I think is not the modern soulburnig the one that not use other person soul but J. The catalyst class shows that they can do it but they are not willing to use another person without consent (and you have to convince them that it is safe even for them to accept). Other soulburner may not have their morality and use the power of other people souls (and we don’t now what they were force to do as the red wizard).
So soulburnig can be used evilly easily but that depend of the user
That’s why I never played Lost Heir. That’s the dumbest thing I have ever heard.
Didn’t mention it because it can be used without doing evil, as Snowflower mentioned. Jace/Jess is a little bit evil, but that’s beside the point 
More to the point, it reduces your alignment just by taking the class and you have to be evil to take the class in the first place - which is explained by only evil people being able to read the necromancy book without getting screaming nightmares. You can end up as a “good” necromancer, but that’s because TLH allows you to buy indulgences.
It’s mostly because LoaW and TLH are based on the D&D Standard Fantasy Setting, where meddling with death magic is Evil™ because it is, with no real explanation for that - later games and editions have noticed that this isn’t necessarily morally justifiable, but it’s probably not going away.
If I were to rewrite TLH…well, first off, I would reverse how it does evil classes to begin with. Instead of requiring you to be evil to be able to join the class, I’d have following the class’ path require you to do evil deeds and thus push your alignment down. In the case of necromancy, I’d have a necromancer have to kill people as part of studying and developing their powers (like the necromancy subplot in Life of a Wizard). That’s an entirely reasonable mechanic that neatly explains why the magic is evil.
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This statement confuses me. You’ve never played a popular trilogy of games because of its stance on necromancy? Huh?
Either way, you’re missing out on some seriously fun fantasy for not playing it period.
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I wouldn’t have such restrictions at all. I’m sick of having to be a bastard to get the cool powers.
Yeah, it’s just a HUGE pet peeve of mine. “It’s evil because of some abstract dark force and that’s why you can’t do cool stuff and be a good guy.” Fuck that shit.
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Ah, I see. I don’t like Good/Evil stats in my games to begin with, and plenty of people have mentioned this to Lucid before. I would go so far as to say that’s one of the reasons Space Force Captain doesn’t have one.
However, with regards to the practice of necromancy being a dark and corruptable one, that’s just Lucid’s fantasy. The evil stat prerequisites were removed to make it so that you don’t have to be a certain amount of evil to do this thing, but doing it to start makes you more evil every time. The lore being that since necromancy uses the power and very existence of souls to do your bidding.
I mean, this is why you should play something before criticizing it so deeply; in TLH 3, you can ressurect one of your fallen friends who were the Red Wizard/Warrior/Assassin, and turn them into a mindless ghoul servant with extreme killing potential. I did this myself, and enjoyed it immensely. It was pretty cool.
But also pretty fucking evil, wouldn’t you say?
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Depends. Does their spirit suffer for it? If not, it’s just a body, no one’s using it. This particular trope is such a pet peeve it legitimately turns me off of some fantasy works. Not only is necromancy my favorite type of magic, but I hate it when there’s no justification for why something is good or bad. Morality doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Still, that does sound pretty fun.
So you disagree that using one’s body for mass slaughter after their death is horrible? I’m non-religious myself and even I don’t. But to each his own, I guess my next response is if you don’t find something like that deplorable, at least morally, then it sounds like you won’t find too many problems with Lucid’s games. Sure, doing that stuff raises your evil stat, but I’ve found no content that you miss out on for being really good or evil. It’s just a variable on the stats page. Its…pretty worthless. And this was one of the criticisms against it I mentioned. So what’s still keeping you from it?
Edit: Yes, actually, their spirit does suffer from it, I just remembered. When you first start doing research on the very ritual (I did it on Jess every time, because the undead Red Wozard is my favorite), it mentions something about not allowing jer soul to move on if you perform it.
So yes, there is narrative justification as to why its evil. Not just something mindlessly telling you so.
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Well, I didn’t know that last bit but no, I don’t think using one’s body for killing is wrong. killing is killing, it all depends on WHO is being fought and WHY (with the former being more important). Kill bad people or for a good reason, you’re golden. The means of killing aren’t evil unless they’re disproportionately cruel to the victims compared to their effectiveness in combat or cause too much collateral damage to be acceptable given the circumstances.
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Hey let’s focus on starship captain here and maybe move the necromancy talk to the lost heir thread.
Right. In any case, can you actually learn suggestion?
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Well, the topic was off but the conversation was relevant in context, that being Lucid’s style of writing morality and how that effects his games. But I agree, its clear it’s time to digress on the subject, anyways.
Edit: @comradelenin Yes.
To bring the Lucidverse ethics discussion back to Space Force Captain, I’d personally say that the Suggestion ending is cool…but definitely very, very evil, though what I don’t like about it is how you don’t really choose it as a path, and you don’t have the ability to exit from it. You use Suggestion on Apogee, use your power to protect yourself from the consequences, and then there’s no turning back from becoming a mind-control emperor and overwriting the minds of everyone you once loved.
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For the scrambled DNA, I know it will prevent any further physic studies but will it prevent cybernetics?
Yes. Hard to shapeshift when you’ve got metal covering your body.
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So I just finished and got the Charming Victory ending and… wow… I did NOT expect that… I mean sure my Aurellian loved the spot light and was slightly manipulative when he needed to be, but NOT to that extent…
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I’ve said it before, but I can’t stress it enough. The thing I like about all Lucid games is that there are no guilt trips, plot armours for enemies, no political agendas, no moral or internal struggling issues or any nonsense like that. It’s just a downright, straightforward bad ass situation where you can coddle, or blast enemies into the next universe, as long as your stats check out. Lucid games truly makes me feel like I’m actually playing a game. To me, it’s not really much of a game if I’m not the judge of my own character. Sure, it’s realistic for fellow game characters to judge and even react to your character based on their actions. However, i’ve also stumbled upon cases where authors themselves penalise you for being a scumbag, in which case I find it a bit pushy and personal. I won’t mention names, as this post is not intended to bash other authors, but rather to express my gratitude and obviously the awesomeness of Mike Walter. The more I play his games, the more I’m looking forward to even more of his games.
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Hi everyone, I’m playing as a Science team Synth romancing Flok. I’ve just recieved the option to blow up the Mars facility and am feeling conflicted. On one hand, my character is compassionate and would not want to see so many Orroks lose their jobs, but on the other hand, my character is very committed to the DSF and thinks Malko is just a corrupt criminal. Basically, I’d like to know the consequences of both choices. I’ve really only got the patience for a single playthrough, so I’m trying to play it perfectly. Also, is it worth letting Alex/Rachel become president to stay in the Artemis Society, or is the reputation boost more important?
First question, yeah, I’d recommend destroying it, and for the second one, both are good options. If you let Alex/Rachel win and join the Artemis society, you can collect secrets and boost your rep with other factions and get a special ending if you collect enough secrets. Or you can win the election and use that as a steppingstone for higher office later in the future, neither is inherently good or inherently bad and you’re going to have to replay to see what everything does in detail. To elaborate more on your first question, the only way you’ll get anything really good out of destroying the factory is joining the cluster ball team during your first day at the Academy, throwing the match when he asks you to, then destroying the factory when it comes up. That unlocks another ending near the end of the game.
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So if I only smuggled drugs for him while on the student council thing I won’t really get anything special for blowing the facility up? Also, can I still get a good rep with other factions if I’m not part of the Artemis Society?