Fantasy NPC: Illhor The Painless

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Illhor The Painless

A vaporous silhouette of a distorted, vaguely humanoid figure.

CR 3; 800 XP

LE Medium Outsider (evil, lawful, kyton)

Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +12

Defense
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+2 deflection, +2 Dex)

hp 33 (6d10); regeneration 5 (good)
Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +8

DR 10/magic; Immune cold, disease, pain, poison

Weakness susceptible to winds

Offense
Speed fly 20 ft. (perfect)

Melee numbing touch +8 (numbness)

Special Attacks numbness (DC 15)

Statistics
Str —, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 15

Base Atk +6; CMB –; CMD —
Feats Alertness, Improved Initiative, Iron Will

Skills Fly +19, Bluff +11, Intimidate +11, Heal +10, Knowledge (planes) +10, Perception +12, Sense Motive +12

Language Common, Infernal; telepathy 100 ft.

SQ gaseous

Gaseous (Ex) Illhor The Painless can pass through the narrowest openings with ease and ignores difficult terrain even when moving along surface, but can't manipulate anything more solid than smoke, mist, and frost on solid surfaces.

Numbness (Su) Living creatures touched by Illhor The Painless suffer –2 penalty to attack rolls, skill checks, and AC for 1 round. On a failed Fortitude saving throw (DC 15) they also become staggered for 1d3 rounds and have any pain effect on them suppressed for the same time.

Susceptible To Winds Illhor The Painless is at mercy of magical winds, which blow her around like a wisp of smoke. She suffers one and half damage from wind-based attacks. Any wind-based effect that causes forced move moves her even on a successful save, or double that amount on a failed save, or if there is no save to resist in the first place.

Illhor became The Painless when she was conjured by a pair of magicians, a treacherous lot who bound her with magic, tore her heart out, and rendered her body into etheric salts, intending to make a magical drug. By her will alone, she managed to reconstitute a form, of sorts, but by then the culprits were gone with her heart. And with it, her ability to experience and savor pain—hers or others—was gone.

Now she is a vestige of her own self, not quite a ghost, deprived of suffering that was her essence. With her body being little more than a cloud of mist, she can't inflict suffering but she can still try trick or coerce mortals into hurting themselves or others, though it neither reliable nor truly satisfactory anymore. She seeks her heart or some other way to reignite the fires of pain within.

Fantasy NPC: Ferran Dahl, The Pain-Wrecked Patrician

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Ferran Dahl, The Pain-Wrecked Patrician

An old man in impeccable clothing, marred by signs of great distress. His brow is covered with sweat, his teeth clenched, his arms tremble as he moves.

CR 4; 1,200 XP

Male human aristocrat 10

NE Medium Humanoid (human)

Init +0; Senses normal; Perception +11

Defense
AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+2 deflection, +2 natural)

hp 45 (10d8); regeneration 5 (chaotic, good)
Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +9

Defensive Abilities tormented immortality; Immune aging

Offense
Speed 15 ft.

Melee mwk cane sword +4/–1 (1d6)

Ranged mwk light crossbow +4 (1d8)

Statistics
Str 10, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 14

Base Atk +7; CMB +3; CMD 19
Feats Diehard, Endurance, Iron Will, Skill Focus (Knowledge [local]), Skill Focus (Knowledge [nobility]), Skill Focus (Profession [merchant])

Skills Craft (alchemy) +6, Diplomacy +11, Heal +6, Knowledge (local) +11, Knowledge (nobility) +11, Perception +11, Profession (merchant) +17, Sense Motive +11

Language Common, Duc, Infernal, two other local languages; telepathy 100 ft.

Notable Gear amulet of natural armor (+2), cape of resistance (+2), ring of protection (+2), bulk supply of potions of lesser restoration and painkillers of all sorts

Tormented Immortality (Su) Ferran Dahl doesn't age and can't be killed. A Kyton's Heart implanted in his chests heals all the damage and keeps him alive. It isn't a pleasant life, though, for the heart floods his body with constant intense pain. He suffers –4 penalty to attack rolls, saving throws, ability checks, and skill checks (already included in the stat blocks). He can't sleep for long, never gaining benefits of rest, and has to make concentration checks to complete actions that require concentration. Additionally, his movement speed is halved as if his legs were seriously injured. He can never benefit from immunity to pain effects. If he would ever gain immunity to pain, the heart would stop working for him, violently disconnecting from his flesh and burst out of his chest.

Ferran Dahl was a successful merchant turned landlord and industrialist. While he was no saint, he wasn't a terrible person either. His wealth provided for him and his family and even  funded some benevolent local projects.

It all changed, when he received a bequest from a distant relative, which he accepted despite rumors of strange happenstances, and mysterious circumstances behind the vanishing or deaths of other heirs. The black box, adorned with silver motifs was sealed shut. After some time of research and experimentation, the magician hired by Ferran managed to open the box, and promptly tried to kill him and steal the object stored inside—a gray, slowly beating heart, bound with golden wires and pierced with multiple silver spikes...

