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Thread: Deities and Legends for Everyone
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2019-08-12, 08:05 AM (ISO 8601)
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2019-08-27, 01:02 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2016
Re: Deities and Legends for Everyone
A Parable of the Abyss
There is a story told in the Abyss of three spirits lost in a desert.
A Celestial, a Devil, and a Demon each independently found their way into a vast cursed desert where they began to waste away. In the middle of the desert grew a single skinny tree laden with delicious fruit.
The Celestial was the first to happen upon the tree. He said "if only a had a piece of that fruit to eat I might survive long enough to make it out of the desert". The Celestial then went off to find materials to make a ladder, so that he might pluck a piece of fruit from the tree. Such materials are scarce in the desert however, and before he could gather them he died.
Some time later the Devil happened upon the tree. He said "if only a had a piece of that fruit to eat I might survive long enough to make it out of the desert". The Devil then went off to find materials to make a saw, so that he might pluck a piece of fruit from the tree. Such materials are scarce in the desert however, and before he could gather them he died.
Finally the Demon happened upon the tree. He said "if only a had a piece of that fruit to eat I might survive long enough to make it out of the desert". The Demon took hold of the skinny tree and uprooted it, throwing it it the ground. He ate all of the fruit and had the strength to make it out of the desert alive.Last edited by Bohandas; 2019-08-27 at 01:04 AM.
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2019-09-21, 11:47 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2011
Re: Deities and Legends for Everyone
A God Of Adventurers
Jaren The Explorer
S/he is known in many cultures by many names. In the Deserts of Olar she is Yarin, who rides Maddath the three-hump black camel. In the Ular Taiga he is Jaakan whose string of black reindeer pull Malth, his magical flying sleigh. On the islands of the Greymane Sea he is Javed who sails the black longship Almat.
In the dominant culture of the campaign Jaren is a young-mature male who rides the black mare Marras. He leads a group of three to twenty followers who explore the world and guide mortals to treasure. He is depicted as a young man with long black hair with a white glory stripe at the part.
Unusually for a non-nature deity, he is True Neutral in alignment. Though his clerics may be of any neutral alignment, including TN, he does not grant divine power to druids.
His dogma claims he came first of all deities out of the void and into the world, which he found in his early explorations. This conflicts with the dogma of other deities, and the clerics of some of these claim this is blasphemy and cause to repress the cult, but neither Jaren nor his priests seem to care.
The Church of Jaren teaches that self-suffiency is the best way of life and that there is shame in able-bodied adults accepting charity. It supports the practice of "Wandering Years" during which late-teens are encouraged to explore the world, especially with the goal of finding new and valueable things and ideas. Those who return pregnant, with a spouse, or with a baby, are said to have been blessed by Jaren.
Those who 'answer the call' and become adventurers are held in high esteem by the church, and the church supports clerics who take time off from official duties to go on quests.
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2019-09-22, 04:52 AM (ISO 8601)
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2019-09-22, 04:56 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Deities and Legends for Everyone
The Hunter Clad in Wrongness
It is said that there exists a hunter out in the wilds, one who seems to be natural and like all the other humans you've seen, at first. No one knows where he comes from or even what he is. It is said that he comes from a world that is not our own. Some say he found our world after solving a grand labyrinth. Others that he passed through reality itself and threatened the gods of his home, only to be flung into ours as penance. Yet still others call him a creature of some outer plane or the far cloaked in the flesh of the living. But there is a small number who fear that he is something else entirely.
However, all legends and stories agree on a few things. The man is profoundly other, not in the raw arcane way that sorcerers or warlocks are, but in a way that seems to corrupt the very essence of reality surrounding him. The man loves the hunt, specifically of beasts that would make mortal men go white with terror or have their heart seize, and he is known to take trophies from his kills. The man almost never seems to be where he should be, as though he is askew with the way the world is oriented. His weapons are few but powerful and he may will them into his hands with nary a thought and will them back with less. And finally, that to look into his eyes is to know all of the flaws of creation.
Some tales say the man slew the great tarrasque and stole its' regeneration for his trophy, but others say the beast still slumbers and he took something else. Some tales tell of a dark creature stalking the night and feasting upon the souls and dreams of villages, turning nightmares into reality and every moment into a waking hell for the inhabitants, only to be slain with but a strike of his sword and its' head taken. A few tell of the man dueling with a cunning beast who drove entire countries into disarray with its' power, but falling to the man after being shorn in half with an axe large enough for a giant to wield. Tales abound, each stranger and more unbelievable than the last, but each ending in the same way. Save for two, that is.
The first tells of a young boy lost in a deep wood for many days. The boy fled from beasts and monsters, from the very darkness itself that wished to feast upon his flesh, only to encounter the hunter in a secluded glade his sword freshly buried in his newest kill. The boy ran forwards fearfully, believing that a death by the hunter would be more painless and quick than whatever lay behind him, only to meet the hunter's gaze and stop dead in his tracks. He was in no danger and could see all that was hidden to, and from, him in thoseblackwhitemagentawrong eyes.
The hunter embraced the boy and gave him shelter, feeding and giving him drink, and the boy felt safe for the first time in days. When the boy awoke the next morning he was in the center of his village with no marks or anything noting he had been lost, save for a single scarf left him by the hunter, woven with the same wrongness that had been so comforting the night before. The boy lived the rest of his days peacefully, knowing that he could thank the man for saving his life that night and that he'd always have a piece of the one spoken in hushed tones to prove his story whenever he spoke it.
The second tells of a young man in a distant land. Walking along one day he happened to find a wooden door in a flat stone wall where there was none before. He found this odd and saw that there were no markings to tell that the door was there or had ever existed. Upon opening the door he felt a strong urge to walk within though it lead to bare rock. His legs moving on their own carried him through the wall and into another world. The man found himself in a strange place with no door behind him, only flat walls and a dim light suffused throughout. Without any other recourse, he set about to find an exit.
Corridor after corridor, room after room, next to no noise even from his own footsteps, he traveled. The scenery almost never changing. The same walls, lighting, and floor wherever he went. He found many exits, but none to his own world, few to those he could survive on, and even fewer that would have counted as inhabited. Barren worlds of tombs, of ruins and ancient necropoli were more common than worlds of lush vegetation or even sparse scrub-land. What he learned from exploration into these worlds, he applied to his journey towards finding a new home. The skills of survival, of tracking, hiding, running, mapping, and more were taught to him in Darwinian ways. He either adapted to this life, or he would die, and he refused to die before finding his home.
Years passed, and the young man grew. His time learning, surviving, and plundering the tombs and treasures of long dead lands had made him into a force to be reckoned with. After so much time searching, he had given up on the hope of finding his original home and upon had finding a world similar to his own he decided to make it his home. He found happiness for the first time in ages. Living, learning, and befriending people in this new world had given him something he had needed since he was brought into that endless maze, and for many years it was perfect.
Then, came the Being. It cared not for what it found, only for what it could feed upon and corrupt. This thing threatened the man's new home and he vowed to stop it. Using all of the knowledge, skills, items, and relics he had gained on his journey he set out to slay the monster tearing his world asunder and after many grueling months of battle, strategy, and observation, he succeeded. The clash with the beast brought to play every trick and skill he had learned in his long life and nearly broke him completely. This thing was not of thisworlno, this thing couldn't exist and yet it did. It fed upon and corrupted everything it touched anddevouredabsorbederased its' victims from existence itself. He had to kill it, if only to save his home.
In the end, the thing died leaving a desolate expanse of nothing surrounding it and the man fighting it, but it was too late. The man was heavily wounded and, upon striking the final blow, realized what ruin had been wrought. Their fight had torn so much of the world apart, that it was dying with no way to fix it as too much had been erased or succumbed to the corrupting influence of the beast. The lone man himself was even effected. He had taken many blows from the creature before he could bring it down, and he felt his on body beginning to give way to the being's erasure.
With a scream of terrible, abhorrent rage, the man called to what was left of the sky and proclaimed that he would not die to this being's curse, forcing the touch of the beast to bend to his will and merge with his very being. He called out to the gods that were worshiped by the people of the world and in a torrent of blasphemous proclamations, vowed that he would kill them himself for their inability to stop the beast. This act of defiance and hatred caught the attention of the gods, who, after a few quick decisions, brought him to their realm. Upon arriving in their sanctum, the man began his assault, but was instantly restrained and forced to be tried for the crimes of blasphemy, interfering with divine will, and, worst of all, being a nuisance to the gods who had ordered that his home be erased completely by a being they had neither control nor knowledge of.
