Trail of the Puppetmaster (was: EWW Yako Vormoff)

[DeepShadow of FoS]

I'm considering using this guy in my campaign, for a lot of reasons, but there SO MUCH wrong with him.

* His specialty is golems, but at no point in his career should he have been able to create them. Before his transformation into a vassalich, he was 8th level, and after it he was 4th. The original Requiem bio explicitly says he kept his full spellcasting ability from being 8th level despite being 4th, which makes my head hurt, but the Gaz version has him as as just plain 4th.

* He made an entirely new golem, the maggot golem, which is actually composed of living organisms in an accelerated reproductive cycle. The complexity of such a creature is beyond normal golems...which he shouldn't be able to make.

* He had a "veritable army" of flesh golems that were mistaken for undead by the people of Karg, who feared they were the vanguard for an invasion of the dead. So, large numbers of what he can't make.

* He feared the return of Azalin because it would make him a "puppet" again, and was trying to find his phylactery before it fell into the hands of the Kargat or the Eternal Order, who would use it to "control him utterly." All he needed to find his phylactery, supposedly, is a locate object spell

* Despite all this, he's listed in the Gaz as an "Unholy Order Initiate." So...his defining characteristic was that he didn't want to be Azzie's puppet again, and then he volunteered to be Death's puppet?!

* And to top it all off, his name sounds like an Animaniacs skit.

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Fixing him practically invites more complication. Someone wrote in the Mistipedia that maybe he makes golems by obsession...so, his "army" of meat puppets are all unique creatures that will spiral out of control and rebel against him? Minimum level for making normal golems is around 12th level. If he was this level when he was converted, he should be a normal lich, not a vassalich. If we're using the 3.5 vassalich template for him, he would not have lost half his hit dice.

Storywise, I can understand that maybe he panicked when Az returned too soon and preferred being a slave to Death rather than a slave to Az, but given how much his stats were botched, I'm not that inclined to follow that brief reference in the Gaz. I'm actually wondering if there was just confusion about him as one of Death's demilords, and the authors just figured he was a member of the UoG?!

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Here's my best fix: Yako (I still may change the name) was 8th level when he was transformed, but that was years before the Ascention. Azalin tried using his insight into puppets to circumvent his curse, granting him the XP to get to 12-14thth level, meaning the only thing left to him was to gain his phylactery and go free, but Azalin kept it hidden from him and watched him constantly. He made all sorts of golems at this point, and also magic items that assisted with golem creation in various ways. Just before the Requiem, Azalin wanted to keep him around to make new golems, but was getting tired of micromanaging him, and tricked Yako into seizing his phylactery when it was trapped with spells that sucked most of his XP out, so that he still could not advance to being a full lich without Azalin's help. He barely survived this, and while he was stunned, Az took the phylactery back and hid it AGAIN.

This completely explains the strangely low-powered version we see later. After Azalin got blowed up, Yako was free, and all he needed to do was find his phylactery to get back ALL his lost levels AND become a proper lich!!!1! Of course it's his overriding obsession, of course he's terrified of Azalin's early return. I would drive puppet-control rods through my own wrists, too, as a reminder of what could happen if I don't act fast. He has the opportunity to do what most vassaliches would only dream of, if they could dream. Plus, he finds out all those golems he created back when he could do so are now obedient to him, with his master out of the picture. Using the tools he created before, he finds that he can modify golems he created previously, and creates the maggot golems out of the old flesh golems, taking advantage of the post-Requiem tangled skein of life like with the spuma vitae. He might even be able to make a few new ones, mostly just reanimated corpses rather than full-blown golems.

BUT, Azalin DID come back early, and he DOES have the ability to turn Yako back into a puppet with a thought. So, having never located his phylactery, Yako is forced to choose the insane master that can be manipulated, rather than the one he knows would curb-stomp him. He cuts a deal with Death, knowing that Death seeks to slay Azalin, and to do that, you have to find Azalin's phylactery....

There, that's my best attempt to reconcile that mess. Anyone see something I missed? Anyone have a better solution?

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Nah, I just can't see it. Everything but the submission to Death. It changes his alignment, and grants Touch of the Reaper at any distance. To me, for Gaz2 to say this is to say that Yako failed and became someone's puppet. And I find that a waste of story potential.

I'll come up with something better. Stay tuned.

[The Lesser Evil]

I wonder if the designers originally meant Yako to be 16th-17th level, and then his level was halved down to 8th, but then somehow over writing of the Requiem boxed set the 8th level figure was taken to represent post-vassalich level total and then got halved that way. (His spells go all the way up to 4th level in his Requiem boxed set writeup). In any case, Azalin might have spent more XP for Yako to become a higher level vassalich than level 8 (a vassalich's master can spend XP on the vassalich's behalf).

