Skyhler's page

I did exactly this in a home brew game of my own. The villain was a Green Hag who had many years ago disguised herself as a servant to the town's ruling family and seduced the husband. After the deed was done, she revealed her true form and told him that he must stay with her, or his bloodline would become cursed.

Well, he had her banished of course. 9 months later, his wife gave birth to their first child - a daughter Changeling (though no one knew what it truly was) who was beautiful and strikingly familiar to the father in all the worst ways. Their next 2 children were a hideous daughter and a paraplegic son. The father feared and hated his first daughter, as she constantly reminded him of his misdeed and curse.

Fast forward until the daughter is about 18, and the entire family is mysteriously killed overnight. The Changeling daughter (who has Witch Class levels) had been routinely visited at night by her "fairy god mother", who always told her the same story about a disloyal husband who cursed his family with adultery. On her 18th birthday, her fairy god mother finally told her that the story was about her father, and this is the reason he never looked at her, and seemed to fear and hate her. The disguised Green Hag then gave her instructions to kill her family and join her.

After killing her family, the daughter killed a servant and used Sculpt Corpse on it to make it look like her. The PC's were attracted to this town either for the mystery of the murders, or the allure of the auction of the family's expensive possessions, or for the curiosity to see who would become the town's new ruler. They get sucked into the murder investigation, eventually find out that in addition to the dead family, a single servant hadn't been seen since the night of the murder, an investigating Cleric using Speak with Dead is bewildered that when asking the corpse of the supposed daughter who had killed her, the answer was the name of the daughter she was made to look like, and after having enough time to for the PC's...

That's really awesome! I love the facts that hags can be so nasty, yet they can get away with it. I love how they can deceive and plot etc. Awesome story, I will keep it in mind!

Perhaps you could make a hag coven? Have a green hag cause strife within the village, have a sea hag wash ashore and cause the excellent drama you described, and maybe an annis hag to lead monsters against the village. Just a thought.

So you're saying have 3 different hags, cause 3 different issues... That's not a bad idea actually. Maybe having the Annis Hag as the eldest sister/leader (due to size). 3 different issues, 3 different hags, 3 different threats that when joined create a more immense threat. I will definitely consider that, thank you!

You may want to check this out (although 5e); it is a whole series featuring hags...

Fey Secrets

Will look into that, thank you! :)

So when I was brainstorming ideas for a new homebrew campaign, I was trying to think of a great starting villain that would require some social, combat and exploration encounters. Upon considering it for a substantial amount of time, I decided that a Hag might be a good way to go.

Now that I've decided on what creature would be a good starting villain for the low-level party (I'm thinking this small arc could be levels 1-5), I was hoping to pry peoples minds on small hooks and combat encounters before they realise there's an actual hag causing the chaos.

I'm trying to decide between a Sea, or a Green Hag. Green Hags rely on trickery and some forms of deception, so I figured that would be a good way to make the players guess which individual in town is the hag causing trouble. But I also like the idea of a hag recruiting monsters/wildlife and causing damage to the town/village, to spread discord, pain, and fear. E.g. Kobolds, Goblins etc.

A Sea Hag, on the other hand (because my campaign is lightly based on bunches of islands and every island has about 3-4 cities, villages etc) may be a better option because they could create chaos by appearing as a person washed ashore, or appear as a mermaid to attract non-suspecting sailors, causing shipwrecks, and hurting individuals that are trying to seek out nearby help. Possibly recruiting some aquatic creatures like the Sahuagin?

I don't know, if anybody out there can give me any more ideas on what I could do to build a small arc around a Hag (whether it be a Sea or Green one). I think they're a great villain, I just need some ideas to 1. decide which one I'm going with, and 2. further challenge the players both mentally, and their characters physically. Ooh, and whilst I have your attention, any particular ideas of an environmental challenge for their lairs will be also greatly appreciated :)

Skyhler wrote:

So I am running a Homebrew game, and I have reached a creators block.

So eventually the party of up and coming heroes, will eradicate a Succubus demon from the city of Riverton, due to it destroying the city through politics. After they do that (depends how long it takes for them to achieve that) the river that courses through the city starts to blacken, hopefully giving the party incentive to investigate what is causing the issue upstream.

I am thinking of a creature that is polluting an area or simply the water upstream. Potentially making a nest/lair? Except I can't really think of a creature that w/could do that. Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks in advance :)

In true warcraft tradition... How about a tainted/corrupted water elemental?

Another potential idea, thanks!

Having a chuul in the corrupted water somewhere could be fun, and could be good xp on the way to finding the dragon.

Good idea!

Skyhler wrote:

Cancel that first paragraph. Can you tell that I am a pretty green GM? :p

Not really. Even vets sometimes get stuck with these sort of things (and even more often get decision paralysis from too many options!)

If you like the ideas, just jot them down in a notebook and just pull out the idea that best fits the situation.

The succubus survive longer than expected and spreading more mayhem? The hezrou is a fitting monster that displays the consequences of their delays.

Want to foreshadow an ancient evil awakening in the hinterlands? Black Dragon might fit there as it fled for its life carrying as much of its hoard with it as it went.

Or if you feel like you've used too many beastial creatures recently, maybe a cabal of hags are poisoning the water for their own nefarious purposes.

Staying flexible is always a good thing to do.

One of the things that I thoroughly enjoy as a GM, is the fact that aside from creating stories from this plentiful pool of ideas, I sit down and think what would be happening at this time. I absolutely love world building, and although my players see me as the boss of everything or whatever, I see it as I don't have much control over the world, I am just there to rationalize the world around them.