This kangaroo court had found him guilty in all forms and flung him across the realms to a land similar to his original home. There he remains, protecting the inhabitants from beasts and abhorrent things. All the while honing his skills, steeling his nerves, and searching for an opening to that terrible maze. Hungering for the day he may find the land ravaged by that terrible thing and enact his revenge on those beings that had been called gods. That day will come, and when it does, the man may finally find peace.
Of course, all intelligent people know that those stories are all false, right? ...right?Last edited by Aniikinis; 2019-09-22 at 06:28 AM. Reason: Woo! 5am posting! Quite a few typos and forgot a few things
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2019-09-23, 12:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Deities and Legends for Everyone
Beatrice the Beloved (also the Queen, The Mad)
(I stole the basic idea here from Terry Pratchett, with just a little dose of Diana Spencer.)
Beatrice was, in life, a most beautiful, kind, and loving lady. She married the king in her native land, and was adored by her people, for good reason. Her husband was as good a ruler as the most kings and better than many, but not a "man of the people". While the king dealt with matters of policy and state Beatrice moved among the people, often bringing help to the sick, needy, or disaster-stricken, always gracious and kind, and always beloved.
When she fell ill, the country's greatest healers came to her bedside, but they could not stop her decline. When she fell into a coma, cries of grief rang through palace and hovel, city and field alike.
No one truly knows whether, at first, she clung to life (or perhaps life clung to her) due to the skills of the healers of the prayers or the people. In time, though, the healers and the king agreed that the time had come to let her go. Yet she did not die; it seemed that the prayers of the people sustained her. The prayers were to gods both favorable and indifferent, and no clerics reported that these gods had intervened, yet Beatrice did not die.
Over years, while the queen's body withered and faded, the prayers slowly changed from "Please, my deity, save Beatrice" to "Please, Beatrice, live." Her heartbeat and breathing grew faint, she faded to only skin and bones, yet the healers' spells revealed that, yes, life was still there (even when no other means could tell it). And people began praying to her for other things, the very sorts of help for those in need that she had brought when she was still vital. Sometimes, it seemed, those prayers were answered, and help arrived. Or miracles happened.
Her body, still lovely of form and beautiful of face, did not decay, but continued to fade. After decades, she was literally translucent and weighed less than a skeleton, and still, inexplicably, life remained. When, eventually, her body disappeared entirely, still the healers and clerics still could not say that she had died.
People continued to pray, and prayers still seemed to be answered, even if sometimes the answers didn't make sense. When a sheep's milk dries up, and a farmer prays for help, saying that his neighbor the goat herder has milk, who could deny that a miracle has happened when the sheep start giving goat's milk?
Often, help comes just as it is hopped. But, if the victims of a flood pray to Beatrice for the waters to recede, so beloved is Beatrice that no one blames her when the creeks and wells all go dry.
In fact, Beatrice wants to die. Life with no body is torturous, and the beloved queen wants nothing more than to join her parents, her husband, by this time even her children in the afterlife. The pain and longing of life without life have driven her insane.
So long as she has life, and she hears the cries of her people, she wishes them well and helps if she can, even if she does not understand how this happens, and all too often gets it wrong. If she could send one message back, make one request in return, it would be "Let me go."-- Joe“Shared pain is diminished. Shared joy is increased.”-- Spider RoninsonAnd shared laughter is magical
Always remember that anything posted on the internet is, in a practical if not a legal sense, in the public domain.
You are completely welcome to use anything I post here, or I wouldn't post it.
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2019-10-14, 11:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Deities and Legends for Everyone
Just subscribing to the thread. I do have some ideas to post, but I don't really have time to go into detail now.
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2019-10-15, 03:30 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Deities and Legends for Everyone
A tribute to one of the first absolute loonies I ever played with.
Dram, of the open jar
Symbol: An ale cup.
Favoured weaponry: Brass knuckles and similar weapons.
The deities of the dwarves are often regarded as a well worn and homogeneous group, at least by outsiders. A parade of noble kings, loyal soldiers, careful smiths and dutiful scribes. Then there stands Dram.
Accepted into the pantheon as patron of brewers and the process of fermentation, Dram's true nature is less noble, but more valuable, than this. Drunkards are his domain, not drink. All manner of anti-social and disruptive behaviour falls to him, he is the dwarven race at it's worst, for he is drunken, violent, disruptive, argumentative and stubborn. He sits all day within the halls of the exalted and drunkenly bemoans his lost honour, his diminished wealth and the decay of his people.
Once the High Gods of the dwarves were asked, why did they tolerate the presence of one who embraced all that was worst in their people. Their answers were three.
First, he is kin, for all that he is all that can be weak in the dwarven race he is still of the dwarven race. Kin is kin, clan is clan and this alone should be answer enough. Rude, argumentative and troublesome though he is, Dram has never broken the traditions of Kinship.
Second, the best and highest of us will often ignore or overlook what they do not wish to acknowledge. Dram has no qualms with declaring what other take for principle as stubbornness, or honour as pride for decorum can be the foe of truth.
Third, whilst he sits within our halls we each can see where our failures may lead and have measure by which they may check themselves and also to measure the troublesome from the treacherous.GNU Terry Pratchett
My DMing advice.
Hong Kong
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2019-10-15, 11:11 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Deities and Legends for Everyone
If you will permit my interjection, it seems to me that there is a fourth reason. The nature of gods being what it is, all parts of the dwarven character will find their mirrors in the gods. Dram's "drunken, violent, disruptive, argumentative and stubborn" character are, though distasteful, undeniable aspects of drarven character. By embodying these aspects, Dram takes that burden off of the other gods.
"By being the worst of us, he allows us to be our best."Last edited by jqavins; 2019-10-15 at 11:12 AM.
-- Joe“Shared pain is diminished. Shared joy is increased.”-- Spider RoninsonAnd shared laughter is magical
Always remember that anything posted on the internet is, in a practical if not a legal sense, in the public domain.
You are completely welcome to use anything I post here, or I wouldn't post it.
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2019-10-18, 10:37 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Deities and Legends for Everyone
GNU Terry Pratchett
My DMing advice.
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2019-10-21, 06:31 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2016
Re: Deities and Legends for Everyone
Lots of Archfiends
For Halloween I've came up with a whole mess of archfiends
First up are 0000001 and Tyrannor, two rival dukes of Avernus in the nine hells (and pluggable into any equivalent plane in other settings)
Spoiler
0000001 and Tyrannor
Bel, the Lord of the First and ruler of Avernus is concerned with the Blood War nearly to the exclusion of all else. This means that many of the duties of associated with the day-to-day ruling of Avernus' civilian population fall to his underlings. To this end a regent is periodically chosen to deal with the layer's civilian population and disburse the pittance of the budget (less than 1%) set aside for non-military use. Each regent is permitted to reign for 42 months, after which they are subjected to a grueling election process to determine whether they will keep their position or be replaced by a rival. This process is strongly characterized by intimidation, disenfranchisement, extortion, bribery, murder/assassination, and the contenders fighting each other in ritual combat no less than three times.
For many years, the primary parties vying for control have been the Procrustean Party, and the Authoritarian Axe party
The Procrustean Party is led by a being known as 0000001, who is also known as "The Most Equal" and "The People". 0000001 is not a baatezu, but rather some manner of undead modron, quite possibly the previous Primus who was murdered by Orcus. It has the ability to create spawn (resembling quadrones or rogue modrons) from creatures that it kills, to control a seemingly unlimited number of spawn simultaneously, and to redistribute the life energy of its spawn to render them all equal and identical (after first leeching a bit off for itself).
The Procrustean Party believes in the elimination of personal identity, and the transformation of all of Avernus' subjects, and eventually all living beings into cookie-cutter beings with identical bodies, skills, thoughts, interests, and memories. To this end, they are also interested in the soul damning trade to be able to bring in and standardize a greater number of souls.
The Authoritarian Axe Party is led by a being called Tyranor, aka "The Ducal Leader". Tyranor, like 0000001, is also not originally from Baator. Instead he is a powerful Hordling (a term for several similar types of fiends found in hades, carceri, and pandemonium) from Hades, who has become part of the Baatoran heirarchy. The Authoritarian Axe Party believes in brutal heirarchies in which the weak are exploited by the strong and nobody is equal to anyone else; each individual has a unique rank. They also, despite being led by a Hordling, have a greater than usual hatred for anyone and anything not of Baator, and have a tendency to spend the regency's portion of the budget on military affairs, despite the rest of the layer's budget already being alloted to the military.
