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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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PFS StandardCunning Guide

Spirit guides of cunning are often seen as the weakest of the spirit guides, but are also the most numerous and proactive, guiding families to safe paths or leaving food and water for warriors. Cunning guides often take the form of foxes.

Recall Knowledge - Beast (Arcana, Nature): DC 15
Recall Knowledge - Spirit (Occultism): DC 15
Unspecific Lore: DC 13
Specific Lore: DC 10

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

Cunning FoxCreature 1

Legacy Content

N Small Beast Incorporeal Spirit 
Source Bestiary 3 pg. 252
Perception +9; darkvision
Languages Common, Sylvan; tongues
Skills Acrobatics +6, Deception +6, Stealth +8, Survival +5
Str +1, Dex +3, Con +0, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +1
AC 16; Fort +5, Ref +8, Will +7
HP 14; Immunities disease, paralyzed, poison, precision; Resistances all damage 2 (except force, ghost touch, or positive; double resistance vs. non-magical)
Speed 40 feet
Melee [one-action] horn +6 [+1/-4] (finesse, magical), Damage 1d8+1 forceMelee [one-action] jaws +6 [+2/-2] (agile, finesse, magical), Damage 1d4+1 forcePrimal Innate Spells DC 17; 3rd wanderer's guide; 1st detect poison, purify food and drink; Cantrips (1st) guidance, read aura, stabilize; Constant (5th) tongues
Bond with Mortal [two-actions] (mental, necromancy, primal) Frequency once per day; Effect The spirit guide forms a bond with a mortal creature. While the bond exists, the spirit guide increases their current and maximum Hit Points by 10, gains a +2 status bonus to their attack and damage rolls, and can communicate telepathically with the bonded mortal as long as the two beings are on the same plane. The spirit guide can only be bonded with one mortal at a time, and they can take this action again to end the bond or to form a new bond (which also ends the old bond). The bond also ends if the spirit guide or the mortal dies.
This bond strengthens the spirit guide's connection to the Material Plane. While bonded, the spirit guide loses the incorporeal and spirit traits, loses their immunities and resistances, and changes their Strikes to deal the appropriate physical damage (typically piercing or slashing) instead of force damage.Bonded Strike [two-actions] Requirements The spirit guide is currently Bonded with a Mortal; Effect The spirit guide makes a jaws Strike. If this attack hits, the bonded mortal can spend their reaction to Strike the same target.

All Monsters in "Spirit Guide"

NameLevel
Cunning Guide1
Strong Guide10
Nimble Guide3
Swift Guide7
Sage Guide5
Guardian Guide14

Spirit Guide

Source Bestiary 3 pg. 252
Spirit guides are a distinctive form of spiritual entity with a tenuous attachment to the Material Plane. Some legends say that the first spirit guides were the perfect conceptual forms of animals, and that from them, eagles, foxes, bears, and other mortal animals were born. Each guide displayed an interest in mortal affairs, watching over communities and imparting their gifts. Fox shared his cunning with the mortals he befriended, while Bear taught them how to survive and endure.

Over the passing of countless mortal generations, new spirit guides were born, many of them possessing traits from two or more of the original spirit guides. In the ancient human nation of Sarkoris, the people abandoned the worship of traditional gods in favor of venerating the spirit guides who watched over them. While the people of some neighboring nations saw this as heresy, to the old Sarkorians, this worship was perfectly natural. The same beings who had taught their forebears lessons that allowed them to survive and thrive still walked among them.

Spirit guides can form bonds with mortal partners. While many spirit guides create a permanent bond with a mortal, such as the relationship between the spirit guides of Sarkoris and the mortal spiritual leaders known as god callers, some instead form temporary bonds, either to test the prospective mortal before committing or because a permanent bond is undesirable. It's not uncommon for a single spirit guide to form bonds with recurring generations of a family or community, protecting and guiding mortals they've grown fond of or who do them a great service.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Permanent Bonds

A spirit guide can form a permanent, close bond with a mortal, granting both new abilities. Such bonded pairs can see through one another's eyes, coordinate their actions to an unparalleled degree, and come to one another's aid in an instant. Stories tell that a pair thus linked shares even their life essence between them, growing and learning together throughout the mortal's life.

Sidebar - Advice and Rules Spirit Guide Companions

One way to gain the aid of a spirit guide is to take the scion of Domora archetype. This archetype allows character to choose a spirit guide to accompany them on their adventures—provided they first prove themselves worthy of the honor.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Strength and Adversity

In the region of the Broken Lands known as the Sarkoris Scar, spirit guides are active participants in the fight against the demons who infest that poisoned land. Battle-tested knights and Sarkorian reclaimers alike have countless stories of being rescued from certain doom by a charging bear cloaked in feathers and tearing wrath demons out of the skies, or ghostly eagles with dragon scales swooping in to snatch warriors clear of a pride demon's descending blades. Others speak of discovering caches of safe food, clean water, and other supplies left by ghostly foxes or martens.

Sidebar - Locations The Sarkoris Scar

Some spirit guides encountered in the haunted badlands now known as the Sarkoris Scar are remnants of god calling, an ancient tradition practiced by many Sarkorian cultures. Severed from their callers by the demonic war that devastated the land for over a century, such gods now roam the blasted landscape, occasionally helping those they find worthy.