Alcestus

The natural world faces many dangers, from the axes of humanoids, to rampaging outsiders. Fortunately for all there are just as many defenders who rise to defend the wilds. Alcesti are one example of such.
These defenders are formed from large herbivores with celestial ancestry. They keep their form, but with wings and large antlers.

In combat an Alcestus strikes telling blows with hoofs and antlers. Beams of force strike form their antlers, both defending from arrows and striking unerringly at enemies.

They usually live among herds of their kind, but when their environment is in danger they move to strike against it. Both this and the value of their antlers for the creation of magical items lead them to be hunted by many.
For those living peacefully in or near the roaming grounds of alcesti often see them as messagers of the gods, and on occasion alcesti do indeed serve as such. 

It is said that great champions of nature are at times presented an alcestus as companion and mount.

CR: 5
NG Large Magical Beast
Combat Role: All-rounder, ally

Thunder Rolling Along the Plains is the great horse spirit who guards the vast savannas in the center of Behisris. His hoofsoldiers are celestial horses with wings of grass and antlers of wood.

The Count of South-Belgrad has invited nobles from far and white for a great hunt. The greatest prize is a large hind with golden antlers that has been spotted in the count’s lands. In truth however the count uses the hunt as a way to get rid of the Alcestus that has been blocking his attempts to turn an ancient forest into farmlands.

As the party is traveling through dense woodlands they see a strange animal. It looks a bit like a brown horse or deer, but with striped legs and crystalline antlers. They keep seeing the animal, and it looks like it wants to lead them somewhere.

Monsters of Porphyra 3 p. 18

Nightblade GM’s Notes

The major advantage of using 3PP material as dm is that players are likely to be less familiar with it. This allows you to surprise them with unusual and unexpected opponents and problems.

The great versatility of the nightblade means you can create an entire group of nightblades that are clearly different while still being similar. Or create faraway places or planes where there are no rogues, magi or sorcerers, only nightblades with different paths.


Along a rarely used trade road, in the shadow of a lonely mountain stands a small inn. While The Shadowed Rest seems ordinary at first glance anyone who stays the night soon notices that the place has two entrances. The second entrance opens to an open field along a remote road, and though always dark there are no stars there.

The PCs are asked for help by a small trading company. Their main trading partner has recently fallen silent, and they need help in figuring out what happened. They should prepare for a difficult adventure, for the Sunlit World is a dangerous place for natives of The Shadow Realm.

A shadowy figure is seen outside the PCs camp several nights in a row. The figure follows them wherever they go, and tries to communicate in cryptic ways.

Nightblade Player’s Notes

The nightblade is a versatile class, each of the paths gives another specialization in playstyles. All nightblades are fundamentally rogues with some spellcasting however. The lack of sneak attack or a similar class feature means that you need to make good use of the spells and path power to be a useful member of the party.

When it comes to multiclassing or gestalt sneaky classes like rogue have a lot of overlap, so look at improving either spellcasting or martial abilities. Charisma based casters are always useful. On the martial side there are plenty of classes who also make good use of charisma, like the swashbuckler.

There are a lot of shadow based 3pp classes, mostly because Paizo never made their own. Interjection Games made Ultimate Antipodism that holds several light and dark based classes. The Shadow Weaver is a shadow caster. If you want to make a darkness based wizard or sorcerer take a look at 101 Shadow and Darkness Spells.
The dread is a similar class that uses psionics instead of darkness.

Most who wield the magic of shadow seek to remain hidden. Not so for Duke Ezravor al’ Argentange! He is a widely renowned knave, womanizer and master of the rapier! He is the greatest symbol of hope for those suffering under the tyranny of Governor of La Barajah.

Dreadful Shadows
You know well how to use your enemies fear of darkness against them.
Prerequisites: Devastating Touch, Shadow Surge
Benefit: You can expend a shadow surge part the same action as using your devastating touch. If you do so can can use your devastating touch as a ranged touch attack with 60 ft. range.

Bugbears are known for being surprisingly stealthy. The bugbears in the icy forest realm of Snowbough in particular are talented at disappearing into the shadows.

Nightblade Class Features

The nightblade can best be summed up as a rogue with shadow magic. They are proficient in the use of simple weapons and a limited selection of martial weapons, and the spiked chain. They are also proficient in light armor and can cast their spells in such armor.
Nightblade spells range from level 1 to 6, including cantrips and use the same progression as that of the bard. The strength of the nightblade’s spells and powers depend on their force of personality.

At level one a path is selected, each path gives it’s own path power, a way to use the shadow surge, path techniques at levels 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20, as well as access to a few nightblade arts. The chosen path has a major effect on how the class plays.
The five paths are:

• The Path of the Bloodied Chain, which creates areas filled with shadowy chains that hinder and frighten all who are caught within.
• The Path of the Darkened Fortress, nightblades who follow this path learn to create weapons, items, an arcane bond and even a dark citadel in their own corner of the shadow plane.
• Path of the Eternal Night, these nightblades create a shoud of negative energy around themselves. They devour the life force of dying enemies to empower themselves.
• Path of the Ravaging Void, whose specialization lies in shadow evocations. Any evocation spell can be cast using half-real shadowstuff.
• Path of the Twilight Veil, those who follow this path use shadow magic to deceive their enemies with the unreal. Their illusions can hide the nighblade and her allies, or leave her opponents sick disoriented and lost.

Nightblades quickly gain evasion, and learn to store shadow energies into their own shadows with a standard action. This energy can be expended in a shadow surge to power a wide range of abilities. At level 2 all Nightblades can expend a surge to gain advantage on a Stealth roll, and also gain the surge ability of their path at the same level.
A second and third surge can be stored at level 8 and 17.