Ortox the Vivisector is a character I initially created for a fantasy webcomic that didn't work out. I've written a description of him and also statted out some of his minions and creations.
Spoiler
Ortox
"I was lecturing him on some dumbass philosophical point but then I got bored and starting doing this. I've rewired his brain to experience grand mal seizures any time he hears his name. Isn't that right Reginald?"
"Alright, let's cut this girl open. I'll have her heart, brain, and spine into you guys by the end of the day"
"Are you saying I don't know how to make a spelljammer out of severed heads!? If anyone can make a ship out of heads it is me! I am the head of this operation!"
"This weapon must never fall into the hands of Demogorgon! He won't enjoy it on as many levels as I do! He'd probably just use it to take over the world or win the war or something stupid like that!"
Ortox (aka "The Fiendish Physician" "The Unnecessary Surgeon" "The Unseelie Surgeon") is a minor, or at least relatively low-key, demon lord, aligned more strongly to chaos than to evil and equally at home as a campaign's villain or as a friendly bad influence encouraging murderhoboism. He is an ancient sibriex obryith who has extensively pursued his kind's propensity for weird surgery and meddling with the forces of life and death (in game terms, levels in Fleshwarper and True Necromancer, as well as wizard and archivist). He has mastered many forms of magic grafts beyond the fiendish grafts used by all sibriexes, he has learned healing magic, he has created new diseases, and he has developed new forms of the undead. He markets himself as a physician and as a consultant to more established demon lords and planar entities.
In appearance, he looks similar to a standard sibriex, a giant misshapen floating head the size of a hill giant, with arms on its side and trailing external bile ducts and metal chains where its neck should be (a bit like an oversized Pananggalan that got caught in a blender). Ortox however has a great deal of additional limbs and eyes grafted on, and a great deal of piercings, many of which are connected to each other with further chains.
An old ally of Obox-Ob, he currently resides in the 663rd layer of the abyss, where he dwells in a disjointed combination fortress/laboratory/surgicenter/weapon-shop/dangerous-animal-breeding-mill/general-store located near one of the older town squares of the Ekolid city.
Like much of the ekolidic city, Ortox' fortress incorporates dead bodies into its construction. Unlike the rest of the city Ortox' castle also incorporates a significant amount of living and undead tissue including many half-creature, half-trap constructions that attack anyone unauthorized who tries to enter the inner works of the complex. These include arms that reach out and grab people, ravenloft-style "living walls", death-ray eyes built into surfaces, and a variety of screaming heads, including perpetually shrieking destrachan heads that guard the most secure areas and don't ever cease their somic assault (to which Ortox is immune).
On display in the main room of the store area is one of Ortox' favorite trophies, a dead illithid elder brain which hangs suspended from the ceiling on hooked chains. This one is not animate. This was the elder brain of an illithid community which Ortox invaded and destroyed. He turned their thralls into spawn-creating horror-film style zombies, conjured up some other demons as backup, and in the chaos extracted the tortured several of the more knowledgable illithids and eventually the elder brain itself to extract the secrets of their style of flesh grafting.
Thematically/subjectively/essentially/fundamentally Ortox is associated with the idea of healing which harms and harming that heals. Not only in a literal sense but also in a figurative one. The destruction of the illithid settlement is an example of this, the thralls are freed from the illithids but lose their lives and brains regardless, and the surrounding area no longer needs to fear mind flayer depredations but now has to live in fear of this ruin haunted by demons and the undead. Unnecessarily bloody and destructive revolts like this are something he also has a particular affinity for, and a step lower on the food chain he also has a penchant for getting livestock to kill its owners. A more direct example of healing that harms would be trafficking in stolen organs, enabling people's desires for extremely ill-advised elective surgeries (think Terry the mob doctor from the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episodes "Supermodel" and "Laser Lenses" and the tattoo artist from the ATHF episode "Freedom Cobra"), raising executed murderers from the dead, bringing other people back from the dead as ghouls or vampires etc, and his habit of doing things like turning steers back into bulls and sending them to gore their owners to death or replacing fangs and claws and poison glands removed from dangerous creatures.
He also has a habit of doing things out of a sense of unseelie-esque whimsy, and this occupies far more of his downtime than the sort genocidal scheming that occupies many more well known demon lords (which is part of the reason he is less well known). He is content to spend his time 'pranking' people by surreptitiously knocking them out and sewing them into human centipedes, sealing their mouths shut, swapping out their reproductive organs, removing parts of their brains, replacing their eyes with buttholes, and performing unnecessary surgeries of this nature - or more conventional evil 'pranks' like spreading disease, setting people on fire, burning down buildings, public assassinations, etc.
Ortox has little in the way of a cult (and is largely unable to directly grant spells to the few that do worship him; his few spellcasting clutists draw most of their energy from the abyss itself), but is an on and off advisor to many demons who do. Various massacres of mindflayer enclaves have also drawn the attention of some githyanki, and the ire of their jealous queen. He also has a handful of agents in the world to get word to people who may be foolish enough (or angry enough at the world) to accept the consequences; these typically result in limited transactions and temporary alliances however - akin to calling Pazuzu - not a true following. He is also a patron of evil adventurers, as murderhoboism and solving problems with violence falls squarely into the category of helping by hurting people and hurting people by helping.
One of his main agents in the mortal world is an intelligent dagger (see "Stabby McFacestab", below) he made which has levels in psionic classes. The dagger makes its way into the hands of people who might let Ortox into the material plane, using its psionics to hide itself from everyone else. It then instructs its user in an incantation (see Unearthed Arcana 3e for incantation rules and Abysmal Doorway, below, for the specific incantation) that allows passage between the material plane and the abyss.
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Heart of Darkness (3.5e) (Graft Using the Fiend Folio/Libris Mortis/Lords of Madness rules)
This heart, once implanted, bestows the benefits of the Fiendish template on it recipient
Aura Moderate Necromancy and Evil; Graft Flesh(Fiendish), Visage of the Deity or Fiendform, Creator must be a fiend; Price ~87500 gp
12000 (fire resist; compare ring of resist) 12000 (cold resist; compare ring of resist) 35000 (sr 15.5 avg) 9000-16000 (DR; compare invulnerability armor enchantment) 12000 (darkvision; compare goggles of night) 4000 (smite; treating as lv 1 spell at cster lv 10 1/day) treating themed abilities as canceling no space limit that's 84000-91000
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Cambionic Cojones (3.5e) (Graft Using the Fiend Folio/Libris Mortis/Lords of Madness rules)
The recipient of this graft can enter a barbarian rage three times per day. Additionally, any offspring sired by them will have the fiendish template.
Price ~23000? (CL5xLV3x2000(useActivated)x(3/5)+some extra)
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Zombie-Dagger
This +1 dagger allows the wielder to infect a creature struck by the blade with the Apocalypse Zombie Virus (DC 16; see Apocalypse Zombie, below) once per day. The wielder can decide to use the power after he has struck. Doing so is a free action, but the effect must be invoked in the same round that the dagger strikes.
Moderate Necromancy; CL 11; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Contagion, Create Undead; Price 22102*-28702**
* (Dagger of Venom x (cl11xlv6)/(cl5/lv4), accounting for +1 and masterwork seperately); Weight
**(CL11xLv6)x(1/5) + Plus1 Dagger
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Stabby McFacestab
+1 Anarchic Mindfeeder(MiC) Impaling(MiC) Implacable(MiC) Zombie-Dagger (see above) Ardent 5; AL CE; Int 10, Wis 20, Cha 19; Speech, Telepathy, 120 ft. Blindsense, Darkvision, Hearing and Read Magic;
Lesser Powers: Item Has 10 ranks in Diplomacy; Item has 10 ranks in Knowledge(Religion); Item has 10 ranks in Spellcraft, Knock 3/day
Greater Power: Crumble (SC) 3/day, Locate Creature 3/day
Special Purpose: Foment Rebellion
Special Purpose Power: Break Enchantment
Saves: Fort +13 Ref +13 Will +20
SA: Intelligent Magic Item Powers, Mantle Powers, Psionics
SQ: Construct Traits, Intelligent Magic Item Powers, Half Damage From Fire and Electricity, Quarter Damage From Cold, Hardness 12
HD/HP: 5d6+12 (29 hp)
Speed: 0ft (10 ft when psionically focused)
Power points/Day: 37
Powers Known:
1st- Dimension Hop, Energy Ray, Matter Agitation, Psionic Charm
2nd- Cloud Mind, Concealing Amorpha
3rd- Psionic Speak With Dead
Mantles: Chaos, Deception Freedom, Death
Feats
Expanded Knowledge (energy ray), Psicrystal Affinity (Liar)
Skills
Bluff 6 (2+4), Concentration 8, Diplomacy 14 (10+4), Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (History) 1, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 1, Knowledge(Religion) 10, Knowledge(The Planes) 2, Knowledge (Psionics) 1, Psicraft 2, Spellcraft 10
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An Incantation (See Unearthed Arcana 3e and/or the SRD
Abysmal Doorway
Effective Level: 9
Skill Check: Knowledge(Religion) DC 23 - 4 successes, Knowledge(The Planes) DC 23- 1 success, Spellcraft DC 23 - 4 successes
Failure: Damage
Components: V, S, M, F, Backlash
Casting Time: 90 Minutes
Range: Touch
Duration: 16 minutes + 1d3 minutes
This incantation turns an archway made out of dead bodies into a gateway to the 663rd layer of the abyss, in a busy town square near Ortox' laboratory (where there is a correspondig archway); allowing any of the denizens of that place (mostly obryiths and bug-like demons, and especially ekolids, which are both) to make their way through, and also allowing creatures to make their way into the abyss. The gate stays open for 16 minutes and then begins to collapse, exploding 1d3 minutes in a shower of bone fragments and acid blood, dealing 1d6 points each of acid damage and piercing damage to anyone within 5 feet and exposing them to filth fever.
