Gods, Factions, and Alignment

Recently we’ve had some questions about where we are going to go with Clerics and their feats long term as we have introduced several Cleric feats lately that eventually will have interactions with the alignment and faction system as they are related to specific gods. We thought we would lay out our plans so people could better make their choices going forward.

Alignment

We have plans for an alignment system where players can choose one of the nine classic Pathfinder alignments, which are created by using two numerically measured axis running from -7500 to 7500. These two axes represent Good vs. Evil and Law vs. Chaos, so a rating of 7500 on both of them represents Lawful Good, a rating of -7500 on both of them represents Chaotic Evil, and a rating of zero on both represents True Neutral. Once a player sets their alignment at character creation (or when the system comes online) they are put at the middle range of their choice and that becomes their core alignment. It does not change day to day without a specific choice to change alignment.

Players also have an active alignment that is the original value modified by actions in the game. For example, if you create undead, your alignment moves towards evil. Everyone’s active alignment move back towards their core alignment over time, but if two are different enough that the character has moved active alignment a full alignment step (i.e. from Good to Neutral, Neutral to Evil, etc) the character loses access to any alignment limited mechanics such as Paladin Feats. Characters can permanently change their core alignments to their active alignment at any time by some process tbd.

Some Feats will require specific alignments to train and slot. If your core or active alignment no longer meets these requirements, you cannot train or slot them. For example, Channel Negative Energy will become unavailable if your Good vs. Evil axis goes above 2500 as it is only available to Neutral and Evil characters.

Factions

The faction system will allow players to have a relationship with NPC led groups like the Hellknights, the Pathfinder Society, etc. Characters will be able to earn points with factions by completing events, quests, etc. This will help them earn ranks within the faction, and these ranks offer access to special training, recipes, items, etc. Each faction will have enemy factions that you cannot join while a member of that faction and that you may be flagged as a reputation-free PvP target for members of opposing factions at higher ranks. So if you associate with the Hellknights and become a high ranking member, characters who have associated with the Crusader Knights will not suffer a reputation penalty for killing you in PvP and vice versa.

There are several matrices of factions planned, such as the Aspis Consortium vs. Pathfinder Society or Hellknights vs. Crusader Knights vs. Bandits of Thornkeep. You can join one faction within each of these matrices assuming you meet the requirements, so you can be both a Crusader Knight and a member of the Pathfinder Society at the same time.

Gods

Worshipping a god sits at the intersection of the Faction and Alignment systems. Worshipping a god requires your alignment be within one alignment step of that god, so you have to be Neutral Good, Lawful Good, or Lawful Neutral to worship Iomedae, who is Lawful Good. If your active alignment or core alignment moves out of this alignment range you will lose access to those Feats associated with your god that have alignment restrictions (primarily domain and special attacks associated with a specific god).

Each god also has a faction rating as well and all gods share the same faction matrix, thus you may only have a faction rating with one god at a time. Gods have a more complex relationship of hostility than other factions so you will not be hostile to all other god factions other than your own. Iomedae is hostile to Lamashtu, but is okay with Abadar, Serenrae, etc. Advancing your Cleric Feats above tier one will eventually require advancing your faction rating with your god. If you change god factions you will lose access to Feats if your new faction does not meet the Feat requirements. For example, the Fire domain will require ranks in either Asmodeus or Sarenrae as they both offer that domain, while the Sun domain will require ranks in either Iomedae or Sarenrae. Most domains are available to more than one god with our first batch of gods.

We will add more gods as time goes by, starting with major Golarion gods, and then moving to important local gods. Order and timing of these iterations to be Crowdforged.

God Roadmap

This is a super rough roadmap that we put together last year. It could change pretty drastically as we go.

Priority 1

Most appropriate core deities, one for each alignment.

Abadar – Lawful Neutral - Protection, Travel

Asmodeus – Lawful Evil - Fire, Trickery

Desna – Chaotic Good - Luck, Travel

Gorum – Chaotic Neutral - Glory, Strength

Gozreh – Neutral - Water, Weather

Iomedae – Lawful Good - Glory, Sun

Lamashtu – Chaotic Evil - Strength, Trickery

Norgorber – Neutral Evil - Charm, Trickery

Sarenrae – Neutral Good - Fire, Sun

Priority 2

Remaining core deities, it's unclear if we'll get these all in one go or not, or if a couple of them might swap with even more appropriate members of priority 3.

Calistria

Cayden Cailean

Erastil

Irori

Nethys

Pharasma

Rovagug

Shelyn

Torag

Urgathoa

Zon-Kuthon

Priority 3

Extremely relevant minor deities.

Gyronna

Hanspur

Milani

Sivanah

Gods in Settlements

Settlements have to declare an alignment on founding, and all members of that Settlement need to have a core alignment within one alignment step of that alignment.

Settlements will be able to build temples and cathedrals to offer training to Clerics. Temples are medium structures, similar to the cleric trainers you see currently, while cathedrals are larger structures the size of the current keeps. Settlements will have a limited number of slots for each building size, so Settlements will have to choose what they want to do with their limited number of slots.

Both structures will start out as offering a selection of basic Cleric Feats (armor feats, power, etc) and the Feats associated with a single god that is compatible with the Settlement alignment. Temples can be upgraded to train the Feats of an additional god that is compatible with the first and the Settlement alignment, while a cathedral can be upgraded to train the Feats of two additional compatible gods (for a total of three).

Settlements can also build smaller support structures for the Feats of specific gods if the Settlement’s members learn those feats at another Settlement, as long as the god is compatible with the Settlement alignment.

Holdings like shrines will also have aspects of Cleric training. How specific the god assignments and requirements of those Holdings will be is tbd. Training in Holdings will be capped and won't be as high as the potential for Settlement training.

So What Does it Mean Now?

Clerics should look at what domain they are advancing with an eye towards their eventual alignment and that of their Settlement. Most domains are available from more than one god so they have a decently wide alignment range. As we add more gods more alignment/domain combinations will become possible.

Only buy Channel Positive Energy if you plan on being Good or Neutral, while you should only by Channel Negative Energy if you plan on being Evil or Neutral.

In the Early Enrollment 4.2 Release Note blog we noted certain Feats that would be available for weapons associated with various Gods and the Feats Clerics can train for them. The restrictions described in that blog also apply to the systems described in this blog.