Far Realms, Eldritch Horror, and Lovecraftian Mythos Oh My!

[Allitra]

I'm having a really hard time finding any kind of compilation of Far Realm/Eldritch Horror/Lovecraftian Mythos: Classes, PrCs, Feats, Artifacts, and Magical Items. If there's a compilation that I simply have missed, I'd greatly appreciate a link to it. Otherwise, I'd like all the help I can get to make this into a compilation.

Classes:

Binder (Time of Magic, p9)

Prestige Classes:

Alienist (Complete Arcane, pg21)

Feats:

Cerbrosis (dragon mag, pg330)
Far Look (dragon mag, pg330)

Artifacts:



Magical Items:

Keys of the Call/Surpassing Dismay/Traveler (dragon mag, pg330)

[DrMotives]

The entire book "Lords of Madness" and to a lesser extent, "Heroes of Horror" have some of what you're looking for.

[Gildedragon]

Elder Evils is also pretty Cosmic Horror-y

Planar Shepherd

Any Eberron thing dealing with either Dal Quor or Xoriat is pretty lovey dovey

[Psyren]

Pathfinder has a ton of it, because these entities canonically exist in (or rather, blessedly far away from) Golarion. Check Horror Adventures, Horror Realms, Bestiary 4, and some of the space-themed Player Companions.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Allitra
I'm having a really hard time finding any kind of compilation of Far Realm/Eldritch Horror/Lovecraftian Mythos….

You should also check out Strange Aeons, one of the recent Pathfinder adventure paths, which has many creatures and scenarios lifted directly from Lovecraft, including the Thrushmoor Angler and the Beings of Ib.


Originally Posted by Psyren
Check Horror Adventures, Horror Realms, Bestiary 4, and some of the space-themed Player Companions.

What exactly is in Horror Realms? I’ve managed to overlook that one, and the single Amazon review isn’t that detailed.

[Psyren]

What exactly is in Horror Realms? I’ve managed to overlook that one, and the single Amazon review isn’t that detailed.

In Pathfinder, there is the core product line (e.g. Advanced Class Guide, Ultimate Intrigue, Occult Adventures, Horror Adventures) that contains the game rules and mechanics without anything Golarion-specific. These are the books that are purely OGL, and third-party publishers can use all of this stuff without any special license. If you go through those books, you'll notice they typically don't mention anything Golarion-specific (including the word "Golarion") at all. Accompanying these are the Golarion-specific companion books (e.g. Advanced Class Guide Origins, Inner Sea Intrigue, Occult Origins, Horror Realms) that are usually part of the "Pathfinder Campaign Setting" product line. These get a bit more detailed on how you can apply the core stuff to Golarion specifically.

In short, Horror Adventures is the Pathfinder book, and Horror Realms is the "Golarion Pathfinder" version that builds on it.

As an example - Occult Adventures introduced the Psychic; Occult Origins might say something like "there is a large enclave of Psychics in Vudra."

[Bullet06320]

theres always the call of cathulu d20 book

[BWR]

theres always the call of cathulu d20 book

Unfairly maligned, in my opinion.

Other good stuff.
Gates of Firestorm Peaks, which introduced the Far Realm
Other stuff, the Ilithiad, which brings up various Lovecraftian ideas of mind flayers from beyond time or the future or the Far Realm or whatever. It's companion adventure trilogy, especially Dawn of the Overmind has some good stuff as well.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Psyren
In short, Horror Adventures is the Pathfinder book, and Horror Realms is the "Golarion Pathfinder" version that builds on it.

Okay, thanks—that’s a good overview of the different product lines.

For Horror Realms in particular, how much is Golarion-specific, and how much is general mechanics? Is it primarily setting background and lore, with just a sprinkling of new options? Or is there more of a balance between setting-specific material and new feats, archetypes, creatures, etc?

[BWR]

Okay, thanks—that’s a good overview of the different product lines.

For Horror Realms in particular, how much is Golarion-specific, and how much is general mechanics? Is it primarily setting background and lore, with just a sprinkling of new options? Or is there more of a balance between setting-specific material and new feats, archetypes, creatures, etc?

It's entirely setting neutral, like most of their hardcover products. It's primarily mechanics with one chapter on running horror games. It tries to cover all types of horror, Lovecraftian included, but obviously sacrifices depth for breadth.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by BWR
It's entirely setting neutral, like most of their hardcover products.

Thanks, but I’m asking about Horror Realms, which is a 64-page softcover book. As Psyren noted, it’s part of the Campaign Setting product line, and I’m asking what the balance is between Golarion-specific material, such as locations and lore, versus character options which are setting-neutral.

[Calthropstu]

Pathfinder has a lot of that stuff. You could reverse conversion it to backport into 3.5. Might a tad difficult though.

