Café de Nuit

Ryan Naylor wrote:
He's not bloodline-less per se - he just has a unique bloodline.

I see. Imho it should be given a name and put in the standard notation in his statblock though.

And he's still missing his regular sorcerer spells isn't he?

Ryan Naylor wrote: Obviously, I was once paid to write Ravenloft, although it was never enough to live off, and I would have (and clearly am) doing it for the love of the world. When the Swords and Sorcery Ravenloft shut up shop, Dragon approached me to do some erratic work for them, but I was about to start my Honours project at university, and I didn't have time. Since those people went on to found Paizo and Pathfinder, I sometimes wonder what might have been. The Book of S series had a number of alumni that went on to achieve great things in the roleplaying world, not least Wes Schneider, who is now Editor-in-Chief of Paizo. Who knew Ravenloft was such a hotbed of creativity (except us, of course )?

To answer your question, I have a PhD in neuropathology and currently work as an academic at a university. I only do this now as an amateur in the Latin sense - one who does it for love not money. Because the rest of you might as well benefit from my psychotic obsession.

I'm still thinking if you wanted you (and the other Kargatane) could probably get a foot in the door with Paizo. Check out how Mike Shel landed a gig with them on his Mud Sorcerer's Tomb writing credit alone after they finally found/talked to each other.

The Giamarga wrote:

Ryan Naylor wrote:
He's not bloodline-less per se - he just has a unique bloodline.

I see. Imho it should be given a name and put in the standard notation in his statblock though.

And he's still missing his regular sorcerer spells isn't he?

No, they're just SLAs not spells.

If it bothers you, feel free to change them back.

I like what you did with Juste, Ryan. But with him being such a unique being, I think this is one Darklord that could use one of those write-ups a long with it that explains what you did and why and such. I know you've done that since with the questions, but maybe it's not clear?

Design notes for Lemot Sediam Juste (to collect in one place):

In 2e, Lemot Sediam Juste was a 3rd level illusionist. If you're going to be completely true to that, you would therefore rebuild him as a 3rd level illusionist.

There are a couple of reasons I think that's a problem.

The first is the problem of Juste becoming a glass cannon. I don't mind darklords (particularly those with undying souls, or those with lots of minions or strong protections) being weak in combat. However, it becomes very tricky to evaluate a CR for something which has 8 hp but can easily rise from the dead and has mind-bending powers of illusion which would, at minimum, be available at level 5 normally.

I therefore gave him some extra levels, to bring him up to there. He's still not great in combat without his illusions (preserving a little of the glass cannon flavour), but he's a more balanced game character.

So, that explains the increase in level. Why then is he a sorcerer?

The first and most obvious answer is that that gets him major image at a lower level than he would if he were a bard (and I wanted to keep him at a low level - again, he was only 3rd level in 2e). Admittedly, that'd only be a 1 level difference though, and he's higher than both of those anyway.

The second is that sorcerers have the highest number of spells per day of any of the arcane classes, and he needed to be able to cast a lot of illusions to be consistent with his published abilities. High throughput, low versatility is the sorcerer way. Bards do not have the same versatility - at level 6, a sorcerer can cast 3 x 3rd level spells. A bard at level 7 could cast 1.

The third is that bard was a class that existed in 2e (unlike sorcerer). IoT knew what a bard was, and could have made him one if they'd wanted to. Harkon Lukas, for example, or Tristen ApBlanc, show that they were willing to roll the class out and do some pretty unusual things with it when they wanted to. Furthermore, I don't really see any of the other bard abilities, like performance, of being of any use to Juste, or consistent with how he's portrayed.

His shtick is illusions. He doesn't write *good* plays (or at least tragedies) - we know that for a fact. No one who saw him act was compelled to fight harder or died of terror or any bard-y things. Beyond being a playwright (which is really just a matter of ranks in one skill), there's no indication that he should be a bard.

He's not a wizard, incidentally, because he doesn't seem to prepare or memorise spells or have a spellbook, and I knew we'd be having the same debate with a less satisfactory answer from my point of view if he was still an illusionist.

So, overall I decided that sorcerer was a better option than bard. I just couldn't get bard to fit him and the abilities he canonically has to my satisfaction.

It also seems to me that he was probably an expert as a normal human, and only gained magical abilities when he became a darklord. He isn't a sorcerer from birth.

