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Ioun Stones of the Orrery of the Ancients
This chamber, located near the top (just below the observatory) of one of the few intact towers in Hyrantum, contains a most unusual orrery. At the center, over a meter across and lit by continual flame, is a stone sphere covered with fanciful giltwork representing the sun.
Orbiting it at vastly scaled down distances, and vastly scaled up speeds, are eleven ioun stones, representing the planets of Golarion's system, and as long as they orbit the central sphere, and she remains within the 20 ft. diameter chamber, the lich astronomer who resides in this tower benefits from the stones as if she had personally equipped them.
The stones cannot be removed from this room so long as the lich is active, but even if she is only temporarily dispatched (her phylactery not found to 'finish the job') her link to the stones is sufficiently disrupted for them to be seized as treasure. (When she reforms, she may well decide to track down the thieves are reclaim them...)
Aballon The smallest and closest orbiting stone to the 'sun,' this tiny grey iron sphere is barely the size of a peppercorn, and moves so quickly as to be a barely visible blur, making it both the smallest and fastest-moving ioun stone yet seen. When equipped, it's bearer gains a +5 ft. bonus to all speeds, and suffers no penalty to their Armor Class for taking the Charge action. Three times per day, when the user would take a 5 ft. step, they can move 10 ft. instead (with the usual benefits of a 5 ft. step). Once per day, they can ignore difficult terrain for a single round's movement.
Castrovel This cloudy green malachite sphere is the size of a grape, and confers upon it's bearer the Favored Terrain (jungle) and Favored Enemy (plants) class features of a 1st level Ranger. If the bearer already has these features, these bonuses stack. Additionally, the bearer gets their Favored Enemy bonus to the saving throws of natural attacks from creatures with the Plant type, or from poisons derived from plants.
Golarion This mostly opaque brownish amber sphere contains a barely visible miniscule fossil centipede deep within it, and is crisscrossed by hair-thin adamantine wires across it's surface, culminating in six tiny spikes, not even a quarter of an inch high. Representing destructive power constrained, the stone grants it's bearer +2 to both CMB and CMD to initiate or defend against a Sunder maneuver, and ignores the first 2 points of Hardness when they attempt to Sunder something. Their own equipment benefits from 2 additional points of Hardness against attempts to Sunder it, in turn. Finally, whenever the bearer would inflict damage that would reduce a creature to less than zero hit points, they can choose instead to reduce the creature to exactly zero hit points, and stable.
Akiton This banded red agate sphere allows the bearer to benefit from the Ferocity trait of a half-orc, usable a number of times per day equal to their Constitution modifier (minimum once). If they already have this trait, they can use it one additional time, and can also choose to be affected by a rage spell whenever at or below zero hit points, as long as they remain conscious.
Verces This zebra jasper sphere is black on one side and white on the other, and orbits in such a way that one side is always facing the bearer (or the sun, if 'equipped' in the Orrery of Ancients). If the white side faces the bearer, they benefit from Cold Resistance 5. If the black side faces the bearer, they benefit from Fire Resistance 5. The facing can be changed by the bearer as a standard action (that provokes an attack of opportunity). Either form of resistance is doubled against nonlethal damage of that energy type, such as from environmental extremes of cold or heat.
Eox This fire obsidian sphere lacks the brilliant display of the finest specimens, and is solid black, save for a faint impression of three green 'flames' within it, resembling somewhat the 'Man in the Moon,' or the figure from Monet's 'The Scream,' two eyes and a mouth open wide. When equipped, the bearer can speak and understand Necril, and has a +2 bonus to saving throws versus the supernatural abilities and attacks of undead or spells from the Death Domain or Wizards School of Necromancy. Additionally, a number of times equal to the bearers Intelligence modifier (at least once) per day, when the user makes a Knowledge skill check, whispered voices (can be heard as if he was receiving a message spell, although the whispers are in Necril), the bearer can roll again on this Knowledge check and take the best result.
Triaxus This multicolored copper turquoise sphere has bands of warm orange and cool blue, and is warm to the touch when the ambient temperature is cold, and cool to the touch when the ambient temperature is warm. The bearer is always protected by an endure elements effect, and has a +2 to saving throws versus cold or fire effects, including extremes of cold or heat. It orbits so slowly as to appear immobile, it's stately progression only noticeable over the course of many days observation.
Liavara One of the two largest ioun stones ever seen, this grapefruit sized peach colored cloudy moonstone seems to radiate calm certainty. The bearer benefits from a +4 saving throw versus the nightmare spell, or similar effects that would assault their dreams, a +4 to Perception checks when they are asleep, and they are never flat-footed when surprised (even if they still do not get an action in the surprise round, if caught off-guard).
Bretheda The second grapefruit-sized labradorite sphere contains bands of dark blue and purple, and allows the bearer to cast alter self[i] (CL 10) on themself at will. No matter what trait they choose to benefit from, their appearance does not change more than superficially, and they gain no bonus to Disguise checks, nor does their Strength or Dexterity change according to the size of the adaptation they manifest.
Apostae This pea sized brown tiger's eye allows the bearer to cast [i]open/close cantrip at will, and has three charges per day that can be used to cast hold portal (1 charge), knock (2 charges) or a temporary version of wall of iron (3 charges, lasts only 4 minutes and creates only four 5' squares) at caster level 4. If the bearer is a spellcaster, they can expend a spell or slot equal to the number of charges that would be expended to use any of these spells without expending charges from the stone, but the resultant spell will be at CL 4, regardless of their caster level.
Aucturn This pea sized stone is oddly squishy and damp to the touch, and while it appears greenish-yellow to the bearer, it's appearance is inconsistent to all other viewers, never changing visibly when being looked at directly, but appearing different to different viewers, or at different times, sometimes as a gemstone, sometimes a tiny world, sometimes something organic and unwholesome, such as a feral animalistic or insectile eye, or a glistening hummingbird's heart, still beating, or something equally disturbing. The 'stone' has an Intelligence and Wisdom score of 10, a NE alignment, a single rank in Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (dungeoneering), Perception and Sense Motive (giving it a +4 bonus in each of these skills), and can communicate telepathically with it's bearer, and will occasionally volunteer some (usually practical, if amoral) advice or even use Aid Other to assist it's bearer in the use of one of these four skills. It speaks Aklo, but it's bearer can understand it's telepathic communications even if they do not normally understand Aklo, and it might be persuaded to serve as a translator, albeit with it's usual macabre and sinister off-color commentary. Due to it's occasional recalcitrance, regular use of Diplomacy (or Intimidate!) on the stone is recommended to earn it's cooperation.
Hey, kill a lich-astronomer, save a bunch of Lirgeni remnants from whatever she's up to that's probably not healthy for them, and get *eleven* unique ioun stones as treasure! I kinda love doing the research for stuff like this, and looking up both the planets involved to get an idea what sort of ioun stone powers or traits would feel appropriate, and then what sort of precious and semi-precious stones would best fit the desired colors and qualities!
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So I recently read a threat about hot ladies being redeemed (Nocticula, Sorshen, Arazni) while not-so-hot ladies like Gyronna and Lamashtu, stay evil, and it got me thinking about non-evil worshippers of Lamashtu.
Instead of just focusing on her mothering aspect, there's fodder I think in her embracing of madness and deformity. In the 'old days' that seemed all squicky, but in a more enlightened age, she's the champion for 'neurodiversity,' for finding a place for people who would have been discarded or regarded as 'damaged' or 'a burden' by less enlightened societies. Ditto, her embrace of disability (aka 'deformity'), people whose bodies are more 'diverse' than the accepted range. (Biodiverse? Physiodiversity?)
And so a CN sect of Lamashtans who run an orphanage for children that the societies around them would have shunned, locked away or thrown away, children with challenges aplenty, could be an interesting splinter sect of non-evil Lamashtans. (and there could even be some thematic crossover with vengeful Calistrians, only the Lamashtan avengers don't go after boyfriends who pissed them off, but after parents who discarded children they didn't like the looks of, or towns that beat someone up and ran them off for 'looking weird' or 'acting weird.)
I've always been a fan of the corner-cases, where someone veers away from the core tenets of a god (such as the Abadaran or Iroran Paladins, imposing moral values on faiths that don't really have any), to focus on values that were allowed by the 'one-step' alignment rule of 1st edition, but not always covered as much.
NE Clerics of Pharasma, all about hunting down people who are bidding on the Sun Orchid Elixir and 'cheating death,' or even hunting down people who either have cast resurrection, or have been resurrected, or perhaps just randomly killing people in the deserts of Thuvia, who are hunting for the elusive sun orchids (while also spitefully destroying any they find themselves!).
CG Clerics of Calistria, all about pranks and tricks to tweak the nose (nonlethally!) or ruining the reputations of stuffy full-of-themselves tyrannical law-and-order sorts, coordinating subtle acts of civil disobedience to make the tyrants look foolish, sex positivity and open relationships and sexual equality, etc.
LN Clerics of Zon-Kuthon who are all about pain and adversity and privation as a means of forging oneself, strengthening oneself, innuring oneself for the challenges to come, when the things in the Outer Dark finally come for us all. Steel is made from iron, they say, by burning and beating it, and putting just a touch of the darkness into it (coal, metaphorically, added to iron).
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A long while back, I did a one-letter off spells list, with stuff like Shocking Grass and Burning Lands.
And now, some one-letter off spells from Ultimate Magic!
Tonic Gift (Toxic Gift). 1st level. You cast this spell as a standard action, and then drink a potion as a move action within the next round, it's effects are immediately transferred to a willing (or unconscious) ally within Close range. You are not affected by this potion, only the ally. A spell slot equal to one plus the level of the spell in the potion can be used to have the potion affect both you *and* the chosen target.
Blood Cow Strike (Blood Crow Strike). A target within Close range is trampled by a herd animal, per the Bestiary. If it fails it's save versus the trample attack, it also suffers 2 points of bleed damage for the next minute, if it is not staunched before then. The 'blood cow' appears as a normal cow, appearing at the moment of impact and disappearing directly after trampling the target, but red and wet, as if covered in blood.
Blade of Blight Victory (Blade of Bright Victory). If the target fails their save, the cannot score critical hits or benefit from any other form of precision damage, such as a ranger's Favored Enemy bonus, or Sneak Attack dice. Any attempt at a coup de grace only inflicts normal damage during this time. This effect lasts for 1 minute / level.
Guiding Stab (Guiding Star). You cast this spell as a movement action. If you successfully strike a target with a melee attack within one round, you mark the target so that all allies get a +2 bonus to strike the target with any attacks for the next round.
Dance of One Hundred Cats (Dance of One Hundred Cuts). Affects as a 20 ft. radius within Close range, one hundred normal sized cats of various colors and breeds appear and begin moving in a strangely formal 'dance,' purring loudly. All able to view this dance are fascinated as by hypnotic pattern. Attacking these cats causes them to fade away at the end of the round, although rumors speak of a higher level version that turns aggressive if attacked and becomes a giant cat swarm...
Envious Surge (Envious Urge). As a swift action you can charge a target who has a visible item worth at least 100 gp x your caster level. Your attack must be a disarm or steal attempt at the object of your envy, and you do not suffer an AC penalty versus the target of your attack (but do against any other attackers). The movement of this charge does not provoke an attack of opportunity, nor does the disarm or steal attempt at the end of the charge.
Mice Body (Ice Body). This is just a polymorph effect that can turn the caster into a Diminutive mouse, which is great for stealth, but not much else. It can also be cast on an ally, or upon an unwilling target (who gets a Fortitude save), and acts as baleful polymorph.
Malicious Sprite (Malicious Spite). Summons a chaotic evil sprite that targets a single creature within medium range, and lasts 1 hour per level. This sprite focuses all it's ire on the chosen target.
Woolen Phalanx (Wooden Phalanx). Summons 1d4+2 animated sets of clothing, which can't inflict lethal damage, and count as Small animated objects. They have DR 5 against Bludgeoning attacks. Lasts 1 minute / level.
Ball Construct (Call Construct). You compress a single construct under your own control into a ball that fits in your hand. At any time thereafter, you can speak the command phrase 'Pokemon, I choose you!' and toss the ball into a square within 10 ft. and the construct returns to full size and potency. This spell must be recast to be re-used.
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Random thoughts on
Practical Magic of the Arcanamirium
Permanent Illusion (6th) is a permanent Major Image (3rd), so permanent Minor Image would be (5th), permanent Silent Image would be (4th) and permanent Ghost Sounds would be (3rd).
Permanent Ghost Sounds is used to create animal calls, toys that make animal sounds, lockets that include the voice of a loved one, holy icons that quote inspirational scriptures, music boxes that produce actual music, taxidermic animals that produce natural sounds, etc. Also the occasional fake musical instrument that plays a specific tune (generally quite well) regardless of the skill of the person pretending to play it (the instrument itself being designed to produce no sound, so as not to conflict with the magical tune playing at the same time). Usually these instruments only have a single song, so they aren’t much good for repeat performances as your audience might get suspicious that you only seem to know one tune…
Permanent Silent Image is used to create realistic three dimensional ‘portraits’, and quite commonly in noble studies to create fantastic landscapes, or in a scholarly setting to illustrate the subject being studied, like maps, or anatomy, or the inner workings of a siege engine. The temple to Nethys in Quantium has the most well-known display of this sort, with life-size ‘light sculptures’ of Nex himself, Anghazaad, and various other prominent figures from arcane history, including Old Mage Jatembe, which have resulted in consistent depictions of these historical figures, since these images of them as they were in life have been around for many years (and are, presumably, accurate?). A controversial ‘light sculpture’ of Nex *as a gnome* is stored in a forgotten chamber, as it was considered disrespectful, but that it would *also* be disrespectful to destroy even such a controversial homage to their founder.
Ray of Frost is cast by one of a half dozen apprentices at the fish market every morning on tables containing a flat indentation into which seawater is poured, which they freeze into sheets of ice, upon which the fish are displayed for the day. In some case, awnings overhead are soaked with seawater and similarly frozen so that there is an icy overhang. These same apprentices also are commissioned by nobles and businesses all over the city to keep basement ‘ice boxes’ filled with fresh ice, to keep their own private stocks fresh. (Some also have private pools chilled during the summer months, to create cool dipping pools for refreshment of residents and guests.) The payment goes to the Arcanamirium for this service, not to the apprentice, although tipping is usually welcomed by the busy apprentices, if not encouraged or condoned by the Arcanamirium itself. The cost is a pittance compared to the expense of the chill boxes below.
