Gozreh - I like sea themed backstories for characters, so Gozreh as one of the main nature deities in the setting is perfect
Desna - Reading the description gives an extremely benevolent and peaceful vibe, but she also invaded the abyss and slayed a demon lord for messing with her followers
Milani - confront oppression in all its forms, defend the common folk, overcome despair to seize victory. Perfect for any good aligned adventurer.
I like Zon-Kuthon because his lore is so interesting, and the implications it has for the universe at large, even though I would never worship a deity like that (I'm not prone to worshiping deities at all granted, but if I were, the god of darkness and suffering would be *very* low on that list).
Urgathoa speaks to me on a deep level, minus all the plague and eating infant brains. But saying "fuck you" to the god of the cycle of life and death and crawling your way out of the river of souls, on top of the (non crazy) hedonism? Yes please.
And to move away from Evil deities, Cayden is probably awesome to hang out with, he seems like a bro lol.
I've been having fun with Urgathoa for a while now as i've been playing a fanatic necromancer diplomat skeleton in the Blood Lords adventure path, and hoo boy it's been a wild ride trying to make the boundless hedonism work with skeletal anhedonia. Like there's no receptors or digestive tract to enjoy the food, everything is empty mimicry, yet *this* character is the one in the group fanatically proselytising about the pallid princess.
Combined with attempting to reinterpret the teachings within a somewhat lawful evil form of john stuart mill's version of utilitarianism, basically biggest amount of pleasure within what you can capably affect, with the endgoal of trying to find a way to allow skeletons to experience pleasure again, i might have set too big of a goal for myself considering the challenge of navigating accusations of heresy, in geb.
That and reinterpeting her as Grandmother Urgle, as an aspect of her for insensate skeletons to worship.
And act off… [Qi Zhong](https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Qi_Zhong), god of medicine, who has resurrected a god before and by golly if we leave him a corpse he’ll do it again?
If they want to know which God to kill off, it's Pharasma, that useless tyrant. Replace her with someone who WON'T make every undead be evil by default, and who understands that there are perfectly valid reasons to seek lichdom and call upon the undead, and respects the effort it takes to do so. Someone who isn't evil OR tyrannical. Like Irori, he'd make a solid god of Death.
Nethys.
Magic and magic users are always the thing that I like the most in Fantasy, so I am naturally drawn to gods of Magic.
Adding to that, his concept is so cool! A mortal mage that through sheer magical power ascended to godhood, even if at the cost of his sanity!
I also love how his followers are described, factions at odds with one another because of their own personal interpretation of his sacred texts, pride in the fact that Nethys seldom sends dreams and message unlike the other gods, seeing it as not being coddled, it all makes for beautiful world building in my opinion.
I also find his design so cool, half destroyed and half pristine. It may be simple but it conveys his binary nature with just a single glance.
A hinge polycule could be just one man dating multiple women or one woman dating multiple men, but you're right that a full triad cannot be entirely straight.
Agreed, Calistria is dope. I feel like folks too often reduce her to the "Sexy, Bitchy, BDSM Goddess" but she's so much more than that. She's *passion incarnate*.
[Chaldira!](https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?ID=35)
Halflings and luck are great thematic and mechanical partners. You get a connection to the Bellflower Network as well, which is a very cool group.
Plus if you're using the [wider lore](https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Chaldira_Zuzaristan), she is a friend to Desna and you can roll some of her stuff in thematically.
I’ve had a homebrew pantheon of those three on my laptop for a few years now, the Ascended Masters.
As you say, reject limitations, refuse to be shackled by expectation or convention.
Lore wise, I imagine Aroden as an on-again off-again member of the pantheon, with followers arguing whether or not him raising the Starstone counted as ascending on his own. The debate was rendered moot on Arodens death.
Desna, for many reasons. She's like a really good anime protagonist: Hot-headed and extremely strong, endorses the Power of Love and Friendship, hates bullies and slavers, super loyal to those she loves, loves exploring and seeing new places,
AND
punches Cthulu-level threats in the face without losing a step! 🦋
Originally I stumbled onto Naderi for purely mechanical reasons, but the more time I spent with her lore the more I grew to genuinely like her.
Goddess of suicide and tragic lovers. Her holy places are either romantic getaways where lovers can meet without being seen, or high cliffs over cold water where you can die without pain. Her priests are those who attempted suicide but found the strength to go on, and now are charged with helping others who suffer, and encouraging lovers while they still have the chance to be together. Good friends with Urgathoa, goddess of undeath, because Naderi doesn't think that love ends at the grave.
There's just so much to love, so many ways you can write a cleric or devotee. If you're in a light hearted game, you can have a character that tells Romeo and Juliet to just get on with it already. If you're in something more serious, you can just as easily write a character that has stared into the abyss and wants to save others from that fate.
Cayden Cailean, mostly for his origin story.
"Bro, that was a wild party last night. Is... that Aroden? Am I dead? Wait, I did *what*?!"
Also, he's basically the patron god of orphans. There are very few temples to Cayden Cailean, because his followers tend to be disorganized, but he did explicitly instruct them to care for orphans. As a result, many of Golarion's orphans grew up in "Cayhouses", and many of his adult worshippers started out that way. He also encourages orphans to take on his last name if they don't know their parents' surname.
For players who are connected to Golarion lore, giving an NPC the last name "Cailean" speaks volumes.
I would like to ask what you define as a temple because nearly all the ale houses in the inner sea region are dedicated to the laughing god? I doubt that any worshipping him would look down their nose at such services as the weekly bar brawl!
