Razmiran Priest archetype refluff?


Advice


Just looking for some ideas for how to refluff/reflavor the sorcerer archetype for a non-PFS game. Preferably in such a way that it isn't connected to Razmir, as I love the archetype, but the False God is a nut.

Any ideas are welcome!


Well, it's for sorcerers trying to look like clerics, so I think your obvious choices are: sorcerers pretending to be clerics, sorcerers who have a divine mandate (would go well with a celestial bloodline), or sorcerers who are trying to understand/duplicate/usurp the powers of the gods.


Oracles gain power from deities they may not even worship or recognize, so why not sorcerers? Maybe Nethys was cheating a little.


Always thought the archetype would be interesting for a character associated with Aroden. Whether it's someone who preferred to follow Aroden's principles of human ingenuity over finding a new god or someone who for whatever reason wants people to believe they receive their spellcasting from the dead god.


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I played mine as a Ur Priest, and I think the mechanics fit the theme well. I have no idea if that is fitting for your home game though.


Yes, except Human ingenuity would point more towards an Arcanist or Wizard archetype (or maybe Sage Sorcerer). Razmir probably uses Sorcerers for Razmiran Priests because he DOESN'T want too much ingenuit among his priesthood, because smart priests might turn against him (and he doesn't want any foothold for the otherworldry Patrons that Witches are normally bound to, either). Somebody other than Razmir who was trying to duplicate his work for different ends (such as to try to bring back Aroden) COULD try to use his work, but might be better served going the route of the Magaambya academy (trainer of the prestige class of the same name).

I wish we had a prestige class similar to Ur-Priest (made to be enterable from any type of spellcasting base class, including a divine class that has unusable spellcasting ability due to loss of faith or good status).


A lot of the Razmiran Priest stuff is aimed at being a master of divine scrolls and wands. Perhaps the magic in your blood was awakened by an encounter with such, perhaps you're just obsessed with divine relics.

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avr wrote:
A lot of the Razmiran Priest stuff is aimed at being a master of divine scrolls and wands. Perhaps the magic in your blood was awakened by an encounter with such, perhaps you're just obsessed with divine relics.

That actually fits well thematically for an Arodenite, since they had to rely on scrolls and wands after their spells began to fail. A version of Razmiran Priest that progressed from ex-Clerics of Aroden could be an interesting way to work that. Having such a class come from bards, sorcerers and / or adepts who used to serve the church of Aroden could also be a tactic, as they 'cross-studied' to try and pick up the slack left behind with the failure of the clerical members of the church.

Sivanah has also been suggested to have meddled in the whole Razmiran deception, and would also be an intriguing source of 'false priests.' Fooling people like that is pretty much her raison d'etre.

Other dead gods could serve as inspiration, with the Razmiri simply having poached an idea had before, by faltering churches of folk like Ydersius or Acavna or whatever.

Even in faking divine favor, Razmir might be doing nothing more than ripping off other people's ideas, as some scholarly researcher into the dwindling faith of Aroden or degenerate cults to Curchanos might discover.


I do like the idea of worshipping Aroden, but it'd be a bit odd. He's the god of humanity and he died 150 years ago, so worshiping him while he was still alive wouldn't work for a human.


Rowe wrote:
I do like the idea of worshipping Aroden, but it'd be a bit odd. He's the god of humanity and he died 150 years ago, so worshiping him while he was still alive wouldn't work for a human.

He represents a pretty seductive philosophy, though, and his history hasn't disappeared completely. It's not unthinkable that someone would try to cling to his worship as a way to reclaim humanity's glory days. Maybe a Chelaxian whose family lost everything in the civil war and prays to Aroden to try and restore it? He believes so fervently that someday Aroden will return and set things to rights, restore his family's name/wealth/etc., that he thinks the arcane magic he's manifesting is in fact divine magic from Aroden.

Alternatively, it could be someone posing as an Arodenite cleric in order to prey on that same desire. Someone performing miracles in his name would be quite sensational, and could draw a lot of worshippers, prestige, even money if he managed to get a church body together and giving tithes. It's not hard to see why that'd be tempting.

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Rennaivx wrote:
Rowe wrote:
I do like the idea of worshipping Aroden, but it'd be a bit odd. He's the god of humanity and he died 150 years ago, so worshiping him while he was still alive wouldn't work for a human.

He represents a pretty seductive philosophy, though, and his history hasn't disappeared completely. It's not unthinkable that someone would try to cling to his worship as a way to reclaim humanity's glory days. Maybe a Chelaxian whose family lost everything in the civil war and prays to Aroden to try and restore it? He believes so fervently that someday Aroden will return and set things to rights, restore his family's name/wealth/etc., that he thinks the arcane magic he's manifesting is in fact divine magic from Aroden.

Alternatively, it could be someone posing as an Arodenite cleric in order to prey on that same desire. Someone performing miracles in his name would be quite sensational, and could draw a lot of worshippers, prestige, even money if he managed to get a church body together and giving tithes. It's not hard to see why that'd be tempting.

A real cleric of Geryon (archdevil of heresy) might find it hilarious to impersonate a cleric of Aroden (or an Empyreal Lord / outsider who served Aroden and is granting spells in his missing master's name), and lead desperate former Arodenites to a LE human-supremacist direction, associating 'lesser' races like elves, dwarves and halflings with whatever sinister forces attempted to (or did) murder their god, to fluff up their own inferior races, and put a stop to the inevitable ascension of humanity over their followers. If it was set in Cheliax, not only would the archdevil find some official support from a bemused church of Asmodeus in tricking/trolling the sad remnants clinging to Arodenite tenets, and some rich local anti-human bigotry (particularly regarding elves, halflings and tieflings) in which to plant their human supremacist views.

Then again, it's also quite possible for Aroden's tenets to go on to become a deity-less philosophy, like the Green Faith or the Laws of Man, the teachings and principles of the 'god of humanity' living on without an active god or church to promote them. The presence of other spellcasters means that a 'church' lacking clerics isn't necessarily going to be lacking in either divine spellcasting (through rangers, adepts and oracles) or healing options (though those and bards, celestial sorcerers, alchemists and witches).

The only thing 'no clerics' means to a church is literally that, no clerics. Just as non-LG churches seem to survive just fine without paladins, a church of Aroden has *tons* of resources to draw upon, even if they have no clerics of Aroden. And thanks to people like Sivanah, Geryon, various Empyreal Lords, etc. it's entirely possible they might even have a few clerics lurking about, either honoring (or distorting, or subverting) Arodenite tenets (and followers)...


I think I'd try to avoid going that dark, Set. Yet another reason I don't want to be Razmiran or another evil PC is they're not generally allowed. Those are some excellent ideas though. I do like the idea of worshiping a dead god and having to make do. Aroden is the , I assume, the most well known dead god. I looked up other dead gods and most of them are so long gone it wouldn't be realistic to even worship them.

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