Creators of life, forgers of worlds, and rulers of reality—these are the gods and goddesses of the world. They have existed for eons. The countless worlds of the Great Beyond are their playgrounds and battlefields. Yet for all their vast power, it is not the gods of Golarion who shape nations and write history—this task falls instead to their greatest creations: the mortal races of the world. It is through their priests and paladins, their clerics and cultists that the gods make their will known in this world, be it for good or ill.
In Gods and Magic, you will learn not only of the core twenty deities of the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting, but of a multitude of other deities whose flocks, while smaller and more isolated, have just as much potential for greatness. Yet this book isn’t just for clerics—religion and faith are important factors in the lives of many, be they stalwart paladins, brave rangers, mysterious druids, or dedicated monks. Even those whose talents lie beyond the divine, such as the scholarly wizard or the god-fearing barbarian, find that faith has its advantages.
Within this 64-page book you will find:
Detailed descriptions of the core twenty deities of the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting, complete with symbols and full illustrations
Details on over 40 additional deities, including the gods of dwarves and elves, gnomes and halflings, giants and dragons, and more
Over 20 new spells associated with the most powerful religions, yet usable by both arcane and divine spellcasters
Dozens of new magic items keyed to the world’s religions, ranging from minor trinkets to powerful artifacts
If your group is playing in Golarion you *need* this book. It details each one of the twenty major faiths in the game world, which is something all divine spellcasters need to know. Although there is some crunch, most of the book is fluff, which will help role-play any character and can prove vital especially to clerics but also to druids, monks and paladins. As usual, SKR delivers the goods. Clear writing and a lot of great ideas inside. Some typos here and there but not enough to keep you away from it. This is really a five-star product. Definitely recommended.
If you want some good gods, this is the book for you
Just got this book myself, and I'm already blown away. More fluff than crunch, it lists legends of the major deities, their portfolios and appearances, and their churches with admirable depth considering the brevity (which is my sole complaint, as I would gladly have paid more for even more information). It also goes into some detail about many more deities worshipped by beings ranging from dwarves to monsters. Even the art is great!
First, the quality of the book is fantastic. The binding is superb and the paper has great color and is heavy enough to put up with a good amount of abuse.
The 20 major deities of Golarion are examined in more detail than before. Each major deity is accompanied by a full color illustration. The text of each deity is divided into a section about the deity's history and objectives- a great way to get a feel of what each deity represents, and a second section about the religion of the deity.
The section of religion is by far the most useful to clerics and anyone who plays a character in a religion. This section has been sorely lacking in other company's publications.
After the 20 major deities are examined, there is a chapter for additional deities, including racial pantheons. The final chapter contains items and artifacts that are interesting and useful for players and DMs alike.
Overall I would say that this book is the best deities book released by any publisher.
The ONLY downside is there are a few typos spread throughout the book. So far, nothing that causes a problem in understanding the text.
This was a really interesting book. The gods flesh out a very creative pantheon that ranges between archetypes many are familiar with (the fickle goddess of lust, the heroic knight, the mad god, etc) but each of those is well done.
There are also some interesting gods like the dualistic god of nature and gods that represent the varied stages of civilization and its developments.
I found many of the gods to better represent deific forces much like those of the Greek Pantheon rather than powerful beings with more human mentalities.
If you are looking for a good sampling of premade deities you can't really go wrong with this book.
Gods and Magic:
(initial impression- review may be edited upon in-depth acquaintance)
First and most importantly, 40 of the 64 pages are committed to the twenty ‘major’ deities- that’s a double page spread for each, which conveys more information than the campaign setting, but much less than the deity by deity articles in the Pathfinder Adventure Paths (also written by Sean K Reynolds).
Of the remaining pages, they are mostly split between giving dozens of minor ‘regional’ and ‘racial’ deities a paragraph each, and ten pages worth of interesting magical items (which have additional benefits to those who worship the deity a particular item is associated with).
There are also a couple of general pages, by way of an introduction, about Golarion’s deities, and a useful chart on the front inside cover summarising alignment, concerns, portfolio, and favourite weapon information for Golarion’s various deities.
The book is probably most useful as a source of information to those running homebrew campaigns set in Golarion, and whose other sources of information are restricted to the gazetteer and/or campaign setting.
I hesitate to recommend this book to those not running such homebrew campaigns, unless money is not a concern or a favourable exchange rate against the dollar (or other discount) is available.
I was truly impressed by the contents of this volume. Lots of interesting fluff and campaign relevant information, and also lots of crunch in the form of magic items, spells, and even a few odd artifacts. I would like to eventually see more details on the Other Gods. Well done Mr. Reynolds you have created another masterwork item.
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