Neutral, Neutral...Evil?! But...but that means antipaladins are USELESS! :'(
Here's some non-antipaladin ideas I cooked up:
Kankerata(and Sons):
1 Demon, Xenarth
2 Bulettes(Young Simple, Half-Fiend templates applied)
Reskin the advanced Bulette from Kingmaker #3 as a Xenarth Demon. That's a CR10 total, not quite enough but close. Slap on some broodlings for him/her/it and you should be golden.
The Ugly Family:
1 Manticore(Riven Magic template applied)
1 Lamia(no SLAs, Broken Soul template applied)
2 Lamias(no SLAs, Riven Magic template applied, Spikes special ability)
Inspired by a table in the Manticore section in the Bestiary and an urgent want to have the Lamia's Wisdom Drain used as ranged touch attacks. I'd say the ideas above need some tweaking before they see play against your party, namely some added HD or the Advanced Simple template; possibly more, since I do away with the Lamia's SLAs(at least with the first Lamia, since the Broken Soul template gives her a -6 Cha).
Polyphemus!
1 Great Cyclops
Only problem with this one is action economy is against him. Maybe slap the Dread Zombie template on it?
If you want some fun things for your wild hunt, try a herd of awakened fiendish megaloceros.
Nice stuff =) Thanks! Where do I find those templates?
I meant the Riven Magic and Broken Soul ones >_>
S'ok =)
You don't want to face a herd of 3-50 fiendish megaloceros bulls led by an awakened one?:(
Edit: Ours also have the river elk's swim speed.
Haha nice. I will look into using them. But I already knew where the fiendish and awakened rules were, while the ones TS mentioned I'm not familiar with.
Ah, those templates are from Rite Publishing: the Broken Soul is in the Advanced Bestiary, a carry-over from 3.5, and the Riven Magic template is in 101 Not So Simple Monster Templates.
While the Broken Soul can be found here, the Riven Magic template is unfortunately not publicly available online. I can send you the rules and abilities via PM or e-mail if you're still interested.
Of course, there's nothing wrong hunting down a herd of beefed-up megaloceros, either. Fear the Running of the Bulls!
The regular megaloceros make great paladin mounts, for Erastil's paladins - which we have a lot of.
The best one has the racer archetype and horseshoes of speed!
Ah, those templates are from Rite Publishing: the Broken Soul is in the Advanced Bestiary, a carry-over from 3.5, and the Riven Magic template is in 101 Not So Simple Monster Templates.
While the Broken Soul can be found here, the Riven Magic template is unfortunately not publicly available online. I can send you the rules and abilities via PM or e-mail if you're still interested.
I actually have the 101 Templates book, so I'm good there. Just needed to know where to look. Thanks!
@Pennywit: Well, I do already have plans for that particular cyclops, but there are certainly undead about that need dealing with. In particular, the ex-Dhampir in my party has a Vampire she has good reason to fear....
My natural thought it towards a mutated or abberrant Water Orm ( http://paizo.com/PRD/additionalMonsters/waterOrm.html ) who has been corrupted by its time in the Candlemere.
NIIIIIIIICE.
Candlemere in my game was overrun by the Dark Song, pseudo-Lovecraftian sound-based alien entities that plague my setting. I happen to have made a template specifically for creatures corrupted by the Song... =D
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I ended up using the templated Orm and the herd of megaloceros suggestions, as well as two monsters (carnage tortoise and behemoth teleost) out of Frightful Folio.
Didn't use Kankerata, but I didn't want to yoink him out of VV! Thanks for the upgrade suggestions though, they'll definitely be on-hand when I get to the Run in chapter 3.
And ran the Lonely Barrow last night. Replaced the barbarians theme with Tengu pirates on the run from Naga, led by a Yamabushi Oni Samurai [sword saint]. Said Oni was now a Cairn Wight, and his Tengu troops had their skeletons turned into a pair of Bonestorms after the party engaged the LW. The Samurai got to have a nice iajutsu duel with the LW while the rest of the party fought off the Bonestorms.
I covered the walls of the tomb in carvings of the Tengus' story, ending in a carving of the Oni fighting a Naga shugenja with Vordakai overshadowing them (mentioned that the cloaked Cyclops behind the two fighters had an eye stained brown with paint or long-dried blood that was once red). There were several symbols of Charon in the tomb as well, and parts of the carvings depicting the Tengu allying with and bowing to Cyclopes. Between that and the vision of the Beldame's apprentice earlier regarding a red eye watching the party, Vordakai's awakening in the next chapter should seem less out of left field. I will probably play up the "Raven Lord" theme and give Vordakai a few more spies besides just Horagnamon, some Tengu and/or Yamabushi zombie minions, and likely his champion will be a Tengu, Yamabushi, or Dire Corby Antipaladin.
