Intelligence Check

I recently realized, to my surprise, just how little dedicated support the sphinx has received in the d20 community.

To be clear, the operative word in the previous sentence is “dedicated.” It’s not unusual to find a variant sphinx monster or two in a bestiary, and specific sphinx NPCs—while far from common—aren’t exactly unheard of either. There’s even a handful of supplements with rules for sphinx PCs.

But if you’re looking for supplements for which the sphinx is the central theme rather than an adjunct, there’s remarkably few, which is weird because of how much potential they have.

Between their sagacity and love of lore, an eclectic group of variations whose attitudes range from helpful to villainous, a propensity for magic, and real-world mythological origins that seem almost tailor-made to connect them with other monsters, you’d think that sphinxes would have multiple sourcebooks about them. You could easily tie those together to make a sphinx-centric campaign if so inclined, and yet there don’t seem to be many publishers willing to explore such a concept to the fullest.

Except, of course, for Purple Duck Games, whose PF1 sourcebook Legendary Races: Sphinx does the monster credit.

Presenting new lore about sphinxes’ creation and expanded information on their connection to maftets and living monoliths, it has not only the expected variety of new game mechanics (e.g. feats, spells, magic items, etc.) but also some innovative new crunch as well, such as the “arcane sphinx” simple template which makes a sphinx into a spellcaster.

…albeit only a spontaneous one.

Now, the lack of preparatory spellcasting options in a template that grants magical ability is something I’ve talked about before. In that case, the answer was to tweak the templates in question. Here, however, the easier thing to do is simply make an alternative template altogether.

Which leads me to present the following:

The Eldritch Sphinx Template (CR +1)

Dedicated to studying esoteric lore, some sphinxes teach themselves to become arcane spellcasters, taking to such studies with ease. This template is open to any greater sphinx (those of the androsphinx, elder sphinx, and (gyno-)sphinx varieties; at the GM’s option certain other sphinxes can also acquire this template). An eldritch sphinx’s quick rules and rebuild rules are the same.

Rebuild Rules

Ability Scores: Increase Con +2, Int +2.

Spellcasting (Su): An eldritch sphinx casts spells (including cantrips) as a wizard. She does not gain an arcane school, arcane bond, or any other features of the wizard class except for requiring a spellbook to prepare her spells each day. The sphinx’s wizard level equals her base sphinx CR minus 1 (8 for androsphinxes, 15 for elder sphinxes, 7 for (gyno-)sphinxes). Should the sphinx gain actual wizard levels, add her base sphinx CR minus 1 to her wizard level to determine her spellcasting abilities. If a sphinx has this template, wizard levels are always treated as associated for that sphinx.

In addition to the above, there’s also a “thaumaturgical sphinx” template which is identical to an eldritch sphinx except that its spellcasting works like that of an arcanist, and an “occult sphinx” template which is the same except that it uses psychic spellcasting as per the psychic class (including needing no spellbook and having knacks instead of cantrips). Other variations may be possible as well.

The deck of many things was a classic staple of Dungeons & Dragons long before the d20 System was invented. With its random effects and oftentimes-severe consequences, it quickly became infamous for throwing a monkey wrench into any campaign where the PCs saw fit to use it. Naturally, this infamy quickly assured it a place of prominence.

It also assured that there would be variant decks cropping up left and right. From the classic thirteen-card deck to the more recent twenty-two card variant, the fifty-four card totem deck in Dragon #271 to the sixty-six cards in 5E’s eponymous Deck of Many Things boxed set, there are numerous iterations of the classic magic item out there.

But Paizo Publishing’s Classic Treasures Revisited supplement did something slightly different. Instead of coming up with a variant deck, it instead introduced a half-dozen new cards, outlining not only what they did, but what specific cards in the classic deck that these new cards replaced. Nor did these need to be introduced as a set, allowing for GMs to swap in some or all of them as they see fit.

While the idea is neat, I felt that there were better options for which cards were replaced. To that end, I’ve listed each of the replacements from Classic Treasures Revisited below, striking out the listed substitutions in favor of my own. The reason why I feel that each such replacement is superior is listed in italics after each entry.

Amnesiac: This card washes away all memory of your identity. No force less than direct divine intervention can restore the lost memories. (Replaces the Ruin Donjon card.)

One of the reasons the deck of many things is hailed as a campaign-wrecker is that it includes multiple cards which are, in effect, instant death for a PC, including the Donjon and the Void (the Skull used to be of a similar nature, but has been ameliorated in recent years). While most of those allow for at least the possibility of regaining a character, albeit with extreme effort, the usual effect was to make the PC was gone forever. To that end, replacing one of those with the Amnesiac seemed more worthwhile; at least this way you don’t have to roll up a new character!

