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Might as well:

Basic Space Suit
Aura faint abjuration and conjuration; CL 3; Weight 12 Lbs.; Price 5,155 gp
DESCRIPTION
This +1 padded armor has been enchanted for space travel. In addition to the +1 enhancement bonus to AC and -1 to its armor check penalty, it offers the wearer continuous protection from the void of space, as per the Endure Elements and Air Bubble spells.
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Air Bubble, Endure Elements; Cost: 2,655

Advanced Space Suit
Aura faint abjuration, conjuration and evocation; CL 3; Weight 15 Lbs.; Price 15,155 gp
DESCRIPTION
This magical padded armor works just like a Basic Space Suit (see above), except that it has a number of extra systems installed. It provides a +2 equipment bonus to Fortitude saving throws, a +5 competence bonus to Fly skill checks, and the wearer can choose to shed light like a torch in a 90-degree cone straight ahead of him/her at will.
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Air Bubble, Cat's Grace, Endure Elements, Light, Resistance; Cost: 5,155 gp

Take a Padded armour suit. 5 gp.
Make it masterwork. +150 = 155 gp.
Enchant it with a +1 enhancement bonus. +1000 = 1155 gp.
Enchant it with Endure Elements as a continuous effect. +1000 = 2155 gp.
Enchant it with Air Bubble as a continuous effect, treating it as a similar ability. +3000 = 5155 gp.
Space suit. Done. You're welcome. ;)
An advanced version could add some flashlights (Light spell, user-activated, different, +2250 gp), add environmental protection (+2 equipment bonus to Fort, different, +4000 gp) and/or install maneuvering jets (+5 competence bonus to Fly, different, +3750 gp).

EDIT: Had to revise spell effecg costs based on original spell duration. Did this from the top of my head; some other math might be off as well - for instance, when does an ability count as similar or different? Does this change the spell-likes because it's an armour? Anyway, it's just an idea to work with.
EDIT 2: Gah. Forgot for a second you need at least a +1 enhancement enchantment before you can start adding other stuff. But hey, you still get the idea, right? Fixed it.

If you're looking for an actual arcane-type Shinobi, simply multiclass Ninja/<your arcane class here>. Arcane Trickster and Assassin are options later on.

If you're looking for a Wizard that THINKS he's a Ninja, stick with wizard and add stuff to fluff it up. Any trait that gives you access to the Stealth skill, for instance, is the ideal starting place. Simply take proficiency feats for a few weapons. Also, if you can convince your allies, take the Precise Strike teamwork feat for sneak attack shenanigens. If you don't mind losing a few spellcasting levels (and being evil), Assassin is surprisingly easy to qualify for.

Only one thought: call it Dexter. Pokey Dexter.

Seriously though - make sure to abuse it for monster knowledge check at every opportunity and then some!

post also reserved for mutation listings

post reserved for creature statistic shenanigans

I took a quick gander about the forums with the search function, and couldn't find what I was looking for, so here goes.

NAME: Adferant
ETYMOLOGY: from the Latin "adfero": to impart, to contribute.
CONCEPT: a hive of inconceivably strange creatures that impart their unique abilities to their kin.

Okay, so I lied a bit - it's not really that new. Sue me. Or wait - don't sue; if they can put a license-free Ersatz-Godzilla in the official books, we can rip stuff too, right? :P

Seriously though; I'd love to hear some ideas how people would go about crafting these magnificent little critters. Intelligent discussions and what not. Build these bad boys from the ground up.
What CR-range would they be? Aberration, magical beast, or something else? How would their mutation-sharing work? At what range? How powerful should each mutation be? There's lots of factors to consider.

Personally, I was thinking a regular base Sliv-aherm, Adferant should be about a CR 5-7 aberration, statistically on the lower fringes of its CR-power-curve; then we could slap on the individual mutations. Depending on the mutation, the Adferant posessing it might increase its CR, but Adferants that receive those powers from their kin don't change in CR. Mutations could work as auras, anywhere from 60 to 100 feet. I would avoid mutations that change ability scores, instead translating those directly to the bonuses they provide.

C'mon, Paizo community - let's do this!

Get more Ranger levels. Pick a nice animal companion.
Seriously though - dotted for concept-awesomeness :D

Transport options? Oma, all the way. Or some Spelljammer rip-off ship thingy. Robo-space-squid for the win.
You'd need something to terraform planets with first, though. A quick glance at the Wikipedia article teaches us that it's a slow (and rather theoretical) process, but of course, magic would severely speed that up. Wish/Miracle would be the best bet, but perhaps teleporting/planar binding/summoning/gating in certain lifeforms could be of aid as well. Plants could create oxigen; elementals could provide, well, elements, certain outsiders might have usefull SLA's etc...
You could use the Ultimate Campaign (or Kingmaker AP) kingdom building rules to "populate" the planets afterwards.

