Bring mythic adventure into the Pathfinder world with Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Mythic Realms. This must-have expansion to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game’s newest and most ambitious hardcover, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Mythic Adventures, is your guide to epic legends, secret places of power, and mythic hot spots within the Pathfinder campaign setting that unlock phenomenal new power. Learn how to seamlessly integrate the incredible options from Mythic Adventures into your existing game, unlock additional path abilities for mythic characters to choose from, discover locations primed to inspire new mythic heroes, and claim the strength of monsters and villains too powerful to defeat—until now! Forge new legends and take on the greatest challenges of the Pathfinder world with Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Mythic Realms.
Inside this book you’ll find:
Six founts of mythic power, including the Doorway to the Red Star, the Mordant Spire, and even the legendary Starstone, each with new mythic path abilities available to characters who show their worth and claim the power within.
Six detailed locations throughout Golarion that offer a campaign’s worth of adventures for characters of mythic destiny, including the vast necropolis of Mechitar, the Pit of Gormuz, and the flying city of Yjae.
Nine legendary characters of Golarion, including challenging foes only those of mythic might can hope to defeat, like Arazni, Kortash Khain, the Oliphaunt of Jandelay, and the Whispering Tyrant.
Mythic trials tied to each location and character, ready to drop directly into a mythic campaign.
GOOD:
The most powerful and mysterious locations of Golarion are described!
My favorite: THE BLACK DESERT - one of the 6 vaults of Orv, home to a house of Urgathoa-worshipping undead drow, the birth-craddle of the Purpleworms, tribes of Urdhefan and a cabal of awakened demiliches!
The most powerful and legendary beings of Golarion are statted out!
If you want your players to fight the "Whispering Tyrant", he is in here!
BAD: nothing!
UGLY: nothing!
The writeup for the Black Desert inspired me so much, that i began writing an outline for a novel featuring the undead drow as protagonists in the style of the "war of the Spider-Queen" series.
The same is certainly possible for each of the locations in here!
Mythic Realms introduces the mythic rules to Golarion and takes a look at how they interact with the setting. It provides information on founts of mythic power, locations, and mythic characters. Just as there is a lot of variety to mythic characters, there’s a lot of variety in the book, particularly in Chapter 2: “Places of Myth”. Indeed, each location detailed is often different enough from the others to make it feel almost like you’re reading a different book. This does have the downside that most people are only likely to use one or two small sections of the book, and few people will actually find use for the entire thing. Still, it’s a good book and definitely useful for people wanting to introduce mythic rules into their Golarion campaigns. It’s also an entertaining read for people already familiar with Golarion, as it adds detail to a number of things that have only been mentioned or hinted at before.
Mythic Realms is the latest addition to the Pathfinder Campaign Setting, and promises some impressive ideas. Powerful figures from Golarion's lore, sites of incredible power, and even the legendary Starstone. But closer examination finds the book's contents lacking, its concepts deprived of the execution expected of a Paizo work.
Chapter I contains information on Founts of Mythic Power, like the Cenotaph, the Morudant Spire, and even the Starstone(!). Mythic Founts are sort of like "seeds" GMs can use to transform high-level groups from extraordinary to truly heroic. The idea is great--it provides GMs with high-level groups to continue the adventure even when all other challenges begin to feel trivial. Furthermore, there are unique mythic abilities tied to the mythic ascension that occurs at each location.
The problem here is that not all founts are created equal, and this is particularly true of the Starstone. First off, the mystique of the Starstone test is all but obliterated by the book's presentation, and second, the Starstone's role in the lore is inexplicably changed. Suddenly the Starstone is only a means of mythic ascension, not the engine of divine apotheosis we've been lead to believe. What's worse is that the mythic ascension triggered by the Starstone provides bonuses linked to pre-existing gods, and only the twenty greater powers of the Inner Sea (so no blessing of Apsu, Tiamat, Shizuru, Tsukiyo, &c).
Furthermore, Mythic Realms paints a very confusing picture of Golarion's history. Did the Aboleth fear Azlant, or did they grow bored with their human experiment? The historical accounts in the Morudant Spire seem to conflict with those in the Starstone, but this isn't the only contradiction. The history of the war between Azlanist and Karzoug grows more confusing. Who was winning? Who was planning to summon the Oliphaunt of Janderlay?
