Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of these products in exchange for an honest, unbiased preview. This preview is not intended to be an endorsement.
Golarian is no stranger to colossal, world-ending events—most of Paizo’s published Adventure Paths actually tend to feature one. It must be a constant struggle to be a denizen in the world knowing that without proper heroes Golarion could fall to a Whispering Tyrant or be completely destroyed. In War of Immortals, Paizo tackles the question of what happens when a deity dies, and the ripple effect that such an event presents. It’s a book teeming with myth and legend, supplanted with a thrilling story that ties into the novel Pathfinder Godsrain.
Pathfinder War of Immortals Overview
The Godsrain event encompasses the aftermath of Gorum’s death in the current Golarion timeline. When this happens, a bloody rain of war descends upon the world, driving everyone into a bloodlust and frenzy for war. Even the deities maneuver for power during this time, dubbed the War of Immortals.
If memory serves, this book might be the first Pathfinder Second Edition publication that is specifically centered around a specific global event. This frame of reference resonates with me much more than generic volumes like Howl of the Wild that are presented as unassociated with any particular set of happenings. To put it in perspective, this event is massive enough to warrant this rulebook, several Pathfinder Society scenarios, and the Prey for Death Adventure. As well, it has an impact on the Curtain Call Adventure Path, the Lost Omens: Divine Mysteries sourcebook, and the Pathfinder: Godsrain novel. It’s a big deal.
With a book of this scale, it is only fitting that there are some major releases to accompany it. War of Immortals expands the Nephilim Versatile Ancestry for characters to include influences on other planes besides the angelic and devilish lineages presented in the Player Core. This heritage now offers options for aphorites related to beings of Axis, kjosas affected by valkyries and angels of battles, ganzis who are descended from chaotic beings of the Maelstrom, and cambions who have inherited a grudge from their bloodline. It’s nice to have more planar heritage options beyond your typical aasimar and tiefling types.
Class-wise, War of Immortals marks the release of the Animist and Exemplar. Animists bond with spirits, from whom they receive their spellcasting abilities. They receive two pools of spellcasting—one for their divine spellcasting as an Animist and another for their apparition-based spells. It’s a blend of prepared and spontaneous casting that makes them a versatile jack-of-all-trades in a party.
The Exemplar is a class for those that embody heroism and wish to be immortalized in song through deed. They channel their divine spark through ikons—which can be tangible objects or parts of their being— starting with three as a new character. For free during initiative or as a single action, an Exemplar can Shift Immanence to move their divine spark to a different ikon and thereby activating its transcendence effect. Additionally, each Exemplar has a root epithet that evolves over time as they earn their name. This class is dripping with flavor and adaptability.
As for the rest of the book, mythic rules are back on the menu! Mythic characters are immortal and come with their own set of rules to make them larger than life. Likewise, their challenges require enhanced challenges, and Gamemasters will find rules for creating mythic monsters and gifting epic treasure. There are also mythic archetypes, spells, rituals, and pre-built monsters that have several pages of backstory and ways to work them into campaigns of any level. Inspiration for Big Bads is on full display in War of Immortals.
Pathfinder War of Immortals: Who It’s For
War of Immortals reminds me a lot of one of my favorite Pathfinder sourcebooks to date,the Lost Omens: Legends. Merely reading about history isn’t always my cup of tea, but understanding historical figures and their roles in the big picture makes history much more appealing for me. This book is all about tales of myth and legend and how your playable characters can be a part of that history.
If you’re interested in either the Exemplar or Animist classes, then War of Immortals is obviously made for you. You might be drawn to Animists if you like casting spells but want a broad well to draw from. Every day they attune to a pair of apparitions from a list of 11 options, each of which grant specific Lore skills, apparition spells, a unique Vessel spell, and—eventually—a powerful avatar spell as the apparition incarnates using your body.
The Animist definitely seems to be an advanced class because you could agonize for hours over which specific apparitions to take each day based on your expectations for what might be ahead of you. It would behoove Animist hopefuls to make a cheat sheet that would cut down a lot of the data parsing time, as the current book format isn’t optimal for doing speedy cross-referencing between the options. However, if you’re drawn to the ideas of versatility, spellcasting, and spirits, it looks like a blast to play.
