Accursed Monolith & Eldritch Monolith

Eldritch Monolith

With this illusion spell a caster can create an illusory but tactile facsimile of any building she has a proper focus for. The illusion must fit within one 10-foot square cube per caster level, and can be scaled down if needed. The focus required is a piece of rubble that is at least a thousand years old.

While it is often used by seers to create an image of long lost ruins, the spell also allows the caster to recreate partial or composite images created from her own imagination. Some madmen use this to create labyrinthine or impossible structures from nowhere, and it is ffor this use that the spell is named.
Another frequent use is the rapid construction of fortifications and strongholds, for while the structure is in truth an illusion for those who believe it to be real it is as hard as stone.

One major limitation of the spell is that it cannot recreate the interior of the structure, and someone knowledgeable in engineering, architecture or history can often discern the imperfections in the illusion and realize it is a fake.

School illusion (shadow)
Level cleric 5, sorcerer/wizard 5, witch 5
Components V, S, F (a piece of rubble from a building at least 1000 years old)
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target one 10-foot cube/level (S)
Duration 1 min./level (D)
Saving Throw Will disbelief (if interacted with);
Spell Resistance no 

Gothic Campaign Compendium, 47

Accursed Monolith

This spell functions like eldritch monolith, but anyone who touches the illusory structure is affected as per bestow curse, even if he recognizes the illusion for what it is.
Some truly ancient and disturbing sources contain a version of this spell that can inflict stranger curses still to those who violate the created structure.

School illusion (curse, shadow) [mythos]
Level cleric 8, sorcerer/wizard 8, witch 8
Saving Throw Will disbelief (if interacted with) and Will negates 

Gothic Campaign Compendium, 40

Mythos Spells

For many the pursuit of knowledge and magical power is an all-consuming obsession. In pursuit of their goals they will walk paths and go to lengths a wiser man would avoid. And when obsession inevitably gives way to madness and death the remnants of their craft and knowledge are dangerous and disturbing things.

These are the origins of [mythos] spells. Spells with this have a mythos variant that can be learned form strange entities or disturbing tomes, and when cast gnaw at the sanity of the caster. Mythos spells feature strange results and often require disturbing and self-destructive acts as part of the casting.

But for some the power granted is available to all, even if the caster follows a different tradition or is indeed incapable of common spells at all. Under these conditions the casting requires a long and involved ritual, but does not expend spell slots. 

Gothic Campaign Compendium, 145


When the players enter the dungeon they find a miniature copy of the structure in the first room. It is readily apparent that some parts of the miniature can be manipulated and that these actions will be reflected in the greater dungeon. 

(For extra fun rule that the dungeon blocks communication spells between the controller and the rest of the party, forcing the controller to deduce actions he needs to take based on the little representations of his friends.)

According to legends the Black Monastery is a ruin that appears every 100 years upon the Hill of Mornay, said to be filled with treasures. Rumors circulate that the monastery has been appearing more often, and that several parties have already entered its depths.

The Venerable Repository of Ancient Masonry is a popular dwarven museum. Its most famous exhibit is a collection of pieces of ancient buildings, fortresses and temples. A part of this collection has recently been stolen however, and the curators are desperate for help in getting the burgled pieces back.

Amalgam

The elemental planes are the homes of the very substances from which the world is composed. And while the elements may seem steady and predictable on the material plane, in its native plane these common materials can be much more. There it forms everything from sentient beings to plants and strange weather.

When planar energies from these planes leak into the material plane they bring this strangeness with them. When animating energies from the plane of earth infuse collections of loose rock it can create an amalgam. These huge masses of loose rocks form into a roughly humanoid form that are often fiercely defensive of their territory.

In battle amalgams focus in throwing around all of their considerable weight around. Their massive stone fists can deliver crushing blows that can kill instantly and they are strong enough to throw great boulders at those who wisely stay away. They can throw their loose towards their enemies in a massive rock slide or create a vortex or rocks and stone to smash all who come nearby.

CR: 16
N Huge Outsider (earth, elemental, native)
Combat Role: Brute, Area Control

The amalgam is primarily a direct melee fighter, place one in front of a thing or creature you want defended and be done with it. In addition the Rock Slide and Stone Vortex abilities add area damage to plough through an entire army.
In addition an amalgam is capable of shaping rock using its spell like abilities, with unlimited stone shape and spike stones and wall of stone 3/day any battlefield of the amalgam’s choosing can be shaped to block ranged attacks and force opponents close.


