Pathfinder Religion Guide: Sahkils and the Sahkil Tormentors
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- čas přidán 31. 07. 2024
- More demigods and outsiders for my Religion Series! This week we look at the Sahkils, the fallen Psychopomps of the Ethereal Plane.
▬ Contents of this video ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
0:00 - Intro & Preamble
8:20 - Types of Sahkils
13:44 - Ananshea
14:18 - Chamiaholom
14:43 - Charg
15:13 - Dachzerul
15:37 - Hataam
15:58 - Iggeret
16:16 - Nameless
16:43 - Ozranvial
17:05 - Shawnari
17:29 - Velgaas
17:59 - Vermilion Mother
18:25 - Xiquiripat
18:59 - Zipacna
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CREDITS
The large high-res map I use is not a Paizo official map, but the work of the incomparable Rob McCaleb ( www.artstation.com/robmccaleb ) used here with their gracious permission.
Content for this video came from "Pathfinder Book of the Damned" by James Jacobs and team
If you enjoyed this video, please support Paizo publishing by purchasing this product or others.
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#paizo #pathfinder #golarion #innersea #roleplaying #rpg #history #lore #d&d #fiends #sahkil #tormentors
As someone with a DEEP phobia of needles and blood, the idea of a Zohanil, a demons made from needles, is particularly noteworthy to me.
Yeah that's pretty messed up!
for everything that is, there is an Outsider for it.
Yeah that's pretty much it!
Wow! I've never heard at all about the Sahkil outsiders. I like them a lot and love their aesthetic. Looks a lot like a corpuscarii electro priest from Warhammer 40,000. Absolutely lovely, these stewards of death are certainly ones I love to know about. Have a great day everyone! Thanks for the vid.
Yeah, I also didn't appreciate the Sahkils until I did the research for this video. What great fiends.
Once again, Golarion proves to be an insane horrible place to live for someone without superhuman strength or exceptional knowledge of magic or stealh.
Zipacna gets most of their nutrition through youtubers the night before they promised to upload 😲
Haha yeah! Zipacna is officially my new favorite deity btw. I want to make a Cleric of Zipacna whose whole vibe is "Yeah, but do we really have to save the world like... right now?"
He could be granted new divine versions of spells like Cause Fear, Sepia Snake Sigil, Deep Slumber, Slow, Resistance, Agonize, Aura of Doom, etc.
WOW, so the Boogie Man is actually an entire race of specialized Boogie Men? The things that "go Bump in the Night" suddenly got multiple times more frightening. The Sahkils would make an excellent antagonist in a campaign. The Valiant heros must conquer Fear Itself... or run from it like bumbling fools, or a bit of both. Players will do what players will do after all. 🤣
Pretty much. The Lords of Fear are here. You could honestly run a whole AP with the Sahkils as central enemies and it would have a great creepy vibe throughout.
Considering this is pathfinder and has had years of development, it shouldn't be surprising that 'Bogeymen' are a type of Fey, and completely separate from Sahkil.
'Course, having a race of outsiders that is basically Bogeymen, but more varied is far more interesting then a single fey.
@@shiwanabe - If you watch my video on "Classic Monsters" when I talk about Bugbears I mention at least 3 or 4 creatures that are all essentially "Bogeyman" or at least that trace their root etymology and concept to the same idea.
@@TheMythKeeper I've watched that and somehow missed it. >
@@shiwanabe 😆
Hey, it's here! I really do find these guys neat. There's just something about how sort of petty their place in the cosmology is which lines up with their reason for becoming what they are, that really boils down to just being a bunch of immortals sick of their literal dead end jobs. And their motivations end up being that they just like messing with people because it ticks off their old boss, and they take the Scooby Doo villain approach to do it, obviously to a bit higher of an extreme than most of those people in masks. And it's interesting that the simpler fears are the weaker ones since you'd think that if you can scare more people easier, you're doing a better job, but it does make sense that if the goal is to perpetuate misery, primal fears usually end up being things that kill you faster.
