How about some undead sects that protect and care for some ancient sites and artifacts from Akitons long lost past? Some real heavy mysteries and history that could hold parts of the key to revive Aktion.
Also they could be a source for machines and androids, those being a try of them to overcome their undead flesh and decay on the search for eternal life.
Being undead they don´t need water, so they can life deep, deep in a dry and hot desert. perhaps also underground partly. Or even in open space on some moons and asterious without atmosphere.
Players just landed. Everything comes from lizards and I'm loving the skimpy armor, even if it's making my google history look odd.
Did you read Mythic Realms yet?
It details the Doorway to the Red Star, and Akiton crops up in the discussion thread:
So going to Akiton infuses you with mythic power? This explains so much about planetary-romance heroes! ^.^
As another question from before, does anybody have any details on the Doorway to the Red Star as a mythic font, or what specific abilities it can grant a user?It's a permanent link between the world of Akiton - specifically the Contemplatives of Ashok - and Golarion. So far most who have tapped into its power completely misunderstood the Contemplative's whisperings and were driven various forms of crazy. The two best/worst examples of this are the cultists of the Throat of Nothingness, and the sorcerous King of Biting Ants (a variant worm-that-walks). It grants three path abilities, all universal:
-Akitonian physiology grants an alchemist's discovery, but at the cost of permanently losing uses of mythic power. Not a great choice.
-Telepathic Mindlink lets you use telepathic bond and sending.
-Water of contemplation lets you use the equivalent of the alchemist's cognatogen (the smart version of the mutagen) discovery.
1st Tier
Akitonian Physiology- reshape your appearance to the alien species of akiton and permanently gaing the benefits of one of these alchemist discoveries: chameleon, preserve organs, tumor familiar, or vestigial arms. can be taken multiple times, every time you take it after the first you loose one mythis ability point and gain a cumulative -1 on cha checks/cha skill checks with animals, fey, and humanoids.3rd tier
Telepathic Mindlink
spend one mythic point for sending or telepathic bond spells.Waters of Contemplation
Spend a mythic point to turn a potion into any Alchemical concoction that increases mental stat(s) at the lost of physical one(s).
I gave it one.
Otherwise because the various cities just grab some decanters of endless water and get back to work.
|
Sorry for my AWOL status. Busy busy. :(
I just wanted to jump in on the canal system. While classic Pulp Mars has canals all over it, the backstory for Akiton makes this seem unlikely save in small regions well above the "surface", as Akiton was once a pretty watery place. So actually, Arl probably has at least remnants of one (and I planned that the lowlands were watered by aqueducts, because aqueducts are cool).
I bet there's highlands all across Akiton with extensive canal systems (now bone-dry trenches), but modern Akiton gets most of its water from underground springs; a small but not insignificant percentage of Akiton's total water (and most of its potable liquid water) comes from underground, where the last remnants of Akiton's geological activity keep it warm enough to not freeze. It's why I imaging Akito's plant matter all has very deep taproots, or else is carnivorous and feed off blood (extra creepy factor).
So there's canals, probably, but between time, wind, and forgetfulness, I assume only extremely brilliant engineers and historians know what all those trenches are about.
|
|
On undead:
I never got around to finishing my document, but here's the stuff I did finish.
I've been wanting to jump onto undead for a while, and with working on Fueha-Re and all, it seems a fine time to riff on some ideas. I'm sure Akiton has its share of undead, and weaker sunlight is probably a boon to undead both foreign and native (though I could see the dark side of Verces being a potential undead playground, what with no light and cold immunity built in). At some point I'll try my hand at making some new undead, or variants thereof. But I'll try to cover some basic types that spring to mind at the moment.
