A Grim Moon Looms ; A Young Pantheon Grows (Inactive)

Game Master leinathan

I was writing up a post, but I realized this needs to be ooc. Adol's behavior these last few posts doesn't feel very "paladin" to me. Or Lawful Good. He's frenetic and seems to think the guards should just see things the way he does and do what he says. Binding the villagers didn't feel great either, but I understand the practicality with only 2 of us.

I'm having a hard time reconciling Adol's actions with his premise. Am I the only one who feels this way? Is there a Paladin Code here follows, similar to the ones in ISG?

@Maika - I've thought about your question. I think the best way to handle it would be to have "entry halls" to important places be made into permanent demiplanes connected physically via gate to the actual plane, and then to have "keys" (tuning forks) given to people who regularly visit. That way, the off-target nature of plane shift is ameliorated by the smaller size of the demiplane, meaning you only have to take a short walk to get to your destination.

How do you feel about this solution?

Alithea, - I don't think it's inappropriate for a person as self-important as Adol is (I mean, he made up his own religion based on a lie that a teammate told him. If that tells you anything, it's that he has willpower) to be pushy and hasty and impatient. I'm not sure anything he's done is anti-paladin. If his behavior makes Alithea uncomfortable, another reminder to slow down might be in store.

HOWEVER, Adol, Alithea does bring up a good point! What code does Adol follow?

....I feel a little irked that I didn't come up with that idea myself. XD It's a good one, and certainly makes sense. Easy to shut off in an emergency, too.

@Alithea, I'm not entirely sure what you expect from a LG character. Alignments are always debatable and heaviliy debated indeed. However, from my perspective, Adol's behavior seems perfectly in-character for the situation. Paladin's are about justice, as one aspect. That means punishing criminals. Law enforcement isn't always nice and kind to them. I think that by definition, they can't be. I've tried to be extremely nice to every civilian I have talked to, but there haven't been many of those we have interacted with. Mostly, our interactions have been with clearly evil entities. The moment those start attacking us or threatening the safety of innocents around them, the priority for a protector should change to protecting the innocent and/or weak from the threat.

If Adol is thrown into a situation where a powerful undead is sacrificing innocent civilians (children) right in front of him, in addition to having killed an entire temple's worth of Abadaran clerics, added to how the guards near the gates seem so terrified of the undead that they are refusing to speak outright even after the undead with them is destroyed, I don't think it is any strech to assume Adol would be very predisposed to directly ending this undead advisor threat and freeing these people from his tyranny. From what I've seen/heard, it seems clear to me that the people here are being terrorized by him, treated as little more than sacrificial fodder (he demands sacrifices) that the advisor keeps locked inside the gates by posting undead far more powerful than the guards at the exits. The situation couldn't be more dire and I think most good characters would want to take action swiftly.

Of course, I realize some members of the group wanted to give the undead advisor a chance to speak. Ooc, I wanted to learn that information too, but he wanted us to ally with him or at least promise to help him beforehand in exchange for this. Considering where we were, with dead law-abiding clerics, undead children-monstrosities he created and more innocent people's 'in a daze' all around us waiting to be the next sacrifices, I don't think any law-abiding or good person would ever take this deal. For that matter, having an amiable conversation with him where we do not even perform basic 'handcuffing' procedures following the fight already feels like a stretch alignment-wise; it heaviliy breaks both the good and lawful axis as I understand them. Do you think an idealistic police officer would simply let some Jack the Ripper-type character back up following a struggle taking place in his slaughter dungeon, to calmly listen to his justification to all this? Because that's exactly what this feels like to me. If he hadn't openly demanded sacrifices, then I grant you my premise could have been wrong and that he was somehow innocent, but he did.

It is true that maybe it is not my call to make to try and execute him on the spot, but considering he tried to escape twice and could be assumed to be powerful enough to eventually make it, I did. The threat of him getting out and ruining more lives considering all the crimes he has already assuredly committed here outweigh the need for a trial, if such an opportunity even exists (who would dare judging him?) Of course, I failed to kill him, but I think Adol would consider this the right call.

Regarding the villagers, I think you're jumping conclusions. You don't know what I intend to say to say to the guards and I'm not sure how else to guide 5 people whose minds have been completely broken.

Of course, I completely understand If Alithea takes issues with the above as there is an alignment difference and as LN I fully expect her to feel less strongly about punishing tyrants. From a narritive perspective having a conflict between characters is also more interesting. To say it is unpaladin-like to want to quickly end the undead threat is something else, however.

@Divinity, I'll work on writing a paladin code. This is a first draft:

Thoughts? There are some references to iomedae's paladin code and to a number of things in his backstory.

Regarding being hasty and impatient, I should probably add that I am trying to move the narritive along with most of my posts. I'm not sure if that adds to a perceived issue on that front, if there is any. I try to follow this PBP guidem which has narritive pushing as a high priority:

https://paizo.com/threads/rzs2qciy?Building-a-Better-Doomed-Hero-Painlords

Edit: I checked the pathfinder wiki for the definition of lawful good and found this:

"Lawful good characters act as a good person is expected or required to act, combining a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. Telling the truth, keeping one's word, helping those in need, and speaking out against injustice are all paramount behaviors of the lawful good, and a character of this alignment hates to see the guilty go unpunished."

Going on that, I think that nearly everything Adol has done so far fits lawful good perfectly. The exception is probably suggesting to open the Abadaran safe to read the documents and find out what was going on, which is something he probably wouldn't have done in less extreme circumstances. Even then, he still hesitates when it actually comes down to asking Ulliaza. In contrast, I think Rirsa presents pathfinder's neutral good well, with more of a desire to be openminded and open to forgiveness than lawful good, typicaly as represented by Sarenrae's faith. Before I went into pathfinder, pathfinder's neutral good was how I originally expected lawful good to be like - arguably the 'best' type of good and the most 'nice guy'. But that is not how it is represented in pathfinder, and it makes sense that agents of law should want to punish criminals and not let them go nor strike dubious deals with them if they feel like it.

Particularly the recent discussions about the guards made me feel like Adol is just assuming they should open up to him or otherwise treat him as an authority. I think that just overly rubbed me the wrong way.

That said, I know you want to move the game forward with each post, but you also post more often than anyone else, which can make it feel like a million things are happening at once, which also contributed to this feeling. Though I do think that hasty and impatient are intrinsically chaotic qualities.

While I understand what you're saying about just letting the guy talk, but your comparison falls short in that this person is literally immortal. At the time, we didn't know he had some kind of supernatural ability to become incorporeal either.

Finally re:the guard. Yes, I did taunt them somewhat (in truly the most simple sense). I just think there's a significant difference between a non-violent (but still aggressive action), and completely annihilating something. If we did get the undead to attack us while asking simple questions, we'd look better for it to the guards, whereas those guards fled from Adol in fear. Maybe it's not especially "not-paladin-y".

Alithea is going to abstain from responding in thread to a) just leave it, and b) the guards are around.

I like this bit, although I wish it was less snippy:

-I will remember a sword can be used to not only attack, but also parry. And stab, for that matter. Unlike the teachings of some other dieties and the seeming lack of knowledge regarding this among all intelligent races.

Godly teachings should sort of feel like simple instructive advice that holds deeper meanings. A sword being able to not only attack, but also to block, has some philosophical underpinnings involving seeing things as valuable for more than the most obvious use of them.

