Zelgadas Greyward's page

Bit late to the party

I mean, I haven't run another session yet, so further input is welcome.

I think its a conflict between Cthulu and Pathfinder, in pathfinder an item needs to have a certain tie to achieve an effect whereas in Cthulu the item itself is often less important.

That's exactly the issue I was having.

In Pathfinder, if the text could drive people insane and possibly turn them into monsters, then it should be magical and should radiate as such.

In the Cthulhu Mythos, things are more subtle. Reading the play draws the attention of Hastur who then causes the effects.

I checked in Strange Aeons, looking for more references. I didn't find any until I got to the final adventure. There is a sidebar there that reads as follows:

The King in Yellow is a ritual disguised as a play, often
found in written form but rarely performed. The ritual
is so potent that it has a self-sabotaging effect. When
the play is read, even silently, it is often activated by
the time the reader has gotten to Act 2. The second
act is a specific demarcation point in the ritual, a point
of no return. The reader becomes the primary caster
while thinking she is reading a piece of fiction. If bereft
of other actors, props, and stage movement, the ritual
inevitably fails and the hapless reader suffers backlash
that manifests as trauma and madness. In some cases,
the ritual summons monsters or causes the reader to be
transported to Carcosa.

I honestly don't know if this actually helps. Do rituals detect as evil (or other alignments)?

For that matter, another Hastur ritual elsewhere in the adventure causes participants to shift closer to Chaotic... and the goal of the pamphlets is to mind-screw the people of Paris into overthrowing the royals and the churches to remove those impediments. So... if anything, maybe the pamphlets should detect as Chaotic rather than Evil?

I will probably need to decide on this by this weekend, so I have a few days yet. Feel free to keep the discussion going if anyone has any further thoughts.

Now if it actually opened some portal for Hastur & Friends to actually to swallow the city, like what sorta happens at the start of Strange Aeons, then absolutely yes, it is on power level with the book of the damned, it is overwhelmingly evil and will stun your players for even looking at it with their special aura eyes.

Strange Aeons was actually what gave me the idea to use Hastur. I wasn't that familiar with him, but I was looking for some ideas for session 1 enemies and did a read through of the first two adventures. By the time I was done, I was like 'yup - that's the elder god for this game'.

And yeah, that's the basic trajectory of the game. Paris is going to get swallowed unless the PCs can stop it. However, the pamphlets are not what's going to do that - they're just for driving the population into a murderous, anarchist frenzy.

So yeah - thanks everyone! I am firmly decided on a null return from detect alignment on the pamphlets. That's kinda what I was hoping for, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't doing something that would unfairly keep the PCs abilities from working.

Okay - it seems like everyone's in agreement that, regardless of the mystical plot effects, the otherwise mundane pamphlets should not detect as evil (or any other alignment) to the characters with Detect Alignment.

Oh, and I just realized that another character is getting that ability next level, so soon it will be two who can do that.

As to the turning into monsters, most readers don't turn fully - they just become more violent and join the riots (as a Troop of humans). Only a few become something other. Most of teh PCs allies have read the pamphlets too - and have become slightly more violent in fighting the evils of the city.

The idea is that the pamphlets are keyed to the 'anarchist' aspect of the three cities - hence the zeal of the revolution in the city. Plus the passages about one city of wealthy aristocrats at war with a city of down-to-earth hard working anarchists works beautifully as propaganda, Hastur influence aside.

Oh, and for anyone familiar with the actual history, I have Maximillian Robespierre as the head Hastur cultist (and one of the few who knows what is actually going on).

There are also a number of side distractions - a group of Vampires has also joined the revolutionaries to hide their meals among the dead, and a group of antiquarians at the Sorbonne are doing experiments with other mythos related things.

As to aberrations - I'm taking some liberties with monster origins and types. I had some evil Flumphs at the Sorbonne, for example, and a few humans have transformed into Dopplegangers (not that anyone is yet aware of that).

So yeah, confusion reins. The PCs know that something sinister is going on, what with all the weird monsters, but they have no idea what that is and are dealing with symptoms (stopping executions, rescuing hostages, and battling individual monster) without any real idea of the overarching cause.

Oh, and they have discovered a network of Elder Signs that allow them to teleport to various pre-designated locations within the city. They did alignment check the signs, but they detect as True Neutral, so they aren't worried about them and are happy to have a fast-travel system.

They should be worried about them. They should be very worried.

Does the pamphlet have any magical properties? If not, it shouldn't detect as evil, but if it had some magical affects, like for example the Necronomicon and Book of the Damned, it would detect as evil.

Basically, a cleric's mundane (un)holy book won't detect, but a special (even non-artifact) magical (un)holy scripture would detect.

Fair. How then would you interpret this bit of lore (Copy/pasted from the Pathfinder Wiki on Hastur):

Unholy text
The King in Yellow stands singularly in its importance to Hastur's cult. Ostensibly a simple dramatisation of Yhtill's final days, those who read The King in Yellow expose themselves to Hastur's influence, and when the play is performed, the city that hosts it will be absorbed by Carcosa.

According to this, the King in Yellow appears to be a mundane text... that also 'exposes' those who read to Hastur's influence and can cause a city to be absorbed/destroyed. That sounds pretty magical to me - but it has no mechanical magical properties, just plot ones.

Background: I am currently running a Pathfinder (1e) game set in Paris, France during the September Massacres of the French Revolution. The game is a bit Bloodborne-esque, so Gothic Horror meets Mythos Horror.

