There are probably easier ways to pretend to be a demon, but there is something especially insidious about this approach. We are literally cutting up demons and incorporating their parts into ourself. Baller AF.
So, we can get wings, horns, claws that deal damage as one size larger, and freaking hooves with Trample! Lol. There's more... like skin and eyes and hearts and drinking the lumpy gray and green slurry, made from the pureed brains of a dozen dretches... As cool as all of this is, or may be, we still are not a demon, by any means. We have a bunch of demon parts, and fun $#!+ that comes with those aforementioned parts... but a demon we are not.
Given that it takes over 112,000gp to craft all these implants, we probably have plenty of time to pick up all four Damnation feats. With these feats, we get defensive abilities, buffs to evil spellcasting, the ability to disguise/hide our alignment, and some gnarly Intimidation stuffs... but a demon we are not.
That's why I said "pretend to be a demon".
What are some good classes/archetypes/races to go down this rabbit hole? Drow are into the whole fleshwarping thing, right? And the Vivisectionist seems like the correct kind of creep to contact about Demonic Implants. What else fits theme? I'm also interested in boons from Deific Obedience(s) and/or Occult Rituals that may turn one into a Demon, but becoming an actual Demon is not completely necessary.
I'm not overly impressed with the Fiendish template, but interesting ways that may gain access to said template are still noteworthy to this discussion. I know that the offspring of someone with Lamashtu's Mark, and/or Lamashtu's Demon Mother Mask get the Fiendish template... could get a bite attack from Lamshtu's 2nd boon, which would go well with the claws, gore, and hooves you get from the implants. The Half-Fiend template would be better, but I don't know how to get that one.
What do think?
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A Sorcerer with an Abyssal bloodline, or a character with the Eldritch Heritage line of feats (with the same bloodline) might be someone interested in the implants and feats you’re referencing. You could add to that the Fiendish Obedience feat or Demonic Obedience and the Demoniac prestige class. Taking the Diverse Obedience feat would obviously give you a greater range of boons, some of which afford you a transformative power (if only for a finite number of rounds or minutes) such as Canopy Crawler, Invocation of the Gorgon, Minotaur Form, Sting of Aldinach, etc.
A Sorcerer with an Abyssal bloodline, or a character with the Eldritch Heritage line of feats (with the same bloodline) might be someone interested in the implants and feats you’re referencing. You could add to that the Fiendish Obedience feat or Demonic Obedience and the Demoniac prestige class. Taking the Diverse Obedience feat would obviously give you a greater range of boons, some of which afford you a transformative power (if only for a finite number of rounds or minutes) such as Canopy Crawler, Invocation of the Gorgon, Minotaur Form, Sting of Aldinach, etc.
The Abyssal Bloodline is quite fitting, indeed. Besides the Eldritch Heritage feats, VMC Sorcerer could work, too.
I really love the Obedience feats, and was kind of hoping for a boon that gave a template or changed one's type. Not even sure how to search for that without just going down the list of deities on AoN, and reading every boon available. Lol.
Speaking of sesrching on AoN... what did you search for to get that list?
...such as Canopy Crawler, Invocation of the Gorgon, Minotaur Form, Sting of Aldinach, etc...
The Demoniac's Demon Mark gives the evil discriptor to whichever spell you use it on... it would go very well with the Damnation feat, Maleficium. We were talking about Drow earlier... Drow have an alternative racial feature, called Champion of Dark Powers, that could even further bolster your evil spells. A Champion of Dark Powers-Seducer-Surface Infiltrator Drow Noble Tattooed Sorcerer with the Abyssal Bloodline going into the Demoniac prestige class... I like it. She will have all the Demonic Implants, all four Damnation feats, and she will be awesome. Thank you.
Still open for more ideas. Keep them coming.
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@VodooistMonk
Demonic Apotheosis?
