Watcher

This enormous black insectile creature moves with an almost nauseating grace as it watches with its single red eye.

Watcher CR 22

XP 614,400
LN Gargantuan outsider
Init +12; Senses blindsight 120 ft., see in darkness, true seeing; Perception +51

DEFENSE

AC 41, touch 26, flat-footed 32 (+8 Dex, +1 dodge, +11 Wis, +15 natural, –4 size)
hp 429 (26d10+286); regeneration 15 (chaotic spells and effects)
Fort +19, Ref +23, Will +27
Defensive Abilities evasion, freedom of movement; DR 15/chaotic; Immune blindness, daze, divination effects, force effects, mind-affecting effects; SR 33

OFFENSE

Speed 60 ft.; air walk
Melee 6 talons +32 (2d8+10/19–20 plus stasis)
Space 20 ft.; Reach 30 ft.

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 20th; concentration +25)

Constantair walk, freedom of movement, true seeing
At willcontrol weather, plane shift (DC 22), telekinesis (DC 20)
3/daycall lightning storm (DC 21), earthquake (DC 22), quickened teleport, sirocco (DC 21), vortex (DC 22), whirlwind (DC 23)
1/daymeteor swarm (DC 24), storm of vengeance (DC 24), time stop, tsunami (DC 24)

STATISTICS

Str 30, Dex 27, Con 32, Int 29, Wis 34, Cha 21
Base Atk +26; CMB +40; CMD 70 (can’t be tripped)
Feats Alertness, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus, Dodge, Improved Critical (talons), Improved Initiative, Mobility, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (teleport), Skill Focus (Perception), Spring Attack, Staggering Critical, Whirlwind Attack
Skills Acrobatics +37, Craft (any one) +38, Knowledge (arcana) +35, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +35, Knowledge (engineering) +35, Knowledge (geography) +35, Knowledge (history) +35, Knowledge (planes) +38, Knowledge (religion) +35, Perception +51, Sense Motive +45, Spellcraft +38, Stealth +25, Survival +41, Use Magic Device +34
Languages telepathy 200 ft.; truespeech
SQ beacon of the Watcher, inconspicuous, perfect observation, phase shift

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Beacon of the Watcher (Su)

Watchers can plant a beacon of the Watcher—a six-foot-tall glowing spire of pale yellow force energy—by spending 1 minute of uninterrupted activity. When planted on a world shortly to experience an apocalypse, these beacons designate the surrounding environs as important and guarantee that the area around the beacon will be incorporated into Jandelay upon the world’s destruction.

Beacons of the Watcher function properly even when constructed out of phase (see phase shift below), so watchers typically place them in such a manner to prevent denizens of the doomed world from removing or otherwise tampering with them. A beacon of the Watcher has hardness 30 and 440 hit points. A watcher immediately senses if a beacon of the Watcher it created takes damage, and when a watcher plane shifts or teleports to a site that contains a beacon of the Watcher, it always arrives on target.

Inconspicuous (Su)

Despite their enormous size, watchers have an unnerving ability to fade into the background, causing other creatures to overlook or ignore them. When a creature would first perceive a watcher (see it, hear its movements, or notice it with any other sense, be it natural or supernatural), it must succeed at a DC 28 Will save or it simply doesn’t perceive the watcher for 24 hours, treating it as if it were invisible and silenced from the observer’s perspective. On a successful save, the creature perceives the watcher and is immune to that watcher’s inconspicuous ability for 24 hours.

If the watcher attacks a creature that failed its save, it breaks the inconspicuous effect for that creature automatically for 24 hours. The Oliphaunt of the Watcher automatically fails its save against the inconspicuous ability, allowing the watchers to share their home with the beast while staying beneath its notice. This is a mind-affecting effect that automatically bypasses the Oliphaunt of the Watcher’s ward against command ability. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Perfect Observation (Su)

Watchers see and remember every sensation around them with perfect clarity, and their memory never fades. They are always assumed to have rolled a 20 on vision-based Perception checks (resulting in a 71 for a typical watcher). Further, they gain a bonus to their AC equal to their Wisdom modifier as a result of this supernatural ability to perceive threats and danger.

