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Yes. We do this now and then. We added several with Dragon Empires, and a few more during Jade Regent. As we explore more continents, we'll do the same.Will you ever officially add more Ethnicities/Cultures to the world? My one problem with the setting is that it doesn't have such a rich abundance of different cultures.Besides the Sarkorians are there any other Celt like groups in the world? Also how did earth gods become Empyreal Lords?We don't have a strongly Celtic-themed area in the Inner Sea region. Doesn't mean there's not one somewhere else, but it's not something we've done a lot with. There's a little bit of it in the Land of the Linnorm Kings, I guess.
And the Earth deities who are Empyreal Lords have been Empyreal Lords all along. Our ancestors just didn't know it.
In addition, the Erutaki and the Jadwiga were introduced in People of the North.
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Well, you're the Creative Director. You decide canon for Golarion and I view canon as sacrosanct. If you say something is or isn't in your Golarion, I will or won't use it in my characters. When I play in an Adventure Path, I want to play a fundamentally Golarion story and I don't want to introduce discordant elements with certain types of characters styles. That's why I asked about analogues for the Celtic peoples in Golarion earlier. I didn't want to violate Golarion's canon by introducing a human character whose cultural practices and mode of dress doesn't match what's been clearly established in Golarion.
It's why I twitch when I try to do an Adventure Path and someone wants to use psionics. You haven't established psionics as a part of Golarion, so in my view, it shouldn't be allowed to players.
It's your Golarion. James Jacobs and Erik Mona won't bust your door with help of Canon Police if you alter something, and neither will they cry at night about folks running Golarion in a not-100%-pure-as-written manner.
Also, psionics is established in Golarion.
JJ - where can I find a list of your houserules? I know about your Simulacrum one and really like it. Additionally, you've got WAY more experience with the game than most of us here, and though your responses are obviously not "official rules responses", I've found that I really like a lot of the things you come up with. Surely you have them written down somewhere. Much appreciated!
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So recently my game group and I started a champaign based on the pathfinder modules, and after 3 of these modules my character has ended up being that "guy" that all the NPCs cling to for romantic purposes, even though personality wise he isn't interested in relationships
Any ideas on how to play this?
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We try to make sure all of our Adventure Paths are about big, epic, sweeping stories.
Iv'e been wondering about that for a while, actually. It would seem that indeed most APs are huge stories of an epic proportion, but there is one that stands out from the rest in that regard - Council Of Thieves.
While other APs culminate in world threatening events, and with the party facing off a truly terrifying foe, CoT does something different. The threat has only very local implications, and the villain is not much more than a kid with a massed up childhood who happens to be rather powerful. The AP ends at a relatively low level, and during most of it the PCs are doing things that are not very crazy in AP standards.
Am I right in my assesment that the CoT AP was a try at something different? testing the waters for the option of smaller, lower impact stories? If so, given that most other APs still have big plots, will it be correct to say that the experiment wasn't a huge success?
1) Did Nocticula kill any demon lords in their own realms?
2) Was Dou-Bral a true deity before he was transformed into Zon-Kuthon? Gods & Magic lists him among the participants in the Rovagug fight, so I assume he was pretty powerful.
3) Would Desna's true form be something akin to a star, nebula or other celestial body? For whatever reason, the notion of Desna actually being an intelligent supergiant star tickles my fancy.
James,
Speaking of favored weapons and such, is there a reason why Pharasma's favored weapon is a dagger, rather than something more useful versus undead? There is only one weapon artifact (that I know of) that is associated with Pharasma, and it isn't a dagger.
Sometimes it seems like some of the favored weapons were chosen as much to have a different weapon for each deity rather than what would seem logical, though some do make perfect sense.
Just curious what your thoughts are on it.
Not every deity is all about "How do I best arm my clerics in battle with weapons?" Some of them. particularly those that are not martial deities (like Pharasma) instead have favored weapons that are more about flavor. Pharasma's is a dagger because you use a knife to cut an umbilical cord, basically... (but also because we wanted variety and no repetition among the core 20 favored weapons, and daggers are one of the more common weapons so leaving it off the list seemed like an error, and so we gave it to Pharasma because as mentioned above she's not particularly martial and doesn't really see her favored weapon as a big part of her faith).
She doesn't expect her clerics to attack undead with weapons anyway. That's what channeled energy and cure wounds spells are for.
That makes sense regarding the umbilical cord, I didn't think of that.
I didn't mean to infer that all clerics are martial. I am running Carrion Crown and there is a particular non-dagger item in there associated with her and it just got me wondering about it specifically with Pharasma.
