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In all of my years of running roleplaying games, the majority of my games started at first level. In fact, I have seen more published adventures aimed for the lowest levels than any other. Alas, so many of those scenarios fall into the same well-worn groove. Most adventures written for and played by first level characters use a familiar cast of giant vermin (usually spiders), wolves and dire rats, kobolds and goblins and wave after wave of skeletons and zombies. But does this have to be the case? It is my opinion that monsters do not need to be high CR in order to be interesting. Creature Codex Volume 4: First Level Foes is designed to enliven and add diversity to your low-level games with a cast of unusual creatures, ranging in origin from world folklore to original creations. The creatures in this book range in CR from ½ to 3, from minions to be battled en masse to creatures that can serve as the focal point for entire adventures. Enjoy! If you like this product, please check out the rest of the Creature Codex line from Demiurge Press!
It's that time again. Specifically, that time when I look at my budgets and realize "game books are less important than food and rent". May I cancel the roleplaying game and campaign setting subscriptions, please? I'd like to keep my AP subscription, but that's all. Also, is there any way to cancel the Jade Regent Map Folio? The dummy charge to my credit card went through this afternoon, which is what reminded me about dropping the subs. Thanks again!
I know this won't be gotten to for a few days, but I figured I'd make the thread now. I received this order yesterday, and as I was looking through the Bestary 3 today, I noticed it was damaged. The binding of the first few pages is already damaged, and there appears to be water damage on the pages. Since the package was sealed shut and the other books were not likewise damaged, it is unlikely to have happened during shipping. Worse, the last page (the OGL info) appears to have a bite taken out of it. It's the only way to explain it--an enormous tear has removed the top right corner of the last page, except for the very topmost corner of the page, which is stuck as if glued to the back cover page! Very bizarre.
Howdy! We here at Demiurge Press are big believers in the spirit of giving. Which is why, every Thursday until Christmas, I'm going to give the world at large a new monster. Most of them will be holiday themed. Just a warning. If you like these monsters, be sure to check out the rest of Demiurge Press' products. There's plenty more! Krampus This creature resembles a feral, muscular satyr. Long horns rise from its head and a long red tongue lolls from between sharp teeth. It clutches a barbed scourge in one of its clawed hands, and a massive sack is slung over its shoulders. Krampus CR 7
*A scourge uses the stats for a flail, except that it deals slashing and piercing damage. The krampus are a strange breed of devilish humanoids native to the snow-covered forests of the taiga. Some hypothesize that krampuses are devils trapped in the Material realm, whereas others believe them to be bizarre fey offshoots. Regardless of their origins, they are obsessed with punishing those they consider to be wicked with violent force. Any form of dishonesty drives a krampus to mania, and they hunt liars, thieves and con-men with frightening zeal. No excuses will dissuade a krampus from its bloody form of justice, setting them against true villains, the desperate poor and heroic tricksters alike. A krampus would rather humiliate and torment than kill, and they often fight using non-lethal damage. Krampuses like to toy with their victims, tearing away weapons and knocking foes on their backs before delivering a swift thrashing. The eerie ability of krampuses to move through tiny areas unimpeded allows them to climb through windows or down chimneys in pursuit of prey. When faced with a particularly deserving sinner, the krampus will often drag them away in their magical sack, to be tormented for days before eventually being released. If its opposition proves especially dangerous however, most krampuses will not hesitate to use lethal force. When not tormenting mortals, krampuses spend much of their lives in torpor, sleeping for much of the day in a den in a cave or hollow tree. They are omnivorous creatures capable on surviving on very little food, but they do have a weakness for alcohol—canny peasants worried about krampus attacks often leave a small keg of beer or cider as a distraction for the marauding creatures. Krampuses are usually solitary, but they may work together to bring terror to especially naughty communities, roaming the streets in a violent gang. Despite their infernal appearance, krampuses do not get along well with devils—the inherent dishonesty of Hell’s host put them at odds with the zealously honest krampuses. Krampuses much prefer the direct brutality of kytons. An odd source for allies of the krampuses, however, is religion. Good aligned churches often preach of the krampus on cold winter nights in order to scare their parishioners into better behavior. Krampuses are very good judges of character, of course, and many a town has tempered their fear with amusement upon witnessing the local priest receive a thrashing from a krampus. Copyright 2011 Nicholas Herold
legal stuff:
To celebrate the release of the most recent PDF from Demiurge Press, Creature Codex Vol. 3: It Came From the Silver Screen!, I would like to give away a few copies to anyone with the time and inclination to write a review. If you are interested in writing a review, and would like a free PDF, please shoot me an email at
email!:
gryphon1138 at yahoo dot com Include your Paizo username, and we'll get the wheels in motion for sending you a free copy. The offer is limited to the first five or so emails I get, so if you're interested, act quickly!
15 Gozren, 4711 AR Some Taxfest. Most of my possessions stolen, left in the woods with no food, no water, only my shoulderbag. Abadar be praised that I retain my life and my alchemical supplies. Let me back up a bit. My name is Galton Anders, alchemist, surgeon and phrenologist. I am traveling through this blighted country of Ustalav in order to meet with a friend and colleague, Professor Petros Lorrimor. Three times in the past decade has Lorrimor visited me at my laboratory in Oppara, so it is only just that I visit him in his own home, in the tiny village of Ravengro. I have been on the road for the past three months; how the professor finds so much time to travel, I may never fully understand.
In my alchemically enhanced state, the bandits seemed to have confused me for a werewolf. Not a terrible supposition—the formula does increase my size and strength, and the accelerated hair growth is a side effect I have yet to be able to control. This gives me an idea I may later be able to use to my advantage. I will have to obtain the claws and teeth of predatory beasts at some point in the near future. For now, I travel on foot. A lifetime of wilderness hikes and exercise regimens has not been in vain. Judging by my (assumed) location, I shall arrive in Ravengro by week’s end, if not sooner.
Fantasy roleplaying games have long drawn their monstrous material from myths and legends, folklore and literature. It may seem that cinema, a relatively new art-form, has been neglected. But Hollywood culture has done much to shape our perceptions of popular monsters. Vampires weren't killed by sunlight until Nosferatu, and the magical combination of werewolves, silver and the full moon was formulated by Universal Pictures in the 1940s. Where would zombies be without Night of the Living Dead? Would carnivorous oozes exist without The Blob? The monsters in Creature Codex Vol. 3: It Came from the Silver Screen! draw inspiration from the creature features of the 1950s through 1970. Within its pages you'll find five monsters and two templates representing everything from giant animals to alien menaces and weird mutants. And, as always, Demiurge Press is committed to presenting top quality art and editing. Coming soon!
