Who is your favorite deity and why?

[Merellin]

So, I'v been pondering deities in pathfinder lately and trying to look into them. There is a lot of cool ones so I wanted to ask people here, Who is your favorite Pathfinder deity, And why?

I like Gorum, Our Lord in Iron, Because he is so fitting warrior types and I do like strong warriors.. I have also been a fan of Desna since I reasd about her invading the abyss to avenge her follower. And Cayden Cailean is a cool guy, He is like the good aligned adventurer, Now in deity form!

What about you all? Share your favorites!

[Melkiador]

Calistria has a lot going on. A very multi-purpose deity.

[VoodistMonk]

Whichever one happens to offer the flavor I am looking for...

Sometimes I have something specific in mind, and go out looking for a deity that supports what I already have going on.

Sometimes I find something neat that happens to be related to a specific deity, and so I end up incorporating other aspects of that deity so that one neat thing is now part of a theme, or whatever.

Sometimes I just look at deities to see what they have to offer, and when I find something I like, I start a build around whatever it is I just found.

I prefer fully fleshed out deities with the full assortment of Evangelist/Exalted/Sentinel boons to choose from... Deific Obedience is one of my favorite feats in the game.

[Dragon78]

Onos, god of the elements, embassies, and extraplanar travel.

Now if we are talking about core: Desna, Shelyn, and Rovagug.

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

Not super familiar with Golarion's gods but Milani strikes a chord.

[Scavion]

VoodistMonk wrote:

I prefer fully fleshed out deities with the full assortment of Evangelist/Exalted/Sentinel boons to choose from... Deific Obedience is one of my favorite feats in the game.

One of my table's houserules is that Deific Obedience follows the Divine Paragon's boon progression.

As for Deities I like in no particular order:
Erastil, Norgorber, Nethys, Irori, The Eldest, and like all the Empyreal Lords.

Deities I am not a fan of:
Iomedae, Sarenrae, and Pharasma

[*Thelith]

I'd have to say Nethys, if only for his archives.

[Firebug]

Irori, basically be the best you you can be. Also, Ki Channel.

And obviously our lord Saran Wrap (Sarenrae with a Tengu accent in my parts).

[Kasoh]

Iomedae is probably my favorite. I've played clerics and inquisitors of Iomedae before running Wrath of the Righteous, so I've been steeped in the lore of her church for a few years.

In second place, I think I'm torn between Sarenrae and Arazni. Both are cool for very different reasons.

[VoodistMonk]

Scavion wrote:

VoodistMonk wrote:

I prefer fully fleshed out deities with the full assortment of Evangelist/Exalted/Sentinel boons to choose from... Deific Obedience is one of my favorite feats in the game.

One of my table's houserules is that Deific Obedience follows the Divine Paragon's boon progression.

If I was going the houserule anything about Deific Obedience, it would be that you get the first boon immediately upon taking or getting the feat.

Second boon at 10, third at 15... probably not let Diverse Obedience speed it up, though.

[Set]

So, so many.

Of the big 20, probably Nethys. Then either Abadar or Desna. Or in the Tian Xa 'big 20,' the magic/healer god (Qi Zhong?) or the naga/sorcery goddess (Nalinvati?).

But one of the lesser gods like Sivanah or Brigh, even more so. Also Alseta and the elven gods Yuelral, Ketephys and Findeladlara (sp?). I've always been a sucker for lower decks type characters, and the 'lesser' gods interest me more than the big 20. There's more 'wiggle room' to play around with their clerics, when you play a cleric of a less-known god, I find, and that's fun for me.

[VoodistMonk]

Barzahk, for access to Terrain Dominance [Astral Plane]... huge fan of Dimensional Savant. Witchguard Ranger with the Space Patron gets Dimension Door, too. Lol.

Brigh, for Divine Alchemy... Druid VMC Cleric [Brigh], with Druidic Herbalism and Divine Alchemy... and the 3rd Exalted boon, Inspired Crafting, is pretty neat. Good fun.

Gorum, because Vital Strike on a charge with a Greatsword is just great. A little bit of Rhino Charge to break action economy goes a long ways with this.