IC, it's a month and a half before the winter solstice, when Hargulka's army marches on Dun Raige. They've got Perlivash and his troops searching for his lair, but in a couple of weeks they're going to get distracted: Rigg Gargadilly, the only survivor of the battle at the Forgotten Keep, has attempted to revive the Dancing Lady (with whom he was enormously smitten, and she noticed not at all) by placing her body inside the incomplete Alraune she'd grown in her tower. Unfortunately for Rigg, the revitalized woman has no memories of her time as a Baobhan Sidhe - the Alraune revived her as she was before Lady Cordelia transformed her into a fey creature. (The Dancing Lady's backstory is revealed in this journal post - the party found and translated her diary-turned-gardening records book.) So among other things, she doesn't have her centuries of jaded existence to become the sadistic and manipulative Dancing Lady, and she doesn't remember the debts the murderous Rigg claims to have owed her. Enraged and frustrated, Rigg's fled to Hargulka, looking for someone who will entertain his willingness to kill for pleasure. The revived Dancing Lady, now remembering herself only as her former identity of Belle Leighn, has suddenly woken up inside an overgrown, long-ruined tower, without her husband or the fey woman who had been threatening them, and found herself a giant flower creature.
Perlivash and friends will find her foraging for food (and looking for people to explain to her what the heck is going on, since she doesn't recognize yet that centuries have passed due to her lost memories) in the nearby woods as they move south in about two weeks, and summoning the party to meet her should provide enough distraction for them to allow me to still spring Hargulka's attack at the expected time, probably just about the time Perlivash and crew find his lair.
And the party found Hargulka's lair a month before he would have marched, and are going to take the initiative and attack first (as well as beat out the start of winter) this Thursday. Looks like RRR is about at an end at last.
In other news, the Duchess* caught the revitalized Belle (ex-Dancing Lady) in the middle of storytelling Zuddiger's Picnic from memory to a crowd of gathered children in Tatzylford. They'll find a (badly tarnished and clearly ancient) copy of the book in Hargulka's lair. Where would be some other good spots to drop a copy for further foreshadowing?
*= soon to be upgraded to Viscountess - the kingdom's already at 21 hexes, but I'm waiting to drop the promotion on her until after Hargulka's done with; the ceremony will be where Varn, Drelev, Havelock, the Iron Wraiths, and other outside NPCs will be making their first appearances.
The Iron Wraiths are still alive? Cool.
Good spots for Zuddiger's Picnic to crop up aren't many, because it's a fairly recent work and rather obscure at that. I'd have it reappear at an auction or stall in the Rushlight Festival, and maybe in Maestro Pendrod's mini-library in the next adventure. Maybe the Witchmarket too, if you include that in your game; there's a thread with some excellent ideas for it buried around this section of the forums somewhere.
Other than that, I got nothing. Look for some more opportunities like with Belle, where you can slip bits and pieces in rather than the whole thing. Maybe some similar-sounding bits and pieces turn up in Tiger Lord lore, or Nomen culture?
Those work. And yeah, Belle's telling the verbal rendition of the story, one of many like it; the book wouldn't have been written until well after she'd been out of commission. And the spoiler, yes please =D
And yeah, in my game the Wraiths are going to be still around until Chapter 4, when Armag's forces wipe them out.
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It can be found here, and the link to the correct forum is also included!
ME LIKE.
Just wanted to say thanks for sharing everything here and to encourage you to please keep it coming. All the community created stuff here is great and now I'm just trying to figure out how much to steal for my campaign. :p
I love what you are doing with the fey courts as it definitely should smooth the reveal of N over well. For my steam-themed campaign, this should also work beautifully as the fey might particularly be upset over the increased technology, which has of course also caused a fair amount of damage to the natural landscapes.
Glad to assist!
The party defeated Hargulka and his retinue (Enlort, Kargadd, Rigg, and a really big Trollhound) last night, and I ended the session after revealing "a steel-colored owlbear the size of a castle" marching off toward their city.
I'll post up the stats for my altered Nagrundi, Kargadd, Rigg, and added Enlort probably tomorrow.
The party has dubbed the Owlbear Colossus "Owl's Moving Castle".
And said Moving Castle is now quite dead, along with the Queen of Forgotten Time's latest pawn. And the party has now some well-deserved downtime before things kick up when Chapter Three begins. There'll be a small get-together of the local bigwigs as mentioned above when Elegy gets her promotion, and a few other local things going on - particularly, I never did do the Surprise Cult side-quest, and I need to have them show up as hint to the arrival of Armagk and his association with the cult of Irshya (my Goddess of Envy and Harpies and replacement for Gyronna) in Chapter Four. Between that and Varn and Drelev coming to the shindig, this downtime's going to be packed with foreshadowing.