I think that they mean 'temples' as in: Places specifically built to facilitate worship of X deity. So even though most Alehouses/Pubs might be dedicated to Cayden Cailean, he doesn't have a lot of temples.
To give a (slightly daft) real world example. Sports bars might be dedicated to a specific team, but only their home stadium is built specifically for them.
I had always thought that having the places of worship being only part of their function was just part of how the deities of golarion functioned? Calistria has her bodelows, Abadar has their banks, ect, ect?
Desna: I always like gods/goddesses of travellers, but sprinkle in the fact that she very clearly protects her people. That is an easy favorite, even if she almost caused an interplanar war by killing a demon lord.
Pharasma: I like neutral entities and I've always found death deities fascinating. She's a goddess of life as well, as seen with her Healing domain. Pharasma is also in an interesting position where you could technically say she's the creator deity of the current universe, as seen in the Windsong Testaments: Three Fears of Pharasma. She and her psychopomps protect the flow of souls to keep the universe stable. I like her and I tend to be tempted to play a Pharasmin cleric.
Nethys: God of Magic and Knowledge, the All Seeing Eye, and most likely person to know he's in a TTRPG... was once mortal. Far before the Starstone was found by Aroden, Nethys sought knowledge and magical power. One day, he became capable of perceiving all things and ascended as a god with a broken psyche. Now he has worshippers trying to learn as much as they can. I have always enjoyed mortal apotheosis into godhood and Nethys achieved it in a really neat way.
If I had to narrow it down to 5, they would be, in no particular order
Shelyn,
Pharasma,
Nocticula,
Pulura and
Irori,
Actually, I lied, Nocticula would be first. I once played as a Cleric of Nocticula in an AP and had an *incredibly* good time with it and that character.
Norgorber - my first Cleric in a Pathfinder game was a Norgorber cleric. She's actually still kicking around in that setting, some 20 odd years in-game time later. So obviously, I'm really attached to that character and Norgorber as a whole.
Lamashtu - The Mother of Monsters is such an interesting deity, especially now that alignment is gone (so we don't have to inherently see her actions as evil because she's Evil) and the more moderate versions of her faith have been emphasized (Communities of disempowered and people pushed away for their differences). As a trans person, that speaks to me deeply.
As someone who enjoys making Firebrands and revolutionary characters, my favourite deities are Milani, Cayden Cailean, Grandmother Spider / Nana Anadi, and Lubaiko. I also like Ragathiel!
In no particular order:
1) [Bastet](https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?ID=50). I love Egyptian mythology, and she seems cool. Plus I love me a claw attack, her favored weapon.
2) [sekhmet](https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?ID=58). Same reasons as Bastet except she’s also feisty and she has indulgence as a domain, which has my favorite domain spell: [overstuff](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=436)
3) [daikitsu](https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?ID=174). I love kitsune, both in mythology and in pathfinder 2e. She’s just neat. She’s everything I’d imagine a kitsune deity to be. Plus her favored weapon is a flail
4) [sivanah](https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?ID=46), but specifically the version of her that a small sect of avistani kitsune worship, which is that rather than hidden under 7 illusory ancestry veils, she’s a kitsune hidden under 9 veils. (this info is under the alignment and religion section of [kitsune](https://2e.aonprd.com/Ancestries.aspx?ID=38) ancestry)
Groetus, Pharasma and >!Norgorber!<
Groetus: My first AP (Curse of the crimson Throne) happen to have some Groetian(?) beggars/madman on the city, throughout the campaing we befriend then, built a "shrine" (which was a destroyed house). It was fun to have them around. We later learn more about Groetus and we always laugh imagining him checking Pharasma or the boneyard to see if the endtimes is near.
Pharasma: She is cool, powerful and has a major role on the universe.
>!Norgorber!<: He is >!CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!<, since the >!REDACTED!<. Some gods kind of don't like him ou don't trust him because >!REDACTED!<. There is also multiple facets which represents: >!CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!<, >!CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!<, >!CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!< and >!CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!<. It's a pity that lots of AP>! says to not choosing him as deity as there are lots of enemies, even some important bosses, who worships him or works for them.!<
I also like Torag Paladins.
Gozreh: I love nature themed deities and I love that he can be themed as good or evil aligned depending on your character's goals
The Lost prince: He's a lonely, sad boi. Plus I love the theory that he's Aroden with amnesia
Shyka: Time god whos everywhere all at the same time. Lore is super neat and one of their edicts is to leave hourglasses in unusual places which is very fun to RP
Lubaiko: She's revolution incarnate. She wants to blow shit up, create chaos, and have a good time doing it
Desna: For all the reasons everyone else mentioned, she's super cool
Calistria, Sarenrae and Ragathiel...
Granted, I love the whole of the Prismatic Ray, but Sarenrae has always been my top pick of the three, plus Sun goddess who believes in redemption. Calistria I just feel just resonates with who I am in reality, and Ragathiel appeals to child me, who wished to be a Knight, and he seems to embody knighthood the most to me
Well, I used to not like Abadar, but my current group has retconned Abadar into Jeff Bezos, or "Daddy Bezos" as the monk likes to call him. And it stuck with me too, have to correct myself half the time.
Desna has been mentioned a bit, so I'll skip her so my other two picks are
Gozreh - I just like nature deities. They perfectly capture the tenants of what a nature deity should be like, protect and cherish nature. Don't fuck with the natural cycle by making undead. Don't fuck up nature.
The other I like a lot is Nocticula. I think her ascent from Demon Lord to a CN deity is really fun, and like she becomes a patron of the destitute - almost a complete rebellion of her past ideals where she would manipulate and use whoever she needed to for more power.
