So for this week, I’ve decided to take it a bit easy and work on personal projects, but fear not, I’m not leaving you with nothing. Instead, I’d like to take this week to showcase some of the things I have created off the blog.
Now, some of these thing are things I have posted to my Patreon, but rest assured they are only things that I set to make public after about a month. Items that remain exclusive to my Patreon shall remain so until I create enough to perhaps self-publish something in the future.
Anyway, this first entry is not from my Patreon, but rather a gift I made for friend: a Pathfinder 1e ancestry/race interpretation of itself within the plurality system they are part of. With @dzhukhe ‘s permission, I hereby post this. (Hope you like the lore I extrapolated, let me know if there are changes I need to make!)
Lumin
Blending elements of several insects into one body, the lumin are humanoid insects with four arms, a trio of simple eyes in the middle of their foreheads similar to a mantis alongside their two compound eyes, and elytra like a beetle, as well as a separate abdomen to their thorax, both of which contain redundant internal organs. This last trait reflects another curious trait of theirs: their blend of mammalian traits such as the ability to grow scalp hair.
Hailing from the taiga, mountains, and cool forests, lumins typically live underground, digging out local caves or soil into complex tunnel cities with a keen engineering sense akin to ants, though they are not eusocial in nature, their species having a relatively even distribution of fertile members of any and all genders.
Growing up, lumins only undergo an incomplete metamorphosis, their children being softer, squishier but otherwise true to their adult molt aside from matters of proportion.
According to Lumin beliefs, they were born from the same divine word that gave rise to the greatest of beasts, the mighty divine behemoths, the primordial kaiju, and other titanic beasts like the legendary unique Tane called Leviathan. They even know the individual names of such beasts. To the lumin, these beings are avatars of divine or near-divine will, and though they are often engines of destruction, they are to be revered for their majesty just as much as their wrath is feared. Lumin perhaps have the most encyclopedic body of knowledge when it comes to the origin and behavioral quirks of such beasts as well, making them a useful resource when trying to quell a behemoth or kaiju on the rampage.
Despite revering such massive and destructive creatures, the lumin have no desire for the most part to emulate their more violent aspects. Instead, they live much like any other race, some content to live simple lives, others eager for adventure.
Lumin
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Con, +2 Wis, -2 Dex
Type: Lumins are humanoids of the lumin subtype
Size: Lumin are medium creatures
Speed: 30 ft.
Senses: Lumin possess low-light vision and the scent special ability
Megafauna Affinity: Lumins gain a +2 bonus to Animal Handling and Diplomacy checks to interact with living creatures of huge size or larger
Multi-Armed: A lumin has four arms. One hand is considered its primary hand; all others are considered off hands. It can use any of its hands for other purposes that require free hands.
Natural armor: Lumins have a +2 natural armor bonus to AC
Redundant Organs: Once per day, when a Lumin is hit by an attack that is a critical threat, the Lumin may force the attacker to roll twice and take the lower result when rolling to confirm the critical hit.
Languages: Common, Lumin. Lumins with high intelligence scores can choose from the following bonus languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, Terran
Alternate Racial Traits:
Flight: Lumin with this racial trait have larger wings under their elytra, and have a fly speed of 30 feet with clumsy maneuverability. This replaces Megafauna Affinity
Oh! This is belightful! I knew that it was being worked upon, but to see it thusly….
Some additional notes, from the bug itself:
As with many of the great beasts we revere, we blur the lines between different categories of living creatures. Outwardly, we have many similarities to arthropods of superorder Dictyoptera (termites, cockroaches, and mantids). However, we also possess a number of mammaloid characteristics; if you were to cut open the exoskeleton of a deceased lumin, you would find that the internal structure is remarkably akin to most humanoids and monstrous humanoids (naturally, we tend to instead regard those as luminoids), although we would still be monotremes compared to such creatures. Whether we are arthropods with mammaloid traits or mammals with arthropod-like traits is a matter of some debate, outside of those circles that simply attribute our origins to divinity or magic.
While we are as sensitive to the environment as most other living beings, we have a strong cultural bond to the environments where we are found. This is not to say that there could not somewhere be lumins who prefer a tropical or desert environment….
