"Shrinking" The Choking Tower


Iron Gods


Hi all,

I recently rewrote The Choking Tower to accommodate my groups tastes a bit more. But it occurs to me that TCT and Valley of the Brain Collector are "filler" kind of adventures - the characters are chasing a mcguffin to point A, don't find it then go to B (VotBC).

Spoiler:
I think VotBC is a good adventure and I don't want to cut it. But I suspect my characters are going to groan if they spend a bunch of time exploring TCT only to find all that time just gave them a single clue to an entirely separate adventure. Especially after having the same thing happen in the Aurora. So looking for suggestions to make TCT more optional. I still want to have it but I want to give my characters the option of exploring it or not. I am open to suggestions but my initial thoughts are the back entrance to the TCT.

In my rewrite I have inserted a Technic League Archeological Team lead by Captain Akradenn into the dungeon of the tower. They entered via the secret entrance but have not been able to penetrate the tower proper (the door that goes into Xoud's room). So they have a camp setup near the back entrance. I was going to provide this information in one of a few ways:


  • Via the hill giant map,
  • Hill giant interrogation (if one is captured and charmed which my party likes to do),
  • Something Longdreamer can make them aware of or
  • Perhaps they spot a campfire at night if they scout the area (Technic League are over confident bad guys to say the least)

This way they have the choice of coming through the back entrance or the front. If they come through the back they can get the information about Cassandalee quickly and then decide if they wish to continue exploring the tower or pushing on to VoftBC.

Silver Crusade

Topic needs spoiler tags.

Also I think I flagged it wrong, o well.

This is better served in the GM topic:

At the end of the lords of rust, it mentions that you can allow the players to go to starfall and poke around, that essentially just lets them get burned to pursue another means.

The choking tower is essentially a dungeon crawl at the end of a town RP sequence if you break down the adventure path logically. Part of dungeon exploration is that there's a goal at the 'lowest level' which in this case is the basement. If you send your players to the choking tower which has a good amount of allusions surrounding it as a dark and mysterious place... only to just make a back door; it takes that fun out. Making it obviously known that there's a back door means almost 100% of the time your players will take that option so you might unintentionally sap the fun out of the exploration.

Now every group is different, so scrambling up the format as you mentioned can work as you know your group best, but you'll have to somehow make up the lost levels though I guess you already resolved that part.

You'll need to figure out something about Furkas Xoud's response to someone essentially digging into his tower. After that, I'd think any of your listed suggestions can work.


Thanks Ayanzo. I would argue that the Aurora is the dungeon crawl at the end of the town RP which further minimizes the need for TCT. Basically TCT seems pretty optional outside of DM railroading (which I am fine with, I am not anti-railroad).

Editor

I would say that how your players react will depend on your setup. If you make sure to emphasize that Casandalee has been missing for centuries, and Iadenveigh is merely a hopeful lead, you shouldn't have any problems.

The players will probably still be disappointed, yes, but they should expect to have to do some legwork to find Casandalee. Just make sure to make her important enough later to justify the journey!


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Thanks Joe. I am still of two minds but I am going to run it as written for now. My players spoke with Sahasho and don't seem at all fussed by pushing on to TCT. Sometimes I can't guess what's going on in their heads! They "complain" about the most innocuous things at one point then when I think they won't be happy with something they either don't notice or love it.

Players!


Just to update this thread, I ended up rewriting the tower without shrinking it. Here is the converted adventure. Main difference is a bigger focus on elemental magic and enemies, addition of a the Technic League and the ability to bypass chunks of the tower. Which my players did.

Grand Lodge

I agree Solomani. The Choking Tower itself is wayyyy too big and so many of the encounters, while flavourful, are just not Iron Gods or metaplot related. Especially when they come after Scrapwall. I am definitely massively cutting this dungeon down. My players are just at the start of Book 2, so it'll be a while before I post the replacement intrigue.

Silver Crusade

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I plan on having Xoud be at war with a Mindflayer who has been replacing the citizens of the town with Android clones.


Thats awesome Dudemeister.

Silver Crusade

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I see books 1&2 as fantasy heroes vs the machines, and parts 3&4 as fantasy heroes vs aliens.


Awesome! that's been my approach as well :-)


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**Dear players of mine who might be reading this: spoil the story for yourself if you want, but you know good and well that you shouldn't be here.**

I'm already starting to worry about TCT as my PCs close on the end of Fires of Creation. While reading through the campaign, *I* was annoyed by both the dungeons in the 3rd module acting as red herrings, and I feel like it would really exhaust my players' good will to go through an occasionally lethal crawl like the Choking Tower only to walk/fly-atop-a-space-moth away without the goody in question. Some of that is my own thing; I HATE red herrings in D&D. In real life, the game takes 4 hours of my nice players' weekends. It seems mean to tally up 20-28 hours of real world time to pull their narrative chair out from under them.

(Never mind that we do so to eventually equip the PCs with an NPC who can't shoulder her load in combat unless you break the rules when it comes to aggregates.)

So I'm here with you guys trying to re-do the whole thing. I like the idea of combining the android area and the Choking Tower into one dungeon under Iadenveigh.

I figure the best way to eradicate the red herring angle is to have something or someone very important at the bottom of Xoud's dungeon.

Ideas:

* a brain-dead Dominion agent who Xoud is trying to prod for information re: Casandalee.

* same, but with an android, possibly one of her followers from her time in the Silver Mount. (I am leaning toward this one)

* A locate object artifact/item. (As a PLAYER, I like this the best. As a DM, screw that!)

* A customizable aggregate that can track back to Casandalee in the Scar.

* A mi-go or intellect devourer who needs to be bargained with.

* Alternatively, the intellect devourer/mi-go/ could be a new addition to the dungeon after trespassing and being collected for interrogation.

* 90 degree turn: new Iron God, burgeoning Rovagug, went bonkers without Unity, android agents have been kidnapping and killing from Choking Tower. It's another red herring, kind of, except it stays on theme with the AP because a.) it' an Iron God, b.) it is one of TWO siblings referenced by Hellion or in Kulgara's notes. Xoud is just as anxious to get rid of new monster god as PCs would be. Star moth BEGS the PCs to help to stop the nightmares from within the tower. The PCs learn the same info re: Casandalee at the end, but at the end of the slog they feel like they've taken one useless option off the table.

Ideas?


I'm kind of with impureascetic adn Solomani on this one. I dislike red herrings when I'm trying to build a story. As we only play 4 hours once per week and alternate DM's AND adventure paths at the end of books, it's easy for players to get distracted. This was a missed opportunity to deal with the technic league in an area of Numeria where they don't have control. Honestly I think the whole book needs a re-write.

At the moment, using an 1&2=man vs machine but 3&4=man vs alien I'm thinking of having an immortal alien who remembers the divinity crash and maybe knows a few things about Casandalee, Hellion and Unity... but I haven't read book 4 and am only starting to run book 2 so opinions may change.

Liberty's Edge

My players had a fantastic time with the Choking Tower, as far as I could tell.

How it went down:
They enjoyed the visit to Iadenveigh, the sudden departure from tech-heavy dungeons and chainsaw-wielding killers to a simple farming town that is being spied upon by a member of the League. They caught this member and put her to death with great gusto.

The Aurora was where my second PC death occurred. The Smokewood had some more classic fantasy RPG elements sprinkled in and was quickly returned to Iron Gods with the robots and the Choking Tower. It really challenged my group of roleplaying veterans, and I tried to play up the "Numerian wizard's tower" angle, and play up the idea that something happened here and the PCs need to figure it out while a regenerating ghost assaults them occasionally, demanding that they leave his tower while the PCs find one experiment after another.

I thought that finding the body of the person they were looking for was a good payoff at the end of the adventure, but strong clues as to where she can be found helped the players get pumped for the next book!


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

One of my players handed me a great way to tie in the Choking Tower right at character creation. He's a gunslinger who's looking for the man who killed his master. He discovered early on that the man's name was Furkas Xoud and has recently learned that he can found at a place called the Choking Tower.

I'm going to use the idead (Dudemeister's?) that Xoud is a -nanite- ghost and really make it difficult and satisfying for the gunslinger to get his revenge.


I just finished the campaign and as I said in my retrospective I would have cut out the Choking Tower entirely. I like the Iadenveigh part but I would have had that point directly to The Valley of the Brain Collectors. YMMV.


My party is just now getting into Iadenveigh. I'll do the "find the spy" thing with them, and the Aurora...but I'll have them find the clue to Casandalee there and they can head into the Valley. I'll leave the Choking Tower for them as a side quest, but I won't point them there myself.

Silver Crusade

Solomani wrote:

Hi all,

I recently rewrote The Choking Tower to accommodate my groups tastes a bit more. But it occurs to me that TCT and Valley of the Brain Collector are "filler" kind of adventures - the characters are chasing a mcguffin to point A, don't find it then go to B (VotBC).

** spoiler omitted **

Hi, Solomani! I found your recovery team to be intriguing, and plan on using them for the Iron Gods portion of my current campaign.

However, your use of 5E was a little problematic for me, so I'm taking your team and converting them for use in Pathfinder. So far, I've worked out Aered (9th level psychic warrior w/ the reactor knight archetype from the Arcforge playtest) and Rancis (5th level unchained monk/4th level daevic [whose veils have a more technological feel to them thanks to suggestions from Ssalarn from the same document]). This way I can keep the concepts you established with your team while simultaneously putting my own spin on them (Aered being a psychic warrior, but having a psi-mech suit that she's bonded with while Rancis is a different flavor of cybernetic monk). Both have the Bonded Mind teamwork feat to simulate that bond twins supposedly share. My next conversion will probably be Evet Arrer (I'm thinking spell-less ranger here because I just don't like that rangers can cast spells), but I'm also looking at taking a crack at Beorne (who I'm looking at making an occult psychic with the psychic duelist archetype) as well. I'm saving Akradenn for last as I haven't fully worked out how I want to represent him just yet.

