I bet it can see why kids love cinnamon toast crunch [MitP]

[Maerok]

Farsighter
Medium Outsider (Extraplanar)
Hit Dice 20d8+80 (170 hp)
Speed Fly 60 ft. (perfect)
Init +8
AC 24 (+4 Dex; +10 insight bonus) touch 24; flat-footed 20
Base Attack/Grapple +21/+21
Attack Melee touch attack +21 (thread cutter; tide breaker)
Full-Attack Melee touch attack +21 (thread cutter; tide breaker)
Space/Reach 5 ft/5 ft
Special Attacks Spell-like abilities; thread cutter; tide breaker
Special Qualities Immortal eyes; telepathy 60 ft.; foresight, continuous*; incorporeal; SR 35; damage reduction 10/magic
Saves Fort +17 Ref +20 Will +26
Abilities Str 12, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 30, Wis 35, Cha 30
Skills Concentration +28, Diplomacy +33, Escape Artist +27, Gather Information +33, Knowledge (each) +33, Listen +35, Search +35, Sense Motive +35, Spot +35
Feats Improved Initiative, Quicken Spell-like Ability (Divination), Combat Expertise, Superior Combat Expertise, Quick Spell-like Ability (Plane Shift), Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes
Environment Astral Plane
Organization Solitary
Challenge Rating 18
Treasure None
Alignment True Neutral
Advancement None
*=has been factored in

Before you floats the form of a human; its face is devoid of any features except those eyes. Its deep cyan eyes bore through you from its silver body, divining the very foundations of your existence. Only a gray scar-like tattoo obscures an otherwise perfect surface of silver across its nimble body. With a gesture, it bows and points you towards the door on the left. It smiles and, in the next moment, it is gone.

Farsighters are the agents of fate. Despite their great power, they are merely watchers. Each Farsighter is created whenever some new spark of hope dawns for any great undertaking, whether for good or evil. It is the job of these planar watchmen to ensure that what's going to happen happens. Upon their creation, they see all that will be, is, and has been. Whether this great insight tortures them or not is a mystery as they do not speak unless fortune itself is being undermined. It is this frustration that manifests itself as the chaotic mark across its chest; this marking also represents the convoluted nature of foresight and the future, as well as the paradoxes of their existence. Farsighters are usually non-combatants, but seem to enjoy the attempts of others to strike them. Having one on your side is very useful, unless their purpose is to lead you to disaster.

Typically pacifists, Farsighters will forgo this nature when fate and destiny are threatened by those with the means to do so. These would include gods, powerful outsiders, and the horrors of the Far Realms. Against such foes, they employ powerful supernatural abilities. A Farsighter will fight to the death, even against gods.

Some scholars speculate the connection of Farsighters to various neutral deities such as Boccob, a god of existence itself, or a overgod from long ago.

Farsighters typically appear in the form reminiscent of the majority of those involved. They speak no languages but have telepathy that can be understood by all.

Special Attacks:
Spell-like Abilities (Sp): At will - quickened (3/day) divination, moment of prescience, greater scrying, detect [any alignment], discern location, find the path, quickened (3/day) plane shift, greater teleport, greater invisibility. Caster level 20. (DC 30+spell level)

Thread Cutter (Su): With a single touch, a Farsighter can sever a creature's bonds to reality. This ability is on par with that of a sphere of annihilation, but requires a DC 30 Fortitude save versus being completely destroyed throughout space and time. The thread cutter touch only works on creatures bound by the fate of existence; the abominations of the Far Realms and beyond cannot be affected as they generally exist outside of the time and space Farsighter's patrol. Those who succeed on the Fortitude save are staggered for one round.

Tide Breaker (Su): As creatures of the Far Realms enter existence, it is the job of a Farsighter to turn back the tide of these foul beasts into their territory. With a melee touch attack, the creature is automatically banished back to wherever it came from outside of time and space.

Special Qualities:
Immortal Eyes (Su): A Farsighter has the benefit of true seeing and can see through any material as if it were illusory. They are immune to becoming blind or any effect that would degrade their sight. Creatures do not gain concealment against the Farsighter, nor does any kind of hiding elude its sight. Within the range of its true seeing, it gains blindsight. Caster level 20.

[Innis Cabal]

funny....very funny

[Icewalker]

Cool, but the whole seeing the future thing can always cause problems.

I like it though.

[Zeta Kai]

I like it. Flavor-wise, it's compelling & dramatic.

However, it's not a "monster" in the normal sense. It's not aggressive, it's incorporeal, & it cannot/will not attack. Any of those alone would still allow it to be a monster, but combined it becomes something else. What exactly, I don't know, but without being able to assign a meaningful Challenge Rating, I can't see how this could be considered a monster, per se.

For the record, I'm withholding my vote until I see if this can be further defined/refined.

[I_Got_This_Name]

It's pretty clearly a support creature for a stronger enemy (helping push fate along). That said, I have no idea how strong it should be.

I think you have an error in your HP calculations. A con of 18 gives +4 HP per hit die, and this thing only has 20 hd. It should have a con of 20, 20d8+80, 25d8+100, or the Improved Toughness feat.

[Maerok]

Oops, my bad on the Con modifier, thought it was +5.

On the combat end of it, I've added a few abilities to deal with those stubborn few who try to deny fate, such as powerful Outsiders or Far Realmers.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

you didn't list the new special attacks on the stat block.

[Lord Iames Osari]

SR 25 will be trivial for 18th level characters to overcome. I would bump it up to at least 35.

Other than that, this is an awesome creature and I want to yoink it for my campaign setting, if that's alright with you.

[Maerok]

Sure go for it; anyone can use any of my stuff. I just like to hear about it afterwards. :smallbiggrin:

[Lord Iames Osari]

Bump. Keep voting, people!

[Matthew]

Armour Class claculation is wrong. Dexterity 16 is only +3, not +4, looks like the error has been carried over into Skill Calculations.

Otherwise, I think this pretty cool.

[Maerok]

Alright, I've taken care of it. :smalltongue:

[Zherog]

Some quick comments; I haven't read the other comments, so as to avoid being influenced by somebody else's opinion.


Speed Fly 60 ft. (perfect)

It can't walk, at all? Not even at a 5' pace?


AC 24 (+4 Dex; +10 insight bonus) touch 24; flat-footed 20

Two quick nitpicks:

You can just say "insight" rather than "insight bonus." It's assumed to be a bonus, because it's a positive number.

Commas should separate each value. you don't have any separator after the right paren, and you have a semi-colon after the '24.'


Base Attack/Grapple +21/+21

BAB for a 20 HD outsider is +20, not +21. Grapple is correct.


Space/Reach 5 ft/5 ft


Special Qualities Immortal eyes; telepathy 60 ft.; foresight, continuous*; incorporeal; SR 35; damage reduction 10/magic

A few things:

1) Alphabetize these.
2) Remove the "continuous*" from the line here; in your text where you explain the ability, you'll mention that it's always active and already factored into the stats.
3) DR 10/magic is almost useless on a CR 18 creature. About the only thing it does it prevent most summoned creatures from affecting it. If you want the DR to be meaningful, I'd toss something else on there. Because they're true neutral, an interesting DR effect might be to require either Good or Evil (either one, not both).
4) I find with SR it's always best to work backwards to determine a value. First, figure out how often you want a caster of the appropriate level to affect the creature: really hard = 25% success; moderately hard = 50% success; annoying = 75% success; trival = 90%. Once you have that, calculate backwards based on your CR. Let's say you want "moderately hard" as your SR value, so that means you want your casters to roll an 11 or better to succeed (assuming they haven't invested in feats like Spell Penetration). So you add 11 to your CR and you get your SR value - in this case, it'd be 29. With your SR of 35, an appropriate caster is going to have to roll a 17 or better to succeed on a Caster Level check (or, in other words, a 20% chance for success). Is that what you want? If not, adjust accordingly.


