This is Gavvin posting for Drovic Adair, Drow Ninja.
Although his name is well known within certain circles, not much is known about the person named Drovic Adair. While the name is certainly a masculine Drow name, those who have dealt with him have described him as any of a variety of races of both genders with ages ranging from adolescent to venerable. Whatever his true form, one can only assume then, that he is a master of disguise, either magical or mundane, or perhaps a composite of both.
Drovic is no mere thief, but he has stolen many items that were considered most secure. Neither is he a simple assassin, although he has killed for pay. Some might call him a spy and it is without doubt that he has worked successfully in that capacity. It is said that he simply prefers the term "operator".
Rumor has it, if you have a job that requires stealth, subtlety, and misdirection, and you can afford his fee, Drovic is your man..er, woman...person!
(I apologize again for not being more forthcoming with an actual stat block/character history but, I am trying to preserve some mystery)
It seems like I am not on the list of candidates at this point, but to be fair, most of my communication has through been through PMs. Thusly, I would like to make a more formal post to let everyone know I am looking at an Advanced Drow Antipaladin of the House Rasivrein. While he can be quite the brute, he often prefers to use other means to control those around him.
Regarding Warlord (the Dreamscarred Press version), I would not say it is broken. I play one inanother game, although at a lower level. The barbarian consistently outdamages my Warlord, but I have more options versus DR and options when it comes to mobility, avoiding AoOs, flanking, etc.
Spells and eidolon stats are now up. How are we handling hit points?
Still working on equipment. It's [whine]hard[/whine] to equip a ghost -- what the frack would i do with a potion? I'm probably going to take Craft Wondrous Item and spend most of my money on slotless items that I don't need to handle. Can I also assume that anything I craft, I can figure out a way to handle myself (e.g. a ghostly amulet of Xyzzy)?
This also means that if the rest of the party needs a crafter, I can help them out, through Aranix and an unseen servant if needful. In particular: Anaxian, if we can get together, I can probably make you a greater hat of disguise that allow you to turn into anything you like for a 'mere' 6000 gp plus your eternal soul or some such unnoticed trifle. With the GM's permission, of course.
Oh, I haven't actually got a name for the character, yet. Aranix is the use-name of my eidolon. Suggestions for cool names welcomed. I've been trying to come up with something vaguely drow-like that includes elements of "Marley." Marley's ghost, get it? <sting> (I'm also available for weddings, birthdays, and bar mitzvahs. Don't forget to tip the waitstaff.)
HP are max at 1st and half+1 other levels (so d10=6).
Ioun stones, Ghost Touch weapon (with conductive property to channel your Corrupting or Draining touch), maybe a Staff to open up the non-weapon magic options of the Staff. Ghost touch armor, etc. Of course, if you plan to use your incorporealness often, you'll have to keep coming back for your stuff.
@thunderbeard: Not really feeling the WtW Witch Doctor. Too much cheese. I'll withdraw that one. I'll think about another character, but I doubt I'll get it in on time.
I think I have completed my profile. I bought the gear (added a +2 headband of charisma because 34 felt too low :P)
took the traits and posted background, description and personality.
Can't wait for the pillow fights and mud wrestling.
Very nice build! I wouldn't want to be any humanoid caught on the receiving end of those will saves. :P
I know many Humanoid that would like it very much.
after all.. most of those will saves merely stands for: they desire Delyliath too much to care about consequences.
So the background is mostly done, pending some tweaks before the weekend. So here's Iranaset, a half silver dragon elf who has a thing for torture and pain.
Honestly I might try to make it more light hearted, the background feels a bit rough.
Iranaset's picture looks like she waving and going "HIIII!". Actually, looks a bit like a cheerful friend of mine, minus the dragon/elf/evil thing.
@Axolotl: Nymph is an absurdly powerful creature for its CR, and Nightmare Creature adds template CR. I'd say if you want to play a Nymph, just go with standard Nymph ability scores, but customize your feats, skills, and equipment. (and get bonus languages for high Int)
If I understand this correctly, Nightmare Nymph naturally necessitates nerfing? :D
I agree to comments by GM and Movin--Nymph alone is quite powerful, and the Nightmare template (which I chose for flavor, I swear!) is super powerful for only +1 CR. Broken!