As I've already said, there don't seem to be any illusion focused bloodlines. In fact, there aren't any that really struck me as giving him anything that was new but in theme (without giving him something that clearly wasn't) or could explain away some of his extant abilities. So my options were to give him something that I didn't think fitted well, fiddle with something that already existed until it fit better, or just make something up. Not being a "real" sorcerer gave me more leeway to muck about with bloodlines and things, because he's getting his powers from the Dark Powers rather than an actual sorcerer bloodline.

Having made a list of all his abilities and trying to cram them into the conventional rule set wherever I could, there were a couple of things that seemed equivalent to bloodline abilities. Again, even fiddling with an existing bloodline didn't seem to get what I needed.

Master of the stage (+1 DC to disbelieving illusions) seemed equivalent to most of the bloodline arcana powers. Maybe slightly more so, because it's directly buffing his spellcasting whereas most of the others provide side benefits, but since he can only do it on the stage, and his illusions are canonically very difficult to penetrate, that seemed reasonable.

As a 1st level bloodline power, being able to add a component (in this case, a sense of time passing) to his illusions also seemed reasonable (especially since there's really only 1 spell he can add it to, and it's his signature spell). It's not a massively powerful one on paper, but one that, again, we know he can do, and one that is nice stylistically.

As a 3rd level bloodline power, he got an improved ability to concentrate on illusions. We know he can write 3 scenes at once (which means, he can concentrate on 3 sets of major illusions/hallucinatory terrains at once), but can't handle any more. Normally, he could only do 1. However, he is super-intelligent, so giving him the processing power to handle a few more scenes - to control a number of illusions equal to his Int bonus - seemed to me to be about equivalent to the sorts of powers he might otherwise have got. Basically, he can create backdrops for 3 scenes, and create characters in 2 of them. I was a bit worried that might be more powerful than it should have been, but his other darklord abilities (burn and dimensional step) aren't really worth CR +1 by themselves, so if there's a bit of power overflow, I think it's a safe amount.

Finally, there's making his spells into SLAs rather than spells. The only difference between SLAs and spells is that SLAs lack all components (V and S included - they're operations of will). Juste has a very poor range of spells he can cast - really, there's an illusion or two on himself (disguise self is part of canon; mirror image just seemed fitting), illusions on the stage (major image and hallucinatory terrain, plus ghost sound to draw people to the stage, or for when major image isn't appropriate), seek and detect thoughts to get the backstories of everyone on his stage, and that's it. There's really nothing else he needs to cast. So, I decided that a very limited spell range was approximately equal to be offset by changing his spells to SLAs. And his caster level was high enough, his ability bonus to the number of spells per day, and his number of spells per day, particularly given they have effectively unlimited durations provided he's content to keep spending standard actions concentrating (or "writing" as he see it), was enough to mean that changing his powers to at will wasn't a massive increase in power.

I then reviewed him in totality and tried to decide if he was actually CR 8, and compared him to some of the other CR 8 darklords and characters that I've built, and I think he is.

While there was a lot of mucking around and trying things out to get him to work, and be consistent with Pathfinder and his 2e write up, I think I've got something that is an appropriate threat for his CR, which is really the most important aspect of this, since he exists only as an antagonist.

You may think otherwise. I am more than willing to discuss my builds. If you have a bard or a more conventional sorcerer or a wizard that you think works better, by all means post it.

Well, that was longer than I anticipated.

On to simpler things.

Things we know about Eli van Hassen:

He's not CE.
He's a noble who doesn't care much about his tenants (which is why I chose NE, not LE).
His only real supernatural abilities are manipulating luck unconsciously.
He sounds roguey to me, and his domain (possibly influenced in my mind by Sleepy Hollow, the Disney short and the original cartoon) is probably chivalric.

In piecing together his background, he and the Horseman's sins complement each other really nicely. They are two sides to the same coin in a lot of ways.


Eli Van Hassen (The Endless Road)
(The Lonesome Road)

Timeline
c640 BC Born on the Prime Material Plane.
c672 BC Talitha born.
c680 BC Wife dies.
c690 BC The Horseman comes to Tranquility and kills the hydra. Eli forces Talitha to accuse him of rape. Executes the Horseman. Becomes darklord of the Endless Road. The Lonesome Road forms.
760 BC Present day.

