How directly or indirectly do they affect the world, aside from just being really strong guys and/or girls that give clerics spells?
If, for example, Calistria or Cayden Cailean died, what would happen other than a bunch of clerics losing their magic?
Generally when a Golarion god dies, another deity assumes/steals their domains/ deific portfolio. So, to the extent that Gods effect the world, stuff still happens. Obviously some of the particulars could theoretically change, and one could easily imagine, especially over the long term, a world adapting to different aspects of a God's personality, but in general the meta stuff will still happen.
The one thing I noticed is that they save the world (and everything else) from Rovagug. But then again, that served their own interests as well.
Other than spell granting, they don't seem to do much.
The current gods are mostly hands off of the material world. But in the past -
Ask a cleric of Aroden.
Whatever they want?
It seems to me that the only thing that keeps any one of them from totally taking over the universe is each other. It's the mutually-assured destruction that keeps any particular deity from dominating See: Rovagug. So it makes sense that they step back and try to influence the world more subtly, with clerics and religion. Any overt hostility makes the rest gang up on you.
So it seems that the most useful thing that they do is keep tabs on each other. And occasionally save the planet from the Aboleths.
I think the only reason that *they* had to stop Earthfall was because adventure paths hadn't been invented yet. :)
How directly or indirectly do they affect the world, aside from just being really strong guys and/or girls that give clerics spells?
If, for example, Calistria or Cayden Cailean died, what would happen other than a bunch of clerics losing their magic?
For the most part Gods do under the hood stuff to maintain their portfolio, most of it indirectly through their clerics. They do further under the hood stuff to bolster their allies and hinder their enemies.
It's exceptional events that bring stuff that's normally behind the curtain, to the forefront, such as when two gods acted directly to blunt Earthfall. In the case of one of the gods death's, it was tied to the obliteration of the celestial sphere she was the patron of. Humanity on the other hand, has not suffered any waning because of the passing of Aroden.
Keep in mind that gods don't have quite the free will mortals do. Their actions, indeed their very perceptions are heavily influenced by their portfolios. Iomedae is for example, the ultimate Crusader. She can't put aside that role because she embodies it. And so it frames much of how she looks at things and the decisions she makes.
What has Iomedae done personally as a crusader after ascending besides inspiring and directing her followers to crusade?
What has she personally done about the Worldwound? The Whispering Tyrant?
I would expect her to lead the Mendevian Crusade personally, if she physically could. But she does not.
As far as on Golarion itself I think they are mostly limited to directing and empowering their followers.
There are a few more exceptions where gods directly interacted with the world.
Sarenrae blew up a city once.
I think Gozreh planted a giant tree that was later cut down in Irrisen.
Aroden wrestled with the Whispering Tyrant and Deskari, I belive, but I'm not familiar enough with the details to know if that was before or after ascending.
On the prime, Gods operate with a light touch - spells granted there, the occasional vision/nudge, the occasional transformation (the Daughters of Urgathoa are a good example of this), and in more extreme instances the occasional mythic tier. (I don't have it handy, but IIRC the sample mythic adventure in Mythic Adventures involves Erastil directly granting power to a party so they can stop a volcano).
Gods meddle on the Prime under exceptional circumstances, and even then only with or through their followers.
Outside of the Prime things can get much more personal, though still unlikely - the various gods each rule realms the size of continents or even planets, but the gods are not omniscient or omnipotent - and so much has to be delegated. Even Asmodeus, the control freak to end all control freaks, and ruler of arguably the largest divine realm (Hell), had to divide up Hell between his archdukes, who subdivided it further in turn.
(Arguably comes into play because Desna's prime material divine realm is an entire star, Cynosure. Hell is vast, but I have no idea if it has the volume of an entire star. Planes in Pathfinder aren't infinite, but they're still really, really huge, and their sizes are often left deliberately vague.)
On the Prime, the gods are behind-the-scenes advisors/motivators/puppeteers, depending on how the god works.
Outside of the Prime/"life"-bearing planets, the gods rule as impossibly powerful sovereigns, who still have to respect each other's relative boundries and still have to work within their limits.
Trying to go outside those boundries is ... bad for you. See Rovagug (actual god, stronger than other gods, got ganged up on and sealed), Curchanus (actual god, lured into a trap and killed by the then-Demon Lord Lamashtu), Ydersius (actual god, got crippled via decapitation by a mythic mortal), Dou-Bral (actual god, went roaming the Dark Tapestry, came back as Zon-Kuthon, tried to "convert" his sister, lost his super-artifact glaive and got exiled to the Plane of Shadow), and Aroden (actual god, planned a triumphant return to the mortal realm, it went terribly, terribly wrong).
