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He Must Die—Again!

Thursday, August 27, 2015

The arrival of Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Occult Adventures with its host of psychic magic and class options means new ways to tell stories for the world of Golarion (and beyond). But what about some of our older adventures, particularly one about a Very Infamous Monk? Are you ready for a Design Challenge?

When Occult Adventures first made its way through playtesting, one question I often thought was, "How could our older adventures be retold with these new options?" Being a rather large fan of Russian fairy tales and folk lore, I am quite fond of the Reign of Winter Adventure Path, so of course, I immediately gravitated towards that one to pick for this Design Challenge.

What does this mean to you? It means I have thrown the gauntlet to everybody who loves creating stat blocks, whether you're they type who spends hours poring over new archetypes, class combinations, and gear selection, or just like putting together a fun NPC for your group to face. "Pray tell, Liz, what is the rules of this duel?" you might ask.

You get to make this guy, Grigori Rasputin, but this time, using one of the new character classes from Occult Adventures.


Grigori Rasputin returns—but as what? You get to decide!

For reference, here's his original stat block, as it appeared in "Rasputin Must Die!":

Spoilers for Reign of Winter AP:

Grigori Rasputin  CR 17

XP 102,400
Male middle-aged human oracle 18
NE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +0; Senses true seeing; Perception +13
Aura unholy aura (DC 22)

Defense

AC 32, touch 22, flat-footed 32 (+10 armor, +4 deflection, +4 insight, +4 luck [touch only], +4 natural)
hp 192 (18d8+108)
Fort +16, Ref +12, Will +20; +4 vs. death effects, domination, mind-affecting effects, and possession
Defensive Abilities stitched soul; SR 25 vs. good

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk dagger +13/+8/+3 (1d4–1/19–20)
Ranged mwk Nagant M1895 revolver +14/+9/+4 (1d8/×4)
Oracle Spells Known (CL 18th; concentration +26)
9th (3/day)—astral projection, miracle (DC 27)
8th (6/day)—fire storm (DC 26), mass cure critical wounds, moment of prescience, stormbolts (DC 26)
7th (7/day)—blasphemy (DC 25), destruction (DC 25), ethereal jaunt, mass cure serious wounds, regenerate, reverse gravity (DC 25), vision, waves of ecstasy (DC 25)
6th (7/day)—antilife shell, blade barrier (DC 24), harm (DC 24), heal, mass cure moderate wounds, project image
5th (7/day)—contact other plane, flame strike (DC 23), greater forbid action (DC 23), mass cure light wounds, slay living (DC 23), telekinesis, true seeing
4th (8/day)—cure critical wounds, divine power, freedom of movement, scrying, sending, terrible remorse (DC 22), unholy blight (DC 22)
3rd (8/day)—bestow curse (DC 21), blindness/deafness (DC 21), clairaudience/clairvoyance, cure serious wounds, dispel magic, searing light
2nd (8/day)—cure moderate wounds, death knell (DC 20), dread bolt (DC 20), enthrall (DC 20), hold person (DC 20), levitate, minor image (DC 20), silence (DC 20), spectral hand
1st (8/day)—command (DC 19), cure light wounds, entropic shield, forbid action (DC 19), murderous command (DC 19), remove sickness (DC 19), unseen servant
0 (at will)—bleed (DC 18), detect magic, detect poison, ghost sound (DC 18), guidance, light, mage hand, read magic, resistance, stabilize, virtue
Mystery occult

TACTICS

Before Combat Within the Thrice-Tenth presbytery (area H6), Rasputin enjoys the benefits of the World Engine’s unholy aura and insight bonus to his AC. When faced with combat, Rasputin activates his ectoplasmic armor revelation and casts entropic shield, freedom of movement, levitate, moment of prescience, and true seeing. Once enemies are in sight, he casts antilife shell and spectral hand to enable him to use touch attacks beyond the field’s perimeter.
During Combat Under the protection of his antilife shell, Rasputin attempts to hinder opponents with reverse gravity and waves of ecstasy and turn foes against each other with terrible remorse and murderous command, before laying waste with such deadly effects as blade barrier, blasphemy, destruction, harm, stormbolts, and unholy blight. If wounded, Rasputin casts quickened cure spells while continuing to target enemies with offensive spells.
Morale On the precipice of claiming his mother’s mythic power, Rasputin relies on his stitched soul to preserve his life, and fights to the death again and again until slain permanently.

