RJ Dalton 89's page

So, even playing this game for two decades now (Pathfinder and D&D), I'm amazed how sometimes you can run into a situation that's never come up before, but here it is.
If you are invisible and you cast spectral hand, but haven't cast any touch spells through it yet, is the spectral hand invisible along with you until you use it to attack, or is it visible because it's separate from you?
I can't find anything on this anywhere. My original thought was to say no, but it says the spectral hand is an extension of you since it's made from your own life-force, so it seems like it might be invisible, too.
I think I might rule that the hand is invisible until an attack is made by you (with it or not), but is there an official ruling anywhere?

The current campaign I'm running is gonna wrap up soon, so I've started planning for the next one. One of my players has said that he wants to be an assassin.
Now, I've used assassins quite effectively as NPCs, but NPCs generally only need to be good for one or two encounters, so they've always been useful that way, but as I'm looking at the class as a playable PrC . . .
Yeah, it doesn't look very useful. It's primary gain is the death attack, but the DC for it is going to be significantly lower than the fortitude saves of many level appropriate monsters and needing to watch an opponent for 3 rounds beforehand takes you out of the fight for a long time unless you're sneaking up on a solo enemy outside of combat. Add to this, you give up a lot of extremely useful rogue abilities in exchange for that death attack, especially if you go by the unchained rules (which I do, because why wouldn't I?).
Am I reading this right? Also, if I am, what would people suggest as viable alternatives?

So, this goes along with something else I'm preparing. I'll spare you the full details, but I've decided to have the final boss of a tomb have an enslaved genie at his command. He mainly just uses the genie to perform menial tasks and make sure all of his deadly traps are functioning properly, but in the final fight, when the players get really pressed, he might panic and risk making wishes to try and help himself.
He's loathe to do so, though, because the genie does not appreciate its servitude and will screw around with his wishes. The idea is that the wishes will help him some, but not much. Here are some ideas I've come up with.

“I wish these intruders were not here!”

The genie grants this by teleporting the players back into the hallway. It takes them 1-2 rounds to get back, depending on how quickly they move. This gives the boss a little time to heal himself and then he's surprised when they show up again.

“I wish that I and my servants were at full strength again!”

The genie grants this, reviving any slain bodyguards, but also resets them to their normal full strength. This heals them to full HP and restores all of the boss spells, but undoes all the spell protections he cast on himself, meaning he has to cast them all again or risk fighting without them. He's extremely vulnerable without his spell protections, so this is more likely than not only going to delay the inevitable.

“I wish these intruders were not so dangerous!”

The genie grants this by creating a mass reduce person effect. They are technically less dangerous, though it helps very little.

"I wish these intruders could not harm me!"

He only makes this if he gets extremely desperate and it will not be the first wish he attempts and I'll let him make an intelligence roll to realize the mistake before he does. The genie will grant this by turning him into a statue made of adamantite.

So, posing this to the community here: does anybody here have other ideas of wishes a panicked bad guy might make if pressed and ways the genie might muck them up?

So, my players are finally at high enough level to face the Big Bad lich that's been the main bad guy of the campaign since very early on. But I've hit a bit of a snag.
The lich is hiding out in a tomb from ancient Nethyr (an Ancient Egypt expy). The Nethyrese are known for filling their tombs with deadly traps and puzzles.
But I'm kinda bad at coming up with puzzles. Part of advancing past the first level of the tomb requires them to find four keys and I want each key to be protected by a puzzle that they have to solve.
Anybody got any ideas?

So, this weekend, I'm going to run an encounter like I never have before.
The set-up is that the players are going into the polar mountains searching for the only known gate to Leng. There are no known maps of the region, so they're going in blind. I'm using that as bait to get them to go into this abandoned cabin they find. The cabin once belonged to some people who got trapped there, but they were since driven mad by the Wendigo that haunt the area. There are indeed maps, so they'll get what they want, but the place is a trap. It's haunted by lingering memories of the horrible crimes committed there as its residents went slowly mad, which will slowly increase in intensity, though they'll start mostly harmless and easy to resist.
The final confrontation will be that Ithaqua (the Great Old One) will be drawn there. There's no chance in hell that they'll be able to defeat Ithaqua, I'm aiming for this to be a survival encounter. In their preparations, the mage in the party managed to find a ritual that involves using a bonfire and some mystic incantations to make anyone who stays in the light of the fire invisible to Ithaqua and its followers. However, Ithaqua already knows that they're there and it will trap them in the cabin with a massive blizzard.
The progression of events that I've got planned is that the blizzard and hearing it howl from a distance (I'm basically using a gargantuan advanced wendigo with more spell-like abilities for Ithaqua's stats), signalling that they have an hour to prepare for its arrival. It will start by basically stalking around the cabin at first, then start breaking down doors and windows to peak in to look for them. If it doesn't find them, it will try to use it's howl to panic them and force them to flee the cabin. If they run out of the light of the protective ritual, it might see them and snatch them up and try to prove their minds to find out who they are and what they want. If they can't do enough damage to make it drop the character before it finishes, it will carry them off to some other location before returning.
The two ways of escaping this encounter are a) doing 200 HP worth of damage (but with epic damage reduction, ridiculous spell resistance and regeneration, that's going to be difficult), or b) finding the root of the haunt (the spot where the first murder happened) and cleansing it, thus breaking the wendigo's ties to the area, or c) simply surviving long enough that Ithaqua decides it's no worth the bother and leaving.
They'll have a cleric in the party who can buff them to resist fear, so they'll have a chance of saving against the howls and I'm going to play the monster as being contemplatively slow in the process of destroying the players. It could destroy them in an instant, but it knows they're not any danger, so it will take its time to find out what it can about them before deciding what to do with them. Doing any fire damage to the beast will surprise it enough to make it drop characters, so they'll be capable of rescuing people who get snatched up.

That said, this beast is . . . well, a beast. It's a CR 25 creature as I've built it and it's only because of the ritual I've given them that they even stand a chance of surviving. The idea is to basically scare the s$!! out of them with the threat of complete annihilation, while leaving them some opportunities to have some potentially heroic moments. I've been building up Ithaqua (calling it the Great Wendigo) for months now and I think I've got them well-aware that this is not a creature they have the slightest hope of killing, so surviving this encounter is down to how clever their preparations are, how thoroughly they explore the cabin to find out what happened there, with a bit of luck on the saves against fear (boosted by the cleric's buff spells) and quick action to save those who fail.
But something like this could go really out of hand if I do something that gives the players the impression that they actually could defeat it (it's got around 600 HP on top of everything else, that's pretty impossible).

So, just thought I'd check and see if anyone here's run an encounter like this, how it went and if they've got any advice on how to run it.

So, the sorcerer in the party just leveled up to 15 and gains this ability: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/sorcerer/bloodlines/bloodline s-from-paizo/undead-bloodline/
The page indicates that in the incorporeal form, he takes only half damage from physical sources if they're magical, including spells, but it says that non-damaging spells function normally. However, it says that they gain the incorporeal subtype and the subtype says that spells and effects that do not do damage have only a 50% chance of working.
So, how would you rule? Should I go with the 50% rule of the subtype, or the specific wording of the ability?

Working up stuff for the next series of adventures (going to Leng). There will first be a section of going through the polar mountains. Naturally, wendigos are a problem.
However, I wanted something a little more like the actual wendigo legends. So, I'm basically treating the wendigo in the bestiary as a greater form (an alien being that came down from the stars with Ithaqua). Only ithaqua itself can create true wendigo. People who are overcome by wendigo psychosis from other wendigo instead become lesser wendigo.

Senses: The creature gains darkvision 60 ft.

Defensive Abilities: Immune to cold. The creature gains damage reduction, Spell Resistance and regeneration as noted bellow
1-4 HD: no DR or SR, Regeneration 5 (fire); 5-10 HD: 5/cold iron, SR=CR+5 regeneration 5 (fire); 11+ HD: 10/cold iron, SR=CR+10, regeneration 10 (fire);
Vulnerability to fire

Stats: The lesser wendigo gains +2 to Str and Con.

Spell-Like abilities: The lesser wendigo can use wind-walk 3/day.

Attacks: Wendigos gain a gore attack appropriate for their size.

Monster Affinity: A lesser wendigo gains an affinity for monsters that worship or serve ithaqua, including Gnoph-Keh, other wendigo, and cultists. Such creatures will not attack it. Lesser wendigo may choose assist such monsters in their goals, and vice-versa.

Ice-walking: Lesser wendigo are never hampered by snow or ice.

Sunlight Powerlessness: When standing in direct sunlight, a lesser wendigo reverts to its original form, losing all of its wendigo powers. Most lesser wendigo take sills in bluff to befriend people during the daylight hours, leading them back to their lairs to be devoured at their convenience.

Lesser wendigos retain all class abilities from their former life and memories, but their personalities undergo radical change, causing them to become chaotic evil and hunger for the flesh of their former humanoid type.

Challenge Rating: +1 if bellow 4 HD, +2 if 5+ HD.

Not entirely sure on the CR increase.

So, my players will soon be going to Leng. They've got one more quest they're finishing up tonight and then after that, it's moving into endgame. They're going Leng because one of the players has become obsessed with it (at this point, I'm ruling behind the scenes that he's thought about it so much that he's attracted the attention of Nyarlathotep and it's planted a suggestion in his brain that he's coming there). He's justifying it by using a prophecy that they will find the phylactery of the Lich who's been the running villain of this campaign "in a place none living remember." So, he's thinking they need to ask someone who's not living and has decided that means that they should talk to the ghouls of Leng. The other players' characters aren't so sure this is the correct approach, but they know that the sorcerer is going to go to Leng either way because of his obsession and they're basically going along to try and keep him out of trouble.
Rambling a bit, sorry.

