Are there any Black gods (especially good ones) in Pathfinder?


Lost Omens Campaign Setting General Discussion

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Just curious, its seems to be really hard to find "black looking" Garundi and Mwangi gods and pantheons. For me this seems to make little sense with societies like Osirion, but then on the other hand you have elven gods and gods like Iomedae. I would just like a black god or any information on them being that I prefer to play Garundi Paladins and Clerics.

I'm a bit lost on how some of these societies are some of the oldest in the world but yet they have no gods that look like them at all on the level of an Iomedae for instance. What I'm really looking for especially is a good black god that is LG, CG or NG.


I think that only some gods present themselves with a specific ethnicity. Iomedae was a cheliaxan before ascension, so she is depicted as one. Irori was vudran and so forth. But older gods that were not mortals before godhood tend to be depicted with the ethnicity of who ever worships them. Abadar in Tian Xia does not look taldane and so forth.

Nethys is from Osirion I think... There's plenty of this stuff in Inner Sea Gods if you are interested.


A quick glance later: Pharasha is garundi, Sarenrae keleshite and so forth.


Nethys, but that's about it. At least, in the main Pathfinder pantheon. When they eventually flesh out the mid and lower reaches of Garund, we might get some more.

Scarab Sages

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Gozreh's nationality is Mwangi, Pharasma's is Gardundi and Nethys is Garundi. Their art in Inner Sea Gods doesn't reflect that though.

Grand Lodge

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Some of the forms of the fey Eldest Shyka the Many are black, as described in Death's Heretic. Shyka is Neutral.


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It bothers me immensely that it seems like many are reaching for straws on this. I'm also not a fan of Nethys looking more like some anime Elf than a Garundi.

With a race that plays such a prominent part in the world one should not have to dig deep into obscurity to find examples of gods that look like them directly, and not be able to find any good ones at all, and especially no males.

Thanks for your help though everyone

Silver Crusade

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There are a number of Empyreal Lords on the good side of things. Jalaijatali is probably the most well known at the moment. Most of the rest don't have much info, though they're based on RW African deities(Oro for example).

Hopefully, if Shimye-Magalla gets fleshed out more, she'll lean good.

The Exchange

Many older deities would look like nature spirits or bizarre beings and less like personifications. Maybe that's why Luka is a racoon?!


Mikaze wrote:

There are a number of Empyreal Lords on the good side of things. Jalaijatali is probably the most well known at the moment. Most of the rest don't have much info, though they're based on RW African deities(Oro for example).

Hopefully, if Shimye-Magalla gets fleshed out more, she'll lean good.

Isn't she just a Mwangi-ized version of that Elven goddess? (her name escapes me at the moment)

And it would have been nice to see something based on the Yoruba pantheon with its many many gods and demigods.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Yoruba_deities

And a kingdom based on Songhai
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songhai_Empire


Damerrich.


Mikaze wrote:

There are a number of Empyreal Lords on the good side of things. Jalaijatali is probably the most well known at the moment. Most of the rest don't have much info, though they're based on RW African deities(Oro for example).

Hopefully, if Shimye-Magalla gets fleshed out more, she'll lean good.

but i would like to see a black true god

Nethys and Pharasma do not look Garundi and Gozreh does not look Mwangi.

which makes me think that the Garundi and Mwangi nationality where added to those gods after there art was created.


The Sun Rises in the East wrote:
Mikaze wrote:

There are a number of Empyreal Lords on the good side of things. Jalaijatali is probably the most well known at the moment. Most of the rest don't have much info, though they're based on RW African deities(Oro for example).

Hopefully, if Shimye-Magalla gets fleshed out more, she'll lean good.

Isn't she just a Mwangi-ized version of that Elven goddess? (her name escapes me at the moment)

And it would have been nice to see something based on the Yoruba pantheon with its many many gods and demigods.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Yoruba_deities

And a kingdom based on Songhai
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songhai_Empire

If you mean Calistria, then no, Jalaijatali is very different from her. I'm not sure what other elfin goddess you might mean, since afaik Calistria is the most popular one in Kyonin.


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They're gods. They look like whatever they want to look like.

Liberty's Edge

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Both Gozreh and Nethys are black (Garundi and Mwangi, respectively), but Gozreh tends to be made of water (or wind) and Nethys is...odd looking, making this difficult to tell. Pharasma's also Garundi but with a weird (non-human) skin color.

Let's see how many vaguely Caucasian Gods there are, shall we? Cayden Cailean and Iomedae definitely qualify. As do Abadar, Urgathoa, and Shelyn. I guess you could throw in Zon-Kuthon, too. That's six to the three mentioned above.

