The Most Dire of Corbies's page

I had asked previously to cancel all of my subscriptions with the end of Pathfinder 1e. I was hoping to receive the end of Tyrant's Grasp and not get Age of Ashes or any of the Pathfinder RPG 2e materials. I got an email yesterday about this order, and I'm currently slated to receive four products, only one of which I want.

On top of that, my Adventure Path subscription has been canceled, but not my RPG subscription.

Again, I would like to cancel all of my subscriptions and only receive Midwives to Death, as the last installment of my Pathfinder Adventure Path subscription. I no longer want to be subscribed to the Pathfinder RPG line.

May I cancel all of my subscriptions with the end of PFRPG 1e? I do still want the last issue of Tyrant's Grasp, but I'm not interested in Age of Ashes.

Thank you.

I had a small press publisher on the Paizo store, Demiurge Press, with a few PDFs on it. We haven't sold any units for years, and I would like to remove all of the PDFs from the store. Can I do that myself, or does someone at Paizo need to do that for me?

Thank you.

Money's getting tight, so I want to cancel my subscriptions to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Pathfinder Campaign Setting lines. I want to keep my Adventure Path subscription, but the others can go.

Thank you.

Like the title says. I would like to cancel my Pathfinder Roleplaying Game subscription only, and maintain my Pathfinder Adventure Path subscription.

Thank you

Like the title says. I definitely want to keep my Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Adventure Path subscriptions, but I would like to cancel the Campaign Setting subscription before the next month's shipment.

Thanks!

On Tuesday, when the order was placed, I saw that (for some reason) my default card was declined. I transferred the order to the other card I have on file with Paizo and it seemed to work. But checking my account today, it still lists the original declined card from Tuesday without saying anything about the update, and with the ability to change card seemingly gone. How can I get the system to recognize that I want it on the other card?

Thanks

So my bank canceled the credit card that I'm using for my subscription payments and issued me a new one. I've uploaded the new card as a payment option to Paizo.com, and that's great. But! I can't delete the old card, nor is the website allowing me to change my subscription payment method to either of the other cards the website recognizes. What do I do?

Thank you.

So, I love monsters. I got at far as I did in RPG Superstar by virtue of the caliban. I did a bunch of Libris Mortis conversions, although real life has forced that thread to go fallow (one of these days...). I even founded a small-press company, Demiurge Press, in order to showcase some of my original creations. But I felt like I needed a project on the boards to show off some originality.

Enter the Year of Yokai.

52 weeks. One creature drawn from Japanese myth and legend each week. All free. All here.

Let's get started, shall we? We'll begin with one that I've heard plenty of cry for on the boards over the years. I've got the next couple planned out, but if anyone out there has a request of something they really want to see, I'll see if I can make it happen.

Kamaitachi

A weasel-like creature weaves through the air at incredible speed. Its legs end not in paws, but in long bone sickles.

They spend most of their lives in the air, landing only occasionally to sleep or when feeding. Kamaitachi are carnivores that prey on small birds and rodents, although if they accidentally cause the death of a victim they will not hesitate to feed on the corpse. Their trios are not segregated by sex, and many kamaitachi matings are between playmates. Kamaitachi are vaguely intelligent, although they do not speak any languages. A kamaitachi could be taught to understand speech, but doing so would be a dangerous errand indeed.

Hi! I would like to cancel my Pathfinder Campaign Setting subscription. I would like my other subscription, to the AP line, to remain active.

Thanks!

Wignalzik and Sons Lumber Camp
==========
The Verduran Forest holds many wonders, and none is as wondrous as the Quaking Grove, a portal to the First World that sits near the border between Taldor and Andoran. Recently, however, the Quaking Grove has been corrupted by the cult of Decied, the Harbinger of Famine and the daemonic patron of invasive species and ecological disasters. By building a number of secret shrines throughout the Verduran Forest from the bones of slaughtered fey, Decied’s forces have caused the Quaking Grove to randomly open portals into forests throughout Golarion and beyond. Now, all manner of destructive creatures have flooded into the Verduran Forest, overturning the natural balance of the forest’s ecosystem and endangering all of those who rely on the forest for their homes and livelihoods.

One of the most recent arrivals via the Quaking Grove is the treant Nageia, pulled through the portal from the Valashmai Jungle of southern Tian Xia. The arrival of such a powerful invader did not go unnoticed by Decied’s cult, who sent one of their members to take him under their wing and direct him towards mayhem. The cultist, a spiteful gnome engineer named Amaia Sixfingers, convinced the confused treant that his displacement is due to the activities of the loggers of Wispil, a gnomish community built in the heart of the Verduran. The first victims of Nageia’s wrath were the lumberjacks of Wignalzik and Sons, a lumber camp north of Wispil where Sixfingers worked as quartermaster. Four days ago, Nageia used animated trees to tear the buildings down to their foundations and planted them in the ruins of the camp as a message to any who would dare exploit the forest.

One of the shrines to Decied is hidden in Amaia Sixfingers’ office (Area 6), so she has convinced Nageia to leave some of the buildings intact and serve as a guardian. Nageia follows this request without hesitation, as the gnome has convinced him that she is on the verge of discovering the means to return him to the Valashmai Jungle. Nageia now waits in ambush in the lumber yard, eager to have the opportunity to battle more hated lumberjacks.

The Yard (CR 10)
==========
The stillness of the forest is interrupted by the buzzing of flies in this wide clearing. The clearing holds what once must have been a bustling lumber camp, but is now little more than ruins. Multiple wooden buildings lie utterly destroyed and fully grown trees emerge from the wreckage. To the south, two lodges remain at least partially intact, although a mighty yew tree emerges from the eastern wall of one of the buildings. The shell of a large barn sits at the eastern edge of the camp, its roof torn off and a strange tree grows impossibly from its center. The broken bodies of gnomes litter the lumber yard. A garishly colorful hand-painted sign lies broken in two pieces amongst the ruins: “Wignalzik and Sons”.

The broken planks and rubble throughout the yard count as difficult terrain. The standing buildings are all made of wood (hardness 5, hp 10) and have windows of oilpaper (hardness 0, hp 1). The barn stands twenty feet tall and it is now completely open to the sky. The roofs of the office and bunkhouse are ten feet high. The trees throughout the camp stand eighty feet tall—the large branches depicted are fifteen feet off of the ground. Creatures in these branches are treated as having concealment due to the thick foliage.

Creatures: The “strange tree” growing from the center of the barn is in fact the treant Nageia. He dislikes the confinement afforded by walls but has taken a position inside them based on Amaia Sixfingers’ suggestions. Nageia destroyed the roof to allow himself to stand upright and enjoy some sunlight while he waits for more lumberjacks to kill. A DC 17 Perception check is required to determine that Nigeia is in fact a treant before he moves. A mated pair of argopelters (R3) lair in the trees growing inside the ruined camp. The argopelters have also been brought to the Verduran Forest by the Quaking Grove—these strange ape-like creatures first dwelled in the pine forests of Arcadia. Nageia has adopted the argopelters as pets, and the aggressive argopelters respect Nageia’s capacity for violence.

During combat, Nageia first animates trees to come to his aid and then focuses his attacks on enemies carrying axes or wielding fire. He knows about the traps Amaia Sixfingers has set (see below), and uses bull’s rush maneuvers to push opponents into them. Nageia is driven solely by revenge and fights until slain. The argopelters leap from tree to tree and run along the roofs of buildings, harrying enemies avoiding melee with the treant using thrown branches and lumber plucked from the ruins. If Nageia is killed, the argopelters flee, using tree stride to escape into the surrounding forest.

Nageia, Treant CR 8
XP 4,800
hp 114 (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary pg 266)
Alignment neutral

Argopelters (2) CR 4
XP 1,200 each
hp 32 each (R3)

Trap: The doors to areas 6a and 7 have been trapped with a favorite device of Amaia Sixfingers—a grasping contraption of saw blades, springs and leather thongs she calls a “metal mantis”. Even the slightest touch to one of these doors will set off the trap.

Metal Mantis Trap (2) CR 4
XP 1,200 each
Type mechanical; Perception DC 20; Disable Device DC 16
----- Effects -----
Trigger touch; Reset manual; Bypass hidden switch (Perception DC 25)
Effect Atk +15 melee (4d6+6) plus +15 CMB vs. CMD to grapple a Medium or smaller target; CMD 25.

Development: In the unlikely event that Nageia is taken alive, the hostile treant can be convinced to talk with a DC 26 Diplomacy check. If made indifferent, he reveals that he is an unwilling traveler from a distant land taking revenge on the wicked people who brought him here. He refers to Amaia Sixfingers as “the little woman”, and explains that she has promised to help him return home after he takes his revenge. Nageia considers his arrival from the Quaking Grove and its location to be an important secret; any Diplomacy checks made to ask him how he arrived in the Verduran Forest gain a +10 to the DC.

A DC 20 Heal check made to examine the slain gnomes indicates that they were killed four days ago by piercing damage as well as blunt force trauma—Amaia removed the crossbow bolts she used to supplement Nageia’s assault. A DC 17 Survival check is sufficient to find Nageia’s tracks, leading from the north and then arcing around the camp. These tracks eventually lead to a small limestone cave seventeen miles away; Amaia is hiding here guarding another of Decied’s foul shrines. A DC 23 Survival check finds the tracks of a small humanoid having moved throughout the camp and around the doors to 6a and 7; these were left by Amaia two days ago as she set the metal mantis traps and removed evidence of her presence.

