Book of Beasts: Monster of the Shadow Plane

Thilo Graf (aka Endzeitgeist)
“prime example of stellar monster design”
“they feel wholly distinct from any regular creatures of the same CR. Kudos!”
“Grognards … get a nice blast from the past/homage”
“this book … contains a wealth of cool creatures and ideas.”
“I look forward to seeing more supplements for the plane of shadows”
“a final verdict of 5 stars and a definite recommendation for this excellent bestiary.”

Dark Mistress
“vast majority [of the monsters] very good to outstanding”
“I really can’t wait for [the Shadowsfall books].”
“You won’t regret it.”

The Alfred Effect:
“It is this attention to detail that really makes these creatures stand out in my mind and it will help any GM add them to a campaign.”
“Dale and Jon Brazer Enterprises put together an excellent product every time and this is no exception.”
“this is the book for you.”

KTFish7
“a fantastic collection of creatures.”
“raising the stakes for all creatures after it.”
“treasure trove of diabolical deliciousness.”
“solid 5 stars rating, and highly recommending it”

We would like to give an extra big thank you to everyone involved in the creation of this book. All these wonderful things being said about it would not be possible without you.

Pick up the Book of Beasts: Monsters of the Shadow Plane today! Order it from your local game store or favorite gaming website or order it from JonBrazer.com

Misty River CR 2
XP 600
CE persistent haunt (5 ft. by 10 ft. river between old pilings)
Caster Level 2nd
Notice Perception DC 20 (to hear wood breaking)
hp 9; Trigger touch; Reset 1 day
Effect Long ago, a wooden bridge that crossed this 10 ft. wide river broke and fell away drowning a family. A path still leads to both sides of the river. When a creature touches the water just beyond the path where the bridge once crossed, a mist forms over the water (20 ft. radius, centered on where the creature touched the water) as per the spell obscuring mist. The mist lasts for 2 minutes.
Destruction A new bridge must be built crossing the river.

Breathless Gasps CR 6
XP 2,400
NE haunt (10 ft. by 15 ft. pool of water)
Caster Level 6th
Notice Perception DC 25 (the sound of water splashing and someone gasping for air)
hp 14; Weakness susceptible to water; Trigger touch; Reset 1 minute
Effect Deep in a cave long ago, an elf and drow war came down to last pair of warriors. They struggled until the elf was tripped and landed in a small pool of water. Filled with rage, the drow strangled the elf face down in the water. Whenever a creature touches that same pool, the water rushes into creature’s lungs as if affected by a suffocation spell (see Section 5 of the Advanced Player’s Guide). Any spell with the water descriptor (other than control water) damages the haunt equal to twice the spell level. Control water neutralizes this haunt.
Destruction During a full moon, the water must be completely drained and replaced with holy water. During the following new moon, a bottle of air must be shattered below the surface of the holy water pool.

Words of Asmodeus CR 9
XP 6,400
LE persistent haunt (15 ft. by 15 ft. altar dedicated to Asmodeus)
Caster Level 9th
Notice Perception DC 35 (to hear the sound of chanting in Infernal)
hp 40; Weakness vulnerable to sonic; Trigger proximity; Reset 1 hour
Effect It is said that the spirit of Asmodeus’s priest protects the altar against thieves even though no one worships there any longer. Those that have encountered one of these haunted altars tell of the powerful chants. Any creature that approaches sees the haunt manifest as a spectral cleric. Its chanting words cut deep causing creatures within 20 ft. of the spectral cleric to take 4d8 points of damage and are staggered for 1 round. Worshipers of Asmodeus sustain 9d6 points of damage and are stunned for 1d4 rounds. Half of the damage is sonic; the other half is negative energy damage. A successful DC 16 Fortitude save halves the damage and negates the staggering/stunning effect. This is similar to a rebuke spell (see Section 5 of the Advanced Player’s Guide). The spectral cleric can move up to 60 ft. away from the altar.
Destruction When the moon turns as red as blood, a cleric of any god other than Asmodeus must cast consecrate or desecrate on the altar. Within one day, the altar must be pulverized into tiny rocks and powder. Praises to any deity other than Asmodeus need to be sung or chanted during both phases of this destruction.

Grab out Riyal’s Research: Trap today and watch for Riyal’s Research: Haunts next week. Get these and more Pathfinder PDFs at Paizo and DriveThruRPG/RPGNow.com

You can listen to the song on this podcast by going here. Find more of Heather Dale’s music at HeatherDale.com.

