After long perturbations and adversities, a first issue of Yggdrasil, a fanzin dedicated to Midgard campaign setting was finally released.
Can be downloaded for free from Paizo website.
2017-01-31
2017-01-29
Monster: Warp Serpent
Warp Serpent
This gigantic, shimmering-scale covered serpent flickers in air, appearing and vanishing with unpredictable frequency.
CR 12; XP 19,200
CN Gargantuan Magical Beast
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +30
Defense
AC 27, touch 11, flat-footed 22 (+4 Dex, +1 dodge, +16 natural, –4 size)
hp 157 (15d10+75); flickering regeneration 10
Fort +14, Ref +13, Will +11
Defensive Abilities warp coils
Offense
Speed 40 ft.
Melee bite +21 (4d6+15 plus poison)
Space 20 ft.; Reach 20 ft.
Special Attacks warp lunge, warp pursuit
Statistics
Str 30, Dex 18, Con 20, Int 13, Wis 19, Cha 13
Base Atk +15; CMB +25; CMD 39 (can't be tripped)
Feats Combat Expertise, Dodge, Improved Vital Strike, Iron Will, Mobility, Spring Attack, Vital Strike, Whirlwind Attack
Skills Acrobatics +30, Perception +30, Stealth +18; Racial Modifiers +8 Acrobatics, +8 Perception, +8 Stealth
Language Draconic, Protean
SQ compression, warp slither
Ecology
Environment forests, mountains, and undergound
Organization single or pair
Treasure standard
Special Abilities
Disrupting Venom (Su) Bite—injury; save Fort DC 22; frequency 1/round for 10 rounds; effect 1 Str, Dex, and Con; cure 1 save. If the poisoned creature is affected with teleportation effect, it suffers effects of another dose of disrupting venom. This is a poison and teleportation effect.
Flickering Regeneration (Su) A warp serpent vanishes and reconstructs itself constantly, rebuilding any lost tissue and healing at the rate of 10 hit points and 1 point of ability damage to each ability score at the beginning of each of its turns. All severed body parts re-attach immediately making it immune to vorpal weapons. A dimension anchor suppresses flickering regeneration for 1 round and then ends. Dimensional locks, antimagic fields and similar effects suppress flickering regeneration as long as the warp serpent remains within area of the effect. This is a teleportation and creation effect.
Warp Coils (Su) A warp serpent can take a swift action to twist magic and space around itself in a defensive shell until the start of the following turn. It gains +2 deflection bonus to AC, +2 resistance bonus to saving throws, evasion special ability, and Spell Resistance 23 against non-touch ranged spells and spell-like abilities.
Warp Lunge (Su) A warp serpent can take a swift action to extend its reach by its base speed until the beginning of its following turn and can make unlimited number of attacks of opportunity. It flickers and translocates within the area as if moving faster than any eye can see. This is a teleportation effect.
Warp Pursuit (Su) A warp serpent can teleport to a space adjacent to any creature currently suffering effects of its poison as a swift action. This is a teleportation effect.
Warp Slither (Su) A warp serpent ignores difficult terrain and can move through obstacles, though it can't ends its move within an obstacle that occupies more than a half of its space.
Warp serpents are voracious but intelligent predators. They physical presence is unstable, allowing them to twist space and control the matter they are composed of to a certain degree. Their abilities consume large amounts of energy being responsible for their gluttony but make them capable of surviving in wider range of climates than common snakes.
Elder warp serpents (CR 14) have advanced and giant templates, with their flickering regeneration healing 20 hit points and 2 points of ability damage per turn, and their warp coil granting +4 bonuses to AC and saving throws, and SR 25.
This gigantic, shimmering-scale covered serpent flickers in air, appearing and vanishing with unpredictable frequency.
CR 12; XP 19,200
CN Gargantuan Magical Beast
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +30
Defense
AC 27, touch 11, flat-footed 22 (+4 Dex, +1 dodge, +16 natural, –4 size)
hp 157 (15d10+75); flickering regeneration 10
Fort +14, Ref +13, Will +11
Defensive Abilities warp coils
Offense
Speed 40 ft.
Melee bite +21 (4d6+15 plus poison)
Space 20 ft.; Reach 20 ft.
