Pathfinder in the Mists

[Ryan Naylor]

Next on the darklord ghost train: Pieter van Riese and Tristessa.

I must admit, I struggled for quite a while with van Riese, because there weren't all that many classes that seemed to suit him. However, I finally came across the Unbreakable archetype, which is meant to represent those fighters who just keep going whatever else happens, which I think captures van Riese's (Captain Ahab's) obsessive determination and prodigious constitution really well - the "Wooden Boats and Iron Men"/search for the northwestern passage genre that van Riese is clearly meant to tap into.

And if there's anyone anywhere who should be a horizon walker, it's him.

For those of you (Ron) who don't like the idea of dumping the NPC classes (or at least, recacluating their CRs), this may be another move too far for you, but I think he works well.

The whip and club are meant to represent his cat o' nine tails and belaying pin - famous implements of pain for a boatswain or officer who knows what he's doing.

Van Riese is also a mutable ghost, so he can be corporeal or incorporeal as he chooses. Taking a leaf from the phase spider ability, this is a move equivalent action (or can be performed as part of another move equivalent action).

For those wondering how the Relentless can be an omen of misfortune on the Sea of Sorrows but van Riese still somehow manages to conscript crews, I would suggest that when incorporeal, the Relentless's name appears in the native tongue of whoever happens to see it. When corporeal, it appears in whatever outlander tongue van Riese originally spoke (like the transofrmation from the Endurance to the Ship of Horror in SoH).

[Ryan Naylor]

 
Pieter van Riese
(The Sea of Sorrows)

Timeline
577 BC Born on Prime Material Plane.
590 BC Becomes cabin boy after stowing away and first hears of the northwest passage.
599 BC Works his way up to be boatswain’s mate.
613 BC Buys the Relentless and begins searching for the northwest passage.
630 BC Makes his dark bargain and becomes darklord of the Sea of Sorrows. At the moment, it borders only Mordent and Darkon. Van Riese begins exploring his new home.
c637-741 BC Somewhere in this very large range, Blaustein joins the Sea of Sorrows.
683 BC Lamordia is formed.
686 BC The Isle of Demise joins the Core.
c705 BC Ghastria joins the Sea of Sorrows.
707 BC Dementlieu is formed.
740 BC Markovia is transplanted from the centre of the Core to the Sea.
c748 BC Dominia joins the Sea of Sorrows.
760 BC Present day.

Powers Checks
Caress (Violence: brutality as boatswain: 4%; 613 BC): Xenophobia. Becomes able to buy the Relentless.
Enticement (Violence: brutality as captain: 4%; 615 BC): Stalwart. Cursed.
Invitation (Violence: more brutality: 4%; c623 BC): +1 level
Embrace (Betrayal and Violence: murders crew spokesman: 16%; 630 BC): +1 level
Creature (Blasphemy: dark pact to escape the storm: 32%; 630 BC): Becomes darklord of the Sea of Sorrows and a ghost.

Base stats
S 14 D 16 C 15 I 13 W 9 Ch 7 (high fantasy)
Racial: Str +2 (human)
Levelling: Str +3
Aging: Middle aged
Favoured class: skills
CR 19 (13 [levels] + 5 [template] + 1 [PC-level treasure])

760 BC (Current day stats)
CR 19 XP 204,800
Male Middle aged Human Fifth Magnitude Ghost Fighter (Unbreakable) 10/Horizon Walker 4
NE Medium Undead (Augmented Humanoid)
Init: +2 (Dex) Senses: Darkvision 60 ft, Perception +35

Defense [Corporeal]
AC 20 Touch 14 Flat-footed 18 (+2 Dex, +6 armour, +2 deflection)
hp 151 (10 + 13d10 + 70)
Fort +13, Ref +8, Will +9
Resist cold 20
DR 5/magic and silver
Channel resistance +9
Rejuvenation
Immune undead traits
Stalwart
Offense
Spd 30 ft
Melee +3 duelling, vicious, wounding whip +22/+17/+12 (1d3+7 plus Dazzling Display, Shatter Defenses)
+1 heavy mace +19/+14/+9 (1d8+5)
Melee +18/+13/+8
Ranged Pistol +16 (1d8, crit x4, touch, plus Point Blank Shot)
Ranged Pistol +12 (1d8+8, crit x4, touch, plus Point Blank Shot)
Space/Reach: 5’/5’

Defense [Incorporeal]
AC 17 Touch 17 Flat-footed 17 (+2 Dex, +5 deflection)
hp 151 (10 + 13d10 + 70)
Fort +16, Ref +8, Will +9
Resist cold 20
Stalwart
DR 5/magic and silver
Channel resistance +9
Rejuvenation
Immune undead traits
Immune critical hits, precision damage
Incorporeal
Offense
Spd Fly 30 ft (perfect)
Melee Incorporeal touch +16/+11/+6 (2d6 plus 3 negative levels (DC 22))
Space/Reach: 5’/5’