At long last! The second in the Demiurge Press collection of Creature Codices is now available: Creature Codex Volume 2: Infernal Index In this product, you'll find six new fiends, including an oni, a kyton and a div! The messageboards have been clamoring for more information on these exotic new types of evil outsiders, and I've been happy to contribute some of my takes on these breeds of fiends. My thanks go out to Paizo for keeping so much of their work in the OGL so that other authors can contribute. As always, Demiurge Press products feature full-color art by Heather Frazier, and this time, we've included a black-and-white copy of the file for easier printing. If you're curious about the Creature Codex line, please be sure to check out the first volume, available on the Paizo store as a free download!
I was very happy to see vegepygmies in Serpent Skull, because they're one of my favorite humanoid races that I've never done anything with. Into the Darklands gave them some awesome flavor about how they hope to spread their russet mold, and I came away with the impression that they're somewhat less malicious Cybermen/Borg types. They can't understand why anyone wouldn't want to be infected with russet spores. Your descendants will be hardy and long-lived, after all, and quite numerous. Is it just me, or are the vegepygmies of Saventh-Yhi the perfect opposing army for the serpentfolk in Part 6? They're immune to poison and mind-influencing effects, rendering two of the serpentfolk's best weapons useless. I can see pragmatic/ruthless/slightly evil groups allying with the vegepygmies and offering them access to the tribe of humans to make more vegepygmies, or troglodytes to make thornies. Maybe even offer them the morlocks--they're close enough to humans that they should generate viable mold men, and are dangerous, unpredictable and weak-willed as is. Maybe arrange a deal where the elderly and sick of the human tribes are given the ability to live again as hosts for a generation of vegepygmies. Has anybody's group actually allied with the vegepygmies? Or is their assimilationist attitude and lack of speech enough to get them killed by most parties?
As a companion piece to last year's Creature Codex Volume 1: Monsters of Twilight, we here at Demiurge Press are proud to announce Creature Codex Volume 2: The Infernal Index! For as long as mankind has existed, we have sought to have some entity to explain why evil exists in the world. And as long as fantasy roleplaying games have existed, game statistics have allowed us to kill these princes of darkness and take their stuff. Creature Codex Volume 2: The Infernal Index will contain game statistics for six denizens of the lower planes, including members of such obscure fiendish strains as divs, oni and kytons! The monsters in this product will range from CRs 5 to 17, ensuring their usefulness for a wide range of levels. The release date is not yet set, but we hope to get it released in the next couple of months.
Serpent's Skull is one of those APs that really benefits from having a lot of DM investment put into it; the sandboxy elements, long stretches of overland travel and potential for heavy roleplaying all lead to the DM having his hands full. So to lend a hand to DMs in need, I'm going to post up some random encounter tables I've used in my Serpent's Skull game to liven up the wilderness. Souls for Smuggler’s Shiv—Random Shipwreck Encounters 50% of the shipwrecks have a creature lairing in them. 25% have loose floorboards (Ref DC 15 negates). 20% of uninhabited wrecks have 4d20 gp of treasure, 75% of inhabited ones have 3d100 gp of treasure. 01-06—1 octopus Avg. CR 1
I used this table to generate the following shipwrecks for my players to explore:
Spoiler:
D1. Tattooed Lady—2 common eurypterids, 1 steel mirror, 10 yards canvas, 50 feet silk rope, silver shortsword (Perception DC 15 for the mirror) D2. Tears of Grog—No encounter, no treasure D3. Golden Bow—3 human zombies, an astrolabe, compass and pair of loaded dice (Perception DC 15) D4. Bloody Doll—1 ghoul, feather token (anchor), 58 gold pieces, chain shirt (Perception DC 15 for the feather token) D5. Scallywag—1 pteranodon, collapsing floorboards, amethyst pendant worth 135 gp (Perception DC 15) D6. Windwar—3 hunter urchins, 4 spears, scale, 50 gp in gold bars, 10 days worth of rations (rations need Perception DC 15 to find) D7. Bearded Harpy—1 harpy, bracers of armor +1, 650 gp in silver and gold coins (all in chest, trapped, poison dart trap) D8. Scarred Maiden—No encounter, collapsing floorboards, no treasure D9. Crimson Angel—1 crab swarm, no treasure D10. Volar’s Lash—No encounter, no collapsing floorboards, no treasure D11. Wavereaper—3 human skeletons, collapsing floorboards, bullseye lantern, bugle (no Perception DC) D12. Crow’s Tooth—No encounter, no collapsing floorboards, two doses soothe syrup (Perception DC 20) D13. Bloodwalker—No encounter, no collapsing floorboards, no treasure D14. Alma’s Ruin—No encounter, collapsing floorboards, no treasure D15. Redwake—1 ochre eurypterid, no collapsing floorboards, no treasure D16. Thrune’s Fang—2 lacedons, collapsing floorboards, masterwork studded leather armor (on one of the lacedons), jade stone worth 30 gp (Perception DC 25) This had the unintended, but pleasing, side effect of having most of the ships nearest the cannibal camp have little treasure and rarely any encounters.
The subject says it all. Is the name Abbadon safe for OGL/Pathfinder Compatible products for an evil plane? I know that some of the fiends from said plane, the divs and daemons, are certainly open content, and I recall James Jacobs saying something about how the Gamemastery Guide's planes were intentionally de-Golarioned to be more open content-friendly. But is the name Abbadon actually legal to use in the OGL? Proper nouns and locations are generally excluded, after all. But does it count as public domain, since the name is mythologically derived?
Announcing the first installment of the Creature Codex series: Monsters of Twilight! A half-dozen fully illustrated horrors to drop into your game, and it's free! The inspiration for the monsters in this product came from two sources: 1) I wanted to do some monsters inspired by H.P. Lovecraft
So please, give this a download and tell me what you think. Comments and reviews are welcome--I hope to make future installments even better!
Alright, so in the core rulebook, pg 454, under creating NPCs, it says "determine the character's total hit points by assuming the average result". OK, this was the standard in 3.5. But in the Bestiary, the difference between humanoids with an NPC class (like a goblin) have average hp, whereas ones with a PC class (like a hobgoblin) have max, as if they were a PC. This trend continues in adventures; I've only checked The Bastards of Erebus, but I would not be surprised to find it elsewhere. At least all NPCs with PC classes have max hp for their first level--I was concerned that higher level NPCs might get average. So, which should it be? On a related note, do NPCs get the bonus hit point / skill point for their favored class? Can NPC classes be favored, or only PC ones?