Failure: The archway explodes in corrosive gore and bone fragments, dealing 1d6 points of acid damage and piercing damage to the caster and anyone else standing adjacent to it, and infecting them with filth fever
Material Component: An elaborate immobile archway made out of pieces of the corpses of creatures killed specifically for the incantation and left to rot until it is swarming with flies
Focus: A zombie dagger (see above)
Backlash: Caster becomes exhausted and is infected with ghoul fever
---------
Apocalypse Zombie
Apocalypse zombies are a stronger than normal form of zombiewhich create spawn, spread disease, and are driven by an insane hunger for the flesh and brains of living creatures
Creating An Apocalypse Zombie
"Apocalypse Zombie" is an acquired template that can be added to any living corporeal creature.
Size and Type
The creature’s type changes to undead. It retains any subtypes except alignment subtypes and subtypes that indicate kind. It uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Hit Dice
Double the number of Hit Dice left, and raise them to d12s.
Speed
If the base creature can fly, its maneuverability rating drops by two categories.
Armor Class
Natural armor bonus increases by a number based on the zombie’s size:
Tiny or smaller +0
Small +1
Medium +2
Large +3
Huge +4
Gargantuan +7
Colossal +11
Base Attack
A zombie has a base attack bonus equal to ½ its Hit Dice.
Attacks
A zombie retains all the natural weapons, manufactured weapon attacks, and weapon proficiencies of the base creature. A zombie also gains a slam attack and a bite attack.
Zombie Size Slam Damage
Damage
Natural and manufactured weapons deal damage normally. An apocalypse zombie's attack deal damage depending on the zombie’s size. (Use the base creature’s slam damage if it’s better.)
Zombie Size Slam and Bite Damage
Fine 1
Diminutive 1d2
Tiny 1d3
Small 1d4
Medium 1d6
Large 1d8
Huge 2d6
Gargantuan 2d8
Colossal 4d6
Special Attacks
A zombie loses any special attacks of the base creature that are not usable while under the effects of barbarian rage or a feeblemind spell and gains the following special attacks
Create Spawn(Su)
Any creature slain by an apocalypse zombie becomes an apocalypse zombie in 1d% rounds
Disease: Zombe Virus (Su):
A creature that is bitten by a zombie (or bites a zombie in the case of, for example, an animal companion) is exposed to the zombie virus
Disease— injury/ingested, Fortitude DC 14, incubation period 1 day, damage 1d3 Con, 1d3 int, and 1d3 wis. The save DC is Charisma-based.
An afflicted creature who dies while affected by the zombie virus rises as an apocalypse zombie immediately
Special Qualities
A zombie loses any special qualities of the base creature that are not usable while under the effects of barbarian rage or a feeblemind spell. It retains any extraordinary special qualities that improve its melee or ranged attacks. An apocalypse zombie gains the following special qualities
Damage Reduction (Ex)
An apocalypse zombie has damage reduction 5/slashing and magic. Zombies are lumbering masses of flesh animated more by supernatural forces than by any physical physiology.
Single Actions Only (Ex)
Zombies have poor reflexes and can perform only a single move action or attack action each round. A zombie can move up to its speed and attack in the same round, but only if it attempts a charge.
Jumpscare(su)
Once per minute an apocalypse zombie can ignore its "single actions only" limitation for one round. For this round the apocalypse zombie may take an extra move action and acts as if under the effects of a Haste spell and a Jump spell
Saves
Base save bonuses are Fort +1/3 HD, Ref +1/3 HD, and Will +½ HD + 2.
Abilities
A zombie’s Strength increases by +2, its Dexterity decreases by 2, it has no Constitution score, its Wisdom changes to 10, and its Intelligence and Charisma changes to 1.
Skills
An apocalypse zombie loses any skills not usable while under the effects of a feeblemind spell or barbarian rage
Feats
A zombie loses all feats not usable while under the effects of a feeblemind spell or barbarian rage and gains Toughness, Improved Toughness (CW), Great Fortitude, and Lifesense (LM) as bonus feats
---------
Nullicorn
Size/Type: Large Undead
HD: 8d12 (52 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 60 ft.
Armor Class: 20 (-1 size, +4 Dex, +7 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+14
Attack: Negative Energy Ray +9 ranged touch (1d4+8)
Full Attack: Negative Energy Ray +9 ranged touch (1d4+8) and 2 hooves +4 melee (1d4+3)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Negative Energy Ray
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 feet, Deathwatch, Dimension Door, Low-Light Vision, Partial Vulnerability to Critical Hits, Scent, Undead Traits, Unnatural Aura
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +6
Abilities: Str 22 Dex 18 Con - Int 3 Wis 10 Cha 20
Skills: Jump +19, Listen +2, Spot+2, Tumble +6
Feats: Alertness, Acrobatic, Verminfriend(b) (BoVD), Weapon Focus (Ray)
Advancement: 9-16 HD (large)
A Nullicorn is an undead being made from the corpse of a unicorn whose horn has been removed. It now lashes out against all living things in a constant state of insane anger. Ortox has been experimenting with unicorn meat stolen from a nearby bakery for some time and this is the result
Deathwatch(Sp)
A Nullicorn is continuously under the effect of a Deathwatch spell. If the effect is dispelled they may resume it as a free action on their turn,
Dimension Door(Sp)
A Nullicorn may use Dimension Door as a standard action once every 2d4 rounds
Negative Energy Ray(Sp)
As an attack, a Nullicorn can fire a ray of negative energy out of the space where its horn once was. The ray has a range of 60 feet and deals 1d4+8 damage (1d4 damage+1 damage/Nullicorn HD, maximum +8). This attack harms living creatures but heals the undead
Partial Vulnerability to Critical Hits:
The hole in a Nullicorn's skull where its horn used to attach is a weak point and striking through it deals extra damage to the creature. Thus a Nullicorn can be struck by a critical hit. The hole is only about the size of a mouse however, so for the purpose of confirming the critical hit the Nullicorn is treated as if it was a diminutive creature, and thus AC 25. A successful crit also prevents the Nullicorn from using its negative energy ray for 2d6 rounds
Unnatural Aura(Su)
Animals, whether wild or domesticated, can sense the unnatural presence of a Nullicorn at a distance of 30 feet. They do not willingly approach nearer than that and panic if forced to do so; they remain panicked as long as they are within that range.
The Great Cold Ones.
A quick pun on "Great Old Ones" and "cold one" meaning a beer
Spoiler
The Great Cold Ones
The Great Cold Ones are primordial deities of frost and beer. They dwell in remote ice capped mountains. They are shaped like enormous steins, kegs, and barrels with rings of tentacles emanating from the tops and bottoms. Merely looking directly at one of them can cause one to become drunk.
