Michael R's page

This thread feels a relevant place to drop something I've been doing with my current Pathfinder Campaign.

In summary I have had my players accidentally open Golarion to Invasion from beyond the stars; and to my surprise they did it on their own far earlier than I had intended them to do so.

The soon to be invaders, of whom they've fought a few advanced agents of, are Vampire Elves from beyond the stars. In the backstory they uncovered for the campaign, far before the modern era of Golarion there was an interstellar Elven Empire of naturalist inclination and with both an Aztec and Egyptian aesthetic.

This ancient space empire with colonies spread wide throughout the cosmos collapsed in the ancient past when faced by the advances of an infection upon the living. A cosmic horror in which I basically slapped Drakania together with old 3.5's Elder Evil's Ragnorra.

As their empire began shutting down, and falling apart, the Ancient Elven Sovereign used terrible and forbidden blood rites as the infectious and growing sickness of flesh was upon their capital. In a wave of undeath their capital world was engulfed in the bloodrite, and all that lived was reduced near to ash...save for the elves who had been turned to Vampires.

Leading a crusade across the stars (lifted from the Halo series in the borrowed theme of the Covenant vs the Flood) the Vampire Elves make their way across space at the speed of immortal elven agency to reconnecting their broken empire and turning all life to ash to hold the advance of Drakania and her infection.

My players are in the process of locating and salvaging a downed Androffan ship, a habitation module of the long crashed Divinity, to take to the stars to try and save Golarion.

Frankly Starfinder probably has rules I am on the cusp of needing and I am sad it won't be out until 2017. I would love to have the opportunity to help playtest the ship rules and the backwards compatibility with Pathfinder. Ah well, I'll be purchasing it straight away...but that isn't the whole of the stellar part of my campaign I am working on for beyond the intergalactic branch of my campaign.

Besides the cosmic horror threat of Drakania and the slow encroaching Vampire Elves and their crystal blood trees and Aztec/Egyptian/Now Cenobite visual themes upon NecroBiotech ships I have a few other galactic powers for my players to find themselves among.

-The Adroffan Diaspora. Following long outdated star charts my players will first find the fantasy world of Adroffan, its technological era long collapsed. Amid their star system they will find long cut off and floundering colonies still with advanced tech but stuck in stagnation and degradation. Later they will learn of other ships like the Divinity that went out and that other Adroffan outpost colonies may persist unable to return home.

-Localized single system civilization of more blatantly bestially featured Skin Walkers. Strength an important cultural feature, very Klingon Inspired. Stepping beyond their bounds to survey distant worlds and systems for acquisition, colonization, or potentially war?

-Agents of the Dark Tapestry. Well defined brain collectors and eaters with psionically controlled bioships and horribly aberrant physiologies.

-Standard Golarion stellar neighbors out of Distant Worlds.

-The various ruins of civilizations destroyed outright by Drakania and The Space Elf Vampires.

-Distant and scattered Sovyrian style Elves in established rebuilding and space diaspora.

-Assorted and varied humanoid and otherwise alien civilizations of varied advancement level.

Perhaps wondrous yet misunderstood relics from Numeria, or other gear from across the stars?

Toy Soldier

The imagination of children often calls out to the First World. Sometimes, when a child whose imagination bridges the gap between the material and the First World is noticed and targeted by fell forces from beyond the material plane, a spark of the vivid nature of the first world coalesces into a defender and champion. Regardless of whether this guardian fails or succeeds in his or her duty, it remains alive and sentient; becoming free to pursue it's own goal.

Standing eight to twelve inches tall, these beings are often composed of wood or tin, and with coloration or dress of many kinds as varied as there are races in the world what count toy makers or wood carvers among their number.

Type: Fey (Half Construct) 8 RP
- Low light vision
- +2 saves vs poisons, mind effecting effects, disease, and effects that cause fatigue or exhaustion
- Cannot be raised or resurrected
- Do not eat, breathe, or sleep unless they want to
Size: Tiny 4 RP
- +2 Dexterity, -2 Strength
- +2 size bonus on attack rolls & armor class
- -2 penalty on Combat Maneuver checks & CMD.
+8 size bonus on stealth checks
Reach 0 feet.
Slow Speed -1 RP
Weakness Modifiers (-1 RP)
+2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -4 Dexterity
Xenophobic Language Array 0 RP
-Language is cultural/racial language of Doll Maker-
Bonus Languages: Sylvan, Draconic, Common, Gnome
Fearless 1 RP
+ 2 racial bonus on all saving throws against fear

Total RP spent:

11

Proper Format:

The imagination of children often calls out to the First World. Sometimes, when a child whose imagination bridges the gap between the material and the First World is noticed and targeted by fell forces from beyond the material plane, a spark of the vivid nature of the first world coalesces into a defender and champion. Regardless of whether this guardian fails or succeeds in his or her duty, it remains alive and sentient; becoming free to pursue it's own goal.

Standing eight to twelve inches tall, these beings are often composed of wood or tin, and with coloration or dress of many kinds as varied as there are races in the world what count toy makers or wood carvers among their number.

Toy Soldier Racial Traits
+2 Wisdom -2 Dexterity: Toy Soldiers possess a keen sense of intuition even when new to the world, though they are stiff in motion due to bodies carved, smelted, or sewn without intent for action.
Tiny: Toy Soldiers are Tiny sized creatures and gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls and armor class, a -2 penalty on Combat Maneuver checks & CMD, and a +8 bonus on stealth checks. They posses a reach of 0 feat and must enter an opponents square to attack them, this movement provokes an attack of opportunity.
Short Step: Due to their lacking stature, Toy Soldiers only have a base movement speed of 20 feet.
Low Light Vision:
Fearless: Toy Soldiers receive a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against fear effects
Animated Anatomy: Objects brought to life, Toy Soldiers gain a +2 on saving throws versus poisons, mind effecting effects, disease, and effects that cause fatigue or exhaustion. They do not need to eat, sleep, or breath unless they desire to do so that they may benefit from them.
Fragile Life: If a Toy Soldier is slain, he cannot be raised or ressurected.
Languages: Toy Soldiers begin play speaking the racial or cultural language of the child whose need gave them life. Toy Soldiers with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Sylvan, Draconic, Common, & Gnome.

I gave significant thought to giving this race a Fire Vulnerability, because even though they are not outsiders...I just see Wooden, Tin, or fluff made toys the kind of thing that would suffer greatly from flame. Anyhow...I give you the Toy Soldier. What do you think?

I agree, challenge seems to be something you would only pull out in a tactical or roleplaying worthy situation. Additionally, I like the pull off...mechanically speaking the flanking could be shifted to a simple AC penalty...but I like the set notion so far.

This is going to see my winter playtest table.

I am extremely interested. Early speculations read elsewhere supposed the oracle to be a pathfinder equivalent of the favored soul...and indeed with the right focus and curse it can easily be...but within this preview lies the potential for so much more.

It brings an interesting versatility to fill a number of character concepts...and I am going to stare long and hard at my players to playtest this in my winter playtest campaign.

Stumbled across a neat trick with the battle dancer. Their Dance of the Pouncing Tiger (or Lion, or whatever) allows them to--effectively--pounce at the end of a charge, thus making a full attack action. Combine this with Flying Kick from Complete Warrior (an unarmed strike made at the end of a charge deals +1d12 dmg) and you have something akin to Liu Kang's bicycle kick from Mortal Kombat. Add the Two-Weapon Fighting feats for his/her off-hand for even more goodness.

Then, if its your custom and for good measure, toss in Snap Kick for an additional unarmed strike from Tome of Battle.