In the nihiloi entry in the Bestiary for Pathfinder 29, it mentions their multiple shadowy allies, such as shadowgarms and fetchlings. Are fetchlings designated to be statted up in a future product (Pathfinder 30 or Bestiary 2 perhaps?) or are they a victim of editing and have been dropped indefinitely?
OK, to get this out of the way, I liked the Infernal Syndrome. A lot. And the art in the adventure itself is just fine. But the supplemental articles are another story. Most of the monsters, with the exception of the spartoi, look unfinished. They're cartoony and weirdly textured, and the cerberi's front-facing head is in shadow! And the Hellknight on page 73 is... well, it's awful. Easily the worst piece of art that's ever appeared in a Pathfinder book. Were there deadline problems?
So I had a lot of free time today... I knew I wanted to flesh out the suggestion in Howl of the Carrion King that there was a ruined fort north of Kelmarane used by the Three Jaws clan, crawling with undead in two dungeon layers below. So I started homebrewing. And I drew some maps. And I typed up some encounters. And I used my new scanner. And I had to share. Also, to the license-savvy among you, I've included the community use guidelines, but should I also include the OGL? I've used a few critters from the Tome of Horrors in this...
Two hundred years ago, as the war between the efreeti Jhavul and the djinni princess Nefeshti was drawing to a close, the efreeti commander Zakhan abandoned his post, taking with him a small contingent of human slave-soldiers and hiding in the depths of a strange ruined fortress. This fortress had been built into the earth, its barracks underground, making it an excellent point for Zakhan to wait out the war in order to make his escape. As the years passed and the reserves of food grew smaller, Zakhan grew increasingly paranoid and his men grew increasingly desperate for escape. As soldiers died from starvation, their remains were desperately torn apart and consumed by the survivors. By the time Zakhan realized the cannibalism within his ranks and killed the offenders in a rage, it was too late—reanimated as ghouls, they took their revenge on their former master and murdered him. Ahriman, the enemy of all jinn, was not content to let Zakhan’s torment end there and reanimated the traitorous efreeti as a great ghul. Now, finally, did Zakhan want to reestablish a connection with the outside world—but only to have access to victims in Katapesh. The undead Zakhan and his ghoul servitors forgot the war they ran away from and, until recently, were content to live their lives as mere predators, attracting to their fort a number of like-minded undead eager to spread havoc. A little over a year ago, Zakhan’s lair was intruded upon by Jawcracker, a leucrotta. Ordinarily, such an intrusion would be met with death, but Jawcracker convinced Zakhan that he could claim more victims with guile than with brute force. Jawcracker had been cultivating the Three Jaws clan of gnolls for several years now, tricking them into believing that he was the voice of Rovagug himself and directing their mayhem into various profitable directions. The latest was to convince them that the Kulldis clan had grown decadent and soft in their occupation of Kelmarane and their service to a non-gnoll, the janni Kardswann. Zakhan spared Jawcracker’s life and allowed him to lair in the underground fort, in exchange for a portion of the sacrifices made by the Three Jaws gnolls. Jawcracker convinced a promising flind of the Three Jaws clan, Narg, that the time was right to move on Kelmarane—and to move his forces into the upper layers of the fortress. “The Fortress of Ghouls” is a site-based adventure designed for four 5th level adventurers. Although it can be played alone, it is designed to be incorporated into “Howl of the Carrion King”. In the Adventure Path
A1. Approaching the Fortress (EL 2) As you crest the hill, you come across the walls of a small ruined fort. A rusted portcullis lies broken in the sole gap in the walls, and a short tower some thirty feet high projects over the courtyard. The weathered walls have held up fairly well over the centuries, and are ten feet high. Creatures: Tied to two posts on either side of the entrance to the courtyard are two hyenas, pets of the Three Jaws clan. These hyenas are alert to danger and attack any non-gnoll that approaches the fortress, but none of them are in good health. The Drinker in area B2 has been flying up the shaft of the well every night to feed on their blood, and as such all of the hyenas are fatigued and have reduced Constitution scores. Fatigued and Drained Hyenas (4) CR ½
Development: The yelping and howling of the hyenas alerts the gnolls within the courtyard and fortress, who fire on the PCs with shortbows from inside the courtyard. They do not engage the PCs in melee unless the PCs enter the courtyard. A2. The Courtyard (EL 6) The courtyard of this fortress is paved in cracked flagstones and overgrown with weedy plants. To one side of the courtyard sits a large firepit, and to the other a wide well, its lip slightly raised. To either side of the tower, wooden doors lead into the building itself. The courtyard is the center of the lives of most of the gnolls here—only Narg is allowed to sleep inside, and so the gnolls sleep near the warm embers of the fire, huddled with their hyenas. Every week, the Voice of Rovagug emanates from within the well—actually the leucrotta Jawbreaker—instructing the gnolls in their actions and demanding the sacrifice of animals and humanoids alike. These “sacrifices” are then retrieved by Jawbreaker and split between him, the ghouls and Zakhan, and the Drinker, who often gets little more than whatever blood spills during butchery. Both the entrance where the portcullis lies and the firepit count as difficult terrain. The lip of the well is two feet off the ground—high enough to grant higher ground bonuses and to grant a +2 bonus to resist being bull’s rushed into the well (although only if the creature is on ground level, not atop the lip of the well). Anyone falling, pushed or climbing down into the well finds themselves in B2. Creatures: The gnolls make their stand in this courtyard. Two of the gnolls are on ground level, whereas the other two are in area A5 and firing down on the melee. The gnolls in A5 have the benefit of cover against attacks made on ground level. One round after combat begins inside the courtyard, the flind Narg emerges from inside the tower to challenge the PCs. Gnolls (4) CR 1
Narg CR 3