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That makes sense regarding the umbilical cord, I didn't think of that.
She's also a god of death who is neutral, and therefore can have entire branches of church devoted to CN or NE teachings. The dagger is a weapon most associated with murdering folk and ritual sacrifice, as well, and therefore would suit that branch, as well as the more NG midwives.
She may not be a big fan of undead, but that preference is no more listed in her portfolio (fate, birth, prophecy, death) or domains (Death, Healing, Repose, Knowledge, Water) than Erastil has 'god of misogyny / traditional gender roles' stamped anywhere, so it probably shouldn't be over-emphasized. There's a ton more to Pharasma than 'hates undead.'
The dagger works well as a tool of fate (Atropos cutting the thread of fate, ending someone's life), has roles in both birth and death, can be instrumental in healing (surgery) or even knowledge (cutting away deception or obscuring layers of tissue to reveal what lies beneath) and even happens to be one of the weapons that's most effective in or under water.
So the dagger can be seen as a pretty thematic choice, but swapping it out for another thematically-appropriate weapon like the sickle could also work and give Pharasma more of a moon / autumnal / harvest / day of the dead / samhain / old religion / maiden, mother, crone sort of feel if you like the idea of favored weapons not generally being weapons that clerics get anyway as part of the Simple Weapon Proficiency.
I agree with you, Set.
I was just thinking that the clerics of her faith that are martial, or who focus more on the elimination of undead, would use a mace or hammer or something rather than a dagger. And, JJ's statement about Sarenrae applies here as well. Just because the favored weapon is a dagger, doesn't mean all of her clerics would use that as their primary weapon.
My question was literally based mostly on the fact that the only artifact weapon I've seen so far that is linked to Pharasma isn't a dagger.
Creative Director
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In addition, the Erutaki and the Jadwiga were introduced in People of the North.Yes. We do this now and then. We added several with Dragon Empires, and a few more during Jade Regent. As we explore more continents, we'll do the same.Will you ever officially add more Ethnicities/Cultures to the world? My one problem with the setting is that it doesn't have such a rich abundance of different cultures.Besides the Sarkorians are there any other Celt like groups in the world? Also how did earth gods become Empyreal Lords?We don't have a strongly Celtic-themed area in the Inner Sea region. Doesn't mean there's not one somewhere else, but it's not something we've done a lot with. There's a little bit of it in the Land of the Linnorm Kings, I guess.
And the Earth deities who are Empyreal Lords have been Empyreal Lords all along. Our ancestors just didn't know it.
Actually, the Erutaki were introduced in Jade Regent, and I believe we mentioned them in Inner Sea World Guide as well.
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JJ - where can I find a list of your houserules? I know about your Simulacrum one and really like it. Additionally, you've got WAY more experience with the game than most of us here, and though your responses are obviously not "official rules responses", I've found that I really like a lot of the things you come up with. Surely you have them written down somewhere. Much appreciated!
I don't keep a list of house rules. In fact, my "house rules" are so light that they're not really all that worth singling out, I think. The bulk of my games pretty much run as written in the Core Rules. As it turns out, being one of those who guides the development of the rules lets you worm most of your house rules into the game at the start! ;-)
But yeah... what I've revealed so far in this thread is pretty much it for house rules.
Until you get to Unspeakable Futures, I guess...
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Creative Director
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So recently my game group and I started a champaign based on the pathfinder modules, and after 3 of these modules my character has ended up being that "guy" that all the NPCs cling to for romantic purposes, even though personality wise he isn't interested in relationships
Any ideas on how to play this?
My take: The most interesting story arc would be to play the guy who's not interested in relationships but who finally realizes he is and falls in love with, perhaps, the one NPC who ISN'T throwing him/herself at your character.
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Creative Director
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We try to make sure all of our Adventure Paths are about big, epic, sweeping stories.
Iv'e been wondering about that for a while, actually. It would seem that indeed most APs are huge stories of an epic proportion, but there is one that stands out from the rest in that regard - Council Of Thieves.
** spoiler omitted **
Council of Thieves wasn't an attempt to do somethign different, really... its major goal was a response to folks who complained that Curse of the Crimson Throne wasn't all set in a city, so with Council of Thieves we set out to do a campaign that NEVER left the city map. When it does go to the "wilds," it sticks to wilderness areas still shown on the map itself.
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Creative Director
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1) Did Nocticula kill any demon lords in their own realms?
2) Was Dou-Bral a true deity before he was transformed into Zon-Kuthon? Gods & Magic lists him among the participants in the Rovagug fight, so I assume he was pretty powerful.
