Fantasy Monster: Martyr's Heart

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Martyr's Heart

A beating heart floats in the air, still dripping blood.

CR 9; XP 6,400
LE Diminutive Undead

Init +9; Senses lifesight 120 ft.; Perception +25

Aura stigmatic (120 ft.)

Defense
AC 23, touch 23, flat-footed 18 (+4 deflection, +5 Dex, +4 size)
hp 114 (12d8+60)
Fort +9; Ref +9; Will +12

Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, rejuvenation; Immune undead traits

Offense
Speed fly 30 ft. (perfect)

Special Attacks crimson arcs (60 ft., up to three targets, 4d6 +1 Con bleed, DC 21 Fort negates)

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th, concentration +17)

Constant–shield of faith

Statistics
Str 1, Dex 20, Con —, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 21
Base Atk +9; CMB +14; CMD 27

Feats Defensive Combat Training, Flyby Attack, Hover, Improved Initiative, Improved Iron Will, Iron Will

Skills Fly +21, Perception +25, Stealth +25; Racial Modifiers +8 Fly, +8 Perception, +8 Stealth

Ecology
Environment any
Organization solitary
Treasure standard

Special Abilities

Crimson Arcs (Su) As a standard action, a martyr's heart can lash at up to three different living targets with arcs of crimson energy. Each target that fails a Fortitude saving throw (DC 21) starts to bleed (4d6 hit point damage and 1 Con damage). The saving throw DC is Charisma-based.

Lifesight (Su) A martyr's heart senses its general surroundings within 120 feet as if using blindsight, and it can accurately discern living creatures from objects and non-living beings.

Stigmatic Aura (Su) A martyr's heart projects its pain, suffering and religious ecstasy. No bleeding effect can be stopped within 120 feet of a martyr's heart. At the beginning of its turn, a martyr's heart gains temporary hit points equal to total amount of bleed damage suffered by living creatures with the boundaries of this aura since the heart's last turn. Those who bleed while within the aura feel a sort-of religious euphoria along with the pain.

Martyr's heart form out of hearts ripped from the chests of still-living, would-be saints, absorbing both the pain and the desire for suffering, sharing the martyr's stigmata with those nearby.

Certain powerful martyr's hearts are minor relics in their own, requiring special measures to either destroy or purify them.

Fantasy NPC: Eternal Tenants, An Eremite Extraordinary

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The Eternal Tenants, An Eremite Extraordinary

A vaporous image of a robed ascetic walks slowly across a labyrinthine gardens.

CR 7; 3,200 XP

LG Medium Undead (incorporeal)

Init +10; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +25

Defense
AC 20, touch 20, flat-footed 14 (+4 deflection, +2 Dex, +4 insight)

hp 85 (10d8+40)
Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +11

Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, incorporeal, rejuvenation; Immune undead traits

Offense
Speed fly 30 ft. (perfect)

Melee pacifying touch +20 (7d6 plus calm emotions, DC 19 Will save partial)

Special Attacks confounding words (DC 19)

Statistics
Str –, Dex 15, Con –, Int 15, Wis 18, Cha 18

Base Atk +7; CMB +7; CMD 30
Feats Defensive Combat Training, Flyby Attack, Hover, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes

Skills Bluff +17, Fly +10, Heal +14, Knowledge (religion) +14, Perception +25, Profession (garden philosopher) +14, Sense Motive +17, Stealth +10

Language Common, Celestial

Confounding Words (Su) The Eremite can utter a statement, often but not always in a riddle form that surprises and confounds listeners. All sapient creatures within 30 feet that can hear the Eremite speaking have to make a Will saving throw (DC 19) or become fascinated by his statement for at least 1d10 minutes. In combat or other violent altercations, those who fail the saving throw are affected by calm emotion effect for 1 round and staggered for 1d4+1 rounds instead. A successful saving throw renders the listeners immune to this effect for the next 24 hours. This is mind-affecting language-dependent divination effect. The saving throw DC is Charisma-based.

Pacifying Touch (Su) An incorporeal touch from the Eremite deals 7d6 points of damage and overwhelms the target with a sense of calm serenity, affecting them with calm emotions for 1d4+1 rounds. A successful Will saving throw (DC 19) halves the damage and negates calming effect. The Eremite can choose to use the calming effect of his touch without dealing damage. The saving throw DC is Charisma-based.

