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Icewalker
2007-04-23, 10:15 PM
Watcher
Medium Undead (incorporeal)
HD 6d12 (39)
Speed Fly 30 ft. Perfect (5 squares)
Init: +1
AC 16; touch 16; flat-footed 15
(+1 dex, +5 incorporeal)
BAB/Grp +3/-
Attack Surreptitious touch +4 (1d6 cha)
Full-Attack Surreptitious touch +4 (1d6 cha)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks Surreptitious touch, Steal secret
Special Qualities Seeker of Secrets, Secret sense, Invisibility, Holder of secrets
Saves Fort - Ref +3 Will +11
Abilities Str -, Dex 12, Con -, Int 18, Wis 18, Cha 20
Skills Hide +10, Intimidate +14, Decipher Script +13, Gather Information +16, Knowledge (History, Local, and Nobility/royalty) +23, Knowledge (any other) +14, Search +18, Spot +∞, Listen +∞
Feats Investigator, Iron Will, Skill Focus (Search)
Environment Large cities
Organization Lone
Challenge Rating 4
Treasure Normal
Alignment Any
Advancement 7-20 (medium)

A ghostly figure hovered in the shadowy alleyway. The politician glanced around nervously as he approached. The representative of the assassin’s guild stepped out of the shadows, and whispered something to the politician. There was a slight waft of wind, and they both shivered. A small wisp of blue smoke drifted into the alleyway and into the hidden figure…

Watchers are the spirits of those who have been killed for the sole purpose of keeping a secret. They are often spies fleeing with information, but killed before they can escape. These people return in the form of a ghostly spirit, trying to gather every secret in existence, and holding them all to itself.

Surreptitious touch: The touch of a Watcher drains the communication abilities of others. When touched by a watcher the target takes 1d6 charisma damage.

Steal Secret (Su): As a full-round action, a Watcher can take a spoken secret out of the air between two people. A secret spoken from one person to another is taken from the air before being heard. The person telling the secret forgets the secret in it’s entirety, and the listener doesn’t hear it. The speaker gets to make a will save, DC 18, and if they succeed, the secret is not stolen, although they do not realize that the attempt to steal was made. Watchers will often puruse a secret that is succesfully saved for.

Seeker of Secrets (Ex): Watchers hunt down secrets wherever they could possibly exist. They automatically succeed any spot or listen checks that would be available.

Secret Sense (Su): A Watcher can detect secrets being passed between people, and within others’ minds. If there is anyone who has a secret within 1 mile of a Watcher, they know the exact location of the person, as well as the general nature of the secret (such as ‘political secret’) and will seek the person out, paying closer attention to any secrets similar to the one they were killed for.

Natural Invisibility (Su): A watcher is naturally invisible at all times. If a watcher attacks, it becomes visible until 1 round after the watcher has stopped attacking. This ability is inherent and not subject to the invisibility purge spell.

Holder of Secrets (Ex): Watchers spend eternity gathering secrets. They never divulge their secrets to anyone. They never speak, and no forms of mind-reading or information gathering spells or abilities work on a Watcher. It is effectively impossible to learn secrets from a Watcher. Watchers get an automatic +10 on all knowledge checks.

Lord Iames Osari
2007-04-23, 10:55 PM
Holder of Secrets is a bit unnecessary, given that undead are immune to mind-affecting effects anyway.

Icewalker
2007-04-23, 10:58 PM
Does mind-reading count as mind-affecting?

Still, I'd like to include it, because it makes sure to plug up most loopholes of information gathering, like intimidate checks. The only possible way to get information from a Watcher is out of another ghost being, which I may or may not create: when a person who created a Watcher dies, they become one of em (still missing a name) and they do basically the opposite. Spout gibberish secrets, and they can get them out of Watchers.

Lord Iames Osari
2007-04-23, 10:59 PM
Yeah, all the mind-reading abilities I can think of are mind-affecting.

Phoenix Talion
2007-04-23, 11:06 PM
I would say that Mind reading is by definition mind affecting.

Very cool. For some reason the name makes me think of "Who watches the watchmen."

Lord Iames Osari
2007-04-23, 11:11 PM
Quis custodiet custodies?

Danu
2007-04-25, 09:18 PM
This is a very interesting monster, Ice. I rather like it. As usual, though, I have a few minor things to point out.

1) It's a 6 HD creature. It qualifies for 3 feats.

2) Other then surreptitious touch (which is the watcher's incorporeal touch attack), you should specify whether these abilities are spell-like (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#spellLikeAbilities) or supernatural (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#supernaturalAbilities) abilities.

3) I think that Steal Secret really needs to have a save DC for the original speaker of the secret in order for them to retain the secret.

4) With the Invisibility ability, you might want to simply use the Natural Invisibility ability of the invisible stalker.


Natural Invisibility (Su): This ability is constant, allowing a stalker to remain invisible even when attacking. This ability is inherent and not subject to the invisibility purge spell.

Which means it's also not subject to similar effects, like dispel magic.