STATISTICS

Str 9, Dex 11, Con 19, Int 14, Wis 17, Cha 26
Base Atk +13; CMB +12; CMD 30
Feats Combat Casting, Craft Wondrous Item, DiehardB, Ectoplasmic SpellB, Expanded Arcana (2), Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Persuasive, Quicken Spell, Toughness
Skills Bluff +25, Diplomacy +30, Intimidate +25, Knowledge (arcana) +15, Knowledge (nobility) +10, Knowledge (planes) +12, Knowledge (religion) +20, Perception +13, Sense Motive +16, Spellcraft +15, Use Magic Device +25
Languages Church Slavonic, Common, Russian
SQ oracle’s curse (haunted), revelations (ectoplasmic armor [+10, 18 hours/day], project psyche, shroud of retribution [3/day, 1d8+9], spectral spells [4/day], spirit walk [2/day, 18 rounds], sure soul [+4])
Gear mwk dagger, mwk Nagant M1895 revolver with 21 metal cartridges, amulet of natural armor +4, belt of physical perfection +2, cassock of the Black Monk, headband of mental prowess +4 (Wis, Cha)

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Stitched Soul (Su) Rasputin’s soul is stitched to his body with threads of fate, and he clings tenaciously to life. He gains Diehard as a bonus feat. In addition, when first reduced to a number of negative hit points equal to or greater than his current Con score, Rasputin dies, but he springs back to life 1d4 rounds later as if the target of a resurrection spell. If killed a second time, the Mad Monk again comes back to life 1d6 rounds later, as if the target of a raise dead spell (upon his return, he loses 50% of his remaining unused spell slots as if they had been used to cast spells). Only after Rasputin is slain for a third time do his soul’s stitches finally unravel from his corpse, releasing his malignant spirit into the ether.

Your entry will be judged on presentation and adherence to theme, and to help me with that, I've brought in the man responsible not only for the original Pathfinder version of the Mad Monk, but was also one of the lead consultants on Occult Adventures as well: Brandon Hodge!

But what is the reward for all of your hard work? Something we've never offered before: A custom Paizo.com avatar with art selected from Occult Adventures, along with $25 in store credit. On Paizo.com, a custom avatar means either being a Paizo employee (or the subject of whim by a Paizo employee), so this is a rare opportunity for a unique avatar that nobody else has!

Now, onto the rules:

  • One entry per poster. Employees of Paizo, their immediate family members, and persons with whom such employees are domiciled are ineligible. Anyone who is currently employed full-time as a designer for a game company is ineligible. Anyone with a cover credit on a hardcover RPG book is ineligible. Anyone who has a design credit in 3 or more of Paizo's Pathfinder products is ineligible.
  • You must post your entries in this blog's discussion thread.
  • All entries due Midnight, September 13th, 2015, Paizo time.
  • Entries must be in the following format:
    Stat Block Format:

    [b]Grigori Rasputin  CR 17[/b]

    [b]XP 102,400[/b]
    zzAlignment zzSize zzType
    [b]Init[/b] +##; [b]Senses[/b] zz, zz,; Perception +##
    [b]Aura[/b] zz (## ft., DC ##)

    [b]----- Defense -----[/b]
    [b]AC[/b] ##, touch ##, flat-footed # (+## zzModifier, +##zzModifier)
    [b]hp[/b] ## (##d##+##); fast healing ##
    [b]Fort[/b] +##, [b]Ref[/b] +##, [b]Will[/b] +##
    [b]Defensive Abilities[/b] ##/zzAbility; [b]DR[/b] ##/zzMaterial; [b]Immune[/b] zz; [b]Resist[/b] zz ##, zz ##; [b]SR[/b] ##
    [b]Weaknesses[/b] zz, zz

    [b]----- Offense -----[/b]
    [b]Speed[/b] ## ft., fly ## ft. (zzManeuverability)
    [b]Melee[/b] zzAttacktype +## (zzDamage plus zzOthereffect), zzAttacktype +## (zzDamage)
    [b]Ranged[/b] zzAttacktype +## (zzDamage)
    [b]Space[/b] ## ft.; [b]Reach[/b] ## ft.
    [b]Special Attacks[/b] zz, zz
    [b]Spell-Like Abilities[/b] (CL ##zz; concentration +##)
    At will—[i]zz[/i], [i]zz[/i]
    1/day—[i]zz[/i], [i]zz[/i]

    [b]----- Tactics -----[/b]
    [b]Before Combat[/b] zzBeforeCombat
    [b]During Combat[/b] zzDuringCombat
    [b]Morale[/b] On the precipice of claiming his mother’s mythic power, Rasputin relies on his stitched soul to preserve his life, and fights to the death again and again until slain permanently.