As for this argument, I think it's an argument where one side is arguing about the intent and the other side is arguing about the outcome. Both of you are right!

It is important to:

1.) Have a defined goal in-game and to spend all your actions on trying to reach that goal

It is important to avoid:

1.) Telling someone that their ideas are bad without putting forth and enacting ideas of your own.

It is important to:

2.) Moderate the number of actions you take compared to the rest of the party, so as not to force yourself into a narratively central role.

It is important to avoid:

2.) Sitting back and letting one PC take all of the actions and drive the story by themselves.

I also think that there have maybe been misunderstandings regarding what the people around you know, but that's just a worldbuilding DM-style of mine, so I'll just come right out with it:

None of these people know that their children have been turned into undead, or that the count's advisor is an undead. You know why? Nobody has any ranks in Knowledge (religion), so they can't make the check to know. None of these people have a Sense Motive high enough to beat the advisor's Bluff, so they believe everything he tells them. Your guys' role in the story is as the only people anywhere nearby that have the ability to figure out what is happening and stop it. If you want other people to know exactly what's going on through your eyes, you have to explain it to them.

I'm sorry for heading to the inn like that; but I'm kind of hoping to find out that it's full and that we might be able to use the inn that was outside Dalaston... It would be easier to monitor and convenient if we were attacked in a place without civilians.

@Divinity: Do you have any issue with Alithea taking Abadar's Truthtelling? It's obviously tied to Abadar in the game, but it so perfectly fits her portfolio, and she is supposed to be a master mage. I missed it at first pass because I didn't look at enchantment spells at all. Despite her normal opposition, I think a compulsion to tell the truth is fair game.

@Divinity, thanks for the feedback. I'll try rewriting the code to be more philosophical, though since Adol is limited to writing it himself, I am wondering how philosophical it can realistically be.

How long should I typically wait before posting? I'm trying to reel in taking too many actions myself, but it seems there were no other posts in the last day.

I just meant that one particular line. There's no reason why someone can't stab with a longsword. It just deals slashing damage when you do :P :P :P

Also, depending on what kind of sword you're actually talking about, a longsword could lack a point because it's designed for slashing instead of stabbing, or it could be pointed and designed for stabbing.

Anyway, I wouldn't say it's a time thing. Just wait until it seems there's something to post about? If you're worried about other people not doing things, you could suggest things for other people to do. I know that at least Maika is in Adol's employ and will probably do what he says, right?

Maybe, but suggesting things to do feels functionally similar to giving people orders and limiting their freedom in what they want to do. Isn't that the same as drawing the narritive to myself?

Giving people orders and suggestions are very different things when it comes to the execution of actually doing it (one is like "hey you need to do this thing right now!" and the other is like "maybe we can do this thing?"). There's not too much that you can do to actually limit the freedom of your teammates - any power that a person has over another person is generally illusory.

The difference is in terms of spotlight. If Adol does 500 things and accomplishes everything by himself, no one else gets to look cool. If he says "Ok, we need to accomplish X and Y and Z, maybe while I go do X some other people can do Y and Z", it's still up to the players of the other characters to go "Well, he's right, we do need to accomplish Y and Z" (or disagree and come up with their own goals) and then actually execute the tasks, thereby earning their own spotlight.

- - - -

Do the rest of you have a horse in this race? I'd really like input on this discussion from the rest of you.

Adol is the one who offered her part of a dragon hoard, yes, so she considers him her primary employer. XD And she does give her loyalty to her current employer. In general, she's not going to judge what you do unless you break an agreement with her, and she'll go along with basically anything that doesn't violate her existing agreements.

I really don't have any horse in the race. Uliaza works best when she's not in the spot light, so odds are if she thinks there's something that needs doing, she's gonna tell people, and then just do it. I've taken a backseat for this particularly bit of RP because Adol kind of stormed in and took the whole thing over. It's basically either Adol's way or her way when it comes to discussions from what I can tell, and she knows better than to argue in front of the people they're talking to.

@Divinity I'd like to know something; at some point in Taldor's recent history or near future , there is a civil war-like event between the princess and a number of houses seeking to keep her from the throne. Has this already happened? Is about to happen and are tensions high, or is it even ongoing, maybe? These are the events from the War for the Crown adventure path.

I think such a major event is hard to miss, and since the Pathfinder Society is/was allied to the princess, Adol, a (currently inactive) Pathfinder, might have been involved in it in some way. He has at the very least done missions (usually indirectly) supporting the princess before, though there was one high-profile mission in which part of the noble faction inflicted a bloodbath in Taldor's Senate. While this happens early in the first book there, stopping this event after it has started is also an intervention mission in a high level Pathfinder Society adventure, which he has done. I'm fine with this not giving any benefits or ruling this out of existence, but if it did happen then it would be nice to know how far things have come since then.

@Ulliaza I agree I overshot this scene too much, I guess partly from a desire to show how he would more normally act when not immediately confronted with evil entities. Do you feel this way with the previous scenes as well?

@Maika Thanks.

My 2cp (as I have no idea of what is meant by "horse in this race" I'll default to that):

Some lessons are best learned on one's own... That's actually why I headed out to the inn. Other people won't calmly shrug off Adol's assumptions and prove him otherwise- they tend to get quite upset- and that should prove an important to lesson for Adol; that his assumptions have consequences- especially if voiced. Rirsa used to be Lawful Good until I realized that her developing philosophy would occasionally but her at odds with the powers that be. A guard often becomes a guard for a reason; and I've yet to see any hint of corruption in the guard; until given reason to suspect otherwise I'll grant them the trust that entails and whatever powers they kneel to aid them in surviving my wrath if they break that trust.

This adventure takes place in 4722, which is after the conclusion of all of Paizo's first-edition adventure paths - except possibly Kingmaker, which could take decades to resolve.

Having a horse in the race means that there is a horse that you have bet on, which means you stand to lose something from the resolution of the race. In other words, in means you care about the issue at hand.

All right, then I'll assume Adol is a war veteran from the initial sparking of the Taldan civil war and that he has fought in a battle or two, when the princess called on her allies to fight.

@Rirsa ok, that's a fair point. On this issue, I think that if Adol has no flaws, he is both A: boring as a character and B: has no room to grow.

Having a horse in the race means that there is a horse that you have bet on, which means you stand to lose something from the resolution of the race. In other words, in means you care about the issue at hand.

I see; thank you for teaching something I did not know.

I think that Adol’s presumption of his authority is an interesting narrative device, and contrasts well with his rashness and, at least in Cal’s perspective, youthful naïveté. Though posting slightly less frequently and, by that extension allowing others more opportunities to post, I think personality-wise Adol is fine. Mortals are imperfect, and we’re still fairly mortal.

I have family in town and doing my daughter's birthday today, my son's baptism tomorrow, and we're doing a 10k on Monday. I'll still be around, but probably slower to post, and only on my phone.

I need to leave for the remainder of the day and a good part of the next, so the post I made in the gameplay thread will be the only one from me for a while, excluding perhaps a short one tomorrow morning.

Feels a little awkward to see no posts for 2.5 days. Was my suggestion that bad? :') (I mean, I know Alithea was gone, was everyone else gone too?)

