I was playing around with the idea of the Norse/Germaic deities as high level Aasimar PCs with 25 pt builds and PC class levels, and then trying to emulate the traditional myths as much as possible. I thought I would share.
I have worked on Thor and Freyja so far. I've been giving them class levels to emulate their deific power, and trying to focus on spontaneous casters.
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This would be Thor, an Oracle of Wind with Mjölnir, (+3 returning/throwing adamantine warhammer), his belt and gloves, his staff borrowed from the giantess, and a few other magic items besides. His spells deal with weather, healing and resurrection.
He also has a (pair of) goat(s) as a cohort - currently they are reskinned dragonne's, but I might change that a little.
Stats in alias link.
I just feel bad about the way Hel is usually portrayed. XD; I mean, she showed up in the major myths about twice... once to allow someone else to return from the dead if a mission was accomplished (and it almost was - it wasn't an impossible task), and once to fight in Ragnarok (on the side of her family). She never even seemed terribly unreasonable, much less actively evil, yet she always has a bad reputation... >.<
Still, PCs as Deities does sort of make sense for the pantheon, considering the gods there are ultimately mortal. ^^ I hope you can find ways to make them work!
Here is Freyja.
I modeled her as a sorcerer focusing on enchantment and curses. I thought this adequately modeled her master of Seidhr. I chose dreamspun to represent her association with the dream world. Planeshift allows her to travel to Folkvang to solace the dead.
She has two custom magical items,
- her feathered cloak, which I modeled as an at will Beast Shape III, and - Brísingamen, which I modeled as a +6 Charisma necklace with a constant protection vs. evil.
She really wants Craft (Weaving), but sorcerer skillpoints are so few. Maybe switch out healing...
I haven't statted her boar out yet.
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I was trying to build it within character wealth per level, hence no artifacts.
I haven't actually read the Eddas or other primary works. Reading from secondary sources indicates he was a god of law, if a bit boisterous: Source 1
Source 2
I see where you're coming from...but he tends to act as if he's personally outside of the law. It's the major friction between himself and his father, in the myths. Odin, himself, is more lawful...but even that's debatable. The problem is that Norse society itself was pretty chaotic.
Yes,they had laws...but they were pretty few, really. They loved their freedom.
Alright, changed Thor to CG.
Dot
As a Dane who grew up reading modern retellings of the Nordic myths, I have learned that my view of the Asa is widely different than Americans, whose primary exposure to them is Marvel-based. In Denmark we have our own classic comicbook version of Thor, Odin, Loki and the other in a long-running series called "Valhalla", which fairly closely follows the Eddas. I have always view Thor is half lovable oaf / half rightous brute, while Loki is more of a prankster that a villain. Most of the time he does not set out to actually hurt Asgard or the Asa, his plans just tend to backfire or be seriously flawed.
As for Freya, I think people tend to place to much stock in her role as "The Goddess of Love". Remember she is just as much a War-Goddess, being the queen of the Valkyrie and all.
As for Freya, I think people tend to place to much stock in her role as "The Goddess of Love". Remember she is just as much a War-Goddess, being the queen of the Valkyrie and all.
I'm sure one could easily find a build that plays to her more martial aspects. For the purposes of my build, I was trying to play more to her magical abilities.
That's cool and more power to you for it, but Freya have never been portrayed as a goddess of magic in any of the Eddas or any serious take on Nordic myth. That's Frigg's, wife of Alfather Odin, area of expertise. Also it is a common misunderstanding to believe that the Asa were "gods of stuff". Love works just fine without Freya. War goes on its merry way without intervention from Thor, Tyr or Odin. The same goes for law, justice and Forseti and winter and Ull.
Instead the Asa (and Vanir and Giants) were simply known for associated traits and behaviors. If Odin wanted to change the course of a battle he could not simply hack into the world-matrix and dictate an outcome. Rather he would dream up a brilliant ploy and send it to his favored general in a dream or drop by in person (usually in disguise). Or he would just chuck Gungnir (his spear) across the battlefield, since the spear could actually do the world-hacking-battle-deciding thing.