    [b]----- Statistics -----[/b]
    [b]Str[/b] ##, [b]Dex[/b] ##, [b]Con[/b] ##, [b]Int[/b] ##, [b]Wis[/b] ##, [b]Cha[/b] ##
    [b]Base Atk[/b] +##; [b]CMB[/b] +## (+## zzConditionalmaneuverbonus); [b]CMD[/b] ## (## vs. zzManeuvername)
    [b]Feats[/b] zzFeatname, zzFeatname
    [b]Skills[/b] zzSkillname +##, zzSkillname +## (+## zzCondition); [b]Racial Modifiers[/b] +## zzSkillname, +## zzSkillname when zzCondition
    [b]Languages[/b] zzLanguage
    [b]SQ[/b] zz

    [b]----- Ecology -----[/b]
    [b]Environment[/b] zzClimate zzTerrain
    [b]Organization[/b] zz, zz, or zz
    [b]Treasure[/b] zzCategory

    [b]----- Special Abilities -----[/b]
    [b]zzName (Ex/Sp/Su)[/b] zzDescription

  • Entry must be CR 17, must use a character class from Occult Adventures, and must include the stitched soul special ability.
  • You may use any Paizo-published material, but you must cite your sources.
  • Selection of avatar art is subject to Paizo.com's Community Guidelines.

Remember, all entries must be in by September 13th, 2015. Good luck in designing the Mad Monk Rasputin, and letting us kill him again—or try to!

Liz Courts
Community Manager

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Tags: Brandon Hodge Craig J Spearing Design Challenge Occult Adventures Pathfinder Adventure Path Pathfinder RPG Reign of Winter
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Grand Lodge

Interesting.

Spoiler:
Especially as my group is just returning to the Hut on Triaxus after recovering a bearskin.

Family members of those who have 3 design credits are still eligible, right? ;)
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4
5 people marked this as a favorite.

Now this is a cool design challenge!

Spoiler related to the original statblock:
Very interesting. I had intended to rebuild Rasputin once my party gets to him in... at this pace four years... but I wasn't sure what to do with the cassock of the black monk, since it's specifically oracle gear (the party currently contains an oracle, it would be nice loot for them). I suppose thinking of an alternative to replace that item would be appropriate for the intents of the contest?
Shadow Lodge

Any chance Occult Adventures will be in the PRD before this contest ends?
Community Manager
Rei wrote:
** spoiler omitted **

Correct.

Community Manager
7 people marked this as a favorite.
Dylos wrote:
Any chance Occult Adventures will be in the PRD before this contest ends?

I really, really, really hope so, but that largely depends on how many fires I have to put out.

Sovereign Court
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

*rolls up sleeves* Let's do this!
Shadow Lodge

But, but...I'm playing in RoW.* I can't even look at the stat block!

*Not that Dror the Most Magical Dwarf Ever needs any aid in killing a Russian madman. Just need to avoid bullets, drowning, poison and boots!.
Shadow Lodge
8 people marked this as a favorite.
Liz Courts wrote:
I really, really, really hope so, but that largely depends on how many fires I have to put out.

*puts away the matches*

Contributor

D'aw, no chance at a custom avatar for me. :-(

Still this is a cool idea! I'll be looking forward to seeing the winner.
Community Manager
11 people marked this as a favorite.
TOZ wrote:
Liz Courts wrote:
I really, really, really hope so, but that largely depends on how many fires I have to put out.
*puts away the matches*

ಠ_ಠ

RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16

Not being familiar with the AP, can anyone give a non-spoilery description of what Rasputin does when he's not fighting the PCs? Obviously, based on history, he does a lot of healing and manipulating Russian nobility. But what else is he up to behind the scenes?
Silver Crusade
10 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

OK LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD *opens two crates of vodka*

EDIT: good thing the deadline is liberal, I might actually recover in time to write it up.
Community Manager
RainyDayNinja wrote:
Not being familiar with the AP, can anyone give a non-spoilery description of what Rasputin does when he's not fighting the PCs? Obviously, based on history, he does a lot of healing and manipulating Russian nobility. But what else is he up to behind the scenes?

