|
What if there was a specific number of outsiders. Like not even a large amount.
What if there were exactly 777 Angels?
What if there were exactly 666 Devils?
What if there were exactly 333 Demons?
What if there were exactly 496 Inevitables?
What if there are between Mobs/Many/Lots of Proteans?
What would that cosmology look like?
I think it would imply either that the ascent/descent into outsiderdom was super hard, and most petitioners never reach that level...or your multiverse is really small and mortal races (or mortal races that go onto a DnD afterlife) were restricted to a single world or even continent. Or both.
|
|
I think it would imply either that the ascent/descent into outsiderdom was super hard, and most petitioners never reach that level...or your multiverse is really small and mortal races (or mortal races that go onto a DnD afterlife) were restricted to a single world or even continent. Or both.
I think perhaps, that becoming an Angel or a Demon isn't likely for souls and that such souls would have afterlives closer to something like Greek legend, with Elysian Fields or Tartarian punishments for eternity. Outsiders would be a different class of being entirely, with no mortal origin maybe?
There are plenty of mythologies wherein the dead do not become the various divine entities that Pathfinder would call Outsiders.
The description of more than a few outsiders imply that they are probably amalgam of many souls of a particular focus, with comments like "it would take an incredibly twisted soul to immediately become such a demon" or things like that.
You could simply say that these outsiders gain influence and power the more souls that amalgamate into their focus. So no fields of larval petitioners of the sin of gluttony, rather a single devil of gluttony.
It would explain why recovering a particular soul may be difficult for raise dead (their unique personality may have already been obliterated in their transubstantiation), etc.
Although, it would make the most sense for *Lawful* outsiders to be limited in this way, while Demons feel like more "nebulous" in numbers, perhaps even "innumerable".
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It depends on whether or not there is a mechanism for replacing outsider losses in a reasonable timeframe or not.
If an outsider "killed" away from its home plane is not permanently destroyed, but reforms and is just prohibited from leaving again for a year (or more), then they will be a bit more cautious (because of the potential disruption to their goals) but actually more likely to be found away from their "home" (because even if they "lose," they only get put in "time out"). This also might help explain why they spend so much time elsewhere; it also makes for some nice opportunities for recurring villains.
Even if death is death, no matter which plane they are on, if the outsider can be replaced (by promoting lower-ranked members to bump everyone up a slot and then filling the least ranking position with a new outsider, spontaneous creation of a new outsider by the planes themselves, etc.) then you can still have planar conflicts; they will just be skirmishes, rather than outright wars (as no group wants to overextend themselves so that they are weakened in "critical" areas while waiting on "reinforcements").
In general, a limited number of outsiders could also be a reason for them to work though mortal proxies (giving conflicts more of a "Cold War" feel, as mortal groups follow the guidance of outsider "advisors").