Spes Magna Games

One thing that 1E has over some of the later Es is the plethora of visions. There was infravision and ultravision, which survive mutated into darkvision and low-light vision. Some monsters, such as the Fiend Folio‘s nycadaemon had x-ray vision, gamma vision, and indeed a vision for every part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Imagine cosmic ray vision, radio wave vision, and microwave vision. Pretty whacky, huh?

As I mentioned in S Is for Snakes, many snakes are sensitive to the infrared portion of the spectrum, but the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game doesn’t really have rules to simulate such heat sensitivity. And more exotic visions, such as gamma vision? Forget about that!

Or, if forgetting about it isn’t your cup of tea, take a gander at these completely unplaytested and only vaguely scientifically accurate rules:

X-Ray Vision

Some monsters have x-ray vision, although this is a slight misnomer. These monsters don’t so much as just see x-rays the way the human eye “sees” visible light. Instead the monsters’ eyes actually project low levels of x-rays by which they can see through certain materials. Glomming text from the ring of x-ray vision is a good place to start.

X-ray vision gives a creature the ability to see into and through solid matter. Vision range is 20 feet, with the creature seeing as if it were looking at something in normal light even if there is no illumination. X-ray vision can penetrate 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, or up to 3 feet of wood or dirt. Thicker substances or a thin sheet of lead blocks the vision. Among its obvious uses, x-ray vision makes defeating conventional disguises child’s play.

“Nice mask you got there,” said the nycadaemon. “Shame you didn’t line it with lead. Of course, then I’d wonder why you’d wrapped your face with lead, but, hey, no plan’s perfect.”

Infravision

A creature with infravision sees variations in heat. This sort of vision is especially good at detecting creatures that generate their own body heat, such as most humanoids. (Are lizard folk cold-blooded? What about frost giants?) Detection is even possible through solid matter.

Infravision works just like normal sight in terms of range, complete with appropriate Perception check penalties for distance. Heat signatures can be detected through up to 1/2 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, or up to 1 foot of wood or dirt. Thicker substances block heat signatures, although extreme heat sources may be visible through thicker substances at the GM’s discretion.

A creature with infravision can also track the residual heat of a quarry’s foot steps. The base Survival DC for tracking a heat signature is 10, but it rapidly increases by +2 per minute that has passed since the tracks were made. Certain environmental conditions, such as a forest fire or shifting desert sands, may further increase the DC or even make such tracking impossible, at the GM’s discretion.

Sudden exposure to extreme heat can dazzle a creature relying on infravision. The creature must make a DC 15 Fortitude save to avoid being dazzled for 1 round. If the extreme heat persists, it would be appropriate to have the creature remain dazzled as long as it remains in the area. For example, an infravision using giant snake is tracking its prey, a druid. The druid lures the snake into an ambush zone, and then uses some appropriate fire spell to ignite a bonfire. The snake fails its Fortitude save and becomes dazzled as long as it remains within the full illumination area of the bonfire.

More Exotic Vision Traits

Other types of more exotic vision, such as gamma vision, could work like x-ray vision, only moreso. Odd side effects could also result. Since gamma rays will pass right through a mirror, a creature relying on solely gamma vision couldn’t see a reflection. Would this, perhaps, also impart some sort of resistance or immunity to certain illusions? For that matter, would x-ray vision or infravision do so?

The possibilities boggle the imagination.

Tags: A to Z, monsters, visions

Ah, memories! How fondly I recall my acquisition of 1E’s Fiend Folio and my amazement at the assortment of bizarre creatures therein. From the sticky adherer to the preposterous flumph to science-fictiony yellow musk zombie, there was so much in that slim volume that just screamed, “Use us! Use us!”

