Wayfinder #9 (PFRPG) PDF

As a boy Lynithor had only the finest instructors in the martial arts, rising swiftly as an officer in his house’s army. When the house’ s enemies united to massacre his family, Lynithor fled and took to the Darklands, venturing as far as Tian Xia in search of a haven from his pursuers.
There he was waylaid and captured by the ratfolk gangster Bokanit and his thugs. Though the drow fought masterfully, his opponent’s sheer numbers won out. He awoke nearly naked, chained to a wall in a dank cell. Bokanit offered the drow a simple choice; die in this cell or die in the arena.
Little did Bokanit know what a treasure he’d found. Not only did the drow survive in the arena, he excelled, defeating every opponent thrown in his path - even Bokanit’s champion.
In victory Lynithor found a new life much to his liking. Here, in the bloodsoaked dust of the arena, he found meaning again; here he could vent his rage; take revenge on anonymous criminals for the loss of his former life.
Bokanit has been only too happy to find or create opportunities for his charge to display his masterful fighting skill, capitalizing on the drow’s famous reign as champion of the Darklands version of the Ruby Phoenix Tournament: the Shadow Phoenix Tournament.

Tall and lithely muscular, Lynithor cuts a dashing figure in his gleaming golden armor. His cropped white hair is concealed beneath his magical golden helm when in the arena, but he prefers to leave his lethal golden mask up until he needs to invoke its deadly powers.

Lynithor, Shadow Phoenix Champion CR 11
Male drow noble fighter (gladiator*) 11
CE M humanoid (elf)
Init +5; Senses darkvision 120 ft.; Perception +2
===== Defense =====
AC 23, touch 16, flat-footed 17; (+7 armor, +5 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 98 (11d10+33)
Fort +8 Ref +8, Will +3; +2 vs. enchantment
Immune sleep; SR 22
Weaknesses light blindness
===== Offense =====
Spd 30 ft.
Melee Broken Dreams +23/+18/+13 (2d4+14, 15-20/x2)
Special Attacks weapon training (heavy blades) +2, weapon training (close) +1
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th)
Constant—detect magic
At will—dancing lights, deeper darkness, faerie fire, feather fall, levitate
1/day—divine favor, dispel magic, suggestion (DC 15)
===== Tactics =====
Before Combat Lynithor is an arrogant warrior, seldom bothering to do more than cast his spell-like divine favor.
During Combat Lynithor is a flashy combatant, often willing to risk provoking attacks of opportunity to trip or disarm his foes. He uses his Performance Feats to outmaneuver his foes and keep himself from getting cornered. When he feels the need to end a combat, he uses Power Attack and the Shadow Champion’s Helm to increase his deadly accuracy.
Morale Lynithor believes himself undefeatable and knows that death is merely a temporary setback to his greatness. He fights to the death.
Base Statistics Without divine favor, Lynithor’s attack bonus is +20/+15/+10 (2d4+11)
===== Statistics =====
Str 18, Dex 20, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 14
Base Atk +11; CMB +15; CMD 31
Feats Dazzling Display, Dodge, Dramatic Display*, Greater Weapon Focus: falchion, Improved Critical: falchion, Masterful Display*, Mocking Dance*, Murderer’s Circle*, Performance Weapon Mastery*, Power Attack, Toughness, Weapon Focus: falchion, Weapon Specialization: falchion
Skills Acrobatics +16, Intimidate +16, Perform (dance) +16; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception
Languages Common, Elven, Undercommon
SQ armor training 3, fame*, poison use
Combat Gear Broken Dreams (+1 falchion), +1 breastplate, belt of physical might +2 (strength, dexterity), Shadow Champion’s Helm
*See Ultimate Combat
Shadow Champion’s Helm (Minor Artifact)
Aura strong abjuration; CL 20th
Slot head; Weight 3 lbs.
Description
This golden helm is awarded to the current champion of the Shadow Phoenix Tournament, a twisted Darklands reflection of the Ruby Phoenix Tournament in Tian Xia. The helm’s visage shows a compassionate face with a single tear dropping from the right eye. The tear seems to twist the light it reflects, giving it a crimson hue.
The wearer can activate the helm as a swift action, granting the wearer the ability to automatically confirm critical threats. But using the helm in this way comes with a price. Each round the wearer uses this ability he gains a cumulative -1 penalty on attack rolls as his eyes weep tears of blood.
Destruction
The helm must be fairly won by the champion of the Ruby Phoenix Tournament, brought to the surface and left unused for the 10 years ending in the crowning of the next Shadow Phoenix Champion.

There are archfiends, and there are empyreal lords. And then there is something in between.
Neutral quasi–deities are sometimes members of neutral outsider races which grew in power, similar to their good or evil counterparts; sometimes, they’re angels not enough fallen to be accepted in the fiends’ ranks, or demons searching to become better than they were begotten. The mysterious Darklands power, the Repentant God, seems to belong to this latter species, though no one can tell to have seen his real semblance or learned his real name, up until today.
Rumors has it that he was born a tiefling, from one of the underground races (it isn’t known which one), and lived an outcast’s life craving revenge against his family and fellows, who kept on spiting him even after he devised and used on himself the Improved half–blood extraction spell to purge the devil blood from his being. The only ray of hope in his life was the love of a pure elven maiden, traveling in the subterranean regions, who died to save him, holding to her persuasion that there was something good in him.
After his death he was chosen as an herald of an evil deity (again, it isn’t known which one), inciting terror as the embodiment of loss and death, and the patron of those who got drown in subterranean lakes. One day, he fought his greatest battle with an angel and was defeated, only to discover that the celestial being was actually his beloved one, returned to save him from his own darkness. From that day, he strives to change his ways in order to be one day received in heaven and see her again. As such, he’s become a protector of underground travelers and reformed evil creatures. For some reason, he began to protect mongrelmen, maybe seeing them as miserable outcasts just like he was in his life. The Repentant God’s clergy is still little known and sparse; his priests are mostly adepts and oracles, with a smattering of witches, inquisitors and underground rangers devoted to search and save pilgrims in danger in the Darklands. Clerics and druids (Blight and Cave druids) are the less represented.
The current highest–level worshiper of the Repentant God is Minos Bonifar, a repented undead lord in charge of an unnamed mongrelmen village built half on the surface. Minos used to be a Plague witch commanding an army of zombie bandits, but with his attempts to reform the Repentant God became his new patron. The dhampir has been driven a little schizoid by his efforts to change alignment, and doesn’t know that his quasit familiar has been secretly replaced by a nosoi in disguise, which reports every progress he makes to his new god.

The Repentant God
Home unknown
Alignment Lawful Neutral
Symbol Dark silhouette of a man’s head with a finger on his lips, on a white field
Portfolio Repented villains, subterranean waters, pilgrims, mongrelmen
Worshipers Travellers in the Darklands, mongrelmen, repentants
Favored Weapon spear
Domains Darkness, Law, Repose, Water
Subdomains Ancestors, Inevitable, Loss, Souls
Druidic Domains Cave
Inquisitions Conversion, Fate, Heresy, Imprisonment, Justice, Reformation
Mysteries Bones, Waves
Witch Patron Death, Endurance, Healing, Occult, Portents, Spirits, Water
Variant Channeling Darkness, Death, Fate, Justice/Law, Ocean/Sea/Water, Self–Perfection
Clergy Adepts, clerics, druids, inquisitors, oracles, rangers, witches
Spells All spellcasters worshiping the Repentant God may cast Atonement as a 5th–level spell.

Minos Bonifar
CN dhampir Oracle of Bones 9/Witch 8 (Dimensional Occultist)
Curse: Maniac Depressive (Necromancers of the Northwest, Mysteries of the Oracle)
Revelations: Channel (Raging Swan Press, Dhampir: Scions of the Night), Raise the Dead, Undead Servitude
Hexes: Beast of Ill–Omen, Cauldron, Disguise

Collapsed Prayer Chamber. (CR 5)
Much rubble has fallen in on this devotional space – a central altar lies snapped at the base, half of it lying nearby on the floor. A huge crack in the sloping ceiling seeps a constant drip of water, creating puddles on the ground and an atmosphere of dank decay. Two small humanoid bundles hang from a web attached to the ceiling. The walls and ceiling are painted with celestial maps – stars and comets, suns and moons depicted without any rhyme or reason – however signs of a recent fire mar the walls.

A foul ogre spider has made this chamber her lair – having found her way in through the rent in the chamber’s top - and laid a small clutch of eggs in a crack in the chamber’s wall. More recently the derro made an unsuccessful reconnoitre of her lair – their alchemist’s fire blackened the walls but did not deter her.

Creature:

Ogre Spider CR 5
XP 1600
hp 52 (Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 3)

TACTICS
Before combat: Relying on her tremorsense, the ogre spider will climb above the doorway and wait for unsuspecting victims.

During combat: The ogre spider will try to catch PCs using her web ability before closing for melee.