I can tell Xibalba is probably Pathfinder's version of D&D's Ravenloft/ Demiplanes of Dread setting. And I feel they both end up doing things very differently with Xibalba being one section of a plane which is devoted to fear, while the Ravenloft demiplanes are more like a smorgasbord of different scary settings. I like Ravenloft's more diverse pool of settings and having each plane essentially be prison dimensions for an assortment of evil beings really gives each demiplane a good core to work with. But I think Xibalba's Tormentors are a much more interesting greater evil than whatever Ravenloft's "Dark Powers" are. Looming unknown can be cool, but the Tormentors can be used to have that effect, and then there's a payoff when you reveal which ones were specifically messing with the players. But I do think overall Xibalba and Sahkils are underdeveloped compared to Ravenloft, so I hope they do more with them in the future since there hasn't been much written about them since their debut in 1e.
The last thing I wanted to say was I think a fun idea for a player character, especially since alignment has been removed mostly with the remaster, would be a cleric of one of the Tormentors that is and acts as what is considered a good aligned character, with their whole schtick being that they strive to put fear in the hearts of evil outsiders, like devils and demons. And I think it could work since Sahkils aren't on good terms with most outsiders anyways, so trying to terrify the minions of your demigod's bitter rivals seems like something they'd be interested in seeing. The character probably wouldn't be too bright following an evil deity, but hey clerics are known to int dump. Maybe you go on an adventure and accidentally create a Halloween adjacent holiday while you're at, about scaring away evil creatures for a night. Just something I've thought about.
I think Xibalba is meant to be way scarier than Ravenloft. Experientially I'm imagining something out of the Saw movies 😅 but I know what you mean. I also think being trapped in Xibalba as a victim of the Sahkils and exploring Xibalba as a brave adventurer are probably materially different experiences.
Great video! Thanks for all your research and for your consistency!
My pleasure!
I love these deep dive videos, and this one was helpful to me. I'm running a game where the ultimate BBEG is Hataam. The setting is a pristine mountain lake-and-river valley, settled only a few hundred years ago, and Hataam seeks to corrupt it and claim it for his own. Despite some dark historical secrets (known so far to very few), Promise Valley is NG/LG. The idea is that it is basically THE IDEAL place to live. (All the more horrifying when Hataam's followers begin corrupting it.)
As I was watching this video, I was reminded that sahkils are former psychopomps, and as it happens Pharasma has no following in Promise Valley. I didn't do this on purpose, exactly; it's just that the religions in Promise tend to be associated with water, hunting, and outdoorsiness. But I popped open my OneNote and modified things to "Pharasmans are actively unwelcome." This feels like a very thematic opposite-weight to the looming threat of sahkils.
My question is ... what's a good explanation for why Promise Valley dislikes Pharasma so much? I'm giving it some thought, but although I like the existence of the Pharasma dislike, I haven't yet come up with a satisfying explanation for it.
Any ideas?
Is Promise Valley in Golarion? My instinct (like and river valley) is to assume it is located somewhere in the River Kingdoms, or possibly somewhere in Nirmathas? I'm assuming Avistan but it could be Garund or Casmaron or somewhere further afield as well.
Anyway, that choice could help inform when Pharasma is worshipped less. The most obvious reason is that some other funerary deity has become more prominent among the locals (this could have been helped along by the cult of Hataam, knowing Pharasma's deep opposition to the Sahkils and their work). For example, in the River Kingdoms, Hanspur is associated with deaths and drowning, so instead of morticians worshipping Pharasma, in many places the dead are handled by the clerics of Hanspur instead. Same goes for Isis and Osiris in eastern Garund for example.
In a place like the Linnorm Kingdoms that position might be taken some gods from the Giant Pantheon, which many Ulfen and Kellids still worship alongside the more known gods. Someone like Bergelmir could be a good alternative to Pharasmin worship, as she deals in lineages, ancestries and memories.
