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I don't know very much about anime.
Here are some things that martial characters can do in many anime shows (using their 'ki' or equivalent) but which (generally) only casters could hope to do in Pathfinder:
Slash their sword, emit a wave of destruction in a thirty foot cone.Put on a burst of speed that looks like teleportation.
Protect an ally by deflecting a hundred arrows at once.
Cut a hold in a wall big enough for a cart to pass through.
Cut an entire galleon in half.
Make their body temporarily impervious to harm.
Run on water.
Air-jump.
Run or jump up a building.
Fall from the sky, shattering the ground but not hurting their legs.
Quickly recover from massive injuries by resting and eating.
Punch someone so hard they smash through a stone pillar.
Survive that being done to them.
Some people want high-level Fighters to be able to do this sort of thing in Pathfinder. Others want the game to be more gritty and realistic (for non-casters) and say these things are 'too anime'. Hence threads like this.
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Given that, I'm not really sure how any TTRPG with no animation can be more or less "anime". I suppose one could take time during a gaming session to draw/animate what is happening in the game, but I greatly prefer to just describe it verbally.
There are plenty of common themes among the various genres of animation. Anime is not just about the medium but about the common tropes used.
Youko: Ah. So that's why they don't pray.
Rakashun: Oh?
Youko: Because they know God is real, and He isn't going to help them.
Not quite as classic as these lines from Conan
"Wizard: The gods are very interested in this battle.
Conan: Are they going to help?
Wizard: No!
Conan: Then tell them to stay out of the way!"
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Given that, I'm not really sure how any TTRPG with no animation can be more or less "anime". I suppose one could take time during a gaming session to draw/animate what is happening in the game, but I greatly prefer to just describe it verbally.There are plenty of common themes among the various genres of animation. Anime is not just about the medium but about the common tropes used.
Which tropes are actually common? I mean, there's a lot of anime out there. Whenever I see one of these discussions come up, the types of things being cited as "common anime tropes" tend to be the kinds of things found in Dragon Ball Z or Naruto—i.e., anime that got aired in America.
Are these tropes "common", or merely "known to westerners"? Do any of us here know?
Let me think aloud a moment about the anime I've watched:
Akatsuki no Yona—The most "fantastic" things a martial can do is deflect arrows, survive quite a beating (with expert medical help and some bed rest), and be pretty darn alert. Only barely pushes the bounds of realism without the aid of magic/divinity.
GATE—Literally based in modern Japan; humans are completely realistic. An alternate reality is discovered that contains some fantasy creatures, but also contains humans who (unless they learn magic or are touched by divinity) are still limited to realism.
Sword Art Online—All the "fantasy" happens inside a video game, so it might not be pertinent to the discussion. Even so, outside of explicit magic, unrealism doesn't go much past getting injured in the form of HP damage instead of realistic injury.
One Piece—Truly high fantasy, with people surviving slashes that shredded the building behind them while their own body stayed in one piece, or people jumping off the air to effectively fly, and so forth.
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit—I don't remember anything (that wasn't explicitly magical) that was particularly unrealistic.
Erin (I forget the rest of the title)—I only got a few episodes in, but it looks like a show where anything not dealing with a certain fantasy creature is kept completely realistic.
The Red-Haired Snow White—Despite the title, this has nothing to do with the Snow White story. Anyway, this is almost 100% realistic in what people are capable of.
So that's seven anime (off the top of my head) that could be considered "fantasy" in some sense, and only one of them contains the type of over-the-top martial power that people seem to be referring to when discussing "anime tropes in Pathfinder".
So are people just assuming that the shows which managed to cross the ocean are representative of trends in the medium (rather than concluding that shows with certain tropes got chosen to come over)? Or did I just happen to land on a great big pile of exceptions to anime trends?
