#momoco | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

pathfinderunlocked · 2 years

Text

Blood Magic Tinkerer - CR8 Undead

A vampire who uses your blood for more than just food.

Artwork from Last Embryo, by Momoco.

This is a slightly higher level version of my CR6 Blood Magic Tinkerer.

There are several different types of vampires already in Pathfinder, but for the last couple of months I’ve been making some new ones. Not all vampires are the same, after all, even in the official bestiary books. Even within the same immediate family of vampires, it can be possible for some of their mind-control powers to manifest differently than others. Which is good, because at-will Dominate Person is bullshit.

This one has at-will quickened bouncing Murderous Command instead, which is actually a higher level spell, but it’s still vastly weaker against a typical party of mostly-humanoid PCs. Attacking an ally for one round is a lot less deadly than attacking them non-stop for the next several days. Despite that, I think the normal vampire template is extremely overpowered, and so this creature lacks several other vampire abilities as well (such as several of the feats and most of the natural armor).

The Bloody Chain item she carries is probably her most reliable way of grappling a foe and using her Blood Drain ability, but she should give the chain to an ally if possible, since she has a lot of other things to spend her turn on besides throwing it.

The rogue levels mostly give her the Quick Trapsmith rogue talent and the free weapon finesse feat, but don’t miss the 2d6 sneak attack that’s hidden in her special attacks. Vampires are extremely good at escaping fights - they can turn into gaseous form, turn into bats, climb walls, and regenerate HP each round - so she could easily have several rounds to use Quick Trapsmith while being chased. If she’s in melee, obviously just attack instead, preferably with the classic spellstrike spell combat combo.

Fun fact, the Pathfinder rules for crafting traps are idiotic. It normally costs 250 GP and several months of work to create a CR 1 trap such as a bear trap or arrow trap. (Selling the bear traps for 2 GP at the general store can’t possibly be a sustainable business.) The Quick Trapsmith rogue talent reduces the time but not the cost. Redesigning Pathfinder’s trap crafting rules is not within the scope of this creature’s stat block, so I went ahead and gave her enough materials to do that six times.

Blood Magic Tinkerer - CR 8

This golden-haired young lady - or at least young-looking - wears a red and black dress, matching her blood red eyes. Blood pours slowly out of a cut on her wrist into a glyphed bowl on the table in front of her, which is covered in half-finished magical trinkets.

XP 4,800 Half-elf vampire magus 3 / unchained rogue 3 / fighter 1 NE Medium undead (augmented humanoid, elf, human) Init +4 Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +19 (+20 to find traps or avoid surprise)

DEFENSE

AC 21, touch 15, flat-footed 16 (+4 armor, +4 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 natural; +1 vs. traps) hp 71 (6d8+1d10+35); fast healing 5 Fort +11, Ref +9 (+10 vs traps), Will +5 Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, evasion DR 10/magic and silver Immune undead traits Resist cold 10, electricity 10 Weaknesses vampire weaknesses

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft. Melee slam +10 (1d4+4 plus energy drain) Special Attacks arcane pool: imbue weapon, children of the night, cooperative blood drain, create spawn, energy drain (2 levels, DC 17), rogue talent (quick trapsmith), sneak attack 2d6, spell combat (–2 attack), spellstrike

Magus Spells Prepared (CL 3rd; concentration +8 (+10 while using spell combat with slam attack)) 1st—chill touch (DC 16), shield, shocking grasp, true strike, unseen servant 0th (at will)—arcane mark, detect magic, mending, read magic

Spell-like Abilities (CL 5th; concentration +9) At will—quickened bouncing murderous command (DC 15)

STATISTICS

Str 13, Dex 18, Con —, Int 20, Wis 10, Cha 18 Base Atk +5; CMB +6 (+9 to disarm, trip, sunder); CMD 21 Feats Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Craft Wondrous Item, Dodge, Lunge, Master Craftsman, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (slam), Toughness Skills Bluff +19, Craft (jewelry, traps) +14, Disable Device +14, Knowledge (arcana, engineering) +14, Knowledge (history, nobility, religion, planes) +11, Perception +19 (+20 to find traps or avoid surprise), Sense Motive +16, Spellcraft +14, Stealth +12; Racial Modifiers +8 Bluff, +10 Perception, +8 Sense Motive, +8 Stealth Languages Abyssal, Caligni, Common, Draconic, Elven, Necril, Shadowtongue, Sphinx SQ arcane pool (6 points, +1), finesse training (slam), magus arcana (natural spell combat), spider climb Gear bloody chain, scroll of arcane sight, scroll of waves of blood, mwk chain mail, cloak of resistance +1, spell component pouch, spellbook (contains all 0-level spells and all prepared spells as well as the following: 1st—blend, floating disc, reinforce armaments, reduce person, true skill, unseen servant, waterproof), 1500 GP worth of trap-building materials

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Arcane Pool: Imbue Weapon (Su) 6 times per day, as a swift action, the blood magic tinkerer can grant her slam attack or any weapon she is holding a +1 enhancement bonus for 1 minute. This bonus can be added to the weapon, stacking with existing weapon enhancement to a maximum of +5. Multiple uses of this ability do not stack with themselves.

