Nightflower


Round 2: Create a Bestiary entry

RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32 , Star Voter Season 7 aka Total Biscuit

3 people marked this as a favorite.

An elfin beauty with flowers in her hair gives you a coy, come-hither smile.

Nightflower CR 2
XP 600
CE Medium fey
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +8

----- Defense -----
AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10 (+2 Dex)
hp 18 (4d6+4)
Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +5

----- Offense -----
Speed 30 ft.
Melee dagger +4 (1d4) or 2 claws +4 (1d4)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks blood drain (1d4 Con), cactus milk, spines
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 4th; concentration +5)
3/day- adoration, beguiling gift (DC 14), daze (DC 13)
1/day- blur, charm person (DC 14), unnatural lust (DC 14)

----- Statistics -----
Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 15, Wis 12, Cha 17
Base Atk +2; CMB +4; CMD 12
Feats Agile Maneuvers, Weapon Finesse
Skills Bluff +9, Concentration +5, Diplomacy +9, Disguise +8, Knowledge (local) +7, Knowledge (nature) +7, Perception +8, Perform (dance) +7, Sense Motive +8, Sleight of Hand +8, Stealth +8
Languages Aklo, Common, Sylvan
SQ petal form

----- Ecology -----
Environment temperate desert and urban
Organization solitary
Treasure standard

----- Special Abilities -----

Cactus Milk (Ex) A Nightflower can deliver a heady narcotic with a kiss or, once per day as a standard action, a fifteen-foot cone of exhaled vapours. Victims suffer the drug's effects on a failed DC 13 Fortitude save and must succeed on a second save at the same DC or become addicted (see Drugs and Addiction for further details). The save DCs are Constitution-based. Type ingested or inhaled; Addiction minor, Fortitude DC 13; Effect 1 hour; –2 penalty on saves against illusions and mind-affecting effects; Effect after 1 hour; 1d2 hours of fatigue; Damage 1 Con and 1d2 Wis damage.
Petal Form (Su) A Nightflower can transform into a cloud of cactus-flower petals as a standard action. This ability functions as gaseous form, but the Nightflower can remain transformed indefinitely, has a fly speed of 20 feet with perfect maneuverability, and cannot pass through cracks.
Spines (Ex) A Nightflower can sprout spines from her body (or retract them) as a swift action. Unsheathed spines inflict 1d4 points of piercing damage to creatures attacking with melee weapons, unarmed strikes, or natural weapons, and 2d4 points against grappling opponents. Creatures striking with reach weapons are unaffected. A Nightflower can also retract her claws (and the needle-teeth she uses to feed) to pass for normal, though she cannot make claw attacks or drain blood while they remain sheathed.

Nightflowers are insidious cacti spirits from the southern deserts of Katapesh. Drawn to hives of decadence and overindulgence, they make their hunting grounds among the drug parlours and drinking-houses of the nation's capital.

Nightflowers crave blood, and crave especially the taste of blood polluted with intoxicants. On the hunt, a Nightflower seduces a healthy-looking mark with her beauty and charm and, over a night of revelry, plies them into a helpless stupor with as many substances as she can coax them into sampling; her meal thus prepared, she drains them dry in a quiet alley or private chamber. Nightflowers love experimenting on their victims with different drugs and alcohols in much the same way a chef mixes spices.

Nightflowers enjoy the thrill of seduction and resort to magic only on particularly bull-headed individuals. They dislike combat and usually flee if discovered and outnumbered. Their presence in the city can take time to come to light, however; Nightflowers are discrete about the wounds they inflict, and few in Katapesh have the patience to spare for one more drug-ravaged corpse among the pesh-houses.

Goblinworks Lead Game Designer

Hi Mr. Biscuit, I'm Lee Hammock, the lead game designer on Pathfinder Online. Before that I did lots of d20 freelance work, but I'm probably going to be leaving mechanics to the more up to date judges and concentrating on story, overall balance, and how I could see using them in a game.

Insidious cacti spirit. Now that's something you don't encounter every day.

I like the setup for this, sort of an evil desert temptress sort of thing that really feels like part of the setting. The nightflower feels like a monster that should be pretty easy once you see through the deception, and the stats reflect that. The nightflower's abilities are mainly about controlling their victims or escaping. I'm surprised the nightflower doesn't have some sort of Craft (Brewer) or such given their interest in putting strange concoctions in their victims.

