Ythog-Nthlei Working Draft
Ythog-Nthlei
Gargantuan Outsider (Evil, Extraplanar, Native)
Hit Dice: 26d8+364 (572 hp)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 42 (-4 size, +1 Dex, +9 deflection, +8 insight, +18 natural), touch 24, flat-footed 41
Base Attack/Grapple: +26/+51
Attack: Blacklight mace +42 melee (4d6+26 plus 2 negative levels/19-20) and eyebeam +20 ranged touch (1d4+1 Str); or bite +37 melee (3d6+15 plus slave venom) and eyebeam +20 ranged touch (1d4+1 Str); or 4 eyebeams +25 ranged touch (1d4+1 Str)
Full Attack: Blacklight mace +42/+37/+32/+27 melee (4d6+26 plus 2 negative levels/19-20) and bite +32 melee (3d6+8 plus slave venom) and eyebeam +20 ranged touch (1d4+1 Str); or 4 eyebeams +25 ranged touch (1d4+1 Str)
Space/Reach: 20 ft./20 ft.
Special Attacks: aura of desecration, eyebeams, spell-like abilities, slave venom
Special Qualities: Beyond reality, hearty, immunities, reflect spell, squeeze, +4 turn resistance (
from aura of desecration)
Saves: Fort +32, Ref +24, Will +27 (
includes +4 from aura of desecration)
Abilities: Str 37, Dex 12, Con 36, Int 25, Wis 27, Cha 28
Skills: Bluff +38, Climb +42, Concentration +42, Diplomacy +46, Intimidate +42, Knowledge (arcana) +36, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +36, Knowledge (religion) +36, Knowledge (the planes) +36, Listen +37, Sense Motive +37, Spot +37, Spellcraft +40 (+44 deciphering scrolls), Survival +8 (+12 underground and on other planes), Swim +42, Use Magic Device +38 (+42 with scrolls)
Feats: Awesome Blow, Cleave, Dire Charge, Epic Reflexes, Improved Critical (mace), Improved Bull Rush, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (
greater dispel magic)
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary or court (1 plus 1-3 sentinel eidolons and 2-8 priests of Ythog Nthlei)
Challenge Rating: 22
Treasure: Triple standard
Alignment: Neutral evil
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —
An immense giant garbed in a yellow robe, fully six times taller than a human. Its bulbous face is a nightmarish combination of a giant snail and a malevolent male human, topped with a crown of four eyestalks. In one hand it hefts a massive black mace.
Ythog-Nthlei is an elder horror known as The Dark King by his handful of aberrant and insane worshippers. He was imprisoned in sorcerous slumber by a forgotten order of epic-level wizards. Some of the few sages who know of Ythog-Nthlei fear that lost artefacts or buried temples may remain that could allow his cult to reawaken him.
Ythog-Nthlei's cult claim he is billions of years old, older even than the multiverse (impossible though that be). One infamous poet wrote that over Ythog-Nthlei's eldritch lifespan "even death can die", thus granting him a peculiar immortality. More rational scholars theorize that Ythog-Nthlei lives simultaneously in many bodies, and all have to be killed simultaneously in order to kill him. The wildest theory among sages is that Ythog-Nthlei has para-chronological immortality and lives simultaneously at many different
times as well as places.
Nthog-Ythlei is 36 feet tall and weighs 60 tons.
COMBAT
Ythog-Nthlei is most effective in melee, so uses Dire Charge or
greater teleport to engage opponents with his
Blacklight mace and bite as quickly as possible. Opponents outside melee reach may be targeted by his eyebeams. The Dark King relishes the effects his bite's slave venom has on foes, especially enemy spellcasters, whose spells he often counters with quickened
greater dispel magic. If hard-pressed, Ythog-Nthlei will
gate in a powerful evil outsider to help, such as a balor or pit fiend.
If Ythog-Nthlei is attended by a court of priests and eidolons they will do all they can to assist their master, even if they're little more than distractions to the Dark King's foes.
Aura of Desecration (Su): Ythog-Nthlei continuously produces a profane aura that affects all creatures within a 30 ft. radius emanation. This aura strengthens undead, evil aberrations, evil outsiders, and any evil extraplanar creatures, giving them the following benefits:
- +2 profane bonus on attack and damage rolls;
- +4 profane bonus on saving throws and turn resistance;
- +4 deflection bonus to AC;
- blocks possession and mental influence as if it were a protection from good spell;
- All non-evil creatures within the aura take a -6 profane penalty on Charisma checks to turn a qualifying creature;
- Any qualifying creature created within or summoned into the aura of desecration gains +1 hit points per HD.
Ythog-Nthlei is considered a qualifying creature and receives all the above effects, including the hit point bonus, and these have been incorporated into his statistics.
