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The Demented One
2006-08-28, 09:04 PM
Sower of Ash
Size/Type: Medium Fey (Fire)
Hit Dice: 14d10+42 (119 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 21 (+6 Dex, +5 natural), touch 16, flatfooted 15
Base Attack/Grapple: +7/+10
Attack: Hair +13 melee (1d6 fire) or Dagger +13 melee (1d4+3)
Full Attack: Dagger +13/+8 melee (1d4+3) and Hair +8 melee (1d6 fire)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. (10 ft. with hair)
Special Attacks: Choking smoke, forest fire, smouldering gaze, summon fire elementals
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 10/cold iron, firesight, immunity to fire, low-light vision, spell resistance 23, vulnerability to cold
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +15, Will +13
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 22, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 18, Cha 18
Skills: Bluff +21, Intimidate +21, Knowledge (Nature) +19, Listen +21, Perform (Dance) +21, Spot +21, Survival +21, Tumble +23
Feats: Weapon Finesse, Dodge, Mobility, Ability Focus (Smouldering Gaze), Great Fortitude
Environment: Warm Forests
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 11
Treasure: Standard (No flammables)
Alignment: Usually Chaotic Evil
Advancement: 12-20 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: +3

Sowers of Ash are fey said to be manifest forest fires. Though not all are the fire-crazed maniacs legends paint them as, it is true that they compulsively clear out whatever the see as “staganation”, so that new life may grow...and that their methods are most often to simply burn everything to the ground, and let nature take care of the rest. Sowers of Ash appear as beautiful women with bright, rosy red skin. Their eyes, however, are pure coal-black rimmed with a glowing red, and their hair is a seething mass of seemingly animate flame.

Choking Smoke (Su)
As a standard action, a Sower of Ash may create a small cloud of smoke, and throw it within any creature within 60 ft. of her. This requires a ranged touch attack to hit. If the cloud hits, it enters the creatures lungs, staying there for 1d8 rounds. Each round, the creature must make a DC 21 Fortitude save or spend the round doing nothing but coughing and choking. Every time it fails two consecutive saves, it is internally burnt, taking 1d6 points of fire damage. If it fails three consecutive saves, it must make another save or die. The save is Cha based.

Forest Fire (Su)
Once per day, a Sower of Ash may perform an hour-long ritual, consisting of her wildly dancing and burning offerings of flesh, some still living, in order to create a forest fire. If the ritual is interrupted, it is ruined, and the sower must wait till the next day to perform it. Once the ritual is finished, a forest fire starts within 1d10 miles of the sower. The Sower of Ash that created the fire has no control over it, though she can tell exactly where it originated.

Smouldering Gaze (Su)
A Sower of Ash can ignite anything she lays eyes on. As a full-round action, she may cause her eyes to glow a burning red, dealing 10d6 points of fire damage to all creatures in a 30 ft. cone, with a DC 23 Reflex save for half damage. Any combustible item caught in the cone must make a Reflex save or ignite. The save is Cha based.

Summon Fire Elementals (Sp)
Three times per day, a Sower of Ash may summon 1d6+1 Medium fire elementals, 1d3 Large fire elementals, or a single Huge fire elemental. This is the equivalent of a 5th level spell.

Firesight (Ex)
A Sower of Ash has blindsight out to 60 ft. However, it may only perceive creatures with the fire subtype or sources of fire, such as a torch or flaming sword, with this blindsense.

The Vorpal Tribble
2006-08-28, 09:17 PM
Now this is an interesting fey!

Description, concept and even the name is great, and don't see any numbers off.

*gives a big furry thumb's up*

martyboy74
2006-08-28, 09:34 PM
<insert requisite joke about a hot chick here>

This is awesome! It even has a plot hook built in, from the forest fire ability!

Eighth_Seraph
2006-08-28, 11:52 PM
This is very interesting. This+charred horror= the best druid/ranger plot hook I've ever seen. Read my sig, it says it all.

