Call to Brew! [Crossroads]

[Debihuman]

Bhu there is no facing in Pathfinder (or in 3.5 for that matter) so it shouldn't matter which direction in Spiny Defense an opponent attacks the Pukwudgie. Just thought I would mention it.

Debby

[Bhu]

I know, this was an exception. They take the risk of being poked if they approach it from any direction except head on.

[Debihuman]

Note facing only works if you are using Combat facing, which is a variant tule. See here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/ad...mbatFacing.htm

I'm not sure this is a good exception since, "The standard d20 combat rules intentionally ignore the direction a creature faces. The rules assume that creatures are constantly moving and shifting within their spaces, " PCs could legitimately claim that any attack they make is on the front the creature. I think you need a game mechanic to determine when the attack isn't from the front added to the text.
Debby

[SuperDave]

I just got a chance to take a gander at your N-dam-keno-wet and Pukwudgies, and I think that I will definitely be making use of them very soon, Bhu. I recently pitted my players against a half-dozen CR 1/2 chonchons, which they easily dispatched, so I may throw an extra HD or two on your N-dam-keno-wet just to toughen them up, but I really like what you've got so far. They're kind of like Crossroads' version of goblins, but aquatic (which, come to think of it, might make them sifficiently difficult to deal with that I might not need to add extra HD after all).

I think I like your Pukwudgie even better than the Paizo version (which is a monstrous humanoid, not fey, which didn't make sense to me). Yours and theirs are about the same CR, but yours feels more flavorful, and better suited to the setting. Personally, I'd just make it a straight Reflex save when attacking their monstrous form to avoid taking damage from their spines, rather than incorporating an extra subsystem into combat. Question, though: can Pukwudgies dislodge their quills into their enemies like a dire porcupine can?

Oh, and just for everyone's reference, my players are at level 3 right now.

I'm eager to see your take on the various Jogahs, Debi!

Thanks for all your help, everyone. My players and I appreciate your hard work.

[Bhu]

There wasn't much on the N-dam-keno-wet, and they seemed like a good candidate for a race, hence the one hit die.

Did you want the Pukwudgies to break off quills? I dont see it in any of the stories but it makes sense.

[Admiral Squish]

Marvelous, more beasties!

N-dam-keno-wet
Math Check: Everything checks out at a glance.

I will admit they don't seem all that interesting, mechanically. I'd like to see a little more detail fluff-wise to compensate (what parts are fish? What parts are human?), but I suppose it's not strictly necessary.
I think the blindsense should have a clause about only applying to things in the same body of liquid.

By PF rules, the race option comes in at... 14 RP, plus probably 2 or 3 for the ability scores (there's no exact match). I actually remembered most of the values off the top of my head... which is a little sad.

Pukwudgie
Ahh, now these guys. These guys are always fun. I'm really looking forward to what you do with 'em.

Base form
Math Check:
Attack modifier is off, should be +10. (+5 bab, +3 dex, +2 size)

Where's the luck bonus to AC from?

spell-like abilities seem to be fine.

Control ghost could use further elaboration. If it's at its limit, do those it kills still rise as tei-pai-wankas? Or do they just die normally? Can the pukwudgie release a tei-pai-wanka? does killing the pukwudgie automatically kill the tei-pai-wankas?
Maybe you could combine the killing and raising with the poison arrows. Like, the arrows inflict a special poison that does negative levels, or negative energy damage, and a creature that dies from the poison comes back as a tei-pai-wanka, which the pukwudgie can take control of.

Monstrous form seems extremely limited. Once per day, only a minute at a time? There are some other problems, but I'll get into them below.

You know, the sand thing and cheap shots mentioned could translate to a bonus to Dirty Trick maneuvers, or maybe some of the dirty trick related feats.

Monstrous form
Math Check:
HP is off, should be 10d6+60 (95)
Fort is off, should be +9 (+3 base +6 con)
couple skills could use fixing.

Should it keep the luck bonus to AC?

As mentioned, there's no facing rules in the system. If you want them to just apply to this guy, then you'll have to add the basics into the ability description. However, I think you could just as easily say the spikes go a little ways forward, and the chaotic motion of combat make it impossible to avoid them from any angle.

My main concern with this ability, though, is that it's a whole separate stat-block, which raises questions about what transfers. Does this form have a separate pool of HP? Do existing conditions transfer over? Ability damage or drain? If it dies, does the pukwudgie die, or does it return to its original form with whatever HP it had when it transformed?
I would recommend expressing the transformation with modifiers, rather than a new stat block. If you feel they need a new stat block to really understand what changes, I would say write out the changes in the ability, then offer a stripped-down stat-block to illustrate it. Leave out all the lines the ability doesn't change to minimize confusion.

Spoiler: What I'm talkin' about

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Monstrous Form A pukwudgie can assume a monstrous form, resembling a troll with porcupine spines all over its back and sides. (insert activation action/uses per day/duration here) The pukwudgie and all their equipment grow, increasing by three size categories, to large size. This change grants a +8 size bonus to strength and constitution, and imposes a -2 size penalty to dexterity. (Mention if they gain HP. See rage?) They lose their normal size bonuses and penalties to rolls, gaining new size modifiers appropriate to their new size. They lose their poison arrows special attack. Their base speed increased to 40 feet. They gain a +8 racial bonus to natural armor. They gain two primary claw attacks that deal 1d6 points of damage and a secondary bite attack that deals 1d6 points of damage. They also gain spines that damage creatures that attack them. Any creature that hits the pukwudgie with a melee touch attack, natural weapon, or unarmed strike against a pukwudgie in monstrous form takes 1d6 points of piercing damage. Any creature grappling the pukwudgie automatically takes 2d6 points piercing damage at the start of their turn.

Spoiler: Statistics

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Speed 40 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class 19 (-1 Size, +2 Dex, +8 Natural), touch 11, flat-footed 17
Base Attack/Grapple +5/+15
Attack Claw +10 melee (1d6+6)
Full Attack 2 claws +10 melee (1d6+6) and bite +5 melee (1d6+3)
Space/Reach 10 ft./10 ft.
Saves Fort +9, Ref +9, Will +9
Abilities Str 23, Dex 14, Con 23, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 14
Skills Bluff +12, Concentration +16, Hide +13, Knowledge (Arcana, Nature) +13, Listen +12, Move Silently +14, Search +13, Spot +13, Survival +13

The myths also don't seem to mention it being a giant walking porcupine, just a regular walking porcupine. Does it need to be large?

Tei-Pai-Wanka
Definitely looking forward to these guys!

Is size always small, or would giants be larger? (Giant type is Humanoid [Giant] in PF)

The hit die part should mention if they lose hit die from class levels, and if they don't, if those hit die are similarly converted. Does it retain class abilities if it keeps class hit die?

Armor class line should specify they only lose armor, shield, and natural armor bonuses. Also, the deflection bonus is supposed to be based on cha (minimum +1). They would retain dodge bonuses and such.

Should they perhaps gain an incorporeal touch attack? Maybe they deal fire damage?

If it glows, it should probably have something saying how much light they shed. Candle? Torch? Lantern?

Perhaps they should have a special vulnerability to attempts to control them from pukwudgies.

+10 dexterity seems a bit steep. They are bodiless, which is a pretty big bit of weight off them, but I always though they just sort of drifted effortlessly, rather than darting this way and that.

_____

Overall, a very cool selection of creatures! There's stuff to work on, but yours are way closer to the myths than the classic PF ones. I'll update your count and link these guys.

EDIT: Hey, congratulations! That bundle's being counted as three, you just jumped past Perturbulent to take the #1 spot, with a pretty solid lead!

[Bhu]

Marvelous, more beasties!

N-dam-keno-wet
Math Check: Everything checks out at a glance.

I will admit they don't seem all that interesting, mechanically. I'd like to see a little more detail fluff-wise to compensate (what parts are fish? What parts are human?), but I suppose it's not strictly necessary.

I've no idea honestly. Quite literally all i can find is the same description over and over "a mixture of fish and human with long hair". The only variation is whether their face is small or slender.

Pukwudgie
Ahh, now these guys. These guys are always fun. I'm really looking forward to what you do with 'em.

Where's the luck bonus to AC from?

They just have one. If it makes everyone feel better I'll add a Su in the abilities section, but I didn't think I needed to write out Name (Su): The Pukwudgie has an X bonus to AC", when I could just put in the bonus.

Control ghost could use further elaboration. If it's at its limit, do those it kills still rise as tei-pai-wankas? Or do they just die normally? Can the pukwudgie release a tei-pai-wanka? does killing the pukwudgie automatically kill the tei-pai-wankas?

Added some text. Yes killing the Pukwudgie releases it's ghosts, see Rejuvenation under the Tei-Pai-Wankas.

Monstrous form
Math Check:
HP is off, should be 10d6+60 (95)
Fort is off, should be +9 (+3 base +6 con)
couple skills could use fixing.

Should it keep the luck bonus to AC?

I based this off Alter Self and similar spells. Even though it has an enhanced Con, hit points remain the same. Basically it's a separate Polymorph Ability, it just allows you to Polymorph into something apparently only the Pukwudgie encounters. I'll think on redoing this one a bit. The stat block was actually to reduce confusion on the part of the DM.

The myths also don't seem to mention it being a giant walking porcupine, just a regular walking porcupine. Does it need to be large?

Some of the myths describe it as a porcupine from the back and a huge troll/human hybrid from the front. I went with that.

Tei-Pai-Wanka


Is size always small, or would giants be larger? (Giant type is Humanoid [Giant] in PF)

They all become the same size will o wisp type light regardless of origin.

The hit die part should mention if they lose hit die from class levels, and if they don't, if those hit die are similarly converted. Does it retain class abilities if it keeps class hit die?

You will note it says all HD become d12's. I reworded that to make it clearer. You will also note under Special Attacks/Qualities it says "Loses all Special Attacks/Qualities of the base creature." They don't retain anything at all. The abilities listed on the template is all they have.

Armor class line should specify they only lose armor, shield, and natural armor bonuses. Also, the deflection bonus is supposed to be based on cha (minimum +1). They would retain dodge bonuses and such.

They lose all abilities and feats are rechosen. They have nothing that would give them a possible dodge bonus to ac. I know basing it off Cha is normal, but this template is sort of a combo of ghost and will o wisp. Will O Wisps gains a deflection bonus the same as their dex bonus so I went with that (and its not like these poor bastards get much else).

Should they perhaps gain an incorporeal touch attack? Maybe they deal fire damage?

The only attacks they possess i can find are the ones their spell like abilities mimic.

Perhaps they should have a special vulnerability to attempts to control them from pukwudgies.

