Sunday, October 1, 2017

Frightful Fridays! Monster Mayhem! Heliumf

Hello, and welcome to Frightful Fridays! Today's entry is late for a good reason, since it kicks off the 5th anniversary(!) celebration of this feature on the blog. I'll be adding a new monster every day this month, starting with a CR 1/2 monster and culminating in a CR 30 monster on Halloween--five years from the first Frightful Fridays! blog entry.

Today's monster is way outside the expected range for a Colossal creature, and it will hopefully mess with your players' heads if you choose to throw this at them. However, the heliumf is not quite as terrifying as it looks and often flees from intense combats.

I hope you enjoy the heliumf, and I'll see you tomorrow with another monster. Thanks for reading!

I won't admit this inspired today's monster

A garish array of primary colors adorns the skin of this towering lizard-like creature. It stands on two legs, but, despite its size, its footfalls leave little impression on the ground.
Heliumf      CR 1/2
XP 200
N Colossal magical beast
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +7
DEFENSE
AC 12, touch 4, flat-footed 10 (+2 Dex, +8 natural, –8 size)
hp 11 (1d10+6)
Fort +8, Ref +4, Will +3
Defensive Abilities reactive float
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee slam –1 (1d4+5)
Space 30 ft.; Reach 30 ft.
Special Attacks weak strikes
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st; concentration +2)
   At will—levitate
STATISTICS
Str 21, Dex 15, Con 22, Int 5, Wis 16, Cha 12
Base Atk +1; CMB +14; CMD 26
Feats Weapon Focus (slam)
Skills Intimidate +9, Perception +7; Racial Modifiers +8 Intimidate
SQ slow mimicry
ECOLOGY
Environment any forest
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure none
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Reactive Float (Ex) As an immediate action, a heliumf can attempt a Reflex save against an attack made against it, with a DC equal to the attack roll. This action must be taken before the attack is made. If successful, the heliumf floats 20 feet into the air. If it still floats in this way at the beginning of its turn, it must attempt a Will save with the same DC to return to the ground as a swift action. It cannot use its levitate spell-like ability to return to the ground.
Slow Mimicry (Su) Over the course of 24 hours, a heliumf can reshape itself to take a different, more frightful form. There is a 25% chance a helium will be encountered in a different shape. Use the table below to determine the form it takes. The DC for Knowledge (arcana) checks to recognize the creature as a heliumf increases by 5.
01–10   Titan centipede
11–20   Shipwrecker crab
21–30   Black scorpion
31–40   Goliath spider
41–50   Immense tortoise
51–60   Colossal purple worm
61–70   Astral leviathan
71–80   Bhole
81–90   Sard
91–93   Thunder behemoth
94–96   Taig Linnorm
97–99   Kaiju, Bezravnis
00         Tarrasque
Weak Strikes (Ex) A heliumf only adds 1 times its Strength modifier to its slam attacks.

Heliumfs are herbivorous creatures filled with helium and other lightweight gases. They use their size and various displays to ward off competitors or potential predators; these displays include an ability to change their appearance to mimic much more ferocious creatures. Scholars are unaware of how heliumfs learn about more exotic creatures such as linnorms and the tarrasque but speculate they observe such creatures when they take to the skies. They are generally timid creatures but fight to guard their territory if their scare tactics do not work. Against powerful foes, heliumfs reactively levitate themselves to avoid harm, but they must overcome their inherent fear of these enemies to return to earth.

Heliumfs gather together in the clouds of long-lasting storms to mate. A pair of heliums produces a single offspring which lives in the sky, where it receives food from one or both parents, until it is large enough to procure its own food. Typical heliumfs stand nearly 35 feet tall, yet they weigh a mere 100 pounds.


A character succeeding on a DC 20 Survival check within 10 minutes of a heliumf’s death procures enough helium-filled meat to feed up to 5 Medium creatures. If consumed immediately, the meat allows a creature to levitate (as per the spell) for 1 minute once within 8 hours of consuming it.