I'm fine with just fast forwarding to the mayor and skip past this if that is the issue. Maybe a wis 9 character would not be able to figure out the guards' reaction seems a bit weird (it could just be me personally finding it odd - seemingly no communication between remaining priests and guard, seemingly fairly relaxed reaction to news of multiple homicides etc). I'm fine with deleting it if the GM has that ability.

That aside, I'd like to ask permission to change Adol's premise slightly. The way I orginially wrote him as a super naive cheerful good guy was how he was during most of his pathfinder career. After this, he was involved with two civil wars, got exiled from his own paladin order for reasons he doesn't agree with and was semi forced into a position of rulership for an unknown period of time. Before, all this had no effect on him as a person whatsoever. This probably realistically should be the case and that being a bit more jaded than he used to be is the result. Of course, that doesn't make him any smarter per se. This would be more in line with his behavior after the combat here, which is probably not OOC for the aligment but I do agree is OOC for his original premise.

I've just been watching and waiting; myself.

I've been waiting for the GM to post the response the soldiers had to both her and Maika's statements.

Adol moved the scene forward already, making my own guard responses irrelevant.

Sorry. I didn't think the guards would do something following three seperate diplomacy/diplomacy-like answers checks to de-escalate the situation. I probably should have waited, yes. I guessed that given Ulliaza's reaction and Alithea's comment here that these bits of RP weren't liked that well OOC too and I partly wanted to quickly stop anything related to Adol escalating anything.

It's my fault for not specifying. Uliaza would not have followed Adol until after getting a response from the guards.

Well, what it accomplished is that you posted something, and then you posted the response to that thing and then in the same second post moved the scene forward and brought up a new topic of conversation. It took away my opportunity to post, significant actions on part of the NPCs or not.

Yeah that's a my bad. I should have waited to mention the whole 'Constantly detecting magic' thing until after mentioning her not leaving and getting a response.

Let's move on!

Is everyone going to The Blind Eye to interview the mayor? Are there other tasks you want to accomplish?

I'm working on securing a warm place to sleep.

I'd like to follow up on the mayor, but I'd rather have the others make the call. The only other lead i see now is talking to the clerics we saw at the town square.

@DM Divinity; you haven't forgot about me; have you?

So, I can't make you guys post, but I'm going to need more intellectual input from all of you (except Adol, who is doing a great job with this) if this game is going to function. You have several problems that need to be solved, and your characters are all equally responsible for solving them. I primarily need to see more posts from Uliaza and Calxakti in which ideas are discussed and concrete actions are taken.

There are many pieces of information that you don't have, and I frankly won't take "we don't have the resources to find the information" as a valid excuse from level 14 mythic characters with self-made organizations behind them.

Information you don't know:

Who is Eldran Tath? What are his motivations?
What are the bloodless? For what reason are they being created?
Why is the mayor working with Eldran?
Why is the dragon Horranath attacking Dalaston?
Where is Horranath's lair?

There are also a few basic tasks that you need to solve in order to stabilize the situation:

Track down and then defeat Eldran Tath and his bloodless.
Kill the dragon Horranath.
Stabilize town politics.

You have gathered some clues. Things you know:

Eldran came to town somewhat recently. No one you have asked knows anything about him, except that he's close to the count and that he's intimidating.

The Count demanded sacrifices be given over to the Abadaran temple some time ago. The sacrifices then emerged as superpowered undead and began terrorizing the town.

The dragon has made two attacks recently, one on a nearby mine and one on the town itself. Many have died and are wounded, and the city is on lockdown because of the attacks.

The mayor has assured everyone that he has a plan to take care of the dragon.

Adol's cohort received a vision about the situation, which she explained to Adol in this way: "We have seen cities destroyed, we have seen the heat of a forge, and we have seen a river of souls, stopped by a dam made of purple, glowing stone. We have seen a place - our divinations showed us a city: Dalaston."

Alithea's magic-detection artifact detected the use of powerful blood magic within the city of Dalaston.

- - - - -

It is everyone's responsibility to push the action forward! The less you do it, the more everyone else has to. I believe what you are doing now is questioning the mayor? Do we know what you plan to ask him? Who is going in to talk to him, and how?

What do you want to do after you are done with that?

If all else fails, I could simply try casting find the path to either Eldran or the lair of the dragon, though that is probably too easy and bound to run into some complications (Eldran could be underground, for all we know. Plus, the mayor is right in front of us and alone. He is an extremely valuable source of information and we should deal with this first?). For now, leaving the town in this state without at least questioning the mayor seems like a bad move. I'd also prefer not to wait too long - every moment that goes by either the dragon could be back or Eldran could try going after the villagers again, but that was already put forward in the game thread. I think Ulliaza (probably justifyably) wanted Adol not to be the spokesperson anymore so I'm simply waiting for other ideas and other people to take the front, at least temporarily.

For what to ask the mayor, a list of topics would be:

-Everything relating to Eldran (when did they meet, where, what does he know about him, how did he became his aide, does he have a home in the city or some other residence - does he know where Eldran might have gone? On Eldran's home, the town guard might also know this, or any knowledgeable villager).
-Why he turned to Eldran for the dragon instead of informing the crown back in Oppara.
-What his plan is in stopping the dragon (honestly, I'd forgotten about this, thanks for pointing it out, Divinity).
-Why the mayor agrees sacrificing his villagers is preferable to asking help from the Crown, who a reasonably intelligent person would probably figure has the connections to summon those able to beat the dragon, even if the crown doesn't have the resources themselves.
-If the mayor has any clue why this town is so important that it has the attention of both an ancient dragon and an extremely powerful undead necromancer.

There are just some examples I can immediately think of. Some of them could be asked to the Sarenrite clerics of the town as well. There is also one lead that a thief-type character or Maika could take in opening the safe in the church of Abadar to read the church documents, I think this option was discussed previously but then forgotten.

And what was that about a mine? Were they mining that purple stone for the town and is that why the town was attacked by the dragon...? I cant remember the mine ever being mentioned before.

Regarding fixing internal stability, I had an idea about sending a letter to the pathfinder lodge in Oppara (the capital city of Taldor), with a request to forward it to the Queen or whoever is our current liason with the Crown. I'm sure news about what the Mayor and his aide have been doing, whether or not the guard was also involved, would not sit well there. They might be able to send aid to restore local stability while we continue to deal with Eldran and the dragon. However, since we have more pressing issues to worry about right now Adol hasn't dicussed this yet.

I'd be inclined to contact the regional Abadaran bank. They're likely going to be much more furious at this offense to their temple, and they're all about instilling order.

Find the path is of limited use, as it can only be used on "prominent locations", which I would interpret as being locations that are not hidden. For example, if Eldran has some kind of secret base, you couldn't use Find the Path to find that base.

Also, a friendly reminder that you need line of sight to cast the message cantrip on someone.

Sorry for not being involved as much as I should, things have been a bit busy lately. Uliaza's thinking that the best bet for them would be to just focus in on the dragon and slay him.

Do Ulliaza and I, in particular, who dedicated time to getting people out of fires have any idea of the death count? In particular, we have a decent idea of how many bloodless Eldran has created, at least as a player, I don't know how many casualties / fatalities occurred during the dragon attack. I think this would factor into Alithea's threat assessment.

On the bloodless:

I don't believe you have ever actually asked anyone how many there are, but you have seen fourteen of them and have killed nine of those fourteen.