At third level and every three levels thereafter a nightblade arts can be chosen, amongst other things these give new ways to use shadow surges. Nightblade arts can also be exchanged for rogue talents and combats feats.
At the same time nightblades learn to see in the dark, gaining darkvision 30 and Blind-Fight from level 3. This is improved to darkvision 60 at level 9. At level 14 the ability to see perfectly in both natural and magical darkness.
At eighth level hide in plain sight is gained.

Experienced Nightblades can shadow shift, this allows teleportation like dimension door up to 30 feet per level per day. This counts as the ability to use dimension door for feats like Dimensional Agility.

The penultimate class feature is shadowy realism, which ads 20% reality to shadow spells, though this sadly does not stack with other such abilities.
Finally the capstone is gained from the nightblade’s path.

The Diarchs of the sun and the moon prefer honesty and openness in their dealings. But for those times where subterfuge and even a blade in the dark is truly needed the shadowbolts are called upon. These operatives are personally blessed by the diarch of to moon with great powers over shadows and darkness.

Kress Frestings believes that if she kills and devours enough of the living she can return to life herself. For this purpose she as been stalking and devouring the life of people in the city. After decades of of murders she is becoming impatient, and now she seeks to create a cult dedicated to a diety of disease and release a plague to create thousands of dead to feast upon.

Deepshadow Gates, or their natural occuring counterparts Deepshadow Caves allow practitioners of shadow magic to travel rapidly between them. A rare ritual allows one to temporarily destroy these places of power to gain the ability to shadow shift yourself.

Alaihar

While these creatures look like majestic and colorful birds, they are in fact an offshoot of true dragons. Alaihars show their ancestry in their fiery breath weapon, scintillating feathers and great mastery of magic.
An alaihar is capable of casting spells as an eighth level sorcerer, but also treats cleric spells as arcane and can learn spells from that list in addition to wizard/sorcerer spells.

The habit of young alaihars to seek battle against evil leads many of these proud dragons to die young. In contrast the calmer and wiser elders prefer to act as mentors and advisers to young heroes.

CR 10
LG Small Dragon
Combat Role: Spellcaster, Hit and Run

According to dragon legends an ancient red dragon who bested his golden rival sought to humiliate his enemy yet further by transforming him into a mere bird. The power of the golden dragon could not be unmade so easily however, and the descendants of the dragon showed much of the powers of true dragons.

The falling gardens of Attylon are famed above all for the countless birds of paradise that make their homes there. But only the priest-emperor himself knows of the Alaihar who are his foremost advisors.

An evil abjurer seeks the last ingredient he needs to close a city of from the gods themselves. The living heart of an 800 years old Alaihar.

Monsters of Porphyra, page 3

Nightblade Intro

For most adventurers darkness is an enemy. In the dark dungeons and shadowed ruins they most commonly explore it is ever-present, hiding trap and enemy alike. Their enemies on the other hand can almost universally see in the dark, making being detected and ambushed almost unavoidable.
It is hardly strange that players have wanted to wield the darkness for themselves. Since the very first editions of D&D the Thief and Assassin have skulked in the darkness, and already in AD&D the wizard could take the Shadow Mage kit to use darkness based magic.

The Nightblade is the centerpiece class of The Book of Shadows. It uses the basic chassis of the rogue, with shadow magic instead of sneak attacking. Their spellcasting follows the bard’s progression, with Charisma as their spellcasting modifier. The spell list is varied, with mostly utility and evocations. It obviously contains a large number of shadow and darkness spells.

The class is impressively customizable. Every nightblade must select a specialization called a path at level 1. A path provides a series of unique powers and abilities with a central theme spread out over the nightblade’s levels, as well as access to several distinct nightblade arts. Nightblade Arts are the talents of the class, and among other things allow the nightblade to expand upon their class features and can be exchanged one to one for combat feats or rogue talents.

Role: Nightblades are skill monkeys and stealth specialists. Their shadow spells add versatility both in and out of combat. Their chosen Path and nightblade arts determine their exact role in combat, but their place is always on the side of the battle.

HD: 8
BAB: 3/4
High Saves: Ref, Will
Class Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Dex), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (planes), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), and Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skill Points: 6 + int mod

When the denizens of Calignos first fled underground to escape the Earthfall the local thieves guild fled with them. These assassins and thieves were the most eager students of the Forsaken, and when the owbs first showed themselves to the Dark Folk they hid themselves away from these new overlords. To this day their decedents worship the Forsaken on the edges of Dark Folk society, stealing away and training any Caligni throwbacks they can take.

A dwarven hold in in turmoil since the leader of the mining guild has been found assassinated in his private office. In the weeks since more high ranked miners have been found muredered in ever more guarded rooms. Rumors say a shadowy figure has been seen moving through stone walls, and that the murders are connected to a large new mining operation that was being planned.

Yami stalks the Chasm to Shadow, preferring to take the fight to the enemies of life over playing the guiding role his fellow manasaputras favor. He has learned to wield the shadows he casts as a deadly weapon.

Invoker GM's Notes

For the DM one of the most notable things about the invoker is not the class itself but the nature spirits an invoker bonds with. It is important to decide what the spirits are and how they interact with your world.

The spirit companion’s type is fey, and fey courts with kings, queens, knights and courtiers are a common element in medieval fantasy you (and I) can easily build of. On the other hand you can go for more wild spirits of nature, with more dispersed or even animalistic social structures.
Plants and Elementals are also options for nature spirits, either as replacements for fey or alongside them.

