TEXT: Alex Riggs, Joshua Zaback, David Mesick
  
  Otherworldly Invocations
  Alex Riggs, Joshua Zaback, David Mesick
  Advanced Witch Patrons
  
  Product Identity: The following terms are hereby defined as product identity, as defined in the Open Gaming License 
  version 1.0a, Section 1(E), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, proper names (characters, 
  deities, etc) dialogue, plot, storylines, location, characters and trade dress.
  Artwork: All art in this book, besides the Necromancers of the Northwest logo, is either part of the public domain, 
  or is used with the express permission of the creator, or is the property of Can Stock Photo, Inc. Necromancers of the 
  Northwest, LLC claims no special rights or privileges to any art presented herein.
  Open Game Content: Except for material designated as Product Identity or Artwork (see above), the game mechanics 
  of this Necromancers of the Northwest game product are Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Game License 
  version 1.0a Section 1(d). No portion of this work other than Open Game Content may be reproduced in any form 
  without written permission.
  Compatibility with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game requires the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game from Paizo Publishing, 
  LLC. See http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG for more information on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Paizo Publishing, 
  LLC does not guarantee compatibility, and does not endorse this product.
  Pathfinder is a registered trademark of Paizo Publishing, LLC, and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder 
  Roleplaying Game Compatibility Logo are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC, and are used under the Pathfinder 
  Roleplaying Game Compatibility License. See http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/compatibility for more information on the 
  compatibility license.
  Designers
  Alex Riggs, Joshua Zaback
  Editor
  Rosa Gibbons
  Credits
  Necromancers of the Northwest, LLC
  8123 236th St SW, Unit 102
  Edmonds, WA, 98026
  www.necromancers-online.com
  Writers
  David Mesick, Alex Riggs
  
  Table of Contents
  Introduction............................................................................................................................................................3
  Sales Pitch, a Short Story..................................................................................................................................4
  Al’Rajan, The Chained Master........................................................................................................................5
  Baba Yaga, The Great Crone...........................................................................................................................10
  Bach-Farajh, Many-Voiced Madness............................................................................................................13
  Irashen, The Iron Son.......................................................................................................................................18
  Jodan, The Mad Jester........................................................................................................................................22
  Kaillan, The Wandering Witness.................................................................................................................25
  Sylthavra, The Barbed Mistress.....................................................................................................................29
  Tesherazz, Weaver of Words.........................................................................................................................32
  The Silent One....................................................................................................................................................36
  Thyrvinistar, Don of Dragons........................................................................................................................40
  OGL........................................................................................................................................................................48
  Introduction
   
  It is not always the case, but it is nonetheless still rather common that most books produced by Necromancers of 
  the Northwest ultimately begin life as an attempt to solve a “problem” with the game as it exists. In the case of this particular 
  book, that “problem” is the fact that the patron mechanic for the witch class, introduced to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game 
  in the Advanced Player’s Guide, simply does not live up to the promises that were made by the class’s flavor. In essence, a 
  witch’s patron is supposed to be this strange, powerful, otherworldly entity that grants her spells as part of some vague pact, 
  much like how medieval European folklore had it that witches gained their powers by making deals with the devil. This is 
  a very cool, resonant, and flavorful idea, but the game mechanics that support it don’t really do it justice: most patrons are 
  abstract concepts, rather than actual entities, and are things like “wisdom” or “the moon,” and what they actually do is provide 
  the witch with a list of bonus spells, one of each spell level, like a sorcerer’s bloodline might (except without all the cool 
  powers that a sorcerer gets, and the fact that witches can learn any number of spells, making a handful of extras less exciting).
   
  There’s nothing wrong with taking this approach. While it might have been nice to see witch patrons look more like 
  bloodlines as far as having more unique special abilities and a bigger mechanical impact, the fact of the matter is that it was 
  never going to really feel like there as an actual patron involved. That would require that the mechanics came with needs 
  and demands, after all, patronage is rarely without a few strings attached, and the complexities of meeting the demands of a 
  diverse group of unknowable extraplanar entities does not make for simple class features. That said, while it may be a bit on 
  the complex side to include as a default part of the class, we know that at Necromancers of the Northwest, a large amount of 
  our audience are advanced gamers who are willing to get a little more complex, if they see something worth getting complex 
  for. We decided that creating witch patrons that actually delivered on the flavorful promise of an otherworldly entity that is 
  actively interested in what its agents do was something that would be worth a little extra effort.
   
  In a way, this book actually got its start quite some time ago, when we were writing Advanced Arcana III. One of 
  several appendices in the book was devoted to tackling this issue, and we actually created 5 new witch patrons in that book 
  that work along very similar lines to the ones presented here. We were quite happy with what we came up with, and knew 
  that it was only a matter of time before we came back to “advanced witch patrons.” Obviously, that time has come. Hindsight 
  allowed us to make a few tweaks on the formula we use to lay out the patrons, and readers who are familiar with the patrons 
  from Advanced Arcana III will find that there is a lot more information on each patron’s background, personality, goals, 
  and how a witch goes about interacting with them. We also classified the patrons into three groups based on how much 
  of an impact we wanted them to make mechanically. Some patrons, like Baba Yaga and Thyrvinistar, are relatively hands-
  off, and will have a much lesser mechanical impact on the witch than patrons like Al’Rajan or Bach-Farajh, which are more 
  demanding, and have many more benefits and drawbacks, giving players a choice as far as how much they want their advanced 
  patron to impact their play experience. Overall, we’re quite pleased with the patrons we came up with, and we hope that you 
  will be, too.
  
  4
  Sales Pitch
   
  Elyse pulled the slim black leatherbound book from her satchel again and held it open in one hand as she looked 
  around the corner of the alley in which she was hiding, trying to avoid being seen. Silently, she made a gesture, and words 
  began to appear on the page, magically plucked from her mind.
   
  I have found him. He is here as you said that he would be. I haven’t been seen. Shall I strike now?
   
  She glanced nervously around the corner again. Across the dimly-lit cobblestone street, she could still make out the 
  silhouette of the man that she had been following standing in front of the open door of some manor, speaking with one of 
  the residents. The man’s name was Jarrel, and she had faced him before. He was a powerful warlock, and a servant of her 
  mistress’s greatest enemy, but Elyse was confident that with the benefit of surprise, she wouldn’t have any trouble putting an 
  end to him once and for all. She glanced back to the pages of the book, and saw more words appearing just below her own, in a 
  spidery, flowing script. But unlike the line above, these words did not come from Elyse’s mind.
   
  No. Not like that. He is after a girl who lives in the house. She has the potential to be a very powerful witch. Win her confidence, 
  and bring her into the fold. Slaying the minions of the deceiver is of less importance than acquiring the girl.
   
  Elyse grimaced. This was not the first time that she had been instructed to persuade a youth to make a pact with her 
  patron, the mysterious entity known only as The Silent One; the same pact that Elyse herself had made what seemed so very 
  long ago. It wasn’t that Elyse didn’t believe in the product she was selling, she wouldn’t walk away from magic now, even if she 
  thought that The Silent One would let her, but it was never exactly an easy conversation to begin, in the best of times. It took 
  time and effort to gain trust and to learn about the target’s dreams and desires. Simply walking up, introducing yourself as a 
  witch, and asking if a young man or woman wanted magic powers rarely ended well. But with a rival party working against 
  her, trying to win the girl’s trust so that she would make a pact with his patron instead of Elyse’s, the task would be more than 
  twice as hard. And that bastard Jarrel had a head start, too. Elyse wondered privately to herself if this girl was really going to 
  be worth it.
   
  She didn’t wonder for long, however, as she noticed the alley’s other occupant. Seated languidly on a pile of crates 
  a few feet away from her was a large, black cat, its eyes glowing with an unnatural red light. It stared at her with a snide 
  look of derision plain on its feline features, as it casually licked its fur. Elyse immediately recognized the creature as Jarrel’s 
  familiar, and cursed herself for her stupidity, realizing that Jarrel had probably been aware of her the entire time. Frowning, 
  she considered simply incinerating the cat with a spell, but thought better of it, as doing so would almost certainly attract 
  attention from the household, and no doubt Jarrel had already begun poisoning their minds against her. Instead, she stuck 
  her tongue out at the cat with a sulky petulance, all the while reporting back to her patron via the same spell as before.
   
  Jarrel knows I’m here. His familiar is watching me. What now?
   
  Before she could get a reply, however, she was distracted by a loud thunderclap. Looking up, she realized that the sky 
  had filled with dark and ominous-looking clouds, though she could have sworn it was full of stars just minutes ago. There was 
  another thunderclap, and then the clouds parted, and a beam of light shone down onto the street just in front of the manor, 
  where Elyse could now see Jarrel’s shocked and dismayed expression as he, too, looked up at the strange disturbance in the 
  sky. Serves him right, Elyse thought to herself with a bit of smug satisfaction, before considering how this changed things.
   
  Her suspicions as to the origin of the light were confirmed when a winged angel, bearing a golden trumpet in one 
  hand, began to descend down the shaft of light. Yet another party was apparently interested in claiming this girl as one of their 
  own. Very interested, Elyse corrected herself. The angel would no doubt be a representative of the celestial general, Irashen, 
  and his crusade to foster holy witches. This was not his usual recruiting method, and with as much fanfare as this, the girl 
  must really be something special.
   
  By the time the angel landed, Jarrel and the person he was speaking to, which Elyse could now see was a young girl, 
  probably the one they were after, had come out from the front door to meet it. Though it was clear that the angel was trying to 
  speak softly, its voice still boomed throughout the quiet town’s streets.
   
  “SASCHA COVINGTON, THE HEAVENS HAVE NEED OF YOU. I HAVE COME TO OFFER YOU A CHANCE FOR 
  SOMETHING GREATER, TO PROTECT AND SERVE YOUR FELLOW MORTALS.”
   
  Damn, thought Elyse, as Jarrel’s familiar ran away, much as she suspected Jarrel wanted to do right about now, though 
  the angel had not deigned to acknowledge him, yet. Winning the girl over now would be next to impossible. It wasn’t that she 
  wished she had signed on with the angels instead of The Silent One, or anything, but they certainly had a good pitch. Still, 
  she knew that her mistress wouldn’t be happy if she simply walked away and conceded, even to an angel. Steeling herself, and 
  placing a ward on her person that would hopefully serve as some small protection should the angel turn hostile, she emerged 
  from the shadows and walkd over to where the angel was continuing to talk to the scared, confused-looking young girl.
  
  Al’Rajan, the Chained Master
   
  When was the last time you felt truly powerful, that 
  you could shape the world by snapping your fingers and 
  exerting your will? Never, I imagine. I can grant you such 
  cosmic powers that you will never be able to understand even 
  a fraction of what you wield. You will be able to reshape the 
  world; to go forth and exert your will upon the very universe 
  itself. You will be the arbiter of others’ fates: the one to whom 
  they supplicate and beg for aid. And though the magic itself 
  may involve some small amount of service, when princes 
  and kings fall at your feet and beg for your kindness and 
  generosity, you will truly know who is master.
  Description
   
  Al’Rajan appears as a man garbed in loose-fitting 
  robes embroidered with gold. A silver chain hangs around his 
  neck, which bears a pendant that shows a crown wreathed in 
  chains. He has no legs: where they would be, there is instead 
  a cloud of roiling purple smoke. His ocean-blue eyes seem 
  to be fathomless. He has no hair of any kind, and his face is 
  devoid of lines or wrinkles. He holds an ivory pipe between 
  his many sharp, needle-like teeth, and it belches jet-black 
  smoke with every puff. Black lines cross and twist across his 
  purple skin, and looking closer, they appear to form a chain 
  fashioned from black ink and arcane runes that shimmer in 
  the light. 
   
  Al’Rajan was once a powerful efreeti, though he 
  was bound by an even more powerful curse, and is now 
  something far more. This curse also serves as the source of 
  much of his power, and ironically his greatest strength is 
  also his greatest weakness: while he has the power to bend 
  reality to his will, that power is mostly limited to fulfilling 
  the wishes of others, and he is unable to refuse wishes that 
  are demanded of him. While anyone who knows the proper 
  words can force him to grant their wish, this usually ends 
  with disastrous results, as Al’Rajan makes a point of doing 
  his best to twist such wishes to bring harm instead of good. 
  Despite this, there is no shortage of people who see only the 
  possibility of quick and easy gain, or who are certain that they 
  shall be the exception to the rule, and outwit the genie. In 
  an effort to escape these endless requests, Al’Rajan tempts 
  mortal witches into accepting some small fraction of his 
  power—and his curse—granting them spellcasting abilities 
  and magical power in exchange for granting wishes on his 
  behalf.
  Background
   
  Al’Rajan was an efreet for a very long time before he 
  attained his current status. A proud efreet from a very noble 
  family, he was well known for being far too proud to use his 
  natural efreeti power to grant wishes under any circumstance 
  (a position with which many efreeti sympathize, but which 
  circumstances almost invariably make unrealistic). As 
  time went on, rumors began to spread that the reason that 
  Al’Rajan would not grant wishes was that his magic was more 
  potent and powerful than that of the lesser efreeti, and that 
  he would only deign to grant the greatest of wishes. Much 
  to his annoyance, pilgrims began to come to his palace from 
  around the multiverse seeking his blessings. Unmoved by 
  their pleas, Al’Rajan enslaved those that his palace guards 
  could overpower, and turned away the rest. 
   
  One day, an old man came to Al’Rajan’s palace with 
  a beautiful young woman. The man introduced himself as 
  Horash, and explained that the woman was his daughter, 
  Niraya, the product of a union between himself and a dryad. 
  As Niraya’s mother was immortal, she had never considered 
  the possibility that her daughter might be anything else, and 
  it was breaking the dryad’s heart to watch her daughter age, 
  knowing that she would eventually die. Horash explained 
  that Niraya’s mother had become depressed and withdrawn, 
  and was near death herself, and begged that Al’Rajan grant 
  his daughter immortality, in order to save both her life, and 
  that of her mother. The efreeti prince decided to order his 
  guards to attack the pair, instead, planning to kill the old 
  man and claim the daughter for his harem.
   
  To his surprise, the old man proved to be a powerful 
  wizard, and he defeated the efreeti’s palace guards handily. 
  Rather than press his advantage, however, the old man 
  simply asked again for Al’Rajan to find it in his heart to grant 
  his request. Instead,  the efreeti prince called upon a great 
  red dragon that he kept as a pet, ordering it to devour the 
  insolent old man, but, again, the old man’s magic protected 
  them, and drove the dragon off.  One last time, Horash 
  implored Al’Rajan to grant his wish, but the efreeti’s heart 
  was like coal, and so instead he attacked the wizard himself, 
  blinded by pride, and further reasoning that he must be out 
  of spells by now. This went no better for the efreet than the 
  previous conflicts, however.
   
  Bitter at being beaten, Al’Rajan decided to grant 
  the wizard’s wish in the most horrible way possible, in order 
  to get revenge. So he agreed to grant the wish, and then 
  proceeded to turn her into living stone, keeping her alive and 
  aware of her surroundings, but completely unable to speak or 
  act. Laughing at his own cleverness, Al’Rajan declared that he 
  would keep the statue as payment for his services.
   
  This was finally too much for Horash, who, despite 
  his power, could not override the power of the noble efreeti’s 
  wish. Instead, he drew upon all of his remaining power to 
  curse the efreeti, sacrificing himself in the process. His final 
  words turned to iron-black glyphs and sigils in the air, and 
  these wrapped themselves around Al’Rajan, forming a chain 
  of powerful magic that bound him to answer any wish asked 
  of him—no matter what it might be—until he had granted as 
  many wishes as there were grains of sand in all the planes in 
  the multiverse.
   
  No longer properly an efreeti, Al’Rajan was 
  empowered with much greater magic, though he was always a 
  slave to anyone who knew how to summon him, information 
  5
  
  that spread quickly. Constantly harassed for petty wishes, 
  Al’Rajan’s pride suffered, and he vowed that he would never 
  grant a single wish that was not perverted, though this 
  somehow failed to have an impact on the number of mortals 
  summoning him for favors. Eventually, someone wished for 
  magical powers, and Al’Rajan decided to try to foist his curse 
  off onto the poor individual. He wasn’t able to rid himself 
  of the curse completely, but he was able to share it, giving 
  the mortal power but also the ability to grant wishes on his 
  behalf. Once Al’Rajan discovered this, he began actively 
  recruiting witches willing to take on part of his duty in 
  exchange for access to his power.
   
  Goals
   
  Al’Rajan continues to rage over the indignity of his 
  condition, and his highest priority is to free himself of his 
  curse. To this end, he makes pacts with would-be witches 
  throughout the multiverse, granting them magical ability in 
  exchange for helping him work off his “debt” of wishes. Each 
  wish that one of his witches grants with his powers is one less 
  wish that Al’Rajan must grant himself, and brings him that 
  much closer to finally being free.
   
  Like most efreeti, Al’Rajan used to be involved 
  in interplanar slave trading, and he still dabbles in that 
  business, and has an enviable network of connections in that 
  business. Al’Rajan keeps a slowly growing collection of rare 
  or unusual slaves, and will often reward those of his agents 
  (witches or otherwise) who will capture and trade or give him 
  rare and unique slaves for his collection.
   
  In the aftermath following Al’Rajan being cursed 
  by Horash, the efreeti prince’s palace was flung from the 
  elemental plane of fire, and lost to Al’Rajan, who has spent 
  a great deal of time trying to find it and reclaim all his old 
  possessions, slaves, and the like. The palace also contains 
  Horash’s still-petrified daughter, unless it has already been 
  found and looted. Al’Rajan has made it clear that anyone 
  who can find and recover the palace for him will be rewarded 
  handsomely, though considering the nature of the wishes he 
  grants, such promises should be taken with a grain of salt.
  Familiar
   
  One result of Al’Rajan’s insistence on fulfilling each 
  and every wish in as horrible a way as possible is that he 
  transforms quite a few of his would-be masters into animals: 
  someone who summons him wishing for the power of flight 
  is likely to become a bird, while those wishing for stealth are 
  liable to become cats or mice, and so on. In fact, ever since 
  he began making pacts with witches—and therefore had to 
  provide them with familiars—he has started going out of 
  his way to turn those who demand a wish from him into a 
  familiar that he can pass on. As a result, the familiars granted 
  by the chained master are almost universally poor souls who 
  were punished for making a wish by being transformed into a 
  familiar, and then press-ganged into serving one of Al’Rajan’s 
  witches.
   
  These familiars usually hold a deep-seated grudge 
  towards Al’Rajan and the witch he binds them to. They 
  hate their masters, and will often find ways to twist their 
  orders, much the same way that the familiar’s own wish 
  was corrupted. Of course, the familiars don’t have the raw 
  power of Al’Rajan or his witches, and so they must be careful 
  not to make their rebellions too obvious, lest they suffer 
  punishment (witches who grow fed up with their familiar’s 
  antics retain the option to return the familiar to Al’Rajan in 
  exchange for another, more cooperative one. The fate of the 
  returned familiar is rarely pleasant). As a result, Al’Rajan’s 
  familiars usually vent their frustrations in minor ways, which 
  do not actually risk the witch’s wellbeing, favoring sarcastic 
  remarks, quiet brooding, and obeying the letter of the witch’s 
  orders, while subverting their spirit in inconvenient but not 
  critical ways. One thing that Al’Rajan’s familiars love to do at 
  inconvenient moments is to loudly announce to passerby that 
  the witch grants free wishes, almost ensuring that she will be 
  mobbed by greedy townsfolk desirous of a wish. If scolded 
  or berated for doing so, the familiar will explain in its best 
  innocent and hurt voice that Al’Rajan gave the familiar to the 
  witch to help her grant wishes, and that’s all that it’s trying to 
  do.
   
  Familiars granted by Al’Rajan are more-or-less the 
  same as familiars granted by most other patrons, physically 
  speaking, though they can usually be identified by chain 
  markings on its fur, skin, or scales, which resemble those 
  borne by Al’Rajan himself. 
  Followers
   
  Though there are exceptions, witches in the service 
  of Al’Rajan are usually just as bad as he is when it comes 
  to actually fulfilling wishes, and usually ensure that most 
  of the wishes that they grant end horribly. Even those who 
  are initially excited to be able to grant wishes and do good 
  in the world often become jaded over time, and tire of the 
  constant demands for their aid, and sooner or later nearly 
  all of Al’Rajan’s followers deliberately pervert the wishes 
  they grant, though they are not always as clever as Al’Rajan 
  himself in such things. Even “small” wishes aren’t immune to 
  this effect: one man might wish his house rid of rats, only to 
  find that a mob of weasels has eaten all the rats and moved in 
  in their place.
   
  Even those rare witches that grant wishes for 
  Al’Rajan in good faith have a distressing tendency for those 
  wishes to “go wrong,” however, and produce unintended 
  negative consequences, simply because of the source and 
  nature of the magic. For this reason, the most benevolent of 
  Al’Rajan’s agents usually caution those who would ask wishes 
  of them to be very careful, for even the witch herself does not 
  have complete control over the outcome.
  6
  
   
  Followers of Al’Rajan walk a fine line. While they 
  enjoy spreading woe through magical wishes, they do not 
  enjoy being dragged into the everyday problems of people. 
  It’s not uncommon for entire villages to flock to the witch and 
  start forming lines once they discover that she must grant 
  their wishes. Even the knowledge that the consequences are 
  often horrific doesn’t dissuade everyone, as many yearn for 
  what they cannot have, and secretly believe that they will be 
  able to avoid such consequences. As a result, witches who 
  follow Al’Rajan tend to hide that fact, except at such times 
  that they are actively looking to grant wishes, for witches who 
  avoid granting wishes at all quickly earn the ire of the ex-
  efreeti, who does not like giving out magic power “for free.”
   
  In addition to being bound to grant any wish put 
  to her, a witch in the service of Al’Rajan is also occasionally 
  required to answer a summons for the chained master 
  himself. When someone attempts to magically summon 
  Al’Rajan to grant a wish, they often receive one of his witches, 
  instead, who are whisked off to answer the summons whether 
  they want to or not. These brief sojourns are generally few 
  and far between, and do not typically require much more 
  than granting the wish in question, but occasionally can turn 
  into the beginning of much larger adventures, and it is not 
  uncommon for a witch’s allies to be caught in the summoning 
  effect and dragged along, as well.
  Rituals
  Rite of Wishing
   
  When someone wishes to have Al’Rajan solve one 
  of his problems, but does not have one of his followers on 
  hand to grant the wish, he must complete this ritual to have 
  Al’Rajan answer. More often than not, it is one of Al’Rajan’s 
  followers, not the efreet himself, who answers the call and 
  grants the wish. In order to perform the summoning, the 
  subject must take something that is personally significant 
  to him, bind it in twine, and then wrap it in iron chain. 
  Then, upon a bier built from evergreen boughs and anointed 
  with scented oils, he must burn this bundle. After invoking 
  Al’Rajan’s name, either the efreet or an emissary will arrive 
  shortly to grant the user’s wish. Because most of Al’Rajan’s 
  witches started their career by summoning Al’Rajan and 
  wishing for magical power, this is also how most witches who 
  serve the chained master initially contact him.
  Day of the Unbound
   
  On the day before the new year, Al’Rajan and his 
  followers are granted a brief respite from their confines. 
  For this entire day, they do not need grant wishes or answer 
  summons. During this time, Al’Rajan is free to wander and do 
  as he wishes for this day. He usually spends this day creating 
  new business deals with slavers, or searching for his lost 
  palace. Similarly, most of the witch’s in Al’Rajan’s service 
  devote this day to personal efforts, and refuse to offer service.
  Al’Rajan as a Patron
   
  In addition to learning spells, a witch who selects 
  Al’Rajan as a patron gains a number of additional abilities as 
  she increases in level, though she also suffers from a number 
  of penalties as a result of her connection to Al’Rajan, as well.
   
  Spells: 2nd—beguiling giftAPG, 4th—detect thoughts, 
  6th—bestow curse, 8th—debilitating portentUC, 10th—baleful 
  polymorph, 12th—flesh to stone, 14th—insanity, 16th—
  antipathy, 18th—wish.
  Pact Boons
   
  By taking Al’Rajan as her patron, a witch gains a 
  number of special boons, specific to Al’Rajan. As she gains 
  levels in the witch class, and her association with Al’Rajan 
  becomes stronger, she is granted additional boons, as 
  outlined below.
   
  Grant Wishes (Sp): As much a curse as it is a 
  gift, witches who serve Al’Rajan are both empowered, and 
  required, to grant wishes to those who ask them. This 
  requirement only extends to requests for wishes from 
  characters that are specifically asking the witch to use her 
  magic to aid them, and are phrased as either a request or 
  beginning with the words “I wish.” If the witch is unable to 
  grant the wish in question by using this ability, or by casting 
  a single spell that she currently has prepared and available to 
  use, then she is not required to grant the wish.
   
  Due to the magic of the curse that the witch shares 
  with Al’Rajan, she is unable to use this ability to grant a wish 
  that benefits her in any way. She cannot use this ability except 
  to fulfill the requests of other individuals. While she can 
  fulfill those requests any way she sees fit that meets the letter 
  of the request, she must do so in a way that does not benefit 
  her directly. If she would benefit from granting a wish in this 
  way (such as by granting a peasant’s request to become a 
  knight by making herself the king and then knighting him), 
  then either the wish automatically manifests itself in a way 
  that is not beneficial to her, or she suffers from the effects 
  of a bestow curse spell (no save) which cannot be removed 
  until she gives up all benefit that she gained from granting 
  the wish, and suffers an appropriate penance (at GM’s 
  discretion). The witch is allowed to “benefit” from granting 
  wishes indirectly (such as by deriving amusement from a 
  cruel twist on a wish, or by granting a harmful wish to an 
  enemy of hers). Witches that abuse this ability consistently 
  may find that punishments grow even more severe than 
  a bestow curse effect, and may even lead to the wishes 
  deliberately turning against her.
   
  Finally, once the witch has granted a character a 
  single wish, she is no longer obligated to grant that character 
  any further wishes. She can still do so, if she wishes, although 
  once she has granted a character three wishes, she cannot use 
  this ability to grant that character’s wishes ever again.
  7
  
    
  In order to grant these wishes, the witch can cast any 
  spell from the sorcerer/wizard spell list as a spell-like ability. 
  She cannot cast spells that are of a higher spell level than she 
  is capable of casting normally as a witch. She can (and, if a 
  request is made, must) use this ability any number of times 
  per day, as outlined above. 
   
  Additionally, beginning at 9th level, the witch can 
  use limited wish once per day in order to fulfill a request, 
  even though she would not normally be able to. The number 
  of times per day she can use limited wish to fulfill a request 
  increases by one for every two witch levels she gains beyond 
  9th. At 13th level, she can use wish, instead, though the number 
  of daily uses remains the same. At 17th level she can use wish 
  to fulfill a request any number of times per day. 
   
  Expanded Magic (Ex): Witches who serve Al’Rajan 
  are able to use a wider variety of magic. At 2nd level, the witch 
  may select a 1st-level spell from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. 
  The witch’s familiar immediately learns the chosen spells, 
  and the witch treats those spells as though they were on the 
  witch spell list. At 3rd level, and every two levels thereafter, 
  the witch may select an additional spell from the sorcerer/
  wizard spell list, whose level is no higher than the highest-
  level spell she can cast. The witch’s familiar learns that spell, 
  and the witch treats it as though it were on the witch spell 
  list.
   
  Sense Desires (Sp): Witches who serve Al’Rajan 
  for a long time develop the ability to know the innermost 
  desires of those they meet. Beginning at 12th level, the witch 
  can use detect thoughts as a spell-like ability at will. The DC 
  for this effect is equal to 10 +1/2 the witch’s class level + the 
  witch’s Intelligence bonus. Further, while she is using this 
  ability, as a standard action, she can focus on an individual 
  whose thoughts she can read, in order to learn that creature’s 
  deepest desires. Depending on the target (and subject to 
  GM discretion), information about a target’s deepest desires 
  may be general (such as a desire for “fame,” or “respect,” or 
  “belonging,”), or very specific (such as a desire to “become 
  the king,” or “marry my childhood sweetheart,” or “avenge 
  my father’s death,”), or somewhere in between. The target 
  himself may or may not be aware of his own desires, but this 
  does not prevent the witch from learning what they are.
   
  Immortal Ascension (Su): Witches who 
  serve Al’Rajan for a very long time take on genie-like 
  characteristics, making them more than mere mortals, and 
  Sidebar: Selfish Wishes
   
  Adjudicating when and how a witch can benefit from the wishes she grants is not easy. It must be possible for the 
  witch to be able to gain some benefit from her grant wishes ability, if she works at it, but at the same time, if left unchecked, 
  in the hands of some players it will quickly become broken and harmful to the health of the game. Unfortunately, there are 
  a lot of possible scenarios, and it is impossible to create one set of guidelines that truly covers them all. That said, here are 
  some guidelines that can help dictate what is and isn’t too self-interested for the witch to be able to do with this ability without 
  suffering consequences. 
   
  Trading Wishes: The witch should never be bartering her wishes. This covers both getting payment in exchange for 
  the wish (ie. “I’ll grant you a wish if you give me 10,000 gold), and paying others to make certain wishes (ie. “wish for me to 
  be incredibly rich, and I’ll give you half,”). The first should rarely be an issue, because once the wish is asked for, it has to be 
  granted, but if it does come up, it automatically counts as a wish that benefits the witch. That said, as long as the witch does 
  not ask for payment, or in any way encourage it, if it is offered freely, she is free to take it.
   
  Unnecessarily Complicated Wishes: These are the most difficult to adjudicate, and largely depend on just how far 
  you feel the witch is reaching, and what effect is has on the campaign. Suppose the witch has a rivalry with the local wizard, 
  and the wizard’s apprentice requests that he get a tower of his own, and the witch decides to grant the wish by causing the 
  wizard to die of heart attack, and his apprentice inheriting the tower. Alternatively, suppose she really wants to get rid of the 
  owner of a local merchant’s consortium, who also happens to live in a tower, so she arranges for him to die, instead, and for 
  the tower to be available for sale at a price the apprentice can afford. Ultimately, if you try hard enough, nearly any wish can 
  be used to justify any outcome. Similarly, while the first example would probably be fine if the wizard in question was a minor 
  NPC, it becomes a problem when he’s a major villain. Generally speaking, if it seems like the wish could have been granted 
  without directly benefitting the witch, it probably should be, unless the witch’s result is very intuitive and seems appropriate. 
   
  Wishes in the Party: Perhaps the most dangerous type of wishes is wishes made within the party. This is part of the 
  reason that any given character can only benefit from a specific witch’s grant wish ability three times, but even then, party 
  members will often have goals that align with the witch’s: if the party is trapped in a flooding room, and one member wishes 
  for the water to go away, it benefits the witch as much as anyone else. Similarly, a wish for the main villain to choke on his food 
  and die serves the party as a whole, including the witch. Generally speaking, these wishes should be considered to be selfish, 
  and either fail or suffer the appropriate  penalties, but there may be some exceptions where it’s okay, especially if the GM is 
  looking for an excuse to get the party out of a tight spot.
  8
  
  granting them more powerful bodies which will never age or 
  die of natural causes. While in most ways this is a blessing, 
  it also means that the most powerful of Al’Rajan’s servants 
  effectively share their master’s curse eternally. At 18th level, 
  the witch’s type changes to outsider, and she gains a fly speed 
  equal to her land speed with perfect maneuverability. This 
  transformation also grants a +2 bonus to each of her physical 
  ability scores. A witch who undergoes such a transformation 
  no longer needs to eat, drink, or breathe.
  Pact Price
   
  Al’Rajan’s power does not come without its 
  consequences, and in serving him, a witch must make certain 
  sacrifices, as outline below.
   
  Wish Granter (Su): As described under the grant 
  wishes ability, the witch must grant any wish that is asked 
  of her, if she is able. Additionally, she must make sure that 
  she meets a quota of granted wishes. The witch must grant 
  at least five wishes per week with her grant wishes ability, or 
  else she begins to lose access to her magic. For each wish less 
  than five that she granted in the previous week, her effective 
  caster level is treated as one lower than it actually is. Missed 
  wishes “carry over” to the next week, increasing the amount 
  of wishes she must grant to remove the penalty (for example, 
  a wish who granted two wishes in a week would have her 
  caster level reduced by 3, and would need to grant eight wishes 
  the following week. If she granted all eight, then she would no 
  longer suffer any penalty, and if she granted five, she would 
  continue to have the -3 penalty to her caster level, but if she 
  only granted two again, then the following week she would not 
  have a -6 penalty, and would need to grant eleven wishes).
   
  For every -3 penalty to the witch’s caster level granted 
  by this ability, she also loses access to her highest-level spell 
  slots (so a witch who could cast 9th-level spells who was 
  suffering a -6 penalty to her caster level would not be able to 
  cast any spells higher than 7th-level).
   
  Mark of Al’Rajan (Su): Beginning at 2nd level, 
  a witch in the service of Al’Rajan is marked with eldritch 
  chains that crisscross her skin. Normally, these chains are 
  invisible, but they can be seen with detect magic, or any other 
  effect that allows one to see magic auras. Additionally, these 
  markings become visible to normal sight any time that the 
  witch is suffering penalties as a result of not granting enough 
  wishes (see wish granter, below). However they are seen, a 
  successful Knowledge (Arcana) or Knowledge (Planes) check 
  (DC 15) identifies the markings and the fact that the wish is 
  able—and obligated—to grant wishes.
   
  Curse Susceptible (Su): Witches who serve 
  Al’Rajan for an extended time become more susceptible to 
  curses. Beginning at 12th level, a witch in service to Al’Rajan 
  suffers a -4 penalty on all saving throws made to resist curses 
  or hexes.
   
  Genie’s Curse (Su): Witches that undergo the 
  transformation into a genie-like immortal state find that it 
  is much easier for mortals to summon them and demand 
  their services. Beginning at 18th level, in addition to being 
  susceptible to planar binding spells, such witches can also 
  be summoned by anyone that completes a special ritual, 
  which requires one hour and a successful DC 20 Knowledge 
  (arcana) check to perform. This ritual effectively functions 
  as a specialized version of a lesser planar binding spell, 
  except that it can only summon witches with this ability, 
  and there is no Hit Dice limit. If the result of the Knowledge 
  (arcana) check is 25 or higher, then he effect also includes 
  a magic circle which traps the witch, and if the result of the 
  Knowledge (arcana) check is 30 or higher, it also includes a 
  dimensional anchor effect, as well. A witch that is successfully 
  summoned into a magic circle is trapped and can be made 
  to perform services, as outlined in lesser planar binding. For 
  more information on lesser planar binding, magic circle, and 
  dimensional anchor, and how they interact, see the Pathfinder 
  Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook.
  Image © Can Stock Photo Inc. / AlgolOnline
  9
  
  Baba Yaga, The Great Crone
   
  How bold of you to come to me, asking for favors! 
  I don’t recall asking for one of your sort! Hmph! I warn you 
  now, if you’re wasting my time, I’ll gobble you up whole, 
  without another thought. Actually…you do smell rather tasty…
  perhaps I will anyway. But, if it’s magic that you want, I have 
  it, and I’m willing to give it to you…if you think you can earn 
  it.
  Description
   
  There have been many depictions of Baba Yaga 
  throughout the centuries, and many of the details vary from 
  telling to telling, but there are usually a few features that 
  remain similar in all reports of the mysterious woman. She 
  almost always takes the guise of a very old woman, bent and 
  stooped, with a great long nose and an ugly, frightening 
  countenance. She is said to be incredibly thin (despite her 
  rather infamous eating habits) and is often described as 
  bony-legged. While this is typically just a poetic way of 
  describing her frail-looking and slender frame, but a handful 
  of those who claim to have seen her insist that this is a literal 
  description, and that there is no flesh on her body below 
  the waist. There are too many sightings of this sort to simply 
  dismiss, though they are still fairly rare amongst reports of 
  Baba Yaga, leading some to speculate that one of the two 
  might refer to an impostor, or that her sometimes-skeletal 
  appearance may have something to do with her diet, and that 
  when she does not consume enough, the flesh falls off her as 
  she transforms into a corpse.
   
  Whatever the case, she is always portrayed as 
  hideously ugly, and frequently supernaturally large. Those 
  who have visited her famous chicken-legged hut and lived 
  to tell the tale frequently report that she is so monstrously 
  huge that she fills the hut all but completely, with her feet 
  crammed into opposite corners, and that she must stoop in 
  order to keep her head from bursting through the ceiling. She 
  is said to travel in a giant mortar, tucked in with her knees 
  practically touching her nose, and propelling herself along 
  the ground with a giant pestle, as though it were an oar. Some 
  reports claim that she can use these objects to fly through the 
  air, as well.
   
  Whatever she looks like, Baba Yaga is a well-known 
  figure in many folklores, albeit a very mysterious one. She 
  has long been associated with witchcraft, and is believed to 
  have once been a mortal witch herself, though few can say 
  for certain. Now, however, she has ascended to some state 
  greater than mortal but less than divine, and is practically a 
  force of nature unto herself. While Baba Yaga is well known 
  in folklore for her penchant for devouring children, what is 
  less known is that she also makes a habit of consuming lesser 
  witches, and it is for this reason that she acts as a patron to 
  would-be practitioners of magic, essentially farming witches 
  for her own nefarious purposes.
  Background
   
  No one knows exactly where Baba Yaga came from 
  or how she managed to reach her current state. Theories 
  vary wildly, with some claiming that she was once a 
  fertility goddess or similarly kind matronly deity, who in 
  some way became corrupted, and fell to her current state. 
  Others believe that Baba Yaga is a sort of elemental force, 
  grown from the fear of those that are unknown or different 
  (especially witches), and the resentment of those that were 
  wrongfully persecuted for not fitting in. Most, however, 
  believe what the legends say, that once, long, long ago, Baba 
  Yaga was a powerful but entirely mortal witch, who reached 
  her mythical status by earning it with many famous (and 
  infamous) deeds, which are immortalized in song and story.
   
  Whatever her origin, a determined Baba Yaga is 
  a terrifying and seemingly unstoppable force. Her famous 
  chicken-legged hut, which seems to have a mind all its own, 
  is said not only to be able to walk about and dance, but even 
  to somehow travel between worlds and dimensions, taking 
  its mistress to strange places throughout the multiverse, 
  and distant worlds. In one such world she is said to have 
  conquered an entire nation at the head of a massive army 
  of icy monsters, and handed its rulership over to her 
  daughters. Others claim that she spends much of her time in 
  a dark and twisted swamp in the lands of the fey, where she 
  masquerades as a hag that is, in turn, masquerading as an 
  elderly woman. She commands three riders, a white, a red, 
  and a black, who, according to some myths, are said to have 
  direct control over the movements of the sun and moon, and 
  can change day into night. She is said to be all-knowing and 
  all-seeing, and while this is almost certainly an exaggeration, 
  the fact remains that she is very wise and privy to many occult 
  secrets that even powerful archmages may not know about.
   
  For all her terrible and awesome power, and her 
  cannibalistic tendencies, Baba Yaga is not all bad. Many 
  a questing hero has come to her seeking aid, especially in 
  the form of information, in order to complete their quest. 
  While some of these find that Baba Yaga turns on them and 
  attempts to devour them, most are given what they seek, 
  assuming that they are able to pass the various tests and trials 
  that Baba Yaga almost invariably sets before them. Those that 
  fail are almost always eaten, and their skulls used to adorn 
  the great crone’s fence, which is made entirely of bone.
   
  While Baba Yaga has a taste for the flesh of children, 
  she gains little from it besides her enjoyment of the taste 
  and texture. Unbeknownst to many, but whispered secretly 
  by a few, is the fact that Baba Yaga’s longevity and power are 
  due, in part at least, to her regular consumption of powerful 
  witches, whose latent magical energies she uses to keep 
  herself alive. The more powerful the witch, the more she 
  gains from devouring their essence. Baba Yaga has numerous 
  methods of ensuring that she keeps a steady supply of 
  witches for her to consume in order to extend her existence, 
  but one of the main ones is acting as a patron: in effect, Baba 
  Yaga plants the seeds of magical power in witches who make 
  pacts with her, then allows them to grow into powerful, fully-
  10
  
  developed witches, at which point she uses the nature of the 
  pact to devour them. Some of these witches manage to escape 
  her clutches, and some are claimed by the perils of adventure, 
  but all in all Baba Yaga reaps a steady crop of magical energy 
  in this way.
  Goals
   
  If Baba Yaga has any particular long-term goals, they 
  are far too mystic and inscrutable for most mortals to be able 
  to follow, and far too well obscured, for the great crone is very 
  protective of her secrets and privacy. Her various actions and 
  travels seem whimsical in nature, and no one can truly guess 
  why she does what she does. She seems to be struck with 
  sudden fits of inspiration, suddenly leaping across worlds 
  to perform strange or terrible deeds without any apparent 
  reason. Underneath it all, though, it is a safe bet that she is 
  far more cunning than she lets on, and that her apparently 
  wild behavior is, in fact, all part of a greater, calculated 
  scheme.
   
  Of course, Baba Yaga has a voracious appetite for 
  witches and their magic, and her first concern is often 
  ensuring that she keeps a steady supply, much the same 
  way that a farmer or hunter thinks first and foremost about 
  putting dinner on his plate. She has various schemes and 
  plans that ensure her a fairly steady stream to consume, 
  however, giving her the leisure to pursue other, more 
  mysterious activities.
  Familiars
   
  For the most part, Baba Yaga’s familiars are not easily 
  distinguished from the familiars granted by other patrons. 
  She has a tendency towards granting “traditional” familiars 
  associated with witches of folklore, especially black cats and 
  ravens, but she grants familiars of all sorts, when the mood 
  strikes her. Those witches who make their pacts with Baba 
  Yaga in person generally report that she stares at them in 
  intense silence for several minutes, as though viewing their 
  soul, past, and future all at once, before declaring the type 
  of familiar she will grant. Few are foolish or brave enough to 
  request a different type of familiar, and those that do seem to 
  have an equal likelihood of being granted their request with a 
  matronly smile and a “I’m not sure it’s wise, but if you’re sure 
  it’s what you want…”, or being shoved into Baba Yaga’s oven 
  and devoured.
   
  Baba Yaga’s familiars tend to be either unusually fat 
  or unusually scrawny, though there seems to be no particular 
  pattern as to which. Either way, they all have a voracious 
  appetite, and tend to be very lazy, with the exception of 
  occasional bursts of frantic activity. In general, familiars 
  granted by Baba Yaga are fickle with their loyalties, and have 
  been known on many occasions to betray masters who do 
  not treat them overly well in favor of strangers who show 
  them kindness. In some cases, it can take as little as a piece 
  of choice meat or a delicious cookie to turn such a familiar 
  against its master, though masters who ensure that their 
  familiars are well-cared for and have no complaints have 
  little to fear from this. In general, Baba Yaga’s familiars are 
  not terribly finicky, and tend to share her pragmatism and 
  general shamelessness, worrying more about what works, and 
  less about whether or not it looks ridiculous doing so.
  Followers
   
  The great crone has many followers, which take 
  many different forms, and span many different worlds, 
  and even planes. Entire nations and cultures, scattered 
  throughout the multiverse, live in fear of her, and, in different 
  places, her minions can range from empires openly ruling in 
  her name to secret cults that worship her as a quasi-deity to 
  individual agents or even simply the birds and beasts of the 
  forest.
   
  When it comes to the witches that she serves as a 
  patron to, however, they are not so much her followers as her 
  food. At best, they might be considered apprentices in a very 
  deadly and dangerous profession, but ultimately, the system 
  is designed in order to ensure that the majority of the witches 
  to whom Baba Yaga grants her power wind up serving to 
  sustain her.
   
  There are generally two ways in which a potential 
  witch comes to be able to make a pact with Baba Yaga. The 
  first is fairly simple: the would-be witch learns a certain ritual 
  that allows her to contact the great crone, and then performs 
  it. The nature of the ritual makes it work only for those with 
  as-yet-unharnessed magical potential, ensuring that Baba 
  Yaga is not pestered unnecessarily, and that the ritual cannot 
  be used against her. Once contact is established, if Baba Yaga 
  finds the applicant acceptable, she makes the pact, and the 
  two go their separate ways, for the time being. Otherwise, 
  Baba Yaga ends the communication, and often takes the extra 
  step to drag the failed applicant through a gate in order to 
  cook and eat her.
   
  The second way for a witch to make a pact with Baba 
  Yaga is to come across one of the many portals that she has 
  seeded throughout the multiverse for just such a purpose. 
  These can take various forms, such as a particularly strange 
  ring of rocks or trees, or a cave whose mouth resembles a 
  grinning skull or a cruel old woman, but usually take the 
  form of an abandoned and neglected hut, deep in the forest. 
  These portals, much like the ritual to contact Baba Yaga, are 
  designed in such a way that they only function for potential 
  witches who are likely to make pacts with Baba Yaga, and 
  oftentimes they can’t even be found except by potential 
  witches, young children, and others that Baba Yaga wouldn’t 
  mind dropping in on her, let alone actually used. Of course, 
  Baba Yaga herself, and those who are in her favor, can use 
  these portals freely, creating a network between the various 
  vast and disparate places Baba Yaga claims as her own.
  11
  
   
  Once a potential witch travels through this portal, 
  she arrives a short walk from Baba Yaga’s famous dancing 
  hut (wherever it might be) and must make her way there, 
  past the fence of bone and any scavengers or guardians that 
  might stop her from reaching the great crone. Once she 
  actually meets Baba Yaga, the pact is made in much the same 
  way, though there is a somewhat greater chance that Baba 
  Yaga will decide that she’d rather just eat the applicant now, 
  instead of waiting for her to magically “fatten up.”
   
  For her own part, Baba Yaga is surprisingly up-front 
  about her habit of devouring witches. Those who contact her 
  are promptly informed that they had best not be wasting her 
  time, or else she will “gobble you up,” and, again, when the 
  pact is actually made, Baba Yaga warns the witch to whom 
  she grants power that if he or she does not prove strong or 
  capable enough, Baba Yaga will devour them. Of course, the 
  exact metrics of what constitutes “strong or capable enough” 
  are not discussed, and it is all but indisputable that Baba 
  Yaga continues to serve as a patron only because so many 
  fail, but it is true that the exceptional witches who are able to 
  avoid or withstand the hidden snares in the contract, are left 
  alone and unmolested by Baba Yaga, who would likely have 
  no trouble tracking them down and making a meal of them. 
  Whether or not this is a reward for proving strong enough, 
  or the cowardice of someone who does not want to pick a 
  fight with someone who might have even a chance of being 
  too strong for her, is up for debate, though, if one is wise, not 
  anywhere that the great crone might hear.
  Rituals
  Rite of Contact
   
  Those witches who did not accidentally stumble 
  across Baba Yaga’s hut via one of her many extradimensional 
  portals typically gain her as a patron by performing this 
  ritual. The applicant must carve a potato in her own image, 
  and coat it in honey, then grind it into paste with a mortar 
  and pestle, being careful to grind it counter-clockwise 
  exactly fourteen times, while singing one of several different 
  children’s nursery rhymes. The resulting paste must then be 
  mixed with the blood of a fresh-killed rooster, and consumed 
  at precisely the stroke of midnight. If done properly, and the 
  person performing the ritual is a good candidate to become 
  one of Baba Yaga’s witches, then he or she falls into a deep 
  sleep, and in her dreams she visits Baba Yaga’s hut. If she 
  makes the pact, she awakens to find her familiar perched atop 
  her, staring into her eyes. If she does not, she may simply 
  awaken with nothing to show for it, or may watch, helpless 
  in her dream state, as the dream Baba Yaga opens a gate and 
  drags her own sleeping, helpless form into her hut and roasts 
  it in the oven.
  Baba Yaga as a Patron
   
  In addition to learning spells, a witch who selects 
  Baba Yaga as a patron gains a number of additional abilities as 
  she increases in level, though she also suffers from a number 
  of penalties as a result of her connection to Baba Yaga, as 
  well.
   
  Spells: 2nd—ray of enfeeblement, 4th—hold 
  person, 6th—cackling skullUM, 8th—crushing despair, 10th—
  reincarnate, 12th—eyebite, 14th—plane shift, 16th—horrid 
  wilting, 18th—cursed earthUM.
  Pact Boons
   
  By taking Baba Yaga as her patron, a witch gains 
  a number of special boons, specific to Baba Yaga. As she 
  gains levels in the witch class, and her association with Baba 
  Yaga becomes stronger, she is granted additional boons, as 
  outlined below.
   
  Potent Hexes (Su): A witch that selects Baba Yaga 
  as her patron finds that her hexes are more difficult to resist 
  than those of other witches. The saving throw DCs of the 
  witch’s hexes, major hexes, and grand hexes are increased by 
  +1. At 11th level, this bonus increases to +2.
   
  Contact Baba Yaga (Sp): Beginning at 6th level, the 
  witch gains the ability to call upon Baba Yaga for additional 
  information and guidance. This functions as contact other 
  plane, except that it always contacts Baba Yaga. When 
  contacting Baba Yaga, the witch always receives a true answer 
  on a result of 1 – 60, receives an answer of “don’t know” on 
  a result of 61 – 75, receives a lie on a result of 76 – 90, and 
  receives a random answer on a result of 91 – 100. Because 
  Baba Yaga expects that more powerful witches should address 
  their problems on their own and not bother her, the saving 
  throw DC to resist Intelligence damage is equal to 10 + 1/2 the 
  witch’s class level + the witch’s Intelligence modifier. Unlike 
  contact other plane, however, if the witch fails this saving 
  throw, she only suffers 1d4 points of Intelligence damage, 
  though this Intelligence damage can’t be healed by any means 
  until 24 hours have passed. The witch may use this ability 
  once per day at 6th level, plus an additional time per day at 12th 
  level, and a 3rd time per day at 18th level. 
  Pact Price
   
  Baba Yaga’s power does not come without its 
  consequences, and in serving him, a witch must make certain 
  sacrifices, as outline below.
   
  Troubled Dreams (Su): A witch with Baba Yaga as 
  her patron is plagued by disturbing dreams and nightmares, 
  which interrupt her rest. Each night, when she rests, the 
  witch must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the witch’s 
  class level + the witch’s Intelligence modifier) or have her rest 
  12
  
  disturbed. If the witch’s rest is disturbed, she regains half as 
  many hit points as she normally would from resting, and is 
  able to prepare one less spell of each spell level that she can 
  cast than she would normally be able to the next day (for 
  example, a witch that could normally prepare three 2nd-level 
  spells and four 1st-level spells would be able to prepare two 2nd-
  level spells and three 1st-level spells, instead).
   
  Hag-Like (Su): Beginning at 6th level, a witch who 
  chooses Baba Yaga as her patron becomes physically warped 
  and twisted, gaining a hag-like appearance. Even young 
  and pretty witches find their skin covered with warts, their 
  hair lank and stringy, their skin color changing to a dull and 
  pallid tone, and so on. As a result, the witch suffers a penalty 
  on all Charisma-based skill checks other than Intimidate 
  equal to 1/2 her witch level. Further, any creature that can 
  see the witch has its starting attitude toward her reduced by 
  one step, although this cannot reduce a creature’s attitude 
  towards the witch below unfriendly. If the witch is able to 
  hide her appearance (either magically, or with a successful 
  Disguise check opposed by the observer’s Perception check, 
  with the witch suffering a -5 penalty), these penalties do not 
  apply.
  Bach-Farajh, Many-Voiced Madness
   
  Many patrons can grant power, but are you sure that 
  you want to throw your lot in with them? What are they going 
  to want you to do with that power? Why are they so happy to 
  hand power away to you? Those who select me as their patron 
  need only do one thing: have a good time. My price? Just let 
  me come with you, as a part of your mind, and enjoy the party 
  with you. What other patron actually asks that you use your 
  powers just to have fun and excitement? And what good is 
  power if you can’t use it the way that you want?
  Description
   
  In truth, Bach-Farajh has no physical form, and is 
  not even a real creature, per se. Rather, it is a sort of hive-
  mind formed from among the members of a constant, 
  never-ending party. It exists as a collection of thoughts and 
  dreams and wants and needs and sensations from the minds 
  of all the various creatures that make up the party’s guests, 
  somehow brought together by the nature of the never-ending 
  celebration and the mind-altering drugs, food, and drink that 
  are freely partaken of by all members. Bach-Farajh cannot 
  exist independently of these creatures, and does everything 
  in its power to keep the party going, and prevent its members 
  from leaving.
  Image © Can Stock Photo Inc. / leafsomen
  13
  
   
  The party itself is truly an overwhelming thing. It 
  can be heard miles away, with the sounds of many shrieking, 
  laughing, raucous voices echoing throughout the valley that 
  has been entirely taken over with revelry. The sound is clearly 
  merry, but also tinged with a slightly frantic pitch, setting 
  listeners on edge and warning of an underlying madness. 
  The party’s guests form a wide menagerie of creatures from 
  many planes and worlds, all gathered and engaged in the 
  most colossal celebration the planes have ever known. The 
  smell is overpowering, and is a heady mix of blood, sweat, 
  alcohol, tobacco, and all kinds of delicious foods and spices 
  from all the most exotic locales. The party is wild, and those 
  who aren’t dancing or drinking are fighting, cheering, or even 
  mating. Sometimes more than one.
  Background
   
  Once there was a satyr known as Tagan. Like many 
  satyrs, he loved a good celebration, and one day he decided 
  that he was going to throw the biggest party that anyone 
  had ever seen. He prepared over the course of a year, buying 
  as many supplies as he could, and sending invitations 
  to powerful and interesting characters throughout the 
  multiverse. He also worked hard and paid exorbitant fees 
  in order to ensure that some of the multiverse’s greatest 
  performers would serve as the entertainment.
   
  When the day of the party came, it was everything 
  that Tagan had ever hoped it would be. The guest list was 
  massive, and that party was a huge success. It raged on and 
  on for days, and, since everyone was having such a good 
  time, it kept going as days became weeks, and weeks even 
  became months. Though some of the individual guests came 
  or went, and of course had to sleep during this time, at any 
  given moment the majority of the revelers continued their 
  celebration unhindered.
   
  During this time, Bach-Farajh was born. This 
  bodiless, psychic being was born from all the uninhibited and 
  wild partying, and from the wild emotions of so many party 
  guests concentrated in one place for such a long time. A sort 
  of hive-mind, Bach-Farajh actually exists in a small part in 
  the minds of each and every participant in the party, but only 
  so long as they remain together, and remain partying. The 
  exact nature of the mental links that allow Bach-Farajh to be 
  are unclear, but those who wander away from the party for 
  too long are severed from the entity, and if the party were to 
  stop completely, Bach-Farajh is certain that it would cease to 
  be, in the same way that scattering the bricks that make up 
  a building cause the building to be destroyed, even if each 
  individual brick survives. As a result, the psychic composite 
  did his best to keep the party going.
   
  After a little over three months of non-stop partying, 
  Tagan the satyr was quite tired, and ready for the party 
  to be over. He started telling people to go home, but they 
  ignored him. He stood up on the table and shouted, but 
  no one paid any attention. He began begging and pleading 
  with the crowd, but to no avail. Desperate, he grabbed the 
  nearest partygoer and began shaking her, trying to get her 
  attention. This was finally something that the partygoers 
  could not ignore, and the party momentarily went silent as 
  each partygoer within sight of Tagan turned and stared at 
  him malevolently, then, all speaking at once, announced 
  that he was not welcome, and had to leave. Tagan, perhaps 
  suffering from a lack of sleep, and unaware that his party 
  had given birth to a very territorial hive-mind, did not detect 
  Bach-Farajh behind the reaction, and rather determined that 
  this was a joke at his expense. He explained to the crowd 
  that this was his home, and it really was time for them to 
  leave. Bach-Farajh took this as an attack against him, and 
  had already given Tagan all the warnings he was going to 
  get. Wordlessly, the party-goers turned on Tagan and tore 
  him limb from limb, feasting on his flesh and bathing in his 
  blood. Then, they resumed their revelries, as though nothing 
  had happened.
   
  The party raged on for some time, but eventually 
  the food and drink ran out. Not just from the party itself, but 
  from the entire surrounding countryside. Using his influence 
  over the partygoers, Bach-Farajh compelled them to move the 
  party onwards, in order to find a new place where the party 
  could continue. As the party traveled, it grew, and so did the 
  might of Bach-Farajh.
  Goals
   
  In many ways, Bach-Farajh can be treated as two 
  separate entities: there are the partygoers themselves, who 
  comprise the mental construct much like grains of sand can 
  form a beach. Their wants and needs are straightforward and 
  simple: they want to have fun, keep partying, and indulge 
  in all their lusts, whether they be for food, drink, blood or 
  passion. They appreciate novelty, but mostly just want to have 
  a good time. Bach-Farajh’s influence compels them to take 
  what they need in order to support their lifestyle of constant 
  debauchery, and as a result they have become a wandering 
  horde that strips the land clean of resources wherever they 
  go, and are not above kidnapping talented entertainers or 
  pretty playthings while they’re at it.
   
  Bach-Farajh himself is a somewhat more complicated 
  entity, though its motivation is perhaps even simpler: Bach-
  Farajh wants to survive. In order to do so, he must keep the 
  party going, While any one member of the party is utterly 
  expendable, the group as a whole is vital to Bach-Farajh’s 
  existence, and were the party to stop or the members to 
  disband, he would simply cease to be. While this means 
  that the party’s continuance is his most immediate concern, 
  in the long term, he hopes to find a way to transcend his 
  component parts, either by simply connecting himself to 
  so many creatures that it would be virtually impossible for 
  him to be completely undone, or, better yet, to find some 
  way to ascend to a state where he is not dependent on other 
  creatures for his continued survival at all. This is the main 
  reason why he employs witches, as they are able to spread his 
  14
  
  mental tendrils throughout the multiverse, and serve as hubs 
  in his collective consciousness.
   
  There is more to Bach-Farajh than simple survival, 
  however, and he is very much colored by his origins. Much 
  like those from whom he is made up, he is an enthusiastic 
  debaucher, though being bodiless means that he indulges 
  his desires in other ways. In specific, Bach-Farajh craves 
  strong emotions, effectively indulging himself in proxy 
  by experiencing things vicariously through others. 
  Understandably, he is somewhat deadened to the constant 
  gratification that his component members perform, and so 
  one thing he highly values in his witches are strong emotions, 
  which, through the power of their pact, he can revel in and 
  enjoy.
  Familiars
   
  Though it vastly prefers naturally intelligent 
  creatures, Bach-Farajh is capable of connecting to the minds 
  of animals, as well. This is a fairly rare occurrence, and usually 
  only happens when members of the revelry find some animal 
  that they choose to take as a mascot, or entertainment. If 
  that creature stays within the group for long enough (and is 
  not killed or eaten), it can become connected to Bach-Farajh 
  much as the celebrants are. When this happens, Bach-Farajh 
  usually keeps the animal safe, and gives it to the next witch to 
  join his service, making it her familiar.
   
  Once away from the influence of Bach-Farajh’s 
  eternal celebration, the animal largely acts like any other 
  familiar, though such creatures are inevitably touched by 
  Bach-Farajh, and in most cases, it shows. Physically, there 
  is nothing to distinguish one of Bach-Farajh’s familiars 
  from any other patron’s, but emotionally they are much 
  like the creature that transformed them: lazy, selfish, and 
  extremely self-indulgent. A familiar granted by Bach-Farajh 
  is almost certain to be drawn to creature comforts, lavish 
  accommodations, and novelties of every sort. They almost 
  universally loathe work of any kind, and tend to have 
  much less patience for things that bore them, or which are 
  unpleasant, than most other familiars. When they don’t 
  get what they want, they typically complain loudly and 
  incessantly to their master, whining and wheedling that they 
  should be out having fun. Particularly strong-willed familiars 
  may even wander away from their master to go pursue 
  whatever debaucheries take their interest, or find ways of 
  forcing their master to indulge in the behaviors that they 
  want.
  Followers
   
  The most obvious group of Bach-Farajh’s followers 
  are the individuals from whose minds he is formed, the 
  vast majority of which are guests at the endless party that 
  spawned him. Bach-Farajh’s connection to these creatures 
  gives him a certain amount of control over their actions, 
  which varies depending on the strength of the connection. 
  Those that stay with the party for long periods of time form 
  deep connections with the entity, allowing it to take complete 
  control over their actions for short periods of time, with 
  a certain expenditure of effort. Even among those whose 
  connections to Bach-Farajh are more tenuous, such as those 
  that it is connected to by its witch servants (see below), Bach-
  Farajh is able to subtly influence their mood and emotions, 
  which can sometimes have profound effects on their actions.
   
  In general, the longer a creature spends around 
  Bach-Farajh, the stronger a connection he can make with 
  that creature. Similarly, when a creature moves away from 
  Bach-Farajh and others touched by him for long periods 
  of time, that creature’s connection to Bach-Farajh withers 
  and dies, unless it is reinforced by some other means. For 
  this reason, Bach-Farajh keeps the majority of his followers 
  close together, and is careful about sending them away from 
  the group for any reason, though sometimes circumstances 
  dictate such things as necessity. The only exception to this 
  rule is witches in Bach-Farajh’s service, as their bond with 
  him is magical, and requires no reinforcement to maintain.
   
  For this reason, the witches who serve Bach-Farajh 
  are his major means of influencing the world beyond its small 
  cluster of followers, and his primary means of spreading. 
  Witches in his service have the ability to spread his influence 
  to others, and can act as a sort of “foothold” in areas far away 
  from Bach-Farajh’s main center of power. In a few cases, 
  dedicated witches have actually managed to create entirely 
  separate, independent parties much like the one from which 
  Bach-Farajh was spawned, and he remains linked to all 
  of these half-dozen or so collections of followers, though 
  the first remains by far the largest, and most important 
  to Bach-Farajh. Witches in his service can also be called 
  upon occasionally to help scout for new locations for one 
  of Bach-Farajh’s parties. Further, their mental link to Bach-
  Farajh allows him to experience all of her emotions, which 
  is his main pleasure in life. Perhaps most important of all, 
  though, from Bach-Farajh’s perspective, is that because his 
  connection to these witches is different from—and in many 
  ways greater than—his connection to his other followers, if 
  the worst were to happen and his followers were wiped out, it 
  would take only a single witch for him to survive, and be able 
  to begin rebuilding himself, though being reduced to such 
  a state would dramatically limit the magical abilities he was 
  able to bestow upon that witch, likely removing all but the 
  most rudimentary of her spellcasting abilities.
   
  In general, a potential witch first comes into 
  contact with Bach-Farajh through another of his witches, 
  who sees potential in her for whatever reason (usually a 
  dispensation towards debauchery of one form or another, 
  and an underlying desire for power, though the two need not 
  be related, and there are other reasons a potential candidate 
  might be chosen). The witch then approaches the candidate, 
  explaining that she can grant the potential witch great 
  power, and offering to introduce the prospective witch to her 
  magical patron. From there, it is only the matter of a simple 
  ritual for the new witch to join the fold.
  15
  
   
  When necessary, Bach-Farajh can communicate 
  via telepathy, though he rarely does so. With witches in his 
  service, he communicates mostly empathically, reassuring 
  the witch when he is pleased with her and warning the witch 
  when he is not. Even this communication is relatively rare, 
  however, and for the most part Bach-Farajh is willing to allow 
  the witch to do as she pleases, since she is likely to spread his 
  influence as she does so.
  Rituals
  Rite of Initiation
   
  This ritual, used to seal the pact between a witch and 
  Bach-Farajh, is little more than a big, wild party, other than a 
  few incantations (which, not surprisingly, adapt very well to 
  popular tunes, allowing them to sung rather than chanted, 
  and pass quite nicely for a nonsense bar song). The ritual 
  requires an existing witch of Bach-Farajh to participate, and 
  help facilitate the linking process, but otherwise it is mostly 
  a free-form celebration, with the new witch as the guest of 
  honor. Whether or not the majority of the guests are aware of 
  the reason for the celebration, they will almost certainly not 
  be told that it is not just the  new witch who will be linked 
  with Bach-Farajh. Each participating member (of which 
  there must be at least a dozen) is touched by the psychic 
  conglomerate, as well, and serve as a sort of sacrifice for the 
  new witch, although unless these bonds are maintained, they 
  quickly wither away.
  Bach-Farajh as a Patron
   
  In addition to learning spells, a witch who selects 
  Bah-Farajh as a patron gains a number of additional abilities 
  as she increases in level, though she also suffers from a 
  number of penalties as a result of her connection to Bach-
  Farajh, as well.
   
  Spells: 2nd—charm person, 4th—enthrall, 6th—rage, 
  8th—moonstruckAPG, 10th—envious urgeUM, 12th—heroes’ feast, 
  14th—waves of ecstasyUM, 16th—euphoric tranquilityAPG, 18th—
  pied pipingAPG.
  Pact Boons
   
  By taking Bach-Farajh as her patron, a witch gains 
  a number of special boons, specific to Bach-Farajh. As she 
  gains levels in the witch class, and her association with Bach-
  Farajh becomes stronger, she is granted additional boons, as 
  outlined below.
   
  Mental Contagion (Su): Whenever a witch with 
  Bach-Farajh as her patron casts a spell with the mind-
  affecting descriptor, if that spell allows a saving throw, any 
  target that fails his or her saving throw becomes mentally 
  linked to Bach-Farajh, gaining a connection with a strength 
  of 1.
   
  See Connection (Su): Beginning at 6th level, a 
  witch with Bach-Farajh as her patron can concentrate on 
  a creature in order to determine what kind of connection 
  he has to Bach-Farajh. As a standard action, she learns the 
  potency rating of the character’s connection to Bach-Farajh, 
  as well as how long the character has been at that potency 
  rating, and whether it was previously higher or lower. This 
  is a mind-affecting divination effect. Anything that would 
  prevent a character from being affected by detect thoughts 
  also prevents this ability from working on them.
   
  Exploit Connection (Sp): Beginning at 12th level, a 
  witch with Bach-Farajh as her patron can mentally influence 
  characters with a connection to Bach-Farajh, in a way similar 
  to what Bach-Farajh himself can do. As a standard action, 
  the witch can attempt to influence any character within 60 
  feet that she can see. The target may make a Will save (DC 
  10 + the connection’s potency) to resist the effect, the exact 
  nature of which depends on the strength of the target’s 
  connection. If the target’s connection has a potency of 0, this 
  has no effect. If the target’s connection has a potency of 1 -4, 
  they are affected as though by the spell charm monster. If the 
  target’s connection has a potency of 5 – 7, they are affected as 
  though by the spell suggestion. If the target’s connection has 
  a potency of 8 – 10, they are affected as though by the spell 
  dominate monster. In all cases, the duration of the effect lasts 
  for a number of hours equal to the potency of the target’s 
  connection. The witch can use this ability three times per day 
  at 12th level. At 16th level, and every four levels thereafter, she 
  can use this ability an additional time each day.
   
  Foster Connection (Su): Beginning at 18th level, a 
  witch that has selected Bach-Farajh as her patron can create 
  a mental link to Bach-Farajh simply by her touch. In order to 
  use this ability, the witch must touch a humanoid creature. 
  If the creature is not willing, this requires a successful touch 
  attack. If the witch successfully touches the target, he must 
  succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the witch’s class level 
  + the witch’s Intelligence modifier) or have the strength of 
  his connection to Bach-Farajh increased by 4 steps. Even 
  if the target succeeds on this Will save, the strength of his 
  connection to Bach-Farajh is increased by 1. The witch can 
  use this ability at will, but cannot use it on a given creature 
  more than once.
  Pact Price
   
  Bach-Farajh’s power does not come without its 
  consequences, and in serving him, a witch must make certain 
  sacrifices, as outline below.
   
  Emotional (Su): Whenever a witch with Bach-
  Farajh as her patron makes a saving throw to resist an effect 
  with the emotion descriptor, she must roll twice and take the 
  worse result.
   
  Spell Drunkenness (Su): Beginning at 6th level, the 
  magic channeled by a witch with Bach-Farajh as her patron 
  becomes subtly intoxicating. Any time that the witch casts 
  a spell, if she also cast a spell the previous turn, she must 
  16
  
  Sidebar: Mental Links with Bach-Farajh
   
  A character can gain a mental link to Bach-Farajh in a variety of ways, but typically do so either by spending an 
  extended period of time with large groups of people who are already linked to Bach-Farajh, or by being affected by mind-
  affecting spells cast by a witch that has Bach-Farajh for her patron. The exact effects of being mentally linked with Bach-
  Farajh depends on the strength of the connection, as defined by the connections potency, which ranges from 0 to 10. Different 
  potency ratings have different effects, as outlined below.
   
  Potency 0 (No Connection): A character whose mental link to Bach-Farajh is at potency 0 is not mentally linked to 
  Bach-Farajh at all. This is the default for all characters.
   
  Potency 1 – 4 (Weak Connection): A character whose mental link to Bach-Farajh is between potency 1 and potency 
  4 has only a weak connection, which is easily sundered, and does not allow Bach-Farajh much control. Whenever the 
  character is presented with an opportunity to engage in self-indulgent behavior (such as splurging on food, enjoying a party, 
  satisfying carnal desires, etc.), he must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + the connection’s potency) or take that opportunity. 
  The character cannot be forced to make a Will save in this way more times in a given day than the potency of the connection. 
  A character who fails this saving throw 5 or more times in a given week has the potency of his connection increased by 1 (to a 
  maximum of once per week). A character who does not fail any of these saving throws in a given week has his potency reduced 
  by 1. If the character succeeds on the saving throw, but then proceeds to act in the manner that he would have been forced to, 
  anyway, is treated as having failed his saving throw for this purpose.
   
  Potency 5 – 7 (Moderate Connection): A character whose mental link to Bach-Farajh is between potency 5 and 
  potency 7 has a moderate connection, which allows Bach-Farajh somewhat more control over the character’s actions. In 
  addition to the effects of having a weak connection, Bach-Farajh can attempt to directly compel the character to engage in self-
  indulgent behaviors. This functions as suggestion (DC 10 + the connection’s potency), except that the suggestion must always 
  involve some kind of self-indulgence or other pleasure. Bach-Farajh can use this ability a number of times each week equal to 
  the connection’s potency. If the character fails 3 or more saving throws to resist this effect in a single week (or succeeds on the 
  saving throw but acts on the suggestion anyway), then the potency of the connection increases by 1.
   
  Potency 8 – 10 (Strong Connection): A character whose mental link to Bach-Farajh is between potency 8 and 
  potency 10 has a strong connection, which allows Bach-Farajh to take direct control, and also helps to reinforce mental links 
  in those that spend a lot of time around the character. The character is subject to all the effects for a moderate connection. 
  Additionally, once per day, Bach-Farajh can gain control of the character as though with dominate monster (DC 10 + the 
  connection’s potency), except that the duration is only an hour. Further, any character whose connection to Bach-Farajh has a 
  potency rating of 7 or less that spends at least four hours per day with a character that has a strong connection to Bach-Farajh 
  for an entire week has the potency rating of his connection increased by 1 (this can cause a character with a potency of 0 to 
  gain a potency of 1 and forge a mental connection to Bach-Farajh). Finally, for every two weeks that a character continues to 
  have a connection with a potency of 8 or more, the potency of that connection increases by 1 (to a maximum of 10).
   
   Other Ways to Gain and Lose Potency: A character that goes an entire week without interacting with any creature 
  that has a connection with a potency rating of 4 or higher has the potency of his connection decrease by 1 step. Spending at 
  least 8 hours performing hard labor each day for a week decreases the potency rating of a character’s connection by 2, but 
  the character must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + potency rating) or find himself unable to work, compelled to shirk his 
  responsibilities, slack off, etc. This does not count against the number of times in a day or week that Bach-Farajh can use its 
  influence on the character, and success or failure on this Will save has no bearing on the character’s potency rating (other than 
  that caused by performing the work).
   
  Other Ways of Influencing the Connection: Anything that prevents a character from being affected by mind-
  affecting effects protects them from the effects of the connection, suppressing it for as long as the protection remains in 
  place. If the protection remains in place long enough, this can allow the character to reduce the potency of his connection to 
  0 with relative ease. If the protection is removed before this time, however, the effects of the connection reassert themselves. 
  Finally, a break enchantment or atonement spell, or a wish or miracle, can reduce the potency of a character’s connection to 
  0 immediately. Finally, a bestow curse spell can be used to give a character a connection to Bach-Farajh with a potency of 3. If 
  cast by a witch with Bach-Farajh as her patron, the potency is set to 4, instead. 
  17
  
  succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 10 + the spell level of the 
  spell she is currently casting) or be nauseated for 1 round.
   
  Magic Addiction (Su): Beginning at 12th level, the 
  magic channeled by a witch with Bach-Farajh as her patron 
  becomes outright addictive. If the witch does not cast all of 
  the spells that she prepared by the time that she rests and 
  regains spells again at the end of the day, then she is fatigued 
  on the following day until she has cast at least half of the 
  total number of spells that she is capable of preparing in 
  one day. Additionally, whenever the witch casts a spell of 5th 
  level or higher, she must succeed on a Will save (DC 15 + the 
  spell’s level) or be forced to cast another spell of the same 
  spell level or higher on the following round. If the witch does 
  not have any more spells of that level or higher prepared, she 
  becomes fatigued, and must cast a spell of the highest spell 
  level that she has remaining. If the only spells that the witch 
  has remaining are cantrips, she becomes exhausted, instead. 
  If the witch does not have any cantrips prepared, and has no 
  spells to cast at all, she becomes exhausted and is stunned for 
  1d4 rounds.
   
  Sympathetic Magic (Su): Beginning at 18th level, the 
  witch’s connection to Bach-Farajh makes her vulnerable to 
  feedback from spells that she casts on creatures that are also 
  connected to Bach-Farajh. Whenever the witch casts a spell 
  that allows a saving throw that is not denoted as harmless 
  and has a single target, if that target has a connection to 
  Bach-Farajh with a strength of 4 or higher, and the target fails 
  his or her saving throw, then the spell may affect the witch 
  as well. In this case, the witch is treated as being targeted by 
  the spell as well, and must save to resist its effects, as normal. 
  For every two points by which the strength of the target’s 
  connection to Bach-Farajh exceeds 4, the witch suffers a -1 
  penalty on this saving throw. Regardless of whether or not the 
  witch succeeds on the saving throw, her sympathetic magic 
  ability does not apply to that target for the next 24 hours, 
  and any subsequent spells she casts on that target during this 
  time are not affected by this ability.
  Irashen, the Iron Son
   
  What use is power, if it is squandered on petty and 
  evil aims? There are many who would offer dark gifts to you, 
  in order to use you as a tool, make you a slave, or have you 
  corrupt others on your behalf. But what if you did not have 
  to give up your inner goodness in order to gain the power you 
  seek? What if someone was willing to offer you power, and ask 
  only that you use it to do good, to help defend the defenseless, 
  and to serve a cause greater than yourself? What I ask may 
  require more courage than those others, and it will require a 
  steadfast heart that does not shy away from doing the right 
  thing, but at the end of the day, the rewards are far greater, 
  not only in the afterlife, where an ascension to the blessed 
  heavens awaits you, but also each night, as you go to sleep, 
  content in the knowledge that you have done the right thing.
  Description
   
  Irashen is clearly angelic, with a pair of luminous, 
  feathery wings that glow with a radiant light, and appear 
  to be made of a very beautiful white gold. His appearance 
  is otherwise more-or-less human, though his eyes are an 
  entrancing shade of amethyst, and his head is adorned with 
  a brilliant golden halo that matches his wings. He wears 
  a brilliantly-polished silver breastplate, complete with 
  incredibly intricate engravings bearing a heavenly motif, and 
  he wears a long, crimson cloak, which always flaps and waves 
  dramatically, even when there is no wind. He smiles kindly, 
  and his gaze is filled with compassion, and, behind it, a 
  strong sense of assuredness. Strangely, this warrior carries no 
  weapons, clearly comfortable with being unarmed. His hair is 
  the color of well-worn iron and cropped short. Wrinkles cross 
  his face, adding character, but no anger. When he speaks, his 
  fatherly voice simultaneously instills those who hear it with a 
  desire to do as he says, and knowledge that they are loved and 
  valued.
   
  Irashen is an angel, a celestial general who is in 
  command of the Iron Legion, a special heavenly army which 
  recruits exclusively from good-aligned mortals, forming a sort 
  of celestial alternative to the dark cults sponsored by demons 
  and devils. This volunteer army is a relatively new celestial 
  development, but has been quickly growing in recent 
  decades. They spend most of their time battling demons in 
  the abyss, and their main goal is to prevent incursions from 
  the lower planes into the material plane.
  Background
   
  Irashen has a long history of crusading against the 
  denizens of the lower planes in general, and the demons of 
  the abyss in specific. Long ago, he was a rank and file soldier 
  in the Platinum Legion, one of the more elite of the celestial 
  armies. He spent centuries in ongoing conflicts in the abyss, 
  and slowly rose through the ranks. He developed a reputation 
  for both his resolve and his compassion—while many other 
  18
  
  angels began to see fighting demons as an end in and of 
  itself after a few centuries of campaigns, Irashen always 
  remembered what it was that they were fighting for, and 
  though he assessed situations tactically, he did not consider 
  any losses to be “acceptable,” especially in the case of mortals 
  and bystanders, and did everything in his power to minimize 
  the casualties of war.
   
  His greatest victory was over a lesser demon prince 
  by the name of Nogryn, who had been actively searching for 
  a way to open a massive rift between the material plane and 
  the abyss, and was close to achieving that goal and effecting 
  a massive demonic invasion, when Irashen’s detachment 
  received word of his plans, and made a daring raid deep into 
  the abyss in order to put a stop to the demon prince’s plans. 
  Though the casualties of this assault were high, and most of 
  his forces did not survive, he was able to prevent the rift from 
  opening, and in so doing saved countless mortal lives. At the 
  end, he was forced to face Nogryn one-on-one, and the two 
  fought in an epic battle. Nogryn was too powerful for Irashen 
  to kill, and so the angel was forced to settle for skewering the 
  demon prince through the heart with his sword, Iron Dawn, 
  and binding the demon, sending it into a coma for 1,000 
  years. The sword remains in Nogryn’s sleeping body to this 
  day, buried under the ruins of his dread fortress.
   
  After this victory, Irashen was promoted to a general. 
  Removed from direct combat, he had more time to look 
  at the larger picture, and he came to the conclusion that 
  the war, as it was currently being fought, was unwinnable. 
  He pointed out the numerous dark cults being fostered by 
  fiends throughout the material plane, and the numerous 
  witches and other spellcasters seduced into serving evil by 
  the offer of easy magic power. He voiced his concerns to 
  the other celestial generals, and the heavenly war council, 
  and proposed the creation of a new legion, one made up of 
  volunteer recruits from among the pure-hearted mortals, 
  which could be used to combat evil. His suggestions were 
  met mostly with skepticism, and may angels predicted that 
  the experiment would only end in corruption. Others took 
  the position that it was not the place of mortals to fight, 
  though Irashen argued that, if they were willing, then there 
  was no reason why mortals should not be allowed to fight to 
  defend their homes from fiends. Eventually, the Iron Legion 
  was formed, and to date, it has been a marked success, with 
  swelling ranks and numerous victories to its name. 
  Goals
   
  Irashen’s goal remains what it has always been: to 
  protect mortals, and the rest of the multiverse, from the 
  predations of the various denizens of the lower planes. The 
  Iron Legion focuses mainly on the abyss, in part because, 
  being infinitely large, it contains the greatest number of 
  portals and potential for breach into the material plane, but 
  also because demons are likely to pose the most immediate 
  threat should a breach occur. In order to accomplish this, 
  Irashen is constantly on the lookout for new recruits to the 
  Iron Legion, both in the form of irregular troops, such as 
  the witches that he serves as a patron for, and in the form 
  of rank-and-file soldiers, as the Iron Legion is comprised 
  primarily of regiments full of pure-hearted paladins, fighters, 
  cavaliers, and the like willing to lay down their lives to protect 
  their home plane. In general, Irashen places the lives and 
  souls of those he is sworn to protect above all else, and given 
  the option, he will always choose to save innocent bystanders 
  over killing demons.
   
  Much to his chagrin, Irashen’s position as general 
  forces him to spend more time on heavenly politics than 
  he would like. While the Iron Legion’s success has won 
  over all but the most reactionary of the members on the 
  heavenly war council, many members still have reservations 
  about Irashen’s practice of providing patronage to witches, 
  specifically. Some of Irashen’s political opponents make 
  regular bids to try to end that aspect of the Iron Legion, and 
  Irashen would gladly welcome anything that might help 
  cement the value of holy witches in the minds of his peers.
  Familiars
   
  The familiars granted by Irashen are unusual, in that 
  they are actually the souls of those who have died fighting 
  for the side of righteousness, and have been allowed to be 
  reborn in this state to continue the fight. Typically, these 
  familiars are witches who died while fighting on behalf of 
  the Iron Legion, but sometimes they are the souls of good-
  hearted and valiant mages who died for a good cause, or even 
  lesser angelic spirits who are eager to do something useful in 
  the fight against evil. Irashen gives these souls the option—
  though he never forces it upon them—to become a familiar, 
  instead, reincarnating them in an animal form suited to their 
  personality, and sending them to serve as guides and mentors 
  to witches who serve him.
   
  In general, Irashen’s familiars tend to be slightly 
  more beautiful than most animals, with idealized features. 
  Animals with fur tend to have silver- or gold-tinted coats, 
  and almost always have light colors, while animals with 
  scales tend to be exceptionally glossy and gleam in the light. 
  Regardless of their form, Irashen’s familiars all have two 
  physical traits in common: first, they each bear a tiny pair of 
  white, angelic wings, which are capable of bearing them aloft. 
  Second, their eyes are always a bright silver in color.
   
  Moreso than many other familiars, Irashen’s 
  familiars tend to be very opinionated, and, to their critics, 
  could be considered preachy, or even bossy. Because these 
  familiars are living their second lives in a fight against evil, 
  and have all memories of their previous existence, they tend 
  to feel that they know what they are doing better than their 
  master does. Further, being specifically sent to be a mentor 
  and guide to the witch leaves the familiar feeling that it 
  is his duty to instruct the witch in the ways of ethics and 
  morality, or in other cases tactics and strategy, as much as 
  in the use of magic. While all familiars serve as teachers to 
  their witches in that they provide them with their spells, in 
  the case of Irashen’s familiars the teacher/student dynamic 
  19
  
  is much stronger, and many of these strong-willed familiars 
  consider themselves partners, or even superiors, to their 
  witch, rather than seeing the witch as their “master,” as 
  traditional familiars do. In rare cases, Irashen’s familiars have 
  been known to withhold spell knowledge until a witch heeds 
  its wisdom, though this practice is rare, and frowned upon 
  by Irashen unless the witch is planning to perform a very evil 
  act.
  Followers
   
  Irashen has a great number of followers, and 
  relatively few of them are witches. The bulk of those in 
  Irashen’s employ serve as regular soldiers in the Iron Legion. 
  This is a standing army, and Irashen is constantly recruiting 
  able-bodied and strong-hearted men and women willing to 
  leave their homes and march to the abyss (or other terrible 
  lower-planar locales) in order to fight for righteousness in 
  defense of the innocent everywhere. Tours of duty typically 
  last for one year. The pay is slightly better than what an 
  average soldier would expect, and though the actual fighting 
  is far more horrible than mundane wars, the other benefits in 
  the form of knowing that one is fighting for a virtuous cause, 
  and a guaranteed place in celestial paradise after death, make 
  the rigors worth it to a surprisingly large number. Only one 
  tour of duty is necessary to assure one’s place in the afterlife, 
  but most soldiers who complete their first tour come back for 
  another, convinced of the importance of what they do.
   
  Serving Irashen as a witch is somewhat different. 
  While Irashen is certainly happy to accept witches as regular, 
  full-time soldiers (and, for that matter, other spellcasters, 
  as well), he does not make this a requirement of gaining his 
  patronage. Instead, such witches serve as reserve troops, and, 
  for the most part, are able to do as they please, provided that 
  they further the cause of good. In this way, a witch serving 
  Irashen can spend most of her time near her home, rooting 
  out goblins, cultists, or any other evil force, without having to 
  devote her time to the abyss. Most witches who choose this 
  path join adventuring parties, and further the cause of good 
  by pursuing great quests with those adventurers. 
   
  Irashen does require some direct military service 
  from his witches, however, and will occasionally summon 
  them to serve during a particularly important battle or in a 
  crisis. The witch (and any of her companions who might be 
  willing to accompany her) become aware of the summons, 
  and where it will take them, and can choose whether or not 
  to consent. Those that do are transported to the front lines 
  to take part in the fighting, and returned whence they came 
  when the battle is done. Those that do not consent are not 
  transported. The witch’s companions are obviously under no 
  obligation to attend, though the witch herself risks losing 
  Irashen’s patronage unless she can provide a very compelling 
  reason for withholding her service.
   
  For the most part, the Iron Legion operates on other 
  planes, so as to prevent incursions and provide maximum 
  protection to the material plane, but when a breach occurs, 
  the fighting spills over into the material plane, and the Iron 
  Legion acts as protectors to the places involved. This has 
  given them some recognition, though for the most part they 
  still remain fairly obscure, except to those who study planar 
  activities. Still, recruitment drives for the Iron Legion are an 
  increasingly common sight, with wandering paladins, clerics, 
  and sometimes even lesser angels travelling from town to 
  town and collecting volunteers to fight in Irashen’s crusade.
  Rituals
  Day of Peace
   
  Irashen greatly values peace, and thus his greatest 
  holiday is dedicated to it. At dawn on the day of the summer 
  solstice, his followers rise and cleanse themselves in natural 
  water formations. They do not wear their weapons or armor 
  on this day, instead tying these into a bundle with twine, 
  and then leaving to join with other followers of Irashen for 
  the day. Throughout the day there is feasting, music and 
  festivities, and everyone does their best to forget about their 
  battles and war. While there are contests of strength and 
  skill, none of these contests involve weapons of any kind. Of 
  course, this festival is much harder to observe while actively 
  on campaign, and only about half of any given regiment of 
  soldiers is able to participate, the other half remaining on 
  active duty, to defend against any demonic assaults. As a 
  result, the Iron Legion has begun celebrating the day twice a 
  year, the other day of peace being on the winter solstice, and 
  allowing those who missed out on the summer celebration to 
  take their turn.
  Rite of Dedication
   
  This rite is completed regularly by followers of 
  Irashen. He doesn’t dictate how often or when they should 
  complete it, so it is left to the witch’s discretion. Witches will 
  usually perform it when they feel particularly troubled or 
  have committed something they consider a sin. At dusk, they 
  must wash themselves in water, preferably from a natural 
  water source. They must diligently scrub, sharpen and clean 
  their weapons. After all their gear has been maintained, a 
  fresh vine must be woven through their clothes. This is then 
  followed by the witch practicing with her weapons until 
  morning. When the sun rises, the witch must brew a potion 
  made from fresh berries, mixed with shavings of iron. Under 
  the dawn sun, she must rededicate herself to Irashen and his 
  causes by drinking this potion and reciting special mantras.
  Irashen as a Patron
   
  In addition to learning spells, a witch who selects 
  Irashen as a patron gains a number of additional abilities as 
  she increases in level, though she also suffers from a number 
  of penalties as a result of her connection to Irashen, as well.
  20
  
   
  Spells: 2nd—protection from evil, 4th—align 
  weapon (good only), 6th—archon’s auraUM, 8th—holy smite, 
  10th—hallow, 12th—planar ally, 14th—bestow grace of the 
  championUM, 16th—holy aura, 18th—winds of vengeanceAPG.
  Pact Boons
   
  By taking Irashen as her patron, a witch gains a 
  number of special boons, specific to Irashen. As she gains 
  levels in the witch class, and her association with Irashen 
  becomes stronger, she is granted additional boons, as 
  outlined below.
   
  Angelic Familiar: Regardless of the exact 
  familiar that she selects, a witch that selects Irashen as 
  her patron gains a familiar with wings. This grants the 
  familiar a fly speed equal to its movement speed, with good 
  maneuverability. If the familiar already had a fly speed, its 
  maneuverability increases by one step, and its fly speed 
  increases by 10 feet. Additionally, the familiar can cast 
  detect evil as a spell-like ability at will. At 7th level, or any 
  time thereafter, the witch may choose to have the familiar 
  “ascend,” shedding its animal body and becoming a lantern 
  archon.
   
  Spell Smite (Su): Beginning at 6th level, a witch with 
  Irashen as her patron can call out to him to empower a spell 
  that she casts on an evil-aligned creature. Her caster level 
  for this spell is treated as 2 higher than it actually is, and the 
  saving throw DC is increased by +1. If the target is an outsider 
  with the evil subtype, an evil-aligned dragon, or an undead 
  creature, then her caster level is treated as 4 higher, and the 
  saving throw DC is increased by +2, instead. The bonuses 
  to caster level apply to any checks made to overcome spell 
  resistance, as well. If the spell has any targets that are non-
  evil, or has no targets, then this ability has no effect. At 6th 
  level, she can use this ability once per day. At 9th level, and 
  every three levels thereafter, the witch may use this ability 
  one additional time per day.
   
  Punishing Spell (Su): Beginning at 12th level, 
  whenever a creature fails a saving throw against one of 
  the witch’s spells by 5 or more, if that creature has an evil 
  alignment, it suffers an amount of damage equal to twice the 
  witch’s caster level.
  Pact Price
   
  Irashen’s power does not come without its 
  consequences, and in serving him, a witch must make certain 
  sacrifices, as outline below.
   
  Code of Conduct: A witch that selects Irashen as 
  her patron must obey a strict code of conduct. Such witches 
  must maintain a lawful good alignment, and adhere to the 
  paladin code of conduct. Additionally, the witch may not 
  cast any spells with the evil descriptor, and cannot gain the 
  blight, beast of ill-omen, poison steep, or scar hexes, nor can 
  she gain the cook people major hex. At the GM’s discretion, 
  she may also be unable to gain or use certain other hexes 
  of particularly unsavory nature, not found in the Advanced 
  Player’s Guide or Ultimate Magic. 
   
  Failure to uphold this code of conduct causes the 
  witch to lose her class features, in the same fashion as a 
  paladin that violates her code of conduct. She regains her 
  abilities and advancement potential if she atones for her 
  violations (see atonement), as appropriate.
   
  Spare the Righteous (Su): Beginning at 6th level, 
  the witch’s spells become less effective against non-evil 
  creatures. Creatures of good alignment receive a +4 bonus 
  on saving throws made to resist the effects of the witch’s 
  spells and hexes, and creatures that are of neither good nor 
  evil alignment gain a +2 bonus on saving throws made to 
  resist the effects of the witch’s spells and hexes. Additionally, 
  outsiders with the good subtype that are forced to make 
  saving throws to resist the effects of the witch’s spells or hexes 
  may roll twice and take the better result.
   
  Angelic Oversight (Su): Once a witch with Irashen 
  as her patron reaches a certain level of magical talent, her 
  magic use is overseen by one or more celestial bureaucrats, 
  who may interfere with her spells. Beginning at 12th level, 
  whenever the witch casts a spell of 5th level or higher, there 
  is a 10% chance that the spell has no effect. At 14th level, and 
  every two levels thereafter, the minimum spell level of spells 
  affected by this ability increases by 1 (6th-level spells and up 
  at 14th level, 7th-level spells and up at 16th level, 8th-level spells 
  and up and 18th level, and 9th-level spells only at 20th level).
  21
  
  Jodan, the Mad Jester
   
  Life is just one big, mad, crazy joke, and you’re one 
  of the ones that gets it. I can tell. It’s always better to be the 
  one laughing than the one laughed at, but at the end of the 
  day, isn’t the world a better place for everyone with a little bit 
  of humor? Whether you’re bringing the pompous down a peg 
  or brightening an otherwise boring and uneventful day, who 
  doesn’t like a good joke? Of course, the really good jokes are 
  hard to pull off. But, with a little bit of help from me, you can 
  have the power to make all the great jokes you can think of 
  come to be. Doesn’t that sound fun?
  Description
   
  Jodan has been known to appear in many forms, and 
  is capable of taking just about any shape or form that he can 
  imagine. However, for the most part, when he is not taking a 
  form specifically to pursue a practical joke or other comical 
  purpose, he tends to gravitate towards a specific one, which 
  has led many to speculate that this is his “true form.” In this 
  state, he appears at a glance to be a young jester, dressed in a 
  colorful motley outfit. Upon closer inspection, however, one 
  finds that the pattern on the motley is unusually symmetrical 
  and perfect, and the fabric seems simply to be growing 
  out of his skin, rather than something altogether separate. 
  Looking even closer reveals that the jester’s skin is smooth 
  and featureless in an unnatural way, and that his eyes are 
  completely white, devoid of iris or pupil. Similarly, even when 
  he speaks, and his mouth and lips move, his mouth remains 
  in a perfect, rigid grin.
   
  Jodan is a twisted spirit that has grown outside of 
  its station and struggles to understand and interact with the 
  world around it. Now transformed into an embodiment of 
  the very concept of humor (and irony, in specific), it does 
  not actually understand the very thing that it is supposed to 
  represent. Its attempts at humor range from the bland to the 
  terrifying, and the only thing that Jodan is sure to leave in his 
  wake is chaos, not laughter.
  Background
   
  Jodan began life as a toshigami, one of the more 
  powerful kami spirits (see the Pathfinder Bestiary 3 for more 
  information on kami, and toshigami in particular). Jodan was 
  the spirit of a particularly old and sacred cherry tree located 
  in the main courtyard of the spring palace of the Immortal 
  Jade Emperor. For centuries he was quite content to be the 
  spirit of this particular tree, and lived in contentment and 
  peaceful harmony.
   
  One day, however, visitors came from the west, from 
  strange and far-off lands, and entered into trade negotiations 
  with the Immortal Jade Emperor. Ambassadors were given 
  residence in the spring palace, and they brought with them 
  a jester, who was to entertain the Immortal Jade Emperor 
  with his jokes and songs. The Immortal Jade Emperor was 
  not very impressed by his humor, but his daughter, the 
  Illustrious Opal Princess, was quite taken with the young 
  man. Of course, it would have been unthinkable for the two 
  to become romantically involved, as the jester was far below 
  her station, and a foreigner, as well. The Illustrious Opal 
  Princess was heartbroken, knowing that her love could not 
  be, and would often sit beneath Jodan’s cherry tree and cry to 
  herself, lamenting cruel irony that the man who she loved so 
  much, and who lived to bring laughter to the world, had only 
  doomed her to sadness.
   
  Jodan was moved by her sadness, and, what’s 
  more, intrigued by the irony of her situation. Using his 
  spiritual powers, he took the form of the jester and sought 
  the Immortal Jade Emperor’s permission for the two to be 
  wed. The Immortal Jade Emperor responded by ordering 
  him executed, though of course the palace guards did not 
  expect their opponent to be a toshigami, and he quickly 
  escaped, taking the unfortunate jester and the Illustrious 
  Opal Princess with him. She was overjoyed to be freed from 
  her father and able to be with her love, but the jester himself 
  explained that he was already married, and that he had two 
  children awaiting his return with his wife. Jodan, responded 
  by transforming the pair into cherry tree saplings, and 
  causing their forms to grow together and intertwine, so that 
  they would be together forever.
   
  No longer truly a cherry tree spirit, Jodan continued 
  to grow and evolve into his new perceived role as a spirit 
  of humor itself, and attempts to spread and cause humor 
  everywhere that he goes. Though he believes that he is an 
  embodiment of humor, he still does not truly understand 
  humor, at least as humans perceive it. His practical jokes 
  are as likely to cause confusion or horror as they are actual 
  laughter, and even his most beneficent tricks tend to be 
  bittersweet. Though he seems wholly alien in his thinking, 
  some of his followers suggest that he understands humor 
  quite well, and that the true joke of his existence is the very 
  idea of a spirit of humor acting in a way that makes him 
  seem as though he does not understand the very thing he 
  represents.
  Goals
   
  Jodan seeks to spread humor in a misguided belief 
  that he is making the world a better place with each and 
  every practical joke that he makes. He wanders the world 
  looking for opportunities to practice his own bizarre brand of 
  humor, which mostly involves practical jokes, irony, and the 
  bizarre. Jodan is as likely to cause a blizzard in the middle of 
  summer (without any regard to how this will affect the local 
  crops or wildlife) as he is to cause all calves born in a certain 
  community for the next year to have two heads. Sometimes 
  he might turn a beggar to pure gold (without regard to the 
  beggar’s wellbeing), or transform all the loyal and hard-
  working members of a corrupt city watch into dogs. In rare 
  cases, his jokes are more benevolent, or at least harmless, 
  such as causing beautiful and exotic flowers to bloom on the 
  22
  
  graves of all of a serial-killer’s victims, or enabling events 
  to conspire to put a particularly inept (but too stubborn to 
  control) farmer on the throne of a kingdom.
   
  Behind all of Jodan’s various acts of humor is an 
  underlying desire to truly understand the concept that he 
  attempts to embody, and, some would argue, even champion. 
  Jodan does not truly understand what it is that makes people 
  laugh (or, at least, he acts like he doesn’t understand. Some 
  claim that it is all part of a larger joke), and though his 
  attempts usually manage to touch vaguely on realms that 
  are similar to humor, they tend to cause more horror than 
  mirth, and he truly does not understand why. He goes out of 
  his way to watch those who routinely make others laugh, in 
  order to better understand how they do so, and is constantly 
  revising his theories of humor. Occasionally he will confront 
  individuals directly and ask them to explain themselves, or 
  even whisk them away to an otherworldly realm for a longer 
  interview. These encounters tend to end poorly for the object 
  of Jodan’s interest.
  Familiars
   
  Jodan creates his familiars completely out of 
  nothingness, and each of them is purely an extension of his 
  will, like a piece of himself that he cuts off and forms into 
  whatever shape he desires. Jodan’s familiars are carefully 
  sculpted in both body and mind to make the perfect partner 
  for the witch he gives them to, and are a very personal affair. 
  Of course, Jodan’s definition of a perfect pair can sometimes 
  leave a bit to be desired.
   
  Typically, one of Jodan’s familiars is specifically 
  created to contrast its master in pseudo-ironic ways. A seven-
  foot tall witch may well receive a mouse for his familiar, while 
  a particularly beautiful witch may receive a hairless hyena 
  covered in red spots as hers. This contrast need not always be 
  physical: particularly timid or gentle witches might receive 
  aggressive, snarling mastiffs, while bloodthirsty and cruel 
  witches receive kind-hearted rabbits, and so on. Because 
  Jodan is so intimately involved in their creation, he is able 
  to “hand-craft” the familiar’s personality, as much as its 
  appearance, and can create a perfect foil to his witch in every 
  way, if desired. Similarly, because the familiar’s body is made 
  from thin air, his familiars often have colorations or patterns 
  in their fur or scales that don’t appear in nature.
   
  Jodan loves nothing if not variety and 
  unpredictability, however, and so not all of the familiars he 
  grants are comical opposites. Many are caricatures, instead, 
  taking on exaggerated traits from their masters until they 
  become almost a mockery of the witch that they are given to. 
  Sometimes, especially if the witch is a fairly well-balanced 
  individual (a rarity, among those that serve Jodan), the 
  intended hilarity of the familiar is not related to its master, 
  but rather self-contained. This could include anything from 
  a particularly energetic and impatient tortoise to a beauty-
  obsessed toad, or even a hawk or raven with a fear of heights.
   
  Except when the needs of his humor dictate to the 
  contrary, Jodan’s familiars share his enthusiasm for humor, 
  and, unfortunately, his taste in it, as well. His familiars, in 
  general, have a tendency towards playing pranks, and while 
  their power to do so may be much more limited than Jodan 
  himself, they still manage to engage in pranks that are more 
  upsetting than truly humorous, even if one can usually see 
  the logic behind the attempt.
   
  Some rumors claim that Jodan is able to actually see 
  and hear through the senses of the familiars that he creates, 
  and that he is drawn to the sound of laughter, such as that 
  whenever one of his familiars starts laughing, he borrows 
  their senses to find out what’s so funny, and get in on the 
  joke. It’s unclear whether or not this is the case (and probably 
  impossible to prove, either way), but nonetheless many 
  witches in his service consider it wise not to let their familiar 
  see or hear anything that they wouldn’t want Jodan to.
  Followers
   
  There are a variety of ways and reasons why one 
  might willingly choose to follow Jodan. Most of his followers 
  genuinely appreciate what he does and how he does it: some 
  of them believe that his humor is a step forward, and that it is 
  he who is teaching us what is funny, rather than not knowing 
  it himself; others believe that he is well-intentioned, and that 
  if he can simply be shown true humor then he will brighten 
  the world with laughter and smiles; still others say that he 
  already knows humor just fine, and that’s half the joke, while 
  still others simply find the chaos that he leaves in his wake to 
  be absolutely hilarious. Many of his followers don’t actually 
  believe in the ideal that he represents, though. It is not 
  uncommon for criminals—from simple thieves to arsonists, 
  murderers, or rapists—to do what they do in Jodan’s name, 
  or use the humor spirit as an excuse for their crimes. In 
  opposite cases, a growing number of people actively teach 
  the philosophy of Jodan’s humor in the hopes that this will 
  somehow appease him and convince him to leave them alone.
   
  When it comes to witches in Jodan’s service, there 
  are two kinds: those that became witches willingly, and those 
  who didn’t. The first are much like witches who serve any 
  patron, and they seek out Jodan either because they believe in 
  what he represents and actively want magic to champion his 
  cause, or because they believe that the price he asks for their 
  magic is the easiest for them to pay, or simply because he was 
  the first patron that they learned about, and they jumped at 
  the chance for magic powers. Jodan does not particularly care 
  who he gives power to, and, almost predictably, finds the idea 
  of an irresponsible and hands-off patron handing power to 
  mortals without any real supervision to be the height of both 
  irony and hilarity.
   
  In fact, so fond is Jodan of this concept that 
  sometimes he bestows magical power on those who don’t 
  even ask for it (some of his followers believe that the “humor” 
  of this situation actually comes from the fact that so many 
  mortals are so willing to give up their souls for power like this, 
  23
  
  and he gives it away to those who don’t even ask for it). Such 
  witches simply awake one morning to find their new familiar 
  in their bed, or else are stopped in the middle of their daily 
  business when Jodan descends from on high and declares her 
  a witch. Whatever the case, those who have his gift suddenly 
  bestowed on them find that trying to pretend that it didn’t 
  happen only results in uncontrolled bursts of magic, and 
  eventually learn to accept their new lot in life as a powerful 
  spellcaster. 
   
  Because there is so little oversight of Jodan’s witches, 
  and he himself is so chaotic in nature, his witches don’t fall 
  into any single pattern as far as how they behave or what 
  they do. Generally speaking, most of them have a fondness 
  for irony and practical jokes (whether because this is what 
  attracted them to Jodan in the first place, or because it grew 
  on them over extended exposure), though they usually have 
  more normal views of what constitutes acceptable humor 
  than their patron does (this, of course, is not universally 
  true). Typically, these witches do their best to add a little 
  variety to the lives of those around them through humor, 
  and use their magic to help them do so. They do not usually 
  associate with one another any more than they do with other 
  witches in general. 
   
  For the most part, non-witch followers of Jodan 
  tend to behave in the same way, and they do not generally 
  form large groups or organizations, though there are some 
  exceptions. One such group, called the Loudest Laugh, is 
  devoted to Jodan only in name, and was actually formed to 
  protect its members from his predations. Its founder was 
  the only survivor of a small hamlet that suffered from one of 
  Jodan’s jokes. What began with him warning others about 
  the spirit slowly morphed into explaining Jodan’s humor and 
  ideology to those who are unfamiliar with him and it. They 
  are well known for constantly smiling in every situation, no 
  matter how they feel, and for long rituals that involve ritual 
  chant-like laughing for hours at a time. They promote Jodan’s 
  humor in a positive light, and explain how Jodan’s philosophy 
  is good for the world, and that laughter is the best response 
  to every situation. All of this is so much lies, however, as the 
  entire organization is built on the misconception that what 
  Jodan wants is for others to accept his humor and laugh. The 
  organization believes that by seeming to do what they believe 
  the humor spirit wants, they can avoid the effects of his jokes. 
  It remains to be seen whether or not this will be effective in 
  the long run, but as of yet none of their members seem to 
  have been affected.
  Rituals
  Day of Folly
   
  On the third day of spring, followers of Jodan hold 
  a festival in his honor. There is much celebration, and of 
  course many pranks. However, these pranks differ slightly 
  from the pranks that his followers usually practice. First, all 
  of the pranks must be done by mundane means, and without 
  the assistance of magic. This is designed to challenge his 
  followers to use their creativity and ingenuity in applying 
  their craft, and is also considered by many of his followers 
  to make things “more sporting.” Second, the pranks are 
  generally far less harmful, and quite a bit more playful. Most 
  of Jodan’s followers treat this as a day designed to bring 
  others into the fold, and show them the ways of Jodan. Of 
  course, a fair number of his followers ignore the day entirely, 
  or take advantage of it to perform truly terrible “pranks” 
  when everyone’s guard is down.
  Jodan as a Patron
   
  In addition to learning spells, a witch who selects 
  Jodan as a patron gains a number of additional abilities as she 
  increases in level, though she also suffers from a number of 
  penalties as a result of her connection to Jodan, as well.
   
  Spells: 2nd—beguiling giftUC, 4th—hideous laughter, 
  6th—cackling skullUM, 8th—confusion, 10th—major curseUM, 
  12th—mass suggestion, 14th—foe to friendAPG, 16th—irresistible 
  dance, 18th—wish.
  Pact Boons
   
  By taking Jodan as her patron, a witch gains a 
  number of special boons, specific to Jodan. As she gains levels 
  in the witch class, and her association with Jodan becomes 
  stronger, she is granted additional boons, as outlined below.
   
  Wondrous Magic (Sp): Beginning at 1st level, a witch 
  with Jodan as her patron can channel stored spell energy into 
  a burst of random wonder. The witch can “lose” a prepared 
  spell of the highest spell level that she can cast in order to 
  produce a random effect. This functions as a rod of wonder, 
  except that activating the ability is treated as casting a spell. 
  If the spell sacrificed in this way is 5th level or higher, then 
  she may roll twice and take whichever result she prefers. The 
  witch can use this ability three times per day.
   
