There are things that dwell in the dark places of the world, in long-abandoned crypts or musty attics—terrible things that can destroy your body and shatter your mind. Few individuals would think to seek out such nightmares, but those drawn into the darkness often find it infecting them, corrupting them in ways both subtle and disgusting. Some believe those who die facing such horrors are the lucky ones, for the survivors are forever scarred by their experiences.
Pathfinder RPG Horror Adventures gives you everything you need to bring these nightmares to life. Within these pages, you'll find secrets to take your game into the darkest reaches of fantasy, where the dead hunger for the living, alien gods brood in dreams, and madness and death lurk around every corner. Rules for players and GMs alike pit brave champions against a darkness capable of devouring mind, body, and soul. To prepare to face such torments, the heroes can take new feats, learn powerful spells, and even acquire holy relics—for they'll need every edge possible to survive!
Pathfinder RPG Horror Adventures includes:
Corruptions that can turn your character into a powerful monster, from a blood-drinking vampire to a savage werewolf. The only cost is your soul!
Character options to help heroes oppose the forces of darkness, including horror-themed archetypes, feats, spells, and more!
A detailed system to represent sanity and madness, giving you all the tools you need to drive characters to the brink and beyond.
Tips and tools for running a genuinely scary game, along with an in-depth look at using horror's many subgenres in a Pathfinder campaign.
Expanded rules for curses, diseases, environments, fleshwarping, haunts, and deadly traps.
New templates to turn monsters into truly terrifying foes, from creatures made of living wax to a stalker that can never be stopped!
... and much, much more!
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-849-6
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
I am in love with this book. The themes for archetypes are spot on and everything goes beyond horror basics, it's much more than vampires, werewolves, and zombies (though they are included). Some of my favorite elements are the Deep One corruption (corruptions in general are sweet, this seems like a well balanced mechanic for horribly warping the PCs into monsters, while still giving them a way to fight it) and the Gingerbread Witch. The Deep One corruption is a great example of the depth of horror this book includes, this plays on a less often used horror theme of the paranoia of harming oneself (in this case, by drowning). This reminds me so much of elements from the book The Boy Who Drew Monsters, and the mom's terrible fascination with people who drowned in a shipwreck a hundred years ago. You could adopt this same corruption for vertigo or even a bodily harm thing. On a lighter side, the Gingerbread Witch made me so, so happy. It's a well thought out archetype, I'm not sure they'd be great as a player character (but there aren't evil restrictions, so have at!) but I can't wait to insert a horrible Gingerbread Witch near some unassuming town, with her creepy haunted gingerbread house and evil delicious familiar.
I just can't say enough good things about the mechanics. They are flexible enough that you don't have to have a horror specific campaign to use elements from this book. The fear and sanity rules can be used with any campaign to add realism or more of a gritty fantasy feel. If your level 1 characters just killed a person for the first time, maybe they should lose some sanity and wrestle with that emotion. If they are in a dank, creepy dungeon with skeletons, maybe some of them would be spooked. The rules for adapting fear resistant characters like Paladins are also nicely balanced and I appreciate that attention to detail - your paladins don't have to yawn at the sideline, they're vulnerable too, just in a way less debilitating way that actually paints them as more of a hero around evil and undead.
Lastly, the warning about needing consent before using this book in a campaign was a very nice touch. That totally hooked me when starting to read this book. I kind of thought I'd just have spooky themed elements, but that paragraph inspired me to try to take this to the next level. How fun would it be to have a session that turns your actual living room into a haunted house, or to be the director of the scariest experience your friends have had all year?
If Halloween is your favorite holiday or you love low, gritty fantasy, I highly recommend this book. I will be reading this one cover to cover and am excited to use its elements for many, many sessions.
This massive hardcover clocks in at 255 pages - if you take away editorial, index, etc., you still arrive at 249 pages of content, which is A LOT.
I was gifted a copy of this book for the purpose of a fair and unbiased review. My review is based on the hardcover of this book.
Now, the first thing I'd ask you to do, is to read the series of Miscellaneous Musings I wrote on horror gaming in general. Or least the last one. Why? Because it is my firm conviction that one has to establish realistic expectations in order to review a book such as this.
(The articles are fully linked on my page.)
Alternatively, if you already own it, there is a sentence in the advice chapter on running horror games that should be taken to heart: "Pathfinder is not designed with horror in mind." I'd like to elaborate on this, at least briefly. As I have established in my long, long rants on the subject matter, it is my firm conviction that you can run horror in PFRPG, even purist horror, but that the base system per se is more conductive towards playing the angle of pitting horror against the angle of heroism, of allowing PCs to have a shot against the darkness. While you can modify PFRPG to play akin to CoC, the game is simply more conductive towards the heroic angle.