This malformed humanoid creature has a bestial appearance. Its brutish face bears a short muzzle and two small horns erupt over its sloping brow. A sparse coating of pale fur covers its muscular, scaly body. It clutches a bloodstained axe in one of its clawed, webbed hands.

Caliban CR 2
XP 600
CN Medium monstrous humanoid
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision,; Perception +6
----- Defense -----
AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 22 (4d10)
Fort +1, Ref +6, Will +3
----- Offense -----
Speed 30 ft., swim 20 ft.
Melee handaxe +5 (1d6+1/x3), claw +0 (1d4) or 2 claws +5 (1d4+1)
Special Attacks share deformity, unsettling scream
----- Statistics -----
Str 13, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 11
Base Atk +4; CMB +5; CMD 17
Feats Athletic, Nimble Moves
Skills Acrobatics +4, Climb +8, Intimidate +7, Perception +6, Stealth +7, Survival +4, Swim +11
Languages Common
----- Ecology -----
Environment temperate and warm forests and marshes
Organization solitary or gang (2-4)
Treasure standard (handaxe, other treasure)
----- Special Abilities -----
Share Deformity (Su) Once per day as a standard action, a caliban can make a touch attack against a humanoid creature. If it hits, the opponent must succeed a DC 12 Fortitude save or have its form warped horribly. A creature affected by share deformity suffers a -4 penalty to one ability score of the caliban’s choice for 24 hours. During this time, the caliban gains a +4 enhancement bonus to that ability score. This ability cannot reduce an ability score below 1. This is a curse effect. The save DC is Charisma based.
Unsettling Scream (Ex) As a standard action, a caliban can wail horribly. All creatures that can hear within 60 feet must succeed a DC 12 Will save or be deafened for 1 round and shaken for 1 minute. Creatures affected by this ability are immune to the unsettling scream of that caliban for 24 hours, regardless of whether they pass or fail the save. This is a sonic fear effect. The save DC is Charisma based.

When the Mother of Monsters turns her attention to Golarion, her favor manifests itself as twisted, deformed offspring. Lamashtu’s blessings are the calibans, a disparate race of wretched creatures. The birthing of a caliban is frequently fatal, and only worshipers of Lamashtu are likely to raise such a monster rather than abandon it. As such, most calibans live in the wilderness, favoring areas near rivers and swamps to conceal their four-toed tracks and hide them from pursuers.

Despite their demoniac origins, calibans are not inherently evil creatures. Lucky calibans may find themselves befriended by understanding druids or fey, but all too many are turned towards wickedness by hags, harpies, or Lamashtan cults. Calibans are both fearful and curious of humanity. They have little material culture of their own, scavenging tools from the cast-offs of others. They are mercurial, occasionally violent creatures, and the sight of human beauty and happiness may provoke them into a rage. Such outbursts are typically meant to frighten and punish the targets of a caliban’s ire with temporary deformity rather than kill them, but may provoke escalating violence from authorities and adventurers.

Calibans are usually found where Lamashtu worship is common, such as Varisia, the River Kingdoms, and the nations of Garund. Those calibans not adopted by Lamashtu’s cultists treat the Mother of Monsters with more of a fearful respect than with love and worship. A caliban stands a head taller than the average human and weighs about 160 pounds.

Huckster (Alchemist)
Wherever poor folk have limited access to medicine, there will be people willing and able to exploit that need. The huckster typically uses his alchemical talent in the pursuit of profit, whipping up remedies that last long enough for him to collect his fees and leave town.
Class Skills: A huckster gains Bluff and Perform as class skills and does not gain Disable Device and Survival as class skills.
Snake Oil (Su): At 1st level, a huckster can spend one minute brewing a magical concoction known as snake oil. A dose of snake oil can be consumed as a standard action by any creature. Drinking snake oil grants 1d6 temporary hit points per two huckster levels. These temporary hit points last for 10 minutes per huckster level.
A huckster can create a number of doses of snake oil per day equal to 3 + his Intelligence modifier. Multiple doses of snake oil do not stack. A dose of snake oil is rendered inert 24 hours after it is created. This ability replaces mutagen and persistent mutagen.
Secret Recipe (Ex): At 1st level, a huckster can craft alchemical items that are difficult to identify. A character examining an alchemical item crafted by a huckster must succeed a Craft (alchemy) check equal to the DC of constructing the item in order to determine the item’s function. No check is necessary to identify the function of an item being used. This ability replaces Throw Anything.
Tainted Brew (Su): At 6th level, a huckster can take one minute to transform an ingested poison or drug into a dose of snake oil. The duration of the snake oil is treated as the onset time for the poison or drug. This ability replaces swift poisoning.
Cure-All (Su): At 10th level, a huckster’s snake oil can suppress harmful conditions. Any creature that consumes a dose of snake oil is treated as if no longer affected by the following conditions: blinded, deafened, exhausted, fatigued or staggered. In addition, any negative levels possessed by the creature are temporarily lost, as are penalties to ability scores due to age. Once the duration of the snake oil expires, all negative conditions suppressed by the snake oil return with no reduction of their durations. This ability replaces poison immunity.
Discoveries: The following discoveries complement the huckster archetype: concentrate poison, dilution, infusion, lingering spirit*, poison conversion**, spontaneous healing*
*this discovery appears in Ultimate Magic.
**this discovery appears in Ultimate Combat.

