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Pathfinder RPG: The Hand of Nakresh

The Hand of Nakresh

'Hand' of Nakresh is a bit of a misnomer, for as we delve into this, the fourth of the Demon Cults series, we discover that Nakresh is a simian demon with EIGHT hands, most of which are usually found in someone else's pocket! Apparently the lowermost hand on the left side is reserved for the most audacious thefts and is the one from which the cult takes its name, being led by five crime-lords who naturally take an interest in notable heists.

Beginning with the cult's leaders, organisation and goals we read more about these crime-lords. Known as the Five Exalted, they compete to pull off the most daring and audacious thefts, for bragging-rights seem to be what it's all about... and every few years the rest of the cult votes on who pulled off the best heist and elect him or her as The Exalted. (Pity they don't put as much thought into their titles as they do to planning their robberies!) Competition is fierce and whilst it's against the rules to harm each other or their minions, just about anything else is fair game - unless someone is captured by law enforcement, when everyone is expected to rally round to rescue them.

Each of the current Five Exalted is presented in detail, along with full stat-block and background, plenty of ideas here for budding rogues as to equipment and methodology. There's also a sidebar about fitting them into the Midgard underworld, if that happens to be the campaign setting you're using, but it should prove relatively easy to embed them into whatever campaign world you have chosen for your game.

These are followed by a series of adventure ideas, sorted by APL. Here, the Hand of Nakresh are placed as adversaries - you may choose to use them as occasional enemies (or rivals) or weave an entire plotline about how the cult becomes a growing nusiance, running several of the adventures at different stages of the campaign.

Thieves who like their gadgets will be interested in the new magic items, which are presented next. These include the bizarre and complex Ley Line Absorber (or Dweomer Absorber) which draws in magical energy from its surroundings that can then be manipulated by the operator. Then there is the Monkey's Paw of Fortune (which can alter fate) and a Shrieking Aklys (which, er, shrieks when thrown). Also here is a new spell, Scattered Images, which is a bit like Mirror Image but the images all scamper around doing different things rather than copy what you are doing. Finally, there is the clockwork siege crab, a giant mechanical vehicle made of brass, iron and glass in the shape of a giant crab. Not the best thing for a stealthy exit, but impressive nonetheless.

If you fancy some crime-fighting, this provides useful concepts for adversaries and what they might be doing. Despite the large number of ethically-challenged characters to be found, there is no provision for those who might want to join the cult, and maybe work their way up to being an Exalted, which could make a fun campaign idea. There also is nothing about Nakresh as a demon-god, or what cult membership confers over and above being part of a thieves' organisation (which are pretty commonplace). Some nice adventure ideas, and good crime-lords to flesh out your underworld, though.

Return to The Hand of Nakresh page.

Reviewed: 8 October 2015