Pathfinder Player Companion: Faiths of Corruption (PFRPG)

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Pathfinder Player Companion: Faiths of Corruption (PFRPG)
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Touch of Evil

Morality is the shield of the weak. Followers of the evil gods know the truth—that the world is a harsh and uncaring place, and that only strength and cunning matter. From the crafty acolytes of the assassin god Norgorber to the howling hordes of Lamashtu the Demon Queen, the servants of dark gods need not fear the night, for they strive to be the most terrifying thing in it. Some may seek to justify their actions, yet others flock to blood-soaked banners with bitter joy, desiring nothing more than the chance to join in the fiery destruction of all things.

Faiths of Corruption presents a player-friendly overview of the evil-aligned religions and faiths of the Pathfinder campaign setting, along with new rules and information to help players customize pious characters in both flavor and mechanics. Inside this book, you’ll find:

  • Information on each of the major evil gods and his or her corresponding religion, including what’s expected of adventurers of various classes, ways for the faithful to identify each other, taboos, devotions and ceremonies, church hierarchies, holy texts, religious holidays, and more.
  • New character traits to help represent and cement a character’s background in the church.
  • An overview of several secular organizations affiliated with the various evil churches.
  • Codes of conduct for the fearsome antipaladins of many different gods, designed to help distinguish evil holy warriors of different faiths.
  • New feats for merciless warriors and vindictive spellcasters.
  • New spells to help evil casters spread pain and despair.
  • Details on minor evil deities, demon lords and archdevils, elemental lords, the Four Horsemen, and more!

Written by Colin McComb

Each bimonthly 32-page Pathfinder Companion contains several player-focused articles exploring the volume’s theme as well as short articles with innovative new rules for social, magic, religious, and combat-focused characters, as well as traits to better anchor the player to the campaign.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-375-0

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Hero Lab Online
Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
Archives of Nethys

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4.80/5 (based on 6 ratings)

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Fleshing out your villains

5/5

Although this book is in the player companion line, it's more useful for GMs. It can really help you create the story for the villains your PCs are going to vanquish, or flesh them out and make them more interesting.

The book also contains oaths for antipaladins (including one that isn't on the inner sea gods) just like faiths of purity and faiths of balance had oaths for paladins.

One might think that now with the inner sea gods out this book would be redunt, but the price of inner sea gods might be quite steep, so if you just want to flesh out your villans then this book's price is very good.


5/5

I've reviewed this book over on RPGGeek.com.


A great book with a couple of rough spots

4/5

Being part of a relatively conservative gaming group, the only time I get to use supplements like this is when I'm GMing, so I guess I come at this from a slightly different perspective than a player.

The bulk of this book is extraordinary, providing players with great insight into what makes Golarion's evil religions tick. The section on Zon-Kuthon still gives me the shivers! The sections on the minor evil deities, archdevils, demon lords, horsemen and great old ones/outer gods are also great (if cut short for space reasons).

The parts that I was less impressed with were the feats and many of the traits--they seemed on the whole to be relatively unimaginative and to provide underwhelming benefits. The spells and such are fine.

In the end, if you're after flavour and an insight into how the evil religions of Golarion function, go get this right now. If you're just after mechanical things like feats, you might find yourself a little less excited, but overall this is a great addition to anybody's Golarion library.


Evil is the most dangerous alignment because...

5/5

... after reading books like this you almost start to accept it :D

Seriously though I was looking forward to the last of the Faiths of... line and I wans't disappointed. Like the previous booklets it bridges the gap between tenets of the faith and the believers even further and inpires. Antipaladin codes are wonderful as well. Now back to making the norgorberite ninja :)


She's so happy...

5/5

I'm going to apologize right from the front here - this is not going to be a serious review. I mean, it's written by Colin "What, Planescape?" McComb, who is a great author, and who surely does a splendid job at describing the evil faiths, churches and believers.

