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Xuldarinar
2015-04-19, 10:37 AM
TOME OF VILE RADIANCE

This will be an on going project with a singular goal: Developing content that reflects malevolent uses for positive energy, and other tools typically associated with only the forces of good. Most of the creations shall be my own, but I welcome any and all contributions to the cause.


ARCHETYPES

PERVERTER (UNCHAINED SUMMONER)(WiP)
-While many find they can readily call those that they share their morals with, or lack of morality as the case may be, there are those malevolent summoners that find they wish to bend the creatures of the higher planes to their will. Called perverters, these conjurers seek to wield all that as good for their own purposes. A perverter has the following class features.

-Alignment: A perverter must be of evil alignment.
-Aura of Evil (Ex): The power of a perverter's aura of evil is equal to his summoner level. A paladin who uses smite evil on a perverter deals 2 points of damage per paladin level on his first attack.
-Unwilling Eidolon (Su): At 1st level, a perverter gains an unwilling eidolon. This eidolon functions the same as that as an unchained summoner's eidolon except as follows; The eidolon must be one that normally possesses a good alignment. When the perverter attempts to summon their eidolon for the first time on a given day, their eidolon attempts a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the perverter's unchained summoner level + the perverter's Charisma modifier). If the eidolon fails their save, they are summoned and bound to the will of the perverter as if they were Undead effected by Command Undead. If the eidolon succeeds, however, they are summoned but are hostile to the perverter. This ability alters the unchained summoner's eidolon.
Pervert Summoning: Whenever a perverter casts a spell that can summon a creature, they must summon a creature with the celestial template or an outsider with the Good subtype. In spite of the creature conjured, the spell gains the evil descriptor.

RADIANT BLACKGUARD (ANTIPALADIN)
-While positive energy is typically a tool held by those of good, there are those that have learned to put it towards their own purposes. Vile knights bathed in radiance, a radiant blackguard is a wielder of magics most see as beacons of good, capable of using them as they should to mend the wounds of the living and rip apart the dead, or warping them to harm even those pure. A radiant blackguard has the following class features.


-Lay on Hands (Su): Beginning at 2nd level, a radiant blackguard can heal wounds (his own or those of others) by touch. Each day he can use this ability a number of times equal to 1/2 his antipaladin level plus his Charisma modifier. With one use of this ability, a radiant blackguard can heal 1d6 hit points of damage for every two antipaladin levels she possesses. Using this ability is a standard action, unless the radiant blackguard targets himself, in which case it is a swift action. Despite the name of this ability, a radiant blackguard only needs one free hand to use this ability.

-Alternatively, a radiant blackguard can use this healing power to deal damage to undead creatures, dealing 1d6 points of damage for every two levels the radiant blackguard possesses. Using lay on hands in this way requires a successful melee touch attack and doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity. Undead do not receive a saving throw against this damage. This replaces the Antipaladin's Touch of Corruption class feature.

-Searing Radiance: Starting at 3rd level, when a radiant blackguard uses a positive energy effect, such as his Lay on Hands or Cure Light Wounds, on a non-undead creature, he may choose to deal damage instead of healing them, using the effect on them as if they were undead. When using a positive energy effect to harm a living creature, half of the damage dealt is dealt as fire damage while the rest remains typeless. This replaces the Cruelty normally gained at 3rd level.

-Channel Positive Energy (Su): When a radiant blackguard reaches 4th level, he gainst the supernatural ability to channel positive energy like a cleric. Using this ability consumes two uses of his Lay on Hands ability. A radiant blackguard uses his level as his effective cleric level when channeling positive energy. This is a Charisma-based ability. This replaces the Antipaladin's Channel Negative Energy.

-Spellcasting: A radiant blackguard possesses a differing spell list from that of most antipaladins. A radiant blackguard adds the following spells to their spell list; 1st-Cure Light Wounds, Detect Undead, Sun Metal, Veil of Positive Energy. 2nd- Blinding Ray, Divine Illumination, Life Shield, Light Lance (unholy instead of holy). 3rd- Cure Moderate Wounds, Daybreak Arrow, Daylight. 4th- Chains of Light, Cure Serious Wounds, Symbol of Healing.