The blood magic tinkerer can only enhance one weapon or natural attack in this way at one time. If she uses this ability again, the first use immediately ends.

Spell Combat (Ex) The blood magic tinkerer can cast spells and use a weapon or natural weapon at the same time. This functions much like two-weapon fighting, but the off-hand weapon is a spell that is being cast. To use this ability, the blood magic tinkerer must have one hand free. As a full-round action, she can attack with a light or one-handed melee weapon or her slam attack at a –2 penalty, and can also cast any magus spell with a casting time of 1 standard action (any attack roll made as part of this spell also takes this penalty).

She gains a +2 bonus on concentration checks while using Spell Combat with her slam attack.

If she casts this spell defensively, she can decide to take an additional penalty on her attack rolls, up to 5, and add the same amount as a circumstance bonus on her concentration check. If the check fails, the spell is wasted, but the attacks still take the penalty. She can choose to cast the spell first or make the weapon attack first.

Spellstrike (Su) Whenever the blood magic tinkerer casts a spell with a range of “touch” from the magus spell list, she can deliver the spell through any weapon she is wielding or through her slam attack as part of a melee attack. Instead of the free melee touch attack normally allowed to deliver the spell, the blood magic tinkerer can make one free melee attack with her weapon or slam attack as part of casting this spell. If successful, this melee attack deals its normal damage as well as the effects of the spell. If the blood magic tinkerer makes this attack in concert with spell combat, this melee attack takes all the penalties accrued by spell combat melee attacks. This attack uses the weapon’s critical range, but the spell effect only deals ×2 damage on a successful critical hit, while the weapon damage uses its own critical modifier.

Trapfinding (Ex) The blood magic tinkerer can use Disable Device to disarm magic traps.

Quick Trapsmith (Ex) As a full-round action, the blood-magic tinkerer can create one of the following CR 1 traps at a location within her reach: arrow trap, bear trap, poisoned dart trap, or swinging axe trap. The bear trap must be placed on the ground, while the other options must be placed on the wall with a triggering mechanism on a specific 5-foot square on the ground (both the wall and the triggering mechanism must be within her reach, although she can make a five-foot step in the middle of the action to reach both).

The blood magic tinkerer can attempt a Sleight of Hand check when setting up a trap in this way to prevent onlooking creatures from seeing the exact location of the triggering mechanism or the bear trap. A creature that fails its Perception check still sees the trap being set up, but does not know its exact location.

The blood magic tinkerer cannot use this ability while polymorphed, in gaseous form, or otherwise unable to access her gear. She can use this ability 6 times before the trap materials in her gear are expended, using up 250 GP of materials with each use.

Quickened Bouncing Murderous Command (Sp) At will, the blood magic tinkerer can cast Murderous Command as a spell-like ability as if modified by the Quicken Spell and Bouncing Spell metamagic feats.

Cooperative Blood Drain (Su) The blood magic tinkerer can suck blood from a grappled opponent, including one grappled by another creature or a magical effect (such as the Bloody Chain she carries). If she successfully establishes a grapple against an opponent that is already grappled, or if she establishes or maintains a pin, she drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution damage. The blood magic tinkerer heals 5 hit points or gains 5 temporary hit points for 1 hour (up to a maximum number of temporary hit points equal to its full normal hit points) each round she drains blood.

Change Shape (Su) The blood magic tinkerer can use change shape to assume the form of a dire bat made out of blood, functioning as Beast Shape II except that she also gains the compression universal monster ability.

Children of the Night (Su) Once per day, the blood magic tinkerer can call forth 1d6+1 rat swarms, 1d4+1 bat swarms, or 2d6 wolves as a standard action. These creatures arrive in 2d6 rounds and serve her for up to 1 hour.

Create Spawn (Su) The blood magic tinkerer can create spawn out of those she slays with blood drain or energy drain, provided that the slain creature is humanoid. The victim rises from death as a vampire in 1d4 days. This vampire is under the command of the blood magic tinkerer, and remains enslaved until its master’s destruction. The blood magic tinkerer may have no more than 10 enslaved spawn; any spawn she creates that would exceed this limit become free-willed undead. She may free an enslaved spawn in order to enslave a new spawn, but once freed, a vampire or vampire spawn cannot be enslaved again.

Gaseous Form (Su) As a standard action, the blood magic tinkerer can assume gaseous form at will (caster level 5th), but can remain gaseous indefinitely and has a fly speed of 20 feet with perfect maneuverability.

Shadowless (Ex) The blood magic tinkerer casts no shadows and shows no reflection in a mirror.

Spider Climb (Ex) The blood magic tinkerer can climb sheer surfaces as though under the effects of a spider climb spell.

#D&D #pathfinder 1e #undead #augmented humanoid #rogue #magus #npc #human #elf

5 notes · View notes