TheNightmareOne's page

As Kalindlara has recommended, one pressure-suited astomoi psychic cultist of the Old Gods. I tried to preserve the summoning angle they mentioned, but if my concession feat and spell-wise doesn't feel like enough, I'd also switch out Fear for Summon Monster IV.

The Arcturn Occultist

The occultist Whispering Way cultists and our replacement Accretia are finished. I left the latter alive (rather than making her a dread wight) so I could get more mileage out of her class levels; that Sudden Strike makes a big difference as far as her damage output goes.

Whispering Way Occultist

Accretia

One Vivisectionist Vorkstag, and one Promethean Whispering Way cultist. I had more fun making the promethean than I expected; initial impression had me unimpressed by the homunculus, but it's growing on me.

Vorkstag

I’d probably put Davos here on the second floor of area G, and the homunculus on the first floor. The Little Ghoule makes a few attacks at range when the PCs are exploring the first floor, then finds a way upstairs to fight at his master's side.

Davos Westmarch, Promethean Alchemist

The Little Ghoule, Homunculus Companion

Having nothing in particular to do, and being enamored with this idea in general, I'm gonna start posting stat blocks here for some of the additions Kalindlara's recommended.

First up: One Whispering Way Spiritualist. She should probably be snooping around the basement when the PCs arrive; she's...dangerous for groups of only first or second level. Hence her suboptimal tactics.

Amala Sala
CR 4; XP 1200
Female Human Spiritualist 5 (Occult Adventures 72)
NE Medium Humanoid (Human)
Init +2; Senses Perception +2
DEFENSE
AC 21, touch 12, flat-footed 19 (+5 armor, +2 Dex, +4 Shield)
hp 32 (5d8 + 10)
Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +6
Defensive Abilities Spiritual Interference
OFFENSE
Speed 30ft.
Melee +1 Kukri +6 (1d4 + 3/18-20)
Ranged Light Crossbow with +1 Bolt +6 (1d8 + 1/19-20)
Special Attacks Bonded Manifestation 8 rounds/day
Spiritualist Spell-like Abilities (CL 5th; Concentration +7)
At Will- Detect Undead
Spiritualist Spells Known (CL 5th; Concentration +7)
2nd (3/day)- Inflict Pain (DC 14), Invisibility, Rage, Stricken Heart (DC 14)
1st (5/day)- Burst of Adrenaline, Cause Fear (DC 13), Cure Light Wounds, Psychic Reading, Shield
0 (at will)- Detect Magic, Detect Psychic Significance, Guidance, Light, Mage Hand, Mending
TACTICS
Before Combat Warned of the PCs’ intrusion, Amala casts Invisibility and Shield.
During Combat Amala starts combat by sending Viordan to attack the PCs, then two rounds later makes her presence known by casting Inflict Pain or Stricken Heart on a PC she deemed to be a particular threat. Once she’s visible, she eschews spellcasting for more material tactics, taking shots at the PCs with her crossbow or attacking with her kukri. Once Viordan is reduced to half HP, she brings him back into her consciousness to use Bonded Manifestation.
Morale Amala sends Viordan out again when she’s reduced to 10 hp or less to distract the PCs while she heals up or flees, depending on how overmatched she feels.
STATISTICS
Str 15, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 8
Base Atk +3; CMB +5; CMD 17
Feats Emotional Conduit, Logical Spell, Medium Armor Proficiency, Scribe Scroll
Skills Bluff +7, Knowledge (arcana, history) +8, Linguistics +8, Spellcraft +8
Languages Ancient Osiriani, Common, Draconic, Infernal, Necril, Varisian
SQ Bonded Senses 5 rounds/day, Etheric Tether, Phantom (Anger), Shared Consciousness
Gear +1 Kukri (DC 18), Masterwork Scale Mail, Haunt Siphon (DC 18), Light Crossbow with 10 bolts and 4 +1 Bolts (DC 18)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Bonded Manifestation (Su) A spiritualist can draw on the power of her phantom while it is bound to her consciousness as a swift action. She chooses either ectoplasmic or incorporeal form- if she chooses Ectoplasmic form, she gains a +4 shield bonus to her AC which applies to incorporeal touch attacks. If the chooses incorporeal form, she gains concealment against ranged attacks.
Etheric Tether (Su) as Life Link, save that past 50 feet the spiritualist must make Concentration checks as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity or the ectoplasmic phantom is returned to the Ethereal Plane, from whence it cannot be summoned for the next 24 hours. If the ectoplasmic phantom is ever more than 100 feet from its spiritualist, or the incorporeal phantom is ever 50 feet away from the spiritualist or outside of line of effect from the spiritualist for more than 5 rounds, the tether is automatically broken.
Shared Consciousness (Su) While the phantom is contained in the spiritualist’s consciousness, the spiritualist gains Skill Focus in two skills (this one grants Intimidate and Survival) and a +4 bonus on saving throws against mind-affecting effects. Additionally, once per day, when the spiritualist fails her saving throw against a mind-affecting effect, as an immediate action she can shunt that effect into the phantom’s section of her consciousness instead. When she does so, she loses the usual benefits of Shared Consciousness but is not affected by the mind-affecting effect; these both persist until the effect would normally end.
Spiritual Interference (Ex or Su) Whenever a spiritualist is within the reach of her ectoplasmic manifested phantom, she gain a +2 shield bonus to her AC and a +2 circumstance bonus on her saving throws. A spiritualist within 30 feet of her incorporeally manifested phantom receives a +2 circumstance bonus on saving throws against mind-affecting effects.

Viordan Sala [Ectoplasmic Form]
CR -; XP -
Anger Phantom
NE Medium Outsider (phantom)
Init +5; Senses Darkvision 60ft.; Perception +7
DEFENSE
AC 17, touch 11, flat-footed 16 (+1 Dex, +6 natural)
hp 34 (4d10 + 12)
Fort +6, Ref +2, Will +4
DR 5/slashing, 5/magic
OFFENSE
Speed 30ft.
Melee 2 Slams +7 (2d6 + 3)
Special Attacks Magic Attacks
TACTICS
During Combat Viordan attacks the PCs without regard to his own safety, counting on his formidable damage reduction and natural armor to protect him. He uses Power Attack on any round after he hits with both slam attacks.
Morale Viordan fights until destroyed or dismissed, although Amala pulls him back into her consciousness to use him for Bonded Manifestation once he’s reduced to half HP.
STATISTICS
Str 16, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 15
Base Atk +4; CMB +7; CMD 18
Feats Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Toughness
Skills Intimidate +8, Knowledge (planes) +5, Perception +7, Survival +7
Languages -
SQ Deliver Touch Spells (30ft.), Link, Phase Lurch, Share Spells

Great God of the Sprawl
CN Minor God

With all of these things, you know what comes to mind? A hive. Not like a bug-hive, a people-hive. A city that has seen revolution, and plague, and multiple overthrows of government. The god's focus is the city itself: how a place of industry, control, and community becomes anarchy with its own rules (and the defiance thereof).

A god embodying the inherent chaos of large cities, basically.

Rasputin Must Die! did something that no previous Adventure Path has made me do- want my PC to die so I could build someone from Earth, 1918. However, lacking an adventuring group, I thought I might just drop him here. My thought was that he could be a replacement for Dmitri in area D4- a man who has given his life to first the war, and then to Rasputin's unholy allies.

His name is...

Aleksei Vasiliy Molokov
Human Fighter (Trench Fighter) 9/Assassin 2/Shadowdancer 2
LE Medium Humanoid (Human)
Init +5; Senses Darkvision 60ft., Perception +16
DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 16, flat-footed 10 (+5 Dex, +1 Dodge)
hp 102 on average (9d10 + 4d8 + 35)
Fort +10, Ref +10, Will +5; +2 vs. Fear, +1 vs. Poison
Defensive Abilities Bravery +2, Evasion, Improved Uncanny Dodge
OFFENSE
Speed 30ft.
Melee +1 Scimitar +15/+10/+5 (1d6 + 4/18-20)
Ranged Mosin-Nagant M1891 Rifle +18/+13/+8 (1d10 + 6/x4) or Mosin-Nagant M1891 Rifle +16/+16/+11/+6 (1d10 + 6/x4) with Rapid Shot or Nagant M1895 Revolver +17/+12/+7 (1d8 + 6/x4) or Nagant M1895 Revolver +15/+15/+10/+5 (1d8 + 6/x4) with Rapid Shot
Special Attacks Death Attack (DC 13), Grit (1), Poison Use, Sneak Attack +1d6, Trench Warfare (Revolver, Rifle), Weapon Training (Heavy Blades +2, Firearms +1)
STATISTICS
Str 13, Dex 20, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +11; CMB +12; CMD 27
Feats Amateur Gunslinger (Gunslinger’s Dodge), Clustered Shots, Combat Reflexes, Deadly Aim, Dodge, Mobility, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Rapid Shot, Skill Focus (Stealth), Weapon Focus (Rifle)
Skills Acrobatics +15, Bluff +12, Disguise +10, Perception +16, Perform (dance) +4, Sleight of Hand +16, Stealth +27, Survival +6
Languages German, Russian
SQ Deeds (Gunslinger’s Dodge), Hide in Plain Sight
Gear It is assumed Aleksei arms himself with at least a mosin-nagant M1891 rifle, a nagant M1895 revolver, and one of the headless cossacks’ +1 Scimitars. Ammunition is likely not an issue given how plentiful it is around Akuvskaya.

