Kyton, EphialtesAmid a roiling cloud of deepest dark, the rattle of chains and heavy footfalls announce a being of immense size. An infernal, gasping hiss draws the darkness back, revealing a tortured, four-legged fiend of exposed bone and ragged flesh draped in chains. Barbs and hooks hang from these wrought iron bands, matching the fiend’s tail as they writhe like snakes in search of prey.Ephialtes CR 16Source Pathfinder #30: The Twice-Damned Prince pg. 86
XP 76,800
LE Huge outsider (evil, extraplanar, kyton, lawful)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +24
Aura frightful presence (30 ft., DC 22)DefenseAC 30, touch 10, flat-footed 28 (+8 armor, +2 Dex, +12 natural, -2 size)
hp 243 (18d10+144); regeneration 5 (good weapons and spells, silver weapons)
Fort +14, Ref +13, Will +14
Defensive Abilities chain armor; DR 10/silver or good; Immune cold, fear, poison; Resist acid 10, fire 10; SR 27OffenseSpeed 30 ft.
Melee bite +24 (2d6+8), 2 chains +25 (2d8+8/19-20), 2 claws +24 (1d8+8), tail +19 (1d8+4)
Space 15 ft., Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks breath weapon (50-ft. cone, 2d8+8 piercing damage plus grab, Reflex DC 27 for half, usable every 1d4 rounds), dancing chains, entrapping chains, pull (breath weapon, 10 feet), rend (2 chains, 2d8+12)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 16th)
At will - blur (self only), dimensional anchor
3/day - deeper darkness, shadow walk (DC 19), silence (DC 15)
1/day - discern locationStatisticsStr 26, Dex 14, Con 26, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 16
Base Atk +18; CMB +28 (+32 grapple or pull); CMD 40 (44 vs. trip)
Feats Alertness, Bleeding Critical, Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus, Improved Critical (chains), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Stand Still, Weapon Focus (chains)
Skills Bluff +12, Climb +15, Escape Artist +13, Intimidate +24, Knowledge (planes) +13, Perception +24, Sense Motive +18, Stealth +15, Survival +22
Languages InfernalEcologyEnvironment any (Shadow Plane)
Organization solitary or team (2-8)
Treasure standardSpecial AbilitiesBreath Weapon (Su) As a full-round action, an ephialtes kyton may exhale a spread of barbed, grappling chains anchored within its massive maw, targeting up to six creatures in a 50-foot cone. Those failing a DC 27 Reflex save suffer 2d8+8 points of piercing damage and the kyton may make a combat maneuver check as an immediate action to grapple each victim with the animate chains. A successful save cuts the damage in half and avoids the grapple opportunity. Those successfully grappled by the chains become subject to the kyton’s pull ability. A kyton cannot use its breath weapon again while it is grappling or pulling creatures with its breath weapon chains. Otherwise, it may use the breath weapon once every 1d4 rounds. The save DC is Constitution-based.
An ephialtes kyton’s chains (hardness 10, hp 10, Break DC 26) can be broken, or attacked by making a sunder attempt. If the chain is currently grappling a target, the attacker gains a +4 circumstance bonus on the CMB check to sunder. Severing a chain deals no damage to a kyton.
Chain Armor (Ex) The chains that adorn an ephialtes kyton grant it a +8 armor bonus, but are not treated as armor for the purpose of arcane spell failure, armor check penalties, maximum Dexterity, weight, or proficiency.
Dancing Chains (Su) An ephialtes kyton can control up to four chains within 30 feet as a standard action, making the chains dance or move as it wishes. In addition, the kyton can increase these chains’ length by up to 15 feet and cause them to sprout razor-sharp barbs. The chains attack as effectively as the kyton itself. If a chain is in another creature’s possession, the creature can attempt a DC 22 Will save to break the ephialtes kyton’s power over that chain. If the save is successful, the kyton cannot attempt to control that particular chain again for 24 hours or until the chain leaves the other creature’s possession. An ephialtes kyton can climb chains it controls at its normal speed without making Climb checks. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Entrapping Chains (Su) With a successful combat maneuver check, an ephialtes kyton may transfer an adjacent creature grappled by the kyton’s breath weapon chains to the chains adorning its body, giving the target the pinned condition while the kyton deals with remaining foes. The kyton does not retain the grappled condition while pinning such creatures. Pinned victims can free themselves with a combat maneuver check to break the pin or an Escape Artist check. Other creatures can attempt to free pinned victims by making a sunder attempt (hardness 10, hp 10). An ephialtes kyton may entrap 1 Large, 2 Medium, 8 Small, 32 Tiny, or 128 Diminutive or smaller opponents.
Pull (Ex) An ephialtes kyton has a +4 racial bonus on CMB checks made using its pull special attack.DescriptionSadistic hunters and tormentors of all living souls, ephialtes kytons usually roam the planes in service to the lords of Hell and Shadow, but occasionally in pursuit of their own fell interests. They ruthlessly abduct the innocent and retrieve the damned, dragging their victims into the fires of Hell or the gnashing, wailing dark of the Plane of Shadow. They have no fear, tracking their chosen prey regardless of distance or challenge, and shackle dragons, giants, and humanoids alike for their eternal torturous rewards.
Ephialtes kytons travel in silent grace while cloaked in darkness, but drop their stealthy veils when ready to intimidate those they’ve come to collect or punish. Then, their frightening gaze matches the deadly intent of the chains piercing their flesh. These animated, wrought iron bands serve as protection and weapons in the hands or claws of all kytons, but may also bind and lash their victims to the ephialtes’ ever-bleeding hide to carry them into the Great Beyond. A typical ephialtes stands 25 feet tall and weighs over 15 tons with the combined burden of their deadly chains.Summoning Ephialtes KytonsAs long as a conjurer doesn’t interrupt an ongoing hunt, most ephialtes kytons relish being summoned, looking forward to the sport of chasing down newly assigned prey or punishing those who fail to properly bind them. Any Charisma check made as part of the greater planar binding spell to convince an ephialtes kyton to undertake a mission other than the murder, abduction, or torture of specific victims suffers a –2 penalty.
