Demigods of Bestiary 6

Thursday, March 23, 2017

With the reveal of Pathfinder RPG: Bestiary 6's fiendishly ferocious cover last week, the time is finally right to start looking INSIDE of this book... or should I say the STARS are right? Because yes indeed we've got three more of Lovecraft's Great Old Ones appearing in this book. In fact, one of the recurring themes you'll notice right away (it's right there on the cover) is that we're including more statistics for demigods in Bestiary 6 than any other bestiary we've done. Now, obviously a stat block for a creature of CR 26 to CR 30 in power isn't going to be useful for every game, but that's not the only way to use a demigod in your game. These are foes not only intended to be the end bosses for full-on mythic campaigns, but movers and shakers for multiple campaigns. Demigods work best when they're NOT just stacks of hit points for your players to deplete... but printing statistics for them helps to quantify in a player's mind just how powerful they really are. In addition, each demigod entry is fully supported with rules for how their worshipers function, including information on cleric domains, subdomains, and favored weapons. We've also added a new appendix to this bestiary at the very end that reprints several domains and subdomains that have never before been printed in the RPG line, making it easier than ever to play a character who wants to use powers from the Scalykind domain or the Revelry subdomain, for example.

But enough about that. The point of this blog (and the next several to come over the following weeks) is to show off some art!

In Bestiary 6, we've got 4 categories of demigod represented—archdevils, empyreal lords, Great Old Ones, and the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. We've also got representation from the next tier down—so called "quasi deities" like qlippoth lords or the verdant Green Man. I've chosen three of these to illustrate below, focusing on new illustrations for each: the archdevil Baalzebul, the aforementioned Green Man (of which there are multiples—some neutral, some good, and some evil), and Tawil at'Umr.

Illustrations by William Liu, David Melvin, and Will O'Brien

Actually, that last one's a somewhat unusual case. As an avatar of Yog-Sothoth, Tawil at'Umr has never really been quantified as a Great Old One before, but the Lovecraft mythos are nothing if not mutable and accommodating. And rather than invent a brand new category of demigod, I decided that this eldritch master of time and space would work best in the Great Old One category. He (she? they?) certainly fits into the category, rules-wise, with the ability to kill you in your dreams only to immediately reincarnate you into a new body on another world, or the power to hurl those who gaze upon its true form into their own permanent microcosms. Tawil at'Umr was first introduced to the world in "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" by H. P. Lovecraft and E. Hoffmann Price. In the story, the entity is referred to as 'Umr at-Tawil, but in Bestiary 6 I decided to shift the name around a little to match Chaosium's preferred (and more grammatically correct when one interprets the name as being inspired by the Arabic language) version used in their Call of Cthulhu RPG, but just like all of these mythos monstrosities, changes to names or roles in world likely won't matter if your character decides to throw down against them. Tawil at'Umr is probably the toughest monster in the book, and in fact, might be the toughest monster we've ever statted up in a bestiary. He's "only" CR 30, but as an avatar of Yog-Sothoth, killing it isn't gonna stop it. From the Great Old One's Immortality entry in it's stat block:

"If Tawil at'Umr is killed, Yog-Sothoth can create a new avatar immediately. The replacement Tawil at'Umr typically does not reappear where it was killed, and it usually does not seek revenge against those who slew its predecessor. Usually."

James Jacobs
Creative Director

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Tags: Bestiary 6 David Melvin Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Will O'Brien William Liu
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2 people marked this as a favorite.

I just started reading this article and there's already a completely new information: new domains and subdomains are in this book, and they will be in the PRD as well!

This is going to be a delicious book.

Loved to see the Green Man as quasi-deities and also...

"Usually"

Silver Crusade Contributor

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...usually.

Sovereign Court

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Pathfinder Starfinder Society Subscriber

Usually.


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That art of Tawil at'Umr looks like a heavy metal album cover. I am so cool with this.


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My planar setting use demi-god stats (and mythic creatures with the divine source power) as the gods, and have a very physical presence in my group's adventures so more will be very useful.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Don't know about the Green Man. Looks like a variation of the Treant.
Guess I was looking for something more out there.


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Hot damn those Green men sound exciting. I'm also excited to see some empyreal lords. Here's hoping they're here to show the bestiary 4 dudes what good demigods can really do :P.

Dark Archive

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So how about those Qlippoth Lords? I've been designing a bunch myself for a third-party bestiary and would love to see how your interpretations of eternal chaos entities compare to mine.

Contributor

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Quote:
"If Tawil at'Umr is killed, Yog-Sothoth can create a new avatar immediately. The replacement Tawil at'Umr typically does not reappear where it was killed, and it usually does not seek revenge against those who slew its predecessor. Usually."