-Any spells added to the blackguard spell list that possess the good descriptor have it replaced with the evil descriptor. In addition, a radiant blackguard removes the following spells from their spell list; 1st- Death Candle, Death Knell, Inflict Light Wounds, Sentry Skull. 2nd- Darkness, Desecrate, Umbral Weapon. 3rd- Animate Dead, Deeper Darkness, Inflict Moderate Wounds. 4th- Inflict Serious Wounds, Slay Living. This modifies the Antipaladin's Spellcasting.

-Radiant Cruelty (Su): At 6th level, and every three levels thereafter, a radiant blackguard can select one cruelty. Each cruelty adds an effect to the radiant blackguard's Lay on Hands ability. Whenever the radiant blackguard uses Lay on Hands to deal damage to one target, or if he so chooses when he uses Lay on Hands to heal damage to one target, the target also receives the additional effect from one of the cruelties possessed by the antipaladin. For the purpose of selecting cruelties, but not for the effects of cruelties, treat the radiant blackguard's antipaladin level as three levels lower. This modifies the Antipaladin's Cruelty class feature.



PRESTIGE CLASSES
[Nothing, yet]


ADDITIONAL RULES
-Given that some things have rulings incompatible with the core concept of this project, some additional rules will be placed here to expand one's options.


Clerics, and other classes that provide the Channel Energy class feature, may choose to channel positive energy even if they are evil in alignment, provided their patron deity provides the sun domain.





FEATS

Overwhelming Healing
You've learned how to force positive energies into an otherwise healthy creature. The result often being fatal.
-Prerequisites: Spell Focus (Conjuration)
-Benefit: Whenever you heal a creature, you may heal them above their normal maximum hit points, providing them with temporary hit points. These temporary hit points last for 1d20 rounds, determined at the time the healing is applied. For every round a creature possesses temporary hit points as a result of this feat, they must succeed on a Fort save (DC 10 + their temporary hit points/their HD, to a minimum of 1) or die in a burst of positive energy.


DEITIES
-The following are various deities, and similar entities, followed by those likely to use content presented here.


BELOR
The Burning Hatred, The Shining One
CE Demonlord of cancer, burns, thirst and burning agony
Symbol A face within a sun
Domains Chaos, Destruction, Evil, Sun,
Subdomains Day, Demon, Entropy, Hatred,
Favored Weapon Morningstar

Xuldarinar
2015-04-19, 10:38 AM
[Reserved Space]

Mith
2015-04-19, 11:03 AM
Can this actually work within Pathfinder (without being Homebrew, obviously)? I ask because in other settings that I have been in, I argued with the DM that one could use Positive Energy to create tumors, as they are growths of mutated cells. He pointed out that Positive Energy is fundamentally benevolent, and therefore cannot be used offensively on anything but Negative Energy creatures.

Xuldarinar
2015-04-19, 11:45 AM
Can this actually work within Pathfinder (without being Homebrew, obviously)? I ask because in other settings that I have been in, I argued with the DM that one could use Positive Energy to create tumors, as they are growths of mutated cells. He pointed out that Positive Energy is fundamentally benevolent, and therefore cannot be used offensively on anything but Negative Energy creatures.

Clearly your DM has never heard of the Elder Evil Ragnorra, Mother of Monsters.

But strictly within the confines of Pathfinder, without including any home-brew, I am unaware of any instances where positive energy can be used offensively.

Ilorin Lorati
2015-04-19, 11:46 AM
You can send people to the Positive Energy Plane, forcing them to self harm until they can escape lest they explode.

dragonjek
2015-04-19, 12:54 PM
Can this actually work within Pathfinder (without being Homebrew, obviously)? I ask because in other settings that I have been in, I argued with the DM that one could use Positive Energy to create tumors, as they are growths of mutated cells. He pointed out that Positive Energy is fundamentally benevolent, and therefore cannot be used offensively on anything but Negative Energy creatures.

It isn't benevolent; it's simply the force of life and creation. Even negative energy isn't malevolent; it is simply the force of entropy and destruction (it is worth noting that the reason undead are... well, the horrific abominations that they are, is because the Jyoti stole the Negative Energy Plane's ability to create. So say the Sceanduinar, at least). Neither of these are inherently benevolent or malevolent.

