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thecreaturecodex · 11 months

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Dalya

“Rider” © Cindy Avellno, accessed at her ArtStation here

[And Monster Girl Summer is officially a Go! Part of my goal with Monster Girl Summer is to reflect on the games I’ve run in the past. And to sort of mentally catalog how many of the PCs started out monstrous, or became monstrous over the course of play. Like Dalya here. Dalya was originally a human, but ended up reincarnated as a gnoll. And was in the half of the party that survived their fight with Karzoug, as opposed to being wiped out in round 1. Time stop + reverse gravity + prismatic sphere, don’tcha know.

I ran Rise of the Runelords in 3.5. Dalya was originally built using the battle dancer class from Dragon Compendium. So making her a brawler was a easy choice for the conversion.]

Dalya CR 18 CG Humanoid (gnoll) This tall, lean hyena headed woman has her hair done up in a dyed fringe, and tattoos are visible beneath her fur. She wears leather armor and carries a buckler and spear.

Born to an exiled Shoanti father and a Varisian merchant mother, Dalya was used to living on the road. But she didn’t expect it to turn out the way it did. Visiting the Swallowtail Festival in Sandpoint, she was caught up in a goblin raid, which rapidly turned into investigating the growing power of the Sihedron cult and, eventually, opposing the forces of Karzoug. Underneath Thistletop, Dalya was slain by the barghest Malfeshnekor, but her allies were able to fight the beast back long enough to recover her body. Possibly as a side effect of being slain by one of Lamashtu’s chosen, Dalya was returned to life as a gnoll when brought back through a reincarnate spell. And Dalya couldn’t have been happier with her new body.

Dalya’s adventures continued from there, and she proudly brags that she’s never lost a fist fight with a giant. She was instrumental to killing Karzoug and preventing Varisia from being overrun by an army of lamiae and other monsters. But Dalya is not one to rest on her laurels, and she is in no way retired. Her current mission is to help a few packs of non-evil gnolls to settle in the Storval Plateau without causing too much conflict with the Shoanti quahs living there already. Her allies in this mission include a quartet of advanced crocuttals and Krojun Eats-What-He-Kills, a powerful warrior of the Sun Clan, himself reincarnated into a monstrous form (a bugbear) following a fatality in combat.

Dalya CR 18 XP 153,600 CG Medium humanoid (gnoll, human) Reincarnated gnoll brawler (battle dancer) 18 Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +18 Defense AC 33, touch 20, flat-footed 26 (+6 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 natural, +6 armor, +6 shield, +3 deflection) hp 200 (18d10+90 plus 7) Fort +20, Ref +21, Will +13; +2 vs. fear, despair Resist fire 30 Defensive Abilities dancing dodge (9/day), hopeful Offense Speed 35 ft. Melee +4 evil outsider bane unarmed strike +34/+29/+24/+19 (2d8+16), +4 evil outsider bane bite +32 (1d6+5) or +4 evil outsider bane unarmed strike +32/+32/+27/+27/+22/+22/+17 (2d8+16), +4 evil outsider bane bite +32 (1d6+5) or +2 returning distance spear +30/+25/+20/+15 (1d8+17/x3), +4 evil outsider bane bite +32 (1d6+5) Ranged +2 distance returning spear +26 (1d8+17/x3) Special Attacks awesome blow, brawler’s flurry, brawler’s strike (magic, cold iron, silver, chaotic, good, adamantine), martial flexibility (12/day, 3 feats as swift action or 1 as immediate), rolling flurry, sparring partners (3/day) Statistics Str 30, Dex 22, Con 21, Int 9, Wis 13, Cha 16 Base Atk +18; CMB +28 (+36 trip, +35 grapple, +30 bull rush, +29 disarm); CMD 48 (56 vs. trip, 55 vs. grapple, 50 vs. bull rush, 49 vs. disarm) Feats Acrobatic Steps (B), Combat Expertise (B), Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Fleet (B), Improved Grapple (B), Improved Trip, Improved Unarmed Strike (B), Iron Will, Mobility, Monkey Moves, Monkey Style, Nimble Moves (B), Power Attack, Snapping Bite, Vicious Stomp (B) Skills Acrobatics +27, Climb +16, Intimidate +17, Linguistics +0, Perception +18, Perform (dance) +11, Ride +12, Sense Motive +12, Swim +16 Languages Common, Gnoll, Shoanti SQ close weapon mastery, dancer’s cunning, legendary, maneuver training (trip +4, grapple +3, bull rush +2, disarm +1), martial training, reincarnated Gear manual of gainful exercise +4 (expended), tome of leadership and influence +2 (expended), amulet of mighty fists +5 (+4 evil outsider bane), belt of physical perfection +4, +4 brawling leather armor, +5 buckler, +2 returning distance spear, winged boots, pliant gloves, cloak of resistance +4, ring of major fire resistance, ring of protection +3, potion of cure serious wounds (x3), potion of haste (x3), 500 gp worth of mundane jewelry, 36 pp. Special Abilities Dancer’s Cunning (Ex) A battle dancer can treat her Charisma score as her Intelligence score for the purpose of meeting the prerequisites of combat feats. In addition, she can attempt a Perform (dance) check instead of a Bluff check to feint in combat, and her unarmed strikes are considered to have the performance weapon special quality. Dancing Dodge (Ex) When an opponent attempts a melee attack against Dalya, she can expend one use of an attack of opportunity as an immediate action to move 5 feet, granting the battle dancer a +3 dodge bonus to AC against the triggering attack. The attack is still resolved normally, even if the battle dancer’s movement takes her out of the triggering attack’s reach. This movement is not a 5-foot step and provokes attacks of opportunity from creatures other than the one that triggered this ability, though the battle dancer can attempt an Acrobatics check to avoid provoking the attacks. Dalya can use this ability nine times per day. She can use this ability only while wearing light armor or no armor, and while carrying no heavier than a light load. Hopeful (Ex) Packmaster gnolls gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against fear effects and emotion effects such as despair, grief or boredom. They do not gain this bonus against rage effects, or other types of emotion effects, such as an unnatural lust or overwhelming presence spell (GM’s discretion). Legendary Dalya’s statistics are built using 25 point buy, and she has the gear of an 18th level PC. This increases her CR by +1. Reincarnated (Ex) Dalya was born human, but transformed into a gnoll due to a reincarnate spell. She has the bonus feat of a human, and bonus skill ranks for levels 1-4. She does not have the racial Hit Dice, or mental ability bonuses, of a gnoll. Rolling Flurry (Ex) When a battle dancer uses her brawler’s flurry, she must move 5 feet before each melee attack or combat maneuver. If she is unable to move 5 feet, she can’t attempt any further attacks or combat maneuvers. She can’t exceed her maximum speed. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity if the brawler would be able to take a 5-foot step normally; if she would be unable to (for instance, if she were in difficult terrain), the movement provokes attacks of opportunity as normal unless she succeeds at the appropriate Acrobatics checks. While using this ability, she can still take her normal 5-foot step before or after making her attacks. Sparring Partners (Ex) When Dalya gains a flanking bonus on an attack while using her rolling flurry ability, the ally providing the flank gains a flanking bonus on its next attack against that opponent, even if the battle dancer moves out of a flanking position. If either the opponent or the ally moves more than 5 feet before the ally’s attack, the flanking bonus is lost. This ability works only if the ally is on the opposite side of an opponent during the battle dancer’s attack, not if a flanking bonus is gained in some other way, such as through Gang Up. Dalya can use this ability three times per day.