The Big Bad is a worshiper of Hastur who has been incorporating sections of the play The King in Yellow into revolutionary pamphlets and spreading them throughout the city, causing the people of Paris to become enraged ~ and eventually some start turning into monsters (Mythos Ghouls, Werewolves, Dopplegangers, Vampires, etc).

Anyway, the PCs have started operating in the city, trying to rescue certain individuals from the violence and investigate what is going on.

Thus far, no one has thought to look at the propaganda pamphlets more closely. One of the PCs has Detect Alignment as a class feature.

So, before the PCs actually thinks to use that ability on the pamphlets, I wanted to ask... does anyone know if the play 'The King in Yellow' detects as evil?
And, if so, would the entire pamphlet detect as evil, or just the text taken from that play?

Even if no such rule exists and the decision is mine, I would be curious to hear some opinions on the matter.

/exits lurk mode
Just wanted to throw my own thanks in here as well. It was wonderful to see these stories.
I too have found gaming to be a wonderful outlet that allows me to express my true gender in a supportive environment. Thank you, Paizo, for helping to make that environment even more supportive and open!

Hm. That does give me an idea for the other Dark Souls thread - Resins. Ie, one-use items that make a weapon temporarily flaming, shocking, etc.

Which one?

Well, any of the humanoid ones really (other than the Darkmoon Lady since she wears armor), but with preference for the Fire Keeper from DS3. So one that looks like Anastasia or Shanalote would work too.

I know it's kind of silly, but would you consider stating up a Giantdad enemy? It would be interesting to see him as a barbarian or bloodrager with the fire bloodline.

GiantDad is a PVP build right? I avoid PVP (and basically all online multiplayer in all games, not just Dark Souls) so I only know of GiantDad in a fairly vague sense.

Also, wouldn't a GiantDad technically be a PC build in a tabletop game?

This thread is pure gold.

PURE.
GOLD.

Love it.

Are we ever going to see Manus or Black Dragon Kalameet?

Thanks!

And actually I already did both of those.

Manus is CR 19 and back in the Oolacile section. Kalameet is short since there is already a dragon that does basically everything Kalmeet does, so I just said "use this dragon at this age" and that was it. Should be in the same section.

Question: does anyone know of a gaming mini that resembles a Firekeeper?

After today, I think I need to spend some time with LGBT friends just so I can feel like I'm part of a group of people who understand.

**hugs** That sounds like a good plan.

And, while part of me wants to inquire about some of the horrible things that you mentioned in passing were said to you, I think it is best if I leave that alone and simply say that there are people here who care for you and understand, at least in part, what you are going through.

Also, both my wife and I get migraines, to one extent or another. You have my sympathies on that count as well.

This really bothers me because I take time to prepare a session and when someone just doesn't show up, it throws a wrench in my plans.

This. So much this.

I find that many players do not realize the amount of time and effort that goes into preparing a game. When I create a game schedule, I expect my players to put it on their calendar as a booked event for the foreseeable future. A game should get just as much respect as a book club, SCA, jazz band, or any other similar weekly group activity.

And yet, I find that, more often than not, most players do not treat gaming like this. They treat it like "just hanging out" and if anything else comes up, they will just shrug and cancel, as if I didn't spend 10 hours preparing game that week.

So yeah. Personal pet peeve of mine.

Been a while.

Anyway, I was watching my favorite Blind LPer go through the Irithyll Dungeon section of DS3, and that got me thinking about Jailers.

That thing where they drain Max HP with a look - how would one implement that, I wondered. I've already made Con damage into Toxic, so how to represent a loss of Max HP?

And then it came to me. Negative Levels. I have used them almost nowhere else, and they do "reduce you until you die" similar to the Jailer's gaze.

And wouldn't you know it, but there's an already built undead in Pathfinder that causes Negative Levels with their gaze.

Bodaks.

Advanced Bodaks, at CR 9, are just about right for Jailers. Rearrange a few feats, give them a flaming heavy mace for their pokers, and they're basically done. Or, if one wanted them a bit tougher and more size appropriate, both the Advanced and Giant templates for a tough CR 10.

If one wanted to be closer to the game, make the Bodak's negative levels only last a minute or so, but make it save-less - every round they look at you, you take a negative level.

(also, if Bodak negative levels are already save-less, then never mind that statement - I'm doing this from my memory of Bodaks, so I might have a few minor errors in this musing)

Anyway, that's it for today. I have been pretty busy lately, so I haven't been able to spend much time on this. Still, if anyone has any requests for DS3 (or DS1 stuff I missed), then let me know.

I'd probably go with the APL 14 party. CR 17 monsters are generally boss monsters rather than basic encounters (unless you run a LOT of mythic/epic type games).

Unfortunately, I think I have to agree with Cyrad. These, sadly, just don't balance with 1st level spells. An arcane spellcaster would basically be obligated to take them as first level spells.

That said, what might work better is going the other direction... and making these all standard action 0 Level spells rather than duration-based prep spells.

And yes, I am suggesting you create spells that deal 1d4 +1d4 or 1d6+level (max 5) as 0 level spells, which is also too powerful for 0 level spells. HOWEVER, that's because Pathfinder specifically tries to prevent what you are trying to do. If you want to do it anyway, then breaking 0 level spells would give you the "wizard who uses arcane bolts" effect while not messing with the balance of 1st level spells (which are spells that actually matter).

This does mean that, at 1st level, several 0 level spells would do more damage than 1st level spells, but that would rapidly fall off as the wizard increased in level.