The way to create an amalgam is fairly straightforward. Any skilled wizard, cleric, druid or other magic user with some control over earth can pull power from the elemental plane of earth and slowly push it into a pile of rocks. Far harder is controlling the resulting giant of living rock, and most of the creators simply rely on the natural territorial instincts of an amalgam to guard remote places.

In one of the deepest valleys of the Gosper Mountains stands a great temple of of a forgotten god of gems and magic. The temple to this day holds a great fortune in gems and magical artifacts, and it continues to hold them, for the site is guarded by exceptionally massive amalgams that can use the magic gems in their form to cast powerful spells.

When stones from the material plane fall though rifts into the plane of earth they can form into amalgams as well, but with the greater amount of energy available can power the creation of truly titanic amalgams.
One such titan is Avalanche Crushes Storm, which has been created by a Shaitan kaiser who build a city among its stones and now leads an invasion of the plane of air itself.

Monster of Porphyra 2, 11

Abyssal Carcass & Adaptive Unholy Symbol

Abyssal Carcass

This powerful magical armor looks like it was assembled from the bloody remains of tortured bodies. Its blood red plates are shaped to resemble exposed muscle, the lower breastplate showing disemboweled guts and trims with the color of bones.
Yet despite its looks and name the abyssal carcass is not an unholy item, rather it is intended to warn all who see it of the danger and cruelty of demonkind while guarding the wearer against the same.

The wearer gains spell and damage resistance against attacks from demons. Whenever the wearer is damaged by a demon’s attack despite these protections the armor stores some of the corruption carried by the attack as 1 charge of taint. These charges can be expended to power various abilities inspired by demons, like darkvision, enlarge person and energy resistances.

While channeling demonic corruption to empower yourself may sound like, and in fact is a terrible idea the armor is specifically enchanted to prevent the corruption from affecting the wearer. This protection and the armor’s appearance makes makes it excellent for long term infiltration of demonic territory.

+3 full plate armor
Slot armor; cl 16th
Price 126,150 gp

Treasury of the Crusades, 6

Adaptive Unholy Symbol

This is a generic unholy symbol etched with profane scripture. Once per day the user can exchange one of their domains for another one in their deity’s portfolio for an hour.

Slot none; cl 7th
Price 5,040 gp

Legendary Villains - Evil Clerics

The Bloodsun Defenders are a group of elite demon hunters who infiltrate lands corrupted by demons to disrupt their operations and kill their leaders.

eslhi u ijnyl is a god of utter randomness. Its clerics cannot choose from a defined set of domains, but instead are randomly granted a random domain.

While dangerous many demon-corrupted lands contain useful magical ingredients and materials. One such place is the Hellfume Castle, an ancient cloud giant holdfast that has been taken over by a balor. The foul clouds around the castle contain magical gasses useful for the creation of acidic weapons.

Absorb Violent Energies – Aegis of Brick and Glass

Absorb Violent Energies

From the awesome thunder of the storm to a burning conflagration there are many destructive powers in the world. With this feat your character carries some of this destructive power within themselves.
When you take the feat you can choose gain either fire, electricity or sonic resistance 5 or DR 1/-. When you resist damage through one of these resistances you are treated as if you have used the kineticist’s gather power class feature.

This feat can be taken from level 1, and this makes it useful for integrating into your backstory, maybe your kineticist gained their power from exposure to a destructive natural phenomenon and now has to regularly absorb such energies to keep their power.

A kineticist with this feat can directly benefit from being in the area of an allies evocation spells as easily as that from an enemy. Be careful about abusing this with things like cantrips that can be negated entirely.

Corrupted Classes, 17

Abyssal Shinobi

Antipaladins are notorious enemies of good, always seeking to destroy the powers of light, law and good. They make enemies freely wherever they go.
Some antipaladins however prefer to stay hidden, becoming a blade in the dark to slay those who would stand shining in the light. With this multiclass feat for antipaladin/ninja these villains can use their touch of corruption to power their ninja tricks in place of ki and vice versa. In addition they learn to let their malevolence guide their blade, adding half their antipaladin level to their ninja level for deter- mining sneak attack damage whenever they smite good.