One of the encounters that I've had set up is that they're going to run into a village near the entrance to Leng where the people there worship Chaugnar Faugn. From what I understand of my research, Chaugnar Faugn is a lesser great old one (he was actually defeated in the book where he was created - true, by some b$%%!*@~ sci-fi tech that reversed entropy, but he was still defeated). But it was also made clear that Chaugnar Faugn had dozens of copies of himself all around the world and each was linked together, so I'm treating Chaugnar Faugn's physical representations of himself as avatars - a bit like Nyaralthotep, except that each avatar is the same instead of a different form. This means that each avatar is significantly less powerful than the rest of the great old ones, but his spirit, which holds the greater amount of his power, is basically unreachable by normal means. There character's are going to be either level 15 or 16 by the time they get there.

There's no entry for this old one that I can find (I find it a bit funny that the entries contain a really obscure one like Ran Tegoth, but don't have some of the more well-known ones, but whatever). So, I made my own. I want a few suggestions on where I should put his CR. Once I've got that set, I can adjust his stats to account for whatever level the players are at when they reach him.

Some notes, his HP and AC might be a little low for what I've currently listed his CR at, but I figure this is counter-balanced by his primary attack strategy to be grapple/pin (using the greater grapple feat) and then drain his victims, which gives him temporary HP, so his actual hit points can go up on top of having his other defensive abilities. Plus, there's that unspeakable presence that leaves people shaken if they make their save, panicked if they don't. Anyway, here are the stats

Avatar of Chaugnar Faugn CR 16
XP: 76,800

CE Large Outsider (Chaotic, Evil, Great-Old-One)

Init: +12;
Senses: darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, tremorsense 120 ft, true seeing; Perception +26

Aura: unspeakable presence (300 ft., DC 24)

DEFENSE
AC: 29, touch 14, flat-footed 27 (+2 Dex, +10 insight, +8 natural, –1 size)

hp: 202 (15d10+105); fast healing 10

Fort +19, Ref +10, Will +18

Defensive Abilities: immortality; DR 5/epic and lawful; Immune ability damage, ability drain, aging, cold, death effects, disease, energy drain, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, petrification, poison; Resist fire 15, electricity 15; SR 26

OFFENSE
Speed: 30 ft.

Melee: 2 Slams +25 (1d8+10)

Space: 10 ft.; Reach: 10 ft.

Special Attacks: drain, blessing of Chaugnar Faugn


Spell-Like Abilities (CL 20th; concentration +29)
Constant—freedom of movement, true seeing

At will—dream, greater dispel magic, nightmare (DC 20), scry

3/day—feeblemind (DC 20), suggestion (DC 17),

1/day— curse of Chaugnar Faugn (DC 21), Geas

STATISTICS
Str 30, Dex 15, Con 25, Int 24, Wis 26, Cha 20

Base Atk +15; CMB +26 (+28 bull rush, +30 grapple); CMD 38 (40 vs bull rush 42 vs. grapple)

Feats: Improved Grapple, Greater Grapple, Improved Natural Attack (slam), Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Awesome Blow, Toughness, Great Fortitude

Skills: Bluff +23, Diplomacy +23, Intimidate +23, K(arcana, History planes) +25, Perception +26, Sense Motive +26

Languages: Aklo; telepathy 300 ft.

SQ: otherworldly insight

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Drain (Su)
If Chaugnar Faugn pins a foe, he latches onto the foe with the lamprey-mouth on the end of his trunk. This attack deals 1d4 points of Con drain each round. Every point of constitution that Chaugnar Faugn drain grants him 1d10+8 temporary hit points.
This drain can be negated with a DC 25 Fortitude save.

Blessing of Chaugnar Faugn (Su)
At will, Chaugnar Faugn can designate any of his clerics to be blessed by his spirit. This blessing grants one half his charisma and wisdom bonus to his chosen cleric’s ability scores. This blessing causes a hideous transformation to take place. The nose extends into a small trunk, while the ears flare out, causing them to resemble the great old one. Chaugnar Faugn’s clerics usually cover these deformities if they have need to hide their true nature.
Chaugnar Faugn’s blessing is permanent and irreversible. If someone who has ever received Chaugnar Faugn’s blessing should betray the great old one, they instantly die of a heart attack. There is no save against this death effect.

Immortality (Ex)
Chaugnar Faugn is immortal and his essence exists in the far reaches of space. The statue forms he inhabits on any given planet are merely extensions of himself. If any avatar is reduced to 0 HP, that form immediately begins to deliquesce into a viscous, silvery, foul-smelling slime that remains behind for 1 hour. If a sacrifice to Chaugnar Faugn is made in the presence of this slime, that avatar immediately reforms, but remains in a dormant state for 1d100 years. Further sacrifices made in the presence of this avatar reduce this duration by 1 year per 10 Con worth of creatures sacrificed.
If a sacrifice is not made within an hour after the avatar’s destruction, then this slime evaporates, leaving behind no trace.

Unspeakable Presence (Su)
When Chaugnar Faugn opens his eyes, all within 300 feet of him are subject to his unspeakable presence. Failing a DC 24 Will save against Chaugnar Faugn’s unspeakable presence fills the victim with overpowering awe and dread. Creatures inclined to worship such a being immediately fall prostrate and await his instructions. Such creatures are usually drained unless Chaugnar Faugn has some particular use for them. Beings who have been affected by his unspeakable presence in this manner offer no resistance as he drains them.
Those not inclined to worship panic and flee for a minimum of 2d6 rounds. Thereafter, they continue to be shaken for 24 hours. Those who succeed, or who are normally immune to fear, instead are simply shaken for as long as they remain in Chaugnar Faugn’s unspeakable presence.

Curse of Chaugnar Faugn
When this spell is cast, it forms a psychic link between Chaugnar Faugn and the target. Succeeding a will save breaks this link; otherwise, Chaugnar Faugn becomes able to use his nightmare ability on the target regardless of distance. While under the effects of this curse, the target does not get saves to resist these intrusions. After one night per point of wisdom that the target has, these dreams begin having terrible suggestions implanted in them, ordering the victim to travel to Chaugnar Faugn’s nearest avatar and offer himself up as a sacrifice. This is treated as if it were his suggestion spell, although it allows the great old one to bypass the usual restriction against ordering targets to do harmful things, and only suggests they offer themselves to him. If traveling to Chaugnar Faugn’s avatar takes more than one week, they get to make another will save to shake it off.
This spell continues in this manner until the victim has successfully resisted three consecutive suggestions. Chaugnar Faugn can teach this spell to his worshipers; however, it is a secret spell which they are forbidden to write down. Attempts to create scrolls of this spell automatically fail. If Chaugnar Faugn’s worshiper is a caster who prepares spells, then they can prepare this spell without a spellbook, as if they had the Spell Mastery feat.

My players are on the way to Fantasy China as part of their current main quest - I may have mentioned this in other threads. While looking up some details on Chinese culture, folklore and mythology for world building purposes, I came across their folk magic. One specific type of magic is Wugu - poison magic. It's a form of black magic focused on deception, curses, causing hallucinations and confusion, and harming others. Thought I'd make some stuff around it.

If anybody wants to offer some advice - specifically on the archetype, feel free.

Wugu Beast
CR 6
XP 2,400

NE diminutive outsider (evil, native)

Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., detect good, detect magic; Perception +7

DEFENSE
AC 18, touch 18, flat-footed 14 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 size)

hp 30 (4d10+8);

Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +1

Defensive Abilities DR 5/good or jade; Immune Acid, poison; Resist fire 10, cold 10; Natural Invisibility

OFFENSE
Speed 5 ft., fly 50 ft. (perfect)

Melee sting or bite +11 (1d4-3 plus poison)

Space 1 ft.; Reach 0 ft.


Spell-Like Abilities (CL 7th, Concentration +9)
Constant—detect good, detect magic

1/day—augury

1/week—bestow curse (16)

STATISTICS
Str 4, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 4

Base Atk +4; CMB -7; CMD 18

Feats Dodge, Weapon Finesse (sting or bite), Improved Natural Attack (sting or bite)

Skills Fly +11, Knowledge (arcana) +5, Knowledge (planes) +5, Perception +7, Sense Motive +7, Stealth +18; Racial Modifiers Fly +8, Stealth +12

Languages Common (cannot speak)
SQ Poison Magic

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Poison (Ex)
Sting—injury; save Fort DC 16; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 con; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based, and includes a +2 racial bonus.
At its option, a wugu beast can forgo using its normal poison and instead use its bestow curse spell like ability.

Natural Invisibility (Su)
A wugu beast remains invisible even while attacking. This ability is constant, but the wugu beast can suppress it as a free action.

Poison Magic (Su)
A wugu beasts’s powers come from the poison it absorbs from its grisley feeding. Its primary spellcasting score is constitution and it must sting someone to inject a spell it casts into them.

Familiar Service
Wugu beasts are created through a year-long evil ritual. A caster wishing to summon one must gather one each of the five noxious animals (toad, scorpion, centipede, spider, snake) and put them into a sealed wicker basket until all but one of the animals has been killed and devoured. Once only one of the animals remains, the caster must gather 4 more of the noxious animals (one each of the types that did not survive) and add them to the basket again. This process must be repeated for a year. Once this has been completed, the caster performs the familiar summoning ritual as normal, transforming the final surviving animal into a wugu beast.

Wugu beasts are evil spirits of poison and corruption created by evil spellcasters. It takes a form that is an amalgamation of the five noxious animals used in its creation. No two wugu beasts look alike, though they all have some means of delivering their poison, either through a stinger, or through venomous fangs.
Wugu beasts are small, frail, and mentally weak, but make up for this frailty with their natural invisibility and their resistance to physical damage sources. However, as evil spirits, they are weak to both good-aligned weapons and jade. Wugu beasts hate jade and shy away from any object made from it, or any person wearing jade on their person.
Although summoned to be familiars for wugu witches, sometimes foolish or impatient witches try to summon one before they are powerful enough to control it, causing the beast to break free and go off on its own (usually after cursing the one who attempted to summon it). Such beasts travel the world spreading curses and causing misfortune wherever they go.
A wugu beast must devour a noxious animal once per month to maintain its powers. If its master forgets to feed it, or if it cannot find food on its own, it gains one negative level until it feeds again. If its total negative levels exceeds its hit dice, the body dies and the evil spirit is banished back to the spirit world.

