#aberration

Image by Christopher Burdett, © Wizards of the Coast. Accessed at the artist’s blog here

[The arkamoi was the second weakest of the ushemoi originally, at a CR 4. The star spawn seer, on the other hand, is the second strongest of the 5e star spawn, at a CR 13. Something something assumption that spellcasting is stronger than martial abilities. My mechanics hew pretty close to the 5e version, but I gave it the foul insights of the 4e version. I wanted to justify calling it a seer, you know?]

Foulspawn Seer
CR 12 CE Aberration
This creature is swollen and misshapen, as if it were a tumor sculpted into a humanoid form. Its face is piggish, with an upturned nose and beady eyes. Its skin texture is filled with whorls and loops of tissue, like the surface of a brain, although tentacles and antennae grow from it at irregular intervals. It carries a staff made of bone and sinew in its clawed, webbed hands.

Foulspawn seers are more powerful and vastly more intelligent than most other foulspawn. They are the masterminds of the ushemoi, maintaining spawning pits on Aucturn and leading missions of madness and destruction on other planets. They can teleport between worlds, and given a few days, a handful of foulspawn seers can deliver an entire army of foulspawn to a new location. The tentacles that grow from their body are sensory organs that can feel vibrations, pick up scents, and detect subtler stimuli. Foulspawn seers are called arkamoi in Aklo.

A foulspawn seer uses its mastery of cosmic forces in combat. Their comet staffs are charged with the force of high gravity and phenomenal velocity, and can deal force damage at both melee range and at a distance. They can teleport at will, and often use this ability to trade places with their minions in order to let them absorb blows—a wise fighter of foulspawn will kill the rest of the envoy before dealing with the seer, or otherwise curtail their ability to teleport. A foulspawn seer can even use teleportation offensively, creating a miniature wormhole that transports and crushes foes simultaneously. Other foulspawn fight better with a seer in their ranks, its mad insights feeding into their minds telepathically.

