Underlings
The underlings are monsters created by the Denizens on commission from Agents of Derse. They are the primary enemies in Sburb, and their job is to oppose the players- they do not assist the Dersite army on the Battlefield - indeed, Wayward Vagabond, a Dersite soldier, was not even familiar with the term "Imp" post-exile. Unlike most Prospitians and Dersites, they are physically affected by pre-entry prototypings, though unlike the kings and queens (and Jack Noir), they usually don't take on the attributes of all of them. When killed, Underlings explode into piles of grist, sometimes also leaving behind vitality gel cubes and / or additional remains, such as stains (as seen with shale imps and tar basilisks) or heads. Each underling is associated with and named after a specific type of grist, and drops that type of grist when killed, although they can also drop additional varieties of grist. It can be postulated based on the contents of the Act 6 Act 4 Flash that Underlings encountered in void sessions are skeletal. It is noted that the skeletal Underlings of void sessions are very difficult to permanently kill, collapsing into piles of bones before reassembling and attacking again.
Underlings
Known underlings include imps, ogres, basilisks, liches, and giclopses. There is one unknown type of underling that is seen as one of Grandpa's game trophies. Three large, unnamed underlings are seen in [S] Jack: Ascend., including a horned underling of the same type seen by Grandpa's fireplace. Another unknown underling, noted for having an extremely long body, is seen behind Terezi here; this is confirmed to be a separate underling type (rather than the length being a result of one of the trolls' prototypings) by the existence of a skeletal equivalent here.
Armed with an array of colored Elements, players hatch a horde of dragons by strategically placing gemstones within nesting sites. Of course, different eggs thrive in the presence of different elements, so would-be tamers must optimize the use of their dragon handler underlings to stake claim, add gemstones, and fetch more resources. At the end of the Great Hatching, the tamer with the most Dragon Points is proclaimed Underwing's next great Dragonlord.
STRONG BAD: typing Man, that show Nova is boring, but I'd watch a show called Dartmouth anyday. clears screen Now lemme tell ya PastyDeadGuy, you came to the right man. I've got so many underlings, I've had to deal with nearly every awkward social situation under the awkward social sun. I'm an expoit! clears screen Firstly, nothing says tact and professionalism like sending a subtle hint with a hilarious novelty t-shirt. So in your situation, you could just start wearing a shirt that has like,
Hey everybody, I know it's been a while, but I'm back! I decided today to write up a review of a very short, yet very good third party Pathfinder product which has helped me immensely cut down on stat block preparation and tracking hp and conditions in combat. Without further ado, I present to you... Click the image to be taken to the Drive-Thru RPG page! 3rd Edition D&D and Pathfinder are rules-heavy games, there's no doubt about that. That's not a problem when one knows the rules, but it is a lot more stressful prep work for weekly games; designing proper stat blocks for parties can take over an hour easily, especially at high levels, and the use of minions and over a half-dozen characters on the battlefield can end up a book-keeping nightmare. It's especially punishing for martial characters who don't have save-or-dies, as even CR 5-6 monsters can have excess of 50 hp don't serve well the role of "mooks who can be downed in one hit" unless everyone at the table's building ubercharger Barbarians. As a lot of high-CR monsters end up turning into walking bags of hit points with Natural Armor, and even low-level Wizards gaining access to a bunch of spells, minimalist minions who can pack a punch but go down easy are very rare in Pathfinder. Rule Zero: Underlings is the remedy to these problems, and it's served me very well for the months of gaming I've used for it. Fortunately the game mechanics of this product are all OGL, so I'll be showcasing how the rules variants work. The Humble Underling An underling is a new type of creature with more simplified rules in combat. They attack, deal damage, take turns, and otherwise act similar to normal characters. However, an underling's stats are primarily determined by their Challenge Rating, which informs their core abilities such as Armor Class, saving throws, damage, etc. Beyond this core CR framework, underlings have a race/monster type to determine their primary roles in combat, while an optional underling template might grant them new abilities or modify one or two traits. As Underlings are meant to be mooks fought in groups, the Group CR measures fighting a group of 4 of them instead of a single creature. Their Inidividual CRs are for when the GM feels like adding in reinforcements, but it is not recommended for using them as individual opponents because