Chill Boxes are sold to the wealthy, and certain businesses that deal with storage or transport of perishable goods, after a strategic number of them were given free to larger food storage, slaughterhouses and fisheries (none of these businesses were given enough cubic footage to chill all of their daily product. The first hit is free…). Each uses Prestidigitation to keep the contents at just above freezing, regardless of the temperature outside the box. Sizes are 1 cubic foot, 2 cubic feet, 4 cubic feet, 6, 8 and 12 cubic feet, with the larger models costing more. (the winter (colloquial term, ‘fetch me some wine from the winter, would you my good man?’))
Permanent Dancing Lights float in a room, never moving. They can be programmed to only come on at night, or to respond to a command, or the presence of an amulet. Permanent Dancing Lights that move around, following people wearing signature items, or float above special candelabra, cost extra.
Self-Mending clothing are a luxury. Self-mending boots and shields are far more practical and worth the expense, for a finely crafted shield or hand-tooled or beloved pair of boots. (They mend themselves as often as 1/day, if damaged in the case of a shield, 1/week (if damaged, or on Oathday, otherwise) in the case of boots undergoing regular use.)
Self-cleaning clothing (via Prestidigitation) are also a luxury, as are clothes that maintain the brightness of their colors (also using Prestidigitation). Much more extravagant magically enhanced clothing, such as a gown that has a moving image of a cloudscape, stormscape, or dragon in flight, upon it, or one that has a mantle of peacock feathers that rise up on command when you enter a room, cost SOOO much more.
A pair of rings / earrings can have Message linked to be usable between them. A stationary Message device can also be built into a house, so that the wearer of an amulet can have their voice heard in various servant quarters / work areas to summon aid. Such things are commonplace in the Arcanamirium itself, and apprentices regularly get whispered directions from senior staff all over the campus (although, generally, only a single member of the arcanascenti, and the leaders of the college themselves, have access to any single apprentices token, so usually an apprentice won’t receive conflicting instructions at the same time).
Arcane Mark (invisibly) can be used on gemstones for sale, to ensure that if they are stolen, their true provenance can be later discovered. Several arcanists sell their marks to invisibly mark items so that they can be later identified if stolen, or if suspected of being replaced by forgeries. Few of the wealthy consider this worth the risk, as a rumor has been spread that a marked item can be summoned to hand at any time by the wizard that marked it. (A misunderstanding of how Instant Summons, which none of the low-level wizards selling Arcane Marks as a protective service can even cast, works. The two or three who are high enough level to cast Instant Summons have far more productive and profitable things to do than cast Arcane Mark on some wealthy twits valuables.)
Lullaby is cast on decorative mobiles hung over cribs, to help keep the toddlers of the wealthy quiet. Unless special ordered, these mobiles tend to have dangling 'charms' that subtly encourage acceptance of magical lore, such as symbols representing the schools of magic. Gotta hook 'em young!
Fog-catches. Use minor magic to draw in moisture from the evening fogs over the city into central pools, which are covered by thin metal ‘doors’ (which fall closed again if not held open, while filling a pail with water, although the most recent one uses an Open/Close cantrip instead) to prevent contamination by external matter. Weak necromancy is used to discourage (or kill) tiny vermin that enter the area, and Prestidigitation keeps the water clean and chilled, while also gently agitating it (three hollow glass marbles float in the water, and spin slowly around the center of the pool, remaining equidistant from each other and the walls and center of the pools, keeping the water gently agitated. These freshwater caches are available in several districts, but are subject to all sorts of conspiratorial nonsense, like how the necromantic magic that keeps insects away also makes the drinkers infertile, and this is a plot to keep the poor from breeding, as the wealthier citizens have their own wells. (Insects tend to pile up in drifts outside the cache, killed by the necromancy, and then pushed out by the Prestidigitation…)
Unseen Chef – unseen servant that has Profession (cook) as a class skill, 1 rank in that skill, and Skill Focus (Profession (cook)), for a +7 Profession (cook) check. It usually takes 10, and performs only unseen servant functions related to cooking, placing out meals and cleaning up after itself in the kitchen (or campsite) where it is anchored. It is an uninspired cook. Expect lots of stews, but its creativity is also limited by what foodstuffs are available, the presence of a fire (or supplies to start one) and cooking utensils. Cold sandwiches might be your lot, if it has nothing to build a fire with! Rarely made permanent, but, of course they did, the meals in the Arcanamirium for the students and lower tier members, are all made by unseen chefs. You need to be of higher rank to rate one of the living cooks!
Permanent Floating Disks. Follow the bearer of a specific amulet. Fairly common on the docks, and special blue cap-wearing porters command a premium by using these items (and / or their own spells) to assist in loading and unloading ships, and ferrying cargo around the docks and even up into the city. The most prestigious of these blue caps can be seen with no less than five disks following her like her own personal caravan, and rarely lacks for customers.
Permanent Grease. Used on an area or surface that needs to remain frictionless for use. The most prominent such use is a greased track in the shipyards in which a ship is brought into a raised berth to be worked on, and then slid back into the water when repairs are complete, but there are some less visible greased chutes into the sewers to prevent garbage from clogging up the disposal chute, or creatures living below from climbing up from the sewers into the city… A quarry outside of town also has a greased channel they use to move quarried blocks of stone from the quarry to a barge for transport more easily.
Stable that has a hitching post that can cast Mount (CL 1) at will, but can only have 1 mount active at a time. Multiple such posts exist in the Arcanamirium stable, and each has a amulet hanging from the post. Someone taking a horse out must take the amulet to control that mount, and also serves as notice to anyone entering the stable that this particular horse is ‘out’ at the moment. Apprentice level ‘worker mages’ out doing Ray of Frost or Prestidigitation duty do not get to use these Mounts. Only in the Arcanamirium can you enter a stable, and it just has hitching posts, no actual horses. (Or, bonus, no droppings to clean up, and no need to feed them!)
Animate Rope cast on several ropes currently in use as transoms and hoists on the docks, but wow, it’s been a disaster so far! Superstitious sailors resistant to anything new and the latest in self-knotting ropes do not go well together. One (expensive!) rope was hacked to bits after a group of sailors insisted that it ‘went rogue’ and tried to strangle one of them!
Erase is used to recycle paper or parchment by several local businesses, getting rid of each weeks tallies so that they can reuse the paper for the new weeks business. The journeyman who provides this service secretly records some quite interesting data on transactions in the city’s businesses for his own investment opportunities…
There is a permanent Feather Fall from the highest tower of the Arcanamirium, and both supplies and sometimes people just get tossed (or jump) out the window and drift to the courtyard. Doing this in the presence of visitors is discouraged, as it started a rumor that the curriculum is so mercilessly hard that students have leapt from the tall tower to their deaths (which discourages noble families from sending their children, and more importantly, tuition, to the Acanamirium!).
Small animated objects like brooms that clean a specific room, saddles that equip themselves, dishes that place themselves (or remove themselves when the meal is done) or tall candelabras (usually lit by continual flame) that follow someone around at night are expensive, but popular. Most such items come preprogrammed with a specific set of tasks, those that can be directed by the wearer of an item of jewelry are more expensive.
A journeyman has taken to transcribing risqué, politically subversive or simply scandalous tales in otherwise dry by popular textbooks for young ladies (and gentlemen) of breeding, using Secret Page. Only someone who knows the command word can see and read the verboten material, while to any nosy nanny or disapproving parent, the books are perfectly staid and respectable tomes of history, business matters or noble genealogies. When A Proper Ladies Guide to Etiquette secretly contains the unredacted version of the scandalous Conception Exception, well!
A new spell designed for this sort of practical / mercantile magic;
Olfactory Image / 'Ghost Scents' – as ghost sounds, but produces odors as you wish. Damaging or debilitating odors lack their usual potence, but someone familiar with Ghast or Troglodyte stench will at least recognize the smell and perhaps think some of those creatures are at least nearby, if not present. This spell is more commonly used to produce fragrances, and the price is set according to the price of the original fragrance. If you want a trinket that exudes a fragrance that normally costs 500 gp. an ounce, and is imported from Vudra by way of Jalmeray, the Arcanamirium is not going to let you buy this item for 100 gp... (They might have, but the wealthy Jalmari fragrance importers would punish them in the court of public opinion for undercutting their business!)
Persistent Ghost Scents would be a 3rd level spell.
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Back in the day, the presence of Dark, Spirit and Guardian Naga, but not Water Naga, prompted me to make my own. (This was before Bestiary 3, when Paizo went ahead and statted them up, but hey, I still like the idea of there being Sylvan Naga!) I took the somewhat odd approach of having *all* naga be the same, mechanically (barring attributes being prioritized differently, depending on class choice), with the whole dark/guardian/spirit/water thing being just different factions of a single species.
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(Water) Naga
CN Medium aberration
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +14
DEFENSE
AC 22 (+4 deflection, +3 Dex, +5 natural)
hp 58 (8d8+24)
Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +5
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft., swim 20 ft.
Melee +5 (1d6+3 plus poison)
Ranged spit +6 touch (poison)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Spells Known (CL 5th)
2nd (4/day) – detect thoughts, invisibility
1st (7/day) – charm person, expeditious retreat, magic missile, shield
0 (at will) – daze, detect magic, mage hand, open/close, read magic, touch of fatigue
STATISTICS
Str 15, Dex 17, Con 17, Int 15, Wis 13, Cha 17
Base Atk +3; CMB +5; CMD 18 (can’t be tripped)
(4) Feats Alertness, Combat Casting, Eschew Materials B, Lightning Reflexes, Stealthy
(4+Int – 48) Skills Escape Artist 4 (+12), Knowledge (arcana) 8 (+13), Knowledge (nature) 8 (+11), Perception 8 (+14), Sense Motive 4 (+7), Spellcraft 8 (+13), Stealth 8 (+16), Swim 0 (+20)
Languages Common, Goblin, Sylvan
ECOLOGY
Environment temperate or warm rivers or marshes, temperate or warm aquatic
Organization solitary or nest (2-4)
Treasure standard
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Hold Breath (Ex) A water naga can hold its breath underwater for a number of rounds equal to 4 times its Constitution score before it risks drowning.
Undersized Weapons (Ex) The tentacles framing their face are smaller and weaker than their naga's size would suggest, and can only wield weapons scaled for a size Small creature, and with an effective Strength of 5. They can however manipulate potions, wands, writing implements or spell components just fine.
Poison (Ex) Bite – injury; save Fort DC 17; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1d2 Con; cure 1 save
Spells A water naga casts spells as a 5th level sorcerer. Some water naga cast as other spellcasting classes and use the appropriate spell lists, casting attributes (altering which mental attribute is primary appropriately) and preparation methods, but do not gain any other class abilities.
The size of a constrictor, but with the head of a man with serpentine features, two foot and half long tentacles hanging down like scalplocks and a beard-like frill of a half-dozen or more tiny slender tendrils directly under their mouth that can be used for fine manipulation, but to no real offensive affect, naga can occur in a bewildering array of colors and patterns, or none at all, some resembling no species of snake known, sometimes blending into their surroundings, at other times brightly contrasting with it. They prefer warmer climates, and are most common in arid or tropical equatorial regions, but can be found scattered throughout the Darklands, and in smaller populations in regions as far north as Mendev and Lastwall.
There are many conflicting tales about the origins of nagakind. Some say they were created in their current form by their patron goddess Nalinvati. Others say that the Sekimiri ‘serpentfolk’ crafted them as a servant race of ‘lesser spellcasters,’ without arms so that they would always remain dependent on their masters. An Ulfen tale says that ancient serpents sleep near the bones of the dead, absorbing the whispers of forbidden and occult knowledge from the lingering spirits, and that over time, this dark knowledge festers within then and causes them to manifest faces, so that they can speak the words of power they have heard from the slumbering dead (an odd tale, since naga are almost unknown in Uffen lands…). Nagakind dismiss such tales, seeming to have no interest in the origins of their species, concerned only with advancing their own personal arcane and occult lore, gaining in both knowledge and personal power. Their pursuit is a selfish one, and while they come together fleetingly to perpetuate their race, they do not cooperate in their individual development, and seem to cooperate more readily with other races, with drow, fey, hags and humans being their preferred partners in arcane pursuits, although they may also lead small cults or tribes of humans, kobolds or (degenerate) serpentfolk, occasionally manipulating a tribe of goblins in service to some scheme or another.
Many ‘Guardian’ naga used to be clerics of Aroden, and have split into two main factions, half following the Inheritor, Iomedae, and the other half, Pharasma, the Lady of Graves, with each group regarding the other as faithless traitors (although they never take such disagreements so far as to actually commit acts of violence against each other, simply pointedly ignoring each other when forced to work together). Most cast spells as clerics, but a few as wizards, and used to follow Arazni, but now exclusively follow Pharasma, or no one at all. They are the most likely naga to be found with a group of human knights or clergy of their faith, and to field spells of healing and abjuration. Those who cast as clerics have 15 Wisdom and 13 Intelligence, instead.
‘Dark’ naga live in the darklands, and ally with drow, or more commonly lead tribes of derro, kobolds, morlocks or (degenerate) serpentfolk. They tend towards oracle, sorcerer, witch or wizard spellcasting, often with a focus on spells of enchantment, evocation, illusion and necromancy, and may take additional levels in these classes, gaining the appropriate class abilities (and increased spellcasting). Preferred starting languages change to Undercommon, Necril, Sekimina, etc. Dark naga are obsessed with power in all its forms, and are the most likely to progress far into their arcane studies, or seek alternative sources of power, with one prominent individual being among the leadership of the sinister Technic League, and another being a blind oracular high priestess of Dahak, operating above-ground in the Shackles.
Sylvan naga are secretive advisors to the elves of the Mwangi Expanse, preferring to keep out of sight deep in elven communities and respectfully deferred to, which has lent them a sinister reputation among Sovryian elves who think that their ‘forlorn’ kin have developed an unseemly dependence on their whisperings and manipulations. In truth, the sylvan naga have suffered greatly due to assumed ties to the ancient and reviled serpentfolk and sought refuge among their elven allies, and are more in-tune with the natural world, than with the ‘sinister’ machinations to which they are associated. A Sylvan naga can choose druid spells as sorcerer spells (casting them as arcane spells), and almost always have class levels in druid, choosing the Nature Bond option of a cleric Domain instead if an Animal or Plant companion (choosing from Animal, Community, Plant, Protection, Scalykind, Water or Weather) . Preferred starting languages include elven, Mwangi and sylvan. Sylvan naga with class levels in Druid have a 15 Wisdom and 13 Intelligence. There is always an open position at the Magaambya for a sylvan naga ‘halcyon-speaker’, said to be a position created by Old Mage Jatembe himself, but there has not been anyone in that position in living memory, and it remains something of a curiosity.
