Jack Mann's page

Okay, another creature from the ruined city. This one is a spider infused with enchantment magic from arcane toxic waste. Currently named the Parlor Spider, though the name Hospitality Spider has also been suggested.

Parlor Spider
CR 4
XP 1200
N Medium Magical Beast
Init +2; Senses Low-Light Vision, Darkvision 60ft; Perception +2
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DEFENSE
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AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (+2 Dex, +4 natural)
hp 39 (6d10+6)
Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +4
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OFFENSE
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Speed 40 ft., climb 40 ft.
Melee bite +8 (1d6+2 plus poison)
Special Attacks Poison (Ex) (bite-injury save DC 16, frequency 1/round for 6 rounds, effect 1d3 Con damage, cure 2 consecutive saves), Web (+8 Ranged, DC 14, 6 hp), Hospitality
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STATISTICS
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Str 14, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 10
Base Atk +6; CMB +8; CMD 20 (24 vs. trip)
Feats Ability Focus (Fast Poison), Skill Focus (Stealth)
Skills: Stealth +14
Languages None
SQ Magical Beast Traits
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SPECIAL ABILITIES
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Hospitality (Su): As a swift action, a parlor spider can implant urges into a target within 30 feet. The target must succeed on a DC 15 Will save or be compelled to use its next action to lay down in the nearest section of the parlor spider's web as though to sleep. This works as the Suggestion spell, except that the parlor spider doesn't need to speak the command or share a language with the target. This is a mind-affecting ability, and the save DC is Charisma-based.

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ECOLOGY
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Environment: Urban
Organization: Solitary
Treasure: Incidental

Parlor Spiders live in areas saturated with enchantment magic. They grow as large as men, and are striped brown and black, with thick, squat bodies. The strands of their web are transparent, and cleaned frequently. It takeas a DC 15 Perception check to notice the web from more than 10 feet away.

Parlor spiders prefer to use their compulsion abilities to bring prey to them. They will typically hide in their webs and wait until something comes within 30 feet, then use Hospitality to get them entangled.

I'm working on a ruined city that used to be the capital of an empire of mages that ruled the world, before hard-crashing a few hundred years before the game starts.

The idea is that the buildings are largely sustained by magic, but nature (it's in a giant swamp/jungle) has largely reclaimed it, despite the towers still standing. Flooded streets, vines wrapped around walls, and beasts living throughout.

Its filled with monsters and creatures that were either created by the ancient mages, mutated by centuries of magical toxic waste, or adapted after the fall.

Among other ideas, I thought certain parts of the city would be more strongly affected by certain schools of magic (similar to the runeforge in Rise of the Runelords, only less intentional in-universe). This would mostly be seen in the flora and fauna. I haven't decided to what extent these will be templates added to existing animals and magical beasts, and how many completely new monsters I'll add.

Here are ideas I have so far:

Abjuration: Higher defenses would be the obvious thing, but it's a bit boring. Possibly adaptive defenses, where they gain energy resistance to whatever type of energy they've last taken damage from? I thought about some sort of ablative armor, but that seems like it would be annoying to keep track of on multiple enemies in a fight.

Conjuration: Teleportation could be a fun effect. Possibly done as a move action, allowing them to avoid attacks of opportunity and difficult terrain.

Divination: I've got some ideas, but I'm not sure how "fun" they are. Enhanced senses are the most obvious, but those are largely static, boring abilities. I thought of maybe a creature that can see the future a bit and automatically avoid one attack per round, or possibly let a creature take 10 on attacks. However, I'm not sure how much fun those will be in play.

Enchantment: This has a lot of potential for fun hypnosis/charm effects. A giant spider that convinces you to lay down on its web, or a harmless little squirrel that charms you into becoming its bodyguard.

Evocation: The obvious choice here would be elemental attacks or qualities. However, I'm struggling to think of anything that really pops. Elemental creatures are already very common in Pathfinder.

Illusion: I'm thinking things like illusionary terrain and traps that force the party to take it slow as they explore. Maybe even lots of harmless creatures that are permanently invisible. The wizard casts See Invisibility and finds hundreds of tiny creatures casually walking along, completely unafraid. I like things that aren't necessarily threats, but are cool bits of setting.

Necromancy: Living undead. That is, living creatures that have many of the qualities of the undead. They're affected by negative and positive energy in whichever way is most advantageous to them. That's only really going to matter if someone tries to channel, though, so some other features: Negative energy attacks. Ability to create skeletons from their prey (after they've stripped the bones). Ignored by mindless undead.

Transmutation: I was thinking some sort of shifting of stats. Maybe something that can grow a big heavy shell for greater AC, or lose it to gain improved mobility and a bonus to attacks. Maybe something that can change its movement types. Something that can inflict transformations like that could be fun as well.

Other monsters I have in mind: dwarf versions of existing monsters, like sewer-running purple worms. Hybrid creatures like owlbears, experiments that have bred true. A creature with an extradimensional stomach that can use swallow whole on creatures bigger than it.

Those are the ideas I have so far. It's all still very loose, so I'm very open to ideas.

I agree, the staff is just awful! Why, I put in for room service, and it arrived twenty minutes late, and worse, the food was cold!

...Oh, you meant the magic items. Yeah, I've never bought them as a player, though I'll keep one around if it drops as treasure.

This is one thing I felt the 4e fighter did very well. He didn't force anyone to attack him, he just took advantage of the fact that they weren't paying attention to him to get extra hits in. Feats that worked in a similar way (getting attacks of opportunity when someone hits your buddy) would be great for a bodyguard build in Pathfinder. Either you're protecting your buddies because the enemy is attacking you instead, or you're protecting your buddies by making the guys attacking them go down faster.