As I write this, I am sitting in a metal tube several miles above the surface of the Earth. No matter how many times I do this, I still find it amazing. I know all the physics involved, but that still doesn’t make it any less a wonder of the potential we can achieve when we put our brightest minds and the most daring among us together. There needs to be a deity to just that thing. Frankly, I can think of no one better than Daedalus.
For those of you not familiar with Greek mythology, Daedalus strapped on a pair of wings made from feathers and wax and flew to escape the tower he was imprisoned in. While the story is a celebration of innovation and daring, it is also a cautionary tale as well, as his son Icarus flew too close to the sun, causing the wax to melt and he fell back to Earth.
With all that in mind, what would a religion based on such a deity look like?
Daedalus
Chaotic Good Hero-Deity of Artificial Flight, Daring, and Ingenuity
Followers of Daedalus believe in understanding the natural world and look to create mechanical ways to emulate them. Chief among these inspirations is the ability to fly like a bird, run as fast as a horse, and haul as much as an elephant, however, this is hardly an exhaustive list. Also among Daedalus’ followers are those daring enough to try such inventions and see if they work.
Daedalus has a strong following among gnomes. Even those of their kind that do not worship him still respect him and will offer up a quick prayer before trying a new invention out. Other races with a sizable following for the hero-deity include humans, dwarves, goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds. The goblinoid and kobold followers go hand in hand as the hobgoblins create the new invention and the goblins and kobolds are more than willing to try. Kobold inventors may be less successful, but they still try hard.
The holy symbol of Daedalus is a pair of feathery wings. Followers are hardly commanded to but still frequently keep a feather on them somewhere. Most often this is in the hair or in a hat, but followers of Daedalus are an individualistic lot and feathers can be found anywhere and in any quantity on the faithful.
While followers of Daedalus are stereotypically the friend that is up for anything (the crazier, the better), they also heed their deity’s warning for they do not want to end up like the son of the deity before ascending to godhood. Proficiency with mechanical tool sets are taught among the faithful and they check the working of anything the device they are not familiar with, both to see how it works as well as to make sure they feel it is safe.
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I have always been a fan of fantasy deities. The one thing that I always feel is that fantasy deities are missing is some appeal to common persons. I feel that deities that have a direct appeal to adventurers or villains are given special status while those that would be far more relevant to serfs and farmers are barely given any attention when they given any attention at all. Which brings me to my favorite fantasy deity as of late: Grumble. If you have read the Spells, Swords, and Stealth series by Drew Hayes, you’ll know Grumble as the kobold deity of minions, servants, and slaves. Grumble treats his followers nice because he is a former minion himself and knows how bad his followers have it. And honestly, who is going to have more faithful, the deity of undead, the deity of bankers, or the deity of minions? In terms of sheer numbers and quantity of prayers, the minion deity should win out and be frankly be the leader of all deities.
So this is where I want to begin my deific musings, focusing on a deity that should have a sizable number of followers but is largely ignored by most fantasy RPGs. Which brings us to Avarna, the minor deity of tradespersons. Those with a skill: butchers, bakers, candlestick makers, stonemasons, weavers, cobblers, locksmiths, tanners, etc., have a very specific skill and few deities that represent them in any standard fantasy pantheon. So consider adding Avarna to your game.
Avarna
Lawful good deity of skilled work, integrity, and community
When Avarna appears to their followers, they appear as any race, skin/fur tone, or gender they see fit, knowing full well that skilled crafters and laborers are not limited to any one group. Instead they frequently appear as a customer to a troubled crafter, purchase a product, compliment them on their work, ask about their troubles and then helps them solve the problem. This is why Avarna is sometimes called the Great Problemsolver. It is because of this that Avarna preaches education among their followers, encouraging them all to read as well as taking apprentices to pass on what they have learned.
Avarna also extols integrity, believing that quality work should stand on its own. Those that sell poor quality items and passing them off as the work of a more skilled crafter is seen as the highest form of blasphemy among the faithful. Anvils breaking, looms snapping, and dead yeast area few of the signs of a ways Avarna is seen as punishing those that do not meet the deity’s standard of honesty.
The community of workers is another of the highest tenants of Avarna. If the cobbler cannot repair shoes, they cannot buy bread, who cannot higher purchase wheat, and so on. Everyone suffers. The deity teaches that the community should look out for one another and help each other out for the good of all.
The clergy of Avarna tend to have less formal religious training and more experience lending a helping hand. Come the harvest, a cleric of Avarna is frequently in the fields. When the giving holiday of winter comes around, a cleric of Avarna helps the crafters make toys for orphans. Yet if there is one service all clergy of Avarna help with most of all, it is helping crafters to sell their own products. This way more the money they make flows into the hands of crafters and stays out of the hands of the merchants.