Powers Checks
Caress (Betrayal: watches friend drown; doesn’t intervene and is too afraid to tell anyone about it: 4%; c648 BC): Xenophobia.
Enticement (Betrayal: using position to drive away competitors and rivals: 2%; c685 BC): Cha +2
Invitation (Violence and Betrayals: sends guards he doesn’t like against the Horseman, knowing he’ll kill them: 2%; c690 BC): Cha +2
Embrace (Betrayal: forces Talitha to accuse Horseman of rape: 8%; c690 BC): Wis +4
Creature (Betrayal and Violence: judicial murder: 16%; c690 BC): Becomes darklord of the Endless Road. Serendipity. Cringe and cower.

Base stats
S 9 D 13 C 13 I 15 W 13 Ch 14 (high fantasy)
Racial: Con +2 (human)
Levelling: Cha +2
Aging: middle aged
Powers checks: Wis +4, Cha +4
Favoured class: hp
CR 12 (10 [levels] + 1 [PC-level treasure] + 1 [darklord abilities])

760 BC (Current day stats)
CR 12 XP 19,200
Male Human Rogue 11
NE Medium Humanoid (human)
Init: +5 (Dex, feat) Senses: Perception +18
Defense
AC 20 Touch 13 Flat-footed 19 (+1 Dex, +6 armour, +1 natural, +2 deflection) plus Combat Expertise
hp 86 (8 + 10d8 +22)
Fort +7, Ref +10, Will +9
Another day
Evasion
Improved evasion
Improved uncanny dodge
Trap sense +3
Offense
Spd 30 ft
Melee +9/+4 dagger +2 (1d4+1; crit 19+; plus 6d6 sneak)
Ranged +10/+5 cunning pistol +1 (1d8+1 plus 6d6 sneak; crit x4; range 40 ft, ignore armour, misfire 1; 2 with paper cartridges; +2 to confirm crits vs humanoids)
S 8 D 12 C 14 I 16 W 18 Ch 21
BAB +8 CMB +7 CMD 20 (19)

Feats
Betrayer, Catch Off-Guard, Combat Expertise, Improved Initiative, Persuasive, Quick Draw, Rhetorical Flourish
Skills
Acrobatics +15 (11), Appraise +10 (4), Bluff +19 (11), Climb +9 (7), Diplomacy +23 (11), Disable Device +19 (6), Escape Artist +21 (11), Intimidate +7 (0), Knowledge (geography) +5 (2), Knowledge (history) +5 (2), Knowledge (local) +12 (6), Knowledge (nobility) +9 (6), Knowledge (religion) +9 (6), Perception +18 (11), Ride +7 (6), Sense Motive +18 (11), Sleight of Hand +10 (6), Stealth +20 (11), Swim +6 (4)
Languages
Haven*, Draconic, Halfling, Elven

Treasure
(61,000 gp/81,000 gp)
Cunning pistol +1, dagger +2, glamered chain shirt +2, amulet of natural armour +1/brooch of shielding, cape of the mountebank/cloak of elvenkind/cloak of resistance +2, ring of protection +2, vest of escape.

Special
Sneak attack +6d6
Improved uncanny dodge
Trapfinding +5
Trap sense +3
Coax information
Hard to fool (3/day)
Convincing lie (10 days)
Another day
Improved evasion
Serendipity (full rd action; all foes in 30 ft Will save or shaken, knocked prone, slowed or dazed 1 rd)
Cringe and cower (full rd action; sanctuary; DC 20)
Mastery +5
Sinkhole of evil



Thoughts?

This one comes with thanks to Nemesio, who reviewed an original draft, gave me his own, which I then used to redraft my original.

You might want to refer back to my dreamwalking rules to interpret some of his abilities. Basically, the Nightmare Court (as overseers of dreams) make things more difficult for PCs to alter or influence in dreams, rather than having to roll themselves. They're a passive opposition rather than an active contest, and without opposition, they have unfettered control. Hence the dreamwalking modifiers.