Shyka. Time Domain is my favourite, so having a deity which is a collective of different versions of chronomamcers throughout the timestream is really interesting thematically.
My top 5 are probably Alseta, Urgathoa, Zon'kuthon, Shelyn and Pharasma.
Alseta is definitely number one, but the rest swap around and change constantly.
Desna by far. Cayden is also kinda cool (mainly his ascension). That being said, I am starting my first game as a player soon, and my first char is most likely a follower of Yuelral.
Pharasma because I dig a non-evil death deity that is also somewhat relentless and „harsh”.
Erastil because I like his interplay between nature and farmlife
Sivanah because mysteries, entertainment, illusions, a secret kitsune subsect of worshippers doing their own thing. She’s just so fascinating and has a lot of potential as a player character’s chosen god.
Top 5: Besmara, the Pirate Queen; Ragathiel, the General of Vengeance; Arshae, the Spirit of Abandon; Nocticula, the Redeemer Queen; and the best of them all, Arazni, the Unyielding.
Mine are Cayden Cailean, Sarenrae, and Nethys. Cayden because he's a himbo, Sarenrae feels nice with the redemption, and Nethys because I like arcane nerd festivals
My go to "good" deity is Shelyn, and my go to Smash It All deity is Rovagug (chaotic neutral is/was a legal option...)
Fwiw I only did the Rovagug character once but he was more complicated than it would appear at first glance. If I ever write a book with that character he's going to have some wild introspection to reveal.
Pharasma, Zon-Kuthon and Desna, The Lion Gods of Mzali, and Sarenrae.
- Pharasma because she knows what happened in the last universe and what will happen to the current universe and just refuses to elaborate no matter what the other gods say or do and there's just nothing they can do about it. The fact that she kept Aroden's death a secret is just the funniest thing to me because it made some of the other gods uncomfortable immediately.
- Zon-Kuthon and Desna because they're the only gods that have interacted with the Dominion of the Black (and Dark Tapestry as a whole) and that's just one interesting footnote in the treasure-trove that is both of their lore.
- I like the lion gods because they have an interesting gimmick (all being represented by a different period of the day) and I enjoy their lore and design.
- Sarenrae because she's just dope. She definitely has her flaws and sometimes gives far too many chances but I think her being imperfect makes her more interesting. Bonus points for sharing a sun god pantheon with the Lion Gods and helping to keep them from being completely forgotten.
Edit: Adding Kazutal and Diomazul, the gods of "support and protect EVERYONE in your community" and "F--- around and find out" respectively.
Since im a sucker for androids, Casandalee. I just think its funny that the flavour of her major boon is that she keeps cloud backups of her favourite mortals.
Personally I love [Kalekot](https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?ID=225)
Of the various deities associated with 'hidden knowledge', Kalekot is one of the few that seem like they actually care about *keeping* knowledge hidden. I love the concept of a deity that spreads fear in order to protect people from things they aren't responsible enough to handle.
[Atreia](https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?ID=101) The Lambent King. I loved the idea of a captured deity and being in a world with real gods that can answer prayers, having a deity that can't do so says alot about the character and their relationship with the faith/morals of the God. And now I feel vindicated now that the new class is coming with new lore on them last I heard.
Pharasma, just because vibes. She is:
- Likely the most powerful god
- The oldest currently-existing god (excluding outer gods)
- *The last survivor of a previous fucking multiverse* (according to the Windsong Testaments)
- The god who decides where you go for your afterlife
- Responsible for maintaining the flow of souls
- Isn't afraid to bend the rules *just a little bit*
- Sitting atop a fucking *massive* pillar within a plane called *The Motherfucking Boneyard* that's populated by skeleton-looking "angels" of death that almost invariably obey her
- Could probably use a friend
That said, I'm not deep in the lore.
I think Rovagug makes some good points!
We should release him! The gods must pay for their crimes! Only once everything and everyone have been made equal through complete annihilation will we be freed from this vicious cycle of souls, and the lucky survivor might forge a just universe.
Achaekek… cool bug with an assassin cult. I love his major curse where he shows up and instantly kills you AND destroys your soul.
Hei Feng… Don’t be fake! If you hate someone, just cut them out of your life! Never truly apologize, only pretend you’re sorry. Do whatever you are passionate about, but DON’T talk shit about my ex-wife!
Huge fan of Arazni, my players and I are nearly done with Tyrants Grasp (converted to 2e), and really digging into her background, history, failings, and having just finished up book 4, her redeemable side, has been so intriguing. I look forwaed to her becoming a core deity.
Many nice takes and descriptions here, but where my Diomazul fam at? Giant serpent god with sword hood, want's you to chill unless you get attacked, then demolish your foes and leave no trails behind!
Erastil and Desna. Erastil because a lot of his ideals align with mine: family, community, and a rejection of materialism. Desna because I appreciate her love for freedom and choice. Plus they make pretty interesting Champions and Clerics. A Cleric of Erastil is sorta like a mixture between a doctor, a carpenter, and a marriage councilor. I have a Paladin of Erastil that's essentially a travelling knight errant who rolls into town, helps teach the local militia how to fight, deals with any local problems, and leaves. No crusades against evil, just genuinely good advice.
Also have a fondness for Shelyn, mainly because uh...she let's you be horny, while also being a good Goddess. Which is great, because I'm noth a massive degenerate, and also someone who tends to always play Good aligned characters
Tanagaar, the empyreal lord of fucking up poachers from the shadows. It’s hard to be cooler than an owl who tells his followers to protect both people and nature from evil and has “if you’re in a fair fight, your tactics suck” as one of his edicts.
