Pathfinder: Some setting questions.

[Grytorm]

Hello again, I've been wondering about a few things relating to the gods in the Pathfinder campaign setting because I've been thinking about it and noticed a few things that confused me.

1) So, I was wondering about the relationship between the Yamaraj and Pharasma. The Yamaraj are the elite CR 20 Psycopomps and described as being judges of the dead. But I remember reading somewhere that Pharasma, somehow judges all souls, not just a few special cases. So if that is true, and it makes a certain amount of sense then what do the Yamaraj actually do?

2) Do Pharasma and any secondary judges interpret and apply mortal traditions and moral judgements when judging the dead. Such as assigning worshipers of Gorum, a Chaotic Neutral god of war, even if they fall into CG or CE?

3) Are the deities with historical ties to Golarion actually universal? Norgorber and Cayden Cailyn and others ascended with the test of Starstone. Nethys before his ascension was apparently the first Pharaoh of Egypt Osirion. So, do these gods have influence throughout the cosmos? Or do they have a more limited presence centered on Golarion and the surrounding solar system.

[Geddy2112]

1. Like any good legal system, there is not just one high judge, there are clerks, bailiffs, attorneys, special prosecutors, juries, what have you. Likewise, the court system is tiered, from your low district or local justice of the peace, to a supreme court.

Pharasma is the highest justice on who goes where, the supreme court. That said, she does not need to hear every case- a case appealed to a higher court that is not heard by that court means the decision of the lower court stands. The Yamaraj act as lower courts to filter out the clear, cut and dry cases as well as clerks/attorneys to prepare material for cases she chooses to hear. She can overrule any ruling of a Yamaraj, but if she chooses not to after any ruling she is effectively signing off on the ruling. They do all the legwork and issue a ruling, so she just has to review and sign off, or if she believes the case is important enough, she can try the indivdual herself. Basically this means when somebody is judged in front of her, she does not have to have a trial-she looks at the case as ruled on by the Yamaraj, and either gives it the stamp of approval or reviews.

2. Mortal views of alignment and tradition don't mean squat unless they fall into the objective moral and ethical cosmology of Golarion. In Golarion, Morality and ethics are not things up for debate, as there are deities and planes of existence objectively representing these things. So souls end up where their moral and ethical nature would put them. As far as deific worship, a soul would likely be sent to a deity should they be of strong faith/clergy. Gorum is a CN deity, but has a home in the ELysium, a CG plane. His worshipers can be CG,CN,CE, or N, and he likely gets all of them. A soul can be sent to a plane without having faith in a particular deity, but faith in a particular deity(or incredibly strong matching beliefs) will get you sent to the domain of that deity which may or not be the plane of your alignment.

3. This is largely unknown, but in part yes, these deities rule over all of the mortal plane. Outside the solar system of Golarion is largely unknown, but there is the dark tapestry where beings of deific power live(but still on the material plane). With androids, aliens(Kasatha) and timeworn technology existing in pathfinder/golarion, there is support for other intelligent life out there in space. These lifeforms might worship deities under different names or in different ways, but there are objective deities out there (or ideas tied to a deity or alignment) they are worshiping. While they have influence throughout the cosmos, there is no pazio published adventures I know of(unless Starjammer has some) that covers aliens and their deific worship.

When gods ascended, it is likely that they filled vacancies left from Rovagug slaughtering other ones, or claimed previously unclaimed or poorly represented domains.

[Florian]

3 - There´s a range of deities, from "Hero Deities" (See Distant Shores for examples) up to gods whose function is tied to the cosmology itself (Pharasma). Inner Sea Gods hints at most deities having migrated to Golarion from elsewhere, especially the ones not directly tied to cosmological functions.
As most deities have their home and seat of power on one of the outer planes, they´re reach- and worship able from practically anywhere.

2 - No. Golarion uses Absolute Morality, there´s no interpretation of beliefs and customs. That said, once you´re judged and transition to petitioner on an outer plane or the home turf of a deity, your alignment changes accordingly.

[Psyren]

(1a) All psychopomps (including these ones) work for her. Note that the official Bestiary entries tend to use setting-agnostic language - so rather than saying "they serve Pharasma" it will say something more like "they serve the god(s) of death" - but in Golarion, that title explicitly belongs to her, she is the HBIC of this area.

(1b) As for what they actually do, the entry tells you: they "serve as lower judges and lords of Purgatory, directing the activities of other outsiders there, presiding over the dead, pre-sorting souls destined for ultimate judgment by the death gods, and seeing to the efficiency and safety of the plane's infinite inhabitants." (B4 pg. 223.) In other words, they are the lower judges in an appellate system, with Pharasma serving as the ultimate head of the Judiciary, a one-woman Supreme Court much like Kelemvor from FR.

