Worlok
2010-10-31, 10:12 AM
So... yeah. A friend of mine phoned in today and unsurprisingly, he being one of the few people I know who actually celebrate Halloween, asked me to whip up "something creepy", meaning a homebrew D&D 3.5 monster that would scare "like, the characters and the players", with the sole specification that it should be "about CR 12 and, like, I dunno, man, some devil or demon or something, you know what I mean". I took it as a challenge and got working. And now I humbly ask for your opinions on my creation. The wording may once again be slightly off, but I hope it does not harm comprehension all that much. So, is the monstrosity spoilered below reasonably tough? Are there any mistakes I failed to fix or passages that are confusing and should be streamlined? And on behalf of the guy who insisting on contributing them, are the fluff-quotes any good? Anyway, thanks in advance. :smallbiggrin:
FINSTERLING
''Back when I was a little boy, my parents would always tell me not to stay out after dark and not to talk to mysterious strangers in alleyways. As a child, I would always wonder why they did that. As a young man, I had heard more than enough stories to know exactly why they did that, why parents, in fact, should do that. Now, I have lived for well over a houndred years. I'm a wizard of considerable power and experience. And ironically, it is because of this that I have taken their advice to heart at last.'' (- Sadrulian Vect, veteran Conjurer)
Size/Type: Medium Outsider (Evil, Fire, Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 12d8+12 (60 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 18 (+4 Dex, +4 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+20
Attack: Tentacle +10 melee (1d4+3) or claw +5 melee (1d4+1)
Full Attack: 4 tentacles +10 melee (1d4+3) and 2 claws +5 melee (1d4 +1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved grab, trip, spell-like abilities, constrict, fiendish swallow whole
Special Qualities: Fast healing 5, vital appendages, scent, sightless, mimicry, tremorsense 10-80 ft. (*), low-light aura 7-60 ft. (*), blindsight 5-40 ft.(*), fire shield, vulnerability to cold, immunity to poison, acid and fire, damage reduction 10/good or cold
Saves: Fort +12, Ref +14, Will +15
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 20, Cha 16
Skills: Jump +15, Climb +15, Survival +15, Hide +15, Move Silently +15, Bluff +15, Listen +15, Sense Motive +15, Intimidate +15, Balance +15, Gather Information +15, Disguise +15, Knowledge (local) +0, Knowledge (religion) +0
Feats: Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Power Attack, Cleave, (Combat Reflexes), Track
Environment: An evil-aligned plane
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 11
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always evil (any)
Advancement: 13-15 (Medium)
Level Adjustment: -
Optional flavor rules:
''It was a wondrous and frightening sight indeed, the monster and the beasts locked in merciless battle with one another. A wolf's teeth digging into writhing arms, a fanged beak breaking a goblin's neck. None of them knew what their fight was about, but all of them wanted to see it through. And as I stood there, taking in the scene of the monstrous brawl and seeing the vast emptyness that stretched far away, I came to realize that Gehenna's eternity is truly a bleak one.'' (- Turun Megiddo, planar traveler)
Native to the Bleak Eternity of Gehenna, finsterlings are a random force among the fiends; they do not take sides in the Blood War, lashing out at both sides unless individually bullied or tricked into obedience, but are engaged in what may well be their equivalent for it with barghests and greater barghests. A (greater) barghest always treats a finsterling as its favored enemy (as via the ranger class ability of the same name, with the difference that it applies only to finsterlings/barghests, not evil outsiders as a whole) and vice versa. Members of these species are almost certain to attack those of the other on sight.
Finsterlings encountered on their home plane commonly speak and think in a pidgin of Infernal, Abyssal and Ignan, even though they are always able to speak all three languages clearly and fluently. A character who chooses to communicate with a finsterling in this pidgin must succeed on an Intelligence check against a check DC of 20, which is lowered by 5 for every one of those languages the character can speak herself, in order to be able to do that. Finsterlings encountered on any other plane continue to think in their pidgin, but will usually speak any one of the three instead. Those who remain on the Material Plane for a long time will almost always pick up a number of additional languages equal to their Intelligence modifier over time.
