A Riddle Wrapped in Mystery

Friday, November 18, 2016

Illustration by Gintas Galvanauskas

Villain Codex is here! This week we're unveiling some of the hidden secrets of the last five remaining enigmatic organizations. Each one has its own mysteries and hidden agendas, either hiding in the shadows or in plain sight beneath another facade.

Secret Society

What could be more of an embodiment of secretive villain groups than a literal secret society? The group in this chapter maintains the facade of a harmless secret club for the wealthy and influential to engage in wild parties, but underneath is something far more sinister. Let's see if the High Talon, the group's official recruiter, can convince you to join the inner circle:

"Everyone who's anyone is, or was, a member, darling. I'm so glad you accepted our open invitation. We've had our minds on you for quite some time, you see, waiting for you to grow into the handsome young thing you've become. Now, see before you this quivering lowlife. Oh, yes, you once considered him your friend, I know. You must be pained to see him debased this way before you. But such is the natural order of things. He is weak, and you are strong. Do not consider this creature a person any longer. It is a base animal, and it is only right that you treat it as such. Show us exactly what such a simpering beast deserves. That's it! Yes, it's cowering now, so you can take your foot off its throat—it's already lost and the hunt hasn't even begun. Oh, we're going to have so much fun, my young friend. Take this—mind how sharp it is—a claw for you, my beauty, a claw to catch a mouse. See how it runs."

That's right, in secret, the society engages in hunts for the most dangerous game. But with a twist: these ailurophiles use magic to transform their victims into humanoid mice while hunting them in cat masks.

As the ritual commences, you can see the child leader of the organization, the Grand Dam, sitting on her throne. The society has three leaders: the High Sire, High Tom, and Grand Malkin. The High Sire is the Master of the Hunt and keeper of the Great Black Sphynx, the society's sacred beast and focus of many of its internal rites. The High Tom is Master of the Lodge, the public face of the society, and its primary vector of recruitment, propaganda, and internal control. The Grand Malkin is the Master of the Rites and holder of its occult mysteries and arcane methods. Despite having passed on several years ago, the Grand Malkin still jealously clings to power: his phantom is tethered to his granddaughter, known as the Grand Dam. The Grand Malkin's guidance has helped the Grand Dam become a powerful spiritualist early in life, and though he's a shade of his former self, he retains extensive knowledge of the society and guides the Grand Dam in the details of the society's tenets, organization, and sacred rituals.

Grand Dam

The Grand Dam is the anchor by which the Grand Malkin, a dead sorcerer, jealously clings to his leadership of the society.

Grand Dam CR 12

XP 19,200

Female young human spiritualist (haunted) 13 (Pathfinder RPG Occult Adventures 72, 110)

NE Small humanoid (human)

Init +2; Senses Perception +6

Defense

AC 23, touch 13, flat-footed 21 (+6 armor, +2 Dex, +4 shield, +1 size)

hp 90 (13d8+28)

Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +16 (+4 vs. mind-affecting effects)

Defensive Abilities greater spiritual interference

Illustration by Daniel Lopez

Offense

Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (good)

Melee mwk kukri +9/+4 (1d3-2/18-20)

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 13th; concentration +23)

At will—detect undead

2/day—calm spirit^OA (DC 13)

1/day—see invisibility (10 min)

Spells Known (CL 13th; concentration +23)

5th (2/day)—dominate person (DC 21), shadow evocation (DC 23), telekinesis

4th (4/day)—entrap spirit^OA (DC 20), greater invisibility, phantasmal killer (DC 22), possession^OA (DC 20), shadow conjuration

3rd (5/day)—bestow curse (DC 19), ectoplasmic snare^OA (DC 19), fly, riding possession^OA, slow (DC 19), vampiric touch

2nd (7/day)—detect thoughts (DC 18), false life, invisibility, life pact^ACG, pilfering hand^UC, spectral hand

1st (7/day)—compel hostility^UC, obscuring mist, protection from law, psychic reading^OA, sanctuary (DC 17), shield, ventriloquism (DC 19)

0 (at will)—detect psychic significance^OA, mage hand, message, open/close (DC 16), read magic, telekinetic projectile^OA

Tactics

Before Combat The Grand Dam casts false life on herself and the Grand Malkin each day, and she casts fly and shield before summoning the Grand Malkin.

