I haven't left a dot on this thread yet? That will be fixed now!
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Random thought after watching Arrow and seeing the Lazarus Pit and thinking 'We need this.'
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In northern Katapesh, near the border to Osirion, is a community on few, if any, maps. The huts of surly uncommunicative fisherfolk dot the beaches, while a single larger boat sits anchored to a pier. A dusty road leads up into the hills, where broods a fortress carved into the side of a mountain so that it's gates are perpetually in shadow, a place squat in shape, and with odd pyramidal crenulations.
Within lies the sacred Murder Pit of Shax, whose carrion-scented waters provide a free raise dead without Con loss if a body is immersed within five days (-20% chance of success / day after the fifth), but changes the alignment of the subject one step towards evil, or one step towards chaotic, if already evil (the pit does not restore life to one who is already CE). This revival also changes ones favored class permanently to Assassin, so that any further training in life is steered in that direction.
A cult of assassins operate out of this secret and sacred site, maintaining (slightly) more publicly known 'branch offices' in Katapesh, Okeno, Absalo, Alkenstar, etc.
The assassins follow strenuous codes of conduct to try and keep a lawful alignment, so that they can continue to benefit from the pit, as it will continue to raise the dead if they work to keep a LE or (more commonly) NE alignment, although the process will reduce Con normally, after the first exposure.
CE adepts and clerics of Shax also frequent the site, encouraging the assassins to continue this dangerous flirtation, while helping the assassins to get rid of those who turn CE and prove unmanageable, by using drugs and rituals to blur their memories of the cult and the pits exact location, and then stripping them, drugging them and selling them off to slavers shipping cargo to far-off destinations, so that the now CE (and usually violent and impulsive) assassins can spread their love of murder far and wide without threatening to expose the cult.
Rituals of the Pit.
By bringing an individual into the pit, and enduring a process in which the caustic waters of the pit damage both the supplicant and the sacrifice, until the sacrifice dies (generally by being held under the waters and drowned), the supplicant gains the ability to burrow into the body of the victim, crawling forth from the burning waters in that victims face, form, voice and memories and temporarily replacing a number of her own class levels with those of the victim, allowing for near-perfect impersonations. This effect can be maintained for years, or dismissed by spending a full-round action sloughing off the mangled corpse of the victim, as if removing a grisly overcoat.
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From the Make your own Archfiend thread, converted into a slightly more usable format.
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Asura
Elagossa, Mourner of Worlds
Alignment Lawful Evil
Areas of Concern Death, Song and the Apocaplyse
Domains Death, Destruction, Evil, Law
Favored Weapon Guisarme
Symbol a mouth stitched shut with barbed wire
This asura is a titanic female figure, eyes perpetually closed, swaying slightly and head tilted, as if listening to music that only she can hear, her perfect form graven in shining brass, with a silvery fire dancing across her metallic skin, spelling out everchanging musical notation. Her otherwise flawless features are marred by ugly barbed black adamantine wires, thick as cables, that have sewn her mouth shut. Where she once danced like an ethereal presence, she now moves with an economy of motion, although with a feeling of repressed energy, as if she is forever one moment away from bursting into energetic dance. Voiceless, her words and cruel songs are transmitted to those in her presence by her ‘choir eternal,’ a collection of thirteen severed humanoid heads, each a master of song in life. Once an attendant to the gods of creation, of near-divine status herself, her curiosity got the better of her, and she inadvertently overheard the gods discussing not merely the powerful words of creation, which was her role to learn, but instead the baleful and terrible words to the song of destruction that would ring down the apocalypse. Discovering that they had been overheard by this nascent demigoddess of song and creation, and unwilling (or perhaps unable?) to destroy one who bore the words of creation in her belly, the gods instead bound her to be unable to speak or sing, or in any manner communicate the terrible secrets she had overheard. The song that will herald the end of the world echoes in her head, filling her with terrible longing to sing those forbidden words, but she cannot, merely echoing the slightest suggestions of their portentous tunes through her ‘choir eternal,’ emulating the effects of deadly magics such as power word kill and wail of the banshee, and greatly enhanced versions of magics such as shout and shatter.
When the end times finally come, the gods will remove the stitches from her lips, and she will burst forth into the apocalyptic notes of the glorious and terrible song that has been building within her breast for long millennia, causing all creatures in her presence to die immediately, their flesh shredded by the pure sounds, leaving behind only banshees, to spread her dark message of oblivion. It is said that matter itself will resonate with her exultation, shuddering into dust, and echoing the vibrations that will spread to reduce the entire world into rubble.
Daemon Harbingers
Ikoqwy, the Riven Cauldon, the Shattered Staff, the Burning Tome
Alignment Neutral Evil
Areas of Concern Alchemy, Baneful Transformations, Spellblights
Domains Animal, Evil, Knowledge, Magic
Favored Weapon dagger
Symbol burning book beneath a split cauldron containing a broken staff
This twisted fiend appears more hag than daemon, a skeletally thin three meter tall mishappen crone, with a second head sprouting from her shoulder, a milky overlarge 'evil eye' next to a smaller squinting black one, and a pair of withered 'vestigial' arms protruding from her left side. She is the patron of magic gone terribly wrong, and oversees the domain of those who die by 'magical misadventure,' such as miscast spells or magics gone primal and out of control. Conventional magics such as transmutation and necromancy and conjuration, all dabbling in forces only barely understood, let alone controlled, as well as poorly aimed evocations that harm friend and foe alike, are her favorites, but she has a special place in her black, shriveled heart for more esoteric arts, such as those of the alchemist, summoner and witch, all of whom similarly work daily with forces (be they mutagens, eidolons or patrons) which they do not entirely control (or ken), subjecting themselves to the whim of powers such as herself. While most daemons seem unconnected to the specific ethnicities of Golarion, Ikoqwy dresses in garments of bone and hide that suggest a Arcadian heritage, and she is often propitiated by shamen and medicine men in the southwestern reaches of that land, where a vast desert is said to be one of the largest Spellblighted regions on Golarion.
Venaetrek
Alignment Neutral Evil
Areas of Concern Cannibalism, Death by being Devoured, Man-Eating Animals
Domains Animal, Death, Evil, Strength
Favored Weapon Tekko-Kagi (UE)
Symbol a human figure falling into a mouth
Like her fellow daemon harbingers, Venaetrik embodies a very specific form of mortal death, that of being eaten by something else. Her form is obscured by tattered robes composed of many layers of rent human skin, with a terrible eel-like head full of jagged broken fangs lashing forth from the depths of her hood. Beneath her robes are yet more eel-like mouths, her entire body consisting of nothing but snapping inhuman mouths at the end of raw, wet, glistening esophagi, writhing around one another like spawning serpents. Her mad devotees engage in cannibalism and ritual sacrifice, competing to feed their sacrifices to the most exotic or unusual creatures they can find, or, at the least, to sacrifice their captives in interesting ways (such as chaining someone down in front of a swarm of army ants, or sealing them in a glass sarcophagus with flesh-stripping beetles). They go on grand hunts to kill game and livestock in an area, hoping to leave local predators with little choice but to slake their hunger on human prey, and do what they can to 'teach' wild beasts that humans are easy prey, beating captives and releasing them into the territories of hungry predators, to encourage them to continue seeking out meals among the local peoples, all to spiritually 'feed' their wicked patron.
Demodant Potentates
Ardrastu, the Molten Heart, the Mountain that Walks
Alignment Chaotic Evil
Areas of Concern Volcanos, Flame and Toxic Gases
Domains Chaos, Destruction, Evil, Fire
Favored Weapon Greatclub
Symbol a volcano whose lava flows spell out a rune
Said to be almost as tall as a mountain, and nearly as wide, the demodand potentate known as the Molten Heart has dark gray skin covered with streaks of red-hot molten basalt that ooze like rivers of magma from his mouth, ears and eyes. A patron of natural disasters, Ardrastu makes the earth shake with every ponderous shuffling step, and the earth shudders open behind him to disgorge molten lava and invisible clouds of super-heated noxious gas that burns and suffocates all life in his wake. He walks constantly over the centuries, slowly but surely, to stay ahead of the disasters that follow him, for he himself would sink into the riven earth and be lost if he every stopped moving, leaving a line of devastation behind him in the Abyssal planes, and sometimes crisscrossing his own path for inscrutable reasons, as if creating a massive blasphemous glyph on an inconceivable scale.
Div
Ba-Nisri, the Vulture-Lion, Smoke on the Wind
Alignment Chaotic Evil
Areas of Concern Assasination, the Hunt and Night
Domains Chaos, Darkness, Death, Evil
Favored Weapon blowgun
Symbol emaciated vulture-headed lioness
The Div assassin who calls herself ‘Ba-Nisri’ (possibly ‘daughter of the vulture,’ depending on the translation) seems clearly to have been one of the Shir, before her ascension. She swore to Ahriman himself that she would taste the hearts of four noble genies, one of each type, and present them to him in exchange for his corrupt blessing. She made good on that pact in the last century, and has risen to become patron to an entire sect of assassins who are pledged to serve her both in life and death. Unlike most Shir, she usually coalesces into the form of a skeletally-thin black-furred leopard, with jagged bone protrusions extending from her joints, and able to jut forth from her palm in meter-long ‘blades’ of saw-edged bone, dripping the corrupt mixture of blood-destroying toxins that serve as her own blood. Able to become selectively invisible (either visible to her target, but not to others, or even making her flesh become invisible, while her skeleton remains visible, an effect which can instill panic in viewers), Ba-Nisiri enjoys stalking her terrified prey and allowing them to believe that they have escaped, before materializing before them to deliver the killing blow. A cloud of airborne toxin surrounds her, almost invisible to the sight, although she can cause it to thicken and both obscure vision and restrain the movement of others in her presence, the venom itself moving like a living thing, to strangle, blind and restrain her hapless victims. Able to become a similar cloud of venomous fog, she finds no door closed to her passage, allowing her to pursue her prey past nearly any defense.
Kyton Demagogues
Excoriatus, Boddhisatva of Pain
Alignment Lawful Evil
Areas of Concern Enlightenment through Pain, Imprisonment, Shared Suffering
Domains Evil, Healing, Knowledge, Law
Favored Weapon whip or scorpion whip
Symbol human form bound to a wheel
Once a mighty and revered angel of healing, empathy and compassion, the entity now known as Excoriatus is barely recognizable as that once beautiful and proud creature, its body broken and pierced through by the enormous blackened iron and gleaming steel metal structure upon which it eternally hangs, floating through the air, trailing chains dripping the tortured angel's gore. Four twisted kytons, the size of halflings, scurry over the huge body of the former celestial, poking into it's wounds and manipulating its organs with acid-barbed iron elephant goads, causing waves of agony to ripple outwards in all directions, so that any non-kyton in the immediate vicinity shares the suffering of the Impaled Lord. It is said that those who can meditate through the surges of pain pouring like waves off of the body of the pinioned angel, long since descended into incurable madness from the effects of his millenia of torment, receive prophetic insights and unnatural insights, similar to the effects of divination magic.
