Fantasy Monsters: Censer Golem

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Golem, Censer

A figure made of metal wires, twisted in an intricate lattice, filled with smoldering resin, releasing thin, bluish smoke which covers surrounding area.

CR 5; XP 1,600
N Medium Construct

Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +0

Aura cloud of incense (20 ft.)

Defense
AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 16 (+2 Dex, +6 natural)
hp 53 (6d10+20)
Fort +2; Ref +4; Will +2

DR 5/adamantine; Immune construct traits, magic immunity

Offense
Speed 20 ft.

Melee 2 slams +8 (1d6+2 plus 1d6 fire)

Statistics
Str 14, Dex 14, Con —, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 1
Base Atk +6; CMB +8; CMD 20

Skills Perception +0

Ecology
Environment urban, ruins
Organization solitary, pair, or retinue (3–6)
Treasure standard

Special Abilities

Cloud Of Incense (Ex and Su) A censer golem is surrounded with a cloud of thin smoke of burning incense, 10-ft high. Anyone within the cloud gains concealment against attacks coming from non-adjacent squares, the cloud blocks scent ability, and natural swarms avoid the contact with the cloud unless sentient or magically controlled. Additionally, everyone within the cloud suffers –2 penalty to saving throws against mind-affecting effects, Perception, Sense Motive, and concentration checks, but benefit from +4 bonus to saving throws against smells and odors.

Magic Immunity (Ex) A censer golem is immune to all spells and spell-like abilities that allow Spell Resistance. Certain effects affect them differently, as noted below:

• Exposure to magic wind effects suppress the cloud of incense aura for as long as the wind lasts plus 1 round.
• Magical cold slows the censer golem and halves the spread of the cloud of incense for 2 rounds.
• Magical fire hastes the censer golem and doubles the spread of the cloud of incense for 2 rounds.

Different models of censer golems serve in temples, places of entertainment, and sites in urgent need of odor control, including but not limited to butcheries, laboratories, sewer entrances, royal lavatories, interrogation room, chambers of prison wardens, and so on.

Thurible golems (CR 6) are advanced censer golems constructed with help of divine magic, whose cloud of incense provides effects of either consecrate or desecrate, depending on the nature of the creator's divine patron.

Constructing censer golem

The creation process requires intricate construction of metal wires worth 500 gp, and 2,000 gp of highest quality resins, incenses, and alchemical compounds to fill it.

CL 12th; Price 15,000 gp (20,500 gp for thurible golem)

Requirements Craft Construct, continual flame, geas/quest, gaseous form or wind walk (thurible golems also need consecrate or desecrate); Skill Craft (alchemy) DC 20; Cost 8,750 gp (11,500 gp for thurible golem)

Fantasy NPC: Grandmother Disappointment

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Grandmother Disappointment

A ghostly, ghastly, and gangly visage of an ancient woman, shriveled and wrapped in moth-eaten furs, floats in air just above the ground, faintly luminescent and translucent.

CR 5; 1,600 XP

CN Medium Undead (incorporeal)

Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., sense kin; Perception +11

Defense
AC 17, touch 17, flat-footed 14 (+3 deflection, +4 Dex)

hp 57 (6d12+18)
Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +4

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

Offense
Speed fly 30 ft. (perfect)

Melee corrupting touch +10 (5d6, Fort. DC 16 partial)

Special Attacks inspire bloodrage

Statistics
Str —, Dex 18, Con —, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 17

Base Atk +6; CMB +10; CMD 23
Feats Combat Reflexes, Hover, Improved Initiative

Skills Fly +12, Intimidate +12, Knowledge (nature) +8, Knowledge (nobility) +8, Perception +11, Spellcraft +11, Survival +11

Language Common, Giant, Orc

Corrupting Touch (Su) Grandmother Disappointment's corrupting touch inflicts nonlethal damage against her descendants.

Inspire Bloodrage (Su) Grandmother Disappointment can inspire bloodrage in one of her willing descendants within 60 feet for as long as she concentrates plus 1 round, granting them +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution, +1 morale bonus to Will saving throws, and –2 penalty to AC. While she can use this ability whenever she wants, the same descendant can only benefit from its effects once per day, except when dying, when they not only benefit from its effects even if they were affected already this day, but also can remain conscious and able to take actions. The descendants with rage or bloodrage abilities use their own bonuses and benefits while under effects of this ability. This is an emotion compulsion effect.

Rejuvenation (Su) When successfully exorcised, fulfilled by heroic acts of her descendant, or when a descendant she followed dies, Grandmother Disappointment reforms 1d10 days later somewhere near another descendant of hers. If she is reduced to 0 hit points, she reforms near the same descendant or group of descendants and continues to pester them until she gets really bored (which might take months or even years) or her attention is somehow diverted toward someone else.

Sense Kin (Su) Grandmother Disappointment recognizes those who are her direct descendants, and can recalls random details of their lives, though unreliably—occasionally mixing up generations, and reinterpreting their actions and behavior through the lenses of her own expectations ("you used to be such a courageous boy, constantly fighting off those wolves!" "those were dog puppies and we were playing!").