It is a testament to PFRPG's versatility that horror of any way works in the first place, in spite of the focus of the game. Now secondly, I'd like to address two aspects of the game and what we can expect, with the first being character options. We are all aware of the vast array of built-options available for PFRPG and thus, it should come as no surprise that yes, we do receive a significant array of player- (or at least character-)centric options. Which would bring me to the first observation: It is my firm convictions that players should stay out of this book.
No, really. You see, quite a lot of the new class options, like the blood alchemist, elder mythos cultist, hexenhammer or medium spirit-variants like the butcher or lich (for champion and archmage, to give two examples) scream "NPC" for me. I know, it is perhaps not what you'd expect me to do, but ultimately, I consider the material here to be mostly intended for the GM. Yes, we have martyr paladins with stigmata and bloody jake slayers and serial killer vigilantes. Yes, some players will want to play these...but from my experience as a horror-GM, it may actually make sense restricting these...or simply not telling the players about the rules. Before you're asking, btw.: From a min-maxing perspective, you'll probably find better options anyways...but if that's a consideration for you when playing in a horror game, I'd strongly suggest thinking about priorities and of what makes for a fun game for everyone - see my long, long posts on the necessary contract/gentlemen's agreement between the GM and player.
That being said, there is one aspect I am holding against this book, in spite of the aforementioned previous considerations, and that would be that there is no dividing line between content obviously designed for players/good guys and that for villains - it does show in the archetype-section and, more than that, in the feat-section, where we can find REALLY cool Story-feats alongside a bunch of feats intended for evil characters or monsters - in the latter case often enhancing universal monster abilities and providing further numerical escalation - which would be less of an issue, if PFRPG didn't have this many options to gain access to precisely these abilities. In short, we are catering to a mindset here that kinda undermines the horror premise the rest of the book is trying hard to set up. In short: We also get a lot of alternate racial traits for the core races, which generally fit with the themes of horror, though the fortification they offer against these challenges don't really fit my personal vision of what I like to play in the context of such a campaign, but your mileage here may obviously vary. These are my least favorite aspects of the book.
But let's move back to the very beginning: The advice given for players when making characters for horror adventures is extremely sound and should most certainly be read carefully - the book spells pretty much out what I did, minus the advice on Achilles heels, but I guess you can't have everything. The notes on making a compelling personality etc. makes sense, and so does the advice of roleplaying fear. I am a big fan of the note that the book emphasizes conspiration and communication with the GM here.
One of my favorite parts herein would be the more diversified take on Fear: We are introduced to a 7-step progression tree of various states of fear, including rules on immunity to fear and how it should be used in conjunction with this system. It works pretty seamlessly, though I honestly wished the already widely in use cowering condition had been implemented here as well - considering the effects of the highest fear-level "horrified", the differences are not that pronounced. And yes, I am aware that this adds a bit of potential complexity to some options, but here at least, I consider the trade off worth it.
Sanity...is a bit more clunky. We get a relatively simple system: Add mental attributes together and you have the sanity score; half of that is the sanity edge. This determines the severity of the madness incurred when something exceeds your sanity threshold - which is equal to the bonus of the highest mental attribute bonus. When you incur a sanity attack and its damage exceeds the threshold, you gain a madness - simple, yes...but it does ultimately reward characters that are SAD on a mental attribute, whereas in my opinion, sanity-shattering effects often are made worse by understanding them properly, perceiving them properly, etc. The system is not bad per se, but it requires managing three scores and for that, it doesn't deliver the results I'm personally looking for in such a system. Your mileage may vary, obviously, but yeah.
The star-subsystem here would be basically PFRPG's take on dark powers-checks, so-called corruptions. These tie in with character flaws of the PC and represent a dark and malevolent stain on the character that slowly mutates them, granting benefits, while at the same time driving them further down the dark path. Where previously, in Ravenloft, you ultimately became a darklord, corruptions now have 3 stages, with the final stage usually turning you NPC. Progression along this path is via a variety of actions and they generally have a catalyst to first spring them on a character. These corruptions also feature tempting powers, so-called manifestations, which also come with a stain, a drawback, that is in relation to the behavior in question.
Now, first things first: At one point, I wrote a pretty long essay on how to tempt both players and PCs at the same time with horrific power and the psychological reasons to do so - while it has been cut and never been published, let me summarize: I argued that a weakness of the monster-transformation aspect championed by Ravenloft was, that on the one hand, the PC should be horrified by what he does, while craving the power in question. Similarly, the player should feel the same.