I've also always ascribed to the theory that the members of the Court are parts of the Nightmare Man's psyche, not independent creatures, which is why they act differently to him - they can't appear in each other's dreamscapes, but he can; they feed of specific types of dreams, but he doesn't; basically, he's free of a lot of the rules under which the other Court members operate. So, to try to explain why he has the facades he has, I've tried to allude to pivotal events that inspired them - regret over the loss of his child, guilt over hitting his wife, fear he felt of a particular old witch he visited, the humiliation he felt before his father, and 2 less specific cultural archetypes. Otherwise, the background is largely consistent with the probably-lies background given in the Book of Shadows.

The Red Headed Child is from the Guide to Transylvania, by the way.


It's also built to show a certain family resemblance to the animate dream in Bestiary 3 and nightmare creature template in Bestiary 4.

The Nightmare Man
(The Nightmare Lands)

Timeline
683 BC The Nightmare Lands join the Core; how long they’ve been hidden in the Mists is unknown.
694 BC The Gathering Cloth is woven in Arbora from Nightmare silk.
714 BC Hazlik enters Ravenloft through the Nightmare Lands and falls under the influence of Hypnos.
c731 BC Rudolph van Richten and Dr Gregorian Ilhousen visit the Nightmare Lands.
745 BC The Kantora Strangler is sent to the Clinic for the Mentally Distressed after 6 years of murders. The Illuminated Man join the Carnival.
747 BC The Nightmare Man sends the Night Terror Mandalain to harass Dr. Ilhousen; she is laid to rest a year later.
749 BC The Clinic for the Mentally Distressed is drawn into the Nightmare Lands.
750 BC The Nightmare Man steals away the fiancé of the wizard Mikael Trent, who later summons a bastellus.
760 BC Present day.

Powers Checks
Unknown.

Hypothetically:
Caress (Black Magic: buys artistic merit from a frightening witch: 4%; 665 BC): Disdain of his father. Creativity.
Enticement (Violence: beats his wife, causing her to miscarry their baby, a boy with red hair: 16%; 681 BC): Dreamwalking.
Invitation (Blasphemy and Violence: paints while his house burns down with everyone in it: 8%; 683 BC): Summon Night Terrors.
Embrace (Black Magic and Violence: summoning Night Terrors to pursue enemies: 8%; 683 BC): Spell-like abilities. The City of Nod is overrun.
Creature (Black Magic: dark pact to survive: 16%; 683 BC): Becomes a creature of dreams and darklord of the Nightmare Lands. Loses creativity.

Base stats
Unique

760 BC (Current day stats)
CR 21 XP 409,600
Male Unique Outsider
LE Medium Outsider (native, dream, augmented humanoid)
Init: +9 (Dex, feat) Senses: Darkvision 120 ft, low light vision; Perception +37
Aura: Fear (60 ft, DC 31 or shaken), frightful presence (30 ft, DC 31 or panicked)
Defense
AC 35 Touch 25 Flat-footed 30 (+5 Dex, +10 natural, +7 deflection, +3 luck)
hp 326 (10 + 27d10 +168), regenerate 10
Fort +15, Ref +21, Will +26 (+4 vs illusions)
DR 15/good and cold iron
SR 31
Illusion resistance
Protection from good
Offense
Spd 30 ft, fly 60 ft (perfect)
Melee +33 2 slams (2d6+3 +1 Str plus nightmare curse plus 10d6 sneak)
Ranged +33
Space/Reach: 5’/5’
S 16 D 21 C 22 I 21 W 26 Ch 25
BAB +28 CMB +31 CMD 56 (51)

Feats
Improve Initiative, Weapon Finesse, Combat Reflexes, Ability Focus (deep slumber, nightmare, fear), Flyby Attack, Combat Casting, Blind-Fight, Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Iron Will, Mobility, Intimidating Gaze
Skills
Appraise +11 (6), Bluff +32 (22), Diplomacy +13 (6), Disguise +26 (16), Fly +16 (11), Intimidate +34 (24), Knowledge (arcana) +21 (16), Knowledge (geography) +16 (11), Knowledge (history) +21 (16), Knowledge (local) +16 (11), Knowledge (nature) +16 (11), Knowledge (nobility) +16 (11), Knowledge (planes) +24 (16), Knowledge (religion) +16 (11), Perception +37 (22), Sense Motive +43 (26), Sleight of Hand +25 (17), Spellcraft +22 (17), Stealth +30 (22), Use Magic Device +24 (14)
Languages
Oneiros; telepathy 100 ft, tongues