Calistria, Desna, and Torag aren't human and look it. The same is even more true of Rovagug, Lamastu, Asmodeus, and (in many ways) Erastil, while Gorum is a suit of armor, and Norgorber is never seen at all outside his robes.

Irori is Vudrani (so, basically Indian), and Sarenrae is Kelish (ie vaguely Arabic).

So...that's really not too bad among the main 20, especially considering that those are the main 20 of the Inner Sea area...which is pretty much all of Avistan (the Europe equivalent) and only the very northern part of Garund (the Africa equivalent). I suspect there'll be a lot more black Deities if we ever get a sourcebook on southern Garund.

And all that leaves aside that these are the most common ways the Gods look, not their true forms (at least for the ones that didn't used to be human). Desna's true form is a giant space butterfly (or something similar) her human and elven forms are purely to put her worshipers at ease.

All that said, could we use a few more black deities? Sure. It's slightly unfortunate that the ones there were also wound up being some of the ones where other traits of their appearance tend to overwhelm race...but it's not that bad, and certainly explicable in-setting.


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Are there any Irish/German/Cherokee hybrid gods? >_>

Liberty's Edge

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Ashiel wrote:
Are there any Irish/German/Cherokee hybrid gods? >_>

There are no Irish-equivalent people at all, and we have no idea about the Cherokee-equivalents over in Arcadia. So not really.

But I still suspect Cayden Cailean has your back. At least based on my Irish/German friends anyway...

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Deadmanwalking wrote:
Ashiel wrote:
Are there any Irish/German/Cherokee hybrid gods? >_>

There are no Irish-equivalent people at all, and we have no idea about the Cherokee-equivalents over in Arcadia. So not really.

But I still suspect Cayden Cailean has your back. At least based on my Irish/German friends anyway...

I'm not sure that was the point of Ashiel's question.


Then what was the point?


Parody, possibly.


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we have to remember that so far paizo has really only detailed the Inner Sea thus 'Inner Sea Gods'. Asking the question why aren't there more black gods in the Inner Sea is kind of like asking why aren't there more black gods in the Greek or Roman Pantheons. I'm sure that as soon as Garund is explored further we will have a ton of black gods.


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Ipslore the Red wrote:
Parody, possibly.

I'm not sure if it's parody or not honestly. It's funny to me, and it probably comes off as silly to people reading it from my post, but the question itself is just as relevant.

My biological origins are a mixture of a little bit of Irish (not much), German (more), and Native American (cherokee specifically). Over time various amounts of biological features have been exchanged and retooled in my bloodline. I have lighter skin than my grandmother (who has darker skin and super-black hair that turned a beautiful silver shade as she got older, a trait that she inherited being closer to our native American family members), and I have my mother's eyes and my grandmother's hair, my dad and uncle's facial features, and my grandfather's brain (but don't tell anyone).

Where's my god? What if I want to play a Cleric of "slightly darker than pale skin tones with black, brown, and silver hair, green/brown alternating eyes, that is above average height"? What domains should I pick?


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Ashiel wrote:
What domains should I pick?

Madness and Freedom I spose would be a good start.


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Ashiel wrote:


Where's my god? What if I want to play a Cleric of "slightly darker than pale skin tones with black, brown, and silver hair, green/brown alternating eyes, that is above average height"? What domains should I pick?

Fetch me a copy of Inner Sea Gods, a pair of scissors, and some spray-mount!


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Eh, your lucky if you get much outside of Greek and old school dnd demon lords in this kind of game as far as I can tell. I always liked a make your own god kind of gig because then its never a question, but the answer! :P.


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Scavion wrote:
Ashiel wrote:
What domains should I pick?
Madness and Freedom I spose would be a good start.
Matt Thomason wrote:
Ashiel wrote:


Where's my god? What if I want to play a Cleric of "slightly darker than pale skin tones with black, brown, and silver hair, green/brown alternating eyes, that is above average height"? What domains should I pick?
Fetch me a copy of Inner Sea Gods, a pair of scissors, and some spray-mount!
MrSin wrote:
Eh, your lucky if you get much outside of Greek and old school dnd demon lords in this kind of game as far as I can tell. I always liked a make your own god kind of gig because then its never a question, but the answer! :P.
Zhayne wrote:
Photoshop.

These are the best answers/responses I could have ever hoped for. Thanks guys. :D


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Ashiel wrote:
Where's my god? What if I want to play a Cleric of "slightly darker than pale skin tones with black, brown, and silver hair, green/brown alternating eyes, that is above average height"? What domains should I pick?

Photoshop.

RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32

Ashiel wrote:
Are there any Irish/German/Cherokee hybrid gods? >_>

Erastil and his CG counterpart Cerunnos are both vaguely Celtic gods.


