#planar adventures

[dailycharacteroption]

Roleplaying Races 15: Duskwalker

(art by JoshBurns on DeviantArt)

And so we continue this special with the very last of the planar scion ancestries that Pathfinder 1st edition has to offer: the Duskwalker, the neutral-aligned planetouched.

Much like Aphorites, duskwalkers do not come into being in the same way as most. No mingling of bloodlines occurs in their case. Instead, they are born the way they are by the divine mandate of the forces they represent, but we’ll get into that.

According to legend, two powerful psychopomps, a yamaraj and an olethros mother, entered into a discussion about the interplay between fate and fortune, and how many souls lose their chance at destiny when their lives are cut short, and whether that is fair.

This discussion led to an agreement, approved by Pharasma, in which some souls whose fates were severed too soon and whose lives led to them being distinguished among the psychopomps and other guardians of the cycle to get a second chance.

These souls are sent back to the material plane along the secret planar paths known as the dead roads, taking the form of young children with a basket of supplies in hand, and are often found by locals wandering the graveyards where they exit the Dead Roads. These are duskwalkers.

Now, as you might imagine, off-putting children found roaming graveyards are likely to be viewed with apprehension by most simple folk, so while the psychopomps do their best to send them places where they will be accepted, some are not, and are forced to mature physically and mentally very rapidly in order to survive.

Having not experienced infancy, duskwalkers are born into this world knowing their duty to help protect the cycle of life and death as mortal beings, however, they can still shape their own fate, and a few reject it, even going as far as to ally with the sahkils, the terrible enemies of the psychopomps.

While many duskwalkers resemble humans, it is possible for them to be born resembling any sapient ancestry, though they typically sport gray skin, and sometimes sport odd features that resemble one of the various forms of psychopomps, such as feathers, animal-like features on the face, hands, and feet, and so on.

Like many other planar scions, duskwalkers don’t have much in the way of a society of their own. Most go their entire second lives never meeting another of their kind, and what few communities do exist are almost universally founded as part of or after some great unified goal to protect the cycle and/or destroy some great undead threat. Due to the sporatic nature of duskwalker creation, such communities may cease to even be duskwalker communites after a generation, populated by their mortal descendants and those of their mortal allies. Perhaps the only other peoples they feel common ground with are planar scions and other hybrid folk, though naturally they share a mutual distrust with most dhampir.

Duskwalkers are agile and cunning, but their connections to death makes their bodies somewhat fragile.

Their nature as native outsiders also gives them incredible night vision, the better for seeing the undead that hide from the light.

Many are also created with innate understanding of living bodies and also they mysteries of faith and the undead, making them more skilled in areas of medicine, religion, and undead-hunting.

Perhaps their most iconic ability, however, is their ability to channel their undead-slaying power into any weapon they touch, making even mundane blades at least partially effective against the spectral dead, though they can focus further once a day to improve this to strike true against such lost souls for a short while.

Naturally, being a duskwalker gives them natural resistance to negative energy and harmful necromancy. What’s more, they are totally immune to magic and supernatural power that would cause them to rise as the undead. (though rumor has it that duskwalkers that forsake their duty and ally with the sahkils lose that protection, making for truly terrible undead indeed)

Of course, not all duskwalkers are built the same, so there are some alternate traits for them as well. For example, some were utterly shunned by the locals and forced to steal and scavenge to survive, affecting what they were skilled in. Others were taken in by big families that showered them with love, making them more social with both people and animals. Meanwhile, some were favored by the olethros associated with the origins of their kind, and trade their resistances for a knack for finding the perfect chink in a foe’s armor at the right time. Those that were favored by the yamaraj side trade the same protections for a measure of their wisdom, navigating social situations with their sagacity rather than charm.

With their agility and wisdom, duskwalkers make excellent ranged combatants, (particularly gunslingers, rangers, and hunters), as well as rogues, slayers, ninjas, and of course various wisdom casters like clerics and druids. However, their knack for fighting the undead with mundane weapons also means that combat classes both mundane and magical are also a good choice. Naturally, any build or archetype that focuses on hunting the undead is a good choice as well, though those built around using the undead are anathema to all but the most corrupted of their kind. Their con penalty does mean that fighting in a straight-up fight is a bit risky for them, but not impossible to get around.

That will do for today, but I hope you enjoyed this final look at a planar scion option in first edition!

[wowieweirdwarlock]

Plentiful Planes & Places: The Dimension of Dreams

Also known as: The Dreamlands

Image source: Planar Adventures, pg. 213.

“When we sleep, we all visit the Dimension of Dreams.”

The Dimension of Dreams overlays the Ethereal plane, serving as the place where all sleeping minds go. Sleeping creatures, known as Dreamers, enter the Dreamlands through avatars called lucid bodies, in order to exist within their own personal Dreamscapes. Dreamers are capable of entering the Dimension of Dreams from anywhere in the multiverse.

When a Dreamer enters the Dimension without precautions such as magic or meditation, or they fail a contest of wills against the Plane, they are summoned into the Dimension of Dreams at a particular disadvantage, such as in a hostile environment or without important equipment.

Even in the worst of circumstances, a Dreamer is capable of impossible feats while within a dreamscape. Depending on a being’s willpower or knowledge of the plane, they may perform unlikely feats such as powerful spellcasting, destructive prowess, or warping the very area around them.

