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Large Aberration (Shapechanger)

Hit Dice: 12d8+24 (124 hp)

Initiative: +5

Speed: 20 ft (natural form)

Armor Class: 20 (+1 Dex, +10 natural, -1 size)

Base Attack/Grapple: +8/14

Attack: Tentacle +9 melee (2d6+2)

Full Attack: Tentacle +9 melee (2d6+2) and Tentacle +4 melee (2d6+2)

Space/Reach: 10/5

Special Attacks: Adopt Face, Improved grab, Steal Face (DC 21)

Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft, damage reduction 5/bludgeoning, Mostly Amorphous, One Hundred Eyes

Saves: +6 Fort, +5 Reflex, +10 Will

Abilities: Str 14, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 20

Skills: Disguise +15, Listen +6, Search +5 Spot +5

Feats: Improved Natural Attack, Improved Initiative

CR: 12

Treasure: None

Advancement: 13-18 HD (Huge)

A Facestealer is a gooey, half-formed, vaguely humanoid monstrosity. Its own face is little more than a cavernous maw and holes where its eyes should be that leak a black pus-like fluid like blood. It wears stolen faces on its body like clothes to cover itself, the eyes and mouth and nose of each dripping blood in an eternal loop.

Adopt Face (Su): A Facestealer can adopt the guise and form of any of the people whose faces it has stolen. As a standard action the Facestealer can alter itself to match anyone it has taken, even the person’s clothing and gear (though any magical items are replaced by nonmagical replicas). Anyone looking at a transformed Facestealer get a Spot check (DC 25) to notice very fine, pale lines like scars that cross its face, around its eyes, nose and mouth, from where the face was torn when the Facestealer stole it.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a Facestealer must hit a Large or smaller foe with a Tentacle attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity.

Mostly Amorphous (Ex): A Facestealer in its natural form is not subject to critical hits.

One Hundred Eyes (Ex): Because of its many faces, it cannot be flanked or blinded, but it also cannot avert its eyes from a gaze attack.

Skills: Because of its many faces, in its natural form the Facestealer gets a +4 bonus to Spot and Search checks (not represented in the above block).

Steal Face (Su): During a successful Grapple, instead of making an attack the Facestealer can bite the grappled character’s face and remove one of its primary features. Each round this happens, the victim makes a Reflex save to avoid being bitten.

If the victim fails its save, on the first round, it takes the victim’s mouth, rendering it mute and incapable of casting spells with a verbal component, and dealing 3 points of Constitution damage. On the second failed save, it takes the victim’s eyes, rendering it blind, and dealing another 3 points of Constitution damage. On the third failed save, it takes the victim’s nose, forcing him to make Constitution checks to avoid suffocating, and dealing another 3 points of Constitution damage. If the victim has not already died, the fourth blow is the killing blow, at which point the Facestealer adds the entire face of the person to its collection and can use it as a disguise.

The reflex saving throw DC is Charisma-based. The last feature to be taken can be restored by a Heal spell, but if more than one has been taken, the spell seals the wound without restoring it, and it can only be reversed with a Wish or Miracle spell.

Kneecap Strike Feat

You are well-versed in the use of your chosen weapon and can use it to strike at the joints of your opponent’s legs to cripple them.

Prerequisites: Weapon Focus (unarmed strike or melee weapons only), Base Attack Bonus +3

Effect: Before you roll to attack you must declare that you are using this feat. If you hit, the attack deals no normal hit point damage, but deals 1 point of Constitution damage and halves the enemy’s movement speed until he is the subject of a DC 15 Heal check or a healing spell. Creatures without legs or immune to sneak attacks or criticals are immune to this as well, and it takes two kneecap strikes to affect quadrapeds.

Miscellaneous: In Nilarion I would run this where the Heal check is the only way to undo it, due to world-building details (magic doesn’t set bones, only healers can).

