He Must Die—Again!

Thursday, August 27, 2015

The arrival of Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Occult Adventures with its host of psychic magic and class options means new ways to tell stories for the world of Golarion (and beyond). But what about some of our older adventures, particularly one about a Very Infamous Monk? Are you ready for a Design Challenge?

When Occult Adventures first made its way through playtesting, one question I often thought was, "How could our older adventures be retold with these new options?" Being a rather large fan of Russian fairy tales and folk lore, I am quite fond of the Reign of Winter Adventure Path, so of course, I immediately gravitated towards that one to pick for this Design Challenge.

What does this mean to you? It means I have thrown the gauntlet to everybody who loves creating stat blocks, whether you're they type who spends hours poring over new archetypes, class combinations, and gear selection, or just like putting together a fun NPC for your group to face. "Pray tell, Liz, what is the rules of this duel?" you might ask.

You get to make this guy, Grigori Rasputin, but this time, using one of the new character classes from Occult Adventures.

Grigori Rasputin returns—but as what? You get to decide!

For reference, here's his original stat block, as it appeared in "Rasputin Must Die!":

Spoilers for Reign of Winter AP:

Grigori Rasputin  CR 17

XP 102,400
Male middle-aged human oracle 18
NE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +0; Senses true seeing; Perception +13
Aura unholy aura (DC 22)

Defense

AC 32, touch 22, flat-footed 32 (+10 armor, +4 deflection, +4 insight, +4 luck [touch only], +4 natural)
hp 192 (18d8+108)
Fort +16, Ref +12, Will +20; +4 vs. death effects, domination, mind-affecting effects, and possession
Defensive Abilities stitched soul; SR 25 vs. good

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk dagger +13/+8/+3 (1d4–1/19–20)
Ranged mwk Nagant M1895 revolver +14/+9/+4 (1d8/×4)
Oracle Spells Known (CL 18th; concentration +26)
9th (3/day)—astral projection, miracle (DC 27)
8th (6/day)—fire storm (DC 26), mass cure critical wounds, moment of prescience, stormbolts (DC 26)
7th (7/day)—blasphemy (DC 25), destruction (DC 25), ethereal jaunt, mass cure serious wounds, regenerate, reverse gravity (DC 25), vision, waves of ecstasy (DC 25)
6th (7/day)—antilife shell, blade barrier (DC 24), harm (DC 24), heal, mass cure moderate wounds, project image
5th (7/day)—contact other plane, flame strike (DC 23), greater forbid action (DC 23), mass cure light wounds, slay living (DC 23), telekinesis, true seeing
4th (8/day)—cure critical wounds, divine power, freedom of movement, scrying, sending, terrible remorse (DC 22), unholy blight (DC 22)
3rd (8/day)—bestow curse (DC 21), blindness/deafness (DC 21), clairaudience/clairvoyance, cure serious wounds, dispel magic, searing light
2nd (8/day)—cure moderate wounds, death knell (DC 20), dread bolt (DC 20), enthrall (DC 20), hold person (DC 20), levitate, minor image (DC 20), silence (DC 20), spectral hand
1st (8/day)—command (DC 19), cure light wounds, entropic shield, forbid action (DC 19), murderous command (DC 19), remove sickness (DC 19), unseen servant
0 (at will)—bleed (DC 18), detect magic, detect poison, ghost sound (DC 18), guidance, light, mage hand, read magic, resistance, stabilize, virtue
Mystery occult

TACTICS

Before Combat Within the Thrice-Tenth presbytery (area H6), Rasputin enjoys the benefits of the World Engine’s unholy aura and insight bonus to his AC. When faced with combat, Rasputin activates his ectoplasmic armor revelation and casts entropic shield, freedom of movement, levitate, moment of prescience, and true seeing. Once enemies are in sight, he casts antilife shell and spectral hand to enable him to use touch attacks beyond the field’s perimeter.
During Combat Under the protection of his antilife shell, Rasputin attempts to hinder opponents with reverse gravity and waves of ecstasy and turn foes against each other with terrible remorse and murderous command, before laying waste with such deadly effects as blade barrier, blasphemy, destruction, harm, stormbolts, and unholy blight. If wounded, Rasputin casts quickened cure spells while continuing to target enemies with offensive spells.
Morale On the precipice of claiming his mother’s mythic power, Rasputin relies on his stitched soul to preserve his life, and fights to the death again and again until slain permanently.

STATISTICS

Str 9, Dex 11, Con 19, Int 14, Wis 17, Cha 26
Base Atk +13; CMB +12; CMD 30
Feats Combat Casting, Craft Wondrous Item, Diehard^B, Ectoplasmic Spell^B, Expanded Arcana (2), Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Persuasive, Quicken Spell, Toughness
Skills Bluff +25, Diplomacy +30, Intimidate +25, Knowledge (arcana) +15, Knowledge (nobility) +10, Knowledge (planes) +12, Knowledge (religion) +20, Perception +13, Sense Motive +16, Spellcraft +15, Use Magic Device +25
Languages Church Slavonic, Common, Russian
SQ oracle’s curse (haunted), revelations (ectoplasmic armor [+10, 18 hours/day], project psyche, shroud of retribution [3/day, 1d8+9], spectral spells [4/day], spirit walk [2/day, 18 rounds], sure soul [+4])
Gear mwk dagger, mwk Nagant M1895 revolver with 21 metal cartridges, amulet of natural armor +4, belt of physical perfection +2, cassock of the Black Monk, headband of mental prowess +4 (Wis, Cha)

