Axelgear
2007-10-24, 08:27 PM
Anyone who has played the Eberron Campaign Setting is well aware that you need not be a deity to be in the worship cycle. The Ancestor Elves, Blood-Worship, and other such things are all interesting alternatives to a god as a persons patron. Elemental worship and spirit worship also exist in the Forgotten Realms setting. I create this as another way to show potential alternatives to the whole Outsider Deity 'thing'. And with further ado, I present you with my creations (Note:I will be adding to this over time):
Sjach'urathear, God of Flesh
Neutral Evil Colossal Unique Undead Construct
HD 40d12+80 (345)
Initiative+5
Speed 40 ft. (Can't run), Fly 180ft (Perfect)
AC 92 (-8 Size, +5 Dex, +25 Natural, +20 Profane, +40 Insight); SR 36; DR 15/Epic and Adamantine
Immunities Undead Immunities, Cold, Electricity, Polymorphing
Resistances Acid 20, Fire 20, Sonic 20, Turn Resistance +20
Base Attack/Grapple +37/+61
Attacks Slam +44 (4d6+5d6+23*+Paralysis), or Breath Weapon (8 Negative Levels), or Stomp (8d6+5d6+23*+Paralysis)
Face/Reach 30 ft./30 ft.
Special Attacks Breath Weapon, Horrific Appearance (DC 52), Paralyzing Touch (DC 52), Stomp, Trap the Soul
Special Qualities Perfect Automatic Still Spell, Frightful Presence (DC 62), Invulnerability, Magic Immunity, Negative Energy Affinity, Phylactery Transference
Saves Fort +22, Ref +22, Will +38
Abilities Str 35, Dex 20, Con -, Int 42, Wis 42, Cha 54
Skills Bluff +69, Concentration +69, Diplomacy +75, Hide +66, Intimidate +71, Knowledge (All) +64, Listen +84, Move Silently +74, Perform (Oratory) +69, Search +84, Sense Motive +84, Spellcraft +66, Spot +84
Feats Eschew Materials, Combat Reflexes, Greater Spell Penetration, Large and in Charge, Leadership, Power Attack, Quicken Spell, Spell Penetration, Still Spell
Epic Feats Automatic Quicken Spell x3, Automatic Still Spell x3, Blinding Speed, Ignore Material Components, Tenacious Magic (Paralyzing Touch)
Spell-like Abilities At Will - Alter Self, Astral Projection, Create Greater Undead, Create Undead, Death Knell, Enervation, Greater Dispel Magic, Harm, Summon Monster I-IX, Telekinesis, Weird; 3/day - Mirror Image, Nondetection; 2/day - Dimension Door, Greater Planar Ally; 1/day - Shadow Walk
Possessions** Belt of Giant's Strength +6, Cloak of Epic Charisma +8, Gloves of Epic Dexterity +10, Ring of Ineffable Evil
Spells per Day - CL 20 - DC 32 + Spell level
9th - 10/day - Imprisonment, Mage's Disjunction, Mindrape
8th - 10/day - Binding, Polymorph Any Object, Sympathy
7th - 10/day - Control Weather, Greater Teleport, Final Rebuke
6th - 11/day - Circle of Death, Eyebite, Flesh to Stone
5th - 11/day - Dream, Magic Jar, Persistent Image, Wall of Stone
4th - 11/day - Contagion, Dimensional Anchor, Greater Invisibility, Wrack
3rd - 11/day - Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Gaseous Form, Haste, Tongues
2nd - 12/day - Arcane Lock, Blindness/Deafness, Detect Thoughts, Entice Gift, See Invisibility
1st - 12/day - Cheat, Magic Missile, Obscuring Mist, Spirit Worm, Ventriloquism
0 - 6/day - Arcane Mark, Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Open/Close, Prestidigitation, Read Magic
*Includes a +5 Bonus for Power Attack
**All Possessions are kept beside Sjach'urathear's phylactery
Create Shadows (Su): Three times per day, Sjach'urathear can conjure a mass of leaping shadows with a radius of 100 yards and a duration of 1 hour (This is a creation effect). All normal and magical light sources are negated within this radius. All characters and creatures gain a +4 bonus on their Hide checks within the shadows, and can hide even if directly observed. Shadow Dragons and all other creatures tied to the Shadow PLane gain total concealment within the shadows, though they can move and attack normally. Their attacks gain a +2 bonus and deny their opponents any Dexterity bonus to AC due to being considered invisible.
Paralyzing Touch (Su): Any creature hit by Sjach'urathear's slam attack must succeed on DC 52 Fortitude Save or be permanently paralyzed. Remove Paralysis or any spell that removes a curse undoes the paralysis but only for 1d4 rounds, after which it resumes. Nothing short of a Wish or Miracle spell can undo the paralysis.
Trap the Soul (Su): Inside Sjach'urathear's skull are 8 gems, each affixed into the bone, with silver tracings that form arcane diagrams blended into them. At any time, up to eight times per day, Sjach'urathear can select any living creature within 300 feet that he can see to target for this attack. The target must then make a DC 52 Fort save. If it succeeds on this saving throw, it suffers four negative levels and the use of Trap the Soul is not used up. If the target fails their save, their soul is instantly drawn from their body and trapped in one of the gems inside Sjach'urathear's skull. The gem then gleams wickedly for 24 hours while the soul within is slowly digested. The soulless body collapses in a mass of corruption and molders in a single round, reduced to dust. In the unlikely event Sjach'urathear is overcome before this time is up, the gem may be crushed to release the victim's soul to whatever fate awaits it. However, the sheer power of Sjach'urathear being what it is, any soul freed still has a 50% chance of failing to return if reviving magic is used.