Are all nightflowers female? Seems like they could be either, but the writeup doesn't specify. I don't see why males should be the only ones tempted by insidious cacti spirits.

I would say this is a Should Vote For.

Paizo Employee Developer , Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9

Congrats on making it to this round! May you have the luck and talent to push all the way through to the end!

”How I Judged These Monsters”:

When I develop a monster for the Adventure Path bestiaries, I print out the monster entry, and then go through it in a quick pass, marking up the page with notes and highlighting any problems that I need to address later when I really dig into it. Much of the time I’m circling things in the stat block or flavor text and leaving a quick note. Most often, this quick note pass is performed while I’m writing out art orders for the monsters so I can make sure that the description I give to the artist is what the final monster will be. This is where I make note of any changes I plan to make (some of which I’m sure frustrate some of my freelancers from time to time).

I’m going to judge this round in a similar manner to how I’d treat a monster I ordered from a freelancer if I asked one of my freelancers to just send me something within the same parameters that you’ve been given. My review isn’t anything personal, and since tone is difficult to communicate online sometimes, imagine my comments and critiques read in a friendly and nudging way. To heighten the experience, imagine my comments on your monster written in purple ink. :)

The blue italicized first line in my review was my gut reaction from reading the name with no context whatsoever. It was a fun guessing game I was playing while reviewing the monsters, so I included that note for everyone’s enjoyment. (Spoiler Alert: I was wrong a lot.)

And now to the monster!

I’m guessing a plant, and seeing some of the umbral tendencies of the magic items, probably something shadowy.

Wrong! Another fey. Man, this deep into my judging, I’m noticing that this might be the year of the fey.
Descriptive line is meh. I’m worried that this might be yet another lady lure creature that folklore is so fond of. (only partially wrong, but this is the second drug monster)
Target numbers are within range.
Four even ability scores!
When you have more than two melee or ranged attacks you need to drop that into the next line.
Don’t capitalize the monster’s name.
Use American English (re: vapour). I know it’s hard for our non-American freelancers, but it’s just a retraining thing like how people who learned to type in the age of typewriters needed to relearn not double spacing after a period. (This isn’t a critique, but more me noticing something and providing advice through your example—voters shouldn’t hold this against you.)
The cactus milk ability is formatted poorly and it makes it unclear and hard to read. I like the name of the ability and what it’s doing, but it needs some work.
Petal form is neat, but it needs some work too.
I get the spines ability and have used similar effects for creatures I’ve designed, but this ability is worded poorly and should have used the same language as other similar abilities. It has cool imagery, though. I’d love to see this monster illustrated.
This is a pesh monster, which is certainly tied into Golarion and is urban.
I like the flavor of the creature liking the blood of intoxicated people and how it even likes to arrange for certain tastes. That’s a nice touch. This monster is a cool idea, but it needs some work. This entry would take some time to develop for print.

I don’t recommend nightflower for advancement.

Webstore Gninja Minion , Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8

Hi there! I'll be one of the judges for this round, and I'll be looking at a couple of key points for your creature: flavor, GM usability, and how well it fits into the world of Golarion. For some background, I helped found the Wayfinder fanzine before I started working for Paizo, and these are all points that I took into consideration when selecting articles for the magazine. In addition, I oversee every third-party Pathfinder Roleplaying Game product that makes its way onto Paizo.com.

Flavor
With the name, I was hoping for an urban plant creature, but this is not the case. Apparently this *is* the Year of the Fey... Setting that aside, cactus critters immediately make me think of cactuars, but this avoids that entirely, which is good. The abilities fit the creature's concept, but I'm not fond of the assumption that being alluring and seductive means "feminine."

GM Usability
Blood drain at this level feels overly powerful, especially when combined with its poisonous abilities. Multiple natural attacks and can also wield weapons. Concentration is not a separate skill in Pathfinder any more.

Setting
The creature seems to have migrated *to* urban areas, but doesn't seem to be a native of them. They seemed to have tagged along with the domestication of pesh cacti and are now thriving. Good tie-in with established lore.

Final Thoughts
Plant-focused fey that uses pesh-related abilities to lure in its victims, but tries to do too much for its specified CR. I do not recommend this monster for advancement.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8 , Dedicated Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Mark D Griffin

I think this monster tries to do too much for its CR. Spines could probably go, along with weapons, and maybe a spell or two. That said, I love the flavor. A Cactus spirit is an awesome visual and the bit about wanting blood laced with drugs was a home run for me.