Ashiel wrote:
Ipslore the Red wrote:
Parody, possibly.

I'm not sure if it's parody or not honestly. It's funny to me, and it probably comes off as silly to people reading it from my post, but the question itself is just as relevant.

My biological origins are a mixture of a little bit of Irish (not much), German (more), and Native American (cherokee specifically). Over time various amounts of biological features have been exchanged and retooled in my bloodline. I have lighter skin than my grandmother (who has darker skin and super-black hair that turned a beautiful silver shade as she got older, a trait that she inherited being closer to our native American family members), and I have my mother's eyes and my grandmother's hair, my dad and uncle's facial features, and my grandfather's brain (but don't tell anyone).

Where's my god? What if I want to play a Cleric of "slightly darker than pale skin tones with black, brown, and silver hair, green/brown alternating eyes, that is above average height"? What domains should I pick?

Interesting these are my main three as well. I have never heard anyone outside of my family claim the three of them exclusively.

Scarab Sages

While not from Garundi or Mwangi, Irori is of Vudrani origin. Not quite what you were asking for but it might help. Others have already mentioned Nethys, Pharasma and Sarenrae.


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Deadmanwalking wrote:

Both Gozreh and Nethys are black (Garundi and Mwangi, respectively), but Gozreh tends to be made of water (or wind) and Nethys is...odd looking, making this difficult to tell. Pharasma's also Garundi but with a weird (non-human) skin color.

Let's see how many vaguely Caucasian Gods there are, shall we? Cayden Cailean and Iomedae definitely qualify. As do Abadar, Urgathoa, and Shelyn. I guess you could throw in Zon-Kuthon, too. That's six to the three mentioned above.

Calistria, Desna, and Torag aren't human and look it. The same is even more true of Rovagug, Lamastu, Asmodeus, and (in many ways) Erastil, while Gorum is a suit of armor, and Norgorber is never seen at all outside his robes.

Irori is Vudrani (so, basically Indian), and Sarenrae is Kelish (ie vaguely Arabic).

So...that's really not too bad among the main 20, especially considering that those are the main 20 of the Inner Sea area...which is pretty much all of Avistan (the Europe equivalent) and only the very northern part of Garund (the Africa equivalent). I suspect there'll be a lot more black Deities if we ever get a sourcebook on southern Garund.

And all that leaves aside that these are the most common ways the Gods look, not their true forms (at least for the ones that didn't used to be human). Desna's true form is a giant space butterfly (or something similar) her human and elven forms are purely to put her worshipers at ease.

All that said, could we use a few more black deities? Sure. It's slightly unfortunate that the ones there were also wound up being some of the ones where other traits of their appearance tend to overwhelm race...but it's not that bad, and certainly explicable in-setting.

End of thread. Peoplr looking for problems where there are none.

Scarab Sages

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Ross Byers wrote:
Ashiel wrote:
Are there any Irish/German/Cherokee hybrid gods? >_>
Erastil and his CG counterpart Cerunnos are both vaguely Celtic gods.

That would be because Cernunnos was a Celtic god.


Wakens is mwangi. Although there have been false accusations against his divinity.

In all honesty the games primary focus has been noteurope. A lot of the stuff connecting notafrica beliefs has been related to animism or the juju. Also osirion is the only nation with its own Pantheon (well osirion and pre world wound sarkoris which seemed to make it up as it went along)


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Deadmanwalking covered most of the bases up thread. Gozreh, Nethys, Pharasma and Sarenrae.

The Bonuwat people are the ones that worship Desna and Gozreh as Shimye-Magalla.

In Sargava, Shelyn worship originates with the colonials, but she is referred to as "the beautiful lady" by the native Mwangi, and I could easily imagine Shelyn taking the form of a beautiful Mwangi woman with streaks of brilliant color in her dark hair.

Calistria is a known shape-shifter (and gender-bender, for that matter), so she could likely appear as Mwangi or Garundi as well.

Lemartes wrote:
End of thread. Peoplr looking for problems where there are none.

I wouldn't call wondering if there are any black gods in Pathfinder 'looking for problems,' but whatever.


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Do you want there to be? If you're the GM, then there are.
And again, gods can look like whatever they want to, so all of the gods are black. And Asian. And Kobold. And ...


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Will to me problem is not that we have true gods that are Garundi or Mwangi.But that the true gods that we know of that are Garundi and Mwangi do not look like Garundi and Mwangi people in there art.

I can look at art of Iomedae and tell that she is Chelaxian but when i look at art of Pharasma or Nethys(his human half looks more Keleshite to me)I do not think Garundi or when i look at Gozreh i do not think Mwangi.


