From what I see, there are three ways of ascending to godhood that have been 'found'. One, is the test of the star stone, from which we have three (four?) deities that have risen... The second would be Irori's way, attaining complete mental and physical perfection. The last would be Nethys' amassing of magic, attaining omniscience, and ascending as a result...
I remember reading somewhere that a Star Stone adventure was going to come out at one point, detailing the process of that method there... However I am VERY interested in Nethys' and Irori's ways of ascension. In partiular Iroris method. Is there any possibility we can see feats, perhaps if an Epic Level handbook comes out (as I assume Nethys and Irori were epic level at time of ascension), that follow a trail that leads to ascension? What about epic level spells, that enables one to ascend in a manner similar to Nethys? What of, even, other ways to ascend? Perhaps purposefully ripping a piece of the deific portfolio from a god and absorbing it into yourself (as we have seen gods able to do to other gods, via Lamashtu)?
Now, I don't really want to see a deity overload like Forgotten Realms had, happen in official Golarion setting. I loved the setting but admittedly the whole constantly changing roster of gods got a little annoying... But I would like to see options for such things for those of us at home games who enjoy god-smasher games, or who have character concepts that the character's motivation lies in ascension. Or just those of us who happen to have a dynamic game where setting changes occur and make things interesting (like accidently wiping a major costal city off the map... My bad...)
This is as much a query to the staff as it is a general query to the public on their opinion on this. How do you guys handle ascension in your games, how would you handle it if the topic came up? Would you guys like to see various methods of ascension?
Could've sworn I was in Campaign Setting... Ah well. Now if the mods can move this, lol...
It's been said that all of them, even Cayden Cailean, were higher than 20th level when they ascended, regardless of the means. We may see some notes about this kind of thing in gameplay if the Mythic-level (as distinct from epic-level) book ever shows up.
now i gotta ask. how did you wipe a major costal city off the map? not with an erase spell i expect! (sorry for the bad joke.)
as for assending to godhood, who wants a gig like that? do you have any idea how much paperwork gods go through? IF i was forced to take a shot at godhood i'd try the old fashioned way, gathering worshipers and using their belief to propel me to greater hights. (DM's call if it works, but if you're a 20th level wizard {Wish spell and immortality discovery} with a large cult the difference is negligable).
now i gotta ask. how did you wipe a major costal city off the map? not with an erase spell i expect! (sorry for the bad joke.)
Let's just say that trying to mistakenly summon half of a broken deity's artifact with a bandit ring's Frabricate ritual (tapped into all 4 elemental planes to draw long-lasting power) that they used to make cheap knock-offs, thanks to a horrible spell craft and knowledge arcana roll, has bad consequences..... (For those that didn't get it, we tried to FABRICATE spell up half of a god item, when we thought it was a summoning circle for the bandits to steal things).... Did I mention that ripped a small hole that is rapidly coalescing into a new World Wound? Sadly that campaign ended, dm's hard drive had to be wiped and he hadn't backed up the files beforehand.
Either way, characters have their reasons. One of my characters, for example, is a devout worshiper of Lissala (he's a Scroll Scholar/Scroll Master Wizard/Cyphermage btw), and with her faith being more or less defunct, he wants to spread the power of the written word. His obsession with Runes, Symbols, and what not, has caused him to take a rather enraged outlook on the corruption brought about by the Rune-Lords. So his idea was to attempt to take on part of Lissala's portfolio, and not only further his research into the power of runes and symbols, but "show those bastards how it's really done", as it were.
that sounds... unhealthy.
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Actually, Cayden is still drunk since the day he ascended. It'll be epic when he stops drinking a little and after a nap he wakes up with a mythological headache shouting: "Crap! What?! I'm a God?! What the hell was I doing last night?"
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I remember one book, it was aimed at world building if your interested I can try PM'ing details of it, that had your typical jock warrior only interested in a good fight defeating the god of war. His reward godhood and a long series of lectures from a gnome on all the issues that go into creating a "viable" world. That is axial tilt, background magic, types of creatures, landmasses e.g. how to make a proper fjord, cultures, the effects on said cultures by the landmasses you've created. All in order to prove his worthiness to actually assume his new duties by creating a working world that passed the gnome's assesment.
Sounds excellent. Details would be cool.
No luck PMing but I think I sent details to your email address let me know if you don't get them.
Why not just post the book info here so everyone can benefit? I'd be interested too :)
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I didn't want to hijack the thread but posting the details once would probably be less likely to do that wouldn't it so here you go . . .
The book I was referring to is "A Magical Society - Guide to Mapping" by Expeditious Retreat Press, I don't know if they still have a website the one I got them from seems to have dissapeared. Their products can still be found though at places like your games now on the web and I thin they have a facebook page. Also if you decide to get the "western europe" one make sure to get the 2nd editiion as it has an extra chapter and some expanded content over the first edition which is what I have.
