Generic Villain's page

Where can I get the PDF for this?

The oni bloodline's fine if you just switch out Disguise for Intimidate. It's the most logical choice, given how oni are deceptive and like disguising themselves as other races.

what do i need to do for take my money back?

Get a time machine. But for the love of God don't step on any bugs or anything - butterfly effect and all that.

I am confused about a couple of things with the Void Elemental School

Void Magic: twilight knife, wandering star motes and moment of prescience are already on the Wizards spell at the listed spell levels so why are they mentioned here?

Call the Void: Shouldn't this spell be on the Void Elementalist Wizard Spells list?

You're partially correct. In fact, every single spell listed under "void magic" is already a wizard/sorcerer spell of the listed spell level, meaning that "void magic" is completely redundant/unnecessary. My guess is that it's an artifact that someone forgot to edit out.

As for "call of the void," it looks like it's misnamed as "tapestry's embrace" under the Void Elementalist Wizard Spells section. Both are 3rd-level spells - "tapestry's embrace" is probably an earlier name of "call of the void."

Problem with the oni sorcerer bloodline - its associated class skill is Intimidate, but Intimidate is already a sorcerer class skill. What skill does the oni bloodline actually grant?

...catgirls tend to be problematic and shallow, given that all the lore Paizo has given us for catfolk is "they're cats, they're people, look like cat, talk like people" I'm especially weary of the 2nd.

Catfolk will probably receive a lot more background and development in the upcoming Ultimate Races. Racial history, habitat/society stuff, etc. It'll be a setting-neutral book, but I'm sure most of the info will still apply to catfolk on Golarion.

A friend of mine pointed me to this Maddox post. I stopped reading his stuff a while ago, but he makes some excellent points here. Simply put, that SOPA/PIPA will pass in one form or another is an inevitability. It will slip in through riders, during recesses, etc. Just very quietly next time.

I seem to recall threads like this before, At this point, I'd say the question is not if, it's when will Paizo make an announcement.

They already have

Ultimate Equipment is the next PFRGP book after Ultimate Races. Or at least, will be one of the 2012 books.

As someone with no interest in oriental-themed adventures, I'll be glad when you folks are finally done with all this and move on to something else (I know, pirates are next. You're going to have to shine to offer more than the fantastic Freeport environment).

You've really blocked off an exceptionally large chunk of the catalogue for this one.

After four years of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, I think 6-months of Eastern Asia was long overdo.

Should be interesting when the kid gets back to school. He may still get bullied, but from a healthy distance.

In Guide to Korvosa, he's referred to as "an infernal duke," not the actual creature type infernal. If you have Princes of Darkness (a resource on Golarion's devils), you'll see that infernal duke is a title. They're the equivalent of nascent demon lords, which is to say they are minor demigods with a CR below 25.

It's a sad day when you can't spread some Cthulhu-mas cheer without trolls showing up an bah-humbugging...

I LOVE it! Maybe I should cry to the moderator and flag it as offense. How come offensive posts arent flagged until they are opposed by those they are meant to offend????? Blame it on Paizo staff. I'm Matt Pike and I fully endorse this message.

Wut?

On the twelfth day of Cthulu-mas, my cultist gave to me...
12 unholy symbols
11 shoggoths piping
10 moon beasts-a-leaping
9 nighthaunts dancing
8 tentacles-a-twitching
7 Dagons-a-swimming
6 Shub-Nigguraths-a-laying (eggs filled with monstrous life)
5 blasphemous tomes
4 flesh-eating rat-things
3 reanimated corpses
2 whisperers in darkness
And an Elder God sleeping in R'lyeh

Wish we could get some previews. Perhaps of the Kitsune race?

There's a kitsune in the most recent Jade Regent adventure, Forest of Spirits.

Alright, cool. I always found Krune's placing a bit odd, because the lore we have on him mentions that the other six were frightened of his mastery of rune magic.

He may be the weakest Rune Lord, but that's nothing to sneeze at. Smallest fish in a huge pond. Iirc he's noted as having a special connection with Lissala the rune goddess, so he would probably have some weird prestige class/feats/template if statted up. Something that gives him a slight edge, just enough to make the more powerful Rune Lords think twice before crossing him.

