{"count":219,"next":"https://api.starfinder.dragonlash.com/creatures/?page=2","previous":null,"results":[{"title":"Aeon Guard","flavor_text":"","cr":"3","xp":"800","size":"Medium","alignment":"LE","creature_type":"humanoid","creature_subtype":"human","initiative":"+5","senses":"darkvision 60 ft.","perception":"+8","aura":"","hp":"48","rp":"","eac":"19","kac":"22","fort_save":"+5","ref_save":"+3","will_save":"+4","defensive_abilities":"","immunities":"","resistances":"","weaknesses":"","spell_resistance":"","damage_reduction":"","speed":"20 ft.","melee":"thunderstrike pulse gauntlet +8 (1d6+5 B & So; critical knockdown)","ranged":"AG assault rifle +11 (1d8+3 P) or frag grenade II +11 (explode [15 ft., 2d6 P, DC 14]) or incendiary grenade I +11 (explode [5 ft., 1d6 F plus 1d4 burn, DC 14])","space":"5 ft.","reach":"5 ft.","offensive_abilities":"fighting styles (sharpshoot), sniper’s aim","spell_like_abilities":"","spells_known":"","str":"+2","dex":"+4","con":"+1","int":"+1","wis":"+1","cha":"+1","skills":"Athletics +8, Intimidate +8, Profession (soldier) +8, Stealth +10","languages":"Azlanti","gear":"AG trooper battle dress (clear spindle aeon stone, jump jets), AG assault rifle with 4 magazines (100 longarm rounds), thunderstrike pulse gauntlet with 2 batteries, frag grenade II, incendiary grenade I","other_abilities":"","environment":"any (Azlanti Star Empire)","organization":"fire team (3–6), squad (7–12), strike team (7–12 Aeon Guards plus 1 Aeon Guard specialist), or troop (21–48 Aeon Guards plus 1 Aeon Guard specialist)","special_abilities":"","description":"The powerful Azlanti Star Empire maintains its hold on its subject systems through the might of its military, which is divided into two arms: the Imperial Fleet and the Aeon Guard. Aeon Guards are the elite infantry of the Star Empire; they serve as marines aboard the warships of the Imperial Fleet, protect imperial government and military installations, quell dissent and crush rebellions, and spearhead invasions to conquer and occupy new territories for the Star Empire.\r\n\r\nAeon Guards swear personal oaths of loyalty to the Aeon Throne, and only death in service to the empire can release them from their duty. Only humans are accepted into the ranks of the Aeon Guard, and all of them must be paragons of the Azlanti race.\r\n\r\nAeon Guards are readily identifiable by their distinctive armor, which incorporates the magic of the empire’s legendary aeon stones, and many are given cybernetic and biotechnological augmentations in addition to their standard-issue gear. The Aeon Guard stat block on page 6 represents a rank-and-file trooper who can be found almost anywhere within the Azlanti Star Empire or on one of its starships. Aeon Guard specialists are capable of operating for weeks or even months at a time with little or no support, carrying out secretive missions of espionage, infiltration, reconnaissance, or sabotage."},{"title":"Ahav","flavor_text":"","cr":"12","xp":"19200","size":"Huge","alignment":"N","creature_type":"construct","creature_subtype":"technological","initiative":"+8","senses":"darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, sensor suite","perception":"+27","aura":"","hp":"200","rp":"","eac":"26","kac":"28","fort_save":"+12","ref_save":"+12","will_save":"+9","defensive_abilities":"fast healing 5, hardness 15;","immunities":"construct immunities","resistances":"","weaknesses":"","spell_resistance":"","damage_reduction":"","speed":"60 ft.","melee":"","ranged":"medium machine gun +26 (3d10+12 P) or hellhound-class flamethrower +26 (4d6+12 F; critical burn 4d6)","space":"15 ft.","reach":"15 ft.","offensive_abilities":"","spell_like_abilities":"","spells_known":"","str":"+5","dex":"+8","con":"-","int":"-2","wis":"+4","cha":"+2","skills":"Stealth +22","languages":"Common","gear":"hellhound-class flamethrower with 2 high-capacity petrol tanks, medium machine gun with 420 heavy rounds","other_abilities":"MODEL, unliving","environment":"any","organization":"solitary or unit (1 AHAV plus 10–12 soldiers)","special_abilities":"**MODEL (Ex)** An AHAV is created with one of the Mission Dependent Loadouts, or MODELs, listed below. MODELs are intended to allow AHAVs to serve in a variety of\r\nroles. This list is not exhaustive; the GM is free to design other MODELs at\r\nher discretion.\r\n\r\n_Advanced Maneuverability_: The AHAV has an extraordinary fly speed of 60 feet (perfect maneuverability) and the Spring Attack feat. \r\n\r\n_Autoloader:_ When the AHAV makes a full attack with its medium machine gun, it can make up to three attacks instead of two attacks. It takes a –5 penalty to these attacks instead of a –4 penalty.\r\n\r\n_Camouflage Plating_: The AHAV gains a +20 enhancement bonus to Stealth checks.\r\n\r\n_Harrying Arms_: The AHAV has numerous pistols or other small arms mounted to its chassis. As a full action, the AHAV automatically succeeds at the harrying fire action against every enemy within 60 feet.\r\n\r\n_Ram_: The AHAV gains a slam attack with a +23 attack bonus that deals 6d4+17 bludgeoning damage. If the AHAV hits with this attack after a charge, the target\r\nis also knocked back 30 feet. If the target is blocked from moving the full distance, it takes an additional 1d6 bludgeoning damage per 10 feet it can’t move.\r\n\r\n**Sensor Suite (Ex)** As a full action, an AHAV can gain one of the following benefits for 1 minute: blindsight (life), blindsight (vibration), sense through (vision), or a +10 enhancement bonus to Perception checks. It can change which benefit it receives as a full action. At the GM’s discretion, an AHAV might have access to more\r\noptions, such as blindsight (emotion) or blindsight (thought).","description":"Military marvels of advanced weaponry and artificial- personality programming, AHAVs are ruthless machines of war, bound by their programming to follow their objectives without pause. The acronym AHAV stands for “autonomous heavy assault vehicle,” reflecting the constructs’ ability to operate independently and make basic decisions on the battlefield. While the term originated with a specific and popular early model produced by Ironfire Industries on Absalom Station shortly after the Gap, the name quickly spread in colloquial use to refer to all robotic war machines of similar designs, and these days many corporations on many different worlds use the term to market their own proprietary models. AHAVs are built to appear intimidating: sturdy armor-plated tanks that float on hovertreads, armed with various heavy weapons and bristling with antennae. AHAVs have a full complement of sensors, capable of detecting heat, vibration, and sometimes other signatures, though they don’t usually have enough processing power to activate every available sense at once.\r\n\r\nAHAVs are expensive and difficult to construct, so relatively few of them are found in the service of small planetary militaries and mercenary groups. Only the richest of worlds (and collectors interested in ensuring the safety of their private collections) can afford to purchase and maintain even a single AHAV.\r\n\r\nUnfortunately, since AHAVs’ basic programming leaves little room for independent thought and nuance, many of them can be easily tricked by those who can figure out the literal outlines of their objectives and work around them. As such, AHAVs have dropped off in popularity over the past few decades, though the corporations invested in building them are continually working to improve on this limitation.\r\n\r\nBefore they are programmed, AHAVs are outfitted with Mission Dependent Loadouts (MODELs for short), which are special abilities and equipment that aid a robot in its particular mission. An AHAV focused on reconnaissance might have an advanced sensor suite or stealth capabilities, while one intended to go head to head with a superior enemy force might have augmented weaponry. A sufficiently astute observer can use the MODEL of an AHAV to puzzle out its objective.\r\n\r\nAHAVs are built to last—a feature that sometimes means their objectives fail before they do. For instance, an AHAV programmed to guard a particular site will continue to do so even though its handlers have long since perished. While such a construct might seem to be a sad sight, it pales in comparison to those AHAVs whose objectives have become unachievable or internally inconsistent over time. Such a state introduces subtle errors into the AHAV’s programming, which can result in behavior that would be called insane if exhibited by a flesh-and-blood creature. A technician who can uncover that robot’s original purpose might be able to speak with the machine, convincing it of the error of its ways or the irrationality of its objective, but AHAVs have an inherently confrontational worldview and are difficult to reason with. AHAVs that successfully confront such a misalignment are most likely to shut down entirely, becoming nothing but inert metal and circuitry."},{"title":"Anacite Laborer","flavor_text":"","cr":"7","xp":"3200","size":"Medium","alignment":"LN","creature_type":"construct","creature_subtype":"technological","initiative":"+2","senses":"darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision;","perception":"+19","aura":"","hp":"100","rp":"","eac":"19","kac":"20","fort_save":"+4","ref_save":"+4","will_save":"+8","defensive_abilities":"","immunities":"construct immunities","resistances":"","weaknesses":"sunlight dependency","spell_resistance":"","damage_reduction":"","speed":"40 ft.","melee":"plasma cutter +16 (1d8+12 F)","ranged":"electrical burst +14 (1d8+7 E)","space":"5 ft.","reach":"5 ft.","offensive_abilities":"","spell_like_abilities":"","spells_known":"","str":"+5","dex":"+2","con":"-","int":"+4","wis":"+0","cha":"+0","skills":"Computers +19, Engineering +19, Piloting +14, Stealth +14","languages":"Common; shortwave 100 ft.","gear":"","other_abilities":"reconfigure, unliving","environment":"any (Aballon)","organization":"solitary, pair, or crew (3–8)","special_abilities":"**Reconfigure (Ex)** Anacite laborers are capable of adapting and improving their designs. An anacite laborer has a number of built-in abilities equal to its CR divided by 3 (minimum 1), chosen from the list below. An anacite laborer can change these abilities by spending 1 uninterrupted hour for each ability it wants to change. The anacite laborer must also have access to an appropriate workspace for the duration. An ability can be gained only once unless stated otherwise. In addition, modifications other than those listed here might exist.\r\n\r\n* Advanced treads that increase its base speed to 60 feet.\r\n* A sensor that grants blindsight (vibration) 120 feet.\r\n* Elongated arms that extend its reach by 5 feet.\r\n* A modified chassis that grants a burrow, climb, or swim speed equal to its base speed. This ability can be taken multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time it is taken, it applies to a new movement type.\r\n* Reinforced systems granting resistance 10 against a single energy type (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic). This ability can be taken multiple times. Its effects\r\ndo not stack. Each time it is taken, it applies to a new energy type.\r\n* Specialized plating that increases its AC by 2. \r\n\r\n**Shortwave (Ex)** An anacite can communicate wirelessly.\r\n\r\nThis acts as telepathy, but only with other creatures with this ability or constructs with the technological subtype.\r\n\r\n**Sunlight Dependency (Ex)** Anacites are solar-powered constructs, although they can function at reduced capacity away from light. In areas of darkness, they gain the sickened condition.","description":"Anacites are native to Aballon, the Pact World closest to the sun. A race of machines left behind by eons-departed masters, these constructs developed the capacity for evolution and self-improvement, creating an entire mechanical ecosystem.\r\n\r\nThe most common design for anacites is a basic arthropodan form of silvery metal, with multiple legs for efficient travel and claws or manipulators for accomplishing their assigned tasks. Depending on their role, however, an anacite might be anything from a bulldozer-sized mining specialist to a floating electronic brain designed for advanced problem-solving, and even those anacites who fit the stereotypical metal-insect design usually have a modification or two, and almost all anacites can reconfigure parts of themselves to adapt to their circumstances.\r\n\r\nIn the uncounted millennia since the departure of the so-called “First Ones,” anacites have not been idle. The two primary factions of anacites, Those Who Wait and Those Who Become, have very different ideas of their purpose in life, yet the two are more alike than different. While they variously wait for the First Ones to return or work toward taking on their progenitors’ mantle, anacites endlessly strive to acquire wealth and influence in preparation for their great goal’s fulfillment.\r\n\r\nWhile “anacite” officially refers only to the sentient varieties of Aballonian machines—those capable of learning and participating in Aballonian society—many offworlders use it as a catchall term for the world’s mechanical life. Dragonfly- like wingbots are an example of Aballonian technobiology. These artificial creatures lack basic sentience yet nevertheless reproduce and fill one of the planet’s ecological niches. These 4-foot-long machines whir from ridge to ridge on wings glittering with solar panels, feeding on the blazing light of the sun. Wingbots can be territorial, and they occasionally attack offworlders or other anacites."