Serpentfolk Seeker

Samasboy1's page

1,993 posts. No reviews. No lists. No wishlists.




Hey everyone,

So a Hag-Haunted Spiritualist's Phantom is the spirit of a dead hag. Could this Phantom form a Coven, and fulfill the requirement that the Coven contains a Hag?

One the on side, its a Phantom and nothing in the archetype mentions forming a Coven. On the other, it is specifically a Phantom that is the soul of a deceased hag.

I put it in General for more discussing on the pro's/con's than a straight up RAW thread.


In First World, Realm of the Fey pg. 37, Baba Yaga is listed in a section on "Other Eldest."

Her write up in Reign of Winter part 6, The Witch Queen's Revenge, mentions she has long held the power to grant spells to followers but has chosen not to.

I am wondering, what do people think her domains, obedience, and boons would be if she were to accept worshippers?


With all the archetypes that mix-n-match different class abilities, is the a way to get an Oracle's Curse (specifically Hunger) on a non-Oracle (hopefully Druid ir Sorcerer)?


1 person marked this as a favorite.

So I enjoyed having different campaign settings in 3.5. Forgotten Realms, Eberron, and Arcanis (3pp, Paradigm Concepts) were all very different places and I liked playing in each.

I like Golarion, but what are some other, cool, campaign settings for Pathfinder out there?


2 people marked this as a favorite.

I know not everyone likes the Golarion setting. But some of the setting books I enjoy are the "Origins" books, giving ideas on how new elements fit into the setting.

Since a Path of War Origins book will never happen, I thought it would be fun to share our ideas on how the classes, disciplines, prestige classes, and traditions could fit into Golarion. Especially now that PoW Expanded is out.

Feel free to share your ideas even if someone already covered the class/discipline/tradition you have in mind!

To get things started....

The Black Seraph discipline is most commonly found in Cheliax, amongst the drow and urdefhan of the Darklands, and in the vicinity of the Worldwound. The Black Thorn Knights could be envisioned as a new Hellknight order itself, or a prestigious academy that turns out many future Hellknights and military officers for Cheliax's army and navy.

Warlords of the Scarlet Throne can be found amongst the members of Brevoy's Sword Pact, Minkai's samurai caste, and the dueling societies of Ustalav and Taldor.

Kellid, Shoanti, and Belkzen barbarians contest between themselves which is the true master of Primal Fury.

The Silver Crane discipline is most commonly found in Mendev, Lastwall, and Tianjing. Several "paladins" of Iomedae and Sarenrae through out the Inner Sea are actually Warders strongly practiced in this discipline.

The Umbral Blades are a small sect of Kuthite assassins, trained in Nidal's darkest corners to strike for their Midnight Lord.

And the famed Red Mantis assassins train stalkers to combine Thrashing Dragon and Steel Serpent to dispatch their targets in service to their cult.


So, I recently watched the movie "Seventh Son" and thought the characters deserved Pathfinderization.

I imagine Master Gregory as a Witch Hunter Inquisitor.

The Witches (Mother Malkin, Bony Lizzie, Alice, Urag, Radu, Virahadra, and Strix) could be Witches. But for some of them, other classes seem just as fitting.

Mother Malkin
Changeling Witch (Transformation) or possibly Draconic bloodline Sorcerer

Bony Lizzie
same as Mother Malkin

Alice
Changeling, probably following in the footsteps of her mother and aunt, but lower level

Urag
Human Transformation Witch. We don't see him do anything other than transform, so a Skinwalker Natural Weapon Ranger could work.

Virahadra
Kasathi Magus? Or even Fighter, since I don't remember him doing any magic.
This character did give me a cool idea to incorporate Kasathi into Golarion as a Vudrani race blessed by their gods. They look like blue skinned, four armed humans, stats unchanged.

Strix
No idea really. He was just weird.

Radu
Human Transformation Witch? I think Sorcerer might work better here, not sure on bloodline.
His "assassins" could be followers from Leadership, or undead he has created. But there's not really a good way to get both undead creation AND Form of the Dragon into a Witch.


So, I am one of those people who like the idea of playing monster characters. But you can't always get a DM to agree to it (or in situations like PFS where there are campaign rules).

But I had an idea for a non-monstrous monster character.

The Spriggan
NE Gnome Druid (Goliath Druid) with the Rage domain.

Go with the Fell Magic alt racial trait. It doesn't give you the same spells as a Spriggan, but it feels appropriate. I could also see grabbing the Fey Thoughts (Stealth and....Acrobatics, maybe?) and Knack for Poison alt racial traits.