Chapter II is, in my opinion, the best part of this book. It contains Gazetteers on six locations for your mythic heroes to explore. Although, again, historical accounts sometimes contradict themselves (I now have two conflicting accounts of what happened to the city of Gormuz). Still, the imaginative settings give GMs a lot to work with when planning their own adventures, and one entry can provide dozens of potential ideas for any given mythic campaign.
If Chapter I is my least favorite and Chapter II my most, then Chapter III falls somewhere in the middle. Here we find a bestiary of several legendary figures throughout Golarion's lore, from the terrifying to the heroic. This is both a good and a bad thing, in my opinion, as it provides mythic groups with epic challenges, but at the same time somewhat demystifies these otherwise mythical characters.
There is an adage once uttered on "The Spoony Experiment," which goes "if you can stat it, they can kill it." Simply put, this suggests that if you give a creature concrete representation in the rules system, then it becomes subject to the whims of that system, including death. Now, there are always ways to get around this (AD&D Fiend Folio's Trillioch, anyone?) but caveats that prevent defeat kind of feel cheap when you have a fat block of numbers and words staring you in the face.
That said, the histories of each mythic character are fantastic, if not unfortunately brief in some places. They manage to retain the intangible nature of the myths and representations these characters enjoyed in previous source material, never willing to commit too much detail where detail isn't needed, which in my mind is only ever a good thing.
All-in-all, the book had some great ideas and inspires some great ideas. The problem comes with the mechanical execution of those ideas, and the inconsistencies generated by its new treatments of setting-specific features. It's a 2-out-of-5, worth having for the ideas, but not the rules.
This book is absolutely amazing. I can't really judge the crunch because I haven't digested MA yet, but the amount of jaw-dropping revelations from Golarion lore is astounding. Finally, we learn what killed Araaaaarrrghhhhh*splortch*
There were some errors in the Gormuz section (a few of the Spawn of Rovagug's names were mixed up), but there's one part I'm unsure of: there's a single reference that something called Gormuz was Rovagug's first and greatest spawn, but this is incorrect... right? Ulunat the giant beetle was the first Spawn to emerge, the tarrasque was the greatest Spawn, and there are no spawn named Gormuz... I think?
Look at how people in the modern day of the real world have conflicting views of what happened hundreds of thousands of years ago. That's what's going on with the legends of Gormuz. You'll note that the evidence you cite mentions that the claims that Gormuz was a cleric or the name of the first Spawn of Rovagug are attributed to certain Keleshites and orcs. Consider those myths or legends from those specific cultures rather than conflicting "truths." That said, if you think one of those explanations of the pit's name works better for your campaign, it doesn't really change much about the pit to simply swap one of those in for what this book describes, making the city in Ninshabur the legend in your game.
I was sort of thinking the next year and a half, maybe.
Oh, that near. As James said, no, we don't have plans in that range. But given that the Cenotaph is tens of thousands of years old, even something we did with it in 10 years would be "near future," in a relative sense.
So, if I'm understanding this correctly, I now have the means to not only have my players finally take on Tar-Baphon himself, but also have the battle be shifted over to Tian Xia where their characters can "recruit" Agmazar to fight for them?
...James, did you write up Agmazar? Because I just now realized that whoever did put in a subtle and hilarious Godzilla reference, alongside the "undead Eva unit" thematics.
It degrades the atmosphere around it, causing fatigue at a distance and suffocation up close.
IT'S AN OXYGEN DESTROYER. O.O;
I didn't write him, but I did invent him and did provide a lot of notes to the author via the assignment outline and did do some development on it.
But yes... that is indeed an oxygen destroyer easter egg.
The Star Titan is immune to ability, damage ability drain, cold, death effects, disease, energy drain, fear, and undead traits. It has resistance 30 vs acid, fire, electricity, sonic, and negative energy plus is vulnerable to fire. Interesting they would give it all these immunities and negative energy resistance when it is an undead.
Interesting that it was created by the people of Verces and makes you wonder if they have created other Kaiju and what else they can do.
Remember it didn't start as an undead, this is just its fallback emergency mode.
