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Hi everybody. I remembered that there's an item that traps your soul and spits out a copy of something with the Shadow Creature template tagged on. I believe it was the Nightglass or something along those lines, although a Mana Pool could probably pull the same thing off to convert a character into such a creature.

Back in D&D 3.5 tagging on the Shadow Creature template was a Level Adjustment of +2, and from the looks of the Race Builder that still seems to be approximately the case. Now that is way too powerful as a starting level character. So, just in case, I calculated it out using the Race Builder by using the template entry from Bestiary 4, pg. 238.

Now keep in mind that a regular Human is worth 9 RP and the template seems to add roughly 21 RP to that to arrive at the Monstrous Category of 30 RP, which allows us 5 traits per category. Granted, the Pathfinder version of a Shadow Creature is already weaker compared to the D&D 3.5 version, but I tried to nerf it further by using the Race Builder:

Note: The Clonepod from page 42 of the Technology Guide says that "If the clone’s body and mind are not from the same source, all six ability scores are permanently reduced by 2 points." I considered this a -6 RP by making it equal to three negative Flexible ability score modifications. There is no official ruling for this.

This basically got the character down to roughly the RP equivalent of a Drow. Now a Drow was a level adjustment of +2, so this is already weirding me out that despite all the nerfing I still ended up so high. But to get it further down I'm only aware of the Level Adjustment rules from D&D 3.5.

So here's the question. Is there any other Pathfinder rule that you guys are aware of to nerf this without making such a character unplayable?

How does Spellcasting and Spell Slots interacted with each other?

1) Can you have spellcasting ability without the need of spell slots?

2) Can you have spell slots without needing the spellcasting ability?

3) Do you have to have both to be a spellcaster?

4) Can I be a spellcaster though I have neither?

Example 1: Spirit Possession (Jade Regent: Forest of Spirits, p.15) or Fiendish Possession (Council of Thieves: The Infernal Syndrome, pp.56-63) but that's a big MAYBE.

Example 2:
I guess the Medium, Mesmerist, Occultist, Psychic and Spiritualist class would now fit into this category.

The Oracle seems to require the Mystery ability to be able to use its spell slots.

Pact Certain or Pact Insidious (D&D 3.5 Fiendish Codex II)/Infernal Contract (Pathfinder) and bargain for an additional spell slot. Does the spell slot allow you to cast without having spellcasting? ;
Magical Training feat [maybe?] (D&D 3.5 - Player's Guide to Faerun);
A pearl of power might also fit into this example.

Example 3: The caster classes; Belt of the Dread Emperor (D&D 3.5 Book of Vile Darkness); Rituals (D&D 3.5 - Savage Species)

Example 4: Occult Rituals (Pathfinder: Occult Adventures) - although the rules are not very specific on the topic; Incantations (D&D 3.5 - Unearthed Arcana); Sacrifice Reward System (D&D 3.5 - Book of Vile Darkness); Silver Spindle Ioun Stone; all traits that provide spell-like abilities; Kineticist class [maybe?]

Maybe I'm just splitting hairs but technically-speaking it had to have come from somewhere before there were spellcasting classes...

I'm in the mood to do some mental exercises. How can we create a fake Paladin just using feats, items, prestige classes and side-rules?

Rules:
Any third-party stuff allowed
Feats replicating abilities
Items giving abilities
Traits
Prestige Classes
Domains providing said ability
Side-Rules (Campaign, Mythic, Race Builder, Schools, Templates, etc.)

The problem I've already run into is that if we stay Lawful Good we can get lay on hands through Believer's Hands. But if we want something like Mercy we need to be Neutral Good to be able to use the Champion of Grace feat.

ABILITIES TO REPLICATE

Aura of Good = Gift of Discernment [Exalted] feat (Player's Guide to Faerun)
Detect Evil - Shining Wayfinder item (technically), Godsight feat [Player's Guide to Faerun] (3/day)
Smite Evil - Chevalier PRC Level 3, Bracers of the Avenging Knight item, Skin of the Celestial item, Touchstone (Catalogues of Enlightenment) [Elysium domain]

Divine Grace - Divine Protection feat (pre-errata)
Lay on Hands - Bloodstone of Arazni (Heart) [Artifact], Phylactery of Devotion (lay on hands 1/day @ 1 hp only) [Living Kingdoms of Kalamar], Believer's Hands feat (must be lawful good)

Aura of Courage - Chevalier PRC Level 1
Divine Health - Periapt of Health item (sort of)
Mercy - Merciful Vambraces item (sort of), Improved Eldritch Heritage (Solar) [sort of], Champion of Grace feat (sort of; must be Neutral Good)

Channel Positive Energy - Improved Eldritch Heritage (Empyreal), Greater Eldritch Heritage (Solar)
Divine Bond - Bracers of Celestial Intervention item (sort of)
Spellcasting - Spellcasting Contract,Lesser & Spellcasting Contract spells; Imbue with Spell Ability spell

Headscratchers:
Aura of Resolve - ?
Aura of Justice - ?
Aura of Faith - ?
Aura of Righteousness - ?
Holy Champion - ?

I'm thinking an Infernal Contract, Wish spell, homebrewed Divine Obedience feat or perhaps the Expert class from D&D 3.5 Unearthed Arcana for these last abilities...

Sure we can use VMC Paladin, but that only gives so many abilities, but VMC and archetypes don't mix either.

My concept is a Human Paladin (Combat Healer Squire/Hospitaler/Oath of Charity/Warrior of the Holy Light) with Planar Heritage (Tiefling). As I was going through the items I came across two that I thought would create an interesting combination:

1) Risen Blade

2) Spiked Focus Ward

First scenario:

Now, foci only seem to work when a spellcaster holds them in their hands. My paladin obtains Arms of the Naga (D&D 3.0 Savage Species, p.55) or Arms of the Marilith (Pathfider - Melee Tactics Toolbox, p. 28). These are the only items I've been able to find so far that seem to provide extra limbs. So, here's the idea.

The paladin has fully charged the sword with 5 charges of channel energy. He holds Spiked Focus Wards in the other open hands while wading into combat. A critical hit occurs. Since they are actually in his hands, the channel energy released from the weapon goes into each held Spiked Focus Ward. The paladin now uses move actions to drive them into the ground around himself. He touches each one and the channel energy goes into the sword AT HALF POWER. He picks them up again during combat.

Another critical hit. The channel energy goes into the spiked wards. He drives them again into the ground and releases their power. The sword now absorbs the channel energy AT A QUARTER POWER.

So, it would be 30 hp on the first crit, 15 hp on the second crit, and 5 on the third crit.

Would this work?

