Greetings.
I have a question regarding religion for a non-cleric characters. Is it possible to respect and worship multiple gods instead of devoting yourself to just one deity.
Also as a side question, where excatly do the gods reside? I know Asmodeus resides in Hell but what of the others?
cheers.
Greetings.
I have a question regarding religion for a non-cleric characters. Is it possible to respect and worship multiple gods instead of devoting yourself to just one deity.
Also as a side question, where excatly do the gods reside? I know Asmodeus resides in Hell but what of the others?
cheers.
For non-divine casters I do believe so. Also the gods usually dwell in the outer plane that matches their alignment. For instance Caedin Caylien is CG and resides in Elysium.
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It's fine and shouldn't have a major game consequence. A druid, oracle or paladin can worship multiple deities. Even, arguably, a cleric or inquisitor can give praise to more than one deity if his patron doesn't mind (if it isn't a violation of his deity's code of conduct), though he can only get divine powers from one.
You can only have one religion trait anyway, because you can only have one trait from each group. If you're a wizard and really want multiple deity-specific spells from Gods and Magic, they aren't significantly more powerful than other spells.
Greetings.
I have a question regarding religion for a non-cleric characters. Is it possible to respect and worship multiple gods instead of devoting yourself to just one deity.
Also as a side question, where excatly do the gods reside? I know Asmodeus resides in Hell but what of the others?
cheers.
The NPC is correct. In fact, the Oracle is an entire class devoted to this concept - that of divine casters who worship multiple deities, concepts, or even none at all. I'm not sure if druids need to worship a particular deity in Golarion (they don't in CORE). If you aren't a divine caster it literally does not matter if you worship one, all, none, or anything in between: you worship what you want/need to worship and that's how it goes. That said, its very likely that people are going to worship one more than others or have leanings more toward one or another. As the Holy Book says "no man can have two masters" - the implied, but left-unsaid reason: because they'll eventually give conflicting orders.
Some notable exceptions to the deities-live-in-their-aligned-places rule is Calistria (CN) who lives in Elysium (CG), Irori (LN) who lives in Nirvana (NG), and Iomedae (LG) and Milani (CG) who both live in Axis (LN) in Aroden's old place.
EDIT: ninja'd by Starglim! Well done, sir, well done.
i had a Kuthite inquisitor who borrowed aspects of Irori's teachings into her Kuthite ways and meshed the 2 into a sort of compound religion that made people freak out.
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It's not only possible but also there's quite a bit of precident.
You know how you can "worship" a concept or the idealogy of an Alignment? The same can be done for worshipping more than one deity.
RotRL
Prince of Wolves
And there are examples from back in FR, too: Some of the Drow in Menzoberranzen went back and forth between Vaerun(sp?) and Lolth (the fat drow priestess, I forget her name) and another back and forth between Lolth and Eilestree(sp?) (Liriel Baenre).
And I'm sure there are many others that aren't coming off the top of my head.
I've run a PC that has Asmodeus's blood in his veins; he's a Tiefling, and Asmodeus has a vested interest in his progeny (fulfilling plans he laid ages ago when he impregnated a mortal). But my PC has had dreams from Desna since early childhood and reveres her as his goddess. BUT, he wants to somehow become a Paladin and sees Iomedae as the ideal he strives to be like.
So, Asmodeus is interested in him personally and the PC considers Asmodeus Great Grandfather.
Desna is the Deity he prays to and gets visions from.
Iomedae is the Deity he longs to be accepted by and become one of her Pallys.
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I think polytheism is the rule for most lay worshipers. You pray to Erastil for good hunting, Cayden Cailean for your beer to turn out well, and Calistria when you want revenge. If you get these things you want, you praise them. If you don't? You shrug and do something else and don't bother talking to a cleric because their pat answer will always be that your worship is insufficient for their god to bless you.
Of course you can worship more than one god, I bet it's actually more the norm than the exception to do so. Even clerics can honor and respect more than one, they simply only gain powers from one god.
