Spiritual Spotlight: Yhidothrus, the Ravager Worm
Chaotic Evil Hybrid Fiend* of Age, Time, and Worms
Domains: Chaos, Death, Evil, Repose
Subdomains: Ancestors, Demon, Entropy, Murder
The Complete Book of the Damned, pg. 104~105
Obedience: Meditate in a closed coffin partially filled with leech-infested mud or worm-infested soil. During the obedience, you must swallow or inhale at least a dozen living leeches or worms.
Benefit: Gain a +4 profane bonus on saving throws against effects that cause magical aging, slowness, or anything that damages, drains, or penalizes ability scores.
Oh man that’s a painful Obedience. Not only have you got to lug around a coffin big enough to fully enclose you, but you have to lug around a coffin packed with a dozen pounds of soil that’s filled with squirming things. I won’t even get into how to hide this ritual from prying eyes or explain yourself if you get caught because it’s basically impossible to do if you’re in a Good-aligned party. If you’re among Evil, you can at least have your allies stand guard while you go eat your breakfast in the seclusion of your coffin so that no innocent civilians see you. Also, hefting that thing around basically necessitates some sort of extradimensional space, or a luggage-strewn cart and a very good cover story if gate guards check the contents out and spot it.
Yeesh, the logistics of this are giving me a headache. A normal funeral-grade coffin is usually as weighty as the corpse it’s meant to contain, but you can likely get by with a shoddy and lightweight one you’ve made yourself. In fact, the Worm may find that charming! Especially when you fill it with dirt and start eating worms in its name. Keeping the coffin filled with life is likely going to be a hell of a project in and of itself, basically necessitating turning the thing into a terrarium; make sure to weatherproof your coffin or it’s going to rot from the inside-out before you even make it a few months into your new faith! The Worm may offer a more generous interpretation of ‘closed’ if your coffin has worm-eaten holes in it, but the more they chew through it, the more likely it is the thing will break open like cheap plywood the next time you lay down.
All that trouble however is worth it, even before getting into the Boons. The benefit from the ritual is huge, basically giving you a +4 on saves versus just about every status ailment in the game, because it says “ANYTHING” that damages, drains, or even penalizes ability scores. Not only are poisons, diseases, and most curses affected, but frightened, blinded, exhausted/fatigued, negative levels, grappled, and many more conditions inflicted as secondary effects from enemy attacks can be more easily resisted thanks to the protection the Worm offers, and this is ON TOP OF the extra resistance versus Slow effects and magical aging. So, yes, this is an A+ benefit!
So lets see what kind of Boons the great devourer of time has to offer…
Boons are acquired slowly: the first once you reach 12 hit dice, the
second at 16, and the third at 20. However, the Evangelist, Exalted, and
Sentinel Prestige Classes can be entered as early as level 7; doing so
grants you the Boons at levels 10, 13, and 16 instead. Servants of
demons may also take the Demoniac Prestige
Class; you don’t get the Boons any faster than E/E/S, but you may
select which Boon set you get, and you get cool demon-related powers!
*Yhidothrus is technically both a Demon Lord and a Qlippoth Lord. This has no effect on whether or not you can enter the Demoniac Prestige Class, but it’s worth noting that its true loyalties will likely lay with the True Rulers of the Abyss. I’m mentioning this because it’s another cute little detail a DM can play with and a character can consider.
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EVANGELIST
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Boon 1: Consumption of the Worm. Gain Corrosive Touch 3/day, Acid Arrow 2/day, or Vampiric Touch 1/day.
Nice! Except for Corrosive Touch, I mean. It’s a melee touch spell that deals only 5d4 damage and, while that may be helpful when you need to break an object, but unless you’re an Evangelist-Fighter/Barbarian, there’s probably someone in your party better at breaking things. Both Acid Arrow and Vampiric Touch are better, with VT granting you some much-needed vitality when trapped in an enemy’s melee radius, and Acid Arrow’s low damage somewhat mitigated by the fact that it’s ongoing and stacks with itself.
Three damage spells with very obvious uses. Makes them easy to cover and move on, at least! I’d personally stick with Acid Arrow unless you Evangelized yourself from a more melee-oriented class.
Boon 2: Nightmare Below. You gain a burrow speed of 30ft that can be used to tunnel through sand, mud, soil, or other soft substances. You have +10 to Stealth checks while burrowing. Once per hour as a standard action, you can burst from the ground with a terrifying roar; all creatures within 30ft of your emergence that were unaware of your presence must make a Will save (DC 10 + ½ your HD + your Cha mod) or be stunned for 1 round and shaken for 2d4 rounds after. The burrow speed is an Extraordinary, but the emergence ability is a Supernatural mind-affecting fear effect.