World-in-Chains
Alignment Lawful Evil
Areas of Concern Empowerment through Suffering, Dungeons, Traps
Domains Artifice, Earth, Evil, Law
Favored Weapon Spiked Chain
Symbol a crescent moon dangling chains
Some say that World-in-Chains is no mere Kyton Demagogue, but something far greater, or perhaps merely a construct that serves the true Demagogues. In any event, World-in-Chains is so far beyond the size of the largest dragon, or even the mighty Tarrasque, as to defy classification, hanging like a horrible moon in the sky over whatever realm it threatens. Hundreds of lesser Kytons, flying on wings of cruel-edged metal implanted into their flesh, dwell within and upon its surface, an evershifting maze of jagged twisting tortured towers of cold black iron and gleaming steel, spiked and snarled with whipping chains large enough to anchor the mightiest ships, or to ensnare and bring even creatures as strong as dragons down from soot-blackened skies. Within the core of World-in-Chains, a network of chambers to rival some cities contains a seemingly endless array of torture implements and deadly traps, occasionally shifting ponderously to seal off areas, crushing all within, and opening up new, equally grim, chambers. A unknown number of outsiders of diverse races, including fiends, genies and celestials, lay impaled upon barbed spikes in some of the innermost chambers, their eternal suffering providing the power that allows World-in-Chains to transport its enormous bulk from world to world, shifting among the various planes of existence, ever seeking new types of creature to bind within itself, so that it may find novel pleasures in their unique sufferings. The Kytons that dwell within and upon World-in-Chains have learned to recognize subtle warning signs before a chamber begins to collapse upon itself, so that they are rarely caught by sliding walls and shifting floors. Still, some grow distracted by their tortures, or lower their guard, and are caught unawares, to be smashed into a thin gruel of shattered bones and rent flesh, endlessly regenerating and unable to die, and waiting the years, or perhaps decades, before World-in-Chains opens up a new chamber in this area, freeing them from a torment that also serves to empower their merciless patron.
Oni
Ushiyoma
Alignment Neutral Evil
Areas of Concern Disease, Ghosts, Predatory Animals
Domains Animal, Death, Evil, Repose
Favored Weapon Shuriken
Symbol a ghostly tiger outline
The oni Ushiyoma was once a gluttonous mountain of flesh, grown too fat to walk under her own power, until she escaped her endless hunger by devouring her own body, until nothing was left but spirit and malice. She roams the planes, with a dozen shackled souls of her favorite mortal victims trailing behind her, bound by ethereal chains. She (and her thralls) possess corporeal beings, and use their bodies to spread her wickedness, infecting her hosts, and all they come into contact with, with virulent diseases, as their bodies react to her unclean possession. Her favorite vessels are feared predatory animals (preferably nocturnal animals), spreading fear and plague with her attacks, and able to possess entire packs, thanks to her bound cohort of tormented ghosts.
Qlippoth
Koorpiak / Aleph the Uncounted
Alignment Chaotic Evil
Areas of Concern Architecture, Madness, Numerology
Domains Artifice, Chaos, Evil, Knowledge, Madness
Favored Weapon Pick (heavy or light)
Symbol constellation representing a tesseract
This qlippoth 'lord' appears as multiple curved planes of force, in shades of black and dark purple, swirling around a central point to form a roughly spherical shell. Each plane flickers with pale blue numbers, geometric figures and mathematical formula, but to attempt to decipher them brings no insight, only madness. Appearing in the dreams of those who have viewed the mathematical scribings of those already touched by his maddening illumination, or who spend time within one of the twisted and alien-angled geometries of one of the buildings or warrens constructed by the architects and builders who have succumbed to his warped visions, he brings insanity to any who attempt to understand the nonrational numbers, unsolveable formula and non-Euclidean angles his form displays. The planes of force that make up his manifestation slide into and out of view, and are said to exist not only in multiple planes of existence, but also to somehow simultaneously co-exist in different locations in space, and even time itself. The scribbled formula and alien architecture that so often results from his 'inspiration' are merely conduits, to further spread his madness. Some afflicted deludedly believe that the mental degeneration that accompanies his mad insights are incidental, and that 'Aleph the Uncounted' is actually an angel, attempting to open the minds of the mortal races to the dangers of the outer dark, and instruct them as to how to build fortifications that will defend them against creatures such as Hounds of Tindalos, or the maddening insights of other eldritch horrors, but this, like the 'numerology cults' that spring up when a new theorum inspired by his mind-twisting presence is discovered, who 'discover' that, to 'save the world,' they must kill certain quantities of people with certain traits, or burn down certain buildings, or destroy great quantities of crops to form arcane sigils visible only from the sky, or vivisect farm animals that the numbers have 'proven' to be hosts for alien intelligences, it's all quite deliberate, and Koorpiak is no misunderstood angel of higher mathematics...
Indeed, the tortured geometries of the hidden chambers created by those touched by his 'blessing' are quite comfortable to Hounds of Tindalos, and serve as 'weak spots' which they can take advantage of to seize a foothold on Golarion, all part of Koorpiak's master plan to 'terrorform' the world to something more to the liking of his kind.
Rakshasa Maharaja
Navaganya
Alignment Lawful Evil
Areas of Concern Deception, Seduction, Ungoverned Passions
Domains Charm, Evil, Law, Trickery
Favored Weapon Urumi (UE)
Symbol circling serpent with nine heads
The Rakshasa Prince Navaganya is depicted as a twelve foot man of slender waist and limbs, but with broad shoulders, supporting nine heads. His central head is that of an emperor cobra, and is flanked by the heads of eight other venomous serpents anchored to his broad shoulders and upper back. He is a master of entrancing word-play, and can speak any language like a master, even holding multiple conversations at once, speaking from his many mouthes, and twisting the mind and beguiling even a devil with his sophistry. Even without enhancing his verbal skills with mind-affecting magics, his stock in trade, he can make mortals do his bidding with ease, and he adds to his mundane skill mastery of magics of both enchantment and illusion. Navaganya is associated by his followers with strong emotions, passion, righteous anger and desire, but also despair, terror and all-consuming hatred. He is seen as the source of such powerful passions, but also also teaching that such power is meant to be tapped and channeled, never restrained, but also tamed and focused and used as a source of strength. His followers include many rakshasa, including specialists in spells of enchantment and illusion, but also fearsome monk-assassins who call themselves the Breath of Navaganya and, unlike most Rakshasa Princes, is also known to have followers among the Dark Naga.
Thanatotic Titans
Akarthatos, Most Unclean
Alignment Chaotic Evil
Areas of Concern Faithlessness, Idolatry and Sacrilege
Domains Chaos, Charm, Evil, Trickery
Favored Weapon longbow
Symbol a human figure, walking away
Clad in blade-spiked adamantine plate armor composed entirely of bent and defaced holy symbols of various gods that appears to be a hair’s breadth from corroding into dark-red rust and jade-green verdigris, the writhing shadow of the emaciated thanatotic titan Akarthatos is said to block even the sight of the gods, so that those who fall beneath it lose their connection to the divine, and are left faithless and bereft of hope for salvation before his unforgiving eyes. With a sigh, his skeletal jaw unhinges and he can draw in the breath of all that lives in his path, and breathe it forth once again, corrupted and corrosive to life, forcing the energies of life and light from the bodies of those arrayed before him and leaving behind undead mockeries of the living souls they once were. Those stripped of their faith may be reborn as his own deathless priests, if they are willing to make this choice immediately, but are otherwise reduced to lifeless abominations, powered only by hate for the servants of whatever gods failed to save them from Akarthatos’ black breath.
His servants spread the Bleak Gospel, a litany of exaggerations and half-truths, enumerating the many failures of the gods (and arranging for tragedy and misfortune, disaster and woe, to demonstrate these ‘failures’), and encouraging the listener to scorn the gods and embrace nihilism and despair, to rage against the heavens and seek vengeance on the faithful, and even upon the gods themselves, who have turned a deaf ear to the prayers of the forsaken. When they cannot turn the faithful against the gods directly, they encourage the embrace of atheism, heretical cults that pit congregations against one another, and the erosion of faith in the churches and temples of the gods by arranging for truly outrageous scandals to be ‘discovered’ among the priesthood.
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Some new ones, not posted to the Make Your Own Archfiend thread;
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Daemon Harbingers
Sang Invictus
Alignment Neutral Evil
Areas of Concern Death in Battle, Glory, Victory
Domains Death, Evil, Glory, War
Favored Weapon battleaxe
Symbol battleaxe rising from a pool of blood
This daemon harbinger appears as a massively built skinless bloody saber-tooth headed warrior with four arms wielding battleaxes, who teleports in a bloody explosion whenever he fells a foe to complete his current attack sequence so that he never loses an opportunity to commit more violence and atrocity. His followers seek blood and victory, and consider gruesome scars to be badges of honor, recounting tales of ‘heroes’ of the faith who have drowned in the blood of their foes, or been crushed under the weight of the bodies of those they have slain. To die in battle is the greatest honor (and to in any other circumstance the greatest fear and shame), and his followers believe that every soul they rend from its flesh in glorious combat is fated to serve them in the afterlife. No sacrifice to Sang Invictus is ever bound or helpless, and, when possible, each is provided with a blade (or its own natural weapons) and killed in single (if not necessarily *fair*) combat, with any wounds it causes to the priest considered a good sign and a vital part of the sacrificial rite.
Clerics of Sang Invictus with the Glory domain channel negative energy, and when a living target fails its save vs. damage from channeled energy, it also suffers a bleed effect equal to half the number of dice of damage done (minimum 1, this bleed damage does not stack with itself).
Tumulus
Alignment Neutral Evil
Areas of Concern Death by Burial, Tombs and Riches in the Earth
Domains Artifice, Death, Earth, Evil
Favored Weapon pick (light or heavy)
Symbol A crooked tombstone welling up blood
This daemon harbinger appears as a filthy dwarf, eyes white and sightless and nails cracked and crusted in blood, but hard as adamantine and able to dig through earth and stone. Said to dwell in an everchanging maze of passageways within a pyramid of basalt in Abaddon, he can hear and some say even smell changes in the earth and predict, or even, by rapping rhythmically with the back of his pick on a stone surface, tremors and mine collapses. Miners pray to him to lead them to rich veins of ore, or the bodies of forgotten explorers that they can loot, and to arrange for cave-ins to afflict their rivals instead of themselves. All manner of burial sites, ranging from simple stones stacked on a grave to sepulchres cut into the rock to vast mausolea interring entire dynasties, are sacred to him, at the time of their construction. Past that moment, his faithful are encouraged to pillage them as they will, as his faith considers only the act of constructing such an edifice to be a holy task, not the respect given to the remains of those interred within, perversely honoring the tomb and its builders, but disrespecting its mortal occupants. Sacrifices to the Grave-Bound King are made by burying living persons alive, crafting traps involving falling stones that crush their victims, or by defiling and looting long-lost crypts and burning the corpses therein.
Qlippoth
Mashoshe of Ten Thousand Eyes
Alignment Chaotic Evil
Areas of Concern Enlightenment, Sacrifice, Sensation
Domains Animal, Chaos, Evil, Knowledge
Favored Weapon bolas
Symbol a giant eyeball, on a sea of smaller eyeballs
Worshipped by cyclopes during the long decline of the Ghol-Gan civilization, the qlippoth obscenity known as Mashoshe of 10,000 Eyes manifests as a monstrous unblinking eye, carried across sea or land by a noisome carpet of smaller eyes, ranging in size from those of creatures the size of whales and dinosaurs, to the smaller eyes of humanoids and smaller animals, in their thousands. Its followers capture two-eyed prey through nonlethal means and sacrifice one of their eyes to their hideous master, believing that it grants him the ability to see through the creatures remaining eye as long as the creature lives. Other times, an eye is removed and preserved through alchemical means, left as a magical warning post that allows the user to view through the totem. Other rituals involving consuming eyes, to ‘steal the vision’ of various creatures and learn their secrets, in drug-fueled rites that involve hallucinations and dream-experiences of reliving the stolen lives of the animals or humanoids whose eyes have been consumed.