Special Attacks warp lunge, warp pursuit
Statistics
Str 30, Dex 18, Con 20, Int 13, Wis 19, Cha 13
Base Atk +15; CMB +25; CMD 39 (can't be tripped)
Feats Combat Expertise, Dodge, Improved Vital Strike, Iron Will, Mobility, Spring Attack, Vital Strike, Whirlwind Attack
Skills Acrobatics +30, Perception +30, Stealth +18; Racial Modifiers +8 Acrobatics, +8 Perception, +8 Stealth
Language Draconic, Protean
SQ compression, warp slither
Ecology
Environment forests, mountains, and undergound
Organization single or pair
Treasure standard
Special Abilities
Disrupting Venom (Su) Bite—injury; save Fort DC 22; frequency 1/round for 10 rounds; effect 1 Str, Dex, and Con; cure 1 save. If the poisoned creature is affected with teleportation effect, it suffers effects of another dose of disrupting venom. This is a poison and teleportation effect.
Flickering Regeneration (Su) A warp serpent vanishes and reconstructs itself constantly, rebuilding any lost tissue and healing at the rate of 10 hit points and 1 point of ability damage to each ability score at the beginning of each of its turns. All severed body parts re-attach immediately making it immune to vorpal weapons. A dimension anchor suppresses flickering regeneration for 1 round and then ends. Dimensional locks, antimagic fields and similar effects suppress flickering regeneration as long as the warp serpent remains within area of the effect. This is a teleportation and creation effect.
Warp Coils (Su) A warp serpent can take a swift action to twist magic and space around itself in a defensive shell until the start of the following turn. It gains +2 deflection bonus to AC, +2 resistance bonus to saving throws, evasion special ability, and Spell Resistance 23 against non-touch ranged spells and spell-like abilities.
Warp Lunge (Su) A warp serpent can take a swift action to extend its reach by its base speed until the beginning of its following turn and can make unlimited number of attacks of opportunity. It flickers and translocates within the area as if moving faster than any eye can see. This is a teleportation effect.
Warp Pursuit (Su) A warp serpent can teleport to a space adjacent to any creature currently suffering effects of its poison as a swift action. This is a teleportation effect.
Warp Slither (Su) A warp serpent ignores difficult terrain and can move through obstacles, though it can't ends its move within an obstacle that occupies more than a half of its space.
Warp serpents are voracious but intelligent predators. They physical presence is unstable, allowing them to twist space and control the matter they are composed of to a certain degree. Their abilities consume large amounts of energy being responsible for their gluttony but make them capable of surviving in wider range of climates than common snakes.
Elder warp serpents (CR 14) have advanced and giant templates, with their flickering regeneration healing 20 hit points and 2 points of ability damage per turn, and their warp coil granting +4 bonuses to AC and saving throws, and SR 25.
2017-01-22
Monster: Sieger Battlewrought
Battlewrought, Sieger
A hybrid of a bolthrower, a catapult, and a four-legged, armored giant, all composed of iron plates, timber logs, and stone blocks.
CR 14; XP 38,400
CN Huge Outsider (battlewrought, chaotic, extraplanar)
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +25
Defense
AC 29, touch 12, flat-footed 25 (+12 armor, +4 Dex, +5 natural, –2 size)
hp 211 (18d10+112); regeneration 10 (lawful)
Fort +17, Ref +17, Will +12
Defensive Abilities constructed, stability; DR 10/lawful; Resist acid 30, cold 30, electricity 30, fire 30
Offense
Speed 20 ft.
Melee 2 slams +23 (4d6+7)
Ranged heavy ballista +22 (4d8+1/17–20/×2), catapult +22 (6d6+1)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks barrage, exploding shell, natural siege weapons, piercing bolt, wall-breaker
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 18th, concentration +20)
Constant—magic siege engine, magic weapon
At will—make whole, true strike
3/day—quickened make whole, quickened true strike, summon (level 7, 6 bolter battlewrought, 3 grunt battlewrought or 1 charger battlewrought)
Statistics
Str 22, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 9, Wis 19, Cha 15
Base Atk +18; CMB +26; CMD 50 (54 vs. trip)
Feats Far Shot, Great Fortitude, Greater Vital Strike, Improved Critical Strike (heavy ballista), Improved Initiative, Improved Vital Strike, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Master Siege Engineer, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (make whole), Quicken Spell-Like Ability (true strike), Run, Siege Engineer, Target Of Opportunity, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (catapult), Weapon Focus (heavy ballista)
Skills Intimidate +23, Knowledge (engineering) +20, Knowledge (planes) +20, Perception +25, Profession (soldier) +25
Language Abyssal, Celestial, Infernal; truespeech
Ecology
Environment any
Organization single or battery (2–4)
Treasure standard
Special Abilities
Barrage (Ex) As a full-round, a sieger can make up to a total of three attacks in any combination of ballista and catapult shots. Two of those attacks can be replaced by slam attacks.