A3. Inside the Fortress This sparse hallway is covered in a thick layer of dust disrupted by dozens of gnoll paw prints, and the tatters of what once may have been banners hang from the walls. A rickety-looking wooden staircase ascends to the tower above. A DC 15 Survival check notices that the gnoll prints lead from either door to their the staircase or the doorway leading to A4, but a DC 18 Survival check notices a faint set of prints leading to and from the western corner (Narg found the secret door a week ago, but had yet to work up the courage to explore it). The western corner of the hallway conceals a secret door carved into the rock, which can be found with a DC 20 Search check. If the paw prints leading to the door had been found, this check is made at a +2 bonus. A4. Narg’s Chambers Opening this door, you are hit with a stink of animals and rotting meat. The floor is covered with matted hair, animal bones and skins. The walls are covered in strange writing, seemingly scrawled in blood. Narg is literate, and he spent much of his free time covering the walls of his chambers with the words of the Voice of Rovagug. The text is primarily obscenities describing the deaths and violence caused in Rovagug’s name, and descriptions of monstrosities sacred to Rovagug. A DC 20 Knowledge (religion) check reveals that Rovagug is not known for speaking to his followers. A5. Tower (EL 0 or 3) The top of the tower is surrounded by a low crenelated wall and offers a fine view of the hills surrounding the fort. Creatures: On the unlikely chance that the gnoll archers here are not slain during the battle in the courtyard, they drop their bows and engage intruders in melee Gnolls (2) CR 1
Levels B and C: The Underground Bunker All ceilings in Levels B and C are 10 feet high unless otherwise noted, and all floors are made of flagstones. All rooms are dark unless otherwise specified. Level B is 20 feet below ground level, and Level C is 20 feet below Level B. B1. Underground Entrance After descending into the darkness, you appear to have emerged in some form of underground bunker. Two hallways branch from this room, and from the end of one of them you can see a glint of sunlight. Development: It is unlikely, unless the PCs are being stealthy, that their entrance to the underground levels of the fortress goes unnoticed. If they hear the PCs, both the Drinker and Jawcracker begin to make Hide and Move Silently checks, as noted in their statblocks. B2. The Well (EL 4) Sunlight streams in from the opening in the ceiling, leading to a well identical to the one below, although this well is full to the brim with water. A motley assortment of algaes grows around the well, ringing it with slime. All of the squares adjacent to the well are exceedingly slippery, and anyone trying to fight while standing on them must make a DC 12 Balance check or fall prone. The waters of the well itself are calm and still, meaning that only a DC 10 Swim check is needed to navigate them. The water is 10 feet deep. Creature: The Drinker was once a fiendish harpy that battled intermittently with Zakhan and his ghouls, but was adopted by Zahkan as a sort of pet when it finally succumbed to ghoul fever. Now a ghoul-stirge, the Drinker has to beg for bloody scraps from Zahkan and has such taken to sneaking out of the well at night to drink from the hyenas of the Three Jaws clan above. Needless to say, it jumps on the chance to get a fresh blood meal. A ghoul-stirge resembles a humanoid with the head of a moth and the wings and feet of a massive bird. The Drinker CR 4
Treasure: A DC 20 Search check made at the bottom of the well discovers the reason it has remained full for all these centuries—a salamander of endless water [[SIDEBAR—SALAMANDER OF ENDLESS WATER]]
B3. Treasury (EL 5) Upon opening this door, you are overwhelmed by tendrils of almost solid shadow. Although your light sources cannot penetrate the gloom, you can see as your eyes adjust rows upon rows of rotten bed frames filling the room. Directly across from the doorway, at the far end of the barracks, you see a pile of what could only be coins. When this fortress was in operation, this room acted as a barracks. Now most of the beds have now rotted away, leaving only the frames. Zakhan uses this room as a treasury; although he cares little for treasure, he and his ghouls often use it as bait while hunting sentient prey. The room is filled with a deeper darkness spell centered on the wall above the pile of treasure—when the door opens, it expands out into the hallway as well to as much of its 60 foot radius as the hallway permits. Movement through spaces filled with bed frames counts as difficult terrain, but a crouching creature gains the benefits of cover. Creature: A fear guard followed Zakhan and his pack home from an excursion to Onyx Hall, and Zakhan has placed it here as a guardian for his treasure. The fear guard resembles a robed and hooded human male wielding a mighty greatsword. Only when it touches an opponent or flies through a wall is its incorporeal nature evident. Its hood conceals no face, only a hollow darkness. Fear Guard CR 5
Treasure: The mound of treasure contains 40,705 copper pieces, 2,990 silver pieces, a vest made of pyrolisk feathers worth 375 gp, a Large masterwork cold iron falchion and a scroll containing detect thoughts, glitterdust and pyrotechnics. B4. Escape Tunnel This low tunnel is much less even than the surrounding hallways, as if it was carved by hand without further modification. It leads off into the darkness. This tunnel was dug by Zakhan and his ghouls in order to forage among the Pale Mountains for prey, and was used by Jawcracker to enter the fortress complex. The ceiling here is only five feet high. The tunnel continues for about five hundred feet before emerging on a hillside overlooking the Pale River. B5. Training Hall (EL 5) This room contains multiple wooden dummies, none of them in very good shape and all of them showing signs of weapon damage. In the far corner sits a pile of cracked bones. Fighting in the same space as one of the dummies grants a +1 bonus to Armor Class. Creature: It is unlikely that Jawcracker the leucrotta is actually confronted in this room, but he sleeps here on and off during the day. If the PCs are especially stealthy, they might catch him off guard here. Jawcracker resembles a strange hybrid of a lion with the legs of a stag and the head of a feral badger with rows of bone rather than teeth. Leucrotta CR 5
B6. Dining Hall This great room features a single massive table and multiple chairs, some of which are strewn about and knocked over. A wide staircase descends further into the depths, and a doorway sits opposite the stairs. B7. Kitchen This small room must once have been a kitchen, as empty shelves and counters fill the room. A few tiny holes in the ceiling once allowed smoke to escape from the oven in the corner. Treasure: Once, before even Zakhan hid here, a wand of heat metal was used to heat the oven in the absence of fuel, but that wand is long since gone. A masterwork kitchen knife (treat as a dagger), however, sits abandoned on a counter. C1. Lower Hallway The staircase ends at a T-intersection, with the passage to the right ending in a set of wide double doors and the passage to the left curving off into the darkness. Halfway to the double doors, a side passage blooms with fungus and mold, spilling into the hallway. The smell of humus and decay hangs heavy in the corridor. The square in front of the passage to C3 is treated as difficult terrain, due to the overgrowth of fungus. A DC 15 Listen check hears the sound of voracious eating coming from C2, and a DC 25 Listen check hears softer, but similar sounds emanating from behind the doors to C4. C2. Cold Storage (EL 5) The air temperature drops considerably as soon as you round the corner. You spy four doors, all of them ajar, on the far wall. In your torchlight, you can see brown patches of mold growing from beneath the doors. A faint smell wafts through the air, something like frozen meat. The