Treasure
None

Special
Madness (1/day/person, 30 ft or anywhere within the same dreamscape, DC 31)
Master of terror (+2 save DC to SLAs)
Shape dreamstuff (at will, as control weather, polymorph any object or animate objects; can alter terrain)
Summon dreamspawn (HD of dreamspawn, animate dreams or nightmare creatures equal to dreamwalking modifier of facade)
Dreamwalking (at will)
Dreamwalking modifiers (each facade has a different modifier to DCs to alter dreamscapes through lucid dreaming)
Bound to relics (if destroyed, prevents regeneration and dreamwalking)
Entrap victims (those paralysed by Str loss from touch teleported back to the facade’s lair)
Nightmare curse (DC 31; as animate dream. Can cast dominate person on those suffering Wis damage from nightmare curse—permanent without remove curse)
Multiple facades (each with their own special abilities):
The Nightmare Man: Create night terrors (nightmare creatures) in the real world (full rd action; 10 ft from sleeping creature)
Dream fire (30 ft line, 4d10 profane damage + horror check; half damage and shaken on successful Ref DC 29 save)
Dreamwalking modifier +21
Hypnos: DC for deep slumber and suggestion +2
Dreamwalking modifier +19
Morpheus: Baleful polymorph at will; shape dreamstuff ability affects the Terrain Between
Dreamwalking modifier +19
Mullonga: DC for fear effects +2
Dreamwalking modifier +17
Ghost Dancer: Incorporeal (except to dreamers), cast haste on self 1/day
Dreamwalking modifier +15
The Rainbow Serpent: Poison on natural attacks (bite, not slam; as striped toadstool; Fort DC 30)
Dreamwalking modifier +15
The Red Haired Child: Cast charm monster, sanctuary at will
Dreamwalking modifier +14
Undying Soul
Mastery +7
Sinkhole of evil

Spell-like abilities
DC 19 + spell level, DC 21 + spell level for those marked

Constant – protection from good, detect thoughts, seek thoughts, tongues

At will:
0 – ghost sound
2 – invisibility
3 – deep slumber (can affect elves)*, suggestion, major image, deeper darkness
4 – fear*, modify memory, confusion
5 – dream, nightmare*
6 – permanent image, cloak of dreams-
7 – greater teleport, greater shadow conjuration
8 – greater shadow evocation

3/day:
4 – crushing despair, terrible remorse
Quickened phantasmal killer

Finally, the Nightmare Man's creatures. Pale morphs were Mangrum's idea originally, I think. Pale morphs and dreamweavers are available as familiars.

I've given them "seeming" rather than illusions or change shape to convey the idea that the things that appear in your dreams are them disguised, and it's only the lack of lucidity that stops you from noticing that the table is, in fact, 4 dream spawn pretending. That person off in the distance? That's actually a pale morph standing a foot away. It's inspired by the description in TNL, and to capture a bit of the weirdness of dreams. It's also more CR appropriate for pale morphs as familiars - having a cohort that can turn into anything might be an issue otherwise.

Also note the dream subtype prevents them (and animate dreams etc) from gaining reality wrinkles, despite being evil outsiders.



Dream Spawn
Pale Morph
CR 1 (XP 400)
LN Tiny outsider (dream, extraplanar)
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft; Perception +5
Defense
AC 14, touch 13, flat-footed 13 (+1 Dex, +1 natural, +2 size)
hp 11 (2d10)
Fort +0, Ref +4, Will +3
Immune fear
Offense
Speed 15 ft, fly 15 ft (poor)
Melee 2 claws +4 (1d2)
Space 2 1/2 ft. Reach 0 ft.
Special Abilities lullaby (fatigue; concentration; Will DC 9), memory drain (DC 9), seeming, detect thoughts (DC 9), fear eater
Statistics
Str 10, Dex 13, Con 10, Int 5, Wis 10, Cha 7
Base Atk +2; CMB +0; CMD 11
Feats Skill Focus (Disguise)
Skills Bluff +2 (1), Disguise +6 (2), Fly +1 (0), Perception +5 (2), Sense Motive +4 (1), Stealth +11 (0)
Ecology
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, gang (3-6) or pack (7-20)
Treasure none
Special Abilities
Detect thoughts (Su): A dream spawn can read the surface thoughts of any creature in the dreamscape it inhabits as if it had studied the creature for 3 rounds with detect thoughts as a move equivalent action.
Fear eater (Ex): If a dream spawn is targeted by a magical fear effect, or is within 5 ft of a creature that is affected by a fear effect, they heal a number of hit points equal to the spell level. Excess hit points are gained as temporary hit points for a number of rounds equal to the caster level. For effects that don’t have an equivalent spell level, those that cause the victim to be shaken heal 1 hit point; frightened, 3 hit points; panicked, 5 hit points; and cowering or paralysed, 7 hit points. Temporary hit points remain for an equivalent number of rounds.
Seeming (Su): The dream spawn can use the Disguise skill to appear as any type of creature or object in a dreamscape without penalty. Outside a dreamscape, the dream spawn can still disguise itself, but suffers the normal penalties.
Lullaby (Su): As a standard action, the dream spawn can cause all opponents in 20 ft to become drowsy. This has the effect and duration noted above.
Memory drain (Su): 1/day, the dream spawn can make a touch attack that deals 1d4 Int damage. The dream spawn gains a +4 competence bonus to Disguise checks to appear as specific creatures or objects known to the creature whose memories were stolen.

