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I love the implications this has on a specific bit in Planar Adventures about Hero's Heart, Cayden's Realm:

The less traveled corners of the fields are home to all manner of labyrinths, ruins, and other examples of dungeoncraft; like the Starstone Cathedral where Cayden ascended, these dungeons constantly shift and evolve, offering the thrill of delving to those who seek such harrowing experiences.

This is on the outskirts of the realm. These challenges aren't arranged by the azatas or Cayden's servants. With the prophecy in mind, those dungeons might be Cayden's nightmares/the Starstone influence manifested, and who knows what secrets they contain if that's the case. Maybe some party might delve there and figure out what happened to Cayden on the cathedral (this could be used either to hurt Cayden or helping him overcome his insecurity with proof that he passed the test fair and square, both cool ideas to explore in a game).

Milani has a small realm there, she might know something.

I think that we could see Calistria go and Nocticula taking over her role in the core pantheon. Calistria has enough planar connections for it to be a big deal, and I think the setting would suffer much from losing her.

Also losing Erastil could be really interesting, and I'm also looking at Nethys, but Calistria is my first bet.

seems like the term "demodand" would probably be out. based on "deodant" from some Vancian work, but "demodand" seems to have first been used in TSR products - later turned into Gehreleths, and then back to demodands.

While I agree on the name, Paizo demodand lore with the titan connection is pretty different, and while they do need some rework in their designs I don't think that as a monster race they should be completly out.

But I do believe that it would take a while for us to see, us demodands are both high level creatures and titans having very little plots with them as main villians in the setting.

Damn, choosing would be too hard because there are so many. I'll try and divide it by my favorite phanteons.

Core Pantheon: Iomedae, hands down. With great background, inspiring lore and a really interesting take on the trope of paladin god. Shelyn is a really close second, with an honorable mention to Gorum.

Inner Sea: Naderi, great aesthetics, really inspiring, cool relations... My only problem is that her clerics are hard to fit in many adventures, but she's overall amazing. Honorable mentions: Besmara, Brigh and Milani.
Tian-Xia: Tsukiyo, but this is the hardest competition, with Lady Nanbyo, Shizuru and Hei Feng being all so amazing. This is the best phantheon of gods out of all.
Azlanti: Acavna and Amaznen were really amazing but they both died. So, I'll probably choose Scal, with Onos after him. Also great pantheon that doesn't get enough attention.
Mwangi: Grandmother Spider was a personal interest of mine in her 1e days, and the new focus of 2e only did her good.

Halfling: Yeah they only have 2, but Thamir Gixx is really amazing and I love everything about this dude.
Giant: Young and agressive, Urazra for the win here.

Archdevils: Really hard to choose here since they're all great, but I'll have to go with Mammon, then Mephistopheles.
Queens of the Night: Eiseth is probably the best deity in hell.

Horseman: The Oinadaemon, but if we count him out Szuriel.

Major Demon Lords: Abraxas.
Minor Demon Lords: Shivaska.
Nascent Demon Lords: Nightripper, with Sithud second.
Dead Demon Lords: Xar-Azmak, which I really love and mentioning because of the Rage of the Elements release.

Archon Empyreal Lords: Falanya, then Arqueros and Tanagaar.
Angel Empyreal Lords: Tolc. Honorable mentions to Pulura, Ragathiel and Vildeis.
Azata Empyreal Lords: Valani.

Lady Nanbyo is one of my favorite gods, and an Oracle built around her theme of disasters could fit right into Shenmen. Probably a tragic background about how disasters follow him.

The fluff of the 1E onmyoji spiritualist archetype as well is something I adore, and a summonner based on that- with the adventure being "the mission fate has assigned for me"- could also be really cool. Exorcist dedication could fit (we always play with free archetype). Could worship either Tsukiyo or Pharasama.

I think that morph-risen reflection based on a Jorogumo with mysterious condition/curse that locked it's shape also has some really good dramatic potential. No specific class is in my mind, but sorcerer or rogue is my first instinct.

I mean, Curchanus original body was part hyena (we know that because now Daclau-Sar), while the possibility that it was altered by Lamashtu post-mortem, I could see them as a creation of Curchanus that was corrupted by Lamashtu.

The longest adventure I DMed was centered around Goka, so it's my favorite city. I even had 1 character, as a part of her personal journey, visit the realm of the Oni Daimyo Onmyuza, and I think it was one of the best scenes I have ever run.

