Div, AkvanOrnate armor covers this hulking creature, rocky protrusions jutting from its hide and fierce horns crowning its broad head.Akvan CR 20Source Bestiary 3 pg. 84
XP 307,200
NE Gargantuan outsider (div, evil, extraplanar)
Init +12; Senses darkvision 60 ft., see in darkness, true seeing; Perception +34
Aura hopelessness (30 ft., DC 30)DefenseAC 38, touch 10, flat-footed 34 (+13 armor, +4 Dex, +15 natural, –4 size)
hp 372 (24d10+240)
Fort +18, Ref +22, Will +21
DR 15/cold iron and good; Immune fire, poison; Resist acid 10, electricity 10; SR 31OffenseSpeed 50 ft., fly 120 ft. (good)
Melee bite +32 (2d8+12 plus grab/19–20), 2 claws +32 (2d6+12), tail slap +30 (2d10+6)
Space 20 ft., Reach 20 ft. (25 ft. with tail)
Special Attacks create ghul, rend (2 claws, 2d6+18), shake faith, swallow whole (6d6+18 plus 4d6 energy damage, AC 25, 37 hp), torturous gullet, trample (2d8+18, DC 34)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 20th; concentration +28)
Constant—true seeing
At will—align weapon, detect magic, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), magic circle against good, telekinesis (DC 23)
3/day—blasphemy (DC 25), disintegrate (DC 24), dispel magic, forcecage (DC 25), protection from energy
1/day—geas/quest, plane shift, summon (level 6, 1d2 sepids 100%)StatisticsStr 35, Dex 26, Con 30, Int 19, Wis 24, Cha 27
Base Atk +24; CMB +40; CMD 58
Feats Awesome Blow, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus, Great Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Initiative, Improved Critical (bite), Multiattack, Power Attack, Staggering Critical, Stunning Critical
Skills Acrobatics +28 (+36 when jumping), Bluff +43, Diplomacy +31, Fly +27, Intimidate +31, Knowledge (arcana) +31, Knowledge (planes) +31, Knowledge (religion) +19, Perception +34, Sense Motive +30, Spellcraft +19, Use Magic Device +23; Racial Modifiers +8 Acrobatics when jumping, +8 Bluff
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal; telepathy 100 ft.
SQ armor training 4EcologyEnvironment any (Abaddon)
Organization solitary
Treasure standard (+5 half-plate, other treasure)Special AbilitiesArmor Training (Ex) An akvan is created wearing armor, and is naturally experienced in its use. An akvan possesses the armor training ability of a 15th-level fighter.
Aura of Hopelessness (Su) All creatures except divs within 30 feet of an akvan must make a successful DC 30 Will save or take a –4 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. This is a mind-affecting effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Create Ghul (Su) Any genie that is slain by an akvan becomes a ghul (see page 125) in 1d4 rounds. Such ghuls are under the command of the akvan that created them and remain enslaved until it dies, at which point they become free-willed ghuls. They do not possess any of the abilities they had in life.
Shake Faith (Su) Anytime an akvan strikes a divine spellcaster with any of its melee attacks, the target must make a DC 30 Will save or be shaken for 1d4 rounds. If the save is successful, the target is instead shaken for 1 round. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Torturous Gullet (Su) As hunters of otherworldly beings, akvans are uniquely drawn to digest creatures with a variety of resistances. In addition to the damage dealt by crushing internal organs, creatures swallowed by an akvan take 4d6 points of acid, cold, electricity, or fire damage per round. The akvan chooses what type of energy damage those in its stomach will take every round, and may change this from round to round. Additionally, an akvan’s stomach is thickly armored, allowing it to benefit from its entire natural armor bonus instead of merely half.DescriptionAkvans number among the most physically powerful and openly destructive servants of Ahriman, directly carrying out his ancient plans for oblivion. Their twisted minds bend toward desolation, ruin, and blasphemy, and their hatred of the gods of creation and beings renowned for inspiring art and wonder knows few equals. Whereas most divs turn their cruelty and vengefulness exclusively upon mortals, akvans broaden the scope of their hatred to encompass geniekind as well.