Found it. And this, too.
Couldn't resist. 'sides, someone had to do it. Might as well take one for the team.

Agreed. Bonus points for ben indeed. And a cookie.
Also, I think Nearyn might be on to something - I remember something like that too in the undead traits - but it's not clearly worded. Open to interpretation, I guess - especially with the fast healing example.
Imbicatus, that's rather... pragmatic. Slooooooow, but pragmatic.

Interesting how this turned from a game-ruling question into a physics exercise :D

I'd say "yes", if purified and prepared, as suggested.

I would assume it is edible, but utterly bland.

Reminds me of Jeff Goldblum's teleporter epiphany scene in [i[The Fly[/i]. You know, the one with the steak... Also, this turns Alive into (an entirely fictuous) We Ate A Mountain.

I can see the RP potential.
Pally: "Forsooth! Our reviled rival hath closed yonder gates! We are well and truly barred from progress!"
Wizzy (trippin' bawlz): "...why not just, like, eat the WALL man? Y'know?" *cast*

That's it. My next character is a stone-to-slesh-then-summon-carnivores wizard.

As each of the templates counts as double HD for purpose of the spell, Bloody Burning skeletons would take up the hit dice of 3 (double + double = tripple - welcome to d20) regular skeletons, so he'd have less; about 6 or 7 - just saying.
It depends on the encounter setup, really. If he raises them during the fight with him, they're part of his spell repertoire (indeed, like summons), and are included in his CR; no extra xp is awarded. If he raised them beforehand, and the PC's face them with or without the Necromancer, they would be seperate monsters, increasing the encounter's difficulty CR-wise, and granting their own xp rewards. If he raises them and flees, however, you could possibly argue for both cases; it could be treated as a seperate, scripted encounter, or as part of the Necro's powers, respectively offering full or no xp - but you'd get half xp for the Necro AT BEST - he flees before the fight.
For ultimate shenanigans, do both. Double skellies, singular reward. Ensue evil gloating. Why would the Necro care if he isn't in control of all of his ultimately disposable and highly replacable minions that won't bother attacking each other while he himself can fly over the battlefield out of reach anyway?

Most magic items that recreate spells recreate them at minimum caster level with the minimum casting stat, resulting in stuff like, well, THAT. You could instead use a staff, which uses the user's caster level and stat, or craft the item at a Heightened (as per the feat) spell level, but the former would require the item used by either a caster or someone with a good UMD skill modifier (and also change the item, period, likely defeating its purpose), while the latter would also vastly increase the crafting cost (and therefor, market value) of the item. Also, not all items copy spells' effects directly; luckily, the rod uses the Poison spell to work off of.

Brainfart!

I like Dragonflyer's "false prophecy" concept. But there needs to be some kind of direct link between the PC and the necropolitan (is this a word?) source. It might be incredibly cliché, but - maybe it's a good/evil twin situation? Maybe his potential for evil was split from him and formed its own identity? Doesn't mesh too well wth the "from birth" component, but hey, that's what time-travel shenanigans are for.
Hmm. What about if the PC's FATHER was the good twin, with both him and the uncle pining for the same women? Uncle kills daddy, sets up the false prophecy when mom still says "no" in a fit of vengeance, thereby inavertedly setting up his own demise by reverse-prophecy? As a final eff-you he enslaves the village as undead. Because he can.
The Tome of Doom (R) could simply be uncle's diary/spellbook enchanted with basic illusions to reverse the text's context, detailing heroic feats and prophecies of impending-doom-by-kid instead of his own unspeakable atrocities and petty "if I can't have you" revenge-scheme...
Instead of a "man from no woman born" it could be a simple "only by my own blood" thing - for which the PC qualifies, of course. One body-meld-and-self-sacrifice later: boom. Of course, load-bearing boss is load-bearing; killing uncle McDead drops the curse, turning the civvies back to their living selves.

I was going to say "he touches himself" and watch the carnage, but darnit, DMW, why are you always so darn fast on the ball? :D

...does he clap slowly?
(dottin fo da funny)

Not to be a nitpicker, but...
Just browsing through the PDF, I bumped into a typo. Page 2, right column, line 9; "Ultimate" is mis-spelled as "Unlimited".
Other than that: dotting for later.

I played Star Wars d20 Revised, which used the WP/VP system. It's nice, but it makes critical hits nearly insta-kills - be warned! Mathematically speaking, I think it tends to favor the monsters - especially the bigger ones. The upside? It makes judging survivability a little less abstract than HP, adding a tad of realism to your game - in my opinion.