So the Negative Energy Resistance is actually something that impedes it from being healed? Interesting.
(Interesting the frequency that 'interesting' seems to be mentioned...)
But yes... that is indeed an oxygen destroyer easter egg.
And that's the reason why Paizo has all my money. :)
Do you think there'd be enough interest to warrant a kaiju book in the Revisited style, doing in-depth articles on eight to ten monsters?
I'd love to do a big kaiju book... but even after Bestiary 4 comes along, there's only 4 kaiju in print. Bestiary 4 does give a list of many more names and nicknames for more than enough kaiju to fill a cast of 10, but nonetheless... a "revisited" book when the monsters being revisited haven't even been all visited in the first place sounds kinda nonsensical to me.
That said, an new book just about kaiju would certainly be fun... but getting a 64 page book that's only about monsters of CR 26 and higher onto the schedule would be... tricky.
How tall are Agmazar and the Oliphaunt? Is the Oliphaunt literally "thousands of feet" tall, as the description of the Spindlehorn implies?
Yeah, I took issue with that too. Oliphaunt's space/reach would indicate that no, it isn't thousands of feet tall.
Also, the illustration of Tar-Baphon fighting Aroden is flawed: TB never fought Aroden as a lich, only a mortal man. I think that Aroden was probably supposed to be Arnisant, who actually fought a lichified TB, but the guy in the illustration is very clearly Aroden.
How tall are Agmazar and the Oliphaunt? Is the Oliphaunt literally "thousands of feet" tall, as the description of the Spindlehorn implies?
Yeah, I took issue with that too. Oliphaunt's space/reach would indicate that no, it isn't thousands of feet tall.
Also, the illustration of Tar-Baphon fighting Aroden is flawed: TB never fought Aroden as a lich, only a mortal man. I think that Aroden was probably supposed to be Arnisant, who actually fought a lichified TB, but the guy in the illustration is very clearly Aroden.
Space/reach is hardly a way to indicate how big an actual monster is. It's only good for a point of reference on the battle mat, really.
In any case. I don't know why someone would have any problems with this. A giant elephant monstrosity that makes Godzilla seem like an ant? That's pretty awesome.
As another question from before, does anybody have any details on the Doorway to the Red Star as a mythic font, or what specific abilities it can grant a user?
As another question from before, does anybody have any details on the Doorway to the Red Star as a mythic font, or what specific abilities it can grant a user?
It's a permanent link between the world of Akiton - specifically the Contemplatives of Ashok - and Golarion. So far most who have tapped into its power completely misunderstood the Contemplative's whisperings and were driven various forms of crazy. The two best/worst examples of this are the cultists of the Throat of Nothingness, and the sorcerous King of Biting Ants (a variant worm-that-walks). It grants three path abilities, all universal:
-Akitonian physiology grants an alchemist's discovery, but at the cost of permanently losing uses of mythic power. Not a great choice.
-Telepathic Mindlink lets you use telepathic bond and sending.
-Water of contemplation lets you use the equivalent of the alchemist's cognatogen (the smart version of the mutagen) discovery.
I don't know why someone would have any problems with this. A giant elephant monstrosity that makes Godzilla seem like an ant? That's pretty awesome.
When I said "I took issue with that too," I meant my annoyance at not being able to tell how large the Oliphaunt is. I'm fine with it being 80' tall or 1,000' tall, but I'd like to know one way or another.
I don't know why someone would have any problems with this. A giant elephant monstrosity that makes Godzilla seem like an ant? That's pretty awesome.
When I said "I took issue with that too," I meant my annoyance at not being able to tell how large the Oliphaunt is. I'm fine with it being 80' tall or 1,000' tall, but I'd like to know one way or another.
The Tarrasque is 50 feet tall, Elysian Titan is 70 feet tall, Mu Spore is over 100 feet long, and the 25HD Sea Serpent is over 300 feet long and all have 30-ft. spaces. If the mention of Spindlehorn is the only thing to go off of, then it would have to be.
The art is in no way indicative of it's height? I haven't seen the picture yet.
The art is in no way indicative of it's height? I haven't seen the picture yet.
