December 2024 Organized Play Monthly Update

When come officialy the playtest for nécromancer and runesmith in Paizo blog playtest ?

When come officialy the playtest for nécromancer and runesmith in Paizo blog playtest ?

Monday the 9th is what was stated in the stream.

Losing half the Ancient Osirion pantheon is incredibly brutal. Neither War of Immortals nor Divine Mysteries elaborate how it happened. Only a summary in War of Immortals.

My friends who love Egyptian-themed characters are devastated by this. Even those that bought the books were totally blindsided by it.

Kinda curious why Lubaiko and Mother Vulture are affected when they don't seem to have died? I don't play PFS though, so maybe there's a reason I'm just not privy to.

I noticed that Sekhmet, Mother Vulture, Lubaiko, and Ashukharma were restricted despite still being active because of "problematic edicts and/or anathema" when they were previously of standard availability. Could we get a little more on why these gods were banned? They're definitely pushing boundaries, but it's hard to see why these guys got the banhammer when Ragathiel, Yaezhing, Achaekek (He's no longer even limited based on the Divine Omens sanctioning!), and the Bloodrager archetypw get a pass.

Lubaiko?! Seriously? Why?? What's she got going on worse than a bunch of other deities? Are we gonna start a race to flag every deity to see which ones are mildly troublesome? Because if so, phew, we've got a lot to work through.

Man, I really like her... What the heck.

I finally got a chance to play Shadow of the Vault Lore during this fall's GameDay, so am VERY eager to find an opportunity to play Clutches.

My technomancer Boomer, who is normally a stereotypically calm, "flat affect" android, is openly disgusted with the Vault Lord and growing increasingly impatient to bring their tyranny to an end. They might have taken some solace in venting their growing frustration on the Vault Lord's obnoxious lieutenant during their latest visit to Salvation's End...

It especially problematic to be banning Mother Vulture considering Paizo had been trying to be culturally diverse and she was one of the few things that really pushed the assumed normality by challenging Eurocentric concepts of how to treat the dead. If Paizo is saying this is not allowed should kholo (gnolls) be limited too, since they are also explicitly stated to practice endocannibalism?

Equally misunderstood is the kholo practice of ancestor worship and endocannibalism. Kholo consume their dead as a sign of reverence, holding a grand feast and transforming the bones into art or weapons. Kholo extend this honor to respected foes, hoping to bring their enemy’s cunning or strength into the clan.

It's kinda funny. I have a beloved 1e PFS character that I just revived for 2e PFS (exemplar due to sort of being mixed up with the events of Tyrants Grasp) who was a sort of "paladin" of Mother Vulture (cavalier[knight of arnisant]/mortal usher) who was sent off to the Pathfinder Society by the Knights of Ozem due to religious bigotry and here we go having the IRL Pathfinder Society trying to erase him for being too 'weird'.

Losing half the Ancient Osirion pantheon is incredibly brutal. Neither War of Immortals nor Divine Mysteries elaborate how it happened. Only a summary in War of Immortals.

My friends who love Egyptian-themed characters are devastated by this. Even those that bought the books were totally blindsided by it.

This affected one of my local players, who had a brand new cleric of Anubis, and was hit hard by the news. It was simply awful telling him about this.

I hope that at some point we can hear about the heroic deaths of the Egyptian Pantheon in the War of Immortals. One of my favorite first edition characters worshipped Horus. I'm hoping that Horus died valiantly, spreading his wings of protection over the world before he went.

And now for something completely different

I am excited for many of the newer deities that have arrived in Divine Mysteries. We have new heroic Goblin Gods!

Congratulations to Betsy and Solatra for your Fifth Novas! You both rock!

Hmm

I’m guessing it’s the “kill without mercy” edict that took Mother Vulture off limits.

Yes, it’s “kill without mercy if it benefits your community,” but that might actually make it even less of a fit for the Society.

(Just speculation for the record; I have no inside knowledge about this.)

Something I was wondering and thought might get mentioned here, but didn't is things that involve worshiping or previously worshipping a newly banned deity would still be available if the benefits come from the practice of worship not from the deity. The main thing I was wondering about is the Raised by Belief background, however, I will add that the avenger rouge is another example.