Akvans seek out wonders to destroy—monuments from lost ages that have long inspired awe and pride or beings and establishments said to be invincible. While divs typically spread their taint through more subtle ways, akvans target symbols for destruction, bringing down not just stone and mortar but hopes and dreams. Additionally, these masters of destruction promote the creation of new horrors, transforming their most hated victims, genies, into nightmares known as ghuls. Thus, an akvan’s evil does not end with its victim’s death, as slain genies arise from the battlefield—or are belched up from an akvan’s gullet—as blasphemous undead servants. These undead minions serve their terrifying master and, over the ages, gather around it as an army of profane slaves.
Hatred and hunger for genies and those allied with them constitute the racial compulsion to which all akvans bow. These divs always go out of their way to hunt, destroy, and consume any genie they encounter. While wise enough to not waste their lives in combat against foes obviously more powerful then they, akvans seek to bring low any such opponents, if not by brute strength, then by guile.
Akvans stand approximately 40 feet tall and weigh over 30,000 pounds.Akvan PrincesAs akvans go through existence slaying mortals and genies, many gravitate toward one of the races of geniekind, targeting members of that race with particular passion. Over ages of service, akvans who prove especially lethal in slaughtering genies garner the attention of Ahriman, who blesses such divs with increased power, transforming them into akvan princes.
Each akvan prince dedicates itself to extinguishing a particular type of genie and gains special abilities with which to slaughter genies of that type. An akvan prince gains an additional 4–8 Hit Dice, a +4 bonus to three ability scores, and has a CR of 22–24. The akvan prince also gains one of the following sets of abilities, depending on what type of genies it hunts.
Crumbling Earth: A shaitan-hunting akvan prince shatters the strongest stone. It gains the stone glide ability, tremorsense 100 feet, and a burrow speed of 100 feet, and its natural attacks are treated as adamantine for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. It also gains the following spell-like abilities: 3/day—quickened stone shape, transmute mud to rock, transmute rock to mud, wish.
Dying Ember: An efreet-hating akvan prince holds dominion over flame. It gains resist fire 30, an efreeti’s heat special attack (1d6 when struck, 6d6 when grappling or grappled), and the following spell-like abilities: at will—quickened quench, scorching ray, wall of fire; 3/day—wish.
Gasping Wind: A djinn-hunting akvan prince gains power over the wind. It gains resist electricity 30 and the whirlwind ability, its fly speed increases to 120 feet (perfect maneuverability), and it gains the following spell-like abilities: at will—invisibility; 3/day—gaseous form, wish.
Thirsty Sea: A marid-slaying akvan prince controls and poisons water. It gains a swim speed of 100 feet, a marid’s water’s fury special attack (8d6 points of damage, blinds and stuns for 1d6 rounds), and the following spell-like abilities: constant—water breathing, water walk; at will—quickened control water; 3/day—horrid wilting, wish.
Unbalanced Soul: A jann-killing akvan prince spreads failure and defeat. It gains resist acid, cold, and electricity 20, and the following spell-like abilities: at will—ethereal jaunt, invisibility; 3/day—insanity, mage’s disjunction, wish.Creatures in "Div" CategorySource Bestiary 3 pg. 82
While demons exist to destroy, devils yearn to corrupt and control, and daemons seek the death of all things, the foul beings known as divs strive to ruin and despoil all things created by mortals. Spawned from corrupted genies exiled to the accursed depths of Abaddon, divs harbor an ancient hatred against all mortalkind, doing all in their power not simply to destroy but also to torment all that lives. Patient and vicious, divs seek to spoil all things beautiful and joyous, dooming their victims to existences full of frustration and suffering before succumbing to lengthy, painful deaths.