My orcs have tattooes of white ink as well.

"His ink runs green" would work just as well - and it'd be a tad shorter, rolling off the tongue easier...

This.

While the title is rather self-explanatory, I'll elaborate a bit, just to be clear: I want to know what your opinions are in as far as must-have races/class-abilities/feats/spells/items for dungeon-crawling are concerned, plus the justification for your choice(s). Complete character builds not required. All things considered, let's stick with official products, a single character, standard rules (WBL for example) and limit ourselves to level 13.

Mirrors. Ahahaha, mirrors. Not always easy to work into an undead dungeon, but my sweet lord can you have fun with mirrors. The reflection could be twisted in so many ways. Change, add or remove people, monsters, things or details. Then possibly let it have effect in-game.
Things only one PC can see, but only briefly. Paranoia can be fun.
Things only certain PCs can see, consistently. Party-wide paranoia can be fun too.
Things that look different in the mirror. Might be the mirror being cursed, showing something warped; might be the mirror being the only thing NOT cursed, showing reality.
Show something completely different (as in: not a reflection of the surroundings) at random.
Add "thematic features" to reflections. Maybe it's a zombie/vampire/demon mirror.
Sometimes, reflections are angry. So angry, they get out of the mirror to show you exactly how angry.
Sometimes, reflections are friendly. So friendly, they pull you in for free hugs.
The list goes on. Feel free to mix these things up; maybe the mirror picks a random target, shows them a zombie-version of themselves, and makes it step out to attack the real PC - but he's the only one who sees this, and is likely swinging his sword at his allies.

I believe a set of hunger rules for undead was introduced. Make increasing Will saves or go insane until you get some blood/souls/stat drain or what have you. They're optional, though.

Those are in the 3.5 Libris Mortis. Just checked it to be sure :)

As for a 3.5/PF vampire's blood diet, you get a hefty Stealth bonus and domination powers for a reason. Sneak up on a guy, take a sip, make him forget. No need to kill anyone.
Vampire the Masquerade/Requiem vampires had it even easier: a vampire bite has a euphoric effect on its victim, makes it forget it happened, and can be healed instantly by licking the wound. Plus there's tons of people that know about the world behind the scenes and are totally into that stuff, as DMW pointed out; there could easily be such junkies in other games.

Can't rightly say that I've read up the magic item creation rules for PF yet (I'm a 3.5 veteran), but I'm pretty sure that as far as pure enhancement boni go, +5 is the cap. You can keep adding other abilities that are +x-equivalents, and certain effects (like Bane) can temporarily boost the base +5, but actual enhancement enchantments cap at +5. I believe you needed to be an epic character to go beyond that cap back in the 3.5-days...

Some nice suggestions here; dotting this for... reference >:D
A click-around visit to the horror pages on tvtropes.org could end up being either a very productive endeavor, or a senseless time-consuming wiki-walk. Attempt at own risk. YMMV.

Yes, there is such a feat. It's called - wait for it - Spring Attack. As Imbicatus said, all you need to do is hold the charge of the touch spell. Granted, it takes 2 rounds... You're indeed better off wasting one round casting Spectral Hand than multiple rounds of casting and holding charges. Not only will you save one action economy, you'll even get more range on Spectral Hand than you would get from your Spring Attack movement. Ooh, and IIRC, a juicy +2 to the attack roll...

Blood drain is pretty dangerous at such low CR's. Just saying. But you can easily craft your own skeleton and give it the blood drain ability of a vampire - maybe lower the Con damage a bit - and the grab ability from, ehm, pretty much anything known for grabbing (think tentacles). A 3-HD bloody-template'd skeleton with grab and blood drain sounds about CR 3-ish, and pretty darn scary.

Don't forget to pimp them out with a black cape and a nametag that reads "Hello, my name is I vant to suck yoor blaaaaaad"

Not sure if this has any weight in the topic at hand, but game-technically "entering an area" implies a conscious choice of movement; forced movement, such as, oh, I don't know, falling into a pit maybe, is rarely a conscious choice. This MIGHT circumvent the restriction. Older edition vampires, for instance, couldn't willingly cross running water, but nothing would stop you from throwing them over - or into - such a "barrier".
Other than that, it's an interesting conondrum that isn't properly/clearly covered by the rules. I'd personally put this one into the hands of the GM.

I think RAI would have the wielder of the Vampiric Touch'ed Spell Storing weapon receive the benefits (thp) of the spell, whereas the actual parameters of the spell (CL, DC etc...) would be calculated by using the actual casting character's stats at the time of casting. Seems the most logical explanation to me, and that's how we've used it for years at our tables.

