Xenoid Creature (CR +1)

Xenoid creatures are alien abominations from the uttermost reaches of reality that have begun to infest the mortal world of reason and sanity. At the farthest edges of the Material Plane, the transitive planes like the Shadow Plane or the Plane of Dreams could be overlapped and compressed with the Material Plane in such a way that creatures there exist in multiple realities or even multiple locations simultaneously.

These realms could be the location or the melding of universal matter and energy with the notional physics of antimatter, darkmatter, and hyperspace. In a universe that displays physical manifestations of metaphysical constructs dimensions of time, space, and reality can easily be assumed to bend and warp into geometries and probabilities that beggar description and are as alien and impossible to the presumptive universal constants of the “normal” core areas of the Material Plane as to be unrecognizable to those who live there. However you define this inscrutable realm beyond, xenoid creatures have crawled out of their aberrant warpscapes and infiltrated the home space of the heroes, bringing alien horror and madness in their wake.

Creating a Xenoid Creature (CR 0 or +1)

“Xenoid” is an acquired template that can be added to any living creature that has been corrupted from within by alien forces from beyond the farthest realms. A xenoid creature uses the base creature’s statistics and abilities except as noted here.

CR: Same as base creature (or base creature +1, if the creature has 5 or more Hit Dice).

Type: The creature’s type changes to aberration. Do not recalculate HD, BAB, or saves. The creature also gains the shapechanger subtype and the mythos subtype. If you rule that the realms beyond where xenoid creatures originate are actual separate planes rather than the frayed and distorted edges of the Material Plane, xenoid creatures also gain the extraplanar subtype.

Armor Class: A xenoid creature gains an insight bonus to Armor Class as noted on the Xenoid Template Defenses table.

Special Attacks: Xenoid creatures gain the following special attack.

True Strike (Su)

A xenoid creature can use true strike once per day as a swift action.

Special Qualities and Defenses: A xenoid creature gains darkvision 60 feet and the following abilities.

Energy Resistance (Ex)

Xenoid creatures gain energy resistance to acid and electricity as noted on the Xenoid Template Defenses table.

Spell Resistance (Su)

Xenoid creatures gain energy resistance equal to their new CR + 5.

Unnatural Anatomy (Ex)

Xenoid creatures have a chance to negate critical hits, sneak attacks, and other precision-based damage as if wearing armor with the fortification property, as noted on the Xenoid Template Defenses table.

Xenoid Template Defenses

Hit Dice	AC Bonus	Acid/Electricity Resistance	Fortification
1-4	+1	5	25%
5-10	+2	10	50%
11+	+3	15	75%

Unnatural Form (Su)

Xenoid creatures seem normal at first glance; however, as a standard action they can reveal their true alien nature in a horrifying transformation. They can also trigger this transformation as an immediate action after a creature confirms a critical hit against them. Any non-xenoid creature with line of sight to the xenoid creature when it transforms is affected as if the xenoid creature possessed the frightful presence ability. This affects only creatures with fewer Hit Dice than the xenoid creature, and creatures of 4 Hit Dice or less that fail their saves are panicked only if they have fewer than one-half the xenoid creature’s Hit Dice. A creature that saves against a xenoid creature’s unnatural form is immune to the unnatural form of all xenoid creatures of the same type for 24 hours.

A xenoid creature can remain in its unnatural form for up to 1 hour per Hit Die it possesses. While in its unnatural form, a xenoid creature gains one of the following special abilities.

d10	Ability
1	all-around vision
2	blindsense 30 feet
3	compression
4	natural reach increased by 5 feet
5	no breath
6	poisonous blood (as bloodroot, but the save DC is equal to 10 + 1/2 the xenoid creature’s Hit Dice + its Constitution modifier)
7	split (slashing, 10 hp)
8	stench
9	trip
10	unnatural aura

At the GM’s option, all xenoid creatures of a particular kind may share the same ability in their unnatural form or abilities could vary by individual. Likewise, most xenoid creatures have one specific ability that they gain when they shift into their unnatural form, but if desired the ability can be randomly determined each time a xenoid creature assumes its unnatural form.

Xenoid creatures crave being in their unnatural form and feel constricted and morose if trapped in their natural bodies for long periods. A xenoid creature can remain in its natural body for a maximum number of hours equal to its Constitution score, after which it becomes shaken (even if normally immune to fear) until it spends at least 1 hour in its unnatural form.

Each hour thereafter that it does not transform it must succeed at a Will save (DC 15, +1 per hour after the first) or be compelled to transform into its unnatural form, becoming confused for 1d6 rounds after the transformation.

Weaknesses: While in its unnatural form, a xenoid creature gains the following weakness.

Toxic Reality (Ex)

The thick and orderly physical reality of the Material Plane is painful and disturbing to a xenoid creature in its unnatural form. Each hour it remains in this form it must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 15, +1 for each hour after the first) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage and become fatigued. This nonlethal damage cannot be healed until the xenoid creature resumes its normal form or reaches an alien environment more suited to its nature. A xenoid creature that falls unconscious as a result of this nonlethal damage takes lethal damage each hour on a failed save.

Traits

Ability Scores: A xenoid creature uses the base creature’s ability scores, but its Intelligence is at least 3.

Alignment: A xenoid creature’s alignment is shifted one step towards evil, though it retains the lawful or chaotic component of the base creature’s alignment.

Special: When incorporating xenoid creatures into a campaign, you may apply either or both of the following special rules to enhance their alien nature.

Alien Cysts: A classic feature of alien nests often casts aberrant things from beyond as being somewhat insectoid, creating hives or cysts built out of mucus and resin exuded through their unnatural orifices and accreted into cells and chambers that seal out the air of the living world and trap in a noxious effluent that more closely mimics the atmosphere of the nightmare dimensions they call home. This can be used as a merely descriptive effect to bring home the strangeness of these beings from beyond, but the following templates presuppose that these pseudonatural “xenoid” creatures are actually dependent on these alien environments if they are to operate freely in their unnatural state. Otherwise, they must remain hidden in their fleshy cages as they walk among the fleshy beings of our world.

Cystic Resin: A xenoid creature can express enough alien cystic resin, sometimes called kaor, to coat a 10-foot square area with an inch-thick layer, which hardens to the strength of solid wood in 1 hour. This takes one hour and can be done once per day, and once applied the resin layer lasts 1 year before decaying into crumbling flakes. At the GM’s option, this material can be shaped into any objects that could normally be crafted out of wood or leather. Alternatively, a xenoid creature can exude a more refined resin called kaorak which has the hardness of steel, but it can produce only a 1-foot-square area an inch thick, sufficient to use as the material for a light or onehanded weapon, or with several days of effort to make an item similar in quality to darkwood. Items made of this alien resin can be made masterwork or even into magical items and follow normal crafting rules.