New Half-Elf Racial Trait: Near to the Wild

As I already said once, half-elves are naturals when it comes to taking Eldritch Heritage feats, since they gain Skill Focus as a bonus feat at 1st level. However, there are other feat chains they would benefit of. So here’s another alternate option to take in place of adaptability.

New Half-Elf Alternate Racial Trait
Near To the Wild: Half-elves raised in the woods are inclined to love and protect nature. Half-elves with this racial trait receive Nature Soul as a bonus feat at 1st level. This racial trait replaces the adaptability racial trait.

New Exits: The Impassioned Witch

Backers of the Book of Passion just received their exclusive PDF “The Impassioned Witch”. In it, I take my character created for Marena Lenoire, Talented Witch and change it a little using the Book of Passion rules. In addition, there is a new section about the character’s love life and a new erotic illustration by Jacob Blackmon.

Two other Impassioned characters will be out just for backers, as the Talented Adventurers line goes on. I bet those of you who pledged feel a little lucky now?...

New Feat: Curve Blade Elegance

Here’s a feat for elven magi that I think many desired.

Curve Blade Elegance (Combat)
You learned to use a curve blade with supreme grace, without hindering your spellcasting.
Prerequisites: Dex 17, proficiency in the elven curve blade, elf.
Benefit: You treat an elven curve blade as a one-handed martial weapon for all purposes. You can still choose to wield a curve blade as a two-handed weapon. When you use spell combat with a curve blade in one hand, you can ignore the -2 penalty to weapon attacks.

The Experimenter Herbalist Ranger (again)

Do you remember my Talented Experimenter Herbalist Ranger from a while ago? I continued to tinker with the idea and made it into a regular archetype for Pathfinder. Now my friend's Ranger/Skald alcoholic character can really kick ass.

Experimenter Herbalist

Some rangers deepen the study of herbal remedies and learn no create strange concoctions, making experiments both on themselves and their animal companions.

Class Skills: An experimenter herbalist adds Craft (alchemy)  to his list of class skills instead of Knowledge (dungeoneering). This alters the ranger’s class skills.

Animal Companion Ex): An experimenter herbalist receives his animal companion at 1st level. His effective druid level to determine his companion’s abilities is equal to his ranger level. This replaces the first favored enemy and hunter’s bond.

Brew Potion (Ex): At 4th level, an experimenter  herbalist gains Brew Potion as a bonus feat. He can brew potions of any formulae he knows (up to 3rd level), using his effective alchemist level as his caster level. The spell must be one that can be made into a potion. The experimenter herbalist does not need to meet the prerequisites for this feat. This replaces the first favored terrain.

Experimental Beast (Ex): At 4th level, an experimental herbalist must choose an animal companion for his hunter’s bond. The experimenter herbalist’s companion is often the first subject chosen to try his herbal concoctions. At 11th level, the experimental herbalist gains the Monstrous Companion feat as a bonus feat. This modifies hunter’s bond and replaces quarry.

Extracts: At 4th level, an experimenter herbalist can create extracts, as an alchemist does. The experimenter herbalist has an effective alchemist level equal to his ranger level -4, and never gains extracts of 5th level or higher. In addition, he receives bonus extracts per day if he has a high Wisdom score, in the same way a wizard receives bonus spells per day. To learn or use an extract, an experimenter must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the extract’s level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an experimenter herbalist’s extract is 10 + the extract level + the experimenter herbalist’s Wisdom modifier.

At 4th level an experimenter herbalist gains two 1st level formulae of his choice, selected from the alchemist’s extract list, plus a number of additional formulae equal to his Wisdom modifier. He gains formulae as an alchemist does, and an alchemist and an experimenter herbalist may learn from one another’s formulae books. This otherwise works exactly like the alchemist’s extract class feature. This replaces the ranger’s spellcasting ability.

Mutated Companion (Ex): At 5th level, the experimenter herbalist’s animal companion begins to show the effects of exposure to alchemical fumes and potions. The ranger can apply 1 evolution point to his animal companion. At 10th, 15th, and 20th level the experimenter herbalist gains 1 more evolution point and can spend these points to change his companion’s abilities. If the animal companion is replaced, the new companion gains these points. This replaces the second to fifth favored enemies.