In terms of the Exemplar , the concept reminds me a lot of Spirit Island and its associated epitaphs. Like the Animist, they have a variety of tricks at their disposal depending on the situation but are better suited towards melee combat. People take notice of their existence as their legend grows, and rumors likely fly whenever their name comes up in conversation. This is the ultimate class for anybody who truly lets the adventure or story dictate their mechanical character choices during level ups.
If you’re interested in running a mythic campaign—or being a player in one—War of Immortals is also your single source for those rules. These campaigns allow characters to have a pool of Mythic Points which give them access to using mythic spells, feats, items, and even can be a requirement for performing certain mythic deeds.
Many times in adventures, players don’t start feeling like heroes until they’re at least level 4, but don’t even really feel truly powerful until level 12 or later. The average campaign isn’t going to last that long. Mythic adventures give you that epic adventure feeling from the jump, placing you directly at the big kid table.
War of Immortals makes me feel heroic just reading it. It has gotten the wheels turning in my mind about various aspects of mythic rules that I might even work into my current Sky King’s Tomb campaign. There’s a portion of that campaign that deals with relics, and it would be interesting to beef those up a little bit and mix in a variant of these mythic rules to activate their hidden potential.
Pathfinder War of Immortals: The Best Parts
As is tradition, here are three specific portions of War of Immortals that I’m most excited about. In no particular order:
Godling Archetype
Making a character who wants to become a god isn’t necessarily a new or novel idea—Joe O’Brien’s character Nico Bridgewalker in the Glass Cannon Network’s Raiders of the Lost Continent campaign was precisely that. Unlike other archetypes, every archetype in War of Immortals cannot be taken until level 12 and require mythic rules. However, the idea of a person pursuing divinity is always a fun concept to me. You have notable NPCs in Golarion like Razmir who consider themselves to be a god and have cultivated a dedicated following. Or you have innocuous adventurers who aren’t even actively seeking godhood but you just know that they have the potential to become more than mortal.
The godling archetype grants you a hierophant follower and access to divine magic. Between accepting prayers, claiming domains, and eventually assuming godhood at level 20, I know that this will be a popular choice for many players who want to be the absolute best.
Sublime Breath
The idea of a muse can be tough to envision. It’s not generally something tangible that strikes with inspiration to accomplish a task like a poem or a work of art. A sublime breath is inspiration incarnate, often appearing in groups of three in secret or secluded areas and they have dedicated themselves to perfection or guidance of a specific art.
What really draws me to sublime breath is that even though it’s a statblock, the idea of fighting off inspiration seems impossible. In the book, the author describes how a sublime breath defended itself from an apprentice forger who stole their tools by having those instruments cursed. The apprentice worked so hard they forgot to eat or sleep and without producing anything, they died of exhaustion. It will take a lot of creativity to work a sublime breath into a campaign, but a mythic deed of besting the muse has ‘devil went down to Georgia’ vibes and I’m here for it.
The Memory Tides
One result of the Godsrain is the creation of the Memory Tides, a tidal pool that contains the memories of the countless enemies that Gorum slew as a divine. It has become a point of pilgrimage in Golarion, as people seek to relive heroic memories, acquire battle expertise, or understand why somebody would seek to challenge a god. That alone is worth the price of admission for my interest.
But then let’s add in the pirate Naylor Gloom, who claims to have learned the location of an immense treasure left behind by a pirate demigod slain by Gorum. His ship, The Dread Gale, is acquiring a wide swath of deckhands and adventurers to accompany him on this quest. He has returned to the Tides multiple times already to gather more recruits, so clearly not everything is going according to plan. This would be such a fun side quest or basis for an entire campaign.
Pathfinder War of Immortals: Become a Legend
Everybody always wants things bigger and better, from Hollywood blockbusters to smartphone capabilities. War of Immortals gathers us into the action of one of the most impactful events in Golarion history, offering us a front row ticket to the action or a lead role, if we’d prefer. New classes aside, having additional Gamemaster tools for scaling adventures to an epic scale is something that pays dividends in smiles at the table.
Whether you’re interested in bringing in new Pathfinder character options or building up your character’s legend, War of Immortals offers a divine avenue for both.
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