Saves Fort +17 Ref +20 Will +26

I get +16 for your Fort save. Base for a 20 HD outsider is +12, and you have a +4 Con mod. I didn't see anything else in your abilities that grant a +1.


Skills Concentration +28, Diplomacy +33, Escape Artist +27, Gather Information +33, Knowledge (each) +33, Listen +35, Search +35, Sense Motive +35, Spot +35

Wow. Lots of math to check here.

First comment: I know it's a ton easier to say "Knowledge (each)" but you really should list them out.

Second comment: By my calculation, you've spent 411 skill points. You should have spent 414 (as scary as that is). Outsiders get 8+Int skill points (and quadruple at first). You have a +10 Int mod, so you get 18 per level, and 72 at first level. 72+(18X19) = 414. So you have three more skill points to spend.

Third comment: Looks like you have too many ranks in Search. You have a +10 Int mod, which leaves you a total of +25 when you subtract it out. Your max ranks is 24, though. So you'll need to move a rank from Search and stick it in another skill. The only other skill you have maxed is Concentration, so you shouldn't have any problems distributing this skill point and the 3 from point #2.


Feats Improved Initiative, Quicken Spell-like Ability (Divination), Combat Expertise, Superior Combat Expertise, Quick Spell-like Ability (Plane Shift), Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes

List feats alphabetically.

Spell names for your Quick SLA feats should be lowercase and italicized.

I recommend ditching Iron Will and picking up Weapon Finesse. Your Will save already rocks the house without this +2 bonus; grabbing WF makes your attacks more likely to hit.



Before you floats the form of a human; its body is devoid of any features except those eyes. Its deep cyan eyes bore through you from its silver body, divining the very foundations of your existence. Only a gray scar-like tattoo obscures an otherwise perfect surface of silver. With a gesture, it bows and points you towards the door on the left. It smiles and, in the next moment, it is gone.

Flavor text is fun; you can do and say lots of cool things, and you get to show off your writing a bit. Here's a few "rules of thumb" though for this text:

1) Don't assume setting. For example, how do you know there's a "door on the left" when a GM uses these critters?
2) Don't assume actions or reactions on the part of the PCs. You didn't do this, but I'll mention it anyway for completeness.
3) Keep it short - 2 or 3 sentences - and stick to describing how the PCs senses perceive the creature. This little blurb of text is there for the GM to read if he's at a lose to come up with his own description, so don't put more than necessary here.


Farsighters are the agents of fate. Despite their great power, they are merely watchers. Each Farsighter is created whenever some new spark of hope dawns for any great undertaking, whether for good or evil. It is the job of these planar watchmen to ensure that what's going to happen happens. Upon their creation, they see all that will be, is, and has been. Whether this great insight tortures them or not is a mystery as they do not speak unless fortune itself is being undermined. It is this frustration that manifests itself as the chaotic mark across its chest; this marking also represents the convoluted nature of foresight and the future, as well as the paradoxes of their existence. Farsighters are usually non-combatants, but seem to enjoy the attempts of others to strike them. Having one on your side is very useful, unless their purpose is to lead you to disaster.

Don't capitalize the name of the creature (unless it starts a sentence, of course :smallwink: ).


Typically pacifists, Farsighters will forgo this nature when fate and destiny are threatened by those with the means to do so. These would include gods, powerful outsiders, and the horrors of the Far Realms. Against such foes, they employ powerful supernatural abilities. A Farsighter will fight to the death, even against gods.

This is interesting timing. I recently was involved in a conversation about the phrase "Far Realm" with a bunch of other designers. As best as we could tell, this phrase is actually WotC IP. You can refer to it, of course - H.P. Lovecraft was around long before Wizards; you just need to use a different name. Realm of Madness. The Plane From Beyond. Whatever.


Some scholars speculate the connection of Farsighters to various neutral deities such as Boccob, a god of existence itself, or a overgod from long ago.

Boccob is most definitely WotC IP, and will need to be removed to comply with the OGL.