Some aristocrats keep their own pet hermits – holy people, monks, ascetics, philosophers,  or madmen (and often some form of combination of any of those traits). They don't require that much space and maintenance, though their presence on noble estates comes and goes out of fashion in unpredictable patterns.

This particular hermit stays on, with little regard for changing fashion. It's hard to say what exactly binds this ghost to a garden-maze where he was originally hosted – unfinished business? Sense of duty? Quirky humor? Some lost trinket buried in the garden when his abode was torn down?

He shows and vanishes at random times, often inappropriate (he seems to have a penchant to interrupt couples seeking intimate discretion in the depths of gardens), delivering enigmatic, but deeply sounding riddles, statements, and even some occasional piece of actual advice.

Fantasy Monster: Snowling Ball

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Snowling Ball

An oversized snowball rolls around on its own.

CR 5; XP 1,600
N Medium Construct (cold)

Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +2

Defense
AC 18, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+4 Dex, +4 natural)
hp 53 (6d10+20); cold healing 10
Fort +4; Ref +8; Will +4

DR 10/bludgeoning; Immune cold, construct traits

Weakness susceptible to fire

Offense
Speed 40 ft.; ignores difficult terrain caused by snow and ice

Melee slam +8 (3d6+3 plus 3d6 cold)

Special Attacks roll through (DC 15)

Statistics
Str 14, Dex 18, Con —, Int —, Wis 15, Cha 1
Base Atk +6; CMB +8; CMD 22 (can't be tripped)

Feats Great Fortitude^B, Improved Initiative^B, Lightning Reflexes^B

Skills Acrobatics +4, Perception +2

Ecology
Environment any cold
Organization solitary, pair, or snowfight (3–6)
Treasure standard

Special Abilities

Cold Healing (Ex) A snowling ball gains fast healing 10 in cold or colder environment.

Roll Through (Ex) A snowling ball can roll with great speed and force as a full-round action, moving up to twice it speed in a straight line. Each corporeal creature in the line that fails a Reflex saving throw (DC 15) suffers snowling ball's slam damage and is knocked prone. Creatures that are already prone, get no saving throw suffering slam damage and are staggered for 1d4 rounds. Snowling ball stops in its tracks if it hits Large or larger corporeal creature or obstacle.

Susceptible To Fire A snowling ball is vulnerable to fire (+50% damage). If it suffers fire damage it loses its cold healing ability, halves its speed, and doesn't deal cold damage for 1 round.

Snowling balls are animate orbs of snow (with occasional chunks of ice inside) that are made by frost giants and ice dragons as toys for their young. And like all toys, they get lost, misplaced, or thrown out once they are no longer needed or wanted. Unlike most toys, though, they don't don't stay discarded for long, driven by their programming to keep playing with moving targets, often to the detriment of lesser, less sturdier creatures.

Some of them might respond to certain commands in Draconic or Giant, others, not so much.

Fantasy NPC: Eternal Tenants, A Ghost of A Struggling Artist

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The Eternal Tenants, A Ghost Of A Struggling Artist

A translucent shape of pastel colors woven into an image of a young, somewhat scrawny man in worn cloths that used to be popular among artists a generation or two ago.

CR 5; 1,600 XP

CN Medium Undead (incorporeal)

Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +18

Defense
AC 18, touch 18, flat-footed 13 (+4 deflection, +4 Dex)

hp 59 (7d8+28)
Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +7

Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, incorporeal, rejuvenation; Immune undead traits

Offense
Speed fly 30 ft. (perfect)

Melee blinding touch +20 (5d6 plus blindness, Fortitude DC 17 partial)

Special Attacks conditional possession (DC 17)

Statistics
Str –, Dex 18, Con –, Int 13, Wis 11, Cha 19

Base Atk +5; CMB +5; CMD 23
Feats Ability Focus (Possession), Flyby Attack, Hover, Iron Will

Skills Fly +12, Knowledge (history) +11, Knowledge (local) +11, Perception +18, Profession (painter) +10, Sense Motive +10, Stealth +12

Language Common

Blinding Touch (Su) This attack deals 5d6 points of damage and blinds the touched target for 1d4+1 rounds. A successful Fortitude saving throw (DC 17) halves the damage and renders the target dazzled for 1 round instead. Creatures blinded by this ability see the surrounding world as an incomprehensible collage of colors and shapes, as if looking at an unfinished painting. The saving throw DC is Charisma-based.

