Introduction
There are almost 400 different unique gods in Pathfinder 2, which is…way too many. It can be somewhat difficult to sort out who’s worth your time, dedicating your immortal soul to and who is better left being trapped in an eldritch prison. In this series, I will guide you through each of the many gods of Golarion and go over which of their features will add the most to your Pathfinder career.
In part 3, we’re taking a look at two separate but related pantheons: The Eldest and the Elven Pantheon. The reason I have decided to group them together is due to the fact that both groups share a deep connection with the First World and the Fey as a whole.
As a disclaimer: There are many Backgrounds, Archetypes, Feats, and other such options that interact with the gods and their features in some way. If we set out to analyze them from a one size fits all standpoint, this already massive project would become nigh impossible. So to keep this relatively straightforward and simple, we will be examining each god from the lens of a Cleric or Champion, which are the two classes most heavily involved with the features of the gods. We will also be looking at this through the lens of a classic heroic fantasy game and what is most conducive to that style of play.
Furthermore, while the Divine Attribute only affects two options in the base rules (Raised by Belief Background and the Divine Apex Cleric Feat), these are still mechanical options that gods offer you and are therefore worthy of consideration and evaluation. That said, the Divine Attribute granted by a god will no longer bear a large weight on that god’s final rating.
Additionally, certain gods push you towards a specific style of play over another, so they will be rated over how well their features synergize with that style of play. For instance: Iomedae is a great god for more martial-focused playstyles, but not amazing for pure caster builds, so it would be pointless to examine her from that standpoint.
With those stipulations out of the way, pull out your prayer books and let’s start some theology!
For more on Golarion’s deities, see our other articles in this series:
Table of Contents
Understanding RPGBOT’s Rating System
RPGBOT uses a 4-tier rating scheme which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.
- : Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
- : OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
- : Good options. Useful often.
- : Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.
The Eldest
The Eldest are the most powerful beings left behind in the realm of the First World when the gods decided to abandon it to create the prime material plane. These creatures seized power and essentially achieved apotheosis. You can think of them as the equivalent of Archfey in Dungeons and Dragons.
The Eldest are…interesting. A lot of their playstyle heavily encourages you to be a chaos gremlin, and some of their Edicts can be somewhat baffling or hard to follow. As such, I don’t recommend any of these gods for an inexperienced roleplayer or before having a detailed discussion with your GM. Additionally, for the Eldest, we will be ignoring the Sanctification option, as none of them offer you anything.
Known as the Traitor, this guy is unpopular even with the other Eldest, which is saying something. He embraced his exile from the First World with relish and established his own domain where he became the patron of exiles, shadows, and betrayal. As a result, he encourages you to indulge in a particularly problematic playstyle. He’s also geared more towards stealth gameplay, which isn’t highly useful for most Clerics and Champions. That said, Dexterity can be useful for some Cloistered Cleric builds.
This one is problematic, to put it mildly. As the traitor, Ranalc really wants you to backstab people and hide your motives from everyone while never asking for forgiveness. Which means if you wrong one of your party members, things could get ugly really fast. That said, Ranalc doesn’t specifically say you can’t have people you trust, so try to focus your devious betrayals on NPCs and not your fellow players.
Strength is arguably more useful for a Champion than Dexterity, and Charisma is not very useful on a Cleric. Either way, you’re losing something in one of these classes.
Flexible.
Since a lot of Clerics and Champions are encouraged to wear heavy or medium armor that hampers your stealth, this skill is next to useless for you. If you are a Cloistered Cleric, however, you can make this work.
Rapier is a solid weapon with some good traits, but there are better weapons for both casters and martial fighters.
There are decent options here. As long as you avoid Confidence, of course.
Not really worth spending a feat on. Secrecy is niche at best in most campaigns. If you are in a more politically focused campaign where rumors and gossip matter a great deal, you may get some mileage out of this.