Cyrad wrote:

Losing half the Ancient Osirion pantheon is incredibly brutal. Neither War of Immortals nor Divine Mysteries elaborate how it happened. Only a summary in War of Immortals.

My friends who love Egyptian-themed characters are devastated by this. Even those that bought the books were totally blindsided by it.

This affected one of my local players, who had a brand new cleric of Anubis, and was hit hard by the news. It was simply awful telling him about this.

I have two friends who took some convincing to not just give up on PFS entirely. They were excited to play their Osiriani characters and had artwork drawn and commissioned.

I wasn't expecting almost an entire iconic pantheon to get wiped out, especially one tied to real-world mythologies with a major presence in popular culture. I'm hoping future releases elaborate on this and maybe provide new Osirion deities.

Yes, my guy had artwork commissioned of his anubis cleric as well. On the other hand, I can understand that Godsrain was meant to be a big, pantheon-shaking event that turned the heavens upside down. I suspect that no matter what gods they chose, there would be a player uproar as favorite deities were lost.

I hope there is a boon to worship a dead deity (maybe its another deity pretending but the PC doesn't know).

I hope there is a boon to worship a dead deity (maybe its another deity pretending but the PC doesn't know).

Or a similar deity shows up to take their place.

On the topic of edicts, I assumed they weren't things that you have to do just guidelines, maybe expectations.

Also I find it odd how some deities (Venkelvore for example) are must be sanctified unholy yet you have others that are more evil (ie Zon-Kuthon) who allow for no sanctification.

Congratulations to the new five novas!

And good luck storming the castle, Starfinders!

Congratulations to the new five novas!

And good luck storming the castle, Starfinders!

Oh my gosh, is that 9-12 one of yours, Matt? I look forward to sending Charli in for that one. She has a bone or two to pick with the Vault Lord.

Matt Duval wrote:

Congratulations to the new five novas!

And good luck storming the castle, Starfinders!

Oh my gosh, is that 9-12 one of yours, Matt? I look forward to sending Charli in for that one. She has a bone or two to pick with the Vault Lord.

There's some stuff and guest appearances I hope you really like :-)

Yes, my guy had artwork commissioned of his anubis cleric as well. On the other hand, I can understand that Godsrain was meant to be a big, pantheon-shaking event that turned the heavens upside down. I suspect that no matter what gods they chose, there would be a player uproar as favorite deities were lost.

I have/had a cleric of Horus that has also been affected. After a period of mourning, I decided to try to embrace the Godsrain storyline with the character. I considered transitioning to Oracle (divine magic without the diety requirement). An aspect of or blessing by Horus in his departure perhaps.

Instead, I used the rebuild to transition to Exemplar. Horus has departed, and now this former cleric has new powers to deal with. Perhaps even a divine spark left by Horus.

It's not hard to draw a possible link to prior events in PFS. Not long ago, there was a substantial undead event in Osirion, which may have been triggered (in part) by a powerful hag. Per War of the Immortals, when a group of hag goddesses are doing something suspicious, the Osirion gods intervened. Then all disappear. In my head canon, those events are related and will affect my character's story.

It's frustrating when game changes affect your character. But I'm trying to embrace the meta-event from War of the Immortals. It's world changing. There will be hardships and disappointment. Not everyone's life will remain the same. I'm looking forward to seeing what else occurs. (Did someone say necromancer? Look out Osirionites! Life might get tougher.)

Congratulations to those on the 5th Nova achievement!!

I am a little saddened by the fate of some of the Osirion Gods (Isis in particular).

Oh well, I like how JohannVonUlm explains it and how it affects those with characters following the Osirion pantheon.

When come officialy the playtest for nécromancer and runesmith in Paizo blog playtest ?

playtest available now if you haven't checked it out already! check it out and let us know your honest opinions!!! (https://paizo.com/pathfinderplaytest)

also hey everyone! i'm the new community leshy here at Paizo ^^ hoping to see more of you around!

playtest available now if you haven't checked it out already! check it out and let us know your honest opinions!!! (https://paizo.com/pathfinderplaytest)

also hey everyone! i'm the new community leshy here at Paizo ^^ hoping to see more of you around!