Phase Shift (Su)

Once per day, a watcher can shift itself out of phase with reality as a standard action; shifting back into phase is a free action. When out of phase with reality, a watcher can’t be affected by effects from the plane it is watching, but it also can’t affect that plane with its abilities (except for with beacon of the Watcher). However, the watcher can still observe the plane, and denizens of the plane can observe it if they overcome the watcher’s inconspicuous ability.

Watchers often use phase shift to observe events leading up to an apocalypse without succumbing to the cataclysm destined to destroy the world in question. Dimensional anchor or similar effects that bar dimensional travel not only prevent a watcher from using phase shift but can also force a watcher back into reality if they successfully target and affect a phase- shifted watcher. A watcher forced into reality against its will in this manner becomes staggered for 1d3 rounds.

Stasis (Su)

A creature damaged by a watcher’s talon must succeed at a DC 28 Will save or be slowed for 1 round, as per slow. A slowed creature (be it a creature affected by the spell of the same name, by a watcher’s talon, or by another slow-inducing effect) that takes damage from a watcher’s talon must succeed at a DC 28 Fortitude save or become permanently trapped in a state of stasis, as per temporal stasis. This effect ends if the watcher who created the effect is slain or is no longer on the same plane as the victim. The save DC is Charisma-based.

ECOLOGY

Environment any
Organization solitary or council (2–5)
Treasure standard

Watchers are bizarre and enigmatic creatures, inscrutable to most mortals. Watchers lurk in worlds on the brink of destruction in order to observe events as they unfold and to catalogue and prepare a piece of the worlds for eternal enshrinement. Watchers mostly perform this work unseen, regularly setting beacons and, rarely, putting objects or beings into stasis in order to bring them along. Watchers have no desire to accelerate apocalypses before their appointed times, but they are drawn to action when would-be heroes or saviors take extreme measures to prevent a calamity.

Watchers move from region to region, building alabaster spires and creating other objects and edifices upon the interstitial fields, depending on their favored crafts. Left alone, a watcher might spend centuries crafting a single object, only to lose interest in its work immediately after completing the task.

When faced with a particular threat or curiosity, watchers naturally organize into councils of up to five individuals. When such a council forms, one watcher is selected as an observer, and this watcher is bolstered by the presence of the others. Councils often take quite a while to come to a decision as to how to proceed, but once they do, they pursue their task with an eerie single-mindedness and efficiency that has led some observers to incorrectly infer that the speechless watchers were operating as a hive mind—in truth, they are simply obsessed with perfection and elegance of action.

Prehensile filaments nestled amid the sharp talons at the tip of each leg allow watchers to perform precision motions as necessary. A watcher’s peculiar brand of air walk keeps its main body upright even if all of its legs are occupied, allowing it to attack with all six legs and protecting it from attempts to trip it.

Watchers stand 30 feet tall atop their insectile legs, and weigh 6 tons.

Watcher Faith

Most watchers follow a dualistic faith that venerates an entity known as the First Watcher (a being that serves the role of preserver) and the Oliphaunt (which serves the role of destroyer), but other strange beliefs vary from watcher to watcher. Both the Oliphaunt and the First Watcher are very real creatures. The First Watcher is a colossal watcher with the advanced creature template and unique abilities, and it is the only creature capable of birthing new watchers as they are needed. The role of First Watcher is hereditary. When a First Watcher is slain, another watcher immediately ascends in power to replace it—yet regardless of how many cycles of incarnation occur, it is always known as the First Watcher.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Planar Adventures © 2018, Paizo Inc.; Authors: Robert Brookes, John Compton, Paris Crenshaw, Eleanor Ferron, Thurston Hillman, James Jacobs, Isabelle Lee, Lyz Liddell, Ron Lundeen, Joe Pasini, Lacy Pellazar, Jessica Price, Mark Seifter, F. Wesley Schneider, Todd Stewart, James L. Sutter, and Linda Zayas-Palmer.

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