The presence of finsterlings outside of Gehenna is usually the result of a misfired summoning: They are strangely in touch with the planes, including the Astral Plane; a finsterling may at any time make untrained Knowledge (the planes) checks and gain a racial bonus equal to half the number of its Hit Dice on top of its Intelligence modifier to the check result. Whenever someone tries to summon a fiend or fiendish creature via a summon monster spell or a spell-like ability such as 'Summon Devil' during a moonless night or within the area of effect of a darkness spell, there is a ( ( 10 – Summoner's Intelligence modifier ) x ( ( 10 - The summoning effect's spell level ) / 2 ) )-percent chance that a finsterling will be summoned instead. In that case, the finsterling is entitled to a Will save against a DC equal to twice the summoner's caster level or racial Hit Dice (whichever is higher) and may remain on the plane it was summoned to indefinitely (as well as disregard any orders it gets from the summoner completely) if it makes the save.
Description:
''At first, I thought the thing was human. They had described it that way; now it was standing there, hard to make out in the fog that was all around it, but clearly no creature of Earth as we know it. I saw its hideous head, like a bird's, but just so incredibly terrifying, slowly turning around; saw the empty stare of what can only be called a mockery of a man's face; and then I suddenly heard it speak. I left town that same day and I didn't look back ever since.'' (- Derwyl Cologolwol, traveling glassblower and gnome)
Finsterlings are about the size and weight of the average male high elf, tentacles nonwithstanding. Their torsos and upper legs and arms resemble that of exceptionally gaunt humans, albeit in rather simian proportions. The lower legs and arms are scaled and end in talons not unlike that of a bird of prey, although bigger and in the case of the arms with opposable thumb claws. Finsterling tentacles grow out of a fleshy protrusion on the creature's back roughly the size of an average backpack, forcing them to stand crooked and appear hunch-backed most of the time. The skin is of a dull-grey color with a distinct bluish hue to it, mottled with what looks like melanoma.
The head resembles that of a featherless vulture in shape, but does on average point more steeply downwards, equal to that of a bodak. The beak is filled with sharp, lupine teeth and requires the finsterling to bend its long and turkey-like neck slightly backwards in order to be fully opened. When walking quickly or running, a finsterling's head often rocks back and forth in a way similar to that of a running pigeon. The front of its head is shaped in such a way as to resemble the face of an elderly human or half-elven male, with protrusions of horn and a thin layer of leathery skin forming features such as eyebrows, a constantly closed, smiling mouth and a nose. As long as the finsterling's mouth remains closed, the point of its beak makes up the chin party and its speech is delivered through the 'nose', emanating an effect not unlike ventriloquism.
A finsterling has four tentacles, which it uses as its primary defensive weapons as well as important sensory organs, and a fifth, smaller one which looks like a lizard's tail, is never used for combat and always touches the surface the finsterling stands on (see 'vital appendages', below). These tentacles may be sundered as if they were weapons. They have 10 hit points each (5 for the fifth one). A finsterling's tentacles regrow, within 1d10+5 days, unless the fifth is sundered as well. The fifth one regrows in 1d20+10 days, starting whenever the finsterling returns to Gehenna and being immediately halted the moment it leaves there again.
When choosing a disguise, finsterlings favor long and concealing clothes such as robes, longcoats or evening gowns under which they can handily hide their tentacles, acting the part of hunchbacked people if necessary.
The finsterling's claws are used as its primary hunting weapons. While finsterlings, like most outsiders, do not physically need to eat, they do begin to suffer from a ravenous hunger every 1d10 days while away from their home plane and should be expected to be currently hunting by everyone encountering them at any time. They prefer to attack Small creatures, whom they stalk and overwhelm from ambush or sweet-talk into coming close enough for the fiend to grapple and devour them. A finsterling is required to consume at least it's own weight in living matter in order to still that hunger.
As they prefer warm-blooded prey which is able to scream and howl at them in a language they understand while being eaten, they will often infiltrate humanoid settlements, making use of their roughly humanoid build, their mimicry ability, disguise self and elaborate costumes in order to establish a base of operations and pass for kin to the populace. They are most commonly found in human cities, where they tend to seek out inns, bars and other places of frequent crowding, sitting near open fires and, when possible, smoking heavily. Occasionally they will assassinate an adult in order to feel up the corpse and design their disguise in its image, taking the place of their victim. Although finsterlings hate cold temperatures and, ironically, enjoy feeling the warmth of sunlight, they usually strike out at night to hunt for children and Small humanoids, whom they find easier to overwhelm in the darkness (see 'low-light aura', below).
