#Kasatha

[dailycharacteroption]

Psammokineticist (Kineticist Archetype)

(art by slippyninja on DeviantArt)

The desert is a harsh environment, one that forges those living there into beings known for their resilience. It only makes sense that there would be ascetics that value the desert and it’s unforgiving nature, and in a fantasy setting, those that tap into the heat and sand of the desert in kind.

Part standard kineticist, part monk, these psammokineticists fill a similar conceptual niche but different application of the same concept as the elemental ascetic archetype, with a healthy dose of channeling the power of the desert with blasts of sand and waves of sweltering heat. If characters that manipulate the desert itself as a weapon sound cool to you, you might enjoy this archetype.

Indeed, these mystics and their specialization demonstrate how different kineticists can be from each other, tapping into an environment instead of one “pure” element.

So let’s take a look, shall we?

These kineticists draw upon a modified version of the air element, blasting foes with the heat of the desert and/or the sand itself. They qualify for several talents associated with fire because of their association with heat, and lack the ability to use those tied to electricity.

Additionally, their meditation also grants them a pool of ki, the presence of which enhances the power of their blasts, but can be expended to bolster damage, provide defense, or enhance speed as they either utilize it in a monk like way, or perhaps manipulate the elements to bolster their ability or protect themselves.

Later on, they must expand into the earth element and then the air element again, providing them with a proper composite sandstorm blast and all sorts of earthy talents as well.

While relatively simple and limiting your element choices, this archetype can prove a lot of fun. Having a pool to bolster actions as a monk is a nice touch, and for the most part the changes to the air element from this archetype make sense. That being said, I wish there was some clarification on whether the basic sand blast and sirocco blast can be combined into something akin to the thunderstorm blast, albeit slashing and fire. In any case, if you’d rather have ki-based buffs rather than elemental overload, this archetype can certainly be appealing.

Discipline and endurance are the core precepts of these ascetics, so I can see them struggling to understand softer people that have not weathered hardship and extreme conditions the way they have, freely sharing their emotions and having priorities beyond survival and enlightenment.

Though they defeated the cult guarding it, the sand guardians are vexed by the hairline rift created by the cult’s activities, and it’s clear that this is part of some greater plot which they are not equipped to deal with. And so the sand-manipulating ascetics put out a call for scholars and adventurers.

Hailing from a desert world, kasatha take naturally to the ways of psammokinesis. However, not all use such power with the same grace and dignity. Such is the case with the Callers of the Desert, who venerate the process of desertification as the inevitable fate of all things, seeing all things natural and manmade alike as being equally worthless in the face of entropy.

Those seeking the advice of the sand-kineticists of Murava must endure their trials that test the worth of visitors, including desert survival and the like. The final test involves approaching the walls of a great giant wasp nest without being stung. Those that resort to violence fail automatically, while those that keep the wasps calm and befriend them pass the test.

[pinnithin]

Now that Drift Delvers has launched I can share the character art I did for the show!

Go give it a listen at your podcatcher of choice if you like immersive actual play sci-fi tabletop!

[cynsdrawings]

Here’s my Kasatha Xenoseeker Operative for a starfinder game. Her name is Oculi Cultus and she loves learning about and researching cultures.

She also has been known to sneak in places or commit long range assassinations if its for a greater good.

In order we have “gun Oculi”, “regular Oculi”, and “club Oculi”

[iravaid]

Jayr, my crunchy miserable and odd PC from an old Starfinde campaign, now updated for artfight

[drayners]

First bit of personal OC art I've been able to fully complete in awhile! :) This is my Starfinder character Era, a goth metal starship captain who wields hatred as a source of mystic power. She recently acquired a cold iron chainsaw while adventuring in the Shadow plane. I had to draw it- I love Era's design and this chainsaw definitely adds a certain industrial horror vibe >: )

[foolstojoinmyevilarmy]

Meet the Starfinders - The Medic

“Three baboons. How preposterous. The human body can gestate one, maybe two baboons at most.”

We’ve now come to my most played TF2 class! I wasn’t really one to charge into battle, unless I also had one or two offensive classes in front of me. Let’s dig into how I’d play him as a PC in Starfinder.