Possession (Su) While within the boundaries of his lodging house, the Ghost Of Struggling Artist can attempt to posses a tenant or a lodger who is late with their rent as a standard action. A successful Will saving throw (DC 19) negates the attempt and makes the target immune to further attempts for the next 24 hours. The possession lasts until the next sunrise when the Ghost snaps back to his attic room, and the Ghost often uses the opportunity to leave the house and seek places to paint (and is often disrupted by sunrise when he tries to paint rising sun). The saving throw DC is Charisma-based.

Having a ghost in a lodging house is usually a problem. They are unruly, unresponsive to requests from the landlord and the tenants alike, they scare potential lodgers, and they don't pay for the space they haunt.

This expired lodger is all of that, and yet, his presence is not as unwelcome as it could be imagined, for his landlords found a use for him – always struggling, he died of sickness when he could not afford care and food because he paid his dues on time, and now he can possess those who are late with their rent – which is an excellent way of scaring the tenants into paying on time.

Well, aside of some enterprising art students, who deliberately get late with their rent to pass the paintings the Ghost makes in their bodies as their own at the academy...

Fantasy Monster: Cheese Gremlin

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Gremlin, Cheese

This creature looks like pale, slender, hairless monkey with a tail that splits into horny hooks.

CR 2; XP 600
CE Tiny Fey
Init +6; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +10

Defense
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 size)
hp 21 (6d6)
Fort +2, Ref +7, Will +6
DR 5/cold iron; Immune scent-based conditions; Resist fire 5

Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee hooked tail +7 (2d4+2, 19–20/×3))

Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft. (10 ft. with hooked tail)

Statistics
Str 10, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 7, Wis 13, Cha 13
Base Atk +3; CMB +3 (+7 dirty tricks and steal maneuvers); CMD 16
Feats Combat Reflexes, Defensive Combat Training, Improved Initiative
Skills Acrobatics +8, Climb +6, Perception +10, Sleight Of Hand +11, Stealth +19

Languages Sylvan

SQ hooked tail

Ecology
Environment urban, rural, or underground
Organization solitary, pair or commune (3–10)
Treasure standard

Hooked Tail (Ex) Cheese gremlins have a long, prehensile tail that splits into sharp hooks at the end. It can be used to perform dirty trick or steal maneuvers with +4 circumstance bonus without provoking attacks of opportunity, uses Dexterity instead of Strength when calculating attack rolls, damage rolls, and CMB, and Climb checks, and also acts as an equivalent of a masterwork grappling hook with 10 feet rope, granting +4 circumstance bonus to Climb checks.

Sometimes you come home with your groceries, ready to sink your teeth into tasty (if occasionally smelly) piece of ripe, pungent cheese that you just bought – only to discover it's missing with no trace of it ever being in your possession, not even slightest shred...

You might have fallen victim to the predation of the cruelest gremlins of them all which stalk kitchens, pantries, ladders, cellars, and warehouses, taking any piece of cheese they can find, unattended or not. They show peculiar cunning and boldness when stealing their bounty, sometimes even going so far as to snatch pieces of cheese from a chefs hands or pull it from a boiling pot before it melts into fondue.

They almost always devour whatever cheese they can get their dirty little hands on as soon as possible, occasionally rendering themselves too gorged to move away from the scene of their perfidy. They love scorching or melting cheese on an flame, and they are very careless while doing it, often spiling melted cheese all over the place, sometimes even starting accidental fires.

A kitchen visited by both cheese and kitchen gremlins can easily turn into a nightmare for any chef and kitchen staff.

Fantasy NPC: The Eternal Tenants, A Ghost of A Peasant

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The Eternal Tenants, A Ghost Of A Peasant

A spectral silhouette in plain work clothes of a serf, carrying a hoe.

CR 10; 9,600 XP

LN Medium Undead (incorporeal)

Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +9

Defense
AC 19, touch 19, flat-footed 13 (+3 deflection, +5 Dex, +1 dodge)

hp 150 (20d8+60)
Fort +9, Ref +11, Will +15

Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, incorporeal, rejuvenation; Immune undead traits

Offense
Speed fly 30 ft. (perfect)

Melee corrupting touch +20 (10d6 plus wild growth, Reflex DC 23 partial)

Special Attacks wild growth

Statistics
Str –, Dex 20, Con –, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 17

Base Atk +15; CMB +15; CMD 38
Feats Defensive Combat Training, Dodge, Flyby Attack, Hover, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lunge, Mobility, Skill Focus (Handle Animals), Skill Focus (Profession [farmer])

Skills Fly +13, Handle Animals +26, Knowledge (nature) +21, Perception +9, Profession (farmer) +30, Stealth +13

Language Common

SQ dead man herding

Dead Man Herding (Su) Dead herd animals tended to be the Ghost Of A Peasant every day remains animate as zombies or skeletons. The Ghost Of A Peasant can tend up to 40 HD of dead animals at any one time.