Penumbral Shroud, Peaceful Bubble, and Umbral Journey. There’s nothing here aside from arguably Penumbral Shroud that helps you much in combat. Your Rogue will be grateful for your help in making them sneakier, though. The out-of-combat utility is nice, it’s just too bad you can’t take full advantage of one of your spells if you are a Cleric.
Imbrex
Imbrex is technically two gods, a set of twins of indeterminate gender. They are the patron of twins (shocking), endings, and…statues for some reason. Imbrex is a strong choice for deity for both Clerics and Champions. They are all about making your playstyle as flexible as possible. While their spells aren’t the strongest, the other bonuses they give you more than make up for it.
This seems pretty straightforward on its surface, but here we have something that is going to be a trend for the Eldest: Imbrex’s anathema is simply that you don’t offend them, but that is extremely vague and broad for an entity known to be capricious and whimsical. Make sure you discuss with your GM beforehand what would break this anathema. Other than that, their edicts are pretty easy to follow, just…be a good TTRPG player. Oh, and cut some things in half.
Both Constitution and Wisdom are great attributes for Clerics. Wisdom is less amazing for Champions but still handy.
Flexible.
Occultism is a useful knowledge skill, but Intelligence-based skills are hard for both the Cleric and the Champion. Occultism is mostly useful for identifying magic and certain esoteric lore associated with Aberrations and the like. Arcana is more broadly applicable in most cases to deal with magic and you will probably be relying on Religion for most of your knowledge checks anyway.
This is a pretty great weapon for everyone, even as a backup. The damage is great and it has some really useful traits, such as Sweep and Disarm.
You can’t really go wrong with any of these options, especially if you’re a war priest.
Vigil is pretty decent, but there are other feats worth taking over this.
Mindlink, Mountain Resilience, and Duplicate Foe. Mindlink is only situationally useful. Mountain Resilience is great and Duplicate Foe can be excellent, assuming your foe fails the Fortitude save, which makes it hit or miss. Overall, Imbrex’s spells are the definition of good, not great.
Magdh
Also known as the three, Magdh is the Eldest goddess of fate, triplets, and complexity, as well as being the patron of deity names I cannot pronounce if my life depended on it. She’s often depicted with three heads on a single body, not unlike classical depictions of Hecate, the Greek goddess of magic, which feels fitting. Her features encourage you to be something of a prophet or diviner, seeking knowledge to exploit rather than giving you strong tools for battle.
Oh boy, this one is…dicey. The edict is simple enough to follow: be like a follower of Nethys and use magic a lot. The sticking point gets into her anathemas, the first of which is that you cannot lie. As stated numerous times in this article series, deities that require you not to lie can be somewhat limiting and a discussion with your GM is required to establish what is and isn’t considered a lie. Secondly, there is the stipulation that you can’t give your magical readings out for free. This potentially means every time you Detect Magic for your group, they need to pay you to learn the information. While conceptually hilarious, I could see this ruffling some feathers at the table, so maybe ask for a pittance like 1 copper piece to avoid conflict. She doesn’t say how much you need a charge after all.
Wisdom is great for Clerics, and Intelligence will be good for Recall Knowledge checks.
Flexible.
Occultism is a useful knowledge skill, but Intelligence-based skills are hard for both the Cleric and the Champion. Occultism is mostly useful for identifying magic and certain esoteric lore associated with Aberrations and the like. Arcana is more broadly applicable in most cases to deal with magic and you will probably be relying on Religion for most of your knowledge checks anyway.
Ok, I may be a little biased here, but Scythes are so cool, guys. They are also really good mechanically, having great damage as well as the Deadly and Trip properties.
Avoid Truth unless you have a specific build in mind. The rest are pretty solid. It helps that they all feed into Magdh’s edicts in some way.
Time is really good. Possibly more worth taking than Magdh’s base Domains.
Anticipate Peril, Threefold Aspect, and Scrying. Anticipate Peril is fine. Its effects can be replicated by the Scout activity. It gets marginally more useful at higher ranks, but its 10-minute duration holds it back from being very useful. Threefold Aspect is so niche that I’m struggling to think when you would use it, unless you are infiltrating a retirement home or something. Scrying is the one unarguably good spell on this list.
