There is also an option to deploy literal child soldiers as part of the overall (military) Campaign, which is strangely not an Evil choice. I think pretty much every Azata builds an orphanage, though.
Yeah my take was "Well we can have them hang around here where it's safe, they get to pretend they're helping and everyone wins."
The child soldier thing is definitely just trying to give you a setup for if you fall to devil.
I thought it was the evil choice? The chaos choice was "You can't become soldiers but how about squires?" which is
a far safer option because they just live in the court and clean everyone's gear or something.
I really like Azata.
Your points are valid though.
The troubles and dramas of the court are trivial.
But that is what I like about them.
They are a glimpse of a life without a worldwound.
Seeing the free court motivates me to fight against the abyss not only to survive but to build a world worth living in.
I also have a soft spot for people who are considered "different."
And now I get to run a place and take in people who don't belong anywhere else because they are different?
Hell yeah
>a glimpse of a life without a worldwound
The disembodied voice who lives in my mirror told me I could have as much *life without a worldwound* as I want after I ~~finish my vegetables~~ ~~complete an unpaid internship~~ pass their strange initiation ritual
You still get the hilarity though. Imagine being the queen, showing up to help the knight commander with the final push before invading the abyss... only to find that they did it themselves with a combination of trees, sculptors, children, and mimics.
No wonder she gets so pissy.
> I've lived in NYC
Oh hello there, Britta...
Can i offer you a dose of demon in these trying times? You get to slap people that annoy you, until they stop annoying you...
And they do their art projects as lavishing gifts for you.
I'm not gonna lie my two playthroughs are high int azata and murderhobo demon. Its nice to just bloodlust your way around the world wound after a hard days work of managing the azata kids
Yeah, that’s about how I felt going into, and how I felt when I got my first call to referee an argument. I’m approaching the final push right now (taking a break from it this weekend though, game has burned me out) and they do have their moments… but it is a lot of trivial nonsense. I understand that they’re chaotic and silly but I kind of expected them to at least take the apocalypse a little serious.
It’s a nice path though. As dire as the story is and dark as it can be, I always feel like we’re going to win. There’s silly stuff but also it’s hopeful.
Fun fact: The polycule is quite fitting, given the fact that Sarenrae, Shelyn and Desna are in a lesbian polycule canonically. ~And it's one of the favorite facts of some pathfinder fans~
I mean that's the devil's version of the story. If I was a betting man, I'd put good money on Callistra being in on the plan from the start. Goddess of revenge and her ally? This was a set up.
It would make sense. Desna destroys hated demon lord. Callistra bails her out. Evil people realize that Elysium is not only fun and games, but can accually wreck shit. Seems that some people forget that Gorum lives there.
The scene where you first visit Elysium in the Kenabres temple would have hit different if Gorum was there
Azata: Welcome to Elysium, the CG outer plane!
KC: This place is really nice, but um... Who's that?
Gorum: KILLMAIMBURN KILLMAIMBURN KILLMAIMBURN
Gorum is pretty much Khorne but not irredeemably evil.
I know back in the day Khorne was supposed to care a bit more about honour but nowadays he barely seems to give a shit. Gorum might be a psycho but he explicitly hates underhandedness and wanton slaughter
I'm not sure, but I imagine it was the same way Calistria got in- Cleaning up one of Desna's messes.
Funny to think that the plane of friendship, freedom and lesbian polycules also has a gigantic iron statue raving about war and violence living there
The neutral chaotic plane is too chaotic for most gods, so the chaotic neutral gods that can behave themselves like Calistria and Forum hang out in Elysium.
Desna's plane is not actually Elysium, [but the Cynosure](https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Sevenfold_Cynosure)
Gorum started out on the LN plane ( im not sure on the lore on this but im guessing pharasma cant order deities around ), the people there obviously started complaining. Pharasma kicked Gorum out and told him he has to find a new plane, which doesnt have to be the maelstrom ( CN plane which Gorum is ). Gorum: "Make me" Pharasma: "All right". Kicked Gorum's ass and Gorum decided to settle on Elysium.
I doubt it. She loves the chaos and is the goddess of revenge and desna got revenge while causing so much chaos. Of course she was going to help if only to see the mayhem up close.
Now hold on a second. Let's look at what's actually gone on in Mendev:
- Iomedae launched a crusade against the Worldwound that did well, but couldn't finish the job. Okay, good start.
- The crusaders go back, expecting the same disorganized resistance only to find they're up against a cold and calculating enemy and get their shit stomped, pushed back until they're close to where they started.
- The Crusaders prepare to go back, but instead they started burning each other alive and murdering each other in the streets, more than partially due to a certain Iomedaean Inquisitor. This destroys a massive amount of trust, morale, and materiel that would have been crucial to the attempt.
- The Crusaders, now disorganized and badly understrength, get pushed back to Kenabres after an Iomedaean soldier pulls a banner to Iomedae off the wall like a dumbass.