Off-topic, i know, but -
DrDeth, in 4E, if it's a save or die effect, the die IS in the player's hand; you practically never die instantly, instead you slowly regress into it, and get saving throws. For istance: petrification. You get about 3 saves to shake it off before it takes hold, doing stuff like slowing and dazing in the meanwhile.
The idea behind 4E's static defense core mechanic was to improve the flow of combat by placing as much of the die rolls in the hands of the acting entity, especially the short-term or instant effects; longer-term effects (e.g. those that receive saves) are left in the hands of their victim, during that victim's turn. This prevents jumping between different participants in the combat during a single turn.
Of course, each system has its charms. To each his own...

All this does is boost the swarm's Fort and HP; the increase in STR doesn't do anything really useful as swarms auto-hit for set damage and don't use their CMB/CMD that often. But yes, the feat would work on swarms, as per HangarFlying's explanation.

@Mykull: that sounds an awful lot like "minions" from 4E. Don't forget to adjust the XP reward for those!

If I say vampire, do I have to sparkle?

Hats off to you, sir ^^

Lich or vampire... Vampire or lich... Quite the conondrum. I'd have to go vampire myself, despite the drawbacks; the bag of goodies you get is just too nice to ignore. I do so like my... vices.

Some people seem to be butting heads over this. Can't we all just... agree to disagree?

Does your campaign have a patron of some kind the PCs work for? If so, he could be testing them before he actually hires them for plot-reasons.
Another option is a "hero academy" - kinda like Hogwarts but without the class-discrimination. Gives you an excuse to print spiffy Hero Academy Graduation Certificate handouts for your players to hang over their beds.
Third possibility: read over your plot - the main lines only - backwards. Start at the end, work your way to the start, linking the steps in a logical way - and when you get to the end (or rather, the beginning) think about how you could perhaps add another step in there to get the ball rolling. Try to dress it up as something mundane that eventually links to the main plot.

TRICK QUESTION! Hyena's are actually closer related to felines than to canines, genetically speaking :P

Dotted for awesomeness.

Providing Orcs still have dull grey skins, and Lizardmen still have green scales:
"A green skin with a grey tongue is a green skin with a black heart"

DMW is on the ball, as usual. Nothing to add.

...except maybe I tend to work the other way around: I customize my encounters to match my PCs, not the other way around. But to each his own... Oh, and whereas MAIN BBEG fights should be indeed epic (APL+3 or +4), sub-bosses could do with "regularly difficult" (APL+2 or so); wouldn't want them to outshine the main attraction. But that's just, like, my opinion, man!
By the way, how did a big freakin' kitty get a bunch of dog-likes to work for him? :P

Crazy old hermit rant, GO!

--Second False Crypt [1x CR 10 Noble Efreet, 1x CR 6/8/10 Tripple Poison Needle Traps]
--Reach lower levels of Tomb: [1x CR 11 minor story xp]
--Crypt Entrance: [1x CR 7 First Key Trap, 1x CR 17 Second Key Trap]
--The True Crypt: [1x CR 14 Semilich, 2x CR 8 summoned Greater Shadow (no xp)]
--Complete Amulet of the Void: [1x CR 11 minor story xp]
Negative Energy Plane
-The City That Waits
--Arrive at Moil: [1x CR 14 story xp]
--Tower of Morning

IN PROGRESS: ---Cursed Arch

The Semilich was an interesting challenge; rebuilding a Demilich as a construct required some tinkering.
With only Moil and the Fortress remaining, I dare say this truly marks the halfway point. Phew! Time for another short break...

EDIT: as promised, I uploaded the text files in ZIP format; download and remove the .RENAME extention. Feel free to browse through them, make suggestions, offer (constructive) comments ro advice, etc...
EDIT 2: WHAT THE F<censor>!!?!?! The file keeps getting corrupted after I upload it. GAAAAH! I'll fix it some other time.

Don't forget the fleet and run feats... </duh>

Whoops, looks like I skipped the bump-CR-once-class-level-catch-up-to-racial-HD-rule somewhere. My bad; please disregard my post then.

As a quick sidenote question: is a monster with racial HD ánd class levels geared for its class level, or its CR?

Traps are quick to build. So are simple monsters. Tee-hee...