Ng
If you’re familiar at all with Critical Role’s Traveler god, Ng will sound somewhat familiar. A hooded figure that is the patron of wanderers, secrets, and the seasons, Ng encourages you to be secretive and hide your true motivations until the time is right. Also, don’t you ever commit crimes against fashion, or Ng will be coming for you.
A bit odd, but doable. Just make sure you find a new place to sleep every night, even in the city and for god’s sake, don’t wear fashion out of season.
Wisdom is great for Clerics and Charisma is good for some Champions. Either way, you’re getting something out of it.
Flexible.
Clerics can get a lot of mileage out of Survival, especially in games like Kingmaker, where tracking, sensing direction, and counteracting the weather are invaluable. If you’re using the optional campsite rules, this becomes blue. That said, in other games, you will get less out of this, and it’s not very good for Champions.
This has basically the same problems as Fist, having pitiful damage and is not super useful to either Cleric or Champion. In some ways, it is slightly worse than Fist, having fewer traits and available feats to specialize in it, but it does have the freehand trait, thus allowing you to keep your hands free while utilizing it for more useful things.
Some solid options, but nothing incredible. Secrecy is not worth taking.
As with most of Ng’s other features, Nature is a good domain if not amazing. Vibrant Thorns basically requires you to be in melee, so don’t take this if you plan on being a Cloistered Cleric.
Vanishing Tracks, Invisibility, and Flicker. Vanishing Tracks is super situational. I can’t remember the last time NPCs tracking the party has ever factored into gameplay in one of my games. Invisibility and Flicker are both amazing spells, though, and you get them earlier in your career than most other Deities.
Ragadahn
Ragadahn is the temperamental god of linnorms, oceans, and spirals. His name also reminds me of Raggedy Ann dolls, and now I can’t take him seriously. Unsurprisingly, as a god of all things water, his features focus on bringing out your inner Moses. A lot of his features are very strong and he really favors a more caster-centric playstyle. Just don’t hurt his precious linnorms.
Make sure you stay hydrated, don’t practice bad archaeology and you’re golden. Oh and make sure to draw the occasional spiral.
Both of these attributes will be appreciated by War Clerics and Champions. Cloistered Clerics get less out of Strength, however.
Flexible.
Occultism is a useful knowledge skill, but Intelligence-based skills are hard for both the Cleric and the Champion. Occultism is mostly useful for identifying magic and certain esoteric lore associated with Aberrations and the like. Arcana is more broadly applicable in most cases to deal with magic and you will probably be relying on Religion for most of your knowledge checks anyway.
The damage is poor and the Nonlethal trait might get in the way sometimes. That said, Finesse gives you flexibility and Disarm, Trip, and Reach are all really useful traits to have.
Really solid options, especially Destruction and Dragon.
Hydraulic Push, Brine Dragon Bile, and Feet to Fins. Hydraulic Push has great damage and solid battlefield control, especially if you manage to crit. Brine Dragon Bile is an amazing follow-up to your martials’ attacks, literally throwing salt on the wound. Feet to Fins will be useful if your group ever encounters water. Overall, very solid options.
Shyka
Shyka is….very weird. Like Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse V, they’ve become unstuck in time. They are both a singular entity and many infinite entities. They exist at the beginning of the universe as well as its end. Their entire being encompasses all those who have been Shyka and all who will be. As a result, their features are kind of all over the place. Time magic is very powerful, which prevents them from being too dysfunctional. That said, they don’t have a clear preference for one specific playstyle and offer some solid options to most builds.
This one is weird but definitely doable. Shyka wants you to be a bit random and give people surprising and nonsensical gifts and leave hourglasses everywhere, which is… oddly specific. Their stipulation that you not tread where time doesn’t exist is easy enough to follow as long as you avoid hopping to other planes of existence.