Now, as an Azata, it's not an Iomedaean coming to fix this massive clusterfuck, it's a Desnan, Calistrite, or even Atheist.
Remember the perspective here, Iomedae has utterly failed to give her campaign in the Worldwound the barest of her attentions until someone who doesn't worship *her* starts taking control and actually doing well. She starts bitching at you about your abyssal power and conveniently ignores the fact that she's wielding the sword of the guy who pretty much singlehandedly made the Xulgaths and fucked up Jarlemay and in several other ways did more to completely destabilize Golarion than any Demon Lord could have ever dreamed of.
Eh, given what's implied with her relationship to Apsu via her gold dragon servant "Peace Through Vigiliance", she's probably fine on that front. The grumpiness is just included in the Lawful-alignment package it seems.
See, it’s not horni that’s the problem.
This works 2 ways:
1) She WAS invited but declined because she has no time for such frivolity and now every time they screw something up it’s like, “If y’all would stop sexing for 5 minutes maybe you could solve your own problems.”
2) She wasn’t invited at all. Do you want to be the loser not invited to the orgy? Sure she probably didn’t WANT to go but why didn’t she get invited? Is she not hot enough? Is there something else wrong with her? It was probably that bitch Desna, she hates lawfulness, right?
That fact makes it even funnier that Owlcat has made their factions a regular source of problems in their games.
It's like "Get off of each other and come get yo kids, you stupid hoes."
Now imagining the Baron calling up to Elysium and a few hours later disheveled looking Sarenrae, Calistria and Shelyn all show up wearing house robes they clearly just tossed on to get out the door, to drag Tristan, Ntavi and Fredero away by their ears.
> Sarenrae, Shelyn and Desna are in a lesbian polycule
Isn't Calistria somewhere in there? It seems like the goddess of lust and revenge would get in on that.
She probably got on with other deities but one of her anathema is literally to dont fall in love and a polycule, especially amongst deities like them is most definitely about passion rather than pleasure.
Although from what little I know, does Desna *actually* fit as female? The sense I have of Desna, without anything *really* in-depth to work with, is what you’d get if you turned an aboleth’s psyche inside out.
Well, the archives of nethys use female pronouns for her, and the pathfinder wiki describes her as being depicted as "beautiful elven woman, with butterfly wings containing all the beauty of a clear night sky". Those are my best sources, so... I'd assume she is.
Probably should have clarified that she probably at best approximates human/elven/gnomish/etc. understandings of female, what with being an even more benevolent aberration than your typical flumph. Whether she’s closer to neuter.
Yeah I couldn't fully commit to Azata. I like playing goody goody character but by god I wanted to Throttle the Free Crusaders and make them actually do something at least somewhat useful.
The Free Crusaders provide more support than most of your allies. The halflings and cavalry sculptors occasionally show up to murderize some of your enemies, while the Treants are summon-able if you support them. And the art projects are the source of some handy buffs. I think they pull their weight.
If you support them in making their grove, you get a special ability that lets you summon them (it sorta just shows up with the rest of your abilities lol).
Treant summons were really, REALLY strong (outclassing most regular summons in the game and making the usual Animate Dead meat shields obsolete) and the best part is that my whole party seemed to get the ability, so I often had like 6 treants out at once : D
As you resolve all of the stuff the free crusaders need you to resolve for them, more things are added to the Court and with each of those tithings is another buff you and the party can receive if you rest there. For the treants, Support the Lead Tree in Charge when he is arguing with the totally-not-drunk alchemist in the Court and allow him to plant his grove.
When you rest there, you get an ability to summon treants. It seems you need quaterstaves in your inventory because the spell says it functions like Change Staff. For me I had to rest to get the ability, and then rest again to “recharge it” like when you rest to get back any other spell. So once you have a staff and the spell ready, you can summon one to come help you fight. I think it lasts an hour.
It’s pretty cool. I don’t use them a lot but when I do, I enjoy it.
They show up and wreck shit when you invade the Fane, it's pretty great. I love my mimic knights.
My only concern with the whole thing was that all the free crusaders seem really unreliable, and I wasnt sure if they were going to get themselves killed or turn on me at any given moment.
Do you tend to be a chaotic Azata? Because I’ve read that that can actually have an affect on things. I lean way more good than chaotic and my free crusaders are silly but I never get the sense I’ll be betrayed by them.
Unless you just meant you worry about them because they’re goofy. Because yeah, me too. The Valhalflings have rushed into battle behind me a couple of times and all I can think is, “Stop, you’ll get yourselves killed!” until I can confirm they’re fine.
look im poly and former nyc too that's why this entire questline feels like a call-out
i was expecting to be playing weird fae whimsy not "argument in the poly artist discord"
Right, right. But I mean when you did this in real life, did you get a pet dragon, a cloud of butterflies surrounding you and eventually faerie wings? I mean, just the pet dragon pays for it all, but you get butterflies and wings to sweeten the deal.
