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I can definately sympathize when it comes to Usharak's story. Fighting a destiny he never wanted with all that he had and by the time he was tired of the fight and accepting of his fate it was far far too late. :(
To quote a certain skeletal pirate musician in a hit anime, "Dogs and queens...toads and kings...WE'RE ALL BONES WHEN WE DIIIIEEEE!!!"
Also I really like the new take on the Necromancer class being not so much a mastermind creator of legions of vile undead but instead a communion between life and death and being able to call upon the etheral ectoplasmic spirits of their ancestors to defend the ones they love.
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LOOOOVE the new Iconic. Really enjoy the Iruxi in general, I find them to be a very fascinating take on the usually pretty generic cannon fodder in a lot of fantasy settings. I played one as a Cleric of Pharasma whose connection to ancestral bones was part of their sacred practice, and he would refer to his matron deity as the "Bone Mother" and would inscribe her spiral as an Iruxi skeleton lain curled in repose.
And to your point, I'm also a big fan of the idea of a more "virtuous" take on Necromancy, though of course it can exist along with the more archetypal "Obviously Evil D00D" too.
But yeh, this story gave me the idea of a Varisian Necromancer who'd effectively be a medium (obviously going with the Spirit Monger for their Grim Fascination) in a very similar vein of someone intimately connected to the spirits of their family and forebears.
And as a potential villain, imagine a Ghost Poppet Bone Shaper or Flesh Magician who puppeteers their minions!
Or more comedically, a Skeleton Bone Shaper struggling with a Ship of Theseus style quandary about whether or not their own bones are the original or scavenged from what they used.
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I am sure some necromancers are going to be full mustache twirlers but they also clearly want heroic necromancer options that likely are skirting stuff that pharasma would really put her foot down about.
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Love the tragic backstory. That and the ossuary necromancer vibe do it for me. I'm excited to build a skellymancer in August
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The last part makes me feel like Usharak might end up on the wrong side of Necromancy in the end.
Regrets and guilt are powerful tools for corruption.
They can also be motivators for wanting to live on and protect others. Seelah had a lot of regret stealing that helm (so much so that she offered her life to give the wearer of that helm justice in death) but her regret and guilt proved her humanity and became her salvation.
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And to your point, I'm also a big fan of the idea of a more "virtuous" take on Necromancy, though of course it can exist along with the more archetypal "Obviously Evil D00D" too.
As always, magic, like any power in Pathfinder's setting, can be used for good or for evil. It can be used to protect and save or to destroy and defile. The choice is ultimately the bearer's.
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I'm pretty happy. It's the sort of thing I'd expect for an iconic necromancer, and I think it works better than a single deceased loved one. It's very cool seeing the cultural integration of necromancy into an iruxi society, and the limited term of "service" after death is a nice way to strike a balance.
I'm someone who does want to play selfish necromancers who care more about living a comfortable and easy life than a few tatters on the edges of some dead farmer's soul. This is a good option for the iconic for the class- I'll happily take it over another Maligaster.
I especially like having an iconic necromancer who is going to give us interesting skeletons. There are more than enough pictures of run-of-the-mill animated human skeletons. Easily my favorite thing about the new iconic is that we will get new and fresh art thanks to him.
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I don't know. The story felt like a rehash of Aang the Last Necromancer/Airbender. Aang/Usharak ran away from his unwanted chosen one job and his tribe was completely wiped out.
There are major differences but I felt like I've seen this before.
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And to your point, I'm also a big fan of the idea of a more "virtuous" take on Necromancy, though of course it can exist along with the more archetypal "Obviously Evil D00D" too.As always, magic, like any power in Pathfinder's setting, can be used for good or for evil. It can be used to protect and save or to destroy and defile. The choice is ultimately the bearer's.
Quite true! Though it also makes a lot of sense that, while the user's intention may be good, that such macabre magic would most often be feared and reviled by most not in the know. Plus in the Golarion setting the idea of undeath either originating or becoming far more widespread due to an act of defiance against cosmic order (Urgathoa escaping Pharasma) certainly would cause quite a few others to be wary.
But yes, the Iruxi and other cultures having a more benign practice certainly has appeal.
As much as Necromancy often gets relegated as the shorthand as the "evil magic" in most settings, I actually like the idea of something like Chronomancy being even MORE taboo and discouraged, considering the far-reaching implications of directly manipulating spacetime itself. And that can go significantly darker and more "wrong" in malicious hands!
I had a lot of fun playing a Chronomancer-styled character and really exploring the ethical implications and existential dread of someone who was more acutely aware of things like alternate timelines and parallel realities (started as a Wizard and eventually "evolved" into a Witchwarper) and his unmooring from his "home" universe. I can see a heroic Necromancer also having a really engaging struggle with their own powers while being just as studious to only use them for the right cause.