Base Statistics Without her spells in effect, the Grand Dam's statistics are hp 75 (13d8+13); AC 19, flat-footed 17; Skills Fly +11.

Statistics

Str 6, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 14, Wis 22, Cha 10

Base Atk +9; CMB +6; CMD 18

Feats Emotional Conduit^OA, Focused Phantom^OA, Greater Spell Focus (illusion), Phantom Fortification^OA, Shared Soul^OA, Skill Focus (Appraise, Bluff), Spell Focus (illusion), Spiritualist's Call^OA, Toughness

Skills Appraise +10, Bluff +22, Disguise +10, Fly +21, Knowledge (arcana, planes) +18, Knowledge (nobility, religion) +10, Linguistics +6, Sense Motive +16, Spellcraft +10, Stealth +18, Use Magic Device +9

Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Ignan

SQ bonded senses (at will), etheric tether, fused consciousness, phantom (Grand Malkin, jealousy), phantom recall 2/day, shared consciousness 1/day

Gear +2 chain shirt, mwk kukri, cloak of resistance +2, hat of disguise, headband of inspired wisdom +4, society ring†, Book of the Black Sphynx (see below)

Grand Malkin

Male phantom (Pathfinder RPG Occult Adventures 78)

NE Large outsider (phantom)

Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +15

Aura resentful aura (20 ft., DC 19)

Defense

AC 28, touch 14, flat-footed 23 (+5 Dex, +14 natural, -1 size)

hp 103 (10d10+48)

Fort +6, Ref +14, Will +9 (+4 morale vs. enchantment)

Defensive Abilities fortification 50%, invisibility; DR 10/magic and slashing

Offense

Speed 30 ft.

Melee 2 slams +16 (4d6+2)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.

Tactics

During Combat The Grand Malkin manifests using teleplasmic surge, before usurping greater invisibility. He focuses retributive slams on enemies who dare attack him or the grand dam.

Base Statistics Without his usurped manifestation and spells, the Grand Malkin's statistics are Size Medium; AC 27, touch 15, flat-footed 22; hp 88; Fort +4, Ref +12, Will +7; Melee 2 slams +15 (3d6+1); Str 12; CMB +11; CMD 26; Skills Appraise +12, Bluff +21, Disguise +6, Fly +10, Intimidate +17, Knowledge (arcana) +12, Knowledge (nobility, planes, religion) +5, Linguistics +1, Perception +13, Sense Motive +13, Stealth +18.

Statistics

Str 14, Dex 20, Con 13, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 18

Base Atk +10; CMB +15; CMD 28

Feats Deceitful, Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Attack (slam), Power Attack, Toughness, Weapon Finesse

Skills Appraise +14, Bluff +23, Fly +10, Intimidate +19, Knowledge (arcana) +14, Knowledge (nobility, planes, religion) +7, Linguistics +3, Perception +15, Sense Motive +15, Stealth +36 (+56 when stationary)

Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Ignan

SQ devotion, ectoplasmic phase lurch, jealous combatant, magic attacks, retribution (2d8), teleplasmic surge, usurp manifestation 16 rounds/day, usurp spell

The Grand Dam is the keeper of the Book of the Black Sphynx, which contains the occult rituals described in the New Rules section and grants a +2 competence bonus on those rituals' skill checks.