If I can, I'll post them when I'm done.

Silver Crusade

As promised, here's the first of the Archaeological Team... Aered, who because of her build, I've taken to calling my "evil Linna" (+1 internet points to those who get the reference).

A few quick notes: In my campaign, I'm making use of automatic bonus progression, consolidated skill groups, and wound thresholds from Pathfinder Unchained, as well as Sean K. Reynolds' method for handling crits from his Five Moons RPG, so the NPC build reflects that. Under Feats, if it's marked by an asterisk, that feat is a bonus feat.

Aered uses an archetype from the Arcforge playtest called the reactor knight. All relevant abilities from that archetype are included in the spoiler.

Because my campaign setting is based off of Marvel comics, the Technic League is referred to as "The Black Order".

Also, my players will be suffering from "permanent" negative levels during the Iron Gods portion of the campaign that can only be removed by earning XP, with each "new" level attained knocking off a negative level. This way they have access to all the abilities that they enjoyed previously, but reduced significantly. I figured doing it this way was a better option than having them start fresh with "new" characters, but I'm unsure as to how well this will work out as I've never tried anything like this before.

Aered, Akradenn's Commander CR 8:

Female human psychic warrior (reactor knight) 9
LE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +6; Senses Perception +14

AC 30, touch 19, flat-footed 22 (+4 armor, +1 deflection, +6 Dex, +2 dodge, +7 natural)
hp 66 (9d8+18 plus 64 hp from psi-mech suit)(49 hp, Grazed -1; 33 hp, Wounded -2; 16 hp, Critical -3) divide damage taken between Aered and psi-mech suit)
Fort +9, Ref +11, Will +10; Hardness 9

Speed 40 ft.
Melee 2 slams +11 (1d8+5/+3 damage on crit)
Psychic Warrior Powers Known (CL 6th; concentration +11); PP 27
2nd – painful strike, psionic lion's charge
1st – elfsight, inertial armor, offensive prescience
0 – detect psionics

Before Combat Aered casts inertial armor if it is not already active.
During Combat Aered prefers to engage directly in melee, using her speed and slam attacks to strike out at opponents.
Morale As long as Rancis remains standing, Aered fights until ordered to retreat. If her twin is incapacitated, she switches tactics to secure him and retreat with him to safety; If he is slain, Aered flies into a frenzy and focuses all of her attacks on the person who killed her brother, fleeing only when reduced to 16 hp or less. Whether or not she returns to seek revenge on her twin's killer in the future is left up to the DM.
Base Statistics Without her biped psi-mech suit and inertial armor, Aered has the following statistics
Init +3; AC 17, touch 16, flat-footed 12; Ref +8; Hardness none; Melee no slam attack; Str 12, Dex 17; CMB +7; CMD 21; Skill Specialties Acrobatics +12, Athletics +13.
If Aered is not maintaining focus, her speed drops to 30 ft., and her dodge bonus to AC drops by 1.

Str 20, Dex 23, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 20, Cha 8
Base Attack +6; CMB +11; CMD 28
Feats Bonded Mind, Canny Tumble*, Circling Mongoose, Dodge, Mobility, Psychic Dodge*, Speed of Thought*, Spring Attack, Technologist*, Up the Walls*
Skill Groups Perceptive, Physical, Scholarly; Skill Specialties Acrobatics +15, Athletics +17, Lore (engineering) +16, Perception +14, Spellcraft +12
Languages Common
SQ bonded mech, mech training (lore [engineering] +4), mech enhancements (modified aerodynamics, powered servomotors, weapons upgrade [melee]), overdrives (afterburner, divert power to thrusters, energized weaponry, high performance, rocket dodge), psychic proficiency
Gear attuned psi-mech suit

Description: Together with her brother Rancis, Aered leads the rest of the Black Order team and both report to Beornre. Like her twin, she has served with Akradenn since the days before the Black Order when he was a student of diabolism.
A faint metallic sheen covers Aered's skin, with dull matte webs interlacing at the extremities. This bio-circuitry acts as the interface between Aered and her psi-mech suit, a compact exoskeleton crafted from a synthesis of ceramic and metal compounds created by the Black Order. Streamlined, agile, and designed for extreme maneuverability, her psi-mech suit is silver with blue highlights.

Mech Enhancements Aered's psi-mech suit has the following enhancements.
Modified Aerodynamics – Aered can make a DC 15 Acrobatics check to fall safely from any height without taking falling damage, as if using feather fall. When falling safely, she may make an additional DC 15 Acrobatics check to glide, moving 5 feet laterally for every 10 feet it falls.
Powered Servomotors – The psi-mech suit is capable of fantastic feats of agility. It has a +15 bonus to Athletics checks made to jump. In addition, it is always considered to have a running start when jumping.
Weapons Upgrade – Aered's mech can treat the damage dice of melee weapons as though they were one size category larger.

Mech Training Aered gains a +4 bonus to the Lore (engineering) skill specialty.

Overdrives Aered's bond with her psi-mech has left her with a precise knowledge of its limitations... and how to push past them. She may expend her mental focus to gain a temporary pool of 8 boost points. These boost points last for 9 rounds and may be spent to activate any overdrive Aered knows. The total cost of each overdrive is detailed in its description.
Afterburner (Ex): By spending 2 boost points as part of a standard action, Aered violently vents the exhaust from her psi-mech's heat sinks, dealing 9d6 fire damage to all creatures in a 10-foot radius burst (Reflex DC 19 for half).
Divert Power to Thrusters (Ex): By spending 5 boost points as part of a move action, Aered can grant her psi-mech a temporary Fly speed of 30 feet; if the mech already has a Fly speed from another source (such as the Thrusters mech enhancement), that speed is increased by 30 feet. Each round, she can extend the duration of this ability for 1 round by spending a swift action.
Energized Weaponry (Ex): By spending 2 boost points as a swift action, Aered redirects energy from her psi-mech's core to its weaponry. All weapon wielded by her mech deal an additional 2d6 electricity damage and have their critical threat range doubled. This ability does not stack with Improved Critical, keen, or similar weapon properties. This ability lasts for 5 rounds.
High Performance (Ex): By spending 2 boost points as a swift action, Aered applies her Wisdom modifier as a bonus on all attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks made when piloting her psi-mech for the next 3 rounds.
Rocket Dodge (Ex): Aered uses her finely honed instincts to turn a sure hit into a narrow miss. By spending 1 boost point as an immediate action in response to a successful enemy attack against her psi-mech, she may make an Acrobatics checks. If this check meets or exceeds the enemy attack roll, the attack misses.

Psychic Proficiency Aered treats her base attack bonus as equal to her psychic warrior level for the purposes of requirements for certain psychic feats. Base attack bonuses granted from other classes are unaffected and are added normally.

My next build post will be her twin brother Rancis, so stay tuned....

Silver Crusade

Next up... Aered's twin brother and the second field commander of the Black Order Archaeological Team.

Notes... Rancis began his career as an unchained monk, then progressed into veilweaving to become a daevic. His feats actually reflect this change.

As mentioned in a previous post, his veilweaving takes its cues from Ssalarn's suggestions in the Arcforge playtest document for "teching" it up and he even has two of the new veils presented there. Rancis' veilweaving is the result of learning to manipulate the akashic energy of his "ghost", or soul (again, +1 internet points for those who get the reference).

The veils Behemoth Hide and Daevic Aspect are tied to his passion, so they benefit from being infused with essence. They do not have the chakra binds listed because he is not capable of binding them yet. H.U.D., which is not related to his passion, only benefits from being bound to his head slot, though should his essence be moved to it, the benefit for doing so is present. The same is true with Micro-Missile Gauntlet, though that one would have to replace H.U.D. when he reshapes his veils for the day.

All relevant information concerning his unchained monk and daevic abilities are included within the spoiler.

Rancis, Akradenn's Commander CR 8:

Male human daevic 4/ex-unchained monk 5
NE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +6; Senses Perception +10 (+12 with H.U.D.)

AC 23, touch 17, flat-footed 20 (+2 armor, +1 deflection, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +3 insight, +1 natural, +1 monk, +2 Wis)
hp 72 (9 HD; 5d10+4d10+14)(54 hp, -1 Grazed; 36 hp, -2 Wounded; 18 hp, -3 Critical)
Fort +11, Ref +12, Will +7 (+9 vs. enchantment spells); +2 vs. enchantments
Defensive Abilities evasion, uncanny dodge; DR 3/piercing; Immune disease

Speed 40 ft.
Melee +2 temple sword +12/+7 (1d8+3/19-20/+4 damage on crit) or unarmed strike +10/+5 (1d8+1/+4 damage on crit)
Ranged shuriken +11/+6 (1d2+1/+1 damage on crit)
Special Attacks flurry of blows, style strike 1/round (flying kick), stunning fist (6/day, Fort DC 16)

Before Combat When shaping veils for the day, Rancis invests 1 point of essence to his passion and binds the veil H.U.D. to his head.
During Combat Rancis works with his sister to isolate PCs and debilitate them. He uses Acrobatics to move through combat, helping Aered flank. Once a flank is gained, Rancis uses flurry of blows, augmented with a point from his ki pool, to inflict as much damage as possible.
Morale As long as Aered remains standing, Rancis fights until ordered to retreat. If his twin is incapacitated, he switches tactics to secure her and retreat with her to safety; If she is slain, Rancis flies into a frenzy and focuses all of his attacks on the person who killed his sister, fleeing only when reduced to 18 hp or less. Whether or not he returns to vex his twin's killer in the future is left up to the DM.

