#1st edition

Giff–SpellJammer Race [19 RACE POINTS] for First Edition Pathfinder

Known to the gnomes of Markovia as the nilski konj vojnici, to the Hin plantation-owners of Covington Farms as los mercenarios gigantes del río, and to the human field-workers laboring near New Arvoreen most-often simply as “those big goddamn bastards,” the giff – as they are called in their own guttural, roaring language – represent a recently-contacted species of huge, violent, powerfully-built, terrifyingly-focused, and dangerously cagey combatants.

In the little-over-a-century since their discovery by the Hin, platoons of giff have already carved a bloody name for themselves across the wilds of Verdura – and far beyond – as unparalleled river-guides, rowdies, strike-breakers, mob debt-collectors, private enforcers, heavy-weapons units, siege engines, bodyguards, and elite soldiers of fortune.

Brought to you absolutely free to enjoy, to test & to share – as always – by the fine folks of my Patreon.

original image by the incredible Claudio Pozas, here

Type:Monstrous Humanoid (3 RP)

Ability Score Modifiers: Mixed Weakness (-2 RP)

+2 Strength, -4 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, -4 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom

Size: Large (7 RP)

Giff gain a +2 size bonus to Strength and a -2 size penalty to Dexterity (already included above). Giff also suffer a -1 size penalty to their AC and a -1 size penalty on all attack rolls; they gain a +1 bonus on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and suffer a -4 size penalty on Stealth checks.

A giff takes up a space that is 10 feet by 10 feet and has a reach of 5 feet.

Base Speed: Normal speed (0 RP)

Languages:Standard (0 RP); giff speak their own eponymous, curiously poetic language, and most are – in the modern day – also conversant in Low Kozah-Talosii (usually spoken with a thick, pompous Verduran accent).

This bastardized dialect, the so-called “Common tongue” favored across Pyrespace for use in international, intercultural, and interplanetary trade, is a degraded mongrel variant of High Kozah-Talosii: the ancient root-tongue of both Arvorean and Brandobarin, still employed by the Church of Yondalla for use in sermons, hymns, and in all official records.

• Big Damn Guns: Giff are treated as gnomes for purposes of the Experimental Gunsmith Archetype. (0 RP)
• Darkvision: Giff have 60 ft. darkvision (0 RP); giff have relatively poor eyesight while out of water, which is easily corrected with simple lenses – such as a monocle – for use while reading. This vision is not poor enough to impart a mechanical penalty on Perception checks or attack rolls made by the giff.
  
• Natural Armor: Giff have +3 natural armor (4 RP)
• Natural Attack (Headbutt): Giff receive one natural attack, which is treated as a gore attack that deals 1d8 bludgeoning damage. (1 RP)
• Natural Swimmers: Giff have a swim speed of 30 feet and gain the +8 racial bonusonSwim checks that a swim speed normally grants. (1 RP)
  
• Powerful Charge (Headbutt): Whenever a giff charges, it deals twice the standard number of damage dice with its headbutt plus 1-½ times its Strength bonus. (2 RP)
• River-Sense: Giff can sense vibrations in water, granting them blindsense 30 feet against creatures that are touching the same body of water. (1 RP)
• Slow On Land: Giff often select the Clumsy,Easy Target,Magically Inept,Nearsighted, and Slow Reflexes Major Drawbacks (0 RP)
• Spell Resistance (Greater): Giff have spell resistance equal to 11 + their character level. (3 RP)
  
• Sporting: The species-wide love of warfare exhibited by the giff draws a sharp line of distinction between “sporting” and “unsporting” combat (see below). (-1 RP)

Sporting combat includes arm-wrestling, fisticuffs, darts, cards, dice, checkers, chess, billiards, cricket, rugby, skeet shooting, tennis, and golf, alongside tests of boasting, carousing, headbutting, toast-giving, swimming, push-ups, and a complex, ritualized sort of thunderous, unarmed mixed martial-art performed solely while stripped down to breeches & undergarments, usually in ankle-deep to waist-deep water, ending in pin or submission, which – up to a point – also serves as a type of flirting.

The military mentality of the giff even makes special allowances for a variety of “sporting” duels to the death. Establishing a proper duel requires a huge number of complex ritual elements that – in the end – mostly boils down to both giff formally acknowledging that:

• Both giff are armed with approximately the same quality of weapons & armor (warhammer, combat knife, pistol, full plate, etc.)
• Both giff have equal access to military support, including healing
• Both giff have a grievance, no matter how petty
• Both giff are suffering approximately the same level of injuries
• Both giff have made arrangements for their estate, and for the treatment of their body after death
  

Once a “sporting” challenge to the death has been agreed-to by both parties, anything up to and including outright murder of one’s opponent is considered fair game.