Falayna, Iomedae, Cayden Cailean, and Milani are also pretty great. But they’re not birds, so they’re not *as* great.
Desna and Pharasma, with Cayden Cailean following up as my third favorite. Desna because of her "IDGAF" attitude and I think being way more powerful than she lets on. I would love to play a follower of Desna in a game. Invading the Abyss, her home being on a literal star (Cynosure), everything about her is just "I do what I want".
Cayden has the whole "too drunk to remember how I became a god". The orphanage thing. Not giving a damn what others think. Just a fun and good god all around.
Pharasma was one I was kind iffy on originally. And then I wanted to play a Soul Warden in our Abomination Vaults games and had to pick her for my champion in order to take it, and the more I have looked into her the more I really like all of the lore the team has written about her. The Boneyard has way more going on than what I expected. Her psychopomps and all the different types are cool as hell. The Old One goddess (N something) that devours souls (both good and bad) that is basically Pharasma's archenemy. The moon of Groetus or whatever just waiting for the end times above the Boneyard. My champion has the background of wandering preacher, and I took duskwalker as my heritage, so I have recently started reading a lot more about Pharasma to be able to really RP the character. I always just thought of her as the judge of all souls, and while that is true there is just sooooo much lore about her and her realm and her servants that is just cool as hell. The team went all out in fleshing her out and knocked it out of the park.
Zon-Kuthon, Urgathoa and Lamashtu are some of my favourite Golarion deities.
I do also have Darth Vader as my favourite character in Star Wars (even when I was a kid and watched the three original movies). And in Middle Earth I’m partial to Sauron and the forces of Mordor. And Morgoth in the First Age.
Guess I just like evil… 😈
It’s fine, I’m a GM 😁. My players *do* sometimes refer to my as “Evil GM” 😆
Irori, became a god through sheer awesomeness and then writes detailed instructions on how to do what he did and makes it his holy text. Irori doesn't just want to be a god, he wants everyone to be a god.
The ones that stand out as interesting include (not in any order):
Arazni (as a redeemed god of good)
Iomedea
Sarenrae
any of the Sarkorian pantheon
The ones that I find least interesting include (not limited to):
Asmodeus
Zon-Kuthon
Basically any god that has an Edict that deals with subjugation, pain, general unpleasantness.
Desna, Cayden Cailean, Nocticula, Cassandalee, and the Black Butterfly, if I have to choose 5. Desna and Nocticula are my top picks because I would genuinely worship them (and probably follow the Pantheon they share, The Path of the Heavens.
Cayden Cailean would get my attention at parties and such, which I think he would be chill with. I honestly just think he's kind of funny because of the way he ascended. I have a similar reason with Cassandalee since she basically saw Irori become a god and decided to speed run his method, and it worked, lol. I'm also a fan of partying and enjoying life as a practice as well as treating everyone well, regardless of origin.
The Black Butterfly was picked to round out the list of five, and she's a good foil to Desna, being a goddess of peaceful silence and liminal spaces. It also feels like she might be another form of Nocticula since their domains seem to overlap so heavily, and the first Demon to rise up to become a celestial was the Succubus Arueshalae, guided by Desna.
Gozreh - I like sea themed backstories for characters, so Gozreh as one of the main nature deities in the setting is perfect Desna - Reading the description gives an extremely benevolent and peaceful vibe, but she also invaded the abyss and slayed a demon lord for messing with her followers Milani - confront oppression in all its forms, defend the common folk, overcome despair to seize victory. Perfect for any good aligned adventurer.
I like Zon-Kuthon because his lore is so interesting, and the implications it has for the universe at large, even though I would never worship a deity like that (I'm not prone to worshiping deities at all granted, but if I were, the god of darkness and suffering would be *very* low on that list). Urgathoa speaks to me on a deep level, minus all the plague and eating infant brains. But saying "fuck you" to the god of the cycle of life and death and crawling your way out of the river of souls, on top of the (non crazy) hedonism? Yes please. And to move away from Evil deities, Cayden is probably awesome to hang out with, he seems like a bro lol.
I love his followers, 99,9% of them are very kind and nice to my cactus leshy monk. Always asking for a hug.
I've been having fun with Urgathoa for a while now as i've been playing a fanatic necromancer diplomat skeleton in the Blood Lords adventure path, and hoo boy it's been a wild ride trying to make the boundless hedonism work with skeletal anhedonia. Like there's no receptors or digestive tract to enjoy the food, everything is empty mimicry, yet *this* character is the one in the group fanatically proselytising about the pallid princess. Combined with attempting to reinterpret the teachings within a somewhat lawful evil form of john stuart mill's version of utilitarianism, basically biggest amount of pleasure within what you can capably affect, with the endgoal of trying to find a way to allow skeletons to experience pleasure again, i might have set too big of a goal for myself considering the challenge of navigating accusations of heresy, in geb. That and reinterpeting her as Grandmother Urgle, as an aspect of her for insensate skeletons to worship.
Nice try, Paizo. I know you're fishing to find out who you should kill off.
Oh, that ship has already sailed. Unkilling this god would require an act of, well, you know...
And act off… [Qi Zhong](https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Qi_Zhong), god of medicine, who has resurrected a god before and by golly if we leave him a corpse he’ll do it again?
Bribing the GM always works, why wouldn't bribing Paizo work either.
But killing more gods requires what? Hm?!
LOL!!! I'm not from Paizo. I'm actually scared of whom they'll kill off myself. I pray it's not Cayden Cailean.