Rakshasa Maharishi (she prefers that to Maharaja)
Ravinalini
Alignment Lawful Evil
Areas of Concern Caste, Esoteric Knowledge, Secret Societies
Domains Community, Evil, Law, Magic
Favored Weapon whip or scorpion whip
Symbol a veiled maiden with a ravens face
The Lore-Hoarder, Ravinalini is the raven-headed rakshasa Daughter of Secrets. Fascinated by all things kept secret, her faithful both ferret out the secrets of others (for use in blackmail, to fund the cults other activities) and cultivate mysteries of their own, wrapping each tenet of their faith in dizzying layers of obfuscation. No information is ever given in a straightforward manner, with even the most trivial conversation between the faithful being couched in riddles, parables and koans. The ‘Secret Laws of the World’ are a chief feature of her faith, and every person is assigned a ‘place’ at the time of their birth. To venture out of that ‘place’ is seen as both blasphemous and yet, perversely, a source of power, as it is believed that to strain against the gods in this manner creates a sort of friction or ‘heat’ that can be tapped to accomplish great things. And yet, for a lesser person to defy their fate in this manner is seen as lessening the amount of ‘heat’ available to a great act of defiance, so the followers of Ravinalini paradoxically both encourage acts of defiance in those of great significance, while ruthlessly suppressing those they consider to be ‘lessers’ from ‘forgetting their place.’ In this way, her cult breeds resentment and outrage, as the common man is brutally kept from breaking free of the circumstances of their birth, while the powerful (or, some would complain, merely more fortunate) are encouraged to flout all laws and propriety in secret gatherings where they indulge in esoteric and occult practices.
God I love your stuff.
Set I freaking love your stuff, but I think my players would freaking revolt if I dropped it into my game, even if I warned them ahead of time. Imagine a Dark Folk cleric of Sang Invictis, a simple CR 3 fight (a Challenging to most groups of level 1 PCs in my game) that unleashed a wave of 2d6 damage as a Full Round action that inflicts 10 damage (50% more since he's using Channel Surge) plus 1 Bleed, opening dozens of terrifying wounds over everyone's body?
And that's just the opening gambit?
Yeah, I'd get "killer GM" slapped on me faster than a quickling on speed.
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God I love your stuff.
Thanks!
Set I freaking love your stuff, but I think my players would freaking revolt if I dropped it into my game, even if I warned them ahead of time. Imagine a Dark Folk cleric of Sang Invictis, a simple CR 3 fight (a Challenging to most groups of level 1 PCs in my game) that unleashed a wave of 2d6 damage as a Full Round action that inflicts 10 damage (50% more since he's using Channel Surge) plus 1 Bleed, opening dozens of terrifying wounds over everyone's body?
While I love me some Dark Folk, is there a reason you picked that particular race that I'm not seeing? Sang Invictus 'feels' more Orc or degenerate Serpentfolk/Cyclopes or Hobgoblin-y, to me, appealing to innately warlike / brutish races.
I pondered whether the bleed thing was too good, but reversing the standard Glory domain would give a +2 DC to the damaging negative energy channel (up there with the monster-only Ability Focus feat), and my original thought of bleed equal to the dice (instead of half the dice) just felt like it was way too much.
I kind of wanted to come up with something unique for each of these Archfiends, even if it was just in the line of a Trait or something, but then I laughed and got over it. The 10,000 eyes dude does kind of scream out for some mechanics related to the eye-totems and eye-eating rites, 'though.
Being not 100% in love with Obediences, I didn't bother with those either, although I did, with later entries, try to suggest some sacrificial preferences / rites of devotion common to the cults of these Archfiends.
Even if the mechanics might cause a player revolt, hopefully the concepts inspire some cool story ideas!
Set, I just recently got into homebrewing my own PF stuff (now that I'm more savvy to the nuances of balanced game mechanics) and I have to stay, you're custom stuff is truly world-class. I love it! Especially your homebrewed spells (my current priority interest) on Pg. 2 and 3 ... and the Abjurer ACF material.
Since this thread of yours is quite epic in size, I look forward to immersing into the other pages as well. I hope you don't mind that I'll be borrowing some of your spells for my own Forgotten Realms campaign world. I fully intend on notifying my players that the source designer is Set from the Paizo Forums (and I'll provide links where appropriate).
Have you thought of bundling your stuff into a thematic PDF and selling it on RPGNow or Paizo Superstore?
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God I love your stuff.Thanks!
Set I freaking love your stuff, but I think my players would freaking revolt if I dropped it into my game, even if I warned them ahead of time. Imagine a Dark Folk cleric of Sang Invictis, a simple CR 3 fight (a Challenging to most groups of level 1 PCs in my game) that unleashed a wave of 2d6 damage as a Full Round action that inflicts 10 damage (50% more since he's using Channel Surge) plus 1 Bleed, opening dozens of terrifying wounds over everyone's body?While I love me some Dark Folk, is there a reason you picked that particular race that I'm not seeing? Sang Invictus 'feels' more Orc or degenerate Serpentfolk/Cyclopes or Hobgoblin-y, to me, appealing to innately warlike / brutish races.
I pondered whether the bleed thing was too good, but reversing the standard Glory domain would give a +2 DC to the damaging negative energy channel (up there with the monster-only Ability Focus feat), and my original thought of bleed equal to the dice (instead of half the dice) just felt like it was way too much.
I kind of wanted to come up with something unique for each of these Archfiends, even if it was just in the line of a Trait or something, but then I laughed and got over it. The 10,000 eyes dude does kind of scream out for some mechanics related to the eye-totems and eye-eating rites, 'though.
Being not 100% in love with Obediences, I didn't bother with those either, although I did, with later entries, try to suggest some sacrificial preferences / rites of devotion common to the cults of these Archfiends.
Even if the mechanics might cause a player revolt, hopefully the concepts inspire some cool story ideas!
Oh no reason on the Dark Folk; it just sort of "popped in there" as a great paranormal psychologist with 3 mortgages once said.
Seriously though Set every once in a while I try my hand at re-skinning monsters or just changing their powers around; I re-do their feats and weapons to make them a bit more combat-ready for PCs and my players blow a gasket. Then I come in here and see the stuff you're creating... my players would cry.
Still I thank you. You hit that mark of providing inspiration. In fact thanks to some of the spells you created for sin magic I was able to make an encounter with a summoner focused on gluttony a little more fun in one of my games.
I think what I like more than anything is your ability to see the realism in the fantasy. By that I mean that a lot of folks just re-skin monsters or modify/create spells based on needed to deal more damage, fill a combat role, etc. You look at powers and abilities conceptually; "if a spellcaster was really OBSESSED with, say, Gluttony, what spells would he make to express that obsession, combat-worthy or not?"
Thanks for that.
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Still I thank you. You hit that mark of providing inspiration. In fact thanks to some of the spells you created for sin magic I was able to make an encounter with a summoner focused on gluttony a little more fun in one of my games.
I think what I like more than anything is your ability to see the realism in the fantasy. By that I mean that a lot of folks just re-skin monsters or modify/create spells based on needed to deal more damage, fill a combat role, etc. You look at powers and abilities conceptually; "if a spellcaster was really OBSESSED with, say, Gluttony, what spells would he make to express that obsession, combat-worthy or not?"
Thanks for that.
And thanks for the kind words, they are much appreciated.
I'm glad the gluttony/necromancy proved useful for you. It felt like a niche that wanted to be explored (spells that really tied the sins to their schools), since it was such a prominent theme in the early days of Pathfinder.
Dotting :)
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Things that interfered with my sleep yesterday, part 1.
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In the corpse-choked swamps of the Sodden Lands, lurks a plant-creature-template daemon-infused awakened flesh golem barbarian named Solomon Garundi.
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Abrogail Thrune is wildly popular among a culture of faddists and enthusiastic young people, who took to the ill-advised trend of tattooing themselves with her house sigil and the words 'property of House Thrune' or 'property of her Majestrix,' in the fashion of how some slaves are branded with the house sigil or name of their master / owner. The joke fell flat when it turned out that Chelish law mandates that only slaves bear such marks, and that anyone bearing such a mark is therefore a slave...
Because of the terrible inconvenience to lawful authorities in charge of handling runaway slaves or confirming ownership status, etc. these infatuated 'Abrogail groupies' found themselves little sympathy, and it was only the kind intercession of the Queen herself that saved these overzealous fans from a harsh sentence for confusing and confounding the law of the empire. Accepting those who had self-identified as her property as thralls in her service (and therefore subjecting herself to the requisite taxes on this new property), the Queen managed to save them from being assigned to darker fates, perhaps even being found guilty of trying to deliberately sabotage the Chelish economy and make a treasonous mockery of its system of laws!
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Other things that interfered with my sleep yesterday.
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Forgotten God-Kings of an Alternate Osirion (one that doesn't have animal headed Egyptian gods, but just the standard gods of Golarion)
Sekhmet, this conqueror had the body of a muscular woman, but the head of a male lion, with mane pulled into many locks, banded in bronze and dipped in henna to keep them separated. She was a monster on the battlefield, ignoring enemy weapons and spells alike, thanks to her divine protection, and carried a magical bow that functioned like a necklace of missiles (and recharged 1d worth of expended fireball 'bead' per day), causing arrows fired to detonate in fiery explosions upon impact. Her aggressive expansionist reign, supported by her own formidable power on the battlefield, nearly doubled the size of the current Osirion empire, expanding west into what is now Rahadoum, and south into what is now Katapesh. Many terrible innovations of war flourished under her campaigns, such as the deliberate sowing of plague among her enemies, flinging bodies and offal into walled cities, or polluting headwaters, as well as making liberal use of fire, smoke and poison. Sekhmet died as she lived, in glorious battle in the far south, and a catfolk enchantress in her court, named Ubasti (one of a small tribe of catfolk who worshipped her as their god-made-flesh, and served her loyally) attempted to keep news of her death a secret and rule in her name, turning the court, for a scant year, into a den of hedonism and excess, before her machinations came to light and her false reign ended in her death.
Generations later, the second Osirioni god-king who displayed similar attributes (great resistance to both magic and physical weaponry, as well as the head of an animal), Tehuwat, distinctive for having the head and feet of a carrion-eating marabou stork, ruled for 120 years, longer than his warlike predecessor. His court was called the Court of Silence, because all save himself were forbidden to speak aloud, and required to present all petitions on slate tablets or parchment scrolls. A gifted linguist, and powerful wizard, specializing in magic involving glyphs, runes and sigils, Tehuwat spoke often in tongues, mixing and matching a half-dozen languages in a single proclamation, forcing his courtiers to translate his rulings to the people. Osirion, at the time, had powerful neighbors, who hungered for a land they saw as weak, with an eccentric and ineffectual ruler, but found their attempts to capitalize on this perceived weakness stymied by his mastery of divinatory magic, as he anticipated and foiled their every agenda, resulting in Osirion's two greatest regional rivals being trapped in war with each other for sixty years, due to his spies having intercepted their communications of an intended alliance, and twist the wording into subtle offense. How his rule ended remains unwritten, and all records skip to the next pharaoh without any explanation for what happened to Tehuwat or his Court of Silence.
