Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
If you're an evil or chaotic neutral tiefling, the demon lord Haagenti is the best choice.
If you're not, or if demon lords are off the table, the most popular alchemist deity would probably be Nethys. Although I could see an alchemist worshiping ANY of the deities depending on the backstory.
For example, I could see an alchemist modeled after the character from Perfume being a worshiper of Calistria.
|
I always thought Alchemists would be more likely the type to spit in the god's faces than worship them, ala the typical mad scientist. And when the inevitable lightning bolt from the sky comes, they'd just shake it off and laugh, shouting to the sky "Potion of Lightning Resistance +10 b~*@&es!".
And I'm now imagining an alchemist based on Dr. Pretorius. Which would be awesome.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
My Ratfolk Alchemist is a devout worshiper of Cayden Cailean. Chaos, Luck, Brewers, Drink...
Cayden Cailean... patron deity of mixed drinks!
Where could I find more info on Haagenti, beside the passing reference in ISWG?
Pathfinder #18, Second Darkness: Descent Into Midnight, has write-ups on the various demon lords in the back material.
|
Creative Director
|
And the best place, of course, for more Haagenti info would be Book of the Damned II: Lords of Chaos.
And yeah... Perfume's a great movie. It's actually one of the cooler movies to watch if you're looking for inspiration for how a super-powerful artifact would work in a game... if said artifact was a scent!
Oh, also, here.
Isn't Norgorber also a popular choice for some Alchemists?
Perfume... As in Perfume: The Story of a Murder?
Also Norgorber, Cayden Cailean, & Nethys are my top three. Especially Cayden Cailean. He is my favorite god in the PFCS.
|
Cayden Cailean and Nethys do make some sense, and of course storyline-wise, maybe other gods could work well for a decent roleplayer.
But let's face it here - there really should be a deity that pulls on that string - I would say the same for summoners, magi, and possibly gunslingers (alchemists and gunslingers not mutually exclusive, for the record). Not even many of the minor deities really seem to tie in much with these themes.
If you want a deity "pulling the strings", the likeliest two for that role are Norgorber and Haagenti.
|
|
Just to point out, the original question specifically stated non-evil, and neither of those two choices fit that bill very well if you are trying to lean good. Science and reasoning is more neutral, but the spiritual/metaphysical path of alchemical ascension (the quest for the alchemist's stone) is a much more good-aligned, or at least non-harmful, principle.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'd say Qi Zhong is the best option for that, then. Medicine is part of his portfolio, after all.
Seems to me like he'd be the main deity for any Good Alchemist, while Haagenti is the main Evil option.
Thinking about it more carefully, Norgorber's main focus was poison so not all Alchemists might go for worshipping him.
Absolutely.Perfume... As in Perfume: The Story of a Murder?
Hmm... I really need to watch that movie again as I haven't gotten a chance to watch it all the way...
Qi Zhong Worshiping Medicine Man Alchemist searching for The Philosopher's Stone... Sounds like Doctor Marco from FMA...
Is there a good Medicine Man Archetype for the Alchemist? If not I think I have my next Archetype build...
& Abadar could be really good as well...
I'm seeing some nice dualism here.
Qi Zhong vs Norgorber (Medicine vs Poison / Healing vs Hurting)
Abadar vs Haagenti (Improving Civilization vs Deteriorating Civilization)
Hmm...
LG Alchemist: Focuses on focused on progressing Technology and Medicine to save lives. Only takes lives if they pose a threat to peoples' safety.
Worships both Abadar & Qi Zhong.
|
Cayden Cailean... patron deity of mixed drinks!
I suggest paying attention to what else defines your character. If you want your religion to be important and not be a cleric, find a very intimate reason for faith to be important.
My Alchemist, a half orc worships Abadar because he wants to run a business (BBQ resturaunt), marry off his sisters, and become a pillar of the community.
My Tiefling fighter worships Milani, because she is revolting against the stereotypes she faces and her own inner nature. She carries little children's dolls to beat up rather then take out her frustrations on people. Her faith is a little like AA.
Cayden Cailean, god of alcohol (which is flame-able) and using drinks for inspiration seems like an easy place to start.
My upper-class alchemist turned naturalist follows mostly Abadar, Erastil, Irori, and Nethys, offering prayers to all of them based on what he's up to - Abadar for general beliefs, Erastil for his naturalist studies, Irori when he's healing people, and Nethys for theoretical practices and such. As I understand it, most people in polytheistic cultures didn't devote themselves to a single deity unless they were a priest or something. My character's not a priest, so he doesn't venerate one god over all the rest.
I'll throw Pharisma in the bucket...
Alchemists in my opinion like balance, they seek to understand what rules govern the universe. Death ultimate balances the scales for everything and is one of the few absolute constants everything dies, things that don't imbal;ance the scales so go kill them...
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The reason polytheistic approach (or atheistic) won't work is that I'm taking the Ease of Faith trait. As I write that, I guess it doesn't inherently exclude the poly or atheistic approach, and in fact might work well with atheism, but more of an Ease of Lack of Faith. Thanks all.
