Pathfinder in the Mists

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

None of you ever want me to have any spare time ever again.

NEVER!

It's your darklord curse.

[Nemesio]

"JOIN US!"

[Zilfer]

When we said Eternal Damnation... we meant it.


And look on the bright side.... we never mentioned doing Gaz VI!

[Mortavius]

...up till now.

[The Giamarga]

One final point of news: I'm running out of things to put up. Even my well of darklords is running dry. I estimate I'll be done in about another fortnight.

This is good news for those of you who wanted a netbook version, since I will then collate everything into netbooks, revise according to feedback, and then release them.

So, if you have any requests, revisions, critiques, comments, concerns, queries or questions, sometime over the next two weeks is the time to do it.

As i alread said upthread, adding some art would be nice. Have you asked the guys who did Mistfinder if the want to assist in layout. The artists did all the pics for free iirc and imho his art is a real Ravenlof treat somewhere between Talon and Fabian...

[Nemesio]

As I've mentioned before, I would be happy to draw a few pictures for you guys. I honestly think that most gaming products put too much art in them anyways, most of which usually sucks... The first few Ravenloft products (Black Box, Feast of Goblyns, Darklords, Van Richten's Guides, Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium I, etc...) and many of the Sword & Sorcery/Arthaus additions were an exception to this comment... As a bitter artist with wasted talent, I'm always looking for someone to collaborate with... I honestly wouldn't be able to produce more than a few drawings, but as a fan of Ravenloft, I would only submit my best efforts...

All I would need is some specifications. An illustration for the beginning of each chapter would probably go nicely.

...I draw free hand without using Photoshop or anything like that, and I only do pencil drawings or ink...

I Don't have a website but I've got a few pics of my stuff up on Facebook... Here are some bronze and duck tape sculptures, and a couple pencil sketches I did a long time ago... In fact, most of it I made in Art School over 15 years ago. Weird stuff I know.

https://www.facebook.com/jason.okeefe.3 ... 970&type=3

[Mortavius]

Those are some great sculpts and drawings, Nemesio. You've got some real talent there, you should be proud.

[The Giamarga]

Nemesio you should draw some Carnival NPCs for Mortavius upcoming pdf supplement!

Also get in touch with the FoS guys, they'll gladly take more art for the next netbook...

[The Giamarga]

Ryan, as for requests, what about some more feats?

I've recently stumbled over the Legacy of Blood campaign on the Dragonlance forums where the DM converts rules
to PF here. Among them are some iconic RL feats which i think you havn't covered yet.

Or more prestige classes, or a chapter on adapting/using existing PF prestige classes.

[Rogold Gildenman]

Master Naylor, please accept my compliments on the sheer breadth and depth of the effort you have put into this thread, as well as my admiration for 'An Illustrated History of the Core' your other great achievement (you'll be receiving some more admiration there shortly! … also a small question, if I work up the courage to advance one).

I am, however, sorely disappointed that you remain the only hero on this thread and would love to see you post versions of some heroic NPCs! (if nothing else it would be an interesting opportunity to see how many of the have failed Powers Checks in your estimation).

[Ryan Naylor]

Thank you for the praise. As I said, it's been an obsessive fixation over a long time.

I did say at the start that I was only going to do darklords. Devoted though I am, my time is not unlimited, and there are plenty of other talents out there who are more than capable of converting NPCs (Mortavius' Carnival thread; Nemesio's NPC conversions, etc). There are other projects I'd like to do.

Perhaps I'll come back to them later: a Heroes of Light appendix to complement my Children of the Night opus.

Having said that, I'm pretty sure there's a Jander Sunstar I made somewhere around here.


As for Powers Checks, I can't think of many heroes that should have failed them. You could perhaps see Rudolph van Richten's curse as recompense for allying with evil and slaughtering the Radanavich clan (it has clear benefits as well as being a curse). Or it could just be a curse. In any event, he'd probably have redeemed himself before Bleak House anyway.

Larissa Snowmane should probably have failed one for allying with evil and black magic (one that lead to the death of Willen, perhaps?)

No one else really springs to mind. I would be very wary about imposing Powers Checks on heroes, because, unless you're making the struggle against it part of their thing, you're making it look like Good is weak and dull unless you're an antihero, which isn't actually part of the Gothic milieu. I've talked elsewhere about my opinions on Good and Evil in the gothic, so I won't repeat myself now.

Even George Weathermay shows the corrosive effects of evil on his soul through his alignment change rather than through Powers Checks.


Why? Which heroes would you give failed Powers Checks to?

[Ryan Naylor]

I've also mentioned in the past the Dirgist from Van Richten's Arsenal that I'd like help converting to Pathfinder since after reading the different songs and comparing to the Bard Dirgist Archetype and the Court Bard you mentioned for debuffing I really couldn't match too much of the dirgist's songs to that.

