How to handle spell casting in a pub in mendev?


Advice


I am in a pub in mendev where two guys making a fool out of my stupid fighter who do not get it. I want to cast fox cunning on him so he realizes what is going on. But now I was wondering how people would react if I start casting a spell in a pub.
On the one hand I would say people in golarion should be used to spellcasting on the other hand I feel unconfortable to cast a spell in a pub.

What do you think? Would it be ok casting fox's cunning in this situation? What would be the 'normal' reactions?

Sovereign Court

People hush, look up, see if anything explodes, then give you the evil eye, glare, and go back to drinking, if a bit more nervously.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Location will definitely make a difference. People might not bat an eye in Absolom, but you try that in Ustalav and see if they don't burn you at the stake.

Not really sure how most Mendevians would take it.

Sovereign Court

It might not be a good place to do so out of the blue. Those people have had so many inquisitors come by hunting for cultists, they're bound to be a bit jumpy.

Someone casting a spell on a friend in a pub there is kind of like taking out a huge syringe filled with glowing green stuff and injecting your friend. Bystanders are going to have an opinion, whether they know what the liquid does or not.

Now, if you're dressed like an Iomedean cleric and say some reassuring words first, that might make a big difference.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I don't know, with the noise level in your average pub, that's at least a -5 to Perception unless the person noticing is right next to you.

Slightly less tongue-in-cheek, people might be slightly more jumpy in Mendev thanks to the Worldwound proximity. Though a cleric of a good deity casting (or a paladin) would probably be fine. They might just get some "hey, a little warning first?" comments.

Silver Crusade

I would expect it's a major faux pas that could lead to violence anywhere on Golarion. My take is that, generally the response to "I cast [anything]" is going to be "roll initiative." As others noted, there may be people who are exceptions (clerics or paladins of Iomedae could be exceptions in Mendev), but most people won't appreciate spellcasting in their presence unless they asked for it or the location is one where some spellcasting is expected (priests are expected to cast spells in their temples, etc).

The reason: most people don't have enough spellcraft to recognize a spell as it is being cast and there are lots of spells that have no visible effects but which most people would think of as harmful--charm person, suggestion, and dominate person probably top the list though some Pathfinder introductions like entice gift and unnatural lust probably show up in peoples' thoughts too. So the only way that most people have in order to defend themselves from hostile or manipulative spellcasters is to make sure no one casts spells around them and violently disrupt any spellcasting they see or hear (again, unless it is in socially acceptable contexts). The girl at the bar just hears you starting to cast a spell. She doesn't know if it is purify food and drink or charm person, but she does know that, if it is charm person, there's nothing she can do about it if she lets you finish.

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