So, I've got a book called "Mysteries of the Moonsea", which, with a little tweaking can be a fabulous stand-in for Grecian cities (different climate aside). So, I've got some questions to perfect the "translation", as it were, to a more Greece-like world.
NOTE: this isn't the ultimate campaign, yet, and the world is still under construction, but I'm altering some pre-published adventures for this one. For now, at least, the divine identity crisis is going to be in the background.
SO! Transforming creatures.
Half-orcs -> Half-?s
Orcs -> ?
Ogres -> young cyclops?
Hill giants -> cyclops?
Yuan-ti > ? (these are probably related to the Gorgons)
Red wizards -> Japanese or Indian-type traders?
Etc.
Anyway, Greece-world is officially "Gaia" (though the Roman-stand-ins call it "Terra"), for now, and thus the Grecians are "Gaians" (referred to as "Terrans", by the Romans, who call themselves the "Lycans").
I'm thinking of dropping all the "good" gods down a step (and upping the "evil" gods up a step) in alignment (their priests and local temples act as either the listed alignment, or their neutral one, and I'll assign one to each of the neutral gods as well), but I can't find reason to drop Athena or Hephaestus or Hestia to neutral, or up Ares to neutral. Also, is there a decent suggested Hindu deity for undead-type stuff Siva might fit this, I don't know)? If not, I'm going with Japanese as Thayans for this campaign.
Also, is there a decent fire-Titan I can use for fluff-text that you guys can think of? (He's going to be the patron of ifreeti, and thus fire giants). Also, what do you recommend to replace aquatic elves? Drow will likely remain as a group of Daakaelfar (distant mortal descendants of Hephaestus and fey) who are the lost remnants of a tribe who wondered (back) into "this world" through the shadow/underworld from their "home world" of Nor (temp name, I don't need it now, but I'd appreciate help coming up with something better). :D
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SO! Transforming creatures.
Half-orcs -> Half-?s
Orcs -> ?
Orcs and half-orcs are those cannibalistic physically powerful (but mentally degenerate) savages fully or partially transformed into maenads during the wild rites of the bachannal by the supernaturally potent ambrosia they consume (which is made from a combination of honey, wild mushroom, and their own blood, among other ingredients of uncertain provenance). They appear mostly human, with exagerrated muscuulature, thick horn-like nails that serve as claws, and teeth that end in points, as their non-canine teeth fall out and are replaced by yet more canines. (They destroy their original human teeth, considering them unwelcome reminders of their former human weakness, and superstitiously believe that a wizard or priest could use those teeth to force them to change back! Snatching up one of the human teeth of a maenad who is undergoing their initial transformation can prove a powerful bargaining tool later, as the clever maenad can intimidate that individual or bargain for their cooperation by using the tooth as leverage, or, in some cases, lying and just *claiming* to have one of their human teeth. No maenad wants to go back to being human, because maenads are the feasters, and humans are the feast...)
Ogres -> young cyclops?
Hill giants -> cyclops?
Yuan-ti > ? (these are probably related to the Gorgons)
Set-cultists, from the Stygian lands to the south (Howard's 'fantasy dark Egypt,' who, as a blessing from their dark god, drink serpents venom to induce a transformation into snake people. Those less physically transformed (or with scaly bits they can hide under robes) work as agents all over the neighboring kingdoms, causing trouble and kidnapping folk to send back and indoctrinate into the cult of Set before returning them as brainwashed agents of the Stygians.
Red wizards -> Japanese or Indian-type traders?
If you're just grabbing any historical / cultural group that 'feels good,' whether or not it's anywhere near Greece, a group of Red Wizards modelled off of imperial China (or the bloody height of the Aztec empire!) could be totally cool.
If you want to stick with cultures that might 'fit' better with a classical Greek region, perhaps the Red Wizards could be Persian, with armies of slave-mamelukes, used both as soldiers and bureaucrats (leaving the ruling Red Wizards free to concentrate their energies on their arcane craft, and on their own internecine squabbles and politics, while the slaves handle the day-to-day administrative drudgework).
Or mix and match. Picture a group of Red Wizards who dress and act like face-painted courtiers in imperial China, complete with impractically long fingernails and ornate and cumbersome outfits (a sign of how they do not have to work with their hands, or walk quickly anywhere, as everyone is expected to wait on *their* pleasure), and who only appear to be very tall, as they wear wooden stilted shoes with soles and heels anywhere from six inches to a foot in heiight concealed beneath their layered robes, gathering slaves and war prisoners by the thousands for mass bloody heart-removing sacrifices to enhance their brutal and unmatched arcane workings, and controlling an army of tattooed and ritually scarified slaves, minds deadened by magic and alchemical drink, who serve them like 'living zombies.'
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As for a norse-sounding dark elven country name, how about Nardellivir, or Nordellivir or something?
Set, I always heart your posts, whether I can use them or not, they're inevitably some of the best things. The problem is that (in the world as-written so far) ther IS no China, Persia, Aztec, etc. Thus the current limitation to either India or China. They aren't really supposed to be identical with Red Wizards, so long as I can explain their other/foreign-ness, interest in trade, and secluded compounds and magic. Otherwise, quite interesting, and I'll likely go with the mix-n-match.... I'm just curious which would be more fitting (though the longer I think on it, the more I lean toward the Japanese-type stuff, especially since certain elements can work with your descrptions above).
The reason I suggested the Gorgons is because of the obvious snake-tie-in there, but also it works for Greece with Hecate. Still, very worth thinking about, especially if I want to introduce the concept of "otherworlds" more (which I'm partially doing with the fire giants and Daakaelfar. It could be a very interesting idea that Set is trying to gather/breed gorgon-blooded races with serpentine features, but bound to his divine power to gain influence in Gaia as well as... Uh... Whatever-It's-Called Land (Egypt stand-in).
As far as Maenads go, I like the idea, I'm just curious if there's any specific Grecian-myth basis for such a thing (other than the the idea of divine "baccanelia") for them. I'm trying to tie things into the myth and legend as much as possible. (Blame my obsession with continuity!) Also, I kind of liked the idea of an ostracized racial group. I could more easily see Maenads as being a "first kind" and their children being half that (statistically half orcs) automatically, who need to undergo the right themselves (and who, due to their corrupt heritage and general rejection by society often would). Tying them to a pact between Dionysus and Ares could be really neat as well.
What do you think?
Dot.
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Thus the current limitation to either India or China. They aren't really supposed to be identical with Red Wizards, so long as I can explain their other/foreign-ness, interest in trade, and secluded compounds and magic.
In which case, if India is an option, I'd consider playing with an interaction between;
Red Wizards of Thay, leaders devoted to each of the schools of arcane magic.
Chakra.
Thassilonian sin-magic.
So Illusion is pride is sahasrara, the 'crown' chakra (just above the head)
Enchantment is lust is muladhara, the 'root' chakra (the groin)
etc.
Divination would be treated as a universal school, while each of the seven ruling territories of fantasy India would be dominated by one of the other seven schools of magic / sins / chakra.
As far as Maenads go, I like the idea, I'm just curious if there's any specific Grecian-myth basis for such a thing (other than the the idea of divine "baccanelia") for them. I'm trying to tie things into the myth and legend as much as possible. (Blame my obsession with continuity!) Also, I kind of liked the idea of an ostracized racial group. I could more easily see Maenads as being a "first kind" and their children being half that (statistically half orcs) automatically, who need to undergo the right themselves (and who, due to their corrupt heritage and general rejection by society often would). Tying them to a pact between Dionysus and Ares could be really neat as well.
Info on the maenads of myth here. Being more faithful to the myths, they'd all be female (although 'half-orcs' could be either gender, perhaps), but I'd be fine with maenad being updated to be both genders (just as minotaurs and other male-only classical beasties have been updated).
HEART PART AGAIN!!!!! :D
Fascinating read! I have an idea for a variation of the merged vs separated pantheon ideas.
I'll use the norse pantheon as example, as I'm not that familiar with the other.
The pantheons are separate but know each other distantly. Loke, for example could be the trickster god of more than one pantheon. Yes, hes parentage is different in the egyptian pantheon, but if you're a good enough trickster, it shouldn't be a problem convincing someone that you're their child.
Actually the norse gods believe him to be chained up omewhere below I can't remember, but he might actually be tricking the gods to beleive so, and in stead he's enjoying himself as a god of wine and parties infiltrating another pantheon. (EDIT: Like Dionysus, who was a foreigner.)
Another way for the gods to intersect could be that Zeus is Thor's father. Unless he have some divine way of telling they boy's father, Odin would have to believe the mother who just couldn't resist a handsome dark-skinned god from the south.
Odin himself has a log history of seducing women on his travels and could easily have children in all pantheons.
Veeeeeerrrrrry interesting. While it probably shouldn't be overdone (lest we get "god-1210: days of our immortal lives", the soap-opera), it could be quite interesting to have various divine interactions. One of the campaign ideas I'm working on now for the single-player involves something similar.
Specifically: Loki was bound to the roots of world-tree by the entrails of his own son (after his other son had been transformed into a wolf and torn the first apart). The serpent was constantly dripping its venom upon him to torture him (his wife trying to stave it off with a small bowl that needed to be emptied every once in a while, I believe), but eventually he was fated to go mad, break free, and begin Ragnarok.
(He was imprisoned in such a way because he'd been instrumental in arranging Baldr's death, and it's implied that he might have been the creature that also prevented him from returning from the dead.)
At least, all that is according to Norse Myth. It could also be interesting if Loki was bound up under the tree, but joined the southern pantheon nonetheless, with a projection of himself being the reborn god Dionysus (Zeus' son). Dionysus' occasional bouts of madness might be Loki's torture getting through to him, or some such.
Again, it's intriguing to note that, in the 3.0 Deities and Demigods, most of the Grecian gods are large size, whereas the Norse gods are medium. This would make perfect sense, then, for the Grecian gods (likely in their Roman forms, later) to be the "giants" spoken of in Ragnarok (perhaps incited against the Norse by Dionysus/Bacchus... or Ares/Mars) that eventually leads to the destruction of both worlds.
Probably not as related as is warranted for this thread, but I had a thought. A kind of Norse dead rising. Basically Ragnarok as come and gone and the survivors are just getting back on their feat even starting to have children, but something is threatening to raise the dead of Ragnarok and the heroes (Be they god or mortal) has to stop them before humanity and world is wiped out, not reborn, but destroyed, ruined to the point of where rebirth is not possible.
That's a really nifty idea, The NPC; kind of reminds me of Glen Cook's Tyranny of the Night series (although in many ways, that series was less epic in scope).
That could be an interesting idea for a follow-up campaign.
For now, more about this idea. I've been sick lately, so it's been hard to focus for long, or do what I want. Blegh. But! Here are some ideas I've come across and am using.
Sean K. Reynolds Games' free product The New Argonauts is basically a Hellenistic-style campaign setting. While I'm not using it directly, it's a nifty influence and has some of my work done for me.
Another of the things I'm doing with undead is simply slicing out the prefix "un". These are the dead guys - what they exist as in Hades or other underworlds.
Further, I'm using a variant of the item hardness/hit point rules and tables. As bronze - the primary substance for such things - is softer and more prone to breaking and destruction than its iron counterpart, I'm using a few variant rules.
First, I've looked at the Bronze Age Weapons, and Bronze rules (or, if you prefer, the old-school 3.5 DMG rules), I've decided to go slightly differently, based off of this kind of information, among others.
Stone and base wrought-iron share characteristics - since stone is hardness 8 and 15 hit points/inch, that seems roughly equivalent to wrought iron. Copper is only 7 hardness with 10 hp/inch of thickness (talk to me guys - does that seem right or should it be softer?). Bronze becomes hardness 9 with 15 hit points/inch of thickness (+2 hardness and +5 hit points/inch due to good alloys, which is the idea behind copper's values, as I'll show soon). The (currently non-existent, but future iron-based) steel, then, becomes hardness 10 and 20 hit points/inch of thickness (+2 hardness, +5 hp from iron). Also dropping in elements from special materials (most notably from Eberron, as that's the book I have most handy [Livewood, Bronzewood, Densewood, Targath, Crysteel, Dragonshard, and Byeshk], but also possibly looking at blue ice, keferu, and the like from other source books), though those are rare. (Worth noting, mithril claims to be "hard as steel, but lighter", but that's an outright lie: it's superior to steel in every way. Also, "ironwood" is currently misnamed.) Anyway, having statted those things out (with charts that work in, say, Word, but not on a board), players can go out for various special materials for their weapons or items.
