Something different - Pathfinder 2

And so, I created another Pathfinder character - a shaman dryad (the shaman class is introduced in ACG). What do you think?

Dryad shaman 7 CR 9

XP 800

CG Medium fey

Init +4; Senses low-light vision; Perception +11

AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 13 (+4 Dex, +3 natural)

hp 50 (7d8+6d6+13)

Fort +7, Ref +11, Will +12

DR 5/cold iron

Weaknesses tree dependent

Speed 30 ft.

Melee dagger +7 (1d4)

Ranged masterwork longbow +8 (1d8)

SA hexes (crystal sight, fetish), touch of acid (1d6+3, 7/day), wandering hex

Spells (CL 6^th)

4^th—wall of stone

3^rd—magic circle against evil, meld into stone

2^nd—remove paralysis,resist energy, stone call

1^st—hex ward, magic stone, stone shield, thorn javelin

0—arcane mark, bleed, create water, dancing lights

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th)

Constant—speak with plants

At will—entangle (DC 15), tree shape, wood shape (1 lb. only)

3/day—charm person (DC 15), deep slumber (DC 17), tree stride

1/day—suggestion (DC 17)

Str 10, Dex 19, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 18

Base Atk +8; CMB +8; CMD 17

Feats Craft Wondrous Item (B), Dodge, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Stealthy, Weapon Finesse

Skills Climb +9, Craft (sculpture) +18, Diplomacy +10, Escape Artist +15, Handle Animal +17, Knowledge (nature) +18, Perception +11, Profession (shaman) +10, Spellcraft +9, Stealth +15, Survival +8; Racial Modifiers +6 Craft (wood)

Languages Common, Elven, Sylvan; speak with plants

SQ spirit animal, spirit magic, spirit (stone), tree meld, wild empathy, woodcraft

Environment temperate forests

Organization solitary, pair, or grove (3–8)

Treasure standard (dagger, masterwork longbow with 20 arrows, other treasure)

Tree Meld (Su) A dryad can meld with any tree, similar to how the spell meld into stone functions. She can remain melded with a tree as long as she wishes.

Tree Dependent (Su) A dryad is mystically bonded to a single, enormous tree and must never stray more than 300 yards from it. Most dryad trees are oak trees, but other trees function as well (often having subtle influences on a specific dryad's personality and appearance). A dryad who moves 300 yards beyond her bonded tree immediately becomes sickened. Every hour thereafter, she must make a DC 15 Fortitude save to resist becoming nauseated for an hour. A dryad that is out of range of her bonded tree for 24 hours takes 1d6 points of Constitution damage, and another 1d6 points of Constitution damage every day that follows—eventually, this separation kills the dryad. A dryad can forge a new bond with a new tree by performing a 24-hour ritual and making a successful DC 20 Will save.

Wild Empathy (Su) This works like the druid's wild empathy class feature, except the dryad has a +6 racial bonus on the check. Dryads with druid levels add this racial modifier to their wild empathy checks.

Woodcraft (Ex) A dryad has a +6 racial bonus to Craft checks involving wood, and is always treated as if she had masterwork artisan's woodworking tools when making such checks.

Something different - Pathfinder

For a change of pace, this entry features a derro alchemist from Pathfinder, bulked up with the souldrinker prestige class (also Pathfinder). The alchemist comes from the Inner Sea Monster Codex, btw. The souldrinker class is described in the Book of the damned volume 3. What do you think? Did I make it work?

Derro alchemist (vivisectionist) 11/souldrinker 4 CR 15

NE Small humanoid (derro)

Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +11

AC 25, touch 16, flat-footed 21 (+6 armor, +1 deflection, +3 Dex, +1 dodge, +3 natural, +1 size)

Hp 164 (3d8+11d8+4d6+121)

Fort +11, Ref +12, Will +10

Immune poison, disease (including supernatural and magical diseases); SR 23

Weaknesses vulnerable to sunlight

Speed 30 ft.

