Aeon, SynesisA pair of three-fingered arms sprouts from either end of this hourglass-shaped creature composed of cosmic starstuff.Synesis CR 4Source Occult Bestiary pg. 3
XP 1,200
N Medium outsider (aeon, extraplanar)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +11
Aura cognitive aura (30 ft., DC 15)DefenseAC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 15 (+1 deflection, +2 Dex, +4 natural)
hp 39 (6d10+6)
Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +7
Immune cold, critical hits, poison; Resist electricity 10, fire 10; SR 15OffenseSpeed 15 ft., fly 30 ft. (good)
Melee 4 claws +7 (1d4+1)
Space 5 ft., Reach 5 ft. (unintuitive reach)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th; concentration +8)
At will—daze (DC 13)
3/day—id insinuation IOA (DC 14), touch of idiocy
1/day—cognitive blockOA (DC 15), fox’s cunning, mental blockOA (DC 14)StatisticsStr 12, Dex 15, Con 13, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 15
Base Atk +6; CMB +7; CMD 20
Feats Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative
Skills Fly +15, Knowledge (engineering) +14, Knowledge (nature) +14, Knowledge (planes) +14, Knowledge (religion) +14, Perception +11, Sense Motive +11, Stealth +11, Use Magic Device +11
Languages envisaging
SQ extension of all, void formEcologyEnvironment any (Outer Planes)
Organization solitary, pair, or convention (3–6)
Treasure noneSpecial AbilitiesCognitive Aura (Su) As a standard action, a synesis can create an aura of thought that bolsters deliberate contemplation at the cost of one’s instinctive judgment or an aura of intuition that does the opposite. Each creature in the area must succeed at a DC 15 Will saving throw to resist the aura. A creature that successfully saves against the aura is unaffected by that synesis’s aura for 24 hours. A synesis can choose up to two creatures in the area to ignore its effects.
Intuition: The aura grants all non-aeon creatures a +1 insight bonus to Armor Class as well as a –3 penalty on concentration checks. This penalty on concentration checks doubles for creatures when the affected creature casts spells with a thought component.
Thought: The aura grants all non-aeon creatures the benefits of the synesis’s extension of all ability as well as a +3 bonus on concentration checks. This bonus on concentration checks doubles when the affected creature casts spells with a thought component. At the same time, the affected creature takes a –1 penalty on Will saves (–2 against mind-affecting effects).
Unintuitive Reach (Su) A synesis can stretch its arms and body in unpredictable ways, but only when it would defy the expectations of others. A synesis’s reach increases by 5 feet when it attacks a non-aeon creature with an Intelligence score. When it makes an attack against such a creature using its unintuitive reach, it deals an additional 2d6 points of precision damage, after which the target is immune to further such precision damage for 24 hours.DescriptionAlthough mortals have learned to control tiny fragments of their worlds through magic and technology, only a mastery over their instinctive urges prevents them from destroying the fabric of the planes in the process. Synesis aeons oversee this fine balance. At times, they serve as dispassionate muses to great thinkers, facilitating discoveries and pushing cultures to new heights. In the blink of an eye, however, a synesis might destroy a philosopher whose hypotheses could one day threaten the balance. Synesis aeons often gravitate toward powerful psychic spellcasters, steering them toward actions that stave off planar entropy or serve even more esoteric goals.Creatures in "Aeon" CategorySource Bestiary 2 pg. 8
Beyond passion, beyond mercy, beyond reason, the faceless caretakers of reality toil without end, silently struggling to preserve the tenuous balance upon which all existence depends. These voiceless forces are the aeons, inscrutable shapers and eliminators of the multiverse. They exist beyond the understanding of most mortals, endlessly striving toward goals unfathomable even to many of the planes' eldest inhabitants. Aeons build order from the chaos of the Maelstrom, seed new life upon barren worlds, and halt the rampages of forces grown overbold. They rend nations to vapor, dismantle planets into cosmic dust, and pave the way for calamities. Their ways are at one moment beneficent and in the next utterly devastating, but always without ardor, compassion, or malice. Every aeon dispassionately but determinedly strives toward the same objective—an ever changing, amending, and readjusting pursuit of multiplanar equilibrium. United in this eternal and perhaps impossible pursuit, aeons embody the planes-spanning hand of a metaphorical omnipotent clockmaker, endlessly tuning and adjusting the myriad gears of reality in pursuit of ultimate perfection.
The balance aeons seek in all things begins with themselves. Most aeons embody a powerful dichotomy sustained in equilibrium. From the potency of birth and death meeting in akhanas to the philosophies of fate and freedom embodied by theletos, the workings of existence take on form and will within their living manifestations. Even the lesser paracletus unite diverse elements of creation in their intricate orbits. Such stability reaches beyond the shapes of aeons to inspire and direct their minds, imbuing each with a singular purpose and area of control. Thus, each embodies the realm of reality it would seek to balance, attempting to enforce a harmony as perfect as that of its physical form upon all things. The forms of various types directly suggest their abilities and objectives, with pleroma aeons, for example, exhibiting the power to create or annihilate, and using such influence to alter that which has grown either too abundant or sterile.