Bones: You permanently gain the type, alignment, Armor Class, defensive abilities, ability score modifiers, and feats of the skeletal champion template, even if you do not otherwise qualify. (Replaces the Skull Fool card.)

Having this card replace the Skull card is thematically appropriate, but from a mechanical standpoint it’s a bit of an oddity, since one card has you face an undead creature in battle (with your death being permanent if you lose) and the other turns you into one.

While Pathfinder did away with the concept of ECL (i.e. Effective Character Level, which was your actual level/Hit Dice combined with a (somewhat arbitrary) “level adjustment”), the idea of gaining a template meaning that you’ve gained some levels’ worth of power remains a truism, which is why templates are so rarely applied to PCs. But at this card adds (for all intents and purposes) the skeletal champion template to a character, that’s actually most similar to the Fool card, in that rather than losing XP directly, you’re now effectively a higher-level character, and so will require that much more XP to reach your next level.

Girdle: Your current gender permanently changes. (Replaces the Balance The Fates card.)

On paper, having the Girdle replace the Balance card makes a lot of sense, as both change your character in a way that doesn’t involve game mechanics. Except that’s not entirely true with regard to the Balance card, since alignment can affect class features for characters such as barbarians, monks, paladins, and several other classes. By contrast, only an extremely small number of (rather obscure) prestige classes have a gender requirement.

To that end, we want to swap this card in for one that’s potentially equally unimpactful, at least on the mechanical level. The Fates works well here, because it affects a course of events rather than your character directly. Even then, most players won’t want to use it for anything besides a contingency for their character dying—which may very well never happen, leaving it held in reserve in perpetuity—which makes The Fates’ usefulness questionable. In that regard, the Girdle is an appropriate replacement.

Lover: Choose a person of your race that knows you personally. That person is affected as though he or she had drunk an elixir of love, with you as the object of his or her obsession. The effect is permanent. (Replaces the Knight Vizier card.)

This is another one where the original replacement seems to make more sense. After all, both put an NPC into your service (though technically the Lover card doesn’t need to be limited to an NPC).

The issue is that the Knight card grants you a 4^th-level fighter who doesn’t gain levels (and the notation that you can take them as a cohort if you take the Leadership feat is rather awkward; what if you’ve already taken Leadership? What if your level 12 character doesn’t want to spend a feat just to get a level 4 cohort?), whereas the Lover card can potentially affect any character of the same race (that you know), regardless of level. To that end, it seems more appropriate to swap this out with another card that’s helpful, but in a manner not strictly tied to levels or mechanics in general. In that sense, the Vizier fits nicely.

Madness: Once per day you suffer from confusion for 10 consecutive rounds, triggered at a time of the GM’s choosing but typically at the least opportune of moments. (Replaces the Rogue Idiot card.)

This is another instance where the original replacement is lopsided. The Madness card has a distinct game mechanic, being variable only in its timing, whereas the Rogue card is much more narratively-driven. Having this replace the Idiot card instead (which is itself variable in how punitive it is; a wizard will suffer greatly for having drawn it, whereas a fighter won’t care very much) is more balanced overall.

Mastery: Instantly gain any one feat of your choice that you qualify for. (Replaces the Star Throne card.)

Having the Mastery card replace the Star card (which grants a +2 inherent bonus to an ability score of your choice) is certainly a worthwhile substitution. It’s just that the Throne card’s +6 bonus to Diplomacy is a more direct exchange, since that’s almost the perfect equivalent of (Pathfinder 1E’s version of) the Skill Focus feat, albeit taken for Diplomacy. In essence, you’re swapping that out for a different feat of your choosing.

Of course, the Throne card also grants you a “small castle” when you draw it (and even lets you place it in an open area), but given how itinerant most PCs are, this can be seen as a burden (or something to sell) more than any sort of home base. As such, I suspect that most PCs would prefer a bonus feat of their choosing to a free castle.

One thing to keep in mind is that you don’t need to keep these substitutions consistent for different decks of many things. One might have the Bones card replace the Skull card, while another swaps it out for the Fool. Or you could ignore the replacement listings altogether, and have these six cards in the deck alongside the others (though you might need to assign them playing card or tarot card equivalents). Mix things up and go wild!

Though if you’re including a deck of many things in your campaign in the first place, you probably don’t need to be told that.

