Bokavordur's page

I haven't read everything, so unsure if it's been said (it almost certainly has haha), I REALLY want and hope for an Eldest/Archfey path. Whether or not becoming fey or just kind of channeling the power and becoming the embodiment of fey nature.

Well, Shenmen in Tian Xia is ruled by jorogumo (Japanese spider yokai).
Oni are the rulers Chu Ye, also in Tian Xia.
Xa Hoi is ruled by their dragon kings.
I think there is a frost giant region of The Crown of the World.
There is the whole history of the Cyclopes ruling during the Age of Legend.
Is Vaktai in Vudra still controlled by rakshasa? Damn I would love a Vudra book.
Then there is a whole bunch of places in the Darklands.

I know there are more, the smaller ones for sure, but those are the ones I am aware of off the top of my head.

According to her creator, Desna is neither an Outer God nor a Great Old One.

Oooh thanks for that link and clarification. That makes sense and is fair. I can settle for "she is an alien entity" at least haha

Bokavordur wrote:

Sibelius Eos Owm wrote:

Perhaps you have heard that the Sevenfold Cynosure, Desna's realm, exists as the north star for Golarion so that she can keep watch on the prison and was originally created as the site of the treaty where the gods agreed to team up if Rovagug ever attacked their creation?

Ooooh I have not! Looks like I have some stuff to read tomorrow! Thanks!

I wonder what the basis for the theory that Desna is an outer god comes from? I'm pretty sure it was debunked years ago but I haven't retained the source on that. In any case, a goddess killing a demon lord should be swinging way

Oh it very likely was debunked. I have not been around log enough to know much at all. I just liked it when I heard it due to circumstantial evidence of her associations with space and not having a "home" place as much. Then the fact she is the most involved in fighting the Dark Tapestry.

So, very likely not true, since not a whole lot of evidence, I just find it fun. Oh and for swinging above her weight class I more meant that from a newbie/outsider perspective she is like this goddess of butterflies, dreams and luck, but then her lore is like "one of the strongest gods, present at the binding of Rovagug, accidentally creating a minor deity randomly, almost started a planar war due to a demon lord possessing one of her priests" kind of things. I love Desna, and I also enjoy playful theories like that occasionally.

Desna, friendly happy butterfly lady of dreams and travelers and the stars. Some demon lord Aolar starts killing clerics of various gods and gets around to those of Desna, and she responds in her peaceful hippy way by fluttering down into the Abyss and ripping his face off.

I'm a big fan of the theory that Desna is not REALLY butterfly lady, but an Outer God who had blended into the gods of Golarion. Given the way that she absolutely swings above her weight class.

For me, one of my favourite lore points is that Grandmother Spider is the younger sister of Achaekek. Grandmother Spider tries to get Achaekek to rebel against the other gods. Achaekek doesn't really do relationships with the other gods at all, but he gets PISSED when his followers kill followers of Grandmother Spider.

Just an older brother who doesn't speak with his sister, but would kill to protect her.

I am literally so hyped for all of this!

The tanuki ability makes me laugh, and the region of Wanshou has me so intrigued and terrified.

I'm also absolutely thrilled that Arazni is joining the Core 20. I'm not convinced that Urgathoa is biting the dust, but I'm stoked to see the ambiguity of Arazni gaining prominence.

Not trying to insult OP, but it's honestly a bit baffling to see a bunch of people assume that by removing Good and Evil as mechanical attributes you are also fundamentally erasing the very ideas of good and evil. Like, you can still be very evil and good - it'll just not be a bit more subjective, and less measurably objective.

I don't know, I think it is fair to ask the question. Many of us are not fully aware of the legal decisions and how close Paizo wants to sidle up to that line of good and evil vs Good and Evil, law and chaos vs Law and Chaos.

I think it is a fair question to ask, since those designations might have been affected by the move away from the OGL, as Paizo seemingly wants to avoid any connection to OGL terms and phrases when possible.

I definitely won't be able to play this character during the playtest, but I put together an exemplar character from the Land of the Linnorm Kings, a big ol brute of a viking. His name is Hafthor Halfhand, and is definitely based on the positive side of Karsa Orlong from the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Basically, he believes he is is destined to kill a linnorm, but also unite the entire region under his rule. He is not smart.

I will second the wiki for most things.

