RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
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Those pages from Inner Sea Gods are not allowed for play because they include her Divine Obedience. It reads as follows.
Sacrifice an unwilling living creature in the name of the Mother of Monsters. Draw the process out to inspire the maximum terror and suffering in your victim. The death blow you deal should be savage and destructive—do not grant your sacrifice a clean death. Once the creature is dead, remove one of its bones and sharpen it to a point. Use the bone to cut yourself deeply enough to leave a scar. Leave the sacrificed creature’s mutilated form in the open where scavengers may devour it or travelers may see it and know of Lamashtu’s power. Gain a +1 natural armor bonus to your AC.
That's a whole lot of NOPE for a GM to deal with at a table.
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Sorry if I fail to implement the spoiler tag right.
The squeamish may wish to skip this post.
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RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
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I agree with you that Lamashtu's obedience is 100% evil. But give me a bit of latitude here.
Norgorber's obedience is legal for PFS, and seems quite evil to me.
While moving through a crowd of people (at least six individuals), whisper a prayer to Norgorber so quietly that no one hears you. If you suspect a member of the crowd heard you, you must follow that individual and prick her with a poisoned needle or other sharp implement. If you can’t locate a suitable crowd, dig a hole at least 6 inches deep in the ground, whisper your prayers into the hole, and bury the sound. At the end of your obedience, dip a needle in poison and leave it on a road, jutting from a windowsill, or anywhere else a passerby might inadvertently prick herself. Gain a +3 profane bonus on Bluff checks and on Diplomacy checks to gather information.
That's pretty messed up. You go to prison for doing that crap.
However that feat is legal for PFS. So I don't think it's the "evilness" that determines legality, but rather graphic detail that makes for a non PG-13 environment.
Personally, I'm OK with roleplaying quick stab here or there, but a graphic, torturous mutilation and execution is too much to have at a given table of PFS.
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Vidic, the Destroyer was born during a Lamashtu rite as part of a crazy plan by his orc mother to create a monster warlord to overthrow her brother the chief of the Swordbreaker tribe. After an ill fated attempt at the overthrow he was denied swift death and was scarred and cast out to live the rest of his life with the burden of failure. He then joined the Pathfinder Society and developed into a 12th level sunder and intimidate specialist. In that time he has saved the village, the child, the hostage, the trade route, the boat, the treaty, the city, some old pottery from Taldor, and the world. Many "unwilling living" bad guys have been sacrificed, most of them having their weapons, armor and spirit broken as they die. The bodies are often displayed to show these lands are protected and to keep evil at bay. His two weapons are fear and Razarac, his +3 saw-back impervious adamantine falchion with a fortifying stone. He was born a monster and has lived his life believing that he the only monster that can keep the others at bay and allow good to exist in the world. He believes he will be in Lamashtu's favor until he is defeated and her monsters come to destroy all he worked to save.
I know it gets a little Batmanish there at the end, but he is a fun to play and to have at the table.
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RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
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That's great for Vidic, he's got a great backstory and sounds like a blast to play with.
As a GM, I don't want to adjudicate Vidic killing an unwilling sentient creature and drawing out the process as to subject them to torture (which has already been clarified as a not allowed evil act in PFS) once per day as he venerates the Mother of Monsters.
The parents of the 12 year old I have at my table might take offense :P
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RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
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It doesn't say the needle has to be poisoned with a deadly poison. Something that just causes nasuea could be seen as just a practical joke.
It's not nice, and is a jerk move, but I don't know if it qualifies for big E Evil.
Stabbing people in a crowd is far from a practical joke.
But I see your point. I shouldn't have brought it up as an example of something black and white evil. Clearly I consider it to be evil but it's open to interpretation.
But hopefully my point stands--Lamashtu's obedience isn't forbidden because it's evil, it's because of what it specifically entails.
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Paladins kill unwilling creatures all the time. Vidic really doesn't play any more violently than most other characters, he just intimidates and sunders the baddies that would be killed anyway. He just has some conflicted family/religious baggage he working through. Vidic has been at multiple of tables with kids and he just roars more and talks less. Play to fit the table.
There are so many discussions about the nature of evil that I will decline from entering. Torture is still a line that shouldn't get crossed.
My inner contrarian just flares up anytime someone suggests I can't do something. I just don't like being told who my character's can and can't worship, but the obedience itself is clearly outside the scope of PFS play.
Venture-Agent, Florida–Altamonte Springs
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I thought about this thread when I first started reading here.