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I mean, I hear people give examples (like sword techniques that can attack at range, or mid-air jumps), and I recognize the concept from having seen it in One Piece, but then I go down the list of other anime (or kung fu movies, or whatever) that I've seen, and struggle to find a second specimen. Yet people keep talking like it's what we should all be thinking of when "anime in Pathfinder" comes up.
Did I miss something?
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For some of the higher end fantasy style anime
RWBY is pretty much on the high end of things with Gunscyths chopping through giant monsters in one blow
Even before they introduce Nen, Hunter x Hunter has skills like Killua's assassin step that creates multiple images. Plus he can rip a man's heart out in a split second
Some of the stuff in Kenshin is on the faster that sight sword skills
Shadowskill has a lot of high end martial arts stuff. Two Sevaar fighting each other is said to annhilate armies in the crossfire.
Negima has a lot of Chi fighters. Jack Rakan being at the top of the list and he is just....insane raw power. Erased from existance and still comes back through sheer will power to punch you in the face.
When they are being serious Gintama shows some incredible sword skills. Show is 80% comedy but when they go all out they get crazy
There are things like Killer Bee's 8 sword style from Naruto or Mifune's thousand sword style from Soul Eater
and of course Guts from Berserk. The Ultimate Martial who can power through anything on sheer hate.
I don't know, when I think back on the anime I was exposed to .. sometimes in the "Oh Gods no what is THAT?" manner, some of it was pretty high end, at least as I recall.
Black Magic M-66
Project A-ko (superman and wonder woman's daughter)
Hellsing
Appleseed
Akira
There were a bunch of others, but they kind of all mush together in a blob of tentacles, in one case a ninja girl who could open portals to other places with sex magic, more tentacles, and something called Bastard that I don't recall liking.
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I mean, I hear people give examples (like sword techniques that can attack at range, or mid-air jumps), and I recognize the concept from having seen it in One Piece, but then I go down the list of other anime (or kung fu movies, or whatever) that I've seen, and struggle to find a second specimen. Yet people keep talking like it's what we should all be thinking of when "anime in Pathfinder" comes up.
Did I miss something?
It would be more accurate to say that there are common themes in different subgenres that are often depicted in anime. For example you have shounen anime and manga (like Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, Bleach, Tokyo Ghoul, etc) which generally has certain central themes. Some blend Genres a bit (for example, a romantic comedy/shounen example would probably be Inuyasha where the protagonist actually does swing his sword and use air currents to merc everything but that's actually more about the sword than him).
Now one of the reasons a lot of people mix up genres and the medium is because we don't get half as much anime as Japan actually does, and what we do get is usually then filtered through our own interests. If you like shounen anime then you'll probably watch a lot of shounen anime and associate anime with shounen themes (or if your associates like friends and family notice these themes in the only examples they see they'll assume every anime is like those kinds).
Some people have the mistaken impression that all anime is porn because of hentai animes that they see in the internet but having never watched more mainstream stuff. Fortunately, this is pretty rare these days. It was more common a couple decades ago where anime wasn't everywhere and a lot of people had only seen the animation styles on adult cartoons ordered from novelty magazines or found on the internet (which for the record can made a few ignorant parents rather concerned when their kids are walking around with characters on their binders that looked like those "cartoon pornstars").
Of course, it's not just anime. I remember when it was just naturally assumed by most of society that all animation and cartoons were for children and along the lines of things like Loony Toons or Ducktales, but that's because your average person had probably never seen animated films like Fire & Ice, Heavy Metal, The Hobbit, and so forth.
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For the record, the first anime I ever saw was Vampire Hunter D. It still resonates with me today as the most influential piece of vampire-themed media I've ever seen. It forever shaped my perception of vampires and a lot of the themes found in VHD can be found in vampires in my D&D games.
I don't know very much about anime.Here are some things that martial characters can do in many anime shows (using their 'ki' or equivalent) but which (generally) only casters could hope to do in Pathfinder:
Slash their sword, emit a wave of destruction in a thirty foot cone.
Put on a burst of speed that looks like teleportation.
