#ultimate magic

[briabooknerd]

[dailycharacteroption]

Retrograde Revision 6: Bladebound

(art by anchicqe on DeviantArt)

Looking back, I think this is one of my least favorite early posts, mostly because I misunderstood key elements of the actual subject at the time. However, I also dislike it because back then, my obsession with berevity caused me to skimp on thoughts and details that I should have noted at the time.

With than in mind, let’s dive into making an updated, superior version of the post!

Having any sort of intelligent item can not just be a massive boon to a character thanks to the various abilities they have and the ability to activate them independently, but also because of the unique character dynamic that is possible between wielder and object.

There is a class of intelligent item, however, that is extremely mysterious. These so-called black blades are exactly as described, mysterious one-handed slashing weapons (or rapiers/sword canes) with jet-black blades and an intelligence all their own, alongside arcane power not unlike that of a magus in their own right.

Inevitably, these blades find their way into the hands of a magus (or occasionally an arcanist with the blade adept archetype), where they seem to match uncannily well with their partners, eager to match their morality and methods to the wielder. Where they can differ, however, is in their goals. Most black blades have a purpose as most intelligent items do, and so they can clash with their owners using the same rules as normal intelligent items if their owner resists that goal.

Of course, all of this begs the question of who made such weapons, for what purpose, and what purpose the magus themselves are meant to serve in wielding them.

Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the inspiration this archetype clearly takes from the song Black Blade by Blue Oyster Cult. (Edit: Apparently that song in turn was inspired by Micheal Moorcock's "Elric of Melniboné" books, and Moorcock actually helped co-write the song! The more you know.)

The magi themselves don’t get much out of this apart from the black blade itself, though their own arcane pool is significantly diminished by comparison.

They do have a list of recommended arcana though, namely those that provide magical guidance for their weapon, expand the spells in their arsenal, or using their weapon to dispel or even turn magic back on the caster.

The real shining star of the class is instead the black blade itself. Either found or awakening at 3rd level, the blade grows in baseline power. In addition to this, the blade has it’s own pool of arcane energy, allowing it to briefly enhance it’s damaging power for a minute or so, communicate telepathically with the owner and sense it’s environment and is nearly indestructible while it still has some of it’s reserves of energy left.

In an emergency whenever a specific energy type is needed to defeat a foe, the blade can flare with that energy for a few seconds, taking advantage of elemental weaknesses or even briefly striking with supernatural force to strike down incorporeal foes.

If ever separated, the magus can call the blade back to their hand, using either their own reserves or the blade’s to do so.

Due to their limited pool on their end and the limited uses that the blade has for their own arcane pool on the other, sometimes the magus needs to borrow some from the blade. Unfortunately, even the most willing blade cannot willingly transfer the energy to their wielder, and so the warrior must pull on it through force of will, which can fatigue them if done improperly.

Speaking of force of will, the blade can also expend energy to turn their own force of will to defend their wielder from hostile magic.

Near the zenith of their ability, the black blades are able to convert the vitality of slain foes into usable energy, either recharging their own reserves, splitting it with the wielder, or empowering the wielder with temporary vitality, all of which help the duo keep fighting longer.

This archetype is definitely all about managing the two separate pools of energy together. Getting a flat damage boost that lasts a decent amount of time is great on it’s own, as is getting to switch damage types on the fly, though that is more a temporary measure. On the magus side, your limited arcane pool is probably better used to activate arcana or support abilities unless a very specific enchantment would help in a protracted fight. Similarly, your spells should probably focus on dealing ranged damage and buffs as well.

I really do like the archetype thematically, the way the reduced arcane pool on your character themselves makes it feel like they are being forced to rely on the power of the weapon to get by, and of course, all the character potential with the weapon itself.

On a trek into an abandoned temple, our heroes discover a black blade laying among the dry skeletons therein. It offers to join them, possibly becoming their blade if they are or choose to become bladebound. However, cursory research into the blade reveals that each of its wielders died under unusual, yet strangely consistent circumstances.

