Adjoint's page

Adjoint wrote:

Light cantrip targets an object, not an area, and it does not say it can counteract magical darkness, so I don't think that rules allow for what you are suggesting.

Right. If the source of the Light spell is in the area of the Darkness spell, then Darkness has its own rules for which one wins.

But if the source of the Light spell is outside the area of the Darkness spell and all they have is an overlapping area, I would have the two effects run a counteract check - not to dispel the Light or Darkness spell entirely, just to decide which of the two effects actually happens in that shared area.

Yeah, it can be a fair home rule, but I don't think it is supported by rules as written.

Another thing to realize is that most fantasy settings go with "There is about 5 000 years of written history human history" because they ape the real life history progression :p (forgotten realms and eberron both have first mention of human civilization about 5000 years before the current year) For comparison, modern humans have existed for about 200 000 years and oldest non recorded known civilization is about 6000 years old.

That isn't the case with Golarion. Besides the obvious 10 000 year ago earthfall happening thing we don't know exact time scale of Azlant, but they likely existed for multiple thousand years at least.

Even with such long past, the Earthfall did wipe out a lot, and there are few reliable sources on that past.

For comparison, Classical Greeks knew that there existed a civilization before them - the Mycenaeans - but they've knew little about it, and only the names of some places remained in epics like Illiad. They thought that the walls of Mycenae were built by cyclopses.

Golarion is in better situation, as they have at least one direct link with that age - Aroden. I imagine Aroden told many stories about Ancient Azlant (probably colorizing them to make himself look the best, but whatever), and those stories could spread as legends and tales among Taldan populace, inspiring literature, music, theatre, and visual art.

I would also raise Jaidi to be one of your primary gods - she got much of the Inner Sea back on its feet, and it's a shame that she's treated as "Erastil's forgotten wife" in modern Golarion. Desna, Gozreh, Nethys, Pharasma and Sarenrae are all as important as ever, and Aroden is relatively-recently ascended. You've also got a number of now-dead Demon Lords to play with.

Yes, I plan to elevate Jaidi and some other minor gods, partly to fulfill the roles that would be left empty without gods like Iomedae or Norgorber. I also think that religions would be more regional, for example while Nethys would be well known and widely worshipped in Garund, it wouldn't be so in Avistan, where the regional god of magic may be one of the Eldest, Asmodeus, Irez, or Aroden himself.

I'd push back on a lack of ancient ruins - Sekmin, Ghol-Gan, Azlanti, Jistkan, and Tekritanin sites are all already hundreds or thousands of years fallen here, which gives you plenty to dig around for.

True, they would be around in certain areas, I was too much thinking about the area around the starting point of the campaign around Taldor. In this area there could be some ancient Azlanti ruins, and there would be elven ruins in Kyonin. The dwarven empire of Tar-Taargadth is still strong, so I don't think there would e many abandoned dwarven ruins.

Osirion's not exactly past its prime, considering it isn't conquered for another 1500 years.

It's still alive, and it will be for some time, but at its peak of power it controlled all northern Garund. At the beginning of Age of Enthronement it controls only the area similar to modern Osirion.

- Increased prominence of Lamashtu, Erastil, and Gozreh- deities that lose relevance to people the more established and widespread cities are.

Yes, and with this line of thinking some deities that are considered minor in Age of Lost Omes could be major in the past. I'm thinking aboult elevating the prominence of Jaidi (wife or Erastil, goddess of sun and agriculture), the Eldest, and Apsu.

- I'd probably have thaumaturges making up a big part of Aroden's cult, using relics that have been blessed by him- a chalice implement is just any cup that he's drunk from, a bell implement any instrument he's heard, etc. I think that helps play up that this is genuinely a god living among mortals.

Nice idea, definitely there would be many "rellics" like that, some real, and some fake.

- One country beyond what you mentioned is probably known well outside it's borders. Nidal is the example of what a god's attention looks like, eternally locked in the Age of Darkness they bargained to survive. It's a thousand years older than any empire.

Wasn't Nidal isolationist through most of its history, as Zon-Kuthon doesn't like his people leave its borders?. But yeah, there may be legends about the Realm of Darkness far to the weest (fro Taldor perspective).

- I think you're wrong about nations without writing systems, though. Post-apocalyptic civilization has been going strong for 3,500 years. As much as I love me some bronze age fantasy, I think it'd be late Age of Anguish/early Age of Destiny for that. (Obviously, you can mess around with things how you like for your home game.)