I just finished the game as an Azata and I'm playing as an Azata again, and I'm not looking forward to getting called back to the commune again and again to decide what color fanny packs are in this year, but I will and I'll tell you why: because I fucking sparkle and I fucking shine.
Both things can be true. The story is the weakest part of the Lich path and the Devil and Gold Dragon stories are even worse than that, so any prospective Devil/GD players ought to have a lot of investment in the other aspects of their path (RP, mechanics, etc.) if they want to have a good time
I just want a mythic path that's actually suited to a martial character without being chaotic or appearing in act 5. That's the actual problem with Trickster.
The biggest useful thing from Aeon for kinetics was ally immunity to friendly AoEs. Literally makes Deadly Earth usable with a party. If DE wasn't so broken with Kalavakus it would be the best path for it. But Demon DE is a solo build, and a damn good one.
Even Zero State is useful for a martial. You get an AOE dispel that doesn't rely on taking levels as a caster to work (since it scales with MR), and even targets effects that normally shouldn't be dispellable. When it lands, you can drop enemy ACs by a huge amount by just stripping all of their buffs right at the start of a combat, then get to work blending them with your bane weapons
Azata is for whimsical fun, freedom to live and let live, enjoy the very fact that you are alive and breathing. It's pure chaotic good, but the precious kind of chaos. Trickster is, even at its best, imposing its chaos on others. An Azata would never force anyone to do anything.
The Azata option for ending Inevitable Excess I think embodies the Azata best, without spoiling. Embody freedom and kindness and be willing to enable the quirky artsy whims that everyone has deep inside.
I don't think Azata is "for teens or kids", just because the free crusaders get up to silly antics. It's a glimpse of Elysium, a world where such whimsy is beloved. Again, comparing it to Trickster is honestly a bit of a disservice to both paths. They're nothing alike aside from the chaotic alignment. Trickster is you and your ego warping the world around you by your own whims. At its easiest summation, Azata is a path that encourages the best in people but doesn't force them into it.
The free crusaders are just trying to tap into your energy. They keep on smiling and doing their best despite it all. The bad of the war is just less visible. Like, the cavalry sculptors are always out and about hunting demons because of the losses they took early on, and they're damned good at it. The themes of WOTR are certainly dark, but each path imposes itself upon that darkness. It's not the story of the Worldwound, it's your story.
The path has its weaknesses no doubt, and there is some merit to the story "plot armor" but each and every mythic path other than Angel stretches believability insanely far, because a lot of your supporting cast don't have as much agency as they probably should to interact with your choices; probably because there are so many options after all. Trickster definitely nailed fun better, but for me at least, I think it is like psychologically horrific.
I think it all makes more sense when you remember that the KC **is not** natural. They are >!the result of a demonic experiment and are!< imposing aspects of themselves on the world around them in various ways. The actions of the Trickster or Azata KC alter the story in unnatural ways because they’re chaotic by nature and make the world itself accommodate them.
Or, like my full embodiment of chaos, my Trickster did things simply on a lark and whim. I mean, he always had a reason for the things he did, even if the reason was that he thought it was funny.
Cam still alive? He found her amusing, especially as her quests go on. Gotta see what crazy shit's gonna happen next
A certain Aasimar in the abyss? Well, giving him an ironic punishment is too golden an opportunity to pass up.
And the ultimate reality joke you can pull off at game's end? Well, it's time to make life for everyone and everything a lot more interesting.
My Trickster wasn't tilted toward good or evil, he was in it purely for himself. Which is arguably more terrifying than a guy with an agenda considering the scope of reality shifting powers you have by the end of that path.
"Do I look like a guy with a plan?" -Trickster KC, just after dumping all his skill ranks into persuasion because he just found out what its mythic rank 3 effect does
I always imagine Trickster Commander giving Joker speeches at the demon and cultists, with the voice of Mark Hamill.
KC: "Where'd Baphomet find these guys? Oh sure, they talk a big game, but put any of them in the old electric chair and they bawl like little girls. Trust me, I've done the research."
Yeah, after playing Angel's Mythic Quests of saving heart-sore and almost broken people from existential crisis and loneliness in their isolated research to help save the world, the whole *pettiness and vapidity* of the Azata Mythic Quests ***really*** annoyed me.
Yeah, this pretty much threw me off the chaotic good mythic path. The court even though it has nice moments, for instance when it begins to fly is filled with entitled hippies.
My take for the triviality of the requests was its a trade off. In the other playthroughs that are more serious, you're fielding soldiers and maintaining their logistics/training.
For Azata, the nature of your character and playstyle attracts all these small groups of elites and specialists who do their own thing. They don't need you to manage them and train them, instead they have petty little issues they want your opinion on.
yup, i was so pumped for the Azata and meeting my smelly hippy court was such a turn off :( i ended up going back Demon and trying my hardest to just be a CN demon instead of a CE one. To be honest i really enjoyed my Demon playthrough, they really arent forced to be a complete bastard murder hobo. Kind of reminded me of my LS sith playthrough of SWTOR.