#dalya #gnoll #pathfinder 1e #monster girl summer #rise of the runelords #pathfinder rpg #D&D 3.5 #D&D #monster girl #battle dancer

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pencil-urchin · 5 months

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I just got Clip Studio and holy shit, I love it!!!

I did these almost entirely with the basic bitch pencil tool (I did export Thrawn to Procreate to make his eyes glow), and I did them so much faster than in any other program!!!

Hold on, my beloved blorbos, because I am going to draw your pretty faces and nauseum while I learn this program! Prepare yourselves to be put into situations!

Mwahaha!

#art #star wars #thrawn #grand admiral thrawn #thrawnsimp #fanart #digital painting #digitalart #rise of the runelords #aldern foxglove #aldern foxglove simp

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pixdoodles · 8 months

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cupinia hit level 10, obviously new fit time! variant aasimar (gnome) cleric of shelyn

#pixdoodles #pathfinder #rise of the runelords #pathfinder 1e #pathfinder rpg #shelyn #cleric of shelyn

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geist19 · 4 months

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Getting hyped the game where I get to play this guy is gonna start soon, so I'm gonna be going crazy with art of him

#art #digital art #my art #digital #artists on tumblr #artist on tumblr #oc #original character #Pathfinder #Runelord #rise of the runelords #Dhampir

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scorpioandthefrog · 8 months

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Being a game master is wild because some sessions I’ve prepared deep and personalized obstacles, dynamic battles, rich storytelling

And then some sessions I’m drawing tiddies on Runelord Karzoug on the landing page

And I truly don’t know what kind of a GM my players are going to get until I’m already on mic

#game master #dungeon master #pathfinder 2e #pathfinder #dnd #chaotic incompetent #rise of the runelords #runelord karzoug

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parasite-core · 7 months

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Last night in Pathfinder we returned to Rise of the Runelords. Well, two of us returned, while we introduced two new players to Pathfinder and our GM played the beginning of the campaign he joined for the first time at the end.

Once upon a time two fighters, a cleric, and a ranger came together in Sandpoint and became world saving heroes. Now, again, a group of adventurers come together in the sleepy town of Sandpoint during a festival. Whether they will become heroes or a footnote in history is yet to be seen.

@scarlet-the-girl

The campaign unfolded as Sandpoint’s Swallowtail Festival began. Speeches were made—notably one Lonjiku Kaijitsu was absent from the speech he was meant to give, having claimed illness, although many in the crowd believed he was feigning it to get out of making a public appearance. Amongst the crowd were two travelers and two locals—our heroes. First is Tabot, the fresh faced and good willed rabbitfolk paladin of Aroden—a god well known to have died a century ago. He had come from out of town, going where the wind takes him, seeking a place to belong. Next is крыса (pronounced Kyrsa, and I will spell it as such going forward only because my phone cannot type Slavic letters so I would have to copy/paste their name every time). They are a small ratfolk wizard whose entire den was wiped out by a giant and who is now traveling seeking revenge. The two locals are Nanel and Mau Ornelos-Servos. Nanel is a human oracle with an unusual plant pinned to his ragged shirt. He eats people. But his…oddities…have gone unnoticed thus far. And Mau is a catfolk alchemist with a noticeable limp who walks with a cane—which doubles as his weapon as it conceals a blade within.

These four each found themselves at the festival. Nanel, Mau, and Kyrsa all separately made their way to the food stall of one Ameiko Kaijitsu. Tabot played tug of war and won easily with a Herculean show of strength. Ameiko greeted Mau and Nanel as familiar customers, and offered a sample of the fish curry she had made to serve at the Rusty Dragon later. She also told them about an alcoholic concoction she had brewed up. Mau took the challenge, stating that he was keen on ‘concoctions’. Nanel and Kyrsa followed suit. Mau drank the mixture down without flinching—he’d done worse to himself with his own alchemy. Nanel and Kyrsa were both a little queasy as the alcohol hit them. Mau chuckled and told Ameiko that it packed quite a punch—to which Ameiko decided to call the concoction Punch, and she offered Mau a jug of it since he’d handled it so well. She asked if any of them felt up for another. Mau accepted, and the other two refused to be outdone by the alchemist so they accepted as well. Mau once again drank it down without batting an eye. Nanel was ready for the alcohol’s kick this time and handled himself much better.

Kyrsa darted off and hurled in the nearby bushes as the alcohol was too much for the poor little rat.

The soon-to-be-heroes milled around some. Tabot made his way to a fencing range for a sword fighting contest. Kyrsa followed Nanel like a baby duckling to a game called Liar’s Dice. Kyrsa had immediately bonded with Nanel—unbeknownst to Nanel—due to Nanel also having trouble with the alcohol initially. Mau went to play a trivia game.