Pharasma, because of the Succor Mystery... love me some Aid Another.

Desna, for her Shooting Star. I will worship her all godd@mn day if it allows me to put attack and damage on Charisma with ONE FEAT!!! All. D@mn. Day

Erastil, because I like Hinterlanders for some stupid reason... have a few Hinterlander NPC's... a Mesmerist VMC Ranger, and a Ranger VMC Druid.

There's so many good ones. Lol.

I am still finding new $#!+ that inspires entire characters...

[Scavion]

Set wrote:

So, so many.

Of the big 20, probably Nethys. Then either Abadar or Desna. Or in the Tian Xa 'big 20,' the magic/healer god (Qi Zhong?) or the naga/sorcery goddess (Nalinvati?).

But one of the lesser gods like Sivanah or Brigh, even more so. Also Alseta and the elven gods Yuelral, Ketephys and Findeladlara (sp?). I've always been a sucker for lower decks type characters, and the 'lesser' gods interest me more than the big 20. There's more 'wiggle room' to play around with their clerics, when you play a cleric of a less-known god, I find, and that's fun for me.

You don't like Set? :D

Sobek is cooler anyways though. Yeah I like the lesser pantheistic gods too.

[VoodistMonk]

Gyronna, because I absolutely love Hags.

Mazmezz, because who doesn't want to go up in size and become a giant spider-thing?

It's hard to have just one favorite deity unless you insist on playing the same type of character every time. Almost every fully fleshed out deity has SO MUCH to offer... just find the one that offers whatever fits your current character... that's your current favorite. Lol.

Playing with poison? Norgorber is probably it. Playing a character focused on making Bleed damage your thing? Shax is probably your god. Or maybe it's Achaekek, and you're rocking Sawtooth Sabres. Bringing the plague? Probably Urgathoa. Maybe one of the Horsemen?

Point is, I can't make up my mind... like a baby in a topless bar...

[Scavion]

Oh that's a good one. Achaekek is pretty cool. I like the red mantis motif.

[VoodistMonk]

Scavion wrote:

Oh that's a good one. Achaekek is pretty cool. I like the red mantis motif.

Achaekek allows one to TWF with a pair of Sawtooth Sabres suffering NO PENALTIES on attack rolls from TWF... it's a endgame thing, but Greater TWF is finally worth taking. Slayers using Ranger Combat Style feats, yeah...

But it's just a drop in the bucket. I haven't even completed THE LIST of fully fleshed out deities... much less even skimmed the surface of what these deities may have to offer. How could I possibly even make an educated guess at which is my favorite?

[Carrauntoohil]

Shyka the Many is simply fantastic.

And from a minmax perspective is also a handy way to get the Madness domain touch power on a wider range of characters.

[MrCharisma]

I don't think I have a favourite. My favourite parts of the gods is their legends, and the best parts of those are the interactions between the different gods.

I like the stories of the origin of the universe, so some of my favourites are Apsu, Tiamut, Pharasma, Rovagug, and Asmodeus (and to a lesser extent Sarenrae). Those are all the god I can think of off the top of my head that have something to do with "the origin" (if I missed anyone major let me know).

[doc chaos]

I like Desna. I have this campaign that's somewhat like the beginning of Starfleet. Desna will be one of the patron deities who sends a fleet consisting of all the Paizo classes and more than a few subsets of Pathfinder out exploring space preparing for a cosmic threat.

[Set]

Scavion wrote:

Set wrote:

So, so many.

Of the big 20, probably Nethys. Then either Abadar or Desna. Or in the Tian Xa 'big 20,' the magic/healer god (Qi Zhong?) or the naga/sorcery goddess (Nalinvati?).

But one of the lesser gods like Sivanah or Brigh, even more so. Also Alseta and the elven gods Yuelral, Ketephys and Findeladlara (sp?). I've always been a sucker for lower decks type characters, and the 'lesser' gods interest me more than the big 20. There's more 'wiggle room' to play around with their clerics, when you play a cleric of a less-known god, I find, and that's fun for me.

You don't like Set? :D

Sobek is cooler anyways though. Yeah I like the lesser pantheistic gods too.