This feat is the first of the Cruel feats provided in Legendary Villains – Antipaladins. Antipaladins can exchange one of their cruelties to take one of these feats.

Legendary Villains – Antipaladins, 13

Aegis of Brick and Glass

Many think that the city is the antithesis of nature, a place where life withers. In fact even many druids make this mistake. In truth countless animals and plants make their home in city and house, from crows to pigs to grass growing between the cobbles, life is abundant in the city even if you ignore the many people who made the city in the first place.

If your druid makes the city their home this feat allows you to shape the city like other druids shape wood and stone. You can spontaneously cast stone shield, stone shape, wall of stone, rampart and quickened wall of stone. In addition these and other spells like them matches the urban environment they are cast in, blending to the architecture to the point most cannot tell them apart. Your stone shield can additionally shape manufactured or constructed items and structures.

Intrigue Archetypes, 20


Not all druids disdain the alleys and houses of civilized folk. To some, like Joyous Song (Faun Cityscape Hierophant Druid), cities are a new place for nature to thrive. She lives in the forgotten parts of the city, which she subtly shapes with her magic to provide for the animals that live there. She enjoys the products of the local breweries and those willing to drink with her can find her a vast friend.

Ernestal’s Drift is a large city that floats upon the eternal storm that flows out of a rift to the The Everstorm Eye. The powerful magical energies that flow to the city have granted many of the local bird flocks elemental forms, and the inhabitants the ability to absorb and control lightning.

The desert is an empty and forbidding place, even so trade flows though it in caravans. The largest of these caravans are mobile cities in their own right, touching many nations and peoples on their route. This makes these great caravans useful vectors for fiendish cults to hide and spread their corruption. And in turn paladins like Aasim hide within the caravans to hunt them.

Am-Ren

To many mortals death only truly comes when even one’s name is forgotten. When tombs are forgotten, cities crumble and writing has faded. It is from this death that Am-Ren spring.
It is from this origin that Am-Ren have gained the power to steal and devour the names of their victims. They live in desolate places, filled with the lost names of the dead, tombs, necropoli and ruins are their most common dwellings.

These native outsiders appear as muscular yet starving humanoids with hide like cracked red stone. The flesh around it’s mouth and eyes is torn, showing bloody flesh around gnashing teeth and eyeless sockets.

An Am-Ren cannot devour the name of a being whose name it does not know, as such they will often shadow intruders to learn more of them, and if pressed in combat before then will try to trick their opponents into revealing their names.
A being whose name is stolen loses all sense of identity and is confused for six rounds. If the Am-Ren is then given the time it can devour the name permanently, leaving it’s victim a wretched wreck forever.

CR: 3
CE Medium Outsider (chaotic, evil, native)
Combat Role: Melee, Debuff

An Am-Ren is a capable melee fighter but it is their ability to steal and eat names that is most interesting. Make certain that the name theft ability is able to affect the PCs at least somewhat reliably.
Keep track of what character names it may have heard and try to goad them into revealing more of them if possible. The Am-Ren’s default feats are combat focused, so if the player’s Will saves are to high you can replace one of them with Ability Focus (Name Theft) to keep it threatening.


Many curses are targeted using the victim’s true name. Though dangerous, the name eating power of an Am-Ren can be used as a cure for some of these curses.

Am-Hen the Silent is a notorious assassin who does not kill his marks, but rather leaves them as nameless madmen. He is skilled in the manipulation of shadows and darkness, often tormenting his targets for weeks before finally devouring their names.

The wealthy trader’s city of Ljice sees itself as refined and civilized. The burgers of the Waterfall Republic disdain executions or banishment, instead the losers of the cutthroat politics have their very names taken and destroyed.

Monsters of Porphyra 2, 10

Aberrant Mutagen & Aquatic Mutagen

The alchemist is one of the most versatile classes in Pathfinder, it has a lot of different class features that can be taken in many different directions. The discoveries I’ll be talking about today examplify this part of the class. They both alter the mutagen in different ways. The aquatic mutagen and deep diver discoveries in particular appear in both the Gothic Campaign Compendium, which is all about horror and eldritch dangers, and the Pirate Campaign Compendium, which is about swashbuckling adventures on the high seas. 

