Welcome back to Flavor Friday! I know last week I didn’t have anything posted. And while I did have an excuse, that was no reason to leave you guys hanging. So, this week, we’re going to examine what we should have looked at last week. Now, if you remember, last week (and Tuesday this week) was considered House Rule week. I was presenting changes to the basic rules that I utilize in my home games. Now, I want to present some of the changes in flavor that I utilize.
1 – Divine Casting
In the basic game (and in Golarion, Paizo’s campaign setting), it is assumed that clerics and other prepared divine casters receive their spells directly from the gods. They pray and request spells from their gods, and the gods listen and grant them. I’ve always had a problem with this system in that it assumes that the gods are real. Now, I’m an atheist, and I do consider that fact to play into this decision. But that’s not all. Historically, there have been SEVERAL religions all existing at the same time, all with the same stories. I’m not talking about the Asgardian or Olympian pantheons, each of which presents a host of gods on their own. I’m talking about Mithras, Baal and all those other “mystery cults.” And even while they pervaded the peoples’ minds, so did Germanic pagan gods and the deities of the Shinto religion in East Asia. Hundreds of gods all existing at the same time. In a Pathfinder-style setting, all of these gods would just…exist. They would interact with the world and speak with their followers. To me, that concept asks too much of the world. How many exceptions would there have to be to prevent these gods from just coming down from their planar palaces and ruling over the material plane? What about all the terrible things that occur, the monsters that roam or the villains that seek to conquer? What’s stopping a god that is understood as being real from just showing up and saving the world?
Starting to see problems?
So, instead of the definite existence of gods, my games take a more…realistic approach. The gods are not assumed to objectively exist, and even if they did, they do not necessarily grant direct power to their followers. It is instead the act of belief—of faith itself—that grants divine casters their power. They truly believe that their deities are giving them power, and so they receive it. Whether it’s actually through divine intervention or it’s just another form of magic is up for debate. This opens up the concept of divine casters being dedicated to a philosophy, or a cause instead of a deity. This is an idea that’s always been around since original 1st edition D&D, but with the assumption of actual deities, it’s always had a problem with actually functioning correctly. When the deities exist and actually grant spells to their followers, it begs the question as to just how a philosophy or cause can grant those same powers. By instead granting them their powers through pure faith, it opens the doors to all sorts of options. A cleric could even gain strength through nihilism—or even atheism, if the player wanted.
The other thing I like about this system is it allows for misinterpretation. Let’s say you have a god whose cause is righteousness and healing. In a system where that god exists, someone who interprets those teachings a different way—perhaps they have a different definition of “righteousness” or a very personal interpretation on what is “good”—cannot really exist, because the god knows his/her own values and can choose to grant spells and abilities to whomever represents those. However, with a system wherein faith determines power, these “misunderstood” clerics have a place as well, creating all sorts of ambiguity and fun. Good isn’t necessarily good, and evil isn’t necessarily evil.
2 – Classes
While most of the classes have strong enough flavor on their own, there are a few that I don’t altogether agree with.
The Barbarian: I’ve always had a problem with the barbarian. First of all, the name itself suggests something that should not be included in the class: a culture. Looking at any other class, they all suggest skills and abilities, but never a definitive culture. “Barbarian” doesn’t even suggest a style of combat, or skills. All it means is that the person is “un-civilized”. Nearly any class can be considered a barbarian. There can be barbaric bards, barbaric sorcerers, barbaric druids, barbaric paladins; the list goes on. Back in the 3.5 days, a barbarian was automatically illiterate at first level. That did a little to increase the “barbaric” flavor of the class, but was a bad move overall. Pathfinder fixed that by removing the illiteracy. But what was left was more “Berserker” than “Barbarian.” And that’s how I treat the class. It’s not an uncivilized warrior, but rather one who has been trained to master his rage and turn it into strength instead of becoming a weapon-master like the fighter, or a master of self-perfection like the monk.
The Paladin: The paladin is almost defined by their alignment. Lawful. Good. That really says it all. They’re honorable and righteous. They’re heroes. But, in a system like mine, where alignment is something to be questioned and characters are defined instead by their actions and beliefs, a paladin becomes something else. While they still must follow their code, what defines them can be interpreted in different ways. Is it a holy warrior, fighting for good and righteousness? Or maybe the paladin re-interprets this code. What if “good” means fighting those whom you perceive as evil? And what if the paladin perceives the leader of a local orphanage as a villain? Or the local magistrate? They’re required to accept “legitimate” authority. Who is to say what is legitimate? A paladin who believes in different ideals than the mayor of a town might feel that he has the right to disobey that mayor and even kill him. In a system without alignment, a paladin with altruistic motives might be a hero, but one with a skewed sense of justice can be just as dangerous as a vile necromancer or a demonologist with visions of ruling the world.
Well, I hope you enjoyed reading about the flavor-shifts in my games, and maybe it inspires you to re-skin some of your own world and re-interpret some of your own values in-game.
-Chris
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