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I just recently purchased Radiance House's Pact Magic Unbound, namely because I've always loved Binders and currently need one for my home game. Before stumbling across PMUv1, I had already looked through many of the Binder Conversion threads and saw a few that had a lot of potential.
I'd like to see this thread develop not to update the Binder, but instead the Vestiges. If you want to use an updated homebrew Binder, I would highly suggest Gareshra's conversion in progress. Its coming along really nicely. OR you could look into Radiance House's PMUv1.
Since Radiance House decided to do things a little different, their Vestiges are Leveled from 1st to 9th level, unlike the random 8 levels from Tome of Magic. I'd like to use this thread as a venue to convert the Tome of Magic vestiges into the Radiance house version of the system.
Alexander Algunas had the following to say about converting ToM Vestiges:
Its not too bad to convert ToM vestiges into spirits; here are some pointers:
1) We (PMU,v1) use a 9-level progression for our spirits. ToM uses an 8-level. You need to go through the spirits and re-allocate them to their appropriate levels. The reason we went with a 9-level system was so that we could line up spirits next to Clerics, Wizards, and the other full casters. As a general rule of thumb:
If the spirit mimics a scaling class feature (i.e. Sneak Attack), it progresses as a character of 1/2 that class's level. See Vandrae and Gulguthriana for examples.
Spirits NEVER get access to a spell before a wizard or cleric does; this is an excellent way to judge a spirit's power. As an exception to the rule, a spirit CAN gain early access to such an ability if the ability has contingencies built into it. (For example, I just recently wrote a 1st spirit that forces you to reincarnate when you die, but you have to come back as a Child gillman and you become permanently addicted to that spirit.)
Typically speaking, a spirit's abilities uses [TIME UNITE] per day, where the unit can be rounds, minutes, or hours; based on the ability. Typically we use the same unit that the spell uses; for example haste lasts for rounds/day so a haste ability on a 3rd level spirit would be usable for rounds/day. These units typically have to be spent in a full-unit (for example, if you can use an ability for minutes per day, you must spent uses of the ability in 1 minute increments) but you do not need to spend the units consecutively. There are a LOT of spirits I could point to for this.
Abilities that are personal can typically last for 24 hours.
With one exception, polymorph effects have very specific bonuses they provide. See Dagon as an example; Fey Barradu is the exception.2) We can (and often do) power up some spells and abilities. For example, bumping up the time unit (rounds to minutes or minutes to hours) is the most common. You can typically get away by bumping up the spirit level to equal the spell's level +1.
3) When making new abilities, we tend to heavily follow the guidelines for creating new spells that you see in Ultimate Magic. Why? Because most of our granted abilities are balanced around the power of a spell.
4) We give all spirits one major granted ability and four minor granted abilities to balance them out. Unless the spirit itself is skill-focused, we typically make sure to have at least one Minor Granted ability to have a skill-bonus or similar small-time effect. For example, a constant Endure Elements effect granted by a 2nd-level spirit is not game-ending.
5) Sometimes we will take away from the utility of a spell in order to lower the level of a spirit. For example, Water Breating is a 3rd level spell, but it becomes noticeably less useful if your spirit only provides water breathing for yourself (even if its constant).
I'll be more than happy to comment on specific abilities if you have questions, but those are some things I'd keep in mind when converting the Tome of Magic spirits.
Watching this thread. More Binder/Occultist goodness is always a must.
Watching this thread. More Binder/Occultist goodness is always a must.
Feel free to pick a Vestige and contribute as well, if you are so inclined Orthos. I'd like input, feedback/opinions, and probably some help too. Heh.
I'd like to lay a claim to my namesake - Orthos, Sovereign of the Howling Dark - if that's workable >=)
I'd start on him now but I'm at work >_>
I thought you might Orthos! Go for it.
Overall, I really don't think I'll be writing up the legends on here, just the mechanical aspects. The legends is already in the ToM, though I might reconsider once I figure out how much work a conversion actually is.
Since he's first, first up for me, Acererak.
Acererak
Acererak
Spirit Level: 8th
Constellation: Skull
Binding DC: 30
Totems: you gain a totem bonus to bind Acererak if meet any of the following criteria.
>>If you have fiendish heritage of any sort.
>>A handful of grave dust, placed within the seal.
>>A single large gemstone (worth at least 2,500 gp in value).
Ceremony: Aside from drawing his seal, there is no further requirement to summon the spirit of Acererak.
Manifestation: Dust swirls up from the ground coalescing into a floating skull, its eye sockets fitted with large gems and most of its teeth as well. Acererak speaks in a dry, dusty voice filled with contempt.
Legend
Little is known about Acererak's true history save the smallest snippets of his life. Once an apprentice to the Archlich Vecna, Acererak grew to be a mighty wizard in his service. During the siege of the city of Fleeth, Acererak once even saved Vecna from being destroyed and was promoted and rewarded for his loyalty. Sometime after Vecna's dissolution at the hands of the traitorous Kas, Acererak moved to the Vast Swamp and began the construction of his infamous tomb, the Tomb of Horrors. The Tomb itself was one grand trap designed to test and purify souls for Acererak's consumption. To further this end and hasten his intended apotheosis, Acererak became a Demilich. However, Acererak's desire for stronger and stronger souls proved his undoing. Some of his intended victims thwarted his plans by destroying his phylactery, shattering his demilich skull, and sending his soul screaming into the void. The devotion of his acolytes was enough to save his spirit from spiraling down into the Abyss, but the destruction of his phylactery left him unable to cling to the Negative Material Plane either. Whereever his soul ended up, his spirit can now be called upon by Occultists.
Major Granted Ability
-Soul Devouring: as the spell, Trap the Soul, with the following changes. A soul devoured is sucked into the gemstone tooth of Acererak's sign. While so within the gem, the trapped soul takes 1 point of damage for every 5 levels the Occulist possesses as the spirit tries to devour them. A trapped soul can attempt a saving throw each round to escape the gemstone prison. If successful, the trapped soul reappears in a streamer of mist in an open adjacent square near the Occultist. The maximum time that a soul can be trapped is equal to the length of the pact the Occultist makes with Acererak, once the pact ends, the soul is freed. A soul cannot be kept contained by continually rebinding Acererak. You cannot use this ability while there is currently a soul trapped within the gemstone tooth, otherwise, this ability is expended for 5 rounds after its use.
