The Weight of Life - Followers of Damerrich


Lost Omens Campaign Setting General Discussion


One of the things I love most about Golarion is that there is a ton of stuff left unwritten. It allows me to expand on things in my games and invent new things to further enrich the game world. A part of the setting that always interests me are the divine being they have and how the interact with their followers and each other. On one of the Pathfinder FB pages I play a little game of creativity where I ask about what kind of character you would make to follow a god. This week I'm looking at Damerrich, the Empyreal Lord of executions, judiciousness, and responsibility.

Sitting at our theoretical gaming table, our GM turns to us and says, "All of the characters must be followers of Damerrich, although they do not need to be divine casters." What character do you make? Who is he? Why has he chosen The Weighted Axe as his patron? In what ways does he further the Empyreal Lords‘s goals? Why would he be attracted to this beings doctrine?


Now here's one of my favourite Empyreal Lords! Though I feel like he often gets a bad rap on these forums, I personally love Dammerich's portfolio and aesthetic. The idea of a celestial being taking up such a grim mantle to keep his comrades from bloodying their hands is a fascinating one, and I feel like a lot of people mistake him for some kind of bloodthirsty zealot- his obedience makes it clear that his followers never take executions lightly, and his write-up suggests they hunt those who unjustly punish the innocent.

Once again, I have a character concept that predates this thread, whom I refer to as "The Headsman of Isger": A hulking, Kyton-spawn Tiefling who always wears an executioner's hood emblazoned with the emblem of the Isgeri army. I envision him as a former soldier turned agent of justice in the wake of Isger's lawlessness, trying to overcome his innate fascination with pain and death with the meditative blows of greataxes. However, I'm thinking of making him Neutral Good, perhaps more prone to "frontier justice" than he'd like to be, which might lead to some interesting roleplay during his Celestial Obedience.

Class-wise, I originally was going to go Inquisitor, though I've become more and more enamoured of late with the idea of making him a Bones Oracle, raising the corpses of executed evildoers so that they might attain some measure of atonement before their final judgment (My usual GMs don't consider necromancy always evil).


Darthslaverus wrote:

Now here's one of my favourite Empyreal Lords! Though I feel like he often gets a bad rap on these forums, I personally love Dammerich's portfolio and aesthetic. The idea of a celestial being taking up such a grim mantle to keep his comrades from bloodying their hands is a fascinating one, and I feel like a lot of people mistake him for some kind of bloodthirsty zealot- his obedience makes it clear that his followers never take executions lightly, and his write-up suggests they hunt those who unjustly punish the innocent.

Once again, I have a character concept that predates this thread, whom I refer to as "The Headsman of Isger": A hulking, Kyton-spawn Tiefling who always wears an executioner's hood emblazoned with the emblem of the Isgeri army. I envision him as a former soldier turned agent of justice in the wake of Isger's lawlessness, trying to overcome his innate fascination with pain and death with the meditative blows of greataxes. However, I'm thinking of making him Neutral Good, perhaps more prone to "frontier justice" than he'd like to be, which might lead to some interesting roleplay during his Celestial Obedience.

Class-wise, I originally was going to go Inquisitor, though I've become more and more enamoured of late with the idea of making him a Bones Oracle, raising the corpses of executed evildoers so that they might attain some measure of atonement before their final judgment (My usual GMs don't consider necromancy always evil).

Borked my laptop screen over the weekend and a con so just seeing this. I was very much trying to take this Empyreal Lord away from the vindictive or really even aggressive role many people seem to put her (oddly none of the write-ups I can find gender the Empyreal Lord, so I've decided Damerrich is a she) in. I think your character idea is interesting. Personally I keep all create undead spells evil, but your GM can change things as he/she sees fit.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Actually made a character who worshiped him. Made a Strangler Brawler. If evil would not repent he would with his own hands remove evil from Golarion... His past was scarred and he had much to repent for, so best let his already dirty hands finish the job and not let others do so if he could help it.


I had two players make inquisitors of Damerrich in the Strange Aeons game I'm running. I'm not sure why. Probably to annoy me.

Apupunchau wrote:
(oddly none of the write-ups I can find gender the Empyreal Lord,

I don't wish to intrude upon your GM fiat, but Chronicle of the Righteous, page 11, does detail Damerrich (complete with illustration!) and his faith, and does indeed designate him as a male archon.