Aberrant Mutagen

The alchemist is no stranger to body horror, the basic mutagen can already be described that way. This mutagen variant takes it a step further, causing the imbiber to grow additional eyes and transforming arms into tentacles. This grants all around vision and primary tentacle attacks.
The greater aberrant mutagen extends the reach of your tentacles and provides critical hit negation chance that stacks with similar abilities. 

Aquatic Mutagen

This mutagen gives the alchemist scales, fins and fangs. While the mutagen is active you have a bite attack, swim speed, underwater darkvision, waterbreathing and the ability to tolerate cold temperatures as if using endure elements.
The deep diver discovery requires aquatic mutagen but is permanently active. It expands the alchemist’s ability to explore underwater by granting darkvision which doubles underwater, tremorsense, cold resistance 10 and immunity to crushing damage from the deep and damage reduction 10/- against grappling, constriction and other such crushing damage.
Together these option are excellent for anyone who wants to explore underwater, though the waterbreathing from a mutagen is probably to short to use outside of a fight.

When your alchemist uses a variant mutagen think about how that particular mutagen is made and what it ingredients go in. A pirate alchemist might end up with aquatic mutagen simply because he has to use fish for his craft on the ship. And the less said of what kind of ingredients are needed for an aberrant mutagen the better…
Though an aberrant mutagen could also be the result of an unstable or experimental mutagen made by a beginner.


Crazed mutated lifestock have been attacking people. Suspision quickly falls upon the local alchemist's guild who have been buying large amounts of suspect reagents. The actual perpetrators however are a group of atomie alchemists who believe they are bringing domesticated animals back to nature.

Yanni Chaconakis travels the Scattered Isles with her cheerful crew of salvagers. They use alchemical technologies to salvage sunken ships and ancient treasures of the many drowned civilizations that have inhabited the rising and sinking islands.

Paroziar Albezzor is an excentric alchemist who has a brilliant business idea! Selling walking airbreathing fish and octupi to wealthy dilettantes. It cannot possibly fail!

Gothic Campaign Compendium, 20
Pirate Campaign Compendium, 14

Saboteur Class Features

Saboteur traps are a variation of common spellcasting, instead of memorizing and casting spells a saboteur prepares magical traps and sets these assemblies in a specific square. When someone enters the square the trap is set of and automatically targets the one who set it of, for AoE efects like lines and cones it will orient itself to target as many as possible. This will happen even if the saboteur is nowhere near.
If the saboteur is nearby however they can make all decisions about the spell as it is set of, as well as set it off prematurely with a move action.

At higher levels the saboteur learns to combine slots to create higher level slots, this is at level 7. From level 11 assemblies can be set up to 30 feet away. From level 15 traps onward last longer once set, from 10 minutes per level to 1 hour per level.

A saboteur can mark a visible target with one of four different marks as a move action. One target can be marked at once, an the target remains marked up to 24 hours. The ability is improved at level 9, at which point up to 2 targets can be marked at a time, and both marking and changing the mark of a target taking a swift action. At level 17 greater mark imroves this further, the saboteur can now mark eiter a single target with two different marks, or mark 3 target with a single mark as a swift action.

The available marks are: 

• Assassin’s mark gives a bonus to damage.
• Charlatan’s mark gives a bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth checks against the target and on Bluff and Disguise checks to pass herself as the marked target.
• Duelist’s mark gives a bonus on attack rolls.
• Informant’s mark gives a bonus on Knowledge, Sense Motive, and Perception checks made against or concerning the marked target.

The saboteur has access to trapfinding from level 1, allowing the disarming of magic traps and adding half her level as a bonus to skill checks for finding and disabling traps. As the saboteur becomes more skilled she gains further bonusses to finding traps and hidden doors, even passively. In addition a saboteur learns to disable traps faster.

At every even level the saboteur learns a saboteur’s trick, these talents are often supernatural and give a wide variety of new abilities, spell-like abilities and other such clever tricks.

For her capstone the level 20 saboteur can select from a list of master’s tricks. These abilities range from permanent extraordinary freedom of movement and once per day breaking out of any hindering effect, never triggering traps and passing through walls at will, to inflicting debilitating effects when marking a target.
Yes, these are proper capstones you’ll want to work towards.