Lumin societies vary, but there is a common thread to recognize at least the genders of gyne, drone, aner, dyne, and ergate. Because we are not bound by our characteristics at birth, most lumin societies do not attribute these to sexual characteristics. A child generally decides upon their gender while reaching maturity, and receives it formally.
We have a strong cross-cultural fondness for armor-like ornamentations and clothing that evokes the image thereof; this has led our name in some non-lumin tongues to be armor bugs, although this is not our preference.
I would personally describe our adoration of the great beasts to be akin to any other culture’s reverence for charismatic megafauna; where humans or orcs may esteem the lion and the eagle, we admire the behemoth and the ziz.
I shall attempt to say more on this, later tonight!
So one of the things I like to do on this blog is challenge myself to make Pathfinder or Starfinder builds based on Pop Culture characters that are suggested by my followers! It is, after all, something of a subgenre of tabletop gaming content of the web to ponder how to build a character in a system. No doubt you’ve seen videos or read articles like “How to play The Mandalorian in 5e” and such.
On that note, on previous iterations of that, I did Doomguy/Doom Marine/Doom Slayer as well as Samus Aran, but I wrote them long before Starfinder was a thing, so they were Pathfinder build awkwardly trying to ape characters that run around shooting things.
So, I decided that rather than occupy space on the blog doing updated versions of those builds, I’d do it on my Patreon. And now that said post has been public for a few months… We are here, ironically now taking up space on the blog.
Humor aside, I present to you my Starfinder builds for both Doomguy and Samus!
Doomguy, the Doom Marine, or the Doom Slayer. Whatever you call him, he’s a man that has been through literal hell. Originally, he was a simple marine assigned to a research station on Mars, where they were testing teleportation technology. Unfortunately, such extradimensional travel apparently dips into Hell, so soon the base was overwhelmed by fiends and possessed zombies, with our hero as the lone survivor. Since then, he’s been through several adventures, fighting demons on Mars, Earth, their home turf, in an alternate retelling where nobody taught him how to duct tape a flashlight to a gun, and even into an alternate dimension where he fought alongside alien paladins, only to get betrayed and sealed away until he was freed from his prison just in time to fight the battle against Hell and even Heaven in that reality.
And that sheer level of experience, not to mention being supercharged by alien technology into a semi-immortal superhuman, that we will attempt to recreate here.
In my original pathfinder build for the Doom Marine, I went with dwarf for reasons of keeping consistent speed even in heavy armor and equipment. While such speed reduction is a thing, it’s less a factor in Starfinder, as you can just bolt armor upgrades that beef your speed back up in no time. So, for this build, we will assume human even though it’s not super important. If you do pick human though, definitely consider taking up the “Gravity Dweller” alternate ability adjustment suite.
For class, I pondered others, but really the soldier is the best option for representing all the things that ol’ Doomguy is known for. For this build, we will be using the armor storm and the bullet rain fighting styles, preferably armor storm first to potentially benefit from greater mobility in armor at later levels.
In terms of gear boosts, Automatic Expert makes him a master of maintaining a deluge of deadly firepower from automatic weapons, Brutal Blast is useful for a shotgun, as is Bullet Barrage for any and all projectile weaponry, Heavy Onslaught punishes even the most durable foes, Nimble Juggernaut is also essential to this build to increase his agility, Plasma Immolation burns prey, Powerful Explosion ekes out a little more potency from explosive weapons, and Unarmed Mauler is just plain fun for ripping and tearing. Also consider other gear boosts that favor other weapons that you find useful, as the Slayer never turns down a weapon.
Given his origin as an actual marine in his home dimension, I’d recommend taking the career soldier theme.
Doomguy is a mobile foe that is not afraid to fight with both fist and gun at long and close range. As a result, his feats reflect this with choices like Close Combat, Deadly Aim, Diehard, Far Shot, Grappler Pull, Hauler, Improved Unarmed Strike, Mobility, Opening Volley, Penetrating Attack, and Powered Armor Proficiency. Other feats that improve mobility skills might also be valuable as needed.
