Mythic Monsters 22: Emissaries of Evil (PFRPG)

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The Best of the Very Worst!

Emissaries of Evil incorporates evil outsiders of every kind, from malevolent masterminds like night hags to black-hearted hunters like yeth hounds. Some evil outsiders are subtle and stealthy stalkes, like the fearsome hellcat or the mirror-master soulsliver. There are fiend-tainted footsoldiers like the urdefhan, and hideous misshapen monstrosities like the vargouilles, hideous flying heads seeking only to plant their tainted kiss and sprout more of their monstrous kin. Many of these independent evil outsiders prowl the Lower Planes acknowledging no master but themselves and wielding power through puppets by clever manipulation, like the serpent-shrouded dorvae, while others serve otherworldly overlords of other planes, as the awful ankou serve the mightiest rulers of the Fey Realms as punishers and assassins. Many evil creatures call upon the powers of darkness, like the shadow mastiff, but others indulge in the corrupted power of light to cloak their horrid hearts in the glow of heaven's light, like the shining child. There are evil outsiders that seem to mortals no more than twisted and strange animalistic beasts, like the stilt-legged achaierai, though their flightless ferocity belies their cruel cleverness. The ultimate emissary of evil, however, is the distilled immortal ichor of a dead god of deepest vileness, which may eternal lie until with strange eons even the death of a god may die. As if these were not enough, guest contributor Sean K Reynolds adds the brand-new maldonado, a body-jumping fiend of possession created from the warped and twisted soul of a fallen angel, now living a vampiric half-life riding the bodies of mortals until their souls are consumed. A dozen and one vile creatures of every description lie within, from CR 3 to 21, and if all these statistics were not sufficient to sate your appetite for evil, we bring you a chilling tale of corruption, captivity, and maternal malevolence to set the proper mood for using these Emissaries of Evil.

The Mythic Monsters series from Legendary Games sets aside the rich story and background that is our trademark, because it is focused on absolute crunch, and there it absolutely lives up our highest standards of innovative layout, beautiful aesthetics, and excellence in design that is second to none. We hope you enjoy using it as much as we enjoyed making it. Game on!

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An Endzeitgeist.com review

5/5

This installment of the Mythic Monsters-series clocks in at 32 pages, 1 page front cover, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, 2 pages of introduction, 2 pages advertisement, 1 page inside of back cover, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 21 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

As always, we kick off this installment of the Mythic Monsters-series with a supplemental piece of content – which this time around turns out to be nothing less than an awesome, disturbing piece of prose – really liked this flavorful introduction!

After getting thus in the mood for all kinds of nastiness, we dive in head first with the CR 6/MR 2 Achaierai – flinging bites and nigh impenetrable legs enhance this creature in just the right way – so we’re off to a good start. And it does not become worse – or it does, at least from a PC’s point of view. The Ankou (CR 17/MR 7) now is a true force to be reckoned with – in the careful hands of a sadistic DM like yours truly these guys can be rendered nigh-unkillable, thanks to the awesome new shadow double-related trickery they can pull off. The build also utilizes two mythic variants of feats provided for your perusal. Indeed, that is a tendency, for the next creature, the CR 13/MR 5 Dorvae also utilizes such a feat. With an aura of psychic poison and grappling/poison-bite synergy, these beings receive an appropriate lethality upgrade over their non-mythic brethren.

One of my favorite creatures ever, the CR 8/MR 3 hellcat not only receives deadly telepathy to coordinate attacks, they also get a menacing purr – and yes, the imagery is glorious: What is worse than an invisible extraplanar predator seeking to tear you asunder? A group of them, always present and coordinating the attacks launched on the unsuspecting mortal fools...and always, there’s this purring. There’s a classic gothic novel/horror adventure just begging to be constructed around this creature.

Mythic Immortal Ichor (at CR 21/ MR 8) can squeeze through the tiniest of spots, cause acid damage and charm effects…oh, and it can use mythic power to actually friggin’ drown foes. NASTY!!! And yeah, their swarms are nastier as well. The Night Hag (CR 11/MR 4) can use mythic power to make the curse inflicted by her claws permanent and has infectious, carnivorous maggots in her mouth. Yeah! But that is NOT where these gals stop – beyond summoning mythic mounts (with synergy of exactly that installment of this very series), they actually can come back to haunt (and potentially kill!) you in your dreams, forcefully reincarnating into you, killing you in the process. And you thought Freddy was bad news…

Okay, at Cr 6/MR 2, the Shadow Mastiff is just one of what my group calls the “hellhound-wannabe-clan” – i.e. low CR, canine evil outsiders. Thankfully, the mastiff finally receives some distinct, unique tricks – namely shadowporting and becoming a cold-based incorporeal shadowy form – thank you for finally making these poor puppies stand out a bit! At CR 4/MR 1, the Yeth Hounds also belong to this club – and with the stunning, potentially madness-causing cursed critical, they also finally receive some tricks to make them stand out and not feel like “hell Hound minus fire, plus lame fear.”