Tabot was given a practice blade by the town sheriff and sent into the ring to face a woman with some skill of her own in fencing. First point went to Tabot as he struck her right out the gate. They were separated, and this time the woman struck first. She did not strike Tabot—but instead disarmed him. Tabot, without considering the consequences, drew his actual blade. The sheriff immediately broke up the fight, told Tabot to get his practice blade, and disqualified him from that round, giving his opponent the point. However, final round Tabot took the woman’s technique and turned it back on her, disarming her and leaving her without a means to strike back. She yielded, giving the victory to the rabbitfolk.

While that was happening, Nanel and Kyrsa were playing dice. Each took a turn trying to trick the others, rolling hidden dice and either revealing the number or bluffing. Nanel won his round, and he also won Kyrsa’s round—calling their bluff. Kyrsa had a comeback, however, and won the house’s round. There was no prize, unfortunately, except bragging rights. Well—no prize officially. While the showman wasn’t paying attention Kyrsa snatched a small pouch off his belt and found themself a bit richer as it was filled with shiny expensive gemstones.

One person did win a prize legitimately, however. Mau found himself at a trivia game, where people had to name the number of residents in Sandpoint. Mau has a good head for numbers and a bit of a counting compulsion, so he gave the exact number. He won a potion of cure light wounds—something he would generally make for himself, but it never hurts to have an extra on hand as he would soon learn.

Tabot and Mau continued milling about the festival.

Kyrsa asked Nanel if this town had a brothel. Nanel just so happened to have been raised in the local brothel so he knew it quite well, and led the way. Nanel spent the next 45 minutes catching up with people while Kyrsa had some…intimate time…with a handsome halfling man with big naturals.

They returned to the festival just in time for Father Zantus to begin his speech, which would lead into a meal.

Or it would have. If he hadn’t been interrupted by the sound of a woman screaming and then many voices chanting:

“Goblins chew and goblins bite,

Goblins cut and goblins fight.

Stab the dog and cut the horse,

Goblins eat and take by force!

Goblins race and goblins jump.

Goblins slash and goblins bump.

Burn the skin and mash the head,

Goblins here and you be dead!

Chase the baby, catch the pup.

Bonk the head to shut it up.

Bones be cracked, flesh be stewed,

We be goblins! You be food!”

Everything descended into chaos as buildings and stalls were set ablaze by dozens of rampaging goblin raiders. Three made their way to where our party awaited, stunned for a moment by the sudden violence that had erupted around them.

Kyrsa reacted first, turning and throwing a spike of ice at the nearest goblin, staggering it. It limped forward, trying to muster up the fortitude to strike at the ratfolk, but couldn’t do anything as it dealt with the magically induced injury.

Nanel stepped up next to Kyrsa and asked them if they could keep a secret. They agreed. Then Nanel lunged forward and attempted to bite the goblin. His jaws closed around nothing but air as the goblin jerked away, but Kyrsa saw sharp inhuman teeth in that mouth.

On the other side of the battle, Mau drew his blade from his cane and took out a flask of a liquid that looked like bottled lava. In the goblin language Mau told the goblins that they were louder than the actual festivities, and to shoo. The goblins replied that since he spoke their tongue they’d cut out his tongue.

Mau took that as all the go ahead he needed to throw the flask. A string attached went taught and then broke a seal between two different liquids within the flask, making it volatile. When it hit the ground between the two goblins, it exploded violently. They leapt out of the way but still flames licked at them.

The two goblins charged in—one at Tabot and one at Mau. Tabot’s managed a small slash across his leg, while Mau’s left a rather nasty cut across his face—trying to make good on his threat.

Kyrsa backed away from the goblin threatening them and pulled out an alternate means of attack—a crossbow.

The goblin lunged at Nanel. But then Nanel stepped back, and with everyone but Kyrsa distracted with their own fights, he shot out a storm of thorns which punctured and killed the goblin that was attacking him, and also brutally injured the one attacking Tabot.

Mau turned and struck down the goblin that had attacked Tabot—having made a quick judgement call on which to attack based on it appearing more injured than the other. His attention to detail paid off, at he sliced straight through the goblin, leaving only one more in this particular batch.

The goblin struck Mau, leaving him bloodied, but it was his final act as Tabot stepped in and finished him cleanly.

There was no respite to be had, however, as the party heard more chanting and laughing and turned to see four more goblins setting a wagon on fire. One was the source of the chanting.

Once again Kyrsa acted most quickly, turning and trying to hypnotize the chanting goblin. Unfortunately he was too wrapped up in his chanting to be affected by their attempts to enthrall his mind.

Nanel dove under the nearby stage so no one would be able to see as he let his patron, Donyoku, take over, becoming a being of vines and a snapping maw.

Mau limped towards the fighting, and as he did he pulled out a vividly green concoction, which he downed. The mutagen caused him to take on lion-like features, becoming larger and stronger than before. He took a stand next to the stage, facing the goblins with blade at the ready—unaware of Donyoku beneath the stage mere feet from him.

Tabot charged forward and took a swing at the nearest goblin, striking it down.

Kyrsa decided to forego magic and instead aimed their crossbow at the chanting goblin. They landed a devastating blow against him.

Two of the goblins ran for the stage, having seen Nanel dive under it. One crawled under, saw Donyoku, and yelled that he was going to ‘kill it with fire’.

The goblin in question got eaten by the plant moments later. Mau heard disturbing eating noises coming from below the stage but had no idea what might be going on down there.

Instead he worried about the problem at hand, and stepped forward to meet the second goblin lingering near the stage, striking him down with a well-placed strike.

All that was left was the goblin who had been chanting. His chanting fell silent as he ran out of stamina to continue his bardic performance.

Tabot stepped forward and swung at the goblin, but swung wide over the smaller combatant.

Donyoku flew out from beneath the stage, pushing past Tabot with an ‘out of the way, pretty boy’. He attempted to chomp down on the goblin, but his vicious teeth clamped down on nothing but air as the goblin dodged again.

Mau made his way around to the other side and tried to strike the goblin down, to equally ineffective results. Kyrsa’s bolt shot true, however, leaving the goblin bleeding badly but still standing. After another ineffective bite from Donyoku, Mau decided the traditional method they were using was clearly not working, so it would be insane to just keep swinging his sword and hope it would work this time.

