#greyhawk

Image by Andrew Hou, © Paizo Publishing

[Commissioned by @tar-baphon​. Kerzit the Guardian of the Black Tome first appeared in Mordenkainen’s Fantastic Adventure in 1984, was converted to 3.5 in Dungeon Magazine’s conversion of that adventure in 2004, and that’s about it. My third paragraph of flavor text refers to the events of the adventure, but feel free to ignore it if you want Kerzit somewhere else or working for a different cult. As written, he’s designed to be basically a decoy demon lord, and it is said in text that “several demon lords” conspired to make him. This is left vague in the text, but the presence of gnolls in MFA would suggest Yeenoghu in the Greyhawk cosmology, or Lamashtu in the Pathfinder version, would be a major player. Based on the commissioner’s request, I elevated the CR from 18 to 20, but didn’t have to do much in terms of increasing the power; the biggest changes to ability scores involved toning down a very high Strength.]

Demon, Kerzit
CR 20 CE Outsider (extraplanar)
This creature is a biped, with a wolfish head and silver eyes. Its coat is a shaggy mix of fur and feathers, matted and stained with blood and viler fluids. It has four arms, two of which are annulated tentacles, and two of which are insect-like and end with serrated blades.

Kerzit the Guardian is a powerful unique demon incorporating features of multiple scavenging animals—wolves, ravens, beetles and earthworms. Likewise, Kerzit scavenges bits and pieces of veneration from other demon lords. Kerzit was created long ago in a rare show of cooperation among the lords of the Abyss. The goal was to create a powerful servitor strong enough to fulfill mortal ambitions and act as a figurehead and sacrificial focus for cults venerating another, more distant demon lord. Kerzit has an ambivalent relationship towards these cultists; he views them as deluded and readily accepts them as sacrifices, but also hopes that their worship kindles a divine spark, transforming him into a nascent demon lord.

Kerzit enjoys fighting in melee, but is smart and subtle enough to try and learn about his foes first. Kerzit’s summoning abilities are more powerful than most other fiends, and he usually sends out a wave of lesser demons to scout for him and report back on enemy tactics. He targets divine spellcasters above other targets, and is immune to many of their weaker spells. One of his favorite strategies is to center a quickened, empowered unholy blight on himself while simultaneously shredding opponents with his teeth, talons and tentacles. Kerzit sees no shame in fleeing a losing fight through teleportation, but stays close, heals himself, and returns for a second bout after enemy spells have elapsed durations.

Kerzit is currently bound to the Material Plane via the Tome of the Black Heart, a demonology manual and ritual guide of great age and great power. The Tome contains information on constructing golems, contacting fiends and elemental spirits, and opening portals to esoteric and obscure demiplanes. This book was written by worshippers of Kabriri, whose scavenging through the memories of the dead unearthed a ritual to summon and bind Kerzit. The Tome of the Black Heart’s current owner is a mortal spellcaster obsessed with seeking out power through arcane knowledge. Kerzit keeps the book in his possession as a “matter of security”, and demands sacrifices of black opals and humanoid souls for the privilege of reading its pages, a price the amoral wizard is more than willing to pay. After a decade or so of service in this manner, Kerzit is growing bored, and relishes the opportunity to murder any intruders he comes across.

Kerzit                     CR 20
XP 307,200
CE Large outsider (chaos, demon, evil, extraplanar)
Init+6;Sensesdarkvision 120 ft., detect magic, Perception +33, see invisibility, scent
Defense
AC36, touch 15, flat-footed 30 (-1 size, +6 Dex, +21 natural)
hp372 (24d10+240)
Fort+17,Ref+20,Will+22
DR15/cold iron and good; Immuneelectricity, fire, poison; Resistacid 10, cold 10; SR31
Defensive Abilities reject divinity
Offense
Speed30 ft.
Meleebite +34 (4d8+11/19-20 plus poison), 2 talons +34 (2d10+11 plus abyssal wound), 2 tentacles +32 (2d6+5)
Space10 ft.; Reach10 ft.
Special Attacks rend (2 tentacles, 2d6+16)
Spell-like Abilities CL 20^th, concentration +26
Constant—detect magic, see invisibility
At will—darkness, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. objects only), telekinesis(DC 21)
3/day—fly, greater dispel magic, summon (7^th level, 4 hezrous or 2 glabrezu, 60%), quickened empowered unholy blight (DC 20)
1/day—heal(DC 22), unholy aura (DC 24), weird(DC 25)
Statistics
Str32,Dex22,Con29,Int21,Wis22,Cha23
Base Atk +24;CMB+36 (+38 bull rush); CMD52 (54 vs. bull rush)
FeatsAwesome Blow, Blind-fight, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Empower SLA (unholy blight), Great Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (bite), Iron Will, Multiattack, Power Attack, Quicken SLA (unholy blight), Toughness
SkillsAcrobatics +30,Climb +35, Intimidate +30, Knowledge (arcana, geography, history, planes) +32, Perception +33, Sense Motive +33, Spellcraft +29, Stealth +29
LanguagesAbyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, telepathy 100 ft.
Ecology
Environmentany land or underground (Abyss)
Organizationunique
Treasuredouble standard
Special Abilities
Abyssal Wound (Su) Wounds dealt by Kerzit’s talons deal 1d10 points of bleed damage. This bleed can be stopped with a healing spell or a DC 25 Heal check. However, any spell that heals hit point damage that affects a creature suffering from an abyssal wound must succeed a DC 31 caster level check or fail.
Poison (Ex) Bite—injury;saveFort DC 31; frequency1/round;duration6 rounds; effect1d6 Con drain; cure2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution based.
Reject Divinity (Su) Kerzit is immune to any divine spell of 3^rd level or lower that allows for spell resistance.

Dear everyone who ever complained about early AD&D’s jokey or alphabet soup placenames:

1. standardized spelling is a relatively modern invention, and
2. nobody else can tell you how it’s pronounced.