Source Alien Archive 3 pg. 114Thorgothrel CR 8 XP 4,800
LE Large ooze
Init +0; Senses blindsight (life) 100 ft., sightless; Perception +16
DefenseHP 100; RP 4
EAC 20; KAC 21
Fort +9; Ref +5; Will +9
Defensive Abilities integrated force field (20 HP); Immunities cold, electricity, ooze immunities; Resistances acid 10
Weaknesses sublimationOffenseSpeed 20 ft.
Melee pseudopod +19 (3d4+14 B plus atavistic resequencing)
Ranged field overload +16 (2d8+8 E)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.StatisticsSTR +6; DEX +0; CON +2; INT +4; WIS +0; CHA +1
Skills Computers +16, Engineering +21, Life Science +21, Medicine +21, Physical Science +16
Languages Aklo, Common, Infernal (can’t speak any language); telepathy 100 ft.EcologyEnvironment any (Gothra)
Organization solitary, pair, or symposium (3–6)Special AbilitiesField Overload (Ex) As standard action, a thorgothrel can reduce its integrated force field’s temporary Hit Points by 2 to unleash an electrical blast at a single target within 100 feet. As a full action, it can reduce the Hit Points of its integrated force field by 6 to unleash its electrical blast at up to 3 separate targets within 100 feet. The thorgothrel can’t use this ability if its integrated force field lacks enough temporary Hit Points to spend.
Integrated Force Field (Ex) A thorgothrel’s internal armatures create an invisible field around it just like the shield provided by a gray force field armor upgrade, except that it has unlimited charges. Its internal force field generator cannot be removed or targeted by spells or effects unless the thorgothrel is slain or expels it. When the number of temporary Hit Points supplied by the thorgothrel’s integrated force field is reduced to 0, the thorgothrel can spend 1 Resolve Point as a reaction to regain the 20 temporary Hit Points supplied by the force field.
Sublimation (Ex) A thorgothrel’s natural substance boils away painfully when it isn’t protected by its integrated force field. A thorgothrel that begins its turn with 0 temporary Hit Points from its force field loses 4d4 Hit Points and is off-target until the end of its turn. Sublimation does not occur within a vacuum or within carefully modulated environments that mimic the atmosphere of the thorgothrel’s poisonous home world. Atavistic Resequencing Type poison (injury); Save Fortitude DC 18
Track Intelligence (special); Frequency 1/round for 6 rounds
Effect progression track is Healthy–Weakened– Impaired–Animalistic–Animalistic. The second animalistic functions as an end state, and at the second animalistic state, the effects of the state are permanent until the victim benefits from a restoration spell.
Cure 2 consecutive savesDescriptionThe aggressive and insightful genetic manipulators known as thorgothrels enforce their vision of retrogressive development on other species. Once an enlightened humanoid society with impressive technological advancements, the thorgothrels fell under the sway of philosophers and zealots who believed that evolution into higher-ordered forms posed a danger to the universe. The thorgothrels thus began millennia-long self-experimentation to revert themselves to simple, protoplasmic forms while retaining their keen intelligence. About the same time as their society succeeded in this goal, they developed space travel and brought their crusade into the rest of the galaxy. Thorgothrels are now determined to repair the “evolutionary errors” that infest all of existence.
Thorgothrels can apply their mastery of biology and genetic sciences to new creatures they meet after only a few minutes of observation. Despite the medical advances their knowledge might herald for others, most thorgothrels consider regression to a biologically primitive state the only type of genetic manipulation worth performing. They cause this deterioration with startling speed, excreting a complex series of chemicals from their pseudopods that quickly break down a victim’s genetic structure. Their victims’ brains devolve, which suits the thorgothrels fine, as they prefer to have their intellects alone design the fates of living things. Although many thorgothrels prefer to inflict this condition with gentle touches of their pseudopods in controlled laboratory settings, more fanatical thorgothrels deploy this genetic regression in combat. Both are considered appropriate and even laudatory methods in thorgothrel society. Although thorgothrels insist their vision of devolution is appropriate for all living things— intelligent and unintelligent alike—they derive the most satisfaction from genetic regression of intelligent creatures. Unfortunate prisoner-patients who suffer thorgothrel ministrations over weeks or months are inevitably transformed into near-feral beasts that harm themselves in attempts to escape. Thorgothrels consider each lost patient a mere stepping-stone on the long road to devolution of the universe and simply move on to the next experiment.
Thorgothrels are frequently repulsed by the diversity of intelligent life they meet. They preach that humanoids, in particular, bear dangerously hyper-specialized organs and would be better served with a homogeneous form. Thorgothrels therefore rarely interact peacefully with humanoid societies, instead massing in large numbers to reduce entire planetary populations to mindless, atavistic beasts. Thorgothrels might initially get along well with other intelligent amorphous or ooze races, such as the selamids, but thorgothrels are inevitably disappointed when members of these races won’t join the fight to “improve” other life-forms throughout the universe.
For all their preaching of genetic superiority, thorgothrels face incredible physical limitations when away from their home world of Gothra. Blobs of protoplasm 12 feet in diameter and only a few inches thick, thorgothrels have no other means of locomotion other than to undulate slowly and awkwardly along the ground. Nearly all atmospheres other than Gothra’s cause thorgothrels’ bodies to evaporate painfully in mere minutes. To overcome these limitations, the thorgothrels again turned to technology. Each thorgothrel wraps itself around an armature of silvery metal, allowing it to stand upright and walk by contracting its form around the armature. As the thorgothrel numerical system is ternary, most armatures have three, six, or nine appendages, although the precise number is based on each thorgothrel’s personal preference. Thorgothrels are translucent, so their strange armatures are visible deep within their upright, undulating forms.
To protect their fragile forms from sublimation— and to shield themselves from the hostility of those who oppose their mandate to reforge all higher-ordered life—thorgothrels imbue their armatures with sophisticated force field generators. Thorgothrels have fine control over the energy modulated by their force fields, and they can both launch blasts of this energy at foes and recharge it with their own internal electrical reserves. The armature’s metal not only supports and protects a thorgothrel, but nourishes it. Each armature carries low-grade electrical charges that thorgothrels feed on. These charges also quicken a thorgothrel’s intellect, enabling rapid processing of sensory stimuli. Most thorgothrels become exceedingly possessive of their armatures, marking them with symbols to indicate personal scientific successes and victories that advance their crusade.
Although these silvery, metallic armatures are the most common technological solutions thorgothrels employ, more inventive or influential thorgothrels sometimes rely on alternative devices, such as enormous walking machines, reticulated gliders, or even strange devices that translate thought into physical form.
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