As far as I can tell the only way you can become one of these is being killed by a Pukwudgie, and you're released when it dies. There are no free roaming Tei-Pai-Wankas.

[spikeof2010]

I'll claim Jersey Devil.

[SuperDave]

Not really related to the current discussion but I found this today: Tlahuelpuchi. Nahuatl vampire. Is this already on our monster list?

It's on the list, and it hasn't been brewed yet, but (based on the VERY limited research I've done) it sounds a lot like its abilities could be approximated with the Penanggalan template (except it would have to be an inherited template instead of acquired), and immunity to scrying similar to that of the Sea Serpent. Plus some kind of death-throes style curse against any family member whose actions lead to her demise (though that could just be something they usually choose to do, instead of something inherent to Tlahuelpuchis).

[Bhu]

Sorry for the lack of work guys, I've had lots of medical problems and other rl emergencies. I'm hoping they've settled down and i can focus now.

[Bhu]

Looks like I was wrong. Passed two kidney stones and caught shingles. Worst of it is over, I'm working on some critters to post shortly.

[SuperDave]

Spoiler: Feral Pixie (Homunculus hortus ferus)

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A swarm of enormous insect-like creatures emerges from a nearby hollow log, accompanied by a loud, angry buzzing sound. Each of the swarm’s component creatures are vaguely fey in appearance, but with skins which come in mottled earthtones; large, gnashing teeth; and an excessive number of legs.

Feral Pixie Swarm CR 4
XP 1,200
CN Tiny Fey (Swarm)
Init +6; Senses low-light vision; Perception +13
____________
DEFENSES

AC 24, touch 19, flat-footed 17; (+5 Natural, +2 Size, +6 Dex, +1 Dodge)
HP 6d6+24 (45)
Fort +6, Ref +13, Will +8
Immune critical hits, flanking, plant traits, swarm traits
DR 2/cold iron
___________
OFFENSES

Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (good)
Melee swarm (1d8)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks distraction (DC 17)
Spell-like Abilities (CL 6th; concentration +6

• At will – faerie fire
• 5/day – entangle
• 3/day – plant growth
• 1/day – blight

____________
STATISTICS

Str 11 (+0), Dex 22 (+6), Con 18 (+4), Int 6 (-2), Wis 16 (+3), Cha 16 (+3)
Base Atk 6; CMB —; CMD —
Feats Dodge, Lightning Reflexes, Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Fly +16, Perception +13, Stealth +23, Sense Motive +5
Languages none
SQ plant traits, swarm traits, rash
____________________
SPECIAL ABILITIES

Plant Traits (Ex)
Plants are immune to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms), paralysis, poison, polymorph, sleep, and stun.

Swarm Traits (Ex)
As a swarm of Tiny creatures, a feral pixie swarm takes half damage from slashing and piercing weapons, and is immune to critical hits and flanking.

Rash (Ex)
Contact with a swarm of feral pixies causes a painful rash, and the resulting itch leaves the hapless victim sickened until the damage is healed (as if they had received a slight exposure to poison oak).

Type poison, contact; Save Fortitude DC 13
Onset 1 hour
Effect 1d4 Dex damage, creature sickened until damage is healed; Cure 1 save

_________
ECOLOGY

Environment any temperate
Organization too many
Treasure none
Advancement by HD


The wealthy merchants and aristocrats who first introduced garden pixies to the New World intended them only to be simple living ornaments, to remind them of their comfortable manor-houses and gardens in the old country. None had any idea of the sweeping ecological devastation which these foul little creatures would wreak on the ecology of North Vespuccia.

It was the famed adaptability of pixies, cultivated by generations of British gardeners, which made them so disastrously adept at surviving in the New World. They quickly stumbled upon a host-plant whose characteristics would make them highly undesirable to nearly all forms of New World predators: Toxicodendron radicans (commonly known as “poison ivy”).

Like its domesticated ancestor, the feral pixie is also fascinated by fast motion and bright colors, and possess a natural affinity with flora. However, generations of natural selection have produced a creature which is larger, smarter, better-camouflaged, and better able to defend itself and its nest against predators.

After garden pixies began to be imported from the Old World, it was only a matter of time before a few escaped from their masters’ gardens to the wilderness beyond. Once there, they found themselves in a world which was lush with plant-life, offered a plethora of insects to sustain them, and was home to none of their natural predators. Within a few years, colonists noted that the undergrowth in the nearby forests had become thicker and more verdant. Within a few decades, this trend had accelerated noticeably. By the beginning of the present century, the pixie population had exploded, despite valiant efforts by both colonists and Natives to exterminate the creatures. Although burning their nests has been discovered to be one of the few effective methods for their removal, the smoke which feral pixies’ eggs and bodies produce when burned is highly toxic, and can be fatal to nearby humans and wildlife.

A feral pixie stands about 1 foot tall and weighs about 1 pound.

Feral pixies do not speak any languages, though they do laugh frequently.

Combat
Feral pixies prefer to disorient and entangle their foes before a battle begins, and then rush in to overwhelm them. However, unlike their domesticated cousins, feral pixies are not without a degree of natural cunning, which makes them dangerous to foes who underestimate their intelligence.

Feral pixies are also notorious for blight-ing any plants and trees which are hosts or nesting-grounds to insects and birds which compete with and predate upon them. There have even been reports of feral pixies seeming to intentionally and purposefully destroy nearby human crops, almost as if they understood that humans are the single greatest threat to their existence.

