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Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Chronicle of the Righteous (PFRPG)

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Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Chronicle of the Righteous (PFRPG)
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Pray for Mercy
The empyreal lords watch over the infinite expanses of the multiverse to ensure that good can flourish and that evil, no matter its form, can be vanquished. But even these powers cannot stem the tide of evil by themselves, and they must often rely on their celestial servants—noble angels, wise agathions, unrelenting archons, and free-spirited azatas—to lead the charge against the forces of corruption. Together, these virtuous forces wage an unending war against the blasphemous and the profane, all the while lifting worthy mortals to stations of ever-greater glory among the boundless celestial spheres.

Inside this book, you’ll find:

  • A thorough exploration of over 50 empyreal lords, including details on their minions, the divine powers they bestow upon mortal worshipers, and the celestial realms from which they hail.
  • Rules for the mystery cultist prestige class and details on the various types of mystery cults.
  • Methods to bolster mortal spellcasters’ efforts while summoning all the different types of celestials.
  • New spells for spellcasters to hurl at their wicked foes and new magic items to aid adventurers in their battles against evil.
  • Rules for rituals of self-mortification and the divine powers that can be gleaned by such acts of devotion.
  • A bestiary of five new celestials to assist or oppose player characters, including the keen-eyed spyglass archon and the veranallia, azata master of seasons, growth, and decay.

Chronicle of the Righteous is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Pathfinder Campaign Setting, but can easily be used in any fantasy game setting.

By Amber Scott

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-506-8

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

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Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
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Heavenly!

5/5 —

Chronicle of the Righteous is about the servants, worshippers, and homes of a group of beings in Golarion (Pathfinder's campaign setting) called "Empyreal Lords." Empyreal Lords are hard to define exactly; they're divine beings that inspire small groups of worshippers (called Mystery Cults), but they're not major deities that attract thousands of worshippers and the building of major temples. They might be best thought of as demigods, because they're below deities but above normal "celestial" races like angels. That's my best guess anyway, as I'm still a little bit fuzzy on the role of Empyreal Lords in Golarion. But put that to one side: Chronicle of the Righteous is a fascinating book that has inspired me to want to integrate Empyreal Lords, Mystery Cults, and more into my campaigns. The book is a 64-page entry in the Campaign Setting line. The inside front cover is a list of approximately fifty Empyreal Lords, their alignment, areas of concern (portfolios), domains (that they grant to clerical worshippers), and favored weapons. The inside back cover is a full-page reproduction of the cover art, which is quite impressive in its own right. Between the the covers are nine sections.

1. "Tabris's Return to Heaven" (two pages): This is a dense account, written in a "handwritten" font, that tells the tale of a warrior-scholar angel named Tabris who was obsessed with fully exploring and detailing the heights and depths of the heavenly and fiendish realms. Tabris disappeared for decades before returning with his Chronicle of the Righteous, and the book contained secrets that even the celestial realms would have rather been suppressed! It's quite evocative and well-written, and surprisingly effective. It's definitely a flavourful way to start the book off.

2. " Lords of the Empyrean" (29 pages): Each of the major Empyreal Lords receives at least a half-page entry that describes them and their particular interests, along with a drawing of their holy symbol and information on what types of people worship them, where their shrines might be located, and what sorts of celestial beings act as their minions. I would say that every third or fourth Empyreal Lord receives a full-colour picture, and these are done quite well. Perhaps the most important thing in this section is the introduction of the concept of "Celestial Obedience" and "Boons." Celestial Obedience is a feat that can be taken by worshippers of Empyreal Lords and provides them with an immediate +4 sacred bonus to something like (depending on the particular Emypreal Lord worshipped) a certain type of saving throw, combat maneuver check, AC against a particular type of enemy, etc. The benefit is narrow in scope and certainly not game-breaking, but additional powers ("boons") are gained at character levels 12, 16, and 20--and some of these are pretty cool. The best part of the Celestial Obedience concept is that, although it can certainly be taken by clerics, paladins, and other divinely-focussed classes, it doesn't have to be. If your Cavalier is a worshipper of the Ragathiel, the Empyreal Lord of chivalry or your Bard is a worshipper of Seramaydiel, the Empyreal Lord of communication and music, they can gain the benefits of Celestial Obedience. It's a great way to make the gods (or demigods) meaningful to more than just clerics in a campaign.

