Frightful Fridays! Fractal Monarch

Welcome back for this week's second monster! I think I said "24 hours or so" in the last post, and the delay gave the intellect spirit a little more time in the spotlight. I'm sticking with those excuses for the delay. Tonight's monster is courtesy of Paizo friend, Kruelaid, who asked if I took requests, which of course I do. He then presented me with an awesome idea that I hope my stat block did justice. The fractal monarch was an ordinary butterfly mutated by fey teleportation energy to become a living plane shift spell, with a random destination for all but the most powerful fey and outsiders. The creature is normally peaceful, so as long as characters don't decide to attack it for no good reason (riiiight), then they won't have to worry about ending up in the Abyss or something worse.

I hope you enjoy the fractal monarch, and I'll see you next week with a new monster. Thanks for reading!

I liked this image for the fractal monarch. You can find the original here.

At rest, this creature looks like an enormous monarch butterfly. When it flies, though, a panoply of images—ordinary and strange vistas, demons and angels, and indescribable visions—cascades across the creature's wings.
Fractal Monarch CR 12
XP 19,200
CN Large magical beast
Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +16
Aura confusion (10 ft., DC 24)

Defense
AC 27, touch 27, flat-footed 21 (+12 deflection, +5 Dex, +1 dodge, –1 size)
hp 152 (16d10+64)
Fort +14, Ref +15, Will +6
Immune mind-affecting effects, teleportation; SR 23

Offense
Speed 10 ft., fly 60 ft. (good)
Melee 2 wings +20 (2d6 plus fractal travel)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks curse of broken travel, fractal travel
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 16th; concentration +22)
At will—dimension door (self only)

Statistics
Str 10, Dex 21, Con 18, Int 15, Wis 12, Cha 23
Base Atk +16; CMB +17; CMD 45 (53 vs. trip)
Feats Acrobatic, Dimensional Agility, Dimensional Assault, Dimensional Dervish, Dodge, Hover, Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Knowledge [planes])(B), Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +24, Fly +26, Knowledge (planes) +27, Perception +16, Stealth +16
Languages Common, Sylvan (can't speak)
SQ improved evasion, planar awareness

Ecology
Environment temperate and warm forests
Organization solitary, pair, or colony (3–50)
Treasure none

Special Abilities
Aura of Confusion (Su) A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by that fractal monarch's aura of confusion for one day.
Curse of Broken Travel (Su) A creature that kills a fractal monarch must succeed at a DC 24 Will save or gain spell resistance equal to the fractal monarch's against spells and effects of the conjuration (teleportation) subschool. Any spell or effect with a chance to arrive off target that bypasses the spell resistance has its "on target" chance halved, with the remaining percentile shifted to "off target;" additionally, double the distance rolled for "off target" results. This curse can only be removed by remove curse, break enchantment, or more powerful magic. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Fractal Travel (Su) As part of its wing attack or as a touch attack that deals no damage, a fractal monarch targets its opponent with an effect similar to plane shift (DC 23 Will save negates), except the opponent does not have to be a willing creature. The fractal monarch transports the foe to a random plane. If an opponent successfully grapples a fractal monarch, it must succeed at a Will save as if the monarch had struck the opponent.
A fey creature or outsider struck by a fractal monarch's wing (or one that succeeds at a touch attack on the monarch) can attempt an opposed Charisma check to force the monarch to send the fey or outsider to a plane of its choosing. A creature who wins the Charisma check against the monarch can also task the monarch to transport itself along with the creature.
Planar Awareness (Ex) A fractal monarch's omnidimensional ties give it a unique understanding of the planes. It treats Knowledge (planes) as a class skill, and it gains Skill Focus (Knowledge [planes]) as a bonus feat.

Fractal monarchs originated in fey realms as a colony of ordinary butterflies that absorbed magical energy from powerful fey portal to other dimensions. The butterflies grew to extraordinary size and gained sentience as a result of their exposure to an incredible cross-section of planes and alternate dimensions. The first interactions between the fractal monarchs and fey proved disastrous for the fey, as the butterflies shunted the fey to random planes where they perished alone.

Powerful fey nobles who could withstand the forced planar shifting managed to drive most of the fractal monarchs away. The fey nobles figured out how to communicate with the remaining few monarchs and reached an accord with the creatures. These allied butterflies act as portable, living portals for the fey, who usually take one with them when they travel to potentially hostile dimensions. As the monarchs have become stranded in various planes, outsiders have taken notice of the creatures, and the most powerful have learned to assert the will over them.

"Wild" fractal monarchs collect near points where the borders between dimensions are thin, such as faerie crossroads or destroyed planar gates. They feed off esoteric energy generated at these borders and otherwise mind their own business. Fractal monarchs hardly ever attack other creatures unprovoked, but they have no compunctions about defending themselves from attacks, usually by sending their attackers away to parts unknown. The monarchs also inflict a curse that bars their killers from teleporting or randomizes teleportation. Rumors tell of a rare few fractal monarchs that can fold in on themselves to create a permanent gate, killing the monarch that created the gate and pulling everything within a 500-foot radius into the gate.

 

 

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