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#astomoi
dailycharacteroption · 5 months
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Grim Apostle (Spiritualist Archetype)
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(art by StuHarrington on DeviantArt)
Ah, the spiritualist class, those shepherds of the dead, but very specifically not undead excepting in one case, because of reasons.
The spiritualist is very similar to the summoner, which is why the two were merged in 2E, but there are some stories that can only be told with the combination of ghostly being and the one they are bound to.
Truly, both the spiritualist and their phantom can come from all walks of life, leading to some odd couples and some interesting concepts… but one walk of life really doesn’t normally lend itself to cultivating such a bond: the nihilistic worshippers of daemons.
After all, daemons are distinguished from other fiends by their desire to devour souls, to snuff out those candles from the cosmos and leave it that much darker. A free-floating soul attached to a binder is surely too tempting a target for them.
Luckily, The Midwives of Death adventure, the final part of the Tyrant’s Grasp AP and the final First Edition product created, had a few final character options in it to round things off, including this option for such dark casters.
Rather than draw upon a wayward soul, these spiritualist bond themselves with a spiritual echo similar to those tapped into by mediums, but manifested in ectoplasmic form like a spiritualist. However, it is the nature of these vestiges that give one pause: for they are echoes of the Four Horsemen, the demigod rulers of daemonkind!
This hungry shadow that the mystic bonds with is not forced to reflect only one Horseman, but can shift each day to reflect a new one, giving them variable power sets depending on the day, again hearkening back to the similarities to mediums.
Needless to say, these mystics are every bit as monstrous as their dark patrons, and I can just imagine them feeding souls to their grim phantom as a sacrifice to their daemonic masters, believing, perhaps rightfully that those souls end up on the plates of the Horsemen themselves. They best take care though, for these phantoms prove just as cruel and hungry as the daemons they resemble, taking a bit of their “master” with them when banished.
Regardless, the result is a ghostly master/servant duo with a nasty set of powers and a sinister relationship.
As a reflection of the Four Horsemen, the phantoms of a grim apostle draw upon foci based on those entities, which they can change each day. However, their hunger and malevolence claws even at their own masters, and when the spirit is sent hurtling away from the material world by violence, they dig metaphysical claws into their master, risking taking them with them.
Which isn’t to say that they are entirely a liability. The spiritualist’s soul belongs to them, after all, and they will brook no other claimants, warding their host against death magic and magic that would displace or ensnare their soul, at least while cohabitating their body.
The four foci that these mystics and their phantoms have available are as follows. Firstly, there is Death, when they draw upon Charon. Such phantoms appear as shapeless, cowl-laden figures. They seem to embody death in general rather than Charon’s inevitability, but they gain some fancy abilities regardless. The apostle, for one, marks foes for death with their attacks, making the phantom’s attacks more potent against them. The phantom also develops an aura which impedes mundane and magical healing as well. Furthermore, they also instinctively learn techniques to quickly follow foes that try to escape their grasp. Finally, they learn a killing word to slay foes.
Second up is Famine, the purview of Trelmarixian, which gives the phantom a jackal-like visage. Their attacks are particularly dexterous, and take the form of ravenous bites. Their aura weakens foes with the pangs of starvation, they can unleash a horrific magical howl of anguish that weakens nearby foes, and they can even briefly swallow foes whole.
Apollyon’s domain is Pestilence, and the phantoms gain a ram skull cranium in this form. Their strikes weaken foes as if suffering illness, they surround themselves with phantasmal biting flies that devour foes, they can deliver disease with a touch, and finally, their strikes can make a foe suddenly very contagious, spreading their suffering to others.
Finally, we have War, the position held by Szuriel, and these phantoms resemble his form as an eyeless angel with black wings. These phantoms are strong, rather than agile, and their strikes aim for the most painful and damage-causing areas of the body. Their aura whips allies and foes alike into a frenzy of aggression, and their strikes heal themselves. Finally, Their fury becomes so great that any effect that would slow down or cause them to hesitate in their assault no longer have any effect.
With four powerful combat-focused foci to choose from, this archetype can be pretty good for tailoring your power set to the day, but you can also narrow your focus to one or two if you so choose. It really depends upon you. Just keep in mind the drawback that you can be dealt heavy damage with no way to resist it if your phantom goes down. With that in mind, perhaps building with some survivability in mind would be good.