If you need more fey you can do this by adding classes or with templates. Cavaliers are great for noble fey knights, bards can be both entertainers and scheming nobility. Druids take the place of mortal clergy, and druids trained in a fey court could make for an interesting contrast to the more typical wilderness hermits. For templates take a look at Ultimate Intrigue and Ultimate Wilderness.
For templates good options are Fey Creature from Bestiary 3, Fey Animal from Lands of the Linnorn Kings and Fey Touched from Legacy of the First World. Green Ronin’s Advanced Bestiary has elemental creature templates and the Green Warden template for elemental and plant spirits respectively.
Interesting third-party products are Forest Kings Compendium, which is a collection of additional material for the Kingmaker AP. Dark Fey from Kobold Press which is a collection of evil fey and Monster Enhancement – Enhanced Fey by Purple Duck Games.

Otzeta-jha is is widely known as one of the most spectacular and ancient forests in existence. Many unique animals and fey make their home there. Only the druids of the temple at the heart of the woods know that the entire forest can rise up one being. (Green Warden Plant-Imbued Daikaiju Turtle).

The fey of desert lands are rarely as organized and united as those of more verdant lands. The courts of desert fey rove the sands, often warring with fellow fey and humanoid tribes alike. But all respect the knowledge and sanctity of Forsees, a simurgh seer who nests amidst the rocks at the center of the desert.

Mist Dog    CR 3
Fey Blink Dog
XP 800
CN Medium Fey
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +7
Defense
AC 15, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+4 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 22 (3d10+6)
Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +4; +4 vs. mind-affecting effects
Defensive Abilities; DR 5/cold iron; Resist cold 10, electricity 10
Offense
Speed 40 ft., fly 60 ft. (good)
Melee bite +5 (1d6)
Spell-like abilities (CL 7th; concentration +7)
    Constant—blink
    At will—quickened dimension door (self only)
    3/day—dancing lights
    1/day—entangle (DC 11), faerie fire, glitterdust (DC 12)
Statistics
Str 10, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 11
Base Atk +3; CMB +4; CMD 16 (20 vs. trip)
Feats Combat Reflexes, Iron Will
Skills Acrobatics +9, Bluff +6, Fly +9, Knowledge (Nature) +4,
    Perception +7, Stealth +9, Survival +2 (+6 scent tracking)
Languages Sylvan
Ecology
Environment foggy plains or forests
Organization solitary, pair, or pack (3–14)
Treasure incidental
Special Abilities
Vanish (Su): As a swift action, a mist dog can vanish for
1 round as if affected by invisibility. It can use this ability for
3 rounds per day.

Using Elephant in the Room, dex to hit is free.

Agropelter

A first sight a kind of arboreal ape or monkey, a closer look shows the strange, boneless seeming arms and legs of this beast. Agropelters are named for their habit of throwing branches and sharp sticks at anyone or anything they come across.
Their arms and legs look more like flexible tubes than limbs, and are capable of flinging projectiles at significant speed with a snapping motion.

Agropelters are somewhat intelligent and can indeed speak, however they speak only their own language. This combined with their aggressive habits lead most to prefer killing or driving them out over diplomacy.
This is easier said than done, as agropelters life among the leaves of talol trees and are skilled at hiding. When an attacker approaches them agropelters respond with a burst of speed to either run away. The same speed is used to evade ranged attacks.

CR 3
CN Medium Magical Beast
Combat Role: Ranged Damage, Ambush

When a forest fire swept through the outlying area the villagers took comfort in knowing the agropelters would at least be gone. The first to to take a look at the burned forest got an unwelcome surprise, a group of the pests had somehow become infused with the fire. Now the new half-fire elemental [Bloodforge] agropelters are a greater danger than ever.

Trade caravans crossing the Tree-mountains have been harassed by agropelters recently. Capable arboraleers are needed to track the branch flinging menaces down to their nests in the peaks of the trees.

Hairy Jack has won the chicken flinging competition every year since he settled in town four years ago. This, along with his habit of wearing over-sized coats and floppy hat has made him a popular local nutter.

Monsters of Porphyra 3 17

Invoker Player's Notes

The selling points of the invoker are the spirit companion and spirit invocations. The unique point of the companion is that it is a pet, but where those are almost always a melee fighter, the invoker’s companion is the supporting caster and ranged damage dealer to the martial character.
The spirits invocations allow the invoker to specialize on specific tactics per day, thus giving a more varied playstyle than most martial characters. The spirit abilities, that are powered up via invocations, give additional options in a fight.

The ability scores you need most are the usual martial’s strength and constitution, with charisma being responsible for the uses and DC’s of spirit powers.
The best races for the invoker are those with a bonus to either str or con and charisma. Those with a connection to nature or fey are particularly good options from a backstory perspective, but of course anyone can attract the attention of the fey.
The genie descendant Suli or the plant-like Ghorans have excellent stats and fluff for invokers. Grendels from Dreamscarred Press are also an interesting option.

For multiclassing and gestalt, look for classes that support the invoker’s versatility and front-line role. A few levels of brawler can provide versatile access to combat feats for example. 

---

Spirit Bound armor
Price: +1 bonus
A suit of Spirit Bound armor is inscribed with imagery related to the wearer’s spirit companion’s domain, and eases the merger of the wearer and his companion. The wearer can stay in the avatar form for an additional 2 minutes per day, and 3 times per day can cast one of the spirit companion’s spells as a free action.

The battles of the Warring States period took place on many battlefields, and the remains of clockwork ronin can be found in even the deepest wilderness. The spirits of these wild paces sometimes mingle with the remains of the ancestor spirits trapped in the spirit gears, brining the fallen soldiers to life once again.

Spirit Blast
You have learned to channel the destructive power of you companion.
Prerequisites: Invoker level 3, Spirit companion class feature.
Advantages: You can use your companion’s spirit blast.

Invoker Class Features

The class features of the invoker are all about the spirits they bond with and how they improve the ability to wield those powers.