As for his service of the Unholy Order of the Grave, this could be explained by the Unholy Order of the Grave capturing Yako's phylactery during the Shrouded Years. The Requiem boxed set specifies that whom ever has control over Yako's phylactery will have control over Yako. Yako certainly had some dread the Eternal Order or the Kargat would get a hold of the phylactery, but perhaps he never expected the Unholy Order of the Grave to get it, given their origins in Necropolis.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

I wonder if the designers originally meant Yako to be 16th-17th level, and then his level was halved down to 8th, but then somehow over writing of the Requiem boxed set the 8th level figure was taken to represent post-vassalich level total and then got halved that way. (His spells go all the way up to 4th level in his Requiem boxed set writeup). In any case, Azalin might have spent more XP for Yako to become a higher level vassalich than level 8 (a vassalich's master can spend XP on the vassalich's behalf).

Yes, this is what I was saying above: Az gave him all the XP he needed, BUT then took it back using the trapped phylactery. This means that if Yako gets his phylactery back, he goes from 4th level to over 12th. You say 16th, that sounds fine to me. However many levels it is, it's a huge boost. No wonder he would be obsessed with getting all that power, AND his autonomy along with it!

As for his service of the Unholy Order of the Grave, this could be explained by the Unholy Order of the Grave capturing Yako's phylactery during the Shrouded Years. The Requiem boxed set specifies that whom ever has control over Yako's phylactery will have control over Yako. Yako certainly had some dread the Eternal Order or the Kargat would get a hold of the phylactery, but perhaps he never expected the Unholy Order of the Grave to get it, given their origins in Necropolis.

Yeah, I guess I can see that, except it kinda makes him a lot more boring. It's like how they say death is the least exciting thing that can happen to a character; this just kills all that amazing tension that was built up. He lost his autonomy. He's a puppet again, period. Nothing to see here.

I'd like to see this precarious situation continue; I wonder if he could be a member of the UoG, but not have the Death's Child traits? He cut some deal with Death that allows him a leadership role in the organization, but he keeps his autonomy? But that doesn't make sense, because 1) Death is FAR too paranoid to grant an underling that much power and autonomy, and 2) Yako doesn't get anything out of it; the Death's Child trait is what would have protected him from Azalin.

So...he hears Az is coming back, all the signs come together...what does he do? How does a free-willed undead remain so, if they know what's coming? He could easily have gained a few levels by that point, trying all these crazy schemes. Can Azalin's control power extend into the ethereal, or the plane of shadow? Could Yako have hidden in either of those realms, to keep from being controlled? He can't go to another domain and search for his phylactery, but he might decide it's not worth it, and try to hire some adventurers to get it for him. I can imagine him being desperate enough to cut a deal with Styrix, or another fiend in whose reality wrinkle he could hide.

Or maybe...maybe he DID get caught by the UoG, like you say...but Death actually DOES grant him a lot of autonomy. It would just be a reversal of the point above: Death wants to find Azalin's phylactery to kill him, setting Yako loose is actually a great way to do that. Just let Yako be Yako, don't let him know he won't actually be free of Death when he's free of Azalin...

Eh, I'll mull it over some more.

[Lord_Pruitt]

Just go with the Animanics idea

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Just go with the Animanics idea

Which is what, give him two siblings and lock them all in a water tower?

But yeah, I'm near positive that his name is going to be Yagno, and "Yako" is a nickname derived from his puppetwork, and/or a derisive term that people call him behind his back. He's most commonly known as "The Puppetmaster," and holds court in an abandoned pseudo-Vistani puppet theater, now staffed by his golems.

[Lord_Pruitt]

Which is what, give him two siblings and lock them all in a water tower?

The two siblings, Wako and Dot, live in the Tower of Torture with Yako (who builds golems out of whatever he gets his hands on).
Wako is a maddened psionic spirit, and Dot is a a spectral sea hag.

Yeah???

[DeepShadow of FoS]

...ANYWAY...

I think even a small "army" of flesh golems is overkill in multiple ways. VRGttC frames a single flesh golem as a challenge to the Hand, a party of around 15th level. They actually lost a member of their party to it before killing it with a regenerate spell. Even a bog-standard flesh golem is CR 7 in PF, so having double-digits of them at his command could easily make him a challenge for any non-epic party, and an "army" of 30+ might challenge epic PC's.

My solution to this is that he does have about fifty of them, maybe more, BUT his command of them is extremely limited. He has to concentrate on the exact movements he wants them to take, and he can only command one at a time. If any witness him being attacked, they will defend him without being commanded, but then he has to fight to reestablish control, and if a whole group of them come to his defense then he has to spend the rest of the day hunting them down one at a time, having them restrain each other, etc. It's a pain in the neck, and reveals his weaknesses for anyone who cares to pay attention.

So, he's tried to maximize the advantages and hide the liabilities using the old "power perceived is power achieved" adage. He's spread his army through his territory in the forest outside of Karg, each standing still so that wherever he stands in that area, a few--but only a few--can see him. Whenever power players come to visit, any violence on their part brings the immediate wrath of 4-6 flesh golems, which (based on the above CR's) is plenty. Naturally, word got around fast, and violence is rare, so the last ten years or so, they've all just been standing around, posed in terrifying positions by their Puppetmaster. This is what the people of Karg have seen as they travel through the woods: golems frozen in place, covered in moss, birds nests, etc. They can't tell how many there are, so it's easy to exaggerate, and the whole thing creates this atmosphere of a much larger army just waiting for the command to attack.