Instead he stepped back, and produced another explosive. The goblin had conveniently stepped back into the bushes, leaving a relatively clear shot for the alchemist to throw his bomb—only Donyoku would have to avoid the backlash, and quite frankly Mau didn’t know what that plant thing was, or if it was actually a friendly or just conveniently fighting the same creatures for now.

He threw the bomb right in the goblin’s face and the goblin ignited, leaving little of his body and nothing of his head remaining.

Father Zantus gathered our group together. He thanked us and called us heroes—The Heroes of Sandpoint he named us—and he offered his healing prowess before we returned to the fray, as we could still hear the sounds of violence elsewhere. We agreed, and he channeled positive energy enough to top us all off.

Kyrsa told the party that they heard something approaching from one of the roads leading to the square. We prepared ourselves for another fight. Mau handed over two potions of Cure Light Wounds to his current allies, one to Nanel (who had stealthily returned to normal and slipped back into the group, claiming he’d been attacked under the stage) and one to Tabot, as they were the ones who had taken the most punishment last fight.

Not long after we took our positions a nobleman and his dog ran for their lives from more goblins. He introduced himself as Aldern Foxglove, then said he was going to hide while we took care of these nasty things.

Chasing him were two more goblins on foot and a goblin commando atop a goblin dog mount.

Kyrsa opened the fight shooting a bolt at the rider, but it shot wide.

The goblin commando and his mount rushed in and brought Nanel low, knocking the oracle unconscious.

Tabot darted in and used his own potion of Cure Light Wounds to heal Nanel, awakening his unusual new ally.

One of the regular goblins ran at Kyrsa and landed a dangerous strike against the ratfolk, leaving them bloodied and looking a breath away from toppling over.

Mau hurled a bomb at one of the goblins on foot who was menacing Nanel on the ground. The bomb shot wide, but this may have been a boon as the radius of the explosion caught both the goblin he’d been aiming at and the mounted commando.

Kyrsa stepped away from the goblin attacking them, dodging around his blade and getting farther away to cast mage armor on themself. The goblin hassling them lunged forward with killing intent—but their blade clanked off the newly summoned mage armor harmlessly.

The commando and his mount split their attacks between Nanel and Tabot. Nanel was looking like he was on his last legs. Nanel tossed him his own potion of Cure Light Wounds, calling over ‘trade you!’, since Tabot had used his own on the oracle moments before. Then, while Tabot was distracted catching the potion, Nanel turned and bit off the goblin commando’s head, leaving his mount riderless.

Mau turned, and seeing the precarious situation Kyrsa was in, he left Nanel and Tabot to finish dealing with the goblin dog and made his way over to help the ratfolk. He swung in with his blade, delivering a devastating blow against the goblin, although not the killing blow. However now he had the goblin’s attention, giving Kyrsa some breathing room.

Tabot was barely hanging onto consciousness. He heard a voice in the back of his head telling him it wasn’t yet his time, and to make the wise decision.

Despite the voice encouraging him to take a moment to heal, Tabot attacked, striking at the goblin dog. A moment later Nanel finished it off with his quarterstaff.

Nanel then made a beeline for where Mau was fighting the last goblin while Tabot drank his potion, causing the voice to sound relieved before fading away.

When Nanel came up behind the goblin, Mau requested his assistance. Nanel agreed, and slung his quarterstaff around the goblin’s neck. Mau skewered the goblin—with enough fine control of the blade to not send it through Nanel as well.

The streets grew quiet, the sounds of chanting and violence finally fading away, only the lingering roar of the still burning fires in the distance breaking the sudden emptiness in the air.

Over the next few hours, as clean up began, the party were hailed as heroes—Father Zantus’ title for us, The Heroes of Sandpoint, getting around. Ameiko told us anyone who would like could stay at her inn for free for the next week while we figured out where we were going from here. Tabot and Kyrsa immediately agreed, as travelers with no other lodging, as did Nanel, whose normal living conditions were…not great. Mau didn’t intend to join them, as he was more of a solitary person and he had a home of his own to return to, but he did assure Ameiko he would still drop by for a visit, and maybe another drink.

The party split up for a bit, going about their business in town. Tabot went straight to the inn and met the tavern’s maid, a halfling woman named Bethana Corwin, who was holding down the fort until Ameiko got back. She showed Tabot to his room, which was a good sized room with two beds even though he only needed the one. Tabot asked her if she could give him a smaller room, with the intention being that this room would then be available for the inn to rent out to someone else and they would make more money.

Bethana was taken aback, but she told him she’d talk to Ameiko about it when she got back. Then she asked about the holy symbol emblazoned across Tabot’s tabard—the symbol of Aroden. She noted she hadn’t seen any Aroden worshippers in about a century, most had converted to Iomedae, and pointedly asked him if he was insane. Tabot assured her that he was perfectly sane, and he hoped that soon she would be seeing more worshippers of Aroden again. Bethana said she believed him that he had all his mental faculties, but that made her question just what else she believed.

Nanel and Kyrsa went back to the brothel to check up on everyone there. Everyone had been safe—they had barricaded the doors the moment they heard the commotion, and the fire hadn’t touched their building. Satisfied that his family was safe, Nanel went to his own home to gather his things to go spend a week at the Rusty Dragon. Kyrsa followed. Nanel lived in a small hovel—leaky, dirty, small, and hardly fit for a person to live in. Kyrsa acted as though it was the height of luxury. From their perspective, compared to the dens they’d lived in with their hundreds of family members in tight quarters, this seemed huge and homey.

After Nanel gathered his things, he and Kyrsa made their way to the Rusty Dragon. Again, the halfling maid showed them both their rooms. Kyrsa was intimidated by the side of their room—it was too big and empty. They asked Nanel—while Nanel was pushing the two beds together to make one big bed—if they could sleep with him. He said no, he needed his privacy, but suggested that if they were afraid of sleeping alone, maybe Tabot wouldn’t mind the company.