Wugu Witch Archetype

Patrons - Must choose deception, enchantment, insanity, or revenge as a patron

Black Spellcasting
Wugu is the blackest of black magic and cannot be easily be turned for a good purpose. Any spell that heals, buffs, or in some way aids another creature or herself takes two spell slots to prepare. However, a wugu witch gains one additional spell slot that can be used to prepare a harmful spell. A wugu witch also may not take any hex that helps or aids another and must focus on harmful hexes. This ability replaces the witch’s familiar.

Poison Use
Wugu witches are skilled in the use of poisons. At the first level, they gain the ability to apply poisons without risk of poisoning themselves and a +2 resistance on saves against poisons. This replaces the witch’s first level hex. At the 10th level, the resistance bonus increases to +4.

Wugu Beast Familiar
At the fourth level, a wugu witch gains a wugu beast familiar as if it had taken the Improved Familiar feat. At the tenth level, the wugu witch gains the ability to cast one spell upon its familiar once per week. This spell replaces the wugu beast’s bestow curse spell-like ability until the witch casts a new spell into it. The first time the wugu beast uses this new spell-like ability, it uses the wugu witch’s intelligence score to determine the DC; thereafter, it reverts to using its constitution score.
This replaces the witch’s fourth level Hex and tenth level major hex

So, last session, a player used locate creature to find out where the most dangerous monster in the dungeon had gone. At the time, in favor of keeping up game flow, I didn't check exactly how it worked and treated it as detect magic (silly me).
Well, in an upcoming session, the players are going to be trying to hunt down some aranea who have infiltrated a foreign government for main quest reasons. The player specifically took locate creature because he knew he needed it for his plan and didn't want to buy lots of scrolls or wands for it.

Now that I've read the description, I know a couple of things. I know they can have trouble detecting a specific aranea because they have to see the individual creature up close, and even if they do see the one they're looking for up close, he'll be in his human guise at the time. Polymorphs fool locate creature, so when he reverts to his true form, it won't find the specific one.
However, the fortress where the aranea are based from has about 20 of them in it. The spell says that you can detect a kind of creature (but not type, which I interpret as "creature type" like aberation, animal, etc.). So, I figure that the spell can detect araneas if he specifies that creature kind.

But a few things come up.
1). the spell is apparently directional. You turn around and know when you're facing the creature you're trying to locate. Soooooo, the aranea they need specifically to find has a secret room where he hides in an alcove above the entrance to it, using illusions to draw enemies in (making them think he's at the back of the room) and then raining some spells down on them from above. So, if they're walking down the hall towards this room and the mage is using locate creature, will the fact that it's above mean he won't detect it? Or will it just detect as straight ahead until he passes it? Or will he know it's ahead and slightly above?

2). If he's detecting all araneas in the area, does he then get readings in every direction?

3). The spell is not concentration, but minutes per level, so my reading is that he can keep rechecking the position of what he's searching for as long as the duration lasts. But what kind of action is it to check? It does not say in the spell description that I've got pulled up. I would assume that it's either a swift action or a move action, but that's a huge difference in what you're able to do in the round you check.

Or is there something about this that I'm just completely getting wrong?

The Warden of the North is something I'll be setting up next session, but they won't actually fight it then because they're just passing through and they'll placate it with scrimshaw talismans. It's an advanced Ijiraq with some variations I'm putting on it and it guards the entrance to the mountains where a path to Leng can be found. The warden's goals are as much about keeping people out as it is keeping the monsters in. It can be placated if you're just passing through, but it won't allow anyone near the pass into the mountains.
Based on the monster creation rules, the simple numerical stats would place this as a CR 13 creature, but it's got some unusual unique abilities I've given it that I think make it a bit tougher, specifically the traumatic variant of its control winds spell, and its skin thief ability. But it also has a significant weakness in the inuksugaq. I'm not sure if one balances out the other, or if one tips the scale.
What do others think?

The Warden of the North (Advanced Variant Ijiraq) CR ???
XP ????
CN large fey (shapechanger)
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +27

DEFENSE
AC 28, touch 12, flat-footed 25 (+2 Dex, +1 dodge, +16 natural -1 size)
hp 189 (20d6+120)
Fort +12, Ref +16, Will +16
Weakness The Inuksugaq

OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +17 (3d4+5), bite +17 (3d6+5), gore +17 (3d6+5)
Ranged javelin +12 (1d8+3)
Special Attacks disorienting gaze
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 18th; concentration +27)
At will—dimension door, fly, hallucinatory terrain (DC 21)
3/day—baleful polymorph (DC 22), traumatic control winds (DC 23), cure critical wounds (DC 21), ice storm (DC 22), quickened sleet storm, summon nature’s ally V (Summon 1d4+1 megaloceros with +4 to str and con)

STATISTICS
Str 20, Dex 15, Con 22, Int 15, Wis 19, Cha 24
Base Atk +10; CMB +17; CMD 26
Feats Acrobatic Steps, Augment Summoning, Blind-Fight, Dodge, Gruesome Shapechanger, Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Nimble Moves, Spell Focus (conjuration), Traumatic Spell-Like Ability (control winds), Quicken Spell-Like Ability (sleet storm)
Skills Bluff +21, Escape Artist +24, Handle Animal +18, Intimidate +20, Knowledge (arcana) +16, Knowledge (nature) +19, Perception +27, Stealth +21, Survival +16
SQ Skin Changer, Skin Thief, hide in plain sight

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Disorienting Gaze (Su)
The warden of the north can level an icy stare at a creature within 30 feet. That creature takes a –20 penalty on Perceptionchecks and Survival checks for 24 hours (Fortitude DC 27 negates). The save DC is Charisma-based. The warden can use this ability while in any shape.
Hide in Plain Sight (Su)
The warden of the north can use the Stealth skill even while being observed. As long as it’s standing in terrain covered in ice or snow, the warden can hide itself from view in the open without actually hiding behind anything. The warden can’t use this ability while flying, and the ability has no effect when the warden isn’t in icy terrain.

Skin Changer (Su)
The warden of the north is not a normal shape changer, but a skin changer. It can transform into any creature it wishes, but it must do so by wearing the skin of that creature. This functions as a polymorph spell, but only allowing forms for which it has skins. The Warden’s favored form is that of the caribou (elk) and will always have a skin for that form. Generally, it will have two or three other skins for animals that live near its home (arctic hare, arctic fox, snow weasel, lemming, musk ox, or other arctic animals), and at least one human skin.

Skin Thief (Su)
When the warden of the north uses its baleful polymorph ability, it steals that person’s skin by swapping it with that of another, leaving its victim trapped in another form and allowing it to change into that person. This spell can only be reversed if the victim’s original skin is recovered. Using this ability requires a full-round action.
When it uses this ability, it can no longer change into the shape of the skin it switched out for its victim unless it has another skin of that type.

Gruesome Shapechanger (Su)
When the warden of the north changes form, it tears off the skin it’s wearing, leaving behind the former shape’s skin and a pile of blood and viscera. Moving through that space requires an acrobatics check of 5 + the original DC (7-10 on snow and ice).
Additionally, witnessing the transformation must make a DC 24 fort save or be sickened for 1 minute (10 rounds).
Traumatic Control Winds (Sp)
When the warden of the north uses its control winds power, any character who feels the winds must make a DC 23 will save or suffer the effects of the nightmare spell. For each failed will save, the character must make another will save (DC decreases by 2 each time) or suffer another nightmare the next night until they make a successful save.

The Inuksugaq
According to local legends, the warden of the north once played its tricks on a powerful medicine man, keeping him lost in its domain for over three months. Annoyed, the medicine man came back next summer and built a stone cairn in the middle of its territory and embedded a cold iron needle into it. This monument (called the inuksugaq) is enchanted with special medicine. If anyone touches the nail in the inuksugaq, all of the powers the warden has used on them are immediately undone and the warden becomes unable to use its disorienting gaze on them for 1d4+1 days, giving them enough time to get out of its territory. The warden cannot use its hallucinatory terrain within 1 mile of the inuksugaq, and if it stands within 100 feet of it, all of its spell-like abilities become non-functional.

So, here's the situation. The dungeon I will be putting my players through is currently occupied by a trio of hags. One of the hags in this coven has had difficulty with this group before, so they are not going to take it lightly. The only way into the top chamber where the hags are is to use a teleportation pad and the hags know the players are coming. They will be watching the teleportation pad with clairvoyance. As soon as the players look like they're about to use the pad, they'll cast forcecage around the arrival point (I'll put the duration on that at 1d4+4 rounds to account for a couple of rounds delay in them going up.
The way I have this encounter planned out, the hags want to first get rid of the mage (because he can dispel their magic as well as disrupt their casting and do serious magical damage, but will be the easiest one to take out with their spells). What I have laid out is that when the players teleport in, the coven will immediately target the mage with baleful polymorph to take him out of the fight. If the mage is polymorphed, the two melee focused characters will not be able to get to the hags, and the cleric will have to dispel the polymorph in order for him to be able to dimension door them out, or she'll have to try taking the hags on in a spell fight for a couple of rounds while the melee characters have their thumbs up their butts. If the mage gets initiative on them, he can cast dimension door and get the party out of the forcecage, meaning the hags will go for different tactics, since trying to use coven magic while in easy melee reach of adventurers is not a wise tactic for several reasons.