Fear Aura (Su): Any character of less than 5 HD who is not allied with Sjach'urathear that comes within 60 ft. of him and looks upon him must make a DC 32 Save or be affected by fear as if cast by a 21st-level caster
Dual Bodies (Ex): Sjach'urathear is not a normal entity. Composed of a fusion between a demidracolich and a flesh colossus, he is capable of incredible things. If defeated in his primary form, however, Sjach'urathear is still not defeated. Once his Colossus form is destroyed, Sjach'urathear separates himself from it and allows it to rot. At this point, he immediately arises at maximum hit points per hit die but with the following adjustments:
-He gains no +80 bonus hit points
-His size shrinks to Medium
-He loses the benefit of his Large and In Charge feat
-He loses his slam attack and replaces it with a touch attack that deals 5d6 Negative Energy damage and inflicts his paralyzing touch (See above).
-He gains a paralyzing gaze that causes paralysis for 2d6 rounds to any target that fails a DC 52 Will Save. Whether the target makes their save or not, they cannot be affected by his gaze again for 24 hours.
If Sjach'urathear survives his battle, his first action is to attempt to rebuild his destroyed body and attach himself to it once more. This is a process that takes approximately a month.
Invulnerability (Su): If Sjach'urathear is defeated, he is not destroyed. So long as his arcane marks and the eight soul gems exist, he will fully self-repair and return to his skull form within a week. If all eight soul gems are removed from the arcane diagram and then destroyed, Sjach'urathear returns to his phylactery, where he then possesses a corpse. This corpse steadily warps and changes until it grows to Gargantuan size, at which point the head breaks free from the neck. This transformation takes three days. At the end of it, the diagram and soul gems regenerate of their own accord and Sjach'urathear is fully restored.
Strategies and Tactics
Sjach'urathear is a physically devastating opponent. As large as a mountain and capable of unleashing magic, he is almost unstoppable without some degree of great effort or incredible power. Once he has identified an opponent, Sjach'urathear typically tries to seduce them with pretty words and avoids fighting until he can maneuver into any sort of advantageous position. At this point, he uses a casting of final rebuke before hastening himself using Blinding Speed and stomps whatever opponent may be able to bring divine spells to bare. Once this is done, he unleashes his furious fists on every opponent in range, casting a spell every round to harm an opponent as he sees fit. If he is ever overwhelmed and his colossus body is defeated, he tries to retreat to the sky or to teleport, using spells to harry his opponents until he is able to rest. After this, he returns and stalks his opponents while invisible and tracks them until he sights a moment of weakness, at which point he attacks until they are defeated.
History and Goals
Any that have encountered Sjach'urathear would be surprised to find out at that, at the beginning of his existence, he was a small Shadow Dragon hatchling in a small creche hidden in the Underdark. Nurtured and nourished by drow who held a pact with his mother, he quickly grew strong and began to work through the dark city devoted to the Spider Queen. Sjach'urathear found the worship of Lolth most agreeable in his early years, finding the dark goddess' emphasis on treachery and betrayal, as well as personal power, something he could admire greatly. He often even held the dangerous dream of being a god himself one day, and, throughout his life, this dream was nourished bit by bit as he became more and more inquisitive of what it took to become a god. When the revelation came that deities as he knew them were naught but simply outsiders, all be they highly powerful outsiders, he became incensed. If they were merely flesh and blood, it meant that the secret to godhood rested in all things; from the lowliest rock to the planes themselves, all things, living or inert, held the capacity for godhood. A part of him was even amused by the idea that, out there in the multiverse, there might actually be a deified piece of living rubble. With this revelation, and adulthood well upon him, Sjach'urathear left the Underdark and traveled to the surface. With him, he took a small band of followers and as much arcane lore as he could gather on the planes, gods, and necromancy.
Upon arriving on the surface, Sjach'urathear immediately set about on his grand design. Seeking to unlock the mysterious boundaries between mortality and godhood slowly devolved into a quest for perfect understanding of life. Living creatures, undead monstrosities, and inert matter all shared the same basic component. You could pour energy into any one of them and give them a semblance of life, be it positive energy, negative energy, or the spirit of an elemental bound to them. However, there was no clear division on where they split or why they animated when exposed to such things, or why they reacted in the ways they did. Throughout his search, Sjach'urathear made great progress in his understanding, but he was rapidly growing old. Though the lifespan of a dragon is immense, it is not infinite. His body had grown strong and his mind keen, but he was not to stay thus. Eventually, he too would rot, and his knowledge would be lost forever. Rather than suffer this ignoble fate, he elected to transform to seek out the path that many of his followers had taken: Lichdom. And with that fateful decision, Sjach'urathear transformed into a dracolich. Accompanied by his dozen or so undead drow followers, he continued his research further. Then, one fateful day, opportunity knocked.
After centuries in the jungle he had come to call home, Sjach'urathear had become a regular fixture to the local populace who consisted entirely of undeveloped tribes that worshiped spirits. When, by accident, a wandering tribesman came upon a cabal of magically talented drow and an undead dragon, all of whom were unlike anything they'd seen, his immediate response was to treat them as gods, and this was immediately pleasing to such haughty creatures. In this small being, far weaker than him, Sjach'urathear saw promise, and his devious mind already jumped several steps ahead. Claiming to be a god, and his followers to be his heralds, Sjach'urathear insinuated himself as the head of not just one tribe, but dozens. He united them under his rule, and immediately gave them his orders. With the aid of his cleric followers, he abolished their past and turned their worship to himself. Magically capable of providing food, shelter, and other such provisions, the people willingly abandoned their old way of life to serve their dragon-king. His first order was to breed.