Paladins of Avarna are rare but not unheard of. Most of them are the children of tradespersons and saw their lives enriches by their skilled parents and how the wealthy kept working to take everything they had away from them. These paladins take a vow to serve the common folk against the wealthy and powerful. After a paladin of Avarna slays a monster that attacked a village, you can find them helping to rebuild.
Most followers of Avarna keep a small house shrine or holy symbol of a sewing needle crossed with a rolling pin on a wall and placed kissed fingers to the shrine before starting work for the day. Religious services are weekly and short, after the sun goes down and the work day is done. Once a month there is a communal feast for the faithful where all share in their collective good fortune or troubles. This is where followers meet up and find solutions collectively.
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Like we said at the start of the week, we’re creating one monster for D&D 5e, Pathfinder 1e, and 13th Age. Today we bring you the third in the series. The nastier specials are always fun when creating 13th Age monsters. The regular abilities are exactly what you expect from said monster. So when creating the nastier special, I’m always thinking, “what would the boss have?” That’s where I get to turn the monster up to 11. As I mentioned in the 5e post, the inspiration for this monster is a horse-themed minotaur and folklore creature known as a Tikbalang. So I took a version of the minotaur’s durable ability as well as increased the quantity of the terrifying whinny ability. That should give players a rough time.
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Equitaur
3rd level spoiler [humanoid]
Initiative +7
Claws +8 vs AC—8 damage
Natural 16+ hit—The equitaur can make a terrifying whinny attack as a free action.
[Special trigger] C: Terrifying Whinny +8 vs MD (1d3 nearby enemies)—3 psychic damage and affected targets do not add the escalation die to their attacks until the end of the equitaur’s next turn
Nastier Special
Durable: The first time each round the equituar takes damage, prevent 2d4 of it.
Even More Whinny: The equitaur can make a terrifying whinny attack on a natural even hit or miss.
AC 19
PD 17
MD 13
HP 45
We mentioned on Monday that this month is going to focus on monsters all month. We’ll be releasing new monsters for 5e, PFRPG, and 13th Age all month long. This week is the equitaur, a creature inspired by the Phillippine folklore monster tikbalang. See the 5e version here and check out the 13th Age version on Friday.
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Equitaur CR 6
XP 2,400
CE Large monstrous humanoid
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +12
Defenses
AC 19, touch 12, flat-footed 16 (+3 Dex, +7 natural, –1 size)
hp 68 (8d10+24)
Fort +5, Ref +9, Will +7
Offense
Speed 40 ft.
Melee bite +11 (1d8+4), 2 claws +11 (1d6+4)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks terrifying whinny (30-foot radius, DC 16; shaken for 1d6 rounds, usable every 1d4 rounds)
Statistics
Str 19, Dex 16, Con 17, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 15
Base Atk +8; CMB +12; CMD 25
Feats Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Run, Skill Focus (Stealth)
Skills Intimidate +13, Perception +12, Stealth +13
Languages Giant
Ecology
Environment temperate forests or ruins
Organization solitary, pair, or team (3–5)
Treasure standard
Special Abilities
Terrifying Whinny (Ex) As a standard action, an equitaur can let out a whinny that shakes all those nearby to their core. All creatures within 30 feet that can hear it must succeed a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or be shaken for 1d6 rounds. Creatures that are already shaken become frightened. The equitaur can use this ability every 1d4 rounds. The save DC is Charisma-based. This is a mind-affecting effect.
With only one day left in May, I am starting June’s blog posts early. This month is going to focus on monsters, mainly because I got some new monster art recently and I want to create the fun creepies. *evil laugh* We’re going to be doing like at the April with the skunkdrill, where we created a 5e, Pathfinder 1e, and 13th Age version of these creatures.
Additionally, the votes from our Patreon are in and they want to see details on minor deities and their associated religions So those are the blog posts coming your way in June. I’m not sure what kind of religions to create for Traveller, but we will be coming up with something. I love a challenge. Anyways, join our Patreon today for only $3 to help us decide what our blog posts should be about.
Back to this blog post, the image for this blog post comes from Dean Spencer. If you love his work, tell him. For that matter tell whatever artist who’s work you enjoy how you feel. Same is true for writers. And publishers. We love to hear your thoughts and feedback, especially positive feedback. He named this piece a Tikbalang, which got me researching its origins. When I bought it, however, I thought equine minotaur. I hope I was able to merge these two ideas together into one absolutely terrifying monster. Enjoy.
Equitaur
Large monstrosity, chaotic evil
Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 93 (11d10 + 33)
Speed 40 ft.