Would you build it as a Archetype or a Prestige Class? My Girlfriend really wants to play her dirgist again is what it is but I've little to no experience converting material and I've a hard time considering what is overpowered or level appropriate.

For Zilfer's girlfriend then:

Unfortunately, the Dirgist prestige class doesn't really work in Pathfinder, because it's tied to a performance mechanic that no longer works in Pathfinder. All the abilities are ranks based (as in 3e), not level (which is a bit of a pity, because tying the performance to Perform and Intimidate is a nice idea). So, if you wanted to use the class as is, you'd have to change the hit dice (to d8) or the BAB to half progression, change the save bonuses, and tie the music abilities to levels.

Personally, since it is nothing more than a type of bard, I'd make it an archetype.

What do you get?

A debuff performance (shaken, essentially)
Hide from undead
An attack bonus for allies based on how many foes are slain
Sonic damage

A slightly different bardic lore ability (which relies on a mechanic which doesn't exist explicitly in my Pathfinder rules, being relegated more to a matter of GM discretion)

Existing archetype abilities:
The debuff has an equivalent in the Court Bard archetype.
The dirge bard archetype has a number of abilities which overlap even if they don't reproduce it exactly, and is a good place to begin.
Of the standard bard abilities, you'd probably want to conserve dirge of doom.

Of the dirgist abilities, sonic damage is pretty much the only thing the sound striker has going for it, so I'm hesitant to take it. If you compare sound striker to dirgist, you can see that the dirgist ability is grossly underpowered for its level too.

The problem with the dirgist mechanics so far as I'm concerned is that they're contingent on killing or being killed: you can't use requiem unless a friend dies. So it's not a lot of fun actually having that ability, because you can't often use it. As a general design guide, you want to give abilities that are fun and thematic, but that can be used at your discretion, and not at the GM's (favoured enemy is a noted exception to this guideline, and has provoked debate because of it) or at the dice's (requiem, crescendo of blood here).


So, I give you the Mistsinger: an I-can't-believe-it's-not-a-dirgist archetype. It's a bit different to the dirgist, because I didn't want to invade the territory the dirge bard is already occupying.


Mistsinger (Archetype): A mistsinger is a bard whose music carries the taint of death and delirium. Driven to the edge of insanity by sorrow and despair, a mistsinger imbues his wild music with the touch of the Mists themselves.

Song of Sorrow (Su): A mistsinger can use performance to evoke sorrow and lament in his enemies who hear it, causing them a -1 penalty on attack and damage rolls (min 1) and a -1 penalty on skill checks and ability checks. A successful Will save negates the penalty. This penalty increases by -1 at 5th level and every six levels thereafter. Song of sorrow is a mind-affecting ability with audible components. This performance replaces inspire courage.

Song of Bolstering (Su): At 3rd level, a mistsinger can bolster undead creatures against turning. All undead within 30 feet of the mistsinger gain a +1 bonus on their turn resistance. This bonus increases by +1 at 7th level and every 4 levels thereafter. The bolstering lasts for as long as the mistsinger performs. An undead mistsinger can bolster himself in this manner. The starting attitude of bolstered undead towards the mistsinger improves by 1 step (or 2 at level 11, and 3 at level 18) unless the undead succeeds on a Will save. This is a language dependent ability with audible components. This replaces inspire competence.

Song of Grief (Su): At 9th level, a mistsinger can use song or poetics to inspire maddening grief in a living creature. The creature must be within 60 feet of the mistsinger and able to hear him. Unless the target succeeds on a Will save, she becomes confused for as long as the mistsinger performs. Song of grief is an enchantment (compulsion), mind-affecting ability. This replaces inspire greatness.

Song of Horror (Su): At 12th level, a mistsinger can strike a horrifying chord in the hearts of his enemies. Any enemy within 30 feet who can hear the mistsinger must succeed on a Will save or deal 1d8 + Str modifier damage to themselves as a standard action. Affected creatures may make a new Will save every round to resist the effect. A creature that is affected by a mistsinger’s song of horror or a creature that successfully saves against this effect cannot be affected by the same mistsinger’s song of horror for 24 hours. This is a mind affecting, language dependent, fear effect with audible components. This replaces soothing performance.

Song of Awakening (Su): At 15th level, a mistsinger can use his performance to cause dead bodies to rise up and move or fight on his command. This ability functions like animate dead, but only one undead is awoken each round that the performance continues and skeleton warriors and zombie lords are created instead of normal skeletons and zombies. They are animated only as long as the mistsinger continues the performance; if he stops, they collapse into carrion. Bodies cannot be awoken more than once using this ability. Unlike animate dead, this ability requires no components. Using this ability is cause for a Powers check. This ability replaces inspire heroics.