You could VMC Rogue, or multiclass Rogue after getting Wild Shape, to grab Sneak Attack.

Then I thought, what about a Redcap?! Now Redcaps aren't technically Gnomes, but its probably the most similar PC race. So...

The Redcap
NE Gnome Fighter (Titan Fighter)

Redcaps don't have any SLA, but I would still go with Fell Magic due to the dark nature of the character. Fey Thoughts (Acrobatics/Stealth) and Knack for Poison are both still things I would consider as well.

Now you can wield a Medium sized scythe, eventually with no penalty. Maybe wear blade boots? The red cap and fear of religious icons would be most RP.

So, any ideas to help flesh these out a little more. Traits, feats, etc?
Other ways to get sneak attack, or DR/Cold Iron?

I am not looking for any particular level, and this isn't for PFS, so feel free to suggest anything Paizo.

Or if you have an idea on how to build a "monster" PC, I would like to see it.


So, ever since the introduction of the Witch class, I have wanted to make a PC coven. There are several options in support of this, but some issues as well.

PC's with the ability to join covens include:
Witches (all archetypes) with the Coven Hex
Hexcrafter Magus with the Coven Hex
Accursed bloodline Sorcerers
Shaman with the Coven Hex
Blood Arcanists with the Accursed bloodline
Spirit Summoner with the Coven Hex

Any class with the VMC Witch with the Coven Hex
Any class wearing a Shawl of the Crone (UE, 16000gp)

But there is the caveat that the Coven must include at least one actual Hag. There are a great many Hags in PF.

Annis, Blood, Green, Mute, Night, Pit, Storm, Swamp, and Winter Hags; plus Graeae (Mythic). Swaithe demons and Witchfires can also join covens, though you still need a (living) Hag.

The Blood Hag is on the Monster Cohorts list, at an ECL of 16, so that is an option. I was hoping the new Cohorts and Companions book would offer additional options, but it seems that it has not. You can get around this requirement with an Iron Collar of the Unbound Coven (ACG, 23000gp).

So, what is the rules question, I can hear you thinking?

The Witch Hag of Gyronna archetype can summon a Night Hag, but only one a week for a few rounds. Would this be sufficient to form a coven? They would only be able to use the coven spells when the hag is present.

If you used Monstrous Physique to adopt the form of a Hag, would that be sufficent? Forming a coven isn't on the list of abilities it can grant, but then it also isn't an ability actually listed for hags either.

I wonder about using Planar Ally/Binding on a Night Hag but those spells are so much under GM determination it would be hard to discuss.


Is there a reason that Skinwalkers are limited to 3+1/2 character level shape changes per day?

Since you can stay in the alternate form for an unlimited time, you could just always stay in alternate form. Maybe use a Hat of Human Guise if you want to blend in.

Or, since it starts with a base of 3/day, you could stay in alternate form most of the time, and still should have enough changes switch to human if needed and switch back in dangerous situations.

The Kitsune is a very similar race with no limits on their change shape ability.

For that matter, having an ability modifier tied to changing shape is certainly thematic, but is it necessary? Couldn't they just have their ability modifiers all the time, since they have the normal +2/+2/-2 modifiers.

Again, Kitsune have their ability modifiers in all forms, and with no time limit on shape changes you can remain in alternate form constantly to keep your ability bump.

Is there a balance reason for these limits I am missing?


So, I was looking over some of my Eberron stuff, specifically how House Jorasco has taken over the healing trade from temples. Temples still heal people, but mostly only members of their faith/congregation. Most people, if they can afford healing, go to a secular hospital run by Jorasco.

That made me think, there are non-divine healing sources in Golarion, do you think anyone has opened a non-religion based hosptial?

Alchemy seems the most likely basis for this kind of an enterprise.

I am not saying these hospitals would supplant churches as the primary source of healing, but do you think they exist?


I have seen a lot of people requesting a cleric/rogue hybrid class in the current discussions about the ACG playtest. And I think that is a pretty cool idea. So, looking at the available classes, I thought Inquisitor already comes pretty close, but the flavor and some of the mechanics are wrong.

The Heretic archetype helps turn the Inquisitor into more of what I envision, but it doesn't go far enough. So I thought a Cultist archetype would be interesting.

I am not claiming credit for the name or the concept, which I have seen several other people discuss. Also, the following archetype is kinda intended to be taken at the same time as the Heretic archetype, so I won't include abilities that are already provided by that archetype.