There are hints. It looks to be stomping on what could, depending on your perspective, be either shrubs or trees. There are what could be mountains in the background, but again, due to perspective, you can't really tell how far away they are. In its description, the Oli-Jan is said to be "titanic" with a "canyon of a mouth." Unfortunately the former isn't super descriptive, and the latter could be hyperbole.
All things considered, I'm leaning towards it actually be several Gs tall.
And what is going on with the spacing in the messageboards?
-Akitonian physiology grants an alchemist's discovery, but at the cost of permanently losing uses of mythic power. Not a great choice.
-Telepathic Mindlink lets you use telepathic bond and sending.
-Water of contemplation lets you use the equivalent of the alchemist's cognatogen (the smart version of the mutagen) discovery.
Wait, any discovery? Or just some in particular?
And is the Telepathic Mindlink ability supernatural, or spell-like, and is it usable at will?
How big is Agmazar? Does it suffer from Jandelay perspective syndrome and not possible to exactly know? Lol.
It has a space/reach of 60 ft. The illustration is a little clearer, with what look to be full-grown trees coming up to its knees. Now those trees could be 20 feet tall or 200 feet tall, so it's still tough to say exactly.
But yes... that is indeed an oxygen destroyer easter egg.
And that's the reason why Paizo has all my money. :)
Do you think there'd be enough interest to warrant a kaiju book in the Revisited style, doing in-depth articles on eight to ten monsters?
I'd love to do a big kaiju book... but even after Bestiary 4 comes along, there's only 4 kaiju in print. Bestiary 4 does give a list of many more names and nicknames for more than enough kaiju to fill a cast of 10, but nonetheless... a "revisited" book when the monsters being revisited haven't even been all visited in the first place sounds kinda nonsensical to me.
That said, an new book just about kaiju would certainly be fun... but getting a 64 page book that's only about monsters of CR 26 and higher onto the schedule would be... tricky.
A book on using kaiju in games though along with the stats of a few of em would be great though. When I think of a kaiju adventure I think less about pitting my players against them and more along the lines of Godzilla vs Mechgodzilla (1974) where the protagonists (PCs) were focused more on the shisa statue and waking King Caesar to fight what they thought was godzilla.
Does the section on the Mordant spire offer anything for Elf PC'S ???
The Mordant Spire is as much about Azlant and aboleths as it is elves - perhaps even moreso. It offers two universal path abilities and one marshal path ability, though none are elven in nature.
The Mordant Spire is as much about Azlant and aboleths as it is elves - perhaps even moreso. It offers two universal path abilities and one marshal path ability, though none are elven in nature.
I worded that question badly....what I am REALLY looking for is enough information on the Mordant Spire Elves to write one up as a character???
The Mordant Spire is as much about Azlant and aboleths as it is elves - perhaps even moreso. It offers two universal path abilities and one marshal path ability, though none are elven in nature.
I worded that question badly....what I am REALLY looking for is enough information on the Mordant Spire Elves to write one up as a character???
I guess that really depends on how much information you feel like you need to make a character. There is certainly more information on them than there was previously, it talks about why they were originally there, some of what their current goals are, and a few other bits and pieces here and there. Might be enough, might not, depending on the player.
The Mordant Spire is as much about Azlant and aboleths as it is elves - perhaps even moreso. It offers two universal path abilities and one marshal path ability, though none are elven in nature.
I worded that question badly....what I am REALLY looking for is enough information on the Mordant Spire Elves to write one up as a character???
I guess that really depends on how much information you feel like you need to make a character. There is certainly more information on them than there was previously, it talks about why they were originally there, some of what their current goals are, and a few other bits and pieces here and there. Might be enough, might not, depending on the player.
I was thinking something specific was going on with the odd head turning, not looking people in the eye, insistance on speaking Azlant, etc...etc..
And assumed there would be some mechanic involved...but then again, maybe not (shrugs).
The Mordant Spire is as much about Azlant and aboleths as it is elves - perhaps even moreso. It offers two universal path abilities and one marshal path ability, though none are elven in nature.
I worded that question badly....what I am REALLY looking for is enough information on the Mordant Spire Elves to write one up as a character???