6) On a minor note, your BAB/Grp entry is messed up. ^_^

Icewalker
2007-04-25, 10:57 PM
Well on the first one, I can never keep track of those things, guess I'll add em.

secondly, I'll look at those and decide. it's (Sn) for supernatural right? Or am I totally wrong?

Thrid, that is a good point, or it'd be pretty annoying...

on #4, I dunno. I don't really want it to be invisible while attacking. Maybe when it attacks or deactivates the ability, it has to wait, say, 1d6 minutes before it can reactivate it.

6(?) fixed.

also, something I had forgotten to add: holder of secrets gives them an automatic +10 on all knowledge checks.

Danu
2007-04-26, 12:42 AM
Yes, I went from #4 to #6. It's a fairly linear progression, completely ignoring that pesky #5. >_< I must have erased something. I don't remember what.

Anyway, Supernatural is (Su) and Spell-like is (Sp).

Save DCs are 10 + 1/2 the creature's racial HD + the relevant ability score modifier. Steal Secret would most likely be Charisma based, so it would be DC 18 normally. Grant it a +2 racial bonus on the ability (or ability focus as a feat), and you're good to go.

For the invisibility thing, you'd don't have to go with the invisible stalker's exact wording. I think this would work:

Natural Invisibility (Su): A watcher is naturally invisible at all times. If a watcher attacks, it becomes visible until 1 round after the watcher has stopped attacking. This ability is inherent and not subject to the invisibility purge spell.

Icewalker
2007-04-26, 12:59 AM
War is peace
Freedom is slavery
Ignorance is strength
-1984 by George Orwell

" 'would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
'I don't much care where-' said Alice
'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat."
-Alice and The Cheshire Cat, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

"The scale of color, unlike the scale of music, flows evenly from one side of the circular spectrum to the other. Although, one could say that the tone of music is the same sphere of sound, with the key of Indigo transposed into the key of Violet, then Magenta, Lavender, Crimson, Red, Vermilion, Amber… all the way until it glissandos from Blue back to Indigo…"
-from the story Colorshock (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110989), by Hillary Milton

"There are five things which are dangerous in generals: those who are ready to die can be killed; those who are intent on living can be captured; those who are quick to anger can be shamed; those who are puritanical can be disgraced; those who love people can be troubled. These five things are flaws in generals, disasters for military operations."
-Sun Tzu, The Art of War

"God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? ... Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?"
-Friedrich Nietzsche

"Think of it like milk. Except it comes from diseased orphans."
-LoadingReadyRun sketch, Economic Stimulus

"Our gold is living gold, and our silver is living silver, so that they can cause nothing but life and growth. Common gold and silver are dead."
-Anonymous German philosopher, The Golden Tract in the alchemical collection The Hermetic Museum

"Sometimes I think that the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." — Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
-The Charge of the Light Brigade, Alfred Tennyson

“So, I can keep my bad-ass spirit free, and let my body be chained . . . Or I can chain my spirit and keep my body free?”
“Yes. The choice is yours.”
Daku stood up, in a defiant pose. “Screw my spirit, you’re hot. Let’s fight crime.”
-Daku Hammerfist and Akali Weere , from a story of Nolix%Uul (http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2216123/1/Nolix_Uul)

"Liberty? Why it doesn't exist. There is no liberty in this world, just gilded cages."
-Aldous Huxley

Amanda: Darling, I believe you're talking nonsense.
Elyot: So is everyone else in the long run.
-Private Lives, a play by Noel Coward

"How well he's read, to reason against reading!"
-Love's Labours Lost, Shakespeare

"Here's something to think about: How come you never see a headline like
`Psychic Wins Lottery.'" - Comedian Jay Leno

"Betrayal leads to death. First for the betrayed, then for the betrayer."
-The Eternal (myself)

"Fashion is something so hideous, that we must change it every six months."

Sic labitur aetas: Thus passes a lifetime.
-Sundial motto

"Death's very laughable, such a cunning little mystery. All done with mirrors."
Private Lives, a play by Noel Coward

"If in a country there are the following ten evils: rites, music, odes, history, virtue, moral culture, filial piety, brotherly duty, integrity and sophistry, the ruler cannot make the people fight and dismemberment is inevitable."
商君書 (The Book of Lord Shang), 商鞅

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended:
That you have but slumb'red here,
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding, but a dream.
Gentles, do not reprehend:
If you pardon, we will mend.
And as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearnèd luck
Now to scape the serpents' tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call:
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
-Robin Goodfellow in A Midsummer Night's Dream

"I know what I know."
-Topher Brink, Dollhouse

"Some would say I've foolishly unleashed the floodgates but then they would fail to notice me surfing on top of the deluge, laughing like a lunatic."
-Vulion, right here on GitP :smallwink:

"An invention with no philosophy behind it is a curse."
-Dr. Lloyd Steam, Steamboy