Freya was known for the following things: Being a really good warrior, brave and bold. Being a total stunner. Meddling in the romantic affairs of men and gods. And not being above to use sex, or the promise of sex, to get her way and get the coolest toys. That’s how she got Brisingamen.
Well I must certainly defer to someone who's actually read the Eddas, and who has actual Scandinavian blood. :)
So, instead of Freya I have kind of made Frigg. If you were going to go with the "Freya as a (powerful) PC" theme, what you your take be?
Maybe an oracle? Charisma as a primary stat and a competent fighter. Give her a custom mystery focusing on Enchantment spells and Revelations along the same line. Alternatively, maybe a Bard.
I think it's because 1) She's in charge of Hel, where the non-honorable dead end up and 2) Death in general freaks folks out.I just feel bad about the way Hel is usually portrayed. XD; I mean, she showed up in the major myths about twice... once to allow someone else to return from the dead if a mission was accomplished (and it almost was - it wasn't an impossible task), and once to fight in Ragnarok (on the side of her family). She never even seemed terribly unreasonable, much less actively evil, yet she always has a bad reputation... >.<
1) If I remember my Norse mythology right, "Non-Honorable" is "Anyone who didn't die in battle". Which would include all sorts of perfectly decent individuals. Also, I'm pretty sure that Odin's the one who sent her there and put her in charge of it... XD; She didn't pick her real estate.
2) Pharasma is True Neutral, and also highly associated with death.
I just... a lot of tabletop games are pretty black and white on how things are good, neutral, or evil, right? I just don't see any evil with Hel that would justify putting her in that category all the time. XD;
I think it's because 1) She's in charge of Hel, where the non-honorable dead end up and 2) Death in general freaks folks out.I just feel bad about the way Hel is usually portrayed. XD; I mean, she showed up in the major myths about twice... once to allow someone else to return from the dead if a mission was accomplished (and it almost was - it wasn't an impossible task), and once to fight in Ragnarok (on the side of her family). She never even seemed terribly unreasonable, much less actively evil, yet she always has a bad reputation... >.<
1) If I remember my Norse mythology right, "Non-Honorable" is "Anyone who didn't die in battle". Which would include all sorts of perfectly decent individuals. Also, I'm pretty sure that Odin's the one who sent her there and put her in charge of it... XD; She didn't pick her real estate.
2) Pharasma is True Neutral, and also highly associated with death.
I just... a lot of tabletop games are pretty black and white on how things are good, neutral, or evil, right? I just don't see any evil with Hel that would justify putting her in that category all the time. XD;
Several of the more modern American novels that have used the Norse pantheon (I'm thinking of Linda Evens' Sleipnir and Eric Flint/Dave Freer's Pyramid Power here) treat Hel a lot more sympathetically.
Basically, in these versions Odin once had one of his visions showing that she will betray him in the future. So as punishment for something she hasn't done yet he gives her the crappiest job he can think of.
Interesting, as punishing someone for something that they WILL do is a way to encourage them to do it.
Odin did that kind of thing rather often... especially to Loki's children. XD; Maybe he figured that there'd be no way to do it after Ragnarok, so he'd get it in while he still could?
Anyway, for Hel-as-PC, there's really not that much in the myths about her, so it shouldn't be too hard to match fairly well to what's already up. ^^ It's always nice when stuff's so much easier, eh?
Well, time to necro a thread.
Here is Tyr, mighty warrior indeed. He could be a fighter, but his fearlessness screams paladin to me.
OK, so the next character profile is a take on Loki.
Loki is quite challenging - for one thing, he is more of a plot device then a character in the mythology. Definitely a shapechanger and a liar, but sometimes a god of fire (or maybe that's Logi - beware of academic arguments on the matter...). Given the above, I built him as a druid.
He is also the son of giants and the peer of Odin. But he is not quite a giant - something else between aesir and giant. Given the lack of "half-giant" as a regular paizo template, I built him as a young frost giant with class levels and pc wealth.
Unfortunately, this makes him a bit too mighty. This version is in danger of kicking the earlier Thor's backside twice over - partially because of his gear, partially because of the silly strength boost he gets from being a giant.
I imagine a slightly better solution would be to use the race builder and build a half-giant, or use a third party half-giant (I was trying to avoid that, however).
Loki's profile