You may worship more than one God, sure - but you have to differentiate between active worship (attending church, tithing, whatever the faith demands) and invoking/placating (murmuring a prayer to a God seeking intervention or weal, despite not being a lay worshipper).
A farmer in the forgotten realms, for example, might worship Chauntea primarily, but he'd almost certainly pay lip service to Silvanus when venturing into untamed wilderness or encountering wild beasts, beg Talos not to ruin his crops with storm or fire, mutter a prayer to Helm to guard him and his bounty from bandits while travelling into town to sell his goods, and invoke Waukeen when selling or making a deal.
Actively worshipping two or more Gods, belonging to more than one religious community - probably somewhat less common, especially if the churches or dieties have competing philosophies or interests, or if the communities themselves make significant demand on time and/or resources.
Alternately, if you were looking for way to represent the multiple deities your character worships, you could pick domains that are applicable to several deities. For example, a cleric could have the Law and Good domains, and worship a wide berth of gods good and/or lawful.
While this would certainly be fine for house rules, it's not canon Golarion - that's the function of Oracles. Clerics are one-god-only kinda guys (or gals). CORE RAW (but not Golarion) they could simply worship law and good while revering all the lawful and/or good deities, but Golarion canon (via James Jacobs) this doesn't happen.
That does not prevent the cleric from saying an occasional prayer to a deity not his patron - so long as said prayer and deity don't conflict with his patron - but they don't actively promote worship of anyone else.
Greetings.
I have a question regarding religion for a non-cleric characters. Is it possible to respect and worship multiple gods instead of devoting yourself to just one deity.
As i see it, it is much like the greeks with their pantheon: Everyone has their personal god that they feel respond mostly to their own beliefs, for example a blacksmith would probably have torag as his deity of choice. however they also pay tribute to other gods in cases where their portfolio comes into play, for example when the blacksmith is about to have a child he will probably make some prayers and possibly sacrifices for pharasma, so that the birth will go well
regards
Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities also usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own mythologies and rituals.
(snip)
Polytheism is a type of theism. Within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the belief in a singular God. Polytheists do not always worship all the gods equally, but can be Henotheists, specializing in the worship of one particular deity. Other polytheists can be Kathenotheists, worshiping different deities at different times.
I thought I'd toss that in to help us get some definition to the discussion. Clerics & Paladins, as defined by how they work Class-wise, would be Henotheists, as they focus on the rites and draw their power from a single god. Most lay worshipers are Polythiests or Kathenotheists, giving each god his due when in his providence (I seem to recall such general worshipers refer to the "Pantheon of Many" in Golarion, though I forget which book the term is mentioned in), though some countries may dedicate themselves primarily to one god. Ustalav & Pharasma is a good example of this, though some settlements break this model (such as Tamrevena and the temple of Soldier's Rest, which has a host of shrines to the various warrior-gods).
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Greetings.
I have a question regarding religion for a non-cleric characters. Is it possible to respect and worship multiple gods instead of devoting yourself to just one?
I certainly hope so. My main character since season 0 in PFS was based on a roman legionary concept. Klovanos wears a wooden necklace of prayer beads with the holy symbols of all the gods on it (even the bad ones). He believes that gods should be appeased or feared so his LN alignment does not stop him from making sacrifices even to appease the evil gods when necessary.
I don't push the buttons of the Paladins and Clerics in the party more than necessary but I have been refused healing by more than one of them. He is a lot of fun to play.
Clerics must specifically devote themselves to one deity but anything goes for the rest of us.
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Greetings.
I have a question regarding religion for a non-cleric characters. Is it possible to respect and worship multiple gods instead of devoting yourself to just one deity.
Also as a side question, where excatly do the gods reside? I know Asmodeus resides in Hell but what of the others?
cheers.
For a divine character, look at the Oracle (it's in the Advanced Player's Guide). Their power comes from several deities that have a common theme.