To clarify, can I use the Nightmare template + Nymph, or have you reconsidered? If not, I miiiight consider Nightmare Pixie, although "angry gothic Tinkerbell of dreamz" isn't quite as scary.
If I can use Nymph + Nightmare Template, I'm also fine with, all things considered, not taking any character levels at the onset. The Nymph and Nightmare powers are quite versatile and effective on their own as face/debuffer. Although not quite as face-y as the Succubus! The Sorcerer was put in to fill slots.
Come to think of it, a Life Oracle level might be more useful for the party, as it can heal creatures who benefit from negative or positive energy (it sidesteps the whole issue). That does bring up the one biiiig drawback to Nymphs; they are glass cannons without a lot of hit points, and that's the one thing that brings a lot of the Nymph-powers into perspective. Compared to other contenders, a Nightmare Nymph's AC and HP are suboptimal.
Anyhow, happy to tweak it as needed--just wanted to make sure if it's NN + 1 level, no extra ability points, Just Nymph + level, NN no levels, or some other combo.
Query: Are you waiving the extra 25k gp the Graveknight needs to spend for the ritual (or doing something similar to your lich solution)?
Query: Are you waiving the extra 25k gp the Graveknight needs to spend for the ritual (or doing something similar to your lich solution)?
I'll happily spend the GP necessary to become a graveknight even if I start out with nothing other than my armor.
Just saying.
'cept it's 25k over and above the cost of the armor. But, as I actually read things, that might just be more of a variant for folks that want to do it to themselves rather than it ocurring through circumstance.
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Ok, here is Govjax crunch and fluff together in one place. Hope it is ok and look forward to playing if chosen. thanks
Govjax
Male Dark Stalker Slayer 3
CN Medium humanoid (dark folk)
Init +7; Senses see in darkness; Perception +16
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Defense
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AC 23, touch 15, flat-footed 18 (+5 armor, +1 shield, +5 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 75 (3d10+6d8+27)
Fort +8, Ref +15, Will +3
Weakness light blindness
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 flaming silver shortsword +14/+9 (1d6+3/19-20+1d6 fire) and
. . +1 frost cold iron shortsword +14/+9 (1d6+4/19-20+1d6 cold)
Special Attacks favored target, sneak attack +4d6
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th; concentration +7)
. . At will—deeper darkness, detect magic (at will), fog cloud
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Statistics
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Str 16, Dex 24, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 11, Cha 12
Base Atk +7; CMB +10; CMD 27
Feats Double Slice, Improved Two-weapon Fighting, Two-weapon Defense, Two-weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (shortsword)
Traits armor expert, augmented disguise
Skills Acrobatics +13, Bluff +9, Climb +12, Disable Device +18, Disguise +12, Perception +16, Stealth +28, Survival +10 (+11 to track), Swim +7; Racial Modifiers +4 Climb, +4 Perception, +4 Stealth
Languages Aboleth, Common, Draconic, Orc
SQ combat styles (two-weapon combat), death throes, poison use, slayer talents (ranger combat style), track
Other Gear +2 shadow studded leather, +1 flaming silver shortsword, +1 frost cold iron shortsword, disguise kit, thieves' tools, masterwork, 155 gp
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Special Abilities
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Armor Expert -1 Armor check penalty.
Death Throes (DC 16) (Su) 20' Burst of Flame when you die deals 3d6 damage.
Deeper Darkness (At will) (Sp) Cast Darkness at will.
Detect Magic (at will) (At will) (Sp) Cast Detect Magic at will.
Favored Target (+1, 1 at a time, Move) (Ex) Study foe as a Move action, gain +1 to att/dam & some skills vs. them.
Fog Cloud (At will) (Sp) Cast Darkness at will.
Light Blindness (Ex) Bright light blinds for 1 rd, then dazzled as long as remain in it.
Poison Use (Ex) You do not risk poisoning yourself accidentally while poisoning a weapon.
See in Darkness See perfectly in darkness of any kind, including magical darkness.
Sneak Attack +4d6 +4d6 damage if you flank your target or your target is flat-footed.
Track +1 Add the listed bonus to survival checks made to track.
Two-weapon Defense +1 to AC while wielding 2 weapons. +2 when doing so defensively.