I guess that really depends on how much information you feel like you need to make a character. There is certainly more information on them than there was previously, it talks about why they were originally there, some of what their current goals are, and a few other bits and pieces here and there. Might be enough, might not, depending on the player.
I was thinking something specific was going on with the odd head turning, not looking people in the eye, insistance on speaking Azlant, etc...etc..
And assumed there would be some mechanic involved...but then again, maybe not (shrugs).
Well, there is something going on with all that, yes, mostly related to their purpose for being there and the nature of the Mordant Spire itself. Not sure what you mean by mechanics, it does describe the Mordant Censors and a few specific mythic Mordant Spire elves by class levels and mythic tier if any? And, of course, the mythic power that can be claimed from the Mordant Spire itself.
A thick fog seeps out over Virlych like a cancer, consuming living creatures in its wake and leaving them shattered, meat-splattered, and skeletal upon the cursed land. Violet-colored lightning bolts dart across the bleak sky, the thunder replaced with the cries of a thousand broken and forsaken angels.
Jutting out of the earth like a blade caught in a festering wound stands the Gallowspire, cradle turned sepulchral prison of the wicked wizard-king Tar-Baphon - the Whispering Tyrant.
Our heroes step back slowly as the fog seeps into the withered remains of the once great lich, and slowly cracks and contorts it back into the putrid mockery of life it held within itself so many centuries ago.
Iron Maiden's 2 Minutes to Midnight begins to play in the distance as the wizard-king staggers and stands triumphantly atop the Gallowspire. Shadow-formed nightwings hiss across the cloudless black sky, squealing out to their long-dead master. The Tyrant whispers an almost inaudible laughter at the heroes in short wheezes and gasps.
"Foolish mortals!" he says finally, masses of flies and moths escaping his dried, ancient lips, "I'll destroy you and enslave all of Golarion as I did before so long ago...only this time, your precious wizard-god cannot save you..."
The earth suddenly rumbles with a might none have felt before.
"Uh, what's that?" the great necromancer Tar-Baphon asks, wide-eye-socketed, looking around.
Agmazar the Star Titan rises up from behind the Gallowspire and punches the Tyrant into the horizon.
The heroes stand in astonishment for a moment, shrug, and make their way back down into the haunted lands of Virlych to celebrate.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Maps, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Speaking of stat-block mistakes: Agmazar the Star Titan has Thanatopic Spell as one of its feats. Perhaps the idea is to let its SLAs use this effect or perhaps its Channel Negative Energy, but right now this feat does nothing for the poor kaiju.
I could definitely see an undead showdown happening. Tar-Baphon resurrects... and then Agmazar makes a beeline for the giant storm of necromantic energy on its radar. Maybe somebody should run a fight between the two of them to see who's the more likely to win (although Tar-Baphon having his phylactery hidden away by Urgathoa kind of puts a crimp in any plans of Death By Undead Fantasy-Eva Unit).
I need better vehicle rules so that I can pilot a giant mecha into battle against Agmazar. Make it happen, Paizo!
I'm also very curious about Jandelay, the realm within the Maelstrom that the Oliphaunt guards. As far as summoning the Oliphaunt goes, I think it's do-able. For the purposes of this, I'll be using a 20th level Mythic Sorcerer (3 Archmage tiers, CHA 39, Arcane Bloodline; Silver Tongued and Eastern Mysteries traits) as the base model to see if I can get it done.
(Do note also that this is just going on mechanics as a thought exercise. Were I to have a player who wanted to do it, or do it myself, I'd likely stick much closer to theme and story, including learning things like the language of Jandelay and similar.)
From the trials note:
- Language of Jandelay.
- Unlocking the Spindlehorn.
- Communicating with souls who know the secrets of its conjuration.
So there are a few things that need to be dealt with. First, any old Gate spell isn't going to be enough. The Oliphaunt is a unique creature, and as such it is not required to respond to the Calling effect of a gate - in fact, if the caller isn't mythic, it can prevent the gate from even opening. Luckily, I think the enterprising mythic individual with a god-complex can get around the difficulty of summoning/using the Oliphaunt:
1) You need to know about the Oliphaunt. Time to brush up on that Thassilonian history, and the Oliphaunt should be at least known. Every divination spell you can get your hands on.