I might go with the fragile quality, that suggested (I'm not sure yet), but I think that I'm planning on using a test system in which a weapon is even more fragile. In addition, whenever a weapons deals more damage than it's hardness (or strikes an object harder than it is), it takes damage equal to the difference in the damage dealt. Masterwork items take half this, and the (extremely rare) magic items increase their hardness and hit points as normal (those without enhancement bonuses treat their effective enhancement bonus as 1/4 the caster level +1) and recover at a rate of 1 hit point per three caster levels.
Further, I'm planning on making critical hits automatic sunder-plus-attack hits (instead of using multipliers, I'm using a slightly-modifier wounds/vitality from Star Wars d20 - the armor soaks up wound damage that would normally be dealt).
This does make keeping track of item stuff "a thing", but at the same time, it allows me to deal with magical or charged-item values better.
Anyway, I'm coming back to this later to talk more, but I'm still feeling out of it, so no guarantees (this post has taken me almost all day to make).
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This is awesome... I hope someday to make use of your campaign notes here. I was working on some Ibdylos stuff for my Golarion campaign, and have always had this idea of Godlings and Ibdylos as their sandbox.
This would explain why they are so petty and meddle so much in mortal affairs.
It would be interesting to note that you could try the Mythic rules playtest instead of having to make up special rules for the demi-gods and whatnot.
I'm glad you like it!
I'm actually quite interested in trying the mythic rules. As those don't exist yet, I'm muddling along without, but yes: I've got my eyes on those rules and am very much so waiting to see what's in store.
Also, while I've got a few tough criticisms* of The New Argonauts (which is why I'm not using it directly), I can't recommend enough that you guys go find, download, and enjoy that puppy if you enjoy this kind of thing. It's free, and Mr. Reynolds obviously put a lot of very skilled and difficult work into it, and there's a lot of impressive thought behind the product.
*
3, 8, 2, 3, 4, 3, 1/2, 4, 3, 5, 5, 4, 7, 4, 3, 1, 7, 1, 4, 2, 12 (for the epic-powered Hecatoncheires), 4, 3, 2, 6, 4, 3, 3, 4, 6, 3, 1/2, and 4
()
Every last one of those listed (with the exception of the "equal-to-the-Titans" Hecatoncheires) is below CR 10, even those that was a great difficulty for beings like Hercules to defeat. Limiting things to 10th level and below would have greatly eased your difficulties in balancing Grecian myth-level magic and ability with other things.And that's just one point of several I've got!
Anyway, I don't wish to sound ungrateful - believe it or not, I'm actually really impressed with the amount of work that went into this, and I'm very grateful that you gave it away for free! I just look and quail at some of the decisions as a fellow (well would-be fellow) designer, knowing - knowing! - how much effort and work went into this, when it seems it could all have easily been handled by a simple level-limit!
But, again, to reiterate, you did a lot of great there, and I'm really impressed with the work you did! I'm also really grateful... it makes my own work easier! :D
Also, to all those of you who aren't Sean K. Reynolds, go get that PDF, and support his work! And I told you not to read this.
A suggesion for cultures to interact with the greeks:
The Picts. These guys were the favorites of Robert E. Howard, who also wrote Conan. The Picts were once a fearsome race, and swept across europe before the rise of stone cities and bronze weapons. Stuck in the past, their brutish remnants have been driven to hiding in the dark shadows of the world. Their strength repelled by disciplined soldiers and their culture fading as they descend into inbreeding and become more like animals then men. If you haven't thought "orcs" by now, it better be because you thought "trogolodytes" as Howard's Picts heavily influenced both monsters in DnD.
Neat! And useful! That's great, thanks! :D
Youre, Welcome.
Alongside them Ill add Babylon.
Historiclly, BAbylon remained important even after the death of Alexander the Great, when it became one of the capitals of the Hellenistic period. Despite its nominally Greek status, the greeks are but the last in a long line of peoples to march through the Ishtar Gates. The old gods still hold powerfull sway, and they read like a who's who of classic DnD baddies.
Off the top of my head, the babylonians and their predecessors, the Assyrians, gave us: Nurgal, Orcus, Lamashtu, Tiamat, Dagon, Pazuzu, Balzeebub, and Lilith
any thoughts on how to portray the roman god Summanus and other sabine split off gods? for those of you who don't know summanus is supposed to be the god of nocturnal thunder opposite jupiter(daytime thunder). the introduction of sabine gods adds a whole new depth to the roman gods structure as they feature some opposing gods in the same portfolio.
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theoi Greek mythology web page may be of help.
Some races for you to use.
THE AUTOMATONES were metalic statues of animal, men and monsters crafted and made animate by the divine smith Hephaistos. Automatons were also manufactured by the great Athenian craftsman Daidalos.
CERCO′PES (Kerkôpes), droll and thievish gnomes who play a part in the story of Heracles.
MEN, FANTASTIC Races of strangely-formed men were believed to inhabit the farthest reaches of the earth.
ARIMASPIANS (Arimaspoi, Monommatoi) A tribe of one-eyed men who battled the eagle-headed Griffins for their gold.
ARTABATITAE (Artabatitai) An African tribe of four-legged men.
ASTOMI (Astomoi) A hair-covered Indian tribe of men without mouths, who sustained themselves on the scent of aromatic plants.
BLEMMYAE (Blemmyai, Sternophthalmoi) A tribe of headless African men whose faces were set upon their chests.
CALINGI (Kalingoi) A short-lived Indian tribe who reached maturity at five and died of old age at eight.
CHOROMANDAE (Khromandai) A hair-covered Indian tribe, with dog's teeth and a horrible scream in place of speech.
CUNOCEPHALI (Kunokephaloi, Hemikunes) A tribe of dog-headed African men.
GORGADES An African tribe whose women were entirely covered in hair.
HIPPOPODES A northern European tribe with horse's feet.
MACHLYES (Makhlyes) A Libyan tribe whose bodies were female on one side and male on the other.
MACROBI (Makroboi) Long-lived Indian tribes never touched by old age.
MACROCEPHALI (Makrokephaloi) A tribe of African men with long, elongated heads.
MANDI (Mandoi) A race of Indians who grew old and wrinkled shortly after birth.
NULI (Nuloi) An African people with backward-turned, eight-toed feet.
PANDAE (Pandai) A tribe of long-lived Indian men with gigantic ears, eight fingers and toes, and white-hair covering their bodies which turned black with age.
PANOTII (Panotioi) A fabulous tribe of northern men with gigantic, body-length ears.
PYGMIES (Pygmaioi) A tribe of one and a half foot tall African men who rode goats into battle against migrating cranes.
SCIAPODS (Skiapodes, Steganopodes) A tribe of one-legged Libyan men who used their gigantic foot as shade against the midday sun.
SCIRITAE (Sikiritai) An Indian race with snake-like nostrils in place of a nose, and bandy serpentine legs.
STRUTHOPODES (Strouthopodes) An Indian tribe whose men had 18 inch long feet and whose women had tiny sparrow-like ones.
theoi Greek mythology web page may be of help.
Some races for you to use.
Thanks!
So, The 8th Dwarf, thanks! Let's go over some of these ideas, and the game-rules for them!
THE AUTOMATONES were metalic statues of animal, men and monsters crafted and made animate by the divine smith Hephaistos. Automatons were also manufactured by the great Athenian craftsman Daidalos.
Basically, Permanent Animate Objects.
CERCO′PES (Kerkôpes), droll and thievish gnomes who play a part in the story of Heracles.
I'm curious if refluffed (different-looking) versions of goblins, kobolds, gremlins, or mites? What do you think?
MEN, FANTASTIC Races of strangely-formed men were believed to inhabit the farthest reaches of the earth.
Just sounds like people with templates, to me (albeit the primarily physical-alteration ones). Alternatively, mongrelmen?
ARIMASPIANS (Arimaspoi, Monommatoi) A tribe of one-eyed men who battled the eagle-headed Griffins for their gold.
A young cyclops, perhaps (game statistics, not racially).
ARTABATITAE (Artabatitai) An African tribe of four-legged men.
I'd pretty much give them a Dwarf's Stability, and a +10 increase to base land speed.
ASTOMI (Astomoi) A hair-covered Indian tribe of men without mouths, who sustained themselves on the scent of aromatic plants.
This sounds like any base race, but with different flavor. Possibly immunity to ingested poison (for obvious reasons), but a -4 penalty to inhaled poison.
BLEMMYAE (Blemmyai, Sternophthalmoi) A tribe of headless African men whose faces were set upon their chests.
+8 v. called shots to the "face" (head) due to positioning, and immunity to the Vorpal special weapon ability?
CALINGI (Kalingoi) A short-lived Indian tribe who reached maturity at five and died of old age at eight.
Re-flavored basic race of people, but it's likely that their lifespans are: children (young template) until five years old, adult to six, old to seven, venerable starts at eight, while maximum age is really 1d2 years thereafter.
CHOROMANDAE (Khromandai) A hair-covered Indian tribe, with dog's teeth and a horrible scream in place of speech.
How about a bipedal dog or perhaps a charau-ka, maybe either with the giant template to make them medium sized.
A final idea is a ghoul without the fever.
CUNOCEPHALI (Kunokephaloi, Hemikunes) A tribe of dog-headed African men.
This is basically a Gnoll, or an awakened version of the url=http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/bipedal-cre ature-cr-special]bipedal[/url] dogs like above.
GORGADES An African tribe whose women were entirely covered in hair.
Again, charau-ka, with the giant template to make them medium sized could be appropriate? It could be that the Gorgades and Choromandaes are actually two different "tribes" of the same creatures...
HIPPOPODES A northern European tribe with horse's feet.
BAM, baby!
The first step would be to make the horse Bipedal, though.Perhaps with the Young template to make it medium. Then amalgam away!
(This could also work with the Gorgades, Cunocephali, and Choromandaes, too.)
MACHLYES (Makhlyes) A Libyan tribe whose bodies were female on one side and male on the other.
Again, the amalgam template seems thematically appropriate, although I don't think any particular benefit or alteration would come of it, unless it was something like one side was dwarf male and the other elf female (or the reverse!) but with a human lifespan. That might be... interesting. Alternatively, an Abomination could be great.
MACROBI (Makroboi) Long-lived Indian tribes never touched by old age.
... elves. An alternate take is the elan race. I actually like that one a lot... hm, and it might work well to have elves actually be descended from mixed breeds of elans... iiiiiiiiiiiinteresting for ancient history.
MACROCEPHALI (Makrokephaloi) A tribe of African men with long, elongated heads.
I... got nothin'. Anyone? Anyone? Beuller? Beuller? Anyone? Beuller?
MANDI (Mandoi) A race of Indians who grew old and wrinkled shortly after birth.
A mite would certainly fit this bill, but it could be pretty much any creature with a natural charisma penalty. Perhaps something like svirfneblin as an alternate possiblity.
NULI (Nuloi) An African people with backward-turned, eight-toed feet.
Perhaps a variant Rakshasa dandasuka, or maybe a creature with a dexterity penalty?
PANDAE (Pandai) A tribe of long-lived Indian men with gigantic ears, eight fingers and toes, and white-hair covering their bodies which turned black with age.
... yeti? Maybe with the young template?
PANOTII (Panotioi) A fabulous tribe of northern men with gigantic, body-length ears.
Maybe something with blindsight?
PYGMIES (Pygmaioi) A tribe of one and a half foot tall African men who rode goats into battle against migrating cranes.
So, young halflings with
goat mounts (possibly trained for war, like horses!).SCIAPODS (Skiapodes, Steganopodes) A tribe of one-legged Libyan men who used their gigantic foot as shade against the midday sun.
A creature that gains a +8 bonus to Acrobatics checks to jump, Run as a bonus feat, and no landspeed, except by jumping.
SCIRITAE (Sikiritai) An Indian race with snake-like nostrils in place of a nose, and bandy serpentine legs.
So... Vishkanyas, Nagaji, , or (least likely) [url=http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/rakshasa/rakshasa-marai]rakshasa marai (with only two hands)?
STRUTHOPODES (Strouthopodes) An Indian tribe whose men had 18 inch long feet and whose women had tiny sparrow-like ones.
A group of people who take penalties to hiding their trails (-5 DC survival checks) or gain a bonus (+5) based on their foot size?
Those are some ideas I have for handling these creatures. What think you?
any thoughts on how to portray the roman god Summanus and other sabine split off gods? for those of you who don't know summanus is supposed to be the god of nocturnal thunder opposite jupiter(daytime thunder). the introduction of sabine gods adds a whole new depth to the roman gods structure as they feature some opposing gods in the same portfolio.
Not entirely. I may simply have it as alternate "sides" of the same gods. I'm not entirely refreshed on the Sabine, so I'll have to do some thinking about this and research. Links are always helpful!