Cultist archetype
Base Saves: The Cultist's Reflex and Will saves follow the strong progression. Their Fort save follows the weak progression. This modifies the normal base save progressions.

Weapon and Armor proficiency: The Cultist is proficient with all simple weapons, hand crossbow, longbow, repeating crossbow, shortbow, and their deity's favored weapon. They are proficient with light armor, but not with shields. This modifies weapon and armor proficiency.

Sneak Attack: The Cultist gains 1d6 sneak attack at 3rd level, and her sneak attack increases by 1d6 every 3 levels afterward. This replaces solo tactics and all teamwork bonus feats. This sneak attack stacks with sneak attack gained from other sources.

Evasion: At level 11, the Cultist gains Evasion. This replaces Stalwart.

I think this, again combined with Heretic, would be a pretty good rogue/cleric mash up with a very different flavor from Inquisitor. I also think writing it up as a full class could be worthwhile, to make a few other small changes and one big change. I would make spellcasting, and other Wis dependent class features, function off of Charisma.

Appreciate constructive thoughts/criticisms.


Does anyone else think that the Witch being an Int-based prepared caster seems off?

Witches "gain power through communion with the unknown," and "from a pact made with an otherworldly power."

This to me sounds a lot like a cleric or oracle, acting as the instrument through which a greater being can exert power.

So I think the Witch would make more sense as a Wis or Cha based caster. Wisdom is "force of will" and could reflect the need for a witch to resist the manipulations of their patron. Charisma is "force of personality" and could reflect the ability to bargain with your patron for powers.

But either one makes more sense to me than Intelligence, since witches don't receive their magic from academic study of magical theorems like a Wizard.

I don't have as much of a problem with the prepared casting, but I do think spontaneous casting would fit better too. Maybe that is just my personal preference, since Clerics are prepared and Oracles (Favored Souls from 3.5) are spontaneous, it could go either way.

In fact, thinking about it, the Witch seems like an Alternative Class (like Samurai or Ninja) that is currently based on a Wizard losing school abilities for Hexes, but might make more sense as a Sorcerer losing Bloodline for Hexes.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

It is said all the time by people on the forum (and even in FAQ responses by the PDT) that prestige classes are a suboptimal choice for PC advancement. So I wanted to look at why that is and if it should be different.

Back in 3.5, Prestige Classes were definitely not looked at as "suboptimal." But there are a number of changes that PF put in place that makes them less desirable than they were.

In 3.5, PrC's were a way to specialize. Your Fighter could choose mounted feats, but taking the Cavalier PrC gave them much more mounted combat ability than feats alone could. But in PF, archetypes generally fulfill the role of specialization and provide focused abilities for your role. This removes the "need" to take a PrC to do the job you want.

3.5 PrC's also provided class features. Any full casting PrC cost the character practically nothing since Wizards and Sorcerers had almost no class features. Similarly, Fighters received little, so the class features of a PrC were good. PF made all classes receive features at all levels. So there isn't the need to take a PrC to fill "empty levels."

3.5 PrC's could provide an ability that no class provided. Arcane Archer and Dragon Disciple are good examples of this. And I think this is a good position for PrC's to fulfill in PF. If there is an ability that would require radical re-writing of the base class, it is a good choice for a PrC. Dragon Disciple is still a good example in PF, but Arcane Archer looks like it could just be a range-focused archetype of the Magus.

3.5 PrCs could be an attempt to merge two (or more) classes. Arcane Heirophant, Mystic Theurge, Rage Mage all come to mind. There are a couple of these still evident in PF (Battle Herald, Mystic Theurge remains, Rage Prophet).

The last role PrC's played in 3.5 was to represent membership (though it usually also accomplished one of the other four). Red Wizard is an example of this, being originally from the Forgotten Realms where the country of Thay is ruled by the Red Wizards of Thay. PF has continued this idea of PrC, such as Steel Falcon, Lion Blade, etc.


So, I was thinking of everyone's favorite simian regent. To be fair to him, he would need Mythic Tiers and stuff, but for a character based on Sun Wukong, what do you think about

Vanara Monk (Flowing Monk or Maneuver Master) 4/Magus (Staff Magus) 16
Monkey Style of Course

Alternatively

Human Monk (Monk of the Four Winds) 20 with Aspect of the Monkey


1 person marked this as a favorite.