Capstone Empowerment
The damage taken by the trapped soul increases to 1 for every 2 levels the Occultist possesses each round.
Minor Granted Abilities
-Lich Immunities: you are immune to cold and electricity.
-Negative Energy Affinity: you are harmed by positive energy and healed by negative energy, just like one of the undead.
-Speak with Dead: as the spell, at will.
-Lich Touch: as a standard action, you can paralyze a target by touch. If the target fails their saving throw, they are paralyzed for a number of rounds equal to one-half your Occultist level. The target receives a saving throw to end the effect each round, on their action, just like the spell Hold Monster.
Signs and Influence
Physical Sign: a gemstone replaces one of your teeth. If removed it reverts to a normal tooth and another gemstone appears in its place.
Personality: Always seek positions of influence and power. You are driven by Acererak's unrestrained ambitions.
Favored Ally: Undead
Favored Enemy: Humanoids (Good, of any type)
Vestigial Companion
You may touch a corpse that has been dead for no longer than 1 day for each Occultist level you possess and transform it into a Skeletal Champion. This Skeletal Champion is of the race and type of the corpse, but has a maximum number of hit dice equal to your Occultist level. This ability replaces Lich Immunities.
Design Notes:
-Added Devour Soul: Acererak had no real Major Ability and it fits with his title as the Devourer and a Demilich. Reduced how it worked, obviously. Too powerful otherwise.
-Dropped Detect Undead and Hide from Undead. These are really minor powers and don't quite fit for the spirit of a Demilich. The other abilities fit better thematically.
Critique and opinions please. Obviously, I couldn't keep him the same level, but I figure thats going to happen quite a lot.
The original version of Acererak's vestige did not cause the binder to be harmed by positive energy. This is a significant drawback considering that players will more often have access to positive energy for healing than negative energy. This is especially important if Acererak is being increased to an 8th level vestige. I suggest that you retain the original wording of the power so that it adds an advantage to the player instead of swapping positive energy for negative energy.
Ah...you're right. Not sure how I missed that. Lets see if I can edit it, if not I'll correct it and repost.
Thanks Bill for pointing out my mistake. One of the Designing your own Vestige articles on WotC stated not to give penalties when creating Vestiges, otherwise it immediately makes it a less attractive option.
Repost of Acererak, since I can no longer edit the previous post and didn't read something as closely as I should have.
Acererak, Minor Revision
Acererak
Spirit Level: 8th
Constellation: Skull
Binding DC: 30
Totems: you gain a totem bonus to bind Acererak if meet any of the following criteria.
>>If you have fiendish heritage of any sort.
>>A handful of grave dust, placed within the seal.
>>A single large gemstone (worth at least 2,500 gp in value).
Ceremony: Aside from drawing his seal, there is no further requirement to summon the spirit of Acererak.
Manifestation: Dust swirls up from the ground coalescing into a floating skull, its eye sockets fitted with large gems and most of its teeth as well. Acererak speaks in a dry, dusty voice filled with contempt.
Legend
Little is known about Acererak's true history save the smallest snippets of his life. Once an apprentice to the Archlich Vecna, Acererak grew to be a mighty wizard in his service. During the siege of the city of Fleeth, Acererak once even saved Vecna from being destroyed and was promoted and rewarded for his loyalty. Sometime after Vecna's dissolution at the hands of the traitorous Kas, Acererak moved to the Vast Swamp and began the construction of his infamous tomb, the Tomb of Horrors. The Tomb itself was one grand trap designed to test and purify souls for Acererak's consumption. To further this end and hasten his intended apotheosis, Acererak became a Demilich. However, Acererak's desire for stronger and stronger souls proved his undoing. Some of his intended victims thwarted his plans by destroying his phylactery, shattering his demilich skull, and sending his soul screaming into the void. The devotion of his acolytes was enough to save his spirit from spiraling down into the Abyss, but the destruction of his phylactery left him unable to cling to the Negative Material Plane either. Whereever his soul ended up, his spirit can now be called upon by Occultists.
Major Granted Ability
-Soul Devouring: as the spell, Trap the Soul, with the following changes. A soul devoured is sucked into the gemstone tooth of Acererak's sign. While so within the gem, the trapped soul takes 1 point of damage for every 5 levels the Occulist possesses as the spirit tries to devour them. A trapped soul can attempt a saving throw each round to escape the gemstone prison. If successful, the trapped soul reappears in a streamer of mist in an open adjacent square near the Occultist. The maximum time that a soul can be trapped is equal to the length of the pact the Occultist makes with Acererak, once the pact ends, the soul is freed. A soul cannot be kept contained by continually rebinding Acererak. You cannot use this ability while there is currently a soul trapped within the gemstone tooth, otherwise, this ability is expended for 5 rounds after its use.
Capstone Empowerment
The damage taken by the trapped soul increases to 1 for every 2 levels the Occultist possesses each round.
Minor Granted Abilities
-Lich Immunities: you are immune to cold and electricity.
-Undead Healing: you are healed by negative energy, just like one of the undead. You are still healed (and not harmed) by positive energy.
-Speak with Dead: as the spell, at will.
-Lich Touch: as a standard action, you can paralyze a target by touch. If the target fails their saving throw, they are paralyzed for a number of rounds equal to one-half your Occultist level. The target receives a saving throw to end the effect each round, on their action, just like the spell Hold Monster.
Signs and Influence
-Physical Sign: a gemstone replaces one of your teeth. If removed it reverts to a normal tooth and another gemstone appears in its place.
-Personality: Always seek positions of influence and power. You are driven by Acererak's unrestrained ambitions.
-Favored Ally: Undead
-Favored Enemy: Humanoids (Good, of any type)
Vestigial Companion
You may touch a corpse that has been dead for no longer than 1 day for each Occultist level you possess and transform it into a Skeletal Champion. This Skeletal Champion is of the race and type of the corpse, but has a maximum number of hit dice equal to your Occultist level. This ability replaces Lich Immunities.
Design Notes:
-Added Devour Soul: Acererak had no real Major Ability and it fits with his title as the Devourer and a Demilich. Reduced how it worked, obviously. Too powerful otherwise.
-Dropped Detect Undead and Hide from Undead. These are really minor powers and don't quite fit for the spirit of a Demilich. The other abilities fit better thematically.
Leraje, the Green Herald
Original alterations by Master Arminas, update to Pact Magic Unbound Spirit by me.
