He Who Walks In Blood

Monday, April 28, 2008

In Golarion, the gods are immortal. They can die, but the methods of their deaths must be divine as well. A mortal cannot kill a god. However—the same cannot be said of demigods! None of the core 20 deities of Golarion are demigods, but we've introduced several along the way who could be called such. A demigod can be killed by mortals—they possess stat blocks, in other words.

Last Monday, I introduced you to one of Golarion's most infamous organizations, the assassins known as the Red Mantis. Today, let me introduce you to their God, Achaekek, the Mantis God, He Who Walks In Blood. The Mantis God serves as an assassin, a tool used by the gods to smite those who deserve smiting. Yet the Mantis God is not a true god—he is a demigod, and as I mentioned above, that means he also gets a stat block. A stat block you'll get to see in Pathfinder #9.

The Mantis God is easily the toughest monster to grace our Bestiary yet. I don't want to spoil all of the surprises here, but check out these fun Mantis God facts!

• It is CR 30.
• Its Tumble check is +50.
• It can create gates by tearing open reality once per minute as a move action.
• It is so poisonous that even things that are immune to poison can be poisoned by him.
• Assuming he gets in a rend attack, the Mantis God's average damage on a full round attack is about 181. That's assuming no critical hits. And since he threatens a crit on a 15 or above, 180 points of damage is a pretty low estimate.

Needless to say, the Mantis God won't be making a direct appearance in Curse of the Crimson Throne. Unless, of course, your PCs are complaining that nothing they encounter is challenging enough for them!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

The Red Mantis

Monday, April 21, 2008

In Pathfinder #9, we officially introduce one of Golarion's most sinister villains—the order of assassins known as the Red Mantis. Clad in signature red and black armor, wielding serrated blades, and wearing magical mantis masks to enhance their sight and to strike fear into the hearts of their victims, the Red Mantis have long stalked the nights and nightmares of their prey. Dutiful and discreet, professional and deadly effective, these killers' blades cull commoners and counts with equal ease, with no spell, secret safe house, or army of guardians comforting those taken as a mantis's mark. And for those with the gold and guile to attract the attentions of the Red Mantis, their coin buys the assassins' promise that those slain by their sawtoothed sabers do not just die, but will never rise again.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief