Seraptis
This demonic woman's flesh is pale and clammy, as if her body had been drained of blood via the numerous deep, raw slashes upon her four arms. As she moves, these gashes open like mouths, displaying row upon row of razor-sharp teeth.
Seraptis (CR 15)
Medium Outsider (Chaotic, Demon, Evil, Extraplanar)Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Initiative: +10
Senses: Darkvision 60 feet, deathwatch, True Seeing; Perception +30
Aura: gaze of despair (30 feet, DC 22), unholy aura (DC 23)
Speed: 50 feet
Space: 5 feet
Defense
Armor Class: 30, touch 20, flat-footed 24 (+4 deflection, +6 Dex, +10 natural)Hit Points: 217 (15d10+135)
Saving Throws: Fort +18, Ref +11, Will +13
bloodless
Damage Reduction: 10/cold iron and good
Immunity: bleed, electricity, poison
Energy Resistance: acid 10, cold 10, fire 10
Spell Resistance: 26
Offense
Melee: +1 wounding scimitar +22/+17/+12 (1d6+7/15-20), 3 claws +19 (1d6+3 plus Grab), gore +19 (2d6+3)Reach: 5 feet
Special Attacks: compelling domination, ravenous embrace
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 15th; Concentration +20):
- Constant- Deathwatch, True Seeing, Unholy Aura (DC 23)
- At Will- Crushing Despair (DC 18), Dispel Magic, Teleport, Greater (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), Telekinesis (DC 20)
- 3/day- Confusion (DC 19), Demand (DC 23), Dominate Person (DC 19), Fly
- 1/day- Symbol of Insanity (DC 23), summon (level 5, 1 seraptis 20% or 1 glabrezu 40%)
Statistics
Str | Dex | Con | Int | Wis | Cha |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
22 (+6) | 23 (+6) | 28 (+9) | 16 (+3) | 19 (+4) | 21 (+5) |
CMB +21 (+25 Grapple)
CMD 41
Feats: Bleeding Critical, Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus, Improved Critical (Scimitar), Improved Initiative, Multiattack, Vital Strike
Skills: Acrobatics +24 (+32 jump), Bluff +23, Fly +24, Intimidate +23, Knowledge (planes) +21, Knowledge (religion) +21, Perception +30, Sense Motive +22, Stealth +24
- Racial Modifiers: +8 Perception
Special Abilities
Bloodless (Ex)
A seraptis's body is not completely bloodless, but what blood its body does contain is typically blood taken from its previous victims-the blood that flows through the demon's atrophied veins does nothing to give it life. Its wounds do not bleed, and it is immune to bleed effects and to attacks that utilize blood drain to function. Sneak attacks, critical hits, and similar attacks function normally on a seraptis, although if such effects would normally cause bleed damage, those additional effects do not work.Compelling Domination (Su)
When a seraptis uses dominate person (as a spell or spell-like ability), its victims do not actively resist the control and do not gain a new saving throw when ordered to take actions against their nature unless those actions are obviously self-destructive, in which case the victim does get a new saving throw with a +2 bonus to escape the effects of the domination.Gaze of Despair (Su)
A seraptis's gaze fills the minds of those within 30 feet with overwhelming and soul-crushing despair. Anyone who fails a DC 22 Will save upon being exposed to a seraptis's gaze immediately takes 1d6 points of Charisma drain and is staggered for 1d6 rounds. If the Charisma drain would normally reduce a creature's Charisma to 0, that creature instead succumbs to overwhelming suicidal urges and attempts to end its life by the most convenient method at hand, subject to GM discretion. (In most cases, this effect causes a creature to make a coup de grace attempt on itself, but if a more dramatic method of self-destruction is available, the creature takes that action.) Once a creature reaches this suicidal state of despair, it remains in that state until its Charisma score is restored to its normal maximum-if methods of restoring lost Charisma are not available, the suicidal victim must be restrained at all times to prevent attempts to kill itself. This is a mind-affecting effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.Grab (Ex)
A seraptis gains a cumulative +4 bonus on grapple attempts for each successive claw attack that hits in a single round, provided the claw attacks all hit the same target. If she grabs a foe, she can use her ravenous embrace.Ravenous Embrace (Su)