Carnival Troupe

"Step right up and see the world—yes, ladies and gentlemen, enjoy a show gathered from the disparate corners of the globe! For just a few shiny coins, see bravado and oddities heretofore unknown in your sleepy hamlet, too astonishing to speak of on public corners and within a sheriff's earshot! These canvas walls hide marvels beyond reckoning. Freakish forms cursed by nature! Toothsome young bodies guaranteed to delight! Within you'll find contortions and conjurations, mysteries and mesmerism, and sights to bewitch and delight! All that parts you from this life-changing extravaganza is the exchange of a cursory fee! Pay no attention, my friends, to hurtful rumors of malfeasance here. Our purpose is but to delight by bringing wonders, lessons, and dangers from across the lands to your profitable and trusting little community! Step right up and learn every conceivable meaning of awe!" —The ringmaster, as her eyes glow so hypnotically, so invitingly, so trustworthily…

Fang Monastery

A secret martial arts dojo hidden in the mountains where initiates must undergo rigorous physical and mental training? Sounds like part of a backstory for a PC monk, where the monk met a wise master and trained in secret techniques. But the Fang Monastery is more than just a training ground for martial arts; the First Fang is obsessed with the ancient empire of the serpentfolk and seeks nothing less than a return to a twisted order patterned off the serpentfolk of old.

Sinister Cult

What could be crazier than a secret cult so dedicated to the apocalypse that they worship daemons, or perhaps the Great Old Ones? Why, an apocalyptic cult that worships daemons and the Great Old Ones, of course! Of course, the Sinister Mastermind uses his powers of persuasion and raw charisma to delude the lower ranks who just want to belong from realizing this goal (yep, as the master of a cult, he's a cult master mesmerist!), but the upper echelons are full of insane prophets, daemonic agents, and more. Note the comedy mask on the front of the cult assassin's crossbow, the symbol of the cult. Once you have the book, if you look closely you can find one on each picture, and the Sinister Mastermind has the tragedy mask to complete the pair and usher in an incomprehensible tragedy.

Slayer's Guild

Speaking of assassins, last but not least is the slayer's guild, a religious order of assassins who believe in one simple truth: any assassination is just as long as it's paid for properly. There are assassins of all stripes, from those who use disguises to those who focus on beatdowns, from a vishkanya deadly courtesan (the second in command) to snipers of all stripes. The fact that several members use bows, like the ninja zen archer pictured below, means that they also have strong representation in the secret bonus groups (see below).

Illustrations by Ramon Puasa Jr., Richard Suwono, Bogdan Rezunenko, and Florian Stitz

Wait, did I just say secret bonus organizations? I sure did! In the back of the book, there are 22 write-ups of organizations that use members from across several of the chapters, either as an adventuring party of members all around the same level, a themed group, or a different sort of group entirely. Most of these are sort of alternate reality mix-ups of different ways to use the NPCs, like The Furies (and all-female adventuring group named for the erinyes), but some of my favorites are meta-groups that could exist in a world that contains all the groups in the book. For instance, the Legion of Dominion is a cabal of the most powerful villains in the book, banded together to help share information and protect against heroes by the Eminent Spellqueen, and the Chromatic College of the Atonal Arts is a bardic college where almost every faculty member is a secret recruiter, advocate, or spy for a different evil group. My favorite, however, is the Silent Oath, a sort of henchmen anonymous group, which I've included here to close out our final blog:

An order of minions working across various evil organizations, the Silence provides numerous benefits to its members, from a place to vent and share frustration at their overlords' demands to an avenue for the organizations to coordinate through even when their leaders are too publicly opposed to allow an official alliance. With the threat of retribution from their organizations' commanders, members swear a namesake oath of silence. The founder is a bearer who managed to find and reattune a number of society rings that the Secret Society had forgotten through the years. Other members include a cult librarian, the spellmaster, the stagecrafter, a shadowcaster, a fang monastery ascendant, the Renewer, a royal bureaucrat, and a guild operative.

I hope you enjoy Villain Codex as much as we enjoyed working on it!