Theme: It may be a tad obvious, but the Battle Medic theme is the most appropriate for our Medic build. The bonus to Medicine and increased healing to allies is crucial.

Class: Medic is a man of science, not magic, so a biohacker with the Medic archetype fits best. Medic will be a studious biohacker and take the Field Dressing theorem to restore HP (and SP!) to allies. Medic’s Field of Study will be anesthesiology, providing damage resistance to allies.

Species: Medic is my fave TF2 class, and the four armed kasatha are my favorite Starfinder species, so naturally I want to combine them. The nomad ability score array grants a much needed Intelligence boost.

Feats: Skill Focus in Medicine makes your healing that much more potent. Tailored Serums allows you to increase the healing your allies receive from serums.

Equipment: Medic doesn’t need a medkit; his custom micro lab covers all of its capabilities. I’m equipping him with melee and ranged weapons with the injection trait to take advantage of the bonus to damage biohacker receive. A synchronous heart helps find dying comrades and, by spending Resolve, get them back on their feet.

[cocksley-and-catapult]

Not fantasy but uhhh ahow about a kasatha from starfinder....

[enddaysengine]

Gonna run A Cosmic Birthday as a solo adventure using MGME2. Here’s me blorbos:

Sublime Chemistry - Barathu Envoy - What if Gordon Ramsey was a jellyfish?

Jahir, Warden of Past and Future - Kasatha Witchwarper - Precog

Cesca - Shirren Operative - Swarm Exile

Jo Bob - Prismeni Goblin Solarion - Living battery on a goblin. What could go wrong?

[st-just]

Kasatha Zil by Aleksey Iromonik Konyshev

[dailycharacteroption]

Malice Binder (Investigator Archetype)

(art by raynnerGIL on DeviantArt)

When one thinks of “witch hunter” in relation to Pathfinder, one typically thinks of some variant of the inquisitor class. I mean, it does have at least 3 anti-mage themed archetypes, among other things.

However, inquisitors, with all the baggage that comes with the concept, are not the only ones who may have beef with malicious practitioners of the arcane arts (or any, depending on their disposition). Indeed, some folk steeped in ancient traditions but with a keen mind, such as those living in rural communities, may learn enough of the old ways to fight back against those that would use them against them.

These so-called “Malice Binders” utilize old folk magic and the power of sympathetic magic as a weapon against magically-inclined foes, and if that sounds familiar, you’ve probably read about the 2E thaumaturge class, which sort of grew out of the inquisitor and occultist classes while managing to have magical folk power without ever casting a spell.

This archetype taps into two related concepts of the expert who deals with evil witches and mages, but also the “inquisition’s pet witch”, which can range in relationship from one of respect to one of abuse, these mage hunters (or perhaps a true mage in their company) being treated little better than a reviled but useful animal. Again, it really depends on the disposition of those involved.

Regardless, however, these hedge mages have what it takes to recognize the signs of magecraft and hitting mages where it hurts, so let’s take a look, shall we?

Rather than focus purely on knowledges, these investigators can apply their inspiration for free on skills associated with witch hunting, from recognizing magic and spells, tracking, and, most relevant to their skillset, the ability to steal from others with ease.

Indeed, the core ability of these hunters lies in their ability to acquire and recognize trinkets from their mark. Locks of hair, small baubles, scraps of cloth, and the like. Whether they steal it directly or find them in places where their prey has been, they can use these tokens in their own form of sympathetic magic.

Such effects include using an opposing holy symbol to instill dread, placing it between coins in the mouth to ward against the mage, soot to deafen or silence, rotten meat to repel them, literal salt in the wound to ward against further attacks, shackles to restrain, incense to fascinate, a compass to locate them, and an iron nail to inflict pain, all of which they must choose as they grow in skill.

Eventually, their skill at stealing such tokens from their marks becomes faster and easier, often leaving them shocked when they are missing even important items.

Alternatively, rather than learn a new fetter, these investigators can learn more traditional mundane or magical traps to help them literally ensnare their prey, not just ensorcell them.