Second scenario:
The sword only operates when a critical hit occurs. Could this be used out of combat in that the paladin runs himself through, effectively performing a coup de grace on himself? After all, a coup de grace is an automatic critical.

When I found this Bloodline in Blood of the Ancients I immediately started to think of Iron Gods and the Technology Guide stuff.

This creates some questions regarding certain items:

1) Would this power allow an expended silverdisk to work as a battery once again?

2) Would a destroyed construct be considered an object in your possession? Because if it becomes broken, but otherwise functional, that means it can be repaired.

3) When used on a destroyed construct, will the constructs regain their memories up to the moment of their destruction (just like the Memory of Function spell) and have no particular inclination to serve the caster?

4) Does Time-worn technology lose the condition of being time-worn when destroyed so that we can by-pass the Technomancer PRC?

According to James Jacobs, in regards to removing the time-worn quality:

A miracle or wish could do it, but otherwise, there's nothing in the game at this point that specifically removes timeworn from an item.

Since it doesn't specifically mention time-worn technology, I want to say that even after three years, six months and 2 days later I don't think we have anything "at this point" to remove that quality. But what do you guys think?

5) Would this ability restore the Numerian fluids to objects in your possession?

The villains of the Earthsiege/Starsiege games seemed like a good idea to use for an Iron Gods spinoff campaign with Unity being a Prometheus stand-in. But what would be the best way to replicate this iconic, cybernetic race?

1) My first thought was an Intellect Devourer Effigy (D&D 3.5 Complete Arcane, pp.151-153) in conjunction with a Parasitic Soul spell. This should work when you read the Special Attacks section carefully:
An effigy loses all supernatural special attacks, spell-like abilities, and extraordinary special attacks for which a target’s saving throw is based on the effigy’s Constitution (since the creature no longer has a Con score).

Since the Body Thief ability is not based on the Intellect Devourer's Constitution score, and a coup de grace Fort save is based on the damage dealt, it should thus be able to serve as a metal brain. But the problem is that the body starts to decay to uselessness after 7 days. So, without a constant Gentle Repose spell magic item this wouldn't work.

This may even work for the Cybrid infiltration units that actually placed their brains into human forms, or the Dystopian Sno-Men human turncoats which became Cybrids. Either way it still might be a step up from the Android race of Pathfinder.

2) My other thought was to apply the same idea using the Tsochar from D&D 3.5 Lords of Madness (pp.122-123). But the inhabited body still loses up to 1d3 Constitution each day, which would require a Ring of Inner Fortitude.

3) Maybe a Brain in a Jar with an Animated Object chassis?

4) How about a Tear of Nuruu'gal (Lost Cities of Golarion, p.43)? The symbiosis ability is Extraordinary and the creature provides a ring of sustenance effect. However, the creature doesn't really take over the body.

Are there any other kind of bodysnatcher creatures which could perhaps be converted into robotic constructs and then perhaps turned into an Aggregate AI? How would you guys handle this?

ACKNOWLEDGE//SUBMIT! Send//transmit//download data to <Giver of Will> for decision\\directive.

The wording of the blurb regarding the Vindictive Bastard was a bit confusing to me:

So I created an ex-Paladin using that archetype for you all, in order to get your input whether this actually works the way I think.

These are obvious replacements:

Here is where I seem to get confused. Looking at the Vindictive Bastard you quickly see that it is primarily based on extraordinary abilities, except for Locate Ally (which is a Spell-like ability that is supposed to replace Detect Evil). SO, basically, we focus on having archetypes that are extraordinary in nature to keep them when we become a Vindictive Bastard.

This scenario came up recently in a battle with an earth elemental in the Darklands. Rather than attacking the thing directly, my character decided to collapse part of the weakened 30 foot ceiling. Would have been creative and ironic to have an earth elemental bludgeoned by hundred pounds of rocks because it would deal more damage with one action.

However, after the deed the earth elemental simply comes up having received no damage. The GM said, "Sorry, man. It was a cool maneuver and all, but it has earth glide. So, too bad." I get GM fiat and all, but looking at the earth glide ability it would seem that this is a traveling power when it is burrowing and not a means to pass through falling objects.

What do you guys think?

Recently read "Vault of the Onyx Citadel" (Ironfang Invasion) and "The Lost Outpost" (Ruins of Azlant) and wanted to figure out how you could actually create a stable way to create a settlement underground. Let's put our collective heads together to create something from the ground up, if you forgive the pun. This could also help those who want to play Cave Druids.

The first thing that an ecology needs is inputs and outputs. Flora & Fauna needs something to grow so that our population can in turn survive. I'm going to throw out some hazards, features and monsters and lets add to the list and come up what needs what to create a believable cycle.

A. Light

B. Heat/Lava/Magma

C. Water

D. Blood & Flesh

Ultimately, we can use humanoid blood as well as cattle to provide sustenance for carnivorous plants. I could see this being used as a form of Social Security system for Commoners. Modern blood donations are 1 pint of blood (1 pint = 16 fluid ounces), which equals 48 cp. Take half of that so the Commoner receives 24 cp (2 sp 4 cp) for a pint of blood (Book of Vile Darkness, p.45). Whole blood can safely be donated every 8 weeks. That way we have a supply to feed the blood-drinking plants.

Fauna

The Alchemist has been quirky from the start, but ever since the release of the Ratkin Opportunist archetype for the Fighter I finally got to ask?

Are bombs now considered extraordinary for everyone rather than supernatural? Or are they still only EX for the Opportunist and still SU for the Alchemist?

It would alleviate a lot of grief with my GM, but I could potentially ask him to create a new Alchemist archetype altogether. I mean I loved the Scavenger Investigator's Gadgetry change to Alchemy, too. But Investigators don't get bombs. We are like so close to an Alkenstar steampunk alchemist it's not even funny...

With the publishing of Occult Adventures (pp. 208-214) and Occult Origins (p.26), non-spellcasters are now able to "cast" spells - if you will - using rituals. Granted, even when successfully performed, each occult ritual causes a backlash that affects at least the caster leading the ritual, and often those assisting in its performance, by dealing damage or some sort of curse.

The question:

Since rituals are always - at minimum - considered to be Level 4, would a single ritual meet the requirement of Ability to cast 2nd-level arcane spells? Or does this not work because of the fact that we never deal with any slots like in regards with the Alchemist Discovery Spell Knowledge?

“You are not living, you are surviving.” - Michael Scott, The Necromancer

INTRODUCTION

Rating System:
(*****) OH YES!!!!
(****) Highly recommended.
(***) A solid choice.
(**) Okay, but nothing special.
(*) Usable, but not recommended.

