Mammon
Gaze upon the realms of rust: the poison vine, the choking sand.
Will you find your dreams in dust? Or dare you claim the crown at hand? Cast your sight beyond the throng, All doubt and weakness lie forgot.
Sate the yearning known life-long; By burning coin your dreams are bought.
—“Promise of Mammon,” from the Book of the Damned
It takes no devil or infernal temptation to lead men to avarice. All souls look upon the world and desire. For some, such desires are the simple needs of survival. For others, they take the form of ambition. And for still others, they are dreams to be chased throughout a lifetime. While such pursuits hold no intrinsic evil in their common balance, lives consumed by want, marked by envy and the insatiable lust for ever more, attract the ebon eyes of Erebus, the eternally nighted vaults of Hell, and their lord, the archdevil Mammon. Reaching forth gilded claws, the archdevil promises fantastic riches to those who praise him, bartering coins for the true currency of Hell: mortal souls.
Drawn from the scattered folios of the Book of the Damned, the following text dares to unveil the desires, profane worship, voracious servants, and seductive treasures of the Grasping One himself. Those seeking further details on Mammon, his realm of Erebus, devilkind, or the innumerable powers of Hell might risk consulting Princes of Darkness: Book of the Damned Vol. 1.
THE LORD OF EREBUS
Amid shadowed gems at the heart of the third layer of Hell lies a bier of awe-inspiring infernal beauty, a diamond tomb of such splendor as could only be cra!ed by hands that once knew the wonders of Heaven. Within this monument lie the wasted yet eternally radiant remains of the fallen angel Mammon, a sublime being who shone, warred, and fell among the legions of those heretics who battled against their brethren in unnameable eons past. Yet with this august crusader’s end, a servant of the Heavens died and, by the god Asmodeus’s hand, a lord of Hell was born.
The end of the angel Mammon, slain at the Battle of the Triune Star and lost for ages amid the raging Maelstrom, is well documented within the pages of the Book of the Damned, as is his entombment and resurrection in the shadows beneath the city of Dis. Yet what fuels endless rivalries among diabolists is the conflicting question of the archdevil’s true face. Some claim Mammon rules nighted Erebus as a gleaming silver god, a giant of beauteous horror.
Others claim he seethes through his domain as a grasping spirit, pervading the labyrinth as absolutely as the dark.
Some term him the Twice-Fallen, an angelic carcass that rules from a tomb of gem and immortal rot, while others call upon the God in Silver, and feel his gaze staring from the face of every minted coin. In truth, Mammon is all of these things and more: a fallen angel, an archdevil, an animating spirit, and Erebus itself.
Deprived of a body a!er his eons-old defeat, Mammon exists as a creature without a true form, an invincible bodiless presence that rules over the realm of Erebus.
Possessing an omnipresence within his domain that all other archdevils envy, he bears a special connection with the oceans of riches that fill the kingdom-sized vaults of his realm, with even the smallest coin or fleck of gold dust serving as an appendage of his impossibly vast body. Yet even Mammon’s body bears a face: the Argent Prince, a mountain-sized statue of gleaming silver, shaped into the form of a many-horned devil of divine beauty and grace. While the titanic figure bears miles of delicately inlaid runes and Infernal script, and glimmers with pure silver worth the ransom of entire worlds, the throne-body of Mammon bears the might of a true demigod and can cast away interlopers as absently as wishing coins.
If Mammon’s mind imbues his entire realm, and his face resides upon the Argent Prince, then one might guess the archfiend’s heart lies within his tomb, where his true body rests amid the o"erings of Hell’s lords and ancient tributes. The Lord of Erebus even suggests such, his bier hidden among his realm’s deadliest reaches and bearing some of the layer’s most diabolical and overwhelming defenses. Yet what few in Hell—and even fewer outside the Pit—guess is that this is an ancient and elaborate lie. Actually, Mammon’s corpse holds no power, being symbolic at best and in truth no more than a pile of dust and irrelevant bones. Where the true heart of Mammon lies, the actual core of his essence that hypothetically might hold the key to the archdevil’s ultimate end, none know—not even the Grasping One himself.
Beyond his unique shape and state, Mammon rules Erebus as a true archdevil, one of the eight princes of Hell in service to the god Asmodeus. As tyrant of the third layer of the Pit, he reigns over the vaults of the infernal realm, where wealth past mortal imagining and treasures beyond legend lie in eternal darkness. The god of misers, Mammon covets all things of worth—riches and coins at the most mundane level, but also knowledge, servants, promises, influence, living beings, magic, land, artistic masterpieces, and anything else that carries with it value, rarity, or prestige. One of Asmodeus’s oldest servants, Mammon has existed for eons and seen the rise and fall of deities, worlds, and empires. Thus, base riches do little to invigorate the demigod. Rather, his most rampant desires turn toward trophies, be they physical or symbolic. For Mammon, the soul of the final survivor of an extinct race, the only copy of a legendary mage’s lost spellbook, the iconic weapon of a demon lord, or the corpse of a solar dipped in lead all bear greater worth than even a mountain of platinum. Coins, however, do hold a favored place in the devil lord’s desires, for their ability to sway the minds of mortals and relieve fools of far more precious commodities—such as their souls—pleases him endlessly.
Once collected, few objects escape Mammon’s grip. As the steward of Hell’s vaults, he presides over both his own treasure and much of that owned by the other archdevils and Asmodeus himself, thus taking his lord’s charge to defend the plane’s riches as both absolute duty and sacred obligation. Endless defenses born from his immortal genius, cra!ed over eons, and operated by armies of devils and other servants ensure that few things—be they treasures or the damned souls condemned to his realm—escape the shadows of Erebus. Should even the most insignificant of treasures depart Erebus without his leave, Mammon knows as surely as one who has a digit sliced from his hand. The archdevil’s schemes of reprisal and repossession come swi! and terrible upon the heads of thieves, demanding recompense in near-impossible proportions to what was stolen. Rumors persist of a special torture gallery where Mammon imprisons the souls of thieves who could not monetarily pay their penance, such victims kept alive for ages and tormented long a!er their deaths by sadistic hamatulas and mercenary kyton torturers. Just as surely as thieves, those who rebu" Mammon also garner his wrath, denial and defeat impassioning the stubborn fiend, inflaming his desire to even greater heights.
At any moment the ingenious archfiend’s plots divide his interests across dozens of planes and worlds, yet being refused even the most peripheral desire leads him to direct more and more of his infernal determination and nearly infinite resources toward the object of his desire and the absolute destruction of any barrier in his path.
Upon satisfying his craving or gaining even long-coveted treasures, Mammon stows his earnings methodically but indi"erently, caring for even the most fabulous objects largely just in terms of net values and total prestige. Ever the fiend seeks a prize to capture and hold his interest, but always the novelty fades, casting him back into an endless existence of strict duty, hollow temptations, meaningless crusades, and eons of boredom.
In dialogues, Mammon proves endlessly calm and self-controlled—little any mere mortal can do can incite him to a true display of pique. His words ring simple and hollow, o!en causing others to suspect he might be nothing more than an automaton. Such ploys work well with proud mortals and arrogant planar natives seeking to dupe Hell from a measure of its seemingly infinite riches. In more elaborate corruptions, the fiend’s ability to mimic any voice and create nearly any form from the treasures of Erebus allows him to take on whatever shape his victims might find most appealing. Regardless of the method of his ploys, he reveals the truth of his deceptions in his penchant for o"ers, bargains, promises, and reading and playing upon his victims’ desires. Only a!er one has underestimated the archfiend’s true nature or cunning, become addicted to his open yet subtly corrupting o"ers, bound oneself to propositions from which there are no escape, or paid prices far dearer than anticipated is the Lord of Erebus’s true foul genius revealed.
