Horseman, Charon

This ancient figure is dressed in black, and its eyes are sunken pits that glint with malevolent cunning.

Charon CR 30

XP 9,830,400
NE Medium outsider (daemon, evil, extraplanar)
Init +12; Senses darkvision 60 ft., detect good, lifesense, true seeing; Perception +50
Aura frightful presence (120 ft., DC 40), unholy aura (DC 30)

DEFENSE

AC 48, touch 38, flat-footed 40 (+4 deflection, +8 Dex, +10 natural, +16 profane)
hp 774 (36d10+576); regeneration 20 (deific or mythic)
Fort +32, Ref +32, Will +35
Defensive Abilities apocalyptic resurrection, freedom of movement, negative energy affinity, Stygian bond; DR 20/epic, good, and silver; Immune ability damage, ability drain, acid, death effects, disease, energy drain, mind-affecting effects, petrification, poison; Resist cold 30, electricity 30, fire 30; SR 41

OFFENSE

Speed 50 ft., swim 30 ft.; air walk, water walk
Melee +5 spell stealing unholy quarterstaff +52/+47/+42/+37 (1d6+20/19–20 plus curse of ages), +5 spell stealing unholy quarterstaff +52/+47/+42 (1d6+20/19–20 plus curse of ages) or touch +51 (curse of ages)
Ranged 4 Stygian bolts +44 (10d6 plus memory loss)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks curse of the ages, memory loss, Stygian bolt
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 30th; concentration +42)

Constantair walk, detect good, freedom of movement, true seeing, unholy aura (DC 30), water walk
At willanimate deadM, astral projection, blasphemyM (DC 29), circle of deathM (DC 28), control undead (DC 29), create greater undead, create undead, desecrateM, greater dispel magic, greater teleport, shapechange, telekinesisM (DC 27), unhallow, unholy blightM (DC 26)
3/dayquickened circle of deathM (DC 28), plane shiftM (DC 29), soul bind (DC 31), summon daemon, symbol of death (DC 30), quickened telekinesisM (DC 27), wail of the banshee (DC 31)
1/daytime stopM, wishM

M Charon can use this ability’s mythic version in his realm.

STATISTICS

Str 40, Dex 27, Con 42, Int 35, Wis 32, Cha 35
Base Atk +36; CMB +51 (+55 bull rush); CMD 89 (91 vs. bull rush)
Feats Blinding Critical, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus, Double Slice, Greater Bull Rush, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (quarterstaff), Improved Initiative, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Mounted Combat, Power Attack, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (circle of death, telekinesis), Ride-By Attack, Spirited Charge, Two-Weapon Fighting
Skills Acrobatics +44, Bluff +51, Diplomacy +48, Intimidate +48, Knowledge (arcana, engineering, geography, history, religion) +48, Knowledge (planes) +51, Perception +50, Profession (sailor) +50, Ride +47, Sense Motive +50, Spellcraft +51, Stealth +47, Swim +59, Use Magic Device +51
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Infernal; telepathy 300 ft.
SQ craft item, Horseman traits, reach of the Styx, transform mount

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Craft Item

Charon is treated as having access to all Item Creation feats plus Craft Construct for the purposes of creating magic items or constructs.

Curse of Ages (Su)

The first time in a round that Charon strikes a creature with a weapon or a successful touch attack, that creature must succeed at a DC 40 Fortitude save or instantly grow decrepit and feeble, as if the target suddenly became venerable. The target’s Constitution, Dexterity, and Strength scores are reduced by 6, but its mental ability scores are not increased. If Charon touches or strikes a venerable target (either a naturally venerable creature or a creature suffering from this effect or a similar magical effect), that creature is subjected to memory loss (see below). Curse of the ages is an aging and a curse effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Memory Loss (Su)

When Charon strikes a creature with a Stygian bolt or touches or strikes a venerable target, he can affect that creature with memory loss. A creature affected by memory loss must succeed at a DC 40 Will save or gain 2 permanent negative levels as swaths of memory are wiped away. These negative levels are a mind-affecting effect but not a negative energy effect. If these negative levels cause the target’s total number of negative levels to equal or exceed its Hit Dice, instead of dying the target enters a catatonic state that lasts as long as the negative levels from the Stygian bolts continue to cause its total number of negative levels to equal or exceed its Hit Dice. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Reach of the Styx (Su)

Once per hour as a standard action, Charon can transport himself and any adjacent creatures—such as passengers on his skiff—to any point touched by the River Styx, even if he is not currently on a plane through which it flows, traveling as if via a plane shift spell.