Morale: If faced with overpowering odds or reduced to less than 20 hit points the cave spider uses her compression ability to flee through the crack in the ceiling. If the PCs locate or threaten her clutch of eggs during combat (see treasure, below) the ogre spider will become enraged, gaining a +2 morale bonus to attacks and receiving a -2 penalty to AC.

Treasure: An aklys and a light crossbow lie on the floor unattended. In the base of the altar is a small unlocked ironwood box (worth 250 gp in a Darklands settlement) containing a potion of magic fang and a scroll containing make whole, false life and feather fall (Caster level 5th). The two derro corpses in the web have normal derro NPC gear – minus the weapons on the floor. Additionally they each carry five silvered bolts and a pair of smoked goggles. One also has a +1 buckler slung over her back.

Finally, in a small crack halfway up the wall is an egg sac containing three ogre spider eggs – these might fetch upwards of 1000 gp in a drow settlement.

IK, BLIK and WIK
THREE VEGEPYGMIES CR 2
XP 600
Vegepygmy sorcerers 1
CN Small plant
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +2
DEFENSE
AC 20, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+4 mage armor, +2 Dex, +3 natural, +1 size); +1 deflection bonus for Ik
hp 8 (1d8+4)
Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +1; +1 resistance bonus for Blik
Defensive Abilities plant traits; DR 5/slashing or bludgeoning; Immune electricity

OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +1 (1d4+1) or longspear +1 (1d6+1)
Ranged thrown alchemical acid or tanglefoot bag ranged touch +2 (special)
Special Attacks conjoined casting; wand of magic missile for Wik
Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 1, concentration +3)
1st (4/day) – burning hands (Ref DC 13), mage armor
0 (at will) – acid splash, detect magic, light, mage hand

STATISTICS
Str 12, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 14
Base Atk +1, CMB +0, CMD 12
Feats Toughness
(2) Skills Perception 1 (+2), Stealth 1 (+11, +19 in vegetation); Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth (+12 in vegetation)
Languages Undercommon, Vegepygmy (cannot speak)

ECOLOGY
Environment any underground
Treasure special (+1 ring of protection, +1 cloak of resistance, wand of magic missile (CL 1, 9 charges, 3 tanglefoot bags (1 each), 3 alchemical acid (1 each))

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Communal Reactions (Ex) Ik, Blik and Wik have a primitive sort of hive mentality. As a result, the three of them only roll a single die for Initiative, and all three of them take their action on that initiative count.

Conjoined Casting (Su) If all three of these vegepygmies use a standard action to cast one of their spells known (each expending a spell slot), they are treated as caster level 4. While casting in this manner, they add entangle and sleep to their 1st level spells known, and mending and prestidigitation to their known cantrips. The three vegepygmies can also take a combined action to cast a 2nd level sorcerer spell, up to four times per day. Glitterdust is the only spell they know, and they are not treated as knowing any of these bonus spells when not using conjoined casting (for the purposes of using wands of these spells, for example).

Vestigial Memory (Ex) Ik, Blik and Wik retain some twisted fragments of the memories of Ykantar the Black Witch, which is the source of their higher than average statistics and their conjoined casting ability.

Ik, Blik and Wik are unusual, even for vegepygmies, having spawned together from the moldering corpse of Ykantar, ‘the Black Witch,’ a middling human sorcerer of less notoriety than he might have wished.

As rarely occurs, the three vegepygmies retained slight traces of the memories of their ‘host,’ and, much more rarely, vestiges of his sorcerous potential, being able to each manifest a fraction of his power, and, working together, calling forth magic on par with what he could achieve in his brief life.

Ik, Blik and Wik wear outfits composed of cast off bits of Ykantar’s formerly impressive red, purple and gold noble’s outfit, greatcloak and jewelry, spread out between them, and, in some cases, altered to fit their smaller frames, with Ik wearing his tunic as a baggy short ‘robe,’ Blik wearing his cloak wrapped around his smaller frame like a toga, while Wik wears his trousers wrapped around his waist like a kilt, his multiple belts strapped across his chest like bandoliers, and his feather-decorated fez.

Of note is that Ik wears Ykantars +1 ring of protection and has a +1 deflection bonus to his Armor Class, Blik’s ‘toga’ is a +1 cloak of resistance, granting him +1 resistance bonus to his saving throws (despite being worn ‘wrong’), and Wik carries the unlucky sorcerer’s blackened ash wand of magic missile (CL 1, 9 charges remaining).