The cake, however, was taken by Magister Errol, who has finally gotten frustrated enough with his missing memories - taken by Lady Cordelia of Summer and paid for with his black blade, Red Right Hand - to summon up Queen Mab and try to make a deal with her to get them back. Unfortunately for Errol, both his partymate Lilith and Puck himself decided to follow him out into the woods and both in turn got called out of hiding by Mab and her daughter Lady Desdemona, and the resulting bantering between Puck and Lilith and Puck and Mab got Errol so riled and distracted that he completely threw the decision of what his payment should be into Mab's hands - his exact words were "Whatever, you decide!", and she was quick to vanish back to her lair before he could change his mind.
SO! Mab is going to have to send an emissary to Summer, who will have to negotiate their way to Cordelia, and THEN will have to barter for Errol's memories. Possibly piece by piece, if Mab can't conjure up something she knows the Summer Lady wants enough to get them all at once. (Which it's probably funnier if not.) Meaning she's justified, with all this extra work she'll have to do, in asking for a high price now that she's been given free reign to decide his payment. Her first options on the table of course were Briar (once the party's done with it, of course!) and Errol pledging his service to Winter, possibly as one of her Le'Fay (the mortals/semi-mortals who have sworn fealty to one of the courts). When he balked at both of those at first, she just started listing things off the Witchmarket list, since he asked her for "all the options you could offer" before deciding. (The intent was to overwhelm him into making a rash decision, which thanks to Puck and Lilith pushing him over the edge seems to have worked.)
SO! What should the price be?? =D
SO! What should the price be?? =D
Well, certainly no less than his soul and the souls of all the first-born males of his line I would think. Of course, I have been called a rat bastard DM a time or two. :p
Seriously though, as wide open as he left it, I would actually anticipate that Mab would ask for some sort of bound servitude. I'm thinking along the lines of Blood & Iron and how the water horse and Seeker were bound. Actually, I rather like the idea posited in that book of giving the "servant" three opportunities to kill the one who has bound him to gain freedom. Would work well in the context of a PC.
I'm not familiar with that book, can you give more detail please?
At the moment, I'm thinking I'm going to have her charge him for every step in the process, every little inconvenience, and every frustration or trouble she has to deal with on the way.
The best part about it, is that Puck - who showed up for the meeting to heckle - owes Errol a small debt. Errol, who semi-recently got reincarnated into a homebrew Wyldfae race called Glaistig, was frustrated with knowing so little of his new species and asked Puck for a trainer or mentor as his reward for entertaining the Jester. Puck has the contacts Mab needs to get Errol's memories from Cordelia, so she might just buy Puck's debt to Errol from him to pay for him being her emissary to Summer to retrieve the stolen goods.
Which is even better because the one of Mab's Le'Fay (her mortal or semi-mortal knights, similar to the Summer/Winter Knights from The Dresden Files except not limited to just one each) that the party has thus far met, Sharlin, is also a Glaistig, and could be ordered to give Errol the training he'd requested. Even better, said Glaistig is female - Mab might be interested in having a small army of Glaistig children arranged between the two, since the Glaistig are known in my setting for being sentinels and defenders of the fae.
Or heck, she might also try for more exotic cross-breeds, hoping to combine the Glaistig's innate capacity as soldiers and wardens with some of the more unusual abilities of the fae of her court.
All this is in addition to swearing her fealty of course, and perhaps even being forced to offer himself as Le'Fay to her as well.
Thoughts? Additions? Alternate suggestions?
Ultimately, I too believe that Mab will demand nothing less than Errol's undying servitude. I, however, believe she will be most insidious about it.
I very much like the idea of Mab demanding payment in installments, and relinquishing a few memories after services rendered. Said services would be some form of conditioning that further bind Errol to Mab - physical, like forsaking his old mortal form and embracing fey-dom permantently...and making him an actual subject of Mab and not simply a pawn, and mental and emotional as well, like tying the knot with a fey wife/husband/intelligent sword or unknowingly making him party to some political scheme against Summer, or even the Puck(I doubt very much that it would take, given Robyn's disposition, but I don't think Mab would like Errol to have any other fey friends besides her and her court). After all, Errol still has Red Right Hand, made to sloop up Nyrissa's very love...Imagine what Winter could do with such a burning passion, and what power of Nyrissa's it might yet hold! But a sword can be turned against its' wielder; why not make the sword a conduit, and Errol the vessel, giving him a fey heart to match the body?
And, of course, there's nothing saying that the memories will be given back to him in their...original condition, either...especially if you have him start giving up his humanity, literally and metaphorically.
These ideas are, as all of my ideas should, to be taken with a grain of salt, as my understanding of the underpinnings of Winter and Summer courts is limited up to and including "polar opposites." :P
Less "polar opposites" and more "two sides of the same coin".