One interesting idea about the Roman gods (such as Summanus and Jupiter) is that their birthing existence might be one of the frustrating elements of the new Roman movement.
If figured you all might be interested in some of my notes that I'm using. In order to speed things along when I finally get the single player for this puppy off the ground, I'm basically stealing the Forgotten Realms published adventures Mysteries of the Moonsea (figuring a "Moonsea" would be perfect for, say, being related to Hecate), and several dealing with the Anaroch desert (figuring it could function - in a pinch - as an Egyption-style-ish expy, or rather the outflung deserts of an Egyptian-style expy). Thus the listed information about creatures is only referencing those creatures that are found within the pages of the adventures themselves. This is a time pre-Lycan (pre-Roman) ascension, so they're not a major player in the politics of the world... yet.
Anyway, here's my almost-un-edited (I've shifted paragraphs around a little bit) direct copy/paste from my home notes. I'm going to break them into several posts because... well... it's pretty big.
The player is the (supposed) daughter of Dionysus: the unusual result of a Bacchanalia, her mother - a Maenad and oracle - was impregnated with her while extremely inebriated, during the sacred rites. It is believed that (regardless of who her actual patron is) the player's character was blessed by Dionysus during the Bacchanalia, thus being born much larger than her Halfling mother should have produced. For now, the player resides in the city of Hadecaten - the "shining city of golden smiths". (A colloquial saying, however, notes that "The city may be made of gold, but its gold is covered under soot from all the sh** and corpses burned to smelt it - living this close to the underworld has its drawbacks.").
Hadecaten is was created around an ancient but very-well hidden dual temple - to Hades and Hecate (thus the name of the future city) near the Moonsea. Located by enterprising, greedy souls drawn through apparent visions within their dreams, seeking to gather "Wealth... in abundance!" no matter what the cost, the first smiths settled the area and turned the once-secret places into a fishing and smithing village. The smiths soon got their wish, as they transitioned into very wealthy merchants, and their competitors flooded the small place, seeking the self-same blessings. Over time, the city's origins more or less faded to myth, though the most ancient and powerful families still trace their lineage back to that fateful discovery, and use that to leverage power within the city-state.
They are powerful rivals and fiercely independent of the terrible power of the Celsclan (of the City of Tyranius, head of the Tyranium League) who also possess the smaller City-state Lycanium. In Lycanium, they worship Mars (Ares) above all, but hold Triton (Poseidon), (Demeter), (Tyche), (Hermes), [Loviatar, Bane, Cyric]; they consider themselves separate from the Tellusians (Gaians): though the Lycans are Tellusians-interbred with Celsclan
The first adventure ultimately takes the PC down into the bowels, deep below the city, to a small set of "islands", suspended above the Styx, deep beneath the temple of abundant wealth (and death and magic).
A Note On Gods:
The Grecian (or Gaian or Olympian) gods are a complicated bunch, rarely easily falling into the ideals of "good" or "evil". While some retain their good or evil alignments, as listed, most are instead "bumped" a category into neutrality. Often, Chaotic Good will become Chaotic Neutral, for example, while Neutral Evil becomes Neutral. The temples, on the other hand (and clerics/oracles), will treat the deities as if they were both alignments: their morally aligned one and their neutral one. Those deities who don't get bumped to neutrality will get a shift ethically (to expand into two alignments) and those who are neutral in the first place gain one bump either ethically or morally as befits them.
This campaign is going to take place mostly in Gaia and its environs: the river Styx, the Olympian pantheon, and the like. However, one important note is that, while Gaia is its own world, there are others, and they (more or less) physically abut Gaia. One such land, a mysterious place to the far south, has a god by the name of Set. He is wicked, cunning, and cruel, and this alien god seeks to spread the plague of his presence anywhere he can, to ultimately gain enough power and influence to overthrow his own pantheon. This master of the Twelve Hours of the Night (as his realm under the world is called) has recently begun extending his dark tendrils into Gaia (not the personification - the actual world itself). As a master of evil magic, he's found himself at odds with Hecate. Rather than facing her directly, he hopes to begin to subtly undermine and destroy her over time by slowly subsuming elements of her portfolio, corrupting sacred, important locations and sites and artifacts of hers into his own, and the like, eventually culminating in her murder when he thinks she is distracted enough and weakened enough by his machinations. To that end he's focusing his efforts on the Moonsea region, and working to blame much of his machinations on the vile dead goddess from the eastern lands, carried by strange traders of powerful magic.
While Hecate isn't exactly what you would call a "benign" deity, she's nowhere nearly as awful as Set, and, though the player might feel awkward about helping her, it should be clear relatively early on that this mysterious alien god of the darkness will be a far worse presence than the fickle, but child-protecting goddess of the moon.
The Celsclan <Etruscians> [the Fasces - a bronze double-headed axe in a bundle of wooden sticks (with the blades projecting outward) and the gorgon emblazoned on either side, symbolizing power, jurisdiction, and strength through unity (and authority over life and death through the death penalty); it also acts as a flag], Lycans (made of the survivors of Troy),
A Note On Races:
Orcs --> "Maenads", women maddened by Dionysus in a twisted "blessing" with power to rage and become insane, alternately destroying any they come across (especially men and bulls) or having debauched parties with any they come across (especially men, women, and deer) or both (in order). The "Orc" racial traits in this case are actually a template (partially combined with the psionic Maenad racial traits) that augments a base creature (usually presumed to be human). This basically results in any given orc gaining one feat, and one skill point per level, and the ability to rage a number of rounds per day equal to its CON modifier, regardless of its class (add that to normal amount, if a Barbarian or similar; this replaces the Maenad's "outburst" ability). Although they are known as sacred to Dionysus, they are feared and rejected by most civilized society, and thus they reject most civilized society. A particular sect of these Maenads are known by a different name: fierce warrior-women who are masters of archery and mounted combat, the Amazons strike fear into the heart of any who dare defy them; all of their daughters are Maenads, and their sons Maedlings.
Half-Orcs --> the Maenad-spawn; the children of the maddened Maenads, "Maedlings" as their called, can be of either gender, but most are feared and distrusted by virtue of their parentage. Thus, many Maedlings hide who their parents are. Often thought of as cursed, more than blessed, Maedlings generally grow up bitter and resentful for the hate they've endured - they receive all the problems associated with being a Maenad, but none of the social benefits.
Yaun-Ti --> "Gorgani", creatures who've undergone a horrific metamorphosis under the power the alien god Set via their corrupted immortal mothers (Stheno and Euryale, seduced by Set and given over to his minions), these monstrous beings seek to infiltrate and undermine according to their god's will. The Gorgani are either created from a new creature, or hatched from an egg. In any event, they begin life as an Extaminos-style Yuan-Ti ("hatchling"), but grow into a pure-blood ("young") over time, eventually transforming into a half-blood ("adult") before finally transforming into an abomination ("elder"). While Gorgani are not Set's only spawned servitors, they are some of his more successful ones. Sometimes, the random magical energies fail, and the creature devolves into a medusaling, though these are rare beyond Set's great desert regions.
Shades --> "Nightlings" are another of Set's more powerful minions, this time tapping into the darkness instead of the venomous side of Set's power. Directly imbued with the tiniest fragment of his divine darkness, Nightlings are terrible creatures with insidious power that usually grows over time, and often become "heroes" of their god... in the worst way possible.
Ogres/Hill Giants --> These are basically lesser Cyclopes of varying ability and intelligence, but generally below that of a true Cyclops.
Drow --> "Daakaelfar" are the wayward, lost, fey-touched children of Hephaestus and Aprhodite who he successfully placed into another world, in an attempt to do several things at once: help his marriage with Aphrodite (who rejects him due to his deformities and those of his children), gain personal power and influence in more than one world (wildly successful, as the gods of this other world have come to depend on the miracle-crafting "dwarves", all of whom are ultimately dedicated to their father), and find a place for his children (again, successful, considering that they'd be rejected in his own world amongst his own pantheon). A (comparatively) small group have arrived back in this world on accident, via the shadow plane, having fled the assaults of some fire-giants. Although dedicated to the "father hammer", as they call him, they don't know Hephaestus' name in this world. As a result, although they'd be closer to his worship in the PC's, a particular group of lost daakaelfar have ended up holed up closer to that city's hated rivals instead (who look upon these exotic creatures with a combination of loathing and greed for their well-crafted wares). Duergar (males), Drow (females - always noble), are both the same sexually dimorphic race (males are furry but bald-and-bearded, females have hairless skin everywhere but their scalps). Both have the traits of the Midgard Dwarves and shield dwarves, and those suffering from a special kind of divine "affliction" become duerro.
Spiritfolk --> these creatures are from the far eastern worlds. They are prone to falling "through" into other worlds from time to time.
Fire Giants --> these world-walking creatures come from the nearly-godless wastes to the far south, the lands filled with fire and stone. Only Set (and the ever-mysterious Loki) know this land and, though there are humans there, they are tortured, wayward creatures, subject to the cruel whims of the powerful ifreeti, as they call themselves - the large fire spirits capable of rewriting reality. Ruled by the cruel and powerful Sutr (or "Sultan" as they call him), strangely they are mostly known in Midgard, the world farthest from their own. Musulpeim - the name the Midgardians give them and their land - is significantly separate from the rest of the worlds. Fire giants are ifreets, and vice verse, and have all of each others' powers and a divine rank of 0 (with the element mastery [fire] divine power, and with gestalt HD of their own - only as outsiders - with ifrit Wishcrafter sorcerer bloodline). The daakaelfar that they manage to acquire are slowly tortured and corrupted into Azer.
Aquatic Elves --> Mermaids and Merfolk (and Tritons) are actually the daughters of the Sirens permitted entry into the aquatic world by Poseidon himself, blended with the (rare male) oceanids. Merfolk have the traits of both Tritons (the males by appearance) and Mermaids (the females by appearance) and are sexually dimorphic.
Werewolves --> all are actually werebears, and all come from the one bear-guy in Greek myth (I need to look up his name) {NOTE: there are werewolves, but they are all the Lycans - the Roman-peoples. Their savage power (yet strong focus on civilization, due to the "taming" by the Etruscan-peoples) lead to interesting things. Perhaps they are shifters instead of lycanthropes?}
Undead: these are all special servants created by Hecate (or foreign gods), though a few have spiffy unusual abilities or traits different from how they're portrayed in the game-world
Constructs: this catch-all category is mostly unchanged, though a few specific elements are different. Helmed Horrors (and Battle Horrors) are actually just Grecian-style armor and weapons animated as if filled with a body, even when there's no body. They also gain the (undead) subtype, but aren't necessarily evil and are called "battle spirits" (or "battle horrors", for the greater versions, as normal).
Eladrin/Azata --> these are the chaotic (neutral) wind-spirits, children of Hermes, but taken in by Hecate and molded into her image (the Ghaele have their moon-forms).
SET'S MONSTERS IN ANAUROCH (corrupted): Set's Realm in the wild deserts is a monstrous place of wickedness, depravity, and evil. There the results of his horrid experiments alternately created, fawned over, and abandoned by their creator to live lives of harshness and depravity roam freely. Some have risen to prominence and power, while others have dwindled into obscurity. Some have become (more or less) "civilized" in their own way, while others have fallen into savagery. Some have even broken the bonds of evil crafted for their sould by their wicked creator and have ascended, morally; though not necessarily "good", these creatures are less heinous than most of that which lurks in Set's dark and awful realms.
Sand Dragon: a desert-dwelling serpent-related monster created by Set, called a "sand eater"; they otherwise follow the stats as presented (and thus they are usually a shade of neutral)
Gelatinous Cube: evil magic in semi-liquid physical form, this is an evil thing (with an alignment to match), and dispel magic acts like a disintegrate spell against it, but it's stats remain otherwise unchanged
Dragonflesh Golem --> cobbled together from the parts of Set's monstrous destroyed minions, this abomination is neutral, but has no choice but to follow the will of its demented master. It is partially mummy and gains the (undead) subtype.
Phaerlin Giants --> these are spawn of the fire-giants twisted and corrupted by set into lesser creatures
Dustwights: specialized servants of Set
Living Holocaust: special magical creations of Set using blood of the fire giants (ifreeti) and desert wind.
Chamber of Amaunator (Re): a desecrated former temple to the old sun god moved here by vile magic
Stingers: specialized servants of Set (similarly: the mummified variants)
Beholders (and their kind): instead, these are the results of Set's experimentation with the blood of the Hyrda and his own power, creating strange snake-ended monsters that vomit long gouts of magic.
