Pathfinder: Shadow creature II

Also, here's a seru from Monster Codex with the shadow creature template from Bestiary 4:

SHADOW SERU CR 4

XP 800

NE Small outsider (augmented)

Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +10

DEFENSE

AC 15, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 natural, +1 size)

hp 22 (3d10+6)

Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +2

Defensive Abilities shadow blend; Resist cold 5, electricity 5; SR 9

OFFENSE

Speed 20 ft., fly 40 ft. (average)

Melee bite +6 (1d4–2 plus poison)

Ranged spit venom +6 ranged touch (poison)

Special Attacks poison, spit venom

STATISTICS

Str 6, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 11, Wis 13, Cha 10

Base Atk +3; CMB +0; CMD 13

Feats Dodge, Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse

Skills Bluff +7, Fly +4, Perception +10, Stealth +10 (+14 in rocky areas); Racial Modifiers +4 Bluff, +4 Perception

Languages Aklo, Common (can't speak any language); telepathy 60 ft.

ECOLOGY

Environment any land (jungles, swamps, or underground)

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

Treasure none

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Poison (Ex) Bite or spit venom—injury; save Fort DC 15; frequency 1/minute for 6 minutes; effect 1 Con damage plus blindness for 1 minute; cure 1 save.

Spit Venom (Ex) As a standard action, a seru can spit venom up to 30 feet. This is a ranged touch attack with no range increment. Any opponent hit by this attack is exposed to the seru's poison.

AFO: Anaconda vs. jaguar - August 20

Let us temporarily get back to AFO. For a change, we will talk about the ‘Anaconda vs. jaguar’ episode.

Firstly, spoilers: the anaconda won. Second: what about it?

Now, there was some outrage about the reptile winning, in part because in real life it is usually the other way around, jaguars kill and eat anacondas instead, and-

Okay, again – the show was called ‘Animal Face-Off’, where the better fighter won, rather than the best killer. Fine. Let us assume that that was the anaconda, rather than the jaguar, and move on. What was next?

Nothing, actually. Yes, the jaguar’s defeat was discussed, yes, the anaconda’s victory was condemned, but that was it. People tend to get quite passionate over the fights of tigers and lions, for example, but over fights of jaguars and anacondas? Not so much. AFO intended to entertain, not just to educate, but in the end, it failed to do so. JFC, (to say nothing of ‘Monster Bug Wars’), had its’ own flaws, but it also had some variety, making it into a relatively exciting TV series to follow and to watch.

AFO, on the other hand, was also an exciting TV show to watch, but it followed a single scenario – a one-on-one face-off between two various animals. This sort of thing can work, (especially if CGI is good enough, and in the recent past, when AFO was aired, people were not as fussy when it came to computer graphics on screen), and it did work – for 12 episodes of AFO, after which the show ended.

…The same thing can be said of JFC – it also lasted for 12 episodes/1 season despite its’ greater variety and the more exciting subject – dinosaurs! JFC, however, lacked the professionalism of AFO, and it was not as educational as the older show, as I probably have mentioned before. Since the History Channel were JFC was aired tends not to show such entertainment in the first place, and because Mr. Blasing, who got the JFC to run, had his own issues, (but not all of the right credentials), JFC was cancelled, and by now – buried.

AFO didn’t appear to have a credential problem, but by the time that the ‘Anaconda vs. Jaguar’ episode was aired, it probably had trouble holding/recapturing the attention of its’ fans. This particular episode was different from, say, the ‘Lion vs. Crocodile’ episode, but only in details, so while some viewers were angry that the anaconda won (and/or the jaguar lost) the others were just uninterested (rather than unimpressed) and bored!

This is not restricted to documentary TV programs; just look at such pieces of fiction as AoS or ‘Killjoys’! However, I have talked about AoS a lot, including its’ latest attempts to be ‘mysterious’ while being ‘cute’ about it, (ever since the last episodes of S3), whereas ‘Killjoys’…

‘Killjoys’ aren’t bad, though compared to Michelle Lovretta’s previous TV show – ‘Lost Girl’ – they are much more tame and straightforward. On the plus side, they seem to have fewer problems with their backstory…probably because it is straightforward, again – the Killjoys are trying to stop the Company (yes, it is really called thus) from domineering Westerly with an all-around wall, (complete with a roof), while trying to figure out where Dutch’s ex-mentor Kline is planning to do regarding alien centipedes and their plasma that makes humans almost immortal. Overall, it may be a somewhat simple plot, (the Company of no name is bordering on a bad joke), but with just 10 episodes per season there is no time to be complex, and there is plenty of character development too, alongside plot development.