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They can also be motivators for wanting to live on and protect others. Seelah had a lot of regret stealing that helm (so much so that she offered her life to give the wearer of that helm justice in death) but her regret and guilt proved her humanity and became her salvation.The last part makes me feel like Usharak might end up on the wrong side of Necromancy in the end.
Regrets and guilt are powerful tools for corruption.
"He will find a way to bring them all back" is what I find rather ominous.
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I can see a heroic Necromancer also having a really engaging struggle with their own powers while being just as studious to only use them for the right cause.
I have had for decades the concept of a boy with a natural link to the power of death and an invisible friend that is actually an undead trying to set him on the darkest path.
Maybe the Necromancer might be the class to finally play this concept.
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I don't know. The story felt like a rehash of Aang the Last Necromancer/Airbender. Aang/Usharak ran away from his unwanted chosen one job and his tribe was completely wiped out.
There are major differences but I felt like I've seen this before.
In fairness Aang's story was not unique either by multiple centuries or millennia, there are loads of stories about the reluctant hero who attempts to avoid their duty/destiny before returning to find that their indecision destroyed everything they cared about.
Getting right down to it, there are only really six or seven stories and they just get retold in different ways. BUT, I personally quite enjoyed Aang's in that show's context and I enjoy Usharak's in the context of the Golarion setting, and I think both are worth telling and exploring in spite of their similarities to one another and countless predecessors =]
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Like "Refusal of the Call" is either the second or third step in the monomyth, depending on who you ask.
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I don't know. The story felt like a rehash of Aang the Last Necromancer/Airbender. Aang/Usharak ran away from his unwanted chosen one job and his tribe was completely wiped out.
There are major differences but I felt like I've seen this before.
I totally agree.
I love the character and like that we got a non-traditional necromancer, but the writing itself struck me as rather...basic--like something I might write for one of my own characters.
I like to think Paizo has higher standards than what I myself am capable of.
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I think some people here are giving this too much thought. Iconics are meant to represent the most basic interpretation of what the class is supposed to be. They aren't really characters but rather like a sort of avatar for the class. They don't need to be that deep.
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I'm looking forward to the iconic encounter, which I feel is where we get to see the character properly. I wouldn't really want iconic backstories to twist themselves in knots to avoid "common reasons for somebody to become an adventurer".
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I was hoping Nyctessa would get to shine as the iconic, especially after Wake the Dead, but I do like Usharak and his story. He's a refreshing take on a necromancer, and it works well with how integrated it is into iruxi traditional practices.
Ditto. I'd put money down she'll be one of the Sample Builds though, and I could see her turning up in the narrative of IM.
That is my theory as well.
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I was hoping Nyctessa would get to shine as the iconic, especially after Wake the Dead, but I do like Usharak and his story. He's a refreshing take on a necromancer, and it works well with how integrated it is into iruxi traditional practices.
Nyctessa is the Dhampir necromancer iconic correct? Honestly she didn't appeal to me whatsover sadly. I wonder if we'll get a new Dhampir iconic one of these days?
Usharak seemed really cool to me, and I loved getting to see a more 'monstrous' feeling ancestry depicted with language like 'village' that didn't treat them as inherently nomadic or living in 'camps' as if tribal people don't understand the concept of settling somewhere with a house (or as if living in a collection of houses is somehow a different thing if you don't have a state).
Not that Paizo hasn't been pretty good about this kind of thing and getting better every day, of course. It's just nice for even as lightly monstrous as iruxi to be treated like a people who might live in a settlement just like humans, rather than always something other with their strange, uncivilized ways.
I can't wait for the Encounter to see how this necromancer narratively plays out, and I love that we get to see more about iruxi bone magic, because that's always seemed just plain neat to me.
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I can't wait for the Encounter to see how this necromancer narratively plays out, and I love that we get to see more about iruxi bone magic, because that's always seemed just plain neat to me.
Bone magic is so cool, it's very unlikely but I'd love to see some more feats for it. Kholos also have similar feats I believe.
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Aesthetically, the green glass and bones is cool as heck, and the backstory is solid. I like how even someone who's naturally gifted at necromancy can still find it difficult and unpleasant, too.
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...so?
Usharak has a classic motivation, and there's a reason it's classic. "I want to become strong enough to undo a personal tragedy." That's literally tragic hero/sympathetic villain 101 for a reason. And it's an insight into iruxi culture besides.
That's exactly it: it's cliche.
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That's exactly it: it's cliche.
Generally, Iconics aren't exactly the place to get unconventional with character motivations, as they're designed to be the sort of character you can just kind of pick up and run with, even without roleplaying (or system) experience. "Something Real Bad happened to the people I cared about, and I need to get the skills to fix it (with necromancy)" is a nice foundational option that isn't overlapping too much with any of the other 2e Iconic's motivations.