But nothing is relevant. This book has an artwork of CHEERFULLY SMILING LAORI VAUS. The best NPC in Paizo's history got a fanservice treatment. She's happy...so happy. SO HAPPY.


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Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Just announced! The cover is a mockup, and will change prior to publication.


Excellent! This will be very useful :)


Cool

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I know it is a mockup but nice cover


Codes for antipaladins? Holy wow, I requested that as a joke a while back - mostly because I thought it wouldn't happen. So glad to be mistaken.

RPG Superstar 2011 Top 8

Dark_Mistress wrote:
I know it is a mockup but nice cover

Lately, some of the Paizo covers have a very heavy metal vibe to them (Dungeons of Golarion, Academy of Secrets, mock-up for the daemon book). I like it, though.

Silver Crusade

Yes.

ZK UP IN THIS PIECE!


YAHOOOOO!!!

SO FREAKIN COOL!!

so going to be buying this :)

Owner - House of Books and Games LLC

Interesting how this is a Player Companion - no player in any game I run will be using anything from this book :)


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Might be useful for a game set in Cheliax, for example. And then, some groups play with some of even all evil characters and can certainly use this book.

Owner - House of Books and Games LLC

Zaister wrote:
Might be useful for a game set in Cheliax, for example. And then, some groups play with some of even all evil characters and can certainly use this book.

Oh, I get it :) I just don't run evil campaigns, as I personally find it distasteful. But they sure are popular.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
gbonehead wrote:
Zaister wrote:
Might be useful for a game set in Cheliax, for example. And then, some groups play with some of even all evil characters and can certainly use this book.
Oh, I get it :) I just don't run evil campaigns, as I personally find it distasteful. But they sure are popular.

For the most part we don't either, however I could see a CN cleric of Rovagug, for example. And I sure will be using the book for NPCs.:)

Shadow Lodge

Justin Franklin wrote:
gbonehead wrote:
Zaister wrote:
Might be useful for a game set in Cheliax, for example. And then, some groups play with some of even all evil characters and can certainly use this book.
Oh, I get it :) I just don't run evil campaigns, as I personally find it distasteful. But they sure are popular.

For the most part we don't either, however I could see a CN cleric of Rovagug, for example. And I sure will be using the book for NPCs.:)

I'm always amused when people say they don't play an evil campaign, but their PCs happily run around killing and looting everything. I understand that this book has details on organizations that are truly evil, but a lot of times these things are matters of perspective.

If nothing else then the book should provide a good way for the GM to create villains with depth and characterization. Then your PCs can kill and loot a body with backstory!


John Benbo wrote:
Dark_Mistress wrote:
I know it is a mockup but nice cover
Lately, some of the Paizo covers have a very heavy metal vibe to them (Dungeons of Golarion, Academy of Secrets, mock-up for the daemon book). I like it, though.

I agree on the new way some covers are being done. Though when I hear "heavy metal" combined with the evil deities, I'm left wondering what a heavy metal Asmodeus would look like.

And really, a perfect final cover would feature Lamashtu standing triumphant with the other evil deities cringing before her. ;)

More seriously, I am SO looking forward to this! Such a year for Paizo -- Utimate Magic, Ultimate Combat, the new Inner Sea World Guide, books covering the Linnorm Kings and Ustalav, the Carrion Crown and Jade Regent APs, and now books on daemons and the evil gods of Golarion?

Thank you, Paizo!


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I'm rather surprised by this, albeit pleasantly so.

Last year at one of the Paizo seminars at GenCon, when Faiths of Purity and Faiths of Balance were announced, I stood up and asked if there would be a player-oriented book about the evil religions. As I recall, the Paizo staff was pretty lukewarm to the idea.

Did something change since last August, or were you guys just playing the cards close to the vest?

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Alzrius wrote:

I'm rather surprised by this, albeit pleasantly so.

Last year at one of the Paizo seminars at GenCon, when Faiths of Purity and Faiths of Balance were announced, I stood up and asked if there would be a player-oriented book about the evil religions. As I recall, the Paizo staff was pretty lukewarm to the idea.