Among his servants, Mammon is also called the Countless, Crowngiver, the Grasping One, the Lord of the Third, the Open Palm, and the Voice in Silver. His symbol is a coin bearing a diabolical face. His domains are Artifice, Earth, Evil, and Law, and his favored weapon is the shortspear.
THE CULT OF MAMMON
All the faiths devoted to Hell’s archfiends o"er paths to worldly influence and cater to yearnings of the mortal mind, yet in the cult of Mammon such desires rise to the central religious concern. Divested of the pretenses of spirituality, otherworldly insights, secrets of ageless lore, or promises of power over inscrutable beings, the followers of Mammon o"er and pursue a path to one’s true greatest desire—a goal unique to each individual. Away fall the illusions harbored by most cults of glorious ends, sacrifices to hidden masters, or quests for relics, replaced by a twofold goal: identification of one’s truest yearning, and the perpetual attainment of that aspiration. In the pursuit of such, Mammon takes on not the role of godhead, but divine patron and financier, while his priests—or usurers as they are commonly known—serve as facilitators of a relationship more businesslike than religious, encouraging new cultists to rely on the archdevil in pursuit of ever greater dreams and ultimately unattainable or unsustainable decadences, all the while pauperizing them materially and spiritually via the Lord of Erebus.
The cult of Mammon takes on a beneficent cast when initially approaching potential new supplicants. Seeking out the poor, weak willed, disenfranchised, aimless, lowborn, unimaginative, lazy, depressed, despairing, and hopeless, usurers of the Grasping One come to such unfortunates with a two-pronged seduction: flagrant displays of prosperity and the novel suggestion that their problems lie merely in the fact that the victim has yet to identify their true desire. Those who prove open to such overtures find themselves visited o!en by the cultist, given extravagant gi!s as they are encouraged to indulge in new decadences as part of the search of a single perfect goal. This lone desire and the value of such a thing is, of course, pure foolishness, but the associated gi!s, new experiences, and attention typically prove di"erent enough from the potential supplicant’s pitiable former life to convince him of such a pursuit’s value. Gradually, as the victim becomes comfortable with the need to find his perfect desire, the cult’s gi!s begin to take the form of small, friendly loans, which slowly grow and take on rates of interest as the cultist encourages his mark to ever more elaborate dalliances. Typically, other usurers who run artistic communes, theaters, brothels, academies of dubious philosophies, or other false ventures encourage such pursuits. Some even pose as newly discovered and adoring—yet greedy and manipulative—lovers. Soon the victim finds himself unable to pay his patron and further pursue his desires without resorting to crime or other extreme means. Eventually the debt reaches the point of despair, and then the usurer reveals an escape: beseeching Mammon. By this point, desperation leads the victim before the larger cult without hesitation, where possessions and services one would normally never agree to are pawned freely, but only if the petitioner swears himself to Mammon’s service. In doing so, the unfortunate exchanges a worldly debt for a spiritual one, repaying a pittance of shiny metal with his immortal soul.
Once in the service of Mammon, all new supplicants must face the Debt in Flesh. In this ritual, the debt that drove the initiate to the archdevil is collected from the cult’s co"ers. Typically, the debt is met coin for coin in gold pieces, but new or faltering cults might match the total number of gold coins with copper or silver ones.
The coins are then melted down as the supplicant is outfitted in kingly finery. Amid devotions to the Open Palm and the chanting of an unholy congregation, the new cultist has the melted coins poured upon his shoulders and back, to excruciating e"ect. The symbol of Mammon is then forced into the metal, leaving a permanent imprint.
This ritual deals 1d6 points of fire damage for every 100 coins melted and poured upon the victim. Many are slain by this rite, the precious molds ripped from the flesh of the unworthy and mounted as gruesome testaments to the merit of those who survived the rite. Those who survive are marked by Mammon and eternally committed to his faith.
They must serve, or be revealed as agents of Hell.