Hidden deep within the seas of dreamscapes, there lies a stable center to the plane known as the Dreamlands, the stability of which is maintained by the minds of powerful Dreamers and other entities. Traveling to this realm is more difficult than other forms of planar a travel, as one needs to find a doorway through an existing dreamscape in order to access The Dreamlands, a doorway which usually appears as a literal door on the side of a tree within an enchanted forest.

Entire nations and and realms exist within the Dreamlands, some ruled by powerful Dreamers and others existing as nightmare realms controlled by otherworldly powers.

Denizens of the Dimension of Dreams:

While many beings across the multiverse visit the Dimension of Dreams in their sleep, very few outsiders actually make their home in this plane.

Night Hags are fiendish Hags that ply the Great Beyond for souls and other vile goods they can trade off to the highest bidder. They are capable of entering the Ethereal Plane in order to travel, and often invade the Plane of Dreams in order to harass Dreamers.

Animate Dreams are exactly as they sound, Dreams given sentience and free will. They caper about the Dimension of Dreams, often appearing in sentient creatures’ Dreamscapes.

Dreamthief Hags are more powerful cousins of Night Hags. They are not born naturally, but are created when a Night Hag undergoes a potent ritual. Rather than bartering souls like their weaker kin, Dreamthief hags capture the minds of their victims, to sell to unique buyers.

Other creatures associated with dreams and sleep can be found in the Dreamlands, along with even stranger creatures of nightmares and alien sentience.

Divinity in the Dimension of Dreams:

While most gods have influenced dreaming minds, no major divinities actually lay claim over the Dimension of Dreams.

The closest thing to divine presence in the Dreamlands are the strange, alien beings known as the Great Old Ones, or the Outer Gods.

These beings often invade the Dimension of Dreams, influencing the minds of powerful Dreamers and sowing madness in the world.

Some of these Elder beings actually make lairs in the Dreamlands, where they corrupt and twist the already strange landscape.

Locations in the Dimension of Dreams:

The outer part of the Dimension of Dreams is made up of a sea individual dreamscape, and beyond that there is a central core, known as the Dreamlands, which is held together by powerful minds. The collective dreams and desires of individuals such as powerful psychics, Spellcasters, or Great Old Ones hold the Dreamlands together, enabling a mostly cohesive, yet still shifting, geography.

Dreamscapes are individual bubbles in the Dimension of Dreams containing Dreamers. This foam of Dreamscapes forms and evaporates as each being in the multiverse sleeps and awakens, and each Dream is unique to the consciousness of the Dreamer that created it. When one first enters a Dreamscape, it appears as a flashing swarm of desires and visions, but over time it molds and takes the form the Dreamer imagines.

The Enchanted Wood is often the first place visitors to the Dreamlands encounter, as it holds the doorway between the Dimension of Dreams and the true Dreamlands. It is an idyllic forest, where fantastical beasts make their homes and lives, and inhabitants are capable of impossible feats.

The Plateau of Leng, while partially considered it’s own realm, is held in the far reaches of the Dreamlands. It is a strange locale, populated by alien ghouls and other beings from beyond the stars. The Plateau truly is a place of nightmares, where the Outer Gods have a foothold into the Dimension of Dreams.

While I have been plagued by the odd nightmare and ominous vision, I never would have expected my dreams to actually MEAN something, let alone be actual places.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that not only are dreams real, they make up a whole plane of reality dedicated to dreams!

With magic, one can view or even manipulate the dreams of others. However, with powerful occult rituals, it is indeed possible to actually visit the Dimension of Dreams consciously.

Once this journey has been made, it opens up a whole reality of shifting dreamscapes and strange locales, each full of artifacts, knowledge, and treasures an adventurer can only dream of.

Get it? Dream of?

- A Weird Warlock.

[yardsards]

do people who have listened to taz balance but not graduation Know that it was HEAVILY IMPLIED that lup and barry eventually adopted a lil sorcerer child who got disowned by his family for his natural necromancy magic, and they taught him how to use his powers for good and were overall great parents that he looks back on fondly

(and said child grew up to be a dimension-hopping lich, caretaker of the dead, and very sweet adoptive father of a major npc)

[jeeaark]

And now my brain goes mad.

Greygold X Lae’zel X Emps?

Does Icarus fly too close to the sun? Do mortals not wish to wield the power of gods without consequence??

Can dreams really come true???

No one in this universe wants LaexGreygxEmps to happen more than Greygold. But Baby Steps. Right now, they'd be ecstatic if all three of them were in the same room without any blood spilling. Oh, the 19th century Victorian blush they'd have if they ever got to the point of hand-holding.

[grayrazor]

ILM reused their "subspace shockwave" effect from The Undiscovered Country in the Star Wars: Special Edition and it started a trend of every weird space explosion having a computer generated ring come out.

Treasure Planet went above and beyond, with a whole beautiful wedding cake of Praxis Rings.

All this despite ILM making a perfectly-serviceable realistically-spherical shock wave in Star Trek: Generations just a couple years after STVI:TUC.

