18.12 Formians

PIC

Formians Lore

Planes DV 5: Formians are ant-like inhabitants native to Ordus, the Aligned Plane of law. They share a hive mind that allows telepathic communication at great distances.

Planes DV 10: All formians can sense their surroundings instinctively by feeling tremors in the ground. Most formians are simple drones with no independent thought or agency; they act only as directed by their queen. As a result, they fight with no concern for their own lives, serving only the greater good of the group. They may still retreat to avoid expending unnecessary resources on a battle that is already lost.

Planes DV 15: Formians often attempt to set up colonies in unclaimed locations on other planes to expand their influence, though they never attack civilizations or sentient creatures to do so. Once they have established their colonies, they consider themselves to have a rightful claim to that land, and they can be highly territorial.

If a formian queen is killed, all formians it was controlling immediately become inert, taking no actions of any kind. These isolated formians typically die of dehydration or similar causes, though in rare cases they may be claimed by another formian queen.

Worker

Level 1 Skirmisher

Medium planeforged

HP 11 IP 10

Defenses Armor 6 Brawn 4 Fort 3 Ment 3 Ref 6

Impervious Earth

Movement 40 ft.

Senses Tremorsense (60 ft.) Tremorsight (15 ft.)

Other skills Craft (metal) +1 Craft (stone) +1

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Attributes 1, 3, -1, -2, 0, -2

Alignment Lawful neutral

Accuracy +0; Brawling +1

Power 1; -2 ✨

Traits Multipedal Nonliving Simple-minded

Worker Lore

Planes DV 5: Workers are the basic building blocks of formian society. A typical worker is about 3 feet long and about 2-1/2 feet high at the front. Its hands are suitable only for manual labor.

Planes DV 10: Individual workers are simple-minded, but they are given instructions by the hive mind. Even the smallest formian colony typically has hundreds of workers, and larger colonies can have tens of thousands. Workers are generally given orders by a formian queen in groups of at least five, and it is rare to see an individual worker on its own.

Worker Abilities

Hive Mind ✨: All formians within 50 miles of their queen are in constant telepathic communication with her, regardless of any intervening physical obstacles. They instantaneously share information about threats and discoveries. This allows formians to usually respond to new information intelligently and in perfect unison, regardless of each formian’s individual intelligence.

Bite

Standard action

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The worker makes a +0 melee strike vs. Armor with its bite.

Hit: 1d8+1 damage.

Drone

Level 5 Warrior

Medium planeforged

HP 28 IP 17

Defenses Armor 9 Brawn 7 Fort 8 Ment 6 Ref 7

Impervious Earth

Movement 40 ft.; Climb +8

Senses Tremorsense (60 ft.) Tremorsight (15 ft.) Awareness +8

Other skills Endurance +7

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Attributes 3, 4, 2, -4, 3, 0

Alignment Lawful neutral

Accuracy +4; Brawling +4

Power 5; 2 ✨

Traits Multipedal Nonliving Simple-minded

Drone Lore

Planes DV 7: Drones are the basic fighting unit of formian society. In combat, drones use their high mobility to ruthlessly coordinate attacks on their most dangerous or most vulnerable foes.

Planes DV 12: Even the smallest formian colony typically has dozens of warriors, and larger colonies can have thousands.

Drone Abilities

Hive Mind ✨: All formians within 50 miles of their queen are in constant telepathic communication with her, regardless of any intervening physical obstacles. They instantaneously share information about threats and discoveries. This allows formians to usually respond to new information intelligently and in perfect unison, regardless of each formian’s individual intelligence.

Venomous Stinger

Standard action

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The drone makes a +4 melee strike vs. Armor with its stinger.

Hit: 1d6+5 damage.

Injury: The target becomes poisoned by drone venom. The poison’s accuracy is +4. It inflicts 1d8+2d6 damage immediately and with each escalation. The second escalation also ends the poison.