Lesser Varrangoins: though they have no real names, they are more experiments of Sets to create useful servants - he didn't get as much utility out of these as he'd hoped (compared to the difficulty in crafting them), so he abandoned them to the wastes, though they have been allowed to breed on their own.
Blighted Bloodfire: one of Set's more successful experiments, this horrid thing allows him to spread deserts almost at will. A combination of his semi-liquid magic and living holocaust, this is far more powerful than either, although still susceptible to dispel magic (though it has spell resistance that applies to it). Though rare now, Set is working on creating vast legions of these to unleash into more verdant lands to expand his influence.
Phaerimm: these are actual vile children of Set (and their descendents), but not via Nephthys, but made in the same way as Auman made his first... Sealed away into the Twelve Hours of the Night by divine consensus (minus Set's) they strain against their barrier. They hate the Nightlings, but Set chooses not to intervene, wishing to see which of the two will prove more powerful.
Kir-Lanan are the rejected and lost children of Set, desperate to do anything to get back into his good graces. They are nihilistic fanatics who know that their soul - what little of it exists - will be devoured by Apep or crushed and turned into "juice" for some of Set's fouler creations.
Okay, this one was difficult to make work properly because formatting... just doesn't on the boards. Sorry guys, it looks like more of a mess than it actually is in my home notes!
EQUIPMENT:
Weapons: the weapons are usually made of bronze, occasionally of iron, and rarely steel; other items made are often made from wood.Weapons Hardness Effective Thickness Material
Light blade 10 1/10 inch (2 hp) Iron
One-handed blade 10 1/4 inch (5 hp) Iron
Two-handed blade 10 1/2 inch (10 hp) Iron
Light metal-hafted weapon 10 1/2 inch (10 hp) Iron
One-handed metal-hafted weapon 10 1 inch (20 hp) Iron
Two-handed metal-hafted weapon 10 2 inches (40 hp) Iron
Light hafted weapon 5 1/5 inch (2 hp) Wood
One-handed hafted weapon 5 1/2 inch (5 hp) Wood
Two-handed hafted weapon 5 1 inch (10 hp) Wood
Projectile Weapon 5 1/2 inch (5 hp) Wood
Armor -base material- armor bonusx5 Varies
Buckler 10 1/4 inch (5 hp) Iron
Light Wooden Shield 5 7/10 inch (7 hp) Wood
Heavy Wooden Shield 5 1 and 1/2 inches (15 hp) Wood
Light Steel Shield 10 1/2 inch (10 hp) Iron
Heavy Steel Shield 10 1 inch (20 hp) Iron
Tower Shield 5 2 inches (20 hp) Wood
NOTES: for each +1 enhancement bonus an item has, add +2 to the hardness and add +10 hit points
NOTES: the hp value given is for Medium armor, weapon, and shields; divide or multiply by 2 for each size category smaller or larger (respectively) different from mediumSubstances Hardness Hit Points Pounds/square inch
Glass 1 1/inch of thickness .09
Paper or Cloth 0 2/inch of thickness as wood, or .04
Rope 0 2/inch of thickness .09
Ice 0 3/inch of thickness .02
Leather or Hide 2 5/inch of thickness .03
Wood 5 10/inch of thickness (also Darkwood, Soarwood)
Livewood 6 10/inch of thickness
Copper 7 10/inch of thickness
Iron/Stone 8 15/inch of thickness (also Bronzewood) .28/.53
Densewood 8 20/inch of thickness .35
Bronze 9 15/inch of thickness .29
Targath 9 20/inch of thickness .41
Crysteel 10 20/inch of thickness (also Dragonshard, Ironwood)
Steel 10 20/inch of thickness
Mithril 15 30/inch of thickness .12
Byeshk 17 35/inch of thickness .47
Adamantine 20 40/inch of thickness .28
Bronzewood: 10% lighter than steel items; costs +500 gold/pound
Darkwood: weighs half normal, lightens category by 1 step/reduces check penalty by 2; costs +10 gp/lb
Soarwood: weighs 75% normal, doubles normal boat speeds; quadruple cost for boat or ship
Densewood: break DC increases by +5 from normal wood; double cost
Dragonshard: iron when in the raw, but attuning reduces the hardness to 8
Flametouched: good v. damage reduction, +1 resistance bonus v. evil outsiders;
cost +1,000 armor/weapon, or 750 (holy symbol)
Livewood: it's alive and affected by magic (though not diminish plants); cost half-again as much (x1.5)
Targath: +2 resistance to fortitude v. disease; -1 penalty to attack and damage rolls for weapons; cost +3 gp for ammo, +30 gp for light weapon, +100 gp for one-handed or one head of a double, +200 gp for two-handed or both heads of a double
Mithril: weighs half normal, lightens category by 1 step/reduces check penalty by 2 and spell failure by 10%; costs +1k for light or shields, +4k for medium, +9k for heavy, +500/lb otherwise
Adamantine: grants DR 1/- for light, DR 2/- for medium, and DR 3/- for heavy; ignores hardness less than its own, reduced check penalty by 1, +60 g for missile, +5k g for light, +10k g for medium, +15kg for heavy, +3 kg for weapon, +1kg/lbs for anything elseCORE pg 175 for examples, and pg 154 for more details
pg 434
See ECS pp 126-127 for details of someWeight:
wood is on average .23 pounds / square inch
iron and steel are on average .28 pounds / square inch
stone is on average .53 pounds / square inch
crystal is on average .065 pounds / square inch
glass is on average .093 pounds / square inch
oak, maple, birch, hickory, doug fir, yellow pine, spruce, cedar
Again, formatting differences, but I think this is more readable/understandable? I hope?
STYLE OF COMBAT
1) Hoplite: long spear, hopla [heavy wood shield reinforced with bronze],
thorax [breast plate], dermathorax [leather armor], or linothorax [padded armor)
=> Hoplite Phalanx of longspears from back row projected above the front row, and the group charges together to clash with opposing hoplite phalanx (essentially a pushing match/intimidation technique to break formation)
2) Peltast: wicker shield, javelins, leather or padded armor
3) Archer: mycenian shield [buckler plus neck-guard], mycenian armor [scale mail], xiphos;
short bows [possibly composite]
4) Charioteer: mycenian armor, double-ended long spear
5) Hippeus (Calvary): chariot, light, heavy, or varied
5) [a] Chariot: war horse; used as a battle taxi
=> carried soldier to battle and wounded away, can hold up to three or four
5) [b] Hippotoxotoe (light): archer on horseback
5) [c] Prodromoi (light): Peltast on horseback plus xyston (double long-spear)
=> called "sarissaphoroi" when equipped with sarissa
5) [d] Ippiko (Heavy): sarissa (cavalry lance/pike), makhaira (falcata or falchion), thorax (breastplate) or linothorax (cloth-and-metal "studded leather" armor), argive shield (heavy wood shield)
OTHER WEAPONS: gastrophetes (heavy crossbow)
cannon (compressed air: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ctesibius)
xiphos (short swords [slashing/piercing]; strictly secondary for after the spears were used or lost)
kopis (khopesh; alternative to or in addition to the xiphos)
catapult
minoan double axe <by extension: axe, battleaxe, hand axe>
clubhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_warfare
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece#Archaic_period
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_technology
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/variant-rules
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/goods-and-services
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/goods-and-services/clothing-acces sories
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/goods-and-services/weapon-and-arm or-accessories
So, here's the super spoiler of the ultimate awful. Never read this if you ever plan on becoming a player in my Greek/Hellenistic games!
THE PRIMAL VOID: The primal void is the source of all creation - it is the substance from which all comes forth. It is unknowable, wild, destructive, and bizarre. From this strange essence came forth the first. The most ancient of ancients, after having come forth, battled it back, pushing away from the primordial ooze, and compressing it until it was sealed away. From one primality to the next, until the Titans, then the gods, and at last, mortals. But the primal void still remains, sealed for now, but perhaps not forever...
Its alien essence is beyond what can be comprehended - but not beyond what can be statted out. The basic idea is to take the Tarrasque, throw a tremendous number of templates onto it, and turn the now smaller-than-fine (fine being the smallest category) Tarrasque into a swarm. Then multiply by infinity.
+3 HD
STR +8, DEX +12, CON +10, INT +8, WIS +10, CHA +10
original CR 25
That's the "me boiling it down to its essence, so far" page, followed by...
THE VOID CR 52
XP 1,638,400
CN Colossal outsider (augmented animal, augmented dragon, elemental [chaotic, earth, evil, fire, good], augmented fey, augmented magical beast, native, augmented ooze, augmented undead)
Init +10; Senses darkvision 300, death sight, low-light vision (x8), scent; Perception+55
Aura aura of death, frightful presence (300 ft., DC 10+15+8)
DEFENSE
AC 48, touch 8, flat-footed 42 (+6 Dex, +40 natural, –8 size)
hp 765 (30d12+570); regeneration 40
Fort +38, Ref +25, Will +23
DR 15/epic; Immune ability damage, ability drain (though it is still subject to Strength drain, if its target succeeds on its save against the death knell ability), bleed, disease, effects with the [light] descriptor, energy drain, energy (acid, cold, fire), evil spells, flanking, harmful effects of bright light (including effects that blind with light), light-based spells (such as color spray, prismatic spray, and searing light), mind-affecting effects (except sleep-based spells), negative energy effects, paralysis, permanent wounds, petrification, poison, polymorph; Resistance electricity 15; SR 48 (CR+12) Weaknesses Light Sensitivity (Ex), Vulnerability sonic
OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.
Melee 2 bites +44 (4d8+22/15–20/×3 plus grab), 2 claws +44 (1d12+22), 2 gores +44 (1d10+22), 2 tail slaps +39 (3d8+11)
Ranged 6 spines +28 (2d10+22/×3)
Space 30 ft.; Reach 30 ft. (60 ft. with tail slap)
Special Attacks brilliant pestilence, rush, spines, two swallow wholes (6d6+33 plus 6d6 acid, AC 29, hp 67)
STATISTICS
Str 55, Dex 22, Con 48, Int 1, Wis 19, Cha 26
Base Atk +30; CMB +60 (+64 grapple); CMD 76
Feats Awesome Blow, Blind-Fight, Bleeding Critical, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus, Great Cleave, Great Fortitude, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack, Run, Staggering Critical
Skills Acrobatics +10 (+60 when jumping), Climb +22, Knowledge (religion) +3, Knowledge (planes) +3, Perception+55, Stealth +14, Swim +30; Racial Modifiers +20 Perception, +8 Knowledge (religion) and Knowledge (planes) and Stealth and Swim, +4 Acrobatics checks. These skills are always considered class skills. When inside or looking into an area of bright light (daylight spell or greater illumination), the nocturnal creature takes a -4 on Perception checks.
Languages Aklo, Ignan, Sylvan (cannot speak), telepathy 30 ft with other Void or Dream creatures
SQ carapace, powerful leaper
SPECIAL ABILITIES
All-Around Vision (Ex)
An amphisbaena sees in all directions at once. It cannot be flanked.
Aura of Death (Su)
Deathleeches radiate an unnerving aura of death and destruction. Undead recognize this aura and the powerful necromantic energy that it represents. Mindless undead do not attack a deathleech unless attacked first. Intelligent undead with Hit Dice at least equal to the deathleech’s total Hit Dice plus class levels must succeed on a Will save to attack a deathleech. Once it makes a successful save, that undead creature never again has to make a save to attack that same deathleech. Intelligent undead with more Hit Dice than the deathleech are unaffected by this aura. This aura radiates in a 5-foot radius around the deathleech creature. The save DC is 10 + 1/2 the deathleech’s Hit Dice (including class levels) + the deathleech’s Charisma modifier.
Brilliant Pestilence (Su)
The creature’s natural attacks inflict a supernatural disease.
Bite or claw—injury; save Fort DC 23; onset 1 day; frequency 1 day; effect 1d6 Dex damage; cure 2 consecutive saves.
A creature whose Dexterity is reduced to 0 by the disease is petrified and transformed into lifeless crystal. A creature with the earth subtype that is petrified by this disease revives 24 hours later and gains the crystal creature template. Once transformed, only miracle, polymorph any object, or wish restores the transformed earth creature.
Carapace (Su)
The void's scales deflect cones, lines, rays, and magic missile spells, rendering the void immune to such effects. There is a 30% chance a deflected effect reflects back in full force at the caster; otherwise it is simply negated.
Dazzling Form (Ex)
The Void refracts and reflects a dazzling cascade of light when illuminated. In normal light, this radiance extends 30 feet; in bright light, it extends 60 feet. Within this area, all sighted creatures are dazzled for 1 minute if they fail a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 the creature’s racial Hit Dice + the creature’s Charisma modifier). Creatures within this radius that are looking at the Void must save every round or become permanently blind (Fortitude negates); this is a gaze attack. The DC of these abilities increases by +2 in bright light and whenever it is subject to a spell with the [light] descriptor or that it's light-based spells (such as color spray, prismatic spray, and searing light).
