#holy beast

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Gatomon EX6-020

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ST23-02 | Liollmon

Rookie | Vaccine | Holy Beast | Glowing Dawn | BEATBREAK

Common | Yellow

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[luasaturnii]

Blind faith like crystallized honey

[aergia404]

A little creature

[dailycharacteroption]

Holy Beast (Shifter Archetype)

(art by LuMosido on DeviantArt)

Most deities in the Pathfinder game have a sacred animal of some kind, a beast favored by their deity. Whether that animal is truly blessed by the divinity in question or merely the god’s favorite for whatever reason, it’s clear that despite how different they are to mortals, even most gods think that animals are pretty neat.

While the list of possible animals far outstrips the frankly limited pool of animal aspects for the shifter class, there are nevertheless those shifters that devote themselves to a deity, and in doing so are rewarded with a measure of divine power. They might be servants of the faith or lay worshippers with strong convictions, but either way they find their bestial might empowered and changed by their deity, for good or ill.

With this power, they become predators that hunt the servants of their deity’s enemies. Some are divine beings preying upon rakshasa and invading fiends, while a devotee of a dark god would hunt mortals and goodly servants alike as a fell beast.

This archetype is especially common in Vudra, a land with hundreds upon hundreds of minor divinities that often have much more intimate contact with mortal-kind than the distant powers that most other cultures in the setting are used to, but anyone of any culture or faith might take on the role of holy beast, able to shift into an animal champion of their deity.

The claws of these shifters are always built for piercing, but their true strength lies in the divine blessing they are charged with, allowing them to pierce the hides of outsiders of their opposed alignment with the same ease as those vulnerable to cold iron, silver, or magic.

They also gain an instinctive understanding of how to tear apart and befuddle their favored foes as a ranger might, picking exclusively among broad outsider categories that their deity considers enemies.

While this is a simple archetype, it’s nice and thematic and provides a good way to play a shifter that specializes in fighting outsiders for whatever reason. Beyond that, feel free to build them however you see fit.

To be a holy beast is to be chosen by the divine, but the exact relationship between mortal and deity may vary. Indeed, for those unprepared it may seem as much like a curse as it is a blessing, albeit one that aligns with the morality of the recipient. On the other hand, for some it may be a euphoric experience, being transformed and changed by their deity’s will.

They say that the Iron One’s army counts werewolves and other lycanthropes among their number, this is only partially true. In truth, the majority of these fierce warriors-turned-beasts are in fact shifters, holy beasts devoted to the army’s patron god of war, with claws that pierce like a needle and a fury that strikes down those they consider weak.

Left alone when the doors to the Shadow closed, the wayangs of Powan called out for succor from the light, and something answered, gifting their fiercest warriors with the fury and forms of beasts, the only cost being they must fight against horrors that hide in bright light.

The Master of the Endless Cycle is represented in their faith by a serpent, though in truth this is an ouroboros. Of course, such cosmic creatures are beyond most worshippers, but some worshipping this deity of life, death, and reincarnation are able to take on serpentine aspects and forms, and become guardians against those that would disrupt the cycle.

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♡ tailmons :3

[crimsoneyedkeeper]

EDIT: That left backtoe-thing was bugging me, so I edited it back to help with the perspective. :P

Drew/inked up a visual example of what Black Dog can truly look like when transformed.

 As mentioned in an older post: https://crimsoneyedkeeper.tumblr.com/post/161194050597/a-holy-beast-the-transformed-state-of-one-of-the#notes

 A Holy Beast is the transformed state of a Countryman – the physical epitome of his/her faith to their Titan; Skyward Lord Valdmane. However, a Black Dog – those whose faith has faltered from Him – undergo an incomplete transformation, becoming the grotesque mess shown above. They possess the similar physical feats and abilities as any other Holy Beast, but they lack the uniformity and feral symmetry of one. Additionally, Valdmane can force the transformation, and the physical process is often bloody and painful. That is why sucha form is what truly brands one a Black Dog.

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Cernumon EX9-045 Alternative Art