Melee aklys +13/+8 (1d6+2) or claw +13/+8 (1d4+3)

Ranged: masterwork repeating light crossbow +15/+10 (1d6/19-20) or aklys +14 (1d6+2)

Special Attacks energy drain (DC 16), sneak attack +7d6, summon cadodaemon

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 3^rd; concentration +5)

At will—darkness, ghost sound (DC 12)

1/day—daze (DC 12), sound burst (DC 14)

Alchemist Extracts Prepared (CL 11^th)

4^th—discern lies (DC 18), stoneskin, universal formula

3^rd—draconic reservoir, fly, gaseous form, haste, remove blindness/deafness

2^nd—blur, cure moderate wounds, detect thoughts (DC 16), eagle’s splendour, vomit swarm

1^st—cure light wounds, disguise self, enlarge person (DC 15), expeditious retreat, shield, true strike

Str 15, Dex 17, Con 18, Int 18, Wis 7, Cha 14

Base Atk +12; CMB +13; CMD 28

Feats: Alertness, Brew Potion, Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Deceitful, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Throw Anything, Toughness

Skills: Bluff +20, Craft (alchemy) +17, Diplomacy +3, Disable Device +15, Heal +2, Knowledge (arcana) +19, Knowledge (planes) +18, Perception +11, Sense Motive +12, Sleight of Hand +15, Spellcraft +21, Sense Motive +0, Stealth +16, Use Magic Device +11

Languages: Abyssal, Aklo, Common, Dwarven, Goblin, Undercommon

SQ: alchemy (alchemy crafting +11, identify potions), cacodemon familiar, cruel anatomist, daemonic patron, damned, mutagen (+4/-2, +2 natural, 110 minutes), discoveries (infusion, monstrous graft [arm], monstrous graft [leg x2], sleeper agent), madness, poison use, soul pool, swift alchemy, swift poisoning, torturer’s eye, torturous transformation

Combat Gear: potions of cure moderate wounds (3), potions of haste (2), blue whinnis (4 doses), medium spider venom (10 doses)

Other Gear: +2 chain shirt, aklys, masterwork repeating light crossbow with 20 bolts, amulet of natural armor +1, goggles of minute seeing, headband of vast intelligence +2, ring of protection +1, antitoxin (3), formula book (contains all prepared extracts, plus additional four 1^st-level, four 2^nd-level, three 3^rd-level, and two 4^th-level extracts of the GM’s choice), healer’s kit, surgeon’s tools, veterinarian’s kit, granite and diamond dust (750 gp), powdered platinum (300 gp)

S.H.I.E.L.D., 4722 - Oct 27

And so, yet another fine S.H.I.E.L.D. episode came to an end, featuring the show at its best - coherent. The previous 4 episodes had been done in ‘Angel & Faith’ format rather than the BtVS one; the action continuously alternated between the InHuman and Hydra plotline, with the main action being directed more towards the InHumans. It is hard to tell who was Angel and who was Faith, though the odds are towards Phil and May, but it is not the point. The fact that ‘4722’ hours have made Jemma into Winifred Burke is more like that, with her NASA companion being, perhaps, her Illyria...or not. Analogues tend to be weird, especially if taken too far, but Will, perhaps, is more than what he appears, especially if you look at the episode’s finale – perhaps he is some sort of a night bringer, hm?

 Back to AoS proper, ‘4722’ has made a break in the abovementioned ‘A&F’ format, plus it had introduced, perhaps, a whole new plotline for Fitz & Simmons, as they still cannot be a couple. Seriously, Ward turned out to be evil, and Lincoln is absent, so poor Skye, and Phil and Mel just cannot seem to be pull their shit together, thanks to Ms. Price (it’ll be fun to see if she isn’t evil – then maybe the plot line of ‘AoS’ can get even more interesting), so this just leaves Fitz & Simmons – and they are having problems of their own. Fitz seems to be competing with someone, perhaps Thanos, or even Galactus, for Jemma’s heart, and of course, being the stalwart knight that he is, he’ll let her go, or at least – let her help ‘Will’ get back to Earth from her misguided love to her – or perhaps not so misguided (it seems that everyone gets a second chance with S.H.I.E.L.D., even Ward did, sort of, and if Coulson hadn’t been such a moron, then who knows?)...