3) Would Desna's true form be something akin to a star, nebula or other celestial body? For whatever reason, the notion of Desna actually being an intelligent supergiant star tickles my fancy.
1) Yes. Most of them were slain there.
2) Yes, he was a deity.
3) Nope. Her true form is alien from humanity but DEFINITELY biological looking.
When talking about Sarkorian deities, many are called fictitious. Does this mean they are Outsiders that don't have a divine spark, or do they just don't exist at all?
1) Did Nocticula kill any demon lords in their own realms?
2) Was Dou-Bral a true deity before he was transformed into Zon-Kuthon? Gods & Magic lists him among the participants in the Rovagug fight, so I assume he was pretty powerful.
3) Would Desna's true form be something akin to a star, nebula or other celestial body? For whatever reason, the notion of Desna actually being an intelligent supergiant star tickles my fancy.
1) Yes. Most of them were slain there.
2) Yes, he was a deity.
3) Nope. Her true form is alien from humanity but DEFINITELY biological looking.
1) Based on the demon lords blog post, that'd mean Nocticula racked up most of her kills when the target had access to mythic power and she didn't. Though considering her talents, I suppose most of the targets were taken by surprise? Still no mean feat.
2) What ever became of Dou-Bral's herald? What WAS Dou-Bral's herald?
3) Desna came into being as a full-blown deity, didn't she? Would normal mortals find Desna's true form merely disconcerting, or would they find it actually harmful?
4) Who helped Desna design her current form? Amusing to think of a deity receiving image consultation, but I'm guessing Desna needed it.
5) Were Shelyn and Dou-Bral originally humanoids in form? Considering that daddy was a giant wolf...
Also, can Storasta be fixed?
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Creative Director
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1) Based on the demon lords blog post, that'd mean Nocticula racked up most of her kills when the target had access to mythic power and she didn't. Though considering her talents, I suppose most of the targets were taken by surprise? Still no mean feat.
2) What ever became of Dou-Bral's herald? What WAS Dou-Bral's herald?
3) Desna came into being as a full-blown deity, didn't she? Would normal mortals find Desna's true form merely disconcerting, or would they find it actually harmful?
4) Who helped Desna design her current form? Amusing to think of a deity receiving image consultation, but I'm guessing Desna needed it.
5) Were Shelyn and Dou-Bral originally humanoids in form? Considering that daddy was a giant wolf...
1) That, or she's got something else going on that allows her to kill so many demon lords...
2) Not sure we've said yet.
3) She came into being as a deity, yes. Some mortals would be disturbed by her true form, others would love it.
4) Curchanus, for the most part.
5) Yes, they were human-shaped deities at the start.
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I seem to recall it being said that the dragons demand would reveal what the Dominion of the black are. Having read the book Are the dominion suposed to be
** spoiler omitted **
Or have I missed something?
You haven't missed anything. That's spot on.
But just as there are various types of aboleth, there are various types of dominion creatures.
I seem to recall it being said that the dragons demand would reveal what the Dominion of the black are. Having read the book Are the dominion suposed to be
** spoiler omitted **
Or have I missed something?
You haven't missed anything. That's spot on.
But just as there are various types of aboleth, there are various types of dominion creatures.
Now that you've mentioned the Dominion in the same post as Aboleth, what are the chances of putting them in the same AP? :P
What are the chances of an AP strongly featuring one or the other?
Who would you say is the chief war deity of the Abyss?Well... a scan through the demon lords listed on the inside back cover of Lords of Chaos reveals only one demon lord with "warfare" in his area of concern, and that's Nurgal.
T
Is Nurgal based upon Nergal the Destroyer?
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Creative Director
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Is Nurgal based upon Nergal the Destroyer?Who would you say is the chief war deity of the Abyss?Well... a scan through the demon lords listed on the inside back cover of Lords of Chaos reveals only one demon lord with "warfare" in his area of concern, and that's Nurgal.
T
No. Both of them are based on the real-world mythological deity Nergal.
Is the Bodythief Plant a bit like the D&D Deepspawn? Does it spawn everything that it eats or does it only spawn humanoids or medium creatures?
Thanks
Mainly Vudra (and Jalmeray, I would infer). Also on the planet of Castrovel.
23% and 81%, respectively.
Now that you've mentioned the Dominion in the same post as Aboleth, what are the chances of putting them in the same AP? :PWhat are the chances of an AP strongly featuring one or the other?
That adds up to 104%.
Is Geb a member of the Whispering Way?
Having the grappled condition doesn't allow sneak attack.
