Good deities for a paladin in Strange Aeons?


Strange Aeons


There's not really a deity in Golarion who focuses on fighting aberrations or the machinations of the Great Old Ones. The closest is maybe the Black Butterfly, I guess.

Are there any other deities suitable for a paladin -- LG, NG, or LN -- that might be good for a paladin running through this AP?

Thanks,

Doug M.

Silver Crusade

Desna's whole shtick is pretty much fighting those things, but she's CG.

Can't really think of a good deity for a Paladin, I just went with Iomedae for mine.


I'd go Abadar. He prefers to have a neat and tidy universe, and both aberrations and great old ones are high on the list of untidy people.

More seriously, as the god of civilization, he does oppose monster deities, corruption, and the destructive forces that great old ones are so fond of promoting.

Silver Crusade

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Old Deadeye--Erastil's portfolio and ethos is easily extrapolated to natural law/benificient natural order which is precisely what is opposed by the great old ones.

Erastil combines the nature vs beyond nature, natural order vs primordal chaos, human vs inhuman/beyond human understanding, and good vs evil elements of the PCs vs old ones conflict.

Also while I don't know where Strange Aeons is going, Erastil's traditional suspicion of urbanization and high civilization would play into typical Lovecraftian horror genre themes such as the decadence of civilization. (Not that it's necessarily a theme of Lovecraft's himself, but in Robert E Howard's Lovecraftian moments, it is a continual theme as well as in Chambers' King in Yellow, and frequently shows up in Abraham Merrit's works as well and they all played a part in the development of early wierd fiction that we call Lovecraftian today and which appears to be the inspiration for Strange Aeons).


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Shelyn, of course.

Think about it. Her brother brother Dou-Braul went outside the universe and came back possessed by some eldritch abomination (giving her reason to hate insidious entities that enjoy corrupting others), she grants the Oath against Corruption to paladins(the only other non-lawful god(dess) that does that Sarenrae, and fighting monsters that crawl out from beyond the universe is kind of her schtick) & she, as a goddess of beauty would hate to see bunch of Lovecraftian horrors to get their tentacles on everything that is pure and beautiful in the world. Plus, if you take Deific Obedience, you can be rocking DOUBLE your CHA modifier on attack rolls when you smite evil WHILE also adding your CHA to damage as well, starting Lvl 16. Which as we all know, is just in time to cave the BEEG's ugly, unspeakable face in.

(I could also bring up the fact that Shelyn is best girl, but we all already knew that.)


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Hmm... OP, it sounds like you want to focus less on "horror", and more on "standing up to the darkness"? Which makes sense for a Paladin, I suppose. XD The "Oath Against Corruption" archetype, which is thematically fitting for you, suggests Abadar, Sarenrae, Shelyn, and Torag. Otherwise...

Arqueros is the Emypreal Lord of Bodyguards, Protection, and Watchfulness, which you could probably spin into something good for shielding your party. If you wanted to go a bit more horror, Vildeis is the Empyreal Lord of Devotion, Sacrifice, and Scars.


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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Saerenrae might be especially apt for Strange Aeons, given that the paladin in question was likely involved in some seriously shady stuff in their forgotten past, and may not even have been a paladin prior awakening with no memory. This, the attention of the Goddess of Redemption makes a good deal of sense.


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Yes Saranrae seems appropriate to me too for the exact same reasons.

Silver Crusade

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Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Ragathiel. Kill, maim, burn the heretic.


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Gorbacz wrote:
Ragathiel. Kill, maim, burn the heretic.

Kharn the Paladin ;)


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A lot of people forget that Irori has Paladins. They aren't common, but they would be completely on board with stomping out cults to some twisted eldritch gods offering people the type of power that worshippers of Irori are supposed to get through the pursuit of natural self perfection, especially if these people end up mentally and physically mutilated in exchange.

Acquisitives

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Erastil.


I would say Shelyn and Sarenrae would both be pretty good fit for fighting corrupting eldritch horrors and being willing to give someone a chance at redemption. To be honest, though, most paladin deities would be okay with not letting the machinations of Old One cults and madmen come to fruition. IMO Erastil makes slightly less sense as the adventure path is more about travel and less about staying in one place and community, but seriously, I think they all work.

Acquisitives

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
The Shaman wrote:
I would say Shelyn and Sarenrae would both be pretty good fit for fighting corrupting eldritch horrors and being willing to give someone a chance at redemption. To be honest, though, most paladin deities would be okay with not letting the machinations of Old One cults and madmen come to fruition. IMO Erastil makes slightly less sense as the adventure path is more about travel and less about staying in one place and community, but seriously, I think they all work.

staying in one place and community kinda fits the parts of Ustalav where the characters are operating in (at least in the first 2 books).

that being said... they start out with a lost mind. how can former thugs under Lowls' employ come out of the mind wipe with paladin powers?

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

Seems like a really good place for that DM trust the players are supposed to have to come in. Turns out that while the PC in question was up to all this shady stuff he or she had some serious misgivings and maybe in the last moments before it all happened fought back or said a prayer asking Sarenrae to forgive them.

Bam! They come out the other side a paladin not aware that she has given him or her the opportunity (quite directly) to redeem themselves by setting things right.

Paizo Employee Developer

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Also, there are two campaign traits that specifically address a good, devoted character ending up in this situation (though the details are up to a GM and their players to determine—not gonna tie any hands here).


Though sadly CG (and therefor many will rule not eligible for worship by a paladin) the specific deity you're looking for is Black Butterfly.

However, that's really a bit too on the nose. I like the afore-suggested recommendation of Oath Against Corruption Sarenrae: it stretches believability a bit less while still doing what you're looking for.


It could be they were paladins before, who were mentally dominated by some extremely powerful effect, which the amnesia removed and all they have is a feeling they should be doing the right thing and that they need to redeem themselves. Alternatively, perhaps they did something in their previous lives that made the deity (ideally a more forgiving one like Sarenrae or Shelyn) give them a chance to prove themselves.


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We have a LG Paladin of Shaelyn named Dove. She tries to smite anything that looks ugly. We are in book 3, and so far everytime she has smited something that was ugly..... it was evil. So it works well.


Another vote for Saerenrae here.

One of my players is going with a multiclass Oracle/Paladin of Saerenrae.
We always talk about Paladins falling and becoming AntiPaladins or Blackguards.
This time, the Blackguard "falls" (is redeemed) and fights for good.

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