So one of the big ticket items in Draconomicon is new rules regarding gods in 4th Ed. More specifically, rules for fighting and killing them.
The book includes stats for Tiamat, patron of chromatic dragons. The stats take up almost 2 columns on a page. Each head gets a stat block, along with the main stat block. She’s an ass-kicking, level 35 solo brute. Level 35! Off the bat she is immune to attacks by anyone who is not epic level. So if Charlie the 19th level fighter stumbles by bad DM’ing accident into her lair, he won’t get a hit on her. Sorry Charlie.
There is a thread at ENWORLD with one of the designers, where he confirms that gods are meant to be played with and killed in 4th Ed. Awesome.
Now it doesn’t mean that if you are high level, you can just barge in there and kick dragon ass. No. These are end-game quests that may take your entire epic tier journey to get to, because you have to meet certain requirements your DM would plan for you.
Here’s an example from the book on how a party may hope to kill Tiamat:
basalt pages and bound in purple dragon scales describes
a ritual called Fashioning Tiamat’s True Death. This ritual’s
intricate recipe includes procuring at least one of Tiamat’s
eggs, in which a newly forged weapon must be quenched.
Multiple weapons require multiple eggs. If the weapon is
used against Tiamat and draws blood at least once, the
god’s essence is destroyed, not discorporated
That’s very cool. And what’s discorporated you ask? Well, it’s part of the new rules regarding gods.
A deity becomes discorporated when it reaches it’s bloody value. Her essence escapes, and for a while cannot assume physical form. The DM sets the time the deity is discorporated, but it can last up to 3 years, during which time one can assume they are doing the quest detailed above to really kill her.
All in all, I think these rules are great. A great epic way to end a campaign. I am hoping they stat out all the gods, because although in my campaign Tiamat isn’t the adversary, another god is.
You can kill the gods. What are you waiting for?
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I would love to read your thoughts on this… comment away!
www. Newbie DM .com 
Donny_the_DM
November 20, 2008
I was a bit worried at first when “they” mentioned that gods would be more abstract, and the characters would not be interacting with them in a physical capacity.
This is awesome! What player HASN’T wanted to play a character who slays and supplants a god?
Ravyn
November 20, 2008
Donny: Me, actually. I find gods far more interesting to interact and play head games with.
And it’s sooo tempting from the DM’s side of the screen to start wondering just why it is that written instructions for a god’s true-death managed to survive. Are we sure these things will actually work? Given they can’t have been tested….
Ryuuma
January 13, 2010
One of my PCs actually began, at level 1, with the goal of killing both Lolth and Bane. He was an assassin who had already given a fourth of his soul to Bane, and then, unsatisfied, another fourth to Lolth, before turning to the Shadowfell. Now he’s aligned with the Raven Queen, trying to get the rest of his soul back. What I was more impressed with was that the rest of the players in two parties (I run the campaign in two groups of six) were totally okay with this, and many were prepared to help.