Sjach'urathear was immortal by this point. With a populace in the order of only just over a hundred, though, he could hardly be considered much. However, one thing he did have was time, and with his clerics able to create food for his followers and magically manipulate the land to their advantage, his people were free to devote themselves to other pursuits, specifically the ones he subtly ordered them to follow. He allowed them to have easy lives, dedicated to artistic pursuits, with the only requirement that every paired man and woman bare for him as many children as possible. No stranger to manipulation, Sjach'urathear was a kind, caring, gentle creature, having his clerics heal the sick and ease childbirth, ensuring that as many people as possible would rise to enjoy this hedonistic life. All the while, he consolidated his power, and waited. When the time came, his true colours immediately showed true.
Approximately a century later, things were well underway. The village population had increased tremendously, the population almost at a thousand, and Sjach'urathear sprang his trap. He claimed that the village had grown lax in its worship of him and that unless their worship of him was up to standards, great tragedy would befall them. They would have to dedicate their lives and cast aside all other things to serve him. Despite all the good he granted them, many in the village were reluctant to dedicate themselves wholly to their god, and it was them that he desired. Offering peace and compromise, he took his most loyal followers and set up a meeting with those who wished for a more mutually enjoyable agreement. As soon as they came to his presence, he unleashed his servants and those that opposed him were slaughtered. Every man, woman, and child was cut down only to be reanimated in a display of 'divine' necromantic power. Sjach'urathear declared this a warning to any that would disobey his will: The price for disobedience was death. The corpses of the dead were then marched to a vast construction, where their bodies were rendered and their bones turned to gelatin, before being pasted onto a large frame that resembled a large humanoid form with a simple, dragon-like tail. The only thing missing was the head.
Sjach'urathear prepared now for his final transformation. With his clerics assistance, he dipped himself into boiling acid and scoured away his remaining flesh, and then allowed them to climb into his skull to apply the silver diagrams and to insert the eight prepared gems that would sustain his being. Then, his head separated from his rotted body, which swiftly collapsed into a pile of mouldering corruption, and took its place atop the massive frame. Using spells to preserve and shape the flesh and bone, the giant body took shape around his skull and was swiftly painted black and silver to resemble his original scale pattern. When this was completed, the newly formed body of Sjach'urathear broke free from his constraints and unleashed a terrible roar. On that day, a god was born.
Upon reaching his current status, Sjach'urathear is confident in his position, and his sight has drifted from his quest for supreme understanding. As devoted and drawn as he is, he has reached the limits of what the stolen texts can teach him. Because of this, much of his time is spent wandering the Astral Plane and dealing with his servants. He typically resides atop a massive stone chair covered in designs of suffering and misery, each arm of the chair depicting when he ordered the massacre of his own people for questioning his rule. This chair is set upon a pedastel between two stone temple mounts, the highest buildings in the city that has grown around him. His people and his influence have spread in the centuries since his rise to his new form, and now they wage ceaseless wars upon other tribes to capture territory, slaves, and anything else their unholy lord decrees in his unceasing quest for universal standing.
Territory
Sjach'urathear's influence carries little outside of the island-nation on which he resides, but within it, he is unquestioned. The lands of Shakuntala, where the God of Flesh calls home, are technically a peninsula, but the land-bridge that leads to it is only accessible during the summer when warm currents divert the waters elsewhere, making it an island for just over half of the year. This, combined with its lack of contact with the outside world, generally leaves it unknown to the rest of the realm. This anonymity has been nothing but a blessing to Sjach'urathear, who has remained the unquestioned, unopposed master of his domain for a very long time now. Most of the nation is controlled by him, sprawling outwards from the Eastern coast, with only parts of the north and south of the region being outside his direct control. Within his grasp are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives, all who bow their head before the burning red eyes of their god-king.
Apart from an island nation at his beck and call, Sjach'urathear has other holdings as well throughout the multiverse. Largely, these include the Shadow Plane, the Negative Energy Plane, and the Lower Planes. This includes many contracts and deals with dark gods or fiends that realize that, although a relative newcomer, he is a growing force to be reckoned with. The primary link to this exists through a portal in the base of the temple on which he rests. It is through this portal that his priests travel when acting on his behalf, though, in truth, much of his time is spent traveling the planes in Astral form via the use of his Astral Projection ability. Currently, he maintains outposts on the Plane of Shadow, in the Iron City of Dis, and in Gallenghast within Azzagrat. He also has ties throughout Baator, Gehenna, the Abyss, and the Negative Energy Plane, but he maintains no formal presence in these other places.
Cult and Followers
Sjach'urathear wields a strong following of worshipers. His followers include a dozen drow followers that are dubbed as his Heralds (Drow Lich Cleric 10/Master of Shrouds 6). Each has schemed and plotted against one another and many wish to steal the secrets their lord carries, but magical incantations, knowledge stolen from Orcus, prevents them from ever betraying him, eternally bonding them into servitude. Though they all consider rebellion, they would ultimately be doomed in doing so anyway, for any attack on one another would only result in drawing their lords ire, and none knows where the phylactery of the others reside.
Aside from his Heralds, Sjach'urathear commands an impressive army of both the living and the dead. Beneath him resides a caste system, at the top of which are the Heralds, followed by any other spellcasters in his service, divine or otherwise, followed by soldiers, followed by civilians, followed by slaves. At the center of his empire rests his capital, Sjach, which contains within it a large living populace, but it also contains many undead. The portal to the Plane of Shadow and the Negative Energy Plane nearby, along with the vast amounts of sacrifices performed, create ample opportunity for undead to arise. All undead within the city have sworn allegiance to Sjach'urathear, or are under the sway of someone who has, and therefore do not harm the living, but they often keep vast retinues of slaves for tribute and feeding purposes. The city is home to several vampires who pay homage to the dragon-king as a god, and take protection from it, as they know they are unlikely to even hear of persecution in his lands so long as they serve faithfully. As they are typically spellcasters as well, this sets them high in his societal standing.