This next section is some quick brainstorming of ideas for archfiends and abyssal layers. The two spoilers present the same list in two different formats
(Feel free to expand on these yourself, and especially fill in the lines that are just questionmarks)
Spoiler
NAME - TYPE - TITLE - CONCERNS - HOME - NOTES
Vodde - Tanar'ri - "The Stone Dove" - Abandonment of causes; cowardice; appeasement - Abyss, The Peaceful Grave
Jodanath - tanar'ri - "The Bad Shepherd" - strife, balkanization, cowardice(?) - Abyss, The Exfolded Fold
0000001 - Devil (Undead Modron) - "The People" "The Most Equal" "Lord Regent of Avernus (contested)" - the Procrustean Party; civil administration of the first hell; elimination of personal identity; damnation of souls - Baator (Avernus)
Tyrannor - Devil (naturalized hordling) - "The Supreme Duke" "Dominator" "Lord Regent of Avernus (contested)" - the Authoritarian Axe party; civil administration of the first hell; exploitation of the weak; the blood war - Baator (Avernus)
Agorob - Demodand - "The Jailor" - immurement; degradation; preventing escape from Carceri - Carceri
Borax - Tanar'ri - The Astringent - ethnic clensing; - Abyss
Administrator Dusang - Baatezu Duke - "Executive in Charge of Blood" - blood sacrifice; blood magic; vampires - Baator, Dis, Municipal Bloodworks
Korarth - Tanar'ri - "The Thirteenth Son" - misfortune - Abyss, The Hall of Broken Mirrors
Nixtfre - Tanar'ri - "He Who Stares Back" - seekers of abyssal lore; blood war counterintelligence; corruption of heroes; murder of powerful spirits - Abyss, The Hall of Broken Mirrors
Lunesk - Tanar'ri - "The Paper Moon" - impersonation/identity-theft of various moon gods - Abyss, The Paper Moon
Duke Macoute - Baatezu (duke) - "The Bogeyman" "Superintendent of the Bureau of Non-Missing Unpersons" - sanctioned extrajudicual executions and imprisonments; assassination - Baator, Dis
Keelhoodiste - Tanar'ri - "The Realization of Mortality" - sudden, unexpected, and untimely death - Abyss, Terrorbithia
Hrephau - Yugoloth - "The Merchant of Death" - the sale of weapons; magic weapons; other non-peacetime magic items; poisons - Hades
Kyclorous - Yugoloth(?) - "God -Forsaken" - avoiding the notice of deities; coverups; violet rain; karsites and athar - Hades
Hemigotm of Heimgothmive - tanar'ri - "The Glutton" - gluttony; cannibalism - Abyss, Gorefeast Island
Ecub - Tanar'ri - "The Grim" - ??? - Abyss, The Timeless Tomb
Celenerax - Loumara - "The Growth" - cancer; gigantism - Abyss , The Tumor - turns its host into an amorphous mass of cancerous growths
Aamoingoix - Tanar'ri - "The Hellish Hare" - overpopulation; sex; lagomorphs - Abyss, The Rabbithole
Yggusie - Tanar'ri - rewarding of wickedness; punishment of virtue - Abyss, The Hellish Heaven; Abyss, The Heavenly Hell; Abyss, Woeful Escarand
Ibaliclir - Baatezu (duke) - "The Don" "Lord of the Underworld" "Unofficial In Charge of Organizing Crimes" - organized crime; extortion - Baator, Dis, The Underworld (not to be confused with the Underworld in Hades)
Pseraros - Baatezu (duke) - "The Mindmaster" - brainwashing; 'reeducation'; slavery - Baator, Dis, Black Iron Prison
Vres-Cla-La - Tanar'r - "The Holey" - holes; stabbing; borer bugs; worms; rust; pits; mines; caves; black holes; wormholes - Abyss, The Ergosphere; Abyss, the Plane of Knives - see Weird Races and Strange Places for Plane of Knives layer
Do-Ruflab - Tanar'ri - "The High-Roller" - compulsive gambling; fortune and misfortune - Abyss, The Full House
Wolorsalphis - Tanar'ri - ??? - defective items; dilapidated buildings - Abyss, The Shattered Manse
Ynnee-Mogor - Tanar'ri(?) (Hordling?) - ??? - music; heavy metal - Pandemonium
Vuallis - Tanar'ri - "The Cuisinier of Carnage" - gourmet food made out of people - Abyss, Gorefeast Island
Yograjjaka - Tanar'ri - "The Trapper" - hunting and trapping intelligent or endangered creatures, especially for their fur or hides - Abyss, The Unhappy Hunting Ground
Yishax - Tanar'ri - "The Demonic Dweomer" - ray spells - Abyss, The Problematic Prism - an incorporeal energy being
Oggones - Yugoloth - "The Ill Omen" - prophecies of doom; doomsday prophecies; fate - Gehenna, Armageddon
Ulgurax - Yugoloth - "The Invisible Hand" - market manipulation; acquisitive greed - Hades
Dugordeth - Tanar'ri - "The Quill Which is Lost" - illiteracy; aphasia; dyslexia - Abyss, The Unspeakable Odeon
Ebleos or Ebelos - Tanar'ri - "Lord of Uridezu" "The Rat King" - Uridezu demons; rats - Abyss, Rat Utopia - Layer name is a reference to the Rat Utopia/Behavioral Sink experiments
Zarnus-Tegut - Tanar'ri - "Lord of the Mice" - Uridezu demons; mice - Abyss, Rat Utopia - Layer name is a reference to the Rat Utopia/Behavioral Sink experiments
R'jan-Uuithard - Tanar'ri - "The Bog Mummy" - bogs and marshes; darkness; death; inbreeding - Abyss, The Midnight Marsh
Aesiphomenk - Loumara - "The Many Faced Pretender" - Impersonation; Theft by fraud - Abyss
Habelkos - Devil (Hellcat) - "The King of the Hellcats" "Of the 999 Lives" - hellcats; cats; patriarchy; warring against yeenoghou; obscure ancient magic; recovery form mortal wounds - Baator? Acheron?
Anlealtheuna - Tanar'ri - "The Genuine Article" - counterfeiters; imposters; adulterated or "cut" drugs - Abyss
Ech-Atros - Obryith - "The Red Wall" "The Wall of Blood" - blood - Abyss
Purce - Baatezu (duke) - "Minister of Propaganda" - propaganda - Baator, Dis, Black Iron Prison
Othnurtrai - Obryith - "The Crystalline Entity" - crystals - Abyss
Voviangennus - Baatezu (Duke) - "Superintendent of Deadly Weapons and Tactics" - oppression and enforecment; containment of tanar'ri incursions; war - Baator, Dis
[/code]
Spoiler
Vodde
Type:Tanar'ri -
Titles: "The Stone Dove"
Portfolio: Abandonment of causes; cowardice; appeasement -
Location: Abyss, The Peaceful Grave
Jodanath
Type: tanar'ri -
Titles: "The Bad Shepherd" -
Portfolio: strife, balkanization, cowardice(?)
Location: Abyss, The Exfolded Fold
0000001
Type: Devil (Undead Modron) -
Titles: "The People" "The Most Equal" "Lord Regent of Avernus (contested)" -
Portfolio: the Procrustean Party; civil administration of the first hell; elimination of personal identity; damnation of souls
Location: Baator (Avernus)
Tyrannor
Type: Devil (naturalized hordling) -
Titles: "The Supreme Duke" "Dominator" "Lord Regent of Avernus (contested)" -
Portfolio: the Authoritarian Axe party; civil administration of the first hell; exploitation of the weak; the blood war
Location: Baator (Avernus)
Agorob
Type: Demodand -
Titles: "The Jailor" -
Portfolio: immurement; degradation; preventing escape from Carceri
Location: Carceri
Borax
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles: The Astringent -
Portfolio: ethnic clensing -
Location: Abyss
Administrator Dusang
Type: Baatezu Duke \
Titles: "Executive in Charge of Blood" -
Portfolio: blood sacrifice; blood magic; vampires
Location: Baator, Dis, Municipal Bloodworks
Korarth
Type: Tanar'ri
Titles: "The Thirteenth Son" -
Portfolio: misfortune
Location: Abyss, The Hall of Broken Mirrors
Nixtfre
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles: "He Who Stares Back" -
Portfolio: seekers of abyssal lore; blood war counterintelligence; corruption of heroes; murder of powerful spirits
Location: Abyss, The Hall of Broken Mirrors
Lunesk
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles: "The Paper Moon" -
Portfolio: impersonation/identity-theft of various moon gods
Location: Abyss, The Paper Moon
Duke Macoute
Type: Baatezu (duke) -
Titles: "The Bogeyman" "Superintendent of the Bureau of Non-Missing Unpersons" -
Portfolio: sanctioned extrajudicual executions and imprisonments; assassination
Location: Baator, Dis
Keelhoodiste
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles: "The Realization of Mortality" -
Portfolio: sudden, unexpected, and untimely death
Location: Abyss, Terrorbithia
Hrephau
Type: Yugoloth -
Titles: "The Merchant of Death" -
Portfolio: the sale of weapons; magic weapons; other non-peacetime magic items; poisons -
Location: Hades
Kyclorous
Type: Yugoloth(?) -
Titles: "God -Forsaken" -
Portfolio: avoiding the notice of deities; coverups; violet rain; karsites and athar -
Location: Hades
Hemigotm of Heimgothmive
Type: tanar'ri -
Titles: "The Glutton" -
Portfolio: gluttony; cannibalism
Location: Abyss, Gorefeast Island
Ecub
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles: "The Grim" -
Portfolio: ???