The structure of the cult of Mammon begins with a single high priest, known within the archdevil’s faith as the “argent hand of Erebus.” Debts owed to the founding usurer lead to conversion, service, and eventually wealth and faith. As the argent hand continues to seek out, pauperize, indebt, and convert servants, so too do her existing followers, and then their followers, and so on. The cult then takes on the form of a faux-religious pyramid scheme, with the oldest and highest-ranking usurer gaining wealth from her subordinates and passing it on to the greater cult— ultimately meaning her superiors.
As the argent hand typically serves out of true faith in Mammon, her zeal and direction infect many of her followers, who form their own relationships with the fiend and his servants even as they obey the greater plots of their leader.
Influential usurers of Mammon are typically rogues, clerics, and diabolists dedicated to the Lord of the Third, though those from many walks fill the lesser ranks—all having been deceived and forced into service.
Although the poor prove easiest to prey upon for new servants, Mammon cultists also seek out the wealthy and influential, gaining leverage over the rich with promises of even greater rewards and exotic or illegal decadences—rare drugs, perverse lusts, untraceable assassinations, and so on.
Such members, having endured less lethal Debts in Flesh, are typically elevated to advanced ranks within the cult and do much to grant their masters influence and new opportunities within a region.
Typically the cult of Mammon operates in cities, where wealth flows most freely and dense populations might disguise its schemes and worship.
In Golarion Mammon’s faith might arise wherever people lust for wealth and fools wait to be bilked of their immortal souls.
In the most decadent cities of Golarion, the Grasping One’s faithful spread their glittering corruption, with significant cults operating in the Taldan capital of Oppara, Azir in Rahadoum, Karcau in Ustalav, and Katheer in Qadir.a While not unified, few argent hands don’t know of Lady Kaltessa Iyis, the Widow Queen. Rumored to have been a member of Nidalese nobility in an age past, the elusive priestess’s life has spanned centuries, the benefit of a pact with the Voice in Silver himself. In return for long life and unspeakable other favors, the coldly fanatical priestess serves Mammon directly, going where signs and visions from her lord direct.
As severe and arrogant as the pettiest princess, yet with a cool cunning and frighteningly sharp memory, the Widow Queen radiates an air of charisma that can change from charming to cruel like the flip of a coin. Although more than capable of dealing with nearly any threat herself, Iyis rarely goes anywhere without her attendants, an ebon-skinned barbed devil called Rivois, her sarcastic imp familiar Ginarl, and the silent kyton named Vorosa—who some claim was once her own daughter. Currently the Widow Queen resides in a lavish palace called Iron Rose, situated in a lush valley near the northernmost border between Isger and Druma, though recent dreams have caused her to turn her attentions to southern Cheliax. Attempting to anticipate her infernal lord’s will, she has already contacted her Chelish minions and instructed them to make ready for her coming.
L!+, K!-.'**! I,/* CR 20 XP 307,200
Female human cleric of Mammon 10/diabolist 10 (Princes of Darkness: Book of the Damned Vol. 1 44) NE Medium humanoid
Init +4; Senses darkvision 120 "., see in darkness, see invisible or ethereal 120 ".; Perception +30
DEFENSE
AC 30, touch 16, flat-footed 30 (+9 armor, +5 deflection, +1 insight, +5 natural)
hp 183 (10d8+10d6+80)
Fort +20, Ref +14, Will +27
Defensive
Abilities cannot be flanked, freedom of movement;
Resist acid 10; SR 21
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ".