Is that person not distracted/off balance/and the target of a coordinated attack?
Do you think simply saying "Grappled creatures are considered flat-footed" is a good fix?
This would replace the bolded text of the grappled condition below.
A grappled creature is restrained by a creature, trap, or effect. Grappled creatures cannot move and take a –4 penalty to Dexterity. A grappled creature takes a –2 penalty on all attack rolls and combat maneuver checks, except those made to grapple or escape a grapple. In addition, grappled creatures can take no action that requires two hands to perform. A grappled character who attempts to cast a spell or use a spell-like ability must make a concentration check (DC 10 + grappler's CMB + spell level), or lose the spell. Grappled creatures cannot make attacks of opportunity.
Pros:
- escape artist now doens't recieve a penalty for those trying to escape the grapple, similar to how CMB checks aren't penalized, see above.
- sneak attack can be used slightly more often.
- you save money on ink
- rules become more uniform
- grappling becomes more realistic when it comes to slowing down "agile" targets, reducing their AC by more, but not denying them their skill at escape artist. Players with low dex weren't "moving much" anyway.
Cons:
- your hand is going to hurt from all the high fives you get for doing this.
Also, I think there is a way to simplify and combine "squeezing" rules with "grappling" rules.
Hi James I was wondering if you have played Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen & if so what did you think of it's mechanic where you find rings that boost your melee/spellcasting abilities up to a 3rd level.
An example being the meteor spell for sorcerer called Bollide which upgraded with a ring changes name to Grand Bollide with 9 meteors nuking everything? I'm new to pathfinder so i don't know if it's already been done similarly in this system yet. Thanks :)
23% and 81%, respectively.
Now that you've mentioned the Dominion in the same post as Aboleth, what are the chances of putting them in the same AP? :PWhat are the chances of an AP strongly featuring one or the other?
I'll take those odds.
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Creative Director
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Out of curiosity who's idea was the worldwound?
Hard to remember, frankly, because when we were building Golarion, several of us worked on brainstorming ideas. And the idea of a swarm of demons coming out of a rift is not all that unusual or groundbreaking of an idea... it was probably something more like "Where do we put our demo haunted lands?" instead of "should we have some demon haunted lands?"
If I had to guess, it was Erik's idea. I know it wasn't mine, because I'd already set the seeds for a demon haunted land in Pathfinder in the form of Tanglebriar. In fact, at one point there was a pretty serious discussion about getting rid of Tanglebriar because some folks thought that two lands where the demons were infesting the world was one too many... but a combination of luck and the fact that I beat the Worldwound to print with mention of Tanglebriar in one of the early Adventure Paths saved it and Treerazer from excision. Whew!
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Creative Director
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Okay, so apparently there are psionics in Golarion. Where? Who?
Check out the neothelid and the intellect devourer in the Bestiary. Several of their powers are thinly-veiled psionic powers that we just rephrased a few words for—BOTH of those monsters were picked up from the D&D SRD version of the Complete Psionics Handbook.
Of course, we call it psychic magic, not psionics, in Pathfinder.
As for where and who: the main places where you'll find psychic magic showing up are on other planets, in the Darklands, and in the country of Vudra. But you'll see them pop up here and there as well all over. Most recently in subtle ways in the new adventure "Dragon's Demand."
Eventually, I would LOVE to do a full on book that features psychic magic as its focus or merely as an element (akin to how the gunslinger wasn't a focus of Ultimate Combat, but was a strong element). We'll see if that idea ever develops into something bigger some day...
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Creative Director
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23% and 81%, respectively.
Now that you've mentioned the Dominion in the same post as Aboleth, what are the chances of putting them in the same AP? :PWhat are the chances of an AP strongly featuring one or the other?
That adds up to 104%.
No shenanigans at all. Those two APs don't both need to exist. But if it makes you feel better, I'll errata the 81% down to 8%.
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Creative Director
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Having the grappled condition doesn't allow sneak attack.
Is that person not distracted/off balance/and the target of a coordinated attack?Do you think simply saying "Grappled creatures are considered flat-footed" is a good fix?
This would replace the bolded text of the grappled condition below.
** spoiler omitted **
Pros:
- escape artist now doens't recieve a penalty for those trying to escape the grapple, similar to how CMB checks aren't penalized, see above.
- sneak attack can be used slightly more often.
- you save money on ink
- rules become more uniform
- grappling becomes more realistic when it comes to slowing down "agile" targets, reducing their AC by more, but not denying them their skill at escape artist. Players with low dex weren't "moving much" anyway.Cons:
- your hand is going to hurt from all the high fives you get for doing this.Also, I think there is a way to simplify and combine "squeezing" rules with "grappling" rules.