‘Lost Girl’ was a more complex, more tangled, and (currently) more rounded TV show out of the two, but it suffered from a major background instability. AoS had to change itself when it decided to integrate Hunter and Morse – and then it (possibly) went off tangent, and outright failed – to launch ‘Marvel’s Most Wanted’ TV series, to keep Mitchell as part of the cast, with that stupid shoehorn S3 premiere episode – the list goes on, but most importantly? AoS sort jammed S2 and S3 together and there were unnecessary character deaths’ all around, especially at the end of S2.

And ‘Lost Girl’? It did something similar – it constantly changed its’ back-story around, from Celtic to Norse to Greek without going anywhere in particular, especially after S1. The Garuda in S2 was a decent villain, but after this? It all went downhill; the quasi-Greek gods in S5 just do not deserve a mention and the fact that Bo’s father was Hades, (not that Aoife was anything like Persephone) is just sad.

In the long run, ‘Lost Girl’ didn’t know where it was going, and how it was going to get there, and the fact that it lumped any folklore character as a ‘Fae’ – it all contributed to the show going downhill and ending with a whimper, however it would rather pretend to be a bang. Michelle Lovretta just wasn’t very discreet or discerning when it came to her sources, and it case of ‘Killjoys’ the sources are largely MCU – the aforementioned AoS, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ as well…

Back to AoS? There are rumors of an Avenger coming to AoS – AoS is taking its’ cues from the rest of Marvel Cinematic Universe; MCU is dipping into the occult via ‘Dr. Strange’ movie? AoS is doing the same with the Ghost Rider; only there were Ghost Rider films in the past, (but not part of MCU, apparently), so now it’s a different Ghost Rider than the traditional Johnny Blaze…

That said, the variety that I have been talking about? AoS is trying to develop it, somewhat, now that Hydra is gone…supposedly, but right now it is gone…and AoS in particular has no major villain to fight against. (This lack of a major villain caused problems for ‘Lost Girl’ too, BTW, and as for ‘Primeval’…) There are rumors of Cal/Mr. Hyde/Daisy’s father returning to the show in S4, but we will have to wait to see if that is true, and besides, in S2, Cal was more of a morally ambiguous, even sympathetic character than an evil one…

Moreover, AFO? AoS is trying to have some variety – it has to, now that Hydra is gone (supposedly, but for the moment? It is gone). AFO did not, as it was written before. Hence, why it is gone, while in the long run, it had been a good show. The special ‘sperm whale vs. giant squid’ episode came too late and could not fix anything.

AoS S4 initial thoughts - August 11

Now, S.H.I.E.L.D – the site – has given out a brief update of how things will go at the beginning of S4. Daisy has split from S.H.I.E.L.D. for now and is ‘not’ robbing banks as Quake (or Tremors?). Coulson has been demoted – the president of the U.S. has appointed a new director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Given that the department did not really flourish under his guidance in S2 and 3, the president’s logic cannot be blamed – what can be blamed is the fact that the new director’s name still was not revealed. The Hell? It probably isn’t Norman Osborn, (the man hasn’t made much of appearance in the MCU just yet), and so what is the harm in the lack of info? Are they trying to keep the excitement going?

…Yes, probably. AoS as a TV series has some strange sentiments towards excitement: in the second half of S3, especially, they worked so hard at keeping the excitement of the guessing game (which agent was going to die) that they overshot it, and by the last two episodes of S3 at least some of the fans just wanted it to be over already, and it didn’t work either – the S3 two-part finale had some of the lowest ratings of the series’ episodes, period.