Winter is the court of Destruction, while Summer is the court of Creation. Together they're the eternal cycle of life: Summer comes, life grows and thrives and expands and develops. But left unchecked leads to overcrowding, disease (in the words of Harry Dresden, "Yeah, a Summer victory is great, life growing and thriving everywhere. Awesome. Especially if you're an Ebola virus.")
Winter is that check - destruction, devastation, and death; thinning the heard, culling the weak, and forcing the strong to become stronger. In turn, Summer checks Winter from becoming too destructive, too devastating, and leading to eventual all-extinction, by bringing new life from the ashes of ruin and making sure a remnant survives eradication to renew once Winter has passed.
The fact that Nyrissa has so embraced corruption and destruction despite being Summer court originally is a side-effect of the process that stole her love and her nobility, and a major sign of her degrading sanity.
I very much like the partials idea - giving him bits and scattered pieces of memory was in the plan all along, never intending the whole thing at once, and probably delivering them at inconvenient times.
I don't think Mab will scheme against Puck, but that's mostly because there's not much to gain from it. Puck is Summer-tied, but he distances himself in a weird way where his allegiance is still there and he can be called on and relied on when needed but that he doesn't get tied up with the politics too much. It's hard to put into words, heh. She's probably better off politically - and, given Errol's very good reason to hate her, more likely to be successful - pointing his wrath toward Summer Lady Cordelia, who took his memories in the first place and gave him Red. After all, a sword can indeed be turned against its wielder... or in this case, its maker. >=)
And I REALLY like the idea of tampering with the memories, especially since zero precaution was taken against that.
I'm not familiar with that book, can you give more detail please?
It's the first in the Promethean Age novels by Elizabeth Bear. For purposes of my reference, the short of it is this:
A fey can be bound to another (not clear if it must be fey or not just from the first book) by having a strand of their hair tied up into the "master's" hair. Once this is done, the servant is quite literally bound to the master and must follow said master's orders. However, their will is not completely broken, and they are still allowed some wiggle room within said orders. For instance "Servant. Carry me safely across the river." The servant then carries the master across the river, but because the servant is torqued off, he proceeds to drag the master's dress through the muddy water. Technically, the order has been complied with.
Additionally, the "servant" can try to kill the master up to three times in order to gain his freedom, but if the third attempt is failed, the servant can only be set free by the master. Master can always free the servant by releasing the hair, etc. There's one final caveat: if a fey dies and has servants bound to him or her at the time of death, the servants also die, which tends to make them somewhat protective. :)
That's the gist of it. The good news is it wouldn't be a complete screw job on Errol, but would certainly be annoying.
In an unusual show of good faith - only Elegy, the Duchess, is Good-aligned (and that only a recent shift from LN); the rest of the party is some shade or another of Neutral, while Errol himself is CE - the other party members have begun scheming about how to either reduce or remove Errol's self-inflicted endebtment. These plans range anywhere from paying off small portions of his debt for him - though Elegy in particular is adamant about not taking the whole thing - to Lilith and Jaekah using their as-of-yet unpaid debts owed by Puck to persuade the Trickster to get Errol's memories from Cordelia before Mab/Mab's agent does. (And yes, that includes Lilith egging him on with a "bet you can't" dare. Puck won't be able to resist such a challenge.)
That's...awfully generous of them. Especially Elegy, given the way she and Errol get along.
Naturally, they will have to pay a high price for such selflessness. >:P
Puck is currently already indebted to Lilith and Jaekah from their earlier encounter, and Lilith's come up with a few more leverages she can weigh in on with the Jester.
The real repercussions are what Mab is going to do about having her blank check nicked away from her, because she can't finish her end of the bargain if Puck beats her to the chase. She may end up trying to steal Errol's memories back from him after he gets them, and then offering them back to him as completion of their deal.
Elegy is wisely sticking purely to the "willing to offer advice but not interfere directly" part of the plan, as the last thing she wants right now is to be even more entwined with Mab's schemes.
And arrangement made =) Also they learned that their majordomo/seneschal/royal advisor Ivan has been either Puck or Oberon alternatingly in disguise.
Ehhh, beats a skin stealer. So does this revelation mean that Ivan won't be making any further appearances?
Either way, I look forward to Mab's reaction to Puck's theft...and to what Puck will make Errol(and maybe Lilith, that little tease!) do to get his memories back. >:D
Nope, Puck and Oberon will still continue their charade. Only Elegy and Lilith were present for the deal-making, and they've chosen not to share this information with the guys.
Yay! More of that merry wanderer at the night! Jest to Oberon, and make me smile!