If there is a disjoint between player and PC, roleplaying suffers. The corruptions, when looking at them, are surprisingly tame - not in their visuals, mind you: The hive, for example, is really icky. Still, it is somewhat surprising to see the heavy penalty of corruption stage 3...and at the same time, the significant array of manifestations each corruption offers. Now, some folks have complained about the risk of being turned NPC being too high (it's a sort of game over, after all), but from a meta-design perspective it can be a motivator for munchkins to take heed.
There is another aspect to the system pretty much every review I read did not pick up on - and I don't get why. In my third essay on horror gaming, I talked about the realities of being a big publisher and not one of the underground one-man operations. I also talked briefly about the witch hunts our hobby is subject to, one that continues in some regions and circles. More than that, moral and aesthetic limitations vary within persons - more so between folks. As the big dog that Paizo is, it is pretty hard to sell "play a monstrously vile thing and the descent into evil" to a part of their demographic - though, in particularly the hardcore horror fans will want exactly that, the teetering on the edge of damnation experience, for from this precipice, the best redemption stories are woven.
Here's the beautiful thing about the corruption system: The increase of manifestations is not tied to the corruption stage progression. At all. You can retain the whole save mechanics, variants and the whole rest and just throw out the three stages. You can introduce as many stages as you'd like (perhaps 7 or 5, as previous editions of the game did - perhaps 13, if you want to go an occult angle...) - the system's validity remains. And yes, I'll confess, my kneejerk response was like that of many out there, to complain and curse about the 3 stages - but know what? This is by far the best and most detailed (and balanced) such system I have seen for a d20-based game. It covers the company and at the same time, easily allows for PCs and NPCs, for GMs and players alike, to enjoy a system I never expected to see in this shape or form from a big publisher. Now personally, I would have actually increased the potency of the corruptions if you're running with the stage-limit and NPC-threat...but, once again, that is if you're planning on playing a relatively tame campaign. The fact that each manifestation has its custom gifts and stains, completely divorced from the stages, means that you retain maximum control when tweaking the system to your needs. The fact that the save to resist progression is tied to compulsive behavior means that even it, as an aspect, remains valid, its tie to further manifestations in the save-calculation providing a roleplaying catalyst even without the presence of the threat of NPCdom.
The chapter on magic provides a wide array of thematically fitting spells that range from the subtle to the in-your-face blunt - sleepwalking suggestions, massive, gory blood effects and cursed terrain generally make sense and even otherwise pretty standard damage spells included herein sport nice visuals: Screaming flames? Yes, I can see that working. I am honestly more in love with the fact that we get a 5 pretty neat occult rituals here that all are amazing in their own way, with each having the potential to act as a proper plot-cornerstone. I wished we got more of them!
Now, I mentioned that I consider this to be a GM-book and indeed, the GM-section is a bit of a treasure trove in some aspects: We get a couple of new curses and advice on making more, as well as notes on cursed lands and items - if the topic interests you: Both Legendary games and Rite Publishing have released whole supplements dealing with curses, often in really creative ways, but that as an aside. Curse templates allow for the customization of curses herein. Now, the disease chapter gets my full-blown applause for disease templates - and e.g. the one named "incurable." It actually does what it says on the tin! (minus the usual wish/miracle-caveat) - this is amazing. I mean it. Diseases have, in pretty much every d20-based system, been afterthoughts, crippled, lame and ultimately were the lame brothers of poison. This changes that. The sample diseases like "brain moss" or "gore worms" also make me tingle and twitch in a good way.
Speaking of things I like: We get a vast number of cool terrain hazards, haunted spots and the like to add to encounters, allowing for quick and easy eerie customizations. Domains of Evil can also be found. You know. Domains. With dread fog. That modify how magic works. With hazards and potentially different flow of time. That are haunted. Yeah, let's stop teh pretense here: If you're like me and a sucker for Ravenloft, then this chapter will have you smile from ear to ear, even before the rules on nightmares and the couple of traps. These, btw., unfortunately are the roll to see and disable kind - particularly in a horror game, team effort, complex traps that require multiple tasks make for the more compelling option, but I digress.
Now, the next section of rules is something that I was looking forward to, since it had been featured, but never codified properly in rules at least not by Paizo (there are a couple of 3pp-forays into that territory)- fleshwarping! And yes, it is cool. It sports a ton of nice effects, but the system is, to a degree, a double-edged sword: On one hand, fleshwarping works really well and on the other, its price is perhaps a bit too high: Let me elaborate: Fleshcrafts can either be permanent grafts or temporary mutations, instilled by an elixir that requires succeeding a Fort-save to gain the benefits. The temporary prices and benefits and being keyed to slots etc. makes sense for the elixirs, but since the effects also sport a penalty, the price for the respective fleshcraft grafts is still pretty high when compared to magic items - baseline for the grafts seems to have been 1/2 of a comparable item's base price to make up for the drawback. Considering the disfiguring nature of these options, that may still be pretty high, though. It depends a bit. Chaotic fleshwarping mutations can also be found - and unlike the chaositech mutations of yore, these generally are detrimental.
The extensive section on haunts that follows includes templates for them (called haunt elements) as well as variants like dimensional instabilities, maddening influence, magical scars and psychic haunts. The array presented ranges from humble Cr 1/4 to CR 20, including classics like being buried alive or the twisted wish. Madnesses are codified in lesser and greater madnesses - big plus here: For once, a supplement does not confuse schizophrenia with dissociated identities. (Seriously, if I had a buck whenever I saw that being confused...)
Now, one of the most useful sections regarding GM-considerations would be the massive chapter that deals with running horror games - which not only classifies and quantifies horror sub.genres, their tropes, etc., but also mentions all the classics like lighting, music, creating an undisturbed environment, etc. - tricks for dealing with various snags, how to encourage horror roleplaying etc. - and it is sad, but obviously necessary that, beyond talking about what does and does not fly with individual players, overdoing it does not work. HOWEVER, I do actually disagree with one aspect - involving outside people. To have an unrelated accomplice like a spouse play with the light on e.g. a stormy evening - not all the time, but once or twice, can be rather effective...but I generally get why these disclaimers are here. This section, obviously, is targeted at less experienced GMs in the genre - and in particular such GMs will also appreciate the section on improvising rules for e.g. being buried alive, crumbling structures, etc.
This book has a lot of systems, mechanics, archetypes, feats, spells, environment challenges, haunts, curses, etc. While most of it is clearly presented and has enough flavor text to give you some ideas on how to use it, everything just seems to fall flat.
My two biggest gripes (I have more than just two):
1) The sanity system is horribly balanced, heavily penalizing martial characters, and it's effects are easily cured by powerful spells. Really poorly executed, why make the gap between martials and casters even worse?
2) Most of the Archetypes are realistically for GM use only, as they are very niche. I wanted to give my players a lot of cool horror themed archetypes to play with, instead they got a scant few.
This book really could have been SO much better. Disappointed.
Paizo reviews come in two forms: players that whine because they wanted something other than what was in the book (^^^)and then gamemasters/players that actually review the material provided. This is a review from the latter.
Paizo has created some of the best horror themed adventures for Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons over the course of their existence. In this book, they round it all up and spell out all of the tricks and tips they use to make it happen.
I have written everything from adventures to comic books to film scripts and I would easily hand this book over to a non-gaming writer that needed advice on how to create horror. This book goes to great lengths to provide players with archetypes for classes to use in horror themed adventures as well as giving gamemasters tools they need to create horror in session after session.
Players get archetypes, feats, spells and new gear with which to battle the horrific forces of the multiverse. GMs get a ton of new tools including a nifty new Bestiary that brings us Pathfinder versions of Alien-style xenomorphs called the Hive AND a nice analogue for the Slender Man called the Unknown. Horror requires more than monsters, so you also get new rules on corruptions, curses, diseases, horrific environments, fleshwarping, haunts, madness and more!
Creating horror is more than giving players more 0's they can add to their attacks. It involves setting, tone, atmosphere and management of expectations. If you want to run a game that makes your players fear for their characters lives, then pick up this book and give it a read. Follow up with the recommended reading and required viewing and you'll get a feeling for how to instill dread in everyone sitting at your table.
This book feels more like Pathfinder's version of the Book of Vile Darkness then horror themed adventures. Also this is a very DM heavy book though I thought it would be 70% player 30% DM but is actually the other way around.
The Good
-I loved the Dread Lord, Hive, Trompe L'Oeil, Unknown, and Waxwork Creature.
-I like the Corruptions.
-I like the reprint/expanding of madness rules.
-I like some of the magic items like mantle of life, monster almanac, and elder sign.
-I liked a few archetypes like the two for witches.
The Bad
-Too many evil archetypes, spells, etc.
-Do not like the sanity rules.
-Do not like the fleshwarping rules for characters.
-Most of archetypes were lacking or unusable for players.
-Very few interesting spells that are player friendly.
-Very few interesting feats.
-Not enough character options related to specific class features like wild talents, bloodlines, rogue talents, oracle curses/mysteries, etc.
I feel this book was a missed opportunity for same great horror based player character options. Such as expanded options for void kineticist like fear effects, controlling/creating undead, etc. new psychic disciplines, sorcerer/bloodrager bloodlines, oracle curses/mysteries, hexes, phantom emotion focuses, etc. I could even see some interesting ideas for rogue talents, rage powers, slayer talents, etc. I would have been fine with reprints like the pestilence sorcerer bloodline, kineticist void element, and other fitting options from past books.