Kyrsa scurried away and found Tabot. They asked him if they could share a room because their room was too big. Tabot said he felt the same, that the room was too large. Kyrsa wanted to sleep at the foot of Tabot’s bed—not in a separate bed—because they didn’t want to sleep alone. Tabot was taken aback at first, but then agreed, if Kyrsa was fine with Tabot still asking Ameiko for a smaller room since they’d only need the one bed. Kyrsa agreed.

While all this was happening, Mau was selling the excess loot they had taken off the goblins—he had a good head for numbers so he’d felt he’d be best to sell the miscellaneous items and split the funds between them. As he finished the final store he needed to visit, a messenger stopped him. He told Mau that he had some bad news.

Mau’s house had burned down in the attack.

Mau and the messenger made their way to where the alchemist’s home had once stood, Mau in a shell shocked silence. They arrived to find a burnt out husk. The messenger said that they were going to go through and try to find anything that had survived the fire…but it didn’t look hopeful.

As Mau looked over the wreckage of what had been his home, he saw something suspicious. He picked his way into what would have been the interior of the home, and uncovered a wrapped torch deep within the rubble. Not thrown in through smashed glass or set ablaze from the outside, but placed *within* his home.

This wasn’t the behavior of a goblin raiding a city, causing random violence. This had been purposeful.

There was someone else pulling the strings. Someone with a grudge against the alchemist.

But try as he might, Mau couldn’t think of a single enemy he’d ever made.

But he knew one thing for sure—he was determined to find who was behind this and bring them down. And he knew just the allies to help him.

Tabot, Nanel, and Kyrsa came together in the Rusty Dragon, getting some food and drink. As they were talking, Mau entered the establishment with a stormy disposition. He told the others what had happened, and asked if they were planning to look into the goblin attacks further. They asked why they’d be looking into the attacks, and May told them about the evidence he’d found that someone besides the goblins was behind the attack. The others agreed that they would be looking into it in that case. Mau said he had a proposition, then, and offered to get them potions for half the cost they’d get them from the stores, which the others agreed sounded like a good deal.

As they were talking, Sheriff Balor Hemlock entered the inn. He thanked the party for their heroics the other day, and confided in the party that he suspected fowl play. Mau told him that he suspected the same, and told the sheriff what evidence he’d found. The sheriff asked the party to keep this on the down low for now, since we had no suspects yet it could be anyone and we didn’t want them catching wind that we were on their trail. We agreed.

The sheriff then let us know that wasn’t the only troubling news today. Father Zantus was to consecrate the tomb of the previous head priest of the temple, Father Tobyn, but he had noticed that after the attacks the door was ajar. The sheriff had convinced the cleric to stay away from the mausoleum until he could get some adventurers to look into it first and make sure it was safe. Those adventurers were, of course, us.

We agreed, thinking we might find a connection between whatever was happening in the mausoleum and the attack.

The sheriff noted that he knew Mau and Nanel as locals, but he wanted to know more about Tabot and Kyrsa. He asked them what they had travelled to Sandpoint for. Tabot told him that he was just traveling where the road took him, seeking a place where he might belong. Kyrsa bluntly said their entire family was dead, and they were looking to avenge them. The sheriff seemed to feel a bit awkward after that revelation, and left soon after. Not before letting the party know they had free reign to investigate the town—and he’d look the other way for minor transgressions done in the name of helping learn the truth of this attack—but don’t take advantage of his trust, no stealing or murdering or anything like that. Mau assured him that he didn’t believe any of them would do anything of the sort. No one gave Nanel or Kyrsa a second glance, completely unaware of how very wrong Mau was.

An hour later, Ameiko returned. She agreed to give Tabot and Kyrsa a smaller room—after some miscommunication between her and Tabot about his and Kyrsa’s relationship in which Ameiko was almost certainly yanking Talbot’s chain and Talbot kept making things more and more awkward.

The party bedded down for the night and slept soundly—unaware of someone scrying on the four of them somewhere far off.

The next day, Mau got up early, prepared his extracts, and then left the inn before the others got up. He wandered around town until he got close to the area where his house had been, then he downed a Disguise Self extract, and began asking around about if anyone had seen anyone suspicious around there that day or during the goblin attack.

Most people gave him little to go off of—everyone wanted to talk about the Heroes of Sandpoint but no one had any useful information about Mau’s burnt home. Until one man told him that he’d seen a cloaked figure surrounded by six goblin, and he could have sworn he saw the figure go into Mau’s house—although things were so chaotic who’s to say what really happened? Maybe it was Mau himself being chased by goblins?

Mau, of course, knew this not to be the case. So he had his first lead, vague as it was. It was definite proof that there was someone in league with the goblins, who had targeted him for some reason.

Mau returned to the inn not long after the others had gotten up and were eating breakfast. He joined them and told them what he’d learned.

The party agreed that their first priority should be looking into whatever was going on in the mausoleum. So they went to the temple of Desna, spoke to Father Zantus and Sheriff Hemlock, and then they approached the open mausoleum. They saw footprints leading into the crypt—one set human sized and six sets goblinoid, exactly the same as had been described to Mau in his investigation. Mau approached the open door, cautious but not hearing or seeing anything.

Until it was too late.

Two skeletons sprang from around the corner, both stabbing Mau, leaving him struggling to keep his footing as his blood spilled down his front.

Kyrsa sprang into action, shooting the one they could see most clearly with a magic missile. Unfortunately, it remained standing, if just barely. It was held together by negative energy and malice.

Both skeletons lunged at Mau again with swords and claws—and the cat alchemist crumpled in a heap at their feet, bleeding out.

Tabot darted forward, went through Mau’s pockets, and fetched a Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds he’d known the alchemist had taken off the last goblins they’d faced. As he poured the liquid into his mouth, his hand glowed, and the healing potion seemed exceptionally effective. All of Mau’s wounds closed as if they’d never been there, and his eyes flickered open, returning to consciousness.

Nanel moved past Tabot and Mau, taking it as the skeletons swung blades at him, and then he turned and tried to bludgeon the nearest skeleton—but his swing went wide.

The skeletons now had more than one target. One continued trying to remove all of Mau’s blood, while the other turned its blade on Nanel.

Nanel fell.