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Random thought;
With the (relatively) recent changes to Irrisen, with the rise of Anastasia to rule, I wonder how much the old class of Jadwiga winter witches have found it prudent to move outwards, to set up shop in distant lands like Brevoy or Taldor or even somewhat closer to home like Belkzen, Nidal, Ustalav or Oprak, serving as mysterious and 'exotic' arcane advisors and the like, rather than hang out in areas where they are reviled by local Ulfen populations, and might find themselves no longer quite as comfortable.
It could be an interesting bit of setting detail for the occasional winter witch to be seen hobnobbing in Cheliax, or attending (or presenting!) a lecture at the Arcanamirium, now that Irrisen itself has turned a (ha ha) cold shoulder to them.
And it would logically result in some of their more specialized ice-related magic proliferating throughout the arcane community, as they would no longer be quite so incestuously tied to Irrisen's borders.
I've always found the Jadwiga fascinating.
How much (if anything) does a group of Jadwiga brought to Irrisen remember about the place they came from? Did they have to go through some sort of Battle Royale/Hunger Games like competition to qualify to be some of the hundred or so she brings over to rule Irrisen for a century?
Are some of them related by blood, and, if so, do they even remember that, or do they instead have a 'tradition' of not having kids with other members of 'their generation' (so no Kseniya having kids with other Kseniya, even they are visibly not even remotely genetically related), treating their own generation as 'one family unit' even if that is not the actual case? (And, if so, does that result in the occasional bit of unintended inbreeding, as an 'Elvanna' turns out to be a bit too closely related to a 'Harcatha,' with some of these visibly marked and 'shameful' children most likely to grow up to become bitter and spite-fueled Hags over time?).
How old are they when they arrive? At least old enough to rule, so late teens / early twenties? And then they rule for 100 years, at which point most of them should be venerable and / or dead, if fully human. Are they fully human? Are they in fact bred from a hidden realm controlled by Baba Yaga from some millenia-ago captive populations of Ulfen humans and Snowcaster elves, with the current population being entirely half-elves (explaining some of their longevity) and not even remembering their ancient (fully elven or fully human) ancestors?
Or do they have some other special means of extending their vitality, such as a racial trait that increases the age at which they go up an age category by one year for every caster level they gain, giving them incentive to learn witchery (or sorcery, or clerical / druidic magic!).
Or some combination of the above. Half-(snowcaster) elves, who also can get up to +20 years of extra lifespan by reaching caster level 20 (which, generally, only the queen will), could at least justify a queen not being terribly feeble at the end of her 100 year reign. (I've always loved the idea of a stable population of half-elves, or half-orcs, somewhere, that have no 'unfortunate implications' or mixed parentage, just two folk with a some elf-y or orc-y bits getting together and making a like-blooded baby.)
With the lean away from gender-limited groups (particularly all-evil female groups, like the Darklight Sisterhood, or the old 'evil queen' trope where women in power are seen as unnatural and wicked), it could be interesting to have only 70% ish of witches be ladies, and have even a few of the *rulers* have been Witch-KINGS.
I feel like Irrisen was really kind of closed off and 'inaccessible' for play, under the PF1 paradigm, and with Anastasia in charge, and perhaps winter witchcraft (and the Jadwiga as an ethnicity) spreading out a bit more, that 'those toys' are now more available for player use and setting flavor for a game *not* set in Irrisen, which, IMO, is a good thing.
Since the topic I started "Leveled Mutations" has immortality not become total till epic, all others must flee the kingdom to survive. The witch queen may be using such mutant's blood to remain immortal.
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Two new Mites;
Ticklers are much like their Mite cousins, but are primarily kindly and playful (and somewhat pretentious and claim some sort of deep wisdom that they, mostly, don't have...). They are scaled and finned, and wear sheer clothing, if any at all, sometimes settling for aesthetically draped aquatic plant life or shells in place of cloth goods (which rarely last underwater in any event), Ticklers can breathe both water and air without difficulty, and their base language is Sylvan. They have the same solitary Hit Die, a Natural Armor bonus of 1, Str 8, Dex 11, Con 11, Int 8, Wis 11 and Cha 12 and can cast Speak with Animals (fish only) 3/day at CL one, as well as any one cantrip from the Druid list. Instead of Vermin Empathy, they have Wild Empathy, but only with fish. Each day they can choose a different cantrip, if they wish. They lack any sort of Hatred trait, but do dislike evil aquatic fey, such as Rusalka or Nuckalavee, as well as certain other rapacious aquatic folk, like Scrags or Merrow. As they are most commonly seen in freshwater, they have little contact with Sea Hags or Sahuagin, whom they would likely also dislike...
Flits (sometimes called Swifts are also quite similar to Mites (and Ticklers), but instead of fish or vermin empathy, their special bond is with birds. Not nearly as kindly as their aquatic cousins, the colorfully feathered Flits can fly, just, being able to glide like a chicken, or descend any distance without suffering falling damage. They like to wear clattering scarves of fallen leaves in bright autumnal colors, but prefer not to cover up their often dazzling plumage, in whatever colors are most common to the more colorful birds of their region. They are as Dextrous as Mites (more so than Ticklers), if not quite as Intelligent as either of their cousins, and lack the Natural Armor of their scaled relatives. They can cast Speak with Animals (birds only) 3/day at CL 1, use Wild Empathy (birds only) as a Druid, and use a single Druid cantrip (chosen each day) at will at CL 1. They can be playful, or cruel, by turns, and seem to be more fickle than either of their cousins, neither inclined to good or evil by nature, but straddling the line between, singing and prancing like songbirds one moment, and coldly eyeing a small animal that may serve as prey like a raptor the next. Flits have an odd sort of love-hate relationship with the birds that are so much a part of their lives, as they idealize them and often bond quite closely with them, and yet also deeply envy their greater mastery of flight, and sometimes grow sullen and resentful at the sight of great murmurations of sparrows swooping together in aerial displays.
The one thing that Mites, Flits and Ticklers have in common is universally denying that they have *any* sort of relation to one another. To try and convince them of this, or remark on their similarities in build, or ties to animal kind, or fey origins, is a sure way to offend any of these three peoples. While they do not (usually!) make war upon each other, generally trying to pretend the other races do not exist, there have been several vicious attempts by one group or another to drive members of another group away. (The Mites and Flits are the most likely to be territorial in this manner, and the fact the Ticklers so often live underwater and out of sight of the others may have more to do with their avoiding these squabbles than any sort of benevolence on their part.)
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So, just finally picked up Rival Academies and had some thoughts, as is my wont.
What if the gathered folks had come with some signature spells to help fight off the remaining demons infesting Sarkoris?
Venorium Blorm - a spell that scrambles the surrounding space, so that if anyone attempts to teleport within the casters immediate area, they can use a Reaction to force them to make a Will save to 'stay on target.' If they critically succeed, they go exactly where they want. If they merely succeed, they take some psychic damage *or* perhaps they are staggered, as if they'd dimension doored back in PF1. If they fail the save, they go nowhere, and take damage or are staggered. And if they critically fail, they appear anywhere else within range that the caster wishes, take damage *and* are staggered! Ha ha! No leaving until I say so! The spell would start out relatively low level, affect only a 10 ft. radius and only do 2 dice of damage, but using higher level slots you can increase it up to a 30 ft radius and 6 dice of damage.
Zenda Modic - a spell that transforms a length of bone (such as a femur) into a javelin that flies at a creature of the same type as the bone came from. (So, if hunting demons, use demon bones.) It attacks as a ranged spell attack but does damage like a javelin with the bane property (1e) or a striking rune (2e) that only affects that creature type. At higher level, it does more damage (major or greater striking rune?). Low level spell, but you can upcast it for bigger damage rune.
Aerusa Fleethoof - speak words of obscure prophecy that cause the area to be lit with starlight and cancels out darkness penalties or suspends magical darkness. [Wow, oracle magic that somehow involves the NPCs focus on astronomy, prophecy and oracle stuff, and also could be useful in demon-fighting? Don't make it easy on me!] :)
Alamyra Jadwiga - spell that summons a spirit to inhabit a figure of sticks or carved wood and animates it. At the lowest level, it functions like unseen servant (but, obviously, visible). With higher level slots, it's just a different skin for animate object. [A Jadwiga who *isn't* all about ice magic? I like!]
Chiral - [eusocial insects and societal transmogrification? what is this, mad libs?] a spell that links you and a number of allies so that as long as they all take the same action you just took before casting this spell as a reaction (so the action doesn't actually have to be 'cast a spell,' you could perform an attack and *then* trigger the spell), they get a +1 bonus to that action. (+2 if they are, in 1e terms, lawful subtype, like devils, archons, axiomites, inevitables, etc. or have the 'strong aura of law' feature like paladins or clerics of lawful gods.)
As written, it's kind of junk. Ooh, I shot a crossbow, and now all my allies get +1 on their next attack. Or, ooh, I made my stealth check, and now all my allies get a +1 on any Stealth check before my next turn. Very not sexy. Needs work.
A higher level version would only trigger on a successful roll for an attack or skill check, and cause allies who also attacked before your next turn, or rolled the same skill, to have their success bumped up one notch. (only fail on a crit fail, succeed on a fail, crit succeed on a success?) And that might be too much!
Ehmik Naaruj - state your action, and then for each round after the first you follow that action, you get a +2 bonus to relevant rolls, for up to a minute. If you stop doing the stated action before the goal is complete (you don't have to keep attacking a foe who you felled in round 4 for six more rounds!), you are stunned and take mental damage for 'betraying your oath.'
Gaztyn Ur'Darga = you implant a gem worth X shiny quatloo in your flesh and it counts as an aeon stone of that value for the day. Higher level slots allow you to bond more 'spensive gems into more valuable aeon stones for the day. The gem is reusable! (Nobody wants a spell that burns 1000 gp. a day to be able to not eat or drink for 24 hours... Unless they are dying of thirst in a desert, while sitting on a chest of gems, I guess?) [No, this has nothing to do with demon fighting. I don't care. The NPC had zippo to do with demon-fighting, and I didn't want to fight the narrative.]
Nochtli Tlatoa - a spray of phosphorescent pollen coats everyone in the area. Only targets of the named type (say, *demons!*) have any reaction as the pollen causes them to glow for the next minute as if affected by faerie fire. Others in the area do not trigger the effect.
The pollen can also be set as a trap in an area, and puffs up from the ground if creatures of the appropriate sort step onto the affected ground, and begin glowing appropriately. Can be used as a demon-detecting spell, but also handy for targeting them, so useful for demon-fighting as well. (or undead, or whatever creature type you set the pollen to react to)
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And that's as far as my brain got. Odd that the 'lesser schools' in the back of the book got my creative juices flowing more than the Magaambya or Lepidstadt, but such is my brain.
I am, as always, intrigued by who *didn't* show up. No Cyphermages. No Hemotheurges. No Shadowcasters. No Signifers. No Gatewarders. No Blue Warders. No Reborn House (company of Nethyn wizards crusading against corrupt magic, from Faiths of Balance). No Arclords.
Ah, so much fun stuff in this setting! It's an embarrassment of riches!
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A more interesting (IMO) version for Chiral would be to adapt one of my 1e demon-hunting spells, one that 'broadcasts' distracting sound (like chanting in Celestial!) on the 'telepathic frequency' that races that have natural telepathy (like demons!) share. Anyone in the area of the caster with telepathy would be sickened or shaken or otherwise minorly penalized by the distracting angelic singing coming in over demon radio, while it wouldn't even be audible to anyone else and just sound like the wizard (or cleric, bard, whatever) is singing a song quietly to themself in Celestial!
And since telepathy also is a feature of devils and daemons, it's not exclusively a demon-fighting spell. (Although it would only affect naturally telepathic critters, not users of detect thoughts or even 'detect thoughts at will' like rakshasa or dopplegangsters.)
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Lepidstadt's contributions to the reclamation of Sarkoris.
One researcher has been working on a Stasian coil-empowered repeating heavy crossbow, that launches it's cold iron bolts with great force through a magnetic charge. This prototype is cumbersome, slow, awkward, requires specialized training, and does not seem more terribly more effective than a non-Stasian-coil empowered repeating heavy crossbow in the hands of a specialized user, perhaps. (+2 to hit, +4 to damage, so yes, somewhat better, but hardly worth all the time spent between firings winding up the Stasian coil to re-energize it.)
But, Lepidstadt, and she insists that surely the solution must be 'more Stasian coils!'
To point, another student is trying to find a way to 'untaint' demon-tainted life through the use of Stasian current. He has been forbidden to work with animals (or people!, not even volunteers!), and has so far only proven able to shock a few sad demon-tainted plants to death. He maintains that this is a partial success, as the resultant ashes show no sign of demon taint!
More usefully, a field researcher has begun modifying a technique that allows someone with the appropriate training (alchemists, rogues, investigators, rangers) to use a relevant Knowledge (planes, in the case of demons) or Heal check to temporarily show an ally how to strike a foe with bonuses similar to Favored Enemy, or with the effects of Sneak Attack. A technique usable by multiple roles, and not limited to spellcasters, shows some promise, although it is in it's initial stages. They insist that knowledge is the best weapon, and they seek to give those who have that knowledge, the ability to empower their allies appropriately.
The field of research is indeed something of a challenge for the faction from Lepidstadt, as their traditional areas of focus; fencing, the occult, homonculi, surgery and now, Stasian coils, are of limited use in either fighting demons, or removing demonic corruption from blighted flora and fauna.
Undoubtedly, there is a woefully misguided student out there convinced that the right kind of homonculus could make all the difference, if they can only stitch together the right combination of demon-tainted animal parts, and animate them with a charge from a Stasian coil.
What could possibly go wrong? :/
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Shory items inspired by the Aeromantic Infandibulum (and not be too overly powerful!).
Shory Greatcloak (inspired by the Great Rudder)
This ornate high-collared 5 lb. blue and white silk cloak has many sail-like folds and streamers of cloth that billow majestically in the slightest breeze, snapping like canvas ship's sails, despite it's light silk composition. It occupies both the shoulder and cloak slots, and benefits the wearer in the following ways;
* the wearer gains Skill Focus (Fly) as a bonus feat,
* they are considered acclimated to high altitudes and have a +4 competence bonus to resist high altitude effects and altitude sickness,
* they are treated as 1 size class larger, or smaller, as they desire in the moment, versus wind effects,
* they treat wind speed as two steps lower for the effects on their ranged attacks,
* if Blown Away by strong winds, they can make a DC 15 Fly check to retain their footing and land on their feet, or a DC 25 Fly check to also alter their angle of travel to anywhere within a 90 degree arc of the direction of the wind that is blowing them back,
* they automatically reduce the distance of a fall by 10 ft. when calculating falling damage, even if unconscious, gain a +5 check to any Acrobatics check to willingly reduce falling damage by an additional 10 ft., and can make a Reflex save to land on their feet, even if they do take falling damage (DC 10 + damage taken).