Once an ephialtes kyton accepts an assignment, it demands 1,000 gp paid in black onyx or opals for every Hit Die its target possesses. If the summoner cannot pay the price in the required gems, the kyton only partially carries out the requested service—maiming instead of murdering, abducting for only a limited time (typically 1d4+3 days), or only torturing a victim until it answers a single question as part of an interrogation. If a summoner tries to force an ephialtes kyton to perform a different type of service or accept a different form of payment, the kyton takes offense and all of the summoner’s future Charismarelated interactions with the ephialtes suffer a –2 penalty.
Once an ephialtes kyton has agreed to a task, only its assigned prey interests it. Ephialtes kytons always offer to dispose of such victims by taking them to the Shadow Plane so they can help lesser kytons obtain the necessary number of souls to become ephialtes.Creatures in "Kyton" CategorySource Bestiary 3 pg. 170
Despicably cruel and equally horrible to gaze upon, kytons are evil fiends who feed on the fear and suffering of mortals through painful supernatural means. Their monstrous appearances vary, but their stoic and amoral dispositions are universal, for no kyton cares anything for the plights typical of the creatures they prey upon. They are beings wholly dedicated to metamorphosis achieved through horrific trials of self-mutilation and the mystical power provided them by their sapping of mortal anguish.
Despite being often categorized by mortals as shadow-dwelling devils, kytons calmly refute such claims, seeing themselves as above the principles of Hell's denizens. Instead, kytons seek ecstasy through pain in the form of deliberate and violent self-transformation, adhering to the belief that by altering the physical and spiritual matter that makes up their form, they can reach a state of perfect being. Removing aspects of themselves and replacing them with more desirable or powerful pieces one at a time, kytons believe that experiences of heightened emotion and sensation (typically in the forms of terror and pain) lead to greater states of awareness and existence. The dedication with which they practice this belief places them on the level of zealots, their fanatical commitment made all the more disturbing by their eerie composedness and unnaturally cool dispositions.
The original kytons were born of the first truly selfish and depraved thoughts conceived by mortals. These creatures surprised and horrified the early gods with their power and hideous nature, and so the gods chained them in a remote part of Hell. The kytons embraced their chains and, seeking to fulfill their unnatural hunger for pain, escaped to the Plane of Shadow, which lay much closer to their mortal prey. Now, kytons are born of mortal souls that were spiritually and physically tortured in life, victims of their own masochism, sacrifices to gods of suffering, or those promised to the fiends either by their own will or by sadistic cultists. Obscure rituals force the sacrificed souls to bypass the normal judgments of the afterlife and instead become mired in the Plane of Shadow. Over an excruciating and lengthy span of time, these souls are warped and twisted until they emerge as frail new kytons. A kyton's first willing act must be to cut away part of its own flesh, proving it is worthy of its kyton nature—the first step in an immortal lifetime of replacing its own substance with the stronger parts of other creatures. By drawing strength from its new grafts, a kyton grows and becomes both stronger and more terrible to behold. Thus, weaker kytons resemble the mortal creatures they once were, whereas older ones are horrifying patchworks of transplanted material that rarely look like their original forms. Many kytons still proudly wear the chains that bound them (either to Hell or to the torture devices that created them), trophies of their power to defy the gods or mortal fate.
Kytons' need to replace parts of themselves with those of stronger mortals puts them in perpetual danger of attacking creatures that are too powerful for them to kill. For this reason, kytons are pragmatic and ruthless in their battles, scrutinizing all potential outcomes of a situation before taking action. Seeing strength in numbers, kytons often attack or trap a mortal victim as a team, hauling the unfortunate soul to the Plane of Shadow, converting their prey into a new kyton or dividing its body and soul among them for grafting and nourishment.
The kytons of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary are a specific type of kyton (other kytons call them “evangelists”); they have all the traits listed in the kyton subtype (see page 306). The kytons listed here are but a few of the other known types—many more exist on the Plane of Shadow. Kyton Demagogues The powerful kyton rulers called demagogues possess strength hardly fathomable by mortals. They exist within a power structure similar to that of archdevils. Lesser kytons view these overseers as horrid sovereigns among their kind, and though there are many outlying areas on the Plane of Shadow not controlled by demagogues, kytons who find themselves wandering through a demagogue's territory know to show respect for these lords of suffering.
Demagogues are so advanced in their metamorphosis of self-mutilation and augmentation that no two look alike. Some are strangely beautiful, some are horrors beyond sane description. A demagogue's powers are vaster than even many of their kyton brethren dare consider—they construct enormous cities out of the countless bodies of their victims, weaving entire networks of veins and spiritual energy to create breathing, pulsating metropolises. Demagogues seek to control as much of the realm around their organic superstructures as they can, a feat that proves forever challenging in the dark, shifting corners of the Plane of Shadow. Though one rarely finds reason to leave the confines of its home plane, a demagogue's influence is far-reaching, and kytons who value their lives do as they are commanded, lest they incite the awful and calculating rage of a mighty overlord. The following are some of the most powerful kyton demagogues that reside in the Plane of Shadow, watching over their pulsating kingdoms in massive, gory towers. - Barravoclair, Lady of the Final Gasp
- Fharaas, the Seer in Skin
- Inkariax, the White Death
- Morrobahn, the Parasite Seed
- Raetorgash, the Skull-Hoarder
- Sugroz, the Voice in Screams
- Vevelor of the Broken Dream
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