Creon Vizcarra's page

I'm looking for demigods specifically, so demon lords, archdevils, empyreal lords, etc.

Assuming that this completed artifact would give even a demigod the power boost they need to further their divine goals, which demigods of each alignment would make for the most interesting antagonists, given the opportunity?

Here are my suggestions:

Boneyard: I recommend Imot, the Symbol of Doom. According Concordance of Rivals, Imot arranges for the downfall of mortal civilizations the he feels have overstayed their welcome through calamity, providing a potentially unsympathetic motive for acquiring the artifact.

Axis: Valmallos, the Answering Right is a good choice because it is his job to ensure that the secrets of magic are kept away from the unworthy. This might provide a good reason to keep the artifact away from others, or perhaps he wants to use it for the purpose of depriving "the unworthy" of magic forever.

Heaven: For this it has got to be Ragathiel, who wages an unending war against fiends (especially Devils). He may see the artifact as something he can use to prosecute this war, upsetting cosmic balance and possibly overestimating Heaven's chances with the artifact, leading to an unwinnable assault on the lower planes.

Nirvana: This one is a little difficult. Bharnarol, The Tempered Inventor might be an OK choice as he keeps a workshop realm called the "Untempered Vault" where the artifact piece might be warehoused. Most of the Agathion Empyreal Lords don't really lend themselves to the antagonist role. Agathions do have a subtheme or faction where they try to force liberal democratic republics on mortals as an "ideal" government. There aren't any Empyreal Lords involved in that, as far as I can tell, but there is Talmandor, a powerful Avoral, who is involved in that faction. He might see acquiring the artifact as a way to advance his political goals.

Elysium: Azatas are another hard bunch. Picoperi enjoys taunting evil creatures and may want the artifact to play a grand trick on an evil demigod or god. Valani teaches a cycle of destruction to lead to a greater creation, and may want to use the artifact to destroy something that is better left alone, or to create something that he has misjudged to be good. It also says he has a short temper so he may make for a better antagonist.

The Maelstrom: All of the Protean Lords are pretty crazy and could fit, as they share a goal of deconstructing reality and returning it to the primordial chaos that existed before the Gods ordered it. Il'surrish is the Protean Lord of loss of control and formlessness. He may have a use for the artifact in deliberately unmaking something important.

The Abyss: You are obviously spoiled for choice here. I recommend Sithhud, who once controlled the Abyssal realm of Jhuvumirak but lost it to the ascended mortal Kostchtchie. A powerful artifact is just what he needs to reclaim his former position.

Abbadon: Really any Daemon Harbinger could use a powerful artifact to try to usurp one of the Four Horsemen. Perhaps a forgotten Harbinger or powerful Daemon who remembers the time before the reign of Charon wants to use the artifact to restore the Oinodaemon? A possible agent for this is return is Llamolaek, a former Horseman who escaped death and has a grudge against the current Daemonic power structure.

Hell: Eiseth, one of the Queens of the Night/Whore Queens, is probably a good choice as she not-so-secretly resents the Archdukes of Hell and wants to supplant one of them. The artifact could be a catalyst for that. Another choice could be Mammon, the Archduke of Greed, just to possess it.

This is a purely selfish take but . . . I would like to see some more elf (specifially, Kyoninite elf) deities that allow Lawful divine spellcasters. For a society very focused on maintaining its traditions, its only lawful deity is Alseta. I'd like to play an Kyoninite elf Paladin without having to turn to a foreign deity like Iomedae or Erastil to do so.

I'm currently running a semi-homebrew (tl;dr, takes place in the Golarion universe but not on Golarion) game for my friends and I have been using mood-setting and battle music.

I generally have been using music from video game or movie soundtracks, with some Nox Arcana or Midnight Syndicate thrown in when needed.

For my next session my players are going to be infiltrating what essentially is a a Kyton-run medical library, and I am drawing a blank on good music. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'd prefer something I can play in the background without it overwhelming the session.

Now I'm guessing, how was the Monad affected to go from Neutral to Lawful Neutral?

I mean, aeons are its creations, so why did it started creating LN aeons? Or are the aeons going against the Monad's "will"? Is there any hint to that in this book?

