Inevitable, Impariut

Dressed in noble regalia, this humanoid creature of metal and wood has a piercing gaze.

Impariut CR 10

XP 9,600
LN Medium outsider (extraplanar, inevitable, lawful)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +23

DEFENSE

AC 24, touch 12, flat-footed 22 (+2 Dex, +12 natural)
hp 134 (12d10+68); regeneration 5 (chaotic)
Fort +12, Ref +8, Will +12
Defensive Abilities constructed; DR 10/chaotic; SR 21

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 mithral longsword +18/+13/+8 (1d8+6/19–20), slam +12 (1d8+2) or 2 slams +17 (1d8+5)
Special Attacks dethrone, kingslayer
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th; concentration +17)

At willarcane mark, discern lies (DC 19), dispel magic
3/daydimension door, hold monster (DC 20), invisibility, magic missile, mark of justice
1/dayplane shift (willing targets only), true seeing

STATISTICS

Str 20, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 15, Wis 18, Cha 21
Base Atk +12; CMB +17 (+19 reposition, steal); CMD 29 (31 vs. reposition or steal)
Feats Alertness, Combat Expertise, Improved Reposition, Improved Steal, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack
Skills Diplomacy +20, Disguise +17, Intimidate +20, Knowledge (history, nobility, planes) +14, Perception +23, Sense Motive +23, Stealth +8
Languages truespeech
SQ change shape (Small or Medium humanoid; alter self), royal gift

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Dethrone (Ex)

An impariut can attempt a reposition or steal combat maneuver in place of a slam attack.

Kingslayer (Su)

Against any creature with a title denoting leadership or nobility (such as a baroness, chief, or lord), an impariut’s attacks gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls and deal an additional 1d8 damage. Against any creature recognized as an autonomous region’s head of state (such as an empress or king), an impariut’s attacks instead gain a +4 bonus on attack rolls, deal an additional 2d8 damage, and ignore any damage reduction the target has.

Royal Gift (Su)

Once per day as a full-round action, an impariut can grant its blessing to a willing humanoid creature by touching it for 1 full round. The target gains a +1 sacred bonus on Will saving throws; a +2 sacred bonus on saving throws against disease and poison; and a +2 sacred bonus on Knowledge (history), Knowledge (nobility), and Sense Motive checks for 1 year. A single creature can have no more than one royal gift from an impariut at a time. As long as the royal gift lasts, the impariut can sense the target’s position and general condition, as per status.

ECOLOGY

Environment any urban
Organization solitary, pair, or intervention (3–5)
Treasure standard (+1 mithral longsword, other treasure)

The impariut can remove a royal gift as a free action, and a royal gift can be removed by dispel law. An impariut can only maintain one royal gift for every 4 Hit Dice it has (3 royal gifts for a standard impariut).

Monarchs, dictators, governors, and mayors may rule under the pretense of sustaining lawful civilization, yet those who abuse their power or harm their people undermine the foundation of government. These bad actors represent a threat to cosmic order and a means by which the chaos of uprisings and revolution can take hold. The mortal agents of lawful deities are responsible for encouraging responsible governance; where they fail, an impariut must intervene.

Each impariut is a stern counselor sent to reform a powerful leader, guiding that figure toward sustainable policies that maintain order. Unlike many inevitables that care only that the universal order is upheld, impariuts exhibit slightly more patience and flexibility, knowing that an iron-fisted response is as likely to trigger riots as a negligent regime. As a result, impariuts are capable diplomats and teachers, equally proficient with incentives as with unflinching punishments.

An impariut stands precisely 7 feet tall and weighs exactly 350 pounds.

Impariuts are armored advisors built from the petitioners of mortal rulers. Whereas a petitioner’s memories are all but destroyed when creating most inevitables, impariuts maintain a fundamental sense of their accomplishments and failings during their mortal lives—all the better to recognize these deeds in others. Each impariut also bears a slightly different appearance that reflects the designs and fashion of its former existence, such as wearing the colors or regalia associated with its former kingdom. That said, most of every impariut’s appearance, knowledge, and morality is standardized, infused into its body upon its creation. This knowledge includes an encyclopedic expertise on mortal history, law, methods of civic administration, and social welfare.

Habitat And Society

Impariuts engage in extended assignments, often infiltrating a royal court for several weeks to learn about a disreputable ruler. After assembling a proper profile of the target, the inevitable typically approaches the wayward ruler in private to reveal its true identity, enumerate the ruler’s foibles, detail the likely consequences of continued negligence, and provide an assessment of how best to correct the situation. In a typical case, the impariut offers the ruler its ongoing assistance as an advisor to help steer the leader back to a proper path. However, if at any point the inevitable ascertains that the ruler is beyond redemption, it is empowered to execute the head of state and shepherd the best suitable replacement. This replacement is usually the legal heir, but if that individual is also deemed to be dishonest, an impariut will balance public sentiment with legal entitlement to identify the best candidate.

When a ruler’s deposition seems immediately necessary, an impariut might forgo private counseling and cast off its disguise to condemn a wayward ruler before a crowd, snatch his crown, and hurl him from his seat of power. In rare cases in which corruption is widespread, an impariut might gather a local council of lesser leaders to establish a new government in as peaceful a way as possible. The only taboo for impariuts is that each avoids directly intervening in any nations it ruled during its mortal life. This does not prevent an impariut from answering a distant descendant’s question if contacted directly, but impariuts view anything more than this reactive assistance as a conflict of interest.

As inevitables, impariuts are physically tireless and capable of working for centuries at a time. However, extended exposure to irresponsible governance sometimes erodes an impariut’s judgment or causes it to take especially drastic measures when a lighter hand would suffice. These rogue impariuts are very rare, and each one rebels in its own way; one might become a serial killer of monarchs, whereas another might establish itself as the leader of a nation. Other inevitables or lawful outsiders usually neutralize these malfunctioning impariuts swiftly. To minimize these transgressions, senior inevitables encourage impariuts to return between assignments. There these inevitables can bask in the perfect orderliness, grounding themselves and mentally preparing to guide another generation of imperfect nobles. Impariuts between assignments share information freely, evaluating and circulating the most effective leadership techniques, disciplinary tactics, and methods of avoiding any unintended consequences of their intervention.

A mortal spellcaster can petition an impariut to serve as a counselor for a careless king or tutor for an adolescent heir. So long as the inevitable’s proposed pupil seems able to learn and rule, an impariut might charge as little as 500 gp per month of nonhazardous instruction.

Those spellcasters who would instead force an impariut to obey can placate it by offering rare history volumes and noteworthy biographies, gaining a +1 bonus on the binder’s Charisma check for every 100 gp worth of literature provided (maximum +4). At the same time, though, an impariut judges the conjurer, assessing whether the spellcaster might ultimately undermine the region’s rule of law—and whether to destroy the conjurer at a later date.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Pathfinder Adventure Path #131: The Reaper’s Right Hand © 2018, Paizo Inc.; Authors: John Compton, with Jason Keeley, Nathan King, Crystal Malarsky, and Greg A. Vaughan.

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