This item looks like an old, 16th century musket, crafted from bronze and iron casts and detailed with silver threading. The secrets of its construction are lost to time, but according to hearsay the weapon was forged by an alchemist named Johnathan Larion while in the depths of madness. It was erratic and impossible to reproduce (or near-impossible, if you feel the desire to have more than one firearm running around).

This rifle, with a short barrel of only about a foot, was lost and found and lost again, and finally settled into the possession of a cleric whose name has been lost to time. The cleric only used the rifle once.

During an attempt to carry on negotiations with a rivaling religious order, while the cleric was trying to finalize a peace treaty, an assassin from his order came to kill him. The cleric raised the rifle in self-defense and shot him, but they struggled and the assassin dealt him a mortal blow.

The cleric’s murder was publicized as having been the fault of the other side, and he was viewed as a martyr within his own Order, despite their treachery.

Qualities

This gun, which does not need to be loaded or primed with powder, always has one and only one bullet in it. It is fueled by the cleric’s bitterness and hatred for his betrayers, and motivated by his rage at the treachery.

The rifle is more accurate against those who commit falsehoods, particularly those who serve ideals and fail to uphold them. Betrayers and false martyrs are the most accurately targeted.

Mechanics

The rifle functions as a ranged weapon with an 80 foot range that hits with a d10 and threatens on a 19-20. It must be used with both hands and weighs 12 pounds.

The rifle is axiomatic (Lawful for the purpose of damage reduction and deals 2d6 extra damage against Chaotic foes) and has a +1 enhancement bonus, but it is treated as a +2 weapon against traitors and liars.

It does not have to be reloaded physically, but the wielder must commit a move action to ask for aid from the martyr, so that he’ll reload it.

Moderate evocation [lawful]; CL 7th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, order’s wrath, creator must be lawful; 18,500 gp.

Half-Orc, 3rd level Ranger

Medium: 30 feet

Hit Dice: 3d8 + 0 (24 hp)

Initiative: +3

Armor Class: 16 (touch 11, ff 15)

Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+5

Attack: +9 morningstar 1d8 +4 (x2) OR +9 handaxe 1d6 + 4 (x3)

Full Attack: +7 morningstar 1d8+4 AND +7 handaxe 1d6+4

Space/Reach: 5/5

Saves: Fort +3, Reflex +6, Will +3

Abilities: Str 18, Dex 12, Con 11, Int 13 , Wis 15, Cha 7

Special Qualities: Darkvision, Favored Enemy (Aberration), Track, Wild Empathy, Combat Style (Two-weapon)

Skills: Climb +7, Hide +6, Jump +7, Knowledge (nature) +5, Listen +5, Move Silently +5 (+10 with armor), Ride +5, Search +4, Spot +6, Survival +8, Swim +7

Feats: Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush

Gear: +2 Studded Leather of Silent Moves

Bit of Description

Fultz is a hulking, brute of a man. Appearance-wise, his orc side (his mother’s family) shows through in the patchy, coarse hair, the oversized lower teeth, the vaguely grey skin. Other than that, and his somewhat exaggerated height, he looks perfectly ordinary. When he makes the effort to look professional, you can almost miss his lineage.

Fultz has an odd relationship with his mother’s family. His mother was, according to the stories, fighting alongside her brother against huge tentacled abominations to the north of town, when she was dragged off and assumed dead and unrecoverable. Several months later she showed up again dazed, confused, and pregnant. The aberrations continued to be a problem for the village, though, and when he became old enough Fultz was trained to track and destroy them.

So the Story Hook is…?

I seem to have issues with specificity for these. Fultz could also be used almost anywhere. In the backdrop of a hunters’ town, or as the star of a short arc. For the latter, I would likely have him be the local contact for an aberration hunt that the PCs are dragged onto (willingly or otherwise as needed). His somewhat higher-than-average Charisma would make him well-suited to serve as an ambassador between the outsiders and the Orc village.