Gorget of Living Whispers
Aura moderate conjuration and enchantment; CL 10th
Slot neck; Price 15,000 gp; Weight —
Description
This tightly fitting collar is made from blue snakeskin. Once per day, the wearer may speak a suggested course of action as a full-round action, his words coalescing into a living whisper that appears in a square adjacent to him. The living whisper is a pale, sinuous creature marked with blue runes lining its back. The living whisper uses the statistics of a fiendish venomous snake (see the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary), except that it has an Intelligence of 3 and can communicate telepathically with the wearer. Any creature bitten by the living whisper, rather than be poisoned, must succeed a Will save (DC 14) or be affected by a suggestion spell (CL 10th). This suggestion is determined when the living whisper is summoned and affects all creatures bitten. Creatures that can read Aklo can read the runes on the living whisper and know what suggestion is carried by the living whisper’s bite. A living whisper created by the gorget of living whispers remains for 1 minute or until slain.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, summon monster II, suggestion, telepathy special quality or telepathic bond; Cost 7,500 gp

So this may take some explaining.

I'm a big fan of Johnathon Wojcik and his website Bogleech, a repository for all things spooky and weird. In one of his most recent columns, he mentioned a bizarre Halloween decoration he'd found, a skeleton with a bat instead of eyes and legs made of eyeballs. He dubbed the creature a "skilevak", invented a hunting mechanism for it and requested that it be statted up for D&D.

So here we are.

Skilevak (Soulbrooder)

This grotesque creature looms as tall as an ogre, its upper body appearing as a skeletally-thin humanoid figure. Its face is shrouded by a ragged piece of skin shaped like a pair of membranous wings, from which glare burning orange orbs. Below the waist, two fat tentacles grow, each of them studded with dozens of lidless eyes. It is clad in a motley of garishly colored fabric, tailored into a crude costume.

Referred to as “soulbrooders” by sages, skilevaks are bizarre aberrant creatures that nurture the incorporeal undead as if they were beloved children. The form of a skilevak is extremely unusual, most notably in terms of the “eyebat”, a detachable lump of flesh that serves as a skilevak’s primary means of feeding. A skilevak will use its eyebat to seek out prey which it then mesmerizes with its gaze. The helpless victims are then drained of life by the eyebat. The victims of a skilevak rise as wraiths, serving their master as companions.

Skilevaks appear to be sexless, and their means of reproduction is unknown. Their undead spawn serve the role of children to a skilevak, who dotes upon its charges with what would be considered loving care in a more conventional parent/child relationship. A skilvelak will weaken victims so that its children can enjoy the sensation of the kill, for example. Due to their humanoid frames and the enormous empty eye socket covered by the skinbat, some sages theorize that skilevaks originated as cyclopes, mutated unspeakably by evil magic or drow fleshwarping. Possibly fitting with this theory is the skilevak’s preference for walking on the tips of its tentacles as if they were boneless legs—only when climbing or threatened does it drop into a crawling posture to better use these prehensile appendages.

Skilevaks love clothing of all kinds, and stitch together the garments of their victims into coverings for their own bodies. The promise of colorful fabrics or magical clothing is one of the few things that can prevent a skilevak attack, and the beasts are known to barter safe passage or information for particularly choice items. It is rumored by adventurers that skilevaks hate the sound of their species name and will recoil if it is spoken, but this is merely a rumor—skilevaks take great amusement in pretending to flee from the sound of its name only to circle around and renew its attack with surprise. A skilevak stands nine feet tall on tentacle-tip, but is only six feet tall when crawling. The average skilevak weighs 400 pounds.

I'm a wee bit obsessed with monsters. If you've followed me or my work on this board or elsewhere, you probably know that. I've been playing Pathfinder since the beginning, and I feel comfortable enough with it that I'm now starting to gaze longingly back at my old 3.5 monster books with a wistful nostalgia. The first book to catch my eye was Libris Mortis: The Book of the Undead. That book had a lot of monsters and a lot of problems. The undead generally did in 3.5, especially before the whole "unholy toughness" idea got worked out. So I figured, why not convert the critters therein to Pathfinder? And share them?