This archetype is a clever idea for how to do a relatively nonmagical anti-mage, though the fact that these abilities don’t work on non-casters can be sometimes limiting, which is why the traps are a good alternate option. The fetters offer good defensive and offensive options for bringing down mages, and if you plan on taking traps too, I’d recommend those that deal continuous damage or inflict distracting conditions to help prevent spellcasting whenever possible. Beyond that, I recommend options to help disrupt in combat as well as better observe their environment.

I mentioned it earlier, but this archetype does remind me a bit of some things I’ve seen in fantasy fiction which toe the line between dark and even erotic, which might be inappropriate for some tables, so be careful where you draw inspiration from here. I imagine most characters will be simple witch hunters seeking to stop evil magic wherever they can, but even still, keep that in mind.

By inflaming anti-mage sentiment, the renegade chapter of the Sun God’s Faith known as the Unforgiving Eye has been gaining a lot of power and influence in recent years, and now they’re seeking to recruit malice binders from the hag-haunted lands of Ligos. However, there are plenty in Ligos that recognize the difference between good and evil practitioners, leading to something of a polarization among the populace.

Her family slain and her soul marked by a div cult, Vikari began learning all she could about the various weaknesses of magic and witchcraft so that she could destroy it wherever she found it. The young kasatha never expected, however, that she would find love among those she swore to destroy, however.

War is horror, and perhaps no war is more horrible than those where mages choose sides, leading to terrible destruction and survivors bearing curses worse than death. Seeking an edge, the party is sent to escort a malice binder seeking whatever scraps they can to cripple the enemy’s magical regiments… However, while scouring the battlefield, the party runs afoul a memitim psychopomp, who mistakes the occult arts of the binder as necromancy.

[cyberkevvideo]

The Boggard As a Playable PF 1e Race

Just a bit of housekeeping before we get on with the entry. Looking at my last post entry, I haven't posted since the beginning of March. Since that time, my health has taken a significant nose dive and I've been seeing numerous doctors, hospital and clinic visits, and medical tests performed. I still have many more to do yet, and a couple can't even be performed here so I'll be needing to get a ride to a whole other city. Basically, if I wasn't bedridden, I was being looked at by doctors or specialists and being scanned by machines. It's been quite the ordeal. I posted some of the journey on my Twitter/X. Good news is we've finally ruled out cancer. Just wanted to put that out there in case anyone was wondering where I've been for the past four months.

Now, as some people may or may not be aware, this week (July 1st to July 7th) is Kraken Week. It's what will hopefully be an annual TTRPG event that was created and hosted by Point Hat and Ginny Di, and YouTubers come together and do videos on the kraken and other sea and water-based creatures. It's going to be their version of Shark Week, but not just about sharks. It's been encouraged for others to join in as well. Unfortunately, I'm not a YouTuber, so I'm going to be doing this via this Tumblr blog.

I don't know who's responsible for this logo yet, but when I do, I'll be sure to edit this post and give credit to that person. (I've reached out, but haven't gotten a response yet.)

EDIT: The artist is for the logo is Antonio Demico, aka Pointy Hat himself.

The boggard is more swamp than ocean, but I really wanted to talk about them after I learned that they're considered a playable race option on Archives of Nethys, but don't have any actual playable stats, I decided to do a breakdown of making it possible to play as one without needing to do it yourself or pull your GM's teeth to let a HD version be accepted. And the best part is that with this, you'll be able to use the Leaper alternate racial trait and the other Favored Class options. Unfortunately, there isn't something that I've been able to find that lets you use your Acrobatics jump bonus on the Pathfinder Race Guide. The closest was Jumper, which says you're always considered having taken a running start when you jump.

Image courtesy of the Pathfinder Kingmaker Wiki.

Using the boggard from the Pathfinder 1e Bestiary (and Archives of Nethys), we know that the boggard, or toadfolk, is a humanoid shaped race that looks like an anthropomorphic frog or toad, with webbed hands and feet, large bulbous eyes, and overly wide mouths. They almost never stand upright, and hunched average 5 feet in height and weight close to 200 lbs. They also live around 50 years, but because of the harsh livestyle of where boggards typically reside, it's extremely rare for them to see that age.