STR 20 (+5) DEX 19 (+4) CON 17 (+3)
INT 9 (–1) WIS 17 (+3) CHA 10 (+0)
Skills Stealth +6
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Abyssal
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)
Run. An equitar may take a Dash action as a bonus action.
Spiked Body. A series of spikes protrude from the equitar’s spine. Creatures grappling an equitaur automatically take 2d6 piercing damage at the start of their turn.
Actions
Multiattack. The equitaur makes 3 attacks: one bite and two claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d6 + 5) piercing damage.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d4 + 5) slashing damage.
Terrifying Whinny (Recharge 5–6). As an action, an equitaur can whinny in a way that can give someone shivers down to their core. All creatures within a 20-foot radius that fail a DC 14 Charisma saving throw take 14 (4d6) psychic damage and are frightened for 1 minute. A successful save means the creature takes half the damage and is not frightened. Frightened creatures may attempt a new saving throw at the end of their turn to end this effect.
When we began this month, we set off with the directive of posts focusing on either 13th Age or on new class/career options. So far, we’ve focused on the former and all but ignored the latter. So today I thought I would share with you a few new class options that we created. Specifically, here are a few new slayer talents that I really feel should have been published before now.
Before sharing these, I want to note that none of these appear in the upcoming Book of Beasts: Slayer Codex. That book exclusively uses options published by Paizo in their RPG line. So nothing created by us, any other Pathfinder compatible publisher, nor Paizo for their campaign setting lines make an appearance in this book. These slayer talents are options that I noticed were missing and I would like to see added to the game. Eventually, they will make their way to a book, but that is not today.
New Slayer Talents
The following slayer talents can be taken by any slayer who meets their prerequisites.
Horizon Tracker (Ex): The slayer gains a +4 bonus on all Knowledge (planes) checks, and can use Track with Knowledge (planes) when tracking creatures of the outsider type.
Martial Artist (Ex): The slayer gains a Style feat as a bonus feat. The slayer must meet all the prerequisites for the feat, adding their slayer level to any monk level, if any. The slayer can choose this talent up to three times. Each additional time he does, he chooses a feat that requires the style feat as a prerequisite.
Vigilante Talent: A slayer can select one of the following rogue talents in place of a slayer talent: armor skin UI, blind spot UI, cunning feint UI, or favored maneuver UI. Any talent effects based on vigilante level use the slayer’s class level. A slayer can select this talent multiple times. If the vigilante talent has a prerequisite, the slayer must fulfill the prerequisite before taking that vigilante talent. This talent can be selected multiple times; each time, it grants the slayer a new vigilante talent.
We hope you enjoyed these new slayer talents. If you want a say in what blog posts get published for next month, join our Patreon. Also download our Pathfinder 1e products at DriveThruRPG and the Open Gaming Store.
It was ten years ago this month that JBE released the Book of the River Nations: Complete Player’s Reference for Kingdom Building to the world. This book who’s name is exceedingly too long introduced Pathfinder players to our books and the quality of work we put into our material. This book holds a very special place in our hearts as it was a huge success for us. It was designed for the Kingmaker adventure path because all of the special rules for that campaign were in the adventure paths, away from the eyes of the players who needed them to succeed. So we had the great idea of taking all those rules that were OGL, clarified them where they needed smoothing out, and republished them in a spoiler-free book designed for players. It sold in game stores on three continents and is one of our most popular PDF books of all time.
So for its 10th anniversary, we wanted to bring it to you at a special discount. For the rest of this month, you can download the Book of the River Nations Complete for $2.95 at DriveThruRPG, more than 50% off the regular price. This isn’t just a book of rules, but a piece of gaming history. Many game masters credited this book with making Kingmaker playable, proving that compatible publishers are not competition as WotC always believed but can instead exist symbiotically with the larger game company. Not only that, a few years later, Paizo released Ultimate Campaign which contained the kingdom building and mass combat rules found inside. Had it not been for the Book of the River Nation‘s success, Paizo might not have created that book. This book changed gaming history.
While you are there, grab yourself the Pathfinder adventure Deadly Delves: The Gilded Gauntlet. This adventure is enjoying its 4th anniversary. This 9th level adventure is received 5 stars and the seal of approval from Endzeitgeist. This 61-page adventure is available right now for $3.95, more than 40% off the regular price. Download this adventure today at DriveThruRPG.
Both of these sales only last until the end of May. So go over to DriveThruRPG today and download these and more of our Pathfinder 1e products.
This month, we are focusing on new 13th Age material. Last week, we shared with you two new monsters for 13th Age: the usurper’s troops and the hound golem. This week, we are sharing with you some of the magic items specific to some of our alternate icons we created for 13th Age. Monday we shared a pair of item preferred by the Herald. Today we have favored by the Guild Mistress.
