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I'm thinking of running Iron Gods (or at least a version of it) and there's one thing about the worldbuilding that just doesn't make sense to me. Torch is supposed to be one of the only places where you can smelt skymetal, and yet according to Fires of Creation, the Technic League has basically no presence there other than demanding gold every few months. But with such a technological site right there in the open, it seems like the League should want direct control over the town, so what gives? Both canon explanations and headcanons are welcome.

Paizo has seemed to refuse to provide stats for the gods of Golarion, claiming that they're "above mortal power" and cannot be defeated by other beings. However, they definitely don't seem to be all-powerful abstract entities, since mortals can ascend to godhood and even the original gods have made several appearances in the mortal world even in the recent past.

Besides, should high-level mythic PCs even be considered "mortals"? Hell, immortality is even a base mythic ability! Let's look at a 20th level wizard or sorcerer with 10th tier archmage with a few specific mythic path abilities. They can alter reality on a whim, create their own plane of existence and populate it with sentient life, grant divine power to their worshipers, take the form of any humanoid and almost any monster, defeat demigods, and destroy armies or cities in an instant. This "mortal" doesn't die of old age, and can't even be slain except in the most extraordinary of circumstances. Sounds godlike to me.

Also, gods *have* been defeated by lesser beings before. The one that first comes to mind is Lamashtu killing Curchanus. In this case, Lamashtu was a demon lord before ascending to true divinity, and had a horde of lesser demons helping her out. The most powerful of the demon lords have all been statted out, and can certainly be defeated by a well-optimized 20/10 with some strategic planning. An army of demons or similar creatures is certainly attainable by max-level PCs. So if Lamashtu could kill a god, then why can't a PC?

Also, Tar-Baphon fought Aroden on the Isle of Terror for days *before he was a lich* and therefore before the height of his power. And according to Archives of Nethys Aroden was already a god at that point. Yes, Aroden did come out on top, but Tar-Baphon put up a damn good fight, and Aroden could quite finish him off. So let's be generous and say that Tar was a wizard 20/archmage 5 at that point. Now imagine what would happen if there was an entire party of 20/10s in that fight.

Yes, I know that the answer is probably because Paizo doesn't want to encourage munchkin players to go on a god-stomping rampage and screw up Golarion or whatever the GM's world is. But at the same time it isn't too implausible for something like that to happen. An entire adventuring party of 20/10s seems unheard of in PF lore. As far as I know, there are a grand total of *two* confirmed 20/10 characters that have anything to do with Golarion, and one (Tar-Baphon) is effectively dead for now while the other (Baba Yaga) is wandering the reaches of space and only occasionally stops by Golarion. A max-level party would be so rare that it makes sense for it to be a possible threat to the gods.

And yes, I know that some gods are more powerful than others. I would never expect to fight or expect my players to fight Rovagug or Pharasma head-on. But some don't seem too far from demigod level, in particular any god that was once mortal (with the possible exception of Nethys). In fact, the three Starstoners and Irori could probably be represented as 20/10s with Divine Source and maybe some outsider levels. None of them seem to have any feats that put them too far above PC capabilities; in fact, I'm fairly certain that Iomedae fights normal demons and devils quite often.

OK, rant's almost over. I was just trying to make a reality check to see if their philosophy held up to logical reasoning. Am I missing something? What are your thoughts on this matter? I personally think that if Paizo wanted true gods to be invincible, they should have dropped the "mortals ascending to godhood" thing and made the gods philosophical entities that have never explicitly shown themselves on the mortal world.

TL;DR High-level mythic PCs are basically gods, and actual gods don't have much evidence that confirms them to be too much more powerful than statted beings, so what makes the actual gods much more powerful?

Starting tomorrow, people have the capacity to learn magic, religious leaders are able to perform objective miracles, some people gain sorcerous power, and monsters of all kinds show themselves in places that sort of make sense, like yetis in the Himalayas and mummies in Egyptian tombs. Some dungeon-like locations might be discovered too, like the Darklands, the ruins of Azlant deep within the Atlantic Ocean, the Pit of Gormuz in the Middle East, and let's say the Worldwound in Antarctica.

What will the world look like in a week? In a year, decade, century or millenium? What nations and elements of society would drastically change? What would the average person's life be like? What or who would you be?

There's been a lot of debate over whether the Charisma score is related to a character's physical appearance, both on forums and in person around tables. In my experience, the problem arises from players arguing two extremes. There is one group that says that Charisma has absolutely nothing to do with appearance, and another group says that Charisma is only a measure of attractiveness. The rational players realize that it's somewhere in between.

First of all, it's silly to say that appearance is completely unrelated to Charisma. Not only is there no mechanic for only physical appearance in the game rules, but there's no denying that attractive people generally get more attention and are often unconsciously predisposed into getting positive reactions from others. Just look at the vast majority of modern celebrities. In fact, the amount of "appearance vs charisma" arguments that have arose around this game alone prove that physical beauty is something that many people judge others on. Sure, some people care about it less than others, and people have different beauty standards, but that's what dice rolls are for.