There are hints in the book that are preparing the way from Aeons to become the primary LN outsider group in 2e, but it is not official in 1e. It is very nebulous whether Aeons are going to, in-universe, become LN, or if there will simply be a retcon saying that they were always LN. If it ends up being the former case, as far as I can tell from this book, The Monad hasn't started creating LN aeons yet and isn't LN itself yet.

Creon Vizcarra wrote:

On a side note, in order to make the Monad a full deity according to established paradigms, which domain do you think is a good idea for his 5th option? I was thinking Protection.

Protection is solid, but I’d go for Community. The aeons are intrinsically connected to one another through the Monad, and while there might not be much sense of camaraderie, this unity in thought, knowledge, and purpose is readily represented through the Community domain.

Thank you, I hadn't thought of that, I will make use of it.

In case anyone is interested, under the spoiler are my full-god domains and for the Monad and the the axiomite Godmind from my homebrew alteration of the Pathfinder setting

On one hand, I thought this book was well written and illustrated, as were all of the previous Outsider flavor books.

Unfortunately, I'm ambivalent about Pharasma as a character and she has a comparatively reduced status in my iteration of the Pathfinder universe. Thus, I will have to alter or discard a lot of lore presented in this book. Which is bad because the purpose of these books is to provide lore for tired GMs who don't have enough time to do in-depth world building.

My other complaint is that, I suppose due to my previously stated ambivalence about Pharasma, I would have preferred more write-ups on Primal Inevitables and Protean Lords and fewer on Psychopomp Ushers.

On a side note, in order to make the Monad a full deity according to established paradigms, which domain do you think is a good idea for his 5th option? I was thinking Protection.

Hey all,

Sorry for not posting, I really intended to, but I lost my job the week leading up to the final session and it was basically taking all of my willpower to not have a nervous breakdown daily (no need to worry, I have a new job now and all is well). After that point Gaston would remind me during our weekly sessions (I have passed the GM hat to him and he is running Strange Aeons for our group now), but the rest of the week and getting acclimated to a new job sort of crowded everything else out.

My friend Gaston, who was a player in the game, gave an admirable summary.

My antimagic field quip was a bit of a joke. Something I will actually probably do is houserule protection from X to instead allow people to make a caster level check (DC 11+caster level) to overcome it on a spell-by-spell basis. As it stands a 1st level spell can just shut down any character who relies on enchantment magic, it was like my harder Hakotep just didn't have half his spell list.

@drsparnum I'm really bad at balancing encoutners, but a lot of it depends on how optimized your characters are and how good they are at pre-BBEG fight preparation (including how much time you give them to prepare). The encounter I prepared using Harder Hakotep (who is CR 22, not 21 as Hero Lab calculates) and 4 CR 18 Golden Guardians was a CR 24 fight. This was APL +7, which according to the Gamemastering Guide should be an impossible encounter without deus ex machina levels of outside help. It only resulted in the very temporary death of the party's utility caster and the Summoner's cohort (not his Eidolon, mind you, his cohort).

Having said that, I recommend 1 major and one minor change to Harder Hakotep. I had forgotten his Crook and Flail of Kings acts as a greater empower metamagic rod, so I suggest changing his Empower Spell feat out. If you want to give his evocations more power, I suggest Intensify Spell or Maximize Spell. If you want to make his enchantments stronger, I suggest Persistent Spell or Bouncing Spell.

The minor change is that his Pearl of Power (lvl 9) should be a Runestone of Power (lvl 9).

@Creon So....? How'd it go?

Almost there, they should be in Hakotep's throne room for our Monday 2/4/19 session unless they really drag their heels.

Creon Vizcarra wrote:

Lastly, I guess I'm somewhat saddened that they're doing away with Inevitables in 2e, though I won't be making the switch myself. Does anyone know if they will write them out, just use them a lot less, just ignore them?

Yet another on my massive checklist of why I will stay far from PF2e.

So what Outsider will be prominent for the Lawful Neutral? Don't say Axiomites, that's just one race. I like Inevitables because of how much variety there is/can be.

It has been said in this thread, that the developers has said Aeons will have their alignment switched to LN and will become the primary LN outsider.

First of all, I'm very happy that this book is being made!

Secondly, it seems that each of the major monitors has a true god, or something similar to it, over them.