S - (18) D 15 C - I 14 W 10 (12) Ch 18 (20)
BAB +14 CMB +16 (+18 corporeal) CMD 31 (29) incorporeal; 32 (30) corporeal

Feats
Dazzling Display (whip), Deadly Aim, Diehard, Endurance, Enforcer, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (whip), Heroic Defiance (1/day), Heroic Recovery (2/day), Improved Iron Will (1/day), Intimidating Prowess, Iron Will, Point Blank Shot, Sea Legs, Shatter Defenses (whip), Skilled Driver (water), Weapon Focus (whip), Whip Mastery
Skills
Acrobatics +15 (11), Appraise +6 (4), Climb +10 (1), Intimidate +21 (11), Knowledge (geography) +20 (9), Knowledge (history) +8 (6), Knowledge (nature) +14 (9), Perception +35 (14), Profession (sailor) +18 (+22 to steer ships) (14), Sense Motive +7 (6), Stealth +8 (0), Survival +20 (10), Swim +14 (1)
Languages
Mordentish*, Lamordian, Ghastrian

Treasure
(139,000gp/185,000 gp)
+1 mace, +2 armoured coat, +3 dueling vicious wounding whip, minor cloak of displacement/resistance +2, headband of Wis and Cha +2, ring of protection +2

Special
Armour Training 2
Diehard
Endurance
Stalwart (partial saves have no effect)
Unflinching +3
Terrain Dominance (cold)
Terrain Mastery (cold, water)
Terrains (water +6, cold +2, urban +2) – water bonuses included
Chill touch (2d6 damage plus 3 negative levels)
Mutable
Dominate gaze
Frightful moan (except it is visual, not sonic; paralysed with fear while the Relentless is in sight on the sea)
Summon the dead (2d4 bowlyns)
Spell-like abilities (obscuring mist, haunting mists, fog cloud, solid fog, shadow conjuration)
Misfortune (seeing the Relentless at sea)
DR 5/magic and silver
Mastery +7
Sinkhole of evil

[Ryan Naylor]

Tristessa is a bit more complicated, because I had to create a Pathfinder sith, then zelldrow, then cleric, then ghost/banshee, which was more or less the same as her 2e and 3e build.

And because VRGttSF and Gaz V foolishly suggest that "shadow fey" is a template, sith comes in a "free sith" and "shadow sith" version as well.

She is, of course, one of only a few rank 5 ghosts in existence (the Phantom Lover being the canonical other one).

[Ryan Naylor]

Tristessa, the Queen of Black Tears
(Keening)

Timeline
151 BC Gwydion draws the ellefolk into the Plane of Shadow to serve him. After centuries of service, he rewards them by fusing them with the essence of shadow, transforming them into shadow fey. On the same day, Loht and Maeve born to Arak and Finngalla. Finngalla dies in childbirth.
201 BC Tired of the Plane of Shadow, Gwydion orders Arak to begin construction of the Obsidian Gate to conquer new planes.
575 BC The Obsidian Gate opens into Ravenloft. Gwydion’s reality wrinkle is so large that Arak forms around him; the shadow fey flee into it (forming the Greenlands in a cavern far below the surface). Arak sacrifices himself to trap Gwydion in the Gate; only the very edge of his shadow touches Arak to stabilise the domain. The Obsidian Gate is probably at the very nadir of Arak. The temporal fugue gets stronger the closer you are to the Gate.
577 BC Rumours begin to circulate the shadow fey are drow. Three real drow go to investigate and introduce the cult of the Spider Queen.
583 BC The last of the drow are wiped out, but the cult continues under “Tristessa”. Loht tries to suppress the cult, which balloons into a fully fledged power struggle.
588 BC Loht breaks the Law of Arak and murders Tristessa. The Scourge scours Arak clean of all surface life. Mount Lament moved miles away from where it was. Keening forms.
760 BC Present day.

Powers Checks
Caress (Black Magic and Blasphemy: founding the cult of the Spider Queen: 16%; 577 BC): Becomes zelldrow; new Breed.
Enticement (Betrayal: power struggle with Loht: 16%; 583 BC): Whatever powers she gained for these checks have been lost or subsumed by the ghost template; might be Cha bonuses, ghost touch amulet...
Invitation (Violence: war against Loht: 32%; 586 BC): As above
Embrace (Blasphemy: Consorting with fiends: 100%, 588 BC): Malformation of baby
Creature (Black Magic: Dying curse: 100%): Becomes darklord of Keening. Gains ghost template, queen of the dead.