Str 12, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 15
Base Attack +9; CMB +10; CMD 30
Feats Access Low Chakra Slot (head), Bonded Mind*, Combat Reflexes*, Dodge*, Extra Essence, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike*, Mobility, Shape Veil (micro-missile gauntlet), Stunning Fist*, Two-Weapon Fighting*
Skill Groups Perceptive, Physical, Scholarly; Skill Specialties Acrobatics +10, Athletics +13 (+18 on jump checks), Influence +9, Perception +10 (+12 with H.U.D.), Society +8
Languages Common
SQ chakra bind (hands, feet), daevic veilweaving, essence (4 points), fast movement, ki pool (4 points, magic), ki power (high jump), passion (dominion), veils (behemoth hide, daevic aspect, H.U.D., micro-missile gauntlet)
Gear attuned temple sword, attuned monk's robe

Description: Rancis is a monk with extensive “cybernetic implants”. He doesn't look very human as a result, as metal caps and reinforcements peek out from under his skin in places and threadlike tendrils of circuitry winds across his flesh. In fact, these are but the outward manifestations of his shaped veils. Along with his twin sister Aered, he leads the rest of the Black Order team and reports to Beornre.

Access Low Chakra Slot
You gain the ability to bind veils to a low chakra, increasing their power and versatility.
Prerequisites: Con 13, character level 7th.
Benefit: When this feat is selected, choose one of the following slots: Hands, Head, or Feet. You can now bind a veil to that slot. This does not allow you to bind more than one veil to that slot, even if you've gained the ability to bind there from another source.
In addition, you gain a minor benefit from this new bind, depending on the slot chosen:
Head: +1 insight bonus on Will saves.
Feet: +1 insight bonus on Acrobatics and Stealth checks.
Hands: +1 insight bonus on Athletics checks.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new slot.

Shape Veil
Prerequisite: Veilweaver level 3rd or Con 13, Wis 13, and character level 5th.
Benefit: When this feat is selected, choose a veil from any class's veil list. The veil must match one of the following slots: Hands, Feet, Head, Wrist, Shoulders, Headband, Belt, Neck. A veil that can be shaped in multiple slots is not eligible to be taken unless both slots are included in this list.
You can shape that veil using the normal veilweaving rules. If you do not have levels in a veilweaving class, you have total veils shaped of 1 and use your Wisdom modifier to determine the DCs and effects of your veil abilities. If you gain any levels in a veilweaving class, your primary veilweaving attribute is determined by that class. Once chosen, the veil granted by this feat can never be changed. Your veilweaver level for this veil is equal to your character level.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new veil.

Daevic Veilweaving (Su) As a daevic, Rancis is a being of powerful compulsions; this manifests as a need to impose order and rule on the world around him. It is the presence of these fierce emotions that enable him to form a primal bond with his “ghost,” the spiritual embodiment of this ideal, strengthening its connection to the physical world while girding him in powerful constructs of akasha known as veils. Rancis can shape 3 veils per day (2 from his passion and 1 other). As constructs of pure magic, veils are suppressed while in the area of an antimagic field or similar phenomena.
Rancis has a pool of 4 essence, which can be invested in veils to increase their power, or directly into his “ghost” to strengthen its bond with him. As a swift action, he can reallocate his essence investments into his veils or Passion every round. Rancis must have a good night's rest and must spend one hour communing with his ghost to prepare his veils.

Flurry of Blows Rancis can make a flurry of blows as part of a full-attack action, which allows him to make one additional attack at his highest base attack bonus. When using this ability, Rancis can make these attacks with any combination of his unarmed strikes, temple sword, and shuriken. He takes no penalty for using multiple weapons when making a flurry of blows, but he does not gain any additional attacks beyond what's already granted by the flurry for doing so.

Ki Pool (Su) Rancis has a pool of 4 ki points, supernatural energy he can use to accomplish amazing feats. As long as he has at least 1 point in his ki pool, he can make a ki strike, allowing his unarmed attacks to be treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. By spending 1 point from his ki pool as a swift action, Rancis can make one additional unarmed strike at his highest attack bonus when making a flurry of blows (in addition to the extra attack granted by flurry of blows).

Ki Power (Su) Rancis has gained a new way in which he can spend his ki points to perform extraordinary feats.
High Jump: Rancis adds his monk level as a bonus on all Athletics checks made to jump. In addition, he is always treated as having a running start when attempting an Athletics check to jump. By spending 1 point from his ki pool as a swift action, Rancis gains a +20 bonus on Athletics checks to jump for 1 round.

Style Strike (Ex) Rancis knows one type of style strike. Whenever he makes a flurry of blows, he can designate one of his unarmed strikes as a style strike. This attack is resolved as normal, but it has an additional effect depending on the type of strike chosen.
Flying Kick: Rancis leaps through the air to strike a foe with a kick. Before the attack, he can move 10 ft. This movement is made as part of his flurry of blows attack and does not require an additional action. At the end of this movement, Rancis must make an unarmed attack against an adjacent foe using a kick. This movement may be between attacks, and it provokes an attack of opportunity as normal.

Veils Veils are mostly physical constructs of akasha, or spiritual energy, and as such can be targeted by effects like a sunder attempt; a veil that takes more than 8 points in damage in a single attack is suppressed and does not function for 1d4 rounds. Veils shaped by Rancis have a hardness score of 4 and gain a bonus to saves vs. targeted effects equal to the amount of essence currently invested. Veils can also be targeted by dispel magic, mage's disjunction, or similar spells effects, and are treated as magic items when determining the effects. A veil successfully affected by a mage's disjunction is suppressed for the duration of the spell and any essence invested in a suppressed veil becomes unavailable until the effect ends. Veils are nearly invisible until invested with at least one point of essence; Rancis gains a +5 circumstance bonus to Performance checks to hide the fact that he has an uninvested veil shaped, though detect magic, true seeing, or similar effects automatically reveal their presence. As soon as a point of essence is invested in a veil they flare into tangibility and are easily noticeable. Rancis has access to the following veils:

Behemoth Hide
Descriptors: none; Class: daevic; Slot: body; Saving Throw: none
Rugged akasha with the appearance of thick metal plates encases the wearer making them tougher and sturdier.
When this veil is formed, Rancis gains DR 2/piercing.
Essence: Investing essence into this veil increases the granted DR by 1.

Daevic Aspect
Descriptors: none; Class: daevic; Slot: blood; Saving Throw: none
By activating this potent nanite injection the cyborg's shell creates a nebulous cloud of akashic energy that acts as a direct channel for his “ghost,” composed of pure akasha, to inhabit the mortal realm.
When Rancis shapes this veil, he gains the following bonuses based on his passion: a +1 insight bonus to Will saves vs. enchantment spells, and a +2 insight bonus to AC.
Essence: The granted bonuses increase by +1 for each point of invested in this veil.

H.U.D.
Descriptors: none; Class: daevic, vizier; Slot: head; Saving Throw: none
This cybernetic lens fits securely over the eye, feeding important targeting and location information directly to the wearer.
While viewing the world through the filter of the H.U.D. (or “heads-up display”), Rancis gains a +2 insight bonus to all Perception checks.
Essence: For each point of essence invested in this veil, increase the bonus to Perception checks by +2.
Chakra Bind (Head): By binding this veil to his Head chakra, his senses are sharpened to a preternatural edge, and he is nearly impossible to surprise. While this veil is bound Rancis gains the Uncanny Dodge ability as the rogue class feature.

Micro-Missile Gauntlet
Descriptors: (Force); Class: vizier; Slot: hands; Saving Throw: none
Mechanical fingertips launch forth from your cybernetic hand, peppering your foes with painful detonations.
As a standard action, Rancis can launch a small missile that deals 1d4 points of force damage as a ranged touch attack with a maximum of 60 feet.
Essence: For each point of essence invested in this ability increase the force damage dealt by 1d4.
Chakra Bind (Hands): Binding this veil to his Hands chakra allows Rancis to fire an additional missile for each point of essence invested in this veil. Each missile requires its own attack roll; the missile can be aimed individually, but no more than two missiles may target any one creature.

Coming up next... the animal trainer, Evet Arrer.
Stay tuned...

Silver Crusade

Next is the animal trainer, Evet Arrer.

Notes... Evet is unusual in two very distinct ways: she was built using the spell-less ranger and applying the galvanic saboteur archetype to it, and she's not the typical core Pathfinder elf.
In the setting I'm using, elves are blue-skinned, similar to Nightcrawler and Mystique. I took that one step further, by using the high elf from from LPJ's NeoExodus supplement, Lost Races: Elves. This is why she possesses different abilities than the typical core elf, such as being fey with the elf type rather than humanoid, DR that is bypassed by cold iron, ancient enmity with First Ones, and liminal magic.
Her animal companion is a worg (courtesy of the Monstrous Mount feats), rather than a true tyrg. However, by applying the racer animal companion archetype, I was able to use the description to give it the appearance of being one. Also, I came up with the idea that her animal companion is also the alpha of the other worgs that are part of Evet's breeding program, so should she lose one "Tyrg", there are others on standby to become the new pack alpha. This was after deciding that Evet's worgs are a specially bred stock of mutants.
As a special note, the Monstrous Mount Mastery feat gives the worg companion (and therefore the "alpha") a "fearful howl" ability, though it sadly can only be used once per day.
Finally, Evet's 5E counterpart uses a "crank crossbow", which, to me, based on the description given, is more like Pathfinder's repeating crossbow than the crank crossbow listed on the PFSRD. So she uses a repeater in the build. Thanks to her Crossbow Mastery feat, she doesn't suffer attacks of opportunity for reloading cases of bolts.