Level 1 gives the spirit companion and the first spirit, which has to be the same oath / domain combination as their spirit companion. He also gains the spirit pool, which contains a number of of spirit points equal to ½ the invoker’s level + his charisma modifier. Spirit points are spend to use the primary power of the spirits the invoker has bonded with.
Further spirits can be selected at levels 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18.

The spirit companion gains a damaging spirit blast ranged attack depending on its domain. It also has spellcasting that follows the ranger's progression, but its spell list is dependent on the selected spirits.

Spirits provide a spirit power, which are usually powered up by that spirit's invocations. Every spirit also comes with a set of spells (2 per level) that are added to the companions spell list.

At second level the invoker gains his namesake ability: Invoke allows him to choose a spirit to channel greater power from. The spirit must be either of the same oath or domain as his spirit companion.
Invoke gives the invocations of the invoked spirit, with greater invocations gained at higher levels: lesser (2nd), intermediate (5th), greater (11th), and grand (17th).

As a martial class bonus combat feats are gained at level 3, 9 and 15.
The next level gives the invoker the ability to save his companion from death by sacrificing some of his own life force.

A level 5 the invoker gains the ability to invoke a second spirit at a time, though its invocations are gained three levels later than the first invoked spirit. At level 6 he gains the ability to swap an invoked spirit by expending spirit points, with level 12 speeding this up.
Then at level 7 another major ability is gained, avatar allows the invoker to merge with his spirit companion. Besides the ability to refill his spirit pool by sacrificing the companions spell slot this gives various abilities depending on the companion’s dominion and stat bonuses depending on the oath.

The capstone is One of many, giving the ability to use the spirit powers of all spirits, including those not selected, as well as the option to replace both invoked spirits at once.

---

Sharp Fangs Drip Crimson is a spirit of savagery and the wasteful hunt. Taking the form of a dire predator it delights in driving animals into savage frenzy. If a humanoid is wounded by the maddened animals he possesses the wounded victim on the next full moon. After a night of slaughter she moves on, leaving her victim cursed with lycanthropy.

Colonists have been moving into the great forest of Graspoldir. The tensions between them and the native minotaurs are rising. Grikaldir, a prominent minotaur shaman has forsaken his bond with the protective spirit of the trees and bonded with a spirit of choking vines and brambles.
He seeks to drive the newcomers from his home and grow the forest into the highlands the colonists come from.

The fey Court of Thundering Water has been warring with the Court of Towering Heights for as long as any of the inhabitants of the Harrusr shard can remember. The shard is a beautiful and oft-dangerous realm of towering mountains and thundering waterfalls.
Recently a guild of archivists has moved into the shard and allied with the Court of Towering Heights, threatening an escalation of the ancient fey conflict. As the players try to navigate the conflict it steadily becomes clearer the archivists have sinister motives.

Invoker Intro

Many people are called friends to nature, but the invoker takes it more literally than most. By whatever means they have gained the companionship of a powerful spirit of nature. The spirit acts as support, casting spells for and fighting alongside the invoker.

The invokers affinity for nature spirits does not end with their companion however, as he and his companion grow in power, lesser spirits will lend their power to the team. These spirits can be invoked by the invoker, who can then use their powers in battle against the enemies of nature. 

The spirits of nature can take many forms, from ordinary looking animals to fey lords. The spirits are classified along two axes. Domains define the part of nature the spirit hails form; beasts, land, sea, sky or wilds. 

Oaths define the way the spirit approaches their domain, acolytes channel it into mystical spells and powers. Guardians defend using their domain, and harbringers wield it as a weapon.

The great spirit who is the invoker’s main companion is a physically present ally, capable of casting spells and attacking enemies at range. The lesser spirits provide their power to both the invoker and the greater spirit, allowing the invoker to wield their power in battle and adding specific spells to the spirit's spell list.

Role: Invokers function as warriors, with much of their role determined by the spirits they bond with. The powers granted by the individual spirits often lend themselves to a particular role or specialization in combat.

HD: 10
BAB: Full
High Saves: Fort, Ref
Class Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Fly (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).
Skill Points: 4 + int mod

In the sky world Herelen the sky courts of the fey rule. The Auttaine islandships that travel the skies select those who show the greatest rapport with the fey as ambassadors. The bonds these ambassadors forge with the sky fey are vital in keeping the world’s two peoples prosperous and at peace.

On rare occasions dryads bond with a treant instead of an ordinary tree. Such pairs often serve as extremely powerful protectors of their forests, and usually attract many lesser spirits to their side.

There are plenty of danger faced by the merfolk communities around the Starred Trench. But fear are as feared as Shadowed Depths. The mysterious Cecealia heralds dark times for any village that sees them on its outskirts, and is believed to be connected to an ancient entity of madness that resides in the depth of the trench.

Absinthian Hardwood

It is widely accepted that there are two kinds of animate plants: Those as mobile as any animal, and those that are sessile. Those plants that cannot run from danger must seek other ways to defend themselves. The Absinthian Hardwood is a particularly disturbing example of the latter, its addictive fruit contains a poison that corrupts those that consume it into evil minded defenders.

The tree’s drug affects the consumer with charm monster. If this effect is maintained for a month it becomes permanent. The plant can however only maintain twice its HD in creatures under addiction at a time. This forces it and its minions to keep a target close by, or supply a potentially distant individual with the fruits for this whole period.

In combat Absinthain Hardwoods are protected by its minions while the tree itself casts druid spells (CL 9th) from behind. If confronted directly it defends itself with slam attacks while relying on its hard wood for defense.

There are several variants of this monster, one given by the bestiary is the Nightshade Absinthian, which turns victims into ghouls and ghasts.