In terms of equipment, The Hell Walker should be decked out in good heavy or powered armor, with his armor upgrades focusing on mobility enhancement to reflect the inhuman agility with which he moves. Any augmentations should likely focus on improving his physical stats and abilities as well. Where it gets really interesting is his weaponry, which favors heavy weapons, but also includes scatterguns, a big hecking plasma sword, a chainsaw, assault rifle, rapid-fire plasma rifle, and so on. Doomguy does not shy away from any weapon, but for some of his more iconic pieces, I have some recommendations. The classic BFG 9000 is best represented by a plasma cannon or starheart cannon (sadly no arcing effect), while the ballista could be represented by a plasma conqueror. The chaingun is naturally either a machine gun or an X-gen gun. The classic chainsaw could be approximated from a slashing version of the excavation drill, while the doomblade from doom eternal is clearly a retractable spike. The equipment launcher in all of it’s forms can be represented as a grenade launcher or flamethrower bolted to a weapon slot for a power armor. The assault rifle could be any automatic projectile weapon, bonus points if it is also a mazecore weapon that can switch to being a gyrojet rifle, representing the micro-missile upgrade.
While there is no longarm-sized automatic plasma weapon, the heat blast and microwave beam add-ons can be represented by the microfusion rifle and the standard plasma rifle respectively. The Unmayker, on the other hand, is best represented by a plasma array, reflecting the sheer amount of hot plasma the weapon can unleash.
Naturally, the rocket launcher is best represented by the IMDS or Novus missile launcher.
And finally, the classic shotgun and super shotgun is best represented by a scattergun, possibly with a built-in grappler for that sweet Meat Hook.
Beyond guns, consider at least picking up a null-space chamber to hold all these lovely toys.
There are, of course, other ways to build the Doom Slayer. For example, you might swap out one of the combat styles in favor of Wrathful Warrior to represent the rage of the berserk powerup, or blitz to help favor moving and attacking. You might even pick up the divine champion archetype to give them an extra edge against fiends.
Interested in cutting down swaths of enemies? Even if you forgo any other reverence to Doom, this could be a fun build indeed.
Next up, let’s talk about Samus Aran.
Another icon of gaming, the founder of the genre that would come to be known as “Metroidvania”. She was also iconic for being one of the first women in gaming, and moreover, one in a game with themes that were decidedly not “girly”, on account of her being A. A badass bounty hunter in sweet power armor.
And B. in a spooky atmospheric game which has its roots in the likes of the original Alien.
Samus’s parents were killed when space pirates attacked their colony, and almost died herself at the hands of the sadistic Ridley, but ended up being raised by the Chozo, a race of alien bird people who enhanced her with their DNA and trained her in their fighting arts, even gifting her a Chozo Power Suit modified for her human physiology. Since then, she has worked not only with the Galactic Federation, but as a bounty hunter, though honestly, she’s more of a mercenary, rarely if ever actually hunting bounties (Which may have something to do with the fact that Japanese Culture really doesn’t approve of justice coming from outside of authority.) Regardless, she ends up most of the time performing missions which evolve into survival scenarios or even the prophesized destroyer of some great evil.
Now, Samus has finally gotten another classic style game, with another first-person style game in the works, so that’s nice.
What’s interesting about Samus is that her relationship with her armor is very different from the classic ideal of “power armor”. Rather than being cumbersome and bulky, her armor is athletic and agile, especially once given its various mobility upgrades, all of which I will try to reflect here in this build.
For this build, we will go human, though it’s not super necessary. If you do, I’d recommend the Featherlight alternate ability adjustment suite, and the adopted alternate racial trait.
From there, it took a while for me to pin down a class for her, but I finally decided that Samus would be a mechanic with experimental armor. The reason for this being that while she certainly does have many weapons at her disposal which in most games stack on top of each other to create a unique weapon, the focus most of the games have on her upgrading not just her arm cannon, but her entire armor, which with the help of the experimental armor ability, becomes incredibly agile compared to other power armor.