I try to draw parallels to real history, and I think that Taldor at this point could be compared to Roman Republic or early Roman Empire, with general Porthomos (the leader of Great Army of Exploration) being compared to people like Scipio Africanus or Julius Caesar. As I understand real history, at that time many nations (especially in Europe) didn't have their own writing systems yet.

Not too sure when the specifics of the Starstone ascension for Iomedae, Cayden, and Norgorber happens but I've got me a feelin' that those 3 and their associates wasn't around back then. ;)

Of course. And I don't think that Irori is around as well, at least not in the Inner Sea Region.

I'm planning a campaign set in Golarion's past (early deays of the Age of Enthronement, circa 40 years after Aroden raised the Starstone and founded Absalom), and I'd like to make the world feel more like antiquity, in opposition to medieval-style fantasy most of Pathfinder seems to be designed for. Any ideas?

To highlight the most important features of that era, as given by the offical history of Golarion:
The elves have not yet returned from Sovyrian (though desert elvest, jungle elves and others exist) and the dwarven empire of Tar Taargadth is still powerful. Aroden is a living god and still personally present on Golarion, haven't moved to Axis yet. Taldor just started its expansion with its First Army of Exploration. Empire of Kelesh reached the border of Taldor just 80 years ago, and there were some wars between Qadira and Taldor, but no century-log conflict yet. Osirion is past its prime, and was unable to keep the control over the lands of (future) Thuvia and Rahadoum. Nex and Geb are both alive at that time and actively fighting each other.

My ideas so far:
Of course, I need to exclude all more modern items and classes (like gunslinger). Alchemy will be more like herbalism and witchraft than science (with the exception of Thuvia, who I imagine would have rather scientific approach to alchemy, even in that age). There would be fewer impresive ruins - pretty much only those truly ancient, from before Earthfall, but those would be better preserved and less explored. There would be no Common language, as there was no empire of Taldor yet. There would be few poeple travelling great distances, and the cultural exchange between regions would be limited. The knowledge of the world beside the borders of one's own country would be very limited. There would be many areas where humans are not the dominant species. There would be many nations (hhuman or non-human) that have no writing system. There would be no one pantheon worshipped all across the Avistan, but rather many different pantheons worshipped by different cultures; some deities, like Pharasma may be universally known, but even they may be called, imagined and worshipped in many ways.

We know that Belcorra died in the lighthouse, and it looks like she bled out. What happened to her body afterwards? I cannot find any mentions about it other than it's not present where she died.

Inner Sea Inrigue gives some long-lasting rumors that are out there, though in the Lost Omes setting some of them may be outdated:

Cheliax’s Real Agenda: “People love to complain about Cheliax—once you bind a few devils, you’re an irredeemable monster forever, apparently. But Cheliax has to be aggressive. Queen Abrogail knows that a second Age of Darkness is coming, and if humanity doesn’t have a united, tightly controlled front, we won’t survive.”

Expanding Mana Wastes: “Imagine a world without magic. No clerics healing us, no wizards driving off dragons. Well, we might get a taste of it. You heard of the Mana Wastes, where magic doesn’t work or goes haywire? The borders move a mile outward each year, and you’ll never hear the authorities admit it, but no one knows how to stop it.”

Pathfinder Society’s True Origins: “Did you ever wonder why the Decemvirate in charge of the Pathfinder Society is so mysterious and secretive? It’s because at least one of them has been around from the beginning, and long before that—the Pathfinder Society was founded by one of Old-Mage Jatembe’s Ten Magic Warriors. Why else would there be ten members of the Decemvirate, why else would they wear masks, and why else would the Ten Warriors not have graves?”

The Prince Is Dead: “Grand Prince Stavian sure has his minions do a lot of work for him, huh? You know why that is? Turns out, the prince has actually been dead for a long time. His people can’t let that get out, though, because then his daughter would take the throne. And those Taldans can’t stand the thought of that.”

Secret Pirate Puppeteers: “Everyone talks about being a pirate like it’s this romantic life of freedom on the high seas. There’s way more to it than that. Pirates answer to the Free Captains of the Shackles, and the Free Captains answer to Sargava. It’s the Sargavans who control the pirates of the Inner Sea region.”

Terrible Creatures Underground: “Sure, elves are pretty and wise and benevolent and all that. But when they go bad, it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen in these parts. There are hordes of evil elf-things living underground, breeding with goblins and worshiping demon lords. Let’s hope they stay underground and far from us.”