Did something change since last August, or were you guys just playing the cards close to the vest?

I think they were pretty lukewarm about talking about it. :-)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Alzrius wrote:

I'm rather surprised by this, albeit pleasantly so.

Last year at one of the Paizo seminars at GenCon, when Faiths of Purity and Faiths of Balance were announced, I stood up and asked if there would be a player-oriented book about the evil religions. As I recall, the Paizo staff was pretty lukewarm to the idea.

Did something change since last August, or were you guys just playing the cards close to the vest?

Yup; as Vic said, we were just not quite ready to talk about it yet since "Faiths of Corruption" was SO far in the future. It's the same reason we haven't confirmed until recently that we're doing a daemon-themed Book of the Damned. We generally have a "window" of future projects we can talk about, and last August, books coming out at the end of the year, like Faiths of Corruption, were outside that window.

But when these three books were first concepted over a year ago, the initial plan was indeed to do a good, neutral, and evil book for the deities—not only because that's a logical way to break things down, but also a logical way to break up 20 deities into 3 books (doing all 20 in one 32 page book was never an option).

SO... yeah.

We weren't "lukewarm" to the idea at all. We were coy.


One request: could the cult of Old Ones sneak into this one, please? I'm a big Lovecraft fan. I know this will come out after I come home from Fur Fright but I am interested.


Alignment has always been such a crucial part of the game and the focus of many a dispute. This series is going to give a lot of much needed perspective on the more gray areas. While other games have tried to simplify/reduce/ignore this heritage, Paizo is taking the challenge head on. Very much looking forward to the rest of this series. Well played. :)


I'm actually playing a LN Cleric of Asmodeus in our current campaign (and someone else is playing a Paladin of Iomadae, making for a lot of fun RPing) so I am pretty curious to see if there are any details here on how non-evil characters fit within Evil Religions. My character has been focusing on the Law, Pride and Contracts part of Asmodian faith while not paying much attention to tyranny and slavery parts.


My gaming group is currently running an evil party, although it isn't something we normally do (most of our parties feel incomplete without a paladin). It can be fun to change things up, and since most of us occasionally take a turn behind the screen every now and again, we can easily fall into the vibe of a non-good party. Not something I would want to do all the time though.


Greylurker wrote:
I'm actually playing a LN Cleric of Asmodeus in our current campaign (and someone else is playing a Paladin of Iomadae, making for a lot of fun RPing) so I am pretty curious to see if there are any details here on how non-evil characters fit within Evil Religions. My character has been focusing on the Law, Pride and Contracts part of Asmodian faith while not paying much attention to tyranny and slavery parts.

I'd like to see some information on this in the book too. I know I enjoyed the bit on neutral members of core evil religions in "Complete Champion". How does a LN Asmodean or CN Lamashtan live and worship, as compared to their nastier brethren?


FenrysStar wrote:
One request: could the cult of Old Ones sneak into this one, please? I'm a big Lovecraft fan. I know this will come out after I come home from Fur Fright but I am interested.

Well, from what I read your next Carrion Crown adventure will feature Cthulhu and his friends, but yeah more is always good.

Also, will FoC feature info on Jezelda (sp? DHMBWM) the Lord of Werewolves? The "Demon Wolves"pack are kinda cool, but... what domains does Jezelda offer?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

AbsolutGrndZer0 wrote:
FenrysStar wrote:
One request: could the cult of Old Ones sneak into this one, please? I'm a big Lovecraft fan. I know this will come out after I come home from Fur Fright but I am interested.

Well, from what I read your next Carrion Crown adventure will feature Cthulhu and his friends, but yeah more is always good.

Also, will FoC feature info on Jezelda (sp? DHMBWM) the Lord of Werewolves? The "Demon Wolves"pack are kinda cool, but... what domains does Jezelda offer?

Not a lot; "Lords of Chaos" has more info about Jezelda though, including her domains and even a picture.