The followers of Sjach'urathear are typically a bloody bunch. Even the most light-hearted of his citizens is either unfazed by the dark rituals that routinely take place in the city or quickly wind up as slaves and on the sacrificial block themselves. While evil is not encouraged in the society, as Sjach'urathear has little care over what happens to the souls of the dead, fanaticism is. Utter devotion to the god-king is demanded from every citizen from birth to death, and his word is law. The standard citizen quickly learns that when it comes to the law, justice favours those in power. However, when it comes to individual disputes, one can be typically assured that the result will be swift, and if the two individuals are of the same status, it typically resolves quickly and easily, which is really the only benefit of the legal system under Sjach'urathear.
The rituals and beliefs of the religion behind Sjach'urathear are simple, with the basic precept that he is a god and that all other deities are pretenders. They often follow the principle of solid fact, basing that they can see their god but the followers of the so-called pretender gods cannot, and are basing their faith on nothing. All those who worship Sjach'urathear can draw divine energy from the sheer arcane and unholy power he wields, meaning that hose that pray to him do actually gain the ability to cast divine spells. This amount of stolen energy is nothing to Sjach'urathear, it being replenished instantly as draws it back from the Negative Energy Plane, but it gives him the grand illusion of godhood. This ability has allowed him to establish an actual priesthood, who carry out his will.
The most common rituals in the Cult of the Flesh God focus around worshiping him, understanding, and sacrifice, for it is only through devotion, understanding, and sacrifice that one can attain true power. Overall, Sjach'urathear does not intend to give any of his followers power, his binding of the Heralds being proof of this, but if he molds their minds enough, he believes that he might make them much more useful. Worship of him is done to further devote them to him, rather than for the gathering of divine energy it creates. Understanding is a claimed precept of his beliefs, but it is really only reserved for those that enter his clergy, where they are taught to delve and observe the mysteries of flesh. Any that attain some sort of discovery are rewarded with immediate advancement in status and other various gifts of wealth and power. Because the highest rank of priesthood often brings with it the reward of immortality through undeath, most priests ardently devote their entire lives to studying the flesh of living beings and committing acts of brutal torture to find out whatever they can.
The last and most major part of the worship of Sjach'urathear comes through sacrifice. Sjach'urathear sacrificed his old home, his treasure horde, and even his life to ascend to his current status, and it is unknown how many lives he has sacrificed in his ongoing search for understanding. As such, much sacrifice is made by his followers, both to live up to his standards and in their attempts to appease him. The uninitiated to his inner circle even believe that Sjach'urathear loathed to kill those who would not listen when he constructed his new body, and that their god is a kind, loving being who only wants what is best for his people. Because of this, the people offer sacrifice in the form of taxes and slaves to their god. Every week, eight slaves are sacrificed to him in a gory spectacle in which the slave is mutilated and tormented symbolically before being enchanted with a preservation spell. Then, they are either burned or cut in a way that lets them bleed horribly, and, when death is just about to claim them, Sjach'urathear consumes their soul. Many of the sacrifices are also elderly citizens, who are taught by the church to believe that having their soul consumed is a way to become one with their god. In some small way, they are right, but it is not exactly how they imagine it.
However, these are not the only rituals of the cult. Sacrifices of prisoners at other times and offerings given to fiends also take place from time to time to make an example in public or to seal a deal made between Sjach'urathear and some nameless unholy power. These sacrifices all vary in type, depending on the mood of the evil god-king at the time.
Points of Note
Sjach'urathear currently seeks any artifacts related to the evil god Vecna or the demon lord Orcus. He is also particularly lustful over an artifact known as the Rod of Tongues. Anyone who brings him any useful information leading to one of these items can expect to be paid for it and offered a chance for more. Anyone who brings him an artifact from either Vecna or Orcus can expect to immediately be granted some sort of favour from the god (Typically evil spellcasters ask for the secrets of Lichdom). Anyone who brings him the Rod of Tongues would immediately find themselves the favoured son/daughter of Sjach'urathear and would be able to ask almost anything of him, even as he reshapes the world around him to his dark whim.
Another point of interest is the location of Sjach'urathear's Phylactery. In an attempt to make it as undetectable as possible, upon first attaining dracolichdom, he slaughtered an entire lizardfolk village and imprisoned their bodies one by one, the last of which was curled around his phylactery, which is a ball of amber inlaid with arcane scriptures that glows with an unholy light from within. This means that, in the unlikely event of his defeat, he can possess one of these bodies and teleport to the surface using it. Each has been magically preserved so it will never rot.
New Spell
Preservation
Abjuration
Level: Cleric 1, Sorcerer/Wizard 1
Components: V, M
Casting Time: One standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Body Touched
Duration: Permanent; See text
A sickly green glow overcomes your hands, flowing in waves towards your fingertips. Slowly, this glow grows larger and larger until your entire hand is bathed in it. You touch the corpse you mean to preserve, and instantly the glow shoots from your hand and over it in a flash.
