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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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Hora Queen

Hora queens rule over wide stretches of land, nourishing and protecting native animals and plants. Most hora queens watch over their regions in pairs: one summer and one winter, or one autumn and one spring.

Recall Knowledge - Fey (Nature): DC 36
Unspecific Lore: DC 34
Specific Lore: DC 31

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

Changes from being Weak are marked in red below.
NOTE: The -2 damage penalty to non-strike offensive abilities (-4 if the ability is limited, such as spells) is NOT factored in.

Weak Summer Hora QueenCreature 12

Legacy Content

Rare CG Medium Fey Nymph 
Source Pathfinder #177: Burning Tundra pg. 81
Perception +26; low-light vision
Languages Common, Elven, Sylvan; speak with animals, speak with plants
Skills Acrobatics +23, Astronomy Lore +25, Athletics +21, Diplomacy +25, Nature +26, Stealth +25, Survival +22
Str +2, Dex +8, Con +4, Int +4, Wis +5, Cha +8
Summer Bound During the winter months, a summer hora can't take reactions, is sickened 1, and can't reduce their sickened condition below 1.
Tied to the Land A summer hora queen is intrinsically tied to a specific region, such as a forest or hilly plain. For 3 months around the summer solstice, the environment is supernaturally resilient, allowing the queen to automatically attempt to counteract spells and rituals that would harm the environment, such as blight, with a +27 counteract modifier and a counteract level of 7. For the 3 months around the winter solstice, however, her warded region becomes twisted or unhealthy unless a winter hora queen is present.
AC 33; Fort +19, Ref +23, Will +22
HP 170; Resistances fire 10; Weaknesses cold iron 10
Nymph's Beauty (aura, emotion, enchantment, incapacitation, mental, primal, visual) DC 28. On a failed save, the creature is dazzled and flat-footed for 1 minute.
Speed 25 feet
Melee [one-action] solar blade +25 [+21/+17] (agile, finesse, magical, versatile P), Damage 3d8-2+8 slashing plus 1d6 fireRanged [one-action] solar ray +25 [+20/+15] (magical, range increment 60 feet), Damage 3d12-2+6 firePrimal Prepared Spells DC 31, attack +23 (-4 dmg); 7th fiery body, regenerate; 6th baleful polymorph, blanket of stars, stone tell; 5th banishment, heal, tree stride; 4th fire shield, fly, vital beacon; 3rd fireball, nondetection, slow; 2nd restore senses, tree shape, water walk; 1st charm, longstrider, pest form; Cantrips (7th) dancing lights, detect magic, guidance, stabilize, tanglefoot
Primal Innate Spells DC 31, attack +23 (-4 dmg); 7th curse of lost time, sunburst; 6th true seeing; 4th speak with plants; 3rd animal vision; 2nd animal messenger, faerie fire; 1st alarm, pass without trace (at will); Cantrips (7th) know direction, light; Constant (2nd) speak with animals
Change Shape [one-action] (polymorph, primal, transmutation)Focus Beauty [one-action] (emotion, enchantment, incapacitation, mental, primal, visual) On a failed save, if the creature was already affected by the hora queen's beauty, it's blinded until its sight is restored via restore senses or similar effect, or until the hora queen chooses to remove the effect using a single action, which has the concentrate trait.Inspiration [three-actions] (emotion, enchantment, mental, primal)Summer's Salvation [reaction] Trigger The summer hora queen or an ally within 30 feet that the summer hora queen can see fails an attack roll, skill check, Perception check, or saving throw; Effect If it's the month of the summer solstice, the hora queen's or ally's check retroactively gains a +4 status bonus, which can change the outcome from a critical failure to a failure or a failure to a success. If it's the month before or after the summer solstice, the check gains a retroactive +2 status bonus instead. In the other months except during the three winter solstice months, the check gains a retroactive +1 status bonus instead. During the winter solstice months, this ability has no effect. The summer hora queen can't use Summer's Fortune again for 1d4 rounds.

Sidebar - Advice and Rules Other Horai

The statistics here are for summer horai, but you can represent the other three types of horai with the following alterations. Winter horai have resistance to cold rather than to fire and Strikes that deal cold damage rather than fire damage. Similarly, autumn horai have resistance to negative energy and Strikes that deal negative damage; spring horai have no resistance and Strikes that deal positive damage (which only harms undead and creatures with negative healing, as normal). Winter horai have the Winter Bound ability which impairs them during the summer months, and winter horai queens reverse the effects of their Tied to the Land ability (their land is healthy during the winter and withers during the summer). Similarly, autumn and spring horai are impaired during the opposing months, and their queens' Tied to the Land abilities change accordingly. Winter horai have Winter's Rescue rather than Summer's Salvation, which gives a +4 status bonus during the month of the winter solstice (Kuthona on Golarion), a +2 status bonus on the months before and after it (Neth and Abadius), a +1 bonus on most other months, and no benefit during the three summer months. Similarly, autumn and spring horai have reactions that grant a +4 status bonus during the month of their equinox, a +2 status bonus on the months just before and after, a +1 status bonus on other months, and no benefit during the opposing equinox and the months just before and after.

