Can Deities Destroy Planets Easily in Pathfinder?

[KunikaiSakuri]

My friends and I have had some differing interpretations regarding "the extent of what deities can accomplish" in Pathfinder. Are there established canonical answers to these questions, or are they purely left to GM discretion?

1. Deific Power Over Celestial Bodies:
Can deities effortlessly (specifically, within the span of a few breaths and without exertion) destroy entire planets (e.g., Mars, Earth, Jupiter, or even Golarion) or stars (like the Sun)—not just scour their surfaces—with ease?

2. Desna's Stars and the Black Butterfly:
In the lore snippet:
"When Desna placed stars in the sky, the darkness between them birthed the Black Butterfly, also called Desna's Shadow. Notably, one of the stars on her wings is her weapon, Starblade, Void's Edge, which she can pluck and hurl."
— Are the stars Desna created akin to actual stars (like the Sun) in scale and nature, or are they more symbolic/cosmetic (e.g., stage props)?

3. Scope of Divine Authority:
If such feats are possible:
- Is this capability universal among all deities, or restricted to those with domains tied to stars/cosmos?
- How do demigods or quasi-deities (e.g., empyreal lords, archdevils) compare in this regard?

[Pizza Lord]

1. Some deities are stronger than others. Some are more destructive than others. Can a god of healing and community blow up a planet? Maybe. Can a god of knowledge blow up a planet? Maybe, but they probably know how to do it, even if they can't 'wave a hand'.

Obviously this is all interpretation and some things work for some people and some reasons won't work for others. Gods that can (and would) destroy civilization (except maybe their own), let alone worlds, tend to have been sealed away, like Tharizdun or whatever he's called now. Or at the least, they're fated and prophesized to do it (usually as the end times bringer of the end, at least for a civilization or planet or people).

I don't think it's typically expected that a god will just 'blink' or will the world out of existence unless that's their whole schtick, ala the 'sleeping or dreaming god that if He awakens will cause the world to end' thing.

Even if they could, there are other gods or the old 'no direct interference' mantras and strictures. Even evil gods don't tend to want to face every other god. Those crazy enough to, were sealed away a long time ago, because if they won, there's no world already.

I am sure that gods could 'start' the chain reaction or action that would cause a world to end, I do not think any are intended to just blow a sizable (especially inhabited planet to pieces).

2. Not sure. If what you're asking is are all the stars (or most) in the sky created by Desna, I am only guessing, but they could be, but it just says he placed them. It's entirely possible other gods made some and he arranged a few. Most stars are portals to the Positive Material Plane, and it's possible they were just 'meandering about' or in a giant clump and Desna grabbed a bunch and spread them out in a beautiful tapestry.

[Azothath]

AFAIK the outer gods are the most powerful. Luckily they are far far away and human life is not a big concern. Some {see Cthulhu, Ha$tur} have a desire to drag the planet off somewhere and devour all life on the planet (see Strange Aeons AP).

Locally, Rovagug is in there (wants to devour life) but all human deities are lesser gods and kind of piddling (according to Lovecraftian Lore).

Wishes are the biggest power and those are restricted to what they can do.

PF1 got stuck in stasis circa 2021 (PFS final updates). Now only time will destroy it from existence as people move on and the product is forgotten. So no canonical changes until it moves into public domain...

[OmniMage]

I don't know. I don't think any of the deities have been stated out. I don't think it would be a good idea to do so. One of the problems is that if you do stat out a god, the players might want to try to kill it. I think it would be better to leave the abilities of gods as unknown.

[Java Man]

Two deities died preventing Earthfall from destroying Golarion. This makes me think that they do not have world ending power levels.

[Belafon]

Yes, deities (at least some) can destroy planets. But not in a "snap your fingers and the planet disappears" way. Rovagug devoured several planets before being trapped on Golarion. It appears to have been a gradual process, as supported by the fact that he didn't just instantaneously destroy Golarion when he was fighting the other deities.

The "power level" of deities has always deliberately been left vague. And likely varies between deities. Pharasma allegedly created the entire universe (with the help of a remnant of the last universe). Meanwhile Aroden personally fought the Whispering Tyrant instead of just miracle-ing him out of existence.

While a few of the lesser deities, like Black Butterfly, have been statted out none of the Core 20 were.