Basically what I'm saying is that, if you're going to unbalance a spell level, do it to 0-level since no one cares about 0-level spells after 2nd level. You'll have the least fallout that way.

Y'know what: never mind. I'll just ban paladins. It's faster and causes less work.

Or just let Paladins "smite" anything, but they don't get extra bonus damage on anything.

At my table, I threw out the "double damage against undead, evil dragons, evil outsiders" thing - but I also let Paladins smite any Chaos in addition to any evil, or even neutrals who are aligned with evil (that is, a neutral merc working for an evil demon is also considered evil since he's chosen to work for evil). The increased number of viable targets (and not having to scan creatures with Detect Evil beforehand) more than makes up for the lack of double smite damage - even in games that are heavy on undead, demons, or evil dragons.

But yeah, don't get rid of paladins. They're a great class and a lot of fun (if played well).

Did Pontiff Sulyvahn get statted? He's an interesting case.

Yup - he's on the previous page.

Or, for convenience, right here:

Pontiff Sulyvahn CR 14
CE Large undead
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +27
DEFENSE
AC 29, touch 14, flat-footed 24 (+5 armor, +4 dex, +1 dodge, +10 natural, -1 size)
hp 210 (20d8+120)
Fort +16, Ref +14, Will +20; +4 channel positive
Immune acid, bleed, cold, poison; SR 18
OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.
Melee profaned greatsword +23/+18/+13 (2d6+11 plus 1d6 fire/17-20), greatsword of judgement +23/+18/+13 (2d6+11 plus 1d6 cold/17-20)
Ranged cold scorching ray +18/+18/+18 touch (4d6 cold)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 15, CL 17 vs SR)
at will - cold scorching ray
3/day - cone of cold (DC 21), freezing sphere (DC 22)
STATISTIC
Str 30, Dex 19, Con -, Int 21, Wis 19, Cha 22
Base Atk +15; CMB +26; CMD 40
Feats combat expertise, dodge, doubleslice, greater two-weapon fighting, improved critical (greatswords), improved two weapon fighting, mobility, spring attack, two weapon fighting, whirlwind attack
Skills Bluff +26, Diplomacy +26, Intimidate +29, Knowledge (arcana) +28, Knowledge (nobility) +25, Knowledge (religion) +28, Perception +27, Sense Motive +27, Spellcraft +28
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal
SQ massive blade grip
Gear robes of the archmagi, profaned ultra greatsword (+1 flaming burst), greatsword of judgement (+1 frost burst),
Special Abilities
Massive Blade Grip (Ex): Pontiff Sulyvahn treats medium greatswords as if they are light weapons designed for his size.

Can anyone think of a good name for our setting? I'm honestly at this point thinking that everything is so out of place that we should just pick a bunch of random nouns and that'll about do it.

Yeah, that novel series only really works - and just barely at that - when you don't think about it too much. Any examination and the setting basically falls apart.

Plus, I remember it being very boring compared to other youth-oriented fantasy novels I read at that age.

Anyway...

...

Yeah, I can't think of anything worse than the already mentioned Kender World. **shudders**

I'm building a character for a first time player. She is a human and Her rolling stats (after the racial bonuses) are : str 14, dex 13, con 13, int 12, wis 11, cha 18.

Normally, I would put that 18 in str and the 14 in cha, but She want to focus on cha and the paladin magical abilities.

So, what to do?

I'm going to buck other advice and say avoid Hospitaler. While it grants more healing, that healing is weaker. A normal Paladin gets full powered Channels, where as Hospitalers are 2 dice behind. Clerics can barely keep channels ahead of the damage curve, even with Phylacteries of Positive Channeling - dropping 2 dice below that means that the channel energy will be all but useless, no matter how many times per day it can be used.

Instead, take Extra Lay on Hands AND Extra Channel for two dedicated channels per day and a two more LoH that can be spent on anything. Plus Extra Mercy when an extra feat is available.

Does the player mind being a Tank? As in, Heavy armor, Armor Focus, Shield, Shield Focus, and then just ignoring AoOs because they can't hit anyway and healing in melee range. Unstoppable Tin Can Healer is a very effective build - and the character can also help out in melee easily enough just by providing others with flanks.

Or, if the player prefers lightly armored, switch that 14 to Dex and focus on being dodgy. Dodge, Mobility, Combat Casting would be good for that build.

What level is the character going to be (ie, is this 1st level or what)? Aura of Justice (at 11th level) is going to be AWESOME for that melee focused party. Even if she never uses a smite herself (which I doubt will happen - smites are useful for the AC bonus alone, not to mention DR penetration), her party can still make use of them, and the higher her Cha bonus, the more beneficial the smites will be to everyone.

I have seen builds like this done often, and done well. My own fave Paladin character puts more into Cha than Str just for these reasons (although she still spends a good deal of time in melee).

Edit: Oh, and on Oracle of Life - I assume the player was given that option and chose against it. Oracles of Life are AWESOME - possibly my very favorite support build ever. However, if the player picked Paladin, I assume they had a reason why. If they just didn't know about Oracle, then yeah, you should probably mention that to them, but if they looked at both and chose Paladin, then that's great too - both methods work very well, just in different ways.

Alright, tear into it...

It reduces the amount of healing a cleric has at 1st level (since channeling is tied to favor points, and at first level, favor points equal 1 + cha mod rather than 3 + cha mod). Also, due to the limit on number of targets and radius, a cleric must spend more than 1 point to regain what was default at 1st level normally.