  Magic Variance (Su): Beginning at 6th level, a witch 
  with Jodan as her patron has magic of variable potency. 
  Whenever she casts a spell, she rolls 1d4. Her caster level for 
  the purposes of that spell is equal to her actual caster level 
  minus 2 plus the result of the die roll. As she increases in 
  level, the die that she rolls and the amount that she subtracts 
  from her caster level are adjusted accordingly, as indicated on 
  Table 1-1: Magic Variance.
  Table 1‐1: Magic Variance
  Witch Level
  Die Rolled
  Base Caster Level
  1st ‐ 5th
  None
  Witch's caster level
  6th ‐ 8th
  1d4
  Witch's caster level ‐ 2
  9th ‐ 11th
  1d6
  Witch's caster level ‐ 3
  12th ‐ 14th
  1d8
  Witch's caster level ‐ 4
  15th ‐ 17th
  1d10
  Witch's caster level ‐ 5
  18th+
  1d12
  Witch's caster level ‐ 6
  24
  
   
  Additionally, for every two levels that her effective 
  caster level for a spell is higher than her actual caster level, 
  the saving throw DC of that spell (if any) increases by +1. In 
  the same way, for every two levels that her effective caster 
  level for a spell is lower than her actual caster level, the saving 
  throw DC of that spell (if any) decreases by -1. This only 
  applies to the difference in caster level caused by this ability, 
  and anything else that impacts her caster level does not apply.
   
  The witch can prevent this ability from impacting a 
  spell that she casts as a free action made as part of casting the 
  spell, but can only do so a number of times per day equal to 3 
  + her Intelligence modifier. Otherwise, this ability affects all 
  spells that she casts.
  Pact Price
   
  Jodan’s power does not come without its 
  consequences, and in serving him, a witch must make certain 
  sacrifices, as outline below.
   
  Uncontrollable Magic (Su): The unpredictability of 
  Jodan’s magic occasionally affects a witch’s spells even when 
  she doesn’t want it to. Whenever the witch casts a witch spell, 
  if it has been at least 10 minutes since the last time that she 
  cast a spell, there is a 5% chance per witch level she possesses 
  (to a maximum of 50% at 10th level), that a random effect 
  occurs, instead. This functions as the witch’s wondrous magic 
  ability, but does not count against the number of times that 
  she can use that ability that day, and she may not roll twice 
  and take her choice of results, regardless of the level of the 
  spell used. No more than three spells can be replaced by a 
  random effect in this way per day, and once three spells have 
  been replaced, this penalty does not apply until the next time 
  the witch rests and regains her spells.
   
  Out of My Hands (Su): Jodan’s magic can be 
  difficult to control at the best of times, and as a witch’s bond 
  to Jodan increases, she begins to have difficulty controlling 
  more complicated spells. Beginning at 6th level, whenever 
  the witch casts a spell which requires that she make a choice 
  other than the spell’s target or area (for example, what kind of 
  creature to summon with summon monster I or which version 
  of a plant growth spell to use, or what penalty is imposed by a 
  bestow curse spell, etc.), that choice is determined randomly 
  (or, if determining randomly is not feasible, is determined 
  by the GM). Once per day, the witch may choose to bypass 
  this drawback, and make the choice normally, but she must 
  declare that she is doing so before learning the results of 
  randomly determining the choice.
  Kaillan, the Wandering Witness
   
  I can tell that you are someone who longs for 
  more. Not more power, though it’s always nice to be able to 
  protect yourself. No, just more life. More everything. More 
  experiences, emotions, people, places, and things. What is 
  the point in living if you don’t find something wonderful and 
  beautiful and fantastic in every single day, or, for that matter, 
  every single breath? If you want a reason to see the world, to 
  experience wonder and beauty, then let me be the one to give it 
  to you.
  Description
   
  At first glance, Kaillan seems to be little more than 
  a man garbed in a well-worn outfit, stained from dust and 
  weather. His clothes are unremarkable in every way, except 
  to denote him as someone who has been traveling for some 
  ways. His hair and beard are long and grey. He wears a large 
  backpack that is frayed at the edges, and from which the ends 
  of numerous curious knick-knacks and supplies poke out. 
  Upon his person hang a great many tokens and trinkets, from 
  a wide variety of places and cultures. He does not wear boots, 
  but instead has only a pair of thin, black leather sandals upon 
  his feet, which are habitually caked with dust and grime. He 
  carries a gnarled staff in one hand, and a pipe carved from 
  bone between his teeth. 
   
  Most who meet Kaillan never learn of his true 
  nature, which is precisely the way that Kaillan prefers it. 
  Kaillan is an eternal traveler and tourist, wandering endlessly 
  in search of new sights to see, and new experiences to enjoy. 
  In truth, he is actually a powerful fey, but he prefers to travel 
  incognito, because doing to allows him to more genuinely 
  experience life as a mortal commoner, and Kaillan is a stickler 
  for authenticity.
   
  While those who know of Kaillan naturally assume 
  that he travels in search of grandiose and magnificent 
  wonders, like upwards-flowing waterfalls, sunsets in the 
  celestial heavens, and so forth, the truth is that, while Kaillan 
  does appreciate such sights, he actually places more value 
  on the small things that are often overlooked or which go 
  unnoticed. Were he to attend a lavish wedding, for example, 
  he would likely spend more time appreciating the flicker of 
  fear and doubt on the groom’s face—and the way that it was 
  quickly washed aside—or the play of sunlight on the bride’s 
  veil, than he would the elegant diamond chandelier or the 
  various dresses made in the latest fashion and expensive 
  enough to be worth a small kingdom.
   
  Even when in disguise, however, Kaillan’s very nature 
  is such that his presence subtly warps and twists the world 
  around him, and no matter how hard he tries, it is virtually 
  impossible for him to avoid changing that which he observes. 
  As a result, he has taken to acting as a patron to witches, 
  empowering them with a piece of his magic in exchange 
  for their pledge to travel, see the world, and share their 
  experiences with him through mysterious dream stones.
  25
  
  Background
   
  Kaillan is a powerful lord of the fey, and his ancient 
  office was one of great renown in the fey world. Appearing 
  as a lithe, graceful man with long, pointed ears, stag-like 
  antlers, and long, flowing silver hair that would blow even 
  without wind, he was the ruler of the Granglen, a stretch 
  of incredibly wild, primal land untouched by even the fey 
  version of civilization, except for a single, magnificent palace 
  in the very center of his realm, which had been grown entirely 
  from a single plant, but towered up above the clouds. In the 
  spring and summer the entire Granglen palace was blanketed 
  in beautiful flowers, whose various colors made it seem to 
  shift and shimmer in the observer’s sight.
   
  All this was good for a time, but as the lord and 
  warden of Granglen, Kaillan was not able to leave its 
  boundaries except for one night each year. He began to spend 
  more and more time dreaming of the outside world, of all 
  the wonders that he was missing because, wondrous and 
  impressive as Granglen was—and there are many immortal 
  fey who would be more than happy to live with what it 
  offered, alone—it was not the entire world. Kaillan became 
  obsessed with all that he was missing, and began to shirk his 
  duties, allowing trespassers to leave freely if they could give 
  him interesting news or provide him with precious books or 
  other knowledge about the world outside.
   
  Eventually, Kaillan determined that he must find 
  a way to free himself from Granglen. He beseeched his 
  queen to release him from his holdings, and pass them on 
  to another, but she refused. Eventually, in a fit of desperate 
  frustration, he burned the entire realm to the ground, 
  reducing it to ash. This destruction was enough to free 
  him from his title, and he immediately set out to enjoy his 
  newfound freedom.
   
  For centuries, he traveled the planes, as well as 
  all the worlds of the material plane, in search of unique 
  wonders and other great and majestic attractions. He loved 
  every moment of it, at first, but as time went on, he began 
  to find that even though each of the places he visited was 
  more fantastic and awe-inspiring than the last, he found his 
  appreciation for them waning: somehow, even though none 
  of these places was anything like any of the others, the very 
  novelty of novelty itself was fading for him.
   
  From the beginning of his travels, Kaillan’s nature 
  as a displaced fey lord—and the lingering magic of Granglen 
  which still clung to him—had been subtly affecting the world 
  around him, though he was barely aware of the fact, himself. 
  His very presence caused colors to brighten, tastes to become 
  stronger and more potent, emotions to be more powerful. 
  Everywhere he went, he amplified the world around him, not 
  just for himself, but for others. Unusual events were more 
  commonplace when he was around, as well. This was bad as 
  often as it was good, and anger and sadness were exaggerated 
  just as much as happiness and joy. But it always served to 
  make Kaillan’s journeys larger than life.
   
  As Kaillan began to grow weary of the grandiose, 
  however, he developed a strong taste for the mundane 
  and banal. He came to appreciate the subtleties of human 
  interaction, the overlooked beauties of the everyday, and the 
  poetry of normal, quiet, uneventful lives. Now, his nature 
  of changing the world around him became a burden, rather 
  than a treasure, and prevented him from experiencing all 
  that he wanted to experience. Several times he tried to settle 
  into mortal life as a baker or farmer, or some other simple 
  commoner’s job, but each time he stayed in one place too 
  long he would create a whirlwind of chaos simply by being 
  there, and his life would take dramatic turns not suitable for 
  what he had in mind.
   
  Though he resigned himself to the fact that he would 
  likely never be able to live such experiences first-hand, for 
  try though he might he could not remove this wild aspect of 
  himself, he did not give up. Instead, he travelled in search of 
  an answer to his problem, and eventually found it in the form 
  of mysterious dream stones. First crafted by shamans on a 
  faraway world, these stones would allow the user to record 
  memories, and others to experience them. Inspired, Kaillan 
  mastered the art of creating dream stones, and began seeking 
  out mortals with wanderlust and a traveler’s heart, offering 
  them a taste of his magic in exchange for providing him with 
  chronicles of their travels. 
  Goals
   
  For the most part, Kaillan is largely content with 
  things the way that they currently are. He is always hungry for 
  new experiences, and is always happy to expand the number 
  of witches who are experiencing the world on his behalf and 
  sending him their memories via dream stones. Though he 
  does not yet realize it himself, a small part of Kaillan hopes 
  that one day he will have enough memories being sent to him 
  that he can find a place to settle down and retire for a while, 
  and live entirely through these vicarious memories, putting 
  at least a temporary stop on his travels.
   
  Though Kaillan would gladly give much in order to 
  rid himself of the magic that affects the world around him, 
  and would give even more to be able to be truly mortal, he 
  has long ago given up on such dreams. Still, if an opportunity 
  were somehow to present itself, he would leap at the chance, 
  and be eternally grateful to anyone who could arrange such a 
  thing for him.
  Familiars
   
  Familiars granted by Kaillan are irrevocably touched 
  and altered by his magic. A dog familiar that he grants may 
  have a vibrant rainbow coat, or perhaps paws with opposable 
  thumbs. A rabbit familiar might possess a pair of majestic 
  stag’s antlers (on a slightly smaller scale). Even such strange 
  things as eagles with butterfly wings or snakes with scales 
  made of literal gold. These differences are largely cosmetic, 
  however, even the more dramatic ones, and for the most 
  part, other than being particularly unique in appearance, the 
  familiars granted by Kaillan are not exceptionally different 
  from those granted by most patrons. As a general rule, the 
  strange appearances that are typical of Kaillan’s familiars are 
  far more likely to cause a sense of wonder and awe in those 
  that see them than they are to inspire fear, terror or disgust, 
  though there are occasionally exceptions to this rule.
   
  Moreso than most other familiars, those granted by 
  Kaillan are curious about the world around them. They have 
  26
  
  an innate sense of wonder, and oftentimes view the world in 
  a much more naïve and youthful way than the familiars of 
  certain other patrons might. Those that are capable of asking 
  questions tend to ask lots of them, which can sometimes 
  become irritating to their master, as well as anything that 
  they are able to speak to with their ability to speak with 
  others of their kind. They tend to be quite excitable, for the 
  same reason, and tend to suffer from intense mood swings, 
  both positive and negative.
   
  Combined with this rash, impulsive nature is the fact 
  that Kaillan’s familiars view themselves as being special and 
  unique—a view that is especially difficult to dislodge when 
  faced with the fact to their strange appearance. As a result, 
  many of Kaillan’s familiars have a bit more of an ego than 
  familiars granted by other patrons, though they tend to be 
  fairly good-natured when dealing with the “lesser, mundane 
  people” that they meet, sometimes including the witch 
  herself, in the familiar’s eyes.
  Followers
   
  Kaillan recruits his followers from among those that 
  he meets in his travels. When he finds someone who he truly 
  feels is a kindred spirit full of wonder, curiosity, and more 
  than a little bit of wanderlust, he offers that person a chance 
  to gain some magic to aid her in her travels, in exchange for 
  providing him with records of her journeys. Kaillan is very 
  picky about who he makes this offer to, however: he is only 
  interested in becoming a patron for those who honestly hold 
  a great joy of discovery in their hearts, and who are naturally 
  curious and seek out new things, situations and experiences. 
  While there are certainly those who abuse his power once it is 
  granted, for the most part Kaillan prefers to avoid such things 
  by only offering it to those who would be likely to do what 
  he wants them to do, anyway. In this way, Kaillan’s magic is 
  almost as much a reward given to like-minded travelers as it 
  is part of a magical contract.
   
  What Kaillan gains from these transactions are 
  memories, which his witches give to him via special dream 
  stones. As soon as a witch enters Kaillan’s service, she is given 
  one of these magic dream stones, which is made specifically 
  for her by Kaillan. This stone has a special link to Kaillan’s 
  own dream stone, which functions across any distance, and 
  even across planar boundaries. The witch must use this 
  thought stone regularly, entering into a trance while holding 
  it, focusing on the memories she wants to give to Kaillan, and 
  then sending them through the psychic link to Kaillan’s own 
  stone, from which he can experience the memories as though 
  he were living through them himself. A witch who fails to 
  perform this task slowly loses her magic over time, but luckily 
  for those who lose or break theirs, it is possible for the witch 
  to make a new one
   
  A small part of Kaillan’s natural ability to magnify 
  the world around him is granted as part of the bond between 
  Kaillan and his witches, as much as the wanderer might 
  wish that this were not the case. Though much weaker than 
  Kaillan’s own aura, this can have a subtle effect on the world 
  around the witch, particularly when she has strong emotional 
  outbursts. Luckily, the effects tend to be subtle, and the range 
  is fairly short.
   
  While there is nothing strictly prohibiting Kaillan’s 
  followers from staying in one place for extended periods 
  of time, the fact that he deliberately chooses individuals 
  with similar temperaments to himself means that it is very 
  rare for one of Kaillan’s witches to remain in one place for 
  any extended period of time. The only real exception is 
  those who have grown old and retired. Retired followers of 
  Kaillan typically tend to settle down into businesses that 
  cater specifically to adventurers and other travelers, such as 
  running inns and hostels, or serving as sherpas or guides in 
  a local area. A few even settle down in areas that attract an 
  exceptional number of visitors and provided guided tours for 
  the purpose of entertainment and education.
   
  One enterprising witch in Kaillan’s service has 
  actually turned the dream stones into a business model. This 
  witch, named Derrick Pendrigar, is the founder and master 
  of the Sensation Stone Consortium, a traveling merchant 
  caravan which peddles mass-produced dream stones pre-
  stocked with all kind of wondrous experiences. Derrick also 
  barters in memories themselves, granting dream stones or 
  sometimes even paying out gold for particularly exciting 
  memories, which he stores in dream stones and sells to 
  others, after ensuring that he sends a copy to Kaillan first, of 
  course.
  Rituals
  Days of Rest
   
  While Kaillan and his followers are dedicated to 
  travel, even they can understand the value of rest. During 
  the first heavy snowfall each year, followers of Kaillan (and 
  the wanderer himself) seek shelter, even if they have an 
  important deadline to meet, or would normally be able 
  to press on. While any shelter will do in theory, it is an 
  important part of this ritual to take shelter with others, if 
  possible. The witch must attempt to find a nearby home 
  and make an offering to the owner, preferably of an item 
  of emotional value, but with gold, if necessary. If they are 
  refused shelter, they must travel to the next home, and repeat 
  the process. Once they find a place to stay, they settle in for 
  exactly seven days, trading stories of their journeys for tales 
  of the homeowners’ lives. During this time, the witch does 
  all that she can to enrich and better the lives of those whose 
  home she is borrowing. 
  Rite of the Crossroads
   
  Whenever one of Kaillan’s followers comes to a major 
  fork in the road or path that she is following, she must stop 
  at the fork and wait for one hour, meditating on the path in 
  front of her. If any travelers come down either path during 
  this time, she must call out to them, asking them where 
  they travel to, and whether they bring good tidings, or bad. 
  Regardless of the answer, she must offer succor to any such 
  travelers, even if all she has to offer is a few berries and twigs. 
  At the end of this time, she must light a fire, and cast dust 
  from each potential path before her into the fire, one at a 
  time. If done correctly, the dust from one of the paths will not 
  affect the fire at all, and that is the path she is meant to take. 
  Of course, this does not mean that it is the one that will take 
  her to the destination she seeks the quickest, and it may, in 
  27
  
  fact, take her in the wrong direction entirely, but she is sure 
  to find adventure and excitement along the way.
  Kaillan as a Patron
   
  In addition to learning spells, a witch who selects 
  Kaillan as a patron gains a number of additional abilities as 
  she increases in level, though she also suffers from a number 
  of penalties as a result of her connection to Kaillan, as well.
   
  Spells: 2nd—mount, 4th—levitate, 6th—clairaudience/
  clairvoyance, 8th—dimension door, 10th—overland flight, 12th—
  find the path, 14th—plane shift, 16th—discern location, 18th—
  astral projection.
  Pact Boons
   
  By taking Kaillan as her patron, a witch gains a 
  number of special boons, specific to Kaillan. As she gains 
  levels in the witch class, and her association with Kaillan 
  becomes stronger, she is granted additional boons, as 
  outlined below.
   
  Alter Fate (Su): The very presence of a witch with 
  Kaillan as her patron is enough to warp fate in her favor. 
  Whenever any creature within 60 feet of the witch makes a 
  d20 roll of any kind (attack roll, ability check, skill check, 
  saving throw, etc.), she can force the target to roll twice. Each 
  time that the witch uses this ability, flip a coin: if the result 
  is heads, the target takes the worse result, and if the result 
  is tails, the target takes the better result. The witch may use 
  this ability any number of times per day, but no more than 
  once per round. Additionally, three times per day, the witch 
  may use this ability and choose whether the target takes the 
  higher result or the lower result, instead of flipping a coin.
   
  Empathic Field (Su): Beginning at 6th level, a 
  witch with Kaillan as per patron projects an empathic field 
  which affects nearby creatures whenever she is subject to an 
  effect with the emotion descriptor. Any time that the witch 
  is affected by a spell or ability with the emotion descriptor, 
  each creature within 30 feet of her is affected by that ability, 
  as well. If the ability allows a saving throw, each creature may 
  make a saving throw to resist the ability separately. Creatures 
  that leave the affected area are no longer affected by the 
  ability, and may make a new saving throw if they re-enter 
  the area later. As soon as the ability stops affecting the witch, 
  it stops affecting all other creatures that were affected as a 
  result of this ability.
   
  Empathic Imposition (Su): Beginning at 12th level, 
  a witch with Kaillan as her patron projects her mood upon 
  her surroundings, causing them to brighten or darken as 
  a reflection of her spirit.  This ability can have one of two 
  effects, depending on whether the witch is in a fair or foul 
  mood.  The effect is not immediate, however, so even if the 
  witch’s mood changes, it takes 1d10 minutes for the effect of 
  the empathic imposition to change.
   
  As long as the witch is in a fair mood, this ability 
  grants all creatures within 30 feet of her a +2 morale bonus on 
  attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks. Alternatively, as 
  long as the witch is in a foul mood, this ability instead causes 
  all creatures within 30 feet of her to suffer a -2 penalty on 
  attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks. Regardless of the 
  witch’s mood, this ability affects all other creatures within 30 
  feet of her, ally and enemy alike. The witch is never affected 
  by her own empathic imposition ability.
  Pact Price
   
  Kaillan’s power does not come without its 
  consequences, and in serving him, a witch must make certain 
  sacrifices, as outline below.
   
  Dream Stone (Su): A witch with Kaillan as her 
  patron is expected to provide a steady stream of recorded 
  memories via a dream stone that Kaillan gives her when he 
  becomes her patron. In order to do so, the witch must spend 
  at least one hour every two days holding the dreamstone and 
  meditating. Generally speaking, Kaillan is not picky about the 
  memories that are sent, and even a relatively uneventful week 
  may be full of things that Kaillan finds interesting. A witch 
  who fails to send memories in this way for an entire week is 
  treated as one level lower for the purposes of how many spells 
  she can prepare each day. This effect stacks if the witch goes 
  for multiple weeks without sending memories. A witch can 
  create a new dream stone to replace a lost or stolen one (or 
  just because she wants to have an extra). Treat this as a magic 
  item with a market value of 3,000 gp, a material cost of 1,500 
  gp, and a construction requirement that the crafter must be 
  a witch with Kaillan as her patron. The witch does not need 
  Craft Wondrous Item to create a dream stone.
   
  Wandering Mind (Ex): Beginning at 6th level, a 
  witch with Kaillan as her patron becomes uncomfortable 
  when she stays in one place for too long. As long as the witch 
  has not moved at least 20 feet since the beginning of her 
  previous turn, she suffers a -2 penalty to attack rolls and AC, 
  and must succeed on a Concentration check (DC 15 + spell 
  level) to cast any witch spells. These patrons end immediately 
  as soon as the witch has moved at least 20 feet since the 
  beginning of her previous turn.
   
  Wanderlust (Su): Beginning at 12th level, a witch 
  with Kaillan as her patron suffers from a constant wanderlust, 
  making it difficult for her to stay in one place for an extended 
  period of time. At the end of each week, if the witch is 
  not at least 100 miles away from the location she was at at 
  the beginning of the week, she becomes fatigued. If she 
  continues to stay within 100 miles of her initial location for a 
  total of three weeks, she becomes exhausted, instead. These 
  conditions cannot be removed until the witch travels at least 
  100 miles away from her initial location.
  28
  
  Sylthavra, The Barbed Mistress
   
  I will give you the tools to punish this wicked world. 
  You can commit every cruel torture your twisted mind has 
  imagined. You will sow pain, and spread it throughout the 
  land. You shall have the power to bring suffering to those you 
  wish. You really think you have a choice, don’t you? That’s so 
  precious! I have broken far more impressive victims than you, 
  without even breaking a sweat. I want you whole. I want you 
  to submit. Kneel before me, worship me, serve me, and I shall 
  give you the power to force others to do the same to you.
  Description
   
  Sylthavra appears as a beautiful woman, with 
  porcelain-white skin and coal-black hair. She frequently goes 
  unclothed, and when she does don clothing, it is always of 
  the most provocative nature available. Her demonic nature is 
  betrayed by the pair of sleek, black, bat-like wings that sprout 
  from her back, and glisten in the light. Her beautiful features 
  are marred by the dozens of gleaming metallic spikes and 
  barbs which jut out from her skin, covering her entire body 
  in a loose network of razor-sharp blades, perhaps half an 
  inch long, and about an inch apart. Two exceptionally-large 
  iron spikes form a pair of pseudo-horns on her forehead. 
  While she is able to retract these spikes beneath her skin, 
  and has seemingly flawless skin when she does so, she 
  does not do this often, and typically only hides her barbs 
  in order to reveal them later for shock value. She can also 
  extend the metal barbs, as well, and enjoys creating spiked, 
  barbed chains which jut from her wrist, which she uses in 
  her almost-constant torture sessions, and in the very rare 
  occasions she is forced into combat.
   
  Sylthavra was once a succubus, but can no longer 
  strictly be referred to as such. While succubi are creatures of 
  sexual lust, and are certainly no strangers to such concepts 
  as sadomasochism, Sylthavra has moved beyond all of that, 
  and now lives purely for pain itself, with only the barest hints 
  of sexuality still lingering. A creature of pain, not pleasure, 
  she is considered to be corrupted by other succubi, though 
  most others consider this a lateral move, at worst. A unique 
  entity, she is no longer a succubus, and no other type of 
  known demon, either having achieved some new status that 
  may be the beginning of a new race of demons, or may be her 
  first step on the road to ascending to godhood. She seeks to 
  spread pain, and, more importantly, to pervert and corrupt 
  the very idea of lust and pleasure itself, attempting to spread 
  her own sadomasochistic tendencies throughout the planes. 
  Background
   
  For millennia, Sylthavra was a succubus like any 
  other. She spent her time seducing and tempting mortals, 
  corrupting their souls and their seed, and spreading the taint 
  of the abyss. She lusted for power more than anything else, 
  however, and when she had the opportunity she attached 
  herself to various upwardly-mobile demons, serving as a 
  concubine for a time, only to leave her paramour in order to 
  attach herself to his immediate superior. She was not content 
  with simply being the lover of a powerful demon, however, 
  and was frustrated with her lack of personal power, outside 
  that of whatever lover she was with at the moment.
   
  Eventually, she turned her eyes to a minor demon 
  prince by the name of Ul’thabrax. A green-skinned, six-armed 
  brute who was said to be twelve feet tall, Ul’thabrax was not 
  the most intelligent of demons. Sylthavra attached herself 
  to him in the same way that she had her previous stepping-
  stone lovers, but this time she decided to take a different 
  approach. Rather than using Ul’thabrax to reach some other, 
  more powerful demon, she instead used her closeness to 
  the brute to overthrow him. She did not do this directly, 
  but rather arranged to ensure that Ul’thabrax would be in 
  a certain place at a certain time, away from his fortress and 
  vulnerable, and also ensuring that word of this got to Irashen, 
  a powerful and charismatic angel in command of a legion of 
  holy warriors, who were battling Ul’thabrax’s forces elsewhere 
  in the abyss.
   
  Unfortunately for Sylthavra, while Ul’thabrax was 
  not particularly intelligent, the brute’s vizier, Selvithicus, 
  was, and he had no intention of allowing Sylthavra to replace 
  his master. Selvithicus did not interfere in Sylthavra’s plot 
  directly, and allowed Ul’thabrax to be killed, but upon 
  what she thought would be her triumphant return to her 
  new fortress, Sylthavra was captured by what were now 
  Selvithicus’s men. Selvithicus put her through a great deal 
  of torture, of nearly every sort imaginable. The worst torture 
  that he devised, however, was to force her to swallow a shard 
  of telekinetic metal, which he could mentally control. Once 
  inside her, he force this shard to grow and expand within her, 
  changing its shape and growing the various barbs which, to 
  this day, still cover every inch of her body. Selvithicus enjoyed 
  inflicting pain on the succubus, and would reconfigure the 
  spikes and barbs within her regularly, a process that she 
  found extremely painful.
   
