I got bored and began doing a deep-dive into the cosmology of Golarion, and was simultaneously excited and disappointed by the discovery of who, other than Urgathoa, are Evil-aligned patrons of the Undead. It seems that the concept is practically anathema to the LE side of things, as the only one who even has it as a point of interest is Baalzebub, and even then it feels like an afterthought since none of his lore supports it being a domain of his. Meanwhile, NE and CE have Undead Subdomains out the wazoo, but the most aggravating of them all for a lore/mechanics seeker like myself is Orcus, who seems to be just BARELY trailing behind Urgathoa and her sidekick Zyphus as the big Undead users in town. Now if only we knew more about what inhabited his domain.
The descriptions for what minions you might find in his domain list powerful undead like liches (good), Vermleks (nice, though a bit weak), and, I quote, "any chaotic-evil monster or creature tied to undeath or who has the capacity to create undead creatures". That seems a bit broad and unspecific! What if a player has a high level PC who follows Orcus, hm? Who or what are they supposed to summon that falls under those categories? Regardless, I'm making this thread so that if anyone is looking for this information in the future, they'll be able to see what the good people of this forum have come up with.
Bumping with the addition that I have found one option, that being the Nabasu Demon, which can make Ghouls out of people.
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Add vrolikai, which is an advanced form of nabasu, and can create juju zombies.
You can also allow followers of orcus to summon extraplanar undead with their summoning and calling spells. There is a precedent: several undead are mentioned as planar allies of Urgathoa (Inner Sea Gods), and Ashes at Dawn added a couple of undead to the Summon Monster lists, available for urgathoan clerics.
Examples of undead that would work well with Orcus are devourer and bodak. Leave ghouls and vampires out of it, as they prefer Kabiri and Zura.
I kind of like the vagueness of exactly what Orcus has for minions. Almost anything could be lurking in his realm or summoned by his worshipers as long as it's Chaotic Evil. I also kind of see Orcus as the patron for various undead and necromancers who have defected from the greater powers like Urgathoa or Zyphus. If it's Chaotic and not a ghoul or vampire, odds are it worships Orcus.
In either BotD or Planar Adventures (just read both recently and there’s enough overlap I can’t 100% keep them apart) it says that he prefers intentional undeath rather than by accident or disease, and as such liches are the ideal to which all his followers strive. He’s all about the skill and purposefulness of becoming undead.
The only problem there is that there's no consensus on whether or not liches can be called with things like Planar Ally and the like. Sure, there's Shadows which count as undead, but those are also kind of like Outsiders in that they normally reside within the Shadow Plane.
The same issue can be found for followers of Urgathoa, it's unclear if an aspiring Cleric could even, for instance, summon a Daughter of Urgathoa with Planar Ally, since all the ones we know about live in the Material Plane.
The same issue can be found for followers of Urgathoa, it's unclear if an aspiring Cleric could even, for instance, summon a Daughter of Urgathoa with Planar Ally, since all the ones we know about live in the Material Plane.
As I mentioned AP #47, Ashes at Dawn explicitely says they can:
Urgathoa’s priests can use summon monster spells to summon the following creatures in addition to the normal creatures listed in the spells.
Summon Monster I
Bloody human skeleton*
Summon Monster VII
Daughter of Urgathoa* (The Inner Sea World Guide)* This creature has the extraplanar subtype but is otherwise normal for its kind.
Chalk it up to Orcus having gotten a lot of page count in the TSR/WotC end of things- he's unlikely to get much more love in PF.
Chalk it up to Orcus having gotten a lot of page count in the TSR/WotC end of things- he's unlikely to get much more love in PF.
That's exactly what James Jacobs has said.
The name "Orcus" is from real-world mythology, and can't be copyrighted.
The version of Orcus as the corpulent, ram-headed, demon lord of undeath with an infamous wand is entirely from D&D cosmology, and is WotC intellectual property. Despite being WotC's property, Orcus is part of the OGL, due to Necromancer Games getting permission to use him in their original Tome of Horrors back in 2001.
James Jacobs has said that, from his perspective, Orcus' story is very much well-trodden: He's a major figure in official Dungeons and Dragons publications. Additionally, Frog God Games also uses Orcus extensively: He's the logo of their subsidiary Necromancer Games, and is also the main antagonist of their Adventure Path, "The Slumbering Tsar." James said that Paizo would much rather put their effort into developing their own intellectual property rather than investing heavily into someone else's.
As for your original question...
I'd have Orcus' domain infested with undead demons.
I mean... a vrock is scary. A vrock vampire is scarier!
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Undead orcas seem like obvious followers of Orcus. Orcas for Orcus!
Sorry, I’ll let myself out.
There's a wealth of information on Orcus from the earlier editions, including the Bloodstone Pass series. Paizo developed Savage Tide with Orcus playing a role.
Just check out any of those books for ideas.