Leraje, the Green Herald
Spirit Level: 1st
Constellation: Hero
Binding DC: 15
Totems: You gain a totem bonus on the spirit’s binding
check if you meet some or all of these conditions.
>>Calling out her name and title.
>>Breaking an elvencraft arrow during the binding.
>>Be an elf or elf blooded.
Ceremony: there is no special ceremony required to summon Leraje, simply drawing her seal is enough.
Manifestation: Leraje appears to her summoner as though she had always been there, simply camoflaged so well as to have gone unseen. It takes a moment to pick out her dull eyes and yellowed teeth from the surrounding terrain. Once she fully takes shape, it becomes obvious that she is an elven archer in delicate leather armor. Although she was clearly a beauty once, some disease or affliction has ravaged her body and left her unsightly.
Major Granted Ability
-Summon Bow: While bound to Leraje, you may summon a masterwork bow (long or short, normal or composite, at the binder’s choice; composite bows match the Strength of the binder exactly) into your hand as a standard action. Once summoned, the bow remains for 5 rounds, plus one round for each of your effective binder levels. Starting at 3rd level, the summoned bow has an enhancement bonus of +1. This enhancement bonus increases by an additional +1 for every four levels gained thereafter (7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th), to a maximum of +5. The binder can choose to forgo an enhancement bonus to instead add one or both of the following special weapon properties to the summoned bow: distance or seeking, with each property taking the place of a +1 enhancement. Summoned bows must have a minimum enhancement of +1 in addition to a special property. A summoned bow comes with a single quiver filled with 20 normal arrows.
At 8th level, the binder can summon Leraje's bow as move action.
At 15th level, the binder can summon Leraje's bow as a swift action.
Capstone Empowerment
-Whenever you summon Leraje's Bow, it receives an additional +2 in special abilities or enhancement bonus. Enhancement bonus still cannot exceed +5, though special abilities can still be added.
Minor Granted Abilities
-Elf-sight: you gain low-light vision as if you were an elf. If you already have low-light vision, you gain superior low-light vision can see three times as far as your light source would normally illuminate. Thus, a torch that illuminates 20-foot radius would allow you to see clearly up to 60 feet and provides you with shadowy illumination to a distance of 120 feet. In addition, you gain a +2 bonus on all Perception skill checks.
-Many Shot: You gain the benefit of the Many Shot feat.
-Weapon Proficiency: While bound to Leraje, you are proficient with the composite longbow, composite shortbow, longbow, and shortbow. If you are already proficient with any of these weapons, you instead gain a +1 competence bonus on attack rolls with them.
-Stealth Bonus: You gain a competence bonus on Stealth checks equal to 3 plus one-half your effective binder level (minimum of +4).
Signs and Influence
-Physical Sign: You look sickly and diseased, and your skin becomes sallow and pockmarked.
-Personality: You become withdrawn and quiet. You won't willingly attack any elvenblooded creatures.
-Favored Ally: Elves
-Favored Enemy: Traditional Elven Enemies (Orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, etc)
Vestigial Companion
Leraje cannot grant a vestigial companion.
Master Arminas wrote:
Reasoning: The flavor text in the description of Leraje doesn’t match up with her granted abilities. Tome of Magic says, “Leraje gives her summoners the ability to bring a bow to hand at will, to fire it with accuracy, and to damage a foe’s sense of self with it. In addition, she gives her hosts keen vision in darkness and skill at hiding.” Now, I think for a 1st-level vestige the ability to “damage a foe’s sense of self” is a bit much. BUT, there is no real reason why her binder can’t summon a bow instead of that horrid Ricochet Shot. I mean, mechanically, it ain’t bad, but in game? How does a single arrow enter someone’s flesh, do damage, and then ricochet and bury itself in an adjacent target’s flesh? So, I replaced it with Many Shot.
Design Notes:
I had to drop the Precise shot in favor of the Weapon Proficiency slot. PMU Spirits have 4 minor and 1 major power, so I kinda had to chose which was more important to the class.
Ronove, the Iron Maiden
Original alterations by Master Arminas, update to Pact Magic Unbound Spirit by me.
Ronove, the Iron Maiden
Spirit Level: 1
Constellation: Hero
Binding DC: 16
Totems: You gain a totem bonus on the spirit’s binding check if you meet some or all of these
conditions.
>>Drawing the seal in freshly turned earth.
>>You have consumed neither food nor water for 24 hours.
Ceremony: You must draw Ronove's seal underneath an open sky.
Manifestation: With a shake and rumble, the ground heaves upward and a rusted iron sarcophagus with a stern-looking womans face carved on it erupts from the ground to settle on its end. As the trembling settles, the iron creaks and the bindings crack and split, allowing the lid to open a few inches. A tumble of mouldering bones and fetid, brackish liquid spill into the crack. While Ronove does not speak to her summoner, the visage on the sarcophagus does frown or smirk slightly during the pact-making.
Legend: Once a legendary monk, Ronove began to draw disciples from the four corners of the world. Over time however, her disciples began to realize that not a single one of them was capable of the incredible skills she had displayed on so many occasions, seemingly without effort or strain. Some of her disciples began to question her training methods and philosophy. To prove the veracity of her teachings, Ronove sequestered herself inside an iron sarcophagus and instructed her students to bury her and not dig her out without a sign from her. Years passed without a sign and one by one, Ronove's disciples lost faith in her teachings, save one. Unable to bear the wait any longer, he dug up the coffin, only to find it empty. No one he told this to, not even the other former students believed him.
Major Granted Ability
-Far Hand: You can use telekinesis, as per the spell except as stated below, as a standard action once each round. You are limited to a maximum weight of 10 lbs per Occultist level, and the maximum number of objects you are able to simultaneously manipulate with the violent thrust aspect ability is equal to one-half your effective Occultist level, rounded down (to a maximum of 10 and a minimum of 1). When using this ability, you have a maximum range of 25 feet plus 5 feet for every two of your effective binder levels. When using far hand for sustained force, this telekinesis lasts only as long as you concentrate. Once you stop concentrating on the sustained force aspect, or if you use the violent thrust or combat maneuver aspect, you cannot use this ability again for 5 rounds.
Capstone Empowerment
-Far Hand increases the weight allowance to the same as that of the Telekinesis spell, 25 lbs per Occultist level.