Grey Morph
CR 3 (XP 800)
LN Small outsider (dream, extraplanar)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft; Perception +8
Defense
AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+2 Dex, +3 natural, +1 size)
hp 26 (4d10+4)
Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +5
DR 5/good
Immune fear
Offense
Speed 20 ft, fly 20 ft (average)
Melee 2 claws +6 (1d3+1)
Space 5 ft. Reach 5 ft.
Special Abilities lullaby (fatigue; concentration + 1d4 rds; Will DC 13), memory drain (DC 11), seeming, detect thoughts (DC 11), fear eater
Statistics
Str 12, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 7, Wis 12, Cha 9
Base Atk +4; CMB +4; CMD 16
Feats Ability Focus (Lullaby), Skill Focus (Disguise)
Skills Bluff +6 (4), Disguise +9 (4), Fly +4 (0), Perception +8 (4), Sense Motive +8 (4), Stealth +13 (4)
Ecology
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, gang (3-6) or pack (7-20)
Treasure none
Special Abilities
Detect thoughts (Su): A dream spawn can read the surface thoughts of any creature in the dreamscape it inhabits as if it had studied the creature for 3 rounds with detect thoughts as a move equivalent action.
Fear eater (Ex): If a dream spawn is targeted by a magical fear effect, or is within 5 ft of a creature that is affected by a fear effect, they heal a number of hit points equal to the spell level. Excess hit points are gained as temporary hit points for a number of rounds equal to the caster level. For effects that don’t have an equivalent spell level, those that cause the victim to be shaken heal 1 hit point; frightened, 3 hit points; panicked, 5 hit points; and cowering or paralysed, 7 hit points. Temporary hit points remain for an equivalent number of rounds.
Seeming (Su): The dream spawn can use the Disguise skill to appear as any type of creature or object in a dreamscape without penalty. Outside a dreamscape, the dream spawn can still disguise itself, but suffers the normal penalties.
Lullaby (Su): As a standard action, the dream spawn can cause all opponents in 20 ft to become drowsy. This has the effect and duration noted above.
Memory drain (Su): 1/day, the dream spawn can make a touch attack that deals 1d4 Int damage. The dream spawn gains a +4 competence bonus to Disguise checks to appear as specific creatures or objects known to the creature whose memories were stolen.