I assume most undead in the time before Fueha-Re's undeath were pretty rare, and created undead were unheard of. The proto-shobhads, the elder things, and the early humanoid civilizations don't seem like they had a lot of necromancers. Since then, undead are on the rise, with hungry/life-sapping undead prolly more common than other kinds, as befitting Fueha-Re seeming to be sapping the life of the planet. That's probably a limiting factor on the growth of Whispering Way/Song of Silence cultists on Akiton- if there's nothing to feed on, your eternity totally blows. Fueha-Re, for her part, doesn't particularly favor the life-suckers (with the exception of the Akitoni vampire; see below); they just represent in a metaphysical sense what she's doing to th planet, and that echo has resonance.
Ghouls: Because becoming a ghoul involves cannibalism, and life on Akiton is hard as heck, there's prolly some ghouls about. Those are most likely your surface-dwelling random undead encounter. Caravans lost in a sandstorm or remote cannibal tribes are probably sources for hungry dead. Obviously lacedons are pretty much unheard of.
Incorporeal Undead: These can pop up most anywhere. Ghosts are spirits unable to move on. No one really cares what makes specters, wraiths, and all that other mumbo-jumbo. They just ruin your day. Light-hating undead are common in the Under, Akiton's version of the Darklands, as well as the Edaio Rift, where there's always some place where the sun don't shine.
Liches: Fueha-Re cultists are totally into lichdom. They're probably the most common liches. Second might be some incredibly odd Tech-Priests who find undeath a great way to extend your chances to make newer, better machines, but I'd bet they make up maybe half a percent of the total Tech-Priest populace (and their path to lichdom is most assuredly partially or wholly mechanical in nature). I'd bet there's one high-level demilich Tech-Priest floating around, spending nearly all their time dreaming up new machines, waking once every century or two to release a design through some proxy and collect the rewards over the ages. Third is the rare Eoxian bone-sage. There's three in Fu Le, who do the research no living soul could stomach, and maybe 1-3 others floating around, doing isolated experiments.
Mindless Undead: Clerics of Fueha-Re are usually the ones behind the creation of mindless undead, usually more as menial labor than as undead hordes or armies. The average cleic of Fueha-Re is far more invested in mental prowess as opposed to brute strength, so having some dudes around who can move the divan is pretty useful.
|
|
And finally...
Yeh, I've got Mythic Adventures, Mythic Realms, and Mythic Origins, all of which I have read to one degree or another (Mythic Adventures more than the other two, as I'm running WotR). The Contemplatives are a bag I'm gonna try to tackle later, since they're so weird (and apparently, walking through that gate can morph you into mythical stuff, further complicating the balancing act). I am glad Akiton got its shout-out, though, far more than I can express here due to lack of expression.
But I'll try.
|
|
On ideas regarding the possibly world-changing decanter of endless water:
We'd discussed water-creating magic way back, but I mentioned a few ideas, said I'd mull on it, then dropped it, aside from mentioning city-states using "magic" as a possible water supply. Time for me to try out some ideas.
The easiest I think from a combination world and rules standpoint is to treat all spells with the [water] descriptor as affected by impeded magic. For a quick reference:
Impeded Magic: Particular spells and spell-like abilities are more difficult to cast on planes with this trait, often because the nature of the plane interferes with the spell. To cast an impeded spell, the caster must make a concentration check (DC 20 + the level of the spell). If the check fails, the spell does not function but is still lost as a prepared spell or spell slot. If the check succeeds, the spell functions normally.
So the more likely you are gonna be able to cast water spells reliably, the less likely you are to be willing to cast create water all day. That helps keep 1st-level apprentices doing that boring job while leaving potent magic-users doing exciting things, though I doubt any one apprentice is doing this job for more than, say, an hour per day (maybe as payment for their training or as a civic duty).
As for the infamous decanter, here's a thought: an average decanter of endless water could be considered to have a Concentration check of +11 (CL 9th, +2 stat bonus, based off of item crafting rules). Its check is DC 24. So it fails 65% of the time. Here's a couple of ways to play that. You turn it on, and 65 out of 100 rounds it spurts and sputters but no water comes out. Or the volume of water is 35% of normal (so .35 gallons, 1.75 gallons, or 10.5 gallons per round, depending on what setting its on). Or like Use Magic Device, you try to activate it, and 65% of the time it doesn't turn on (and 5% of those times, it doesn't work for 24 hours).