Dark Archive

Love the idea of a fey creature that drinks blood and tries to addict it's human prey to as many drugs as possible, to 'spice up' its dinner.

It's pretty neat how it 'evolved' into an urban predator, from a cactus spirit that only fed from the blood of creatures affected by the drug from it's local cactus, to becoming intrigued by the 'flavors' left behind in the blood of those under the influence of other drugs and moving into seedier parts of cities to find a wider palette of tasty treats than it would out in the desert.

This totally would have worked in the last Pathfinder, as a Katapeshi monster!

Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8

Not a fan of monsters that appear to only come in one gender and play on a specific negative trope associated primarily with that gender. RAW, this doesn't fly with me as a GM and would get rejected by my players.


The addiction-attack is flavorful as well as mechanically interesting. An enterprising nightflower could possibly command a troop of addicted thralls to do her bidding. This is a nice change from having manipulative bosses who control underlings via enchantment spells that are easily dispelled.

So far, this is my favorite entry.


I like this one. I'm not certain why people keep mentioning weapon use, its human shaped so it can uses a weapon its default weapon is no better then claws so it doesn't increase the monsters threat. But it makes sense to have the dagger if it wants to defend itself and still maintain its illusion of humanity.

As far as I can see it never specifies that all members are female so I would not assume that is the case. A man can seduce people to.

Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8

awata wrote:
As far as I can see it never specifies that all members are female so I would not assume that is the case.

If that's the case, the standard practice would be to use neutral pronouns, or to rewrite to avoid gendered pronouns, in the description and statblock.

awata wrote:
A man can seduce people to.

Exactly, which is why it being described only as a female creature throughout is bit of a knock against it, and ti's something that wouldn't have taken much editing (a few pronoun swaps) to resolve.

Other than that, the flavor is well done throughout and could work just as well as a creature with any (or no) gender at all.

Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9

Congratulations Terry,
I am trying to keep reviews simple to get through them quickly.
Creative: Yes, not enough cactus critters unless they shoot needles. Feeding on needle users is subtle and well done. Less ties to the name though, I know a lot of cactus bloom at night, but how does this tie into this fey?
Fun to GM: If I have addicted PCs yes. if not it will be a little plot device, but it will certainly be a GOOD plot. "Here try this, and this, how about this...."
Golarion Tie: Well done. Peshi is cactus derived (iirc) why have we not seen these fey before?!
Good luck! :)


I didn't have a lot of time for item reviewing this weekend, so I'll do monsters instead. First I'll look at how the monster's basic rundown fits the monster creation table, then general theme and abilities.

= Monster meets the target statistics for its CR
+ Monster exceeds the target stats for its CR
++ Monster greatly exceeds target stats for its CR
- Monster's stats do not meet target stats for its CR
-- Monster's stats are greatly below target stats for its CR

hp: -
AC: -
High Atk: =
Low Atk: n/a
High Dmg: -
Low Dmg: --
Primary Ability DC: =
Good save: +/=
Poor save: +

Okay, so this monster hunts by subterfuge, therefore it doesn't have to necessarily be formidable in a fight. Still, a party that doesn't succumb to its abilities might find it easy pickings unless they lack a strong melee and/or ranged damage dealers.

Katapesh is one of my favorite areas in Golarion, and this monster has a very rich background to drop it there, so that's an immediate plus for me. As for the gender, this is an easy fix, and it probably should be done. A race of predatory fey of this sort pretty much demands that it prey on the debauched regardless of gender.

Cactus Milk: Hate that name. This is a sexy monster and its primary ability should have a sexy name. As others have mentioned, this has mechanical issues.

Blood Drain: I'm assuming this takes place on a willing or helpless victim. Presumably, that's where its unnatural lust spell-like ability comes in. Still, I would have appreciated a line in the text somewhere putting this together for me so I don't have to puzzle it out. Some might assume that addiction means that prey will allow blood drain for a chance to be exposed to the cactus milk, which isn't necessarily the case. 1d4 is really hefty for this CR. If it had been 1 point of Con I'd handwave it. 1d2 would have been pushing it, so this is over the top.