Minor Granted Abilities
-Fast Movement: You gain a +10-foot enhancement bonus to your base land speed. This bonus increases to +20-feet at 8th level and to +30-feet at 15th level.
-Feather Fall: You automatically fall as though under the influence of a feather fall spell. You can suppress or activate this ability as an immediate action. This ability can be activated if you are falling, even if you have already used an immediate action or if you have cast a Quickened spell in your turn.
-Ronove’s Fists: You gain the benefits of the Improved Unarmed Strike feat. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 points of damage (either lethal or nonlethal at your discretion). At 8th level, your damage with unarmed strikes increases to 2d4. Your damage increases to 2d6 at 15th level. Starting at 4th level, you gain a +1 enhancement bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls with your unarmed strikes. This enhancement bonus increases by an additional +1 at 8th level and every four levels gained as a binder thereafter, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.
-Cold Iron and Magic Attacks: Your melee attacks (unarmed or with a weapon) count as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. When you attain an effective binder level of 7th, your melee attacks (unarmed or with a weapon) also count as cold iron for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Signs and Influence
-Physical Sign: The flesh of your face settles into a frown or a smile (a frown if you succeeded on your binding check, or a smile if you did not) and retains that general expression regardless of your actual feelings. This alteration to your visage does not affect our Charisma, Charisma-based skill checks, or others’ ability to make Sense Motive checks against you.
-Personality: You doubt your own abilities and constantly try to prove yourself.
-Favored Ally: Monks
-Favored Enemy: Chaotic creatures
Vestigial Companion
Ronove does not grant a vestigial companion.
Original Design Notes by Master Arminas
Reasoning: Ronove has been one of the weakest vestiges since Tome of Magic was released. Providing an enhancement bonus to the Ronove's Fist feature helps the binder to hit; the constant damage bonus more than makes up for the smaller damage dice. Fast Movement now scales slightly, eventually receive a +30' bonus. I changed Feather Fall from the original standard action (I mean, WTF?) to something closer to what the spell does. Cold iron and magic weapons remained the same.
The biggest change was in far hand, which was always wonky. I understand what the developers were trying to do, but the mechanics were just so incredibly bad that it was a terrible ability. The change gives binders with this vestige more options, but the once per 5 rounds keeps it from being too powerful for a 1st level binder (in my opinion).
Design Notes
Hmm...Far Hand makes this one difficult. Its a very scaled down telekinesis, so Level 5 is not correct. My gut tells me that Far Hand is about equal to a 2nd level spell with all the limitations. So we'll stick with Level 1 for now.
Note: Most minor granted abilities include the caveat that if a creature succeeds on a saving throw against them, the creature becomes immune to the granted ability for 24 hours. This is to prevent ability spam (sort of like how a Witch's Hex works) and I can't think of an exception to this rule off the top of my head; usually it only applies to save-or-suck type effects though, like hold person or whatnot.
For Leraje, if it were me, making the spirit, I would probably drop your current Capstone Empowerment and do something cool. Capstone Empowerments typically aren't the place for mere numbers increase. If I could suggest one, I would drop the line about the bow being summoned with arrows and change the Capstone Empowerment to say that your summoned bow automatically gains the endless special weapon ability, as in Ultimate Equipment. That is much more exciting than a +2 enhancement bonus. Make sure you note that it doesn't count against the bow's enhancement bonus for extra fun.
Leraje's skill bonuses do not follow the PMU style; insight bonus equal to 1/2 your binder level. Make sure its typed! That means this spirit is going to too strong skill bonus wise until about 8th level, when it will flip and become too weak from then on out.
For Ronove's Fast Movement, that is the perfect example of an ability that should probably just say, "as a monk of 1/2 your binder level," as I mentioned earlier.
I think constant feather fall is too powerful. I would always force you to activate it with an action.
Do Small creatures get the listed Unarmed Strike damage? Even Monks get scaled back if I remember correctly.
Also, your spirits don't scale particularly well. They end up feeling very front-loadish; they give you everything right away so you have nothing to look forward too.
Hope these comments help out a bit!
Note: Most minor granted abilities include the caveat that if a creature succeeds on a saving throw against them, the creature becomes immune to the granted ability for 24 hours. This is to prevent ability spam (sort of like how a Witch's Hex works) and I can't think of an exception to this rule off the top of my head; usually it only applies to save-or-suck type effects though, like hold person or whatnot.
For Leraje, if it were me, making the spirit, I would probably drop your current Capstone Empowerment and do something cool. Capstone Empowerments typically aren't the place for mere numbers increase. If I could suggest one, I would drop the line about the bow being summoned with arrows and change the Capstone Empowerment to say that your summoned bow automatically gains the endless special weapon ability, as in Ultimate Equipment. That is much more exciting than a +2 enhancement bonus. Make sure you note that it doesn't count against the bow's enhancement bonus for extra fun.
Leraje's skill bonuses do not follow the PMU style; insight bonus equal to 1/2 your binder level. Make sure its typed! That means this spirit is going to too strong skill bonus wise until about 8th level, when it will flip and become too weak from then on out.
For Ronove's Fast Movement, that is the perfect example of an ability that should probably just say, "as a monk of 1/2 your binder level," as I mentioned earlier.
I think constant feather fall is too powerful. I would always force you to activate it with an action.
Do Small creatures get the listed Unarmed Strike damage? Even Monks get scaled back if I remember correctly.
Also, your spirits don't scale particularly well. They end up feeling very front-loadish; they give you everything right away so you have nothing to look forward too.
Hope these comments help out a bit!
Well, when I converted them to Pathfinder, I didn't know about Pact Magic Unbound. I was just converting them in answer to someone's else conversion of the binder . . . he had these two vestiges and didn't know where to go with them. So I tried to stay close to what 3.5 did with most vestiges and just went with making them FUN.
That's my original reasoning.
MA
Good bits of advice Alexander. I'll be making some of the appropriate adjustments. Some of these Vestige to Spirit conversions are going to be a bit difficult (as I've already found out) since so many off the Vestiges don't equal out with each other. Some have 6 abilities, some have 4, etc...
While the design goal here is to keep true to the originals, I also want to try and hit the same balance as Pact Magic Unbound. As Master Arminas noted, Leraje and Ronove are essentially strait conversions that I just tweaked slightly, so we'll see what else can be done with them.