So I've mentioned that Lilith's sire, Ibrahim, is a powerful (and certainly Mythic) dread vampire necromancer, former student of Vordakai, and all-around supervillain material. The party'll be facing him as the climax of Blood for Blood - after they deal with Drelev and Armagk, they'll be able to track down one of the three puppetteers (the other two, of course, being my Irovetti and Choral replacements, Lord Archmage Beltasar Havelock and the blue wyrm Cuorvhain respectively). Not to mention that he's been keeping a close eye on the party and will want to "return" Lilith to her "family" - preferably by turning her, an even worse idea now since she's a Fae Firstborn.
Ibrahim plans on adding some fallen foes to his "family" as undead. In particular, enemies that have had a striking closeness or rivalry with the party. That list, thus far, is:
Dovan from Haven: He and Errol had a rivalry since they met, and since their tokens looked similar enough to be brothers the other players have teased him mercilessly about it even after Errol's reincarnate. Since Dovan and Errol were both from the continent across the sea, I think I actually will have them be related - though more than likely Dovan would be Errol's nephew or moderately distant cousin rather than brother, given the age differences between them.
Brought back as: A Deadly Dancer (from 3.5's Tome of Magic) Ghoul.
Kressle: Kressle became famous in our game for dying stupidly. In her first fight she knocked herself unconscious with a Fumble card by smacking herself in the face with her own axe, then getting CDG'd by Elegy smashing her head in with her mace. She was revived by the Dancing Lady as a Kelpie, only to get pureed in a single round by Takeshi before she even got to act. There's a bit of vengeful spirit going on here.
Brought back as: a ghost of some sort.
The Stag Lord: Staggy went down like a chump, so this is his chance to redeem himself a bit. Ibrahim got... creative with his design on reviving him.
Brought back as: I'm not sure specifically what stats and template I'll use for him, but I found a picture to use for his token. He won't simply be an undead human - he'll be a true Stag Lord now. The only part of his body that remains normal will be his torso and arms, allowing him to still use his bow. The undead body of a stag megaloceros, attached to his torso like a centaur, and a skeletal horned skull (in place of his helmet that Lilith now wears) replaces his human head. Might be more a construct than an undead at this point....
Grigori: Havelock had Grigori assassinated before Lilith's kobolds could use him as a double agent. They left his body behind in Drelev after the attack, and Ibrahim collected up the bard's remains. He'll be back to harass the party more directly in Ibrahim's lair.
Brought back as: Variant banshee? Something incorporeal and focused on his oratory, that's for certain. Even undead, he's still Grigori.
Rigg: The Anti-Lilith, according to the party. The only enemy they've encountered in the entire game that could both beat her Perception and perceive her in Stealth in turn.
Brought back as: Some kind of wight.
Kargadd: If Rigg is the Anti-Lilith, Kargadd was the Anti-Jaekah-and-Takeshi combined. The party actually considered him harder than Hargulka to kill.
Brought back as: Undecided. Something big, tough, and mean.
Nuozelas, King of the Forest: The party is just about to saddle up and go kill this guy, upgraded to a Mature Adult Forest Dragon in my game instead of piddling Forest Drake. Ibrahim collects dead dragons above all else, and unless the party takes great pains not to leave anything behind, the King of the Forest will see a return in Chapter Four.
Brought back as: Ravener.
Others will be added to the list if/as appropriate as the party goes through Chapters Three and Four.
Yeah, it occurred to me recently that we never found out more about whatever killed the unicorn. At which point, I began panicking at the number of dead things we've just...left... such as Rigg.
So, trying to prevent any more badness with the dragons.
On the upside, muahahahah, they realized this too late for me to get most of the people on this list.
On the downside, no Ravener from the KotF or his consort. They're collecting up both the bodies to be used for trophies, with Elegy spending a point of Mythic for each to temporarily learn rest eternal and prevent them from ever being made undead.
So I might just have him have Silverstep's bones instead, and Ravener-ize him. Since the party is about to go looking for his daughter Eranex (Dragons Unleashed) to ally with her as a participant in the Long Game, having her dad as an undead monstrosity opponent will be all the more entertaining.
Had this hilarious line in chat tonight.
[10:44:19 PM] Jaekah: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Loose_lips_might_sink_sh ips.jpg
[10:44:32 PM] Elegy: ....who are you shipping
[10:44:42 PM] Errol: Shadrach and Drelev
Shadrach=Pitax
And they don't even know yet.
Heheheh. If they only knew!
Speaking of knowing, it seems you have lost another Ravener candidate thanks to the party's foresight. Just as well, perhaps, I recall Ravener creations being a conscious choice, like lichdom. Might I recommend Sjovhor, also from Dragons Unleashed? He could also make an interesting competitor in the Long Game as well.