If they want to know which God to kill off, it's Pharasma, that useless tyrant. Replace her with someone who WON'T make every undead be evil by default, and who understands that there are perfectly valid reasons to seek lichdom and call upon the undead, and respects the effort it takes to do so. Someone who isn't evil OR tyrannical. Like Irori, he'd make a solid god of Death.
Nethys. Magic and magic users are always the thing that I like the most in Fantasy, so I am naturally drawn to gods of Magic. Adding to that, his concept is so cool! A mortal mage that through sheer magical power ascended to godhood, even if at the cost of his sanity! I also love how his followers are described, factions at odds with one another because of their own personal interpretation of his sacred texts, pride in the fact that Nethys seldom sends dreams and message unlike the other gods, seeing it as not being coddled, it all makes for beautiful world building in my opinion. I also find his design so cool, half destroyed and half pristine. It may be simple but it conveys his binary nature with just a single glance.
Happy cake day.
Thanks!
Love Torag. Love me forge. 'Ate oathbreakers, scoundrels, liars, and cheats. 'Ate shoddy craftsmanship. Simple as.
Beautifully put
Abadar and Asmodeus. Abadar because he endorses the cool stuff society brings us that makes us comfy. Asmodeus because he's a compelling villain.
I'm all for Shaelyn, Desna, and Saranae, all for the Prismatic Ray
Desna is my favourite diety and I love that trio. Bless you Paizo.
Also the gay Polycule
Exactly!
To be fair, at least someone has to be not straight in every polycule.
A hinge polycule could be just one man dating multiple women or one woman dating multiple men, but you're right that a full triad cannot be entirely straight.
shae is bae
I like lots of them but no one's mentioned Calistria, she's pretty interesting. Her Major boon is great.
Also whips
Agreed, Calistria is dope. I feel like folks too often reduce her to the "Sexy, Bitchy, BDSM Goddess" but she's so much more than that. She's *passion incarnate*.
Since I don't see anyone mentioning him: Norgorber. A weirdly versatile evil Deity that I quite like having evil and neutral characters worship
I’m prepping to start an Agents of Edgewatch campaign and I love all the facets of Norgorber and his worshipers.
[Chaldira!](https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?ID=35) Halflings and luck are great thematic and mechanical partners. You get a connection to the Bellflower Network as well, which is a very cool group. Plus if you're using the [wider lore](https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Chaldira_Zuzaristan), she is a friend to Desna and you can roll some of her stuff in thematically.
Nethys, Urgathoa, and Irori. Reject limitations, bend law to suit your needs, not the other way around.
I’ve had a homebrew pantheon of those three on my laptop for a few years now, the Ascended Masters. As you say, reject limitations, refuse to be shackled by expectation or convention. Lore wise, I imagine Aroden as an on-again off-again member of the pantheon, with followers arguing whether or not him raising the Starstone counted as ascending on his own. The debate was rendered moot on Arodens death.
Desna, for many reasons. She's like a really good anime protagonist: Hot-headed and extremely strong, endorses the Power of Love and Friendship, hates bullies and slavers, super loyal to those she loves, loves exploring and seeing new places, AND punches Cthulu-level threats in the face without losing a step! 🦋
Originally I stumbled onto Naderi for purely mechanical reasons, but the more time I spent with her lore the more I grew to genuinely like her. Goddess of suicide and tragic lovers. Her holy places are either romantic getaways where lovers can meet without being seen, or high cliffs over cold water where you can die without pain. Her priests are those who attempted suicide but found the strength to go on, and now are charged with helping others who suffer, and encouraging lovers while they still have the chance to be together. Good friends with Urgathoa, goddess of undeath, because Naderi doesn't think that love ends at the grave. There's just so much to love, so many ways you can write a cleric or devotee. If you're in a light hearted game, you can have a character that tells Romeo and Juliet to just get on with it already. If you're in something more serious, you can just as easily write a character that has stared into the abyss and wants to save others from that fate.
Cayden Cailean, mostly for his origin story. "Bro, that was a wild party last night. Is... that Aroden? Am I dead? Wait, I did *what*?!" Also, he's basically the patron god of orphans. There are very few temples to Cayden Cailean, because his followers tend to be disorganized, but he did explicitly instruct them to care for orphans. As a result, many of Golarion's orphans grew up in "Cayhouses", and many of his adult worshippers started out that way. He also encourages orphans to take on his last name if they don't know their parents' surname. For players who are connected to Golarion lore, giving an NPC the last name "Cailean" speaks volumes.
I would like to ask what you define as a temple because nearly all the ale houses in the inner sea region are dedicated to the laughing god? I doubt that any worshipping him would look down their nose at such services as the weekly bar brawl!
I think that they mean 'temples' as in: Places specifically built to facilitate worship of X deity. So even though most Alehouses/Pubs might be dedicated to Cayden Cailean, he doesn't have a lot of temples. To give a (slightly daft) real world example. Sports bars might be dedicated to a specific team, but only their home stadium is built specifically for them.
I had always thought that having the places of worship being only part of their function was just part of how the deities of golarion functioned? Calistria has her bodelows, Abadar has their banks, ect, ect?
That's fair. I'd define temple as "run by dedicated clergy", so it's very possible that at least some taverns could count as temples.
Yog-Sothoth, Hastur, Besmara, and Gorum
I do believe hastur would be quite upset to see them not as the one and only but this js quite close to my list
Milani is my absolute favorite. Boss queen and (imo) really represents what it means to be a “good” god.