Positive energy can literally make you explode--normal healing won't do it, but a positive energy environment is as lethal as a fire or negative energy one, despite the immediate benefits. Even many of the inherently-wrong monstrosities of the Dark Tapestry are born; the creation of life is a use of positive energy. It can give life back to the food you've eaten, then make it grow an accelerated rate. Healing that doesn't stop starts to cause cancers and mutations as the body tries to repair something that isn't there. You can heal someone when you torture them to make them stay alive longer, or you can put something in their body and then heal them with it still in there. You can cause the bacteria in their body to grow thousands of times faster, and make what dangerous bacteria is still present many times more virulent.

Every sun in the universe has a naturally occurring portal to the Positive Energy Plane in its heart and it also has associations with light, which blinds and burns.

Positive energy at its worst can be more horrifying than any other energy or element could hope to.

Note that there aren't actually any spells to do this, so far as I know, but all of them fall within the boundary of what positive energy is capable of.

Magikeeper
2015-04-19, 01:45 PM
Technically, in D&D 3.5, positive energy deals lethal damage unless specified otherwise. Which nearly all sources of it do, but there are some spells and such that just deal positive energy damage (which is lethal even to living creatures).

I have no idea if Pathfinder is different, I can't find an entry for "positive energy" and am not familiar enough with the system to know if such an entry exists.

LudicSavant
2015-04-19, 01:46 PM
One I've seen is sending people to the positive energy plane where they have to torture themselves through self-harm to survive, lest they explode.

Also, it doesn't really have anything to do with positive energy, but you mentioned deities and "other tools typically associated with the forces of good," so I thought it might by worth mentioning that Corellon Larethian is arguably one of the nastier deities in the canon despite being labelled as a Greater deity that defines Chaotic Good. He has a holiday (Agelong) that is literally celebrated by initiating pogroms, and regularly does just plain dickish things like banishing his herald Leraje from the multiverse for a really terrible reason (see Tome of Magic). I've heard him jokingly referred to as the God of Orwellian Doublethink due to things like "Remember, goblins are cowardly, deceitful, and wretched, therefore they fight on the run and use cover and traps. Remember, elves are clever, swift, and wise, so they fight on the run and use cover and traps."

If you want to find some of the more disturbing material in the D&D canon that's almost categorically portrayed as Good, there's a lot to find off in that direction.

Xuldarinar
2015-04-19, 02:39 PM
Certainly things looking into, deities that should be labeled as a lower alignment than they are.


I've an idea that I'd like to throw out there, I'll likely do it if no one else has/wants to.

An archetype, or PrC, that is essentially the inverse of the Malconvoker. An evil individual that summons and forces celestial beings to their will.

Mith
2015-04-19, 04:35 PM
I have an idea for a Positive Energy attack that basically heals the target if they are not at full hit points, but if they are at full hit points the spell incapacitates them as the spell inflicts pain on them from trying to heal nonexistent injuries until the target falls unconscious from pain. Probably a For save for target to break spell, or a Concentration check on the caster. Not sure of write it up for which healing spells it mimics though.

inuyasha
2015-04-19, 05:50 PM
Hey Xuldarinar, my good friend, you may want to see this gem I found buried in the interwebs from an old planescape newsletter. Seems like the perfect thing for this
Subj: [PLANESCAPE] - a new Abyssal Lord
Date: 98-05-04 13:41:23 EDT
From: Roland Lamoureux
Sender: [email protected]
Reply-to: [email protected]
To: [email protected]

Here you Go folks a new, evil Tanar'ri (Demon) Lord

PELOR
Climate:Gray Waste
Frequency:Unique
Organization:Planar Ruler
Activity Cycle:Any
Diet:Carnivore"souls"
Intelligence:SupraGenius"21"
Treasure:U,Z,W,X
Alignement:Chaotic-Evil
Armor Class:-11
Movement:14
Hit Dice:47 HP:277
Thaco: 3
# of Att: 4
Dam:1d10+6 1d10+6
Special Att:Spells / summon Tanar'ri(demons)
Special Def:Immunities of Tanar'ri
Magic Resistance:70%
Size: 9' tall
Morale: Fearless(19)
XP Value: 48 000

Pelor a Tanar'ri Abyssal Lord whom in the past once served under the great Queen of the Abyss Lilith over a millenia ago before the Blood War had ever started in the Lower Planes. Pelor was the Bringer of Light for his Queen, until the day he rebeled against her and her rule. Pelor was the first Tanar'ri to escape the Abyssal realm of Lilith. Pelor had decided to flee to the Gray Waste where Pelor easily founded his own Planar realm and had begun to put into the effect his diabolical shemes of damnation, chaos, and destruction upon the multiverse.