2) Get to Jandelay. Use a Gate after we've learned a bit about the place in step #1. Presumably unlocking the riddle on the Spindlehorn is enough to realise that there's a secret magical realm of fairies and elephants in the basement of the Maelstrom and that it's a place you can go to. This gate has to be from a mythic character, because otherwise the Oliphaunt can prevent it from opening. Okay, whatever. That's fair, and we're mythic anyway (if you're not mythic, get the Mythic Companion feat to count as mythic).
2a) Use a Wish. Transport Travelers will get you there regardless of local conditions. The Oliphaunt's ability is a local condition. You don't need to be mythic for this one.
3) Language-dependent when giving orders to it that tongues doesn't bypass. Well, you'd think it would be a problem to learn the language of Jandelay, and the trials advise that it should be, but luckily for everybody, the Oliphaunt knows Celestial too! Problem solved, moving on.
4) Immune to any mind-affecting effect unless it has line of sight to the caster. So you need to look the thing in the eye when you're dominating it. Cast Fly and get on up there. Problem solved, moving on.
5) Get past Spell Resistance. 41, ugh. Okay, CL 20th. Orange Ioun Stone bolted into a Wayfinder (+1d4-1). Cast your spell with Wild Arcana (+2). Make it Potent (+2). Varisian Tattoo (+1). Spell Penetration (+2). Greater Spell Penetration (+2). Mythic Spell Penetration (+3). Karma Beads (+4, UMD it to work for you). That's anywhere from 34 to 37. Still risky. At worst you get through it on a 5+, at best on a 2+, and hold a Surge ready in case you need an extra +1d6. Also keep a Wish with somebody nearby, just in case you need to rewind the round and try again.
6) Dominate it to make sure it does what you want it to do. Now, Dominate Monster (via the Wild Arcana in #5) off a +14 modifier (from CHA 39) is a DC 33 at base. Add Potent (+2), Spell Focus (+1), School Power (+2), Eastern Mysteries trait (+2 1/day), and burn a Limited Wish for a -7 on the next save it makes (Limited Wish allows this as within its power). So it'll need a nat20 to save. Now it does what you tell it to do, unless it makes the 1 in 20 chance. If it does, keep that Wish handy to rewind the round.
6a) Alternately, since it has INT 14, Diplomacy it up from presumably Hostile ("no sane soul dares trespass fair Jandelay..." - which you'll absolutely be doing). DC 36. Get Diplomacy as a class skill, and 20 ranks + 3 class + 2 trait + 14 CHA is a +39 modifier before you roll. Silver-Tongued means you can take it from Hostile to Friendly in one shot with a good result on the d20. If it's friendly enough, it should be willing to help you if you can persuade it that you're acting in the best interests of Jandelay. Bluff may be necessary instead of Diplomacy, since if you're summoning the Oliphaunt it's probably for your best interests. It also has a Sense Motive check of +46... so be very, very careful if you're going to lie to it (in fact, I would avoid trying to Bluff it altogether). Remember, it understands Celestial, so you can speak to it in that language.
7) Now that it's either agreed to help you or you're making it help you, you need to get it out of Jandelay. And this thing is big, so a Gate won't work (since they're only about 20 feet or so). You need a Transport Travelers Wishport here. No way around that. Use your wishport to take yourself and your new minion/friend to wherever you have an enemy that needs CR 30 obliteration.
8) Will save each day the Oliphaunt is outside Jandelay. Okay, so worst case, you only get it for a day. It's CR 30, I'm sure you can make that work. If you need more than a day, you're doing it wrong.
And done. Unleashing the Oliphaunt of Jandelay on your enemies. Conclusions:
- This is very definitely not an easy thing to do. It basically requires 9th level spells and preferably Mythic tiers to pull off. Definitely the sort of creature that you want to be 20th level and mythic before going anywhere near.
- It's less about summoning it and more about going to Jandelay, talking/dominating it into helping, and then bringing it back (preferably inside of a round or two). Which is why the test-build I used involves more Enchantment and Diplomacy than it does Conjuration.
