#I think I used 16 frames here. 7 unique ones. and 12 frames per second

[lluu50]

VD: GIF of two simple digitally animated eyes blinking, first together, then one at a time. End VD.

[monstersdownthepath]

Spiritual Spotlight: Hanspur, the Water Rat (and Ashkaelae)

Chaotic Neutral God of Rivers, River Travel, and Smugglers

Domains: Chaos, Death, Travel, Water Subdomains: Exploration, Murder, Rivers, Trade

Inner Sea Faiths, pg. 58~63

Obedience: With the assistance of another priest of Hanspur or by yourself, simulate the act of drowning. You can do this by fully submerging yourself in a body of water, exhaling all of your breath, and painfully inhaling water instead of air. Alternatively, you can lie on your back with your head at a lower elevation than your legs while water is slowly poured on your face and up your nose. If you choose the latter method, you must cover your face with a cloth while the water is poured. When you conclude this simulated drowning, contemplate your life and how your goals coincide with the teachings of Hanspur and the Six River Freedoms. Benefit: You gain a +4 sacred or profane bonus on Survival checks attempted while on or near rivers.

Just reading this makes my sinuses burn and my lungs itch, and not just because it’s springtime and I have allergies! As anyone who’s ever been in a body of water large enough to slap their face with a wave can attest to, inhaling large amounts of water sucks. While this Obedience requires only one wet breath, some... well, some pretty severe complications can arise from it, if your DM ponders even slightly what doing this to yourself every day would do. Dry drowning and secondary drowning are both real dangers from brief immersion, let alone concentrated efforts at simulating one of the worst fates someone can experience (I say this a lot but basically anything that deprives you of air is pretty terrible). The ‘simulation’ will likely only last a few seconds while the rest of the hour is spent recovering from your experience and meditating, but even that may not be enough to offset the fluid likely building up in your lungs. Priests of Hanspur must sound atrocious, coughing themselves ragged every day! No wonder it’s recommended your ritual is overseen by another priest, either, because they’d likely be skilled in helping you manage your symptoms.

Dangers of daily drownings aside, keeping up with the demands of this ritual is pretty easy so long as you’re somewhere with easy access to water. In Hanspur’s homelands, the River Kingdoms, this is pathetically simple! Everywhere else? It’s a lot harder! While I do appreciate that there’s a secondary ritual you can do if total immersion is impossible, but what happens if you’re stuck somewhere with no easy water access? Your waterskins won’t carry you for very long, even if you pilfer them from your party as well. Better invest in a Decanter of Endless Water! Or do something ridiculous like fill the party’s Bag of Holding up so you can just hop in and out whenever you need to.

That benefit is also the weakest I’ve seen in a long time, granting a bonus to only a single skill type and only while near rivers. Survival checks aren’t even all that commonly made, unless your DM is kind enough to let you use Survival to navigate with river rafts rather than Profession or Ride checks. Hanspur really doesn’t want his faithful straying too far from the River Kingdoms, which is only further exacerbated by how his Boons work, so if you’re not the type to linger near rivers you may just want to skip him entirely.

Boons are gathered slowly, typically obtained when a given character has 12, 16, and 20 hit dice. Unlike fiend-worshipers, servants of the Eldest, and devoted of the Empyreal Lords, characters worshiping Neutral gods do not have catch-all classes… but Neutral-aligned characters can enter the Evangelist, Sentinel, and Exalted Prestige Classes earlier than Evil characters, classing in as early as level 6 (they need +5 BAB, 5 ranks in a single skill, or the ability to cast lvl 3 spells); entered ASAP, one can gain the Boons at levels 8, 11, and 14. 

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EVANGELIST

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Boon 1: River Sage. Gain Hydraulic Push 3/day, River Whip 2/day, or Hydraulic Torrent 1/day.

Hydraulic Push and Hydraulic Torrent live in the same niche of “giant water spouts what push stuff around,” with Torrent being obviously an order of magnitude more powerful than Push. While Push has a range of Close and can target only a single creature or square, Torrent is a 60ft line that Bull Rushes or attempts to destroy everything it encounters, so it really depends on if you’re thinking you’ll need three small streams or one really, really big one. Notably, Torrent can Bull Rush targets of any size, unrestricted by the limits of your pathetic frame, while Push contains no such limiter removal and thus likely means you can only blast creatures up to a size larger than you.