I have said before that I am a newbie to this world, but I dive into lore as it is my favourite part about a fantasy game. I have really found a lot of use from reading the wiki on different regions and such, and when those are only stubs (ie fetchlings, one of my favourite ancestries), I turn to the blurbs on Archives of Nethys and the books that have a bit more. Not perfect, but it helps.

There are definitely sections that I personally would love more info and details.

As to your example characters:

1 - Belkzen is really cool and excellent, and with the recent push to change their scattered ways, it is possible that group of orcs would be more willing to accommodate one of their own using assistive technology which would likely be brought over from Ustalav. But that said, orcs are all over the place in the Inner Sea (yay common now!), so it might make more sense, culturally, for this character to hail from Alkenstar, Ustalav, Numeria, Absalom, or another region that is more prone to tech and adjustments. That said, orcs in Golarion will likely see a shift in their religion, I foresee, with the fact that the orc gods have all been evil (at least the ones named and mentioned), but they also worship the main 20 gods as well.

2 - Elves are also all over the world, so it depends on how invested into their elven-ness you want this character to be. Are they from the elf capital of the Inner Sea? Kyonin is the bet there, which is really fascinating and leans into the alienness of elves on Golarion. But if you want more of "academic student" there is the big school in the Mwangi Expanse, The Magaambya, which is kind of like a huge university in Sub-Saharan Africa, and there are local elves in Mwangi as well if they are from the area (Lost Omens Mwangi Expanse and the player's guide for Strength of Thousands would be excellent tools). But there are other universities as well, I think Nethys has a university in The Golden Road, and there is a formal university (less magic more regular uni) in Ustalav (I think in the Palatinates). That said though, it would make sense for that kind of character to find a home in Absalom, as a huge mega city with opportunity, as well as the nation of Andoran (from a free spirit perspective), but also might find a place on the High Seas. I could see a Laughing Shadow magus fitting right in up in the River Kingdoms as well!

Pretty sure I have seen the term void healing used already. So, yes.

Gotcha, that was my thought! Thanks!

Hiya folks!

Just curious if this has been mentioned elsewhere, cause I have not had the time to check everywhere.

In the remaster with the change to Void and Vitality for negative and positive, is negative healing for undead and dhampir just using void healing? I assume that is the case, but was just curious if there's been some mention of negative healing in any of the docs or videos.

Thanks!

Personally I am looking forward to the possibility of bringing my new kineticist up to space and very confused by the universe.

Captain Morgan wrote:

I thought monitors were mentioned in Nepheline options.

They are, there was just no Chaos/Law Lineages shown though, assuming that means Paizo is abandoning Ganzi is jus that, an assumption.

It would seem to me that Nephilim might be taking on that whole gamut. Holy and unholy, and then however they alter the concept of order and pandemonium.

Aroden went Outside because he needs Dou-Bral's knowledge to repair Rovagug's Cage before it breaks.

I think this is my favourite option if you are going with "He is still alive" since it creates a reason why his connection to Golarion is either faulty or non-existent.

Plus it brings in Zon-Kuthon which is such a unique part of Pathfinder lore (even if I rarely consider using him in a campaign due to my current table's and the trauma involved in Zon-Kuthon).

I am a newcomer to Pathfinder and Golarion, having joined just a bit earlier than the larger 5e exodus, but I am a huge fan of world lore and I try to read just about anything (but I miss a lot since I am playing catch-up).

There are a lot of deities that I absolutely love and adore because they are fresh and are not just reimagining old tropes (others in this thread mentioned how it is so nice to have "death god who is not omnicidal" and "sun god who is not just wise old man who is law and order"), but there are also cool twists and changes too that keeps others feeling unique.

Last disclaimer, I have a lot of trouble connecting with the most popular deities. I still think they are cool and appreciate them, but I have a hard time planning characters with ties to like Cayden Cailean, Pharasma, Iomedae, etc. I love them and will fully use them in my DMing, but I don't like going the expected route for my characters. So I love them, but they are not my favourites.

Well, all existing harrow decks aren't going to be unprinted. If they print new ones that are ORC products, the change is probably just going to be that instead of having the Fiend be an LE card and the Big Sky be a CG card, we'll just have the cards associated with Hell and Elysium respectively.

Aye, that's my thinking. Pretty much just a "How are they going to do the alignments for new decks" which I'm totally fine with.

