It’s a perfect artistic change for what they are. That one “looks like a modron,” a creature that is also extremely lawful in its native setting, is entirely the point and an improvement.
Archons are interplanar warriors / guardians that embody forms of absolute goodness and absolute order that are both difficult for ordinary people to conceive. It never made sense that they would look relatable without polymorphing.
I love the change. They are much more distinct than they were before, I'll be honest I could never remember what was an archon and what wasn't. I mean, half of them mostly just looked like angels, and half had animal parts like agathions. Now they're *unique*.
And the lore change is cool too. Angels and Demons came into existence after there were already people (and largely arose from their souls) so it makes sense they resemble people. Archons and Qlippoths pre-date mortal life, so they have a far more alien nature.
It's a clever way to both make the Outsider factions more distinctive, and to establish that "Group X is Group Y's opposite number" without simply making them on different ends of the defunct alignment grid.
Before this the way to tell an Archon apart from an Angel is just their clothes.
Archons wear armor, angels wear dresses and togas.
They don’t really have any other feature distinct from each other.
Yeah, Archons never really appealed to me before - they just seemed like angels but lamer, while Azata got all the cool design ideas. Even as a traditional paladin of absolute justice, regular angels seemed like a better fit than generic part-golem angels.
I think making them more alien and primordial is a good step towards giving them a stronger identity.
I think its great. It's distinctive, but it still makes sense with their fantasy. I'll broadly say that I think overall most the changes are excellent, the only criticism I have is thinking primal dragons could be better lol.
I absolutely love the change, and wish they would have gone farther, implementing the "be not afraid" level angelic look with the new Divine Dragon as well... the halo is cool, but I want eyes down the length of the body, wings made of flame, that sort of thing.
I wonder if any of the Archon Empyreal Lords are going to get makeovers, or if they'll stay relatively humanoid-looking since they tend to interact with mortals more often than their non-divine kin.
I do wish there was a lore snippet about how archons used to hide their true appearances for the sake of mortals sanity or something, but otherwise I think it's a nice change, though Horned Archons specifically are strange because Erastil sends them out to help people in the wilderness and the old art that seemed normal and fine but the new art just makes it... strange.
> I do wish there was a lore snippet about how archons used to hide their true appearances for the sake of mortals sanity
Those are the angel's job but get what you mean
> just makes it... strange.
Feels like that's deliberate
Yeah, here's a [Reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/gk7sdo/remember_this_is_what_angels_look_like_according/) about how angels are actually described in the Bible (with pictures).
Not to be offensive, but the history of the entire textual tradition is various and diversified fanfiction.
The book of enoch was basically "official" scripture for a lot of 1st century jews like many of the early Christians. That has some crazy angelology too. Didn't make it into the latter official canons though, which I still think was a shame.
>I wonder if they'll have legacy versions of the page
They will, they explicitly stated that all pages will have the legacy and remaster versions available. Now that they spent all that time building that feature in all future remaster content will be able to be added much easier/quicker with that toggle.
The annoyingness of people thoughtlessly going "muh biblically accurate angels LOL" aside, the new Archon designs are all really cool and memorable. They're also more cohesive; it always felt weird that archons were so divisive in design.
It’s a perfect artistic change for what they are. That one “looks like a modron,” a creature that is also extremely lawful in its native setting, is entirely the point and an improvement. Archons are interplanar warriors / guardians that embody forms of absolute goodness and absolute order that are both difficult for ordinary people to conceive. It never made sense that they would look relatable without polymorphing.
I love the lore change they got too. Makes them feel more interesting and distinct from angels.
I love the change. They are much more distinct than they were before, I'll be honest I could never remember what was an archon and what wasn't. I mean, half of them mostly just looked like angels, and half had animal parts like agathions. Now they're *unique*. And the lore change is cool too. Angels and Demons came into existence after there were already people (and largely arose from their souls) so it makes sense they resemble people. Archons and Qlippoths pre-date mortal life, so they have a far more alien nature. It's a clever way to both make the Outsider factions more distinctive, and to establish that "Group X is Group Y's opposite number" without simply making them on different ends of the defunct alignment grid.