Despite billowing widely when in use, the cloak folds itself obediently when not in motion, and takes up no more space than a normal mantled greatcloak.
Bag of Winds
This small silk bag is sealed with a cord, and bulges dramatically as if it contains some moving creature. When opened as a standard action, it releases a gust of wind in the direction the mouth of the bag is facing. This gust of wind is at CL 5, and can last for up to 5 rounds before it is spent and will not gust again until it has been sealed up and allowed to recover for at least 8 hours. It can be used for no more than five rounds in a 24 hour period, but these rounds do not need to be consecutive, and it can be tied off again as a free action by the wearer.
Infandibulum Key
This adjustable mithril band can be worn as a torc, headband or even a bracer (taking up the entire bracers slot), resizing itself and locking into place. It is linked to a floating disk, at CL 5, which can be summoned or dismissed at will, for up to 5 hours per day (which do not need to be used all at once, although each time it is summoned, it expends at least an hour of use, even if called forth for a lesser duration).
Additionally, you gain the Disk Rider ability of someone who has the Magic Trick feat specialized towards the floating disk spell, and can ride the disk created by the Infandibulum Key at a 30 ft. fly speed.
Rod of Rightful Rule
A lesser version of the staff of rightful rule, this 3 lb. mithril-rune coated hollow steel rod can be used as a sturdy +1 shock light mace, despite it's light construction, and allows the user unlimited use of feather fall (self only).
Additionally, if the user is an arcane spellcaster, and knows either Auran or Infernal, it allows them to prepare (or know) an additional cantrip each day, which must be chosen from light, mage hand or prestidigitation. The cantrip chosen can be changed each day when spells are refreshed, even if the wearer is a spontaneous spellcater.
The sound of air moving through the hollow central shaft, and whistling in and out of the many carved holes decorating it when it is swung about, also make it oddly musical, for a weapon or symbol of rule...
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Mithril and crystal wands that produce a single scorching ray that have been modified to inflict electrical, cold or even sonic damage are also not uncommon items of Shory manufacture, although most have few charges remaining, and are worth more as curios or items of research, than for their effective value.
A pair of gauntlets that can cast light (at touch range, only one effect maintained at a time) at will, or produce flame (CL 3) once per day, similarly modified to produce a ball of glowing electricity, instead of flame, also seems to have been popular.
Items related to flight, naturally, remain the most commonly seen, and rumors, often quite far-fetched, attribute the designs of boots, carpets, cloaks, armor, shields, helms or even broomsticks or mortars and pestles (clearly Irriseni inventions!) that grant flight capabilities to their bearers, abound. On the other hand, it is known that many such items (boots, cloaks and carpets, mostly) were in use by the Shory people, not all of whom had the spellcasting abilities to fly under their own power.
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New Magnimarian holiday
Like carnivale, this autumn festival includes a costume masquerade, where everyone dresses like characters from the Harrow deck. All Harrow's Eve runs from sundown to midnight, and involves dancing, feasting, drinking, plays and skits and comedy acts involving Harrow characters, and, naturally, a bit of Harrow reading on the side.
Two years ago, some strange coincidence led to an overabundance of people dressed as the Rabbit Prince. There were parties with upwards of a dozen Rabbit Princes in attendance! An overreaction to this embarrassment of riches led to the following year having nearly no Rabbit Princes, as everyone strove to find different characters to come as.
Who knows what this year will bring! Too many Rabbit Princes? Not enough Rabbit Princes? The *actual* Rabbit Prince?
You'll have to come and see for yourself!
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Friends have been playing D&D 5e, but have been using Golarion, as WotC seems weirdly embarrassed by their own lushly realized settings like Greyhawk, Athas, Krynn or Eberron, and is shy about really diving back into them.
So, some random ideas for Golarion-specific subclases;
Winter Witch (Warlock) 3,3, 6, 10, 14
Spells
3rd Find Familiar, Hex, Hold Person, Ice Knife, Ray of Frost
5th Bestow Curse, Sleet Storm
7th Charm Monster, Ice Storm
9th Cone of Cold, Geas
3rd Winter Witchery. Spells using the Warlocks spell slots that normally inflict Cold damage take effect as if cast with a spell slot one level higher. Additionally, spells or invocations that inflict acid, fire, lightning, necrotic, radiant or thunder damage, can instead inflict cold damage, but these spells do not qualify for the automatic heightening effect.
3rd Hexcraft / Beast of Ill Omen. If you have a Familiar and it is summoned, you can choose when you cast Bane, Hex or Bestow Curse that the Familiar maintains the Concentration on that spell, in your stead. Your Familiar can only maintain Concentration on a single spell, and must remain within 30 ft. of you to do so.
Additionally, have the Potent Cantrip feature of an Evoker, but it only applies to Ray of Frost.
6th Winter Walker / The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway. You have Resistance to Cold damage. You do not treat snow or ice as Difficult terrain, and if winter conditions, including magical ones, such as from the Sleet Storm spell, would make an area Heavily Obscured, you treat it as Lightly Obscured. If such conditions would make an area Lightly Obscured, you are unpenalized.
Additionally, Ray of Frost’s damage dice become d8s.
10th Uttercold. The only targets that have Resistance against Cold damage from your spells or invocations are those that would normally be Immune to Cold damage.
Additionally, Ray of Frost’s damage dice become d10’s.
14th Advanced Witchery / Grand Mal Damme. You add Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere and Wall of Ice to your spells known, and like other spells you cast with Warlock slots that inflict Cold damage, they are automatically heightened to use slots one higher than your current slot level.
Additionally, Ray of Frost’s damage dice become d12s.
Umbral Court Shadowcaster (Sorcerer) 3, 3, 6, 14, 18
Tenebrous Spells
3rd Bane, Darkness, Entangle, Phantasmal Force, Thorn Whip
5th Phantom Steed, Vampiric Touch
7th Evard’s Black Tentacles, Phantasmal Killer
9th Dominate Person, Hold Monster
3rd Eyes of Night. You gain Darkvision with a range of 60 ft. If you already have Darkvision, its range increases by 60 ft. You can also see in magical darkness of your own creation. Additionally, you are Proficient in Stealth.
6th Shadowcraft. You can spend one minute weaving together threads of shadow into simple tangible objects. Any item that can be made by Fast Crafting (p 201) can be crafted, and will remain in existence until you dismiss it, or the completion of your next Long Rest. You can have a number of such shadowcraft objects equal to your Charisma modifier.
Additionally, if you have a Tool proficiency in an Artisan Tool, at the end of a Long Rest, you can craft one item from those craftable items on p 220-221. You do not need to actually have Artisan Tools or materials for this crafting, but do need the Proficiency. In the case of a Spell Scroll, it must be one of a spell that you know. This item also remains in existence until you dismiss it or the completion of your next Long Rest. You can only have one of these special shadowcraft creations in existence at any time, and expendable items, such as Spell Scrolls, Potions of Healing or alchemical Acid, are consumed when used, as normal for such items.
14th Shadows Dance. You add Summon Beast, Summon Undead, Summon Aberration, Summon Dragon and Summon Fiend to your spells known, but these spells are Illusion spells, the creatures summoned have half normal hit points, and are Vulnerable to Radiant damage. You can cast these spells with spell slots, or by expending Sorcery Points equal to the level of the spell.
Additionally, If you are entirely within Dim Light or Darkness, you can use a Bonus Action to teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space that you can see that is also in Dim Light or Darkness. You can do this a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus and then require a Long Rest to recover. If you have no uses remaining when you finish a Short Rest, you recover a single use.
18th Shadow of Yourself. As a Bonus Action or Reaction, you can transform into shadow, becoming Immune to Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing damage, Resistant to Acid, Cold and Necrotic damage, and Vulnerable to Radiant damage. In this form, you move at twice your normal ground speed, and are Partially Incorporeal and can move through occupied spaces as if they were Difficult Terrain. If you end your turn in such a space, you are shunted to the last unoccupied space you were in. You cannot make any physical attacks or manipulate any solid object in this form. This effect lasts 1 minute, unless Dismissed early, and once you return to your corporeal form, you cannot return to shadow until you have completed a Short or Long Rest.
Cyphermage (Wizard)
Wizard 3, 3, 6, 10, 14
3rd Swift Scrivener. You start with Calligrapher’s Supplies and are Proficient with them. Additionally, you can Fast Craft a level 0 or 1 Spell Scroll after completing a Long Rest, so long as you have Calligrapher’s Supplies. As with normal Fast Crafted materials, these Scrolls become nonmagical after you complete your next Long Rest.
3rd Scroll Specialist. When you Activate a Scroll of a spell in your Spellbook, you can use your own attack roll or Save DC, instead of the flat +5 / DC 13, if you wish.
When you Craft (but not Fast Craft!) a Scroll, you no longer need to have that spell prepared, but it must be in your Spellbook.
6th Bibliophile You can now Fast Craft a Scroll of a 2nd level spell, or two Scrolls of Cantrips or 1st level spells. Additionally, you can now Fast Craft a 1st level Scroll after a Short Rest, but these Scrolls become nonmagical after your next Short Rest.
You no longer need to have a spell prepared to Fast Craft a Scroll of it, but the spell must be in your Spellbook.
10th Archivist You can now Fast Craft Scrolls of up to 3 levels of spells after a Long Rest, or 2 levels of spells after a Short Rest (which become nonmagical after your next Short Rest).
When you Craft (but not Fast Craft!) a Scroll, it can be any spell on your spell list, even if you do not have that spell in your Spellbook.
14th Master Inscriptionist You can now Fast Craft Scrolls of up to 6 levels of spells after a Long Rest, or 3 levels of spells after a Short Rest (which become nonmagical after your next Short Rest).
When you Fast Craft a spell after a Long Rest, it can be any spell on your spell list, even if you do not have that spell in your Spellbook.
[As much as possible, I do not want to reinvent the wheel, so I tried to use rules and concepts that already existed in 5e, like Fast Crafting or Potent Cantrips.]
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So the Forgotten Realms setting had like, a bajillion new spells, and it felt like 20% of them followed a pattern. Weapon (sword, staff, whip, mace) of (force, fire, lightning). Floating balls what spin around the caster and absorb attacks (maybe spells, maybe a specific energy like lightning or force) and can be sent off to deliver that energy (or cast those absorbed spells). Ways to cast multiple spells in a round (variations on Contingency, by such luminaries as Elminster and the Witch-Queen of Aglarond).
Inspired by that sort of spell design philosophy, but with Golarion flavor, I present;
Sihedron Strike
You conjure a spinning sihedron rune that floats above and behind your head, the seven 'blades' of the sihedron individually as long as short swords and made of force. When you cast it, you can cause one or all of the blades to strike any target within medium range, doing force damage as a short sword. Those not commanded to strike will remain orbiting you and provide you with a +1 bonus to Armor Class and Reflex saves (for each remaining blade), as they move to intercept attacks directed at you. Blades that are sent to attack hit automatically and continue attacking their selected target as long as they remain within range, returning to station behind you if the target dies, or leaves range, or if you use a movement action to call them back (you can recall one or more of them as part of the same movement action).
At any time during the spell's duration, you can assign one or more blades to attack a single or separate targets as a standard action, but those blades will not be available for defensive purposes while attacking.
This is a snippet of an idea, which I haven't really worked out the mechanics for, but I kind of like the idea of using one settings 'design philosophy' to create something with flavor from a very different setting.
And a spell that sends sihedron blades spinning off to slash and stab folk? That's just good fun!
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Random other Golarian specific stuff adapted for the D&D 5e rules.
Varisian Harrower (Bard)
3, 3, 6, 14 or 3, 6, 6, 14
Level 3: Harrow Deck
You receive a special Harrow Deck, which is treated as a Gaming Set, and are Proficient in its use, but can also be used as one or more Daggers. The individual cards are never lost or damaged by being Thrown, and reappear in your deck when you next complete a Long Rest, if lost, stolen or destroyed. If you expend a Bardic Inspiration die when you Attack with your Harrow Cards in this fashion, you do Bonus damage equal to your Inspiration die, and can choose for this attack to do Force or Psychic damage.
Your Harrow Deck can also be used as a Spellcasting Focus.
At 6th level, the cards from your deck are treated as magical weapons, for the purposes of Resistance to damage from non-magical weapons, you gain the Mastery Property of Nick when using your Harrow cards as daggers, and you are treated as holding a shield and receive a +1 bonus to Armor Class when holding your special Harrow cards in one or both hands.
Level 3: Blessing of the Harrow
When you complete a Long Rest, you can perform a Harrow reading for yourself and a number of allies equal to your Charisma modifier. Roll 6d6, with 1’s representing Strength, 2’s Dexterity, 3’s Constitution, 4’s Intelligence, 5’s Wisdom and 6’s Charisma. Those affected can choose to have Advantage with a number of d20 Tests with the Attribute that appears the most in your roll, equal to your Proficiency Bonus, until the end of your next Long Rest. In case of a tie, you choose which of those Attributes receives the buff.
Level 6: Harrow Casting
You can draw a single card as part of the action of casting a spell. Roll 1d6, and if the number on the card is 2, representing Dexterity, and your spell requires an Attack roll, you can grant yourself Advantage on that Attack roll. If your spell gives the target a saving throw, and you rolled the number associated with that Attribute, you can give the opponent Disadvantage on that saving throw. You can always draw a card as part of casting a spell, but can only choose to give yourself Advantage, or a target Disadvantage in this manner if you choose to expend a Bardic Inspiration die.
You can also use your Harrow deck to cast Augury or Cloud of Daggers, and always have both spells prepared. You can cast Cloud of Daggers, which manifests as a cloud of razor-edged Harrow cards, twice without expending a spell slot, but cannot do so again before completing a Long Rest.
Level 14: Dancer with Destiny
Using your Harrow Deck, you can cast Blade Barrier, Contact Other Plane, Divination or Speak with Dead, and always have these spells Prepared. When you cast Speak with Dead in this manner, the spell takes 10 minutes to cast, and your Blade Barrier manifests as a swirling barrier of razor edged Harrow cards.