…With movies, it is one situation: 2016’s ‘Tarzan’ did its best to depict the turn of the 20^th century political situation in the first half of the 21^st century – and may not have succeeded, according to some critics. The audiences loved it. ‘Ghostbusters’ 2016 remake (featuring a gender swap) raised a lot of controversy on the web, but the critics loved it (somewhat). The fans were less excited in the long run, (but not because of the Internet trolls, BTW), so now – no sequel (well, for the current being). ‘Suicide Squad’ – the critics did not really like it, but the audiences love it. For the films, too, audiences are key, but not because of ratings – because the admission fee, the price of tickets, etc. With sites like Netflix, it’s similar – it’s pay per view, and few people can master watching ‘Daredevil’, ‘Jessica Jones’, ‘Luke Cage’ (upcoming) in one go, so it all comes down to money, again.

AoS, however, is no more pay-per-view than ‘Chopped’ from the Food Network is, so it all comes down to popularity and ratings, and right now it seems that AoS is trying to bulk itself up via intrigue. It may work for fictional spy organizations and co., but in real life, for TV viewers? It does not.

Back to the fictional spy organization in question. Coulson got demoted and is working with Mack, May is training new recruits (?), Daisy is on the outs with S.H.I.E.L.D., the FitzSimmons have split-

Wait, what?

Apparently, somehow the new director is splitting the FitzSimmons up, with Fitz being on the periphery, and Simmons – a part of his inner circle; didn’t we do just that in S2?

Yes, we have. When Gonzales took over S.H.I.E.L.D. – sort of – Simmons joined him, and Fitz struck out with Coulson and Lance. Considering that for a while, Coulson had to share power with Gonzales (and May); this new S4 information appears to be yet another rehash of S2. One of S3’s problems was the lack of a clean break with S2; now we seem to get more of that same thing with S4 – and it has not even began. Not very encouraging, is it?

However, wait, there is one last thing – Dr. Radcliffe, the new member of S.H.I.E.L.D. (probably), and a friend of the FitzSimmons, is building some sort of a cyborg or homunculus in his lab. Isn’t this very exciting, to sound as Simmons would?

Yes, it does – but this is not the point. The point is that this sort of solution/resolution/plot twist/etc. has come fairly late in the series, as has the Ghost Rider. By now, a large part of the audience has stopped watching AoS, and no tricks are really going to catch their attention…well, maybe they will, but the trend in S3 was the decreasing number of viewers, no matter what the writers, the cast, and the rest of the team have thrown at them. Sometimes even a good show gets a bad turn, and AoS – after the successful S1 – was not that good at all.

In addition, is Radcliffe going to become another villain and be killed in the new season? Only time will tell; so far, his actor is not a member of the main cast, which is not a good sign, but it does not amount to anything: Luke, who played Lincoln, did become a member of the main cast, and still left.

So, for now we are left wondering at what will exactly happen in AoS S4, and will the show prosper or continue to flounder? We will just have to wait and see. 

'Harry Potter' and co. - Aug 5

Time went on. The OI-2016 is upon us – I just watched the opening, very dramatic and colorful. Watching it, one can forget that in reality, the Olympic Games are on the downswing – they are growing more dramatic and colorful, and less relevant for the rest of the world…in the positive meaning of the word ‘relevant’.

In the negative meaning… ever since the winter Olympics of the late 1990s, the Russians have been at odds with the Americans and Canadians, and that alone had almost ruined every Olympics ever since. It is a good thing that they did come to Rio in August 2016 – otherwise, the diplomatic damage between RF and ‘the West’ would have become even worse. As it is, just look/search online for former Olympic towns/stadiums/etc. It is not an optimistic picture.

(Mind you, what is currently going on in the U.S. politics in general is already bad enough, but I have no interest to discuss it. Period.)

In other news, the ‘Harry Potter’ play has come into the light. What can be said about it? It is a play, a theatrical performance, and it is its’ actors that give it meaning and life. So far, they are all preforming wonderfully, so ‘HPACC’ is a hit. Curiously, however, there is little discussion about it so far, especially among the fans – possibly, because they are pissed at Rowling and co. about their latest stance with Hermione?

No, it is not just about the racial matter – at least not how a member of a Trump rally would go at it. The catch is that Noma Dumezweni just does not look like a Hermione, no more than Paul Thornley looks like a Ron: if they’d been cast as some ‘apocryphal’ wizarding couple, who got caught in a Potter-Malfoy-Weasley-Granger mess, they would’ve accomplished that, no problem; as it was, the promotional photos had to explain that they were Ron and Hermy, and not someone else.

