with an intelligence high enough to make Sherlock Holmes blush in shame. My thoughts raced as I made comparisons between the prices of magic items, how much it would cost to do something with faith points, and how much I should charge in dragon points to ensure that I make a small profit.

Finally, I took a deep breath as I finished deciding upon the prices. Of course, this would only be the pricing for the Dragon God System 1.0. I would definitely have to make changes in the future.

Draconic Gifts (bought with draconic points - dp)

Find Familiar (Pseudodragon) 5 dp

Spell-Like Abilities

* Cantrip (3 dp each usage) - Limited to those I knew

* Temporary Draconic Sigils - Domain Spells - Level2 × 5

* Ex. Deathward - 80 dp

* Permanent Spells (Locked)

Transformation (1000 dp each)

* Blindsight

* Bloodline Sorcerer

* Breath Weapon

* Damage Resistance

* Darkvision

* Dragonborn

* Heightened Awareness

* Natural Armor

* Toughness

* Warlock Pact

* Wings

Ways to Earn Draconic Points

* Daily Quests (Varies)

* Ex. Build a Shrine to the Draconic System

* Ritual Offerings (2 gold worth of offerings = 1 dp)

* Sacrificing Life (½ Experience = 1dp per 10hp)