Regarding the age chart, it's a bit of a mix bag. I'm mostly going to use the 3.5 varag from MM4 as a guideline. Adulthood for boggards is typically 3 years after they fully developed all of they're limbs, and the typical training before sent out into the world is only two years. If they kill a sentient humanoid during their first excursion, they're considered a true adult. With that in mind, Starting Ages should be Intuitive +1d3; Self-Taught +1d4; and Trained +1d6 years. As for the Aging Effects at Middle-Aged, Old, and Venerable, I'm going with 14, 28, 42, and +2d8 for Maximum Life. This gives the average max life of 51, which fits pretty well.

For the breakdown of the race itself, it'll probably come off looking a bit expensive. I wanted the boggard to be a truly monstrous race, similar to that of the fetchling (17 RP), svirfneblin (24 RP), wyvaran (17 RP), wyrwood (20 RP), and kasatha (20 RP). It always bothered me that monstrous races like the lizardfolk and duergar were reduced to less than a base human. Let them be monstrous. It's not like this is D&D 3rd edition and we have access to Savage Species for PCs to gain monster HD and more monster features.

If this is too many RP for your group (I know it was for my old one), you can easily reduce it to 13 RP and have it more in line with the tiefling. Beyond that, you might have to look over things and negotiate with your GM on what you can reduce or move around.

Boggard -Racial Traits- Ability Score Modifiers (Greater Paragon): +4 Str, -2 Dex, –2 Int (2 RP) Type: Humanoid (boggard) (0 RP) Size: Medium (0 RP) Languages: Xenophobic (0 RP) Land Speed: Slow (20 ft.) (-1 RP) Swim Speed: 30 ft swim; +8 on Swim checks (2 RP) Defense: Natural Armor +1 (2 RP) Offense: Sticky Tongue (2 RP) Offense: Terrifying Croak (2 RP) Movement: Swamp Stride (1 RP) Senses: Darkvision (60 ft.), low-light vision (3 RP) Skill Bonus: Camouflage (swamps) (1 RP) Skill Bonus: Perception +2 bonus (2 RP) Other: Hold Breath (1 RP)

Total 17 RP

As brought up above, if you're not allowed the 17 RP, I'd remove the Perception +2 bonus and natural armor. That'll drop it to 13.

I haven't decided if I'll do another entry for Kraken Week and make something more sea/ocean based. It'll honestly depend on my health. That said, if someone comments regarding on what they'd like to see, I'll do my best to get it out there before the 7th.

As always, if you like what I do, whether it’s monster conversions, adventure path add-ons, or race builds, I have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who would like to support me monetarily, especially now that I'm racking up medical bills. There is no pressure or obligation to do so. A like and/or a share would also be appreciated just as much. It lets people know I exist out there.

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

[iravaid]

Campaign 2 where the bad ending happened and now the world depends on the capabilities of some of hte most wretched women on the planet. this too is yuri

[pinkanonwrites]

YIPPEE!!!!!

So the world that JAK and Pandora are from is from my loosely-Numenera-structured TTRPG sci-fi campaign that I DM for our friend group!

In the hyper-distant future where humanity has joined the intergalactic council of space-faring beings, the idea of the first major-scale, neutral territory city-station was conceived by a human company known as Central Robotics. Enter Circua Prime, the first of what is intended to be a series of fully autonomous city-stations that do not fall under the single governing body of any one particular space colony or enhanced species. It's basically a NYC-sized independently-owned superstructure where millions of different space-faring peoples live and interact. If you've ever played Dead Space, Circua was hugely inspired by The Sprawl.

From this we have our player characters! I'll list them from left-to-right below.

art by @archie-sunshine of course!

RODGER NELSON LEWIS, he/him: Archie has already talked a lot about his backstory on this post here, but basically Rodger's overly controlling father is the Brigadier General of Central Robotics private defense military, The Ring. The Ring specializes in subduing internal threats before they have the opportunity to balloon into stationwide crises, basically a company-owned spec-ops (NEVER A GOOD THING FOR A COMPANY TO HAVE). On his literal first day on the station he ends up with this weird relic clamped to his wrist that he can't remove, and he's trying to discover its origins while deciding whether or not he want sot remove it.