Evet Arrer, Akradenn's Animal Tamer CR 8:

Female elf spell-less ranger (galvanic saboteur) 9
N Medium fey (elf)
Init +3; Senses low-light vision; Perception +14

AC 21, touch 14, flat-footed 18 (+6 armor, +1 deflection, +3 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 76 (9d10+18)(57 hp, -1 Grazed; 38 hp, -2 Wounded; 19 hp, -3 Critical)
Fort +9, Ref +11, Will +7
Defensive Abilities evasion; DR 5/cold iron

Speed 40 ft.
Melee +1 short sword +8/+3 (1d6+1/19-20; +3 damage on crit) and +1 short sword +8 (1d6+1/19-20; +3 damage on crit)
Ranged mwk heavy repeating crossbow +13/+8 (1d10/19-20; +5 damage on crit)
Special Attacks ancient enmity (+1 racial bonus on attack rolls against creatures with the First Ones subtype), combat style (crossbow), favored enemy (constructs +4, magical beasts +2), static strike 1/day, stealth attack 2d6
Elf Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th; concentration +11)
1/day – dimension door

During Combat Evet attacks with her repeating crossbow. In melee, she uses her short swords.
Morale Evet will not fight to the death and will escape if she can, even if that means surrendering.

Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 12
Base Attack +9; CMB +9; CMD 23
Feats Crossbow Mastery*, Eagle Eyes*, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (heavy repeating crossbow), Endurance*, Monstrous Mount (worg), Monstrous Mount Mastery (worg), Precise Shot*, Rapid Reload (heavy repeating crossbow), Two-Weapon Fighting*
Skill Groups Perceptive, Scholarly, Thieving; Skill Specialties Finesse +15, Perception +14, Spellcraft +12, Stealth +12, Survival +6 (+8 when tending wounds and ailments, +10 to follow tracks)
Languages Aklo, Common, Dwarven, Elven
SQ fast movement, hunter's bond (worg), keen senses, liminal magic, lucky dodge (constructs +4, magical beasts +2), nature's healing, ranger talent (combat trick [Two-Weapon Fighting], eagle eyed, skirmishing attack), reprogram +10, technological trapsmith, track
Gear attuned darkleaf leather lamellar, attuned short swords, mwk heavy repeating crossbow w/10 cases of normal bolts (50 bolts total)

Description: Evet is the only non-evil member of the archaeological team. She has worked with Akradenn for many years. He pays her well and gives her free reign to come and go as she pleases.

Repeating Heavy Crossbow
Description: The repeating heavy crossbow holds 5 crossbow bolts. As long as it holds bolts, the crossbow can reloaded by pulling the reloading lever (a free action). Loading a new case of 5 bolts is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity.

Crossbow Mastery (Combat)
You can load crossbows with blinding speed and even fire them in melee with little fear of reprisal.
Prerequisite: Dex 15, Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Reload, Rapid Shot.
Benefit: The time required for you to reload any type of crossbow is reduced to a free action, regardless of the type of crossbow used. You can fire a crossbow as many times in a full attack action as you could with a bow. Reloading a crossbow for the type of crossbow you chose when you took Rapid Reload no longer provokes attacks of opportunity.

Eagle Eyes
Your vision is especially keen.
Prerequisite: Wis 13, keen senses trait.
Benefit: You ignore up to -5 in penalties due to distance on visual Perception checks, allowing you to see accurately at much greater distances than most.

Liminal Magic As an elf, Evet is attuned to the liminal spaces in the world and to the paths between them. Once per day she can use dimension door as a spell-like ability, so long as she starts and ends in a liminal space: a crossroads, cave entrance, arch, or similar area, whether constructed or natural. The caster level for this effect is equal to her character level.

Lucky Dodge (Ex) Evet can dodge the precise attacks of even the most technologically advanced foes. She gains a luck bonus to AC against attacks that target her touch AC as long as her opponent's type matches that of her favored enemies (construct and magical beast). This luck bonus is equal to 1/2 her favored enemy bonus against that creature type.

Ranger Talents Evet has learned a number of talents that aid her in combat and help her survive in the wilds.
Combat Trick Evet gained Two-Weapon Fighting as a bonus combat feat.
Eagle Eyed Evet gained Eagle Eyes (see above) as a bonus feat.
Skirmishing Attack (Ex) Whenever Evet moves at least 10 ft. and attacks in the same round, she may also apply stealth attack damage, if applicable, to the target, as though it were flat-footed. If she makes more than one attack during the round, this ability applies only to the first attack. Foes with uncanny dodge are immune to this ability.

Reprogram (Ex) Evet can improve the initial attitude of a mindless construct. This ability functions as wild empathy, except only against mindless constructs. Evet can use this ability against constructs with an Intelligence score, but she takes a –4 penalty on the check.

Static Strike (Ex) Evet has gathered enough parts and scrap from her constructed enemies that she can infuse some of her attacks with a bit of their alien energy. Once per day as a standard action, she can make a static strike as a melee attack at her full base attack bonus. If the attack hits, it deals an additional 1d6 points of electricity damage and Evet can make an additional attack at her full base attack bonus against a foe that is adjacent to the previous foe and still within her reach, as if she had Cleave, except she doesn't take a –2 penalty to her AC and the second attack deals an additional 2d6 points of electricity damage.

Stealth Attack If Evet can catch an opponent when he is unable to defend himself effectively from her attack, she can strike a vital spot for extra damage. Her attack deals extra damage any time her target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when she flanks his target. Should she score a critical hit with a stealth attack, this extra damage is not multiplied. Ranged attacks can count as stealth attacks only if the target is within 30 ft.
Stealth attacks are possible only when Evet is wearing medium, light, or no armor. She may only use this ability against a favored enemy.

Technological Trapsmith (Ex) Evet can rig technological traps using the remains of destroyed constructs with the clockwork or robot subtype.
To successfully rig such a trap, she must spend 1 minute working on the destroyed construct and succeed at a Finesse check (DC = 10 + the construct's HD).
On a failure, the trap doesn't function and the construct's remains are ruined. On a success, Evet creates a mechanical trap with the following statistics.

Rigged Construct Trap
Type mechanical; Notice Perception DC 20; Disable Finesse DC 20
Trigger location (all spaces occupied by the construct's remains); Reset none; Effect blast of electricity (1d6 electricity damage/2 HD of construct); Reflex negates (DC 16); multiple targets (all targets within 5 ft. of construct's remains)

Other types of destroyed constructs can serve as suitable materials for a rigged construct trap (at the DM's discretion).
Constructs destroyed by disintegrate or similar effects that leave no intact remains cannot be used to create a rigged construct trap.

Tyrg, Evet's Animal Companion

The creature has a white fur coat with grey, black, and tan spots. Its sleek stance is reminiscent of a great hunting cat’s, but its powerful, many fanged jaws are definitely canine in nature.

Worg (racer)
NE Medium magical beast
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +15

AC 24, touch 14, flat-footed 20 (+4 Dex, +10 natural)
hp 64 (8d8+24)(48 hp, -1 Grazed; 32 hp, -2 Wounded; 16 hp, -3 Critical)
Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +2
Defensive Abilities evasion

Speed 60 ft.
Melee bite +11/+6 (2d6+7 plus trip)
Special Attacks fearful howl 1/day (30 ft. cone, Will DC 14; panicked 8 rounds or shaken for 1 round)

Str 22, Dex 18, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 10
Base Attack +6; CMB +12; CMD 26 (30 vs. trip)
Feats Improved Natural Attack (bite), Run, Skill Focus (Perception), Toughness
Skill Groups Natural, Perceptive; Skill Specialties Acrobatics +8, Athletics +9, Perception +15, Stealth +8, Survival +13
Languages Common, Goblin
SQ fast movement, sprint

Fast Movement (Ex) Tyrg's speed is 10 feet greater than typical worgs when wearing no armor and carrying a light load.

Fearful Howl (Sp) Once per day as a standard action, Tyrg can make a fearful howl.

Sprint (Ex) Once per hour, Tyrg can move at 10 times its normal speed when it makes a charge or uses the run action.

That's it for the Archaeological Team builds for today. Next up will be Beornre, my Occult psychic, followed by Akradenn. Though I'm not certain about Beornre's build (as I'm still learning the ins and outs of the psychic), I'm totally digging what I've done with Akradenn. Hopefully you will too.

Until next time....

Silver Crusade

Alright, I'm posting the last two members of my version of Solomani's Archaeological Team.

First up is Beornre.

Notes... I wanted to make Beornre a technomancer, but as the spell advancement only applies to arcane casting, that was right out. However, his "nano-mage" is represented by my making his psychic discipline mindtech and by giving him a couple of psi-tech discoveries in place of some phrenic amplifications.
I went psychic with the psychic duelist archetype mainly because I liked the idea behind Weaponized Meme and saw Thought Made Real as the closest analogue to that 5E ability. Combined with his psychic discipline, I began to view his abilities as being connected to a digital subspace realm through the nanites inhabiting his body and that, as a psychic, he is able to draw others into this world or even bring aspects of the digital realm to the real world.
I gave Beornre silver cybernetic eyes so as to take advantage of his Attune Implants ability.
Finally, as noted previously, Beornre is my first use of the Occult psychic, so I'm a little unsure on how I've done putting him together.

