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Hora

While most nymphs bond with a natural feature, such as a tree, pool, or cave, horai are rare nymphs associated with a specific time—the summer or winter solstice—rather than a location. Horai erect simple astronomical calendars near their home, which they use to mark the moment when the sun reaches its highest or lowest point in the sky. An hora tied to the summer solstice grows more powerful as the sun reaches its height, while an hora tied to the winter solstice is sickly and weak. The opposite holds true for winter horai, who are weak in summer and strong in winter. Meanwhile, autumn and spring horai draw power near the autumnal and vernal equinoxes, becoming weaker around the opposite equinox.
Summer horai appear constantly bathed in sunlight, with skin and clothing of red, orange, and yellow, like the sunlight of high summer.

Recall Knowledge - Fey (Nature): DC 27
Unspecific Lore: DC 25
Specific Lore: DC 22

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

Summer HoraCreature 6

Legacy Content

Rare CG Medium Fey Nymph 
Source Pathfinder #177: Burning Tundra pg. 80
Perception +14; low-light vision
Languages Common, Elven, Sylvan; speak with animals, speak with plants
Skills Acrobatics +13, Astronomy Lore +15, Athletics +11, Diplomacy +13, Nature +14, Stealth +15, Survival +14
Str +1, Dex +5, Con +2, Int +3, Wis +4, Cha +5
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.
AC 24; Fort +11, Ref +14, Will +17
HP 90; Resistances fire 5; Weaknesses cold iron 5
Solstice Dependent An hora is mystically bonded to a natural location with a simple astronomical calendar that marks the summer and winter solstice. If they aren't at that location at dawn when the sunlight touches the calendar, they become drained 1, increasing the value by 1 for each missed day and reducing by 1 only when they witness dawn's light touch the calendar. Even on a cloudy day, there's enough sunlight to satisfy the hora's need. An hora can perform a 24-hour ritual to bond to a new location.
Speed 25 feet
Melee [one-action] solar blade +17 [+13/+9] (agile, finesse, magical, versatile P), Damage 2d8+4 slashing plus 1d6 fireRanged [one-action] solar ray +17 [+12/+7] (magical, range increment 60 feet), Damage 2d12+2 firePrimal Innate Spells DC 24; 3rd animal vision, curse of lost time; 2nd animal messenger, faerie fire; 1st alarm, pass without trace (at will); Cantrips (3rd) know direction, light; Constant (4th) speak with plants; (2nd) speak with animals
Summer's Salvation [reaction] Trigger The summer hora or an ally within 30 feet that the summer hora can see fails a Perception check or saving throw; Effect If it's the month of the summer solstice, the hora'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 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.