Several major holidays each year celebrated by the giff include a “violent dueling festival” as part of their celebration; to outsiders, these events have a very bizarre, genteel, 1800s-Victorian-Teddy-Roosevelt-meets-The-Purge sort of feel to them:

“Happy holidays, friend; best of health this year to you and to your kin. And I say, old chap, don’t suppose it’s high time for a kukri-duel, eh, wot wot? Seeing as you got drunk on my finest brandy, made a pass at the missus, wiped your prodigious buttocks with my table linens, and micturated in my hedge-row as of Christmas last, well … in lieu of an apology, what say I have Jenkins fetch the carving blades, eh? See which of has the moxie, shall we? Cheerio and have at thee then, old sport?”

If this formal challenge to a lethal sporting-duel is declined, the challenger must make all possible accommodations to guarantee the immediate physical safety of the giff she just challenged (at least until such time as the two giff part ways once more): providing the giff with weapons, armor, food, water, medicine, reading materials, a place to sleep, liquor, smoking tobacco, and anything else a gentleman or lady of high breeding could reasonably expect to have access to (even while imprisoned).

In short: if the challenged giff dies immediately after declining a duel, it is considered very embarrassing for the challenger.

For his own part, the declining giff must treat her challenger with the very utmost level of respect … or risk being guilty of unsporting conduct, a fate far worse than mere death.

Any giff who finds herself about to violate the terms of properly “sporting” conduct instantly becomes aware of the error, just as if she were wearing a phylactery of faithfulness and, at all times, actively contemplating the thought of doing bodily harm to another giff: this behavioral limitation is not built as a trap for players to accidentally stumble into, but – instead – as an interesting roadblock to navigate around.

If two or more giff find themselves forced into a position of armed conflict against one another on a battlefield, both groups traditionally retire for at least a day of drinking and sorting-out ranks; on rare occasion, one platoon will join the other; more likely, all giff involved in any part of the operation will quit their current hirings and look for work elsewhere.

Any giff who engages another member of her own species in any type of unsporting combat – attacking another giff with a weapon, for example, or with magic – immediately suffers a -2 penalty on all skill checks, ability checks, attack rolls and saves; she continues to suffer this penalty until such time as she is able to make amends: presenting her victim with a formal written apology, or seeking our her victim’s family to beg their public pardon.

Each month, this penalty increases by 2. Guilt is a poison that grows by degrees, after all: ever-gnawing.

While she is suffering penalties in this way, if the giff is presented with the chance to punish herself – or a non-giff opponent! – while presented with something that reminds the giff of her betrayal, she may find herself compelled to do so regardless of the consequences:

Any time her betrayal is directly brought to her attention, the giff must make a Will save (DC = 10 + her character level + the Charisma modifier of the wronged giff). Failure means that the giff falls into a rage of abject self-loathing, completely focused on her own guilt for a number of rounds equal to the DC, above. Until she has finished with this exercise in hate, the giff can take no action other than to harm the reminder of her failure or enable herself to harm it: grappling a human shipmate who mentioned her old friend so that she might headbutt the human while strangling them, for example, or calmly loading a shotgun so that she might shoot the human dead in cold blood.

Note that the giff, while wracked with guilt & grief, is not required to do anything or harm anyone: she may simply stare at an old photograph and feel sad, for example, ignoring everyone around her.

During the fury of this black tempest, the giff suffers a -2 penalty to her AC.

Once the giff successfully makes amends, either with the wronged party or with the victim’s next-of-kin, all of the above penalties are removed. Entire subsets of giff society – mediators, arbitrators, and negotiators – are explicitly adapted to making absolutely certain that any errors in sporting conduct among giff are resolved quickly, and to the satisfaction of all parties. 

Should she fail to make amends before her death, any giff who has harmed another giff in an unsporting way invariably rises again as an undead horror of some kind (often a blood knightorgraveknight): reborn as a rotting, lurching mountainside of infinitely destructive hated.

Note that the Sporting Racial Trait is not purely social, but rather acts as a species-wide ingrained psychological virtue: two giff living on Fenris who never expect to see the wide rivers of Verdura again are still bound by the rules of “sporting” conflict; neither could shoot the other in the back any more than either of them could grow wings and fly to the moon.

Undead giff do not possess the Sporting Trait, which is seen – by living giff – as the most abhorrent and disturbing quality imaginable.

Note, also, that the desire to behave in a sporting manner extends only to fellow giff: Chaotic Evil giff will routinely massacre unarmed non-giff by the thousands, bellowing with laughter as they do so, and even a Lawful Good giff will rarely think twice before sucker-punching a crude human making drunken threats and impolite remarks at the bar.