A daughter of colonists, raised by an alien race, working as a soldier, and then as a bounty hunter, Samus certainly qualifies for many themes, but while it is tempting to just give her the bounty hunter theme and call it a day, Samus in fact never truly hunts a bounty on any one specific person in any of the games. She’s more of a mercenary than anything. Honestly the best theme for representing her abilities, in my opinion, is the career trooper theme, granting her several abilities tied to surviving on her own with limited equipment.
Back to the mechanic class, several mechanic tricks prove quite useful for Samus, starting right off with Calibrate Speed to reduce the slowdown of their armor. Energy Shield adds some defense, Visual Data Processor and Nightvision Processor provide greater range of vision, Overcharge and it’s upgraded versions make for a good charge beam analog even on weapons without the boost ability. Bolster Armor and Boost Shield provide added protection, Prototype Tinkerer is useful if you need to completely revise your experimental armor, and so on.
In terms of equipment, your experimental armor lies at the core of this, likely starting out as heavy armor, but moving to powered armor later (typically the more agile and mobile units) and it’s armor upgrades should be drawn from those that upgrade the agility of the armor, such as juggernaut boosters being a good stand-in for the speed booster, as well as those that enhance targeting like the Targeting Computer, quickly reload weapons with Automated Loader, and resist extremes in the environment with Thermal Capacitors. Integrated weapons, while flavored as firing from the same arm cannon, should include things like missile launchers, various energy weapons of different flavors, and so on.
Sadly, there’s no real way to emulate the morph ball in any meaningful way with the armor upgrades. However, cybernetics help flesh out the agility-based abilities that power armor lacks, such as thruster heels for greater leaping, bionic knees for additional acrobatic leaps, the defensive ball graft makes a suitable morph ball substitute, though you cannot move while in that state save for also taking the rolling charge graft, which would replace bionic knees.
While this build assumes power armor, you get a lot more agility-based upgrades in the light and heavy category, which may appeal to you more, though you’ll be forced to either use integrated weapons or expend upgrade slots on weapon mounts unless you are ok with carrying around your guns like a plebian. Beyond this, you might consider picking up the powered armor jockey archetype, or the augmented archetype to get more augmentations. Also consider switching up the theme if that appeals to you.
Looking for a fun agile character with armor that upgrades with them? This build can be a lot of fun even without associating it with the Metroid franchise.
Well, that does it for this entry, and this week of just showing off what I have done on Patreon. Some things like these I eventually make free for everyone, but I hope that these entries were enticing enough that you’d consider supporting in order to see similar stuff early, as well as the stuff that is only available to patrons.
Anyway, thank you all for the love and support you’ve given throughout the years, I hope there will be many to come.
It should come as no surprise to longtime fans of this blog that I love video games just as much as I love traditional tabletop, and I love even more that that two have a long history of influencing the other, with entire genres of game in both mediums being invented to emulate each other in different ways.
Starfinder is no exception here, and it would be foolish to assume that certain elements of the system weren’t influenced by the Metroid franchise, what with it emulating the horror of the Alien franchise and having a protagonist that progressively gets stronger over time (albeit thanks to her equipment rather than “leveling up” per se.
In any case, I decided to do a monster conversion for a classic Metroid alien hailing back from the very first game!
A Dessgeega may leap as part as a charge attack, making an athletics check as part of the movement, and potentially falling after the attack resolves.
Personal Gravity
Dessgeegas have the curious ability to treat down as up and and the reverse, as if under the effects of the reverse gravity variant of a control gravity spell. While in this state, the dessgeega falls upwards, and may walk upside-down and even leap off of inverted surfaces. A dessgeega can turn this ability off or on as a full-round action.
A handful of life forms on the planet Zebes have evolved a body plan centered around a central body with a pair of powerful leaping legs, and one of the strongest is the species native to Norfair known as dessgeegas. Dessgeegas possess an insect-like head complete with mandibles and antennae, as well as armored chitin and spikes on their legs. Like many other zebesian native species sharing this body plan, not only are they powerful leapers, but also possess a curious ability to invert their personal relationship to gravity, allowing them to traverse along the ceilings of their subterranean lava tunnel homes with ease and ambush prey from above.
