Emperor of Scales
The air fills with the sound of hissing snakes as a giant, severed snake's head floats into view, with a gaping mouth and twin fangs dripping virulent poison. Its eyes are milky and blind, but its forked tongue constantly tests the air for fresh scents. Below the head, where a body should be, numerous hissing serpents thrash like tendrils of torn flesh. Blood drips from the severed head, sizzling as it burns like acid through anything it touches.
Emperor of Scales (CR 15)
Huge Outsider (Chaotic, Evil, Native)Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Initiative: +11
Senses: All-Around Vision, Darkvision 60 feet, Scent; Perception +26
Aura: frightful presence (60 feet, DC 25), maddening hiss (100 feet, DC 25)
Speed: 30 feet, Climb 30 feet, Fly 60 feet (good)
Space: 15 feet
Defense
Armor Class: 30, touch 15, flat-footed 23 (+7 Dex, +15 natural, -2 size)Hit Points: 225 (18d10+126) Regeneration 5 (electricity)
Saving Throws: Fort +19, Ref +13, Will +15
Damage Reduction: 15/good and silver
Immunity: acid, fire, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison, vorpal weapons
Spell Resistance: 26
Offense
Melee: bite +24 (2d8+8/19-20 plus poison and Grab), 8 snakebites +22 (1d6+4 plus poison)Reach: 10 feet (15 feet with snakebites)
Special Attacks: acidic gore, poison, Swallow Whole (2d8+12 plus poison, AC 17, 22 hp)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 15th; Concentration +21):
- Constant- Fly
- At Will- Poison (DC 20), Teleport
- 3/day- Accelerate Poison* (DC 18), Blindness/Deafness (DC 18), Blur, Dominate Person (DC 21), Major Image (DC 19), Mirror Image, Suggestion (DC 19)
- 1/day- Chaos Hammer (DC 20), Dream, Suggestion, Mass (DC 22), Nightmare (DC 21), Unholy Blight (DC 20)
Statistics
| Str | Dex | Con | Int | Wis | Cha |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 (+8) | 24 (+7) | 23 (+6) | 13 (+1) | 19 (+4) | 22 (+6) |
CMB +28 (+32 Grapple)
CMD 45 (can't be tripped)
Feats: Combat Reflexes, Great Fortitude, Hover, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Multiattack, Snatch, Toughness
Skills: Bluff +27, Climb +16, Escape Artist +22, Fly +20, Knowledge (history) +12, Knowledge (planes) +12, Knowledge (religion) +12, Perception +26, Sense Motive +22, Spellcraft +19, Stealth +16, Use Magic Device +21
- Racial Modifiers: +4 Escape Artist, +4 Perception, +4 Stealth, +4 Use Magic Device
Special Qualities: command snakes
Special Abilities
Acidic Gore (Su)
The Emperor of Scales' giant severed head continually drips blood and gore that burn like acid. Any creature within 10 feet of the Emperor of Scales must make a DC 25 Reflex save or be sprayed by droplets of acidic blood, taking 2d6 points of acid damage. The save DC is Constitution-based.Command Snakes (Ex)
As a free action, the Emperor of Scales can command any snake or serpent with the animal or magical beast type, as the dominate animal spell. The target can resist the command with a DC 25 Will save.Immunity to Vorpal Weapons (Ex)
The Emperor of Scales is essentially a giant head with no body. As a result, its head cannot be severed, and vorpal weapons have no additional effect on it.Maddening Hiss (Su)
The Emperor of Scales' numerous snake heads constantly hiss in a maddening cacophony as a free action. Any creature within 100 feet of the Emperor of Scales must make a DC 25 Will save or be confused for 1 round. This is a mind-affecting compulsion insanity effect. A creature that saves cannot be affected by the Emperor of Scales' maddening hiss for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.Poison (Ex)
- Delivery: Bite or swallow-injury
- Fortitude Save: 25
- Frequency: 1/round for 10 rounds
- Track: Critical Strength
- Initial Effect: 2d6 acid
- Secondary Effect: 2d6 acid
- Saves: 2 consecutive saves
- Delivery: Snakebite-injury
- Fortitude Save: 20
- Frequency: 1/round for 6 rounds
- Track: Moderate Constitution
- Saves: 2 consecutive saves
Ecology
Environment: AnyOrganization: solitary
Treasure: standard
In the earliest days of the Age of Serpents, when the great serpentfolk empire was young, the serpentfolk were ruled by a single, powerful priest-king. When Ydersius took his rightful place as god of the serpentfolk, he exalted this priest-king above all others, raising the king up to become his foremost servant and herald. With his original name long lost to memory, the first king of the serpentfolk empire became known as the Emperor of Scales.