  As time went on, Sylthavra eventually learned how 
  to control the shard herself. It was only a little at first, but as 
  time went on she was eventually able to control it better than 
  Selvithicus. When the time was right she fought back, using 
  his torture implement to defeat him, as well as his guards. 
  She declared herself the new mistress of the fortress, and her 
  first act was to begin subjecting Selvithicus to tortures even 
  worse than the ones that she, herself, had endured.
   
  Sylthavra emerged from this process changed. No 
  longer interested in matters of lust, she cared only for pain, 
  both inflicting it and having it inflicted upon her. Nothing 
  else mattered to her: pain was the only thing left that she 
  enjoyed. Some metaphysical scholars suggest that this 
  may be a side-effect of the strange metal that still inhabits 
  her body, while others suggest that the change was simply 
  a psychological one, which, because of the metaphysical 
  nature of demons and other outsiders, manifested physically. 
  Whatever the case, she now draws her nourishment and 
  power from the infliction of pain, and the enjoyment of 
  giving or receiving that sensation. Whenever a mortal harms 
  another purely for the sake of making them suffer, she feels it, 
  and grows ever so slightly more powerful.
  Goals
   
  Sylthavra thrives on pain, and so wants to see cruelty 
  and sadomasochism spread throughout the multiverse. 
  She instructs those who follow her to cause pain wherever 
  they can, and to revel in pains inflicted upon them. More 
  29
  
  importantly, she instructs them to spread the love of pain, to 
  teach others to glory and revel in the feeling of power when 
  inflicting suffering on another mortal, or to learn the joys 
  of searing, blinding pain, finding a transcendent bliss in its 
  thorny embrace. In her ideal world, mortal society would 
  view cruelty as an admirable trait, and consider it a right for 
  the strong to torture and abuse the weak, who would thank 
  them for the privilege. She hates love and kindness, and even 
  has a strong distaste for sexual lust and base pleasure, and 
  other things that are usually bread and butter for demons. To 
  Sylthavra, the only lust should be for pain itself, and pain is a 
  worthy goal, rather than a means to another end. She wants 
  only to spread that vision across the multiverse, and to reap 
  all the delicious suffering that that causes.
   
  Though she is certainly one of the most 
  accomplished torturers in the entire lower planes (no small 
  feat), Sylthavra is always on the lookout for new techniques 
  or practices that she can use to inflict pain on others. Though 
  she prefers raw, physical pain, she has been known to enjoy 
  psychological suffering from time to time, and has been 
  branching more in this direction. She rewards anyone who 
  can teach her a new technique for torture lavishly, or bring 
  her an accomplished torturer to play with (with or without 
  his consent), though with her twisted views, the reward is as 
  likely to be a week in her torture chamber as it is to be a pile 
  of gold.
  Familiars
   
  Familiars granted by Sylthavra were once normal 
  animals, which Sylthavra, or one of her minions, tortured 
  horribly for fun. Sylthavra prides herself on her ability to 
  make unintelligent animals respond to pain in unusual ways, 
  and conditions them to crave such suffering. Unsurprisingly, 
  many animals don’t survive this process. When she is 
  done with the creature, she feeds it a small piece of the 
  metal shard which infuses her own body, and inflicts a 
  suffering on the creature similar to that which she, herself 
  endured. At the end of the process the creature develops a 
  rudimentary intelligence, though only Sylthavra knows for 
  certain whether this is an effect of the metal, or whether she 
  is actively imbuing intelligence in them in order to make 
  their suffering more dramatic and exciting. At this point, the 
  pain-conditioned, metal-infused semi-intelligent animal is 
  given to a witch in Sylthavra’s service, and made to serve as a 
  familiar. 
   
  These poor, wretched creatures are not to be pitied, 
  however, for while they may be horribly scarred by their 
  experience with the barbed mistress, as soon as they are 
  released into a witch’s custody they take it upon themselves 
  to begin spreading and inflicting pain and misery. Such 
  familiars love to torture others, and seem to undergo a 
  personality shift not unlike the one that Sylthavra herself 
  went through after being suffused with the strange metal. 
  Different familiars display these sadistic tendencies in 
  different ways. Most amuse themselves by torturing and 
  slowly killing other, smaller animals (and creatures already 
  known for toying with their prey, like cats, becomes even 
  worse about such things). Others choose to make victims 
  of those larger than themselves, either finding a thrill in 
  torturing creatures larger and more powerful, or simply 
  refusing to allow size to be an issue. Such familiars take 
  to biting ankles, scratching exposed flesh, and otherwise 
  making a nuisance of themselves. Many familiars of this 
  sort implore their witch to give them subdued humanoids 
  to torture, and, if their requests are granted, will torture the 
  victim to death, a terrifyingly slow process when the familiar 
  is a simple cat or even toad.
   
  Many of Sylthavra’s familiars also develop a love of 
  having pain inflicted upon them, as well. These are by no 
  means mutually exclusive with the previous type, and most 
  enjoy both. Those that enjoy pain often go out of their way to 
  cause mischief or otherwise annoy their witch, in the hopes 
  that they will be punished for being “bad.” This may also 
  explain the familiars who choose to inflict suffering through 
  being a nuisance, as they are secretly hoping to be caught and 
  “punished.”
  Followers
   
  Sylthavra’s agents in the material plane are mostly 
  witches and other occultists in her service. Though witches 
  can come to serve Sylthavra in a number of different ways, 
  most of the time she seeks out mortals with particularly 
  strong sadistic tendencies. Sylthavra finds these potential 
  minions through the pain that they cause, and psychically 
  projects herself into their dreams. Once there, she offers the 
  sadist power and magic in exchange for service. Most refuse 
  at first, whether because they disbelieve her offer, or simply 
  because they are too proud to willingly submit. Whether 
  they agree or not, however, Sylthavra proceeds to torture her 
  chosen witch in her own dreams, and each night becomes a 
  hellish nightmare of pain and suffering as Sylthavra slowly 
  uses pain to mold the prospective witch in her image.
   
  Once she is satisfied with her progress, and the 
  mortal shares Sylthavra’s love of both inflicting and receiving 
  pain and suffering, Sylthavra then grants the witch a small 
  portion of her power, and releases her into the world to 
  do as she wills. Sylthavra does not manage any of these 
  witches directly, and they have but a single goal: go forth, 
  and promote suffering. As long as the witch continues to 
  cause (and suffer) pain for pain’s sake, Sylthavra is happy, 
  and since that is precisely what the witch wants to do, 
  there is rarely much need for the barbed mistress to follow 
  up. Of course, even Sylthavra’s masterful tortures are not 
  enough to win some people over to her way of thinking. Such 
  stubborn victims usually die in terrible agony in their sleep, 
  as Sylthavra continues to push her nighttime tortures further 
  and further, or else eventually outlast the ex-succubus’s 
  interests, and are left to their own devices.
   
  Besides the witches that follow her, Sylthavra also 
  has several devoted cults which worship her, something that 
  is not uncommon for a powerful demon. Most of these cults 
  are headed by at least one witch in Sylthavra’s service, but 
  some become worshippers of the barbed mistress in other 
  ways. The most common of these is The Fellowship of the 
  Rose, which appears to be a religious sect which stresses the 
  importance of overcoming adversity, and preaches messages 
  such as “anything worth having is worth working for,” and 
  “it is always darkest before dawn.” Their motto to the outside 
  world is “would a rose be as beautiful, if one didn’t have to 
  endure the thorns?” Only when one reaches the inner circles 
  of the organization, however, does one receive the revelation 
  30
  
  that it is not the triumph over adversity that is to be savored, 
  but rather the adversity itself, which supposedly purifies the 
  sufferer. This inner circle uses a thorny rose stem, without the 
  flower, formed into a circle, as their symbol.
  Rituals
  Day of Suffering
   
  This holiday, adhered to by almost all of the cults 
  that are devoted to Sylthavra, is held on the last day of 
  summer, and marks the anniversary of Sylthavra’s triumph 
  over her one-time captor, Selvithicus. On this day, those 
  followers who are able are encouraged to travel to Sylthavra’s 
  fortress to engage in a massive orgy of pain and suffering, and 
  those who are not are encouraged to create such spectacles 
  where they are. Because both the abusers and those they 
  abuse are so exuberant in their love of this torture, things 
  frequently get out of hand, and it is not uncommon for a few 
  deaths to occur. Sylthavra mourns these losses, though more 
  because she can never revel in their pain again than for any 
  other reason. A few of Sylthavra’s chosen, who perform most 
  admirably on this day, are given small pieces of the strange 
  metal that infuses her, and are made to consume them, 
  taking permanent positions in her stronghold.
  Ritual of Invitation
   
  Sylthavra encourages those in her employ to bring 
  her attention to those who would be good candidates for 
  being made into witches in her service. Though this is not 
  compulsory, nearly all of the cults devoted to the barbed 
  mistress engage in this practice to swell their ranks, and even 
  solitary witches often do so because they enjoy the thought 
  of inflicting the tortures of Sylthavra on the victim they 
  mark. When a suitable candidate is found (and sometimes 
  the definition of a “suitable candidate” is just someone 
  that the ritual’s performer wants to see suffer terribly), the 
  witch must create a mixture of her own blood, her intended 
  victim’s sweat, and the tears of someone that is held dear 
  by the intended victim. This mixture must be boiled, and 
  the remaining residue used to draw a sigil on the target’s 
  forehead while she sleeps. If done correctly, the target will be 
  visited in her dreams by Sylthavra that night, and every night 
  thereafter, until she either submits, dies, or proves resilient to 
  Sylthavra’s predations.
  Sylthavra as a Patron
   
  In addition to learning spells, a witch who selects 
  Sylthavra as a patron gains a number of additional abilities as 
  she increases in level, though she also suffers from a number 
  of penalties as a result of her connection to Sylthavra, as well.
   
  Spells: 2nd—interrogation, 4th—festerAPG, 6th—
  excruciating deformationUM, 8th—crushing despair, 10th—
  symbol of pain, 12th—eyebite, 14th—harm, 16th—horrid wilting, 
  18th—symbol of strifeUM.
  Pact Boons
   
  By taking Sylthavra as her patron, a witch gains a 
  number of special boons, specific to Sylthavra. As she gains 
  levels in the witch class, and her association with Sylthavra 
  becomes stronger, she is granted additional boons, as 
  outlined below.
   
  Painful Touch (Su): Beginning at 1st level, a witch 
  with Sylthavra as her patron can inflict pain with a touch. 
  Any time the witch touches another creature, that creature 
  must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the witch’s class 
  level + the witch’s Intelligence modifier) or be sickened for 
  as long as it maintains contact, and 1d4 rounds thereafter. 
  The witch can use this ability offensively on an unwilling 
  target by succeeding on a melee touch attack, but it also 
  affects creatures that touch the witch, such as by hitting her 
  with an unarmed strike or natural attack, or who attempt 
  to grapple with her. The witch can resume or suppress this 
  ability as a swift action (though if she attempts to touch 
  another character, she must spend the normal action to make 
  the touch attack). The witch can have this ability active for 
  a number of rounds per day equal to her witch level. This is 
  a pain effect. The witch cannot affect herself with her own 
  painful touch.
   
  Accelerated Healing (Su): Beginning at 6th level, 
  a witch with Sylthavra as her patron is able to heal wounds 
  more quickly, and recovers twice as many hit points from 
  resting (two hit points per Hit Dice for a night’s rest, four hit 
  points per Hit Dice for full rest, etc.). This applies only to hit 
  point damage, and does not allow her to recover ability score 
  damage more quickly.
   
  Sadistic Glee (Su): Beginning at 12th level, whenever 
  a witch with Sylthavra as her patron successfully affects a 
  creature with a spell or effect with the pain descriptor (the 
  creature fails its saving throw and suffers the spell or effect’s 
  full effect), she gains a +2 morale bonus on attack and 
  damage rolls for a number of rounds equal to her Intelligence 
  modifier. During this time, she also treats her caster level as 
  two higher than it actually is for the purposes of spells that 
  she casts.
   
  Corrupt Healing (Su): Beginning at 17th level, a 
  witch with Sylthavra as her patron can pervert healing that 
  occurs near her, causing it to inflict wounds, instead. As a 
  standard action, the witch can prepare to corrupt any healing 
  spell or spell-like ability that happens within 60 feet of her 
  before the beginning of her next turn. If a creature within 
  this range is the target of a healing spell or spell-like ability 
  (including the effects of potions, scrolls, and wands), she 
  can interfere with that healing, preventing the target from 
  healing any damage, and instead suffering an amount of 
  damage equal to the witch’s class level. This applies only 
  to hit point damage, not ability damage or other forms of 
  healing. The witch can use this ability a number of times per 
  day equal to her Intelligence modifier.
  Pact Price
   
  Sylthavra’s power does not come without its 
  consequences, and in serving him, a witch must make certain 
  31
  
  sacrifices, as outline below.
   
  Pain Addiction (Ex): Beginning at 1st level, a witch 
  with Sylthavra as her patron becomes addicted to receiving 
  pain. If the witch goes for eight hours without being 
  subjected to significant pain (a spell or effect with the pain 
  descriptor, or suffering an amount of hit point damage equal 
  to 1/5 or more of her maximum hit points within a single 
  hour), she becomes fatigued, as she enters withdrawal. If she 
  goes a full 24 hours without being subjected to significant 
  pain, she becomes exhausted, instead. These conditions 
  can’t be removed until the witch is subjected to significant 
  pain, though lesser restoration or more powerful magic can 
  suppress the effect for one hour.
   
  Stunted Healing (Su): Beginning at 6th level, a 
  witch with Sylthavra as her patron becomes resistant to 
  magical healing. Whenever she would regain hit points as 
  a result of a spell, spell-like ability, supernatural ability, or 
  magic item, the witch regains only 1/3 as many hit points as 
  she normally would.
   
  Love of Pain (Ex): Beginning at 12th level, a witch 
  with Sylthavra as her patron is immune to any effects with 
  the pain descriptor, though her love of pain can still make 
  these effects distracting for her. Whenever the witch would 
  be subject to a spell or effect with the pain descriptor, she 
  instead must succeed on a Will save (DC equal to the saving 
  throw DC of the effect, or equal to 10 + 1/2 the witch’s class 
  level + the witch’s Intelligence modifier, if the effect doesn’t 
  allow a saving throw) or become engrossed in the pain. If 
  she fails, the witch is dazed for a number of rounds equal to 
  the effect’s effective spell level (or for 1d4 rounds, if it does 
  not have an effective spell level). Even if she succeeds on 
  the saving throw, the witch is shaken for the same duration, 
  instead, as her enjoyment of the pain serves as a constant 
  distraction on her mind.
   
  Perverse Magic (Su): The most powerful spells 
  granted by Sylthavra have a tendency of turning on those who 
  cast them. Beginning at 17th level, whenever the witch casts a 
  9th-level spell that allows a saving throw that is not denoted 
  as harmless, there is a 5% chance that the spell targets her, 
  instead of its intended target. If the spell does not have a 
  target, then she is the center of the spell’s area, or is otherwise 
  affected by the spell’s harmful effects in the most complete 
  way possible. 
  Tesherazz, Weaver of Words
   
  A word spoken, never forgotten. A promise forged, 
  never rotten. Perhaps the greatest power never recognized is 
  that of speech. The difference between a rebel and a hero is 
  but a word. The difference between a cruel despot and a wise 
  leader is but semantics. That which is named can become 
  more powerful from its name, or the name itself can strip 
  away the majesty and mystery. These are but a few examples 
  of the power of mortal words. I offer access to words beyond 
  those of mere men, words which resonate with the very fabric 
  of reality. With a simple phrase, you could level a mountain or 
  stop a man’s heart.
  Description
   
  Tesherazz is usually found clad in vibrant emerald 
  green, and lounging across the arms of a throne carved 
  from black stone. There are hundreds of mouths set into 
  the throne, each one depicting a silent scream. His skin is a 
  dull and dusty red, his hair as dark as night, shut short and 
  carefully oiled until it gleams, as does his similarly-manicured 
  goatee. His eyes glow with a deep and verdant green, and 
  sparkle with an inner, eldritch fire. His legs are cover in 
  brown hair, and end in a pair of cloven hooves, while a pair 
  of curved horns emerge from his brow and bend backwards, 
  parallel to the top of his head. 
   
  Tesherazz is a powerful devil that that creates 
  verbal contracts with outsiders and mortals alike. Trading 
  knowledge, he specializes in rare languages, including a 
  supernatural “first language,” called Wydnish, which is 
  supposedly comprised of the will of the multiverse made into 
  words. Tesherazz uses this eldritch language to imprint his 
  will upon reality. He is happy to teach this language to others, 
  granting them magical power by doing so, and in exchange 
  these disciples act as his agents, and he gains a certain 
  measure of control over them, in the form of a unique name, 
  in Wydnish, which he bestows upon them. 
  Background
   
  Like many devils, Tesherazz began with far more 
  ambition than actual power or even ability. He toiled for 
  millennia as a scribe in one of the many infernal pits where 
  contracts were produced en masse, laboriously writing out 
  incredibly lengthy agreements by hand and in advance, with 
  which to arm the devils that did the actual tempting and 
  corrupting. Though he was far from the only devil in that 
  situation to be filled with a burning desire to rise above his 
  station, he was more driven than most to actually act on such 
  feelings.
   
  Through treachery, deceit, and cunning, Tesherazz 
  rose through the chain of command by tricking, enslaving, 
  or otherwise removing each of his immediate superiors. 
  Eventually he rose to a status that afforded him a bit more 
  freedom about what to do with his time, and he began 
  accumulating personal power. Always preferring to resolve 
  conflicts through words (and contracts) than through 
  violence, he invested centuries into research, and it was in so 
  32
  
  doing that he discovered rumors of a tome which contained 
  the knowledge of a language which, supposedly, could be 
  used to rewrite reality itself.
   
  Tesherazz immediately sought out this tome, and, 
  using his infernal status and minions, eventually procured 
  it. He learned the secrets of this powerful language, which 
  he called Wydnish, and then burned the book, so that no 
  others could gain its secrets. The language was not able to 
  simply rewrite all of reality, as he had hoped, and his plans to 
  erase Asmodeus with a single word were not fulfilled, but the 
  language was still a potent tool. He transformed himself with 
  the words, ascending beyond his status as a mere devil and 
  becoming something greater—though no less malevolent.
   
  His connection with words and his mastery of 
  Wydnish have caused Tesherazz to specialize in the power 
  of the spoken word, and his seemingly perfect memory for 
  spoken words and conversations, as well as his ongoing 
  rivalry with another entity known as Name Eater, who draws 
  power from the written word, have caused him to eschew 
  writing of all kinds, drawing information from books and 
  then burning them, and forming all his agreements verbally.
  A failed coup attempt by Tesherazz against the 
  infernal lord Geryon caused Tesherazz to be driven out of the 
  infernal hierarchy, and he now acts as a lone agent, gathering 
  souls and consolidating power for his own inscrutable ends, 
  and preparing for the day when he can return to the nine 
  hells in glorious triumph. In order to aid in these ends, 
  Tesherazz recruits mortals hungry for power, offering them 
  magic and a taste of his powerful Wydnish language in 
  exchange for serving his interests in the material plane.
  Goals
   
  Above all else, Tesherazz seeks power. He is currently 
  amassing large quantities of souls in his palace, which he 
  ripped from the hells with the power of Wydnish when he 
  was forced to flee Geryon’s wrath. As the number of witches 
  in his service grows, and Tesherazz continues to attract a 
  growing number of demonic and mortal mercenaries, many 
  find themselves wondering exactly who the enigmatic ex-
  devil is marshaling his forces against, precisely. While many 
  believe it to be Geryon, the devil who drove Tesherazz out, 
  others think he may be preparing to slay Name Eater, his 
  enigmatic rival, and perhaps claim her mastery over the 
  written word, while others wonder if perhaps he might be 
  reckless enough to attempt a coup against Asmodeus himself.
   
  Additionally, Tesherazz has recently begun to doubt 
  whether or not he has truly mastered all that Wydnish has to 
  offer, and has become all but convinced of the existence of 
  a second tome, which, if he were able to find it, would allow 
  him to re-write the entire multiverse, and put himself at the 
  center, in the ultimate place of power. As yet, his search has 
  been in vain, but that does not mean that he has given up 
  hope.
   
  Finally, Tesherazz has recently become enamored 
  of a lillend by the name of Rusellia, who is supposed to have 
  an indescribably beautiful voice, and supposedly her song 
  can make even mighty demon princes weep or laugh with 
  joy. Tesherazz is determined to have this beautiful voice for 
  himself, but his agents have so far been unable to capture 
  Rusellia, who is always accompanied by a trio of angelic 
  bodyguards. Tesherazz has made it well-known that he 
  will handsomely reward anyone who helps him capture the 
  lillend.
  Familiars
   
  The familiars that Tesherazz grants are created 
  whole-cloth by word alone, as Tesherazz simply speaks in 
  his secret language of Wydnish, and the familiar springs 
  into existence, as though it had always been. This does not 
  make the ex-devil’s familiars any less real, but it does mean 
  that each of them is undeniably shaped by Tesherazz’s own 
  personality, and in a way, each of his familiars is a part of his 
  very essence.
   
  The familiars that Tesherazz grants appear to be 
  animals in most regards, but many have traits that are 
  fiendish in nature. Some breathe out smoke, while others 
  have glowing red eyes. Many of them smell faintly of sulphur 
  and brimstone, and some have tails that end in a typical 
  devilish point, even though animals of that sort do not have 
  such tails. The one physical factor that is unique to all of 
  Tesherazz’s familiars though is their mouth, as each familiar 
  grants has a mouth full of undeniably human teeth. This 
  is most noticeable on familiars like frogs and hawks that 
  normally lack teeth altogether, but is no less disturbing when 
  it is applied to cats and dogs.
   
  This change seems to have been made to allow all 
  of Tesherazz’s familiars to speak, and, indeed, any familiar 
  granted by Tesherazz is able to speak Common, in addition 
  to its normal abilities. In fact, Tesherazz’s familiars are quite 
  fond of talking, and witches in Tesherazz’s service either go 
  to great lengths to get their companions to be silent, or else 
  learn to live with the constant babble. The change in teeth 
  also changes the familiar’s diet, and Tesherazz’s familiars 
  universally adapt a human-like, omnivorous diet.
   
  Their propensity for talking is not limited to idle 
  banter, and most of Tesherazz’s familiars absolutely love 
  making deals and bargains of every sort. This seems almost as 
  much a love of haggling and the process of making a deal as 
  it is about trying to “get ahead,” and often these familiars will 
  manufacture situations to create pacts and reach agreements, 
  even when they stand to benefit very little from doing so. 
  This can occasionally lead them to expend great amounts of 
  energy pursuing small matters, such as haggling for an hour 
  over an extra dinner ration in exchange for a warm blanket, 
  for example.
  Followers
   
  Much like Tesherazz himself, his followers tend to 
  place great value on verbal communication and the spoken 
  word. Overall, they tend to be talkative, and are more 
  easily made uncomfortable by silence than others. Some 
  simply make small talk, others express their love of words 
  through endless lectures, constantly instructing others on 
  some point of minutiae or other, and still others prefer to 
  constantly sing, hum, or even recite poetry as they pass the 
  time. Like Tesherazz, his followers tend to avoid the written 
  33
  
  word, which is not to say that they will not read, but rather 
  that they will not write their knowledge down, preferring 
  to trust it to memory and communicate it through spoken 
  words, instead. Because of their respect for words, and their 
  mystical understanding of the power that the magical words 
  of Wydnish have on the world around them, followers of 
  Tesherazz are reluctant to lie outright, though this does not 
  prevent them from phrasing things in such a way so as to 
  deceive while technically telling the truth.
   
  This is partially due to a longstanding feud between 
  Tesherazz and an entity known as The Silent One, which has 
  great influence over writing, and has been known to spy on 
  the words that Tesherazz’s followers write, or else completely 
  strike them from existence in a form of petty revenge. In 
  return, Tesherazz encourages his followers to compose 
  nonsense writings and lies (or hire scribes to do so on their 
  behalf) in order to misinform and diminish The Silent One.
   
  Part of the process of coming into Tesherazz’s service 
  involves accepting a name that he bestows upon the witch, 
  in Wydnish. This “true name” is said to encapsulate the very 
  essence of the witch’s soul, and in doing so give her strength, 
  and in a way this is true, but there is a slightly darker twists 
  that Tesherazz does not bother to inform prospective 
  candidates about: the name he bestows can do more than 
  simply reaffirm the witch’s existing nature, but can actually 
  alter it, albeit only slightly. A witch who is proud might 
  become arrogant, while another witch might remain the 
  same…except for a few moral or ethical codes that suddenly 
  seem less important. In general, any changes that Tesherazz 
  enacts when bestowing this “true name” must not change 
  the core of the witch’s personality, or else the name will fail 
  to “stick.” Further, the name does not prevent the character 
  from changing or growing over time, though it can provide a 
  certain amount of supernatural resistance to attempts to do 
  so. Even still, the amount of control that Tesherazz can enact 
  with these names is enough to give witches who learn about 
  it pause.
   
  In exchange for their power, Tesherazz expects 
  his witches to act as his agents in the material plane, and 
  is chiefly concerned with their ability to bring him souls 
  through various pseudo-infernal contracts (these are always 
  verbal contracts, never written ones, for reasons outlined 
  above). The witches’ power of Wydnish allows them to make 
  these contracts magically binding, much to the dismay of 
  those who try to cheat them, thinking that a verbal contract 
  cannot be enforced.
   
