Kyton, LibitinariiThis willowy, blue-skinned figure wears robes of draped chains. Its exposed skin is pierced with lengths of razor-sharp, bloodstained icicles.Libitinarii CR 13Source Pathfinder #137: The City Outside of Time pg. 84
XP 25,600
LE Medium outsider (cold, evil, extraplanar, kyton, lawful)
Init +11; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +29DefenseAC 28, touch 17, flat-footed 21 (+7 Dex, +11 natural)
hp 184 (16d10+96); regeneration 5 (good weapons and spells, silver weapons)
Fort +16, Ref +17, Will +13
Defensive Abilities icy fiend; DR 10/good or silver; Immune cold; SR 24OffenseSpeed 30 ft.; air walk
Melee 2 claws +22 (2d6+6 plus 2d6 cold), 2 chains +22 (1d8+6)
Ranged 4 icicles +23 (1d8+6/19–20/×3 plus 2d6 cold)
Special Attacks perfect freeze, unnerving gaze (30 ft., DC 21)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 13th; concentration +16)
Constant—air walk
At will—plane shift (from Material Plane to Shadow Plane only, self only)
3/day—cone of cold (DC 18), dimension door, ice storm
1/day—polar rayStatisticsStr 23, Dex 24, Con 22, Int 15, Wis 22, Cha 17
Base Atk +16; CMB +22; CMD 39
Feats Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Deadly Aim, Improved Critical (icicles), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot
Skills Intimidate +22, Knowledge (local) +21, Knowledge (planes) +21, Knowledge (religion) +21, Perception +29, Sense Motive +29, Stealth +26, Survival +25
Languages Common, Infernal, ShadowtongueEcologyEnvironment any (Shadow Plane)
Organization solitary, pair, or shiver (2-5)
Treasure standardSpecial AbilitiesIcicles (Ex) A libitinarii can use the icicles embedded into its flesh as thrown ranged weapons, with a range increment of 20 feet. It can retrieve up to four of these icicles per round as a free action. These icicles deal piercing damage equal to 1d8 plus the libitinarii’s Strength modifier (usually +6) plus 2d6 points of cold damage; they deal triple damage on a critical hit (although the cold damage is not increased). The icicles aren’t considered magic weapons, but they are supernaturally hardened and count as adamantine for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Once the libitinarii has retrieved icicles from its flesh, new icicles immediately form as a free action. If the libitinarii’s regeneration is suppressed, it also can’t form new icicles. A libitinarii typically has 24 icicles embedded in its flesh at any time.
Icy Fiend (Ex) A libitinarii’s body is made from an unholy union of soulstuff and the icy essence of the coldest reaches of the Shadow Plane. As such, the libitinarii is immune to cold, and it can treat any difficult terrain that results from magical or mundane ice as normal terrain, such as the icy terrain of the Frozen Tears, realm of the kyton demagogue Inkariax.
Perfect Freeze (Su) A libitinarii can harness the power of absolute zero and impose it upon the body of a living creature with a touch. The libitinarii can use this ability three times per day as a standard action that doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity. If the libitinarii’s touch attack is successful, the target takes 2d6 points of cold damage and 2d6 points of evil-aligned magic damage. A successful DC 23 Fortitude saving throw halves each type of damage. Additionally, creatures that fail this saving throw must immediately attempt a DC 23 Will saving throw. Failing this second saving throw means that a creature has been frozen solid and has become a supernaturally frozen, mindless, inert statue and is considered petrified, per flesh to stone (if the creature is not made of flesh, this secondary ability has no effect). The creature can’t be turned back to flesh by casting stone to flesh spell, but it can be restored via casting break enchantment. If the creature isn’t returned to flesh after a number of hours equal to the creature’s Hit Dice, the creature dies and remains a frozen statue. It can be returned to life normally by casting raise dead or similar spells. This is a cold effect. The save DCs are Constitution-based.
Unnerving Gaze (Ex) A creature that succumbs to a libitinarii’s unnerving gaze becomes staggered for 1 round as it feels itself slowly freezing from the inside out.DescriptionLibitinariis form from the souls of cold-obsessed spellcasters, wicked taxidermists, torturers partial to using frostbite to torment their victims, and other evil beings obsessed with inflicting pain through the perfect preservation of cold. They roam the Shadow Planes’ frozen reaches seeking to further their craft. Most serve Inkariax, the kyton demagogue known as the White Death, who seeks to preserve the fleetingness of perfection with his icy-fingered grasp. Indeed, the demagogue’s favored servants almost entirely consist of libitinariis.
Other libitinariis serve Doloras, the demigoddess of dispassion, detachment, and pain, who many kytons believe was the infernal patroness that released their kind from Hell eons ago. In some cases, libitinariis pay homage to both unholy deities, for the two churches share more in common than not. Certainly Inkariax and his worshippers pay homage to the fell queen, and so many libitinariis consider deference to her a matter of course.
Libitinariis’ bodies seem humanoid, though their skin ranges in color from powder to navy blue. Their lips, ears, fingers, and toes are deep black, as if horribly frostbitten. Libitinariis often wear robes of draping chains, though most prominent on their persons are the horrific icicles that pierce their flesh. Although they are as adept at wielding traditional weapons as any humanoid, they typically favor using these icicles as thrown weapons.
Libitinariis are roughly 5 feet tall and typically weight from 90 to 140 pounds.EcologyAccording to infernal lore, libitinariis sprang fully formed from the frozen reaches of the Shadow Plane the moment that Doloras freed the rest of their kind from Hell. Not all kytons or scholars agree on the impetus of this creation story—some believe that a frozen tear fell from Doloras’s crown upon her shattering of the kytons’ prison, reverberating throughout the planes to create these new servants to enact an aspect of her will. Regardless, libitinariis have since spread throughout the Shadow Plane, Hell, the Material Plane, the Dark Tapestry, and other locales to enact their vision of perfection through painful, frozen preservation.
Libitinariis are farsighted, dispassionate, and coldly rational. Many live in the realm of Frozen Tears, where they may spend centuries simply formulating a plan to please the White Death and advance their standing in his unholy court by a mere inch. Other libitinariis attempt to carve out small niches in the frozen wastes of Cocytus in Hell. Those libitinarii who call the Material Plane home typically do so as leaders of cults of Doloras or Inkariax. Some, however, hide in plain sight among society, masquerading as normal—if unsavory— scholars and artisans while secretly working to torment, freeze, and preserve their enemies as fantastic trophies to their own wicked ingenuity.Habitat and SocietyLibitinariis are relatively solitary, but regardless of where they operate, they are ritual-minded creatures. Most enjoy tormenting victims to the brink of death with their razor-sharp icicles several times before finally using their supernatural abilities to freeze the creatures permanently. Some work profane religious aspects into these rituals of torment, and others seek specifically to secure frozen prizes for the glory of their patrons. If the libitinariis have a weak point, it might be considered their predictability in pursuing habits cultivated over decades or centuries.
An infamous libitinarii ritual is the Rite of Piercing, which is common practice in the realm of Frozen Tears. In this ritual, libitinariis drive foot-long nails of ice through the flesh of victims they have determined to be morally pure. When the victims reach the point of death, the kytons then freeze them into icy statues and arrange them into unholy menageries.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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