Bound Thunder is a unique black blade that takes the form of a spear, and is wielded by a female gillman magus called Versa. The weapon claims to be the trapped spirit of a lightning elemental of great influence, backing up its claims with demonstrations of shocking power. If Bound Thunder has any secret goals, it has not revealed them as of yet, seeming to simply enjoy being by Versa’s side.

Bloodthirstiness is a terrible trait for a blade to have, especially when it has the will to control the hand that wields it. The axe Blood Maw has completely overtaken the magus Tremal, leaving him a shadow of his former self, led on a rampage by the terrible blade. Any who can free him from the evil that grips him would have his eternal gratitude.

[ludicrousbird]

BOOKS & FINALE THEORY OR SMTHG Part 1?

i would like to propose a thought (this might be stupid i don't care) there is going to be a lot of yapping for a lowkey dumb point but i think it's interesting enough. I feel like I could make a video on this.

For the book 7 "finale" i think the students will "overblot" again WAIT LISTEN HOLD IT! a heads up here that I'm not on the JP server and don't have as good a grasp on the story thus far but I have some evidence (just a little)

If not every student then at least Idia, one thing I have against book 6 even tho i love it so much is that Vil took up a lot of time during the story and there are a few reasons for that.

1. it was a finale to his plot points. While book 5 was about him there was a good amount of focus on different characters and he still didn't "defeat" Neige or get a win, he was talked to and understood by his friends and the players being used instead as set up to his own finale in the next book. I don't love when games use other characters for the sake of another one (Yanqing from HSR is a good example) but it makes SOME sense.

2. the formula - every previous overblotter helps in the next book. This is a basic setup continually used they just increased it with Vil turning it up to the max. Vil and Idia are slightly different because their problems r actually a bit similar. Vil wants to be a "hero" where Idia gave up that hope a long time ago. (other characters can also relate to this theme in different ways and i might make another post later)

3. fulfillment - Idia's issues would never be resolved in his own book. There was too much to do, and too many problems. It feels like they backed themselves into a corner and while they gave Ortho a very good resolution and a finale for their relationship and good perspective there would still be a bit of a hole and so again they took Vil and just amped his finale up. Again they have done things like this in others books it was just especially obvious in 6.

4. ambiance - they wanted to keep the Shrouds dark and mysterious. This worked in some fun ways that were intriguing but again they just weren't physically around much.

Its one of my biggest pet peeves and I probably could write for hours abt it (look for future posts) but imma move onto my main points cuz this is really long.

Idia better get a good damn finale. There, I said it. I was nervous for this book because i knew going in they would probably try to cram a bunch into it. with it (possibly) being the last (or second to last) book they have worked to incorporate every character (which has been so much fun I am NOT complaining) and try to focus heavily on Diasomnia because it's still THEIR book. I was worried Idia would become pushed to the side. I was pleasantly surprised with all the Shroud stuff we've gotten and cried really hard during Idia's dream chapters but the whole thing ended very sad and melancholic aka not in a "finalized" way. He talked about how useless he felt and how Ortho was always the one to save him etc. Ortho comforts him and its a sweet moment but there is no way that's how they end that. Idia has done nothing in the plot and honestly it gives him a new level to his motivation.

There is no way he can beat Malleus' ass. I expect everyone to use the power of friendship and then Idia talks to him about grief and loss because the issues they both deal with can be very intertwined and used in a good way that helps both of them deal with the inherent fact that people die which they both have a hard time with. Its basically the reason they both overblot.

I would say this if that was easy. They would have to defeat him and then do that cuz that scene doesn't work if he's overblotted. they mention how difficult it is to talk someone down from an overblot so unless Malleus and Idia are secretly in love that aint happening.

Either Idia or 'the gang' will overblot again to beat him down. Everyone else uses their signature spell in the next book but Idia's spell is shit and unless he kills everyone (see timeloop theory ig) or uses it as a scare tactic i don't see that happening. Honestly if they replaced his current UM with his blot form that would make some sense and also work better and is why I initially wrote all this.

