This isn't a house rule, but more of a little brainstorm. Many weapons can be wield under anyone's name, but which ones are the best suited for specific deities. Let's say you have to equip temple guards or soldiers, but would like something more flavorful than your typical longsword? What do you choose?
Well, how about a little thread discussing just that?
Here's what I think would be good picks:
Erastil Longbow
Being God of the Hunt, scimitars, axes and spears would work.
Iomedae Longsword
As unoriginal as it may be, longbows and halberds fit.
Torag Warhammer
Beign a Dwarven deity, axes, picks and crossbows can work.
Sarenrae Scimitar
A desert-themed deity often goes for lighter weapons, such as shortbows, shortspears and glaives.
Shelyn Glaive
I feel like scimitar, rapiers and bows would work, similar to musketeers.
Cayden Cailean Rapier
Rogues do travel light, with hand crossbows, daggers and staves.
Desna Starknife
Scimitars and glaives would work, much like for Sarenrae and Shelyn, as do shortbows.
Abadar Light crossbow
He's more of an urban deity, so maces, morningstars and various polearms can fit.
Irori Unarmed strike
This one is interesting, because followers can pick a few weapons from the Monk weapon group, such as nine-ring swords, temple swords, tiger forks, monk's spades and tri-point double-edged swords.
Gozreh Trident
Much like druids, weapons like slings, javelins and scimitars can work.
Green Faith Druidic weapons
That's already covered, and you can add natural weapons to these.
Nethys Quarterstaff
Maces, clubs and spears feel right.
Pharasma Dagger
Longswords, guisarmes and crossobows fit the bill here.
Calistria Whip
Being an Elven goddess, we have the longsword, rapier and the bows.
Gorum Greatsword
A God of War has many weapons, but axes, hammers and spikes (armor and shield) would work.
Asmodeus Mace
This one is easier, since you can pick some of the other Archdevils' weapons, such as the ranseur, the flail and the trident.
Zon-Kuthon Spiked chain
We have here a Kyton deity, so spikes, morningstars, hammers and flails work great.
Norgorber Short sword
Assassins aren't bulky warriors, but longswords, ranseurs and crossobows should be good.
Urgathoa Scythe
Necromancy seems to be associated with sickles, maces and javelins.
Lamashtu Falchion
Demon Lords can be used as a reference here, with glaives, maces and flails. Flindbars could be used as another weapon.
Rovagug Greataxe
Longswords, axes, hammers, picks and any of their two-handed counterparts can work.
I think the idea is that it's pretty much the truly fervent, not just faithful, who specifically wield their deities' weapons. Consider that an Adept doesn't get any weapon proficiencies, so you'd then assume they'd be wielding a sling, crossbow, cudgel, staff, or spear.
If a cult is depending on adepts to defend and protect themselves, they're more done for than any prophecy they see XD
But yeah, it's more about equipping workers who are related to churches and religious orders. Even Nethys will need manpower that is not solely about arcane magic, or about wielding a quarterstaff.
There are many more deities and weapons to pick ;)
For example:
Besmara Rapier
Pretty sure that the Pirate Queen wields multiple weapons, such as cutlasses, daggers, boarding axes, boarding gaffes, crossbows and even firearms. the ships themselves can have ballistaes and cannons.
Brigh Light hammer
Being the "Lady of Clockwork", heavier hammers, maces and crossbows can work. For higher challenges, officers can have Clockwork Prostheses and firearms. As a twist, many Gnome weapons could be used as well.
If you're talking about warriors (possibly even with the class) guarding the temples of Nethys then i expect those to be non-faithful of that temple. Paid or else loaned from a friendly church that doesn't look down on mere goons. As such they most likely use the weapons commonest in the local culture, or those of the friendly church.
Brigh does clockwork but she's also a forge-goddess. If her cult is big in the local area the her follower(s) with craft (weaponsmith) probably make most of the local weapons. As such again, the weapons commonest in the local culture are most of what they make and will be what they supply to their guards.
I could go on. A church or cult should grow out of the local culture rather than being a foreign import usually.
If you're talking about warriors (possibly even with the class) guarding the temples of Nethys then i expect those to be non-faithful of that temple. Paid or else loaned from a friendly church that doesn't look down on mere goons. As such they most likely use the weapons commonest in the local culture, or those of the friendly church.
You're right. The town should provide protection to their public religious sites.
Brigh does clockwork but she's also a forge-goddess. If her cult is big in the local area the her follower(s) with craft (weaponsmith) probably make most of the local weapons. As such again, the weapons commonest in the local culture are most of what they make and will be what they supply to their guards.
I could have sworn that she was called the Lady of Clockwork at some point...
I could go on. A church or cult should grow out of the local culture rather than being a foreign import usually.
If anything, alternate weapons are good for elite personal guards... which is something you're likely to see more ;)
If you're talking about warriors (possibly even with the class) guarding the temples of Nethys then i expect those to be non-faithful of that temple. Paid or else loaned from a friendly church that doesn't look down on mere goons. As such they most likely use the weapons commonest in the local culture, or those of the friendly church.
Mummy's Mask would disagree. Nethys is also the god of secrets. That said, many of the guards may have spellcasting as well.
