What exactly happens to a god after they die? I assume they don't have an afterlife like mortals but I was thinking maybe their quintessence is "recycled" and might form into multiple outsiders of the god's alignment (some of which might have a few memories left over from the god they're made from.)
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What exactly happens to a god after they die? I assume they don't have an afterlife like mortals
You assume wrongly, they go to the Boneyard and Pharasma's judgment like everyone else.
But in exceptional cases, this can happen.
What exactly happens to a god after they die? I assume they don't have an afterlife like mortalsYou assume wrongly, they go to the Boneyard and Pharasma's judgment like everyone else.
But in exceptional cases, this can happen.
but most of them already live in the afterlife planes. Wouldn't they just get sent back to the same place?
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I believe it happens very rarely and always in a unique fashion - there is no telling what will happen. Basically, as almost everything regarding gods in Pathfinder, what happens depends on what makes the best story.
Still, there are several cases that are worth mentioning.
Ihys. The first god that died. According to the Concordance of Rivals, the soul of Ihys was the first to be judged by Pharasma after she created the River of Souls. His further fate is unknown.
Curchanus. The first god killed by someone else than other god. He didn't survive losing the dominion over wild beasts, which was stolen by demon lord Lamashtu. Before death he transfered his remaining power to Desna. It is said that Lamashtu used his dead body to create nascent demon lord Daclau-Sar.
Acavna. Died trying to stop Earthfall. Her body plummeted on the Goalrion and penetrated deep into the planet crust. The Mordant Spire is said to form from her soul trying to reach the Boneyard.
Amaznen. Sacrificed himself during the Earthfall, absorbing the magic of alghollthus from the Starstone debris, stepping outside of the reality and vanishing from the existence.
There are also multiple demigods and lesser divinities that died one way or the other. For example, the dead bodies of demon lords killed by Nocticula transformed into her Midnight Isles. Meanwhile the souls of demon lords accumulate in the Rift of Repose.
There is also a creature in Bestiary 6 called a charnel god, which is formed when a shard of a dead deities's power infuse a statue of said deity. The creature;s description mentiones also the dead deity's power being scattered across planes and causing various magical phenomena.
To sum up, it seems that unlike most outsiders, gods have separate body and soul; and their divine power is something altogether different, not tied directly to either. The body remains where the deity has died; it can be manipulated and transformed into some other form. The soul, stripped f its body and power, is judged by Pharasma, though it is unknown where they go after being judged. The power, assuming it wasn't transfered before their death, will scatter around, creating phenomena all arcross the planes; supposedly those shards may in future trigger the ascension of new divinities.
I believe Monte Cook came out with a sourcebook that deals with the death of gods. How it might affect things and gives options for absorbing divine energy that spills out to power spells, artifacts and even EATING god flesh/energy to grant Celestial/Infernal templates.
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Something I've wondered about the Rift Of Repose since Adjoint brought it up: are the demon lords trapped in there still conscious but petrified and unable to do anything? Or are they basically just statues with no consciousness? I always thought the first but I'm not sure if it says anywhere.
Creative Director
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Something I've wondered about the Rift Of Repose since Adjoint brought it up: are the demon lords trapped in there still conscious but petrified and unable to do anything? Or are they basically just statues with no consciousness? I always thought the first but I'm not sure if it says anywhere.
Nope, they're dead. The closest real-world analogy would be that they're very well preserved fossils. But fossils of demigods in a supernatural realm, so ... maybe a better analogy would be "potentially haunted fossils," but even that's not perfect, since the remains don't have any consciousness other than what the Abyss might have itself as a result of being a semi-sentient plane.
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Something I've wondered about the Rift Of Repose since Adjoint brought it up: are the demon lords trapped in there still conscious but petrified and unable to do anything? Or are they basically just statues with no consciousness? I always thought the first but I'm not sure if it says anywhere.Nope, they're dead. The closest real-world analogy would be that they're very well preserved fossils. But fossils of demigods in a supernatural realm, so ... maybe a better analogy would be "potentially haunted fossils," but even that's not perfect, since the remains don't have any consciousness other than what the Abyss might have itself as a result of being a semi-sentient plane.
So does that mean Rasping Rebirth is case of PFS being broad strokes canon(aka canon except when it contradicts non PFS material) or that Deskari got special situation around him in that one?
Or maybe I'm confusing whats difference between haunted fossil and consciousness hmm
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Creative Director
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Something I've wondered about the Rift Of Repose since Adjoint brought it up: are the demon lords trapped in there still conscious but petrified and unable to do anything? Or are they basically just statues with no consciousness? I always thought the first but I'm not sure if it says anywhere.Nope, they're dead. The closest real-world analogy would be that they're very well preserved fossils. But fossils of demigods in a supernatural realm, so ... maybe a better analogy would be "potentially haunted fossils," but even that's not perfect, since the remains don't have any consciousness other than what the Abyss might have itself as a result of being a semi-sentient plane.So does that mean Rasping Rebirth is case of PFS being broad strokes canon(aka canon except when it contradicts non PFS material) or that Deskari got special situation around him in that one?
Or maybe I'm confusing whats difference between haunted fossil and consciousness hmm
That means that sometimes my creative direction doesn't spread as far as I would hope in the setting. We produce SO much content for PFS that it can be difficult to keep an eye on it from a creative direction side of things.
In this particular case, I suppose it's one of those "exceptions that prove the rule" combined with the fact that, opposed to all the other remains in the rift, Deskari's is VERY recent and might have some lingering demon lord power in there, I suppose, doing plot things.