But as I was thinking about this, it brought up a question. If the hags are watching through clairvoyance and cast forcecage enough ahead of them coming up that it could have as many as 4 rounds of its duration expended, would that mean they could get a surprise round here? Because the players won't know what is on the other side of the teleportation pad, but the hags will be watching and preparing to act as soon as they arrive. If they get a surprise round, that kinda changes everything, because that means the mage has no chance to get initiative on them and it is totally a matter of making a fortitude save (the mage's worst) to avoid being removed from combat for at least 1 round - potentially longer if the hags can disrupt the cleric on the next round.
The surprise round can be avoided, obviously, if the players expect the hags to be on the other side of the pad, which they might. They know who they're going after in this fight (it's a dangling plot thread I've been meaning to wrap up for a while) and they're smart enough to guess the pad might go directly into an ambush, especially since there is the hag's charmed troll servant bellow that they could force to reveal the secret. If they state they prepare to attack as soon as they arrive, initiative will definitely resolve normally.

So, all that in mind, surprise round: yes or no?

Boy, Slavic folklore is a goldmine of interesting fairies. I think Paizo has missed a huge opportunity by using only a couple of slavic creatures in their bestiaries. Anyway, here's another one I found. Pretty confident on the CR of this one. It's not much of a fighter, but it could make a fun encounter for role-playing, and good role-play with it could lead to getting some good treasure.

Patuljak
CR 4
XP 1,200
CN Small fey
Init +4; Senses low-light vision; Perception +9

DEFENSE
AC 18, touch 15, flat-footed 14 (+4 Dex, +3 natural, +1 size)
hp 38 (7d6+14)
Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +6
DR 5/cold iron; SR 15

OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee dagger +5, 1d3+1, 19-20/x2
Ranged dagger +8 1d3+1, 19-20/x2

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th; concentration +9)
At will—expeditious retreat, invisibility
3/day—dimension door, ghost sound (DC 14), obscuring mist, glitterdust

STATISTICS
Str 12, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 13, Cha 16
Base Atk +3; CMB +6 (+8 to steal and disarm); CMD 17 (19 vs steal and disarm)
Feats Agile Maneuvers, Combat Expertise, Improved Steal, Improved Disarm, Run
Skills Acrobatics +11, Bluff +10, Disable Device +10, Perception +9, Sense Motive +8, Sleight of Hand +18, Stealth +17; Racial Modifiers +4 Sleight of Hand
Languages Common, Sylvan
SQ Change Shape, Rumormonger

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Change Shape (Su)
A patuljak can take the form of a frog at will as a standard action. This functions as beast shape III. Reverting to its true form is a swift action.

Rumormonger (Ex)
Patuljaks love to hear the latest gossip, and traveling invisibly allows them to overhear conversations others wouldn’t. They use all knowledge checks untrained and gain a bonus equal to half their HD, similar to the Bardic Knowledge ability. Three times per day, a patuljak can make a unique knowledge check to know some obscure bit of gossip, or rumor about a specific person, place, or object if asked. The DC on this check is 15. If they fail by 5 or more, then the rumor they know of is untrue and believing it may possibly be a detriment to those the patuljak shares it with.

Environment any land
Organization solitary or gathering (2–6)
Treasure double standard (stolen valuables and magic items, most of which are stored in a hidden burrow)

It is said that long ago, when the gods were trying to make man, they first created the patuljak. But it was too small for their liking, so they threw it away without thinking. Since they gave the patuljak no purpose, this fairy creature is lazy, self-interested, and troublesome. It travels the roads invisibly, looking for people to steal from, or to pester with mischief.
In apperance, the patuljak is similar to a dwarf, but shorter and less stocky. They dress in green tunics and wear tall, pointy hats topped with lily blossoms. They are quick and impulsive, but not very brave or skilled at fighting. Their laziness makes them unlikely to put much effort into anything other than minor mischief and theft, though some stories tell of patuljaks who dedicate themselves to the study of magic and become potent sorcerers.
Patuljaks are most likely to ambush someone on the road and steal from them. Although it would be incredibly easy for them to slip in and out unnoticed while invisible, patuljaks are compulsive troublemakers and will often announce their thievery to their victims, leading them on merry chases through fields and forests and laughing the whole time. If captured or cornered, they are most likely to try and bluff their way out of it, promising to give treasure to the players in exchange for letting them go, but giving them complicated directions that send them on wild goose chases after treasure that doesn’t exist. If this bluff is seen through or simply refused, they are quick to apologize and may be persuaded or intimidated into leading someone to the hidden burrow where they keep their stolen goods.

This is a being from slavic folklore. I can't decide where exactly I should put the CR. It's general stats put it around 16, but it's got a couple of abilities that I feel make it worthy of a higher rating, but I'm not sure how high that should go. He also is short on a few skills, but damned if I can think what else he'd need.

Lesnik
CR 18
XP 153,600
CN Medium fey
Init +8; Senses low-light vision; Perception +28

DEFENSE
AC 31, touch 14, flat-footed 27 (+5 armor, +4 Dex, +12 natural)
hp 250 (20d6+180)
Fort +17, Ref +20, Will +17
Defensive Abilities DR 10/cold iron and magic; SR 27 Immune poison; Resist acid 30, cold 30, fire 30

OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee +2 silver bewildering greataxe +18/+13 (1d12+9/19-20 x3)
Special Attacks: Change Size, Tickle
Special Abilities: Grant Spell Knowledge

Druid Spells Prepared (CL 20th; concentration +25)
9th—shambler, foresight, summon nature’s ally IX (2)
8th—control plants (DC 24), repel metal or stone, sunburst (DC 24), whirlwind (DC 24)
7th—control weather, creeping doom (DC 23), heal, sunbeam (DC 23)
6th—antilife shell, greater curse terrain, greater dispel magic (2), liveoak
5th—baleful polymorph (DC 21), commune with nature, cure critical wounds, deathward, wall of thorns
4th—bountiful banquet, cure serious wounds (2), giant vermin, rusting grasp
3rd—call lightning (DC 19), cure moderate wounds, neutralize poison (2), remove disease
2nd—sickening entanglement (DC 18), fog cloud, heat metal (DC 18), lesser restoration, resist energy (2)
1st—calm animals (DC 17, 2), cure light wounds (2), pass without trace (2)
0—create water, mending, purify food and drink, read magic

STATISTICS
Str 20, Dex 18, Con 28, Int 19, Wis 20, Cha 14
Base Atk +10; CMB +15 (+17 to sunder); CMD 33 (+35 to sunder)
Feats: Blind Fight, Cleave, Great Cleave, Great Fortitude, Improved Critical, Improved Initiative, Improved Sunder, Intimidating Prowess, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (greataxe)
Skills: Climb +14, Craft (metalsmithing) +15, Diplomacy +13, Handle Animal +15, Heal +10, Intimidate +25, Knowledge (geography) +17, Knowledge (nature) +27, Knowledge (nobility) +9, Perception +28, Perform (sing) +10, Ride +16, Sense Motive +18, Spellcraft +14, Stealth +27, Survival +20, Swim +14
Languages Common, Elven, Sylvan; speak with animals, speak with plants

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Change Size (Su)
Once per round, a Lesnik can change its size at will as a move action. It can become any size from fine to huge, adjusting all of its stats accordingly.

Tickle (Ex)
As a touch attack, a lesnik can tickle any person he chooses. If the attack is successful, the target is staggered by laughter for one round unless they succeed a fortitude save (DC 25). If the lesnik chooses, he can make this attack fatal. If he tickles someone for three consecutive rounds, they will die if they fail their fortitude save. The save DC is wisdom based.

Grant Spell Knowledge (Su)
Once per year, a Lesnik can grant spell knowledge, allowing it to teach a single druid spell to any individual it chooses. If the character is a caster who prepares spells, then the individual is able to prepare it as if it were on his spell list. If the caster casts spells spontaneously, it is added to his list of spells known. If the individual does not have a spellcasting class, then the he gains the ability to cast it as a spell-like ability once per day, using his wisdom modifier to determine its DC and his total HD as his caster level.
A lesnik generally only grants this boon to those who do great deeds to earn it.

ECOLOGY
Environment any forests
Organization solitary, couple (1 plus 1 dryad wife), party (1 plus 1 dryad wife, 2-4 pixies, 2-6 satyrs, possibly other fey as well)
Treasure standard (+2 silver bewildering greataxe, masterwork hide armor, other treasure)

The lesnik is the great protector of the forests. The animals and trees of the forest respect him and follow his wishes, and in return he keeps them safe.
The lesnik appears as a tall, barrel-chested man with pale skin and blue cheeks (because his blood is blue) and a beard that resembles moss and grass. He can choose to be any size he wishes, from as small as a blade of grass to as tall as the oldest oak tree. He carries a great, silver axe which he uses to cut down enemies of his domain, just as they would cut down his tree-friends. However, one should not assume that is his deadliest weapon; he is highly knowledgeable of the ancient magics of the forest, which he may teach to those who befriend him and prove their worth.
Lesniks tend to be friendly and warm towards visitors who show no ill-intent and has even been known to make pacts with nearby shepherds to protect their flocks. Despite this, he is fond of mischief and will use his magic to play tricks on those who enter his domain. It is said that if someone is lost in a lesnik’s forest, the best thing to do is to put on their clothes backwards. This always amuses him and he is more likely to aid those who make him laugh.
Two things are said to make him angry above all else. The first is knowingly harming any animal or plant in from his forest. Such creatures know of his protection and often show no fear of humans, making them tempting targets for strangers hunting in his domain, but woe to he who kills a friend of a lesnik, for his wrath is swift and deadly.
Secondly, the lesnik disdains those who steal from him. Anyone who picks the fruit from a tree, or a root from the earth, or takes any his personal possessions from his forest can expect him to track them down to retrieve them, or exact some form of repayment for the loss. They can surely expect some form of magical punishment if they make him go out of his way to reclaim his property.