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Background
Born on the shores of an underground ocean, Govjax had always been in thrall to someone. From his time in training with the other Dark Stalkers, to his subjugation to the Aboleth matron who controlled the seaside city in which he lived, Govjax had never known freedom…until now.
Called into the council chamber Govjax assumed he was being punished once again for some imagined slight he caused to someone. Punishment was always harsh and strict, but usually random in the Darkfolk city. For the most part it was the slaves who took the brunt of the random acts of violence that were a day to day occur ace in the city, but sometimes a creeper or, more rarely, a stalker would attract the ire of one of the powerful and be made an example of. This was Govjax’s third offense. Standing in the cold hall, with only the trog guards for company, Govjax racked his mind to try and learn who it was that had it in for him. He did not have much time to deliberate before the gong sounded and the council filed into the chamber. Lying flat on his stomach, as ritual dictated, Govjax could see very little of the 12 members of the council who ruled the city. He did know that 8 of them were Darkfolk like him, and at least 2 were Drow and 1 was a Duergar or Derro. The final councillor was a complete mystery. Some speculated it was a mindflayer, or perhaps a lich, but no one knew for sure. Dresses as they were in black robes and white, faceless masks, no one knew for certain who was and was not on the council.
“Assassin 23144-A, known as Govjax stand and attend us! You have been called upon to be in front of this council twice before. Have you learned from your punishments! Speak!”[/b]
Quickly jumping to his feet, Govjax bowed low.
“I have”, he intoned remaining in the stance of submission.
“Good then on to the business at hand” spoke one of the other councillors.
‘We have been presented with a proposal that is quite lucrative and requires a skilled assassin. It has come from an unknown source, but one that have been vetted and proven reliable. They are requesting a skilled assassin for an undisclosed time period and for an unknown job. Normally we would ignore such a request; however the Great Matron has directed us to fulfill this contract. With so much unknown we are not willing to send a valuable asset that we might lose, so instead we are sending you!”
The silky voice of one of the Drow continued on.
“You will be sent to the rendezvous immediately. A token was sent so your new employer will know who you are, and while we were originally inclined to keep these tokens, it was suggested to us that the client might be angered by this. So consider yourself lucky and pick up your gear in the office outside. You are to depart right away.”
With that final pronouncement, a gong sounded, and Govjax was once again prostrate on the floor as the council filed out. As he lay there, one of the councillors swept close to his prone body.
“If you fail you will die. But if you do not die then do not come back. You will never be welcome here again!”
With that final threat ringing in his ears, Govjax scrambled to his feet once all the councillors had left and followed the Trog guards to a small office where several items were waiting for him on a table.
First was a set of black studded leather armor. Similar to that he used in training, he knew it was enchanted not only to protect him, but also to help him blend into the shadows. Next was a fine set of lock picks and tools. Created from superior material than the usual tools he used, he was surprised by their quality. Beside the picks was a satchel containing all the supplies he would need to disguise himself. It was a fairly basic kit, but still had enough material to allow him to take on the guise of several other creatures. Finally, hanging from the back of a chair were, what he assumed, the ‘token’ sent by his new employer; a pair of short swords. One looked as if it had been carved of ice, and the other from living flame. When he grasped their hilts, it was as if he were holding fire and ice.
Outfitted with the items from the room, Govjax added a few personal items and a bit of money he had scrounged. He was escorted to the great cavern’s exit to the many warrens of the underdark. With directions to the meeting site memorized, Govjax setoff into the unknown, never once looking back.
I think the Dapper Croc has decided to put off final balancing until he's settled on a party. The balance of the party is likely most important with respect to each other, rather than to a normal level of play.
That is a remarkably sensible line of reasoning and I hope he follows it, even if he hadn't yet made that decision.
I think the Dapper Croc has decided to put off final balancing until he's settled on a party. The balance of the party is likely most important with respect to each other, rather than to a normal level of play.That is a remarkably sensible line of reasoning and I hope he follows it, even if he hadn't yet made that decision.
Thirded, although of course none of us are arbiters. Fluff makes the world go round, especially when the world is full of wacky powered monster PCs. And Ilia's got some truly literary fluff.