If He Were Nilari?

This one’s easy, really. Jhalir is the major hunter’s town in Nilarion– Fultz would fit very appropriately as one of the Organizer’s “top but not super loudly at the top” hunters.

Flylions can be ridden as mounts and trained the way griffons are.

Flylion

Large Animal

Hit Dice: 5d8+14 ( hp)

Initiative: +3

Speed: 30 ft. (4 squares), fly 70 ft. (good)

Armor Class: 18 (–1 size, +3 Dex, +6 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 15

Base Attack/Grapple: +5/+9

Attack: Bite +10 melee (2d4+4)

Full Attack: Bite +10 melee (2d4+4) and 2 claws +4 melee (1d3+2)

Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.

Special Attacks: Pounce, rake 1d4+2

Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent, claustrophobia (-2 on all rolls made when the flylion cannot stretch his wings to their full extent, such as in dungeons or small spaces)

Saves: Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +1

Abilities: Str 18, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 5

Skills: Climb +10, Listen +3, Spot +7

Feats: Weapon Focus (bite)

Environment: Warm plains

Organization: Solitary, pair, or pride (6–10)

Challenge Rating: 2

Treasure: None

Alignment: Always neutral

Advancement: 8–10 HD (Large); 11–21 HD (Huge)

Level Adjustment: +3 (cohort)

Extra Abilities

Pounce (Ex): If a Flylion dives upon or charges a foe, it can make a full attack, including two rake attacks.

Rake (Ex): Attack bonus +4 melee, damage 1d4+2.

Skills: Flylions have a +4 racial bonus on Climb and Spot checks.

Anorexia nervosa is described as:

“an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. It is often coupled with a distorted self image which may be maintained by various cognitive biases that alter how the affected individual evaluates and thinks about her or his body, food and eating. Persons with anorexia nervosa continue to feel hunger, but deny themselves all but very small quantities of food. The average caloric intake of a person with anorexia nervosa is 600-800 calories per day, but there are extreme cases of complete self-starvation.” (Taken from wikipedia.com)

As I mentioned in my last flaw, the Unearthed Arcana book provides variant rules for traits like being Skinny, but all it affects is a couple combat mechanics. True anorexia is a lot more damaging than that, so what if we could portray that too?

Anorexic Flaw

Your weight is significantly lower than is considered normal for your race and height, as you forego food in the interest of maintaining a particular, healthy body weight for a variety of reasons including a feeling of control or a fear of gaining weight.

Effect: You take a -2 to all rolls for being bull rushed, grappled, or otherwise thrown around, and take a -3 on Fortitude saves versus disease or illness.

Advanced-stage Anorexia Variant Flaw (Advancement Potential)

Effect: You take a permanent -2 to your Constitution score.

Advanced-stage Anorexia Variant Flaw 2 (Advancement Potential)

Effect: You are treated as a size category smaller than you are for purposes of AC, attack rolls, other combat actions (e.g. bull rush and grapple), and your ability to hold your ground in high wind.

The front of this light metal shield boasts a carving of a dragon ensnared in a dark red net. On the back over the arm-straps is a long leather strip that looks to have multiple kinds of handwriting carved into the surface.

Qualities

This shield appears to allow the user to scribe a single spell onto the leather strip on the back as if it were a scroll. It seems to work as a regular Caster’s Shield, so that it follows the same rules: that a spell scribed on the strip has only half the base raw material cost, while experience point and component costs remain the same, and that the strip cannot accommodate spells of higher than 3rd level.

However, in actuality every spell loaded into the leather strip is absorbed until the strip has amassed 15 spell levels worth of energy, then blasts it outward into the shield’s curved shell and back onto the user, dealing a number of points of damage equal to the number of spell levels it had stored.

Mechanics

The shield generally functions as a +1 light steel shield, but its ability to store a spell in its leather strip is false and has no actual effect. Below stats are for a regular Caster’s Shield, but this one would fetch more or less depending on what market.