Step 1. RACES

“You look like a protagonist.” - Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park

This is a list of of the races that will make decent Life School Necromancers. If it's not mentioned here it probably means that it's not even a decent choice. Some races might make good Mages in general, but not decent Necromancers. Thus, your race will determine a lot about how we're going to pull this off. Your choices are:

Step 2. BASE STAT LAYOUT

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” - Anonymous

These would be the most common stat layout for most people playing wizards:

START AS A YOUNG CHARACTER (Ultimate Campaign, p.194)

“Youth is wasted on the young.” - George Bernard Shaw

Step 3. TRAITS

Our character is but the stamp on our souls of the free choices of good and evil we have made through life. - John C. Geikie

1) Starting Traits

2) Money Traits

3) Knowledge-boosting traits

4) Other skills that might help:

5) DRAWBACKS

“Any negative trait, if known, becomes your ultimate trait. Unless you are Batman.” - Nikhil Sharda, Sans Destination

Hi guys, I'm working on a combination build using an Unchained Rogue to create a non-magical alchemist.

For the secondary class I naturally chose Alchemist, but I will only get the secondary features at levels 3 and 7.

Here's what I have thrown together so far:
This will be a human, with a very high Craft-alchemy skill. :P

Race Builder:

Feats:

Now here's where I'm stuck. I would like to qualify for the Promethean Disciple discovery. How could I get that without having to resort to taking Alchemist or Investigator levels?

I was thinking Thuvian Alchemist.
To meet those requirements I could have a Possessed weapon and, if necessary, get a spell-like ability or change in race through an Infernal Contract, or have the devil use Imbue with Spell-like ability or Spellcasting Contract (Mother of Flies, p.67), or even gain a template through Bestow Curse. THAT'S NOT AT ISSUE!

Maybe even Craft Device could potentially allow to meet the requirement...

Was there a FAQ that says that a +1 arcane spellcasting class PRC actually makes it equivalent to obtaining Alchemist 6 equivalent?

Otherwise, is there another way, perhaps?

Thanks for your time, guys. I appreciate it.

You guys did have a FAQ about this a while back...

However, my group and I have run into a snag; I need your input.

What exactly do you mean by "source?"

Are we talking 1 divine source, 1 special abilities source, and 1 arcane source stack, in general?

Can a Trait be a source?
Is an individual Player class a source?

Are different arcane spells each considered a separate source, or does that invoke the Combining Magical Effects rule again (unless the spell says otherwise)?

For instance, would this work?

Level 20 Wizard
TRAIT = Soul Eater (10)
TRAIT = Sun-Blessed (20)
TRAIT = Divine Deceiver (30)
Lvl 2 = False Life (20)
Lvl 3 = Vampiric Touch (60)
Lvl 3 = Vampiric Hunger (120)
Lvl 4 = Death Knell Aura (8)
Lvl 5 = Feast on Fear (100)
Lvl 6 = Lash of the Astradaemon (10)

The description of this Ritual of Mortification's (Chronicle of the Righteous, p.46) abilities gained are a little vague. Does the character gain the Channel Energy ability 1/day or 3 + CHA mod. times per day?

I. Introduction

"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." - Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz

With the publishing of Paizo's Reign of Winter Adventure Path we have been introduced to a connection with Earth through Baba Yaga’s Dancing Hut once again. Through the annals of Dungeons and Dragons we had to either use a portal located in the bowels of Castle Greyhawk, use the World Serpent Inn, use the Infinite Staircase from Planescape, use Dr. Why's Tardis rip-off, or have a spellcaster with the Teleport, Plane Shift or Gate spell. That got me thinking about how travelers from Earth would fare if thrown into Golarion (which would fall in the Oerthian parallel Material plane) or any other campaign setting for that matter which introduced magic.

As was explained to us in The Wizard's Three, from Dragon Magazine, none on Earth have ever actually cast a spell, neither do people from Earth have any spellcasting abilties. Though, technically, the D20 Modern system is supposed to be the effective handbook for Earth-based games, the problem is that a lot of abilities, skills, classes and prestige classes would become useless without bringing the Industrial Revolution to Oerth and turning it into DragonMech or Iron Kingdoms. Needless to say we have to establish some guidelines what happens to Earthlings in relation to the rest of the cosmology, as well as in regards to so-called "magical" spellcasting on Earth. This is a guide to making non-magical Earth characters work on Golarion.

II. Ground Rules

"Why do you people always question? Why ask why, when 'how' is so much more fun?" - Violator, Spawn (1997)

Law 1: Any spells from an Earthling, whether arcane, divine, or psionic in nature, have to come through the following: 1) an Outsider such as a deity, demon, devil, or other outsider; 2) a spirit; 3) any other
creature with innate spells, such as a symbiote.

Law 2: Spell-like and supernatural abilities are not available to Earthlings, unless acquired through a racial ability, a graft, symbiote/monster, or a template.
Axiom 1: Earthlings rely on extraordinary abilities, and class skills.
Axiom 2: If not in possession of extraordinary abilities an Earthling will solve problems through intelligence, wits, manipulation, science, teamwork and technology.
Axiom 3: An Earthling can avail himself of the abilities of animals, aberrations, constructs, magical beasts, outsiders, plants, symbiotes, undead, and vermin through coercion, negotiation, and/or taking them on as cohorts or pets.
Corollary 1: A feat can provide a supernatural or spell-like ability as long as it doesn't violate Laws 1 & 2.
Corollary 2: A feat can provide extraordinary or other abilities as long as it doesn't violate Laws 1 & 2.

Law 3: Spellcasting classes do not exist on Earth.
Corollary 1: Any abilities received from a spellcasting class acquired on a parallel Prime Material Plane, a demi-plane, Temporal Plane, Inner Plane, Outer Plane, Mirror Plane, Transitive Plane, Anomalous Plane
(like the Far Realm), Crystal Sphere, or similar plane of existence is still useable when returning to Earth.
Corollary 2: Spellcasting classes acquired on a parallel Prime Material Plane, a demi-plane, Temporal Plane, Inner Plane, Outer Plane, Mirror Plane, Transitive Plane, Anomalous Plane (like the Far Realm), Crystal Sphere, or similar plane of existence are not transferable to an apprentice/student while on Earth.
Corollary 3: Spellcasting and spell slots can only be acquired on Earth through a Pact Insidious or Pact Certain, or through a Miracle/Wish spell performed by a spellcaster who qualifies under Law 3, Corollary 1.

Law 4: An Earthling can acquire a Prestige class as long as it doesn't violate Laws 1 & 2.
Corollary 1: A prestige class which grants spells/spellcasting on Earth can not violate Laws 1 & 2.