It does sort of make sense that he's the weakest - sloth doesn't lend itself to overachievment after all.

I hope the next monster book like these will be a Fey one.

Well the next one is Giants Revisited, but considering how many Revisited books there have been, I'm sure there will be more after. I like how the books are centered around a theme rather than a creature type (with the exception of Undead Revisited), so maybe Nature's Servants Revisited? Fey, an elemental or two, plant monsters, magical beasts from the First World... that'd be a cool book.

Sun Wukong's a god? Awesome. Just please don't give him gold spikey hair...

Some conclusions I've made about Adivion...

First, he's noted several times as the leader of the Whispering Way, but this isn't the case. For example, there's a branch of the WW all the way down in Geb that probably doesn't even know Adivion exists. More to the point, the WW seems to be divided into two camps: an active group of cultists, and a much more powerful group of undead beings that are trapped or nascent. Adivion only commands the former. This fact would make great fodder for Adivion's bad guy speech - the old "Even if you destroy me, others will carry on my work!" thing. And hey, maybe the PCs find a missive on Adivion's body from [insert even greater baddy here]. Perhaps Grier the demilich was instructing Adivion the whole time.

Second, I don't think Adivion cares a whole lot about the Whispering Way. For example, he only began the lich transformation as an absolute last resort. His interest seems to lie entirely with Tar-Baphon, and to that end, he's more-or-less using the Ustalav branch of the WW in his effort to free Tar-Baphon. "True" cultists like Auren Vrood and Lucimar may realize this, but they don't particularly care why or how Tar-Baphon is freed. Only that he is. Perhaps the PCs can pick up clues to this effect throughout the Carrion Crown AP. Lucimar in particular seems quite unhappy that his position has been usurped by (in my opinion) a pretender.

Haven't there like 5 storms been reported on the west coast?

Doubt that's the issue. All the other books for December actually moved up a week. My guess is Tide of Honor was holding them back for whatever reason. Regardless, this happened last year with Serpent's Skull, so I was sort of expecting it.

Any idea as to when this AP will be shipped out this month?

It got pushed back to January. Four more weeks of agonized anticipation I'm afraid.

Excellent work generic Villain! With skills like this you need to be working for the Pathfinder Wiki forthwith at:

http://www.pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Pathfinder_Wiki

Alas, I don't have time to work on much PF-related stuff these days. I mainly work in "spurts" when the stupid real world leaves me alone long enough to do so. Rare occasions.

I've made my fair share of Lovecraftian villains. Here are some past guys, maybe they'll spark some inspiration for underlings.

My favorite was probably a pair of derro twins with levels of oracle (Dark Tapestry mystery). Each refused to acknowledge the other's existance despite always working in tandem.

Another villain was an alchemist with the psychonaut archetype from Ultimate Magic. He was a plain ole' alchemist before discovering a Tome of Forbidden Knowledge with dark formulaes inside. He basically lived his whole life in a drugged out haze, obeying a combination of dream messages from an alien being and his own hallucinations.

I had a gnome sorcerer (dream bloodline) who terrorized people by unintentionally giving form to her own mad visions. She was a tragic villain, as she wasn't consciously aware of the suffering she caused.

And don't forget witches! Lovecraft sure didn't.

Ok so I found a run down of the alienist on teh interwebz and it seems all you need is a little bit of insanity, a few skill ranks, and the ability to cast summon spells of 3rd level. So it looks like a druid could work, but most likely what I'm going to do is completely gut the class and rebuild it almost totally when I convert it to Pathfinder, I'll probably need to update the psuedonatural creature template as well.

You could just make a feat that lets you apply the pseudonatural template to any summoned creature, and make the insanity thing a roleplaying element. Or easier still, just have the villain summon monsters with the fiendish template and describe them in an unsettling manner - instead of a wolf with glowing red eyes and the reak of sulphur, a wolf covered with cilia instead of fur with tentacles lashing from its back.

There's a great article on the Great Old Ones and their cults in Wake of the Watcher. Druids do indeed worship the GOO - especially beings with ties to elemental power, like Mhar (fire and volcanoes) and Bokrug (water).