Wild Growth (Su) When the Ghost of A Peasant touches someone, thorny vines and other plants sprout immediately from the ground, dealing 10d6 points of damage and entangle the victim for 1d4+1 rounds. A successful Reflex saving throw halves the damage and prevents becoming entangled. Where the Ghost passes over the soil (fertile or not), light vegetation sprouts, withering into dried remnants after 1d4+1 rounds.

It is a well known fact that landlords want their tenants to dutifully work their land and pay their rents without complaint... Usually.

Not this time, though. This tenant overstayed their tenancy by lifetime or two, dying while working the fields assigned to them, only to show up on the very next day to continue going through the motions of tending to the crops and the animals on the farm.

The first replacement tenant fled in terror, another stayed for some time before vanishing quietly without trace, another probably interfered with the Ghost's work and was found dead and strangled by the withered vines. The local priest tried to put the Ghost to the rest, unsuccessfully, a hired magician failed to destroy it either.

The lands passed between the owners and yet, the Eternal Tenant stays, tending the soil and the animals forever on unfazed by the changing world around.

Fantasy Monster: Blasphemouse

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Blasphemouse

A coal-black mouse with tiny golden horns and burning red eyes.

CR 2; XP 600
NE Diminutive Magical Beast
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent, smell holiness; Perception +5

Aura profane (5 ft. square)

Defense
AC 15, touch 15, flat-footed 14 (+1 Dex, +4 size)
hp 19 (3d10+3)
Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +4

DR 5/cold iron or silver; Resist fire 5

Offense
Speed 30 ft., climb 15 ft.
Melee bite +7 (1d2–3)

Ranged belch flame +8 touch (2d6 fire)

Space 1 ft.; Reach 0 ft.

Statistics
Str 5, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 13
Base Atk +3; CMB +0; CMD 7
Feats Iron Will, Run
Skills Climb +5, Knowledge (religion) +1, Perception +5, Stealth +17

Languages Understands Abyssal and Infernal

Ecology
Environment temples, monasteries, ruins, desecrated tombs
Organization solitary, pair, or infestation (3–hundreds)
Treasure standard

Belch Flame (Su) A blasphemouse main way of defending itself is belching orbs of unholy fire which are treated as thrown weapon with range increment of 10 ft., and deal 2d6 points of fire damage on a successful ranged touch attack.

Profane Aura (Su) A blasphemouse is a focal point of a miniature zone of desecration that moves with it. Any nest occupied by blasphemice for at least 24 hours becomes desecrated zone as well, though this effects fades if blasphemice leave the nest unattended for more than 24 hours.

Smell Holiness (Su) A blasphemouse's scent can discern magical auras of divine nature, attracting them to things that are holy or unholy, sacred and profane. They usually seem to avoid objects and places that are druidical or shamanic in nature, though.

Most of the time, when a stray mouse finds and nibbles on holy relics, the durability of those items is more than a match for the little pest's jaws. Occasionally, though, the little beast is stubborn enough to gnaw and gnaw, and gnaw, and the item might be already worn out by time or malice, that the mouse somehow manages to damage, or even more rarely destroy the sacred item. Such blasphemy is what turns regular mice into blasphemice.

Blasphemice infest temples, monasteries, tombs and ruins, where they love to nibble on and slowly destroy consecrated objects, holy tomes, play with the remains of peaceful dead, and make nests of pieces of sacred texts. Some monks even claim that blasphemice sing perverted holy hymns while hiding in walls, but that is certainly exaggeration of disturbed old folks.

Individually, a single blasphemous doesn't do much damage, but can live for a very long time, nibble sacred texts and holy relics here and there, with the damage accumulating over the years. It is uncertain if blashemice breed true among themselves, though some monks suspect that their progeny needs to be feed shreds of holy items to grow into a proper blasphemice themselves.

Some monasteries retain monastic cats to keep blasphemice away, but there are stories of particularly cunning monastic cats taming a blasphemouse or two. There is even a tale, surely fictional, of a monastery where monastic cats and blasphemice living along side each other...

A blasphemouse can be taken as an Improved Familiar (caster level 7th).