Lovely write-up on your blog, though.


I actually recently made a thread asking for advice about a similar subject.


PannicAtack wrote:

I had two players make inquisitors of Damerrich in the Strange Aeons game I'm running. I'm not sure why. Probably to annoy me.

Apupunchau wrote:
(oddly none of the write-ups I can find gender the Empyreal Lord,

I don't wish to intrude upon your GM fiat, but Chronicle of the Righteous, page 11, does detail Damerrich (complete with illustration!) and his faith, and does indeed designate him as a male archon.

Lovely write-up on your blog, though.

Thanks. Sadly Chronicles of the Righteous is one of the splatbooks I don't own. So I had to take all my information from Archives of Nethys and the Pathfinderwiki. And neither of those gendered him. Mistakes were made but I regret nothing :)


Well, that's fair enough. In the interest of having complete material here, I suppose it might be useful to post the flavor text.

"Damerrich and his followers believe death to be the defining moment of a mortal’s life. How an individual meets her end and why weigh heavily on the spirit in the afterlife. Damerrich understands that evil must sometimes be slain, but never lightly, never easily. Damerrich takes on the weight of all the necessary executions and just deaths in the world. Executioners look to this empyreal lord whenever they have qualms with their line of work, and Damerrich teaches them that while their duty is a sober and joy-free one, it is necessary to ensure peace and goodness.

Damerrich is a silent, monolithic figure clad in black stone armor. His handsome, hairless face is mostly hidden behind his helm; only his weary eyes are clearly visible. Once Damerrich commits to combat, he strikes heavily and without hesitation. Centuries of death wear on Damerrich’s soul, but only because of the solemn responsibility, not because of guilt or reluctance—when the time comes for action, Damerrich’s blow is sure. The Weighted Swing holds no room for regret.

Judges, whether appointed officials in city courthouses or village leaders acting as part of a tribunal, pray to Damerrich for guidance in their judgments. Good people may understand the need for executions but shrink from the act; Damerrich and his agents help reassure them when executions are appropriate or take the burden ofmortal guilt upon themselves. Those wrongly sentenced to death pray for intercession from Damerrich, and can hope to receive help in the form of one of his divine agents. Corrupt judges and careless executioners rouse the Weighted Swing’s ire like nothing else. Similarly, if an accused deserving of death is set free, Damerrich’s agents might appear both to perform the just execution and to chastise those who set the criminal free. The Weighted Swing does not take pleasure in his grim but necessary task, and those who take the matter of execution too lightly or who sadistically revel in the act may expect retribution from Damerrich’s chosen elimination squad of shield archons, Those of the Heaving Hand.

Damerrich occupies the southern wing of the Courts of Accord in Heaven. He sometimes works with Olheon, who resides in the northern wing, to take action against corrupt regimes responsible for excessive unlawful executions."

The cult write-up indicates his primary worshippers are "executioners, judges, morticians, the wrongfully imprisoned."

Book also indicates that he's popular with paladins who worship empyreal lords, and that he's one of the patrons of the "Rampant" mystery cult (one of the more crusader-y mystery cults).

Great book in general if you want to do anything to do with Empyreal Lords.

In my Strange Aeons game it started with one player who decided he'd make a paladin of Damerrich (he thought the idea of a grim black-armored edgy guy who's actually totally the good guy was funny and he's generally interested in the Empyreal Lord) and two other people went "hey that's neat" and made inquisitors (and then there was a hilarious argument regarding my own opinions). One of them was sort of just a gruff axe-wielding dwarf. Other took the Living Grimoire archetype from Horror Adventures and plays him as a timid guy. Every time he meets someone he writes their name in his book. The campaign has not progressed particularly far. Also the first guy decided that he wouldn't go with the paladin and instead decided to make a bard who worships Nocticula.

I've also been toying with the idea of introducing a paladin of Damerrich in a Galt campaign I'm doing. Thinking of doing a bait-and-switch where we see a big hulking dude in black full plate armor (with a skull motif!) and making the party think he's the bad guy. Still need to think what I'd actually do with him, 'cause he's not tied in with the mystery cult I also plan to have in the campaign...


Nice thanks for the info. I think I stuck to a lot of the already written fluff. just got the gender wrong. There are a few other things I might have gleaned from that write up. I'll probably pick up the book but right now just very broke.

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