I appreciate that there’s no indication as to how your character burrows, so I assume you move just like a worm does, slinking through the ground like an accordion. However, note that the burrowing IS an Extraordinary ability, not a Supernatural one, so there’s some sort of physical action going on that you presumably need at least one limb for. Perhaps you’re just eating the dirt?
Anyway, a semi-permanent burrow speed–and a decently speedy 30ft one, at that–rates pretty high on ‘things that are spooky for players to have’ because of the nonsense players can think up. Grappling someone and dragging them underground and leaving them there is just one of the many shenanigans you can pull. Being more than 5ft underground makes you immune to a great many attacks and spells, making it a solid defensive option too! However, as strong as this ability could be, it’s held back by something that’s extremely important:
You can’t see anything while underground.
Creatures that can burrow normally navigate by Tremorsense or the power to see through earth, but unless you’re a really weird race or have specific and rare magic items/effects on you, you’re as blind to your enemies as they are to you. That puts a huge damper on an otherwise incredibly powerful ability, because it forces you to rely on an above-ground ‘spotter’ to help you find your way around… Unless, of course, you pop your head out like a meerkat every so often to check on your surroundings, but that also runs the risk of ruining your terrifying arrival.
The terrifying arrival is a pretty good initiator, if we’re being honest. Sneaking around and seeing where your foes are clustered before burrowing over to that spot is a decent way to have a bunch of them trip over their own feet trying to get away from you… Or, rather, not getting away at all due to the supernatural stun. Stunning even one or two enemies out of a group of 6~10 during the surprise round means two less enemies get to roll initiative before being cut down. You have to give up your standard action to do it, but it’s a decent Save-or-Suck if your allies are waiting in the wings, ready to pounce when you explode from the ground like the world’s filthiest jack-in-the-box.
Boon 3: The Very Worm That Gnaws. When you perform your Obedience upon attaining this Boon, you are devoured utterly by the worms, your consciousness transferring into the swarm. You gain the Worm That Walks Template. Creatures that become shaken by your Nightmare Below emergence are also sickened for 1 minute.
Alright, alright alright alright ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT
This represents one of the very, very few ways for a player character to obtain a Template this powerful without jumping through some pretty hefty hoops. I mean, yes, you have to serve the Ravager Worm for years and years without being put down permanently, and you also have to meditate in a wormy coffin for more or less the entire time… But by god does it ever pay off.
Worm That Walks is one of the stronger Templates one could ever hope to obtain. Not quite on the level of the Vampire or the Lich, but certainly in the upper tiers, and with fewer obnoxious weaknesses! You become immune to physical single-target spells and effects, as well as spells/effects which target a specific number of creatures, such as Disintegrate and Magic Missile due to your wormy constitution, though you remain vulnerable to mind-affecting effects or effects which attack your senses. However, a great number of powerful effects such as Slow, Finger of Death, Harm, and most forms of Smite simply do not work against your innumerable tiny bodies, which can die off in droves without harming your overall consciousness. In fact, the worms comprising your form breed with such alarming swiftness that you gain Fast Healing equal to your CR (which is typically roughly equal to your level, but you gain an automatic +2 from the Template) and they reflexively dodge out of the way of incoming attacks so fluidly that they grant you DR 15/–.
Yes, you read that right. Fast Healing 18 (at least) and an insurmountable DR 15. If you were the party caster before becoming an Evangelist, you are no longer squishy in the gamer sense of the word. And if you were the party tank? You’re basically indestructible now, aside from your unfortunate weakness to area-of-effect attacks (from which you take half-again as much damage). The DM should be wary of people wanting to worship the Ravager Worm, if only because of how hair-pullingly resilient a WTW can be if played right. You even overcome the WTW’s biggest weakness, in that once they drop below 0 HP they become permanently staggered and lose access to all of their defensive abilities (including Fast Healing and DR), because Nightmare Below allows you to dig down to safety until you can recover.
I really don’t want to stretch this little article any more than I should, despite the fact that a character becoming a Worm That Walks is a huge can of worms that deserves a lot of explanation, but here: Take a look at the Template’s page again for yourself. Just take a look at all the stuff you get! I will close with a note for DMs though: if you find yourself needing to keep an unruly PC in check, note that their life becomes inextricably linked to the Ravager Worm’s will now. As written, you do not lose the template if you fail your Obedience (which, by the by, is much easier to perform now that you are the worms)… But failing too often for too long could cause Yhidothrus to simply cease providing you with divine energy, unbinding your mind from the worms and killing you instantly before pulling you into its Abyssal palace.
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EXALTED
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Boon 1: Blessing of the Worm. Gain Ray of Enfeeblement 3/day, Gentle Repose 2/day, or Slow 1/day.
In case you forgot that Yhidothrus was related to time, here’s a good reminder! Gentle Repose is a bit of an odd duck since the Worm holds dominion over the negative aspects of time’s passage, such as the wearing down of one’s body and mind as the ages move on. Stopping time from devouring the dead, then, is strange for the Worm to grant.