Also of note, Torrent attempts to shatter everything it comes into contact with until it runs into something or someone it cannot destroy or push past. The Strength score the Torrent uses is equal to your caster level plus your casting ability modifier, meaning it will start out barely stronger than you are but will eventually be able to punch holes in iron and shatter stone. Hell, with a lucky roll, it may be able to do that anyway. Your choice on which two to take wholly depends on if you want to push three Medium critters around or launch one Colossal one.

What? River Whip? I don’t see any spell like that here! Lets move on! (alright alright; i just don’t like it. it’s good as an emergency weapon but more or less anything else is better in any scenario)

Boon 2: River Scion. As a free action you can breathe underwater, as if affected by Water Breathing, for a number of hours per day equal to the number of Hit Dice you possess. These hours need not be used consecutively, but must be used in 1-hour increments.

A disappointingly weak Boon. Really, what else is there to see or say? If you need to go underwater, this ability is great and has zero downsides. If you don’t, this Boon doesn’t exist. It’s a very binary Boon that relies on your environment, which means that if you’re overjoyed if you’ve remained in the River Kingdoms, but in a desert or jungle or mountain peak, you’re going to be extremely disappointed upon hitting level 11.

Boon 3: River’s Embodiment. 1/day as a standard action, you can transform yourself into a Huge water elemental, as per Elemental Body IV. You can stay in this form for 1 minute per Hit Die you possess, and can dismiss this effect as a free action.

Finally, a transformation ability that doesn’t suck! What does suck is that this is a level 7 spell being granted to you 1/day, when other Boons are equivalent to level 9 spells in power. Hanspur could have at least given you a little bonus on top of it, or made it 2/day, but it’s hard to complain about the force you become under Elemental Body IV. You become immune to bleed, critical hits, Sneak Attacks, and on top of it all get insurmountable DR 5, and the stack of stats you get? Mmmm-mm! Chef’s kiss!

+6 AC, +8 Con, +4 Str, all for the price of -2 Dex (more than made up for with the +AC). And, of course, a swim speed and the power to collapse yourself into a destructive Vortex, but those are only useful if you’re in water, while the rest of the stat buffs are far more universally useful. You’re not exactly the destructive and terrifying Fire Elemental or the deceptively sneaky Earth Elemental, but a wall of surging water can still wreak all manner of havoc on your enemies, your new dual slams able to smash ships (and bones) to pieces, and since Water Elementals are capable of speech and gesture, you can merely bask in your new tank stats while still casting spells.

There’s also the much more amusing but niche use of transforming while already polymorphed by a hostile effect, as having a new polymorph effect used on you while you’re already changed can end the first automatically.

While I wish the effect was usable more often, or at least broken into 1-minute increments, I can’t call it a bad Boon by any means.

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EXALTED

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Boon 1: River Guide. Gain Obscuring Mist 3/day, Haunting Mists2/day, or Aqueous Orb 1/day.

I love the name of this ability because two of the three spells do the opposite of guiding people. Now I’m a big fan of Obscuring Mist; it’s a simple staple in my list for almost every caster I make just because of how versatile it is! But now that I know there’s an alternative, it may have competition. Both Obscuring Mist and Haunting Mists do roughly the same thing, but one could argue that Haunting Mists does it better; in addition to granting concealment and shutting off an enemy’s eyes, it deals 1d2 Wisdom damage and shakes up anyone starting their turn inside the mist... But as a Figment spell with the Fear descriptor, there are a great many creatures immune to its unique power, and True Seeing allows one to see through it perfectly, whereas Obscuring Mist remains impenetrable to the apex predator of the Illusion school.

While it cannot be dispelled by wind or motion like a tangible fog, it’s important to note that there’s no way to protect specific creatures from the sanity-damaging effects of Haunting Mists, and its casting distance of 20ft and 20ft spread means that you will likely always be caught in its radius. The range means using it offensively is painfully limited, unless you want to cast it from invisibility after sneaking into the middle of an enemy formation, which... you probably, definitely don’t want to make a habit of.

It’s great for covering your retreat, but not your advance or setup like the normal Mist is.