However over the years the Abyssal lord Pelor has spent dwelling within the Gray Waste, has had a effect upon his nature. In fact the very Nature of the Abyssal Lord Pelor has changed and is still in a state of flux, as the Abyssal Lord Pelor strives to achieve his higher form of being. Pelor appears as a ageless male planar tainted human with a golden crown of sunstones upon his head. His eyes, teeth, and nails however are clearly demonic in appearence and nature so Pelor still has signs of his Tanar'ri nature.

Combat: Pelor is a serious combatant whom enjoys using physical strength and spells to humiliate first then destroy in the bloodiest of fashions. He is a ambi-dextrous Grand Master in the Long Swords. He has two inteligent artifact long Swords. The Left handed Sword is Uggrazz, capable of inflicting wounds that can not be closed except by a heal, only when they strike a Lawful Good mortal. In his Right Hand is the Loyal Sword SwaD'Wi. This Sword can emit a ray of painful light 10 times a day, for 27 points of Dammage save for half against Death Magic.

Plots and Goals: He has realised the power of belief from mortal so the Abyssal Lord Pelor enjoys creating Cults, and false Faiths in his name upon the prime Worlds he enjoys to visits. To do this he Travels to a desired prime World in the Guise of a kind Priest of Pelor. Using his Crown of Sunstones that acts as a amulet of non-dectection only upon a prime plane. In this Guise He uses his lay on hands 10 times a day to heal 27 points of Dammage. Also he can do minor creation, improved phantasmal force and major creation at will while in this role. All this he does so he can make his Priestly Guise and the Faith of Pelor more Believalbe to the clueless of the prime world he visits. His false faith he has decided is one where Pelor is a Greater God of Healing and protection.

Followers and ressources: Pelor can Gate 1-4 Unique Balors(50% chance) whom appear as Solars, with flaming wings but have a subltle hint of their Tanar'ri taint visible in some part of their body if one looks hard enough. Pelor can use Items allowable to fighters, priests, and mages. The Bringer of Light Pelor has many designs upon many primes and patiently waits for them to mature for the day he can unleash Hellfire and Damnation.

He has a long estasblished False faith upon Oerth, a couple small cults on Toril and Mystara, whom are growing at amusing rate. All of this is part of his scheme only he can see . He also has designs of starting his false faith upon the planes starting in Sigil but thus far has had only a very small success in this goal, thank in large part to a mortal proxy Scion of his he has sent to sigil to spread the Faith of Pelor!

EDIT: ...aaaaand I JUST saw your deities spoiler...nevermind...read it anyway?

Xuldarinar
2015-04-19, 06:07 PM
Hey Xuldarinar, my good friend, you may want to see this gem I found buried in the interwebs from an old planescape newsletter. Seems like the perfect thing for this
Subj: [PLANESCAPE] - a new Abyssal Lord
Date: 98-05-04 13:41:23 EDT
From: Roland Lamoureux
Sender: [email protected]
Reply-to: [email protected]
To: [email protected]

Here you Go folks a new, evil Tanar'ri (Demon) Lord

PELOR
Climate:Gray Waste
Frequency:Unique
Organization:Planar Ruler
Activity Cycle:Any
Diet:Carnivore"souls"
Intelligence:SupraGenius"21"
Treasure:U,Z,W,X
Alignement:Chaotic-Evil
Armor Class:-11
Movement:14
Hit Dice:47 HP:277
Thaco: 3
# of Att: 4
Dam:1d10+6 1d10+6
Special Att:Spells / summon Tanar'ri(demons)
Special Def:Immunities of Tanar'ri
Magic Resistance:70%
Size: 9' tall
Morale: Fearless(19)
XP Value: 48 000

Pelor a Tanar'ri Abyssal Lord whom in the past once served under the great Queen of the Abyss Lilith over a millenia ago before the Blood War had ever started in the Lower Planes. Pelor was the Bringer of Light for his Queen, until the day he rebeled against her and her rule. Pelor was the first Tanar'ri to escape the Abyssal realm of Lilith. Pelor had decided to flee to the Gray Waste where Pelor easily founded his own Planar realm and had begun to put into the effect his diabolical shemes of damnation, chaos, and destruction upon the multiverse.

