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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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PFS StandardBarghest

Typical barghests are ravenous gluttons of life who feed and grow on the fat of mortals, their bodies changing in ways none can predict as they use the flesh and blood of their victims to achieve grisly transformations into greater barghests. Barghests often make use of their shapechanging abilities to rule tribes of goblinoids or to discreetly hunt in rural areas in the guise of unnaturally intelligent wolves. They do not work well together, as each barghest wants all the kills for itself; cannibalism is the typical result of too many barghests in one small area.

Recall Knowledge - Fiend (Religion): DC 19
Unspecific Lore: DC 17
Specific Lore: DC 14

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

BarghestCreature 4

Legacy Content

CE Medium Fiend 
Source Bestiary pg. 36
Perception +12; darkvision, scent (imprecise) 30 feet
Languages Abyssal, Common, Goblin
Skills Acrobatics +10, Deception +12, Diplomacy +9, Intimidation +11, Stealth +10, Survival +8
Str +5, Dex +2, Con +3, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +3
AC 21; Fort +11, Ref +12, Will +8
HP 50; Resistances fire 5, physical 5 (except magical)
Attack of Opportunity [reaction]
Speed 25 feet
Melee [one-action] jaws +13 [+8/+3], Damage 2d8+5 piercingMelee [one-action] claw +13 [+9/+5] (agile), Damage 2d6+5 slashingDivine Innate Spells DC 21; 4th blink (at will), confusion, dimension door (self only); 3rd levitate (at will); 1st charm
Change Shape [one-action] (concentrate, divine, polymorph, transmutation) The barghest takes on the shape of a goblinoid (a goblin, hobgoblin, or bugbear) or a wolf, or it transforms back into its true form. When the barghest is a goblinoid, it loses its jaws and claw Strikes, it becomes Small if it is a goblin, and its Speed changes to 20 feet. When the barghest is a wolf, its Speed changes to 40 feet and its jaws gain Knockdown. Each individual barghest has only one goblinoid form and one wolf form.Feed Once per month, a barghest can spend 1 minute to devour a corpse, gaining a permanent +1 status bonus to its checks and DCs. Each subsequent time it feeds, this bonus increases by 1. The fourth time a barghest feeds, it sheds its skin and mutates into a greater barghest, and the status bonus ends.

All Monsters in "Barghest"

NameLevel
Barghest4
Greater Barghest7

Barghest

Source Bestiary pg. 36
Barghests are lupine fiends with goblinoid faces and humanoid hands. They stalk the Material Plane in search of souls to sate their demonic hunger. Eons ago, barghests dwelled in the pits of Hell and served Asmodeus, but after Lamashtu abducted and adopted the four most powerful of their kind to serve as pets (and in time, as a pantheon of hero-gods worshipped by evil goblins), barghests’ loyalties and philosophical nature changed significantly. Today, while barghests retain their connection to goblinoids, they serve none but their own appetites.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Barghest Cults

The barghest hero-gods may be the only ones of their kind capable of granting spells to their clerics, but the idea of adoring worshippers appeals to all barghests. A barghest that completes its transformation into a greater barghest, and thus is no longer morbidly distracted by its hunger, often plays the role of a deity to ignorant groups of goblins or other monsters. To them, the fact that the barghest can’t grant spells is irrelevant—rather, their veneration is due the fact that worshipping the barghest is the best way to keep it from devouring the entire tribe.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Barghest Hero-Gods

The four barghests stolen from Hell’s kennels by the deity Lamashtu were not the originals of their kind, but they were then and remain today the most powerful. Now they are denizens of the Abyss, dwelling in their own realm adjacent to Lamashtu’s domain, and are heavily worshipped by goblins across multiple worlds as “hero-gods.” These four barghests include Hadregash the slaver, Venkelvore the torturer, Zarongel the dog slayer, and Zogmugot the scavenger.