3. "Celestrial Realms" (2 pages): This is a description of the major geographical features of the celestial realms: Elysium, Heaven, and Nirvana. I have to admit I've never had characters adventure in celestial realms, and I have no idea what it would be like to GM or role-play such a place. I suppose it's good to have something more concrete to heaven than fluffy clouds. I did like how there was mention of where mortals who plane shift to each realm are most likely to appear.

4. "Celestialkind" (6 pages): After an introduction to celestial races and a sidebar about what happens to mortal souls who reach the celestial realms ("petitioners"), each of the following varieties of good-aligned denizens of the celestial planes receives a full page description: Agathions, Angels, Archons, and Azatas. I think this would be especially useful for those pesky spellcasters who are prone to summoning celestial beings willy-nilly.

5. "Concordance" (2 pages): Although only two pages long, this is one of my favorite sections of the book. The premise is that "once an eon, and only in times of great danger or turmoil" all of the divine powers of the celestial planes gather together to reach an accord on what should be done. There's material here about the death of Aroden, Lamashtu's rise to power, hints about a deity interested in time-travel, and, most intriguing of all, "The Seventh Accord", a Concordance never spoken of in the centuries or millennia since it happened and considered so blasphemous and dangerous that no mention of it is permitted to exist. Great fodder for creative GMs!

6. "Empyreal Worship" (14 pages): This section is a grab-bag of material, but it's useful. There's a page on how the different divine classes relate to Empyreal Lords, two pages on different types of Mystery Cults (drawn broadly among themes, but useful), and two pages on "secret offerings" that can be made to improve one's chance in summoning a particular type of celestial being. Two pages are also devoted to Rituals of Mortification, which requires a character to invest a certain number of days going without food, water or sleep in order to gain both an affliction and a benefit. The actual rituals listed are said to be examples only and GMs should feel free to add more. The Ritual of Appetite, for example, requires two days' fasting, afflicts the character with a -2 penalty on Constitution checks and saves vs. disease and poison, but grants the character a +2 sacred bonus on concentration checks and Will saving throws. Other rituals are far more powerful, with one providing a +4 sacred bonus on attack rolls against evil creatures and a +4 bonus on caster level checks to overcome their spell resistance! I haven't used these rituals in play, and I'm not sure whether they would be balanced or not, especially because part of the mechanism is the infliction of nonlethal damage once a day, but nonlethal damage heals quite easy. So the idea is interesting, but I'd have to test this concept out more before I'd be confident it's a good addition to the game. Next, there's an important new prestige class introduced here: the Mystery Cultist. A Mystery Cultist gains spells at the same speed as their prior class and several celestial-themed abilities, but a big reason for playing one is that they can receive the "boons" of the Celestial Obedience feat a few levels earlier than a regular character. I'd be very tempted to try this class out, as it seems to both fit the flavour of Empyreal Lord worship and be mechanically sound. After this, here are two pages of new spells (6 in all), with specific mention that these are not restricted to worshippers of Mystery Cults (and a couple of the spells are arcane in nature). I would love to see "Charitable Impulse" in a game, as it forces someone to help others and gradually give away all of their possessions instead of committing acts of violence. Last, there are two pages of celestial-themed magic items.

7. "Lesser Empyreal Lords" (1 page): About two dozen Empyreal Lords that were, for whatever reason, not significant enough to be included in the first section receive a brief, one-sentence description here.

8. "Fallen Celestials" (1 page): Intriguing description of those celestial beings who have turned their back on the heavens, many of whom have joined the infernal realms.