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Sickles (moon) and shuriken (stars) seem like neat choices for Desna. I always allowed shuriken as an alternate favored weapon even for Clerics, not being a fan of starknives. Desnan shuriken can resemble stars, or butterflies (and are sometimes brightly painted in shades of dark blue or violet), like the shuriken used by the Widow's enforcers in Into the Badlands. For a bigger weapon, for a more militant temple guard type, perhaps some form of halberd with a crescent blade or star-shaped edge at the end (like a sickle or starknife on a pole). It could just use whatever polearm stats seem appropriate (I'd go with Halberd) and be more of a flavor thing, and not it's own weapon.
Other than that, Shelyn must have had a favored weapon *before* picking up her brother's glaive, and either the short bow (similarity to a stringed instrument, and she's got an association with Air) or the bladed scarf (feels appropriately colorful and decorative and 'artsy') work for me.
Abadar, a special 'shieldbow' that is a series of Exotic weapons that include a crossbow built into a shield with a keyhole shaped hole in the front to peer out of and allow the crossbow bolt to fire out of. It comes in all sorts of varieties (one Exotic weapon proficiency covers them all), but the most common is a light crossbow built into a medium shield.
Pharasma, the midwife's dagger, or 'cordcutter,' a curved single-edged dagger with a notch at the lower end of the blade, near the handle, for cutting the umbilical cord of a newborn. Also an Exotic Weapon. Use dagger stats, but it can't be thrown, has a x3 crit multiplier and the deadly property. More obscurely, some sects might eschew lethal force on the living, and use *nets* (and occasionally lariats or bolas) as their primary weapon, praising Pharasma as the Lady of Fate, and binding foes to subdue them. The strangest of them would have temple guards bind foes with nets, and then the priests coup de grace them with cordcutters! (Only the priests get to administer the death-blow!)
Calistria, she's got daggers right there in her holy symbol, and sometimes a whip's just not gonna cut it, right? All that's gonna do is piss off some foes! I'd allow daggers, at the minimum, perhaps even rapiers.
Erastil Spear (or longspear / shortspear). Other weapons don't seem as 'hunty' to me as the spear and bow (or bola, perhaps).
Asmodeus I contrarily think that he'd forbid the use of weapons that *other* Archdevils favor, because he's jealous like that. So no spears or ranseurs or flails or tridents or staves or whips. He'd prefer that anyone guarding his temples use maces or morningstars (with heads shaped like pentacles), or perhaps even an axe (with a head shaped like a pentacle). The burlier ones might even have greataxes or mauls with the appropriately-shaped heads.
Torag I could see the axe and pick, also 'working weapons' that can be used to mine ore or chop wood, much as the hammer can be used at the forge. Also, as god of defensive war / protection, the spiked shield could be a good compromise, being a weapon and a form of protection.
Gorum It's all about the armor spikes! No spiked shield though, just armor spikes and either a two-handed weapon, or dual weapons (a greatsword, a pair of axes, whatev).
Nethys Wizards weapons. Staves (especially) and daggers (to a lesser extent). Anything more martial (or exotic) is more or less shunned, and even other simple weapons are looked at askance. One notable exception is the flaming battle poi. Something about hitting people with *fire* brings a half-smile to his burned face. If the temple warrior can't actually cast a spell to set intruders on fire, it's the next best thing.
Gozreh Weapons that can be thrown or propel things through the air (bows and slings) and weapons that can be used underwater (piercing weapons like spears and daggers). Spears and daggers, more than bows and slings, if only because they fit both criteria (but hey, there's that trident, throwable *and* usable underwater, fitting both of those criteria, so it's not just popular with the clerics!).
Rovagug anything big and destructive. Greatsword, greataxe, greatclub, greatbow, greatflail, greatexpectations. Totally the Shoanti earthbreaker, if you can get your hands on one. Preferably by killing a Shoanti and wresting it out of his cold, dead hands...
Other than that, Shelyn must have had a favored weapon *before* picking up her brother's glaive, and either the short bow (similarity to a stringed instrument, and she's got an association with Air) or the bladed scarf (feels appropriately colorful and decorative and 'artsy') work for me.
According to pre-Earthfall lore, she had the Dagger.
If you're talking about warriors (possibly even with the class) guarding the temples of Nethys then i expect those to be non-faithful of that temple. Paid or else loaned from a friendly church that doesn't look down on mere goons. As such they most likely use the weapons commonest in the local culture, or those of the friendly church.Mummy's Mask would disagree. Nethys is also the god of secrets. That said, many of the guards may have spellcasting as well.
There are also these reasons:
- The temple or church is located in a remote place, away from urban resources.- Faith attracts any kind of people, including martial characters that might not be THAT willing to use exclusively the favored weapon.
- Spellcasting isn't the solution to everything, be divine, arcane or psychic. There will be time where weapons will be needed... and I haven't yet to see a deity whose favorite weapon is a magic missile :P
- Religions might be underground and secret, relying on unnoticeable guards with unnoticeable weapons and spells.
- Players will have their own ideas. I remember seeing during the warpriest playtests a warpriest of Irori using a bow to great uses.
I will say that erastil is also the god of farming son sickle and scythe, and abadar small shield that symbolize scales