I'm prepping for a start of the 'Kingmaker' adventure path. without giving anything away to those who might play in it, there's a...possible...lovecraftian style link to an obscure part of the game. But I digress. What i'm pondering is expanding that possibility a bit while customizing my game. Along those lines, I thought I'd ask for a second opinion on spells, feats, skills...anything that might be 'lovecraftian' in style. I'd like to give the group a chance to possibly find and/or use a few spells or abilities that could tempt them to great power and madness.
the other alternative is to let the party possibly find a few fragments of Thassalonia 'sin magic' and see how that influences the development of their kingdom.
thoughts/comments/ideas/suggestions welcome.
Anything that involves tentacles.
Black Tentacles, for example!
Don't forget the entire school of enchantment/charm.
Being taken over and not remembering the previous events are very lovecrafty. Spells like charm person,dominate etc. are all good for that feel. You might also want to take a look at complete arcane for the mindbender prestiige class and see if that fits your campagin villian.
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Many of the spells could be lovecraftian in theme depending on how you use them. Who says grease has to actually be grease for example?
But illusions like ghost sound, disguise self, hypnotic pattern, silent, major, and minor image, the fear based spells, spells that change form (alter self, "x" shape, and polymorph spells) phantom steed (horse-like creature? :) ), sleep, deep slumber, and symbol of sleep, charm and geas, curse, contact other plane, mind fog, dream, and of course, summon monsters and create undead type spells all come to mind.
Also mists and fogs, suggestions, & things that do wisdom damage.
In 3.5 the Alienist PrC was meant to be a Lovecraftian summoner. I forget what they changed but it was considered overpowered in 3.0 and toned down so that no one played it in 3.5. But you summon outer realms variants of creatures with the PrC. All slimed and tentacled.
Libris Mortis has some stuff on implanting necrotic cysts into people and spells to manipulate them. You might have fun with that. Heroes of Horror has stuff with taint and corruption and some dream spells.
I hear that the Gamemastery Guide is going to have optional sanity rules in it.
Some of the later 3.5 books had rules for various grafts in them. For example, you cut off your hand and affix an undead hand to the bloody stump. It grows into place and grants you some power. There are lots of these things for devils, undead and so on. That combined with a suggestion to do so sounds like the kind of temptation of power you might go for in a horror style.
In my game I have a Summoner who has his twin as the Eidolon, except that the Summoner looks more like his mother and the twin his father. In a Wilber Whatley way.
He uses Call Monster (not summon) and the critters called are unspeakable in a fluff way. He describes the small twiching cillia that covers their bodies and the smell of week old corpse which surrounds them.
You don't need mechanics to get a Lovecraftian feel.
I would say that creeping doom, dream, eyebite, horrid wilting, and wail of the banshee all have some sort of Lovecraftian feel to them.
Anything that involves tentacles.
Black Tentacles, for example!
Seconded. Also, anything that causes insanity or lowers one's will save.
Any of the summon monsters spells will work as well given some tweeking of the fluff.
You don't need mechanics to get a Lovecraftian feel.
On that note, what about Hideous Laughter, with emphasis on "Hideous?" Maybe that spell works by giving the subject a brief glimpse of the "real" world, thus touching the subject with temporary insanity?
Funny, given that TIHL is a spell invented by a 9-year old girl :)
You think a child can't come up with a concept suitable for a horror story?
When my older child was 3 years old, she and I invented "Candyland: The Role Playing Game." We would play characters like Plumpy the troll, Gloppy the Molasses Swamp monster, etc. and fight various candy-themed monsters.
One day, my daughter GMed an adventure and invented for it one of the most impressive RPG main villains I can remember: a lollipop stick with fully fleshed arms, legs, and head coming out of it. The way she described it was distinctly macabre and disturbing.
Years later, my younger child, at the age of 4, tried his hand at Candyland: The RPG. He came up with a PC that shot flaming lollipop sticks out of his belly.
If the real-life Tasha included the word "hideous" in her spell title, then I don't think she was thinking of the kind of laughter resulting from tickling. It's just possible she WAS thinking of insanity.
Here's a quote from the Faction Guide that should help you:
Typical spells owned by the Old Cults involve conjuring or banishing strange creatures (banishment, gate, planar ally, planar binding, summon monster), physical and mental projection (astral spell, dream, ethereal jaunt, etherealness, magic jar, nightmare), and revealing the unseen (commune, confusion, contact other plane, insanity, invisibility purge, see invisibility, true seeing).
You could probably throw in stuff about reanimating the dead (considering stories like "Herbert West, Reanimator" and "The Thing on the Doorstep") and undead in general ("Pickman's Model," and so on).