CR 10

NE Huge Plant

Combat Role: Caster

An evil aristocrat uses Absinthain liquor as a way to get rid of rivals. He does not realize this puts those he poisons under control of a more sinister master.

Village-Heart Absinthian: The fruit of this festive looking tree shifts a creature’s alignment to LG. These trees often stand in the center of a small and inviting village.

The Two Peaks Company provides the best and most trusted guides for caravans seeking to cross the High Hordelands. Recently however, the orcs warbands seem aware of all the trade caravans guided by the famously dedicated rangers.

Elementer GM's Notes

The most useful thing about the elementer as a DM is their dual role as both blaster mage and martial. Start the elementer NPC behind the front line throwing damage at the party, then activate the aegis once the front line is dead or has run off.

Powerful Elementers have excellent resistances and even immunity to energy damage. This allows you to exploit dangerous environments in your encounters.

Flamecaller is an arsonist and burglar who summons fire elementals and uses the fires set as cover for burglary.

Encounter: Earth and Sky
Creatures: 2 air focused elementists archers, 2 earth focused elementists
This encounter takes place in a large open area. The air elementists start using the lesser air affinity to extend their reach. The earth elementist use the barricade spell twist to keep the party away from the archers before engaging.

Encounter: Amidst the Storm
Creatures: 10th level elementer, 2 behir
The behirs start hidden while the elementer lures the party close. Once the party has clumped up the behir use their breath weapon to deal maximum damage. The elementer’s energy resistance protects them from the damage.

Giant, Abaasy

Abaasy are horrid one-eyed giants. Gangs of therse creatures roam the underground, seeking food and sport. The singular eye of an Abaasy holds supernatural terror, a single look able to leave a victim frozen with fear. The entire gang will then decent upon the unfortunates to rip them apart with their many-tonged iron lashes.
The body of an Abaasy seems infused with metal, their teeth and nails are iron-like and make for deadly weapons. Their skin is iron hard and able to turn or blunt even the sharpest blades.

Abaasy will eat any kind of meat they can get, but dwarves are their preferred meals, not least because they often come with good ale.

CR 8
CE Large Humanoid (giant)
Combat Role: Brute

Abaasy are close combat brutes like most giants, though they lack even the rock throwing common to most giants. They do have a secondary role as debuffer through combat maneuvers and intimidation. Intimidation is augmented by Freezing Gaze(su), improving shaken effect to stunning. Abassy's also get a bonus to disarm and trips to use with their lash.

The best classes to advance them in are close combat ones like barbarian and fighter, especially if taking options that make for a stronger intimimancer.

At 14 intelligence Abaasy are fairly intelligent, making them potential mid-level leaders of bands of murderous humanoids.

When the Earthfall came a few communities of cyclops fled underground. By what ways they became Abaasy no one knows. Now these giants seek to regain their prophetic powers, seeing it as the way to rebuild the ancient cyclops empires.

When the flayed and gnawed remains of dwarves are found below the hold, the local militia quickly readies to search for the Abaasy responsible. In truth however it is a group of Derro hidden among the dwarves themselves who are committing the murders.

Though hard to manage, many drow consider Abaasy excellent mercenaries. The giant’s ability to freeze creatures with fear makes them particularly useful as slave takers.

Monsters of Porphyra 3 97

Elementist

NPC class version of the Elementer (Path of the Wilds)

Focusing on both spellcasting and elementally powered combat is beyond the ability of most. These lesser Elementists instead focus entirely on the martial side of the Elementer.

Hit Die: d8

Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Fly (Dex), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Survival (Wis) and Swim (Str).

Skill Ranks per Level: 2 + Int modifier

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special
1	+0	+0	+2	+0	Aegis
2	+1	+0	+3	+0	Spell Twist 1/day 1st level
3	+2	+1	+3	+1	Affinity (Lesser)
4	+3	+1	+4	+1
5	+3	+1	+4	+1
6	+4	+2	+5	+2
7	+5	+2	+5	+2	Spell Twist 2/day 2st level
8	+6/+1	+2	+6	+2	Affinity (Moderate)
9	+6/+1	+3	+6	+3
10	+7/+2	+3	+7	+3
11	+8/+3	+3	+7	+3
12	+9/+4	+4	+8	+4	Spell Twist 3/day 3st level
13	+9/+4	+4	+8	+4	Affinity (Greater)
14	+10/+5	+4	+9	+4
15	+11/+6/+1	+5	+9	+5
16	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+5
17	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+5	Spell Twist 4/day 4st level
18	+13/+8/+3	+6	+11	+6	Affinity (Master)
19	+14/+9/+4	+6	+11	+6
20	+15/+10/+5	+6	+12	+6	Spell Twist 5th level

Aegis (Su): All elementists learn a potent technique to envelop themselves in elemental force, shaping it into a raiment of energy. This is known as creating an aegis, and while powerful it is not without its limitations.
The the elementist can enter into their aegis form as a swift action. The elementist can use their Aegis for a number of rounds per day equal to their elementer level / 2 + their int modifier, minimum 1 round per day.
While in her aegis form, she gains a +1 bonus on attack rolls and to her AC. This bonus increases by +1 at 5th level and every four elementist levels thereafter to a maximum of +5 at 17th level. While in their aegis form, the elementist is unable to cast spells, use spell trigger or spell completion magic items.
The elementer can voluntarily exit aegis form as a free action at any time. Once she leaves aegis form (whether due to running out of rounds or exiting voluntarily), they cannot re-enter until the end of her next turn.

Spell Twist (Sp): Beginning from level 2 the elementist can learn a Spell Twist in place of a feat. The elementist can use their spell twists once per day at level 2, with one more use per day every 5 levels after. The Spell Twist is treated as if a 1st level spell was used to cast it, increasing by +1 at levels 7, 12, 17 and 20.

