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Template Grafts | Universal Monster Rules

Niaq Source Starfinder #11: The Penumbra Protocol pg. 57 Niaq CR 6 XP 2,400 N Large magical beast Init +3; Senses blindsight (heat) 360 ft., sightless; Perception +13 Defense HP 90 EAC 18; KAC 20 Fort +8; Ref +10; Will +7 Resistances cold 10 Offense Speed 20 ft., fly 90 ft. (Ex, average) Melee feeding lance +17 (1d8+11 P plus infection) Ranged quill volley +15 (2d6+6 P plus infection) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Statistics STR +5; DEX +3; CON +2; INT -3; WIS +1; CHA -1 Skills Acrobatics +13, Stealth +18, Survival +13 Ecology Environment any cold (Verces) Organization solitary, pair, or wing (3–5) Special Abilities Infection (Ex) A creature injured by a niaq’s feeding lance or quills is exposed to niaq virus. Niaq Virus Type disease (injury); Save Fortitude DC 14 Track physical (see below); Frequency 1/round Effect progression track is Confused—Weakened—Debilitated—Immobile; victim experiences intense euphoria and bizarre hallucinations throughout the infection. An immobile victim also gains cold resistance 10 and slows the frequency to 1/day. Special When victims reach the end state, their blood can be used to infect others with the virus, or it can be treated to become an addictive but noninfectious drug called niaqui. Cure 2 consecutive saves Description Niaqs hunt in the frigid wastes of Verces’s Darkside, soaring silently through snowy skies. Shaped like a pterodactyl, a niaq is white with a network of black-blooded veins that extend across its body. Instead of eyes, the creature has a mane of cilia that sense minute variations in temperature, allowing it to distinguish heat signatures of prey and the nearby topography. For a mouth, the creature has a feeding lance, which is a tight cylinder of long, hollow quills. Each of a niaq’s wings has a fringe of similar but shorter quills that the creature can launch as projectiles with a flick of a wing. The feeding lance and quills can infect prey with a virus that lives symbiotically within the niaq. Victims diseased in this manner suffer hallucinogenic effects, which make them not only easy prey for the niaq, but living factories for the natural drug the virus produces. Genetic differences between niaqs and their prey allow a feeding niaq to experience the euphoria the drug produces in prey, since the niaq is immune to the effect of the virus in its own system. A niaq therefore carries prey back to its lair, usually a cave or hollow in the Darkside’s ice and snow. Niaqs keep prey alive and immobilized, sipping the drug-laced blood from their victims’ bloodstream, earning niaqs their local nickname of “sippers.” The drug the niaq virus produces is called niaqui. Illegal due to its manufacturing method, this drug is found in black markets throughout the Pact Worlds. Criminal syndicates kidnap victims and infect them, turning them into production hosts. The drug dealers then purify extracted fluids to kill the virus and ensure clients can become addicted but can’t produce the drug themselves.

Niaq

Source Starfinder #11: The Penumbra Protocol pg. 57

Niaq CR 6

XP 2,400
N Large magical beast
Init +3; Senses blindsight (heat) 360 ft., sightless; Perception +13

Defense

HP 90
EAC 18; KAC 20
Fort +8; Ref +10; Will +7
Resistances cold 10

Offense

Speed 20 ft., fly 90 ft. (Ex, average)
Melee feeding lance +17 (1d8+11 P plus infection)
Ranged quill volley +15 (2d6+6 P plus infection)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.

Statistics

STR +5; DEX +3; CON +2; INT -3; WIS +1; CHA -1
Skills Acrobatics +13, Stealth +18, Survival +13

Ecology

Environment any cold (Verces)
Organization solitary, pair, or wing (3–5)

Special Abilities

Infection (Ex) A creature injured by a niaq’s feeding lance or quills is exposed to niaq virus.

Niaq Virus

Type disease (injury); Save Fortitude DC 14
Track physical (see below); Frequency 1/round
Effect progression track is Confused—Weakened—Debilitated—Immobile; victim experiences intense euphoria and bizarre hallucinations throughout the infection. An immobile victim also gains cold resistance 10 and slows the frequency to 1/day. Special When victims reach the end state, their blood can be used to infect others with the virus, or it can be treated to become an addictive but noninfectious drug called niaqui.
Cure 2 consecutive saves

Description

Niaqs hunt in the frigid wastes of Verces’s Darkside, soaring silently through snowy skies. Shaped like a pterodactyl, a niaq is white with a network of black-blooded veins that extend across its body. Instead of eyes, the creature has a mane of cilia that sense minute variations in temperature, allowing it to distinguish heat signatures of prey and the nearby topography. For a mouth, the creature has a feeding lance, which is a tight cylinder of long, hollow quills. Each of a niaq’s wings has a fringe of similar but shorter quills that the creature can launch as projectiles with a flick of a wing.

The feeding lance and quills can infect prey with a virus that lives symbiotically within the niaq. Victims diseased in this manner suffer hallucinogenic effects, which make them not only easy prey for the niaq, but living factories for the natural drug the virus produces. Genetic differences between niaqs and their prey allow a feeding niaq to experience the euphoria the drug produces in prey, since the niaq is immune to the effect of the virus in its own system. A niaq therefore carries prey back to its lair, usually a cave or hollow in the Darkside’s ice and snow. Niaqs keep prey alive and immobilized, sipping the drug-laced blood from their victims’ bloodstream, earning niaqs their local nickname of “sippers.”

The drug the niaq virus produces is called niaqui. Illegal due to its manufacturing method, this drug is found in black markets throughout the Pact Worlds. Criminal syndicates kidnap victims and infect them, turning them into production hosts. The drug dealers then purify extracted fluids to kill the virus and ensure clients can become addicted but can’t produce the drug themselves.

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