Behemoth, RavenerThe ground quakes as a colossal, elephantine beast of rocky, armored plates presses forward. Elaborate horns crown its head, and multiple rock-encrusted tusks jut from its toothy maw. With a bellowing roar, the creature shakes its massive head in challenge, then paws the ground and charges.Ravener CR 18Source Pathfinder #30: The Twice-Damned Prince pg. 78
XP 153,600
N Colossal magical beast
Init -2; Senses blindsense 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +17DefenseAC 35, touch 0, flat-footed 35 (-2 Dex, +35 natural, -8 size)
hp 337 (25d10+200); regeneration 15 (electricity)
Fort +22, Ref +12, Will +12
DR 15/adamantine; Immune acid, curse effects, disease, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison, sonic; Resist cold 20, fire 20; SR 29OffenseSpeed 30 ft., swim 30 ft.
Melee bite +33 (4d6+16 plus snatch), gore +33 (4d6+16), 2 stomps +28 (2d8+8)
Ranged rock +16 (2d8+24)
Space 30 ft., Reach 20 ft.
Special Attacks demolishing attack, mighty roar, rock hurling (120 ft.), shock wave, swallow whole (4d6+24 bludgeoning damage, AC 27, hp 33), trample (2d8+24, DC 38)StatisticsStr 42, Dex 6, Con 26, Int 6, Wis 14, Cha 14
Base Atk +25; CMB +49; CMD 57 (61 vs. trip)
Feats Awesome Blow, Cleave, Great Cleave, Greater Bull Rush, Greater Overrun, Greater Sunder, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Overrun, Improved Sunder, Iron Will, Lunge, Power Attack, Snatch
Skills Perception +17, Survival +14, Swim +28
SQ camouflageEcologyEnvironment any forest, hill, jungle, or plains
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure standardSpecial AbilitiesCamouflage (Ex) A ravener behemoth looks like a rocky hillside or small mountain when at rest. It takes a DC 20 Perception check to notice it before it attacks.
Demolishing Attack (Ex) A ravener behemoth that makes a full attack against an object or structure deals double damage.
Mighty Roar (Su) Every 1d4 rounds, as a standard action, a ravener behemoth can issue a mighty roar in a 60-foot cone that duplicates the effects of greater shout. This attack deals 10d6 points of sonic damage (or 20d6 against exposed brittle or crystalline objects or crystalline creatures). It also causes creatures to be stunned for 1 round and deafened for 4d6 rounds. Creatures exposed to the sonic attack can negate the stunning and halve both the damage and duration of the deafness with a successful Fortitude save (DC 30). The save DC is Constitution-based.
Rock Hurling (Ex) Because of their immense hunger, ravener behemoths often ingest ore-laced rocks to fill their stomachs with longer-lasting sustenance. When faced with dangerous opponents outside its reach, a behemoth may regurgitate these rocks and grind them into smaller shards with its hardened teeth. It then spits forth these shards one at a time as boulders weighing between 60 to 80 pounds. A ravener usually carries enough rocks in its stomachs to make up to 4d6 boulders in this manner.
Shock Wave (Ex) As a full-round action, a ravener behemoth can hammer the ground with its feet and generate a localized tremor that rips the ground, knocking down smaller creatures and creating difficult terrain in a 100-foot radius centered on the behemoth. This shock wave lasts for 1 round, during which time creatures in the affected area cannot move or attack. They must also succeed on a DC 38 Reflex save or fall prone. Any spellcaster on the ground must make a Concentration check (DC 20 + spell level) or lose any spell he or she tries to cast. The save DC is Strength-based.
Swallow Whole (Ex) A ravener behemoth can swallow a snatched opponent of Huge size or smaller with its bite attack by making a successful grapple check. Once swallowed, a victim suffers 4d6+24 points of bludgeoning damage per round from one of the behemoth’s 5 stomachs. A swallowed creature can cut its way out by using a light slashing or piercing weapon to deal 33 points of damage to a stomach (AC 27). Once the creature exits, that stomach regenerates 15 hit points per round. A ravener behemoth may gorge itself upon multiple creatures, shunting each victim to a different stomach each time. Each of a behemoth’s 5 stomachs can hold 1 Huge, 4 Large, 16 Medium, 64 Small, 256 Tiny, or over 1,000 Diminutive or smaller creatures.DescriptionRavener behemoths walk the land as the ultimate consumers of all things. This includes every manner of beast, plant, and mineral caught in their path. They indiscriminately fill their five ever-hungry stomachs by cutting wide swaths through tangled jungles, digging through mountains for precious ores, and razing settlements and strongholds to get at those sheltering inside. Sometimes they even ply shallow coastal waters, capsizing ships to feast upon their crews and any other predators drawn by the smell of blood in the water.