[captainswan618]

recently had a very important realization

[ashmcgivern]

*gestures broadly* they're gay, your honor

[druidposting]

Oh how i missed planar shenanigans in CR…

[emotionalsupportdman]

“And somewhere inside that living plane, we see a smile flash across someone’s face.”

me: JOHN HUNGER JOHN HUNGER JOHN HUNGER JOHN HUNGER JOHN HUNGER JOHN HUNGER JOHN HUNGER JOHN HUNG-

[anistarrose]

after Story and Song, the non-Magnus members of the IPRE plus Carey and Killian start packing bags for their big group adventure of Killing Governor Kalen As Dead As Possible, and some of the people who aren't as desensitized as Merle and Taako are to Angus being at murder scenes express some apprehension about the eleven year old coming along for this one. Merle and Taako instead claim they don't want Angus to come because they think he'll snitch (Taako is exaggerating slightly to get a rise out of Angus, but no one can quite tell if Merle means it).

Angus assures them that of course he agrees this is a morally justified murder, and therefore not one to snitch about, but he really wants to come because even in all his years as a homicide detective, he almost never gets to watch murders be committed with his own two eyes! just think of the learning opportunity, sirs! it's not every day I get such an ethically defensible chance to study murdering techniques so up close and personal!

eventually Lucretia sits him down. she gently points out that due to the number of people involved, and those people's particular skillsets, Kalen is going to be murdered in a fashion that not one single person on Faerun has ever been murdered in before or ever will be murdered in again.

and sure enough, when Kalen is stabbed with eighteen knives, immolated in fire, shot full of enough crossbow bolts that they look like turkey feathers, suffocated in an impenetrable magical bubble, impaled by the divine spear of Della Reese, bitten in half by Dupree the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and run over by a literal spaceship all before being resurrected as a zombie to do it all over again... Angus has to agree. she had a point.

however, he does sit his assorted parents down afterwards, and gently asks if they've ever heard of an "alibi" or "reasonable doubt" in their lives. why were you so concerned about me snitching, sir? how was bringing the planar system's only spaceship not snitching on yourself?!

[dailycharacteroption]

Gloomblade (Fighter Archetype)

(art by @Aszith on Twitter)

Ah, shadow magic, the branch of illusion magic centered on adding a bit of the quasi-real nature of the Plane of Shadow to your illusion to make them partially real and able to affect your foes. We’ve looked at that particular subject a few times on the blog, usually focusing on various spellcasters focused on using that shadowy power in various ways.

However, today we are looking at one of the rare quasi-magical fighter archetypes, one that draws upon shadow magic to pull any weapon they could possibly need from nothing, creating quasi-real weapons of shadow that hit as hard as the real thing.

Fans of previous editions of D&D might notice this sounds suspiciously similar to the soulknife class from 3.5’s Psionic Handbook, and they’d be right. This archetypes, as well as similar ones like the mindblade magus, definitely exist as homages to that particular concept while finding their own ways to be unique.

Gloomblades may be from regions where shadow magic is so pervasive that most anyone could pick up the basics and learn to incorporate it into their own style, or they might have been would-be casters that simply didn’t have what it takes to be illusionists but found this one secret to make sure their training wasn’t a total waste. Others might have been gifted or afflicted with this power by an outside force.

Whatever the source, these warriors always have a weapon whenever they need it, meaning they rarely ever have to spend money on arming themselves unless they happen upon a truly unique weapon, but most prefer to seek out items that bolster their other abilities further.

These warriors are more focused on agility and stealth than others, but their true ability lies in creating shadow weapons, drawing upon any weapon they can reasonably wield. At first they can only create one weapon, but later they can create two, and add additional abilities to either a single or twin weapon, though focusing on a single weapon lets them add more magical abilities.

Rather than specialize in individual weapons, gloomblades instead become intimately familiar with mastering their shadowblades, no matter the form they take. What’s more, they can use their quasi-real nature to alter them, stretching them to strike with reach, shaping throwing ones to fly further, warp them to hook into foes to shift them around, or harden them to pierce objects. The greater their mastery, the more they can do at once.

With this archetype, these fighters rarely ever need to spend money for their weapons budget. With that in mind, I recommend picking a few mainstay forms for your build so that you can take feats for those styles of combat rather than relying on more general feats all the time. Just remember that this archetype offers no support for ranged weapons beyond those that can be thrown, so you’ll probably have to pick up one of those for those rare occasions when you can’t just run up and hit things. Also consider taking exotic weapons proficiency at least once if you want to be able to add a shadowy truly exotic weapon to the mix.

What’s interesting about the powers of a gloomblade is that their shadowy constructs are not at risk of being disbelieved. Perhaps this is because of the relative small size of what they create with their shadows, the warrior’s focus solidifying them, or some secret they have not shared with more traditional shadow-casters. Might be worth exploring that in your setting.

Rather than being destroyed for being an untainted caligni, Asterfon was blessed by the owb masters of the dark folk with power to shape the shadows to make him an instrument of their will. However, as soon as he got the chance to, he ran, and now he is hunted as a blasphemer by his dark kindred.

From the lightless depths, some undine villages have heard the call of the Black Water. Those that have answered are able to shape shadow without compare as spellcasters and warriors, but they clearly have lost a part of themselves in the exchange.

Creatures of horror and darkness, the jack-o-lanterns haunt lands of superstition and fearful nights. They say that the most powerful of these plants, whose connection to the Grinning Lurker is greatest, need no stolen farming implements for weapons, and instead shape the shadows themselves into wicked edges.

