In the upcoming campaign I plan to GM, I am going to homebrew my own setting. I'm going to design the world as the campaign unfolds; I will provide a starting area that should suffice for 1st level, and then continuously design outwards depending on what the players decide to do. I've chosen this approach because the setting of Golarion just doesn't suit my needs. But I'm not confident in my ability to design towns and dungeons from scratch, so my plan is to buy some adventure paths, pick and choose the individual parts I like, and rearrange them into a cohesive whole.

Which adventure paths (or other sources) would likely have the kinds of things that would fit my campaign?

My homebrew setting is an Earth-like planet where humans are pretty much the only sapient Ancestry. If other Ancestries exist, they would all be very Rare. The starting area is largely modeled after Manhattan around the turn of the 20th century, with technology being partly steampunk, partly magitech. Culture and architecture can vary wildly compared to Earth's New York around that time, and can be ahead or behind the curve by plus-or-minus 30-40 years.

The Gilded Age is in full effect, and wage slavery is a major source of strife amongst the working class, mainly upheld by an aristocracy of wizards who have worked to slow the development of non-magical technology so that the working class remains reliant on them.

The city likely has many secrets buried beneath the surface, and the recent opening of the city's first subway line can be a great entry route for a dungeon or two. Additionally, there are some prominent commercial buildings which are as large as castles and up to 30 stories tall which the party may have to infiltrate on secret missions.

The existence of gods and the afterlife remains unconfirmed, but divine magic is about as commonplace as arcane magic, and faith in the ancient and storied traditions of their forebears allows clerics and champions to wield divine power.

Based on everything I laid out, which adventure paths or other sources would be most likely to have the best-fitting elements for my campaign, or at least the first few levels of it?

In the upcoming campaign I plan to GM, I am going to homebrew my own setting. I'm going to design the world as the campaign unfolds; I will provide a starting area that should suffice for 1st level, and then continuously design outwards depending on what the players decide to do. I've chosen this approach because the setting of Golarion just doesn't suit my needs. But I'm not confident in my ability to design towns and dungeons from scratch, so my plan is to buy some adventure paths, pick and choose the individual parts I like, and rearrange them into a cohesive whole.

Which adventure paths (or other sources) would likely have the kinds of things that would fit my campaign?

My homebrew setting is an Earth-like planet where humans are pretty much the only sapient Ancestry. If other Ancestries exist, they would all be very Rare. The starting area is largely modeled after Manhattan around the turn of the 20th century, with technology being partly steampunk, partly magitech. Culture and architecture can vary wildly compared to Earth's New York around that time, and can be ahead or behind the curve by plus-or-minus 30-40 years.

The Gilded Age is in full effect, and wage slavery is a major source of strife amongst the working class, mainly upheld by an aristocracy of wizards who have worked to slow the development of non-magical technology so that the working class remains reliant on them.

The city likely has many secrets buried beneath the surface, and the recent opening of the city's first subway line can be a great entry route for a dungeon or two. Additionally, there are some prominent commercial buildings which are as large as castles and up to 30 stories tall which the party may have to infiltrate on secret missions.

The existence of gods and the afterlife remains unconfirmed, but divine magic is about as commonplace as arcane magic, and faith in the ancient and storied traditions of their forebears allows clerics and champions to wield divine power.

Based on everything I laid out, which adventure paths or other sources would be most likely to have the best-fitting elements for my campaign?

The intent of this variant rule is to give struggling player parties sudden bursts of power to overcome unexpectedly dangerous situations, and give players a preview of abilities they may acquire at future levels.

Under this variant rule, a player can spend Hero Points in one of two ways: to lose the dying condition and stabilize at 0 HP (this costs only 1 Hero Point), or to invoke a Limit Break (this costs all of their Hero Points).

A player can only choose to invoke a Limit Break when the entire party is bloodied or worse, or a party wipe seems likely under the current circumstances. The GM is the final arbiter for when the use of a Limit Break is appropriate.

On the player's turn, if they choose to invoke a Limit Break, the GM searches their rulebooks or Archives of Nethys for a feature or feat up to 2 levels higher than the player's character level, or a spell up to 1 rank higher than what the player's character can cast; the GM must choose something which is likely to be very effective against the most dangerous threat present, and the player must meet the prerequisites and requirements (except the level requirement).

The player gains access to the chosen ability for a brief time -- usually until the end of the player's current turn, but can be up to 1 minute depending on the nature of the ability and the severity of the situation -- and the GM instructs the player how to use the ability. When the Limit Break ability is used and/or while it is in effect, whenever the ability requires checks of any kind, the Limit Break user and their allies cannot get results worse than success, and the user's enemies cannot get results better than failure.