On the other hand, it does allow for some additional channels per day at higher levels, which is nice (or would be if the other class features didn't siphon off points). However, high level clerics have better ways to heal than with channel energy. Channel energy is the most useful at low levels, which is where you've knee-capped it.

This only gets worse when you consider that this pool is also required to cast prayers (at 2 points per prayer!) and spontaneous casting (at a number of points equal to the spell's level! Yikes!).

If this pool is going to power everything the cleric does, it needs to be a larger pool. 4 + Cha plus 2 per level thereafter, like a Bard or Barbarian would work out to around what a cleric gets now.

That said...

I love the interesting flavor this adds to the cleric. The aspects and prayers allow for much more customization of clerics (which I love), so I would certainly be up for trying this variant out - IF it had a larger point pool.

I also appreciate that you have plenty of options for lightly armored clerics - a favorite of mine. I've never understood why all of the best healer classes were stuck with Medium armor - I want to play a White Mage (wearing cloth armor or no armor) sometimes, and this variant cleric would let me do that.

So yeah - great stuff, just give the class more points to play with.

This is pretty awesome actually yeah! I was looking for a nasty 'dark' dragon for a dark souls theme game I'm gonna run sometime.

Thanks! I haven't done many dragons for Dark Souls just because most Dragons in Dark Souls are mechanically no different from normal Pathfinder Dragons. Midir was different enough that I felt it warranted a proper write up (similar to the Gaping Dragon).

If you want a lower (or higher) CR version of Midir, it should be possible to adjust his age category. He's built as "ancient" (I balanced him against Ancient Red and Ancient Umbral) so one could adjust up or down from there based on the chart in the Bestiary.

Hm. That actually makes a sort of sense. Items that have been sitting on the shelf for a while get discounted in real stories - why not magic item shops?

You wouldn't want to make the discount too significant - maybe 10% off?

Furious Focus, the Power Attack line, Furious Finish (especially when combined with the right wild shape).

While I have never used Furious Finish, I do want to jump in and +1 Furious Focus and the Power Attack line.

I have never understood why people didn't like them. Greatsword + Power Attack + Furious Focus is a no-cost +3 to damage at 1st level (assuming you also have a +1 Bab and two first-level feats, obviously) which improves to a no-cost +6 to damage at 4th level. At 6th level (or +6 bab for non-d10 classes), you have to start paying for iterative attacks, but your first attack is still golden.

The BBC has officially announced (Twitter video clip) the new actor who'll be portraying the Doctor after he regenerates... ** spoiler omitted **

Oh hell yeah!

And it's about damn time. ^^

I have made no secret of my love for Moffat, which is close to Freehold's love of Joss Whedon (though not quite so unnuanced).

I will say that I too love Moffat, so there. NuWho didn't feel like real "Doctor Who" to me until Moffat's run. As much as I love David Tennant as the Doctor, I didn't feel like his run was very good because the universe itself felt wrong - it didn't feel like the same place as the classic setting. As soon as Matt Smith showed up, it started feeling like the classic show to me again. Yes, Moffat could be a bit too Companion-centric, but I didn't mind because the UNIVERSE felt right again.

Here's hoping that the new person can keep the that feel moving forward while addressing some of the valid criticisms of Moffat's run.

Corvian Knight CR 12
NE medium undead (extraplanar)
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +20
DEFENSE
AC 28, touch 15, flat-footed 19 (+6 armor, +3 dex, +1 dodge, +8 natural)
hp 157 (15d8+90)
Fort +10, Ref +10, Will +11
DR 10/slashing; Resist Cold 10, Electricity 10
Vulnerable fire
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.; fly 60 ft. (poor)
Melee wings +21/+21/+21 (1d8+13 plus grab)
Ranged throwing daggers +15/+15/+10/+5 (1d4+11)
Special Attacks fast wings, snatch
STATISTIC
Str 30, Dex 20, Con -, Int 13, Wis 15, Cha 21
Base Atk +11; CMB +; CMD
Feats Alertness, Flyby Attack, Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Snatch, Toughness
Skills Fly +19, Intimidate +23, Knowledge (religion) +19, Perception +20, Sense Motive +20
Languages Abyssal, Common
SQ magic feathers, powerful snatch
Special Abilities
Bladed Wings (Ex): As a full-attack action, a corvian knight can attack three times with the blades attached to the tips of its wings. These blades have been enchanted to deal increased damage, functioning as +3 magic weapons, but only for the purpose of damage. These blades are fused directly into the corvian and cannot be used by any other creature.
Powerful Snatch (Ex): A corvian knight gains the Snatch feat even though it does not meet the prerequisites.

-

It was pointed out by an LPer that the Corvian Knight has the same moveset as the Crow Demons for DS1, so that's where I started.

Also, I went to make Wilheim, but he's basically just a very lawful Dark Wraith.

Is Father Ariandel and the corvians Undead?

Yes - in that they are living corpses afflicted with rot. So close enough.

In the case of the Corvian Knights (which I'm currently working on) and Father Ariandel, they are specifically undead outsiders. So technically Father Ariandel should have a (extraplanar) subtype next to his undead type, but I forgot to note it.

Hmm.. He does have a 'Pour flaming blood over oneself' thing although that might just be for effect.

Isn't that how he activates his breath weapon? He pours the bowl over his face and then breath/spits it back out at the player?

Sister Friede?