Aeons- the Monad

Inevitables- the Axiomite God-Mind

Proteans- the Speakers of the Depths

Psychopomps- Pharasma

Lastly, I guess I'm somewhat saddened that they're doing away with Inevitables in 2e, though I won't be making the switch myself. Does anyone know if they will write them out, just use them a lot less, just ignore them?

With this new Sky Pharaoh and Golden Guardians, how tough was the fight? What was the party makeup when they encountered him?

I'll let you know in a bit, since the party is 2 rooms away from him. We started the campaign in Sep 2015 but only play for 3 hours one day a week.

We have a halfling unchained rogue 17, a human summoner 17, a human fighter (tower shield specialist) 17, and a tiefling arcanist/cleric/mystic theurge 17. They also have a level 15 ratfolk exploiter mage cohort.

The party is extremely optimized (in my opinion). For example, the halfling can hide in plain sight with a +50 something bonus and can do close to 300 damage with a full attack if he gets sneak attack damage.

Pretty much their only weakness is will saves but that is not really even that difficult for them because the mystic theurge has amazing saves all around and is a master dispeller of magic (he pretty much has all of the dispelling improvement feats and exploits).

Hey folks. I don't mean to necro this thread, but I made some further tweaks to Hakotep, mainly to remove feats that are not very useful for a spellcaster. I did leave in his weapon proficiency with flails as it seems pretty central to his character to wield the Crook and Flail of Kings

The DCs of all his elemental spells have been altered to assume he is casting them as electricity spells. If he chooses to cast them using their normal elements, their DC is 2 lower.

A downloadable character sheet can be found here and complete spell list here.

Regarding his CR, Herolab gives it as 21, I decided to make it 22 as he has PC wealth.

Secondly, I have for his encounter replaced his normal shield golems with 4 of these.

Here is a downloadable sheet for the Golden Guardians, but it doesn't include my further alterations (the addition of a ranged attack and improved spell storing).

How is Ng pronounced?

Do Aeons have demigod/quasi-deity equivalents?

What do Outer Gods and Great Old Ones do with the souls of their followers, if anything?

Is there a reason (either in or out of universe) none of the published Eldest are good, and if there is a reason, would you share it with us?

Hello James, I have some questions (which I will put in separate posts), so I apologize in advance for the barrage.

If Paizo had published combat statistics in 1st edition for Primal Inevitables, Protean Lords, Manasaputra Kumaras, and Eldest, what would their CR ranges be?

Oni are a bit odd, because they are presented like other fiends, which is to say scary immortal antagonists.

However, they have the native subtype, which implies that they are not immortal, like tieflings and aasimar.

Rakshasa are in a similar boat. I wish I had a citation for you, but I believe Rakshasa are mortal but live for thousands of years before dying and reincarnating (except for the appropriately named demigod Rakshasa Immortals).

Oni may function similarly. The nature spirit at their core may be immortal, but the body is not. So when the body dies the spirit has to construct a new one.

I'm not sure that a female warrior-type would have much in the way of choices of who to worship here - Byelobog is a very masculine god with all the emphasis on fatherhood, Marzyana & Dzydzilelya don't look to be patrons of warriors and I'm not sure the Three Mighty Farmers are either, and the remainder seem, um, socially marginal at best. In a culture where female warriors are essentially outcasts this might work but most game worlds I've seen have less barriers in the way of gender equality.

In general, yes, women are discouraged from taking up martial pursuits in this setting. Having said that, I do take your point and hopefully it is addressed with some of the new deities.

Here are some deities that I hope fill in the gaps of the pantheon. I still don't have a LN deity, but I think there are more than enough options for a LN person to choose from.

Seems like you have a pretty good start. I would just say that you simply need some more of them for Clerics to be as viable as they are in normal Pathfinder. As long as you generally cover all existing core domains, with some possible wiggle room for new ones, I think you'll be fine.

Though if this really is just one region's pantheon and you intend to make further pantheons for other regions, then yea, this isn't a bad setup, as long as it covers all alignments. But by the looks of it you do need to cover some more alignments either way.

What would you consider to be must-have domains?