He was invented by H.P Lovecraft, yes? Did he ever write how to pronounce it?

Probably with a third mouth.

I have the hero339's Thistletop map.

Golarion also offers second chances. An adventurer who died and went to the afterlife of Erastil could decide Erastil's afterlife was too tame for him. Resurrrected by his friends, he could switch to a more adventurous god, such as Iomedae. I don't think either god would mind.

Actualy, all souls that are resurrected were never judged and have never seen any afterlife. Pharasma knows whether a soul has not yet fullfilled its destiny and whether it will be resurrected, and if so, she just postpones its judgement until later time. Once a soul was judged and sent to afterlife they are transformed into a petitioner and they cannot be brought back even by a True Resurrection. In such a case only the spell Judgement Undone can turn them back into mortals, but it's much more difficult to perform and usually brings forth the wrath of Pharasma on the caster. (source: Planar Adventures)

I believe it happens very rarely and always in a unique fashion - there is no telling what will happen. Basically, as almost everything regarding gods in Pathfinder, what happens depends on what makes the best story.

Still, there are several cases that are worth mentioning.

Ihys. The first god that died. According to the Concordance of Rivals, the soul of Ihys was the first to be judged by Pharasma after she created the River of Souls. His further fate is unknown.

Curchanus. The first god killed by someone else than other god. He didn't survive losing the dominion over wild beasts, which was stolen by demon lord Lamashtu. Before death he transfered his remaining power to Desna. It is said that Lamashtu used his dead body to create nascent demon lord Daclau-Sar.

Acavna. Died trying to stop Earthfall. Her body plummeted on the Goalrion and penetrated deep into the planet crust. The Mordant Spire is said to form from her soul trying to reach the Boneyard.

Amaznen. Sacrificed himself during the Earthfall, absorbing the magic of alghollthus from the Starstone debris, stepping outside of the reality and vanishing from the existence.

There are also multiple demigods and lesser divinities that died one way or the other. For example, the dead bodies of demon lords killed by Nocticula transformed into her Midnight Isles. Meanwhile the souls of demon lords accumulate in the Rift of Repose.

There is also a creature in Bestiary 6 called a charnel god, which is formed when a shard of a dead deities's power infuse a statue of said deity. The creature;s description mentiones also the dead deity's power being scattered across planes and causing various magical phenomena.

To sum up, it seems that unlike most outsiders, gods have separate body and soul; and their divine power is something altogether different, not tied directly to either. The body remains where the deity has died; it can be manipulated and transformed into some other form. The soul, stripped f its body and power, is judged by Pharasma, though it is unknown where they go after being judged. The power, assuming it wasn't transfered before their death, will scatter around, creating phenomena all arcross the planes; supposedly those shards may in future trigger the ascension of new divinities.

I believe there's also the fact that if a deity has worshippers, they can put a claim on the souls of these worshippers. And since most of the deities reside on the Outer Planes, where everything is made of soul matter, having more souls means larger planar domains. If a deity doesn't have worshippers, their planar domain will eventually get eroded by the Maelstrom. It doesn't kill the deity, but it needs to find a new place to live.

"Empyreal" is basically just a synonym for "celestial"

This isn't exactly true. If you get to the etymology of the word, "empyreal" is an adjective made from the ancient Greek word "empyros", which means "on fire" and was used in ancient comologies to denote the highest heaven. Adjective "celestial" originates from the Latin word "caelum" which just means "heaven". So empyreal is the highest form of celestial.

I find it interesting that "empyreal" has no connection to "empire" which comes from the Latin word "imperium", denoting "the authority to command".

A lot of information about Empyreal Lords can be found in the Chronicle of the Righteous. It gives details on 35 various empyreal lords, though more likely exist.

I imagine they wanted a place that is more secure than some alien world. They were all paranoid and fearful that when they'll be deprieved of their minions and resourcers one of their enemies, which they all doubtlessly had many, would take this opportunity to take them down. So they've created places of their own making where they couldn't be reached, ordered their minions to rebuild their power ase while their away, and expected to return when it will be safe again. They just haven't expected the destruction of Thassilon to be so thorough.

Chelaxians think they are superior everyone, halflings are just one position on a long list. Even devils are seen as serving Cheliax, not the other way around. Give it few more decades, and they will even have Asmodeus portrayed as a Chelaxian.