Exploding Shells (Ex) A sieger's catapult fires shells that deal bludgeoning and slashing, acid, cold, or fire damage to creatures standing in the square hit and the adjacent squares. The choice of damage type is made when the shot is fired. Alternatively, a catapult shell can spread paint or smoke over the targeted square and adjacent squares. The paint acts like glitterdust and the smoke acts like fog cloud, both with 1 minute duration.
Natural Siege Weapons (Ex) A sieger does not provoke attacks of opportunity when firing its ranged weapons. Their reloading and aiming takes a free action. A sieger creates its own projectiles and they crumble into dust after 24 hours.
Piercing Bolts (Ex) A sieger's ballista fires bolts that deal piercing damage and can hit multiple targets in a line. A separate attack roll is made against each target in line, starting with the nearest until an attack roll misses, the bolt fails to penetrate hardness or DR, or the maximum range is reached.
Stability (Ex) A sieger gains +10 racial bonus to CMD.
Wall-Breaker (Ex) A sieger attacks do not halve their damage against objects, and deal maximum possible damage to non-magical objects. A sieger also gains +10 bonus to Strength checks made to break objects.
Siegers are living siege engines of the battlewrought legions. They rain destruction wherever their battlewrought kin calls them to, with little discrimination for friend or foe.
The Battlewrought
The war incarnate, the spiritual debris of endless battles, the battlewrought are embodiment of conflict itself. While they appear to be husks made of discarded armors, broken weapons, and pieces of ancient siege engines, they are animated with a living force, spirits formed from out of the raw chaos of war.
Battlewrought Subtype: Battlewrought are spirits of war inhabiting shells made of shattered arms and armor. They have following traits.
Body Weaponry (Ex): All the weapons, shields, and armors used by battlewrought are parts of its body. They cannot be disarmed or removed. They can be sundered but they regenerate in 1 round if broken or 1d4+1 rounds if destroyed.
Constructed (Ex): Although battlewrought are living outsiders, their bodies are constructed of physical components, and in many ways function like constructs. For the purposes of effects targeting creatures by type (such as a ranger's favored enemy and bane weapons), battlewrought count as both outsiders and constructs. They are immune to death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects, necromancy effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless). Battlewrought are not subject to nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or energy drain. They are not at risk of death from massive damage. They have bonus hit points as constructs of their size.
Low-light Vision.
Saves: A battlewrought good saves are Fortitude and Reflexes.
Skills: A battlewrought counts Acrobatics, Intimidate, Knowledge (engineering), and one Profession skills related to war and its specific role such as siege engineer, soldier, teamster, or sailor as its class skills in addition to regular Outsider class skills.
Regeneration (Ex): All battlewrought have regeneration, usually suppressed by cold iron or lawful effects. The amount regenerated varies between battlewrought.
Truespeech (Su): A battlewrought can speak with any creature that has language as if using tongues (caster level 14th). This ability is always active.
Wrought For Battle (Ex): A battlewrought racial HD counts as fighter levels when meeting prerequisites of combat feats. A battlewrought gains bonus combat feats as if its racial HD were fighter levels.
A hybrid of a bolthrower, a catapult, and a four-legged, armored giant, all composed of iron plates, timber logs, and stone blocks.
CR 14; XP 38,400
CN Huge Outsider (battlewrought, chaotic, extraplanar)
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +25
Defense
AC 29, touch 12, flat-footed 25 (+12 armor, +4 Dex, +5 natural, –2 size)
hp 211 (18d10+112); regeneration 10 (lawful)
Fort +17, Ref +17, Will +12
Defensive Abilities constructed, stability; DR 10/lawful; Resist acid 30, cold 30, electricity 30, fire 30
Offense
Speed 20 ft.
