Gnoph-Keh

Gnoph-keh CR 15

This tall, white-furred entity looms in the snow like an eerie statue. A pall of fear and unrest awakens in you as its small eyes seem to pierce into your soul.

XP 51,200
NE Large magical beast (cold)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 90 ft., far sight, low-light vision, snow vision, thoughtsense; Perception +29
Aura engrossing

DEFENSE

AC 30, touch 12, flat-footed 27 (+3 Dex, +18 natural, –1 size)
hp 225 (18d10+126)
Fort +18, Ref +16, Will +12
Defensive Abilities unobservable movement; DR 10/piercing; Immune cold, mind-affecting effects; SR 26
Weaknesses vulnerable to fire

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +24 (1d8+7), 6 claws +24 (1d6+7/19–20)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks attract attention, death throes, death touch, engrossing, rend (3 claws, 1d6+10)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 15th; concentration +21)

Constantgreater invisibility

STATISTICS

Str 24, Dex 17, Con 25, Int 6, Wis 22, Cha 23
Base Atk +18; CMB +26; CMD 39 (can’t be tripped)
Feats Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus, Improved Critical (claws), Improved Initiative, Improved Lightning Reflexes, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Perception), Staggering Critical
Skills Perception +29, Stealth +11 (+19 arctic conditions); Racial Modifiers +8 Perception, +8 Stealth arctic conditions
Languages Aklo

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Attract Attention (Su)

As a swift action, a gnoph-keh can attempt to cause a single creature within 120 feet that it can see to be unable to look away from the gnoph-keh.

A creature can resist this effect with a successful DC 25 Will save, but otherwise it must observe the gnoph-keh and cannot look away. As soon as a creature is under this effect, it can see the gnoph-keh as if it weren’t invisible, save for when the gnoph-keh moves. Treat the victim as always successfully making a Perception check to notice the gnoph-keh. If the gnoph-keh moves out of sight, the effects of attract attention persist but do not affect the victim until the gnoph-keh once again becomes potentially visible to the victim. This effect lasts as long as the gnoph-keh lives. Until the effect ends, as long as the gnoph-keh is present, the victim is considered to be averting its eyes from every other creature, granting those creatures concealment against the victim’s attacks.

A gnoph-keh can have only one creature under the effect of attract attention at a time, and a creature cannot be under the effects of multiple attract attentions from different gnoph-keh simultaneously. This is a mind-affecting vision-based curse effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Death Throes (Su)

When a gnoph-keh is slain, its body explodes in a blast of necromantic power. All creatures within a 30-foot-burst take 10d6 points of negative energy damage (Reflex DC 26 half). This negative energy cannot heal undead. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Death Touch (Su)

Once per day as a swift action, a gnophkeh can deliver a death touch. This requires a successful touch attack against a creature, who must then make a successful DC 25 Fortitude save or take 150 points of negative energy damage. On a successful save, the creature instead takes 3d6+15 points of negative energy damage. This negative energy cannot heal undead. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Engrossing (Su)

After a gnoph-keh successfully attracts a creature’s attention, that creature becomes subject to the gnoph-keh’s engrossing aura. The effects of the aura depend on the distance between the victim and the gnoph-keh. All effects of the aura require that the gnophkeh be within the victim’s field of vision, other than the 240+ ft. effect.

240+ ft.: The victim is sickened and must make a DC 25 Fortitude save every hour or take 1d6 Constitution and 1d6 Wisdom drain.

30–240 ft.: On each turn the victim spends in this zone, the victim must make a DC 25 Fortitude save or take 1 Constitution and 1 Wisdom drain and become sickened for 1 turn. If the victim is already sickened, the victim instead becomes nauseated. If the victim is already nauseated, the victim instead becomes staggered. If already staggered, the victim becomes unconscious. Once a victim is knocked unconscious by this aura, the gnoph-keh typically swoops in and absconds with the victim or devours the victim, if it is hungry enough.

10–30 ft.: The victim must make a DC 25 Will save on each turn spent in this area or suffer from confusion for that turn. Roll twice and take the worse of the two possible results for the character. For example, if one result was attack the nearest creature and the other was do nothing, the victim does nothing.

Adjacent: The victim must make a Fortitude save on each turn spent in this zone or be nauseated and sickened for that turn.

Far Sight (Ex)

A gnoph-keh never suffers penalties to Perception checks as a result of distance.

Snow Vision (Ex)

A gnoph-keh can see perfectly well in snowy or blizzard conditions, and never suffers penalties to Perception checks while in snow.

Thoughtsense (Su)

A gnoph-keh can see thoughts as a shimmering aura. It gains blindsight 120 feet against creatures with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher.

Unobservable Movement (Su)

When a gnoph-keh moves it cannot be observed save by those whose attention it has attracted. It gains the benefits of greater invisibility, silence, and pass without trace when it moves.

ECOLOGY

Environment any cold
Organization solitary
Treasure none

A gnoph-keh stands between 10 and 18 feet tall and weighs up to 2 tons. When it moves, it can do so on two to six limbs, depending on its need for speed or action.

However, it rarely allows itself to be seen moving if it can help it. It prefers to simply appear suddenly.

A gnoph-keh psychically ensnares the mind, making it hard to look away or concentrate. Observers develop worsening symptoms of illness the longer they perceive it, suffering chills, coldness, weakness, lethargy, and a desire to sleep and to stop moving. Even if the victim escapes from the gnoph-keh, the creature will forever be on each observer’s mind—lurking and watching, even if it is too far to be seen. At great distances and over long periods, this illness can be fatal. A gnophkeh seems to move closer to anyone thinking about it, although the movement is almost impossible to notice.

As a victim draws closer to it, the illness weakens.

However, a different magical attack begins to affect the victim—that of confusion. The mind becomes prone to forgetting things, including who is friend and foe, but not the gnoph-keh (except at extreme close range, when the mental fog prevents most action altogether).

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Sandy Petersen’s Cthulhu Mythos, © 2017, Petersen Games; Authors: Sandy Petersen, Arthur Petersen, Ian Starcher.

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