On the death count:

Since neither of you actually counted, you wouldn't know an exact number, but there were dozens of people who were injured and you know that somewhere around ten people died in this last attack.

I wasn't looking for an exact number, a rough idea helps.

I apologize for not being intelligent about information gathering; will do better in the future.

Maika; what is the caster level if your abilities you can cast through your contract ability?

Logically deduced, I think it'd have to be my character level, so 14. And to a maximum of 7th level Wizard and Cleric spells.

@Rirsa, I noticed something a bit weird reading back your discussion with the innkeeper. How does she know what a bloodless is, when no one else in the town seems to? How is she so knowledgeable about undead? Maybe you can ask her this before leaving?

@Rirsa, I noticed something a bit weird reading back your discussion with the innkeeper. How does she know what a bloodless is, when no one else in the town seems to? How is she so knowledgeable about undead? Maybe you can ask her this before leaving?

Good question; @ DM Divinity is that a inference or did Doriana actually say 'bloodless'?

Have you ever wanted to play a character who can explore the Great Beyond without fear? Have you ever wanted to kill a demon lord? Have you ever wanted to have your own cult? How about work alongside actual deities? If yes, please keep reading!

There is so much material in Pathfinder made for high levels that absolutely never gets used. Even if you were to play every adventure path and every module (which none of us will ever do) there would still be oodles of really great material out there that never sees the light of day. Who ever gets to fight Kostchtchie? Who ever goes to Jalmeray, or Leng? Who ever gets to build world-shattering super-powerful constructs?

Well, I'd like to at least partially remedy that. There are many parts of Golarion and its Great Beyond that I love and which I would love to explore with a few good players. My first caveat: This will inevitably be a high-level mythic adventure, and while I'll do my best to keep it from being too semantic, it's inevitable that high-level Pathfinder involves a lot of number crunching, especially during the build phase of things (y'know, before your PC is finished). However! You do not have to build a 15th-level character to be considered for this game! We will do that together afterwards. My goal isn't to spend all day looking at dice rolls, of course, it's just important to mention. However, for those willing to put in the work, I have many (what I hope are) interesting adventures and powerful, savage foes to pit your PCs against. The freedom of having a flexible, powerful party is being able to throw things at them that really feel epic and watch as they succeed anyway.

The second thing that I'd like to explore in this game: The Divine Source mythic path ability. Divine Source allows a mythic character to grant spells to worshipers as though they were a god, and in so doing become a sort of demigod. They are able to start a cult, which allows them to make sweeping changes in the world as people empowered by them go forth to evangelize on their behalf and enact their visions for them. As soon as I saw that ability the first time I got Mythic Adventures, I knew I wanted to play with it. The idea that a character could start a real religion with real dogma and real divine powers was super cool, and that it gives even full-martial characters flavorful magic related to their portfolio is an even nicer touch.

The third thing that I'd like to explore in this game: celestial politics and relationships. If you go into the wiki or you buy the setting books, you'll see that all of the demigods, demon lords, empyreal lords, and even real deities have regular personalities, goals, relationships, even homes and friends. In fact, the thing that really got me pumped about trying this kind of game was reading the wiki article on Chaldira Zuzaristan, a halfling demigoddess of fortune in battle. She has a regular home, friends, she goes on adventures, and she has solid relationships with other deities. I thought: We could play our own game, with PCs that are like that! Powerful, (divine, even) extraplanar creatures with agendas and personalities and homes and which still feel human. That's canon in Golarion's world, and that's really exciting to me.

In between, there will be downtime, allowing you each to develop relationships with other divinities, build your own divine realms, guide or develop your cult, and also do the normal things that normal PCs do during their downtime (like craft magic items, for instance). Basically a normal campaign, but with different themes and a greater scope.

For our first quest, one of the worshipers of the PCs will have gone missing in Leng. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to reach Leng without specialized equipment or powerful dream-traveling abilities, and it is especially difficult to reach Leng as a group. Thus, one of the PCs' allies recommends that they retrieve the Dreamstone, an ancient artifact that fixes the Dimension of Dreams in a radius around it. Thus armed, the PCs could enter the Dimension of Dreams together, find Leng, and retrieve the lost cleric.

Unfortunately, the Dreamstone was lost centuries ago in an attack by the powerful fey called Leviathan. Legend has it that the inside of Leviathan contains a demiplanar city, and scholars theorize that if the Dreamstone still exists, it must be still within Leviathan. The PCs must travel to the First World, find Leviathan and climb into its gullet in order to retrieve their chosen artifact.

So, if all of that ranting resonated with you at all, please continue on to the spoilers below to see what I'm looking for to join me in writing this.

Alright, well. I think that's good. I don't know whether this sort of thing is something anyone really wants to do, or how long it will take anyone. I don't think it would be beneficial to set hard deadlines now.

I am looking for a triumvirate of three allied demigods. Every pantheon has dark deities, so feel free to make deities of any sort of bent that strikes your fancy! However, all three characters I choose must have believably chosen to specifically work with one another for some reason. Keep that in mind! Other than that... I'm purposefully being about as permissive as I can. Show me your creativity!

Amazing. I highly approve of your concept before crunch guidelines... I'll definitely think of something this week!

Dotting this is really interesting and would love to try it, I’ll think up an idea then come back later.

This seems very interesting.

That said, out of curiosity, there are a few build rules that might inform some decisions as to what I can pull off.

-Any 3rd party stuff allowed?
-Are monstrous characters/heralds allowed?
-Templates?

This seems very interesting.

That said, out of curiosity, there are a few build rules that might inform some decisions as to what I can pull off.

-Any 3rd party stuff allowed?
-Are monstrous characters/heralds allowed?
-Templates?

- Yes

WITHIN REASON, of course, but I sincerely believe that no matter what your concept is, we can find a way to represent it mechanically.

I’m interested. There’s a lot of possibilities at that high level though, so it’ll take me some time to decide.

Dotting because this idea is pretty neato!

Dotting. Already wanting to play a demigod based at least partially on entropy and disorder, something constantly mutating and changing. I'll take my time writing up the full submission but wanted to get at least that out there for the other players since we will have to have an allied group of three.

I’m quite interested! Not sure what sort of demigod I’ll make, but the concept seems great.

Dotting. Already wanting to play a demigod based at least partially on entropy and disorder, something constantly mutating and changing. I'll take my time writing up the full submission but wanted to get at least that out there for the other players since we will have to have an allied group of three.

Weird. The first thing I thought of was something with decay and rebirth.

I'll probably explore Travel/Luck/Trickery...

Weird. The first thing I thought of was something with decay and rebirth.

Go for it we could definitely group up. I already started jotting down notes and on first look it seems I want to go more of the chaos/madness route. My basic concept for origin story is an Oracle of the Old Gods who dabbled in the occult and also became a Medium. The odd mix of protean gods and multiple channeled spirits all working through a single mortal body over time got merged into a single being composed of them all which is constantly changing.

I don't have a character name yet - still mulling options. XD But this is what I'm working on so far.

Well my "quick note-taking" very quickly became an almost complete first draft. It all just rolled onto the page immediately, I guess I already had a concept hidden in my brain somewhere.

The name is nowhere near final (I just put Priella since I like that name for some reason) and it's still missing some details and refinement but I wanted to get it posted so GM and people could see what I've got in mind.