FLORENTHE, they/them: Florenthe comes from a planet full of flora-based beings who have only incredibly recently made intergalactic contact with other species. They've been sent on a sort of pilgrimage to Circua, intending on gathering all the information they can about what life is like outside of their home planet to bring back to their colony and preach the good word of the intergalactic peace council. They come across as incredibly naive to the world around them, but possess an incredible emotional awareness.

SAGA, he/him: Comes from the Broodling species, a species of bipedal humanoid mantis-folk with an incredibly tight-knit community. Saga is a wanderer and a musician, a player of songs and slinger of deals. He also keeps getting phone calls from a mysterious benefactor who sent him to Circua on a particular mission, but I can't mention too much because that'd be spoilers!

ZIARI VORELL, she/her: A Kasatha (loaned from Starfinder) mechanic who just landed her ultimate dream job as an on-site technician for Circua Prime's maintenance machinery. Ziari views Central Robotics, and by extension its head family 'The Wards', with a sort of near-religious fanaticism. This admiration has only peaked with the introduction of the maintenance staff's early access to the new, state-of-the-art, station-wide cognitive AI, The Achilles Master Intelligence System.

RUCKUS, he/him: Introduced as a shambling mess of barely kept together mechanical parts and rust in the vague shape of a navigation and defense droid, there's a lot more to Ruckus than what you can see just on the surface. Clever and destructive, he's never against pulling the rug out from under the holier-than-thou, and takes special delight in his favorite trick, pretending to be a non-sentient droid to fuck with people.

BENJII PARSONS, he/him: The only member of the party who already lived on Circua Prime prior to the introductory session, Benjii is a seventeen year old senior at North Ward High School, and the center forward on his school's soccer team. After an unknown assailant attempted to drug him at a high school party, Benjii woke up miraculously with telekinetic abilities that he's learning to control and keep on the down low. He's an amiable jock with a heart of gold and a massive appreciation for the beauty of the world around him.

In the introductory session the party cross paths with private detective Murphy Law, accidentally saddling Rodger with the artifact she'd just received as payment for an off-station mission. Murphy is far from the grizzled detective stereotype, rather closer to a cartoonish Columbo with Carmen Sandiego's wardrobe, and having no scruples about hiring this team of untrained goobers to help her with actual, serious detective business.

So far we've had an introductory arc and three major campaign arcs before taking a break, each arc focusing on a different mystery/adventure the crew gets swept up into at the behest of Murphy's employers and leading them to strange encounters with disgruntled rich boys with augmentation addictions, lion-girl beauty influencers, haunted animatronics, scavenger beings, and interdimensional death spiders.

JAK And Pandora haven't appeared in any shape or form in the main campaign, rather they're OCs Archie asked about establishing within the world's canon that will likely be used one day in a oneshot or side campaign separate from the antics of the Law Junior Detectives.

And there you have it! I have literally dozens of NPCs and characters laid out for the different arcs of this campaign, since it's been a project of mine since October of 2021. So please feel free to ask questions if there's anything or anyone you'd like me to elaborate on, since this world takes up a MAJOR chunk of my functioning brain at any given moment.

Jak and pandora are super sweet!! Do you have more about the world they come from? Perhaps more ocs from that universe ....?

EEEEK!!! OKOKOK so I'm gonna forward this message to pink right now, since she's actually the one who created the world!!

yooo hoooo!! @pinkanonwrites!! tell them about circua perhaps?

[thecreaturecodex]

Crest-Eater

Image © Paizo Publishing.

[The Starfinder monsters I’m most interested in are the ones with weird xenobiology: some of the writers got really into designing alien ecologies and weird behaviors. Like the crest-eater, which wants your delicious calcium to make solar panels. One thing in Starfinder that I don’t mention below, because it works better with the advanced tech levels of that game, is that kasatha technology is built around solar collectors that are biomimetics based on crest-eater anatomy. That’s super cool.]

