#thurston hillman

[boardgametoday]

Gen Con 2023: Paizo announces Starfinder Second Edition

Gen Con 2023: Paizo announces Starfinder Second Edition... and it's compatible with Pathfinder! #starfinder #ttrpg #gencon #gencon2023

 As part of the company keynote presentation for Gen Con 2023, Paizo Inc. announced Starfinder Second Edition. The new edition will be published under the ORC License and implements the three-action economy, making it fully compatible with Pathfinder Second Edition and the Remaster Project. The announcement featured a short panel with the Starfinder team – Thurston Hillman, Jenny Jarzabski,…

[smiteworks]

New Release Pathfinder RPG - Pathfinder Companion: Agents of Evil Paizo Inc.

It's Good to Be Bad

Not every protagonist is a hero! Author Thurston Hillman brings you all the twisted tools you need to carry out nefarious deeds in Pathfinder Player Companion: Agents of Evil. Delve deep into discussions of what it means to undertake evil tasks, both for truly selfish characters and for those hard-eyed heroes willing to get their hands dirty in pursuit of the greater good. Explore new character options for PCs not squeamish about what patrons, gods, or other sources of power they serve, and gear up with a smorgasbord of sinister magic items, forbidden equipment, and spells that will make paladins think twice about working with you!

[milkchuggs]

So I’m reading War for the Crown, getting ready to run my next Pathfinder campaign, and I come across this:

“Bad habits accumulate so slowly as to be imperceptible, and sometimes the darkest courses in life begin from nothing but ignorance and exhaustion. Taldor has steeped in both for a hundred generations.”

Umm, Crystal Frasier? The person who wrote this? Are you okay? Because this is entirely too fire to leave in the back pages.

[dailybestiary]

“I...Hate...Winnipeg”

Kicking off tonight’s radio show with a tribute to game design luminaries Thurston Hillman and Jessica Redekop, then delivering the usual mix of new and classic indie rock, pop, and folk. Tune in live right here, 9 to 11 PM (Tues, 01/21/20, U.S. Eastern): http://wmuc.umd.edu/wmuc-high.m3u

Edit: Show’s over now, but you can stream/download the archived file till Monday, 01/20/20, at midnight.

[pathfinder-bestiary]

Oolioddroo (CR 13)

This skeletally thin woman has a mothlike face, flies upon dragonfly wings, and is wrapped in shadows.

XP 25,600 CE Medium outsider (chaotic, demon, evil, extraplanar) Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., see thoughts; Perception +32

DEFENSE

AC 28, touch 22, flat-footed 20 (+4 deflection, +7 Dex, +1 dodge, +6 natural) hp 175 (14d10+98) Fort +11, Ref +16, Will +16 Defensive Abilities shadow mantle; DR 10/good; Immune electricity, mind-affecting effects, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10, fire 10; SR 24

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft., fly 40 ft. (perfect) Melee 2 claws +21 (1d4+2), tongue +21 (1d6+2 plus thought siphon) Special Attacks oviposition, sneak attack +3d6 Spell-Like Abilities (CL 14th; concentration +20)

At will—calm emotions (DC 18), charm person (DC 17), detect thoughts (DC 22), greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), invisibility, modify memory (DC 19), sending 3/day—hold person (DC 19), quickened invisibility, suggestion (DC 19) 1/day—dream, feeblemind (DC 21), nightmare (DC 21), summon (level 4, 1 oolioddroo 35% or 1d4 shadow demons 35%)

STATISTICS

Str 14, Dex 25, Con 24, Int 21, Wis 24, Cha 23 Base Atk +14; CMB +16; CMD 38 Feats Dodge, Lightning Stance, Mobility, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (invisibility), Spring Attack, Weapon Finesse, Wind Stance Skills Acrobatics +21, Bluff +23, Diplomacy +23, Fly +32, Knowledge (arcana, planes) +22, Perception +32, Sense Motive +32, Spellcraft +22, Stealth +28, Use Magic Device +23; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception, +4 Stealth Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic; telepathy 300 ft.