There is always a level of physical confrontation that Idia...doesn't have in him. no offense nerd. If they all overblotted to fight it would make them all way stronger and they outright say it plenty of times. From what I can tell there have already been overblot moments in the individual dreams which could be foreshadowing and THEN it would be the perfect opportunity to release them as cards. I've been seeing plenty of people talking about how they want the overblots as cards (myself included) and instead of releasing them after each book it would make sense if they were released instead after some massive fight.

This was so long i have been tweaking out and might be working on a video essay type thing. I also might split this into 2 parts later. For the time being check me out on Ao3. I go by NobodyWillKnowMe, I'm working on a long angst fic called Trust Falling with a special moment for every one of your favorite TWST characters.

THANK YOU! (OwO)

[regaliasonata]

From the looks of it, Desscaras wears her own clothes, but I'm just wondering what her outfit was like from her first majik.

Or say, due to all the majiks, what if she gets a special form with the fashion thing, but it's a whole angelic dress made of light, just biblically accurate. Power up for later in the series.

[dailycharacteroption]

Retrograde Revision : Oath Against Fiends

(art by erynamrod on DeviantArt)

Out there in the Lost Omens setting and a myriad other more personal worlds are paladins, warriors of virtue and righteousness that fight the good fight against evil both conceptually and physically.

And among those paladins, there are those that swear oaths to slay fiends wherever they find them and thwart their sinister plans and protect the innocent from their depredations…

…I mean… yeah? Obviously? As the living embodiment of cruel and wicked philosophies made manifest, fiends absolutely should be at the top of your average paladin’s list of things to kick the arse of, at least when other evils are not in immediate attendance for thwarting.

But there are some paladins that do indeed swear a very special, specific oath to undo fiends wherever they find them, not necessarily to the exclusion of other evils, but certainly that priority.

And like other oathbound paladins, the divine power that grants them their might alters their gifts to match that promise of specialization.

In places where fiends run rampant, these paladins might swear this oath for life. Others, however, might choose to take the oath when a specific fiendish threat makes itself known, the paladin swearing to send such invaders and schemers back from whence they came, if not obliterate them entirely.

The basic promise of the oath is that these paladins will suffer not a fiend to live if you are capable of destroying it, banish those you cannot slay, and free the possessed and tormented from the grasp of such evils.

So let’s see what tools they gain to do just that!

A common advantage many fiends have is their knack for teleportation, and so these paladins are blessed with an aura that ensnares them, preventing them from easily escaping through space or across the barriers of the planes. Additionally, by expending some of the energy reserved for their smiting, these holy warriors can mark a fiendish foe outside of their aura with the same entrapping force, making dimensional escape impossible.

In a rarity, these oathsworn warriors that have taken a bond of weaponry can instead divide the blessing of that ability across not just their weapon, but also their armor and shield, even granting various enhancements to them, though naturally not as versatile as archetypes that actively grant that ability.

Finally, these warriors gain new spells to help combat fiends, ranging from resisting elemental energies, sensing thoughts to notice hidden fiends, dispelling invisibility in an area, and even granting them the ability to plane shift themselves, potentially to take the fight to fiends on their home turf.

Whether you take it temporarily or permanently, this oath is a strong weapon against fiends Watch out though, as you do lose the aura of resolve, though since that only affects charms and compulsion, that shouldn’t affect them too terribly much as long as you’re properly roleplaying being charmed and not treating it like proper mind control. You’ll want a strong charisma too to make sure the baddies fail to resist the anti-teleport aura, and probably to take the weapon bond just because the versatility of being able to buff both offense and defense is really good.

The fact that this oath intensifies a normal part of the average paladin mission statement can lead to some interesting problems. What if the party runs into a tiefling who isn’t evil? What if there’s a tiefling in the party itself? What if the party encounters one of the rare risen fiends that have grown beyond their origins? Absolutism here can lead to intra-party conflict, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing if it’s done right, but it’s adviced that the players be able to talk about how to handle and when and how character development happens regarding that initial clash. On the other hand, inflexibility in this regard can make for a good excuse to have a paladin antagonist (not necessarily villain) in a non-evil campaign too.