James Jacobs wrote:
AbsolutGrndZer0 wrote:
FenrysStar wrote:
One request: could the cult of Old Ones sneak into this one, please? I'm a big Lovecraft fan. I know this will come out after I come home from Fur Fright but I am interested.

Well, from what I read your next Carrion Crown adventure will feature Cthulhu and his friends, but yeah more is always good.

Also, will FoC feature info on Jezelda (sp? DHMBWM) the Lord of Werewolves? The "Demon Wolves"pack are kinda cool, but... what domains does Jezelda offer?

Not a lot; "Lords of Chaos" has more info about Jezelda though, including her domains and even a picture.

That works! Thanks. *looks up Lords of Chaos*

Dark Archive

I guess doing these books as good, neutral and evil made more sense than doing them as lawful, neutral and chaotic.

Dark Archive

About time. Now I can get some info for my LE cleric of Zon-Kuthon.


Eric Hinkle wrote:
Greylurker wrote:
I'm actually playing a LN Cleric of Asmodeus in our current campaign (and someone else is playing a Paladin of Iomadae, making for a lot of fun RPing) so I am pretty curious to see if there are any details here on how non-evil characters fit within Evil Religions. My character has been focusing on the Law, Pride and Contracts part of Asmodian faith while not paying much attention to tyranny and slavery parts.
I'd like to see some information on this in the book too. I know I enjoyed the bit on neutral members of core evil religions in "Complete Champion". How does a LN Asmodean or CN Lamashtan live and worship, as compared to their nastier brethren?

(>_<) Especially when it looks like you are going up against your own church as it increasingly looks like I am in our current game (GM is running the Crimson Throne AP). I've managed to rationalize it for my character in that Asmodeus always plays both sides. That way regardless of if my group wins or our enemies win, Asmodeus is on the winning side, and the church will still have a place in Korvosa.

Character wise I'm basically focused more on the Contracts and Pride part of the faith and less so on the tyranny and slavery side of things.

IE: My Cleric is a Lawyer


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Balodek wrote:


I'm always amused when people say they don't play an evil campaign, but their PCs happily run around killing and looting everything. I understand that this book has details on organizations that are truly evil, but a lot of times these things are matters of perspective.

If nothing else then the book should provide a good way for the GM to create villains with depth and characterization. Then your PCs can kill and loot a body with backstory!

"FROM MY PERSPECTIVE THE JEDI ARE EVIL! YOU DON'T KNOW MY POWWWWWWURRRRR"!!!


So are we going to get the code of Paladins of Asmodeus? :D

***ducks and runs***

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Derek Vande Brake wrote:

So are we going to get the code of Paladins of Asmodeus? :D

***ducks and runs***

heh... no

I can summarize them here, though:

"nope"

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Maps Subscriber
Greylurker wrote:


Character wise I'm basically focused more on the Contracts and Pride part of the faith and less so on the tyranny and slavery side of things.

IE: My Cleric is a Lawyer

Truly the root of all Evil...

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I know this will probably be a no, but will The Savored Sting be getting an antipaladin code in here?

The goddess of revenge and trickery deserves a sweet antipally code :)


I really like playing evil characters and characters that worship evil deities without being a mustache twirling, DURRHURR RAPE A BABY evil, so this book is definitely on my wish list. Only thing I'm curious about is how a CN character could worship Lamashtu, Rovagug, or any of the CE deities. I can't rationalize any reason why a CE-deity worshipper would be a PC. Is there something I'm missing?


Lazaro wrote:

I know this will probably be a no, but will The Savored Sting be getting an antipaladin code in here?

The goddess of revenge and trickery deserves a sweet antipally code :)

Calistria was described in Faiths of Balance. Abadar's Paladin code was there, and no such code for any AntiPaladins, so I doubt there will be one anywhere else. It would seem that Calistria does not "sponsor" AntiPaladins.. at least not in enough numbers that there's a code. Besides, formal codes aren't Calistria's style (as described in Faiths of Balance).