A hungry dessgeega will attack potential prey by pouncing upon it, often leaping upon a prey creature several times to strike with their taloned feet until they are subdued. However, vexing prey might be subjected to a spray of the silk-like adhesive that dessgeegas typically use to protect their egg sacs, immobilizing them.
The carapace of a dessgeega is extremely tough to deal with the rigors of Norfair’s volcanic environment, which warrants heavier ordinance to defend oneself from them.
While not a part of their normal biology, during the BSL incident, X Parasite-infected/mimicked dessgeegas capable of firing barbs reflexively at foes were spotted, a trait likely developed by the X combining the desgeega form with the DNA of Cacatacs, which do possess that ability.
I might not have the greatest love for Pathfinder 2e, but I recognize that other people enjoy it, so on occasion I want to offer something to fans of 2e that wish to implement elements from 1e into their game.
Today’s subject was my first attempt to do so, a reimagining of the Veiled Blade archetype for Swashbucklers into a style for the second edition of the class! After all, there is definitely merit in having a swashbuckler that can keep on the down low until it is time to dramatically reveal their ruse, often with their blade buried, or at least at the throat, of an enemy.
Veiled Blade Style - Swashbuckler
You might be as brash and daring as any swashbuckler, but your foes won’t know it until it is too late. Through a combination of disguise and concealed weaponry you can infiltrate nearly anywhere under the guise of a noncombatant. You are trained in Stealth and gain the Experienced Smuggler skill feat. You regain panache when you succeed on an attack with a weapon that the foe did not know you were carrying, or whenever you succeed on a skill check or a foe fails a skill check where the end result is the foe not realizing that you are hostile to it. This includes deception checks to lie or impersonate, or stealth checks to conceal a weapon.
Exemplary Finisher
The foe is Clumsy 2 for two rounds
A simple build, but one I hope provides some interesting elements for a player to use in their game.
One of the coolest manga I have read recently was Dungeon Meshi, or “Delicious in Dungeon”, a story about a traditional fantasy universe centering around a party of adventurers exploring the depths of a self-replenishing megadungeon… and finding out how to cook and eat the monsters on the way down.
In honor of that, one of my “pay to see it now, will be free eventually” posts on my Patreon revolved around converting one of my favorite of the early monsters in the series to Pathfinder, the Mimics of Dungeon Meshi, or as I refer to them here “mimic hermits”
Now, fantasy RPGs, jRPGs in particular, all have their own interpretations of the classic mimic as a monster, ranging from being a shapeshifter just like the original, to being a bizarre creature that folds up to look like a treasure chest, to the disturbingly sexy gams on the Mimicuties from Kid Icarus: Uprising, but today’s subject falls into the category of mimics that find a chest or other container and just live in it, ambushing prey that goes poking around inside.
Indeed, the mimic hermit really is just a giant hermit crab that lives on land and hides out in various containers, switching out for new ones as they grow bigger much like their mundane counterparts. Such a combination of real-world animal behavior and classic RPG tropes was incredibly endearing to me, (and the idea of some hot crab meat elicited my hunger response), so I decided to write them up!
Ambush Strike (Ex): A mimic hermit that is currently retracted into its shell container may as an immediate action make two claw attacks against a creature that opens, looks into, or otherwise interacts with its container. This causes the mimic hermit to automatically extend its limbs, as described in the shell container ability., constrict (1d3+6), grab (medium)
Shell Container(Ex): A mimic hermit inhabits a container roughly the same size as itself, which provides it with protection and a place to hide. Regardless of its composition, the container provides a +2 armor bonus to AC. The shell can be sundered and damaged like normal armor, using the hardness and hp of an object of its type. Additionally, a mimic hermit can retract its limbs into its container as a full-round action. In this case its armor bonus increased to +8, it’s speed drops to 0, it gains the freeze universal monster ability to pretend to be an ordinary container, and it cannot attack except with its ambush strike special attack. Extending its limbs again is a standard action. A mimic hermit can also be pulled out of its container with an opposed strength check which the mimic hermit gains a +4 bonus to. A mimic hermit whose container has been removed or destroyed loses its armor bonus to AC and cannot retract its limbs.