Very nice video somewhat tempted to add these to my list of half fiend templates I've worked on not sure what theme the half versions would follow but probably make fun to come up with ideas
A Sahkil tiefling (or Nephilim to use the new terms!) would be a really cool and creepy idea.
@@TheMythKeeper ya first thing that pops into my head would be fears associated with pregnancy and parenthood etc which is a thing for some people or could easily be created depending how it's done and would make most sense for it to least partly be done with the creation of a half sahkil especially if cursed a entire village or community and all children born during that would be corrupted also might cause suspicion of their being a cult of lametsu around instead of the real culprit/s which is a sahkil cultist/s and a sahkil or something
Though likely other themes could fit a half sahkil likely should put some though and research into it
Love this creature essays especially about planar outsiders
Thank you sir!
No, THANK YOU Sir
After having a really, really rough day yesterday, seeing a new video makes me happy. Your content makes my day, can't wait to give it a watch while having dinner. Thank you.
I'm glad to hear it, and thanks so much for the kind words!
Great video thanks
Positive comment
Another banger video!
I look forward to a video from you about demodands. IMO, the Pathfinder versions are better than the D&D ones (at least, there're more of them, and more monsters is always better).
Demodands are scripted and recorded (audio) so not too far off now, though I still have a few videos planned between now and then!
@TheMythKeeper Thank you! I'm also looking forward to the release of your video on the Planes of Wood and Metal. (Insert all-too-familiar excuse of insufficient funds to become a channel supporter.)
@@tomkerruish2982 - You don't have long to wait now!
Thanks!
I didn't knew about xibalba in the Pathfinder setting. Thats great information. Do we know someting abot the continent of Arcadia? I would like to know more about that, bcause i want to make n adventure inspired in Mesoamerica.
There is some info scattered around various sources, including weirdly the Lost Omens science and technology book. I know you've asked about this a couple of times. Eventually I'll try to consolidate what lore there is on Arcadia, but I think that's probably still a ways out as I wait for more info from Paizo.
@@TheMythKeeper Thanks gain!
Another excellent and detailed video. Have you thought about a video about the most common artifacts of Golarion ?
Another great suggestion. I'll add it to the backlog!
Other characters I think these beings look like:
-Ananshia looks like a bdsm theamed sucubi.
-Chamiaholon = Gannon Corpse (Zelda Tears Of The Kingdom.)
-Charg = Boogieman
(Nightmare Before Christmas)
-Dachzerul = Venom Symbiote (Spider-Man)
-Hataam = Maligula, but male
(Psyconaghts 2)
-Nameless = Herobrine?
(Minecraft Creepy-Pasta)
-Ozranvial = Jevil, but spookyer.
(Deltarune)
-Valgass = Voldimort
(Harry Potter)
-Vermilion Mother = Poison Ivy
(Bat-Man)
-Xiquiripat = lava and blood elimental
Velgaas is Voldemort with a slightly more snaky vibe. He's pretty cool. Nobody else looks like Zipacna though.
Honestly there are a few too many types of beings in Pathfinder that just amount to "another type of demon" even though those already exist.
Possibly 😅 There are definitely a lot of foes to fight, but they do all feel like they have a unique niche.
Just started getting into Pathfinder lore so i could mix it with some D&D stuff, i really liked your video! By any chance do you know the name of the sourcebook, guide, or campaign which the gods are from? Id really like to pick it up. Thanks!
I wish I could point you to a single source that had everything. Lost Omens: Gods & Magic is a great starting. So is the 1st Edition Faiths & Pantheons book. If you check the description on each of my videos I tend to reference which books I used for which of the videos. If they ever produced one with everything it would be a truly encyclopedic volume.
2 spooky 4 me
Yeah, they're pretty spooky!
Pharasma must be irritated with first the Sahkil and now the Undead turning away from the River of Souls, let alone the First World never carrying to following the plan.