[ColorBlindNinja]

theres always the call of cathulu d20 book

I second D20 Cthulhu; it has stats for a ton of neat monsters, including the Outer Gods.


Unfairly maligned, in my opinion.

Agreed, I thought the book's fluff was amazing, and I enjoyed the crunch for the most part.

[Psyren]

It's entirely setting neutral, like most of their hardcover products. It's primarily mechanics with one chapter on running horror games. It tries to cover all types of horror, Lovecraftian included, but obviously sacrifices depth for breadth.

To be clear - Horror Adventures is setting-neutral. Horror Realms has Golarion stuff, but since Golarion is a kitchen sink, it's still broad enough that you can pull out the elements you want into many different campaign settings and styles of horror. Ustalav has both Transylvania and Innsmouth expies, or you can do a "man's inhumanity to man" style horror in Galt, or a zombie apocalypse in Nex/Geb, sci-fi horror in Numeria, Predator horror in the Mwangi Expanse, mutants in the Mana Wastes...

Of course, keep in mind also that the key theme of horror is disempowerment, and PF as a system doesn't lend itself well to that kind of mindset.


Thanks, but I’m asking about Horror Realms, which is a 64-page softcover book. As Psyren noted, it’s part of the Campaign Setting product line, and I’m asking what the balance is between Golarion-specific material, such as locations and lore, versus character options which are setting-neutral.

I don't have it in front of me to give you a breakdown like that - but as I mentioned, even the setting stuff can be lifted and shifted elsewhere, because that's just the kind of setting Golarion is. Stuff that happens within a nation is often very self-contained.

[atemu1234]

Just lob aberration after aberration at the party and have someone go nuts. Easy-peesy.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Psyren
I don't have it in front of me to give you a breakdown like that - but as I mentioned, even the setting stuff can be lifted and shifted elsewhere, because that's just the kind of setting Golarion is.

Okay, thanks.

I’m just a little wary, because I was recently disappointed by Blood of the Beast. That actually had far too little background material on most of the races, and some underwhelming mechanical options as well.


Originally Posted by Bullet06320
theres always the call of cathulu d20 book


Originally Posted by ColorBlindNinja
I second D20 Cthulhu….

And here I was hoping this was Call of Catthulhu (https://www.amazon.com/Cats-Catthulhu-Book-Nekonomikon-Cocat/dp/1987916018/).

:smalltongue:

[BWR]

You'd think I would have learned to read after all these years. :smalltongue:

[Thurbane]

Just throwing some random stuff in here:

Call Forth the Dweller (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/incantations.htm) definitely has a Lovecraftian vibe to me.

Orthos, Sovereign of the Howling Dark (ToM p.42): of all the vestiges, this one seems the most apt.

Villainous Competition XIV: The Thing That Should Not Be (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?496091) - this competition was dedicated to creating Lovecraftian villains.

Obyrith demons (various books) are share the Form of Madness trait, and fit the eldritch horror theme well.

[Afgncaap5]

Giant Octopus. Seriously, if you're in an underground cave or something your players won't even know the difference. Just change the creature type to "Aberration" and leave everything else completely identical.

The Daelkyr and Quori of Eberron have already been mentioned, but I think special mention should go to an artifact called the Husk of Infinite Worlds. It's basically a... pod?... thing?... that creatures can get put into. When active, it makes the creature in it be subjected to a lot of localized new realities with their own environments, physical laws, and norms, and the creatures in the husk get mutated accordingly. Most beings who emerge from the husk just... die. They can't live in the real world after that. However, that's one way that the Daelkyr continue their art/experiments: if the aberrations that exist aren't enough, they'll just tinker until they can start using the aberrations that don't exist as well.

[DrKerosene]

Fiend Folio should have the Ethergaunts.

I think the Spirrax is in MM4 or 5.

I don't see why you can't modify a few freaky fiends, like a pseudonatural chain-devil, or Bebilith. But seriously, Lords of Madness is one of my favorite books.

Edit: I always thought the Clockwork Horrors would be good to include as a weird alternate Borg, and I like the Colour Out Of Space from pfsrd. I do think some well crafted Oozes would work too.

[Palanan]

Speaking of gaunt-themed Lovecraftian horrors, Pathfinder has stats for the nightgaunt in “Into the Nightmare Rift,” which is #5 in the Shattered Star adventure path.

I recently used it on my party and it was quite a memorable fight. The party rogue was literally curled up under the supply cart, trembling in terror.

[Particle_Man]

Also, it would very easy to reskin Drow Elves as "elves that went insane after studying Things Elf Was Not Meant to Know". What are spiders but bugs with tentacles anyhow, right?

Oh yeah, you can throw on the pseudonatural creature template on things in 3.5 (either the Complete Arcane one if you just want a special effect or the Epic Level Handbook one if you really want to take the gloves off).

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/pseudonaturalCreature.htm