Acquiring Power—political, magical, spiritual.

By any means necessary.
3 people marked this as a favorite.

bumps documenting Rasputin Must Die! up the priority list
Silver Crusade
9 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

What Rasputin does when he's not TPK'ing people.
Liz Courts wrote:
RainyDayNinja wrote:
Not being familiar with the AP, can anyone give a non-spoilery description of what Rasputin does when he's not fighting the PCs? Obviously, based on history, he does a lot of healing and manipulating Russian nobility. But what else is he up to behind the scenes?

Acquiring Power—political, magical, spiritual.

By any means necessary.

You forgot singing and dancing :-)

Grand Lodge
Scribbling Rambler wrote:


** spoiler omitted **

Oops. Apologies for missing that.

Sovereign Court
4 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
captain yesterday wrote:
Liz Courts wrote:
RainyDayNinja wrote:
Not being familiar with the AP, can anyone give a non-spoilery description of what Rasputin does when he's not fighting the PCs? Obviously, based on history, he does a lot of healing and manipulating Russian nobility. But what else is he up to behind the scenes?

Acquiring Power—political, magical, spiritual.

By any means necessary.
You forgot singing and dancing :-)

You weren't kidding.

RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
1 person marked this as a favorite.
captain yesterday wrote:
Liz Courts wrote:
RainyDayNinja wrote:
Not being familiar with the AP, can anyone give a non-spoilery description of what Rasputin does when he's not fighting the PCs? Obviously, based on history, he does a lot of healing and manipulating Russian nobility. But what else is he up to behind the scenes?

Acquiring Power—political, magical, spiritual.

By any means necessary.
You forgot singing and dancing :-)

And giving me a hard-core cardio workout on Just Dance, of course.

Dylos wrote:
Any chance Occult Adventures will be in the PRD before this contest ends?

Occult classes and rules are already available on d20pfsrd.

Dark Archive

Brandon Hodges mentioned to me at GenCon that this was a thing on the RoW boards. It is nice to see this is an open challenge.

Hmmm. I'm uncertain between two.
Do you think astral spells are very important for him? Also, does he actually worship some deity?

Dotting.
Contributor

What exactly constitutes "cover credit" on a hardcover RPG book (since so few of them actually list the designers/writers on the cover)?

I'm listed in the "writing and additional design" credits on the new FFG Force and Destiny core book, does that rule me out? It's my only RPG design credit on a released product thus far.
Sovereign Court
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Hm... that stat block format is for a monster. I assume that we are to delete the Ecology version and make a gear section under SQ?

Oracles don't need to worship anything, unlike clerics

No, but they may if they wish. I just don't remember if he does. This could be the decisive factor for my class choice.
Grand Lodge

I was never that happy with the original oracle build so I'm totally okay with this plan.
Community Manager
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Christopher Rowe wrote:

What exactly constitutes "cover credit" on a hardcover RPG book (since so few of them actually list the designers/writers on the cover)?

I'm listed in the "writing and additional design" credits on the new FFG Force and Destiny core book, does that rule me out? It's my only RPG design credit on a released product thus far.

"Cover credit" means: Is your name on the cover of the book? If it's not (and you meet the rest of the criteria), you can enter.

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

I have to say, the stitched soul ability is awesome. Who ever came up with that must have been cackling all day after writing it up. I don't know if my players would forgive me for using it.

So Obviously I have to steal it immediately.
Dark Archive

Winning entry to be posted of course?
Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Get those stat blocks in, people. We want to see the wicked cool final result!
Community Manager
Mine all mine...don't touch wrote:
Winning entry to be posted of course?

In a future blog, yes. :D

Grand Lodge

I haven't ran Reign of Winter, so I'm a bit lost, but in the original history Rasputin had a fanatical admirer, Fräulein Anna Vyrubova, who became the driving force behind his cult. Does RoW have such someone like this?
Contributor
8 people marked this as a favorite.
j b 200 wrote:
I have to say, the stitched soul ability is awesome. Who ever came up with that must have been cackling all day after writing it up.

All day? Hell, I still chuckle every time I think of the looks of despair on the faces of PCs, once smug in their falsely-assumed victories, when Rasputin returns to life. It's what I wake up for in the morning! ;-)

Bardess wrote:

Hmmm. I'm uncertain between two.