I believe that Lodges provide some services to the communities where they are located. They Pathfinders can serve as explorers, scouts, appraisers and in many other ways, depending on their expertise, and I assume that the Lodge that serves as intermediary between the employers and the agents gets a cut.

Additionaly, the Lodges provide special service to their Pathfinders, and most of them are not free. For example, a Pathfinder agent that wants to go on an independent expedition (and not one that is given to him by the Venture-Captain) may be required to pay for the aceess to libraries, maps, and resources necessary to plan and prepare for the adventure.

It's in the description of the ghoul, Bestiary page 158.

Any living, non-elf creature hit by a ghoul’s attack (...)

I recall a certain myth (from a different setting) that centaurs were telling themselves. Interestingly, they didn't see themselves as human-animal hybrid; instead they were telling a story about a tribe of centaurs that angered the gods and as punishment they were splitted into two separate creatures, a human and a horse both imperfect and incomplete.

I like this story. Centaur would think that it has a lower body of a horse and upper body of a human; it's just that humans have upper body of a centaur, and horses have lower body of centaur. From that point of view, it would make no sense that the centaur's own name for their species would reflect the fact that for humans they look like a hybrid.

The alghollthu believe themselves to have a longer history on the material plane than the gods of the material plane, would they happen to be some non-deific inhabitants from other realities within the material plane?

As I understand, the algollthu don't originate from an earlier universe, they are just a form of life that evolved on their own before the gods started creating other mortal races.

^It's the principle of the thing. Somebody is messing with my memory to punish someone else. Not cool no matter how many times I met them.

The deities may see it as that you don't really own memory, you're just using it. That's why it's ok for the deity of memory and knowledge to mess wit it.

The ghost presented in Undead Unleashed, Ordellia Whilwren, is CG... most of the time.

However, acording to lore

(...) the most significant requisite in a ghost’s appearance seems to be extraordinary circumstances of trauma surrounding its death. Such a condition need not be a torturous murder or a violent betrayal—the knowledge of a great responsibility or the jeopardized life of a loved one can potentially prove sufficient cause to compel a soul to linger on past its physical capacity.

In the case of Ordellia it was the fact that despite her dedication to help Varisians of a growing city of Magnimar, she was killed by no other than a Varisian.

It's this trauma that causes the soul to attract enough Negative Energy to defy the pull of the River of Souls and remain among the living. However, this doesn't happen with no side effects. In the case of Ordellia, they manifest as occasional bouts of despair when the normally kind ghost turns into a dangerous horror.

It is also to be noted that ghosts need a unfulliflled reason to remain in the world of living:

Even those that do appear only do so temporarily, as many circumstances that might draw a soul away from its final rest lose their significance with the passing of time. Souls attempting to protect someone, avenge some wrong, or see a loved one once more typically linger only for a matter of hours or days before their desires are fulfilled and they willingly release their holds on life. The will or dementia that shackles a spirit to the world for ages proves far rarer and born of elaborate circumstances.

In the case of Ordellia, it's the wish to see the end of racism in Magnimar, marked by the election of a Varisian to the position of Lord Mayor.

So if you want you ghost companion to fit the lore, you should think of not only a traumatic experience that made them ghosts, but also some unfullied purpose that keeps them chained to the world.
For more details on the lore about the ghosts, check Classic Horrors Revisited.

It's true that there's little material about Thuvia.

The first source is of course the Inner Sea Guide.

People of the Sands includes a bit about Thuvia, but little new setting information. In the relevant chapter it introduced a new sorcerer bloodline (div), an alchemist discovery (sandstone solution), a couple of regional traits (Alchemical Prodigy, Lamasaran Performer). It also introduced prestige classes: Thuvian Alchemist and Living Monolith, both of which fit the region thematically.

Lost Kingdoms include information about Ancient Osirion and Jistka Imperium, both of which covered present-day Thuvia. You can get from this some material on possible ruins and dangers that can be found in Thuvia.

Pathfinder Society scenarios Ageless Ambitions, First Taste of Eternity, Salvation of the Sages, The Sun Orchid Scheme and The Unseen Inclusion take place in Thuvia, and may provide you with some information about the region, as well as monsters, NPCs and locations you can use.

Yes, they lose their class abilities completely, including any bonuses that come from having additional Hit Dice. Skeletons are mindless undead, and as such unable to use class abilities.

If you want a skeleton to keep the class abilities, you need to use the Skeletal Champion template instead.