Spoiler:

Beornre, Akradenn's "Number One" CR 8
Male half-elf psychic (psychic duelist) 9
NE humanoid (human, elf)
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +8 (+10 visual)

AC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 16 (+4 armor, +1 deflection, +2 Dex, +1 natural); +4 bonus to normal and touch AC with thought-form manifestation
hp 66 (9d6+18)(49 hp, -1 Grazed; 33 hp, -2 Wounded; 16 hp, -3 Critical)
Fort +6 (+12 vs. radiation), Ref +7, Will +8; +2 vs. enchantment and illusion, +4 resistance bonus against blindness or visual effects
Defensive Abilities evasion (with thought-form manifestation); Immune sleep

Speed 30 ft.
Melee mithral dagger +5 (1d4/19-20/+2 damage on crit)
Special Attacks phrenic amplifications (overpowering mind, will of the dead), manifestion amplification (reciprocal defense), phrenic pool (8 points)
Psychic Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th; concentration +13)
1/day – detect thoughts (Will DC 16)
Psychic Spells Known (CL 9th; concentration +13)
4th (4/day) – create mindscape, dream dalliance (Will DC 18), malfunction, mental barrier III
3rd (6/day) – dispel magic, irradiate (Fort DC 17), mind thrust III, mindscape door
2nd (7/day) – detect mindscape, id insinuation I, instigate psychic duel (Will DC 17), make whole, status
1st (7/day) – comprehend languages, endure elements, mage armor, magic missile, remove fear, technomancy
0 (at will) – dancing lights, detect magic, detect psychic significance, ghost sound, mage hand, message, read magic, telekinetic projectile
Psychic Discipline mindtech

Before Combat At the beginning of the day, Beornre casts mage armor, reapplying it as needed. He also casts status, targeting Aered, Evet, and Rancis. Beornre discusses what he will do with his companions before taking action.
During Combat When not casting spells to help his allies as best he can, Beornre typically seeks out the strongest enemy melee combatant, then sacrifices a 4th-level spell for his thought made real ability to unleash a thought-form creature with which he attacks that opponent. The thought-form creature manifested is always identical in appearance to the opponent being attacked.
Morale If reduced to fewer than 20 hit points, Beornre orders a retreat before casting mindscape door to transport himself and any surviving members of the team to the relative safety of the mindscape. He typically designates Evet, but will use any other member of the team should she not be able to comply. Therein, he drinks his healing potions before emerging with the rest of the team to take up the battle again. If reduced to 20 hp or less a second time, he attempts to cast teleport from his scroll to flee to Silver Mount.
Base Statistics Without mage armor, Beornre's stats are as follows
AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+2 armor, +1 deflection, +2 Dex, +1 natural)

Str 10, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 19, Wis 14, Cha 10
Base Attack +4; CMB +4; CMD 16
Feats Discerning Eye, Expanded Phrenic Pool, Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes, Skill Focus (Perception)*
Skill Groups Scholarly, Social; Skill Specialties Influence +12, Nature +8, Perception +8 (+10 visual), Religion +16, Society +16, Spellcraft +16
Languages Common, Elven,
SQ attune implants, detect thoughts, psi-tech discovery (force field, radiation resistance), psychic duel acumen, synergized energy, thought made real
Combat Gear potion of cure moderate wounds (3), scroll of locate object (2) scroll of teleport, wand of identify (40 charges), ; Other Gearattuned explorer's outfit, attuned mithral dagger, cybernetic eyes

Description: Silver-eyed Beornre is Akradenn's second in command. His body is infused with nanites, and all of his abilities are linked to his manipulation of them.

Thought-Form Creature
A thought-form creature is a mentally constructed thrall that takes any form Beornre desires. Creating a thought-form creature takes 1 full round (as if the creator were casting a spell with a 1-round casting time) and lasts as long as he concentrates on the creature's existence as a full-round action; Beornre can manifest only one thought-form creature at a time. A thought-form creature must make its attacks against another thought-form creature if one is manifested; if not, it can attack its creator's opponent. The creature makes its attacks when Beornre uses a full-round action to concentrate on the thought-form creature. When a thought-from creature is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points, it disappears and its creator takes an amount of damage equal to the thought-form creature's psychic backlash. A thought-form creature can be dismissed as a free action.
AC 18; touch AC 13; hp 33; Attack Bonus +14; Damage 1d10+7; Saves Fort +8, Ref +9, Will +10; Thought-Form Augmentations increase damage (2 MP), protective ability (1 MP); Psychic Backlash 1d10+4 halved.

Discerning Eye (Half-Elf)
You are not easily fooled by illusions and forgeries.
Prerequisite: Elf or half-elf, keen senses racial trait.
Benefit: You receive a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against illusion spells and effects and a +2 bonus on Society checks to detect forgeries. You can use the Society skill to detect forgeries untrained.

Attune Implants (Su) Beornre can spend a full-round action once per day to harness and channel the power of his cybernetic eyes into his psychic spellcasting. This increases the saving throw DCs of his psychic spells by 1, and the increase lasts 9 minutes.

Manifestation Amplifications A manifestation amplification functions for a manifestation as a phrenic amplification does for a spell, with the same restrictions. The manifestation being amplified is called the linked manifestation. Phrenic pool points spent toward manifestation amplifications are separate from points sacrificed to generate manifestation points.
For example, since he is capable of casting 4th-level spells (with a maximum of 4 MP per manifestation), Beornre could turn 4 points from his phrenic pool into MP and spend 2 points on a manifestation amplification, expending a total of 6 points from his phrenic pool.
Faithful Creature (Ex) When Beornre manifests a thought-form creature, he can spend 1 point from his phrenic pool to give that creature the ability to persist even if it doesn't attack. He can concentrate to maintain the creature as a swift action instead of as a full-round action, but the creature can attack only if Beornre concentrates as a full-round action. In addition, the psychic backlash damage from that thought-form creature is halved.

Phrenic Amplifications Beornre has developed particular techniques to empower his spellcasting, called phrenic amplifications. He can activate a phrenic amplification only while casting a spell using psychic magic, and the amplification modifies either the spell's effects or the process of casting it. The spell being cast is called the linked spell. The psychic can activate only one amplification each time he casts a spell, and doing so is part of the action used to cast the spell. He can use any amplification he knows with any psychic spell, unless the amplification's description states that it can be linked only to certain types of spells.
Overpowering Mind (Ex) Beornre can spend 2 points from his phrenic pool to increase the Will save DC of the linked spell by 1. He can also choose to instead spend 4 points to increase the DC by 2. This amplification can be linked only to spells that have the mind-affecting descriptor and require a Will saving throw.
Will of the Dead (Su) Even undead creatures can be affected by Beornre's mind-affecting spells. He can spend 2 points from his phrenic pool to overcome an undead creature's immunity to mind-affecting effects for the purposes of the linked spell. This ability functions even on mindless undead, but has no effect on creatures that aren't undead. This amplification can be linked only to spells that have the mind-affecting descriptor.

Psi-Tech Discovery The exact origin of psi-tech is lost to time, but many believe that the first practitioners of this strange art gained their abilities through exposure to the cybernetics, nanites, and biological technology salvaged from ancient ruins. Others posit that the psychics who discovered it were working at the behest of sinister entities. Regardless, psi-tech traditions have endured and are available to psychics like Beornre who have connections to high technology.
Force Field (Su) As a swift action, Beornre can spend 1 point from his phrenic pool to activate a force field of raw psychic energy that provides him with 10 temporary hit points. If he spends 2 points from his phrenic pool, the force field provides 19 temporary hit points. The force field lasts for 9 minutes. If Beornre spends 3 points from his phrenic pool, the force field lasts for twice as long, and it provides fast healing 2. Once the temporary hit points are depleted, the force field disappears and he cannot reinstate it for 24 hours.
Radiation Resistance Beornre applies his Intelligence modifier as a bonus on all Fortitude saves versus the effects of radiation.

Psychic Duel Acumen (Ex) Beornre adds instigate psychic duel* to his list of spells known, and the save DC of any instigate psychic duel spell he casts increases by 1.
In addition, he can also expend any unused psychic spell slot of 3rd level or higher to cast instigate psychic duel. If he does so, Beornre uses the level of the spell slot expended to determine the Will save DC. In addition, when he sacrifices points from his phrenic pool to generate manifestation points for an offensive manifestation, he uses d8s for damage dice instead of d4s.

Synergized Energy (Su) Whenever Beornre uses a battery, a generator, or the ability described in the psychic battery psi-tech discovery to restore charges to any piece of technological equipment, he regains 1 point in his phrenic pool. The maximum number of points Beornre can regain in his phrenic pool in this way per day is equal to his Wisdom modifier.

Thought Made Real (Su) Beornre can bring offensive manifestations directly into his foes' minds, attacking with them without entering a psychic duel.
When doing so, he can generate manifestation points only by sacrificing a spell, not through any other methods. Using an offensive manifestation in this way functions as casting a spell with a full-round-action casting time. Conditions imposed by these offensive manifestations last for their full duration, even though the target isn't in a psychic duel.
Beornre can use manifestation amplifications on offensive manifestations created this way. Such offensive manifestations can't affect thought-form creatures. This is a mind-affecting illusion (phantasm) effect. A thoughtform creature manifested in this way is visible only to its target.

The final member and overall leader of the team, Akradenn, is up next.
Stay tuned...