Protect an ally by deflecting a hundred arrows at once.
Cut a hold in a wall big enough for a cart to pass through.
Cut an entire galleon in half.
Make their body temporarily impervious to harm.
Run on water.
Air-jump.
Run or jump up a building.
Fall from the sky, shattering the ground but not hurting their legs.
Quickly recover from massive injuries by resting and eating.
Punch someone so hard they smash through a stone pillar.
Survive that being done to them.Some people want high-level Fighters to be able to do this sort of thing in Pathfinder. Others want the game to be more gritty and realistic (for non-casters) and say these things are 'too anime'. Hence threads like this.
Pretty much this. Saying you want "more anime" in your game is typically taken as shorthand for "I want non-casters to be able to do more awesome things and be less shackled by 'realistic expectations'."
I like my RPG with anime, and i'm pretty okay with mature/ sexual themes too.
In addition to the above examples, in my experience I've also seen people react in a hostile or otherwise negative manner to characters that stray too close to some of the other genres and sub-genres like magical girls (even though that's more or less what the relatively new Chosen One paladin archetype is) or other such things that seem too 'cutesy', for lack of a better term.
I've also seen 'anime' thrown around as a descriptor/influence regarding what some would consider to be highly unusual PC race choices and characterizations like dhampir lolitas or PCs that are basically catgirls.
Pretty much this. Saying you want "more anime" in your game is typically taken as shorthand for "I want non-casters to be able to do more awesome things and be less shackled by 'realistic expectations'."
Most of those things aren't exactly non-casters though.
The characters in Bleach are using Spirit Energy for all thier moves, the only true humans are Chad, Ishida and Orihime. Everyone else is essentially some kind of Outer Planar being.
In One Piece the big thing most characters are using to be amazing right now is Haki armement, which is essentially Chi.
In Hunter x Hunter it's Nen, which is essentially advanced Chi
In Negima they have both Chi and Magic and a few characters that can mix the two.
So wanting to include all those things isn't really about "Martials should have cool toys" it's about adding new elements into your campaign to mimic a certain feel.
It's about campaign customization
Try swapping out some of the default stuff for some 3rd party stuff
For example;
Remove the Fighter class
Replace it with Dreamscar Press's Path of War book and it's expansion. That turns your Martials into mid-tier anime/wuxia warriors.
or you can take Spheres of Power from Drop Dead Press and use it to create a system of High end Combat Techniques.
Seven Star Destroyer Sword Style could be a custome Magic tradition combined with Basic Magical Training (renamed to Seven Star Destroyer Innitiate) and Advanced Magical Training (renamed to Seven Star Destroyer Master).
Say Both Feats count as Bonus Fighter Feats.
Forthe Magic Tradition you place a lot of "Self only" restrictions on spheres Maybe even forbid some spheres as part of the feat. Create some custom spells to reprisent the Secret Ultimate Techniques
That creates the High end style anime warriors.
There are a lot of options out there for customizing your game. Nothing says you can't tell your group "The Following Classes don't exist. Use these instead"
You don't even need to go 3rd party for it.
What if you made a campaign that only used the following Classes
Brawler
Magus
Monk
Ninja
Kineticist
Sorcerer (Eldritch Scrapper archetype only)
Warpriest (Sacred Fist Archetype only)
and all characters must VMC Monk (except the Monk)
Right there you are creating a specific feel for the game that is different from normal.
Too many people think the game is All or Nothing when it comes to splat books. But you should feel free to just use the parts that fit the game you want to build.
Never forget that everything in the game is optional. You are free to cut and paste whatever you need to create the style of adventure you want to create.
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Pretty much this. Saying you want "more anime" in your game is typically taken as shorthand for "I want non-casters to be able to do more awesome things and be less shackled by 'realistic expectations'."Most of those things aren't exactly non-casters though.
...
In One Piece the big thing most characters are using to be amazing right now is Haki armement, which is essentially Chi.