[antimatterz]

haiiii!!! so ur recent post abt how hsr characters would take it if u didnt log in for a while got me kind of thinking,,,, me personally i always log in at the most ungodly hours. 2 in the morning farming planar ornaments for jing yuan....,, i have never played hsr at a regular time. this is not a flex this is a cry for help. what do you think abt hsr characters having to rise and grind at hours that no man should be awake at ? :3 every single day ? :3

late-night game sessions

dan heng, gepard, blade, sampo, jing yuan x gn!reader

summary: you have a habit of grinding and farming and just being online at the most ungodly hours of the night. how do they react?

cw: fluff, humor, self-aware au

enyo's note: okay i absolutely loved this idea. also it's such a mood? i used to log in at the strangest hours in genshin hehe. with honkai i try to keep it normal but it was still so funny to imagine their reactions ^^ i might do a part two with the girlies !

content under the cut | masterlist

dan heng

it's been a few months since you started playing honkai star rail and nothing has changed about your habit of logging in late at night – or early in the morning. yet, dan heng has a hard time getting used to it. every time you awake him at four o'clock he gazes at you, dazed and confused, before he realizes it's that time again. "y/n, this isn't healthy for you," he mumbles every time, but he still gets up and accompanies you with no further complaints. give him a few minutes to adjust and he will be the sharp warrior he is by daylight! but as soon as you're done and log out, he'll pass out too lol.

gepard landau

he's definitely the most concerned out of everyone. and the most sleepy, too. he has a hard time waking up, and as soon as his eyes are open, they gaze at you with worry. "y/n, you should be asleep, don't you know what time it is?" he asks groggily, but he gets up regardless and readies himself to go out with you. i sincerely hope you're not at full 180 trailblaze power because this guy struggles to stay awake and provide shields, but he tries so so so hard for you and it's adorable. and he manages, just barely so, as he's super sleepy. please promise him that you'll go to sleep when you log out, or else he will remain worried.

blade

he might not show it, but you habit of skipping sleep and logging in at night to farm planar ornaments kinda worries him. he himself might not need much sleep so he isn't too bothered by having to work with you late at night, but he clearly sees the darkening bags under your eyes as you lead him through the simulated universe. but again, he doesn't really show it and silently does what you ask him to do. only when you're finished farming and are about to log out for the night, he makes you look at him. "go to sleep now, okay?" he sternly demands, but his eyes are softer than usual.

sampo koski

out of everyone, he would be the least bothered. he's practically nocturnal himself so it's not much out of the ordinary for him if you log in at three in the morning and ask him to join you on another farming trip to grind for relics and ascension materials. okay, maybe he slightly realizes that the two of you should be asleep but does he care? not really. he doesn't complain, is happy to spend time with you, and does everything you ask him to without spilling as much as a yawn or complaint. if any, he enjoys your nightly adventures!

jing yuan

well, this is an interesting combination. a sleepy general and a nocturnal being who asks him to grind at night, meaning jing yuan has to skip on his precious sleep. don't get me wrong, he doesn't complain and accompanies you without hesitation, but he isn't a night owl and it shows. he's waaay more quiet and not as smooth, yawns a lot and is pretty droswy in general. he's still a skilled warrior who clears the caverns of corrosion with ease but you can tell he is a tad bit out of it. please let him rest as soon as you're out of trailblaze power lol.

[thisisnotthenerd]

follow up to my previous thoughts about the Aguefort Adventuring Academy:

i got more right than i expected, though there's definitely a lot that's being filled in around what we knew from freshman year.

Faculty Updates:

Introduced/Mentioned during the Episode:

Interim Principal: Emergency Backup Principal Arcturus Grix

This is definitely a construct of Aguefort's that's been reprogrammed to focus on an exact impression of "adventuring order".

Interim Vice Principal: Jace Stardiamond, the sorcery professor

Artificer Professor: Henry Something? The original name on payroll was Grunding Tomblast. (mentioned only, since Porter wouldn't recommend Gorgug)

Barbarian Professor: Porter Cliffbreaker. Suspicious and rude.

Bard Professor: Lucilla Lullaby (changed from music professor). Fey/Eladrin

Bardic Dance Teacher: Terpsichore Skullcleaver. Tiniest half-orc you've ever seen, always says what you need to hear even if it isn't what you'd expect.

Cleric/Religious Studies: Yolanda Badgood. Air genasi who broke up with a deity to pursue faith.

Fighter Professor: Corsica Jones (mentioned only, though we met her in the Seven)

Wizard Professor: Tiberia Runestaff. Originated in the Mountains of Chaos, very traditional old wizard now teaching the wizards of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy. Adaine desperately wants to impress her, and she gets called out for predictions.

We've gotten more information about the other professors though we already knew their names. Eugenia Shadow is the supposed rogue professor that must be found in order to get an A for the year.

Class Content:

For the Barbarians, Porter is an asshole that focuses on the destructive parts of rage rather than the protective elements.

We had a reference to Fighter classes and learning different fighting styles with Ms. Jones, though we didn't see it in this episode.

Cleric classes center around individual connection with a deity, as well as some discussion of spreading faith and proselytizing. Kristen is a very talented cleric who doesn't do homework and is struggling on her faith journey.

Rogue classes are more independent study; finding the professor is the win condition. If the class is based on self-motivated investigative work and research, I can understand why all of the rogues we've seen at Aguefort (Riz Gukgak, Penny Luckstone, Kipperlilly Copperkettle) are the way they are.

Bard Classes can come in a couple of different types: obviously there's the traditional class that Fig attended for the first time, as well as smaller concentrations like Fabian's dance class. The dance course seems to be a smaller track, with fewer students but a more intensive schedule. Granted, we're getting Fabian's multiclassed view of it, so it's not entirely accurate to the experience of a typical bardic dance student.

Wizard classes revolve around studying and practicing spells, as expected, but aren't taught with school endowed material components as I would have expected. Aguefort cares about a robust Wizard's education, but doesn't have classroom material components? He's making it a class of only privileged students. We can't have a poor wizard around here, can we.

Sidenote to that: we know now that Hudol places a focus on theoretical magic while Aguefort focuses on practical workings--actually practicing the skills needed to bind, conjure, enchant, etc.

Sidenote to the sidenote: I started looking into higher level wizard spells with high cost items as material components:

5th level:

create spelljamming helm (5000 gp crystal rod, consumed)

dawn (100 gp sunburst pendant)

legend lore (250 gp of incense, 200 gp of ivory strips)

infernal calling (999 gp ruby)

planar binding (minimum 1000 gp jewel, consumed)

scrying (1000 gp focus, such as a crystal ball, silver mirror, or font of holy water)

summon draconic spirit (500 gp object with engraved dragon iconography)

teleportation circle (inks infused with gems worth 50 gp)

6th level:

circle of death (500 gp black pearl)

contingency (1500 gp gem encrusted statuette)

create homunculus (1000 gp jeweled dagger)

create undead (150 gp black onyx stone per corpse)

drawmij's instant summons (1000 gp sapphire)

magic jar (500 gp gem/crystal/reliquary)

7th level:

create magen (500 gp quicksilver and human sized doll)

draconic transformation (500 gp dragon statuette)

forcecage (1500 gp ruby dust)

mordenkainen's sword (250 gp platinum sword)

plane shift (250 gp rod attuned to plane of choice)

sequester (5000 gp of diamond, emerald, ruby & sapphire dust)

simulacrum (1500 gp ruby dust)

symbol (1000 gp of mercury, phosphorus, diamond dust and opal)

8th level:

clone (1000 gp diamond, 2000 gp coffin/urn, cubic inch of flesh)

mighty fortress (500 gp diamond)

9th level:

astral projection (1000 gp jacinth + 100 gp carved bar of silver, per person affected)

gate (5000 gp diamond)

imprisonment (500 gp component per hit die of the target, changes depending on spell type: mithral orb for burial, precious metal chain for chaining, miniature jade prison for hedged prison, gemstone of corundum or diamond for minimus containment)

invulnerability (500 gp adamantine)

shapechange (1500 gp jade circlet)

so the request for 10 barrels of diamonds tracks; they need enough material components to be able to repeat the spells and practice them and that doesn't run cheap.

personal theory: when aguefort went to war with fallinel he pulled on the school's supplies of material components in order to cast on that scale, and he couldn't maintain it, so even stuff that wouldn't be consumed by the casting probably got dumped somewhere in fallinel or given away as reparations.

I'm also going to guess that in the lower grades, the students wouldn't be paying for everything, but rather paying something like a lab fee that took care of material components on a smaller scale.

Multiclassing:

There's a few things that have that this episode clarified:

If a student wants to multiclass on their transcript, they must fill out a request to their current class' professor in order to request a change to their courseload. The student may be prevented from attending their secondary or tertiary courses if their current professor believes that they cannot keep up with the increase in rigor, or if the student is underperforming in their current class. As shown with Porter, a teacher can technically refuse for other reasons (thinking the student isn't suited to the new class, or determining a lack of class compatibility). This recommendation is easier for some classes than others; it is simple to combine most martial classes, especially those that have compatible traits such as fighters and barbarians. However, it is difficult to combine classes that are prohibitive of each other; the example we have is Gorgug, since his barbarian rage prevents him from casting and holding concentration spells from his artificer levels in battle.

If they get approval, they must take the MCAT, or Multiclass Achievement Test, in order to prove competency in their secondary class. This functions as a way of proving that the student can enter the class at their current level and keep up with their peers.

Upon passing the MCAT, the student's courseload changes; rather than taking 4 semesters of one class, they will take 3 semesters of each class, presumably with some leveling to fit their particular split in multiclass. This results in a 150% courseload as opposed to single-classed students, with a high level of rigor, especially heading into the upperclassmen years

Quest Theory:

We got tacit confirmation from Brennan that the Bad Kids, and even the Seven are unusual for saving the world, when most Aguefort students are doing local dungeon crawls and going to school. This fits with my overleveling theory, especially if they're going to be going back to a major progression cycle as they did during freshman year. I highly doubt it, given the content and themes of this season, but I think the overall structure fits.

This also fits with my theory about D-F class quests; students may only need to complete one or more of these to pass the yearly quest. Technically, retrieving the Crown of the Nightmare King could have been considered a fetch quest, but there ended up being more to it than that. The Bad Kids haven't done traditional dungeon crawls, at least not from what we've seen. There are qualified adventuring parties in Spyre, but the Aguefort Adventuring Academy produces the 'premier parties of teen heroes' that go around addressing world-class threats.