Today, I’m trying my first attempt at a Legend creature (a seal) and a Heroic Ability. And as always, please let us know of what you think of this faction and any constructive criticism you may have. I hope you enjoy it.

Sereana’s Swimmers (Guild)

The cult of Sereana only permits those born to a priest or priestess to enter the goddess’s cult. They are in charge of swimming deep into the sea to comb the hair of their deity. Her followers, however, largely consist of those that swim the deep waters hunting the animals in the freezing waters hunting food. The guild of Sereana’s Swimmers exists to make offerings to their goddess before and after a hunt and determine who can join the hunts. The guild does not permit hunting in their territorial waters except for approved and tested swimmers.

Each station is named after the animals that the guildsman may hunt. To reach the higher stations, the guildsman, or swimmers as they are called, must prove their worth with a test of his skill. Typically this test ends with the swimmer killing an animal singlehandedly.

Many shark and whale swimmers have long since established their own underwater holds of silver or other valuables. These tend to be in underwater caves or difficult-to-spot nooks in reefs. It is said that many of these swimmers died with none aware of their lost fortune’s location.

Anyone desiring to be a fisher in the areas where Sereana’s worship is plentiful joins the guild. Some join out of devotion to the goddess but most become swimmers simply to gain access to the plentiful fishing waters. However, those that join the guild for easier access to these waters tend to be just as zealous about keeping non-guild members from their territorial waters. This keeps the number of fishers down and the profits of the swimmers high.

The current guild leadership will do whatever it takes to make the goddess happy. Mostly this involves offering regular sacrifices. The most typical of sacrifices include the killing of some fish caught in the sea in a special ceremony. Before hunting shark, the swimmers must draw some blood from their bodies and place a few drops in the sea. However, the cult of Sereana has been asking more of the guild as of late. There have been some lynchings of those accused of angering the goddess. None in the guild know for sure if this is the case, but the cult of Sereana said it was true so the guild members followed. There are rumors of guild members being told to burn ships in neighboring villages that were never seen near Sereana’s waters. To date, there is no member of the guild nor the guild itself stepping up to confirm these tales.

Heroic Abilities: Seal Swimmer

Common Magic: Beast Call (seal), Light, Water Breath

River Fish

To become a river fish, the swimmer must possess Swim and three other guild skills at 30% or more and swim upstream after a heavy rain (-10% situational modifier for terrain) and spear a fish. The swimmer is now allowed to join any river based hunts.

Sea Fish

Before testing to be a sea fish, the swimmer must possess Swim, any Spear style and two other guild skills at a minimum of 50%. The test involves the sea fisher being taken into the territorial fishing sea, sent in the sea with only a spear and swimming to shore with a speared fish.

Seal

In some communities where the worship of Sereana is particularly strong, the test to become a Seal is almost seen as a rite of passage to become one of the area’s elders and more respected members. Besides possessing Swim, any Spear style and two other guild skills at 70%, those testing to become Seal swimmers must swim out into the ocean, cast a Beast Call (seal) spell, kill the seal and make a lone offering to Sereana in the ocean.

Shark

When a swimmer attempts the shark test, the swimmer must possess Swim, any spear style and 4 other guild skills at 90% or higher plus Beast Call (seal) and one other guild spells must be known. The test involves the swimmer being boated out to shark-infested waters, killing a shark and returning with a tooth from its mouth.

Whale

No one has ever attempted the test of the whale alone; most test three or four at a time. Testers must sail out to see, dive below the water’s surface, swim to where an orca is known to reside, kill it with only their handheld spears, secure it to ship and sail it home. Additionally, a swimmer attempting to become a whale must possess Brawn, Shiphandling, Swim, any Spear style and any 2 other guild skills at 100%. All 3 guild spells must be known. There is no limit to the number of Whales there can be at any point in time. Currently, there is one fishing town with 6 whales. No one whales are currently alive.

Guild Skills

Sereana’s Swimmers offer training the in the following skills: Boating, Brawn, Healing, Resilience, Shiphandling, Survival, Swim, any Spear style.

Seal Swimmer

Requirements: Con 17 or higher, Swim 90% or higher.