Mau determined that he needed to take these skeletons out NOW. So he took a gamble, recklessly scrambled to his feet—leaving himself open to attacks from both skeletons, but they both scraped against his armor rather than striking true, then he leapt backwards, pulled out a bomb, and threw it directly in the middle of the two skeletons. Both were caught in the edges of the blast, and were blown apart.

The party took a moment to catch their breath. They searched the tomb and found a used up Cloak of Bones. They also found Father Tobyn’s coffin—empty.

As the party reconvened with Sheriff Hemlock, Kyrsa voiced a troubling truth.

The attack had been a diversion. The real goal was something else entirely.

#pathfinder #rise of the runelords #RotRL redux #PF weekly

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mewtagen-mau · 2 days

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Entry 8

It has been…quite the day. And we have not even finished our venture into the depths of the goblins’ den, although we did manage to cull their chief. Nualia is still nowhere to be seen.

We had a tangle with some guards before entering the goblin fortress, but it wasn’t of much note—four goblins on their goblin dog mounts, easily dispatched now that we’ve grown accustomed to fighting the little menaces.

Tabot stumbled into the first room of the fortress first, while fighting the guards. It was a gruesome trophy room with the stuffed heads of beasts the goblins had conquered on the walls—mainly horse and dog heads, given their hatred of both. There was also a harpy’s wing on display, which was a surprising and more impressive kill for a bunch of goblins than the rest of the ‘trophies’ implied they were capable of.

We chose a door and went deeper into the fortress, finding ourselves in a courtyard where I had heard the noises of goblin dogs and, strangely enough, a horse. We dispatched the four monstrous hounds, then looked to the shed where the horse sounds were coming from. When we opened the door we found a terrified and half-starved (but otherwise quite beautiful) warhorse. We decided Tabot had the most calming presence of the four of us, and I gave him some rations to try to entice the starving horse with. It seemed to work. The horse—whose saddle indicated his name was Shadowmist—calmed significantly. Enough for us to safely leave him alone and trust he would not get himself hurt.

In a nearby storage room we also found the goblin dogs’ food source—live rabbits. Later, when we made our way out with Shadowmist, Tabot also calmed the rabbits and carried them out by the armful.

With the animals sorted out, we continued our investigation of the fortress. We heard some arguing up ahead, coming from a tower above us. It seemed a pair of goblins had stolen some pickles and were trying to eat as many as they could and hide the evidence.

Krysa and Nanel snuck into the room to try to get the drop on them. I didn’t see what happened next, but a moment later there was shouting, and Tabot and I had to run in and help finish the fight.

We found beyond the tower that we’d gone in a circle, returning to the trophy room. We began listening around the other doors to try to determine where to check next. One room clearly had a large number of creatures within, and sounded like a very large room—we had a feeling we should wait until we’d cleared out anyone that might run in behind us first before looking into it.

There was a door in which it sounded like some goblins were just getting ready for an attack, but were still in the middle of preparing. I had the idea that I could throw open the door and lob a bomb at them—hopefully catching them off guard and catching a large number of them, as it sounded like they might be crowded together.

Unfortunately, I flung the door open right as a goblin was at the door, catching us both off guard.

Things got a bit chaotic from there. There were some other goblins that threw open another door near Tabot, and who downed a potion that sent them into a blind rage. The goblins in the little barracks I’d found myself at the entrance of were crowding over each other to try to get a piece of me.

But we managed. Despite Tabot being in a bit of a touch and go situation there for a moment, we did still manage to clear out the veritable swarm of goblins without anyone in our group going down themselves.

Farther down the hall we found a second door leading into what sounded like the same room as the large one with many goblins we’d identified before. We got the bright idea to split our forces, and bust down the doors in tandem to try to pincer them.

It wasn’t a bad plan, per-se. If the doors hadn’t been locked, it would have been a good plan. But with the doors locked, and us needing to burst through the doors at the same time, and get it in one go or else alert the goblins…it was too many factors that could go wrong. So it is no wonder that it went wrong.

Tabot and Krysa took the door we’d just found, while Nanel and I circled back around and took the door in the trophy room. We waited until it seemed like the right time, then tried to burst the door from its hinges.

It held firm, despite our combined efforts.

I could hear the echoing bangs of Tabot trying on their door. I didn’t hear the crash of the door giving way—it appeared he’d run into a similar problem.

Nanel and I tried again, and on a second go we managed to throw the door open. I was the first one through, having thrown my entire weight into it.

So I was the first one on our side targeted by arrows from the goblin commandos—as was Tabot on his side. These goblins were already seething with the same rage effect we’d seen earlier. They also had another one of those war chanters, a bard, who began empowering them magically.

All of this paled in comparison to their leader, however. He was a goblin, like any other, but he was issuing commands whilst astride atop a giant gecko.

I could see Tabot had wedged himself into his doorway to protect Krysa, but a number of goblin commandos were baring down on him. I was torn, and asked Nanel who he thought I should prioritize—catching a bunch of the goblin minions in a single explosion, or going after the big guy himself. Nanel told me to go after Ripnugget and his pet, and he’d deal with the other goblins harassing Tabot. I agreed, and turned my attention to the goblin chieftain.

I threw an explosive at the mount, figuring something that big was likely less agile than a small goblin. My theory proved accurate as the explosive detonated across the reptile’s scales, and flames licked at his master.

Ripnugget directed his mount to crawl up the wall, putting him in an inconvenient position to try to attack—leaving him out of range of my sword entirely. But he also opened up a vulnerability—if his mount was taken out, he would fall along with it from that height.

So I aimed another explosive at him. But it wasn’t enough, still his mount hung on by a thread.

Tabot ran up next to me—the commandos dispatched, and asked what the plan was. I told him that I was trying to do, and he took his rarely-used bow and finished the mount, sending both the reptile’s corpse and the goblin atop it plummeting to the ground. And we were waiting for him.

He was still a dangerous foe, even without his lizard. He had a level of ferocity and expertise with his blade that I would not have expected from a mere goblin.

However, his last-ditch gambit was to run—or so it seemed at first glance. As we went after him, keeping pace, he turned to face us again. I think he may have been trying to get momentum to charge at us—but we foiled that plan by staying on his heels. I’m sure the goblin probably felt we were much like the much-hated hounds on a hunt.