Base stats
S 11 D 17 C 10 I 15 W 18 Ch 10 (base sith zelldrow)
Levelling: Wis +1, Int +1
Template: Cha +10 (fifth magnitude ghost)
Favoured class: hp
CR 16 (5 [base] + 6 [levels] + 5 [ghost])

760 BC (Current day stats)
CR 16 XP 76,800
Female Sith Zelldrow 6 Fifth Magnitude Ghost
CE Medium Undead (augmented fey, incorporeal)
Init: +3 (Dex) Senses: Darkvision 120 ft, lowlight vision, Perception +22 Aura: Strong chaos, evil
Defense
AC 18 Touch 18 Flat 15 (+3 Dex, +5 deflection)
Hp 139 (8 + 12d8 + 65 + 6)
Fort +8 Ref +13 Will +15
SR 20
DR 10/silver
Incorporeal
Channel resistance +14
Immune fire, heat, undead traits, magic missiles
Offense
Spd Fly 30’ (perfect)
Melee Incorporeal touch +10 (corrupting touch 16d6 or withering touch 1d4 Str and 1d4 Dex drain or touch spells)
Missile Ray +11
Space/Reach: 5’/5’
S - (11) D 17 C — I 15 W 18 Ch 20
BAB +7/+2 CMB +10 CMD 25 (immune to most) (22)

Feats
Spell Focus (necromancy), Weapon Finesse, Silent Spell, Still Spell, Flyby Attack, Weapon Focus (ray), Deceitful
Skills
Acrobatics +13 (7), Bluff +13 (3), Fly +15 (4), Perception +22 (7), Knowledge (arcana) +14 (9), Spellcraft +14 (9), Knowledge (religion) +14 (9), Linguistics +5 (3), Stealth +21 (7), Intimidate +17 (9), Sense Motive +16 (9), Use Magic Device +15 (7)
Languages
Arak*, Abyssal, Draconic, Drow, Sylvan, Elven

Treasure
(17000 gp)
Amulet of mighty fists (ghost touch)/brooch of shielding (8), cloak of resistance +3 (9),

Special
Spontaneous casting (inflict spells)
Touch of evil (Su): 6 rds, 7/day
Scythe of evil (Su): 6 rds, 2/day
Sudden shift 7/day
Master’s illusion 13 rds/day
Shadow form (Su): As gaseous form. Standard action.
Sunlight vulnerability (Ex): 3/1
Unnerving gaze (Su): Will DC 21 or shaken 24 rds, 30 ft
Spell-like abilities – 1/day, dancing lights, faerie fire, darkness. DC 14 + spell level.
Rejuvenation
Corrupting touch
Draining touch : ability drain can’t be healed until victim leaves Keening
Wail: Full round action. 30 ft emanation or 60 ft cone. Wail of the banshee (CL 16). Can penetrate spells creating silence of 5th level or lower. DC 21
Frightful moan
Aura of sobs
Sense living: Anywhere in Keening.
Mastery: undead minions gain +5 channel resistance
Sinkhole of evil

Shadow form
No nat AC, imm sneak attack and crit hits, fly 20 ft, can’t run, pass all Fly checks

Spells prepared
(CL 13); DC 14 + spell level; 15 + spell level (Necromancy)
Trickery (Deception), Evil
0 – bleed, detect magic, guidance, read magic
1 – murderous command, sanctuary, obscuring mist, protection from law, divine favour, protection from good
2 – death knell, desecrate, shard of chaos, spiritual weapon, silence, mirror image
3 – bestow curse (x2), contagion, vision of hell, summon monster III, magic circle against good
4 – blood crow strike, giant vermin, summon monster IV (x2), terrible remorse, confusion
5 – curse of magic negation, summon monster V, insect plague, dispel good
6 – harm, greater dispel magic, create undead
7 – mass inflict serious wounds, blasphemy

[Ryan Naylor]

Shadow fey
All fey born on the Plane of Shadows or in the Shadow Rift, or those turned into one by Gwydion, gain the shadow fey template. Those born elsewhere lose these abilities, obviously.
This grants them:
Luck (Su): +3 luck bonus to AC
Sunlight vulnerability (Ex): In direct sunlight, the shadow fey takes damage equal to its CR; it doesn't take damage when shaded. Some Breeds (unseelie breeds particularly), instead take half their CR per round in damage when exposed to direct sunlight, and 1 hp damage per round when shaded.
Darkvision 120 ft.

