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Dark Roads & Golden Hells Now Available

Dark Roads & Golden Hells Now Available

Dark Roads Cover

– Colin McComb, Planescape designer

Open Design’s new sourcebook of planar adventure for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game has been forged and polished to gleaming, smoldering perfection and is ready be unleashed on the Prime Material Plane! You can pick it up in the Kobold Store in print+PDF or PDF only.

Dan Voyce (Northlands) has delivered a glittering array of new planar options for GMs including:

  • More than 80 new planes and locations including the Loom, the Eleven Hells, and the City of Vultures Beyond
  • 3 new PC races: the Deva, the Maxim, and the Warpling
  • Dozens of planar PC options: 45 new feats and 41 new traits
  • 18 new spells including Combat Geometry, Ghostlock, and Quantum Uncertainty
  • 6 new planar monsters including the fate-eater, rust drake, and spinning hag
  • Infinite possibilities!

    To whet your appetite, here’s one of the denizens of the planes you might run into while searching for the legendary Plane of Unguarded Treasure: the fate-eater…

    FATE-EATER

    Fate eater from Dark Roads & Golden Hells

    These translucent, man-sized parasites resemble ghostly centipedes surrounded in erratic violet radiance. They infest scattered areas of the Loom, where they consume the very threads of fate itself. The Norns view them as vermin and sometimes will engage particularly canny planewalkers either to hunt them or to help repair the damage they have done. This can be a deadly job as the fate eaters consider the destiny of a mortal to be the tastiest of delicacies, rich in savory possibilities.

    Fate eaters always start combat by dimensionally anchoring opponents, so they may then feed on the victim’s destiny. Consuming the threads of the Loom for so many millennia has made them hard to catch unaware. Information can be traded from them, but one must have something rich in destiny to trade or become the meal oneself. Some say they are an intrusion from beyond our reality while others avow that they have existed, like the Loom, since before time itself began. Others say that eating the flesh of a fate eater can allow one insights into the fate of another, or even the ability to partake in that fate.

    The Norns frown on such wild tales.

    FATE EATERS, CR 9
    XP 6,400
N Medium outsider (extraplanar)
    
Init +5; Senses lifesense 60 ft.; Perception +16

    DEFENSE
    AC 21, touch 16, flat-footed 20 (+ 1 Dex, +5 deflection, +5 natural)
    hp 90 (12d10+24)
Fort + 8, Ref + 5, Will + 10 Immune charm, sleep

    OFFENSE
    Speed 30 ft., climb 40 ft.
    
Melee spectral bite +9 (4d6/19–20 plus special)
    Special Attacks 
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th; concentration +13)
    Constant—true seeing 
At Will—quickened dimensional anchor

    STATISTICS
    Str 10, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 16, Cha 9
    
Base Atk +9 ; CMB +9; CMD 20

    Feats Alertness, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (dimensional anchor), Weapon Focus (bite)
    
Skills Bluff +16, Diplomacy +12, Knowledge (arcana) + 20, Knowledge (history) +20, Knowledge (planes) +30, Knowledge (religion) +20, Perception +16, Sense Motive +20, Stealth +14
    Languages telepathy 100 ft.
    SQ sound mimicry (voices)

    ECOLOGY
    Environment the Loom
    Organization solitary
    Treasure none

    SPECIAL ABILITIES
    Spectral Bite (Su) When a fate eater scores a critical hit against a target, it damages not only the creature but also the threads of its fate. Each successful critical changes the character’s past or future (Will save DC 20). Roll 1d6 on the chart below for each critical hit:
    1. Seeing the Alternates—Gains the confused condition for 1d4 rounds.
    2. Shifting Memories—Loses 2 ranks from a single random skill, and gains 2 ranks in a random untrained skill.
    3. Untied from the Loom—Character’s speed is randomized for 1d4 rounds.
    4. Not So Fast—Unable to use one random feat.
    5. Lost Potential—Suffers 1 ability damage (random ability).
    6. Took the Lesser Path—Gains 1 negative level.

    Another Will save may be made every 24 hours to dispel these effects. Each day the DC increases by 1 as the character becomes more entrenched in this new destiny.
    GM Option: If the initial save is made by 5 or more, the target can attempt to direct the change: replacing age, race, alignment, skill ranks, or feats with other legal choices. For instance, some GMs might allow an avoided drained level to be replaced with a level in a completely different class.

2 thoughts on “Dark Roads & Golden Hells Now Available”

  1. Morgan Boehringer

    Really liking the fate-eater – homebrewing some more possibilities for Spectral bite, and just WHAT partaking of the flesh of a fate-eater will do will be fun. The art is fantastic!

    If this is representative of the level of creative flavour and mechanics in DRGH then sign me up for a copy!

    Two questions:

    1: How is “randomized speed” determined in Untied from the Loom?

    2: “If the initial save is made by 5 or more, the target can attempt to direct the change: replacing age, race, alignment, skill ranks, or feats with other legal choices. ” I’m not sure what this means?!?

  2. I would roll d6 and multiply by 5 feet for a random speed.

    I think it just means that if the target makes the save by a chunk, then they have the option to change age, race, alignment, skills ranks or feats. A sort of limited polymorph at the target’s option.

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