Constitution is good for survival. Intelligence can help with Recall Knowledge checks.
Flexible.
Occultism is a useful knowledge skill, but Intelligence-based skills are hard for both the Cleric and the Champion. Occultism is mostly useful for identifying magic and certain esoteric lore associated with Aberrations and the like. Arcana is more broadly applicable in most cases to deal with magic and you will probably be relying on Religion for most of your knowledge checks anyway.
It trades the higher damage of a regular mace for two traits (Agile and Finesse). It’s fine for a backup weapon, but underwhelming otherwise.
Bit of a mixed bag. Decay is pretty useful and Time is amazing, but Fate and Disorientation require too many things to go right for you.
Anticipate Peril, Haste, and Time Beacon. Anticipate Peril is fine. Its effects can be replicated by the Scout activity. It gets marginally more useful at higher ranks, but its 10-minute duration holds it back from being very useful. Haste is always fantastic and worth using. Time Beacon can be very powerful given the right circumstances, but can be a bit complicated to use.
The Green Mother
She’s basically Poison Ivy. Like Poison Ivy, she loves vicious plants and debilitating poisons and she uses her beautiful nymph form to seduce the unwary before killing them in their sleep. She is the patron of intrigue, plants, seduction and, oddly enough, sex workers. Messing with or killing prostitutes is a big no-no to her, which is refreshing to see in a deity oriented towards sex. Her features help you with getting people to do what you want or utilizing the full wrath of nature, making her a solid, if not amazing, pick for most Clerics and Champions.
This one is a bit dicey. Frolicking in nature is all well and good, but preying on the weak and not keeping secrets can be somewhat problematic if played poorly. We do stan a woman who looks out for the safety and livelihood of sex workers, though.
Champions will absolutely appreciate both of these attributes. Clerics will get less out of Charisma overall, but Constitution is always appreciated.
Flexible.
As a Wisdom-based skill, you will get a lot of mileage out of Nature as a Cleric. Champions will appreciate the ability to identify certain creatures, poisons and diseases as well.
A fitting weapon for a nature and harvest-focused god. Too bad the damage is terrible and the traits are just fine. Trip is nice for martial characters, but there are way better options that have the same trait.
All very solid options. This deity is heavily pushing you towards Nature, however.
Charm, Suggestion, and Plant Form. Charm and Suggestion are both very useful spells that you will get a lot of mileage out of. Plant Form can be useful, but this deity seems to favor the ranged caster playstyle, meaning melee is the last place you should be. If you’re out of other spells, though, this can be a very fun spell to use.
The Lantern King
The Lantern King is probably what most people think of when they think of the Eldest and fey in general. He is the preeminent trickster and the patron of laughter, mischief, and transformation. Even some of the Eldest find his incessant pranks irritating, but to mortals, his pranks can be downright dangerous or even deadly. Unsurprisingly, the Lantern King’s features are geared towards making you a skillful prankster, offering you benefits towards activities that allow you to lie or deceive your enemies.
This is mostly straightforward, but if played poorly, you can run into the same issues that people have with Kinder in 5e. Make sure you are honest enough with your friends and be respectful of your party’s boundaries when playing pranks to ensure your character isn’t a nuisance.
This is an odd pairing that you don’t see a lot. Intelligence is useful for everyone, allowing you more skill proficiencies, languages and better recall knowledge checks. Charisma will be appreciated by Champions but is less useful for Clerics. Overall, it’s a bit of a mixed bag.
Flexible.
Deception is useful for some Champions but kind of useless for Clerics. If you are going to choose one Face skill to have, realistically, it should be Diplomacy, as it has the least amount of roleplay consequences for failure.
Simple, elegant, flexible, but terrible damage. Dagger isn’t a great main weapon by any means, but good in a pinch.
All these options are pretty decent aside from Disorientation. But if you are choosing to worship the preeminent prankster god, there really is no other choice aside from Trickery.