Aqueous Orb is a good choice if your party is getting screwed over by the mist more than the enemy, creating a big ol’ 10ft ball of water that intercepts and engulfs anything that moves into it, or which it moves into. It deals 2d6 nonlethal damage whenever it rams into a creature and a further 2d6 to everything it has engulfed each round, but the damage isn’t so much the main draw as the fact it’s a massive, roving Sphere of Grappling, snaring and drowning any creature it manages to get ahold of if they fail the Reflex save. It’s a fun little spell that’s great for mopping up and controlling minions, especially ones you don’t actually want to kill, and even at its worst it can become a makeshift barrier in a narrow hallway since there’s no written way to actually move through it beyond wasting 2, 3, or more rounds by slamming into it and swimming through to the other side while your party books it in the other direction.

Boon 2: River Traveler. As a free action, you can grant yourself and any allies within 30 feet of you a swim speed of 60 feet. This effect lasts for 1 round per Hit Die you possess or until you dismiss it as a free action, whichever comes first. Your allies must remain within 30 feet of you or lose this benefit. In addition, you gain a +2 profane or sacred bonus on saves against spells with the Water descriptor.

See, this should have been added to River Scion as a bonus. River Scion and River Traveler feel like they could have combined into a single Boon to make something decent, but as it is they both fall into the same niche: Solves the encounter they’re meant to solve, useless otherwise. This ability is noteworthy for having no restrictions about how many times it can be used, essentially letting you switch swimming off and on at will. The fact it doesn’t take an action is incredibly important, because using the massive 60ft swim speed the ability grants actually removes the bonus, as getting further than 30ft from you makes it fizzle.

I don’t really understand why it would grant 60ft of movespeed if they’re restricted to a 30ft bubble, nor do I understand the purpose of the bubble in the first place. It makes exploration a slog, and escape scenarios more finicky than they should be. Since it can be activated whenever you need to as a free action, the duration feels unneeded. There’s so much about this ability that conflicts with itself that it bugs me too much to say much in the way of positives. The +2 to saves vs Water spells is a fun little ribbon, though most Water spells tend to be harmless utility spells rather than ones you’d need to make a save against.

Boon 3: River’s Depths. 1/day as a standard action, you can cause one creature within 30 feet to begin drowning, filling its lungs with water. The target of this ability can attempt a Fortitude save (DC = 10 + 1/2 your HD + your Wis mod) to negate the effect. If the target succeeds, it is staggered for 1 round. If it fails, the target immediately begins to suffocate. On the target’s next turn, it falls unconscious and is reduced to 0 hit points. One round later, the target drops to –1 hit points and is dying. One round after that, the target dies. Each round, the target can attempt a Fortitude save to end the effect. This ability affects only living creatures that must breathe and cannot breathe underwater. This is a curse effect.

Now this one’s just insulting, being a technically weaker version of a level 5 spell, Suffocation. It’s weaker in four ways: 1) It fails against creatures which are amphibious which, if you’re in the River Kingdoms, is many. 2) It’s curse effect, which can mean some creatures are resistant or immune to it. 3) It has a 30ft range, unlike Suffocation’s range of Close (25ft + 5ft/level). And, finally, 4) Just ONE successful save ends the effect entirely, while Suffocation continues to torment and stagger the victim for 3 rounds until its effects finally expire.

It’s hard to ignore fact that it’s a basically a Save-Or-Die with excellent DC scaling, but I can’t get over it being weaker than an existing level 5 spell! ... Granted, Suffocation could probably get away with being bumped an extra level or two higher given how frighteningly effective it is at shutting down any creature who needs to breathe even if they succeed their save. I’m probably slamming down too hard on an ability that, again, is a Save-Or-Die at best and an unavoidable stagger at worst (good for making some emergency repairs against a powerful full-attacker), and for extra fun can be used without any components involved, so you can just drop it on someone out of the blue and they’ll have no idea who just tried to kill them. While I am disappointed it doesn’t meet the power of other Boons, it’s undeniably effective against a large portion of the creatures you’ll be fighting, even at 1/day.

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SENTINEL

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Boon 1: River Warden. Gain Wave Shield 3/day, Masterwork Transformation 2/day, or Quench 1/day.