I weirdly don't like Earth-specific deities showing up in fantasy worlds.

If the game-setting was some mythic Earth and had Norse, Egyptian, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Aztec, etc. pantheons in the appropriate areas, then sure, that's cool, but seeing Thor or Set in a world with Pharasma or Tymora just feels weird to me.

Plus Set's favored weapon and domain options stink. If any god is going to reward damn dirty powergamers, it should be folk like Asmodeus and Norgorber and Set, and not candy-hander-outer-in-chief, Desna. :)

[Rysky]

Acavna, she sacrificed herself for us.

Arazni, REVENGE TIME! She really resonates with me.

Milani, I have her holy symbol as a tattoo.

[Boomerang Nebula]

Great idea for a thread.

There are so many great Golarion deities I’m not sure where to even start. As a player I think my favourite is Desna, for me she typifies the wandering adventurer who travels from place to place doing good deeds. I also like Sarenrae as a deity for good characters.

If I’m going for the antihero type then Abadar is my first choice. For this kind of character I’m imagining someone like a Judge Dredd archetype. A character with a strict code working for a higher purpose dispensing harsh justice on criminals.

If I’m looking for a villain Asmodeus is usually my first pick. I don’t like villains who break things just because (e.g. Rovagug) I find them boring and oddly predictable, I prefer villains who are subtle, manipulative and intelligent schemers.

The Eldest are also really interesting: Ng, The Lost Prince, The Green Mother, Shyka are all great characters.

[VoodistMonk]

Rysky wrote:

Acavna, she sacrificed herself for us.

Arazni, REVENGE TIME! She really resonates with me.

Milani, I have her holy symbol as a tattoo.

Nice. Milani is way up there as far gods I would actually worship if I believed in anything, at all. She is like,

"F this slave $#!+, let's start a riot"

And I can appreciate that. Something about sticking up for the underdog, standing against tyranny, and having a blind, burning hatred of oppression are values I hold dear. Milani worshippers remind me of the YPJ fighting the Daesh.

Her favored weapon happens to be one of my favorites in PF1... for a simple weapon to do two types of damage... epic. Not a big fan of the nail-bat in real life, but in the game, I love me the Morningstar.

I'm also a pretty big Stephen King Gunslinger fan, so Milani's obsession with roses is something I can get behind. Rolland marches across multiple universes looking for a stupid rose. Lol.

One of the players in my Kingmaker campaign was a worshipper of Milani... ended up staging a slave revolt in Pitax, took it over in the process, absorbed Pitax into the kingdom. Milani was a huge motivation/driving factor behind the development of their kingdom. The player's character was always planting roses as part of their morning prayers/Obedience, and I tried to keep track of these locations to bring up in my descriptions if they came back through later.

Oddly enough, I have absolutely zero concept character builds dedicated to Milani. Huh...? Weird.

[Firebug]

VoodistMonk wrote:

Playing a character focused on making Bleed damage your thing? Shax is probably your god. Or maybe it's Achaekek, and you're rocking Sawtooth Sabres.

Lamashtu's Carving via Divine Fighting Technique as well for bleed.

I had a Warpriest(for greater weapon of the chosen) with 2h fighter dip(for overhand chop) with an obsidian falchion and disposable weapon. Roll twice to threaten (and auto confirm a crit) instead of adding 4x Str modifier as normal damage(on the crit), it is instead Bleed damage. Looking back at it now, I am not sure if greater weapon of the chosen would actually apply, but at the time the GM thought so since it wasn't a full attack.

[TriOmegaZero]

*looks at avatar* Well, I'm pretty happy with good-natured chaos.

I also enjoy the positivity of Shelyn and the many ways you can experience it through different characters.

And Pharasma has plenty of fun dichotomies to play with.

[Sysryke]

I love mythology, and Deities and Demigods from various editions of D&D were some of my favorite books. Sadly, because we've always played Pathfinder as a home brew, home game, with my group I know almost nothing of Golarion's lore. I usually end up making up a deity, or just making my character a pantheist. I'll worship all the appropriate gods.