So, that's my solution. Creepy, atmospheric, within his power level, and pragmatic. I may give him a few more advanced golems that don't have to stand still this way, and obviously the maggot golem, but otherwise, that's the state of his "army" until he gets his phylactery back.

[The Lesser Evil]

I think your dispersal strategy works fine and is plausible. In addition, it may also be that a number of his so-called flesh golems were made in a substandard way before he "perfected" the process of (mass?) production. This could mean they could be down for regular repairs, or they could be weaker versions of the standard flesh golem. Some examples might be the carrion golem (CR 4), the junk golem (CR 4, with lots of flesh incorporated), the skinstich (CR 5). Any of these could serve as a precursor to the development of a "real" flesh golem, as starter golems if you will. Alternatively (or in addition to) the above, you could simply place flesh golem with the young (CR -1, which would represent here not physical age but simply smaller speciment), degenerate creature (CR -1), or recycled construct (CR -1). So for example, you could get away with a CR 1 carrion golem (Small size, hp 24) if you applied the young, degenerate, and recycled construct templates.


https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monst ... m-carrion/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monst ... olem-junk/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monst ... kinstitch/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monst ... ture-cr-1/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monst ... ruct-cr-1/

[DeepShadow of FoS]

I'll definitely consider those, but it's doubtful my party will end up fighting any golems. They are heading into the woods to talk to him, and they are going to see posed golems pointing the way to his lair. As befits a Puppetmaster, he's arranged many of them in highly dramatic situations, even reenactments of history and folklore. Each scene is just out of sight of the one before it, and they start out very simple with just a golem pointing off into the distance. Along the way, the Puppetmaster has arranged minor traps and tests. Here's what I have so far; feel free to join the brainstorm.

* A log bridge with "trolls" (troll bodies and heads, but ogre limbs, making them look more squat and comical)
- Purpose: running water to repel any Kargat vampires that come for him

* A group of "goblins" chasing the thief who stole their treasure (goblins are composites of halflings, gnomes, kobolds and actual goblins; thief is a normal human golem)
- Purpose: testing for greed. The thief's bag will be open and brimming with treasure, but it's all cursed/trapped somehow

* Satyr playing pipes with minotaurs dancing, roasting boar over illusory flames with illusory music.
- Purpose: not sure. I want them to have to take positions and dance to get their clue, but as to why Yako wants it, I haven't figured that out yet.

* The hubris of Gregor Zolnik: this is an historical one, with "Gregor" standing in a magic circle, half-transformed into a werewolf. Not sure if Yako could get a proper werewolf; he might have used a skin thief or wolfwere for this part.
- Purpose: I know that they won't be able to tell what direction he's pointing without standing in the circle, and I know that the circle has a special purpose, but I don't know what. Is it just to trap any summoned creatures that are sent for him? Render people unable to fight? Ideas really welcome on this.

* Hags around a cauldron (Tepest?) They have brewed something, and one of them is holding up a vial and pointing to it.
- Purpose: You guessed it, they have to drink the stuff to get their next clue. Not sure how that works either; maybe it allows them to see invisible or ethereal creatures. At any rate, the potion could also be detrimental to werewolves, like the running water was to vampires. Gotta weed out those Kargat agents.

That's about it so far. Again, the purpose is not to kill any and all visitors, but to weed out the obvious enemies and render anyone else tractable by show of strength, etc.

[ewancummins]

EXTREME WORLD WRESTLING Yako Vormoff?

[The Lesser Evil]

What is Yako's motivation for the myth/history theme to the tests?

[DeepShadow of FoS]

What is Yako's motivation for the myth/history theme to the tests?

1) He's an artist(e). Or fancies himself one. He's very dramatic, which is only exacerbated by the fact that
2) He's bored. He has WAAAAAY too much time on his hands, what with no longer needing to eat or sleep. He spends a lot of that time on arcane projects, but
3) He doesn't have the power he used to, so posing his puppets is about the one pure creative outlet he has left, especially since
4) It connects him to his past before he was undead, which helps to keep him from going nuts. And since he isn't nuts, he knows that
5) These "statues" of his are a means of sending a message to would-be visitors. He can layer message after message, to greater effect, rather than just say "go this way."

[DeepShadow of FoS]

What is Yako's motivation for the myth/history theme to the tests?

Or if you mean why those themes and not others, I think it may be his attempt to show off his skill AND his knowledge of the demiplane. He knows about many DL's from studying in Avernus; Az has portraits of all of them.

One might ask, what's the purpose of those portraits? These can serve a similar purpose.

[ewancummins]

The OP mentioned changing the NPC's name.

What about just shifting a letter?

Yakov Ormoff