Whatever they want?
It seems to me that the only thing that keeps any one of them from totally taking over the universe is each other. It's the mutually-assured destruction that keeps any particular deity from dominating See: Rovagug. So it makes sense that they step back and try to influence the world more subtly, with clerics and religion. Any overt hostility makes the rest gang up on you.
Then what the flying air elemental is the Worldwound then? "Boys will be boys, and demons murderous rape-hobos"?
Ydersius (actual god, got crippled via decapitation by a mythic mortal)Ydersius is kind of an exception to the usual rules. It specifically notes in his article from SS:
"Long ago, Ydersius took an active role in the affairs of his people. He was the embodiment of the might and power of the serpentfolk empire, a living god who walked among his worshipers and led them to great victories. He commanded serpentfolk armies, raised great cities, and bred with mortal serpentfolk females to produce semidivine offspring that led and ruled the far-flung outposts of the serpentfolk empire in his stead."
He didn't descend temporarily and get his head sliced, he'd been there from the get-go.
It wasn't until near the end of the Age of Legends that Savith gave him his headache, and even after that the body wasn't dead. His headless body is, technically, still his divine body, so he never actually stopped "walking the earth" like he'd done before the migraine. And if the PCs fail and he does the equivalent of taking a couple of ibuprofen, then he's a full living god again who can go back to leading the serpentfolk.
Well I say the Sodden Lands suddenly became a lot more interesting for a homebrew. Thanks :)
Ydersius (actual god, got crippled via decapitation by a mythic mortal)Ydersius is kind of an exception to the usual rules. It specifically notes in his article from SS:
"Long ago, Ydersius took an active role in the affairs of his people. He was the embodiment of the might and power of the serpentfolk empire, a living god who walked among his worshipers and led them to great victories. He commanded serpentfolk armies, raised great cities, and bred with mortal serpentfolk females to produce semidivine offspring that led and ruled the far-flung outposts of the serpentfolk empire in his stead."
He didn't descend temporarily and get his head sliced, he'd been there from the get-go.
It wasn't until near the end of the Age of Legends that Savith gave him his headache, and even after that the body wasn't dead. His headless body is, technically, still his divine body, so he never actually stopped "walking the earth" like he'd done before the migraine. And if the PCs fail and he does the equivalent of taking a couple of ibuprofen, then he's a full living god again who can go back to leading the serpentfolk.
Hey, I noted that decapitation crippled him rather than killing him. Ydersius is definitely a shadow of his former self, but still grants spells and what-not.
Ydersius's involvement with his serpentfolk worshippers made him vulnerable in a way that deities normally aren't. And so he actually got shanked by a fighter with a magic sword.
Worldwound - the Worldwound is an extension of Deskari's realm in the Abyss. Iomedae can't close it up any more than she could go to Hell and knock over Dispater's tower.
I.e., she could actually do it, but the consequences would be disastrous.
So what would happen if there was a more Greek/Roman thing going on? Where Gods meddled much more, boinked mortals/anything that they could boink and so on.
So what would happen if there was a more Greek/Roman thing going on? Where Gods meddled much more, boinked mortals/anything that they could boink and so on.
A lot of thunder, erupting volcanoes, floods, earthquakes, epic God vs God battles with massive collateral damage, that possibly could shatter Rovagug's cage? Sarenrae meddled with mortals once, when destroyed that city where Pit of Gormuz stands. And I don't think that Spawns of Rovagug periodically emerging from there are making people happy.
So what would happen if there was a more Greek/Roman thing going on? Where Gods meddled much more, boinked mortals/anything that they could boink and so on.A lot of thunder, erupting volcanoes, floods, earthquakes, epic God vs God battles with massive collateral damage, that possibly could shatter Rovagug's cage? Sarenrae meddled with mortals once, when destroyed that city where Pit of Gormuz stands. And I don't think that Spawns of Rovagug periodically emerging from there are making people happy.
Zeus and Co. quite often meddled with Zeus doing the whole shower of gold/duck/whatever so he could score. The Siege of Troy had some lurking around the dges as well.
I imagine that the gods are very paranoid and if they have earthly avatars rarely use them.
Someone needs to reread the history of Aroden. The Shining Crusade was not the first confrontation between the two, and Tar-Baphon was not always a lich.
The actual battle that took the Tyrant down was not fought by Aroden but was fought with a mortal who used an artifact that bore his name.
And Aroden was not always a god. The battle you are referring to happened before Aroden ascended to apotheosis.