...
So wanting to include all those things isn't really about "Martials should have cool toys" it's about adding new elements into your campaign to mimic a certain feel.
I think it's relevant to point out that the haki in One Piece is very decidedly a high-level martial ability. The "magic" of that world is Devil Fruit Powers. Just because haki resembles something that might count as magic in some other setting doesn't make it magical. In-universe, Devil Fruit Powers are frequently referred to as magical (some of their effects are referred to as "spells"), while the use of haki is consistently represented as a completely normal skill attained by sufficient combat training.
Remember: just because something in fiction goes beyond reality does not make it magic.
In addition to the above examples, in my experience I've also seen people react in a hostile or otherwise negative manner to characters that stray too close to some of the other genres and sub-genres like magical girls (even though that's more or less what the relatively new Chosen One paladin archetype is) or other such things that seem too 'cutesy', for lack of a better term.
I've also seen 'anime' thrown around as a descriptor/influence regarding what some would consider to be highly unusual PC race choices and characterizations like dhampir lolitas or PCs that are basically catgirls.
Well, to be fair anime seems to be a big influence on many characters that have those attributes, or so I've run across in decades of online play. I've run across less of that in tabletop, although it has gotten a bit more common as the years have drug on.
From what I've seen an experienced, especially in the online arena -- and we're talking less MMOs and more text-based RPGS -- anime-influenced is about the nicest thing that could be used to describe many of these characters. There are those sorts of games and players that enjoy certain social RP and that is great, but when it starts making people uncomfortable it gets a bit much for many to take. And, perhaps unfortunately for those who come later, people's perceptions get influenced by the 200 panty-flashing sexbots that came before and don't take the time to realize that tho your character may appear to be of the same ilk, they are just a mildly gothy lolitaish waify female thing and not whatever came before.
tl;dr: They are probably saying anime instead of whatever pejorative that comes to mind, because all too often those characters are, at best, skanky.
Pretty much this. Saying you want "more anime" in your game is typically taken as shorthand for "I want non-casters to be able to do more awesome things and be less shackled by 'realistic expectations'."Most of those things aren't exactly non-casters though.
...
In One Piece the big thing most characters are using to be amazing right now is Haki armement, which is essentially Chi.
...
So wanting to include all those things isn't really about "Martials should have cool toys" it's about adding new elements into your campaign to mimic a certain feel.
I think it's relevant to point out that the haki in One Piece is very decidedly a high-level martial ability. The "magic" of that world is Devil Fruit Powers. Just because haki resembles something that might count as magic in some other setting doesn't make it magical. In-universe, Devil Fruit Powers are frequently referred to as magical (some of their effects are referred to as "spells"), while the use of haki is consistently represented as a completely normal skill attained by sufficient combat training.
Remember: just because something in fiction goes beyond reality does not make it magic.
which is essentially the same description you could apply to Chi. The simple truth is that High Fantasy Martial combat isn't martial. It's always paired with something else. The best Pure Martial stuff are things like Samurai Champeloo where melee combat is combined with skill use to perform stunts.
The pirate hunter swordsman has no devil fruit exposure. He's more like Yoman in Wild Cards.
Just adding anime powers to fighters seems easier than trying to have any discussion about any topic while they are trying to destroy all topics.
You'd also have to define "anime powers". XD That aside, if you start digging deep into the mechanics of the world... anime has a lot of good ideas, some of which are already represented in the game.
For example... technological suits characters can summon out of nowhere. It's not hard to build that with the psionic Aegis. Anything from the Avatar: The Last Airbender series, which was at least anime-inspired? Kineticist. And so on. On a purely idea/technical level, anime could well be an excellent repository of things the game could adapt...
I always loved how Record of Lodoss reprisented Elf magic as the summoning of spirits to cast their spells.
actually a lot of anime have great Magic Fluff that can be really helpful for world building
I mentioned Shadow Skill previously.