Oh! Something I just thought of and haven't seen mentioned (I haven't read the ENTIRE thread) -

With the change in alignment being used, any ideas on the change to the Harrowdeck? Whether it's just a simple renaming of those Alignments, or a bit more substantial? I'm assuming it will probably just be the renaming so folks can continue using their decks they've bought.
The thing is that I love cartomancy in fantasy fiction, and the Harrowdeck is not my favourite (personally) so I'd love to see a new version that's less structured that way. But I'll still be excited for however it ends up looking going forward!

When the setting was first published I interpreted a few sentences of Molthune introductory description as "Well, I guess this is the Paizo version of Nazi-Blitzkrieg region even though they can't make it too obvious." So that's how I've always DMed Molthune. While there's plenty of text that suggests to the contrary, my initial browsing/reading (15 years ago) made it stuck in my head. I knew Paizo could not have made it obvious; I just interpreted it as hinting in that direction, not taking it too far in published material. But I ran with it.

I'll be honest, when I read the description when I first read the Golarion lore that is where my mind went as well. I am honestly kind of sad that isn't canon, as they seem to be trying to do the "law vs chaos" of Molthune vs Nirmathi, but I feel like it is not done well. I will probably do the same as you, because it makes more sense.

People keep talking about Thuvia in a way that clearly tells anyone that has read the Enmity Cycle they haven't actually bothered to pick up the book. It's kinda sad.

I'll be honest, that is definitely the case for me. I have read the Lost Omens books, and several of the rulebooks, but basically only two Adventure Paths, none of the standalone adventures. I had not even looked at The Enmity Cycle until you mentioned it. It looks really interesting from the blurb! If I wasn't about to move across the world I would try to run it! But unfortunately, I won't have the time for awhile to GM... Maybe I can con someone to run it for me to play haha

As a huge fan of Vietnamese history (it is so hard to find history in English! haha) I am VERY excited to see Xa Hoi! So many cool possibilities for the way the history is represented with their dragon emperors, the surviving against Lung Wa, their proximity to Nagajor. I am very excited to see the lore.

I would especially like to see the internal politics of the region, and their reaction to the Successor States, will Xa Hoi try to fill the vaccuum themselves? Or remain fairly oblivious to the others?

As a lot of those have already said, I like the feel of the region, but feel they are mainly 2 dimensional. I am not gonna rehash what has been said, here is just my quick thoughts.

I love the aesthetic of Osirion, or at least its start. I have no problem with the use of the Egyptian pantheon, but I feel like it either needs to be explored, or ignored entirely. As it is now, its basically just a "yeah, it's Egypt so here are some Egyptian gods" when it could be so much cooler. What I would love to see is the return of these gods, maybe in different styling than before, as they seek to reclaim dominion over their land. Maybe as a way to show the locals are rekindling their connection to their past and seek to ignore and expel the foreign gods. This could be interesting with their current pharaoh being a cleric of Abadar. I would also like to see more about Nethys and his connection to the region. That is just ripe for a local university or something.

I like city states, so obviously I like the idea of Thuvia, but again feel it falls flat. I want to see the intrigue and politics that comes from a nation built on the sale of one export. I want to see how these city states cooperate with eachother. I would personally like to see an exploration of the different cities having ties to foreign powers, like being in the pockets of Absalom, Cheliax, Rahadoum, etc to highlight that the alliance is kind of hanging by a thread.

For Rahadoum, I feel like the topic is so cool and interesting. By far my favourite. I would be interested in if they have had a flood of immigrants since the Age of Lost Omens, as I would assume many of the small folk might have a lack of respect in the gods now and seek new alternatives. With a flood of new people, Rahadoum might start looking to expand its borders.

Katapesh. So much potential that just gets relegated to "drugs and slaves" which is not great. I think there is some cool alternatives of an uprising, or internal coup attempt against the Pactmasters. An Andoran funded rebellion would be interesting. But yeah, ultimately its just "bazaar the country" currently.

Qadira is really fascinating as a concept, but I just want to see it done justice from writers who are sensitive to the topic. Too much potential for problematic writing. Please just be respectful is all I ask.

Beyond those, I mainly just want cultures for existing ancestries, not that I am opposed to NEW ancestries and heritages I welcome them, but I want to read about desert elves, halflings that live in oases, desert goblins, etc.

Mainly, I just want good respectful lore. I am also a huge fan of internal political struggle. We don't have a lot of "this country is at war with this country" type of thing. I really like those as backdrops for campaigns and I would love to see it in the setting as a guide.