Regarding alignments of the gods, it is true that I don't have a CG or NE deity, but there are gods available who can have divine spellcasters as those alignments. I will have to give some thought to adding more.

Bylobog's CG son Tor. It's a play on Thor, but he has a flaming sword, which is also his symbol.
His favored colors: red and orange.
Favored Animals: Birds
Domains: Chaos, Good
Subdomains: Freedom, Falconry
Realms: Siege Alabaster, Royal Arches, Gwiazda Rosvodiza, Material Plane

Cavaliers and Inquisitors gravitate to him. His clerics can be of any gender or almost any race. Half chromatic dragons and even some humanoids take up his symbol. Their one oath must be to protect the innocents from evil.

It's kind of rough, because subdomains confuse me.

There is already a Slavic deity named Perun who is conceptually related to Thor, but he also overlaps with my version of Byelobog (as a god of kings/king of heaven). I may have to add a heavily altered version of him as a CG god though to get that as a base alignment.

The pattern set forth in Pathfinder is that true deities have 5 domains and 6 subdomians. They always have in those 5 the alignment domains that match their alignment. Usually the subdomains are all ones related to their primary domains. Sometimes that'a not the case, if the deity's concept is bigger than 5 domains allows. I had to do that with Pekelnybog as he is both an underworld deity, but also a deity of the literal underground.

I'm in the process of putting together a pantheon of deities for my own homebrew setting. I'd like some feedback on them- specifically if I have enough breadth in the pantheon so that "everyone" could find a god. However, any other advice would be appreciated.

Some background information: This world is set in a modified version of the Golarion setting, but is on another, distant planet.

The setting contains a cognate of the Green Faith which is not detailed below.

The pantheon presented is only worshiped in one region of the world and is not intended to be representative of all religions on the world. People in this setting typically do not dedicated themselves to one deity, worshiping each deity as he becomes relevant.

Lastly, the pantheon is very loosely based on Slavic mythology.

If I ever get to run MM, I probably will use your version of Hakotep too. Thanks for posting it! :)

If the Rogue is Unchained, why is the Summoner not too? As far as I recall, the intent with the Unchained classes was to help/simplify the Barbarian, Monk, and Rogue, and to give the Summoner a much-needed series of corrections (apparently the wrong things had crept into its entry in APG before it was published).

I wasn't aware (until I read your post here) that the unchained classes were suppose to completely replace the others. I thought they were just intended to be Unearthed-Arcana-like options. Needless to say, my experience running Mummy's Mask has led me to go the PFS route and ban regular Summoner from my furture games.

What is the rest of your party beyond a summoner and a rogue?

We have:

Halfling unchained rogue

Tiefling cleric of Abadar/arcanist mystic theurge

Human fighter (tower shield specialist)

Human summoner (with, as you mentioned, a many-armed "Marilith" eidolon)

Because I'm an idiot, I let the summoner take leadership, so he has a Ratfolk wizard (exploiter wizard) as a cohort.

Warning: possibly some small spoilers below.

I have been running a weekly game of Mummy's Mask for the past 3 years, and my players are just about to begin the sixth book.

The players I have for this game are generally min/maxers (for example, the party level 15 unchained rogue, can roll under a 10 for stealth, with no cover available, and get over 50 as the result. We also have a regular summoner). They tend to roll over encounters with single monsters that are intended to be bosses without any problems.

So, I decided to make a harder Hakotep, as I really would not like the last encounter to be the summoner sending his eidolon up to the villain of the whole AP and killing him with one full attack. The shield golems don't really seem that threatening.

Let me know what what you think, and feel free to use him if you like him.

Hello Mr. Jacobs

Did the visual design for Ranginori draw any inspiration from Yaldabaoth (the demurge in some real world Gnostic religions)?

Addressing the concerns of the OP, I think their reaction to harsh Shifter criticism is likely what will occur. On the forums they got a bit testy (which is only natural), but ultimately did make positive changes to the class.

I took a long time to switch over to from 3.X to 4th because there was so much content for 3.X. Because it stopped being supported, however, I eventually was unable to find games.

Unfortunately, when I did move 4th was on its last legs and I didn't know it. I basically gave up on d20 games after spending a good bit of money on 4e in a short period, only to have it all vanish in about a two years to a year and a half.