Now, aside from villain campaigns, this archetype sits squarely in the “mostly for NPCs” category, but the fact they can vary up the powers and fighting strategy of their phantom per encounter means that this archetype works best for a recurring villain rather than a one-off foe. This can be a fun way to surprise the heroes that have prepared for the villain’s previous strategy.
Another interesting note: this archetype draws upon the current holders of the positions of the Horsemen. If you plan a game set in a different setting or time period, might those Horsemen be different? Could be worth homebrewing.
The party has been invited to the manor of a local noble for a gala, but when they arrive, they find the place curiously quiet. Once inside, they find the place overrun with monsters evoking rot and disease, including a whole colony of verduous oozes. It seems a cult of the Rotten One crashed the party before they arrived, led by their half-mad leader and their phantasmal advisor which looks suspiciously similar to depictions of the dark demigod.
After losing a beloved companion, the formerly ascetic astomoi Viius found that he could not return to his former life, taking on a more and more nihilistic worldview, until one day he was contacted by a shape in the dark, offering him the power to help end the world that lacked any such meaning.
The embodiment of War has an iron grip on the nation of Merkas, his devotees whipping the country up into a frenzy of jingoism and fascism, turning their blades upon neighbors for any reason at all, be it greed for resources, preemptive violence against imagined threats, and of course, bigotry against those unlike themselves. High in their rankings are speakers of War, who call upon translucent visions of their master, interpreting his will.
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bigfrogdraws · 6 months
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a commission for my friend of their pathfinder character, Kohl, an Astomoi !! i had a lot of fun drawing them !!
if you'd like to commission me too, you can read up on my commission info by clicking here! or by going to this link: https://bigfrog4231-commissions.carrd.co/
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What race do you think has the worst luck? For me it’s the Ghorans mostly because they aren’t considered people execpt for the nation that knows how delicious they are.
The Astomoi. Vulnerability to gas-based attacks, completely blind beyond 60ft, and no lore on their culture or society, so no one knows how to play them or why they would play one at all considering their distance-blindness cripples their possible class choices.
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enddaysengine · 1 year
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Planscape Monster Index (A)
Last updated: Dec 11, 2022
A
Aasimar
Abadar (Power)
Abaddon Gigas
Aballonian
Abaraxas (Demon Lord)
Aboleth
Abrikandula (Tanar’ri)
Abyssal Drake
Abyssal Eviscerator
Accomplice Devil (Baatezu)
Accuser Devil (Baatezu, Incomplete)
Achaierai (Incomplete)
Adaro
Addu
Adherer (Incomplete)
Adhukait (Asura)
Adlet
Advodaza (Baatezu) - Discussion
Aeon (Type, Monitor)
Agathion (Type, Celestial)
Aghash (Div)
Aghasura (Asura)
Ahuizotl
Air Drake
Air Elemental
Air Mephit
Air Weird
Akata
Akhana (Aeon)
Akhult
Albino Cave & Giant Solifugids
Alchemical Golem
Aldinach (Demon Lord)
Alichino (Infernal Malebranche)
Allip
Almiraj
Allosaurus & Compsognathus (Dinosaur)
Aloer (Infernal Duke)
Alraune
Amethyst Dragons
Amoeba Swarm and Giant Amoeba
Amphisbaena
Andirifkhu (Demon Lord)
Android
Androsphinx
Angazhan (Demon Lord)
Angel (Type, Celestial)
Animal Lord
Animate Dream
Anhur & Monju (Egyptian Powers)
Ankheg
Ankylosaurus & Brachiosaurus (Dinosaur)
Annis Hag
Antelope & Elk (herd animals)
Apollyon (Daemon Horseman)
Apostasy Wraith
Apostate Devil (Baatezu)
Apostle Kyton (Template)
Apshai (Egyptian Power)
Aranea
Arbiter (Inevitable)
Arboreal Dragon (Dragon)
Archelon & Baluchitherium (megafauna)
Archon (Type, Celestial)
Ardad Lili (Infernal Iron Queen)
Areshkagal (Demon Lord)
Argorth
Argus
Argus Wall
Armadillo and Platypus
Armadon Formian
Armand
Armanite Demon (Tanar’ri)
Army Ant Swarm & Giant Ant
Arsinoitherium & Glyptodon (megafauna)
Arqueros (Empyreal Lord)
Arshea (Empyreal Lord)
Ascomoid
Ashava (Empyreal Lord)
Ash Giant
Ash Rat
Ashen Husk
Asmodeus (Baatezu, Power)
Astomoi
Awakened Plants and Animals
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moraleskc · 1 year
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A pathfinder game I co-GM’d, I played an Astomoi Ninja named Shizuka, and a NPC Alchemist named Neo. 