Deathsight (Su)
The Void can determine the condition of creatures near death within 30 feet. (This range doubles for every 10 HD a deathleech has.) This functions as a deathwatch spell with a caster level equal to the deathleech’s Hit Dice. This ability is always on, but can be suppressed or negated. A deathleech can restart it again as a free action on its next turn.
Light Amplification (Ex)
The Void’s body naturally captures and magnifies light that strikes it. When in normal light, it sheds normal light in a 30-foot radius. In bright light, it sheds normal light in a 60-foot radius.
Pierce the Veil (Ex)
The Void automatically succeed on saving throws against figment, glamer, and pattern effects and spells.
Powerful Leaper (Ex)
The Void uses its Strength to modify Acrobatics checks made to jump, and has a +24 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks made to jump.
Regeneration (Ex)
No form of attack can suppress the Void's regeneration—it regenerates even if disintegrated or slain by a death effect. If the Void fails a save against an effect that would kill it instantly, it rises from death 3 rounds later with 1 hit point if no further damage is inflicted upon its remains. It can be banished or otherwise transported as a means to save a region, but the method to truly kill it has yet to be discovered.
Rush (Ex)
Once per minute for 1 round, the void can move at a speed of 150 feet. This increases its Acrobatics bonus on checks made to jump to +87.
Sleep Vulnerability (Su)
In any condition of illumination other than bright light, a shadow creature blends into the shadows, giving it concealment (20% miss chance). A shadow creature can suspend or resume this ability as a free action.
Sleep Vulnerability (Ex)
The Void takes a –2 penalty on saves against sleep effects. Furthermore, it counts as a creature with 2 fewer Hit Dice than it actually possesses for the purpose of determining the number and HD of creatures a sleep spell can affect.
Spines (Ex)
The Void can loose a volley of six spear-like spines from its body as a standard action with a toss of its head or a lash of its tail. Make an attack roll for each spine—all targets must be within 30 feet of each other. The spines have a range increment of 120 ft.
Split (Ex)
Each of the Void’s heads functions independently of the other. The Void is cut in half by 5 or more points of slashing damage from a single attack; if this happens, it continues to function normally (each with half its current hit points) and reattaches its body together in 1d2 days. When the Void has been split cannot be split again until it reattaches.
Sorry for the formatting. I looks muuuuuuuuuuuch better in my document, I assure you.
Finally, the parts left undone, yet.
Spawned by an unhealthy interest in the necromantic arts or perhaps a lifetime of proximity to significant necromantic energies, the deathleech is the bane of living creatures. Driven by an insatiable hunger for death, these malign horrors stalk the living, preying on the weak to boost their own power through foul and twisted means. Deathleeches are most often powerful necromancers, liches, or other intelligent and powerful undead. However, other creatures have become tainted with these evil powers from time to time. Deathleeches frequently live lives in secret, preying on the stragglers and easier marks until their powers are such that they can make themselves known. They hate all that is good and are willing to destroy its emissaries whenever possible.
Deathleeches appear much the same as the base creatures, only their countenances radiate a strange and unnerving energy. There is often a faint chill in the air within 5 feet of a deathleech.
Creating a Deathleech
“Deathleech” is an acquired template that can be added to any creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature). A deathleech retains all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here. All class abilities of the base creature (if applicable) are retained by the deathleech.
Defensive Abilities: A deathleech retains all the defensive abilities of the base creature, and also gains the following:
Channel Resistance (Ex)
If the base creature was an undead creature, it gains channel resistance +6. If it already has channel resistance, use this value or its original value, whichever is better.
Attacks: The deathleech retains all the attacks of the base creature and gains 2 slam attacks if it does not already have a slam attack. A deathleech’s natural weapons, as well as any weapon it wields, are treated as evil–aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. A deathleech uses the damage values on the table below for its slam
Size Damage Size Damage
Tiny or smaller 1d2 Huge 2d6
Small 1d4 Gargantuan 2d8
Medium 1d6 Colossal 4d6
Large 1d8
Attacks: Following text
Special Attacks: A deathleech retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains the following. Saves have a DC of 10 + 1/2 deathleech’s HD + deathleech’s Chamodifier unless noted otherwise.
Energy Drain (Su)
Living creatures hit by a deathleech’s slam attack gain one negative level. For each negative level bestowed, a deathleech gains 5 temporary hit points. A deathleech can use its energy drain ability once per round.
Death Knell (Su)
Once per day for each 3 Hit Dice plus class levels (if any) a deathleech has, it can draw forth the ebbing life force of a creature to fuel its own power. This functions as a death knell spell with a caster level equal to the deathleech’s total Hit Dice plus class levels (if any).
Greater Death Knell (Su)
Once per month for each 8 Hit Dice plus class levels (if any) a deathleech has, it musters enough negative energy to perform a greater death knell. This ability functions as a death knell spell, except the hit points and Strength gained are permanent. If the target succeeds on its Will save, the deathleech actually loses 1d8 hit points permanently and takes 2 points of Strength drain.
A deathleech can only ever gain a number of hit points equal to three times its Hit Dice from using this ability. It can never gain more than 6 Strength points from this ability.
Debased fey, sometimes called dark or unseelie fey, are malevolent and evil creatures of nature. Once happy, carefree, and joyous like many other fey, the debased followed a dark path into evil; a seed purportedly planted by a dark god in an attempt to corrupt and misalign the pure and good fey of the world. Debased fey seethe with hatred for good–aligned fey and seek to destroy or kill them at every opportunity. A debased fey is almost indistinguishable from a normal fey of its kind, save that its eyes burn red-fueled with a hatred for life, love, and all that is pure. Its skin darkens, changing to a deep gray or black. Its fingernails blacken and its hands reshape into wicked talons. Its teeth become jagged and pointed.
Creating a Debased Fey
“Debased Fey” is an inherited template that can be added to any fey (referred to hereafter as the base fey). A debased fey retains all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Defensive Abilities: A debased fey retains all the defensive abilities of the base fey and gains the following:
Resistance to Fey Magic (Su)
Debased fey gain a +4 resistance bonus on all saves against the spells or spell–like abilities cast by any good–aligned fey.
Attacks: A debased fey retains all the attacks of the base creature and also gains claw attacks if it didn’t already have them. Use the appropriate damage value from the table below based on the debased fey’s size. Creatures that have other kinds of natural weapons retain their old damage values or use the appropriate value from the table below, whichever is better.
Size Claw Damage Size Claw Damage
Fine 1 Large 1d6
Diminutive 1d2 Huge 2d6
Tiny 1d3 Gargantuan 2d8
Small 1d4 Colossal 4d6
Medium 1d6
Special Attacks: A debased fey retains all the special attacks of the base fey and gains the following special attack.
Defiling Touch (Su)
The damage dealt by a debased fey’s natural attacks resists all magical healing (though it can be healed normally through rest). A creature attempting to cast a cure spell or a heal spell on a creature damaged by a debased fey’s natural attacks must make a successful caster level check (DC 10 + 1/2 the debased fey’s HD + the debased fey’s Constitution modifier, +2racial bonus), or the spell has no effect on the injured creature.
Special Qualities: A debased fey retains all the special qualities of the base fey. Saves have a DC of 10 + 1/2 the debased fey’s HD + the debased fey’s Charisma modifier unless noted otherwise.
Anathema (Su)
A debased fey has been rejected by the purity of nature. Normal plants within 20 feet wither and die if the debased fey remains in proximity for more than 5 minutes. Pure environments such as untouched forests and clear streams and ponds may become spoiled and polluted if the debased fey remains in that environment for more than 1 day. Plant creatures (such as shambling mounds, for example) take 1d2 points of damage each round they remain within 20 feet of a debased fey. A Fortitude save negates the damage for that round. A new save can be made each round.
Dream creatures are beings that dream in their waking moments and bring sleep to creatures that would otherwise be awake. They have the power to weave dreams into the world about them and to travel out of their bodies when sleeping.
Only a creature in a comatose slumber can become a dream creature. A grave injury, complete loss of reason, or an intellect damaged by a monster or poison might be the cause of the coma, but the comatose creature always moves in its sleep during the transformation to a dream creature. When it awakens, its consciousness lies somewhere between slumberous thought and reality.
Dream creatures often appear distracted, and daydreaming is common. When they use their power to merge the waking and dreaming worlds, however, their minds gain a crystal clarity and focus that is reflected on their countenances. Guided by the strange and mutable thought patterns of dreamers, dream creatures are chaotic by nature, but other than their powers and distracted demeanor, they have little in common with each other.
Creating a Dream Creature
“Dream creature” is an acquired template that can be added to any creature that sleeps and whose Charisma, Intelligence, and Wisdom scores are each at least 3 (referred to hereafter as the base creature). A dream creature uses all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Special Attacks: The dream creature retains all the base creature's special attacks and gains those described here.
Dream Spellcasting (Su)
A dream creature's effective caster level for figment, glamer, and pattern spells increases by +2 over that of the base creature.
Lulling Gaze (Su)
Any creature within 20 feet that meets the dream creature's gaze must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 dream creature's character level + dream creature's Cha modifier) or take a –5 penalty on Spot checks and a –2 penalty on Will saves against sleep effects for as long as it remains within range. A new save is required each round until the creature either fails or is no longer within range. A dream creature can suppress or resume this ability as a free action.
Sleep Song (Su)
As a full-round action, a dream creature can sing a lullaby that puts nearby creatures to sleep. Any creature within 100 feet of the dream creature that can hear its song must succeed on a Will save (DC equals the dream creature's Perform [sing] check result) or fall asleep as though affected by a sleep spell for a number of rounds equal to the dream creature's character level. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected by the same dream creature's sleep song again for 24 hours. Dream creatures are immune to their own and other dream creatures’ sleep songs. Sleep song is a sonic, mind-affecting, sleep effect.
Waking Dreams (Su)
A dream creature can cause the area within 100 feet of its position to become hazy and dreamlike at will. This effect penetrates solid objects and even crosses the boundary with the Ethereal Plane. Distances and speeds in the affected area become hard to judge. Bright areas seem dark, and dark areas appear to have some hazy illumination. Colors blend into one another in strange and unpredictable ways, and creatures seem to take on the features of objects or other creatures. Every creature in the affected area takes a –4 penalty on all attack rolls, checks, and saves as long as it remains in the area.
A creature outside the area taking any action that would affect creatures within or on the other side of the area also takes a –4 penalty on any associated roll or check. Waking dreams is an illusion(figment) effect with no save, but creatures that are immune to illusion effects are immune to this effect. True seeing and similar effects allow a creature to act in the affected area without taking the penalty. Dream creatures are immune to the penalties caused by their own waking dreams and those of other dream creatures.
Special Qualities: A dream creature retains all the special qualities of the base creature and gains low-light vision and DR 5/cold iron. The dream creature also gains the following abilities.
Dream Travel (Su)
Once per day, a dream creature can go to sleep and travel about ethereally. This ability works like the ethereal jaunt spell, except that the dream creature leaves its material body behind, and it can remain ethereal so long as its body sleeps.
At any point in time, the dream creature may go to sleep with the intent of traveling ethereally. When it does so, an ethereal version of it like that resulting from an ethereal jaunt spell rises from its sleeping body. This version of the dream creature can then travel about the Ethereal Plane, roaming material areas ethereally, and act as it wills. If its sleeping body takes damage, is subjected to a harmful spell or effect, or is awakened by a loud noise or vigorous motion, the ethereal form vanishes and the dream creature awakes with the knowledge of what its ethereal self experienced.
The same result occurs if the ethereal form leaves the Ethereal Plane (by its own will or by force), or “dies” (either from damage or from some magical effect). Beneficial spell effects cast on the body of the sleeping dream creature benefit its ethereal form as well, but negative effects that affect the ethereal form do not affect the sleeping body of the dream creature, nor do they affect the dream creature after it has awakened. If the ethereal form would become material through some action or effect, it vanishes and the sleeping dream creature awakens.
“Dream Eater” is an acquired template that can be added to any living intelligent creature through contact with the artifact known as the Gem of Dreams—but once a creature becomes a dream eater, it cannot gain this template again.
Special Attacks: A dream eater gains two special attacks, as detailed below. Both of these special attacks have save DCs equal to 10 + 1/2 the dream eater’s Hit Dice + the dream eater’s Charisma modifier.
