Favorite Golarion Lore?

[Palanan]

For those whose games are set in Golarion, or who’ve played APs or shorter adventures there, what are your favorite aspects of setting lore?

What do you like, and what would you love to see more of?

[Kurald Galain]

Razmir, the evil god who rules the eponymous country of Razmiran.

At first he looks like your generic evil conquer-the-world type of deity, and the machinations of his cult come up in several adventures, including one where the PCs go undercover to infiltrate one of its main temples. Inevitably, this will lead to combat, and the evil clerics of Razmir will engage the party with such typical cleric spells as Magic Missile, Mirror Image, and Fireball.

Wait what? Turns out the "clerics" of Razmir are actually arcane casters (and there are archetypes for these if you want to play one yourself), because Razmir has no way to grant spells to anyone, because he isn't actually a god. Rather, he's a high-level wizard who, some decades ago, walked up to the country of Melcat, proclaimed himself their god, and messily blew up everyone who disagreed (thereby "proving" his divinity). I mean, are you going to argue with a high-level wizard who's trigger-happy on the Disintegrate spells? Thought not. So yeah, the higher level members of his cult are in on the secret and stay for the power, and the lower populace is brainwashed into believing he's a god. Or else.

A nice tidbit is that Razmir claims to be immortal (of course) and is looking for actual immortality; but he is a 19th level wizard, and immortality is a feat with prerequisite of being a 20th level wizard.

[Gnaeus]

I'm very partial to Mother Vulture. A Psychopomp Usher, she is the N equivalent of a Demon Lord or Arch Devil. Representing decay and rebirth, she is a patron of mothers in childbirth and has a bunch of druid followers. Kill without mercy to protect the community. Protect children. Hates undead as unnatural, so you are sure to be beloved of your party paladin, right? Right?

Well except for the pesky part where you are expected to practice ritual cannibalism to accelerate decay and rebirth. As a blind deity of transformation, she is a great patron for any strange monstrous thing that is too good aligned to worship Lammashtu.

[Raven777]

Speaking of Lammashtu, Golarion is a setting where Drakainias (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/aberrations/drakainia/) are a thing. She's positive energy powered, the Paladin should love her too! What could go wrong? For good measure, also get a very cheap Demon Mother's Mask and oh my gods what is wrong with you Paizo (https://aonprd.com/MagicWondrousDisplay.aspx?FinalName=Demon%20Mother %27s%20Mask).

[Phhase]

Speaking of Lammashtu, Golarion is a setting where Drakainias (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/aberrations/drakainia/) are a thing. She's positive energy powered, the Paladin should love her too! What could go wrong? For good measure, also get a very cheap Demon Mother's Mask and oh my gods what is wrong with you Paizo (https://aonprd.com/MagicWondrousDisplay.aspx?FinalName=Demon%20Mother %27s%20Mask).

(Reading)

...

Ah. Yes. I see. Lovely. That's 2d4 Int damage right there.

[Kurald Galain]

Speaking of Lammashtu,

Speaking of Lamashtu: Rise of the Runelords. In just a couple encounters, this adventure makes clear that this is not a cutesy little kids' game.

[Cortillaen]

My favorite bits of lore are mostly outside of Golarion proper. The truth about Desna being just a wee bit more than a flighty butterfly goddess, the existence of Earth in that universe, and Elves being literal aliens are probably my top three.

[Coidzor]

I'm always a little amused that one of Abadar's principle holy books is literally "Here's how to make a city, for dummies."

And Aroden literally followed it when he made Absalom.

[unseenmage]

I always enjoyed Numeria and Numeria accessories myself.

Our group ran some games in Golarion and beyond (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?470947-Madness-Such-As-This-Clockwork-Spacewhales) for a while and to this day we still use the PF rules for Constructs and sprinkle in a bit of rogue tech here and there in our non Numeria PF games.