With Ydersius's still-living head entombed beneath the earth and his mindless body endlessly wandering the Darklands, the Emperor of Scales is the snake-god's primary representative on Golarion. Unable to take direct action on his own, Ydersius relies upon his herald to enact his will on the Material Plane. The Emperor of Scales embodies the fall of the mighty serpentfolk empire from its previous heights, and personifies the rage of Ydersius himself, trapped and sundered into two lesser parts. But he also represents the god's immortality, for even in defeat Ydersius was not slain, and even without a body, the Emperor of Scales still serves.
The Emperor of Scales does not speak, but it can communicate telepathically. Snakes and serpents of all kinds and sizes flock to the Emperor of Scales, who can enslave them to his will. The Emperor of Scales appears as a giant snake's head about 20 feet long, and weighs close to 5 tons. His serpentine tendrils extend another 15 feet behind and around his head.
Ecology
When Ydersius was whole and walked Golarion as the god of the serpentfolk empire, the Emperor of Scales appeared as a giant serpentfolk warrior clad in golden scale armor who strode across ancient battlefields wielding spells and blade with equal precision. When Ydersius was beheaded by the Azlanti heroine Savith and cast down, the Emperor of Scales suffered his own mutilation. In a sympathetic reflection of his master's fate, the Emperor's head tore itself free from his body, growing to monstrous size while his humanoid body quickly withered away. His eyes clouded over, blinding the herald, but the tendrils of flesh that once attached his head to his body transformed into a multitude of hissing, poisonous vipers. The Emperor of Scales has kept that form since, but the faithful of Ydersius believe that when the snake-god is restored, so too will his herald return to his original form and once more lead the serpentfolk armies to victory.
Originally born on Golarion, the Emperor of Scales is a native outsider. He sleeps like any normal creature, and when not called upon to serve, spends most of his time in a dream-filled torpor, much like the severed head of Ydersius himself. Unlike other native outsiders, however, the Emperor of Scales does not need to eat. As he no longer has a body to process and digest food, he gains sustenance from his divine link with Ydersius. On other planes, the Emperor of Scales gains the extraplanar subtype, and requires neither food nor sleep.
Habitat & Society
At the height of Ydersius's power, the Emperor of Scales divided his time between Golarion and Ydersius's planar realm, the pocket plane of Sydrixus deep in the unending chaos of the Maelstrom. Since Ydersius's defeat, that realm has been closed to both the god and his servants, and like Ydersius, the Emperor of Scales has been confined to the Material Plane. In the millennia since, the Emperor of Scales has traveled throughout the Material Plane, alternately searching the Darklands of Golarion for the sundered skull and body of Ydersius, or sleeping for centuries, dreaming of his master's restoration and return.
The Emperor of Scales has been encountered numerous times over the ages in various abandoned cities of the ancient serpentfolk, both on Golarion, and some say, on other worlds as well. Powerful priests of Ydersius have been known to wake the Emperor of Scales when they find him and request his aid. Such alliances are usually short-lived, however, as the herald inevitably moves on in search of his lost master.
The Emperor of Scales is known to work with demons on occasion, though those fiends serving Abraxas are viewed as enemies, and the herald does not hesitate to attack and destroy them, returning them to their Abyssal realm.
In his original form, the Emperor of Scales frequently mated with mortal serpentfolk and left behind countless semidivine progeny. What happened to these paragons of the serpentfolk race after the fall of the serpentfolk empire is unknown, although many powerful serpentfolk priests claim descent from the herald to bolster their own influence. These days, exceptionally large or particularly strong snakes are said to be the brood of the Emperor of Scales, remnants of his serpentine tendrils that were severed in battle and took on a life of their own. Whether or not these claims are true is of little importance—certainly the Emperor of Scales himself seems unconcerned with such potential offspring.
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