Karzoug has an adult blue dragon with him, but there's also a very old blue dragon named Ghlorofaex serving him. However, Ghlorofaex isn't normally encountered together with Karzoug.

It may also be Kazavon, who's probably the most famous blue dragon in history, but Kazavon had no relation to Karzoug.

Any 20th level cleric can cast miracle. Would that make all of them candidates for sainthood?

I'd say yes. Characters like that are already legends, will be remembered for generations, and many will have no doubts that they've remained powerful servants of their deity even after death.

All gods have a number of unique beings that serve them, some of them are listed in Inner Sea Gods. Their stats are not given though. They include not only outsiders, but also other beings inhabiting Outer Planes, like celestial creatures, half-celestials, or even some mortals or former mortals who plane-shifted and were accepted in the deity's domain.

You've got it backwards. The Spire is located next to the city of Axis (or rather, the city was founded next to the Spire), and Boneyard is located atop the Spire.

You could use it in book 5, when the PCs approach Runeforge, as an ally of white dragon Arkrhyst. For example replace the earth elementals with several giants lead by your cloud giant. The PCs need to defeat them to enter the Runeforge. But when they are about to win, their master, an ancient white dragon appears.

Or you can give the cloud giant a few levels and make him totally replace Arkrhyst as the miniboss at the entrance of Runeforge.

This is an image from Dungeon Denizens Revisited:

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/pathfinder/images/2/27/Mimic.jpg/revisi on/latest?cb=20090323120410

Planar Adventures classify divines into deites, demigods and quasi-deities. Mythic characters belong to the last group.

Quasi deities are the least powerful of the divine, and the most eclectic in their nature. A quasi deity has a stat block, and can be of any CR (although the vast majority lie in the CR 21–25 range). Nascent demon lords, the malebranche, and qlippoth lords are all examples of quasi deities, as are creatures like deep one elders, conqueror worms, and green men, who have the ability to grant spells to clerics. Mythic characters who take the divine source path ability are also quasi deities.

Quasi deities have no inborn ability to shape and alter reality by thought alone, even if they somehow gain control of a planar realm, and must rely upon their own abilities and magic to effect changes of this nature.

A quasi deity grants from one to four domains to its clerics.

You can make your own monster basing on existing creature. For example:

- take an attic whisperer
- remove Aura of Sobs, Steal Voice and Steal Breath abilities
- give it abilities Vermin Empathy (like the one that mites have) and Infestation (similar to the one deathwebs have, possibly without the poison, and does not return if destroyed)
- give it a couple of giant centipedes as friends to play with
- describe it as a poor undead girl friendly with vermin to the point that vermin protect her

I suggest a different set of core principles of magic, that I believe are more general.

1. Magical phenomena can affect physical world, the way it is perceived by minds, the minds themselves, or other magical phenomena.
2. Magical phenomena can break what we consider to be the laws of physics.
3. Physical objects and minds may possess some quality that allows them to create magical phenomena.

And that's basically all that can be said about all magic systems that I know. Anything more will not apply in evry case.

In Pathfinder setting, but not in all other settings, there are additional things about magic, that can be observed.

4. The magical phenomena may persist even after its source is gone.
5. Even if objects and minds possess the quality necessary to create magical phenomena, their ability of doing so may depend on their particular stat (for example, whether a wizard have any prepared spells available) and their location (you can't use magic in an anti-magic zone).
6. There exist various traditions avaiable that magic users, that require different qualities from the magic users and differ in what type of effects they can create.
7. Magic of one tradition can affect the magic of another tradition, which shows that various traditions are not completely indepentent types of magic, and they share some common base.
8. Magic can break locality; a magic effect can instantly affect a distant place or even a completely diferent plane without affecting anything in between (for example teleportation effects).
9. Magic can break causality, allowing some limited forms of precognition and time travel.

(4) and (5) mean that there must exist some medium that can subsist the magical effect even after the source of this effect is gone.
This magic medium may subsist a number of various magical effects, and it can even create wild magic zones or dead magic zones. This means that it is a thing that may exist in many different states.

(6) and (7) means that even though they are various method in which physical object and minds can interact with the magic medium, it is still the same magic medium.

(8) and (9) are to me a strong argument that waves are not a proper description of states of the magic medium, as the wave description of any medium requires them to propagate with some finate speed (although it may be arbitrarily big) and respect causality.