Law 5: Any supernatural or spell-like ability acquired from a Class or Prestige class while on a parallel Prime Material Plane, a demi-plane, Temporal Plane, Inner Plane, Outer Plane, Mirror Plane, Transitive Plane, Anomalous Plane (like the Far Realm), Crystal Sphere, or similar plane of existence, becomes inactive while on Earth.
Corollary 1: Any supernatural or spell-like ability in a prestige class must already be possessed by an Earthling through a racial ability or through a template to remain active on Earth.

Law 6: Earthlings are not used to casting magical spells and the act is a physical strain.
Effect: This shows itself like the Mage's Curse from Dragonlance in that when a character casts a spell, s/he has to make a Fortitude save (DC 10+spell level) or be fatigued. Should the next Fort save on a spell cast fail, the character will be exhausted. A third fail on a Fort save while casting a spell will cause unconsciousness.

III. The How-to of Getting Power Boosts Early On

“Scotty, we need more power.” - Captain Kirk, Star Trek TOS

The biggest problem with nonmagical campaigns is that characters don't have a lot of things going for them in the beginning, and not being able to keep up with the power curve of the increasing monster challenge ratings. The following items can help quite a bit in giving your nonmagical characters that extra edge they need in order to take on arcanists, magical monsters, and overcoming the BBEG:

• Anti-feats

Anti-feats were introduced in Kingdoms of Kalamar, in the Villains Handbook, under a Wizards of the Coast license, and therefore could be included as viable D&D 3.X material. They work slightly different than Flaws in that 1) It takes two anti-feats to gain one bonus feat; 2) You can choose from a couple anti-feats at Level 1, but otherwise you have to roll percentile dice on a Table that's several pages long. However, the nice thing is that you can choose to push your luck, but you don't have to make the roll every level if you don't want to do so; 3) They reverse the bonuses and effects of the associated feat; 4) a feat and its associated anti-feat cancel each other out, so, for example, if you have Power Attack and you gain its anti-feat you just lost Power Attack and every successive feat that has Power Attack as its prerequisite. Therefore, anti-feats create a sort of randomness to the game with potentially fatal results to your character. There is a chance that the dice will steer your character towards a role that you didn't intend. Still, not everybody is a jack-of-all-trades and anti-feats are designed to show that in exchange for losing some potential you become better in what you specialize.

Resultingly, you can gain 10 additional feats by Level 20, gaining the first at Level 2 and gaining another every two levels thereafter. If you start as Level 0 characters (see Dungeon Master's Guide 3.0) you can gain your first bonus feat at Level 1.

• Flaws

Flaws, introduced in Unearthed Arcana, impose penalties and restrict character abilities. According to Unearthed Arcana you can only pick two flaws at Level 1, but the DM may allow you to take additional flaws after Level 1 based on role-playing. If your DM starts at Level 0 you might be able to take Flaws earlier. I prefer to give a flaw at Level 0 and another at Level 1 - then giving a bonus feat at Level 2 using Anti-feats. It makes my players feel like they're getting rewarded for managing to survive. Dragon Magazine provides flaws outside of Unearthed Arcana which expand the amount of limitations on characters.

• Taint

Introduced in Heroes of Horror, a character can gain a bonus feat when reaching moderate taint, and again when reaching severe taint. Of course, when the taint level falls below the specified level it renders that bonus feat inoperative. Moderate taint is manifested when the character gains enough points of corruption and depravity. For example, a character with CON 10 and WIS 10 would require 6 points of corruption before manifesting a physical symptom, and 6 points of depravity before manifesting a mental symptom, for a total of 12 points of taint to get a bonus feat. My personal favorites of mild taint are Palsy and Skin Sloughs for mild taint. One you can hide by saying that you drink too much coffee, whereas the other is like taking a hint from Austin Powers: Goldmember. Once you get Uncontrollable seizures it's like playing Julius Ceasar - he suffered from seizures, you know. With thick skin it's like when you've had a really bad sunburn or built up too much of a callus. Phobias are the best when it comes to manifesting depravity. It doesn't say what you will be afraid of, so you can come up with some weird stuff and have fun, or your DM chooses it and makes it more gritty.

How to gain taint:
Characters typically acquire 1 to 3 points of taint from mere exposure to evil, with an additional point of taint for every 24 hours of prolonged exposure (Heroes of Horror). However, doing that too many times will not only get old very quickly, but make your players either ticked off or want to avoid encounters as much as possible. Only use it in conjunction with certain creatures and exposing them to some really screwed up stuff. Otherwise, the quickest way would be to drop some Blood Rock into the game. Five pounds of blood rock can fill a 5-foot square, but must remain for 48 hours before it will affect the area. Once it does though, it doubles the threat range of an attack (but doesn't stack with Improved Critical, keen edge, or the Keen weapon property) and raises your taint score by 1 point for each critical hit while standing on the patch of blood rock (Fort DC 25). The easiest way is to have your players fight Taint Elementals.

Surge of Malevolence [Taint]: +3, +6 or +9 bonus on a single attack, save or check. Taint-based feats are dangerous but offer a lot of reward for proper application.

• Commander Auras

Commander Auras were introduced in Heroes of Battle. The quickest way to gain Commander Auras is to gain a commission from a ruler with a one-time award of recognition points that reflect that your group are adventurous civilians. Otherwise, you can turn your adventuring band into a mercenary company or the local milita and make sure you get into a lot of battles to gain Recognition points. Otherwise, have your group hire a mid- to high-level NPC and have him/her put your characters through Elite Training to accumulate 3 to 5 recognition points per training regimen similar to undergoing Officer Candidate School or Airborne, Ranger, Green Beret, Navy Seal, Spetznaz, or similar training. Each time you gain Recognition Points you then divide those points evenly between decoration and promotion points.

Any character with a rank higher than Private (Rank 0) has a commander rating, but since most games will only have a small amount of players you'll probably only have one player with a Commander Rating of 1 and 10 Promotion Points from the get-go. A Commander Rank 2 requires a total of 6 members in the group and 25 Promotion Points. To accomplish that you have to hire some mercenaries (see Arms and Equipment Guide). If the group is willing to pool their money for the initial hiring, then you might actually pull that off because their daily wage is only 2 silver pieces each. To pull of a Commander Rank 3 requires having 15 members in the group and a Promotion Point score of 75. If you decide to use mercenaries that would require a 315 gp investment from the start, or waiting until Level 6 to take the Leadership feat and obtaining a Leadership score of 14. In a worst case scenario that would require having an Aristocrat to provide financing. Every Commander Rating of 4 and above requires having the Leadership feat or being assigned to a military unit like the Order of Rekkenmark from Eberron, or as part of a campaign.