And use them I did. One monster that still makes me smile while I imagine the charred remains of adventurers is the death knight. What a nasty piece of work it was! AC 0, 75% magic resistance with an 11% chance of spell reflection, immunity to turning, 18/00 Strength, at will wall of ice, demon gating, power word spells, and that awesome 20-dice fireball, and that’s not everything. The death knight was an end boss monster back before computer games had made such terminology common in RPGs. If your 1E PC ran across one of these baddies and lived to tell the tale, you knew you’d accomplished a legend-worthy deed.

Surely an assortment of evil creatures would love to follow such an exquisitely deadly monster. Put the death knight at the top of a wicked pyramid, served by oodles of aspiring lackeys eager to prove just how evil they too can be. And, just to add some concreteness to this nasty army’s modus operandi, consider using this unholy code of anti-chivalry I once wrote up for some Mutants & Masterminds villains:

1. Thou shalt believe the opposite of all that the Church teaches, and shalt openly defy all its directions.
2. Thou shalt seek to harm the Church and its defenders.
3. Thou shalt hate all weakness and shalt constitute thyself the oppressor of them.
4. Thou shalt hate the country in which thou wast born.
5. Thou shalt use base cunning and deceit against thine enemies.
6. Thou shalt make war against law enforcers without cessation and without mercy.
7. Thou shalt perform all of thy duties without regard for laws of both God and man.
8. Thy pledged word shalt mean nothing.
9. Thou shalt be greedy and covetous, and shalt give no one largess.
10. Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of injustice and evil against the right and the good.

Just substitute references to the Church and God with whatever lawful good power structure and deity best suits your campaign, and let the holy war against the powers of darkness begin. After all, those that uphold this code of conduct deserve some serious smiting.

Tags: A to Z, Fiend Folio, monsters

Medieval scholastic philosophy posited that angels exist as purely intellectual beings. In other words, angels have no corporeal substance. This doesn’t mean that angels are ethereal or vaporous creatures. Rather, angels have no material form at all. This idea has several interesting consequences. Although angels are purely intellectual beings, they can assume material form. When doing so, however, these bodies are not alive. Angels do not experience sensory impressions the way material creatures do. They do not receive knowledge of the world around them from their senses, but instead receive knowledge immediately via the intellect unimpeded by physical limitations.

Thus, while embodied, angels are immune to any thing which requires a sensing, living body to be acted upon. Angels cannot be poisoned, do not require food or water or air, cannot be fooled by Stealth or tricked by illusions, do not feel physical pain or pleasure, et cetera. Angels always win opposed skill checks related to mental ability scores. You can’t Bluff or Intimidate an angel. Angels don’t have to make Perception checks; they always perceive via pure intellectual means unencumbered by the vagaries of physical senses. Since an angel’s temporary body is composed of reshaped matter, it can be damaged. Effects that can harm inanimate objects can harm angels, at least insofar as such effects may destroy the angel’s fake body.

When not embodied, angels are invisibile, completely immaterial, and are not physically limited in the way corporeal creatures are. Time and space, for example, are not barriers to an angel. Angels do not travel. They simply arrive and depart, sort of like an always active, unlimited greater teleport. When engaging in divination, angels are no more likely to err than the powers they serve. Also, they do not have to learn, since learning is a corporeal activity mediated through the senses over time. Angels simply know, immediately and fully.

Since, according to the medieval scholastics, not all angels are good, the same characteristics posited about angels also apply to demons and devils.

In game terms, adopting these medieval theories about angels can be handled largely as background data. The actual stats of the creatures need not be changed. Reactions that ought not occur (such as an intellectual creature failing a Sense Motive check) can be written off as some sort of trick, the result of hubris on the creature’s part, et cetera. Then, when the time is right, you can spring the full power of such a creature on the party, having laid the groundwork with suitable hints related to player character Knowledge checks and so forth. Imagine your players’ surprise and annoyance when they discover that the demon they’ve killed isn’t really destroyed, but instead has been shadowing them while immaterial, waiting for a chance to spring its trap.

Tags: angels, Catholic, monsters, Pathfinder