I'm a big Lamashtu fan. Here's why:
1)One of the only Demon lords in Golarion to ascend to god-hood
2)Patterned after a real world Deity (Sumerian)
3)Has killed other deitiies
4)The depravity she represents touches upon a basic fear of any would be parent (monstrous child birth)
5)Her goals make sense (making a world full of monsters).
6) Her physical depcition actually gives me shudders, something I can't say for most Demon Lords.
I think I'd rather be tortured by Zon Kuthon than be used by Lamashtu as a breeding plaything. (..shudders..]
Sarenrae was a big hit with me from the start with her focus on redemption. In my head, she feels like the most likely candidate for a Big Good for the setting, even if her congregation has some serious warts.
I like both her focus on redemption, and her mandate that if something evil and dangerous proves not redeemable, you deal with it swiftly and with finality. It strikes me as an admirable balance between compassion and pragmatism.
Plus, I love that the solar deity is female, given that they're predominantly male on Earth. :-) I've always had a soft spot for Amaterasu.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Desna, Pharasma, Tsukiyo, and Groteus. Though to be honest "dark is not evil" and "the sacred darkness" are two of my favorite tropes so yeah..
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I am big fan of Ragathiel. The general of heaven whose father is an archdevil? awesome! I am also a big fan of his domains and favored weapon.(Bastard Sword). In one of my current games i am playing a Paladin of him. I really love the flavor of that diety for a martial character.
I also like the story of Cayden and Sun Wukong which many people have already mentioned.
I am big fan of Ragathiel. The general of heaven whose father is an archdevil? awesome! I am also a big fan of his domains and favored weapon.(Bastard Sword). In one of my current games i am playing a Paladin of him...
Preach battle brother! He deserves at least one post per page :-)
Oh, man. This is actually difficult. I started out by making a straight-forward list, and it balooned into most of the gods pretty quickly.
I can tell you that the Peacock Spirit (at least in theory, we'll have to see when/if more is revealed), Erastil, Shimye-Magalla (I love the idea of Desna fused with Gozreh), and Sivanah are up there, and a combination Sarenrae, Shelyn, Desna, Iomedae, Calistria, Nethys, make up a very close "second tier", although that's by no means exhaustive, and being "second tier" actually means they're really friggin' sweet.
I'm not too fond of Abadar or Gorum (they're both kind of uninteresting to me for whatever reason) and I'm not personally fond of evil or evil gods in general, though I "hate" none of them as a consumer of a really interesting setting (though in-game, my characters tend to loathe each and every one of them - they generally are good at making me love to hate them kind of things).
I love the ideas of the Eldest (though am greatly saddened that none of them are good) and Empyreal Lords, which you really don't see often in other settings.
Frankly, the stories of all of them are intriguing and most back stories serve to simultaneously both "humanize" them when you hear their back-stories and make them more grandiose... which is really hard to pull off.
So all-in-all, they're great.
|
I can tell you that the Peacock Spirit (at least in theory, we'll have to see when/if more is revealed), Erastil, Shimye-Magalla (I love the idea of Desna fused with Gozreh), and Sivanah are up there,
I may or may not love Sivanah, depending on how similar / dissimilar to Lleira she is. Gosh, I loved Lleira! But I kind of want Sivanah to go in other directions.
That Sivanah is intentionally helping Razmir pretend to be a god, by providing his 'priests' with healing items (per Gods & Magic), intrigues me to no end.
Why is she doing this? Is it part of some scheme so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel? Or is it just good clean fun for a trickster goddess, helping the world's biggest scammer pull off quite possibly the biggest scam in history?
Of the 'lesser' gods, Alseta, Brigh and Sivanah are all very intriguing, for different reasons.
Shelyn and Desna are my favorites of the core 20.
I also like the idea of the Eldest but I also am a little disappointed that there is not a single good aligned one.
I can't wait to read about all those Empyreal Lords later this year.
I would love to see more non-humanoid deities such a plant one and a machine one but I am happy that paizo has deities that are animals, dragons, lovecraftian horrors, etc.