9. "The Celestial Hosts" (8 pages): This is basically a bestiary. It helpfully puts into table format all of the Agathions, Angels, Archons, and Azatas introduced in other Pathfinder materials, and then describes five new ones: Cervinal Agathions, Balisse Angels, Choral Angels, Spyglass Archons, and Vernallia Azatas. I found the new creatures interesting and potentially useful (except for the Choral Angels, which were a bit too cliche for me).

In sum, there's a lot of material here and it's almost all great. I picked this book up by chance (it was half-price) and have never done much with the celestial realms in a game, but I can now definitely see why I might want to in the future; and if I do, I'm confident that Chronicle of the Righteous would be the first place I'd turn.

Want More!

5/5 —

Few of the books in RP that I never wanted to end. The flavor and stats in this book are awesome and highly useful for people that find that they are not fitting into the 'standard gods' but your not a deviant into the other alignments.

There is something for almost everyone good aligned, investigators have two options of Emperial Lords who they can follow and seem perfectly inline with their 'deity's' viewpoints. Spies and artisans have options, crusaders have more than just Iomedae's views. Good aligned nature gods - sure you don't have to be purely neutral.

There are many options and the mechanics are useful but are more geared towards games that would end up in higher level range (12+) but would add a lot of good flavor without being overpowered.

Everyman Product Reviews: Chronicles of the Righteous

5/5 —

Final Score & Thoughts
Crunch: 5/5 Stars
Flavor: 5/5 Stars
Layout: 4/5 Stars
Final Score: 14/15 Stars, or 4.5 Stars, rounded up for it’s flavor.

Chronicles of the Righteous is a must-own book if you do absolutely anything with good outsiders in your campaign. This book provides a much needed insight into the nature of the celestial races and provides plenty of fodder for potential gods and entities in your campaign setting. This product is a rich tapestry of righteousness that your Pathfinder collection is incomplete without.

Read the complete review at the Everyman Gaming blog.

Excellent Book!

5/5 —

Read my full review on my blog.

Overall, Chronicle of the Righteous is an excellent book, particularly due to its extensive list of Empyreal Lords. It helps to balance out the playing field between the forces of evil and the forces of good. While gamemasters may have less call for information on celestials than they do information on fiends, the do have some call for that information, and this book fills that niche splendidly.

This is a fantastic book!

5/5 —

It is up there with Lords of Madness, Book of Fiends and Demonomicon of Iggwilv in the amount and quality of information it provides on the various Empyreal Lords and the other celestials. The author should be proud of this creation!

As for the material, there is an awesome list of new sources for divine casters as well as other information on new celestial creatures. I especially like the inclusion of Tabriss, the Celestial Realms, Concordance and the Fallen Celestials.

Do yourself and your players a favor, go out and pick up this book now!

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James Jacobs wrote:
So... until this book is actually out, just try to manage your expectations that the more obscure an Empyreal lord is, the more likely that character might not be a part of this book. We'll try to get as many as possible, though...

Your going to have something about Kelumarion, the King over the Mountain, right? Just from his title I wanted to know more about him.

I would love more information on Ragathiel. Does anyone know if there is any art on him?
Dark Archive

Oh my gosh, this book still isn't out yet! Argghhh!
Silver Crusade

SOON
Dark Archive

My big thing is I loved the excerpts of fiction they had in the Book of the Damneds, like Ihys and Asmodeus's story.
Dark Archive
1 person marked this as a favorite.

I do kind of hope (and gosh, way to late to have mentioned this when they were still writing it, I just realized) that any 'Book of the Saved' excerpts are on an easier-to-read background and in an easier-on-my-aging-eyes font than the Book of the Damned stuff was. I gave on it when the headaches began (and yeah, it's my fault for getting old, but I didn't *try* to get old, it just happened!).