Spoiler: Comments

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Sorry this took so incredibly long for me to get around to finishing, but I finally did it! Please let me know what you think, and PEACH it soundly.

I arrived at the feral pixie by adding the "dire" template to the original garden pixie swarm, but ignored the part about boosting its size to Medium, because I just wanted to increase its size by a single step but still get the increases to the base creature's ability scores.

The new CR is definitely too high (the base creature was CR 2), but I think that I might have calculated it wrong, since I'm pretty sure that immunity to critical hits and flanking are already covered by "swarm traits". Or would they still count as separate immunities, and it's swarm traits that shouldn't be on the list? It's all terribly confusing, I'm afraid.

Blight might be unnecessary on the list of SLAs, considering how much damage they could probably do on their own just by tearing a plant apart with their bare hands anyway.

[Admiral Squish]

I'm goin' off-list a bit here, but I heard a particular song on the radio recently and I wanted to make these since.

Witch of November

I'll be sure to come back and review the pixies soon.

[Bhu]

I'll have 3 or 4 critters up soon

[Admiral Squish]

I'll have 3 or 4 critters up soon

Excellent! I quite look forward to more of your creations.

[Admiral Squish]

Right! Work to be done.

Feral Pixies:
Math Check: Not a lot of math in these guys, huh?
The BAB should be +3, but they don't actually use it, so it's not a particularly bad mess-up.
The Stealth bonus seems high, by my count it should be +8 size, +6 dex, +6 ranks, +3 class skill bonus for a total of +23.

You forgot to update swarm traits. As they're tiny now, they're no longer immune to weapon damage, they just take half damage from slashing or piercing. They take full damage from bludgeoning, too.

Lightining reflexes grants an extra +2 to reflex saves, the bonus should be +13

Solid work, bro! Cool fluff, nice mechanics, and a pretty solid explanation of why and how they came to be as they are.

[Bhu]

Gimme another day or two, I'm almost done.

[Bhu]

Got 4 ready for you. Hoping you'll be pleasantly surprised. Start here and work your way down: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/shows...postcount=1036

[SuperDave]

I knocked the Feral Pixies down to CR 4 and adjusted the XP accordingly: all I did was apply the Dire template (which is CR +2) and add two relatively minor SLAs, so CR 7 was DEFINITELY not warranted.

Great work as always, Bhu! I'll find a use for these in my campaign as soon as my players are of the appropriate level to stand a chance against them.

Naked Bear's CR should probably be between 10 and 15 (Vorpal Tribble's CR estimator says CR 13 or so), and possibly higher because of its very-restricted DR (that's a <5% chance of even doing damage! though the fact that ciritcals tend to deal a poop-ton of damage will counter that somewhat). Combat will probably be pretty straightforward, given its low Int and limited special abilities: track prey through the woods, move in close, grapple and chow down, retreat if neccessary. (P.S. their racial bonuses to skills are weirdly phrased). Oh, and you might want to change "souls" to "soles".

Pskegdemus is probably CR 5-7 or so. Probably closer to the high end of that range, since her her Cry of Distress ability imposes a permanent penalty on her victims. BTW, can this penalty be removed with remove curse or similar, or are PCs who fail their saves just doomed forever? I assume that if the Pskegdemus dies, the curse is lifted, right?
- Medium Monstrous Humanoid (Aquatic) = CR 5.6
- Medium Undead (Incorporeal) = CR 7
- Tiny Outsider (Evil, Native, Shapeshifter) = CR 6.5

Stoneclad (CR 12.4, maybe more for that "Giant" thing) looks good. I especially like what you wrote for Ritual Death, and how you handled the whole menstruating-women thing.That crystal sounds a lot like Ulunsu'ti, the forehead-jewel of the Uktena, which is also from Cherokee mythology. If you draw up stats for this crystal as a minor artifact or something, I'd gladly use it when I design the Uktena. :-) I feel like the "Giant" ability could use a better name, though...

Spearfinger (CR 13, maybe more) is a truly terrifying baddie, and you handled her very nicely. Bravo, sir, bravo!

[Admiral Squish]

Excellent! I shall review momentarily! Much to chew upon, yes...

Naked Bear
Math check: all good!
In fact, only thing I'm really concerned about is the dr/criticals. It seems like a solid mechanism, on it's own, but thinking on it, it seems like one should have a better chance of damaging the creature once they realize where it's weak. But as written, the chance to get through the DR remains the same before and after. Seeing as the idea of monsters that are only vulnerable in one particular spot is pretty common in these myths, perhaps it would be wise to come up with a unified mechanic.
Maybe, like, "DR X/Weak Spot: The creature's body is very difficult to damage, except for a notable weak spot. Successful critical hits ignore this damage reduction. A creature that is aware of this weak spot can attempt to target the weak spot by taking a -X penalty on their attack roll. A creature's weak spot can be identified by a knowledge check of the appropriate type with a DC equal to 10+their HD."? (though, a penalty to attack wouldn't always make sense. If the weak spot is between their eyes or something, wouldn't aiming for it mean your misses are just as likely to hit the critter anyway? Maybe the weak spot has a slightly higher AC than the rest of the critter, and if you miss that roll, but would hit the critter, it still resolves as though you hit the critter?)

Minor concerns:
Maybe trade the improved critical on bite for multiattack? It'd be a +3 to the bite's attack.
I think you mis-worded in the skill thing.