After he was slain, we searched the area a bit, finding some small bit of treasure and a key for a chest elsewhere in the fortress.

We were exhausted after clearing out the goblin chief. I’d expended virtually all my healing potions and extracts, I think Nanel was out of healing magic as well, and Krysa was out of spells. Tabot would have to carry all three of us if we tried to go any farther this evening.

So we’ve retreated for the evening, and set up camp with Shalelu just outside the Tanglewood. She’s going to look after Shadowmist as she has the rest of our horses. As for the rabbits…I assume Tabot is going to just release them, although I don’t know what effect a dozen new rabbits will have on the local environment.

Tomorrow we venture deeper into Thistletop Fortress. And hopefully face Nualia at last, and get some answers.

#journal entry #pathfinder #rise of the runelords #rotrl

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haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted · 10 months

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Pathfinder Adventures - Rise of the Runelords Character Skins by Hannah Kennedy

#Pathfinder #Pathfinder Adventures #Rise of the Runelords #Skins #Character Design #Concept Art #Fantasy #Art #RPG #Paizo #Hannah Kennedy

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wifeswarmacademy · 1 year

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Honestly for all my pathfinder OCs turned headmates. I think Zaya is the funniest. Im just going to rant a bit.

She is a dhampir. Half vampire, half vampire. Two types of vampires, but neither strong enough on its own and it just made a mortal. She hated both parents and just ghosted them once she left for wizard college. When in wizard college she got expelled for getting into a fist fight with the headmasters son regularly.

She was a wizard with 20 strength at level 1.

After she got kicked out of college she joined some angelic mystery cults, bouncing from secret society to secret society couch surfing, begging, doing sex work and manual labor. Until she joined a dying mystery cult with an elderly couple about an angel god of relationships, Hembad.

Against the wishes of them, she left to spread its knowledge where she basically acted as relationship councelor as a religious duty. Being a free therapist was a really fucking fast way to set up a new branch of a cult actually, but this time not a mystery cult and shes just lettinf everyone know everything because she thought she knew better than her mentors.

She was a half-vampire/half-vampire college dropout wizard with more strength than the party's barbarian evangelizing her religion more than the party's cleric.

She used her friends and fellow cultists through her democratically ran relationship counceling cult and had them dig through underground to make a base of operations for the entire party. The party's kineticist (think like an atla earthbender) acted as her best friend and personal accountant. That accountant also worshipped a bunch of LE devils, zaya let it slide (she wasnt a cleric so she technically couldnt lose divine favor since there wasnt any to begin with).

She set up a magical university because she never really got over the getting expelled, and at the same time built fortifications and funded city development to turn the tiny village into a major town in the region. She stopped the attack that the GM intended to destroy the town because she bought a fuckton of animate guard statues she put around the town that was mostly just for decoration.

Her main combat style is just tripping someone, to sweep the leg, then disintegrating them with combat manuevers and spellstrike (from vmc magus). Point blank melee manuever wizard.

Then she killed karzoug casting antimagic field, tackling that level 20 wizard to the ground and strangling him. The exact same way she got expelled before the adventure even started, only this time, she went foeg the kill.

I wish i knew the name of the person in some random plural server gave us the drawing of her when we talked about that campaign.

#pathfinder #rise of the runelords #pf1e

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lizzorasaurus · 4 months

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Pathfinder NPC - Ameiko Kaijitsu (girl I am so sorry we've put you through so much bullshit in my Rise of the Runelords run)

#pathfinder #pathfinder ttrpg #rise of the runelords #ameiko kaijitsu #NPC #my art #ttrpg

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haclif · 9 months

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This is Melquiades, a human Inquisitor of the god of life, freedom, and the sun.

He's the character I play on our Rise of the Runelords campaign. We've been playing for such a long time, and we are near the end (I think), and he has changed so much.

—

✨ Like what you see? ✨

☕ Consider buying me a coffee over Ko-fi

⚔️ Or if you're in need of an illustration or portrait of your character or npc, I'm open for commissions here.

🎨Wanna see more? Check out my portfolio and links to other socials here.

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thecreaturecodex · 11 months

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Evangeline Dawnflower

[Another Rise of the Runelords PC. Evangeline was, in some respects, one of the “main characters” of that game, at least through to the beginning of Book 4, because the subplot about saving her soul was a major pivot from the game as written to how it was played. By the time they got to the titular Fortress of the Stone Giants, things got a lot more focused on the written encounters. As such, I didn’t really have time to cover a bunch of stuff that was relevant to her journey, but not to her destination, such as her squire (and fellow PC), Jabber, a gnome sorcerer with a possessive edge and a tendency towards abusing enchantments on his allies, and her first cohort, a unicorn who disliked both Jabber and Orik Vancaskerkin because he thought Evangeline was too good for both of them. The other “main character”, the slightly sadistic Daisy Moonblossom, will be posted next week.]

Evangeline Dawnflower CR 18 NG Outsider (native) This woman has dark red hair, soft brown eyes and a look of serene calm about her. She is also clearly armed to the teeth, with a lance, sword and shield, clad in fine plate armor.

Evangeline Dawnflower is a woman transformed, having gone from human to tiefling to aasimar in the course of her life. Born to cruel nobles in the Tannessen family, Evangeline was sold in escrow to Hell, and the contract devil Jebelat served as her infernal godfather for much of her life. As soon as she was able, she fled Cheliax for Varisia, and was in Sandpoint just in time for the Swallowtail Festival attacked by goblins at the behest of Nualia, a cleric of Lamashtu. The duel between good tiefling and evil aasimar was resolved in favor of Evangeline, and she continued to fight for the forces of righteousness until slain by the lamia Xanesha. Her friends brought her back, but Jebalat was determined to collect her soul, and sent infernal assassins to finish the job. They succeeded in the short term, but failed in the long term; Evangeline’s soul was truly won, sponsored by Sarenrae and fought for by the giant goblin bard Neimand.This transformed her body, changing her from a tiefling to an aasimar.