Melee +3 unholy spell-storing shortspear +15/+10/+5 (1d6+2/×3/+2d6 vs. good; stores bestow curse)
Ranged acid dart +13 (1d6+10 acid)
Special Attacks channel hellfire 4/day, channel negative energy 9/day (DC 19, 5d6)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th) 2/day—hellfire ray
Domain Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th) 12/day—acid dart, touch of evil 1/day—scythe of evil
Spells Prepared (CL 20th) 9th—gate, implosion (2; DC 28), miracle, quickened flame strike (DC 24), summon monster IXD 8th—antimagic field, earthquake (DC 27), firestorm (DC 27), greater planar ally, quickened dismissal (DC 23), unholy auraD 7th—blasphemyD (DC 26), dictum (DC 26), ethereal jaunt, repulsion (DC 26), summon monster VII (2) 6th—banishment (DC 25), blade barrier (DC 25), harm (DC 25), heal (2), stoneskinD 5th—break enchantment, commune, flame strike (DC 24), greater command (2; DC 24), plane shi!, wall of stoneD 4th—dimensional anchor (2), divine power, poison (DC 23), tongues, unholy blightD (2) 3rd—animate dead, contagion (DC 22), deeper darkness, dispel magic (2), magic circle against goodD, wind walk 2nd—aid, align weaponD, death knell (DC 21), enthrall (DC 21), hold person (DC 21), spiritual weapon, undetectable alignment 1st—command (2; DC 20), cure light wounds (2), entropic shield, protection from goodD, sanctuary (DC 20), shield of faith 0—bleed (DC 19), create water, detect magic, read magic D domain spell; Domains Earth, Evil
STATISTICS
Str 8, Dex 10, Con 18, Int 17, Wis 28, Cha 19 Base Atk +12; CMB +11; CMD 22
Feats Augment SummoningB, Command Undead, Cra" Wondrous Item, Deceitful, Extra Channel, Improved Initiative, Improved Lightning Reflexes, Invested Magic, Lightning Reflexes, Scribe Scroll, Toughness, Quicken Spell
Skills Appraise +23, Blu! +30, Diplomacy +23, Disguise +7, Knowledge (arcana) +17, Knowledge (planes) +22, Knowledge (religion) +27, Perception +30, Sense Motive +23, Spellcra" +17
Languages Common, Elven, Infernal, Shadowtongue
SQ heresy, imp companion (Ginarl), infernal bargain, infernal charisma, infernal transport, master conjurer
Combat Gear potion of cure serious wounds (2), scroll of summon monster IX (2);
Other Gear Lady Iyis’s nightskin (as nightskin but +5 glamered moderate fortification mithral chain shirt), +3 unholy spellstoring shortspear, sta" of transmutation, amulet of natural armor +5, belt of mighty constitution +6, boots of speed, cloak of resistance +5, dusty rose prism ioun stone, eyes of charming, glove of storing (2; holding sta! and shortspear), headband of inspired wisdom +6, mantle of spell resistance, pale green prism ioun stone, ring of freedom of movement, ring of protection +5, robe of eyes, 30,799 gp
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Channel Hellfire (Su) As a free action 4 times per day, Lady Iyis can cause spells that deal energy damage to deal hellfire damage (half fire damage, half damage from evil energy). These spells gain the evil and lawful descriptors.
Hellfire: Damage dealt from this accursed flame results half from fire and half from evil energy (which is not subject to being reduced by resistance to fire-based attacks). Evil-aligned creatures and those with the evil subtype take no damage from evil energy. Good aligned creatures and those with the good subtype take double damage from evil energy. Creatures under the e!ects of protection from evil are una!ected by evil energy, but still take normal damage from the fire.
Hellfire Ray (Sp) Lady Iyis can fire a 75-foot-long ray of hellfire twice per day. This ray deals 10d6 points of hellfire damage.
Any creature killed by this ray is damned to Hell, requiring non-evil spellcasters to make a caster level check (DC 10 + the dead creature’s level) when attempting to resurrect the victim.
Heresy (Ex) Lady Iyis gains a +4 on all checks made to research true names and sigils.
Infernal Bargain (Ex) Devils summoned by Lady Iyis must make an opposed Charisma check or serve her for half the cost.
Infernal Charisma (Ex) Lady Iyis gains a +5 on Charisma-based checks when interacting with devils.
Infernal Transport (Su) When in Hell, Lady Iyis can cast dimension door twice per day or use both spells to travel as per teleport.