This spell preserves one corpse indefinitely. It never rots due to exposure or weathering, but any damage dealt still remains. If cast on a living creature, the spell takes effect as soon as it dies. Any spell that exposes the corpse to positive or negative energy, however, instantly causes it to resume rotting. Once this spell is cast on a corpse, it is unsuitable to be raised, and the character can only be revived using Resurrection, Greater Resurrection, Miracle, or Wish. Animate Dead, Create Undead, and other such spells still work normally.
Sjach'urathear, God of Flesh
Neutral Evil Colossal Unique Undead Construct
HD 40d12+80 (345)
Initiative+5
Speed 40 ft. (Can't run), Fly 180ft (Perfect)
AC 92 (-8 Size, +5 Dex, +25 Natural, +20 Profane, +40 Insight); SR 36; DR 15/Epic and Adamantine
Immunities Undead Immunities, Cold, Electricity, Polymorphing
Resistances Acid 20, Fire 20, Sonic 20, Turn Resistance +20
Base Attack/Grapple +37/+61
Attacks Slam +44 (4d6+5d6+23*+Paralysis), or Breath Weapon (8 Negative Levels), or Stomp (8d6+5d6+23*+Paralysis)
Face/Reach 30 ft./30 ft.
Special Attacks Breath Weapon, Horrific Appearance (DC 52), Paralyzing Touch (DC 52), Stomp, Trap the Soul
Special Qualities Perfect Automatic Still Spell, Frightful Presence (DC 62), Invulnerability, Magic Immunity, Negative Energy Affinity, Phylactery Transference
Saves Fort +22, Ref +22, Will +38
Abilities Str 35, Dex 20, Con -, Int 42, Wis 42, Cha 54
Skills Bluff +69, Concentration +69, Diplomacy +75, Hide +66, Intimidate +71, Knowledge (All) +64, Listen +84, Move Silently +74, Perform (Oratory) +69, Search +84, Sense Motive +84, Spellcraft +66, Spot +84
Feats Eschew Materials, Combat Reflexes, Greater Spell Penetration, Large and in Charge, Leadership, Power Attack, Quicken Spell, Spell Penetration, Still Spell
Epic Feats Automatic Quicken Spell x3, Automatic Still Spell x3, Blinding Speed, Ignore Material Components, Tenacious Magic (Paralyzing Touch)
Spell-like Abilities At Will - Alter Self, Astral Projection, Create Greater Undead, Create Undead, Death Knell, Enervation, Greater Dispel Magic, Harm, Summon Monster I-IX, Telekinesis, Weird; 3/day - Mirror Image, Nondetection; 2/day - Dimension Door, Greater Planar Ally; 1/day - Shadow Walk
Possessions** Belt of Giant's Strength +6, Cloak of Epic Charisma +8, Gloves of Epic Dexterity +10, Ring of Ineffable Evil
Spells per Day - CL 20 - DC 32 + Spell level
9th - 10/day - Imprisonment, Mage's Disjunction, Mindrape
8th - 10/day - Binding, Polymorph Any Object, Sympathy
7th - 10/day - Control Weather, Greater Teleport, Final Rebuke
6th - 11/day - Circle of Death, Eyebite, Flesh to Stone
5th - 11/day - Dream, Magic Jar, Persistent Image, Wall of Stone
4th - 11/day - Contagion, Dimensional Anchor, Greater Invisibility, Wrack
3rd - 11/day - Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Gaseous Form, Haste, Tongues
2nd - 12/day - Arcane Lock, Blindness/Deafness, Detect Thoughts, Entice Gift, See Invisibility
1st - 12/day - Cheat, Magic Missile, Obscuring Mist, Spirit Worm, Ventriloquism
0 - 6/day - Arcane Mark, Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Open/Close, Prestidigitation, Read Magic
*Includes a +5 Bonus for Power Attack
**All Possessions are kept beside Sjach'urathear's phylactery
Create Shadows (Su): Three times per day, Sjach'urathear can conjure a mass of leaping shadows with a radius of 100 yards and a duration of 1 hour (This is a creation effect). All normal and magical light sources are negated within this radius. All characters and creatures gain a +4 bonus on their Hide checks within the shadows, and can hide even if directly observed. Shadow Dragons and all other creatures tied to the Shadow PLane gain total concealment within the shadows, though they can move and attack normally. Their attacks gain a +2 bonus and deny their opponents any Dexterity bonus to AC due to being considered invisible.
Paralyzing Touch (Su): Any creature hit by Sjach'urathear's slam attack must succeed on DC 52 Fortitude Save or be permanently paralyzed. Remove Paralysis or any spell that removes a curse undoes the paralysis but only for 1d4 rounds, after which it resumes. Nothing short of a Wish or Miracle spell can undo the paralysis.
Trap the Soul (Su): Inside Sjach'urathear's skull are 8 gems, each affixed into the bone, with silver tracings that form arcane diagrams blended into them. At any time, up to eight times per day, Sjach'urathear can select any living creature within 300 feet that he can see to target for this attack. The target must then make a DC 52 Fort save. If it succeeds on this saving throw, it suffers four negative levels and the use of Trap the Soul is not used up. If the target fails their save, their soul is instantly drawn from their body and trapped in one of the gems inside Sjach'urathear's skull. The gem then gleams wickedly for 24 hours while the soul within is slowly digested. The soulless body collapses in a mass of corruption and molders in a single round, reduced to dust. In the unlikely event Sjach'urathear is overcome before this time is up, the gem may be crushed to release the victim's soul to whatever fate awaits it. However, the sheer power of Sjach'urathear being what it is, any soul freed still has a 50% chance of failing to return if reviving magic is used.