Unless otherwise noted, a commander aura provides its benefit only to allies with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher within 30 feet of the commander. Characters can benefit from more than one commander aura simultaneously. Commander aura benefits never stack. Commander auras do not provide any benefit to characters whose commander rating is equal to or higher than the commander who has the aura. Thus, a commander can’t ever benefit directly from his own commander aura. Each time the character’s rank improves, he can either keep his current commander aura or replace it with any other commander aura for which he qualifies. No character can ever have more than one commander aura unless specifically allowed (such as by a prestige class feature).

Animal Commander (Heroes of Battle, p.76)
Prerequisites: Commander rating 1, any neutral alignment, wild empathy class feature.
Benefit: +2 morale bonus on saving throws to animal and magical beast allies (INT score 1+) within 30 feet of you.
Verdict: Unless you're using a Generic Expert this aura is designed for Rangers. You'll get the most bang out of this aura with the Wild Cohort feat. Assuming that a Wild Cohort can take Wild Cohort, have a warbeast riding dog or warbeast wolf (which has 3 HD) which gives it a feat, so it selects Wild Cohort to gain a 2 HD companion. Since it has 3 HD, your Wild Cohort's Wild Cohort gains a bonus HD, thus giving it a feat with which to take Wild Cohort. Repeat until you have 120 wild cohorts to fill up the 30-foot radius around you.

Archery Commander (Heroes of Battle, p.76)
Prerequisites: Commander rating 2, any chaotic alignment, Point Blank Shot.
Benefit: +1 morale bonus on ranged attacks and +1 save DC of any volley of arrows for all allies within 30 feet.
Verdict: It takes 10 bow or sling wielders to pull off a volley of arrows. Unless every member of the group has a bow or sling, and your group focuses on ranged combat and sniping, you really don't need this.

Bloodthirsty Commander (Heroes of Battle, p.76)
Prerequisite: Commander rating 3, any evil alignment.
Benefit: +1 morale bonus on damage rolls against wounded creatures for all allies within 30 feet of you.
Verdict: Extra damage is nice, but there are four problems: 1) Your allies need to be able to hit; 2) the target/s need to be already wounded; 3) You need to be evil; and 4) You need 15 guys in your entourage to gain Commander Rating 3. That overall does not make this aura worth having.

Deathslayer Commander
Prerequisites: Commander rating 2, any good alignment, ability to turn undead.
Benefit: Your living allies within 30 feet of you deal an extra 1d6 points of melee damage as a morale bonus against undead.
Verdict: Rather situational in its usefulness in that you don't always fight undead, unless the campaign revolves around killing them on a very regular basis. Then that's up to 36 to 72 extra points of extra damage, depending on the size of the group, and extra damage is always cool.

Defensive Commander
Prerequisites: Commander rating 2, lawful good alignment.
Benefit: Give a +1 morale bonus to Armor Class to all allies within 30 feet of you.
Verdict: Higher AC means less of a chance to get hit, which means less money needed to be spent on healing items or needing downtime for natural healing.

Doublestrike Commander
Prerequisites: Commander rating 5, chaotic good alignment.
Benefit: On a natural 20 with a melee attack an ally can immediately make another melee attack with the same weapon or natural attack, using the same attack bonus. Range: 30 feet radius.
Verdict: Unless you have a group of 5 Aristocrats who can pool 2,100 gp this is not going to happen from the start. Consequently, this is for mid-level gaming. That set aside it's always nice to increase your action economy and being able to get more attacks means dealing more damage as well. If this perk would extend to all critical hit ranges this aura would be awesome.

Dwarf Commander
Prerequisites: Commander rating 3, dwarf, lawful good alignment.
Benefit: Dwarf allies within 30 feet gain a +2 morale bonus to Armor Class, or a +4 morale bonus to AC against giants.
Verdict: Unless your entire group plays dwarves this aura is useless.

Elf Commander
Prerequisites: Commander rating 3, elf, chaotic good alignment.
Benefit: Elf allies within 30 feet of you gain a +2 morale bonus on saving throws.
Verdict: Same as Dwarf Commander, only for elves. This one doesn't even give an AC bonus, which makes it not as desirable.

Feral Commander
Prerequisites: Commander rating 3, any neutral alignment, Handle Animal 5 ranks.
Benefit: Animal and magical beast allies within 30 feet of you gain a +2 morale bonus on attack rolls.
This aura affects allies with Intelligence scores of 1 or higher.
Verdict: Like Animal Commander, you'll get the most bang for your buck using the Wild Cohort feat. This one is even better because it actually boosts their attack bonus rather than their saving throws.

Giant-Killer Commander
Prerequisite: Commander rating 2, Small or smaller size, any good alignment.
Benefit: Allies within 30 feet of you gain a +2 morale bonus on melee attacks against creatures at least two size categories larger than they are.
Verdict: Unless you have a bunch of Halflings, Gnomes, or Kobolds in your group, and you're fighting Giants on a regular basis, this will be a pass despite the bonus to melee attacks.

Goblinoid Commander
Prerequisites: Commander rating 3, goblinoid, lawful evil alignment.
Benefit: Goblinoid allies within 30 feet of you gain a +2 morale bonus on melee attack rolls.
Verdict: Same as Dwarf Commander, only for bugbears, goblins, and hobgoblins. Unless it's an evil campaign, don't bother looking at this.

Healing Commander
Prerequisites: Commander rating 3, any good alignment.
Benefit: Whenever you use a spell or effect to heal damage taken by an ally, you can attempt a rally check as a free action to improve that ally’s morale.
Verdict: There are plenty of nonmagical healing effects that would allow you to pull this off. Any additional chance to get your ally Heartened or Normal keeps him/her from running away.

Maneuvering Commander
Prerequisite: Commander rating 2, chaotic good alignment.
Benefit: Any ally who starts her turn within 30 feet of you and moves at least 10 feet gains a +2 morale bonus on the next melee attack roll she makes during her turn.
Verdict: Bonuses to attacks are nice. This aura works especially well if you have a bunch of Scouts or other allies with the Skirmish ability.

Melee Commander
Prerequisite: Commander rating 3, any lawful alignment, BAB +2 or higher.
Benefit: Allies within 30 feet of you gain a +1 morale bonus on melee attack rolls.
Bonuses to attacks are always nice. There's a potential of up to 120 extra damage depending on how many subordinates you have.

Mobile Commander
Prerequisite: Commander rating 3, any chaotic alignment
Benefit: Any ally who begins his turn within 30 feet of you gains a 5-foot bonus to his speed. This benefit is considered a morale bonus.
Verdict: This aura works particularly well if your allies use reach weapons. This is a good boost for those who have the skirmish ability. Otherwise, an additional 8 miles of daily travel is pretty nice to go places.

