Fleshwarp, OronciA cruel face and orc features dominate this creature’s upper half, while its lower quarters bear the sinewy shape of a centipede.Oronci CR 5Source Inner Sea Bestiary pg. 36
XP 1,600
CE Large aberration
Init +3; Senses darkvision 120 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +5DefenseAC 20, touch 12, flat-footed 17 (+3 Dex, +6 natural, +2 shield, –1 size)
hp 59 (7d8+28)
Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +5
Defensive Abilities ferocity
Weaknesses light sensitivityOffenseSpeed 40 ft., climb 40 ft.
Melee mwk battleaxe +11 (1d8+6/×3), bite +10 (1d6+9 plus poison)
Ranged mwk longbow +8 (1d8/×3)
Space 10 ft., Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks frenzy, spitStatisticsStr 23, Dex 17, Con 18, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 16
Base Atk +5; CMB +12 (+14 overrun); CMD 25 (27 vs. overrun)
Feats Acrobatic Steps, Improved Overrun, Nimble Moves, Power Attack
Skills Acrobatics +8 (+12 when jumping), Climb +16, Perception +5, Stealth +6, Swim +8
Languages OrcEcologyEnvironment any underground (Darklands)
Organization solitary, pair, or nest (3–9)
Treasure standard (heavy wooden shield, mwk battleaxe)Special AbilitiesFrenzy (Ex) Once per day, an oronci that takes damage in combat can fly into a frenzy as a free action the following round. While in this state, an oronci cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skill checks, but functions as if under the effects of a haste spell. The oronci can continue to frenzy for up to 3 rounds, after which it is staggered for 1 round.
Poison (Ex) Bite—injury; save Fort DC 17; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d3 Dex; cure 2 consecutive saves.
Spit (Ex) An oronci can spit poison at a target within 30 feet as a standard action. This is a ranged touch attack, and can only be performed once every 1d6 rounds. If the attack is successful, the target is affected by the poison just as if it had been injured. The oronci can still poison a target with each successful bite attack.
Undersized Weapons (Ex) Although an oronci is Large, its upper torso is the same size as that of a Medium humanoid. As a result, oronci wield weapons as if they were one size category smaller than their actual size (Medium for most oronci).DescriptionWhen drow fleshwarping alchemy is turned and focused upon an orc, the obscene result is called an oronci. Upon submersion in a fleshwarper’s alchemical ichor, the unfortunate orc’s legs merge, and its lower body turns black and elongates to a length of approximately 15 feet. This new body divides into segments, with each segment sprouting a pair of short, sturdy, thin legs. Finally, the horror’s tusks connect to newly grown poison ducts that constantly drip poisonous spittle. The orc’s head and upper body stay relatively intact as far as fleshwarping goes, though its eyes sometimes adopt a dark, vacant stare.
With the exception of the driders, the oronci are among the most useful of the obscenities produced by fleshwarping. They embody all the savage brutality of an orc warrior, but mounted centaurlike upon an even larger, more powerful frame. Being less intelligent than drow, oronci make better shock troopers and advance soldiers for drow armies than the dark elves themselves. Oronci who have escaped the slavery of the dark elves have become favored champions for certain clever orc chieftains. Some oronci even overcome their sensitivity to daylight given time, which makes them better suited to terrorize the surface lands.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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