I really hope the werewolf options in this book are playable, but the way they're described and the way players who want to play werewolves have been spoken about in the past makes me fear they won't be
It's sounding like I was right to be fearful. Guess I'll have to keep waiting for a playable werewolf.
Corruptions that can turn your character into a powerful monster, from a blood-drinking vampire to a savage werewolf. The only cost is your soul!
To be honest, I think everyone who wanted a no-strings-attached monster PC mechanic from a book called "Horror Adventures" were seeing what they wanted to see. Paizo was always pretty clear about what they were planning. They're called corruptions. If you want a playable werewolf, modify what this system offers you. Mark doesn't seem to think it'd be that hard. :P
Well, I've had some sitting back here that I wouldn't mind getting answered...though I still hope to be able to answer them myself in the not-too-distant future...should the fickle gods of chance be willing.
Thanks for the answers, Feros! A few more based on what you've answered for anyone who cares to answer...though I hope to be able to answer these myself in the not-too-distant future...
Curses! What's new with them? New rules, new curses, new ways to inflict them, cure them, and live with them?
Horrific diseases! What makes them so horrific, and any particularly fun ones?
What do we get for torture implements? Any new rules involving how to use them to torture people?
And last but not least, what's up with magic item possession? Is it about intelligent magic items that can possess their wielder, or spirits/haunts/demons that can possess magic items, or sinister things that can just happen by having them in your possession? The public wants to know! ...okay, probably only me. But my curiosity is piqued!
We got some new curses, new cursed items, cursed areas, and templates for curses (anybody seen It Follows?) as well as suggestions/kinda rules for making new curses and cursed items as well as how to cure them.
Diseases get templates as well as very nasty new ones that have multiple stages that do a LOT of stuff, none of it good. Bloody End is cool, you sweat blood through your skin, rage, and eventually explode.
The item section may as well be called the torturer's handbook.
Magic Item Possesion is rules for when something possess a magic item.
I don't know what people were expecting from something called "corruptions";) They are supposed to be dangerous. I am more disappointed with the lack of kineticist wild talents, sorcerer bloodlines, bloodrager bloodlines, oracle curses, oracle mysteries, psychic disciplines, racial feats, and more.
Are there any witch hexes that are not tied to a archetype?
I don't know what people were expecting from something called "corruptions";) They are supposed to be dangerous. I am more disappointed with the lack of kineticist wild talents, sorcerer bloodlines, bloodrager bloodlines, oracle curses, oracle mysteries, psychic disciplines, racial feats, and more.
Are there any witch hexes that are not tied to a archetype?
Does the bard get any love in this book?
There are two wild talents in the book.
And while there aren't any racial feats the alternate racial traits are a nice addition.
The only new hexes Witches get are specific to their archetypes.
Yawn, I should probably not still be awake, but I happen to be, and I removed some posts that directly quoted the book. Feel free to talk about what's in it, but please don't quote it.
Yawn, I should probably not still be awake, but I happen to be, and I removed some posts that directly quoted the book. Feel free to talk about what's in it, but please don't quote it.
Yawn, I should probably not still be awake, but I happen to be, and I removed some posts that directly quoted the book. Feel free to talk about what's in it, but please don't quote it.
I'm sorry.
No worries, it's very easy to get excited about all the cool stuff in the book. We certainly don't hold that against you! Anyways, time to sleep.
I only glanced briefly at the corruptions, but the "become an NPC" rule is probably more relevant to "good characters only" campaigns. It probably wouldn't be needed for evil campaigns or campaigns that are more flexible with alignment.
Yeah, I'm disappointed about the lack of player friendliness it sounds like it has. I mean, if it's just a thing for turning players into NPC's after an adventure or two it should be in the back with the rest of the GM content at least.
Guess I'll just rely on making homebrew and using third-party content when it comes to actually playing a monstrous character.
The save you have to make to prevent from gaining a corruption stage isn't that bad. It's 15 + manifestation level (you start at 1).
So that's a DC of 16 minimum.
Isn't that just a pure 1d20+your BASE save roll? So even with a 20th level Monk you still only have a +12 on the save? And god help you if you get stuck with something at a low level or one of the corruptions that go against your bad save.
I really hope the werewolf options in this book are playable, but the way they're described and the way players who want to play werewolves have been spoken about in the past makes me fear they won't be
It's sounding like I was right to be fearful. Guess I'll have to keep waiting for a playable werewolf.
Well, there's a Barbarian archetype that gets Lycanthropic powers, and fluff wise, is specifically described as a form of Lycanthropy.