This is absolutely amazing. Its not even how Lovecraftian it feels to know that anything that happened was literally for naught—that line itself has incredible narrative to it.

I'd give it a "+1" or something, but I get the feeling that the trivial approval of mortals is insignificant to Tawil at'Umr. ;-)


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Interesting that it doesn't repeat the "typically", which to my mind would be even worse ... you've invested and sacrificed so much to defeat this thing, and now it's back right in front of you and IT DOESN'T EVEN CARE THAT YOU KILLED IT.


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C. Richard Davies wrote:
Interesting that it doesn't repeat the "typically", which to my mind would be even worse ... you've invested and sacrificed so much to defeat this thing, and now it's back right in front of you and IT DOESN'T EVEN CARE THAT YOU KILLED IT.

It probably didn't even care you were killing it. ;)

Silver Crusade

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Thanks, James.

This is the first time I'm looking forward to the sixth volume of monsters for a game system.


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I dunno about the rest of you, but Yog-Sothoth's avatar ROCKS! :D

Desktopping this!

Silver Crusade Contributor

Ajaxis wrote:

Thanks, James.

This is the first time I'm looking forward to the sixth volume of monsters for a game system.

...how many have there been?

I guess Monster Manual V was technically the sixth for 3.5, once you factor in the Fiend Folio...


Kal,

Maybe he's thinking of some other gaming system...

Silver Crusade Contributor

Thomas Seitz wrote:
Maybe he's thinking of some other gaming system...

The wording would suggest a wider outlook - I'm just not sure how many other systems went that deep.


Multiple types of the green man sounds interesting.

It is a shame that the Qlippoth Lords are not full on demi-gods.


Chronicles of Darkness has like eight monster books I think, they're nowhere near the quality of the bestiaries though.


Is Yog-Sothoth an Outer God or a Great Old One?

Paizo Employee Developer

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Berselius wrote:
Is Yog-Sothoth an Outer God or a Great Old One?

Yog is an OG.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

4 people marked this as a favorite.
Mark Moreland wrote:
Berselius wrote:
Is Yog-Sothoth an Outer God or a Great Old One?
Yog is an OG.

As in the acronym for, Yup, Outer God.


So, what does 'Tamr at'Uwil translate to in English, anyway?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Eric Hinkle wrote:
So, what does 'Tamr at'Uwil translate to in English, anyway?

More or less, as far as I know... "The Prolonged of Life."

AKA: "Immortal"


Cool! I'm very curious about the Green Men.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Baalzebul!!!!!! YAYA!!!!!!!!!


5 people marked this as a favorite.
Dragon78 wrote:
It is a shame that the Qlippoth Lords are not full on demi-gods.

Stated for years now that they were less powerful, that some powerful qlippoths turned stag and became demon lords, etc. They've drawn a fairly clear distinction between the obyrith work for 3.5 (where the oby lords mixed freely, were originally more powerful than the demons, etc) and qlippoth (which follows closer to the Green Ronin version, in that the qlippoth were horrific, terrible, and all but wiped out by the demons) for PF.

It's fairly cool, since they're the original authors of all three, that they've made them distinct in that manner. But qlippoth lords being quasipowers and no current demilevel qlippoth has been the running narrative for quite some time now. If anything, undermining that canon without explanation would be the real shame.


Hopefully next week will be about the new dragons, the kaiju, and/or new 0HD races.


"In addition, each demigod entry is fully supported with rules for how their worshipers function[...]"

And given [url]who's going to be showing up[/url], it's fairly safe to say I'm extremely excited.

"These are foes not only intended to be the end bosses for full-on mythic campaigns, but movers and shakers for multiple campaigns."

Ooo...

Will there be advice on how to apply this?!


Mr. Jacobs,

We have a precise number for the demigod categories in the book, four of them. But what about the quasi-deities? Are there others excluding the ones you mentioned?

I would love seeing a group of quasi-deity dragons. *-*


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Yog-Sothoth might just be my favorite Outer God... so I'm jazzed beyond words to see his lesser incarnation get statted up.

And so artfully... er... arted.

Paizo Employee

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Bestiary 6 wrote:
If Tawil at'Umr is killed, Yog-Sothoth can create a new avatar immediately. The replacement Tawil at'Umr typically does not reappear where it was killed, and it usually does not seek revenge against those who slew its predecessor. Usually.

There's something magical about a stat blocks that's a joy to read on their own merits, like this one.

Silver Crusade

Sweet! Buzz-buzz looks badass!


1 person marked this as a favorite.