Affinity (Su): At 3st level, the elementist learns how to harness the elements to improve their aegis form. Each day when they prepare their spells they selects a single lesser affinity power from those listed and the end of the class description. They gains the benefits of that affinity power while they are in their aegis form. The choice remains until they prepares spells again, at which point they can choose a different affinity power.
Upon reaching 8th, 13th, and 18th levels, the elementist may also select a moderate, greater, and master affinity power, respectively. The elementist automatically gains the benefits of their affinities when they enter their Aegis form.
Affinity powers are categorized into one of four elements: air, earth, fire, or water. If they’re currently benefiting from more than one power of the same element, they gain additional effects depending on the number they’re currently benefiting from as listed in that power’s “synergy” entry.

Elementer Multiclass and Gestalt

Obviously the big difficulty of multiclassing or gestalting with the Elementer is that spellcasting is not possible while the aegis is up. This makes full casters less than useful as it leaves them regularly unable to cast their spells.
On the other hand having more spell slots gives an elementer the ability to prepare and cast more elemental spells. Bloodragers with the Elemental bloodline in particular give access to bonus spells while also providing additional combat bonuses.

It is also usefull to check with you DM about various spellcasting variant can be used even when the Aegis is active. While Psionic powers might not fly, systems like Strange Magic 2's Herbalism or Onmyodo might be allowed.

Path of War and Spheres of Might both give more active abilities while in melee, while also giving additional movement options to get in or out of battle. The Mystic would work well for a more martially inclined Elementer.

A secret sect of Nagaji herbalists use elementally grown herbs to enter their aegis form.

Ever since a near death upon the battlefield a long repressed former incarnation of the Samsaran Nicah Pranata surfaces whenever they activate their Aegis. The resulting bloody rages make them a danger to their comrades.

Ku-Aya is the greatest prodigy the Tell-Mosan Academy of the Flowing Spear and Burning Sigil has seen in centuries. This made it all the more worrying when she vanished during a mission supporting a new settlement in the Riverhome Mountains.

Elementer Class Features

As mentioned in the last post the Elementer is a switch gish, moving between martial and spellcasting abilities. This starts with their spellcasting, which is int based and uses the Magus progression. Like the Magus and Wizard they use spellbooks to record and prepare their spells.
On the martial side they have a 3/4th BAB, d8 HD, proficiency with simple weapons and a few specific martial weapons and light armor. Elementer spells can cast in light armor with without chance of failure.

This basic chassis would leave Elementers rather fragile in melee, and this is where the Aegis comes in. This class ability is powered with the Energy Pool and can be activated with a swift action and ended with a free action. While active the Aegis provides scaling bonuses to AC and attack, from +2 at level 1 to +6 at level 17, effectively providing heavy armor and full BAB. Depending on how many points are spend per round (decided when activating the Aegis) the Elementer can also benefit from greater elemental Affinity powers.
The Energy Pool starts out half-full at the start of the day, and can be filled up to Elementer level + int mod.
The pool is filled by way of elemental spells, all of which are listed in as part of the Elementer’s spell list, but which don’t have to be Elementer spells. Casting an elemental spell or sacrificing one to cast a Spell Twist you gain an amount of points equal to the level of the spell cast. Any number of elemental spells can also be sacrificed to gain points, but is only half as efficient.

While preparing spells Elementers can also prepare their Affinities for that day. Each level of the affinity has its own set of elemental abilities and one can be prepared per level. If multiple Affinities of the same element are active, they get a synergy bonus depending on how many are of the same element.
The Lesser affinities are always active and provide additional damage as well as advantages to attacks. From level six and 2 points per round the moderate Affinities provide movement bonuses. Level 11 and 4 energy points per round gives greater Affinities providing defensive bonuses. Finally at level 16 the Master Affinities create damaging and hindering auras for 6 points per round.
Spending enough points per round for an Affinity will also activate all lesser Affinities. From level 7 you can change prepared affinities once per day, later twice and trice.
The abilities provided by the Affinities are useful but not very interesting, for the most part they won’t surprise you if you have read a few elemental classes or archetypes before.

Level 2 provides Evasion (improved at 12) and more interestingly the first 2 Spell Twists learned out of a total of 8. Spell Twists are ways of shaping prepared elemental spells into simpler forms. There are a total of 20 spell twists, 4 per element with 4 additional universal ones.

At level 3 Potency gives additional damage to elemental spells, and level 4 gives Barrier, which provides a floating pool of energy resistance that can be assigned per 5 points to acid, cold, electricity or fire resistance. This starts at 10 points growing up to 60 points at level 19. From level 15 onward 30 points of resistance provides immunity to that element.
The defensive bonuses become much more useful at level 9 when Absorption causes elemental damage striking the Elementer to heal them if it is completely negated in any way.

Fusion allows combining spell slots to cast higher level spells from level 6, including 7th, 8th and 9th levels spells at higher levels and at considerable cost in spell slots.

The capstone of the class is Supremacy, which allow elemental spells and spell twists to bypass much of an enemies energy resistance and DR.

The trade boats that travel the rivers of the Eralasian rain forests are defended from pirates and monsters by an elite group of water focused Elementers trained by an Abaia who lives deep in the wildest parts. Though much appreciated by most traders, the steep tolls demanded by the guardians keeps them from being truly popular.

The Aellar of the Wind Wall use their mastery of air magic to empower their arrows with great speed and accuracy.

The wizard Jorgus Vanderstadt has spend the last 12 yours trying to form the Spell Twists used by Elementers into a series of properly codified spells. He believes the knowledge possessed by a sect of arcane druids will be essential for finally finishing his work.