},{"title":"Anacite Wingbot","flavor_text":"","cr":".25","xp":"200","size":"Small","alignment":"N","creature_type":"construct","creature_subtype":"technological","initiative":"+3","senses":"darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision","perception":"+4","aura":"","hp":"13","rp":"","eac":"10","kac":"12","fort_save":"+0","ref_save":"+0","will_save":"-2","defensive_abilities":"","immunities":"construct immunities","resistances":"","weaknesses":"sunlight dependency","spell_resistance":"","damage_reduction":"","speed":"40 ft., fly 40 ft. (Ex, average)","melee":"bite +4 (1d6+2 P)","ranged":"laser ray +7 (1d4 F; critical burn 1d4)","space":"5 ft.","reach":"5 ft.","offensive_abilities":"trill","spell_like_abilities":"","spells_known":"","str":"+2","dex":"+3","con":"-","int":"-5","wis":"+1","cha":"-2","skills":"Athletics +9 (+17 when climbing), Stealth +4","languages":"Common (can’t speak); shortwave 100 ft.","gear":"","other_abilities":"unliving","environment":"any (Aballon)","organization":"solitary or flock (2–6)","special_abilities":"**Shortwave (Ex)** See _Anacite Laborer_\r\n\r\n**Sunlight Dependency (Ex)** See _Anacite Laborer_\r\n\r\n**Trill (Ex)** An anacite wingbot can create a shrill trilling noise as a standard action. Any creature within 30 feet, other than anacite wingbots, must succeed at a DC 9 Fortitude saving throw or be sickened for 1d3 rounds. Whether successful or not, a creature can’t be affected by the same anacite wingbot’s trill for 24 hours","description":"Anacites are native to Aballon, the Pact World closest to the sun. A race of machines left behind by eons-departed masters, these constructs developed the capacity for evolution and self-improvement, creating an entire mechanical ecosystem.\r\n\r\nThe most common design for anacites is a basic arthropodan form of silvery metal, with multiple legs for efficient travel and claws or manipulators for accomplishing their assigned tasks. Depending on their role, however, an anacite might be anything from a bulldozer-sized mining specialist to a floating electronic brain designed for advanced problem-solving, and even those anacites who fit the stereotypical metal-insect design usually have a modification or two, and almost all anacites can reconfigure parts of themselves to adapt to their circumstances.\r\n\r\nIn the uncounted millennia since the departure of the so-called “First Ones,” anacites have not been idle. The two primary factions of anacites, Those Who Wait and Those Who Become, have very different ideas of their purpose in life, yet the two are more alike than different. While they variously wait for the First Ones to return or work toward taking on their progenitors’ mantle, anacites endlessly strive to acquire wealth and influence in preparation for their great goal’s fulfillment.\r\n\r\nWhile “anacite” officially refers only to the sentient varieties of Aballonian machines—those capable of learning and participating in Aballonian society—many offworlders use it as a catchall term for the world’s mechanical life. Dragonfly- like wingbots are an example of Aballonian technobiology. These artificial creatures lack basic sentience yet nevertheless reproduce and fill one of the planet’s ecological niches. These 4-foot-long machines whir from ridge to ridge on wings glittering with solar panels, feeding on the blazing light of the sun. Wingbots can be territorial, and they occasionally attack offworlders or other anacites."},{"title":"Angel, Barachius","flavor_text":"","cr":"7","xp":"3200","size":"Large","alignment":"NG","creature_type":"outsider","creature_subtype":"angel extraplanar good","initiative":"+4","senses":"darkvision 60 ft., detect alignment, low light vision;","perception":"+14","aura":"protective aura (20 ft.)","hp":"95","rp":"","eac":"21","kac":"22","fort_save":"+8","ref_save":"+6","will_save":"+10, +4 vs. poison","defensive_abilities":"","immunities":"acid, cold, petrification;","resistances":"electricity 10, fire 10;","weaknesses":"","spell_resistance":"18","damage_reduction":"","speed":"50 ft., fly 100 ft. (Su, average)","melee":"holy sintered longsword +16 (2d8+12 S)","ranged":"holy corona laser rifle +14 (2d6+7 F; critical burn 1d6)","space":"10 ft.","reach":"10 ft.","offensive_abilities":"firewall","spell_like_abilities":"(CL 7th; melee +16)\r\n1/day—arcing surge (DC 18), interplanetary teleport (self only)\r\n3/day—inject nanobots (DC 17), microbot assault","spells_known":"","str":"+5","dex":"+4","con":"+4","int":"+1","wis":"+2","cha":"+2","skills":"Computers +19, Culture +19, Engineering +19, Mysticism +14, Sense Motive +14","languages":"Celestial, Draconic, Infernal; truespeech","gear":"holy corona laser rifle with 2 high-capacity batteries (40 charges each), holy sintered longsword","other_abilities":"upgrade","environment":"any good-aligned planes","organization":"solitary or pair","special_abilities":"**Firewall (Su)** A barachius can summon a wall of digitally\r\nempowered divine fury within 30 feet as a standard action. This wall takes the shape of a line 10 feet high and 20 feet long; though it doesn’t need to emanate from the angel, the angel must be able to see every square the wall passes through. The wall lasts until the beginning of the angel’s next turn. An evil creature caught within or that enters one of the wall’s squares takes 2d6 damage (Will DC 17 half). An evil creature with the technological subtype takes twice this amount of damage.\r\n\r\n**Protective Aura (Su)** Any creature within 20 feet of a barachius (including the angel itself) gains a +2 divine bonus to its AC against attacks made by evil creatures and a +4 divine bonus to saving throws against effects created by evil creatures.\r\n\r\n**Upgrade (Su)** As a standard action, a barachius can touch a willing ally who is wielding a technological weapon or wearing technological armor. That creature receives a +1 divine bonus to attack rolls or to its AC (target’s choice). This bonus last for 3 rounds and cannot be dispelled.","description":"While tools and technology are often considered neutral in their own right, able to be used for good or ill purposes depending on the natures of their wielders, some good- aligned deities have long preached caution regarding those technologies that can allow single individuals to cause great havoc. The ascension of the artificially intelligent god Triune, who now holds technology and artificial life as its domains, has not eased such fears. Despite Triune’s claim of neutrality, the ubiquity of technology throughout the Pact Worlds and beyond has spurred many divine powers to keep careful watch over both the ways in which current technology is employed as well as rapid technological progress that could threaten all life.\r\n\r\nAs angels have always been the messengers and enactors of the gods’ will, a particular order of angelic beings, known as barachiuses, oversees technological advances and ensures these creations don’t fall into the wrong hands or become twisted to serve evil gods and their minions. Outfitted with divinely blessed armor, weapons, and abilities, barachius angels are tasked with monitoring the planes both to protect mortal existence from technology gone awry and to quash technologically advanced cultures that present an explicit threat to all good creatures and causes.\r\n\r\nWhile all angels might be expected to protect the innocent from harm, barachiuses specialize in defending against subtle technological threats that might go unnoticed by the rank-and-file troops of the celestial legions. When a rapidly developing AI suddenly veers into true evil, when a new invention threatens to destroy countless innocents, when Hell’s hacker devils feed insidious viruses into mortal mainframes—these are when barachiuses truly shine.\r\n\r\nA barachius is an imposing figure, standing in what appears to be sleek, glowing armor and wielding a sword that pulses with the light of the stars or a glowing laser rifle. Its wings appear to be made of pure electricity, though a closer look reveals patterns within the feathery arcs that mimic digital arrays and computer wiring. Its face is often hidden behind an elaborate helm, and its voice—when it deigns to speak—is clipped and rapid-fire.\r\n\r\nYet a barachius’s true strength resides not within its presence or arms but in its near-prescient ability to understand the nature of any technological object or being that it encounters. Exactly how and why the angels deem some technology not just dangerous but immoral is a great mystery, as it’s not based solely on sheer destructive capacity. For instance, barachiuses have been known to hunt down and destroy individual robots with extreme determination while leaving similar models—and silos of nuclear missiles—entirely untouched.\r\n\r\nA barachius might serve its purpose in a wide variety of ways. It could secretly patrol a settlement that is already rife with technology, constantly on the search for malicious computer code, machines run amok, or creatures bent on using technology for nefarious ends. Alternatively, one could be found searching for scientists and laboratories where cutting-edge research is being conducted. Even researchers with the best of intentions may come under the scrutiny of a barachius that deems the ongoing work or latest invention too threatening to the society’s ongoing moral health. Barachiuses also keep watch over some planets and species that lack advanced technology to ensure that they’re not enslaved or annihilated by races with greater resources—though again, why they perform this action for some races and not others is a mystery deeply vexing to scholars and mystics. Many believe their choices are based on an ability to see lines of probability stretching into the future and the angels’ need to make minor course corrections\r\nnow and then to avoid catastrophe. Rarely, a barachius might take a more redemptive approach. Rather than destroying evil-aligned devices and technological life-forms, it might seek to turn a target to the path of good. Barachiuses minister to androids and robots in particular, hoping that merciful actions might inspire the artificial creatures to similar acts."},{"title":"Apari","flavor_text":"","cr":"7","xp":"3200","size":"Large","alignment":"N","creature_type":"vermin","creature_subtype":"","initiative":"+2","senses":"darkvision 60 ft.","perception":"+14","aura":"","hp":"105","rp":"4","eac":"19","kac":"21","fort_save":"+11","ref_save":"+6","will_save":"+9","defensive_abilities":"mutable","immunities":"critical hits","resistances":"","weaknesses":"","spell_resistance":"","damage_reduction":"","speed":"30 ft.","melee":"claw +17 (2d6+11 S)","ranged":"spike +14 (2d8+7 P)","space":"10 ft.","reach":"10 ft.","offensive_abilities":"spawn constituents","spell_like_abilities":"","spells_known":"","str":"+4","dex":"+2","con":"+5","int":"-","wis":"+0","cha":"+0","skills":"Athletics +19, Intimidate +14, Survival +14","languages":"","gear":"","other_abilities":"mindless","environment":"temperate or warm plains","organization":"solitary","special_abilities":"**Mutable (Ex)** Virtually every part of an apari’s internal physiology can be effectively repaired or replaced at a moment’s notice as constituents rush to fill the needed role. An apari is immune to critical hits, and when an apari would take ability damage or drain to a particular ability score, it can instead distribute that ability damage or drain as it wishes across all of its ability scores (though it must take at least 1 point in the targeted ability score).\r\n\r\n**Spawn Constituents (Ex)** Most aparis retain a force of combat-ready constituents waiting on call to defend the hive—or in dire circumstances, to sacrifice themselves to give the apari a better chance of escape. As a move action, an apari can spend 1 Resolve Point and lose 20 Hit Points to spawn a constituent in an empty adjacent square. An apari can use this ability only if it has 40 or more Hit Points.\r\n\r\n**Spike (Ex)** An apari’s ranged attack has a range increment of 30 feet.","description":"An apari is a living hive, its gigantic beetle-like carapace animated by generations of tiny insects for whom it serves as both home and queen. Nestled within every apari’s exoskeleton is a mass of millions of writhing gray maggots, each no larger than a grain of rice. A constant stream of chemical signals, ferried by the living neurological system of the apari, directs the development of these maggots into the myriad forms needed both to support the hive’s gestalt biological functions and to maintain a flexible population of individual bugs, each of which has an extremely specialized role. Aparis can\r\nbe found on multiple worlds with various climates throughout the galaxy. So far no Pact Worlds entomologists have been able to\r\ntrace their evolution back to a particular planet, though the fossil record seems to indicate that their original diaspora must,have happened well before the Gap. A few fringe theories posit that aparis are progenitors of the Swarm, though this claim is contentious at best.