Grandmother Disappointment was a chieftainess of a nomadic people from beyond the mountains and wastelands. Not long after her death, her daughters and granddaughters were forced by drought and famine into the new lands, coming to the Duchies. After the initial struggle and conflict, they finally managed to forge treaties of peace and find their own place among the local people, with her descendants intermarrying with the hereditary nobility (a concept foreign to the nomads themselves).

While she is glad that here people survived and her blood continues, she is not so keen on their settled lifestyle, and she is definitely perplexed at their tame, bland, and overly comfortable lives. Theirs is the blood of heroes of old, of warriors, berserkers, shamans, and hunters who faced the adversity and showed valor fighting against hordes of enemies and monsters alike! They should be more like their ancestors, and she is adamant at making them know it—and if she can help it, she will make heroes of them, even if it might kill them. Thankfully (for her descendants), she has rather limited options, beyond showing up unasked and prodding them to act more valiantly, go adventuring, seek adversities to overcome an monsters to slay, or at least show some backbone and take bloody vengeance over real and imagined slights, maybe start a generational feud with neighbors, or something.

Recently, she came to conclusion that the issue is the lack of truly great foes for heroes to defeat, and started complaining to others that their villainy is substandard and not what it used to be. She even occasionally goes as far as to give unsolicited advice to those she perceives as potential adversaries to her descendants, hoping it will rouse her kin out of comfortable complacency and mediocrity of mundane civilized life.

She does appreciate certain amenities and conveniences, though, particularly indoor plumbing and running water—which she isn't shy of admitting, especially when disturbing their use, for she seems to have no concept of privacy whatsoever. She is also rather raunchy when it comes to her descendants bed life, both truly romantic and more casual encounters. She doesn't particularly care about such weird notions as monogamy, and legitimate descent, though maybe she is just hoping that ignoring those norms will lead to crimes of passion, vendettas, and generational drama.

Fantasy Monster: Angry Tower

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Angry Tower

A massive tower of stone and bricks floats slowly a few inches above the ground, advancing menacingly.

CR 18; XP 153,600
N Colossal Construct

Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +30

Aura hail of arrows (100 ft.)

Defense
AC 33, touch 7, flat-footed 33 (+13 armor, +5 deflection, +13 natural, –8 size)
hp 305 (30d10+140)
Fort +17; Ref +17; Will +17

Defensive Abilities all-around vision, enhanced durability 2, hardness 20, reinforced construction; Immune construct traits

Weakness vulnerable to siege weapons

Offense
Speed fly 20 ft. (perfect)

Space 30 ft.; Reach 10 ft.

Special Attacks boiling tar, ground crush, rising ramparts, 

Statistics
Str 40, Dex 10, Con —, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 11
Base Atk +30; CMB +53; CMD 63

Feats Hover^B

Skills Fly +0, Perception +30, Stealth –16; Racial Modifiers +30 Perception

Ecology
Environment urban, ruins, battlefields
Organization solitary, pair, or fortress (3–6)
Treasure standard

Special Abilities

Boiling Tar (Su) An angry tower can fire a ball of tar, covering a 30-ft. radius burst on a ground within 100 feet. Anyone starting their turn or entering the zone of boiling tar suffers 10d6 points of fire damage. The tar boils for 1d4+1 rounds and counts as a difficult terrain. Creatures standing where the burst lands can escape its area with a successful Reflex saving throw (DC 25). The saving throw is Constitution-based.

Ground Crush (Su) An angry tower strikes the ground underneath it, dealing 10d6 points of bludgeoning damage to anyone standing on the ground within 10 feet (Reflex saving throw against DC 25 negates). Creatures directly underneath the tower get no saving throw against this damage. The saving throw DC is Constitution-based.

Enhanced Durability 2 (Ex) An angry tower has +2 racial bonus to all of its saving throws and 2 additional hit points per Hit Die.

Hail Of Arrows (Ex) Whenever an enemy starts their turn within 100 feet of the angry tower or takes an action that provokes attacks of opportunity, they are targeted with a ranged attack (+27 attack bonus, 2d8+10 piercing damage, critical multiplier ×3, includes +5 enhancement bonus to attack and damage, counts as magic weapon), as if a hidden archer had readied an action to shot them. The whole angry tower is fitted with numerous arrow slits, allowing it to release arrows from high angles, potentially ignoring low cover.

Rampage (Su) As a full action an angry tower can make a total of three special attacks on it turn, in any combination, including using the same special attack multiple times.

Reinforced Construction (Su) An angry tower has +5 deflection bonus to AC and +5 resistance bonus to its saving throws. It suffers no ill effects whatsoever when it succeed a saving throw against against an effect that allows saving throw for half damage or partial effect.