[As usual, trying to capture the theme of the Prestige Class, and setting, and the cool visuals from the Harrow Handbook!, while keeping to the preferred mechanics of D&D 5e subclasses. Some Prestige Classes, are narrow enough that they *might* even work as Feats... Some attempts at that follow.]
Thassilonian Sin-Mage
General Feat (Prerequisite: Level 4+, Specialist Wizard (Abjurer, Conjurer, Enchanter, Evoker, Illusionist, Necromancer or Transmuter))
Starting at the level you take this feat, one of the two Wizard spells you gain each level must be from your School of Specialization. In addition, the spell you gain each level from the ‘Savant’ class feature for your School of Specialization must still be a spell of a level you can cast, and from your School of Specialization, but it can come from *any* class list.
[On the one hand, this Feat leaves the Thassilonian Specialist with no additional spells over any other Wizard of the same level, but does widely open up their versatility, particularly for Specialists in schools whose spells have a lot of options on other lists, like Enchanters and Conjurers. It is, perhaps, not so great for Evokers, since many of the sexy Evocation spells are already on the Wizard list...]
Risen Guard
General Feat (Prerequisite: Level 4+, Must have been raised, reincarnated or resurrected from the dead, Revivify is not sufficient for this purpose.)
Your soul has been anchored to your body after being called back from the Boneyard by a gem embedded into your forehead called a Ka stone. This stone cannot be destroyed or removed, and gives you the ability to avoid a repeat of your original death. Whenever you take damage that would reduce you to 0 Hit Points, you can instead choose to remain at 1 Hit Point. Taking this action gives you 1 level of Exhaustion, and you cannot take it again until you no longer have any levels of Exhaustion.
Razmiran Priest
(General Feat, Prerequisite: Level 4+, Spellcasting or Pact Magic Feature)
You add False Life to your spells known and always have it prepared. Additionally, you can cast False Life (either by spell or invocation) on an ally by Touch.
If a target is suffering from Hit Point damage, and you affect them with a spell or invocation that grants them Temporary Hit Points, the target must make a Medicine or Religion check at your spell DC or believe that you have cured them of Hit Point damage they have received by using a spell such as Cure Wounds or Word of Healing.
Finally, at 14th level, you add Power Word Fortify to your spells known and always have it prepared.
Masked Caster (available toboth Halycon Speakers and Hellknight Signifers)
(General Feat, Prerequisite: Level 4+, Spellcasting or Pact Magic Feature)
You have a mask that conceals your features, but does not impede your vision, hearing or speech. If it is lost or destroyed, you can replace or repair it over your next Long Rest. It functions as an Arcane Focus, Druidic Focus or Holy Symbol, as appropriate to your spellcasting class.
While wearing this mask, you have Advantage on any saving throw to resist a Divination spell cast by any creature that does not know your true name and identity. In addition, while wearing this mask, as a Reaction you can give yourself Advantage on any saving throw against an Enchantment spell cast by a creature that does not know your true name and identity. If you succeed on this saving throw, the caster of the Enchantment spell is Frightened of you until the end of your next turn. Once you use this Reaction, you must complete a Long or Short rest before you can do so again.
Bardic inspiration die?
Level of exhaustion?
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Bardic inspiration die?
Level of exhaustion?
Yeah, that was Golarion stuff adapted to D&D 5e, so not necessarily useful to Pathfinder 1e or 2e fans.
I go where my friends go, which did broaden my Realms-specific horizons back in the day and get me into Greyhawk and even Spelljammer, so it's not all dire!
Adapting stuff, I noted that there was a lot for some classes, like the Wizard, in particular (Cyphermage, Hemotheurge, Magaambyan, Arclord, Thassilonian Sin-Specialist), and not a ton for others, like the Ranger.
So, something for the Ranger;
Chernasado Warden (Ranger)
Level 3: Sprite’s Teachings. You become Proficient in Stealth and Survival. If you are already Proficient in one of these skills, you gain Expertise with that skill.
Additionally, you have Advantage on Acrobatics and Athletics checks in forested terrain.
Finally, you add Find Familiar to your spell list, but can only use it to summon a Fey spirit, or, at 11th level, a Sprite.
Level 3: Guerilla Tactics. If you have Advantage on an Attack roll, and have Weapon Mastery with the weapon with which you made the attack, you can choose to use Vex, Sap or Slow, instead of the usual Weapon Mastery property. If the weapon is a Heavy Crossbow, Longbow, Heavy weapon or Two-Handed weapon, you can also use Cleave, Graze, Push or Topple instead of the weapon’s normal Mastery property.
Additionally, you ignore Difficult Terrain when using the Dash or Disengage maneuvers in forested terrain.
Level 7: Sneak Attack. You gain 2d6 Sneak Attack, like the Rogue feature of the same name.
Level 11: Unchained Heart. As a Reaction, you can give yourself Advantage on a saving throw versus compulsions and mind-affecting effects, if you succeed on the resulting saving throw, you then have Advantage on attack rolls against the source of the spell until the end of your next turn. You can take this action twice, and then must complete a Long Rest before doing so again.
Level 15: Phantom Strike. You are no longer affected by nonmagical Difficult Terrain, and do not treat a Heavily Obscured area as Difficult Terrain.
Additionally, when you hit a creature who is unaware of your presence, they take an additional 2d6 Sneak Attack damage and must make a Wisdom save or be Frightened for 1 minute. They are allowed another Wisdom save each round to end the Frightened condition. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier, and then must complete a Long Rest before doing so again.
Finally, as a Magic Action, you can create a Sylvan Hideaway, creating a passageway within the ground that acts like Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion with the following changes; Range is 30 feet, floorplan is a number of 10 foot cubes equal to your Proficiency Bonus, only has enough food and water for 10 people, and there are no servants. The furnishings are decidedly less opulent, and more rural in character, but no less functional. You can create a Sylvan Hideaway once, and then must complete a Long Rest before doing so again. Any existing Sylvan Hideaway ends if you create a new one.
[Most of the spells that Chernasado Wardens get as SLAs are already on the Ranger list, but obviously no substitute for the Spectral Scout or Sylvan Hideaway spells, so I just sort of tweaked Find Familiar to fit the theme and be usable as a scout, and Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion, which, as it was written was a few levels above what a Ranger could ever have anyway, to downgrade it to more Sylvan Hideaway levels of effect. The Chernasado Warden, unlike some other adaptations where I feel like I'm chainsawing off class features to squeeze them into the much tighter 5e subclass format, actually came out leaner than usual for me, which is way closer to how 5e tends to do it.]
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So the new nation of Oprak, and the Vault, have *really* intrigued me, and, as always, I have thoughts. (Disorganized! Stream of consciousness! But, thoughts!)
Veterans of the original Iron Fang divisions have become something like noble families (even if most are not at all related by blood, and children of members are more likely to advance in other ‘families’ entirely, due to a cultural resistance to showing favoritism to blood relatives, making the various factions less nepotistic than expected). Higher ranking members of different divisions or legions often have champions to handle challenges, both a form of sport, but also a serious form of conflict resolution that does not risk the commander themselves (although duels between leaders does happen, when approved by a higher up, which means Azaersi’s division commanders cannot duel each other without her permission to risk their lives in this manner!). Champions are traditionally bugbears, and are treated as honored members of the legions (although not all of them have an actual rank, as some are… undisciplined) and betting on the outcomes of champion challenges is fierce. A few hobgoblins also hold champion rank, and it is considered a point of pride for a hobgoblin officer to represent a superior in such a challenge match (particularly if the opposing champion is a member of a people known for their physical might, like an ogre, bugbear or minotaur).
The most common Opraki race is, of course, hobgoblins, but a surprising number of kobolds have shown up and adapted well to serving under hobgoblin rule, often providing unique spellcasting services, as not all hobgoblins are adverse to benefitting from ‘elf magic’ under the table, if it is cast by a discrete kobold sorcerer.
Azaersi has sent ambassadors across Avistan to find other ‘monster’ races that may wish to join her fledgling nation. The orcs of Belkzen are cautiously continuing diplomacy, while the Matanje orcs of the Mwangi Expanse have themselves expressed interest, although their ambassador being an Abyssal Sorcerer has somewhat dampened Opraki enthusiasm for an alliance on that front. The gnolls of Katapesh have no apparent central leadership to meet with, and are quietly considered unreliable and fractious, much like goblins, who are technically welcome, but tend to be treated dismissively, or even contemptuously, like little more than vermin, by disciplined hobgoblin society. (Bugbears can be similarly fractious, but at least *useful,* and so earn a soldier’s wary respect.) The ogres of Varisia have similarly been dismissed as a meaningful source of alliance (despite some overtures from that direction), but some Ogres from Omash, in Qadira, have proven to be cut from a different cloth and capable of adapting to a more regimented life. Sahuagin (or Deep Ones) have proven to be even less approachable than gnolls, and Oprak has little to offer an aquatic partner in any event. The centaur tribes of Cheliax, and the Isle of Kortos have been separately approached, and negotiations continue. A small number of Strix have relocated to the mountains near Oprak, but not enough to field more than few messengers per legion, which is their valued role. No serious effort has been made to contact any sizable enclave of iruxi (nor does Azaersi know enough about the existence of Droon to send an embassy there) or ysoki (although an unknown number of ysoki already lived within the Vault), and the boggard tribes of the Sodden Lands have been dismissed as degenerate and a ‘bad influence’ on unit discipline. The minotaurs of the Isle of Kortos have cautiously agreed to a tentative alliance, but only a few have come to Oprak, and none from Kortos itself, as those minotaurs are almost fanatically devoted to their (contested) claim on the Isle of Kortos itself. The charau-ka and awakened apes of Usaro fit under those ‘disruptive to unit cohesion’ influences, like boggards, gnolls and (most) ogres, and have not been approached, as of yet (and probably never will be). Azaersi has a wary distrust of cultures that are wholly devoted to such unruly patrons as the demon lord Angazhan as she would like to remain the uncontested top of Oprak’s pyramid. Oprak has a tentative agreement to ‘leave each other alone’ with one regional ‘kingdom’ of fire giants, but that does not hold true to any other giant communities, and for the most part, the giant holdings of the surrounding mountains want little or nothing to do with her fledgling kingdom, save perhaps some limited trade, on their own terms, or not at all. A dozen or so mites serve as ‘vermin tamers’ and wranglers, with various types of vermin serving as work-beasts, mounts and / or foodstuffs, and the mites are valued for their skills in this area. Gremlins of various sorts, but particularly pugwampi and vexgits, are regarded as despised vermin, to be eradicated on sight, with bounties for their tiny bodies, and a team consisting of a gnoll, her two sons (rangers with favored enemy (fey) and an array of cold iron weaponry) and a few bugbears calling themselves Coldest Iron Solutions, specialize in hunting them down and eradicating them. Other than the gnolls of CIS, there are few gnolls, and none in respected positions or considered ‘useful’ by hobgoblins of rank (and recognizing that her kin are not considered ‘reliable’ by the hobgoblins, the matriarch of CIS tends to let her bugbear employees negotiate with hobgoblin authorities on her behalf). So far, the Duergar/'gray dwarves' contacted have proven hostile to the idea of an alliance, and it is believed that they covet the secrets of the Vault, which they consider ‘theirs’ and the hobgoblins currently in charge as usurpers. The final population also comes from the Vault itself, like the Ysoki, and consists of Oreads, which are given special status (Ysoki, not so much), somewhat below hobgoblins, but above most others, due to their ties to the earthen Vault, and an early alliance against pech and xiomorn, of whom they provided invaluable intelligence. They often remain *in* the Vault, and so are not as likely to be recognized as any significant fraction of the population by someone viewing Oprak from Golarion. A recent infusion of both abyssal and infernal tieflings/cambions* have come from the former Worldwound, and Cheliax, respectively, both feeling distinctly unwelcome, for different reasons, in the lands of their births, but are having to prove their worth individually, in many case, as few have any organization (save for one ‘thieves guild’ from Cheliax, which has useful scouting skills, but little regard for Opraki regulations, which has resulted in a few ‘examples’, by way of summary public execution, having to be made).
*I have no idea what aasimar and tieflings are called in Remastered, but have never loved either of those names, and prefer calling them nephilim and cambions, myself.
Of special note, the Oread population is a mixed society of originally dwarvish and orcish bloodlines, abducted away to serve the Vault Builders millena ago, which are not interfertile, but are otherwise completely integrated, and show no signs of the animosity between those two races seen outside of the Vault. Family units may have oreads of both dwarven and orcish heritage, although they cannot produce children together, and mixed marriages seek the intervention of ‘free agents’ of the appropriate heritage to bless them with children. (Mixed marriages of both dwarven and orcish pairings, and partners of the same gender are much more common, to the point of the practice being accepted as ‘the norm’ by this culture.) This culture had spent centuries defending itself against the Xiomorn-loyalist Pech, and the golems that they commanded on behalf of their reclusive masters, and it had taken hundreds of oread lives to slowly whittle down the number of golems available to the point where the two factions had reached a fragile détente, as the pech lacked the military strength to go on the offense (or will to risk any more of their nigh-unstoppable, but irreplaceable, war machines). The arrival of Azaersi and her forces ended that stalemate, as her forces drove the Pech before them, and the oreads seized their chance to strike their age-old oppressors from behind.
This sowed the seeds of the oread alliance with the Hobgoblin ‘invaders,’ whom they welcomed over the Pech, while fully aware that the Hobgoblins weren’t particularly nice people either, carefully negotiating from a position of strength and usefulness, providing Azaersi with all the intelligence (such as the strengths, tactics and few weaknesses of the Xiomorn themselves) she needed to seize the Onyx Vault without a much greater loss of hobgoblin life. As useful allies to Azaersi, their position would be stronger than as the worker slaves the Xiomorn had so long ago considered them, before they freed themselves. The one thing that became clear to Azaersi was that the oreads did not care what the hobgoblins did or wanted or believed in, but were adamant that they would not be slaves again, and she chose to accept their assistance, and honor her word to them to allow them a place as citizens of Oprak, if not necessarily on the same level as a hobgoblin soldier.