Do people think the CR of this is appropriate? Also, any suggestions are welcome.

The Old Man of the Mountain
CR 11
XP 12,800
CN Large fey
Init +4; Senses low-light vision; Perception +20

DEFENSE
AC 25, touch 13, flat-footed 21 (+4 Dex, +12 natural, -1 size)
hp 147 (12d6+84+12)
Fort +13, Ref +12, Will +13
DR 10/cold iron;

OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.
Melee 2 slams +14 (1d8+7), staff +13/+8 (1d8+7)
Ranged rock +11/+6 (2d8+10)

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th)
constant— speak with animals
at will— charm animals (DC 16)
3/day— magic boulder, spike stones
1/day— wall of stone
1/week— earthquake

STATISTICS
Str 25, Dex 18, Con 24, Int 10, Wis 21, Cha 12
Base Atk +6; CMB +15 (+17 grapple/bull rush); CMD 22 (24 grapple/bull rush)
Feats Great Fortitude, Improved Bullrush, Improved Grapple, Power Attack, Self-Sufficient, Toughness, Weapon Focus (slam)
Skills climb +17, heal +11, knowledge (geography and nature) +13, perform (dance and sing) +13, perception +20, sense motive +20, survival +18
Languages Common, Druidic, Dwarvish, Giant, Sylvan, Terran
Special Attacks: Spit Lightning, Summon Earth Elementals, Rock Throwing

Spit Lighting
Once per hour, the old man of the mountain can spit a small bolt of lightning as a ranged touch attack that deals 4d6 damage if it hits.

Summon Earth Elementals
Once per day, the old man of the mountain can use his staff to summon 1d4 medium-sized earth elementals. This functions as a summon nature’s ally spell cast as a 12 level druid.

Environment Any mountains
Organization solitary
Treasure half standard
——

With his long white beard and a crooked staff
He tramps along while the folks all laugh;
With a twinkle in his eye, he passes them by;
The Old Man of the Mountain

The old man of the mountain is an ancient being of the mountains. He stands 9 1/2 feet tall, with long, white hair and a beard that goes down to his waist. Dressing in only bear-hide loincloth, he is often mistaken for a giant, but he is actually a fey creature.
The old man of the mountain is a carefree wanderer, living in total contentment in his mountain home. Fond of music and dancing, he is often seen capering over mountain paths to a hummed tune. While not exactly evil, poems and songs describe him as a randy fellow - “mad as an old march hare” - and prone to taking young women he finds on the road back to his cave. Such women always return with tales of amusing songs and dances that end in thrilling, if somewhat frightening, midnight chases. Occasionally these women give birth to hardy children with magic powers.
The old man of the mountain is not prone to violence, nor is he bothered by visitors to his home, but if forced to defend himself, he is fierce in combat, hurling boulders and laying into his foes with his fists and staff. If especially pressed, he can even create earthquakes to send his foes toppling off narrow mountain trails into the ravines below, where they will shortly find boulders rolling down from above if they survive the fall.
If met on friendlier terms, the old man of the mountain knows his mountains well and can help lost travelers, providing them with directions and provisions, as well as a little entertainment. He usually asks for little in return for his aid, though female travelers should be wary of the twinkle in his eye; it may mean he’s taken a fancy to them.

Sooooooo, one of my players has decided that his character has become interested in going to the plateau of Leng. His funeral, I guess. I'm working up some stuff for it and I've got this artifact idea that I want to make. What do people think and does anybody have any suggestions?

Crown of the Prince of Leng
Minor Artifact
This crown is the symbol of authority for the Leng Ghouls. It possesses several powers.

First, the wearer is immune to all mind influencing effects.

Second, the wearer is continuously under the effects of True Seeing.

Third, the wearer cannot be spied upon by magical means. All such spells and effects automatically fail.

Fourth, the crown grants leadership of Leng Ghouls to its wearer. When in the presence of the wearer of the crown, Leng Ghouls gain a +4 moral bonus to all saves except those caused by the powers or abilities of the one wearing the crown, and a +4 bonus to attack rolls. Additionally, the wearer can command Leng Ghouls to perform a task. Thereafter, the ghouls gain a +4 bonus to all rolls related to completing that task until the task is complete (this stacks with the previous bonus).

However, the crown does not grant inherent protection against other Leng Ghouls. Leng Ghouls understand that leadership comes with great risks, including the risk of that power being stolen. Only leaders who are smart and strong enough to protect the crown deserve it, and Leng Ghouls frequently attempt to take the crown from the current wearer.

Destruction
The Crown of the Prince of Leng is an artifact handed down by the outer gods, created by Nyarlathotep in the times and dimensions far remote from this. Only the strange beings who exist beyond the Chrysanthemum in the farthest reaches of the Dreaming have the tools capable of destroying it.

So, I'm trying to come up with some amusing ways to use the imentesh's (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/protean/prote an-imentesh) special abilities for an interesting encounter for the second time the players encounter it.
The first time, it appeared in the kitchen, looking through their cupboards ("Pardon us, sir, do you have any gray poupon?"). They didn't know what it was (first time players), so they didn't want to provoke it, so it just talked for a bit before using dimension door to leave without making any real trouble, aside from confusing them. The next time, I'm pulling a leaf out of the Daily Bestiary and having it cause chaos in a museum.
I want to come up with some creative and amusing things to do with it, though. I've already made plenty of fun with the museum itself, but I want the actual fight with it, if the players choose to directly engage it, to have more than just it attacking them directly. It will not at this point have use of Polymorph Any Object, as it's used that spell earlier to turn a 1/2 scale model of a dragon into a real dragon, but it's other abilities are free game.
Some ideas I've got so far are:

Shrink Object - it keeps a shrunken campfire in a pouch. It will pull it out, hand it to a player ("Hold this, please") and then speak the command word that reverses the spell. The player holding it will take 1d6 damage and drop it, which will set fire to the carpet on the next round if not put out.

Shrink Object - it will shrink an item of clothing a player is wearing, causing significant distress (still deciding how this might work mechanically; since it's on their person, I think I'll allow a will save to negate the shrinking effect, maybe they'll be stunned for one round due to the tightness if they don't make a fortitude save? Stunned seems a bit on the extreme side, maybe but I'm already allowing two saves to resist this). This will, as a role-playing element, also be somewhat embarrassing, as the clothes will rip after a single round.

Major Creation - messing with the rules a bit to make this usable in combat, as it technically isn't. I'm ruling that it can instantly create simple things, however they linger only a couple of rounds if it does not take the full ten minute casting time and the ability will still have a ten minute cool down, so it could only use it once per encounter. It creates a full ten cubic foot volume of rotten tomatoes in the air above a player, burying them unless they make a reflex save to avoid it. This does no harm, but they have to spend their next move action climbing out of the pile before they can otherwise act.

As you can see, I'm aiming for some of its actions to fall slightly on the cartoony side. Considering it's also got to be taking actions to defend itself, like using dimension door to keep out of range, grappling with its tail, etc. maybe I don't need any other ideas. Still, I'm curious to see what other amusing ideas other people might have.

Feel free to slide the rules a little bit.

So, earlier in the campaign, the players had an interaction with a noble who dabbled in magic and accidentally summoned a chaos beast. Now, a couple months later, I'm making a callback. The noble's mistakes left the door open for more chaos creatures to come through, and now there's an imentesh wandering the city causing mischief.

If the players talk to it, it will at one point ask them if they want to know a secret. If they do, I roll a die and determine what it does randomly.
Here's what I've put down on the list so far:

1. It will paint a picture while singing a song in its own language. It will transform nearby objects into the canvas and paint to do this. After it is done, it will vanish, leaving the painting behind. Attempting to study the painting requires a person to make a DC 21 will save, or fall into a rambling fit for 1d4 hours. Those who make this save gain a +1 insight bonus to initiative (1-25%), a +5 insight bonus to linguistics (26-50%), will learn the location of an Amulet of the Planes (held by a Frost Giant Jarl in the mountains of Frjoslheimr, 51-75%), or gain 5 bonus hit points (76-100%). The effect is determined randomly for each player. The painting will turn back into the objects it was made from 12 hours.

2. It will reach into their body and remove their soul, then fly with it back to Limbo, where it will take the soul on a journey that lasts half a life-time, but to the rest of the party, only takes about a minute before the protean returns the soul. The player in question must make a DC 21 will save, or have their alignment shift one step closer to chaotic neutral. The journey costs the player 2 points of wisdom that cannot be restored by any means short of wish or miracle, but they gain two points of charisma in exchange.

3. The protean will say, “Azuran, The Cruel likes things to be organized in even numbers, or in multiples of five.” If asked for more information, it apparently doesn’t even know who Azuran, The Cruel is and is confused as to why they are asking it such questions.

4. The protean shouts “Well, I’m not telling!” and then flies away laughing like a maniac.

5. The protean says something in its own language, which the players cannot understand, but which makes them feel queasy and nervous (treat as sickened for as long as they remain in the protean’s presence). It will refuse to repeat itself and be annoyed if they ask it to.

6. The protean will offer them a hand mirror and ask them to look into it. If they succeed a DC 21 will save, they can make the mirror show them any one thing they want to see. If they fail, they will see a vision of the Maelstrom, causing them to act as if confused for 1d4+1 rounds.

7. The protean casts polymorph any object on the player who answered yes, turning him into a random animal to give them a new perspective. The effect lasts until dispelled, or until it wears off. If they make their fortitude save, it will respond with, “Well, if you didn’t want to learn a secret, then why did you say yes?”

8. The protean will reach forward and put a hand on their head. In a flash, they will suddenly know the exact route they need to take to find the dreaded Plataeu of Leng, and where the entrance to the catacombs beneath it are: legend says the secret of eternal life can be found there.