Swamp Lady
In all her various forms.
Universal comments:
Should Cry of Distress specifically affect males and children, but not specifically humans? It seems that's both too narrow and too broad at the same time. It doesn't account for complicated gender/sexuality situations, such as two-spirits, and it doesn't account for the males and children of various species that would have absolutely no interest in helping a human. Since the cut-off is 3 int, that means that, technically speaking, the tarrasque would be vulnerable, and I honestly can't think of any reason big T would want to save people. I think it would be better to say that it just affects all humans or maybe all humanoids and monstrous humanoids, and leave gender and other sentient beings out of it.
I don't think this use of 'evil' jives with the subjective alignment stuff.
Does the penalty to resist such cries apply even after it's remove curse'd? Or does 'rescued' in this case mean you've been pulled away and regained control of yourself? Does the penalty stack with itself, like, if you fall under it more than once, do you have a -4 against future cries?
You know, this might work better applied like a supernatural disease. Like, after hearing the sound, each day they have to make a will save and a fortitude save. Fortitude save to resist mental ability score damage/drain, will save to resist being consumed by the obsession to go rescue the swamp lady.

Mental hold is a little oversimplified, and doesn't really work in the setting either (no beguiler). I think the options to fix it consist of either giving them spellcasting (either by class or a list of SLAs) and making this ability make those affected by the cry auto-fail saves or take a serious penalty, or roll an ability to command those under the effect of the cry as though dominated into the cry ability.

Frightful Moan sending people straight to panicked or no effect seems wierd to me, but I don't think it's actually unbalanced.
A vague suggestion would be to remove the successful save making you immune and drop the effect to shaken for 1d6 rounds, but make it so it stacks and resets the duration. A shaken target becomes frightened for 1d6 rounds, regardless of how many rounds of shaken were left, and so on.

Deadly touch could probably be upped to an insta-kill, since I don't think any humanoid/monstrous humanoid children have the stuff needed to either make the DC 20 save or survive the damage even if they made the save. It'd basically be plot-powered.

Pskegdemus
Math check: Flying colors!

Pskegdemus (ghost)
Math Check: Flying most of the colors! Well, at least until you clarify the much higher skill bonuses. I don't think undead HD are usually particularly skill-strong.
Doesn't a ghost's incorporeal touch normally have some damage associated with it, beyond the swamp lady's deadly touch thingie?
There may be problems with ghosts and the new planar arrangement, but I'm gonna have to fix that later when I figure it out.

Maski-mon-gwe-zo-os
Math Check: Flying all colors once more!

Stoneclad
Yay! I was indeed looking forward to this.

Math check: Awl finger should be +21 to attack.
Otherwise excellent!

Awl finger might deserve its own, very brief, ability write-up, to describe what he's doing and what kind of damage it does.

I'd like if spellcasting came with a 'usual spells prepared' thingie, since making a 12th level druid's spell list is an intimidating task for most DMs when they have the rest of the world to be concerned about.

Bonus math check: Awl finger should be +29 to attack.
Otherwise great.

Cane is very cool. Can anyone use it after taking it off him, or is it for his use only?

In vulnerability, the temporary constitution damage doesn't specify how long it lasts, which seems important.

I'm tempted to get into this and make a bunch of magic items that can be treasure from this guy.

Spearfinger
Math Check: Initiative should be +0. I suspect you had improve initiative in there and forgot to correct when you removed it.

Should claw ignore ALL damage reduction? I think it might be better to have it overcome DR as though it were adamantine or something.

I think the con drain from extract liver is too fast. Realistically, it would be once per hour. Also, a swift action? I would think it would be at least a standard action.

I comment on vulnerability under naked bear.

Shapeshift doesn't work if ANY living creature is observing her? Perhaps you should specify sentient creatures, I suspect in such a setting everyone's always in view of a bug or a mouse or something.

Heavy step is interesting and thematic, I quite like it.

Hard skin making her sunder each time she's hit seems like a pain, and it would definitely slow down play. How about the weapon automatically takes damage equal to the damage it would have dealt? Would hardness apply?

Meld stone is interesting. Obviously, she doesn't have to be touching the stone to use it, so there should be a maximum range.

I'm just gonna trust you on the size-stat-blocks. Maybe we should come up with some kind of standardized rules for this ability too, since it keeps showing up. Something relatively simple. Maybe something like a simple template? Like, instead of giving changing ability scores and having to rewrite a big chunk o' stat block, they just gain this stacking template that gives bonuses/penalties in the places that would be affected by stat changes.

[Bhu]

Oh, and you might want to change "souls" to "soles".

But I worked so hard to insert that horrible pun!

Pskegdemus is probably CR 5-7 or so. Probably closer to the high end of that range, since her her Cry of Distress ability imposes a permanent penalty on her victims. BTW, can this penalty be removed with remove curse or similar, or are PCs who fail their saves just doomed forever? I assume that if the Pskegdemus dies, the curse is lifted, right?

Nope. According to the myth if you feel sympathy towards her cry, the effect is permanent and for life. Even medicine people can't remove it from you.


I'll get to Squishes reply after work!

[Bhu]

Excellent! I shall review momentarily! Much to chew upon, yes...