Not only is this a character I would LOVE to play, I like the fact that she can work well with almost any other characters. All gods/demigods are seeking to change the world in some way and as such I cannot picture someone who she wouldn't be capable of grouping up with.

Oh snap, this is cool. At the very least, thinking up a demi-god will be awesome, even if I don't get selected.

Like Mat_H, I kinda just started jotting some stuff down and ended up with a Mindslaver Mold that slowly gained divinity over years and years of being worshiped by a primitive tribe.

How do you feel about templates? I’m thinking about a natural werebear druid who becomes a demigod of good lycanthropes. Or possibly a half-dragon who becomes a demigod of Draconic-allies humans (Apsu generally being concerned only, or at least primarily, with true dragons).

OK, here goes.

1. What is your character? Where are they from?
Amnon is a human from the Inner Sea, one of the first people to meet Aroden as he lead the Azlanti survivors from the collapsing empire following Earthfall. He followed Aroden for many years before he was lost in an adventure in what would eventually become Egorian. Trapped and petrified in a collapsing demiplane he was recovered and revived by Iomedae thousands of years later.

Seeing in her what he saw in Aroden he joined her cause and fought alongside her during the Shining Crusade, coming to be known as the Shadow of Iomedae. Amnon was her chronicler and historian, but also her spymaster. Even the honourable and just need knowledge of the workings of their enemy.

2. What is your character's portfolio?
History, Humanity, Service, Spies
Amnon has taken up part of the portfolio of Aroden following his death. He is the patron of chroniclers and historians but also of spies and service to ones liege lord.
Domains: Law, Knowledge, Protection, Community
Favored Weapon: Dagger
Symbol: A pair of eyes, one gold, one grey
Sacred Animal: Spider
Sacred Color: Gold and Grey

3. What does your character look like?
It is difficult to know what Amnon truly looks like as he changes appearance on a regular basis, depending on the situation. In the Courts of Kings he might appear as a wizened old sage, weighed down with tomes of knowledge. On the road he might pose as a travelling mercenary or merchant. Infiltrating the domain of a demon lord he might take the form of a babau.

4. How did your character become a demigod?
Amnon was raised to divinty by Iomedae in the years following her own exaltation.

5. Where does your character live?
Amnon has made his home in Axis, in an area known as the Empty Court, the former divine realm of Aroden. Iomedae has tasked him with trying to learn the fate of Aroden, a task to date he has singularlly failed to complete. This vexes him. However, he is rarely found here being a regular traveller of the Great Beyond.

Your Cult:

1. Where in the verse is your cult centered?.
Amnons cult is largely based in the Inner Sea region, particularly Taldor and Cheliax. His followers work to preseerve the true history of humanity whether preserving it from the chaos of Taldan civil war or from the redactions of Chelish hellknights.

2. What sorts of people worship you?
Historians, storytellers, academics and seekers after truth.

He does not have a Herald (yet).

He did say that templates, monstrous characters, etc. are fine.

Accordingly, I think I'll go with a demigod of vampires. Specifically the scheming, planning, patient vampires, not the ones who revel in bloodbaths and destroy all, but the ones that are calm, collected, and will crush your mind and soul like a flea underfoot if you annoy them.

This seems to be the week for bringing back old characters of mine, because he's going to be very heavily based off a Moroi mastermind-type mesmerist that I made some time back. I like to think that his aspirations towards godhood finally paid off.

I'm happy to see you guys working on things with such fervor :O and I gotta say, I'm pretty pleased with what you have to offer so far. It's pretty much just the right level of specific, so good job!

I didn't see any questions I urgently needed to answer, did I?

I mean, yeah, Ouachitonian: templates are fine.

I'll be back later with specific notes.

Rednal: Transactions, magic, fairness, loyalty

Mat H: Change, rebellion, madness, whimsy

Chapel Ty'El: Change, decay, fertility, growth

andreww: History, humanity, service, spies

Been thinking all day and think I have the idea pretty much finished.

Oh lord, the Dreamstone. Just finished running the House on Hook Street on Roll20 earlier this year.

EDIT: Given the intent to have players be built using class levels, would it be inappropriate to play a creature such as a daemonic harbinger/empyreal lord/archdevil/psychopomp usher that are sorta demigod-ish? Or would that get too far away from your idea of "demigods as people"?

@Mat_H / Priella - I think your ascendancy story should involve some kind of non-repeatable event. Otherwise, anybody could become a demigod or mythic character just by multiclassing, as it reads in your backstory. It's a really cool, unique concept, just something I noticed.

@Mythicman/Teras - Getting a real Greece vibe from you, cool.

I don't think that there is a gladiator arena in Magnimar. Did he travel abroad, or was his fighting more of a street-style alleyway brawl at the beginning?

I was serious when I said I wanted a description of your cult (which is great!) in addition to a shorter two-to-four-word summary of your portfolio, so that's just about all that's missing.

Can you physically describe Teras' herald?

@Rednal - I see you're inspired by the other recruitment!

It's a nice little niche to fill in - making sure that spellcasting services don't go uncontrolled. It's the kind of thing that doesn't really get addressed in Golarion's setting, so it's cool to see that.

There's a good excuse to adventure - being hired. However, it puts the question that the PCs may need a patron in order to make that a reality. Any idea what that patron might be?

Chapel Ty'El/Rthignynt - That is a unique concept that will require a monster character, I hope you're okay with that.

I suppose my main question is how he might fit into an 'adventuring' party. What are his personal goals that might prompt him to leave his lair and go out into the wide universe and do some adventuring?

@andreww/Ammon - Your character seems very easy to fit into a party and an adventure. He has a built-in reason to explore and quest, which is nice.

Does he have any relationships with other divinities besides Iomedae?

@Belltrap - It's not inappropriate to play a creature like that. It's totally intended to be one of the options!

The idea of "demigods are people" isn't "you should play a human" but more "you should be approachable and have real interests" kind of thing. I'm not really interested in seeing "I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL ---, BOW BEFORE ME" take-everything-seriously always-stoic type characters being everyone.

@Mat_H / Priella - I think your ascendancy story should involve some kind of non-repeatable event. Otherwise, anybody could become a demigod or mythic character just by multiclassing, as it reads in your backstory. It's a really cool, unique concept, just something I noticed.

I can see that. I didn't really intend it that way, I see her as almost an accidental (and sympathetic) demigod, with the ascendance happening when she lost control of her spirits and her powers and instead they all took simultaneous and permanent control of her.

I already planned on taking time tomorrow to refine my entry, so I will also add in a better description of the cause of her ascendance as well as some kind of specific event for the turning point of when/why it occurred.

Put simply, any patron might be interested in seeing certain tasks get accomplished. For that matter, it could even be the other players - shortly before the campaign begins - hiring this character to provide added help and support because two people seemed like too few. XD Almost any pair of powerful entities might want to hire someone they can rely on to be fair and neutral while helping them, and when there's a demigod out there whose entire reputation is built around selling the power people want, well...

(Off-hand, any good and most neutral deities might hire them to help protect a specific interest. I left it pretty open on purpose to let you pick anything that matches the plot.)

So... I was going great, repurposing Murnau Ruthven from my old idea for the character into a demigod, and it was going to be great, and he would be the LE counterpart to Zura, the primary CE vampire deity in Golarion....