- Doing this required a build that I specifically created for the purpose. It's not a completely useless build outside of that, but still. And I mean yes, you can technically do this without being Mythic (or even the Mythic Companion feat, I suppose, but I'd want to have at least that in my back pocket), but it'll make it a fair bit harder. Losing the mythic spell boost from Potent and a Wild Arcana'd Dominate Monster will hurt your save DCs, your caster level and your action economy.
- You're chewing through a lot of WBL to get this thing on your side, including (potentially) multiple Wishes that will be eating 25,000gp worth of your money every time unless you abuse Blood Money. It's not really worth summoning except for the ego trip that comes from being in the very exclusive club of you and an unknown Runelord of Greed whose name is lost to history.
- I suspect that if we were actually talking about summoning the Oliphaunt, it would have to be different. Most likely some sort of ritual based around passing various mythic trials (e.g. learning the language, unlocking particular Conjuration secrets, and so on).
As far as summoning the Oliphaunt goes, I think it's do-able.
A nice write-up, but you didn't include my favorite line!
"In spite of the repercussions of calling the Oliphaunt of Jandelay, spellcasters of great influence and arrogance still attempt to recreate the singular feat of calling it to Golarion."
A nice write-up, but you didn't include my favorite line!
"In spite of the repercussions of calling the Oliphaunt of Jandelay, spellcasters of great influence and arrogance still attempt to recreate the singular feat of calling it to Golarion."
:)
Well, go big or go home, right? Disastrous repercussions versus probably the biggest ego trip of all time. You get to be in the club consisting of a Runelord and You.
"So you guys ended the Worldwound? Not bad, I hear Deskari is no pushover, and even Aroden only banished him to the Abyss... but I can control the Oliphaunt. Yeah. Not even Aroden did that."
(And besides, this is just a thought exercise! Honest!)
Thinking a bit about time taken: action and round wise, steps 2 through 7 need at minimum two standard actions and two swift actions, assuming all goes well and you prepped properly. The first standard action is to Wish yourself to Jandelay, first swift action is a Metamagic-Rod-Quickened Limited Wish on the Oliphaunt for that -7, the second swift action is Wild Arcana'd Dominate, the second standard action is Wishing you and your new minion to wherever you need to go; it's a 50,000gp price tag, 5x the cost of a Gate that calls creatures.
So two rounds, and pray that you get a surprise round by Wishing yourself straight to the Oliphaunt as well as win initiative (it has +8, so DEX 20 [+5] + Improved Initiative [+4] + Amazing Initiative [+3] + Familiar [+4] + Mythic Anticipate Peril [+8] = +24, meaning you beat it by rolling a 5+). Best make sure you have some way of being completely undetectable to True Seeing, just in case. You don't want it attacking you. That means a Legendary Item with the Undetectable ability or Aroden's Spellbane (selecting True Seeing as one of the spells that won't work). So a 9th level spell or a Path Ability.
...
This is quite a lot of effort. I applaud whoever it was that wrote the Oliphaunt's statblock.
I don't even know if Aroden's Spellbane works for True Seeing, unless the creature is within the spell's radius (since True Seeing really only affects the caster, not anything in the radius it gives vision to).
Of course, my favorite way to bypass True Seeing back in 3.5 was to use the Invisible Metamagic feat to make a fog cloud that only people with true seeing would be hindered by :P
Can anyone help me reverse-engineer The Whispering Tyrant's statblock? I can't find a way to make it add up as written.
This is the closest I can get, assuming 15pt buy:
Spoiler:
STR 10 (0pt)
DEX 14 (5pt)
CON 7 (-4pt)
INT 15 (7pt)
WIS 12 (2pt)
CHA 14 (5pt)
Put Human bonus into CHA. Level bonuses to INT. Belt boosts STR and DEX by 4. Headband boosts INT and CHA by 6. Lich boosts mental abilities by 2. Two mythic boosts into CHA, three into INT.
Total stats
STR 14
DEX 18
CON -
INT 34
WIS 14
CHA 28
Which is one low for DEX, and two low for INT. Dex bonus isn't affected but Int is, lowing skill points and save DCs.
