Psychopomp, Shoki

A wooden staff topped with a silver cage containing a ghostly face keeps this grizzled, snail-backed creature upright.

Shoki Psychopomp CR 9

XP 6,400
N Medium outsider (extraplanar, psychopomp)
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., detect chaos, detect evil, detect good, detect law, detect magic, low-light vision, spiritsense; Perception +22

DEFENSE

AC 25, touch 15, flat-footed 20 (+4 Dex, +1 dodge, +10 natural)
hp 115 (10d10+60)
Fort +9, Ref +11, Will +14
DR 10/adamantine; Immune acid, charm, cold, death effects, disease, fear, poison, sleep; Resist electricity 10; SR 20

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.
Melee +2 cold iron quarterstaff +19/+14 (1d6+12) Special Attack soul lock
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th; concentration +12)

Constant—detect chaos, detect evil, detect good, detect law, detect magic
At will—etherealness, invisibility (self only), mass cure moderate wounds (DC 19, harm undead only), protection from evil, protection from good, searing light
1/day—plane shift (self only)

STATISTICS

Str 24, Dex 19, Con 22, Int 18, Wis 21, Cha 17
Base Atk +10; CMB +17; CMD 32
Feats Alertness, Combat Casting, Dodge, Iron Will, Persuasive
Skills Bluff +16, Diplomacy +20, Intimidate +20, Knowledge (arcana, planes) +17, Knowledge (religion) +14, Perception +22, Sense Motive +22, Spellcraft +17, Stealth +17
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Infernal
SQ spirit touch

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Soul Lock (Su)

Once per day as a standard action, a shoki can use its +2 cold iron quarterstaff to capture the soul of a creature at the threshold of death—any undead creature or any living being with 0 or fewer hit points. The target must succeed at a DC 20 Will save or be slain (if living) or disrupted (if undead), its spirit locked within the shoki’s staff. A corporeal undead transforms into a corpse if affected by this ability, while an incorporeal undead is trapped bodily within the staff (this ability negates a ghost’s ability to rejuvenate). A spirit trapped within a shoki’s staff cannot be returned to life through any means short of miracle, true resurrection, or wish. A trapped soul can be freed if the shoki wills it, or by casting banishment, dismissal, or freedom upon the staff. The trapped soul can also be freed by destroying the staff. A shoki’s staff can contain only one soul at a time. The save DC is Wisdom-based.

ECOLOGY

Environment any (Boneyard)
Organization solitary
Treasure double (+2 cold iron quarterstaff, other treasure)

Shokis are the collectors of lingering souls, tasked with compelling even the most deluded beings to take the first step into the afterlife. Their tactics are varied, but most start by counseling the wayward dead using theosophical arguments and blunt warnings about the ravenous things that wait to feed upon lost spirits. Each shoki bears powerful tools to aid it in such pursuits—eclectic collections of holy symbols and withered staves of cold iron capable of imprisoning a single soul at a time. Shokis use their staves against only the most stubborn or demented souls, whom they capture and personally escort to Purgatory for judgment.