Anyone who's seen my conversions before (like the 3.5 MMII project and the Shadowlands Oni will know my approach to this sort of thing. These conversions will not be direct literal translations from 3.5 to PF: I'll be tweaking HD, abilities and other details to make the creatures more balanced and more interesting. So, let's get started, shall we? I'm going to kick things off with two monsters on rather opposite sides of the power spectrum.

Angel of Decay
This hulking creature stands twice as tall as a human, its skeletal frame shrouded in thousands of strips of rent flesh. A pair of tattered wings stretches from its shoulders, shadowing its leering features. Rivulets of liquid corruption stream from its body, filling the air around it with a sickening miasma and leaving a trail of filth behind it.

Angels of decay are a manifestation of planetary cancer, the dead slain by pollution and corruption coughed up from the ground to walk again and spread the rot that killed them. Angels of decay despise all living things and leave a trail of death and disease in their wake. Their universal nihilism makes them enemies of nearly everything, although lesser undead may venerate them as saints and daemons may assist their crusades. An angel of decay stands 11 feet tall and weighs 250 pounds.

Order # 1986992, for the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition, specifically. I cannot find a way to cancel a preorder in my account; may I cancel it please?

Just finished reading the Wormwood Mutiny, and I had a question. We get stats for four different pirate-y familiars (dodo, dwarf caiman, giant isopod and seal), but no benefits for using them as familiars. What skills do they effect?

In all of my years of running roleplaying games, the majority of my games started at first level. In fact, I have seen more published adventures aimed for the lowest levels than any other. Alas, so many of those scenarios fall into the same well-worn groove. Most adventures written for and played by first level characters use a familiar cast of giant vermin (usually spiders), wolves and dire rats, kobolds and goblins and wave after wave of skeletons and zombies. But does this have to be the case? It is my opinion that monsters do not need to be high CR in order to be interesting. Creature Codex Volume 4: First Level Foes is designed to enliven and add diversity to your low-level games with a cast of unusual creatures, ranging in origin from world folklore to original creations. The creatures in this book range in CR from ½ to 3, from minions to be battled en masse to creatures that can serve as the focal point for entire adventures. Enjoy!

If you like this product, please check out the rest of the Creature Codex line from Demiurge Press!

It's that time again. Specifically, that time when I look at my budgets and realize "game books are less important than food and rent". May I cancel the roleplaying game and campaign setting subscriptions, please? I'd like to keep my AP subscription, but that's all.

Also, is there any way to cancel the Jade Regent Map Folio? The dummy charge to my credit card went through this afternoon, which is what reminded me about dropping the subs.

Thanks again!

I know this won't be gotten to for a few days, but I figured I'd make the thread now.

I received this order yesterday, and as I was looking through the Bestary 3 today, I noticed it was damaged. The binding of the first few pages is already damaged, and there appears to be water damage on the pages. Since the package was sealed shut and the other books were not likewise damaged, it is unlikely to have happened during shipping. Worse, the last page (the OGL info) appears to have a bite taken out of it. It's the only way to explain it--an enormous tear has removed the top right corner of the last page, except for the very topmost corner of the page, which is stuck as if glued to the back cover page! Very bizarre.

Howdy!

We here at Demiurge Press are big believers in the spirit of giving. Which is why, every Thursday until Christmas, I'm going to give the world at large a new monster. Most of them will be holiday themed. Just a warning.

If you like these monsters, be sure to check out the rest of Demiurge Press' products. There's plenty more!

Krampus

This creature resembles a feral, muscular satyr. Long horns rise from its head and a long red tongue lolls from between sharp teeth. It clutches a barbed scourge in one of its clawed hands, and a massive sack is slung over its shoulders.