Arak
All Arak have the following abilities (should you want to build/rebuild your own):
DR of some kind
Immunity to some kind of material
Alternate form


Sith
LE Medium fey
CR 5
Init +3 (Dex)
Senses darkvision 120 ft, low light vision, Perception +11
AC 21 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +3 luck, +4 mage armour)
Hp 7d6 (24)
Saves +2/+9/+6
DR 10/silver
SR 16
Immune fire, heat
Spd 40 ft
Melee rapier +7/+7 (1d6)
Missile ray +6
BAB +3, CMB +3 CMD 16
Spells prepared (CL 7); DC 14 + spell level:
4 – bleed, disrupt undead, touch of fatigue (2)
3 – ray of sickening, interrogation, chill touch
3 – blindness/deafness, spectral hand, command undead
2 – ray of exhaustion, vampiric touch
S 11 D 17 C 10 I 17 W 13 Ch 12
Feats
Spell Focus (necromancy), Weapon Finesse, Silent Spell, Still Spell

Skills
Acrobatics +13 (7), Perception +11 (7), Knowledge (arcana) +10 (7), Spellcraft +10 (7), Knowledge (religion) +10 (7), Stealth +13 (7), Intimidate +8 (7), Sense Motive +11 (7), Use Magic Device +11 (7)

Fear aura (Su): DC 14. 30 ft. Cha based. Mind-affecting fear effect. Free action. Shaken.
Unnerving gaze (Su): DC 14. 30 ft. Cha based. Mind-affecting fear effect. Standard action. Fear (panicked)
Blinding speed (Ex): As haste, but only with daggers and swords.
Shadow form (Su): As gaseous form. Standard action.
Sunlight vulnerability (Ex): 3/1
Mage armour (Su): Swift action.

Zelldrow
For fey, this functions as the cleric class (with the Breed quality at 1st level). For everyone else, it's a prestige class. It's more or less as it was in 3e (Gaz V) - the only thing that would change is the save progression.

Breed:
Zelldrow are their own Breed of Arak. Arak of other Breeds who worship the Spider Queen transform into zelldrow.

The zelldrow keeps the HD, skills, feats etc of the base fey. It keeps the alternate form, immunities and weaknesses of the original fey too.
It loses the spell-like abilities of its previous form. Instead, it gains a cleric caster level equal to its original SLA caster level. Zelldrow levels stack onto this new caster level.
It becomes Medium, with a speed of 30 ft.

For a zelldrow who is "born" a zelldrow, I'd use aranea stats but change the type to fey and add the standard Arak abilities to make up for the drop in hp.

[The Giamarga]

Mechanically speaking, it's a class, but if you go deeper than that, it's really just a name. There are no mechanical effects that make an Aristocrat such that can't be duplicated by another class (better) and still be an aristocrat.

In 3E it was a bit more defined with the choice of class skills. But not so in PF.

Exactly. I'm not sure what the answer is. My gut says it's either:

1) That's OK. They exist for flavor and are defined as much or more by what they aren't as what they are. (i.e. You choose expert over rogue not because you want Fly, Handle Animal, Heal, Ride, Spellcraft, Survival and assorted Knowledges as class skills, but because you don't want sneak attack, evasion, trap finding, etc. on your Apothecaries, Librarians, and Blacksmiths)

or

2) Maybe there should be some (small) benefit added to each NPC class that no PC class can get, and that is not really useful for adventuring, but is useful for hanging around town pursuing your boring NPC life.

I'm struggling with the same problem. Lets try out number 2 ! ... in another thread perhaps?

[Zilfer]

Sorry if this was covered and all but just made the connection. Witches Class and Worshipers of Hala? <.< was this already covered? Again sorry if this is somewhere in the manual already. xD

[Mortavius]

She is, of course, one of only a few rank 5 ghosts in existence (the Phantom Lover being the canonical other one).

There is also Ezekiel Preston, from CotN: Ghosts. I always remember him, but I forget that the Phantom Lover is a rank 5 Ghost.

[Ryan Naylor]

Sorry if this was covered and all but just made the connection. Witches Class and Worshipers of Hala? <.< was this already covered? Again sorry if this is somewhere in the manual already. xD

What are you asking? I'm not sure I follow.

[Zilfer]

Sorry if this was covered and all but just made the connection. Witches Class and Worshipers of Hala? <.< was this already covered? Again sorry if this is somewhere in the manual already. xD

What are you asking? I'm not sure I follow.

Typed hastily at work. I was asking to see if you had already done the Witch for Pathfinder and was it connected to the Church of Hala? Because all the churches call them "witches".

[Ryan Naylor]

By George, you're right! I've somehow forgotten to do the last few classes.

Obviously I got too excited about the ghosts

I'll get that up next.

[Zilfer]

No worries, even I wasn't sure if you had covered it!

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

For those of you (Ron) who don't like the idea of dumping the NPC classes (or at least, recacluating their CRs), this may be another move too far for you, but I think he works well.

Nope, I far prefer a rugged sea captain as a fighter to a pampered aristocrat as a fighter. And Horizon Walker is a good fit, though I wouldn't go too far in it, since he's not seeing many different terrains anymore...

[Nemesio]

Excellent job Ryan! Keep it up. My Ryvanloft Doc is filling up quick!

[Ryan Naylor]

My players used to call my campaign Ryanloft as well