Does Heathen Slayer Work Against The Deity?

[Exocrat]

Heathen Slayer (Ex): :

Pick one deity (or similar entity
able to grant divine spells to followers) as your religious
rival. You gain a +2 bonus on weapon attack and damage
rolls against this deity’s followers, as well as a +2 bonus
on Bluff, Knowledge, Perception, Sense Motive, and
Survival checks attempted against this deity’s followers.
At 6th tier, these bonuses increase to +4. You can select
this ability multiple times. Each time you do, choose an
additional deity to be a religious rival.

So for example, if I pick Baphomet as my religious rival, will I get the bonus when I fight Baphomet itself?

[Ipslore the Red]

No. Baphomet is Baphomet itself. Baphomet cannot be a follower of Baphomet, no matter how rapidly it spins in a circle.

[blackbloodtroll]

Are there even any statted deities in Pathfinder?

I thought that was something they went out of their way to avoid.

[Stabbald]

blackbloodtroll wrote:

Are there even any statted deities in Pathfinder?

I thought that was something they went out of their way to avoid.

Wrath of the Righteous spoiler:

Baphomet is in Book 5 of Wrath of the Righteous, though he isn't a deity.

[Exocrat]

blackbloodtroll wrote:

Are there even any statted deities in Pathfinder?

I thought that was something they went out of their way to avoid.

Not a deity exactly. For purposes of this ability I am assuming a demon lord counts as a "similar entity able to grant divine spells to followers."

Tangent: Would a mythic character with the Divine Source path ability qualify as a "similar entity?"

[Chemlak]

Exocrat: yes, Divine Source counts. But I agree with everyone else that the entity itself is not its own follower.

[Midnight_Angel]

blackbloodtroll wrote:

Are there even any statted deities in Pathfinder?

There aren't.

However, there are a LOT of Demigods that are fully capable of granting divine spells to their followers... and several of those are statted.

Innocent question: Could I, in theory, take a mythic PC (with Divine Source) as my religious rival? I see no reason to disallow this...

[Chemlak]

I also see no reason to disallow it under RAW, but I'd shoot that idea down at my table under rule zero due to the overwhelming likelihood of it creating a PvP situation.

[Exocrat]

And similarly, who qualifies as a follower? Is it enough to be under the entity's military command or service or does there have to be worship involved? I imagine lots of demons take orders from a demon lord just because they have to without worshiping or really caring about that demon lord.

[Chemlak]

From context, it's someone who gets divine spells from the entity (or who would if they levelled up enough to get the spells class feature (eg Paladin)).

[Exocrat]

So this is another ability that looks useful at first glance and turns out to be extremely situational. Great.

[Pol Mordreth]

Chemlak said wrote:

From context, it's someone who gets divine spells from the entity (or who would if they levelled up enough to get the spells class feature (eg Paladin)).

Meh, I would rule followers a little looser than that. Anyone who worships the deity in question would be my ruling. So all the cultists following Lamashtu? go for broke. I wouldn't rule it as loosely as serving under if there was no actual worship.

[Gilfalas]

Chemlak wrote:

From context, it's someone who gets divine spells from the entity (or who would if they levelled up enough to get the spells class feature (eg Paladin)).

From context it states the non deity chosen must be CAPABLE of granting divine spells to it's followers not that the followers are capable of casting divine spells themselves.

I believe the divine spells line is there to note a specific level of power to the non deity being chosen. It's followers are any who actually worship that being and in fact if a standard deity is chosen (as opposed to a 'similar entity able to grant divine spells to followers') the power to grant divine spells does not even come into it.