How the ratfolk found their way into the Vault, why they so rarely develop oread traits, and ‘which side they are on,’ remain perpetual mysteries. Ysoki dwell in concealed warrens that seem to move around, and have provided information and sometimes assistance to either faction, over the generations, but generally side more with the oreads than the pech/xiomorn, and did so this time as well, which is why Azaersi tolerates their presence and has not ordered them hunted down and eradicated from ‘her’ Vault (as she has the Xiomorn, and the Pech). She is all too aware of how militant societies, in absence of an ‘other’, tend to turn their aggressions on each other and tear themselves apart, and she somewhat cold-bloodedly wants to save the mostly-unobjectionable Ysoki as a convenient ‘other,’ if that time arises…
Opraki citizens – Hobgoblins (only hobgoblins have full citizen status), Kobolds (hundreds, dozens of which are studiously picking up adept or alchemist abilities, to make themselves ‘valuable’ to their hobgoblin superiors, those with the talent for neither are drafted into craftsman and combat engineer roles, or, lowest of the low, miners), Oreads (thousands in the Vault, dozens outside at any given time, most originally of orcish or dwarven, both somewhat bemused that their respective ancestral kin are bitter foes still in this world), Ysoki (hundreds in the Vault, hundreds outside as well, almost never have Oread traits, for unclear reasons), Bugbears (at least a hundred, which is practically a thriving metropolis for such a solitary race), Goblins (too many!), Minotaurs (a dozen or so), Ogres (Omashi, less than a dozen, oddly erudite, sophisticated and hygenic, for ogres, acting almost like smaller (dumber) cloud giants…), Strix (around thirty), Orcs (a few ‘ambassadors’ from both the Matanje and Belkzen, as much establishing ties with *each other*, and the Vault dwelling oread/orcs, as Azaersi’s hobgoblin nation, if nothing else, it’s sowing the seeds of a trans-continental, or even trans-planar *orc* alliance!), Mites (a dozen, or more?, more than the Opraki realize…), Gnolls (like, three?), Tieflings (several dozen, with more arriving as word spreads of a land more tolerant to their kind, almost all infernal and abyssal, generally from Cheliax and the former Worldwound). Goblins, thus far, do not rank as even ‘lesser’ citizens, unless they individually prove themselves worthy of such a promotion.
An unusually patient hobgoblin cleric of Zarongel is attempting to foster dozens upon dozens of goblins into at the very least, functioning as Adepts, if not actual Clerics of the faith. It is… not going great, but he hasn’t killed nearly as many as a less patient hobgoblin would have. (Attempting to train them to be ‘wolf / worg riders’, but actually as cannon-fodder / tail-gunners for the more intelligent, disciplined and competent worgs. Also attempting to train a group of goblin pyros, mostly alchemists, but more likely to carry alchemist’s fire into a fight and then die, hopefully exploding in the midst of the enemy? Disaster imminent…)
D&D races not mentioned – Drow, Svirfneblin, Morlocks, Derro, Serpentfolk, Mongrelfolk, Dire Corbies, Tengu, Wayangs, Vishkanya, Vanara, Nagaji,
Monsters – Giants, Minotaurs, Ogres, Ettins, Hags (a single Annis Hag witch provides arcane spellcasting services for those, mostly non-hobgoblins, who seek that sort of magic), Naga (several individual naga of various types have flocked to Oprak, only to find the welcome chillier than expected, thanks to Azaersi’s lingering resentment over Zanathura’s betrayal), Lamia, Harpies, Aranea, Jorogamu, Deep Ones, Sahuagin, Locathah, Merfolk, Tritons, Aasimar, Tieflings, Barghests, Trolls, Troglodytes, Skum, Vampires, Dopplegangers (required to register their true form, which has proven unpopular), Ogre Magi, Rakshasa, Urdefan, Redcaps, Quicklings (three serve as fast messengers, competing with Strix and Scamps (primarily Dust) for this duty),
Scamps – Earth, Ooze, Magma, Dust
Crystal, Root
Earth scamps are the most common scamps, and spent centuries working on behalf of the pech and xiomorn, which they didn’t really care for, and are just happy to be freed from that onerous never-ending drudgery, although they aren't finding the hobgoblins much better... (Another group work for a Shaitan, and he alternately treats them affectionately, condescendingly or even dismissively, as the mood takes him, but they seem to adore him regardless.)
Magma and Ooze scamps want A) to be left alone and B) to expand their territories. Azaersi wants neither of these things. She’s actively planning on draining the swampy territories and reclaiming that usable land, which will probably require her to set a price on ooze scamp heads, soon enough, as they put up a feeble, but annoying, resistance.
Dust scamps had a great deal as exclusive messengers, and milked it for all that they could. They HATE that the Strix have arrived and are much more cooperative and competent and have ‘ruined this gig for them,’ but after a few scamps attacked and waylaid Strix who had ‘stolen their jobs’ and were made violent and fatal examples of by Azaersi’s commanders in the field, they have grumbled and begun to slowly comply… Many dust scamps petulantly abandoned their posts, marking them as unreliable, and ironically leading to *more* Strix finding work as messengers. Dust scamps, lazy, but also dumb.
Crystal scamps are rare, and used to being treated as living jewelry, kept as pampered pets, or treated like prized bits of treasure, and are not at all fond of the hobgoblin preference for function over form, since they much prefer being pretty and idle, than useful and doing work.
(Found primarily in the planes of Earth and Metal, and interstitial spaces between them, crystal scamps are one of the rarer breeds of scamps, often kept as decorative household accents by earth genies and other notables in the plane of Earth. It’s not clear whether nature or nurture is responsible for their truly supernatural sense of narcissism and vanity, but, given how incredibly over-the-top it can be, the best answer might be ‘yes, to both.’)
Root scamps are somewhat concerned about the amount of logging going on, and are at a loss what to do about it, other than maybe encourage the hobgoblins to build more out of earth and rock, perhaps in some way involving setting fire to some of their wooden constructions? That can only end well.
(Also a rarer breed of scamp, found primarily in the planes of Earth and Wood, root scamps are slow to, well, everything. Anger, movement, thought. They don’t get worked up for much, or, at all. They can very, very slowly move through even the strongest rock, though, and are potentially useful for crafting tunnels, for those who are in no hurry...)
Hobgoblins (or Ysoki) born in the Vault have a remote chance to have Oread traits, and / or inclinations towards Elemental (earth) sorcery, or the Stone oracle Mystery. Other races settling into the Vault include goblins (not technically invited, but it has proven challenging keeping them out…) and kobolds, both of whom breed faster than hobgoblins, are even more prone to Oread traits, or Earth Elemental sorcery or Stone Mystery oracular talents.
New division commander has integrated many ‘extended visitors’ from Koa Lin, and is herself from that community, being an Ogre Magi magus. While on ‘detached duty’ in Oprak, they represent their homeland, but also are expected to be faultlessly loyal to Oprak, so long as they are not asked to betray their homeland (so as to set a good example).
A Shaitan ambassador dwells in the Vault, and has not been seen to leave it (and is indeed rumored to be trapped there, if not by magic, by some oath or duty). He is attended by myriad scamps, who regard him as their lord, and some earth elementals of various sizes, and has malachite skin marbled with gold, his hair is fine chains of red and yellow gold, his eyes are black opals, and he has the power to create +1 Large distance spears of cold iron or silver as a free action, which disappear if anyone else lays a hand on them, or at the end of a round if they leave his grasp.
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Still on a 'mortal races spread throughout the planes' kick inspired by the idea of a community of oreads (descended from dwarves and orcs abducted away as workers by the Vault Builders) on the plane of Earth.
The Aeromantic Imperium
(Forgotten Shory city still thriving on the Elemental Plane of Air)
The Shory empire was in decline, but this was not readily apparent to those who lived in its magnificent flying cities. Still, for every resident of these marvels of magic and artifice, there were ten who dreamed of the sky, and cast envious eyes at those who drifted high overhead.
There were plans, most merely pipe-dreams, and almost a half-dozen more flying cities were dreamt of, with unrealistic plans to create a city centered around a grand magical academy, and others wishing to make a fantastic garden city, or a city entirely composed of artisans, musicians and entertainers, where others would flock to spend the crystals that served as currency among the sky-dwellers.
A wealthy group of merchants, weary of the way even the lowest of sky-city residents would look down at them and call them ‘grounders’ or ‘lowborn,’ pooled their resources and planned their own glorious city. Lacking the rare few mages and artificers that already knew how to craft an Aeromantic Infantibulum, they recruited from among students of Shory academies, sometimes iconoclausts, sometimes failed students, and assembled a somewhat dubious group of such to craft the Aeromantic Infantibulum that would bring the city they were having constructed, and themselves, up into the clouds, to join the elite, as they felt they deserved after toiling so long in their shadow to provide for their needs.
The city was only half-constructed, and the wealthiest of the city’s founding coalition held a lottery, in which other ‘grounders’ of means could buy a place in their new city, to help defray the not-inconsiderable costs they had already paid, when a bit of overly creative tinkering with the not-yet-operational Aeromantic Infantibulum by a student who wondered if it were possible to more directly tap into the endless power of the plane of elemental air, caused it to pulse and the entire city to be enveloped in a terrible windstorm, blowing up choking dust and debris that obscured it from sight. The beastly howling of the winds ended with a thunderous clap and an explosion of dust and wind that heralded the abrupt end of the windstorm, and, when the dust cleared, the disappearance of the city, forever.
Hundreds of citizens had already paid for a place on the new city, and were now without recourse, as the city, and those whom they had paid for a place there, were gone. Most were relieved not to have been swept from the world by the terrible accident, but there were accusations of fraud, or it all being a grand hoax to rob them of their glittering wealth, for decades thereafter. The other cities, for their part, had their own concerns, and were not terribly shocked that an aeromantic infantibulum ‘cobbled together from scraps, by scoundrels, ne’er do wells and dropouts, alarmists and iconoclausts’ would fail so catastrophically. Those who had not lost members of their family, or their livelihoods, shrugged and went on with life, remembering the vanished city, if at all, as a cautionary tale, or used to promote the elitist notion that not everyone deserved such a lofty perch among the clouds.
The city was not destroyed, as some assumed, but indeed whisked away, the malfunctioning Aeromantic Infantibulum plunging the entire thing into the elemental plane of air. The plane recoiled at this unwelcome intrusion, and a vast windstorm howled through the city, demolishing many of the incomplete structures, and only failing to topple the tallest because of clever Shory construction, in which streets were fashioned in gentle curves, to channel the wind in a spiraling pattern that diffused it’s strength and sent it upwards, a design refined over the centuries by the preceding sky-cities. The population huddled where they could, in those buildings strong enough to weather the gale, and over the course of a day that seemed like forever to the survivors, the apprentice artificers and ‘failed students’ that had assembled the Aeromantic Infantibulum managed to bend its power to hold the winds at bay, so that the city, as ravaged as it was, now floated serenely in a safe pocket of calm air at the center of the maelstrom endlessly raging around it.
And so the city, half-built and half-destroyed, not yet equipped with the stores, or even adequate foodstuffs that had yet to arrive and be stocked in its larders, and with perhaps a tenth the population it had been designed for, was adrift in the elemental plane of air, dire straits indeed.
The Shory quickly realized that the nature of the storm blocked any attempt at returning to Golarion, or even communicating with those left behind. Much finger-pointing ensued, and there were several deaths in the resulting turmoil, but the founders that remained did not lie down and die, but quickly secured every edible thing they could for the survival of what people remained. Within a week, there was no livestock left, and if no new source of meat was found, a vegetarian life seemed their fate, so they turned to plant every edible plant they could salvage from what they had brought. Entire buildings, some half in ruins, some still yet serviceable, were converted into growing spaces, and any tree that did not provide fruit or berries or nuts was cut down and used for construction, to repair what buildings they could. The ‘sun’ in this place would have been mid-day, were it not for the storm, and so the city was in perpetual stormy twilight, with diverse sources ranging from magical illumination to great mirrors being used to bring light to their crops. The air was cool, a temperate clime, and many of the more tropical crops they grew up with, citrus fruits and dates, grew poorly, if at all, and were quickly contained with greenhouses, where they could be kept warm, or simply abandoned, leaving a city now overgrown with green and nourishing plants, where all the streets are lined with cherry trees, the most popular of the fruiting trees.
Abundant rainfall fuels their magically-accelerated growth and endless power from the wind and lightning just outside the ‘storm shield’ protects the city from the tempest that surrounds it, a defense that is, itself, powered in part by the very storm raging against it, and is tapped to turn mills and power magical engines that keep the storm at bay, and the city constantly lit in a dusk-like glow.
Even these heroic efforts to feed themselves would have come to naught had they not had access to the conjured food provided by djinn crafters that had helped assemble the city. For long months, while plants were tended and slowly matured, every soul had to work to earn a ration of conjured food, which was hardly the life that any of these mostly wealthy-merchant-princes and their families, had imagined for themselves. After a rabble-rouser, who had fomented a revolt and tried to seize more food for themself and their supporters, was seized by a pair of genies and thrown bodily into the storm, there was a degree of resigned cooperation. The genies made it abundantly clear that if everyone in the city wanted to eat, they would have representation on the city council, and no longer be treated like subjects, but actual citizens of the Shory imperium. The merchant-princes turned to their arcane support, whom they hoped would quell this ‘genie uprising’ and compel their obedience, but the mages, iconoclaust to the last, shrugged and said, ‘that sounds fair.’ A single token ‘genie seat’ was added to the council, and intended to be ignored, but centuries later, there are two genies on the council, and their input is as valued as any human councilors.
The entire population of Shory remnants now have Sylph traits, after so many generations in the plane of elemental Air, but still resemble traditional Shory, tall and lean, with broad faces and frizzy clouds of fly-away hair that they rarely bother to tame, but are more prone to white, yellow, blue or cloud-gray eyes, prematurely gray or white hair, and a blue-ish tinge to their ebony skin.
In the centuries, they have forged new pacts with geniekind, and some local elemental residents, as well as the ability to form (or predict) temporary safe corridors through the storm, allowing them to travel out into the larger plane and not remain trapped within the storm that rages around them. Indeed, it is widely thought among the magical elite of the city that they could end the storm, if they committed themselves to the task, but with so many of their needs met by the tempest, fresh water, endless power, impassable protection…, they agree that it would be counter-productive to do so, and they regard the storm, once their jailer, as their provider and protector, entire generations have grown up with it raging around them, and wanting no other life.