On the other hand, physical appearance is absolutely not the only component of Charisma. Just like the rulebook states, it is only one factor among others such as force of personality and ability to lead. But while a plain-looking but gregarious bard may be more charismatic overall than a beautiful but shy druid, it is true that the bard would be even more charismatic if he or she was as attractive as the druid.

The final issue is that appearance has a few components that don't match up with the rest of the stat. Some things, such as sorcerer spellcasting, have no reason to have any relation to appearance. Also, members of the opposite sex (or homosexuals of the same sex) will probably care more about appearance than others. So enough rambling, this is the actual change to represent characters who are attractive enough for it to contribute to their Charisma score:

The Actual Houserule: If you have 14 or more Charisma, you can choose to add the "Attractive" modifier. If you do, you gain a +2 bonus on Charisma ability checks and Charisma-based skills against anyone who is attracted to your race and sex (which is most player races and possibly some monster races), as well as +2 to the DC of your charm spells against these individuals. You gain a -1 penalty on charm DCs and checks against anyone else. If you do not choose this modifier, your Charisma score is unchanged. At the DM's discretion, you may want to make the modifiers more extreme for very high Charisma scores.

What to you think about this houserule? Have you addressed this issue at your table in any way?

So my players are going to find a region full of portals to demiplanes created by an Elohim over untold periods of time, and I need some creative ideas for what some of these planes might be. Try to stay within the capabilities of the Elohim, although I'm taking a couple of liberties: one that the elohim can cast create greater demiplane and permanency once per day, and also that it can create creatures of more than 4 HD (although this is difficult, so there won't be more than a few per demiplane).

If you were this Elohim, what would you create that is thematically cool and interesting for the players to explore?

I've organized a short adventure (several hours) with level 20, mythic tier 10 PCs. The characters are a paladin, rogue and sorcerer (pregens that I made), as well as a hunter and a gunslinger that two of my players created. Most of my players have never played any mythic game, and none have played any game at this level. None of them are huge powergamers either.
I was hoping to have some kind of player-vs-player element in the game. It doesn't have to be a pure combat, but I want the players to have different motivations and goals.
Also, I'm still thinking of a plot device that will hold the characters together while still giving them conflicting goals. A macguffin seems too cliched and one-dimensional.
Third, what are some good monsters or encounters to include at this power level? I'm pretty sure any one of these characters could probably solo the Tarrasque.
Any other advice for this ridiculously over-the-top adventure?

I think it would be really unique and flavorful if the GM granted a cleric his or her spells every day instead of the player choosing themself. Maybe the cleric would have a "standard" loadout that the player could help choose and would have some variations based on the deity's predictions for the day, for example if a fight was likely to break out, the cleric would receive mostly combat oriented spells. It might also be possible for the player to make a knowledge (religion) check to pray for a specific spell of their choice.

This is obviously a bit of a nerf for the cleric, but it's already considered one of the most powerful classes, so I think it could work in either a more roleplay-oriented campaign or a campaign with beginning player, where no one is too concerned with optimization. I think that it could be a great way for the cleric to stay true to their domain (no fire clerics casting create water) and actually feel like some higher being is granting their spells. What do you think of the idea?

One of the major NPCs in my upcoming game is a previously ordinary person who has recently been imbued with the immense arcane power of a forgotten archfiend. She originally lived as a middle-class resident of a relatively civilized human kingdom, and is somewhere from late teens to 20s. Then she discovered her powers and opened a demonic portal. She doesn't fully realize the extent of her powers yet, and certainly doesn't know the origin, but knows that they are somewhat fiendish in nature, and absolutely knows she has mind control.
I haven't quite fleshed out her backstory yet, but I know she is an enemy of the nation's leaders (she hasn't sworn vengeance or anything, but she doesn't like them). She's also generally overconfident, and hates in when people consider her inferior to them, even if it's true. Due to this, I think she might just try to take over the kingdom, in which case she'll probably succeed.
Only a few people know about her powers, and they will try to manipulate her into using this power for their own purposes. Most people do know that some power has risen, though, and a small cult has formed. There are also clerics and paladins who believe that she will be corrupted by the fiendish nature of her powers (which she won't, at least not through magical alignment change).
To give an idea of the power level, I took the succubus monster (remember, her powers are fiendish, and she specializes in enchantment), added 20 levels of eldritch godling and mythic tier 10 (basically the most powerful creature on the Material Plane), along with plenty of magic items that I'm flavoring as innate abilities. Her final ability scores are 19, 22, 24, 24, 22, 50. She's is particularly talented with charms and polymorph (both self and baleful). Her character sheet is here on Mythweavers: http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=733359
So, how would this character react to becoming one of the most powerful beings on the continent? How would her personality change if she discovered that her commands were invariably followed, and that she could conjure fireballs and balefully polymorph the population of an entire city? Bonus points if you say the outcome for each different alignment (I haven't decided yet, but it probably won't be lawful).
How should she generally act when the players approach her? They are level 10 and have heard several rumors, and are going to meet her at a secluded location in the wilderness that she has recently gone to try to get used to her powers, hoping to ask a favor of her that she isn't opposed to, but doesn't particularly care about. What twist should I add to the scenario so she doesn't just blast them to ashes as soon as they mildly offend or annoy her? What do you expect the players to do? What do you think she would do in the future?