they're not meant to be challenging encounters. So for example, an encounter with three ogres (CR 3 each), the GM might decide to replace one of the ogres with a group of 4 cultists with a Group CR of 3. Underling stats are extremely streamlined in comparison to base monster rules and class creation for NPCs. Regardless of their natural weapons, equipment, etc, their AC/CMD, Saving Throws, skill bonuses, etc, are determined by their Group CR. Be they vampires, giants, or drow, Underlings with a Group CR of 4 have 14 AC, +6 attack and 1d10 damage with their weapons of choice, and have a Wound and Kill Threshold of 4 and 9 hp respectively. There is some variety, for an Underling's race determines which saving throws are "good" and which are "bad," as well as which skills their "class bonus" entry applies to. Most of the entries on the table are self-explanatory, but I'll explain a few of them. AC/CMD: The AC is the normal value; the book does not mention anything about touch or flat-footed values, so I assume the AC is the same for all three. CMD, or Combat Maneuver Defense, is part of the Combat Maneuver mechanics introduced in Pathfinder which consolidate bull rush/disarm/trip/etc into a single roll (Combat Maneuver Bonus) vs. ones' Combat Maneuver Defense. Wound/Kill Threshold: The Wound Threshold represents the minimum amount of damage necessary to wound an Underling of that CR. Wounded underlings function normally, but if they suffer another attack of equal or greater value to their Wound Threshold, they are killed or knocked unconscious (depending on whether non-lethal damage is used). The Kill Threshold represents the minimum damage necessary to kill an Underling; they do not do into the 'dying' condition or can be saved via stabilization, they instantly die once their Kill Threshold is crossed or they're wounded twice. Damge which deals a value less than an Underling's Wound Threshold is ignored. Conversely, spells and effects which heal can remove the wounded condition from an underling if the damage healed exceeds their Wound Threshold Value. Attack: This is the value used for melee and ranged attacks, but it is also the valued used for an Underlings' Combat Maneuver Bonus. Regardless of whether they're swinging a sword, shooting a crossbow, or desiring to disarm an opponent, an Underling uses the same bonus for them all. However, Underlings are incapable of performing critical hits, and they always provoke an attack of opportunity when they perform a combat maneuver within reach of an enemy. A natural 20 is still an automatic hit, though. Damage: Underlings can perform an attack as either a standard or full-round action. Full-round attacks deal the listed damage, but standard attacks deal half damage (rounded down), for both base and Average Damage. Attacks made due to the result of an attack of opportunity deal half damage as well. Average Damage: In lieu of rolling damage dice, the GM can instead opt to apply the average damage on the result of a successful attack. Attacks made as part of a standard action or attack of opportunity deal half this value, rounded down. Ability DC: Underlings which have special abilities which allow for a saving throw have this as their listed DC. Skill Bonus: Basically the Underlings' race determines which skills these bonuses apply to. They have a +0 modifier to skills not listed in their race or template. Miscellaneous Stuff: Underlings have an Initiative modifier of +0. They do not have ability scores or class features, and almost none of them gain feats. They use half their Group CR (rounded down) when they must make an ability check, and they are unaffected by ability score damage and drain except for Constitution (which lowers their Wound and Kill Thresholds by a like amount). They cannot die due to bleed damage, only be wounded by it, and any spell or ability which would grant an extra attack or action instead allows them to deal full damage as a standard attack instead. There's an Optional Rule for Underling Morale, hearkening back to the days of Old-School D&D. Basically, Underlings who are wounded when the last non-Underling ally is slain or knocked out in combat attempt to flee the battle as quickly as possible. Initial Impressions: I like this universal consolidation of streamlined abilities. Although underlings are overall rather weak, they do have the action economy on their side and if equipped with various debilitating attacks (tanglefoot bags and the like), they can wear down the PCs and soften them up for the main villains. The Wound/Kill Threshold strongly reminds me of Savage Worlds' system for Extras, who would drop immediately when a damaging attack exceeded their Toughness rating. I do think that it's a shame that ability damage/drain is nerfed when used against Underlings, but it's much better than the alternative of book-keeping penalties and the like. The next post will cover Underling Races and Templates, the latter of which includes things like sneak attack, a limited selection of spell-like abilities, and the like. 041b061a72