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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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Hegessik

Anchorites of the proteans, hegessiks live solitary lives roaming the dangerous wilds of the Maelstrom. There, they contemplate cosmic truths and dispense wisdom as itinerant mystics. Hegessiks proudly bear their ridges of golden feathers and gleaming gemstones, but it is within their third eye that their wisdom resides. Hegessiks normally have little interaction with the fluctuations of protean society and are more likely to be found liaising with non-protean monitors and followers of those deities—like Nethys and Besmara— who share the Maelstrom with proteans.

Recall Knowledge - Monitor (Religion): DC 34
Unspecific Lore: DC 32
Specific Lore: DC 29

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

HegessikCreature 15

Legacy Content

CN Large Monitor Protean 
Source Pathfinder #162: Ruins of the Radiant Siege pg. 80
Perception +29; darkvision, entropy sense (imprecise) 60 feet
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Protean; telepathy 100 feet, tongues
Skills Acrobatics +25, Athletics +27, Deception +29, Diplomacy +29, Intimidation +27, Religion +29, Stealth +27, Survival +27
Str +8, Dex +6, Con +7, Int +4, Wis +6, Cha +6
Entropy Sense (divination, divine, prediction) A hegessik can anticipate the most likely location of a creature through their supernatural insight into the forces of chaotic probabilities and chance. This grants the hegessik the ability to sense creatures within the listed range. The hegessik's entropy sense doesn't detect creatures under the effects of nondetection or that are otherwise shielded from divinations and predictions.
AC 37; Fort +26, Ref +23, Will +29; +1 status to all saves vs. divine magic
HP 250 (fast healing 10); Resistances precision 10, protean anatomy 20; Weaknesses lawful 15
Maddening Whispers (aura, divine, enchantment, mental) 30 feet. A susurrus of distracting whispers and dilations in reality surround a hegessik. When a non-protean ends its turn in the aura, it must attempt a DC 33 Will save. If it fails, it becomes confused for 1 round.Protean Anatomy (divine, transmutation) A hegessik's vital organs shift and change shape and position constantly. Immediately after the hegessik takes acid, electricity, or sonic damage, it gains the listed amount of resistance to that damage type. This lasts for 1 hour or until the next time the protean takes damage of one of the other types (in which case its resistance changes to match that type), whichever comes first.  The hegessik is immune to polymorph effects unless it is a willing target. If blinded or deafened, the hegessik automatically recovers at the end of its next turn as new sensory organs grow to replace the compromised ones.
Speed 30 feet, fly 30 feet, swim 30 feet; freedom of movement
Melee [one-action] jaws +30 [+25/+20] (chaotic, magical, reach 10 feet), Damage 3d8+14 piercing plus 1d6 chaotic and warpwave strikeMelee [one-action] claw +30 [+26/+22] (agile, chaotic, magical, reach 10 feet), Damage 2d8+14 slashing plus 1d6 chaoticMelee [one-action] tail +30 [+25/+20] (chaotic, magical, reach 15 feet), Damage 2d8+14 bludgeoning plus 1d6 chaotic and GrabDivine Innate Spells DC 38; 8th confusion, divine aura (chaotic only), divine wrath (chaotic only); 7th dispel magic (at will), plane shift; 6th baleful polymorph, slow (at will), teleport (at will; self only); 5th dimension door; 4th dimension door (at will); 2nd detect alignment (at will; lawful only); Constant (5th) tongues; (4th) freedom of movement
Change Shape [one-action] (concentrate, divine, polymorph, transmutation) The hegessik takes the appearance of any Large or smaller creature. This doesn't change its Speed or its attack and damage bonuses with its Strikes, but might change the damage type its Strikes deal.Constrict [one-action] 2d8+14 bludgeoning, DC 36Leaching Glare [one-action] (divine, enchantment) The hegessik briefly opens its third eye. Non-protean creatures in a 30-foot cone must succeed at a DC 38 Will save or become stupefied 2 for 1 round (stupefied 3 on a critical failure).Telekinetic Reach [two-actions] (divine, evocation, force) The hegessik manifests psychic versions of its natural attacks and makes a Strike with each of its jaws, claw, and tail, in any order. These Strikes have a reach of 60 feet. These attacks count toward the hegessik's multiple attack penalty, but the penalty doesn't increase until after it makes all the attacks.Warpwave Strike (divine, transmutation) Any creature struck and damaged by a hegessik's jaws Strike must succeed at a DC 36 Fortitude save or be subject to a warpwave (see Warpwave below).

