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Ancient TupilaqCreature 11


UniqueMediumConstruct
Source Pathfinder Adventure Path: Gatewalkers
Perception +22 (darkvision)
Languages none
Skills Athletics +24
Str +7, Dex +5, Con +5, Int -5, Wis +5, Cha -5

AC 32 28 when broken); construct armor; Fort +22; Reflex +20; Will +18;
HP 145
Speed 40 feet (swim 40 feet)
Immunities mental

Jaws One Action +24 (+20, +16) to hit (agile, unarmed) 2d8 + 13 Slashing

Construct Armor (Hardness 11)

Like normal objects, a tupilaq has Hardness. This Hardness reduces any damage it takes by an amount equal to the Hardness. Once a tupilaq is reduced to less than half its Hit Points, or immediately upon being damaged by a critical hit, its construct armor breaks, it loses its Hardness, and its Armor Class is reduced to 28.

Carver's Curse

When a tupilaq is created, the curse imparted by its creator manifests in the form of a single 5th-rank Lightning Bolt the tupilaq can cast three times per day. The particular spell is a reflection of the creator's wish for vengeance.

Grab One Action

Requirements The monster's last action was a successful Strike that lists Grab in its damage entry, or the monster has a creature Grabbed or Restrained


Effect If used after a Strike, the monster attempts to [/act grapple] the creature using the body part it attacked with. This attempt neither applies nor counts toward the creature's multiple attack penalty.

The monster can instead use Grab and choose one creature it's grabbing or restraining with an appendage that has Grab to automatically extend that condition to the end of the monster's next turn.


Primal Innate Spells (DC 30, +22 to hit)

3rd Level: Lightning Bolt


A tupilaq is an artistically crafted construct carved from animal bones (typically whale or walrus) and imbued with the express purpose of eviscerating its creator's enemies. A tupilaq manifests from hateful magic-a thing that can be created only by someone who believes they were grievously wronged. When a terrible, unforgivable crime is committed against someone with great skill at carving and who has knowledge of the proper ritual, the aggrieved can channel their grief and hate through whispered incantations to bring a tupilaq to life.

Sadly, the same emotions used to create a tupilaq often lead to even greater tragedies. Functionally immortal but built for vengeance a tupilaq lacks the reason or discernment to do anything other than pursue the goal imbued by its creator. A wish to utterly destroy an enemy can lead a tupilaq to slaughter an entire clan or settlement, killing until it has slain everyone even remotely related to the original offender. There are many stories where a tupilaq ends up causing more tragedy for its creator than the crime that precipitated its creation. The most common tales feature the tupilaq eventually murdering its creator's spouse or family members due to a distant relationship to the original target that no one knew about.

Tupilaqs' animating energies aren't tied to their original functions, and the creatures typically long outlast their creators, their victims, and often any who recall the reason for their creation. They might fall into a sort of hibernation once they've achieved immediate vengeance, but they frequently reawaken to continue their rampage against unsuspecting targets ignorant of their involvement.

Spellcasters might occasionally summon these constructs. Summoned tupilaqs, hauled unceremoniously from their vengeance, become near-frenzied combatants, unleashing every offensive ability in their arsenal to break free. These reactions aren't strategic or considered, but an instinctual, almost programmed need to return to their true purpose. Conjurers should be wary about tupilaqs employing spells that might be turned against their summoners, such as a fireball spell "accidentally" placed such that it incinerates the spellcaster and returns these creatures from whence they came.


Traits

Unique

A rules element with this trait is one-of-a-kind. The DC of Recall Knowledge checks related to creatures with this trait is increased by 10.

Construct

A construct is an artificial creature empowered by a force other than vitality or void. Constructs are often mindless; they are immune to bleed, death effects, disease, healing, nonlethal attacks, poison, spirit, vitality, void, and the doomed, drained, fatigued, paralyzed, sickened, and unconscious conditions; and they may have Hardness based on the materials used to construct their bodies. Constructs are not living creatures, nor are they undead. When reduced to 0 Hit Points, a construct creature is destroyed.