Over the course of a campaign, each time a player uses a Limit Break, the GM should try to select a different ability each time. The player should not be able to choose or predict which ability they will temporarily receive. This helps to maintain a sense of unpredictability and wonder each time a Limit Break is invoked.

I'm planning on creating a setting where Automatons are Uncommon rather than Rare. I want them to be distinctly non-organic, without unbalancing them too much from other organic ancestries. Take a look at the ancestry features and let me know if this looks too strong, too weak, or just right.

Low-Light Vision
You can see in dim light as though it were bright light, so you ignore the concealed condition due to dim light.

Glitch-Prone
You can be affected by the glitching condition, despite not having the tech trait. For you, the penalty on a failure or critical failure is a status penalty.
An adjacent creature with a thieves' toolkit can spend a single action (which has the attack and manipulate traits) to make a Thievery check against your Fortitude DC. On a success, you become glitching 1 or your glitching value increases by 1 (to a maximum of 2). On a critical success, you become glitching 2 or your glitching value increases by 2 (to a maximum of 4).
Effects that counteract magic can target you even if they normally can't target creatures. If you are targeted by such an effect, the counteract check is made against your Fortitude DC. If the counteract check succeeds, you become glitching 2 or your glitching value increases by 2 (to a maximum of 4). If the counteract check critically succeeds, you become glitching 4.

Constructed Body
Your physiological needs are different than those of living creatures. Except as noted below, you are treated as a living creature.
* You must rest for a period of 2 hours each day. While resting, you are not unconscious. If you go 22 hours without this resting period, you become glitching 1, and your glitching value can't be reduced below 1 until you rest for a 2-hour period.
* You do not need to eat, and are immune to starvation.
* Your body contains no significant moisture. You do not need to drink, and are immune to thirst.
* You do not breathe, and are immune to suffocation and inhaled hazards.
* You do not have blood, and are immune to bleed damage.
* You are immune to afflictions unless they are magical or have any of the mental, spirit, vitality, or void traits.

Construct Maintenance
You cannot be targeted by the Repair activity. If you or another creature attempts to use Administer First Aid, Treat Disease, Treat Poison, or Treat Wounds on you, they must use Crafting in place of Medicine for the check, they must be trained in Crafting instead of Medicine if it is a trained action, and they must wear or hold a repair toolkit instead of a healer's toolkit.
When a creature Administers First Aid on you, instead of the option to Stop Bleeding, they have the option to Stop Glitching, and the success and critical failure effects are modified as follows.
* Stop Glitching: Attempt a Crafting check on a creature with the glitching condition. The DC is usually the DC of the effect that caused the glitching.
* Success: If you're trying to stabilize, the target loses the dying condition (but remains unconscious). If you're trying to stop glitching, the target benefits from an assisted recovery with the lowered DC for particularly appropriate help.
* Critical Failure: If you were trying to stabilize, the target's dying value increases by 1. If you were trying to stop glitching, the target automatically critically fails their next flat check triggered by the glitching condition.

TL;DR - In a homebrew setting where no incontrovertible proof of the gods exist, what makes divine magic any different from occult magic? Please post your suggestions below.

I'd like to request some help from the worldbuilding community. I want to create a setting where the existence of the Outer Sphere, let alone what it contains, is unknowable and can neither be proven nor disproven. The kinds of stories I want to tell as a GM are ones including themes of existentialism and pontifications on mortality. At best, mortals should only be able to confirm the existence of souls, and any systems of reincarnation that do not necessarily involve trips to the Outer Sphere. Final Fantasy VII is my main inspiration here.

Unfortunately, the default Golarion setting is terrible for telling these sorts of stories. Just about every mortal in Golarion knows that the gods and the afterlife exist, so the concept of death already loses a lot of gravitas. And because everyone knows that their souls will be judged when they die, everyone is incentivized to be good for a few decades or centuries so that they can enjoy paradise for eternity. Only the absolute densest 0.1% of mortals would ever choose petty evil, knowing full well that Hell or other unholy realms await them as punishment. And mortal supervillains seeking to upend the cosmic order wouldn't fare much better, as they wouldn't have very many loyal minions to select from. At that point, the only real contenders for villains are monstrous beings like fiends, undead, fey, and aberrations. Saturating my villain roster entirely with monsters like that is sure to break the intended tone of my stories. I absolutely must have human (and human-adjacent) villains who seek world conquest, who lie and cheat and steal for their own self-interest, who believe life is all about maximizing their own pleasure in the little time that is available to them, and who will exploit their fellow human beings to those petty ends.

