Irori. There's something cool about looking at the other human-ascendant gods and going: It's all good and well to use shortcuts, but next time do it properly.
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For me it would undoubtly be lamashtu in various incarnations from the most known clerics pregnant with something horrific and unholy to the very core to the caretakers and upbringers of monsters. There is something really scary about the birth of evil and perverting the birth of life into something sinister.
I'm especially fond of hunting packs of a priestess and her 'offsprings', this really sick idea that you are fighting a brood of creatures that share one mother who treats them as own children. The best threats tha I delivered to the group were about keeping the PCs alive for harvesting their organs for the priestess's or her offspring's use in the future as a transplant or just a canibalisting pleasure to teach the children the taste of human flesh, fear and desperation in face of unimaginable pain.
I once had an NPC who was captured by the lamashtu cult during combat. They put him in the belly of a creepy goat-ogre and they mutated his heart so much that his body became like a large heart organ and when the PCs released him they felt it was a merciful thing to do to shorten his anguish
Cernunnos. He is a Celtic deity who some how became an empyreal lord on Golarion.
1) Major = tie between Sarenrae and Pharasma.
Really like the idea of Sarenrae being one of the most powerful forces of good in Golarion, and yet many of her followers get her teachings wrong.
Pharasma is awesome all around. I Like the concept of non-evil death deities.
2) Minor = tie between Milani and Ragathiel
Milani fits perfectly with characters I like playing, and ragathiel has an awesome sauce background (son of an archdevil/fallen angel).
Count Ranalc. Not the most information but how weird is this guy? He's gone. Hasn't been around for years...but he keeps granting spells.
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Erastil. Some folks really object to him because of certain views attributed to him regarding gender roles, and I also like that. Maybe I just take a different tack on Erastil's particular foibles than others, but I consider his inclusion of a dated or backwards teaching as interesting and provocative (in a good way) on a number of different levels.
It fits in with the idea of an aging, dated, stodgy, and paternalistic all-father. It provides a fault among the celestial choir that is in keeping with the warty bits of other all-fathers like Odin and Zeus. It hearkens back to classical stereo-tropes of the damsel in distress and other less-than-perfectly-PC foundations of fantasy literature which have drawn many of us to the game. It provides a point of inter-party friction without necessarily being so combative as to threaten to derail a game, and a chance for role play perspectives and character growths as some of their chauvinistic beliefs are challenged by strong, capable, independent people of all genders and sexualities.
On a larger level, it also demonstrates that good is not necessarily any more monolithic than is evil. It can demonstrate that different people can have different ideas of what is good, and how to achieve it. It allows for subtle variances in the philosophy of the clergy and adherents of a particular faith that are reflected in our own world.
To me, it makes the world of Golarion a deeper and more interesting place.
I also really like the questions raised by his lack of (current) wife, and the hints about his past (like the suggestions that he was married at one time to the patron goddess of Giants, and his role as a Wild-Hunt type God in olden times before he settled down).
I tend to choose Abadar more than any other. Keeps order, brings civilization to the masses, and he's a massive collector. If they ever did an episode of Hoarder's golarion edition he would be first on the list. "C'mon abadar do you really need one of everything?"
Also been getting more into Irori. He made it to godhood without any fancy gimmicks.
Least favorite is probably cayden, his followers bug me.
james jacobs.!
You are only a mortal...
In order: Iomedae, Torag, Ragathiel, Pharasma, Desna, and Milani. If someone has to remain within one step of their deity's alignment, I guess I'm Neutral Good.
I like Iomedae because she is just awesome in her ideology of "Evil might be stronger, but we shall prevail!"
Torag is, in my opinion, a very good example of what Lawful Good should be; no-nonsense, and definitely not "Lawful Nice."
I like Ragathiel because he is, essentially, a risen fiend. I think it's a nice break from the fallen angel thing so common in fiction.
Pharesma is pretty cool because of reasons already stated.
Desna is a good god that is basically an Elder God. Again, a nice break from the monotonous.
Milani is cool because I can totally picture her having good-aligned gangster clerics. Plus, she has a kind of minarchy/anti-oppression vibe to her.