Monstrously massive, a ravener behemoth stands nearly 60 feet tall on four thick, trunk-like legs and measures up to 80 feet long. Multiple horns and tusks sprout from its face and head, helping it root through even the hardest soil and rocks in search of food. It quickly reduces anything stronger into rubble with its earth-shattering roar and stomping feet. A rocky hide grown from the many minerals it routinely consumes protects it from harm even as lichen, small plants, and trees take root along its back, out of reach of its ravenous mouth. Divine blessings bequeathed by the gods ensure only the most powerful spells or adamantine weapons can lay a behemoth low. As a result, the ravener behemoth fears nothing and eats everything.Behemoths of LegendSome ancient raveners retain a measure of their original sentience, occasionally renewing their relationships with the gods to serve as avatars or guardians. Others choose to remain aloof, pursuing their own goals independent of those who created them. These more potent behemoths sustain themselves through divine rituals learned when they served the gods and passed down from one generation to the next. They use their spell-like abilities to enhance the land and better support their enormous appetites. To replicate these more intelligent and independent raveners, add the following abilities to the standard behemoth. A ravener with these abilities is CR 19 and has Int 14, Wis 18, and Cha 18. It speaks Celestial, Sylvan, and Terran.
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 15th): Always active — nondetection; At will — create water, detect animals or plants, purify food and drink, soften earth and stone; 3/day — cure critical wounds, heroes’ feast, move earth, plant growth; 1/day — find the path, restorationCreatures in "Behemoth" CategorySource Bestiary 3 pg. 36
Immense, ageless, and very nearly invincible, behemoths deliver divine retribution to the mortal realms. Shaped from the primal energies of creation and infused with elemental might, behemoths resemble living creatures, but lack the frailties of flesh. Marginally more intelligent than the smartest animal, behemoths can understand Aklo but cannot speak. Nothing less than a god or the most potent of legendary artifacts can command a behemoth, and even the gods feel some trepidation at unleashing one, lest the behemoth cast off its reins and turn its wrath against its maker.
For nearly as long as mortals have worshiped the gods, mortals have known hubris and the gods' righteous anger. When a mortal's offense grows too great for divine patience to suffer, the gods lash out through plagues and floods, and through their terrible servants. Of these vengeful minions, the behemoths are among the most feared. A god or coalition of gods creates a behemoth from the wellsprings of primal chaos, binds it into a semblance of flesh, and fills its mind with righteousness and the thirst to destroy all in its path. The beast is then turned loose upon its victims—those deemed most deserving of bearing the brunt of the wrath of the gods. Some deities stay close at hand as their beasts savage the lands, the better to turn the creatures aside once their divine anger is appeased, while others turn their backs on mortal plights, leaving behemoths to expend their anger until naught but lifeless cinders remain. Entire worlds have been destroyed by these living retributions. Such shattered lands might have nothing left alive save for the conquering behemoths themselves, immortal, living monuments to murdered worlds.
While behemoths are created by the gods, their forms and countenances are the result of which of three domains they have been created to rule—air, earth, or sea. Each of these realms is in turn associated with one of three common types of behemoths—if the application of a word like “common” is even appropriate for such an uncommon creature.
Behemoths cast upon a world's landmasses are known as thunder behemoths. These are the least of their kind, yet they are formidable, nigh unstoppable engines of armageddon nevertheless. They are the behemoths of choice when it comes to destroying a single nation or empire, for while devastating, they are bound to the land itself, and their advances across a globe are thus more limited than those of the two greater behemoths.
When several nations or regions evoke the gods' wrath, a thalassic behemoth is sent into that world's oceans to wreak havoc. By disrupting oceanic trade, destroying port cities, and rendering well-populated shores all but uninhabitable, thalassic behemoths excel at destroying civilizations where they are most vulnerable. A vengeful god may inflict several thunder behemoths upon a realm that has wronged it, placing a thalassic behemoth in the ocean to finalize the devastation.
The most devastating of the three common behemoths is the tempest behemoth, a tremendous birdlike monster capable of devastating numerous lands in a short amount of time. Because it rules the skies above those lands the gods wish to smite, the tempest behemoth has greater mobility than its other kin. When the gods are truly vexed, they might set upon a world numerous behemoths, but the conditions that might call for the deployment of more than a solitary tempest behemoth boggle the mind nearly as much as the sheer size of any of these monsters does—few worlds are capable of the level of blasphemy and hubris that would necessitate multiple tempest behemoths as divine punishment.
Other behemoths exist, such as sirocco behemoths that flay with air and fire, behemoths of the lightless depths of the oceans, and dread holocaust behemoths forged of lightning and fire. Some deities take particular delight in spawning truly unique and powerful behemoths—many scholars place the legendary tarrasque in this category, even though its powers are quite different than those shared by most other behemoths. Regardless of their nature, each behemoth suffers a single flaw by which it might be slain, a chink in its immortality. Some attribute this weakness, however small, to the imperfect process of binding chaos to order, others to divine caution, lest a behemoth one day prove a match for the gods themselves.
A behemoth's creation is not always the act of a cruel god seeking to inflict devastation on an innocent world—often, these monsters are created by good or neutral deities to serve as instruments of justice. Perhaps ironically, gods of a more lawful or civilized bent are the most apt to call up a behemoth, as gods of the natural world either aren't inclined to punish mortals at all, or would instead make use of natural disasters like earthquakes and storms to teach lessons to their wayward followers. While a single behemoth usually suffices, multiple creatures of this kind are sometimes visited upon a world. While it may be small solace, behemoths are incapable of procreation—regardless of the total number of behemoths active on a world at any one time, that number does not increase without the direct, vengeful intervention of a deity.
Even societies that refrain from insulting the gods are not immune to the behemoth's wrath, for the gods rarely remove these beasts when their work is done. An ancient civilization destroyed by a behemoth may still harbor in its ruined heart a slumbering monster, waiting only for the right moment or a tragic accident to waken and ravage once again.
|