Illusory Disguise, Laughing Fit, and Cursed Metamorphosis. These are all fantastic spells, with only Illusory Disguise being arguably less useful if you don’t have the Charisma to back it up. That said, the Lantern King does give you Deception, which makes it more usable than for most Clerics. Laughing Fit and Cursed Metamorphosis are both excellent ways to shut down a foe in the middle of battle.
The Lost Prince
The Eeyore of the group, The Lost Prince, is also fittingly called the “Melancholy Lord”. He doesn’t really do much of anything but sit in his chair brooding all day. It’s not quite clear where exactly he came from, as he is definitely not from the First World. Even the other Eldest can’t fully figure out what his deal is, and he is not exactly forthcoming about his origins or motives. His features focus on emotional magic and manipulation. You will be instilling a lot of fear and utilizing other mind-altering magics while in his service.
Pretty easy to follow for an Eldest. Be a somber/depressed dude and look out for orphans, and you’re golden.
Wisdom is great for Clerics and Intelligence will be good for Recall Knowledge checks, as well as granting you additional languages and skill proficiencies. Champions get something from Wisdom, but nothing much out of Intelligence.
Flexible.
Society is more niche and it’s Intelligence-based, so it won’t offer anything of huge value to Clerics, but it’s nice to have.
You will most likely be using this for the many powerful and useful magic staffs that you will uncover. Don’t use this as a weapon unless you have no other options.
All are decent in some way, especially to cloistered Clerics, with this deity highly favors, but there is nothing here that is amazing.
Introspection is a neat domain that has a pretty useful early Domain spell and a hilarious Advanced Domain one. Damaging a person’s psyche by showing them how great their life could have been will never not be funny.
Soothe, Rewrite Memory, and Wave of Despair. Soothe is a decent healing spell with a nice buff, Rewrite Memory can be very powerful, especially when heightened, and Wave of Despair is absolutely brutal on groups of enemies. Overall, really solid options.
Elven Gods
The Elven pantheon is pretty sparse in Pathfinder 2e. Part of that is because most elves tend to worship Desna and Calistria, who are core deities. But there are still three other lesser-known gods that are worth examining. They are Findeladlara, the goddess of twilight, art, and architecture; Ketephys, god of the hunt and moon; and Yuelral, goddess of gems, craft, and magic. So let’s get snooty and talk about how our elven gods are better than your puny human ones.
Findeladlara
Try saying that three times fast. She’s classically worshipped by the elves as one of the major three of the Elven pantheon, the other two being Desna and Calistria. She is the patron of architecture and art (specifically elven art, as it’s the only one worth considering). After Earthfall, she took on the domain of twilight as well to guide her people to safety. Her features are all a bit underwhelming. As a god of crafts and art, she really emphasizes a utilitarian playstyle which just isn’t as useful for Clerics and Champions.
This one is super easy to follow. Appreciate art and architecture, be a gracious host, and you are perfect in Findeladlara’s eyes.
This is an odd pairing that you don’t see a lot. Intelligence is useful for everyone, allowing you more skill proficiencies, languages, and better Recall Knowledge checks. Charisma will be appreciated by Champions but is less useful for Clerics. Overall, it’s a bit of a mixed bag.
Heal is the better of the two to be forced to pick for most parties.
Holy is the better of the two to pick for most parties.
Crafting is arguably useful for anyone, but you have to invest a lot into it, especially concerning your Intelligence.
You will most likely be using this for the many powerful and useful magic staffs that you will uncover. Don’t use this as a weapon unless you have no other options.
The big standout here is Family, but they are all pretty solid, assuming you avoid Cities unless you have a particular build in mind.
Protection is great…if you are playing a defender with a lot of health. If you picked this deity, though, that’s most likely not you, so this one is best avoided.
Temporary Tool, Shape Stone, Planar Palace. This is a rather underwhelming list. Temporary Tool is seldom worth using unless you are woefully unprepared for being an adventurer. Shape Stone is fine if it works, but it’s not worth a 4th rank slot when its effects can be replicated by the Shove action. Planar Palace is the only spell actually worth something, but you don’t get it till rank 7. Very disappointing.