Hi Welcome

demiurge108 wrote:

When come officialy the playtest for nécromancer and runesmith in Paizo blog playtest ?

playtest available now if you haven't checked it out already! check it out and let us know your honest opinions!!! (https://paizo.com/pathfinderplaytest)

also hey everyone! i'm the new community leshy here at Paizo ^^ hoping to see more of you around!

Maya!! <3

Welcome, Maya! We look forward to meeting you more throughout the coming year!

There's some stuff and guest appearances I hope you really like :-)

So pumped for this one! I'm very curious to see if the whole Salvation's End thing gets a neat little bow put on it, or if it will keep being A Thing in 2nd Edition Society!

Maya C. wrote:

playtest available now if you haven't checked it out already! check it out and let us know your honest opinions!!! (https://paizo.com/pathfinderplaytest)

also hey everyone! i'm the new community leshy here at Paizo ^^ hoping to see more of you around!

Hi Welcome

Thank you!!

Maya C. wrote:

demiurge108 wrote:

When come officialy the playtest for nécromancer and runesmith in Paizo blog playtest ?

playtest available now if you haven't checked it out already! check it out and let us know your honest opinions!!! (https://paizo.com/pathfinderplaytest)

also hey everyone! i'm the new community leshy here at Paizo ^^ hoping to see more of you around!

Maya!! <3

Hey Mike!!! Good to see you!!

Welcome, Maya! We look forward to meeting you more throughout the coming year!

Looking forward to meeting you too!!

I just moved less than two weeks ago from Los Angeles to Northwest Indiana and I am catching up on things. (I have a new job starting in a few weeks and will catch up on books.)

I have two characters who follow members of the Osiriani pantheon who will have to chose new divine patrons as they are clerics. I understand that the Osiriani pantheon was kind of an oddity for Golarion, and was perhaps never developed that much. (I suspect much was just taken from the OGL.) I can understand removing them as they never quite fit in with the existing pantheon.

However, as someone who has read parts of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Elder Eddas, the Kalevala, the Mabonogion, the Red Branch of Ulster tales and more works of mythology and legend, I am disappointed that we have no stories on how several figures such as Ra and Horus (my characters' divine patrons) no longer are part of Osirion. Maybe they died due to the efforts of Set or some other power. Perhaps they died achieving some good end. Perhaps (my preference) is that they removed their divine presence from Golarion to help another world that needed them more. (Maybe such a world is something unknown where Ra, Osiris, and the deities of Earth's mythologies were needed to help save it. Golarion might be getting off easy with the Godsrain compared to some places.)

I will have to make some decisions but I am somewhat disappointed. I expect good stories from Paizo. However, a brief announcement that Ra, Horus and others are no longer in the setting reminds me of the bored yawn I gave when I learned that in the Forgotten Realms, Ra was slain by the orc god Gruumsh in the Time of Troubles. (I was unimpressed and thought it made little sense as there was no history between the deities. Perhaps that is the problem that many deities associated with Earth have in Golarion -- no interaction with others.) Also, I find the lack of connection among Golarion's deities somewhat puzzling. In the real world, people form communities. Instead, I see little connection or relationship among deities in Golarion like there was in many historical faiths on Earth. (Except for the dwarven pantheon, famileis and close relationships seem limited to Shizuru and Tsukiyo in Tien Xia and the Prismatic Ray in the Innner Sea region.)

Well, I will be busy with a few things here but I hope that we will get some good stories out of the Godsrain. (I find the Time of Troubles in the Realms to be unimpressive and hopes that Paizo will tell better stories.)

I just moved less than two weeks ago from Los Angeles to Northwest Indiana and I am catching up on things. (I have a new job starting in a few weeks and will catch up on books.)

I have two characters who follow members of the Osiriani pantheon who will have to chose new divine patrons as they are clerics. I understand that the Osiriani pantheon was kind of an oddity for Golarion, and was perhaps never developed that much. (I suspect much was just taken from the OGL.) I can understand removing them as they never quite fit in with the existing pantheon.

