Archon-Graced (CR varies)[3pp]

Guardians of good and order, archons act as protectors of the innocent and soldiers for the cause. They are the celestials most likely to act preemptively to stanch agents of evil and chaos from taking hold in the mortal realm, and thus are most likely to motivate others to achieve these ends.

When an archon finds a creature it feels is worthy, or one whom it can use to achieve the greater good, it bestows upon that creature some of its grace. This gives the chosen creature abilities well above the normal, but only for as long as the archon feels the recipient is worthy.

Creating an Archon Graced Creature

Archon-graced” is an acquired template that can be added to any living non-evil and non-chaotic creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature). Unlike other celestial-influenced creatures, an archon doesn’t need to gain permission of a creature to grace it. An archon-graced creature uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Challenge Rating: The CR adjustment depends on the specific archon that has graced the base creature as given in Table 2-7.

Alignment: Any non-evil and non-chaotic alignment. If the base creature has a chaotic component to its alignment, it moves one step toward lawful. If the archon-graced creature becomes evil or chaotic, the archon withdraws its grace from the creature, removing the template.

Type: The base creature’s gains the good and lawful subtypes.

Aura: An archon-graced creature gains the following:

Aura of Menace (Su)

The presence of the archon’s grace provides an archon-graced creature with an aura of menace that activates when it becomes angry or enters a fight. Any hostile creature within 10 feet of an archon-graced creature must make a Will save to resist its effects. Those who fail the save take a -2 penalty on attacks, AC, and saves for 24 hours, or until they successfully hit the archon-graced creature that generated the aura. A creature that has resisted the effect is immune to that particular archon-graced creature’s aura for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Defensive Abilities: An archon-graced creature gains a +4 racial bonus vs. poison and petrification, as well as electricity resistance 15.

Special Attacks: An archon-graced creature gains different special attacks depending on which archon has graced it.

Harbinger Archon

Wrathful Burst (Su)

Once every 6 rounds, a harbinger-archon-graced creature can let loose a blast of force that does 2d6 damage to all adjacent creatures. A Reflex save halves the damage. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Hound Archon

Bring Down the Quarry (Su)

When fighting a creature, the hound-archon-graced creature has targeted with its bloodhound ability (see below), it gains a bonus to its AC, CMB, CMD, and attack and damage rolls against it equal to its Wisdom modifier (minimum +0).

Lantern Archon

Light Ray (Su)

At will, a lanternarchon graced-creature can unleash a beam of light that does 1d6 damage to a single creature. Against undead, this is a ranged touch attack and a light effect.

Legion Archon

Ignite Weapon (Su)

Three times a day, a legion-archon-graced creature can turn any natural or manufactured weapon it has into a flaming weapon as a standard action. The flames from the weapon do not damage the archon-graced creature. Once per day, the graced creature can make its flaming weapon into a flaming burst weapon. The flaming or flaming burst quality lasts a number of rounds equal to the graced creature’s Wisdom modifier (minimum +1) but may be ended at will before that.

Shield Archon

Defensive Strike (Su)

Each time a shield-archon-graced creature successfully strikes an opponent with a melee attack, it gains knowledge of the creature’s defensive weaknesses. Against the struck creature, the archon-graced creature gains a +1 circumstance bonus on its AC, CMB, and attack and damage rolls. This bonus is cumulative for each successful strike, but it is lost as soon as the archon-graced creature attacks another individual opponent, the creature dies, or combat ends.

Star Archon

Smite Chaos or Evil (Su)

Three times a day, a star-archon-graced creature can make a smite attack against a creature with either a chaotic or evil alignment. The smite bonus is equal to the archon-graced creature’s Charisma modifier (minimum +1). Against a chaotic evil creature, this bonus doubles.

Table 2-7: Archon Graced Abilities
Archon CR Str Dex Con Int Wis Cha
Harbinger +1 +2
Hound +2 +2 +2
Lantern +1 +2
Legion +2 +2 +2
Shield +2 +2 +2
Star +3 +4 +4

Spell-like Abilities: An archon-graced creature gains different spell-like abilities depending on which archon has graced it.

Harbinger Archon

At will—dancing lights; 3/day—cure light wounds.

Hound Archon

At will—aid; 3/day—magic circle against evil.

Lantern Archon

At will—aid, continual flame, detect evil.

Legion Archon

At will—continual flame; 3/day—versatile weapon.

Shield Archon

At will—aid; 3/day—shield other.

Star Archon

At will—aid, true seeing; 1/day—sunbeam, sunburst.

Abilities: An archon graced creature gains bonuses to ability scores depending which archon has graced it.

Special Qualities: An archon graced creature gains the following.

Graced (Su)

An archon-graced creature contains part of a specific archon’s grace, i. e. its divine essence. The archon that graced the creature has constant awareness of the creature and may intervene directly or indirectly on the archon-graced creature’s behalf if it is able (at the GM’s discretion). The archon can only grace one creature at a time, and it can remove its grace (and the template) at will. A banishment spell can force an archon’s grace out of a creature, but the graced creature gets a Will save to negate the banishment attempt. Further, an archon-graced creature gains different special qualities depending on which archon has graced it.

Harbinger Archon

Harbinger’s Awareness (Ex)

A harbinger-archon-graced creature gains a +4 bonus on Perception rolls and cannot be surprised or caught flat-footed.

Hound Archon

Bloodhound (Su)

A hound-archon-graced creature can track any one creature it has caught the scent of anywhere on the same plane as it. This does not give the specific location of the creature, but reveals the general direction to within 100 feet. The hound archon-graced creature can change its target as a full-round action, but it can only have one creature targeted by this ability at any time.

Lantern Archon

Burst of Light (Su)

Once a day, a lantern-archon-graced creature can instantaneously travel 100 feet to any unoccupied location within line of sight as a move action.

Legion Archon

Gift of Armor (Su)

A legion-archon-graced is proficient with all forms of armor. Further, it takes no reduction to its speed or any armor check penalties when wearing armor.

Shield Archon

Communal Defense (Su)

By physically touching an ally as an immediate action, a shield-archon-graced creature can lend an ally the use of one if its feats for 1 round even if the ally does not meet the prerequisites for the feat. During this round the archon-graced creature loses the ability to use that feat, as well as any feats that have it as a prerequisite. The archon-graced creature can lend only one feat to one creature at a time. At beginning of the archon-graced creature’s next action, the use of the feat returns to the graced creature.

Star Archon

Graced Regeneration (Su)

A star-archon-graced creature gains regeneration equal to 1 plus half its Hit Dice. The regeneration can be bypassed by evil weapons and effects.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Advanced Bestiary, Copyright 2014, Green Ronin Publishing, LLC; Author Jeff Hersh, Developer Owen K.C. Stephens

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