I built Aleksei here with the elite array, but his stats can be beefed up as necessary for your campaign; just keeping Dex his highest stat is really the only priority. Ditto his HP: I used the average for the rolls. Fixing him up with some gear mid-campaign should be simple enough with the mercane Zilvazaraat at the PCs' beck and call; even armed only with scavenged Russian gear, he can contribute well to most combats between now and campaign's end.

Aleksei was recruited in 1910 at the young age of 17, but being from a poor household, clung to the soldier's life with startling ferocity; devoted to the state that saved him from starvation, he made of himself an exemplary soldier, with a particular talent for unorthodox tactics; his superiors noticed his devotion and talent for subterfuge, and in 1915 made him a recognized irregular: excused from standard duty, he instead infiltrated enemy encampments to assassinate officers, sabotage supplies and weapons, and gather intelligence. During the war, he met a handful of individuals that would change his life forever, not least of which was an old Russian woman with iron teeth, who taught him to hide in others' shadows. As his effectiveness as an assassin became nearly unprecedented among the Russian forces, Aleksei's superiors turned their heads to the fact that he could literally disappear from sight in anything less than full illumination. Humble (and never good at making a good impression), Aleksei never attracted the notice that was due him until he was sent to Akuvskaya; one of the nosferatu Brothers Three noted his potential, but Aleksei shook their domination a little more frequently than they were comfortable with, so they are using him as food instead. When the PCs storm the prison camp, he asks that they take him with them; confronted with their conveyance, he instantly recognizes the Baba Yaga from tales he was told (and a suspicion that his wartime mentor was the crone herself) and instantly rallies to their cause. Assuming the PCs can use the hand, he joins them and serves their cause with the same vigor he brought to the Army.

Obviously, his training as a modern soldier gives him the trench fighter archetype from page 67 of the same volume. He's got some unusual skills for a soldier, but they all build into the role he makes for himself, eventually making him a talented infiltrator despite dumping Charisma. Despite the roguish multiclassing, he is still very much a ranged combatant. The weapons training for heavy blades is more to reflect the fact that he has been trained to fence with a contemporary weapon than out of any sense of optimization; that can be changed easily to up his firearm-related game. Similarly, the presence of Death Attack rather than the more sophisticated slayer or ninja Assassinate Advanced Talent is meant to show that he was in fact rank and file before he started doing "special" work; if the lack of optimization bothers you, take solace from the fact that the Assassin levels cost him relatively little in combat effectiveness. If the 6th-level soldiers in RMD are hardened veterans, he can still pull off the assassination of various high-level officers (many of whom would likely have aristocrat levels in addition to, if not rather than, fighter ones) with some ease, and sneak out of camp totally undetected with HIPS. Like the heavy blades specialization, they are story-based and can be changed if it irks you.

His relative lack of optimization is easily made up by his use of modern firearms; the ability to hit touch for the first five range increments makes him dangerous to basically everything else the PCs might face in the campaign, and between his Stealth modifier and Hide in Plain Sight he makes an excellent scout. While his Sneak Attack is a pittance, nothing likes getting four (touch attack!) rifle rounds with Rapid Shot, Deadly Aim and Clustered Shots from a surprise-round attack. As long as he loots the hell out of the prison camp, he should never have issues with ammunition. To offset his lack of Rapid Reload, Quick Draw and a brace of extra revolvers should serve to keep his damage adequate; he deals nearly equal damage either way (1d10 to 1d8 isn't much of a loss).

Advancing him is to personal taste; he gains little by advancing in either of his current prestige classes, and gunslinger is less than optimal, but otherwise as long as he picks a full-BAB class he'll probably be able to railgun things to death between now and the end of the AP with little trouble.

*clears throat* So, I'll just leave him, shall I? Better sitting around on the forums than quietly moldering away in my Reign of Winter file.

Same adventure as the akatas; I wanted to have more Vercite involvement than a bunch of unused tech lying around. I had initially statted these things out differently, but once People of the Stars and the Technology Guide came out, I modified them a bit. There are two of these things hanging around the crash site: one of them is inside an armored X-laser turret the Vercite crew installed after a shobhad attack on the camp, and the other is inside the Vercite vessel with her void-zombified crew. They'd be members of the Augmented caste, I suppose, but due to the gp limit and their undead state I skipped the cybernetic implants in favor of equipment the PCs might recognize. Although I don't say so, the Sonic Sword is a tech item presented in the Red Redoubt section of Dungeons of Golarion.