The third god-king of this sort had the body of a slender woman, and the head of a cobra, bearing the sign of an inverted V on it's hood. While her name has been marked out on every record of her rule, all records indicate that she was beloved by the common people, if not necessarily by all of the current wealthy or ruling class of her age. Said to be kind beyond measure, the very spirit of generosity and wisdom, she managed to pit the classes of Osirion against each other, expending vast resources (magical and otherwise) on maintaining her pristine reputation among those she privately referred to as 'rabble,' and used the adoration of the masses to push any agenda that suited her whims of the moment, a feat enhanced by her seemingly preternatural wisdom and insight into the nature of people, and her capability to twist even her harshest critic into a breathless wide-eyed sycophant after a private meeting. She survived a pair of assassination attempts, thanks in small part to her 'fangs,' a pair of envenomed magical daggers that were permanently invisible, and hovered always above her shoulders, ready to strike any who approached her with ill intent. (She allowed others to believe that 'spirits of the air' in the form of flying invisible lions attended her always, and waited to claw and tear her foes.) Her death came in a third, and successful, assassination attempt, by the fourth god-king, who took the throne as pharaoh after her death.
Sutekh the Destroyer was the most reviled of the god-kings, sharing his predecessors resistance to attacks both martial and mystical, and having the head of a local armadillo-like anteater, notable for it's long square-tipped ears. Despite his considerable physical strength, Sutekh fought less like a lion and more like a jackal, always striking at the unprotected flank of his prey, and, in a more cosmopolitan age, his fighting style might resemble that of the ninja of Tian Xa. His rumored ability to open wounds in a foe with a gesture stemmed from wild tales of his invisible spear (said to be crafted from his predecessors 'fangs'), which he used to open deadly wounds on those who simply could not properly defend themselves against his unseen weapon. Attempting to ape the success of Sekhmet through force of arms, he instituted an unpopular draft, shored up losses through the recruitment of gnoll mercenaries, and spent at least as much time quelling rebellious uprisings over his ruinous tax policies and the 'liberties' he allowed his beloved soldiers to take with the property (and persons) of farmers and workers of the empire, as they did fighting (and, too often, failing) to expand the borders of Osirion. Attempts to murder him failed consistently, but he was finally overwhelmed, bound in chains, imprisoned in a sarcophagus, which *itself* was bound in yet more chains, and then thrown overboard during a storm into the Obari ocean, swearing that he would rise again and tear out the throats of his betrayers children's children's children. So reviled was Sutekh that the harmless ant-eating armadillo whose features he bore was hunted into extinction (after a rumor persisted that he would be reborn from such a creature), slaughtered whenever seen until none remained, and no longer exists save in crude pictographs.
The betrayers children's children's children lived and died as folk do, some in 'suspicious' ways, others in bed, of old age, for Sutekh, for all his 'divine' protection from (low level) spells and high damage resistance, was no more immune to drowning than any other of the Rakshasa who pretended to be a god-king.
THIS IS F$@*ING AWESOME
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I wanted a spell similar to Melf's Minute Meteors, on the one hand, and I was intrigued by the Magaambyan Arcanist (sp?) ability to synthesize druidic and arcane magic, pondering what an arcane upgrade to classical druid spells like produce flame or faerie fire or call lightning might look like. These notions got all chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter in my head, during my futile attempts to nap before work. My wake-up-and-jot-something-down notes were "2nd level arcane version of produce flame that lets you throw them individually or all at once" with a side of "not enough d12 use." :)
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Falling Stars
School evocation [cold or fire]; Level druid 3, sorcerer/wizard 2
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (berries and clumps of rare earths), F (a bone or metal cylinder)
Range Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft. / level)
Duration Special (1 round / level maximum)
Saving Throw Ref negates; Spell Resistance no
You generate a number of glowing motes of energy and can project them all at once as a single target or as individual attacks at one or more targets (treat as ranged attacks, allowing possible iterative attacks, or use of feats like Rapid Shot). Each mote of energy strikes as a ranged touch attack that inflicts 1d8 damage plus bonus damage equal to your spellcasting attribute modifier (generally Wisdom for a druid, Intelligence for a wizard or Charisma for a sorcerer) if it strikes an individual target. If all motes are unleashed at a single target, they combine into a single burst of damage for the purposes of energy resistance, but the bonus damage is only counted once, plus additional damage equal to your caster level. All damage is of the same type, cold or fire, determined at the time of casting. Any motes not discharged by the end of the spells duration are lost.
Starstrike
School evocation [fire]; Level sorcerer/wizard 4
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (a 100 gp. chunk of adamantine)
Range Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft. / level)
Duration 1 round / level
Saving Throw Ref half; Spell Resistance no
You call down explosions of fire in any area within range once per round. Each explosion inflicts 4d12 damage to a 10 ft. radius circle, and 2d12 damage to the next 10 ft. radius. This damage is half magic adamantine bludgeoning/piercing damage and half fire damage. Any round in which you do not take a move equivalent action to direct the spell, the explosion occurs in the last location chosen, but if you do take such an action, you can select any area within your current range as the site of the new explosion.
Special: by expending a flask of holy or unholy water as an additional material component, you can cause the physical damage to also be treated as good or evil for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. This gives the spell the [good] or [evil] subtype.
God I love your stuff.
Let's be honest here. Seth makes high quality addictive gamer porn.
It's hard not to lick your lips and breath heavily as you read his stuff.
Solomon Grundy and property of the Joker tattoo take offs are fun, but rakshasa Osiriani god kings are brilliant.
Other things that interfered with my sleep yesterday.
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.Forgotten God-Kings of an Alternate Osirion (one that doesn't have animal headed Egyptian gods, but just the standard gods of Golarion)
Sekhmet, this conqueror had the body of a muscular woman, but the head of a male lion, with mane pulled into many locks, banded in bronze and dipped in henna to keep them separated. She was a monster on the battlefield, ignoring enemy weapons and spells alike, thanks to her divine protection, and carried a magical bow that functioned like a necklace of missiles (and recharged 1d worth of expended fireball 'bead' per day), causing arrows fired to detonate in fiery explosions upon impact. Her aggressive expansionist reign, supported by her own formidable power on the battlefield, nearly doubled the size of the current Osirion empire, expanding west into what is now Rahadoum, and south into what is now Katapesh. Many terrible innovations of war flourished under her campaigns, such as the deliberate sowing of plague among her enemies, flinging bodies and offal into walled cities, or polluting headwaters, as well as making liberal use of fire, smoke and poison. Sekhmet died as she lived, in glorious battle in the far south, and a catfolk enchantress in her court, named Ubasti (one of a small tribe of catfolk who worshipped her as their god-made-flesh, and served her loyally) attempted to keep news of her death a secret and rule in her name, turning the court, for a scant year, into a den of hedonism and excess, before her machinations came to light and her false reign ended in her death.
Generations later, the second Osirioni god-king who displayed similar attributes (great resistance to both magic and physical weaponry, as well as the head of an animal), Tehuwat, distinctive for having the head and feet of a carrion-eating marabou stork, ruled for 120 years, longer than his warlike predecessor. His court was called the Court of Silence, because all save himself were forbidden to...
this made me cry, it's so good.
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this made me cry, it's so good.
Aw, and yet I feel good about it, because I'm evil! :)
I just got Occult Adventures, and was thinking of different types of Kineticist, such as a Chlorokinetic (plant/wood), Ferrokinetic (iron/metal), Biokinetic (positive energy), Necrokinetic (negative energy) or, more specifically for Golarion, an Irreseni or Snowcaster elven Cryokinetic specialist (less about water than about cold and ice attacks more similar to the earth blast options).
But the one I actually wrote up;
Nano
In Numeria, particularly among the Androids of that land, a rare form of kineticist has sprung up, the nanokinetic, tapping into the nanomachinery lacing their bodies and environment, forming temporary structures and generating thick hovering clouds of machines individually too small to see.
Simple Blasts earth blast, electric blast
Defense Wild Talents shroud of water
Class Skills: Disable Device and Knowledge (engineering)
Wild Talents:
1st – air’s leap, basic telekinesis, kinetic cover, kinetic healer, pushing infusion*, voice of the wind
2nd – bowling infusion*, entangling infusion*, veil of mists
3rd – magnetic infusion*, self-telekinesis, touchsight
4th – cyclone*, shift earth, telekinetic maneuvers
5th – aether puppet, grappling infusion*, shimmering mirage
6th – disintegrating infusion*, suffocate
7th – cloud*, fragmentation*
8th –
9th – from the ashes
*represents a blast infusion
The Nano versions of earth blast, kinetic cover, etc. use barriers constructed of nano and whatever unattended material is nearby to be repurposed.
This 'element' has 23 wild talents, compared to 21 for earth, 23 for fire and aether, 25 for air and 27 for water. Not the least, but near the lower end, because it's got some good choices, like kinetic healer, and a fair number of blast options, between earth blast's option to do B, S or P damage (representing projectiles fashioned by nanotech), and electrical blast (representing nano swarming around the target and electrocuting it).
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Ideally, the Nano 'Element' for Kineticists should have a few unique-ish Utility Wild Talents, such as a 1st level one that protects from radiation effects, and a 3rd level one that can repair constructs / objects / structures, and a 5th level one that can take over robots and androids for a short time (roughly equal in power to the 'create elemental' or 'telekinetic animate objects' options in other Elements), but that would have required more than a half hour, which was the time I had available for that line of thought. Perhaps I'll flesh those ideas out later, and remove a few of the pilfered Utility Talents from the above list.
Probably not soon. 'Geekend' beckons, where we gather midcountry with guildmates from a half-dozen MMOs we've played together (some even from such exotic lands as Canada and England!) congregate to mostly sit around and drink and *not* touch our computers for five days. My brain's current focus is on pacing out my drinking so that I don't overdo it and drown in the pool (or stay in the sun too long, which for me is more than 45 seconds, and burst into flames). :)
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'Cause the world needs more good stuff in it.
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Sorcerer Bloodline
Virtue
While some sorcerers gain enlightenment from celestial outsiders, your source of inspiration and power comes from the disincarnate concept of moral goodness itself, distinct from any sort of angelic heritage or ennoblement. Somewhat surprisingly, you are not required to be good, yourself, to have the power of goodness flowing through you, although it is rare indeed for an evil person to be so blessed.
Class Skill: Knowledge (religion)
Bonus Spells: protection from evil (3rd), spear of purity (UM) (5th), holy whisper (APG) (7th), holy smite (9th), dispel evil (11th), chains of light (CoP) (13th), holy word (15th), holy aura (17th), summon monster IX (celestial template or good creatures only) (19th)
Bonus Feats: Consecrate Spell (Blood of Angels), Endurance, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Merciful Spell (APG), Skill Focus (knowledge [religion]), Spell Penetration, Toughness
Bloodline Arcana: Any cleric / oracle spell with the good descriptor not already available to your class is added to your spell list and can be chosen as a known spell. Any paladin spell with the good descriptor not already available to you is added to your spell list at twice the level a paladin would receive it and can be chosen as a known spell. Whenever you cast a spell with the good descriptor that already appears on the sorcerer/wizard spell list (or was gained as a bonus spell from this class), it functions at +1 caster level. Spells that call upon specific lass features of the cleric, oracle or paladin, such as an oracle’s curse or a paladin’s mercies, do not function when cast by someone who lacks that class feature and cannot be chosen. You cannot select any spell with the [evil] descriptor as a spell known, nor cast a spell such as summon monster in such a way that it gains the evil descriptor.
Bloodline Powers: The powers of virtue embody principles like kindness, moderation and self-restraint, as well as freedom, purity and self-sacrifice, granting the virtuous sorcerer abilities sympathetic to those principles.
. Merciful Rebuke (Sp): Starting at 1st level, you can release a ray of positive energy as a 30 ft. ranged touch attack a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. If it strikes a creature damaged by positive energy, such as most undead, it inflicts 1d8 pts. of damage, +1 hit point / caster level. If it strikes a creature that would be healed by positive energy, it inflicts an equal amount of nonlethal damage.
