Friday, July 31, 2015

Frightful Fridays! Quadropticat

Hello, and welcome to this week's Frightful Fridays! I'm at GenCon when this posts, but I didn't want to use that as an excuse for not putting up a monster this week. This one is courtesy of Drejk (whose blog can be found here: http://shaperofworlds.blogspot.com/), and it went in an unusual direction for me. I hit upon the idea of a lawful fey creature that helps enforce treaties or confirms that dealings with mortals are on the up and up, and a four-eyed cat seemed like a strangely appropriate creature for such a task.

I hope you enjoy the quadropticat, and I'll see you next time with another monster. As always, thanks for reading!



Quadropticat      CR 3
XP 800
LN Tiny fey
Init +3; Senses low-light vision, see invisibility; Perception +17
DEFENSE
AC 17, touch 17, flat-footed 14 (+3 Dex, +2 insight, +2 size)
hp 27 (5d6+10)
Fort +3, Ref +7, Will +5
Defensive Abilities throw off darkness
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +6 (1d4+2), 2 claws +6 (1d3+2)
Space 2½ ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks insightful combat
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 5th; concentration +7)
   Constant—see invisibility
   1/day—discern lies (DC 16)
   1/week—vision
STATISTICS
Str 2, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 15
Base Atk +2; CMB +9 (+11 dirty trick); CMD 11 (13 vs. dirty trick, 15 vs. trip)
Feats Combat Expertise, Footslasher, Improved Dirty Trick
Skills Acrobatics +11, Appraise +7, Bluff +10 (+18 to pass secret messages), Escape Artist +11, Perception +17, Sense Motive +17, Spellcraft +7, Stealth +19; Racial Modifiers +8 Bluff to pass secret messages, +8 Perception, +8 Sense Motive
Languages Catfolk, Common, Sylvan
SQ pierce the veil
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Insightful Combat (Su) A quadropicat adds its Intelligence modifier to attack and damage rolls in place of its Strength modifier. It also gains an insight bonus to AC equal to its Intelligence modifier. It loses the benefits of this ability if it is blind.
Pierce the Veil (Su) A quadropticat does not suffer a miss chance from concealment. It also benefits from a constant see invisiblity. It loses the benefits of this ability if it is blind.
Throw off Darkness (Su) As an immediate action, a blind quadropticat can attempt a new saving throw at the end of its turn to negate the blinded condition as the result of a spell or effect. This is in addition to saving throws it can make to shake off a spell or effect that causes blindness, such as glitterdust.

Quadropticats have their origins in planes of law, where their ancestors served as impartial arbiters of contracts between planar beings as well as between outsiders and mortals. Due to a retrospectively bad deal brokered by quadropticats that resulted in the slaughter of numerous inevitables, for which the quadropticats were unfairly blamed, the powers of the lawful planes exiled the creatures to the Material Plane. Their unusual appearance prevented them from acceptance in most communities, but the fey found them intriguing and took them in.

Quadropticats, now fully fey creatures, serve the same purpose for the fey that they did in the planes of law. Their insightfulness allows them to read other creatures, so they prove valuable in ensuring both parties in a contract or treaty are honest. This is essential among the mostly capricious fey, who seek to break deals with little provocation. While quadropticats have no means to enforce these deals, their array of abilities make it difficult for a dishonest party to enter into an agreement that they intend to break later.

Strangely, despite their lawful natures and their usefulness in enforcing lawful dealings, quadropticats are nasty and unfair combatants. They seem to take pleasure in employing underhanded techniques, such as throwing dirt in an opponent’s eyes or slashing an opponent’s Achilles tendon, and take any advantage available against their foes.

Quadropticats who prefer not to deal with fey and their intrigues travel and often attach themselves to adventuring groups that can get past their weird natures. Adventuring quadropticats are fond of catfolk, perhaps because of their similar appearance, and catfolk reciprocate the attention.