four rooms here used to be officer’s quarters when this was an active barracks, but now serve as meat lockers for the ghoul pack—the ghouls take home “leftovers” from their raids for later use. All four rooms are filled with slabs of meat and limbs of both beasts and humanoids, and all four rooms are overgrown with brown mold. The brown mold deals 3d6 points of nonlethal cold damage to any living creature approaching within five feet of any of the rooms. A DC 15 Knowledge: dungeoneering check identifies the brown mold as dangerous, and a DC 20 Knowledge: dungeoneering check recalls that fire damage just makes it grow faster—cold damage is the only way to kill it. Creature: One of the creations of the ghoul fever spread by Zakhan’s pack is a powerful-but-shunned ghast, and the rest of the ghouls treat the freak with contempt, sending it on unpleasant missions like collecting meat from the lockers. As such, the ghast is distracted from the PCs by its gorging itself on flesh in room C2c, and might not even notice the PCs until they begin to suffer from its sickening stench. Ghast CR 3
Treasure: Tucked away in C2a is a piece of treasure the ghast has kept for itself—a silver hand mirror studded with lapis lazuli worth 500 gp. A DC 15 Search check finds it, but searching, of course, exposes the PCs to the effects of the brown mold. Ad-Hoc XP: Give the PCs a CR 2 award if they manage to kill the brown mold. C3. Guardroom (EL 5) This small chamber is completely bursting with fungi and molds of all types, forming a veritable underground forest. Zakhan and his ghouls at first used this chamber, once a meeting room, to dispose of whatever scraps they didn’t wish to consume. Once fungus began to grow here, Zakhan began to tend it like a garden, cultivating a wide variety of fungi that the ghouls use as seasonings for their grim feasts. Two of these fungi have grown ambulatory and toxic, and they serve Zakhan as guard dogs. All squares in this room count as difficult terrain, from the thick, lush fungal growths. Creatures: The two animate fungi are weird hybrids between shriekers and violet fungus. Although they are mechanically identical to violet fungus, they shriek as they fight, alerting the ghouls and Zakhan to the presence of intruders. Violet Fungi (2) CR 3
Development: When Zakhan and the ghouls hear the shrieking, they cease their feasting and take up position in C4—two of the ghouls move to flank the doorway, the third hides beneath the table, and Zakhan readies an action to cast greater invisibility when the door opens. C4. The Dreadful Feast (EL 7) This room is built like a chapel, although the pews have been shattered and the nave has been filled with a massive wooden table. The altar has also been converted into a table, for both altar and table are laid out with place settings. Serving trays and platters are set with the utmost care, making it all the more shocking that they are piled high with severed human heads, limbs and torsos. Once a chapel where soldiers prayed to Saerenrae, this room has been converted into the feast-hall and den of Zakhan and his ghouls. Zakhan was once a minor noble among the efreet and so he makes sure to instruct his servitors in proper table etiquette. Creatures: Although Zakhan and his minions have created many ghouls in their foul exploits, only three of his original slaves have survived all these years, and only those three are allowed to live in the fortress and feast at his table. All four of the monsters drop any pretense of civility at the sight of intruders and attack in the hopes of adding more meat to their larder. Ghouls (3) CR 1
Zakhan, Great Ghul CR 6
Treasure: In addition to Zakhan’s gear, the silverware and porcelain on the tables is quite valuable. The entire set is worth 400 gp, but could probably use a good washing. Concluding the Adventure The adventure ends once Zakhan and his pack are slain, but the PCs may certainly leave the fortress before that happens. They may be satisfied with killing Narg and the Three Jaws gnolls, or they may leave the dungeon after looting Zakhan’s treasury. In either case, the antagonists of this adventure may not be finished with the PCs. With the gnolls no longer supplying Jawbreaker and Zakhan with victims, they might leave the fortress in search of prey—and find a newly revitalized Kelmarane ripe for the picking. Perhaps Zakhan and Jawcracker use their change shape and lure abilities, respectively, to pick off Almah’s party one by one and prevent Kelmarane from ever being resettled. In addition, if Daskhi finds out that the PCs have wiped out the Three Jaws clan settlement, his thoughts could very well turn to revenge. The PCs, by this point, would overwhelm him in a direct physical confrontation (unless Daskhi were to gain levels), but with his abilities of stealth and his close connections to the PC’s allies, Daskhi could do plenty of damage without a fair fight. This thread uses trademarks and/or copyrights owned by Paizo Publishing, LLC, which are used under Paizo's Community Use Policy. We are expressly prohibited from charging you to use or access this content. This thread is not published, endorsed, or specifically approved by Paizo Publishing. For more information about Paizo's Community Use Policy, please visit paizo.com/communityuse. For more information about Paizo Publishing and Paizo products, please visit paizo.com."
Everybody loves goblin songs, right? Well, there's opportunity for them in Legacy of Fire, and I just came up with one, so I thought I'd share. In the Battle Market in Kelmarane, the gatekeeper is a rather pathetic goblin named Jank. Now, I'm not sure if I'm going to upgrade Jank in my game into a bard (I'm considering it, because my party is making very quick work of all of the encounters so far), but I think he'd probably sing anyway once the fighting breaks out. After all, if he's encouraging enough, maybe the Mouth of the Carrion King will look kindly on him, and let him take hours off! Here's the Gnoll Battle Song, courtesy of Jank: Gnolls be clever, gnolls be quick
Mighty Hurvank, don't be shy
Kill them fast and it's no fun
No, I'm not sure how Jank learned the word "deceased" either. He's a clever little goblin.
Alright, so at the end of The Jackal's Price, the PCs are given a ruby tuning fork by the Captain of the Sunset Ship, assuming they ally with him. The Jackal's Price claims that this odd magical device (it radiates abjuration magic) will prove to be useful in Kakishon, but it's never mentioned in The End of Eternity Now, tuning forks of unusual materials are traditionally the focus components of plane shift spells, but plane shift doesn't work at all in Kakishon. Now, if one or more of our esteemed authors could interject with what the tuning fork's supposed to do, that'd be great, but in the meantime, we might as well brainstorm possibilities, right? I think the tuning fork could be used as... 1) A galley charm if struck against a waypoint dock. 2) A bribe, suitable for gaining the favor of either shaitan faction or the xorns of the Singing Isle. 3) The key to the Earth Seed, capable of activating it to send the PCs out of Kakishon without securing the cooperation of an earth elemental creature. 4) A ward against the harmful effects of the entropy fluxes. Any other suggestions?