Now, even at diminished capacity (using suggestion 2), a decanter can still keep about 260 people in water every year assuming the geyser function, properly braced and set over some form of aquifer (numbers factored using human water info snagged off Wikipedia, converted from cubic meters to gallons; I assume it includes water for crops and animals to feed the person, as well as just the half-gallon suggested per day).
That keeps Arl and its holdings in water for 3.5 million gp. Arl spent millions on a hovering war barge they barely use, and probably a fortune in upkeep; they can afford to buy the approximately 385 decanters it'd take to keep the whole population of Arl and its holdings well-watered.
If you don't think that's pricey enough, lemme throw some ideas and see which ones stick, assuming Impeded Magic (Water) is in effect.
1: Water-creating magic items simply don't work. This is the absolute easiest, and keeps Akiton's economy intact, but will stick in the craw of some players and GMs.
2: The difficulty of crafting these items diminishes their effectiveness as above, and ups their cost by a factor of, say, 10; off-world magical water supplies don't work as above unless crafted using those special magical requirements that'd work on Akiton. 90k leaves most of Akiton's communities well outside of affording a decanter. This focuses efforts on Akiton's known water sources (springs, wells, and water collectors), keeps money-grubbing folks from popping onto Akiton and selling (relatively) cheap decanters for high profit. This is the idea I prefer, but some might like the simplicity of the idea above better.
Lemme know what y'all think.
Definately interested!
Doesn´t need to be a post three times a day or get kicked game.
Could finally try some of the more weird builds then probably.
Hey, funny question. If I ran a game set on Akiton by PbP, would anyone be interested in playing? I'm still kinda figuring out the PbP basics, and my schedule is kinda weird, but I think it might be fun.
Gaah. I'd love to play a lizard folk trader (bard or rogue or just plain fighter) with cobbled together bootlegged Vercite Augmentations on the run from Hivemarket khulan and with a bounty on his head in Maro.
Secret connections with Vercite Aethership captains as a special bonus trait! Y'know, not getting specific or anything...
PM me if this is happening!!!
Hey, funny question. If I ran a game set on Akiton by PbP, would anyone be interested in playing? I'm still kinda figuring out the PbP basics, and my schedule is kinda weird, but I think it might be fun.
You have my foulest sorceries or alchemy! I'd be very interest, my Aktion group fell apart because one of them complained about it and no one will try playing it again.
You have my attention and interest. << >>
|
|
My preferred assumption for the create water situation (whether it be in Osirion or on Akiton) is that the spell works just fine, but that the region/world itself is so arid, that it would be a desolate wasteland without magically supplied water. So, instead of changing the spell to reflect the setting, say that it's only because of the spell that the area is even livable in the first place, and that the use of the spell by anyone who can cast it is already 'baked in' to the setting assumption.
One more PC cleric showing up with the spell won't do jack squat to 'change the ecosystem' or alter the dynamic of a community since there are already a dozen adepts (and a few clerics, druids, oracles, whatever) casting that spell like mad just to sustain each community and its agriculture.
It's never been codified, as far as I know, but the base assumption of D&D was never that *anyone* with an Int score above 9 could become a wizard, even if that was the minimum requirement for a PC to be a wizard. Even in the FR setting's Halrua, a nation that idolized wizardry, there were tons of people who 'lacked the gift' and couldn't become wizards. I would expect the same to apply to clerics, druids, oracles and even NPC adepts. Not everyone with a wisdom of 10 should be able to become an adept (or cleric, druid or oracle) and get access to create water, and those who can, in a place like Thuvia or Osirion or Akiton, should be assumed to be doing so, and using their abilities as much as reasonably able, to support life and communities in such inhospitable climates.