So, for all these reasons, I want to make a custom setting where the Outer Sphere is ambiguous in its existence. I want to keep in divine spells, clerics, champions, and all other game mechanics involving the divine in place, partly out of a desire to avoid having to rebalance everything, but also because discussions of faith and the eventual fate of the soul are very interesting to have, especially when such subjects are not understood by even the wisest of mortals.

But here is the main problem I've been running into in trying to design such a setting. Without the confirmed existence of gods, what really differentiates divine magic from occult magic? In Secrets of Magic, Djavin Vhrest describes occult magic as follows:

"Ideas, art, and expression form metaphysical threads, each woven into a grander tapestry of culture, tradition, and community. Every thinking being develops some twist on this vocabulary—every painful lesson of cause and effect, every bedtime tale laughed off or taken to heart, every syntactic rule that dictates our logic, every object that carries even a semblance of symbolism—all strained through the myriad combination of senses we each experience. Each of these elements forms your narrative language, rooted in your thoughts and emotions. Each is a tool to create and manipulate a story.
"Enduring thoughts slowly manifest as immortal archetypes on the Astral Plane, and souls resonating with the weight of a million aligned choices meld with the Outer Planes to form the Great Beyond. Untold trillions have lived and died, and their stories form the tapestry’s very foundation. Pick any mortal's little patch in the greater design, and you’ll find the multiverse’s vast narrative reflected in some corner of their mind. Even without shared language, values, and lived experience, an occult practitioner and their subject almost always share this esoteric memory. Not only is that enough to work magic, but any practitioner powerful enough to tap into these cosmic expressions can influence thousands at a time by manipulating the multiverse’s underlying mythology."

This is how I would ideally like faith to be handled in my stories. The shared values that bind communities of people develop into widely-accepted that embody these values. When enough people believe in the shared idea of Sarenrae, Sarenrae becomes real -- or at least, real enough that dedicating your life in her service will grant you real power. But then, if that is all the gods really are -- just shared delusions which grow so popular that they take on a life of their own -- then what really makes divine magic anything more than just a popular offshoot of occult magic?

There must be some other aspect that divine magic embodies which occult magic does not. In a world where no incontrovertible proof of the gods exist, what would take its place? That's what I need help figuring out, more than anything.

Intent
The current rules as written lack some flexibility when it comes to ruling on characters with unusual senses. For example, a hero based on Matt Murdock (a.k.a. Daredevil) would be permanently blinded but possess hearing as a precise sense. It's up to the GM to do the heavy lifting and reinterpret the rules in a way that makes sense for this particular character.
My rewrite of the rules is an attempt to elaborate on current mechanics as they pertain to stealth and perception, making them both more robust and sense-agnostic. In doing so, it opens the door for additional character concepts. I plan to incorporate any feedback into future drafts; I want to write these rules in a manner that is at once clear, concise, and fulfills the goals I outline above.

Note: "Subject" is a catch-all term for any creature, object, or individually-targetable entity.

Detection conditions
* Observing: You know a subject's exact location. You can directly target a subject you observe. You can only observe subjects using precise senses. As long as you observe a subject, you also detect and notice it.
* Detecting: You know the space that a subject is in (within a 5-foot square). If you are not observing the subject, you are off-guard to it. You can directly target the subject, if you are not observing it, you must succeed at a DC 11 flat check or you fail to affect it. You can detect subjects using precise or imprecise senses, but not vague senses. As long as you detect a subject, you also notice it.
* Noticing: You know that a subject is or recently was present. If you are not observing the subject, you are off-guard to it. If you are not detecting the subject, you cannot directly target it. You can notice subjects using any senses, and subjects remain noticed until you can no longer reasonably believe that they are present.

Note: Some abilities only work against targets that don't notice the user.

Targeting spaces and areas
If you notice but can't detect a subject, you can guess at its location and target where it might be. When you use an attack, spell, or ability that targets a subject, you can select a space (a 5-foot square) as a target instead. The GM rolls a DC 11 flat check, as well as the check needed for the ability to affect its intended target (usually an attack roll or saving throw), both in secret. If the space is not occupied, the flat check fails, or everything in the space would be unaffected, the GM only reveals that nothing was affected.
Area effects do not directly target subjects, and so detection and sense-based conditions do not invoke a flat check. Furthermore, for each subject you notice but don't detect, the GM secretly rolls the check for that subject even if it isn't in the effect's area; if the subject is unaffected, the GM doesn't reveal whether it was due to the check result or the subject's location.