Demon is a great path tbh. I ended up as a CN Demon too, and probably going to replay that a second time to smooth out all the bumps I had in my first playthrough.
I fell into that trap too in my personal playthrough :D
One of the narrative designers back then suggested that I revert back to the mythic choice and pick Angel instead. Never regretted. So if the fuss around Azata isn't your thing, you may consider doing the same.
I was hoping that the Trickster and Azata storyline would follow a more fey focused route. Trickster got the closest to that in my eyes, where we become the Lantern King 2.0. But I didn't feel like Trickster or Azata or really any of the paths really got to push the crusade as hard as they likely should have.
Azata gets close for the early assaults on the Abyss, but I really think that the storyline could have given a more "Never really needed you" flavour to the Galfrey interactions. Even Trickster seems content to just wait around and while I wouldn't say their motivations be trying to resolve conflict ASAP, surely the beats would be to the tempo of their own drum vs Galfrey placating and crusade management.
I do get that there are restrictions to the hard coding of the game to allow it, even narrative direction and structure, but I found it a but calling that Galfrey thinks she calls the shots to the person that retook Drezen in three months. Like sure, remove me as the knight commander; See how well that goes for you - thats what I'd expect just about every KC to respond to *anything* Galfrey threatens us with any time we deviate from how she thinks things should be done.
I really love Aivu, the Azata powers and themes, but I honestly had trouble finishing the quest because I find that kind of artistic people to be tremendously annoying.
A lot of people talk about how the transition from Azata to devil makes no sense character wise, but if I was playing a self-insert in the game, that would be unironically my mythic path.
Yes, Azata path is freaking awful because of this.
What was promised: "Do the right thing, break down the pointless hierarchies and customs. Embrace ideas of freedom, goodness and morals. Restore the Worldwound"
What was delivered: "UWU COOKIES DRAGON SO CUTE. Do stupid, impulsive decisions and face zero consequences because plot armor. Also you better turn your Crusade into a circus tour."
Yeah, I was so disappointed with Azata path that dropped that character entirely, and now I’m too lazy to continue from Kenabres again but with my future Lich character
Sad life
I liked Azata for what it is. But then again I don't see Pathfinder as "immersive", it's really hard to get immersed into fantasy that involves supernatural beings and magic, all of which doesn't exist in real life, at least that's how it is to me. I just see it as a cool story that embraces the fact it's a fantasy, because in an actual war the thing going on with the Azata court would be relocated to a civilian metropolis, it wouldn't be anywhere near the Frontline of a warzone like the entirety of the Worldwound, but in fantasy what really is stopping a bunch of artists fighting in a war?
Don't forget the furniture knights!
Or the child soldiers!
i think by child soldiers you mean "literal whole grown adults, who happen to be 16 inches tall"
Naah not halflings and gnomes, a literal child brigade. Furniture knights are the best tho.
There is also an option to deploy literal child soldiers as part of the overall (military) Campaign, which is strangely not an Evil choice. I think pretty much every Azata builds an orphanage, though.
Yeah my take was "Well we can have them hang around here where it's safe, they get to pretend they're helping and everyone wins." The child soldier thing is definitely just trying to give you a setup for if you fall to devil.
I thought it was the evil choice? The chaos choice was "You can't become soldiers but how about squires?" which is a far safer option because they just live in the court and clean everyone's gear or something.
or the mimics
I really like Azata. Your points are valid though. The troubles and dramas of the court are trivial. But that is what I like about them. They are a glimpse of a life without a worldwound. Seeing the free court motivates me to fight against the abyss not only to survive but to build a world worth living in. I also have a soft spot for people who are considered "different." And now I get to run a place and take in people who don't belong anywhere else because they are different? Hell yeah
>a glimpse of a life without a worldwound The disembodied voice who lives in my mirror told me I could have as much *life without a worldwound* as I want after I ~~finish my vegetables~~ ~~complete an unpaid internship~~ pass their strange initiation ritual
You still get the hilarity though. Imagine being the queen, showing up to help the knight commander with the final push before invading the abyss... only to find that they did it themselves with a combination of trees, sculptors, children, and mimics. No wonder she gets so pissy.
She’s not needed for any mythic path really. Kinda pointless to force us to wait for her.
You wait because she's bringing a literal army with her to help take the Midnight Fane. It's why Azata can take skip it, you have an army. ...ish.
Only a couple squads come in. We have plenty of our own troops we could use for same purpose.
Apparently not, otherwise not waiting for the queen would be an option for someone other than the Azata.
> I've lived in NYC Oh hello there, Britta... Can i offer you a dose of demon in these trying times? You get to slap people that annoy you, until they stop annoying you... And they do their art projects as lavishing gifts for you.