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crimso-o · 2 years
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Getting into Pathfinder nowadays and I've fallen in love with Astomoi, so I made my own 😳💕
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They need more love, it's a shame there isn't much info about them.
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blu-orb · 4 years
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oKAY I'M SAYING IT
The DND race of Astomoi deserves more love and that's that.
They're cool shadow people that have telepathy what more could you want
Go research em. Trust me.
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orpheusterminals · 3 years
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#astomoi https://www.instagram.com/p/CRM_8PuFveN/?utm_medium=tumblr
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katair · 7 years
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some pathfinder losers, orio and ritz
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feeshies · 6 years
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This is my new d&d character. Her name is Mika. She’s an astomoi (living shadow) and a shadowdancer. She has no mouth or eyes or physical form and she must dance.
Other people in the party: A goblin vampire hunter who doesn’t know she’s a vampire A dryad druid who really wants to make a friend and fall in love. Also she’s always surrounded by bees.
Girls club
Also all 3 of us wanted to play so we're all going to try to dm together
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dailycharacteroption · 5 months
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Roleplaying Races 14: Astomoi
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(art by @xcrimsonalertx here on tumblr!)
We’re back with another special on playable ancestries, and this one’s a bit obscure.
Ahhh, yes, the Astomoi, one of the playable options that I mentioned before when talking about things that I wish First Edition had done (i.e., fleshing out some of the otherwise one-and-done playable ancestries that were introduced in a bestiary and never touched again).
But without further ado, I give you the faceless psychic enigmas, the astomoi!
Now, with their psychic abilities and featureless bodies, one might assume that the astomoi are a completely original creation by Paizo, or barring that, a reference to some surreal fantasy or sci-fi fiction, but this is actually not the case!
First mentioned by Megasthenes and later by Pliny the Elder in their naturalist bestiary works, the Astomi, or Astomoi as we would come to call them, were supposedly a species of human-like beings from the mouth of the Ganges River that were notable for their hairy bodies and complete lack of mouth. These beings supposedly subsided on the air they inhaled and the smells of fragrant fruit and vegetables.
This sort of “human-like but having a strange anatomy” is common trope of bestiaries at the time, whether Megasthenes made them up entirely or heard about them from some traveller’s stories, and perfectly illustrates how the human imagination filled in the edges of the known world long before exploration, scientific observation and accurate recordings of events did.
The astomoi as they appear in Pathfinder look a bit different, but keep the key elements of being mouthless and the sensitivity of their sense of smell, as we shall soon see.
Our Astomoi are humanoid in shape and mostly hairless, their bodies absorbing light while also projecting colorful patterns on the surface of their skin, looking by all accounts like humanoid blots of darkness in which stars or shapes are sometimes seen. Astomoi lack not just mouths, but eyes, noses and ears, their craniums being truly featureless. Instead, their whole body is scent-focused sensory organ, while their natural psychic ability provides for their sight and hearing.
While they can absorb some nutrients through the air, their primary method of sustenance is to psychically pull the nutrients of foodstuff out and absorb it through their skin, rendering the food tasteless and of no nutritional value to others. However, their skin is also their greatest weakness, as the permeability of the skin, which facilitates their ability to absorb scents, makes them vulnerable to inhaled toxins and air-transmissible disease.
Sadly, the fact that this ancestry was created for a bestiary and hasn’t received a single bit of lore support means that our only clues as to their disposition and society are literal scraps. What we do know is that they are predisposed to asceticism, making it likely that their culture and way of life are contemplative, minimalist, and lacking in extravagance. Indeed, Astomoi rarely see the need to wear any clothing at all save for protective materials for the weather, and even in their native temperate homelands, the most they ever where are a few small rags, and not even for modesty, not that their anatomy sports anything that other peoples would consider covering. (or maybe they do, if there is any sexual dimorphism with astomoi, we literally have only one piece of art to go off of. So feel free to fill in those gaps yourself.)
