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In the interest of full disclosure, I am new to the setting of Golarion and Pathfinder in general, but have played 'the other game' on and off since first edition. Because of these factors I suspect I am either missing something or have muddled things up in my mind, but here goes.
If a character (or NPC for that matter) takes the Test of the Starstone and manages to become a deity, does he or she need worshipers to remain a god? How do new gods recruit worshipers? What happens if they have no worshipers?
Let me give you an example: Suppose Dave the Fearless manages to pass the Test of Starstone and ascend to godhood. Up until this point, very few people have heard of Dave the Fearless. Sure, some might know of his valiant deeds and appreciate his them for their results, but that is a far cry from worshiping him. What happens if no one is attracted to his faith?
As an additional thought, how are portfolios or spheres of influence handled for new deities? Does the freshly minted deity pick them or are they 'assigned' based on their skillset? What if they overlap with other pre-existing deities? Now I understand that a DM or DM/Player would pick the portfolios that they wished to if it was a player character or NPC, but I am thinking of the world as it exists. There is already a luck deity so why have a second one?
Thanks in advance!
Dotted because I too wish to know the answer to this. (Folks who like their homebrews to get to level 20+... Moi.)
It does make sense I suppose to leave it vague, BUT I think there should be a general rule that the more worshipers a deity has, the more power and influence he or she wields. In the 'old days' deities were ranked as Greater, lesser and even demi-gods based in part on their relative power and influence which was in turn based on their worshipers. 'Dead gods' were those that were forgotten or no longer worshiped. Does it still work the same way?
I'm fairly sure that Pathfinder gods don't require/feed on worship to exist.
Ok! Can you give me a source on this? As I said, I very well could have missed something since I am new to the setting/game! :D
Creative Director
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You do not need worshipers to be a god. Your influential power as a deity may depend in part on the strength of your church... but your personal power as a deity does not. There are other ways by which the gods gain or lose power, and those methods are deliberately NOT quantified by rules.
So yeah... there's two things regarding a deity—the deity itself and the deity's church. Faith increases the power of the church, but doesn't directly impact the power of the deity itself.
Ok! Can you give me a source on this? As I said, I very well could have missed something since I am new to the setting/game! :DI'm fairly sure that Pathfinder gods don't require/feed on worship to exist.
That being said, Jacobs has also given the impression that older gods tend to be more powerful than younger gods, not necessarily because of the amount of worshipers but more having more time to build up power. Still, it's not a hard and fast rule.
You do not need worshipers to be a god. Your influential power as a deity may depend in part on the strength of your church... but your personal power as a deity does not. There are other ways by which the gods gain or lose power, and those methods are deliberately NOT quantified by rules.
So yeah... there's two things regarding a deity—the deity itself and the deity's church. Faith increases the power of the church, but doesn't directly impact the power of the deity itself.
Ok, I think I have it! Thank you. So in my example, once Dave passes the Test of Starstone and becomes a deity, its sort of up to him to acquire worshipers but if he doesn't that doesn't mean he will eventually lose his godhood. However, his ability to influence affairs on Golarion would be almost non-existent since he wouldn't have a church!
Right, well I think that is what I was assuming based on my experiences with 1st/2nd edition. It just sort of makes sense to me, but as James said the idea of a powerful 'forgotten' god is really cool.
I mean look at Cthulhu lore. Very few if any cultists worship them, yet they are portrayed as very powerful.
Thanks again for the help!
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Creative Director
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There's two reasons we decided faith has no impact on a deity's personal power...
1) So we COULD have forgotten deities like Ydersius, Lissala, and several others.
2) Because that idea is so strongly associated with D&D. We want to do our own thing (which also means we want to avoid infringing upon their intellectual properties).
Ok! Can you give me a source on this? As I said, I very well could have missed something since I am new to the setting/game! :DI'm fairly sure that Pathfinder gods don't require/feed on worship to exist.
That being said, Jacobs has also given the impression that older gods tend to be more powerful than younger gods, not necessarily because of the amount of worshipers but more having more time to build up power. Still, it's not a hard and fast rule.
On the other hand, I have the definite impression that younger and/or lower-powered gods have considerably more freedom to manifest and act directly in the world than the old and vast gods do...