The Guild Mistress likes two things: gold and those in the guild also being productive. So the ring of persuasion is something that her negotiators frequently have on them. The better crafters in the guild keep the hammer of flawed creativity. Having a bonus to all magic item crafting rolls is something any crafter likes. However, it has been known to make magic items that are imperfect, which is better than just wasting time and resources on a failed attempt.
Ring of Persuasion: This silver ring looks like a simple signet ring with the Guild Mistress’ symbol on it. You gain a +2 bonus to skill checks to make someone give you or sell you something. Quirk: Always smiling.
Hammer of Flawed Creativity (Champion item, recharge 11+): What normally looks like a normal blacksmith’s hammer turns into whatever kind of crafting tool you need it to be at that moment when crafting a magic item. When crafting a magic item, you gain a +2 to your skill check. Should you fail that skill check, you may immediately roll another d20 and add that result to your total. If you succeed with the new total, you successfully create the item but it has some unexpected but thematic flaw (GM’s choice). Examples of flaws: if you are making a weapon that also deals lightning damage, you also deal the lightning damage to one random nearby target (friend or foe alike). If you are making an item that grants resistance to one type of damage, the target of your attacks gains that same resistance until the start of your next turn.
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We slightly altered this symbol we obtained via Creative Commons at http://game-icons.net. Full license at
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode. Icons created by Lorc.
We slightly altered this symbol we obtained via Creative Commons at http://game-icons.net. Full license at
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode
Icons created by Lorc
All month long, we are releasing new 13th Age material. Last week we focused on monsters. This week we are focusing on new magic items. One of our Patrons asked for magic items for the Herald, so that’s what we’re starting with first.
Confession, Symbol of (recharge 16+): When you hit an enemy with a divine spell or attack, that enemy is also stuck until the end of their next turn. (Champion: recharge 11+) Quirk: Prone to telling others about your deity, bringing the subject up in irrelevant conversations.
Ring of the Blessed (recharge 11+): This ivory ring is carved with the holy symbol of a deity. When you fail an attack roll, saving throw, or skill check, add +1 to that roll. Quirk: Confident in the deity to the point of calm.
If you enjoyed these 13th Age magic items, join our Patreon today. Also download our 13th Age PDFs at DriveThruRPG and the Open Gaming Store.
This month, we are focusing on 13th Age blog posts but we are not doing them exclusively. Our aim is to do two 13th Age blog posts per week and one of another system, baring anything special like a product release or a preview for just such a release. Which bring us to today.
While we are not ready to release the Book of Beasts: Slayer Codex, we are read to begin sharing what is inside. So let us start with the level 1 NPC, the one we always share when we first start talking about a new codex. The last three codices involved those well endowed, magically speaking. Slayers are the first class we’ve done in this series that is fully without magic. What they do have is a whole lot of guts and brains, so they know when to charge headlong into combat or when they should stay in the shadows to pick their targets off from the shadows with their sneak attack.
Join the Book of Beasts: Character Codex Subscription to get the Slayer Codex as soon as it is released. You can download this at DriveThruRPG and the Open Gaming Store. And if you want to see more Pathfinder-focused blog posts be sure to join our Patreon. Three dollars is all it takes for you to have your voice heard in our monthly polls to see what we are going to create for the following month.
Fugitive Hunter CR 1/2
XP 200
Half-orc slayer 1
NE Medium humanoid (human, orc)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +5
Defense
AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 16 (+6 armor, +2 Dex)
hp 12 (1d10+2)
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +0
Defensive Abilities orc ferocity
Offense
Speed 20 ft. (30 ft. without armor)
Melee greataxe +5 (1d12+5/×3)
Ranged composite shortbow +5 (1d6+2/×3)
Special Attacks studied target +1 (1st, move action)
Tactics
During Combat The slayer studies the target and attacks with the shortbow, attempting to take the target alive.
Base Statistics Without studied target, the slayer has the following stats: Melee greataxe +4 (1d12+4/×3); Ranged composite shortbow +4 (1d6+1/×3); CMB +4; Skills Bluff +3, Knowledge (geography, local) +5, Perception +4, Survival +4.
Statistics
Str 17, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +1; CMB +4; CMD 16
Feats Weapon Focus (shortbow)
Skills Bluff +4, Intimidate +5, Knowledge (geography, local) +6, Perception +5, Stealth +2, Survival +5; Racial Modifiers +2 Intimidate
Languages Common, Goblin, Orc
SQ orc blood, track +1
Other Gear breastplate, blunt arrows APG (20), composite shortbow (+1 Str), greataxe, 18 gp