All Monsters in "Nymph"

NameLevel
Dryad3
Dryad Queen (Hamadryad)13
Hesperid9
Hesperid Queen19
Lampad5
Lampad Queen15
Naiad1
Naiad Queen7
Hora6
Hora Queen13

Nymph

Source Bestiary pg. 246
Nymphs are a family of fey that take the form of beautiful humanoids with elven features and have a deep association with the natural world. The most common of their kind are the dryads, which are spirits that embody great trees, but many other kinds of nymphs exist, including naiads, who watch over bodies of water. All nymphs are guardians of some element of nature, typically a specific tree or pond, or even—in the case of nymph queens—whole forests or massive bodies of water.

Nymph Queens

Nymph queens are powerful nymphs that rule over entire regions of untouched wilderness, not just single trees or ponds. Every variety of nymph can have a queen. Naiad queens are among the most prominent, and more often interact with nearby mortals. Thus, some scholars refer to naiad queens as simply “nymphs.”

Nymph Queen Abilities

A nymph queen is 6 to 10 levels higher than an ordinary nymph of the same type, with enhanced numerical statistics and improved Strikes to match. A nymph queen’s ward is a significant region, and she strengthens and vivifies this territory with her presence. Nymph queens are not dependent on their wards and lose the corresponding ability (such as a dryad’s tree dependent ability); instead, they gain the tied to the land ability, as described below. A nymph queen also gains the nymph’s beauty aura and the Focus Beauty action, which have varying effects based on the queen’s original type. She gains the Inspiration ability, allowing her to bestow a gift of inspiration on those who catch her fancy, and the Change Shape ability to change her form. Finally, she gains primal prepared spells as a druid of her level.

Change Shape [one-action] (polymorph, primal, transmutation) Nymph queens can transform between their original form, which looks much like a typical nymph of their kind, and any Small or Medium humanoid form, typically choosing a more humanoid-looking version of their natural form.
Focus Beauty [one-action] (emotion, enchantment, mental, primal, visual) The nymph queen focuses her beauty upon a target within her aura. The creature must attempt a Will save. On a failure, it is affected as if by the nymph queen’s nymph’s beauty aura; if it was already affected by the aura, it suffers a greater effect described in the nymph queen’s entry. A nymph queen can Focus Beauty on a given creature only once per turn.
Inspiration [three-actions] (emotion, enchantment, mental, primal) A nymph queen can inspire a single intelligent creature by giving that creature a token of her favor, typically a lock of her hair. As long as the creature carries her token and remains in good standing with the nymph queen, the creature gains a +1 status bonus to all Crafting checks, Performance checks, and Will saves.
If a nymph queen grants her Inspiration to a bard and the nymph queen is that bard’s muse, the bard gains an additional benefit depending on their muse theme: for lore muse, the bard also gains a +1 status bonus to all Lore checks; for maestro muse, the status bonus to Performance checks increases to +2 for the purpose of determining the effects of compositions; for polymath muse, the bard gains a +4 status bonus to untrained skill checks; and for all other muses, the Will save bonus increases to +2 against fey.
Nymph’s Beauty (aura, emotion, enchantment, mental, primal, visual) 30 feet. Creatures that start their turn in the aura must succeed at a Will save or suffer an effect described in the nymph queen’s entry.
Tied to the Land A nymph queen is intrinsically tied to a specific region, such as a forest for a dryad queen. As long as the queen is healthy, the environment is exceptionally resilient, allowing the nymph queen to automatically attempt to counteract spells and rituals such as blight that would harm the environment, using her Spell DC with a counteract level equal to the highest-level druid spell she can cast. When the nymph queen becomes physically or psychologically unhealthy, however, her warded region eventually becomes twisted or unhealthy as well. In that case, restoring the nymph queen swiftly heals the entire region.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Inspirations for Art

Nymphs are living manifestations of beauty and grace, and as such they are often the subjects of art—sculpture and paintings in particular. Promising a nymph to immortalize them in a work of art can be an excellent way to secure that nymph’s favor, but one should take care to ensure that the nymph admires and is proud of the artistic effort’s final result, lest the nymph be insulted and lash out with her powerful magic.

Sidebar - Locations Nymph Locations

Nymphs tend to be closely associated with specific areas of natural splendor and beauty—woodlands for dryads, rivers for naiads. Areas where nymphs dwell always look more pristine, breathtaking, and scenic than they would otherwise.

Sidebar - Advice and Rules Nymph Queens

The abilities shared by all nymph queens, including the abilities Change Shape, Focus Beauty, and Inspiration, are described in the Nymph creature family page. Hora queens are more likely to use these abilities freely during the season in which they flourish

Sidebar - Treasure and Rewards Nymph Treasures

Nymphs sometimes carry magical trinkets or wear enchanted clothing or jewelry, but the greatest treasure a nymph queen can share is often her inspiration to those seeking a muse.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Other Nymphs

Naiads and dryads are the most well-known nymphs, but others exist as well. Hesperides, for example, are wards of the sunset and golden light and can be encountered dwelling on coastal cliffsides or remote islands. Lampads, on the other hand, are dark, moody nymphs found in wondrous, crystal-lined caverns deep underground.