Shadow Morph
CR 5 (XP 1,600)
LE Medium outsider (dream, extraplanar)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft; Perception +11
Defense
AC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 15 (+3 Dex, +5 natural)
hp 49 (6d10+12)
Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +7
DR 5/good
Immune fear
Offense
Speed 30 ft, fly 30 ft (good)
Melee 2 claws +9 (1d4+3)
Space 5 ft. Reach 5 ft.
Special Abilities lullaby (exhaustion; concentration + 1d4 rds; Will DC 16), memory drain (DC 14), seeming, detect thoughts (DC 14), fear eater, howl (DC 14)
Statistics
Str 16, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 11, Wis 14, Cha 12
Base Atk +6; CMB +9; CMD 22
Feats Ability Focus (Lullaby), Skill Focus (Disguise), Power Attack
Skills Bluff +10 (6), Disguise +13 (6), Fly +7 (0), Intimidate +10 (6), Perception +11 (6), Sense Motive +11 (6), Stealth +12 (6)
Ecology
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, gang (3-6) or pack (7-20)
Treasure none
Special Abilities
Detect thoughts (Su): A dream spawn can read the surface thoughts of any creature in the dreamscape it inhabits as if it had studied the creature for 3 rounds with detect thoughts as a move equivalent action.
Fear eater (Ex): If a dream spawn is targeted by a magical fear effect, or is within 5 ft of a creature that is affected by a fear effect, they heal a number of hit points equal to the spell level. Excess hit points are gained as temporary hit points for a number of rounds equal to the caster level. For effects that don’t have an equivalent spell level, those that cause the victim to be shaken heal 1 hit point; frightened, 3 hit points; panicked, 5 hit points; and cowering or paralysed, 7 hit points. Temporary hit points remain for an equivalent number of rounds.
Howl (Su): As a standard action, the dream spawn can howl, causing all those within 60 ft to make a Will save or be paralysed with fear for 1d4 rounds. Whether or not the save is successful, the creature cannot be affected by that dream spawn’s howl again for 24 hours. All dream spawn are immune to this ability.
Seeming (Su): The dream spawn can use the Disguise skill to appear as any type of creature or object in a dreamscape without penalty. Outside a dreamscape, the dream spawn can still disguise itself, but suffers the normal penalties.
Lullaby (Su): As a standard action, the dream spawn can cause all opponents in 20 ft to become drowsy. This has the effect and duration noted above.
Memory drain (Su): 1/day, the dream spawn can make a touch attack that deals 1d4 Int damage. The dream spawn gains a +4 competence bonus to Disguise checks to appear as specific creatures or objects known to the creature whose memories were stolen.

Ennui
CR 7 (XP 3,200)
LE Medium outsider (dream, extraplanar)
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft; Perception +15
Defense
AC 21, touch 14, flat-footed 17 (+4 Dex, +7 natural)
hp 76 (9d10+27)
Fort +6, Ref +10, Will +9
DR 10/good and cold iron
Immune fear
Offense
Speed 30 ft, fly 60 ft (perfect)
Melee 4 claws +14 (1d4+4)
Space 5 ft. Reach 5 ft.
Special Abilities lullaby (sleep; concentration + 1d4 hours; Will DC 19), memory drain (DC 17), seeming, detect thoughts (DC 17), fear eater, rend (2 claws; 1d4+6)
Spell-like Abilities CL 9th, +12 concentration
At will—invisibility, fear
3/day—greater polymorph
Statistics
Str 18, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 17, Cha 16
Base Atk +9; CMB +13; CMD 27
Feats Ability Focus (Lullaby), Skill Focus (Disguise), Power Attack, Weapon Focus (claws), Dazzling Display, Flyby Attack B
Skills Bluff +15 (9), Disguise +18 (9), Fly +12 (0), Intimidate +15 (9), Knowledge (arcana) +15 (9), Knowledge (planes) +15 (9), Perception +15 (9), Sense Motive +15 (9), Stealth +16 (9)
Ecology
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, or gang (3-6)
Treasure none
Special Abilities
Detect thoughts (Su): A dream spawn can read the surface thoughts of any creature in the dreamscape it inhabits as if it had studied the creature for 3 rounds with detect thoughts as a move equivalent action.
Fear eater (Ex): If a dream spawn is targeted by a magical fear effect, or is within 5 ft of a creature that is affected by a fear effect, they heal a number of hit points equal to the spell level. Excess hit points are gained as temporary hit points for a number of rounds equal to the caster level. For effects that don’t have an equivalent spell level, those that cause the victim to be shaken heal 1 hit point; frightened, 3 hit points; panicked, 5 hit points; and cowering or paralysed, 7 hit points. Temporary hit points remain for an equivalent number of rounds.
Seeming (Su): The dream spawn can use the Disguise skill to appear as any type of creature or object in a dreamscape without penalty. Outside a dreamscape, the dream spawn can still disguise itself, but suffers the normal penalties.
Lullaby (Su): As a standard action, the dream spawn can cause all opponents in 20 ft to become drowsy. This has the effect and duration noted above.
Memory drain (Su): 1/day, the dream spawn can make a touch attack that deals 1d4 Int damage. The dream spawn gains a +4 competence bonus to Disguise checks to appear as specific creatures or objects known to the creature whose memories were stolen.