Elementer Introduction

The raw powers of the elements of nature have fascinated throughout history, and many have attempted to control them. Damming rivers, shaping hills, harnessing the winds and confining fire to the hearth. Similarly most elemental mages seek to contain and control the wild powers of nature.
Not so the Elementers, these warrior mages seek a balance between directing and being swept away. By casting their elemental spells they build up a pool of elemental energy. When needed this power is unleashed and forms the Elementer’s Aegis, a mantle of nature’s might that is the weapon, shield and armor of an elemental warrior.

The Elementer is a half-caster like the Magus with d8 Hit Die, 3/4th BAB and up to 6th level casting, but where the Magus combines spell and sword the Elementer switches between the two.
By casting spells or her Spell Twists she gains points in her Energy Pool. With a swift action she can activate her Aegis. While the Aegis is up the Elementer gains bonuses to attack and defense, but gives up the ability to use spells and fill her Energy Pool.
Depending on how many points she spends on the Aegis per round the Elementer also prepared Affinity powers that make her a more deadly warrior.

Spell Twists are spell like abilities that are learned while leveling up, these can be used by expending prepared spells of the right element and have scaling effects depending on the spell level expended. Spell Twists can be used while the Aegis is active, but do not give energy points when used at that time.

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The Elementer is an interesting variation on the usual gish, switching from wizard to fighter instead of remaining in the martial role as most do. The relatively low limit on the Energy Pool encourages the player to regularly switch between the two states. You do however get no bonus feats, so be careful about the combat feats you select.
Elementers are an int caster who gets 4+int skill points per level, so even with the inherent MAD of a gish you won’t be short on skill points. Your class skill list casts a wide net with Knowledge(arcana) and Spellcraft from the wizard side, to Survival and Knowledge(nature) from the ranger side.

As an int caster it is easy to connect the Elementer with scholarly institutions or military academies. On the other side a more wilderness oriented character could easily have been taught by apprenticeship with the vagabond who passes the village every season.
It is possible to specialize in any of the elements or to divide your attention between them, so think about what what your character’s favored element is and how this effects their outlook and vice versa.

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When the Aronil Empire started hunting the desert tribes the Janni shamans were forced learn to defend themselves with more than just spells. Soon they found their elemental magic as useful in the thick of battle as well as it was for supporting their tribes fighters. Nowadays the warrior-shamans are the elite warriors of their own empire.

The port city of Wildhaven is ruled by four guilds. The Artisans of the Forge, the Merchants of the Ships, the Masons of the Stone and the Farmers of the Vane. Each of the guilds has their own corps of elemental soldiers, who often brawl in the streets.

Nature’s Spear is a young and enthousiastic warforged adventurer. He has merged his programmed martial skill and his adopted father’s druidic lessons into a deadly combination.

Abaia (CR 13)

The Abaia is a giant freshwater eel, they reside in pristine lakes deep in the wilderness. These good-natured beings seek to defend their homes from being exploited or despoiled. Their great size alone,  large enough to create tidal waves with a slap of their tails, would be threat enough, but they also command powerful water magic to defend their homes.
To those who respect their lakes however, Abaia can give wise council and fair judgment. The long lived eels often guide and protect generations of locals.

The Abaia has also been statted for Bestiary 4, but this version is a Porphyra RPG update of the version that first appeared in 4 Winds's Tome of Monsters.

Marabulo is an ever-boiling crater lake, but is it said that those who can survive a bath in its depth are granted the ability to make boiling water shoot from the ground.

There are two villages on the island, the Locathahs in the bay, and the Strix on the peak. Guided towards peace by their respective deities. Recently the Abaia and Couatl have been at odds, and a neutral party is needed to help resolve the issue.

A friendly benefactor of the PC’s has not heard from a friend for a long time, and he needs the party to check the remote mountain lake for any clues. The benefactor will supply the potions of waterbreathing.

- Monsters of Porphyra 3 10

A'peril (CR 6)

This apparel is truly a peril. There, jokes done.

The A’peril is a sourcerously created hybrid of cloaker and mimic. They wait until their victim puts them on, whereupon they do as all mimics do. That is they adhere to the unfortunate humanoid and attempt to strangle them to death. Attacking a grappling A’peril is a risky proposition, for their victim usually takes as much damage from an attack as the A’peril.

An unusual attribute of the A’peril is its preference for living in close proximity to humanoids. Generally clever enough to target lone prey and smart enough to hide the scant remains of its victims well, a single A’peril is capable of decimating an entire village or castle over time.

The wedding went horribly wrong when the new house cloak of the bride sprang to life and nearly strangled her. Now the two mightiest houses of the realm are on the edge of civil war.

The room you enter contains a floor, four walls, and a ceiling. There is a wardrobe with several sets of clothing and hats, a table with a few chairs and a weapon rack with a set of spears. All in all this completely unassuming room is clearly and entirely significant, nonthreatening and obviously harmless.

The No’peril is a variant whose aggressive instinct has been reduced. So long as it is well fed it will defend its wearer from aggressors with its slam attacks.

- Monsters of Porphyra 3 9

Purple Duck Games' Monsters of Porphyra

The Patchwork Planet of Porphyra, the custom campaign setting of Purple Duck Games, is composed of pieces of many other worlds, brought there when the gods invaded and laid low the Elemental Lords who ruled before. It is a place whose inhabitants come from vastly different places and origins.
Suffice it to say there are a lot of strange and diverse creatures that call the place home, ready to be enemy, ally or passerby. To that end Pauple Duck Games has so brought out three large bestiaries: Monsters of Porphyra 1, 2 and 3.

Seeing as the Path of ... Series has no monsters in it it seemed like a good second set of books to start going over, to add some diversity and not because I wanted an excuse to buy the third installment 😉.
The two series will run separately and mostly switch of depending on which I more feel like doing at the time.