Yeah, it turns out there are a lot of disobedient creatures in the multiverse
👏👏👏👏
eacc and every time you update I realize more and more why Golarion is a terrible place and truly the cage attracts all of the worst of the multiverse.
Some of these videos are basically just a listing for truly horrible things.
Love to hear more about the ethereal plane, I never know what's going on over there. I also have a question I could not find the answer to anywhere - are the outer and inner planes in the same physical space? Or do you have to take a portal betweem them like the travel between the material plane and the inner planes?
Also - where are the gods/celestials for the other planets? Are they also in the outer planes? Or are there another set of planes or demi-planes for the other planets in the solar system? All we hear about is the Golarion-concerned devils and deities.
@@ereviscale3966 - If you haven't already watched it, the Planar Cosmology 101 video explains a lot of this I think. I also review it again in my upcoming Planes of Metal & Wood video, where I recap the lore shifts in planar cosmology between 1E and 2E.
Basically, there is not a different set of planes for other planets. The entire physical universe exists as the material plane (in fact "The Universe" and "The Material Plane" are two words for the exact same thing). The Universe is "surrounded" by the Elemental Planes and it "overlaps" with the First World and the Shadow Plane. Altogether though those planes, and the elemental planes comprise the "Inner Planes".
The Inner Planes are in turn "surrounded" by the Outer Planes - which are basically the Heavens and Hells and places in between - all the places judged souls go to after death.
The transitive planes (astral, ethereal, river of souls) all "overlap" with all other planes of existence.
I'm putting quotes around "surround" and "overlap" because I think these are really rough explanations. Designed to simplify how planar cosmology works. In actual fact, the real relationships between the planes are much more complex, and probably require a deep grounding in arcane mathematics and planar sciences to even begin to comprehend.
But also to answer your question more directly. You need to cast "Planeshift" or take a portal any time you move between any of the planes, whether they are "adjacent" or "overlapping". They are completely distinct realities and there is no direct access between them through physical space.
@@TheMythKeeperI haven't watched that in awhile, thank you for the answer. When I was looking it up I was getting conflicting answers and don't have any relevant books as resources. One source said the sky of golarian turns into the plane of air, but it's actually outside of the whole universe.
So your party could teleport to Akiton and get immediately beset by Zon-Kuthon fanatics? Scary😢 I thought maybe they had a different pantheon that was more active on their world.
@@ereviscale3966 - Haha, yeah that thing about the sky is incorrect. If you go into the sky you will eventually reach space and if you wanted to, since Akiton is just another planet, you could travel to Akiton via flight (and holding your breath haha!), no planar travel required.
Are there veriants for every fear? chononicaly, I know realisticaly you couldn't even compile all of those in one book if you tried. but for instance would there cononicaly be a shakil of the dark of of loosing ones self?
I don't know if there are variants for _every_ fear, but certainly for most and definitely for the fear of losing ones self. There are an enormous number of variations of these creatures.
@@TheMythKeeper awesome, thank you. I'm suprised I evan got an answer, thank you.
Why do they have CND logos growing out of their heads?
It has to do with the secret history of Sahkil war-protesting I didn't have time to get into
sahkil tormentor with a purview over the looming fear of nuclear war
I've read in some places that couatls are the natural opposite to the sahkils, but I can't find any details or narrative behind that. Do you know where I can learn more about their connection?
There are two major sources of Couatl lore that I'm aware of. There is an article on them in the 1E handbook "Mythical Monsters Revisited" but some of that material may be out of date. There's some Lost Omens coautl content buried in the Lost Omens Travel Guide as well. I don't know off hand of a direct connection between them and the Sahkils except that a couple of the Psychopomp Ushers (see my Pyschopomps video for details on those) appear as feathered serpents and are coautl-like. They also serve as emissaries to good-aligned deities so they would be natural enemies to the Sahkils.