Yeah, I'm disappointed about the lack of player friendliness it sounds like it has. I mean, if it's just a thing for turning players into NPC's after an adventure or two it should be in the back with the rest of the GM content at least.
Guess I'll just rely on making homebrew and using third-party content when it comes to actually playing a monstrous character.
The save you have to make to prevent from gaining a corruption stage isn't that bad. It's 15 + manifestation level (you start at 1).
So that's a DC of 16 minimum.
Isn't that just a pure 1d20+your BASE save roll? So even with a 20th level Monk you still only have a +12 on the save? And god help you if you get stuck with something at a low level or one of the corruptions that go against your bad save.
No, you still get ability modifiers and permenant bonuses. And for every Manifestation you turn down you get a stacking +1.
No, you still get ability modifiers and permenant bonuses. And for every Manifestation you turn down you get a stacking +1.
Do you only need to make a save when you accept a new manifestation? If so, then the system works fine with no risk up to two manifestations. That should be easy to tack on just about anywhere. (Or, if the GM doesn't care about perfect equitability, each player progresses until they've failed two saves.)
No, you still get ability modifiers and permenant bonuses. And for every Manifestation you turn down you get a stacking +1.
Do you only need to make a save when you accept a new manifestation? If so, then the system works fine with no risk up to two manifestations. That should be easy to tack on just about anywhere. (Or, if the GM doesn't care about perfect equitability, each player progresses until they've failed two saves.)
*scratches head*
I'm not entirely sure, but I believe you make the saving throw after certain triggers, rather than when you gain a new manifestion level.
Yawn, I should probably not still be awake, but I happen to be, and I removed some posts that directly quoted the book. Feel free to talk about what's in it, but please don't quote it.
I'm sorry.
No worries, it's very easy to get excited about all the cool stuff in the book. We certainly don't hold that against you! Anyways, time to sleep.
Getting back to this (without copy/pasting obviously) the posts that were deleted were concerning sidebars in this book calling torture and casting Evil spells and that, yes, they are in fact evil acts.
They do go into detail about the nuances of casting an evil spell for a good cause though.
they function and act almost identically to Xenomorph from Alien movies, including the queen, and described as large insects like creatures, with claw and long tails spear like or sharp tails, and long dome shaped heads with no eyes. but the art work is similar to alien movie aliens but not enough to be them directly. they are shown as green. kind of look like some kind of plant/fungus/insect or crab creature I 1st though before reading it. I did not think Alien when I 1st saw it. instead of the long skeletal/Mechanical/phallic work of HR Giger. these thinks look a lot more muscular or girthy. The claws are not shaped like hands they are shaped two fingered scythe like blades. same with the tail. it is covered is small spikes on head, arms and tail Maybe best way to describe it is it looks like if you cross Alien, with spiky crab and praying mantis. It is totally awesome.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Victor Ravenport wrote:
Could we get some more details on the Undead Master wizard archtype? I am interested, for reasons.
Must be evil. Takes penalties on Diplomacy and Knowledge checks on living targets to gain bonuses on undead ones.
Your arcane bond can either be an object (bone) bond or a corpse companion (like the Undead Lord cleric). Replaces Scribe Scroll with Command Undead with some extras if you don't have channel negative energy. Also, you swap your bonus feats for the ability to spontaneously cast some necromantic spells and cast Animate/Create Undead at 1 spell level lower. Lastly, the Wizard gains the Undead Bloodline's One of Us ability as a capstone.
I don't understand why people are complaining that a lot of this content seems to be more GM-related. It's Horror Adventures, not Ultimate anything or anything Guide. To me, that says it would be more GM-centric.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Cruel Illusion wrote:
Could someone tell me about the Accursed Corruption?
Sure.
Catalyst is a hateful curse, a night hag visit, or other magical torment. Whenever you curse another creature or don't take enough spiteful actions in a month, you are forced to severely punish the next creature that wrongs you, even minorly. When you take disproportionate punishment against a creature, you advance in corruption. The corruption can be removed by lifting the original curse, killing or earning forgiveness from the curser, and undoing any harm you caused while accursed.
Manifestations are as follows:
Once per day, inflict a major curse that staggers and then paralyzes at the cost of an eye.
Gain DR/cold iron but become sickened if struck with cold iron.
Gain bonuses on bluff and disguise and some minor SLAs at the cost of speaking the truth.
Reroll a failed check but can't gain morale bonuses.
Damaging a creature in the surprise round inflicts fear, but you look horrifying.
Improve the DC of curse spells and gain baleful polymorph as a curse but take a penalty on Will saves.
Once per day, become undying but you feel the urge to coup de grace unconscious people near you.
Gain claws that make your hands unwieldy.
