A Folio for the Flawed

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Look, I'm tired of trying to be the perfect hero. Ever since I started offering up my services—and working with a never-ending succession of random strangers—I've done the right thing, put others first, and bit my tongue, all without asking anything in return. And sure, the villagers I've saved have been grateful, and that's... nice. But whoever said virtue is its own reward never had to pay a bar tab. And hey, I do a lot of good in this world, from undoing ancient curses to putting down the world-ending-threat du jour, so why shouldn't I let loose on occasion? To be clear, I'm not talking about embracing some sort of chaotic neutrality in the name of being a jerk—I just want to be myself and get my due.

Lucky for me, I found this book, and it's full of antiheroes: folks who worry less about sanctimonious social norms and focus instead on turning their flaws into fortes. This is the kind of heroism I can get behind; to hell with all that dour do-goodery. Take the vindictive bastard, an ex-paladin archetype, for example: she lives up to the label (given to so many exes) by using her vindictive smite against those who've hurt her friends. Or the blatherskite, a gunslinger who runs away from danger faster than he runs his mouth—and that's saying something.

Illustrations by Alyssa Davis and Forrest Imel

Now, some of these antiheroes had it real bad in the past, giving them good reason to approach this whole adventuring thing with a chip on their shoulders. There's a multitude of backgrounds that result in the traits and drawbacks they carry with them today. Some were criminals, some get a raw deal in their dealins with a religion or some other group, and some have backgrounds that're downright tragic. But even these sad sacks can transform their personal tragedy into something productive (if unconventional): there are spiritualists whose phantoms draw their abilities from lifelong suffering, and there are bloodragers who summon the strength of a martyred ancestor to become an embodiment of righteous wrath.

Illustration by Forrest Imel

Of course, treading too far down the path less traveled can get you in a heap of trouble. Before you know it, you forget why you're bending rules and start breaking them just for the fun of it, leaving yourself susceptible to corruption. Sure, you might get better at forging evidence and using forbidden magic, but you'll eventually end up overwhelmed by hate and turning on your closest allies. Happens all the time.

On the other hand, a lot of great tactics and tools are opened up to those who put aside the idea of a fair fight. Even when losing a brawl, you can accomplish all kinds of feats, like using your bloodied visage to sicken your enemies or taking someone down with you when you're tripped. And a swig from a vial of reckless courage will give you the temporary guts needed to face down the most horrific monsters. Or you can throw a portable hive at your enemies and let them explain a fair fight to a wasp swarm.

After seeing all the options available in this book, I think I've made up my mind—it's the antihero's life for me! But I'll tell you what: I leave it to fate to decide. I'll flip this coin, and if it comes up Desna, I'll start living life in the gray area between right and fun. Otherwise, it's the straight and narrow for me, I promise.

Here goes...

Illustration by Alyssa Davis

Desna's Coin Price 8,000 GP

Slot non CL 5th Weight &mdash Aura Faint Abjuration

This gold coin has two blank faces, but its owner can cause the holy symbol of Desna—a butterfly with suns, moons, and stars on its wings—to appear on either face at will. This proves especially useful when performing coin flips, as the owner of a Desna's coin can essentially guarantee that the result will go in her favor.

As one would expect of an item associated with the goddess of luck, a Desna's coin confers on its owner an uncanny ability to fortuitously avoid sudden threats. As a result, its bearer gains a +2 luck bonus on Reflex saving throws.

Construction Requirements Price 4,000 GP

Craft Wondrous Item, divine favor

Joe Pasini
Developer

A Deeper Dive with Undersea Characters

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

We're on the cusp of releasing Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of the Sea, and I wanted to provide a glimpse beneath the surface at its contents. I think this product's existence isn't a huge surprise: a player focus on underwater adventuring naturally follows the recent Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Aquatic Adventures and the upcoming Ruins of Azlant adventure path (Pathfinder Adventure Path #125: Tower of the Drowned Dead takes place entirely underwater, with an exception I hope people find as awesome as it is unexpected). I also think this product's structure isn't a huge surprise: as with other Player Companion volumes such as Blood of the Beast and Blood of Shadows, you'll see PC races highlighted and expanded. What will surprise most people is how awesome and useful Blood of the Sea really is.

First, the book was penned by Amber Scott, a long-time contributor for Paizo who devotes as much attention to flavor as rules. Amber's text was a delight to develop. She took a close look at several aquatic races and added innumerable roleplaying touches; for example, the notoriously lawful tritons are often asked to serve as mediators by other aquatic races, many aquatic elves are incorrigible treasure-seekers, and quite a few locathahs like potatoes. She also provided cool race-specific mechanical options for each, including archetypes, feats, and gear. For example, merfolk are deeply connected to musical expression and therefore have new bardic masterpieces and the song-bound oracle curse.