Also, have you considered the summoner class from the APG? If not for your main villain, than for her underlings. The eidolon class feature lets you make a great Lovecraftian servant from scratch.

Fiend has always been a catch-all term, though it's pretty ambiguous. I've seen it used throughout different iterations of D&D, and it's usually a term for intelligent evil outsiders. I most often picture demons/tanar'ri, devils/baatezu, and daemons/yugoloths, but it could really be almost any native of one of the evil planes of existance.

Celestial is equally ambiguous, though I generally picture anthropomorhpic beings. Angels, agathions, guardinals, and the like.

In short, there's no set definition for either "fiend" or "celestial."

If someone has a 9th level spell they can cast as a spell like ability does this count for getting feats?

The feat in question is 'epic spellcasting' (from the 3.5 epic handbook).

Nope. Otherwise balors, pit fiends, and other high-level outsiders would qualify as well for that particular requirement. Casting spells and using spell-like abilities are not the same thing.

For the life of me, I have no idea where it says that though. Been with PF for a long time, forget a lot of the 3.5 stuff.

*Edit*

Looked through some past 3.5 stuff, and there's really nothing saying this either way as far as I could find. Not even the online FAQ about spell-like abilities has anything like this. The issue is further muddied by Tome of Magic, which introduced the shadowcaster class whose spells ("mysteries") can function as either spells, spell-like abilities, or supernatural abilities.

In short, I think the spirit of Epic Spellcasting is to actually be able to CAST (like a wizard, cleric, or sorcerer) 9th-level spells. But rules-as-written? Who knows...

I think now we're just talking cross purposes. In your earlier post, it seemed you were against the term "universal rights". I am posting to say that this term has a meaning and is useful. I am not defining what those rights are, but rather the existence of the term and how it can be useful for the debate of what is and is not moral and just.

I am not at this particular moment attempting to define what those rights are. I do think that the debate over what is and isn't a universal right is useful. Our society will continue to change and redefine what those rights are continually.

It's absolutely useful to discuss what rights people should have, I agree. I suppose my point is there's no inherent right for gays to marry, anymore so than there's a right for a black and white person to marry. Rather, society must reach the conclusion on its own that these things must become rights.

It may be a minor point, but it's one I consider important. To put it another way, claiming that gay marriage is a basic and universal human right oversimplifies the situation. Rather, I personally believe that gay marriage is a right (or privilege, or whatever) that must be fought for. It will never be handed to gay people on a silver platter - they, along with their supporters, will need to work for it. If it were actually a universal and inherent right, gays would already be allowed to marry. It would be a foregone conclusion, a given.

Semantics aside, I am very liberal-minded and absolutely support gay marriage. I am also pragmatic, and believe it will not come easily (if at all).

And yes, they are privileges and they can be taken away. Still, I believe that we should all "do unto others." If we did, than no ones' "privileges" would be denied them.

We owe it to ourselves, and to one another.

I agree absolutely.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Written by men with a few high-minded ideals who simultaneously kept other human beings as slaves and very literally meant "all men." The Declaration of Independence is, like all documents, only as good as those who are willing to obey it. The moment it becomes inconvenient to do so however, it's just a piece of paper with some scribbles on it.

At the most basic, rights are things that are defined by what we consider to be moral and just, or principles which underpin morality and justice.

Who are "we"? If the majority feels it's wrong for gays to marry (which appears to be the case in America), than "we" do not feel gay marriage is a right. In other nations, sure it's a right, but not in America.

As for "principles that underpin morality and justice," again, such things are purely subjective. There is no such thing as universal rules of right and wrong - just the actions that people can justify, and those that they cannot. Every sin, cruelty, and horror imaginable has, at some point, been justified by some combination of the legal, religious, or philosophical.

All you have to do is look at the way children were treated up until very recently (civil rights movements in the 20th century). They were worked hard, beaten, considered objects, and otherwise treated in a manner that would horrify modern sensibilities. But for thousands of years (and depending on the culture) that was okay. It was moral and just, as you say. It was justified, as I say. And they were no more wrong in their behaviour than we are right in ours.

