Hey all,
Any suggestions for an appropriate deity for a tiefling serpent shaman (druid archetype) who is to embark on the Serpent's Skull adventure path? I'd like her to be good, or at the very least neutral aligned. Poison and the jungle are significant themes.
Cheers!
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Oh! Oh! Do you have a moment to talk about our Snake Lord Yig?
Yig is one of the Great Old Ones, but alongside Bokrug and Mhar, he is fairly non-malicious (you know, for a deity out of the Cthulhu Mythos). It is a deity of cycles, procreation and serpents, and tends to have some worshippers among nomads or hinterland dwellers. It is not likely to care too much for your ancestry or, ahem, peculiar look. Such mortal fancies are insignificant to Yig!
Yiggite cultists have a good chance to be noticed and protected, but must continue being devoted in kind - Yig is not a kind god, and lapsed worshippers or those who offend it are likely to be cursed with infertility, mutations, failing harvests, deadly snake attacks or various curses. Also, harming snakes is generally discouraged; harming serpentfolk - not so much. Apparently, some minor serpentfolk deity called Ydersius considers Yig a rival or enemy. This... could come into play. Yig's favored children are huge, strongly venomous serpents with a crescent on their heads. There is more about Yig in Bestiary 6, including a stat block of the Big Snake Daddy itself.
Also, seriously, how often do you get to play a worshipper of a Great Old One in Pathfinder and not be just another insane cultist?
Not that insanity is a problem or anything, of course. And yes, Yig is one of my favourite Pathfinder deities.
Oh! Oh! Do you have a moment to talk about our Snake Lord Yig?
Yig is one of the Great Old Ones, but alongside Bokrug and Mhar, he is fairly non-malicious (you know, for a deity out of the Cthulhu Mythos). It is a deity of cycles, procreation and serpents, and tends to have some worshippers among nomads or hinterland dwellers. It is not likely to care too much for your ancestry or, ahem, peculiar look. Such mortal fancies are insignificant to Yig!
Yiggite cultists have a good chance to be noticed and protected, but must continue being devoted in kind - Yig is not a kind god, and lapsed worshippers or those who offend it are likely to be cursed with infertility, mutations, failing harvests, deadly snake attacks or various curses. Also, harming snakes is generally discouraged; harming serpentfolk - not so much. Apparently, some minor serpentfolk deity called Ydersius considers Yig a rival or enemy. This... could come into play. Yig's favored children are huge, strongly venomous serpents with a crescent on their heads. There is more about Yig in Bestiary 6, including a stat block of the Big Snake Daddy itself.
Also, seriously, how often do you get to play a worshipper of a Great Old One in Pathfinder and not be just another insane cultist?
Not that insanity is a problem or anything, of course. And yes, Yig is one of my favourite Pathfinder deities.
Perfect! :-)
Why do you even need a deity at all? Druids do not need a deity they can simply worship nature itself. The Green Faith and Tamashigo are philosophies that fit druids very well. Either of these seems to me more fitting for a druid than worshiping a deity. I always imagined a druid to be much more than another type of cleric. Worshiping a deity to me makes a druid just another type of priest instead of something different.
Why do you even need a deity at all?
Because the Snake Lord Yig!
To be honest, druids work perfectly well as priests of nature deities. Sadly, the cleric class does not really give you all that many abilities outside of its casting, so having "alternative" priests like druids, warpriests or inquisitors makes perfect sense for some religions.
Yes on Yig, even if this goes against decades of CoC induced antipathy.
If you are set in an Osirian area there is always Set.
The ancient god Ydersius (pronounced yeh-DER-see-us)[1] is the patron of the serpentfolk, a race of snake-men who battled the humans of ancient Azlant during the Age of Legend.[2]
History
Ydersius and the serpentfolk were driven underground during the war with the Azlanti and forced to hide in the Darklands realm of Sekamina. In one of the final battles of the war, Ydersius was decapitated by the mighty Azlanti champion Savith and became known as the Headless King. Still believed to be living in two pieces, his mindless body is said to thrash in the lightless depths below, while his head has wasted away to a still-conscious skull.[3][4] It is rumored that his head is buried somewhere in the Mwangi Expanse, luring the serpentfolk to that region.[5] Whatever the exact truth may be, his clerics still receive his divine power, a sure sign that he has not followed Aroden into true death. A deity of unquenched passion and anger, the generally more cerebral serpentfolk used him as an example of all that was potent and primal in their psyche.[3] [4] They believe that should his body and head be reunited, Ydersius would return to full power and lead his people on an attack against the surface world.[6]
According to the ancient legends of the Mwangi, the Zenj folk hero Old-Mage Jatembe learned secrets from the severed head of Ydersius before sewing its lips shut.[7]
The Wiki has a ton more stuff, and there is still an active religion.
I think the bolded bit might well be the most interesting for your character. Secret Cults from Savage Lands is delightfully Pulp.EDIT
I forgot to add that your little Tiefling might actually be a descendant of one of Ydersius' minions, Lixiriltha, a marilith demon, for good or ill.
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Yig definitely sounds like a great option.
There's an Empyreal Lord with a snake-theme as well, Irez, but she seems totally unsuited to this build, as do Demon Lords (Abraxus) or Archdevils (Geryon) with snake bits.
Set in Osirion/Golarion is not the Set of Marvel comics (or Conan), and has nothing to do with snakes, so probably a bad choice.
Speaking of Osirion, there is Wadjet, who is a valid patron for NG or LN druids. Yig does not really support good druids, as he is CN in alignment (and druids have to be at least part neutral in alignment).
