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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Loonook" data-source="post: 4019358" data-attributes="member: 1861">Good Gaming: Living In These Modern Times Pt. 4: Hidden Master: Jonathan S. Cheshire and Sizing Up Hidden Masters. The Court wanted blood.  As he looked about the streets of Washington, Ash LaFontaine, Knight Courtier of the Summer Court felt more nervous than he had in twenty years.  The smells of gasoline and the hum of the electric wire irritated his senses.  Perhaps he would be able to make it back to the Court before his head began to ring from the stench.  Those who passed by him on the Mall gave him a wide berth though he only appeared to be a strange brand of homeless to them; his kelly green courtier’s coat appearing to them as some strange takeoff of a Army topcoat, the conjure stick an ornate crutch.  After wending through the paths around it he came to the Washington Monument and saw his quarry.  Dressed to the nines, Jonathan looked like he belonged in the city.  Smoking a cigarette through a long holder Jon tapped the ash onto the ground, and his smile as he saw Ash approach sent a shiver down the Knight’s spine.Jonathan stood in his sable pelted glory, a Deep Malkin.  Some said that he spoke to spirits, others said he manipulated the shadows around him.  All agreed that he stalked like a man-cat, and was the chosen man for such work as Ash had to give.  His teeth shone bright white as his grin broadened.  He struck the cigarette on the small surrounding wall of the monument and tucked the butt into a pocket of his suit coat.“Ahh, the Ladies are in an uproar.  I have spoken to the Lord of the Potomac, and so my retainer to the Dominion of this place is up.  How fall the leaves in the Titania’s Court this year?”“The leaves never fall in Her Blessed Summer Queen’s Court, though I doubt you have seen the Bright Gate in a century.  You’ve gone native, I see.”“In this place of courtiers and politico I would think your services well-suited.  Perhaps you could lower your bonds and come to work with me.  There is quite a business here in the paths we walk, sapling.”“Aye, and perhaps if I came with you in friendship you wouldn’t claw at my roots so.”The drayer’s comment seemed to struck Jon’s fancy, as he laughed heartily.  He offered a cigarette to the courtier, who declined.“Ahh, Our Lady is on a health kick, I understand.  I have heard the issues; someone fell the Autumn Lord’s consort to the Titania.  So, to save face . . . you wish me to find him.  Or her.” Cheshire’s head tilted to the side, and his ears twitched slightly as he licked his front teeth in a predatory gesture.  Ash grabbed his conjure with both hands, wringing the staff betwixt them.  “Yes, I hear much from the Court.  I know of your battles in the Nighttime, and the fact that you have gained a warrior’s commission.  Impressive for one in such an intemperate court.  However, I know who you seek . . . the entities I know of here are wise.  I’ll take the commission for the standard fee, plus I desire something else.”“What would you like, Wild One?”“I want a Pass to the Convocation.  I hear the Winter Lady will hold it, and I have a few questions for a member of her Court . . . where better to ask in their stronghold?”“Ahh . . . you wish to know who it was, eh?  I will seek it for you, Malkin, and perhaps our Lady will provide.”“Then take leave . . . I will present your prize by the 23rd.”  Seeing the blank stare of the courtier, he quickly added “less than a fortnight.  Give the Titania my love.”That snark, and its questioning tone, would be granted swift punishment beyond the Bright Gate.  As Ash turned to challenge the remark all he saw was the fading face of the Malkin known as the Cheshire Cat as he stepped into the shadows.Jonathan Stepford Cheshire is an interesting creature, and the reason being is for appearance sake.  A Malkin (a demon or fey who takes the form of a cat or other small animal, sometimes as a familiar), Jonathan was trapped in England by a sorcerer.  After freeing himself by brutal means, he took on the name of his captor (Jonathan Stepford) and his residence (County Chester, or Cheshire).  He has lived two hundred years as a fey in exile, but he is the wetworks man for anyone who can hire him, but has also served as a bodyguard and expert on esoterica (especially in regards to the Western Fey [Sidhe]). I wanted to create an answer to Carroll’s Cheshire Cat; a creature who could use the ability to fade and become shadowy, and who had obvious ties to a court.  As Fey in my campaign are not necessarily all humanoid, the chances of creating a uniquely memorable malkin was present, and I took it.Jon Cheshire was probably one of the first Modern Hidden Masters I worked on.  As I have said before, I don’t like certain creatures in Modern; Dragons are difficult to see working out without dealing with the issues of size (or the necessity to change shape to something more palatable).  The same goes for Cheshire’s initial inspiration; Displacer Beasts.  I just cannot see a Displacer Beast wandering about the cityscape without being spotted as something.  The occasional monster encounter is definitely important, but in a Modern Fantasy game I like having the option of having unique humanoids who have certain abilities.  Also, sadly, Displacer Beasts are considered product identity by Wizards.  Which makes them a no-no in your normal published adventure.  However, since this is just an article and I am (sadly) not being paid for the chance of giving you wonderful advice, we’ll work with it.I think that most of you can easily puzzle through the conversion of a displacer beast to a humanoid form.  Boost mental stats, give the ability to speak the local language (and appropriate) and shrink him down to Medium.  Now, here, I gave Jon the half-giant ability to treat himself as one size category larger for carriage, weapons, etc.  He’s lost some of the benefits of being a Large quadruped, but the weaknesses are made up for by the strengths.  Figure out a balanced CR, then get the levels you want for him (I made him Strong/Charismatic to go into Shadow Slayer/Arcane Arranger for the Gestalt setup I do for my usual small groups of Modern players).  If I wanted to change it up, I may have used Changeling or a similar template to give him some useful abilities, but my current conversion uses the Fey Trickery tradition from Mythic Earth.  He has a small amount of beneficial magic that he can perform, and he’s a great CR 10-13 challenge along with a solid backup.  One of my favorite 3rd party sources for making adjustments and interesting and mechanically relevant creatures is Silverthorne Game’s <a href="http://enworld.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2096&it=1" target="_blank"> Book of Templates: Deluxe Edition</a>.  When dealing with larger creatures the half-humanoid template is quite incredible.  Though usually I support a more loosely-defined series of encounters from personal gaming experience, Silverthorne has produced an excellent book for you.  I’ve been using it since a player decided I needed the PDF after a discussion over how constraining it was to make a specific creature come to fruition, and since then it’s been a useful template (no pun intended) for dozens of unique humanoid and other creatures.  It is also in one of my preferred modes; suggestive, but not forceful.  The Half-humanoid template, for example, provides some great discussion on how to adjust the template and the specific abilities of the creatures involved for each game.  At 10 bucks, it’s a good pickup.Wow… I just shilled right there.  Ehh, I’m not above it <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />.  However, in summation of the previous discussions of Hidden Masters, there are a few basic types:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Unknown Master – This is most likely a character which is mentioned, but doesn’t make an appearance. The Harlans are an example of this; they are integral to the setting, but they would only appear as possible PCs in specific periods. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Knowledgeable Master – This is a creature which has gained specific powers beyond its normal ken.  In my setting we call them Weirders (and the arts they practice are collectively Weirding).  The Phooka or Spriggan from my previous article Goblins, Gewgaws, and Glorious Generalities Pt. 4: The Goblins in Fluff and Crunch</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Altered Master – A creature which hides as a humanoid or appropriate creature.  Shi’loung Wei or Jonathan Stepford Cheshire are examples of Altered Masters.</li> </ul>Next article (and hopefully the last of this specific series) will discuss a couple of options of how to treat the Veil and Shadow in your game.As Always,Good Gaming,Slainte,-Loonook.</blockquote>

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