The examples that we have of Solisian adventurers come from the Bad Kids' parents, and the Seven's parents. Sandra Lynn works with the Solisian rangers; the Applebees' (ew) work as paladins, guarding against threats from the Mountains of Chaos, presumably in tandem with the rangers. Karl Cleaver stayed with his party for decades--they went on a dungeon crawl in the 888th and 889th layers of the Abyss during the events of the Seven. There are adult adventurers, but it's made clear that they are dealing with everyday threats, while the teen heroes are out in the world causing problems and solving them.

To add to my previous theory: the Seven were given two weeks to investigate the disappearance of Tectonya Karkovnya and go on their GED quest. The Bad Kids got an extra week of spring break. This allowed them to get their world-saving done, but may have led to the accusations of special treatment.

Theories on the Season:

I'd wager that Kipperlilly and the Ratgrinders are trying to make Aguefort more egalitarian by getting rid of the Bad Kids' quest progress i.e. the reason they're overleveled and getting special treatment. The Rogue Professor seekign Kipperlilly out as opposed to her actually doing the work? Sounds like funny business to me.

Next episode is probably going to be the rest of the day of classes and the start of extracurriculars, based on the mentions of the bloodrush team and student government candidacy.

Riz looks like he's going to be in the driver's seat for seeking out the Bad Kids' academic and greater interests, though Fig is leaning in on the investigation of the Ratgrinders, and they're all full force on the presidential campaign. I think Gorgug's work as an artificer is going to come into play with the main plot if they're facing down the reprogrammed Arcturus Grix.

[stem-sister-scuffle]

STEM SISTER SCUFFLE: ROUND 3 MASHUP 3

GLaDOS (Portal) vs Lup (The Adventure Zone)

GLaDOS is a Quantum Physicist and Behavioural Psychologist!

Lup is an Astrophysicist and Extraplaner Researcher! (she researches inter-dimensional space travel)

Lup fanart made by @herbgerblin

Why you should vote for each contestant:

GLaDOS:

"i’m not sure how to explain this one. she’s an evil computer who makes a woman do fucked up tasks that all involve a portal gun in some way. evil computer woman i love you :3"

"She's witty, fun, they had to restrain her intelligence and it didn't work-"

"She should be able to kill everyone forever. Anyways she runs aperture she loves science so much it transcended lives and identity. It’s just what she does"

"she kills people 👍 shes cool and i like her"

"…. I mean she’s categorically not but it would be funny to include her. Again, it would be Very Funny"

"mad scientist robot representation with a complex emotional arc through multiple video games"

"She might not know what the point of her tests are, but she sure is good at making them. Bonus points for being hot"

"Managed a massive and highly advanced scientific facility in which she ran tests and experiments long after the fall of human civilization. Chell/GLaDOS <3"

"She’s GLaDOS"

Lup:

"badass trans woman who is not only a highly competent astrophysicist who was chosen to be part of the first extra-planar expedition, she is also an incredibly powerful evocation (blowing shit up) wizard and uses her powers to full effect. in addition she has, along with her husband, transformed herself into an incredibly powerful lich, just all around badass and competent woman in stem we love to see it"

"Literally studied space and inter-dimensional travel and magic and necromancy for 100 years. She was part of her home planet’s first inter-dimensional expedition on a crew of 7. She’s got that transfem swag and literally became a lich for love and science and to save the universe"

"She’s incredible. She’s trans, she’s a lich, she and her husband pined for decades before getting together, she’s an elf, she’s a twin, but that’s all just spices in the cake. She’s genuinely a genius and a total badass and is so full of love. She is the first character i thought of for submitting to a women in stem bracket because she’s just so iconic. Lup Adventurezone i would die for you"

[monstersdownthepath]

Milestone Monster: Watchers of Jandelay

CR 22

Lawful Neutral Gargantuan Outsider

Planar Adventures, pg. 246-247

Have you ever felt like you were being watched, even though you were certain you were alone? Have you ever felt like something was terribly wrong even though you couldn’t place why? Then you may have some form of anxiety and/or paranoia, I’m afraid. Unless you’re in the Pathfinder universe, where a sense of something staring at you from some unseen direction or a vague feeling of doom is a fairly good sign you’re being stalked by a Fey, or some form of Undead, or any number of fiends. You’re lucky in some ways if it turns out to be one of these 30-foot-tall insects instead, but unlucky in significantly more important ways. 

The Watchers are the primary keepers of the infinitely mysterious Jandelay, a bead of order floating within the endless chaos of the Maelstrom. Knowledge of this unusual demiplane is basically nonexistent on Golarion but for a strange poem carved into the base of a thousand-foot-tall tower called the Spindlethorn, meaning that if any of THESE creatures show up, it’s very likely that no one on the planet will know what the hell it means. Unfortunately for everyone involved, their presence typically means that the world on which they’re spotted is about to end, all life on it to be wiped out by an apocalyptic calamity which can rarely be averted. They’re not the cause, merely a symptom; they’re observers called to a doomed world to witness its end, recording and collecting what they can before its history and uniqueness are lost forever.