Foulspawn Seer                CR 12
XP 19,200
CE Medium aberration (foulspawn)
Init+2;Sensesblindsight 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft., Perception +18
Aurafoul insight (20 ft.)
Defense
AC27,touch 18, flat-footed 25(+2 Dex, +6 insight, +9 natural)
hp152 (16d8+80)
Fort+12,Ref+9,Will+15
DR15/magic;Immuneconfusion and insanity effects, mind influencing effects; Resistcold 10
Defensive Abilities bend space, insightful defense
Offense
Speed30 ft., out of phase movement
Meleecomet staff +17/+12/+7 (1d8+7 plus 2d6 force) or 2 claws +16 (1d6+4)
Ranged2 warp orbs +14 touch (5d6 force plus stun)
Special Attacks collapse distance
Spell-like Abilities CL 16^th, concentration +21 (+25 casting defensively)
At will—dimension door, dimensional anchor, mind thrust III (DC 18)
3/day—confusion(DC 19), quickened dimension door, shield, telekinesis (DC 20)
1/day—ego whip IV(DC 21), interplanetary teleport,psychic crush II(DC 21)
Statistics
Str18,Dex15,Con21,Int22,Wis8,Cha21
Base Atk +12;CMB+16;CMD28
FeatsCombat Casting, Dimensional Agility,Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quicken SLA (dimension door)
SkillsBluff +21, Intimidate +24, Knowledge (arcana) +25, Knowledge (dungeoneering, geography, religion) +22, Perception +18, Sense Motive +18, Spellcraft +25, Stealth +21
LanguagesAklo, Common, Draconic, Elder Thing, Undercommon, telepathy 60 ft.
SQmadness, no breath
Ecology
Environmentany land or underground
Organizationsolitary, cult (2-3) or envoy (1-3 plus 1-8 mixed foulspawn)
Treasureincidental (masterwork morningstar, other treasure)
Special Abilities
Bend Space (Su) As an immediate action when it would be hit by an attack, a foulspawn seer may teleport to the space of another foulspawn within 60 feet, and teleport the foulspawn to its space. This results in the attack hitting the other foulspawn and the seer taking no damage. A foulspawn seer can use this ability a number of times a day equal to its Intelligence modifier. This is a teleportation effect.
Collapse Distance (Su) As a standard action, a foulspawn seer can teleport another creature of its choice within 60 feet. If the creature succeeds a DC 23 Will save, it does not teleport, but takes 5d6 points of force damage. If it fails, it takes 10d6 points of force damage and teleports to another square of the foulspawn’s choice within 60 feet of its original position. All creatures within 10 feet of its original position take 5d6 points of force damage (Fort DC 23 negates). This is a teleportation effect. A foulspawn seer can use this ability 3 times a day, but must wait 1d4 rounds between uses.
Comet Staff (Su) By spending eight hours, a foulspawn seer can transform a staff into a comet staff. This functions as a +1 morningstar. In the hands of the foulspawn seer, it deals an additional 2d6 points of force damage on a successful hit, and is required as a focus to use its warp orbs. These abilities function for no other creature, including other foulspawn seers. A foulspawn seer can only have a single comet staff at a time.
Foul Insight Aura (Su) All foulspawn within 20 feet of a foulspawn seer may choose to roll twice on a single attack roll, saving throw or skill check each round and take the better result. The foulspawn must declare that it is using the ability before knowing the result of the roll.
Insightful Defense (Ex) A foulspawn seer gains an insight bonus to its Armor Class equal to its Intelligence modifier. It only loses this ability if helpless or stunned.
Madness (Ex)Foulspawn use their Charisma modifier on Will saves instead of their Wisdom modifier, and are immune to insanity and confusion effects. Only a miracleorwish can remove a foulspawn’s madness. If this occurs, the foulspawn gains 6 points of Wisdom and loses 6 points of Charisma.
Out of Phase Movement (Su) A foulspawn seer can move through solid objects and squares occupied by enemy creatures. It provokes attacks of opportunity as normal for this movement. If it ends its movement inside a solid object, it is shunted to the nearest empty space and takes 1d10 damage. A foulspawn seer under the effects of a dimensional anchor or similar effect cannot use this ability.
Warp Orb (Su) A foulspawn seer can fling a single warp orb from its comet staff as a standard action, or two as a full round action. Treat these as ranged touch attacks with a range of 80 feet and no range increment. A creature struck takes 5d6 points of force damage and must succeed a DC 23 Will save or be stunned for 1 round. The save DC is Charisma based. A warp orb is blocked by a shieldspell or brooch of shielding as if it was a magic missile spell.

Image by Mike Sass, © (?) Wizards of the Coast. Accessed at the artist’s website here

[Much like the sorrowsworn before them, this is a monster family with a weird and shifting pedigree. So much so, in fact, that they have a different name every time they appear! This family of monsters first appeared in 3.5′s Monster Manual V as the ushemoi, subterranean aberrations whose gimmick was hyperspeed Lamarckian evolution. They get tougher the longer you fight them, you see; some of them gain attack bonus and AC the more damage they take, others gain better spellcasting the more spells they cast. This was, clearly, a lot of paperwork for a GM, and so that gimmick was dropped when they reappeared in 4e’s core Monster Manual as the foulspawn. There were five foulspawn, as opposed to only four ushemoi, because there was one for each of the main monster “roles” in the 4e system (controller, brute, soldier, skirmisher, artillery) and they were designed to be used together in encounter building. Their appearances were tweaked slightly, but the foulspawn are clearly built on top of the ushemoi. In Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, they became “starspawn” instead of “foulspawn”, and the abilities of the brute and the soldier were collapsed back into one creature. And they didn’t get illustrations! The only starspawn that gets a picture is the “larva mage”, which is the D&D 5e version of the Worm that Walks. Some of the unused illustrations (like the one above) have made it to the internet, as well as some of the new pictures they’re getting in Monsters of the Multiverse.