Here's a quote from the Faction Guide that should help you:
Typical spells owned by the Old Cults involve conjuring or banishing strange creatures (banishment, gate, planar ally, planar binding, summon monster), physical and mental projection (astral spell, dream, ethereal jaunt, etherealness, magic jar, nightmare), and revealing the unseen (commune, confusion, contact other plane, insanity, invisibility purge, see invisibility, true seeing).You could probably throw in stuff about reanimating the dead (considering stories like "Herbert West, Reanimator" and "The Thing on the Doorstep") and undead in general ("Pickman's Model," and so on).
Yeah, necromancy in general is a strong theme running through Lovecraft's works.
Really, any spell can be horrific if presented in a sufficiently atmospheric fashion. You're not casting feather fall, you're "summoning the icy fingers of the dead spirits that flit at the corners of one's eyes to slow your decent."
Let us not forget the changes that the "Alienist" prestige class introduced.
Here's a quote from the Faction Guide that should help you:
Typical spells owned by the Old Cults involve conjuring or banishing strange creatures (banishment, gate, planar ally, planar binding, summon monster), physical and mental projection (astral spell, dream, ethereal jaunt, etherealness, magic jar, nightmare), and revealing the unseen (commune, confusion, contact other plane, insanity, invisibility purge, see invisibility, true seeing).You could probably throw in stuff about reanimating the dead (considering stories like "Herbert West, Reanimator" and "The Thing on the Doorstep") and undead in general ("Pickman's Model," and so on).
Ah, thank you! yes, this will help considerably. hmm...and incidentally, you're convincing me to get a copy of the faction guide soon as payday rolls around.
Let us not forget the changes that the "Alienist" prestige class introduced.
y'know, I'm feeling kinda sad about the alienist. I might have to sit down with the conversion rules and figure out how to import it into Pathfinder. Personally, I loved the class. not so much because of any sort of power gamer aspect to it but because I loved the horror/insanity aspect to it.
So, this Lovecraft themed Kingmaker pbp ... where are you hosting it, when are you starting and are you taking on players yet? ‘Cos I’d be interested.
it's a game i'll be playing/running at my local gamer store. It won't be entirely lovecraftian themed, but there's a spot where the party will have the possibility of finding and/or using some spells (and maybe some magic items) that relate to the Old Cults. Given the nature of the Kingmaker adventure path it is entirely possible that they could skip that hex entirely, or not find what i'm planning on placing there. But I like to add things like that on the off chance that someone might pick it up and use it.
I might also include a scroll with some ancient Thassalonian sin magic on it. There's a couple/few spots where it might fit. But honestly i'm leaning towards developing something involving the Old Cults and/or alien gods from beyond space and time. not a lot, just enough to make things interesting.
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Aberrant Sorcerers could be an element to use. To mix things up, replace the 1st level Bloodline power with one of the following (since not all Aberrations have anything to do with acid...);
Aberrant (replaces Acidic Ray)
Cry from Beyond (Sp): As a standard action you can unleash a resonating pulse of sound from deep within your belly that inflicts 1d6 nonlethal sonic damage to a single target within 30 ft. Any foe damaged by this effect will also be sickened for 1 round. Outsiders, Constructs, Undead and Elementals are not affected by the sickened condition, but still take the damage. Oozes, Aberrants, Plants, etc. are affected normally. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.Aberrant (replaces Acidic Ray)
Slashing Tendrils] (Ex): At 1st level, you can cause your fingers to become slashing tendrils as a free action. These tendrils are treated as natural weapons allowing you to make two attacks as a full attack action. These attacks inflict 1d4 points of slashing damage each (1d3 for a Small user). You do not add (or subtract) your Strength modifier from these attacks. At 5th level, these tendrils are considered magic weapons for the purposes of overcoming DR. At 7th level, the damage increases by one step to 1d6 points of damage (1d4 if you are Small) and their critical threat range increases to 19-20/x2. At 11th level, these tendrils fold upon themselves spatially to either function as if they possessed the ghost touch property, or to bypass physical armor, requiring only a touch attack to inflict damage (choose one at the moment of attack). This is a supernatural ability. You can use these tendrils for a number of rounds per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.Aberrant (replaces Acidic Ray)
Warping Touch (Sp): At 1st level, you can cause another creature to become nauseated for a single round with a melee touch attack as their body warps and shudders around them. This effect does not affect Constructs, Undead, Oozes or Elementals. You can use warping touch a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.
Slashing Tendrils synergizes kinda nicely with the Long Limbs power, a few levels later, and combined with a touch spell like chill touch, you could perhaps have some fun.