Mimic hermits are unusually large hermit crab-like creatures that favor a subterranean lifestyle. Like their mundane kin, they protect their softer rear carapace by wearing protection. In the untamed caverns, these usually take the form of the shells of giant gastropods, but those that find their way into settled subterranean complexes or dungeons are what give these creatures their name. Such mimic hermits often make shells out of containers that they find in such complexes, such as treasure chests, ornate vases, and more.
Mimic hermits are predators, and their preferred method of hunting is to hide within their container shells to ambush prey, and have a knack for remembering exactly how the container was positioned prior to them moving in, helping them keep up the façade. With such a sedentary lifestyle, they can go a very long time without eating, but eventually, they must move on, carrying their shell with them if they can, which is usually the case, as even nailed-down containers can be uprooted by the creature’s surprising strength.
So for this week, I’ve decided to take it a bit easy and work on personal projects, but fear not, I’m not leaving you with nothing. Instead, I’d like to take this week to showcase some of the things I have created off the blog.
Now, some of these thing are things I have posted to my Patreon, but rest assured they are only things that I set to make public after about a month. Items that remain exclusive to my Patreon shall remain so until I create enough to perhaps self-publish something in the future.
Anyway, this first entry is not from my Patreon, but rather a gift I made for friend: a Pathfinder 1e ancestry/race interpretation of itself within the plurality system they are part of. With @dzhukhe ‘s permission, I hereby post this. (Hope you like the lore I extrapolated, let me know if there are changes I need to make!)
Lumin
Blending elements of several insects into one body, the lumin are humanoid insects with four arms, a trio of simple eyes in the middle of their foreheads similar to a mantis alongside their two compound eyes, and elytra like a beetle, as well as a separate abdomen to their thorax, both of which contain redundant internal organs. This last trait reflects another curious trait of theirs: their blend of mammalian traits such as the ability to grow scalp hair.
Hailing from the taiga, mountains, and cool forests, lumins typically live underground, digging out local caves or soil into complex tunnel cities with a keen engineering sense akin to ants, though they are not eusocial in nature, their species having a relatively even distribution of fertile members of any and all genders.
Growing up, lumins only undergo an incomplete metamorphosis, their children being softer, squishier but otherwise true to their adult molt aside from matters of proportion.
According to Lumin beliefs, they were born from the same divine word that gave rise to the greatest of beasts, the mighty divine behemoths, the primordial kaiju, and other titanic beasts like the legendary unique Tane called Leviathan. They even know the individual names of such beasts. To the lumin, these beings are avatars of divine or near-divine will, and though they are often engines of destruction, they are to be revered for their majesty just as much as their wrath is feared. Lumin perhaps have the most encyclopedic body of knowledge when it comes to the origin and behavioral quirks of such beasts as well, making them a useful resource when trying to quell a behemoth or kaiju on the rampage.
Despite revering such massive and destructive creatures, the lumin have no desire for the most part to emulate their more violent aspects. Instead, they live much like any other race, some content to live simple lives, others eager for adventure.
Lumin
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Con, +2 Wis, -2 Dex
Type: Lumins are humanoids of the lumin subtype
Size: Lumin are medium creatures
Speed: 30 ft.
Senses: Lumin possess low-light vision and the scent special ability
Megafauna Affinity: Lumins gain a +2 bonus to Animal Handling and Diplomacy checks to interact with living creatures of huge size or larger
Multi-Armed: A lumin has four arms. One hand is considered its primary hand; all others are considered off hands. It can use any of its hands for other purposes that require free hands.
Natural armor: Lumins have a +2 natural armor bonus to AC
Redundant Organs: Once per day, when a Lumin is hit by an attack that is a critical threat, the Lumin may force the attacker to roll twice and take the lower result when rolling to confirm the critical hit.
Languages: Common, Lumin. Lumins with high intelligence scores can choose from the following bonus languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, Terran
Alternate Racial Traits:
Flight: Lumin with this racial trait have larger wings under their elytra, and have a fly speed of 30 feet with clumsy maneuverability. This replaces Megafauna Affinity