The most ancient of myths claim that divs were the aides and architects of numerous magical and forgotten mortal empires in an age of wondrous and mysterious antiquity. During this unfathomably ancient time these masters of creation served as helpful genies, allied to thankful and gracious masters. However, this bond with mortals soon frayed, as generations of the shorter-lived races ebbed and flowed like ripples in a puddle, forgetting the oaths and respect their forbearers gave divs; some began to abuse and neglect their otherworldly allies, while others merely turned away from genies to rely upon and extol the creations of mortalkind. As the contributions of geniekind were ignored and the deities celebrated the rise of their mortal creations across the worlds, many of the ancient architects rose in rebellion against mortals and the ancient deities who shepherded them. In turning from the paths of inspiration and creation, these genie rebels fell under the sway of a power of destruction known as Ahriman, who granted them not only the vicious might to avenge themselves against mortalkind, but also twisted forms marking them as paragons of depredation, havoc, and ruin. Thus did first divs come into being.
Ever since, divs have arisen from the spirits of the most nefarious and spiteful evil genies. Rather than returning to the Elemental Planes upon their destruction, these foul genies find their way into the claws of Ahriman, a spirit of annihilation who has haunted geniekind since the earliest days of creation. Having forged a realm upon the ruined hinterlands of the foul plane of Abaddon, Ahriman uses the innate corruption of that realm along with his own immortal evil to inspire wickedness in the souls drawn to him, warping such profane spirits into div servitors of a variety of terrible forms. Indifferent to the genie race from which the soul hailed, the Lord of the Divs sees only the evil within and grants it an abhorrent shape particular to the vices that brought the genie to his domain. What emerges from Ahriman’s grip is a dreadful new fiend, an enemy of mortalkind and the deities of good, a hateful spirit given a form with which to wreak its revenge. The dark god’s touch leaves behind nothing of the individual genie that once was—only hatred, entitlement, and vengeance remain.
Although as varied in form as any of the more pervasive fiendish races, divs often demonstrate the pride, affectations, and tastes of geniekind, drawing them toward desert realms, ancient sites, and opulent displays of power. Yet for all their varied powers, most divs prefer using mortals to foster the dooms they envision, manipulating those they hate to become the masters of their own destruction. Nothing pleases a div as much as seeing a powerful mortal squander everything she’s built to end up poor, faithless, and resentful. Divs also treat genies with spite and hatred, eagerly slaying them or working them into their degenerate plans.
As a flaw of their spiritual reshaping, each type of div has a strange weakness that compels it to act in a certain way, such as always attacking the most beautiful opponent, bargaining to learn a secret, or avoiding the color red. Although the wisest know and tell of these weaknesses, every div is aware of its compulsions and avoids being entrapped by them while also plotting ways to exploit opponents who think it vulnerable. Ahriman Ahriman appears as a bestial fiend, his hands clawed like those of a tiger and feet taloned like those of a vulture. Oily snakes worm through his scarred black flesh, riddling their host and all near him with deadly venoms. Horns etched with ancient curses crown the tigerlike face of Ahriman, and beyond a great maw filled with soul-rending fangs lies a gate to a realm of darkness rivaled only by oblivion.
An ancient evil, Ahriman sprung from the creation of the first genies. Scholars say when the act of creation that brought genies to life occurred, a shadow of destruction followed. This shadow cast itself across the world, countering light and creation where it fell. Over countless millennia, this spirit of annihilation came to be known as Ahriman.
Ahriman's ultimate goal is oblivion. To aid him in his immortal plots he has spawned innumerable blasphemies over countless ages, but the corrupted genie spirts known as divs are his most numerous slaves. Ahriman and his minions delight in influencing mortals toward destructive decisions and the abandonment of wisdom. As ageless and patient as he is vicious, this force of ancient evil seeks to ease the world toward dissolution one failure at a time.
A conniving demigod, Ahriman accepts the worship of evil mortals despite his and his minions' loathing of such beings. Clerics of Ahriman are either nihilists or deluded cultists who work to corrupt others, sow misfortune, and tear down the works of geniekind. Ahriman grants access to the domains of Darkness, Death, Destruction, and Evil. Ahriman's symbol is a black circle with a thin sliver of light overtaken by darkness, and his favored weapon is the whip.
|