1) I left it vague intentionally, but perhaps I made it too vague. Though, I did state that "to complete the ritual the blood priest must extract the victim's heart", which should kill most creatures.
In any case, I will expand upon the rules of the sacrifice ability to make things more clear.
2) I was afraid of this. I think I could solve this by creating a class-specific spell list for the blood priest with some more combat-oriented spells. Also, I'll find a better substitute for channel energy than divine touch in its current state.
3) Actually, I based that mechanic on the Warpriest's fervor ability (from the Advanced Class Guide). This should be fixed once I replace divine touch with something more practical.
4) I have considered this as well. The problem is that none of the Knowledge skills seem to fit the ability. It still requires a caster level check, though, but I guess I could add that failing the check would result in misreading the stars rather than not gaining any information at all.
The thing is, ritually sacrificing a humanoid out of combat would be too much of an effort just to regain 1 used spell. I have to give characters a bigger incentive than that.
Anyway, thank you so much for taking the time to give me so much feedback. I really appreciate it. :)
And I completely agree with you that a blood priest probably wouldn't fit in with most adventuring parties. Personally, I'll mostly use the class for a few NPCs.
Yes.
Good blood priests only sacrifice evil creatures (as well as eat their bodies and wear their skins), but they do so to honor their gods and serve their communities. Afterwards, they usually give the remains of their victims proper burials once they are done with them.
While I admit that this might be a bit of a stretch, I do believe that this is still within the bounds of the good alignments.
I made a thread for this before, but at the time the blood priest was little more than an archetype. I've now made so many changes that it has more-or-less become a new class.
It is sort-of an archetype. The reason why I refer to it as an "alternate class" is because the changes I've made to the normal cleric class features essentially turns it into a new class.
And yeah, I forgot to add in the concepts/features list that most of the blood priest's abilities come into play between combat encounters. It is a class that requires preparation in order to be used to its full advantage.
For instance, once a blood priest has used his sacrifice ability, he gains a "blood spell" which he may then spend to cast any one spell that he has prepared for that day for free.
I'm working on an alternate cleric class and would really like some feedback.
The class in question can be found here and draws a lot of inspiration from the Aztec priesthood of old.
The concepts/features of the class are the following:
* A divine spellcasting class that is not a martial class.
* Uses humanoid sacrifice to gain powerful bonus spells.
* May use astronomy/astrology to gain information.
* May boost their own abilities by flaying a sacrificial victim and then wearing the skin.
* May heal themselves and others through ritual cannibalism.
The blood priest alternate class is not finished yet, though. I'm hoping that any feedback may help me adjust and polish as needed.
There's an alternate merfolk race for the Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG) that hasn't been released yet. Using Japanese folklore, the Ningyo females look exactly like (and are very much like) their European counterparts. The males on the other hand are described to be monkey-like (of their mammalian parts) with a fish tail. Curiously the art created is for the males (since we know what a normal female already look like) is what was created by our illustrator, Mark Hyzer, and it definitely reminds me of the purported mermaid specimin provided by P. T. Barnum in his freak show!
Of course, Kaidan features a same-bito (shark man) that is not a shapechanger, and not any relation to the ningyo merfolk aside from being from under the sea. Art also by Mark Hyzer.
While many of each being dwell in small communities and outposts across the waters of Kaidan, in the south off the island of Ryuki, lies the undersea city of the Sea Dragon king, Ryukyo (which literally translates to "sea dragon city"), where multitudes of both ningyo and same-bito dwell, as well as other submarine creatures. I created this map.
On topic, your mermaid has a slit where it's female parts are supposed to be, and arguably could work biologically, if the biology of this species allows sexual congress with surface dwelling humanoids - I could buy the premise that this works (unlike mplindustries point of view.)
That is a really good-looking map. :D Did you make it via some mapping software or from scratch? Either way, that's really cool.
As I mentioned to mplindustries, that slit is in fact a genital slit, similar to that of a cetacean. I could find you a picture of one, but you probably don't want to see a close-up photo of cetacean genitals. XD
Uh, so, these are fish creatures that are definitely not mammals (no hair) but they give birth to live young that they nurse?
Viviparity is not limited to mammals, several shark species are viviparous, for instance.
As for nursing their young... Alright, I'll be honest: when designing this race I wanted them to keep the overall shape of classical mermaids (hence the boobs and impractical tentacle-hair).
