Objectionable content in pathfinder

[FowlJ]

Quote:

There is no official flavouring about Summons or Familiars answering the call of casters and offering them the help willingly as a norm, it's just 100% onesided "This sentient being must do as you tell them."

...No?

The flavour text in the eidolon description is quite clear that the two of you act together, and coordinate your shared actions. You, the player, command the eidolon as a separate entity to your character, the summoner, but there's no in-game requirement to issue commands to your eidolon at all, and most things that reference both characters do so equally, like tandem actions.

There are, to be fair, no rules for your eidolon packing up and leaving, which is partly because that would just mean you aren't a summoner anymore and the game doesn't really have a mechanism built in for that, but also because eidolons differ from other companions in that they aren't really NPCs - you have full control of both entities, and so the only person who can decide that your eidolon is unhappy enough to turn on you is you.

[Malk_Content]

It's true that servant doesn't always equal slave. So.long as there was some give and take to the relationship to make it at least somewhat mutually beneficial it's okay in my book.

E.g a demon eidolon who made a pact of service so it can battle cultist whom worship a competitor in the material plane doesn't require an Evil summoner, but that same demon bound by forceful magic to obey does.

[Unicore]

The reason this thread will get locked and why discussion boards for product and game websites are not a good place to have these discussions is because they exist as spaces largely with out consequence.

Like, personally, I have incredibly passionate things to say about the direct correlation between not understanding the systemic pervasiveness of the logic of chattel slavery and police brutality, and I could even easily tie it into to why these conversations about what Paizo as a company should theoretically be able to publish are completely meaningless outside the context of what they have published already and why that specific content was poorly chosen and rightfully should influence what Paizo will want to publish in the future…

But for any of that to be meaningful, I would really need to add a bunch of links back to the theoretical framework that shapes my perspective and present the evidence that supports those ideas, and this site is not the audience for people who are ready to have that conversation, because it is happening on a gaming website of people who often just want to be able to argue about whether wizards are powerful enough in the current edition of the game, or whether fire ball spells can damage objects.

People are not property. People wanting to discuss otherwise on public gaming message board is why Paizo as a company has a responsibility to think carefully about the content they publish and how different audiences will perceive future content based upon the previous choices in content that have already been made.

[James Case]

Thread is locked until moderation staff can return from the holidays.

I'd like to stop seeing the mindset that it's okay to post unproductive or incendiary content so long as you do so during off-hours, weekends, or holidays, that this is the window to get your shots off before they're deleted when moderators come back into the office (at which point they need to filter through an even longer list of posts than they would have otherwise). These kinds of posts harm the health of the community and are against the guidelines regardless of when they are posted, and I'd hope that everyone here is invested enough in the health of this game and hobby we all enjoy to simply step away from the keyboard.

The holidays can be a busy time for many of us, and this can make tensions run high. As we approach our second New Years in the pandemic, I'd like to ask everyone to try and treat each other with compassion.

[Heather F]

Hi everyone. A special thank you to James for locking this thread before it got worse than it already was.

I have torched most of this thread due to baiting, troll feeding, and quoted content.

It saddens me to come back from a long weekend meant to celebrate peace on earth, goodwill to all, only to see a post like this, as well as several others that I need to sift through. The song "I Believe in Father Christmas" by Greg Lake comes to mind.

Let's really get to the heart of the matter here. People continue to post about slavery, or questionable content if you prefer, and it just isn't something that ever results in civil discussion. Really though, there is nothing to discuss at that point. Paizo has decided this is not what they want to write about, as we wish to support a positive gaming environment, where everyone feels welcome. That's it. End of discussion.

This thread will remain locked.
Be excellent to each other.
Power to the peaceful.