I have a few other suggestions for Ibraham's 'family,' being the fan I am of recurring adversaries as undead monstrosities:
Kressle: definitely a Wraith, I think, for anger at her ignoble deaths and thirst for vengeance. Perhaps using the Dread template from the Advanced Bestiary?
Grigori: I wholeheartedly recommend an allip for him. Incorporeal, an orator, and lots of wisdom damage, all in one lovably gibbering bundle!
Rigg: I like the idea of a Mist Wight, in the variants sidebar. So much extra nastiness available from a +1 CR; fatigue, stinking cloud, blindsense...and concealment for death attacks!
Kargadd:I'm thinking a Mohrg here, for extra reach and paralysis nastiness. Also big, and exceptionally tough.
Lastly, I have a stat block I'm using to build The Stag Lord Reborn, as inspired by your above musings. I can provide it for you, if you wish; I haven't added the class levels yet, as I don't know if you used Staggy right out of the book or not.
Hahah, I love all of those.
I actually just pulled the revampped Staggy from the 6-player conversion as my group wasn't way above the curve at the time (and there were only 3 of them plus Mikmek, Rannulf, and Akiniyi, rather than the 5 PCs I have now). And regardless I can always throw more class levels on him if needed. Sure, let me see it! Here is the image I'm using for him. (I'd link you directly from the original on DevArt, but it seems to have vanished from my Favorites - and from Google Image Search.) =(
And yeah, they used rest eternal on Silverstep too, so no coming back a second time (Ebana the cleric, from Eranex's quest, turned him into a Dread Skeleton to fight the party, which pissed Eranex the hell off) for him either. Between knowing of Ibrahim's existence and paranoia about the necromancer who killed the unicorn in chapter one (which was actually Ilthuliak) they're paranoid about undead now, and one Knowledge check from Elegy about "oh yeah undead dragons/dracoliches/raveners are bad news" was all they needed as justification.
I doubt additional levels will be necessary; I'd peg Staggy 2.0's CR at around 15, maybe 16 if you look to the side and squint. The image you included is pretty hardcore, so I added a little blurb based off it with the stat block. Read it at your own discretion, very NSFW.
Pox sores oozing from cracked flesh pulled taut over bony ribs like papyrus leaves, the beast has all the appearance of a starved, diseased horse – up until the neck, where the head should be. In its place is a half-eaten human torso bleeding a small stream of maggots, rippling with dying muscles that snap and crackle as it heaves breathlessly. And on top of that is a skull of what once must have been a majestic megaloceros, poking out of the human-sized neck as though it were a tight-collared tunic. Eyeless sockets wash over you, and it opens its mouth and screeches at you with a moldy tongue. The bubble of shadowy tendrils that wash around it a moment later cannot hide the nightmarish form entirely, leaving you to imagine how its features move, rustling behind its veil, for the rest of your life.
THE STAG LORD REBORN
XP 51,200
CE Large Construct(augmented monstrous humanoid) Ranger 3/Rogue 6
Init +9; Senses blindsense 30 ft. low-light vision, darkvision 60 ft., scent; Perception +17
Aura Crypt Musk(DC 16, 1 round)
DEFENSE
AC 30, touch 14, flat-footed 25 (+6 Armor, +5 Dex, +10 natural, –1 size); +2 deflection vs. Good
hp 141 (15d10+6d8+27); regeneration 5(positive energy)
Fort +11, Ref +17, Will +11 ; +2 resist vs. Good
DR 10/magic and slashing; Immune Variant Construct traits, magic
Defensive Abilities evasion, trap sense +2, uncanny dodge, resiliency(6 hp)
OFFENSE
Speed 60 ft.