While aeons are not malicious creatures, they care nothing for individual beings or the struggles and emotions central to most life. The ruin of an entire city or burning of a vast forest means equally little in their manipulation of symmetry. By the same right, creating new life or constructing defenses against impending calamities are equally characteristic acts. For aeons, only the final tally matters, and a land overpopulated by humanoids is just as much in need of culling as a land overrun by ravenous fungi. Just as a body's natural defenses have neither mercy nor malice for invading parasites, aeons don't muddy their objectives with emotion. Such impartiality extends to the interactions between aeons as well. Without culture, society, or even memory beyond the immediate needs of the multiverse, they build no relationships and, in general, have no personalities beyond an automaton-like directness. A vague caste system exists, with aeons that hold influence over greater multiversal principles acknowledged as superior by their lesser brethren. This caste system rarely translates to actual direction and obedience, though. Should the acts of a greater aeon jeopardize the works or even lives of a multitude of lesser aeons, the efforts of the more potent aeon proceed without hesitation. Only in matters of great existential concern do multiple aeons cooperate, directed into doing so by the united consciousness of their race and the multiverse itself, and even then rarely for long.
Many mistake aeons for friends or allies of nature and its creatures. While this might be true at times—and is definitely true if reality as a whole is considered a vast, united organism—aeons care no more for the trees of the forest than for the towers of civilization. For them, all life is life and all death is death, to be preserved or scoured regardless of its arbitrary shape.
In rare cases, aeons have been known to deviate from the whims of the multiverse. Such rogue aeons typically arise from interacting with other races excessively, living beyond their intended times, being exposed to unusual ideas, or being forced to perform acts they otherwise wouldn't contemplate. These aeons typically take on extreme personalities, coming to favor one aspect of their being over the other—an akhana is just as likely to become an artist of life as a mass murderer. Normal aeons perceive their rogue brethren as high-priority disturbances in the balance of the multiverse and seek the destruction of such rarities with all haste.Monad, the Condition of AllAll aeons are bound in a state they know as “the condition of all” or “monad,” a supreme oneness with all members of their race and the multiverse itself. Therefore, aeons exist as an extension of the multiverse; in a fashion similar to the way bones, muscle, and the various humors create a mortal, they exist as part of a greater being. When destroyed or upon accomplishing specific goals, their energies simply dissipate and become reabsorbed into the monad. They do not die, but are instead recycled. They have no discernible memories and seem to exist only in the present, arriving to repair balance. Relationships with non-aeons are generally nonexistent, and they feel no sense of affection, remorse, vengeance, or similar emotions. Aeons deal with each task as its own action, independent from all other tasks. Thus, an individual once at violent odds with an aeon may, upon their next encounter, have the aeon's full and undaunted support.Aeon SubtypeAeons are a race of neutral outsiders who roam the planes maintaining the balance of reality. Aeons possess the following traits.- Immunity to cold, poison, and critical hits.
- Resistance to electricity 10 and fire 10.
- Envisaging (Su) Aeons communicate wordlessly, almost incomprehensibly. Caring little for the wants and desires of other creatures, they have no need to engage in exchanges of dialogue. Instead, aeons mentally scan beings for their thoughts and intentions, and then retaliate with flashes of psychic projections that emit a single concept in response to whatever the other being was thinking. The flash is usually a combination of a visual and aural stimulation, which displays how the aeon perceives future events might work out. For instance, an aeon seeking to raze a city communicates this concept to non-aeons by sending them a vivid image of the city crumbling to ash. An aeon's envisaging functions as a non-verbal form of telepathy. Aeons cannot read the thoughts of any creature immune to mind-affecting effects.
- Extension of All (Ex) Through an aeon's connection to the multiverse, it gains access to strange and abstruse knowledge that filters through all existence. Much of the knowledge is timeless, comprised of events long past, present, and potentially even those yet to come. Aeons gain a racial bonus equal to half their racial Hit Dice on all Knowledge skill checks. This same connection also binds them to other aeons. As a result, they can communicate with each other freely, over great distances as if using telepathy. This ability also works across planes, albeit less effectively, allowing the communication of vague impressions or feelings, not specific details or sights. Due to the vast scope of the aeon race's multiplanar concerns, though, even the most dire reports of a single aeon rarely inspire dramatic or immediate action.
- Void Form (Su) Though aeons aren't incorporeal, their forms are only a semi-tangible manifestation of something greater. An aeon's void form grants it a deflection bonus equal to 1/4 its Hit Dice (rounded down).
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