Here you go. And I did Father Ariendal too since they're kind of a set.

-

Sister Friede/Elfriede CR 16
?? medium humanoid (undead)
Init +5; Senses Perception +2
DEFENSE
AC 35, touch 20, flat-footed 29 (+12 armor, +4 deflection, +5 dex, +1 dodge, +3 natural)
hp 152 (16d8+80)
Fort +17, Ref +13, Will +10; evasion
Immune cold; Resist acid 20
Defensive Abilities restored by fire
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee +5 scythe +26/+21/+16 (2d4+17/x4)
w/ freezing burst and bane +28/+23/+18 (2d4+19/x4 plus 2d6 bane plus 1d6 cold)
Ranged darkfire scorching ray +17/+17/+17 (4d6 fire/untyped)
Special Attacks arcane pool (14 pts), counterstrike, greater spell combat, magus arcana (arcane accuracy, bane blade, devoted blade, pool strike [+6d6], spells shield)
Magus Spells Known (CL 16, concentration +22)
6th (2/day) - chains of fire (DC 22), freezing sphere (DC 22)
5th (4/day) - cone of cold (DC 21), fire snake (DC 21), greater bladed dash, teleport
4th (5/day) - dimension door, greater invisibility, ice storm (DC 20), stoneskin, wall of ice
3rd (6/day) - displacement, elemental aura, fireball (DC 19), keen edge, slow (DC 19)
2nd (7/day) - effortless armor, frigid touch, ice slick, invisibility, scorching ray, umbral weapon
1st (7/day) - blurred movement, burning hands (DC 17), chill touch, frostbite, snowball (DC 17), vanish
0 (at will) - dancing lights, daze (DC 16), detect magic, ghost sound, light, ray of frost
STATISTIC
Str 24, Dex 20, Con 18, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 22
Base Atk +12; CMB +19; CMD 24
Feats armor focus, combat expertise, dodge, greater weapon focus (scythe)B, mobility, quickdrawB, spring attack, toughness, weapon focus (scythe), weapon specialization (scythe)B, whirlwind attack
Skills Bluff +20, Diplomacy +20, Knowledge (arcana) +14, Spellcraft +14
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common
SQ dark sign, fighter training, improved spell recall, medium armor, soul purchases (+6 Str, +6 Dex, +6 Con, +6 Wis, +6 Cha; +5 weapon, +5 armor, +4 deflection, +3 natural, +3 resistance)
Gear mithrial breastplate, friede's diadem, mwk great scythe
Special Abilities
Black Flame (Su): All fire spells that Friede casts are infused with black flame - half of the damage they deal is untyped divine damage, similar to flame strike.
Restored by Fire (Su): Sister Friede is healed by fire. Any fire damage dealt to her instead heals her an equal number of HP. Friede automatically fails any save against spells that deal fire damage. However, spells that deal fire mixed with a second damage type (such as blackflame, flame strike, or plasma damage) deal damage as normal, with no reduction or absorption for the fire component.

Design Note: Sister Friede has a unique magus archetype. She does not get spellstrike, and as such, she cannot cast spells through her weapon. Nor does she gain heavy armor proficiency or knowledge pool. Instead, she gains evasion as a ranger (when wearing medium armor) and quickdraw as a bonus feat. Finally, she casts spells spontaneously using charisma rather than preparing spells and casting with int. As such, she cannot prepare metamagic ahead of time - she can only use metamagic as a full-round action.
The abilities "Black Flame" and "Restored by Fire" are "alternative racial abilities" due to Sister Friede's unique background.
Sister Friede is a CR higher than normal due to player WBL

.

Father Ariandel CR 14
CE large undead
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +26
DEFENSE
AC 28, touch 9, flat-footed 28 (+19 natural, -1 size)
hp 210 (20d8+120)
Fort +13, Ref +8, Will +15;
DR 10/good; Resist cold 20, electricity 20
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee huge bowl +21/+16/+11 (2d6+10 plus 1d6 fire)
w/power attack +21/+12/+7 (2d6+22plus 1d6 fire)
Special Attacks fire breath (30 ft cone; DC 20, 18d6 fire)
STATISTIC
Str 24, Dex 10, Con -, Int 13, Wis 17, Cha 20
Base Atk +15; CMB +23; CMD 33
Feats cleave, furious focus, great cleave, great fortitude, improved vital strike, lightning reflexes, power attack, skill focus (craft [painting]), toughness, vital strike
Skills Craft (painting) +27, Intimidate +28, Knowledge (religion) +24, Perception +26, Sense Motive +26
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common
SQ world painter
Special Abilities
Flaming Blood Bowl (Su): Father Ariandel's bowl of blood and fire can be wielded by Father Ariandel as a two-handed melee weapon without any penalties for improvised weaponry. The bowl counts as a flaming weapon, dealing 1d6 fire damage per hit.
World Painter (Su): Father Ariandel painted the world of Ariandel, as did those before him, as will those after him. This effectively functions as create demiplane except that the area is much, much larger than even the greater version of that spell. The exact dimensions of the painted world are left to the GM to decide.

-

On alignments - I left Friede's as ?? because I honestly have no idea what alignment she would be. I list Ariandel as CE because he is is both insane (C) and undead (E). I realize that hollows/undead being evil is not always a thing in Dark Souls (Anri being a full on good-aligned hollow, for example), but close enough, I think, in this case.

Any other requests?

What about anything from the Ringed city DLC like Midir? Unless you've made him and I just missed it.