Master Conjurer (Ex) Lady Iyis can bargain with a familiar devil she calls as a move action, adding +15 to her Charisma check.
PC Gear Lady Iyis has equipment equal to a 20th-level PC. This increases her CR by +1.
Venerable Age Lady Iyis is more than 100 years old, but retains her youth and beauty via a bargain with Mammon. She possesses all the benefits of venerable age but none of the penalties.
MINIONS OF MAMMON
Beyond the mortal cultists of the Grasping One, armies of avaricious creatures obey the will of Mammon, some out of diabolical duty, others in desperate hope of currying his favor and having unspoken wishes fulfilled.
The depths of Erebus hold no mystery for the children of Hell, devils treading the abyssal darkness heedless of the gloom except in the torment it causes the blinded souls of the damned. Among these fiends, hamatulas stand gargoyle-like as sentinels over the treasures of the Pit, minding ironshod vaults, infernally trapped gates, and the labyrinthine paths to secret relics. Favorites of Mammon for their obsessive pride as guardians, and di#cult to distract, barbed devils attend to their lord’s wishes with diligence and precision, many claiming to be able to hear the archdevil’s whispers in the shi!ing of coins and on the lips of glistening statues.
Thus it’s no surprise that legions of such fiends serve as the infernal lord’s emissaries throughout Hell, the planes, and the mortal plane.
Beyond devilkind, Mammon favors unflinching, unthinking servants, with golems and a variety of constructs, both common and unique, watching over his riches. Many such products of Hell’s vast forges are constructed of precious metals or studded with fantastic wealth to blend in among the objects of their guardianship.
Gem-studded stone golems, brass golems (see Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #24), and iron cobras, some of incredible size, all see wide use throughout Mammon’s realm and among cultists in his service. The ruler of Erebus also collects whole populations of creatures to serve him, breeding deadly strains of infernally tainted mimics, darkmantles, and silent oozes and molds adept at hiding just beneath glittering cover.
While all the lords of Hell reign as unparalleled terrors within their infernal realms, Mammon himself poses not only the greatest but the most pervasive threat to those traversing Erebus’s blind paths. Capable of manifesting amid any treasure within his realm and animating whole hoards, the archdevil witnesses nearly all that transpires within his domain and personally rises to confront interlopers. At the most common level, a facet of Mammon’s immortal will impresses itself over a volume of treasure, creating an animate hoard.
While not entirely present in such spontaneously created constructs, Mammon can focus his will and see or speak through his creations ( just as he can with nearly all his domain’s riches). None truly know how many such manifestations Mammon might cra!, though the archfiend o!en boasts he could raise all the wealth in Erebus should he so choose, and blanket an entire mortal world in a cataclysm of gold.
An animate hoard uses 6 construction points on additional attack, amalgam, guardian, and metal special qualities (see the Bestiary for details). The creature below was created by advancing a Medium animated object to 13 Hit Dice and increasing its size to Huge.
A"/0!.' H\n!&+ CR 9
XP 6,400 Advanced animated object LE Huge construct Init –2; Senses darkvision 60 "., low-light vision; Perception +2
DEFENSE
AC 21, touch 8, flat-footed 21 (–2 Dex, +15 natural, –2 size)
hp 111 (13d10+40)
Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +4
Defensive Abilities hardness 10; Immune construct traits
OFFENSE Speed 30 ".
Melee 2 slams +21 (1d8+10)
STATISTICS
Str 30, Dex 6, Con —, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 1 Base Atk +13; CMB +25; CMD 33
Skills Perception +2, Stealth +0
SQ construction points
ECOLOGY
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, or treasury (3–50)
Treasure double standard (or more depending on composition)
SPECIAL QUALITIES
Amalgam (Ex, 2 CP) The object is made up of smaller but similar objects. Its ability to constantly shi" its form grants it immunity to critical hits and flanking. It also does not take additional damage from precision-based attacks, like sneak attacks. The object can move through spaces half its size without squeezing.