Discoveries: At 8th, 13th, and 18th level, the experimenter herbalist selects an alchemist discovery. He treats his ranger level as his alchemist level for the purpose of gaining and using these discoveries. He uses Wisdom instead of Intelligence for the purpose of determining the discoveries’ effects. The experimenter herbalist can also select the Bomber rogue talent in place of a discovery. This replaces the second to fourth favored terrains.

Herbal Components: At 11th level, the experimenter  herbalist gains Herbal Components as a bonus feat. He does not need to meet the prerequisites for this feat. This replaces quarry.

Master Herbalist (Ex): At 20th level, an experimenter herbalist can always move at full speed while using Survival to follow tracks without penalty. In addition, he gains an alchemist grand discovery. This modifies master hunter.

New Exits: The Culinary Magic Cookbook

The Culinary Magic Cookbook for Flaming Crab Games is out! I was proud to work on this expansion for one of their more successful books, and put in all my favored recipes. Next will be the Culinary Characters Options, so stay with us!

Fiction: The End of the Story

My first love was poetry, the second one was fiction. I still hope to be able to publish some fantasy novel someday.
In the meanwhile, here's a short story about my oracle that didn't make it in Wayfinder.

The End of the Story

“So our ways part here”, said the dwarf, deadly calm, while the grinding stone secret door slowly lowered between her and the human woman. “You’re out of spells, and I’m taking your spellbook with me just in case”. She waved it in her hand. “And however, the seals in this chamber block all arcane magic. This is farewell”.

“Chthoriane…” begged Pearl, struggling to get up from the floor. “I thought we were friends!”

“We were NEVER friends. We just had a common interest. You know nothing about me”. The dwarf spat. “And I sure didn’t know enough about you. There is plenty of loot to find in these old ruins, if one dares to take it. But you had to go and ruin everything for some old book!”

“But…” tried Pearl. “It isn’t just any old book! This magic library could have belonged to the Great Father Bard himself! The only proof that The Noble Prince and His Companions ever really existed could be in here! The unknown end of their story! That’s more precious than any treasure! I thought that you wanted to know as much as me! Aren’t you a bard too?”

“Who told you?” said the other woman, ironic. “Here’s another proof that you don’t know me. I’m not a bard. I’m a rogue. And neither you are, lady wizard. And sure I’m not so stupid to put my life at stake for some old tale. A nice tale, sure enough. A pretty child’s tale. But just that. It never was more than that. Only fools like you really believe to legends. And I’m not renouncing all this gold just for a legend and a fool. The Noble Prince is just a name on a piece of paper. And out there is the REAL world. A world for real, grown-up people, unlike you. Good staying in the world of books and dreams, Pearl. Let’s see how long you can eat and drink dreams before starving”.

The last chink clanged close. Echoing footsteps strayed in the distance, climbing up the stairs.

And the exhausted wizard was left alone in the vast underground chamber, surrounded by books. And she cried.

So here was the end of her quest. She would die here alone. And worst of all- she would never KNOW.

That story- that legend- it was the only thing to save her life when she was a lonesome child all wrapped up in her studies. When the other students laughed at her, bullied her, she could refuge in that old bard’s verses and find herself in company of friends. Heroes. That could fail, but never surrendered. That never forgot to smile and always got up after a defeat. And that eventually won. They reminded her that there were still good people in the world. That the world deserved another try.

She had to come here. She had to try finding the proof of their existence. And the fabled last volume left behind by the Great Father Bard, which nobody ever had read… she HAD to know how the story ended.

But now, her own story was to end first.

She had trusted that adventurer known by chance, one day, in a tavern. She seemed to share her enthusiasm for the ancient legend, to believe the clues indicating that the Bard’s last fabled manuscript could be in a lost city in the desert, half buried in the sands. Pearl had never known anyone willing to talk with her about her passion before. She had believed to have found a friend, a kindred soul. Pearl never was much of an adventurer -she barely had put her nose outside of home in her life- and it was good to think she could rely on someone who knew what she was about.

They had travelled together for months up to here, and Pearl never ceased to voice her fancies about the wonders waiting for them in the Great Father Bard’s last residence, but most of all, about the story of the heroes itself. They were more than characters, they were like friends to her. Discovering that they really had existed would have been the greatest joy of her life. Sometimes, she almost thought to hear their voices when she was alone in the dark-

She should have noticed how the dwarf became colder and more silent day by day. How she seemed annoyed by her childish ramblings. But Pearl had never been very good at understanding people. Just books and magic.