Wave Shield is one of those rare spells that are amazing to have, but not especially good to prepare or to waste a precious Spells Known slot on. It’s an immediate action spell that grants insurmountable DR and Fire Resistance equal to half your caster level in response to a single incoming attack, which isn’t stupendous at low levels but is a generous equivalent to immediate, on-demand temporary HP as you get higher and higher level. If a creature relies on a lot of little hits rather than a few big ones, blocking even one of them can save you in the long run, and if your DR cancels out the damage from a poisoned or diseased attack, all the better!

It’s not an especially strong spell given how it only works once before fading away, but it’s better than the other two options by a country mile. Masterwork Transformation is something you’ll rarely need more than a few times in a campaign before masterwork items fall into your laps (or you can simply buy them), and by the time you gain this ability it will likely no longer matter. That being said, if you’re in a low-wealth campaign or have been forced to scavenge for your gear, Masterwork Transformation will save you THOUSANDS of gp over the course of your life, because as a spell-like, the material components are ignored and thus you can slowly upgrade your entire party’s armaments for free. Given its ability to affect a generous 50 pieces of ammunition per casting as well means the Ranger and Gunslinger will adore you, and you can work in tandem with a mystic craftsman (PC or otherwise) to get all of your favorite gear enchanted without discarding your precious family heirloom sword for that masterwork one you looted.

Not to mention the simple joy in taking all the gear off a bandit clan, Masterworking all of it, and selling it for a tidy profit.

Compared to the combat utility of Wave Shield and noncombat utility of Masterwork Transformation, it’s hard to make a case for Quench, which falls into the category of ‘niche spell’ like Water Breathing and Water Walking in that it will instantly solve a handful of scenarios and be utterly useless in the rest. Yes, you may need to put out a forest fire or stop a building you’re in from burning to a crisp, but you’ll have to decide if it’s worth giving up three emergency DR 4/-- and Fire Resistance 4 bandages... as the martial-focused Sentinel. If you plan on fighting a fire that day or encountering a magic item that can generate fires (which Quench shuts off for 1d4 hours) and no one else in your party bothered learning Quench, by all means, but as the Sentinel having the DR is probably better in most cases.

Boon 2: River Champion. 3/day as a standard action, you can sculpt water into the form of a melee weapon that you are proficient with. You must have enough water to form the weapon, an amount equal to the weapon’s normal weight. Once formed, the weapon behaves as a weapon of its type with an enhancement bonus of +1, which increases by 1 for every 5 additional HD you have beyond 5 (max +4). This weapon deals double damage to creatures with the Fire subtype. The weapon dissolves into ordinary water after a number of rounds equal to your HD or as soon as it leaves your hand, whichever happens first.

Boons which call weapons to your hand are alright in cases where your signature weapon has been taken from you, and by the time you receive this ability you will have a signature weapon, but such times tend to come few and far between. This one also has the additional caveat that you don’t actually create the weapon from nowhere, there must already be water around to make it, at least enough water to match the weapon’s typical weight. The good news is that a gallon of water weighs about 8 pounds, and a trident--Hanspur’s holy weapon--weighs only 4, with most other weapons barely ever approaching 10, so you can reasonably carry around an emergency weapon in a waterskin or in your backpack... And you know, now that I think about it, it’s kind of cool to be able to turn a glass of water into a dagger.

But when will you need to? How often do you find yourself bereft of a usable weapon often enough to need an emergency armament like this? I can see the niche in front of me, making a new weapon as-needed against creatures whose DR makes them difficult to damage with your normal gear or taking advantage of that delicious little tidbit about doing double-damage to fire-based creatures, but they take your whole standard action to make and last for only a single combat (if that), and you can’t even shuffle around the +1 bonuses for additional effects!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s by no means bad (unless you’re both in a waterless area and haven’t filled your waterskin), especially at 3/day, but I can’t help but wonder when you’d actually need it at level 11+ when you likely already have a primary weapon and several backups. 

Boon 3: River’s Renewal. When completely submerged in water, you gain Fast Healing 2. You can recover a total number of hit points equal to twice your HD in this manner each day. At 20 HD, if you fall below 0 hit points and your body is fully submerged in a river, you automatically stabilize.