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Oviposition (Su) As a full-round action once per day, an oolioddroo can use its tongue to implant its eggs into the brain of a helpless, sleeping, unconscious, or willing creature, dealing 1 point of Intelligence damage. Typically, the oolioddroo uses modify memory immediately after an oviposition, making its victim forget the violation. The egg gestates in the victim’s brain for 24 hours, after which a small caterpillar-like larva emerges and nestles painlessly within the victim’s brain. At this point, the oolioddroo can track the victim’s location as if the victim were under the effect of a status spell, can communicate telepathically with the victim across any distance, and can use its detect thoughts, modify memory, and suggestion spell-like abilities through the link to target the victim. The larva (and its link to its oolioddroo) becomes inert whenever the victim and the oolioddroo are on separate planes. Victims carrying this larva radiate a chaotic and evil aura. Anyone who reads the victim’s thoughts, such as via detect thoughts or telepathy, can attempt a Sense Motive check opposed by the oolioddroo’s Bluff check to notice the presence of a second, alien set of thoughts in the target’s mind. Dispel chaos and dispel evil can each immediately end the oviposition—the implanted larva melts into harmless fluid and is absorbed by the victim’s body. This is not a disease effect, though, so heal or remove disease offer no aid in ending the effect. As an immediate action, an oolioddroo can use its feeblemind spell-like ability on the carrier—it uses this “scorched earth” tactic if it fears that the host is about to be rescued or cut off from its influence, such as occurs when the effects are ended via dispel chaos or dispel evil.

Using feeblemind in this way automatically destroys the larva, regardless of whether or not the victim succeeds at the saving throw against the feeblemind effect, so an oolioddroo typically waits until the last moment to use this ability.

See Thoughts (Su) An oolioddroo can see a creature’s thoughts, interpreting them as a shifting mass of colors, images, and shapes that infuse a creature’s aura. An oolioddroo gains the effects of see invisibility against creatures with an Intelligence score as a result of this unusual sense. This ability also grants the oolioddroo a +8 racial bonus on Sense Motive checks.

When it uses detect thoughts, it does not have to study an area or subject to gain all 3 rounds of information—it gains all of this information on the 1st round of using the ability. In addition, it gains a +4 racial bonus to the save DC of its detect thoughts spell-like ability. A blind oolioddroo loses the ability to see thoughts.

Shadow Mantle (Su) The supernatural shadows that wreathe an oolioddroo grant the creature a +4 racial bonus on Stealth checks and a +4 deflection bonus to its Armor Class.

Thought Siphon (Su) Whenever an oolioddroo damages a creature with its tongue attack, it can drink away one of the creature’s thoughts or memories. A creature can resist this attack with a successful DC 23 Will save. On a failed save, the oolioddroo targets the victim with one of the following effects. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Memory Drain: The victim is immediately affected by the oolioddroo’s modify memory spell-like ability. The oolioddroo can adjust up to 5 minutes of memories immediately—it does not need to increase the spell’s casting time to match the duration of the modified memory.

Skill Drain: The victim loses all skill ranks in a skill of the oolioddroo’s choosing for 24 hours. Lost skill ranks can be recovered immediately with a restoration or greater restoration spell.

Spell Drain: The victim immediately loses one prepared spell or one unused spell slot of the oolioddroo’s choice; this lost spell or spell slot can be replenished normally.

Wisdom Drain: The victim takes 2 points of Wisdom drain.

Tongue (Ex) An oolioddroo’s tongue attack is a primary attack that deals piercing and slashing damage. Whenever an oolioddroo damages a foe with its tongue, it can use its thought siphon attack.

ECOLOGY

Environment any (Abyss) Organization solitary, pair, or cult (3–6) Treasure standard

Oolioddroos, known also as moth demons, are an especially insidious breed of fiend that can infest the brains of living creatures with their eggs, allowing them to manipulate their victims’ thoughts and minds from afar. This might mean an oolioddroo’s victim could go about its normal life for months or even years before the demon capitalizes on the link and forces it to undertake a particularly nefarious or vile deed. In the worst cases, the victim commits crimes or heinous acts at the oolioddroo’s bidding and then immediately forgets about these acts, creating the perfect sleeper agent who not only unknowingly does the oolioddroo’s bidding, but might, when not controlled, be significantly involved in efforts to oppose the acts of sabotage and terrorism the oolioddroo commands. To the oolioddroo, the torment, shame, and despair a victim feels upon realizing he’s been at least somewhat responsible for such actions is as delicious and delightful as the pain and suffering caused by the acts themselves.

An oolioddroo appears as a skeletally thin woman with gray flesh. Its shadow mantle typically appears in the form of a flowing, diaphanous gown of semisolid shadows and smoke, but the demon can make this defense appear to be black clothes or simply its own shadow.

The oolioddroo’s deeply unsettling face is that of a horned moth, and her tongue, while flexible, is strong enough to penetrate flesh and bone with ease.

An oolioddroo stands 6 feet tall, but weighs only 100 pounds. These sinister demons form from the souls of those who used brainwashing, mind control, and similar techniques, either magical or mundane, to trick or force the innocent into committing terrible acts of brutality.