With the black dragon, you can certainly have several leadup encounters as they grow closer to the source of the corruption. Maybe at the edges of its territory they beat up some crazed wildlife and as they get closer you can have some mutated flora and fauna or even a cult of kobolds/lizardfolk/sauhagin that the dragon took with it from wherever it came from (I'm guessing it relocated from its old lair for some reason [plot hook!] otherwise the river would already be corrupt.

Really, both types of monsters can work and even then you can reskin other monsters like water elementals or a neriad that have been corrupted by some force or another if those two don't quite fit (or you need extra minions)

My God you have a wealth of knowledge with Pathfinder. THANK YOU SO MUCH! My head is now swimming with ideas for potential plot hooks depending on players choice (cause either being Hezrou or Black Dragon), and just by your suggestions my world has substantially grown, with more potential storylines. Thanks again! :)

Tarik Blackhands wrote:

A Black Dragon maybe? Adults and older can corrupt still water. So you could maybe have one lairing at the the river's source.

Alternatively (and possibly linking up with that succubus) a Hezrou demon are specifically filthy aquatic demons that love spreading filth and corrupting waterways. Omoxes can also be used for a similar purpose.

I was thinking a black dragon, but wouldn't the CR be a little high? Or would a young one be substantial enough to offer a challenge?

A Hezrou demon sounds really good as well... What to do, what to do...

Perhaps, if the party takes too long to get to Riverton (other quests), maybe have the Succubus summon the Hezrou one way or another to further destroy the city through polluting the waters?

If the party chooses to go to Riverton first then make the Black Dragon the cause?

So same issue being presented but a different enemy depending based on narrative purposes?

Cancel that first paragraph. Can you tell that I am a pretty green GM? :p

A Black Dragon maybe? Adults and older can corrupt still water. So you could maybe have one lairing at the the river's source.

Alternatively (and possibly linking up with that succubus) a Hezrou demon are specifically filthy aquatic demons that love spreading filth and corrupting waterways. Omoxes can also be used for a similar purpose.

I was thinking a black dragon, but wouldn't the CR be a little high? Or would a young one be substantial enough to offer a challenge?

A Hezrou demon sounds really good as well... What to do, what to do...

Perhaps, if the party takes too long to get to Riverton (other quests), maybe have the Succubus summon the Hezrou one way or another to further destroy the city through polluting the waters?

If the party chooses to go to Riverton first then make the Black Dragon the cause?

So same issue being presented but a different enemy depending based on narrative purposes?

So I am running a Homebrew game, and I have reached a creators block.

So eventually the party of up and coming heroes, will eradicate a Succubus demon from the city of Riverton, due to it destroying the city through politics. After they do that (depends how long it takes for them to achieve that) the river that courses through the city starts to blacken, hopefully giving the party incentive to investigate what is causing the issue upstream.

I am thinking of a creature that is polluting an area or simply the water upstream. Potentially making a nest/lair? Except I can't really think of a creature that w/could do that. Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks in advance :)

I have a question regarding the Magic Item - Ring of Spell Knowledge.

I understand how 1 can teach a spell to that ring in order to always have access to that spell.

When using that ring to cast that particular spell would you have to cast it from your own spell slot? Or does the ring come with a spell slot so you can use it?

I personally see it as, the ring simply just allows the Bard or Sorcerer to ADD a spell to their list, as opposed to ADDING a spell and ADDING a slot.

Thank you all in advance.
Skyhler :)

Normally when it says

normal monster stat block wrote:

Melee 4 chains +11 (2d4+2)

it means that this is what it does as a full attack or it can do 1 of these attacks as its standard action and then take its movement action. However, the kyton has the dancing chains ability which allows it to

kyton stat block wrote:

control up to four chains within 20 feet as a standard action

This means that it can use its standard action to make 4 melee attacks as its standard action and it can also move its movement.

Thing to remember:

Round's action = Standard action (normally 1 attack) + Move action

or

Round's action = Full Attack = All attacks.

you can't do both at the same time.

Does this help?

This helps tremendously. Thank you all for helping me out. I was really confused, but you all cleared it up for me. Thanks again :)

So, I am thinking of throwing a Kyton at my party that I'm Gamemastering for, and there's just a few things about the Kyton that I need clarification on. Please be aware that I'm still very green with Pathfinder, so please don't be annoyed at my inexperience, and lack of knowledge.

My first question is regarding the Kytons attack. "Melee 4 chains +11 (2d4+2)". Does this mean that the Kyton can use the 4 chains to attack as a Standard Action? Or would it have to make a Full Attack Action to do so?

My second question is regarding the Kytons ability called "Dancing Chains" This is it's description (it's a long one):

"A kyton can control up to four chains within 20 feet as a standard action, making the chains dance or move as it wishes. In addition, a kyton can increase these chains' length by up to 15 feet and cause them to sprout razor-edged barbs. These chains attack as effectively as the kyton itself. If a chain is in another creature's possession, the creature can attempt a DC 15 Will save to break the kyton's power over that chain. If the save is successful, the kyton cannot attempt to control that particular chain again for 24 hours or until the chain leaves the creature's possession. A kyton can climb chains it controls at its normal speed without making Climb checks. The save DC is Charisma-based."

Does this mean if chains are lying around, or anywhere near the Kyton, can it use these chains as an additional 4 to attack with? Can it extend it's own chains (that have 10ft reach) to 15 ft? If it does gain control of chains, does it control the chain like the spell "Telekinesis"? How does the spell work game mechanic wise aside from what's explained?

Thanks to those in advance for answering this question, I understand it's a lot to read, and I'm incredibly grateful for those that have taken the time to answer :).

Thanks again
Skyhler