So I saw a recent thread where someone wanted to make a PF Sarishian Binder. I really like Arcanis as a 3.0/3.5 setting, but haven't played it under the new Paradigm designed rules. So, mostly as a mental exercise to pass time enjoyably, I figured I could create PF Arcanis races. Feel free to comment, make suggestions, critique, etc.

Starting with......Elorii.
Elorii are Arcanis elves, but that doesn't tell you much about them. Magically created as a warrior-slave race, the Elorii are infused with elemental energy. Each subrace represents one of the traditional elements, plus a fifth subrace that embodies the spirit of the natural world.

Berokene, children of Beros, the Lord of Water

Spoiler:

Humaoid (Elorii, Aquatic)
Medium Size
30' speed, 30' Swim
+2 Dex, +2 Wis, -2 Int
Common, Elorii
+2 vs Mind-affecting and Disease
Amphibious
Martial proficiency with Scimitar and all Bows
Low-light vision
Elemental Affinity (Water)
+2 to Balance

11 RP
Alt Feature
Lord of the Waves
The effects of the Elemental Affinity trait applies to the Aquatic (normal and Seaborn) bloodlines instead of Water. Modifies Elemental Affinity.

Kelekene, children of Keleos, Lord of Fire

Spoiler:

Humaoid (Elorii)
Medium Size
40' speed
+2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Wis
Common, Elorii
+2 vs Mind-affecting and Disease
Martial proficiency with Scimitar and all Bows
Low-light vision
Elemental Affinity (Fire)
Improved Initiative bonus feat
+2 to Intimidate

10 RP
Alt Feature
Pyromaniac
+1 CL with the fire descriptor, using granted
powers of the Fire domain, using bloodline powers
of the fire elemental bloodline, using the revelations
of the oracle’s f lame mystery, and determining the
damage of alchemist bombs that deal f ire damage. This
trait does not give members of this race early access to
level-based powers; it only affects powers that they could
already use without this trait. If a member of this race
has a Charisma score of 11 or higher, it also gains the
following spell-like abilities: 1/day—dancing lights, f lare,
prestidigitation, produce f lame. The caster level for these
spell-like abilities is equal to the user’s character level. Replaces Elemental Affinity.

Marokene, children of Marok, Lord of Earth

Spoiler:

Humaoid (Elorii)
Medium Size
30' speed
+2 Str, +2 Wis, -2 Cha
Common, Elorii
+2 vs Mind-affecting and Disease
Martial proficiency with Bastard sword and all Bows
Darkvision 60'
Elemental Affinity (Earth)
+2 to Perception

8 RP
Alt Feature
Stonesinger
+1 CL with the earth descriptor or using powers
of the Earth domain, bloodline powers of the earth
elemental bloodline, and revelations of the oracle’s stone
mystery. Replaces Elemental Affinity.

Osalikene, children of Osalios, Lord of Air

Spoiler:

Humaoid (Elorii)
Medium Size
30' speed
+2 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Con
Common, Elorii
+2 vs Mind-affecting and Disease
Martial proficiency with Scimitar and all Bows
Low-light vision
Elemental Affinity (Air)
Weapon Finesse bonus feat
+2 to Acrobatics

9 RP
Alt Feature
Lord of the Storm
The effects of Elemental Affinity apply to the Stormborn bloodline instead of Air. Modifies Elemental Affinity.

Ardakene, children of Belisarda, the Life Giver

Spoiler:

Humaoid (Elorii)
Medium Size
30' speed
+2 Wis, +2 Cha, -2 Con
Common, Elorii
+2 vs Mind-affecting and Disease
+2 vs Death effects, negative energy, remove negative levels, stabilization checks
Martial proficiency with Scimitar and all Bows
Low-light vision
Fertile Soil
+2 to Survival

11 RP
Alt Feature
Voice of the Mother
The effects of the Fertile Soil trait apply to the Sylvan version of the Fey Bloodline. Modifies Fertile Soil.


So, the Bestiary lists the level equivalent for some monsters if taken as a cohort. Strangely, it doesn't follow the rules in the same book for Monsters as PCs.

So what level do you think a hag cohort is equivalent to?

Sea Hag 4HD, CR 4- Cohort 7? 8? (comparing to the Pegusus and Pixie)
Green Hag 9HD, CR 5- Cohort 9? 10? (comparing to the Drider and Satyr)
Annis Hag 7HD, CR 6- Cohort 11? (comparing to the Babau and Bralani)
Night Hag 8HD, CR 9- Cohort 16? (comparing to the Erinyes)
Witchfire 10HD, CR 9- Cohort 18? (comparing to the Stone Giant and Ettin)