And that's a shame, since it's the first Pathfinder adventure I can actually say I didn't like. The supporting material was all good--good gazetteer, a good Set Piece (which addresses most of my concerns with the set pieces overall--good job!) and a fantastic bestiary. But the adventure itself had the dubious distinction of feeling simultaneously padded and rushed. Massive spoilers will, of course, ensue. First, let me start by saying what I do like. I like the overall plot--the shadow war between the progressive elf-queen and the reactionary Winter Council, the use of a captured demon to guide the party to the Winter Council's chambers, the negotiation to dissolve the council and the transformation "on camera" of an elf into a drow. But the execution of many of these elements fell flat for me, and it overall felt like a pointless diversion from the main goal of stopping Allevrah from calling down meteoric death. First off, the Paradise Prison. Good idea, using illusions to keep someone willfully captive. But I worry that it might be too difficult to escape from. That save against the sympathy effect has a nasty DC, and the PCs don't have access to spells like mind blank yet. It would suck mightily for the PCs to be halfway across the globe via elf gates, only to have them pulled back into the prison. Second, the elf gates. Fantastic idea. See the world. But nothing much happens at any of the spots. This felt especially rushed. The stops go: 1. Roleplaying only
I actually like that the first stop-over in Galt is uneventful. It lets the PCs take a bit of a breather, shop, interact with NPCs. But having the second stop in Irrisen also be roleplaying only misses a chance for action, of which there has been little so far. What if the succubus started antagonizing the elf gate guards? She hates elves, has been their prisoner for ages, and wants a chance to get some petty revenge. It would amplify the feeling of "dangerous ally", and make the RP higher stakes, having to talk down the incensed guards and the party's new fair-weather friend. Or, during negotiations, the party could prove their valor by fighting off a wandering monster, attracted by the light and sound of the rarely used gate going off. The third gate, in Ustalav, has a great story behind it. How the party's succubus ally betrayed and tricked the elves, causing them to die off and their leader to rise as a banshee. Only problem is, there's practically no way for the PCs to learn this story. And, if they arrive during the day, the banshee is harmless and they can leave immediately. That's boring. This area should have been a small site-based adventure, with the banshee presiding over a few undead or death cultists attracted to the area by her presence. Now, the Winter Council. Nominally, the set piece of the entire adventure, the reason it exists. But "Memory of Darkness" goes about it all wrong. It takes up pages and pages treating the Winter Council's fortress as just another dungeon, except it's mostly empty and the PCs aren't supposed to kill any of its occupants. This should be an event based section--meet the four council members, encourage their doubts and fears about the usefulness of their organization, get them to convene to discuss it, try to convince them to dissolve it--but it's treated as a site based adventure. A very boring site based adventure in which little happens. The library is a key example of this--if the party tries to go there, even accompanied by Winter Council guards, they're attacked by an iron golem. Wouldn't the Council members be annoyed that the PCs killed their golem? What if a soldier needed to access the library, or was sent there to fetch something for his bosses? It would make more sense for the golem to have been programmed to kill intruders by the evil Council member to keep anyone from looking at Allevrah's notes on meteorite summoning. The library also suffers from one of my continuing grievances with the path as a whole--the PCs finding important documents that supposedly unlock facets of the drow plan, but we never find out what exactly they say. This is especially bad because it's hinted that these documents outline how to actually stop the meteorite from hitting, and that killing Allevrah alone isn't going to do it. We're also given the impression that multiple clues will be discovered in the Winter Council's fortress that will give the PCs an edge in defeating her, but only one comes up--a statue she owned when she was a normal elf. Nice touch, but I wish the promise was fulfilled and more was done with it. I like the demons lurking around the Winter Council. The patient, cunning nalfeshnee is a good character, and I like the glabrezu sitting up on a parapet with a sack of gold, trying to tempt the guards into wishing the barrier down. But the finale strikes me as a bit flat. First off, we're not given stats for Hialin as a drow. The transformation isn't just a pallet swap; his stats and save DCs will all change. We're also not given very good tactics for the demonic army. How do they know to attack the meeting room? And the succubus' betrayal of the PCs falls flat; she just attacks them when she sees them next. Nothing especially knife-twisting there, no dramatic reveal. Just "raar, I'm a monster". And when it's all over... so what? The PCs aren't required to have dissolved the Council at all! They can still go on to the Land of Black Blood as if nothing happened regardless of the outcome of this adventure. The nominal leg up that they should have received, from Allevrah's notes and mementos of her past, aren't detailed to any extent. If the party goes to the Land of Black Blood immediately after Endless Night, they wouldn't be being hunted by Shin'Raktoroth elves in the first place! The queen doesn't even reward them for dissolving the council, and we never see how Kyonin society becomes healthier and more progressive in their absence. In short, the entire Second Darkness plot could have completely excluded Memory of Darkness and the path would lose nothing more than the revelation that elves can spontaneously transform into drow. And that, to my understanding of the plot, is not worth spending an entire 50 pages on.
Because the types given to some monsters in the Core make no damn sense. For example, centaurs. They're monstrous humanoids in the MM, but lots of other human/animal hybrids (like lamia, sphinx and lammasu) are magical beasts. For consistency's sake, centaurs should probably be magical beasts as well. Speaking of magical beasts, having ropers being magical beasts is nonsensical. They resemble no actual animal, have an alien physiognomy, and have plenty of tentacles. Clearly an aberration. (I'd also argue that umber hulks should go the other way, from aberration to magical beast or monstrous humanoid, but they're not in the SRD and therefore not pertinent). Athachs, if they're going to be kept, should be giants. The only aberrant thing about them is the third arm. Rust monsters seem more like magical beasts. And derro don't seem very monstrous--bring them back into the humanoid fold. Now, there's a few that are less "glaring oversight" and more matters of personal taste. Making some of the more bestial outsiders (hell hounds, hellcats, bebiliths, howlers) magical beasts with the extraplanar subtype rather than outsiders. Or making hydras and behirs dragons rather than magical beasts.