*waves back frantically to Iranaset*
There are tales of a blood red set of demonic looking full plate that stands sentry over the doors that lead into the inner sanctum of House Rasivrein's abode. They say that while this suit of armor may look like it is for show, it has been known to animate and slay any that try to pass through those doors without the permission of Matron Rasivrein. An ever vigilant guardian of the secrets held within.
However, Matron Rasivrein has passed and whispers have started to circulate throughout the city that this scarlet warrior has left it's perch above those double doors. Some say that it hunts those that caused it's master's demise. Others believe it has been freed of the threads that bound it to serve. Either way, drow have started to go missing. While such incidents are known to happen, many have started to blame these disappearances on House Rasivrein and it's inability to control it's own.
'cept it's 25k over and above the cost of the armor. But, as I actually read things, that might just be more of a variant for folks that want to do it to themselves rather than it ocurring through circumstance.
PSSSSHHHHTTTT Details.
You know, a tiny sized golem obsessed with caffeinated beverages could be fun to play. Just saying. :-)
I just stumbled upon an interesting cheezy question. The rules for incoporeality state that "An incorporeal creature has no natural armor bonus but has a deflection bonus equal to its Charisma bonus." Oddly specific in that it only covers natural armor.
I assume a ghost could not effectively wear (non ghost-touch) armor or wield a shield? How about armor bonuses from other sources (e.g. mage armor)? I didn't see any Paizo-official ruling on this issue, for obvious reasons, but it might be important for building this as-yet-unnamed-ghost. (Actually, I'm starting to warm to the idea that he's literally forgotten his own name after all these years.)
I believe I have settled on a concept which I *think* should be interesting enough. I also *think* its one nobody has come close to proposing.
That said I want to PM Mr Beard first before I post it, cuz it's special that way.
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I believe I have settled on a concept which I *think* should be interesting enough. I also *think* its one nobody has come close to proposing.
That said I want to PM Mr Beard first before I post it, cuz it's special that way.
Construct mage who uses a rusalka strapped to its chest to power its arcane magicks? Cause I ALMOST made that.
Okay, equipment is up. There are three questionable items there, but I'm rather assuming that the Dark Goddess of Plot Armor can handwave some ethereal items if necessary. Other than that, it's mostly pages of spell knowledge and pearls of power, which my eidolon can carry around in a box with the rest of my personal effects.
Thunderbeard, you have a PM from me.
Also, according to the last list of concepts posted, nobody has put forth anything like my idea.
Well, I was thinking about making a cloaker that was prettier than a succubus (a very fancy cloak indeed--you WANT to put it on)...
Okay, here's a post on balancing characters that people who are concerned might want to read.
When I planned this campaign, I didn't realize how powerful some of the monsters get right around CR 6-8. Yes, I want the party to end up as terribly powerful warriors and monsters and lichees all that, but it's also important to me that characters don't start out able to defeat the entire Andoran army.
So I'm revising some of the comments I made before about playing high-CR monsters (feel free to ignore this and just focus on your concept—you don't need to update your character crunches, but this is the nerf I'd be applying to selected characters if you're curious to see how it plays out.
1. I should actually provide an example of what power level characters should be near. Try not to go too far over this, and if you're not sure how to play your concept without it being too powerful, you can message me about any concerns. It was suggested that I look critically at builds that are too powerful, but as long as the concept is really interesting, I'm willing to adjust the power level of things slightly if players are as well.
A level 7 character with 1-2 template levels should be equivalent in power to a non-advanced CR 7-8 monster.
Here are some good examples of about how powerful that looks.
On the high end:
A regular ogre mage
On a more human scale:
Anaxian and Iranaset are about appropriate power level for a CR 7-8 monster.
1. Nobody gets to used the Advanced template (sorry!). It's too good, and really not appropriate for PCs unless everyone gets one.
2. It turns out that monsters' ability scores scale somewhat exponentially with their CR, with a big jump after CR 5. To fix this, I'm limiting my "yes, you can put a 25-point buy on your monster" ruling to monsters with CR 5 or less.
3. For higher CR monsters (the ones I remember being mentioned are Succubus, Erinyes, Nymph, and Ogre Mage), I still want to give you guys some customizability. To this end, my new rule for these monsters is:
-Add or subtract up to 2 points from each ability score; the total scores should be the same
-Redistribute skills and feats however you wish
-Any templates you apply to a powerful monster (e.g. Nightmare creature) will be mostly for flavor, and won't provide any ability score boosts.