The city states of the Gemtree jungles are ruled by despotic green dragons. The dragons have ruled unopposed for since they conquered the cities collectively 70 years ago. Recently however a mysterious saboteur has been robbing their hoards. This and the resulting harsh reprisals has been inspiring the people of the jungle to resist the dragons.

The proprietor of a small shop has vanished. When the shop is searched it is clear the place is trashed and floor of the shop looks like it was broken through from below. A room with trapmaker's tools is found below.

Halflings in general are notorious gossips, but even among them Gilda Sweetleaf is a particularly skilled gossip. Even though she travels widely and regularly she always seems to know everything about everyone.

Saboteur Intro

The saboteur is basically a variant to the rogue. It is a skill-monkey class with a wide variety is tricks up it’s sleeve. Where the rogue is a damage dealer, the saboteur has a wider variety of in and out of combat tricks.

The saboteur has a variant form of spellcasting that allows them to place magical traps, these are essentially spells that are placed ahead of time on a specific square, and are triggered either by the saboteur as a move action (one allowed per round) or upon a creature that walks upon that square.
The spells, or rather assemblies as they are called are prepared in slots, but this preparation takes only 1 minute per slot.
Multiple traps can be placed, up to her Intelligence modifier. This allows a saboteur to prepare a deadly battlefield is she has the time and knows where a battle will be fought. However someone skilled in disabling traps, like another saboteur for example, can disable and remove such placed assemblies.

The second major class feature is the ability to mark targets, this extraordinary ability allows the saboteur to choose a target and gain a variety of bonuses against them. Depending on the mark chosen this can be additional damage, a bonus on thieves skills, an attack bonus or a bonus on information gathering.

These two abilities, combined with an extensive list of talents allow a saboteur to prepare for and execute almost any kind of caper or infiltration.

Role: Saboteurs are skill-monkeys and problem solvers. They excel particularly if they have time to prepare for a battle. They are also excellent at solving various non-combat problems. The charlatan’s mark is useful both for diplomacy and theft, while the informant’s mark makes information gathering easy.

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 (engineering) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), 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


The Roots in the Stones are an order of druid saboteurs who seek to prevent the encroachment of civilization upon the wolds. The often spend years infiltrating and disrupt cities and towns. The Roots use seeds that rapidly grow into magical plants for their traps.

The mysterious Towers of Al-harshun stand lonely in the desert. Little is known about the towers as they are filled with deadly traps, but it is known that the highest floors contain many magical treasures. Those who seek to plunder or research the towers would do well to learn how to disable their traps.

The priests of the local temple of god of wealth and greed are in an uproar. Several important treasures have been taken from the vaults of several other temples. Now the priests have hurriedly started hiring aid to defend their vault from being next.

Aberrant Form

Aberrants are the most diverse and unusual class of beings in the world, almost more a classification for being that fit in no other group than anything else. This makes the idea of spells that allow one to take the form of any and all aberrations a great achievement for any transmuter.

The aberrant form I to aberrant form III spells allow casters to do just that. Just like beast form, form of the dragon and other such spells these spells allow you to choose an aberration of the allowed size and take their form, as well their natural attacks as well some of it’s abilities.
When taking the form of an aberration you get a scaling bonus to Constitution ans natural armor, depending on the size of the aberration. You also get a bonus to Strength and penalty to Dexterity for large forms and the reverse for smaller forms. Aberrant form II and aberrant form III also give a weaker version of the aberration’s energy resistances and damage reductions, though at the cost of copying vulnerabilities as well.
The biggest draw of the spells is the list of monster abilities that can be copied if the selected aberration has that ability. In keeping with the varied forms the spell copies ti is a pretty long list, containing among others: all-around vision, amorphous, climb, disease, engulf, fly, mucus cloud, poison, rend, sneak attack, swim, telepathy and web.
The last spell of the list can potentially grant immunity to mind-affecting effects.

School transmutation (polymorph) [mythos]
Level sorcerer/wizard 4/6/7
Components V, S, M (a piece of the creature whose form you wish to assume)
Range personal
Target you
Duration 1 min./level

These spells are excellent both as buff spells and for problem solving, as the wide array of available forms and abilities can solve almost any problem. Mimics can be used for hiding and infiltrating enemy strongholds, Ghorazaghs can both fly and drain blood and Chuuls give access to both grappling claws and paralytic tentacles.
One downside of the spell is that even with the long list of available abilities it is still to short. Aberrations are often build around a unique ability or set of abilities and those are often missing from the list.

