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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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Precentor

Velstrac storytellers and historians are known as precentors. Trailed by horrific choirs, precentors perform in the courts of the velstrac demagogues.

Recall Knowledge - Fiend (Religion): DC 37
Unspecific Lore: DC 35
Specific Lore: DC 32

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

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

Elite PrecentorCreature 17

Legacy Content

Uncommon LE Medium Fiend Velstrac 
Source Pathfinder #147: Tomorrow Must Burn pg. 85
Perception +34; darkvision, detect magic, painsight, true seeing
Languages Common, Infernal, Shadowtongue
Skills Acrobatics +29, Athletics +30, Deception +34, Diplomacy +36, Intimidation +34, Performance +36, Religion +32, Stealth +31, Torture Lore +28
Str +6, Dex +7, Con +3, Int +6, Wis +6, Cha +8
Painsight (divination, divine) A precentor automatically knows whether a creature it sees has any of the doomed, dying, and wounded conditions, as well as the value of those conditions.
AC 41; Fort +27, Ref +31, Will +32; +1 status to all saves vs. magic
HP 315, regeneration 25 (deactivated by good or silver); Immunities cold; Weaknesses good 20, silver 20
Unnerving Gaze (aura, divine, enchantment, mental, visual) 30 feet. When a creature ends its turn in the aura, it must succeed at a DC 40 Will save or become doomed 1.
Speed 30 feet, fly 30 feet (from fly)
Melee [one-action] claw +33 [+29/+25] (agile, finesse, reach 10 feet), Damage 4d10+2+6 slashing plus 1d6 persistent bleedDivine Innate Spells DC 40 (+4 dmg); 9th wail of the banshee; 8th harm, plane shift (at will, self only, to the Material or Shadow Plane only); 5th sound burst (at will), synesthesia (at will); Cantrips (8th) daze, sigil; Constant (8th) detect magic, mind blank; (6th) fly, true seeing
Assemble Choir [two-actions] The precentor adds a creature that is affected by its Tormenting Touch and is within 100 feet to its choir of screams. A precentor can have any number of creatures in its choir, although a creature no longer affected by Tormenting Touch leaves the choir immediately. Creatures in a precentor’s choir of screams are fascinated by each other and the precentor, and they can’t use hostile actions toward each other or the precentor. When the precentor casts an innate divine spell, it can cause the effect to originate from any member of its choir instead of itself, using the precentor’s saving throw DC and attack bonus.Focus Gaze [one-action] (concentrate, divine, enchantment, mental, visual) The precentor stares at a creature it can see within 30 feet. The target must immediately attempt a Will save against the precentor’s unnerving gaze. In addition, if the creature was already doomed, on a failed save, it sees the skin of its own body peel back, making it confused for as long as it remains doomed. After attempting this save, the creature is then temporarily immune until the start of the precentor’s next turn. Tormenting Touch [one-action] (divine, emotion, enchantment, mental) The precentor touches a creature within 10 feet, causing it to constantly scream in agony. The target must attempt a DC 40 Will save. While the target is stupefied by this effect, its continual screams cause it to automatically fail Stealth checks.
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The target is stupefied 1.
Failure The target is stupefied 3.
Critical Failure The target is stupefied 4.
The target can attempt a new Will save at the start of each of its turns, reducing the stupefied condition by 1 on each successful save. If the target reduces its stupefied condition to 0 in this way, the target is no longer affected.

All Monsters in "Velstrac"

NameLevel
Augur1
Ephialtes16
Eremite20
Evangelist6
Interlocutor12
Ostiarius5
Precentor16
Sacristan10
Vincuvicar18

Velstrac

Source Pathfinder #147: Tomorrow Must Burn pg. 82
Velstracs are horrific, shadow-dwelling fiends who seek ultimate sensation through self-mutilation. They transcend their stoic detachment only when inflicting pain and terror upon their victims, practicing new forms of debasement and torture before then turning their knives on themselves. Although velstracs consider themselves beyond such limitations as morality or mortal taboos, their victims know them as emotionless tormentors who inflict debased, sadistic suffering. They claim to seek perfection in thought, form, and action, although they don’t recognize any refinement that doesn’t require the painful excision of the flesh or spirit.

Velstracs manifest from the souls of masochistic or sadistic mortals that are diverted into the Shadow Plane and then forged into forms that suit their vile predilections, ranging from the low-ranking augurs to the aesthetics-obsessed interlocutors.

Some mortals refer to velstracs as “kytons,” a misattribution that the velstracs tolerate with cold amusement. The term “kyton” denotes a master or virtuoso among their kind, and these fiends enjoy being labeled masters of their horrid paths to perfection through agony.

Sidebar - Additional Lore A Mortal Name

Some mortals refer to velstracs as “kytons,” a misattribution that the velstracs tolerate with cold amusement. The term “kyton” denotes a master or virtuoso among their kind, and these fiends enjoy being labeled as masters of their horrid paths of perfection through agony.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Despicable Origins

Velstracs originated with the first debased thoughts of mortals, which divine beings found so deplorable that they locked all velstracs away in Hell. It wasn't long, however, before the newly formed beings escaped their infernal prison to the Shadow Plane.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Other Velstracs

Scholars grimly joke that there are as many different kinds of velstracs as there are ways to skin a cat. The relatively diminutive cantor velstrac poisons the minds of its victims so that they believe they are being clawed from the inside out. The mighty eremites, on the other hand, seek out the most powerful beings to subsume into their own form and lord over all other velstracs save the demagogues.

Sidebar - Related Creatures The Shadow Forge

Many velstracs forge their own chains, but others outsource the task to unique velstracs known as almoners. These blind, deaf, and mute velstracs resemble six-armed halflings severed at the waist that toil away endlessly at a great burning foundry called the Shadow Forge. Almoners operate under mysterious strictures, and are just as likely to turn a velstrac away empty-handed as they are to hand one a finely crafted chain before the request has even been uttered.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Velstrac Divinities

The most powerful velstracs are unique divinities known collectively as demagogues—powerful creatures often worshipped by mortals who seek to experience agonizing new revelations and gain power by enhancing the body through pain.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Velstracs on Golarion

Velstracs are most often encountered in the shadowy realm of Nidal, where the state worship of Zon-Kuthon is rigidly enforced. Indeed, many velstracs are created from the souls of Joyful Things, devotees of Zon-Kuthon who have had their limbs amputated to focus their minds on the veneration of pain, sacrifice, and torment.