Ythog-Nthlei can exclude creatures from its aura of desecration, however it chooses, denying them its effects. The aura of desecration does not emanate into an
antimagic field or a consecrated area with an altar (see the
consecrate spell). Ythog-Nthlei still gains the aura's benefits within such prohibited areas, but other evil creatures can not bask in his aura.
Beyond Reality (Ex): Ythog-Nthlei is an uncanny being who belongs to no known plane of existence, but is comfortable in all of them. He possesses both the Extraplanar and Native subtypes on every plane, using whichever subtype is most advantageous on a case-by-case basis. For example, he could simultaneously answer the call of a
gate spell as an extraplanar creature, then ignore that spell's control as a native creature.
Ythog-Nthlei can attack incorporeal and out-of-phase targets without penalty and ignores the effects of
blink or displacement powers. He sees all adjacent dimensions clearly, including the Astral Plane, Ethereal Plane and the interiors of extradimensional spaces such as a
rope trick,
maze or
portable hole.
Blacklight Mace: This gargantuan weapon is a
+3 life-drinker heavy mace when wielded by others creatures, but functions as a
+5 life-drinking heavy mace for the Dark King Ythog-Nthlei. With a swift action, Ythog-Nthlei can command his mace to radiate
blacklight (supernatural darkness impenetrable to normal vision and darkvision) in a 30 foot radius. Once activated, the
blacklight mace continues to radiate
blacklight until The Dark King loses contact with it or commands it to stop (another swift action). Ythog-Nthlei can always see through this
blacklight normally, even if he is outside the area of darkness. Blacklight counters or dispels any light spell of equal or lower level. A
daylight spell will temporarily counter this
blacklight, but the darkness returns as soon as the
daylight ends.
Furthermore, Ythog-Nthlei (but no other wielder) can command the
blacklight mace to summon undead once per day. The mace can summon any of the following, of the Dark King's choice: 1 devourer, 1d4+1 bodaks, or 4d6 walking dead. Walking dead summoned by the mace have the Extraplanar subtype. This is equivalent to a
summon monster IX.
Ythog-Nthlei's
blacklight mace is an artifact, not a normal magic item. It is as fundamentally indestructible as The Dark King himself.
Overwhelming evocation/necromancy [evil]; CL 20th.
Eyebeams (Su): Ythog-Nthlei's eyebeams are 300 foot range ray attacks (no range increments) that do 1d4+1 Strength damage if they hits. Ythog-Nthlei can make a single eyebeam attack as a swift action once per round or up to 4 eyebeam attacks as a standard action, but he cannot produce more than four eyebeams in a round (one from each eye).
Hearty (Ex): When fully healed, Ythog-Nthlei always has the maximum number (8 + Con modifier) of hit points per HD.
Immunities: Ythog-Nthlei is immune to disease, poison, energy drain, cold damage and mind-affecting effects. His Beyond Reality ability give him special immunity to effects that banish extraplanar creatures and certain extradimensional effects, such as the miss chance of a
blink spell.
Reflect Spell (Su): Any spell that specifically targets Ythog-Nthlei is reflected back onto its caster as per the
spell turning spell.
Slave Venom (Su): Any living creature hit by Ythog-Nthlei's bite attack must succeed at a DC 32 Fortitude save or be dominated by the Dark King for 1d10 minutes. The domination functions like the
dominate monster spell. This supernatural venom can affect creatures immune to mind-affecting attacks or poison, but such immunity grants the victim a +4 bonus on their save (+8 if they're immune to both poison and mind-affecting effects, such as a Plant or Ooze). Creatures with saving throw bonuses against poison or compulsion effects (such as a dwarf's +2 against poison or an elf's +2 against enchantments) apply these bonuses when saving against Slave Venom. Slave Venom has no effect on nonliving creatures such as Constructs and Undead. Its save DC is Charisma-based.
Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): At will—
greater arcane sight,
detect scrying,
greater dispel magic,
false vision,
plane shift (DC 26),
greater prying eyes,
greater teleport,
true seeing,
unhallow, 3/day—
dimensional lock, quickened
greater dispel magic,
screen (DC 27)
, 1/day—
gate,
legend lore. Caster level 20th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.
Squeeze (Ex): Ythog-Nthlei's gelatinous body allows him to freely move and fight through any opening large enough to pass a Large creature. He can squeeze through openings a Medium creature can fit through with a DC 30 Escape Artist check.
Transcendental Ythog-Nthlei
Those sages who know of the Dark King have long speculated why the ancient mages who defeated him put the Old One in an enchanted slumber and imprisoned him bodily within his temple when they could have destroyed him with a
sphere of annihilation or permanently trapped him with
imprisonment,
trap the soul or a similar spell. Some of these scholars came to the conclusion that Ythog-Nthlei proved impossible to trap or destroy, so placing him in an endless sleep was the best option.
