7:08 ~"Why would a god have Water Breathing?"

Empyrean: "I am Olgaris, neophyte god of coral and the depths! I have taken you here to behold the splendor of my realm! Is it not beyond anything you have ever seen?"
Adventurer: [Sounds of drowning]

Pro-tip:  If you find one on your quest, you happen to have a super-irresistable love potion, and you want to have the Empyrean’s kids someday, remember to use Prestidigitation to make the love potion taste different FIRST (remember, they have Truesight, not Truetaste).  Otherwise, they get ticked at you.

I use the Empryean's statblocks for any Demigods that my players may run into, like recently they saw a guy get Ascended to godhood because the players gassed him and the whole town up so much it became a cult. He was pretty chill afterwards

I think it's worth mentioning that Ao is the overgod of the Forgotten Realms setting specifically.

If your playing in the Greyhawk setting or any of the others they'd either have their own version of an overgod or none at all

Honestly, I like that there is essentially a generic demigod stat-block, I think they can serve as a good template for creating more thematic and mechanically interesting creatures by mixing and matching abilities and spells from different cleric domains.  I just wish they provided clear instructions on how to do customize the statblock and more fun and specific lore since anybody can modify or ignore lore.
Despite their flaws I still think there is potential for interesting potential for Empyreans to serve as effective villains and fun NPCs.

I first read that as “God, kids are weird” and thought to myself, “yeah.”

Only one dispute, Empyreans may have first appeared with that particular name in 5th edition. But in prior editions I believe they were called Titans. This is why they looked the way they did in fifth, because it was a reference to that older concept.

You say those first few god pairings made no sense, but I think you were cooking up some quality enemies-to-lovers.
Shar and Umberlee in particular would get along oddly well, I think.

1:46 Hades domain isn't death (death in present tense), that's Thanatos. Hades' domain is the already dead (death in past tense).

Dame Aylin is pretty much an empyrean in all but name so it's weird that Larian said she's an aasimar. As if aasimar are literal children of gods and also immortal.

Alternatively, you could run them as split on their two parents' portfolios, where they conflict, and use this to explain why they're so prone to "mood shifts." Like for the life and death example, you see a person on the verge of dying. Do you A. save them in the name of life or B. condemn them to their fate in the name of death? Maybe following one portfolio over the other gradually empowers the abilities that come from that parent and brings you closer to the scenario you mentioned of them becoming a more official messenger/servant/heir of that god.

I played a character a while ago which was the manifested last dream of a chthonic God before it died in the Astral Sea. I am glad that concept has been subsumed by some floating eyeballs no one gives a shit about.

Like most creatures in high level 5e, the reason they are so weird is just lazy retcon. Empyreans, formerly called Titans, were the spawn of Annams oldest son, Lanaxis. They all fled to the upper planes after Lanaxis pissed off his dad by accidentally killing most of his siblings while trying to poison Othea, getting his immortality privileges revoked.

When I first heard about Empyreans, I immediately created a Celestial Warlock whose patron was an Empyrean who wanted to become a deity but needed followers to ascend to that status so he granted my character powers similar to a cleric to spread his word.

4:05 "aww my FRIGGIN PEANUTS went FRIGGIN SOUR" classic Jimmy Carter

7:48 oh hey that’s me

2:29 I like the idea of empyreans actually. Not everything or everyone has to fit some unnaturally neat, or inorganic order of the universe.

Infact that's precisely why I think they have such amazing story potential. I am less interested in having them be encounters in a fight, milling over stats or mechanics like how some folks are about more interested in exploring themes of finding ones identity in a world (or worlds?) that demands you conform to some pre existing molds!

In fact I think my fascination with the concept of almost-gods (not demigods) is from the game; "Elden Ring". In that game's world the term "empyrean" is used for a similar concept, they are the children of a full 'god' (as sort of defined in-universe) who aren't full gods themselves...BUT they have the potential to become gods, full on after going through some mysterious process or trail to ascend to the status of their godly parent. (I.E. Marika is seemingly the only full on god in the Lands Between, at least the only one that's ever been physically present with a human body)

Basically Empyreans could have such similar potential, not in the potential of achieving godhood...or at least godhood as conventionally and understood but for finding their own identity, carve out their own domain, seek their own purpose.

In essence, DnD's empyreans are like the tieflings but for celestials, not in literal terms but in narrative potential, seemingly not fitting in anywhere in particular, not feeling comfortable being in the shadows of theirs godly parents and so often they would (as I'm imagining them) go about, journeying through the mortal realms, searching for their own place to call their own, find their own portfolios or rather... find a new way to be divine.