Thoroughly devoted, Helga has always charged into battle against the forces of darkness. When she discovers a baby being used as a vessel for such evil, she finds her first ever dilemma, being unable to dispel the possession safely, yet also unable to simply end the child’s life or walk away.

Echoing Invictive is a truly interesting weapon. The sword only allows paladins of the fiend oath to wield it, granting them greater and greater power. However, the blade is also cursed, its definition of “fiend” growing broader and frighteningly inclusive with every use.

Glahad is a city at war with itself. On one side, the conjurers who use the powers to turn the forces of hell back on itself. On the other, the paladins who treat any interaction with the demons to be heresy. Tragically, the school of magic is beginning to prove the paladin’s right, listening more and more to their fiendish servant’s advice on how to resolve conflict with the paladins.

[dailycharacteroption]

Retrograde Revision 4: Aberrant Sorcerer Bloodline

(art by henning on DeviantArt)

And so we end off the week with another revision of a class feature post, This time being the aberrant bloodline for sorcerer, as well as it’s warped wildblooded variant. This was my first crack at sorcerer bloodlines, and it’s pretty clear I still hadn’t figured out my style yet, but let’s see how we can improve it.

Whether they come from the darkest depths underground or beyond the stars, aberrations are something of a curiosity in the Pathfinder system. While some are perfectly normal creatures that simply defy the taxonomical classifications we’re used to, others are mutants, and others still are eldritch entities that exist in spite of our previously established understanding of physics and life. Some are dangerously indifferent, others are actively malicious.

Whether they have a fluid anatomy or one that just defies explanation, these creatures are the very picture of cosmic horror and the unknown.

And then there are sorcerers that draw upon the power of such entities!

Whether it be genetic tampering (by science or the good old fashion way), mutation through proximity, or perhaps absorbing the energies of the Great Old Ones, some individuals are blessed and cursed as they tap into their magic and twisted anatomy to great effect. These are your Wilbur Whateleys and other such hybrids.

While tentacles, extra eyes, and other strange anatomical components are common, they are not required, and some of these sorcerers may simply manifest their bloodlines in more subtle ways, such as having strang tics or ways of viewing the world.

And then there are the warped, those whos bodies are strangely fluid even without magic, possibly hinting at connections to aberrant shapeshifters like faceless horrors, mimics, or gibbering mouthers.

Needless to say, these mages definitely fit into the eerie and off-putting category of sorcerous bloodlines, and even the ones that are beautiful have a strange, alien beauty instead of what is familiar for their ancestry.

So let’s get right down to it and see what they have to offer!

The aberrant bloodline grants a variety of spells, including those that grant physical might through increased size, enhanced senses, power over language, conjuring tentacles to attack, power to assault or ward the mind with stupefaction or undetectability, illusions to cover entire groups, traversal across the planes, as well as shapechanging at will.

Meanwhile, the techniques that they specialize them involve unarmed combat, disarming and grappling, casting spells in combat, and casting magic wordlessly, making them masters of blending their spells and stealthily casting.

The arcana of the bloodline focuses on polymorphing, letting these sorcerers maintain a chosen form for much longer than others.

However, for those with the warped mutation, their polymorphic forms always sport a random beneficial mutation, giving them an albeit unreliable advantage.

Whether it be a jet or corrosive fluid or a beam of entropic energy, those of the base bloodline can blast their foes with acid in combat.

Meanwhile, the warped instead inflict a flash of their own biological instability on their foes, causing a flash of unstable mutation on contact that lasts for only a few moments before reverting them back to their original state. The pain and disorientation leaving them briefly dazed and unable to act as they get their bearings.

Whether they be hidden tentacles, elastic flesh and bone, or simply distorted proportions, these mages have a long reach, allowing them to attack foes from further away in melee combat, a reach that only grows with their mastery and further mutation.

Furthermore, their organs have a different or even fluid arrangement as their bloodline continues to change them, making lethal blows harder to achieve.

They even replicate the supernatural resistance to magic seen in many aberrations, protecting them from hostile magic.