If you wish this to be the case with Ythog-Nthlei, add one or both of the following special qualities:
Beyond Death (Ex): Ythog-Nthlei can not be killed. If brought to -10 hit points his body melts away, leaving nothing but an unspeakable stain, but he will reappear at some later time or on some other plane without suffering any penalties for having died. He reappears even if the his body and spirit are annihilated. The time-delay and distance of Ythog-Nthlei's reappearance after death is at the DM's discretion, but may be considerable (e.g. 1d100 years later on the spot he died, or immediately on the lowermost layer of the Abyss).
Any effect that permanently incapacitates Ythog-Nthlei or renders him helpless for more than a month (petrification, being ability drained to Wisdom 0 or Dexterity 0, long-term paralysis, polymorphing into a non-combative form, et cetera) is considered to have "killed" him and triggers his rebirth. Note that sleep effects do not trigger Beyond Death.
It may be possible to circumvent Beyond Death and permanently destroy Ythog-Nthlei, but what the means to do this have been left to the DM. The method is likely to be a deep secret requiring intense research or a hard quest. Suggested examples are: Ythog-Nthlei will stay dead for good if he is killed by a creature with divine ranks, a blow from a lawful evil titan wielding the Dark King's
blacklight mace, poison from a creature with both the pseudonatural and paragon template, or an epic spell that does more than 555 hit points of damage.
Beyond Time and Space (Ex): Ythog-Nthlei transcends spatial and temporal limitations. Any effect that would trap Ythog-Nthlei in time or space, such as
temporal stasis,
trap the soul,
imprisonment, or a
wish to banish him to another plane will only last for 1d100 days, after which Ythog-Nthlei reappears as if by
greater teleport or
plane shift.
Finally, if any creature uses
time stop within 150 feet of Ythog-Nthlei he can attempt to interrupt the
time stop as a free action. If Ythog-Nthlei succeeds at a Will save against the DC of the
time stop, he can choose to have the
time stop fail or actually enter the
time stop with the other creature. If Ythog-Nthlei and another creature share a
time stop they can target each other attacks or spells as if they were both in normal time, but creatures outside the
time stop are invulnerable to their attacks and spells.
This ability does not hinder Ythog-Nthlei using time- or space-manipulation powers on himself.
Maddening Mind (Ex): Although Ythog-Nthlei is immune to mind-affecting powers, anyone targeting him with a mind-affecting or telepathic effect makes direct contact with his utterly alien mind. The attacker must make a DC 32 Will save or take 2d12 points of Wisdom damage. An attacker is subject to Wisdom damage on every attempt, whether the attack is successful or not. The attacker is driven permanently insane if this Wisdom damage reduces their Wisdom to 0. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Aspect of Ythog-Nthlei
Huge Outsider (Evil, Extraplanar, Native)
Hit Dice: 21d8+210 (304 hp)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 32 (-2 size, +1 Dex, +6 deflection, +5 insight, +12 natural), touch 20, flat-footed 31
Base Attack/Grapple: +21/+39
Attack: Blacklight mace +34 melee (3d6+15/19-20) and eyebeam +20 ranged touch (1d4+1 Str); or bite +29 melee (2d6+10 plus slave venom) and eyebeam +15 ranged touch (1d3 Str); or 4 eyebeams +20 ranged touch (1d3 Str)
Full Attack: Blacklight mace +34/+29/+24/+19 melee (3d6+15/19-20) and bite +24 melee (2d6+5 plus slave venom) and eyebeam +15 ranged touch (1d3 Str); or 4 eyebeams +20 ranged touch (1d3 Str)
Space/Reach: 15 ft./15 ft.
Special Attacks: Eyebeams, spell-like abilities, slave venom
Special Qualities: Beyond reality, immunities, reflect spell, squeeze
Saves: Fort +22, Ref +13, Will +17
Abilities: Bluff +30, Climb +22, Concentration +34, Diplomacy +34, Intimidate +32, Knowledge (arcana) +16, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +16, Knowledge (religion) +16, Knowledge (the planes) +16, Listen +29, Sense Motive +29, Spot +29, Spellcraft +30 (+32 deciphering scrolls), Survival +5 (+7 underground and on other planes), Swim +22, Use Magic Device +30 (+32 with scrolls)
Feats: Awesome Blow, Cleave, Dire Charge, Improved Critical (mace), Improved Bull Rush, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (
greater dispel magic)
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary or court (1 plus 1-2 sentinel eidolons and 2-5 priests of Ythog Nthlei)
Challenge Rating: 18
Treasure: Double standard
Alignment: Neutral evil
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —
An immense giant garbed in a yellow robe, roughly three times taller than a human. Its bulbous face is a nightmarish combination of a giant snail and a malevolent male human, topped with a crown of four eyestalks. In one hand it hefts a massive black mace.