For a Cleric, the Void domain (not yet officially switched over to Pathfinder, but available in Gods & Magic and OGL-friendly) is also an option. Here's a fan-created version of the Void domain.
To create a 'mythos' feel, you could place a spell or item in the area that has an unsettling side-effect;
1) The wand of cause fear might transform into a writhing tentacle and lash at it's target when it's activated. You might have to make some sort of check the first time this happens or drop it in your surprise.
2) The amulet of detect thoughts might fill the users head with unintelligible whispering, that causes paranoia, when not actively in use, and function as a nightmare spell if you don't remember to take it off before going to sleep!
3) The oddly curved dagger might hurt your eyes to stare at too long, as it's angles are not right and the dagger itself has +1 to it's critical threat range (or multiplier!), or perhaps ignores 5 points of damage reduction, as a result of it's unusual angles, but if you roll a 1 while wielding it, it slides around in your hand and damages you instead, as it's geometry is treacherous...
4) The scroll has a spell that functions like daze monster, but is usable by a sorcerer/wizard as a 1st level spell. It draws upon the outer dark to 'daze' it's target, showing them terrible and incomprehensible things, and when you cast it, you also must save or be affected!
5) The version of 'color spray' on this page requires multiple Fortitude saves to successfully learn, but once mastered, works very similar to the traditional spell, except that, instead of stunning targets or rendering them unconscious with pretty dazzling primary colors, it sends nauseating waves of oily swirling hues of pure madness slithering over them, leaving them vomiting uncontrollably (same effect, pretty much helpless, but a different condition) and / or clawing at themselves to pull the oily stinging skein of mucus-like nastiness off of themselves. In the latter case, the oily discharge, it's a conjuration spell, not an illusion, but mechanically works much the same (similar to the color spray variant in the Osirioni book that sprays blinding venom at the target, instead of colors).
6) The unique spell causes a 'treacherous transformation,' and any single nonmagical item pointed at, up to X lbs, such as a weapon in hand, transforms into a viper for 1 round and gets an attack on the person holding it, with a bonus due to proximity. If thrown down, it reverts to it's original form, and the annoyed foe suddenly realizes that he's just chucked his longsword down in the middle of a fight. At higher levels, like heat metal or faerie fire, you can even affect multiple items of this size, possibly causing a half-dozen bandits to be attacked by their own shortbows! (Sticks to snakes, 3.5!)
7) The monsters summoned by this variation on Summon Monster X are unnatural and from the silent gulfs between the stars, not from the celestial or infernal realms. They'll start with funky animals, with the special template you've built, and later include various aberrations, a few fungus, etc. and golarion-specific 'space monsters' like those tentacle-headed dogs from the Second Darkness AP.
8) This wet pulsing sack is red with thick blue and violet veins, feeling like a bloated belly, warm and damp and squirming with whatever living things crawl within it. You can pull it's ventral orifice open to disgorge a swarm of creatures, similar to a summon swarm spell. The swarm only exists for a number of rounds before boiling away into noisome vapors, unable to exist for long in our world, where the air itself is poison to their unwholesome flesh.
The creatures function statistically as bats, rats or spiders, but their appearance is alien and disturbing. The 'bats' appear as floating starfish, with tentacles like those of tiny displacer beasts, who spin lazily through the air like noisome snowflakes, slashing with their tooth-edged tentacles as they swarm around their targets. When 'spiders' scuttle forth, they are tiny scuttling crab-like creatures, who leap like locusts, stabbing with a single envenomed spine atop the center of their shells, throwing themselves like tiny darts at their prey. Instead of rats, the birthing satchel pours forth creatures that look like hairless cats of kitten size, but with scales and patterns decorating their skin similar to that of a colorful venomous snake, including a flaring cobra-like hood around their throat, and three longer than normal translucent tails that whip around like the tendrils of anenomes, producing a click-click-clicking sound as they smack into the ground behind their owners, as if pushing them forward.
This thread might have some decent ideas for side-effects brought about by casting mythos-tainted spells. The 'mage armor' on that scroll might cause you to appear night-black and dripping with glistening clear oil, while the 'hold person' spell looks like a single-target black tentacles spell, wrapping up the target in coils of rubbery flesh that proves immune to harm (save by things that would break a hold person, like dispel magic).
Permanant changes could also occur, and require lesser restoration or similar magics to remove, such as one's skin turning increasingly pale, until it is translucent, or one's eyes beginning to change in appearance to contain swimming internal organisms that sometimes move around visibly, or for strange alien 'singing barnacles' to begin growing on shoulders, back, the outer edges of the arms and upper legs, etc. and needing to be cut away...