However, as someone who has read parts of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Elder Eddas, the Kalevala, the Mabonogion, the Red Branch of Ulster tales and more works of mythology and legend, I am disappointed that we have no stories on how several figures such as Ra and Horus (my characters' divine patrons) no longer are part of Osirion. Maybe they died due to the efforts of Set or some other power. Perhaps they died achieving some good end. Perhaps (my preference) is that they removed their divine presence from Golarion to help another world that needed them more. (Maybe such a world is something unknown where Ra, Osiris, and the deities of Earth's mythologies were needed to help save it. Golarion might be getting off easy with the Godsrain compared to some places.)

I will have to make some decisions but I am somewhat disappointed. I expect good stories from Paizo. However, a brief announcement that Ra, Horus and others are no longer in the setting reminds me of the bored yawn I gave when I learned that in the Forgotten Realms, Ra was slain by the orc god Gruumsh in the Time of Troubles. (I was unimpressed and thought it made little sense as there was no history between the deities. Perhaps that is the problem that many deities associated with Earth have in Golarion -- no interaction with others.) Also, I find the lack of connection among Golarion's deities somewhat puzzling. In the real world, people form communities. Instead, I see...

They disapeared because of a failed ritual by a coven of hag deities they tried to stop. And they were not removed because "Egyptian deities feels weird", cause only half of them are lost, like Bast is still there. But yeah, it's understandable that it's frustrating that it affects your characters.

William Ronald wrote:

I just moved less than two weeks ago from Los Angeles to Northwest Indiana and I am catching up on things. (I have a new job starting in a few weeks and will catch up on books.)

I have two characters who follow members of the Osiriani pantheon who will have to chose new divine patrons as they are clerics. I understand that the Osiriani pantheon was kind of an oddity for Golarion, and was perhaps never developed that much. (I suspect much was just taken from the OGL.) I can understand removing them as they never quite fit in with the existing pantheon.

However, as someone who has read parts of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Elder Eddas, the Kalevala, the Mabonogion, the Red Branch of Ulster tales and more works of mythology and legend, I am disappointed that we have no stories on how several figures such as Ra and Horus (my characters' divine patrons) no longer are part of Osirion. Maybe they died due to the efforts of Set or some other power. Perhaps they died achieving some good end. Perhaps (my preference) is that they removed their divine presence from Golarion to help another world that needed them more. (Maybe such a world is something unknown where Ra, Osiris, and the deities of Earth's mythologies were needed to help save it. Golarion might be getting off easy with the Godsrain compared to some places.)

I will have to make some decisions but I am somewhat disappointed. I expect good stories from Paizo. However, a brief announcement that Ra, Horus and others are no longer in the setting reminds me of the bored yawn I gave when I learned that in the Forgotten Realms, Ra was slain by the orc god Gruumsh in the Time of Troubles. (I was unimpressed and thought it made little sense as there was no history between the deities. Perhaps that is the problem that many deities associated with Earth have in Golarion -- no interaction with others.) Also, I find the lack of connection among Golarion's deities somewhat puzzling. In the real world, people form

...

At least there is a story. Perhaps they are, to paraphrase a line from The Last Starfighter, fighting evil in another dimension. I guess Torag may get two new warpriests soon. (I think Torag might be a good fit for worshipers of Ra and Horus.)

I will work on getting caught up. Moving was not easy. (I will see if a friend in Los Angeles knows a comedy writer as I have a few things to share.)

Starfinder has a book that explains all Removed Deities, The Gap. What it doesn't explain is how a list of removed Deities is still known, maybe that means we are in the eye of The Gap.

Losing half the Ancient Osirion pantheon is incredibly brutal. Neither War of Immortals nor Divine Mysteries elaborate how it happened. Only a summary in War of Immortals.

My friends who love Egyptian-themed characters are devastated by this. Even those that bought the books were totally blindsided by it.

...I feel the same way...I think more and more of our local PFS gaming is simply ignoring these mandates...gold balancing is the main feature anymore.