Well, I've seemingly survived flipping my clock ahead an hour. For now. We'll see how I'm doing later tonight!
But! I'm back in time for another quick sneak peek from our upcoming enemies chapter! Backers will have access to the draft version of the chapter on Tuesday and be able to provide feedback directly to the development team! If you haven't joined in, come get with us on this fun ride!
Also...
ACHIEVED! - At $30,000 in Funding -NEW ADD ON: CAT ARTWORK GUIDE SCREEN - A three-panel Guide Reference Screen with charts and information for running a Realms of Pugmire game will be created and offered as an Add On to the hardcover reward tiers for +$25. This screen will have the same interior contents as the Realms of Pugmire screen, but the outside artwork will be changed to be cat-focused!
So if you want your game to be a little more cat-themed, there's a new Add On available in your pledge options (and this will also be available in the Pledge Manager after the campaign. I'll talk about that more in one week).
Now, on to some bad guys!
Demons, Major
The power of the Unseen is everywhere, always. It walks in every shadow and stands behind every cat, waiting to pounce should their vigilance wane even a moment. No one is ever safe from their gaze, save to make oneself the least available target. While the Unseen is to be pounced upon with all due haste, many cats hope that it’s affecting someone else rather than themselves.
The All as One
(OL 10; Legendary; Unseen)
There is a whispered voice that is said to come beyond the mountains to the north of the monarchies, that the wind brought down following those warriors who returned from battle beyond them. It speaks with honeyed words and a silvered tongue about all peoples becoming part of the same family. Cats with their dog servants and rodent curiosities, all things as they should be. In reality, however, they want to rule over all as slaves and extensions of itself.
Description: The All as One is an amalgamation of innumerable cat bodies and corpses in various levels of decay. For the bodies with extant eyes, all glow with the same eldritch green light. When it speaks, the All as One’s utterances are a cacophony of voices from all its mouths.
Tactics: Once the All as One is allowed into someone, it is aware of everything they sense. It can search through all its many servants, and with a focus, can speak through them as well. It wants all living beings under its aegis, and will say and do anything to accomplish that. The only beings who should be outside of its control should be the dead.
Ever Watchful: The All as One can see, hear, and smell everything that all of the creatures possessed by demonic minions can.
Natural Invisibility: The ability is constant, allowing the All as One to remain Invisible even when attacking.
Pride Tactics: If the All as One attacks an opponent engaged with a creature it has Possessed controls, it gains a boon on the attack.
Possession: The All is One can use its action to summon a demonic minion that attempts to possess a target. The target must make a Cunning test (difficulty 17) to resist being Possessed.
House Smilodon
Long ago, the members of House Smilodon all left the other monarchies behind to see what lay beyond the mountains. Whatever they found out there united them in a way that no other house had ever been. Of course, the other cats fear what they can’t understand, and so they accused the whole house of being under the influence of Unseen. Is it fair to ascribe the want to be united as some kind of evil? The members of House Smilodon don’t think so and hope to bring the rest of the monarchies into the fold.
House Warrior
(OL 2; Enemy; Unseen)
The monarchies thought they destroyed House Smilodon, ripped them out root and stem. They failed. One can’t destroy Smilodon so easily, but when enemies try, the house’s warriors oppose them. They move with a grace and unity strategists can only dream about and don’t hesitate to give their own lives if it would further the house’s goals.
Description: The warriors of House Smilodon wear stylized heavy armor, with a two headed axe whose blades look like sabretooth tiger in profile, its mouth open and snarling.
Tactics: House warriors work in groups to gain the benefit of their pride tactics trick, and the cleave trick allows them to make short work of their enemies. They cannot be convinced to stop by outsiders, but end hostilities instantly if a member of the House orders them to.
Cleave: The warrior may make an additional attack as a bonus action when she reduces a target to 0 stamina points. She must use the same attack.
Pride Tactics: If the warrior attacks a creature engaged with an ally that isn’t Incapacitated or Immobile, the warrior gains a boon on the attack.
Sphinx
(OL 10; Enemy)
These monsters speak with two voices: one that asks strange and curious questions, and another that answers questions asked of them. Sphinxes know eldritch lore and even secrets of the Old Ones that not even scholars have, but accessing this information is dangerous. To ask a sphinx anything, one must first answer a riddle they give the petitioner. If answered incorrectly or if the petitioner asks their question before replying to the riddle, the sphinx attacks with unrivaled fury.
Description: Thesphinx is a giant creature with a cat’s body, bird’s wings, and a head that is strangely furless, mocking the legends of the Old Ones.
Tactics: A sphinx doesn’t actually want to fight or to kill anyone, and stands down if the cat correctly answers their riddle. However, if the rules of their game are broken, combat is the only choice they can make.
Defense: 20 (immortal hide) Stamina Points: 115 Speed: 60 ft., 50 ft. flying Experience Bonus: +6 Attributes: Agility −2, Might +3, Vitality +0, Cunning +3, Intellect +4, Presence −1 Skills: Know Arcana, Know History, Notice, Survival, Traverse Attack: Massive claws (+9 melee, 3d12 + 3 edged) Morale: +5, at 29 or fewer stamina points (see the Dedicated to Riddles Trick) Tricks: Immune to damage from non-masterwork weapons; multiple attacks (two massive claw attacks)
Dedicated to Riddles: The sphinx automatically succeeds on Morale tests if no one has answered their riddle yet.
Inscrutable: The sphinx is immune to any effect that can sense emotions or read thoughts, including Cunning (Sense Motive) tests to analyze the sphinx behavior.
Undead
While eschewed by dogs, Cats fear death and the undead a lot less. Necromancy is just another school of magic to learn. Out in the wilds, however, lost masterworks, demons, or other strange magics sometimes animate the dead who attack any living being they come across.
Breathtaker
(OL 4; Enemy; Undead)
On cloudy nights or those of the new moon, cats take double watches when camping out in the wilds, for breathtakers stalk the darkness, seeking the breath of the living to fill their undead lungs.
Description: From the road, breathtakers’ silhouettes appear like any other cat travelers. However, as they get closer, their gasping breaths give them away.
Tactics: The breathtaker tries to freeze the target in place with its ice blast attack. Once the target is frozen, it attacks ravenously until it can steal the target’s final breath.
Defense: 16 (frozen flesh) Stamina Points: 45 Speed: 30 ft. Experience Bonus: +3 Attributes: Agility +0, Might +3, Vitality +3, Cunning +0, Intellect −1, Presence −1 Skills: Notice Attack: Claws (+6 melee, 1d4 + 3 edged), ice blast (+3 ranged, 2d12 ice) Morale: +2, at 11 or fewer stamina points Tricks: Darkvision; immune to ice damage; weak to holy and fire damage; multiple attacks (one claw and one ice blast attack)
Flash Freeze: When it hits a target with an ice blast attack, the target must succeed on a Vitality test (difficulty 14). On a failed test, the target is Immobile until the end of their next turn. A botch on the test instead is Petrified into ice. The target repeats the test at the end of each turn. The condition ends when they succeed or when the breathtaker is defeated or flees.
Well, those are some nasties, that's for sure!
We've got one more posted Stretch Goal to work on this week! Let's see if we can't smash that as we get into our final 10 days for this campaign!