With an especially arid climate, water would be hard to store, as well, as it would evaporate extra quickly, if not bottled up, and communities would likely have underground vaults filled with sealed jars of water, in case of emergencies, as the obvious tactic when one wants to destroy a community is to target their water-makers. Kill even half of a communities adepts, and suddenly they have to choose whether to drink water or grow food or make weapons or any of many other vital things they need that water for. Various crafts will likely consume great quantities of water as well, and the most successful among them will have their own dedicated adept, so that they don't have to get water from the town supply (which may be free, as a service of some priesthood, to the faithful, in limited rations, or run by a ruthless 'Water Guild' that charges an arm and a leg for the service), perhaps some second or third child (or even someone adopted into the family) who 'has the gift' and can become a 1st level adept, and live a life of paranoia, becoming a target for their families rivals, never being allowed to leave the house or do anything more interesting than create water, making their 'gift' seem more like a terrible curse...
In less squeamish groups, such as harsh desert tribes, 'water reclamation' might also be a going concern, as the same adept (whatever) able to create water will also be able to purify water, so that tribes-members are expected to pee into a special bucket, the contents of which are purified and then put into regular waterskins. They might shake their heads that the decadent and spoiled city-folk let perfectly good 'water' go to waste, by not reclaiming it in this fashion.
|
|
Good points, KtA. I mentioned before, but I've never read Burroughs, I've only osmosed bits of the lore from here and there, so I didn't know that Barsoom was once Earth-like in water supply (though I coulda assumed, since Akiton's VERY heavily influenced by his stuff).
As for water tables, how they refresh, and how long it'd take to drain one with a city of X size, or other science-y widgets, well, I'm terrible at math, so my science skills suffer (like trying to write with a vocabulary of a hundred words, I'm working at a severe handicap here). I should look into how I assume the wind moves around the planet, though. Mount Ka is huge-normous, so it's gonna definitely affect where the wind goes (though we can probably assume Hivemarket's in optimal city placement because they coulda put it most anywhere otherwise).
I kinda like the idea of the bottom of the Edaio Rift being a bit lush (probably fungal, since I'm pretty set on my "no trees on Akiton" thing), and even experiencing rain/mist/fog, which'd wig out surface dwellers.
As for create water, see Set's post above. I think I mentioned that making water is one of those things the apprentices (1st-level casters) do as one of their ways of helping the community. It's not gonna get everyone water, but it helps ease the burden on more natural supplies. Plus, the higher-level casters are needed for other stuff, like divining the will of the gods, crafting the odd magic item, healing the hunters and warriors, winning the Dune Sea ping-pong tournament, and so forth. Standing around trying to make water for eight hours a day, unless there's a severe shortage, can be handled by flunkies as their equivalent of "chop wood, carry water."
Set, this is definitely the tack I'm taking now. You codified a lot of the stuff I didn't quite explain right, as well as stuff I didn't write down on here, AND added that sweet desert village "water reclamation" idea as well.
And indeed, I did want to sell some level of "water decadence" for the cities; my Maro stuff mentions that the Arsis Holdings guys (and the Arl PDF's stuff about the Thurok's Palace) use water for all sorts of non-essential life functions like baths, fountains and watering alien trees just to look at them (instead of eating 'em).
I'm also assuming some minor evolutionary quirk that's allowed Akitoni races to live on a bit less water (and, because who wants to hang out on a planet of people who never bathe, somehow makes them not stinky when they're dirty). Nothing that'd change the rules, mind. Just flavor-based.
On the subject of bathing, I've considered something akin to the oil-downs that Roman bath-houses used to to; you apply some plant oil, then scrape it off (or have a buddy or a slave scrape off the hard-to-reach areas) as a way to keep clean. Obviously, the Romans also took baths, which is right out for 99% of Akiton's humanoid populace. But it seems kinda cool to have the community bond over regular cleaning rituals.