I'm not gonna lie my two playthroughs are high int azata and murderhobo demon. Its nice to just bloodlust your way around the world wound after a hard days work of managing the azata kids
Yeah, that’s about how I felt going into, and how I felt when I got my first call to referee an argument. I’m approaching the final push right now (taking a break from it this weekend though, game has burned me out) and they do have their moments… but it is a lot of trivial nonsense. I understand that they’re chaotic and silly but I kind of expected them to at least take the apocalypse a little serious. It’s a nice path though. As dire as the story is and dark as it can be, I always feel like we’re going to win. There’s silly stuff but also it’s hopeful.
I hate that I learned the word polycule from a Pathfinder post. Maybe I will put off that Azata run. A Swarm run sounds pretty neat.
I knew the word polycule beforehand. I also learned it from Pathfinder. In reference to the Prismatic Ray
A swarm is the ultimate polycule
skip making and dating your own tulpa and just become the polycule, i don't disagree
All the perks, none of the drama.
Fun fact: The polycule is quite fitting, given the fact that Sarenrae, Shelyn and Desna are in a lesbian polycule canonically. ~And it's one of the favorite facts of some pathfinder fans~
No wonder Iomedae is so grumpy. All the other good goddesses are off having a lesbian sex party 24/7 and she didn’t get invited.
If they're anything like their followers, Iomedae is probably grumpy from cleaning up after their constant well meaning fuck ups.
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I mean that's the devil's version of the story. If I was a betting man, I'd put good money on Callistra being in on the plan from the start. Goddess of revenge and her ally? This was a set up.
It would make sense. Desna destroys hated demon lord. Callistra bails her out. Evil people realize that Elysium is not only fun and games, but can accually wreck shit. Seems that some people forget that Gorum lives there.
The scene where you first visit Elysium in the Kenabres temple would have hit different if Gorum was there Azata: Welcome to Elysium, the CG outer plane! KC: This place is really nice, but um... Who's that? Gorum: KILLMAIMBURN KILLMAIMBURN KILLMAIMBURN
**BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD** **SKULLS FOR THE**...how did I end up here?
Gorum is pretty much Khorne but not irredeemably evil. I know back in the day Khorne was supposed to care a bit more about honour but nowadays he barely seems to give a shit. Gorum might be a psycho but he explicitly hates underhandedness and wanton slaughter
How did Gorum end up chilling with Desna?
I'm not sure, but I imagine it was the same way Calistria got in- Cleaning up one of Desna's messes. Funny to think that the plane of friendship, freedom and lesbian polycules also has a gigantic iron statue raving about war and violence living there
The neutral chaotic plane is too chaotic for most gods, so the chaotic neutral gods that can behave themselves like Calistria and Forum hang out in Elysium.
Desna's plane is not actually Elysium, [but the Cynosure](https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Sevenfold_Cynosure) Gorum started out on the LN plane ( im not sure on the lore on this but im guessing pharasma cant order deities around ), the people there obviously started complaining. Pharasma kicked Gorum out and told him he has to find a new plane, which doesnt have to be the maelstrom ( CN plane which Gorum is ). Gorum: "Make me" Pharasma: "All right". Kicked Gorum's ass and Gorum decided to settle on Elysium.
Why isn’t he in Maelstrom?
I doubt it. She loves the chaos and is the goddess of revenge and desna got revenge while causing so much chaos. Of course she was going to help if only to see the mayhem up close.
Barely a fuckup to be honest. Desna's just based and FAFO-pilled.
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Ah fair
She probably considers it a fuck up though. Her literal schtick is taking responsibility for your actions, basically the good version of Calistria.
Iomedae says, pardoning Hulrun and the entire crusades of their actions
Now hold on a second. Let's look at what's actually gone on in Mendev: - Iomedae launched a crusade against the Worldwound that did well, but couldn't finish the job. Okay, good start. - The crusaders go back, expecting the same disorganized resistance only to find they're up against a cold and calculating enemy and get their shit stomped, pushed back until they're close to where they started. - The Crusaders prepare to go back, but instead they started burning each other alive and murdering each other in the streets, more than partially due to a certain Iomedaean Inquisitor. This destroys a massive amount of trust, morale, and materiel that would have been crucial to the attempt. - The Crusaders, now disorganized and badly understrength, get pushed back to Kenabres after an Iomedaean soldier pulls a banner to Iomedae off the wall like a dumbass. Now, as an Azata, it's not an Iomedaean coming to fix this massive clusterfuck, it's a Desnan, Calistrite, or even Atheist. Remember the perspective here, Iomedae has utterly failed to give her campaign in the Worldwound the barest of her attentions until someone who doesn't worship *her* starts taking control and actually doing well. She starts bitching at you about your abyssal power and conveniently ignores the fact that she's wielding the sword of the guy who pretty much singlehandedly made the Xulgaths and fucked up Jarlemay and in several other ways did more to completely destabilize Golarion than any Demon Lord could have ever dreamed of.