Hero Points: 8

Duration: One hour or if in combat, a number of melee rounds equal to CON

You have spent considerable time in the sea’s waters and are adept at navigating them. You double your swim speed and you may ignore any and all swim based situational modifiers for terrain. Situational modifiers from other sources still apply (such as from the weather). You may only use Seal Swimmer if not Overloaded, Exhausted or Debilitated.

Seal

STR 1d6+3 (7), CON 1d6+1 (5), SIZ 1d6+3 (7), INT 4 (4), POW 2d6+1 (8), DEX 4d6 (14)

1D20 Hit Location AP/HP

1-3 Right Hind Leg 2/3

4-6 Left Hind Leg 2/3

7-9 Hindquarters 2/4

10-12 Forequarters 2/5

13-15 Right Front Leg 2/3

16-18 Left Front Leg 2/3

19-20 Head 2/3

CA 1 (2 in water), DM -1d4, MP 8, Movement 3m (12 m swim), Strike Rank +9

Typical Armor: Fur and blubber. No Armor Penalty.

Traits: Evasion (in water only), Excellent Swimmer

Skills: Athletics 25%, Evade 14% (in water 60%), Perception 20%, Persistence 16%, Resilience 10%, Swim 70%

Combat Style Bite 26%

Weapon

Type Size Reach Damage AP/HP Range

Bite S T 1D6-1D4 As for Head —

On land, seals lose 1 CA and basic evade is calculated by Dex x 1. Seals have a powerful bite, requiring a 1d6+DM for damage.

Riyal's Research: Traps

Kobold Razortooth Trap CR 1
Type mechanical; Perception DC 29; Disable Device DC 15
Effects
Trigger location; Reset automatic; Bypass small or smaller creatures do not set off this trap
Effect tooth tipped spears (Atk +0 melee, 1d4 spear plus poison [black adder venom])
A favorite among kobolds, a razor-sharp, tooth tipped spear extends from a small hole in the wall when this trap is triggered. In order to set it off, the creature must be a medium or larger creature. Small creatures do not weigh enough to set off this trap. Since the trigger requires a creature of so much weight for the trap to go off, the spear’s aim is not terribly great. Many creatures experience the rush of air as the spear extending out mere inches in front of them. Trap cost: 1,250 gp. Construction DC: Craft (traps) 25.

Acid Shower Trap CR 6
Type mechanical; Perception DC 25; Disable Device DC 20
Effects
Trigger location; Reset repair
Effect acid shower (save DC 29 Reflex negates, 2d10 acid damage, touched creature takes damage for 3 rounds)
Acid pours down from a hole in the ceiling and begins to burn the creature if it did not make the save. It is believed that the creator of this trap got the kobold’s acid dump trap and decided to make a more sophisticated version. This trap is most common in labyrinths or in 10 ft. wide hallways where all those normally there know to avoid the trigger. Trap cost: 7,500 gp. Construction DC: Craft (traps) 25.

Lightning Storm Trap CR 8
Type mechanical; Perception DC 25; Disable Device DC 15
Effects
Trigger sound; Duration 2 rounds; Reset repair; Bypass hidden lock (Perception DC 25 to locate, Disable Device
DC 30 disarm)
Effect alchemical device (5d6 electricity, save DC 25 Reflex half, creatures in metal armor take a -4 to this save); multiple targets (all targets in a 30-ft.-radius cone)
Used to protected treasure rooms, this trap sprays electricity from a suit of armor in the corner. Since it is triggered by noises as quiet as two coins clanging together, thieves fill up their bags with coins will set it off. However the trigger is disabled when the fingers of the suit of armor’s right fist are pointed out. Because the suit of armor is metal, failing the Disable Device check by 5 or more sets off the trap. Trap cost: 8,000 gp. Construction DC: Craft (traps) 25.

If you like these, be sure to check out Riyal’s Research: Traps today. Also watch out for Riyal’s Research: Haunts coming out next week. These deadly dangers will enhance your world and your game.

The PDF is now available to DriveThruRPG/RPGNow as well as Paizo.com. The print book can be ordered at your local game store or your favorite gaming web retailer. Order the print book today and get the PDF for free.

Look through and you will see a wide variety of CRs from low to high level monsters. We’ve got sub CR 1 monsters like the Dull Mite and the Monkeybat and we’ve got high level monsters like the Champion Helblar and the Starak. We wanted to make sure all levels of play were supported with this book, not just the early levels. We hope that this monster book will be invaluable to those that have been asking for high level support while still enhancing the low and mid level games.