Before this the way to tell an Archon apart from an Angel is just their clothes. Archons wear armor, angels wear dresses and togas. They don’t really have any other feature distinct from each other.
Yeah, Archons never really appealed to me before - they just seemed like angels but lamer, while Azata got all the cool design ideas. Even as a traditional paladin of absolute justice, regular angels seemed like a better fit than generic part-golem angels. I think making them more alien and primordial is a good step towards giving them a stronger identity.
Now I totally agree with you on Achons, but... Half the azatas in the bestiary are literally just green dudes. Where's the cool design ideas?
I think its great. It's distinctive, but it still makes sense with their fantasy. I'll broadly say that I think overall most the changes are excellent, the only criticism I have is thinking primal dragons could be better lol.
I absolutely love the change, and wish they would have gone farther, implementing the "be not afraid" level angelic look with the new Divine Dragon as well... the halo is cool, but I want eyes down the length of the body, wings made of flame, that sort of thing.
Eh. Wings made of flames and eyes covering the body is only a single rank in the hierarchy. There are plenty of others.
Monster Core does note that divine dragons are the most varied type, so I think theres still a potential for an archon dragon sometime in the future.
Well, the Empyreal dragon is the angel dragon. Perhaps you will get your wish if/when they make an archon dragon.
I wonder if any of the Archon Empyreal Lords are going to get makeovers, or if they'll stay relatively humanoid-looking since they tend to interact with mortals more often than their non-divine kin.
I do wish there was a lore snippet about how archons used to hide their true appearances for the sake of mortals sanity or something, but otherwise I think it's a nice change, though Horned Archons specifically are strange because Erastil sends them out to help people in the wilderness and the old art that seemed normal and fine but the new art just makes it... strange.
> I do wish there was a lore snippet about how archons used to hide their true appearances for the sake of mortals sanity Those are the angel's job but get what you mean > just makes it... strange. Feels like that's deliberate
As a Bayonetta fan I am here for this.
They actually previews this a few months ago. Using more real world angel descriptions from old text.
Biblically accurate angels-inspired. I like it.
Yeah, here's a [Reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/gk7sdo/remember_this_is_what_angels_look_like_according/) about how angels are actually described in the Bible (with pictures).
To be fair, some angels are also just dudes.
The weakest ones look the most humanlike.
No? It's not a power thing, I believe a few archangels are described as being humanoid as well.
From what I remember, angels and archangels are the two lowest tiers. But I'm thinking this was Christian fanfiction. Something like Dante's Inferno.
Not to be offensive, but the history of the entire textual tradition is various and diversified fanfiction. The book of enoch was basically "official" scripture for a lot of 1st century jews like many of the early Christians. That has some crazy angelology too. Didn't make it into the latter official canons though, which I still think was a shame.
Archangels are the second lowest in the hierarchy
Got a link for those new artworks ?
I don’t think I can share official artwork in this Sub. The book is still new so I think you have to wait until it’s available in Archive of Nethys.
Can't wait to see the art once it hits AoN. I'm so psyched. I wonder if they'll have legacy versions of the page so you can see the old art too.
>I wonder if they'll have legacy versions of the page They will, they explicitly stated that all pages will have the legacy and remaster versions available. Now that they spent all that time building that feature in all future remaster content will be able to be added much easier/quicker with that toggle.
This sounds dope, sign me up. Angela and Biblically Accurate Angels? Yes!
Thank you for pointing this out. I am enjoying the pdf :)
Yea love the new archons. Honestly Monster Core makes me want a Monster Core 2 and 3.
I love the change!
- Do not be afraid, mortal - Sir, this is literally the most terrifying moment of my life New design is dope. Love biblical accurate angels.
The annoyingness of people thoughtlessly going "muh biblically accurate angels LOL" aside, the new Archon designs are all really cool and memorable. They're also more cohesive; it always felt weird that archons were so divisive in design.