Naked Bear
Math check: all good!
In fact, only thing I'm really concerned about is the dr/criticals. It seems like a solid mechanism, on it's own, but thinking on it, it seems like one should have a better chance of damaging the creature once they realize where it's weak. But as written, the chance to get through the DR remains the same before and after. Seeing as the idea of monsters that are only vulnerable in one particular spot is pretty common in these myths, perhaps it would be wise to come up with a unified mechanic.
Maybe, like, "DR X/Weak Spot: The creature's body is very difficult to damage, except for a notable weak spot. Successful critical hits ignore this damage reduction. A creature that is aware of this weak spot can attempt to target the weak spot by taking a -X penalty on their attack roll. A creature's weak spot can be identified by a knowledge check of the appropriate type with a DC equal to 10+their HD."? (though, a penalty to attack wouldn't always make sense. If the weak spot is between their eyes or something, wouldn't aiming for it mean your misses are just as likely to hit the critter anyway? Maybe the weak spot has a slightly higher AC than the rest of the critter, and if you miss that roll, but would hit the critter, it still resolves as though you hit the critter?)

An AC Bonus is effectively the same as a penalty on the attack roll. It has no energy resistance so it's still vulnerable to energy attacks, which will be pretty common at it's level. Fixing the skill wording.

Swamp Lady
In all her various forms.
Universal comments:
Should Cry of Distress specifically affect males and children, but not specifically humans? It seems that's both too narrow and too broad at the same time. It doesn't account for complicated gender/sexuality situations, such as two-spirits, and it doesn't account for the males and children of various species that would have absolutely no interest in helping a human. Since the cut-off is 3 int, that means that, technically speaking, the tarrasque would be vulnerable, and I honestly can't think of any reason big T would want to save people. I think it would be better to say that it just affects all humans or maybe all humanoids and monstrous humanoids, and leave gender and other sentient beings out of it.
I don't think this use of 'evil' jives with the subjective alignment stuff.
Does the penalty to resist such cries apply even after it's remove curse'd? Or does 'rescued' in this case mean you've been pulled away and regained control of yourself? Does the penalty stack with itself, like, if you fall under it more than once, do you have a -4 against future cries?
You know, this might work better applied like a supernatural disease. Like, after hearing the sound, each day they have to make a will save and a fortitude save. Fortitude save to resist mental ability score damage/drain, will save to resist being consumed by the obsession to go rescue the swamp lady.

The myth specifies men and children. Women are apparently immune to the power of her voice, and it does not take matters of sexuality or gender into consideration. I'll limit it to Humanoids. Penalties do not stack, and yes they are permanent. Normally she lures men into their death in the swamp via her Mental Hold spells, so very few are rescued, and the ones who are cannot be cured, even by medicine people. The only way to resist her is to harden your heart, and assume any plea for help is her and ignore it. It's even better if you yell back, cursing or mocking the individual who may be suffering and dying. Evil aligned beings are more likely to do this so I gave them a small bonus.

Mental hold is a little oversimplified, and doesn't really work in the setting either (no beguiler). I think the options to fix it consist of either giving them spellcasting (either by class or a list of SLAs) and making this ability make those affected by the cry auto-fail saves or take a serious penalty, or roll an ability to command those under the effect of the cry as though dominated into the cry ability.

It was simplified to make it easier to write (and less painful for my nerve daamage, these things were wordy). She does have spellcasting effectively: She is a 9th level Beguiler, who may only use spells from Enchantment and Illusion, and only against people who have failed their save. Optionally you could make her a Sorcerer who can only choose spells from certain schools, but the save limitation still applies.

Frightful Moan sending people straight to panicked or no effect seems wierd to me, but I don't think it's actually unbalanced.
A vague suggestion would be to remove the successful save making you immune and drop the effect to shaken for 1d6 rounds, but make it so it stacks and resets the duration. A shaken target becomes frightened for 1d6 rounds, regardless of how many rounds of shaken were left, and so on.

I based it off the ghost ability of the same name.

Deadly touch could probably be upped to an insta-kill, since I don't think any humanoid/monstrous humanoid children have the stuff needed to either make the DC 20 save or survive the damage even if they made the save. It'd basically be plot-powered.

True but even a chance is still a chance for the poor kid. They could always get lucky, and that one round may be enough for the PC's to save them.

Pskegdemus (ghost)
Math Check: Flying most of the colors! Well, at least until you clarify the much higher skill bonuses. I don't think undead HD are usually particularly skill-strong.
Doesn't a ghost's incorporeal touch normally have some damage associated with it, beyond the swamp lady's deadly touch thingie?
There may be problems with ghosts and the new planar arrangement, but I'm gonna have to fix that later when I figure it out.

Skill bonuses are the same as every other critter with teh ghost template. Ghosts only gain damaging touch attacks if they choose that ability. In the stories she can only kill kids, men she has to lure to their deaths with her mental hold on them, or by tricking them. Which shouldn't be hard in a swamp in the dead of night.

Stoneclad
Awl finger might deserve its own, very brief, ability write-up, to describe what he's doing and what kind of damage it does.

I'd like if spellcasting came with a 'usual spells prepared' thingie, since making a 12th level druid's spell list is an intimidating task for most DMs when they have the rest of the world to be concerned about.

Cane is very cool. Can anyone use it after taking it off him, or is it for his use only?

In vulnerability, the temporary constitution damage doesn't specify how long it lasts, which seems important.

Math is fixed (thanks!), awl finger doesn't really do much it's just a clawed finger he uses to open up victims to eat their blood or liver. Its like a knife finger. Unlike his female counterpart it isn't quite so special. I'll come up with something for spells, he isn't shown using any though it hints at some ideas. No one uses his cane but him. In one variant story the cane is used to stake him to the ground instead of wood, but it seems to burn up with him. The temporary con damage from his vulnerability is the same as any other form of ability damage and heals 1 point per day.