I kind of had the same problem with a lot of the later Vampire stuff, with blotchy black fonts on blotchy gray pages, which was really annoying, since they frequently had some really cool flavor / fiction stuff buried in that hard to read format.
Silver Crusade

Hadn't even thought about the in-setting excerpts...

Has me wondering about a fiendish counterpart to Tabris. Some devilish scholar tasked with studying celestials and who was driven quite mad by the trauma of trying to truly understand them or "worse", being "infected" by his work.

Guess that could apply just as well with less severity with an aeon/psychopomp/axiomite scholar too. :)
Dark Archive

Tabris was tasked with documenting everything not just the book of the damned but he also wrote the counterpart the book of righteousness
1 person marked this as a favorite.
brad2411 wrote:
Tabris was tasked with documenting everything not just the book of the damned but he also wrote the counterpart the book of righteousness

Which ties in rather nicely, what with him (Tabris) being the Angel of Free Will/Choice and everything (at least, according to real-world sources*). How else is he supposed to represent free will if he doesn't know (understand?) all sides of the alignment choice? Of course, real-world sources don't exactly state whether or not he's a tarnished/fallen angel...

Carry on!

-- C.

Eva:
And no, I wasn't referring to Neon Genesis Evangelion as one of the references, eventhough it's quite important for the "plot" towards the end... (PWP!?)

*

  • Briggs, C.V. (1997) The Encyclopedia of Angels.
  • Davidson, G. (1967) A Dictionary of Angels, including the fallen angels.

I was hoping it would come out at the same time as Champions.
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Shalafi2412 wrote:
I was hoping it would come out at the same time as Champions.

Heh, I was kind of hoping they'd announce that it's coming out, well, now.

Chronicle of the Righteous is THE highlight of 2013 for me as far as Pathfinder Campaign Setting books are concerned. The only thing that might measure higher on my excitometer would be a Mendev book.
Webstore Gninja Minion
Heine Stick wrote:
Shalafi2412 wrote:
I was hoping it would come out at the same time as Champions.

Heh, I was kind of hoping they'd announce that it's coming out, well, now.

Chronicle of the Righteous is THE highlight of 2013 for me as far as Pathfinder Campaign Setting books are concerned. The only thing that might measure higher on my excitometer would be a Mendev book.

*cough*

Liz Courts wrote:
*cough*

That is indeed another highlight of 2013 for me but, as I understand it, The Worldwound is about the Worldwound (the gaping rift between the Abyss and the Material Plane) itself whereas what I'm hoping for is a book about the crusader nation of Mendev and the crusaders fighting to keep the demonic hordes at bay. I have a weakness for Mendev and the many interesting conflicts and plots contained within it as well as the stories the Mendevian Crusades can tell. I guess a fitting title for what I'm hoping for might be Mendev, Crusader Nation or some such. :)

:0p
Silver Crusade
Shalafi2412 wrote:
I was hoping it would come out at the same time as Champions.

This is pushing it closer to Wrath of the Righteous' release date... Un/intentional synchronization?

Either way, eager to see it. :)
Webstore Gninja Minion

Updated product with final cover image and description.
Paizo Employee Creative Director
Mikaze wrote:
Shalafi2412 wrote:
I was hoping it would come out at the same time as Champions.

This is pushing it closer to Wrath of the Righteous' release date... Un/intentional synchronization?

Either way, eager to see it. :)

Unintentional.

Shadow Lodge

Wow, that cover is pretty amazing. And we finally have an image for Ragathiel. Now just need a holy symbol. . .
Paizo Employee Creative Director
"Devil's Advocate" wrote:
Wow, that cover is pretty amazing. And we finally have an image for Ragathiel. Now just need a holy symbol. . .

All of the Empyreal Lords in the book have holy symbols illustrated.

Shadow Lodge

Ragathiel is probably one of the coolest Cleric's patrons out there in the setting.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Am I reading this right? Over 50! This is too much!
Paizo Employee Developer
zergtitan wrote:
Am I reading this right? Over 50! This is too much!