. Virtuous Resistance (Ex): At 3rd level, you gain negative energy resistance 5 and a +2 to saving throws vs. spells with the curse, disease or evil descriptors, or the spell-like abilities of creatures with the evil subtype. At 11th level, the saving throw bonus increases to +4. At 17th level, your negative energy resistance increases to 10 and you can choose to be treated as if neutral or good aligned for the purposes of spells that have different effects on individuals based on alignment.
. Joyful Step (Su): At 9th level, you can move up to 30 ft. as a swift action, ignoring difficult terrain or hazardous footing (such as a grease spell or caltrops). This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity, but you cannot move through any space that you could not physically occupy. You can take this action a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.
. Accept Affliction (Su): At 15th level, you can touch another person laboring under the effects of an affliction such as a curse, disease, poison or hostile spell effect and attempt a saving throw against that effect. If you succeed, the person benefits as if they had succeeded at a saving throw versus that effect. If you fail, the effect is transferred to you, and continues normally. You can perform this feat once per day, and an additional time per day at 17th level, and a third time per day at 19th level.
. Avatar of Virtue (Su): At 20th level the virtue infusing your being renders you immune to negative energy damage and allows you to counter any [darkness] or [evil] spell with any sorcerer spell of equal or higher level with the [light] or [good] descriptor (respectively) as an immediate action.
This whole thread is a gold mine for getting inspiration for designing stuff. Dotted!
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This whole thread is a gold mine for getting inspiration for designing stuff. Dotted!
Thanks! High praise indeed!
Interesting stuff.
And thanks to you as well!
My last purchase was Occult Adventures, and my first thought was that five of the six classes are just ripe for additional options (the Mesmerist being that sixth class).
Kineticists based on the eastern elements of Wood, Metal and Void are obvious niches to fill, for starters, but Ice, Positive Energy, Negative Energy and, of course, *Nano*, for the Numerian Kineticist, are there for development as well. (Shadow and First World are also options, even if 'First World' seems a little less intuitive and would likely have overlap with Wood and Positive Energy and perhaps a tad of Alchemist-like Mutagen goodness, as it would allow for rampant growth of the tissues of the First World Kineticist herself, perhaps growing claws or bone spurs, in place of close combat Infusions like 'fire sword' or whatever.)
For Mediums, replacing the six current spirits with ones based on a pantheon of gods, like the Elven pantheon or the Godclaw, or on the four (or five) elements, could be a different way to go with it (with the elements Medium option ending up feeling a bit like a Kineticist / Medium mashup).
Same with Occultist, and already mentioned under Archetypes, focusing on the Elemental Schools, instead of the 'classic eight' or some other type or sub-school distinction, like dividing spells up into light / fire and shadow / darkness, or other oppositional matrices.
For the Psychic, a Superiority psychic might have abilities related to shrugging off some mind-affecting effects, while a Materialist might use items of personal or historical significance to draw upon psychic resonances, one based on Sensation might have the ability to downgrade a fear or confusion or compulsion/charm effect to a dazed condition, as she chooses to revel in the sensation of the emotional / mental effect (and thereby mitigate it's worst effects, losing her action, but not running around in a blind panic or attacking her allies). Other psychic disciplines could include Individualists, Competitors or Dualists, with relevant abilities.
Spiritualists with emotional foci like Greed or Knowledge could be designed, or even a different sort of Spiritualist whose Phantom remains Incorporeal, but has a weak incorporeal attack (not quite as buff as that of a shadow, wraith or specter, perhaps limited to simple hit point damage, at first, and not ability damage until later, and probably never imposing negative levels!).
As with the Advanced Players Guide classes, I like the Occult Adventures classes for what sort of directions they can be taken, as much as for what they already add to the game.
Except that Mesmerist. I'm stuck there. :)
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Random Feats that (mostly) mess with Domains and Channeling;
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Expanded Domain
Prerequisites: One or more Domains as a class feature.
Benefits: Choose a single Domain (or Sub-Domain) you have selected as a class feature. You can now prepare spells from that Domain, or any of its Sub-Domains, to which your deity grants access. In the rare instance of a deity granting access to a Sub-Domain, but not it's parent Domain, this feat does not grant access to anything your deity doesn't already grant. If you do not have a deity, but still have access to one or more Domains, such as the case of some druids, you can prepare spells from that Domain, or any of its Sub-Domains.
Domain Flexibility
Prerequisites: Two or more Domains, as class features of a single class.
Benefits: Choose a single class that grants the Domains class feature. You can now choose not to prepare spells in your Domain slots, and instead spontaneously cast spells from any Domains available to that class from those slots.
Domain Spontaneity
Prerequisites: One or more Domains as a class feature.
Benefits: You can expend prepared spells to cast Domain spells. Additionally, if you have the ability to cast spells spontaneously, such as cure spells for a good cleric, inflict spells for an evil cleric, or [I]summon nature's ally[I] spells for a druid, you can spontaneously convert prepared Domain spells into these spells.
Holy Tide
Prerequisites: Channel Energy 3d6
Benefits: Foes damaged by your channeled energy suffer a bull rush attack directly away from you, with a CMB equaling 10 + 1/2 your level in the channeling class + your Cha mod. For the purposes of the check the 'pusher' is considered to be your size, and following each victim as it pushes them. Foes pushed do not gain an attack of opportunity against you for bull rushing them, and their involuntary movement does not provoke an attack of opportunity from you or your allies. Alternately, allies healed by your channeled energy can take a single 5 ft. step (or stand up action) that does not provoke an attack of opportunity or count against their own movement. An ally can take this action even if normally unable to do so, such as from being unconscious or stunned, as the tide 'drags' them 5 ft. to a new position.
Mwangi Witch
Prerequisites: druid 1 or witch 1, Mwangi affinity
Benefits: For every level of druid spells (including cantrips) you can prepare, you can substitute one witch spell of the same level. For every level of witch spells you gain (including cantrips), you can learn one druid spell of the same level. These spells become arcane or divine spells, respectively, as appropriate to the class that gains them. Every time you gain access to a new level of spells in either of these classes, you can choose to change one or more previously learned spells from this feat in that class as well. If you dismiss or lose your witch familiar, your new familiar automatically knows these druid spells as well.
Have I missed it in this thread or do you have any general feats? Also, do you ever mess around with Skills and how they're used?
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Have I missed it in this thread or do you have any general feats?
Not many. I tend to submit feat ideas to Wayfinder, fairly regularly, and post a few others here, but, for the most part, I think the game has WAY to many feats, and that quite a few of them should be options usable by default, or something.
I've seen it writ that every new Feat is just one more thing the GM can't let you do without it.
That's an overstatement, sure, but I do feel what's being said there.
Also, do you ever mess around with Skills and how they're used?
Looking at the skill consolidation ideas in Unchained, I think I'm pretty happy with where they already are. (Hide in Shadows and Move Silently, and Listen and Spot, from 3.X, being consolidated into Stealth and Perception was exactly the amount of consolidation I was looking for, having already seen them as Stealth and Notice in Mutants and Masterminds.)
As for new Skills, not really, although I have pondered that there seem to be skills for Climbing, Jumping, Flying and Swimming, but none for Running or Burrowing, which seems inconsistent.
Skill Unlocks, from Occult Adventures, has potential, and I could see a ton of interesting new 'occult' options for skills like Stealth (to Hide in Plain Sight?) or whatever.
The expanded skills, from Unchained really got me excited. I really, really want a skill-based class that grabs a skill and just goes nuts with it.
As the Rogue takes Disable Device in directions that nobody else can match with Trapfinding, I want a skill based class that can use Heal to restore ability damage, temporary level loss and *reliably* heal hit point damage.
A member of this class could instead focus on Diplomacy, and become a sort of diplomancer. Handle Animal and have some weaker companion type pets. Use Magic Device to 'prepare' spells from scrolls and be a third-rate wizard wannabe. Who knows. There's a ton of potential, even if some skills obviously wouldn't be suitable to base an entire role around. Perhaps, just as the Rogue's trapfinding applies to both Perception and Disable Device, the 'Diplomancer' would also focus on Linguistics or Sense Motive, and not just Diplomacy, and the beast-tamer would focus on Handle Animal and Knowledge (nature) checks related to animals?
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Random ideas, based on this awesome picture;
The visual and idea of a nightly war between pseudo-dragons and imps over Korvosa is *awesome* and super-cool, but, mechanically, it's a bleak picture of 'the day the imps killed all the pseudo-dragons in town' since pseudo-dragons are incapable of damaging (or poisoning) imps.
There are various 'fixes' for that.
1) It's as it is. This is indeed a grim picture of the day that the imps drove the pseudo-dragons out of Korvosa, with the only survivors being those that fled the city. The picture becomes tragic, and perhaps even heroic, in a 'last stand' sort of way, as the pseudo-dragons flying to engage the imps are the ones 'holding them back' while their mates and young flee to safety. The few imps that died were those grappled and dragged to the ground (to be killed by falling damage) by desperate suicide-bomber pseudo-dragons.
2) In Korvosa, at the Temple of Sarenrae, atop Citadel Hill, a great marble bowl sits beneath the statue of goddess. The entire site is warded to prevent creatures with the evil subtype (or others with a strong aura of evil, such as evil clerics or antipaladins) from trespassing these hallowed grounds, and the pool of clear water within the bowl is enspelled to be always be clean and fresh to drink even if the city life (doves and pseudo-dragons, primarily) that flocks to the area aren’t always the cleanest visitors. The water glows dimly at night, and acts as holy water for 24 hours after being removed from the basin. Good-aligned pseudo-dragons who drink from this pool are changed, so that their natural attacks are treated as good-aligned for the purposes of bypassing the damage reduction of evil subtype creatures (such as the local imps) and acts as holy water on undead and evil outsiders (while still functioning as poison for their own mundane hunting purposes). This ability remains for 24 hours after they drink from the pool, and so long as the pseudo-dragon bathes daily at the temple, and retain a good alignment, they gain a powerful advantage against the local imp population.
A side-effect is that the temple of Sarenrae and it's immediate environs are *swarming* with pseudo-dragons, along with a few other random areas in town that share similar warding enchantments (such as a certain tavern, whose upper floor remains warded with a permanent magic circle of protection against evil, because of some conjuror who used to live up there, ironically, a devil-summoner by trade, who really *needed* that protection against evil...).
3) Many Imps in Korvosa have been here for decades, and most of them have 'thinned' a bit and are now native outsiders, lacking damage reduction entirely, and with less access to some imp-ly powers (like commune. Even that change might not be enough, as the imps would remain immune to the pseudo-dragon's poison, and their invisibility and superior strength, damage and fast healing make it a terribly unfair fight, even without the DR... As with option 2 above, this does have the advantage of more or less adhering to canon, in that the imps and pseudo-dragons remain imps and pseudo-dragons.
4) They aren't imps at all, but some sort of tiny flying gremlins, more fey than outsider, and much more evenly matched to be fighting pseudo-dragons. This might be preferable, in that imps are ridiculously potent compared to not just pseudo-dragons, but to the commoners walking the streets of Korvosa. (A single imp could kill hundreds of people in a night, without them really being able to effectively retaliate, by using it's invisibility, flight and venomous sting.)
5) They aren't pseudo-dragons at all, but some tougher beastie, able to penetrate DR, or with some sort of attack that affects imps (so not acid, cold, fire or poison!) like a sonic chirp or a shocking electrical touch attack or something. This tends to just exacerbate and make an arms race out of the situation in #4 above, in that now the skies and rooftops of Korvosa are haunted by *two* species of critter that can depopulate the humans from the city if the whim ever takes them to do so... (Not to mention the otyughs in the sewers. Why does anyone want to live here again?)