The original residents were fierce falconers, and brought well over a hundred hawks of various breeds with them when they found themselves transported to the elemental plane of air. Unable to fly free of the city, thanks to the impassable storm, they might have starved and faced extinction, if not for a pair of wererats who had been hiding among the half-completed buildings, who kept the city’s vermin under control for their own protection, and over generations, wererats have been integrated into Shory society. Every council has exactly one ‘Ratmaster,’ and those who volunteer for this position, are soon infected by one of the rare remaining wererats, who almost never number more than a half-dozen, fiercely jealous and protective of their rare status, and equally aware that they are more ‘needed’ than ‘wanted,’ and would wear their welcome thin quickly if they went on a ‘recruiting spree.’ The various rodents that made the transition have adapted to a mostly vegetarian diet, supplemented by the occasional insect, and remain under control of the ‘Ratmaster,’ who keeps them foraging in the food waste areas, and out of the gardens, meal preparation and food storage areas, and moves them to designated hunting and hawking areas, so as to provide fodder for the prized hawks of the imperium. It is to the great fortune of the Shory that none who volunteer for the position of Ratmaster have any real loyalty to, or love of, the rats that answer their call…
Have domesticated a few juvenile members of the native roc population living on plane of air, and keep them rooked inside the storm shield (which they could not reach without a Shory to guide them through the ‘safe paths’). They have to be taken outside of the shield each day to hunt and feed, as there is no food supply adequate for them in the city, and they do not thrive on conjured genie-food, needing to fly and hunt to flourish. Shory druids and some rangers can take them as companions. No full size rocs are so tamed, only large sized ‘companions,’ which the Shory call ‘rukhs’ to differentiate them from their much larger kin. The region of the elemental plane where they drift remains in a perpetual mid-dawn or early dusk, the ‘sun’s’ light (and warmth) less than that of full day, which results in few or no nocturnal creatures, like bats, owls, dire bats or giant owls, which are more common in darker regions of the plane of Air.
There are surprisingly few other animals in the city itself. Notable hives of bees, usually quite belligerent and in metallic shades of green, blue and purple, tended carefully by professional beekeepers, and a fairly small population of Osirioni wise-eye cats and ravens, many times removed offspring of familiars brought across, and occasionally still serving as such today (although well over half of familiars are some species of hawk or falcon). Even sorcerers or wizards, and some other spellcasters, like clerics, who would not normally have a familiar, will take the option when it becomes available via feat, and improved familiars include a preponderance of air scamps, small air elementals, and celestial avians, as well as the occasional odder specimen, like the miniature sphinx-kin called riddlers, six-winged ‘formian attendants’ (particularly popular again this generation, their popularity seems to wax and wane in some as-yet-undiscovered mathematical progression), or tiny linnorm-like creatures called windwyrms.
Shory of the city tend to dress warmly, in layers, due to the cooler air in the outer city, but sparsely, even, by some standards, scandalously, inside their well-warmed inner homes, which are designed to keep heat trapped within, so as not to waste their not-entirely-endless arcane power ‘trying to heat up the storm,’ which is a colloquialism for a futile endeavor. As a result of this climate, their crops tend to be the sort that thrive in cooler climes, like apples, blackberries and cherries, with the only tropical fruit like bananas, citrus fruits or dates being raised in the few enclosed (and heated) greenhouses.
Primary churches are to Shelyn and Gozreh, with a well-tended shrine to Nethys in the ‘mages quarter’ where the original Aeromantic Infantibulum used to lay, and a more perfunctory shrine to Pharasma that serves more as a funeral destination than for more traditional religious services. Those who die are ‘given to the storm’ and, reverently, allowed to fall into the endless storm raging just beyond the city’s boundaries. Since the original dissident was thrown to the storm, only seven more executions of this sort have taken place, as the Shory value the all-too-few lives available to them, murder being one of the few crimes that could lead to execution. [On Golarion, this is also the traditional means of execution among sky-city dwellers, being tossed off the island.] Smaller in-home shrines exist to diverse other patrons, such as Soralyon, or mwangi diety here, but do not have temples of their own. The Shory of the city have a marked disdain for idleness, left over from the lean times when they all had to labor to earn their ration of food, and the faith of Desna, formerly popular among some Shory, saw a marked decline, the building originally created to serve as a temple to her, now operating as a greenhouse, although still with Desnan motifs and decorations suggesting its original intended use. This ‘decline’ in popularity is fueled, at least in part, by the simple coincidence that the majority of the Desna-following branch had not arrived to take their place in the city when it abruptly departed, more than any active resistance to the goddess or her tenets.
An underground cult of Hshurha thrives, only to be more recently challenged by a new cult to Ranginori, although neither faith is yet recognized officially. Followers of Pazuzu have been a recurring threat among the riders of the great rukhs, over the centuries, and keep cropping up, in some cases with riders being driven to the faith at least partially because others seem to be expecting them all to be Pazuzu cultists anyway… Unsuspected to most, the ruling council has been infiltrated both by agents of Hshurha, one of them a genie, and a dynamic cleric of Pazuzu who seems all too close to winning the central, tiebreaker, position.
The governing council itself only meets weekly, each of its members having other duties to attend to, and issues are discussed, and alliances brokered, all through the week, so that voting happens with surprising speed, on the assigned days. There are no chairs in the council chamber (although one can be brought in for a councilor who requires one), which is the site of the former aeromantic infantibulum (which has, centuries ago, been slowly duplicated and shifted component by component, function by function, to six separate sites through the city, any three of which can ‘bear the load’ of the aging, and, admittedly, cobbled-together, original), and like so much of the city, serves multiple purposes, depending on the day of the week. Each member stands on one of the old glyphs or sigils of arcane power that are arrayed in rings, and that position is called the ‘stand of air’ or ‘the stand of stone,’ depending on the nature of the rune, but these positions carry no difference in weight, other than one central position, which has a vote that counts for two for the purposes of breaking a tie between the twelve councilors, and certain traditions, like a genie always occupying the stand of air, and the Ratmaster always standing on the glyph of talon.
ECOLOGY of Air
Wells to the plane of Fire act as ‘suns’ in some areas. The nearest one to the city is not particularly large or close, and so the area is lit as by the half-light of dawn or dusk, and the air is cool, like that of a perpetual autumn day in a temperate clime, or the rarified air of the upper altitudes that this mountain-dwelling branch of the Shory already preferred. It is, of course, even dimmer within the city itself, the howling winds and ragged bands of cloud that sprinkle them fairly regularly with a light rainfall, shading them even further. Out beyond the windstorm, clouds of pollen form into ‘drift-blooms,’ a sort of airborne algal bloom that sends streaks of brilliant, and occasionally toxic, color across the sky, which are in turn fed upon by countless small winged insects and birds, with the insects themselves, in turn, being fed upon by yet other birds, and the smaller birds often serving as prey for raptors and similar more predatory birds. The driftblooms themselves often sprout and flourish in the bodies of those insects and birds who die from drifting into the less common toxic blooms, and a flavorful and nourishing bloom can change with unusual speed to a toxic bloom at some predictable trigger that the tiny brains of the insects and birds that serve as their ‘fertilizer’ cannot reliably anticipate. In some places, pockets of elemental earth serve as lush gardens, while pockets of elemental water, some as large as terrestrial lakes, or even oceans, similarly keep the lives that flourish in this plane hydrated, and perhaps serve as a reservoir for the not infrequent storms that sweep through the plane, according to some cycle of wind currents that only the local elementals can keep track of. In areas further from the fire pockets that serve as miniature suns, it can grow dim indeed, although rarely darker than twilight, unless a storm is further darkening the sky, and nocturnal life, flying insects, owls and bats, can be found in sparser numbers, as there are less algal blooms in the darker sky to sustain the herbivores that are in turn devoured by the predators.
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Pages purportedly from the War Journal of General Azaersi, a few years back (and therefore out of date, since the Godsrain had not occurred yet);
Operational goals; spread out Opraki influence across Avistan and Garund, so that there is no single point of failure, no single location that can be brought to seige and tear down all that we are building.
Secure a base in the Shackles, pick an island whose inhabitants are far from beloved, such as Rampore Island, and likely to get few, if any, allies, and perhaps open covert negotiations with rivals or foes to secure support for Opraki forces attacking ‘one of their own’ in this manner, such as the vocal support of the Halflings of Bag End. One of my commanders is burning to build a hobgoblin naval presence, and this plan is at least in part to shut him up, and channel his not-inconsiderable talents into exactly the sort of thing he wants to do. Consolidate holdings on this one island, establish a naval presence and ‘be a good neighbor’ to surrounding leaders and influential sorts. Trying to take on multiple fronts is bad strategy, as is moving on to a second before securing the first. Swallow that first bite before putting more in your mouth.
Pick a River Kingdom and re-establish the ‘Kingdom of Zog.’ Preferably ones that nobody likes anyway, and will not rush to help defend, like Pitax, Touvette and / or Thornkeep. Station the majority of the goblins that have been attracted to our banner there, under a Barghest leader who is suitably loyal, with the leadership of Fort Feilong as is, so long as the local leader recognizes our overall authority. Recent events in Galt may open Gralton up to settlement by our people as well. In any event, before any incursion into the River Kingdoms, look into improved remedies for poisoning, and also establish some mutually beneficial ties with the more prominent poison-crafters and guilds of such in Daggermark, as sending assassins with poison seems to be the River Kingdom solution of choice to many threats on their laughable ‘sovereignty’ or ‘river freedoms’ or whatever nonsense they are on about. Every regional commander should have one or more alchemical antitoxins on their person, and at least one assistant at hand at all times with antitoxins on their person as well. In a more perfect world, priestly support would be available for each division leader, but attempts to train large numbers of otherwise-limited-utility goblins as adepts has proven… frustrating.
Open some quiet trade agreements with Alkenstar, to secure some familiarity with firearms. If they are not as giving as hoped, try to steal away a few of their disgruntled apprentice and journeyman craftsfolk away from them, to get at least their rudimentary secrets ‘for free.’ Actively work to ‘disgruntle’ them, if necessary. Gambling, addiction, the usual ways to compromise someone. But that’s definitely plan B, if it can be done above board, and win ‘trusted customer’ status, so much the better.
An ‘embassy’ / military outpost in Sarkoris, primarily used as a training ground for the legions, honing their skills against the demonic remnants infesting that land. No deeper plan yet, but as opportunities arise, perhaps the Sarkorian people will come to welcome a hobgoblin presence in their newly-re-established, and greatly depopulated, nation. Specialists in tracking and eliminating demon-cults, and any remaining demons themselves, will be needed here, along with supplies of the more useful materials, like alchemical silvering, for weapons. See what the Vault can provide, in that direction. The more useful in fighting the demon remnant we prove to be, the more welcome we will be, until we are simply another ‘people’ living in that land. Get them used to us.
Let the Kalistocratic envoy secure a profitable trade deal during her stay, because ties to Druma’s Kalistocracy are far more important in the long-term than some minerals available in theoretically endless supply on the plane of Earth. The better the deal, for the Kalistocrat, the more rival Kalistocrats will come sidling up with their hands out. Better to have choices, than be locked in to the first one to show up at the door.
Formulate some backup plans for what happens if / when the Stone Roads become unreliable or unavailable, and / or the Onyx Vault itself is no longer an option. Both seem like ‘too good to be true’ windfalls, and may be ‘too good to last.’ Establish multiple places on Golarion where hobgoblins can thrive, or even be seen as preferable ‘neighbors’ than the demon-cultists, slavers, lawless brigands, etc. we are replacing, such as the Shackles, Sarkoris, Numeria, the River Kingdoms, Okeno, etc.
An alternate means of travel between distant hobgoblin holdings that is not dependent on the Stone Roads, is needed. An ‘alliance’ of convenience with someone with vast arcane resources, and few pesky moral or ethical qualms, like Geb or Razmiran or Sorshen, may be necessary, however distasteful. Cons; Geb will outlast us all, a bargain with him may threaten untold future generations of our people. There are too many questions about Razmiran, and he’s relatively young and ‘unknown’ compared to the others. This has positives and negatives. Sorshen? Never meet with her personally, or trust a word from anyone who has. Do not allow her people anywhere near the troops, her libertine focus on shallow physical pleasures promises to be a disaster to troop discipline. No, even opening a dialogue with her agents invites open revolt among our people. None of these are acceptable.
Pray to the Great General that there may be some Numerian method of far-travel, or one that can be stolen from the elves, or adapted from cloud giant ‘cloud castle’ engineering.
Long-term;
Look into ways in which non-soldiers, and / or non-hobgoblins can have a secondary ‘protected’ status within our nation, below the rights and responsibilities of the military, obviously, but better than ‘slave’ or ‘serf.’ Design a tiered system in which people who do not want to enter the military can still feel valued and respected, particularly if they are engaged in useful fields like crafting, farming or mining. Soldiers should know how to maintain their own gear, and survive on the march, but should not be expected to craft their own gear or grow their own rations, and yet relying on surly uncooperative folk, slaves, or those barely above slaves, who resent their ‘oppressors’ is an unsustainable situation. A class needs to exist that is respected, where someone who makes weapons, grows food or fills other necessary roles, can feel proud and valued and safe, as if the military exists to protect them, instead of the less comfortable reality that they exist to service the military.
The optimal, and unrealistic, solution would be for every Opraki to be both citizen and soldier, able to fight, and able to perform some craft or trade, and so be doubly useful, an army that is entirely self-sufficient. But there will always be those unsuited to war, due to age, infirmity or temperament, and the next best solution is to find a way to make them not only useful, but to feel valued and respected and safe in a soldier-led society. It is not enough to force them to be useful. They need to want to be useful, to strive to earn this ‘second-class citizen’ role, and the respect and status it represents.
Other places that may be adapted to our needs;
Seize control of Starmount, in Numeria, and form our own ‘Technic League’ of Hobgoblin artificers and engineers, using the decidedly not-arcane secrets of technology to make our legions even more fearsome and unstoppable. Begin by covertly allying with rivals of the Black Sovereigns tribe, and implying that the tribe we’re helping will end up in charge of the Kellid tribes, which, for all it matters, they can, so long as we control Starmount. Of the first tier targets, this is the one must likely to draw a coordinated campaign against us securing that treasury of technological plunder, and the ‘plan B’ is to destroy Starmount, rather than allow anyone else in future to use it to oppose us, and, at the same time, make what items of Numerian engineering remaining irreplaceable and ever more precious than they already are, and since we will, hopefully, have control of most of them, so much the better. This is among the riskiest and most provocative of the moves considered here, and should not be pursued if it would jeopardize other operations, or invite an alliance to form against us. Bring the kettle to a boil slowly, lest the frog jump out.
Brevoy, stir up discontent between rival halves of the nation, serve as mercenaries on the side we can best influence, stage atrocities that will be blamed by one side on the other, etc. Not, in and of itself, all that interesting, strategically, but as a link in a greater ‘Kingdom of Zog’ with the former River Kingdoms and what we take of Numeria, it could help tie the region together.