We can cut a few of them if you want. It'd be the merciful thing to do.

Silver Crusade
3 people marked this as a favorite.

And we finally have a visual for Ragathiel. :)

Quote:
Over 50 Empyreal Lords

Whahabba?

Fifbiddy! FIFBIDDY! WAHRARRBSBLBLALBLSARBLERERBGL

Quote:
veranallia, azata master of seasons, growth, and decay.

oooooh

is curious

That mystery cult material is probaly going to get some heavy use from GMs wanting to bring Magnimar to life in Shattered Star. :)
Silver Crusade
Mark Moreland wrote:
zergtitan wrote:
Am I reading this right? Over 50! This is too much!
We can cut a few of them if yo

NOT EVEN AS A JOKE

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Mikaze wrote:
Mark Moreland wrote:
zergtitan wrote:
Am I reading this right? Over 50! This is too much!
We can cut a few of them if yo
NOT EVEN AS A JOKE

+1 agreed. While I am startled by the number, I'm all for it considering we have 3 books for evil with 4 riders, 9 archdevils, and whatever large number of demons that to have 50+ is a huge boon. It creates a huge banquet of empyrials to choose from, so don't skim on the meats for these guys.

P.S. I'm going to have to see how you stuff 50 lords in full detail along with all the other goodies into a 64 page book when it comes out.
Silver Crusade

3 Lords + art for every two pages maybe, like in Lords of Chaos? That would be 34 pages of Empyreal Lords, rounded up. Hmm...

Wow 50+ empyreal lords, I can't wait to get this one.
Dark Archive
Mikaze wrote:
Quote:
Over 50 Empyreal Lords

Whahabba?

Fifbiddy! FIFBIDDY! WAHRARRBSBLBLALBLSARBLERERBGL

What he said!

Wow.

Good just got a lot more flavorful, I think, which, given how many utterly fascinating demon lords evil has going for them, gives me the good kind of chills.

Yay!
Silver Crusade

Just realized that this is a bigger expansion than any of hte three D's got too! There were hte six major Empyreals introduced in the Campagin Setting, then the three introduced in Magnimar. And one more that has only been mentioned in one source.

Campaign Setting:

Andoletta
Arshea
Korada
Ragathiel
Sinashakti
Valani

Magnimar:

Ashava the True Spark
Soralyon
Ylimancha

The Infernal Syndrome:

Shei Five Dawns - Of Vudran origins and currently imprisoned

That means that 40+ of the Empyreals in this book are going to be brand new! :D
Silver Crusade

This is just more unfounded guesswork, but...

If it does follow the Lords of Chaos format, that's probably 17 pieces of art.

I'm wondering if all of the "Original Six" are going to get art, but with Andoletta and Arshea being so close, that's a lot of A's to buffer them. Then again, Ashava is probably going to offer one bit of buffering between them already and the celestial races do seem to love that letter as much as the fiends love their D's. ;)

wantthisbooksomuch

Oh, how I would wish to get artwork for all 50 of them :)
Dark Archive

Is that Ragathiel on the cover?

with 50 different Empyreal Lords, how much actual text will we get describing them?
Grand Lodge

I actually want to have this on hand when my group gets into the big stuff for Fire Mountain Game's Way of the Wicked. So much more stuff to throw at them. It'll be awesome.
Paizo Employee Creative Director
5 people marked this as a favorite.

From the Department of Expectation Management:

Not all 50 Empyreal Lords will get the same amount of attention and text. The best comparison is Lords of Chaos. That book had details on 47 demon lords:

20 of them had half page entries (like Dagon or Orcus).

11 of them had full page entries with art (like Nocticula or Sifkesh).

One of them (Lamashtu) had 2 pages.

5 of them are dead demon lords who each got a single paragraph of information.

10 of them are nascent demon lords who get a paragraph and a mini-stat block of info.