The powerful personality of the former Black Witch has left traces in the minds of Ik, Blik and Wik, and they are arrogant and domineering, finding themselves quietly struggling for power with the chieftain of their tribe, whose physical power is sufficient to keep them from moving openly against him. Instead they attempt to ‘advise’ him to pursue their interests, although he is clever enough to occasionally openly reject their ‘counsel’ and doing things his own way, to demonstrate to the rest of the tribe that he remains in charge.

[Note: Bestiary 273 states that 1d6 vegepygmies erupt from a single corpse in the first sentence of their descriptive text, and later, in the Russet Mold writeup on the same page, has corpses produce a number of vegepygmies based on their size category. I chose the first option, obviously, because I liked this idea. While they are individually CR 1, they are treated as a CR 2 encounter together, having a fraction of the abilities of a 4th level sorcerer. Their combined wealth is also in excess of normal for their encounter level, but can be deducted from the treasure of other vegepygmies they are encountered with.]

DARK ACOLYTE CR 5
XP 1600
CN Medium humanoid (dark folk)
Init +3; Senses detect law, detect magic, see in darkness.; Perception +8

DEFENSE
AC 19, touch 13, flat-footed 16 (+4 armor, +3 dodge, +2 natural)
hp 39 (6d8+12); fast healing 3
Fort +3, Ref +8, Will +6; +3 vs. negative energy effects
Defensive Abilities negative energy resistance; Resist cold 5
Weakness light blindness

OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee spear +5 (1d8+1 plus 3d6 negative energy damage)
Ranged masterwork javelin +8 (1d6+1 plus 3d6 negative energy damage plus poison)
Special Attacks channel dark energy 3d6, death throes

Spell-like Abilities (CL 6, concentration +9)
Constant – detect law, detect magic
At will – bane, deeper darkness, stabilize
1/day – animate dead, blindess/deafness, lesser restoration, silence

STATISTICS
Str 13, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 16
Base Atk +4, CMB +5; CMD 18
Feats Combat Casting, Command Undead, Toughness
12 Skills Climb 0 (+5), Diplomacy 3 (+6), Knowledge (religion) 3 (+3), Perception 3 (+8), Stealth 3 (+10); Racial Modifiers +4 Climb, +4 Perception, +4 Stealth
Languages Dark Folk
SQ magical knack, poison use, strong-willed

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Channel Dark Energy (Su) As a standard action, a dark acolyte can channel dark energy that inflicts 3d6 negative energy damage to all living targets within 30 ft., but heals both undead and any humanoids with the dark folk subtype. A DC 16 Will save halves this damage. This is treated as the negative energy channeling ability of a Cleric for the purposes of qualifying for feats like Alignment Channel or Command Undead. Alternately, as a swift action, the dark acolyte can expend a use of this channeled energy to inflict additional 3d6 negative energy damage to living creatures (other than dark folk) to a foe struck with a melee or ranged attack (Will save DC 16 halves). This save is Charisma based. The dark acolyte can access this power a number of times equal to 3 + its Charisma modifier.

Death Throes (Su) When a dark acolyte is slain, its body combusts in a flash of dark energy. This acts like a use of channeled negative energy that inflicts 3d6 negative energy damage to all living creatures within 30 ft. A DC 16 Will save halves this damage. This damage heals undead and humanoids with the dark folk subtype, instead of harming them. This save is Charisma based.

Fast Healing (Su) A dark acolyte’s fast healing only operates in total darkness.

Magical Knack (Ex) Spellcraft and Use Magic Device are always class skills for Dark Acolytes.

Negative Energy Resistance (Su) A dark acolyte takes no damage from negative energy effects that would inflict hit point damage if he makes his saving throw, and half damage if he fails his saving throw. He also gains a bonus to his saving throw versus negative energy effects equal to his Charisma modifier. A side effect of this feature is that the dark acolyte only receives half of any hit point healing from positive energy effects.

Poison Use (Ex) Dark acolytes are skilled in the use of poison and never risk accidentally poisoning themselves. Dark folk favor a foul-smelling fungal toxin called black smear – injury; save Fort DC 15; frequency 1/round for six rounds; effect 1d2 Str; cure 1 save.

Strong-Willed (Ex) A dark acolyte’s faith bolsters their will, affording them a good will save.

ECOLOGY
Environment any underground
Organization solitary, gang or clan
Treasure standard (mithril chain shirt, 3 MW javelins, 3 doses black smear)

Dark acolytes serve as priests for the dark folk, both affirming the faith of their followers and, when needed, treating their wounds.