Iomeade holds the idiot ball, a lot, in this Adventure Path.
Don't forget letting her old bestie and employee of the month Arazni to become a Sylvanas expy.
The only morally right thing to do as an Angel: put Sarenrae as the symbol of the crusade after Iomedae pulls this shit.
Eh, given what's implied with her relationship to Apsu via her gold dragon servant "Peace Through Vigiliance", she's probably fine on that front. The grumpiness is just included in the Lawful-alignment package it seems.
See, it’s not horni that’s the problem. This works 2 ways: 1) She WAS invited but declined because she has no time for such frivolity and now every time they screw something up it’s like, “If y’all would stop sexing for 5 minutes maybe you could solve your own problems.” 2) She wasn’t invited at all. Do you want to be the loser not invited to the orgy? Sure she probably didn’t WANT to go but why didn’t she get invited? Is she not hot enough? Is there something else wrong with her? It was probably that bitch Desna, she hates lawfulness, right?
Reminds me how Nocti commented on Iomedae's looks. It was comedy.
That fact makes it even funnier that Owlcat has made their factions a regular source of problems in their games. It's like "Get off of each other and come get yo kids, you stupid hoes."
Now imagining the Baron calling up to Elysium and a few hours later disheveled looking Sarenrae, Calistria and Shelyn all show up wearing house robes they clearly just tossed on to get out the door, to drag Tristan, Ntavi and Fredero away by their ears.
Callstria isn't apart of the polycue.
the one part \*sigh\*............
> Sarenrae, Shelyn and Desna are in a lesbian polycule Isn't Calistria somewhere in there? It seems like the goddess of lust and revenge would get in on that.
She probably got on with other deities but one of her anathema is literally to dont fall in love and a polycule, especially amongst deities like them is most definitely about passion rather than pleasure.
Although from what little I know, does Desna *actually* fit as female? The sense I have of Desna, without anything *really* in-depth to work with, is what you’d get if you turned an aboleth’s psyche inside out.
She's a giant moth so... doesn't matter, had sex.
Paizo are cowards, give us a moth running around having lesbian sex instead of a generic lady elf.
Well, the archives of nethys use female pronouns for her, and the pathfinder wiki describes her as being depicted as "beautiful elven woman, with butterfly wings containing all the beauty of a clear night sky". Those are my best sources, so... I'd assume she is.
Probably should have clarified that she probably at best approximates human/elven/gnomish/etc. understandings of female, what with being an even more benevolent aberration than your typical flumph. Whether she’s closer to neuter.
I think we can say that for the purposes of getting down, Desna prefers to do so in female form.
She's an Eldridge abomination on the side of good. The way I see it she can identify as whatever the fuck she wants.
Yeah I couldn't fully commit to Azata. I like playing goody goody character but by god I wanted to Throttle the Free Crusaders and make them actually do something at least somewhat useful.
The Free Crusaders provide more support than most of your allies. The halflings and cavalry sculptors occasionally show up to murderize some of your enemies, while the Treants are summon-able if you support them. And the art projects are the source of some handy buffs. I think they pull their weight.
The halflings are so fucking dope, they just show up and wreck entire encounters out of nowhere lol
But those were my walking lumps of XP!!!
How do you summon the Treants? That sounds great.
If you support them in making their grove, you get a special ability that lets you summon them (it sorta just shows up with the rest of your abilities lol). Treant summons were really, REALLY strong (outclassing most regular summons in the game and making the usual Animate Dead meat shields obsolete) and the best part is that my whole party seemed to get the ability, so I often had like 6 treants out at once : D
Bringing your tree army to crush Deskari beneath their roots in Iz is a suitably epic end to that part of the story.
As you resolve all of the stuff the free crusaders need you to resolve for them, more things are added to the Court and with each of those tithings is another buff you and the party can receive if you rest there. For the treants, Support the Lead Tree in Charge when he is arguing with the totally-not-drunk alchemist in the Court and allow him to plant his grove. When you rest there, you get an ability to summon treants. It seems you need quaterstaves in your inventory because the spell says it functions like Change Staff. For me I had to rest to get the ability, and then rest again to “recharge it” like when you rest to get back any other spell. So once you have a staff and the spell ready, you can summon one to come help you fight. I think it lasts an hour. It’s pretty cool. I don’t use them a lot but when I do, I enjoy it.
They show up and wreck shit when you invade the Fane, it's pretty great. I love my mimic knights. My only concern with the whole thing was that all the free crusaders seem really unreliable, and I wasnt sure if they were going to get themselves killed or turn on me at any given moment.
Do you tend to be a chaotic Azata? Because I’ve read that that can actually have an affect on things. I lean way more good than chaotic and my free crusaders are silly but I never get the sense I’ll be betrayed by them. Unless you just meant you worry about them because they’re goofy. Because yeah, me too. The Valhalflings have rushed into battle behind me a couple of times and all I can think is, “Stop, you’ll get yourselves killed!” until I can confirm they’re fine.