I also imagine with their sensitive olfactory organs, that scent must pay a strong role in their society, with faint perfumes being used for aesthetic purposes or even to convey meaning, though obviously they don’t wear anything too strong to avoid overwhelming themselves and others. Similarly, their food is likely prepared with aroma in mind, with spices and cooking being used to bring out mouth-watering scents. Imagine a group of astomoi gathered round a large, perfectly cooked and seasoned baked fruit buffet, just taking in the smell before absorbing the nutrients. Maybe even preparing an additional portion for mouth-bearing neighbors, which the astomoi enjoy with their senses even though they do not partake.
Astomoi are observant and insightful, capable of making sense of the world and their own thoughts, however, their bodies are somewhat delicate.
Without a mouth, astomoi must use their telepathy to communicate with other beings with language. Notably, they don’t seem to have their own tongue, perhaps learning languages mostly to facilitate communication with non-astomoi rather than for communication with each other.
Naturally, their whole body being an olfactory organ gives them a keen sense of smell.
Meanwhile, they use telepathy to simulate darkvision within a moderate range, but are blind beyond that. However, that telepathy allows them to substitute thought components common to psychic spellcasting for the verbal counterparts found in most other magic traditions in a telepathic shout that the threads of magic respond to.
However, having such receptive and sensitive skin means that astomoi are quite vulnerable to inhaled poisons and disease.
That being said, having no mouth does mean you can’t exactly feed them something poisonous. They can, however, absorb the magical effects of potions and other magical ingestables in the same way they do food, so there is that.
With their high intelligence and wisdom, astomoi make excellent casters regardless of class, though of course they are middling when it comes to charisma casters, though not bad per se. That weakness to constitution does not do them any favors, so if you plan any sort of tanky close-range combatant, you should probably focused on having a high AC over being able to eat hits. With than in mind, their ascetic ways makes monk a tempting class, but you should probably focus on being a rapid damage dealer and debuffer rather than absorbing hits. Sneaky classes like rogue and such are also decent, though if you’re a trap-breaker, be a very good trap breaker, because that suceptability to inhaled toxins, while situational, could be a major problem. Honestly, the only thing I would recommend steering them away from is ranged builds, as their sense of sight is limited to 60 ft, ok for skirmishes in a dungeon, not so much for making a sniper in the open field.
Overall the astomoi is a clever idea for creating a serviceable playable ancestry out of an obscure folklore reference, but it is hampered by a lack of lore. However, that is just more imperative for you and your players to come up with lore for them that fits your world!
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archaeopteryxcantus · 2 years
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41? for the meme?
I keep an entire (second) book of these, so you've come to the right place - I'll give you two.
My most recent favourite:
"Newspapers are for cowards and people that can read." - Aecus, LN Astomoi Gunslinger
And the one that has stuck with me for years:
"We don't take prisoners in the police force," - Lorastine FitzKaylor, LE Devilspawn Tiefling Warpriest and Chief of Police
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I'm sure this had been asked, but surely Sahkil Tieflings and Manasputra Aasimar exist but just aren't statted yet right?
I-- hm
Well they-- hrrmmm
Maybe... Both of these Outsider don't feel like the kind to intermix with mortals for different reasons, and the only reasons I could conceive a Sahkil yielding a child are deeply unpleasant in ways I do not wish to contemplate or voice (similar to why daemonspawn exist despite a daemon's stated goal to be total extinction of life).
They likely do exist, and my attempts to find lore details on if they were even possible brought me to this page by thecreaturecodex where they create stats and lore for Sahkil-tieflings. To my knowledge, Manasaputra Aasimar aren't even hinted at as a possibility, though the Manas themselves are quite welcoming to any mortal who braves the journey to the Positive Energy Plane to speak to them. It's not out of the question.
Perhaps that's where astomoi come from, rather than aasimar?
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mallowbees · 4 years
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Astomoi,,, bdhshssb ~spice anon
That's so cool whaT how are there not more refs of that!
They're literally shadow people!! That would be so fun to play as??? Imagine an Astomoi rouge in a dungeon setting, could you imagine the crits you'd get from stealth
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k25ff · 4 years
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Here’s a couple of esoteric races from Panspermia, via Pathfinder proper.
Munavri are probably related to humans, and are known for being sailors on massive underground seas, and for their strange psychic powers.
Astomoi are almost completely featureless, see and speak telepathically, and are not from any known location.
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"Astomoi appear to be made of pure darkness. They require no food—indeed, they have no mouths—and they have no eyes with which to survey their environment. Instead, they rely on their powerful minds to sense the world around them, and subsist on nutrients absorbed from the air." LIKE???? A ESTHETIC!!!!
bro i wanna be an astomoi wtf
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