Favorite god?
Razmir the Living God.
Best god ever.
I think Lymnieris has some points going for her but I have not enough infos. Perhaps the angel's book will have more.Lymnieris is actually a "he."
Ah, certainly. No offence meant.
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Am I the only one who feels like Sarenrae is just a genderbent Arabic Pelor and little more?
I will also have to repeat that I hate choosing favourites, but the Empyreal Lords appeal to me in general.
Pharasma
I was on a D&D/FR site, and somebody linked a pic...
and I've been addicted to Gol/PF ever since.
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I like Likha, goddess of stories, from Vudra.
Ooo, Vudrani deities. Has any info on those been published? I'd be all over that stuff.
Just realized i forgot to mention a favorite minor deity as well. I think I'll take Arshea. It's refreshing to see a lust goddess that isn't evil. I never even considered it before but it makes so much sense in retrospect that such beings would exist. It just makes Golarion a deeper, more interesting place. I love it.
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Contributor
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I like Likha, goddess of stories, from Vudra.Ooo, Vudrani deities. Has any info on those been published? I'd be all over that stuff.
Just realized i forgot to mention a favorite minor deity as well. I think I'll take Arshea. It's refreshing to see a lust goddess that isn't evil. I never even considered it before but it makes so much sense in retrospect that such beings would exist. It just makes Golarion a deeper, more interesting place. I love it.
Apparently, some Vudrani gods and goddesses will appear in Faiths and Pantheons. I like Likha, myself, because, obviously, she's also the goddess of fantasy fiction and game mastering.
It really depends on the class for me.
But I've been recently smitten with Zon-Kuthon. There are a whole HOST of stories I can think of stemming from Zon-Kuthon worship.
One of my characters in PbP of Way of the Wicked is a Zon-Kuthon follower (taught by her mother!). Sometimes I'm a little scared to think about what that character will do in a given situation.
Hands down Calistria. I love her message of invidualism without the self-righteousness of some of the good gods.
Though I do like all of the god for the most part.
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I'll just say this. If Desna were real, I'd join the clergy.
I like Likha, goddess of stories, from Vudra.Ooo, Vudrani deities. Has any info on those been published? I'd be all over that stuff.
Just realized i forgot to mention a favorite minor deity as well. I think I'll take Arshea. It's refreshing to see a lust goddess that isn't evil. I never even considered it before but it makes so much sense in retrospect that such beings would exist. It just makes Golarion a deeper, more interesting place. I love it.
Just a minor point Calistria the Major Goddess of lust in the setting is not evil.
Also FR had not one but two major goddesses of lust that were of good alignment.
Arshea, Shelyn, Desna.. but on the other hand, Damerrich and Torag.
I don't even really know.
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Favourite is Abadar, because if you rise up high enough in the church hierarchy you get addressed as "Archbanker", and you conduct your morning prayer service in a money vault!
Second is Nethys, who cares that you acquire knowledge and power, but doesn't care what you use it on.
Third is Iomedae, because there is nothing more classic cool than the heavy paladin charge.
The minor deity Groetus.
Why? Because he's a giant floating skull god whose followers are the weird people who stand on the street corner spouting off gibberish about the end times.
And he's just creepy.
Erastil....
Unlike all the shiny bland or gimmicky "cool" gods, he most closely resembles the gods of pantheons past in that he has flaws and makes mistakes is stubborn and in many respects closer to his worshipers than any other god.
Cayden Cailean and Saranrae. They are both thematically strong and stand for aspects of good I personally like very much.
I also like Besmara, because when you play chaotic neutral, you might as well play Jack Sparrow. Or his dad, the archetypal Inquisitor of Besmara. ^^
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Cernunnos. He is a Celtic deity who some how became an empyreal lord on Golarion.Cernunnos is a viable god for PFS? Why am I only learning this now? Can someone give me a steer to where I can find him? I feel a new character coming on.
He's mentioned on the inside front cover of Chronicle of the Righteous as an Azata Empyreal of fertility, the seasons and wild animals. He's got a single sentence of description on p. 54, but no larger write up.