Interesting idea on the capstone for Leraje, I'll have to look the endless quality up, you're right, it is much cooler.
Zceryll, by request.
Zceryll
Spirit Level: 5th
Constellation: Dark Beyond
Binding DC: 24
Totems: You gain a totem bonus on the spirit’s
binding check if you meet some or all of these
conditions.
>>Speaking Zceryll's name in Aklo during the binding process.
>>Speaking an appeal to the entities of the Dark Tapestry in Aklo during the binding process.
Ceremony: You must speak an incantation during the summoning of Zceryll. The incantation can be in any language, it can even be gibberish, but it must be spoken in at least a conversational tone.
Manifestation: the area in and around the seal fills with thousands of tiny circular mirrors. A beautiful human woman is reflected in all of the mirrors, yet something is off about her features. After a few seconds, a scream is carried on the air and the image of the woman changes into a hideous mass of writhing tentacles. The mirrors then shatter, covering the floor with beautiful but alien patterns of glass that hurt the mind and cause the nose, mouth, eyes, and orifices to bleed black blood.
Legend: Thousands of years ago, an alienist sorceress known as Zceryll learned bizarre powers in a fight to defend herself against oppression. She was promised untold power by strange, alien beings known as star-spawn from beyond the world. All she had to do was to create portals to summon them.
Zceryll created the portals and summoned the star spawn to her aid. She fought back against her oppressors, finding a newfound purpose in her life. She traveled the world, creating many portals for her masters and items of her own devising.
Zceryll was unaware of the slow corruptive effect the star spawn had on her. By the time she realized something was wrong, it was too late to change. Eventually, her body became so suffused with alien power that she became one of them. When her life came to an end, she was a twisted and bitter old hag. She felt she had accomplished nothing and became obsessed with youth. When her time was up, her soul vanished into the far realms, and she became a vestige.
Major Granted Ability
-Summon Alien: You can summon any creature from the summon monster list that a sorcerer of your level could summon. Thus, at 10th level you could summon any creature from the summon monster I-V list. When you reach 14th level you could summon any creature from the summon monster I-VII list. When you reach 19th level you could summon any creature from the summon monster I-XI list. Once you have used this ability, it is expended for 5 rounds. You cannot have more than one such monster summoned at one time. In addition to the usual tables used to determine what monsters you can summon, you can also summon aberrations off the expanded list that follows.
Summon Monster I: Sagari
Summon Monster II: Larval Slime Crawler
Summon Monster III: Vampiric Mist, Tentamort
Summon Monster IV: Elder Thing, Mature Slime Crawler, Shriezyx
Summon Monster V: Chuul, Seugathi, Mi-Go, Rorkoun
Summon Monster VI: Neh-Thalggu, Intellect Devourer
Summon Monster VII: Yithian, Gug, Dimensional Shambler
Summon Monster VIII: Moon Beast, Gug Savant, Color Out of Space
Summon Monster IX: Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath, Get of Iblis
Capstone Empowerment
Minor Granted Abilities
-Telepathy: You gain the telepathy ability with a range of 100 feet and can feel the minds of all unprotected creatures within the range of your telepathy. This allows you to accurately determine which square a creature occupies. This does not negate total concealment if a creature is hidden from you by other means (such as invisibility). Someone protected by a Ring of Mind Shielding, Mind Blank, or similar magic is undetectable using this ability.
-Bolts of Madness: You can fire a ray that dazes an opponent for 1 round. You must succeed on a ranged touch attack with a range of 100 ft. + 10 ft./occultist level. A successful Will save negates the effect. This ray functions like the spell Daze Monster, except you can affect any creature up to your hit dice. Once a target has been affected by this ability, it cannot be affected again for 24 hours.
-Alien Mind: Your mind is alien and does not work like that of a normal mortal. You are immune to confusion, insanity, and weird spells. In addition, you receive a +1 bonus per four binder levels on saving throws against mind-affecting effects.
-Alien form: While bound to Zceryll, you begin exhibits traits of aberrant creatures from the Dark Tapestry. At level, you gain Damage Reduction 5/magic and to Cold and Acid Resistance 5, at level, this increases to Cold and Acid Resistance 10, at level this increases to Damage Reduction 10/magic and to Cold and Acid Resistance 20. You also gain Spell Resistance equal to your occultist level +5. Your form subtlely shifts to reflect this.
Signs and Influence
-Physical Sign: Your eyes appear as circular mirrors. In your peripheral vision, all other living creatures appear twisted, covered in tentacles, extra eyes, and vestigial organs.
-Personality: Never admit that you need help or that you are weaker than anyone else. Treat those that are weaker than you with scorn and contempt, especially young women and spontaneous spellcasters.
-Favored Ally: Aberrations (especially those from the Dark Tapestry).
-Favored Enemy: Lawful creatures.
Vestigial Companion
You gain the services of a Grick familiar for the duration of the pact. Use your occultist level as your wizard level to determine what abilities the familiar gets. This ability replaces Bolts of Madness.
Design Notes: Zceryll was originally a 6th level Vestige, but none of the abilities specifically calls out level 6. Most seem level 4 or lower. However, the wide range and scaling nature of Zceryll's abilities leads me to bump it to 5th level. I was unable to use the Pseudonatural template, as its not OGL. At home you could just substitute it for the Alien Body abilities. In its place I simply applied most of the effects of the Pseudonatural template. Comments?
Also, refined versions of Acererak, Leraje, and Ronove are finished as well. I'll repost them later on or by request. I don't want to completely spam this thread with reposts over and over again, that gets confusing.
Are you going to convert Kas and Primus from Dragon magazine 341 (or thereabouts)? How about Focalor?
The ones that are up currently are Either ones I just did as a test (like Acererak), one someone specifically requested (Zceryll), or ones someone else already converted to PFRPG and saved me some work.
The first vestiges I want to convert are the ones I think some folks might never have seen, like Kas and Primus (Dragon 341) or Ansitif, Cabiri, and Astaroth (Dragon 357). For what its worth, the Dragon 357 Astaroth is the one I like, not the one from Cityscape.
I'll see what I can start getting to over the weekend.
Good point Caedwyr...I should do that.
Well, when I converted them to Pathfinder, I didn't know about Pact Magic Unbound. I was just converting them in answer to someone's else conversion...
Ah, I didn't know that Yasha had grabbed those from somewhere else. I thought those were spirits he/she had made! Perhaps I skipped over that comment in the thrill of the review ....
