Cult Master Mesmerist: Am I Getting This Right?

[The Shifty Mongoose]

Fanatical Stare replaces Painful Stare, but not Hypnotic Stare. Does this mean he can only have either Hypnotic Stare active (with accompanying Boldness) against a foe, or Fanatical Stare active on a team-mate, but not both at once?

Since the standard Mesmerist's Painful Stare works as a part of Hypnotic Stare on the same target, it lower's the target's Will save and makes them take more damage; having Fanatical Stare active on a team-mate would do mostly the same thing, though the Fanatic buddy could get the attack/damage bonus on other targets. On the other hand, it sounds like they'd be mutually exclusive effects, seeing as you can Stare at only one person at a time. Then, it'd be a choice of, "Do I put my Boldness against that guy to slow him down, or inspire my friend to hit him harder?"

Characterization Tangent:

Also, I want to defy the expectation of Evil-aligned Mesmerists, by making a LG Cult Master from Alvis (in southern Andoran) who isn't starting a cult. Instead, he's a magical psychotherapist, giving self-confidence and focus to people who need it.

*tugs suspenders* "Now, I'm no big-city enchanter with a fancy spellbook or a fairy dragon, but I've learned that positive encouragement can do more for one's sanity than a whole cellar full of potions and scrolls."

[Vratix]

The Shifty Mongoose wrote:

On the other hand, it sounds like they'd be mutually exclusive effects, seeing as you can Stare at only one person at a time. Then, it'd be a choice of, "Do I put my Boldness against that guy to slow him down, or inspire my friend to hit him harder?"

Yeah, it's pretty explicit that Stare is a one-at-a-time thing requiring your (near) full attention. I would bolster my friends most of the time but every once in a while it would be good to put the fear of god into some lowlife to get him back on the straight and narrow.

The Shifty Mongoose wrote:

*tugs suspenders* "Now, I'm no big-city enchanter with a fancy spellbook or a fairy dragon, but I've learned that positive encouragement can do more for one's sanity than a whole cellar full of potions and scrolls."

Read in the voice of Foghorn Leghorn

[The Shifty Mongoose]

Right, so that would mean I'd only give the Stare that lowers Will saves to people I wouldn't want to fight. I should bick Boldness that centers around lowering stuff like Initiative, Sense Motive or Perception; if a fight does break out, then I'd switch to Staring at a friend to help them protect me.

Also, his False Healing will have to come in the form of inspirational slogans:

"Just a scratch; only a flesh wound. You've had worse!"

"Don't you go dying on me!"

"Never give up! Trust your instincts!"