In that show there is a Talisman user and how she does magic can easily be reprisented by the normal Pathfinder Vancian magic system. It's just now you have a neat visual attached to it. They even have a scene with her preparing her spells for the day.
Good Fluff is half the battle to getting the setting the way you want it
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The simple truth is that High Fantasy Martial combat isn't martial.
That's not actually true. High fantasy martial combat isn't realistic, but that doesn't mean it isn't martial. "Martial" just means nonmagical, and One Piece is a perfect example of a setting where magic isn't the only way to exceed the realistic.
Remember: just because something in fiction goes beyond reality does not make it magic.
I think that depends on how you define magic.
Watching Moribito led me to trying to figure out how to make a spear fighter in PF that bad ass...
The research continues...
I've recreated themes from things like Guyver/Karas in DnD games before.
Generally, I don't auto-dismiss a style of fantasy, no matter the origin, because I never know what my players may be interested in playing. I've got different types of magic and martial stuff scattered all over my home brewed world to accommodate different tastes.
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Which is essentially the same description you could apply to Chi. The simple truth is that High Fantasy Martial combat isn't martial. It's always paired with something else. The best Pure Martial stuff are things like Samurai Champeloo where melee combat is combined with skill use to perform stunts.
The problem is that in a world with supernatural powers the only way a martial character should be able contribue meaningfully is by becoming supernatural in his own right. It doesn't matter how he does this, he could gain Chi, martial magic or anything else. However, a purely reality bound martial character being able to keep up with a supernatural martial character is very.... unrealistic. ;)
I've always found it silly that pathfinder tries to put realistic and magical characters on the same level. To me, this is kind of like saying that if Han Solo had a few more levels in Star Wars Episode 5 he would have been able to actually harm Darth Vader. The fact that pathfinder acts like such a thing is possible by trying to put the non-magical on par with the supernatural actually breaks my suspension of disbelief.
Heck, in a fantasy rpg where you are allowed to play as a wizard, all non-supernatural classes should be npc classes. Expecting balance in a party with a non-magical ranger and Gandolf the Grey is just silly. Soo.... yes, bring on the 'anime' powers! Give fighters the same level to break the laws of phyisics that wizards have. Or at least explain that +15-20 bab at high levels as something magical. To me, it will only make Pathfinder more believable!
Edit-TLDR: So, I guess I do agree with your point. High Fantasy Martial combat isn't martial. The problem is that Pathfinder is kind of high fantasy. So, what are these non-magical fighters doing here in this high fantasy game?
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The simple truth is that High Fantasy Martial combat isn't martial.That's not actually true. High fantasy martial combat isn't realistic, but that doesn't mean it isn't martial. "Martial" just means nonmagical, and One Piece is a perfect example of a setting where magic isn't the only way to exceed the realistic.
Remember: just because something in fiction goes beyond reality does not make it magic.
But that's a specific definition that doesn't really make sense everywhere: In a universe without "magic", but with some other kind of power, the divide would be elsewhere.
In Star Wars for example, the Force would take the place of magic. Jedi don't use magic, but they still take the caster role.Even in PF, if you're using Psionics, does that make all the psionic characters martials? Since psionics aren't magic.
You can have other sources of power that fill the same role magic usually does. You can have multiple sources. Even if one of them is called "magic" and others aren't. If they're still filling the same role, then they still qualify as magic.
I totally agree with your general assessment that determining what counts as magic in a given setting can go beyond the simple in-universe use of the word "magic". Though you offer it as a rebuttal to my post about One Piece, my statements actually fit quite neatly into what you're saying.
The Devil Fruits grant a wide variety of fantastic powers, the vast majority of which can't be replicated or emulated by non-power-holders. No amount of skill or training will let a fighter gain these magical abilities. By contrast, things like haki are abilities that are accessible to anyone who trains hard enough, and the capacity to use them is explicitly linked to being a high-level fighter. In-universe, the ability to use haki is very clearly the result of being a powerful fighter, rather than from tapping into some other mystical force. It's part of the natural progression of combat skill.