For the latest installment, Monsters of Porphyra 3, it is important to note that it is made for the Porphyra RPG. This is a continuation of PF1, the same way that is a continuation of D&D3.5.
Porphyra RPG is basically fully compatible with Pathfinder 1e and vice versa, though if I find anything that might present a problem I will note it in the relevant creature entry.
The third bestiary itself specifically calls out poisons as a point of difference:

• All poisons have a frequency of 1/round unless listed otherwise.
• Poisons do not have a fixed duration. When you are poisoned, you are poisoned until cured or until the poison kills you.
• Poisons deal damage equal to their (DC-10) each round as poison damage.

In short there are no nonlethal poisons on Porphyra.

Archivist Adaptation

Using the Archivist or Rune magic in game can be an interesting and surprising variation from the Wizard. It provides clearly different abilities and descriptions while still being close to the familiar mechanics.
The Runic charge mechanic does mean that enemies should ideally last more that a few rounds to get the most out of the change. If they are unlikely to last long enough you can start them out with a few charges, or give abilities that grant the creature Runic charges from other things than casting Scripts.

Adapting a monster with spellcasting or spell-like abilities to use Rune magic is very easy. Just replace the spells with appropriate Scripts and slap a few runes on the critter to make a runic variant. If the spellcasting is secondary to the creatures encounter role adding an ability that grants Runic charges when performing its primary role will help integrating the Rune magic and make for a more interesting encounter.
A more difficult approach is using the Runic charge system to generate and pay for other custom abilities, without ever casting Scripts at all. The abilities might require charges of a specific Design/School or give different effects. While more complicated to make it gives the monster play very differently depending on how it generates and spends charges, eventually allowing the players to learn tactics for countering and exploiting the abilities over multiple encounters.

The Mirage Cage is a dungeon in the shape of a Rune of Counterspell. Anyone who sleeps in the dungeon automatically counterspells the first spell cast on them the following day.

In rare cases Guardian Scrolls that stay in close contact with powerful grimoires for extended periods can awaken. These intelligent constructs often show great affinity for rune magic.

Monster Ability: Runeguard
When the creature’s SR negates a spell the creature receives a Runic Charge of the appropriate Design. Any charges gained over the creatures maximum are lost without effect.

Archivist Multiclassing and Gestalt

The central problem of multiclassing the Archivist is that they are a full caster class, and there is little that is more valuable in Pathfinder 1e than that. Dipping Archivist might be more useful because of a particular quirk or Rune Casting: The lack of Somatic components. If you want to add some magical abilities to a martial character dipping into Archivist can get you that with less complications than Arcane Magic.

Gestalting comes with the same considerations as other full casters: It requires a lot of actions and as such works best with more passive classes. The ability to cast in heavy armor and with both hands full again opens some options that don’t work well with other full casters.
An interesting option is the Runesmith from Interjection Games, a class that uses runes to enhance theirs and other’s equipment.
Pet classes like the Summoner or Vanguard can be flavored to have their pet summoned or created with rune magic.

The broken scribes are a loose group of Scribes who use Aboleth glyphs to draw and shape Ether, a strange power from beyond reality.

Runic Spell (Metamagic)
You can cast spells in runic form.
Requirements: Ability to cast 2nd level Scripts
Advantages: A runic spell is cast with no somatic components, but with a vocal component. Once successfully cast it gives the caster a Runic Charge of an appropriate Design.
Level Increase: +1

Therkla Proudfoot often surprises her opponents with her runic enhanced strength.

Archivist Class Features

As a full caster the Archivist has relatively few class features. The Archivist has d6 HP, 2+int Skill Points and ½ BAB. His Class Skills are Appraise (Int), Craft (Int), Fly (Dex), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

At first level the Archivist gains his Rune Magic, his first bonus feat chosen from a Rune Casting focused list and has to choose a specialization called a Study.
A Study is the specialization class feature of the Archivist, giving the them additional abilities at specific levels, as well as an additional bonus when overloading a Script with the right type of Runic Charge. Besides the six Studies for each of the six Designs there are 12 more specialized Study options available in the 3rd chapter.

Altered Script is gained at fourth level, allowing the Archivist to change the Design of their Runic Charges once per day.
More bonus feats, Study abilities and Altered Script uses come one by one every two levels. The capstone at level 20 is a final Study ability.

In short the class features of the Archivist can be summed up as ‘Wizard, but Rune Casting’. Most of the build choices comes from what you want to do as caster, with each Design heaving its own specialization.

The dungeon has lines of meaningless text blocking some of the corridors. Anyone going over the lines is forced to make a Will save or temporary become unable to read, as well as losing 1d6 random Runic Charges.

Mirabelle Spellpage is a renowned siege weapon enchanter, and a secret cultist of a demon lord of forbidden knowledge who uses sacrifices to power her enchantments.

Runecharged Amulet, 250 gp.
This clay amulet is inscribed with runes and holds a single runic charge of a specific Design.
A Scribe can use this Runic Charge with any abilities that use runic charges or to overload a script.  The runic charge within the amulet does not count against its users normal maximum of runic charges he can maintain at once based on his scribe level.
The scribe still cannot overload more charges into a given script than his normal maximum. If he has more runic charges available than his normal maximum, he chooses which of the ones available to him are overloaded into the script. He does not have to use the charge in the amulet if does not wish to, but must otherwise overload as many charges he can as normal.
To randomly determine what runic charge design is in the amulet, roll on the following table:
d% Charge Type
01–16 Alteration
17–33 Creation
34–50 Destruction
51–67 Invocation
68–84 Manipulation
85–100 Revelation