However over the years the Abyssal lord Pelor has spent dwelling within the Gray Waste, has had a effect upon his nature. In fact the very Nature of the Abyssal Lord Pelor has changed and is still in a state of flux, as the Abyssal Lord Pelor strives to achieve his higher form of being. Pelor appears as a ageless male planar tainted human with a golden crown of sunstones upon his head. His eyes, teeth, and nails however are clearly demonic in appearence and nature so Pelor still has signs of his Tanar'ri nature.

Combat: Pelor is a serious combatant whom enjoys using physical strength and spells to humiliate first then destroy in the bloodiest of fashions. He is a ambi-dextrous Grand Master in the Long Swords. He has two inteligent artifact long Swords. The Left handed Sword is Uggrazz, capable of inflicting wounds that can not be closed except by a heal, only when they strike a Lawful Good mortal. In his Right Hand is the Loyal Sword SwaD'Wi. This Sword can emit a ray of painful light 10 times a day, for 27 points of Dammage save for half against Death Magic.

Plots and Goals: He has realised the power of belief from mortal so the Abyssal Lord Pelor enjoys creating Cults, and false Faiths in his name upon the prime Worlds he enjoys to visits. To do this he Travels to a desired prime World in the Guise of a kind Priest of Pelor. Using his Crown of Sunstones that acts as a amulet of non-dectection only upon a prime plane. In this Guise He uses his lay on hands 10 times a day to heal 27 points of Dammage. Also he can do minor creation, improved phantasmal force and major creation at will while in this role. All this he does so he can make his Priestly Guise and the Faith of Pelor more Believalbe to the clueless of the prime world he visits. His false faith he has decided is one where Pelor is a Greater God of Healing and protection.

Followers and ressources: Pelor can Gate 1-4 Unique Balors(50% chance) whom appear as Solars, with flaming wings but have a subltle hint of their Tanar'ri taint visible in some part of their body if one looks hard enough. Pelor can use Items allowable to fighters, priests, and mages. The Bringer of Light Pelor has many designs upon many primes and patiently waits for them to mature for the day he can unleash Hellfire and Damnation.

He has a long estasblished False faith upon Oerth, a couple small cults on Toril and Mystara, whom are growing at amusing rate. All of this is part of his scheme only he can see . He also has designs of starting his false faith upon the planes starting in Sigil but thus far has had only a very small success in this goal, thank in large part to a mortal proxy Scion of his he has sent to sigil to spread the Faith of Pelor!

EDIT: ...aaaaand I JUST saw your deities spoiler...nevermind...read it anyway?

Thank you for sharing, though I am -very- familiar with that, in part why there is a "copywrite free" pelor (of burning hatred) in the deity section.

inuyasha
2015-04-19, 06:10 PM
Well now I feel my post was unimportant :smalltongue:

I love that pelor of burning hate thing, so now it's a secret in the background of all my campaigns.

Long story short, a goblin accidentally opened a portal to Pelor's realm due to a weird thing happening, and then he walked through all excited about going to his deity, and then as the portal closed they heard a horrible shrieking and had nightmares for weeks.

Yeah...I run a strange game

spikeof2010
2015-04-19, 10:39 PM
Mind changing the font color to something other than Yellow? It's kinda hard to read.

Xuldarinar
2015-04-22, 01:04 AM
Alright. Some things I want to accomplish.


Completion of the Perverter Archetype (The goal is evident with it. The approach is perhaps lacking and regardless it is incomplete. I want it to have an identity of its own.)

Add more Archetypes.

Add at least ONE PrC.

Perhaps add additional supplementary rules, or convert the one there to an archetype or feat.

Add more deities, and flesh out the demon lord there.

LudicSavant
2015-04-28, 07:38 PM
Some more thoughts on other ways to expand here besides just positive energy.