Despite our GM's complaints about the Technic League and so many other issues with the setting I suspect half the fun we had was the GM fixing things up the way they liked it.

I wanted another book of Numeria stuff that pulled from lessons learned from the original material.
Lean in hard on tech just being refluffed magic.
Vehicles so one could have a Mad Max style game.
Construct necromancy using nanites and negative energy magic.

Y'know niche stuff that only I would enjoy. :)


Oh and also Baba Yaga because she is terrifying.
What I wouldn't give to see her handed just a bit of Numeria tech and the shenanigans that could ensue from such.

[Wildstag]

As for deific lore, look at Ashkaelae, or Hanspur as most call him. When Hanspur was ritually sacrificed, Gozreh interceded and left a fraction of his soul in his Dire Rat companion, Ashkaelae. Hanspur returned to death a week later a demigod. Gozreh is neutral towards Hanspur, which seems unusual given the method of his saving, so it's believed her plan did not work out as intended.

The cool part is that Ratfolk worshippers instead venerate the Dire Rat companion, Ashkaelae, and believe that the fragment of Hanspur is subservient to the companion's will. The ratfolk clergy of Ashkaelae still receive spells.

Also the deific obedience requires daily waterboarding, so that's fun...

As for lore related to the world itself, I think I appreciate the bit from Curse of the Crimson Throne where some artwork showed the native Pseudodragon population fighting the Imps brought there by Chelish people. The devs correctly reasoned that it'd have to be a one-off fight because Pseudodragons can't bypass the Imps' damage reduction. But the players were so in love with the art that in a blog post, the local pseudodragon population was an offshoot that had the "Impslayer" feat as a bonus feat. Text below...


New Feat: Impslayer

Many of Korvosa's nobles decorate their roofs with tiny amounts of precious metals, among them silver-lined weather vanes, shingles, and gutters designed to catch the sunlight to give their homes a distinctive sparkle in the sunlight. By spending years sharpening stings and teeth against these silver-enhanced decorations, or sneaking drinks of holy water from outdoor fonts at various temples, some pseudodragons have effectively transformed themselves into deadly weapons against the city's imps.

Prerequisites: Pseudodragon

Benefit: Your natural weapons bypass an imp's damage reduction. In addition, your great skill at fighting imps allows you to apply your Dexterity modifier to damage done with natural weapons rather than your Strength modifier, as your blows are delivered with great precision rather than force.

Special: Pseudodragons born and raised in Korvosa's Shingles gain this feat as a bonus feat.

The way it's worded, it could be taken by others, and it could allow for Dex-to-damage on natural weapons with non-pseudodragons, it'd just only bypass the DR of imps.

[daryen]

I always liked the First World and how they put it together.

Also, my inner 12 year old thinks the Green Mother's deific daily obedience is hilarious.

[AsuraKyoko]

I love how Desna, Shelyn, and Sarenrae are in a lesbian polycule relationship with each other.

[3SecondCultist]

Hellknights. Just… Hellknights. I love that there exists an embodiment of law that is enforced in a novel (rather brutal) way. It’s been done before, but there is something iconic about the various orders and the complexities of their relationships with various nations across Avistan. They make great enemies for games, but I’ve also seen Hellknights characters work at the table. The latter doesn’t work for every game, but the question was favorite lore, so I don’t think that matters.

The Order of the Godclaw in particular is super cool, as those knights worship a sort of syncretistic gestalt concept of Divine Law as seen through a whole bunch of deities, including the Lawful Good Iomedae and the Lawful Evil Asmodeus.

[Novawurmson]

Hellknights. Just… Hellknights. I love that there exists an embodiment of law that is enforced in a novel (rather brutal) way. It’s been done before, but there is something iconic about the various orders and the complexities of their relationships with various nations across Avistan. They make great enemies for games, but I’ve also seen Hellknights characters work at the table. The latter doesn’t work for every game, but the question was favorite lore, so I don’t think that matters.