Location: Abyss, The Timeless Tomb
Celenerax
Type: Loumara -
Titles: "The Growth" -
Portfolio: cancer; gigantism -
Location: Abyss , The Tumor
Note: turns its host into an amorphous mass of cancerous growths
Aamoingoix
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles: "The Hellish Hare" -
Portfolio: overpopulation; sex; lagomorphs -
Location: Abyss, The Rabbithole
Yggusie
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles: ??? -
Portfolio: rewarding of wickedness; punishment of virtue -
Location: Abyss, The Hellish Heaven; Abyss, The Heavenly Hell; Abyss, Woeful Escarand
Ibaliclir
Type: Baatezu (duke) -
Titles: "The Don" "Lord of the Underworld" "Unofficial In Charge of Organizing Crimes" -
Portfolio: organized crime; extortion -
Location: Baator, Dis, The Underworld (not to be confused with the Underworld in Hades)
Pseraros
Type: Baatezu (duke) -
Titles: "The Mindmaster" -
Portfolio: brainwashing; 'reeducation'; slavery -
Location: Baator, Dis, Black Iron Prison
Vres-Cla-La
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles: "The Holey" -
Portfolio: holes; stabbing; borer bugs; worms; rust; pits; mines; caves; black holes; wormholes - Location: Abyss, The Ergosphere; Abyss, the Plane of Knives
Note: see Weird Races and Strange Places for Plane of Knives layer
Do-Ruflab
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles: "The High-Roller" -
Portfolio: compulsive gambling; fortune and misfortune -
Location: Abyss, The Full House
Wolorsalphis
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles: ??? -
Portfolio: defective items; dilapidated buildings
Location: Abyss, The Shattered Manse
Ynnee-Mogor
Type: Tanar'ri(?) (Hordling?)
Titles:??? -
Portfolio: music; heavy metal
Location: Pandemonium
Vuallis
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles: "The Cuisinier of Carnage" -
Portfolio: gourmet food made out of people
Location: Abyss, Gorefeast Island
Yograjjaka
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles: "The Trapper" -
Portfolio: hunting and trapping intelligent or endangered creatures, especially for their fur or hides
Location: Abyss, The Unhappy Hunting Ground
Yishax
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles: "The Demonic Dweomer" -
Portfolio: ray spells
Location: Abyss, The Problematic Prism
Notes: an incorporeal energy being
Oggones
Type: Yugoloth -
Titles: "The Ill Omen" -
Portfolio: prophecies of doom; doomsday prophecies; fate
Location: Gehenna, Armageddon
Ulgurax
Type: Yugoloth -
Titles: "The Invisible Hand" -
Portfolio: market manipulation; acquisitive greed
Location: Hades
Dugordeth
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles: "The Quill Which is Lost" -
Portfolio: illiteracy; aphasia; dyslexia
Location: Abyss, The Unspeakable Odeon
Ebleos or Ebelos
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles: "Lord of Uridezu" "The Rat King" - vUridezu demons; rats
Location: Abyss, Rat Utopia
Note:Layer name is a reference to the Rat Utopia/Behavioral Sink experiments
Zarnus-Tegut
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles: "Lord of the Mice" -
Portfolio: Uridezu demons; mice
Location: Abyss, Rat Utopia
Note: Layer name is a reference to the Rat Utopia/Behavioral Sink experiments
R'jan-Uuithard
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles: "The Bog Mummy" -
Portfolio: bogs and marshes; darkness; death; inbreeding
Location: Abyss, The Midnight Marsh
Aesiphomenk
Type: Loumara -
Titles:"The Many Faced Pretender" -
Portfolio: Impersonation; Theft by fraud
Location: Abyss
Habelkos
Type: Devil (Hellcat) -
Titles: "The King of the Hellcats" "Of the 999 Lives" -
Portfolio: hellcats; cats; patriarchy;warring against yeenoghou; obscure ancient magic; recovery form mortal wounds
Location: Baator? Acheron?
Anlealtheuna
Type: Tanar'ri -
Titles:"The Genuine Article" -
Portfolio: counterfeiters; imposters; adulterated or "cut" drugs
Location: Abyss
Ech-Atros
Type: Obryith -
Titles:"The Red Wall" "The Wall of Blood" -
Portfolio: blood
Location: Abyss
Notes: is literally a wall of blood
Purce
Type: Baatezu (duke)
Titles: "Minister of Propaganda" -
Portfolio: propaganda
Location: Baator, Dis, Black Iron Prison
Othnurtrai
Type: Obryith
Titles: "The Crystalline Entity" -
Portfolio: crystals
Location: Abyss
Voviangennus
Type: Baatezu (Duke)
Titles: "Superintendent of Deadly Weapons and Tactics"
Portfolio: oppression and enforecment; containment of tanar'ri incursions; war
Location: Baator, Dis
EDIT:
More Stuff
Another lower planar fable
Spoiler
Another story is told in the abyss, this one about posession
A rich businessman franchised his business to some wicked men. The men reaped obscene profits but every time the businessman's representatives came to collect the franchise fees the wicked men abused them and sent them away. Finally the rich man sent his son as a representative thinking this would command respect. The wicked men killed him, but then wore his face as a mask, assuming his identity. When the owner of the business dies, who will inherit his business?
New 3.5e Domains
Spoiler
Discord Domain
Granted Power: +1 enhancement to opposed rolls; Bluff is a class skill
1.) Antagonize person (see 1001 homebrew spells) - Cause subject to attack you
2.) Insidious Insight (RoE) -Gain insight bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive against affected creature.
3.) Glibness- You gain +30 bonus on Bluff checks, and your lies can escape magical discernment
4.) Friend to Foe (PHB2)- Make subject creature believe its allies are its enemies.
5.) Incite Riot (PHB2)- Subjects attack nearest creature.
6.) Cloak of Hate (HoH)- Target provokes hostile reactions, takes -10 penalty to Diplomacy checks.
7.) Tenser's Transformation- You gain combat bonuses.
8.) Chain of Chaos (Defenders of the Faith pg.83-84)- Creates plague of insanity passed by touch.
9.) Kallisti (See below)- Like Sympathy but causes conflict over control of affexted area or item
---
Kallisti
Enchantment/Transmutation (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Strife 9, Sor/Wiz 9
Target: One location (up to a 10-ft. cube/level) or one object or one creature
Saving Throw: Will Negates (see text)
Spell Resistence: Yes (see text)
Kallisti works like the spell Sympathy except as noted above (different level, target can be creature, modified save/SR effects) and that the affected creatures not only desire the target of the spell, but have an intense desire to posess it exclusively.
Additionally, the spell engineers signs and coincidences that can lead creatures already naturally inclined to desire the target to it even if they are immune to mind effecting effects or have SR or saves sufficient to resist the compulsion, although in this case they are under no compulsion to come or to posess the target exclusively.
------------
Lust Domain (new homebrew version)
Granted Power: For one minute, you gains an Enhancement bonus to Charisma equal to one-half your Cleric level. Activated as a move Action. Usable 1 per day.
You also gain a +1 resistance bonus on saves against disease and energy draining.
1.) Charm Person- Makes one person your friend.
2.) Invisibility- Subject is invisible for 1 min./level or until it attacks.
3.) Charm Monster- Makes monster believe it is your ally.
4.) Voice of the Dragon* (spell compendium);
5.) Scrying- Spies on subject from a distance.
6.) Succubus' Seduction (see below
7.) Errant Heart (HOotS pg 60)- Causes obsession in target
8.) Sympathy- Object or location attracts certain creatures.
9.) Shapechange- Transforms you into any creature, and change forms once per round.
*Clerics with the Charm domain, Trickery domain, Joy Domain, Pleasure domain, Temptation domain, Treachery domain, or any dragon related domain gain a +1 bonus CL as if they were casting the spall as a sorcerer. Otherwise they may expend the daily use of their granted power to cast the spell at +1 CL like a sorcerer.