9. The protean will chortle evilly and disappear. That night, it will appear in the dreams of the player who said yes and will sing a song. When they wake up, they will not be able to remember the words of the song, but will feel as if it contained some deep, powerful secret that could solve a major problem in their life.

10. The protean will go into a lengthy spiel of mathematical formula. It speaks rapidly, but coherently and players listening must make a will save of 21 or be fascinated by this. It goes on for long enough that anyone listening gets lost. The only thing they can be sure of is that it all ends with “= 0.”

I plan on rolling a d10, but they can potentially have multiple encounters with this creature and as not all of its actions are hostile, it may ask them this question more than once, so I'd like to have some other options to replace items already rolled so nothing occurs more than once. Do you folks have any interesting ideas? I'm sure you do.

So, two questions. The first:
Well, it's about caster levels for dispel checks. The way I read it, the spell's DC to be dispelled is 11 plus the caster's caster level. Fine and good. Except that all the spells to actually dispel magic have caps on how much of your own caster level you can add (max of 10 for standard dispel, 15 for greater dispel and break enchantment). This means that if a caster is high enough level, the spells become nearly impossible to dispel. If a caster is actually above level 35 (unlikely to happen outside of epic game play) the spells are actually impossible to dispel, no matter how high a level you are. Even then, when you start to get above 15th level, the spells become increasingly difficult to dispel even for very high level casters, because of the cap. So, my question is, what is the game balance justification for the CL cap on dispel magic?

The second question is about the Vital strike feat. This feat is worded in a way that seems to miss some critical information, because every time I read it, I get a different interpretation of it. Those interpretations range from totally useless to so good there's no reason why any fighter with half a brain wouldn't want to take it.
The way I'm reading it now, it seems to be that every time you make an attack (whether it's just taking one attack, or doing a full attack), one of your attacks can deal double damage. It seems to be that you can do this once per attack action. So, if you do a full attack, one of those attacks deals double damage. But the way it's worded seems to suggest you could also use it for attacks of opportunity in the same round you've made a full attack, because it says once per attack action, and my reading of the rules is that attacks of opportunity count as their own attack actions. In that sense, if you combined it with combat reflexes, you could make a vital strike for every attack of opportunity, plus one for your regular attack. That seems like it might be a bit excessive. Does the book perhaps mean once per round?

Just what it says. Would you count algae coating a wet surface as slightly or severely slippery? I'm honestly surprised it's never come up before in all my years of gaming, but this is the first time. The enemies are in the middle of a raised platform surrounded by a 40-foot pool that is two feet deep with algea coating much of the ground beneath it. They are relying on the players being hampered by the water and slippery ground to keep them from getting to them immediately, giving their spell caster a chance to get off a spell before the players can get close enough to engage them.
My figuring is that the two feet of water makes them move at half speed, but an acrobatics check could allow them to move at full speed with a risk of slipping and falling because of the slippery ground. Depending on how slippery we'd consider algae, the DC is either 12 or 15. A very slight difference, but enough that it could matters, especially to characters without ranks in acrobatics.

One of my new players - first time gamer, actually - has been asking questions about things he can do with his character. I can answer most of them, but there's one thing he's looking for specifically that I'm not sure about.

Is there a class feature in either a variant class or prestige class that allows a sorcerer to hover a foot above the ground as opposed to walking? I remember a class (Elocar, I think it was called) in the 3E psionics handbook that gained this ability. I know that levitate can do something similar, but it only allows up and down, not horizontal movement.
It's not a big thing and I could probably come up with a house rule or something similar if there isn't anything, but if there is, that's easier on me.

Anybody seen something like this?

So, an adventure I'm setting up for some players is going to feature a small cult of Rovagug that's managed to take over a dwarf fortress with the help of a mid-level demon (who will be, for lack of a better term, the final boss of the dungeon).
I was looking into Rovagug and it says that his clerics get to prepare Baleful Polymorph as 4th level spell.

I'm curious if there's a reason for this. I mean, that seems like a really unusual spell for a god who's goal is the destruction of all life to grant to his clerics that other gods don't (I'd be more inclined to add Disintegrate, if anything). There is no explanation for it that I can find. I mean, for story reasons, I'm probably going to ignore that anyway (long story involving one of the NPC party members for our usually small group of only 2 players), but I'm still curious from an in-world perspective if there's a reason for it.

So, I'm prepping a campaign that I'm going to run this December. The overall tone is going to be Lovecraftian, where I reveal a connection between the Aboleth scourge and an ancient aquatic race that are now extinct but were once one of the four Great Races of my world - the backstory that the ancient race actually created the Aboleth, elder thing style, by drawing cells from a biological source they didn't understand (which turns out to be a Qlippoth Lord) and were ultimately destroyed by it. The only thing that prevented the Aboleths from conquering the whole planet was the domination of the dragons over the land at the time, who defeated and drove them back to the deepest depths of the seas.
The first adventure I'm running (starting the players at 3rd level) will be primarily using Skum (or Ulat-Kini) as the monsters that the adventure builds up to (only a few in this first adventure, maybe 3 total, but it hints at a deeper threat). The style of it will basically be Shadow Over Innsmouth meets Stepford Wives.

Anyway, to kinda play into the Lovecraftian tone, I want to develop a Madman's Intuition ability, by which an insane cultist can sometimes learn things he shouldn't be able to.

The first effect of it is that the madman is, naturally, irrevocably insane. Their wisdom is permanently reduced by 8 points and cannot ever be healed. But, in place of wisdom, the individual uses his charisma modifier for all related skills, saves, and spells (if a divine caster). This basically just switches what ability is used, although they are more at risk to spells or effects that drain wisdom.

The second effect is that a certain number of times per day, the madman can make a Sense Motive check to learn something he shouldn't know. This is opposed by a bluff check, but since the subject doesn't know what the madman is trying to learn, their bluff check is at -4. This could allow a madman to learn a dark secret about the character's past, a secret about a location (in this case, the Sense Motive check is at a base of 15, but can be increased depending on the how obscure the secret might be), or could even use Sense Motive in place of Perception to locate a character.
However! If the madman fails his check, his intuition is totally off-base and he "learns" something completely false, which might lead to them making wild accusations, or preparing for an attack that is not planned, or preparing for a real planned attack in an unhelpful way. In the case of using Sense Motive to spot a hiding person, he may become convinced that the hider is in some other room (or in a different building altogether) and suddenly feel a compulsive need to search them out in the false location.

My main question for you all here is this: does the failure result balance the usefulness of the ability, and if it doesn't balance it on its own, how many times a day should it be usable to keep it balanced? I'm thinking 3 times a day might be sufficient, but what do you think?

I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this, but I don't know what else would be more appropriate.

Anyway, I'm looking for a map to serve as a palace for a rakshasa. The idea is that the rakshasa has infiltrated a society where mages are all upper-class nobles. The rakshasa himself is a hedonistic bully who gorges himself human flesh, but he disguises himself really well and only eats people who won't be missed (homeless, vagabonds, street urchins, etc.), and never actually eats them in his own home. He even lets wizard circles and universities use his grounds for presentations and events and lets them study the animals in his private menagerie to make him seem like an upstanding member of their community. I want the palace to be really sprawling, with large rooms and unusual (but not strange) architecture. I've been scouring the internet and I found one map that looks like exactly what I want, but it's only found on a site that doesn't let me download the image. It's been published in a book from Wizards of the Coast, but they don't have a PDF version of that book available anywhere (I have checked) and I don't want to pay hardback cover price for something that I only know for certain I'd be using one map out of, so that's out.

Does anybody out there know where I might find a map that can serve my purposes? I'm terrible at making maps, but once I have maps, I'm pretty good at building adventures around them, so I just need the map.

The idea for this monster is that the fey Gentry have a religious practice called the Great Hunt, where their best hunters hunt a variety of special monsters created specifically for it. Such monsters include the White Stag (for beginners) and the Jabberwocky (for the super advanced). Somewhere in the middle of this is a creature called the Great Lunar Butterfly.

Stats are as follows:
Great Lunar Butterfly
CR 10
N Huge Magical Beast
Init: +9; Senses: low-light vision; Perception: +13

Defense
AC: 18 (+5 dex, +5 natural, -2 size)
HP: 74 (10d10+20)
Fort +9 Ref +12 Will +5
DR 5/cold iron; SR 17; Immune: Illusions, Mind-Influencing effects

Offense
Speed 10 ft; fly 100 (average)
Ranged Moonlight Beam +12 Ranged Touch Attack 5d6 plus drowsiness (non-lethal)
Special Attacks: Sleep Powder, Dream Eating

Statistics
str 14 dex 21 con 14 int 2 wis 12 cha 18
BAB +7 CMB +11 CMD 26
Skills: Fly +13, Perception +13
Feats: Alertness, Fly-By Attack, Hover, Improved Initiative, Wingover
Special Qualities: Moonlight Visibility
Environment: Temperate Forests, Eire (Fey Realm)
Organization: Solitary, or Mating Pair

Drowsiness: Any creature struck by the Moonlight Beam attack must make a DC 19 will save or become drowsy for 1d4 rounds. Drowsy creatures are treated as fatigued, but also take a -4 penalty to saves against sleep effects. The save is charisma based.

Sleep Powder: As a standard action, the Great Lunar Butterfly can shake its wings, creating a cloud of magical powder that spills into a 15 foot radius cloud directly beneath it (if in the air) or around it (if grounded). All within the cloud must make a DC 17 fortitude save or fall asleep, as per the sleep spell, except that it affects creatures of any HD (CL 10). The cloud disperses after one round and the butterfly can use this ability once ever 1d4 rounds. The sleep powder even effects creatures normally immune to sleep effects. The save is Constitution based.

