Hey there!
I wanted to make a joke character for a one-shot adventure, and I thought an over the top parady-communistic character dual wielding a hammer and sickle would be nice. Al sorts of classes might be ok for it, but I thought the community subdomain would be nice, So I'll probably be a cleric, and probably a dwarf (auto-proficient with warhammers).
The question is: what would be the best god for this?
(disclaimer: I rather dislike real world communism, and the goal of the thread is not to discuss real world communism).
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Shouldn't it be more of a pantheon...?
Well, if we buy into the ideas and goal of communism and not how it has played out in real life, but how it would work ideally...then I think Grundinnar is the perfect deity for you. Especially since it's a dwarven deity. His portfolios are comunity, good, and law which are (IMO) what communism strives toward.
Patheon? what do you mean Cheapy?
Perhaps a village with some personality-cult (statues of former leaders etc), lots of bureaucracy etc would be a nice background... I would like to make it over the top (but not necessary evil... not necessary good either...)
For the Pol Pot-like focus on agriculture Erastil might be good (still, the goodness bugs me a bit).
Grundinnar might be good as well, thanks Claxon
Darkwarriorkarg, Abadar seems to me like the opposite: the god of capitalism... this character/cult probably hates Abadar (or is this interpretation flawed?)
You don't actually need a god, just a philosophy. Arguably you could just take the communist manifesto to obsessive levels. Undead are clearly brutally enslaved to the running dogs of capitalism/feudalism, so you can break their chains by clear enunciation of radical revolutionary thought. And so on.
You don't actually need a god, just a philosophy.
This. You could even anthropomorphize your philosophy and name it if you want a name to invoke.
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If you want a core deity, the only one I can find in my books that has the Community domain is Erastil.
You can worship an ideal instead of a deity, however, and pick whichever two domains you want. Since it sounds like your character worships communism over all (and IIRC most communist countries in real life downplayed religion as much as possible) it'd be a perfect fit for you. For this, I'd suggest your second domain be the Revolution subdomain or the Toil subdomain.
Hmmm, a philosophy, that's great, love it!... but I am confused: where do his/her spells come from? there's no deity granting them... still, the rules suggest it is possible...
revolution or toil subdomains are great ideas, i might also take a subdomain of community (cooperation might be nice: give him/her and cronies (naieve commoners who the PCs should trynot to kill) some teamwork feats).
As for undead... hmmm... usually they are enslaved, which they could see as bad, but I wonder how welcome they would be, with their inclination to nomnom on innocent villagers... still, the comunity might have strong ideas about how race etc doesn't matter, pulling lots of shunned characters (half-orcs, etcetc).
You don't actually need a god, just a philosophy.This. You could even anthropomorphize your philosophy and name it if you want a name to invoke.
I'd do this with religion being the opiate of the masses and all.
Hmmm, a philosophy, that's great, love it!... but I am confused: where do his/her spells come from?
Faith and belief.
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If you follow that Marxist communism is anti-religion, you could use the Rahadoumi Laws of Man. The Laws of Man say gods are either unworthy of worship or offer false promises so men must rely on themselves and each other. You wouldn't be able to play a cleric, but the Arcane Healer bard archetype from Faiths and Philosophies would let you heal and proselytize if that's what you're going for. A Ranger or Urban Ranger could also be good since you can pick up the dual wielding for free and rangers can easily fit the self-reliant, community-minded champion of the proletariat mold.
I've always thought that Droskar's church had a very Communistic, Stalinist feel. With it's miserable slaves and serfs being promised eventual paradise for endless toil under cruel, paranoid overseers. Endlessly building vast, impressive looking machines and monuments that don't actually work very well or are just gild and paint over crumbling foundations.
Droskar is great indeed!
Another idea: inquisitor(s) (perhaps this community has one Stalin-like leader type cleric and some inquisitors to keep the people in line)... can inquisitors follow a philosophy instead of a god?
If you follow that Marxist communism is anti-religion, you could use the Rahadoumi Laws of Man. The Laws of Man say gods are either unworthy of worship or offer false promises so men must rely on themselves and each other. You wouldn't be able to play a cleric, but the Arcane Healer bard archetype from Faiths and Philosophies would let you heal and proselytize if that's what you're going for. A Ranger or Urban Ranger could also be good since you can pick up the dual wielding for free and rangers can easily fit the self-reliant, community-minded champion of the proletariat mold.
Why wouldn't he be able to play a cleric? Faith and religion are two different things, and such a character would obviously have quite a bit of faith.
well theres that dwarvish deity of work, the human deity (the hunter one) of hard work and family values, and abadar of course.
A friend of mine ran a campaign that had atheist clerics. They worshiped a philosophy instead of a deity and denied that the gods existed. They cast spells without realizing they were doing magic. This was a while ago using 2nd edition rules instead of pathfinder. You could easily have a cleric of communism in a home brew campaign.
Choose any deity that gives one domain that you want and then be a separatist cleric.
Separatist (Archetype)
A radical cleric, unsatisfied with the orthodoxy of her deity's teachings, forges her own path of defiant divine expression. Though most members of her faith would call her a separatist or heretic, she continues to receive spells from her deity. Charismatic separatists may develop a large following of like-minded believers and eventually found a splinter church of their deity—and they are just as likely to be the cause of a holy civil war as the branches of the religion fight to determine which is the true faith.