Succubus' Seduction
Transmutation [Chaos]
Level: Bard 6, Cleric 7, Lust 6,
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 10 minutes/level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
This potent spell grants you many of the traits and abilities of a succubus. Upon casting this spell, you gain immunity to poison. You can speak and understand all languages as if under a Tongues spell, and you gain darkvision out to 60 feet and damage reduction 5/cold iron. You also gain a +3 enhancement bonus to Intelligence, a +2 enhancement bonus to Wisdom, and a +8 enhancement bonus to Charisma.
Focus: A little black book filled with the names and symbols of various chaotic outsiders
------------
Noise Domain
Granted Power: You can shout loud enough to damage people and objects. As a standard action you can shout at a person or object within 5 feet to deal 1 point of sonic damage and cause acoustic overload* for one round; A DC 10 fortitude save negates both effects.
You also gain a +1 resistance bonus on fortitude saves to avoid being deafened.
*New condition: Acoustic Overload- Overstimulation of the ears impairs hearing, imposing a -1 penalty to Listen checks and Initiative rolls. Any effect that removes or protects from deafness also removes or negates acoustic overload
1.) Bothersome Babble (CMa)- Subject's speech becomes incoherent; second casting makes speech painful.
2.) Caterwaul (CMa)-Horrible wail renders creatures nauseated or sickened for 1 round.
3.) Creaking Cacaphony(SC)- Sound distracts and makes foes vulnerable to sonic damage
4.) Shout- Deafens all within cone and deals 5d6 sonic damage.
5.) Resounding Thunder (CMa)- Lasting sound deals 4d6 sonic damage per round, deafens creatures within area.
6.) Thunderfield (PHBII)- Creatures in area take 1d8 sonic damage/round, knocked prone.
7.) Holy Word/Blasphemy/Dictum/Word of Chaos/Word of Balance (as appropriate to deity)- Kills or inflicts status effects on creatures of opposing alignment
8.) Greater Shout- Devastating yell deals 10d6 sonic damage; stuns creatures, damages objects.
9.) Wail of the Banshee- Kills one creature/level
Good and Neutral Outsider Lord Brainstorming
(Feel free to expand on these yourself, and especially fill in the lines that are just questionmarks)
Spoiler
NAME - TYPE - TITLE - CONCERNS/PORTFOLIO - HOME - NOTES
Uracil - Archon - "The Fifth" - scribes; healing - Mount Celestia
Bonaal - Guardianal - "The Groovy Goddess" - free love; peaceful conflict resolution; hippies; sex workers; bonobos - top layer of beastlands - bonobo-like guardianal
??? - Rilmani - "The Twilight Man" - dusk and dawn - Outlands, Arcadian sector
??? - Rilmani - ??? - doing the wrong thing for the right reason - Outlands, acheron sector
??? - Rilmani - ??? - doing the right thing for the wrong reason - Outlands, arcadian sector
??? - Rilmani - "Sonambulord" - sleepwalking; the period between wakefulness and sleep - Outlands, Pandemonium sector
??? - LV 20 Chaos Monk with bard levels - "[The] Ol Dirty Master" - rythm; martial arts; music; dance - Asgard, Olidammara's Den
??? - Guardianal - "Holy Moley" - dwarves, gnomes, halflings, and other underground dwellers; burrowing animals - Elysium - A mole-like guardianal
General Reginald T. Lymphocyte - Celestial (Awakened white blood cell of a LG deity) - ??? - healing of disease - Mt.Celestia
[name varies from day to day and depending on mood] - Slaad - "Lord of Whimsy" - whimsy - Limbo
Brieishin - Slaad - "Lord of Elements" - air; fire; water; wood; aether; magic; hearts - Limbo
Bloep - Slaad - "Lord of Humor" - humor - Limbo
Bafishist - Slaad - "The Unkempt" - slobbishness - Limbo
Chodral - Slaad - "Lord of Distraction"[sic] - distraction, ADHD - Limbo
Kleptocouatl
Spoiler
Kleptocouatl
Kleptocouatl, the Sticky-Fingered Serpent, is a god of thieves. His domains are Chaos, Trickery, and Scalykind.
Time, the miller
Spoiler
Time
Time is a miller. He grinds the days and months into hours and minutes digestible by mortals and his millstone is the cycle of the year. When the day drags on that's a bit that hasn't been ground down fully
A method for generating names for demons and dark gods (or any category of beings)
Spoiler
After continued difficulty coming up with names for characters I hit upon a system for generating plausible demon names. There's a free modding tool for Dwarf Fortress called DFLang that uses markov chains to generate realistic sounding fake languages based on a sample of existing language. If you compile a list of the names of demons and you use that as the seed file instead then the output will instead sound like the names of demons
step 1: Download DFLang
http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=1738
Step 2: Compile a list of existing demonic names and names of dark gods (I'd post my list but it contains names from mythology and religion). No punctuation (except for dashes in names of beings like Yog-Sothoth). Save it as a .txt file
Step 3: Start DFLang
Step 4: Select your list of names as your language file
Step 5: Set parameters for minimum and maximum number of letters
Step 6: Hit "generate"
Step 7: The output will be in the DFLang folder
Notes
*Sean's Exellent Travestificator is another potentially promising utility for this purpose
*You could do the same with angels/celestials by compiling a different list. Etc.
Last edited by Bohandas; 2019-10-26 at 06:28 PM.
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2019-10-27, 08:46 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Deities and Legends for Everyone
Uviniel the Unwashed
She was a wild Sylvan elf who prefered to live with the satyrs rather than her own kind. She was a notorious drunkard and she had a difficult time living up to the moral standards of an alley cat. Though she wasn't mean or intentionally cruel, her only love was drinking.
When Dram met her he instantly fell in love, but she said she would only love a man who could outdrink her. They had a drinking contest.
The followers of Dram say the contest ended in a tie, but Uviniel's faithful claim she drank one more mug after he passed out.
Though Dram pursued her, she would always be off to the next party. Eventually she died of liver failure and Dram claimed her soul, setting her up as a minor demigod.
She appears as a female elf who might have been pretty had she ever bathed or washed her hair, which might be auburn but which is a tangled, matted mass with twigs and straw sticking in it. She is barefoot and wears a frayed and stained homespun shift which is a size too small, sleeveless, and very short.
Her eyes might have once been green, but now are bloodshot with yellow sclera, her teeth are yellow or brown and covered with plaque, and she smells of rancid sweat, old ale, and wet mildew.
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2019-10-27, 07:25 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Deities and Legends for Everyone
Tystelle, Goddess of Humans
Tystelle was once a dragon conqueror who took over much of the (former) human lands. After ruling her empire for many decades, her heart softened, and she was kinder to her subjects. Eventually she was loved by nearly all throughout the land, for she used her considerable magic to bless crops and heal the sick, and she used her draconic strength to assist her subjects with everyday mundane labor.
Tystelle had a sister. Her sister's name is forgotten, stricken from every paper in which it is written, but some call her the Heart-eater. The Heart-eater was a jealous, scheming creature, and she grew envious of her sister's dominion.
The Heart-eater invited Tystelle over for a feast. They supped on three whales and a hundred pounds of bread. The Heart-eater’s servant poured Tystelle a gallon-sized glass of Thrynnish wine. Tystelle took one sip, and her great kind conqueror’s heart convulsed. She fell to the ground, and the Heart-eater took her in her claws and threw her into the Spires. Then, the Heart-eater earned her name, and devoured Tystelle’s still-beating heart.
The humans of Tystelle's empire took pity on their former empress. They had loved her, or most of them had, despite her faults. Uya, a peasant girl, sacrificed herself to save Tystelle. She cut her heart from her chest, and placed it within Tystelle’s chest cavity. The heart swelled up to dragon-size within Tystelle’s chest, and soon the dragon queen rose again. When the light of dawn shone on Tystelle that morning, she was not a dragon, but a full-fledged goddess.
From then on, Tystelle has sworn to protect humanity and serve as their patron deity when they had none. Uya is a saint to Tystellites, and Tystelle’s holiest symbol is a human heart. Tystelle's domains include protection, the harvest, spring, summer, the sun, food, generosity, and, of course, humans.Last edited by Sizzlefoot; 2019-10-27 at 07:26 PM.
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2019-11-13, 08:39 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Deities and Legends for Everyone
Kamarak,
God of Dwarven Magic
When The Smith forged the first mortal souls and quenched them in the black waters of the River Astral, (which flows between all of the planes of creation,) he selected seven to serve as the fathers and eleven to serve as the mothers of his children.
For an age these souls were born again and again to the living race of dwarves to guide and guard the young race in the hostile new world.