——-

Giff Timeline:

• 1603 A.D. (118 years ago): The colony of New Arvoreen is established on Verdura; giff make contact with Hin (and their human servants) for the first time.
• 1620 A.D.: First generation of giff who have always known about the existence of Hin, humans, and – most importantly! – firearms fully comes of age.
• 1636 A.D.: New Arvoreen is significantly expanded.
• 1667 A.D.: Nation of Markovia – the technological-marvel nation named for its Founder, Monarch and Supreme Leader, Dr. Adlai Markovitch – founded on Verdua; diplomatic trade established with New Arvoreen.
• 1669 A.D.: City of New Arvoreen significantly expanded.
• 1702 A.D.: New Arvoreen significantly expanded; land officially cleared for Covington Farms, soon to be the largest agricultural facility in the system; rates of forcible immigration of indentured humans to New Arvoreen tripled.
• 1721 A.D.: (current year)

original image here

Giff Ranks: Lieutenant, General, Colonel, Major General, Lieutenant General, Lieutenant Colonel, Captain General, Brigadier General, Field Marshall, Major, Captain, Sergeant Major, Commandant General, Wing General, Lieutenant Colonel General, Staff Sergent, Master Sergent, Master General, Grenadier General; note that “Lord” may be added to any military rank, alongside the designations of “First” and “First Class” (for example, “First Lord Brigadier General First Class”)

Giff military ranks are, effectively, meaningless noise to everyone except the giff themselves: every member of the species is a decorated officer of some complex rank within some elite military company or another, but such ranks are largely ceremonial and may be inherited, purchased, or passed through elaborate, bombastic ritual.

Further, the only thing preventing a young giff from forming an entirely new military organization & immediately naming herself – of example – Supreme Acting Field Commander and Secretary General of the Armies and Navies at Wartime is – up to a point – her own willingness to do so.

Male Giff Names: Any invented male Hin name.

Female Giff Names: Any invented female Hin name.

Giff Family Names: Any invented male Hin first name

Society

The giff are military-minded, and organize themselves into squads, platoons, companies, corps, and larger groups. The number of giff in a platoon varies according to the season, situation, and level of danger involved.

A giff “platoon” hired to protect a gambling operation may number only a single soldier, while a platoon hired to invade an illithid stronghold may number well over a hundred.

The giff pride themselves on their weapon-skills, and any giff carries a number of swords, daggers, maces, and similar tools on hand to deal with troublemakers.

A giff’s true love, however, is the gun. A misfiring weapon matters little to the giff (occasional fatalities amongst soldiery are simply to expected); it is the flash, the noise, and the damage that most impress them.

Even unarmed, the giff are powerful opponents. Against non-giff, they’ll often wade into a brawl just for the pure fun of it, tossing various combatants on both sides around to prove themselves the victors.

Once a weapon is bared, however, and the challenge becomes “unsporting,” the giff consider all restrictions off: the challenge is now to the death.

The giff prize themselves as top-quality mercenaries, and to that end take great pride in owning – if not always wearing – elaborate suits of full-plate armor. These suits usually include massive helms featuring hyper-detailed, semi-realistic images of exotic monsters on the crests, inlaid with ivory and bone along the largest plates.

Armor repair is a major hobby among the giff, although great skill at the craft is surprisingly rare.

The giff are deeply suspicious of magic, magicians, and magical devices; their legendary foes, the Five Tiger Princes, are despised for their esoteric abilities as much for their wicked deviltry.

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Family

The giff are, for the most part, happiest among fellow members their own race, intermingling broadly with the Ghoran – whom the giff utilize as an edible, inexhaustible workforce – and the Tengu: another unofficial “servitor race” of the giff, most often used as messengers and household servants.

Ghoran living on giff lands are stoic: dutifully tending the fields of the giff in exchange for protection from ten-thousand other, vastly more predatory dangers. For all that giff treat the ghoran as disposable – a ghoran living on Verdura produces one seed each year, and can grow a new member of the species in a single month – the giff do not want the ghoran hunted to total extermination. That, for the ghoran, is saying something,

Tengu, on the other hand, are deeply prized by the giff as staff, usually in the roles of personal assistants, groomers, decorators, butlers, bartenders, man-servants, attaches, major domos, and maids. Since all giff are “wealthy land owners,” to one degree or another, the true power & prestige of a giff can be accurately measured by the number of tengu he employs.

Giff otherwise consider anything larger than them deeply threatening, yet also complain bitterly – in private – about the fragility of the smaller races. Outside their own platoons, the giff are happiest among military organizations with a strong chain of command.

For this reason, giff hold the Church of Yondalla in exceptionally high regard.

Giff especially despise the catfolk: although they don’t speak of it to outsiders, a century ago the giff were on the verge of extinction: hunted for sport and trophy by servants of the Five Tiger Princes, their people nearly cut to nothing and their lands held by only a few remaining families. Since their acquisition of firearms – and the arrival of the Hin – the catfolk have broadly retreated.