Nope, you haven't missed it - I haven't yet played Dark Souls 3 (saving it for this fall/winter), so all my DS3 enemies are based on the Wiki and Let's Plays, and none of my preferred LPers have played Ringed City yet. One of them HAS it, but hasn't gotten to it yet, so it's just a matter of time.

Anyway, here's Midir. Hope you like him. (Him? Her? not sure).

Darkeater Midir CR 19
N colossal dragon (fire)
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +33
DEFENSE
AC 36, touch 2, flat-footed 36 (+34 natural, -8 size)
hp 337 (25d12+175)
Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +0;
DR 15/magic; Immune acid, fire, negative energy, negative levels, poison; Resist cold 20
Vulnerable electricity
OFFENSE
Speed 50 ft.; fly 250 ft. (clumsy)
Melee bite +29 (4d8+18), claws +29/+29 (4d6+12), tail whip +27 (4d6+18)
Special Attacks breath weapon (60ft cone, DC 28, 24d6 fire), crush (DC 28), dark beam (120 ft line, DC 28, 24d8 negative energy), dark explosion (30 ft. radius, DC 26, 20d8 negative energy), mass affinity, tail sweep (2d8)
STATISTIC
Str 34, Dex 10, Con 22, Int 17, Wis 21, Cha 17
Base Atk +25; CMB +45; CMD 55
Feats awesome blow, cleave, flyby attack, great cleave, greater vital strike, hover, improved bullrush, improved vital strike, multiattack, power attack, snatch, toughness, vital strike
Skills Appraise +31, Diplomacy +31, Fly +12, Intimidate +31, Knowledge (nobility) +31, Knowledge (religion) +31, Perception +33, Sense Motive +33, Survival +33
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal
Special Abilities
Dark Beam (Su): This ability effectively acts as a second breath weapon with its own timer, usable every 1d4 rounds, reflex for half, DC constitution based. Once per day, Midir can activate both his fire breath and his dark beam in the same around with the same standard action. Afterwards, both breath weapons are delayed for 1d4+1 rounds, each rolled individually, and Midir is staggered for 1 round.
Dark Explosion (Su): As a full-round action, Midir can charge dark energy around him, releasing it in a short-distance blast immediately around him. This attack is particularly easy to dodge, taking a -2 racial penalty to the Reflex DC, and a successful reflex save avoids the attack completely.
Mass Affinity (Su): As a standard action, Midir can create a large group of humanity masses to attack his foes. This ability functions like magic missile, except that it produces 10 projectiles that deal 1d6+1 negative energy damage each. The projectiles also move more slowly than magic missile, unerringly following their target for up to 3 rounds before dissipating. The projectiles move 30 ft. per round, meaning that a creature can avoid them by staying more

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So there you go.

I will say, I kinda wish that the people who made Dragonlance CS for 3.5 had updated to Pathfinder since they had some great Breath Weapon feats that would have fit Midir very well.

Keep the requests coming! You all don't need to wait until I finish one before requesting another - I can work on more than one at once.

I'm not overly familiar with the Ringed City DLC yet, but I can look into it. Midir request accepted!

Meanwhile, here's the Old Demon King. This build could also replace my previous entry for the Demon Firesage (aka HD increased Asylum demon) if one prefers a Firesage that actually has fire attacks.

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Old Demon King CR 15
CE huge outsider (chaos)
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +23
DEFENSE
AC 29, touch 9, flat-footed 28 (+1 dex, +20 natural, -2 size)
hp 225 (18d10+126)
Fort +11, Ref +6, Will +11;
DR 10/good; Immune fire, Resist acid 10, cold 10, electricity 10
Vulnterability negative energy
OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.; fly 60 ft (clumsy)
Melee hammer +22/17/12/7 (3d6+9 plus 2d6 fire)
w/ power attack +22/+12/+7/+2 (3d6+24 plus 2d6 fire)
w/vital strike +22 (12d6+9 plus 2d6 fire)
Special Attacks fire ring (30 ft radius, Ref 23, 14d6 fire), lava breath (30 ft cone, Ref 25, 14d6 fire)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 16)
at will - fireball (DC 17)
3/day - delayed blast fireball (DC 21), empowered fireball (DC 17), firestorm (DC 22)
1/day - meteor swarm (DC 23)
STATISTIC
Str 22, Dex 12, Con 22, Int 19, Wis 15, Cha 18
Base Atk +18; CMB +26; CMD 37
Feats cleave, empowered spell-like ability (fireball), furious focus, great cleave, greater vital strike, improved vital strike, power attack, toughness, vital strike
Skills Bluff +25, Fly +10, Diplomacy +25, Intimidate +25, Knowledge (arcana) +25, Knowledge (planes) +25, Knowledge (religion) +25, Perception +23, Sense Motive +23, Spellcraft +25
Languages Abyssal, Common, Infernal
Special Abilities
Burning Weapon (Su): Any weapon held by the Old Demon King deals 2d6 fire damage in addition to its normal damage.
Fire Ring/Lava Breath (Su): While these two abilities work in different ways, both draw on the same source of flame within the demon. As such, after using one of these abilities, the Old Demon King must wait 1d4 rounds before using either of them again.

Variant: Stray Demon - remove all spell-like abilities. Keep fire ring and breath weapon, but switch the elements to blunt damage for the breath weapon and cold damage for fire ring (making it cold ring).

Once again - I have a couple of days where I will be off work and spending a good deal of time sitting around watching TV, so if anyone has any monster requests from Dark Souls 3 (or DS1 for that matter), let me know and I will do my best to work on those monsters.