In the greater scheme of all things AoS, ‘4722’ is closer related to InHumans than to Hydra – and not just because of the obvious, but because Randolph, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s resident Asgardian (seriously, he really should have more than just one episode), seems to have some know-how back in 3x02, and it wasn’t particularly good one. He also had shared it with Coulson, but not with the audience, so we do not know what exactly that he knows, but given the fact that Jemma’s new friend just may be either an extra-powerful InHuman or a pureblooded alien of some sort (like Loki or Thor, just not an Asgardian) then yes, the new FitzSimmons plotline is closer to the InHuman plotline rather than to the Hydra one.

Incidentally, so far Ward’s Hydra is noticeably lackluster, if compared to Whitehall’s, for example. So far Ward’s leadership hasn’t been very impressive, so if everything goes smoothly, the next episode should spell the end of Hydra...but things don’t often go according to anyone’s plan in the world of AoS, and as long as the scriptwriters don’t go over the top with this (as they had at the end of S2, putting in an unnecessary hackfest/bloodbath there too), it’ll work. Plus...plus if this episode can be considered alien/InHuman ‘heavy’, then the next episode should probably be Hydra ‘heavy’, just to keep things balance. S.H.I.E.L.D. the show loves to keep things balanced, thus we will have to wait and see.

So: a major update on Simmons, a not so major, but still important, update on her relationship with Fitz...and that’s it, really. Today’s episode was very good and very important, but in a restricted, more narrow kind of way. Will this trend continue with S.H.I.E.L.D. episodes? We will just have to wait and see. 

S.H.I.E.L.D., Devils - Oct 20

...One of the more important issues in AoS, now, is pacing and proportions. In S1 it was simple – first the team had to discover who the Clairvoyant is, and then they had to stop him and the rest of Hydra...well, his cell of Hydra, because we never really learned just how high up John Garrett was in the Hydra hierarchy.

In S2, the situation was somewhat different: the first part of the season was dominated largely by Hydra, the second half – by the InHumans. It also marked a change in the roles’ proportions: in S1 Ward was an equal part of the cast; from S2 onwards, his role began to diminish, or rather – his screen time did. His importance was something else, especially in the S2 finale, and its out-of-proportion hack/gore-fest.

In S3 this sort of situation continued: as Ward did receive proportionally less screen time than Hunter or May did, for example, let alone Mack, Coulson or Daisy. That is not to say that his importance became any smaller: through his sheer presence and taunting words alone he brought Hunter down to his level, and now Andrew Garner has paid the price (presumably). May will have an even bigger axe to grind with Ward nowadays, but she and Hunter have to resolve her issues too, and given how the Cavalry carries her grudges...well, Grant is going to die, eventually, probably by the season’s end, but Hunter is going to grovel, he has to – otherwise it’ll be even worse for him.

Back to the proportions and pacing? The Hydra and the InHumans plotlines are being pointedly kept apart, almost as if they were two different episodes or something along those lines – and perhaps they are. In S2, Hydra and InHumans took turns, so to speak – in the first half S.H.I.E.L.D. had to tackle Hydra, in the second – the InHumans. Now, in S3 the series apparently had S.H.I.E.L.D. tackle Hydra and InHumans at the same time, with rather mixed results. No, it is not about Andrew Garner being dead because Hunter was obsessed with the need for revenge; it is about the screen time. Try as they like, the series’ writers and co. just do not seem to mix the Hydra and the InHuman plot lines in the equal proportions; maybe they have to or they don’t have to (let’s not forget – the actors themselves are people with opinions and ideas, who may or may not get along with each other and other people, this probably plays a role in S.H.I.E.L.D. episode scripts), but this is what they do. The result – an unbalanced episode, such as the ep. 3x02 for example. If Grant Ward is to be an opponent to S.H.I.E.L.D. he just has to be more impressive, because otherwise, he just will not cut it. (On the other hand, there are rumors of yet another new character coming forth – one that is even more formidable than Ward is which frankly sucks, especially for Coulson.)