As a final Boon, I wish the Fast Healing had a higher threshold than just 28 points a day (+2 per level). In combat it likely won’t matter, and while out of combat it’s a decent amount of healing, usually enough to spare a couple spell slots from your healers or some potions, it’s just not all that impressive for a third and final Boon. Sentinels are the only followers of Hanspur who don’t get some method to easily navigate the seas, so taking advantage of this Boon to its fullest extent relies on an outside method of gaining water breathing or a swim speed.

Funnily enough, you can carry around a Bag of Holding filled with water and use it as a recuperative pod in case you don’t have access to a deep puddle, which is dubiously useful but not entirely terrible. HOWEVER, the little addition at the end is also a kick in the teeth; why does that only happen at level 20? Why can’t that be a base part of the Boon? It’s just insul--Wait, it only works if you’re submerged in a river, too? You can’t stabilize with some good old pond water? The mighty ocean? Can’t take a dip in a bathtub to stop bleeding out? Come on, Hanspur!!! Be a little more generous to your worshipers!

I dunno, maybe I’m underselling the out-of-combat healing this Boon offers, but it just doesn’t feel worth it to put up with the Water Rat for your entire adventuring career just for an extra 1/8th of an HP bar.

You can read more about him here.

[monstersdownthepath]

Spiritual Spotlight: Trelmarixian, the Lysogenic Prince

Neutral Evil Horseman of Famine

Domains: Earth, Evil, Madness, Weather Subdomains: Daemon, Decay, Insanity, Seasons

The Complete Book of the Damned, pg. 98~99

Obedience: Abstain from eating or drinking until you begin feeling pangs of hunger. Spend just under an hour meditating on this state, then spend the remaining time gorging yourself on any substance within reach, even if it’s not entirely suitable as food, such as soil, ash, or garbage. Benefit: Gain a +4 profane bonus on saving throws against effects that cause exhaustion, fatigue, nausea, or sickness.

That’s a REAL beefy benefit that gives you a generous bonus to avoiding some of the more crippling status effects in the game (nausea and exhaustion), which also comes in handy for making saves against whatever horrible substances you shovel into your craw after you decide you’ve suffered enough and rapidly begin consuming everything you can get your grimy little mitts on. Tex Mex Ian is the first of the Horsemen we’ll see in End Of The World Month: Ride of the Four, and his Obedience really sets the stage for how agonizing all of the Obediences for the Four Horsemen are going to be.

This Obedience is one of the harder ones to perform when compared to many others we’ve reviewed so far or will review in the future, as it requires a lot of setup. First off, depending on your metabolism you’ve got to go without eating or drinking for anywhere from 10 hours to a full day in order to begin actually feeling the level of hunger Trill Maracas wants you to suffer, so that gluttonous feast you gorge on at the end of the Obedience? That’s probably going to be the only meal you’ll eat until you next begin your Obedience, aside from the occasional berry or single mouthful of water.

If you don’t want to actually begin suffering the penalties of starvation, you’ll probably also have to set yourself out a feast before you begin your Obedience, too. If not a feast, then something to keep you from actually starving for the coming day while you pack the rest of your stomach full to bursting with handfuls of grass clippings and dirt. Trail Mix’s Obedience requires you to keep yourself on the edge of starvation at all times, and the benefit makes you better at handling it. At the very least, it’s an easy Obedience to keep hidden from snoopy folks; you can cover your worship of the Lysogenic Prince by simply claiming to have some form of vow of restraint or religious belief that bars you from eating with company. Or eating at all, except at breakfast. Of the Four, this is the easiest ritual to hide from prying eyes.

Also, obviously, creatures that don’t actually experience hunger technically can’t perform this Obedience without DM fiat. And for extra irony depending on how your interpret these rules, that may include Tremarixian’s own Souldrinkers once they reach Souldrinker 4 and thus no longer need to eat.

I may as well start putting a new intro paragraph in, eh? Well Boons usually come at levels 12, 16, and 20 if you merely take the Fiendish Obedience feat, but having levels in the Evangelist, Exalted, or Sentinel prestige classes allow you to unlock the respective bonuses much faster. The trio of prestige classes can be entered as early as level 7; taken as early as possible, you unlock the Boons at levels 10, 13, and 16 instead.

Daemon worshipers may elect to class into the Souldrinker prestige class instead of the Evangelist, Exalted, or Sentinel class, and may choose any of the three Boon lists they wish to have.