Mark Seifter
Designer

Wild Things

Friday, October 28, 2016

Illustration by Mark Molnar

Last week we took a look at some magical foes from the pages of the upcoming Villain Codex, with an in-depth look at the Arcane Society. This week we're headed into the wilderness to explore some of the villains who operate on the fringes of society!

Nature's Scourge

No villain group embodies the wild as much as Nature's Scourge, a group founded by a druid known as the Blight Caller. I'll let the Renewer (their PR expert) explain it to you:

"Civilization claims to value progress, but it inevitably seeks stagnation. Its people take their coins to the market and buy what they have no incentive to learn how to provide for themselves. Farmers and hunters rely the least on civilization, but they enable others to survive who would starve if left to their own devices. Artisans churn out hundreds of similar items, ready for those who could never replicate their work to acquire in seconds. Worst of all are the ones who wield the most power in civilization. I cannot imagine a more pathetic creature than a noble, swaddled in silk and gold, forcing others to attend to their every need like grotesquely oversized babies. Stagnation is not natural. A forest knows that it must sometimes burn to clear the debris on its floor and make way for new seeds. If civilization insists upon clinging to its detritus, then we will be the fire, and we will nurture new seeds in our wake. Always seek to learn, grow, and move forward. We are not immune to stagnation, and we will cleanse it from our own ranks when we must."

Today we're going to take a look at the Blig... One moment please, technical difficulties!

OK, Nature's Scourge author Linda Zayas-Palmer has agreed to release me from the entangle spell in exchange for previewing the Blight Caller's trusted ally, the leshy known as the Wrathbringer.

Wrathbinger

The Blight Caller channeled a dying nature spirit into a patch of mushrooms to bring this fungus leshy to life.

Wrathbringer CR 8

XP 4,800

Fungus leshy skald 7 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 49, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3 177)

NE Small plant (leshy, shapechanger)

Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +13

Defense

AC 19, touch 12, flat-footed 17 (+7 armor, +2 Dex, -1 rage, +1 size)

hp 110 (9d8+70); fast healing 2

Fort +15, Ref +6, Will +8; +4 vs. bardic performance, language-dependent, and sonic, -1 vs. anger or rage

Defensive Abilities ferocity, uncanny dodge; Immune electricity, sonic, plant traits

Offense

Speed 50 ft. (45 ft. in armor)

Melee bite +14 (2d6+7), 2 claws +14 (1d3+7)

Ranged puffball +10 (1 plus spores)

Special Attacks rage powers (atavistic totem†, lesser atavistic totem†), raging song 17 rounds/day (inspired rage, song of marching, song of strength), spell kenning 1/day, spores

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 4th; concentration +8)

Constant—pass without trace

Skald Spells Known (CL 7th; concentration +11)

3rd (2/day)—good hope, haste

2nd (4/day)—cure moderate wounds, gallant inspiration^APG (DC 16), glitterdust (DC 16), heroism

1st (5/day)—comprehend languages, expeditious retreat, hideous laughter (DC 15), remove fear, saving finale^APG

0 (at will)—dancing lights, know direction, mage hand, message, prestidigitation, summon instrument

Tactics

Illustration by Yan Kyohara

Before Combat The Wrathbringer casts good hope and expeditious retreat.

During Combat The Wrathbringer casts haste, uses raging song to inspire an atavistic fury in his allies, and then enters melee. He uses gallant inspiration and saving finale when his allies need assistance.

Base Statistics When the Wrathbringer is not using his inspired rage and isn't under the effects of expeditious retreat and good hope, his statistics are AC 20, touch 13, flat-footed 18 (+7 armor, +2 Dex, +1 size); hp 101 (8d8+61); no fast healing; Fort +12, Ref +4, Will +8; Speed 15 ft.; Melee bite +11 (1d8+4), 2 claws +11 (1d3+4); Str 18, Con 20; CMB +9; Skills Acrobatics +5 (+1 to jump), others all 2 lower.