Myrmarch

Level 9 Warrior

Medium planeforged

PIC

HP 49 IP 28

Defenses Armor 13 Brawn 11 Fort 11 Ment 10 Ref 11

Impervious Earth

Movement 40 ft.; Climb +11

Senses Tremorsense (120 ft.) Tremorsight (30 ft.) Awareness +10

Other skills Endurance +10

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Attributes 4, 6, 3, -4, 3, 2

Alignment Lawful neutral

Accuracy +6; Brawling +6

Power 8; 6 ✨

Equipment Greatsword

Traits Multipedal Nonliving Simple-minded

Myrmarch Abilities

Hive Mind ✨: All formians within 50 miles of their queen are in constant telepathic communication with her, regardless of any intervening physical obstacles. They instantaneously share information about threats and discoveries. This allows formians to usually respond to new information intelligently and in perfect unison, regardless of each formian’s individual intelligence.

Dance of Death

Standard action

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If the myrmarch both dealt damage to a creature and took damage from a creature last round, it is briefly maximized (deal max damage) and shielded (+2 Armor and Ref).

Greatsword

Standard action

Tags: Sweeping (1)

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The myrmarch makes a +6 melee strike vs. Armor with its greatsword.

Hit: 2d8+8 damage.

Pure Precision

Standard action

Tags: Sweeping (1)

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The myrmarch makes a +9 melee strike vs. Armor with its greatsword.

Hit: 1d8+8 damage.

Frostweb Spider

Level 12 Skirmisher – Elite

Large mortal

PIC

HP 174 IP 87

Defenses Armor 18 Brawn 16 Fort 14 Ment 14 Ref 17

Movement 50 ft.; Balance +22 Climb +13

Senses Tremorsense (90 ft.) Awareness +12

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Attributes 4, 8, 2, -5, 3, 2

Alignment Neutral

Accuracy +7; Brawling +8

Power 12; 10 ✨

Traits Beast Multipedal

Frostweb Spider Abilities

Frost Breath

Elite action

Tags: Cold

Cost: The frostweb spider briefly cannot use this ability again.

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The frostweb spider makes a +7 attack vs. Fortitude against everything within in a Medium (30 ft.) cone from it.

Hit: The target feels a growing chill. Duing its next action, it takes 6d6 damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Iceweb

Standard action

Tags: Cold

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Choose a Small (15 ft.) radius within Short (30 ft.) range. The frostweb spider makes a +7 attack vs. Armor and Reflex against everything in the area. During its next action, this effect repeats in the same area.

Hit: 1d10+5 damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Venomous Bite

Standard action

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The frostweb spider makes a +7 melee strike vs. Armor with its bite.

Hit: 2d8+12 damage.

Injury: The target becomes poisoned by frostweb spider venom. The poison’s accuracy is +7. It makes the target slowed (-10 speed, -2 Armor and Ref) while the poison lasts.

The second escalation also inflicts a vital wound with a unique vital wound effect. Instead of making a vital roll for the vital wound, the target’s blood runs cold. Whenever it takes damage from a Cold ability, it becomes briefly paralyzed (cannot move). This effect lasts until the vital wound is removed.

Elite Cleanse

Triggered

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At the end of each round, roll 1d10. On an 8 or 9, the frostweb spider can remove one condition. On a 10, it can instead remove two different conditions. Conditions applied during the current round cannot be removed in this way.

Fusion Elemental

Level 16 Leader – Elite

Huge planeforged

HP 486 IP 243

Defenses Armor 18 Brawn 21 Fort 17 Ment 17 Ref 16

Impervious Air, Earth, Fire, Water

Movement 50 ft.; Jump 50 Jump +19

Senses Awareness +13

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Attributes 8, 6, 5, -4, 2, 4

Alignment Neutral

Accuracy +10; Brawling +13

Power 18; 14 ✨

Traits Nonliving Soulless

Fusion Elemental Abilities

Constraining Bubble

Elite action

Tags: Manifestation, Water

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The fusion elemental makes a +10 attack vs. Brawn against up to two Huge or smaller creatures within Medium (60 ft.) range. The fusion elemental gains a +2 accuracy bonus with the attack if there is a Large or larger body of water within Short (30 ft.) range.

Hit: The target is briefly surrounded by a bubble of water. It cannot breathe air, fly, or glide, but it can use its other movement modes normally. If it does not have a swim speed, it is unsteady (-2 accuracy, Armor, Brawn, Ref).

Mighty Crushing Gravity

Elite action

Tags: Earth

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The fusion elemental makes a +10 attack vs. Brawn against a grounded creature or object within Medium (60 ft.) range. The fusion elemental gains a +1 accuracy bonus for each weight category by which the target is heavier than Medium.

Hit: 8d8 damage.