Oolioddroos are particularly valued in more subtle invasions of the mortal realm, where the act of possession might be too blatant a tactic to use against the innocents of the world. When an oolioddroo does its job well, none even suspect demonic influence; instead they think that the devastating cruelties its influence has engendered rose entirely from the debased thoughts of lone fanatics or sociopaths.

An encounter with an oolioddroo can be rather complex due to the nature of the creature’s special abilities—especially if a PC is its intended victim. If an oolioddroo attempts to seize control of a lone PC, one tricky tactic is to simply ask the character’s player to attempt all the necessary rolls and checks beforehand.

Typically, one of these demons attempts to implant eggs in a character who is alone or asleep, in which case that character can attempt a Perception check (at a –10 penalty if the character is sleeping) and a saving throw against the modify memory spell—if both fail, the implanted egg hatches without the player noticing. Thereafter, the source of the strange voices and compulsions in the character’s mind, as well as the source of the periodic suggestions and other magical attacks, can be as frighteningly mysterious to the player as they are to the character.

Of course, the GM should take care not to go too far with this—and if a PC or an ally uses detect evil, for example, she might guess that something is afoot when a normally nonevil PC radiates an unexpected aura.

Copyright Notice: Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 6 © 2017, Paizo Inc.; Authors: Robert Brookes, Benjamin Bruck, John Compton, Paris Crenshaw, Adam Daigle, Crystal Frasier, James Jacobs, Thurston Hillman, Tim Hitchcock, Brandon Hodge, Jason Keeley, Isabelle Lee, Jason Nelson, Tim Nightengale, F. Wesley Schneider, David Schwartz, Mark Seifter, Todd Stewart, Josh Vogt, and Linda Zayas-Palmer.

[nerdtrekdotcom]

Mythic Treasures

Mythic Treasures

This collection of mythic items clocks in at 56 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page inside of front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages of introduction, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 47 pages, which, as always for Legendary Games, contain quite a lot of information, so let’s take a look!

  This review as moved up in my reviewing…

[roll20]

Available Now! Pathfinder: War for the Crown (Crownfall)

It's finally here: Pathfinder® is now an official part of Roll20®! Roll up a character with our new official character sheet and jump right into a thrilling Adventure Path with War for the Crown: Crownfall. Both resources are now available on Roll20, so it’s easy for you to start that Pathfinder game today!

And you'll want to get in there fast, because tensions in Taldor just heated up. The emperor falls. Your party is the only thing standing between the heir to Taldor and an assassin's blade - and a looming civil war. Unique creatures, political movers-and-shakers, underhanded dealings, and a lush city await! Included in this Roll20 conversion:

Crownfall, a Pathfinder adventure for 1st-level characters, by Thurston Hillman, converted in its entirety for the Roll20 platform.

More than 40 NPCs & creatures, each with complete character sheets, one-click actions, and associated tokens.

11 ready-to-play pregen characters from each class of the Core Rulebook.

4 battle ready maps set with dynamic lighting, pre-placed NPCs, and support for advanced fog of war.

2 overland maps of the city of Oppara and the regions of Taldor.

Rollable tables for random encounters and rumors.

Integrates with the Official Pathfinder Character Sheet as well as the Pathfinder SRD.

Will include the fully converted War for the Crown Player's Guide soon after it is released by Paizo. This item will be patched to include this.

You can now purchase War for the Crown: Crownfall on the Roll20 Marketplace for $27.99.

[thegaminggang]

'Starfinder' Organized Play Society at Origins Game Fair 2019

At Origins Game Fair 2019, Jeff sits down with Thurston Hillman to talk about what you can expect with the Starfinder Organized Play Society, through Paizo Inc.

[officialpaizo]

Ready to join the Starfinder Society this summer? Get the latest from Starfinder Society Developer Thurston Hillman! http://bit.ly/2rnfMeB

[skalcon]

Returning this year at #SkalCon are guest panels on the first day! Ask Jessica Redekop and Christen Sowards about their latest adventure, City of 7 Seraphs! Or perhaps you have some questions on Bloodlines & Black Magic, by Jaye Sonia and Clinton Boomer. Starfinder author Jenny Jarzabski will be in attendance as well, along with Paizo's own Thurston Hillman and Tonya Woldridge Opm! Do you have any questions you'd like to ask our guests? Let us know in the comments - and make sure you attend the guest panels starting at 3pm on Friday, Sept 20th! from SkalCon http://www.facebook.com/pages/p/1427978090858079

[vintageautoracing]

A key race meeting of the Historic Sports Car Club’s 2018 race season will be the Legends of Brands Super Prix on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit this weekend (30 June/1 July).

A fabulous entry has been assembled for the event, which includes a fine entry of 50 Formula 1 cars from the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association, split across two grids. Other entry highlights include an over-flowing grid of Historic Formula Fords, over 30 Classic Formula 3 cars and a strong field of Historic F3 cars contesting the annual Nations’ Cup.

After the first six races of the Historic Formula 3 Championship season Jon Milicevic remains unbeaten in his Brabham BT21B. Last time out at Silverstone Andrew Hibberd twice finished right on the winner’s gearbox in his ex-Chris Irwin Brabham BT18 and will +6.be determined to stop Milicevic making it eight from eight.

Steve Smith (Chevron B15), Michael Scott (Brabham BT28) and Jim Timms (Brabham BT21B) are other regular UK front-runners but added to the mix is a strong European contingent including Christoph Widmer (Brabham BT18A) Francois Derossi (Chevron B17) and Roland Fischer (Tecno) as the Nations’ Cup is contested.

Rounds nine and 10 of the Historic Formula Ford Championship will deliver more magnificent racing and two drivers are edging clear in the title race. Ben Mitchell has a modest 12-point lead over Cameron Jackson while defending champion Richard Tarling and former champions Benn Simms and Callum Grant along with other pacesetters including Max Bartell and Ed Thurston will be in the mix.

A double-header for the HSCC’s Derek Bell Trophy features an array of spectacular and powerful single-seaters from the 1970s. Half a dozen mighty F5000s will be topped by the Surtees TS11 of Greg Thornton and the ex-Peter Gethin Chevron B37 of Neil Glover. From the Formula 2 ranks comes Mark Charteris in his March 742, while a celebration of the Formula Atlantic category is a welcome addition. Leading the 1600cc single-seaters will be the cars of Paul Tonkin (Chevron B29), Iain Rowley (March 79B) and Rob Wainwright (Crossle 18F).

The pair of races for the HSCC Classic Formula 3 Championship will be a highlight as a strong contingent of drivers from France pack out the grid. Lee Cunningham heads the points after four rounds in the rare Dallara 381/382 from Edginton Racing. However, two weeks ago at Silverstone Cunningham was edged down the order as David Shaw took a first and a second in his ex-Piquet Ralt RT1.

A very welcome pack of around a dozen drivers from Europe add both quality and quantity to the grid and it was Valerio Leone (March 783) who took an impressive double win when the guests were last at Brands two years ago.

Three classic designs of the era are capably represented in the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association Pre ’61 pack: the Lotus 16 of Philip Walker, the Maserati 250F of Klaus Lehr and the Ferrari Dino of Tony Best. However, the absolute benchmark should be the US-built Scarab of Julian Bronson.

Lotus is well represented on the Pre ’66 grid, with leading drivers in Colin Chapman’s designs including Alex Morton (21) and Peter Horsman (18/21). Notable Cooper pilots include Tony Smith, Rudi Friedrichs and Rob Hall, while the Brabham BT11/19 of Jon Fairley is a likely pacesetter.

John Burton (Chevron B26) heads the field for the Pre ’80 Endurance races and lines up against another Chevron B26 for Andrew Schryver and the rapid Osella PA3 of John Spiers. Heading the Sports 2000 pack are Jonathan Loader (Tiga SC80) and David Axisa (Tiga SC79).

A round of the Classic Clubmans Championship is for the rapid front-engined sports-racing cars of the late 1960s and 1970s, and the weekend includes a celebration of 60 years of the Mallock marque.

Top of the pack is Mark Charteris in his Mallock Mk20/21, which he will race alongside his Formula 2 March 742 this weekend, and taking the fight to Charteris will be local racer John Harrison in his Mallock Mk21, along with similar cars for David Wale, Alan Cook and Mike Lane.

Running on Sunday afternoon is round six of 13 in the Historic Touring Car Championship. Only Ford Mustang racer Mark Watts has won more than one of the five races but the consistent class pace of Hillman Imp racer Adrian Oliver has put him at the head of the table. Donington Park winner Philip House leads the Lotus Cortina pack against similar cars for John Spiers and Nick Stagg, while in the V8 brigade Watts is joined by three more Mustangs including the car of prolific historic racer Greg Thornton.

A single race for the Historic Formula Junior Championship marks round six of the season’s 14 races. Notable contenders are Chris Goodwin in his newly-acquired Lotus 22, Stuart Roach in the rare Alexis Mk4, Peter Morton in the equally rare Lightning Envoyette and Greg Thornton in his Lotus 20/22. Among the front-engined field, the Lola of Justin Fleming should be to the fore along with Alex Morton (father of Peter) in his Condor and Keith Roach (father of Stuart) in his Alexis Mk2.

On Saturday, the first of eight races is at 13.20 after qualifying from 09.00

On Sunday, the first of ten races is at 11.20 after qualifying from 10.00

[hottytoddynews]

Tad Wilkes, aka Moon Pie Curtis

Oxford singer-songwriter Tad Wilkes is living proof that good things come to those who wait. Some just have to wait a good while longer than they ever imagined.

After more than 25 years of honing his craft and polishing his riffs in local bars and cafés, Wilkes has scored his first win in a national competition, beating out more than 600 fellow tunesmiths for first place in the prestigious bimonthly American Songwriter Lyric Contest, sponsored by American Songwriter magazine.

“I still don’t really believe it happened,” said Wilkes, a longtime journalist and the Oxford-based editor of Hotel F&B Magazine.

Wilkes’ winning entry, “Be Good To Your Woman,” will be featured in American Songwriter’s upcoming March-April issue. It will also be one of six finalists for the magazine’s grand-prize competition at the end of 2018.

“I’ve entered their contest a few times in the past, but I never placed or anything,” Wilkes said. “You’re going up against songwriters from all over the country and maybe internationally. I had actually submitted a different song to the previous issue and didn’t get anywhere. I’m not even sure why I decided to submit another one. It was only a $15 fee, and I figured I could spend that. But I had no hope that I’d win.”

Wilkes received a new PRS acoustic guitar and a Sennheiser microphone, but the real prize is the exposure—including a Q&A interview with photographs—in one of the music industry’s top magazines. Recent issues have spotlighted acclaimed artists like Willie Nelson (the January-February cover subject), Chris Hillman, Kenny Chesney and Nicky Mehta of The Wailin’ Jennys.

The magazine’s lyric contests are judged by some of the leading songwriters in the business, including Charlie Worsham, whose album, “Beginning of Things,” was named one of the “25 Best Country and Americana Albums of 2017” by Rolling Stone; Grammy and Oscar nominee Allison Moorer; Taylor Goldsmith, the frontman of indie rock band Dawes; and Austin-based Slaid Cleaves, hailed by Rolling Stone as “Americana’s most underappreciated songwriter.”

“These are all songwriters’ songwriters,” Wilkes notes.

Like a lot of those masters of the craft, Wilkes’ own musical style defies easy labels. It owes a little bit to the likes of Guy Clark, John Prine and Kris Kristofferson and a lot to no one you’ve ever heard before. Peppered with raunchy wit and piercing self-deprecation, his songs manage to be intensely personal and universal at the same time, filled with longing and laugh-out-loud one-liners. Even the saddest and sweetest of his songs will make you guffaw when you least expect it.

His debut CD, “Enter the Fool,” released in 2015 and co-produced by his good friend and former songwriting partner Joshua Cooker of the Nashville-based Captain Midnight Band, features both a comedic paean to sexy soccer moms in yoga pants (“Your Mama and Them”) and a snappy, bluesy-rock rumination on the bitter aftermath of a failed marriage (“It’s Called Divorce”).

“Enter the Fool” is available for purchase at Apple Music and on Spotify.

The cleverly metaphorical and immensely catchy “Be Kind, Rewind,” meanwhile, portrays a doomed romance in terms of Hollywood artifice:

Remember the opening credits We were both billed as stars The director yelled ‘action’ And we made out in my car But somewhere in the second act The storyline went south Some hack writer put some crappy dialogue In my mouth It all came out And I don’t even know what I was talking about

It’s a style that Wilkes has been fine-tuning since he was a teenager. “In high school, I made up what I would call novelty songs—silly, juvenile kind of stuff,” he recalled. “Songs with titles like ‘Booger on the Bronco’ and ‘Eatin’ Dog Food.’ My friend Ayers Spencer and I had a band called The Dingleberries—I sort of dragged him into it.”

At Ole Miss, Wilkes and Cooker went on to form the hard-partying band Cardinal Fluff and began taking songwriting more seriously. “Josh and I started writing songs together—even though they were still funny, they were real songs,” he said. “We were serious about being funny, sort of like Frank Zappa. I got my first real acoustic guitar at that time and then started listening to old country music and writing my own songs.”

Delving into the roots of what would later become known as the Americana genre, he immersed himself in the works of country- and folk-music storytellers like Prine, Clark, Steve Goodman, Jerry Jeff Walker and Willie Nelson. He also absorbed a lesson or two from another master raconteur, his own father, the late Dr. Thurston Wilkes. “He could tell a joke better than anybody,” Wilkes recalled. “From my dad I think I learned to add a little humor to complement the darkness and the deep thoughts—or what qualify as deep thoughts for me, anyway. Like George Carlin or Richard Pryor, he chose every word carefully, knew how to put each word in exactly the right place with the right emphasis. The first line of any song is the first impression, so I always believed in having a great first line. You add a little humor to see if they’re paying attention. That’s what my dad would do—he would throw some off-color joke into the conversation just to see if you were listening.”

Wilkes’ father, Dr. Thurston Wilkes, known for his hilarious off-color jokes and anecdotes, influenced his son’s songwriting style.

In Cardinal Fluff, Wilkes invented an off-color persona of his own, a bewigged, madcap character called Moon Pie Curtis, a name that he still performs under today (minus the wig and the wacky wordplay), while Cooker re-christened himself Captain Midnight. Cardinal Fluff lasted six or seven years, performing hilariously dirty-minded ditties with titles like “Position Impossible” and “Proud Totem.” But the bandmates parted ways when Cooker moved to New Orleans and then to Nashville, where the guitar-slinging Captain Midnight still fronts his own jam band and describes himself as “an internationally ignored superstar … (and) the world’s only purveyor of waterbed rock-and-roll.”

Wilkes, meanwhile, opted for a quieter, more domesticated life. “I thought, ‘Well, I want to have a family, so I should have a real job and keep living in Oxford.’ Songwriting was something I could still do here whenever I wanted. I figured it’s not like being a stand-up comic where you have to live in L.A. But, while that’s technically true, your chances of success in songwriting are much lower if you don’t live in Nashville and you’re not networking and co-writing and working with other musicians every day. I don’t think I really appreciated the magnitude of that at the time.”

Not that he has any regrets about opting for the joys of hometown domestication. He and his wife, Amy, have two adorable young daughters, and, in addition to his job with Hotel F&B, he founded Roxford University, a unique music school for children that offers both individual lessons in various instruments and a live-performance track, giving kids the experience of starting their own bands and putting on concerts twice a year.

In the meantime, Wilkes’ songwriting and musicianship have continued to evolve and mature. “Be Good to Your Woman,” the song that won the American Songwriter contest, was inspired by a piece of advice given to him years ago by his grandmother on her deathbed. “She had heart disease, and even breathing had become painful for her,” he said. “One day she told me, ‘Make sure to be good to your woman because they think real deep, and they hurt real easy.’ That just stuck in my head for years. But it’s hard for me to write a song like that—something that’s so heavy and deep. That was a tall order.”

The last thing Wilkes wanted to write was some maudlin, cliché-ridden tear-jerker, so he took his time with it—a lot of time. “I thought the first version was the best song I’d ever written,” he said. “That was about 10 years ago. Then, I realized the second verse was throwing the whole vibe off-course. It reflected my own distinctly male point of view, and that wasn’t what I wanted the song to be about. I knew I had to redo it. Looking back, it’s probably a good thing that I put so much thought into this one song, making all those revisions. I guess I always thought somebody would hear it eventually, and I wanted it to be perfect.”

“Be Good to Your Woman” will likely appear on Wilkes’ next CD, which he plans to cut with Cooker later this year. Although Wilkes, in his Moon Pie Curtis gigs, usually plays solo and unplugged, full studio instrumentation and Cooker’s sure hand on the production side bring glossy new life to his tunes while preserving the raw, throbbing ache that lies just underneath the wryly funny lyrics.

And winning the American Songwriter contest proved that Wilkes can still get his songs heard in Nashville without living there.

“It means that I haven’t been wasting my time doing some silly creative endeavor all these years,” he said. “I don’t feel discouraged about writing songs anymore. Now I know I’m not just doing it for myself.”

By Rick Hynum

The post Oxford’s Tad Wilkes Wins National Lyrics Contest with American Songwriter Magazine appeared first on HottyToddy.com.

[lmpjr007]

Transparency Agenda Daily June 2, 2017 - Special Event with Thurston Hillman

[nerdtrekdotcom]

Malevolent Medium Monsters

Malevolent Medium Monsters

This bestiary clocks in at 28 pages, 1 page front cover, 2 pages of introduction/how to use, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 20 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

  Okay, let’s be real – ginormous monsters are awesome! Duking it out with Godzilla as a demigod-like high-level character? Heck yeah!…

[nerdtrekdotcom]

Loot Box of Wonder (SFRPG)

Loot Box of Wonder (SFRPG)

Loot Box of Wonder (SFRPG)

This humble pdf clocks in at 12 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 9 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

  This pdf was created for the Roll for Combat podcast, and this review was moved up in my queue, to be undertaken at my earliest convenience.

  It should be noted that the majority of the pdf is laid out in a one-column…

[pathfinder-bestiary]

Lilitu (CR 17)

While this seductive woman has goat horns, goat hooves, and a serpentine tail, her eyeless face is her most disturbing feature.

XP 102,400 CE Medium outsider (chaotic, demon, evil, extraplanar, shapechanger) Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft., true seeing; Perception +34 Aura unholy aura (DC 26)

DEFENSE

AC 34, touch 24, flat-footed 28 (+4 deflection, +5 Dex, +1 dodge, +10 natural, +4 profane) hp 263 (17d10+170) Fort +19, Ref +23, Will +20 Defensive Abilities evasion, profane grace; DR 10/cold iron and good; Immune electricity, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10, fire 10; SR 28

OFFENSE

Speed 60 ft., fly 60 ft. (good) Melee 4 claws +25 (2d8+8/19–20), tail slap +20 touch (1d6+4 plus branding) Special Attacks create husk, husk link, profane pact, swift claws Spell-Like Abilities (CL 17th; concentration +25)

Constant—fly, tongues, true seeing, unholy aura (DC 26) At will—charm monster (DC 22), detect thoughts (DC 20), greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), suggestion (DC 21), telekinesis (DC 23) 3/day—quickened charm monster (DC 22), persistent image (DC 23), seeming (DC 23) 1/day—demand (DC 26), dominate monster (DC 27), project image (DC 25), summon (level 5, 1 lilitu 20%, 1d2 glabrezus 40%, or 1d6 vrocks 50%) 1/week—binding (DC 26), wish (granted to a mortal humanoid only)

STATISTICS

Str 27, Dex 20, Con 30, Int 21, Wis 23, Cha 26 Base Atk +17; CMB +25; CMD 49 Feats Critical Focus, Deceitful, Dodge, Improved Critical (claw), Mobility, Power Attack, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (charm monster), Spring Attack, Staggering Critical Skills Acrobatics +25, Bluff +40, Diplomacy +28, Disguise +29, Fly +37, Intimidate +25, Knowledge (local, nobility) +25, Knowledge (religion) +22, Perception +34, Sense Motive +26; Racial Modifiers +8 Bluff, +8 Perception Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic; telepathy 100 ft.; tongues SQ change shape (Small or Medium humanoid; alter self), profane wishcraft

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Branding (Su) Each time a lilitu damages a living creature with her tail slap, the wound leaves an angry and permanent red brand. The creature struck becomes staggered for 1 round from the pain. A successful DC 26 Will save negates the staggered condition and reduces the duration of the brand from permanent to 1 hour. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Removing brands is difficult—each casting of restoration, dispel chaos, or dispel evil removes one brand. Heal removes 1d4+4 brands. Greater restoration removes a number of brands equal to the spell’s caster level. Miracle and wish can each remove all brands at once. The number of brands a creature gains in this manner has a cumulative series of effects, as listed below.

1–3 Brands: The lilitu can affect the branded creature with its create husk, husk link, and profane pact abilities.

4–6 Brands: The branded creature takes a –2 penalty on all Will saves made against a lilitu’s spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities. The branded creature’s aura now radiates chaos and evil.

7–9 Brands: The branded creature’s Wisdom score is reduced by 4. A chaotic evil creature is immune to this effect.

10 or More Brands: The penalties to the creature’s Will saves and Wisdom score that are listed above double. In addition, the branded creature automatically fails all Will saves made against a lilitu’s spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities. A chaotic evil creature is immune to this effect.

Create Husk (Su) Once per day as a swift action, when a lilitu deals enough damage with a weapon, spell, or spell-like ability to kill a branded Small or Medium humanoid within 30 feet, she can instead opt to transform that slain humanoid into a husk. The targeted creature can attempt a DC 26 Fortitude save to negate this effect, allowing it to die normally. A humanoid transformed into a husk withers away into an immobile and desiccated corpse, but does not actually die—in this state, the creature remains aware of its surroundings but can take no actions at all. A husk is essentially treated as an object with hardness 15 and 60 hit points; it weighs 10% of the original creature’s weight. If a husk is destroyed, the effect ends and the body dies. This is a curse effect—removing this curse restores the victim to life at a number of negative hit points equal to the creature’s Constitution – 1; a husk restored to life in this way has 1 round to stabilize or be healed before it dies. A lilitu can maintain a number of husks simultaneously equal to her Charisma bonus (8 husks for the typical lilitu); if she creates more husks than she can maintain, a previously created husk (chosen by the lilitu) is released and immediately dies. Lilitus hide their husk collections in very safe places. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Husk Link (Su) By spending a minute in blasphemous contact with a husk she created, a lilitu can establish a supernatural link to that husk. As long as she and that husk remain on the same plane, divination spells reveal the linked husk’s alignment to be the same as the lilitu’s alignment (chaotic evil). The link allows a lilitu to use her change shape ability to assume a husk’s original form, gaining a +20 bonus on Disguise checks to impersonate that person. If a lilitu with an active husk link takes enough damage to be slain, the husk takes the killing blow’s damage instead and is destroyed, instantly severing the active husk link; if the lilitu is disguised in the husk’s original form, she instantly reverts to her true form.