I'm most partial to 1 (aw, tragic!) or 2 (woo, Sarenrae!), myself. Weaker 'native outsider' imps lacking some of the nastiest attributes of full imps would be my third choice, with four and five being increasingly less interesting, because, IMO, the *last* thing the setting needs are yet more monsters running around, created for the sole purpose of justifying a cool piece of art...
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Set did you ever see that Feat Pseudo-Dragons could take that was posted on the Paizo blog that answered this question?
Basically Korvosa native Pseudo-Dragons could sharpen their tail stingers on the silver rooftops of Korvosan buildings and whala, armed with silver stingers could bypass the Imps defenses.
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Set did you ever see that Feat Pseudo-Dragons could take that was posted on the Paizo blog that answered this question?
Basically Korvosa native Pseudo-Dragons could sharpen their tail stingers on the silver rooftops of Korvosan buildings and whala, armed with silver stingers could bypass the Imps defenses.
Yeah, it seemed like a sideways change that did absolutely nothing to increase the odds of a pseudo-dragon vs. imp fight, since the pseudo-dragon's attack only does 1d3-2 (which is 66% chance of 1 nonlethal and 33% chance of one lethal, either of which will be healed next round by the imps fast healing 2), while the imp does 1d4 +poison. (And the imps are immune to the pseudo-dragon's poison.)
It's super-cool, but the 'fix' did nothing to actually address the problem (penetrating DR alone does nothing if the imp heals the damage faster than you can inflict it and is doing 4x as much damage *and* poisoning the pseudo-dragon!).
Dotted with extreme prejudice!
You, sir, are what all homebrewers aspire to be! :)
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Set the first picture reminded me of Mordecai humble beginnings, before his Riddleport days. Even though the era, and sex are not a match.
The second picture, of the woman with the gun leaning on the railing, is indeed creativity-provoking. She has the look of someone who has already done what she was going to do with that gun...
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Stuff that didn't make it into Wayfinder 15;
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Feats of the River Kingdoms
The stalwart souls of the Bloodstone Swords often combine levels in Ranger and Rogue, and have developed techniques to synergize on that combination. Their tactics prove readily adaptable to other warriors who receive specialized training against specific enemies.
Bloodstone Defender (Combat)
You have turned your offensive training against a specific type of foe to defensive ends.
Prerequisites: Bloodstone Manhunter (Faction Guide p 56) or another racial trait (such as Hatred), class ability (such as Favored Enemy) or feat (such as Dedicated Adversary, Dirty Tactics Toolbox p 10) that confers an attack bonus versus a specific type of enemy.
Benefit: Against an enemy type against which you have an attack bonus, you gain an equal dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves.
Unchained: For each fatigue spent, you can increase your dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves versus a selected enemy type by +1 (to a maximum of 4 fatigue for an additional +4) for one turn. Alternately, by spending fatigue equal to your attack bonus versus a selected enemy type, you gain an equal bonus to saving throws versus the exceptional, spell-like and supernatural abilities of that enemy type for one round.
Manhunter Leader (Combat)
You have learned to share your expertise fighting selected foes with your allies.
Prerequisites: Bloodstone Manhunter (Faction Guide p 56) or another racial trait (such as Hatred), class ability (such as Favored Enemy) or feat (such as Dedicated Adversary, Dirty Tactics Toolbox p 10) that confers an attack bonus versus a specific type of enemy.
Benefit: When fighting an enemy type against which you have an attack bonus, you gain use a swift action on your turn to share your expertise, granting allies within 30 ft. the same attack bonus (and any damage bonus granted by that ability). These bonuses do not stack with those granted by a ranger’s hunters bond class ability. Your allies must be able to hear and understand you to benefit from this feat.
Unchained: For each ally benefitting from these bonuses, up to twice your own original attack bonus against the target enemy, you can spent one fatigue to enhance your own attack (and possibly damage) bonus by one for one round.
Shared Contempt (Combat)
Your vocal disdain for your foes inspires your allies to greater effort.
Prerequisites: Either Bloodstone Manhunter or another racial trait (such as Hatred), class ability (such as Favored Enemy) or feat (such as Dedicated Adversary, Dirty Tactics Toolbox p 10) that confers an attack bonus versus a specific type of enemy.
Benefit: When facing an enemy type against which you have an attack bonus from one of the prerequisite abilities above, you can share this bonus with allies who flank a foe with you, or whom you are assisting to attack with the Aid Other action. To benefit from this feat, allies must be able to hear and understand you.
Unchained: When flanking a foe with an ally benefitting from this feat, you can spend 1 fatigue to inflict +1d6 precision damage. When Aiding Another to attack a foe and they are benefitting from this feat, you can spend 2 fatigue to perform an attack of opportunity against that foe if it attacks the beneficiary.
Surgical Hatred (Combat)
You are extremely proficient at surgically striking your hated foes.
Prerequisites: Sneak attack and either Bloodstone Manhunter or another racial trait (such as Hatred), class ability (such as Favored Enemy) or feat (such as Dedicated Adversary, Dirty Tactics Toolbox p 10) that confers an attack bonus versus a specific type of enemy.
Benefit: When you sneak attack an enemy type against which you have an attack bonus from one of the prerequisite abilities above, you can reroll a number of 1’s on the sneak attack damage dice up to the aforementioned attack bonus.
Unchained: For 5 fatigue, when sneak attacking a favored enemy, or similar foe type against which you receive an attack bonus, you can chose to not inflict sneak attack damage, but instead to stagger the target for a number of rounds equal to your attacks critical multiplier.
Manhunter trait
Cornered Fury (Combat): In desperate times, you fight like a cornered animal. So long as you have levels in a full BAB class, such as Barbarian, Fighter or Ranger, you treat an equal number of levels in Rogue, Ninja or Assassin as if you possessed full BAB for those levels, so long as you are not able to use a Sneak Attack. For example, a 3rd level Ranger / 3rd level Rogue with this trait would have a BAB of +6/+1, when unable to make a Sneak Attack.
The Bloodstone Swords are hardly the only fighting force to develop their own tactics and trainings, and the River Kingdoms are full of similar regional combat techniques, some jealously guarded, others proudly displayed for all to see.
From Daggermark;
Doubly Deadly
With intensive practice, you have learned to combine deadly strikes to great effect.
Prerequisites: Two or more Ninja, Rogue or Slayer talents that modify sneak attack.
Benefit: When you make a sneak attack, you can apply two different talents that modify sneak attack, such as bleeding attack and slow reactions.
From Kyonin;
Friendly Ground (Combat)
Obstacles within your ancestral home part like a lover before your touch.
Prerequisites: Favored terrain class feature.
Benefit: Choose one favored terrain, while in that terrain you can ignore one square of difficult terrain per round of movement, so long as that difficult terrain is natural to the locale. Additionally, when in that favored terrain, you can reduce cover or concealment from natural environmental conditions by one step (from full to partial, or partial to none).
Unchained: For 5 fatigue you can ignore the effects of difficult terrain in your chosen favored terrain for a full round, and during that round, you suffer no cover or concealment penalties from natural environmental conditions of your chosen favored terrain.
Enemy Ground (Combat)
Your chosen lands seem to conspire with you to confound your foes.
Prerequisites: Favored terrain class feature, Friendly Ground.
Benefit: When in your chosen favored terrain from the Friendly Ground feat, you can use a swift action to force a foe in melee with you to treat his current square as difficult terrain, or to suffer from the effects of partial concealment when he attempts to strike you.
Unchained: You can force a foe in your selected terrain to treat additional squares as difficult terrain, spending 1 fatigue for each square beyond the first. For 5 fatigue, you can instead give yourself full concealment against a foes attacks for 1 round.
From Lambreth;
Thorn and Lash Style (Combat)
You are trained in fighting with a short sword resembling an oversized thorn and a scorpion whip of braided darkwood and thorns.
Prerequisites: Dex 15, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (scorpion whip or whip), Two-Weapon Fighting
Benefits: When two-weapon fighting with a short sword or scorpion whip (or whip) in one or both hands, you can treat either weapon as a light weapon, and you do not provoke an attack of opportunity for using a scorpion whip or whip in a threatened space. When successfully disarm or trip a foe with a whip, you gain an additional +2 circumstance bonus to your next attack and damage roll against that target with a light piercing weapon, so long as that attack happens within 1 round.
Unchained: For 5 fatigue, when you disarm or trip a foe with a whip, you gain an attack of opportunity versus that foe with a light piercing weapon in hand. For 1 fatigue per attack affected, the bonus to attack and damage from this feat can be extended to additional attacks with light piercing weapons within 1 round.
From Touvette;
Faithless Strike (Combat)
The feckless servants of the gods tremble when you shatter their ‘holy’ trinkets.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Improved Sunder, Power Attack, base attack bonus +3.
Benefit: When you sunder a holy symbol (or, at the GM’s discretion, some other significant holy icon), you gain a free Intimidate check to demoralize any followers of that symbol’s god within 30 ft. who can see your action.
Unchained: For 5 fatigue, you can also damage the item’s holder with the same attack.
From Tymon;
Rallying Flourish (Combat, Performance)
Your allies find new courage as your enemies cower before you.
Prerequisites: Dazzling Display, Hero’s Display, Weapon Focus, proficiency with the selected weapon.
Benefit: When successfully making an Intimidate check to demoralize one or more foes, you also rally allies within 30 ft. who can see you, granting them either immunity to the shaken condition’s penalties for an equal number of rounds as you demoralized foes, or a +2 morale bonus to attack rolls and saves vs. fear (and a +4 to the DC rolls of intimidate checks against them) for the same duration.
Unchained: For 5 fatigue, if one of the foes intimidated is within melee range, you can make a single attack against them as a free action with the weapon used for the performance.
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Hey, I once had a thread devoted to Oracle mysteries suitable for Golarion specifically! Here's something new that I'd be adding to it, if I wasn't abandoning it, to post stuff here instead!
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Oracle Mystery
Shoanti Totem-Speaker
Dieties Desna, Gorum, Gozreh, Pharasma, ancestor spirits
...Class Skills:Climb, Ride, Knowledge (history), Survival
...Bonus Spells: calm animals (3rd), ancestral communion (Dwarves of Golarion) (5th), summon totem creature (Humans of Golarion) (7th), ancestral gift (summons a simple, martial or Shoanti weapon, Dwarves of Golarion) (9th), summon nature’s ally V (11th), geas/quest (13th), control weather (15th), moment of prescience (17th), elemental swarm (19th)
...Revelations: A Shoanti totem-speaker chooses (or is chosen by) a single quah’s totem spirit as her inspiration, and gains revelations accordingly.
...Battlefield Clarity (Ex): As the Battle revelation of the same name.
