Hello and welcome back to a new Frightful Fridays! Life got in the way of last week's entry, so I'm putting two monsters out this week. Since it's the two-year anniversary of the feature, I thought I'd go with my favorites—kaidas. They aren't exactly the friendly kaidas that have graced this blog before, especially the pale kaida, but the rot kaida may prove to be a valuable ally in the fight against undead monsters.
I hope you enjoy this week's monsters, and I'll be back next week with something else. Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the comments and suggestions over the past two year!
This illustration can be found here.
This dragon, not much larger than a dog, has scales the color of bleached bone.
Pale Kaida CR 7
XP 3,200
NE Small dragon
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +14
Defense
AC 19, touch 15, flat-footed 15 (+4 Dex, +4 natural, +1 size)
hp 76 (8d12+24)
Fort +9, Ref +10, Will +9
Defensive Abilities negative energy affinity; Immune cold, paralysis, sleep; SR 18
Offense
Speed 20 ft., fly 80 ft. (good)
Melee bite +14 (1d4–1 plus draining bite), 2 claws +14 (1d3–1 plus 1d2 Strength damage)
Special Attacks breath weapon, channel negative energy 7/day (DC 18, 4d6)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th; concentration +12)
Constant—desecrate
At will—detect undead
3/day—lesser animate dead
Statistics
Str 8, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 16, Wis 17, Cha 19
Base Atk +8; CMB +11 (+13 steal); CMD 20 (22 vs. steal, 24 vs. trip)
Feats Agile Maneuvers, Combat Expertise, Improved Steal, Weapon Finesse
Skills Bluff +15, Fly +21, Intimidate +15, Knowledge (religion) +14, Perception +14, Sense Motive +14, Sleight of Hand +15, Spellcraft +13, Stealth +19
Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Infernal
Ecology
Environment any terrestrial or underground
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure standard
Special Abilities
Breath Weapon (Su) A pale kaida breathes a sickly pale cone that chills those caught in it to the bone. The cone deals 6d6 points of damage (half cold, half negative energy, DC 17 Reflex half). Creatures failing their saves are staggered for 1d4 rounds. The kaida can reuse its breath weapon after 1d4 rounds. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Draining Bite (Su) If a pale kaida succeeds at a critical hit with its bite attack, the target gains 1d4 negative levels. These negative levels last for 8 hours, at which time they are removed without requiring a save to avoid the negative levels becoming permanent.
Pale kaidas sprung into existence in locations dominated by undead creatures, such as ghoul empires and vampire-controlled nations. Twisted reflections of typical protector kaidas, they preserve undead creatures with an array of abilities that bolster and heal undead. During combat, they like to use the steal combat maneuver to divest opponents of their holy symbols, in the hope that they can considerably reduce their effectiveness. They are not physically powerful creatures, so they rely on channels and breath weapon attacks. If forced into melee, they use bite and claws to sap enough energy from opponents to make them manageable.
While too powerful to be taken as familiars, pale kaidas voluntarily serve powerful undead creatures with class levels, whom the dragons see as most worthy of their aid.
And this illustration can be found here.
Flies buzz around this putrescent brown dragon. Its watery eyes seem to take the measure of all creatures in view.
Rot Kaida CR 6
XP 2,400
N Small dragon
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, deathwatch; Perception +13
Aura stench (30 ft., DC 17, 1d6 rounds)
Defense
AC 19, touch 13, flat-footed 17 (+2 Dex, +6 natural, +1 size)
hp 73 (7d12+28)
Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +6
Immune negative energy, paralysis, sleep; SR 17
Offense
Speed 20 ft., fly 60 ft. (average)
Melee bite +11 (1d6+3 plus disease), claw +11 (1d4+3 plus 1d2 Charisma damage)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 7th; concentration +7)
At will—disrupt undead
1/day—creeping doom (DC 15)
3/day—quickened disrupt undead
Statistics
Str 17, Dex 15, Con 19, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 10
Base Atk +7; CMB +9; CMD 21 (25 vs. trip)
Feats Alertness, Flyby Attack, Power Attack, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (disrupt undead)
Skills Diplomacy +10, Fly +14, Heal +11, Knowledge (religion) +12, Perception +13, Sense Motive +13, Spellcraft +12, Stealth +16
Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Infernal
Ecology
Environment any terrestrial
Organization solitary, pair, or dissolution (3–8)
Treasure standard
Special Abilities
Disease of Reclamation (Su) Disease—bite; save Fort DC 17; onset 1 hour; frequency 1/day; effect 1d6 Con (living creature) or 1d6 Cha (undead creature); cure 2 consecutive saves. While a victim suffers from this disease, it only gains half the hit points from natural and magical healing. Undead creatures do not benefit from immunity from disease against a rot kaida's disease of reclamation. A creature that is not undead nor returned to life through a spell or effect is immune to this disease. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Despite their appearance, rot kaidas are neither evil nor undead. They serve to offer finality for those creatures that have cheated death, which puts them at odds with undead creatures. Unfortunately, they can also bring suffering to those who have been returned to life. Rot kaidas dodge the question of whether they serve another power, but they seem to gravitate towards clerics and other followers of death deities who treat undead as abominations. The kaidas absolutely hate pale kaidas and will attack them in preference to any other opponents.
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