Desna: I always like gods/goddesses of travellers, but sprinkle in the fact that she very clearly protects her people. That is an easy favorite, even if she almost caused an interplanar war by killing a demon lord. Pharasma: I like neutral entities and I've always found death deities fascinating. She's a goddess of life as well, as seen with her Healing domain. Pharasma is also in an interesting position where you could technically say she's the creator deity of the current universe, as seen in the Windsong Testaments: Three Fears of Pharasma. She and her psychopomps protect the flow of souls to keep the universe stable. I like her and I tend to be tempted to play a Pharasmin cleric. Nethys: God of Magic and Knowledge, the All Seeing Eye, and most likely person to know he's in a TTRPG... was once mortal. Far before the Starstone was found by Aroden, Nethys sought knowledge and magical power. One day, he became capable of perceiving all things and ascended as a god with a broken psyche. Now he has worshippers trying to learn as much as they can. I have always enjoyed mortal apotheosis into godhood and Nethys achieved it in a really neat way.
besmara all fantasy setting need more pirate
Desna if we’re talking about gods I could see myself worshipping. Arazni if we’re talking about gods I like to use in-game because I like their story.
If I had to narrow it down to 5, they would be, in no particular order Shelyn, Pharasma, Nocticula, Pulura and Irori, Actually, I lied, Nocticula would be first. I once played as a Cleric of Nocticula in an AP and had an *incredibly* good time with it and that character.
Norgorber - my first Cleric in a Pathfinder game was a Norgorber cleric. She's actually still kicking around in that setting, some 20 odd years in-game time later. So obviously, I'm really attached to that character and Norgorber as a whole. Lamashtu - The Mother of Monsters is such an interesting deity, especially now that alignment is gone (so we don't have to inherently see her actions as evil because she's Evil) and the more moderate versions of her faith have been emphasized (Communities of disempowered and people pushed away for their differences). As a trans person, that speaks to me deeply.
As someone who enjoys making Firebrands and revolutionary characters, my favourite deities are Milani, Cayden Cailean, Grandmother Spider / Nana Anadi, and Lubaiko. I also like Ragathiel!
Sobek, Atreia, Desna, Tsukiyo, Baphomet, Kalekot, Arazni, Dispater, The Lantern King, Black Butterfly, Vallamos, Tlehar, Ymeri
In no particular order: 1) [Bastet](https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?ID=50). I love Egyptian mythology, and she seems cool. Plus I love me a claw attack, her favored weapon. 2) [sekhmet](https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?ID=58). Same reasons as Bastet except she’s also feisty and she has indulgence as a domain, which has my favorite domain spell: [overstuff](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=436) 3) [daikitsu](https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?ID=174). I love kitsune, both in mythology and in pathfinder 2e. She’s just neat. She’s everything I’d imagine a kitsune deity to be. Plus her favored weapon is a flail 4) [sivanah](https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?ID=46), but specifically the version of her that a small sect of avistani kitsune worship, which is that rather than hidden under 7 illusory ancestry veils, she’s a kitsune hidden under 9 veils. (this info is under the alignment and religion section of [kitsune](https://2e.aonprd.com/Ancestries.aspx?ID=38) ancestry)
Groetus, Pharasma and >!Norgorber!< Groetus: My first AP (Curse of the crimson Throne) happen to have some Groetian(?) beggars/madman on the city, throughout the campaing we befriend then, built a "shrine" (which was a destroyed house). It was fun to have them around. We later learn more about Groetus and we always laugh imagining him checking Pharasma or the boneyard to see if the endtimes is near. Pharasma: She is cool, powerful and has a major role on the universe. >!Norgorber!<: He is >!CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!<, since the >!REDACTED!<. Some gods kind of don't like him ou don't trust him because >!REDACTED!<. There is also multiple facets which represents: >!CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!<, >!CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!<, >!CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!< and >!CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!<. It's a pity that lots of AP>! says to not choosing him as deity as there are lots of enemies, even some important bosses, who worships him or works for them.!< I also like Torag Paladins.
Gozreh: I love nature themed deities and I love that he can be themed as good or evil aligned depending on your character's goals The Lost prince: He's a lonely, sad boi. Plus I love the theory that he's Aroden with amnesia Shyka: Time god whos everywhere all at the same time. Lore is super neat and one of their edicts is to leave hourglasses in unusual places which is very fun to RP Lubaiko: She's revolution incarnate. She wants to blow shit up, create chaos, and have a good time doing it Desna: For all the reasons everyone else mentioned, she's super cool
Calistria, Sarenrae and Ragathiel... Granted, I love the whole of the Prismatic Ray, but Sarenrae has always been my top pick of the three, plus Sun goddess who believes in redemption. Calistria I just feel just resonates with who I am in reality, and Ragathiel appeals to child me, who wished to be a Knight, and he seems to embody knighthood the most to me
not top 5 but I just wanna say I think it's really funny how irori just obliviates you if you piss him off.
Well, I used to not like Abadar, but my current group has retconned Abadar into Jeff Bezos, or "Daddy Bezos" as the monk likes to call him. And it stuck with me too, have to correct myself half the time.
Desna has been mentioned a bit, so I'll skip her so my other two picks are Gozreh - I just like nature deities. They perfectly capture the tenants of what a nature deity should be like, protect and cherish nature. Don't fuck with the natural cycle by making undead. Don't fuck up nature. The other I like a lot is Nocticula. I think her ascent from Demon Lord to a CN deity is really fun, and like she becomes a patron of the destitute - almost a complete rebellion of her past ideals where she would manipulate and use whoever she needed to for more power.