Finsterlings are extremely cautious, if not downright cowardly, never attacking unless sure to have the element of surprise acting in their favor. They shy away from confrontations with creatures about their own size or bigger – with the exception of barghests, of course – and will withdraw via Plane Shift once they drop into or below the 5-10 hit point range, rather than fight to the death. A finsterling will never forget an insult or ridicule, though, and is likely to track down any offender in order to murder him or her in his or her sleep. If ''starved'', fighting barghests, encountered in Gehenna or dimensionally anchored, however, they will pull their weight to the last breath, lashing out viciously with their claws and tentacles. Which brings us to...
Combat:
''And the next thing I know, Morg's fallin' down and gettin' a thrashin'. And while the paladin's running over to get him, we see it just pick'm up and chow down. What a way to go out, even for a damn dumb orc. What a way to go out...'' (- Cyrus Kerkley, professional fighter and vampire slayer)
Proficiencies: Unlike most outsiders, a finsterling is proficient with simple weapons and its natural weapons only. It is proficient with light and medium armor, but not shields.
A finsterling's natural weapons are treated as magic weapons and evil-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Spell-like abilities: At will – spider climb, flare, disguise self, know direction, pass without trace; 3/day – charm person (DC 15), knock, fireball; 1/day – plane shift (To Gehenna only), flaming sphere; Caster level equal to Hit Dice. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Sightless (Ex): A finsterling is naturally blind. While it does have eye-like structures on its head, those are part of its natural disguise and otherwise dysfunctional. Any vision-based activities, such as reading something or making Spot checks, fail automatically, but the finsterling does not incur any of the other drawbacks of being blinded. It cannot be blinded or dazzled, vision-based illusions do not affect it and it is able to ignore most kinds of concealment via its blindsight and tremorsense.
Mimicry (Ex): A finsterling has a perfect memory for scents and sounds. It is able to correctly recall and imitate every sound it has ever heard. Finsterlings can use this ability to help themselves assume the identity of a victim they have studied for long enough as well as to correctly make use of most sound-based effects, such as a dragonne's roar or an yrthak's sonic lance (but not spells whose verbal components they happen to know), provided they have ever encountered such an effect in the past and make a Wisdom check against a DC of 20 everytime before trying this.
Low-light aura (Su): A finsterling's surroundings are always covered in foggy-looking shadows. In bright sunlight, the finsterling's presence causes the area to be dimly lit and look as if there was a rainstorm coming, even though it is not colder than out of range of this ability. Low-light vision is required to make out details such as small letters or minor facial features. In normal darkness, such as at night or in an unlit cave, this effect acts exactly like a darkness spell of the same range.
Vital appendages (Ex): The finsterling's greater tentacles generate a force field around it, allowing it to effectively multiply its perceptive abilities. The number of functioning greater tentacles determines the range of its low-light aura, tremorsense and blindsight according to the list below:
Tentacles left: | Range (Tremorsense) | Range (Low-light aura) | Range (Blindsight)
04 ................| 80 ft. ......................| 60 ft. .......................| 40 ft.
03 ................| 60 ft. ......................| 45 ft. .......................| 30 ft.
02 (A) ...........| 40 ft. ......................| 30 ft. .......................| 20 ft.
01 (B) ...........| 20 ft. ......................| 15 ft. .......................| 10 ft.
0 (Small only) .| 10 ft. ......................| 07 ft. .......................| 05 ft.
Whenever one of the greater tentacles is sundered, the finsterling takes 3d4 force damage and must succeed on a DC 10 (+ 5 per tentacle lost) Fort save or become (arriving at A) shaken, (arriving at B) panicked or (arriving at Small only) nauseated for a number of rounds equal to ( 10 – its Con modifier ). Its fast healing, immunities, damage reduction and advantages from being sightless remain in effect as normal. If the small tentacle is sundered, but any number of the other four remains, all three ability ranges drop to one third their standard value and a DC 15 (+5 per tentacle lost) Fort save against paralysis for 1d6 rounds is necessary at the start of every following round during the encounter.
Fire Shield (Sp): A finsterling can activate and suppress this ability at will as a free action. It functions like the spell, but its duration is indefinite. Caster level is equal to the number of the finsterling's racial HD. This does not affect the finsterling's tentacles, though.