Statistics

Str 20, Dex 15, Con 22, Int 9, Wis 12, Cha 18

Base Atk +6; CMB +10; CMD 21

Feats Blind-Fight, Improved Natural Attack (bite), Nature's Wrath†, Scribe Scroll, Skald's Vigor^ACG, Toughness

Skills Acrobatics +7 (+11 to jump), Perception +13, Perform (oratory) +12, Perform (percussion) +19, Stealth +9 (+13 in swamps and underground), Survival +4 (+8 in swamps and underground); Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth and Survival in swamps and underground

Languages Druidic, Sylvan; plantspeech (fungi)

SQ bardic knowledge +3, change shape (Small fungus; tree shape), lore master 1/day, rage powers, verdant burst, versatile performances (oratory, percussion)

Gear +1 black dragonhide breastplate, belt of giant strength +2, fungal slippers†, mwk drums

The Blight Caller created the Wrathbringer several years ago. The unusual circumstances of this leshy's creation ritual imbued it with emotions that plant creatures can normally never experience. Centuries before the Blightcaller created him, a powerful druid bound the leshy's spirit to a sacred grove of fungi. By the time the Blightcaller arrived in the grove, the delicate fungi were dying, poisoned by waste that nearby settlements had dumped into the water. The Blightcaller managed to draw the leshy's spirit into a body before it died with the grove, but doing so required him to give a small piece of his own spirit as well. This sacrifice formed a connection between the druid and the leshy and imbued the leshy with the rage against civilization that burned so strongly in the druid's heart.

The Wrathbringer is surly and quick to anger. However, it is a dependable ally. The Blight Caller trusts it more than any other member of nature's scourge and has given it several valuable gifts, including a breastplate made from the hide of the same dragon as his own armor and a pair of slippers made from the magically preserved remnants of the leshy's former grove.

Oh my, what are Nature's Wrath and fungal slippers? Will either of those explain how this plant is benefiting from raging song?

Merry Outlaws

Some villains aren't evil, and at least according to the locals, the Merry Outlaws might be full-on good guys. They rob from the wealthy and are known to distribute wealth to the poor and downtrodden. But there are others, those on whom the Merry Outlaws have preyed, who claim that there are two sides to every tale. What is the truth about this Robin Hood-style bands of miscreants? What will the PCs decide to do if confronted with such a group? These questions make the Merry Outlaws perfect for a nuanced adventure with shades of grey.

Ruthless Brigands

The ruthless brigands are mercenaries, pure and simple. If you pay them, they might even defend your city from the savage marauders or protect your carriage from the Merry Outlaws, but their loyalty follows the coin. That's not to say they're all evil, in fact, the reluctant witty jury-rigger shown here is good-aligned, yearning for the old days when they would fight for noble causes and increasingly regretting his life decisions.

Savage Marauders

The savage marauders are a marauding barbarian tribe who pillage the soft civilized folk, kill or capture the adults, and indoctrinating the children to join the tribe. This gives them a slightly more multicultural make-up than other barbarian tribes. Everyone in the tribe must prove her strength (in fact, the Fiend-Born Rager may some day grow to challenge the Crimson Lord should he show any signs of weakness), so that badass marauder down there with the earthbreaker and the icicle fingers? Yeah, she's actually a sorcerer!

Scandalous Pirates

Not everywhere in the wilderness is on land, and the scandalous pirates are a scourge upon the seas. They're organized with several captains all under the auspices of the Vile Admiral, which allows you to use them as a squabbling but vaguely cohesive group or as individual pirates (if, say, you needed an extra captain quickly in a Skull and Shackles game).

Illustrations by Anastasia Ovchinnikova, Gintas Galvanauskas, and Shen Fei

Stay tuned next week as we return to civilized society and expose the villains who make their homes in plain sight!

Mark Seifter
Designer