And then I discovered that he already existed in-canon. Right down to the name (I guess we took inspiration from the same source). Apparently Blood Emperor Ruithvein already exists as one of two LE vampire Infernal Lords. He's been mentioned exactly five times in all Paizo publications, all in passing.

So, all that to say, I had the exact same idea for a demigod as one that already exists in canon. However, there is virtually nothing written about him in any form, and is essentially a blank slate. All that to say... can I co-opt him? Take his blank slate, work with what already exists, and flesh out this canon demigod for the game?

So... I was going great, repurposing Murnau Ruthven from my old idea for the character into a demigod, and it was going to be great, and he would be the LE counterpart to Zura, the primary CE vampire deity in Golarion....

And then I discovered that he already existed in-canon. Right down to the name (I guess we took inspiration from the same source). Apparently Blood Emperor Ruithvein already exists as one of two LE vampire Infernal Lords. He's been mentioned exactly five times in all Paizo publications, all in passing.

So, all that to say, I had the exact same idea for a demigod as one that already exists in canon. However, there is virtually nothing written about him in any form, and is essentially a blank slate. All that to say... can I co-opt him? Take his blank slate, work with what already exists, and flesh out this canon demigod for the game?

Yes, absolutely. There are an insane number of deities in Pathfinder. If you want to take the place of one (minor) one that exists and isn't too consequential, you absolutely may. Doing that removes that deity from canon in my world and replaces it with your character.

As a side note, even if you don't want to see a character sheet from me, having a better sense of build rules will help me create their personality and ultimately make a better final submission. XD Oftentimes, what I pick mechanically helps to influence the attitude, background, and various fluffy details of a character I'm making.

(And it's not as hard for me to make high-level complicated characters because I use software to do it, so don't worry that it would be putting me through too muck work or anything this early in the process. XD I enjoy making characters.)

Oh man, this is super cool, even just as a thought exercise. I've got a few ideas for gods/demigods cooked up already, more on the back burner. I'll have to think over things, see what's out there already, feel for what sticks...

Funnily enough, my first instinct was to work on a god of entropy/decay as well, although he has a decidedly nature-based bent to things. I'll probably do the write-up for him even if he isn't what I go with, in the end. Man, so much cool thinking goes along with this!

I understand! I plan to post the build rules sooner than later, but I wanted to see concepts first, and honestly I wanted the opportunity to approve concepts before I allow somebody to make a build.

Working on other stuff right now, but I'll post the build rules when I get a chance.

Here, have another chaotic character revolving around change!

I gotta say, even if I'm not picked... This was pretty fun.

Alrighty! Here he is: Nestellbam, the demigod of the preservation and Restoration of Life! I think he's a cool character, and I hope you like him to! Feedback is, of course, very much appreciated.

How do you feel about templates? I’m thinking about a natural werebear druid who becomes a demigod of good lycanthropes. Or possibly a half-dragon who becomes a demigod of Draconic-allies humans (Apsu generally being concerned only, or at least primarily, with true dragons).

I get the sneaking feeling someone's itching to take the new Bear Sphere for a spin.

@andreww/Ammon - Your character seems very easy to fit into a party and an adventure. He has a built-in reason to explore and quest, which is nice.

Amnon lives in Axis so certainly has a pre-existing relationship with Abadar, probably of the landlord/tenant variety. He may pay his rent in the form of various jobs for the Lord of Trade.

He is more pragmatic than his patron Iomedae (he is LN) and so has on occasion been willing to work with infernal powers when their interests have coincided. He has in the past worked with both Dispater and Mammon given their portfolios have some degree of crossover with his own.

This has made him a sometimes unwelcome visitor in the Domain of Iomedae and he and her Herald, the Hand of the Inheritor very much rub one another up the wrong way. Saint Lymirin has often acted as peacemaker between the two of them.

However he reserves his main dislike for the forces of the Abyss. In particular he has regularly skirmished with the minions of the Demon Lord Deskari and would like nothing more than to see him brought down, for good.

Chapel Ty'El/Rthignynt - That is a unique concept that will require a monster character, I hope you're okay with that.

I suppose my main question is how he might fit into an 'adventuring' party. What are his personal goals that might prompt him to leave his lair and go out into the wide universe and do some adventuring?

I think the desire to know/understand itself the universe and experience the things that it "remembers" would drive Rthignynt to venture out of his/her/its little pocket. Meeting other beings that are or, at least appear to be, outside of the natural order of things would definitely stir up curiosity in Rth's mind.

I was also thinking that even though it may claim The First World as home, Rthignynt probably spends more time on the material plane as fey creatures ever truly die as long as they are on TFW and while that's interesting as anomalies, Rth would grow bored at the sameness of TFW after a while.

As far as playing as a monster character, I am fine with that if you are. Halfway through jotting down ideas I realized it would probably have to be a monster PC so I started looking for inspiration and found Mindlaver Mold. That's not to say it would have to be one of these. I had even considered just flavoring a Ghoran

I forgot to add the short description:

Rthignynt believes that all things must live and die for new life to be created. Death is not to be feared as it simply a way for the self to transition into a new state of being, one with new thoughts and memories.

@Everyone - I really do need a short (2-4 word) description of everyone's area of concern. My thought is: if you cannot condense your concept down to a short phrase like that, it's probably not elemental enough to be something worth deifying.

I'm really liking what you all have to show me, so thank you! I appreciate it.

- - -

Rednal: Name TBA, a nascent divine human of exchanging magical services for coin
Portfolio: Transactions, magic, fairness, loyalty
Domains: Law, Magic, Protection, Travel

Mat H: Priella, a nascent divine human of change for change's sake
Portfolio: Change, rebellion, madness, whimsy
Domains: Chaos, Madness, TBD

Chapel Ty'El: Rthignynt, a nascent divine mindslaver ooze of life's cycle
Portfolio: Change, decay, fertility, growth
Domains: Death, Knowledge, Plant, Repose

andreww: Ammon, a nascent divine human of information and service to a lord
Portfolio: History, humanity, service, spies
Domains: Law, Knowledge, Protection, Community

Mythicman19: Teras, a nascent divine human of gladiators and warriors
Portfolio: TBD
Domains: Law, Glory, Community, War

Brolof: Saint Uliaza, a nascent divine drow of freedom and revolutions
Portfolio: revolution, subterfuge, good drow
Domains: Chaos, Good, Liberation, Trickery

Artemis P: Nestellbam, a nascent divine dragon of the preservation of all things
Portfolio: preservation, restoration, living things
Domains: Law, Healing, Renewal, Preservation

The Waskally: Avram, a nascent divine human of Aroden's return
Portfolio: TBD
Domains: Good, Glory, Nobility, Travel

I have been staring at Pathfinder stuff all day, and I am likely to do so for a little while longer. Forgive me if I do not post up the mechanical character-creation guidelines yet. I am actually still writing them, but I want to give it just a little bit more time.

In the meantime, I would like you all to:

1. Write up any relationships that you have, either with other submissions or with existing divine or non-divine characters in the Great Beyond. I'm not interested in sycophantic relationships with goons, but rather people whose role in your character's life is that of mentor, friend, rival, or peer.

2. Give me the rest of the flavor information in a deity statblock: favored weapon, symbol, sacred animal, sacred color, and obedience (some of you have already done this, which is great, thank you).

Gosh this is tough. Things are so wide open at this level I’m having a hard time deciding on one path that I like.