Improved Grab (Ex): A finsterling that hits with a tentacle or two claw attacks can try to grapple an opponent as a free action without incurring an attack of opportunity. When it grapples with a tentacle, it may immediately start to constrict. Its ability ranges are decreased as if the grappling tentacle had been sundered for the duration of the grapple, albeit without necessitating saves or threatening any other disadvantages. A tentacle is treated as having a Strength score of 18 and being a Small creature in its own right for the purpose of grappling, being grappled and raising a grappled foe off the ground. When the finsterling grapples with both claws, it may attempt to swallow its opponent in the next round. In order to swallow an opponent currently constricted by a tentacle, the finsterling needs to wait a round, then expend 5 feet of its movement in the next one to pull the victim closer or move towards it and finally reestablish the grapple with its claws.
Trip (Ex): A finsterling that hits with a tentacle attack can try to trip an opponent as a free action, getting a +4 bonus on the Strength check to trip the target. This is often used in combination with the Improved Trip feat in order to knock an enemy helpless and then immediately try to establish a grapple. If the trip attempt fails, the target can not attempt to trip the finsterling.
Constrict (Ex): While grappling with a tentacle, a finsterling deals 2d6 points of bludgeoning damage every round until the end of the grapple.
Fiendish swallow whole (Su): A finsterling can try to swallow an opponent of up to its own size by making a successful grapple check. The swallowed creature takes 1d8+4 points of bludgeoning damage and 1d4+2 points of each acid and fire damage from the finsterling's gizzard. The finsterling takes -2 temporary Dex damage while having swallowed another medium creature. A swallowed creature of up to Small size can try to cut its way out with a light slashing or piercing weapon to deal 25 damage to the gizzard (AC 12), a Medium creature can attempt a Strength check against a DC of 25 in order to blast its way through. Once a Small creature exits, fast healing closes the hole, another Small creature must cut its own way out. Once a Medium creature exits, the finsterling takes 2d6 burst damage and is knocked prone for 1d6 rounds. It must then wait for fast healing to restore the damage of the burst before it can attempt to swallow another Medium creature.
A living creature being pushed into negatives while swallowed by a finsterling must be healed over 1 hp and succeed on a DC 15 Will save during the next six hours or be turned into a finsterling itself, becoming an exact copy of the one that had swallowed it within three days. A creature having died of being swallowed by a finsterling is reincarnated as an equally perfect copy of its sire in Gehenna 3 weeks later.
Skills: A finsterling has a +8 racial bonus on grapple checks.
FINSTERLING
''Back when I was a little boy, my parents would always tell me not to stay out after dark and not to talk to mysterious strangers in alleyways. As a child, I would always wonder why they did that. As a young man, I had heard more than enough stories to know exactly why they did that, why parents, in fact, should do that. Now, I have lived for well over a houndred years. I'm a wizard of considerable power and experience. And ironically, it is because of this that I have taken their advice to heart at last.'' (- Sadrulian Vect, veteran Conjurer)
Size/Type: Medium Outsider (Evil, Fire, Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 12d8+12 (60 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 18 (+4 Dex, +4 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+20
Attack: Tentacle +10 melee (1d4+3) or claw +5 melee (1d4+1)
Full Attack: 4 tentacles +10 melee (1d4+3) and 2 claws +5 melee (1d4 +1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved grab, trip, spell-like abilities, constrict, fiendish swallow whole
Special Qualities: Fast healing 5, vital appendages, scent, sightless, mimicry, tremorsense 10-80 ft. (*), low-light aura 7-60 ft. (*), blindsight 5-40 ft.(*), fire shield, vulnerability to cold, immunity to poison, acid and fire, damage reduction 10/good or cold
Saves: Fort +12, Ref +14, Will +15
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 20, Cha 16
Skills: Jump +15, Climb +15, Survival +15, Hide +15, Move Silently +15, Bluff +15, Listen +15, Sense Motive +15, Intimidate +15, Balance +15, Gather Information +15, Disguise +15, Knowledge (local) +0, Knowledge (religion) +0
Feats: Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Power Attack, Cleave, (Combat Reflexes), Track
Environment: An evil-aligned plane
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 11
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always evil (any)
Advancement: 13-15 (Medium)
Level Adjustment: -
Optional flavor rules:
''It was a wondrous and frightening sight indeed, the monster and the beasts locked in merciless battle with one another. A wolf's teeth digging into writhing arms, a fanged beak breaking a goblin's neck. None of them knew what their fight was about, but all of them wanted to see it through. And as I stood there, taking in the scene of the monstrous brawl and seeing the vast emptyness that stretched far away, I came to realize that Gehenna's eternity is truly a bleak one.'' (- Turun Megiddo, planar traveler)
Native to the Bleak Eternity of Gehenna, finsterlings are a random force among the fiends; they do not take sides in the Blood War, lashing out at both sides unless individually bullied or tricked into obedience, but are engaged in what may well be their equivalent for it with barghests and greater barghests. A (greater) barghest always treats a finsterling as its favored enemy (as via the ranger class ability of the same name, with the difference that it applies only to finsterlings/barghests, not evil outsiders as a whole) and vice versa. Members of these species are almost certain to attack those of the other on sight.