Dear possible customer, unfortunately, actually becoming a Demon is not an easily replicated feat, and generally speaking depends on your specific circumstances. It should be noted that both Lord Koschtschie and Lady Zurah, 2 powerful demon lords, where originally mortals, as such the difficulties should not dissuade one who has already mastered 2 such highly contradictory disciplines such as Vodooism and Monkhood.
A number of the "near peer competitors" of my Lady in Shadows indeed grant time limited partial transformations to their followers, although interestingly enough rarely towards a demonic form.
Baphomet indeed allows his followers to transform into Minotaurs (or Minotaur followers into humans) and Cyth-V'sug final sentinel ability does enable you to turn into a shambling mound. Of course, to get there, you have to follow Cyth-V'sug que horreur.
I you do not follow aesthetic concerns, I would actually recommend Dagons second exalted boon, the aspect of Ishiars range increase is quite potent on a martial character, as is the damage resistance and the mobility enchancement. The duration is also quite genorous.
Deskari offers transformative options as well, alas, not only do you have to worship deskari, at the level it kicks in, many adversaries can deal with swarms rather well.
Further down the aesthetically dubious line, the Sentinel blessing of Goguntha gives a profane +2 to all of your phyisical ability scores, but you already have to be a boggard for this.
I shall review Demon Lords alphabetically at a later point.
Splintersoul vigilante can be fun as you wrestle between the "you are a good person with demon implants" and "you are evil when you go full fighting". This is very much a Devilman situation.
Casters in general work well because you can graft the parts onto yourself.
Shifter is a thing. So you can can go for the "tainted creature" RP and kill 2 birds with 1 stone. 3 birds if you also go for the possessed hand feat while having the claw.
There is no internal struggle, no wrestling between being good or evil... the choice has been made without shame or fear. Fully embraced the dark side a long time ago, and haven't looked back. A good person with demon implants, I am not. I am Evil. Not only when I go full fighting. All day, every day. All in, all the time. We don't half-@$$ Evil 'round here.
And, I was absolutely thinking this could be combined with the Possessed Maniac Hand. Lol. The Maniac Hand gets a slam attack, so you could have a claw and a slam instead of two claws. The claws do damage as one size larger, so two claws would be better mechanically. Although, it does fit together really well. I do like the idea of being this patchwork abomination, a collage of evil.
@VodooistMonk
Demonic Apotheosis?Dear possible customer, unfortunately, actually becoming a Demon is not an easily replicated feat, and generally speaking depends on your specific circumstances. It should be noted that both Lord Koschtschie and Lady Zurah, 2 powerful demon lords, where originally mortals, as such the difficulties should not dissuade one who has already mastered 2 such highly contradictory disciplines such as Vodooism and Monkhood.
A number of the "near peer competitors" of my Lady in Shadows indeed grant time limited partial transformations to their followers, although interestingly enough rarely towards a demonic form.
Baphomet indeed allows his followers to transform into Minotaurs (or Minotaur followers into humans) and Cyth-V'sug final sentinel ability does enable you to turn into a shambling mound. Of course, to get there, you have to follow Cyth-V'sug que horreur.
I you do not follow aesthetic concerns, I would actually recommend Dagons second exalted boon, the aspect of Ishiars range increase is quite potent on a martial character, as is the damage resistance and the mobility enchancement. The duration is also quite genorous.
Deskari offers transformative options as well, alas, not only do you have to worship deskari, at the level it kicks in, many adversaries can deal with swarms rather well.
Further down the aesthetically dubious line, the Sentinel blessing of Goguntha gives a profane +2 to all of your phyisical ability scores, but you already have to be a boggard for this.I shall review Demon Lords alphabetically at a later point.
I have read the four Demonic Apotheosis rituals, too... I am just an idiot and completely spaced them out of my mind. Thank you for reminding me. Indeed, the aforementioned rituals are the way to go. Still going to get all the implants for anything the end/result fiend may not have... same as picking a patron with different immunities for the Fiendskin Damnation feat... really round out the end/result fiend by filling in any gaps in their defenses, adding more natural attacks [like the Gore attack from the Crown of Thorns implant], possibly adding wings/flight to a fiend that otherwise could not fly...