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EVANGELIST

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Boon 1: Jackal’s Blessing. Gain Memory Lapse 3/day, False Life 2/day, or Vampiric Touch 1/day.

Memory Lapse is an odd choice for the Horseman of Famine to hand out, but it’s not an unwelcomed one. It’s more useful than some people give it credit for, though it falls pretty hard into the category of “why waste a spell slot on this when I could use this other thing?” spells. Luckily, you don’t have to worry about that! Memory Lapse more or less erases the last six seconds of someone’s memory, which comes in handy if you commit a social faux pas and want to try again with a Bluff or Diplomacy check, but it’s also useful for things like: Repositioning after being revealed and then erasing your new hiding spot from memory, removing the memory of an ally casting a protective buff on themselves so the enemy doesn’t realize it, screwing someone over in a gambling game, or simply playing the card of “Oh no, you’ve been stabbed! Who could have done such a thing?” All without anyone realizing you’re mucking with someone’s head.

Unfortunately, Memory Lapse has a big weakness in that it allows a saving throw against it, and if the victim makes their save, whatever embarrassing event you were trying to erase is still fresh in their mind. On days when you’re not feeling particularly clever, False Life is always a good choice, giving you anywhere from 10 to 20 temporary hit points to pad out your total a little. It may only block one more blow, but that in itself means the character in question has one more round to fight back. And Vampiric Touch? That’s just a great spell because eventually, everyone gets caught in melee. It starts at 5d6 damage by the time you first get it and grants you temporary HP equal to the amount of damage dealt, hurting your foe and giving you--on average--about 5 more temporary hit points than False Life does.

Boon 2: Unending Whispers. You may cast Insanity 1/day as a spell-like ability.

Boring. Handy, but boring. It’s a permanent Confusion on a single target, but it’s beaten by successful Will save, which turns its 1/day nature against itself. Throwing it on an enemy bruiser can potentially earn you several rounds of breathing room, and I suppose you can throw it on some unfortunate passer-by to create a distraction, but like most Boons which offer one-dimensional spell effects, Unending Whispers is rather boring and inflexible.

...Or would be, if I didn’t just remember spell-likes have no components. Perhaps you masquerade as a Good-aligned priest, and speak a “holy word” which “sends demons into spasms,” afflicting one unfortunate fool with your Insanity to turn a whole group against them. Having the power to say just about anything you feel like and have someone go mad from the “revelation” is a unique roleplaying opportunity I failed to think about or explore well, but we still have too many Boons to go over for me to rattle on about it!

Boon 3: Kiss of the Lysogenic Prince. Once per day as a standard action, you may make a touch attack against a target to infect them with a portion of your essence as if it were a curse. They can resist it with a successful Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 your Hit Dice + your Charisma modifier), but if they fail, they become infected. From there on out, so long as you and the target are on the same plane, you may use a free action at any point to perceive the world through their senses; you see all they see, feel all they feel, smell all they smell, etc, for as long as you wish until you end this remote viewing as another free action. In addition, once per day, you may automatically hijack their body, controlling it utterly for 1 round plus your Charisma modifier in rounds (min 1). The victim does not remember anything that happens during this possession. You may only have one victim infected at a time; infecting a new victim immediately ends the infection on the previous one.

Now HERE is a power with some seriously sinister applications. It may seem odd that the Horseman of Famine has such an ability, but Tonsillectomy isn’t just the god of famine, he’s the god of all things devouring and destructive, such as parasites or cancer. A domain he sometimes (unwillingly) shares with Apollyon, the Horseman of Pestilence.

This ability is insidious, to the point that using it in combat feels like a waste. Slapping it onto an important or recurring NPC allows you a measure of control over them, monitoring their actions until you see an opening to cause some mischief or grief. Note that once the victim fails their initial save, they don’t get another one to resist your control, and the ability can only be broken by curse-breaking magics (which have to beat the save DC) and lasts forever unless you find a different victim to snag. The fact that the memory of any moments you spend puppeteering their body is erased is also magnificent for getting them into (or out of) trouble... Or gaslighting them, if you’re that evil. And, since you’re working for one of the Horsemen, you are!