The beautiful thing about a review, though, is that you don't really need to take my advice if you don't want to. Its not like you or Yasha are trying to get me to publish these spirits in a book or something! (Which would be very, very illegal.) I'm just some random guy making a comment. Well, some random guy who wrote a book on the subject, but random nevertheless. ;-)
I also agree with Caedwyr; making the spirits in a GoogleDocs is probably the way to go, Yasha. I've seen some great things in the 'Guide to the Guides' series using GoogleDocs.
I also recommending taking a page out of our book by sorting the vestiges-turned-spirits first by level, then alphabetically. I always thought it was a pain to look for anything in Tome of Magic because it was sorted like a spell, and vestiges definitely aren't quick and easy like spells!
I agree, Alexander. I am sorting my conversions of the Vestiges by level in my Binder conversion here. Only got first and second level posted, plus the class itself, but working on getting the rest up.
MA
I'll start working on Orthos tonight, I've been busy the past two evenings so I haven't been able to do them. Once I'm done with him, I'll be doing Ashardalon from Dragon Magic. One of my favorite BBEGs.
I'll start working on Orthos tonight, I've been busy the past two evenings so I haven't been able to do them. Once I'm done with him, I'll be doing Ashardalon from Dragon Magic. One of my favorite BBEGs.
Ah Ashardalon! Good one Orthos, I'll look to seeing them. I'm in the process of setting up all the currently finished and updated Vestiges/Spirits into Google Docs, as Caedwyr suggested.
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Orthos, Sovereign of the Howling Dark
Ashardalon, Pyre of the Unborn
Both were short one ability, hence the additions of Light Carved from Shadow and Ashardalon's Inferno. I am still immensely confused why the original Ashardalon did not have the ability to deal fire damage. It was bizarre. This has been rectified.
Next: Chupoclops and Otiax.
Here is everything I have completed to date. Now linked through Google Docs.
These versions include some suggestion from some of the other folks here and some adjustments that I made after the fact myself. I'd especially like an opinion on Zceryll's Capstone Empowerment. While I think it's a cool idea and not game-breaking, I'd like some other input about what the rest of you think about it. It might be that Zceryll needs a bump up in spirit level.
It should be noted that the Astaroth I am using is the demonic one from Dragon 357, not the weird garbage-themed one from Cityscape.
Next, I might as well finish Dragon 357 and do Ansitif and Cabiri. After that it will be Primus and Kas from Dragon 341 and Ahazu from Dungeon 148.
Ronove: Under Far Hand:
Far Hand, when used in this fashion When using this ability, you have a maximum range of 25 feet plus 5 feet for every two of your effective binder levels.
Needs editing.
Zceryll: Legend still refers to her as a Vestige rather than a Spirit.
Otherwise all looks good! More please =D And heck yeah Ahazu! Too bad the Binder in my Savage Tide game years ago died way back in There Is No Honor, she was long forgotten by the time the party learned of Ahazu....
Welcome your input on my pair as well =)
I think you did a great job on Ashardalon and Orthos, very nice!
I edited the files on Ronove and Zceryll to correct the errors you noticed Orthos. Thanks.
So far so good...thats 7 we have down so far with maybe some minor editing or corrections to be made.
Tomorrow I will try and tackle Ahazu, Ansitif, and Cabiri.
Remember, this is just my opinion and thoughts on them. Not saying anything needs to be changed.
Orthos, Sovereign of the Howling Dark
Notes:
Whirlwind Breath: Typically, our Area-based major granted abilities deal d4s of damage and our single-target abilities deal d6s. As for personal aesthetics, this is wind-based, not sonic-based, so upfront damage doesn't make much sense for the ability; I could see suffering damage if you were pushed into something or if something was pushed into you, though.
Capstone: A mass silence that isn't area-bound is pretty powerful. I would probably allow a Will save to prevent the silence effect.
Light Carved From Shadow: I don't particularly like this ability because it doesn't make sense for the spirit or scientifically. I think just having shadow conjuration or maybe summon shadow is enough.
Overall, this spirit doesn't feel particularly powerful. Its a 9th level spirit, and all it has to show for it are a couple of relatively harmless at-will spells (whispering wind and displacement is only 2nd level, though admittedly a constant displacement is nice to have).
Ultimately, I always pictured Orthos as an entity that resonated more with shadow than with the wind, although I know it is an important aspect of his mythos. Save for the very high area damage compared to most other spirits, its not something that I see myself jumping for.
Look to spells like winds of vengeance, shades, and mass suffocation for ideas of other stuff you could do with this spirit.
I'll look at some more of them later.
I went with a Light effect because Orthos dislikes darkness. Its ceremony requires the seal be drawn in bright light, and its influence makes you hate being in the dark. With that in mind, it didn't make sense to me to have him grant abilities based on darkness without some adjustment.
I missed the d4/d6 thing, as that was just a straight conversion. Normally I'd change it, but for a 9th level guy I'm okay with leaving it as it is. Ditto on the Silence - it only triggers if they fail the Reflex save, so I don't see a reason to nerf it by requiring yet another save.
I'll look into winds of vengeance, not familiar with that spell. I agree that whispering wind isn't that impressive, but it was on the original... though granted Orthos wasn't obscenely powerful, even as an 8th level Vestige.
Gotta run now. Will tinker when I get home.
First off, thanks for your input. I honestly tend to veer toward the side of less powerful and have to come back and amp things up, rather than more powerful and have to tone back later, when working on my game design stuff. Powering things up from weaker is easy, toning them back from overpowered much more difficult.
I have to admit that the association with Wind has always been stronger in my opinion, especially since that ties him to Otiax - and really, I would be very, very surprised to find that Orthos and Otiax were not intended to be expies of Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth respectively. Otiax's title is "The Gate and The Key" for crying out loud. So my design philosophy comes from that association - I always have tied Orthos more strongly to wind and sound than to darkness, and its adversity to shadows only intensified that IMO.
Alright, making the adjustments.
Whirlwind Breath: Went ahead and scaled down the damage to 1d4/level as suggested. I personally don't think 1d6/level is too broken, but it does fit the pattern, and it makes the Silence effect less augh-looking. As stated above though I'm thinking that allowing two separate saves to even risk the Silence is too lenient, so I'll be leaving that one be on the failure of the initial Reflex save. (I was half tempted to make it "if you fail either of the saves", but considered that too much.) Note the individual is silenced - it's not several AoE silence spells focused on each person afflicted. Not sure if that needs clarification.