Once per round, a creature grappling or grappled by a seraptis can be attacked by the ravenous, toothed wounds that decorate a seraptis's arms. These teeth bite and chew, inflicting an automatic 4d6+12 points of damage each round-in addition, the wounds caused by the ravenous embrace cause 2d6 bleed and 1d4 points of Strength drain as the seraptis drinks away the victim's blood and other vital fluids. As long as the seraptis is within 30 feet of a foe suffering bleed damage from her ravenous embrace, the blood that flows from the victim writhes through the air into the seraptis's arm maws, healing the seraptis by an amount equal to the amount caused by that round's bleed effect.Ecology
Environment: AnyOrganization: solitary or cult (1 seraptis plus 1-2 glabrezus and 2-6 succubi)
Treasure: double (+1 wounding scimitar, other treasure)
Statuesque and hauntingly beautiful (at least, until the toothy wounds on their arms gape open), seraptis demons are the favored minions of the demon lord Sif kesh, although they also often serve other demon lords (particularly Nocticula and Socothbenoth). Formidable combatants, seraptis demons typically function as bodyguards or lone champions for their masters, but many of these demons have achieved greater glory on their own as rulers of subdomains in greater Abyssal realms. A seraptis demon stands 7 feet tall and weighs 230 pounds.
Ecology Seraptis demons form from the souls of those who, in the act of committing suicide, caused an unusual amount of despair, destruction, or mayhem. A quiet death in a dark room might result in the soul becoming a seraptis if the victim was a wellknown and beloved political figure whose suicide compelled his followers to riot and murder. A plunge from a high tower into a crowded marketplace might result in a small amount of collateral damage if the jumper lands atop a passerby, but this would not normally doom the suicide to existence as a seraptis. Suicide by detonating a necklace of fireballs in the middle of a wedding, on the other hand, would likely result in the dead soul becoming a seraptis.
With one exception, those who deliberately commit suicide in an attempt to have their souls transform into seraptis demons instead find themselves manifesting upon the Abyss as larvae—the Abyss does not reward deliberate suicide with such power as a seraptis wields. The one exception is in the case of a powerful worshiper of the demon lord Sif kesh. The ritual by which such a worshiper can transcend mortal life and transform into a seraptis is one of the cult's most closely guarded secrets, and one that is only revealed to the most heretical and deviant of the faithful. Seraptis demons formed in this manner always retain their previous life's personality and memories, although they lose all class-based abilities in the transition.
Habitat & Society Although the seraptis champions and assassins who serve Sif kesh and other demon lords are well feared, the true terrors of their kind are those who have broken free from servitude to more powerful demons and, in so doing, have established themselves as ruling forces. Known collectively as the Dolorous Sisters, these demons are all advanced serapti with several class levels, ranging from CR 19 to CR 22. These seraptis demons are all ex-worshipers of Sif kesh who have undergone the secret suicide ritual to transform into demons, but in true heretical style, they no longer directly serve the Sacred Whore.
None have yet ascended to the vaunted rank of nascent demon lord, for the Dolorous Sisters hope to someday transcend as a group into a full-fledged demon lord by undertaking a hideous suicide pact, bypassing the convoluted and dangerous step of nascence most demon lords must endure. In true Abyssal form, though, the Dolorous Sisters have long been plagued by internal bickering, treachery, and clandestine assassinations. They require 23 members before they can even begin their suicide ritual, and while the sisters' numbers have grown steadily (if slowly) since their initial formation eons ago, they have yet to reach that key number.
The Dolorous Sisters do not dwell together—rather, they keep palaces built upon different themes that match their own favored methods of suicide scattered throughout the Abyssal cities of Diovengia, Vantian, and Yanaron, as well as various cities located on remote Midnight Isles. Portals sometimes connect some of these palaces as alliances grow between the demons, yet the constant threat of betrayal ensures that these portals remain among the most heavily guarded parts of each domicile.
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