Dreamweaver
CR 1/2 (XP 200)
LN Tiny outsider (dream, extraplanar)
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft; Perception +4
Defense
AC 18, touch 17, flat-footed 13 (+5 Dex, +1 natural, +2 size)
hp 5 (1d10)
Fort +0, Ref +8, Will +3
Immune mind-affecting effects
Offense
Speed 20 ft, climb 20 ft
Melee Bite +8 (1d3-4 plus poison)
Space 2 1/2 ft. Reach 0 ft.
Special Abilities poison, weaving
Statistics
Str 3, Dex 21, Con 10, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 2
Base Atk +1; CMB +4; CMD 9 (22 vs trip)
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +13, Climb +21, Perception +4, Stealth +17; racial modifiers +8 Acrobatics, +8 Climb, +4 Perception, +4 Stealth
Ecology
Environment any
Organization solitary, colony (3-6) or swarm (7-20)
Treasure none
Special Abilities
Poison (Ex): Bite—injury; save Fort DC 10; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1 Wis plus sleep 1 hour; cure 1 save.
Weaving (Su): Any creature that sleeps within 60 ft of a dreamweaver will have their dreams woven by the spider. Light-coloured dreamweavers spin pleasant dreams and restful sleep; those suffering from nightmares are not affected by them, while for those not suffering from nightmares, each hour of sleep counts as 2 for natural healing, preparing spells and so on. Dark-coloured dreamweavers, however, automatically cause nightmares.
Sunlight vulnerability (Ex): Dreamweavers are killed instantly when exposed to natural sunlight.



Thoughts?

Sweeeet dreamspawn! I'm definitely using those monster stats! What would the nightmare man be without his skittering black dreamweavers after all?!

I'm anxiously awaiting a PDF compilation of all this! In fact, how the Hell are you going to fit this all into one PDF? I never really thought about how many canonical characters there were in Ravenloft, not to mention all the fan-based additions... You've nearly completed "Ryanlords"! If you take into account the heroic characters and non-Darklord baddies, you've only scratched the surface! It could almost be called NPCloft!

I don't see anything wrong with any of your interpretations of the Darklords. Its a great resource! You've done all the hard work for all us busy DMs.

If we view a Darklord differently we can make our own adjustments, but in any event, we now have a treasure trove of statistics to play with!

Thanks again!

I think you nailed Juste, Ryan. He's a favorite of mine, and I wish I had your version when I used him IMC. And I agree with pretty much all the decisions in your author notes.

My only issue is that I'd like to see his save DC's even higher. Major Image would be DC20, plus sinkhole modifier (what rank? probably only 3 or so, I'd imagine. It's not Drakov's impalment spike grove, or Markov's lab or anything...) A good will save character with high wisdom at his CR level will have about a 50/50 chance of seeing through it. Considering that it's Juste's main shtick to do the whole "what is real and what isn't" thing, that's a very good chance of ruining a whole adventure.

I don't know how to fit it into PF "fairly," since you've given him most of the DC improvements that I know of. But I like Scaena to be a little bit deliberately unfair.

Ryan Naylor wrote:Design notes for Lemot Sediam Juste

Thanks for sharing Ryan. Honestly, I like reading these posts even more than the stat blocks themselves. Not that your stats are bad; I just like learning the reasons you decided to such-and-such when you do them.

Ryan Naylor wrote:Eli Van Hassen
(The Endless Road)
(The Lonesome Road)

Seems like a solid character. I've not spent much time reading up on the 4E version of this domain or character, but I remember liking it when I skimmed it. Your work implies that you made him up mostly from whole cloth, or at least that there weren't really stats for him? Or was he like other 4E creatures, and didn't have a class and such?

Ryan Naylor wrote:The Nightmare Man

Wow Ryan. Just a superb bit of work! I love your direction with the Nightmare Man, tying in the other members of the Court as parts of himself. I wonder if they were destroyed one by one, would they go back to him, and would he be crippled with guilt and remorse over his past? Or would he just not care?

Always had a soft spot for the Nightmare Lands since the box set came out. I'm glad to see you've done it justice.

ever think of doing bluebeard?