\r\n\r\nHow the unintelligent creatures might have traveled between solar systems is anyone’s guess: some scholars believe they were deliberately seeded as livestock by a spacefaring race, others theorize they may have been placed there by planar travelers (likely insectile spellcasters from the city of Axis), and still others think they are the deliberately devolved children of a spacefaring race that chose regression into unthinking beings rather than face some species-wide threat or existential quandary.\r\n\r\nAparis quickly become a formidable force in almost any ecosystem to which they are introduced. Their constituents can forage for food (usually rotting vegetable material or carrion), while the hive itself hunts animals. Perhaps most disconcerting is when the two methods combine, with the apari tearing into a beast while its constituents stream into the wounds and devour it from the inside out. Additionally, aparis’ considerable mutability provides them protection from threats that would seriously endanger more sedentary collective species, such as flooding or an intelligent competitor’s targeted attempts at extermination.\r\n\r\nWhen the resources available to a single apari permit it to create more constituents than its body can efficiently support, it travels to a location in the center of its feeding territory and becomes temporarily stationary. Some of its constituents burrow into the ground beneath it and begin ferrying portions of the parent apari’s key biological systems—including half of its maggot core—while others continue to forage in the surrounding area to provide a steady stream of nutrients to the nascent hive. When the new hive is ready, the two aparis split the current hunting ground and expand the territories outward from that core, never explicitly working together but also not directly competing. Additionally, these aparis remain chemically linked, so that if disaster befalls one of them, surviving constituents can potentially join a linked hive and continue to thrive. In this way, entire planets have fallen to supercolonies of aparis whose influence spread across continents. Despite their mysterious presence on a variety of worlds, including both Triaxus and the insect moon of Nchak, aparis in the modern era are unable to colonize new worlds without an intelligent race to assist them. Fortunately for them, fried apari grubs are a delicacy in many Pact Worlds cultures, and attempts to hunt or ranch the creatures are dangerous but lucrative."},{"title":"Apari Constituent","flavor_text":"","cr":"-","xp":"-","size":"Tiny","alignment":"N","creature_type":"vermin","creature_subtype":"","initiative":"+4","senses":"darkvision 60 ft.","perception":"+7","aura":"","hp":"20","rp":"","eac":"13","kac":"15","fort_save":"+6","ref_save":"+4","will_save":"+1","defensive_abilities":"","immunities":"","resistances":"","weaknesses":"hive dependency","spell_resistance":"","damage_reduction":"","speed":"fly 30 ft. (Ex, perfect)","melee":"claw +10 (1d6+4 S)","ranged":"","space":"5 ft.","reach":"5 ft.","offensive_abilities":"fungible","spell_like_abilities":"","spells_known":"","str":"+2","dex":"+4","con":"+1","int":"-","wis":"+0","cha":"+0","skills":"Acrobatics +12 (+20 when flying), Intimidate +7, Survival +7","languages":"","gear":"","other_abilities":"mindless, reincorporate","environment":"any land","organization":"collective (10+ plus 1 apari)","special_abilities":"**Fungible (Ex)** An apari constituent can change its physiology to take advantage of its opponent’s weaknesses. As a move action, it can alter the type of kinetic damage it deals with its claw attack (bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing).\r\n\r\n**Hive Dependency (Ex)** An apari constituent can’t voluntarily travel more than 200 feet from the apari that spawned it. If taken beyond that range against its will, it gains the sickened condition and becomes single-minded in its focus on returning to its apari. An apari constituent can survive for only 1 hour after the apari that spawned it dies (unless it finds another apari).\r\n\r\n**Reincorporate (Ex)** As a standard action, an apari constituent adjacent to an apari can become part of the hive once again. The constituent’s current Hit Points are added to the apari’s, and the constituent is removed from play.","description":"An apari is a living hive, its gigantic beetle-like carapace animated by generations of tiny insects for whom it serves as both home and queen. Nestled within every apari’s exoskeleton is a mass of millions of writhing gray maggots, each no larger than a grain of rice. A constant stream of chemical signals, ferried by the living neurological system of the apari, directs the development of these maggots into the myriad forms needed both to support the hive’s gestalt biological functions and to maintain a flexible population of individual bugs, each of which has an extremely specialized role. Aparis can be found on multiple worlds with various climates throughout the galaxy. So far no Pact Worlds entomologists have been able to trace their evolution back to a particular planet, though the fossil record seems to indicate that their original diaspora must,have happened well before the Gap. A few fringe theories posit that aparis are progenitors of the Swarm, though this claim is contentious at best.\r\n\r\nHow the unintelligent creatures might have traveled between solar systems is anyone’s guess: some scholars believe they were deliberately seeded as livestock by a spacefaring race, others theorize they may have been placed there by planar travelers (likely insectile spellcasters from the city of Axis), and still others think they are the deliberately devolved children of a spacefaring race that chose regression into unthinking beings rather than face some species-wide threat or existential quandary.\r\n\r\nAparis quickly become a formidable force in almost any ecosystem to which they are introduced. Their constituents can forage for food (usually rotting vegetable material or carrion), while the hive itself hunts animals. Perhaps most disconcerting is when the two methods combine, with the apari tearing into a beast while its constituents stream into the wounds and devour it from the inside out. Additionally, aparis’ considerable mutability provides them protection from threats that would seriously endanger more sedentary collective species, such as flooding or an intelligent competitor’s targeted attempts at extermination.\r\n\r\nWhen the resources available to a single apari permit it to create more constituents than its body can efficiently support, it travels to a location in the center of its feeding territory and becomes temporarily stationary. Some of its constituents burrow into the ground beneath it and begin ferrying portions of the parent apari’s key biological systems—including half of its maggot core—while others continue to forage in the surrounding area to provide a steady stream of nutrients to the nascent hive. When the new hive is ready, the two aparis split the current hunting ground and expand the territories outward from that core, never explicitly working together but also not directly competing. Additionally, these aparis remain chemically linked, so that if disaster befalls one of them, surviving constituents can potentially join a linked hive and continue to thrive. In this way, entire planets have fallen to supercolonies of aparis whose influence spread across continents. Despite their mysterious presence on a variety of worlds, including both Triaxus and the insect moon of Nchak, aparis in the modern era are unable to colonize new worlds without an intelligent race to assist them. Fortunately for them, fried apari grubs are a delicacy in many Pact Worlds cultures, and attempts to hunt or ranch the creatures are dangerous but lucrative.\r\n\r\n**Encountering Constituents**\r\n\r\nIt is possible for PCs to encounter constituents on their own, as they range from their hives to scavenge for food. While constituents spawned by an apari during a combat grant no additional XP, a single constituent is a CR 2 creature (worth 600 XP) and is usually encountered as a solitary creature or in a group\r\nof two to four."},{"title":"Assembly Ooze","flavor_text":"","cr":"1","xp":"400","size":"Medium","alignment":"N","creature_type":"ooze","creature_subtype":"technological","initiative":"+4","senses":"blindsight (vibration) 60 ft., sightless;","perception":"+7","aura":"","hp":"17","rp":"","eac":"11","kac":"12","fort_save":"+3","ref_save":"-1","will_save":"+2","defensive_abilities":"","immunities":"ooze immunities","resistances":"","weaknesses":"vulnerable to electricity","spell_resistance":"","damage_reduction":"","speed":"30 ft.","melee":"pseudopod +6 (1d4+3 B)","ranged":"","space":"5 ft.","reach":"5 ft. (10 ft. with pseudopod)","offensive_abilities":"disassemble","spell_like_abilities":"","spells_known":"","str":"+2","dex":"+1","con":"+4","int":"-","wis":"+0","cha":"+0","skills":"Athletics +10, Stealth +10","languages":"Common (can’t speak any language)","gear":"","other_abilities":"assemble, compression","environment":"any urban","organization":"solitary, pair, or manufactory (3–5)","special_abilities":"**Assemble (Ex)** In a process that takes 1 uninterrupted minute, an assembly ooze can craft a random piece of technological gear using its store of virtual UPBs (see disassemble below). An assembly ooze can craft a piece of technological gear of no more than 5 bulk with a cost equal to the number of virtual UPBs it spends, but with an item level no greater than its CR + 2 (3 for most assembly oozes). There is a 25% chance that a piece of gear an assembly ooze crafts has the broken condition. Roll 1d8 on the table below to determine what kind of gear the assembly ooze creates.\r\n\r\nd8 | Gear\r\n:---|:---:\r\n1 | Basic or advanced melee weapon\r\n2 | Small arm or longarm\r\n3 | Heavy weapon or sniper weapon\r\n4 | Grenade\r\n5 | Ammunition\r\n6 | Light or heavy armor\r\n7 | Armor upgrade\r\n8 | Technological item\r\n\r\n**Disassemble (Ex)** As a full action, an assembly ooze can engulf an unattended piece of technological gear of no more than 5 bulk and with an item level no greater than its CR + 2 (3 for most assembly oozes) within reach of its pseudopod. Unless the object succeeds at a DC 12 Fortitude saving throw, the ooze moves into that object’s space and deconstructs it into its component parts. The assembly ooze gains a number of virtual UPBs equal to the gear’s price in credits. An assembly ooze can hold a maximum number of virtual UPBs equal to 100 × its Constitution modifier (400 for most assembly oozes). In addition, if an assembly ooze succeeds at a grapple combat maneuver against a creature with the technological subtype, that creature takes 1d6+1 acid damage. The assembly ooze gains 1 virtual UPB for every point of damage it deals in this way.","description":"Thought to have been created on the planet Bretheda as a biotechnological replacement for automation processes, assembly oozes are essentially cores of nanobots suspended within blobs of animated protoplasm. As the ooze absorbs raw materials, the nanobots work at the molecular level to turn that matter into a functioning technological device, the blueprints of which have been entered into the machines’ original programming.\r\n\r\nDue to sloppy programming procedures, the code embedded within an assembly ooze has an unfortunate tendency to easily become corrupted, causing the ooze to haphazardly deconstruct any nearby tech and use the pieces to build random items. The first time this occurred, several assembly oozes escaped the ensuing purge and built copies of themselves, eventually spreading to various shadowy corners of the galaxy. While these rogue oozes are not all that dangerous and have no innate malice, they are the bane of space stations, starships, weapon depots, and anywhere else technology is present. When discovered in such a location, assembly oozes are ruthlessly exterminated, lest their nonstop disassembling of all things mechanical and electronic destroy critical systems—to say nothing of the new, potentially lethal devices left in their wake. While assembly oozes are still used in some factories on Bretheda and its more toxic moons, their use is highly regulated.\r\n\r\nAn assembly ooze resembles a human-sized, silvery cube, though its amorphous form allows it to slip through incredibly small openings. As it moves, surging forward on its pseudopods, random scraps the ooze has already collected sometimes float near the creature’s surface before quickly disappearing into its form. Entirely focused on absorbing and reshaping any available technology, assembly oozes usually ignore organic matter, living or otherwise, unless threatened. However, should a creature have mechanical or cybernetic elements attached to or incorporated into its physical form, an assembly ooze could very well cause that creature incidental harm in its attempts to harvest the technological parts. Sentient robots are extremely wary of assembly oozes, as their entire bodies could be targeted for processing into raw resources.