One last thing we have been saving. We raised enough to print enough quantities of our Free RPG Day adventure to get 3 in every box! That’s right. So now there is more than just the one copy that goes to the store’s best Game Master. Now there is enough for others to that have been excited about this or those that have never heard of us to grab yourself a copy.

I hope you have been enjoying these previews as much as we have had sharing them with you. Tell your local game store today to preorder you a copy. Don’t forget our PDF Guarantee allowing you to get an electronic copy when the buy the print version.

PS: Oh and look what just arrived!

As you can see, we combed for all three of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiaries for you for all monsters that work best in the setting and listed them all for you. All the monsters listed on this page are monsters that we encourage you to use straight out of those monster books with no variation. But really, the Plane of Shadows has … well … just about everything the material plane has. As we described at the top, you can use any monster you want with the darkened template applied. We also wanted to make sure that we empowered GMs to use any monster they want to come up with their ideal story. To that end, we described how a normal monster that normally would not be on Shadowsfall could be found there. That last bit has more details in Shadowsfall: Shadow Plane Gazetteer, but we wanted to give you a start now.

Tomorrow is our last preview of the Book of Beasts. We’ll show you the table of contents so you can see exactly how many monsters there are in the whole book, their names and their CRs. Tell your local game store today to preorder you a copy. Don’t forget our PDF Guarantee allowing you to get an electronic copy when the buy the print version.

The three most common monsters on the Plane of Shadows are Shadows, Skeletons and Zombies. However, all these of these appear in Bestiary so they are not new monsters. Skeletons and Zombies are templates so you can make your own pretty easily. However, we wanted this to be a real resource for GMs playing a Shadowsfall game so we gave added a few appendixes to the book. Each of these appendixes fill a 2 page spread of pregenerated monsters. While we did a few low CR versions of these templated monsters, we gave them a little shake up. As you can see in the image, the cave fisher shadow has an incorporeal filament attack that can attach to a creature’s shadow, something a normal shadow does not possess, but still familiar to those that have fought a cave fisher before. Additionally, we also have high CR versions on the second page. Expect to see a CR 21 ancient dragon shadow, a CR 16 Fighter/Rogue Half-Elf Skeletal Champion, and a CR 17 sorcerer gnome juju zombie.

After these three appendixes, we have the darkened template. This template describes how most creatures that spend generations on the Shadowsfall end up being altered by the Plane. This is similar to a celestial/fiendish templated creature.

Up next we have the parts that turn this from a book of monsters to a true bestiary in its own right. The next few appendixes are the Universal Monster Rules, Feats, New Creature Subtypes and Creatures by CR. All the rules from the Pathfinder Role Playing Game Bestiary 1-3 that were used in this book are collected into one place so you do not need to reference another book if you need to reference a particular ability. Same with feats. All the feats used in this book that cannot be found in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook are collected here. So Flyby Attack comes right after Combat Patrol and Bloody Assault.

Tomorrow we’re releasing the Monsters from the Bestiaries page. This will help you in your game to make full use of your monster books and make a true environment setup for your game.

Incase you had not heard, the Book of Beasts: Monsters of the Shadow Plane left the printer and is on its way to the warehouse. Soon it will be working its way through distribution. Be sure to tell your local game store today to preorder you a copy. Your game store can give you a PDF copy of the book when you do.

The dread gargoyle emphasizes is one example of a themes we wanted in Shadowsfall: that monsters here are recognizable, but they’re twisted and far more dangerous. A number of monsters including the black worm, dull mite, onyx ooze, and spectre lord are all similar to the monsters that we all know and love, but have been changed either by having been on the Plane of Shadows for generations or by “living” in a place that is ideal for them. In the case of the dread gargoyle, there are lots of ruins around, allowing it ample living space. Spectre lords, by contrast, are not held powerless by the dim sun of the Shadow Plane.

These creatures are not merely the same as their material plane brethren with more hit dice and higher attack bonuses and DCs. Oh no, my friend. These creatures possess new and dangerous abilities that make them more than the creatures your players expect. May evil GMs everywhere rub their hands together in glee.

Tomorrow we take a look at the the most common creatures in Shadowsfall: shadows, skeletons and zombies. Pre-order this book today at your local game store or at your favorite gaming website and get the PDF for free when you do.