Every giff – male, female, and giffling – has a rank within their greater society, which can only be changed by a giff of higher rank. Within these ranks are sub-ranks, and within those sub-ranks are color-markings and badges. The highest-ranking giff gives the orders, the others obey. It does not matter if the orders are foolish or even suicidal: following them is the purpose of the giff in the universe. A quasi-mystical faith among the giff – who claim to worship, in a vague way, the Golden General Bahamut, who was killed and eaten by the cowardly Five Tiger Princes in order to steal his strength – confirms that all things have their place, and the place of the giff to follow orders.

This makes the giff very happy.

Giff platoons can be hired from their sprawling, palatial riverside plantations and mountain hunting-lodges by anyone looking for muscle. The social leaders among the giff are contractors: these specially-trained giff review prospective employers according to ability to pay, then make a recommendation to powerful warlords and famous adventurers among the giff. The leaders, in turn, consider the danger of the job, and whether taking it will enhance their giffdom.

Giff jobs are usually paid in firearms & gunpowder, though they often will accept other weapons and armor. Aboard ship, the giff require their own quarters, and will often request to bring on their own large weapons. They favor fire-projectors and bombards for ground work, and will happily blaze away at opponents regardless of the tactical situation.

The giff require the ships of others because they have – for the most part – no spellcasting abilities among them.

Giff of both sexes serve in their platoons, and both fight equally well. Giff young are raised tenderly until they are old enough to survive an exploding arquebus, then are inducted fully into the platoon.

The giff practice equality among the sexes in battle and in childrearing. They live about 70 years, but do not take aging gracefully. As a giff grows older and begins to slow down, he is possessed with the idea of proving himself still young and vital, usually in battle.

As a result, there are very, very few old giff.

Flesh of the Living Hive – Pathfinder Spellcaster Feat (First Edition)

The endless & eternal Hive coils within you: breath of your breath, blood of your blood, a cacophony of sinew and chitin, an ocean of caustic acid.

Brought to you absolutely free to enjoy, to test & to share – as always – by the fine folks of my Patreon.

image from here

Prerequisites: Neutral Evil, caster level 1st; see Special, below

Benefit: You may – at any time, as a free action – choose to gain all the physical benefits and drawbacks of Corruption Stage 2[Hive corruption]. 

You retain this Corruption Stage for one minute per character level you possess; your Corruption cannot increase to Stage 3.

You do not acquire Manifestations for your Corruption normally. Instead, any time that you would normally gain a feat* (including a Bonus Feat, with your GM’s permission, such as from the Aberrant Bloodline), you may instead select any one Manifestation for which you otherwise meet the prerequisites. You receive the benefits of any Manifestation selected in this way only while you possess a Corruption Stage. Your Manifestation level – for purposes of this feat – is always equal to one half your character level, rounded up.

*with your GM’s permission, you may also choose to gain access to a new Manifestation in place of an Oracle Revelation; oracles with this ability often possess access to the Mystery of the Dark Tapestry.

At will as a move action, while you possess a Corruption Stage, you may expend a single spell or spell-slot of 1st level or higher to gain any one additional Manifestation for which you meet the prerequisites. Your access to this special Manifestation lasts for one minute. You always gain all effects of the Stain associated with any Manifestation that you acquire via use of this feat; Stains acquired by gaining a temporary Manifestation always last for 24 hours, even after the Manifestation has faded.

During this time, whenever you summon one or more creatures that would normally be available with the entropic,fiendish, or resolute template using a summon monster spell (or an effect that mimics such a spell), you may choose to instead apply the Hive Creature Simple Template to each such creature.

In addition, while this ability is active, you add hive larva swarm and hive warrior to your summon monster list as 4th level creatures; thus, you could summon a single hive warrior using summon monster IV or summon 1d3 hive larva swarms using summon monster V. You also add hive queen to your summon monster list as a 7th level creature;  thus, you could summon a single hive queen using summon monster VII or summon 1d3 hive queens using summon monster VIII.

Any damaging spell or spell-like ability that you use while you possess a Corruption Stage deals half of its damage as acid damage.

At 9th level, you may expend a single spell or spell slot of 4th level or higher as a standard action to use either of the following abilities:

• dimension door. This magical transportation must begin and end in a square that includes a hive larva swarm.
• apply the swarmblooded template to any one living, corporeal creature within close range (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) with 15 or more Hit Dice (such as a hive queen); this template persists for one minute per caster level you possess. Any creature enhanced in this way always bleeds hive larva swarms when injured.

Whenever you summon a Hive creature, you may choose to summon any such creatures as a move action (rather than as a full-round action); if you do so, the range of your summon monster ability drops to 0 ft.: all creatures summoned by use of this ability must appear in a square either directly adjacent-to your own or overlapping your own (in the case of a hive larva swarm), emerging directly from your own flesh.