Times change, and social mores along with them. That's a good thing. But you can't claim that there's some fundamental truth that defines what is right or wrong - unless you're coming from a religious perspective of course. I am clearly not, however.

considering a oracle paladin, not sure if either really needs a god in golarion or not

Neither a paladin nor an oracle needs to worship a god in Golarion. You just can't be an atheist divine caster. I think the idea of a paladin/oracle is really cool honestly.

As for clerics, according to everything I've read from James Jacobs, they can only worship one god. That doesn't mean they can't respect, appreciate, and even offer the occasional prayer to other gods, but their heart and soul only belongs to their divine patron. So even if you're a cleric with levels of oracle, druid, paladin, or whatever, you can still only worship one god.

Of course you're one house rule away from changing that.

I should not (and will not) tolerate those people who disagree with one fundamental principle: that human rights are universal, and cannot be denied any person.

In this, I cannot tolerate the intolerant.

Human rights are universal? I'm as tolerant as they come, I assure you, but there is no such thing as a human right. If something can be taken away from you than it's a privilege, not a right. Freedom of speech, freedom to worship the god of your choice, to marry whomever you choose, to have children, to not be thrown in prison, to simply be alive - these things are all privileges.

Mercifully, most of us live in a society where the powers that be (government, police, judicial, military, etc.) grant us these privileges, but make no mistake - what can be given can just as easily be taken away. It is only the collective will of the people that decides what is and isn't acceptable, and people are fickle.

Thus I absolutely dissaggree with you that human rights are universal. I would instead say that human rights are precious things that must be guarded vigilantly lest they be lost, and must be fought for should they need to be regained.

Gay marriage isn't a right, anymore than not being thrown in a prison camp for having the "wrong" beliefs is. But it sure would be swell if people realized that their own prejudices are not grounds for denying other people the same privileges that they themselves enjoy.

Just for fun, I decided to go through various PF products and compile a list of languages.

Are there any that I'm missing? Also, I'm not sure if "Gug" is still its own language. It's noted as a separate language in Into the Darklands, yet in Bestiary II, gugs simply speak Undercommon. Thus I'm assuming Gug is no longer a language.

Here's a bit of an odd question: is Varki a language? I ask because many NPCs in this adventure speak Varki, but it isn't mentioned at all in the book about the Land of the Linnorm Kings. Indeed, one of the Linnorm Kingdoms (Icemark) pretty much belongs to the Varki people, but its languages are listed as simply Giant and Skald.

Devs, please no more Varisia. I get it, it's your favorite place in Golarion, but come on, 5/11 APs?

So far only two APs have been wholly Varisian.

Are the Five Storms the ultimate oni authority on Golarion? This volume seems to imply that Anamurumon is the de facto ruler of all oni. I could definitely be wrong - in fact, I'm pretty sure I'm wrong. Why? Because Anamurumon is a wind yai, and there's at least one oni breed stronger than him (the void yai, and likely the water yai as well).

I know we'll learn much more about the Five Storms in the final two Jade Regent volumes, so I'm not too worried about this issue, but it certainly has me curious. Maybe it's just that Anamurumon and his Five Storms are one of the more organized oni groups on Golarion, and thus more of a threat than a single (albeit powerful) void yai. Or maybe Anamurumon is himself merely a puppet.

Also, more idle speculation! Anamurumon finally managed to produce a tiefling grandson, and that grandson is - dramatic pause - the Jade Regent.

No one designs akward, hilarious social situations like Richard Pett. This issue is packed with roleplaying goodness.

Hopefully the Oni based on Humans(Kuwa).

The Kuwa Oni will be in Bestiary 3, not the Jade Regent AP. Forest of Spirits will probably have the Oni based on hobgoblins (Janoi?). Each of the last two adventures would then feature one of the Yai (Oni based on a giant).

I noticed the product description was never updated along with the cover illustration...

Anyone can craft magic items in pathfinder. You just need the Master Craftsman feat.

Yeah but becoming a lich isn't about just making the phylactery, you also have to be able to cast spells. Phylacteries aren't magical items in the traditional sense.

Ninja'd by joeyfixit, and on closer reading, he's right. Since alchemists don't technically cast spells, they technically can't become liches. However there are, indeed, alchemist liches. So basically I'd take the vague guidelines for lich creation with a grain of salt. Also keep in mind that the Bestiary was written long before the Alchemist class. Unless a developer decides that the alchemist lich in the afforementioned adventure was a mistake (ala the "paladins can worship Asmodeus" debacle), I think it's safe to say that yes, alchemists can become liches. They just have a different process.