In my defense though, this race is described as preying on and mating with other humanoids. Would it really be so far-fetched (in a fantasy world, that is) to consider that this interbreeding perhaps led them to acquire more humanoid traits? Or that even the slightest resemblance of their prey species might increase the odds of survival for their own species?
mplindustries wrote:
Huh? I don't see any lady parts in that picture, or any place for lady parts to go, except for the ridiculous fish knockers.
Well, once I added mammaries I figured that I might as well incorporate some cetacean characteristics.
You see the slit between the two fins at the base of the mermaid's tail? That's called a genital slit, it's what cetaceans have to protect their genitals.
mplindustries wrote:
I also don't understand how this species of pure carnivore hunter types that gives live birth to upwards of 4 babies after 11 months of gestation can survive and take care of itself. Do you know how vulnerable a creature like this 10 months pregnant with 4 babies would be? There's a reason viviparous creatures tend towards family units with males (i.e. can't be pregnant and vulnerable) to provide for/protect the pregnant females.
I believe that I mentioned that they do live in groups, and it is partially for this very reason. A male partner is unnecessary as pregnant mermaids would find equivalent protection from friends and family members.
Here is one of my homebrewed Pathfinder races.
The reason why I created this race is because I'm really tired of the traditional mermaid that is just basically a human upper body attached to a fish-tail. Instead I wanted to see a much more fish-like creature with a more uniform body.
I appreciate any feedback anyone cares to give me. :)
Mermaids are an aquatic all-female race of fish people with human-like upper bodies. They are predatory obligate carnivores and tend to live in small migratory groups, though a few do settle down in areas where food is plentiful, particularly around kelp forests, seamounts, and reefs.
Although they are amphibious and can survive just fine on land, they move only with difficulty out of water and few spend long periods on land. Some notable exceptions are mermaids who live on cays where they have easy access to the coral reefs' bounty and can trade with seafarers.
Mermaids are curious and playful, but also cruel and opportunistic, and they have a nasty habit of eating anything or anyone they kill. This behavior is due to their predatory nature: the combination of curiosity, opportunism, and cruelty help them find and take advantage of any food source they find without hesitation. Their playfulness, on the other hand, is due to their social nature.
The ocean is a very dangerous place and mermaids often depend upon their group for survival, as such they are highly gregarious and form close bonds with their peers. A mermaid is a very close and loyal friend, even towards her non-mermaid companions.
Because they for the most part live underwater, mermaids use very few complex tools and tend to be quite feral. Although mermaids are usually illiterate, they tend to have rich oral traditions.
Physical Description:
Mermaids are fish-like creatures with upper torsos which resemble those of well-built and attractive human women. Completely hairless, mermaids are covered with tough eel-like skin, the color and pattern of which varies greatly between ethnicities.
They have human-like heads and faces, except for a few differences: the mouth is slightly wider and filled with fish-like, needle-shaped teeth; where the ears of a human would be are instead ear-holes that are covered by a few fins; on the top and back of their heads they have several long and thick, tentacle-like appendages, which almost give the impression of the long, flowing hair of some humans; and their unblinking eyes are large and shark-like, and have nictitating membranes rather than eyelids.
Mermaids have webbed hands with long fingers tipped with large, talon-like claws, and their necks have several large gills.
On a mermaid's back is a dorsal fin, while pelvic fins are situated on either side of its genital slit. The mermaid's long tail has a second, smaller dorsal fin, and the tail ends with a heterocercal caudal fin.
Sex and Reproduction:
A mermaid can reproduce by mating with any humanoid male, and such a union will always result in mermaid offspring. Mermaids are viviparous, with a gestation period of 11 months, and typically give birth to one to four daughters.
Mermaids are also capable of facultative parthenogenesis, meaning that if they cannot secure a viable male, they can undergo asexual reproduction and produce half-clone children.
Mermaids are born toothless and remain so for about eight months, and during this time they are nursed by their mother. After this period their teeth will begin to erupt, which will prompt their mother to wean them off her milk by feeding them small prey or pieces of flesh which they can swallow whole. Once her children have fully formed teeth, she teaches them to feed themselves.
Society:
There are essentially three types of mermaid societies: nomadic, settled, and urban.
Nomadic mermaids live in small groups made up of family and friends. They are constantly on the move, following the migrations of the animals they prey upon. Nomadic mermaids are the most dangerous kind, because they are the most opportunistic, and they often eat any land-dwelling people they find in the water. A few groups are even bold enough to attack ships or seashores, though they tend to resort to this only when food is scarce.
