After the end of a playtest dungeon's boss encounter, (a cult to Yog-Sothoth) Evil McGuffin artifact is about to get sundered.
Team dropped from 6 to 4.
This will release something horrible, as an alternative to thoroughly burying it for nobody to find.
I've browsed around, but haven't found something in the range of CR 9 that has peaked my interest.
Are there any juicy [outright disturbing/outer space/lovecraftian] monsters that would make a memorable final fight for 4 (lvl 7) PCs, in the d20 systems?
I'm also open to homebrewed suggestions, i'm very much all ears.
It doesn't matter which monster you use a platform: make it fit thematically. Make it really powerful. Re-animate the party's dead characters.
Create a moral lesson.
Tell us more about the party's behavior, and the overarching themes of the adventure. Also, what are the party's general power level; what are their strengths and weaknesses?
I've done the re-animate in the cult fight, via summoned shadows.
Small sorcerers die quickly, no?
The remaining 4 are:
A multishot ranger with gravity bow.
An archeologist bard. (Loves to pull dirty tricks) Semi-healer.
A cavalier with a greatsword and vital strike.
A drunken barbarian with a greataxe, who can stave off mind effects if drinking alcohol. A strength of his, is that he is capable of improved and savage dirty tricks, making anything failing a fort roll become not sickened, but nauseated.
Strenghts:
The cavalier and barbarian hit hard, and the ranger does a fair job at it too with the increased dmg dice active. All team members carry +1 weapons. Bard has the highest will save of the party.
Weaknesses:
-2 members.
Horrible willsaves on the martials, ranger suffered wis dmg already.
They've burned through their healing wands.
Overarching theme:
Another group, who are doing the actual campaign, are discovering and thwarting activity of a cult of Yog-Sothoth at several places.
As the central plot, said cult procured an artifact that works like the palantir of LOTR, except it has a link to the dark tapestry.
On the pathfinder wiki: If Yog-Sothoth was ever called to Golarion, it's all over, which was what this cult was all about.
I would make the boss monster a hollow shell. I would create a Will Save situation that entraps the party members it can. The failed Will save will put them into a magical trap that they have to roleplay out of, solve logic puzzles, that kind of thing. Prepare for the Bard to make his Save and create similar challenges for him, perhaps giving him the opportunity to find this and that, magic herbs, a magic device that lets him communicate with his comatose fellows. Maybe he needs to play a game of chess with Yog-Sothoth, and his failed-Will-Save fellows are the game pieces.
XP 6,400
CE Large ooze (fire)
Init +10; Senses see in darkness; Perception +16
DEFENSE
AC 24, touch 20, flat-footed 13 (+10 Dex, +1 dodge, +4
natural, –1 size)
hp 115 (11d8+66)
Fort +11, Ref +13, Will +8
Defensive Abilities all-around vision; DR 10/magic and bludgeoning; Immune disease, fire, ooze traits; Resist acid 20, electricity 20
Weaknesses susceptible to water, vulnerable to cold
OFFENSE
Speed fly 50 ft. (perfect)
Melee slam +17 (2d6+15 plus 2d6 fire and burn)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks burn (2d6 fire, DC 21), create spawn, fire motes, vampiric flame
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th; concentration +13)
At will— heat metal (DC 17), invisibility, scorching ray
STATISTICS
Str 31, Dex 30, Con 22, Int 15, Wis 20, Cha 21
Base Atk +8; CMB +19; CMD 40
Feats Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Flyby Attack, Great Fortitude, Mobility
Skills Fly +30, Knowledge (arcana) +13, Perception +16, Stealth +17
Languages Aklo
SQ no breath
ECOLOGY
Environment any (outer space)
Organization solitary, pair, or combustion (3–8)
Treasure incidental
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Create Spawn (Su) If a creature dies after having suffered from enough Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma damage from the fire vampire’s vampiric flame ability to be knocked unconscious, it bursts into flame, leaving behind nothing but a fine ash. From this burst of flame emerges a new fire vampire, albeit one with only 1 hit point. Natural rest and magical healing can restore this new fire vampire to its maximum hit points (115 hp for a typical fire vampire), but most fire vampires instead use their vampiric flame ability to heal this damage more swiftly.
Fire Motes (Su) As a standard action, a fire vampire can create a pinpoint of flame at any point in line of sight within 120 feet. Once created, the fire vampire can maintain a fire mote indefinitely and may direct its movement as a free action on its turn—a fire mote has a fly speed of 30 feet (perfect), is Fine sized, and has an AC of 18 (+8 size). A fire vampire can maintain a number of motes equal to its Charisma modifier simultaneously (5 for the standard fire vampire). Once created, a fire vampire can see and hear through the fire mote, and can make +13 touch attacks with them (this includes the fire vampire’s Charisma modifier) that inflict 1d6 points of fire damage plus burn on a hit. A fire mote is immune to most forms of damage, but is destroyed if it takes any cold damage or is subjected to water or any blast of wind of severe strength or greater (such as that created by a gust of wind). It is also destroyed if it travels farther than 120 feet from its creator. Creating a fire mote or directing its movement or attack does not cause an invisible fire vampire to become visible.