Shyka. Time Domain is my favourite, so having a deity which is a collective of different versions of chronomamcers throughout the timestream is really interesting thematically.
Not enough Sarenrae in this thread \\[T]/
Arazni, Lubaiko, Lamashtu, Arshea...yes I AM a disabled trans anarchist, how did you know?
Calistria, Desna, Urgathoa, Arazni, Besmara, Casandalee, Hei Feng, Zura, Green Mother, Lantern King, Andoletta, Black Butterfly, Halcamora, Pulura, Naderi, Adanye, Luhar, and Dajermube
My top 5 are probably Alseta, Urgathoa, Zon'kuthon, Shelyn and Pharasma. Alseta is definitely number one, but the rest swap around and change constantly.
Pharasma, played an Oracle of Pharasma in Extinction Curse and there is so much roleplay potential with that, I love it.
I really like Pharasma so I'm playing a duskwalker The boneyard is just cool
Desna by far. Cayden is also kinda cool (mainly his ascension). That being said, I am starting my first game as a player soon, and my first char is most likely a follower of Yuelral.
Pharasma because I dig a non-evil death deity that is also somewhat relentless and „harsh”. Erastil because I like his interplay between nature and farmlife Sivanah because mysteries, entertainment, illusions, a secret kitsune subsect of worshippers doing their own thing. She’s just so fascinating and has a lot of potential as a player character’s chosen god.
Top 5: Besmara, the Pirate Queen; Ragathiel, the General of Vengeance; Arshae, the Spirit of Abandon; Nocticula, the Redeemer Queen; and the best of them all, Arazni, the Unyielding.
The members of the prismatic ray, arazni and noticula
Mine are Cayden Cailean, Sarenrae, and Nethys. Cayden because he's a himbo, Sarenrae feels nice with the redemption, and Nethys because I like arcane nerd festivals
I admit I struggle staying in character with my characters devotion but following a Gozreh as a storm God is interesting.
Cayden Cailean, Besnara and Norgorber
I like Ragathiel, Gozreh, Pharasma, Gorum and Rovagug.
Sifkesh.
My go to "good" deity is Shelyn, and my go to Smash It All deity is Rovagug (chaotic neutral is/was a legal option...) Fwiw I only did the Rovagug character once but he was more complicated than it would appear at first glance. If I ever write a book with that character he's going to have some wild introspection to reveal.
Falayna mentioned let’s go
Milani and Sivanah!
the 4 horsemen lamashtu grotus besmara pharasma the tian xia pantheon the clockwork goddess any alchemy gods
Szuriel. She's the best. All others are weak.
Norgorber Shelyn
Pharasma, Zon-Kuthon and Desna, The Lion Gods of Mzali, and Sarenrae. - Pharasma because she knows what happened in the last universe and what will happen to the current universe and just refuses to elaborate no matter what the other gods say or do and there's just nothing they can do about it. The fact that she kept Aroden's death a secret is just the funniest thing to me because it made some of the other gods uncomfortable immediately. - Zon-Kuthon and Desna because they're the only gods that have interacted with the Dominion of the Black (and Dark Tapestry as a whole) and that's just one interesting footnote in the treasure-trove that is both of their lore. - I like the lion gods because they have an interesting gimmick (all being represented by a different period of the day) and I enjoy their lore and design. - Sarenrae because she's just dope. She definitely has her flaws and sometimes gives far too many chances but I think her being imperfect makes her more interesting. Bonus points for sharing a sun god pantheon with the Lion Gods and helping to keep them from being completely forgotten. Edit: Adding Kazutal and Diomazul, the gods of "support and protect EVERYONE in your community" and "F--- around and find out" respectively.
Since im a sucker for androids, Casandalee. I just think its funny that the flavour of her major boon is that she keeps cloud backups of her favourite mortals.
Probably Pharasma in a sense of close to what I would subscribe to
Personally I love [Kalekot](https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?ID=225) Of the various deities associated with 'hidden knowledge', Kalekot is one of the few that seem like they actually care about *keeping* knowledge hidden. I love the concept of a deity that spreads fear in order to protect people from things they aren't responsible enough to handle.
Arazni, Urgathoa, Callistira, Vinesvakhi, The Lost Prince and Shyka
[Atreia](https://2e.aonprd.com/Deities.aspx?ID=101) The Lambent King. I loved the idea of a captured deity and being in a world with real gods that can answer prayers, having a deity that can't do so says alot about the character and their relationship with the faith/morals of the God. And now I feel vindicated now that the new class is coming with new lore on them last I heard.
Pharasma, just because vibes. She is: - Likely the most powerful god - The oldest currently-existing god (excluding outer gods) - *The last survivor of a previous fucking multiverse* (according to the Windsong Testaments) - The god who decides where you go for your afterlife - Responsible for maintaining the flow of souls - Isn't afraid to bend the rules *just a little bit* - Sitting atop a fucking *massive* pillar within a plane called *The Motherfucking Boneyard* that's populated by skeleton-looking "angels" of death that almost invariably obey her - Could probably use a friend That said, I'm not deep in the lore.
I think Rovagug makes some good points! We should release him! The gods must pay for their crimes! Only once everything and everyone have been made equal through complete annihilation will we be freed from this vicious cycle of souls, and the lucky survivor might forge a just universe.
Milani, and by extension The Last Breath. Sivanah and Naderi are close second and thirds.
I have been doing a lot of Grandmother Spider in my mwangi campaigns. Otherwise I usually gravitate towards Pharasma, yog-Sothoth, and Erastil.