Moreover, as for the racial matters? Cherrelle Skeete was a much better Hermione than Noma, and I am not just talking about age, but about attitude and general Hermione-ss. If she had been playing Hermy in the movies instead of Emma Stone, (hypothetically), then the fans would not have had so many issues accepting Noma as Hermione and Cherrelle as Rose, for example.

Yes, the issue of political correctness was present there, back when Noma and Cherrelle were cast in the first place. Yes, J.R. showed that she was willing to screw her canon to get on top – there is a good reason why her Mary-Sue/self-insert is Rita Skeeter, one of the less pleasant characters of HP world. However, you know what? Rita is not in ‘HPACC’, so let us just move forth.

‘HPACC’ gives some closure to the Malfoys and the Golden Trio (Scorpius is a Malfoy, sophisticated and clever; Albus-Severus is a Potter, brave and straightforward; and Rose is both a Granger and a Weasley, she’s Hermione with Ron’s values), but again, they all are just characters; if the scriptwriters had wanted, they could’ve shipped Scorpius with Polly Chapman, for example, by the end of the play, and no one would’ve been the wiser – of course this is what fanfic is for, but for the moment ‘HPACC’ isn’t given any personal fanfics, not yet.

Finally, Delphi. Apparently, she is the daughter of You-Know-Who and Bellatrix. Can she be any more cliché? Fans were discussing the possibility of the abovementioned pair having a child (or several) for a while, and they had been shipping Bellatrix and Voldemort even longer. Delphi is the ‘easy’ way out, a fanservice for the HP fans, which was accepted, or rejected, depending on the fan.

And yes, Rowling’s heyday is past – at least until the first ‘Magical Beasts…’ film gets aired. Yes, because she alone did not write ‘HPACC’, it is a fan-fiction as much as anything, albeit officially sanctioned/allowed by Rowling herself. Yes, there is a fan-level closure for Scorpius and Rose, for Harry and his youngest son – so what? The reviews are good, the ratings are good and the HP fans are generally enjoying it – good for them. Of course, the fans are also enjoying DC’s ‘Suicide Squad’ – good for them! It is the first DC movie that is not ripping off the plot of a Marvel movie. Maybe there is hope for DC yet, though judging by the trailers of ‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘Justice League’, the bad guys might need to save the day more literally than anyone would intend them to do so.

(And yeah, apparently Diana Prince/Wonder Woman is fighting in WWI rather than in WWII, as Cap has done. Good for her!)

Moreover, speaking of Marvel, AoS (the show) got a new director: Coulson got demoted! Jason O’Mara will be playing the new director. Judging by his filmography, (and speaking of DC), the last few films were animated, straight-to-video films of Batman (Bruce Wayne) as he interacted with Damian (his son by Talia al-Ghul). For Jason to be playing live a new character just might be a big break for him, so let us wish him good luck!

In addition, as for the in-show dynamics between the characters? Judging by the first half of S3, (especially by the first episode of the season), Lincoln and Daisy were supposed to be made and to defeat their enemies (including Hive?) together. However, Luke (who played Lincoln on AoS) decided that he would rather work with the cast of ‘Blindspot’ so Lincoln got killed and Coulson (Clarke Gregg) had to be saved, because Joey, (well, the actor who plays him), just doesn’t have the same oomph.

I feel sorry for that actor. It is even more possible that it was his character (Joey) who was supposed to die and save the rest of the team, including Lincoln. However, because Luke left, saving Lincoln suddenly became unnecessary, so the scriptwriters tied up a loose end – and probably messed up S4 for the audiences, the cast, etc. S3 was a mess-up of S2, especially in the second part; there were some references to the greater MCU, that did nothing; and the opening episode just does not work with the rest of S3 anymore…

So. The ‘Harry Potter’ fandom is slowing down, but not very much; the DC movie fandom is coming together at last; and the general Marvel fandom is still dealing with the mess that is AoS. They should have kept ‘Agent Carter’ as their representative TV series instead.