The object also receives a +10 racial bonus on Stealth checks.
Guardian (Ex, 1 CP)
The object is granted the ability to follow basic orders and watch for enemies, changing its Wisdom to 10 and granting it a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks.
Additional CP can be spent on this ability, each increasing the object’s Wisdom by an additional +2 and improving its racial bonus to Perception by +2.
MYSTERIES OF MAMMON
Like treasure, Mammon collects magical relics and lore with miserly abandon. Those of greatest power and value are methodically filed into lightless library vaults. Fallen into such depths lie an impossible number of incredible treasures known to include such legendary artifacts as the ghost-axe Lightbreaker, the armored monolith known as Emperor Loduz, five of the nine scroll-corpses of Raisting, and a depthless blue Orb of Dragonkind known as Stormsheart surpassing the size of a temple dome.
Yet for all these treasures, material and arcane, personally coveted by the Lord of Erebus, some few minor elements please the archdevil enough to see dissemination to his cult, spread to gather ever greater riches and shepherd more souls to Erebus’s fathomless depths.
Genius Avaricious
School conjuration (creation) (evil);
Level cleric 6, sorcerer/wizard 6
Casting Time 10 minutes
Components V, S, M (valuable o!erings; see text), F (one gold coin)
Range touch
E3ect a vestige of the archdevil Mammon imbues a coin with a negotiable degree of power.
Duration instantaneous (see text)
Saving Throw none;
Spell Resistance no
Casting this spell constitutes performing a rite of sacrifice to the archdevil Mammon, making an o!ering to the Lord of Erebus and channeling a measure of his disembodied might into a single coin.
The power and abilities of this vestige correspond directly to the value of the o!ering, allowing for three distinct e!ects.
Corrupted Coin: Making a sacrifice worth 1,500 gp corrupts the focus into a “lucky” or “unlucky” coin as per the caster’s will for 1 month. Any creature that bears the coin gains a bonus or penalty (decided by the caster at the time of casting) on all Appraise, Blu!, Cra", and Profession checks. This bonus or penalty is equal to 1 per 3 caster levels (maximum +5 at 15th level). In addition, the coin can produce an e!ect similar to the spell augury once per day—its flip producing a weal (heads), woe (tails), or nothing result (landing on the edge). Potentially unknown to the bearer (if di!erent from the caster), the caster can telepathically hear any question asked of the coin and, as a free action, influence the result as he chooses.
Mammon’s Mantle: Making a sacrifice worth 3,000 gp transforms the coin into a kind of infernal aegis for any who swallow the coin.
Upon ingesting the coin, the target gains a bonus to Charisma equal to +1 per 3 caster levels (maximum +5 at 15th level). The bearer’s blood also takes on a hue like liquid gold and runs slowly, granting him immunity to poison, disease, and aging e!ects, and causing him to automatically stabilize if reduced to fewer than 0 hit points.
Additionally, the bearer can eat gold to heal himself, regaining 1 hit point for every 20 gold pieces he consumes (materials other than gold provide no benefit). The coin’s e!ects last for 1 day per caster level.
Gold Guardian: Making a sacrifice worth 6,000 gp allows the focus coin to animate nearby coins. When cast into a pile of 100,000 coins, an animate hoard (see previous page) forms under the control of the caster. The guardian serves for 1 month. A"er this month, coins begin disappearing from the guardian at a rate of 100 gp per day, reducing the creature’s hit points by 1 per day. When the guardian’s hit points reach 0, the guardian collapses and the focus coin is destroyed. Coins lost from the guardian can be replaced, restoring any lost hit points.
In addition to the e!ects of any of these o!erings, should the focus coin be swallowed, any being sired or conceived by the creature while the magic is in e!ect is born as a tiefling (bearing an indirect relation to Mammon himself ).
Invested Magic
Spells cast using this feat pay the wages of Mammon and forgo their more mundane costs.
