Negative LA-Assignment : Resurrection, but no diamond here

[Beni-Kujaku]

Temporal Filcher

Look at'im. Look at this guy. How can a monster be both so geniusly designed and still so ineptly inadapted to the tone of the game?
The original idea is immaculate. Based on an iconic monster (the Ethereal Filcher), giving it an appearance just different enough that you can tell that they are related but definitely different, patching it weaknesses (the Ethereal Filcher had an interesting ability but was such a non-threat that it didn't matter, while the Temporal Filcher can actually pack a punch even without its gimmick), and giving it an actual gimmick that will intrigue the players, keep them guessing for minutes and try everything they have tol solve it, to no avail. Seriously, Time Filch (Su) is an insanely cool trick, its flair is great, with the Temporal Filcher grabbing its foe with two or more hands, before teleporting through time 7 minutes in the future, and it's actually really good in combat if the Temporal Filcher doesn't fight alone. Even if it does, most parties will somehow move on to either scout the area for their vanished friend or find a cleric to resurrect them, allowing the Temporal Filcher to reappear with the foe grappled, dazed and without backup. And on top of it, it can walk on walls, hide itself, teleport... It can be a dreading threat if the DM uses it well. This is such a great monster, definitely up there with the Unbodied, the Neothelid, the puppeteer and the intellect devourer as one of the unsorted best monsters in the book.

However!
However, Time Filch is such a pain. If you face it, you're done. You're in time out (read: out of time. I mean, outside of time) for the rest of the fight. And on the other hand, if the rest of the party successfully identified the temporal filcher (does anybody have Knowledge (Dungeoneering)?), it's just a game over, as they will just prepare and set up traps for when the Temporal Filcher comes back. And worst of all, the party cannot do anything if they don't identify it. There is almost no chance that they would spontaneously decide to stay there to attack the Filcher. When it comes back, with some luck, the party is still close, and will just attack it again. Time Filch changes any short fight into two fights and a boring investigation phase between them. In a game where combat is already known to be obnoxiously long, it's just unacceptable.

And it's basically the same if you're playing a Temporal Filcher yourself. Time Filch is a very, very powerful ability that your allies can abuse to finish off the rest of the fight while you're phasing out with the main threat (it's also the reason why you should absolutely find gloves of the Titan's Grip asap), but it also means that the more successful your build is, the less it gets to do, which feels awful.
The first thing you should do is, very simply, to get a friend. Not the rest of the party, but a cohort, an animal companion, a dragon familiar, hell, even an unseen servant. Someone that you're going to play while the Temporal Filcher is phased out. But if you do, then the Filch' is an amazing choice. Six natural attacks including four claws with Improved Grab, two of which can be used for weapons instead, decent PLAs including immediate action Mental Barrier and Dimension Door, and a good speed of 40ft. Sadly, it has pretty bad stats (+2 Str, +6 Dex, +4 Con, -4 Int, +2 Wis, +4 Cha, +3 NA) which makes its grappling modifier pretty bad despite its size, and Time Filch doesn't work on Huge or larger creatures. In a lot of cases, you'll have to rely on your other abilities.

I think the Temporal Filcher largely deserves 6 RHD, DLA-1 for its versatility and power despite its low stats. I suggest Wild Cohort, Swordsage 1 for both Sneak Attack and Shadow Jaunt, Monk 2 for Evasion, saves and AC, as well as Dodge and Mobility, then 4 levels of Telflammar Shadowlord for incredible Shadowpouncing capabilities, then back to Swordsage for Shadow Stride at level 14 (two full attacks per round, including Sneak Attack-improved unarmed strikes and the possibility for Time Filch can make a real hole in the enemies' defense). Still, this build is quite MAD, needing a lot of Int for Shadowlord spells, some Wis for Monk and Swordsage DCs, and Str to hit people and for grappling.


Wanna know something funny? The Temporal Filcher has Wall Walker as a PLA, which allows him to walk on walls and ceilings. However, contrary to Spider Climb, Wall Walker requires you to always have a foot on the surface, preventing you from running. Problem? The Temporal Filcher only has one foot. I'll let you imagine trying to drag itself along the ceiling while it can only slowly slide its leg if it doesn't want to fall. Next time, we will have the most Undead-looking not-Undead creatures in the whole game, the original titan Thought Eater and Thought Slayer! See you then!