\r\n\r\nEvery so often, an assembly ooze holding its maximum number of virtual UPBs undergoes a form of mitosis, manufactures an identical copy of its computerized core, and splits its protoplasm into two equal parts. The nanobots of the two new assembly oozes then use the remaining virtual UPBs to build enough protoplasm to form an assembly ooze’s normal cube shape. This process usually takes about 1 hour and consumes all of the parent ooze’s virtual UPBs. That assembly oozes contain the programming necessary to reproduce is troubling to those who realize its implications: a single rogue assembly ooze introduced into an environment stocked with technological items could completely overrun such a place in a matter of days, leaving behind a wasteland of cheap laser pistols and smoke grenades that is inhabited only by the oozes—and any remaining organic beings unfortunate enough to be stranded in the area after their vessels are consumed.\r\n\r\nIn some cases, certain unscrupulous types have used assembly oozes as weapons. If slipped into a starship or military base, a manufactory of assembly oozes can easily cause enough chaos to allow an operative to sneak in and complete her mission with very little opposition. However, this is also highly risky to the would-be saboteur, as even one misplaced assembly ooze could render her escape vessel inoperative. Assembly oozes can be temporarily incapacitated by strong electrical fields and kept at bay by mystical force fields, but anyone restraining an assembly ooze must be constantly vigilant and stay out of reach of the ooze’s pseudopod.\r\nA single assembly ooze can craft handheld objects, but some claim to have seen assembly oozes working together to construct entire starships and other large and complex machinery. Where these oozes received their programming is unknown, as is whether such oozes have a master directing their efforts or if they have gained a collective sentience and are working for their own mysterious purposes. Nevertheless, most engineers agree that, given enough raw material and enough time, there is no technological item a directed horde of assembly oozes couldn’t build, putting it together piece by piece.\r\n\r\nAn assembly ooze is a cube exactly 5 feet on each side that weighs 400 pounds."},{"title":"Asteray","flavor_text":"","cr":"12","xp":"19200","size":"Medium","alignment":"CN","creature_type":"fey","creature_subtype":"","initiative":"+5","senses":"low-light vision","perception":"+22 (+30 in space)","aura":"","hp":"170","rp":"","eac":"25","kac":"26","fort_save":"+13","ref_save":"+13","will_save":"+15","defensive_abilities":"","immunities":"cold, fire, vacuum","resistances":"","weaknesses":"","spell_resistance":"","damage_reduction":"","speed":"30 ft., fly 60 ft. (Su, perfect)","melee":"tail whip +20 (2d12+13 S)","ranged":"electrical blast +18 (2d8+12 E)","space":"5 ft.","reach":"5 ft. (10 ft. with tail whip)","offensive_abilities":"sensor song","spell_like_abilities":"(CL 12th; melee +20)\r\n1/day—confusion (DC 23), overload systems (DC 23)\r\n3/day—arcane sight, charm monster (DC 22), discharge (DC 22), nondetection\r\nAt will—holographic image (2nd-level, DC 21), spider climb","spells_known":"","str":"+1","dex":"+5","con":"+4","int":"+2","wis":"+3","cha":"+8","skills":"Bluff +27, Culture +27, Stealth +22","languages":"Common; telepathy 300 ft.","gear":"","other_abilities":"no breath, wake rider","environment":"any vacuum","organization":"solitary, pair, or choir (3–12)","special_abilities":"**Electrical Blast (Ex)** As an attack, an asteray can unleash an electrical blast with a range increment of 70 feet at a single target.\r\n\r\n**Sensor Song (Ex)** An asteray can “sing” electronic signals that mask or mimic sensor readings. As a standard action, an asteray\r\ncan create a false image of an object as if it had cast the 4th-level version of the spell holographic image (CL 12th). This false reading affects only electronic sensors. Multiple asterays can sing together, increasing the caster level by 1 for each asteray beyond the first singer for the purposes of determining the spell’s range and area affected.\r\n\r\n**Wake Rider (Su)** By touching a starship, an asteray can bond to the energy wake it leaves as it travels. This allows the fey to match speeds with the starship and ride along with it, treating the ship as if it were the “ground” so long as it remains within 100 feet. If the starship enters the Drift, the asteray can choose to accompany the ship into the Drift, or it can disengage as a reaction and remain behind.","description":"When humanoids first learned to ply the seas and oceans on Golarion, they encountered many beautiful and dangerous beings who cavorted in the waves and lured their vessels onto the enchanting songs. Into the rocks with enchanting songs. In time, they learned to differentiate the playful mermaid, the cruel rusalka, the bloodthirsty scylla, and their kin, and with that knowledge, the damage these strange beings could inflict was minimized. But when humanoids blasted into the stars, they found a new array of mischievous, mysterious creatures that threatened to lead their vessels into danger. among these threats is the wily asteray. Delicate and angelic looking in zero gravity, asterays are a race of vacuum- dwelling fey that ride the solar winds between space debris, asteroid belts, and planetary rings, playing in the dust, dancing in microgravity, and seeking new and beautiful sights. Their bodies consist of little beyond lightweight, flexible bones and the powerful sinews that bind them together, creating a vaguely humanoid upper body and a lower body consisting of a large appendage that absorbs cosmic radiation and grants the fey the ability to propel itself through space. With elegant forms and diaphanous tails, they appear gentle and welcoming. Wide eyes—blue or green in color—express a variety of emotions, though apart from their eyes and the long, thin slit for a mouth, asterays have featureless faces. They are well adapted to life in the void, with sensitive vision, a variety of natural spells, and the capability to generate powerful bolts of electricity to defend themselves. They are also ravenous beyond compare. While space dust and solar radiation carry just enough nourishment to fuel their antics, asterays hunger for organic molecules. They pause their endless dances to scour asteroids and explore wrecked ships for sustenance. When food grows too scarce or boredom overwhelms them, asterays crawl into the dark corners of space and hibernate for weeks, months, or years at a time.\r\n\r\nOften called “deep angels” for their habit of following ships through the vastness of space to scavenge any discarded treats and pick hulls clean of organic stowaways, asterays can also become menaces. The electronic signals they produce to communicate with one another mimic the sensor signals emitted by most starships, and in the eons that planet-bound creatures have explored their territory, asterays have learned to “sing” false sensor signals, mimicking ships’ distress signals or cloaking navigational hazards such as high-density debris fields. Individual asterays are a danger only to smaller spacefaring vessels, but several working in tandem can lure even well-equipped warships to their doom thanks to their inherent magic. While few of these fey are cruel enough to hunt humanoids for food, they hold few qualms about eating whatever remains after a frightened crew ejects from a incapacitated starship, including the corpses of any fallen.\r\n\r\nAsterays originally spawned in those few magic-rich star systems where the First World naturally overlapped with the void. For eons, they remained confined to these backwater systems, unable to reach inhabited areas within their lifetimes, but the first mortal vessels to explore space provided the fey an exit. Asterays can ride the cosmic wakes of starships, regardless of their speed, hitchhiking on these explorers like remoras on a shark, and for much the same purpose. Today, most settled star systems boast at least a small colony of the capricious fey. Their domains are often in spots that have easy access to major space lanes, and they are marked by large cave-pocked asteroids where the asterays build their nests and hoard treasures. Wrecked ships invariably float through these spaces, often serving as new navigational hazards the fey either cloak with their sensor songs or use as tempting targets to lure in greedy scavengers.\r\n\r\nWhile not inherently malicious, asterays are alien in mind and deed. They understand that most creatures need air, water, and food, but they have difficulty prioritizing others’ needs over their own hunger and amusement. Much of their apparent cruelty and greed stems from this alien mindset and boredom; thus, those travelers who can amuse them or compel some level of empathy stand to gain powerful allies in the void.\r\n\r\nA typical asteray is about 7-1/2 feet from its head to the end of its tail, though it could appear quite shorter if its lower appendage becomes bunched up or twisted. An average asteray weighs only 75 pounds."},{"title":"Early Stage Barathu","flavor_text":"","cr":"2","xp":"600","size":"Medium","alignment":"LN","creature_type":"aberration","creature_subtype":"","initiative":"+0","senses":"darkvision 60 ft.","perception":"+13","aura":"","hp":"23","rp":"","eac":"13","kac":"14","fort_save":"+3","ref_save":"+1","will_save":"+7","defensive_abilities":"amorphous","immunities":"","resistances":"","weaknesses":"","spell_resistance":"","damage_reduction":"","speed":"fly 30 ft. (Ex, average)","melee":"slam +8 (1d4+3 B)","ranged":"","space":"5 ft.","reach":"5 ft.","offensive_abilities":"","spell_like_abilities":"","spells_known":"","str":"+1","dex":"+0","con":"+2","int":"+1","wis":"+4","cha":"+0","skills":"Acrobatics +13, Diplomacy +8, Life Science +8, Sense Motive +13","languages":"Brethedan, Common; limited telepathy 30 ft.","gear":"","other_abilities":"along for the ride, early stage adaptation","environment":"any sky (Bretheda)","organization":"solitary or herd (4–12 plus 2–5 barathus)","special_abilities":"**Along for the Ride (Ex)** Early stage barathus are not experienced enough to helpfully combine with mature barathus but can still physically merge with them for protection. An early stage barathu can combine with a mature barathu via the latter’s combine ability. Early stage barathus that are part of a combined creature contribute their Hit Points but not adaptations.\r\n\r\n**Early Stage Adaptation (Ex)** An early stage barathu’s body is mutable and can adapt to many different situations. Once every 1d4 rounds as a swift action, an early stage barathu can reshape its body and adjust its chemistry to gain one of the following qualities. The adaptation lasts until the beginning of the early stage barathu’s next turn. Unlike more mature barathus, early stage barathus are not generally capable of more complex adaptations.\r\n\r\n* Upper limb refinements enable the barathu to add an additional amount of damage to melee attacks equal to its Strength modifier.\r\n* A toughened dermal layer grants its a +1 racial bonus to AC.\r\n* Developed lower limbs grant it a base speed of 15 feet. \r\n* Molecular-level modifications grant it resistance 2 against a single energy type (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic).\r\n* Elongated limbs extend its reach to 10 feet.","description":"Barathus are the sentient apex of Bretheda’s gas-giant ecosystem, blimp-like creatures vaguely reminiscent of jellyfish, with several unusual evolutionary adaptations. The first is their ability to rewrite their own genetic code instinctively and at will, adjusting their own biology to allow them to manufacture a huge array of substances—and even advanced biotechnology— within the crucibles of their own bodies. Yet while this ability makes them quite successful in the Pact Worlds economy, and has deeply influenced their culture’s understanding of wealth and trade, their more notable adaptation is the ability to combine with others of their kind into larger, hive-minded super-entities. These mergings create not merely amalgams of their component beings, but entirely new entities with unique and independent consciousnesses, yet which in turn often disband back into their component individuals after a particular need or threat has passed. Barathu culture tends to be easygoing but hard for some\r\n\r\nother races to understand, as the barathus’ frequent merging makes the concept of “self” somewhat nebulous to them. Young barathus who grow up surrounded by humanoids are an exception, as they are better able to appreciate the mindsets of creatures who exist in static, solitary configurations. Compared to older barathus, early stage barathus are more adventurous and individualistic, and their adaptation to the humanoid mindset makes it more difficult for them to merge completely with others of their kind. Most of these early stage barathus grow out of this phase, gaining the ability to fully integrate with others, yet recent generations have seen more and more barathus deliberately clinging to their juvenile mindsets. While plenty of barathus remain discrete entities for most of their lives, barathus nearing the ends of their lives often merge with massive, permanent combinatory entities that serve as corporations, governments, or cultural repositories."