I should warn you its focuse more on ways to actually build your campaign world. That is how the tilt of the planet will affect the weather, how to layout mountains, continents, different races and methods of working out their reactions to each other. Although I admit the little extracts with the new god of war learning the relevant knowledge for that section is fun. If your interested in that sort of thing its worth a look.
They also did, its been awhile since I purchased the products a line of different books on other things like how to build a beast or how different cultures might be affected by the presence of magic. I enjoyed them because they didn't look at the adventuring classes so much as how it would affect the general day to day lives of the people.
Or you can find it right here.
As for whether someone should want to be a god or not, I have one character who will be (as an NPC) becoming a god to a specific end in a campaign I'm working on. However, when the campaign is over, I don't see using her as a PC character anymore. What are everyone else's thoughts? What kinds of adventures would you expect to see as a PC?
Trying to avoid Mary Sue/God Mode Sue (most of my character concepts are this).
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I'd assume that if - IF - Paizo would touch this, it'd be in some kinda epic-level book. as mentioned before, the ascended gods were above and beyond even 20th level when they ascended via their various means, even if only inferred in the reading. Now me, I've never had my PCs go beyond 21st (good ol' Savage Tide made it to the 21st-level mark), and I dunno if I'd want them to, 'cept maybe as a wacky one-shot where they tear through a series of BBEGs in the way that old 1st-Ed folks would pit Demogorgon against Orcus when they were eight years old.
I think, though, that any or all of these godhood-ascension details will be left vague for GMs and players to discover together. You could easily decide that once your PCs hit 20th, they can go on a quest or whatnot to prove their divine right to ascension. The Irori way is prolly less quest than, "off you go to further your studies and hone your skills, and blah blah blazing star rises from the heavens blah blah pick your domains so your next PC can worship your last PC."
As to the OP's query about handling ascension: no one in my game, so far's I've seen, has shown a lick of interest in becoming a god, save a buddy of mine back when we were ten, and we just had him kill a god. We hand-waved pretty much everything back then. If they did, I'd work something out between them and me. If they wanna quest for it, I'd make a whole quest deal. If they just wanna have their PC become a god so's their other PCs can become devotees of said god, well, that's just picking domains and whatnot, maybe write up some deets on the god's mortal exploits and whatnot. I see more interesting options in playing the first breed of new-god loyalists in a world full of established faiths trying to figure out how you're gonna muscle into their established placement in faith and society than a guy bench-pressing the Tarrasque and pissing in Lamashtu's eye.
Just a thought, though. I'm-a gon' eat this pizza.
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I know that Paizo has said in other threads that they wanted to leave the details of the Starstone open because it's different for each individual and it gives the GMs more latitude in a campaign. My future god(dess) is currently a PC with a celestial bloodline and the backstory fits into what I need for the plot so she's not really a Mary Sue - she could still fail the test, at which point the campaign would simply go in another direction.
I agree with N'wah (hey, how've you been? Good to see you!) that the options for a new god should be more than just a contest and I've been thinking along the lines of a fledgling religious belief for a while now, and I keep pondering the challenges a new god would face. Just my two more cents.
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From what I see, there are three ways of ascending to godhood that have been 'found'. One, is the test of the star stone, from which we have three (four?) deities that have risen... The second would be Irori's way, attaining complete mental and physical perfection. The last would be Nethys' amassing of magic, attaining omniscience, and ascending as a result...
There's also Urgathoa's path, to get sick and tired of waiting in Pharasma's line, get peckish, and says, 'to heck with this noise' and wander off and just flat-out refuse to 'go gently into that good night.'
Granted, that choice may have messed up the natural order of the universe, so it's not for the timid. :)
And there's Lamashtu's path, to become a very powerful demon lord, with multiple *races* of worshippers, and to gank a true god who is on his way out the door and steal his power to make that final jump from 'hopped up demon lord of delusions of grandeur' to the real deal.
And then there's the Iomedan route to power. Hook up with the old dude who brought the Starstone to the surface in the first place, and then stand by and let your main competition, Arazni, next in line to take that Test, get ganked by Tar-Baphon attempting to save the world, leaving you at the head of the queue, without 'getting any on you.'
"I would have charged in gallantly at the last minute to save the day, all white knight on shining steed, which is kinda my thing, obviously but, wouldn't you know it, my horse threw a shoe and I had to stop and call triple-A for roadside repair, and they just took positively forever, darling, and by the time I got that sorted, poor Arazni had gotten in over her head. Her own fault, really. She should have waited for me, but you know how those wizards get, all 'casters trump melees' and 'I'm making reality sit down and shut up' or whatnot... Trump this, Harlot-Queen. I'm the god. You're a dead guys trophy wife. Ooh, snap!"
It remains to be seen if Razmir's gambit works. He's got some behind-the-scenes support from the Sivanah SuperPAC (although she's carefully kept her name off of the documents), who seems to be attempting to game the system *for the fun of it,* but that might not be enough, as she's no Aroden. She might be just planning on taking him right to the razor's edge of ascension and then snatching it away, because she's tricky like that...