The Order of the Godclaw in particular is super cool, as those knights worship a sort of syncretistic gestalt concept of Divine Law as seen through a whole bunch of deities, including the Lawful Good Iomedae and the Lawful Evil Asmodeus.

Hell yeah, Hellknights. Some of the best villains with heart. One player who basically dedicated his character to bringing down Cheliax (and has mostly succeeded, in our game world) had a Hellknight Paladin nemesis. He still references that nemesis, and the campaign was a decade ago.

The Starstone is probably my favorite bit of Golarion lore. One of the easiest ways to get new players is explaining to them that Cayden Cailean took the Test of the Starstone on a drunken bet. He woke up with a hangover...as a deity. The first Golarion campaign I did ended at 20 with a successful run by the players at the Starstone. There's not really that much lore on it on the wikis. My lore is that it's a sentient multidimensional being that absorbs the souls of all those who fail, occasionally returning those it favors out into the world for missions of its own inscrutable needs.

[Kurald Galain]

The Starstone is probably my favorite bit of Golarion lore. One of the easiest ways to get new players is explaining to them that Cayden Cailean took the Test of the Starstone on a drunken bet. He woke up with a hangover...as a deity.

Yes!

So Cayden has no clue what actually happens in the Starstone. Another deity that ascended this way is Norgorber, but he's not telling because he's the god of secrets. Another deity that ascended is the aforementioned Razmir, who is flat-out lying. And then there's Irori who ascended without the Starstone because he is the monk god of self-improvement, and is just that good at improving himself. This is basically why there's not a lot of known facts about the Starstone.

Except the fact that it was brought down by a bunch of aboleths as an extinction event to bring down a cadre of uber-powerful human wizards (i.e. the Runelords). So yeah, pretty awesome.

[Raven777]

Yes!Another deity that ascended this way is Norgorber, but he's not telling because he's the god of secrets.

Isn't it implied that he lied in ambush outside the building and somehow mugged a legitimate applicant out of their freshly bestowed divinity?

A couple other good bits in the lore are:
1) The frenemy bromance between Nex and Geb.
2) Arazni's arc to freedom and godhood in Tyrant's Grasp.
3) Speaking of redemption arcs, Arueshalae building on the good-aligned Succubus legacy that Eludecia started back in 3.5.
4) Guns being officially supported in the setting and Alkenstar playing a round of Aliens vs. Cowboys in the Mana Wastes.
5) Speaking of which, everything in Numeria, especially if the GM playing the Technic League goes full Adeptus Mechanicus.
6) Ganking on Baphomet at the heart of his own labyrinth with the help of a very angry angel and a freakin' Runelord Lich.

[unseenmage]

I got one for ya.

Each D&D afterlife craps on atheists in its own weird way but PF's takes the cake.

If Groetus, the deity-moon thing that will end existence drifts too close to the underworld Pharasma yeets the souls if atheists at him to drive him away.
So when Groetus tries to bad touch reality into non existence the goddess of death throws atheists at him until he backs the heck off for a while.
Yup. Uh huh. Seems legit.


As for the Starstone, in our game we almost Sentara of the planet's Firearms, alchemy, and technology animated into sentient animated objects as a great flying swarm through the thing to see if it could be solved via brute force.
Also an animated object deity would have been hilarious.

[Raven777]

I got one for ya. Also an animated object deity would have been hilarious.

There's an app a Goddess (https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Casandalee) for that! (I told you Numeria was great).

[Wildstag]

3) Speaking of redemption arcs, Arueshalae building on the good-aligned Succubus legacy that Eludecia started back in 3.5.

I’d have figured you’d mention Nocticula’s ascension from Demon Lord, Queen of the Succubi to Deity (and a full shift from evil in the process) as the redemption arc.

[Raven777]

I love Nocticula and Sorshen to bits (and Arazni too!), but Arueshalae's story is much more personal, because she's a direct adventuring buddy with the party.