  Tesherazz has relatively few mortal followers who 
  are not witches. Like any powerful fiend, Tesherazz attracts 
  his share of potential cultists, but because he finds his 
  arrangement as a witch patron so successful, he often grants 
  magical power to prominent members of these cults, and 
  they become witches in their own right. One growing cult 
  devoted to Tesherazz, known as the Order of the Profound 
  Word, specializes in discovering new Wydnish phrases from 
  obscure sources. The cult is advertised as a path to spiritual 
  enlightenment, but, in fact, nearly all members of the 
  organization have their souls claimed as part of a pact cleverly 
  disguised as a prayer. Tesherazz keeps a close eye on this cult, 
  as his desire to unlock more power through forgotten words 
  of Wydnish is tempered only by his growing concern that 
  the cultists may discover some part of Wydnish that he is 
  deliberately keeping to himself, and may grow more powerful 
  than they are useful.
  Rituals
  Rite of Cleansing
   
   
  Whenever followers of Tesherazz find a source of 
  written knowledge that they wish to gift to Tesherazz and 
  deny to The Silent One, they carry out this ritual. First, 
  they create a special ink substance by mixing regular ink 
  with their own blood and the ashes from a burnt piece of 
  paper. They mix this all with sand, water, and wine and let it 
  ferment for several hours after burying it in the ground. After 
  this is done, the witch ritually purifies herself, using incense 
  and singing to mentally prepare herself for the ritual. After 
  that is done, she reads the book aloud, committing it to her 
  master’s memory. When she has finished the book, the witch 
  drowns the book in the mixture of ink, preventing anyone 
  from reading it.
  Rite of Declaration
   
  This ritual is used every morning, to reaffirm the 
  witch’s “true name,” bestowed upon her by Tesherazz. The 
  witch faces the rising sun, extending her hands towards it 
  and speaks her “true name” three times. Each time that she 
  speaks it, she must ring a small, silver bell. This rite usually 
  bestows a sense of calm and certainty upon the witch, but 
  if she has undergone dramatic change since receiving her 
  “true name,” it will fill her with unease, instead. This usually 
  prompts the witch to confer with Tesherazz on the subject, 
  allowing him to keep tabs on his agents who “go astray.” In 
  some cases, he will bestow a new “true name” upon the witch, 
  and, in this way, can gradually change the witch’s personality 
  one name at a time in a way more profound than he can do 
  with a single name. If the witch is moving away from his 
  designs, however, he may threaten or cajole her, or simply 
  end the relationship and mark her for death.
  Festival of the Spoken Word
   
  On the day of the spring solstice, followers of 
  Tesherazz recommit themselves to her and her cause by 
  gathering together. For three days, they eat, drink and share 
  stories orally. Many bards come to such events, as they know 
  they will hear stories here that can’t be heard anywhere else. 
  These three days are a flurry of song and sound. The rites 
  can usually be heard for miles around, as all the witches’ 
  voices coalesce into a great, supernaturally-powerful din. 
  There are usually bonfires made from books that have already 
  been read aloud. Often, the people in the surrounding 
  areas flee until the festival is over, as the sounds they do not 
  understand unnerve and terrify them.
  Tesherazz as a Patron
   
  In addition to learning spells, a witch who selects 
  Tesherazz as a patron gains a number of additional abilities as 
  she increases in level, though she also suffers from a number 
  34
  
  of penalties as a result of her connection to Tesherazz, as 
  well.
   
  Spells: 2nd—ventriloquism, 4th—steal voice, 6th—
  suggestion, 8th—shout, 10th—commune, 12th—legend lore, 
  14th—power word blind, 16th—power word stun, 18th—power 
  word kill.
  Pact Boons
   
  By taking Tesherazz as her patron, a witch gains a 
  number of special boons, specific to Tesherazz. As she gains 
  levels in the witch class, and her association with Tesherazz 
  becomes stronger, she is granted additional boons, as 
  outlined below.
   
  Word Magic (Su): Witches who serve Tesherazz 
  gain Eschew Materials and Still Spell as bonus feats at 1st 
  level. Additionally, once per day, the witch can apply Still 
  Spell to a spell she casts without using up a higher-level spell 
  slot or increasing the casting time. At 6th level, and every six 
  levels thereafter, the number of times she can use this ability 
  each day increases by one (to a maximum of four times per 
  day at 18th level).
   
  Universal Language (Su): Beginning at 6th level, 
  witches who serve Tesherazz are able to communicate with 
  any creature that has a language. Whenever the witch speaks, 
  all listeners hear what she says as though it had been said 
  in their native tongue, and the witch hears all languages 
  as though they were in her own tongue. In this way, it is 
  impossible for the witch to identify what language a character 
  is speaking, but she always knows exactly what is being said, 
  and vice-versa.
   
  Binding Contract (Su): Beginning at 12th level, 
  witches who serve Tesherazz are able to form magically-
  binding verbal contracts. In order to use this ability, the witch 
  must make a verbal agreement with another creature, or be 
  present when two other characters make a verbal agreement. 
  Characters to be affected by this ability need not be aware 
  that their verbal agreement will be made magically binding, 
  but must willingly make the agreement, and  agreements 
  made under the influence of charm or compulsion effects, 
  or even under mundane duress, cannot be enforced by this 
  ability.
   
  Activating this ability is primarily an act of will, 
  though the witch must “close” the agreement with a 
  statement declaring the contract complete. Most witches 
  typically develop a common phrase that they use for this 
  purpose, such as “so mote it be,” or “before the world, so it 
  be known,” but others prefer to be more subtle. The witch 
  can enforce any verbal agreement made with her in this way 
  (as long as it is not compelled), but cannot make a verbal 
  agreement between two other characters binding in this way 
  unless at least one of the two characters is willing for her 
  to do so. Any character involved in the bargain that is not 
  willing to have it magically enforced may make a Will save 
  (DC 10 + 1/2 the witch’s class level + the witch’s Intelligence 
  modifier) in order to avoid being affected. If any character 
  involved succeeds on this Will save, the entire effect fails. 
  Creatures that fail their saves are not aware that anything 
  supernatural has occurred, though those that succeed on 
  their saves feel a faint tingling sensation.
   
  Characters that have made a pact or deal that has 
  been reinforced in this way are magically bound to fulfill 
  the exact letter of their obligations, as laid out in the terms 
  spoken when the deal was made. Characters can deliberately 
  avoid fulfilling the spirit of those obligations, as long as they 
  fulfill the letter of them. Any character that fails to meet the 
  letter of the agreement (as interpreted by the GM) suffers a 
  -1 penalty to each of his ability scores after 24 hours of being 
  in breach of the contract. Each day, this penalty increases by 
  an additional -1, to a maximum amount equal to the witch’s 
  class level. No ability score can be reduced to less than 1 by 
  Sidebar: Tesherazz and Souls
   
  Witches who serve Tesherazz are able to bargain for other characters’ souls. This is a specialized use of the binding 
  contract ability, in which the other party offers to give up his soul as his end of the bargain. The witch is magically bound to 
  fulfill any obligations made as part of the bargain, as normal. The party giving up his or her soul is not affected until he or she 
  dies, at which point his soul immediately becomes the property of the witch (or Tesherazz, or someone else, depending on 
  how the bargain was worded). The character’s soul is immediately trapped in a specially-prepared container (which must cost 
  at least 1,000 gp per Hit Dice of the character in question) in the possession of its new owner. If the new owner does not have 
  an empty container for the soul, it is free, and the bargain is wasted. If the soul is successfully trapped in a container, however, 
  then the creature that gave up his soul cannot be resurrected by any means as long as the soul remains trapped. A witch in 
  possession of a trapped soul gains no special ability to use it, but can expend it or trade it in any way that any other trapped 
  soul could be used or bartered.
   
  Tesherazz expects his witches to send him souls regularly, as this is the main reason for which he became their 
  patron. There are no set quotas for how many souls the witch must send to Tesherazz, or how often, but he keeps a close eye 
  on such things. Any time that one of Tesherazz’s witches makes a soul bargain, Tesherazz becomes aware of it, as well as to 
  whom the soul is promised. At least 70% of souls that a witch gains from soul bargains should be going to Tesherazz, rather 
  than someone else, and if this is not the case, then Tesherazz is likely to intervene with the witch and express his displeasure. 
  Witches who produce a prodigious amount of souls may have more leeway in this regard. Tesherazz always keeps a large 
  supply of soul vessels handy, and is always able to trap any souls sent to him.
  35
  
  this effect. This is not ability damage or ability drain, and 
  cannot be healed, but the penalties vanish immediately as 
  soon as the character fulfills his end of the contract. Note that 
  the witch herself is also bound in this way, and can suffer the 
  same penalties, if she breaches such a contract herself. Only 
  a wish or miracle spell can free a character from the effects of 
  this ability.
  Pact Price
   
  Tesherazz’s power does not come without its 
  consequences, and in serving him, a witch must make certain 
  sacrifices, as outline below.
   
  Speech Dependent (Su): Witches who serve 
  Tesherazz must use verbal components in order to cast 
  their spells. They cannot apply the Silent Spell feat, or any 
  other ability that would allow them to avoid using verbal 
  components when casting their spells. Additionally, the 
  witch treats all spells as having verbal components, even if it 
  normally does not have them.
   
  Honest (Su): Because of their close connection 
  to language, witches who serve Tesherazz suffer mystical 
  backlash if they speak things that are not true. Beginning 
  at 6th level, any time that the witch speaks an outright lie 
  or falsehood, she suffers a -2 penalty to each of her ability 
  scores. This penalty cannot be removed by any means, and 
  lasts for a number of days equal to 1/2 the witch’s class level 
  (rounded up). The witch can still deliberately mislead others, 
  but must be careful to do so through clever word choice, 
  implications, and phrases that are technically true but 
  misleading. The GM is the final arbiter of what is and is not 
  considered to be a lie, though a witch who spends a moment 
  considering what she is about to say can always determine in 
  advance if it will trigger this effect.
   
  Named (Su): Beginning at 12th level, the “true name” 
  that Tesherazz imposes on his witches can also be used 
  to better target them magically. Any creature that speaks 
  a witch’s “true name” as part of casting a spell can attune 
  the spell to her, causing her to suffer a -8 penalty on saving 
  throws made to resist the spell. This also makes the spell 
  easier to resist for others, however, and any targets other than 
  the named witch gain a +2 bonus on their saving throws to 
  resist the spell. If the caster uses the wrong name, his target 
  will still gain the +2 bonus (and won’t suffer the -8 penalty).
  The Silent One
   
  You are a seeker of power, and, therefore, of 
  knowledge. This is not simply because “knowledge is power,” 
  but because power, without knowledge, is wasted. Strength, 
  without direction, is useless. Guile deployed at random is self-
  defeating. Knowledge is not only a means by which power can 
  be attained, but also a prerequisite for its use. I have access to 
  knowledge beyond any that you can imagine, and I am willing 
  to share it with you, for a small price…
  Description
   
  The Silent One’s true form is largely unknown, and, 
  at this point, irrelevant. She is a bodiless entity, who does not 
  exist in any one discrete place or time. Though she was once a 
  woman, and of some measure of beauty, she is now a creature 
  of pure thought. She has no voice, and cannot speak. She 
  has no form, and cannot be seen. She communicates with 
  others exclusively through writing, causing words to appear 
  magically on a page as though written by an invisible hand. 
  Her handwriting is a beautiful, flowing script that is full of 
  curves and twists, and her writing appears without ink, in a 
  deep shade of sapphire.
   
  The Silent One was once mortal, but transcended 
  her human form when she wished to gain access to all of 
  human knowledge. The result was that her mind was linked 
  to every piece of writing, and she merged into the very fabric 
  of the universe itself, simultaneously connected to every 
  book, every scroll, every cave painting and every love note, 
  scattered throughout the multiverse. This gave her access to 
  the knowledge she sought, but also crippled her, leaving her 
  without a body and practically imprisoning her. Though she 
  is able to interact through writing, spying on others’ messages 
  and communicating by making text appear, she is otherwise 
  impotent, and unable to act directly on all he knowledge she 
  has at her disposal.
  Background
   
  Very few know what The Silent One’s identity was 
  before she ascended to her current state, and she expends a 
  considerable amount of effort to keep things that way. As a 
  creature almost literally composed of knowledge and words, 
  The Silent One is painfully aware of the power to be had 
  in knowledge, and does not want any information about 
  her past that might be used against her. That said, there is 
  general consensus that she was once a witch or wizard of no 
  small power and, supposedly, great beauty. She had a desire 
  for knowledge, and made a deal with the devil Tesherazz (this 
  much, at least, is virtually known to be fact, and Tesherazz 
  confirms this part of the story, for whatever his word is 
  worth), in order to gain access to all knowledge, in exchange 
  for her soul.
  36
  
   
  Tesherazz gladly claimed her soul, though his version 
  of fulfilling the bargain as simply to scatter her mind across 
  the multiverse and tie it in to the very concept of the written 
  word, leaving her inextricably linked with writing of all 
  kinds. To his chagrin, this process left her soul hollow and 
  worthless, and ultimately the exercise served more to create 
  a powerful enemy than anything else, for The Silent One 
  considers herself to have been betrayed by the devil, and the 
  two have been feuding ever since.
   
  Trapped as she is between words on a page, The 
  Silent One raged for some time at her situation. She longed 
  for the physical sensations she had enjoyed in life—beautiful 
  sights, gentle touches, the sound of music, the taste of good 
  food, and so on, and, of course, the ability to act directly 
  and influence the world around her. In her current state, she 
  has none of these things. Her world is an endless sea of text 
  and information. Before long she even began to hunger for 
  sensations like pain or hunger, anything to end the eternal 
  nothingness that she was seemingly doomed to.
   
  Over time, however, she realized that she could 
  influence the text, as well. Though this was hardly as 
  satisfying or immediate as acting with a body, it did allow 
  her limited influence over the rest of the multiverse. By 
  conversing through text with various creatures, she could 
  exchange knowledge for favors, getting others to act on her 
  behalf. In the same way, she could also trade her knowledge 
  for information not found on a piece of paper, or simply 
  deliver sensitive information which, on its own, would alter 
  events to her liking. In this way, The Silent One has begun 
  to develop a web of informants and agents who act on her 
  behalf. More recently (in the past century or so), she has 
  begun granting magical knowledge in exchange for greater 
  service, and so begun a career as a patron of witches.
   
  It is worth noting that while The Silent One has 
  access to all written knowledge, and while she is able to retain 
  much more of that knowledge at any given time than even 
  the most capable of mortals, she is not actually omniscient, 
  and does not automatically become aware of every single 
  word put to paper as it happens. Though she is able to keep 
  a close eye on any information that closely relates to her 
  interests, there are always a few documents that slip past her 
  notice, and others which may contain information she seeks 
  buried deep within a large amount of unrelated information. 
  If she has the time and persistence to do so, she can 
  eventually uncover any information that has been committed 
  to paper, but usually she only becomes immediately aware of 
  the writings of her followers and enemies, or which directly 
  pertain to her goals.
  Goals
   
  Above all else, The Silent One seeks control. She 
  has virtual omniscience, and the knowledge at her disposal 
  is staggering, but she cannot act on it directly, and that 
  still bothers her. She grows frustrated at having to operate 
  through agents, and knows deep down that ultimately she 
  would be impotent if all her followers were to abandon her. 
  As a result, she does everything that she can to spread her 
  influence, gaining more and more agents and bending them 
  to her will. That way, if one of her minions chooses to turn 
  its back on her, she has three others ready to enact a swift 
  and deliberate vengeance. No amount of minions will satisfy 
  her need for control, however, and she will always remain 
  insecure about her ability to make her will manifest unless 
  she can find some way to interact more directly with the 
  world, preferably by taking physical form. She constantly 
  scours the writing at her disposal—an endless task—for any 
  obscure hint that may give her insight into how this can be 
  done, and encourages her followers to seek out any related 
  knowledge that may not be written down.
   
  To a lesser extent, The Silent One seeks to preserve 
  and expand the written word. When a piece of writing is 
  destroyed, she loses access to it, and, eventually, memory of 
  its contents. As a result, she instructs her followers to seek 
  out and preserve rare texts, and to transcribe copies of any 
  worthwhile tome that comes into their possession, ensuring 
  that she will have access to the knowledge even if the book is 
  destroyed. Similarly, she encourages her followers to commit 
  as much knowledge as they can to ink and paper, in order to 
  expand her knowledge into those few areas that her practical 
  omniscience does not yet extend.
   
  Finally, The Silent One continues to uphold her 
  ongoing feud with the ex-devil Tesherazz, and instructs 
  her followers to battle his whenever and wherever they can. 
  Tesherazz has been remarkably successful at thwarting her 
  by doing away with written words altogether, and simply 
  relying on speech, and the virtual silence that The Silent One 
  receives from Tesherazz and his followers fills her with fear. 
  She wants to see the ex-devil destroyed before he spreads this 
  practice any further, as well as to fulfill her personal vendetta.
  Familiar
   
  Witches who gain their powers from The Silent One 
  are unusual in that they do not gain a familiar, like other 
  witches do. Instead, they are given (or instructed on how to 
  make for themselves) a special spellbook, much like those 
  used by wizards. These spellbooks are quite precious to The 
  Silent One, however, as they serve as a direct link between 
  herself and the witch, and so they carry special protective 
  enhancements, which make them difficult to damage, and 
  prevent their text from being erased or destroyed. The 
  spellbooks also serve as the primary means by which the 
  witch can contact The Silent One, and vice versa, granting 
  these witches a much more direct connection to their patron 
  than most witches enjoy, which may or may not be welcome, 
  depending on the witch.
   
  The Silent One can differentiate each witch’s 
  spellbook, and instantly becomes aware of anything written 
  in it. She uses the books to give orders and advice, and 
  encourages her witch to use it to ask her for information 
  or other aid. The Silent One can sometimes be a very 
  37
  
  demanding patron, and manages her witches much more 
  closely than many other patrons do, in part due to her innate 
  need to control things, and in part because she has such 
  a direct link with each and every follower, and can almost 
  effortlessly converse with several of them at any given time. 
  The Silent One often requires regular status updates, and, 
  depending on how invested she is in the witch’s current 
  activities, may inundate her with minute orders or demands 
  every few minutes. While the witch in question may not 
  always appreciate this close scrutiny, most know that 
  failure to at least make reasonable efforts to meet with their 
  mistress’s demands is likely to end in another agent hunting 
  them down and slaying them.
   
  While The Silent One can easily identify the witch’s 
  book, she cannot identify the writer, something that is true 
  of any written word, but can have more dire circumstances in 
  the specific case of the witch’s spellbook. Careless followers 
  of The Silent One have been known to have their books fall 
  into the hands of their enemies and used to feed their master 
  with lies and misinformation, so these witches tend to be 
  even more protective of their spellbooks than their wizard 
  counterparts.
  Followers
   
  The Silent One has been slowly but surely developing 
  an ever-spreading network of followers, who perform a 
  variety of tasks that, when taken together, all work together 
  to ensure the spread of her influence and power. Witches 
  are but one group of her servants, and the bulk of those 
  devoted to The Silent One are actually far more harmless 
  in appearance. A large portion of her followers are actually 
  scribes and historians, who she merely instructs to get into 
  positions of power and information, and ensure that they 
  write accurate and detailed information about daily events, 
  so that she can stay up to date on current information, and 
  remain well-informed. Similarly, many of her agents do little 
  more than copy existing books, and recover books from 
  ancient ruins or moldy dungeons. In places where periodicals 
  such as newsletters are produced, she does everything she 
  can to gain influence over those responsible for them.
   
  In this way, many of The Silent One’s agents can 
  be found in relatively good standing in the community, 
  and organizations that ultimately answer to her, including 
  numerous monasteries and brotherhoods devoted to 
  copying and protecting ancient texts, are considered to be 
  benevolent institutions, and held in high regard. This does 
  not mean that The Silent One does not have more unsavory 
  servants, however, and, in fact, much of her power comes 
  from blackmail, as any secrets written down on paper are an 
  open book for her, and she can leverage them to get what 
  she needs. Originally, she did this directly, forcing victims 
  to serve her by causing blackmail threats to appear before 
  them, but now she prefers to act through intermediaries, so 
  as not to reveal herself, and employs numerous agents that 
  do little more than carry out her blackmail instructions. She 
  also keeps a large number of thugs, who are good for little 
  more than physical violence, whose sole purpose is to enact 
  physical violence on those who refuse to listen to her words of 
  wisdom.
   
  Witches in service of The Silent One are generally 
  called upon to perform all of these tasks, and more. Treated 
  as special, generalist agents, witches in the employ of The 
  Silent One can be called upon to perform any task that is 
  important enough to require a witch’s magical might to 
  ensure that the job is done correctly. Of course, The Silent 
  One knows better than to try to treat her witches as slaves—
  after all, if too many of her followers turn away, she will be 
  powerless to do anything about it. As a result, they are not 
  required to be in her service constantly, and, depending 
  on the witch, may be free to pursue their own interests the 
  majority of the time. Each deal made between The Silent 
  One and a witch serving her is different, and while one witch 
  might be forced to spend almost all of her time in service, 
  another witch might barely be used at all. It depends on 
  exactly how much The Silent One is giving the witch, and 
  how shrewd a bargainer she is. Witches unfortunate enough 
  to be in a position to be blackmailed by The Silent One 
  generally find themselves forced to perform more tasks for 
  her.
   
  Of course, The Silent One’s most feared servants are 
  her Nameless Ones. These were once normal servants, who 
  were tricked, coerced, or otherwise convinced into giving up 
  their names to The Silent One. This magical ritual stripped 
  them of their identity and sense of self, and made them slaves 
  to The Silent One’s will. These unfailing servants are few and 
  far between, but are almost always formidable opponents, 
  and are used exclusively to spy on and police other servants, 
  of whose loyalty The Silent One is beginning to have doubts.
   
  Cults and organizations devoted to serving The 
  Silent One can be found in many locations, and many 
  different guises. On the surface, these often have very little 
  to do with one another, although they usually tend to either 
  be unknown or well-liked: it is rare for one of The Silent 
  One’s organizations to have a poor public image. Because 
  they can be so different and difficult to identify, servants of 
  The Silent One who need to find such an organization (for 
  aid or comfort) usually contact their master for assistance in 
  locating one nearby.
  Rituals
  Rite of Ink-Making
   
  One way to ensure that The Silent One notices 
  a given piece of writing is to write it in a special ink. The 
  witch first boils nightroot and bark from an ash tree, which 
  both must have been harvested under the full moon and 
  mixed with a drop of the witch’s own blood. The witch must 
  then harvest juice from rotten grapes, and after adding it to 
  the mixture, she must toss in an item or trophy of special 
  significance to her. What this item is isn’t important, but 
  it must have some kind of story surrounding it. By adding 
  38
  
  various other ingredients, ranging from berries to ores, the 
  witch is able to choose what color the ink will be. This mix 
  must be boiled for several hours, and then the witch has her 
  ink.
  Day of the Telling
   
  Telling stories on a cold winter night is a tradition 
  that many hold, but the followers of The Silent One keep 
  this ritual with a slight twist. Rather than tell stories through 
  word of mouth, on this day they instead pen strange tales 
  upon pages. The story must be one the follower experienced, 
  or perhaps involve something interesting and personal about 
  himself. The followers gather where they can and share the 
  stories with one another, trading pages and pages of paper 
  to spread the stories to others. Celebrants are expected 
  to refrain from talking all day, but may still drink, feast, 
  and make merry as they swap hand-written tales. Some 
  organizations have adapted the ritual in such a way as to 
  make it open to all, relaxing the prohibition on speaking in 
  exchange for requiring that all attendants share a story, and 
  that all stories be recorded, thus granting The Silent One 
  access to a wider variety of tales.
  The Silent One as a Patron
   
  In addition to learning spells, a witch who selects 
  The Silent One as a patron gains a number of additional 
  abilities as she increases in level, though she also suffers from 
  a number of penalties as a result of her connection to The 
  Silent One, as well.
   
  Spells: 2nd—comprehend languages, 4th—blood 
  transcriptionUM, 6th—illusory script, 8th—symbol of slowingUM, 
  10th—symbol of pain, 12th—symbol of persuasion, 14th—
  symbol of stunning, 16th—symbol of insanity, 18th—symbol of 
  vulnerabilityUM.
  Pact Boons
   
  By taking The Silent One as her patron, a witch gains 
  a number of special boons, specific to The Silent One. As 
  she gains levels in the witch class, and her association with 
  The Silent One becomes stronger, she is granted additional 
  boons, as outlined below.
   
  Seek Knowledge (Su): Once per day, a witch who 
  has selected The Silent One as her patron may call upon her 
  mistress for information. She may write any question in her 
  spellbook, and have The Silent One answer it to the best of 
  her ability. The Silent One then makes a Knowledge check 
  on her behalf (she has a bonus equal to 10 + the witch’s class 
  level for the purpose of this ability, as she devotes more 
  effort to finding information for more powerful servants). 
  The Knowledge check made is whatever is most appropriate 
  to find the information in question, or, if it would be more 
  appropriate, a Diplomacy check made to gather information 
  (the bonus is the same). If the information cannot be gained 
  with a skill check, then this ability automatically fails, unless 
  the witch is of 9th level or higher, in which case it functions 
  as commune for one question only. If even a commune spell 
  would not be able to provide an answer, this ability fails, 
  although any time that the ability fails, the witch at least 
  learns that the information could not be found. Regardless of 
  success or failure, writing the reply and receiving an answer 
  takes 1d4 minutes.
   
  The witch gains an additional daily use of this ability 
  at 6th level, and every six levels thereafter (to a maximum of 
  four daily uses at 18th level).
   
  Spellbook: A witch that has selected The Silent One 
  as her patron gains her spells from a spellbook, instead of a 
  familiar. She must study her spellbook each day to prepare 
  her spells. She cannot prepare any spell not recorded in her 
  spellbook, except for read magic, which she can prepare from 
  memory.
   
  The witch begins play with a spellbook containing 
  all 0-level witch spells, plus three 1st-level spells of her choice. 
  She also selects a number of additional 1st-level spells equal 
  to her Intelligence modifier to add to the spellbook. At each 
  new witch level, she adds two new spells of any spell level 
  or levels that she can cast (based on her new witch level) to 
  the spellbook. The witch can also copy spells from a scroll 
  or another spellbook, and this functions identically to the 
  process of copying scrolls into a wizard’s spellbook.
   
  Unlike a wizard’s spellbook, the spellbook of a witch 
  devoted to The Silent One has a few special properties. First, 
  it can hold any number of spells. Second, it has hardness 10, 
  and the text within the book is immune to water damage.
   
  Scroll Expert (Su): A witch devoted to The Silent 
  One is an expert at using scrolls. Beginning at 6th level, 
  whenever the witch casts a spell from a scroll, she uses her 
  own caster level instead of the scroll’s normal caster level. 
  If the scroll has a higher caster level than her own, she can 
  choose to use the scroll’s caster level, instead, assuming that 
  she is able to successfully cast the spell.
   
  Scrollmaster (Su): A witch devoted to The Silent 
  One has a powerful connection to the written word and can 
  garner additional use out of magical writing. Beginning at 12th 
  level, a witch that has selected The Silent One as her patron 
  can cast a spell from a scroll without expending the scroll as 
  part of the casting process. She can use this ability once per 
  day at 12th level. At 16th level, and again at 20th level, she gains 
  an additional daily use of this ability.
  Pact Price
   
  The Silent Ones’s power does not come without its 
  consequences, and in serving him, a witch must make certain 
  sacrifices, as outline below.
  39
  
   
  Familiar: A witch who has selected The Silent One 
  as her patron does not gain a familiar. If she would gain a 
  familiar from another source, she may still do so, but it does 
  not function as a witch’s familiar, and cannot store spells, or 
  be used to prepare her spells.
   
  Somatic Focus (Su): Witches who serve The 
  Silent One must use somatic components in order to cast 
  their spells. They cannot apply the Still Spell feat, or any 
  other ability that would allow them to avoid using somatic 
  components when casting their spells. Additionally, the witch 
  treats all spells as having somatic components, even if the 
  spell normally does not have them.
   