The Forest Kingdom Compendium has a similar set of spells Faerie Form I to IV that allow taking the form of fey. If you are interesting in playing an aberration full-time you can take a look at In the Company of Aberrations by Rite Publishing


The Followers of the Crooked Glyph are often credited as the original inventors of these spells. They are a collection of strange spellcasters who study the strange powers of aberrations to create new arcane magics.

Als'hk'aLaeer Whose Blessing Spreads Far is an Aboleth ethermagus whose mucus curses those transformed by it with not only with amphibic traits but also various aberrant traits. She uses this to empower her enslaved servants. She is currently working to take control of the underwater cave city of Coralscreep, intent on reacquiring an artifact held by the merfolk necromancers of that city.

Warping Folds are leaks from the Far Realm leak into the Material Plane. They are difficult to see but the keen-eyed can see the multicoloured light glowing around a corner hanging in the middle of the sky.
Living creatures exposed to these energies must make a Fort Save or be affected by an aberrant form spell and take 1d6 points of wisdom damage.

Gothic Campaign Compendium, 39

Abyssal Tyrant Fiendfused

Fiendfused are the rare result of fiendish possession gone wrong. When the soul of a possessed mortal is destroyed or destructively removed the possessing fiend sometimes takes its place. As an outsider’s soul is the same as its body this causes the body of the mortal to take on aspects of the fused fiend.
In rarer cases a black-hearted and willful mortal can take control of the power of a possessing fiend, fusing that power into their body, or when a ressurrection in a deeply corrupted place drags a fiend in along with the mortal soul.

No matter how a fiendfused is created it is a messy and imperfect process. Usually most of both participant’s memories and personality are damaged or destroyed, with the remains fusing into a new being.

Abyssal tyrants are the result of the fusing of a mortal humanoid and a balor demon. As balor are the most powerful of the common demons they only rarely stoop to possessing mortals, only taking those mortals of great power and evil. This makes the differences between the two parties of the fusing, reducing the difficulty of the process significantly.

The few abyssal tyrants who exist are among the most dangerous and evil beings on the material planes. They almost universally rule large empires with heavy hand and brutal fear. They use their armies to spread violence and destruction, creating a reflection of the abyss upon the material plane.

CR 18
CE Medium Monstrous Humanoid
Combat Role: Brute

The abyssal tyrant has powerful melee attacks. Their ensnaring blades ensnare the victims in nets of force, forcing them to remain in reach of the tyrant’s attacks. The tyrant’s attacks are additionally filled with unholy damage, on top of that when a tyrant is struck by a critical attack a gout of hellfire lashes out at the assailant.


Agrador Flamefist was the dwarven ruler of one of the most feared and ruthless empires of history. He ruled for centuries with utter terror and ruthlessness. The greatest weapons of the empire were great rolling siege engines each powered by a captive balor demon. Many of these siege engines were build and still remain, as Agrador seemed to have known the true name of many balors. 

A new villain has been  striking out against the PCs. They have never seen the fiendish enemy before, but he looks strangely similar to a dead friend, and he seems to know things about them only their friends should know.

As the PCs act against a powerful tyrant they come across evidence that their enemy is preparing a mighty ritual. What is the purpose of the ritual, and can they stop it in time?

Malevolent Medium Monsters, 16

Legendary Games's Adventure Path Plug-Ins

This is the third set of books I will be going through. I have chosen these book because of the varied content and generally high quality of Legendary Games products.

As the name implies these books are intended to add additional options for both game masters and players who are playing Paizo's adventure paths. While some of the add-ons are extra adventures that can be slotted into the adventure path, most of them add additional character options and thematic new rules and systems.

The added content is as varied as the adventure path themselves, so you never know what is coming next!

Almagam Creature

Many of the strangest creatures in D&D have been explained as the result of mad wizards experimenting on life. Often these are hybrid animals like owlbears or vizzerdrix, but many stranger combinations exist as well.
The amalgam creature template is a tool for the dm to make their owl bizarre hybrid to populate the tower of the latest mad wizard.