I was introduced to Pathfinder in 2015 and really enjoyed it. Oops.

Unfortunately the primary reason I decided to invest in Pathfinder was because of the plethora of good, pre-published adventures, from PFS scenarios to full APs. I really don't have the time or inclination to make my own adventures, or sit around for hours back-converting PF2e stuff into PF1e stuff (at that point, I might as well write my own adventure).

I will say, after reading the FAQ, I'm glad that Paizo has decided to keep all PFS scenarios available for play. However, once I've gone through all of the PF1e published adventure content, I will probably no longer be a customer, as the last thing I want to do is repeat my old mistakes of jumping in on a system at the end of its life span.

I wish them luck with this new edition.

EDIT: Also, this marks the death knell of the 3.X d20 system, which makes be a bit sad because it was the one I really got into gaming with (I was 16 in 2000).

I can't say I'm too pleased by this decision, but I did see it coming.

Besides making all of my splatbooks worthless, I'll probably have to drop out of playing PFS. I know I can always write my own adventures for my friends, but due to time constraints I tend to rely on APs and published modules.

C'est la vie I guess. Hopefully I can get another AP or two out of this edition and keep my friends entertained for a bit longer before I have to cancel.

Hello everyone.

I am running a game for some friends, and we have a brand new player. She would like to play a Vine Leshy druid with the Plant domain as her nature bond.

I never really liked druids, so I'm not that familiar with how a Plant domain druid would play out. Looking at the spell list, it seems like it lends itself to battlefield control.

Does anyone have any recommendations for feats? They will be starting a level 6.

If it matters, she is the only spellcaster in the party as the other members are a swashbuckler, a slayer (sniper), a brawler (verdant grappler), and a geokineticist.

Thanks.

There's no general deity specifically focused on healing, unless I missed something somewhere.

Aesocar, an Azlanti deity of healing, is still alive and can grant spells to followers. Though he is mostly forgotten on contemporary Golarion.

Hi Mr. Jacobs,

In what religion did most of the Lawful Evil divine spell casters that served Aroden end up after he died?

Thanks.

Now I'm very confused. If most of the time Samsaran couples produce human babies, where do Samsaran babies usually come from?

Hello Mr. Jacobs. I have a bit of an oddball question that I'm going to put behind a spoiler just to be safe.

I ask because my group has a Samsaran PC who has developed a love interest, but we all vaguely had the impression Samsarans were born to other humanoids and did not directly reproduce amongst themselves.

I'm pretty excited for this book.

Some of my favorite things from the Nightglass books were the Joyful Things. Will we be getting anymore information on them?

What's the Book Bound magus arcana about ?

It lets you gain a bonus to concentration checks on your next round as an immediate action if you are wielding your spellbook in your off hand.

It's always interesting to hear about the development process. I actually have a small question related to that; I've noticed across various APs that there are very few final encounters that involve enemies that can reliably use 9th level magic, while PCs tend to have access to it. Is that intentional or just a coincidence?

Regarding Beyond the Veiled Past specifically...

Thanks Mr. Hillman, it did help. I think some of the confusion stems from me not quite understanding the mechanics behind the Drain. I will just have to re-read it more carefully if I end up running the AP (my group has just finished part A of the fifth installment of Mummy's Mask -the whole campaign thus far been a 2.5 year endeavour-, so I will be putting up the next AP up for a vote probably within the year).

The final scene was very dramatic by the way, I really enjoyed it.

I've read through the adventure, and may have to re-read it, but there are somethigs that are not clicking.

The phrase "players drag a once-grand nation kicking and screaming into the modern day" kinda worries me. I really hope it doesn't have too many modern day political influences. Really kills the immersion when people bring that stuff into the game. But hopefully it just turns out to be What Jade Reagent should have been and have alternate routes for those that don't necessarily want to be the new monarchs Lapdogs.

Modern day in Avistan apparently means hereditary monarchies where no monarchs are married or have any legitimate (or even known) children. I'm serious; every monarch in the Inner Sea is single and has no known children, except for Stavian, which is kind of immersion breaking for me because of how dangerous that is for such a type of government. There was a reason Henry VIII went through six wives and it wasn't just a wandering eye.