Dream Eating (Su)
As a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity, a dream eater can consume a creature’s subconscious dreams if the victim fails to resist with a Will save. A sleeping victim takes a –2 penalty on saving throws against this ability, but automatically wakens if the save is successful. On a failed save, the victim takes 1d4 points of Charisma damage, and the dream eater gains a number of psychic points equal to the Charisma drained, to a maximum amount of psychic points equal to the dream eater’s Hit Dice.
Psychic Assault (Su)
As a swift action, a dream eater can imbue any melee attack he makes with a psychic assault, infusing the mind of the creature struck with hideous nightmare visions and hallucinations. The magnitude of the effect depends on how many psychic points the dream eater spends in the assault. By expending 1 point, the dream eater can cause the victim to become dazzled for 1d6 rounds. By expending 3 points, he can make a victim become staggered for 1d6 rounds. By expending 5 points, he can make the victim nauseated for 1d6 rounds. By expending 7 points, he can make the victim confused for 1d6 rounds. And by expending 9 points, he can stun the victim for 1d6 rounds. The victim can resist the psychic assault entirely by making a Will saving throw.
“Ectoplasmic” is an acquired template that can be added to any corporeal creature (other than an undead), referred to hereafter as the base creature.
Alignment: Usually chaotic evil.
Type: The creature’s type changes to undead. It retains any subtype except for alignment subtypes (such as good) and subtypes that indicate kind (such as giant). It does not gain the augmented subtype. It uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Armor Class: Natural armor bonus changes as follows:
Ectoplasm Size Natural Armor Bonus
Tiny or Smaller +0
Small +1
Medium +2
Large +3
Huge +4
Gargantuan +6
Colossal +8
Hit Dice: Drop HD gained from class levels (minimum 1) and change racial Hit Dice to d8s. Ectoplasmic creatures use their Charisma modifiers to determine bonus hit points (instead of Constitution).
Saves: Base save bonuses for racial Hit Dice are Fort +1/3 HD, Ref +1/3 HD, and Will +1/2 HD + 2.
Defensive Abilities: An ectoplasmic creature loses the base creature’s defensive abilities and gains DR 5/ slashing as well as all of the standard immunities and traits possessed by undead creatures.
Speed: Winged ectoplasmic creatures can still fly, but their maneuverability drops to poor if initially any better. If the base creature flew magically, so can the ectoplasmic creature. Retain all other movement types.
Attacks: An ectoplasmic creature retains all natural weapons of the base creature. It gains a slam attack that deals damage based on the ectoplasmic creature’s size.
Special Attacks: An ectoplasmic creature retains all of the special attacks of the base creature. In addition, an ectoplasmic creature gains the following special attack.
Horrifying Ooze (Su)
Any creature that is struck by an ectoplasmic creature’s slam attack must make a Will save with a DC equal to 10 + 1/2 the ectoplasmic creature’s Hit Dice or become shaken for 1d4 rounds. The save DC isCharisma-based.
*Editor's Note
James Jacobs stated that this template was meant to resemble the skeleton and zombie templates in creating a low-level undead. It is likely then that the Charisma score is intended to become 10 and the +2 Cha should be ignored. Note that due to the fact that its mindless, it is not entitled to skills or feats beyond the bonus Toughness feat.
BAB: An ectoplasmic creature’s base attack bonus is equal to 3/4 of its Hit Dice.
Feats*: An ectoplasmic creature loses all feats possessed by the base creature and gains Toughness as a bonus feat.
Special Abilities: An ectoplasmic creature loses most special qualities of the base creature. It retains any extraordinary special qualities that improve its melee or ranged attacks. An ectoplasmic creature gains the ability to traverse the air as per the air walk spell as a constant effect, as well as the following special ability:
Phase Lurch (Su)
An ectoplasmic creature has the ability to pass through walls or material obstacles. In order to use this ability, the ectoplasmic creature must begin and end its turn outside of whatever wall or obstacle it is moving through. An ectoplasmic creature cannot move through corporeal creatures with this ability, and its movement speed is halved while moving through a wall or obstacle. Slimy mucus that lingers for 1 minute marks the spot on a wall where an ectoplasmic creature entered and exited it.
Treasure: Ectoplasmic creatures generally have no treasure, unless the creature retains some material relics it cherished in life.
ECOLOGY
Drawn from energies of the Ethereal Plane, ectoplasm is a thick, vile substance that shapes itself into the form of an undead creature, creating a host for a soul unfortunate enough to be confined within it. The existence of an ectoplasmic being is a cruel one, and few souls willingly choose this fate of painful undeath. Ectoplasm resembles thick tangles of slimy linen or dripping goo, and is as grotesque to touch as it is to gaze upon.
An ectoplasmic creature is approximately the same size as whatever body it inhabited in life, though it weighs nearly twice as much, the ropes of undead matter that compose its body being significantly heavier than most flesh.
Ecology
Though generally considered a fable by all but those who have had the misfortune of witnessing its horrid form, ectoplasm is as real as it is accursed. Even more so than most undead beings, creatures born of ectoplasm live hateful existences filled with a lust for destruction and suffering. They have no bodily needs and require no sustenance; the only thing an ectoplasmic creature feeds upon is its own hatred for the living.
Once a spirit has passed to the afterlife, it seldom wishes to return at all, let alone in a disfigured ectoplasmic body. Spirits that are not powerful enough to come back as ghosts or spectres sometimes enter the Material Plane as ectoplasmic monsters, particularly when there are no remains of the creature’s original body for its soul to inhabit so as to become a skeleton or zombie. Sometimes, ghosts and other strong undead purposefully draw upon ectoplasm from the ethereal realm, yearning for even more power in their ectoplasmic hosts.
Those who suffer this unfortunate fate, either by misfortune or choice, are usually stuck in their ectoplasmic prison until death once again takes hold of them. The transition from death to ectoplasmic undeath is a torturous ordeal, as is retaining the horrid form into which the creature is reborn. Often, this persistent agony drives ectoplasmic beings mad, creating within them an insatiable rage akin to that experienced by frustrated ghosts and other haunted souls.
An ectoplasmic creature’s burning desperation and embitterment often push it toward violence, and most such beings fling themselves into battle willingly, killing to satiate their natural hunger for others’ suffering while simultaneously hoping to be killed so as to end their own.
Ectoplasmic creatures leave a trail of a silvery substance that resembles a slug’s mucus, a trait almost exclusive to these undead. This slippery secretion has the consistency of jelly, and is easily distinguishable to the trained eye. The residue dries quickly, however, so its presence is extremely foreboding for those who can identify it.
Habitat & Society
Ectoplasmic beings can inhabit virtually any location, regardless of environment or climate. The horrors tend to prowl the areas in which they died and rarely venture outside these often confined spaces.
Ectoplasmic creatures are sometimes found in groups, and when they are it is because they were allies or partners in life and have chosen to come back for some joined purpose, only to be locked in the excruciating form of ectoplasmic horrors.
While of average intelligence, ectoplasmic beings rarely coordinate complicated actions with their brethren, only strategizing when it benefits them to attack victims stealthily. Their unnatural strength makes ectoplasmic creatures formidable combatants, and thus all the more frightening when undetected. Fortunately for the wary, the sticky ectoplasm that trails behind these undead monsters is a clear indicator of their presence, and experienced clerics can often identify the substance at a glance.
Creating a Fey Creature
"Fey Creature" is an inherited or acquired template that can be added to any living, corporeal creature. A fey creature retains the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Armor Class: Reduce the creature's natural armor, if any, by 1 (minimum of 0).
Defensive Abilities: A fey creature gains a +4 bonus on saves against mind-affecting effects, resist cold and electricity 10, and DR 5/cold iron (if 11 HD or less) or DR 10/cold iron (if 12 HD or more).
Speed: Unless the base creature flies better, the fey creature flies at 1-1/2 times the base creature's land speed (good maneuverability), rounded down to the nearest multiple of 5 feet. If the creature already hasflight with a maneuverability of good, it increases to perfect.
Special Abilities: A fey creature gains one of the following abilities for every 4 HD or fraction thereof.
Camouflage (Ex)
A fey creature can use Stealth to hide in any sort of natural terrain, even if the terrain does not grantcover or concealment. It gains a +4 racial bonus on Stealth checks. This bonus does not stack with any racial Stealth bonus possessed by the base creature.
Change Shape (Su)
A fey creature can change shape into a single form. Possible forms include a normal specimen of its base creature, a humanoid creature within one size category, or an animal within one size category. In all cases, the fey creature appears as the same individual of its alternate form each time it changes shape. The type of polymorph spell used should be chosen as appropriate based on the alternate form, such as alter self for taking humanoid form. This ability can be selected more than once, granting an additional form each time.
Energy Resistance (Ex)
A fey creature gains resistance 10 to one energy type, or increases an existing resistance by 10. Resistance increased beyond 30 becomes immunity instead. This ability can be selected more than once.
Evasion (Ex)
A fey creature gains evasion, as the rogue ability of the same name.
Long Step (Su)
A fey creature can teleport up to 10 feet per Hit Die as a move action. It may use this ability once every 1d4 rounds.
Spell Resistance (Ex)
A fey creature gains SR equal to 11 + its CR. This does not stack with any existing SR possessed by the base creature.
Trackless Step (Ex)
A fey creature does not leave a trail in natural surroundings and cannot be tracked. It can choose to leave a trail, if it so desires.
Vanish (Su)
As a swift action, a fey creature can vanish for 1 round as if affected by invisibility. It can use this ability for 1 round per day per Hit Die.
Woodland Stride (Ex)
A fey creature can move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at its normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment. Thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that have been magically manipulated to impede motion still affect it. Optionally, this ability may function in a different type of terrain, to allow the fey creature to move through, swamps, rocky areas, ice, and so forth. Whatever the choice, this ability only functions in one type of terrain. This ability can be selected more than once, for a different terrain each time.
Spell-Like Abilities: A fey creature with an Intelligence or Wisdom score of 8 or more has a cumulative number of spell-like abilities depending on its Hit Dice. Unless otherwise noted, an ability is usable once per day. Caster level equals the creature's HD (or the caster level of the base creature's spell-like abilities, whichever is higher).
HD Abilities
1-2 Dancing lights 3/day, faerie fire3-4 Entangle, glitterdust
5-6 Deep slumber
7-8 Major image
9-10 Confusion
11-12 Feeblemind
13-14 Mislead
15-16 Project image
17-18 Irresistible dance
19-20 Scintillating pattern
Skills: A fey creature with racial Hit Dice has skill points per racial Hit Die equal to 6 + its Intelligence modifier. It gains Acrobatics, Bluff, Fly, and Stealth as class skills.
Flame-spawned creatures are creatures born of elemental fire and are native to the Elemental Planes of Fire. They resemble their normal Material Plane counterparts in most all respects save their bodies are composed of elemental fire and are colored red, reddish-bronze, yellow-orange, or black. For example, a flame-spawned wolf looks like a normal wolf but its body is reddish-bronze and covered in dancing flames rather than fur. A flame-spawned creature’s eyes burn with white-hot fire.
Creating a Flame-Spawned Creature
“Flame-Spawned” is an inherited template that can be added to any corporeal aberration, animal, dragon, fey, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, ooze, plant, or vermin that does not have the cold or water subtype (referred to hereafter as the base creature). A flame-spawned creature retains all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Size and Type: The base creature’s size remains unchanged. Type changes to outsider, and it gains the elemental and fire subtypes. Flame-spawned creatures encountered on any plane other than their native plane have the extraplanar subtype. Do not recalculate the creature’s Hit Dice, base attack bonus, skill points, or saves.
Senses: A flame-spawned creature has darkvision out to a range of 60 feet.
Aura: A flame-Spawned creature gains the following aura:
Fiery Aura (Ex)
Anyone within 5 feet of a flame-spawned creature must succeed on a Fortitude save or take heat damage each round from the intense heat. The save DC is Constitution-based. The amount of heat damage equals the fire damage dealt by the flame-spawn’s natural attack as shown on the table below.
AC: Natural armor improves by +2 (this stacks with any natural armor bonus the base creature has).
Defensive Abilities and Weaknesses: A flame-spawned creature is an elemental creature and has all the traits of the elemental subtype. It retains all the defenses and weaknesses of the base creature and also gains the following (if the base creature already has one or more of these special qualities, use the better value):
Damage Reduction
A flame-spawned creature with 4 to 8 HD gains damage reduction 5/magic; 9 or more HD, damage reduction 10/magic.
A flame-spawned creature’s natural attacks are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Speed: Same as the base creature. If the base creature has a swim speed it retains it and can swim in liquid fire, such as the Sea of Fire.