Pharesma, Torag, and Abadar are my top three, in that order.
I do have to admit I use my own pantheon for my homebrew.
I love me some Sarenrae. I also love Calistria and Nethys.
Kinda wish there was a goddess crossed somewhere between Calistria and Abadar though; someone who loves wealth and opulence in all forms, not just physical pleasure or ordered banking and commerce.
Maybe there'll be an Empyreal lord or lady like that for me in the upcoming book :)
|
|
I love Abadar, but I wish he would've been granted a better favored weapon. In homebrew I always give him either longsword or firearms. Crossbows seem so underwhelming.
A crossbow built into a shield seems like a perfect Abadarian weapon. A hand crossbow could be built into a light shield (firing through a keyhole shaped hole in the center of the shield, designed to be able to be peered through for aiming purposes), light crossbow into a heavy shield and heavy crossbow into a tower shield, as a kind of exotic weapon.
Sort of like a crossbow version of this shield with a gun built in.
I am running an Inquisitor of Groetus at the moment and I love it, I basically play him as inspired by Ænema by Tool. Other gods I've become a fan of are, Cayden, Asmodeus, Iomedae, Sarenrae, and Desna.
Wait...how so?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCEeAn6_QJo
Is he trying to bring down armageddon because he's appalled and disgusted by how bad the world has gotten? I'm not criticizing, I'm just interested to see how the song relates to your character.
...Oh yeah, favorite deities. Well, as far as bad guys go...I'm gonna have to say Asmodeus. He's been a D&d mainstay for a long time, and he's still carrying on his diabolical schemes in PF. Dark, arrogant, powerful, ominous, and cunning, Asmodeus is the pinnacle of Lawful Evil.
And as for good guys? I have to say I like Erastil, for being the deity of agriculture and small villages. Actually, now that I think about it...Erastil embodies rural communities, and Abadar is the master of large cities. Erastil is LG, and Abadar is LN.
Is Paizo trying to tell us something?
|
My favorite is Shelyn by far, especially her whole story with Zon-Kuthon.
After that would probably be Desna, Calistria, and Cayden.
The whole pantheon is very flavorful, and I like how there is more to their interactions than just good vs evil, such as Sarenrae and Asmodeus teaming up to take down Rovagug.
Nethys. It's all about the magic. Not good, evil, law, or chaos. Magic alone. Magic over all.
Mystra should take notes.
I also think Lamashtu is a very interesting deity. I can think of a lot of storylines you could explore with her.
Not to ignore it, but right now I'd kind of downplay the "Mother of Monsters" angle and explore other ways her cult could operate.
Reading her entry in the dark gods book, I couldn't help but think of a real life cult.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flirty_Fishing
This is a wiki on one of this cult's activities. I don't know that much about them, this appears to be the only interesting thing about them. (Unlike the Heaven's Gate people. Now that was a cult.)
I kind of liked Mystra in her first CN incarnation, a wild untamed force of magic, I kind of like how sorcerers tend to be more impulsive (tending to non-lawful alignments) and wizards more disciplined (tending to be more orderly/lawful).
Mystra died but she reincarnated as a LN entity with strict rules, enforcing the use of magic after a magical calamity struck, personally I'd prefer her be neutral but I can understand the transformation.
Then she dies, again, and a mortal becomes Mystra, my least favorite incarnation but understandable, and it could have worked with Shar taking up the mantle of 'Dark Magic' and Mystra opposing that would shift her to neutral good, it oculd have worked but the shift didn't really work for me. I am also not a big fan of giving alignments to gods at all or needing one to govern magic in general.
Golarion pantheon, I like the more alien deities better, Zon-Kuthon and the Elder Gods, Asmodeus, Rovagug and the various demon lords, though technically not gods are cool. Erastil and Saeranae are ok, I do not have much use for the other deities.
|
|
Then she dies, again, and a mortal becomes Mystra, my least favorite incarnation but understandable, and it could have worked with Shar taking up the mantle of 'Dark Magic' and Mystra opposing that would shift her to neutral good, it oculd have worked but the shift didn't really work for me. I am also not a big fan of giving alignments to gods at all or needing one to govern magic in general.