The template allows you to take any creature and combine it with any other creature. This involves taking the best of both creatures and adding a third of the HD of the weaker base creature on top of the HD of the stronger creature. Obviously this is a very complex process, and the CR of the resulting monster will have to be assessed manually, but the unpredictable result is often worth it, as this template can help even more than most with surprising even the most knowledgeable player.

The ways hybrids can be created is as varied as the results. Some are created by skilled craftsman with clarity of purpose, while others are the result of madmen playing with forces they barely understand. Natural and unnatural processes can also create mad results, from collapsing planes dumping mutated and merged survivors on the material plane, to the children of powerful magical being carrying traits of both parents.
In other cases the monsters created with this templates are not hybrids but entirely their own, simply another strange creature in the magical world of Dungeons and Dragons.

The idea of hybrid creatures is nothing new, and of course there are other ways to create hybrids of various kinds. Bloodforge from Dreamscarred press has a large collection of hybrid player races, as well as several half-something templates. The old 3.0e sourcebook Savage Species has a selection of templates, including the Tauric Creature template that lets you stick a humanoid on a larger creature. The Complete book of Eldrich Might has a spell that allows creating temporary almagams, including a lot of variance depending on which of the two targets fail their Fortitude or Will saves.
And a favorite of mine is Crossbreeding: Flesh and Blood from the Encyclopedia Arcane line. This is an entire book about the subject, including rules for players to be the mad wizard for once.


Adamāra (Bunyip/Wyvern) are deadly predators that hunt in both the Ocean Below and the Seas Above of Mar-Samadura.

The Magocratic citystate of Achen’Daroth is widely known and feared for the great magical wonders its rulers have created over the centuries. It is the latest magitech factory that has their neighbors watching fearfully, for in that new complex of spell engines, ritual chambers and ley conductors massive numbers of hybrid soldiers are being created.

One of the greatest feats of alchemy is the ability to distill the essence of a creature into a potion that can temporarily grant the abilities of that creature to the drinker. These potions are lesser artifacts on the level of the Alchemist’s Stone or the Sun Orchid Elixir.

Monsters of Porphyra, 6

Alticorn of Idumea

The gods of good are frequently underestimated, where evil gods stomp around destroying all before them or brew evil schemes that reach across the planes their opposites much less dangerous. To think so is of course a foolish mistake.

The alticorn of Idumea is a living example that even the patience of the good gods has limits. It looks like a giant unicorn whose coat is red as blood. The gods call forth the alticirn when evil is entrenched behind great walls and within the strongest of fortresses, for the alticorn is a living siege engine who can tear apart these fortifications with ease.

Like any manifestation of the wrath of the gods the alticorn is frequently imprecise and heedless of collateral damage. As its mighty hoofs and horn tear apart the hiding places of tyrants all to often the oppressed are in just as much danger.

CR: 14
CG Gargantuan outsider
Combat Role: Bruiser, Charger

The alticorn of Idumea is more likely to function as a dangerous ally than as an enemy, though if you are playing an evil campaign the appearance of the alticorn can signify they have entered the big leagues, as a minor rebellion suddenly becomes a real threat to them.
The alticorn is probably best used when the players are still low level, making the great creature almost as awe-inspiring and dangerous to them as it is to their enemies. For high level parties however the alticorn can function as an ally or as a way into places they cannot otherwise get into.


Mythic Alticorns of Idumea are called upon when the greatest holdfasts of evil must be torn down. Their size is even greater and they can use mythic power to use mythic dispel magic on the target of their Wall Piercer ability before rolling for the attack.

The alticorn of Idumea can be summoned to do battle against evil with an occult ritual. This ritual requires several successful Knowledge (planes) and Knowledge (religion), as well as the cornestone of a destroyed caste of an evil lord. The summoner should beware though, for if summoned without just cause the wrath of the alticorn may fall upon them instead.

The PCs are sneaking into a city ruled by the villain when the alticorn of Idumea suddenly appears and starts tearing the city apart. The PCs now have to get innocents out of the way while also completing their original mission.

Monsters of Porphyra 1, 4

Alley Hag

Hags are widely known to be evil and hideous monsters who lair in remote and foreboding wilderness. They are deadly and the villain in many a fairytale, but civilized folk need not worry about encountering them.
It is exactly this preconception that the alley hag makes good use of.