After further exploits, up to and including dealing the killing blow to the Runelord Karzoug, Evangeline has settled into a sort of semi-retirement. She is married to Orik Vancaskerkin, who she let live at Thistletop and helped redeem over the course of several months before becoming romantically interested. She no longer considers herself a “knight” per se, but has certainly traveled throughout Varisia to see old friends and to make new ones, and is willing and able to defend Sandpoint should it come under attack once more.

Evangeline is a determined and defensive combatant. She is a cavalier, but one who is less concerned with heroic charges and more concerned with ensuring that her friends and loved ones are safe. Her caution is slightly challenged by her cohort, the daring sleipnir Bayard, who has heard many stories of Evangeline’s adventures and wants to take her riding off into glorious battle once more.

Evangeline Dawnflower CR 18 XP 153,600 NG Medium outsider (native) Aasimar crusader (honor guard) 18 Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +21 Aura greater banner (60 ft.) Defense AC 38, touch 18, flat-footed 34 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +13 armor, +7 shield, +4 deflection) hp 229 (18d10+108 plus 18) Fort +22, Ref +14, Will +17 Resist acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5, fire 20 Offense Speed 20 ft. Melee valor’s minion +28/+23/+18/+13 (1d10+10/19-20 plus 2d6 vs. nongood) or +5 adamantine lance +31/+26/+21/+16 (1d8+13/x3) Ranged +1 composite longbow +22/+17/+12/+7 (1d8+6/x3) Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with lance) Special Attacks challenge (6/day, +5 attack if target attacks someone else/+18 damage), master tactician (2 feats, swift action) Statistics Str 26, Dex 16, Con 22, Int 12, Wis 18, Cha 12 Base Atk +18; CMB +26; CMD 34 (38 vs. disarm, sunder) Feats Back to Back (B), Bodyguard (B), Combat Reflexes, Coordinated Defense (B), Dodge, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (bastard sword), Improved Initiative, In Harm’s Way, Iron Will, Leadership, Missile Shield (B), Mounted Combat, Mounted Shield (B), Paired Opportunists (B), Shield Focus (heavy steel shield, B), Spirited Charge, Stand Still (B) Skills Diplomacy +18, Handle Animal +16, Heal +19 (+28 when healing others), Knowledge (local) +16, Knowledge (religion) +19, Perception +21, Ride +20, Sense Motive +19; Racial Modifiers +2 Diplomacy, +2 Perception Languages Celestial, Common, Infernal SQ alternate aasimar, defensive challenge, expert trainer, intercept, legendary, mount, order (Shield; resolute, stem the tide, protect the meek), sworn defense Gear manual of quickness of action +2 (expended), valor’s minion, +5 adamantine lance, +1 composite longbow (+5 pull) with 40 arrows, +4 mithril full plate of speed, +4 heavy steel shield of improved fire resistance, headband of mental superiority +2 (Knowledge: religion), belt of physical might +6 (Str, Con), cloak of resistance +5, boots of the battle herald, drinking horn of the panacea, unfettered shirt, ring of protection +4, ring of inner fortitude, gloves of dueling, clear spindle ioun stone, swarmbane clasp, +1 studded leather barding, healer’s kit, banner depicting the holy symbol of Saerenrae, 525 gp Special Abilities Alternate Aasimar Instead of gaining daylight as a spell-like ability, Evangeline gains an additional +2 racial bonus to Strength. Defensive Challenge (Ex) Whenever an honor guard declares a challenge, her target must pay particular attention to her and her ability to intercept attacks. As long as the target is within the threatened area of the cavalier, it takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls against anyone other than the honor guard. Intercept (Ex) At 3rd level, an honor guard learns to better disrupt the attacks of her enemies. She gains Bodyguard as a bonus feat, even if she does not meet the prerequisite. In addition, whenever the honor guard uses the aid another action to increase an ally's Armor Class, the bonus to Armor Class granted by the aid another action increases by +1. Legendary Evangeline Dawnflower is built using 25 point buy and has the gear of an 18th level PC. This raises her CR by +1. Mount Evangeline has not called upon the services of a cavalier mount, preferring to ride on the back of her cohort, the slepnir Bayard. Sworn Defense (Ex) Whenever an honor guard issues a challenge, she can select one ally as her ward for the duration of the challenge. Whenever the honor guard is adjacent to her ward, she takes a –1 penalty to Armor Class, and the ward receives a +1 dodge bonus to AC. Warding Charge (Ex) An honor guard can flash across the battlefield to protect her ward against the target of her challenge. Whenever the target of the honor guard's challenge makes an attack against her ward, the honor guard can move up to her speed and make a single melee attack against the target of her challenge as an immediate action. This movement and attack can be made as a charge if the movement qualifies.

Bayard CR 11 XP 12,800 Variant Sleipnir NG Large magical beast Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +16 Defense AC 29, touch 13, flat-footed 25 (-1 size, +4 Dex, +12 natural, +4 armor) hp 161 (14d10+84) Fort +14, Ref +15, Will +9 Immune electricity; Resist cold 10 Offense Speed 80 ft.; air walk Melee bite +19 (1d8+6), 4 hooves +17 (1d8+3) Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. Special Attacks breath weapon (DC 22), powerful charge (hoof, 2d8+12), trample (1d8+9, DC 23) Spell-Like Abilities (CL 11th; concentration +12) Constant—air walk Statistics Str 22, Dex 18, Con 21, Int 10, Wis 17, Cha 13 Base Atk +14; CMB +21; CMD 35 (47 vs. trip) Feats Improved Iron Will, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Multiattack, Power Attack, Toughness, Weapon Focus (hoof) Skills Acrobatics +18 (+38 when jumping), Perception +16, Swim +16 Languages Celestial (cannot speak) Special Abilities Breath Weapon (Su) As a standard action, a sleipnir can exhale a 30-foot cone of shimmering, rainbow-colored light. Every creature in the area is randomly struck by one or more beams, as a prismatic spray spell (DC 22 half or negates). The sleipnir may use this ability once every 1d6 rounds, up to 3 times per day. The save DC is Constitution-based.

#evangeline dawnflower #rise of the runelords #cavalier #knight #npc #pc #pathfinder 1e #aasimar #tiefling #sleipnir

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