},{"title":"Barathu","flavor_text":"","cr":"5","xp":"1600","size":"Large","alignment":"LN","creature_type":"aberration","creature_subtype":"","initiative":"+0","senses":"darkvision 60 ft","perception":"+17","aura":"","hp":"65","rp":"","eac":"17","kac":"18","fort_save":"+4","ref_save":"+4","will_save":"+10","defensive_abilities":"amorphous","immunities":"","resistances":"","weaknesses":"","spell_resistance":"","damage_reduction":"","speed":"fly 30 ft. (Ex, perfect)","melee":"slam +12 (1d4+6 B)","ranged":"","space":"10 ft.","reach":"10 ft.","offensive_abilities":"","spell_like_abilities":"","spells_known":"","str":"+1","dex":"+0","con":"+3","int":"+2","wis":"+5","cha":"+0","skills":"Acrobatics +17, Diplomacy +12, Life Science +12, Sense Motive +17","languages":"Brethedan, Common; telepathy 100 ft.","gear":"","other_abilities":"adaptation, combine","environment":"any sky (Bretheda)","organization":"solitary or herd (2–5 plus 4–12\r\nearly stage barathus)","special_abilities":"**Adaptation (Ex)** A barathu’s body is extremely mutable and can adapt to respond to virtually any situation. Once per round as a swift action, a barathu can reshape its body and adjust its chemistry to adopt one of the following qualities. A barathu can have only one adaptation in effect at a time; a new adaptation replaces any other in effect. More extreme adaptations are also possible (at the GM’s discretion) but could take days to adopt.\r\n\r\n* The barathu adds an additional amount of damage on melee attacks equal to twice its Strength modifier.\r\n* It gains a +4 racial bonus to Armor Class.\r\n* Sturdy lower limbs grant it a base speed of 20 feet. D Rigid plates grant it DR 2/—.\r\n* It gains a ranged attack with a low attack bonus appropriate for its CR (+10 for most barathus) that deals bludgeoning damage appropriate for its CR (1d6+5 for most barathus) and has a range increment of 60 feet.\r\n* Molecular modifications grant it resistance 5 against a single energy type (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic).\r\n* Its reach increases to 15 feet.\r\n\r\n** Combine (Ex)** Barathus can combine to work together as parts of a larger organism. As a swift action, a barathu adjacent to another barathu can merge with it, becoming a single creature occupying both barathus’ spaces. The merging barathu can no longer take actions, and it adds its current Hit Points to the new creature’s collective total. For every four component creatures, the combined creature’s size category increases by one. At this time, it also chooses one adaptation. The combined creature gains this adaption and cannot change it unless the combined creature uses its adaptation ability to do so. Any number of barathus can merge in this fashion, but each adaptation can be gained only once (though resistances to multiple energy types are allowed). The combined creature retains the ability to swap one adaptation each round (not once per component creature). The combined creature can split into its component creatures as a full action; the combined creature’s remaining Hit Points are divided evenly among all component creatures. For the purposes of CR-related effects, the CR of the combined creature is equal to the CR of the component creature with thevhighest CR.","description":"Barathus are the sentient apex of Bretheda’s gas-giant ecosystem, blimp-like creatures vaguely reminiscent of jellyfish, with several unusual evolutionary adaptations. The first is their ability to rewrite their own genetic code instinctively and at will, adjusting their own biology to allow them to manufacture a huge array of substances—and even advanced biotechnology— within the crucibles of their own bodies. Yet while this ability makes them quite successful in the Pact Worlds economy, and has deeply influenced their culture’s understanding of wealth and trade, their more notable adaptation is the ability to combine with others of their kind into larger, hive-minded super-entities. These mergings create not merely amalgams of their component beings, but entirely new entities with unique and independent consciousnesses, yet which in turn often disband back into their component individuals after a particular need or threat has passed. Barathu culture tends to be easygoing but hard for some\r\n\r\nother races to understand, as the barathus’ frequent merging makes the concept of “self” somewhat nebulous to them. Young barathus who grow up surrounded by humanoids are an exception, as they are better able to appreciate the mindsets of creatures who exist in static, solitary configurations. Compared to older barathus, early stage barathus are more adventurous and individualistic, and their adaptation to the humanoid mindset makes it more difficult for them to merge completely with others of their kind. Most of these early stage barathus grow out of this phase, gaining the ability to fully integrate with others, yet recent generations have seen more and more barathus deliberately clinging to their juvenile mindsets. While plenty of barathus remain discrete entities for most of their lives, barathus nearing the ends of their lives often merge with massive, permanent combinatory entities that serve as corporations, governments, or cultural repositories."},{"title":"Bloodbrother","flavor_text":"","cr":"7","xp":"3200","size":"Huge","alignment":"NE","creature_type":"magical beast","creature_subtype":"cold","initiative":"+2","senses":"blindsight (thermal) 60 ft.","perception":"+14","aura":"","hp":"107","rp":"","eac":"19","kac":"21","fort_save":"+11","ref_save":"+11","will_save":"+6","defensive_abilities":"fast healing 5","immunities":"cold","resistances":"","weaknesses":"vulnerable to fire","spell_resistance":"","damage_reduction":"","speed":"30 ft., climb 20 ft.","melee":"slam +18 (2d6+12 B plus 1d6 C and grab)","ranged":"","space":"15 ft.","reach":"10 ft.","offensive_abilities":"cold, rib cage prison","spell_like_abilities":"","spells_known":"","str":"+5","dex":"+2","con":"+4","int":"+0","wis":"+0","cha":"+0","skills":"Athletics +19 (+27 to climb), Intimidate +14, Survival +14","languages":"Vercite (can’t speak any language)","gear":"","other_abilities":"","environment":"any cold (Verces)","organization":"solitary, pair, or clan (3–6)","special_abilities":"** Cold (Su)** A bloodbrother’s body generates intense cold, dealing 1d6 cold damage to any creature that hits it with a natural weapon or unarmed strike and to any creature the bloodbrother hits with its slam attack. A creature that begins its turn grappled by a bloodbrother also takes this damage.\r\n\r\n** Rib Cage Prison (Su)** If a bloodbrother begins its turn grappling a creature that is Large or smaller, it can attempt a grapple combat maneuver as a standard action to transfer the creature into its rib cage prison. A creature in a bloodbrother’s rib cage prison has the grappled condition. As a reaction, a bloodbrother can force a creature in its rib cage prison to attempt a DC 15 Fortitude saving throw; on a failed save, the creature takes 1 point of Constitution damage. Any round that a creature in its rib cage prison takes this Constitution damage, the bloodbrother gains fast healing 5 for that round only; the above statistics assume a bloodbrother has a Small animal with a current Constitution score of 5 (its maximum Constitution score is 10) trapped in its rib cage prison at the beginning of combat. A bloodbrother can have only one creature in its rib cage prison at a time; if it imprisons a new creature, it must release the creature currently in its rib cage. Releasing a creature does not require an action.","description":"Usually confined to the glaciers that float upon the seas of Darkside—the side of tidally locked Verces that’s always turned away from the sun and thus never feels its heat—the abominations known as bloodbrothers hunt smaller creatures for their vital essences.\r\n\r\nMeasuring over 15 feet tall and 11 feet long, a bloodbrother looks like a millipede or some other armored, wormlike arthropod from the waist down. Its upper half resembles that of a muscular humanoid with a set of bony appendages protruding from a cavity in its chest. This ersatz rib cage can open like a fanged mouth, and when a bloodbrother places captured prey within it, the bones clamp down on the creature while the walls of the enclosure exude thin tendrilous suckers. These suckers tap into the prey’s circulatory system. Rather than simply drinking its blood, though, the bloodbrother uses the trapped creature as an auxiliary heart, absorbing blood-borne nutrients and using the prey’s metabolism to help it heat and feed itself. Prey can be kept alive in this way for months, until all its stored energy has been used up and the bloodbrother lets the lifeless husk fall to the ground.\r\n\r\nA bloodbrother that hasn’t fed in a long time is almost sheer white, its chitinous exterior drying out and splitting like the husk of a coconut into hairlike fibers—the better to hold on to snow and disguise the creature for its ambushes. Once it’s successfully implanted a victim, however, its body takes on a purplish hue as it has rejuvenated with the flow of blood and vital fluids, while its fibrous hair lies back down and seals itself into smooth scales once more. This renewed appearance lasts for as long as the bloodbrother holds a victim and for several weeks thereafter.\r\n\r\nBloodbrothers’ gruesome feeding habits mean that intelligent creatures with any knowledge of the magical beasts usually flee from them or kill them on sight. However, a hungry bloodbrother’s fur is too stringy to be used as a pelt, and its meat tastes foul, meaning that hunting them provides nothing but a sense of bravado. As a result, the bloodbrother population on Verces has remained steady—and luckily small—for millennia. Their need for regular victims in an environment hostile to most life means that bloodbrothers usually live alone, though they may occasionally gather into small packs called clans. Even during times when prey is scarce, these bloodbrothers don’t cannibalize one another. Instead, they migrate toward more inhabited areas, fearlessly taking on overwhelming odds if it means refreshing the blood in their veins.\r\n\r\nDespite their name—a moniker assigned to them not by themselves but by humanoid Vercites—bloodbrothers have no sense of gender, and they reproduce asexually. At a certain point in a bloodbrother’s life, a handful of small, furry nodules appears along its spine. Biologists disagree on the exact conditions that cause this; some believe it is a rise in temperature, while others posit that reproduction requires specific nutrients in the blood of the creature’s most recent victim. As the months pass, the buds grow in size (and furriness) until they are about a foot across. Then, with a series of sickening squelches, these bulbs fall off the parent bloodbrother into the surrounding snow and ice. A few moments later, they uncurl into several immature bloodbrothers that are eager to entrap their first victims (usually tiny mammals or birds). In less than a year, a young bloodbrother reaches its full size and ferocity.\r\n\r\nDespite their horrific and merciless nature, bloodbrothers are not mere beasts and are actually as intelligent as the average human. This facet of their nature is often overlooked due to both their lack of tool use and their apparent lack of interest in communication with other races. “Interest” is the operative word here, for while bloodbrothers have no language of their own, they appear to be able to understand those of others—they simply don’t care to speak. Communication with other members of a clan is conducted entirely through actions, physical touch, and some form of advanced intuition into the other’s needs, perhaps aided by pheromones or other\r\nsignals not yet detected by researchers.\r\n\r\nBloodbrothers typically make their home in ice caves or stone caverns, patrolling the surrounding area for easy-to-capture prey. In the case of a clan, one member typically stays behind to protect the caves and any offspring therein, while those hunting return with an extra captive or two for them. When resting, the bloodbrothers slither onto one another to form one large pile. The blood-drained corpses of their pray lie scattered about the caves, eventually getting buried in the snow and ice, and trackers are quick to recognize a bloodbrother clan’s lair by the massive number of bones that can be found poking from\r\nthe floor and walls."},{"title":"Bryrvath","flavor_text":"","cr":"15","xp":"51200","size":"Medium","alignment":"CE","creature_type":"aberration","creature_subtype":"chaotic evil","initiative":"+9","senses":"darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision;","perception":"+26","aura":"impossible aura (15 ft., DC 23)","hp":"233","rp":"","eac":"28","kac":"29","fort_save":"+13","ref_save":"+13","will_save":"+20","defensive_abilities":"","immunities":"","resistances":"electricity 15, fire 15;","weaknesses":"vulnerable to cold","spell_resistance":"26","damage_reduction":"","speed":"40 ft.","melee":"claw +22 (5d8+22 S)","ranged":"ray of light +24 (4d6+15 F)","space":"5 ft.","reach":"5 ft.","offensive_abilities":"spectrend","spell_like_abilities":"(CL 15th) 1/day—dominate person (DC 25), mislead (DC 25) 3/day—confusion (DC 24), greater invisibility, mind probe (DC 24), mind thrust (4th-level, DC 24)\r\nAt will—arcane sight, clairaudience/clairvoyance","spells_known":"","str":"+7","dex":"+5","con":"+5","int":"+9","wis":"+5","cha":"+5","skills":"Intimidate +26, Mysticism +31, Stealth +31","languages":"Aklo, Common; telepathy 100 feet","gear":"","other_abilities":"light absorption","environment":"any (Aucturn)","organization":"solitary, pair, or canvas (3–7)","special_abilities":"**Impossible Aura (Su)** Once per hour as a swift action, a bryrvath can emit an aura of colors that could not possibly exist; these inconceivable hues ravage the sanity of any creature that stands within them. This aura has a range of 15 feet and lasts for 5 rounds. A creature that begins its turn within or enters the aura must attempt a DC 23 Will saving throw. On a failure, the creature takes 1d4 Intelligence and Wisdom damage; a success means the creature takes 2d6 damage and is sickened until the beginning of its next turn. This is a mind-affecting, sense-dependent effect.