So, I'm planning on running Carrion Crown, in which many NPC clerics will be Pharasmin. In the event that PCs die and the remainder seek out a priest to raise their fallen comrade - what then? Pharasma hates the undead because they disrupt the soul's path to judgement, so what's her stance on resurrection?
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The way I read it, I would say that Pharasma is alright with resurrection. As far as she is concerned, a person who has been resurrected was someone whose life was cut short before their time. Remember, Pharasma can see the future perfectly, and knows everyone's proper ending point (though she does not generally share this knowledge). Resurrection is simply smoothing out a snarl in the thread of a person's life.
That having been said, she says undeath as a perversion of the natural order because someone is staying on beyond the point after which they were supposed to die.
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I can't remember for sure, but I think one of the designers made mention that resurrection is implied to only work before a soul reaches the Boneyard. Once it becomes a Petitioner and gets its afterlife announced it can't be brought back (thus the time limit on certain resurrection magic). I don't, therefore, think Pharasma would be overly concerned. She'd be pretty miffed at having a petitoner stolen out of her line. Having someone brought back before their soul formally arrives to be filed away though would probably look like a much fancier and more thorough form of CPR. So I think she'd be cool with it. So long as they're not undead.
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In my game, part of the Pharasman raise dead and resurrection spells is a ritual appeal to the Grey Lady, asking if the deceased's time has truly come or if there is still a role for them to play.
It's not uncommon for the goddess to refuse the gift...but with PCs, the answer is always, "Sure, go for it."
And, of course, the closing of every Pharasman resurrection prayer points out that it is only a stay of judgement...sooner or later, they will die and stand before the Lady.
Creative Director
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Resurrection and other restore-to-life effects occur before Pharasma judges the soul. In fact, in-game, it's the judgement of a soul that makes it impossible to resurrect a creature—that's the in-game reason there's limits on how long someone can be raised from the dead.
Before she judges a soul, she has no problem whatsoever if someone is brought back to life, since if someone's resurrected that was their fate to come back to life and continue for a little bit longer before final death comes along. And in a way, being resurrected, being the reverse of death, is akin to being born again into the world, and that's just as important to Pharasma as death.
Also: James Sutter is a handsome man!
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Everybody here is spot on. Pharasmins definitely still resurrect people. In my mind, when you're an ageless deity like Pharasma, someone dying now versus in ten years doesn't really matter--it's only the people who try to buck the system altogether that rile her. (And of course, since she's the goddess of fate and prophecy, she *knew* you were going to be resurrected... it's all part of the plan...)
Plus, resurrection is a nice way to support the church. It's kind of like the Catholic church selling indulgences...
With a 20th level cleric using true resurrection and a few tricks to increase their caster level it could be 230 years before Pharasma judges a soul. She's woefully inefficient.
In my game, I had a scene where a cleric of Pharasma visited the Boneyard and he found time to feel strange there. Depending on what was going on, it felt like an eternity when not much happened or a lot was accomplished in only the blink of an eye. My hope was to convey the immortality and strangeness of the place and keep some mystery in the resurrection spells. While we use a formula in real life to determine whether resurrection works, in my game it's hard to even perceive what happens waiting for Pharasma's judgment. But my "rules" were loose enough that were there to be an adventure set in the Boneyard it could proceed just fine. It's mainly just perception of time that is askew, especially for a soul that is waiting for judgment.
Resurrection and other restore-to-life effects occur before Pharasma judges the soul. In fact, in-game, it's the judgement of a soul that makes it impossible to resurrect a creature—that's the in-game reason there's limits on how long someone can be raised from the dead.
Hmmm...does that jibe with Death's Heretic? Also, what about Resurrection? Unless it got changed in Pathfinder, isn't that still 10 years per caster level?
Also: James Sutter is a handsome man!
He's just using you, dude. He doesn't care about your feelings!
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Creative Director
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Resurrection and other restore-to-life effects occur before Pharasma judges the soul. In fact, in-game, it's the judgement of a soul that makes it impossible to resurrect a creature—that's the in-game reason there's limits on how long someone can be raised from the dead.Hmmm...does that jibe with Death's Heretic? Also, what about Resurrection? Unless it got changed in Pathfinder, isn't that still 10 years per caster level?
Also: James Sutter is a handsome man!He's just using you, dude. He doesn't care about your feelings!
There are always exceptional situations arising around exceptional characters who bend or twist the rules. Death's Heretic is one such situation.
And it works fine with resurrection. The time it takes to be judged after you die is variable BECAUSE the amount of time a creature can be dead before you can't resurrect it varies according to level. In some cases, it can take hundreds of years to get judged.
And since we don't say WHEN a judgement happens, it can happen whenever it needs to in order to let resurrection work whenever it can.
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Creative Director
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With a 20th level cleric using true resurrection and a few tricks to increase their caster level it could be 230 years before Pharasma judges a soul. She's woefully inefficient.
In my game, I had a scene where a cleric of Pharasma visited the Boneyard and he found time to feel strange there. Depending on what was going on, it felt like an eternity when not much happened or a lot was accomplished in only the blink of an eye. My hope was to convey the immortality and strangeness of the place and keep some mystery in the resurrection spells. While we use a formula in real life to determine whether resurrection works, in my game it's hard to even perceive what happens waiting for Pharasma's judgment. But my "rules" were loose enough that were there to be an adventure set in the Boneyard it could proceed just fine. It's mainly just perception of time that is askew, especially for a soul that is waiting for judgment.
She's not woefully inefficient. She's judging all of the souls of things that die in the entire gamut of existence, remember... not just those who die in the Inner Sea region. When you take that into account, she's actually doing an incredible job at keeping up with the flow of a number of souls so vast from a number of worlds so numerous that the number likely approaches the infinite.
And since time is irrelevant to a soul... its perception of how long it takes to stand in the line waiting for that judgement might be perceived as mere seconds, or tens of thousands of years.
Can one wait outside the line to be judged if he knows someone will resurrect them?
Can one wait outside the line to be judged if he knows someone will resurrect them?There is no "outside" place to wait, so... no. You CAN sneak out of the line, but if you do, you immediately become undead. That's how Urgathoa came to be—she was the first to do this.
Can you let others pass you on line?
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Creative Director
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Can you let others pass you on line?Can one wait outside the line to be judged if he knows someone will resurrect them?There is no "outside" place to wait, so... no. You CAN sneak out of the line, but if you do, you immediately become undead. That's how Urgathoa came to be—she was the first to do this.
Yes, but that doesn't impact how long it takes for you or them to get judged.
She's not woefully inefficient.
Oh I was just being facetious ;)