Spearfinger

Should claw ignore ALL damage reduction? I think it might be better to have it overcome DR as though it were adamantine or something.

The claw is inserted in the back of a victims neck bloodlessly and pulls out their liver through magic, all without the victim realizing it, and even the medicine men seem to have no way to think of stopping it other than not giving her a target. It's suppose to be badass as it's her only real offense. Despite throwing boulders to make bridges she never really seems to do it offensively.

I think the con drain from extract liver is too fast. Realistically, it would be once per hour. Also, a swift action? I would think it would be at least a standard action.

I'll fix that.

Shapeshift doesn't work if ANY living creature is observing her? Perhaps you should specify sentient creatures, I suspect in such a setting everyone's always in view of a bug or a mouse or something.

Some of the myths say anything, some say her victims, which would be people. I could make it humanoids only.

Hard skin making her sunder each time she's hit seems like a pain, and it would definitely slow down play. How about the weapon automatically takes damage equal to the damage it would have dealt? Would hardness apply?

Hardness for most weapons is a 10 (5 for hafted weapons), and HP is usually 5-10 (with a few at 2 or 20). If you allow hardness it wont hurt the weapons much, and if you dont a few hits will destroy them. Maybe make one sunder check a turn and apply it to each weapon that stikes her?

Meld stone is interesting. Obviously, she doesn't have to be touching the stone to use it, so there should be a maximum range.

Adding one.

I'm just gonna trust you on the size-stat-blocks. Maybe we should come up with some kind of standardized rules for this ability too, since it keeps showing up. Something relatively simple. Maybe something like a simple template? Like, instead of giving changing ability scores and having to rewrite a big chunk o' stat block, they just gain this stacking template that gives bonuses/penalties in the places that would be affected by stat changes.

Effectively i am applying a template, im just doing it as a stat block for ease of reference.

[Admiral Squish]

Weak point
Technically, yes, but the idea was that you could target the weak point at a higher AC, and if you failed to hit it, but your attack was still enough to hit the creature, you could still do a normal attack.
And yeah, I know energy damage would apply, but that doesn't address the concern that your chances to hit the 'weak spot' with a physical attack are the same if you know where it is as they were when you had no idea whatsoever.

Size Change
Oh, I'm sure there is one that you've been using. I'm just saying that perhaps we should make one with bonuses to appropriate rolls rather than modifying abilities. The intent is that it could be freely applied on the fly by the DM, rather than requiring the inclusion of a half-dozen additional stat-blocks on the page.

Swamp Lady
Well, I don't think issues of sexuality outside the norm typically show up in myths, and not coming up in the stories doesn't mean that they don't play a factor. And, let's be honest, a lot of old myths don't pay a lot of attention to those outside the cultural norm.

Here's how I'd rework the abilities:

Spoiler

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Cry of Distress (Su): As a standard action the [swamp lady] can produce a sorrowful wail or scream that sounds like a woman in great pain or distress. Any humanoid within 120 feet must make a DC 18 will save (Save DC is charisma based) or be compelled to find and help the source of the wail. This is a mind-affecting compulsion effect. The effect is permanent, but can be removed with a Remove Curse, Miracle, Wish, or similar spells.

Mental Hold (Su): The [swamp lady]'s magical abilities leave a lingering mental hold on the victim for the rest of their lives, for many years if they manage to survive an attack. A human that fails a will save against an enchantment spell from the [swamp lady] takes a -2 penalty to will saves against effects originating from the [swamp lady]. This penalty is permanent, and cannot be removed by non-epic spells. The victims may move on and try to live normal lives, but the [swamp lady] forever remains at the back of their mind. Many men who suffer this effect never take wives, the [swamp lady]'s hold making normal relationships impossible.

Spells: A [swamp lady] knows and casts arcane spells as a 9th level sorcerer. A typical [swamp lady] knows the following spells.
0th (at-will): Daze, Ghost Sound, Resistance, Dancing Lights, Touch of Fatigue, Mage Hand, Message, Prestidigitation
1st (7/day): Charm Person, Hypnotism, Sleep, Disguise Self, Silent Image
2nd (7/day): Daze Monster, Touch of Idiocy, Invisibility, Minor Image
3rd (7/day): Hold Person, Suggestion, Major Image
4th (5/day): Crushing Despair, Hallucinatory Terrain

Basically, break the cry of distress into two abilities, one of which is a normally-removable magic effect, and the other is a permanent penalty. Also, Instead of making the DM build the spell last, I drew one up real fast.

Stoneclad:
Yeah, but it would be helpful to describe it somewhere for payers to understand what's going on when attacked by aforementioned awl finger.

I look forward to the spell list, then!

Alas, cane woulda made an interesting rod.

Ahh, well then, you don't need to specify 'temporary' constitution damage. It's just constitution damage. Ability drain is the stuff that doesn't heal.

Spearfinger
Alright, I'll take the claw as-is.

Limiting the 'observed' to 'observed by humanoids' would work.

Well, in truth, most native weapons would be made of stone, wood, or bone, so there's lower hardness involved. Plus, if you account for strength and other bonuses to damage, weapons could definitely be taking enough damage to overcome their own harness. How about:

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Hard Skinned Spearfinger's stony skin is hard enough that weapons that strike at it take damage. When struck by a non-magical weapon, any damage prevented by her damage reduction is dealt to the weapon, interacting with hardness normally.

