Fleshwarp, GhonhatineEven hunched and creeping upon all fours, this reptilian behemoth towers over its prey, its protruding teeth snapping wildly.Ghonhatine CR 10Source Bestiary 4 pg. 102, Pathfinder #16: Endless Night pg. 84
XP 9,600
CE Large aberration
Init –2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., scent; Perception +9
Aura powerful stench (10 ft., DC 24, 1d4 rounds)DefenseAC 24, touch 7, flat-footed 24 (–2 Dex, +17 natural, –1 size)
hp 162 (12d8+108)
Fort +13, Ref +2, Will +6
Immune acid, critical hits, disease, poisonOffenseSpeed 40 ft.
Melee 2 claws +16 (1d6+8), bite +16 (2d6+8), tail slap +14 (1d8+4)
Ranged regurgitate +6 (2d6 acid plus filth fever)
Space 10 ft., Reach 10 ft. (15 ft. with tail)
Special Attacks feed, filth feverStatisticsStr 27, Dex 7, Con 28, Int 4, Wis 7, Cha 8
Base Atk +9; CMB +18 (+20 bull rush); CMD 26 (28 vs. bull rush)
Feats Awesome Blow, Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Multiattack, Power Attack, Vital Strike
Skills Climb +12, Perception +9, Stealth +0 (+4 when underground); Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth when underground
Languages DraconicEcologyEnvironment any underground
Organization solitary or squad (2–8)
Treasure noneSpecial AbilitiesFeed (Su) By spending a full-round action devouring the body of a dead or unconscious creature, a ghonhatine gains 1d8+9 temporary hit points and a +2 bonus on attack and damage rolls for 1 minute. The bonus to hit points is Constitution-based.
Filth Fever (Ex) Disease—injury; save Fort DC 25; onset 1d3 days; frequency 1 day; effect 1d3 Dex damage and 1d3 Con damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Powerful Stench (Ex) An enraged ghonhatine secretes a tarry, musk-like chemical. Any living, nonghonhatine creature within 10 feet must succeed at a DC 24 Fortitude save or be nauseated as long as it remains within the affected area and for 1d4 rounds afterward. A creature that saves is sickened as long as it remains in the area, and can’t be affected again by the same ghonhatine’s stench for 24 hours. This is a poison effect. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Regurgitate (Ex) A ghonhatine can expel the contents of its stomach as a ranged attack with a splash weapon that has a range increment of 20 feet. It deals 2d6 acid damage to the target and splashes all adjacent creatures. In addition to taking damage, a target directly hit by a ghonhatine’s regurgitation must make two DC 24 Fortitude saves, the first to resist contracting filth fever, and the second to avoid being nauseated for 1 minute. A nauseated creature can end its nausea early by dousing itself in a gallon of water. All creatures adjacent to the target must make DC 24 Fortitude saves to avoid being sickened for 1 minute. Once a ghonhatine uses this ability it can’t use it again until it feeds. The save DCs are Constitution-based.DescriptionTroglodytes forced to undergo fleshwarping by the drow, ghonhatines harken to what troglodytes might have been in savage prehistory. They stand over 10 feet tall (hunched to about 8 feet) and weigh upward of 5,000 pounds.Creatures in "Fleshwarp" CategorySource Bestiary 4 pg. 101
The most fearsome drow aren't satisfied with the mere defeat and death of their foes, preferring to defile their enemies in horrific ways. The most gruesome form of transformation assaults their enemies' very essence through the complicated process of fleshwarping.
Fleshwarping is the practice of altering a creature's physical form and mental state by way of a grisly mystical and alchemical process. It starts with submerging the subject in a vat filled with a magical and alchemical goo concocted of strange reagents, and infused with a multitude of living insects and other vermin. The goo dissolves and reshapes the flesh and bone of the subject while the vermin eat away at unwanted flesh, making way for the new, alchemically grown flesh to take hold. The process is torturous, and the subject is kept alive and conscious throughout it.
Depending on the base creature being fleshwarped, the heinous process lasts days, weeks, or even months. The entire time, it's overseen by a fleshwarper—a craftsperson whose perverse curiosity trumps any regard for life or sanity. This fleshwarper pokes and prods at the subject, flaying the skin and committing other atrocious tortures when necessary, manipulating the vermin as needed, and making sure the mix of reagents in the fleshwarping goo is correct at every stage of the occult process. Once the process is complete, the transformed abomination is expected to free itself from the fleshwarping goo; those that fail to do so are summarily slaughtered.
The end result is something both more and less than the base form. Though the process is basically the same for every type of creature the drow experiment on, the results are drastically different. A fleshwarped drow becomes a drider. A fleshwarped elf becomes an irnakurse, and a fleshwarped troglodyte becomes a ghonhatine. Some races seem to resist the process of fleshwarping altogether—dwarves have never been successfully fleshwarped, and most fey are particularly resilient to the process. What is generally true about fleshwarping is that inherently evil creatures that go through the process tend to be more useful to the drow than those who start out good. The most useful of the fleshwarps are those created from other drow. These unfortunate subjects are typically those who fail their house or are born with physical or mental defects. Unlike other fleshwarps, who tend to be sterile or lack the organs or ability to procreate, driders are a race unto themselves and are capable of procreation.
The process of creating a fleshwarp is dangerous to the base creature and expensive for the creator. During the process, the subject is wracked with excruciating pain, and takes 2d6 points of Constitution damage (Fortitude DC 15 half ). The reagents that constitute the goo cost at least 10,000 gp, and the rarer specimens of vermin used to facilitate fleshwarping can cost just as much if bought on the open market.
It's often said that the drow learned the gruesome art of fleshwarping as a reward for obscene pacts they made with some demon lord, but the identity of the demon lord who bestowed knowledge of the foul process changes with each telling of the tale.
There are other cultures that also understand and use fleshwarping, but they tend to be either ancient or very secretive and xenophobic. Sinspawn, fleshdregs, and the lamia-based hungerer are just some examples of non-drow fleshwarps.
Fleshwarp BestiaryDrow fleshwarpers continually experiment to discover new fleshwarps. Here is a list of the most common fleshwarps.
Drider (drow): Driders are the first and most numerous of the fleshwarped creatures created by the drow. They are the only fleshwarped creatures known to breed true.
Ghonhatine (troglodytes): These fleshwarps are nearly twice the size of troglodytes and are far more bestial and fearsome.
Gomnits (gnomes): Gnomes subjected to this process are transformed into something that resembles a vicious, mushroom-like humanoid.
Grothlut (humans): Fleshwarped humans are transformed into mindless, sluglike things.
Gublasks (goblins): Goblins transformed by fleshwarping grow a chitinous skin, and their arms are transformed into whiplike stingers.
Halsora (vegepygmies): Fleshwarped vegepygmies grow stockier and stronger, and their sunken eyes release a stream of acidic black tears.
Irnakurse (elves): Drow particularly prize these tentacled treelike horrors created from their hated kin.
Jashoi (halfling): Fleshwarped halflings become bizarre, doglike quadrupeds which are annoying and difficult to control. As a result, drow rarely fleshwarp halflings.
Oronci (orcs): An oronci has the upper body of an orc and the lower body of a centipede, complete with poisonous spittle.
Urgoci (ogre): An ogre’s hind legs shrink down to vestigial stumps. Its forearms lengthen, and are used to pull the vestigial lower body along. A mass of serpentine tentacles sprouts from its shoulders and upper torso.
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