Vercite Void Officer
CR 8; XP 4800
Void Zombie Lord Vercite Fighter (Tactician) 8 (People of the Stars 15, Bestiary 2 23, Bestiary 4 286, Ultimate Combat 47)
LE Medium Undead
Init +6; Senses Low-Light Vision, Perception +13
DEFENSE
AC 23, touch 14, flat-footed 19 (+7 armor, +3 Dex, +1 Dodge, +2 natural)
hp 71 (8d10 + 2d8 + 18)
Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +4
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4
OFFENSE
Speed 40ft.
Melee Sonic Sword +15/+10 (1d8 + 7/17-20 plus 1d8 sonic and deafened [DC 14]), Slam +8 (1d6 + 2), tongue +8 (1d6 + 2 plus blood drain) or 2 slams +13 (1d6 + 6), tongue +8 (1d6 + 2 plus blood drain)
Special Attacks Blood Drain (2 Str), Quick Strikes, Tactician 1/day
TACTICS
During Combat The Void Officer uses its Tactician ability on the first round of combat to grant the void zombies Outflank, then moves into melee with the apparent leader of the enemy force. She ably keeps up with him with her Mobility and Step Up feats, benefiting from her improved movement speed. Otherwise, she is a straightforward combatant, lashing out with her sword and natural attacks, hoping for criticals with her Sonic Sword.
Morale Void Zombies fight to the death.
STATISTICS
Str 19, Dex 18, Con -, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 10
Base Atk +9; CMB +13; CMD 27
Feats Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus, Dodge, Improved Critical (Longsword), Mobility, Outflank, Step Up, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Longsword), Weapon Specialization (Longsword)
Skills Intimidate +13, Knowledge (engineering) +13, Perception +13, Sense Motive +14, Stealth +3 (+12 without armor); Racial Modifiers +2 Perception, +8 Stealth
Languages Vercite
SQ Armor Training 2, Chameleon Skin, Tactical Awareness +2
Gear Sonic Sword (as +1 Thundering Longsword, capacity 10 charges, consumes 1 charge/day, Tech, DC 23), +1 Breastplate (DC 18), 8 Batteries (DC 25)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Chameleon Skin (Ex) A vercite’s racial bonus to Stealth comes from her ability to change the color of her skin to match her surroundings. A vercite loses this conditional bonus if she is wearing armor, or if she wears any clothing that covers more than one-quarter of her body, as vercites can only change their own flesh, not things they carry.
Tactician (Ex) Once per day, a tactician fighter can use a standard action to grant all allies within 30 feet the use of a tactical feat she possesses. They retain the use of this bonus feat for 7 rounds.

I'm in favor of letting the dice fall where they may. I roll in front of my PCs, and if they come up all 20s for my Big Bad and the party gets wiped, that's the way it goes. I would expect no less from the DM of any campaign I was a player in: sometimes luck is just flat not on your side.

Here's a thought, ladies and gents. Everyone's keen on Numeria here, myself included, but there's a thing that is going unmentioned. Specifically, the potential for a homebrew campaign featuring the Red Redoubt of Karamoss from Dungeons of Golarion. Yes, it's in Absalom. Yes, it's a megadungeon...but the deepest level is only CR 13 as presented! Who's to say that once the PCs overcome the deepest level of the Redoubtand (maybe) overcome the remains of the Machine-Mage himself agents from the Technic League won't be poised to teleport in and expose some other dastardly plot tying the Redoubt to Numeria herself?...

In short, I'm saying we have the material, and I'm not the only one on these forums thinking about a fan-made Numeria AP. We're relatively intelligent creatures, what's stopping us? EATERoftheDEAD's already on this project, and from what I've seen it looks fairly promising. Here's the link...http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2ovjb?Legacy-of-Sarkoris-A-FanMade-Numer ia-AP#1

Plus I like the Red Redoubt. Not gonna lie, a tech-centric megadungeon appeals to my inner Mieville fan.

Reduce the number of cult members. Instead of having three surviving members, only have one or two. I recommend dropping the necromancer and his middenstone operation, but dropping the rogue and his home is doable as well. This accelerates the schedule of the adventure while making sure the stakes don't rise too much, although I should warn I've never actually GM'd this one. You might also trim down the encounters in the Sunless Grove some, but again I'm not sure what you could sacrifice. Honestly this one feels pretty bare-bones to start, and a quick survey of the forums says the whole version as printed is "only" about ten hours' worth of play time.

Hope some of this is helpful!