Crest-Eater CR 4 N Magical Beast This creature is a horned, reptilian beast the size of a bison. It has three sets of legs—the middle pair is held aloft and tipped with sharp claws. It has long, elaborate horns growing from its head and spine—sails of tissue grow between the horns and hold them fast to the skin. It has two pairs of beady black eyes, and a mouth full of large, crushing teeth.

Native to the harsh deserts of Kasath, crest-eaters are powerful creatures that inspire both reverence and fear in the kasatha that live there. A crest-eater is so named because, when they prey on a kasatha, typically tear open the head, devour the bony crest, and leave the rest of the body behind for scavengers. A crest-eater’s primary goal is calcium, which they incorporate into their elaborate horns and shells. These in turn act as solar panels, giving the crest-eater their main source of energy. These horns wax and wane in size as the crest-eater forages, shrinking in lean times and growing to extravagance when it is well fed.

Crest-eaters have a social organization similar to elephants, with females and juveniles living in herds organized around the oldest female, and males living solitary lives for much of the year. Members of a herd are devoted to each other, sleeping in shifts and fighting together to oppose hunters or avenge their fallen relatives. They are tolerant of smaller predators, which clean up their kills and often have sharper eyes and ears than the crest-eaters do. Solitary males are the individuals most likely to attack a village or other settlement, and they have an outsized place in kasatha folklore.

Some crest-eaters have been exported to other planets, where they are often surprisingly docile compared to their violent behavior on Kasath. If a planet has an oceanic past, large deposits of chalk and limestone serve as food just as readily as bones, and are more convenient to harvest. A crest-eater is of nearly human intelligence, and training them has more in common with teaching a child than handling an animal. They make good, loyal bodyguards if fed well, and are especially valued by those that fear necromancers and their skeletal armies. Kasathas are known to make wickedly sharp bone cestuses using the horns of a crest-eater, and these weapons are often treated as heirlooms and badges of honor.

Crest-Eater         CR 4 XP 1,200 N Large magical beast Init +1; Senses bone scent, darkvision 60 ft., Perception +5, scent Defense AC 17, touch 10, flat-footed 15 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +7 natural) hp 38 (4d10+16) Fort +7, Ref +5, Will +4 Defensive Abilities fortification (50%) Offense Speed 60 ft. Melee bite +6 (1d8+3 plus dissolve bone), 2 claws +6 (1d8+3) Ranged spit +4 touch (dissolve bone) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Statistics Str 17, Dex 12, Con 17, Int 6, Wis 13, Cha 8 Base Atk +4; CMB +8; CMD 19 (23 vs. trip) Feats Iron Will, Toughness Skills Climb +11, Perception +5, Stealth +5, Survival +6; Racial Modifiers +4 Climb, +4 Stealth, +4 Survival Languages Kasatha (cannot speak) Ecology Environment warm deserts and hills Organization solitary, pair or herd (3-8) Treasure incidental Special Abilities Bone Scent (Ex) A crest-eater can detect exposed bone or other calcium by scent at a range of 1 mile, and can pinpoint such creatures within 180 feet. This includes creatures that have taken Constitution damage from its dissolve bone ability within the last 24 hours. Dissolve Bone (Su) A creature bitten by a crest-eater, or struck by its spit, must succeed a DC 15 Fortitude save or take 1d4 points of Constitution damage. A skeletal undead, or a construct or object made primarily out of bone, limestone, chalk or other calcium-rich minerals takes 3d6+4 points of damage if it fails the save. The save DC is Constitution based. Spit (Ex) A crest-eater can spit its bone dissolving saliva as a standard action. Treat this as a ranged touch attack, with a range of 30 feet and no range increment. A creature struck is exposed to the crest-eater’s dissolve bone ability.

[drayners]

My character for a Starfinder game a buddy of mine is running! Meet Captain Era, kasatha mystic icon, occultist of the Devourer. She’s moody and traumatized, and I love her. :)

[creator-crash]

Made a couple Kasatha subspecies based off different rock types