Falling Apart

[Warchon]

Had an idea for an encounter where a single opponent keeps breaking into pieces that keep attacking.
I want to (ab)use the symbiotic template and have a foe that is just all the "body part" monsters I can find, assembled so they at first appear humanoid.
Crawling Hands for the hands, obviously.
The head could be a Vargoiluille WITH a Ghostly Visage inside.
I'm sure I can use a Flesh Golem as the base creature, covering any gaps, but..

I have to do some digging still, but does anyone know offhand some good foes or tricks to apply here?

CR is malleable. This is for a one shot that hasn't had its starting level set yet.

[Dimers]

Hair could be separate from head and face. Blood and innards could form an ooze. Clothing could also be a monster (ragamoffyn style). If the original creature has a tail, it could be a snake when it separates.

My only specific suggestions are the pennanggolan, which is a floating head-and-guts combo, and the intellect devourer, which can fit into the braincase.

[daremetoidareyo]

A couple symbionts would be cool. Living breastplate, tentacle whips.

[Particle_Man]

*cough*

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygom

[Palanan]

A tsochar by definition is composed of individual strands which are fused together. Tsochars can inhabit humanoid bodies, so along with everything else you can have a tsochar riding inside, revealing itself once the body starts breaking apart. If you want to pursue the "breaks apart" motif, you can have the tsochar disassemble into its component strands. Individual strands aren't typically intelligent, so it's a tradeoff, but it would certainly fit your theme.

Also, if you're open to Pathfinder material, Animate Hair (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/oozes/animate-hair/) is a living, autonomous mass of hair, which can separate and move like an ooze.

.

[RNightstalker]

Long hair transforms into snakes a la Medusa's "hair".

[Bphill561]

Legion devils are in fiend codex 2. They share hit points in an area and get bonus for the more that are together. Add in the fiend of possession prestige class from the fiend folio. Now they can possess objects like animated objects up to colossal in size I think. So if they are all possessing some kind on body or construct, once destroyed they can animate all the parts afterwards for more fun. Lilitu in the one fiend codex also possess dead bodies.

[Warchon]

Lots of ideas here for me to look into. Thanks everyone!
A lot of these are individually cool but don't play well together. I might have to build more than one encounter out of this. The next challenge is how to do that but still keep it fresh!

[Particle_Man]

Maybe get a swarm in there somewhere if you wanna go full Oogy Boogy Man.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Particle_Man
Maybe get a swarm in there somewhere....

Worm That Walks (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/worm-that-walks-cr-2/). Break into a swarm of worms at will.

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[The Viscount]

Swarmshifter template gives among its options a swarm of body parts. In addition to being funny, it has a fear effect tacked on.

For blood, use a Blood Amniote or Crimson Mist.
For Skin a forsaken shell or skin kite.
Brain in a Jar supplies your brain.
Lurking Strangler can be your eyes.
A skulking cyst or two are good monsters for guts.