That shift turned out to be a huge upgrade / power-up for Shar, who, to that date, had been a pretty undeveloped evil goddess (nowhere near as interesting as Talona, Auril and Ilmater, IMO), and got thrust into the big time, becoming one of the few major evil gods later standing after more dynamic players like Bane, Bhaal and Myrkul bought it, but was equally a huge downgrade for Mystra, who had been the god of *all* magic, and now was losing necromancy, illusion and enchantment to Shar and her 'Shadow Weave' because her mortal replacement 'didn't like that stuff.' (And Talos seemed to be making an end run at seizing evocation as well. Quite the blemish on the 'Mystra' brand. Midnight was driving it into the ground, hemorrhaging divine portfolios left and right!)
But yeah, Nethys (a *much* more interesting version of Greyhawk's Boccob, IMO), being pure Neutral, a god of both protective magic and destructive magic, and equally a patron of the 'unbound rules-defying self-taught chaotic-ish' sorcerer and the 'rules-abiding research-guy leans lawful' wizard, is certainly a more useful 'god of magic,' as far as alignment goes.
It also creates much more dynamic story potential, as there can be NE priests (or even entire congregations) of Nethys (or Gozreh, or Pharasma) who are at complete odds with NG churches of the same deity (or CN vs. LN, etc., since true Neutral gods can have interfaith schisms with truly opposing alignments).
Certainly a predominantly NE or CN sect of Pharasmins would be *very* surprising to those who think of her as more lawful or good-leaning, and be less expected than the predictable and 'been there, done that' Norgorber / Skinsaw murder cult or plague-mongers of Urgathoa.
And a NE arcane-supremacist faction of Nethyns who feel that anyone not either blessed with arcane power (as a sorcerer) or mastering it (as a wizard), or at least dabbling with it (as a bard, magus, alchemist or summoner) is automatically inferior and should be subjugated by their betters? Oh yeah, that could be scary.
Then she dies, again, and a mortal becomes Mystra, my least favorite incarnation but understandable, and it could have worked with Shar taking up the mantle of 'Dark Magic' and Mystra opposing that would shift her to neutral good, it oculd have worked but the shift didn't really work for me. I am also not a big fan of giving alignments to gods at all or needing one to govern magic in general.
That shift turned out to be a huge upgrade / power-up for Shar, who, to that date, had been a pretty undeveloped evil goddess (nowhere near as interesting as Talona, Auril and Ilmater, IMO), and got thrust into the big time, becoming one of the few major evil gods later standing after more dynamic players like Bane, Bhaal and Myrkul bought it, but was equally a huge downgrade for Mystra, who had been the god of *all* magic, and now was losing necromancy, illusion and enchantment to Shar and her 'Shadow Weave' because her mortal replacement 'didn't like that stuff.' (And Talos seemed to be making an end run at seizing evocation as well. Quite the blemish on the 'Mystra' brand. Midnight was driving it into the ground, hemorrhaging divine portfolios left and right!)
But yeah, Nethys (a *much* more interesting version of Greyhawk's Boccob, IMO), being pure Neutral, a god of both protective magic and destructive magic, and equally a patron of the 'unbound rules-defying self-taught chaotic-ish' sorcerer and the 'rules-abiding research-guy leans lawful' wizard, is certainly a more useful 'god of magic,' as far as alignment goes.
It also creates much more dynamic story potential, as there can be NE priests (or even entire congregations) of Nethys (or Gozreh, or Pharasma) who are at complete odds with NG churches of the same deity (or CN vs. LN, etc., since true Neutral gods can have interfaith schisms with truly opposing alignments).
Certainly a predominantly NE or CN sect of Pharasmins would be *very* surprising to those who think of her as more lawful or good-leaning, and...
I agree, mostly. I just do not see the need for a god of magic in any pantheon, divine magic should not be in any one gods portfolio and arcane magic I rather see separate from divinity.