Petal Form: Don't really love it. Also, at this CR that's practically a get-out-of-combat-free card which won't endear the monster to players.

So I'm torn. There's a great amount of creativity here but lacking in mechanical finesse. I love the idea but I'm not sold on the presentation. This one may have to sit on the fence until I've gone over the rest of the entries.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka theheadkase

Nightflower...could mean a few things to the dirtier minded.

Boy, fey is popular. Who knew that we wanted urban fey so badly (*AHEM* are you listening Paizo!)

The description confirms a little more the dirty mindedness.

Why is it called Cactus Milk? She's a fey not a plant creature. Otherwise..it's ok.

What happens if I light a fire where the petals are?

Hmmm...another very plantlike power...

OK Now I see...they are cacti spirits!

Overall, it is an interesting concept that is a little bland in the powers department and the mechanics need a little work. Very weak keep right now.

RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 4 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka DankeSean

It's very cool to see a use for a cactus-based creature that plays up beauty and intoxication instead of just 'it's prickly.' (Which these do have as well, but it's nice to see the flowering part of cacti used.)
That said, I think it's unfortunate that you went with the blood-draining angle; I feel like it's only there as a result of the prickly spine aspect and detracts from all the things this does differently than a standard cactus monster. It's fey, it could have fed on any number of aspects of a drug-addled victim (sucking up dreams and the like, doing wisdom damage, etc.)
As far as abilities go, I like Cactus Milk a great deal, and Petal Form is likewise nice. I don't object to spines either; no problem with these creatures revealing a thornier side to themselves when pressed. It's just blood drain that rankles me, really.
It's a nice, creative concept and I'm inclined to overall like it. I'm not sure it makes my top eight, but it's definitely in the top half of the entries I've seen.


Should the save DC for the Cactus Milk be higher when it is delivered via kiss than when it is dispersed via breath? The Living Shiver entry took this into account for its similar ability.

I agree that Petal Form does give the nightflower a means to avoid combat that is somewhat inappropriate for its CR. But I had another thought in regard to it: the nightflower could easily infiltrate a building by mixing itself into a bouquet of flowers delivered by a servant. Or children could be recruited to walk by and toss flowers about near the windows of the targeted location. Even someone casts Detect Magic would not be likely to catch all the flowers in the effect, especially if the first dozen children are found to be throwing mundane flowers.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka GM_Solspiral

Nightflower
The Good: I like seduction based monsters and I like plant based fey.
The Bad: Blood drain is a bit much.
The Ugly: I'm so so on this being urban, feels like a monster you started before the hook was announced.
Overall: 7/10- It has some style but its not a no brainer vote.


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"she slept with Lumberg, my unholy demon of a boss."

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka GM_Solspiral

In Lumberg's defense his name was perfectly fine before that asshat from office space started droning on about working on Saturday and you know go ahead and comin in on Sunday too.

Dedicated Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9

Lost my post…

So I don't get anything cactus-y from the description, nor anything that makes the urban habitat particularly explained - I do love the pest-parlour haunting. I'm fine with the luring lady, though it is a well worn trope, and the blood sucking I thought could have been made into something else, say water drain, like the excellent sun hag in the latest edition of Wayfinder...

The abilities all fit together to make a sharp little creature, but I'm not particularly wowed by it.


GM_Beernorg wrote:
"she slept with Lumberg, my unholy demon of a boss."

And it was Grreeaatt!


GM_Solspiral wrote:
In Lumberg's defense his name was perfectly fine before that asshat from office space started droning on about working on Saturday and you know go ahead and comin in on Sunday too.

You completely disregarded my generosity about "Hawaiian Shirt Day".

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16 , Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka JoelF847

Overall, while it's a pretty creative fey to have, and the tie to Golarion is great, I'm not feeling the need for another seduce and drain type of monster.

Also, does a nightflower have to kill its victims? I can see a pretty parasitic or cooperative relationship with its victims: get them hooked on her cactus milk, and they'd willingly let her suck some blood in exchange for their next fix. Most addicts wouldn't have an issue with her plying them with other drugs to "spice" them either.

Due to that, I'm not seeing a nightflower as a monster that most PCs would really care all that much about, and when you did encounter one, it really is just filling in for a more mundane drug peddler.

Finally, as a monster that the PCs will probably fight if they encounter, it's a bit of a pushover.