As this post is about a Paizo-produced option for an item that’s already in the Pathfinder 1E Core Rulebook, this technically shouldn’t be posted under the Third-Party Support heading. But as mentioned in the introduction, the deck of many things is an iconic D&D item. Given that PF1 is a variation of D&D 3.5, I’d say that’s close enough.

In my previous article, I mentioned Fat Goblin Games’ PF1 supplement CLASSifieds: Core Prestige Class Simple Templates, and I wanted to expound on that some more.

Specifically, on an issue with several of those templates’ spellcasting.

But let’s back up for a moment.

Of the ten prestige classes in the PF1 Core Rulebook, six of them improve your spellcasting progression. Of those, four (arcane archer, arcane trickster, dragon disciple, and eldritch knight) are specific to arcane spellcasting, one (the loremaster) is type-agnostic, and one (the mystic theurge) improves both arcane and divine spellcasting. However, only one of them—the dragon disciple—specifies whether the spellcasting progressions that they improve are prepared or spontaneous.

Which isn’t the case for the simple class templates in Fat Goblin Games’ supplement.

To reiterate, while the Core Prestige Class Simple Templates book does have the dragon disciple template casting spells spontaneously (though it only lists spells per day rather than spells known; given that it should have a spells known table and note that they get two “spells per day” slots for each spell level, I’ve listed a corrected table below), the other spellcasting class templates mandate being a preparatory spellcaster (and the loremaster mandates being an arcane preparatory spellcaster).

Dragon Disciple Creature Spells Known

While the simplicity of a template necessarily reduces the options that a creature would have if they’d taken levels in a prestige class, this still seems like an unnecessary straitjacket. For instance, consider that making a creature cast preparatory arcane spells means that (with the possible exception of the loremaster) they’ll need to have a spellbook on them, which could mean that your PCs gain access to some spells you’d rather they not have. That’s not an issue with spontaneous spellcasters.

To that end, consider using the following rules where the corresponding prestige class simple templates are concerned (if not mentioned, presume that each template uses the spell list mentioned in its entry in the Prestige Class Simple Templates sourcebook):

Arcane Archer: When applying this template to a creature, choose if you want them to be a prepared or spontaneous spellcaster. If prepared, they use the spells per day table listed; if spontaneous, treat the listed table as their spells known, and they gain two spell slots of each level for every level of spells known.

A preparatory arcane archer uses Intelligence as their spellcasting ability modifier. A spontaneous arcane archer uses Charisma as their spellcasting ability modifier.

Arcane Trickster: When applying this template to a creature, choose if you want them to be a prepared or spontaneous spellcaster. If prepared, they use the spells per day table listed; if spontaneous, treat the listed table as their spells known, and they gain two spell slots of each level for every level of spells known.

A preparatory arcane trickster uses Intelligence as their spellcasting ability modifier. A spontaneous arcane trickster uses Charisma as their spellcasting ability modifier, and replaces this template’s ability score modifiers with the following: +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma.

Eldritch Knight: When applying this template to a creature, choose if you want them to be a prepared or spontaneous spellcaster. If prepared, they use the spells per day table listed; if spontaneous, treat the listed table as their spells known, and they gain two spell slots of each level for every level of spells known.

A preparatory eldritch knight uses Intelligence as their spellcasting ability modifier. A spontaneous eldritch knight uses Charisma as their spellcasting ability modifier, and replaces this template’s ability score modifiers with the following: +2 Strength, +2 Charisma.

Loremaster: When applying this template to a creature, choose if you want them to be an arcane spellcaster or a divine spellcaster. If arcane, draw their spells from the sorcerer/wizard spell list; if divine, draw their spells from the cleric spell list. Then decide if you want them to be a prepared or spontaneous spellcaster. If prepared, they use the spells per day table listed; if spontaneous, treat the listed table as their spells known, and they gain two spell slots of each level for every level of spells known.

A preparatory arcane loremaster uses Intelligence as their spellcasting ability modifier. A preparatory divine loremaster uses Wisdom as their spellcasting ability modifier, and replaces the template’s ability score modifiers with the following: +4 Wisdom. A spontaneous loremaster of any kind uses Charisma as their spellcasting ability modifier, and replaces the template’s ability score modifiers with the following: +4 Charisma.

Mystic Theurge: When applying this template to a creature, choose if you want them to be a prepared or spontaneous spellcaster; this choice is for both their arcane and divine spells. If prepared, they use the spells per day table listed; if spontaneous, treat the listed table as their spells known, and they gain two spell slots of each level for every level of spells known.