Song of sorrow is obviously lament for the fallen by another name, and identical to the court bard ability.

Song of bolstering riffs off the idea of graveyard sonata, but (a) is useful for villains and (b) I think introduces some interesting roleplaying situations: you can try to make them friendly, but if you fail, they'll be harder to defeat - what do you do?

Song of grief is there because inspire greatness was completely inappropriate and I needed something level appropriate. I don't think it hurts having something combat-useful there either.

Song of horror is another tangent on requiem, based on the terrible remorse spell.

Song of awakening is based on the dirge bard ability, but slightly different to account for the higher level.


What do you think? Will she approve?

[Ryan Naylor]

Ryan, as for requests, what about some more feats?

I've recently stumbled over the Legacy of Blood campaign on the Dragonlance forums where the DM converts rules
to PF here. Among them are some iconic RL feats which i think you havn't covered yet.

Or more prestige classes, or a chapter on adapting/using existing PF prestige classes.

On feats:

I've printed out those feats and the FoS's list of RL feats and I'm slowly working my way through it. So far, they divide up into a number of different categories.

There are some feats that are bad taste or based on attitudes that I think make humanity as a whole dumber and meaner. Pout, for example, or Cry. Are you kidding me? Because of the FoS language filter, I can't fully express how this annoys me, but I will say this demeans both men and women, and is (unintentionally?) heterosexist as well. Not only that, they're poorly designed mechanically as well. Tantric Ability fits here as well, but that's more bad taste than anything else. I'm also a bit bothered about putting a feat about tantric sex into a book called Champions of Darkness - what are we meant to infer from that?

You may think I'm overthinking this, but I think it's important.

There are a large number of feats that break the rules of Ravenloft, which I think is a terrible idea. Mostly these interfere with Powers checks and dread companions: Cold Hearted, Conscience, Detect Virtue, Dispassionate Dread Companion.

There are some feats that alter mechanics that no longer exist: Dabbler, Dirge of Woe

There are several that are essentially just reskins of existing feats: Deathly Pallor (Cold One), Brawler, Skeletal Dread Companion, Resolute.

Most of the ones that provide a skill bonus could more easily be replaced by the existing skill bonus feats.

And Skywise is just idiotic.


Once you've done that sifting, there are a lot of monster feats or feats that apply to specific things (the alchemical philosopher feats, for example) that are too narrow to bother converting, and probably work perfectly well as they are.

I'll come back with a list of feats that I think are worth keeping and converting later once I've finished my sifting.

[Ryan Naylor]

The last of the canon darklords:


Maligno (Odiare)

Timeline
c678 BC Guiseppe born in Gothic Italy (c1627).
738 BC Figlio created. Eventually slaughters the adults of his village and renames himself Maligno. Odiare forms.
760 BC Present day.

Powers Checks
Caress (Blasphemy: devotes himself to evil: 4%; 738 BC): Townsfolk unable to see him as anything other than a puppet.
Enticement (Violence: violence towards Guiseppe: 8%; 738 BC): Reconstruct. Sympathetic bond.
Invitation (Black Magic: forces Guiseppe to create more carrionettes: 8%; 738 BC): Immunity to magic, wooden. Unable to posses Guiseppe.
Embrace (Betrayal and Violence: attempts to possess Guiseppe: 8%; 738 BC): Animate toys.
Creature (Violence: murders all the adults: 32%; 738 BC): Becomes darklord of Odiare. Loses possession ability. Irresistible dance.

Base stats
S 10 D 17 C - I 17 W 12 Ch 15 (base advanced carrionette with class levels)
Levelling: Dex +1
Favoured class: None (construct)
CR 8 (1 [base] + 4 [levels] + 1 [template] + 2 [darklord abilities])

760 BC (Current day stats)
CR 8 XP 4,800
Male Advanced Carrionette Rogue 4
CE Diminutive Construct
Init: +8 (Dex, feat) Senses: Darkvision 60 ft, low light vision; Perception +10
Defense
AC 20 Touch 18 Flat-footed 16 (+4 Dex, +2 natural, +4 size)
hp 33 (10 + 1d10 + 4d8)
Fort +1, Ref +8, Will +2
Immune construct traits
Evasion
Trap sense +1
Uncanny dodge
Offense
Spd 15 ft
Melee straight razor +11 (1d4 plus 2d6 sneak) or silver needle +13 (1 plus 2d6 sneak plus paralysis; Will DC 16) or touch +13 (irresistible dance; Will negates, DC 20)
Ranged silver needle +13 (1 plus 2d6 sneak plus paralysis)
Space/Reach: 2 1/2’/0’
S 10 D 18 C - I 17 W 12 Ch 15
BAB +5 CMB +5 CMD 15 (11)


