One such tale was the creation tale of Kaorti. Explorers of the Far Realm, they were unprepared for the onslaught of chaos and madness. Going mad with the alien things they see, they immediately went insane. That was not the end of the mad realm's gift to them. Person by person, the explorers become monstrous in their form. As the newly formed Kaorti was born, they had no memory of what they were before. They had only one desire and that was to spread the gift of madness to other people.
Kaorti is one of my favorite creatures in d20. Strangely alien and infectious in their touch, they make incredile foes for mortal foes. Too bad that they were designed in d20 where all sort of madness are just laughed at by characters. I have also redesigned them to be more Call of Cthulhu and less monsters.
I hope to describe more about the ecology of them ( although I think Dragon 358 covered it too briefly for my taste )
Kaorti:
Medium outsider (extraplanar,
evil);
HD 2d8; hp 9; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; AC 18,
touch 12, flat-footed 16; Base Atk +22; Grp +0; Atk +4 melee (1d6 Strength, draining touch) or +1 melee (1d6-1, bite) or +4 melee (1d6-1, ribbon shortsword); Full Atk +4 melee (1d6 Strength, draining touch) or +1 melee (1d6-1, bite) or +4 melee (1d6-1, ribbon shortsword);
SA Despair, Draining Touch, vile transformation; SQ darkvision 60 ft.,
immunities (poison), material vulnerability, outsider traits; AL NE; SV
Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +3; Str 8, Dex 14, Con 11, Int 14, Wis 11, Cha
16.
Skills and Feats: Autohypnosis: +7, Concentration +5, Craft (any) +7, Craft (any) +7, Heal +13, Intimidate +8, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Knowledge (the planes) +7, Spellcraft +9, Spot +6, Survival +5; Exotic Weapon Proficiency (ribbon shortsword),Weapon Finesse.
Despair (Su): At the mere sight of a Kaorti, the viewer must succeed on a Will save(DC 10 + 1/2 Kaorti’s HD + Kaorti’s Cha modifier) or be paralyzed with fear for 1d4 rounds. Whether or not the save is successful, that creature cannot be affected again by the same Kaorti’s despair ability for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Draining Touch (Su) : A Kaorti that hits a living target with its draining touch attack drains 1d4 points from Strength. On each such successful attack, the Kaorti heals 5 points of damage to itself.
Vile Transformation (Su):
A guardian can infuse any living creature with otherworldly essence
from the Far Realm, permanently transforming the target into a mockery
of its previous form. This process takes 8 hours, during which time the
guardian's jaws must be locked onto the victim, who must be either
willing or helpless for the duration. After 8 hours, the victim must
make a Fortitude save (DC 13). Failure indicates that the victim
transforms into a kaorti (if the victim was humanoid), or into a kaorti
thrall. If the victim succeeds at the save, the guardian can attempt the
transformation again; each additional attempt to transform a victim
increases the save DC by +1. (See the Fiend Folio for more on transformed creatures.)
Material Vulnerability (Ex):
A guardian must make a Fortitude save each hour (DC 15, +1 per previous
check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage and become fatigued. The
fatigued condition persists until the kaorti recovers all the nonlethal
damage it took from its exposure to the Material Plane. If rendered
unconscious through the accumulation of nonlethal damage (from this
ability or from any other source), the Material Plane environs begin to
deal normal damage at the same rate (Fort save negates; save DC
continues to increase per check as stated above). If the guardian wears
his resin suit or is inside his cyst, he is protected from the effects
of the Material Plane.
Outsider Traits: A guardian has darkvision 60 ft. and cannot be raised or resurrected (though a wish or miracle spell can restore life).
No comments:
Post a Comment