A preparatory mystic theurge uses either their Intelligence or their Wisdom as their spellcasting ability modifier. This choice must be made when the template is first applied to a creature; once made, this choice cannot be changed. A spontaneous mystic theurge uses Charisma as their spellcasting ability modifier, and replaces this template’s ability score modifiers with the following: +2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, +4 Charisma.

I’ll close out by saying that, while there’s no official guidance that I’m aware of, my presumption is that spellcasting ability gained via a simple class template receives bonus spells for a high spellcasting ability modifier, the same as any other spellcaster.

It took the fey quite some time to find their place in D&D.

While stories of a “fairyland” or “realm of the fey” go back for centuries, D&D’s traditional Great Wheel cosmology didn’t really have a place for them. In fact, it wasn’t even clear if the fey were supposed to come from the planes at all, since they were quite often portrayed (usually by implication) as beings of the natural world, with dryads being denizens of the forest, nixies dwelling in rivers, gremlins living in caves, etc.

AD&D 2^nd Edition tried to square this circle by making the Seelie Court into its own pantheon, with Titania and Oberon as its chief deities, around which gods of various fey creatures such as unicorns and leprechauns gathered. The Unseelie Court was essentially the realm of a singular evil fey goddess, the Queen of Air and Darkness. Both were placed among the Outer Planes.

That this solution was found by many to be inelegant can be inferred by how, in the D&D 3^rd Edition Manual of the Planes, there was presented a “Plane of Faerie” as an example of planes that might be found in alternative cosmologies (along with heretofore unknown planes such as the Plane of Mirrors and the Elemental Plane of Wood).

The idea must have been popular, because Pathfinder 1E and D&D 4^th Edition both availed themselves of it when putting forward their cosmologies. Pathfinder had “The First World” as its fey realm, while 4E had the “Feywild.” To date, both are still being used in the latest editions of both games.

Looking at the presentation of a fey-specific plane in the context of the d20 System, however (i.e. 3E’s Plane of Faerie and Pathfinder 1E’s First World), I think that there’s an unintended consequence (albeit a very minor one) that I think has gone overlooked.

If the fey come from a different plane of existence, shouldn’t they have the Extraplanar subtype?

Now, this is far from an unsolvable problem. While the various entries in d20 System monster books are all written from the standpoint of encountering the listed creatures on the Material Plane (hence why some have the Extraplanar subtype in their listing, since no one has that subtype on their home plane or one of the Transitive Planes), it’s fairly obvious that you can have creatures that are traditionally the denizens of one plane living on another; it’s why the various summon monster spells are populated with terrestrial animals that nevertheless live on the celestial or fiendish planes.

By that same token, it’s not much of a stretch to say that there are fey who’ve “gone native” with regard to the Material Plane, and consider (for the purposes of spells and effects) it to be their home plane now.

But this presents a mild inconsistency in that something like a celestial tiger or a fiendish gorilla has a template to indicate its otherworldly origin, allowing the rules to reflect that their not quite the same as their terrestrial counterparts. Shouldn’t fey who live on the Material Plane, rather than the Faerie Plane/First World/Feywild have something like that?

Which brings us to Grundylow Games’ Race Pack Two: Visitors.

In this product, a new subtype is presented: Indigenous, meant specifically for those fey who’re denizens of the mortal world.

The full text of the subtype can be seen in the product’s preview, but to summarize, a fey with that subtype is vulnerable to spells and effects that target humanoids (e.g. charm person), but cannot take feats, traits, or other options whose prerequisites include being of the Humanoid type.

Personally, having all fey have either the Indigenous or Extraplanar subtype (depending on whether their home plane is the Material Plane or the Fey Plane, respectively) strikes me as a fairly easy way to square the circle of where the fey come from, without removing any existing options. If anything, it allows for even more options than before, since Extraplanar fey can be overcome with a successful banishment or dismissal spell, while Indigenous fey can be hit with hold person or dominate person, all while fey-specific options such as charm fey and hold fey work on either.

The one issue under this rule is that a GM will need to figure out if a particular fey is Indigenous or Extraplanar. This includes monsters with the Fey Creature template (whereas those with the First World Creature template, however, will always be Extraplanar). But given that this would only matter in a few specific instances, that can probably be decided on the fly.

Overall, Grundylow Games came up with an elegant way of letting the d20 System rules differentiate between those fey which come from their own alien realm, and those which live alongside mortals.

Which one your PCs meet in their next campaign is up to you.