I wouldn't say that it's appropriate at this time to have already claimed Aroden's former domain, even if it is empty. Possessing a divine domain is something that is mostly reserved for fully-realized powers of the multiverse, which is something I totally plan to have you guys come into. You can have two choices regarding his domain:

The first is that Axis' powers don't allow Avram inside until he proves himself.

The second is that The Empty Court is disgusting, infested, and filled with creatures and portals that will take time and probably adventures to expunge before it becomes a true place of residence.

Okay. Avram does not claim The Empty Court as his own. The godling just frequencies the site, combing it for clues to his divine father's whereabouts.

A second note about Aroden's backstory, although easily remedied I think: Aroden disappeared thousands of years after the destruction of Azlant. It is not really possible for him to have fathered Avram both shortly before his disappearance and with a member of Azlanti nobility.

Fair. I was thinking that Aroden came across a pure-blood azlant woman that comes from azlant line of nobility. Books like this show, though rare, pure-blooded azlant could still exist.

Next note: "There, the divine scion lived an ordinary, unsuccessful life, until his heroic death." with no context reads a little bit strange. What immediately comes into my head is, like... Neo from The Matrix, suddenly and surprisingly exposed to this strange extra world and dying to awaken his powers. Was it like that? Can you go into a bit of detail regarding his "heroic death"?

Taken from the character's backstory:

You will also need to describe your intended herald to be considered finished.

As Joe on Earth, Avram studied new age philosophies; one of them was shamanism. During his travels throughout the multiverse, the godling found his former spirit totem: Gertrude,a spirit rhinoceros. After his godling powers came to the fore, Avram found a ring of three wishes. Using the powerful magical item, Avram wished for Gertrude to possess the manimal template, gain the archon monster type, and boost the newly-minted archon's stats to become Avram's herald.

In the meantime, I would like you all to:

1. Write up any relationships that you have, either with other submissions or with existing divine or non-divine characters in the Great Beyond. I'm not interested in sycophantic relationships with goons, but rather people whose role in your character's life is that of mentor, friend, rival, or peer.

2. Give me the rest of the flavor information in a deity statblock: favored weapon, symbol, sacred animal, sacred color, and obedience (some of you have already done this, which is great, thank you).

1.

2.
Portfolio: Humanity, protection, Golarion's restoration, heroism
Domains: Good, Travel, Nobility, Protection
Favored Weapon: Longsword
Symbol: The Eye of Aroden in mithral with a royal purple chevron underneath.
Sacred Animal: Rhinoceros
Sacred Color: Royal Purple and Mithral
Obedience: Sit in quiet mediation on Avram's teachings and accomplishments for a half hour, ponder how you might have done things differently or done the same. Gain a +4 sacred bonus against fear effects.

Updated the domains, changed her ascendance a bit, and put in a full deity statblock and some notes on relationships.

EDIT: Forgot the obedience. I'll add it into the full submission but for now just putting it here:

Obedience: Focus on an urge that you did not fulfil. If the urge was to do something that can be changed immediately, do it. This could be something as small as rearranging the dishes in your kitchen or as big as changing your profession or lover. If the urge was not something that can no longer be acted on immediately, meditate on how doing so would have affected you and those around you.
Gain a +4 sacred bonus against confusion and domination effects.

Relationships will come later, but in general he tries to maintain at least a facade of friendliness with everyone, until he is ready to act. He is the sort who will gladly lose a battle, or even 10, if it means winning the war.

Something like this...?

What is your character? Where are they from?
Caladrel is the son of a peri and an elven lord. As such, he has always erred between two worlds and belonged to neither. Blessed by the heavens, the Aasimar was revered. But his impure blood made him ever an outsider.

What is your character's portfolio?
Portfolio: Sun, Navigation and Exploration, Trade, Fate
Domains: Travel, Luck, Trickery, Fire
Focus: The eternal flame must light the way for all people. Heroes must be guided by their own inner-flame.

What does your character look like?
Caladrel is a handsome and well-spoken elf in red robes. His eyes burn like embers, revealing the fire within. His easy smile and demeanour speak of a desire to engage in the world and learn all things.

How did your character become a demigod?
Caladrel divinity came about when he came into contact with the divine fire, which he stole from the plane of fire and which burns inside him.

Where does your character live?
Caladrel generally resides on the Material plane where he explores the secrets of the fire while staying well-away from the plane of fire where he would undoubtedly meet a dire end. Perhaps one day, he will be powerful enough to claim the Plane of Fire for himself?

Where in the verse is your cult centered?
Many of Sarenrae’s followers who have not her lofty ideals turn to the cult of Caladrel for guidance. Thus, his church often exists where the followers of Sarenrae are many. In addition, his churches are common near ports and commercial centers as sailors and merchants pray to Caladrel for good luck and safe travels.

What sorts of people worship you?
Thieves, sailors, explorers, merchants… While the cult is organized, it encourages individualism and adventure.

If your character has one, please describe your character's herald.
To be determined.

Favored weapon: staff
Symbol: burning eye
Sacred animal: carrier pigeon
Sacred color: red
Obedience: share the flame and light a candle

Dotting for interest - I’m at work right now, I’ll type up something later today.

I’m thinking something like a celestial animal that wandered too deep into a fey forest while fleeing an evil hunter, wounded and tired it drank from a mystic glowing pool of fey energy and fell into a deep sleep amongst the magical undergrowth.

The mystic undergrowth and fey water energies infused it and while it slumbered for a few decades changed it into a fully awakened and intelligent creatures. Its a shapechanger, planty, animally, feyish creature that has grown as a legend of the deep forest. Its the natural worlds retribution against the hunters and despoilers.

Just a first idea subject to change entirely by tonight.

@leinathan
Odd question, but is there a chance you would consider gestalt characters? I know we're not getting into mechanics yet but my brain already went there and it seems this is better asked before you decide on creation guidelines than after.

@Mythicman/Teras - Getting a real Greece vibe from you, cool.

I don't think that there is a gladiator arena in Magnimar. Did he travel abroad, or was his fighting more of a street-style alleyway brawl at the beginning?

I was serious when I said I wanted a description of your cult (which is great!) in addition to a shorter two-to-four-word summary of your portfolio, so that's just about all that's missing.

Can you physically describe Teras' herald?

I thought there was but I like the idea of like street alley kind of fighting then moving to an arena after scraping up enough coin, then sending money back once he starts winning in the arena.

I would say the areas of concern is Comraderie, War, and glory. I think that should cover what’s missing

For his herald he’s a older man balding but still a giant of a man. He wears full plate covering all of him except his head, letting him see due to his old eyes often getting in the way. He’s a darkened man olive skin, that’s weathered like leather due to hours spent in the sun fighting and marching. He carries a massive mail that he uses to crush his foes. He serves as a wise council to his captain while also being a fervent supporter that is most vocal about his captains deeds when Teras isn’t there.

And to finish off the portfolio for him his sacred colors are gold and red, gold to represent the glory earned in battle and the red represents the blood spilled in combat.

His obedience is simple: you must go to a close friend or ally and offer to aid them with whatever they need and help to accomplish it in some way. All out of the kindness, without a guarantee if money or favor.

Demigod of Transacted Miracles, Cont.