Settled mermaid communities are somewhat larger than their nomadic kin and are found in areas where there is plentiful of game for them to hunt, particularly around kelp forests, seamounts, and reefs. They tend to be much more peaceful and only eat land-people if they have a shortage of food.
They often capture non-aquatic humanoids as slaves, provided that they have somewhere to keep them, such as air-filled underwater caves. However, these slave-keeping mermaids tend to have few slaves as they have little need for laborers, rather they keep slaves as mates, teachers, or playthings.
Urban mermaids have the most prosperous and most rare societies of all three types, and they usually adopt much of the culture and technology of nearby civilizations. They can only be found on cays or atolls, as well as on islands with surrounding coral reefs or kelp forests; such areas are required to feed the mermaids living there.
Their towns tend to be very popular trading ports and a big part of this is that urban mermaids have an easy access to undersea luxury resources such as pearls and precious corals, which results in them being the chief exporters of such goods.
The nobles and merchants of urban societies tend to live on the actual island, while the lower class live in the surrounding coral reef or kelp forest and produce food and tradegoods.
While urban mermaids are the most peaceful of all three types, anyone who dares to threaten them will quickly find out just how dangerous they are.
Urban mermaids keep many more slaves than settled mermaids, this is because access to land makes it easier to keep them alive and provides an incentive to acquire slave labor. They favor slaves of other races, since land-dwellers are much more useful on land than their fellow mermaids.
Some urban mermaid societies also export their own kind as slaves, usually criminals or dissidents.
Their architecture usually depend upon the size of the land they have to work with. Small islands typically only have small villages and towns, while larger islands have complex networks of canals and sometimes even underwater buildings. Virtually every building on the island has a pool, in fact the size of a mermaid's private pool is a sign of her status.
Relations:
With few exceptions, nomadic mermaids view all other races short-term mates or food, and often both.
The other types of mermaids, however, view the land-dwellers with curiosity and believe that the other races have much to offer them. They sometimes even make deals with sailors and coastal peoples if it can benefit themselves in some way. Non-nomadic mermaids can be said to be xenophilic, as many of their kind love to surround themselves with foreign cultures.
Alignment and Religion:
Mermaids care deeply for their friends and family, but they are usually indifferent towards anything beyond this social circle.
Their feral nature often lead to bouts of extreme violence, but this is almost never due to evil intentions; mermaids display such behavior either out of fear, due to a sense of protectiveness, because they're hungry, or because they want to feed the ones they care about. In their minds, those reasons make violence perfectly acceptable.
Most mermaids are neutral, though some who care more strongly about tradition will lean towards lawful neutral, while a few who care more about individuality and open-mindedness lean towards chaotic neutral.
Mermaids tend to worship nature itself rather than any specific god, though many urban mermaids adopt the religions of neighboring cultures.
Adventurers:
Despite that many mermaids xenophiles, most stay close to the ocean. However, a few possess a curiosity stronger than their fondness for the sea, and these precious few are the ones who are bold enough to travel further inland. Mermaid adventurers are often motivated by a desire to discover and experience new things.
Mermaids favor the barbarian, bard, druid, rogue, and sorcerer classes. However, most mermaids tend to rely on what nature has provided them with, rather than carry bulky equipment. They also gain access to the shark warrior class, which is unique to their race.
Racial Traits:
+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Intelligence: Mermaids are graceful and beautiful, but also quite feral.
Humanoid (Aquatic) Medium: As Medium creatures, mermaids have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Slow Speed: Mermaids have a base speed of 5 feet. They have a swim speed of 50 feet.
Amphibious: Mermaids are amphibious and can breathe both air and water.
Low-Light Vision: Mermaids can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.
Tough Skin: Mermaids gain a +1 natural armor bonus to their Armor Class.
Legless: Mermaids have no legs, and cannot be tripped.
Bite: Mermaids gain a natural bite attack, dealing 1d6 damage. The bite is a primary attack, or a secondary attack if the mermaid is wielding manufactured weapons.
Claws: Mermaids receive two claw attacks, each dealing 1d4 damage. These are primary natural attacks.
Obligate Carnivore: Mermaids can consume raw meat without any ill effects, but ingesting plant material will make them sick and lead to vomiting.