You lose all benefits of your previous race when you become a fiend, so do Humans lose their bonus feat? Lol. Not that I actually care too much, no matter what the character had going on before, once they are this involved in the 3rd and 4th rituals, they are essentially a story piece... you can just GM fiat what is needed or wanted... even if this character is played as a member of the party. Being allowed to become a fiend is no joke, and a willingness to allow such shenanigans probably comes with a willingness to make such things work [such as keeping racial bonus feats if they are necessary to the overall function or playability of the build].
I think I am going to attach one ritual to each Damnation feat... the first ritual will happen upon taking the first Damnation feat, second ritual when you take the second feat, and so on. Might even house rule that as part of the Damnation feats, just for fun.
Again, thank you for reminding me about these... I even mentioned Occult Rituals, but it just didn't click.
The only character I currently have with all four Damnation feats is a Changeling Hag-Riven Bloodrager with the Hag Bloodline... she was trying so hard to become a real Hag, but got lost along the way. I could, quite easily, retroactively associate one ritual per Damnation feat she has, and add a bunch of implants to her. Probably the best character I already have to use as a base. The Drow Noble Tattooed Sorcerer/Demoniac is still something I need to put together from scratch.
Time to go shopping for end/result fiends... it would probably be up to the GM, but that's me... so we get to literally choose which fiend we want to be. So many choices. I assume that HD should be similar between the character before the ritual and the end/result fiend...? Their example shows a level 10 Fighter turning into a Vrock with 10 Fighter levels... a Vrock only has 9HD, so I presume it would be advanced 1HD to match.
Could be a Nabasu Demon, then find that cult that helps Nabasu Demons graduate into Vrolikai. Lol.
What do you think would make the best blackmarket plastic surgeon?
I don't know of any classes/archetypes that specifically deal with this type of surgery. There is a Ranger archetype for Dragoncrafting, but I don't know of anything for Fleshwarping. I do like the Vivisectionist's Torturous Transformation ability, and Alchemy is awesome... the lab/equipment makes for a good visual when you think about Demonic Implants/Fleshwarping. The Material Manipulator Mesmerist has an ability called Revision that is also quite fitting, but lacks the presentation of an alchemy lab.
Either way, there are some item creation feats that deal with Demonic Implants/Fleshwarping... Demon Grafter and Fleshwarper, respectively. Demon Grafter has Demonologist as a prerequisite, so it's a three feat investment. Not at all out of reach, even for a Cohort.
Speaking of sesrching on AoN... what did you search for to get that list?...such as Canopy Crawler, Invocation of the Gorgon, Minotaur Form, Sting of Aldinach, etc...
No list, I’m afraid… I was just doing what Liliyashanina was talking about: sorting deities by pantheon on AoN, going down the Demon Lords alphabetically, and looking for any boons granted by them that provided an appropriately transformative benefit.
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Mazmezz is a Demon Lord... one of her boons turns your lower half into a giant spider. I have a Kasatha Tetori Monk with Fiendish Obedience Mazmezz. She is as scary as she is fun.
Calling this back to the surface...
Does anyone have any experience with the Demonic Apotheosis rituals?
What level(s) are these rituals "supposed" to occur?
The Fourth Apotheosis says the fiend you transform into should not have more than twice your HD... no $#!+, right? I was thinking that the end result fiend should be equal to, or less, than your HD... not up to twice that. Holy crap, this means a level 10 character could transform into a Balor (with 10 character levels).
How many ~40HD demons are there? The Demon Lords Baphomet and Dagon both have 33HD, for reference. Nocticula has 36HD. Obviously you can't transform into a named Demon Lord... but it appears that literally everything else is up for grabs. The rituals are not meant to be easy, and likely results in the character becoming an NPC... but it still seems extreme to allow twice one's HD worth of fiend.
But OH MAN does this allow a fun way to add class levels to demons! Sure, you could just add class levels to demons, but what is the fun in that? I think I need to start using more demons in my games. Lol.