Finsterlings encountered on their home plane commonly speak and think in a pidgin of Infernal, Abyssal and Ignan, even though they are always able to speak all three languages clearly and fluently. A character who chooses to communicate with a finsterling in this pidgin must succeed on an Intelligence check against a check DC of 20, which is lowered by 5 for every one of those languages the character can speak herself, in order to be able to do that. Finsterlings encountered on any other plane continue to think in their pidgin, but will usually speak any one of the three instead. Those who remain on the Material Plane for a long time will almost always pick up a number of additional languages equal to their Intelligence modifier over time.
The presence of finsterlings outside of Gehenna is usually the result of a misfired summoning: They are strangely in touch with the planes, including the Astral Plane; a finsterling may at any time make untrained Knowledge (the planes) checks and gain a racial bonus equal to half the number of its Hit Dice on top of its Intelligence modifier to the check result. Whenever someone tries to summon a fiend or fiendish creature via a summon monster spell or a spell-like ability such as 'Summon Devil' during a moonless night or within the area of effect of a darkness spell, there is a ( ( 10 – Summoner's Intelligence modifier ) x ( ( 10 - The summoning effect's spell level ) / 2 ) )-percent chance that a finsterling will be summoned instead. In that case, the finsterling is entitled to a Will save against a DC equal to twice the summoner's caster level or racial Hit Dice (whichever is higher) and may remain on the plane it was summoned to indefinitely (as well as disregard any orders it gets from the summoner completely) if it makes the save.
Description:
''At first, I thought the thing was human. They had described it that way; now it was standing there, hard to make out in the fog that was all around it, but clearly no creature of Earth as we know it. I saw its hideous head, like a bird's, but just so incredibly terrifying, slowly turning around; saw the empty stare of what can only be called a mockery of a man's face; and then I suddenly heard it speak. I left town that same day and I didn't look back ever since.'' (- Derwyl Cologolwol, traveling glassblower and gnome)
Finsterlings are about the size and weight of the average male high elf, tentacles nonwithstanding. Their torsos and upper legs and arms resemble that of exceptionally gaunt humans, albeit in rather simian proportions. The lower legs and arms are scaled and end in talons not unlike that of a bird of prey, although bigger and in the case of the arms with opposable thumb claws. Finsterling tentacles grow out of a fleshy protrusion on the creature's back roughly the size of an average backpack, forcing them to stand crooked and appear hunch-backed most of the time. The skin is of a dull-grey color with a distinct bluish hue to it, mottled with what looks like melanoma.
The head resembles that of a featherless vulture in shape, but does on average point more steeply downwards, equal to that of a bodak. The beak is filled with sharp, lupine teeth and requires the finsterling to bend its long and turkey-like neck slightly backwards in order to be fully opened. When walking quickly or running, a finsterling's head often rocks back and forth in a way similar to that of a running pigeon. The front of its head is shaped in such a way as to resemble the face of an elderly human or half-elven male, with protrusions of horn and a thin layer of leathery skin forming features such as eyebrows, a constantly closed, smiling mouth and a nose. As long as the finsterling's mouth remains closed, the point of its beak makes up the chin party and its speech is delivered through the 'nose', emanating an effect not unlike ventriloquism.