Note that this ability causes no injury or any negative conditions on the victim. It’s not obvious you’ve infected them unless someone scans over their soul with some kind of curse-detecting spell, This means they--and everyone around them--will likely have no idea that they’ve been infected, even as you start exercising control over them. Obviously the best use is to control them when they’re alone, so no one else notices the off behavior, but the ever-popular “make your puppet stab someone important/stab someone they care about” and “frame your puppet for doing something horrible” are both options.

Also note that, unlike with the Dominate spells, you can force your victim to perform self-destructive acts as well. Have fun with that.

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EXALTED

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Boon 1: Jackal’s Grace. Gain Ray Of Enfeeblement 3/day, Feast of Ashes 2/day, or Cup of Dust 1/day.

Both Feast of Ashes and Cup of Dust are wonderful spells for making some poor NPC’s life absolutely miserable. Both of them can last for weeks at higher levels and will keep the poor fool at the edge of unconsciousness the entire time, up until something deals the final point of nonlethal damage needed to knock them out and allow the supernatural starvation or dehydration to finally have a lethal effect on them.

They’re amazing roleplaying tools that are more or less worthless in combat, unless the enemy in question manages to escape the party’s clutches and become a recurring nuisance. Ray of Enfeeblement isn’t fantastic at higher levels... Unless you target enemy casters, notorious for both their low Fortitude saves and their low Strength scores. A lucky shot may shave 11 Str off your target, potentially rendering weaker enemies completely helpless for 1 round/level. Even shooting someone with a high Fort save might still shave 2 or 3 damage off their attacks for a couple rounds, which can save your life.

I’d say go with the two curses if you plan to muck with some poor NPC (or uppity PC), and Ray of Enfeeblement if you don’t know what the day holds.

Boon 2: Unending Hunger. Once per day as a standard action, you may consume any nonliving substance with no ill effects. It must be no larger than your own size category, but only takes 1 round regardless of its size. Bodies consumed by this ability are completely destroyed. Any object you consume can attempt a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 your hit dice + your Con modifier) to avoid being destroyed.

God. Alright, I’ve gone over this ability with some disbelief in me before, but to reiterate: This ability ignores hardness, damage reduction, and the Artifact status, allowing you to destroy even divine artifacts in a single standard action if they fail their save. You can eat containers, and everything inside of them, in one action; so you can shove your enemy into a Bag of Holding and eat it to destroy them. You can use size-changing effects to let yourself snarf up larger and larger objects, or shrink other objects to have a better chance of eating them.

Also note that it doesn’t say the item has to be unattended. Snatch your enemy’s sword right out of their hands and eat it. Eat their armor right off of their body. If they’re a Construct or an Undead being, you can even eat them. If you’re the type to argue over semantics, you could note that only “an object” receives a saving throw, so a Construct or an Undead creature is instantly killed and destroyed with no save! But that interpretation would likely get you slapped by your DM.

This ability in general might get you slapped by your DM, in fact. It’s very, very obvious to me that this ability wasn’t run through much testing, or else it’d be much longer and clarify things like: Can you actually eat enemies that are nonliving? Can you eat only portions of larger objects? What happens when you eat an Artifact? What happens when the item makes its save--is it still inside you? Jammed in your mouth? Does it take damage? There’s so many questions that aren’t answered! If you actually gain this ability at any point, talk with your DM about the finer points. Don’t just suddenly surprise them by eating the Doom Artifact their campaign was built around.

Boon 3: Withering Invocation. You may cast Implosion 1/day as a spell-like ability.

This ability is much simpler than the last one. It’s also pretty strong! Provided you’re the proper prestige class, Implosion will deal a flat 160 damage to 8 different targets over the course of 8 rounds, and that damage and duration will only rise each level. Implosion is best used to selectively dispose of enemy minions rather than the main boss, though a successful Fortitude save negates the damage completely, and you can only target one particular being once with each casting of the spell. Even so, it’s likely to hew out (or grievously cripple) lower-level enemies, even though it’s rather slow in doing so.

Not the best level 9 spell available, but there’s no cap on how high it can scale up, so if your character manages to head into 20+ levels it just becomes more and more devastating to fail a throw to. There’s also the fact that it works on everything--Constructs, Undead, Elementals, etc--so long as it has a physical body, which makes it a good no matter what you may end up facing.