(2) In Golarion, you go to an aligned plane, not necessarily to the one your deity lives on. A CG follower of Gorum will most likely go to Elysium with everyone else who is CG. Determining your alignment at the end falls to her court system, and if there is any ambiguity at the end, her job will be to resolve it. As for what they take into account - theoretically everything, though they may weigh certain facts and circumstances differently than the party being judged would, or third parties like devils.

(3) The major deities are major no matter how they got there. It doesn't matter that Iomedae is eons younger than Sarenrae, her church is no less influential. What matters more is their portfolio - if the thing they're in charge of is a Big Deal (like Death or Magic or Love) then they will be too.

[Kallimakus]

Putting up a small addition to gods on other worlds and their universal nature:

In the land of Osirion, people worship ancient gods like Ra, Sekhmet, Anubis and Horus. If these ring a bell, they ought to. In the ancient past of Golarion, the people of Osirion abandoned these gods in favour of the current common deities. Their old gods turned their gaze elsewhere (though they still performed their functions in Osirion). Their new worshippers called their homeland Kemet. Known these days as (ancient) Egypt.

From this I gather that gods are probably universal, but their attention is not omnipresent. I think Pharasma and probably some others (my money might be on Asmodeus who is the sovereign ruler of Hell) are actually universal, whereas some others (especially the ascended pantheon) are likely more local. I might be wrong but some gods are known by different names even on Golarion (in Tian Xia to be precise).

I guess it comes down to the question of whether or not the outer planes themselves are universal. I think this is the case, so the rulers of those planes would therefore be universal as well. Those inhabiting them may or may not be

[Florian]

Asmodeus is actually an ascended deity, too. Hell was there before him and the devils arrived, with the plane forming out some kind of avatar as Mephistopheles.

The entry for Groetus at least explains a bit of it, as with the end of each multiverse, a new one is born and new deities come into existence, based on the "pure" principles of life, death, fate and so on.

[Kallimakus]

Asmodeus is actually an ascended deity, too. Hell was there before him and the devils arrived, with the plane forming out some kind of avatar as Mephistopheles.

The entry for Groetus at least explains a bit of it, as with the end of each multiverse, a new one is born and new deities come into existence, based on the "pure" principles of life, death, fate and so on.

Ah yes, they changed that a little. I recall lore that he was effectively the second deity ever, and killed the first and is thus the eldest. Though as I recall that was based on his word and supported by no-one else. I'll also point out that I said he was the sovereign ruler of Hell, not the creator. As far as I understand, Hell existed before he came to it, but Asmodeus made it the place it is in the present time.

[Calthropstu]

Ah yes, they changed that a little. I recall lore that he was effectively the second deity ever, and killed the first and is thus the eldest. Though as I recall that was based on his word and supported by no-one else. I'll also point out that I said he was the sovereign ruler of Hell, not the creator. As far as I understand, Hell existed before he came to it, but Asmodeus made it the place it is in the present time.

Actually, Asmodeous led a rebellion against Lucifer, and became the lord of hell after successfully deposing him. See the published stats on Lucifer. He has lost his status as a god, but is still the single most powerful published entity in Pathfinder.

[Kallimakus]

The SRD lists that as 3rd party. Pathfinderwiki knows nothing of Lucifer. So I'm not sure if that is canon. Certainly the PFSRD page is the only place I've ever read of that.
Looking at the Archdevils listed by the same publisher (like Moloch), they grant different domains than the Paizo versions (Evil, Law, Strength vs Evil, Fire, Law, War).

[Florian]

Ah yes, they changed that a little. I recall lore that he was effectively the second deity ever, and killed the first and is thus the eldest. Though as I recall that was based on his word and supported by no-one else. I'll also point out that I said he was the sovereign ruler of Hell, not the creator. As far as I understand, Hell existed before he came to it, but Asmodeus made it the place it is in the present time.

They expanded on it and based it more on the sumerian than christian creation myths. So Groetus happens, primal chaos and law appear, each with a god (Apsu is one in this version of Golarion), then the outer planes form around the boneyard. So Asmodeus might actually be one of the first sentient being around.


Actually, Asmodeous led a rebellion against Lucifer, and became the lord of hell after successfully deposing him. See the published stats on Lucifer. He has lost his status as a god, but is still the single most powerful published entity in Pathfinder.

3rd party stuff w/o any connection to the setting.