Silver Crusade

This is it, the final member of the Archaeological team... Captain Akradenn.

Notes... I boosted Akradenn's level by 2.
I got the impression that the 5E build for Akradenn was a wizard. But that made consistent use of his Devil Arms a little problematic for me. So I went with making him an esoteric magus instead. This also allowed me to add a few levels of technomancer to give him more of that "nano-mage" feel, something I couldn't do with Beornre.
I went with the idea that by being a magus, Akradenn's role within the Black Order/Technic League of focusing on technological melee weapons and armor came about as a direct result of that style of magic
To simulate his study of diabolism, I used one of his magus arcana to give him a familiar, then used Improved Familiar to give him an imp.
As cool as the 5E Devil Arms are, the idea of them being "living creatures" was a bit much for me. Instead, they are more akin to being a cybertech item made through the combination of science and magic. I focused more on what they bring to Akradenn's estoric magus style of fighting, and less on the other more arcane abilities from the 5E's legendary actions. This does mean that like any other cybertech, they can be harvested from Akradenn's corpse. If this is done by the PCs, however, I have a special surprise in store for the one that uses them. And heaven forbid they sell them to make some kind of profit....

Spoiler:

Akradenn, Black Order Captain and Team Leader CR 10
Male human magus (esoteric) 8/technomancer 3
LE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +1; Senses Perception +10

AC 26, touch 15, flat-footed 23 (+6 armor, +2 deflection, +1 Dex, +2 dodge, +1 natural, +4 shield)
hp 88 (11 HD; 8d8+3d6+33)(47 hp, -1 Grazed; 31 hp, -2 Wounded; 15 hp, -3 Critical)
Fort +9, Ref +4, Will +8

Speed 60 ft.
Melee Devil Arms +14/+14/+9 (1d10+5 plus 1d6 electricity/+5 damage and 1d10 electricity on crit)
Ranged stun gun +8 touch (1d8 nonlethal/+4 damage on crit)
Special Attacks arcane pool (+2, 11 points), ki arcana, magus arcana (arcane accuracy, familiar), unarmed spellstrike
Magus Spells Prepared (CL 10th; concentration +17)
4th – black tentacles, stoneskin
3rd – arcane sight, dispel magic, haste, vampiric touch
2nd – bladed dash, elemental touch (DC 17), instant weapon, invisibility, scorching ray
1st – burning hands (Ref DC 16), magic missile, ray of enfeeblement, shield, shocking grasp, technomancy, true strike
0 (at will) – acid splash, arcane mark, detect magic, light, read magic

Before Combat Akradenn prefers to learn about potential enemies before fighting them, using his familiar Palden to study them from afar.
During Combat Akradenn relies heavily on his Devil Arms and unarmed spellstrike in combat. He casts shield and haste, then expends 1 point from his arcane pool to grant shocking burst to his Devil Arms before battle. If he is having difficulty hitting a target, Akradenn will use arcane accuracy as part of his swift action to make up the shortfall.
Morale Akradenn is practical, reasoning that he is of little use to the Black Order if he's dead. He falls back if clearly outmatched or reduced below 15 hit points.
Base Statistics Without haste, shield, and shocking burst, Akradenn's statistics are
AC 21, touch 14, flat-footed 19; Speed 30 ft.; Melee Devil Arms +13/+8 (1d10+5/+5 damage on crit)

Str 16, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 21, Wis 8, Cha 10
Base Attack +7; CMB +10; CMD 24
Feats Extra Arcane Pool, Hamatulatsu, Improved Familiar (imp), Improved Unarmed Strike*, Skill Focus (Lore [engineering]), Technologist*, Toughness, Weapon Focus (unarmed strike)
Skill Groups Perceptive, Scholarly, Thieving; Skill Specialties Acrobatics +6, Athletics +11, Finesse +12 (+15 to disarm technological traps or devices), Lore (engineering) +11 (+14 regarding technology), Lore (mechanical) +11, Perception +10, Religion +16, Spellcraft +19
Languages Celestial, Common, Draconic, Elven, Infernal, +1 additional
SQ AC bonus, arcane battery, efficient construction, recondition (stun gun), study technology, tattooed spell, technic spell mastery (technomancy), technical expertise
Gear attuned darkleaf leather lamellar, attuned Devil Arms, Black Order badge worth 50 gp, black chipfinder, spell component pouch, spellbook (contains all prepared spells plus all 0-level spells; 1st – comprehend languages, disguise self, mount, protection from evil; 2nd – blood transcription; 3rd – hold person), timeworn stun gun

Description: Akradenn has a quick temper, especially with those he deems to be “technologically inferior”. As Furkas Xoud's former second-in-command, he always found his master's death a bit odd. After many years of sleuth work, he not only figured out that his old master wasn't dead, but also discovered the Choking Tower. To his surprise Furkas was dead when he finally breached the defenses of the tower via the dungeon. He doesn't know why and Furkas' ghost taunts him with the tower's secrets, but neither helps or hinders him.
In life, Furkas liked Akradenn and considered him an esteemed colleague, mostly due to Akradenn being the most competent apprentice he ever had. The ghostly Furkas remembers and does not physically attack the Black Order group. Though he is happy to play ghostly tricks on them. Sometimes they do turn out to be lethal.
Akradenn is an unusual Black Order Captain in that he still enjoys field work. He leads this team directly especially due to the relationship he had with Furkas. Akradenn also enhanced his arms with a biological weapon. The arms and hands look organic, though finely laid gold filigree lines these bio-engineered limbs.

Chipfinder (Black)
Slot none; Weight 4 lbs.; Capacity 10 charges; Usage 1 charge/hour
A chipfinder is a handheld device fitted with a circular screen. When a chipfinder is activated, all active tracker chips within a 300 feet radius appear as glowing dots on the screen, indicating the direction and approximate distance to each installed tracker chip, as well identification number for each chip. The screen can filter out unwanted data to make it easier to track a specific chip. The range is a signal, and can be enhanced by a signal booster or blocked by a solid enough barrier.

Hamatulatsu (Combat)
You have mastered a deadly fighting form inspired by the hideous attacks of the barbed devil.
Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, Weapon Focus (unarmed strike).
Benefit: Your unarmed attacks can deal either bludgeoning or piercing damage. You decide which type of damage you deal whenever you attack a foe, but you may only choose one type at a time. If you critically hit a foe with your unarmed strike while doing piercing damage, the additional pain caused by the strike causes the foe to become sickened for 1 round (or staggered for 1 round if the target is already sickened). Multiple critical hits in a round against a single foe do not increase the duration of the sickened or staggered condition.

Arcane Battery (Su) As a swift action, Akradenn can expend a prepared spell to power a technological device he touches. Each spell level expended in this way grants the device 1 charge. Any charges unused at the end of the round are lost, and any charges used by the device that round that aren't provided by him must come from the device's own power reserves. He can use this ability to power timeworn technology. He can't power devices that don't use charges.

Arcane Pool (Su) Arkadenn can spend 1 point from his arcane pool as a swift action to enhance any weapon he is holding or his unarmed strikes as if they were manufactured weapons for 1 minute. He can grant a +2 enhancement bonus, and can use this bonus to add any of the following weapon special abilities to his weapons or unarmed strikes: defending, flaming, flaming burst, frost, icy burst, impact, shock, shocking burst, speed, or thundering.

Devil Arms Akradenn's bioengineered arms are the result of Black Order science combined with infernal magic. His unarmed strikes are treated as cold iron, lawful, magic, and silver weapons for purpose of overcoming damage reduction. If he hits an opponent of Medium size or smaller with an unarmed strike, Akradenn may attempt to bull rush his opponent as a free action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. If both Devil Arms hit the same opponent, the target must succeed at a DC 20 Fortitude save or become paralyzed from the force of the blow for 1d4 rounds. A successful save negates the paralyzed effect. As an immediate action, Akradenn can use the Devil Arms to defend himself by swatting blows harmlessly away. This grants him a +4 insight bonus to AC until the beginning of his next turn. Using this ability causes golden pentagrams and other fiendish symbols to appear on the Devil Arms.

Ki Arcana (Su) Akradenn's arcane pool is also considered a ki pool for the purposes of meeting feat and ability requirements. Points from his arcane pool can be used for abilities that normally require ki.

Recondition (Su) Through constant maintenance, Akradenn can keep a single piece of still-functioning timeworn technology in good working order. Reconditioning a timeworn technological item takes 8 hours, after which the item no longer has a chance of glitching when used by Akradenn and can be recharged normally by him but no one else. Keeping the item working requires 1 hour of maintenance each day (this can overlap with the time needed to prepare spells), or the item reverts to a normal piece of timeworn technology and must be reconditioned again.

Study Technology (Ex) Akradenn can study a robot, technological object, or technological trap within 30 feet as a move action and attempt a Lore (engineering) check to identify it. If he succeeds, he gains a +1 competence bonus equal on attack rolls, combat maneuver checks, saving throws, and skill checks involving the studied creature, object, or trap, as well as a dodge bonus of the same amount against attacks from the subject of his study. This bonus lasts 5 rounds. If he studies a new subject, he loses his bonus against the previous subject.

Tattooed Spell (Sp) Akradenn can permanently tattoo one spell from his magus spellbook onto his body; the tattooed spell must be of 2nd level or lower. The spell that is tattooed must not have an expensive material component or a focus. Akradenn can prepare any tattooed spell without needing his spellbook. Additionally, he can cast each of his tattooed spells as a spell-like ability once per day. When he uses this spell-like ability, the tattoo associated with the spell-like ability glows as light for a number of rounds equal to the spell's level.