Fear Aura (Su): Any character of less than 5 HD who is not allied with Sjach'urathear that comes within 60 ft. of him and looks upon him must make a DC 32 Save or be affected by fear as if cast by a 21st-level caster
Dual Bodies (Ex): Sjach'urathear is not a normal entity. Composed of a fusion between a demidracolich and a flesh colossus, he is capable of incredible things. If defeated in his primary form, however, Sjach'urathear is still not defeated. Once his Colossus form is destroyed, Sjach'urathear separates himself from it and allows it to rot. At this point, he immediately arises at maximum hit points per hit die but with the following adjustments:
-He gains no +80 bonus hit points
-His size shrinks to Medium
-He loses the benefit of his Large and In Charge feat
-He loses his slam attack and replaces it with a touch attack that deals 5d6 Negative Energy damage and inflicts his paralyzing touch (See above).
-He gains a paralyzing gaze that causes paralysis for 2d6 rounds to any target that fails a DC 52 Will Save. Whether the target makes their save or not, they cannot be affected by his gaze again for 24 hours.
If Sjach'urathear survives his battle, his first action is to attempt to rebuild his destroyed body and attach himself to it once more. This is a process that takes approximately a month.
Invulnerability (Su): If Sjach'urathear is defeated, he is not destroyed. So long as his arcane marks and the eight soul gems exist, he will fully self-repair and return to his skull form within a week. If all eight soul gems are removed from the arcane diagram and then destroyed, Sjach'urathear returns to his phylactery, where he then possesses a corpse. This corpse steadily warps and changes until it grows to Gargantuan size, at which point the head breaks free from the neck. This transformation takes three days. At the end of it, the diagram and soul gems regenerate of their own accord and Sjach'urathear is fully restored.
Strategies and Tactics
Sjach'urathear is a physically devastating opponent. As large as a mountain and capable of unleashing magic, he is almost unstoppable without some degree of great effort or incredible power. Once he has identified an opponent, Sjach'urathear typically tries to seduce them with pretty words and avoids fighting until he can maneuver into any sort of advantageous position. At this point, he uses a casting of final rebuke before hastening himself using Blinding Speed and stomps whatever opponent may be able to bring divine spells to bare. Once this is done, he unleashes his furious fists on every opponent in range, casting a spell every round to harm an opponent as he sees fit. If he is ever overwhelmed and his colossus body is defeated, he tries to retreat to the sky or to teleport, using spells to harry his opponents until he is able to rest. After this, he returns and stalks his opponents while invisible and tracks them until he sights a moment of weakness, at which point he attacks until they are defeated.
History and Goals
Any that have encountered Sjach'urathear would be surprised to find out at that, at the beginning of his existence, he was a small Shadow Dragon hatchling in a small creche hidden in the Underdark. Nurtured and nourished by drow who held a pact with his mother, he quickly grew strong and began to work through the dark city devoted to the Spider Queen. Sjach'urathear found the worship of Lolth most agreeable in his early years, finding the dark goddess' emphasis on treachery and betrayal, as well as personal power, something he could admire greatly. He often even held the dangerous dream of being a god himself one day, and, throughout his life, this dream was nourished bit by bit as he became more and more inquisitive of what it took to become a god. When the revelation came that deities as he knew them were naught but simply outsiders, all be they highly powerful outsiders, he became incensed. If they were merely flesh and blood, it meant that the secret to godhood rested in all things; from the lowliest rock to the planes themselves, all things, living or inert, held the capacity for godhood. A part of him was even amused by the idea that, out there in the multiverse, there might actually be a deified piece of living rubble. With this revelation, and adulthood well upon him, Sjach'urathear left the Underdark and traveled to the surface. With him, he took a small band of followers and as much arcane lore as he could gather on the planes, gods, and necromancy.
Upon arriving on the surface, Sjach'urathear immediately set about on his grand design. Seeking to unlock the mysterious boundaries between mortality and godhood slowly devolved into a quest for perfect understanding of life. Living creatures, undead monstrosities, and inert matter all shared the same basic component. You could pour energy into any one of them and give them a semblance of life, be it positive energy, negative energy, or the spirit of an elemental bound to them. However, there was no clear division on where they split or why they animated when exposed to such things, or why they reacted in the ways they did. Throughout his search, Sjach'urathear made great progress in his understanding, but he was rapidly growing old. Though the lifespan of a dragon is immense, it is not infinite. His body had grown strong and his mind keen, but he was not to stay thus. Eventually, he too would rot, and his knowledge would be lost forever. Rather than suffer this ignoble fate, he elected to transform to seek out the path that many of his followers had taken: Lichdom. And with that fateful decision, Sjach'urathear transformed into a dracolich. Accompanied by his dozen or so undead drow followers, he continued his research further. Then, one fateful day, opportunity knocked.
After centuries in the jungle he had come to call home, Sjach'urathear had become a regular fixture to the local populace who consisted entirely of undeveloped tribes that worshiped spirits. When, by accident, a wandering tribesman came upon a cabal of magically talented drow and an undead dragon, all of whom were unlike anything they'd seen, his immediate response was to treat them as gods, and this was immediately pleasing to such haughty creatures. In this small being, far weaker than him, Sjach'urathear saw promise, and his devious mind already jumped several steps ahead. Claiming to be a god, and his followers to be his heralds, Sjach'urathear insinuated himself as the head of not just one tribe, but dozens. He united them under his rule, and immediately gave them his orders. With the aid of his cleric followers, he abolished their past and turned their worship to himself. Magically capable of providing food, shelter, and other such provisions, the people willingly abandoned their old way of life to serve their dragon-king. His first order was to breed.