...Learning of the Quah (Su): You must choose one of the following quah when selecting this revelation; Lyrune (Moon), Shadde (Axe), Shriikirri (Hawk), Shundar (Spire), Sklar (Sun), Skoan (Skull), Tamiir (Wind). Each quah is associated with five clerical Domains, and when you first select this revelation, you gain the abilities granted by that domain to a 1st level cleric. Domain abilities using a cleric’s Wisdom, such as uses / day, are based on your Charisma score. You can select this revelation up to five times, each time gaining the first level domain abilities of another domain of your quah. Once you choose a quah, you must revelations from the same quah for all subsequent choices. You cannot choose a subdomain with this ability. The Domains available by quah are;
.Lyrune – Animal, Darkness, Strength, War, Weather
.Shadde – Animal, Destruction, Strength, Water, Weather
.Shriikirri – Air, Animal, Liberation, Strength, Weather
.Shundar – Animal, Knowledge, Protection, Rune, Weather
.Sklar – Animal, Fire, Strength, War, Weather
.Skoan – Animal, Darkness, Earth, Protection, Repose
.Tamiir – Air, Animal, Earth, Protection, War
...Manifest Totem (Su): You can summon an animal with the abilities of a wizard’s familiar (your oracle level is treated as your wizard level for determining it’s exact abilities) in a ritual that takes 10 minutes. This familiar must be a bat, beetle, cat, fox, hawk, owl, rat, snake, squid or vulture, and is a manifestation of your own connection to the spirits of your ancestors, tethered to your consciousness in the same manner as a summoner’s eidolon. As a result, the familiar weakens if it goes too far from your person, and vanishes if you lose consciousness, just like an eidolon. Also like an eidolon, you can summon it back at any time, although if it vanished from being reduced to zero hit points, it cannot be resummoned until the next day, and returns at half hit points. When you gain an oracle level, you can change the manifest totems form, from the choices available. This revelation qualifies you to take the Improved Familiar feat, but the manifest spirit can only appear in the form of one of the above animals with the celestial, fiendish, entropic or resolute template (according to your alignment) if you are 3rd level or higher, or as a small air, earth, fire or water elemental if you are 5th level or higher.
...Mastery of the Quah (Su): Pick one domain that you have chosen with learning of the quah, if that domain gains an additional power at 4th, 6th or 8th level, or a capstone power, such as the immunity to fire gained at 20th level from the Fire domain, you gain these abilities as well at the appropriate level. You must be at 4th level and have selected learning of the quah at least once to select this revelation. You may choose this revelation more than once, but not more than once per 4 levels, choosing a new domain that you have selected with learning of the quah each time.
...Natural Divination (Ex): As the Nature revelation of the same name.
...Nature’s Whispers (Ex): As the Nature revelation of the same name.
...Rites of the Quah (Ex): Pick one domain that you have chosen with learning of the quah. You add all spells on the domain list you have selected to both your class list and to your spells known. You do not gain additional spells per day. You can choose this revelation more than once, choosing a new domain that you have selected with learning of the quah each time.
...Thunderburst (Ex): As the Wind revelation of the same name.
...Shoanti Weaponmaster (Ex): You become proficient with the earthbreaker, klar and shoanti bola. If you are already proficient with one or more of them, you instead gain Weapon Focus with those weapons. You treat a hand wielding a klar as a free hand for the purposes of casting oracle spells.
...War Shaman (Ex): Spells that you cast that require an attack roll to hit, or require a saving throw from their target, do not provoke attacks of opportunity from their target(s).
...Final Revelation: Upon reaching 20th level you are a manifest ancestor, and no longer suffer any physical penalties for aging. In addition, you can call upon ancestral spirits for aid, casting any spell available to one of the five domains of your quah (whether learned through quah magic or as spells known) with increased efficacy (+2 caster level and to caster level or concentration checks, +1 to DC) or as a spell-like ability, at your discretion. Any member of your quah within 300 ft. who is aware of your presence operates as if under a bless spell, if you so wish it.
I seem to recall somewhere Set had a theory about Desna being a great old one. Can someone point me to that? My search fu is weak and I can't find it
I think that is in the conspiracy theory thread. Check there.
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I seem to recall somewhere Set had a theory about Desna being a great old one. Can someone point me to that? My search fu is weak and I can't find it
I think this is where I first mentioned it.
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Set can you please turn this Fiscal Strike into a Familiar.
So, super busy at work, but after giving this some thought, I'm not sure that there's anything statistical to work with, here, since a thrush is pretty much hand-waved as using crow stats. I'd go with crow stats for the shrike as well, with the stat bonus turning into a +2 to Intimidate.
The shrike, while macabre, is more of a behavioral thing than a physical thing, so any familiar could adopt something creepy and similar, such as a tendency to impale large bugs or small rodents on the armor spikes of the wizard's companions (or the wizard themself might wear something with spikes or spines, to carry their familiar's grisly trophies).
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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I seem to recall somewhere Set had a theory about Desna being a great old one. Can someone point me to that? My search fu is weak and I can't find itI think this is where I first mentioned it.
Thanks Set! We're running Strange Aeons in the home game, and I wanted to share that bit of madness with the GM. He and I are the only two with any ranks of Knowledge (Lovecraft).
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Thinking back on my thread full of lesser planar ally options, I was coming up with some new ideas, and realized that I never got around to coming up with the most necessary bit;
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Ally subtype – an Ally creature can be called with spells like planar ally or planar binding, even if it not a creature of the outsider type. Any outsider that is called automatically gains the Ally subtype foe the duration of the effect that calls it. An Ally creature can plane shift at will, but only after being called, and only to return itself (alone) to the location on its plane of residence that it was called from. If the Ally creature is already on its home plane when it seeks to return, it can instead return to the location from which it was summoned as if by greater teleport or interplanetary teleport, instead.
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The point being, that a cleric of Calistria might summon up some extraplanar giant wasps that *aren't* Outsiders, or a cleric of Urgathoa might call up some extraplanar Undead, etc. Magical Beasts, Dragons, etc. might also be options, if they have the Ally subtype.
This also helps to use spells like planar ally or planar binding on servants of the gods who don't necessarily live on other planes, such as servants of Desna, or the Great Old Ones, who might live in *outer space,* and not Elysium or the Abyss.
Additionally, any Outsider that is called gains the 'Ally' subtype for the duration of the calling, and therefore becomes capable of plane shifting (or teleporting) itself home after the end of the spell, even if the creature itself lacks any such ability natively. So if one calls up a Hound Archon, and then drops dead, the archon isn't stuck on the material plane for the next couple of centuries, until it can find a high level cleric (or Trumpet Archon hanging around the material plane) willing to prep a plane shift spell to send it home.
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I always wanted there to be; A) more ioun stones that could burn out and turn dull gray and B) more ioun stones that resembled polyhedral dice.
And so,
Topaz Icosahedron 1/day as an immediate action, re-roll a single d20 roll. The stone has 20 charges, but if the reroll also results in a failure, the stone loses a second charge.
Adamantine Icosahedron 1/day as an immediate action, the stone enlarges to the size of a man’s head and moves to block one physical attack on its bearer, taking the damage itself. The stone has hardness 20 and 10 hit points, and if broken loses its properties and becomes a dull gray (burned out) stone. As long as it has hit points remaining, it can be repaired by make whole, or similar magic.
Jade Dodecahedron As an immediate action add 1d12 to any d20 roll for an attack, save, ability or skill check. If used a second time per day, if the combined number added (with previous uses that day) exceeds 12, the effect fails, and one facet of the stone burns out and turns black. Anytime it is used in the future, it fails if a blackened facing is rolled, and any time it is used more than once per day and the total bonuses exceed the number of potent facings remaining, another facet burns out.
Obsidian Dodecahedron The twelve facets of this lustrous black stone absorb up to four points ability damage or drain to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution (four facets are devoted to each ability score). Each point it absorbs causes a single facet to turn gray-white, and if all facets turn gray-white, it burns out permanently. Otherwise, it recovers a single attribute point lost to ability damage each day, with the corresponding facet turning black once again. Points lost to ability drain are permanently lost, and the facet never ‘heals.’ Spells such as restoration cannot ‘heal’ a stone, or hasten the recovery of facets.
Ruby Octahedron Once per day can grant user eight temporary hit points for eight rounds as an immediate action. If any hit points remain at the end of eight rounds and you are suffering hit point damage, you gain unused temporary hit points as healing. If all hit points are expended, the stone loses a facet (it turns black), and the stone only grants 7 temporary hit points when next used, and so on. When all eight facets are burned out, the stone turns dull gray.
Emerald Octahedon Eight times per day you can reposition yourself into an adjacent space as a swift action. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Once per day, while repositioning yourself in this manner, you can create 1d4+4 mirror images of yourself, and these images remain for eight rounds, unless destroyed earlier. This function expends one charge, and the stone has eight charges before burning out and turning dull gray.
Sapphire Cube 1/day you remove one temporary negative level or one point of ability drain automatically, or cure 1d4 points of ability damage to one ability score. It can be used additional times per day, but each additional use expends a charge, and the stone has six charges, burning out and becoming dull gray when expended. A charge can also be expended to remove a permanent negative level.
Silver Cube As a swift action, you can cause your attacks with natural, melee or ranged weapons to be treated as silver, for the purposes of overcoming DR, for 1 round. Additionally, by expending a charge, you can cause the attack to force a shapechanger to change shape, or be frozen in its current state (Fort DC 16 negates), for one minute. The stone has six charges, and when all are expended, turns dull gray.
Motley Tetrahedron This pyramidal stone has faces of constant blue lapis, flecked yellow tourmaline, shining white chalcedony and smoky black obsidian. Four times a day, as a swift action, you can cause your natural, melee or ranged weapon attacks to be treated as lawful, chaotic, good or evil, respectively, for the purposes of overcoming DR for 1 round. If you ever strike a creature of a specific alignment while using the power of the stone to overcome DR of that creatures type (such as choosing good and then attacking an angel, or choosing evil and attacking a demon), the stone flickers and loses a daily use. When it has lost all four daily uses, it burns out and turns dull gray.
Emerald Tetrahedron 1/day user can reposition self randomly as an immediate action. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity, or use your own movement. Roll d4 to find new location (cardinal directions) and then d4 again to find out how many 5 ft. squares you move in that direction. If that space is occupied already by a solid object or creature, you appear in the nearest adjacent space that is not occupied and the stone loses a charge. When it has lost 4 charges, it burns out and turns dull gray.
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In the vein of the Ally subtype above, a generic rule I've long wanted for convenience is the Degraded property for gear.
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Degraded This property represents an item that was of higher quality, such as masterwork, but is currently not functioning at that level, because of degradation or poor repair. With appropriate care, equal to the cost of upgrading the base item to that level of quality, it can be restored to it's past quality. An item made of a special material can be degraded, representing some sort of corrosion or taint that has temporarily nullified whatever properties the special material usually has over the regular composition of a normal item of it's sort, such as a thick layer of corrosion over a silver weapon, causing it to not function as silver until it is cleaned with powerful acids, or a weakening of the structure of an adamantine weapon rendering the metal 'rotten' and no stronger than steel, until the metal is treated in a special heated alchemical bath to restore the skymetals legendary strength. In all such cases, the cost to restore the materials special properties is equal to the cost of adding that property to the item in the first place.
Format example - degraded chain shirt (MW, mithril). This once-fine chain shirt has seen better days, and is missing links and encrusted with thick layers of rust and corrosion.
After being partially restored - degraded MW chain shirt (mithril). This chain shirt has been repaired, and hints at even finer quality, but is still weighed down by thick layers of rust and corrosion.
Fully restored - MW mithril chain shirt. This gleaming shirt of fine mithril mail shows no signs of the rusty tangled mess that your notoriously unreliable uncle dug out of a musty chest and foisted off on you, along with that ring of dubious provenance, that has caused you no end of troubles since.
[The reason for this property is so that a character could start out with a breastplate handed down by his family that is a proud relic with great history, but acts as a normal steel breastplate until it is cleaned up and restored to it's former Masterwork quality, and / or adamantine material strength. While the 1st level character couldn't afford a MW adamantine breastplate, he can afford a breastplate, that has the degraded (MW, adamantine) quality (which conveniently costs the same as a the mundane steel breastplate it acts as), and as he grows in wealth, he can 'buy off' these qualities, first perhaps rending the breastplate a MW breastplate again, for a cheap 150 gp, and quite a bit later, restoring the breastplate's adamantine to full strength for 10,000 gp. The cost is no different than purchasing such a suit all at once, he's just paying it in increments, and getting to maintain the role-playing premise of 'restoring a family heirloom,' instead of just swapping out his family treasure for the next thing he finds with better stats.]