Unarmed Spellstrike (Su) Whenever Akradenn casts a spell with a range of “touch” from the magus spell list, he can deliver the spell through his unarmed strike as part of a melee attack. Instead of the free melee touch attack normally allowed to deliver the spell, he can make one free melee attack with his unarmed strike (at his highest base attack bonus) as part of casting this spell. If successful, this melee attack deals its normal damage as well as the effects of the spell. If Akradenn makes this attack in concert with spell combat, this melee attack takes all the penalties accrued by spell combat melee attacks. This attack uses the unarmed strike’s critical range (20 and modified by the keen weapon property or similar effects), but the spell effect is treated as having a x2 modifier (deals average damage per die on a successful critical hit), while the unarmed strike damage uses its own critical modifier.

Palden, Akradenn's familiar

Female imp
LE Tiny outsider (devil, evil, extraplanar, lawful)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., detect good, detect magic, see in darkness; Perception +7

AC 17, touch 16, flat-footed 13 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +5 natural, +2 size)
hp 44 (11 HD); fast healing 2
Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +7
Defensive Abilities improved evasion; DR 5/good or silver; Immune fire, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10

Speed 20 ft., fly 50 ft. (perfect)
Melee sting +12 (1d4 plus poison)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th)
Constant – detect good, detect magic
At will – invisibility (self only)
1/day – augury, suggestion (DC 15)
1/week – commune (6 questions, CL 12th)

During Combat Palden remains invisible and perched atop Akradenn's shoulder. She casts suggestion on the first PC to deal damage to Akradenn, suggesting that PC drop to their knees to beg for forgiveness for the attack. She attempts to sting any foe that grapples Akradenn, but otherwise avoids combat, save for when she's ordered to deliver touch spells – something she prefers to do while invisible.
Morale If Akradenn is slain, Palden flees and hides, hoping to avoid the PCs for the rest of her life.

Str 10, Dex 17, Con 10, Int 17, Wis 12, Cha 14
Base Atk +3; CMB +1; CMD 15
Feats Dodge, Weapon Finesse
Skill Groups Perceptive, Physical, Scholarly; Skill Specialties Acrobatics +9 (+21 to execute flying maneuvers), Spellcraft +9
Languages Common, Infernal
SQ change shape (boar, giant spider, rat, or raven, beast shape I), deliver touch spells, empathic link, share spells

Poison (Ex) sting – injury; save Fort DC 13; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Dex; cure 1 save.


Mindscape door doesn't do what you think. It moves minds, not bodies, to or from a mindscape. It is not a means of physical escape.

This is in regard to your psychic tactics above.

Silver Crusade

Well.. like I said, I'm not all that versed in the nuances of the psychic. I should have researched the nature of mindscapes better than I did.

Appreciate the input. Although I can't do it here on these forums, I will change his tactics to take this into account and probably change post a better one in the near future.


I am so glade I stumbled on this thread. Blayne, thanks for the builds. I am in the middle of statting Akradenn as a magus and now you've saved me a bunch of work! :D

Silver Crusade

Thanks to Slithery D for pointing out the error in Beornre's tactics block, because it made me go back over the entire build to see if there were any other mistakes that I missed.

Turns out there were, so I decided to repost Beornre's build again, minus those errors obviously.

Notes... One of the biggest mistakes that I made (outside of mindscape door) was the fact that Beorne should not have had any phrenic amplifications. At his level, he could have only had three. Yet I used two of them to get psi-tech discoveries, while the third went to the faithful creature manifestation amplification. I think my original plan was to use a feat to gain one of the psi-tech discoveries, which would have given back one phrenic amplification (most likely Will of the Dead). But this time around, I decided not to go that route.
Speaking of feats, I decided to drop Discerning Eye to give him Psychic Defender instead, and replaced the missing feat with Toughness. This was supposed to boost his hit points, but that was when I discovered I had calculated those wrong as well.
Minor miscalculations in his saving throws were discovered.
The Melee portion of his Offense block didn't reflect the +2 weapon enhancement of his attuned mithral dagger.
Finally, I moved abilities around to better reflect their purpose (psychic duel acumen and thought made real were moved to Special Attacks, while his discipline went down to Special Qualities). This actually cleaned up the build somewhat, giving it a professional look.

Beornre, Akradenn's “Number One” CR 8:

Male half-elf psychic (psychic duelist) 9
NE humanoid (human, elf)
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +8 (+10 visual)

AC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 16 (+4 armor, +1 deflection, +2 Dex, +1 natural); +4 bonus to normal and touch AC with thought-form manifestation
hp 65 (9d6+27)(48 hp, -1 Grazed; 32 hp, -2 Wounded; 16 hp, -3 Critical)
Fort +8 (+12 vs. radiation), Ref +7 (+9 with thought-form manifestation), Will +8; +4 resistance bonus against blindness or visual effects
Defensive Abilities evasion (with thought-form manifestation); Immune sleep

Speed 30 ft.
Melee +2 mithral dagger +6 (1d4+2/19-20/+2 damage on crit)
Special Attacks manifestion amplification (faithful creature), phrenic pool (8 points), psychic duel acumen, thought made real
Psychic Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th; concentration +13)
1/day – detect thoughts (Will DC 16)
Psychic Spells Known (CL 9th; concentration +13)
4th (4/day) – create mindscape, dream dalliance (Will DC 18), malfunction, mental barrier III
3rd (6/day) – dispel magic, irradiate (Fort DC 17), mind thrust III, mindscape door
2nd (7/day) – detect mindscape, id insinuation I, instigate psychic duel (Will DC 17), make whole, status
1st (7/day) – comprehend languages, endure elements, mage armor, magic missile, remove fear, technomancy
0 (at will) – dancing lights, detect magic, detect psychic significance, ghost sound, mage hand, message, read magic, telekinetic projectile

Before Combat At the beginning of the day, Beornre casts mage armor, reapplying it as needed. He also casts status, targeting Aered, Evet, and Rancis. Beornre discusses what he will do with his companions before taking action.
During Combat When not casting spells to help his allies as best he can, Beornre typically seeks out the strongest enemy melee combatant, then sacrifices a 4th-level spell for his thought made real ability to unleash a thought-form creature before attacking that opponent. The thought-form creature manifested is always identical in appearance to the opponent being attacked.
Morale If reduced to fewer than 20 hit points, Beornre orders a retreat to any surviving members of the team. Once at a safe location, he drinks his healing potions before emerging with the remaining members of the team to take up the battle again. If reduced to 20 hp or less a second time, he attempts to cast teleport from his scroll to flee to Silver Mount.
Base Statistics Without mage armor, Beornre's stats are as follows
AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+2 armor, +1 deflection, +2 Dex, +1 natural)

Str 10, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 19, Wis 14, Cha 10
Base Attack +4; CMB +4; CMD 16
Feats Expanded Phrenic Pool, Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes, Psychic Defender, Skill Focus (Perception)*, Toughness
Skill Groups Scholarly, Social; Skill Specialties Influence +12, Nature +8, Perception +8 (+10 visual), Religion +16, Society +16, Spellcraft +16
Languages Common, Elven,
SQ attune implants, detect thoughts, psi-tech discovery (force field, radiation resistance), psychic discipline (mindtech), synergized energy
Combat Gear potions of cure moderate wounds (3), scroll of locate object (2), scroll of teleport, wand of identify (40 charges); Other Gear attuned explorer's outfit, attuned mithral dagger, cybernetic eyes

Description: Silver-eyed Beornre is Akradenn's second in command. His body is infused with nanites, and all of his abilities are linked to his manipulation of them.

Thought-Form Creature
A thought-form creature is a mentally constructed thrall that takes any form Beornre desires. Creating a thought-form creature takes 1 full round (as if the creator were casting a spell with a 1-round casting time) and lasts as long as he concentrates on the creature's existence as a full-round action (or as a swift action when using the faithful creature manifestation amplification); Beornre can manifest only one thought-form creature at a time. A thought-form creature must make its attacks against another thought-form creature if one is manifested; if not, it can attack its creator's opponent. The creature makes its attacks when Beornre uses a full-round action to concentrate on the thought-form creature. When a thought-from creature is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points, it disappears and its creator takes an amount of damage equal to the thought-form creature's psychic backlash. A thought-form creature can be dismissed as a free action.
AC 22; touch AC 17; hp 32; Attack Bonus +13; Damage 1d10+6; Saves Fort +6, Ref +11, Will +8; Thought-Form Augmentations increase damage (2 MP), protective ability (1 MP); Psychic Backlash 1d10+4 halved.

Attune Implants (Su) Beornre can spend a full-round action once per day to harness and channel the power of his cybernetic eyes into his psychic spellcasting. This increases the saving throw DCs of his psychic spells by 1, and the increase lasts 9 minutes.

Manifestation Amplifications A manifestation amplification functions for a manifestation as a phrenic amplification does for a spell, with the same restrictions. The manifestation being amplified is called the linked manifestation. Phrenic pool points spent toward manifestation amplifications are separate from points sacrificed to generate manifestation points.
For example, since he is capable of casting 4th-level spells (with a maximum of 4 MP per manifestation), Beornre could turn 4 points from his phrenic pool into MP and spend 2 points on a manifestation amplification, expending a total of 6 points from his phrenic pool.
Faithful Creature (Ex) When Beornre manifests a thought-form creature, he can spend 1 point from his phrenic pool to give that creature the ability to persist even if it doesn't attack. He can concentrate to maintain the creature as a swift action instead of as a full-round action, but the creature can attack only if Beornre concentrates as a full-round action. In addition, the psychic backlash damage from that thought-form creature is halved.