Feats
Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Taunt, Weapon Finesse
Skills
Acrobatics +15 (3), Appraise +7 (1), Bluff +11 (6), Climb +22 (6), Disable Device +13 (4), Escape Artist +11 (4), Knowledge (local) +10 (4), Perception +10 (6), Perform (act) +11 (6), Sense Motive +8 (4), Sleight of Hand +11 (4), Stealth +28 (6); racial bonus +8 Climb
Languages
Italian*, Darkonese, Balok, Vaasi

Treasure
Boots of elvenkind, cloak of elvenkind, ring of climbing

Special
Snap shot
Sneak attack +2d6
Evasion
Trap sense +1
Trapfinding +2
Uncanny dodge
Paralysis (as carrionette, except Maligno can choose which limb is struck)
Savage (as carrionette)
Wooden (3d6 damage and slowed 3 rds from warp wood)
Immunity to magic (immune to all non-area affecting spells except fire, wood)
Reconstruct (carrionettes can repair 1 hp as a standard action up to half his damage; Guiseppe can heal 1d6 per round)
Sympathetic bond (take same damage Guiseppe does)
Undying soul (unless Guiseppe killed)
Mastery +2
Sinkhole of evil

Spell-like abilities
DC 12 + spell level, CL 6

At will: animate objects (toys only), ventriloquism

[Ryan Naylor]

The relevant monster:


Carrionette
CR 1 (XP 400)
CE Diminutive construct
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +0
Defense
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+4 size)
hp 11 (2d10)
Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +0
Immune construct traits
Offense
Speed 15 ft.
Melee straight razor +4 (1d4-2) or silver needle +6 (paralysis; Will DC 11)
Ranged silver needle +6 (paralysis)
Special possession
Spell-like abilities (CL 2nd)
At will—ventriloquism
Space 2 1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Statistics
Str 6, Dex 11, Con —, Int 9, Wis 11, Cha 8
Base Atk +2; CMB -2; CMD 6
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Climb +8, Stealth +12; racial bonus +8 Climb
SQ Wooden
Ecology
Environment any
Organization solitary or pack (2–8)
Treasure incidental
Special Abilities
Paralysis (Su) A creature struck by one of a carrionette’s needles must make a Will save or the limb pierced by the needle is paralysed. On a critical hit, two limbs are paralysed. The effect of the paralysis is determined by the limb affected; normal carrionettes determine the limb randomly, ignoring any limbs that are already paralysed.

1 arm - The victim can't perform tasks requiring two hands and drops anything held in that hand.
2 arms - The victim drops anything held in their hands and can't perform tasks requiring the use of their arms. They lose their Dex bonus to AC and suffer an additional -2 penalty to AC. They are sickened.
1 leg - The victim gains the entangled condition.
2 legs - The victim falls prone, gains the entangled condition and is flat footed. If both arms are still functional, they can drag themselves at half speed as a full round action; otherwise, they can only drag themselves 5 ft as a full round action.
3 limbs (of any kind) - As well as suffering the relevant conditions described above, the victim is exhausted.
4 limbs - The victim is paralysed.

A needle can be removed as a move equivalent action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity and requires one hand. The effects of the paralysis fade 1d4 rounds after the needle is removed.
Possession (Su) A carrionette can possess (as magic jar) a helpless humanoid or monstrous humanoid by driving a silver needle into the base of its skull. The carrionette’s essence is transferred into the creature’s body immediately, while the creature’s soul is transferred into the carrionette’s and rendered unconscious for an hour. Carrionettes are not affected by their paralysis ability and can remove the needles easily.
A carrionette’s life force remains tied to its doll body; if the puppet is destroyed, the carrionette’s possessed body dies as well. For that reason, they are careful to lock their original bodies away carefully while they enjoy the possessed body.
A creature trapped in a doll body can return to its own body by driving a silver needle anywhere into their original body. Silver needles are improvised weapons in the hands of non-carrionettes. As before, the carrionette body is rendered inert for an hour, while the living body is functional immediately.
Savage (Ex) Carrionettes can use Medium sized light simple weapons as though they were Small, not Diminutive, incurring only a -2 penalty.
Wooden (Ex) A warp wood spell instantly destroys a carrionette.
Construction
Crafting a carrionette requires silver, silk and rare woods totalling 50 gp in cost.
CL 7th; Price 2,050 gp
Requirements Craft Construct, animate objects, ventriloquism, magic jar; Skill Craft (carpentry) or Craft (sculptures) DC 12; Cost 1,050 gp