OH YEAH! Don't forget Hivemarket's water merchants, who send caravans of sand ships to the poles to carve off ice for sale at various communities (at a mad high profit, of course- they're not fun if they're doing it out of the goodness of their hearts). I imagine the gig is very high-risk/high-reward, and therefore the sort of thing adventurers get called in for. Guarding an ice caravan is a great adventure hook.
Looking at a homebrew with a friend i had some ideas lately.
Especially about "magic". Essentially it´s the idea that a lot of magic is not really magic, but some other abilties. This is supported by the Pathfinder system because you already need stuff to cast a spell.
So instead that normal stuff written there, create water now needs some special machines or sites, or like on Dune, those wind or dewtraps.
Same could be true for a lot of other spells and stuff.
It can be kept apart from mundane things easily enough, like stuff doesn´t have weight, functions better, or what you want.
For the water, I'm running it as there is a grand canal, but it's empty right now, it has tributaries that reach off to most cities (pre human, elder things, humans chose cities with canal access as a good place to build). Otherwise, I guess it depends on how much water restrictions you want with a happy medium somewhere between Dark Sun and Europa. Mist and fog are only available near the glaciers.
Also for trees, I've decided that the "living steel" trees thrive on Akiton slurping the iron from the ground. Otherwise no trees except in gardens, then they're strange colors.
|
|
I think the extra part of Akiton's coldness is the thinness of the atmosphere, letting a lot of solar heat to escape.
As for water quantity, supposedly if melted, the polar ice would coat most of Akiton's surface (it seems suggested that the surface coverage is far over Earth's 70-ish percent, but not enough to flood Mount Ka, which supposedly pokes through the planet's atmosphere). But I'm increasingly ignoring science facts for this planet in favor of 50's pseudo-science facts for 1: appropriate flavor, 2: ease of non-scientist brain-processing, and 3: fun.
I've been assuming Akiton breaks into the high 50's at the equator during Highheat (Akitoni summer), whereas winters are daily below freezing. Winterlands are always freezing, and their weather can probably be reliably factored using the Crown of the World weather from Jade Regent. Rest of the planet is shades in between those extremes. Probably the extreme low end of survivable temperatures 18 months out of the year in most areas during daytime, dropping into the cold category at night. Winter weather is cold in the daytime, and the next step down at night. A comfortable assumption for Akitoni might be to give them all Resist Cold 5, the equivalent of endure elements for cold weather, or just move their temperature comfort zone down several dozen degrees. However you slice it, if everyone's an Akiton native and everyone gets the same thing, no one needs worry about it.
I could very well imagine Aktion sharing traits from Dark Sun and Reign of Winter. Hot problems at daytime, cold problems at nighttime. Perhaps influenced by seasons or regions. And definately not all should get ease of living traits there, only some races who really adapted to it and then this should be considered into their powercurve.
That way some real nice Dark Sun Feeling can come up there and the force of nature becomes a force to consider again. Adds a lot of feeling, atmosphere and fun to games!
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
|
Found out why core cooling is bad for planets:
The planet’s core cooled and its magnetic field decayed, allowing the solar wind to sweep away ninety-nine percent of the atmosphere and thus most of its water and volatile compounds.That's just poopy for things that drink and breathe.
It does make for an interesting nod to Barsoom's atmosphere plant though. Perhaps there's a 'magic Macguffin' device here that makes an artificial magnetic/abjuration magic field to keep the atmoshpere intact?
Yeah that´s wuite a cool idea. And the undead and lichs are actually protecting and maintaining it. So if some heroes come along and just slay them, the whole planet will go down :D
|
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
|
Hmm, rather than abjuration, might it be necromancy? Perhaps some device that keeps the planets dead goddess spirit tethered, so the planet isn't quite a dead world, but not a living ecosystem?