Melee 2 slams +23 (4d6+7)
Ranged heavy ballista +22 (4d8+1/17–20/×2), catapult +22 (6d6+1)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks barrage, exploding shell, natural siege weapons, piercing bolt, wall-breaker
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 18th, concentration +20)
Constant—magic siege engine, magic weapon
At will—make whole, true strike
3/day—quickened make whole, quickened true strike, summon (level 7, 6 bolter battlewrought, 3 grunt battlewrought or 1 charger battlewrought)
Statistics
Str 22, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 9, Wis 19, Cha 15
Base Atk +18; CMB +26; CMD 50 (54 vs. trip)
Feats Far Shot, Great Fortitude, Greater Vital Strike, Improved Critical Strike (heavy ballista), Improved Initiative, Improved Vital Strike, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Master Siege Engineer, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (make whole), Quicken Spell-Like Ability (true strike), Run, Siege Engineer, Target Of Opportunity, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (catapult), Weapon Focus (heavy ballista)
Skills Intimidate +23, Knowledge (engineering) +20, Knowledge (planes) +20, Perception +25, Profession (soldier) +25
Language Abyssal, Celestial, Infernal; truespeech
Ecology
Environment any
Organization single or battery (2–4)
Treasure standard
Special Abilities
Barrage (Ex) As a full-round, a sieger can make up to a total of three attacks in any combination of ballista and catapult shots. Two of those attacks can be replaced by slam attacks.
Exploding Shells (Ex) A sieger's catapult fires shells that deal bludgeoning and slashing, acid, cold, or fire damage to creatures standing in the square hit and the adjacent squares. The choice of damage type is made when the shot is fired. Alternatively, a catapult shell can spread paint or smoke over the targeted square and adjacent squares. The paint acts like glitterdust and the smoke acts like fog cloud, both with 1 minute duration.
Natural Siege Weapons (Ex) A sieger does not provoke attacks of opportunity when firing its ranged weapons. Their reloading and aiming takes a free action. A sieger creates its own projectiles and they crumble into dust after 24 hours.
Piercing Bolts (Ex) A sieger's ballista fires bolts that deal piercing damage and can hit multiple targets in a line. A separate attack roll is made against each target in line, starting with the nearest until an attack roll misses, the bolt fails to penetrate hardness or DR, or the maximum range is reached.
Stability (Ex) A sieger gains +10 racial bonus to CMD.
Wall-Breaker (Ex) A sieger attacks do not halve their damage against objects, and deal maximum possible damage to non-magical objects. A sieger also gains +10 bonus to Strength checks made to break objects.
Siegers are living siege engines of the battlewrought legions. They rain destruction wherever their battlewrought kin calls them to, with little discrimination for friend or foe.
The Battlewrought
The war incarnate, the spiritual debris of endless battles, the battlewrought are embodiment of conflict itself. While they appear to be husks made of discarded armors, broken weapons, and pieces of ancient siege engines, they are animated with a living force, spirits formed from out of the raw chaos of war.
Battlewrought Subtype: Battlewrought are spirits of war inhabiting shells made of shattered arms and armor. They have following traits.
Body Weaponry (Ex): All the weapons, shields, and armors used by battlewrought are parts of its body. They cannot be disarmed or removed. They can be sundered but they regenerate in 1 round if broken or 1d4+1 rounds if destroyed.
Constructed (Ex): Although battlewrought are living outsiders, their bodies are constructed of physical components, and in many ways function like constructs. For the purposes of effects targeting creatures by type (such as a ranger's favored enemy and bane weapons), battlewrought count as both outsiders and constructs. They are immune to death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects, necromancy effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless). Battlewrought are not subject to nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or energy drain. They are not at risk of death from massive damage. They have bonus hit points as constructs of their size.
Low-light Vision.
Saves: A battlewrought good saves are Fortitude and Reflexes.
Skills: A battlewrought counts Acrobatics, Intimidate, Knowledge (engineering), and one Profession skills related to war and its specific role such as siege engineer, soldier, teamster, or sailor as its class skills in addition to regular Outsider class skills.
Regeneration (Ex): All battlewrought have regeneration, usually suppressed by cold iron or lawful effects. The amount regenerated varies between battlewrought.
Truespeech (Su): A battlewrought can speak with any creature that has language as if using tongues (caster level 14th). This ability is always active.
Wrought For Battle (Ex): A battlewrought racial HD counts as fighter levels when meeting prerequisites of combat feats. A battlewrought gains bonus combat feats as if its racial HD were fighter levels.
2017-01-15
Monster: Skull Monkey
Skull Monkey
An inky, monkey-shaped blot of darkness, with bared skull, and a pair of red sparks in the depths of its eye sockets.