Rising Ramparts (Su) Earth and stone distorts and violently rise in a 100 feet line extending from the angry tower, forming a 5-ft. wide, 10-ft. tall wall of earth and stone. Anyone standing in its path suffers 10d6 points of piercing damage on a failed Reflex saving throw (DC 25) from the jagged stones bursting out of the ground and end on a random side of the wall. Those who succeed can decide on which side they end, or they can choose to suffer the damage and end on the top of the newly formed wall. The saving throw DC is Constitution-based.

An angry tower is a sight to behold—a free-roaming keep capable of bringing the assault to the enemy. Not a siege tower, but an actual tower of stone and iron, animated by a violent force driving it to war.

Fantasy NPC: Lady Night Rose

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Lady Night Rose

A plump, pale halfling lady of indeterminate age. She wears an intricate lace dress made of opalescent green-black fabric, matching the greenish shine of her lustrous black hair. Very dark make up complements her appearance.

CR 10; 9,600 XP

A female halfling vampire

CE Small Undead (augmented humanoid)

Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +13

Defense
AC 24, touch 18, flat-footed 19 (+2 deflection, +4 Dex, +1 dodge, +6 natural, +1 size)
hp 126 (12d8+72); fast healing 5
Fort +12, Ref +13, Will +13

Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, hide from plants; DR 10/magic and silver; Immune undead traits; Resist cold 10, electricity 10

Weakness vampire weaknesses

Offense
Speed 20 ft.

Melee 2 claws +17 (1d4+6 plus energy drain)

Special Attacks blood drain, children of the garden, energy drain (1 level, DC 21)

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

At Will—detect animals and plants

3/day—blight (DC 19), command plants (DC 19), diminish plants, harm (DC 21), plant growth

1/day—awaken, blood berries, commune with nature, wall of thorns

Statistics
Str 18, Dex 18, Con —, Int 17, Wis 15, Cha 20

Base Atk +9; CMB +12; CMD 31
Feats Acrobatic Step, Alertness^B, Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes^B, Defensive Combat Training, Dodge^B, Improved Initiative^B, Lightning Reflexes^B, Nimble Moves, Power Attack, Toughness^B, Weapon Focus (claws)

Skills Bluff + 25, Diplomacy +20, Knowledge (nature) +17, Knowledge (nobility) +17, Perception +17, Profession (gardening) +17, Sense Motive +15, Spellcraft +17, Stealth +28; Racial Modifiers +10 Perception, +8 Bluff, Sense Motive, and Stealth

Language Common, Duc, Halfling, Sylvan

SQ gaseous form, spider climb, transcendent magic

Blood Berries (Sp) Lady Night Rose can cause a bush to sprout on a patch of fertile soil touched. The bush fully grows within 1d4+1 rounds, bearing big, very juicy, dark crimson berries sufficient to feed up to twelve Medium-sized people. Anyone who partakes on the sweet, sour, and salty fruits (with metallic aftertaste), heals 2d4 points of damage and 1 point of ability damage. Interestingly, while the blood berries fail to provide substantial sustenance to vampires eating them, they help them stave pangs of hunger for the next hour or so. This is an equivalent to a 4th level spell. She might be able to teach this spell to druids and witches, if she would find them personally interesting enough.

Transcendent Magic (Sp) Lady Night Rose used to be a some sort of oracle, capable of casting spells related to life and plants. Over her long existence, they seem to have morphed into spell-like abilities, no longer requiring traditional words, gestures, and other components to cast. She can still activate spell-completion and spell-trigger items that contain cleric and druid spells.

Vampire Weaknesses Lady Night Rose is unaffected by garlic, mirrors, or any plant-based precautions against vampires. When given flowers, she becomes fascinated for at least 1 round (plus one additional round if the flower is of particularly exquisite quality, plus  one additional round if the flower is particularly rare).

Notable Gear cape of resistance (+2), ring of deflection (+2), amulet of mighty fists (+2)

Long ago, the halfling who became Lady Night Rose was a courtly socialite (and woe to anyone suggesting she might had been a lowly gardener of common birth!) with a penchant for exotic aesthetics, often risque, even shocking, and little regard for traditions and customary forms. Around her mortal time, the court was visited by a demigod of gardens, an ascended master of art of flower and leaf. She was less than impressed. She derided his creations as too bland, too tame and too uninspired, sticking to the most boring and repetitive designs, afraid of any suggestion of asymmetry or chaos. He did not take it well, cursing her to never enjoy the sunlight gardens again, with all the petty divine might he had. Hers is the last laugh, though, for she never bored with enjoying gardens by night, especially those that are half tamed and half wild, full of darker plants, thorny and twisted—and the demigod is long gone, failing to uphold his bid to full-scale divinity.

Now Lady Night Rose travels across the duchies, popping at various courts and various times, maintaining numerous graves and tombs, preferably hidden in less frequented parts of gardens surrounding manses and palaces—some of which she even owns. She bears many names and many titles, some of which might even be real. She uses her perceived position and accumulated wealth to prompt new artistic and aesthetic trends and fashions, or revive old ones as fancy strikes her, though she has notable weak spot for darker, grotesque and morbid styles.