Krampus CR 7
XP 3,200
LE Medium outsider (native)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +15, scent, smell wickedness
Defense
AC 18, flat-footed 15, touch 13 (+3 Dex, +5 natural)
hp 85 (9d10+36)
Fort +7, Ref +9, Will +11
DR 5/silver and good; Resist cold 10, fire 10
Offense
Speed 30 ft., snow stride
Melee +2 scourge* +15/+10 (1d8+6 plus pain), claw +8 (1d4+2), gore +8 (1d6+2) or 2 claws +13 (1d4+4), gore +13 (1d6+4)
Spell-like Abilities CL 9th, concentration +11
Constant—discern lies (DC 16)
At will—greater magic weapon, jump
1/day—dimension door, fear (DC 16)
Statistics
Str 18, Dex 16, Con 19, Int 13, Wis 16,Cha 15
Base Atk +9; CMB +13 (+15 disarm or trip);CMD 26 (28 vs. disarm or trip)
Feats Combat Expertise, Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, Intimidating Prowess, Iron Will
Skills Acrobatics +15, Climb +16, Intimidate +18, Perception +15, Sense Motive +15, Stealth +15, Survival +15
Languages Aklo, Common, Infernal
SQ krampus sack, nonlethal mastery, squeeze
Ecology
Environment cold forests
Organization solitary, pair or run (3-8)
Treasure standard plus masterwork scourge
Special Abilities
Krampus Sack (Su) Any burlap bag a krampus carries is treated as a type II bag of holding, except that it never runs out of air. In the hands of any other creature, it is an ordinary bag.
Nonlethal Mastery (Ex) A krampus can deal non-lethal damage with any weapon or with its natural attacks without penalty.
Pain (Su) A creature struck by any manufactured weapon wielded by a krampus must succeed a DC 16 Fortitude save or become sickened with pain for 1 minute. Multiple blows do not stack. The save DC is Charisma based. This is an ability of the krampus, not its weapon.
Smell Wickedness (Su) A krampus can use scent to pinpoint creatures that have lied, cheated or stolen within the past week. The krampus can detect the presence of such creatures within 60 feet, and can pinpoint their square within 20 feet.
Snow Stride (Su) A krampus can move through snowy or icy conditions without penalty.
Squeeze (Su) A krampus can move through remarkably tight spaces—it is treated as Tiny for the purposes of movement. It still takes penalties to its Armor Class and attack rolls when it is in a space smaller than its actual body.

*A scourge uses the stats for a flail, except that it deals slashing and piercing damage.

The krampus are a strange breed of devilish humanoids native to the snow-covered forests of the taiga. Some hypothesize that krampuses are devils trapped in the Material realm, whereas others believe them to be bizarre fey offshoots. Regardless of their origins, they are obsessed with punishing those they consider to be wicked with violent force. Any form of dishonesty drives a krampus to mania, and they hunt liars, thieves and con-men with frightening zeal. No excuses will dissuade a krampus from its bloody form of justice, setting them against true villains, the desperate poor and heroic tricksters alike.

A krampus would rather humiliate and torment than kill, and they often fight using non-lethal damage. Krampuses like to toy with their victims, tearing away weapons and knocking foes on their backs before delivering a swift thrashing. The eerie ability of krampuses to move through tiny areas unimpeded allows them to climb through windows or down chimneys in pursuit of prey. When faced with a particularly deserving sinner, the krampus will often drag them away in their magical sack, to be tormented for days before eventually being released. If its opposition proves especially dangerous however, most krampuses will not hesitate to use lethal force.

When not tormenting mortals, krampuses spend much of their lives in torpor, sleeping for much of the day in a den in a cave or hollow tree. They are omnivorous creatures capable on surviving on very little food, but they do have a weakness for alcohol—canny peasants worried about krampus attacks often leave a small keg of beer or cider as a distraction for the marauding creatures. Krampuses are usually solitary, but they may work together to bring terror to especially naughty communities, roaming the streets in a violent gang.

Despite their infernal appearance, krampuses do not get along well with devils—the inherent dishonesty of Hell’s host put them at odds with the zealously honest krampuses. Krampuses much prefer the direct brutality of kytons. An odd source for allies of the krampuses, however, is religion. Good aligned churches often preach of the krampus on cold winter nights in order to scare their parishioners into better behavior. Krampuses are very good judges of character, of course, and many a town has tempered their fear with amusement upon witnessing the local priest receive a thrashing from a krampus.

Copyright 2011 Nicholas Herold

To celebrate the release of the most recent PDF from Demiurge Press, Creature Codex Vol. 3: It Came From the Silver Screen!, I would like to give away a few copies to anyone with the time and inclination to write a review. If you are interested in writing a review, and would like a free PDF, please shoot me an email at

Include your Paizo username, and we'll get the wheels in motion for sending you a free copy. The offer is limited to the first five or so emails I get, so if you're interested, act quickly!

Is that a new linnorm? Looks to be fishier than the three in Bestiary 1.

Also, I am greatly pleased to see not a single horned helmet.

Like several other threads I've seen here on the boards, I have no desire to get the Beginner's Box, so I'd like to cancel the subscription to the Roleplaying Game for now. I do wish to keep my Adventure Path subscription.

15 Gozren, 4711 AR

Some Taxfest. Most of my possessions stolen, left in the woods with no food, no water, only my shoulderbag. Abadar be praised that I retain my life and my alchemical supplies.

Let me back up a bit.