In addition, Blood of the Sea provides racial trait lists for races that didn't have them—such as locathahs, sahuagin, tritons, and more. These traits span a wide range to suit many campaign types: locathahs and tritons have the same power level as existing PC races (10 RP and 11 RP, respectively), while other races are slightly more powerful but fit perfectly into an underwater campaign. Like an octopus-person? Yes!

Look at this stuff—isn't it neat?
Illustration by Kent Hamilton

Cecaelia Racial Traits (23 RP)

As cecaelias are unusual and powerful monstrous creatures, you should play one only with your GM's permission. Cecaelias normally have racial Hit Dice, skills, and other abilities. PC cecaelias, however, calculate these benefits based solely on their class. Note that these abilities are only an approximation of the cecaelia monster from Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3 and may not match exactly. PC cecaelias have the following racial traits.

+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, –2 Intelligence: Cecaelias are nimble and have a canny insight, but they tend to be flighty.

Monstrous Humanoid: Cecaelias are monstrous humanoids with the aquatic subtype.

Medium: Cecaelias are Medium creatures, and they have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.

Darkvision: Cecaelias have darkvision with a range of 60 feet.

Tentacle Sense (1 RP): While swimming and not grappled or grappling, a cecaelia can spread her tentacles wide to form a sensory net around herself as a swift action. This grants blindsight to a range of 10 feet and lasts as long as the cecaelia concentrates or until the cecaelia attacks with a tentacle or moves.

Natural Armor: Cecaelias have a +2 natural armor bonus.

Normal Speed: Cecaelias have no trouble moving about on land using their tentacles and have a base speed of 30 feet.

Swim Speed: Cecaelias have a swim speed of 40 feet.

Jet (1 RP): Cecaelias can swim 200 feet backward as a full-round action. A cecaelia must move in a straight line when jetting and does not provoke attacks of opportunity when she uses jet.

Tentacle Attacks (3 RP): Cecaelias have two tentacle attacks that deal 1d4 points of damage. These attacks are primary natural attacks and have a reach of 10 feet. This extended reach only applies to the cecaelia's tentacle attacks and not to any other attacks she makes.

Amphibious: Cecaelias are amphibious and can breathe both air and water.

Ink Cloud (3 RP): Once per hour as a standard action, a cecaelia can emit a 10-foot-radius sphere of ink while underwater. This ink cloud provides total concealment and persists for 1 minute.

Stable Tentacles (4 RP): Cecaelias cannot be tripped.

Languages: Cecaelias begin play speaking Aquan and Common. Cecaelias with a high Intelligence score can choose from the following: Aklo, Celestial, Draconic, Elven, Giant, Gnome, and Halfling.

Blood of the Sea isn't just about aquatic races; it's also extremely useful for land-bound races venturing beneath the waves. You'll find several archetypes, magic items, and spells useful for undersea exploration, such as the tempest tamer archetype (a druid that transforms into air or water elementals rather than animals or plants) and the suspend drowning spell. A useful magic item for PCs with little critters is the familiar bubble. Useful how? Take a look!

Did someone say there were sahuagin PCs down here?
Illustration by Alyssa Davis

Familiar Bubble Price 2,500 GP

Slot none; CL 3rd; Weight 1 lb.
Aura faint conjuration

A familiar bubble looks like nothing more than a pair of reinforced leather straps designed to fit over the shoulders—until it is worn. Once the straps are donned, a bubble of force forms on the wearer's back, large enough to hold a Tiny or smaller creature and 1 pound of items (usually food for the creature). The bubble is transparent and continuously generates fresh, breathable air within. While the bubble keeps air in and water out, it is permeable to other objects. Spells and weapons can target the creature in the familiar bubble normally.

As a standard action, the familiar bubble's user can designate a specific creature within 30 feet that can pass freely in and out of the bubble. All other living creatures find the bubble impenetrable. This selection remains until the wearer chooses a different creature or removes the familiar bubble (which causes the bubble to disappear). Normally, the user selects a creature in order to get it into the bubble and then selects himself so he can retrieve the creature, if needed.

Construction Requirements Cost 1,250 gp

Craft Wondrous Item, air bubble^UC

Blood of the Sea also discusses the roleplaying elements that can confront landwalker PCs, such as why aquatic disguises can be difficult to pull off and why Common is hard to speak underwater. It also discusses the most useful and relevant magic items and spells that already exist. I'll conclude with a personal story: in an adventure path I'm playing, our group needed to embark on a lengthy underwater excursion. While the other players scoured the Core Rulebook and Ultimate Equipment to see how best to pull it off, I just consulted page 29 of Blood of the Sea and noted that cloaks of the manta ray were probably our cheapest effective option, and that we should carry back-up potions of water breathing as well. Useful advice! The journey went well, although my hobgoblin druid was slain by our party's oread monk who had been dominated by—whoops, spoilers. But any way you look at it, Blood of the Sea brings new depths to underwater adventuring!

Ron Lundeen
Contributing Developer