Pathfinder 2E Paizo drops use of the word phylactery

[Blue Orange]

As an undergraduate, I took a lot of anthropology courses that were also part of our Middle Eastern Studies program. In one of my courses, we were covering modern Egypt and I was a bit surprised to learn that many Egyptians still have a connection to ancient Egypt. I had assumed because it was so long ago, pre-Islam, and they didn't even share the same language that they wouldn't really care. Boy, was my assumption wrong.

I recall hearing on the news that a lot of Greeks weren't so keen on Disney's Hercules cartoon.

'300' didn't go over so well in Iran, but they're not a major market and relations with them aren't so good anyway, so the studio got away with it.

And yeah, people from really old cultures love to draw on that history.

FWIW, I am half Jewish, and think this is kind of silly. (I mean, I guess the gnomes were kind of stereotypical being short and having big noses and liking gold, but they were a good race and had that neat illusionist thing going on, so not so bad? I guess if they were evil and owned all the banks it would be a different story.) But I can't blame Paizo for wanting to stay out of trouble.

(BTW, the original description of the illusionist class in Dragon was done by a Jewish guy.)

 

[Staffan]

The idea is that they're imprisoning their own soul in a cage, so "soulcage" is a great word for it (and it has the advantage of immediately evoking the right idea in the reader as to what sort of thing it does). To a lich, a soul is not something to be valued. It's a liability. It's the key to their destruction. And it's the thing that binds them to the cycle of life and death. By putting their soul in a cage and locking it a way, they're not only protecting their weakness from enemies, but they're shedding the part of their own existence that lets them transition from life to death.

Reliquary was considered, but we use that word too often for its real-world usage in adventures, and also it suggest ties to relics (a type of magic item we introduced in the Gamemastery Guide) that aren't appropriate, so we went with soul cage instead.

For those who don't know (since it's not visible in the forum), James Jacobs is the Creative Director at Paizo. So those are the actual reasons Paizo made the change, not just some dude guessing about Paizo's motivations.

 

[John R Davis]

That's a shame as its a very cool sounding word.

Phylactery of Faithfulness. This still going to exist for evil deities/clerics?​

 

[kenada]

I think I like them together better than apart. Soulcage or Soul Cage...

Same. I’m not a fan of the new term with them separate, but together it’s like they have that fantasy zest.

 

[Blue Orange]

Soulcage works. I mean, it's a cage for its soul, and it sounds evil, and liches are usually evil. (Though I'd argue there's no reason for that to be the case--I can think of plenty of reasons for a good-aligned archmage to become a lich.) It does sound like something you'd do to someone rather than something you'd do for yourself, but of course liches could now trap other people's souls and make them do stuff.

I agree with what other people have said--Gygax probably just liked his thesaurus (and probably thought he was being 'broad-minded' grabbing monsters from around the world if he thought about it at all). I didn't really see any antisemitic themes elsewhere in D&D.

BTW, apparently Lee Gold (who was a big amateur gaming figure back in the day) actually wrote a bit on Judaism as a game religion if you want to play a rabbi:

GOLEMS & GEMATRIA: roleplaying Jewish characters

 

[Staffan]

That's a shame as its a very cool sounding word.

Phylactery of Faithfulness. This still going to exist for evil deities/clerics?​

I'm neither Paizo nor Jewish, but to me the phylactery of faithfulness sounds more like a real-world phylactery: it's a tiny box holding pieces of scripture, giving you greater insight into divine mysteries (manifesting as a bonus to Religion checks, a warning if you're about to do something anathema, and the ability to ask for divine guidance regarding your actions). It might fall under cultural appropriation, but it doesn't seem as directly offensive as a lich's phylactery.

 

[MGibster]

I don’t have a dog in this race. It’s not like I use liches frequently and I don’t play Pathfinder. Soul cage sounds like something you’d hear in a cheesy 80s fantasy movie like The Barbarians or The Sword and the Sorcerer. It’s completely devoid of any character.

 

[Blue Orange]

I don’t have a dog in this race. It’s not like I use liches frequently and I don’t play Pathfinder. Soul cage sounds like something you’d hear in a cheesy 80s fantasy movie like The Barbarians or The Sword and the Sorcerer. It’s completely devoid of any character.

I'd argue a cheesy 80s fantasy movie has plenty of character, and might be just right for many campaigns!

Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of. And unto this, Conan, destined to bear the jeweled soulcage of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure!

 

[ReshiIRE]

From everything I've read there appears to be a mixed reaction from a lot of people.

Personally, if it was anyone but Gygax who had chosen the word, I'd consider it's choice unfortunate or innocent. But considering a lot of the stuff he said...

Soul vessal sounds better to me, but to be fair, while there are some commonalities between liches, I think having a lich determine what they call their soul cage or soul vessal or anima vas would be cool. Especially if they then determine what shape it is.

 

[Justice and Rule]

I don’t have a dog in this race. It’s not like I use liches frequently and I don’t play Pathfinder. Soul cage sounds like something you’d hear in a cheesy 80s fantasy movie like The Barbarians or The Sword and the Sorcerer. It’s completely devoid of any character.

By saying it's like something you'd hear in a cheesy 80's fantasy movie, aren't you actually giving it character?

Edit: By the by, I also agree on having no space, since it comes off as a proper noun more than being separate. Though I think my favorite alternative from this thread is definitely Soul Anchor.