My name is Galton Anders, alchemist, surgeon and phrenologist. I am traveling through this blighted country of Ustalav in order to meet with a friend and colleague, Professor Petros Lorrimor. Three times in the past decade has Lorrimor visited me at my laboratory in Oppara, so it is only just that I visit him in his own home, in the tiny village of Ravengro. I have been on the road for the past three months; how the professor finds so much time to travel, I may never fully understand.
The coach I was most recently riding, recommended to me by an innkeeper in Ardis, was stopped by Scarzni bandits, not a few day’s travel from my destination. I was the only passenger, fortunately—I had hired the entire carriage in order to have room to set up my portable laboratory and do some experiments—I am very close to cracking the problem of the Universal Stabilizer, allowing my extracts and elixirs to benefit other persons besides myself. The bandits forced me from my coach, loaded my luggage onto their horses (thus depriving me of most of my money and books, and all of my spare clothes) and then gave the coachman his cut! The bandits, foolishly, did not take me for a threat, but after ingesting my Augmentative Mutagenic Serum and beating one of their men senseless, they fled, leaving me behind unmolested and their man bleeding on the roadside. I bound his wounds, drug him to a shaded hollow, and have left him. If the wolves find him, either real or metaphorical, I shall not be too aggrieved.

In my alchemically enhanced state, the bandits seemed to have confused me for a werewolf. Not a terrible supposition—the formula does increase my size and strength, and the accelerated hair growth is a side effect I have yet to be able to control. This gives me an idea I may later be able to use to my advantage. I will have to obtain the claws and teeth of predatory beasts at some point in the near future.

For now, I travel on foot. A lifetime of wilderness hikes and exercise regimens has not been in vain. Judging by my (assumed) location, I shall arrive in Ravengro by week’s end, if not sooner.

Fantasy roleplaying games have long drawn their monstrous material from myths and legends, folklore and literature. It may seem that cinema, a relatively new art-form, has been neglected. But Hollywood culture has done much to shape our perceptions of popular monsters. Vampires weren't killed by sunlight until Nosferatu, and the magical combination of werewolves, silver and the full moon was formulated by Universal Pictures in the 1940s. Where would zombies be without Night of the Living Dead? Would carnivorous oozes exist without The Blob?

The monsters in Creature Codex Vol. 3: It Came from the Silver Screen! draw inspiration from the creature features of the 1950s through 1970. Within its pages you'll find five monsters and two templates representing everything from giant animals to alien menaces and weird mutants. And, as always, Demiurge Press is committed to presenting top quality art and editing.

Coming soon!

As the title states. I want to keep my Roleplaying Game and AP subscriptions, but I'd like to cancel my subscription to the Pathfinder Campaign Setting line.

Thank you!

At long last! The second in the Demiurge Press collection of Creature Codices is now available:

Creature Codex Volume 2: Infernal Index

In this product, you'll find six new fiends, including an oni, a kyton and a div! The messageboards have been clamoring for more information on these exotic new types of evil outsiders, and I've been happy to contribute some of my takes on these breeds of fiends. My thanks go out to Paizo for keeping so much of their work in the OGL so that other authors can contribute.

As always, Demiurge Press products feature full-color art by Heather Frazier, and this time, we've included a black-and-white copy of the file for easier printing.

If you're curious about the Creature Codex line, please be sure to check out the first volume, available on the Paizo store as a free download!

Creature Codex Volume 1: Monsters of Twilight

I was very happy to see vegepygmies in Serpent Skull, because they're one of my favorite humanoid races that I've never done anything with. Into the Darklands gave them some awesome flavor about how they hope to spread their russet mold, and I came away with the impression that they're somewhat less malicious Cybermen/Borg types. They can't understand why anyone wouldn't want to be infected with russet spores. Your descendants will be hardy and long-lived, after all, and quite numerous.

Is it just me, or are the vegepygmies of Saventh-Yhi the perfect opposing army for the serpentfolk in Part 6? They're immune to poison and mind-influencing effects, rendering two of the serpentfolk's best weapons useless. I can see pragmatic/ruthless/slightly evil groups allying with the vegepygmies and offering them access to the tribe of humans to make more vegepygmies, or troglodytes to make thornies. Maybe even offer them the morlocks--they're close enough to humans that they should generate viable mold men, and are dangerous, unpredictable and weak-willed as is. Maybe arrange a deal where the elderly and sick of the human tribes are given the ability to live again as hosts for a generation of vegepygmies.

Has anybody's group actually allied with the vegepygmies? Or is their assimilationist attitude and lack of speech enough to get them killed by most parties?

As a companion piece to last year's Creature Codex Volume 1: Monsters of Twilight, we here at Demiurge Press are proud to announce Creature Codex Volume 2: The Infernal Index! For as long as mankind has existed, we have sought to have some entity to explain why evil exists in the world. And as long as fantasy roleplaying games have existed, game statistics have allowed us to kill these princes of darkness and take their stuff.

Creature Codex Volume 2: The Infernal Index will contain game statistics for six denizens of the lower planes, including members of such obscure fiendish strains as divs, oni and kytons! The monsters in this product will range from CRs 5 to 17, ensuring their usefulness for a wide range of levels.

