Pharika, Goddess of Affliction

Pharika is the keeper of apothecary knowledge, the source of dark magic. Pharika also governs aging—the stretch of life and the approach of death. Stories say that the secretive god has hidden medicinal knowledge within the natural world. None know whether she did so to reward or to toy with mortals who quest to unearth them. She is most associated with affliction, whether that phenomenon takes the form of a disease, a venom, a drug, or the passage of years. Her cures are reliable but come at a cost. In some cases, that cost is pain as the medicine courses through the imbiber’s body. In other cases, she demands years of life, either from the patient’s lifetime or the researcher’s labor. It isn’t altruism or malice that drives her; she studies the innovation and suffering of mortals, deciphering in them ever greater mysteries as she treats Theros as her personal laboratory. The diseased and the dying alike often make written entreaties to Pharika for a remedy. Prayers are written on scraps of paper or shards of pottery, sealed in small pots, and buried in bogs, leaving them as secrets for others to exhume years later. Many people pray to her before undergoing a medical procedure, picking herbs, or confronting a venomous animal. Nights of a waxing crescent moon (roughly the first week of each month, when a sliver of moon lingers in the early evening) are sacred to Pharika and are thought to be an auspicious time to harvest medicinal plants.

Champions of Pharika

Most champions of Pharika seek to uncover the world’s greatest secrets through science, alchemy, and magic. They are often enamored with the mysteries of life and death, along with snakes or other venomous creatures.

Pharika’s Favor

Pharika craves champions who support her ongoing experiments, torment her enemies, and deliver cutting-edge aid to the suffering. Yet, just because someone serves Pharika doesn’t mean they are immune to her whims. Why did Pharika turn her gaze upon you, and how did you survive long enough to earn her approval? The Pharika’s Favor table provides several suggestions.

d6	Circumstance
1	You were born in a plague-struck village’s final days, ultimately being the only survivor.
2	Exposure to a rare toxin granted you visions of Pharika, and you have sought her wisdom ever since.
3	Your medical attention proved crucial to a stranger’s survival, and now your acquaintances periodically fall ill, as though Pharika is testing you again and again.
4	A sagacious serpent once offered you guidance and has influenced your studies ever since.
5	You are dying. As death grows nearer, you are increasingly adept at deciphering nature’s mysteries.
6	You have no idea why Pharika showed interest in you, and you might sometimes wish she hadn’t.

Devotion to Pharika

In accepting Pharika as your patron, you entrust your health and your knowledge to her. As her follower, consider the ideals on the Pharika’s Ideals table as alternatives to those suggested for your background.

	Ideal
1	Devotion. My devotion to my god is more important to me than what she stands for.
2	Scholarship. Unlocking the natural world’s secrets is a challenge I welcome.
3	Balance. My work shall save as many lives as it takes, balancing the deserving and the insufferable.
4	Immortality. Those who discover nature’s darkest and direst secrets earn the right to live forever.
5	Fatalism. Everyone dies. As a result, I may employ their brief lives to further my agendas.
6	Tutelage. The world is a deadly classroom, and students need an expert guide to survive.

Approval

You earn Pharika's approval when you expand the god’s influence in the world in a concrete way through acts such as these:

Creating a cure for a dangerous affliction
Creating a new dangerous affliction
Defeating a powerful foe by using poison
Discovering or documenting an unknown people or a poorly understood creature
Making decisions that lead to a better understanding of a medical mystery
Building or restoring a temple to Pharika, or a site that glorifies serpentine creatures

Pharika's approval decreases if you diminish Pharika’s influence in the world, contradict her ideals, or make her look ridiculous or ineffectual through acts such as these: