Everyman Minis: Gculcilite
This installment of the Everyman Minis-series clocks in at 11 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 4 pages of SRD, 2 pages blank, leaving us with 3 pages of content, so let’s take a look!
So, what is the Gculcilite, apart from one of the hardest to fluidly and correctly type monsters I’ve ever reviewed?
We, the creature is the critter seen on the cover, a chaotic neutral diminutive fey with the shapechanger subtype that clocks in at CR 7. The swift creatures are capable of perfect flight, and have an array of both spell-like abilities and sorcerer spell-casting prowess. They can assume the shape of objects and get ½ HD to discern the abilities of natural creatures capable of reproducing, and the fey may engage in a 1-minute ceremony that establishes a parental bond that is both mentally and physically younger than adult, being capable of maintaining up to Charisma modifier such bonds.
This does not end until the target becomes an adult or dies or the gculcilite ends the bond. Children thus bonded to the creature get share spells, empathic link and deliver touch spell familiar abilities, and target: “You” spells may be cast on bonded kids; items may be shrunk, and the fey may assume a parental shape via their polymorphing ability to assume parental shape. The gculcilite can, as a standard action, conjure and sprinkle a dust on a creature as a melee or ranged touch attack with a range of 10 feet. On a failed save, the creature’s physical age is regressed, depending (and this is damn cool!) on the vital statistics of the respective race! The target returns to normal age slowly, aging 1 year per day – but here’s the thing – the fey is a genius cook. They can create gourmet fare…but if targets consume this food, they delay shaking off the regressive dust effect…and eating it enough times, well…that may require growing up the old-fashioned way once more…
The pdf also includes a new unchained bard bardic masterpiece, the Nostalgic Lullaby, which is basically a twist on the gculcilite’s age regression trick, though one that thankfully caps at 2 age categories, though that does increase at higher levels if you have accompaniment, and maintenance of performances etc. is codified tightly.
The monster also comes with advice on how to use it, as well as some cool notes on how they behave etc.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting re very good on a formal and rules-language level, I noticed no serious hiccups. Layout adheres to the two-column full-color standard of the series, and Jacob Blackmon’s artwork rocks. The pdf has a single bookmark that points to the end of the SRD, but it needs none at this length.
Alexander Augunas’ Gculcilite is AWESOME. This creature oozes adventuring potential and may be a kickass benefactor, a puzzling foe, a fey that represents a ticking clock to save kids from, a non-evil and downright odd being, a means to change the gears of a campaign, an option to unlock Childhood Adventures in an ongoing campaign – and more. this is an excellent, cool critter, and well worth 5 stars + seal of approval.
You can get this cool critter here on OBS!
Missed the unchained bard? You can find it here on OBS!
The excellent Childhood Adventures can be found here!
Endzeitgeist out.
