Editing Gods of Dungeons & Dragons (section)

==Divine Ranks==
In D&D, deities have a rank, ranging from quasi-deity to greater deity. All it really means is that the greater deities rank the more powerful they are, more generalized their portfolio's are, and, depending on the setting, how many worshippers they have. The ranks shown here are the ones used in 3.5, and from bottom to top they are:
*'''Quasi-Deity:''' Not quite gods but still immortal and powerful beings. Planar powers ([[Archdevil]]s, [[Animal Lord]]s, [[Celestia|the Hebdomad]], etc.), [[Elder Evils]] (Though some of them such as Pandorym are much stronger than gods), and [[Vestige]]s go here.
*'''Hero-Deity:''' Ascended mortals, often sponsored by other gods, and descendants of mortals and deities go here. Often have very specialized portfolios.
*'''Demigod:''' Here be gods proper. From here on they can have their own realms in the [[Outer Planes]], and grant spells to their worshippers depending on the setting.
*'''Lesser Deity:''' More powerful than demigods and more widely worshipped.
*'''Intermediate Deity:''' More powerful than lesser deities and more widely worshipped.
*'''Greater Deity:''' The leaders of pantheons, usually, and gods of common nouns, concepts, and universal forces (magic, sun, nature, etc.) go here.  
*'''Overdeity:''' Gods in charge of other gods, often the ones who decide whether or not someone becomes a god. Don't grant spells and have no worshippers, being beyond the need for them.  Examples include [[Ao]] and possibly [[Lady of Pain]].

There are also two unique divine ranks that are tied to cosmologies outside of the [[Great Wheel]]...
*'''[[Mystaran Immortal]]s''' are named as such because they are tied to the nameless cosmology of [[Mystara]], which due to its basis in [[Sword & Sorcery]] meets [[Science Fantasy]] "Pulp Fantasy" uses a complex system of dimensions rather than planes. Immortals are former mortals who have attuned themselves to one of the five Spheres that make up the pillars of reality - Thought, Matter, Energy, Time and Entropy - by following one of four archetypal Paths (Dynast, Hero, Paragon, Polymath) to ascend into a multi-dimensional higher entity. They're gods, but they don't work the same way as the gods of Great Wheel do.
*'''[[Exarch]]s''' hail from the World Axis, and the term basically means "any powerful, unique, and immortal servant of a full-fledged god". In essence, the World Axis uses "God" to refer "Greater Deity" and "Exarch" to refer to "any divine entity below that in power".