Blindsight: Fitting, and pretty powerful but not brokenly so. Leaving it.
Displacement: I LIKE winds of vengeance. I think it gives the same effect wanted out of displacement but at a power much more appropriate to Orthos's status as the top-tier spirit. So I think I will swap that out. So the question becomes, is this too powerful to have constantly available? It's a 9th level spell that when cast lasts 1 minute per level, far far less time than an Occultist with a constant effect would get out of it, even if a 20th-level Sorcerer burned all his 9th-level slots on it. Light Carved from Darkness already gives the binder a Charisma-plus-half-level uses ability. So one option would be to go ahead and give them a second; another would be to grant a weaker version of winds of vengeance that wouldn't be broken powerful as a constant effect. Thoughts?
Light Carved from Darkness: As stated above, I really don't think a Shadow effect fits Orthos due to his disdain for darkness; that said, I see no reason why it could not retain its normal descriptor for those who disagree. Note that this does eventually scale up to shades at 20th level, as suggested.
Whispering Wind: While an interesting utility ability, I agree it really doesn't appear all that useful. Perhaps something on the theme of light and darkness? Since between Whirlwind Breath and Winds of Vengeance we have the Wind part covered. Mass Blindness/Deafness perhaps? Suggestions welcome.
PS: I'm getting flashbacks to the "Let's create some custom vestiges!" thread on the WotC boards from back in 2006-2008. That was pretty darned fun and I like getting to participate in this again.
I think its up to you on the winds of vengeance ability. I would probably do something like how bardic performance works; you have a number if minutes of winds of vengeance each day equal to your binder level and while you don't need to spend the minutes consecutively, they must be spent in 1-minute increments.
An average encounter lasts about a minute, so you're looking at 20 encounters typically, which isn't bad by any means.
I like that. Thanks!
Added as Cyclone and replaced Displacement.
And here is the next batch!
Overall, Ahazu was the most fun to convert and write. I had a hell of a time coming up with his Capstone, but when the idea finally came to me I cackled! Granted its enough to increase his spirit level by 1, but I don't see how something like that couldn't be included.
Muahahahhahahaahahhhah. I LOVE Ahazu. WELL DONE. Will be so very using him when I throw an Occultist at one of my groups. Thinking of subbing one in instead of one of the mid-level Wizards in Kingmaker's later chapters.
Ansitif: Should probably make the binder and his vestigal companion immune to both Blasphemy and its capstone, regardless of their alignment.
Cabiri: In the Legend:
The Watching Master jeot careful eyes on his rivals
Needs editing.
Otherwise looks good!
Its been a busy week, but I'll try and get some new updates here this weekend. Next up; Kas, Primus, and for symmetry, Tenebrous!
Since there has been some recent issues regarding OGL posting and sharing here on the forums recently, I've decided to shelve this project for the time being. Recent weeks have also been terribly busy. For those of you, especially you Orthos, since you're contributing, who would like to see this conversion project continue, lets move this somewhere less public. Drop me a message and we'll figure something out.
Thanks for your help, comments, and encouragement folks.
Sorry for the slow to respond. Haven't been able to get this worked on like I'd like due to various things.
Feel free to share any of the Google Docs with me directly - email is axioanarchist(at)hotmail(dot)com
Otherwise keep me informed =)
Dot
I'd like to see more vestiges getting converted :)
Heyah JiCi, long time no see =) At least if you're the same JiCi who hung out on the Vestige thread over on the WOTC boards - I was Edge-of-Oblivion there.
I've been poking away at these a little, but sadly haven't had much time lately to sit down and convert a bunch. Likewise I haven't heard much from Yasha as of late, so I'm not sure how things are going on his end. Once I get around to getting some more work done, I'll be sure to let folks know =)
Heyah JiCi, long time no see =) At least if you're the same JiCi who hung out on the Vestige thread over on the WOTC boards - I was Edge-of-Oblivion there.
Oh my god... you actually remember me??? Well, I'll be XD
Yup, I'm the guy who created a bunch of vestiges back then:
- Solovem, the honorable apprentice
- Myrocherakyro, Tiamat’s lost creation
- Alinys and Gracediana, ashes of magic
- Eltharud, the avenging familiar
- Battleplate, remains of construct
- Jhondrol Var, the spirit of an elemental wonder
- Cinder, fallen spirit of fire
- Yrosfayop, king of the wild
- Larstun, consumed vermin master
- Neryssys, last quintessential mistresses
I've been poking away at these a little, but sadly haven't had much time lately to sit down and convert a bunch. Likewise I haven't heard much from Yasha as of late, so I'm not sure how things are going on his end. Once I get around to getting some more work done, I'll be sure to let folks know =)
I see, I'll be checking it out.
I don't follow: this is a board where we can convert stuff to Pathfinder and vice-versa. If so... then how come Yasha got warned about posting the converted vestiges?
I don't think he actually got warned, I think he was reacting to other people getting warnings. We can convert stuff here yeah, but copyright law is still a thing, and poking that beehive too much does prompt necessary moderator involvement. Yasha was just avoiding that train rather than risking further danger.
He was planning on continuing the project off-board somewhere where it was less likely to incite trouble, but I haven't heard much from him since. =/
And yep, I remember you =D I wish I still had those Vestiges from that old thread, sadly I think I lost most of them when I switched computers a few times. I know I can't find the ones I made anymore =(
And yep, I remember you =D I wish I still had those Vestiges from that old thread, sadly I think I lost most of them when I switched computers a few times. I know I can't find the ones I made anymore =(
Awesome, thanks!
Ahazu
I would never publish this spirit as-is for one reason; Ahazu's "restriction" in that his secrets are almost impossible to discover. If they're so hard to discover, why stat him up in the first place? Going to the 73rd Layer of the Abyss should be this spirit's third Totem because Ahazu only has two to begin with anyway. Our rules literally state that all spirits have three totems; its not something you can mess around with.
— Nothing in the spirit's entry says what the "Tooth of Ahazu" is. If it does, it's not prominent enough. It should be listed under the totem.
