The Great Beyond: A Guide to the Multiverse gives an excellent description of the life cycle of mortal souls both before and after death. However, I was left wondering how long each of these steps takes. How long after a person dies does their soul reach Pharasma's Spire? After sorting, how long does it take to travel across the Astral to one of the aligned outer planes?
I ask because a character of mine will be coming back from the dead a matter of hours after being killed. What, if anything, has her soul experienced in that time?
Creative Director
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We're specifically vague about the amount of time that passes between death and a soul being judged by Pharasma.
In my mind, the point at which Pharasma judges a soul is the point where you can no longer resurrect that character—they've been judged, after all, and have moved on to become something new in the afterlife. (The process of moving on to your outer plane once you are judged is instantaneous.) This also makes for the cool possibility of having an adventure based on the old mythological tale of having to delve into Hell to rescue a soul; if you can just resurrect someone out of Hell or wherever, that adventure is lame. And that also kind of undercuts the finality of damnation.
But since the maximum amount of time that can pass before a dead creature cannot be resurrected is variable, depending not only on the spell effect being used but also on the caster's level, we can't just say that a set amount of time passes. Instead, souls are somewhat outside of time, as is the process of Pharasma's judgement. After all, she judges the souls of EVERY SINGLE SENTIENT THING that perishes in the entire multiverse, from gods down to awakened turtles. The amount of time that's required to do that is unimaginable, so time itself has no meaning.
To a soul, the amount of time that passes is unknowable; it feels both like an eternity and a split second.
When a character comes back from death, they generally remember nothing about what happened while they were dead; Pharasma doesn't let that information go back to the world of the living. The only way folks DO have an idea about what happens is because it's possible to travel to the Boneyard via magic and speak to the dead or observe the process.
Love the new avatar, James!
That's some interesting insight as well. I hope when you get around to doing the writeup on Pharasma some of this information is also incorporated. I've been waiting a long time to see Pharasma's writeup, so could y'all move that up on the agenda please? Pretty please with a cherry on top? ;)
Love the new avatar, James!
Now I want a custom avatar... *sniff*
I can see how nailing down the time frame presents you with a horned dilemma when it comes to storytelling and world-building.
If the time between death and Pharasma's judgement is less than 200 years (limit for a cleric 20 casting ressurection or true ressurection), then ressurection spells can undercut the finality of Pharasma's judgement.
On the other hand, if that time is greater than 200 years, you miss out on the storytelling opportunities of meeting a deceased person you knew in life while travelling in the aligned-planes, unless your lifespan is very long compared to a normal human (if you're an elf, old dwarf, or a very old gnome, or if your lifespan is magically extended). Although, you could travel to the Boneyard and meet people who had died.
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Call the time it takes a soul to travel the Astral Plane corridor the normal time it takes for its corpse to decay.
WHen that happens the last material link is severed and raise daid animate dead etc is no longer viable.
Also, if creat undead is used the body gathered for nmaterials would release the souls hold early, perhaps causing it to be lost as the ghoul, ghast etc filled it with mindless hunger.
This obviously leads to a really cool bit of adventure where the PCs search for their own souls in order to gain some bit of information!Instead, souls are somewhat outside of time, as is the process of Pharasma's judgement. After all, she judges the souls of EVERY SINGLE SENTIENT THING that perishes in the entire multiverse, from gods down to awakened turtles...
The only way folks DO have an idea about what happens is because it's possible to travel to the Boneyard via magic and speak to the dead or observe the process.
Or on the other hand... Space:1999! had an episode where someone was haunted by their own ghost. (It bore the horrific facial burn marks of his own future death.)
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Creative Director
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Or on the other hand... Space:1999! had an episode where someone was haunted by their own ghost. (It bore the horrific facial burn marks of his own future death.)This obviously leads to a really cool bit of adventure where the PCs search for their own souls in order to gain some bit of information!Instead, souls are somewhat outside of time, as is the process of Pharasma's judgement. After all, she judges the souls of EVERY SINGLE SENTIENT THING that perishes in the entire multiverse, from gods down to awakened turtles...
The only way folks DO have an idea about what happens is because it's possible to travel to the Boneyard via magic and speak to the dead or observe the process.
I specifically remember that episode because when that burn victim scene showed up, my dad thought it was too gruesome for me to see as a kid and told me to close my eyes. I peeked, of course, and I still remember how that burn victim with the poached-egg look of the eyes appeared.
Or on the other hand... Space:1999! had an episode where someone was haunted by their own ghost. (It bore the horrific facial burn marks of his own future death.)This obviously leads to a really cool bit of adventure where the PCs search for their own souls in order to gain some bit of information!Instead, souls are somewhat outside of time, as is the process of Pharasma's judgement. After all, she judges the souls of EVERY SINGLE SENTIENT THING that perishes in the entire multiverse, from gods down to awakened turtles...
The only way folks DO have an idea about what happens is because it's possible to travel to the Boneyard via magic and speak to the dead or observe the process.
I specifically remember that episode because when that burn victim scene showed up, my dad thought it was too gruesome for me to see as a kid and told me to close my eyes. I peeked, of course, and I still remember how that burn victim with the poached-egg look of the eyes appeared.
How would you present that kind of story in a Golarion setting? Would it be a sort of visitation sent by Pharasma?
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Creative Director
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How would you present that kind of story in a Golarion setting? Would it be a sort of visitation sent by Pharasma?Or on the other hand... Space:1999! had an episode where someone was haunted by their own ghost. (It bore the horrific facial burn marks of his own future death.)This obviously leads to a really cool bit of adventure where the PCs search for their own souls in order to gain some bit of information!Instead, souls are somewhat outside of time, as is the process of Pharasma's judgement. After all, she judges the souls of EVERY SINGLE SENTIENT THING that perishes in the entire multiverse, from gods down to awakened turtles...
The only way folks DO have an idea about what happens is because it's possible to travel to the Boneyard via magic and speak to the dead or observe the process.
I specifically remember that episode because when that burn victim scene showed up, my dad thought it was too gruesome for me to see as a kid and told me to close my eyes. I peeked, of course, and I still remember how that burn victim with the poached-egg look of the eyes appeared.
I'm not sure I would present that kind of story in Golarion, frankly. Time travel is something I've been VERY hesitant to use in the game. Golarion doesn't benefit from being able to tell every potential storyline; you can define a thing as much by what it can't do as by what it can.
Obviously, someone COULD define that kind of story in Golarion if they wanted. You defined it yourself as a "sort of visitation by Pharasma." As the creative director of the setting (among other things) I don't have the luxury of idly musing "what ifs" like this, since folks tend to read too much into the comments or get confused about what is and isn't "canon" for Golarion.
I don't have the luxury of idly musing "what ifs" like this, since folks tend to read too much into the comments or get confused about what is and isn't "canon" for Golarion.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you:
A T-Rex--
--walking on Eggshells!
Only on Golarion™
Interestingly, I just now listen to Death's Heretic, where something discussed here is happening.