After watching all 15 years' worth of One Piece episodes, the dividing line between martial abilities (haki, the "Six Powers", etc) and magical abilities (Devil Fruit Powers) seems abundantly clear to me, and I can't think of any in-universe reason to classify those martial abilities as falling into the "magic" category. If you can think of a reason for things like haki to be classified as magic (other than a general "if it's not realistic it has to be magic no matter what setting I'm looking at"), then I'd be very interested in hearing your perspectives. :)
Just to point out something often overlooked - It depends on the magic. Pathfinder style high fantasy level magic, sure it gets practically impossible for martials to compete.
But not all fantasy magic allows for invisible flying projected images dropping meteor swarms.
I agree with you. In a game where magic is much more toned down than pathfinder there is no reason to give the martials 'anime' powers. I think the reason people keep asking for 'anime' powers in Pathfinder though is specifically because it has that level of rediculous magical power where you have to wonder why it even has a "non-magical Fighter" class.
In a way though, Pathfinder Fighters are already Anime characters. Though shear training and force of will, they can gain enough hit points to survive lava and meteor swarms. Fighters can kill a Great Wyrm Dragon in seconds if they get close enough. The fact that the game acts like that sort of thing *isn't* magical really bothers me. It also makes me wonder why people don't want to give fighters ablities like "split a building with a single sword swing" while they're at it.
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Though shear training and force of will, can gain enough hit points to survive lava and meteor swarms. Fighters can kill a Great Wyrm Dragon in seconds if they get close enough. The fact that the game acts like that sort of thing *isn't* magical really bothers me.
Just as a reference point, are you similarly bothered that Pecos Bill's ability to lasso a tornado isn't magical?
Though shear training and force of will, can gain enough hit points to survive lava and meteor swarms. Fighters can kill a Great Wyrm Dragon in seconds if they get close enough. The fact that the game acts like that sort of thing *isn't* magical really bothers me.Just as a reference point, are you similarly bothered that Pecos Bill's ability to lasso a tornado isn't magical?
I think you're drawing a largely arbitrary distinction between "magic" and "supernatural, but not magic." How is lassoing a tornado not "magic"? Just because it's done by swinging a weapon, rather than wiggling fingers?
I'd rule that One Piece is a High Mythic world, myself - any ship that's worth respected has at least one person with tiers/ranks on it, or a devil fruit user, or a devil fruit user with mythic tiers, who's normally Captain.
A really bad-ass pirate crew, like the Straw Hats themselves, might have multiple mythic members.
Of course, I wouldn't even stat up devil fruit users as classed humans. I'd stat them up as monstrous humanoids with a unique set of Sp, Su, and/or Ex abilities based on their fruit (with more/better abilities as the hit dice grows). I guess they might still have a couple class levels beyond that, too. Like Luffy's got a few brawler levels but he's mostly monster hit dice.
Mythic's a pretty handy way to represent martials who are at an "impossible" power level. (Edit: Especially if they're clearly non-standard. Zorro's a 1 in a million swordsman.)
Pecos Bill was either mythic or not actually human. =P (Edit and aside: Mythic Adventures had finite space, so it can't possibly cover every mythological ability. If you want a guardian/champion ability for controlling the weather with a CMB check, just write it up.)
Pecos Bill was either mythic or not actually human. =P
So wait. With this knowledge, and what I know of Pecos Bill, I can only see one solution. Pecos Bill was an elf.
OK, so maybe that wasn't a good joke, but it's easy to forget that it's easy to travel with non-human martials in Pathfinder. Hell, I'd find it hard to regard the planetouched races, Kitsune, or Smasarans as anything but "magical" in their own right.
