What do guardians do?

[gaymer77]

So during the character creation process you are supposed to pick your birthday and guardian. It says that it doesn't affect your character at all but really does it not? I want to know, does choosing which guardian you are part of and/or your birthdate have any baring on your character other than RP factors?

[Enla]

Only thing I know it affects is one of the Eternal Bond options when you get married. Your chosen deity will have their symbol appear.

[MistakeNot]

So during the character creation process you are supposed to pick your birthday and guardian. It says that it doesn't affect your character at all but really does it not? I want to know, does choosing which guardian you are part of and/or your birthdate have any baring on your character other than RP factors?

Which guardian deity you chose used to have a tiny effect on your Elemental Resistances, but Elemental Resistances were removed from the game a couple of patches back.

So now your birthdate and guardian deity will not have any effect at all on your character during gameplay.

[Losara]

Its something that I would like to either have some additional meaning or perhaps just be removed altogether.

Since it is bound to character creation anything that has too much of an impact on the game would be a bad idea.

[Enkidoh]

It's for lore reasons mostly, it's what god or goddess of the Twelve your character reveres, as story-wise it's customary for a new adventurer who has arrived in Eorzea from a foreign land to take a member of the Twelve as their Guardian as a matter of tradition. Gameplay wise it's essentially legacy content from 1.0 though: besides the elemental resistances someone mentioned above, in 1.0 the player would gain a bonus ring for that deity (like, someone with Azeyma as their guardian would receive Azeyma's Ring) in the final main scenario quest for the Seventh Umbral Era story 'Living on a Prayer' where the player was sent to pray at the Deity Stones. Earlier in 1.0's troubled history there was also the special 'Guardian's Favour' buff that the player could evoke as an EXP bonus during levequests, but that was scrapped and replaced later on by the rested EXP bonus.

So really all that they do gameplay wise nowadays is for the Ceremony of Eternal Bonding the glyph for your and your partner's Guardians show on the altar. Other than that, it's just for story, showing what you character story-wise worships (those who would prefer their character to be an athiest though are out of luck I guess then ).

[BatLW]

Well, since your Character is a direct avatar of Haedelyn, its pretty silly to have a different one altogether.

The god situation in FF XIV isn't very clear anyway. It feels like there are 2000 million gods.

[Iscah]

Well, since your Character is a direct avatar of Haedelyn, its pretty silly to have a different one altogether.

The god situation in FF XIV isn't very clear anyway. It feels like there are 2000 million gods.

We're not sure about the "direct avatar" thing though. In any case, assuming our character is a "normal human" in the world of Eorzea, there's no reason for them not to have a "normal" patron deity.

From memory, the majority of the population are unaware of Hydaelyn - it's only those with the Echo, and the organisations and researchers that have built up around them, that know She exists.


The "many gods" issue comes from dealing with so many different societies over the course of the game:

- Eorzeans have the Twelve

- each beast tribe has their own primal deity

- Othardians have "the kami" rather than specific gods

- the Xaela have Azim and Nhaama

and then of course we have Hydaelyn and Zodiark, which is going over the heads of most people outside of our circle of major characters.


---

I do like the detail of choosing a deity, even if it doesn't actually affect anything - though I'd like the ability to change it somehow, even if it took a Fantasia to do so. One of my characters has shifted from the original concept I had when creating him, so I'd make a different choice now if I could, but he's stuck with it.

[Jennah]

As far as I know, your choice is never referenced in the game, other than that bit in the eternal bond.
I picked Menphina; as the lore page says mooncats mostly worship her.
Zhloe runs an orphanage, "Menphina's Arms". When you first meet her, she talks about it. Zero opportunity to say "Hey, I like her too", or anything like that.

... it doesn't help that Rhalgr's the only one of the Twelve that's been at all relevant since 2.0.

[Iscah]

... it doesn't help that Rhalgr's the only one of the Twelve that's been at all relevant since 2.0.

Rhalgr hasn't been any more prominent than Halone was during Heavensward.

Each region has their own favoured deity, and most get mentioned quite often in small ways - and possibly by title rather than name. eg. the Matron (Nophica), the Navigator (Llymlaen), the Fury (Halone)

The Sharlayans favour Thaliak; the bard mentor prays to Althyk. The Temple of Qarn is dedicated to Azeyma. The lore for the zodiac constellations in the AST quest relates to all the gods.

There are lots of little references to them if you're looking.

[Eloah]

The god situation in FF XIV isn't very clear anyway. It feels like there are 2000 million gods.

How is that any different than the real world view on gods?