Also, speaking of villains, though not of proportions and pacing, Lash is even more formidable than how he has first appeared in ‘Laws’; (in fact, I think that the entire series team is doing its best to bury the embarrassing, cliché-ridden episode as much as they can): he is a shape-shifter as well, making him twice as tricky to capture. (Maybe it is a she, cough, but would not Lash have breasts too if this was the case?)

This brings us to Daisy, or rather – to Alisha. Once a minion of Jiaying, she has acquired some sort of a role in Coulson’s crew – fancy that. Maybe Daisy’s team of powered people just got its first new member – and a competent one, too.

So: Ward is largely a villain/plot device to move the series forwards; Hunter is on the outs with the rest of the crew; Coulson appears to have acquired a new friend, BTW; and Daisy continues to bond with Mack – and maybe she will bond with Alisha, too. Oh, and Simmons has to go back from wherever she came, too – but that is the topic for the next week’s episode. Until then – see you.

S.H.I.E.L.D., Wanted - Oct 13

“A Wanted (InHu)man is an interesting and well-written episode. In many ways, it is a very impressive and solid S.H.I.E.L.D. episode. The actors are delivering fully what they mean to deliver; the script is solid and well rounded; the setting is very realistic, and the drama of the episode itself keeps the audience intrigued, tense and guessing what happened next until the end – when Jemma declares that she must go back...in short it is everything that “Laws of Nature” was not.

For example...the beginning of this episode begins in the middle of action, in media res, with Lincoln doing his own thing, his past development in “Laws...” having been not so much discarded, as ignored. The episode 3x01 is mentioned, and there are tie-ins to it, but mostly – it is ignored. Perhaps, even S.H.I.E.L.D. scriptwriters/producers/etc were embarrassed of the heavy-handed clichés and the rushed plot that occurred back there.

Episode 3x03 has no such clichés, and indeed Lincoln/Daisy situation is treated much more interestingly here; so early in the S3, there is no happy conclusion for Daisy and Lincoln yet; there were some proclamations of love, but still nothing certain. If Daisy and Lincoln are to work it out, they will really have to work it out...or not, because at the moment this does not appear to be very likely...

On the other hand, Coulson and Ms. Rosalyn? They seem to be hitting it off. Coulson – or rather the show’s scriptwriters – have realised that they must not make ATCU a remake of the ‘real S.H.I.E.L.D.’ from S2, and are trying to make something new here; the fact that Ms. Rosalyn appears to be something of a female Coulson – or at least a woman that Coulson can relate to.

And yet...such details are secondary. The truth is, “...Wanted...” was carried not just by the actors and their acting, but also by the plot itself. The cast is very good, of course, but so are the people behind the scene, so to speak. On this Tuesday, they too have delivered something right and proper, and the audiences got to enjoy another solid and satisfying episode of ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’. (And the infamy of “Laws...” finally got its karmic comeuppance.) 

S.H.I.E.L.D., Purpose - Oct 6

What makes a show worthwhile watching, maybe even inspiring?

The actors and the acting, for one thing. S.H.I.E.L.D. still got it covered. The touching reunion between Fitz and Simmons, the way the entire team pulled together to make that possible – it was superb, complete with some definitely Gothic settings (and professor Randolph, from Asgard, to break the tension on occasion) and an interesting prequel (of the 19^th century).

