Pathfinder 1E Modifying Deity requirement for a D&D / PF setting - do-able?

[wlmartin]

So

Advancing my thinking further

Would I be able to get away with creating just elemental planes, ignoring all of the other planes and then rounding out any planar creatures I want to include into those elemental planes?

Then... associating the powers of clerics with the elemental planes only


Workable?

 

[gamerprinter]

D&D-style fantasy contains a strong assumption of baseline polytheism. If you're going to go with a single god, consider "One god, many saints, avatars, and/or incarnations".

It's just easier that way, and more conducive to entertaining conflict.

Who cares what the baseline is? Any setting could have unique attributes that defy the baseline, it depends on the setting and a given game's goals. I've run many campaigns that defy the baseline in one aspect or another. I've even published the Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG) and it certainly doesn't fit the baseline - the cosmology is way different, access to deities is curtailed, PC death and reincarnation work completely differently, raise dead/reincarnation/resurrection by spell does not function at all. Yet it is still very much Pathfinder, and works well.

So

Advancing my thinking further

Would I be able to get away with creating just elemental planes, ignoring all of the other planes and then rounding out any planar creatures I want to include into those elemental planes?

Then... associating the powers of clerics with the elemental planes only


Workable?

I've run a campaign with one god, but as in our "one god" modern world, there are different denominations and clerical orders with private agendas, and unique twists of ecclesiastic dogmas. Even had one paladin order at war with another order, both sides are lawful good and both sides worship the same god, yet are fighting to the death so their particular point of view on the word of God is the victorious one. Also think of the modern world where England and France are at war, even though both are convinced God is on their side and obviously not with the other, but its no real issue.

Running a cosmology of elemental planes only would work fine.

In my published setting of Kaidan, there is only 7 planes of existence: 5 of them coexist in the prime material and are intrinsically tied to the social caste system, each caste is its own 'plane' and 'planar' members are determined by birth and may change in the next reincarnation. Hell and a pocket ethereal plane are the only other planes of existence - there are no elemental planes, in Kaidan. Divine magic has to be adjudicated to accomodate differing planar existences, one god, or many gods.

 

[wlmartin]

I love the idea if a caste system and have been toying with adding it

Are you restricting caste to just belonging to a religious / idea logical subset or are you also extending it to role?

It's not a far fetch to have people restricted to religion based on what their group/family do but actually having people have to define their job and livelihood by the sect they are born in is great


I thought about having everyone born with a tatoo marking and if your child is not the same marking as you, you raise them until they reach pubity ad then they are indoctrinated into their new caste

This creates a sub culture of people who are essentially traded at a young age out of their family so the family dynamic is much different than it is in our world since if your child doesn't fit with your caste then you become a foster parent for then

 

[TerraDave]

So

Advancing my thinking further

Would I be able to get away with creating just elemental planes, ignoring all of the other planes and then rounding out any planar creatures I want to include into those elemental planes?

Then... associating the powers of clerics with the elemental planes only


Workable?

Of course. You might want to think of the alignment or equivalent, if any associated with the elements. Making this up as an example: air and water lean towards good, earth and fire towards evil, water and fire towards law, air and earth towards chaos. Relatedly, decide if you want demons from one place, devils another, etc.

Also, this implies 4 main factions, again you can really develop that.

 

[gamerprinter]

I love the idea if a caste system and have been toying with adding it

Are you restricting caste to just belonging to a religious / idea logical subset or are you also extending it to role?

It's not a far fetch to have people restricted to religion based on what their group/family do but actually having people have to define their job and livelihood by the sect they are born in is great


I thought about having everyone born with a tatoo marking and if your child is not the same marking as you, you raise them until they reach pubity ad then they are indoctrinated into their new caste

This creates a sub culture of people who are essentially traded at a young age out of their family so the family dynamic is much different than it is in our world since if your child doesn't fit with your caste then you become a foster parent for then

With the addition of one extra caste, Kaidan's social caste system is identical to feudal Japan's caste system: Aristocracy, Samurai, Commoners, Animal (yokai), and the Tainted. Animal (yokai) is the added one to accomodate non-humans of Kaidan (includes: hengeyokai, kitsune, korobokuru, kappa and tengu). Kaidan is very humano-centric with non-humans are treated poorly, so most non-humans dwell in wilderness areas.

What I've done is taken the Buddhist Wheel of Life (five hells) and applied those planes of existence into the social caste system. As one adventures for each lawful or good and chaotic or evil act, the GM assigns a positive or negative karma point. Thus karma (positive and negative) accumulate for each PC (you generally can only acquire 1 karma point per encounter). Each plane of the Wheel of Life consists of a range of karma points from 1 to 180 points. Depending on what your karma score is at death (plus a d20 roll) determines which caste you will be reborn into in the next life. Kaidan uses this unique reincarnation system that determines which social caste you belong based on actions you committed in your previous life. In Kaidan there is no raise dead/reincarnation (by spell)/resurrection, when you die, you're dead and cannot be brought back, as you are now in Kaidan's Wheel of Life/reincarnation mechanic - you will reincarnate and no way to stop or alter it. Your current karma score compares to the ranges of karma scores to each social caste, and whatever your's is, determines in which caste you will be reborn.

The other monkey wrench to throw in here, and another part of the horror aspect of the Kaidan setting, is if you die in a violent manner, such as during combat, at death your spirit begins a journey into Yomi, the land of the dead (pocket ethereal plane) where you wait up to 7 days... then your spirit identifies somebody (base on a roll on a chart) that fulfills your karma expectation and social caste, and attempts to possess that person. If your spiritual possession attempt succeeds, you drive the existing person's spirit from their body, essentially killing them, and you wake up having reincarnated to a person with levels in a new character class (more than likely, though you can reincarnate into your previous caste, based on whatever your karma score is at death.) Now the recently killed spirit (previous tenant of the body you now inhabit) begins their own journey through the Wheel of Life mechanism. Thus there are always spirits roaming around looking for people to possess in an endless cycle.

So, yes, I use a social caste system, but a very convoluted one determined by esoteric concepts of Buddhism.