I also think they pair well with the ideas of "petty gods" (a book and concept), the supplement that's wonderfully colorful with its many ideas and names for well...petty gods. Beings who don't encompass very broad and impersonal domains...and I think that's what truly sets them (petty gods) and potentially empyrean apart from their BIG divine cousins or progenitors.

Empyreans are personal gods, divine but personable, they are what the bigger gods can't be, be there for even the smallest individuals who are often overlooked by the greater forces of nature, the small, the meek, the unimportant, no one ""important"" truly cares for them, not on a personal level.

Yes, having a greater perspective is important, very much so...but what often gets ignored is the simple truth that we, humans and or mortals (including all sentient life) exist most closely as small, tight nit groups of bounded individuals, we are most loved in the embrace with close friends and family, we are most strong when our hearts don't feel alone or overlooked. That is what empyrean can embody, the smaller, more intimate relationships between people, not broader concepts of love but specific relationships, like a specific village community or even a tight nit group of adventurers a patron of the party an empyrean can be!

Throughout history the idea of family or household gods or even individuals personal protective spirits is an often overlooked thing in much of fantasy in favor of broader, more ""powerful"" beings or concepts, but such things lacks something that only these smaller deities or emotional forces provides, personality, relatability, and the sorrows or joys of life for particular people, specific individuals or small close groups.

Empyreans can be those would be deities along with many other entities that fulfill those more personal links with 'divinity'. The catch being is your typical, arrogant but insecure (with a chip on their chiseled shoulder) empyrean is often too obsessed with achieving greater, "conventional divinity" liken to their parent's status to see they can have other paths to tread be someone's personal divine guardian or even a small groups patron protector who will almost always be ready to aid unlike the passing glances the largest gods may briefly give attention to the 'small' concerns.

The way I would use Empyreans is to use them as a deity's aspect just like how there are the Aspects of Bahamut and Tiamat. It would give players a means to fight a god (or at least their physical manifestation) as the BBEG. Just change the spells to be more domain specific to that particular deity. For example, if you were fighting Zeus, give him spells like Lightning Bolt at will and Chain Lightning once per day.

Iotas can be a cool concept, my first thought was "they are ideas manifest from the back of gods heads? So, Athena is an Iota"

They could continue to be almost formless (like the idea master or Hermaus Mora from elder scrolls) or have constructed bodies. But while the others can be new domains of physical ideas, Iota can be used as the demigods of abstract concepts and idea.

4:13 I like the idea of empyreans being a bit ""angsty"", as in trying to find their own place in the world. And I think that pairs well with your idea of them creating their own new domain that's a fusion or pairing of their parents broader domains, them embodying transitional boundaries between their parents domains.

Like say you have a god of night and a goddess of day, they have two children, one being an empyrean of dusk and one of dawn. These empyrean children might embrace their potentials in being the twilights, be the moments between things, they who aid in ushering in new cycles. This in a way gives them arguably more power than their parents in that they are all about the mysterious in-between spaces that have the most potential for changes vs their parents who are all about one particular thing and can't be much else, day goddess can only be things related to day and the god of night similarly is conceptually limited...not so for their empyrean children who are all about transitions and thus the most potential for changing and thus conceptually have more freedom with their potential portfolios.

The kicker is...they (the empyrean's parents) don't see it that way...at first, wanting to raise their divine children to be basically miniature versions of themselves these empyreans must break away from their stiffling parents (who might mean well..) but must go on their own journeys to find themselves, create their own places.

That again I think is one of the greatest aspects of empyreans, they are basically gods...but if they were allowed to muck about in the mortal realms with presumably little restrictions besides maybe not being allowed to fundmentally alter reality...mess with it A LOT sure, but can't destroy it or remake it, not without it angering their parents and godly elders. That is were some of the fun (but terrifying) shenanigans can come in.

How does a party of adventurers both keep a basically angsty teenage god from pulling some nasty reality bending pranks that could seriously harm people AND help them to mature and find their own identity beyond just being born divine?

Actually just imagine teenage Dionysus from that time he was kidnapped by pirates to give you an idea of what an angsty, bored empyrean, basically a teenage diety in conception would act like. They wouldn't always go around demanding worship, many of them might even find it entertaining to act like they are a powerless mortal, just to see what it's like... only until they've grown tired of the rise and show their true, terrifying might like how Dionysus even as a teen did when he unleashed vines to sink the pirates ship and turned them into the first dolphins!

Basically they could be the "princess (empyrean) who wants to dwell amongst the commoners (mortals) for a bit of fun", because either they find the idea itself facisnating (look at those little mortals go about their cute, small lives!) or because they are dreadful bored of living in their parents divine realms, especially weary of their parents trying to mold them like clay into a lesser copy of them which leads into their persuite of finding their own way of doing things.