Other interactions between the characters were worthwhile too. Hunter finally got May out of her funk, while May seems to be on the out with her ex-husband – again. Maybe there is hope for Philinda still. (FitzSimmons are back together, and Daisy is with Lincoln now). Garner, however, is not very impressed with Coulson, so perhaps there are seeds for a potential conflict ahead, and maybe the team will go through some further reworking – necessary this time (cough conflict between Lincoln and Daisy cough).

The other conflict, of course, is between the ‘new and improved team’ and Ward. He has already recruited von Strucker’s own son for his cause, and is clearly on a roll, intent on rebuilding Hydra from the ashes. Hunter, who talked May into joining his cause, will stop him, of course, but-

But acting aside, the overall plot of S.H.I.E.L.D. has turned predictable. “Purpose in the Machine” is not as rushed or clichéd as “Laws of Nature” had been, but all the same... Ward, on some level, had given the show an element of unpredictability: will he deliver? Won’t he? Now that unpredictability is gone from his character, and it is obvious that he will rebuild Hydra before S.H.I.E.L.D. can stop him, because otherwise there will not be any Hydra and it is a staple of any Marvel™ universe, so yeah. This means a relatively straightforward plotline, with Ward keeping one-step ahead of Hunter and May until he is no longer needed by Hydra, and then-

And then it is anyone’s call, really. His character is based on Angelus, just a bit, so odds are that he will die, though it will be a team effort, because that is how S.H.I.E.L.D. works, or supposed to. (The scripts of S2, speaking of supposed, have gone through some remaking in the process, and it was painfully obvious, even in the beginning, but the scripts of S3 seem to have got it together after all.) The entire BtVS S2 situation, where Angel/us got sent to Hell has already been done by Jemma, and now the team has brought her back, and now Fitz gets to be the fixer out of the two – Jemma does have some karma to work out...but that is pointless. S.H.I.E.L.D. the show does not care about the karma: it is a straightforward live action adaptation of Marvel™ comics, possibly complicated by the interactions of actors and staff behind the scenes that we will never know about. The good are good, the bad are bad, and eventually they are dead. Ward probably has to die, if von Strucker the younger is to inherit Hydra; considering that the beginnings of S2 showed him to be suicidal already, this might be what the character intends to be. (The characters, because Marvel™ and co. do their best to differentiate characters from actors, yeah.)

Anything else? “Purpose in the Machine” was less heavy-handed in integrating the show with MCU, which is a good thing, again. This might change in the next episode, but that does not matter: S.H.I.E.L.D. S3 has found its stride, and it is a fast-paced one: already Randolph has introduced (to Coulson) the greater concept of the InHumans, so perhaps the Secret Warriors of the comics aren’t too far off – with a new twist. This is very exciting, so who knows what the future episodes will bring?

So: great teamwork from the characters, great acting from the actors, and a proper integration into the MCU (not heavy handed as in the previous episode). I.e. this is a very good episode to watch.

S.H.I.E.L.D., Laws of Nature - Sep 29

And so, AoS is back. Opening S3 is “Laws of Nature”, a nice filler/introductory episode. It introduced Joey/Jose, a new character with the power to melt metal (and maybe other solids), as well as Lash, a giant feral InHuman of an arsehole, who goes around killing people. Whedon, whose demons back on BtVS had been known for their grotesque appearances, must be so proud of him – talk about a throwback, and it is primal!..

And then there is Ms. Rosalind, an international woman of mystery, who is running ACTU, a new incarnation of ‘real S.H.I.E.L.D.’. It aims to control the new InHumans, (who are set to appear all over the world), but actually may not be the evil organisation that Lash made it appear to be to the viewers. That said, given Coulson’s keen acumen and whatnot, it is only a matter of time until S.H.I.E.L.D. and ACTU are being full-out enemies, or at least – rivals.