Special Attacks: A flame-spawned creature retains all the special attacks of the base creature and also gains the following special abilities. Saves have a DC of 10 + 1/2 the flame-spawned’s HD + flame-spawned’s Con modifier.
Burn (Ex)
A flame-spawned creature deals fire damage with any natural attack. Those hit by a flame-spawned creature’s natural attack must succeed on a Reflex save or catch on fire. The flame burns for 1d4 rounds. A burning creature can take a move action to put out the flame. The save DC is Constitution-based. Creatures hitting a flame-spawned creature with natural weapons or unarmed attacks take fire damage as though hit by the flame-spawned creature’s natural attack, and also catch on fire unless they succeed on a Reflex save.
A flame-spawned creature deals fire damage with a natural attack based on its size. See the table below.
Size Fire Damage
Small or smaller 1d4
Medium 1d6
Large 1d8
Huge or Larger 2d6
Environment: Any warm climate or fire-based elemental/quasi-elemental/para-elemental plane.
Creating a Half-Celestial
“Half-celestial” is an inherited or acquired template that can be added to any living, corporeal creature with an Intelligence score of 4 or more. A half-celestial creature retains the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Type: The creature's type changes to outsider (native). Do not recalculate HD, BAB, or saves.
Armor Class: Natural armor improves by +1.
Defenses/Qualities: A half-celestial gains darkvision 60 ft.; immunity to disease; +4 racial bonus on saves vs. poison; acid, cold, and electricity resist 10; DR 5/magic (if HD 11 or less) or 10/magic (if HD 12 or more); and SR equal to CR + 11 (maximum 35).
Speed: Unless the base creature flies better, the half-celestial flies at twice the base creature's land speed (good maneuverability).
Special Abilities: A half-celestial gains the following special abilities:
Smite Evil (Su)
Once per day, as a swift action, the half-celestial can smite evil as a paladin of the same level as its Hit Dice. The smite persists until target is dead or the half-celestial rests.
Spell-Like Abilities
A half-celestial with an Int or Wis score of 8 or higher has a cumulative number of spell-like abilities depending on its Hit Dice. Unless otherwise noted, an ability is usable once per day. Caster level equals the creature's HD (or the caster level of the base creature's spell-like abilities, whichever is higher).
HD Abilities
1–2 Protection from evil 3/day, bless3–4 Aid, detect evil
5–6 Cure serious wounds, neutralize poison
7–8 Holy smite, remove disease
9–10 Dispel evil
11–12 Holy word
13–14 Holy aura 3/day, hallow
15–16 Mass charm monster
17–18 Summon monster IX (celestials only)
19–20 Resurrection
Skills: A half-celestial with racial Hit Dice has skill points per racial Hit Die equal to 6 + its Intelligence modifier. Racial class skills are unchanged from the base creature's. Skill ranks from class levels are unaffected.
Half-dragons are only rarely the result ofdragons mating with other creatures—most are the result of strange magical experiments. In most cases, a successful creation breeds true with others of its kind, as with the dreaded dracolisk.
Creating a Half-Dragon
“Half-dragon” is an inherited or acquired template that can be added to any living, corporeal creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature). A half-dragon retains all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Type: Creature type changes to dragon. Do not recalculate hit dice, base attack bonus, or saving throws.
Armor Class: Natural armor bonus improves by +4.
Special Qualities and Defenses: A half-dragon gains darkvision 60 feet; low-light vision; and immunity tosleep, paralysis, and energy of the same type as its breath weapon.
Speed: A half-dragon has wings. Unless the base creature has a better fly speed, the half-dragon can fly at twice the creature's base land speed (average maneuverability).
Melee: A half-dragon has two claw attacks and a bite attack. If the base creature can use manufactured weapons, the half-dragon can as well. A new claw or bite attack deals damage as appropriate for the half-dragon's size (see “Natural Attacks”).
Special Abilities: A half-dragon retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains a breath weapon usable once per day based on the dragon variety (see below). The breath weapon deals 1d6 hit points of damage per racial HD possessed by the half-dragon (Reflex half; DC 10 + 1/2 creature's racial HD + creature's Con modifier).
Dragon Variety Breath Weapon
Black or copper dragon
60-foot line of acid
Brass dragon
60-foot line of fire
Blue or bronze dragon
60-foot line of electricity
Gold or red dragon
30-foot cone of fire
Green dragon
30-foot cone of acid
Silver or white dragon
30-foot cone of coldAbilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +8, Con +6, Int +2, Cha +2.
Skills: A half-dragon with racial Hit Dice has skill points per racial Hit Die equal to 6 + its Intelligencemodifier. Racial class skills are unchanged from the base creature's.
“Half-fiend” is an inherited or acquired template that can be added to a living, corporeal creature with an Int score of 4 or more. A half-fiend uses all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Type: The creature's type changes to outsider (native). Do not recalculate HD, BAB, or saves.
Armor Class: Natural armor bonus improves by +1.
Defenses/Qualities: Gains darkvision 60 feet; immunity to poison; acid, cold, electricity, and fire resistance10; DR 5/magic (if HD 11 or less) or 10/magic (if HD 12 or more); and SR equal to creature's CR + 11 (maximum 35).
Speed: Unless the base creature flies better, the half-fiend flies at twice the base creature's land speed (good).
Melee: A half-fiend gains two claw attacks and a bite attack. Damage depends on its size.
Special Attacks: A half-fiend gains the following.
Smite Good (Su)
Once per day, as a swift action, the half-fiend can smite good as the smite evil ability of a paladin of the same level as the half-fiend’s Hit Dice, except affecting a good target. The smite persists until target is dead or the half-fiend rests.
Spell-Like Abilities: A half-fiend with an Int or Wis score of 8 or higher has a cumulative number of spell-like abilities set by its HD. Unless otherwise noted, an ability is usable 1/day. CL equals the creature's HD (or the CL of the base creature's spell-like abilities, whichever is higher).
Skills: A half-fiend with racial HD has skill points per racial HD equal to 6 + Int mod. Racial class skills are unchanged, and class level skill ranks are unaffected.
Table: Half Fiend Spell-like Abilities by Hit Die
Hit Dice Resist Cold, Acid, and Electricity
1–2 Darkness 3/day3–4 Desecrate
5-6 Unholy blight
7-8 Poison 3/day
9-10 Contagion
11-12 Blasphemy
13-14 Unholy aura 3/day, unhallow
15-16 Horrid wilting
17-18 Summon monster IX
19-20 Destruction
Half-Umbral Dragons are only rarely the result of Umbral dragons mating with other creatures—most are the result of strange magical experiments. In most cases, a successful creation breeds true with others of its kind, as with the dreaded dracolisk.
Creating a Half-Umbral Dragon
"Half-Umbral Dragon" is an inherited or acquired template that can be added to any living, corporeal creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature). A half-umbral dragon retains all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Type: Creature type changes to dragon. Do not recalculate Hit Dice, Base Attack Bonus, or Saving Throws.
Armor Class: Natural armor bonus improves by +4.
Special Qualities and Defenses: A half-umbral dragon gains darkvision 60 feet; low-light vision; and immunity to sleep, paralysis, and damage from negative energy and Strength drain.
Speed: A half-umbral dragon has wings. Unless the base creature has a better fly speed, the half-umbral dragon can fly at twice the creature's base land speed (average maneuverability).
Melee: A half-umbral dragon has two claw attacks and a bite attack. If the base creature can use manufactured weapons, the half-umbral dragon can as well. A new claw or bite attack deals damage as appropriate for the half-dragon's size.
Special Abilities: A half-umbral dragon retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains a 30-foot cone of negative energy that deals 6d8 points of damage, usable once per day. A successful Reflex save (DC 10 + 1/2 half-umbral dragon’s racial HD + half-umbral dragon’s Con modifier) reduces damage by half.
Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +8, Con +6, Int +2, Cha +2.
Skills: A half-umbral dragon with racial Hit Dice has skill points per racial Hit Die equal to 6 + its Intelligence modifier. Racial class skills are unchanged from the base creature's.
Mighty: A mighty creature gains +10 bonus hit points per Hit Die (minimum +50), +5 dodge bonus to AC, +5 bonus to initiative, all saving throws, damage, ability checks, and skill checks. It also gains a +30-foot bonus to its speed (to a maximum of double), +10 to all attack rolls and CMB, and +15 to CMD. The saving throw DC for any ability or spell of a mighty creature is increased by 7.
Damage Reduction (Ex)
A mighty creature shrugs off a part of the mundane damage it takes. It gains DR 1/— for every three full Hit Dice it possesses. This overlaps (does not stack with) any other DR the base creature might have.
Immunities: A mighty creature is immune to mind-affecting abilities, sleep, and paralysis.
Spell Resistance: A mighty creature ignores a percentage of the spells that would affect a lesser creature. It might have a mystic ability to negate such magic, or the spell resistance might represent a “super saving throw”—the mighty creature’s ability to shrug off damage, focus past enchantments, and dodge spells with breathtaking speed. The mighty creature’s SR is equal to the base creature’s CR +12.
The missing template can be added to any corporeal creature to represent a creature with innate displacement and invisibility abilities. Such creatures might be the result of arcane experimentation by mad wizards, represent a new type of magical creature, or be the result of a mystic accident when creatures are exposed to powerful planar energies.
Type: If the creature is an animal, it becomes a magical beast. If it is a humanoid, it becomes a monstrous humanoid. Do not change the base creature’s statistics to represent the new type. All other creatures retain the type of the base creature.
Displacement (Su)
Even when visible, the missing creature appears to be about 2 feet away from its true location. The creature benefits from a 50% miss chance as if it had total concealment.
However, unlike actual total concealment, displacement does not prevent enemies from targeting the creature normally. True seeing reveals the creature’s location accurately.
Evasion (Ex)
A missing creature can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If it makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, it instead takes no damage. A helpless missing creature does not gain the benefit of evasion.
Invisibility (Su)
Whenever the creature does not attack for 1 full round, it becomes invisible (as the spell) as a free action. In addition to becoming visible if it attacks, the missing creature becomes visible if it takes hit point damage. If made visible by this second method, the missing creature becomes invisible again at the beginning of its next turn (though it might immediately become visible by attacking on that turn).
Shadowed (Su)
A missing creature gains a bonus to Stealth checks equal to its Hit Dice, and it can make Stealth checks even when observed or in normal or bright light.The most well-known traveler from the Ethereal Plane is the phase spider, but other insect-like creatures with similar abilities have been seen jaunting in and out of the Material Plane. Planar scholars have put forth the theory that somewhere off the Ethereal Plane a demiplane exists that is home to what they call phase vermin (or phase creatures).
Phase creatures are mottled black or gray and white in color, which may be an indicator of the nature of their home environment. They closely resemble normal vermin of the Material Plane, except that their natural weapons are inexplicably smaller. The phase creatures have adapted to this difference, however, with poison that is much stronger.
Creating a Phase Creature
“Phase Creature” is an inherited template that can be added to any vermin (referred to hereafter as the base creature). A phase creature retains all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Type: The base creature’s type changes to magical beast and it gains the augmented subtype.
Saves: Recalculate the base creature’s saves based on its new type. Magical beasts have good Fortitude and Reflex saves.
Hit Dice: Change all racial Hit Dice to d10s, and add one Hit Die to the base creature.
Defensive Abilities: The phase creature retains all the defensive abilities of the base creature, except it loses the “vermin traits” immunities and gains the following:
Ethereal Jaunt (Su)
A phase creature can shift from the Ethereal to the Material Plane as a free action, and shift back again as a move action (or during a move action). The ability is otherwise identical with ethereal jaunt (caster level 15th).
Speed: the base creature’s land speed increases by 10 feet.
Attacks: The base creature retains all its natural attacks; however, the damage die of every attack reduces by one step (see the table below), but never below 1d2.
Old Damage New Damage Old Damage New Damage
1d2 1d2 2d6 1d8
1d3 1d2 2d8 2d6
1d4 1d3 4d6 2d8
1d6 1d4 4d8 4d6
1d8 1d6
Special Attacks: A phase creature retains all the special attacks of the base creature. Saves have a DC of 10 + 1/2 phase creature’s HD + phase creature’s Constitution modifier unless stated otherwise. Base creatures with a poison special attack, recalculate it as below:
Ethereal Ambush (Ex)
A phase creature that attacks foes on the Material Plane in a surprise round can take a full round of actions if it begins the combat by phasing into the Material Plane from the Ethereal Plane.
Poison (Ex)
If the base vermin has poison, increase its poison damage by one step (1d3 becomes 1d4; 1d4 becomes 1d6, and so on). For example, if a Large vermin deals 1d4 points of Dexterity damage; a Large phase version of the same creature deals 1d6 points of Dexterity damage.