— Ahazu's Abduction is neat, but it isn't explained very well. What happens to the creature? Can it act? Where does the creature go when the effect ends? I would look towards the Oracle's "Erase from Time" revelation for inspiration. Also, Major Abilities NEVER get the 24 hour limitation. Instead, I would make the caveat that only one creature can be trapped at once and trapping a new creature releases the first.
— That capstone power is ridiculous on a 4th level spirit. This should be 7th level at the least. And "the spirit's lore is hard to acquire!" is not an excuse to make overpowered spirits.
— Void Mind is also ridiculous. This is a 4th level spirit, and Mind Blank is a 7th level spell. This honestly goes against most of my advice, even the part that says its okay to put a higher-level spell on a lower-level spirit if there is a drawback. "If you die your character is gone forever" is not a drawback; drawbacks are things that affect a character immediately. In my example, "If you die, you're reincarnated as a gillman child" is a drawback because A) your size category goes down and B) you're going to take the ability modifiers of being young AND the ability modifiers of the gillman over your own race. The way this power is written, it basically says, "Here's an over powered ability that slaps you in the face if you die."
— Void Touch is worded poorly. It does not clearly specify that it only affects the targeted creature.
Overall, not a fan of this spirit. The drawbacks aren't big enough to warrant the high-powered spells the spirit grants. And in the case of mind blank, drastically before the wizard.
Ansitif
— I am not a fan of the Blasphemy major granted ability; its boring. The capstone empowerment is a very cool idea, but this is another place where it is not worded very well.
— Fire Resistance 30 is too much in my opinion. It should be Fire Resistance 20, with immunity at 20th level.
— The big thing I'm seeing is that Anitif and Ahazu are nearly identical in theme. Two demons? Both anti-mind effecting? I don't recall seeing these in the Tome of Magic, but both spirits are bland in my opinion and while their lore is pretty good, their powers do not reflect it very well.
— You didn't fill out the Favored Enemies correctly. We always do Creature Type (specifics). For example: Humanoid (elves except drow) or Any (divine spellcasters). You are going to confuse people if you don't stick to our format.
Cabiri
— Major Granted Abilities are supposed to be interesting. All of the ones I've seen here today are just at-will spells, except for the ink-blot one. The one I really liked because it tried something new.
— If it uses phantasmal killer, wouldn't the appropriate capstone be to nauseate the target on a successful save? You have nauseate on a failed save, and if a creature fails its save against that spell ... its dead. So what's the point?
— At will scrying is too good; it should be limited by uses per day. If you limit it by target, your players will say stuff like, "Okay, so now I scry on the PILLOW in the same room as the BBEG" to get additional attempts on the same target.
— Personality NEVER gives bonuses or penalties like this; you have a condition, and you suffer if you break it.
The Tooth of Ahazu is a magic item -- an artifact, one of the Teeth of Dahlver-Nar from the ToM. Like all the teeth, it grants you a little of a pact spirit's power if you stick it in your jaw.
EDIT: The whole thing with Ahazu is a relic of his origin as a part of the Savage Tide campaign: early on the party acquires the Tooth, then much later they will inevitably visit the Wells of Darkness to commune with his spirit. If one of the party happens to be a binder, discovering knowledge of a spirit almost completely unknown to the universe is a sort of reward.
The Tooth of Ahazu is a magic item -- an artifact, one of the Teeth of Dahlver-Nar from the ToM. Like all the teeth, it grants you a little of a pact spirit's power if you stick it in your jaw.
EDIT: The whole thing with Ahazu is a relic of his origin as a part of the Savage Tide campaign: early on the party acquires the Tooth, then much later they will inevitably visit the Wells of Darkness to commune with his spirit. If one of the party happens to be a binder, discovering knowledge of a spirit almost completely unknown to the universe is a sort of reward.
That makes more sense now that you've explained it, but its still a pretty lame restriction that goes against all of the norms that were established in PMU.
Yeah, it's one of those that pretty much required the Ignore Special Requirements feat or a GM willing to rewrite that blank to make him usable in any other campaign.
Thanks for the feedback Alexander!
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That makes more sense now that you've explained it, but its still a pretty lame restriction that goes against all of the norms that were established in PMU.The Tooth of Ahazu is a magic item -- an artifact, one of the Teeth of Dahlver-Nar from the ToM. Like all the teeth, it grants you a little of a pact spirit's power if you stick it in your jaw.
EDIT: The whole thing with Ahazu is a relic of his origin as a part of the Savage Tide campaign: early on the party acquires the Tooth, then much later they will inevitably visit the Wells of Darkness to commune with his spirit. If one of the party happens to be a binder, discovering knowledge of a spirit almost completely unknown to the universe is a sort of reward.
Indeed -- simply having the spirit be undiscovered makes it enough of a "treasure."
A thought: if the Teeth are in play... there's supposed to be one tooth for every vestige, or presumably for every occult spirit. So here, I'll try to do a quick (and much more regularized than the ToM version) conversion for y'all:
Each tooth of Dahlver-Nar is associated with a single occult spirit. If you implant a tooth in your jaw (requiring the permanent removal of one of your own teeth if you are not already missing at least one; pulling a tooth is a full-round action that inflicts one point of damage) you gain that spirit's major granted ability and its capstone empowerment as though you were an occultist of your total character level who had successfully made a good pact by 10 or more. However, as long as the tooth remains implanted in your jaw, you must show the spirit's physical sign and accept its influence as though you had made a poor pact with it; no means of suppressing the sign or influence will function.
Using an unimplanted tooth of Dahlver-Nar to inscribe its associated spirit's seal grants you a +1 bonus on your binder check against that spirit.
You may implant as many teeth of Dahlver-Nar in your jaws as your species normally possesses teeth, typically 32 in humans and the other core races.
I like. Thanks EML =)
I honestly never liked the teeth as a magic item mostly because "removing a tooth" has no real gameplay penalty. Its essentially a slotless wondrous item that grants you all of the powers of a spirit for free.
And just as a reference, under the rules you have there, you could literally have every spirit in Pact Magic Unbound in your mouth bound to you at once.
There will be a "slotless wondrous item that lets you bind with a spirit," but it won't be something that's closed content and it won't let you use more than one at once.
Perhaps it should be harder to actually remove one of the Teeth. A lot harder. ^.^
(These are unique minor artifacts, so if you actually manage to collect all of them... and use all of them at once... well, congratulations on finding so many, and good luck dealing with showing up to 32 signs and being forced to abide by 32 influences or suffer -32 to everything...)