Other favorites: Magnimar, Absalom, Kasai, Urgir, Bloodcove, Port Peril and Ilizmagorti.

Also, not sure if this has been brought up anywhere, but I recall in one of the PF1E books a mention of a Sasquatch/Bigfoot ancestry (different from the already established Sasquatch monster. So I am hoping those are still around and might get detailed as a main ancestry.

YES! The Orang-Pendak would be an awesome ancestry to have.

I was wondering, why giving the Fier'Dal perception and not survival? Is it to make them a bit stronger/more unique? (Perception is more useful as a skill than survival).

A lot of the world changes that went from 1e to 2e didn't take effect yet in my setting, because I would like to one day explore it myself and maybe play the Adventure Paths. The Worldwound is one of my favorite regions in the setting, and for now- I keep the wound open and the demons coming.

Dark Oni wrote:

I have a few!

- I always theorized a connection between Brigh and Amaznen. I actually wrote a unique clockwork dragon, a former herald of Amaznen, "adopted" by Brigh- but I love the idea that the two are connected in more than that.
- I adore Shizuru and Tsukiyo, and especially Shizuru's Paladins. In my setting, I gave the Empress of Heaven a role in the cosmos that is more befitting for this name.

Can you share a little more about both of these? I'm a big Brigh fangirl, but totally unaware of any connection to Amaznen, and I've always wished Shizuru had a little more to do.

That's actually more of my own ideas. I don't know of any connection between Amaznen and Brigh "officially". But the 2 deities share similar themes of invention, and I didn't find any sign of Brigh worship pre-Earthfall, and Brigh's origin is a mystery. I just like to fill the dots there myself.

Shizuru in Faiths of Golarion is living in the Palace of Eightfold Mirrors on Clarion. While the Place still exists in my setting, it's used only to house the Tian Deities when they need to gather (The archons are not so pleased to let neutral and evil deities to the higher levels of Heaven). Shizuru is actually the Head in the Council of Vision, the council on Iudica who governs Heaven- and therefor is really the Empress of Heaven.

I have a few!

- I always theorized a connection between Brigh and Amaznen. I actually wrote a unique clockwork dragon, a former herald of Amaznen, "adopted" by Brigh- but I love the idea that the two are connected in more than that.
- The eclipse on Abbadon and the Oinadaemon are an obscure obsession, with a major storyline in one of my games about a Daemon loyal to the bound prince, that was trapped in the body of a Possessed Oracle.
- I adore Shizuru and Tsukiyo, and especially Shizuru's Paladins. In my setting, I gave the Empress of Heaven a role in the cosmos that is more befitting for this name.
- Red Mantis Assassins are actually one of the more underused factions of the game and their Island as well.
- The Cinder Seekers were mentioned only in Goblins of Golarion, but are my favorite Goblin Organization. A rebelious movement, trying to free goblins from the hobgoblin control.
- Lady Nanbyo going through the Abyss breaking anything in her way was actually something I wanted to use as a "natural disaster" in the Abyss. Also, Lady Nanbyo herself is an obscure favorite of mine among the gods.
- Lastly, Hei Feng Antipaladins who actually fight evil but in the most destructive way possible to please their god.

I guess that makes sense. In my opinion I would probably remove both Profession and Lore (for the same reason) to get 18 which is a more "beautiful" number- or replace lore with the Streetwise skill straight from 4e.

But that's a really minor change. As a whole, I really like this list.

I've always loved the north of Avistan, with Land of the Mammoth Lords being a personal favourite (my second PFS character was from there). I'm excited to see more of Irrisen as well, and while Varisia and New Thassilon don't interest me that much a recent read into Winter Witch (the Pathfinder Tales book) had made me interested to see more about the Nolands, and how it has changed.

Reminds me of D&D 4e skill list, of which I'm very fond of.

I'm surprised to see the lore skill from PF:Unchained, as this skill is the antithesis of a "reduced skill list", and not really sure why it's there.

46: Spider Infestation
Normal spider as well as giant spiders, ettercaps and spider-like monsters, this place is haunted by them. This could be because of a curse, cult for Mazmezz or Atlach-Nacha or even Jorogumos- but nevertheless, it's not a nice place to inhabit.

Fits best on forests, marsh and plain hexes.

For Settlement: Unless it's a settlement for a race that gets along with spiders (Drow, Jorogumos, Mitfits)- Danger +4, Economy -4, with serious problems maintaining the settlement (probably resulting in a very small settlement). If it is a settlement of such race, Danger +1 and Crime +2.