Cast a Witch spell once per day but you have to save against buffs and have trouble casting harmless spells.
I don't understand why people are complaining that a lot of this content seems to be more GM-related. It's Horror Adventures, not Ultimate anything or anything Guide. To me, that says it would be more GM-centric.
It does seem more GM related maybe that why I like it so much, I often stuck as GM. I am glad it is that way also, give me lots effective options and both for challenge, theme and rewards to give and use on my players.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Cruel Illusion wrote:
Thank you, Xethik!
Yup, sorry for missing the first ask. I've only been skimming, so it is hard to tell if someone has been answered yet or not.
As for the Deep One corruption:
You must submerge yourself in seawater daily. If you don't do this or are targeted by an evil divine spell, you must make a Will save. If you fail, you blackout for 24 hours and progress in corruption. The first time you just move towards a sea or ocean. The second time, you make contact with an alien entity and become a Deep One Hybrid. The third time, you become a Deep One.
Quick overview of manifestations:
Bite attack, but you have trouble speaking/casting spells with verbal and thought components.
Touch attack aboleth mucus thing, but you must be constantly submerged in seawater.
Claws, but you smell like a low tide.
Cold resistance and deep ocean survivability, but you take a Dex penalty on land.
Darkvision and low-light vision, but light sensitivity.
Amphibiousness, but you take a Charisma penalty.
Gills that let you breathe underwater, but you are more susceptible to inhaled poisons.
Ignoring concealment underwater due to muck, but you take a Perception penalty on land.
Slow aging and a constitution bump, but you sleep 16 hours a day.
Swimming ability, but your webbed hands give you penalties on Dex and Str checks on land.
I was hoping for a friendly way for PCs to experience becoming undead and other things without throwing party balance out of wack since that typically always results in +1-3 CR increases etc. In reality we get "Here's a way to permanently lose control of your character if you have a bad will save".
Will have to see how those alternate progression routes Mark mentioned turn out and if they actually make these corruptions not into a terrible game of Russian roulette.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Verzen wrote:
Question - Can I use the 'alternate channeling' rule with Channel The Void?
I want to make me a dark mythos cleric that can...
Madness: Harm—Creatures are confused until the end of your next turn.
I'll need to look up the alternate channeling rules, but the text says roughly that Channel the Void counts as channel energy, but neither positive nor negative specifically. For feats that require channel energy but refer to what happens if the character channels positive or negative energy, the ability counts as if it were negative energy.
But Variant Channeling isn't a feat, right? So I don't think it counting as negative would apply to alternate channeling. It's more like an archetype and I think it would be invalid here.
I was hoping for a friendly way for PCs to experience becoming undead and other things without throwing party balance out of wack since that typically always results in +1-3 CR increases etc. In reality we get "Here's a way to permanently lose control of your character if you have a bad will save".
Will have to see how those alternate progression routes Mark mentioned turn out and if they actually make these corruptions not into a terrible game of Russian roulette.
*blink*
*blink*
The Designers have said since day one that Corruptions weren't going to be power upgrades, or even a good thing.
They are things that slowly (or quickly if you're unlucky) transform your character into a monster. That's what was advertised, and that's what we got.
Question - Can I use the 'alternate channeling' rule with Channel The Void?
I want to make me a dark mythos cleric that can...
Madness: Harm—Creatures are confused until the end of your next turn.
I'll need to look up the alternate channeling rules, but the text says roughly that Channel the Void counts as channel energy, but neither positive nor negative specifically. For feats that require channel energy but refer to what happens if the character channels positive or negative energy, the ability counts as if it were negative energy.
But Variant Channeling isn't a feat, right? So I don't think it counting as negative would apply to alternate channeling. It's more like an archetype and I think it would be invalid here.
What if you took Channeling Variance from Magic Tactics Toolbox? Possibly twice.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Luthorne wrote:
Xethik wrote:
Verzen wrote:
Question - Can I use the 'alternate channeling' rule with Channel The Void?
I want to make me a dark mythos cleric that can...
Madness: Harm—Creatures are confused until the end of your next turn.
I'll need to look up the alternate channeling rules, but the text says roughly that Channel the Void counts as channel energy, but neither positive nor negative specifically. For feats that require channel energy but refer to what happens if the character channels positive or negative energy, the ability counts as if it were negative energy.
But Variant Channeling isn't a feat, right? So I don't think it counting as negative would apply to alternate channeling. It's more like an archetype and I think it would be invalid here.
What if you took Channeling Variance from Magic Tactics Toolbox? Possibly twice.
Sounds plausible! One thing I'm not that sure about is the fact that (unless my reading is off) you don't choose Heal or Harm when your Channel the Void. But I haven't ever played a Cleric in Pathfinder so I'm actually pretty unclear on the details of their channeling!
