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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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PFS StandardXimtal

The struggles of loneliness and the anxiety that accompanies that feeling plague many creatures, and ximtals delight in exploiting this fear for their own perverse gain. Appearing as hybrids of rats and crabs with grasping tentacles, these scheming fiends manipulate their victims over long spans of time, like pakalchis, to savor the most fear they can. Ximtals use subtlety to entrap their prey and often don't directly engage their targets. They use insecurities as a tool and force poor behavior in mortals they set their sights on. They prefer to focus their machinations on strong-willed and well-intentioned mortals, hoping to erode their pride and self-worth and ultimately lead them eschew altruistic efforts.

Rather than focusing on a single victim, a ximtal might instead seek out a particular cause of interest to the sahkil's appetites. These creatures often wander the multiverse seeking to sabotage societal crusades or suppress divergent ideologies.

While most ximtals work alone, they sometimes enlist the assistance of pakalchis, who share similar tastes in mortal fear. Together and focused, these two types of fiends can dissolve individual self-worth, relationships, and even entire organizations.

Recall Knowledge - Fiend (Religion): DC 36
Unspecific Lore: DC 34
Specific Lore: DC 31

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

XimtalCreature 17

Legacy Content

NE Large Fiend Sahkil 
Source Bestiary 3 pg. 221
Perception +13; darkvision, true seeing
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Infernal, Requian; telepathy 100 feet
Skills Arcana +10, Deception +16, Intimidation +16, Occultism +10, Religion +13, Stealth +11
Str +9, Dex +3, Con +9, Int +2, Wis +5, Cha +8
Easy to Call A sahkil's level is considered 2 lower for the purpose of being conjured by the planar binding ritual (and potentially other rituals, at the GM's discretion), but it is always free to attack or leave instead of negotiate unless the primary caster's check is a critical success.
AC 22; Fort +15, Ref +9, Will +11
HP 380; Immunities fear; Weaknesses good 10
Despoiler (aura, divine, necromancy) 1,000 feet. Creatures within the aura take a –2 circumstance penalty to all saving throws against poisons, diseases, and drugs.
Speed 40 feet, climb 20 feet, fly 40 feet
Melee [one-action] jaws +17 [+12/+7] (magical, reach 10 feet), Damage 3d12+17 piercing plus 2d6 evil and sensory feverMelee [one-action] claw +17 [+13/+9] (agile, magical, reach 15 feet), Damage 3d8+17 slashing plus 2d6 evil and sensory feverDivine Innate Spells DC 21; 8th fear (at will), horrid wilting (×3), maze (×3), suggestion (at will); Cantrips (9th) detect magic; Constant (9th) fly, true seeing
Isolate Foes [two-actions] (curse, divine, emotion, enchantment, incapacitation, mental) Frequency once per day; Effect The ximtal attempts to isolate its enemy's companions, forcing an impression that each creature's friends and allies have vanished and they are all alone against an insurmountable threat. The ximtal chooses up to four creatures, each of whom must be adjacent to one other target. Each target must attempt a DC 21 Will save. On a failure, a target becomes out of phase with all allies. The affected creatures can't perceive their allies or interact with them in any way, and they can move into allies' spaces as if their allies simply weren't there. Allies similarly can't perceive or interact with the affected creatures with one exception: an ally can target an effected creature with remove curse to remove the effects. Every 24 hours, an affected creature can attempt a new saving throw to end this effect.Sensory Fever (disease) A ximtal's withering attacks cause a debilitating disease targeting the senses; Saving Throw DC 19 Fortitude; Stage 1 creature loses one sense determined randomly: taste, smell, hearing, or sight (1 day); Stage 2 creature loses an additional sense from the stage 1 list (1 day); Stage 3 creature loses an additional sense from the stage 1 list (1 day); Stage 4 creature loses the last sense from the stage 1 list and any special senses, such as tremorsense or lifesense (1 day); Stage 5 all lost senses are permanent unless restored via restore senses or a similar effectSkip Between [one-action] (conjuration, divine, teleportation) The sahkil moves from the Material Plane to the Ethereal Plane or vice-versa, with the effects of ethereal jaunt except that the effect has an unlimited duration and can be Dismissed. A summoned sahkil can't use Skip Between.