Do you think astral spells are very important for him? Also, does he actually worship some deity?

There's no indication that Rasputin follows a specific deity. As a oracle, he doesn't need to.

In my mythic RoW game, I made him a champion of the Horseman of War. (As in, Szuriel was the source of his magic and actively backing him.)

(I also gave him divine source and made him the Anti-Christ, but that's a different can of worms.)

Pathfinder's Rasputin's a very, very blasphemous man by the time the PCs run into him.

He may have been faithful once, but now?

Statues of saints weep blood at his presence.

Man, this contest might actually make me learn the Occult classes =P

I've been wondering how some of the spells Rasputin has won't be a TPK for many parties...

a few of the spells in question:
Stormbolts if everyone gets within range seems particularly deadly (18d8) but more to the point 3/day Miracle seems like it could be both very effective and very hard to run as a GM... what effects make for particularly effective uses of Miracle? (either 8th level Cleric spells or 7th level spells from another list - which is vast array of possible effects)
Grand Lodge

Rycaut:
My Winter Oracle has Resist Energy, Communal and will be taking Reach Spell next level, so I imagine that would solve the stormbolt problem fairly well.
Community Manager
6 people marked this as a favorite.

Ra-Ra-Rasputin, Russia's TPK Machine.
*nods at Gorbacz for that particular line*
Also, since it came up elsewhere, all of his class levels must come from Occult Adventures. If you wanna go crazy and make him multiclassed, have at it. :D

Perhaps though the party would have to pick the right resistance ahead of time... and even at high levels that's only so many points...

damage estimate:

the damage output on that spell is pretty high (average of 90 I think - so won't kill everyone but will definitely sting - and that's average could be higher). Actually given the party's likely level (14 or possibly 15) Blasphemy would likely leave most of the party paralyzed for at least one round, weakened and dazed. Plus would banish any extraplanar creatures for 24hrs (eidolons, some familiars etc). Lots of really nasty possibilities with an 18th level caster.

Looking at the current spell list I can see any number of ways for a TPK...

Do we have to assume that he's in the same location as in the AP? He has some circumstance bonuses from being near *********. Are they preserved?
Also, what about his equipment? The Cassock of the Black Monk is supposed to be used by an oracle, which he isn't going to be. Do we have to just refund it to buy other equipment or we should build a new magic item?
Last question: archetypes are allowed?

I have two headscratchers about this.
Do we use a regular 15-point-buy for his stats (CR = character level -1), a 20-point-buy (CR = character level), or what? Because I cannot match his ability scores with any common generation method. At best I get a 26-point-buy. Unless I am missing a major boost source for Con or Cha.
The second issue is gear. By-the-book 96,000 for level 18 NPC? Ol' Ras above has about 115,000 worth.
Community Manager
ElMustacho wrote:
Do we have to assume that he's in the same location as in the AP? He has some circumstance bonuses from being near *********. Are they preserved?

I'm going to say "yes."

Quote:
Also, what about his equipment? The Cassock of the Black Monk is supposed to be used by an oracle, which he isn't going to be. Do we have to just refund it to buy other equipment or we should build a new magic item?

Refund and buy new relevant equipment.

Quote:
Last question: archetypes are allowed?

Sure!

Community Manager
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Naal wrote:

I have two headscratchers about this.

Do we use a regular 15-point-buy for his stats (CR = character level -1), a 20-point-buy (CR = character level), or what? Because I cannot match his ability scores with any common generation method. At best I get a 26-point-buy. Unless I am missing a major boost source for Con or Cha.

"As long as his CR meets 17" is my ruling.

Quote:
The second issue is gear. By-the-book 96,000 for level 18 NPC? Ol' Ras above has about 115,000 worth.

Available money is equal to the value of his equipment in his original stat block.

Grand Lodge
4 people marked this as a favorite.

I didn't start this fire, I swear!

Thanks! Lopes toward the gnollcave to plan.

I have like... 3 ideas... which got me thinking...

Is multiclassing allowed?
Community Manager
1 person marked this as a favorite.
JiCi wrote:

I have like... 3 ideas... which got me thinking...

Is multiclassing allowed?

See this post.

Liz Courts wrote:
JiCi wrote:

I have like... 3 ideas... which got me thinking...

Is multiclassing allowed?

See this post.

Fair enough ^_^

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