On a more serious note, I will probably keep my subscription up for this AP for the non-adventure articles & monsters. I will likely never run it though because so far it seems like it will require an extensive re-write to scrub out the Whig history.

Hello Mr. Jacobs,

In general, how much do powerful Demons like Demon Lords and Balor Lords know about Cthulhu Mythos and similar creatures that appear in the Golarion setting?

To my knowledge, in tabletop games I always play male characters.

When playing a spell caster, I prefer spontaneous casters to prepared casters simply for ease of use.

I like to play characters that have at least one or two knowledge skills or their equivalent. I will take traits, merits, flaws, or whatever is needed in order to be able to do this. Because of this, in the d20 ecosystem, I frequently have to play humans because of their extra skill points and feats.

In terms of character types, unless I try very, very hard not to create such a character, I always end up playing a dispossessed aristocrat or émigré.

We do have another fey race, Naiads. They're from Bestiary 6.

Crikey, I guess they didn't make much of an impression on me. Looking at them again I think they kind of step on the toes of Undines.

would love to change the Peri and Garuda into new celestial groups.

I agree, the Faun should have been a 0HD fey race.

Would love to see new LN, CN, and N outsider groups.

I too want more outsider groups with N moral components, though I know there are many people who strongly dislike Bestiaries (personally I fine with them printing ALL THE MONSTERS, as long as they have cool art). I'm afraid too quick a proliferation of outsider races might cause a backlash from these people, prompting Paizo to scale back the monster/Bestiary production.

Till all are one. ^_~

Do I have to turn in my nerd card because I had to look this up? At first I thought it was a reference to a certain other Primus that I wasn't getting.

Garuda could work very well for a new group of chaotic good outsiders, and I would also like Couatl to continue to be expanded upon (they got another couatl in Hell's Vengeance)

Ahh, I forgot about the Garuda. That makes sense since it already has an Aasimar variant (as does the Peri, which is why I thought of it).

I would like a 0 hd fey PC race other than the Gathlain. I really think the Faun should have been that race, but my fantasies of playing Mr. Tumnus will have to wait.

Just as we have numerous "minor" fiendish races, I'd like to see celestials get some love. We have Manasaputras for LG, then perhaps we can expand the Peri into a full grouping for NG. I'm not sure what CG could get but I trust the writers on that.

I would like to see a Protean Lord or a Primal Inevitable get a full write-up (including at least a blurb on their cults, including offered domains).

I know Archons are not you favorite outsider grouping to develop, however, I was wondering if there are any plans to complete the cycle and publish a CR 20 Archon somewhere.

I can't help by think that the Putrefactor was partially inspired by a certain image macro about centipedes in private places.

Thanks for the answer Mr. Jacobs. Book of the Damned helped me make some adjustments to an important deity in my 10+ year old homebrew setting; I decided to move him from being an Infernal Duke to being a Kyton Demagogue, which is what prompted the question.

Is there a reason why none of the Kyton Demagouges offer the kyton subdomain, or just an oversight?

I have a question that that requires a tiny bit of set up: I like to set my own homebrew worlds within the Pathfinder setting (on a world far, far away kind of deal).

With that in mind, is it against the spirit of the Pathfinder universe to have a titan that has acquired quasi-deity or demigod level status?

Yup, the void yai shogun knows and pays tribute openly. In the same way a priest of any faith would pay tithes or sacrifice to the gods.

As for how the oni daimyo gain their wealth and standing... it's by sheer virtue of the fact that they're immortal divinities who have been doing what they're doing in various ways for many many centuries, and have become very good at it. They function in the shadows and their "rule" is less of one akin to a king or queen on a throne and more like the god who inspires the king or queen.

Thank you Mr. Jacobs. I guess I was misinterpreting the daimyo as very powerful warlords, rather than as objects of religious devotion.

I have a question regarding Oni Daimyo, specifically the Empress of the World (who, btw, has my favorite art in the book).

As written it says that most Oni Daimyo are circumspect about their power, but everything about them seems to indicate that they would rule openly, including their grandiose titles. How do they acquire such wealth and standing by hiding away?

With Inma specifically, she is said to dwell in Chu Ye. Does Chu Ye's void yai shogun know she is there? If so does he pay tribute to her? Does he do it secretly or openly?