AlignMesmerist


Advice

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Okay, I was reading the new stuff in Occult Adventures, and one thing sticks out in particular: the mesmerist, and how potentially icky it can be in terms of alignment.

The mesmerist's shtick is manipulating the thoughts and feelings of others, to the point where they can eventually completely enthrall someone for life. I have a very hard time understanding how someone like this could be any kind of good alignment. Being good's all about respecting the rights of others, whether to life or autonomy (depending on where you are in terms of law or chaos).

It's already clear that using magic to brainwash is bad. How is what a mesmerist does any better?


You do your sneaky mind-stuff on evil people. Sure, it comes off closer to neutral, but you could have a code of honor or something saying that these people have forfeited their right to life/choice by not respecting other peoples' right to life/choice, and that invading their minds is a small sacrifice compared to not stopping them. Whatever "horrible" things you do are nowhere near as bad as what they would be doing. Moral relativity for the win!

But yeah, it's kinda neutral.


LG- An authorized state Mesmerist whose job it is to reform criminals, ensuring that they become productive members of society. Or maybe they serve as a court functionary, compelling complete truthfulness and verifying statements so that the innocent are not punished by mistake.

Someone who forces evildoers to experience the suffering they've caused in their own mind, giving them a chance to see the error of their ways and repent.

A pacifist who uses their mental abilities only in self-defense.

CG- Uses subtle mental influence to maneuver within an oppressive system, working to free slaves or provide a second chance for those tricked into debt servitude.

A Robin Hood of sorts who makes the rich give to the poor, using their pride to keep them from backing down from their newly-acquired reputation for generosity once the compulsion wears off.

NG- Uses their abilities to ease the pain of those who are suffering, dulling the pain and providing them with some comfort.

Uses compulsion abilities to end immediate threats in an entirely non-lethal manner. Hold Person is a great example of this.

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There are plenty of ways to use enchantment spells and mental abilities that could fall under Good. Mitigating factors include things like limited duration, limited impact, the alternative being worse, permission being given, authorization by a legitimate authority, and net benefit.


Lawful good does not necessarily mean you are upright, truthful, and holy. Not all LG people are paladins. You could compromise, lie, manipulate, and frequently work with evil people. This all needs to be taken in context, of course, If you are a lawful good person in a lawful good kingdom with a lawful good system, there is almost no reason you should need to lie and work with evil. But let's say you're a lawful good vizier in an lawful evil kingdom. You have the peoples' best interests at heart, but your boss doesn't. You may need to work with unsavory folks to insure that your ends are met. You could nudge your evil boss/friends into doing something unintentionally good. You might be forced to not save everybody and execute people unjustly, but consider that you are also ensuring the greater good by attempting to reform the system and save others. This sort of character might slip towards Lawful Neutral or just plain True Neutral, but you can be both lawful and good and a manipulative, sneaky sort.

I mean, even Superman lies, every single day when he goes to work, and he's practically a Paladin. But closer to the point- Martian Manhunter is part of the Justice League, a LG organization, and he has a bunch of psychic power. He uses these mind-control psychic powers to disable super powered criminals and intergalactic threats and such. Because if he doesn't, who will?


Allow me to introduce you to the Red Panda, a Vigilante/Mesmerist do-gooder.

Spoilers for Episode 5:
EDIT: He goes up against an evil mesmerist in S1E5 The Devil's Due.


Alignment is stupid. Ignore it.

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Also, since I can't edit it into my OP:

It doesn't really help that in fiction almost any character who uses hypnosis or other forms of mind control are generally depicted as villains.


This guy.
Also her.
And him.


Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Well. There are a number of good-aligned monsters who have access to charm person or charm monster. Bralanis, Couatls, Dryads, Ghaeles, Hamadryads, Lillends, Pixies, Planetars, Solars, Vulpinals, and other such. Furthermore, his mesmerist tricks require a willing target, and his touch healing is certainly a benign manipulation of their minds. Nothing really forces him to take mind control spells, either, he has plenty of other spells. His hypnotic stare is not, in my opinion, any worse than a paladin intimidating a demon before smiting them or trying to get some information out of them or what have you. He is certainly good at lying, but this can certainly be put to use for good, tricking evil people and such. After all, is a feint evil? No, it's just a part of combat. Tricking someone outside of combat to allow you to deal with evil shouldn't be any worse, for the most part. Perhaps the guards don't know that their boss is corrupt...isn't it arguably ethically better to trick them so you can uncover their boss' corruption rather than to take them down? And so on and so forth.

Really, the only thing I view as truly problematic is the capstone. That...is pretty hard to justify. On the other hand, how many games get to 20th level? If I was playing a good-aligned mesmerist, I would probably discuss with my DM the possibility of replacing it. Of course, using it on something that isn't sapient wouldn't necessarily be evil, so I suppose that's a possibility...

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