This is not the thread to discuss revisions and changes to grapple.
And the non-rules description of being flat-footed is that you are unaware of and unprepared for something. You're being surprised by an attack, basically. When you're being grappled, you should be very much aware of the fact, and so to me, calling that "flat-footed" is nonsensical.
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Hi James I was wondering if you have played Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen & if so what did you think of it's mechanic where you find rings that boost your melee/spellcasting abilities up to a 3rd level.
An example being the meteor spell for sorcerer called Bollide which upgraded with a ring changes name to Grand Bollide with 9 meteors nuking everything? I'm new to pathfinder so i don't know if it's already been done similarly in this system yet. Thanks :)
I've not played that game. We've got lots of items that enhance spellcasting in the game though... ranging from things like rings of wizardry (more spells) to metamagic rods (more powerful spells) to incense of meditation to more.
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I'll take those odds.23% and 81%, respectively.
Now that you've mentioned the Dominion in the same post as Aboleth, what are the chances of putting them in the same AP? :PWhat are the chances of an AP strongly featuring one or the other?
NOTE: These odds are meant as a non-binding attempt at humor.
We don't announce APs that far out. We may hint at them in print, but we don't confirm or deny until Paizocon and Gen Con for the next year (and the next year only) of Adventure Path.
So... please don't take my thinly veiled joke as anything close to a promise that we'll ever do something with a strongly themed aboleth or Dominion AP. I happen to be a big fan of both of those, and I happen to be the Creative Director and the one who is in charge of the Adventure Path line... but keep in mind that it took 3 years for Jade Regent to come along after I hinted at it in the very first Pathfinder.
Contributor
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Okay, so apparently there are psionics in Golarion. Where? Who?Check out the neothelid and the intellect devourer in the Bestiary. Several of their powers are thinly-veiled psionic powers that we just rephrased a few words for—BOTH of those monsters were picked up from the D&D SRD version of the Complete Psionics Handbook.
Of course, we call it psychic magic, not psionics, in Pathfinder.
As for where and who: the main places where you'll find psychic magic showing up are on other planets, in the Darklands, and in the country of Vudra. But you'll see them pop up here and there as well all over. Most recently in subtle ways in the new adventure "Dragon's Demand."
Eventually, I would LOVE to do a full on book that features psychic magic as its focus or merely as an element (akin to how the gunslinger wasn't a focus of Ultimate Combat, but was a strong element). We'll see if that idea ever develops into something bigger some day...
Hmm. What pairs up nicely with Psychic Magic (as chapters in the same book)? We already have Ultimate Magic. Trying to figure this out is frustrating; the first thing that comes to mind is APG 2 (Ultimate Players' Guide?)
If the book also had a full-on Swashbuckler class, that would make my day... A subtheme of secondary genres like Cloak & Dagger, Horror & Classical Myth? The APG was such an awesome book it's hard to top it, but I can't imagine another Magic book being a full hardcover, so I'd think it would have to be a puzzle. I love Pact-style magic but that also may be not enough.
James, is Psychic Magic more likely to appear in a gatherum of classes and rules like the APG, or something more specifically magical?
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Okay, so apparently there are psionics in Golarion. Where? Who?Check out the neothelid and the intellect devourer in the Bestiary. Several of their powers are thinly-veiled psionic powers that we just rephrased a few words for—BOTH of those monsters were picked up from the D&D SRD version of the Complete Psionics Handbook.
Of course, we call it psychic magic, not psionics, in Pathfinder.
As for where and who: the main places where you'll find psychic magic showing up are on other planets, in the Darklands, and in the country of Vudra. But you'll see them pop up here and there as well all over. Most recently in subtle ways in the new adventure "Dragon's Demand."
Eventually, I would LOVE to do a full on book that features psychic magic as its focus or merely as an element (akin to how the gunslinger wasn't a focus of Ultimate Combat, but was a strong element). We'll see if that idea ever develops into something bigger some day...
Huh. Interesting. I knew about the neothelids and intellect devourers. I was wondering more about humanoids and stuff like elan, blues and whatnot.
Now for a weird question: What deity would a non-evil gluttonous person pick for a patron? A gourmand who adventures both to finance their lavish feasting and to search for interesting new ingredients (non-sapient creatures only) like the manga Toriko? Someone who isn't into necromancy like a worshiper of Urgathoa or the Runelord Zutha, or pointless suffering and evil, as emphasized by Xoveron? Someone who may or may not be good, but certainly isn't evil?