Perhaps as a form of mercy for the doomed world, the inhabitants don’t really have to deal with 30-foot-tall spiders suddenly appearing and gazing dispassionately at them. Rather, Watchers of Jandelay have the unnerving ability to become completely Inconspicuous, fading entirely from all senses if an onlooker fails a DC 28 Will save the first time each day they’d observe one of them. If that save is failed, that creature simply cannot be made to see or hear that Watcher with any of its senses for 24 entire hours, unless it’s forced to touch one by someone who succeeded (or the Watcher, for whatever reason, touches it). This Inconspicuous ability is a mind-affecting effect, so any creature immune to them can see a Watcher perfectly, which I’m sure will have no effect on their mental health whatsoever.

Even if a creature can see it, though, that’s no guarantee they’ll be able to interact with it. Once per day, a Watcher can Phase Shift out of local reality entirely, appearing to all the world as ghostly, transparent shapes that are entirely untouchable, something they use to minimize their potential impact to a world (and also avoid being caught in whatever calamity is about to befall it). A creature able to see one (or even multiple) will not only have to convince their allies that the Watchers are even THERE, but that they’re living beings rather than some kind of illusion or hallucination. Depending on if the apocalypse is in full swing or not, they could be entirely dismissed as some harmless but disquieting magical anomaly or trickery, which suits them just fine. The fewer creatures that perceive them, the fewer opportunities there are for something to go wrong with their work.

When a Watcher arrives on a world, it has two duties: Observation and preservation. Assisting the former is their singular, gigantic eye, a sensory organ so impossibly complex and powerful that comparing it at all to your pathetic human eyes is like comparing a lit match to the light of the sun. A Watcher’s eyesight is unmatched due to its Perfect Observation, recording all sensory information in a memory that never fades or corrupts unless tampered with by an outside source. They also are always treated as rolling a natural 20 on ALL vision-based Perception checks regardless of any possible intervening factors... which means that they’re always treated as having a 71 Perception, a number that may as well be an infinity sign! They’re outright immune to being blinded or dazed, and with 120ft of Blindsight, See In Darkness, and True Sight besides, it’s safe to say that the only way you’re hiding from a Watcher’s eyesight is with good old cover and concealment.

Aiding in their efforts for preservation is their ability to erect Beacons of Jandelay, six-foot-tall pillars of pale yellow energy that designate their surrounding environment as worth keeping. Jandelay, the realm of emerald fields and alabaster spires, is actually something of an archive and a museum in one, keeping records and collected remnants of worlds and civilizations destroyed by calamity. Any stretch of land marked by a Beacon of Jandelay is transported to the demiplane and knit together with one another, magically preserved for review by the Watchers and any visitor that manages to reach the plane. Because these beacons are so important, they’re typically built out of phase with reality, where they can still function but cannot be interacted with. Dimension Anchor or any similar spell that bars interplanar travel can cause a phased-out beacon (or even a phased-out Watcher) back into reality, but doing so can be dangerous, because interacting with or ESPECIALLY causing damage to a beacon will summon a Watcher to investigate; they always arrive on target with their at-will Plane Shift or 3/day Quickened Teleport if their destination is near a beacon! And once they’re there, they have ways to very, very quickly deal with interlopers.

At their base, being Full-Attacked by a Watcher can end a battle as soon as it starts. Their unique version of Air Walk allows their body to remain fixed in space even as their limbs are occupied, meaning they can swat an annoyance with all six of their limbs without risking falling over. That means upwards to six 2d8+10 shots from claws that crit on a 19 or 20! And with a 20ft space but a 30ft reach, having one suddenly appear in the midst of your party (either because it teleported there or because the party finally noticed it) means you’re likely stuck there as it Full-Attacks every round. 

Thankfully, Watchers rarely fight to kill... because, oftentimes, they literally can’t kill their targets before the targets are permanently neutralized via their Stasis. Being hit by a single claw forces a DC 28 Will save to avoid being slowed (as the spell), and any creature that’s already slowed has to make a DC 28 Fortitude save or be permanently frozen in time. This works exactly like Temporal Stasis; the victim cannot take actions, cannot be harmed or targeted by anything, and cannot be moved from whatever spot they were frozen on This stasis can only be ended if it’s dispelled, if the Watcher that caused it is slain, or if the Watcher and frozen target are no longer on the same plane as one another... which typically means the unfortunate victims are often frozen right up until whatever calamity the Watchers came to watch is wracking the planet. They snap out of their stasis just as the world ends around them.

Being able to force upwards to six Save-or-Suck effects a round with no per-day limit or 24-hour immunity clause is really all a Watcher needs to handle most threats. There’s basically no creature that resists the Stasis effect, and the only way to avoid it entirely is to dispel the Slow effect each time it’s applied (or, more realistically, bolster the target’s Will save beyond 28)... though it’s a little ambiguous if this ability would have any effect on a creature under the effects of Freedom of Movement, which allows a creature to move normally even while under the effects of Slow, but Stasis doesn’t CARE of a creature is actually affected by the Slow, only that the effect is there in the first place. Make sure you think about this before sending one after your players! And make sure you have a way out in case they all fail! Like, perhaps, the Watcher has sustained too many injuries (though players would have to get past its DR 15 and Regeneration 15, both requiring Chaotic sources) and has to Plane Shift away to recover, which frees everyone held at once to regroup.

