When I was in Jr. High, I read an account of the killing of a "god" that actually made sense; it rang true, if such a thing can be said of theocide.
I have no idea what novel it was, but the protagonist was battling a immortal monster of some sort that lived on an icy steppe, and had some sort of icey breath attack. It was also diseased and decaying and actually WANTED to die. But what's an immortal to do when it WANTS to die? It's in a bind. Suicide don't cut it. After all, they are immortal. They can't just jump off a cliff.
Anyway, this beast put up a token fight and then leaned INTO a blow landed by the hardy protagonist. The god helped drive the magic sword into his own heart... killing it.
Now THAT makes sense to me; a god, full of ennui, helps in its own destruction.
Now all I have to do is convince of some 'not-so-big-god' of the fact, that he's/her's existance is just not worth it anymore. Anyway, easy for my - I've got the Ring of human influence and an int. of 18.
Seen on a web page:
"This site best viewed in Netscape Explorer."
Customer: "I ran Microwave Defrost, but it didn't help."
(Referring to Microsoft Defrag.)
Customer: "I have Microsoft Exploder."
Customer: "I have Microscope Exploiter."
Customer: "I have Netscape Complicator."
Customer: "I have Netscape Regulator."
Customer: "Uhh...I have Newscape and Outlook Exposure."
Remember, folks, gods are immortal... human/demihuman civilizations are not...
If you take this to its logical conclusion, any fantasy world that's been around for a few thousand millenia will be full of powerful gods, mid-range gods, weak gods, and gods that are just barely hanging on. And some in this latter category may be no more powerful than the average joe; they are simply immortal (I could see this happening, would make for a great adventure actually, meeting one of these).
If I had an urge to kill a god, I'd track down one of these weak, forgotten, sad-sack immortals and lure him/her/it into some sort of trap and then go for it. If you have a "real" god on your side, whacking the wimpy one should not be TOO hard (yeah right). Just get a dagger+3 of immortal-slaying or something for the final finishing blow.
Originally posted by two:
<STRONG>If I had an urge to kill a god, I'd track down one of these weak, forgotten, sad-sack immortals and lure him/her/it into some sort of trap and then go for it.</STRONG>
Sounds like an OK way to make a living!
Still, you'd need that Dagger of Immortal Slaying. How does that work? I suppose it has to be made by another god. That shouldn't be a problem; amongst a bunch as varied as the average pantheon, there's probably some deranged individual prepared to do this.
How are gods killed in our world? Mythology offers a few examples. Balder being killed by his brother Hodur is probably the most famous one. If I'm not mistaken, Wodan sacrifices himself to himself at some point as well... Krishna even gets killed in his sleep by a hunter that mistakes his feet for the ears of a deer! Some religions apparently sport a much more fragile variety of gods...
[url="http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/SpellsReference/Main.htm"]Baldur's Gate 2 Spells Reference[/url]: Strategy, tips, tricks, bugs, cheese and corrections to the manual.