And I wouldn’t take Gentle Repose or Ray of Enfeeblement, either, since Slow is available and can completely turn an encounter on its head with a single casting. That’s all you get, but that’s all you really need. This one was easy to do, too, letting us move on to the meatier Boons here…
Boon 2:
Curse of Brittle Bones. 1/day, you can cast Heightened Bestow Curse at 7th level as a spell-like ability. This curse is unique, advancing the victim to venerable age and imposing a -6 penalty to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution without granting them bonuses to their mental ability scores. These penalties do not stack with age-related penalties already present.
The save DC against this ability is 17+Cha mod, a high enough save that whoever you swat with it will likely struggle to surmount it. However, this is a touch attack negated by a successful save with an effect that does not instantly end combat on its own, which you all know by now is something I do not like seeing. Age penalties can’t reduce a victim’s stats below 1, and while this is a curse effect and not listed as an aging effect, it’s commonly accepted that Constructs, Undead, Outsiders, and Dragons simply do not age as mortals might and thus this curse would have no effect on them.
However, NONE of those creature types are inherently immune to aging effects unless it is specifically mentioned in their individual sheets. They can still experience the ravages of time, they just have to be magically forced to do so. especially in the case of Dragons (which normally get more powerful as they age) and Outsiders (which remain in physical stasis until something forces them out).
In case that’s not a convincing enough argument, the language of the ability is also important; the curse advances the target to venerable age, but it’s a separate sentence entirely that says “this curse imposes a–6 penalty to the target’s Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores,” which requires emphasis as it clarifies that it is the curse itself which brittles the victim’s bones, rather than their new head of gray hairs.
… anyway, all that being said, I still don’t really like it. Probably the most important part is the fact that -6 Dex means -3 AC and -3 to Reflex saves, while the penalty to Con means the victim loses 3 HP per HD they have. It combos well with stat-damaging poisons or spells, but on its own it’s pretty underwhelming.
Boon 3: Call of the Worm. 1/day, you may place your hand to the ground and whisper a prayer to the Ravager Worm. This acts as Summon Monster IX as a spell-like ability, except it always calls an avatar of Yhidothrus (an Advanced Fiendish Purple Worm) to your aid.
THIS, however, is anything but underwhelming. Aside from SM9s painful casting time of one full round (which can be mitigated by using it just before combat, or to initiate), being able to call a CR 14 encounter to your side even once a day is pretty big for a Boon. Sadly not as meaty as some final summons, as a Purple Worm is little more than an enormous tube into which enemies are shoveled (as you can read here), but the Advanced and Fiendish Templates at least give it a few new toys to play with in the form of a +2 to all the numbers it hits enemies with and a +2 to its AC. Fiendish also grants it 10 Resistance to both Cold and Fire, DR 10/Good, Spell Resistance 16, and a further +1 to attack and damage rolls versus Good targets.
If you need enemy mooks to back off, an enormous Purple Worm will either send them scattering or swallow them all down one by one. There’s also the potential to use it as an enormous battering ram, slamming its cow-sized head through walls and doorways because, lets be honest, a 35 in Strength means that only mithral and adamantine really stand a chance of keeping a Purple Worm out of whatever location you’ve decided it very much deserves to be in.
Given the casting range of SM9, ‘location’ can also mean ‘directly next to the enemy’s backline.’ Just note a few important things: While this is a spell-like, it has built-in somatic and verbal components in that you must put one hand on the ground and you must be able to speak a prayer to Yhidothrus. No having the monstrous aspect of your lord come to your rescue while you’re bound and gagged! Secondly, since it’s specifically a summoning, it can be dispelled or banished with relative ease. It also only lingers for 1 round/level, unlike a Called creature would, so you likely only get to summon the beast for one big battle.
Still, though, how many priests can summon a reasonably powerful facsimile of their own god to their aid? I think the fact it looks like Yhidothrus is a nice touch, though it’s a bit of a flavor snarl since no one has ever seen the back end of the Ravager Worm, while a Purple Worm very obviously has a backside (that’s where the stinger is).
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SENTINEL
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Boon 1:Hasten the End. Gain Expeditious Retreat 3/day, Silence 2/day, or Sands of Time 1/day.
I’ve spoken of Sands of Time before, so I won’t reiterate much here other than I wouldn’t take it when Silence is an option. Expeditious Retreat also pales in comparison to the tactical applications of Silence, since you can slap the dampening field on yourself or an ally to assist with sneaky sneak missions… Or, you know, slapping it on your hulking martial self and then charging at the enemy caster to tie them up for the rest of combat. The number of spells that can solve that situation which can also be used in Silence can be counted on one hand with fingers left over, and it quickly spells death for the poor fool you slither towards.