Alley hags look like ugly elderly women, with broken tile and scrap metal and unusually large and snaggle-toothed jaws. They hide amidst the urban poor where they delight in petty evil, using nasty rumor and nasty pranks to set people against one another. Nothing delights these creatures more than to drive neighbors to murder while they cackle in the shadows.
If possible they will try to set themselves up as a sort of local wise women, feared but neccesary for the poor. Visiting bad luck and cruelty upon those who fail to heed her words.

Their powers are limited to the most minor of curses, disguising themselves and infusing stones with harmful magic. Their most versatile and potent ability is their control over the vermin that infests the cities they call home, usually rats and . These vermin minions are compelled to swarm their enemies in battle, and used as spies and messengers. This combined with minor divinations give the average alley hag impressive knowledge of the cities they reside in.
Alley hags often use occult rituals or deals with evil powers to augment their minor magical talent, and the lost children of the street are their favorite sacrifices for such magics

The least among the hags, alley hags are not very powerful combatants, they lack powerful spells and have decidedly average stats. They do make for interesting and capable low-level plot drivers though. Between disguise self, good social skills and vermin minions a coven can serve as excellent bad guys for a starting urban adventure against 1st or 2nd level party.
Alley hags are deeply familiar with the slums they live in, and will always try to move the fight to favorable terrain or use others to do their dirty work.

CR: 3
NE Medium Monstrous Humanoid
Combat Role: All-rounder

In contrast to most hags alley hags are poor spellcasters, their only combat spells are doom and magic stone. Their close combat ability is also decidedly average. Their only interesting option in a fight is the ability to summon a 5 HD or lower swarm, which should be done at the very start of the fight at the earliest. Then magic stone can be used to deal ranged damage before going melee.


The PCs need information about someone or something hidden in a large city. All the beggars and slumdwellers point them to an old woman, living alone in a rat infested shack. None of them are willing to introduce them to her however.

The cliff-cities of the Sigessua lizardfolk have few rats, pidgeons and other such common vermin. Instead a hardy desert lizard called craggthoots are the most common pests. The Sigessua will exterminate these creatures whenever found, for they believe that they attract dangerous hags when allowed to gather in numbers.

Kassei is the trusted advisor of Lochter, a famously brutal gangleader. The foul hag uses vermin to gather information and as watch-outs. She also haruspicy, her favored subjects for this are young children, whose skulls she keeps as keepsakes.

Monsters of Porphyra 2 p. 112

Alchemist's Hound

The alchemist’s hound is a relatively simple clockwork construct that has been augmented with alchemical engines. These are used to pick up the slack for the simple clockwork apparatuses, and most importantly power the alchemist’s cannon that is an alchemist’s hound’s primary armament.
Unfortunately the alchemical devices incorporated in the constructs are rather unstable, and any damage an alchemist’s hound takes is often exacerbated by it’s internal workings exploding, harming both the construct and any nearby people.

Alchemist’s hounds are commonly shaped like wolves, with some examples even build with real wolf pelt covering the internal gears, pistons and bubbling beakers. In combat the constructs behave similarly to wolves, being deployed in packs and capable of dragging targets to the ground. In addition the alchemist’s cannon can spew a blast of fire or acid a few times per day.

CR: 3
N Medium Construct (clockwork)
Combat Role: Close Combat, Area Control

Alchemist’s hounds are pretty useful monsters. Their low CR makes them available earlier than most constructs, and allows you to use multiple of them at later levels as flanking and front line units.
The clockwork subtype adds Lightning Reflexes and Improved Initiative, this combines with the trip bonus to keep the players close by.


The heavy clockwork knights of the World’s Clock are supported in war by packs of alchemist’s hounds build en mass by the Clockhearts.

The Jammed Wastes are filled with broken clockwork and great broken apparatuses. For the skilled and resourceful however these are exceptional resources for powerful and highly customized companions.

The cheap basic construction of alchemist’s hounds has given rise to a vast variety of specialized models. Smaller alchemist’s hounds with proper disguises are sometimes used as a sort of bodyguard by ladies of high class. Groups of hounds are sometimes build with aetheric fluid resonators to create deadly hunting packs.

Monsters of Porphyra 2 p. 9