Concealment
When you're in thick fog, underbrush, or some other obscuring feature, you have concealment, making you harder to target. Concealment is relative, so you might simultaneously be concealed from one creature and not another. Concealment obscures against one or more senses.
When a creature targets you with an attack, spell, or other effect while you have concealment against all of its precise senses, it must succeed at a DC 5 flat check or it fails to affect you. Both lesser concealment and standard concealment provide this benefit. In addition, while you have standard concealment against one or more creatures' precise senses, you can Hide to stop them from observing you.
Usually, the GM can quickly decide whether your target has concealment. If you're uncertain or need to be more precise, draw a line from the center of your space to the center of the target's space. If that line passes through any terrain, object, or creature that would obscure line of sight/sound/scent, the target has concealment against vision/hearing/scent.

Cover
Mostly unchanged from RAW.
Typically, cover prevents subjects from being observed by all senses, but only prevents subjects from being detected via sight. Most senses other than sight can be used to detect subjects behind cover, so long as an unobstructed path no longer than the sense's usual range exists between the sensing creature and the subject; this path can travel through the air (with the exception of tremorsense, which travels through the ground).

Sense-based conditions
* Unnoticeable: This condition always lists one or more senses. Creatures cannot observe, detect, or notice you using the listed senses. If a creature was observing you using any of the listed senses, it no longer is. The effects of this condition take precedence over other creatures' checks to Seek you.
** Invisible: You are unnoticeable by vision.
** Silent: You are unnoticeable by hearing.
* Overstimulated: One or more of your senses are overwhelmed or obscured. This condition always lists the senses affected. All subjects have concealment from your overstimulated senses.
** Dazzled: Your vision is overstimulated.
** Ringing: Your hearing is overstimulated.
* Impaired: This condition always lists one or more senses. All subjects are unnoticeable by your impaired senses. If a Perception check requires you to use an impaired sense, or does not permit the use of any senses which are not impaired, you automatically critically fail the check. You take a –2 status penalty to Perception checks involving an impaired sense. If all your precise senses are impaired, the status penalty is –4, and all normal terrain is difficult terrain for you. Perception checks for initiative typically involve vision and hearing.
** Blinded: Your vision is impaired. Blinded overrides dazzled.
** Deafened: Your hearing is impaired. If you perform an action that has the auditory trait, you must succeed at a DC 5 flat check or the action is lost; attempt the check after spending the action but before any effects are applied. Deafened overrides ringing.

Examples of abilities and effects with updated descriptions

Hide (1-action)
You use your surroundings to prevent other creatures from observing you. The GM rolls your Stealth check in secret and compares the result to the Perception DC of each creature observing you but that you have cover, greater cover, or concealment from. You get a +2 circumstance bonus to your check if you have standard cover (or +4 from greater cover).
Success: If your source of cover or concealment obstructs all of the creature's precise senses, it cannot observe you.
If you successfully avoid a creature's observation but then cease to have cover, greater cover, or concealment from it, it resumes observing you. The creature can observe you if you do anything except Hide, Sneak, or Step. If you attempt to Strike the creature, it remains off-guard against the attack, and then begins observing you. If you do anything else, the creature observes you just before you act unless the GM determines otherwise. The GM might allow you to perform a particularly unobtrusive action without being noticed, possibly requiring another Stealth check.
If a creature uses Seek to observe you, you must successfully Hide to prevent it from observing you again.

Seek (1-action)
(First paragraph unchanged from RAW.)
The GM attempts a single secret Perception check for you and compares the result to the Stealth DCs of creatures you are not observing, or the DC to detect each object in the area you are not observing (as determined by the GM or by someone Concealing the Object). If you use only imprecise and vague senses to Seek, you cannot get a result better than Success; if you use only vague senses to Seek, you cannot get a result better than Failure. The unnoticeable condition takes precedence over the results of your check.
Critical Success: You observe any subject you critically succeed against.
Success: For each creature you succeed against, you detect it if you weren't detecting it before, and you observe it if you were detecting but not observing it before. You also observe one object that you weren't previously observing.
Failure: For each creature you fail (but don't critically fail) against, you notice it if you weren't noticing it before. You get a clue as to the location of one object you are not observing.

Crystalline Dust (2-action) Feat 5
You've learned to disperse the crystalline motes coating your body as a haze. You gain lesser visual concealment from all creatures for a number of rounds equal to half your level.

Mist (3-action) Spell 2
You call forth a cloud of mist. The area in the cloud provides visual concealment. You can Dismiss the cloud.

This is more of a shower thought than an actual homebrew, but I think it could work.

When performing an action that would deal spirit damage, the player declares one act that abides by their character's edicts and does not violate their character's anathema. If the act does not abide by the target's edicts and violates the target's anathema, the target takes spirit damage.