Where do you get that all of them come to the Material Plane? We just know that they need to feed on innocents to grow, but since they're outsiders, they won't die if they don't do it, they just don't grow stronger. If a barghest wants to get stronger, he needs to find a way to the Material Plane, but we don't know if all barghests manage to do that.

However, I think for most it's just the question of time. They all eventualy find a way to get to the Material Plane one way or another.

I'm also not sure if all of them go back. The Bestiary says

A barghest eventually sheds its skin to transform into a greater barghest, at which point it often seeks out a tribe of goblins or other creatures to rule.

It doesn't seem like greater barghests necessarily need to go back, at the very least they don't need to hurry.

The PCs are heroes, yes. Heroes in a setting that is designed to produce heroes.

It's almost as if Aroden had planned it.

Adjoint wrote:

I've looked though some books and found many cities with 9th level spellcasting available to the public. This list is surely not complete: ... Alkenstar ...

Wait, the city in the middle of a dead-magic desert has 9th level spellcasting? What?

I also find it strange, but that's what the city stats given in Pathfinder Module: Wardens of the Reborn Forge say. It gains 9th level spelcasting due to being a metropolis with a holy site of Brigh. I agree it should also get a significant penalty, but alas it does not.

By the way, not all Mana Wastes is a dead magic zone; some of it are primal magic zones. And some areas change unpredictably between dead magic, primal magic and normal magic.

All metropolises (cities with population of at least 25000) grant access to 8th level spellcasting, and with some special modifiers (Magical, Academic, Holy Site, Magically Attuned or Pious) it can be increased to 9th level. With multiple modfieir, it's possible even for smaller cities. That means that 9th level spellcasters that sell their services are not that uncommon, and there's likely many more that would rather keep their services exclusive. Even if they are not the rulers, they are unlikely to just stay uninvolved when the place where they built their home gets endangered.

I've looked though some books and found many cities with 9th level spellcasting available to the public. This list is surely not complete:
Absalom, Alkenstar, Almas (Andoran), An (Osirion), Augustana (Andoran), Canorate (Molthune), Chesed (Numeria), Chillblight (Irrisen), Egorian (Cheliax), Jaha (Mwangi Expanse), Katheer (Qadira), Korvosa (Varisia), Mzali (Mwangi Expanse), Nantambu (Mwangi Expanse), Nerosyan (Mendev), Oppara (Taldor), Osibu (Mwangi Expanse), Pangolais (Nidal), Ridwan (Nidal), Sothis (Osirion), Totra (Osirion), Westcrown (Cheliax), Whitethrone (Irrisen).

Other Inner Sea metropolises (for most I haven't found the full stats, but some of them surely have access to 9th level spellcasting):
Aspenthar (Thuvia), Ayesh (Qadira), Azir (Rahadoum), Cassomir (Taldor), Daggermark (River Kingdoms), Halgrim (Land of the Linnorm Kings), Hawah (Qadira), Highelm (Five Kings Mountains), Iadara (Kyonin), Isarn (Galt), Jawafeeq (Qadira), Kalsgard (Land of the Linnorm Kings), Katapesh, Katheer (Qadira), Khundurai (Qadira), Manaket (Rahadoum), Mechitar (Geb), Merab (Thuvia), Merev (Qadira), New Stetven (Brevoy), Nithveil (Land of the Linnorm Kings), Port Peril (the Shackles), Quantium (Nex), Sedeq (Qadira), Senghor (Mwangi Expanse), Starfall (Numeria), Sukri (Qadira), Urgir (Hold of Belkzen), Yled (Geb).

Even places like Tamran (Nirmathas), Kaer Maga, Magnimar or Riddleport have access to 8th level spellcasting, despite not being metropolises.

There doesn't seem to be a lack of high-level characters, even if they don't rule countries.

I was thinking about the alignment in Pathfinder, and I figured out it may be useful to think of it as having to components: one dependent on person's deeds, and the other based on various supernatural effects, like spells, rituals etc.

The first one can be called 'natural alignment', changing slowly and accruing through the whole life. It changes bit a bit with every aligned deed. As I understand, changing one's philosophy is not enough to immediately change the alignment, but it's a good start as it will make the person act differently. Still, it make take a long time to compensate a lifetime or sin. The atonement spell is the only way to quickly change this part of alignment.

The other part of alignment is supernatural, and depends on various magical conditions affecting the character. For example, while paladins and clerics need specific natural alignment to be able to get their class abilities, the also get supernatural alignment from the divine connections that boosts their aura. The pacts with demons or devils and other effect that change how a character is seen by detect spells would also influence only the supernatural alignment. This alignment may change fast, as magical effects come and go.