At the same CR/MR, the Urdefhan with their suicide blasts and lethal swords can also be considered a well-made upgrade of the basic creature. The lowest end of the spectrum, CR and MR-wise, is provided for by the Vargouille at CR 3/MR 1 – which may now execute kisses via mythic power at range – nice idea and a kiss you definitely don’t want to catch! Another, even better example for great low level mythic monster upgrades would be the Soulshriver at the same rating – these guys can attack reflections to cause cha-damage, mirror hop, etc. – and a perfect candidate to show some overly cocky adventurers who’s the boss. A classic example of a creature, which now, even more so than before, can drive whole plots and cut down foes beyond its usual CR when played smart. Superb one!

At CR 15/MR 6, the mythic version of the shining child provides a nice example of a mythic upgrade that can be considered a numerical escalation, an increase in power and flexibility, but at the same time, I felt as though the awesome concept of the base-creature could have provided for some more disturbing abilities than those provided – yes, using mythic power for massive bonus damage is nice and all…but still. Then again, that may just be the fan of the creature speaking.

The original creature of this installment could have been taken, at least from the neat one-page artwork, right from the Fatal Frame/Project Zero-games. The CR 6/MR 2 Maldonado is the discorporate remnant of a fallen angel, forever depending on the bodies of mortals, whose faces it may change. And it IS deadly – I’ve never seen a build so consequently focused on possessing beings – from being able to perform the deed via multiple abilities, sans touch and with various action-types, these guys will be pretty hard to keep out…oh, and yes, it can force rerolls. It can also potentially bypass protection from evil and similar tricks. And its compelling, cool write-up and prose make what otherwise would be another possessing incorporeal creature a) distinct and b) awesome beyond the narrow mechanic focus on being the master-possessor.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to Legendary Games’ nice two-column full color standard and the artworks by Mike Lowe are beautiful and very distinct, breathing a sense of appropriate history. The pdf comes fully bookmarked with unobtrusive bookmarks.

This installment is the work of more than the core-team for the series, a quick glimpse at the author-line among the credits-lists reads like this: Jason Nelson, Alistair Rigg, Tom Philips, Mike Welham, Todd Stewart and Sean K. Reynolds. If you’re halfway familiar with designers, you won’t wonder anymore why this installment of the Mythic Monsters-series is literally all-killer, no filler. Even creatures I personally loathe in their original iterations have received a couple of cool tricks that set them distinctly apart from their mundane, lamer brethren. My special applause, though, is reserved for night hag and soul shriver – these two are so inspired, so infinitely cooler, I absolutely adore them – they are the stand-out beasts in an excellent installment that truly deserves the moniker “Legendary” - 5 stars + seal of approval.

Endzeitgeist out.


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Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4; Contributor; Publisher, Legendary Games

Woo, new monsters!

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32

It's unclear from the description whether they're using the word "Mythic" in the same sense as I'm expecting it. Do all of the creatures in this book have Mythic levels and rules? Or are they just using "mythic" as a product line name, with no mechanical meaning?

ETA: Typo in the write-up, by the way. First line: "Some evil outsiders are subtle and stealthy stalkes..."

The Concordance RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32

I was curious also about the work mythic...

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

All of the Mythic Monsters series are supporting Mythic Adventures. Every creature in these releases have Tiers.

Note: This does NOT preclude using them in a non-Mythic game, in fact it's exactly the opposite. It adds capabilities to the monsters, things they can do that will challenge PCs in new and different ways. If your players are they type to have the Bestiaries memorized, this is a good way to throw them curveballs. It also lets you keep lower CR monsters around as viable opponents as your PCs increase in level.

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32

Kvantum wrote:

All of the Mythic Monsters series are supporting Mythic Adventures. Every creature in these releases have Tiers.

Thanks, and sold.

I'm about to send my players to Hell. This is timely.


Nice. I love that the 3PP are developing more mythic material.


Reviewed first on endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to Nerdtrek and GMS magazine and posted here, on OBS and d20pfsrd.com's shop.

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