Moderate abjuration; CL 6th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Scribe Scroll, creator must be at least 6th level; Price 3,153 gp; Cost 1,653 gp + 120 XP.

Thom Kassock

Human, 7th level Rogue

Medium: 30 feet

Hit Dice: 7d6 + 2 (47 hp)

Initiative: +4

Armor Class: 18 (touch 14, ff 14)

Base Attack/Grapple: +5/+4

Attack: +9 hand crossbow 1d4 +1d6 fire damage 19-20/x2

Full Attack: +8 hand crossbow 1d4+1d6 fire AND +8 hand crossbow 1d4+1d6 fire

Space/Reach: 5/5

Saves: Fort +1 (3 with items), Reflex +9, Will +3

Abilities: Str 9, Dex 18, Con 8 (12 with items), Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 16 (20 with items)

Special Qualities: Sneak Attack +4d6, Trapfinding, Evasion, Trap Sense +2, Uncanny Dodge

Skills: Bluff +15 (17 with items), Diplomacy +13 (15 with items), Disable Devise +13, Disguise +13 (15 with items), Gather Information +8 (10 with items), Intimidate +15 (17 with items), Listen +8, Open Lock +14, Search +13, Sense Motive +11, Sleight of Hand +14, Spot +8, Tumble +9

Feats: Persuasive, Two Weapon Fighting, Point Blank Shot, Quick Draw

Gear: Bracers of Armor +4, Vest of Health +4, Cloak of Charisma +4, Masterwork Thieves Kit, Flaming Hand Crossbows

Bit of Description

Kassock is not a nice guy. He’s an auctioneer for an organized crime family in Greythorn Dell, specializing in the sale of merchandise of a…flesh-and-blood nature. He’s a merciless sale-driver and ratchets prices up before even naming the starting bid, selling mostly to the uneducated masses who don’t know better than to trust his pricing. He keeps a healthy percentage of every sale while the rest goes in parts to the hunters and the Family. He keeps order with his whip and the booming crack of his voice.

He’s a big man, about 6’5″, but only about 170 pounds, with heavy metal bracers like odd cuffs around his wrists, inscribed with runes that both protect him from his foes and bind him to the Family. His beard, thick and shaved close to his jaw, is pockmarked with odd scars that run up toward his cheeks like tally marks.

Weapon Note: The hand crossbows don’t use ammunition and do not need to be reloaded, but the flaming effect cannot be turned off. When fired together, by the same person, they confer their +1 enhancement bonus on each weapon, but if fired one at a time the crossbows effectively do not have an enhancement bonus at all.

So the Story Hook is…?

The way I used this character (albeit in a modified form, see below) was that an important NPC that I play as a part of the party had been catnapped and was actually being auctioned off when the party finally caught up to him. Kassock could play a role in a lot of different places, really– a minor obstacle for the party if they walk in on an auction, especially if the party is particularly altruistic (paladins, anyone?)

Alternately, he would serve well as a bruiser for just about any campaign that featured his Family.

If He Were Nilari?

As mentioned above Kassock actually did show up in a campaign, but as a volf in the city of Hakirk, Kadat, and not a human. He would lose the Persuasive feat and 10 skill points (one point each taken from Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Tumble, and three points from Open Lock), but gain 10 feet per round to his move speed and a Bite natural weapon.

(Dogs of War for short.)

The game featured, as one of its peon villains, modified creatures that I lovingly referred to as “Roadblocks,” since their first appearance was to stop the characters on their drive south to Mexico. They were a lot of fun to use, so I’m going to share them with you!

Roadblocks

Attributes

Advantages

Health : 8
Willpower: 7
Size: 5
Defense: 2
Initiative Modifier: 6
Speed: 10
Armor: 4 versus bashing (Exoskeleton), 2 versus any

Skills

Merits

Gear

So what does it mean?