Without Settlement: Exploring through the area would probably result in an encounter with a swarm of spiders or a spider monster. Without a very good source of protection, anyone who moves through the area is exposed to Medium Giant Spider poison. Anyone who sleeps in the area is exposed to the poison 3 times.

I see! Personally I loved the idea that the Bebilith need to hunt some demons before it grows to a full sized demon-predator, that's why I used the young template, but your answer was helpful nonetheless!

And a small follow up question- do Bebiliths pay attention to demon lords at large? I'm sure they don't mind eating their servants, but would a Bebilith notice who's the lord of the layer they live in? And if someone is showing the Bebilith a symbol of demon lord, could they recognize it?

Hey James, in one my games (an evil-ish campaign) one player got the True Name of a young Bebilith (it was inscribed in runes- part demonic and part qlippoth- inside the caccoon it spawned from in Khavak-Vog). Now that he wishes to bind the creature to his service, I wonder how will a creature like bebilith react to someone using it's true name. To add on that, the Bebilith was spawned pretty recently to existence, so I wonder- does it have a natural instinct to fear someone using the true name, or does the Bebilith need to "learn" that it has a true name and this true name has power over it?

Lately I'm interested in characters with weird connections to powerful characters in the world. Maybe a witch with a connection to the lich Takaral (the lich that serves Nethys as his expert on Necromancy), or someone who carries his blood.

Hey James. Following you saying that Menxyr was imported from your home setting, how do you deal with creatures or demigods that represent something that is taboo in the real world? Specifically Menxyr, as a demigod of Necrophilia, I find particularly difficult to add to games because it's such a taboo topic, even if I would put Menxyr in his role as a "grave robber demigod" in a given plot.

Calliope785 wrote:

Given that she's got a reptilian theme and loves traps, how common is the worship of Andirifkhu among evil communities of kobolds? It seems like some might have a natural affinity for her.

Not that common at all. In my head, I think of kobolds more as devil worshipers, because they, like devils, are mostly lawful evil. The whole take of kobolds being dragons and worshiping dragons isn't super interesting to me although that seems to be a trope that most other folks DO find interesting, and so that's an example of one of many things in Pathfinder where I pretty much let go of my preference as creative director of the game and work to support the overwhelming preference.

But as for Andirifkhu? Maybe some here and there, but no more so than any other ancestry.

Just want to ask, is this your personal preference or related to a change in the lore of Kobolds in the 2e? Because in the book Kobolds of Golarion Anfirifkhu was listed as a somewhat common deity for kobolds.

Really not trying to get into the "the lore by JJ vs. the lore in the books" canon debate, but I've yet to read 2e thoroughly as I wanted, and I simply want to know if the 2e lore updates are related to your answer.

While they books don't specify any allies of Fumeiyoshi, in my campaigns I like to have divine connections- even from gods you didn't expect- that live in the same place.

So personally, I would say he might have a relation to the Ahriman (Who destroys cities and mortal legacies, which is something Fumeiyoshi would approve)- and maybe he ran across and have somewhat positive connection to the Daemon Harbingers of Mneoc, Osolmyr and Vorsha.

If you're looking for deities, I don't see a real reason for him to hate Lady Nanbyo- as she brings calamities to others.

With Pharasama being the goddess of births, why there is no psychopomp-blooded race?

What are the differences bewteen Mestama and Gyrrona's religions? I've read about both, but in the end they look and feel very similar.

Hey James! What would you say is the CR range of the goblin hero-gods?

Fumeiyoshi from the Tian Pantheon, also known as Lord of Envy. God of Dishonor, Envy, Graves and Undead.

I say Shenmen (in Tian-Xia) actually. Suprised no one mentioned it.

Dark Oni wrote:

What happened to the Apocalypse Horses of the dead Horsemen? Did they die with them? Did they pass on to the next Horsemen? Or maybe somewhere, some Apocalypse Horses of the former Horsemen still wander the planes?

I've always assumed they pass on to the next one, so that at any one time, there's only 4 of them in existence.

What about the Oinodaemon? He doesn't have a horse?

What happened to the Apocalypse Horses of the dead Horsemen? Did they die with them? Did they pass on to the next Horsemen? Or maybe somewhere, some Apocalypse Horses of the former Horsemen still wander the planes?

I just noticed that the body shape of the demon lord Andirifkhu is very similar to the Andi Spider People described in Faiths of Golarion (on the Grandmother Spider section). Is it possible that the demon lord was originally one of the Andi, or that there is some other connection?