
Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

All Creatures
Abilities | Monsters | NPCs
All | Families | Templates
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Ephialtes

Ephialtes velstracs are consummate and fearless hunters of the doomed and the damned.

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 EphialtesCreature 17

Legacy Content

Uncommon LE Huge Fiend Velstrac 
Source Pathfinder #191: The Destiny War pg. 86
Perception +32; greater darkvision, painsight, true seeing
Languages Common, Infernal, Shadowtongue
Skills Athletics +33, Deception +32, Intimidation +34, Medicine +32, Religion +32, Survival +30, Torture Lore +31
Str +9, Dex +5, Con +6, Int +5, Wis +6, Cha +6
Painsight (divination, divine) A velstrac 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 +32, Ref +27, Will +30; +1 status to all saves vs. magic
HP 319, regeneration 20 (deactivated by good or silver); Immunities cold, fear; Weaknesses good 15, silver 15
Nowhere to Run (aura, divine, enchantment, fear, mental, visual) 30 feet. When a creature ends its turn in the aura, it feels a powerful sensation of hopelessness. The creature must succeed at a DC 36 Will save or become slowed 1 (slowed 2 on a critical failure) for 1 round.
Speed 25 feet, fly 25 feet
Melee [one-action] jaws +35 [+30/+25] (evil, magical, reach 15 feet), Damage 3d6+2+13 piercing plus 2d6 persistent bleedMelee [one-action] chain +35 [+30/+25] (disarm, evil, magical, reach 15 feet, trip), Damage 3d6+2+13 piercing plus 2d6 persistent bleed and GrabDivine Innate Spells DC 39 (+4 dmg); 8th chilling darkness, discern location, shadow walk; 7th blur, plane shift (self only), silence (x3); 6th darkness, dimensional anchor (at will); Constant (8th) true seeing
Constrict [one-action] 2d4+13 slashing, DC 39Exhale Chains [two-actions] (conjuration, divine) The ephialtes exhales a tangle of barbed chains. All creatures in a 50-foot cone must attempt a DC 39 Reflex save. The ephialtes can't Exhale Chains for 1d4 rounds.
Critical Success The creature is unaffected.
Success It takes 8d6 piercing damage.
Failure It takes 15d6 piercing damage, 2d6 persistent bleed damage, and is flat-footed for 1 round.
Critical Failure As failure, but 30d6 piercing damage, 2d6 persistent bleed damage, and is restrained until they escape (DC 39).Focus Gaze [one-action] (concentrate, divine, enchantment, mental, visual, fear) The ephialtes stares at a creature they can see within 30 feet. The creature must attempt a Will save against the nowhere to run aura. If it was already slowed, on a failed save its speed is reduced by 10 feet until the end of its next turn. After attempting this save, the targeted creature is then temporarily immune to Focus Gaze until the start of the ephialtes's next turn.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Ephialtes Prey

When they catch enough quarry, an ephialtes velstrac returns to the Shadow Plane, bringing victims for other velstracs to use for training or raw material. Velstracs respect ephialtes for their “generosity” in guiding and providing for others of their kind, yet are always wary about making assumptions about the limits of this generosity.

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.