Think back to S2. Ward is not in this episode, so we shall not be talking about him this time. Think about the ‘real S.H.I.E.L.D.’. Odds are, they were not exactly evil, and they did make peace with Coulson at the end of S2 – just for Jiaying’s InHumans to decimate them, because they followed Coulson’s plan, and died for because.

The same goes for senator Ward. Yes, it was his brother who killed him, but the man got the opportunity only because of Coulson’s decisions. (May’s as well, maybe, but she is not in this episode either, so we shall not talk about her much too.) Coulson found the senator useful? Then he should have dedicated at leastsome agents to protect him against Grant – but he did not. The result? Ward killed his family, but he had nothing to lose, while Coulson probably lost any political goodwill he had built by hanging over Scarlotti to Talbot and the US authorities – and now he is paying the price. Great decision choices there, ‘DC’.

Speaking of decision choices, there is Lincoln, who, apparently, is not with S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore. WTF with that? Obviously, the SkyeWard relationship is done. Obviously, there needs to be more than just ‘Skye/Daisy married Lincoln and had his babies’. But at the end of S2 Lincoln helped Skye and Co. defeat Jiaying’s forces, so whatever it was that caused his about-face really should be shown in detail. For the moment, though, Lincoln refused to come with Mack and Skye/Daisy, but has run away, seeking out his own way in the world. He will probably be back, helping the agency or being helped by them in few episodes – he is a part of the regular cast now, after all.

With Jemma, it’ll probably be much longer – she’s stuck on some alien planet, having learned some survival skills that probably equal Ward’s, waiting, but proactively, for the others to come and rescue her...and by ‘proactively’ I mean running for her life from...whatever it is that we weren’t shown – yet. We did get to see the alien moon, which is cool, so maybe we will get some Guardians of the Galaxy crossover action yet. Of course, if Fitz will lose Simmons to Rocket Racoon, this will just be wrong! His final scene in this episode, when he is screaming at the monolith because he had lost Jemma (at least for a while) is heart rendering.

On the other hand, Lance and Bobbi are back together for good. They have to be, of course, since the talk of a spinoff featuring them, and primarily them, has been in the works had been around since they appeared on S2, and now it is picking up steam, but anyways. Bobbi still has not recovered from Ward’s shooting her in the knee; Hunter is going after Hydra and Ward (so who is going to be helping Daisy/Skye with the InHumans? Only Mack? Considering that he does not like aliens and had been infected with some sort of an alien virus back in Puerto Rico...this will turn out to be a problem, one bets). That is fine, Hydra is a part of Marvel universe, but the question is – will Hunter be able to handle it? In the end – yes, he must because of the spinoff, but on the other hand? Ward might be evil now fully, but if he had been able to rebuild Hydra after AoS S2 and ‘Age of Ultron’, then he had to learn new skills, including organizational ones. How will Hunter be able to handle them, I wonder?

And so, this is it for ‘Laws of Nature’. It just introduced the new characters and plotlines, (conflicts, etc), and not even them, since neither Ward nor May have appeared in this episode. It should be noted, that on the latest ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ promotional posters, Ward is flanking Coulson alongside Skye. Why? Is he going to be redeemed? This is unlikely; even for his fans on the show, but no one probably saw Lincoln splitting off from S.H.I.E.L.D. and breaking up with Skye after S2 either.

...Anyways, ‘Law of Nature’ was very exciting to watch, but nothing in-depth. This is worrisome too – ever since S2 ended; TV had featured new shows that were clearly influenced by ‘Agents’, including ‘Killjoys’ and ‘Blindspot’. The latter, in particular, stars Jaimie Alexander, who had appeared as lady Sif on S.H.I.E.L.D., so odds are that lady Sif will not be returning to this show any time soon: being Jane Doe on ‘Blindspot’ pays better. That is not the issue; the issue is that those shows tend to stimulate excitement and nothing more; easily watchable and easily forgettable. Hopefully, ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ will not follow their example...

So this is it for this installment – a nice introductory episode, nothing more. Hopefully, the next ones will be have more depth.