Silence ends encounters, is what I’m saying, and can sometimes do so without even offering a saving throw. Faced with that kind of utility, why take something as paltry as +30 to your walking speed, or waste your valuable action making a touch attack that may end up doing nothing?
Boon 2: Specter of Time. As a swift action after confirming a critical hit with a weapon against a living foe, you may instead deal normal damage and force the target to make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + ½ your HD + Cha mod). Failing the save causes the victim to painfully advance into the next age category, taking all the penalties to their physical ability scores but gaining no benefits from their advancing age. This is a curse effect which lasts for 24 hours, and the creature returns to their normal age if they die. A venerable creature (this does not include creatures who have become venerable through a means beyond natural age, or this ability, such as through Sands of Time) that fails a saving throw against this ability is immediately slain and can only be raised with Reincarnate, Wish, Miracle, or True Resurrection.
And here’s even more reason to not take Sands of Time, it doesn’t even work with this ability!
Not to say that this ability is particularly good, mind. You need to confirm two or even three critical hits to kill most creatures, and confirming two or three critical hits will typically kill the creature through damage anyway. I do appreciate that there’s no per-day limit on this ability, letting you just use it whenever you have the swift action to do so and potentially swatting some stats off an enemy at the cost of damage… provided you can make it past their Fortitude. Yeah, complete negation by a save really makes Big Damage more attractive in most cases, except for the times when you can’t kill a creature through damage alone (such as if you have nothing to overcome a creatures Regeneration).
This ability does get better if you have a crit build, obviously, but
again–once you have a crit build in place, why would you want to do less damage?
That being said, critting an enemy that’s already venerable and forcing them to save or die is satisfying. The ancient warlord facing you in single combat, the elderly wizard who stepped a little too far forward, the old Rogue ready to teach you a new trick (play dead)… Just swatting the life out of them with a confirmed crit is tasty, especially since them being venerable means a -6 to Constitution, and thus a -3 to Fortitude saves in the first place.
Boon 3: End Time. “You can call upon the Ravager Worm to temporarily consume time itself in an area surrounding you. You can cast Time Stop once per day as a spell-like ability. When you use this ability, those in the area of effect are subjected to a powerful vision—that the world they are in becomes wrapped in the endless coils of the Ravager Worm. The affected creatures never glimpse Yhidothrus’s head, and know only for the brief instant of eternity they spend in your Time Stop area that the world around them is fully wrapped in the coils of something more foul than they even imagined.“
I quoted this directly from the book/website rather than simplifying it for a few reasons, mainly because it’s difficult to simplify this down. Why? Because Time Stop is not an area of effect spell. It affects you and ONLY you, speeding you up to the point that everything else appears to have stopped moving. Other creatures are not affected and do not even realize what you’ve done because, for them, basically no time passed at all.
This ability is worded as though it reverses how Time Stop works, instead trapping everyone around you in stopped time for a subjective few seconds while you slither off to do your evil deeds, subjecting them to the knowledge that the Ravager Worm exists and has circled the whole of Golarion a thousand times over. In fact, looking into it, NO version of Time Stop works like this ability’s wording suggests it does; D&D 3.5 and 5th Edition and Pathfinder 1st Edition all note that Time Stop affects only you.
The ability says “consume time itself in the area surrounding you,” which would seem to indicate that time only stops for a small section of the land containing you, but gives absolutely no details about how big this area is. For the sake of saving myself further headaches and further article space uselessly hammering against this concept, we’ll say that time only stops for an area that is 300ft around you. That way, everyone in that area (including your allies!) knows something is truly, deeply, and terrifyingly wrong. If people in the area weren’t alerted to your presence before, they will be now, provided they don’t immediately flee because–honestly–suddenly having your field of vision dominated by endless greasy coils of a pitch black worm and being forced to Know that their world is caged by this horror? Terrifying enough to make the weaker-willed quit on the spot. There’s no mechanics attached to this vision, but I like to think of it as the mother of all intimidation tactics.
Let me put it this way:
You can force your enemies to come to terms with the fact that Pathfinder is a cosmic horror story.
And that’s beautiful! Did you think your petty squabbles actually mattered in the face of the machinations at play beyond this pathetic world? No. And I’m here to tell you that, personally. I’ve appeared in your throne room to do so!
And that’s all you, the martial Sentinel, can really do with Time Stop, because without any easily-deployed traps, scrolls, or magic items or whatnot, you can’t actually make use of the rounds of freedom like a caster could. If you were a martial caster before entering Sentinel, good on you! You’ve got some extra rounds to get your buffs going! But for Barbarians, Fighters, and other Hit Things Hard classes, you don’t really get as much out of this as you may believe. Except, again, scaring the absolute everything out of everyone in the area not expecting their vision to suddenly be overwhelmed by nightmares.
Just… warn your allies ahead of time. Or don’t! It’s funnier that way!