Kind of a magical ventelator, keeping her from moving on?
Does she like skeeball?
|
|
With my love of adding fungal forests (I call 'em "fungal blooms") to Akiton, the concept of death/undeath being tied in is incredibly tantalizing. I've got a location for the large bloom and some bits written up, but I've got a full schedule this weekend (some RoW Saturday, a Doctor Who thing that a friend's wife set up Saturday evening, and an ACG playtest game Sunday). I'm guessing the final writing will be Sunday evening at earliest.
Fueha-Re LOVES skeeball. She's got a thing for 70's boardwalk fun-time activities that goes back to when Akiton was a wet planet. She doesn't have any Matt Damons or Ben Afflecks riding on buses, though.
|
|
Alright gang, so with Numeria goodness coming soon (7-ish months and counting!), I'm taking a hiatus from big-time writing on this thread. Numeria nad Akiton share some serious parallels, and I don't want to over-saturate the previously-spartan "cold deserts full of barbarians and tech" market. I might start assembling a low-level adventure for folks interested in doing a home game on Akiton, but otherwise I'll be pretty scarce.
I won't be all gone, though! I have a disturbing collection of local RPG Superstars and professional freelancers for Paizo (these groups overlap) in my home game, and they're urging me to continue working on building up my writing chops, so this thread might see some work pop up from time to time.
Yes, I just contradicted my first paragraph with my second. I do that. bear with me here, people. I've got a weird brain. :P
Alright, so here's my thought process on the adventure. Lacking another plot, I'm gonna probably go with the water sandship caravan concept. It's a good way to get a diverse collection of encounters, and since travel from, say, Hivemarket to the southern Winterlands would take weeks, it ca serve as a gazetteer of sorts for the area.
If you have a tastier seed, however, or would like to see a particular area fleshed out via adventure (busting up a thieves' guild in Hivemarket, exploring The Under, or escaping from an Ediao tribe's camp to the slums of the bottom of Maro could work pretty well, f'rinstance), feel free to drop me a line! I'll prolly start up some encounters this week, but I can modify the basic plot pretty easily up through a week or two from now.
So don't be upset, my friends. Your support and interest has meant more to me than you'll ever know, and I'm glad to see I'm not the only fan of the oddball campaigns. And keep an eye out when I inevitably get interested in another planet (Castrovel and Verces, I'm lookin' at you, and a Apostae campaign concept has been floated on one occasion). Some time, somewhere, more threads will pop up, and their worm-like larvae might just plant campaign eggs in your brain.
Beware the brain worms. THERE'S NOTHING TO STOP THE AKATAS.
In my eyes, Akiton is the Dark Sun replacement world of Pathfinder. SO that old Dragon magazines and Dungeon might be worth a look, as well as the new Dragonkings stuff that is going to be the successor of Dark Sun now.
So, speaking of nothing to stop the akatas, I threw together a side trek-type thing loaded with some Vercite tech. And akatas. I don't know how interested in that people would be, but I could post some of the stat blocks and stuff I made for it...
I would be interested in that TNO :3 my Akiton game often starts with Akatas.
Well, disclaimer: as the campaign I'm tentatively planning for my PCs doesn't start involving them with the Red World until level 4, I wrote this side trek for 7th-level PCs.
Basically I took the idea of a downed Vercite vessel that was carrying a few cocooned akatas recovered from the Diaspora and ran with it; I dropped a stupid crewman on board that sabotaged the heat shielding in an effort to crash the ship and steal the cargo, but the heat awakened the dormant akatas, who killed or infected the crew...you see where I'm going with this, right?
Fast forward a week and a Vercite Recovery Vessel locates the crashed cargo hauler on Akiton and lands; unprepared, they also fall prey to the akatas except for one guy who goes staggering off into the wild...that last man is the PCs' quest hook, unless they make a habit of investigating ships entering Akiton's atmosphere (which they might).