A summon-heavy caster is a perfect example of this. You'll likely never fight, so that BAB reduction means doodly-fudge.

Of these, only the CMB/CMD loss is going to matter for someone who's primarily summoning. None of the other features are important unless you plan on making attacks,

Um, that depends heavily on play style and table expectations.

A character at my table who "only summoned and never attacked" would be laughed out of the room for being "the load" and not contributing enough to the party. (To be clear, I am not suggesting that the OP is going to be a "load" - healing is another vital role, so summoner/healer would be an excellent example of a useful build - just not one I've seen before).

Most summoner-type characters I've seen are also melee fighters (or occasionally ranged fighters) fully capable of buffing themselves and their summons into beastly DPS attackers (or unstoppable tanks, or both).

Hence why I treated like dropping BAB as a big deal - that's how my table plays, and my expectation is that a summoner will be a major contributor to combat even when they are out of summons for the day (or before they start summoning, depending on build).

Anyway, the point is that the idea that a summoner will "likely never fight" or that summoners "only needs BAB for CMB/CMD" is pointedly untrue - or at least, is would be at a lot of tables. A lot of this depends on what this group considers "normal" for a summoner type characters - stand around doing nothing while your summons do all the work, or fighting along side them. If the later, then that BAB is very valuable and should have a valuable replacement.

If you're looking for evil Greek deities, Zeus is a serial rapist.

And no, that isn't even mild hyperbole - Zeus crossed a line even among the other gods (who rape mortals like most people eat popcorn) by raping fellow deities.

Persephone, Hades' wife, only had one child by Hades. Her other children were all the result of Zeus raping her. Not having an affair with her - straight up raping her.

Oh, and Zeus is also Persephone's father.

So yeah, go with Zeus. He's a massive a%*!$!!.

BAB is a pretty major class feature, so my thought for a summoner type character is... Eidolon.

Maybe with a -3 level penalty (so you'd get it at 4th level) like what a ranger gets on his/her animal companion?

And lacking the other summoner class features that let you get shield bonuses or merge with it or such. Just the eidolon itself and it's progression/evolutions.

Dark Souls 3 Rings:

Aldritch's Ruby
Aura moderate necromancy; CL 5
Slot ring; Price 6,000 gp; Weight -
When the wearer of this ring deals a critical hit with a held weapon, they are infused with power. This power grants the wearer 2d6 temporary hit points. This occurs each time the wearer deals a critical hit, but the temp HP do not stack - only the most recent roll of 2d6 applies. The temp HP last for 1 minute, although a new critical hit resets the duration.
Requirements Forge Ring, vampiric touch; Cost 3,000 gp

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Dark Stoneplate Ring
Aura moderate abjuration; CL 7th
Slot ring; Price 28,000 gp; Weight -
This ring continually protects the wearer from negative damage, granting 20 points of negative energy resistance. This only applies to negative energy damange (such as channel negative energy or inflict light wounds) - it does nothing to protect against negative levels.
Requirements Forge Ring, resist energy; Cost 14,000 gp

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Estus Ring
Aura moderate necromancy; CL 10th
Slot ring; Price 11,000 gp; Weight -
This ring increases the amount of healing the wearer receives from positive energy. Any healing the wearer from channeled positive energy (including the class feature of that name, lay-on-hands, and cure spells) receives is increased by +2d6.
Requirements Forge Ring, creator must be a 10th-level cleric; Cost 5,500 gp

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Great Swamp Ring/Witch's Ring
Aura moderate transmutation; CL 7
Slot ring; Price 16,000 gp; Weight -
This ring grants great power to pyromancers (kineticists). When a kineticist wearing this ring uses any fire-based blast, the damage is increased by +2.
Requirements Forge Ring, level 7 kineticist; Cost 8,000 gp

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Pontif's Left Eye
Aura moderate conjuration; CL 7
Slot ring; Price 28,000 gp; Weight —
The wearer of this ring is cured upon making several successful attacks in rapid succession. When the wearer makes a full attack action with that has three or more attacks and hits with all of them, the wearer is healed for 2d8+7 points of damage (as per cure mod). Each time this occurs, the wearer must make a Will save (DC 18) or also suffer the effects of a rage spell as well as the compusion to attack the nearest creature (as per 25-50% on the confusion chart) for 7 rounds.
Requirements Forge Ring, confusion, cure moderate wounds, rage; Cost 14,000

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Pontif's Right Eye
Aura moderate transmutation; CL 7
Slot ring; Price 28,000 gp; Weight —
The wearer of this ring is empowered upon making several successful attacks in rapid succession. When the wearer makes a full attack action with that has three or more attacks and hits with all of them, the wearer gains a +1 to damage on the third successful attack, +2 damage on the fourth, and +3 to damage on the fifth and beyond. Each time this occurs, the wearer must make a Will save (DC 18) or also suffer the effects of a rage spell as well as the compusion to attack the nearest creature (as per 25-50% on the confusion chart) for 7 rounds.
Requirements Forge Ring, confusion, divine favor, rage; Cost 14,000

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Reversal Ring
see Ring of Gender Fluidity in the Book of Passion

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Sage's Ring
Aura strong (no school); CL 17th; Weight 5 lbs.
Slot ring; Price 75,500 gp
The wearer can cast up to three spells per day that are quickened as though using the Quicken Spell feat.
Requirements Forge Ring, Quicken Spell