Ferran would die of the mortal chest wound inflicted by the traitorous hireling, if not for the  strange item itself. His physician, following some sort of weird inspiration, somehow managed to replace his damaged organ with the one from box.

Initially, Ferran was not bothered by the pain—he survived a mortal wound, it was obvious that it needs time to heal and get better. But despite the passing days, weeks, and months, the pain didn't diminish. In fact, it felt worse and worse—though it might be matter of Ferran's patience and stamina slowly seeping away.

Now years have passed since that incident, and Ferran lives in constant pain, untouched by age, and feeling that he doesn't really have to worry about injuries, but barely sleeping and not handling his woes well. He spends more and more money on various medical and not so medical painkillers, seeking any way to end or at least abate the suffering. He is not suicidal, though, his desire to live is still stronger than the torments he goes through, but now he is willing to do—or more likely pay someone else for doing—things he would find abhorrent back then. His compassion for others is definitely gone.

Fantasy Monster: Wandstorm

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Wandstorm

Numerous wands of all shapes, materials, and making whirl across the air in tight formation.

CR 9; XP 6,400
N Tiny Construct

Init +2; Senses magical blindsight 120 ft. ; Perception +2

Defense
AC 24, touch 14, flat-footed 24 (+5 deflection, +2 Dex, +5 natural, +2 size)
hp 115 (21d10)
Fort +8; Ref +10; Will +10

Defensive Abilities half damage from weapons; Immune construct traits

Weakness area damage, susceptible to dispel magic

Offense
Speed fly 20 ft. (perfect)

Melee swarm (10d6 acid, cold, electricity, fire, force, and sonic)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 0 ft.

Special Attacks unwanted wonders (DC 17)

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 21st, concentration +23)

Constant—barkskin, bull's strength, cat's grace, eagle's splendor, owl's wisdom, resistance, shield of faith

Statistics
Str 10, Dex 14, Con —, Int —, Wis 15, Cha 15
Base Atk +21; CMB —; CMD —

Feats Hover^B

Skills Fly +14, Perception +2

Ecology
Environment ruins, battlefields, underground
Organization solitary, pair or flock (3–10)
Treasure standard (assortment of various wands)

Special Abilities

Susceptible To Dispel Magic (Ex) Using dispel magic, mage's disjunction or similar effect on a wandstorm renders the wandstorm staggered for a number of rounds equal to spell level of the effect.

Swarm Attack (Su) Wandstorm's swarm attack damage type combines bursts of acid, cold, electricity, fire, force, and sonic and is treated as the most effective damage type against each individual target.

Unwanted Wonders (Su) Any creature damaged by wandstorm's swarm attack has to make a Will saving throw (DC 17) or is affected by a random effect rolled on rod of wonder table. The saving throw DC is Charisma-based.

A chaotic and unpredictable amalgamation of discarded and damaged wands, their magic wildly synchronized with each other, amplifying and distorting their effects beyond what a common wand could do.

Wandstorms form when a significant magical accident or discharge happens nearby too many wands or their fragments accumulate in single place, even when they contain no charges of their own. Magical battlefields, arcane junkyards, fallen treasures, wizardly universities, they all might contain enough leftover wands and lingering magic to produce a wandstorm or two.

Fantasy Monster: Unhatched One

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Unhatched One

A floating leathery egg, corrosive fumes seep from the cracks in the shell.

CR 10; XP 9,600
NE Small Undead (augmented dragon)
Init +8; Senses blindsight 120 ft.; Perception +18

Defense
AC 24, touch 20, flat-footed 20 (+5 deflection, +4 Dex, +4 natural, +1 size)
hp 126 (12d8+72)
Fort +9, Ref +10, Will +13
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, draconic heritage, retributive backlash; DR 10/–; Immune undead traits, one energy type

Offense
Speed fly 30 ft. (perfect)
Ranged 3 psychokinetic projectiles +15 (2d6+5 plus 2d6 energy)

Statistics
Str 10, Dex 18, Con —, Int 2, Wis 17, Cha 21
Base Atk +9; CMB +8; CMD 27 (can't be tripped)
Feats Flyby Attack, Hover, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Toughness
Skills Fly +14, Perception +18

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

Draconic Heritage (Ex and Su) Even in death, unhatched ones carry their draconic heritage that infuses them with energy associated with the breath weapon they would develop if they were alive. They gain immunity to that energy type and their psychokinetic attacks deal extra energy damage of the same type.

Psychokinetic Projectiles (Su) Unhatched ones unleash their fury by pelting their foes with gravel, stones, and other small mobile objects. As a standard action, an unhatched one can throw up three projectiles at targets within 120 feet, making ranged attacks that apply Charisma bonus to attack and damage rolls, dealing 2d6 points of bludgeoning and piercing damage and 2d6 points of energy damage corresponding to its draconic heritage on hit.