And when they finally found the ruins, right where the ancient papers said they would be- well, her companion was expecting something else from the place. That was clear now. She resented having had to fight wandering monsters, slides and traps just to find the library. She wanted something more concrete than paper and verses. Maybe she would find it elsewhere in the city. Maybe not. The wizardess would never have known.

Pearl eventually struggled to her feet. Maybe Chthoriane’s treason was a proof too. A proof that the world didn’t deserve the effort. Better to let out her last breath surrounded by the only friends that had never betrayed her: books.

She wandered the huge chamber, once again admiring the number and beauty of the ancient volumes, the golden ribs and brilliant colors. If the Great Bard read those same lines, stroke those same papers, maybe it was worthy to die in that buried palace for this alone. If only she could have known him. If only…

A lectern under a lightwell attracted her attention.

A great scratchpad was open on it, illuminated by a thin, dusty sunray that somehow had made its hard way all down here. An old quill laid near it on the table, as if just deposed while the writer went out for a minute. Pearl neared the book as magnetized.

And her heart leapt.

This was the Great Father Bard’s handwriting. She recognized it. So he had been here! She knew it had to be true! But there was more…

Trembling, she began turning the pages. Her blood started to fizzle. This was the book she had searched for. The book Chthoriane didn’t believe in.

The Noble Prince and His Companions really had existed! It was all written here! She knew all their stories by memory but this was the story she never had read before, the story nobody ever had read. Pearl lost herself in the verses, forgetting her captivity, her incoming death. How the Bard met them. How he travelled with them and witnessed all their mighty deeds. And in the end, how he faced together with them their most terrible enemy…

The last leaf was blank. Pearl’s singing heart sank. So it was true. The Great Father couldn’t complete his final work. She would have died happy knowing the truth. But how could she die so... unsatisfacted?

And then, her hand moved by its own.

Pearl stared blankly as her hand took the quill from the table, laying it on the paper. Ink seemed to drip from the point, coming from nowhere. She would have shrieked, but her voice stood still in her throat- while her hand started to write, by its own volition, in the Great Bard’s handwriting. A word after another. A line after another…

The end of the story!

How it really had to end!

Did the Great Bard... or maybe his work itself... choose her to finish what he couldn’t?

Her eyes devoured the words she herself was writing, eagerly, up to the last one. And then she signed, with her own name- and another…

And the last drops of ink sparkled and dispersed in the air, brightened by a ray of light from the well.

And there they were. In a mist of a million images and colors.

The Noble Prince and His Companions. Smiling. Beautiful. Ironic. Funny. In their colorful, bright armors. All around her, looking at her.

Pearl’s cheeks were moist with tears. “If I’m dying”, she said, “I don’t care”.

“You won’t die”, said the Wise Seer Maiden, smiling. “You believed in us, and that’s why you could find the way”.

“So was it the Great Father Bard? Did he send you to me?”

“Maybe”, said the Master of Masks, with a smirk. “Or maybe it was your own heart to create us”.

“Thank you”, added the Young Sage, “for giving us the chance to come back in this world”.

The wizardess didn’t know what to think. And she didn’t care. “Stay with me, please”, she begged. “Stay with me… forever”.

“We will stay”. The Prince gave a nod. “Look”. And he pointed to where the Half-Giant Warden was heaving up the heavy secret door again- or maybe it was raising of its own, sensing something that was not arcane power.

“If you want… we can stay with you forever. Even if we could be a… little nuisance sometimes. And you will stay with us one day. Now go. Go tell the world our last story…”

New Monk Weapon: Kiseru (iron pipe)

Here's an exotic weapon for sensei monks that already appeared on the Paizo boards.

Kiseru
Price 6 gp; Type light; Proficiency exotic; Damage (M) 1d4; Damage (S) 1d3; Critical x2; Weapon Groups close, hammers, monk; Weight 2 lbs.
Qualities Concealed (1), Improved Damage (1), Tool (smoking pipe) (0), Weapon Feature (disarm, monk) (4)

Bestiary: Giant Cat

Giant cats are not the same as lions or tigers. They retain a housecat's personality in a body much larger. So they deserved a bestiary entry all for them. ^_^

Giant Cat CR 3

XP 800

N Large magical beast

Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +5

Defense

AC 15, touch 13, flat-footed 12 (+4 Dex, +2 natural, –1 size)

hp 30 (4d10+8)

Fort +6, Ref +8, Will +2

Offense
Speed 40 ft.