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So sometimes my OCD flares up and I go from pondering, "What would it be like if my Sorcerer took Eldritch Heritage for a different bloodline, to pick up some extra abilities?" to making a big list and figuring out which Skill Focus feats can serve double duty as prerequisites (by allowing one to qualify for multiple Eldritch Heritage options).
And yes, I know that taking multiple Eldritch Heritage feats isn't optimal, or even recommended, but OCD, so I don't care. :)
So this then, is what spewed out of my brain;
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Aberrant – Knowledge (dungeoneering), 1st – Acidic Ray, 3rd – Long Limbs, Unusual Anatomy, 15th – Alien Resistance
Abyssal – Knowledge (planes), 1st – Claws, 3rd – Demon Resistances, Strength of the Abyss, 15th – Added Summonings
Arcane – Knowledge (any), 1st – Arcane Bond, 3rd – Metamagic Adept, New Arcana, 15th – School Power
Celestial – Heal, 1st – Heavenly Fire, 3rd – Celestial Resistances, Wings of Heaven, 15th - Conviction
Destined – Knowledge (history), 1st – Touch of Destiny, 3rd – Fated, It Was Meant To Be, 15th – Within Reach
Draconic – Perception, 1st – Claws, 3rd – Dragon Resistances, Breath Weapon, 15th – Wings
Elemental – Knowledge (planes), 1st – Elemental Ray, 3rd – Elemental Resistance, Elemental Blast, 15th – Elemental Movement
Fey – Knowledge (nature), 1st – Laughing Touch, 3rd – Woodland Stride, Fleeting Glance, 15th – Fey Magic
Infernal – Diplomacy, 1st – Corrupting Touch, 3rd – Infernal Resistances, Hellfire, 15th – On Dark Wings
Undead – Knowledge (religion), 1st – Grave Touch, 3rd – Death’s Gift, Grasp of the Dead, 15th – Incorporeal Form
Accursed – Perception, 1st – Horrific Visage, 3rd – Wretched Endurance, Dread Gaze, 15th – Dream Walking
Aquatic – Swim, 1st – Dehydrating Touch, 3rd – Aquatic Adaptation, Aquatic Telepathy, 15th – Raise the Deep
Boreal – Survival, 1st – Cold Steel, 3rd – Icewalker, Snow Shroud, 15th - Blizzard
Daemon – Heal, 1st – Wasting Ray, 3rd – Daemonic Resistances, Age Out, 15th – Wound Warp
Deep Earth – Knowledge (dungeoneering), 1st – Tremor, 3rd – Rockseer, Crystal Shard, 15th – Earth Glide
Div – Knowledge (planes), 1st – Spoiling Touch, 3rd – Div Resistances, Corrupting Aura, 15th – Squander
Djinni – Knowledge (planes), 1st – Electricity Ray, 3rd – Elemental Resitance, Whirlwind, 15th – Elemental Movement
Dreamspun – Sense Motive, 1st – Lullaby, 3rd – Combat Precognition, Dreamshaper, 15th – Eye of Somnus
Ectoplasm – Stealth, 1st – Entangling Ectoplasm, 3rd – Ectoplasmic Reach, Ectoplasmic Form, 15th – Malevolent Ectoplasm
Efreeti – Knowledge (planes), 1st – Fire Ray, 3rd – Elemental Resistance, Efreeti Form, 15th – Elemental Movement
Ghoul – Stealth, 1st – Ghoulish Claws, 3rd – Leathery Skin, Ravenous Frenzy, 15th – Earth Crawler
Harrow – Knowledge (history), 1st – Twisted Fortune, 3rd – See It Coming, Invoke the Harrow, 15th – Harrowed Home
Imperious – Perform (oratory), 1st – Student of Humanity, 3rd – Heroic Echo, Take Your Best Shot, 15th – Heroic Legends
Impossible – Knowledge (engineering), 1st – Disorienting Touch, 3rd – Spontaneous Generation, Distracting Pattern, 15th - Relativity
Kobold – Disable Device, 1st – Trap Rune, 3rd – Trap Sense, Arcane Ambush, 15th – Earth Glide
Maestro – Perform, 1st – Beguiling Voice, 3rd – Fascinate, Perfect Voice, 15th - Inspire
Marid – Knowledge (planes), 1st – Frost Ray, 3rd – Elemental Resistance, Water’s Fury, 15th – Elemental Movement
Martyr – Perform (oratory), 1st – Sacrificial Boon, 3rd – Rallying Cry, Gift of Blood, 15th – Sacrificial Exchange
Nanite – Knowledge (engineering), 1st – Nanite Strike, 3rd – Nanite Surge, Nanite Resurgence, 15th – Distributed Body
Oni – Disguise, 1st – Touch of Agony, 3rd – Altered Form, Windborne, 15th – Oni Healing
Orc – Survival, 1st – Touch of Rage, 3rd – Fearless, Strength of the Beast, 15th – Power of Giants
Pestilence – Heal, 1st – Plague’s Caress, 3rd – Accustomed to Awfulness, Shroud of Vermin, 15th – Pestilential Breath
Possessed – Knowledge (religion), 1st – Aggressive Possession, 3rd – Sight Unseen, Inside Agent, 15th – One Body, Two Minds
Protean – Knowledge (planes), 1st – Protoplasm, 3rd – Protean Resistances, Reality Wrinkle, 15th – Spatial Tear
Psychic – Sense Motive, 1st – Psychic Strike, 3rd – Mental Resistance, Undercasting Prodigy, 15th – Thoughtsense
Rakshasa – Disguise, 1st – Silver Tongue, 3rd – Mind Reader, Hide Aura, 15th – Alter Self
Salamander – Acrobatics, 1st – Ember, 3rd – Forge and Fire, Serpent’s Tail, 15th – Searing Heat
Scorpion – Climb, 1st – Progenitor’s Sting, 3rd – Modify Onset, Sudden Sting, 15th – Sandwalker
Serpentine – Diplomacy, 1st – Serpent’s Fang, 3rd – Serpentfriend, Snakeskin, 15th – Den of Vipers
Shadow – Stealth, 1st – Shadowstrike, 3rd – Nighteye, Shadow Well, 15th – Enveloping Darkness
Shaitan – Knowledge (planes), 1st – Acid Ray, 3rd – Elemental Resistance, Avalanche, 15th – Elemental Movement
Shapechanger – Disguise, 1st – Hardened Fists, 3rd – Mutable Flesh, Vortex of Flesh, 15th – Superior Transformation
Solar – Perception, 1st – Sunsight, 3rd – Friend of Fire, Cleansing Flame, 15th – Healing Fire
Starsoul – Knowledge (nature), 1st – Minute Meteors, 3rd – Voidwalker, Aurora Borealis, 15th – Breaching the Gulf
Stormborn – Knowledge (nature), 1st – Thunderstaff, 3rd – Stormchild, Thunderbolt, 15th – Ride the Lightning
Verdant – Knowledge (nature), 1st – Tanglevine, 3rd or 9th – Photosynthesis, Massmorph, 15th – Rooting
And a list of skills, and what bloodline options they unlock for Eldritch Heritage;
Acrobatics – Salamander
*Appraise
*Bluff
Climb – Scorpion
*Craft
Diplomacy – Infernal, Serpentine
Disable Device – Kobold
Disguise – Oni, Rakshasa, Shapechanger
Escape Artist
*Fly
Handle Animal
Heal – Celestial, Daemon, Pestilence
*Intimidate
Knowledge (any) – Arcane
*Knowledge (arcana) – Arcane
Knowledge (dungeoneering) – Aberrant, Arcane, Deep Earth
Knowledge (engineering) – Arcane, Impossible, Nanite
Knowledge (geography) – Arcane
Knowledge (history) – Arcane, Destined, Harrow
Knowledge (local) – Arcane
Knowledge (nature) – Arcane, Fey, Starsoul, Stormborn, Verdant
Knowledge (nobility) – Arcane
Knowledge (planes) – Abyssal, Arcane, Elemental, Div, Djinni, Efreeti, Marid, Protean, Shaitan
Knowledge (religion) – Arcane, Undead, Possessed
Linguistics
Perception – Draconic, Accursed, Solar
Perform (any) – Maestro
Perform (oratory) – Imperious, Maestro, Martyr
*Profession
Ride
Sense Motive – Dreamspun, Psychic
Sleight of Hand
*Spellcraft
Stealth – Ectoplasm, Ghoul, Shadow
Survival – Boreal, Orc
Swim – Aquatic
*Use Magic Device
* = Class Skills
Italics = skills that have no corresponding Bloodline
Obviously Skill Focus (knowledge (planes)) would be the big winner, with ten bloodlines, but the bloodlines themselves aren't the best, IMO.
Skill Focus (knowledge (nature)) unlocks five bloodlines, and could be interesting.
Arcane makes a good starting point to add either Protean (with SF knowledge-planes) or Verdant (with SK knowledge-nature). Starting with Sylvan, so that you can then add Arcane or Verdant, would also be an option.
Arcane is fun because it has 'Knowledge (any)' as it's class skill, which should mean that you can take Skill Focus in any Knowledge skill to qualify for Eldritch Heritage (Arcane). (Ditto for the Maestro bloodline, which has Perform (any) as it's class skill.) Some GM's might disagree and forbid Arcane and Maestro from being taken with Eldritch Heritage, since they don't have a single clear-cut class skill...
Nanite and Impossible are interesting, so Knowledge (engineering) isn't a terrible choice, as are Deep Earth and Aberrant, or Destined and Harrow. Celestial, Daemon and Pestilence are an odd trio (although Daemon and Pestilence certainly fit together thematically!), but have some cool abilities to cherry-pick. (And you can start with *any* bloodline, obviously, it's only an issue if you want to take multiple Eldritch Heritages beyond your base bloodline, without having to take multiple Skill Focus feats!)
And then there's the other thought inspired by this list; What about the other skills? There aren't (yet) Bloodlines built around those skills.
New Sorcerer Bloodline seed ideas;
Escape Artist – teleportation, folding space, dimensions, self and others, perhaps folding time as well (wizard of space and time!)
Handle Animal – summoning and enhancing animals, summon nature's ally as bonus spells, with built in bonuses for summoning non-template animals
Knowledge (geography) – ley lines, natural features, manipulating the environment / maps / cartography
Knowledge (local) – community, family, a specific city or region?
Knowledge (nobility) – royalty, command, actual bloodlines
Linguistics – runes, inscription, glyphs, symbols
Ride – mounted spellcasting? (I got nuthin...)
Sleight of Hand – legerdemain, stage magic, magical thievery
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Huh, 2019 flew by and I didn't post to this thread! Time to address that.
Fiendsgiving "Like Friendsgiving, but for Fiends."
It started out decades ago, in Korvosa, as a dare between last-years. Accept a challenge *from your imp familiar.* (Whether the idea was first come up with by a student or by a familiar is unclear. For reasons that are politely agreed to be 'unrelated,' there was a smaller than normal graduating class that year...)
'Fiendsgiving' travelled far and wide, with the scattering of the (surviving) graduating class, albeit with changes, quickly expanding to all sorts of magical familiars (and other magical cohorts).
It proved quite popular in such diverse places as Irrisen and the Magaambya, the witches adapting it into a more 'dote on your familiar and let it terrorize the subject populace with impunity' Feasting celebration, and the Mwangi academy into more of an 'give gifts and tokens of appreciation to your familiar, teachers, mentors, students, apprentices and other magical associates' Appreciation day.