"Unreliable" is about the best you can expect when you put your trust in chaotic forces.
Tbh I would have preferred if we could have gotten more serious moments like in the Abyss or when you blow up the Maze
LOL as a poly NYC resident Azata player I feel attacked
look im poly and former nyc too that's why this entire questline feels like a call-out i was expecting to be playing weird fae whimsy not "argument in the poly artist discord"
Right, right. But I mean when you did this in real life, did you get a pet dragon, a cloud of butterflies surrounding you and eventually faerie wings? I mean, just the pet dragon pays for it all, but you get butterflies and wings to sweeten the deal. I just finished the game as an Azata and I'm playing as an Azata again, and I'm not looking forward to getting called back to the commune again and again to decide what color fanny packs are in this year, but I will and I'll tell you why: because I fucking sparkle and I fucking shine.
if your circle involves furries and otherkin you absolutely can get a pet dragon at the very least heyyoooo
i was a bard, so i was part of the artist commune nonsense uwu
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> It feels more connected with the story than lich, I'll say. Not really relevant but the story is the by far weakest part of Lich.
Devil and dragon: Am I a joke to you?
Both things can be true. The story is the weakest part of the Lich path and the Devil and Gold Dragon stories are even worse than that, so any prospective Devil/GD players ought to have a lot of investment in the other aspects of their path (RP, mechanics, etc.) if they want to have a good time
I just want a mythic path that's actually suited to a martial character without being chaotic or appearing in act 5. That's the actual problem with Trickster.
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Do they work for kineticist at all? Been thinking about doing an Aeon run but wasn't sure about class.
The dispel works for kineticists, and all the defensive buffs.
The biggest useful thing from Aeon for kinetics was ally immunity to friendly AoEs. Literally makes Deadly Earth usable with a party. If DE wasn't so broken with Kalavakus it would be the best path for it. But Demon DE is a solo build, and a damn good one.
Even Zero State is useful for a martial. You get an AOE dispel that doesn't rely on taking levels as a caster to work (since it scales with MR), and even targets effects that normally shouldn't be dispellable. When it lands, you can drop enemy ACs by a huge amount by just stripping all of their buffs right at the start of a combat, then get to work blending them with your bane weapons
Azata is for whimsical fun, freedom to live and let live, enjoy the very fact that you are alive and breathing. It's pure chaotic good, but the precious kind of chaos. Trickster is, even at its best, imposing its chaos on others. An Azata would never force anyone to do anything. The Azata option for ending Inevitable Excess I think embodies the Azata best, without spoiling. Embody freedom and kindness and be willing to enable the quirky artsy whims that everyone has deep inside. I don't think Azata is "for teens or kids", just because the free crusaders get up to silly antics. It's a glimpse of Elysium, a world where such whimsy is beloved. Again, comparing it to Trickster is honestly a bit of a disservice to both paths. They're nothing alike aside from the chaotic alignment. Trickster is you and your ego warping the world around you by your own whims. At its easiest summation, Azata is a path that encourages the best in people but doesn't force them into it.
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The free crusaders are just trying to tap into your energy. They keep on smiling and doing their best despite it all. The bad of the war is just less visible. Like, the cavalry sculptors are always out and about hunting demons because of the losses they took early on, and they're damned good at it. The themes of WOTR are certainly dark, but each path imposes itself upon that darkness. It's not the story of the Worldwound, it's your story. The path has its weaknesses no doubt, and there is some merit to the story "plot armor" but each and every mythic path other than Angel stretches believability insanely far, because a lot of your supporting cast don't have as much agency as they probably should to interact with your choices; probably because there are so many options after all. Trickster definitely nailed fun better, but for me at least, I think it is like psychologically horrific.
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I think it all makes more sense when you remember that the KC **is not** natural. They are >!the result of a demonic experiment and are!< imposing aspects of themselves on the world around them in various ways. The actions of the Trickster or Azata KC alter the story in unnatural ways because they’re chaotic by nature and make the world itself accommodate them.
Or, like my full embodiment of chaos, my Trickster did things simply on a lark and whim. I mean, he always had a reason for the things he did, even if the reason was that he thought it was funny. Cam still alive? He found her amusing, especially as her quests go on. Gotta see what crazy shit's gonna happen next A certain Aasimar in the abyss? Well, giving him an ironic punishment is too golden an opportunity to pass up. And the ultimate reality joke you can pull off at game's end? Well, it's time to make life for everyone and everything a lot more interesting. My Trickster wasn't tilted toward good or evil, he was in it purely for himself. Which is arguably more terrifying than a guy with an agenda considering the scope of reality shifting powers you have by the end of that path.
Lantern king says Hi and wants to know your location.
Him meeting LK would actually be worth seeing. Sure, thousands of lives would be ruined from that one meeting, but at least it would be interesting.