Again, sorry for all the rules confusion and conflicting things I might have said. I didn't realize how difficult it would be to read and evaluate this many monstrous characters, and I've been having trouble keeping up with the pace of submissions.
Would you be ok with the Animal Lord template? My character would obviously not get it until 10th level and would save his bonus levels for that.
Meanwhile, time for the GM to answer even more questions.
@Orfamay: wow, didn't realize how powerful some of those ghost special attacks are, but I'm not going to worry about that too much right now because as I've said any nerf-bat against a template will come later (and I assume your character has plenty to do other than constantly melt everyone's minds with your horrible presence)
And yes, mage armor can stop incorporeal things, so it would probably fit on an incorporeal creature. Since you're taking 50% damage from all magic weapons (and none from mundane weapons), though, armor might not be a huge issue.
@Dark Netwerk: I totally missed that 25k entry cost for becoming a Graveknight. The flavor text on that template mentions them sometimes being created on the battlefield entirely by accident, so that's what I'd go with in that case. Otherwise, your character could be trying to *become* a Graveknight, since the requirements for *intentionally* becoming one involve years of service to a dark master.
I didn't see how we were handleing HP? Working on a Half-Black Dragon Drow Noble TWF 3.
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Forgot to mention Iranaset's sword came in at around 5015gp and I went ahead and named it her "gift" from the Crimson Lady.
Also it warms my heart for you to call her a monster considering her competition in this thread. She weighs in at a whopping CR 8, and doesn't have many cool monster tricks at her disposal at all.
I really need to remember to make a place marker on these sort of things sooner.
He's been lurking in the background for a while but Sanriel the Samsaran Siabrae druid lurks in the open now. I just realize that is quite the number of S's.
Plan is for him to be an off tank/ minion lord with spellcasting goodies. healing isn't exactly my forte but I can make up for it with horrible blunt force trauma.
Oh and poison, so very much poison.
the new base for Delyliath became
Strength 12
Dexterity 18 (previously 22)
Constitution 18
Intelligence 20
Wisdom 12
Charisma 29 (previously 34)
Still reaches 31 for a whopping +10 modifier with the help of a headband of charisma +2.
But... that's a succubus... It's the picture you see when you search "charisma" in an encyclopedia.
Let me know if you need more tweaking... I really don't mind, I'm interest in playing a succubus.
Min max is not important.
Alright here is the crunch for my fighter. Backstory forthcoming.
@Orfamay: wow, didn't realize how powerful some of those ghost special attacks are, but I'm not going to worry about that too much right now because as I've said any nerf-bat against a template will come later (and I assume your character has plenty to do other than constantly melt everyone's minds with your horrible presence)
Yeah, I was impressed myself. I may have to use this guy sometime when I GM just to see how much face he can melt.
And yes, mage armor can stop incorporeal things, so it would probably fit on an incorporeal creature. Since you're taking 50% damage from all magic weapons (and none from mundane weapons), though, armor might not be a huge issue.
Yeah. Although I found the totally awesome and game-breaking magic item -- well, by "found" I mean "was directed to by a forum reader with a nose for blood" -- called the Amulet of Grasping Souls that would work to make the character more "normal."
But I'm probably not going to use it, at least initially. Partly because I think it's possibly overpowered -- I may change my mind when the succubus with a three-digit Charisma score shows up -- and partly because I kind of like the cool RP factor of the I can't touch nuthin' issue. Yeah, I know, "negative material plane problems."
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Sorry, found this one late. Are you still looking for players?
I was curious if you'd allow a monstrous character to advance as a monster instead of a PC class and get monster feats as well as PC feats along the way?
I'm interested in playing a doppelganger, advanced either as a monstrous humanoid or as a ranger. If as a monstrous humanoid in levels, can I use that as my class levels and add two levels of templates?
Orfamay--get a quarterstaff with Ghost Touch and use it to bump around like a 10', er, 6' pole? :D
Here's the Nymph O' Nightmares with revised Crunch and Fluff--don't worry, she's still less purty than the succubus. I still have a few errors as there's so much to keep track of, but this should be in line with the revision and discussion with Thunderbeard.