Because it almost never happens in real world mythologies, and it's one of my favorite character concepts, are there any non-evil, male, earth (stone, dirt, and crystal) based deities in Pathfinder? That would be my first pick. Closest real world comparison would be Geb from the Egyptian pantheon. I don't usually count the Dwarven deities, because there's usually just as much of a fire, forging, metal, war, theme going on as actual earth based. I'm open to being shown something new though.

[VoodistMonk]

Firebug wrote:

VoodistMonk wrote:

Playing a character focused on making Bleed damage your thing? Shax is probably your god. Or maybe it's Achaekek, and you're rocking Sawtooth Sabres.

Lamashtu's Carving via Divine Fighting Technique as well for bleed.

I had a Warpriest(for greater weapon of the chosen) with 2h fighter dip(for overhand chop) with an obsidian falchion and disposable weapon. Roll twice to threaten (and auto confirm a crit) instead of adding 4x Str modifier as normal damage(on the crit), it is instead Bleed damage. Looking back at it now, I am not sure if greater weapon of the chosen would actually apply, but at the time the GM thought so since it wasn't a full attack.

Oh, that is GOOD.

I have a Rampager Antipaladin 6/Holy Vindicator 10 with Shax's 2nd Exalted boon... turning Bleed damage taken into Fast Healing... turning the Holy Vindicator's Stigmata into Fast Healing. Lol. Not nearly as scary as your Warpriest, but does alright.

Funny story about Achaekek and Bleed damage... if you have the 2nd Sentinel boon, you will kill yourself performing your Obedience. Lol.

[Kurik Grandhelm]

Mechanically, Abadar has always been a solid choice for my clerics. Travel and Defense have a lot of good utility with powers and domain spells.

[Mark Hoover 330]

I don't have favored deities or even favored divine classes. I don't pick deities based on what they deliver to my character. Rather, as a GM I design my world around two, simple rules:

1. Divine character classes usually get one or two Domains, Inquisitions, Blessings, etc.

2. Many Divine character classes need only be within one prescribed step of a deity's alignment to gain some measure of supernatural powers

So then most of the faithful, and by this I mean the lay worshippers that don't have magical powers, see a physical manifestation of only a small fraction of their deity's power. Not only that but the disposition of the wielder of that power can be completely different from clergy to clergy.

Think about how much different the followers of a CG Warpriest of Saranrae with the Fire and Glory Blessings would be than, say, a N Cloistered Cleric with the Day and Restoration subdomains instead. I feel like those would be vastly different faith groups.

This is why I can't pick a favorite deity. Each one is such an array of diverse and interesting opportunities for character growth and story development. I use Abadar a lot in my games b/c of his connection to spreading civilization. In just that aspect alone though I've had NPCs venerating him be militant Inquisitor police modeled very loosely after Judge Dredd, managing wards of a city; I've made the prototypical bankers and merchants that also have magic powers; I've made a thieve's guild with a great deal of honor even though they're evil. There's even a shadowy organization kind of like The Freemasons in my games; they worship Abadar but they are highly secretive. They meet in stonemason guild halls but behind closed doors and most are dwarves who have left their racial pantheon behind for the wealth and power granted by participation in The Stoncutter Society of The Rukhenval.

There's so many different ways to interpret a deity whose worshippers can be LG to LE and have access to 1-2 of the Earth, Law, Nobility, Protection and Travel areas of concern. Just that ONE deity alone could foster so many interesting permutations! Even better, how differently would a LN cleric of Abadar express the Travel domain versus a CG cleric of Desna?

Sheesh, how can you pick a favorite from this endless buffet of story and setting diversity?

[*Thelith]

As a murder hobo I need a god who won't be mad at me for murder-hoboing, the list gets much shorter if you remove the ones that don't allow you to do that...

Then, from those, you have to like their holy symbol, some of which are just terrible...

And a decent favored weapon, and a decent domain list, and not a god in which being a follower of will get you attacked on sight.

Now you have.. maybe two?

I have two kids, it's easy to pick a favorite out of that many!

[VoodistMonk]

*Thelith wrote:

As a murder hobo I need a god who won't be mad at me for murder-hoboing, the list gets much shorter if you remove the ones that don't allow you to do that...

