Making Lamashtu angry


Rise of the Runelords

Dark Archive

the divine casters in my party have taken it upon themselves to purify her temples and brand her followers with heated holy symbols. so two questions would she care or even notice these acts and if she does what kind of retribution can i throw at them? Just about to start book 5.


As a god, I think it's safe to say she would notice.
If they've made a habit of it (as you say) and had an impact on her overall following (depends on number/CR of followers and size/number of temples) she might choose to act. That's pretty much a GM call so it's up to you.
Keep in mind though, an evil deity has to expect their temples to be purified on occasion as part of the normal cut&thrust of godly power games.

In terms of retribution, I would really avoid direct action of any kind. The Gods may be real in fantasy games, but making them too real undermines their perceived power. Plus once one god gets personally involved, so might the others making for an ugly escalation.

So, she would direct minions via signs and portents and visions to attack the players.
Say, an evil Lamashtu-worshipping adventuring party that could harass the players building up to a final confrontation.
Or a whole horde of low-level cultists infiltrating normal places to poison their ale, steal their treasures or destroy their reputation.

I'd definitely be chalking up "wrath" sins for the characters in question (though by book 5 that might no longer be relevant?). Mostly for the branding, which seems a little beyond the usual goodly methods for dealing with evil doers.

Then again, this is Lamashtu. The branding might turn out to be a badge of honour for the recipient - she might even grant them a boon!


I'd say that you'll have some monster attacks on small town chapels and the like... with survivors who mention the monsters deliberately went after the chapels and ignored everything and everyone else. Have the chapels be of the Gods that the divine casters belong to. It's a message back to them. You continue these shenanigans, then she'll punish their faithful in turn.

Silver Crusade

Belegdel wrote:

I'd definitely be chalking up "wrath" sins for the characters in question (though by book 5 that might no longer be relevant?). Mostly for the branding, which seems a little beyond the usual goodly methods for dealing with evil doers.

There are some "branding" options that aren't horrible, like mark of justice. But yeah, if they're sticking heated metal up on folks, yeesh. What gods?

Grand Lodge

In my RotRL game Lamashtu followers are going to try to kidnap a child that belongs to one of the PCs.
Maybe it because Lamashtu is "angry" with them for continually defiling her temples....

The Exchange

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

A party of bugbear assassins could attack


"Little men make Lamashtu angry. The angrier Lamashtu gets, the uglier she gets. Me am Lotsa Ugly. Me SMASH puny adventurers!"

- Quoted by the awakened half-demon barbarian flesh golem Lotsa Ugly, moments before pulverising a PC.


To be honest I doubt a god would pay too much attention to what a group of people are doing to .001% of her followers and or temples. Granted I haven't read the RotRL in its entirety yet, but Lamashtu doesn't have a big focus in the campaign.

Lamashtu is Chaotic Evil....so if you do do retribution it most likely wouldn't come in any kind of well thought out plan or elaborate counter measure. One thing to remember is that she's also the god of nightmares. You can start forcing horrible dreams on the offending party members giving them negatives to their actions. Make the dreams hint at the anger of the goddess against those PCs who have gone beyond simple cleansing and into the realm of potential war on a goddess' flock.

Frankly I'm somewhat surprised that the people in the town and surrounding area would allow the PCs to do this. There's nothing against the law for worshiping Lamashtu or any other evil god. Disfiguring individuals by branding them isn't exactly a saintly act...regardless of who the people are being branded. Considering a great many of the people in Varisia are Chelaxian...you'd think if the PCs kept doing this they would anger a lot more than just Lamashtu's followers in case they suddenly decide to take it upon themselves to act that way toward other gods and goddesses they don't agree with.


This question comes up from time to time:

1) The majority of Lamashtu's followers in the area are Goblins and other such vermin. Disposing of them is a matter of course. Depending on the deities backing the aforementioned clerics, branding them might be downright merciful. In fact, considering ANY cleric of Lamashtu vermin might be standard (looking at you, Desna).

2) They failed their knowledge: religion check, though. Followers of Lamashtu WELCOME deformities.

3) Lamashtu is Chaotic Evil. Obviously those followers have failed her by being defeated. They need to breed stronger warriors. She's more likely to punish her followers for failing.

4) Outside of Sandpoint, frontier justice applies. In fact, if you look at the laws for Magnimar (which would apply to it's satellites like Sandpoint), you'll see there aren't many (the sourcebook keeps mentioning loose laws). So some of what they do might be distasteful, but not illegal.


That might be amusing. Have Lamashtu appear in their dreams and thank them for providing her worshipers with new scar-based deformities. =^^=

Grand Lodge

Maybe a female PC or significant other can develop the Mark of Lamashtu... fiendish babies everywhere! ^_^


One idea that comes to mind as a form of punishment/retribution is that have one of the PCs (Probably male) have a nightmare about mating with a representation of Lamashtu. Have this provide a temporary weakness, largely due to non restful sleep maybe with a little "What the abyss just happened?"

Then later have a horrible monster with one strikingly normal feature attack them claiming to be their child.


The other players have gotten skittish about destroying Evil Altars, after our run-in with "The Waters of Lamashtu" under Sandpoint in the Catacombs of Wrath.

We now petition the Church to come in, and do a proper exorcism (young priest, old priest, ya know...).

It's kind of funny, since it was supposed to be a character flaw of my wizard, a desire not to mess with the divine, and it's now affected the entire group.


Perhaps she sends a demon to deal with the defilers of her unholy sites?

I'd figure she'd eventually focus on more important things than just one temple.

The NPC wrote:

One idea that comes to mind as a form of punishment/retribution is that have one of the PCs (Probably male) have a nightmare about mating with a representation of Lamashtu. Have this provide a temporary weakness, largely due to non restful sleep maybe with a little "What the abyss just happened?"

Then later have a horrible monster with one strikingly normal feature attack them claiming to be their child.

Intriguing, yet highly disturbing. Seems rather appropriate considering the type of deity Lamashtu tends to be.


I have tweaked RotRL to make Lamashtu involved in the overall campaign. Basically she comes to the conclusion that Karzoug represents a threat to her on some level (although exactly how remains unclear). She takes an interest in the players and as their struggles grow, and offers 'aid' to them, although the aid is a trap.

One of my PCs is an abyssal sorcerer, so this is worked into her story: there is a 'family' connection on some level.

Foreshadowing so far consists of various clues found in books and similar, plus how the demons encountered react to the sorcerer. Later the (work in progress) plan is to have her to address them more directly, although still via proxies.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder Adventure Path / Rise of the Runelords / Making Lamashtu angry All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Rise of the Runelords