Dream Eating: As a standard action, a Great Lunar Butterfly can feed on the dreams of a sleeping creature. The victim must succeed a DC 19 will save or take 1d4 points of int, wis and cha damage. A creature that has any ability score reduced to 0 cannot be awakened by any means until it recovers at least one point of damage in that ability. Ability points lost recover normally and the butterfly recovers 4 HP for each ability point absorbed. The butterfly must be within ten feet of the victim to feed on its dreams.

Moonlight Visibility: A Great Lunar Butterfly is only visible in direct moonlight. In indirect moonlight, it is only partially visible: creatures can see it, but the distance at which they are able to spot it is halved and creatures attacking it have a 20% miss chance.

***

I just want to hear some advice from other GMs. Do you think I've got the CR correct? I know it has lower HP and AC than the target challenge rating suggests, but I figure it's got damage reduction requiring a somewhat uncommon material and is a flying creature, meaning that you mostly have to fight it at a range and most ranged weapons don't do nearly as much damage as melee weapons. It's not a creature that's meant to kill people, just one meant to be really hard to actually hunt down.

The campaign I'm currently running is about to wrap up, probably in the next two sessions, maybe three. Afterward, I want to start up a campaign set in a sort of Arabic/Persian themed setting.
I want it to be a sort of low-magaic setting. Well, not exactly. Wizards are almost non-existent, but there are sorcerers (uncommon, but not rare and limited to a specific set of bloodlines), but the techniques for magic magic items have been lost, so magic items are rare and usually passed down through important families, or found in ancient ruins by chance (I want the finding of actual magic items to have the same kind of impact as finding the Ring of Power did in the hobbit, as in they are game changers). Potions can still be made and there are alchemists.
On the other hand, there are minor magic rituals that can be performed by anyone, which have more expensive components and take more time to cast than spells (though none of these rituals can duplicate spells that require save DCs, with only a few exceptions, which require the victim to be helpless first), and you have to learn them either from books (which are kept in the libraries of governments or noble families and most people are illiterate anyway), or must be taught by someone who knows them (some rituals are passed down through family lines). These usually duplicate effects like Bless, or Bull's Strength, or Magic Weapon, or similar spells like that. I'm still working that out, but I've got a couple of weeks and I've already worked out the rules for it, so that shouldn't be too hard (besides, as the DM, I have complete control over what rituals the players will ever have access to anyway).

I was going to ask about spell-less ranger variants, except as soon as I thought about it, I'm like, "wait, why don't I check the PFSRD?" And there it is. So, I don't need that anymore.

So I guess all that remains is the question: does anybody have a list of monsters from the bestiaries that are based on Arabic, Persian, or Zoroastrian mythology? I know some obvious ones, like the sphinx, the manticore and genies, and I can change some of the stats on a couple of giants to make them suitable for Arabic monsters. But are there others? Paizo's been really good about including monsters from various real-world mythologies into the bestiaries (it's my favorite set of monster manuals so far and I'm going to buy the remaining two as soon as I have enough money not already earmarked for school), so I expect there are, but as I have to use the SRD to dig up monsters, finding them is difficult without a list. Is there one?

I need some ideas to help me get started building the dungeon.

The players are going to have to face a hugely powerful serpent-folk enchanter who's been kind of a running . . . not exactly enemy, because he's mostly left them alone (seeing them as no threat, but also useful if he can trick them into doing things), but he's been somebody they knew they'd have to deal with eventually. Things are coming to a head faster than I expected and they're going to have to deal with him, but they're under-leveled. Massively, especially considered that most of the players are combat oriented classes and therefore have low will saves.
Earlier in the campaign, they freed a Taiga giant. I noticed that the Taiga giants are immune to illusions and enchantments because of their ancestor worship, so my thought was that, to give them a fighting chance, I can send them to the tribe to learn how the giants are immune. I'm not going to give them immunity to the enchanter's primary attacks, obviously, but I can give them some bonuses to even the playing field (at least enough so that they can save against his spells, which only one of them can currently). But to do that, the idea will be that they have to complete a series of trials to prove themselves worthy of the aid of the Taiga's ancestor spirits. I've got the map of the proving grounds ready and some of it filled out, but I need some ideas for trials. Puzzles, basically.

So, assuming a party of 12th level and the purpose is to prove the characters have the wisdom, strength, and skill to be considered adults in a giant society, what sort of trials would people think are appropriate? They shouldn't be fatal, because the idea is to test the young adults of the tribe, not endanger them, but they should be the sort of thing that a young giant would have to stretch himself to pass. They should also play into the theme of respecting ancestors.

Any ideas?

This is a monster I created for something I'm working on. This is the first time I've ever tried to use the actual Pathfinder format for something, so I'm not sure if I've got it all right. Also, I'm wondering if others think my CR is correct, or if they have any other suggestions.
This creature is based on something from Inuit mythology. I'm still looking up some of the specifics, so I'll have the ritual used to summon them later, but for now I'm just including the description and stats.

Tupilaq CR 7
NE medium outsider (native)
Initiative: +2; Senses: Darkvision 60 feet; low-light vision; Perception + 11
Aura: Fear (DC 17)

Defense
AC: 20, touch 12, flat-footed 18 (+2 dex, +8 natural)
HP: 68 (8d10+24)
Fort +9, Ref +4, Will +6

Offense
speed: 30 feet, burrow 10 feet
Melee 2 claws +10 (1d6+2), bite +10 (1d4+2)
Special Attacks: Blood Drain, Death Curse

Statistics
Str 15, Dex 15, Con 17, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 12
Base Attack: +8; CMB: +10 (+12 to grapple); CMD: 22 (26 vs. tripping)
Feats: Multiattack, skill focus (survival), Improved Grapple
Skills: Perception +11, stealth +13, survival +14, Swim +13
Languages: Haglaz (does not speak)
SQ: Ice Walking, Blizzard Sight

Ecology
Evironment: Any Cold
Organization: Solitary
Treasure: None

Special Abilities

Fear Aura: Any creature that sees an attacking Tupilaq must succeed a will save (DC 17) or become frightened. A creature that saves against a Tupilaq's fear aura cannot be affected by that tupilaq's aura for 24 hours. The save is constitution based.

Ice Walking: A Tupilaq takes no penalties for moving through deeps now or over ice.

Blizzard Sight: A Tupliaq takes no penalties to its perception or survival checks due to conditions of relating to snow storms and blizzards.
Blood Drain: If a Tupilaq manages to successfully grapple an opponent, it can attack using its bite, forgoing normal damage to instead deal 1 point of constitution damage by draining blood from its target. Each point of constitution it drains heals the Tupilaq for 3 hit points.

Death Curse: If slain, a Tupilaq is not immediately defeated, but remains as an incorporeal form. It makes one last attempt to attack the person who killed it through psychic force. The victim must make a will save (DC 15) or be struck with the tupilaq's curse, taking a -2 penalty to all attack rolls, damage rolls, and fortitude saves. After cursing the victim, the tupilaq immediately loses all power and returns to its harmless, intangible and invisible state. If the victim resists this attack, however, the Tupilaq breaks free of its master's control and immediately flees back to attack the person who summoned it, haunting the summoner's dreams (as per the nightmare spell, but the victim receives no save) until the summoner publicly confesses to summoning it. The save is charisma based.

The tupaliq (plural: tupalait) is a malevolent spirit that haunts the frozen north. Normally, such beings are powerless and harmless; however, when a hagal shaman desires revenge against an unfortunate soul, they can create a physical body from base materials, usually bones and furs of animals and wood from dead trees. Once housed in a physical body, the tupilaq is bound to hunt down and destroy the subject of the shaman's ire.

Summoning a tupaliq is a dangerous prospect. If the target of the creature defeats it, it is possible that the monster will break free of its summoner's control and return to wreak vengeance of its own. If this happens, the tupilaq haunts the dreams of its summoner until they confess to summoning it. Summoning a tupaliq is a serious cultural taboo, and anyone confessing will face punishment for doing so if caught, or if they confess.

A tupilaq's physical body is constructed from materials at hand and, as such, is a frightening, chimeric creature, mixing features of various animals. It often appears as a quadrupedal monster made of bones, fur, and wood, with a sneering face made from a wooden mask. As the tupaliq is created from whatever materials at hand, there is some variability in appearance and attack. Some Tupaliq are bipedal, some have antlers and gain a gore attack, some have multiple heads, some can use simple weapons, but in general, the above description applies. In all variants, the tupaliq has at least one bite attack and can have no more than four total attacks.

Tupilaqs are are vicious in combat. Since destroying the physical body does not destroy them, they have no fear of death and will continue to fight until they are defeated, or have destroyed their target. Tupaliqs are single-minded in their purpose and will usually ignore any person it is not sent to kill, unless the interloper prevents it from reaching its target. Once the target is dead, the spirit is released from the manufactured body and becomes harmless once again. Despite being vicious and fearless, tupaliqs prefer to attack from ambush, sneaking up on their victims and killing them before they have a chance to react. If possible, they will attempt to drag their victims away from those who might interfere with its business.

I'm working on writing up a sort of campaign module or adventure path (whichever term applies) and maybe trying to release it in the future. Maybe, if I feel the quality of the final product is something others might find worth reading. I have a pretty solid idea of what I want to do, but I was wondering if some people could offer some suggestions on monsters that might help me fill out a few things.

The basic idea of the campaign is that it takes place in the frozen north. A caravan of scholars are going to explore some old ruins that they believe belong to an old tribe of people who were thought to be extinct, but might actually still be alive (and if they're not, hey, we can still learn from the stuff they left behind right?). The main idea is that the PCs are basically hired as guards to protect the scholars from any dangers they might encounter, though there are other possible hooks.