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I think you're drawing a largely arbitrary distinction between "magic" and "supernatural, but not magic." How is lassoing a tornado not "magic"? Just because it's done by swinging a weapon, rather than wiggling fingers?Though shear training and force of will, can gain enough hit points to survive lava and meteor swarms. Fighters can kill a Great Wyrm Dragon in seconds if they get close enough. The fact that the game acts like that sort of thing *isn't* magical really bothers me.Just as a reference point, are you similarly bothered that Pecos Bill's ability to lasso a tornado isn't magical?
It's not magic because the setting/narrative/universe doesn't present it as magic. (And when I say "present it as magic", I don't mean they'd have to use the word "magic".)
Pecos Bill's ability to lasso a tornado is nonmagical because it's presented in-universe as being the result of him just being that damn good, rather than being because he found the ancient magical lasso of a mythical hero of the past or because he made a deal with a Native American shaman to imbue him with the power of the spirits, or any of the other things which, in that setting, would have clearly been magical. Basically, there are things that are (roughly) established as magic in that setting, and Pecos Bill's abilities were not among them.
I don't see how looking at what the setting treats as magical is somehow more arbitrary than just saying "anything unrealistic is automatically magical no matter what setting we're looking at".
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I'd rule that One Piece is a High Mythic world, myself - any ship that's worth respected has at least one person with tiers/ranks on it, or a devil fruit user, or a devil fruit user with mythic tiers, who's normally Captain.
A really bad-ass pirate crew, like the Straw Hats themselves, might have multiple mythic members.
Of course, I wouldn't even stat up devil fruit users as classed humans. I'd stat them up as monstrous humanoids with a unique set of Sp, Su, and/or Ex abilities based on their fruit (with more/better abilities as the hit dice grows). I guess they might still have a couple class levels beyond that, too. Like Luffy's got a few brawler levels but he's mostly monster hit dice.
Mythic's a pretty handy way to represent martials who are at an "impossible" power level. (Edit: Especially if they're clearly non-standard. Zorro's a 1 in a million swordsman.)
Pecos Bill was either mythic or not actually human. =P (Edit and aside: Mythic Adventures had finite space, so it can't possibly cover every mythological ability. If you want a guardian/champion ability for controlling the weather with a CMB check, just write it up.)
How might you articulate your thoughts in a system-agnostic manner, where "mythic" isn't a thing?
I don't see how looking at what the setting treats as magical is somehow more arbitrary than just saying "anything unrealistic is automatically magical no matter what setting we're looking at".
You think a dividing line between "violates the laws of physics" and "doesn't violate the laws of physics" is arbitrary?
I like harem comedies but don't want them in my CoC.Nyarko-san disagrees.Don't get me wrong, I think Nyaruko-san is hilarious but that sort of thing does not belong in anything attempting to do Lovecraftian horror.
Actually, the way the official (albeit not animated) epilogue wraps things up put it SQUARELY in Lovecraftian horror. Bad end...
Heh. I always liked Cthuko myself, but...
And now I'm sad again... Rest in Peace Miyo Matsuki, you will be missed.
Regarding the main thread point: I have no problems drawing from a lot of anime in Pathfinder. I do it for theme and genre reasons, and sometimes I lift scenes that are evocative directly. Ex: in meeting Greta in Reign of Winter, I had her "scold" an NPC by licking up the side of their neck, creating a bleeding wound that sent them running for first aid. Sold the idea of an evil aligned winter wolf with a possible romantic subplot quite well to the party. Anime refrence: Bakemonagatari.
While its mechanically easier with mythic, I run most level 11+ (and a fair amount of prior level material) combat as pretty "anime inspired". But I run on a certain default assumption for PF/D&D: everyone is magical, because the world is. Just like a golem is "magical" but doesn't shut off in an antimagic field, a high level character has enough internally harnessed magic obeying their desire to stay alive that they can survive the perils of high level adventuring. Same with base attack and saves. High will isn't just training, its layers of genuine protective energy inside your own mind.
Also, I'm sad no one has mentioned Overlord yet...