So I had a lot of decisions to make with these entries. Which version of the ushemoi/foulspawn/starspawn to use as my base? Which name to give them? What pictures to use? I’m sticking to the 4e foulspawn designation, but giving them ushemoi as an endonym, and the ushemoi species names as type endonyms (although the lashemoi is the least like the grue it eventually became). My base is the 5e statistics, but I am incorporating more of their 4e abilities, because 5e monsters tend to be a little boring mechanically. And I’m making them natives of Aucturn because it seems like a logical place in the Pathfinder setting for them to live. @thecreaturechronicle​ placed them there as well, as the spawn of the daelkyr, but I’ve made them more “natural” lifeforms from that unnatural world.]

Foulspawn (Ushemoi)
The planet Aucturn slumbers. Believed by the maddest sages to be the embryonic form of an Outer God, that mysterious world nevertheless has characteristics of life. And like large organisms the multiverse over, smaller things live on it, surviving on its excretions and relying on it for shelter. These commensal creatures are the foulspawn.

Foulspawn are vaguely humanoid creatures with warped bodies and even more warped psyches. They are spawned in pits where secretions of Aucturn mingle with organic debris, and the larger the wound, the more fecund it is in foulspawn. They call themselves the ushemoi when speaking in Aklo. Foulspawn can be found carrying out strange, destructive missions on multiple worlds, presumably in some way serving the needs of their home planet. As Aucturn is the site of a careful détente between the servitors of the Great Old Ones and the Dominion of the Black, ushemoi may be found among either of these forces, although they are not slavishly loyal to either.

Foulspawn is a subtype of aberration with the following racial abilities:
Madness (Ex)Foulspawn use their Charisma modifier on Will saves instead of their Wisdom modifier, and are immune to insanity and confusion effects. Only a miracleorwish can remove a foulspawn’s madness. If this occurs, the foulspawn gains 6 points of Wisdom and loses 6 points of Charisma.
No breath (Ex) as the universal monster ability.
Telepathy60 ft.

Foulspawn Grue
CR 3 NE Aberration
This small humanoid creature has stooped posture and wrinkled skin, from which black bristles protrude at irregular intervals. Its hands and feet end in sharp, cracked nails. It has no nose and a fanged maw.

Grues are among the weakest and most numerous of the foulspawn. The bristles that grow off of their bodies are filamentous structures more akin to the contents of a blackhead than anything else, and foulspawn grues spend much of their idle time picking and squeezing at them. Foulspawn grues are fidgety and twitchy in general, and often giggle nervously. They are called “lashemoi” in Aklo.

Foulspawn grues prefer to attack from ambush or alongside larger, more powerful foulspawn. Their madness is contagious, and creatures standing too close to a foulspawn grue suffer from flashes of color, emotional surges and other minor hallucinations. They usually target the weakest seeming individuals, and enjoy drawing out their assaults into extended torment sessions rather than finishing off any one victim. This also helps to spread their maddening bite, which causes more potent confusion. One side effect of the maddening bite is to make its victims target the grue that bit them above other targets, which allows more powerful foulspawn to take advantage of the distraction.