Melee 2 claws +7 (1d6+3 plus grab), bite +7 (1d8+3)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

Special Attacks playful, pounce, rake (2 claws +7, 1d6+3)

Statistics

Str 16, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 10

Base Atk +4; CMB +9 (+13 grapple); CMD 23 (27 vs. trip)

Feats Agile Maneuvers, Weapon Finesse

Skills Climb +13, Perception +5, Stealth +8; Racial Modifiers +4 Climb, +4 Stealth

Languages Common (cannot speak)

Ecology

Environment temperate and hot plains or urban

Organization solitary, pair, or family (2–6)

Treasure none

Special Abilities

Oddly Agile (Ex): A giant cat adds its Dexterity modifier to Climb skill checks rather than its Strength modifier.

Playful (Ex): Whenever a giant cat grabs a creature, it can choose not to inflict any damage to it in a round. When it uses its rake ability on a grappled creature, it can choose to inflict double the listed damage as nonlethal damage.

Created by magic, giant cats most often haunt old castles or isolated forests, or are the companions of humorous rangers and spellcasters.

Cohort Level: 6

New Animal Focus: Panther

I just added a note to my Nature Mage in order to make it compatible with spontaneous-casting magus archetypes. And since a magus with this archetype may gain Totemic Beast as a bonus feat, here's a new hunter animal focus that my 8yo could like. Any hunter can replace one of her animal foci with this.

New Animal Focus

Panther: The creature gains a +4 competence bonus on Stealth checks. This bonus increases to +6 at 8th level and +8 at 15th level.

New Animal Companion: Giant Falcon

I struggled for a lot of time to give my eldest boy the nature-electric-tank type of character he wanted. I changed my perspective a lot of times as he grew up and changed his own- but a lot of good stuff came out of it.
This is one of the latest bit. This new beast is adapted from the Tome of Horrors' giant falcon statistics.

Giant Falcon Animal Companion

Starting Statistics: Size Medium; Speed 10 ft., fly 80 ft. (average); AC +3 natural armor; Attack 2 talons (1d4), bite (1d6); Ability Scores Str 11, Dex 15, Con 9, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 7; Special Attacks rend; Special Qualities low-light vision, scent.

7th-Level Advancement: Size Large; Attack 2 talons (1d6), bite (1d8); Ability Scores Str +8, Dex -2, Con +4.

New Exits: The Book of Passion

Ok, I am particularly proud of this.
It took seven years to me and my friend Will Wells to write the most part of this gigantic manual, find an editor, and be published. It all started with a thread on the Paizo boards, where Will tried to create an Oracle of Calistria soon after the Advanced Player's Guide was released. I answered the thread and threw my ideas in. We started to phantasize together about empassioned characters.
I already had had some contacts and little paid jobs for Owen Stephens. I thought to send him our manuscript. He proposed it to Christina Stiles, who had an idea for a Kickstarter. And here we are.
The Book of Passion for Misfit Studios is out. Are we doing RPGs'  history? I wouldn't imagine that I would have ended to co-author the first serious attempt at writing a manual with sex rules after The Book of Erotic Fantasy. Still, it seems like it will be the first one of a whole "Passionate rules" book series!
I read some of this material again now and think "aaargh, what was I thinking?" Then I read some other bit and think "wow, neat! I hope someone likes this!"
Will has become a good friend, and is also a great mini painter and an exquisite erotic fantasy writer. We both are delighted to see our baby finally born. So read this if you wish, and make us know if you liked it!

New Elven Feat: Eldritch Warden

I'm happy that my Nature Mage was appreciated! So I will post more things for him. As I already said to some of you on Facebook, my idea was to render the archetype viable for the Nature Warden prestige class. So my elven beauty will need this feat.

Eldritch Warden
Your arcane abilities are devoted to protect nature.
Prerequisites: Ability to cast arcane spells, elf.
Benefit: You add all summon nature’s ally spells to your arcane spell list. Your arcane spellcasting qualifies in place of divine casting for the nature warden prestige class, and you may increase spellcasting in your arcane class as you progress in nature warden levels. If you have the Attuned to the Wild and Mage of the Wild feats, those count as the favored terrain ability for all prerequisites.