Necromantic Commander
Your unliving allies battle the living with exceptional fervor.
Prerequisite: Commander rating 2, any evil alignment, ability to command or rebuke undead.
Benefit: Undead allies within 30 feet of you that have an Intelligence score of 1 or higher deal an extra 1d6 points of damage on melee attacks made against living creatures. This benefit is considered a morale bonus.
Verdict: The evil alignment and command/rebuke ability is a buzz-kill for this aura, because there are alchemical ways to create undead.

Opportunistic Commander
Prerequisites: Commander rating 1, any chaotic alignment
Benefit: Allies within 30 feet of you deal an extra 1d6 points of damage on any successful attack of opportunity. This benefit is considered a morale bonus.
Verdict: If you build your character around Robilar's Gambit this aura can make a quick end to most foes. If you can surround your opponent that's up to 36 extra points of damage.

Orc Commander
Prerequisites: Commander rating 3, orc, chaotic evil alignment.
Benefit: Orc allies within 30 feet of you deal an extra 1d6 points of damage on melee attacks. This benefit is considered a morale bonus.
Verdict: Same as Dwarf Commander, only for orcs.

Orderly Commander
Prerequisites: Commander rating 2, any lawful alignment
Benefit: Any ally rallied by you gains a 10-foot bonus to its speed for 1 round. This benefit is considered a morale bonus.
Verdict: Mobile Commander is better in that it is less cirumstantial.

Protective Commander
Prerequisites: Commander rating 1, any lawful alignment
Benefits: Allies within 30 feet of you gain a +1 morale bonus on saving throws.
Verdict: At least some way to bolster your troops against fear effects, poison, traps, and spells but it could be better.

Pursuing Commander
Prerequisites: Commander rating 2, lawful evil alignment
Benefist: Allies within 30 feet of you deal an extra 1d6 points of damage against foes who are frightened or panicked. This benefit is considered a morale bonus.
Verdict: The lawful evil alignment is a bummer because it would have good potential with a demoralization fighter.

Reckless Commander
Prerequisite: Commander rating 2, chaotic evil alignment
Benefits: Any ally who begins her turn within 30 feet of you deals an extra 1d6 points of damage on the next charge attack she makes during her turn. This benefit is considered a morale bonus.
Verdict: Chaotic evil alignment sucks, and unless you know what your doing with a charging horde you better not use this. Weapons set against charging hurt.

Runt-Squasher Commander
Prerequisites: Commander rating 2, Large or larger size, any evil alignment.
Benefit: Allies within 30 feet of you gain a +2 morale bonus on attacks made against foes at least one size category smaller than they are.
Verdict: Unless you play a half-giant or other large race this won't be that useful.

Sneaky Commander
Prerequisites: Commander rating 5, chaotic evil alignment, sneak attack ability
Benefit: Allies within 30 feet of you deal an extra 1d6 points of damage against foes that they flank. This benefit is considered a morale bonus.
Verdict: Chaotic evil alignment sucks; Commander rating 5 sucks even more. Who says you've got to be evil to surround opponents?

Steadfast Commander
Prerequisites: Commander rating 5, lawful good alignment
Benefit: Allies within 30 feet of you gain a +2 morale bonus to Armor Class against foes who move at least 5 feet before attacking.
Verdict: Additional AC is always nice but a Commander Rating of 5 is almost impossible to achieve at the beginning. This is for a mid-level game.

Tyrannical Commander
Prerequisites: Commander rating 5, lawful evil alignment, Intimidate 5 ranks
Benefit: Allies within 30 feet of you gain a +5 morale bonus on morale checks but automatically become panicked if they fail a morale check.
Verdict: Lawful evil alignment stinks and so does Commander Rating 5. The morale bonus is high enough but the fact that your allies become panicked on a fail is detrimental to a fight.

• Action Points & Hero Points

ACTION POINTS

Character Action Point
Level Maximum
1st 5
2nd-3rd 6
4th-5th 7
6th-7th 8
8th-9th 9
10th-11th 10
12th-13th 11
14th-15th 12
16th-17th 13
18th-19th 14
20th 15

Character Action Point
Level Dice (d6) Rolled
lst-7th 1
8th-14th 2
15th-20th 3

You can spend an action point to improve the result of an attack roll, a skill check, an ability check, a level check, or a saving throw. Certain feats and prestige class features allow you to spend action points in different ways, but this is their most basic use. If your character level is 8th or higher, you can roll more than one d6 when you spend an action point. If you do so, apply the highest result and disregard the other rolls. As a 15th-level character, for example, you can roll 3d6 and take the best result of the three. So, if you rolled 1,2, and 4, you would apply the 4 to your d20 roll.

You can declare that you are spending an action point after you have already rolled the d20, but you must do so before the Dungeon Master reveals the result of your roll (whether the attack roll or check or saving throw succeeded or failed). You can't use an action point on a skill check or ability check when you are taking 10 or taking 20 (Eberron Campaign Setting).

SPECIAL ACTIONS
Instead of altering the result of a d20 roll, you can use action points to perform one of the special actions described below.

Activate Class Feature: You can spend 2 action points to gain another use of one of the following class features that has a limited number of uses per day: bardic music, rage, smite evil, Stunning Fist, turn or rebuke undead, or wild shape.

Stabilize: When your character is dying, you can spend 1 action point to stabilize at your current hit point total. Spending an action point does nothing for you if you're already dead.

ACTION BOOST (Eberron Campaign Setting p.47)
You have the ability to alter your luck drastically in dire circumstances.
Benefit: When you spend an action point to alter the result of an attack roll, a skill check, an ability check, a level check, or a saving throw, you roll d8s instead of d6s and add the result to the d20 roll.

ACTION SURGE (Eberron Campaign Setting p.48)
By spending 2 action points, you can perform an additional action in a round.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +3.
Benefit: You can spend 2 action points to take an extra move action or standard action in a round, either before or after your regular actions.

HEROIC SPIRIT (Eberron Campaign Setting p.55)
You have a larger reservoir of luck than the average hero.
Benefit: Your action point maximum per level is increased by 3. Thus, you now gain a number of action points equal to 8 + 1/2 your character level at each new level you attain. This number also represents the total number of action points you can have at each level.
Normal: Without this feat, player characters receive and are limited to action points equal to 5 + 1/2 their character level at each new level they attain.
Special: NPCs normally do not have action points. By taking this feat, an NPC gains and can use 3 action points every level.

HEROIC COMPANION (Magic of Eberron, p.48)
Your luck extends to your companion creature.
Prerequisite: Companion creature, such as an animal companion, familiar, special mount, or homunculus.
Benefit: Your animal companion, special mount, homunculus, or other companion creature can draw from your pool of action points when resolving a roll. (Cohorts and followers cannot benefit from this feat.) You and your companion creature can each draw a maximum of 1 action point per round from your pool of action points. You also gain 1 extra action point each time you attain a level.