CR 1; XP 400
CE Small Undead
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +9
Defense
AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 11 (+2 Dex, +1 size)
hp 13 (3d8)
Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +4
Immune undead traits
Offense
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.; shadow flicker
Melee 2 claws +3 (1d3) and bite +3 (1d3)
Ranged fling taint +5 touch (1d3)
Special Attacks fling taint
Statistics
Str 10, Dex 14, Con —, Int 9, Wis 13, Cha 11
Base Atk +2; CMB +1; CMD 13
Feats Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative
Skills Acrobatics +13, Climb +8, Perception +9, Sleight Of Hand +13, Stealth +12; Racial Modifiers +8 Acrobatics, +8 Perception, +8 Sleight Of Hand
Languages Understands Necril
Ecology
Environment warm forests and ruins
Organization solitary, pair, pack (3–12), bandarlog (13–36)
Treasure standard
Special Abilities
Fling Taint (Su) A skull monkey can draw a handful of its inky essence and throw it up to 30 feet. On a successful ranged touch attack, the flung taint inflicts 1d3 points of damage to a living creature and sticks for 1d4+1 rounds, attracting mindless undead to attack the victim. All undead gain +1 bonus to attack and weapon damage rolls against the tainted creature.
Shadow Flicker (Su) When a skull monkey moves through area of dim light or darkness, it ignores difficult terrain and does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Skull monkeys are corrupted denizens of ancient ruins, lesser primates twisted with necrotic energies into more intelligent and more malicious semblance of their living kin. They often gather in groups and tribes infesting abandoned cities, sometimes spending their days on mock up customs and rituals deciphered from leftover statues, reliefs, and mosaics. They are aggressive toward the living beings, especially humanoids and primates, relying on sadistic tricks, though they are not above direct attacks if they think they can overpower the intruders. They often take captured and killed monkeys into the most tainted parts of their ruins in hope of creating more of their kind.
Skull monkey necrarchs (CR 3) have an advanced template, 5d8 HD, and +4 to their Charisma score, can animate corpse with a touch to create uncontrolled skeleton or zombie with up to 10 HD three times per day, and can use inflict moderate wounds (2d8+5) three times per day.
An inky, monkey-shaped blot of darkness, with bared skull, and a pair of red sparks in the depths of its eye sockets.
CR 1; XP 400
CE Small Undead
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +9
Defense
AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 11 (+2 Dex, +1 size)
hp 13 (3d8)
Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +4
Immune undead traits
Offense
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.; shadow flicker
Melee 2 claws +3 (1d3) and bite +3 (1d3)
Ranged fling taint +5 touch (1d3)
Special Attacks fling taint
Statistics
Str 10, Dex 14, Con —, Int 9, Wis 13, Cha 11
Base Atk +2; CMB +1; CMD 13
Feats Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative
Skills Acrobatics +13, Climb +8, Perception +9, Sleight Of Hand +13, Stealth +12; Racial Modifiers +8 Acrobatics, +8 Perception, +8 Sleight Of Hand
Languages Understands Necril
Ecology
Environment warm forests and ruins
Organization solitary, pair, pack (3–12), bandarlog (13–36)
Treasure standard
Special Abilities
Fling Taint (Su) A skull monkey can draw a handful of its inky essence and throw it up to 30 feet. On a successful ranged touch attack, the flung taint inflicts 1d3 points of damage to a living creature and sticks for 1d4+1 rounds, attracting mindless undead to attack the victim. All undead gain +1 bonus to attack and weapon damage rolls against the tainted creature.
Shadow Flicker (Su) When a skull monkey moves through area of dim light or darkness, it ignores difficult terrain and does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Skull monkeys are corrupted denizens of ancient ruins, lesser primates twisted with necrotic energies into more intelligent and more malicious semblance of their living kin. They often gather in groups and tribes infesting abandoned cities, sometimes spending their days on mock up customs and rituals deciphered from leftover statues, reliefs, and mosaics. They are aggressive toward the living beings, especially humanoids and primates, relying on sadistic tricks, though they are not above direct attacks if they think they can overpower the intruders. They often take captured and killed monkeys into the most tainted parts of their ruins in hope of creating more of their kind.
Skull monkey necrarchs (CR 3) have an advanced template, 5d8 HD, and +4 to their Charisma score, can animate corpse with a touch to create uncontrolled skeleton or zombie with up to 10 HD three times per day, and can use inflict moderate wounds (2d8+5) three times per day.
2017-01-14
Wayfinder #16: Numerian issue.
Sixteenth issue of Wayfinder #16, dedicated to techno-fantastic Numeria is out!