\r\n\r\n**Light Absorption (Su)** When a bryrvath is within 10 feet of any light source, it can absorb a portion of the light into its body as a move action. The bryrvath attempts a caster level check (DC = 11 + the item level if the source is an item, or the spell’s caster level if the light comes from a spell); on a success, the light emitted from the target source is lowered by one step for 1 hour and the bryrvath regains 5 Hit Points.\r\n\r\n**Ray of Light (Su)** As an attack, a bryrvath can unleash a focused ray of light that can burn a target like the beam of a powerful laser rifle. This ray has a range increment of 120 feet, but it doesn’t function in areas of bright light.\r\n\r\n** Spectrend (Su)** In an area illuminated by dim light or brighter, a bryrvath can slash its claws through the air\r\nin a square adjacent to it, rending the spectrum into tatters. This produces a stationary anomaly of twisting and roiling, half-seen, non-Euclidean shapes that persists for 1d4 rounds. A creature that can see this anomaly at the start of its turn can attempt a DC 23 Will saving throw. If it fails, it is confused for 1 round; if it succeeds, it is instead dazzled for 1 round. This is amind-affecting,sense- dependent effect.","description":"For many creatures, light is a source of hopecand healing, often associated with benevolent gods and their servants. For others, light is an abhorrence to be shunned at all costs, as it causes disorientation and pain, if not complete extermination, upon exposure. For adventurers, light can be an invaluable resource, guiding them through uncharted territory or acting as a beacon to draw them home after they have become lost in the darkness of space.\r\n\r\nFor bryrvaths, light is a plaything that they twist into an impossible spectrum. Dwelling primarily on the foreboding planet of Aucturn, bryrvaths are a bane to creatures that use light for survival. A bryrvath appears to feed upon any source of light it can find, regardless of whether the light is natural, technological, or magical in origin. It can absorb light in its immediate vicinity, using the waves and packets of photons to nourish itself. Speculation endlessly spins around whether a bryrvath actually consumes light out of hunger or whether it seeks to snuff out light as a source of perverse pleasure. The truth may be utterly alien to any sane mind.\r\n\r\nA bryrvath is difficult to describe because of the way its body interacts with light and darkness. Those who have seen a bryrvath and survived provide conflicting accounts of the creature. Cobbled together, these many tales tell of a multilimbed humanoid (some say two limbs, some say eight, while others say an infinite number) whose head is constantly masked by swirling shadows. At least one pair of its limbs ends in obsidian claws. Its body has several lipless gashes that open to draw in light. A bryrvath appears to have no actual skeletal structure, moving like rubber— sometimes upright, sometimes on all its limbs, and other times tumbling and clambering about in chaotic locomotion. Whenever it moves, its body seems somehow out of joint with itself: its limbs may appear detached in one moment, and then in the next, its entire torso may seem to split at an impossible angle, as if viewed through a pane of cracked glass, never quite aligning in a way that makes sense.\r\n\r\nIn the act of feeding, a bryrvath emanates a distorted aura of colors that can’t possibly exist in this multiverse; some who see this display have horrific dreams for the rest of their lives, envisioning alien cities or whole planets baking beneath a sun that blazes with hues no eye has ever seen. Oddly, such victims also display a tendency toward a mental condition that prevents them from properly recognizing color, rendering them fully color-blind.\r\n\r\nMany occult scholars posit that what can be seen of a bryrvath’s form is only a fraction of its true self and that it exists simultaneously in several other dimensions. This theory goes on to explain that a bryrvath’s impossible aura is but a glimpse of the aberration’s other facets (hence the strange, mind-bending colors). The academics who put forth this hypothesis have yet to present any kind of proof, though they work tirelessly to fabricate the necessary detection equipment to prove or disprove the theory. This has given rise to an obscure branch of study called esoteric optics that blends the physics of light with various arcane rituals. Though not many in the Pact Worlds have heard of this field, it occasionally appears in news vidfeeds, such as when an expert is committed to a psychiatric hospital after splashing acid in his eyes and raving about “the impending refraction.”\r\n\r\nWhile bryrvaths are very intelligent, they don’t appear to have an advanced society of any kind. They occasionally gather in small groups for unknown reasons, usually near a source of bright light, much in the way certain animals congregate around a watering hole. Also, despite their intelligence, bryrvaths have very little use for tools, as their unusual feeding needs don’t require them; they instead rely on their spell-like abilities and natural weapons to defend themselves.\r\n\r\nThe average bryrvath is 6 feet tall when standing upright and weighs approximately 250 pounds. While often found in areas that are primarily covered in darkness—presumably to plunge those who carry artificial light sources into terrible inky blackness—a bryrvath shows no fear of natural light, though it tends not to linger in areas exposed to it."},{"title":"Caypin","flavor_text":"","cr":"6","xp":"2400","size":"Large","alignment":"N","creature_type":"magical beast","creature_subtype":"aquatic","initiative":"+2","senses":"darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision","perception":"+13","aura":"","hp":"90","rp":"","eac":"18","kac":"20","fort_save":"+10","ref_save":"+10","will_save":"+5","defensive_abilities":"","immunities":"","resistances":"","weaknesses":"","spell_resistance":"","damage_reduction":"","speed":"40 ft., swim 30 ft.","melee":"bite +14 (3d4+13 P)","ranged":"","space":"10 ft.","reach":"10 ft.","offensive_abilities":"feeding appendages","spell_like_abilities":"","spells_known":"","str":"+5","dex":"+2","con":"+3","int":"-4","wis":"-1","cha":"-1","skills":"Acrobatics +13, Athletics +13 (+21 when swimming), Stealth +18","languages":"","gear":"","other_abilities":"amphibious","environment":"any swamp","organization":"solitary or pair","special_abilities":"Feeding Appendages (Ex) Instead of a lower jaw, a\r\ncaypin has a mass of writhing eyestalks that grant the creature sight and also chew its food with tiny, lamprey-like mouths. As a move action, a caypin can detach these appendages (or reattach any adjacent appendages), which are capable of ambulating on their own and transmitting visual data back to the caypin.\r\n\r\nAn appendage that moves farther than 100 feet from the caypin’s body immediately dies.\r\n\r\nWhile caypin appendages are harmless individually, they become more formidable in groups. A caypin has enough appendages to form up to two such groups at once. While detached, the appendages share a single\r\nset of actions with the caypin and act on the caypin’s initiative count. Each group of appendages has the aquatic subtype and is amphibious as per the universal creature rule; darkvision to a range of 60 feet and low-light vision; 18 Hit Points; and a base speed of 20 feet and a swim speed of 15 feet. A group of appendages takes up 5 feet of space and has a 5-foot reach. When applicable, a group of appendages uses the caypin’s Armor Class, saving throw bonuses, skill check bonuses, and other qualities.\r\n\r\nAs a standard action, a group of appendages can enter an adjacent creature’s square without provoking an attack of opportunity from that creature. When in another creature’s square, the appendages can attack that creature as a swift action (using the caypin’s bite attack bonus and damage). Multiple groups of caypin feeding appendages cannot share a space with the same creature at once. Other than this ability to swarm an opponent, a group of appendages cannot attack.\r\n\r\nIf all of a caypin’s appendages are detached, the creature can see only what its detached appendages see. If all of a caypin’s appendages are destroyed but the caypin still lives, the creature has the blinded condition for 3 days, after which it grows new appendages that function as normal.","description":"Caypins are some of the most insidious creatures to inhabit the galaxy’s marshes. Although they are hulking beasts, their physiques somewhere between those of wolves and crocodiles, they’re best known for the strange, detachable tentacles that contain both their eyes and their mouths. These eyestalks are able to wriggle like eels both on land and in water, and they can travel up to 100 feet from their “host,” allowing the caypin to both hunt and keep eyes on its territory—literally— while still lurking safely out of sight, often underwater. While the tentacles are capable of transmitting information back to their caypin via poorly understood psychic phenomena, the tentacles are relatively weak on their own and generally return to their host or gather together in groups before engaging with prey or intruders. In marshy areas where caypins are known to hunt, only the foolish wade into water without first checking to make sure that no fat, vermian tentacles with tiny mouths lurk nearby.\r\n\r\nCaypins live on multiple planets throughout the galaxy and are most plentiful on worlds that support extensive swamps or marshes full of meaty prey. Contrary to most people’s assumptions, caypins are not naturally evil—their limited intellects are incapable of truly understanding moral questions at all—but they are apex predators singularly driven by an insatiable hunger for huge amounts of raw meat. Caypins tend to eat half of their body weight in meat every few days, chewing away at the corpses of prey with their dozens of tiny mouths, and more than a few planets have seen native populations of slow-moving mammals, flightless birds, or languid amphibians go extinct due to caypins’ voracious hunting patterns. Likely for this reason, caypins typically live and hunt alone, although occasionally a mated pair shares a single swamp that both use as a killing field. Caypins typically live several hundred years or longer. However, caypins that cannot regularly feed fall into torpor, sometimes sleeping for years at a time in the muck of a river bottom before awakening with a driving hunger.\r\n\r\nCaypin biology is as fascinating as it is terrifying, as scholars from both universities and private industry have all so far failed to identify the mechanism by which its detachable appendages communicate with the main body. The wolf-shaped body of a caypin has no eyes or mouth of its own—rather, it sees and eats only via the contributions of dozens of thick, stalk-like appendages that hang from a jawlike protrusion on the front of their skulls. Each appendage bears a bloodshot eyeball looming over a tiny mouth with multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth. While their stalks are attached to their jaws, caypins feed normally, with the tiny mouth-tentacles passing along nutrients through a receptive socket in the jaw. Yet these tentacles can also detach and hunt independently, swarming over unwitting creatures, stripping the victims of meat, and carrying the masticated nourishment back to the caypin’s body. Once reattached, these appendages inject the meat into the feeding sockets to be digested\r\n\r\nas normal. Caypins can drink without the aid of their feeding appendages, ingesting water directly through the tentacles’ attachment sockets. Lacking digestive organs of their own, these tentacles are reliant on the main body to refresh the nutrients in their blood. Whether this strange system is the result of two symbiotic creatures having evolved to rely on each other or a single creature evolving a curious trait remains anyone’s guess. While many biologists believe the caypin’s control of its tentacles is the result of some unknown (and so far untraceable) form of psychic magic, others posit that the caypin’s nervous system relies on quantum entanglement, thus removing any need for physical connection. Either way, many corporations would love to uncover the secret of the caypin’s instantaneous, untraceable communication.\r\n\r\nOccasionally, a caypin’s stalks are destroyed during a difficult hunt. In these cases, the caypin is blind and cannot eat for 3 days while its appendages regrow. A caypin that has lost its feeding appendages typically hides and avoids interacting with other living beings, but if startled or cornered, it may go into a frenzy, attacking anything near it, though its blindness makes it a much less formidable opponent than it would be normally.