His very first mention was in the Bestiary, p 23, but not every name there is necessarily a figure that exists in the Golarion setting...
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If I didn't already have so many cleric characters, I'd make a cleric of Sun Wukong. He's an alcoholic womanizer like Cayden Cailean, but he's a neutral trickster instead of a good freedom fighter, and he's a MONKEY!!! And he's even got one of the few origin stories that can compete with Cayden for sheer coolness.
He's even got good domains. In fact, he's got both of the domains that I took for my cleric of Besmara (Chaos (Protean) and Trickery), but he's also got the Travel domain, which is awesome.
Now that I think about it, if my cleric of Besmara ever dies, I might just replace him with a cleric of Sun Wukong. That way, I can have a replacement that's nearly identical mechanically, but with completely different fluff. Instead of a pirate, it'll be a drunken trickster monkey worshiper.
Cayden, god of kickin' ass and partyin' hard.
Cernunnos. He is a Celtic deity who some how became an empyreal lord on Golarion.Cernunnos is a viable god for PFS? Why am I only learning this now? Can someone give me a steer to where I can find him? I feel a new character coming on.He's mentioned on the inside front cover of Chronicle of the Righteous as an Azata Empyreal of fertility, the seasons and wild animals. He's got a single sentence of description on p. 54, but no larger write up.
His very first mention was in the Bestiary, p 23, but not every name there is necessarily a figure that exists in the Golarion setting...
The wiki says he is Chaotic Good, which would make perfect sense. We can always ask James Jacobs for more info, because he is a bro.
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I honesty don't care for most of them, too much one way or the other.
I like Ragathiel (not a deity) the most, and the version of Milani I have in my head a lot, but not so much the article from the last AP about her. Likewise, if you remove most of the flavor and fluff in Golarion, I kind of dig Erastil, but the more setting added, the less I like the version of him (or his faith).
I kind of like Sarenrae, but at the same time, for probably the most popular and universally accepted/respected faith, she is way too tied to one specific culture/custom.
Groetus seems like an ideal representation of a deity, very much walking the line between interested in, but very hands-off with his followers. If more deities where presented that way, I think it would really benefit the game and setting a lot. Also has a really cool sort of theme and portfolio, dark, but not evil. There is a lot of potential for play with Groetus. Street prophet, mad assassin, chosen guide to ease the end along, Batman/Rorschach/Boondock Saints vigilante trying
fight against the inevitable for the best outcome, weird cultist, dualist cleric holding the energies of both life and death in each hand etc. . .
I like to come up with the overall outlook and tenets, as well as the more personal specifics of a character's faith and religion myself, so if given the option I will do that over any established canon deity and religion.
Here are the major and minor deities I like.
Besmara:Pirate Goddess, represents every aspect of pirate life. loving it!
Milani:Goddess of the people who represents Hope.
Abadar:Order, cities, and honest merchantry. if I was law-loving he would be my choice of deity.
Erastil:Family, communities, honest living. no matter how old-fashioned he is he is still lovable and wise enough to listen to.
Iomedae: I always am a fan of a paladin deity.
Nethys:God of Magic, both protective and destructive. :)
Pharasma:Goddess of life, death, and fate. If I was to actually worship any of these deities it would be Pharasma.
Shelyn:Goddess of love and not just in the teen-love terms but as a force with the power to save lives and praises inner-beauty.
Kofusachi and Cayden Cailean: lovable good guys.
Daikitsu:Other then being a goddess of kitsune she holds a purview of support of craftsman and farmers. but I like more of the kitsune aspect.
My favorites.
1: Calistria - The ultimate spirit of freedom, in my opinion, along with the responsibility to live with your actions. Many may not see it this way, but I certainly do.
2: Shelyn - Because a goddess of love who doesn't give up, even when her brother is evil...I adore it.
3: Nocticula - I'm a sucker for succubi.
4: Sarenrae - Because redemption is ALWAYS an option.
5: Desna - Neat portfolio, hits my fancy overall...and commonly appears as an elf. More to it than that, of course.