Stygian Bolt (Su)

As a standard action, Charon can spit four blasts of Stygian water from his mouth. Each of these Stygian bolts can target a different creature. These attacks are treated as ranged attacks with a range increment of 100 feet. On a hit, a Stygian bolt deals 10d6 points of bludgeoning damage and inflicts memory loss.

Stygian Bond (Ex)

Charon’s regeneration cannot be overcome by any means when he is in physical contact with the River Styx or when he is aboard his skiff while on the River Styx.

Transform Mount (Su)

As a swift action, Charon can cause his mount, the Pale Horse, to transform into a skiff that can carry up to four passengers plus himself. He can also transform this skiff back into the Pale Horse as a swift action, in which case he automatically mounts the Pale Horse and any passengers or cargo in the skiff are dumped into adjacent squares.

ECOLOGY

Environment any (Abaddon)
Organization solitary or mounted (Charon and the Pale Horse)
Treasure triple (+5 spell stealing unholy quarterstaff, other treasure)

Charon, the Horseman of Death and Boatman of the Styx, is ancient even by comparison to his kindred Horsemen.

Of all the Four, he alone was an original Horseman, the first—and only—Lord of Death. Yet Charon’s title obfuscates his true focus: not simply death as a whole, which is the purview of all daemons, but specifically death by old age. Even the most virile mortals must eventually succumb to that looming specter, and in this sense, it’s unsurprising that the Boatman remains the most powerful of the Four. Like mortality’s inevitable end, Charon’s patience is legendary.

Charon resembles his thanadaemons, and most presume that he modeled them after himself. Charon, however, is so ancient as to have preceded the creation of humanoid life and thus his current form is likely nothing more than a modern guise, with his original form long discarded.

Daemons in Charon’s service range far and wide across Abaddon, often riding the Styx to other reaches of the cosmos, hunting souls in his name. Unlike those of the other Horsemen, Charon’s servitors often act in understated and subtle ways, yet they harvest just as many souls as others. When approached independently by a traveler, Charon sometimes simply carries the guest off to be consumed. Other times, however, he makes legitimate deals, though his bargains work toward ends hundreds or thousands of years in the making. Charon’s dealings also serve him well in other ways, with even his fellows among the Four often quietly acquiescing to his authority.

In the past, Charon has bargained with dying and desperate divinities, archfiends, empyreal lords, and even the populations of entire worlds, offering them aid in return for payments of souls, knowing all the while that the bargainers were beyond saving anyway.

Charon’s domain is the largest of the Four, particularly when one takes into account the fact that the River Styx stretches into or borders the others’ realms, the unclaimed wastes, and the planes beyond. Every branch of the Styx ultimately flows back to Charon’s citadel, the Drowning Court, which comprises hundreds of mobile islands, ships, and floating castles swirling around a massive central whirlpool.

Charon’s Cult

Charon is worshiped by ferrymen and -women, grave robbers, undertakers, the undead, and so very many doomed and damned would-be immortals. The Horseman of Death is served by thanadaemons, his deacon servitor race, along with fiendish krakens, grim reapers, hags, hydrodaemons, river monsters, and numerous varieties of undead. Charon’s unholy symbol is a skull with coins over its eye sockets, and the quarterstaff is his favored weapon.

He grants access to the domains of Death, Evil, Knowledge, and Water, and to the subdomains of Daemon, Ice, Memory, and Undead.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 6 © 2017, Paizo Inc.; Authors: Robert Brookes, Benjamin Bruck, John Compton, Paris Crenshaw, Adam Daigle, Crystal Frasier, James Jacobs, Thurston Hillman, Tim Hitchcock, Brandon Hodge, Jason Keeley, Isabelle Lee, Jason Nelson, Tim Nightengale, F. Wesley Schneider, David Schwartz, Mark Seifter, Todd Stewart, Josh Vogt, and Linda Zayas-Palmer.

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