@@TheMythKeeper Interesting, thank you. I have a character who is a sahkil/couatl (she was ported from being a yuan-ti/couatl, and WotC lore may be lacking, but their couatl lore was beefier). We're working on trying to flesh that out and this video has been invaluable already. It's a homebrew world so we're considering adding stuff that counteracts bad dreams. Are there any monsters you'd point us to for ideas? 2e doesn't have a lot of dream magic (understandable) so we're floundering a bit.
@@Oona_Mae - More so than a creature type, the thing that leaps to mind here is the Goddess Desna. She is the protector of dreams and her Herald is called the Herald of Dreams. You might want to look up the various outsider servants of Desna and see if there's one appropriate to what you're looking for.
@@TheMythKeeper I don't know why I never thought of that, or of looking at the Dream domain at all! Thank you -- we've already got a lot of ideas from our first glance.
why do we not get more unique good outsiders it feels unbalanced
There are definitely more evil outsiders than good outsiders, that's for sure. I guess its because player characters need things to kill that they don't feel too bad about killing is why.
@@TheMythKeeper Honestly it is more I see them as useable cavalry or Gandalf figures so to speak someone who is great for setting things moving or bailing the heroes out if the rolls start screwing them over.
I could see making them much more underman and new than the evil options but that a force for good is growing and trying to meet them blow for blow that stuff makes campaigns.
SHibalba, no?
Could be!
Spoiler:
The Ichkoh in War for the Crown book 2 attacked by character. Perfect victim for it: a female Opera Diva Celebrity bard, 36 yo, part of backstory was her being turned down for being too old to play the heroine, even when her male costar was in his 70s.
GM and I couldn't have done better if we had planned it.
Awesome. I'm re-running War for the Crown with a new playgroup this year and they are dealing with the Ichkoh as I type this.
@TheMythKeeper Awesome, our group meets once per week, so we just arrived in Stachys.
I've got the Celebrity Bard that worships Maghd, if you remember my comment in your Eldest video.
I'm going to take the Noble Scion Prestige Class AND become a Social Exemplar. Meta, if she survives, I'm going for the title of Grand High Duchess of Opparus. Right now, she is a Dowager Countess (& older half sister to Remilliard Kastner) and is looking for an Earl or Count to get her marital claws into. (Meta, it's Orlundo Zespire. 😉)
Dowager Countess Dame Caoimhe Kastner-Stavian. Opera Diva, multi-instrumentalist, genius, fashion designer, clothes horse, icon of noble feminine pulchritude, and mean girl.
@@douglascolquhoun8502 Haha! This is great. My players include 1.) the wizard; Aurelius Bettanos, distant heir to the Bettony estate; 2.) the bard; Demitria of Numeria, an immortal android from Numeria who cares for the children of Breateeza Fahlspar and sometimes works as proxy for her in court as she does hate the politics of the capital; 3.) the pugilist; Marius, a half-orc tavernkeeper who fancies himself something of a gentleman scholar; 4.) the dandy; Dyana Frascati, a senatorial hopeful from the south of the country; 5.) the drow; Rankle is an Oracle of Whimsy who uses his changing face to pose as various members of the party's staff - pretty fun!
These are cool but I can't stop hearing "sackhill" as in "the Sackhill Bagginses". Or was that "Sackville"? Idk. Don't know how else I'm supposed to pronounce it either, and even if I did the fact that I'm consciously pronouncing it a different way would still remind me of the pronounciation I'm trying to avoid.
Sackville-Baggins was the other family, but yeah I hear it now too!
The Sahkils are a disppointment and Zipacna is basicly the summary of the Dev Team's feelings.
The lesser Sahkils work as "Fear Spirits" but that's on their own. The ex-Psychopomp background does not work at all.
The Greater Sahkils appear to be variants of would-be rivals for Zyphus to tie into the ex-Psychopomp background.
With both together it comes off as the Dev Team trying too hard to cover up poor writing.
Okay, I will not have you besmirch Zipacna! The god of procrastination! That idea is immediately awesome. Think about the funny character concepts you could have with a Cleric of Zipacna and you'll immediately turn around on this demigod.