Everyman Minis: Transpositional Creatures

This Everyman Mini-installment clocks in at 8 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page introduction, 3 pages of SRD, leaving us with 2 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

So, what is a transposed creature? Well, for one, it’s a CR +1 template you can apply to your critters. The creature gets AC +1, blindsight 60 ft. and planar sense, which extends the sight of the creature beyond adjacent planar borders, allowing the creature, for example, see from the material plane into the shadow plane’s twisted reflection and vice versa. These creatures also get +2 Str, Dex, Con and Wis, and the Dimensional Agility, Dimensional Assault, Dimensional Dervish, Dimensional Maneuvers and Dimensional Savant feats. Beyond these significant tricks, these creatures gain psychic magic, with PE equal to 5 + double HD + highest mental ability score modifier. 4 PE may be used dimension door, and ethereal, plane of shadow and material plane may be plane shifted to for 4 PE, with CL equal to HD. These creatures can btw. plane shift with one touched target. Transposed creatures have an ability to ignore dimensional lockdown effects via successful Will-saves, with a default save for usually save-less effects provided. Additionally, whenever a transposed creature plane shifts, it leaves a short-lived wormhole that decreases swiftly in size, but allows allies of abductees to give chase. Nice! Finally, these creatures can use their plane shift more efficiently while grappling targets!

The sample creature provided would be a CR 11 transposed gug that is quite deadly…and a good choice for the abduction/dimensional kidnapper horror-angle.

Beyond that, the pdf also includes a new animal companion archetype, the dimensional drifter: These companions add Dimensional Agility to their list of bonus feats, using the master’s level as BAB-substitute for feats building on it. The companion gets a psychic reservoir equal to 3 + master’s level. They can spend 1 point as part of a move action or withdraw action to move 10 feet per level (I assume, of the master, but that is nitpickery) to any location they can see, treating this as 5 ft. movement. This may only be used once per round and don’t provoke AoOs. Serving as a mount allows for riders to be brought along, but this costs +1 point. This replaces share spells. At 3^rd level, instead of evasion, they need to spend 1 point from the reservoir to gain its benefits. At 15^th level, this upgrades to improved evasion being temporarily gained. 9^th level replaces multiattack with the ability to, as a move action that consumes 2 points from the reservoir to dimension door. (Spell reference not italicized properly.) They can bring creatures along for +2 points per creature and this counts as abundant step for prerequisite purposes. Instead of improved evasion, 15^th level nets the option to spend 4 points to use plane shift, as the spell.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are good on a formal level, very good on a rules-language level. Layout adheres to the series’ two-column full-color standard, and the artwork is nice. The pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length.

Alexander Augunas’ transpositional creatures are unique – the template and companion archetype are distinctly high-fantasy in an evocative way – phasing, Okami-style spirit wolf companion? Heck yeah! Nasty, wormhole-leaving abductors or even, allies that show the PCs the planar distortions in a dungeon that has different iterations, Legacy of Kain-style? Oh yeah! This has potential galore, and even though CR +1 is perhaps a bit low, as a whole, this is a resounding success. My final verdict will clock in at 4.5 stars, rounded up due to being closer to 5, and this does get my seal of approval.

You can get these cool critters here on OBS!

Endzeitgeist out.

Comments