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Silvercat Ring
Aura faint transmutation; CL 1st
Slot ring; Price 2,200 gp; Weight —
This ring is crafted with a feather pattern all around its edge. It acts exactly like a feather fall spell, activated immediately if the wearer falls more than 5 feet.
Requirements Forge Ring, feather fall; Cost 1,100 gp

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Sun Princess Ring
Aura strong conjuration; CL 15th
Slot ring; Price 90,000 gp; Weight —
This white gold ring is generally set with a large green sapphire. When worn, the ring continually allows a living wearer to heal 1 point of damage per round and an equal amount of nonlethal damage. In addition, the wearer is immune to bleed damage while wearing a ring of regeneration. If the wearer loses a limb, an organ, or any other body part while wearing this ring, the ring regenerates it as the spell regenerate. In either case, only damage taken while wearing the ring is regenerated.
Requirements Forge Ring, regenerate; Cost 45,000 gp

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Untrue Ring
Aura faint illusion; CL 1st
Slot ring; Price 1,800 gp; Weight —
This ring allows its wearer to alter her appearance as with a disguise self spell.
Requirements Forge Ring, disguise self; Cost 900 gp

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So there you go.

Again, a lot of these are just copy-pastes or reslots of existing items, but still.

Ah Okies.

And yeah, points head at one direction. Blasts. Turns head.

Here we go:

Special Attacks breath weapon (40 ft. cone, Ref 24, 10d8 electricity)

+1 Reign of Winter. The background stuff for Witch characters, particularly those from a certain region, are really good. I highly recommend looking over the player's guide to see what I mean.

Linky no work :(

Remove the space that Paizo adds for some reason.

Or...

try this?

Dawwww.

Wait, here, I found it.

NSFW

https://img.ifcdn.com/images/855d34d31e9b13aa9f15a531dbcf642e868630267264a4 7c8dc7f73a235d6486_1.jpg

Big sweeping line.

I use Fextralife.

What do you mean by sweeping? A lot of the other "sweeping lines" I've statted as cones because they cover a cone-shaped area, even if they are emitted as a line.

Also, I've jumped over to Fextralife a few times, but I tend to go to the other one (wikia) first because Fextralife doesn't always use the official names for the monsters, and I'm trying to.

Pri-

*closes mouth*

Quelaag and Najka, I'd find a way to make it work.

Oooo...

I actually saw a really cute comic about Quelaag and Najka. I can't find the link offhand, but it involved Quelaag getting a phone call from Fromsoft about coming back to work for them again. So she unzips her Spider Body, walks over, and puts on the Scorpion body.

Cool!

Don't forget the lighting breath though :3

**makes a face**

You know, the DS3 wiki really sucks compared to the DS1 wiki.

When I was stating the DS1 monsters, I could literally look at their exact resistances and full move sets (sometimes with animated gifs of the attack).

DS3 wiki? I'm lucky if any of the attacks or resistances are mentioned, and if they are, they are vague as hell.

Case in point - there was no mention of lightning breath on the wiki. It literally only mentioned a bite attack. **sigh**

Fortunately, breath weapons are easy to do.

So 10d8 electrical damage (for 45 average, right in the middle for CR 12). DC 24 is a bit high, but it will do.

Is it a cone or a line?

Okay, here's a question for you.

What boss monster from the Dark Souls series would you most like to have sex with, and why?

Oh, and if your answer is Priscilla (too easy/obvious), then you need to list your top two.

This question inspired by an old friend of mine and her very strange Demon Souls-Pathfinder game.

my first main question is that of how meta i want to take this, my first idea was to have them BE themselves.

This might not be a great idea. If a GM told me that I had to play myself, I would not play in that GM's game. I don't play Pathfinder (or other RPGs) to be myself.

I would suggest first discussing the idea with your players individually and seeing if they would be comfortable with that. If not, then scrap it.

Yay!

Sulyvahn's Beast CR 12

My 2 cents:

On the "Your Gear" argument.

Your gear is whatever you, the caster, wish it to be.

If you steal something, then you have claimed it as "yours" - and thus it is your gear.

As for teleport, let me quote from the spell.

You can bring along objects as long as their weight doesn’t exceed your maximum load.

You can. You don't HAVE to. You can teleport naked if you want to.

So RAW does have an answer, at least for the teleport one - the word "can" is RAW that you choose what teleports with you and what does not.

As far as "abuse" by teleporting out of prison, shape-changing out of bonds, using teleport to drop bombs, etc - that isn't abuse - that's tactical use of spells. That's the sort of creative thinking in players that a GM should be pleased by, not pissed off by.

The croco-dogs of Irithyll?

You know, I could have sworn I already did that one, but looking back, I couldn't find it anywhere. So sure! That one will be my next critter, since "today" is over now.

John Napier 698 wrote:

Which is why I'm asking for advice and other's opinions before I do anything.

My advice is to find your next job first than quit. It is a lot easier to find a job if you are all ready working.

+1

Generally speaking, you should not quit a job with crappy health insurance until you have lined up a job with better health insurance.

What are your thoughts on this?

RicMTheGM

I'm fairly casual with alignment in my game anyway, so this is rarely a problem. That and I have a lot of players who prefer lawful characters.

Actually, at my table, the more useful rule has been for LN and LE "Paladins".

It is actually really easy to just refluf Paladin into a Hellknight base class.

Make it Smite Chaos (instead of Smite evil), keep the code, and make the alignment restriction any Lawful.