At will as a move action, you may cause any one hive creature that you have summoned to explode and die, activating its Death Throes special ability as appropriate for creatures of the hive subtype.

Finally, you are considered to possess the shapechanger subtype for purposes of the Gruesome Shapechanger feat; gaining Corruption Stage 2 via use of this feat is considered to be a use of change shape.

Special: While this feat is active, you may never refuse any direct order from any anunnaki, up-to and including such suicidal orders as performing a coup de grace upon yourself and then voluntarily failing the Fortitude save. You may not harm or endanger any anunnaki; if ordered to do so by another anunnaki, you may instead take your own life. You may not deliberately speak any lie to an anunnaki, including bluffing, stating half-truths with the intent to deceive, exaggerating, telling white lies or practicing any other type of intentional misdirection; this applies to all forms of verbal, non-verbal, magical and written communication.

Fortunately, anunnaki in-phase with our reality are rare beyond imagining and this limitation is rarely enforced.

—

Special:This feat may be gained multiple times. Each additional time this feat is selected, you may choose any one living, corporeal creature with a CR of 4 or less, such as a Tiger,GiantDire Wolf,Gargoyle,Corpsefeaster Otyugh,AcidCheetah,Ice Troll,MissingElkorAdvancedGiant Black Widow Spider. Any time that you would summon a hive larvae swarm or a hive warrior via use of this feat, you may instead choose to summon one of your selected creatures and apply the Hive Creature Template as you do so.

Alternatively, each additional time this feat is selected, you may choose any one living, corporeal creature of CR 6 or less, such as a babau,belker,cave giant,death worm,giantanaconda,girallonorkyton. At will as a full-round action (but see Sudden Evolution, below), you may cause any one hive warrior that you have summoned to explode and die, activating its Death Throes special ability as normal. You then automatically summon a new CR 6 creature of your selected type (above) and apply the Hive Creature Template as you do so; this creature must appear in a square that was immediately vacated by your now-deceased hive warrior.

Sudden Evolution: You may always choose to expend a single spell or spell slot of 1st level or higher to activate this ability as a standard action rather than as a full-round action.

You must have ready access to a fully-built version of the final stat-block for any creature you choose to summon by use of this feat, approved by your GM, before you may use this ability.

Blood of Holiest Terror – Bloodlines & Black Magic / Pathfinder (1st Edition) Feat

Neither the iron knives of witches nor the jagged fangs of the damned may hold any power over you, for the mind-shattering light of angels runs in your gold-shining veins: ever ready to blaze-forth in a cleansing wave of sacred white fire.

Brought to you absolutely free to enjoy, to test & to share – as always – by the fine folks of my Patreon.

image by WarmTail

Prerequisite:Aegis of Terrifying Inhumanity feat, Harbinger’s Shield (pg.59) Bloodline Trait, character level 7th

Benefit: Once per day, as a standard action, you may whisper a word of power and gain the following benefits for a number of minutes equal to your Hit Dice:

• You are immune to the attacks and effects of all lantern archons created by use of this ability (see below).
• Any effect that grants a bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, or skill checks against creatures of outsider type or the archon,extraplanar,good,lawful subtypes (such as a bane weapon or a ranger’s favored enemy class feature), also grants that same bonus to rolls against you.
• Whenever you suffer damage from a confirmed critical hit, suffer bleed damage, suffer slashing damage or die, a lantern archon flickers forth from the injury, entering a square of your choice directly adjacent to you.
• If you would suffer slashing damage that is entirely negated by damage reduction provided by your Harbinger’s Shield, this ability is activated.
  

You have no control over lantern archons released from your body in this way, although these archons are considered to be summoned by you – such as for purposes of the Augment Summoning feat – and vanish after a number of rounds equal to your Hit Dice. In most instances, lantern archons called to the mortal realm in this way are favorably disposed toward you and will without hesitation attempt to kill anything that threatens you.

You may always expend a spell of 3rd level or higher to gain the benefits of this ability an additional time per day.

Campaign Note: It is rumored that the fundamentals of this technique were originally a gift from Anzreala, Grand Archon of Pillars & Cities (see Bloodlines & Black Magic, page 203) to one of her favored disciples, and it is well-known that she performs occasional purges: removing from the Cosmic Clockwork all creatures she deems unworthy of the art … along with their foolish mentors.

In the modern era, mastery of this art is most common amongst elite holy warriors in service to the Bodiabos family of Rio de Sangue – including the bodyguards of supermodel Catarina Bodiabo – who stride into combat against enemies of the faith with a fearless smirk, confident that they will be raised once again by the Golden Terror sect should they fall to the crude weapons of heretics & non-believers while bathed in the halo of heaven’s sharpest gleam.

This is a fabrication by the Temple, of course, but it provides the cult with any number of eager volunteers.