Derkethia
Nymph Oracle 1
CE Medium fey
Init +5; Senses darkvision 120 ft., low-light vision; Perception +15
SQ inspiration, unearthly grace, wild empathy +22
Aura blinding beauty (30 ft., DC 23)
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Defense
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AC 26, touch 25, flat-footed 20 (+1 armor, +5 Dex, +1 dodge, +9 untyped)
hp 76 (1d8+8); fast healing 1
Fort +13, Ref +14, Will +14
DR 10/cold iron, 5/good
Weakness oracle's curses (haunted)
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft., Swim 20 ft., Fly 10 ft (perfect)
Melee +1 agile dagger +10 (1d4+7/19-20)
Oracle Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +10):
1st (6/day)—command (DC 20), cure light wounds, endure elements
0 (at will)—create water, detect magic, detect poison, ghost sound (DC 19), mage hand, read magic
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Statistics
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Str 10, Dex 21, Con 18, Int 16, Wis 17, Cha 29
Base Atk +0; CMB +9; CMD 25
Feats Agile Maneuvers, Combat Casting, Dodge, Toughness, Weapon Finesse
Traits fast-talker, river rat (marsh or river)
Skills Bluff +14, Diplomacy +21, Escape Artist +16, Handle Animal +17, Heal +11, Intimidate +10, Knowledge (nature) +15, Perception +15, Sense Motive +14, Stealth +17, Survival +7, Swim +19
Languages Aklo, Common, Elven, Sylvan, Undercommon
SQ mysteries (mystery [life]), revelations (life link)
Other Gear +1 agile dagger, bracers of armor +1, headband of alluring charisma +4, 8,150 gp
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Special Abilities
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Agile Maneuvers Use DEX instead of STR for CMB
Combat Casting +4 to Concentration checks to cast while on the defensive.
Darkvision (120 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Fast Healing 1 (Ex) Heal damage every round unless you are killed.
Haunted Retrieving stored gear is a Standard action or worse, dropped items land 10' away.
Life Link (1 bonds, 110') (Su) Bond drains your HP to heal others.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Blinding Beauty (Su) This ability affects all humanoids within 30 feet of a nymph. Those who look directly at a nymph must succeed on a DC 23 Fortitude save or be blinded permanently. A nymph can suppress or resume this ability as a free action. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Inspiration (Su) A nymph can choose an intelligent creature to inspire and serve as a muse by giving that creature some token of her affection (typically a lock of her hair). As long as the nymph retains her favor for this creature and as long as the creature carries the nymph's token, the creature gains a +4 insight bonus on all Will saving throws, Craft checks, and Perform checks. A bard who has a nymph for a muse in this way can use his bardic performance for an additional number of rounds per day equal to his nymph muse's Charisma modifier. The nymph retains a link to her token and its carrier as if she had cast a status spell on the carrier. The nymph can end this effect at any time as a free action. A single nymph may only inspire one creature at a time in this manner.
Stunning Glance (Su) As a standard action, a nymph can stun a creature within 30 feet with a look. The target must succeed on a DC 23 Fortitude save or be stunned for 2d4 rounds. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Unearthly Grace (Su) A nymph adds her Charisma modifier as a racial bonus on all her saving throws, and as a deflection bonus to her Armor Class.
Wild Empathy (Su) This works like the druid's wild empathy class feature, except the nymph has a +6 racial bonus on the check. The nymph's effective druid level is equal to her HD for determining her total modifer to the check.
Feign Death (Ex)
Whenever a nightmare creature is unconscious, it appears dead. A conscious nightmare creature can also make itself appear dead as an immediate action. Any creature that physically interacts with a nightmare creature feigning death must succeed at a Healcheck or Will saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 the nightmare creature's Hit Dice + the nightmare creature's Intelligence or Charisma modifier, whichever is higher) to recognize it is actually alive.
Illusion Resistance (Ex)
A nightmare creature automatically disbelieves illusions (no saving throw required) and has a +4 bonus on saving throws to resist illusion effects.
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th); 1/day—dimension door
1/day - shadow walk
3/day - detect thoughts, dream, nightmare, suggestion;
Constant—protection from good;
Spells A nymph casts spells as a 7th-level druid, but cannot swap out prepared spells to cast summon spells.