Foulspawn Grue                CR 3
XP 800
NE Small aberration (foulspawn)
Init+3;Sensesdarkvision 60 ft., Perception +2
Auraconfounding (20 ft.)
Defense
AC16, touch 15, flat-footed 12(+1 size, +3 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 natural)
hp27 (5d8+5)
Fort+2,Ref+4,Will+6
Immuneconfusion and insanity effects
Offense
Speed30 ft.
Melee2 claws +7 (1d4), bite +7 (2d4 plus maddening bite)
Spell-like Abilities CL 3^rd, concentration +6
3/day—daze monster (DC 14, no HD cap), mind thrust I (DC 13)
1/day—dimension door
Statistics
Str10,Dex16,Con13,Int9,Wis3,Cha14
Base Atk +3;CMB+2;CMD16
FeatsDodge, Nimble Moves, Weapon Finesse
SkillsAcrobatics +9, Climb +6, Escape Artist +9, Perception +2, Stealth +13
LanguagesAklo, telepathy 60 ft.
SQmadness, no breath
Ecology
Environmentany land or underground
Organizationsolitary, pair, pack or envoy (2-12 plus 1-8 mixed foulspawn)
Treasureincidental
Special Abilities
Confounding Aura (Su) All creatures other than foulspawn within 20 feet of a foulspawn grue suffer a -1 penalty on all saving throws and a -4 penalty on all concentration checks and Perception checks. This is a mind-influencing confusion effect.
Maddening Bite (Su) A creature bitten by a foulspawn grue must succeed a DC 14 Will save or be confused for 1d4 rounds. Any results of “attack nearest creature” are treated as “attack the foulspawn grue that attacked you most recently” instead. This is a mind-influencing confusion effect, and the save DC is Charisma based.
Madness (Ex)Foulspawn use their Charisma modifier on Will saves instead of their Wisdom modifier, and are immune to insanity and confusion effects. Only a miracleorwish can remove a foulspawn’s madness. If this occurs, the foulspawn gains 6 points of Wisdom and loses 6 points of Charisma.

Aberrations are little FREAKS and I adore them ty for coming to my ted talk

Planktas are odd. Bestiary 5 describes them as “stony creatures formed from the shattered remnants of ancient island civilizations devastated and inundated by natural or magical cataclysms”—okay, check, we got that—“and given life by unleashed magical energies and the anguished spirits of those lost in the tragedies.” Makes sense. Except…planktas do not remain creatures of unleashed energies and spirits—in other words, they are not outsiders or fey or even undead. Instead, they become aberrations—true mortal creatures, albeit alien ones.

Of course, becoming such a creature also means having the drive to procreate…and in the plankta’s case, that means destroying more island civilizations. It’s a grisly life cycle to say the least.

None of that will probably ever come into play at your game table, unless you’re really deeply exploring themes of climate change and island cultures. And even the choice to make them aberrations probably had to do more with behind the scenes math—“We need X number of aberrations in this book, and we only have Y, so get brainstorming.” But once the monster is in print, I find it super interesting to wrestle with the implications of what’s in the stat block.

One more thing about planktas: They are described as animate jumbles of buildings and rock, and the illustration makes them look vaguely hermit crab-like. But that’s by no means made explicit in the text, so their forms might be even more outlandish, depending on the nature of the cataclysm that formed them…

A band of adventures began its career in the shadow of an exploding volcano, ferrying passengers out of the doomed city of Hestius. Now the Hestian Beast, a plankta born of Hestius’s destruction, threatens their adopted home of Sanctis. Now far more experienced and with a clear enemy in sight, this time they resolve to fight rather than ferry.

Ships have been disappearing along Giant’s Foot Strait. A clan of deep merfolk has been blamed, but the truth is a plankta has been raining boulders (and its own discorporated rocky body) on the passing ships. Investigating the mystery may uncover the hitherto unknown sunken city whose destruction birthed the plankta, as well as unlock a runic alphabet that has had researches stumped for years.

The Ringwrack is a vast chain of archipelagos circling the Sea of Rage. Planktas are more common here than anywhere else in the world, thanks to the extreme level of volcanic activity in the region and the destructive procreation of the planktas themselves. Planktas that were fathered rather than arising spontaneously tend to resemble their sire. Those that resemble stony hermit crabs were born from Old Karg, those that resemble weeping whales made of marble were sired by the White Witch, and those that resemble massive iguanas seem to trace back to a mystery progenitor near the equatorial line.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 5195

I have feelings about 2019. I have feelings about the last decade. I’ll save them for another day, but suffice it to say I’m ready for 2020 in a big way. Happy New Year, everyone.