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Hopefully this is okay to put here.
I've been obsessively reading anything and everything I can get my hands on about Nidal and Zon-Kuthon. And of course that includes The Inner Sea Gods. And I noticed something odd.
The bonus that Zon-Kuthon's Deific Obedience gives is a sacred bonus, despite his evil alignment.
Theories?
Mine is personally that it has something to do with his past as Dou-Bral.
Agreed. It's almost certainly an error, and should be a profane bonus.
It's your game. Change up whatever you want to make it more enjoyable for you and your players.
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Yeah, just a typo.
In theory, all bonuses granted by gods, whether good or evil, should probably be sacred bonuses, and if profane bonuses exist at all, they should be granted by anti-theistic sorts, or arcane demonologists or Geryon-serving promulgators of heresy bent on undermining the faiths of the gods or whatever.
But that ain't the way it's done.
Good gods grant sacred bonuses, evil gods grant profane bonuses, and, hilariously, that means that you can't stack a sacred bonus from two Shelyn and Sarenrae, but you *can* stack a sacred bonus from Iomedae and a profane bonus from Rovagug, 'cause, whacky! (And neutral gods, whether chaotic, lawful or just firmly riding that fence, grant sacred *or* profane bonuses, apparently depending on their mood, or the mood of the cleric serving them!)
In theory, all bonuses granted by gods, whether good or evil, should probably be sacred bonuses, and if profane bonuses exist at all, they should be granted by anti-theistic sorts, or arcane demonologists or Geryon-serving promulgators of heresy bent on undermining the faiths of the gods or whatever.
But that ain't the way it's done.
Good gods grant sacred bonuses, evil gods grant profane bonuses, and, hilariously, that means that you can't stack a sacred bonus from two Shelyn and Sarenrae, but you *can* stack a sacred bonus from Iomedae and a profane bonus from Rovagug, 'cause, whacky! (And neutral gods, whether chaotic, lawful or just firmly riding that fence, grant sacred *or* profane bonuses, apparently depending on their mood, or the mood of the cleric serving them!)
I sort-of agree with Set on this... I would have preferred not to have sacred and profane bonuses, and instead have a single "divine" bonus (indicating a gift from the gods).
Alternatively, I'm considering ruling at my table that sacred and profane bonuses counter each other. So, if you had somehow gotten a +2 sacred bonus and a +3 profane bonus, then you would effectively only have a +1 profane bonus.
On the flip side, you do see this exact sort of "weirdly opposed, yet synergistic." concept in a number of fictional works - especially fantasy anime with Western themes, weirdly.
The idea of hoisting both the power of light and darkness as complementary powers with opposed adherents instead of powers that weaken each other.
A famous scene in Record of Lodoss War comes immediately to mind for this, as does one of the central conceits of Secret of Mana. Of course, heaven/purity/light and hell/compromise/darkness aren't necessarily treated the same as morality or immorality, so...
Ah. Never been much into anime.
Or Japanese-made video games? :)
(Though I only said "anime" (my bad), SoM was actually a well-known action-RPG.)
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On the flip side, you do see this exact sort of "weirdly opposed, yet synergistic." concept in a number of fictional works - especially fantasy anime with Western themes, weirdly.
The idea of hoisting both the power of light and darkness as complementary powers with opposed adherents instead of powers that weaken each other.
Being touched by both the Vorlons and the Shadows in Babylon 5 came to mind.
Or Japanese-made video games? :)
(Though I only said "anime" (my bad), SoM was actually a well-known action-RPG.)
I don't play video games.
(I'm pretty sure that if I started, I'd never do anything else.)