Profane Grace (Su) A lilitu gains a +4 profane bonus to AC and on Initiative checks and Reflex saves.

Profane Pact (Su) Once per day as a full-round action, a lilitu can forge a profane pact with a willing humanoid creature bearing at least one lilitu brand by touching the creature for 1 full round. A single creature can have no more than one profane pact with a lilitu at any time. This functions identically to a succubus’s profane gift ability, save that it grants a +4 profane bonus to an ability score of the humanoid’s choice and it does not grant a telepathic link to the target.

Profane Wishcraft (Su) A creature that accepts a wish from a lilitu immediately becomes chaotic evil unless it succeeds at a DC 26 Will save. A creature that becomes chaotic evil in this way gains the benefits of a good hope spell for 24 hours, followed by the effects of crushing despair for 1d6 days (these spell effects function at CL 17th). The save DC is Charisma-based.

Swift Claws (Ex) When a lilitu makes a full attack, she can attack twice with each of her claws, for a total of four attacks in that round.

ECOLOGY

Environment any (Abyss) Organization solitary, pair, gathering (3–5), or cult (1 lilitu and 6–12 succubi) Treasure double

Lilitus are subversive and hidden horrors, demons who work subtly in their constant quest to destroy and devastate. Whereas most demons prefer to rend and destroy, the lilitu is more akin to the succubus—she prefers to do her work in humanoid form to infect society with sin from within. Lilitus enjoy few things more than leading mortals into all manner of sinful acts, in the hope that when the mortal perishes, its soul will fuel the Abyss. Despite some superficial similarities to succubi, lilitus are not solely concerned with the sin of lust.

The exact nature of sin that a lilitu tempts a mortal into committing varies, for these demons are adept at reading mortal desires and secrets, quickly discerning which sins a specific target can be convinced to perform.

Lilitus have numerous tools at their disposal for the encouragement of sin, but they much prefer their humanoid victims to commit sins of their own free will.

As such, lilitus generally use their abilities to deceive and beguile mortals rather than forcing them to execute heinous acts. A son convinced to kill for his mother (the disguised lilitu) to rectify a grave injustice elicits far more delight than compelling a mind-controlled humanoid to do such a deed.

In her true form, a lilitu appears as an eyeless, horned, snake-tailed—but otherwise beautiful—human woman.

Despite her lack of eyes, a lilitu can see with ease. A lilitu forms from the soul of a mortal who lured others of its kind to commit sins.

Lilitus are more likely than other demons to devote their work to a specific demon lord, yet they do not generally view such devotion as true servitude. It’s simply convenient to have a specific demigod in mind when seeking to corrupt a mortal’s faith and to convince such fallen souls to shift their own allegiance from a prior deity to the lilitu’s chosen demon lord. When a lilitu chooses to ally herself with a demon lord, she takes on certain physical characteristics that reflect that demon lord’s personality or appearance. For example, a lilitu that serves Dagon, the demon lord of deformity, sea monsters, and the sea might bear scaly skin like that of a fish, webbed fingers and toes, and finlike ridges on her head instead of the more typical goat’s horns.

A lilitu that serves Pazuzu, on the other hand, might have vestigial feathery wings on her back and bird’s talons instead of hooves for feet. These appearance changes are cosmetic only and never impact the lilitu’s options for natural attacks. of course, the demon’s ability to change shape or assume the form of a captured husk allows the demon to disguise her true form at will. Lilitus who serve specific demon lords in this manner often have class levels. A lilitu typically focuses on class roles such as bards, rogues, swashbucklers, or any other agility- and deception-based classes.

Lilitus typically stand 6 to 6-1/2 feet tall and weigh 130 to 150 pounds.

Copyright Notice: Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 6 © 2017, Paizo Inc.; Authors: Robert Brookes, Benjamin Bruck, John Compton, Paris Crenshaw, Adam Daigle, Crystal Frasier, James Jacobs, Thurston Hillman, Tim Hitchcock, Brandon Hodge, Jason Keeley, Isabelle Lee, Jason Nelson, Tim Nightengale, F. Wesley Schneider, David Schwartz, Mark Seifter, Todd Stewart, Josh Vogt, and Linda Zayas-Palmer.