A finsterling has four tentacles, which it uses as its primary defensive weapons as well as important sensory organs, and a fifth, smaller one which looks like a lizard's tail, is never used for combat and always touches the surface the finsterling stands on (see 'vital appendages', below). These tentacles may be sundered as if they were weapons. They have 10 hit points each (5 for the fifth one). A finsterling's tentacles regrow, within 1d10+5 days, unless the fifth is sundered as well. The fifth one regrows in 1d20+10 days, starting whenever the finsterling returns to Gehenna and being immediately halted the moment it leaves there again.
When choosing a disguise, finsterlings favor long and concealing clothes such as robes, longcoats or evening gowns under which they can handily hide their tentacles, acting the part of hunchbacked people if necessary.
The finsterling's claws are used as its primary hunting weapons. While finsterlings, like most outsiders, do not physically need to eat, they do begin to suffer from a ravenous hunger every 1d10 days while away from their home plane and should be expected to be currently hunting by everyone encountering them at any time. They prefer to attack Small creatures, whom they stalk and overwhelm from ambush or sweet-talk into coming close enough for the fiend to grapple and devour them. A finsterling is required to consume at least it's own weight in living matter in order to still that hunger.
As they prefer warm-blooded prey which is able to scream and howl at them in a language they understand while being eaten, they will often infiltrate humanoid settlements, making use of their roughly humanoid build, their mimicry ability, disguise self and elaborate costumes in order to establish a base of operations and pass for kin to the populace. They are most commonly found in human cities, where they tend to seek out inns, bars and other places of frequent crowding, sitting near open fires and, when possible, smoking heavily. Occasionally they will assassinate an adult in order to feel up the corpse and design their disguise in its image, taking the place of their victim. Although finsterlings hate cold temperatures and, ironically, enjoy feeling the warmth of sunlight, they usually strike out at night to hunt for children and Small humanoids, whom they find easier to overwhelm in the darkness (see 'low-light aura', below).
Finsterlings are extremely cautious, if not downright cowardly, never attacking unless sure to have the element of surprise acting in their favor. They shy away from confrontations with creatures about their own size or bigger – with the exception of barghests, of course – and will withdraw via Plane Shift once they drop into or below the 5-10 hit point range, rather than fight to the death. A finsterling will never forget an insult or ridicule, though, and is likely to track down any offender in order to murder him or her in his or her sleep. If ''starved'', fighting barghests, encountered in Gehenna or dimensionally anchored, however, they will pull their weight to the last breath, lashing out viciously with their claws and tentacles. Which brings us to...
Combat:
''And the next thing I know, Morg's fallin' down and gettin' a thrashin'. And while the paladin's running over to get him, we see it just pick'm up and chow down. What a way to go out, even for a damn dumb orc. What a way to go out...'' (- Cyrus Kerkley, professional fighter and vampire slayer)
Proficiencies: Unlike most outsiders, a finsterling is proficient with simple weapons and its natural weapons only. It is proficient with light and medium armor, but not shields.
A finsterling's natural weapons are treated as magic weapons and evil-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Spell-like abilities: At will – spider climb, flare, disguise self, know direction, pass without trace; 3/day – charm person (DC 15), knock, fireball; 1/day – plane shift (To Gehenna only), flaming sphere; Caster level equal to Hit Dice. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Sightless (Ex): A finsterling is naturally blind. While it does have eye-like structures on its head, those are part of its natural disguise and otherwise dysfunctional. Any vision-based activities, such as reading something or making Spot checks, fail automatically, but the finsterling does not incur any of the other drawbacks of being blinded. It cannot be blinded or dazzled, vision-based illusions do not affect it and it is able to ignore most kinds of concealment via its blindsight and tremorsense.
Mimicry (Ex): A finsterling has a perfect memory for scents and sounds. It is able to correctly recall and imitate every sound it has ever heard. Finsterlings can use this ability to help themselves assume the identity of a victim they have studied for long enough as well as to correctly make use of most sound-based effects, such as a dragonne's roar or an yrthak's sonic lance (but not spells whose verbal components they happen to know), provided they have ever encountered such an effect in the past and make a Wisdom check against a DC of 20 everytime before trying this.
Low-light aura (Su): A finsterling's surroundings are always covered in foggy-looking shadows. In bright sunlight, the finsterling's presence causes the area to be dimly lit and look as if there was a rainstorm coming, even though it is not colder than out of range of this ability. Low-light vision is required to make out details such as small letters or minor facial features. In normal darkness, such as at night or in an unlit cave, this effect acts exactly like a darkness spell of the same range.