A cleric who does not serve a deity cannot take the separatist archetype. A separatist has the following class features.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Separatists do not gain proficiency in their deity's favored weapon (though they are not prohibited from using it or learning its use).
Forbidden Rites: A separatist selects one domain from her deity's domain list, and a second domain that is not on her deity's domain list. This second domain cannot be an alignment domain that doesn't match the cleric's or her deity's alignment. For example, a lawful good separatist cleric of a neutral good deity cannot choose the Chaos or Evil domain with this ability, but can select the Lawful domain even though her deity isn't lawful.
Granted powers from the cleric's second domain function as if the cleric's level, Wisdom, and Charisma were 2 lower than normal (minimum level 1) in terms of effect, DC, and uses per day. This also means the separatist doesn't gain the domain's higher-level ability until 2 levels later than normal. If the second domain grants additional class skills, the separatist gains these as normal. In all other respects, this ability works like and replaces the standard cleric's domain ability.
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Banker Abadar is diametrically opposed to communism, which is why it's a joke. It's a one-shot adventure, so you can have the story arc of a cleric of Abadar, no doubt following in Father's footsteps, who favors 'power to the people' and 'from each according to ability, to each according to need'. [S]he'll constantly be in trouble with superiors, and may be having a crisis of faith. Lots of potential for subtle hilarity.
Seperatist is an obvious archetype, as someone said above. The church hierarchy can reject you, but you still get spells. Also, you get to choose a better 2nd domain (after Travel). Battle (and especially Reach) clerics may want domain Growth, Tactics, Strength, Freedom, or similar domains. Feather domain makes you an ace flyer and can get you a full animal companion. Other domains may lend themselves to your character concept. Abadar has a decent negative Variant Channeling option, Cities, which could be played for laughs, and you can also be a Versatile channeler.
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Why wouldn't he be able to play a cleric? Faith and religion are two different things, and such a character would obviously have quite a bit of faith.
Sure, in a home game where you can just pick any two domains you want and call yourself a cleric, why not? I just mentioned it because the description for the Laws of Man in Faiths and Philosophies says there aren't any clerics.
Faiths and Philosophies p.6 - ...The active prohibition against religion forces Rahadoum to call upon secular healers to pick up the slack. Bards are in high demand, as their supportive and healing magic shines without divine magic to steal its thunder. Alchemists are also well-regarded and serve among the nation's principal healers.
Neither of the examples given uses divine magic. Earlier it mentions that druids and other classes that cast divine magic without having to be devoted to a god aren't banned from the nation, but those people are viewed with suspicion. Basically it's written so there are no clerics or divine casters of any stripe who follow the Laws of Man. Another thing is the Laws of Man don't have a list of granted domains so it's pretty clear this philosophy isn't meant to have clerics.
Which doesn't make a lot of sense, since divine magic doesn't have to come from gods (cleric of philosophy/ideal proves such). This seems like the perfect belief system for that.
Patheon? what do you mean Cheapy?
Perhaps a village with some personality-cult (statues of former leaders etc), lots of bureaucracy etc would be a nice background... I would like to make it over the top (but not necessary evil... not necessary good either...)
For the Pol Pot-like focus on agriculture Erastil might be good (still, the goodness bugs me a bit).
A Pantheon is a collection of gods typically generally harmonious amongst themselves that are usually worshiped by an entire culture.
He is suggesting a collective of gods (or perhaps celestial spirits, or even the celestial bureaucracy) instead of a single god, as a collective working 'for the greater good' is a better fit to communism than a single being sitting at the top.
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Which doesn't make a lot of sense, since divine magic doesn't have to come from gods (cleric of philosophy/ideal proves such). This seems like the perfect belief system for that.
Within the campaign setting, there aren't any published philosophies (I'm aware of) that grant domains. You can be a druid who follows The Green Faith and pick one of the allowed druid domains, but that isn't the same thing because The Green Faith doesn't actually grant the use of the domains; the class does. In PFS, clerics must worship a deity and not a philosophy so it could be, officially, only gods grant domains on Golarion.
If anything, I think the Laws of Man encourage the exact opposite of clerics. Rahadoum provides some of the best education within the Inner Sea region so its citizens can have more control over their own destinies. More book learning and a philosophy that pushes people to rely on their own knowledge and abilities sounds like a recipe for wizardry, and the existence of arcane and formulae-based healing just proves divine magic isn't necessary for healing.
I am not assuming that the game takes place on Golarion, and even if it does, the GM is fully authorized to change any details of the world he wants.
Also, bear in mind that class is not concept, and concept is not class, and that nobody is aware, in-character, what a class is or that they exist. Nobody would call him a cleric or priest, because they can't see his character sheet. But, IMFAO, the class is perfect. Religion and faith are two different things; this sounds like 'faith in humanity and yourself', perfect for a philosophy cleric.
Potential domains and subdomains:
Artifice (Toil)
Community
Knowledge
Liberation (Freedom, Revolution)
Strength (Resolve)