The CMD is also listed as 19, which has got to be wrong since the base for a level 20 wizard is 20 before stat mods. That should give him at least a 26, plus deflection bonuses and such. He also doesn't qualify for the Craft Construct feat, since he doesn't have Craft Magical Arms and Armor. Should this be replaced with the Golem Constructor [Flesh Golem] arcane discovery?
He's probably not a 15 point build? Increasing the stat bonuses on their own isn't enough to warrant a CR increase, so imagine they aren't always listed.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber
I'm pretty certain I remember reading specifically that he was built with a higher than 15 point buy statblock, try re-reading some of his special qualities.
I'm pretty certain I remember reading specifically that he was built with a higher than 15 point buy statblock, try re-reading some of his special qualities.
It doesn't state that he was (or that he used any wish spells), but removing his mythic ranks drops his CR to 21. Given his PC wealth, he likely also has a 25 PB (for a +2 total CR, meaning the other 19 is just his straight necromancer levels). His special qualities/abilities (Aura of Absolute Terror etc.) just replace existing aspects of his mythic stuff, and don't increase his CR.
It doesn't state that he was (or that he used any wish spells), but removing his mythic ranks drops his CR to 21. Given his PC wealth, he likely also has a 25 PB (for a +2 total CR, meaning the other 19 is just his straight necromancer levels). His special qualities/abilities (Aura of Absolute Terror etc.) just replace existing aspects of his mythic stuff, and don't increase his CR.
It's true that The Whispering Tyrant has a lot of stuff, but he also has item crafting feats which, per this FAQ, let him use the crafting cost of the items in place of their market cost when determining wealth. His gear does add up to around 900k gold, which is the proper level for level 20 PCs (does Mythic Rank increase the expected wealth level?), but his crafting feats mean that he could get that much gear for only about 450k gold- which, though lower than a PCs prodigious value, is still about 3 times the recommended gear level for a 20th level NPC.
Let's not forget that a couple of his items don't affect his survivability, though. The Unfettered Shirt? Already covered by his artifact ring. Spell Resistance, Saving Throw boost, and AC from the Robe of the Archmagi? Built into Mythic, has a cloak, and superseded by the Bracers of Armor, respectively. That's 85k of gear (10% or so) providing no stat benefit beyond redundancy.
I didn't calculate the cost of the Horns of Naraga, but unless they are worth 650k— meaning they cost Tar-Baphon 325k to craft— he doesn't fall into the range for an "Exceptional Resources" CR-boost. So he's not quite at PC-level gear if you assume he crafted everything, but he's definitely way above NPC level.
Of course, he'd be CR 26 even without PC-level gear and a 25-point buy. 19 for being a 20th level wizard, +2 for being a lich, and +5 more for being a mythic lich (the Base Lich's CR is 21, which grants 10 Mythic Ranks per table 6-1 in Mythic Adventures). It's possible that there should be 50k spent on stat-boost wishes or somesuch (not to mention equivalent amounts so that he can cast the version he has prepared), but the block clearly works as an adversary as written and I'll be using it as such; I was just hoping to build up a recurring villain in the same mold using incremental changes.
His gear does add up to around 900k gold, which is the proper level for level 20 PCs (does Mythic Rank increase the expected wealth level?), but his crafting feats mean that he could get that much gear for only about 450k gold- which, though lower than a PCs prodigious value, is still about 3 times the recommended gear level for a 20th level NPC.
Given that I can only think of one case offhand where crafting is said to have taken place (Arazni) for items that she then used herself (and which would count towards her wealth total), I think it is relatively safe to assume, until/unless told otherwise, that Tar-Baphon didn't craft the items that he's using. The lich template may have been "subbed in" to his mythic ranks. Arazni is slightly different because she explicitly has Marshal tiers (19 Wizard + 2 Lich + 4 Tiers + 1 PC wealth).
Also have to give a nod to whoever wrote the Pit of Gormuz, very cool and awesomely horrifying and I can't wait for an excuse to use some of the stuff there. Also very happy to finally see some stuff written for Casmaron.
Thanks, doc! Twas loads of disgusting fun playing with the Pit! Just got my copy in the mail today, I overwrote that section by a chunk and some change, and the mighty Developers and Editors performed wonderful feats of editorial-power to fit in the juicy goodness! Thanks Paizonians! :-)
Developer
