Burnt Offerings - The Problem with Sinspawn

[Stiletto]

During my whole DM career, designing dungeons has been a labor of love. I really like creating interesting mazes and dungeons. The downside is that I think I'm too practical; I can't have a dungeon with monsters/people in it without putting in kitchens and privies and ways for air to get down there.

The group I am DMing for just made it into the Catacombs of Wrath, fought the sinspawn sentry, and then decided to leave and come back later after making some Knowledge (Dungeoneering) checks on it. So I looked up the description of sinspawn and noticed that aberrations, according to Pathfinder, eat, sleep and breathe. That's where my problem is. Elyrium can't have sinspawn sitting around or they will starve. There are supposedly two just hanging out in the ancient prison that would require some nurishment. Elyrium, being a demon, doesn't eat (though she does enjoy munching on maggots). Elyrium's wren can hop out through the cracks in the stairs up to get food. Koruvous is so twisted by drinking the Waters of Lamashtu that he doesn't require eating (or at least he needs to continue drinking). But the sinspawn have needs!

I guess Elyrium can summon sinspawn at will from the runewell. Since the party got to the entrance of the Catacombs, shined their bullseye lantern into the jail, shined their light into the room with Azlant's statue, killed her sentry with enough time for it to be missed and then left. She'll be ready for them. He He He (mine is an evil laugh)

S

[mcbobbo]

Good point about their needs, but I suppose there's a chance that they subsist on Wrath as long as they're within X of the runewell.

And actually, no, there's a limit. See the info about neutralizing the well for more detail, but I think the max is five more (inside the module).

[James Jacobs]

Actually... this is an excellent example of some of the unfortunate side-effects we sometimes see when we "graduate" a monster out of a Pathfinder bestiary and into a hardcover Bestiary, which not only has to be world-neutral, but generally has a lot less space for flavor text.

In Pathfinder #1, where the sinspawn was first introduced, I explain that they live on flesh but as long as they're within a mile of a functioning runewell (minor or major doesn't matter), the energies of the runewell keep them sustained as if they'd been feeding and drinking normally. This can last forever.

So as long as the runewell below Sandpoint stays active, the sinspawn in the dungeon remain active as well.

We had to cut that bit of information because there wasn't enough room in the Bestiary 2 writeup for that extra info, but also because runewells, being Golarion-specific things, aren't something we can really talk about anyway in a world-neutral hardcover.