Anyway, the Akatas. I advanced the Akatas until their HD said they should be Large and CR 5. I didn't like them as Large, though (it just rubbed me the wrong way, plus space concerns aboard the wrecked ships) so I slapped on the Young template and called it good. They're tough little buggers, and for a group of PCs of lower level one of these guys might make a nice brood mother or soldier caste or whatever.
Crash Site Akata
CR 4; XP 1200
Young Advanced HD Akata (Bestiary 295, Bestiary 2 23)
N Medium Aberration
Init +8; Senses Darkvision 120 ft., scent; Perception +1
DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 15, flat-footed 11 (+4 Dex, +1 Dodge, +1 natural)
hp 59 (7d8 + 28)
Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +6
Defensive Abilities no breath; Immune cold, disease, poison; Resist fire 30
Weaknesses deaf, vulnerable to salt water
OFFENSE
Speed 40ft., climb 20ft.
Melee Bite +8 (1d8 + 3 plus void bite), 2 tentacles +6 (1d3 + 1)
TACTICS
During Combat Pack hunters, Akatas surround and corner their prey whenever they can, flanking and generally acting like a hunting pack (unlike their larval children, who mob enemies en masse). They're even smart enough to try hit-and-run tactics if the PCs prove too capable in a stand-up fight.
Morale Akatas fight to the death.
STATISTICS
Str 16, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 3, Wis 12, Cha 11
Base Atk +5; CMB +8; CMD 22 (26 vs. trip)
Feats Dodge, Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Attack (Bite), Multiattack
Skills Acrobatics +13 (+4 jump), Climb +11, Stealth +18; Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth
SQ Hibernation
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Deaf (Ex) Akatas cannot hear. They are immune to spells and effects that rely on hearing to function, but they also cannot make Perception checks to listen.
Hibernation (Ex) Akatas can enter a state of hibernation for an indefinite period of time when food is scarce. When an akata wishes to enter hibernation, it seeks out a den and surrounds itself in a layer of fibrous material excreted from its mouth—these fibers quickly harden into a dense, almost metallic cocoon. While hibernating, an akata does not need to drink or eat. The cocoon has hardness 10 and 60 hit points, and is immune to fire and bludgeoning (including falling) damage. As long as the cocoon remains intact, the akata within remains unharmed. The akata remains in a state of hibernation until it senses another living creature within 10 feet or is exposed to extreme heat, at which point it claws its way to freedom in 1d4 minutes as its cocoon degrades to fragments of strange metal.
Salt Water Vulnerability (Ex) Salt water acts as an extremely strong acid to akatas. A splash of salt water deals 1d6 damage to an akata, and full immersion in salt water deals 4d6 damage per round.
Void Bite (Ex) Akatas hold hundreds of invisibly small larval young within their mouths, spreading these parasitic creatures to hosts through their bite. Only humanoids make suitable hosts for akata young- all other creature types are immune to this parasitic infection. The disease itself is known as void death.
Disease (Ex) Void Death: Bite-Injury; Save Fort DC 16; Onset 1 hour; Frequency 1/day; Effect 1d2 Dex and 1d2 Con damage; an infected creature who dies rises as a void zombie 2d4 hours later (see below); cure 2 consecutive saves.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Same adventure as the akatas; I wanted to have more Vercite involvement than a bunch of unused tech lying around. I had initially statted these things out differently, but once People of the Stars and the Technology Guide came out, I modified them a bit. There are two of these things hanging around the crash site: one of them is inside an armored X-laser turret the Vercite crew installed after a shobhad attack on the camp, and the other is inside the Vercite vessel with her void-zombified crew. They'd be members of the Augmented caste, I suppose, but due to the gp limit and their undead state I skipped the cybernetic implants in favor of equipment the PCs might recognize. Although I don't say so, the Sonic Sword is a tech item presented in the Red Redoubt section of Dungeons of Golarion.