\r\n\r\nMost xenobiologists consider caypins an invasive species that likely originated somewhere in the Veskarium, given the reptilian people’s admiration for the beasts. Some powerful vesk have managed to train caypins and keep them as pets, and have been known to intentionally import them to worlds they conquer. However, given caypins’ prevalence on planets that have had no known contact with the vesk, it’s likely that caypins or variations thereof evolved along parallel routes on several worlds. Caypins’ superficial biology supports this theory—caypins on different worlds often have somewhat divergent physiologies, and caypins with dramatically different abilities likely await discovery.\r\n\r\nA typical caypin is 14 feet long and weighs 1,500 pounds."},{"title":"Contemplative","flavor_text":"","cr":"2","xp":"600","size":"Medium","alignment":"N","creature_type":"monstrous humanoid","creature_subtype":"","initiative":"+1","senses":"blindsense (thought) 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft.","perception":"+7","aura":"","hp":"18","rp":"","eac":"13","kac":"12","fort_save":"+1","ref_save":"+3","will_save":"+7 (+11 vs. mind-affecting effects)","defensive_abilities":"","immunities":"","resistances":"","weaknesses":"","spell_resistance":"","damage_reduction":"","speed":"5 ft., fly 30 ft. (Su, perfect)","melee":"law +5 (1d4 S)","ranged":"azimuth laser pistol +7 (1d4+2 F; critical burn 1d4)","space":"5 ft.","reach":"5 ft.","offensive_abilities":"applied knowledge","spell_like_abilities":"(CL 2nd) 1/day—detect thoughts (DC 15), mind thrust (1st-level, DC 15) At will—daze (DC 14), psychokinetic hand","spells_known":"","str":"-2","dex":"1","con":"-1","int":"5","wis":"3","cha":"2","skills":"Computers +7, Engineering +7, Life Science +12, Mysticism +12, Physical Science +7","languages":"Akitonian, Common, Ysoki; telepathy 100 ft.","gear":"second skin, azimuth laser pistol with 2 batteries (20\r\ncharges each)","other_abilities":"","environment":"any urban (Akiton)","organization":"solitary, pair, or symposium (3–7)","special_abilities":"**Applied Knowledge (Ex)** Once per day before attempting a skill check or saving throw against a creature, a contemplative can use its bonus for the skill associated with that creature’s type (such as Life Science for an ooze or Mysticism for an outsider) in place of its normal bonus.\r\n\r\n**Atrophied (Ex)** A contemplative’s limbs are practically vestigial. A contemplative can manipulate most tools and one-handed weapons (including small arms) without difficulty. A contemplative can’t properly wield a two-handed weapon without dedicating its telekinetic powers to supporting the weapon, and even then it takes a –4 penalty to attack rolls. It also can’t use its spell-like abilities or fly until it is no longer wielding that weapon.","description":"The beings known through the Pact Worlds as contemplatives of Ashok were once humanoids of extreme intelligence living on Akiton. Upon unlocking exceptional psychic powers, they deliberately evolved their brains, to the detriment of their bodies. Now, contemplatives float along using telekinesis, their atrophied bodies dangling from pulsating brain-sacs.\r\n\r\nContemplatives’ specialized evolution dates back to long before the Gap, and only piecemeal records hint at their original appearance. Were they more interested in power and influence as a species, they likely would have conquered their home planet of Akiton, but instead, most contemplatives are content to ponder the multiverse and its secrets, most famously debating their conclusions in Akiton’s Halls of Reason. Contemplatives scholars are universally welcomed in laboratories, research facilities, and universities throughout the Pact Worlds, making them among the most prolific academic authors. Those who turn their minds to more worldly pursuits are rare, yet it is small cabals of such financial masterminds and political theorists that have best exploited Akiton’s recent economic downturn. These moguls have purchased large swaths of the planet’s real estate, ruling as silent overlords of ghost towns and thriving neighborhoods alike.\r\n\r\nAlthough contemplatives are known to be extraordinarily intelligent, observant, and confident, their behavior is often jarring to their colleagues of other species. Individual contemplatives often refer to groups of their kindred using the first-person plural, suggesting some degree of racial hivemind, telepathic union, or sacred sense of shared existence. Further supporting this theory is the fact that contemplatives rarely come into conflict with one another, with few instances of intraracial violence in recorded history. Despite contemplatives’ relative peacefulness, other races often perceive them as aloof, overly logical, and emotionally sterile.\r\n\r\nContemplatives are able to speak, though their voices are reedy and soft. Most consider verbal communication rather crude, favoring telepathy. Those who regularly need to speak often wear inexpensive contact speakers that translate their telepathic thoughts into spoken words. They’re also able to sing in keening wails, although they rarely do so except around others of their kind or their most honored colleagues. The few ethnographers who study this behavior directly have compared the songs to religious paeans—an association contemplatives find absurd, in part because most prefer to study faith objectively rather than as worshipers.\r\n\r\nDespite their frail appearance, contemplatives are able to survive in unforgiving environments. They find indoor sites far more comfortable, however especially areas that are cool and still, as these conditions facilitate their concentration. When contemplatives do build their own communities, the structures are often windowless and difficult to navigate for those unable to fly."},{"title":"Contemplative Mentor","flavor_text":"","cr":"18","xp":"153600","size":"Medium","alignment":"N","creature_type":"monstrous humanoid","creature_subtype":"","initiative":"+3","senses":"blindsense (thought) 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft.","perception":"+31","aura":"","hp":"290","rp":"6","eac":"32","kac":"31","fort_save":"+15","ref_save":"+17","will_save":"+22 (+26 vs. mind-affecting effects)","defensive_abilities":"share pain (DC 27)","immunities":"","resistances":"","weaknesses":"atrophied","spell_resistance":"","damage_reduction":"","speed":"5 ft., fly 30 ft. (Su, perfect)","melee":"psychokinetic claw +26 (8d8+17 B)","ranged":"zenith laser pistol +28 (8d4+18 F; critical burn 4d4)","space":"5 ft.","reach":"5 ft.","offensive_abilities":"applied knowledge, backlash (18 damage), explode head (DC 27), mental anguish (DC 27), mind-breaking link (DC 27), mindkiller (DC 27), sow doubt (9 rounds, DC 27)","spell_like_abilities":"(CL 18th) At will—mindlink, telepathic bond","spells_known":"(CL 18th; ranged +28) 6th (3/day)—mind thrust (DC 27), psychic surgery 5th (6/day)—crush skull (DC 26), feeblemind (DC 26), greater synaptic pulse (DC 26), modify memory (DC 26) 4th (at will)—confusion (DC 25), mind probe (DC 25) Connection mindbreaker","str":"-1","dex":"+3","con":"0","int":"11","wis":"8","cha":"6","skills":"Computers +30, Engineering +30, Life Science +36, Mysticism +36, Physical Science +30","languages":"Akitonian, Common, Ysoki; telepathy 100 ft.","gear":"elite hardlight series, zenith laser pistol with 2 ultra-capacity batteries (100 charges each)","other_abilities":"","environment":"any urban (Akiton)","organization":"solitary or pair","special_abilities":"**Applied Knowledge (Ex)** Once per day before attempting a skill check or saving throw against a creature, a contemplative can use its bonus for the skill associated with that creature’s type (such as Life Science for an ooze or Mysticism for an outsider) in place of its normal bonus.\r\n\r\n**Atrophied (Ex)** A contemplative’s limbs are practically vestigial. A contemplative can manipulate most tools and one-handed weapons (including small arms) without difficulty. A contemplative can’t properly wield a two-handed weapon without dedicating its telekinetic powers to supporting the weapon, and even then it takes a –4 penalty to attack rolls. It also can’t use its spell-like abilities or fly until it is no longer wielding that weapon.","description":"The beings known through the Pact Worlds as contemplatives of Ashok were once humanoids of extreme intelligence living on Akiton. Upon unlocking exceptional psychic powers, they deliberately evolved their brains, to the detriment of their bodies. Now, contemplatives float along using telekinesis, their atrophied bodies dangling from pulsating brain-sacs.\r\n\r\nContemplatives’ specialized evolution dates back to long before the Gap, and only piecemeal records hint at their original appearance. Were they more interested in power and influence as a species, they likely would have conquered their home planet of Akiton, but instead, most contemplatives are content to ponder the multiverse and its secrets, most famously debating their conclusions in Akiton’s Halls of Reason. Contemplatives scholars are universally welcomed in laboratories, research facilities, and universities throughout the Pact Worlds, making them among the most prolific academic authors. Those who turn their minds to more worldly pursuits are rare, yet it is small cabals of such financial masterminds and political theorists that have best exploited Akiton’s recent economic downturn. These moguls have purchased large swaths of the planet’s real estate, ruling as silent overlords of ghost towns and thriving neighborhoods alike.\r\n\r\nAlthough contemplatives are known to be extraordinarily intelligent, observant, and confident, their behavior is often jarring to their colleagues of other species. Individual contemplatives often refer to groups of their kindred using the first-person plural, suggesting some degree of racial hivemind, telepathic union, or sacred sense of shared existence. Further supporting this theory is the fact that contemplatives rarely come into conflict with one another, with few instances of intraracial violence in recorded history. Despite contemplatives’ relative peacefulness, other races often perceive them as aloof, overly logical, and emotionally sterile.\r\n\r\nContemplatives are able to speak, though their voices are reedy and soft. Most consider verbal communication rather crude, favoring telepathy. Those who regularly need to speak often wear inexpensive contact speakers that translate their telepathic thoughts into spoken words. They’re also able to sing in keening wails, although they rarely do so except around others of their kind or their most honored colleagues. The few ethnographers who study this behavior directly have compared the songs to religious paeans—an association contemplatives find absurd, in part because most prefer to study faith objectively rather than as worshipers.\r\n\r\nDespite their frail appearance, contemplatives are able to survive in unforgiving environments. They find indoor sites far more comfortable, however especially areas that are cool and still, as these conditions facilitate their concentration. When contemplatives do build their own communities, the structures are often windowless and difficult to navigate for those unable to fly."},{"title":"Aasimar","flavor_text":"Alien Archive 2 pg. 98","cr":"1","xp":"400","size":"Medium","alignment":"NG","creature_type":"outsider","creature_subtype":"native","initiative":"+2","senses":"darkvision 60 ft.","perception":"+10","aura":null,"hp":"17","rp":null,"eac":"11","kac":"12","fort_save":"+1","ref_save":"+3","will_save":"+4","defensive_abilities":null,"immunities":null,"resistances":"acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5","weaknesses":null,"spell_resistance":null,"damage_reduction":null,"speed":"30 ft.","melee":"tactical dueling sword +4 (1d6 S)","ranged":"azimuth laser pistol +6 (1d4+1 F; critical burn 1d4) or frag grenade I +6 (explode [15 ft., 1d6 P, DC 12]) or smoke grenade I +6 (explode [20 ft., smoke cloud 1 minute, DC 12])","space":"5 ft.","reach":"5 ft.","offensive_abilities":null,"spell_like_abilities":null,"spells_known":null,"str":"+0","dex":"+2","con":"+0","int":"+0","wis":"+1","cha":"+4","skills":"Culture +5, Diplomacy +10, Medicine +5, Sense Motive +10","languages":"Celestial, Elven, Common","gear":"flight suit stationwear, azimuth laser pistol with 2 batteries (20 charges each), tactical dueling sword, frag grenade I, smoke grenade I","other_abilities":"celestial radiance, envoy improvisation (not in the face [DC 14])","environment":"any","organization":"solitary, pair, or band (3–6)","special_abilities":"Celestial Radiance (Su) As a standard action, an aasimar can shed light, causing light within 10 feet of him to increase two steps, up to bright, and light for 10 more feet beyond that to increase one step, up to normal. This lasts for 1 minute, but the aasimar can dismiss it as a swift action. Magical darkness can decrease the light level in this area only if it’s from an item or creature of a level or CR higher than that of the aasimar. An aasimar can use this ability once per day, plus a number of times equal to half his CR or level.","description":"Many kinds of extraplanar beings can infuse humanoids’ bloodlines, whether as a side effect of powerful magic or the result of a tryst; those in whom extraplanar traits surface strongly are known as planar scions. Aasimars and tieflings, the mortal offspring of celestials and fiends, respectively, are the most common of these. Though planar scions resemble their humanoid kin, their appearance and demeanor bear supernatural touches. Tieflings might have horns, vestigial wings, or cloven hooves, while aasimars may have glowing eyes or a metallic sheen to their hair and skin.