Retributive Backlash (Su) Any creature striking an unhatched one with an unarmed, natural or non-reach weapon attack is blasted with spray of energy corresponding to the unhatched one's draconic heritage, suffering 2d6 points of damage.

Unhatched ones are wyrmling that were denied life itself, dying while still within their eggshells. Usually reanimated by a restless draconic will or residual necromantic energies, though occasionally as a result of dark spell cast by maddened parent or meddling necromancer, unhatched ones are feral entities that lash against intruders, protecting whatever they perceive as their nest—but never against their siblings, alive or not. They occasionally seem to tolerate kobolds and other lesser draconic creatures nearby.

Greater Unhatched One (CR 12) are driven not only by sheer will, but also by intelligence they somehow developed. They have 2 additional HD, 159 hit points, AC 27 (+6 deflection, +6 natural), 3d6 points of Intelligence, Charisma 23, understand Draconic language and have telepathy with 120 feet range. Their psychokinetic projectiles and retributive backlash energy damage increases to 3d6. They sometimes show ability to telepathically command or even dominate lesser reptilian or draconic creatures.

Fantasy Monster: Infernal Consort

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Devil, Infernal Consort

An androgynous figure clad in exquisite raiment made of translucent scales tightly enveloping the crimson body. The shining golden eyes and a crown of small horns adorning the brow complement the exotic yet alluring visage.

CR 3; XP 800
LE Medium Outsider (devil, evil, lawful)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., see in darkness; Perception +8

Defense
AC 15, touch 14, flat-footed 11 (+4 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 30 (4d10+8); regeneration 5 (as long as master lives)
Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +5
Defensive Abilities consort-bond; DR 5/silver or good; Immune charm, fire, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10

Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +5 (1d4+1)

Special Attacks sneak attack +1d6

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 4th; concentration +7)
Constant—detect poison (touch or taste), locate person (master only)

At Will—mage hand, mending

1/day—create food and water (exquisite food and beverage sufficient for the master's needs and tastes, and up to eight other creatures), word of recall (returns to the master's location)

Statistics
Str 12, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 17
Base Atk +4; CMB +5; CMD 17
Feats Dirty Fighting, Nimble Moves
Skills Bluff +10, Diplomacy +10, Knowledge (planes) +8, Perception +8, Perform (dance or sing) +10, Profession (housekeeper, steward, or secretary) +8, Sense Motive +8; Racial Modifiers +10 bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, and Sense Motive checks targeting the master
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal; telepathy 100 feet

SQ change shape (as alter self, though the form acquired always hints at fiendish heritage), consort teamwork

Ecology
Environment any (Hell)
Organization solitary, pair, or harem (3–6)
Treasure standard

Consort-Bond (Su) An infernal consort exists to be bound to a (usually) mortal master—either by a decree of a major devil or an infernal deity, or by personal pact with the master. The infernal consort's place is by their master. Once per week, an infernal consort may use their word of recall spell-like ability to travel back to the master from another plane. As long as the master lives, the infernal consort can regenerate any wounds and reform their body even if destroyed. The consort can always recognize their master, regardless of disguise, mundane or magical and gains +5 bonus to all Will saving throws against mind-affecting effects that would force them to act against the master, or prevent them from serving their master.

Consort Teamwork (Ex) An infernal consort treats all teamwork feats known by their master as bonus feats known, and can use them to aid the master as required.

Ardathim, colloquially known as infernal consorts, are devils tasked with serving particularly evil (or promising) mortals—magicians, warlords, royals—as consorts and concubines, largely to shield them from temptations of succubi and other meddlers. They usually combine their primary role of bond-companion with being trusted advisors, bodyguards, secretaries, and majordomos.

An exceptionally powerful individual or one of great importance for the forces of hell might bond with more than single infernal consort, almost always by decree of a major devil or infernal god, but never with more ardathim than the master's Charisma bonus +1.

Unbound ardathim are intangible genderless devilish spirits awaiting their servitude. When a pact is made and the bond forms, ardathim manifests a body, that, while clearly infernal in nature, reflects the master's desires, tastes, and wants—especially those the master might not be actually aware of. Similarly, the newly embodied ardathim forms personality fitting the complicated relationship to be.

While their very nature makes them inherently submissive to their masters, ardathim are adepts of passive-aggressive manipulation, and can be quite pushy. They are always deeply envious of any other emotional relationships upheld by their master, and are most willing to sabotage them in any way they can—except for other infernal consorts, which they grudgingly tolerate, though they always fight each other over their master's affection and dominant position as the first consort between each other. They cannot bear or sire children which can make some of them bitter and hateful of a potential co-parents of their master's heir. They might conceal it or not, but they almost universally hate children and aren't any good with them either.

Ardathim inherently loyalty toward the master can come into conflict with their innate bonds to hell and thus they try to keep their master serving the hell—they will unravel into nonexistence if they are destroyed after their master redeems himself from hell's grasp. One or two ardathim over the history might have redeemed themselves out of love for their masters. Most of the infernal consorts would rather pull their master to hell or even into oblivion with them, however.