Indeed, I imagine if Paizo ever does a psionic class, we'll see psionic liches as well regardless of whether they "cast spells" or not.

Isn't the lichification process undefined?

From the Bestiary: "Each lich must create its own phylactery by using the Craft Wondrous Item feat. The character must be able to cast spells and have a caster level of 11th or higher. The phylactery costs 120,000 gp to create and has a caster level equal to that of its creator at the time of creation."

The alchemist lich I mentioned has the Craft Wondrous Item feat and is of sufficient level. The thing is, as you said, lich transformation has been left vague. Their phylactery isn't a magical item per se - at least, not one that is crafted in the normal fashion. The process for becoming a lich is intensely personal, and thus seems more like a roleplaying exercise than the simple act of just crafting a ho-hum magical item.

Also I'm pretty sure the alchemical lich's Craft Wondrous Item feat is useless except for making the phylactery. Alchemists can't craft magic items (other than potions, which are a special alchemist class feature), so it's pretty much a wasted feat from lich-forward.

Or more than likely they live in a closed off domain. Either way, they're not openly popping up in Absalom, running for mayor or shopping for groceries. In essence, they're as offstage as those deities actually residing off-plane.

Regardless, the answer to the question "do gods live on the Material Plane" is still yes. In fact, at least two Great Old Ones (Xamen-Dor and Mhar) live on Golarion itself, and they're demigods. Furthermore, it's stated that Nyarlathotep - in his guise as the Black Pharaoh - had a direct hand in sculpting ancient Osirion. Just how and why are unknown (perhaps we'll get some hints in the upcoming Lost Kingdoms product).

So indeed, on at least one occasion big N was "popping up in Absalom (actually Osirion, but still)." The Outer Gods may live a long way from Golarion, but what does distance matter to a being of that power?

Brought up in another thread, but probably worth its own.

Alchemists seem like a perfect fit for Lich candidacy, but the prerequisites include casting spells and being caster level 11th. The Alchemist does neither. However, it seems like this caveat was put in before the APG and the arrival of Alchemists.

Should there perhaps be an errata that addresses this? Or should the Alchemist simply take his mummification and eternal youth and shaddap?

Yes, alchemists can become liches. The process by which they do so is undefined, but it's possible. For example, there's...

And we're back to Desna again, who also comes from the Dark Tapestry, and, quite likely, is closer relations with Yog-Sothoth and Shub-Niggurath than with Shelyn and Calistria...

I've considered this too, in a more general way. Specifically, that the Outer Gods are the "gods" of the material plane, just as Asmodeus is the god of Hell. Likewise, the Great Old Ones are the Material Plane's equivalent of Demon Lords/Archdevils/Empyreal Lords. If this is the case, it makes the Material Plane a much more sinister seeming place. Of course you have Desna to help balance the mind-shattering madness of the Outer Gods... but just barely.

To stay on topic, it seems like there are definitely gods who spend most of their time on the Material Plane. However they probably dwell hundreds of light years away from Golarion. Thus, while not actually living on another plane of existance, they may as well be when you consider the distance.

Uh guys, aren't you forgetting about the greatest god of all? Razmir of course! He's the only one awesome enough to live amongst mortals (for the low low cost of taking everything those mortals have).

On a more serious note, all the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods live on the Material Plane. Granted, ones like Yog-Sothoth are probably "out of phase" with reality to some extent, but if Azathoth stays true to HPL's writings, he's living it up in the center of the universe.

Also, for a time Aroden lived among his mortal kin in Absalom.

This spell is a proud nail that I really wish was hammered in Pathfinder the same way that polymorph was. I've attempted to rewrite it, but it's so vaguely worded that it's difficult to even quantify. Basically, house rules asside, it's (as Nightskies noted) the god mode for arcane casters.

Sorry if that sounded rant-like. Meh.

Stuff

I'm not a rules lawyer, but that makes perfect sense to me.

Holy wow, the new cover looks amazing. That is an awesome looking oni! Could it be the