Anyway, back on track: the six natural attacks are typically all a Watcher needs in its day to day life, but those are by no means the only weapon in its arsenal. Oh no, you wish it was. As witnesses to countless calamities, Watchers have absorbed some of the resulting destructive energy to become mobile armageddons all on their own, to a degree that feels almost unnecessary! I mean, they have Control Weather and Telekinesis at-will, which is already great for causing chaos... But then there’s their 3/days: Whirlwind, Call Lightning Storm, Sirocco, Vortex, and Earthquake. THREE TIMES A DAY, EACH! If stirred sufficiently to action, a Watcher can obliterate not just an adventuring party, but the entire city around them if it needs to, bending the laws of nature to their whim and will with all the power of an angry demigod.

And that’s before we look at their 1/days. The combat applications for Time Stop and Meteor Swarm are plenty, but why do they also need Storm of Vengeance and Tsunami? My personal guess is to create distractions for anyone trying to stop the coming end times.

Uniquely and frighteningly, Watchers will move to intervene against any group of creatures that stand a good chance of stopping whatever apocalypse is about to unfold, each one guided by whatever strange intelligence that lays within Jandelay... or perhaps guided by sunk cost fallacy. They’re already here and already set up, and now it’s not going to happen? Boooooo! It’s unclear why they’re motivated to fight against any attempt to avert a world’s fate that seems poised to succeed, but whatever the case may be, it’s certainly convenient for a DM that wants to test their luck and their player’s patience with these aliens from one of the strangest planes in all of Pathfinder.

You can read more about them here.

[umbraastaff]

Occasionally, the Starblaster lands in a place that's actually receptive to their dire warnings. On one such world, with their society being accelerated by the Light of Creation, they even began making plans for how to combat the Hunger.

Barry goes to visit a convene a few months into the year, and finds them developing and honing skills they'll need to detect the Hunger - and to fight it when it arrives. To keep its destruction at bay until it follows the ship to the next planar system.

The skills they train are unlike anything he's seen before. Their healing appears as divine as any cleric's, but without the aid of gods - so cutting off the Celestial Plane won't stop their magic. And they fight, too, infusing that same magic into their weapons, powered by the force of their belief. They call themselves Watchers.

Barry trains with them, just the basics. They teach him how to draw power from the force of belief. From the memory of the Hunger consuming his world, and the promise that he'll do anything to stop it consuming others.

Anything.

Lup would do anything. He's sure. They're all incredibly fortunate to have someone like her onboard - someone who wouldn't ever let them destroy a world just to make this easier (and oh, he wasn't there, but he knows he would have been on Davenport's side about destroying the crystal).

He doesn't take the oath. He can see the way it codifies their belief into reality - the way it powers them, makes their souls divine. He wants to be that person, but he isn't. He doesn't put this foreign world above himself.

(But still, the magic takes to him. His senses sharpen to the Hunger's influence, letting him catch sight of the scouts without Blink. He can raise friends from unconscious mid-fight with just enough healing magic. He's dedicated, he believes, even if he won't commit and tie his soul to it.)

--

For a time, he leaves it there. There's so, so much to do and learn and see on this journey. He stays a level one rogue while Magnus trains up more dexterity and stealth, and he stays a level one paladin too, for now.

On Faerûn, Barry commits hard to an imperfect plan. And when he falls, already dead, from the ship, he already knows - on top of finding her - that he's going to have to defend it.

He's trapped in a cave for months at a time. The thing about plans is it doesn't really take three months to concoct one, no matter how granular he gets (and really, he needs to stop himself getting too detailed - it's hard enough getting his living self to follow basic instructions exactly how he wants). So he takes up other studies in the meantime.

He can't use weapons as a ghost, but he can practice the movements, ingrain the knowledge into pockets of 'muscle' memory. He's no cleric, but he can study their magic, see the ways their spells overlap with that training he underwent all that time ago.

He won't risk asking any god on Faerûn for help with the Raven Queen after him - he's not close with one like Merle is - but he already knows he can pull similar magic from inside himself. And some of the most basic spells look really useful, when he's only ever had wizard spells before.

Even when he doesn't remember, when he's just some guy who couldn't cast a spell to save his life, he feels it: the promise, the belief that drives him. He doesn't remember where he learned to fight, but he knows how to move a weapon like it's a part of his body. He knows when he's really, truly desperate, when his adventuring party of the week is on its last legs, his weapon glows with that fury and hits harder than it ever should otherwise.

--

He appears in his workshop feeling sick and furious, lightning lashing off him. All he can hear is their voices, so casually dismissing the dead guy they'd found the umbrastaff on.

Lucretia knows too. She must know, and she hasn't done anything about it -- still leaves Taako without the knowledge of just how fucking important that thing should be to him.

He drags himself back to some semblance of composure, ignoring the new burns and cracks he's put in the walls. Lup is out there somewhere. Lup still exists in this world, along with Merle's children and Magnus'... well, extended in-laws, and--

And she wouldn't let them flee this world, not with their families rooted here, and she wouldn't let Lucretia destroy this world.

And neither will he.

He's going to find her. He's going to bring them all together. He just needs their trust, and he's sure some echo of that century will get them to listen to him. He can bring everyone together, and once he does that, they'll find some way through this. They always do.

The bonds that tether his soul pull taut, burning now with divinity in the heart of an unholy abomination. He knows now how to change the shape of his soul, how to let its form twist around newfound power.

On the discipline of a decade's routine, on sleepless vigilance, on undying loyalty, he swears his oath.

This world will not be consumed.