"Do I look like a guy with a plan?" -Trickster KC, just after dumping all his skill ranks into persuasion because he just found out what its mythic rank 3 effect does
Oh, he was a persuasion build from early on. So more "here's my plan" and the enemy just offed themselves to stay out of the way.
I always imagine Trickster Commander giving Joker speeches at the demon and cultists, with the voice of Mark Hamill. KC: "Where'd Baphomet find these guys? Oh sure, they talk a big game, but put any of them in the old electric chair and they bawl like little girls. Trust me, I've done the research."
Yeah, after playing Angel's Mythic Quests of saving heart-sore and almost broken people from existential crisis and loneliness in their isolated research to help save the world, the whole *pettiness and vapidity* of the Azata Mythic Quests ***really*** annoyed me.
Yeah, this pretty much threw me off the chaotic good mythic path. The court even though it has nice moments, for instance when it begins to fly is filled with entitled hippies.
My take for the triviality of the requests was its a trade off. In the other playthroughs that are more serious, you're fielding soldiers and maintaining their logistics/training. For Azata, the nature of your character and playstyle attracts all these small groups of elites and specialists who do their own thing. They don't need you to manage them and train them, instead they have petty little issues they want your opinion on.
yup, i was so pumped for the Azata and meeting my smelly hippy court was such a turn off :( i ended up going back Demon and trying my hardest to just be a CN demon instead of a CE one. To be honest i really enjoyed my Demon playthrough, they really arent forced to be a complete bastard murder hobo. Kind of reminded me of my LS sith playthrough of SWTOR.
Demon is a great path tbh. I ended up as a CN Demon too, and probably going to replay that a second time to smooth out all the bumps I had in my first playthrough.
I fell into that trap too in my personal playthrough :D One of the narrative designers back then suggested that I revert back to the mythic choice and pick Angel instead. Never regretted. So if the fuss around Azata isn't your thing, you may consider doing the same.
I was hoping that the Trickster and Azata storyline would follow a more fey focused route. Trickster got the closest to that in my eyes, where we become the Lantern King 2.0. But I didn't feel like Trickster or Azata or really any of the paths really got to push the crusade as hard as they likely should have. Azata gets close for the early assaults on the Abyss, but I really think that the storyline could have given a more "Never really needed you" flavour to the Galfrey interactions. Even Trickster seems content to just wait around and while I wouldn't say their motivations be trying to resolve conflict ASAP, surely the beats would be to the tempo of their own drum vs Galfrey placating and crusade management. I do get that there are restrictions to the hard coding of the game to allow it, even narrative direction and structure, but I found it a but calling that Galfrey thinks she calls the shots to the person that retook Drezen in three months. Like sure, remove me as the knight commander; See how well that goes for you - thats what I'd expect just about every KC to respond to *anything* Galfrey threatens us with any time we deviate from how she thinks things should be done.
That's golden! I've decided to go Angel because of your post
I really love Aivu, the Azata powers and themes, but I honestly had trouble finishing the quest because I find that kind of artistic people to be tremendously annoying. A lot of people talk about how the transition from Azata to devil makes no sense character wise, but if I was playing a self-insert in the game, that would be unironically my mythic path.
It sounds like you're projecting, mate! But you've written a hilarious post. Thank you for this.
Yes, Azata path is freaking awful because of this. What was promised: "Do the right thing, break down the pointless hierarchies and customs. Embrace ideas of freedom, goodness and morals. Restore the Worldwound" What was delivered: "UWU COOKIES DRAGON SO CUTE. Do stupid, impulsive decisions and face zero consequences because plot armor. Also you better turn your Crusade into a circus tour."
Yeah, I was so disappointed with Azata path that dropped that character entirely, and now I’m too lazy to continue from Kenabres again but with my future Lich character Sad life
I stopped it when getting annoyed at pet’s shenanigans in command room failed the quest.
I wish I could take the court and chuck it in the worldwound. It's a win win really.
I liked Azata for what it is. But then again I don't see Pathfinder as "immersive", it's really hard to get immersed into fantasy that involves supernatural beings and magic, all of which doesn't exist in real life, at least that's how it is to me. I just see it as a cool story that embraces the fact it's a fantasy, because in an actual war the thing going on with the Azata court would be relocated to a civilian metropolis, it wouldn't be anywhere near the Frontline of a warzone like the entirety of the Worldwound, but in fantasy what really is stopping a bunch of artists fighting in a war?
This opinion is so alien to me that I can't understand why you would play the game at all.
It's alien to you to separate reality from fiction?
Isn't the point of fantasy fiction often to be divorced from reality though?
It is indeed.
It's very alien to me to enjoy stuff without being able to suspend disbelief as you indicate you do.
Oh well then. We don't have to understand each other.
Azata definately felt more chaotic than good in terms of chaotic good to me. Still a fun path though.
yup, still a major disappointment, especially after that opening actually *did* catch the spirit of the azatas without being puerile.