Download for free on Paizo.com.
This time I contributed a number of magical and technological items for Heroes' Hoard: Numeria—beam modulators, cyborgkiller weapon property, psychosonic converter, and purifier of the unworthy flesh.
Download for free on Paizo.com.
This time I contributed a number of magical and technological items for Heroes' Hoard: Numeria—beam modulators, cyborgkiller weapon property, psychosonic converter, and purifier of the unworthy flesh.
2017-01-08
Planar NPC: Forty Seventh Tyrant
Forty Seventh Tyrant, Conqueror Of Sunny Glades And Silent Groves, Sting Of Domination, The Father Of Dozens Of Hungering Daughters.
A human-sized, erect hornet bearing a spear and a harness from which a leather sack hangs.
CR 9; XP 6,400
LE Medium Monstrous Humanoid
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +17
Defense
AC 21, touch 15, flat-footed 16 (+4 Dex, +1 dodge, +6 natural)
hp 115 (10d10+60)
Fort +8, Ref +11, Will +11
Offense
Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (good)
Melee bite +15 (1d4+5 plus 1d6 acid) and stinger +15 (1d4+5 and poison) or longspear +15/+10 (1d8+7/19–20/×3 plus poison), bite +10 (1d4+2 pluss 1d6 acid), and stinger +10 (1d4+2 plus poison)
Special Attacks poison, poison use
Statistics
Str 20, Dex 18, Con 20, Int 15, Wis 19, Cha 17
Base Atk +10; CMB +15; CMD 30
Feats Dodge, Flyby Attack, Improved Critical (longspear), Improved Initiative, Toughness
Skills Fly +21, Diplomacy +13, Knowledge (nature) +12, Perception +17, Sense Motive +17, Survival +17
Language Celestial, Infernal, Sylvan
SQ royal jelly (10/day)
Ecology
Environment any
Organization unique—solitary or court (Fourty Seventh Tyrant and 2–6 of his daughters)
Treasure standard (including handy haversack)
Special Abilities
Poison (Ex) Sting or weapon—injury; save Fort 20; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Dexterity damage; cure 1 save. Forty Seventh Tyrant can deliver this poison with his stinger, or can take a move action to apply it to his longspear. Its effects include numbness and slowly encroaching paralysis of limbs. For all effects and purposes it's the same poison as his daughters' one.
Royal Jelly (Su) Forty Seventh Tyrant can excrete a honey-like jelly up to ten times per day. He can apply it to a touched living creature with a standard action. He can use it on oneself as a swift action instead. Recipient of the jelly heals 5d6 points of damage and gains one of the following benefits: calm emotions (DC 20), cure disease and neutralize poison, good hope, or haste. The saving throw DC is Constitution-based.
Forty Seventh Tyrant is a sapient hornet that seeks new land to conquer with the help of his daughter—he carries numerous fertilized eggs in his haversack, awaiting to be roused with their father's pheromones and nurtured into maturity with his royal jelly. He is very polite about his wish of sending a ravenous swarm of his daughters to hunt and feed on beasts and sapient beings alike. It's sad necessity for his daughters to feast on prey large enough to provide enough sustenance for the next generations of his descendants but necessity nevertheless. It's unavoidable once a proper realm incapable of defending against the onslaught of his daughters is found. Expanding dominion is the highest imperative, all opposition is understandable folly and yet doomed to inevitable future failure.
Forty Seventh Tyrant's daughters can be represented with young giant wasps when young, and advanced giant wasps when fully matured, except they are monstrous humanoids with Intelligence score of 7, maxed Fly and Perception skills, and additional bite attack (1d6 for young, 1d8 for mature).
A human-sized, erect hornet bearing a spear and a harness from which a leather sack hangs.