Vic Wertz wrote:
Just announced! The cover is a mockup, and will change prior to publication.

Ok, if you don't come up with a seriously epic cover, I'll be disappointed, as the cover I currently see is quite cool for a book of evil.

OmegaZ wrote:
I really like playing evil characters and characters that worship evil deities without being a mustache twirling, DURRHURR RAPE A BABY evil, so this book is definitely on my wish list. Only thing I'm curious about is how a CN character could worship Lamashtu, Rovagug, or any of the CE deities. I can't rationalize any reason why a CE-deity worshipper would be a PC. Is there something I'm missing?

Well, that's a GM call based on the campaign. If you are allowed to be evil, then evil deities are of course allowed also. If you are not evil, then it goes to a look at a neutral worshiping an evil deity. When you "worship" a deity in D&D you follow his/her teachings. In real life I knew a guy who was a pretty "neutral" guy, but most people would consider his religion to be evil.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Lazaro wrote:

I know this will probably be a no, but will The Savored Sting be getting an antipaladin code in here?

The goddess of revenge and trickery deserves a sweet antipally code :)

Although antipaladins of Calistria are rare... they do exist, and they will be getting a code in Faiths of Corruption.

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
Lazaro wrote:

I know this will probably be a no, but will The Savored Sting be getting an antipaladin code in here?

The goddess of revenge and trickery deserves a sweet antipally code :)

Although antipaladins of Calistria are rare... they do exist, and they will be getting a code in Faiths of Corruption.

HELLS YES! My players will love you for this!


James Jacobs wrote:
Lazaro wrote:

I know this will probably be a no, but will The Savored Sting be getting an antipaladin code in here?

The goddess of revenge and trickery deserves a sweet antipally code :)

Although antipaladins of Calistria are rare... they do exist, and they will be getting a code in Faiths of Corruption.

You beautiful, beautiful dinosaur. You just made my day.

I imagine there won't be antipaladins of Gorum, but they would have been my second choice anyway.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Azazyll wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Lazaro wrote:

I know this will probably be a no, but will The Savored Sting be getting an antipaladin code in here?

The goddess of revenge and trickery deserves a sweet antipally code :)

Although antipaladins of Calistria are rare... they do exist, and they will be getting a code in Faiths of Corruption.

You beautiful, beautiful dinosaur. You just made my day.

I imagine there won't be antipaladins of Gorum, but they would have been my second choice anyway.

There are antipaladin codes in this book for:

Calistria
Gorum
Lamashtu
Norgorber
Rovagug
Urgathoa
and a "generic" one for Demon Lords


Ohh a bunch of skinsaw cultists led by an anti paladin of Norgrober..My Runelords Parties life just got so much nastier

Contributor

Product cover and description updated.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Nice cover.

Sovereign Court

Nualia! Sweet!


So that is Nualia.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Nualia: Good Girl Gone Very Bad, Or Actually Chaotic Evil.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
Gorbacz wrote:
Nualia: Good Girl Gone Very Bad, Or Actually Chaotic Evil.

Who is Nualia? I want to know more.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

remoh wrote:
Gorbacz wrote:
Nualia: Good Girl Gone Very Bad, Or Actually Chaotic Evil.
Who is Nualia? I want to know more.

She was the main antagonist of the very first Pathfinder AP Volume—in a lot of ways, she was one of our first significant villains.

She'll be getting another spot in the limelight next June with the release of the Rise of the Runelords hardcover.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
remoh wrote:
Gorbacz wrote:
Nualia: Good Girl Gone Very Bad, Or Actually Chaotic Evil.
Who is Nualia? I want to know more.

Answer in spoiler, note it spoils one of the adventures in Rise of the Runelords.

spoiler:
She is the main villain for the first book in the Rise of the Runelords adventure path.

ninja'd by a T-Rex while adding spoiler tags. :)


1 person marked this as a favorite.

What are those two things with her? They look like Scooby Doo on PCP.

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