Weave of Shadow & Serpent-Magic – Bloodlines & Black Magic / Pathfinder (1st Edition) Spellcaster Feat

You are infused with the coiling, ophidian sorcery of the twisted serpentine.

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original image by Barandash Karandashich

Prerequisite:Non-good alignment; see Special, below

Benefit: You retain access to this feat only so long as you ritualistically kill at least one sentient creature each month. This ritual requires one full hour of total concentration and must occur on a specific date – chosen by you when this feat is taken – and may not be interrupted in any way in order to be properly completed. You may choose to sacrifice additional creatures at the time of the ritual, increasing the ritual’s completion time by one hour per total victim; for each additional creature ritualistically slain, you become younger by one year. You may not become younger than the starting age for your race by use of this feat.

If you ever lose access to this feat because you fail to make a proper sacrifice, you regain access as soon as you perform the proper ritual.

You add the following spells to any one spell-list you possess at the appropriate level:

• 1st – summon monster I(viperonly)
• 2nd – summon monster II (1d3 vipers or venomous snakeonly)
  
• 3rd – beast shape I (serpent only), summon monster III (1d4+1 vipers, 1d3 venomous snakes, asp,constrictor snakeorsnake swarmonly)
  
• 4th – beast shape II (serpent only), summon monster IV (1d4+1 venomous snakes; 1d3 asps, constrictor snakes or snake swarms; or venomous snake swarmonly)
  
• 5th – beast shape III (serpent only), summon monster V (1d4+1 asps, constrictor snakes or snake swarms; 1d3 venomous snake swarms; or emperor cobraoranacondaonly);quickened summon monster I (as above)
  
• 6th – beast shape VI (serpent only), summon monster VI (1d4+1 venomous snake swarms or 1d3 emperor cobras or anacondas only); quickened summon monster II (as above)
  
• 7th – summon monster VII (1d4+1 emperor cobras or anacondas; or giant anacondaonly);quickened beast shape I (as above), quickened summon monster III (as above)
  
• 8th – summon monster VIII (1d3 giant anacondas only), quickened beast shape II (as above), quickened summon monster IV (as above)
  
• 9th – summon monster IX (1d4+1 giant anacondas only), quickened beast shape III (as above); quickened summon monster V (as above)
  

You also gain these spells as spells known, as appropriate.

You may always choose to summon serpents using a spell granted by this feat as a standard action (rather than as a full-round action, as normal); if you do so, the range of your summon monster spell drops to 0 ft.: all serpents summoned by use of this ability must appear in a square adjacent to your own: emerging from the folds of your cloak, from your shadow, from your wounds or from the blood spilled at your feet, as you desire.

In addition, as a standard action you may sacrifice a single spell of 1st level of higher to teleport (no chance of error) into any space occupied by a serpent that you have summoned. The chosen serpent automatically teleports into your former space (no save). If either you or your targeted summoned serpent cannot legally occupy your respectively-selected new space for any reason, this ability fails: both your 1st-level spell and your action are wasted.

You may always choose to sacrifice a spell of 5th level or higher to teleport in the same way as a swift action, rather than as a standard action.

If you possess 7 or more Hit Dice, once per day as a standard action you may gain the following benefits for a number of minutes equal to your Hit Dice:

• You are immune to the attacks and effects of all snake swarms created by use of this ability (see below).
• Any effect that grants a bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, or skill checks against creatures of the snake or animal type (such as a bane weapon, or a ranger’s favored enemy class feature), also grants that same bonus to rolls against you.
• Whenever you suffer damage from a confirmed critical hit, suffer bleed damage, suffer slashing damage or die, a snake swarm spills-forth from the injury; at least one square of this swarm must appear in a space directly adjacent to you. If you possess 13 or more Hit Dice, you instead generate venomous snake swarms.
• You have no control over swarms released from your body in this way, although these swarms are considered to be summoned by you and vanish after a number of rounds equal to your Hit Dice.
  

You may always choose to sacrifice a spell of 4th level or higher to use this ability an additional time per day. If you possess 13 or more Hit Dice, you may gain these benefits as a swift action (rather than as a standard action) and may always choose to sacrifice a spell of 7th level or higher to use the ability an additional time per day.

As a standard action, you may expend a spell of 1st-level or higher to gain the benefits of a gaze special attack (see below) with a range of 30 feet; you retain use of this gaze for a total number of rounds equal to your character level. Any living creature who fails her Will save against your gaze (DC 10 + ½ your character level + your Intelligence, your Wisdom or your Charisma modifier, your choice) is marked.

Your gaze may only mark corporeal, living, intelligent creatures. In addition, if the subject of your gaze would not normally have lustful feelings toward you, as per the unnatural lust spell, she receives a +4 bonus on her saving throw.

Whenever you summon a serpent, you may choose for any number of creatures that you summon in this way to emerge directly from the flesh of a foe (or foes) that you have marked. Serpents summoned in this way automatically move – immediately after emerging – to occupy an unoccupied space directly adjacent to the marked foe from which they emerged.