Melee gore +21 (2d8+21 plus Scars of battle), 1 slam +19 (1d8+15), 2 hooves +19 (1d6+15 plus Scars of battle)
OR +1 longsword +22/+17/+12/+7 (1d8+22 dmg plus Scars of battle, 19-20/x2), gore attack +19 (2d8+21 plus Scars of battle), 2 hooves +19 (1d6+15 plus Scars of battle)
OR cold iron masterwork longsword +22/+17/+12/+7 (1d8+21 dmg plus Scars of battle, 19-20/x2), gore attack +19 (2d8+21 plus Scars of battle), 2 hooves +19 (1d6+15 plus Scars of battle)
Ranged +2 composite longbow +16/+16/+16/+11/+6/+1 (1d8+23 dmg plus Scars of battle)
OR w/ cold iron fey bane arrows +18/+18/+18/+13/+8/+3 (1d8+23+2d6 dmg plus Scars of battle)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks powerful charge (gore, 4d8+16), Scars of battle(DC 20), favored enemy (human +2), sneak attack +3d6
STATISTICS
Str 32(+11), Dex 20(+5), Con --, Int 8(-1), Wis 14(+2), Cha 10(+0)
Base Atk +16; CMB +28; CMD 43 (47 vs. trip)
Feats Great Fortitude, Improved Bull Rush, Minotaur’s Charge, Multiattack, Power Attack (-5 atk, +10 dmg), Toughness, Ability Focus(Scars of Battle), Point Blank Shot, Deadly Aim (-5 atk, +10 dmg), Weapon Focus (longbow/comp. longbow), Quick Draw, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Blind-Fight, Manyshot, Improved Precise Shot, Improved Initiative(B), Iron Will(B), Run(B)
Skills Acrobatics +14, Appraise +11, Climb +16, Intimidate +12, Knowledge (local) +5, Knowledge (geog) +3, Perception +26, Stealth +24, Surivial +10, Swim +16
SQ undersized weapons, favored terrain (hills +2), Rogue Talents(combat trick, resiliency, weapon training), track +1, trapfinding, wild empathy +3
Combat Gear +2 composite longbow(+11 Str), +1 longsword, +3 studded leather armor Other Gear amulet of natural armor +1; 24 +1 cold iron fey bane arrows; 400 arrows; 223 gp, 4 sp
Variant Construct Traits (Ex)
This particular intelligent construct is immune to death effects, disease, necromancy effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless). Constructs are not subject to nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or energy drain. Constructs are not at risk of death from massive damage.
Crypt Musk (Ex)
All living creatures (except those with the stench special ability) within 30 feet must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 stench creature’s racial HD + stench creature’s Con modifier) or be nauseated. The duration of the nauseated condition is given in the creature’s descriptive text. Creatures that successfully save cannot be affected by the same creature’s stench for 24 hours. A delay poison or neutralize poison spell removes the effect from the sickened creature. Creatures with immunity to poison are unaffected, and creatures resistant to poison receive their normal bonus on their saving throws.
Immune to Magic (Ex)
The Stag Lord Reborn is immune to any spell or spell-like ability that allows spell resistance. In addition, certain spells and effects function differently against the creature, as noted below.
• Gentle repose causes The Stag Lord Reborn to become stiff and helpless for 1d4 rounds if it fails a Will save against the spell.
• Any spell that inflicts positive energy damage deals no damage; instead, it disables his regeneration ability if he fails his save against the spell. See the Regeneration section for further details.
• Any spell that inflicts negative energy damage deals no damage; instead, it reactivates his regeneration ability (no save). See the Regeneration section for further details.
• Animate dead causes the various parts of the his body to shudder and tear, dealing 1d6 points of damage per caster level to The Stag Lord Reborn (no save).
• Any magical attack that deals cold or fire damage slows The Stag Lord Reborn (as the slow spell) for 2d6 rounds (no save).
• Any magical attack that deals electricity damage hastes The Stag Lord Reborn (as the haste spell) for 2d6 rounds.
Regeneration (Ex)
The Stag Lord Reborn was infused with a nexus of negative energy upon creation for the purpose of stitching together any wounds it might take in combat, giving it the ability to regenerate despite having no Constitution score. However, unlike most forms of regeneration, if the Stag Lord Reborn is hit with an energy type that causes his regeneration to stop functioning, it does not resume functioning in another round. Rather, the regeneration is de-activated until The Stag Lord Reborn is hit with a negative energy attack, at which point it begins regenerating hit points as normal.
Scars of Battle (Ex)
The corpses that comprise this abomination were both slain in terribly violent fashions, and when they were re-animated, they were driven to spread the pain and misery of their battles to any that have the misfortune of fighting them. When a creature fails its save against this curse, another wound like the one that passed the curse appears on the creature’s body, as though it were struck again; like a hoof-shaped bruise or a bleeding hole like a goring horn. The save DC is Charisma-based and includes a +2 racial bonus.
Scars of Battle: curse; gore, hooves, maunfacted weapons—injury; save Fortitude DC 20; onset 2 rounds; frequency 2 rounds; effect 1d3 bleed damage, staggered for 1 round.
Undersized Weapons (Ex)
Although The Stag Lord Reborn is Large, its upper torso is the same size as that of a Medium humanoid. As a result, it wields weapons as if it was one size category smaller than its actual size (Medium).
Flesh-Stripped Skull (Su)
The megaloceros skull affixed to The Stag Lord Reborn’s neck stump functions as the focal point for an unhallow effect, penalizing the DCs of any positive energy spells cast on him by 4 and allowing him to make a second save against various charms, compulsions, and mind effects. The effects of the magic circle against evil spell are already included in his stat block here, just as the equivalent cost of creating this particular magic item has been taken out of his gp expenditures.
The additional spell effect is currently darkness; however, feel free to change it as needs must!