Sjach'urathear was immortal by this point. With a populace in the order of only just over a hundred, though, he could hardly be considered much. However, one thing he did have was time, and with his clerics able to create food for his followers and magically manipulate the land to their advantage, his people were free to devote themselves to other pursuits, specifically the ones he subtly ordered them to follow. He allowed them to have easy lives, dedicated to artistic pursuits, with the only requirement that every paired man and woman bare for him as many children as possible. No stranger to manipulation, Sjach'urathear was a kind, caring, gentle creature, having his clerics heal the sick and ease childbirth, ensuring that as many people as possible would rise to enjoy this hedonistic life. All the while, he consolidated his power, and waited. When the time came, his true colours immediately showed true.
Approximately a century later, things were well underway. The village population had increased tremendously, the population almost at a thousand, and Sjach'urathear sprang his trap. He claimed that the village had grown lax in its worship of him and that unless their worship of him was up to standards, great tragedy would befall them. They would have to dedicate their lives and cast aside all other things to serve him. Despite all the good he granted them, many in the village were reluctant to dedicate themselves wholly to their god, and it was them that he desired. Offering peace and compromise, he took his most loyal followers and set up a meeting with those who wished for a more mutually enjoyable agreement. As soon as they came to his presence, he unleashed his servants and those that opposed him were slaughtered. Every man, woman, and child was cut down only to be reanimated in a display of 'divine' necromantic power. Sjach'urathear declared this a warning to any that would disobey his will: The price for disobedience was death. The corpses of the dead were then marched to a vast construction, where their bodies were rendered and their bones turned to gelatin, before being pasted onto a large frame that resembled a large humanoid form with a simple, dragon-like tail. The only thing missing was the head.
Sjach'urathear prepared now for his final transformation. With his clerics assistance, he dipped himself into boiling acid and scoured away his remaining flesh, and then allowed them to climb into his skull to apply the silver diagrams and to insert the eight prepared gems that would sustain his being. Then, his head separated from his rotted body, which swiftly collapsed into a pile of mouldering corruption, and took its place atop the massive frame. Using spells to preserve and shape the flesh and bone, the giant body took shape around his skull and was swiftly painted black and silver to resemble his original scale pattern. When this was completed, the newly formed body of Sjach'urathear broke free from his constraints and unleashed a terrible roar. On that day, a god was born.
Upon reaching his current status, Sjach'urathear is confident in his position, and his sight has drifted from his quest for supreme understanding. As devoted and drawn as he is, he has reached the limits of what the stolen texts can teach him. Because of this, much of his time is spent wandering the Astral Plane and dealing with his servants. He typically resides atop a massive stone chair covered in designs of suffering and misery, each arm of the chair depicting when he ordered the massacre of his own people for questioning his rule. This chair is set upon a pedastel between two stone temple mounts, the highest buildings in the city that has grown around him. His people and his influence have spread in the centuries since his rise to his new form, and now they wage ceaseless wars upon other tribes to capture territory, slaves, and anything else their unholy lord decrees in his unceasing quest for universal standing.
Territory
Sjach'urathear's influence carries little outside of the island-nation on which he resides, but within it, he is unquestioned. The lands of Shakuntala, where the God of Flesh calls home, are technically a peninsula, but the land-bridge that leads to it is only accessible during the summer when warm currents divert the waters elsewhere, making it an island for just over half of the year. This, combined with its lack of contact with the outside world, generally leaves it unknown to the rest of the realm. This anonymity has been nothing but a blessing to Sjach'urathear, who has remained the unquestioned, unopposed master of his domain for a very long time now. Most of the nation is controlled by him, sprawling outwards from the Eastern coast, with only parts of the north and south of the region being outside his direct control. Within his grasp are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives, all who bow their head before the burning red eyes of their god-king.
Apart from an island nation at his beck and call, Sjach'urathear has other holdings as well throughout the multiverse. Largely, these include the Shadow Plane, the Negative Energy Plane, and the Lower Planes. This includes many contracts and deals with dark gods or fiends that realize that, although a relative newcomer, he is a growing force to be reckoned with. The primary link to this exists through a portal in the base of the temple on which he rests. It is through this portal that his priests travel when acting on his behalf, though, in truth, much of his time is spent traveling the planes in Astral form via the use of his Astral Projection ability. Currently, he maintains outposts on the Plane of Shadow, in the Iron City of Dis, and in Gallenghast within Azzagrat. He also has ties throughout Baator, Gehenna, the Abyss, and the Negative Energy Plane, but he maintains no formal presence in these other places.
Cult and Followers
Sjach'urathear wields a strong following of worshipers. His followers include a dozen drow followers that are dubbed as his Heralds (Drow Lich Cleric 10/Master of Shrouds 6). Each has schemed and plotted against one another and many wish to steal the secrets their lord carries, but magical incantations, knowledge stolen from Orcus, prevents them from ever betraying him, eternally bonding them into servitude. Though they all consider rebellion, they would ultimately be doomed in doing so anyway, for any attack on one another would only result in drawing their lords ire, and none knows where the phylactery of the others reside.
Aside from his Heralds, Sjach'urathear commands an impressive army of both the living and the dead. Beneath him resides a caste system, at the top of which are the Heralds, followed by any other spellcasters in his service, divine or otherwise, followed by soldiers, followed by civilians, followed by slaves. At the center of his empire rests his capital, Sjach, which contains within it a large living populace, but it also contains many undead. The portal to the Plane of Shadow and the Negative Energy Plane nearby, along with the vast amounts of sacrifices performed, create ample opportunity for undead to arise. All undead within the city have sworn allegiance to Sjach'urathear, or are under the sway of someone who has, and therefore do not harm the living, but they often keep vast retinues of slaves for tribute and feeding purposes. The city is home to several vampires who pay homage to the dragon-king as a god, and take protection from it, as they know they are unlikely to even hear of persecution in his lands so long as they serve faithfully. As they are typically spellcasters as well, this sets them high in his societal standing.