"Death is before me today:
Like the recovery of a sick man,
Like going forth into a garden after sickness.
Death is before me today:
Like the odor of myrrh,
Like sitting under a sail in a good wind.
Death is before me today:
Like the course of a stream,
Like the return of a man from the war-galley to his house.
Death is before me today:
Like the home that a man longs to see,
After years spent as a captive."
-The Sandman by Neil Gaiman

“Though we strike at you from the shadows, do not think that we lack the courage to stand in the light.”
-Zeratul, Starcraft

"In order to attain the impossible one must attempt the absurd."
-Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

"It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor."
-Dream, from Neil Gaiman's Sandman

"Who understands does not preach;
Who preaches does not understand.
Reserve your judgments and words;
Smooth differences and forgive disagreements."
-Dao De Jing

"There is no point in saying less than your predecessors have said."
-John Simon

"What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin."
-Mark Twain

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
old by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."
-Macbeth

"The universe has a wonderful sense of humor. The trick is learning how to take a joke."
-Orvus, Ratchet and Clank

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
-Bene Gesserit litany against fear, Dune

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no effect on society."
-Mark Twain

"Nothing is real. Everything is permitted."
-Al Mualim, Assassin's Creed

"Any science distinguishable from magic is not sufficiently advanced."

"When a romantic tries to do a good thing and fails they give him a medal. When a pragmatist succeeds, they wish him in hell."
-Donatti, Quitters, Inc by Stephen King

"There is nothing, in this world or the next, that does not have its price."
-Leptoptilos family saying, Aviary

"Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars."
-Martin Luther King Jr.

"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
-Plato

"It is sometimes a mistake to climb; it is always a mistake never even to make the attempt."
-Dream, The Sandman

"We must be careful about what we pretend to be."
-Kurt Vonnegut

Katara: "Are you saying I'm a liar?"
Sokka: "No. I'm saying you're an optimist. Same thing really."
-Avatar: The Last Airbender

"All men by nature desire to know."
Aristotle, Metaphysics

"When push comes to shove you've got to do what you love, even if it's not a good idea."
Hermes Conrad, Futurama

"Society corrupts the best of us. It is a little unfair, I think, to criticize a person for not sharing the enlightenment of a later epoch, but it is also profoundly saddening that such prejudices were so extremely pervasive.. The question raises nagging uncertainties about which of the conventional truths of our own age will be considered unforgivable bigotry by the next."
-Broca's Brain by Carl Sagan

"There will be sleeping enough in the grave."
-Benjamin Franklin

"All that glitters is not gold, but it must have free electrons."
-Donald Sadoway

"So uh, what about that 'planet-killer' guy?"
"What're you so nervous about? You're not a planet."
-Jamie and Coop, Megas XLR

"No. Listen to me. I'm just a human. Rode with the Jägers. Never. Lost. A. Fight."
-Old Man Death, Girl Genius (http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100602)

"There is no shame in defeat so long as the spirit is unconquered."
-Praetor Fenix, Starcraft

"I fear no enemy, for the Khala is my strength! I fear not death, for our strength is eternal! En taro Adun!"
-Praetor Fenix, Starcraft

"Scarce falls the prey to sleeping wolves."
-Havamàl ('Words of the Most High' : Odin's advice)

"It's a fez, I wear a fez now, fezzes are cool."
-The Doctor, Doctor Who

Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.
-The Stolen Child by W. B. Yeats

"Berkeley? Yeah right, Berkeley isn't a town. It's more of a...Shire."
-Will Durst

"Pardon me if I say poppycock!"
"Then say it!"
"Poppycock!"
-Emperor Zombie and The Amazing Screw On Head, The Amazing Screw On Head (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5434666681046246946#)

"I am about to -- or I am going to -- die; either expression is used."
-Last words of Dominique Bouhours, French grammarian

"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion."
-Mentat Mantra, spoken by Piter de Vries, Dune (film version)

"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves."
-Albert Einstein

"An intellectual is merely a person who's found something that's more interesting than sex."
-Aldous Huxley

"Well enough for old folks to rise early, because they have done so many mean things all their lives they can't sleep anyhow."
-Mark Twain

"I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out how to use my telephone."
- Bjarne Stroustrup

"How have you not gone insane?"
"Oh, the voices tell me not to go crazy."
-SMBC Theater

"Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it; those who fail to learn history correctly - why they are simply doomed."
-Achem Dro'hm, The Illusion of Historical Truth, CY 4971
Andromeda

"Humans say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Why? Do they think there's a shortage of bad ones?"
Andromeda

"Adults are just obsolete children, and the hell with them."
-Dr. Seuss

"Officer, I did my duty. Now, you do yours."
-Last words of Sam Davis, Confederate spy, when the Union officer hesitated to give the execution order.

Danu
2007-04-26, 01:14 AM
Holder ofthe Secrets and Seeker of the Secrets would probably be Extraordinary abilities (Ex) now that I think about it. All of the others would be Supernatural.

Matthew
2007-05-05, 07:14 AM
I like this. Good mechanics and theme.