Languages: Mermaids begin play speaking Common and Aquan. Mermaids with high Intelligence scores can choose from a pool of seven languages.
Shark Warrior Alternate Class:
(This is an alternate class for fighters and is only available to mermaid characters.)
Some doubt the martial ability of mermaids, viewing them as nothing more than pretty fish that awkwardly crawl around on land. This is a mistake that often proves deadly, as these warrior mermaids' ability to kill is only rivaled by their ferocity.
Mermaids have been perfectly adapted killing machines since long before civilization even existed. Their eel-like skin can grow incredibly tough and their natural weapons make them extremely lethal in close proximity.
In a stark contrast with the soldiers of the other races, the shark warriors go bare-skinned into battle and often armed with nothing more than tooth and claw.
Shark warriors are infamous for attacking ships and coastal peoples, forcefully pulling their victims into the depths of the sea to be drowned and eaten, and not necessarily in that order. This history have taught them how to use their natural weapons and tough skin with maximum efficiency.
Role: Shark warriors are masters of combat at close quarters, and while they fall a bit short in ranged combat, their reliance on what nature has given them result in the shark warriors being essentially impossible to disarm.
Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d10.
Class Skills
The shark warrior's class skills are Climb (Str), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).
Skill Ranks per Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A shark warrior is proficient with all simple weapons, and are not proficient with any armor or shields.
Bare-Skinned Savages: Shark warriors eschew most equipment, and instead rely on what nature has provided them with. They may never become proficient with any armor and are forbidden from taking any feats that would grant such proficiencies. In addition, their starting wealth is 1d6 x 10 gp.
Bonus Feats: At 1st level, and every even level thereafter, a shark warrior gains a bonus feat in addition to those gained from normal advancement (meaning that the shark warrior gains a feat at every level). These bonus feats must be selected from those listed as combat feats.
Upon reaching 4th level, and every four levels thereafter (8th, 12th, 16th, 20th), a shark warrior can choose to learn a new bonus feat in place of a bonus feat she has already learned. In effect, the shark warrior loses the bonus feat in exchange for the new one. The old feat cannot be one that was used as a prerequisite for another feat, prestige class, or other ability. A shark warrior can only change one feat at any given level and must choose whether or not to swap the feat at the time she gains a new bonus feat for the level.
Natural Armor Increase (Ex): Starting at 1st level, a shark warrior grows increasingly tougher. Her natural armor bonus increases by +6. At 3rd level, this bonus increase by +1, and every three levels after 3rd level (6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 18th), this bonus increase by +1 each time, to a maximum of +12.
Agility (Ex): At 2nd level, a shark warrior gains a +1 bonus on saving throws made against effects that cause her to become paralyzed, slowed, or entangled. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels beyond 2nd (6th, 10th, 14th, 18th).
Slither (Ex): At 3rd level, a shark warrior gains a +15 bonus to her speed on land. This benefit applies only when she is wearing no armor and not carrying a heavy load.
Natural Savagery (Ex): At 5th level, a shark warrior gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with natural weapons. This bonus also applies to CMB and CMD for grappling. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels beyond 5th (9th, 13th, 17th).
Deadly Creature (Ex): At 7th level, the shark warrior's bite deals 1d8 damage and claws 1d6 damage. At 11th level, her bite deals 1d10 damage and claws 1d8 damage. At 15th level, her bite deals 2d6 damage and claws 1d10 damage. And at 19th level, her bite deals 2d8 damage and claws 2d6 damage.
Savage Takedown (Ex): At 9th level, when a shark warrior hits an opponent with two natural weapons as part of a full-round action, she can make a grapple or trip attempt against that opponent as an immediate action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Careful Claw (Ex): At 13th level, when using a natural weapon to attack a creature using fire shield or a similar effect that damages creatures attacking it (such as a barbed devil's barbed defense), a shark warrior reduces the damage from such effects by an amount equal to 1/2 her fighter level.
Deadly Critical (Ex): At 17th level, when a shark warrior confirms a critical hit with a natural weapon, she can increase the weapon's damage multiplier by 1 (x2 becomes x3, for example) as an immediate action. She can use this ability once per day.
Dragonhide (Ex): At 19th level, a shark warrior gains DR 5/-.
Natural Weapon Mastery (Ex): At 20th level, a shark warrior chooses one of her natural weapons. Any attacks made with that weapon automatically confirm all critical threats and have their damage multiplier increased by 1.