Ketephys
Not much is really known about Ketephys other than he is basically an Erastil wannabe (but he’s specifically an elven version, so therefore better). He is the god of the hunt, forestry, and the moon. His features are basically ripoffs of Erastil, but not quite as universally strong as his. Unless you have a specific build in mind or are going with him for flavor reasons, you are probably better off just picking Erastil.
Pretty straightforward to follow. Kill demons, defend your community, don’t hunt needlessly and don’t help demons. The only question mark is the “Take more than is needed from the wilderness”. This shouldn’t be a problem in most campaigns, but in a campaign like Kingmaker, which is all about exploiting the land and establishing civilization, you should exercise caution when picking this god.
This is a pretty great pairing. Both Clerics and Champions will appreciate the boost to defenses that Dexterity gives. Clerics love Wisdom for obvious reasons and Champions will get a lot of use out of higher Wisdom as well.
Heal is the better of the two to be forced to pick for most parties.
Holy is the better of the two to pick for most parties.
Clerics will get a lot of mileage out of Survival, especially in games like Kingmaker, where tracking, sensing direction, and counteracting the weather are valuable. If you’re using the optional campsite rules, this becomes blue. That said, in other games, you will get less out of this, and it’s not very good for Champions.
Longbow is a great ranged option as long as you stay on the back line, and it doesn’t have the action economy problems that a crossbow does. Its minimum range makes this less good for Champions.
Solid options as long as you ignore Secrecy. Take Darkness if you want to be more sneaky, Moon for more casting damage, and Nature for a more supportive playstyle.
Family is the clear standout and might be more worth taking than the base domains. Freedom also is very solid.
Vanishing Tracks, Invisibility, and Animal Vision. Vanishing Tracks almost never comes into play unless your GM is meticulous about having NPCs track you and Animal Vision is pretty niche, though it can have its uses. Invisibility is solid, assuming you have the stealth to make it work. Fortunately, Ketephys offers you a boost to your Dexterity. Overall, middle-of-the-road kind of list.
Yuelral
If Ketephys is an Erastil wannabe, then Yuelral is a Nethys wannabe. She is the elven goddess of magic and gemstones, though she really doesn’t like it when you cut the gems. Appreciate their natural beauty, you philistine. What Nethys does for Clerics with a Wizard persuasion, Yuelral does for Clerics with a connection to Druidic magic. She gives just as many spells as Nethys does, though from the Primal spell list as opposed to the Arcane one. Primal isn’t as universally strong as Arcane is, but there are some great spells on her list. Unsurprisingly, she heavily favors cloistered Clerics.
Very straightforward. Use magic and enchantments and don’t misuse magic. The defilement of nature anathema requires clarification from your GM, especially if you are playing Kingmaker , where building a civilization in the wild is the entire thing.
Both Constitution and Wisdom are great attributes for Clerics. Wisdom is less amazing for Champions but still handy.
Heal is the better of the two to be forced to pick for most parties.
Holy is the better of the two to pick for most parties.
Arcana is useful for a lot of things related to magic, identification, and spellcasting.
Simple, elegant, flexible, but terrible damage. Dagger isn’t a great main weapon by any means, but good in a pinch.
Pretty solid list. Earth and Magic are the standouts here for this deity but you can get a lot out of any of them.
Shattering Gem, Shape Wood, One With Stone, Shape Stone, Nature’s Pathway, Tangling Creepers, Unfettered Pack, Burning Blossoms, and Nature’s Enmity. As with Nethys, followers of Yuelral get spoiled with a spell for every rank. But while Nethys provides Clerics with access to spells off the Arcane list, Yuelral does the same for Primal spells. This means your spells will be more focused on support and area control. The list isn’t as overwhelmingly strong as Nethys is, but there are some good spells here. Particular standouts are Shattering Gem, Nature’s Pathway, Burning Blossoms, and Nature’s Enmity, which are all very useful spells.