Kamarak was the youngest of these, forged last and born into the world latest. Instead of delving the beginning of a great city as had his brothers, he lived a wandering life, traveling from city to city and siring children in each to daughters of his elder brothers so that his clan was mixed in with all of the others.
During his wandering he saw much and guessed more about the world, and in him awoke a curiosity about the world. He began to study it. To remember and to pass on his learnings he took the accounting method used by his brothers and developed true writing in three forms:
Glyphs-whole words and concepts in a single sign. Very accurate, but the reader must know the meanings of each of 7000 + glyphs to converse in baby-talk, and over 20k + words to have a real correspondence, with over 200k required for an intellectual correspondence.
Runes- simplified glyphs which refer to a consonant-vowel pair from which words can be constructed. Thus different runes represent the Bah, Bay, and Bat sounds, for example, as well as all other combinations of consonant-vowel pairs. Consonant sounds which we pair such as qu or ch are distinct and unique for each sound in the dwarvish language, giving them 121 unique letters, none of which represent vowel sounds without a consonant.
Magic- the system used to encode magic such as for spell books and scrolls is only understood by those who understand magic, but the writing incorporates all of the components required to make use of magic.
Using his various writing systems he was able to expand his knowledge with every reincarnation until his power rivaled that of the gods.
This alarmed the gods who stopped fighting among themselves long enough to lay down rules for the mortal aquisition of power, and in remaking the world to accomodate the new rules the Age Of Creation came to an end.
In this new age the rules allowed the most powerful mortal souls to ascend to godhood but prevented gods directly interfering outside of their portfolios except through their clerics and avatars.
Kamarak was born a final time as a god with the portfolio of dwarf magic, alchemy, and knowledge.
His followers describe him as lawful neutral. He resides in a cave filled with stone tablets, and the walls are inscribed with the history of creation up to the present day.Last edited by brian 333; 2019-11-13 at 11:33 PM.
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2019-11-16, 03:35 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Deities and Legends for Everyone
Yet Another Parable of the Abyss
There is a story tody in the Abyss of a country ensnared by the devils.
The baatezu had insinuated themselves into a country and manipulated its economy to be reliant on slavery for food production and thus convince the populace to support slavery, therefore ensnaring their souls for Hell.
Representatives of the planes of Celestia, and Arborea, and the Abyss followed the devils into this land to stop them.
The Celestial Archons came to the corrupted nation and insinuated themselves into the government as the devils had before them, and began a long, slow, and inneffectual process of reform.
The Eladrins of Arvandor came to the corrupted nation and began a piecemeal and ineffective process of sneaking slaves out one by one.
Then the wise Demons came to the corrupted nation. They slew the masters, and slave catchers, and any other living being - man or beast, slave or free - who happened upon them during the slaughter. They cut them into hundreds of pieces, and strung the bloody flesh onto necklaces. Then they burned the crops and all the stores of food, and they sowed the land with abyssal brambles whose poisonous thorns would fell any mortal who touched them.
Thus by the forces of the Abyss was the land freed of Devilish influence.Last edited by Bohandas; 2019-11-16 at 03:59 AM.
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2019-11-17, 03:57 PM (ISO 8601)
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Throughout history, Dwarven Pharaohs have been named Riverhammer. The first Pharaoh was known as Riverhammer, the eighth Pharaoh was a Riverhammer, and the seventeenth Pharaoh went by Riverhammer.
Each of those Pharaohs wielded a powerful warhammer, and would never let anyone else touch it. It was rumored they slept with it in their hands.
There has only been one Riverhammer, and there will always be a Riverhammer.
The Riverhammer is a powerful sentient Dwarven hammer, powerful enough that Dwarves automatically fall under its sway when they touch it.
If the Hammer has no wielder, Dwarves are compelled to grab it, rolling a Wisdom saving throw with disadvantage (DC 15). On a failure, they will sacrifice their lives to get a chance at getting it.
Stats are irrelevant. You don't gain its abilities, you give it some.
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2020-01-01, 06:12 PM (ISO 8601)
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Hide and Seek: A Creation Narrative
In the beginning the world was without order or substance save for the primordial divine spirits. Thr first spirits floated in the void for timeless eons, and in their boredom contrived to play a game of hide and seek. Some of the spirits hid themselves in the fabric of the void, becoming time, space, and the laws that govern existence. Some of the spirits hid themselves within the new rules of existence, becoming the stars and the planets governed by them. Some of the spirits hid themselves in the stars and the planets, becoming the mortal races and their gods. Finally, some of the spirits hid themselves in the hearts and minds of the material creatures, becoming the gods, angels, and demons of the outer planes. Last of all, one remains, counting to Graham's Number. When it finishes it will seek out the other spirits and the world will become undone, returning to the void as it was before.
EDIT:
Fiberius The Creator-Destroyer: Another Creation Myth
Fiberius the all-hungering is the creator and the destroyer. During each universe his hunger grows until finally he can bear it no longer and devours the world. The world then passes through him and emerges transformed, a new universe. Then Fiberius retreats from the universe for eons, until finally he gets so hungry he eats it, and the cycle begins anew.Last edited by Bohandas; 2020-01-02 at 12:42 AM.
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Re: Deities and Legends for Everyone
-- Joe“Shared pain is diminished. Shared joy is increased.”-- Spider RoninsonAnd shared laughter is magical
Always remember that anything posted on the internet is, in a practical if not a legal sense, in the public domain.
You are completely welcome to use anything I post here, or I wouldn't post it.
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2020-01-03, 05:54 PM (ISO 8601)
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Graham's Number is a stupendously large number that appeared in a mathematical proof by Dr.Ronald Graham. It is noteworthy for being so large that it requires special notation to write out due to the fact that it has so many digits that writing it out longhand would require more space than there is in the observable universe.
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2020-01-04, 07:20 AM (ISO 8601)
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Question 1: Does the hammer likes dwarves and thinks that by controlling dwarves it is helping them?
Question 2: If the dwarf that wields the hammer is subjected to a mind control effect other than the hammer does the hammer beats the mind control effect and keep control of the dwarf regardless of the source?
Question 2 fits the "stats needed for a hammer" thing: if you do not write that people might assume that it will work as for normal concurrent mind control effects and that the hammer will do a charisma check to oppose the other mind controller.
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2020-01-12, 01:32 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Deities and Legends for Everyone
Grrar, God of Dogs and Canines
Demigod/Lesser Deity
Domains: Law, Protection (Guardians), Loyalty, and Hunters
Alignment: Lawful
Many think of Grrar as a cold-blooded killer, and for those on the receiving end of his hunts this is true. However, he is also concerned with the protection of mankind.
Good and Evil are concepts which he ignores. His focus is on the safety and security of his pack, and by extension canines and their human allies.
Those who train and handle dogs, as well as canine monsters and hybrids, worship Grrar. Offerings of entrails and bones of hunted or butchered animals are buried, and seasonal hunts are held in his honor.
Guardians, especially of human religious sites, often make sacrifices to Grrar. Hunters and herders offer the appropriate portions of their kills as well.
Chaotic canines and hybrids oppose Grrar, as do Felines and those who associate with them.Last edited by brian 333; 2020-01-13 at 12:54 PM.
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2020-03-08, 03:23 PM (ISO 8601)
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"If you want to understand biology don't think about vibrant throbbing gels and oozes, think about information technology" -Richard Dawkins
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Zoroth, Goddess of Dungeons
Major Deity
Divine Domains: Blood, Mind, Power, etc.
Alignment: Neutral, Evil
Zoroth was once a powerful lich, who conquered her home world. She killed all of the gods from her realm and became one herself. She turned the entire realm into her own massive kingdom, sealed off from the rest on the multiverse, creating twisted corridors, endless rooms, and countless traps. at the center, her palace rested in the middle of a grand, and endless labyrinth. She soon became bored and found new worlds to lord over. Probably yours if you are looking for new deities, and settled in with the rest of the pantheon.
While a major deity, Zoroth takes the backseat in most campaigns, but if the players find themselves venturing across the realms of the gods, Zoroth's realm is one to stop by.Last edited by D&D_Fan; 2020-03-08 at 07:04 PM.
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2020-03-17, 01:27 AM (ISO 8601)
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For all his weakness as a demon prince, Demiecro's status as Prince of Manes may offer him a shortcut to much greater power. As a prince of the weakest race of demon, Demeicro has the potential to spontaneously transform into a demon prince of a higher caste in much the same way that a regular manes can spontaneously transform into a regular demon of higher caste
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