Chronicle of the Righteous will have a similar (although not exactly similar) spread of information, with the bulk of the Empyreal Lords getting a half/full page (just as 31 of the demon lords did), but with the rest getting a paragraph or a few sentences of info.

Yes but were still getting 50 so I am ok with a page, a paragraph, etc. as long as all them get what domains they grant, favored weapon, etc.
Silver Crusade
James Jacobs wrote:
Chronicle of the Righteous will have a similar (although not exactly similar) spread of information, with the bulk of the Empyreal Lords getting a half/full page (just as 31 of the demon lords did), but with the rest getting a paragraph or a few sentences of info.

That's still a ton of new Empyreals getting the up-close treatment. :)

Is it May yet?

Also very curious about how those self-mortification elements are set up, and what kind of flavor they'll veer towards.

I'm interested in the summoning quite a bit, although the lords will be awesome too.
Sovereign Court

Beautiful cover on this one!
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Love the cover - celestials need more love.

A bunch of celestial lords and illistrated holy symbols?! Sounds great! The lords of darkness, while a fan, seem to hog the spotlight too much.

Wonder if any of them are patrons of alchemy? A player of a good alchemist complained of them having an 'evil dispostion', what with powers like Norgober/Blackfingers, Abraxas, and Haagenti.

I could see a lord from Nirvana emphasizing herbs and concoctions for achieving enlightenment :)
Lantern Lodge

ARHHH!!! Just noticed this! YEAH!

Can I get a comment on if there will be at least a half-page on Sinashakti and his worshipers?

I have been working on filling out the back history of my PFS Dwarf, Gloin Greenleaf, when I notice a real lack of current information on Sinashakti... but now it look likes my prayers are going to be answered!
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Secane wrote:

ARHHH!!! Just noticed this! YEAH!

Can I get a comment on if there will be at least a half-page on Sinashakti and his worshipers?

I have been working on filling out the back history of my PFS Dwarf, Gloin Greenleaf, when I notice a real lack of current information on Sinashakti... but now it look likes my prayers are going to be answered!

Almost certainly. I can't believe that they would have created about 40 new lords and not detailed ones that already exist.

Developer
Secane wrote:

ARHHH!!! Just noticed this! YEAH!

Can I get a comment on if there will be at least a half-page on Sinashakti and his worshipers?

I have been working on filling out the back history of my PFS Dwarf, Gloin Greenleaf, when I notice a real lack of current information on Sinashakti... but now it look likes my prayers are going to be answered!

Yep, there's definitely a half-page on this guy!

What a great cover!!!
Silver Crusade
DeciusNero wrote:

Love the cover - celestials need more love.

A bunch of celestial lords and illistrated holy symbols?! Sounds great! The lords of darkness, while a fan, seem to hog the spotlight too much.

Wonder if any of them are patrons of alchemy? A player of a good alchemist complained of them having an 'evil dispostion', what with powers like Norgober/Blackfingers, Abraxas, and Haagenti.

I could see a lord from Nirvana emphasizing herbs and concoctions for achieving enlightenment :)

Given the talk of alchemy getting some unusual treatment in Champions of Purity, I get the feeling there will probably be an appropriate patron in there somewhere. :)

Can't help but wonder if Ragathiel has some fiendish features hidden in the cover. He does seem to have the Peri-style wings going on, which certainly works for his history....

Can't believe I never thought about Ragathiel possibly being Peri-related when he's almost the textbook example...
Silver Crusade

Also, really looking forward to the details on Korada(and hoping it presents some ideas for converting the Champion of Irori for Koradan use!).

Is that Ragathiel?

I hope that these new empyreal lords are based on mythological sources, just like the fiendish ones are.
Developer

Yep, the guy on the cover is indeed five-winged Ragathiel!

Hooray! I may have to change the deity that my new half elf cleric/wizard/mystic theruge is going to worship for the Reign of Winter AP.
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