Then, from those, you have to like their holy symbol, some of which are just terrible...

And a decent favored weapon, and a decent domain list, and not a god in which being a follower of will get you attacked on sight.

Now you have.. maybe two?

I have two kids, it's easy to pick a favorite out of that many!

This is awesome.

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

Mark Hoover 330 wrote:

Sheesh, how can you pick a favorite from this endless buffet of story and setting diversity?

Easily. You don't pick gods for what they give you but for their personality and history. You don't pick favorites based on what their worshippers are like but for what they themselves are like.

Sometimes a concept is just too awesome to ignore even if their followers and doctrine are nothing special.

[ErichAD]

Ng
There's just something great about a god who is inscrutable even to other gods some of which are friendly to him regardless. Maybe he's a robot, maybe he's a ghost, who knows, who cares, he supports people who go and we're going.

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

Sounds like little more than the divine equivalent of an electrical outlet, if you ask me. Plug in get power, don't bother with how it works or what it wants from you in return.
I like divine entities, be they gods, philosophies or pure concepts like Nature, to have a direct and constant influence on how worshippers act, not let people be wizards with a different spell list.

Still, different strokes and all that.

[Mark Hoover 330]

Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

Mark Hoover 330 wrote:

Sheesh, how can you pick a favorite from this endless buffet of story and setting diversity?

Easily. You don't pick gods for what they give you but for their personality and history. You don't pick favorites based on what their worshippers are like but for what they themselves are like.

Sometimes a concept is just too awesome to ignore even if their followers and doctrine are nothing special.

But that's what I'm saying: the gods shouldn't just be one way, or else all their worshippers would worship just one way.

Abadar is all about being a merchant right? He's one way - merchant god of gold with a gold key, yadda yadda. Then why are there some places in Golarion where he's worshipped as a protector of cities and the master of walls and ditches? Like, that feels like 2 different gods to me.

How do a couple of the gods have different names? Why is THE HUNTER GOD ERASIL THAT'S ALL ABOUT BOWS allow his halfling worshippers to favor the slingstaff instead? Because the gods aren't one way.

So my version of Desna as an avenging spirit of lunar justice could be JUST as right as, say, a kinder and gentler version of her favored by an NPC adept/expert emulating a bard. I get the same holy symbol and we both carry starknives, but as a CG Warpriest of Desna I'm all about how she tore through the Abyss to take vengeance on a demon lord and now I portray her to others I talk to as the avenging angel of the night sky who will rain death upon her enemies.

I'm not wrong. She DID slay Aolar in the Abyss for vengeance and she IS a personification of the night sky, among other things. But the common, fun-loving traveler goddess isn't my thing; I don't see her that way.

[Scavion]

Mark Hoover 330 wrote:

But that's what I'm saying: the gods shouldn't just be one way, or else all their worshippers would worship just one way.

I agree. Worshipers do seem to kinda define their deities in some ways as well since Sarenrae is surprisingly cool with assassins and radical warmaking.

[*Thelith]

Real life people choose a favorite God... Why can't pretend people? :)

[McDaygo]

1) Asmodeus: The only evil god good ones deal with I find interesting. The fact he has the key to free Rov is an additional bonus of cool.
2) Apsu: Due to infatuation with dragons. The idea of him and Tiamat creating everything is awesome

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

Mark Hoover 330 wrote:

*snip*.

I'm not quite sure what your point is. You originally asked how you can choose a favorite god, and for some of us that's easy. It is having a favorite character in any work of fiction, something which is hardly uncommon. Characters can be complex - no one is disputing this. I interpreted your previous comment as saying that gods were only as interesting as their worshippers, which seems backwards to me.

As for why gods have odd followers: why not? Someone wants to worship you, and followers mean influence, even if a given setting doesn't have belief=power, so why not accept them, so long as they don't directly violate your core beliefs. Get enough followers who ascribe non-orthodox beliefs about you (and you don't correct them) and you will find your orthodoxy has changed. Adabar doesn't seem like two different gods to me, he seems like a god with certain interests and certain followers focus on one area of interest over the other. Erastil is all about the bow but some halfling worshippers want to use a staffsling: is it really that big a deal? Sure, he'd prefer it if they used a bow but eh, he's got bigger things to worry about than that. I much prefer gods that have personality and complexities rather than those that are so strictly limited by their portfolios and perceived personalities that they are basically one-dimensional.