Psi-Tech Discovery The exact origin of psi-tech is lost to time, but many believe that the first practitioners of this strange art gained their abilities through exposure to the cybernetics, nanites, and biological technology salvaged from ancient ruins. Others posit that the psychics who discovered it were working at the behest of sinister entities. Regardless, psi-tech traditions have endured and are available to psychics like Beornre who have connections to high technology.
Force Field (Su) As a swift action, Beornre can spend 1 point from his phrenic pool to activate a force field of raw psychic energy that provides him with 10 temporary hit points. If he spends 2 points from his phrenic pool, the force field provides 19 temporary hit points. The force field lasts for 9 minutes. If Beornre spends 3 points from his phrenic pool, the force field lasts for twice as long, and it provides fast healing 2. Once the temporary hit points are depleted, the force field disappears and he cannot reinstate it for 24 hours.
Radiation Resistance Beornre applies his Intelligence modifier as a bonus on all Fortitude saves versus the effects of radiation.

Psychic Duel Acumen (Ex) Beornre adds instigate psychic duel* to his list of spells known, and the save DC of any instigate psychic duel spell he casts increases by 1.
In addition, he can also expend any unused psychic spell slot of 3rd level or higher to cast instigate psychic duel. If he does so, Beornre uses the level of the spell slot expended to determine the Will save DC. In addition, when he sacrifices points from his phrenic pool to generate manifestation points for an offensive manifestation, he uses d8s for damage dice instead of d4s.

Synergized Energy (Su) Whenever Beornre uses a battery, a generator, or the ability described in the psychic battery psi-tech discovery to restore charges to any piece of technological equipment, he regains 1 point in his phrenic pool. The maximum number of points Beornre can regain in his phrenic pool in this way per day is equal to his Wisdom modifier.

Thought Made Real (Su) Beornre can bring offensive manifestations directly into his foes' minds, attacking with them without entering a psychic duel.
When doing so, he can generate manifestation points only by sacrificing a spell, not through any other methods. Using an offensive manifestation in this way functions as casting a spell with a full-round-action casting time. Conditions imposed by these offensive manifestations last for their full duration, even though the target isn't in a psychic duel.
Beornre can use manifestation amplifications on offensive manifestations created this way. Such offensive manifestations can't affect thought-form creatures. This is a mind-affecting illusion (phantasm) effect. A thoughtform creature manifested in this way is visible only to its target.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:
I plan on having Xoud be at war with a Mindflayer who has been replacing the citizens of the town with Android clones.

I'd love to see a writeup of this, Dudemeister?


I'm changing up the entirety of the Choking Tower and effectively removing it, myself.

Instead, the adventure will be set entirely in Iadinveigh and will deal with a string of paranormal activity that is plaguing the town and freaking out the citizens. The players, having arrived there from their clues from Book 2, will end up assisting the town in uncovering the cause of the activity, which also happens to help lead them to the Valley of the Brain Collectors and gain the trust of the village.

In the off chance my players are looking at my posts:

The string of paranormal activity is caused by an alien ship crewed by Grays that have come to experiment on humans, having been drawn to this paricular region due to the presence of Androffan tech. The ship plaguing Iadenveigh is one of many around Numeria, though the players only end up interacting this one.

The players end up investigating crop circles, mutilated cattle, and abducted persons. They are assisted by another investigator who recently arrived (who is also a Technic League Spy) who is investigating the activity for her own selfish reasons. With her aid, they are able to locate the cause of the activity and board the ship; a dungeon crawl amid the (now floating) Gray spaceship ensues, culminating in them deactivating the ship by killing its psychic pilot, who is the only one who can pilot it (due to a series of unsalvagable, psychically-attuned cybernetic implants).

I'm still working on how EXACTLY it ties in with book 4, but I'm aiming to have it be something like information found on the ship leads them to believe that they weren't the first to discover Casanadlee's body - they they are forced to follow clues leading to book 4. The Grays are wary of the Nethuggalu and aren't allies of them.

On one hand, that still feels fairly 'fillerish' just like the Choking Tower, so I'm trying to figure out how to better fit it in better. Worst-case scenario is that the ship, after losing its pilot, auto-pilots to the Valley and crashes there; that way I'm effectively 'forcing' the players to go the right direction, but I'm not sure.


Just a quick example of one of the robots that I'll be including in my adventure that I mentioned above..

Robotic Mage:

Robotic Psychic Mage
------------------------
CR 9 - 6400 xp

Variant Clockwork Mage
N Medium Construct (Robot)
Init +9; Senses: Darkvision 60ft, Low-light Vision, Superior Optics; Perception +17
-------
AC 23 (Touch 15, FF 18)(+5 Dex, +8 Natural)
Hp: 117 (15d10+20[Construct]+15[Toughness]), Force Field (45 hp, Fast Healing 9)
Fort +5, Ref +12, Will +7;
Defensive: Hardness 10; Immune: Construct Traits
Weaknesses: Vulnerable to Critical Hits, Vulnerable to Electricity
-------
Speed: 30 ft
Melee: 4 Slams +18 (1d4+3/x2)
Ranged: Integrated Plasma Pistol +20 Touch (1d8 Fire/Electricity/x2/50 ft) or Semi-Automatic Fire +18/+18 Touch (1d8 Fire/Electricity/x2/50 ft) or Rapid Fire Semi-Automatic +14/+14/+14 (1d8 Fire/Electricity/x2/50 ft)
SA: Wand Magic, Robotic Caster
Psychic Magic (CL 9th, Concentration +9)
15 PE: Detect Thoughts (1 PE, DC 11 Will), Magic Missile (1 PE), Anticipate Thoughts (2 PE, DC 13 Will), Mind Thrust II (2 PE, DC 13 Will), Irradiate (3 PE, DC 14 Fort)
-------
Str 16, Dex 21, Con --, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 1
BAB +15, CMB +18, CMD 33
Feats: Point Blank Shot(1st), Rapid Fire(3rd), Deadly Aim(5th), Improved Initiative(7th), Toughness(9th), Combat Casting(11th), Precise Shot(13th), Improved Precise Shot(15th)
Skills(30)(30[Base]): Perception[15] +17, Knowledge(Engineering)[5] +5, Knowledge(Arcana)[5] +5, Knowledge(Local)[5] +5
Languages: Aklo (Can’t Speak); Telepathy 100ft
SQ: Superior Optics
-----
Robotic Caster (Su): Thanks to highly advanced pseudo-organic components, Robotic Psychic Mages cast all of their spells with the Logical Spell and Intuitive Spell metamagic feats. This does not increase the PE consumed and does not increase the casting time. In addition, their spells are cast in the same way wands are; as a result, they do not provoke attacks of opportunity when cast.

=======================
The Plasma Pistol is one of a series of weapons I'm working on that are alternate from the Adroffan-created weapons in the tech guide. Although basically the same, they instead lob bolts of plasma that deal half fire and half electricity damage. Variants include the Plasma Pistol, Plasma Rifle, and Plasma Cannon. Their damage die is the same as the laser/arc/zero variants, and since all tech items are minor artifacts in my games (thus they don't have a gold piece value), I haven't figured out their value. I figure its similar to their laser alternatives.


Nice work guys, especially you Blayde.

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

Solomani wrote:
I just finished the campaign and as I said in my retrospective I would have cut out the Choking Tower entirely. I like the Iadenveigh part but I would have had that point directly to The Valley of the Brain Collectors. YMMV.

What would you replace the Level 7 to 10 adventure with?

One thought would be to replace the actual Choking Tower with a scaled down Starfall, but I haven't seen any reviews for the adventure yet.


I bought Starfall thinking maybe I'd use it, but after reading it decided not to if that helps. It's been a while since I've read it so don't remember much other than I didn't like how the PCs were brought into it; and it's a dungeon crawl in space.

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

eakratz wrote:
I bought Starfall thinking maybe I'd use it, but after reading it decided not to if that helps. It's been a while since I've read it so don't remember much other than I didn't like how the PCs were brought into it; and it's a dungeon crawl in space.

Which circles back to my question.

If the Choking Tower were removed, wWhat do you use to fill the hole between 8th and 9th level? One cannot use just random encounters for three whole levels.

Spoiler:
i.e.m is there an adventure (or even PFS scenario) that could be adapted to cover the space between the Aurora and The Scar of the Spider?


1 person marked this as a favorite.

THIS is L9 and might fit.

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

voodoo chili wrote:
THIS is L9 and might fit.

Adjusting the location to the Felldales would work beautifully as a lead in to The Valley of the Brain Collectors.

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

And now there is Scorpions of Perdition by Nic Logue


I decided to set up some small armies and do some mass combat vs Technic league outside of the tower. I'm using Solomani's idea of a rival faction and installing them in the tower. I think doing the mass combat would allow me to remove some monsters from the tower.

When I'm further along I'll put some stuff up but as of now, I have a made a medium army of Technic League soldiers, and various tiny armies for each PC to control.


I'm having a great time currently running the Choking Tower portion for my players (Furkas Xoud is the first thing in a while that has actually scared them), but I have to note that part of the AP has the Missions in Numeria section with three scenarios you can toss in if desired, which doesn't seem to be getting much mention.


I put the first one in on their way to Iadenveigh and my players weren't that interested in it.

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

Are we looking at this in the wrong way? I think that the problem is not actually the Choking Tower as it is the Aurora.

The problem we are trying to fix is that the players get frustrated by being disappointed twice in the efforts to locate Casandalee.

As a smaller dungeon, the Aurora would be easier to replace.

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