Liberty's Edge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2012 , Star Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 9

I can see the nightflower as a monster that wouldn't necessarily target the PCs directly, but would certainly pique their interest after several deaths or perhaps target someone the PCs care about. I appreciate monsters that work as a background story for the PCs to investigate. When they finally confront a nightflower, the battle will be quick, especially since the nightflower will just try to escape.

This is not an urban monster per se, but its MO requires it to infest urban locations. It also fits into Golarion neatly through its pesh angle.

Good luck in the voting!

Shadow Lodge Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 9

Garrett Guillotte wrote:
Not a fan of monsters that appear to only come in one gender and play on a specific negative trope associated primarily with that gender. RAW, this doesn't fly with me as a GM and would get rejected by my players.

Does that mean that you don't use Succubi, Erodaemons, Nymphs, Rusalkas, Nereids, Pairakas and a lot of other seduction based monsters?

Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8

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Scarletrose wrote:
Garrett Guillotte wrote:
Not a fan of monsters that appear to only come in one gender and play on a specific negative trope associated primarily with that gender. RAW, this doesn't fly with me as a GM and would get rejected by my players.
Does that mean that you don't use Succubi, Erodaemons, Nymphs, Rusalkas, Nereids, Pairakas and a lot of other seduction based monsters?

Short answer: aside from pairakas and erodaemons, which as far as I can tell aren't necessarily only female? No, I do not and would not use them.

It's alienating to appear to limit a creature to one human-like gender arbitrarily while also trafficking in unflattering or stereotypical associated gender tropes, like "women that only exist to seduce and betray". It doesn't matter to me if Paizo frequently does it--if Paizo put their succubi (and incubi), nymphs, rusalkas, nereids, erinyes, hags, medusas, and drakainias up to a vote, I'd vote against them as written too, and I try to avoid buying products that feature them.

I PM'd you the long answer. The bottom line is that one of the unnecessary flavor decisions made in the nightflower as written can be alienating to players or GMs.

Shadow Lodge Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 9

Garrett Guillotte wrote:
Scarletrose wrote:
Garrett Guillotte wrote:
Not a fan of monsters that appear to only come in one gender and play on a specific negative trope associated primarily with that gender. RAW, this doesn't fly with me as a GM and would get rejected by my players.
Does that mean that you don't use Succubi, Erodaemons, Nymphs, Rusalkas, Nereids, Pairakas and a lot of other seduction based monsters?

Short answer: aside from pairakas and erodaemons, which as far as I can tell aren't necessarily only female? No, I do not and would not use them.

It's alienating to appear to limit a creature to one human-like gender arbitrarily while also trafficking in unflattering or stereotypical associated gender tropes, like "women that only exist to seduce and betray". It doesn't matter to me if Paizo frequently does it--if Paizo put their succubi (and incubi), nymphs, rusalkas, nereids, erinyes, hags, medusas, and drakainias up to a vote, I'd vote against them as written too, and I try to avoid buying products that feature them.

I PM'd you the long answer. The bottom line is that one of the unnecessary flavor decisions made in the nightflower as written can be alienating to players or GMs.

Well .. your choice I guess.

I feel it's a little unfair to cast a vote based on what is a purely personal choice, since is affecting the product for everyone, but I guess a single vote can't possibly change things.

I do get some of your points, to be honest I am kinda disappointed by the fact that Incubi have a completely different entry and different powers than succubi as they are supposed to be the male counterpart of succubi.

I don't think it has to do much with what Paizo frequently does but rather about what mythology is all about. There is some level of "gender roles" tied to mythology, and fantasy setting can't help but take them on as well.
That being said... my table is definitely a lot different.
Succubi are probably my number one featured monster.
And a funny thing is the fact you added to my list the Drakainas.
I loved them so much I had to add them to my current campaign immediately.

That being said, I never played with anyone who is easily offended by anything. I have to be honest, I think I would have a problem with such a player.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think I am an offensive GM, I am very open minded and my campaigns tend to reflect that. My game worlds usually show heterogeneous and unique people and rarely relies on stereotypes.
But I don't think I would feel comfortable on having to avoid certain stories or certain topics to not offend my players.
All in all is a game, is a story, it doesn't really affect anyone outside it's narration and doesn't pass judgements on real people.