You can determine a target's edicts and anathema through prior research, from making a successful Recall Knowledge check (usually Religion), or just by making educated guesses based on observed behavior.

This is an attempt to split the Confused condition into two separate conditions, Berserk and Erratic. The Berserk condition forces the player to fight aggressively, but still allows them to choose which targets to attack. The Erratic condition randomizes the player's target each turn, but allows the player to choose their actions.

Berserk: You are enraged and attack wildly. You are off-guard, and cannot Delay or Ready.
As long as a viable enemy target is within reach of your Strikes or spells, you must use all of your actions to Strike or cast offensive spells. At the GM's discretion, other actions may be available to you if they would facilitate destruction of your enemies (such as Interacting to draw a weapon).
If you cannot attack any enemies that are currently present, you must use actions to make attacks against enemies possible as expediently as possible. Such actions include Striding within reach of an enemy, Striking or Forcing Open a door to reach enemies hiding behind it, or Seeking to make an invisible enemy detected.
You may use activities comprised of basic actions only if they facilitate your aggression (such as Flurry of Blows, Spellstrike, Quick Draw if you don't have a weapon drawn, or Sudden Charge if no enemies are within reach). The GM is the final arbiter on what activities facilitate aggression.
The condition automatically ends when every enemy is unnoticed. Each time you take damage from an attack or spell, you can attempt a DC 11 flat check to end the condition. If you would become Erratic while you have the Berserk condition, you become Confused. If you would become Fascinated while you have the Berserk condition, you become Provoked toward the subject of your fascination.

Erratic: You don't have your wits about you, and act inefficiently. You cannot Ready or use reactions.
At the start of each of your turns, the GM randomly selects from one viable target (including you). You cannot use actions unless they (or their intended consequences) are related to this target.
Each time you take damage from an attack or spell, you can attempt a DC 11 flat check to end the condition. If you would become Berserk while you have the Erratic condition, you become Confused.

Confused: You are in a violently irrational state and pose a danger to friend and foe alike. You are Berserk and Erratic, and you don't treat anyone as your ally (though they might still treat you as theirs). Neither the Berserk nor Erratic conditions can end as long as you are Confused.
You may let the GM choose your actions for you. If you cast spells, you can only cast cantrips. If you target yourself, your attack rolls automatically succeed (but don't critically succeed) and your saving throws automatically fail (but don't critically fail).
Each time you take damage from an attack or spell, you can attempt a DC 11 flat check to recover from your confusion and end the Confused, Berserk, and Erratic conditions.

Provoked: You're compelled to violently attack a specific target to the exclusion of other viable targets. You are Berserk. You do not treat the subject of your provocation as your ally (though they might still treat you as theirs). The Berserk condition cannot end as long as you are Provoked.
You may let the GM choose your actions for you. You may only use actions that affect the subject of your provocation.
If you begin your turn without the Fascinated condition, the Provoked condition ends. Each time you take damage from an attack or spell, you can attempt a DC 11 flat check to end the Berserk and Provoked conditions.

Fascinated: As RAW. Additionally, if you would become Berserk while Fascinated, you become Provoked toward the subject of your fascination.

One change that I feel is long overdue is the renaming of the "Dexterity" attribute to "Agility". Dexterity is a misnomer, as while the stat can cover fine motor skills, for the most part it actually measures your gross (i.e. full-body) motor skills. I suspect that the reason this change never took off in Pathfinder was because, before the remaster, no one liked the idea of having an "agility ability score". But now that Abilities have been renamed to Attributes, that's no longer a concern.

Leapfrogging off of that, I also propose that we rename the Thievery skill to Dexterity, in order to advertise that it has broader applications beyond criminal activity. Dexterity as a skill could be used by bomb-defusal squads, military engineers, stenographers, and more. In addition to sleight of hand, lockpicking, and trap-jamming, it could also be used for sign-language, using rope beyond basic techniques (complex knots, lassoing), or performing Dirty Tricks (as in Pathfinder 1e).

To encourage this broader use of the Dexterity skill, we could also add some extra skill feats in the vein of Natural Medicine. A couple of examples:
* Dexterous Performer (must be trained in Dexterity): You can use Dexterity instead of Performance to Perform or Earn Income. The performance in question must require fine motor skills, such as playing the piano, juggling, or doing stage magic.
* Scalpel Jockey (must be trained in Dexterity): You may not be especially knowledgeable in medical science, but you possess a certain magic touch when it comes to patching up injuries. You can use Dexterity instead of Medicine to Treat Wounds. If you have the Risky Surgery feat, you only need to deal 1d4 slashing damage to gain the bonus to your Medicine check.