Special Attacks:
Spell-like Abilities (Sp): At will - quickened (3/day) divination, moment of prescience, greater scrying, detect [any alignment], discern location, find the path, quickened (3/day) plane shift, greater teleport, greater invisibility. Caster level 20. (DC 30+spell level)

A few points:

1) Don't mention Quickened here; it's in the feats block.
2) You need to mention which stat is used to compute the save DC. It looks like, actually, you didn't use any of the critter's stats. Charisma is the most common, though you can use Int or Wis. The DC will be 10 + whatever ability mod you pick + spell level. WotC prefers to list each DC along with the SLA; I tend to take your path, saying X+spell level at the end, when I can get away with it.


Thread Cutter (Su): With a single touch, a Farsighter can sever a creature's bonds to reality. This ability is on par with that of a sphere of annihilation, but requires a DC 30 Fortitude save versus being completely destroyed throughout space and time. The thread cutter touch only works on creatures bound by the fate of existence; the abominations of the Far Realms and beyond cannot be affected as they generally exist outside of the time and space Farsighter's patrol. Those who succeed on the Fortitude save are staggered for one round.

Sphere of annihilation should be italicized.

What ability mod is the save DC based upon?



Special Qualities:
Immortal Eyes (Su): A Farsighter has the benefit of true seeing and can see through any material as if it were illusory. They are immune to becoming blind or any effect that would degrade their sight. Creatures do not gain concealment against the Farsighter, nor does any kind of hiding elude its sight. Within the range of its true seeing, it gains blindsight. Caster level 20.

True seeing should be italicized.

"Blindsight" should be capitalized.

***

They're interesting, I guess. I think I'd like to see the flavor explored more (which I usually don't say - I prefer a minimilist approach to flavor text most of the time).

I'm also not sure what is supposed to encourage a GM to use them against the PCs. They seem to only have the purpose of banishing creatures from the Far Realm, which makes them ripe for abuse either from gate by the PCs (who could call one), or, worse, from the GM stealing the PCs' thunder by having an NPC do their work for them.

Finally, I'm not much of a fan of "save or die" effects, let alone "save or be completely screwed out of your character' type things like the thread cutter ability. I think players invest too much time and effort and energy and emotion into growing their character, and these sorts of abilities rob them of all of that. At least with a Save or Die, you can drop some diamonds on the table and get ressed. So because of that, these wouldn't see use in my game. Others, of course, love to do this sort of thing to their PCs. To each their own...

[DracoDei]

Before you floats the form of a human; its body is devoid of any features except those eyes. Its deep cyan eyes bore through you from its silver body, divining the very foundations of your existence. Only a gray scar-like tattoo obscures an otherwise perfect surface of silver.
The thing about the eyes being the only feature, contradicts the thing about the tattoo. Also mentioning that the tattoo is on the chest might be a good thing in this paragraph.

[puppyavenger]

[QUOTE=Zherog;2605606]I'm also not sure what is supposed to encourage a GM to use them against the PCs.QUOTE]

They're helping the other side of course

[DragonTounge]

If the only features on the Farsighters face are its eyes, how can it smile?

[ZeroNumerous]

If the only features on the Farsighters face are its eyes, how can it smile?

The middle of it's face splits open as you gaze into the never ending maw of darkness, your skin crawls and the feeling of a thousand pin-pricks scatter across your body for what feels like an eternity. You cannot help but stare at the gate of the cosmos that is this creature's mouth. You notice it's features conform into a smile, but wither it is one of devious mischief or one of true happiness you cannot tell. It is gone in the next second, and you are left with that smile, that brief momentary glance into the beginning and the end of the universe, haunting your dreams.

Like that.

[Generic PC]

above... nice. Monster, i think is also good. needs some reworking from a math persepective, but that was all i (admittedly, i am not the best person to do these things, but...) noticed first time through. second time, i noticed the spelling, as well as the fact that Telepathy should be put into Special Qualities, i believe. i also like the idea, but I find it hard to come up with Scenarios for using it... i find it hard to think that choosing a door would hold the difference between the universe exploding or not, but i am sure someone will come up with one very soon I am also tried, and my imagination died when i hit a pole, and woke up 3 minutes later on the floor...