--Misty Cavern: [1x CR 11 Demonic Nymph, 1x CR 11 Insanity Mist Trap (no xp)]
--Crushing Dreams: [1x CR 11 Devourer Juggernaut, 1x CR 9 Sleep Gas Trap (no xp)]
--Throne Room: [5(80)x CR 6 Levitation Pillar Trap, 2x CR 10 Teleporting Face Trap]
--Sarcophagi: [2x CR 13 Evolved Mummy]
--Swords And Boards: [8x CR 5 Floating Armament]
--Mithral Doors: [1x CR 11 Bleeding Mithral Doors Trap]

IN PROGRESS: --Second False Crypt

For those of you who are curious: around this time the PCs should have hit level 14.
I'm closing in on the final stretch of the Tomb, and I'm about halfway through my notes. That's good news; it represents a milestone, and functions as a much-needed morale boost.

...it's been almost a week, and no responses. Paizo community not feeling the vibe? :(

Any critter with racial HD that gets non-associated class levels can easilly be under-CR'ed.
Point in case: Take a basic CR 3 Ogre, give it the Advanced template for +1 CR, then give it 16 levels of Cleric (putting a +4 in Wis) for another +8. That's a 20-hit-die level 16 spellcaster with major base stats and magical equipment at only CR 12. Supposedly, this is an "interresting, tough challenge" for a level 10 party. U-huh...

--Shake It: [3x CR 6 Viper Swarm, 1x CR 5 Rumbling Room Trap, no xp, 2x CR 14 Slime Tapistry Trap]
--Trapped Intersection: [2x CR 6 Poison-Spiked Pit Trap, 1x CR 9 Spear Door Trap]

IN PROGRESS: --Misty Cavern: [1x CR 11 Demonic Nymph, 1x CR 11 Insanity Mist Trap, no xp]

CR 10 slime tapistries didn't have a lot of "oomph".
Guess what? Nymphs cast spells as druids. That means spell selection. Yaaaaay. I keep running into these... Oh well; I've been looking forward through my notes, I'll be casterless after this one for a while.

I forgot to add the actual CR (15) and its XP value (51,200) at the end of the first "complexity" entry.
Between the two CR 15 demons and the CR 15 skill challenge, that should be a CR 18 encounter; a nice challenge for a penultimate encounter, methinks.
I'm happy to see you like it! I just totally winged it as far as the skill check DC's go; I hope the whole "16-plus-level" thing works out... And of course, the same applies for the final CR/XP; with encounter/monster design being completely different between PF and 4E, that's the best I could come up with.

At low- and mid-level, wands are a Gods-send (sic). I'd either get wands with spells I don't know to increase the repertoire and versatility, or wands with spells I dó know and cast regularly as a backup for when I run low on spells-per-day.
For instance, if you find yourself casting Cat's Grace and Haste every single combat, you'll run out of 2nd level slots like crazy; get some wands of those two to save on spells-per-day. Or if you feel like you're lacking in direct confrontation, get some evocation-spell wands to help blast the ever-loving crud out of your enemies.
Unless your GM loves to throw in wands with spells nobody really uses, they're never a bad thing to find; if you buy or craft them, you get to choose the actual spells. And even at minimum caster level, some of the higher level wands are always a better option than plinking away with your crossbow; if you can choose between an attack roll vs. AC to deal 1d10 damage, or 5d6 fire damage in an area with a save for half, it quickly becomes a no-brainer.
I'd say "go for it"!

When designing adventures like these, I usually work my way backwards from the bad guy back to the party, story first, encounters later.

My take in this case; you could have an abandoned mine, a cave complex, or an old ruin somewhere in the wild function as the BBEG's hideout, and as such the epicenter of the blight. In order to find a center, you need to define and map the edges. Near the epicenter, the Cleric's undead forces will increase in power and concentration; the further away from the source you go, the more lively the encounters get. Don't be afraid to use normal creatures corrupted by the blight; fiendish animals work wonders, for instance. These corrupted beasts plus the blight might be what prompt the alchemist to hire adventurers to find the source, but maybe before meeting with him, the PC's can have a taste of what's happening.
So turning that backwards: the PCs hear of an alchemist in need of adventurers to gather evidence and data. On their way, they cross the edge of the blight and fight some angry forest animals. The alchemist hires the PCs to map the extent of the blight, then to work their way inward to find - and possible, remove - the source. The outer edges still have angry animals, but once the party travels inward, they start encountering fiendish animals, then undead animals, then humanoid undead. Finally, they come to the BBEG's lair, confront him, take him down, take his riches, have some tea and biscuits, the whole enchilada.
As for length: one, two sessions eh? You'll have to go two, with about 3 combats per session. You need - at minimum - the BBEG fight, one humanoid undead, one animal undead, one fiendish animal, and at least two or three angry animals - that's 7 combats right there.

Hope this helps!