The followers of Sjach'urathear are typically a bloody bunch. Even the most light-hearted of his citizens is either unfazed by the dark rituals that routinely take place in the city or quickly wind up as slaves and on the sacrificial block themselves. While evil is not encouraged in the society, as Sjach'urathear has little care over what happens to the souls of the dead, fanaticism is. Utter devotion to the god-king is demanded from every citizen from birth to death, and his word is law. The standard citizen quickly learns that when it comes to the law, justice favours those in power. However, when it comes to individual disputes, one can be typically assured that the result will be swift, and if the two individuals are of the same status, it typically resolves quickly and easily, which is really the only benefit of the legal system under Sjach'urathear.
The rituals and beliefs of the religion behind Sjach'urathear are simple, with the basic precept that he is a god and that all other deities are pretenders. They often follow the principle of solid fact, basing that they can see their god but the followers of the so-called pretender gods cannot, and are basing their faith on nothing. All those who worship Sjach'urathear can draw divine energy from the sheer arcane and unholy power he wields, meaning that hose that pray to him do actually gain the ability to cast divine spells. This amount of stolen energy is nothing to Sjach'urathear, it being replenished instantly as draws it back from the Negative Energy Plane, but it gives him the grand illusion of godhood. This ability has allowed him to establish an actual priesthood, who carry out his will.
The most common rituals in the Cult of the Flesh God focus around worshiping him, understanding, and sacrifice, for it is only through devotion, understanding, and sacrifice that one can attain true power. Overall, Sjach'urathear does not intend to give any of his followers power, his binding of the Heralds being proof of this, but if he molds their minds enough, he believes that he might make them much more useful. Worship of him is done to further devote them to him, rather than for the gathering of divine energy it creates. Understanding is a claimed precept of his beliefs, but it is really only reserved for those that enter his clergy, where they are taught to delve and observe the mysteries of flesh. Any that attain some sort of discovery are rewarded with immediate advancement in status and other various gifts of wealth and power. Because the highest rank of priesthood often brings with it the reward of immortality through undeath, most priests ardently devote their entire lives to studying the flesh of living beings and committing acts of brutal torture to find out whatever they can.
The last and most major part of the worship of Sjach'urathear comes through sacrifice. Sjach'urathear sacrificed his old home, his treasure horde, and even his life to ascend to his current status, and it is unknown how many lives he has sacrificed in his ongoing search for understanding. As such, much sacrifice is made by his followers, both to live up to his standards and in their attempts to appease him. The uninitiated to his inner circle even believe that Sjach'urathear loathed to kill those who would not listen when he constructed his new body, and that their god is a kind, loving being who only wants what is best for his people. Because of this, the people offer sacrifice in the form of taxes and slaves to their god. Every week, eight slaves are sacrificed to him in a gory spectacle in which the slave is mutilated and tormented symbolically before being enchanted with a preservation spell. Then, they are either burned or cut in a way that lets them bleed horribly, and, when death is just about to claim them, Sjach'urathear consumes their soul. Many of the sacrifices are also elderly citizens, who are taught by the church to believe that having their soul consumed is a way to become one with their god. In some small way, they are right, but it is not exactly how they imagine it.
However, these are not the only rituals of the cult. Sacrifices of prisoners at other times and offerings given to fiends also take place from time to time to make an example in public or to seal a deal made between Sjach'urathear and some nameless unholy power. These sacrifices all vary in type, depending on the mood of the evil god-king at the time.
Points of Note
Sjach'urathear currently seeks any artifacts related to the evil god Vecna or the demon lord Orcus. He is also particularly lustful over an artifact known as the Rod of Tongues. Anyone who brings him any useful information leading to one of these items can expect to be paid for it and offered a chance for more. Anyone who brings him an artifact from either Vecna or Orcus can expect to immediately be granted some sort of favour from the god (Typically evil spellcasters ask for the secrets of Lichdom). Anyone who brings him the Rod of Tongues would immediately find themselves the favoured son/daughter of Sjach'urathear and would be able to ask almost anything of him, even as he reshapes the world around him to his dark whim.
Another point of interest is the location of Sjach'urathear's Phylactery. In an attempt to make it as undetectable as possible, upon first attaining dracolichdom, he slaughtered an entire lizardfolk village and imprisoned their bodies one by one, the last of which was curled around his phylactery, which is a ball of amber inlaid with arcane scriptures that glows with an unholy light from within. This means that, in the unlikely event of his defeat, he can possess one of these bodies and teleport to the surface using it. Each has been magically preserved so it will never rot.
New Spell
Preservation
Abjuration
Level: Cleric 1, Sorcerer/Wizard 1
Components: V, M
Casting Time: One standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Body Touched
Duration: Permanent; See text
A sickly green glow overcomes your hands, flowing in waves towards your fingertips. Slowly, this glow grows larger and larger until your entire hand is bathed in it. You touch the corpse you mean to preserve, and instantly the glow shoots from your hand and over it in a flash.
This spell preserves one corpse indefinitely. It never rots due to exposure or weathering, but any damage dealt still remains. If cast on a living creature, the spell takes effect as soon as it dies. Any spell that exposes the corpse to positive or negative energy, however, instantly causes it to resume rotting. Once this spell is cast on a corpse, it is unsuitable to be raised, and the character can only be revived using Resurrection, Greater Resurrection, Miracle, or Wish. Animate Dead, Create Undead, and other such spells still work normally.