Neither part directly affects the character's behavior (although some spells that affect the alignment may do so as a second effect). In other words, alignment is descriptive, not prescriptive.

For the purposes of spells and effects, the supernatural alignment would be more important; for example if someone was a good person through mosst of the life, but then got corrupted and became a cleric of evil god, he'd have an evil aura and the previous good deeds don't mater. The natural alignment only matters if there's no supernatural component.

For mortal justice the natural alignment would be more important, as it is understood that there are many ways to temporarily change their alignment magically, but that doesn't absolve anyone of guilt or make them guilty. That's why detecting alignment with spells cannot be used as a prrof in mortal court.

But for the soul's afterlife both components matter, and if they don't match that's what Pharasma's Court is for, to determine where the soul belongs. Note however that Pharasma doesn't really care about justice, just about the stability of the cosmos, and her courts send souls wherever they fit best, not where they deserve to go.

Any thoughts?

Concordance of Rivals says quite a lot, it's just I can't quite make much sens eof it. Let me give you some quotes:

"Upon this floated the Survivor, resting upon the sole fragment that had survived her homeworld’s apocalypse: the Seal."

"The Survivor pulled upon the vortex [of quintessence], stretching it between herself and the anchor, swaddling the Seal within."

"At [the astral expanse's] calm center glowed the Seal, whose light reflected infinite possibilities yet to be realized."

"The Survivor looked back to the Seal, nestled deep in the heart of the new reality."

"Two motes floated about the Seal. Only after eons did they learn to move and dance, after which the Seal released more motes." (These motes seems to be souls, but may be specifically souls of the gods.)

"[Pharasma] cast herself from her tower toward the Maelstrom, ushering the shattered quintessence toward her, twisting it into a river that she rode toward the Seal. Few sensed her passage. The Seal had dimmed from the gods’ countless demands, so she bid the quintessence to encircle and protect it from further abuse, much as she had sealed this reality from the hunger of the Those Who Remain."

The Seal is mentioned more times, but from these we can tell that the Seal seems to be a fragment of a previous reality that Pharasma placed at the center of the current reality and somehow is able to create life/souls. I have a couple of hypoteses:

1. The Seal is an object somewhere in the Positive Energy Plane. (Argument: it is the source of life in the cosmos.)
2. The Seal is an object contained within the Pharasma's Spire. (Argument: the River of Souls seems to lead to it and swirl around it.)

I seek more arguments for one or the other, or that it's something else.

The most likely mage hunter organizations are possibly mages themselves, that want to keep magic exclusive. Ancient Thassilonians suppressed magical talent in these Varisians that were born with any (they used magical tattoos to do that), I can easily see the Techic League in Varisia to hunt unaffiliated mages that try to dabble in Numeria's secrets.

Other than that, practitioners of particular types of magic may be persecuted in various regions. Creating undead and demon callimg is probably outlawed in most regions, calling good outsiders is probably illegal in Cheliax etc. Some groups of crusaders, pharasmin inquisitors or hellknights may specialize in hunting mages.

Core Rulebook, p. 183 has a table what is the default action to use various abilities, and we're supposed to use it unless the description of the ability says otherwise. In particular, using an extraordinary, supernatural or spell-like ability is usually a standard action.

The description of Knowledge skill says that Knowledge checks don't require any action at all (even a free one, which means you can do them even when you cannot take any actions). Speaking, as you say is a free action, but I believe I saw somewhere a note that it is special that it can be used during another's turn. It's worth noting thought that a GM can limit how many free actions you can take during the round; one round is supposed to be 6 seconds, and it would be realistic to limit speaking during one round to what you can actualy communicate in that time.

You can the howl being a standard action such that to have its special effect it requires more effect or something more than just speaking. So you can say that "a creature howls and alerts other creatures in the area" as a free action, but for the howl to have any extraordinary/supernatural effect, a greater effort is required.

Compare with how using a spell with only vocal component is also a standard action, even though it's also "just speaking".

Edit: Oh, and take Master Craftsman and Craft Magic Arms and Armor so you can cook a sword.

It's called a baguette.

I'd imagine it's pretty cold too.

Maybe they've avoided art with snow and ice so as not to make seem too much like Irrisen or the Land of the Linnorm Kings.

I'd rather say that colder Numeria would be more like the Realm of Mammoth Lords.

