Hi! I am reading some Pathfinder Journals at the moment to get a better idea of the world. At the moment I read Hell's Pawns. I am a bit confused about some things like a dwarf working for a thief organisation runnning around with a broken arm (usually I would just go to a temple to get help or I would guess there are heaps of healer running around) or that all the magic they use is very very low level magic. That is something that already stands out reading other Pathfinder Journals (like the on in Curse of the Crimson Throne).
I write a adventure places in Golarion (Absalom, Cheliax, Hold of Belkzen and the Darklands) and I am not sure how to play the distribution of divine and arcane magic.
It would be nice if anyone could help me here, maybe with some sources I can read. Or just by explaining how it magic is set in golarion.
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Hi! I am reading some Pathfinder Journals at the moment to get a better idea of the world. At the moment I read Hell's Pawns. I am a bit confused about some things like a dwarf working for a thief organisation runnning around with a broken arm (usually I would just go to a temple to get help or I would guess there are heaps of healer running around) or that all the magic they use is very very low level magic.
The sort of damage that adventurers take is abstracted as 'hit point damage' and easily cured by low level magic, or even just resting for a few days.
A broken bone would represent something that doesn't happen as much 'in game,' and could require something other than just curing 'hit points' to correct. Depending on the narrative, it might require major magic, like regenerate, to cure, but it could be something more like ability drain, and not cure naturally, but require a restoration spell, available at lower levels, but still not cheap or universally available, even if the surrounding city is crawling with temples and mid-level clerics capable of casting lesser restoration or restoration.
I write a adventure places in Golarion (Absalom, Cheliax, Hold of Belkzen and the Darklands) and I am not sure how to play the distribution of divine and arcane magic.
When writing, the access is up to you, the writer.
Obviously there are going to be a lot of temples and therefore access to clerical healing in places like Asbalom, or Cheliax. Less so in the Hold of Belkzen or most areas of the Darklands. (A drow city, on the other hand, could have a dozen different churches, to different demon lords, each with their own clerical hierarchy.)
But that doesn't mean that the Absalomi clerics are going to just be handing out lesser restoration spells. Some might not need money, right this moment, as much as some sort of service. Some might not treat recognized thieves. You might show up at the wrong time and disturb a sacred moment of silence, or run into the wrong prelate, who got shortchanged once by a dwarf, and be kicked out. Some might be greedy, or desperate because they just lost some precious temple treasure entrusted to their care, or have a gambling debt, and try to charge more than the character can afford for healing. It might come across as contrived if every single healer in town has a reason to not heal a simple injury, however, so try to use these sorts of options sparingly. (But in a smaller town, where you've only got one healer, and he turns out to be a jerk, it's easier to justify. The healer has a monopoly and can get away with this.)
In Cheliax, you could find the too-friendly acolyte offering to heal your broken limb to be a scion of a rich family and want nothing to do with mere gold pieces. To be healed, all you have to do is sign this contract, promising a 'small' term of service to his family, and of course swearing fealty to the church of Asmodeus.
NOTE: I wouldn't pull any of this crap on PCs in a game. Just on a character I was writing, if the narrative called for them to be wounded / afflicted a bit longer, which was the subject of this post.
It would be nice if anyone could help me here, maybe with some sources I can read. Or just by explaining how it magic is set in golarion.
Most of the big cities have temples, and would have clerics capable of healing standard 'hit point damage,' and dealing with diseases and poisoning and similar things, but a dozen remove diseases a day isn't even going to put a tiny dent in an actual *plague,* so if you want to tell a story about plague, whether the town has no clerics, or dozens of them, isn't going to make a big difference to the narrative.
Depending on the type of healing needed, alchemists, druids, adepts, shamen, warpriests, inquisitors, paladins, rangers, bards, witches, etc. can also heal. Depending on where the action is, the exact class of healer may change (more shaman and warpriests in Belkzen, more clerics and inquisitors in Cheliax, more alchemists in Thuvia, more witches in Irrisen, etc.), but hit point healing should rarely be a problem. In any event, everyone heals their level in hit points every day, so the average person is going to heal from being dropped to zero hit points in five days, untreated (faster with use of the Heal skill or total bed rest).
(Which is why I'm sure the broken bone is not meant to be just 'hit point damage' but something more extreme for which the game rules aren't perfectly suited, since injuries tend to be those that heal automatically, or those, like ability drain, that never ever heal at all, with no 'in-between' for lingering wounds that take weeks or months to heal, like a broken bone.)
In any event, when dealing with magic in a fantasy setting like Golarion, try to remember that the setting is the way it is *because* of the magic available.
The question isn't 'why haven't people created bazillions of gallons of water in the deserts of X,' it's better to assume that the reason why the deserts aren't *worse* and *bigger* is because of the presence of water-creating magic.
It's not 'why is there disease, when clerics can cure it?' The answer is 'because there are forces actively creating new diseases, and it's not worse than it already is, because there are clerics devoted to curing people.'
Don't fall into the trap of trying to change the setting because of magic, accept that it is the way it is *because* of the magic. It's already built into the setting. Create water, remove disease, etc. have already changed the world of Golarion, and this is what it looks like *with* those adjustments.