I don't know what the policy of cross-posting is on this messageboard, but I assume it's generally frowned upon. Which is why I'm only going to post a link to my Pathfinder Bestiary Thread on EN World, which I assume would be of general interest. Nick Herold's Pathfinder Bestiary My goal with this thread is to make stats for creatures mentioned in or inspired by Pathfinder Chronicles products. So far, I have: The Dwellers in Darkness, Lovecraftian monsters from space inspired by both mi-go and mind flayers. Three species of giant gecko: the blinding glitterscale, the predatory frostleaper and the horned spirestalker, with its unusual symbiosis with a species of terrestrial coral. Four species of drakes: the cunning and manipulating caustic drake, the speedy lightning drake, the bloodthirsty frost drake and the primal thunder drake. Ice wights, inspired by the illustration from Pathfinder #3 of Lamatar Bayden's frosty undead corpse. Twigjacks, a species of fey that would fit right into Carnival of Tears. Gollix serpents, or war nagas, which proudly serve in Cheliaxian armies in Molithrune. Numerian spine dragons, tainted with starmetal. Koblaks, Nic Logue's demented take on death-tainted bugbears. And the Oliphaunt of Janderlay itself, last seen in Pathfinder #5 dwarfing its Thassilonian summoner. And more are being added on a fairly regular basis! Check it out, won't you?
I got the idea while perusing the "Is Second Darkness Setting Neutral" thread over in the Second Darkness forum, and I didn't want to disrupt that thread, so I made my own! The more I think about it, the more Curse of the Crimson Throne works well in Eberron. I'm almost sorry I didn't think of this sooner--I'm in the middle of Seven Days to the Grave right now, waay too late to port my game over. Let's drop Korvosa into Q'barra, the monarchist colony of Galifar over on the tropical eastern coast. This isolates it from a lot of the more pulp SF elements of the setting (no lightning rail, little airships). The desire to have ties to the monarchist past would allow for the ruler of a relatively small town like Korvosa calling themselves king or queen. And the area does have a history of people building pyramids--just swap out the Shoanti for lizardfolk. The presence of dragonmarked houses, of relatively cheap low-level magic, makes running Seven Days to the Grave a little easier on the city... unless, of course, we make the Queen's Physicians halflings, members of House Jorasco, the House of Healing. It's been established that the nosomatic chiurgeons are a sect of House Jorasco that collects diseases and uses them to "cull the herd", as it were. And making the Physicians an established society (House Jorasco) makes them more trusted, and the twist of the second module all the more shocking. Of course, human ethnicities are glossed over in Eberron. We would probably be best suited to replacing the Varisians with a non-human race. Shifters or changelings would do nicely as a persecuted minority. As for Kazavon, I'm of two minds on how to treat him. The more by-the-book approach would be to use the original source more literally--Kazavon is a dragon servitor of one of the evil gods (the Mockery makes for a fantastic expy of Zon-Kuthon). The second, and the one I like more, would be to make him one of the Lords of Dust, an ancient rakshasa lord who took the form of a dragon as mockery of their enemies (similarly to how Dragons of Eberron treated Tiamat). This would help explain his undying nature, and tie him more thoroughly into the backstory of Eberron. The one problem I see is that House Arkona are differently aligned rakshasas. Perhaps they follow a different patron amongst the Lords of Dust. Perhaps they're not rakshasas at all, but rather changelings and/or cultists of the Dragon Below. A History of Ashes would require a lot of work to change around, especially following my previous model of "Shoanti = lizardfolk". All the desert flavor would have to be traded out for jungle, which is still, admittedly, a very hostile environment for those unprepared for its perils. Scarwall could be set in either the Talenta Plains or in Valenar, with halfing barbarians or militant elves subsituting for orcs. Queen Ileosa's plan to use the blood of Korvosa to make her immortal can still work quite nicely. Rather than drawing on the resources of a runelord, she could have found the secrets of the Qalabrin, an ancient sect of vampire elves that inspired the Blood of Vol religion. The Blood of Vol could also be the cult, rather than Urgathoa, backing the Physicians in Seven Days to the Grave. So. What do you think, sirs?
OK, let's open with this: I really liked this module. It's where this AP kicked into high gear for me, what with its military movie feel, modular goal structure, and sandboxiness of the lost city. That said... The end of the module just doesn't make any darn sense. How so? As written, the PCs, a unit of elven scouts led by Kaerishiel, and a unit of elven scouts led by Shalelu assault the Academy of Arts simultaneously from three different angles. The three gaps in its defenses are guarded by an EL 9 encounter, and EL 8 encounter and an EL 7 encounter. Kaerishiel is the same level as the PCs, Shalelu a little lower, and all of the elven scouts are level 5. How is it, then, that no matter which gap the PCs choose to breach, it's assumed that the other two units have been routed and their leaders captured and already thrown through the portal to the Armageddon Echo? It says that if the PCs are fast, they may have the opportunity to rescue one of the named NPCs before they're captured, but I don't see any way that couldn't happen. The average D&D combat takes a couple of rounds, and the drow forces aren't just that fast and deadly. The impression I received from the Academy of Arts is that the party arrives just in the nick of too late, storming in just as Novleniss drags the NPCs off in chains through the portal. This seems to me like a huge cheat--if the PCs are fast enough, and by the rules they should be, they'd have the opportunity to kill Novleniss right there and never have to go through the portal into the Armageddon Echo, which is where the final confrontation is nominally scheduled. And if Novleniss is just ahead of them, why isn't he scrambling through the city when the PCs get through the portal? The module assumes he's already safely ensconced in the observatory by the time the PCs get through. I understand the motivation for Jason to give the drow in the Armageddon Echo some hostages--it'll motivate the PCs to go in to rescue them, rather than camp outside the portal with the entire elven army and wait for the drow to come back. There's also a little sidebar to the same effect saying that, if the PCs don't go through the dangerous, unstable portal, Novleniss and an army of drow, blast shadows, demons, and vampires of the hostages will emerge and wreak havoc in a few weeks. ...quoi? Putting aside the fact that Novleniss has no way of turning the elves into vampires (unless he had a vampire cohort who got cut for space) for a moment, the Armageddon Echo resets when first entered to 1d8 days before Earthfall occurs. And building an army of demons and blast shadows isn't Novleniss' goal--he's in the Echo to rest, regroup and study Earthfall closely enough to try and aim their own falling star. The text even explicitly says that the drow avoid the blast shadows whenever possible! So... here's how I'm going to work around all of this in my campaign when I get around to running SD (still in the middle of Crimson Throne). In my version, the attack on the Academy of Magic by the PCs will be a solo effort. Much of the rest of the elven army's attention will be on the Fluted Goblet (you can tell that there was some disconnect between Jason and Amber when writing their articles--the gazetteer makes the necromancer in the Fluted Goblet out to be quite a threat and makes it sound as if undead roam the city, whereas there's no such indication in the module. I'm changing the necromancer into a conjurer and the Fluted Goblet the source of all of the demonic activity in the city. But I digress). Kaerishiel (who now trusts the PCs with his life) will approach the PCs and confide in them that during the night, Eviana took a platoon of scouts and Shalelu to the Academy of Arts in the attempt to make a decapitating strike on the drow army, capturing Novleniss and forcing the drow to retreat. Unfortunately, it failed. In order to keep up morale, Kaerishiel misleads the elves into believing that Eviana has taken ill, and sends the PCs to rescue her. Novleniss does not take the hostages with him into the observatory. Instead, he hides them in the city, guarded by demons or blast shadows controlled with command undead spells. His hope is that Eviana will be killed by Earthfall, then he will return to the Armageddon Echo to retrieve her blast shadow and shatter elven morale. Razorhorn will still get their treasure, and Novleniss will mock the PCs for leaving their commander to die as Earthfall grows ever closer.