I am not sure I am a fan of the split in arcane and divine either way or the fact that priests are identified by their magic, it creates a sort of competition between divine and arcane magic that makes little sense. Divine magic should, logically, trump 'mortal' magic, a division in sanctioned magic and forbidden magic might be interesting though.EDIT: Guess I am going a bit off the rails here, sorry.
Heh, Set made a good point there. I now have even less reason to regret making a True Neutral God of Magic in my own campaign world. Anyway, I never did get what was Boccob's shtick exactly. Nethys did end up being a much more interesting deity despite their similarities in alignment and portfolio.
Also, I wish I could go back to update my earlier post, replacing Desna with Lissala as my absolute favourite.
Heh, Set made a good point there. I now have even less reason to regret making a True Neutral God of Magic in my own campaign world. Anyway, I never did get what was Boccob's shtick exactly. Nethys did end up being a much more interesting deity despite their similarities in alignment and portfolio.
Also, I wish I could go back to update my earlier post, replacing Desna with Lissala as my absolute favourite.
I don't recall Lissala, what is she about ?
All in all I would have loved her even more as a Lawful Neutral type, since she reminds me of a mystical, non-necromancer cousin of sorts to Wee Jas, the single most awesome deity of Greyhawk and one of my favourites of all time. Thankfully, I can still make a Lawful Neutral Cleric or Wizard who worships Lissala in Golarion.
** spoiler omitted **
All in all I would have loved her even more as a Lawful Neutral type, since she reminds me of a mystical, non-necromancer cousin of sorts to Wee Jas, the single most awesome deity of Greyhawk and one of my favourites of all time. Thankfully, I can still make a Lawful Neutral Cleric or Wizard who worships Lissala in Golarion.
Oddly (to my way of thinking) James (Jacobs, to be clear) has been pretty insistent when I've seen him speak on the matter that she was always lawful evil and never lawful neutral. Similarly, if I recall, he's gone on record saying similar things about ancient Thassilon (though he's not really talked about Azlant who were the original worshipers of Lissala), which Thassilon got it's seven virtues of rule which were converted into the deadly sins from). That's kind of really disappointing, but, you know, his world and all that.
My Favorite has to be Gorum.
** spoiler omitted **
All in all I would have loved her even more as a Lawful Neutral type, since she reminds me of a mystical, non-necromancer cousin of sorts to Wee Jas, the single most awesome deity of Greyhawk and one of my favourites of all time. Thankfully, I can still make a Lawful Neutral Cleric or Wizard who worships Lissala in Golarion.
'Word of God'; I.E. James Jacobs & Sean K. Reynolds, says Lissala was always Lawful Evil. Which is interesting in a lot of ways, since that implies some really intriguing things about both Thassilon & the 'Seven Virtues' in Golarion.
As far as my personal favorite deities; in Pathfinder I most hew to Erastil & Calistria, with Desna, Shelyn & Milani coming up really close behind.
edit: Gah, ninja'ed by several hours by Tacticslion...
edit: Gah, ninja'ed by several hours by Tacticslion...
That... that's like the opposite of what always happens to me!
... can we be friends?
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
<- the opposite of my face when I realized I forgot about Brigh
Because a robot goddess of technology and innovation is freaking awesome.
Seriously, modular, reconfiguring temples. Think of the possibilities.
Now would her holiest of hymns be trance, industrial, or WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB WUB
(ha, managed to mention Brigh without a Verces derail agai- OH BOTHER)
I absolutely love Brigh, but wish there was more info on her. Sigh, I guess I'll just have to wait for the minor deities to be fleshed out more.
I don't remember Brigh were was she mentioned?
I don't remember Brigh were was she mentioned?
Looks like Gods and Magic in 2008, and Faiths of Balance from 2011.
I don't remember Brigh were was she mentioned?Looks like Gods and Magic in 2008, and Faiths of Balance from 2011.
There is also a paragraph or two on her in Gnomes of Golarion, including domain write-up & favored weapons. It is somewhat implied that she may be the closest to a 'favorite' deity they have, of course that could simply have been that her name starts with B.
& yes, Tacticslion, we can be friends.
& yes, Tacticslion, we can be friends.
Yay! I have an online friend!