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So, this Lovecraft themed Kingmaker pbp ... where are you hosting it, when are you starting and are you taking on players yet? ‘Cos I’d be interested.it's a game i'll be playing/running at my local gamer store. It won't be entirely lovecraftian themed, but there's a spot where the party will have the possibility of finding and/or using some spells (and maybe some magic items) that relate to the Old Cults. Given the nature of the Kingmaker adventure path it is entirely possible that they could skip that hex entirely, or not find what i'm planning on placing there. But I like to add things like that on the off chance that someone might pick it up and use it.
I might also include a scroll with some ancient Thassalonian sin magic on it. There's a couple/few spots where it might fit. But honestly i'm leaning towards developing something involving the Old Cults and/or alien gods from beyond space and time. not a lot, just enough to make things interesting.
Ha! For some reason I thought your OP said that it was a play by post game - on second reading it obviously does not say that ... oh well, no worries.
Sounds fun anyway, I like the way you're thinking, good luck with the game!
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Where can I find out more about this sin magic??
Pathfinder #5 had a section on Magic of Thassilon, and there's even a web enhancement with a sample magic item relevant to each sin. (I've read the web enhancement, but don't have any of the Rise of the Runelords stuff, so my knowledge of it is from visiting the PathfinderWiki.)
Each of the sins are connected to a school of magic; gluttony = necromancy, greed = transmutation, pride = illusion, sloth = conjuration, lust = enchantment, wrath = evocation and envy = abjuration, IIRC.
I'd be inclined to tie the sin to the school even more for a specialty spell or item found, so that a person might find a sor/wiz spell that functions kinda like death knell, but requires the physical consumption of part of a recently dead foe of appropriate CR to gain a buff, or a transmutation spell that causes valuables to be concealed as dross, or junk to appear valuable (similar to the old fool's gold spell).
If you're willing to pull in non-Pathfinder stuff, there's a great article in the Dragon #330: Enter the Far Realm.
It introduces the Cerebrosis and Far Look feats and nine new creepy spells, one of each level. The ninth-level spell is particularly nasty - if you save you're panicked for one round and take 5d6 damage.
Plus, the cerebrotic escalation available for each spell gives it an appropriately creepy "use at your own risk" feeling.
The creatures aren't to be ignored either - the cranial encyster is one of my favorites, and I use nightseeds all the time.
You could probably throw in stuff about reanimating the dead (considering stories like "Herbert West, Reanimator" and "The Thing on the Doorstep") and undead in general ("Pickman's Model," and so on).
Reanimator! I really really need to write an event based on that.
I bet the migrus locker from a few years ago would fit very nicely into it :)
Anything that involves tentacles.
Black Tentacles, for example!
Spiked Tentacles of Forced Intrusion.
You don't need mechanics to get a Lovecraftian feel.On that note, what about Hideous Laughter, with emphasis on "Hideous?" Maybe that spell works by giving the subject a brief glimpse of the "real" world, thus touching the subject with temporary insanity?
Why, then, is the material component "tiny fruit tarts and a feather"?
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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On that note, what about Hideous Laughter, with emphasis on "Hideous?" Maybe that spell works by giving the subject a brief glimpse of the "real" world, thus touching the subject with temporary insanity?
Why, then, is the material component "tiny fruit tarts and a feather"?
If you understood the answer... it would shatter your mind.
Anything that involves tentacles.
Black Tentacles, for example!
Spiked Tentacles of Forced Intrusion.
Oh no. Someone let KaeYoss into the anime again ...
If you understood the answer... it would shatter your mind.
Pfff. Nastier things have tried.
For example, I know about toothpaste.
Oh no. Someone let KaeYoss into the anime again ...Anything that involves tentacles.
Black Tentacles, for example!
Spiked Tentacles of Forced Intrusion.
"let in"?
It's anime. They beg me to play a part.
Why, then, is the material component "tiny fruit tarts and a feather"?
Because the feather is from a byhakee and the tart is from Neil Hotept bakeries.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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If you understood the answer... it would shatter your mind.Pfff. Nastier things have tried.
For example, I know about toothpaste.
So do I.
But do you know about aglets? Their purpose is sinister.
well this discussion went places I never expected...
But do you know about aglets? Their purpose is sinister.
Actually, it's not. It's one of those things Amnesty International enforced to lessen the suffering of those who are gently flogged to death by scented shoelaces.
If you see someone without aglets, you know he's more sadistic than Zon-Kuthon.
well this discussion went places I never expected...
Expect the unexpected.