  Weak Voice (Su): Beginning at 6th level, a witch who 
  has selected The Silent One as her patron begins to show the 
  signs of neglecting her verbal mastery of magic in favor of her 
  other focuses. Whenever the witch casts a spell with a verbal 
  component, that spell is treated as though her caster level 
  were 1 lower than it actually is.
   
  Weakness to Words (Su): Beginning at 12th level, 
  the witch’s connection to The Silent One proves to be a 
  liability when she is faced with words of power. The witch is 
  treated as having only half her actual number of hit points 
  for the purposes of the effects of any spells with the words 
  “power word” in the spell’s name (such as power word kill, 
  power word stun, etc.).
  Thyrvinistar, Don of Dragons
   
  You want power. That is an admirable goal. But 
  power is a costly commodity. Others will offer to grant it 
  to you, but they will ask high prices indeed. A soul may 
  not seem like so much, but when you take the long view of 
  things, it is precious indeed. I do not require that you risk 
  your life on some crusade, nor do I have designs to steal your 
  body, or any of the other insidious schemes that the others 
  who offer you power all have up their various and sundry 
  sleeves. Nor do I care what you do with the power that I give 
  you. All that I ask in exchange for my patronage is a simple, 
  physical thing: for no more than base, raw currency, the 
  power of magic is yours to command.
  Description 
  Thyrvinistar is a colossal dragon, who can almost 
  always be found lounging on one of the biggest piles of gold 
  and treasure assembled in all of the multiverse. The hoard 
  of coins, gems, and artwork of all sorts is literally the size of 
  a small mountain, towering hundreds of feet up, and taking 
  well over an hour to walk around the base. While the bulk 
  of the pile is made of gold coins from every corner of every 
  world, it is studded with treasure chests full of gems, various 
  pieces of jewelry, even life-sized gold statues. In a few places 
  on the golden mountain, there are even whole treasuries 
  or grand, golden buildings which have been uprooted and 
  moved onto the dragon’s hoard, and the pile is studded with 
  the occasional golden-domed roof of an opulent palace or 
  temple.
  Image © Can Stock Photo Inc. / leafsomen
  40
  
  The dragon himself is truly massive, easily twice, and 
  perhaps three times the size of an average great wyrm red 
  dragon. Though it is clear that he is a red dragon, his scales 
  are no longer what anyone would consider red, and have 
  faded to a sort of dusty brown. Much of his bulk comes in 
  the form of fat, and the dragon is clearly overweight. Judging 
  from the fact that, at any given time there are usually half a 
  dozen servants clambering over his scales and meticulously 
  cleaning them, it seems unlikely that he has left his perch 
  in quite some time. The bored look he almost always has 
  in his unusually-colored purple eyes conveys a sense of 
  disinterested curiosity.
  Thyrvinistar is amongst the oldest of dragons, having 
  lived for countless millennia. In this time, he has amassed 
  incredible quantities of wealth, and has created for himself 
  a vast network of servants, agents, and spies, all of which he 
  uses to continue amassing wealth. One of the richest beings 
  in the multiverse, Thyrvinistar adheres to the old draconic 
  view that wealth equals both prestige and power, and that 
  there is no higher goal in life than to amass as much wealth as 
  possible, which is precisely what he has done. He has grown 
  fat off his success, both literally and figuratively, and is no 
  longer able to leave his extraplanar lair, as he has grown too 
  large. Instead, he relies on agents, including but not limited 
  to the witches that he patronizes with his incredible draconic 
  magic, to operate for him in the world at large, bringing back 
  wealth and entertainment to satiate his desires.
  Background
   
  Thyrvinistar is, perhaps, the oldest dragon still alive. 
  There are records of a great wyrm red dragon calling itself 
  Thyrvinistar as far back as 3,000 years ago, and the dragon 
  himself claims to be over 5,000 years old. As far as history is 
  concerned, Thyrvinistar acted much like other red dragons of 
  his age, terrorizing the countryside and demanding massive 
  tributes. As he grew older and more powerful, beyond even 
  the power of a great wyrm, he began to make a habit of 
  deliberately hunting down and killing very old and ancient 
  dragons, determining that it was more efficient to kill them 
  and take their hoards than to squeeze treasure out of local 
  peasants (not that this kept him from doing both). Eventually 
  he was receiving tribute from a great number of dragons 
  who wanted to avoid being killed, and he leveraged these 
  unwilling followers into helping him conquer a prosperous 
  kingdom and forge a fledgling empire for himself.
   
  This lasted for perhaps a hundred years or so, 
  with Thyrvinistar steadily losing interest in the managing 
  of his kingdom. He passed more and more power on to 
  various stewards and seneschals and retreated into a pocket 
  dimension that he had created to store his unbelievable 
  wealth. He found himself growing tired and sluggish in his 
  old age (according to his own reports, he was around 2,400 
  years old, at this point). Eventually, the don of dragons 
  entered a deep hibernation while secluded in his secret 
  lair. The rest of the world assumed him dead with cautious 
  optimism, and his empire was torn apart by the various petty 
  regents attempting to claim it for themselves.
   
  When Thyrvinistar awoke again, 1,000 years or so 
  ago, he discovered that he had grown too large to leave his 
  lair. Various servants had remained with him during his 
  slumber, passing down a tradition of service through the 
  generations as they continued to labor for the dragon while 
  he slept. Thyrvinistar is much less active than he once was, 
  and his age and laziness shows in his growing preference to 
  conquer through currency, rather than by force and awesome 
  displays of draconic might. This is a sensitive subject with 
  the dragon, however, and any suggestion that he might not 
  be as young as he once was is typically met by an order for his 
  servants to bring the offender up to him so that he might be 
  devoured.
   
  As Thyrvinistar has worked to restore his previous 
  power and ensure that he is not forgotten (and to amass more 
  wealth, of course), he has turned to a wide variety of lesser 
  agents. Among these are the various witches to whom he 
  grants magic in exchange for regular tribute, as the ancient 
  dragon has developed incredible magical power far beyond 
  that of mere great wyrms. These witches are only one of the 
  many faces of his power structure, however, and he considers 
  them no more or less important than the numerous assassins, 
  spies, bodyguards, merchants, and politicians in his employ, 
  and less important than the slowly-growing number of 
  dragons that he is bringing, willing or not, into his fold.
  Goals
   
  Thyrvinistar’s primary goal is simple; he wants more. 
  To this dragon, life is little more than a game, and whoever 
  amasses the most treasure wins. By this logic, it’s safe to say 
  that the dragon certainly seems to have a substantial lead, 
  as there are few creatures in the multiverse who can claim to 
  command wealth worth even a tenth of the dragon’s massive 
  fortune, but Thyrvinistar is not one to merely rest upon his 
  laurels. He wants more treasure, more gems, more jewels, 
  and more coins. Further, he wants the kind of power that can 
  be used to get him more of these things more quickly and 
  more efficiently.
   
  Since becoming trapped in his extraplanar 
  home, Thyrvinistar has become somewhat restless, and 
  is always eager for anything novel or entertaining. He has 
  begun to develop an interest in items that are not, in and 
  of themselves, valuable, and cannot be sold for any real 
  sum, but which are important because they were a part of 
  history, or belonged to an important individual. He has 
  begun a collection of historical memorabilia, which is quite 
  impressive, and is arranged on a single wall, some 200 feet 
  high and 300 feet wide, at the moment, allowing the dragon 
  to peruse his entire collection, as he could not enter a more 
  traditional museum. Thyrvinistar is always on the lookout for 
  new items to add to his collection, though woe betide anyone 
  foolish enough to try to pawn off a fake on the dragon.
   
  It is rumored by some that there is a special, magical 
  source to Thyrvinistar’s longevity, and that dragons simply 
  don’t live as long as he has without magical assistance. 
  Thyrvinistar refuses to comment on the subject (his age is a 
  sensitive topic, and broaching it is likely to result in being 
  eaten), but the rumors persist. Some say that the effects only 
  last for so long, and that Thyrvinistar is covertly sending 
  agents in search of that source, so that he can renew his long 
  life before his time is up. Others believe that the dragon 
  would like to see this magic source destroyed, but is unable to 
  do so, and so constantly has agents watching other powerful 
  41
  
  dragons to ensure that they do not stumble across it and 
  become potential rivals.
  Familiars
   
  When a witch officially gains Thyrvinistar as a 
  patron, he gives her a gift to seal the bargain. This gift comes 
  in the form of a coal-black egg, roughly one foot in diameter, 
  which is, in fact, one of the dragon’s own offspring, produced 
  with one of his many draconic concubines. As much a duty as 
  a gift, it is the witch’s responsibility to care for the egg until 
  it hatches. This requires ensuring that the egg gets enough 
  warmth, and, of course, protecting it from predators. Though 
  Thyrvinistar does not explicitly say so, any witch who sells her 
  egg or fails to protect it is sure to face the dragon’s wrath at 
  the hands of one of his many agents, unless the witch clearly 
  acted in good faith and lost the egg despite her best efforts, in 
  which she will likely be spared, and a new egg granted, once 
  she provides Thyrvinistar with a handsome gift to soothe his 
  rage at the loss of a child.
   
  Even before it hatches, the witch is able to commune 
  empathically with the egg as long as she maintains physical 
  contact with it, and is able to learn and prepare spells from 
  the egg in this way, though the two cannot communicate 
  with words unless additional magic is involved. Similarly, 
  spells can be added to this egg familiar in a fashion similar 
  to adding them to a normal witch’s familiar, but instead of 
  feeding the brew to the egg, the witch simply steeps the egg 
  in the resulting arcane mixture. Luckily, the egg’s hardness 
  makes it unlikely that it will be damaged by most conditions, 
  and it requires relatively little heat to incubate, making 
  it a fairly easy task for even a witch leading a lifestyle of 
  dangerous adventure.
   
  After a time, the egg will hatch, cracking open and 
  bringing a new dragon into the world. The color varies, as 
  Thyrvinistar has many concubines of a variety of types, and 
  there is no way to know for sure what type of dragon it will be 
  until it hatches, though regardless of the color of their scales, 
  all of Thyrvinistar’s progeny have purple eyes, like their 
  father. The newly-born wyrmling continues to serve as the 
  witch’s familiar.
   
  Familiars granted by Thyrvinistar all share their 
  father’s greed, though because greed is so common in 
  dragons of all sorts, this is sometimes hard to notice. Still, 
  these familiars expect their witch to dote upon them with 
  various gifts and trinkets, and to be treated to all the luxuries 
  that they ask for. Particularly stingy witches may find that 
  their familiars become sullen and resentful, or even threaten 
  to call on their father to punish the witch for her insolence. 
  While Thyrvinistar does not really care that much about such 
  things as long as his progeny are not abused, or treated in a 
  manner he considers beneath the station of a dragon, and if 
  such matters do come to his attention he will likely give the 
  witch a reminder to treat the dragon with respect, but this is 
  more posturing than anything else, and Thyrvinistar expects 
  his children to be able to provide and manage for themselves.
  Followers
   
  Thyrvinistar has many followers, but he does not 
  really consider those witches he patronizes to be among 
  them. For Thyrvinistar, the arrangement he has with his 
  witches is a business arrangement, pure and simple: he has 
  excess magical talent that he is not using, so rather than let it 
  go to waste, he parcels out the magic to those that are willing 
  to pay him for it. It is a business transaction, pure and simple. 
  Though it may be dressed up with symbolic gestures such 
  as him giving away one of his many progeny into the care of 
  the witch, the fact of the matter remains that, at the end of 
  the day, Thyrvinistar is more of an arcane landlord than he is 
  a master, and he does not have even the slightest interest in 
  what his witches do with the power that he grants them, as 
  long as they pay the fees.
   
  That said, if an individual witch proves herself 
  capable and expresses an interest, Thyrvinistar has, on some 
  occasions, been willing to accept the witch as a more devoted 
  agent, gaining payment from her in the form of services 
  rather than in gold. This is somewhat rare, however, and, as 
  Thyrvinistar’s network of agents expands, it becomes rarer 
  still, for the dragon usually has enough talented people in his 
  employ that he does not need to hire the witch, and would 
  rather continue getting payments from her than benefit from 
  her services.
   
  A prospective witch first learns of Thyrvinistar from 
  one of his many agents, some of whom do little with their 
  time but approach those with arcane aspirations but who 
  lack the patience or talent to become proper spellcasters, 
  and offer them Thyrvinistar’s patronage in exchange for gold. 
  Such agents usually target struggling apprentices at arcane 
  universities, but some wander the countryside looking for 
  youths with far-off, wistful looks in their eyes. Whatever 
  the case, once the prospective witch is tempted, she is taken 
  to the dragon’s lair and given a tour, then introduced to 
  Thyrvinistar himself. If she agrees, a pact is made and magic 
  power is hers, and she is returned to the mortal world with 
  instructions on how her payments are to be made. If not, she 
  is usually returned, though occasionally those that offend the 
  dragon (or visit at a very poor time) are simply devoured for 
  wasting his time, instead.
   
  For the most part, witches who gain their power from 
  the don of dragons have little in common and don’t bother 
  interacting with one another any more than they interact 
  with witches of other patrons. Since there is little tying them 
  together, there is not much reason to do so.
   
  This does not mean that Thyrvinistar does not 
  have mortal agents, however. He has vast networks of 
  spies, merchants, assassins, and mercenaries which act 
  in his name, and he takes a keen interest in their doings. 
  While some of these belong to obvious organizations that 
  are tied intrinsically to the dragon, such as the Red Wyrm 
  trading consortium which has been growing in spread and 
  power over the last decade or so, he also owns and operates 
  numerous other, smaller ventures, which are not obviously 
  tied to him, and which one might never realize was run 
  by the dragon. As varied as the operations and faces of his 
  various organizations might be, there is one thing that is 
  constant throughout everything that Thyrvinistar touches, 
  which is that everything boils down to the bottom line: the 
  42
  
  dragon is nothing if not ruthless, and anything that doesn’t 
  turn a profit and can’t be exploited is fit only to be ignored or 
  destroyed.
   
  Thyrvinistar also has a growing number of draconic 
  agents and allies, and when it comes to his own kind, he is 
  far more ruthless than he is with mortals. As his sphere of 
  influence and power has expanded once again, he has made a 
  point of bringing other dragons into his fold: forcing them to 
  either kneel and accept him as their liege, or else killing them 
  outright. Though few dragons agreed to serve him at first, 
  over time his reputation grew, and more and more dragons 
  of every color agreed to serve him rather than die. Most find 
  that this servitude is not so onerous, other than to their 
  pride: dragons that take him as liege must pay tribute in gold, 
  and are obligated to perform one or two services for him each 
  year, but they are otherwise left to their own devices, as long 
  as they don’t act against their “lord.” Of female dragons, the 
  services Thyrvinistar demands typically involve time in his 
  harem, and he keeps a rotating collection of dragons of every 
  color, which sire his innumerable offspring.
  Rituals
  Rite of Tithing
   
  The Rite of Tithing is how Thyrvinistar’s witches 
  pay him for their continued magic. While he always prefers 
  that they bring the tithe to him directly through a portal into 
  his lair or other planar travel, this is not always feasible, and 
  so this rite was arranged for witches unable to pay him in 
  person, in order to ensure that his payments continued on 
  time. The witch must take what she is giving to Thyrvinistar, 
  and place it upon a clear spot of land. Then, she must trace 
  a thirteen-point sigil around the tithe with a piece of elm 
  carved by her own hand. After this has been done, she must 
  begin tracing arcane runes on each of the points of the 
  tracing. The ritual is completed when she snaps the stick in 
  half, and all the contents in the circle are transported directly 
  to the dragon’s processing vault, with an arcane signature 
  indicating who sent it.
  Thyrvinistar as a Patron
   
  In addition to learning spells, a witch who selects 
  Thyrvinistar as a patron gains a number of additional 
  abilities as she increases in level, though she also suffers 
  from a number of penalties as a result of her connection to 
  Thyvinistar, as well.
   
  Spells: 2nd—burning hands, 4th—resist energy, 
  6th—fly, 8th—fear, 10th—fabricate, 12th—form of the dragon I, 
  14th—form of the dragon II, 16th—form of the dragon III, 18th—
  greater create demiplaneUM.
  Pact Boons
   
  By taking Thyrvinistar as her patron, a witch gains 
  a number of special boons, specific to Thyrvinistar. As she 
  gains levels in the witch class, and her association with 
  Thyrvinistar becomes stronger, she is granted additional 
  boons, as outlined below.
   
  Charismatic Caster: A witch with Thyrvinistar 
  as her patron uses her Charisma score, rather than her 
  Intelligence score, to cast her spells. This means that to learn 
  or cast a spell, she must have a Charisma score equal to at 
  least 10 + the spell’s level, rather than an Intelligence score 
  of that amount. Further, the Difficulty Class for a saving 
  throw made to resist a spell she casts is 10 + the spell’s level 
  + the witch’s Charisma modifier, rather than her Intelligence 
  modifier. Similarly, she receives bonus spells per day for 
  having a high Charisma score, rather than a high Intelligence 
  score.
   
  This ability also alters her hexes. The saving throw 
  DC to resist one of the witch’s hexes is equal to 10 + 1/2 the 
  witch’s level + the witch’s Charisma modifier, rather than her 
  Intelligence modifier. Further, any effects of individual hexes 
  that depend on the witch’s Intelligence score or modifier 
  (such as the charm hex, which normally lasts for a number of 
  round equal to the witch’s Intelligence modifier) depend on 
  the witch’s Charisma score or modifier, instead.
   
  Familiar: All witches with Thyrvinistar as their 
  patron gain a dragon egg as their familiar. The dragon egg 
  cannot move or speak, but can still be used to grant the witch 
  spells, and can still be taught spells. The egg is effectively 
  helpless, but has hardness 10 and has acid, cold, electricity, 
  and fire resistance 10. Beginning at 7th level, whenever the 
  witch gains a new witch level, she should roll a d% and 
  consult Table 1-2: Dragon Hatching Results to determine 
  whether or not the egg hatches, and, if so, what color dragon 
  is the result. A result of “none” indicates that the dragon does 
  not hatch yet, and the witch will need to roll again at the 
  next level. The higher level the witch is when the egg finally 
  hatches, the more powerful the resulting dragon is likely to 
  be.
   
  All other results indicate that the egg hatches into a 
  wyrmling dragon of the specified color, which serves as her 
  familiar. If the entry is marked with an asterisk (*), then the 
  wyrmling also gains the advanced template. Regardless of 
  what type of dragon hatches, it gains all the normal benefits 
  of being the witch’s familiar, and retains all spells it possessed 
  while it was an egg. The witch’s familiar ability otherwise 
  functions as normal.
   
  Fear Aura (Su): At 6th level, a witch with 
  Thyrvinistar as her patron is able to project an aura of majesty 
  and power similar to that projected by dragons. While this 
  ability is active, all creatures that enter or begin their turn 
  within 20 feet of her must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + 
  1/2 the witch’s class level + the witch’s Charisma modifier) or 
  become panicked. A creature panicked in this way may make 
  a new saving throw each round to end the effect (at the same 
  DC), and remains panicked until it does so, to a maximum 
  of one minute. Creatures that succeed on the saving throw 
  are shaken for 1 round. The witch can activate or end this 
  ability as a swift action. She may activate this ability for a 
  total number of rounds each day equal to 3 + her Charisma 
  modifier. At 10th level, and every two levels thereafter, 
  the range of this ability extends an additional 5 feet (to a 
  maximum of 50 feet at 20th level).
  43
  
  Pact Price
   
  Thyrvinistar’s power does not come without its 
  consequences, and in serving him, a witch must make certain 
  sacrifices, as outline below.
   
  Tithe: Whenever a witch with Thyrvinistar as her 
  patron gains a new witch level, she must pay a tithe to the 
  great dragon, in order to gain access to the next level of 
  power. If the witch fails to pay this tithe, she is unable to 
  advance further in the witch class. The amount that the witch 
  must pay depends on the new witch level she will have, as 
  indicated on Table 1-3: Tithe Prices. Note that the entry at 
  each level is the amount that must be paid at that level, not 
  the total amount paid at that point (for example, a witch with 
  Thyrvinistar as her patron would pay 100 gp upon reaching 
  second level. When she reaches 3rd level, she will need to pay 
  an additional 200 gp, for a total amount of 300 gp paid to the 
  dragon).
  Table 1‐2: Dragon Hatching Results
  Witch Level
  d%
  7th
  8th
  9th
  10th
  11th
  12th
  13th
  14th
  15th
  16th
  01 ‐ 05
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  Green
  06 ‐ 10
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  Copper
  11 ‐ 15
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  Blue
  16 ‐ 20
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  Blue
  21 ‐ 25
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  Black
  Bronze
  26 ‐ 30
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  Brass
  Bronze
  31 ‐ 35
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  Green
  Red
  36 ‐ 40
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  White
  White
  Green
  Red
  41 ‐ 45
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  Black
  Black
  Copper
  Red
  46 ‐ 50
  None
  None
  None
  None
  None
  White
  Black
  Brass
  Copper
  Red
  51 ‐ 55
  None
  None
  None
  None
  White
  Black
  Brass
  Green
  Blue
  Red
  56 ‐ 60
  None
  None
  None
  None
  White
  Black
  Brass
  Green
  Blue
  Silver
  61 ‐ 65
  None
  None
  None
  White
  Black
  Brass
  Green
  Copper
  Bronze
  Silver
  66 ‐ 70
  None
  None
  None
  White
  Black
  Brass
  Green
  Copper
  Bronze
  Silver
  71 ‐ 75
  None
  None
  White
  Black
  Brass
  Green
  Copper
  Blue
  Red
  Gold
  76 ‐ 80
  None
  None
  White
  Black
  Brass
  Green
  Copper
  Blue
  Red
  Gold
  81 ‐ 85
  None
  White
  Black
  Brass
  Green
  Copper
  Blue
  Bronze
  Silver
  Gold
  86 ‐ 90
  White
  White
  Brass
  Brass
  Copper
  Copper
  Bronze
  Bronze
  Silver
  Red*
  91‐ 95
  Black
  Black
  Green
  Green
  Blue
  Blue
  Red
  Red
  Gold
  Red*
  96 ‐ 100
  Brass
  Brass
  Copper
  Copper
  Bronze
  Bronze
  Silver
  Silver
  Gold
  Gold*
  Table 1‐3: Tithe Prices
  Witch Level
  Tithe Price
  2nd
  100 gp
  3rd
  200 gp
  4th
  300 gp
  5th
  450 gp
  6th
  550 gp
  7th
  750 gp
  8th
  950 gp
  9th
  1,300 gp
  10th
  1,600 gp
  11th
  2,000 gp
  12th
  2,600 gp
  13th
  3,200 gp
  14th
  4,500 gp
  15th
  5,500 gp
  16th
  7,500 gp
  17th
  9,500 gp
  18th
  12,000 gp
  19th
  15,500 gp
  20th
  19,500 gp
  44
  
  Sidebar: Managing Tithes
   
  The amounts listed in Table 1-3: Tithe Prices add up to more or less exactly 10% of a character’s wealth by level. In 
  essence, if the witch receives exactly as much treasure as she should, then she should be paying exactly 10% of it in tithes. This 
  will not, of course, always be the case. We could have simply set the tithe to be equal to 10% of whatever she earns, and have 
  her pay it once per week, which would certainly be simpler, but there is a reason that we didn’t. If a witch goes to great pains to 
  acquire more treasure than she is supposed to have, we don’t want that to be negated by the tithe. Similarly, a witch shouldn’t 
  be able to say “I’ll skip my share of the treasure guys…oh, and by the way, Jim, I’m not sure why you bought that wand you 
  can’t use, but if you wanted to loan it to me I’d really appreciate it wink wink.” Basically, if the witch is going out of her way to 
  have more or less treasure than normal, her tithe should not be adjusted as a result. On the other hand, some GMs like to run 
  games with a lot more or a lot less treasure than is recommended. There’s nothing wrong with this, but you should adjust the 
  tithe amounts accordingly. If the witch has half as much gold as she normally would, simply because you put less treasure in 
  the game, that isn’t her fault and her tithe amounts should be adjusted to reflect that. At the same time, if everyone has twice 
  as much treasure as normal, then the tithe costs listed here aren’t really sufficient as a drawback. Similarly, a witch character 
  created at a level above 1st should have the cost of her previous tithes subtracted from her starting gold.
  Image © Can Stock Photo Inc. / zerominusone
  45
  
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  END OF LICENSE 
  
  Patrons Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before
   
  Wizards get their magic from studying tomes. Sorcerers inherit their magic from their 
  parents. Clerics get their magic from their god. Druids get their magic from nature. And witches 
  get their magic from an eldritch pact made with a supernatural patron...at least in theory. But the 
  mechanics behind the witch’s patron class feature just don’t promote that sort of thing. When 
  choosing between patrons like “wisdom” and “moon,” and knowing that the only real effect is a 
  handful of bonus spells, the excitement of choosing an otherworldly patron seems to just fade away.
    
  This book takes witch patrons in a wild new direction that greatly expands them into 
  something that can be fun and interesting at the game table. The book contains 10 new patrons, 
  each of which is an individual entity rather than a vague concept, and each of which has extensive 
  descriptions of his or her personality, background, and goals, as well as the types of familiars that 
  the patron typically grants, information on other followers of the patron, and so on. 
    
  Even more exciting, choosing one of the patrons in this book does more than grant you bonus 
  spells. Each patron comes with a number of mechanical benefits and drawbacks associated with 
  making a magical pact with them, which function similarly to an archetype, meaning that one’s 
  choice of patron is meaningful mechanically, as well as flavorfully. With 10 patrons to choose from, 
  there are plenty of options, including:
   
  • Al’Rajan, a crafy efreeti cursed to grant any wish asked of him, who attempts to pass this 
  burden on to those to whom he grants magic.
    
  • Irashen, a celestial general who is happy to loan out some of heaven’s power to mortals who 
  will use it to fight evil.
   
  • Jodan, an insane spirit obsessed with humor, whose magic is incredibly unreliable.
   
  • Tesherazz, a powerful devil who empowers witches in his employ with the ability to make 
  magically-binding contracts.
   
  • Thyrvinistar, a powerful dragon who is willing to share his magic in exchange for nothing 
  more than raw gold.
    
  • And many more!
   
  So if you’ve ever wished that your witch’s patron was a little less one-dimensional, or just 
  want some new options and archetypes for the witch class, this is the book for you. Even if you 
  don’t care one bit for witches, GMs looking for powerful cosmic entities to serve as enemies, allies, 
  patrons, or temptations for their party will find a wealth of ideas and useful information on the 
  various entities included in this book. Don’t miss out on this chance to make your game 
  a little more magical.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Pathfinder/1st Edition/3rd Party/Necromancers of the Northwest/Otherworldly Invocations - Advanced Witch Patrons.pdf