Finally, those at the zenith of their power have become truly alien beings, only superficially retaining a humanoid form. They become completely immune to attacks on their vitals, gain unnatural senses that can pinpoint foes without sight, and their bodies become overall more durable.

With their long reach and selection of bonus feats, the aberrant sorcerer is a surprisingly useful melee combatant, especially with touch spells in their arsenal. However, both the standard and wildblooded arcana also improve polymorphing spells, making this one of the few times I’d recommend having a decent base strength score as a full caster so you can take some useful and powerful polymorphing spells to become magical powerhouses. Even without said polymorphing, they can make decent use of battlefield control and debuffing spells as well, so keep that in mind and remember to diversify.

Living as a sorcerer with this bloodline can be… rough. Even the more normal-looking ones definitely still have an air of the unnatural about them that many sorcerers don’t, which may affect how others react to them even with their high charisma unless they take pains to hide their quirks. Whether your character goes along with this and tries pretending to be normal is up to you, but I think it’s safe to say that they’d probably be fiercely loyal to anyone that can see past their strangeness and befriend them anyway, which is always a delightful recurring trope one finds in adventuring parties.

In the slums of the mageocrasy of Hightower, sorcerers without a wizard sponsor have begun disappearing, most recently several of aberrant blood. The magus-run police force will not spare resources to investigate the disappearances of these untouchables, but that doesn’t mean a third party cannot.

Gibbering Tom got his name for the extra mouths that have grown in various places all over his body, whispering strange secrets in aklo. Despite his deformities, he has risen in power to the head of the local thieves guild, guided by the voices. How can the party hope to triumph against a foe that predicts their every move?

Biderwert, a juvenile silver dragon, was initially delighted to be developing sorcerous powers decades ahead of his kin, but his delight has turned to horror as his body has begun to warp and twist, revealing a far more sinister source for his magic than anyone had guessed.

[dailycharacteroption]

Retrograde Revision 5: Beast-Bonded Witch

(art by SirTiefling on DeviantArt)

Ah yes, the first witch archetype I did here on the blog. In the original entry I was so excited to talk about the witch class as a whole that I barely talked about the archetype at all.

In any case, the Beast-Bonded Witch!

It’s no secret that witches have especially strong bonds with their familiars, only rivaled perhaps by shamans. After all, these practitioners of the old ways depend on their familiar to store their spells and provide a link between them and their patron.

However, there are those that take this a bit further, developing the magical bond between them and their familiar for various benefits, changing their familiar and in turn having their familiar change them as well.

Such mages might carry symbols or wear clothing that evokes the species or family that their familiar belongs to, while others are more subtle in that regard. Either way, there’s no denying how strong the bond between them is.

Sometimes, These mystics might prefer if their little companion learns new techniques instead of themselves, and some of the beast-bonded do just that, sacrificing their own capacity for growth to infuse the knowledge of new techniques into the magical bond that already grants the familiar intelligence beyond it’s own species. Of course, if the familiar dies, the witch can choose to reclaim said capacity if they so desire.

Their strong bond also somewhat accelerates the development of the normal powers and enhancements that familiars gain.

Just as their familiar grows, the nature of the familiar affects the witch in kind. As such, these witches learn how to shapeshift into forms associated with their familiar. This is not limited to the same exact species as the familiar, but anything else in the same clade. A beast-bonded witch with a cat familiar, for example, might shapeshift into a lion, tiger, or panther, for example.

At greater levels of mastery, their bond becomes so strong that the familiar and witch alike can serve as a vessel for the other when one dies or is near death, allowing the practitioner to perhaps save themselves with a healing hex from within the familiar, or the two souls to flee the battlefield to seek aid in resurrecting the fallen one elsewhere.

There are also some recommendations for hexes with this archetype, including those that let them charm animal and humanoid alike, bolster their familiar or look through it’s senses, speak with animals, provide wards, and even curse foes with a lesser animal form.