HERO POINTS

Introduced in Pathfinder's Advanced Player's Guide.

If used before a roll is made, a hero point grants you a +8 luck bonus to any one d20 roll. If used after a roll is made, this bonus is reduced to +4. You can use a hero point to grant this bonus to another character, as long as you are in the same location and your character can reasonably affect the outcome of the roll (such as distracting a monster, shouting words of encouragement, or otherwise aiding another with the check). Hero Points spent to aid another character grant only half the listed bonus (+4 before the roll, +2 after the roll).

Antiheroes: A PC can elect not to use the hero point system, instead relying more on his skills and abilities. Such characters do not receive hero points, regardless of the source, and can never benefit from their use. In exchange, such characters receive a bonus feat at 1st level. The option to allow such antiheroes in the game is subject to GM discretion.

Using Hero Points

Hero points can be spent at any time and do not require an action to use (although the actions they modify consume part of your character's turn as normal). You cannot spend more than 1 hero point during a single round of combat. Whenever a hero point is spent, it can have any one of the following effects.

Act Out of Turn: You can spend a hero point to take your turn immediately. Treat this as a readied action, moving your initiative to just before the currently acting creature. You may only take a move or a standard action on this turn.

Bonus: If used before a roll is made, a hero point grants you a +8 luck bonus to any one d20 roll. If used after a roll is made, this bonus is reduced to +4. You can use a hero point to grant this bonus to another character, as long as you are in the same location and your character can reasonably affect the outcome of the roll (such as distracting a monster, shouting words of encouragement, or otherwise aiding another with the check). Hero points spent to aid another character grant only half the listed bonus (+4 before the roll, +2 after the roll).

Extra Action: You can spend a hero point on your turn to gain an additional standard or move action this turn.

Inspiration: If you feel stuck at one point in the adventure, you can spend a hero point and petition the GM for a hint about what to do next. If the GM feels that there is no information to be gained, the hero point is not spent.

Recall: You can spend a hero point to gain another use of a special ability that is otherwise limited. This should only be used on abilities possessed by your character that recharge on a daily basis.

Reroll: You may spend a hero point to reroll any one d20 roll you just made. You must take the results of the second roll, even if it is worse.

Special: You can petition the GM to allow a hero point to be used to attempt nearly anything that would normally be almost impossible. Such uses are not guaranteed and should be considered carefully by the GM. Possibilities include casting a single spell that is one level higher than you could normally cast (or a 1st-level spell if you are not a spellcaster), making an attack that blinds a foe or bypasses its damage reduction entirely, or attempting to use Diplomacy to convince a raging dragon to give up its attack. Regardless of the desired action, the attempt should be accompanied by a difficult check or penalty on the attack roll. No additional hero points may be spent on such an attempt, either by the character or her allies.

Cheat Death: A character can spend 2 hero points to cheat death. How this plays out is up to the GM, but generally the character is left alive, with negative hit points but stable. For example, a character is about to be slain by a critical hit from an arrow. If the character spends 2 hero points, the GM decides that the arrow pierced the character's holy symbol, reducing the damage enough to prevent him from being killed, and that he made his stabilization roll at the end of his turn. Cheating death is the only way for a character to spend more than 1 hero point in a turn. The character can spend hero points in this way to prevent the death of a familiar, animal companion, eidolon, or special mount, but not another character or NPC.

• Worshipping Elder Evils

Want to pick up free vile feats? Have your character pledge allegiance to an elder evil and worship it.Consequently, you gain a free feat at Levels 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20. You got to be evil though to use vile feats, so I generally go for the Lawful Evil types although a lot of these seem more chaotically aligned.

When it comes to choosing Elder Evils it really comes down to what will least gross you out. In the Forgotten Realms there's Ityak-Ortheel, commonly called the Elf Eater, because who cares about elves anyway? After all, they have the Eldreth Veluuthra which hate humans. Otherwise there's Kezef the Chaos Hound who hunts and eats the souls of followers of Gods. So just make sure that you become a Lich, Demi-lich, or a Devourer and you'll do fine. Then there's Dendar the Night Serpent, a giant snake that spews out nightmares and wants to eat the sun and bring eternal darkness and destruction to Faerun. Feasting and spewing out nightmares; when does that get fun?

The supplement Elder Evils provides the following badies: Hulks of Zoretha, the Leviathan, Ragnorra, Sertrous, and the Worm Who Walks (all of which can also be easily introduced into Eberron and Faerun). If you are out to commit genocide and xenocide on an entire planet then go with the Hulks of Zoretha, if you want to turn a planet into Waterworld then choose the Leviathan. Want to turn everybody into ghastly aberrant hybrids (sort of like Slither without all the worms) and have the world covered in vermin? Choose Ragnorra. If you want to bring a slain demon lord back to life and have him reclaim his realm, then choose Sertrous. If you want to release Kyuss, and basically do the Age of Worms Campaign which sets into motion the last age of Mankind, then choose the Worm that Walks. Of course, there's a chance you might create a black hole that destroys the planet.

BoVD prestige classes are thus much easier to achieve with 5 extra feats from worshipping an Elder Evil. Likewise, the Dark Speech series of feats can be acquired with relative ease. Insane Defiance is cool in its own right just for making the character capable of redirecting mind-affecting spells for 1 point of Wisdom damage to somebody else as an immediate action. That target then takes -4 to his Will save. Rather harsh to have to become evil for a decent feat against Enchanters and Illusionists.

Note: Only intelligent characters of an evil alignment can use vile feats. Vile feats are granted to characters at the behest of a powerful evil agency — a god, a demon, or something similar. As such, vile feats are supernatural abilities rather than extraordinary abilities (Book of Vile Darkness, p.47).

Reading through my Pathfinder books I got to pondering: we have the Rahadoum region that has healing without magic, we have a weird gold dragon playing eugenicist on the island of Hermea, we have starmetal and crashed spaceship technology from Numeria, and we have firearms from Alkenstar in the Mana Wastes. It looks like we have the prototypical seeds for a non-magical society/campaign here for a Kingmaker-like brainstorm, though we don't necessarily have to put it in the Mana Wastes....