Seems to me that a permissible GM would allow this. And I doubt Elder Mythos Cleric will be PFS legal so... No issue there!
Question - Can I use the 'alternate channeling' rule with Channel The Void?
I want to make me a dark mythos cleric that can...
Madness: Harm—Creatures are confused until the end of your next turn.
I'll need to look up the alternate channeling rules, but the text says roughly that Channel the Void counts as channel energy, but neither positive nor negative specifically. For feats that require channel energy but refer to what happens if the character channels positive or negative energy, the ability counts as if it were negative energy.
But Variant Channeling isn't a feat, right? So I don't think it counting as negative would apply to alternate channeling. It's more like an archetype and I think it would be invalid here.
What if you took Channeling Variance from Magic Tactics Toolbox? Possibly twice.
Sounds plausible! One thing I'm not that sure about is the fact that (unless my reading is off) you don't choose Heal or Harm when your Channel the Void. But I haven't ever played a Cleric in Pathfinder so I'm actually pretty unclear on the details of their channeling!
Seems to me that a permissible GM would allow this. And I doubt Elder Mythos Cleric will be PFS legal so... No issue there!
This is the first time I've ever 'wanted' to be a cleric!
And not much in this book will be PDF legal it seems.
From the looks of it, about half the classes *at least* have an archetype that requires you to be evil...
Question - Can I use the 'alternate channeling' rule with Channel The Void?
I want to make me a dark mythos cleric that can...
Madness: Harm—Creatures are confused until the end of your next turn.
I'll need to look up the alternate channeling rules, but the text says roughly that Channel the Void counts as channel energy, but neither positive nor negative specifically. For feats that require channel energy but refer to what happens if the character channels positive or negative energy, the ability counts as if it were negative energy.
But Variant Channeling isn't a feat, right? So I don't think it counting as negative would apply to alternate channeling. It's more like an archetype and I think it would be invalid here.
What if you took Channeling Variance from Magic Tactics Toolbox? Possibly twice.
Sounds plausible! One thing I'm not that sure about is the fact that (unless my reading is off) you don't choose Heal or Harm when your Channel the Void. But I haven't ever played a Cleric in Pathfinder so I'm actually pretty unclear on the details of their channeling!
Seems to me that a permissible GM would allow this. And I doubt Elder Mythos Cleric will be PFS legal so... No issue there!
This is the first time I've ever 'wanted' to be a cleric!
And not much in this book will be PDF legal it seems.
From the looks of it, about half the classes *at least* have an archetype that requires you to be evil...
Since classes tended to have two or three archetypes, however, that does mean that at least one archetype for every class with archetypes (sometimes two) does not have an evil requirement (though Old One Cultist, despite allowing CN, requires worshiping deities that I recall aren't legal deities). And then there's the other things that aren't archetypes; I would guess that more content becomes legal than you suspect.
Having looked at a friend's copy of HA, we were both confused: Does the Hybrid Form for the Mooncursed still lose all equipment like it's alternate form would?
Having looked at a friend's copy of HA, we were both confused: Does the Hybrid Form for the Mooncursed still lose all equipment like it's alternate form would?
It's actually turning you into a humanoid shape in this case (and it's a hybrid of your base type and animal form, rather than directly the animal type, thus avoiding the override for animal type), so it presumably wouldn't be a "form that is unlike your original form" as per the polymorph rules on page 212. However, that line does say "(subject to GM discretion)" just after.
Having looked at a friend's copy of HA, we were both confused: Does the Hybrid Form for the Mooncursed still lose all equipment like it's alternate form would?
No, hybrid forms tend to not loose equipment, and when you use polymorph effects you don't "lose" equipment anyway, it fuses into your body until you change back (at least that's my understanding of it).
I'm going to have to read the pdf when I get it, but my current plan to balance the corruptions in a party is to make a player have to pay for them with picks from my magic item replacement system. Basically, for every few levels of corruption the character gains, he would effectively be losing a magical item upgrade.
In theory, this would make corrupted characters balanced with standard characters. I'll have to read the system for myself first though.
Having looked at a friend's copy of HA, we were both confused: Does the Hybrid Form for the Mooncursed still lose all equipment like it's alternate form would?
No, hybrid forms tend to not loose equipment, and when you use polymorph effects you don't "lose" equipment anyway, it fuses into your body until you change back (at least that's my understanding of it).
Yes I know you don't lose it forever, but my concern was with the Shifting Rage alternate form acting as a polymoph effect and the Hybrid Rage not specifically saying you weren't still an animal for all intents and purposes (just that you gained usable hands, bipedal movement and speech.)