This is a fun and thematic archetype offering ways to make the duo of witch and familiar even stronger. With the built-in beast shape, the witch has access to potentially several forms for scouting or combat, making stealth and combat viable things to consider, though I’d also like to recommend lots of fun animal-themed spells like baleful polymorph and whatnot.

Some witches might use their familiars as a mere proxy for their patron, and that may suit them depending on the nature of their patron. Not so with these practitioners. Their bond demands that they have a proper relationship with their familiar, so definitely take some time to explore what that may be.

Gnak Skin-wearer is a cruel old man, betrothed to a patron of transformation, the Lady of Many Shapes. He is rumored to be able to take the shape of many beasts, but his favorites are those of cats. Townsfolk tell their children not to go near his one-eyed cat when it wanders into town, but no one dares to harm it, though they won’t say why.

Throughout her life, Irma of Canenbow has had to fight for her survival, cast out for her tiefling heritage. This anger attracted the attention of her patron, a spirit of vengeance who granted her the retaliatory ferocity of her pet snapping turtle, Dymblewyrd.

Though not true druids, the beast-bonded witches of Blackwood have received a rare honor, being inducted into the circle of druids. However, when dark powers begin to manifest in their forest, the druids are quick to accuse the witches of harboring a member with a fell patron, whose presence corrupts the natural order.

[dailycharacteroption]

Subsystems and You 15: Binding Outsiders

(art by SamabyArt on DeviantArt)

Today’s subject is less of a subsystem per se, instead being more of an expansion on the details of an already existing system, and that is the intricacies of summoning, binding, and negotiating with outsiders via the planar binding spells.

Calling spells in general are much more powerful than basic summoning in that in theory any outsider can be conjured as long as they meet the hit die limit of the spell version, and they conjure the outsider for much longer, albeit with a specific task in mind and bargaining.

This system originally showed up in Ultimate Magic, but it mostly focuses on the specifics of planar binding in all it’s forms rather than the planar ally spells mostly used by divine casters. This is because planar ally is limited to conjuring outsiders that serve the caster’s deity specifically, meaning that aside from negotiating payment, the conjured being is mostly inclined to help.

Planar binding, however, yanks an outsider from whatever they were doing, which is not contusive to a positive start to negotiations even if the caster and entity are on the same page morality-wise, so the caster must negotiate payment, browbeat, or otherwise really work to get what they want, assuming the outsider doesn’t just break free.

So let’s get into it!

The info first focuses on the concept of a true name, which when used to address an outsider offers a lot of leverage in binding them. The system offers skill check DCs for researching the secret name of an outsider that the character wishes to call upon, but you can also forgo this to make such a thing a quest reward or even impossible depending on the being in question.

Next up, the article points out that since planar binding definitely counts as coercion even if the outsider would be otherwise be predisposed to like and aid the character, one must be either extremely accommodating to the desires and goals of the outsider they wish to bind (picking a creature to call based on the task in question as well as being willing to provide aid and rewards in return), or full-force domineering with the threat of destruction or suffering to back it up (many fiends will straight-up not respond to anything else). Trying to act as an equal in a relationship with an inherent power imbalance is a recipe for disaster, no matter how distasteful it might feel.

And so this section has broad strokes of what each outsider type (at time of the writing) likes, and what substances and implements they find distasteful and anathema to threaten with and leverage against them for that purpose.

They then go into further detail with each specific outsider type and all known members at time of writing, giving more details on their specific role and goals, and what will impress them. Elementals, for example, respond best to demonstrations of the opposite element or undermining their connection to their own (such as levitating an earth elemental off the ground), or how qlippoth almost never bargain, needing to be browbeaten into service and constantly controlled, or how handmaiden devils might ask for child sacrifices in exchange for service).

Now, the list of guidelines for outsiders is a bit out of date now, what with whole new outsider types and individual species having come out since then, but the provided guidelines are useful for thinking about how the newer outsiders would act and what they would ask for or demand.

Planar Binding is a lot more risky than the planar ally spells, but it can be very rewarding if used correctly, and this guideline is useful for roleplaying actually going out and doing so.

With that, though, we can probably end here. We’ve got one more entry this week though, so look forward to that!