CR 9; XP 6,400
LE Medium Monstrous Humanoid
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +17
Defense
AC 21, touch 15, flat-footed 16 (+4 Dex, +1 dodge, +6 natural)
hp 115 (10d10+60)
Fort +8, Ref +11, Will +11
Offense
Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (good)
Melee bite +15 (1d4+5 plus 1d6 acid) and stinger +15 (1d4+5 and poison) or longspear +15/+10 (1d8+7/19–20/×3 plus poison), bite +10 (1d4+2 pluss 1d6 acid), and stinger +10 (1d4+2 plus poison)
Special Attacks poison, poison use
Statistics
Str 20, Dex 18, Con 20, Int 15, Wis 19, Cha 17
Base Atk +10; CMB +15; CMD 30
Feats Dodge, Flyby Attack, Improved Critical (longspear), Improved Initiative, Toughness
Skills Fly +21, Diplomacy +13, Knowledge (nature) +12, Perception +17, Sense Motive +17, Survival +17
Language Celestial, Infernal, Sylvan
SQ royal jelly (10/day)
Ecology
Environment any
Organization unique—solitary or court (Fourty Seventh Tyrant and 2–6 of his daughters)
Treasure standard (including handy haversack)
Special Abilities
Poison (Ex) Sting or weapon—injury; save Fort 20; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Dexterity damage; cure 1 save. Forty Seventh Tyrant can deliver this poison with his stinger, or can take a move action to apply it to his longspear. Its effects include numbness and slowly encroaching paralysis of limbs. For all effects and purposes it's the same poison as his daughters' one.
Royal Jelly (Su) Forty Seventh Tyrant can excrete a honey-like jelly up to ten times per day. He can apply it to a touched living creature with a standard action. He can use it on oneself as a swift action instead. Recipient of the jelly heals 5d6 points of damage and gains one of the following benefits: calm emotions (DC 20), cure disease and neutralize poison, good hope, or haste. The saving throw DC is Constitution-based.
Forty Seventh Tyrant is a sapient hornet that seeks new land to conquer with the help of his daughter—he carries numerous fertilized eggs in his haversack, awaiting to be roused with their father's pheromones and nurtured into maturity with his royal jelly. He is very polite about his wish of sending a ravenous swarm of his daughters to hunt and feed on beasts and sapient beings alike. It's sad necessity for his daughters to feast on prey large enough to provide enough sustenance for the next generations of his descendants but necessity nevertheless. It's unavoidable once a proper realm incapable of defending against the onslaught of his daughters is found. Expanding dominion is the highest imperative, all opposition is understandable folly and yet doomed to inevitable future failure.
Forty Seventh Tyrant's daughters can be represented with young giant wasps when young, and advanced giant wasps when fully matured, except they are monstrous humanoids with Intelligence score of 7, maxed Fly and Perception skills, and additional bite attack (1d6 for young, 1d8 for mature).
2017-01-01
Short Story: The Awakening
...
Dreamless nothingness...
No, not nothingness... A timeless stasis, unchanging awareness of infinity...
The eternity slowly fractures. Internal motions restart. Now splits into divisions of time. Years shatter into months, into weeks, into days, into hours. Heartbeat accelerates. Breaths start to repeat themselves more often than tides, filling lungs with stale air.
Awakening takes time. There is no hurry though. The wards are untouched, the lair is severed from elsewhere, its space twisted and coiled around itself. Inaction calls with primal temptation of conserving energy. It would be all too easy to succumb to slumber again.
Reason forces the body to act, though. Quick check-up confirms safety but advises finding suitable nutrition. Jars of supplies stored await breakage of their seals. The sigils that warded off entropy for ages fulfilled their role. The strips of meat are dried and tasteless, small and simple glyphs already did enough by preserving the proteins for so long. The honey withstands storage much better, its sugar offers dense caloric content but the bland sweetness fails to appease appetite either. Irrelevant. Aesthetic experiences need to play secondary role to survival.
Unbinding the sigils that protect the lair and separate them from the rest of the world takes time. It's a delicate process where failure can have grave consequences.
Finally, the tunnel unwinds and stops leading back into itself. The passage is open. the first step into the Wormways is taken. The air is stale but breathable, as expected. No scents reveal anyones passing here within last few hundred years. The Wormway lead to one of the junctions. The pale glow of light seeps from the ancient glyphs. The light is different, the terrestrial magnetic fields that power it must have changed. Nothing surprising. The signs mark various passages leading into different regions. A few of them scratched and replaced by newer ones. Nothing changed since the last passing. The quick path is the right choice to follow for now. Exit from the tunnel is hidden among rocky outcrops of local mountains. The hiding and shielding sigils require more careful work to create temporary opening.
The first quaff of fresh air. The smell is acrid and smoky... The tongue flickers to taste the sky. Carbon. Lots of carbon. Sulfur. Methane. Lesser amounts of other elements bound in various compounds. Meteor strike? Not likely, the dust is not right. Massive volcanic activity? Possibly, though some of the components of air don't fit either. The sky color is wrong too. It's night and yet it feels too bright. The pits are tickled weakly by electromagnetic activity beyond their spectrum range. A better vantage point is in order.