Vital appendages (Ex): The finsterling's greater tentacles generate a force field around it, allowing it to effectively multiply its perceptive abilities. The number of functioning greater tentacles determines the range of its low-light aura, tremorsense and blindsight according to the list below:
Tentacles left: | Range (Tremorsense) | Range (Low-light aura) | Range (Blindsight)
04 ................| 80 ft. ......................| 60 ft. .......................| 40 ft.
03 ................| 60 ft. ......................| 45 ft. .......................| 30 ft.
02 (A) ...........| 40 ft. ......................| 30 ft. .......................| 20 ft.
01 (B) ...........| 20 ft. ......................| 15 ft. .......................| 10 ft.
0 (Small only) .| 10 ft. ......................| 07 ft. .......................| 05 ft.
Whenever one of the greater tentacles is sundered, the finsterling takes 3d4 force damage and must succeed on a DC 10 (+ 5 per tentacle lost) Fort save or become (arriving at A) shaken, (arriving at B) panicked or (arriving at Small only) nauseated for a number of rounds equal to ( 10 – its Con modifier ). Its fast healing, immunities, damage reduction and advantages from being sightless remain in effect as normal. If the small tentacle is sundered, but any number of the other four remains, all three ability ranges drop to one third their standard value and a DC 15 (+5 per tentacle lost) Fort save against paralysis for 1d6 rounds is necessary at the start of every following round during the encounter.
Fire Shield (Sp): A finsterling can activate and suppress this ability at will as a free action. It functions like the spell, but its duration is indefinite. Caster level is equal to the number of the finsterling's racial HD. This does not affect the finsterling's tentacles, though.
Improved Grab (Ex): A finsterling that hits with a tentacle or two claw attacks can try to grapple an opponent as a free action without incurring an attack of opportunity. When it grapples with a tentacle, it may immediately start to constrict. Its ability ranges are decreased as if the grappling tentacle had been sundered for the duration of the grapple, albeit without necessitating saves or threatening any other disadvantages. A tentacle is treated as having a Strength score of 18 and being a Small creature in its own right for the purpose of grappling, being grappled and raising a grappled foe off the ground. When the finsterling grapples with both claws, it may attempt to swallow its opponent in the next round. In order to swallow an opponent currently constricted by a tentacle, the finsterling needs to wait a round, then expend 5 feet of its movement in the next one to pull the victim closer or move towards it and finally reestablish the grapple with its claws.
Trip (Ex): A finsterling that hits with a tentacle attack can try to trip an opponent as a free action, getting a +4 bonus on the Strength check to trip the target. This is often used in combination with the Improved Trip feat in order to knock an enemy helpless and then immediately try to establish a grapple. If the trip attempt fails, the target can not attempt to trip the finsterling.
Constrict (Ex): While grappling with a tentacle, a finsterling deals 2d6 points of bludgeoning damage every round until the end of the grapple.
Fiendish swallow whole (Su): A finsterling can try to swallow an opponent of up to its own size by making a successful grapple check. The swallowed creature takes 1d8+4 points of bludgeoning damage and 1d4+2 points of each acid and fire damage from the finsterling's gizzard. The finsterling takes -2 temporary Dex damage while having swallowed another medium creature. A swallowed creature of up to Small size can try to cut its way out with a light slashing or piercing weapon to deal 25 damage to the gizzard (AC 12), a Medium creature can attempt a Strength check against a DC of 25 in order to blast its way through. Once a Small creature exits, fast healing closes the hole, another Small creature must cut its own way out. Once a Medium creature exits, the finsterling takes 2d6 burst damage and is knocked prone for 1d6 rounds. It must then wait for fast healing to restore the damage of the burst before it can attempt to swallow another Medium creature.
A living creature being pushed into negatives while swallowed by a finsterling must be healed over 1 hp and succeed on a DC 15 Will save during the next six hours or be turned into a finsterling itself, becoming an exact copy of the one that had swallowed it within three days. A creature having died of being swallowed by a finsterling is reincarnated as an equally perfect copy of its sire in Gehenna 3 weeks later.
Skills: A finsterling has a +8 racial bonus on grapple checks.