Take a look at the old 2e Complete Book of Elves. It's monstrous to the point of comedy. In some places it almost reads like a compilation of Chuck Norris jokes for how superior elves are, and frequently contradicts itself with baffling double standards which glorify the elves, even when depicting them doing really nasty things.

There's this little gem about music:
"Elven music is an incredibly complex and beautifully crafted art, although it is not played around non-elves. Elves have learned that their tunes haunt anyone who has an ear for music, for it leaves these people with a vague yearning that can never be filled with anything but elven music."
"...there are few elf bards. They don't want to destroy the enjoyment humans have in their own music. For another thing, they know humans would never leave the elf cities alone if they knew the sublime beauty elves are capable of producing."
Even if you played this straight instead of as some warped ethnocentrism, it's pretty dark in the sense of having a sensation so nice that it makes other sensations obsolete, such as making food taste like ash in your mouth after tasting the fruit of the fey realms (I seem to remember something to that effect flying around in mythology somewhere). That seems like it's in line with the "Vile Radiance" theme.

There's also all kinds of double standards in there, like...
"place little importance on material objects"
"strong sense of ownership and vengeance"
"unlike many other races of the world, elves try to avoid violence"
...piles of stories of elven ultraviolence.

There's a story about how a dwarf bounty hunter killed an elven woodcutter, and the elf's kids each independently (they were all separated to different fosters) trained to become rangers so decades years later they could force a ring of regeneration on the dwarf and chop off one of his limbs every year. Facing a page talking about how elves are so refined and delicate that if you put them in prison they'll just whither away and die from depression.

It notes how elves were made perfectly, and all the other gods imitated the creation of the elven races but messed it up. And that dwarves are a type of human, I guess. Which is odd, since I'm aware of a lot more half-elves than half-dwarves. Oh well.

Elves don't actually "die" like other races do, they just journey to Arvanith or get locked out of the plane. They can only die a "true death" like other races do if they are killed by certain undead, commit suicide, or "other extraordinary circumstances." Like being a drow. See, the thing about being a drow is that "their brethren tried to reason with them" about some sort of vague corruption they were apparently involved with, but they just stabbed all the perfectly peaceful peace emissaries. These "sinister beings" were driven underground (where they apparently didn't want to be, even though it's beaten to death how much they hate literally everything above ground. There's even a line about how if a drow steps above ground, s/he becomes seen as one of the enemy) by the "light-loving elves," where they "have made a home for themselves in what they call the Underdark, the niche they have brutally carved in the underground caverns." Even their tunnelmaking is brutal, somehow. Maybe they're just schooled in the ways of ROCK. Oh, and drow craftsmanship is of course super awesome like all elf stuff, except that it can't survive outside of the evil radiation of the Underdark. It literally says that drow gear disintegrates if taken outside the Underdark, for... reasons? Maybe the surface world just isn't brütal enough. Really it goes on. Basically as arbitrarily superior as the elves are made by the tone of the narrative, the drow are made arbitrarily wicked, largely through the use of adjectives and adverbs.

The constitution penalty can't even get in the way of elven superiority. I guess the constitution penalty was just anti-elf propaganda or something:
"Despite their frail appearance and lowered Constitutions, elves have a remarkable resistance to ordinary disease. While it is not on a scale with the paladin's total immunity to nonmagical diseases, elves are only rarely afflicted by disease. Although immunity such as this does not translate into game terms, the DM has the option of setting elven resistance to disease (50% is unlikely to destroy game balance)."
"...for elves have a strong regenerative ability. Scars disappear from their bodies as opposed to other races and may show up only under intense scrutiny"

So... yeah. I mean, I'm sure some people might think that I'm taking this in the worst possible light, but no... it really says this right in there in the text. I am not even picking out the worst parts, I am just flipping to random pages and quoting things here. The whole book is like this.

Besides that, another source of inspiration might be the Dark Souls lore. Just check out the Bed of Chaos, which is basically life going crazy and creating all sorts of nasty things. It's easy enough to imagine carrying over that kind of thing to positive energy.

Xuldarinar
2016-05-26, 05:41 PM
I wanted to revive this project and see what people make of it. I appreciate the prior input and I might later put it to use, but I am also looking for more to see if anything strikes me or others to create to this theme.