Vercite Void Officer
CR 8; XP 4800
Void Zombie Lord Vercite Fighter (Tactician) 8 (People of the Stars 15, Bestiary 2 23, Bestiary 4 286, Ultimate Combat 47)
LE Medium Undead
Init +6; Senses Low-Light Vision, Perception +13
DEFENSE
AC 23, touch 14, flat-footed 19 (+7 armor, +3 Dex, +1 Dodge, +2 natural)
hp 71 (8d10 + 2d8 + 18)
Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +4
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4
OFFENSE
Speed 40ft.
Melee Sonic Sword +15/+10 (1d8 + 7/17-20 plus 1d8 sonic and deafened [DC 14]), Slam +8 (1d6 + 2), tongue +8 (1d6 + 2 plus blood drain) or 2 slams +13 (1d6 + 6), tongue +8 (1d6 + 2 plus blood drain)
Special Attacks Blood Drain (2 Str), Quick Strikes, Tactician 1/day
TACTICS
During Combat The Void Officer uses its Tactician ability on the first round of combat to grant the void zombies Outflank, then moves into melee with the apparent leader of the enemy force. She ably keeps up with him with her Mobility and Step Up feats, benefiting from her improved movement speed. Otherwise, she is a straightforward combatant, lashing out with her sword and natural attacks, hoping for criticals with her Sonic Sword.
Morale Void Zombies fight to the death.
STATISTICS
Str 19, Dex 18, Con -, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 10
Base Atk +9; CMB +13; CMD 27
Feats Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus, Dodge, Improved Critical (Longsword), Mobility, Outflank, Step Up, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Longsword), Weapon Specialization (Longsword)
Skills Intimidate +13, Knowledge (engineering) +13, Perception +13, Sense Motive +14, Stealth +3 (+12 without armor); Racial Modifiers +2 Perception, +8 Stealth
Languages Vercite
SQ Armor Training 2, Chameleon Skin, Tactical Awareness +2
Gear Sonic Sword (as +1 Thundering Longsword, capacity 10 charges, consumes 1 charge/day, Tech, DC 23), +1 Breastplate (DC 18), 8 Batteries (DC 25)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Chameleon Skin (Ex) A vercite’s racial bonus to Stealth comes from her ability to change the color of her skin to match her surroundings. A vercite loses this conditional bonus if she is wearing armor, or if she wears any clothing that covers more than one-quarter of her body, as vercites can only change their own flesh, not things they carry.
Tactician (Ex) Once per day, a tactician fighter can use a standard action to grant all allies within 30 feet the use of a tactical feat she possesses. They retain the use of this bonus feat for 7 rounds.
|
|
OMG you guys have been busy. I'll be reading up shortly. :D
On another note...
Don't get too excited yet, but I might (MIGHT) go off and do a setting-neutral version of some of my Akiton stuff sometime in the near future. I'll try to make it something that can be easily converted as needed for folks, and might even do a few game system conversions built it, but like I said, this is all hypothetical. My brain's been boiling with concepts as of late and I'd like to get them out before I get a head like a hard-boiled egg. :P
That is awesome N'wah :3
So I've concocted another adventure. It's sort of a hodgepodge of various things, but takes some influence from the movies Prometheus and Aliens wrapped up in a road trip film. The short version is that the PCs have joined up with a water caravan headed to the northern Winterlands for a little harvesting. This is kind of slated (in my head, anyway) to be the first part of a three-part arc about the journey, and covers the trip to the Winterlands (the other two parts being intended to cover the actual harvest and the return "home," respectively). It's got some "random" encounters on the road, some dungeon crawl, an unscrupulous archaeologist, and an ancient proto-shobhad research and development center.
I guess I'm polling for interest in what I've written. I have it saved as a .doc, and if there's any interest here I'll find some way to make it available to y'all on here. It's not setting neutral (and I hope it doesn't violate fair use or the open gaming license or anything like that), but I like how it came out.