To use the Mystaran gods as examples.
Mealiden Red Arrow as an example, since I'm more familiar with that setting. In all write-ups he has a very narrow and specific interests. He is the protector of his patron Ilsundal, and guardian of the realm of Alfheim. He has little interest in other elves or areas, and basically zero in non-elves. Yet he has worshippers on the Savage Coast, many non-elf. Why? Because Mealiden is a clever daredevil with a joyful exuberance in war or peace, which fits beautifully in with the swashbuckling theme of the SC. People admire him for his qualities in that regard and don't care about his history as a guardian of some kingdom half a continent away. Mealiden was probably surprised to find people worshpping him there, and there is no mention of any non-elf priests of him in the area, but he doesn't discourage such worship. He could ignore them. Maybe he will change and grow and accept his new role as an idol of swashbuckling.

Ixion is an ancient god, at least many tens of thousands of years old, possibly millions. He has a number of interests, some of which are personal, others which are political. He is often identified with the sun though there is no God of the Sun in Mystara, and this aspect is focused on by some worshippers. Others focus on his aspect as Lawgiver, dictating how the world works and how societies should work. Yet others think of him mostly as a god of knowledge and learning. He is also a vehement opponent of the undead and other Entropic creatures, and some worshippers focus on this. All these things are true aspects of Ixion, yet none are the whole truth. You could take any of these aspects and write up an individual god that is seemingly distinct from the other aspects. There will obviously be some commonality of belief in any given sect of Ixion worshippers - they will all be opposed to undead, for instance, but there can also be immense variation in what sort of morality is accepted. When you're as old and as powerful and as busy as Ixion, you just don't care about every little odd thing mortals do in your name.

[Yqatuba]

Desna, because she's the goddess of two of my favorite things (dreams and outer space.)

[Mightypion]

First Edition Nocticula was probably the most interesting Demon Lord.
What is her actual plan? Was she a double agent in charge of keeping dangerous demon lords killed? And the Abyss under control?

Calistria is a really cool plot device to make stuff happen, especially in terms of making very unusual alliances happen, and we like to play her as the "reserve currency of divine favors", because semi canonically everyone has debts to her, or she has debts to him, so she can probably "translate" a favor owed by Torag to a favor owed by Nocticula 1rst Ed. using the fact that she has connections with everything.

Dispater is imho the coolest Archdevil becuase he is a devil and a gentleman.

[Sparky, the Electric Bard]

Shelyn, da Great Goblin Singer what sits in de Sky.

[Set]

Mightypion wrote:

First Edition Nocticula was probably the most interesting Demon Lord.

Oh gosh, I try not to even think of the demon lords when listing 'favorite deity,' because I still prefer Desna or Brigh or Sivanah to all of them, but I am hugely interested in Abraxas, Haagenti and almost all of the demon lords who have entire races devoted to them, like Flauros (salamanders), Xoveron (gargoyles), Jezelda (werewolves) and Zura (vampires).

Quote:

Dispater is imho the coolest Archdevil becuase he is a devil and a gentleman.

Agreed. I like the odd bits that lean against type, like him having a non-evil fire-goddess ex-wife that he remains on good terms with, and an avenging angel son.

Him being a parent is particularly cool, given his name is basically 'rich father.'

[strayshift]

Assuming in the PF universe - Sivanah.

Otherwise Thor.

[AceofMoxen]

Dranngvit, a God for my current finances.

[Quentin Coldwater]

I've always had a soft spot for Gozreh. Just a cool nature deity who basically does their own thing. Sometimes cool as a breeze, sometimes as angry as a storming ocean. I can respect that.

[mythikal]

Probably The Black Butterfly, I know she’s an Empyreal Lord but hear me out. She’s kind of a creation of Desna (who I also love) and focuses a lot on what Desna does, but also have a peculiar interest in the horrors of the dark tapestry and fighting against them. She’d be great for a character in say, the Strange Aeons AP?