All serpents that you summon in this way are considered to possess the Shapechanger subtype and to possess the Gruesome Shapechanger feat; being summoned by you in this way is treated as a use of change shape.

No more than one summoned creature may emerge from the body of any one marked foe when a summoning spell is cast in this way.

The marked target chosen to act as the point of origin for your summoning spell must also succeed at a Fortitude save (DC: 10 + half your caster level + your Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma modifier, your choice) or suffer an amount of damage equal to 1d6 points of damage per spell-level of the summoning spell plus an amount of damage equal to your Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma modifier (your choice) and be nauseated until the beginning of your next round.

A successful save halves this damage and negates the nausea effect.

Special: This feat may be gained in place of any Witch Hex.

Campaign Note: Within the Bloodlines & Black Magic setting, this ability is most common amongst witches drawn from the Shadow Bloodline in service to the Serpent of Obsidian Knives; rumors persist that members of the now-vanished Lineage known as the Eyes of Nyx (see page 61) were the truest masters of this black art, although their apprentices were legion. In addition, the Archons task each & every of their loyal servants – including such disreputable Lineages as The Masters (see page 56) – to hunt-down & execute anyone known to practice this technique, seeking to rid the world they now rule of all such dangerous Goetic intrusion.

Crush the Weak-Willed Sheep

Your merest attention, falling upon one who has displeased you, is a crushing & terrible weight, bending – or breaking – even the most prideful beneath your iron gaze. Let all who would contend against you weep, for their final moments shall be spent singing your praises with raw, blood-choked voices.

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Prerequisite:Dust pool; see Special, below

Benefit: Choose any one Enchantment spell of a level no higher than one half your total character level or any one metamagic feat for which you otherwise meet the prerequisites.

If you choose a spell, it must have a total casting time of one standard action or less. You may use this chosen spell as a spell-like ability; you must expend one point of Dust per level of this spell.

Thus, if you were a character of 6th level or higher, you could gain use of bleed for your master (for example) as a spell-like ability; you would need to expend three points of Dust to activate this ability.

The DC for all saving throws (if any) against all spell-like abilities granted by this feat is equal to 10 + ½ your character level + your Charisma modifier. You use Charisma on concentration checks when using these abilities and your full character level as your caster level.

If you choose a metamagic feat, you may expend any number of points of Dust as a free action whenever you cast an Enchantment spell. You may apply your chosen metamagic feat to the spell as it is cast; the level increase upon the spell is reduced by 1 for each point of Dust that you expend in this way. You must reduce the spell’s final level increase to +0 when the spell is cast. You must possess a total character level equal to twice the spell’s level, calculated before this reduction is applied.

Thus, if you were a character of 10th level or above, you could choose the Quicken Spell metamagic feat and apply its effects to a charm person spell as it is cast, expending 4 points of Dust to do so.

Special: You may gain this feat multiple times. Each time you gain this feat, you may choose either another metamagic feat or another Enchantment spell.

Designer’s Note: Unfortunately, no one can tell you what The Hole Behind Midnightis.

Long Hours of Invisible Quiet – Pathfinder (1st Edition) Spellcaster Feat

You can step silently from the vision & knowledge of others with ease … and remain there, cloaked in unseen shadow & hidden just out of view, for as long as you desire.

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Prerequisite: Ability to use spells, supernatural abilities or spell-like abilities.

Benefit: You add vanish as a 1st level spell to any one spell-list you possess (such as to your Mesmerist spell-list or to your Witch spell-list, for example).

Whenever you become invisible by any means, you may choose (as a free action) to extend the duration of the effect indefinitely. While the duration of your invisibility is artificially extended in this way, you must stay both silent and still: you must remain in the same 5-foot square, and you may not make or cause any sound above the very barest of whispers (audible only to creatures directly adjacent to you).

Violation of either of these rules, voluntarily or involuntarily, ends your invisibility instantly.

Any use of Pierce the Veil(seeBloodlines & Black Magic, pg. 10) or any divination spell automatically overcomes your invisibility – no roll, action or check required – while you are artificially extending the duration of your invisibility in this way.

Campaign Note: Within the Bloodlines & Black Magic setting, this ability is most common amongst magicians drawn from the Shadow Bloodline; rumors persist that members of the now-vanished Lineage known as the Eyes of Nyx (see page 61) were the truest masters of this dark art.

Apex Goetic Servant – Pathfinder (1st Edition) Urban Fantasy Template forBloodlines & Black Magic

When a powerful witch dies, his familiar – the earthly tie to that Goetic Spirit whom he serves – may live on. Such a creature may, in rare instances, consume the corpse & memories of its master, undergoing an apotheosis into something far more powerful: a invisible tool of subtle warfare against the Archons.