Balgin wrote:
Ross Byers wrote:
Ashiel wrote:
Are there any Irish/German/Cherokee hybrid gods? >_>
Erastil and his CG counterpart Cerunnos are both vaguely Celtic gods.
That would be because Cernunnos was a Celtic god.

Problems? Asking if the psuedo "black/african" nations have any gods that look directly like them on the level of Iomede is a problem?

Please explain


I tend toward the -opinion- that most deities are powerful enough to change their shape, and thus likely to appear as the race that most suits their purposes and tastes. As in, Gozreh or whoever might appear as whatever race He believes the worshipper / petitioner / bystander most empathizes, fears, or whatevers with.

As an aside: Note that the titans are generally depicted as being dark-skinned, making it highly likely that some of the elder gods are/were as well.

Grand Lodge

I'm sure there are depictions of the deities as various races. We have white, black, and inbetween Santa Clause's and Jesus' in artwork. Golarion probably has a similar practice.


Aroden counts here, doesn't he?


Googleshng wrote:
Aroden counts here, doesn't he?

He wasn't black (maybe "olive" in complexion, depending on some of the artwork).

He was Lawful Neutral.

And he's also dead.

So... probably not, no.


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Oncoming_Storm wrote:
I'm sure there are depictions of the deities as various races. We have white, black, and inbetween Santa Clause's and Jesus' in artwork. Golarion probably has a similar practice.

Yes, in the of the physical descriptions for gods they often state that other cultures depict them differently. For example, even though Cayden Caileen was a Human in life, Halflings still envision him as a Halfling in their artwork and stories. In Tian, Abadar is usually depicted as an Asian looking man with golden robes and a fu manchu instead of a Caucasian in golden armor and goatee Naturally in the European/Mediterranean-esque Inner Sea region where most Pathfinder APs take place, the few gods normally shown in Human form tend to be white looking.

Verdant Wheel

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I have been asking this for a long time. Not only i miss black/african gods, but black/african outsiders creatures, like angels, archons, demons etc...

I know about red or golden skin, but skin colors means very little to etchinicity. Most human face creatures have european features. Not asking for a a complete revamp, just some celestial or gods appearing from time to time to prove they exist but just aren't appearing in Avistan.

Paizo Employee Publisher, Chief Creative Officer

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To be perfectly honest there are not enough of them in the setting right now, and the ones that ought to have Garundi features ended up a goth woman with white hair, a fey-looking white dude with half a face, and a nature spirit with a pretty inhuman form.

Honestly, this has a lot to do with the pantheon and the campaign setting being designed concurrently, so the gods had largely taken form before the ethnicities of the campaign setting began to gel.

When we get around to detailing the rest of Garund we will have more of an opportunity to address this issue, but for now we don't have a lot of great options for what you are looking for.

That being said, I can easily see the folk of Thuvia imagining Abadar as a dark-skinned Garundi, and so on, so there is always that somewhat unsatisfying tactic to fall back on before we address the issue in print.


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It would be nice to see, in regional books, depictions of gods localised to the population. It would underline the tendency of people to depict gods in their own image :D


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In Sargava The lost Colony it´s noted, that Mwawangi often depict the gods brought by the colonists as Mwangi, for example iomeda as a tribeswoman, and in Dragon empires Primer several of the main gods are said to be depicted as Tien.
Every culture has an own depiction of the gods, Gods of the inner Sea just shows how they are mainly depicted in central Avistan.

Verdant Wheel

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sylvansteel wrote:

In Sargava The lost Colony it´s noted, that Mwawangi often depict the gods brought by the colonists as Mwangi, for example iomeda as a tribeswoman, and in Dragon empires Primer several of the main gods are said to be depicted as Tien.

Every culture has an own depiction of the gods, Gods of the inner Sea just shows how they are mainly depicted in central Avistan.

The problem of that is the art. Paizo can't afford to do all the gods for all ethnicities, so to have art for a black god, we would need a full black cultural god. As mister Mona said, opportunities were lost.

Erik Mona wrote:
To be perfectly honest there are not enough of them in the setting right now, and the ones that ought to have Garundi features ended up a goth woman with white hair, a fey-looking white dude with half a face, and a nature spirit with a pretty inhuman form.

Sorry, but both Gozreh forms are very caucasian. Because Yoruba pantheon is still worshiped in Brazil, i have seen a lot of elemental forms of the Orishas in art and african-looking elemental spirits are very different.


Well it was recently explained in Inner Sea Gods that the Gods of Ancient Egypt were worshiped in Ancient Orison and there are plenty Good ones there. You can find the list of them and the cleric stuff for them here.

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