The release date is not yet set, but we hope to get it released in the next couple of months.

Serpent's Skull is one of those APs that really benefits from having a lot of DM investment put into it; the sandboxy elements, long stretches of overland travel and potential for heavy roleplaying all lead to the DM having his hands full. So to lend a hand to DMs in need, I'm going to post up some random encounter tables I've used in my Serpent's Skull game to liven up the wilderness.

Souls for Smuggler’s Shiv—Random Shipwreck Encounters

50% of the shipwrecks have a creature lairing in them. 25% have loose floorboards (Ref DC 15 negates). 20% of uninhabited wrecks have 4d20 gp of treasure, 75% of inhabited ones have 3d100 gp of treasure.

01-06—1 octopus Avg. CR 1
07-13—1 lacedon Avg. CR 1
14-16—1d4 ochre eurypterids Avg. CR 1
17-20—1 common eurypterid Avg. CR 1
21-25—1 hunter urchin Avg. CR 1
26-30—1 giant crab Avg. CR 2
31-38—1d4 lacedons Avg. CR 2
39-49—1d6 human skeletons Avg. CR 2
50-60—1d4 human zombies Avg. CR 2
61-65—1d3 common eurypterids Avg. CR 2
66-75—1 shark Avg. CR 2
76-80—1 medium water elemental Avg. CR 3
81-85—1 pteranodon Avg. CR 3
86-90—1d3 hunter urchins Avg. CR 3
91-93—1 crab swarm Avg. CR 4
94-96—1 spear urchin Avg. CR 4
97-98—1 sea hag Avg. CR 4
99-100—1 bluetip eurypterid Avg. CR 5

I used this table to generate the following shipwrecks for my players to explore:

It seems odd to me that, with all the parameters that the Paizo store can be searched with, star ranking isn't one of them. It'd be a nice feature to be able to see at a glance which products a company sells are considered the best, for instance.

The subject says it all. Is the name Abbadon safe for OGL/Pathfinder Compatible products for an evil plane? I know that some of the fiends from said plane, the divs and daemons, are certainly open content, and I recall James Jacobs saying something about how the Gamemastery Guide's planes were intentionally de-Golarioned to be more open content-friendly. But is the name Abbadon actually legal to use in the OGL? Proper nouns and locations are generally excluded, after all. But does it count as public domain, since the name is mythologically derived?

Alright, so in the core rulebook, pg 454, under creating NPCs, it says "determine the character's total hit points by assuming the average result". OK, this was the standard in 3.5. But in the Bestiary, the difference between humanoids with an NPC class (like a goblin) have average hp, whereas ones with a PC class (like a hobgoblin) have max, as if they were a PC. This trend continues in adventures; I've only checked The Bastards of Erebus, but I would not be surprised to find it elsewhere. At least all NPCs with PC classes have max hp for their first level--I was concerned that higher level NPCs might get average. So, which should it be?

On a related note, do NPCs get the bonus hit point / skill point for their favored class? Can NPC classes be favored, or only PC ones?

Like the title says--there was talk on the boards of releasing revised versions of the APG classes in January after the playtest wrapped up, in addition to more oracle foci. Is this still in the works?

In the nihiloi entry in the Bestiary for Pathfinder 29, it mentions their multiple shadowy allies, such as shadowgarms and fetchlings. Are fetchlings designated to be statted up in a future product (Pathfinder 30 or Bestiary 2 perhaps?) or are they a victim of editing and have been dropped indefinitely?

Last night, I was helping a player pick a god for a game that's coming up, and flipping through my copy of Gods and Magic, ten pages just fell out. It's a remarkably clean break, but that's the second binding problem I've had so far. Was this a known issue with the print run of Gods and Magic?

I'm trying to put in a big order, but when I apply the holiday discount code, I get the message "this promotional code is no longer valid and has been removed from your order". I've tried it twice now, and it refuses to be accepted.

Yes, I know that the email will be making the rounds next week. But it's the spirit of the thing--I got my subscription copy of The Infernal Syndrome this week and the Christmas card was nowhere to be found.

OK, to get this out of the way, I liked the Infernal Syndrome. A lot. And the art in the adventure itself is just fine. But the supplemental articles are another story. Most of the monsters, with the exception of the spartoi, look unfinished. They're cartoony and weirdly textured, and the cerberi's front-facing head is in shadow! And the Hellknight on page 73 is... well, it's awful. Easily the worst piece of art that's ever appeared in a Pathfinder book.

Were there deadline problems?

It's implied that they're all at-will abilities, due to the "can only be affected once per hex per 24 hour period" most of them have as riders, but I can't find a specific reference.

In the middle of me running Howl of the Carrion King last night, the glue just started breaking apart, taking pages 67-78 with it. Is this a known issue with this book?