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AnApex Goetic Servant is created when the familiar belonging to a powerful fallen witch consumes the corpse of its master in a specific way at a specific time (perhaps on one of several auspicious dates?); such creatures are rare in the extreme, and there is no known way to create such a creature purposefully.

When an Apex Goetic Servant is created, its stat-block is rebuilt entirely; the creature loses all of its previous ability scores & statistics and becomes an utterly new creature, transformed by ritual & the favor of a Goetic Spirit.

Designer’s Note: This is an opportunity to add something truly weird to your Bloodlines & Black Magic game, such as an Awakenedunholyhalf-fiendtiger; each Apex Goetic Servant is a unique & powerful entity with its own goals & motives, perhaps filling the same “slot” as high-CR named dragons or outsiders in a more traditional sword-&-sorcery fantasy game.

This template may be added to any intelligent creature with the Missing Template; such creatures retain all memories of their lives as familiars and also gain access to the memories once possessed by their former master.

Challenge Rating: Same as base creature +0

Special Qualities:

Mask of Mundane Flesh (Su): At will as a standard action, an Apex Goetic Servant may use beast shape II (unlimited duration) to take the form of a single Tiny-sized creature (such as a catorowl) identical to its former shape. This form is chosen when the template is gained and cannot be changed.

This spell-effect may be dismissed again at will as a standard action.

While this spell is in effect, the Apex Goetic Servant loses the Displacement and Invisibility special qualities granted by the Missing Template.

Campaign Notes: The Archons task each & every of their loyal servants – including such disreputable Lineages as The Masters (seeBloodlines & Black Magic, page 56) – to hunt-down & execute any and all Apex Goetic Servants, as well as any magician researching the means to create such a beast.

Of course, such a command is easier to issue than it is to enforce.

In general, most servants of the Archons simply take great care to completely destroy both the body & the familiar of any witch they discover, hoping to make whatever bizarre ritual creates Apex Goetic Servants impossible.

Terrifying Rage of Mother Ursa – Pathfinder (1st Edition) Spellcaster Feat

You may call-forth the most ancient fear of all: that of unintentionally offending the great mother who pads quietly along beside her curious child.

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Prerequisite: Mystical connection to the natural world; see Special, below

Benefit: You add phantasmal killer as a 4th level spell to any one spell-list you possess and add weird as a 9th level spell to the same spell-list; you also add these effects to your spells known, if applicable.

For Example:Adruid would add these spells to her druid spell list; alternatively, a sorcerer with the Verdant Bloodline would add these to her spells known. An oracle with the Mystery of Nature would add these to her oracle spell list and then also add them to her spells known.

Whenever you cast either of these spells, you do not choose your target (or targets) and the duration of your spell changes from “Instantaneous” to “1 round per level, until discharged,” much like a delayed blast fireball.

Whenever you cast either of these spells, you conjure-forth a pair of illusory bears from the First World – one of Large size and one of Small size – much as if you has cast summon nature’s ally V to summon multiple brown bears (one of whom happens to be a Small-sized “baby”).

These two illusory creatures are immune to all effects and to all damage and are clearly not “real”: they are shadowy, smoke-wreathed & partially translucent, vivid hyper-realistic hallucinations of something nameless and primordial, more ancient than any living forest. They reek of deep woods that have never known the bite of an axe nor the echo of boot-fall; they shine like distant stars seen though a haze of late autumn rain-clouds and long black branches. These two bears cannot be harmed by any means, although they otherwise behave like the summoned creatures they resemble (they cannot fly, for example, instead moving like normal bears) and they vanish at the end of the spell’s duration.

You may direct these creatures to move just as if they were real summoned creatures, although they cannot attack or otherwise affect their surroundings (except as detailed below).

If any living creature ends its turn directly between these two bears, that creature is immediately the target of your phantasmal killer effect: the “mother bear” charges, ignoring all obstacles and opposition, attempting to rip the offending creature (or creatures) limb from limb; if multiple targets end their respective turns between the two bears, the mother will always attempt to kill the target closest to her first, moving in a straight line toward her baby.

Note that the mother bear – although not “real” in the strictest sense – is still the echo of a thinking creature: she uses her senses, not your own, and she possesses both low-light visionandscent. Thus, a caster with this feat could successfully harm an invisible or hidden creature by use of this ability.

When the effects of the spell resolve, both bears vanish back the First World with a mountain-shaking roar.

Special: Your GM is well within her rights to set whatever restrictions she feels are appropriate for this feat, depending on the style & genre of your game. This ability is appropriate – in most instances – for use by druids and by creatures who cast like druids (such as nymphs). This ability is especially appropriate for bear shamans; it cannot be be selected by blight druidsorcityskin warlocks.

Campaign Note: This ability is often gained alongside the For the Black Woods Deepenfeat.

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