Tilket

Tilket CR 4

XP 1,200
CE Diminutive outsider (chaotic, evil)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +8

DEFENSE

AC 17, touch 17, flat-footed 14 (+3 Dex, +4 size)
hp 32 (5d10 plus 5)
Fort +1; Ref +7; Will +4; DR 5/magic; Immune mind-affecting effects
Weaknesses vulnerable to fire

OFFENSE

Speed 20 ft.
Ranged suicide kings +12 (see text)
Space 1 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks euphoria drain, suicide kings
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th):

STATISTICS

Str 1, Dex 17, Con 11, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 16
Base Atk +5; CMB +4; CMD 9
Feats Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Profession [gambler]), Toughness
Skills Acrobatics +5 (+1 when jumping), Bluff +11, Climb +5, Diplomacy +8, Escape Artist +8, Knowledge (religion) +6, Perception +8, Profession (gambler) +11, Sense Motive +8, Stealth +23; Racial Modifiers –4 Acrobatics when jumping, a tiklet uses its Dexterity for Climb checks rather than Strength
Languages Abyssal, Common
SQ joker’s wild

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Euphoria Drain (Su)

As a standard action, a tilket may attempt to establish a telepathic link between itself and any humanoid within 30 feet. A willing target may forego a saving throw. An unwilling creature, on the other hand, negates the effect with a successful DC 15 Will save and is not subject to the same tilket’s telepathic link for 1 week. Humanoids with an Intelligence score of 3 or less are immune to this effect.

When a tilket successfully establishes a telepathic link between itself and its subject, it communicates its intentions to aid the target in games of chance by visually demonstrating its joker’s wild ability. Of course, it omits any details about the price it exacts, though it must succeed on a Bluff check opposed by the subject’s Sense Motive to allow its omission to go unnoticed. If the subject declines a tilket’s offer of assistance after the preceding demonstration, the telepathic link is severed, and the same tilket cannot attempt to establish another telepathic link with that same creature for 1 week. A target who accepts the tilket’s offer must voluntarily allow the tilket to absorb a drop of its sweat or any other appropriate bodily fluid the creature secretes when excited or nervous. This act establishes a parasitic link between the pair. A tilket cannot have more than one parasitic link in effect at any time. If a tilket establishes a link with a new subject, the previous link immediately ceases and is replaced by the new link. On the other hand, the host cannot voluntarily sever the link without a struggle.

Once per day as a full-round action, he can attempt to rid himself of the scheming outsider and sever the link with a successful DC 19 (+1 for each day since the tilket established the link) Will save, which includes a +4 racial bonus.

A humanoid linked to the tilket suffers 1 point of Charisma drain whenever a tilket transforms into a specific object to win a game of chance for the subject or the subject would have lost a game if not for the tilket’s +5 luck bonus (see joker’s wild) to the target’s Profession (gambler) check or similar skill check. If the linked creature does not use the tilket to aid him in a game of chance for a period of 1 week, the tilket nonetheless drains 1 point of Charisma at the end of that week. The subject can negate the Charisma drain with a successful DC 15 Will save. The tilket can drain only 1 point of Charisma from the same target every 24 hours, even if it uses its joker’s wild ability to aid the target more than once during that 24-hour period.

Meanwhile, the tilket gains 1 temporary hit point for each HD the linked subject has. These temporary hit points last for 1 hour and stack with themselves but not with temporary hit points gained from other sources. A creature linked to the tilket cannot directly attack that particular tilket. However, it can affect the outsider with area spells and effects. When a tilket takes hit point damage, the subject also suffers hit point damage equal to the damage dealt to the tilket regardless of its source. There is no save against this effect. When a tilket drains a linked creature to a Charisma score of 1, the tilket can take over the creature’s body as the magic jar spell. A tilket may attempt the preceding effect once every 24 hours, and the target receives a DC 19 Will save to negate the effect, which includes a +4 racial bonus. If the tilket succeeds, the subject and the tilket switch places. The tilket’s former body becomes a lifeless receptacle housing the victim’s soul.

A tilket can return to its natural form as a standard action, which immediately ends the magic jar effect.

The save DC is Charisma-based.

Joker’s Wild (Su)

As a standard action, a tilket in its natural state can transform into a single, non-magical, solid object weighing 1 pound or less, such as a playing card, game tile, or die. It cannot transform into any material of great intrinsic value, such as a precious metal or gemstone, nor can it transform into any manufactured weapon. The metamorphosis instantly negates any invisibility effect in place at the time the transformation took place and prevents a tilket from becoming invisible for as long as this supernatural ability remains in effect. A tilket can observe its surroundings as normal, and its hit points and save bonuses remain unaffected. It gains a +4 natural armor bonus to AC, but has an effective Dexterity score of 0 and a speed of 0 feet. When it assumes the form and shape of an object, it cannot transform into a different object unless it first returns to its normal state. A tilket can dismiss the effect and transform back to its normal state as a free action.