The culture of the frozen north that I've created is a mix of Inuit and Old Norse (Viking). I've got encounters set up using the qallupilluk, ijiraq and the Jotunn (frost giants), as well as clashes with the tribesman (that hopefully can be solved diplomatically) and I plan on creating a new kind of monster (Tariaksuq, from Inuit mythology) and want to have the presence of the Wendigo be a sort of running danger. The closer it gets to the long night of the far north winter, the more the Wendigo's presence is felt and if the characters linger too long, it moves in as soon as they get trapped by the winter storms.
I'm pleased with the overall scenario, except for one small problem.
The frost giants and Ijiraq (the highest level monsters before the Wendigo) are CR 9. The Wendigo itself is CR 17. That is a hell of a gap. Even assuming that the PCs gain a level or two from their encounters with the Tariaksuq (which I'm still not sure what their CR will be, but I'm aiming for 10 to 12), there's still a large distance between that and the "final boss." I could set it up so that the PCs never actually encounter the wendigo itself and just have to deal with some of the NPCs going insane, but a large bonus in their pay comes from getting all the scholars home alive. If they can't face the wendigo and drive it off, there's a good chance that at least one of the scholars will be lost to its psychosis and the PCs have no chance of doing anything about it, aside from killing him before he can eat anybody, which is, to put it lightly, extremely frustrating. I'm not quite sure what to do about that. I mean, I like the idea of the wendigo being a constant presence. You don't see it, but the tribesman all talk about it, warn against it, tell stories about it, and as it gets closer to winter, you start to hear it howling, though it doesn't attack until there is no chance of escaping it (playing on the cabin fever of the long night). But if the Wendigo is to be an actual encounter, it seems I'm going to need something to bridge the gap. But I'm not really finding any other monsters in the Pathfinder SRD that really fit the mood and setting that fit that range. Or find some other solution to the problem.

Any suggestions?

So, in the last adventure I ran, my now epic level party of adventurers located an ancient 30th level wizard's tower on the elemental plane of water. The tower had been abandoned by the wizard due to said wizard's death. The party was going there to recover a brand of the First Flame stolen from the City of Brass in order to get a noble efreet they accidentally pissed off to forgive them (because you don't want someone who can grant wishes to your enemies pissed off at you). But in the process of finding the tower, they also discovered the wizard had a marid slave who had been bound there because of ancient, now long forgotten magical rituals that kept her bound to obey his commands even after his death, meaning she'd been trapped there for over a thousand years, doing menial chores. So they also freed her in the process. Given that they had the option of taking control of the ritual that bound her, but didn't, naturally she is extremely grateful. As is her father, who is a noble marid and a member of the Water Khalif's court.
The marid naturally wants to reward them for their deed. I know what to give all of the players but one. I'm not sure what to give the paladin in the party. She's already got the Holy Avenger and Armor of the Celestial Battalion, so she's kinda set for great paladin equipment. And offering a wish is not really any good, because the paladin does not ask for rewards for doing the right thing (a character trait that's left her spending lots of money to get her equipment for the most part). She won't refuse a gift if one is offered, but she won't ask for one.
This is actually the first time I've ever run a game where somebody plays a paladin (new player to a group that normally hates paladins and has now learned to think otherwise because she kicks ass, especially against the demons and devils they've been facing a lot of lately), so I'm not sure what makes for the best items for a paladin. I want it to be a gift that seems unique and is not a limited use item and fits with the individual character's goals. For example, the orc ranger is now trying to make his way into high society (infiltrating it to better understand "the enemy"), but is naturally handicapped when it comes to dress-sense and accessorizing, so he's going to be given the rod of splendor, which solves the "you do not meet the dress code requirements" problem.
The paladin basically just wants to continue to serve as a crusader of justice and she's already recovered the most useful items for that purpose that I can think of. So, what would others suggest be her reward?

So, I have a quick question about hexes. It's never actually come up and now I'm not certain what to make of it.

For hexes that say if you make a save, you can't be affected by that hex again, does that mean only for that particular witch, or does it mean that hex cast by any witches? Because the big boss of the next adventure has fifteen lower level witches as her inner circle of cult leaders and if the players saving means that none of the witches can use that same hex again until the next day (supposing they survive), that changes the tactics they'll need to employ.

Thanks in advance.

This is going to come up shortly and I'd like some input about it.
As I recall, outsiders that are slain while on a plane other than their native one are banished back to their home plane. But I don't see reference to this in the Paizo book.
I ask because the upcoming "boss battle" is going to be with a high level night hag. She's got a fortress in the Abyss as her home base. The Abyss is not a night hag's home plane, so if they fight her and kill her, does this banish her back to her home plane, or kill her? If it banishes her, it makes actually defeating her much more difficult, because once they beat her the first time, they have to quickly move to her home plane and finish her off before she can move on to some other location (they have the means, but it means fighting her a second time and finding out where she will appear in her home plane when banished ahead of time). And they're liable to be exhausted from fighting her just in the abyss, because they'll have to go through her strongest minions first to get to her.

So, how does it work. I need to know because that determines how the players need to prepare and it's something the players would find out because they always find out what they can before they go into battle.

Well, I've kinda got one already developed, but I'm wondering if anyone might have some other ideas for what to work with.

This is the first campaign I've run that's gone epic level in . . . years. Not even sure how many at this point. We usually don't go this far because the game stops being as fun at around level 15 or 16 because it just becomes way too much work to develop solid encounters, but this one's been different because the campaign ended up going really political, so there's been really heavy roll-playing around situations (because people were too important to kill without causing a huge fuss, which would have interfered with player goals; despite how it sounds, it's been pretty intense at times).

Anyway, the game has now hit 20th level and the players all have their goals in mind - one wants to become a legendary dreadnaught and smash up the devil minions of Mephistopheles, one wants to become the right hand soldier of his deity, one (who is an orc) wants to overthrow one of the major kingdoms so his glorious leader (who by this point he has surpassed in terms of levels, but still respects because the glorious leader actually lives up to his title in the minds of other orcs by being a tactical and political genius as well as a deadly warrior) can take it over, you know, fun stuff like that.

One of the things the PCs managed to do earlier was arrange a peace accord between the god of wizardry and the goddess of witchcraft, bringing a (sort of) end to a two thousand year blood feud that's been going on (yeah, it's been that kind of campaign). Since they managed that, I've decided to make them work to keep it by challenging it.

So, the idea is that an ancient night hag calling herself Matron Malice, The Hag Queen (I know the name's not exactly original, but I like the sound of it), has been living in the Abyss for the past thousand years, studying the magic of the demons and increasing her own power. Now she's coming back and she's decided that she wants to be the goddess of witchcraft, which means she has to defeat the current one. To that end, she's been going around and getting the other hags of the world to renounce Hecate in favor of her, although at this point she's had less success with human witches. But she's gained enough followers that she was able to develop and complete an epic level magic ritual that allows her to create a magic field that prevents gods from approaching her, to keep them from directly coming after her until she's ready to strike against her chosen foe. The ritual was, no surprise, no small thing. It required over three hundred additional participants, a 100 day casting time, and a massive expenditure of XP from herself and all her followers. It's not perfect, because they can still attack her with ranged abilities and Hecate, as the goddess of witchcraft is primarily a spell caster, so she spends most of her time still in the abyss, where the gods don't like to go if they can help it, because in this universe, the demons are much worse and more powerful than usual (to give you an idea, a demon prince like demogorgon is only an intermediate level demon, while balors are considered lesser demons - the only thing keeping the demons from completely trashing the universe is the direct intervention of the Elder Gods).

Wow, I'm taking a long time to get to the point.

The point is that since Malice completed the ritual, the gods are now aware of her intentions, so she has to step up her game, part of which is converting more hags and witches to her cult and destroying the ones who won't. Since the players are involved (because of the peace accord), they become targets as well, even though they're not actually worshipers.
But I want Matron Malice to have a unique staff that is almost an artifact by itself. Here's what I got:

Staff of Malice

This staff is made of volcanic glass and is ornamented with Malice’s heartstone. It acts as a +2 quarterstaff. Unlike the heartstone of other night hags, Malice’s heartstone can store more than one soul at a time, up to a total of twenty, which she can use to fuel the staff’s power. In addition, it contains twenty charges and has the following spells.

identify (no charge)
secret chest (no charge)
detect secret doors (no charge)
dancing lantern (no charge)
crushing despair (1 charge)
bestow curse (1 charge)
break enchantment (1 charge)
death ward (1 charge)
empowered lightning bolt (2 charges)
phantasmal killer (2 charges)
banish (2 charges)

The staff also grants her a minimum +10 bonus to diplomacy checks when speaking with hags. Each soul trapped in the heartstone increases the bonus by +2. Assume that Malice has 2d6 souls trapped in the heartstone at any given time. As the heartstone loses its special qualities if taken from her, only Matron Malice can gain the bonus for captured souls. Malice can also cause the staff to absorb the essence of a trapped soul, restoring five charges per soul absorbed.

---

The selection of spells was mostly based around utility spells she wants to be able to cast whenever she might need or want them, but doesn't want to actually use up spell slots preparing, plus a few extras to help her if, through some unexpected major screw up, she actually runs out of spells to defend herself. But the big thing is what the heartstone does. I'm making the assumption that Night Hags trap souls in the heartstone and that they can normally only trap one soul at a time (this is not specified in the description, but it seems a reasonable assumption). The bonus to diplomacy checks is there to help her convert followers and to drive her devout followers into a fanatic frenzy when she needs them to fight for her (this being something the diplomacy skill can do at epic levels). I also specifically picked all the spells from the witch spell list in the pathfinder advanced players guide, naturally.

Given that I want this staff to be an almost lesser artifact object (one which Hecate will eventually ask the players to retrieve from her, much like the wizard of Oz demanding Dorothy retrieve the WWotW's broom), I like the basic idea of it. But my question is, does anybody have any good suggestions to improve on it. I want it to be something that you could conceive and epic level mortal (Matron Malice is a 22 level witch) who's spent considerable time studying with the demons of the abyss to be able to develop - in other words, powerful and slightly in defiance of the normal rules of magic items, but not truly god-like.

So, what do others think?