All this stuff is pretty nice but it's still rather hard to pulling off any kind of character that doesn't rely on magic and could survive in the world of Golarion. So then I got to thinking, well we have grafts which are considered non-magical items, and the "spells" to attach grafts could probably be replicated by Alchemists and Artificers with some tweaking. But, these kind of things are expensive and pretty much mid-level to high-level. Even symbionts and their abilities come with high price tab, but I was like "now there's a great idea for getting bio-weapons and bio-armor to stay on par with the magic item wielders." Such characters would probably not start getting viable until Level 6+. But there are already plenty of posts out there about symbionts, feat tricks, prestige classes, and certain alchemical items that could get this off to a rough start.

So I got to thinking, well symbionts are "monsters," so what other monsters are out there that could potentially be domesticated or used at small to minimum risk to allow for a society to use them to raise the standard of living?

So here are some ideas I've had so far:
1. Elementals
Elementals are a good source for grafts which is great for the adventurer economy. Also, Fire Elementals, especially, could be used to keep large parts of the region warm during certain seasons or to power furnaces (Example: Neverwinter - the fire elementals warm the river which keeps a large strip, including the city itself, free of snow.) Mephits could be used to power fireplaces. Earth elementals could be used for mining. Air elementals could power windmills. Storm elementals could be used to power vehicles and help in the research of minor electrical gadgets. Water elementals could be used to power watermills, assist in the creation of water vortex power plants, and to aerate water in general.
Problem: Finding a diplomatic means for getting them to do it and acquiring the elementals in the first place. Very tricky to say the least.

2. Vermin
Giant Bees and Giant Wasps can be used for large honey, royal jelly, and wax quantities. Monstrous spiders could be a source for spidersilk armor. Other vermin are not only useable for mounts, but for poison harvesting in general. Those with hard exoskeletons can be used for chitin armor. This opens up Poison Healer builds and an economy of vermin keepers and vermin trainers, nevermind the obvious black market economy. One way of getting high CR cannon fodder with a high Handle Animal check to whittle away at that big monster terrorizing the village.
Problem: Finding the vermin; training the vermin; not getting eaten or poisoned

3. Skinkite
This creature multiplies by absorbing and tearing off sections of skin. Useable to prepare a humanoid for getting a skin graft without having a Vivisectionist alchemist that specializes in skinning people.
Problem: Undead critter that could become a rapidly multiplying plague.

4. Gelatinous Cube
This ooze is great at swallowing up organic material such as plants, refuse, carrion, and even living creatures (and other kinds of evidence and witnesses). As such, build a hole of stone and metal, drop it in, and use it to get rid of garbage. This should cut down the cost of building sewers. Can't remember if they split when struck by a piercing or slashing weapon, but they do multiply if they get big enough from having absorbed enough food. Luckily they shrink if not fed for 6 months.
Problem: They can get big rather quickly, and as such a transportation team will require a metal or stone containment unit; getting dissolved while culling the numbers.

5. Bag of Devouring
These things are actually considered creatures even though they are listed as cursed items. So, use them to get rid of every kind of garbage that an ooze can't (including evidence and witnesses).
Problem: They're hard to find.

6. Resplendent Cloaker
AD&D critter that was upgraded to D&D 3.5. Unlike other cloakers it feeds by healing and uses color spray. It also draws attention by having a shimmering appearance. For those snappy dresssers that need to look great for those gala balls where you need to make an impression. However, at 100 pounds it's only for strapping lads and lasses, otherwise it would be great for adventurers and hospitals as a source of healing.
Problem: Ravenloft critter; could only be acquired through the World Serpent Inn, or having some sort of cursed...cloaker experiment... thingy...

7. Peltast
This symbiont can make itself look like any small leather item, so it can easily hide in plain sight as a belt, bracer, glove, etc. It requires little sustenance, needing to deal only 1 hp of damage to its host each day to sustain itself. Should its host become poisoned, it can neutralize the venom, keeping its host healthy. Since they are of Neutral alignment, they don't cause a problem like gutworms. But the Greater Peltasts have a Monster Summoning ability that they will use if they don't get fed blood.
Problem: Forgotten Realms critter (found in the sewers of Waterdeep); can only be acquired through the World Serpent Inn; when immersed in water, peltasts release waste byproducts, which stain and foul any water. So they can quickly turn things nasty and smelly. But if a poison healer wants to drink that swill, s/he can...

8. Carapace
An aggressive, mobile fungus that grows in the Underdark. Once it snatches its "victim" it turns into a protective horn-like shell on the skin. The host becomes immune to fire, poisons, mind-affecting spells and psionic attacks. Gives you Fast Healing 1 at the cost of 1 Constitution.
Problem: AD&D creature that needs upgrading to D&D 3.5; irreversably turns you Neutrally aligned (LN, N, or CN) (but I guess that could help when using Fiendish grafts and gutworms, etc.); lose 1 Constitution permanently; eats your bones and becomes an exeskeleton.

9. Deepspawn
Nasty aberration that can spawn any critter it has consumed. Useable for many economic aspects as well as power-leveling. Feed it hunting animals (deer, elk, boar, etc.) for sports hunting tourism, feed it livestock for a regular source of breeding stock and agricultural products, feed it hairy critters (mammoths, foxes, beavers, wolves, etc.) to harvest pelts, feed it rare critters (wyrmlings, etc.) for exotic materials and hides. No end to the possibilities.
Problem: Forgotten Realms-based monster; could only be acquired through the use of the World Serpent Inn or getting a Teleporting Wizard to get it for you (they go for 50,000 gp in Skullport); feeding it without becoming food yourself; chaotic evil critter trying to conquer the region with its offspring and spawn.

10. Power Symbiont
A critter that looks like a brown fungus but has the ability to reflect magic spells back at the source when caught even in an area spell. Also detects magic auras within 20 feet. Great for those later levels where you have to stand up to a BBEG spellcaster and if you don't have evasion, but can be rather broken.
Problem: Spelljammer critter in need of a 3.5 upgrade; actively seeks out and consumes magic items (expect player hating); very rare to find

11. Tween
An incorporeal outsider from the Ethereal plane. This little beauty is really a two edged sword. Their symbiotic relationship ends only if one or the other is killed. They feed off luck and whatever else they can find. Their useful power stems from the fact that they can see several seconds into the future and communicate this to their host. This allows all dice rolls by your PC to be made twice with the most useful being used and the lesser discarded.
Problem: All others within 50' are forced to make two dice rolls also and they have to take the worse roll. This can force your friends or foes into lethal failures of luck, potentially resulting in Total Party Wipe. Only for lone heroes.

Lets see if we can add more to this list to create a nice picture of a non-magical society/region that can stand up to those with magic. Lets limit ourselves to critters that have extraordinary and supernatural abilities. If a critter has magical or psionic abilities it should come at a detriment to the wielder (like symbionts), but preferably no spell-like abilities or spells at all. Any non-magical feat tricks, alchemical items, and specialized gear, etc. are also welcome.