Could a ‘fad’ for the Aldori sword techniques be introduced among our own people? Dozens of hobgoblins mastering this style, perhaps in Mivon, where standards are less restrictive on prospective students, could create a counter-surge of pride in the Aldori, that ‘their style’ is so superior that even foreign soldiers have heard of it, and are traveling great distances to learn it. A naked seedling of an idea, with no clear plan of attack or resolution, which I normally loathe, but perhaps worth planting just to see if an opportunity grows from it. Then again, it might be my own fascination with their bladework coloring my views, here. If I had less responsibilities, and were twenty years younger, I’d be itching to be sent to learn this technique myself, and not just as cover to make in-roads to the Aldori to stir up their pride and pit them against their Brevic countrymen.
Irrisen, a lot of leftover winter witches there, clinging to power, hobgoblins could offer their services as witchfinders, and get our foot in the door there. If the people come to see hobgoblins as delivering them from the threat of the remaining wicked witches, the better. Get those ‘snow goblins’ on our team, first and milk them for any useful information that can be wrung from them. Like the Sarkoris Scar, Irrisen is another land that has been greatly depopulated by, in this case, centuries of terror against the human population, and seems ripe to have some new people move in and make what use can be made of that land. Why not us?
Ustalav, no. The fractured nature of the various states seems inviting on its face, but intelligence suggests that the land itself is infested with far too many unknown horrors and not worth it. One ‘unknown horror’ is fine, and can be prepared for, and adapted to. A half dozen specialized fighting units to handle the very different regional threats in Ustalav is not an option at this time. Then again, that sort of reputation would be a valuable tool to discourage attack, if there were any chance the entire population of a nation could keep a secret that large.
Rahadoum, would the gods welcome the return of faith to the land, if it was faith in the Great General? The land itself hardly seems worth the investment.
Orision, similarly, not a welcoming land. A challenge is welcomed, but not if the ‘challenge’ is trying to sate your thirst by drinking sand. Let the gnolls have it.
Thuvia, the fractured quasi-rival city states are so temptingly vulnerable, but too many powerful people seeking to keep the Sun Orchid Elixirs source out of our hands would make too many powerful foes with endlessly deep pockets and decades, or even centuries, of experience… Incomprehensible that anyone would want a few more years, or decades, of weakness and humiliation and frustration at the end of their lives, let alone pay a king’s ransom for it.
Absalom, no. bigger mouths have attempted to swallow that morsel. The best way to win an unwinnable fight is not to start one.
Katapesh. Might be the best place to start making inroads to Garund. Coordinate with the Matanje ambassador to hammer-and-anvil it between our combined forces, and focus first on the island of Okeno and proclaim that it’s all a vast emancipation operation. Encourage those Andoran idealists into helping. Thank them politely and let them leave with all the ‘emancipated’ slaves they can transport, and then lock down the island and prepare for the ground war on the rest of Katapesh. Make use of pesh among our own people punishable by whipping-until-unconscious, and branding, first offense, death, second offense. No exceptions. Enemies succumbing to addiction are to be encouraged, but our own, never.
Ravounel, like Vidrian, new, and therefore, vulnerable, in theory, but perhaps best, in both cases, to make more diplomatic overtures, and integrate a bit, familiarize the locals with the sight of hobgoblin troops, make it seem normal. Direct invasion may result in too many regional alliances, in Ravounel’s case. Vidrian, not so much local nation-states, but arousing the direct intervention of the Magaambya is to be avoided, and there are much more tempting fish to fry.
Molthune, fractious neighbors who hate each other more than us is good for us. Save them for last.
Nirmathas, see Molthune.
Isger, some plans are best held close, for now. Cheliax needs to marinate in their own mistakes a little longer, to ensure that they won’t come to Isger’s aid.
Nidal, no. Seems like too much fight for too little gain. Let them keep their misery.
Cheliax, currently reaping what they have planted, or whatever that human proverb is. When someone is going straight to hell, stay out of their way. One can hope that their end will be suitably instructive, for those hobgoblins who pledge their faith to devils like Dispater or Moloch, as devils make poor gods, less interested in serving as an absent inspiration, and with the mistaken notion that they have some place in the chain of command, which they absolutely do not.
Gods should know their place.
Hermea, another island stronghold, and another nation that has recently gone through some traumatic change, that could be hobgoblin, for a song. But entirely too likely to still have some draconic protection. More intelligence is needed, which is true of everywhere. Sigh.
Realms of the Mammoth Lords, completely disorganized, hard to make war on a people always on the move and with few or no places to effectively siege. Plus, might be better to offer to ‘leave’ to the orcs of Belkzen as part of some temporary alliance between our peoples.
Lands of the Linnorm Kings, yet another decentralized nation with four or five competing rulers. Ripe for conquest, in theory, turning one against another in the usual gambit and ensuring that they won’t come to one another’s defense when one of them begins to fall to outside attack, but I have a bad feeling about this one. They are enthusiastic fighters, and might show up to help an enemy just to make that rival lose face by having to accept their help.
Andoran, insufferable idealists, but must be suffered, for now. Cultivate them as allies of convenience by initially targeting forces they despise, such as the slavers of Okeno, or that Rampore isle in the Shackles. Enjoy their protests when we move from Okeno to the rest of Katapesh, reminding them that Okeno was just the poisonous fruit of the Katapeshi tree, and that, of course, we had to finish the job and make sure they didn’t just make a new slaver port…
Taldor, seemed like they were tottering for ages, but might actually be pulling it together. Assassinating their new empress, and then fueling the inevitable succession crisis that follows, complete with Opraki mercenaries supplementing the forces of some ambitious short-sighted fool, seems the ideal way to set them back to ‘fading empire, ripe for conquest’ status. Look into that. Quietly. Diplomacy, very public, to make it seem like we have everything to lose if she ‘unexpectedly’ dies. If diplomacy goes surprisingly well, assassinations can always be called off…
Varisia, why has no one done anything with all this land? These new, or old, Runelords and their ‘New Thassilon’ business is troubling. Too much competition to move into this land, at this time. Let the Runelords fight and see what situation develops on the ground when the dust settles. If Envy falls, her coastal realm is far preferable to the mountainous region, so keep an eye out for that property becoming available to claim. Establish a small unit of hobgoblins in Kaer Maga, not officially ‘from Oprak,’ but still on the rolls, to get the locals there used to the sight of us. Be helpful, be friendly, find useful employ as guards or whatever, in addition to the regular soldiers pay they’ll receive. Gather intelligence. Make ‘friends.’ Normalize. Make them no longer see us as threats and let their guard down for when the Stone Road opens and thousands of troops emerge to either secure the city or march towards Edarassil.
These Shoanti seem like fierce fighters, have strong loyalties to their respective units, called qwas?, and, best of all, seem particularly unloved by the more ‘civilized’ folk of southern Varisia. Look into allying with one or more of their units, and exacerbating tension between them and the ‘soft, decadent’ city folk. Alternately, looking into turning their decentralized units against one another, but first choice is to make them fight for us, not fight each other.
Varisians, on the other hand, do not seem useful to keep around. They seem to like wandering. Let them wander somewhere else.
In the remote possibility of an actual kingdom of giants, and ogres, perhaps, ever forms in Varisia, we should make inroads with as many different giant factions and ogre tribes as possible, so that we start out well positioned to be strong allies, or at least not enemies, with them. The tentative ‘leave each alone’ pact we have with a single local ‘kingdom’ of a dozen and a half fire giants is not nearly enough, by half.
Razmiran, I’ve seen no evidence that he’s not a god, despite all the weird rumors, and in any case, he’s an arcanist powerful enough to burn cities to the ground when motivated to do so. Nor do I see the strategic value of throwing assassins away on someone who may indeed be unkillable, and be able to tell who sent them. No. If he’s a god, he’ll survive. If he’s mortal, he’s old and will die soon. Either way, not someone we need to waste resources on.
Five Kings Mountains, no, we already have our underground Vault, no need to dig them out of theirs. Plus it will be educational to see how well ‘Torag’s Shield’ works against Daralathyxl. If it works, then we might steal plans for similar engineering projects. If not, well, there may also be opportunities there, sifting through the rubble and / or attacking the weakened ‘winner’…
Kyonin, there are those rumors that elves come from another place entirely, and that they have their own ‘Stone Road’ deep within Kyonin to their home place/plane/whatever. It is beyond tempting to storm in there and toss them off this world and destroy whatever portal they use to infest this world, but that is a project for another day. On the other hand, if they do have their own Vault, what is it like? As full of useless trees as ours is full of valuable minerals? Are there more elves there than we have soldiers to cut them down and seize their Vault? Again, so much more intelligence is needed.
Qadira, the rumors that this nation is but the tip of a much larger spear remain unconfirmed by our, admittedly, sparse intelligence from this region. The same is true of Jalmeray and this unseen ‘Vudra.’ Best to wait for stronger intelligence about these nations, and how motivated they might or might not be to respond to an attack on these fronts, before nipping the twitching tiny tail of what turns out to be a much, much larger beast. Qadira, in particular, seems too much like bait, wiggling on the hook, inviting a nibble with their belligerence first towards Osirion, now towards Taldor. Then again, their leaders may just be fools, creating threats where none existed before, and ignoring very real threats lurking around them. Let them be fools.
Geb, no soldier signs up to battle an endless army of those who have already died, are worth no honor, and won’t properly stay dead. As well, ghosts appear to lack initiative, and be short-sightedly focused on their specific obsession. All tactics, no strategy. If we leave him alone, he should leave us alone.
Nex, a barren blighted wasteland prowled by monstrosities warped by undisciplined use of arcane forces, and defended by some of the most powerful arcanists in the world? No. Everything we don’t want is here, and nothing we do.
Mwangi Expanse, if we make inroads there, it needs to be as allies to the Matanje against the demon-apes of Usaro. Make them welcome us, and see us as saviors. Turn the tide of public sentiment against the local elven tribes, and the arcanists of the Magaambya, that have ‘failed for so long to stem the tide of Usaro’s atrocities’, as we will have done, and the region is already half ours. If ‘evidence’ can be manufactured, or, better yet, honestly found, establishing ties between either of those hated groups and the demon-cults, so much better for us. Manufacturing such evidence may require getting our hands on some Magaambyan magical techniques, or securing some genuine elven ‘allies’ for the demon-apes, so that our Matanje, and other, allies on the battlefield can see for themselves the treachery of those they had seen as allies. Distasteful, but effective, so long as we ourselves are never revealed to have any hand in creating this appearance of treachery. Faintest of rumors suggest that Old Mage Jatembe sought not only the counsel of nature spirits and angels, but even demons, to sustain the people through the ‘Age of Darkness’. If some link, however tentative, can be found, between this revered local cultural icon, or his ‘Magic Warriors,’ and the demon-apes of Usaro, it could sully the reputation of the whole school that follows his teachings.
Look into rumor that there are local tribes of gnolls that are less feral than their eastern and northern kin. Also the local kobolds might be useful sources of information, if handled with care, since they seem quite willing to sell information to others, on those who have been seeking information on them…
The Sodden Lands, demon worshippers, like the boggards and swamp giants infesting these swamps, have no place in an orderly world, well-managed and brought to heel. Such are not to be relied on as anything other than fodder to annoy and weaken our enemies. And then eradicated, sent to the abyssal realms of their equally capricious and untrustworthy patrons. Still, they remain in their swamps, and there is a lengthy list of more important matters to attend to first. While the surviving population of the nations that once thrived there might welcome us for removing this threat, nothing the land, or its people, offer, seem worth the campaign.
Galt, the people may even welcome the firm hand of a military leader, over the rampant mob violence, fear and unrest that nation has seen. Then again, the people of Galt appear to be homicidally insane and ungovernable. Could some third party be behind the constant unrest, perpetuating it for some unknown reason? Now, while the land is recovering from its long nightmare, might be the ideal time to step in and provide some firm guidance, but I do not think we are prepared to seize this immediate opportunity, as we consolidate our own recent victories. Best to finish what we are doing and make other plans, than rush too hastily into this new opportunity. Keep focus. The cat who has already caught a mouse, but gets distracted and leaps to seize a second, may in fact lose both. Don’t be that cat. Be smarter than that cat.
The ‘Gravelands.’ Worst for last. All our focus on diplomacy, with Druma, with Taldor, with Andoran, and with the various nations recovering from or tottering under instability, such as Galt or Numeria or Sarkoris, centers around the necessity of addressing this greatest of threats. There will be no world to conquer, by force of arms or diplomacy, if the entire world is a graveyard. We must organize a coalition. We must cooperate, even if I would be the logical overall commander here, a new face with no covert ties to any of the power players who might have designs on each other, or long-simmering animosities. The logical move for many of them is to sacrifice us at the outset, so that Oprak is too devastated and weak to pose a threat to them for many generations afterwards, and perhaps can even be utterly destroyed while weakened. Do not allow this. Do not make the same mistake and attempt to weaken others, not even Kyonin, ‘for later’ during this fight. It is too important that we survive.
If we survive, let the other surviving nations squabble over who gets this blighted, haunted, cursed land. Only put up the appearance of staking a claim, to allay suspicions, we don’t actually want this stone around our neck. Let them waste their resources and divine support trying to clean up this mess.
If we don’t survive, well, I don’t need to plan for that. Although I have, and even if this world dies, perhaps our surviving people can retreat into the Great Vault and close the door behind them. Golarion may die, but Oprak does not have to. They’ll need a new general, as I do not intend to survive failing in this campaign.
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I was pondering the notion of a Call of Cthulhu style game in Golarion, and the university of Lepidstadt in Ustalav seems like the setting's version of Miskatonic and could make for a fine 'adventure hub' where the player characters are based, and from which their missions originate (even if they don't necessarily all involve the college themselves, although at least one should).
A group of 'advanced students' going on missions for some not-at-all-sketchy department head to gather 'archaelogical artifacts' or manuscripts detailing 'quaint' (occult) folk practices (that the quest giver will obviously be using only for the advancement of knowledge, they say, and not at all because they are A) insane, B) possessed, C) a cultist, or D) all of the above), could be a fun way to scratch that CoC itch.
More D&D style foes like ghouls or even boggards would fit well into a Lovecraft story, and there are plenty of actual Lovecraftian beasties in the various bestiaries, for the higher level 'graduate students' or 'adjunct professors.' Even creatures more associated with other lands, like mummies, could be adapted to 'bog mummies' and exist far, far from Osirian, for the higher level groups, who would be more suited to finding their blasphemous occult artifacts from swamp giants, than boggards.