Susceptible to Water (Ex) Water damages a fire vampire in a manner similar to how acid damages a human’s flesh: a single vial of any sort of water inflicts 1d6 points of damage to a fire vampire, while total immersion inflicts 10d6 points per round.
Vampiric Flame (Su) Whenever a fire vampire inflicts fire damage on a creature via its slam, burn, or fire motes, the creature must make a successful DC 20 Will save or take 1d4 points of damage to a mental ability score (Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma). The score damaged depends on the creature’s abilities. For a spellcasting creature, this damage applies to whatever ability score governs its spellcasting ability: if a creature uses multiple mental ability scores for spellcasting, the damage applies to one of its spellcasting ability scores chosen at random. A non-spellcasting creature suffers damage to its Charisma. Each time this occurs, the fire vampire heals 5 hit points of damage. This is a mind-affecting effect. The save DC Is Charisma-based.
Star Vampire (CR 9):
XP 6,400
CE Large aberration
Init +9; Senses blindsight 60 ft., see invisibility; Perception +19
DEFENSE
AC 23, touch 15, flat-footed 17 (+5 Dex, +1 dodge, +8
natural, –1 size)
hp 114 (12d8+60)
Fort +9, Ref +9, Will +12
Defensive Abilities all-around vision, amorphous, bloodless invisibility, digest blood, tittering; Immune cold, disease, poison; Resist sonic 10
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft. (good)
Melee bite +16 (1d8+8/19–20 plus grab), 2 claws +16 (1d6+8 plus grab)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks drain magic, blood drain (1d4 Constitution), pounce
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th; concentration +8)
Constant—see invisibility
STATISTICS
Str 26, Dex 21, Con 21, Int 9, Wis 18, Cha 12
Base Atk +9; CMB +18; CMD 34 (can’t be tripped)
Feats Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Mobility, Vital Strike
Skills Fly +22, Perception +19, Stealth +16
Languages Aklo
SQ compression, no breath
ECOLOGY
Environment any
Organization solitary
Treasure none
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Bloodless Invisibility (Ex) A star vampire is naturally invisible at all times, even when attacking. This ability is inherent and is not subject to invisibility purge. Against foes that cannot perceive it (through blindsight or a similar ability), the star vampire gains a +20 bonus on Stealth checks when moving, or +40 when standing still—these bonuses are not included in the statistics above. A star vampire becomes visible when it uses its blood drain special attack, and remains visible until it uses its digest blood ability.
Digest Blood (Ex) As a standard action, a star vampire can metabolize all of the drained blood in its system. This heals the star vampire of 4d8 points of damage (regardless of how much blood it drank) and allows it to return to its normal invisible state.
Drain Magic (Su) When a star vampire successfully uses its blood drain attack on a spellcasting creature or a creature with spell-like abilities, the creature must make a successful DC 17 Will save or have some of its magic drained away. If the creature is a spellcaster, one prepared spell or unused spell slot (randomly determined) is lost. If the creature uses spell-like abilities, it loses the use of one spell-like ability. A creature that has both spellcasting ability and spell-like abilities loses spellcasting ability first (in the form of spell slots of prepared spells), and only loses spell-like abilities if all of its prepared spells or spell slots are used up or drained. Drained prepared spells can be prepared as normal the next time it recovers spells. Likewise at this time, drained spell slots return as normal and may be used normally, as can all drained spell-like abilities. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Tittering (Ex) A star vampire is constantly surrounded by a disturbing, high-pitched tittering that seems to come from everywhere at once. This sound baffles attempts to pinpoint a star vampire; whenever a creature attempts to pinpoint a star vampire it must roll its Perception check twice and take the worse of the two results. This is a sonic effect.
Both are from Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos for Pathfinder.
You did ask for something nightmare-ish. XD The book they're from has much worse, but the really freaky stuff is pretty high-level, and probably not appropriate for your game.
Well, my favorite is probably the Elder Influences - basically, they're hostile environments generated by stronger entities. Players generally can't face things like Great Old Ones directly, but they might be able to shut down their influence and stop them from manifesting in the first place.
Most of the influences are pretty brutal, too, with things like being targeted by random spells just by being close, being unable to move away from the enemy, or powerful foes multiplying rapidly. XD Generally, the longer you're in the area, the more screwed you are. These are generally CR 16+ things, though.