I imagine Numeria having rather dry, continental climate, with cold winters and warm summers. Looking through Köppen climate classification, I think that the climate classified as BSk (cold semi-arid) would describe it best. On Earth, you can find this is the type of climate for example on the Great Plains. Considering the lattitude, the best Earth equivalent would be probably eastern Montana. That fits the description of Numeria as land of large, windswept plains.

Golarion is not spanned by a rail network and thus doesn't have time zones.

Technically true, most places probably don't have anything more accurate than sun clocks, and even though some places have mechanical clocks, it's unlikely that they are being synchronized across the wide area, rather they are being adjusted to the local sun time. However, the people that use teleportation may want to know, at least approximately, what time difference they are to expect when teleporting over a large distance. Golarion astronomers have definitely created appropriate charts.

In 2e CRB we finally have the map of whole Golarion (though in low detail) in a projection that makes it easy to calculate longitude differences. (We can see the eastern tip of Tian Xia on both sides of the map, which allows us to tell that the difference bwtween these two points is 360 degrees of longitude, and then we can calculate other longitudes using proportions.)

The longitude difference between Egorian and Oppara seems to be about 24 degrees. Every degree of difference in longitude is 4 minutes of difference in time, so if it's noon in Egorian, it would be 13:36 in Oppara. On the other hand, in the Mordant spire, the westernmost land on the Inner Sea Map, it would be 10:40.

For simplicity, I would divide the Inner Sea Region into three time zones.
+0: Absalom, the Broken Lands (except Sarkoris Scar), the Shining Kingdoms, Qadira, Osirion, Katapesh, the Impossible Lands
-1: Sarkoris Scar, Realm of the Mammoth Lords, eastern Varisia (Korvosa and Janderhoff), the Eye of Dread, Old Cheliax, Thuvia, Mwangi Expanse, Viorian
-2: Saga Lands (except the Realm of Mammoth Lords and eastern Varisia), Hermea, Rahadoum, Mediogalti Islands, the Shackles

Azlant would be -4, Arcadia from -5 to -8, Casmaron from +1 to +7, Tian Xia from +9 to +13.

So it seems that the correct reading of Glitterdust is as if instead of the line

"Area creatures and objects within 10-ft.-radius spread"

it had

"Targets creatures and objects within 10-ft.-radius spread"

At least, if it were written like that, it would be clearer, and would actually fit the interpretation that it covers the targets only during the initial spread, then sticks to them for the duration, and does not affect targets who pass through that area later. And in this case, it would mean that if cast during the Timee Stop, it doesn't affect the enemies at all, as during the initial burst they were invulnerable, and after that there's nothing that could affect them.

Just the Inner Sea World Guide (a pdf costs 10$) will give you all thet you need to start; other books provide additional details, but are nowhere necessary. You can also check the PathfinderWiki that contains a lot of the information from Inner Sea World Guide and other books.

It can be done, polymporph any object can duplicate greater polymorph, which can duplicate alter self. I don't think they even need permanency, transforming a Medium-sized humanoid into another Medium-sized humanoid of the same Intelligence already gives enough duration bonuses for the duration to be permanent.

They should however be aware that it will be mostly cosmetics, it doesn't give the racial +2 bonuses to all ability scores. The polymorph spells don't grant the stats and abilities of the creature/object that one is polymoprhed into, except these clearly stated in the spell's description or in general polymorph rules. In this case, it will only give +2 to Strength, as alter self.

You may also require that the caster knows how a pureblood Azlanti looks like.

and does basically whatever her sister tells her to do, to an extent

To what extent? It is relevant.

If, for example, her sister tells her to kill an innocent, and she wouldn't think twice, she would definitely be Evil, most likely Neutral Evil. Even if she'd be hesitand to do such gruesome things, but she remains aware that what she does is helping an evil person do terrible things, she'd still be Evil. Even Evil Has Loved Ones, so just the fact that she is caring and protective of her sister wouldn't be an excuse for the things she does. This seems like the most likely case, basing on your description.

If she won't do obviously evil things for her sisters, but she will still protect her from whatever comes, She may be True Neutral. It's kind of detached stance, "I won't stop you, but I won't help you".

If she tries to stop her sister from doing evil things and get her on the road to redemption, she may be Neutral Good. That would however require her to be able oppose her sister to protect those that the sister may want to hurt. It's a stance "I won't let others hurt you, but I won't let you hurt others either."