Spells Prepared (CL 7th)
4th—summon nature's ally IV
3rd—call lightning (DC 16), cure moderate wounds, water breathing
2nd—barkskin, flame blade, resist energy, tree shape
1st—charm animal (DC 14), endure elements, entangle (DC 14), obscuring mist, produce flame
0—detect magic, guidance, light, stabilize
Description:
Derkethia looks like the sum of anyone’s darkest fantasies; the shimmering jewel in the haunted forest, the phantom lover, the repressed memory, and most importantly, the worst nightmare of anyone whose heart has been crushed. She is radiantly and horribly beautiful in a way that seems to draw the light out of any room and the breath out of any mortal’s throat. Her eyes are the brilliant violet of a poisonous flower, her hair the darkest ichor red of a dying beast in a dark forest pool, her skin pale as the first frost. To see her is to fall in love with something unattainable, and despair forever as an abject failure.
Background:
Derkethia’s original name is known only to her, but she will tell the story of her changing. She was once the guardian of a sacred woodland space, full of light and greenery. Her grove was invaded by nightmare lords and cold riders. One, she blinded and slew, the next she hamstrung up for the others to find. Finally, the strongest nightmare lord bested her through vile magics and bound her to his will. In his court in a strange realm, she served as his consort, and brought strange dreams of being lost in the forest, utter hopelessness, dead and unreachable loves, and the collapse of civilization to various mortals and dream-thralls. This arrangement continued until one endless night, when she strangled the lord in his moment of lust-sotted weakness, cruelly skewering his corpse on the spines of his own fortifications. Under her power, the lord’s dream castle collapsed under thorny vines, and blinded thralls died and thrashed under her blade.
Derkethia made her way back to the mortal realm, losing some of her nightmare-bound glamour, but regaining her will. She began to slowly expand territory in haunted woods, attacking villages in various ways, whether driving the residents mad through dreams, or worse, being brought in on a bower pretending to be dead, and rising from her seeming corpse-litter to blind and destroy a hamlet, down to the last infant. She developed a special hatred for the advances of civilization and champions of purity, such as paladins, and rangers, who appear to be friends of nature but are usually nothing but hunters. In her forested gloom, strange and twisted wild creatures capered and crawled, and she sent out strange dreams to mad poets and artists, to write their verses in blood and eventually end their lives in a frenzy, sometimes disappearing into the trackless dark trees of her territory. After years of marking her destructive path, Derkethia found herself plagued with odd dreams, of many hands reaching for her, unseen singers, and a bridge to an impossibly bright light. She found herself visited by haunted flickers of spirits long dead, and the ability to heal others, as if by a boon--or a warning--from the deepest reaches of the First World. Rejecting these fancies, she found herself drifting through secret forest portals into the Darklands, as if to purge her mind of anything filled with light. It was there that she heard a voice, whispering through the caverns, telling her of a task worth of one with her power.
Orfamay--get a quarterstaff with Ghost Touch and use it to bump around like a 10', er, 6' pole? :D
Nah, going one better and getting an eidolon. That's like an animated ghost touch quarterstaff with opposable thumbs.
Okay respectfully withdrawing my submission from this. I still don't exactly understand how to do this, and you guys have more than enough submissions!!!
Having said that, as I am extremely interested in monsters-as-PCs, if anyone interested enough could take the time to explain this, I would be extremely grateful. (I'd make a thread for it in the Advice subforum but I'm not exactly sure what the parameters are and they may be specific to this campaign.)
I think the problem I have (yes, apart from the part where I am dull-in-the-brain) is trying to reconcile what the base creature has and how that affects my feats, saves and skills.
Am I suppose to strip/reverse engineer the creature using the monster rules, and rebuild/redistribute (skills/feats) as I wish? The Shae has a bunch of skills with modifiers listed, but no ranks - these would be provided by HD?; she has two feats - provided by HD as per the monster rules - can I swap them for two others? (though i would probably keep them).
Saves and HP are based on my monster type by HD plus stat modifiers? So I leave this alone/keep as is?
Then (in the case of this campagin) I would use a 25 point buy to advance any of the Shae's base stats, apply any changes/new stat modifiers to skills, HP, saves, CMB/CMD etc
Then I add my class features as normal?