The priorities of an Iconic's personality design are: easy roleplaying hook, solid motivation to get involved in an adventure, and maybe one or two slightly off-beat details for flavour. You or I can get excruciatingly weird with our character concepts because we are making them for maybe a half-dozen people, and mostly for ourselves. Paizo is making the Iconics to invite people to try Pathfinder, that's got pretty different design priorities.
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That's exactly it: it's cliche.Generally, Iconics aren't exactly the place to get unconventional with character motivations, as they're designed to be the sort of character you can just kind of pick up and run with, even without roleplaying (or system) experience. "Something Real Bad happened to the people I cared about, and I need to get the skills to fix it (with necromancy)" is a nice foundational option that isn't overlapping too much with any of the other 2e Iconic's motivations.
The priorities of an Iconic's personality design are: easy roleplaying hook, solid motivation to get involved in an adventure, and maybe one or two slightly off-beat details for flavour. You or I can get excruciatingly weird with our character concepts because we are making them for maybe a half-dozen people, and mostly for ourselves. Paizo is making the Iconics to invite people to try Pathfinder, that's got pretty different design priorities.
Nevertheless, previous iconics seemed more compelling and just a little deeper to me than this one.
But that's enough of my own subjective opinion on the matter; I'm sure everyone is sick of hearing it by now.
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I quite like Usharak, he sets a good baseline story for both heroic or villainous Necromancers, the tragedy feels like it could push him either way. And just happy to see some iruxi love, very nice seeing the iconics branch out a bit more in ancestries.
I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!
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I like finally having an Iruxi iconic, though I agree, the backstory was a bit boring.
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I really liked their story and how ambiguous it could go. Do they become a villain or a hero, all motivated by a tragic backstory and noble motivations. It reminds me of spiderman, funnily enough.
Most of all I just kinda want to give them a hug. Absolutely great in my opinion.
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Ok, now I have to ask. Do iruxi being cold-blooded(?) reptiles(?) generally even like hugs from warm-bloods? Maybe it's unpleasant. Or if not, still not comfortable. Maybe they don't like touches.
Also Usharak is an interesting enough iconic.
Pet reptiles can be quite physically affectionate =]
That said, particularly with a more sapient individual, one should always check the intended recipient's boundaries first.
But I could totally imagine an Iruxi glomming onto a willing warm-blood at night to keep cozy through sleep. A steady, reliable heat source with minimal fluctuation would be quite the benefit!
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Ok, now I have to ask. Do iruxi being cold-blooded(?) reptiles(?) generally even like hugs from warm-bloods? Maybe it's unpleasant. Or if not, still not comfortable. Maybe they don't like touches.
Also Usharak is an interesting enough iconic.
Pet reptiles can be quite physically affectionate =]
That said, particularly with a more sapient individual, one should always check the intended recipient's boundaries first.
But I could totally imagine an Iruxi glomming onto a willing warm-blood at night to keep cozy through sleep. A steady, reliable heat source with minimal fluctuation would be quite the benefit!
I used to have to help reposition a very large rat snake that liked sleeping on the 8th green of a golf course I worked at. I would get a call to move it by the grounds keepers and I would go there and offer my arm next to the snake. Snake sensing how warm my arm was would curl around it and then I could just gently lift it and go sit by its favorite sunning rock until it was warmed up enough from my arm it would just slither to its rock.
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Ok, now I have to ask. Do iruxi being cold-blooded(?) reptiles(?) generally even like hugs from warm-bloods? Maybe it's unpleasant. Or if not, still not comfortable. Maybe they don't like touches.
Also Usharak is an interesting enough iconic.
Coincidentally I was surfing some of the "Ask the game designers" threads this last week for something completely unrelated and saw an opinion that iruxi were indeed warm-blooded. Im pretty sure it was from years ago, so take that with a grain of salt. I want to say the specific thread in question was Ask James Jacobs Anything.
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I recall this too, but it could have been very early on in PF2 when “let’s keep ancestries someone close to how humans work so tables don’t argue about how environmental factors affect their characters” got pretty well overwritten with undead ancestries and awakened animals and everyone just decided that “all ancestries bleed and react to things the way humans do unless specifically spelled out otherwise.”
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Huh. The idea that iruxi are from the endothermic branch of reptiles, much like Dinosaurs, is... interesting.
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Huh. The idea that iruxi are from the endothermic branch of reptiles, much like Dinosaurs, is... interesting.
Oh that makes sense actually, their lore does strongly emphasize the "Legacy of Ancient Beasts" angle, plus Droon being all full of dinosaurs. That does lead to the question of why so many of their heritages are direct references to species of modern lizard like chameleon and frilled lizards.
Huh. The idea that iruxi are from the endothermic branch of reptiles, much like Dinosaurs, is... interesting.
Being endothermic has evolved enough times that I don't think iruxi being warm-blooded necessarily puts them over with the birds rather than the lizards, you know?