Benefit: You may satisfy the material requirement of any spell you cast with valuable coins, gems, or jewelry rather than the normal component. For spells with material components with no listed value, valuables worth 5 times the spell’s level in gp may be expended instead of the usual components (5 gp for a 1st-level spell, 20 gp for a 4th-level spell, etc). In the case of spells with components that have a listed cost, you may expend valuables worth a number of gp equal to one and a half times this cost (thus, a spell like commune with material components costing 500 gp could be cast using valuables worth 750 gp). Only coins, gems, jewelry, and other similar objects of obvious worth can be used to replace other material components using this feat. The value of these objects need not match the required cost exactly, but they cannot be less than the required costs. Should valuables of greater value than required be expended (likely when employing objects like gems or jewelry), the extraneous gp value is lost, consumed with the rest of the object. The only exception comes in the case of spells with material components that have a listed worth. When casting such spells you may expend double the components’ gp worth in valuables to cast the spell as if your caster level were 1 level higher. This e!ect only applies to spells with components with a specific gp value. Any expenditure beyond double the gp value grants no additional benefit.
Treasures of Erebus
Vain to the point of competition with even the servants of Belial or Baalzebul, powerful cultists of Mammon lust for symbols of their status, wealth, influence, and power.
Viewing the trappings of battle as beneath them, yet still wary of threats, such diabolists create glamered suits of armor known as nightskins that do more than just shield them from harm, bringing them closer to the might of their dread lord and the coldly idealized darkness of Erebus.
N/#1.*2/" Aura moderate illusion (evil); CL 10th Slot armor; Price 53,100 gp; Weight 25 lbs.
DESCRIPTION Each of these +2 glamered chain shirts bears a permanent illusion of being a fantastic ebon gown of peerless design or a royal suit of nighted hues.
Yet those who see past the illusion find a strange padding within the armor, stitched skins of macabre origins filled with locks of delicate hair, dyed in devil’s blood. Those who wear the armor find that they can see in even the most abysmal darkness as per a devil’s ability to see in darkness (seeing through even magical darkness as if it were full light). In addition, the wearer finds that he can understand Infernal perfectly, though the armor does not grant the ability to speak it.
Nightskin is a fundamentally evil armor and any wearer of good alignment is treated as being sickened for as long as the armor is worn.
CONSTRUCTION Requirements Cra" Magic Arms and Armor; major image, true seeing; Cost 26,550 gp
Treasures of Erebus
Ancient and deadly, the shortspear o!ers a versatility favored by Mammon and his followers. Many servants of the Lord of Erebus carry such weapons in deference to their infernal master, cra"ing elaborate spearheads from precious metals or studding the ha"s with jewels, coins, or meaningful ornaments. Skilled diabolists in the archfiend’s service have also perfected and spread a deadly homage to their masters, lethal shortspears imbued with the powers of darkness and known as the Fangs of Erebus.
F!"# \n% E&'()* Aura faint evocation; CL 5th Slot none; Price 9,501 gp; Weight 2 lbs.
DESCRIPTION This +1 shortspear gleams as if newly polished and shimmers with threads of inlaid gold dust. Strangely light for its size, the shortspear has a range increment of 30 feet. Once per day, the wielder may entreat Mammon as the shortspear deals damage as part of a ranged attack.
Doing so causes the area within 30 feet of the creature struck to be a!ected as per the spell deeper darkness.
This darkness lingers at the point where the target was damaged, not moving with the target.
In addition, the gold dust embedded in the shortspear sparkles if the spearhead is touched to an object or treasure valued at 1,000 gp or more.
The wielder can determine if an object is worth 1,000 gp or more, 10,000 gp or more, or 100,000 gp or more just by observing the level of this scintillation. Once per day, the spear can also be laid on the ground and commanded to point to the most valuable object within 30 feet.
CONSTRUCTION Requirements Cra" Magic Arms and Armor, deeper darkness, identify; Cost 4,750 gp