Recalculate the phase creature’s poison save DC using 10 + 1/2 the phase creature’s HD + the phase creature’s Constitution modifier.
Feats: A phase creature gains Improved Initiative as a bonus feat.
Poisonous creatures are deadly to all but their own kind. Contact with toxins that surround these flukes of nature often kills their mothers and incapacitates others nearby during the birthing process. Sometimes, however, the toxic nature of poisonous creatures does not reveal itself until adolescence. These cursed children are usually cast out from their communities or killed, making those who survive to adulthood rare. No one knows what accident of birth creates a poisonous creature, and few care to give the tragic topic much study.
A poisonous creatures resembles a normal member of its race, but its body is surrounded by an invisible cloud of toxin. Often angry and resentful beings, many poisonous creatures yearn for revenge against those who are too weak to bear their presence. Some are proud of their poisonous natures and despise creatures that lack immunity to their toxic bodies.
Using the Poisonous Creature Template
This template is defined as inherited, but it can easily be used as an acquired template if desired. A deity of poisons might grant it to her favored followers, or it might result from a curse laid upon one or more creatures to prevent them from enjoying the company of their own kind. The poisonous template can also be applied to all creatures of a particular race. For instance, all trolls in your game might be poisonous trolls.
Creating a Poisonous Creature
“Poisonous creature” is an inherited template that can be applied to any living, corporeal creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature). A poisonous creature uses all of the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
For characters with easy access to delay poison and neutralize poison, the poisonous creature template doesn't add much of a challenge unless the base creature has a way to dispel these effects.
Damage: Each of the poisonous creature's natural and weapon attacks can deliver poison in addition to their normal damage.
Special Attacks: The poisonous creature retains all the base creature's special attacks and gains those described here.
Poison (Ex)
Each of the base creature's natural attacks that causes slashing or piercing damage can deliver an injected poison with each attack. The Fortitude save for the poison has a DC of 10 + 1/2 poisonous creature's HD + poisonous creature's Con modifier. The damage is 1d2 point of Constitution damage per round for six rounds. Cure is one save.
Poisonous Cloud (Ex)
A poisonous creature is constantly surrounded by an invisible cloud of poisonous gas. This inhaled poison affects any creature that breathes the air or water within 10 feet of the poisonous creature. The DC for the Fortitude save is 10 + 1/2 poisonous creature's HD + poisonous creature's Con modifier. The damage is 1d3 points of Strength damage for six rounds and grants the sickened condition for one hour. Cure is two consecutive saves. Two consecutive saves also reduces the sickened condition to 1 minute.
Toxic Flesh (Ex)
The poisonous creature's flesh exudes a contact poison. Each time a poisonous creature makes physical contact with another creature, it delivers its poison (Fortitude DC 10 + 1/2 poisonous creature's HD + poisonous creature's Con modifier, damage 1d2 points of Dexterity damage for six rounds; cure is two consecutive saves). Such contact includes grappling and successful touch or natural attacks by either the poisonous creature or its foe, unless a glove or gauntlet prevents flesh-to-flesh contact. This contact poison loses its effectiveness when removed from the poisonous creature, so it is not effective when placed upon objects. In addition, any creature that eats a poisonous creature's flesh or swallows it whole is affected by the poison as if it had touched the poisonous creature.
Venomous Breath (Ex)
Once every 1d4 rounds, a poisonous creature can spew forth a disorienting mist of contact poison in a 60-foot cone as a standard action. Each creature in the area must succeed in a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 poisonous creature's HD + poisonous creature's Con modifier) or suffer the effects of the poison. Failing the save results in 1d6 point of Intelligence damage, 1d6 point of Wisdom damage, and the creature is confused as per the spell. Saving halves the ability damage and negates the confusion effect. The confusion effect lasts for one round per HD of the poisonous creature.
Special Qualities: The poisonous creature retains all the base creature's special qualities and gains those described here.
Detect Anti-Poison (Su)
At will as a standard action, the poisonous creature can detect alchemical items, magic effects, and magic items within 30 feet that neutralize or delay poisons, or determine whether a creature in the same range is naturally immune or resistant to poisons. For each qualifier in the area, the poisonous creature can make a DC 15 Wisdom check. Success indicates that the poisonous creature knows the location of the qualifying creature, object, or magic effect and why it qualifies. Knowing the location of a hidden or invisible qualifier does not reveal it; the poisonous creature merely knows what square or squares the qualifier occupies. The poisonous creature knows the location a qualifying object, effect, or creature at the moment of the detection, but it cannot follow the qualifier's movement without another detection attempt. Most poisonous creatures use this ability to determine whether their poisons can affect a certain foe, but some spellcasting poisonous creatures use it to detect spells so that they can dispel them.
Creatures that were born and live near rivers are as comfortable in water as they are on land.
Rebuild Rules: Skills Swim is always considered a class skill; Special Abilities gain Hold Breath (creature can hold its breath a number of rounds equal to 2 times its Constitution score before it risks drowning).
TEMPLATES
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates
(start with the "simple" templates)Apocalypse Swarm
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/apocalypse-swar m-cr-3
Collective Creature
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/collective-crea ture-cr-1-tohc
Creature Swarm
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/creature-swarm- template
Swarm Subtype!
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/rules-for-monsters/creature-types#TOC-Swar mBleeding Horror [?]
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/bleeding-horror -cr-3-tohc
Broken Soul
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/broken-soul-cr- 2
Cheitan <remove plane shift?>
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/cheitan-cr-vari es-tohc
The end. (Of everything.)
So. There you go. I'm not done, and I'm not likely to be done any time soon, but it's unlikely that I need to be any time soon: I wouldn't really want to unleash this thing until roughly... ever; it's mostly just here for me to know what exists out there, and...
Again, sorry about some of the formatting, but that's just my home notes pretty much copy/pasted with an occasional paragraph or two added to readability on the forums (so it's not just a limitless wall of text... which it sort of is anyway).
Enjoy!
Worth noting about the equipment and combat styles kits, is that they aren't required (in other words a given character can choose different equipment), however, I created the combat styles based on a non-exhaustive look at basic Grecian combat styles and soldiers of the time. That means that people that aren't using them are doing something unconventional and strange and will be looked at oddly (of course, adventurers are looked at a bit oddly anyway).
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First of all... THIS IS ALL AWESOME! My brain is exploding with awesomeness.
But something that occured to me as I read everyone's posts about the narrative of the non-fused pantheon idea...
I'm not all that knowledgeable about all the different mythologies (especially with Egyptian, Indian or Japanese), but I had a thought that might be helpful – at least for the non-fused concept.
Set wrote, in THIS post:
For the Norse, there is no specific earth god, and the sea god, Aegir, is a nobody, really. Only the sky-god (Odin) is a 'big three' sort of dude, although his brothers, Vili and Ve, could well fill those sorts of roles, if we knew anything about them other than that they helped him kill Ymir, and then mysteriously wandered off, never to be mentioned again…
If we have three sky gods (Odin, Zeus, and Shu). What if Vili and Ve are Zeus and Shu, who wandered away from the struggle to kill Ymir, then changed their names as they set up their own domains to reign? Just a thought, since they so conveniently walked off the Norse stage and would logically share some attributes with their brother Odin. Zeus remained a big player, Shu just happened to pick a small pond with a bigger fish (Set or whomever).
Iiiiiiiiiiinteresting idea. I like the concept a lot!
Do you have links to more information about Shu?
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Sadly, I don't. Like I said, I'm not any kind of real student of any of the world's mythologies. Anything I come up with will be finding ties between other poster's ideas or whatever I can cobble together using wiki or my sad, sad google-fu.
That's fine. I'm not terribly brushed up on Egyptian as much as I should be, but I know some. I was just hoping for more specifics, if possible. I always do! :)
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Well, this whole discussion has definitely inspired me, so I'll continue to drop any random thoughts I have. Though I"ll try to flesh them out further so they're more useful and less tangential.
No, no! Pretty much any addition is fine whether I personally use it or not. More is good, regardless of how refined it is (but I also enjoy more refined things, too)! :D
So, in one of these worlds here (or maybe all of them), the fire giants, the efreeti, and the ifrits (all of which are automatically sorcerers with both the wishcrafter, efreeti, and fire elemental*, similar to having the crossblooded archetype three times) are pretty much the same thing (their hit dice and class levels are gestalted).
()
Something similar is going on here, though, of course, that world functions differently (they are all summoners with the sorcerer bloodlines instead).
I'm thinking of requiring some sort of potent focus, like an arcane bond with a required bonded object... however said bonded object can (and must?) be made somehow so that it has the ability to summon the creature.
Basically, they gain their magical power from a bond with a rather mundane-looking object, which can summon them. Thus, the whole 'summoned by a lamp' and 'summoned by a ring' from Arabian Nights. I'm also thinking of having them unable to own their personal item for some reason (this may have something to do with Solumiyan* binding them in bottles - while Solumiyan* isn't present in this world, something similar might have happened**).
This would handily explain why in a place like Norseland, they don't do much other than use their powerful weapons (they don't have free access to their magic***), but they're still hecka-powerful (14 HD outsider/giant is nothing to sneeze at). I'm wondering whether or not I should use the jotunblood template.
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The blending with the fire giants (and their tremendous power over fire) explains both their larger size and their godlike power to raze the Norseland ultimately at Ragnorok. Because they're defined to come from the "hot place" (Muspelheim) or realm of fire, the blending of the two works perfectly for both reasons.
Ragnorok might somehow release them all and actually grant them the power to acquire their own items, thus unleashing their full power on their own terms instead of as slaves...
Interestingly, something similar could be done "in reverse" for the djinn and cloud giants or storm giants, but those guys don't work so well for the frost giants, I don't think.
Anyway, this isn't directly related to the campaign I was working on above, but it burrowed into my brain such that I couldn't sleep, so I had to get it out here. :)
EDIT: to fix a tag code and also note that I edited.
Dot.
Thinking about how Mythic ties into all of this...
(Oh, yeah, and NECRO!!!!)
((... mostly because I can, and someone else asked me about it, not because I, personally, have much to add right now. But maybe soon... maybe.))
It was pretty common among old pantheistic cultures to do exactly this. Assume that another cultures gods were really the same as there own, just under different names and seen from different viewpoint.
Conflict between the pantheons might still be more interesting.
How about syncretism as the end result (or threatened result) of conflict between the pantheons?
On the earth, Tanit was once a Carthaginian goddess in her own right. Juno Caelestis is an aspect of Juno local to Roman Africa.
In the heavens, the divine entity which was once Tanit has been gradually transfigured and overwritten as Juno overpowered the other deity, until now she is but an aspect of her former rival. Tanit is Juno Caelestis... but wasn't always.
Two points of clarification:
First - the divine world is getting confused because the Grecian gods are dealing with the identity crisis of becoming/being the new Greco-Roman gods
I would suggest Ares -> Mars as a notable case along these lines. The identification of those two with one another was particularly forced.
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So, apparently, I'm all into this world-building stuff (which I am). I do, however, really like and appreciate input from others! Which is my way of saying, "Please put input into my worlds, 'cause I greatly like to hear others' ideas!"
So here we go again!
I was speaking with my wife (who is working on teaching Edith Hamilton's Mythology) and she thought it would be a great idea for a campaign. And I agreed!
So, I'm looking to flush this out somewhat, with your help!
First:
I'm basing the world itself on the 3.0 D&D Deities and Demigods show for the Hellenistic World (based around mount Olympus) - but blending it with the other three "classic" worlds.One of the interesting things I noticed was that, in the world of Egypt, the way the "Western Mountains"* were set up, they were actually North West... roughly the same direction of Olympus compared to Egypt. Interestingly, the Shadow Plane existed underneath both mount Olympus and the Western Mountains*. With the comparison of the World Tree for Norse, it turns out that it had one root deep into the depths of the shadow plane, and another on the adjacent material plane... very similar in composition to both the Egyptian realm and the Grecian one. The Blessed Fields of Egyptian lore sound similar to Elysium, by description, which is known to, but different from the Olympus locale in the Grecian pantheon stays. Also the shadow plane is the transitive plane between not one, but three different "planes of completely terrible".
The short version is: I'm blending the three worlds into one. This is not meant to be Earth-plus, but rather a fantasy game based of those three Earth pantheons. The conflicting world-creation myths are actually justifiable under this element, it's just that:
a) the deities were building different parts of the world, instead of the entirety of it
b) are all correct, only...
Need some ideas?
http://phaeselis.wikia.com/wiki/Phaeselis_Wiki