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SENTINEL

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Boon 1: Famine’s Crusader. Gain Mount 3/day, Wartrain Mount 2/day, or Phantom Steed 1/day

Mount and Phantom Steed are, essentially, the same spell, except Phantom Steed is bigger, fancier, and way more mobile. However, Phantom Steed can only carry one to three people at a time, while Mount can be used in succession to conjure a trio of horses for the entire party. It really depends on if your party needs to get somewhere quickly, or if you, personally, need to get somewhere.

Both are handy out of combat spells, and whichever one you pick is generally going to be based on how many people are traveling and how far they’re going, though Mount is usually the better choice unless you’re traveling through tough terrain. In a pinch, Mount can also be used in combat; ponies aren’t exactly known for being incredible combatants, but it’s an extra body on the field and an extra distraction for monsters too dim-witted to know how to focus targets. I’m not really even going to talk about Wartrain Mount; it’s a VERY niche spell, and not even a particularly good niche spell.

Boon 2: Consumptive Aura. You no longer require food to survive, though you still feel the pain of hunger to allow you to fulfill your Obedience. In addition, As a swift action, you may project a 20ft aura of starvation. It can be maintained or ended as a free action from there on out; you may maintain this effect for a number of rounds per day equal to your hit dice. Each round a creature begins their turn within this aura, it must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 your hit dice + your Cha modifier) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage and be fatigued from extreme hunger. They do not become exhausted if they’re already fatigued. Creatures that do not need to eat are immune to this ability.

I do like that they added the clause that you still feel hunger pains despite not having to eat. That’s a good way to make an unfortunate, trapped servant go insane. Then again, that’s what Trial Marxist probably wants! It’s also basically there for flavor reasons and has little mechanical benefit; the Boon falls off if you don’t perform your Obedience, and to perform your Obedience you have to eat. Then again, this does basically mean that you can fill up on leaf piles or handfuls of sand while the rest of the party eats your rations.

Anyway, this ability is pretty good. 1d6 nonlethal damage each round isn’t going to win you a fight by any stretch, but being able to fatigue everyone around you will. There is the unfortunate downside in that you don’t get to pick and choose who gets affected by this ability, so granting any allies you may have some immunity to fatigue is probably one of your first priorities. Unless you don’t have allies, in which case, starve away!

I can see a few uses for this ability outside of combat. For example, marching into a crowded town square and then activating it, knocking out the weaker citizens and making the burlier ones absolutely famished. If you have a means to cause madness or confusion in people, even better! You can drive a dozen people to attack one another in a horrible, gruesome fashion!

Hey, you are representing one of the omnicidal Four Horsemen. Start finding horrifying uses for your powers!

Boon 3: Eruptive Arrival. Once per day, you may teleport through any creature you can see (as Greater Teleport; so long as you can see the target, the distance or obstacles between you do not matter). You burst forth from the victim’s body in a shower of blood and gore and appear in a space adjacent to them, dealing 20d6 damage to the victim and 5d6 damage to all other creatures within 10ft of your arrival, nauseating everyone damaged for 1d4 rounds. Any creature damaged by this ability can make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 your hit dice + your Con modifier) to halve the damage and negate the nausea.

Speaking of horrifying uses, Jesus Christ.

Note that this ability actually allows you to explode out of anyone you may even be scrying on, crossing planetary distances to burst forth from your unfortunate victim, likely killing them and most of the lower-level folk around them. It’s an amazing initiator, crossing huge rooms or distances to get up close and personal to your enemy (really up close and personal) while simultaneously dealing a huge chunk of damage. You even get to make a move action after since Greater Teleport is only a standard action! AND you get to make a swift action, too, like raising your Consumptive Aura!

20d6 is an enormous amount of damage, even if it gets halved by a successful save, and your poor target has no actual way to dodge it or stop you from using them as a screaming doorway aside from keeping out of your line of sight. I think the fact that it works through binoculars, spyglasses, and scrying is the real kicker. Who needs to sneak into an enemy castle? Just peep at one of the patrolling guards from a mile or so away and make them explode.

You may be stuck in hot water while the rest of your team catches up, but I think appearing before your foes by bursting out of one of their allies should give you a few circumstance bonuses to any Intimidate check you make on arrival.

You can read more about him here.