Weekly Wonders - Eldritch Archetypes Volume IV - Archetypes of Hastur

Weekly Wonders - Eldritch Archetypes Volume IV - Archetypes of Hastur

Be Unspeakable!

The eldritch, the strange, and the weird are often relegated to the domains of villains and NPCs in fantasy, with the good guys being the ones who stand in the way of the dark things that remain just beyond our perception, which we can never truly understand. But sometimes, it can be fun to take on the mantle of the otherworldly, and to embrace the alien terrors of the cosmos. Each installment of Weekly Wonders: Eldritch Archetypes contains five archetypes for eldritch characters—those that are weird, alien, and otherworldly, who don’t fit in with normal society—as well as a cleric domain devoted to a specific mythos entity or race.

For this book, we focus on one of the most enigmatic mythos entities: Hastur, or the King in Yellow. While this alien entity remains shrouded in an ochre haze of mystery, each of the archetypes in this book builds on themes of mystery, eldritch signs, hedonistic indulgence, and reckless abandon tied to Hastur. This book contains the following archetypes:

• The yellow player, a bard archetype who can perform maddening performances and even call forth Hastur himself.
• The wielder of emotions, a magus archetype that does Hastur’s dark work tempting others and filling them with intense and self-serving emotions.
• The star stalker, a ranger archetype who is empowered by the light from distant stars, and can deliver curses on his victims when beneath the starry void.
• The Hastur spirit, for shamans, which grants a wide range of Hastur-themed powers.
• The servant of the sign, a spiritualist archetype who specializes in crafting powerful yellow signs.
• A bonus cleric domain devoted to those who worship Hastur.

Whether you're about to embark on a campaign of eldritch horror (such as the official Paizo adventure path dealing with strange and alien entities), or you just want an excuse to play a servant of the unknowable and uncaring cosmic entities of the Cthulhu mythos, this book has lots of tantalizing options to offer. Even GMs can get in on the fun, as several of the archetypes here are perfect for insane cultist NPCs as well, and can make for exciting and memorable encounters.