Whenever a tilket uses this supernatural ability to aid another creature during a game of chance, the participant benefiting from the tilket’s interference gains a +5 luck bonus on any Profession (gambler) check or other similar check made to determine the game’s outcome. Using a tilket in this manner may require a successful Sleight of Hand check to prevent other players from detecting the ruse, if the player is aware of the tilket’s presence. If the GM opts to recreate an actual game of chance, a tilket may instead transform into any gaming piece of the player’s choice.

Suicide Kings (Su)

Once per minute as a free action, a minuscule, virtually weightless yet razor sharp playing card appears in the tilket’s tiny, hand-like appendage. A tilket can hurl this projectile at any single target within 20 feet and must succeed on a ranged attack. If the tilket does not hurl the card within 1 minute of its creation, it harmlessly dissipates into nothingness.

When the projectile hits a creature or object, draw a card from a deck of standard playing cards. Any creature struck by the card takes an amount of damage equal to the card’s value. (Treat an ace as 1 point and any face card [jack, queen or king] as 10.) If the card’s suit is diamonds or hearts, the attack deals an additional 1d3 points of bleed damage. If the card’s suit is clubs or spades, the attack also bestows 1 negative level. A successful DC 13 Fortitude save negates the bleed damage and the negative level. The save DC is Constitution-based.

ECOLOGY

Environment any
Organization solitary
Treasure standard

Invisibly perched atop another creature’s shoulder, this minuscule, nearly two-dimensional creature is roughly shaped like an ordinary domino or gaming tile. Two pairs of pseudopod extensions protruding from its lower half and sides function as rudimentary legs and arms.

When the weather becomes too dangerous to venture outside, humanoids frequently pass the time indoors playing a variety of games. For most, the contests distract the participants from the drudgery of daily life.

Others though take the game’s outcome far more seriously, especially when wagering becomes part of the equation. Under these tense circumstances, the fiercest competitors leave nothing to chance. They use mathematics to compute their odds of success and intuition to deduce their opponents’ next actions. Still, one unlucky roll of the dice or turn of a gaming tile can undo their efforts in a heartbeat, turning fortune into ruin. But a handful of players refuse to let randomness determine their fate. They instead choose to forge their own destiny with the aid of a minuscule creature colloquially known as the tilket. This tiny, invisible creature telepathically communicates with its host, who can direct it to instantaneously transform into any inanimate object such as a playing card, a die, or a gaming tile to change the outcome of any wager. At first blush, the arrangement seems like a one-sided affair solely benefiting the humanoid partner. However, the bargain is far from the unfair relationship it appears to be. Indeed, over time the mysterious chameleon steadily gains the upper hand on its unwitting host.

Blinded by greed and the euphoria of winning, he fails to see that luck comes at an extreme price. The ravenous creature feeds on the player’s psyche, draining his free will until he becomes a vacant receptacle unable to resist the tilket’s mental commands. This bizarre domestication often takes months and sometimes years to achieve. But in the end, the tilket ultimately wears down even the most egotistical humanoids who fail to rid themselves of the monster’s corrupting influence before time runs out.

These outsiders target only humanoids as their partners. They typically loiter where players gather to play games for prolonged stretches, such as polar villages, isolated lodges, and casinos. When it first spots a potential mark, the tilket uses its invisibility and joker’s wild abilities to aid that player by manifesting itself as the card or gaming tile the gambler needs to win the game. After granting this stroke of good fortune, the insidious monster then observes the player’s reaction to his lucky streak. Tilkets feast on adrenaline and emotion. Therefore, they target players who display a visceral response. They bypass those who keep their cool and exhibit no visual reaction to success.

When it sets its sights on an individual, the tilket reveals itself and telepathically communicates its intentions to aid the player by mimicking an inanimate object.

The creature initially adopts a subservient persona in a covert attempt to gain its owner’s trust and increase that individual’s dependence upon his ace in the hole. The relationship’s turning point arrives when the player throws intellect and intuition aside and instead relies solely upon the tilket to make his fortune. At that moment, the tables turn as the wily outsider steadily asserts its dominance over its acquiescent host.

Although some believe the outsiders are the physical embodiment of luck, they were actually the divine servants of a now-extinct deity of good fortune. Shortly after another god destroyed their master, the outsiders went “rogue” and became devious parasites who feast on excitement. Tilkets are roughly the size of a typical playing card or domino. Their limbs are two pairs of pseudopod extensions protruding from the sides and bottom portion of its nearly two-dimensional body. Colorful patterns of swirling red, blue, and white lines adorn the monster’s back, which is in stark contrast to its featureless, white facade on the opposite side. Despite the fact that they have no obvious sensory organs, tilkets have keen eyesight and hearing, though they have no sense of smell or taste. Likewise, they lack a mouth or any digestive tract and instead subsist on adrenaline and nervous energy they absorb through direct contact with the host’s skin. Tilkets are solitary by nature and never cooperate with others of their kind. When two or more of them face off against one another, they wage a proxy war using their hosts to battle against their adversaries.

Although sustenance is their primary motivation for seeking out a host, the creatures also have a fondness for the worldly treasures unwitting bequeathed to them by their humanoid counterparts.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Icebound Copyright 2021, Michael Mars; Author: Tom Knauss

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