I'm trying to put together a locale as a Pathfinder-rules campaign-starter - sort of a revamped "Keep on the Borderlands/Caves of Chaos". The setting is FR-based, mainly because I've built up a major library of FR 3e/3.5 stuff over the years, but I'm homebrewing a fair few other things into the recipe, including stuff unashamedly yoinked from Pathfinder/Golarion because Paizo have enthusiasm and cool ideas spilling out of their ears. (Example: Skull Crossing. A dam with skull-faced floodgates powered by bound devils? AWESOME.)
The 'operating base' for this 'Caves of Chaos' rip-off is a small town that's growing up around a fortified monastery. (If you care, it's on the Dales side of Tilver Gap, just south of the Moonsea Ride in the foothills of the Storm Horns mountain-range, right on the front doorsteps of near-endless hordes of goblins, orcs, red and green dragons, and lots and lots of other critters to fight.)
The main problem for now is the deities, specifically the one(s) to which the fortress/monastery is consecrated: AFAICT, most of the FR pantheon are too bogged down in deific politics and petty bickering (and/or their own egos) to get this proactive. My backstory's going to up the turmoil/bodycount on the Time of Troubles, and I'd like some input on the relative match-ups. The new arrivals are going to take over their predecessors' power, but they're going to use those powers according to their Pathfinder write-ups and actually, y'know, get things done. Some of them were "you keep what you kill" like in the canon ToT; some of them were deified by Ao to keep the pot stirred.
Preliminary list
- Torm (dead) & Tyr (quit) -> Iomedae
- ? Lathander (dead) -> Sarenrae
- ? Bane (dead) -> Asmodeus (who shanked Bane in a moment of 'now or never')
- Bhaal (dead), Mask (dead), Leira (dead) -> Cyric (although blocked from Bane's spheres, he still becomes Prince of Lies)
- ? Myrkul -> Pharasma (but see below)
- Cayden Cailean (fresh promotion by Ao to keep things ticking over)
- ? Garl Glittergold... well, nobody knows where he is or what happened to him; the gnomish pantheon is in an uproar (though Gaerdal Ironhand is holding down the fort for now), and Garl's priests are sucking wind for divine favour. Worse, the kobolds know Garl's MIA and they're building up to an anti-gnome crusade.
Which other FR dieties should get the axe, and which Pathfinder ones should take their place? This campaign is going to be set in the early-mid 1360s (Dales Reckoning), so later FR canon need not apply, but I want to have the option of throwing a huge ol' army of undead at this keep and my limited PF library doesn't include anything about Golarion having a god of undeath.
Which Pathfinder deity is most likely to pick a fight with the 'savages' by setting up a castle/monastery that close to that much trouble? For now, I'm leaning towards Iomedae....
The 'operating base' for this 'Caves of Chaos' rip-off is a small town that's growing up around a fortified monastery. (If you care, it's on the Dales side of Tilver Gap, just south of the Moonsea Ride in the foothills of the Thunder Peaks mountain-range, right on the front doorsteps of near-endless hordes of goblins, orcs, red and green dragons, and lots and lots of other critters to fight.)
You know you've been looking at the map's topography instead of its legend for too long when you completely miss basic details like that. :(
And: wow. I wasn't expecting a flood of responses to this thread in the first couple of days... but none at all? I'm crushed. :P
Okay, let's see. The major changes of the Time of Troubles were: Bane, Bhaal and Myrkul were killed, their power given to Cyric. He also managed to murder Leira. Mystra was replaced by Midnight. Torm died, but was resurrected by Ao because he died in accordance with his portfolio. Waukeen disappeared for a good long while. Later information has detailed a lot more of what happened off-stage in 1358, such as Sharess being corrupted by Shar and then saved by Sune. Umberlee smashed up the Pirate Isles and the Sea of Fallen Stars. Labelas Enoreth killed Clangeddin. And so on, and so forth.
To give you a specific answer to the undead issue: Urgathoa, the Pallid Princess, is the goddess of undeath in Pathfinder. FR doesn't really have one of those, but Talona has the portfolio of Disease.
Others have much more of a closer correspondence: Shelyn - Sune is the most obvious example, Zon-Kuthon and Loviatar would get along famously. Tymora would love Cayden Cailean, they even have the same views of alcohol. Abadar would correspond to Waukeen, leaving her portfolio open for the taking. Tempus and Gorum would have a hard time settling their differences peacefully, no? And so on.
It is important, if you go this way, that you remove as many gods as you insert. The Forgotten Realms setting has such a massive overload of gods and goddesses that you will be swamped otherwise. Seriously. However, a suggestion would be that you keep Shar, and perhaps Selûne. I personally always loved them. Your mileage may vary. Finally, remember that the various levels of divinity in FR mean something regarding how much influence the god/goddess has. The greater gods are generally ever-present in people's lives, while the demipowers are far more private. Sune, for example, is an extremely important goddess, and you're going to have a hard time finding a center of civilization where her church does not call a good amount of shots, such as sponsoring museums, schools, throwing parties and having contacts throughout the community. This is not as clear when it comes to PF, but I would suppose the situation is more or less the same.
And yes, Iomedae is the perfect choice. Sarenrae could probably also be bone-headed enough to go for this.
Sarenrae isnt boneheaded she is the goddess of forgiveness :)
Bacically you could cut most of the FR dieties and just incert Pathfinder deities, but only a small few dont have correspondences, ie Mialiki the NG goddess of nature that Drizzt favors dosnt have a place in Pathfinder as of yet. There are Pathfinder Gnomish deities so Garl had an equivalent.
Heh. As regards Velsharoon, he is NOT the god of undeath as a whole. He is the god of necromancy and possibly liches. There are actually other gods for vampires, ghouls and so on. If anything, I would say that Orcus and perhaps Kiaransalee are good "Gods of Undeath". However, as it stands, there is no human god of undeath.
Oh yeah, Sarenrae is boneheaded. Boneheaded enough to scare entire countries in Golarion into forbidding her religion.
Come to think of it, Abadar would probably be all for "taking a stand" and "protecting society" and so on.
Heh. As regards Velsharoon, he is NOT the god of undeath as a whole. He is the god of necromancy and possibly liches. There are actually other gods for vampires, ghouls and so on. If anything, I would say that Orcus and perhaps Kiaransalee are good "Gods of Undeath". However, as it stands, there is no human god of undeath.
IIRC, Velsharoon also doesn't ascend to be God of Necromancy until the early 1370s DR, which means that his ascension (assuming it isn't butterflied away) is still some time in the future. As it stands, my working timeline-placement for the locale is ~1363 DR, about five years after the Time of Troubles. I figure that's just about long enough for everyone to accept that there are new Gods in play, with new ways of doing things, but still soon enough that they (and their followers) are still trying to reorganise themselves to comply with their new deities' new approaches and/or really, really eager to 'make their mark' and get stuck into actively pursuing their agendas.
Frankly, I should probably hold off on getting too deep into this part of things until my (in-transit) copy of Gods and Magic finally arrives - the single line each diety gets in the PFRPG Core Rulebook doesn't exactly lend itself to detail - but it's almost a certainty that I'll throw Achaekek (sp?) into the mix as god of assassination. After all, everything's better with Red Mantis Assassins and their patron kaiju. :D Once said book arrives, I'll sit down with Faiths and Pantheons, come up with a more detailed list of how many (dozen) God-sized coffins I need to order/fill, and run them by the community again then. :D
Of course, cosmic perversity being what it is, just posting that statement almost guarantees that the book will arrive tomorrow morning. :D