I received the email this morning saying that my copy of the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting has shipped via Standard Postal Delivery. Except that I paid for UPS 2 Day Ground Shipping. The Shipping and Handling fees still read $6.32, double that of the shipping method I am apparently getting.
I like that the Alpha 3 ranger gets more options for his combat styles. That's very nice. I appreciate that. What I'm not too keen on is that rangers are still effectively only two types of characters: ranged fighters or two-weapon fighters. Why not a sword-and-board combat style? Or a throwing weapon style? Even a two-handed weapon style? Sorcerers, for example, got options that vastly expand their repertoire. Why limit rangers to only two options? Like the sorcerer, it could be noted that most rangers, by default, are assumed to have the TWF or ranged weapons combat styles, but I don't see why they should all be limited to those options.
So many spoilers, so little time... eating away at the mouseover text... OK. Here we go. The Black Tower, as written, dissatisfies me. Why is it just one little room underground? If the Scrolls of the Peacock Spirit were important enough to be guarded by a mummy, why weren't they in the library, guarded by the Shining Child? Why is the password to the library in the scrolls? Etc. One of my players (my girlfriend, incidentally) is very interested in the Black Tower, and now that Mokmurian's death means that all of the giants are rapidly evacuating Jorgenfist, she's eager to explore it. And so I've decided to flesh it out. This is, incidentally, somewhat inspired by Jodah's use of a skull ripper in Skull's Crossing that he posted about in another thread. The top room of the Black Tower, as written, will be encrusted in ice, but faintly visible through the ice are relief carvings along the wall. Seven of them. Scraping off the ice will reveal the following, with captions in Thassilonian script: Panel 1 - A flamboyantly dressed young man backed by a horde of servants, greeted by three wizened old men. "The Runelord of Cyrusian sent his favorite nephew to learn the ways of the Peacock Spirit from the wise men of the Therassic Monastery. He was accompanied by his five hundred and seventy three servants." Panel 2 - The same young man, in a library. The three old men stand behind a pedestal bearing a strange cylinder. "The young prince was taught by the monks in the ways of battle and was allowed access to their great library. He was forbade, however, the Thirty-Six Curses of the Peacock Spirit. Only one without fear, the monks said, could gaze upon the Curses and live." Panel 3 - The same library, empty save for the young man. The cylinder has been opened, and the young man falls backwards, his hands raised. A green light emanates from the cylinder. "The prince, knowing himself without fear, sneaked into the library one night to view the Thirty-Six Curses. But the young prince's pride was greater than his bravery, and he was slain." Panel 4 - A fantastically handsome man holding a lucerne hammer sits on a throne, pointing and gazing at a robed, corpulent man with a cadaverous face. "The Runelord, upon hearing the news, commanded a gluttonsmith of Gastath to attend to his fallen nephew's last rites." Panel 5 - The corpulent man and the three monks toil over the young man's body, while a dozen servants build a sculpture resembling a scorpion crafted out of bones. "The gluttonsmith aided the Therassic Monks in preparing the body, and constructed a tomb guardian, so that the young prince's final resting place would never be desecrated." Panel 6 - An opulent tomb scene, with the young man's body wrapped in bandages and clutching the cylinder from Panel 2. He is surrounded by dozens of servants, and the sculpture of the scorpion stands in the background. "The prince was interred in the belltower, with his guardian and his servants, as was the custom for a Cyrusian noble. The Thirty-Six Curses of the Peacock Spirit were buried with him, so as they would never again tempt a wayward acolyte with their dangerous knowledge." Panel 7 - The corpse of the young man rises, smiling, as the scorpion sculpture, now animate, tears apart the servants. "But the Runelord never learned that the monks had bribed the Gluttonsmith, who had animated the young prince as the undead for his foolishness. When the prince's servants reached the afterlife, they would find no lord waiting for them." The room below would be replaced, of course, with a tomb; a golden sarcophagous, sculptures of beautiful women and piles of gold and jewels. All of these would be the result of a permanent image spell. The Black Monk, being the animate remains of the prince, would not be, and neither would the skull ripper in attendance. The Thirty-Six Curses, and the scrolls with them, would be rather more dangerous. Reading the Curses would trigger a heightened phantasmal killer spell (DC 23); if one survived, one could gain the benefits. Reading the Thirty-Six Curses of the Peacock Spirit would allow one to use the options from the "Bestowed Curses" article in Dragon 348. What do you think, sirs?
I like what you've done to Polymorph and its kin. It works. It's streamlined, while still being flavorful and useful. It softens hands while you do the dishes. But! And this is a big but. Some of the monster types are absent from the spells. There's no polymorphing into undead, outsiders, fey, constructs, monstrous humanoids or aberrations. The lack of undead, outsiders and constructs makes good sense to me. They're off the list as far as 3.x polymorph is concerned, and they're rather radically different from the ordinary caster that it'd take some serious magic indeed to get a person there (so are elementals, but I digress...). Fey, though? I can see an argument made for fey, that they're also creatures of spirit like outsiders, so they should be off limits. They're borderline for me. But monstrous humanoids? Aberrations? They're a huge part of the D&D experience! And therefore a huge part of the polymorph experience. I want my casters to be able to take on the forms of gargoyles, centaurs, minotaurs, etc. If the demented aberrant cultist wants to turn himself into a mind flayer (or convenient OGL replacement), more power to him! My suggestion? Bring monstrous humanoids, aberrations and fey back into the polymorph fold. Fey and monstrous humanoids might be covered by, say, alter self II and III. Aberrations, though, might require their own spell, what with the diversity of body forms. What do you think, sirs?
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