Crystal Creature (CR +1)[3pp]

Horrors spread on the wings of plague, the beautiful and terrible crystal creatures inspire awe and fear in all who view them. These creatures are generated by brilliant pestilence, an insidious disease whose origin is more myth than fact. Old texts say the disease created by an evil god on the Elemental Planes of Earth. Tablets in the fortresses of the great shaitan viziers tell that the disease emanates from a rift in the Elemental Planes of Earth from which great fluxes of positive and negative energy emerge. Other stories speak of the disease being caused by powerful magic of earth and fire that has become unstable over the eons. Whatever the cause, the disease is a blight on the Elemental Planes of Earth and has spread to the Material Plane.

A crystal creature looks much like it did before its infection, but every muscle and organ of its body has been transformed into clear crystal. Through crystalline skin and bone, a faceted heart is visible, pumping translucent blood that refracts light and makes the creature glow from within. Under light as dim as a candle or as bright as the sun, a crystal creature shines with such brilliance that it dazzles and blinds other creatures.

Crystal creatures are driven to spread the disease that created them. Creatures infected on the Elemental Planes of Earth are driven to be set lose on the multiverse to spread their transforming affliction everywhere.

Creating a Crystal Creature

Crystal” is an acquired template that can be added to any corporeal creature that is susceptible to disease (referred to hereafter as the base creature). A crystal creature retains all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Challenge Rating: Same as base creature +1.

Alignment: Any non-good.

Type: The base creature’s type changes to outsider with the elemental, earth, and native subtypes, as well as the appropriate augmented subtype. Do not recalculate base attack bonuses, saves, or skill points.

Senses: A crystal creature gains low-light vision.

Armor Class: Natural armor improves by +4.

Defensive Abilities: A crystal creature loses any sonic resistance or immunity, but it gains resistance 10 to acid, cold, electricity, and fire, and DR 5/—. A crystal creature is immune to the harmful effects of bright light (including effects that blind with light); all effects with the light descriptor; and other light-based attacks such as color spray, prismatic spray, and searing light.

Weaknesses: A crystal creature loses light blindness and light sensitivity, but gains vulnerability to sonic damage.

Attacks: The crystal creature gains a primary slam attack if it has no other natural attacks. The crystal creature’s slam attack deals damage as if it the creature were one size category larger.

Special Attacks: A crystal creature gains the following special attacks.

Brilliant Pestilence (Su)

All of a crystal creature’s natural attacks inflict the following supernatural disease.

Brilliant Pestilence: All Natural Attacks—injury; save Fort negates; onset 1 day; frequency 1 day; effect 1d6 Dex damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Charisma-based.

A creature whose Dexterity is reduced to 0 by the disease is petrified and transformed into lifeless crystal, only to revive 24 hours later as a crystal creature. Once transformed, a miracle or wish spell or similar magic is needed to transform the creature back.

Dazzling Form (Ex)

Within the area of a crystal creature’s light amplification ability (see below), all sighted creatures are dazzled for 1 minute if they fail an initial Fortitude save. After being dazzled, as long as they remain in the area, they must make a Fortitude save every round or become permanently blinded (Fort negates). The DC of dazzling form increases by +2 in bright light or a light effect that it is immune to. These bonuses stack, so a crystal creature in the area of bright light that is struck with a light effect increases its dazzling form’s DC by +4. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Abilities: Str +2, Dex +4, Con +2, Int –4. If this reduces the creature’s Int to 0 or less, it becomes mindless.

Skills: A crystal creature loses all bonuses to Stealth due to coloration, but gain a +4 racial bonus to Stealth in areas of crystal formations.

Special Qualities: A crystal creatures gains the following special quality.

Light Amplification (Ex)

A crystal creature’s body naturally captures and magnifies light that strikes it. When in dim light and above, it sheds light as one step higher in a 30-foot radius. In an area of bright light, it sheds bright light in a 60-foot radius.

Organization: usually solitary

Section 15: Copyright Notice

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

scroll to top