So I'd been brainstorming character ideas and hit upon a Duskwalker Redeemer of Saloc who wants to give others the same second chance they got. This is all well and good until I notice one of Saloc's anathema is, "Manipulate or remove a creature's emotions with magic."
The Redeemer Champion's Glimpse of Redemption reaction says, "Your foe hesitates under the weight of sin as visions of redemption play in their mind’s eye," and the feat weight of guilt says, "Your foe hesitates under the weight of sin as visions of redemption play in their mind’s eye." That kind of feels like manipulating a creature's emotions via magic. You could argue that the visions themselves are magic but the foe's response is their own, but that feels a bit like splitting hairs. Would this come down to the GM's call?
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Everything is down to a GM's call, but fwiw Glimpse of Redemption is not an emotion or mental effect and works on enemies that don't even have emotions in the first place.
All Anathema mechanical interactions are GM (and hopefully player's as well) call.
Heeey, my second "Glimpse of Redemption seems like a mental affect and if treated as such interacts weirdly with a deity's anathema" thread! The last one was for Tsukiyo.
Same deal as last time: what's the purpose of the anathema? Saloc is big on intention and giving second chances. Manipulating or removing emotions magically is effectively something that interferes with intention.
How does Glimpse of Redemption fit into this? Well, it's doing a fundamentally Saloc-approved thing in giving somebody a chance to reconsider their strike. I don't think it's splitting hairs to say that you're presenting them with something magically and the reaction is theirs. The effects are not emotional- enfeebled is a physical condition. That said, Weight of Guilt is stupefied, a mental condition. Even if it's mechanically not something with the mental or emotion traits, it definitely veers a lot closer to magical manipulation of emotions. Forcing somebody to feel guilt does sound like the sort of intention-interference that Saloc is against, and the feat would be a pretty poor choice for them.
As for the base ability, my response is the same as for Tsukiyo. It's probably something that Saloc's followers take a little more seriously than Redeemers of some other deities might. Using it in regular combat is offering a sort of second chance as a decision for the target to make. Using it repeatedly on a captive just to make them experience magical visions in an effort to drive them to change their ways, however, would probably tick off Saloc to trigger anathema. If the follower started viewing the ability as a means of changing somebody instead of offering the opportunity to choose change, then they would probably need to do some soul-searching and reflection.
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There was a thread by Luis Loza end of 2023 asking the community to help identifying deities that had "edicts and anathemas that make typical adventuring more difficult or nigh impossible, or those that are so vague that ruling from table to table could cause issues."
So that those could be corrected in LO Divine Mysteries.
I could not find Saloc in the thread, so I hope Luis noticed that anyway.
The clear intent though is that Edicts and Anathemas boost the fun at the table. Not that they unduly hinder PCs.
There was a thread by Luis Loza end of 2023 asking the community to help identifying deities that had "edicts and anathemas that make typical adventuring more difficult or nigh impossible, or those that are so vague that ruling from table to table could cause issues."
So that those could be corrected in LO Divine Mysteries.
I could not find Saloc in the thread, so I hope Luis noticed that anyway.
The clear intent though is that Edicts and Anathemas boost the fun at the table. Not that they unduly hinder PCs.
Saloc seems unlikely to be changed, since they're not asking anything that interfere with typical adventuring. Not being able to cast Calm or Charm is pretty reasonable, and this particular "clash with flavor text" issue is more likely to be resolved by the new Champion rules.
Glimpse of Redemption is not even magical, so you should be fine.
Glimpse of Redemption is not even magical,
Me? No, I'm not going to do anything to you. Saloc is going to cripple you. I'm just the messenger giving you advance warning in case you want to make a better decision.