Looking over this, I think it's safe to say that while this is a good first-time effort, this is still a work in progress.
Inspiration was drawn from the idea that this sort of amalgam end up more like a construct, rather than pure undead. The idea of the transplanted head reminded me of a certain magic item, which I actually ended up using. You can see some bits of the megaloceros in there, as well as the golem's magic immunity and stench aura; these are intentional.
Unfortunately, making him a construct gave him a big honking weakness, namely no modifier to add to his hp. The averages are atrocious for an opponent of this CR, and the AC and DR are simply not up to the task of compensating for it at this stage of the game, especially the DR. Magic and slashing? Every adventurer has something that meets this criteria at level 10. The regen effect should help, even though I'm kinda bending the rules by including it, and the darkness effect gives it concealment; the perfect storm of defensive measure and offensive set-up, for some extra d6s of sneak attack. Even then, I might simply give higher than average hp to give it a fighting chance, or tweak the DR so it doesn't suck.
Oh, offense? He's got lots of options there. The stat block above includes Power Attack/Deadly Aim; deactivate it to boost the atk mods by +5, which will still look very nice indeed. His powerful charge ability synergizes well with Bull Rush and Mintoaur's Charge, allowing him to create an avenue of escape when he needs it, so he can go right back to trying to pop his enemies with arrows without worrying about AoOs or getting hacked into chum.
Lastly, the Scars of Battle curse is obviously homebrewed. Ultimately, I wanted something interesting and hair-tearing like mummy rot without it being a "from hell's heart I stab at thee" gimmick. It should be more annoying than lethal to players as a result; while the bleed damage can build up fast, the stagger is clearly the chewy center of this Tootsie Pop of Evil. Being able to inflict it at range is just gravy.
In any case, criticism and questions are welcome, whether it applies to ridiculous homebrew curses or the big honking monster in general. I have the original version, sans levels, in case you want a rebuild, and if you want to change up his gear, feel free! I gave him gp for a Level 16 Heroic NPC(58,500), and took out 30,000 for the unhallow effect.
I doubt additional levels will be necessary; I'd peg Staggy 2.0's CR at around 15, maybe 16 if you look to the side and squint.
For my group it will be - they just hit Level 12/Mythic 2, and did so by taking out an Ankou (CR 14), a 15th level cleric, a 14th level sorcerer, a Dread Skeleton Old Silver Dragon (CR 18), and their minions (CRs 7-10). And we haven't started VV yet - they won't run into Ibrahim's revivifications until the end of BFB.
Still, awesome work! Thanks muchly!
I doubt additional levels will be necessary; I'd peg Staggy 2.0's CR at around 15, maybe 16 if you look to the side and squint.For my group it will be - they just hit Level 12/Mythic 2, and did so by taking out an Ankou (CR 14), a 15th level cleric, a 14th level sorcerer, a Dread Skeleton Old Silver Dragon (CR 18), and their minions (CRs 7-10). And we haven't started VV yet - they won't run into Ibrahim's revivifications until the end of BFB.
Still, awesome work! Thanks muchly!
Oof. Yeah, my little cretin isn't worth much to them as they are now, much less how strong they'll be by then. And I don't know how exactly Mythic rules work, so I can't really help you bolster him against the Epic Shenanigans. I just hope it all turns out okay in the end. If they end up having a tough fight, I've done my job.
2 Mythic tiers roughly equal 1 level/+1 CR.
2 Mythic tiers roughly equal 1 level/+1 CR.
...Huh. I'm sure there's more to it that that, in terms of new tricks they get, but if this is all I need to keep in mind when statting up monsters for Mythic, that's...so much easier. So much.
I'll write up the entirety of Staggy's new upgrades as your team of badasses starts carving their way through Chapter 3 so I'll have a better idea on what CR to shoot for, but it'll likely include giving him PC-level Gear and the Exemplar. In the meantime, I'll be watching their exploits with interest.
So I dropped this on Lilith after last week's session:
After the Coronation, when Lilith (and whoever accompanies her) returns to the Talonquake, someone has left a note, hanging from a dagger jabbed into the tree just above eye level.
FATHER SENDS HIS LOVE.Asking Za Guard in the area who put it there gets the cryptic response, "The man with sword hands."
The deliverer is, of course, ghoulified deadly dancer Dovan.
Given that Lilith's player is the only one in my group who has read any of SoIaF, apparently there's a very similar line in there ("Lannisters send their regards" I think?) and it gave her a good scare. Given I haven't read it, this was unintentional but nevertheless amusing.
I think the best part is that Lilith does not trust anyone on the Council enough to share this information with them, meaning the rest of the party may be oblivious to it until something else happens or Perlivash, Tyg, Ledipte, or one of the other Za Guard fey lets something slip.