That... That is unexpected. With less rocky outcrops in the way, the line of sight is greatly extended and the sky's brightness source becomes obvious. A settlement is glowing with lights and heat. Electricity? The luminescence would fit. Is it possible that those hairless apes made such a big jump in a few millennia? The wind blows from that side. The smell fits. The denizens of the buildings burn carbon compounds for power. Inefficient. The People would have to be desperate to resort to such step on a massive scale. Or is releasing carbon oxides into the atmosphere the true purpose of that action?
There aren't many signs of suitable prey around. Do the denizens of the settlement hunted them off? For now a few small furry mammals have to do. They are quick, but not quick enough. The warm blood and fresh flesh taste of fear and disorientation. Mere snack when it comes to calories, but a feast for the senses. Has to suffice for now. Time to observe the hairless apes. What resources and means they have now? Are they obedient workforce as the Thrones wanted... Have they become dangerous to The People? Are there more of The People around?
The world has changed. The new ways need to be learned. Good, good... A challenge for the wits will help keep lethargy at bay for a time.
Dreamless nothingness...
No, not nothingness... A timeless stasis, unchanging awareness of infinity...
The eternity slowly fractures. Internal motions restart. Now splits into divisions of time. Years shatter into months, into weeks, into days, into hours. Heartbeat accelerates. Breaths start to repeat themselves more often than tides, filling lungs with stale air.
Awakening takes time. There is no hurry though. The wards are untouched, the lair is severed from elsewhere, its space twisted and coiled around itself. Inaction calls with primal temptation of conserving energy. It would be all too easy to succumb to slumber again.
Reason forces the body to act, though. Quick check-up confirms safety but advises finding suitable nutrition. Jars of supplies stored await breakage of their seals. The sigils that warded off entropy for ages fulfilled their role. The strips of meat are dried and tasteless, small and simple glyphs already did enough by preserving the proteins for so long. The honey withstands storage much better, its sugar offers dense caloric content but the bland sweetness fails to appease appetite either. Irrelevant. Aesthetic experiences need to play secondary role to survival.
Unbinding the sigils that protect the lair and separate them from the rest of the world takes time. It's a delicate process where failure can have grave consequences.
Finally, the tunnel unwinds and stops leading back into itself. The passage is open. the first step into the Wormways is taken. The air is stale but breathable, as expected. No scents reveal anyones passing here within last few hundred years. The Wormway lead to one of the junctions. The pale glow of light seeps from the ancient glyphs. The light is different, the terrestrial magnetic fields that power it must have changed. Nothing surprising. The signs mark various passages leading into different regions. A few of them scratched and replaced by newer ones. Nothing changed since the last passing. The quick path is the right choice to follow for now. Exit from the tunnel is hidden among rocky outcrops of local mountains. The hiding and shielding sigils require more careful work to create temporary opening.
The first quaff of fresh air. The smell is acrid and smoky... The tongue flickers to taste the sky. Carbon. Lots of carbon. Sulfur. Methane. Lesser amounts of other elements bound in various compounds. Meteor strike? Not likely, the dust is not right. Massive volcanic activity? Possibly, though some of the components of air don't fit either. The sky color is wrong too. It's night and yet it feels too bright. The pits are tickled weakly by electromagnetic activity beyond their spectrum range. A better vantage point is in order.
That... That is unexpected. With less rocky outcrops in the way, the line of sight is greatly extended and the sky's brightness source becomes obvious. A settlement is glowing with lights and heat. Electricity? The luminescence would fit. Is it possible that those hairless apes made such a big jump in a few millennia? The wind blows from that side. The smell fits. The denizens of the buildings burn carbon compounds for power. Inefficient. The People would have to be desperate to resort to such step on a massive scale. Or is releasing carbon oxides into the atmosphere the true purpose of that action?
There aren't many signs of suitable prey around. Do the denizens of the settlement hunted them off? For now a few small furry mammals have to do. They are quick, but not quick enough. The warm blood and fresh flesh taste of fear and disorientation. Mere snack when it comes to calories, but a feast for the senses. Has to suffice for now. Time to observe the hairless apes. What resources and means they have now? Are they obedient workforce as the Thrones wanted... Have they become dangerous to The People? Are there more of The People around?
The world has changed. The new ways need to be learned. Good, good... A challenge for the wits will help keep lethargy at bay for a time.
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