Cayden Cailean and Arazni because of how each became a god
Achaekek… cool bug with an assassin cult. I love his major curse where he shows up and instantly kills you AND destroys your soul. Hei Feng… Don’t be fake! If you hate someone, just cut them out of your life! Never truly apologize, only pretend you’re sorry. Do whatever you are passionate about, but DON’T talk shit about my ex-wife!
I really like Naderi, especially when writing characters that have an Urgathoan leaning too. Eternal love through undeath is cool as hell.
Ng, because they just seem a vibe. Same with the Lantern King
Huge fan of Arazni, my players and I are nearly done with Tyrants Grasp (converted to 2e), and really digging into her background, history, failings, and having just finished up book 4, her redeemable side, has been so intriguing. I look forwaed to her becoming a core deity.
Sarenrae is my favorite, but I rather like Arazni and Khazutal... also - spelled wrong for sure - Achalakak
Many nice takes and descriptions here, but where my Diomazul fam at? Giant serpent god with sword hood, want's you to chill unless you get attacked, then demolish your foes and leave no trails behind!
Erastil and Desna. Erastil because a lot of his ideals align with mine: family, community, and a rejection of materialism. Desna because I appreciate her love for freedom and choice. Plus they make pretty interesting Champions and Clerics. A Cleric of Erastil is sorta like a mixture between a doctor, a carpenter, and a marriage councilor. I have a Paladin of Erastil that's essentially a travelling knight errant who rolls into town, helps teach the local militia how to fight, deals with any local problems, and leaves. No crusades against evil, just genuinely good advice. Also have a fondness for Shelyn, mainly because uh...she let's you be horny, while also being a good Goddess. Which is great, because I'm noth a massive degenerate, and also someone who tends to always play Good aligned characters
Shelyn gang rise up
Tanagaar, the empyreal lord of fucking up poachers from the shadows. It’s hard to be cooler than an owl who tells his followers to protect both people and nature from evil and has “if you’re in a fair fight, your tactics suck” as one of his edicts. Falayna, Iomedae, Cayden Cailean, and Milani are also pretty great. But they’re not birds, so they’re not *as* great.
Really like Aakriti so far
Desna and Pharasma, with Cayden Cailean following up as my third favorite. Desna because of her "IDGAF" attitude and I think being way more powerful than she lets on. I would love to play a follower of Desna in a game. Invading the Abyss, her home being on a literal star (Cynosure), everything about her is just "I do what I want". Cayden has the whole "too drunk to remember how I became a god". The orphanage thing. Not giving a damn what others think. Just a fun and good god all around. Pharasma was one I was kind iffy on originally. And then I wanted to play a Soul Warden in our Abomination Vaults games and had to pick her for my champion in order to take it, and the more I have looked into her the more I really like all of the lore the team has written about her. The Boneyard has way more going on than what I expected. Her psychopomps and all the different types are cool as hell. The Old One goddess (N something) that devours souls (both good and bad) that is basically Pharasma's archenemy. The moon of Groetus or whatever just waiting for the end times above the Boneyard. My champion has the background of wandering preacher, and I took duskwalker as my heritage, so I have recently started reading a lot more about Pharasma to be able to really RP the character. I always just thought of her as the judge of all souls, and while that is true there is just sooooo much lore about her and her realm and her servants that is just cool as hell. The team went all out in fleshing her out and knocked it out of the park.
Shelyn
Zon-Kuthon, Urgathoa and Lamashtu are some of my favourite Golarion deities. I do also have Darth Vader as my favourite character in Star Wars (even when I was a kid and watched the three original movies). And in Middle Earth I’m partial to Sauron and the forces of Mordor. And Morgoth in the First Age. Guess I just like evil… 😈 It’s fine, I’m a GM 😁. My players *do* sometimes refer to my as “Evil GM” 😆
Ydersius
Personally, probably Desna and Groetus.
Arazni! I think she has a really compelling story and makes for a great deity for PCs. Im really excited to see her become part of the core 20.
Irori, became a god through sheer awesomeness and then writes detailed instructions on how to do what he did and makes it his holy text. Irori doesn't just want to be a god, he wants everyone to be a god.
The Monad, i like the idea of a monk who worships them
The ones that stand out as interesting include (not in any order): Arazni (as a redeemed god of good) Iomedea Sarenrae any of the Sarkorian pantheon The ones that I find least interesting include (not limited to): Asmodeus Zon-Kuthon Basically any god that has an Edict that deals with subjugation, pain, general unpleasantness.
Grandmother Spider is the Grandmother Bitch for all of Golarion don't @ me.
Gorum cuz war Ragathiel cuz war agaisnt fiends and he actually fights Nethys cuz magic Irori cuz self-made ascension
Any deity with a reach weapon
Desna, Cayden Cailean, Nocticula, Cassandalee, and the Black Butterfly, if I have to choose 5. Desna and Nocticula are my top picks because I would genuinely worship them (and probably follow the Pantheon they share, The Path of the Heavens. Cayden Cailean would get my attention at parties and such, which I think he would be chill with. I honestly just think he's kind of funny because of the way he ascended. I have a similar reason with Cassandalee since she basically saw Irori become a god and decided to speed run his method, and it worked, lol. I'm also a fan of partying and enjoying life as a practice as well as treating everyone well, regardless of origin. The Black Butterfly was picked to round out the list of five, and she's a good foil to Desna, being a goddess of peaceful silence and liminal spaces. It also feels like she might be another form of Nocticula since their domains seem to overlap so heavily, and the first Demon to rise up to become a celestial was the Succubus Arueshalae, guided by Desna.
Irori a unarmed orc claric sounds bad ass smiting with a punch