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Stitched Soul (Su) Rasputin’s soul is stitched to his body with threads of fate, and he clings tenaciously to life. He gains Diehard as a bonus feat. In addition, when first reduced to a number of negative hit points equal to or greater than his current Con score, Rasputin dies, but he springs back to life 1d4 rounds later as if the target of a resurrection spell. If killed a second time, the Mad Monk again comes back to life 1d6 rounds later, as if the target of a raise dead spell (upon his return, he loses 50% of his remaining unused spell slots as if they had been used to cast spells). Only after Rasputin is slain for a third time do his soul’s stitches finally unravel from his corpse, releasing his malignant spirit into the ether.

Your entry will be judged on presentation and adherence to theme, and to help me with that, I've brought in the man responsible not only for the original Pathfinder version of the Mad Monk, but was also one of the lead consultants on Occult Adventures as well: Brandon Hodge!

But what is the reward for all of your hard work? Something we've never offered before: A custom Paizo.com avatar with art selected from Occult Adventures, along with $25 in store credit. On Paizo.com, a custom avatar means either being a Paizo employee (or the subject of whim by a Paizo employee), so this is a rare opportunity for a unique avatar that nobody else has!

Now, onto the rules:

• One entry per poster. Employees of Paizo, their immediate family members, and persons with whom such employees are domiciled are ineligible. Anyone who is currently employed full-time as a designer for a game company is ineligible. Anyone with a cover credit on a hardcover RPG book is ineligible. Anyone who has a design credit in 3 or more of Paizo's Pathfinder products is ineligible.
• You must post your entries in this blog's discussion thread.
• All entries due Midnight, September 13th, 2015, Paizo time.
• Entries must be in the following format:
  Stat Block Format:

  [b]Grigori Rasputin  CR 17[/b]

  [b]XP 102,400[/b]
  zzAlignment zzSize zzType
  [b]Init[/b] +##; [b]Senses[/b] zz, zz,; Perception +##
  [b]Aura[/b] zz (## ft., DC ##)

  [b]----- Defense -----[/b]
  [b]AC[/b] ##, touch ##, flat-footed # (+## zzModifier, +##zzModifier)
  [b]hp[/b] ## (##d##+##); fast healing ##
  [b]Fort[/b] +##, [b]Ref[/b] +##, [b]Will[/b] +##
  [b]Defensive Abilities[/b] ##/zzAbility; [b]DR[/b] ##/zzMaterial; [b]Immune[/b] zz; [b]Resist[/b] zz ##, zz ##; [b]SR[/b] ##
  [b]Weaknesses[/b] zz, zz

  [b]----- Offense -----[/b]
  [b]Speed[/b] ## ft., fly ## ft. (zzManeuverability)
  [b]Melee[/b] zzAttacktype +## (zzDamage plus zzOthereffect), zzAttacktype +## (zzDamage)
  [b]Ranged[/b] zzAttacktype +## (zzDamage)
  [b]Space[/b] ## ft.; [b]Reach[/b] ## ft.
  [b]Special Attacks[/b] zz, zz
  [b]Spell-Like Abilities[/b] (CL ##zz; concentration +##)
  At will—[i]zz[/i], [i]zz[/i]
  1/day—[i]zz[/i], [i]zz[/i]

  [b]----- Tactics -----[/b]
  [b]Before Combat[/b] zzBeforeCombat
  [b]During Combat[/b] zzDuringCombat
  [b]Morale[/b] On the precipice of claiming his mother’s mythic power, Rasputin relies on his stitched soul to preserve his life, and fights to the death again and again until slain permanently.

  [b]----- Statistics -----[/b]
  [b]Str[/b] ##, [b]Dex[/b] ##, [b]Con[/b] ##, [b]Int[/b] ##, [b]Wis[/b] ##, [b]Cha[/b] ##
  [b]Base Atk[/b] +##; [b]CMB[/b] +## (+## zzConditionalmaneuverbonus); [b]CMD[/b] ## (## vs. zzManeuvername)
  [b]Feats[/b] zzFeatname, zzFeatname
  [b]Skills[/b] zzSkillname +##, zzSkillname +## (+## zzCondition); [b]Racial Modifiers[/b] +## zzSkillname, +## zzSkillname when zzCondition
  [b]Languages[/b] zzLanguage
  [b]SQ[/b] zz

  [b]----- Ecology -----[/b]
  [b]Environment[/b] zzClimate zzTerrain
  [b]Organization[/b] zz, zz, or zz
  [b]Treasure[/b] zzCategory

  [b]----- Special Abilities -----[/b]
  [b]zzName (Ex/Sp/Su)[/b] zzDescription

• Entry must be CR 17, must use a character class from Occult Adventures, and must include the stitched soul special ability.
• You may use any Paizo-published material, but you must cite your sources.
• Selection of avatar art is subject to Paizo.com's Community Guidelines.

Remember, all entries must be in by September 13th, 2015. Good luck in designing the Mad Monk Rasputin, and letting us kill him again—or try to!

Liz Courts
Community Manager