All Monsters in "Sahkil"

NameLevel
Chakanaj14
Esipil1
Ijhyeojin14
Kimenhul20
Nenchuuj19
Nucol4
Pakalchi9
Penqual15
Tumblak18
Wihsaak6
Ximtal17

Sahkil

Source Pathfinder #162: Ruins of the Radiant Siege pg. 84
Dreadful creatures that stoke mortal fears, sahkils lurk on the Ethereal Plane where they slip into nightmares or dark places of the world to torment the living

Sidebar - Locations At Home in Cities

Both penquals and nenchuujes are at home in large cities, but for different reasons. Penquals like slipping in among throngs of people, where they can inflict their terrors upon the lost or disoriented. Nenchuujes stalk magic academies, universities, or other places where spellcasters learn their craft, preying upon spellcasters' imposter syndrome.

Sidebar - Advice and Rules Check with Friends

Sahkils are creatures of fear and terror. Roleplaying encounters with sahkils could be troubling to some players, and delving deep into the kinds of traumas sahkils relish in unleashing could have unintentional effects on your game and your friends. Before introducing sahkils into your game, talk with your players to learn about any particular phobias or limits to determine what content you bring to the table, and consider that on your own behalf as well. Some specific elements to be aware of are the ximtal's abilities around sensory deprivation and social isolation, as well as the kimenhul's trauma-related abilities and themes.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Couatls and Sahkils

Legends in Arcadia say that couatls and sahkils both rose to prominence as the first mortals walked on Golarion. Each saw unique potential in the mortals; couatls saw hope and the potential to rise to achieve great feats, while sahkils saw the potential for fear. Fearful mortals would never accomplish anything, becoming useless piles of flesh whose souls would languish. These withered souls would be unable to properly travel the River of Souls, disrupting the delicate balance of the afterlife. To this day, couatls work to inspire mortals and push them toward greater tasks while striving to keep the sahkils' terror at bay

Sidebar - Additional Lore Embodiments of Fear

All sahkils have horrifying appearances, and each type specializes in exacerbating a specific fear in mortals. Penquals embody not only a fear of crowds, but also of confined spaces and of being lost within a sea of unfamiliar faces. Nenchuujes embody both the fear of magic's horrifying side effects as well as the fear that one's own magic might be twisted to an unexpected or tragic end.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Feeding on Fear

Sahkils are immortal planar beings and don't require material sustenance, but they do seem to gain some semblance of nourishment from the fear they spread. Whether this is psychological or biological remains to be seen, but their obsession with frightening other creatures is clear. Sahkils recognize that they are already feared, so it may be that they are simply fulfilling what they believe is their ultimate purpose.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Planar Relations

Sahkils collaborate with divs to corrupt and corrode mortals. Velstracs, who appreciate sahkils' depredations, sometimes work with these fiends to enact terrible horror on their victims. Nihilistic and disaffected, daemons tolerate sahkils but tend to view them as useless provocateurs.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Sahkil Tormentors

The most powerful among sahkils are the sahkil tormentors. These deific beings rule over sahkils as a whole, and many personally direct the actions of their lesser cousins. Others fall into ambivalent routines, focusing more on their own personal acts of torment rather than launching widespread, ambitious depredations upon unsuspecting mortals.

Sidebar - Related Creatures War Against Hope

Sahkils and couatls are eternal enemies. The creatures each vie for the hearts of mortals, but from different sides of a single ideological coin. Sahkils wish to instill only fear into mortal hearts, trying to reduce them into useless piles of flesh who accomplish little. Couatls work to light the fires of hope, inspiring mortals to rise up and achieve their potential.

Sidebar - Locations Xibalba

Within the ghostly realm of the Ethereal Plane, sahkils inhabit a terrifying realm known as Xibalba. The Land of Dread is a realm of nightmares made manifest. At the center of this demiplane is a tiered pyramid known as the Black Pyramid, where the sahkil tormentors rule their brethren and sow fear through the mortal realm.