I_Got_This_Name
2006-08-29, 03:05 AM
I think Fey are supposed to have d6 hit dice usually, not d10s.

Also, Choking Smoke is underpowered as a save-or-die. The target has to fail four consecutive saves to die of it; make it simply automatic death on the third consecutive save, or possibly just auto-drowning.

LordOfNarf
2006-08-29, 11:48 AM
wow, I love this stuff, if you enter this to MitP, I vote yes

Eighth_Seraph
2006-08-29, 12:21 PM
Also, Choking Smoke is underpowered as a save-or-die. The target has to fail four consecutive saves to die of it; make it simply automatic death on the third consecutive save, or possibly just auto-drowning.

It seems to me that it's not supposed to be a save-or-die, the point seems to be a stall tactic against opponents that would otherwise overwhelm the sower (like your party's druid). It merely ALSO has the ability to possibly kill a player, giving the added bonus of having the party healer do whatever he/she can to stop it. As a stall tactic it seems very effective, but I agree that if the purpose was a kill attack, it falls below par.

By the way, DO, was this thing supposed to be used alongside a charred horror? 'cause it sure looks that way.

asromta
2006-08-29, 01:39 PM
The inbuild plothook could indeed be very useful, but how often will a Sower of Ash use its Forest Fire ability is left alone? Every day, or would it use it more every month?

(If entered in MitP, MitP Vote: Yes.)

The Demented One
2006-08-29, 06:59 PM
By the way, DO, was this thing supposed to be used alongside a charred horror? 'cause it sure looks that way.
Is that the undead treant thing of Rich's? I wasn't thinking of it when I made this, though I agree they would go well together.


The inbuild plothook could indeed be very useful, but how often will a Sower of Ash use its Forest Fire ability is left alone? Every day, or would it use it more every month?
However often it felt was necessary. Remember, they aren't just pyromaniacs--they're pyromaniacs with a purpose. They wouldn't create a forest fire in, for example, an area still recovering from one.

Leperflesh
2006-09-12, 04:43 PM
This is an interesting creature.

You might be aware of this already, but, I thought I'd point out a common misunderstanding, in case it colors how you envision this monster being used/its motivations for acting.

Forest fires are necessary to the health of many types of temperate forest. However: typically, these forests burn once a decade or so. The underbrush and small plants burn completely, but most of the trees survive. This creates 'room' around the trees for more trees to grow; it allows pinecones to open and germinate; and the more open terrain is beneficial for many kinds of animal life.

(especially Western) forests, however, have been prevented from burning naturally for a long time - often 50 to 100 years or more. As a consequence, they have much thicker, older undergrowth. When they do burn, they burn too hot, and everything is killed, including the trees. This leads to huge stands of dead wood with no shade. It can take decades for such complete-burn areas to recover. This is not the normal, natural fire-cycle for these forests.

I could see a Sower of Ash being a natural, non-evil avatar of nature, if it's intention and common practice was to start the healthy, natural type of forest fire in areas where it needed it. On the other hand, I could see it as an evil, nature-opposed being, if its intention is to destroy areas of forest (or whatever) using fire.

It's hard for me to reconcile both aspects though: if it is interested in total devastation of a forest through fire, it seems to me that it is necessarily nature-opposed.

Anyway: food for thought. We don't need to be so accurate in a fantasy game anyway, so:

MitP Vote: Yes

-Lep

The Demented One
2006-09-12, 06:03 PM
I could see a Sower of Ash being a natural, non-evil avatar of nature, if it's intention and common practice was to start the healthy, natural type of forest fire in areas where it needed it. On the other hand, I could see it as an evil, nature-opposed being, if its intention is to destroy areas of forest (or whatever) using fire.

They seek to destroy the forest to, as you noted allow it to grow back. However, that's not what makes them evil. They're evil because they are perfectly willing to burn down towns and villages full of innocents in order to allow new life to grow there.