[Bhu]

I've updated everything except Pskegdemus. went with the penalty for weak spot, if thrre's a creature whose weak spot is somehow center mass ill reword the ability for that entry when we come to it. Will explain the awl finger in teh combat sections.

[Bhu]

Okay anything that didn't have a CR (including the Tei-Pai-Wankas) now has one, combat sections are filled out, and some moderate editing has been done. Whilst I await your thoughts I'll start thinking up the next three critters, and I'll include at least one chinese this time round.

[Admiral Squish]

Sorry it's taken me so long to post, I'm just gonna blame holiday madness for the long silence.

Excellent to hear you've updated your works. I've just gone through and added the creations to the list and updated your count. 20 creatures, very impressive!

Weak Spot
I still think it shouldn't be all or nothing when targeting a weak spot. It just seems to make sense that if you're aiming for a part of the creature, at least SOME of the misses should err into the remainder of the creature. Maybe we could just roll some text like this into the damage reduction description?

Spoiler: weak spot

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Some creatures have damage reduction that is overcome not by any material or damage type, but instead by targeting a particular spot on its body, known as its weak spot. Attacks that strike this weak spot overcome its damage reduction.
Any attack against a creature with DR/weak spot that would threaten a critical hit strikes their weak spot. Even if the critical hit fails to be confirmed, or the creature is immune to critical hits, the attack still overcomes their weak spot damage reduction.
A creature can become aware of a creature's weak spot if they are told its location by one who is already aware, if they witness an attack that successfully overcomes the creature's damage reduction, or if they make a successful knowledge check of the appropriate type, with a DC of 15 + the creature's hit die.
A creature that is aware of a creature's weak spot can intentionally target the weak spot with their attacks. A weak spot's armor class is the same as the creature's armor class, but it usually gains an additional size bonus to AC due to it's size, and some may have additional bonuses. The weak spot's AC and the values of these bonuses are given in the creature's description. If an attack targeted at the weak spot misses, but the result is still higher than the creature's AC, the attack instead targets the creature and resolves normally.

Format: DR X/Weak Spot (AC X), Location: Defensive Abilities
Format: Damage Reduction A [creature]'s weak spot is located [location]. Their weak spot gains the following bonuses to AC: +[X] Size, +[X] [Type], Location: Special Abilities.

Swamp ladies:
Still some problems here.

A save can't be willpower based. It's not based on her will save, it's based on wisdom, so that needs to change.
Again. Good and evil aren't objective in this setting. The penalty if you're good does not work here. If it was something that applied to creatures the swamp lady thought was good, then it would work, but the effect relies upon the creature's reactions to the wail, which aren't subjective.
You could say sonic mind-affecting compulsion effect, rather than specifying their need to hear.
I still think the permanent penalty is better applied as a separate ability, since as it stands it's still odd that the effect can be removed, but then it can't be removed, and there's a lingering effect, but it's not the full effect...
Also, what happens when they find the lady? Do they just stand there, does the effect end, what?

Mental hold is problematic, in that they can only use magic on those who are under their cry's effects. It kinda makes them all-or-nothing. If you manage to make the save, all they got is mundane attacks and the frightening cry thing. And if you defensively deafen yourself, you're golden. And how do area effects interact with this, do they only affect creatures under the sway of the cry? If they somehow gained a fireball spell, would it only burn creatures under their cry?
Also, there's a LOT of spells I can't find in there. I'm not going to go through every book to find them, and I'm not going to force my players to, either. Please use OGL spells only.
I would also appreciate if you would list their spells/day at the given levels, since that's a pretty important facet of sorcerer spellcasting and no DM wants to dig through the lists looking for how many spells/day they get at each level, plus the modifiers for high ability scores...

I will reiterate my suggestion to break it into three abilities. The compulsion cry that makes them come looking for the lady, the mental hold that's a permanent penalty to resist mind-affecting spells/abilities from them once they fail a save against one, and the spellcasting, which should be used normally, since it's a major component of their ability to be a threatening encounter.

[Debihuman]

I'd now like to claim these three: Jogah, Ga-hon-ga -- A tiny fairy-like being with power over rocks and rivers; Jogah, Gan-da-yah -- A tiny fairy-like being with with the power to make earth fertile; and
Jogah, Oh-do-wa -- A tiny fairy-like being that keeps spirits on the spirit world from returning to the mortal world.

Sprites for sure. I might even be able to use open content with this. I have sourcebook!

Debby

I realize that I had promised this several months ago but it kinda got away from me. BTW it looks like this was already done: see here: http://crossroadsthenewworld.tumblr....-small-fey-hit

Debby

[Admiral Squish]

I realize that I had promised this several months ago but it kinda got away from me. BTW it looks like this was already done: see here: http://crossroadsthenewworld.tumblr....-small-fey-hit

Debby

There are 3rd party versions of the Jogah, but we figured we might want to get our own versions for legal reasons.

[Debihuman]

Isn't Crossroads:The New World the website for this project? It is already posted there and I didn't make it so someone else did.

Debby

[Admiral Squish]

Not really. It's just the tumblr, it's more of a promotional tool. Not everything on there is official material for the setting, a lot of it's just inspirational stuff.
But yeah, that's not made by us, and it's not made by Paizo, as far as I can tell. Unfortunately, can't use it officially.