The various seductress of my campaigns are not a spiteful commentary on females in general, and many other female characters are there to prove there is no fundamental good or bad feminine quality. Just qualities, and people who have them that happen to be female at times, and of course there is no shortage of male characters that shows the exact same qualities.
You don't really need a male Nymph when you have a lot of idealized humanoid with huge enthralling powers that are gender-neutral.
I would just use a beautiful Ghaele to fulfill the role.

That being said, to each his own. I would just refrain from depict as bad things that are really in the eye of the beholder.
Offensiveness is one of the most subjective qualities I could think of as anyone gets offended by different things.

Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8

Scarletrose wrote:
I feel it's a little unfair to cast a vote based on what is a purely personal choice

It's a contest based on public voting. Everybody's vote is based on personal choices.

Quote:
That being said... my table is definitely a lot different.

I don't doubt it. My point was that the flavor text could be changed to make this a monster that works at both our tables instead of just yours, without taking anything away from the creature itself.

RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32 , Star Voter Season 7 aka Total Biscuit

Lee Hammock wrote:
Are all nightflowers female? Seems like they could be either, but the writeup doesn't specify. I don't see why males should be the only ones tempted by insidious cacti spirits.
Liz Courts wrote:
I'm not fond of the assumption that being alluring and seductive means "feminine."
Garrett Guillotte wrote:
Not a fan of monsters that appear to only come in one gender and play on a specific negative trope associated primarily with that gender. RAW, this doesn't fly with me as a GM and would get rejected by my players.

Yeah, I wish I hadn't written it that way now. It was supposed to be a sort of desert cousin to the dryad, and I didn't spot the unfortunate implications until after submission. Might have spotted it with a second proofread, but the monster idea didn't occur to me until the morning of the final day...

Adam Daigle wrote:
Four even ability scores!

Aw, horseapples. I knew about the three even / three odd thing, but I thought they earned another point for having four hit dice.

Liz Courts wrote:
Concentration is not a separate skill in Pathfinder any more.

Aw, double horseapples.

Adam Daigle wrote:
I get the spines ability and have used similar effects for creatures I’ve designed, but this ability is worded poorly and should have used the same language as other similar abilities.

Triple. I originally did copy it from the thorn body spell, but I ended up cutting it down to save on words.

Bill Lumberg wrote:
Should the save DC for the Cactus Milk be higher when it is delivered via kiss than when it is dispersed via breath? The Living Shiver entry took this into account for its similar ability.

I figured it wouldn't - the drug it's based on, Pesh, is 'ingested or inhaled' and uses the same DC regardless. I did, however, forget to note she has to grapple to kiss unwilling victims, or that she can't kiss and feed in the same round, or kiss with her teeth out...

Bill Lumberg wrote:
I agree that Petal Form does give the nightflower a means to avoid combat that is somewhat inappropriate for its CR. But I had another thought in regard to it: the nightflower could easily infiltrate a building by mixing itself into a bouquet of flowers delivered by a servant. Or children could be recruited to walk by and toss flowers about near the windows of the targeted location. Even someone casts Detect Magic would not be likely to catch all the flowers in the effect, especially if the first dozen children are found to be throwing mundane flowers.

Hah, that's originally what they did! In the first draft they were flower-spirits from Absalom's Petal District and used this form to hide amongst the flowers in the daytime.

Curaigh wrote:

Less ties to the name though, I know a lot of cactus bloom at night, but how does this tie into this fey?

I didn't like the name either. In the flower-spirit draft they were called 'Passionflowers', but after I gave them their cactus makeover I just brain-froze on the name. There's some very interestingly-named cacti out there, it turns out (Aaron's Beard, Rainbow Hedgehog, Big Nipple...), but nothing I could turn into a good monster handle. Eventually I found they bloomed at night, and it was two hours before the deadline, so I went with that. Then I found out that Golorian's sun-god is known as the 'Dawnflower' and panicked over the accidental association. As it turns out, that's the one thing no-one seemed to pick up on...

GM_Solspiral wrote:

The Ugly: I'm so so on this being urban, feels like a monster you started before the hook was announced.

Heh. I did have a fey that got destroyed by the urban requirement, but it was nothing like this. I think most of the nightflower's problems come from being started so late after the hook was announced, in honesty ;).

Thanks all for your comments and criticisms, and for voting me to the top 32. I'll win next year instead. :P

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