The usually thing reminds me of how some creatures have interesting names for their collective nouns, like a group of lead golems being a curtain so it's a lead curtain or too much animate hair is called a clog, more than two devastator's is a catastrophe.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

AlgaeNymph wrote:

"In addition, each demigod entry is fully supported with rules for how their worshipers function[...]"

And given [url]who's going to be showing up[/url], it's fairly safe to say I'm extremely excited.

"These are foes not only intended to be the end bosses for full-on mythic campaigns, but movers and shakers for multiple campaigns."

Ooo...

Will there be advice on how to apply this?!

Apart from the brief advice I wrote for the intro for Demon Lords in Bestiary 4, not really... although you can look to some of our Adventure Paths for how to include demigods as plots.

Silver Crusade

Milo v3 wrote:
The usually thing reminds me of how some creatures have interesting names for their collective nouns, like a group of lead golems being a curtain so it's a lead curtain or too much animate hair is called a clog, more than two devastator's is a catastrophe.

*nods*

I do like those :3

Tangent: a group of giraffes is called a tower.


Rysky wrote:
Sweet! Buzz-buzz looks badass!

Certainly better than he did in the Book of Vile Darkness.

Silver Crusade Contributor

3 people marked this as a favorite.

The filth-encrusted slug monster didn't do it for you, I take it. ^_^

Of the archdevils, I'm most interested to see Moloch's art, if only because it's going to be so hard to top his Book of the Damned art.

Silver Crusade

Kalindlara wrote:
The filth-encrusted slug monster didn't do it for you, I take it. ^_^
His wives on the other hand...
Kalindlara wrote:
Of the archdevils, I'm most interested to see Moloch's art, if only because it's going to be so hard to top his Book of the Damned art.

DISPATER!


Rysky wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
The filth-encrusted slug monster didn't do it for you, I take it. ^_^
His wives on the other hand...

What wives? I didn't see them in any artwork.


Looks interesting :)

Silver Crusade

AlgaeNymph wrote:
Rysky wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
The filth-encrusted slug monster didn't do it for you, I take it. ^_^
His wives on the other hand...
What wives? I didn't see them in any artwork.

I think they illustrated his current one at least once. If not the descriptions alone were very nice :3


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I'm really curious about Szuriel and Raghatiel's illustration. In fact, these two are the ones I want to see the most, even more than I want to see the true dragons or Geryon......

Silver Crusade

The Gold Sovereign wrote:
I'm really curious about Szuriel and Raghatiel's illustration. In fact, these two are the ones I want to see the most, even more than I want to see the true dragons or Geryon......

Me too!


James Jacobs wrote:
AlgaeNymph wrote:

"In addition, each demigod entry is fully supported with rules for how their worshipers function[...]"

And given who's going to be showing up, it's fairly safe to say I'm extremely excited.

"These are foes not only intended to be the end bosses for full-on mythic campaigns, but movers and shakers for multiple campaigns."

Ooo...

Will there be advice on how to apply this?!

Apart from the brief advice I wrote for the intro for Demon Lords in Bestiary 4, not really... although you can look to some of our Adventure Paths for how to include demigods as plots.

You mean "stop the ritual," or "debuff the enemy?" That...doesn't really say "mover and shaker."

Also, given the inclusion of a certain empyreal lord, I'm interested in seeing demigods as allies as well as antagonists. It's gonna be a while before Daily Bestiary gets to them, and Daily Planescape just isn't enough.

That said, would Wrath of the Righteous be a good place for examples of demigods as allies?

Sovereign Court

Where I live, you see green men all the time: on churches, in gardens, pub signs...
That's the first unfriendly-looking green man that I have ever seen.


I just hope the green man is actually a fey.

Silver Crusade

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Dragon78 wrote:
I just hope the green man is actually a fey.

Turns out he's a dragon.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Tawil at'Umr is pretty awesome for a number of things, ranging from that artwork to setting a precedent for what divine avatars are actually like.

(Wonder if we'll get an update for Achaekek's avatar down the line. Maybe if Paizo ever does a Starstone adventure...)


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Rysky wrote:
Dragon78 wrote:
I just hope the green man is actually a fey.
Turns out he's a dragon.

Rysky, you have a talent for comments...

Through I would love quasi-deity level dragons, I'm hoping they are plants. The green nature needs more champions and denizens.


Rysky wrote:
AlgaeNymph wrote:
Rysky wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
The filth-encrusted slug monster didn't do it for you, I take it. ^_^
His wives on the other hand...
What wives? I didn't see them in any artwork.
I think they illustrated his current one at least once. If not the descriptions alone were very nice :3

This interests me. Do you happen to remember where I could find this? Thanks.

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