Nocticula in Part 4 "Midnight Isles" (possible spoilers)


Wrath of the Righteous


Hello fellow Pathfinders!
My Group and I are about to start the "Midnight Isles" Book. From my GM I already know, that we are facing Nocticula and I talked about her with him. I also know, that she is just supposed to talk with us, because Nocticula herself wants to become a goddess, which is the status quo in Pathfinder 2. I see a big problem with her: I´m playing a paladin of Sarenrae in this AP. As nocticula is no ordinary human or at least a being with no absolute evil person/character/soul, her soul is already damned and so there is no real point in asking her to redeem herself, so, as said in the paladin code of Sarenrae I will "redeem her by the sword". Which normally would end in the death of my character, but as you probably know, Wrath of the Righteous is a mythic campaign. So my Paladin 12/Champion 5 Character can easily one-shot nocticula on a crit in one hit, or in two normal hits. The problem I see is, that she gives about 9 Million something XP, which would bump our 3 people group straight to level 19, or at least very close to level 19. My GM also read the paladin code of Sarenrae, which also states "if you can defeat it, do it. If you can´t, go get some help and do it." So even by not attacking her on sight, I would not live after my paladin code.

I´m looking forward to your advice/tips, thank you all in advance.

Have a nice day

-- Raxaas


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Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

While that is certainly an interpretation, that relies on the notion that demons are impossible to be redeemed. And yet, with Arushalae, your character has already seen evidence leading to the contrary. The notion that a demon lord is impossible to be redeemed is one purely based off a status quo of "well, no one's really tried". sort of deal, and is shaky methodology at best.

As for the whole, 'attack her or fall', I'd say wait and see, as you should be getting a few nudges in the right direction that will help you see that just going all smite all the time in the Abyss is likely to get you killed. That and the fact that leaning that hard into such a literal interpretation of a Paladin's code to begin with doesn't really mesh well with Sarenrae's edicts either.

Regardless, my best advice is to keep an open mind, and try to keep such player-oriented thought-processes as purely that of the player. After all, a lot of worshipers of Sarenrae were themselves redeemed.

Praise be to Our Lady In Shadow!


mirrorwolf9 wrote:

While that is certainly an interpretation, that relies on the notion that demons are impossible to be redeemed. And yet, with Arushalae, your character has already seen evidence leading to the contrary. The notion that a demon lord is impossible to be redeemed is one purely based off a status quo of "well, no one's really tried". sort of deal, and is shaky methodology at best.

As for the whole, 'attack her or fall', I'd say wait and see, as you should be getting a few nudges in the right direction that will help you see that just going all smite all the time in the Abyss is likely to get you killed. That and the fact that leaning that hard into such a literal interpretation of a Paladin's code to begin with doesn't really mesh well with Sarenrae's edicts either.

Regardless, my best advice is to keep an open mind, and try to keep such player-oriented thought-processes as purely that of the player. After all, a lot of worshipers of Sarenrae were themselves redeemed.

Praise be to Our Lady In Shadow!

Already thought of that. Arueshalae wasn´t quite redeemed already, we are in the gap between Book 3 and 4, so we have to redeem her yet. And she got the first nudge to redemption by Desna herself, so a pity demon got thrown into the way of redemption by a full goddess. I doubt that that example applies in a "normal" human trying to throw a Demon Lord, one of the strongest two by CR (the other one being Pazuzum, on to the path of redemption is going to work. If my GM doesn´t play her as an absoulte a-hole, I try to start convincing her of the good way. If he plays her like a piece of poo, I have to interpret the opinion of the other two players.

Thanks for your opinion, have a nice day :)


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Raxaas wrote:


Already thought of that. Arueshalae wasn´t quite redeemed already, we are in the gap between Book 3 and 4, so we have to redeem her yet. And she got the first nudge to redemption by Desna herself, so a pity demon got thrown into the way of redemption by a full goddess. I doubt that that example applies in a "normal" human trying to throw a Demon Lord, one of the strongest two by CR (the other one being Pazuzum, on to the path of redemption is going to work. If my GM doesn´t play her as an absoulte a-hole, I try to start convincing her of the good way. If he plays her like a piece of poo, I have to interpret the opinion of the other two players.

Thanks for your opinion, have a nice day :)

And while this may certainly be the way it goes, I think there is still a flaw in your logic. And that lies within the fact that you are assuming that Sarenre is gonna make one of her most powerful worshippers fall purely because he didn't immediately attempt to slay a demon lord upon first meeting them.

It' just ends up being another case of Paladin Codes being interpreted as hard and fast rules with no allowance of deviation based on extraneous circumstances, like meeting with a Demon Lord, who you know you are trying to seek help from.

Either way, you should be getting an item before then that legitimately only exists to allow you to be a bit more flexible, instead of making sure to kill every damn demon you meet along the streets.


And Always remember, your PC's are far from "mere mortals". Mythic PC's are akin to Demigods themselves, and I surely play up that notion in my campaign.
So, if anybody should be able to bring a Demon Lord onto the path of redemption, it should be a mythical Paladin of the Lady of Redemption.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

BTW, Nocticula is about the only demon lord worth her salt against about any mythic character (though at the highest levels things get so crazy that even that probably wouldn't help). At the level you're at, you got literally zero chance of even getting to her, if your GM isn't completely incompetent.


My 2 cents:

The PCs are on a semi diplomatic mission. When they meet her for the first time, they are formally invited as guests into the centre of a sovereign power, who at this point has not shown them hostility.

Straight up charging at her, as Guests, violates both Guest Rights and Ambasadorial law, and would thus be a deeply chaotic action.

Initating hostilites under false pretenses (your party did not declare war upon her) as what are to an extent peace negotiations is also far from a good action, all the more so with the lives of millions resting on the succes of this mission. You are literally attempting to assassinate your host at a peace conference.

There are multiple possible good aligned NPCs who could be present and emphatitically explain this.

Practically: Your Paladin literally falls from grace while he charges, because he essentially attempts as assassination during a peace parley which is an insanely non Paladin thing to do.

Nocticula is not without a sense of humor, if she feels generous/friendly she uses telekinesis to trip him (her CMO bonus using telekinesis is a sizeable fity, unless you have taken specific feats to increase your CMD, your CMD at that level will be much less then that) using a random curtain/sheet/veil , grapple him, pin him and tie him up in a quite compromising position, all without lifting a finger or using her actually strong abilities/weapons. Her comment, depending on how amused she is could be between:
"How kind of you to gift me a Paladin as a gift and in the moment he is falling, which is the best moment! Let me just wrap it up a bit for safekeeping. Are you certain you truely have no need of it? You have provided my court with much amusement, which I consider an already sufficient gift."

Alternatively, it could be something along the lines of "Look Sir, if you wish to Fall from grace, get tied up, and humiliated, this city offers plenty of opportunities for this without wasting my time." Telekinetically throws Ex Paladin back at the party.

If she doesnt feel generous, or the whole party joins in the assasination attempt, she has guards, and she has options, and the whole party is incredibly unlikely to pass a bunch of DC43 will checks, especially because her seductive aura dispells many common will resist boosters.
She has a lot of lethal options on top of that.

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