I think a lot of your question are answered in our FREE Obsidian Apocalypse: World of Abaddon (PFRPG). Hope this helps!
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I think he linked the wrong thing. This is what he meant.
In part it depends on what style of game you intend to run. Obsidian Apocalypse isn't simple 1 setting it's a tool kit that gives you 5 different End Times campaign settings to play with.
The free PDF Louis gave you above details what is kind of the Default of the setting. Think of it as a mix of Darksun and Ravenloft. The Changes section of that gives you a lot of the answers you are looking for but to sum up a lot of it is still in the hands of the GM running the game.
Default wise I look at it like this
Everything outside the Prime Material and the border Ethereal is cut off. Extra Dimensional Holding magic fails since they can't connect to their pocket dimensions. In fact from the Changes document you could most such items seem to have been destroyed in blasts of negative energy. You could even rule that any such bags that survived are now filled with Negative energy waiting to be unleashed on the first poor sod who opens them.
Magic that involves creating a Pocket dimension should have their durations drastically reduced. How much is up to you but for my games it's down to 1 round/level.
Teleporting either risks death or is limited to short distances. Dimension Door I let work but I chopped it's range. Teleport I chopped it's range and put a Will save on it for all travelers to survive the trip.
Summonings and Calling spells are all 1 way. Calling magic you get the true creature and he's rarely happy once he discovers he can't go home. Summoning you don't get the true creature, you call forth it's spirit and put it in a body created by the spell. Normally the Spell runs out the body vanishes and the creature's essence goes back where it came from. Once the Spell's duration runs out the caster no long has control but the body made by the spell doesn't vanish. To my mind this makes for two things. 1) the creature is going to freak out. Even summoned animals aren't going to like what just happened. They were forced against their will to fight something, they are stuck in this strange body and they don't know what might happen if they actually die. Sentient summons will be worse, they know something is wrong and they may even realize the danger they are in. By and large I would think anything summoned is going to be hostile once the spell controlling it ends. 2) Outsiders have no idea what has been happening to Abadon. For 100 years there has been nothing. Nothing ever comes back, it's a black hole of doom. Finding themselves here and learning what is happening will have an impact on them.
As to the Gods. Like I said It's a Black hole. No souls, no prayers, no faith nothing comes out to the Gods. For my game I cut the Divine Spellcasting classes, at least at the start. That is just how I plan to run it but the example of Zebadiah offers a good second option. The most Powerful extra planar beings trapped here were likely sent by gods and can probably serve as divine patrons. How you want to work that is up to you. A Powerful Archangel might be able to sustain an entire faith or maybe he can only sustain a small handful of clerics.
Ultimately a lot of it comes down to how you want to make your game and what parts of OA you plan to use. Infernus Rising for example the Gods might still hear the prayers of the faithful. The Pandemic they clearly do, they just have a Blind spot when it comes to the Infected. Return of the Elder Gods, the Gods might very well be dead or in hiding.
Obsidian Apocalypse is a Tool Kit with a lot of tools in it. Kind of like a Monster Template only you can apply it to a Game World instead. Think about how you want this world to be and customize the tools from there.
For My first run with it I'm doing this
-Default version of the setting; Undead Kings and Warlords. The Living either in hiding or in chains, all of the races available
-Divine Magic - Gone. The Gods have given this world up for losts. No Divine Classes are available to my players. What they don't now is that it is possible to gain the patronage of an Archangel or other Divine Servant. Since they aren't gods such beings have a Limit to how many Clerics they can maintain. This is something my group will find out later in the game and it will open up some Divine classes to them.
-Arcane Magic - ruptured and ruined. So much lore and items lost in the cataclysm. Mages are building magic from scraps and guesses. I'm taking this opportunity to break in Elements of Magic for my group. See how they react to a different magic system.
-Psionics working in full, especially now that I have my copy of Ultimate Psionics.
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Something to think about in terms of divine magic.
The gods are gone.
But, you still have significantly powerful entities to draw divine magic from.
Demons, Devils, angels are all around, certain undead may be strong enough to grant divine magic, then you have nature which doesn't really die but changes dramatically.
Then of course you have concepts themselves to draw from.
Last night I brainstormed a divine magic class in the shower that focused on the various aspects of death I want to propose to louis after I take care of a current project.
Something to think about in terms of divine magic.
The gods are gone.
But, you still have significantly powerful entities to draw divine magic from.
Demons, Devils, angels are all around, certain undead may be strong enough to grant divine magic, then you have nature which doesn't really die but changes dramatically.
Then of course you have concepts themselves to draw from.
Last night I brainstormed a divine magic class in the shower that focused on the various aspects of death I want to propose to louis after I take care of a current project.
And Louis is already interested!!!!
Is it a good setting to replace the Demiplane of Dread when converting existing Ravenloft material to Pathfinder rules?
I think so but I am a little bias. :-)
@TritonOne: Depends. For bones &blood stuff à la Thoughts of Darkness or Feast of Goblyns...yeah, works. The truly effed up stuff from Ravenloft could work with this.
For the more gothic horror Ravenloft modules...Nah. Obsidian Apocalypse and e.g. Hour of the Knife or Bleak House don't mix well.
(If you want a specific answer: I own all the Ravenloft material ever released, so if you've got a more specific question, don't hesitate to ask!)
I have just purchased obsidian apocalypse, and I am very impressed. I can't wait to gm it.
But...
It would have been useful if the book had a discussion of classes in abaddon. How the classes are perceived, how common they are, any setting modifications, things like that.
can divine classes get abilities and spells? The above pdf says gods are cut off, but spells must still be possible or why have clerical spells been listed in the book? Also several of the npcs use them, one is a cleric, the other a solar.
The summoner. What happens with his eidolan? If it dies can the summoner get another? What happens if the summoner dismisses the eidolan, say to cast a summon monster? Generalities are fine (summon creatures are free willed at the spells end and so on), but specific rules would be nice.
Now I have read the above refered to pdf, and of course the book itself, but little actual class information is provided. Also I was a little surprised there were no psi feats, traits or powers listed. Are these coming at a future date?
Just curious.
From what I read, your eidolon once summoned is there forever. Your eidolon once you go to the sleep, I suspect would flee and run for the hills instead of return from whence it came. Otherwise, it becomes your ally and becomes treated as if it were more akin to a cohort. You can resurrect it the same ways that other outsiders can be brought back from the dead. Albeit, you would need to find a way to do so.
I am a fan of the necrosummoner prestige class in : Into the Breach : SUmmoner. It has alot of flavor for this, and includes transforming your eidolon into a ghost and a vampire :) very fitting for this campaign system.
I do like how there is a freak running around slaughtering and spreading disease around the city. The design idea makes me think of Nyarlothotep who is one of my favorite great old ones. Especially since it's Elder Sign makes no sense.
Bought the Apocalypse Bundle, and I have to say that this edition is epic ! The Settings are all very inspiring and the racial traits for the New Races of Abaddon are cool !
You can thank everyone who worked on this project. They knocked this one out of the park.
One quick question about the new Raijin : the race is now a Template that you slap on a normal PC, correct ? Or I create a generic Pc and then the Raijin comes online with only their racial traits ?
And what about the possibility of other incorporeal possessions ? How do they work on the Raijin ?
If you picked up Races of Obsidian Apocalypse: Flesh and Iron (PFRPG), this really describes it best:
Ego: The spirit possessing the living host creature has an Ego score, similar to that of intelligent magic items. A raijin’s spirit possesses a base Ego of 5 plus the spirit’s Intelligence modifier, determined by the GM (see GM Advice in the next section).