Ythog-Nthlei, like most deity-level creatures, is able to create lesser avatars of himself. A few scholars fear that at least one Aspect of Ythog-Nthlei may have survived to the present day, trapped within some forgotten temple to the Dark King.
The Aspect of Ythog-Nthlei presented above is intended for use in a 3E conversion of the
Temple of Poseidon module in
Dragon #64, since the CR 22 demon lord version is too powerful for the reccommended character level of that adventure.
An Aspect of Ythog-Nthlei is 18 feet tall and weighs 15,000 pounds.
COMBAT
An Aspect of Ythog-Nthlei uses much the same tactics as The Dark King himself. He has fewer spell-like abilities than a fully manifest Ythog-Nthlei, so is even more reliant on his formidable melee abilities and seeks to engage his opponents in hand-to-hand combat as quickly as he can.
Beyond Reality (Ex): Ythog-Nthlei is an uncanny being who belongs to no known plane of existence, but is comfortable in all of them. He possesses both the Extraplanar and Native subtypes on every plane, using whichever subtype is most advantageous on a case-by-case basis. For example, he could simultaneously answer the call of a
gate spell as an extraplanar creature, then ignore that spell's control as a native creature.
Ythog-Nthlei can attack incorporeal and out-of-phase targets without penalty and ignores the effects of
blink or displacement powers. He sees all adjacent dimensions clearly, including the Astral Plane, Ethereal Plane and the interiors of extradimensional spaces such as a
rope trick,
maze or
portable hole.
Blacklight Mace: This gargantuan weapon is a
+3 heavy mace when wielded by others creatures, but functions as a
+5 heavy mace for an Aspect of Ythog-Nthlei. Three times a day, as a swift action, the Aspect can command his mace to radiate
deeper darkness (as the spell) in a 30 foot radius (20% miss chance, impenetrable to normal vision and darkvision). Once activated, the
blacklight mace continues to radiate
deeper darkness until The Dark King loses contact with it or commands it to stop (another swift action). Ythog-Nthlei can always see through this
darkness normally, even if he is outside the area of darkness. Deeper darkness counters or dispels any light spell of equal or lower level. A
daylight spell will temporarily counter this
deeper darkness, but the darkness returns as soon as the
daylight ends.
Furthermore, the Aspect of Ythog-Nthlei (but no other wielder) can command the
blacklight mace to summon 4d6 walking dead with the Extraplanar subtype. This is equivalent to a
summon monster VII.
The
blacklight mace crumbles to black powder and evaporates into nothingness if the Aspect of Ythog-Nthlei is killed or if it is separated from the Aspect for more than 24 hours. The Aspect can recreate a destroyed
blacklight mace as a full-round action.
Overwhelming evocation/necromancy [evil]; CL 20th.
Eyebeams (Su): Ythog-Nthlei's eyebeams are 200 foot range ray attacks (no range increments) that do 1d3 Strength damage if they hits. Ythog-Nthlei can make a single eyebeam attack as a swift action once per round or up to 4 eyebeam attacks as a standard action, but he cannot produce more than four eyebeams in a round (one from each eye).
Immunities: Ythog-Nthlei is immune to disease, poison, energy drain, cold damage and mind-affecting effects. His Beyond Reality ability give him special immunity to effects that banish extraplanar creatures and certain extradimensional effects, such as the miss chance of a
blink spell.
Reflect Spell (Su): Any spell that specifically targets Ythog-Nthlei is reflected back onto its caster as per the
spell turning spell.
Slave Venom (Su): Any living creature hit by Ythog-Nthlei's bite attack must succeed at a DC 26 Fortitude save or be dominated by the Dark King for 1d10 rounds. The domination functions like the
dominate monster spell. This supernatural venom can affect creatures immune to mind-affecting attacks or poison, but such immunity grants the victim a +4 bonus on their save (+8 if they're immune to both poison and mind-affecting effects, such as a Plant or Ooze). Creatures with saving throw bonuses against poison or compulsion effects (such as a dwarf's +2 against poison or an elf's +2 against enchantments) apply these bonuses when saving against Slave Venom. Slave Venom has no effect on nonliving creatures such as Constructs and Undead. Its save DC is Charisma-based.
Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): At will—
arcane sight,
detect scrying,
dispel magic,
false vision,
plane shift (DC 23),
prying eyes,
greater teleport,
true seeing,
unhallow, 3/day—quickened
dispel magic, 1/day—
legend lore. Caster level 20th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.
Squeeze (Ex): Ythog-Nthlei's gelatinous body allows him to freely move and fight through any opening large enough to pass a Large creature. He can squeeze through openings a Medium creature can fit through with a DC 30 Escape Artist check.
Originally appeared in Dragon #46.