Thanks for any and all advice...
We should have 7th level cash, correct?
Sorry to hear that, Oceanwolf.
The big problem with monsters-as-PCs is that the rules for it are vague and were never really finished in the conversion from 3.5 to Pathfinder, as to whether or not stat buys on top of monster arrays are allowed (which is why I realized it was best for my purposes to only allow them on weaker, more-human-like monsters).
And yeah. Each monster effectively has a bunch of levels in its racial HD, which provide skills, feats, and saves. Usually when playing a monster, you can reassign these from scratch, or just reallocate some of them.
Here is my Tielfing cleric of Asmodeus origin story. AKA: How i became a graveknight.
I'm not completely sold on his name, but I haven't thought of a better one.
I'm working on the crunch, but I wanted to wait until accepted to completely iron that out. I'll have a rough draft sometime this weekend.
The battle was long fought, vicious, and bloody as most battles tend to be. Though it mattered not. It doesn’t even matter what we were fighting about. Our dark lord commanded it and we obey.
Unfortunately, I was not the battle commander of this war. I was a captain on the front lines. My hellknights and I were sent on a tactically unsound mission. We were good at spilling blood, but it mattered not. I attempted to protest to the archbishop Nezgul our battle commander that the orders he issued my men and me were suicide. His orders stood. The man was an arrogant pratt, but it mattered not. He was my commander and he had given me an order. Such is the way of the Asmodeuns.
On our mission we were outflanked and outnumbered. We killed many of the enemy, but it mattered not. Our bodies fell on the battlefield alongside those we had killed moments previous. The loss of our lives was wasteful and pointless. We were elite warriors sent to an impossible mission.
In the cool fog of morning I lay dying. An emissary of our lord appeared unto me. His tiny red face was disturbingly handsome for a creature of the outer planes. Its small hands were surprisingly strong as he grabbed me by the hair and pulled my head to look into his eyes.
With a smooth youthful voice, ”Your master says your work is not done. ” The creature grinned a toothy smile. ”You are to kill the leader of the Sun army. Then you are to kill archbishop Nezgul. Asmodeus is not pleased with his failure. Finally, you are to flee to the south cave. Anyone that sees you from now until then is to die. Understood.”
I attempted to ask the creature how I was to do these things as weak and near death as I was. However, when I opened my mouth to weakly question the creature it violently shoved something black into far back of my throat. The violence of the action and now the inability to breath sped me to deaths embrace. It mattered not. I wasn’t long for the world regardless.
It smirked where I could see as it watched me die. At my last moments among the living it said, ”See you soon” mockingly.
I awoke. It was night. I could feel nothing, but I could sense everything. I knew something was different, but I knew not what at the time. My flesh was cold, but strong. My mind was unclouded and sharp. I was unliving but the power of it was intoxicating. Realizing I was under the bodies of my dead hellknights and others, I clawed my way free. It must have been the following night or the battlefield would have been cleaned. It mattered not. I know not how, but I knew the orders the imp had given me were true. Asmodeus has need of me and I shall not fail him. I have purpose.
I slew the Shandra, the grand marshall of the Sun army as she slept. I used her own sword to do it. She was a proud and vain and foolish. Her holy power was a pittance against mine. She deserved her fate and I was pleased to provide it.
Next was my own former arcbishop was a fool. He lost the battle due to his own false pride. That same pride was his undoing. His death came pathetically easy. He thought himself favored of his god. I showed him his folly. He begged for his life, but it mattered not.
My wetwork complete I fled to the cave as instructed, curious what would come next. I did not have to wait long.
”Well done.” said a voice in the shadows accented by a slow clap.
”The master said he will call on you when it is time. Until then you’ve got me as your faithful servant. I am to help prepare you for the time when the master will call on you again.” Oddly enough it smiled. Not a smile of kindness or compassion. Instead the smile of a sociopath who just found a new toy. ”Come. I know a place where we can get started.” It beckoned with a small clawed hand and led me deeper into the cave. It went deeper than I ever imagined. ”The master will need you eventually. In the mean time we’re going to have some fun.” It said rubbing its hands together vigorously. That was a long time ago. In this sunless place I know not how long, though it matters not.
Hope you like it.