1: Relationships
This demigod is especially close to Abadar and often visits the lord of commerce in Axis, and indeed, often shares space in his temples. That said, their particular portfolio is such that they're interested in everyone who sells spellcasting services, including the temples of most entities that grant spells to followers. They are emphatically neutral on this point and do not judge the reasons others have for wanting or using spells.

Notably, even a relatively mild spell could be worth about a hundred days of labor (assuming an average earning of 1 GP per day for a decent worker), so just giving away spells with expensive material components could quickly bankrupt a church and prevent it from fulfilling its other goals. Selling spells is one of the main ways many churches make money, and this demigod's interest in regulating that helps to ensure faiths prosper and churches can't undercut each other on pricing to drive others out. Some churches would, admittedly, like to try that anyway - but most faiths agree that it's ultimately better for them if they cooperate. That's why churches of all alignments - good, evil, and even chaotic - tend to have standardized pricing for spellcasting services.

Outside of divine connections, this demigod has some friends back in their home city, particularly in the House of Heights. These are mostly regular members of the organization, many of whom are pursuing their own immortality or ascension. Of course, many seek it, but few truly achieve it...

2. Deity Statblock Info
>Favored Weapon: Unarmed Strike

>Symbol: A balanced scale surrounded by a circle, with a sack of coins on one side and a swirling arcane symbol on the other

>Sacred Animal: Dogs

>Sacred Color: Gold

>Obedience: Find and sell magic of any level to someone who desires it. This could be as simple as a trick shown to kids or a fairly major working. The buyer must be informed of the nature of the magic and exactly what it will do. Sometimes there is nobody around to sell magic to during a day, and while followers may inquire if their traveling companions want to buy any magic that day, they are discouraged from high-pressure sales tactics and may still receive the benefits of their Obedience even if they don't have anyone to sell magic to. (This demigod understands that magic is a luxury service and there won't always be customers, and their followers are not penalized with the loss of power for a day as long as they've made a reasonable effort to find a customer.)

-----

Followers: The Demigod of Transacted Miracles is worshiped almost exclusively by spellcasters of varying types, but especially those who want to make a livelihood out of their power.

The Code Of Selling Miracles:
The following are the fundamental principles of selling magic.

1) To perform high-quality casting services at a fair and just price, without seeking to maximize personal profit or pressure customers into buying magic they cannot afford.
2) To use only proven merchandise of high quality distributed by reputable firms when crafting magical items.
3) To furnish an itemized invoice for fairly priced components and casting services that clearly identifies each activity, its cost, and when the customer requested it.
4) To have a sense of personal obligation to each customer.
5) To promote good will between the buyers and sellers of magic and miracles, as well as the local governing jurisdictions.
6) To recommend spellcasting based on what is required to accomplish the customer's stated goal.
7) To offer the customer a fair and transparent price estimate for work to be performed, including estimates for any reasonable alternatives.
8) To clearly explain any protections for the customer relating to uncertain magic, such as petitioning the powers for information.
9) To obtain prior authorization for all work done, in writing or by other means satisfactory to the customer.
10) To notify the customer if appointments cannot be kept or casting cannot be performed.
11) To maintain customer records for one year or more.
12) To exercise reasonable care for the customer's property while it is in my possession.
13) To maintain a system for fair settlement of any complaints.
14) To safeguard the privacy of my customers and their information.
15) To clearly explain the difference between the spells I sell and the spells I cast for personal reasons, such that none have cause to complain.
16) To follow all local laws regarding the sale and use of magic.
17) To provide magic to all customers without fear, favor, or bias.
18) To uphold the high standards of the industry and seek to correct any abuses within it.
19) To uphold the integrity of all sellers of magic.

Oath: I solemnly swear to uphold the Principles of Selling Miracles. I recognize that magic is a gift to the world, to be treasured and used, and that none have exclusive domain or authority over it. It is up to me to maintain the integrity of the industry and prove worthy of the trust placed in me, and so I shall.

Relationships
- Amongst the divine, Ulliaza’s mentor is Milani, as well as being her closest ally, friend, and confidant. As the one who raised her into godhood, she feels like she owes the Everbloom, even if is a debt that she never intends to collect.
- Thanks to the close connection Milani shares with Iomedae, she also tries to keep a close connection with the Inheritor. She is quite proud of the fact that she is referred to by the warrior goddess as ‘her sister’s star pupil’.
- Cayden Cailean is also considered a true ally and friend, stopping by his realm during her occasional break to ‘get some of the best booze in the universe for the folk back home’. It is noted that she has gotten Thais to stop by the Secret Sancutary at least a couple times to join in on large celebrations the cult occasionally holds. She brings the beer.
- Her relationship with Desna, Shelyn, and Calistria is friendly, though she rarely meets the much busier and important deities. She respects Desna’s sense of freedom, Shelyn’s ability to completely revolutionize a society's culture, and Calistria’s skill in deception.
- She practices a policy of avoidance towards Sarenrae, Torag, and the majority of the elven pantheon for differing reasons. Her feelings on Sarenrae are conflicted, as while she respects her endorsement of redemption, she can’t respect her allowing her followers to practice slavery. Even though Sarenrae has a healthy respect for the redemption she offers to those who come to her, she'd much rather avoid a possible argument at all costs She avoids Torag for the simple fact she’s fairly sure he might try to kill her on sight, as his doctrine is very much ‘no mercy’. The elven pantheon would like nothing more than to forget the fact that some of their worshippers fell, and the feeling is mutual.
- While she has her dislikes and hatred of several evil deities, circumstance leads her to not interacting with them very often. She most commonly is in opposition to various demon lords, Droskar, and Hastur, though only in the sense that her cult is regularly in conflict with their worshipers.

(This’ll be the section for other submissions. If anyone has any issues with these, feel free to tell me and I’ll change it.)

- She sees Priella as a somewhat hard to predict ally, as while she personally tries to bring revolution for good, she can’t always trust her to do what’s ultimately best. Someone to work alongside, but keep a close eye on.
- Her relationship with Ammon, while mostly business related, is friendly enough. Ammon is one of the few people she feels comfortable actually asking for information from, much preferring to get information herself most of the time.
- She views Teras and Avram in a good light, having encountered the both of them while out and about doing her work in the world. She doesn’t actively work with either of them beyond occasionally slipping them information they may find useful. She has absolutely no idea where the rumour of romance came from, and completely denies anything of the sort.

Deity Stat Block
Alignment: CG
Pantheon: ???
Areas of Concern: Revolution, Subterfuge, Good Drow
Domains: Chaos, Good, Liberty, Trickery
Subdomains: Riot, Redemption, Revolution, Deception
Favored Weapon: Shortsword
Symbol: A rose shaped into a smirking face.
Sacred Animal: Newt
Sacred Colors: Blue, Silver

Obedience: Hold a set of shackles and study them in their entirety, before practicing whatever method you have may have of getting out of such devices. After having practiced the method, sit the shackles in your lap and contemplate what, physically or mentally, might be shackling you down in your life and how you may free yourselves of those shackles. Gain a +2 on all attempts to escape the grappled, or pinned condition.

Having seen how some of the others are addressing things, I want to make some changes to Priella. I'm going to redo her stuff later tonight. No changes to the major concept I'm just not happy with the way I addressed relationships and I don't think I properly addressed her intent vs effect, or the way the things that drive her affect her actions.

@Brolof - None of the update should change the way Ulliaza views her in your relationship section, don't worry. I rather like what you put there.