Sidebar - Additional Lore Choruses of One

Heggesiks are nominally included in the protean caste system, but they almost never join the protean choruses formed around shared philosophies. The hegessiks consider themselves to be outside such cliques, seeking their own enlightenment in the archetypal wildernesses of the Maelstrom.

All Monsters in "Protean"

NameLevel
Akizendri3
Azuretzi5
Hegessik15
Imentesh10
Izfiitar20
Keketar17
Naunet7
Voidworm1

Protean

Source Bestiary pg. 266
Guardians of disorder and natives of the primal plane of chaos known as the Maelstrom, proteans consider it their calling to spread bedlam and hasten entropic ends. The most powerful proteans are demigods known collectively as the protean lords, although they are mysterious entities whose cults on the Material Plane tend to be obscure and secretive.

Proteans divide themselves into a loose caste system and possess a dizzying variety of powers. Most proteans have a serpentine body with the head of a primeval beast. Scholars have long been intrigued by this fact—that scions of dissolution and disorder would share so many features—pointing out that even in the purest chaos there is some semblance of order. Others note that the serpentine form is one of the most primeval shapes, perhaps suggesting that in a reality at the dawn of time, such shapes were all that could exist. The proteans themselves have little to say on the matter, which, perhaps ironically, only adds to the confusion and lack of consensus surrounding their kind. After all, if even chaos cannot be trusted to be chaotic, would that not be the purest form of entropy?

Warpwaves

Many proteans can subject their foes to disorienting alterations perceived in time and space by creating ripples of unstable reality in the environment called warpwaves. When a creature fails its saving throw and is affected by a warpwave, roll 1d8 and consult the table below for the specific effect on that creature. Unless indicated otherwise, a warpwave effect lasts for 1d4 rounds, and a new warpwave effect negates any previous warpwave effect already affecting a creature.
D8Warpwave Effect
1Clumsy 2 (3 on a critical failure)
2Confused and gains 4d6 temporary Hit Points
3Dazzled (permanent on a critical failure)
4Enfeebled 2 (3 on a critical failure)
5Immobilized by filaments of energy
6Quickened (Stride, Strike, or Step only)
7Slowed 1
8Stupefied 2 (3 on a critical failure)

Sidebar - Additional Lore Ancient Immortals

Among the numerous types of immortals that dwell in the Great Beyond, the proteans are surely some of the oldest. They’ve waged war against the inevitable aeons from the advent of their first creation, and speak longingly of that time before the gods themselves imposed order upon reality.

Sidebar - Locations Born from Chaos

The Maelstrom, home of all proteans, is the whirling mass of turbulent primal energy, planar waves, and soul-stuff that surrounds the Outer Planes. Planar scholars theorize that all of reality was originally formed from the Maelstrom in the early days of the cosmos—a theory proteans don’t necessarily dispute.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Defending Chaos

Where proteans go, chaos follows. To proteans, there is no purer form of existence than entropy, and they constantly seek to oppose the establishment of order in the Great Beyond. However, proteans don’t see life as being incompatible with chaos; rather, they simply believe beings—immortal or not—deserve complete freedom on their own terms.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Other Proteans

Many other proteans beyond those presented here dwell in the Maelstrom, including the spectral pelagastrs, the nearly humanoid shapechanging ourdivars, and the incredibly powerful izfiitars.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Protean Divinities

The most powerful of all proteans are a group of demigods known collectively as protean lords. Yet even their vast might pales in comparison to that of the mysterious Speakers of the Depths. The Speakers are the most enigmatic of the Maelstrom’s gods—even their exact nature is unknown, and scholars disagree as to whether they are even divinities or just aspects of the Maelstrom itself.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Protean Names

Individual proteans have two names: a traditional name in their hissing, confusing language; and an honorary title. The latter is easily translated to other languages, but a protean’s traditional name can only rarely be uttered in any tongue other than Protean. As such, most proteans tend to go by their titles when dealing with outsiders, referring to themselves as, for example, “Song of Gentle Poison” or “Sibilant Cry of the Storm.”