Mighty Pyroclasm

Elite action

Tags: Fire

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Fire consumes a Large (60 ft.) radius zone from the fusion elemental’s location. The fusion elemental makes a +10 attack vs. Reflex against everything in the area. This typically means it includes itself as a target. During its next action, this effect repeats in the same area.

Hit: 7d6 damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Mighty Windblast

Elite action

Tags: Air

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The fusion elemental makes a +10 attack vs. Brawn and Reflex against everything in a Medium (30 ft.) cone from itself.

Hit: 10d6 damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Distant Flame Dash

Standard action

Tags: Fire

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The fusion elemental teleports into an unoccupied destination on a stable surface within Long (90 ft.) range. In addition, the fusion elemental makes a +10 attack vs. Reflex against everything in a 5 ft. wide line between its starting location and its starting location.

Hit: 7d6 damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Ground Slam

Standard action

Tags: Earth, Sweeping (1)

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The fusion elemental makes a +9 melee strike vs. Armor with its slam. It targets everything supported by that surface in a Medium (30 ft.) cone from one corner of the target space. The strike deals double damage.

Hit: 1d10+18 damage.

Mighty Windslash

Standard action

Tags: Air

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The fusion elemental makes a +10 attack vs. Armor against up to two targets within Long (90 ft.) range. If the fusion elemental chooses two targets, they must be adjacent to each other.

Hit: 8d6 damage.

Tidal Slam

Standard action

Tags: Sweeping (1), Water

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The fusion elemental makes a +15 melee strike vs. Armor with its slam.

Hit: 1d10+18 damage.

Injury: If the attack result hits the target’s Brawn defense, the fusion elemental flings it 15 feet. This is a Size-Based effect, so it does not affect creatures more than one size category larger than the fusion elemental.

Elite Cleanse

Triggered

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At the end of each round, roll 1d10. On an 8 or 9, the fusion elemental can remove one condition. On a 10, it can instead remove two different conditions. Conditions applied during the current round cannot be removed in this way.

Gelatinous Cube

Level 5 Brute – Elite

Large animate

PIC

HP 132 IP 99

Defenses Armor 6 Brawn 13 Fort 12 Ref 5

Immune Compulsion, Emotion, Critical hits, Grappled

Movement 20 ft.; Climb +11 Flexibility +1 Stealth -3

Senses Tremorsense (120 ft.) Tremorsight (60 ft.)

Other skills Endurance +13

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Attributes 6, -4, 8, —, 0, —

Alignment Neutral

Accuracy +2; Brawling +5

Power 10; -6 ✨

Traits Mindless Sightless

Gelatinous Cube Lore

Arcana DV 7: Gelatinous cubes are gigantic green oozes that creep along underground tunnels, digesting anything organic they encounter. They are feared for their ability to easily snatch up smaller creatures and carry them away.

Arcana DV 12: When a gelatinous cube finds prey, it simply moves through the unfortunate creature, trapping it inside the ooze’s body. Creatures engulfed in this way can find it difficult to escape while they are being slowly digested. Gelatinous cubes are unusually fast compared to other oozes, though they are still slow compared to most creatures.

Arcana DV 17: Gelatinous cubes can climb walls, though they rarely climb high. If possible, they prefer to nestle into alcoves so they can drop on unsuspecting prey.

Gelatinous Cube Abilities

Gelatinous: The gelatinous cube can move freely through spaces occupied by other creatures who do not have this ability.

Suspension: Anything that is grappled by the gelatinous cube while sharing space with it is suspended within its body. Whenever it moves, all suspended creatures and objects automatically move with it.

Dissolve

Elite action

Tags: Acid

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The gelatinous cube makes a +2 attack vs. Fortitude against everything in its space.

Hit: 1d10+5 damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Engulf

Standard

Tags: Brawling, Size-Based

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The gelatinous cube moves up to its speed in a straight line. Whenever it shares space with anything Medium or smaller during this movement, it makes a +4 brawling attack vs. Fortitude against that creature or object.

Hit: The target is grappled by the gelatinous cube. The gelatinous cube automatically controls the grapple.

Elite Cleanse

Triggered

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At the end of each round, roll 1d10. On an 8 or 9, the gelatinous cube can remove one condition. On a 10, it can instead remove two different conditions. Conditions applied during the current round cannot be removed in this way.