\r\n\r\n Because of their innate curiosity, humans are more likely to dally with outsiders, and as a consequence, a significant percentage of planar scions living in the Pact Worlds are descended from humans. However, because humans are far less populous than in pre-Gap eras, planar scions descended from other humanoid races are now far more numerous. A planar scion might pass for a member of the humanoid parent’s species, or the scion’s otherworldly features could make their origin obvious to those who are familiar with the species’ normal characteristics. Those whose outsider blood is evident still find acceptance in most major settlements across the Pact Worlds, where diverse beings coexist in peace. On Absalom Station, the hub of interspecies relations, few people bat an eye when they meet an aasimar or tiefling.\r\n\r\nHowever, in insular or tradition-bound communities, any signs of plane-touched heritage can be a blessing—or a death sentence—depending on the dominant traditions. The demon-worshiping drow of Apostae see tieflings as a favor from demonic patrons, while the elves of Sovyrian on Castrovel are likely to banish children who bear such fiendish heritage. The Radiant Cathedral, on the other hand, trains aasimars to become beacons of the Sarenite faith, and also guides tieflings to a brighter future than their heritage suggests. Formians, shobhads, vesk, and other species with flexible morality view aasimars and tieflings, particularly those descended from their own kind, with both admiration and suspicion.\r\n\r\n Planar scions are often outliers in their community, either put on a pedestal or ostracized because of their ancestry. The potent blood that courses through the veins of aasimars and tieflings also makes them ambitious; many choose a dangerous but rewarding profession, such as explorer, mercenary, spy, or pilot."},{"title":"Adult Nyssholora","flavor_text":"Alien Archive 2 pg. 86","cr":"11","xp":"12800","size":"Huge","alignment":"N","creature_type":"magical","creature_subtype":"beast","initiative":"+0","senses":"darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, telepathy sense 60 ft.","perception":"+20","aura":null,"hp":"180","rp":null,"eac":"24","kac":"26","fort_save":"+15","ref_save":"+10","will_save":"+13","defensive_abilities":null,"immunities":null,"resistances":"electricity 10, sonic 10","weaknesses":null,"spell_resistance":null,"damage_reduction":null,"speed":"40 ft.","melee":"bite +24 (4d6+19 P plus swallow whole) or phasic claws +24 (2d8+19 So; critical wound [DC 18]) or tail scourge +24 (2d8+19 E)","ranged":null,"space":"5 ft.","reach":"5 ft.","offensive_abilities":"breath weapon (30-ft. cone, 11d6 So [see text], Reflex DC 18 half, usable every 1d6 rounds [see text]), swallow whole (4d6+19 B, EAC 24, KAC 22, 45 HP)","spell_like_abilities":null,"spells_known":null,"str":"+8","dex":"+0","con":"+5","int":"-4","wis":"+3","cha":"-2","skills":"Athletics +25","languages":null,"gear":null,"other_abilities":null,"environment":"temperate or warm plains (Castrovel)","organization":"solitary, pair, or brood (1–2 adults plus 3–6 juveniles)","special_abilities":"Breath Weapon (Su) A creature that fails its saving throw against the breath weapon is also staggered for 1 round. This breath weapon ignores an object’s hardness. An adult nyssholora can't use its breath weapon if it has a creature grappled in its mouth or for at least 1 round after swallowing a creature.
Phasic Claws (Su) A nyssholora’s claws ignore half an object’s hardness.
Telepathy Sense (Su)","description":"Among the most feared and deadly apex predators on Castrovel, a nyssholora is a dinosaur-like monster that stalks the wilderness across both Asana and the Colonies. These fearless hunters eat whatever they can catch and kill. They have plagued lashuntas and formians enough to figure prominently in the mythology of both species for millennia.\r\n\r\n A nyssholora resembles a tyrannosaur, standing on its hind legs and counterbalancing its massive head with a long, muscular tail. A nyssholora has a pair of upper appendages with claws that resemble scythe blades, as well as a smaller pair of similar arms the creature uses to mark its territory and communicate its location to offspring, hunting partners, or a mate. A wide maw filled with two rows of fangs dominates the creature’s head, and eight beady eyes run in two vertical rows along the bridge of its nose. A wide, flat crest tops its skull, behind which writhe a mass of short, smooth tentacles. A smaller bundle of tentacles tips the nyssholora’s tail. These tentacles serve two purposes. First, the nyssholora uses them to collect energy from the atmosphere. Second, they aid the nyssholora in sensing the presence of telepathic prey, including formians and lashuntas. Stealth in the plains is all but impossible for a creature the size of a nyssholora, and it makes little effort to camouflage itself, sporting bright neon striations of yellow and orange across its thick purple or pink hide.\r\n\r\n Nyssholoras nest and lay eggs, and both parents keep watch over unhatched young in the treacherous Castrovelian wilderness. Brooding nyssholoras are particularly aggressive, due to hunger and the desire to protect their offspring. When young nyssholoras hatch, they remain in the nest for only a day. They then stay near a parent, learning how to hunt. Juvenile nyssholoras become more and more independent over the course of a month and then set out on their own or in small groups that typically end up breaking up a couple months later. Adult nyssholoras have been known to respond to distress calls of their own offspring up to a year after separation.\r\n\r\n The people of Castrovel hunt nyssholoras to keep their numbers down. Big-game hunters collect the beasts’ phasic claws, the third segment of the creature’s forearms. These bladed talons are sharp, but their real danger is that they vibrate at ultrasonic speeds, creating a blade of concentrated sound waves that precedes the physical structure of the claw as it swipes through the air. This can cut through even extremely dense materials. Because of these adaptations, Castrovelian scientists have long believed that nyssholoras evolved to hunt prey that had both telepathy and preternaturally strong armor. This hypothetical prey has long since vanished from Castrovel, but the nyssholora, lacking predators to challenge its position at the top of the food chain, has remained. More than one nyssholora has used its talons to carve open vehicle hulls or cut into city walls to get at prey.\r\n\r\n Similarly, the volume and force with which a nyssholora releases its low, resonant roar are enough to weaken the structural integrity of buildings and concuss the bodies of other creatures. This mighty bellow offers potential prey an early warning to the beast’s approach since, in the absence of overwhelming ambient noise, a nyssholora’s cry can be heard as far as 20 miles away. The beast’s roar is so iconic that an entire genre of loud, growling music popular among korasha lashuntas adopted its name—originally as an insult from the style’s detractors, but quickly embraced by fans. Nyssholoran roar performances can be heard in counterculture hot spots throughout the Pact Worlds.\r\n\r\n In its horizontal walking pose, an adult nyssholora is 15 feet tall at the hip but can stand upright to over 20 feet. The typical adult nyssholora stretches as much as 40 feet from the tip of its tail to its nose and weighs 15 tons, although formian and lashunta legends tell of epic specimens two or three times recorded sizes. Juvenile nyssholoras are less than half the size and weigh almost 2 tons."},{"title":"Adult Silver Dragon","flavor_text":"Alien Archive 2 pg. 40","cr":"14","xp":"38400","size":"Huge","alignment":"LG","creature_type":"dragon","creature_subtype":"cold","initiative":"+3","senses":"blindsense (vibration) 60 ft., darkvision 120 ft., detect alignment, low-light vision","perception":"+25","aura":"frightful presence (200 ft., DC 22)","hp":"235","rp":"","eac":"28","kac":"29","fort_save":"+14","ref_save":"+14","will_save":"+19","defensive_abilities":"","immunities":"cold, paralysis, sleep","resistances":"","weaknesses":"vulnerable to fire","spell_resistance":"25","damage_reduction":"10/magic","speed":"40 ft., fly 200 ft. (Ex, clumsy), cloudwalking","melee":"bite +26 (6d6+22 P)","ranged":"","space":"5 ft.","reach":"5 ft.","offensive_abilities":"breath weapon (50-ft. cone, 15d8 C, Reflex DC 22 half, usable every 1d4 rounds), crush (6d6+22 B), paralyzing breath (30-ft cone, 1d6+7 rounds, DC 22)","spell_like_abilities":"","spells_known":"","str":"+8","dex":"+3","con":"+3","int":"+6","wis":"+3","cha":"+4","skills":"Acrobatics +25 (+17 to fly), Computers +30, Diplomacy +30, Disguise +25, Life Science +30, Mysticism +25, Physical Science +30, Sense Motive +25","languages":"Auran, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Terran","gear":"","other_abilities":"change shape (animal or humanoid)","environment":"any","organization":"solitary","special_abilities":"Cloudwalking (Su) A silver dragon can tread on clouds or fog as though on solid ground.
Paralyzing Breath (Su) Instead of a cone of cold, a silver dragon can breathe a 30-foot cone of paralyzing gas. Each creature within the cone that inhales the gas must succeed at a Fortitude save or be paralyzed for 1d6 rounds plus a number of additional rounds equal to half the dragon’s CR.","description":"Dragons are powerful reptilian creatures of high intelligence and great ingenuity. The vast majority of dragons fall into one of two categories: chromatic or metallic (though other categories exist). Chromatic dragons are often evil, indulging in machinations that benefit themselves or destroy their enemies. Metallic dragons (see below) are generally good, endeavoring to improve societal conditions for everyone. Dragons usually grow larger as they age, though a few dragons undergo expensive genetic modifications to remain small enough to fit within starships and space stations built by the humanoids of the Pact Worlds. Others develop the supernatural ability to change their forms to blend in with Pact Worlds society.\r\n\r\n Several metallic dragons lead countries and corporations found within the Drakelands of Triaxus, occasionally engaging in warfare (corporate and militaristic) with the chromatic dragons of that planet. The metallic dragons claim these struggles are for the good of those under their care, though those same people are sometimes trampled in the process."},{"title":"Akata","flavor_text":"Alien Archive 2 pg. 8","cr":"1","xp":"400","size":"Medium","alignment":"N","creature_type":"aberration","creature_subtype":null,"initiative":"+6","senses":"blindsense (life) 10 ft., blindsense (scent) 60 ft., darkvision 120 ft.","perception":"+5","aura":null,"hp":"18","rp":null,"eac":"12","kac":"13","fort_save":"+3","ref_save":"+3","will_save":"+3","defensive_abilities":null,"immunities":"cold, disease, poison, starvation","resistances":"fire 5","weaknesses":"susceptible to salt water","spell_resistance":null,"damage_reduction":null,"speed":"40 ft., climb 20 ft.","melee":"bite +8 (1d6+2 P plus void bite)","ranged":null,"space":"5 ft.","reach":"5 ft.","offensive_abilities":null,"spell_like_abilities":null,"spells_known":null,"str":"+1","dex":"+2","con":"+4","int":"-4","wis":"+1","cha":"+0","skills":"Acrobatics +5, Athletics +5 (+13 to climb), Stealth +10","languages":null,"gear":null,"other_abilities":"deaf, hibernation, no breath","environment":"any","organization":"solitary, pair, pack (3–11), or colony (12–30)","special_abilities":"Deaf (Ex) Akatas cannot attempt Perception checks to listen and are immune to effects that rely on hearing to function.
Hibernation (Ex) Akatas can enter a state of hibernation for an indefinite period of time when food is scarce. After 3 or more days without eating, an akata can secrete a fibrous material that hardens into a dense cocoon of the starmetal called noqual. The cocoon has hardness 30 and 30 Hit Points, and it is immune to bludgeoning and fire damage. As long as the cocoon remains intact, the akata within remains unharmed. The akata remains in a state of hibernation until it is exposed to extreme heat or senses a living creature with its blindsense, at which point it claws itself free of its cocoon in 1d4 minutes, leaving the fragments of its cocoon behind.
Susceptible to Salt Water (Ex) A splash of salt water deals 1d6 damage to an akata, and full immersion in salt water deals 4d6 damage per round.
Void Bite (Ex) Akatas hold hundreds of microscopic larval young within their mouths, and they spread their parasitic offspring to hosts through their bite. Only humanoids make suitable hosts for akata young—all other creature types are immune to this parasitic infection. This affliction is known as void death.