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Archives of Nethys
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Archives of Nethys

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Ancient One

In the Dimension of Time, creatures clad in tattered robes float between encapsulated bubbles of still, captured moments, untethered to any other place, unspeaking and unseeing. The few mortals to meet these enigmatic, faceless creatures have never known them to identify by any name other than the ancient ones, seemingly holding no identity (or no identity they wish to share) beyond their relationship with time.

The ancients profess to have always existed in the Dimension of Time, and for time to have always existed in the Great Beyond. Most reside in Stethelos, the storied city at the center of time, though they’re also found wandering the Void, crossing the strangest corners of the Maelstrom where it lies between other planes, and occasionally, venturing into dark corners of the Universe. They serve at the will of Tawil at’Umr, the All in One and the One in All, an avatar of Yog-Sothoth lurking deep within time as Stethelos’s caretaker. Though the ancient ones resemble their master in stature and attire, and though none would describe Tawil at’Umr as anything other than ancient in origin, most scholars consider “ancient one” a classification of its own separate from that of Great Old One, and Tawil at’Umr is definitively counted among the Great Old Ones by all who know it.

Where Yog-Sothoth is an embodiment of all space and time, an entity who concerns himself with guarding cosmic secrets, the ancient ones are philosophers and mystics seeking ever more enlightenment. They search, have searched, and will search across time indefinitely and, having found entropy and disorder, conclude this to be the Great Beyond’s ultimate purpose. When a new creature dawns, it’s pristine and whole—perfectly ordered—for but a single moment before it can be eroded by Pharasma’s poison, accumulating decay, change, and chaos, until finally it reaches its ending, when time leaves a twilight creature broken and gone. Law and chaos, the ancient ones believe, aren’t opposing or even separate forces, but a single expression of reality viewed from two angles, different from each other only in time.

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Ancient OneCreature 20

Rare Large Aberration Mythic Time 
Source Pathfinder #221: Into the Apocalypse Archive pg. 78
Recall Knowledge DC 45 (includes +5 from Rare) • Aberration (Occultism), Time (Occultism, Occultism)
Perception +16; entropy sense (precise) 120 feet
Languages Aklo, Chthonian, Protean; telepathy 300 feet
Skills Acrobatics +15, Arcana +14, Athletics +18, Dimension of Time Lore +18, Intimidation +16, Occultism +18, Stealth +17
Str +10, Dex +7, Con +6, Int +6, Wis +7, Cha +8
Entropy Sense (occult, prediction) The ancient one can predict the presence of a creature through supernatural insight into chaotic probabilities and chance and builds a perception of reality from this information, allowing them to “see” as a precise sense in the listed range. Invisible creatures are visible to them, but veil of privacy prevents a creature from being detected via entropy sense automatically (without a counteract check).
AC 25; Fort +14, Ref +13, Will +15; mythic resilience (Will)
HP 440 (void healing); Immunities aging, auditory, cold, disease, emotion, inhaled, paralyzed, poison, visual; Resistances mythic resistance 20
No Breath An ancient one doesn't breathe and is immune to effects that require breathing (such as inhaled poisons).Otherworldly Mind (mental, occult) Whenever a creature targets the ancient one with a mental effect, that creature takes 6d8 mental damage (DC 19 basic Will save). On a critical failure, the creature also becomes confused for 1d4 rounds.The Connection Cuts Both Ways Creatures the ancient one affected with a mental effect or communicated with telepathically within the last round can hijack the ancient one's telepathic connection; they automatically ignore the ancient one's immunity to auditory, emotion, and visual effects until the end of their current turn. They can additionally spend 1 Mythic Point as a free action to reach through the connection to manipulate the ancient one's mind, ignoring the ancient one's mythic resilience on Will saving throws.Unified Timeline [reaction] (occult, teleportation) Trigger A creature ends its movement within 10 feet of the ancient one; Effect Ancient ones exist spread out across infinite times and places simultaneously and can shift themselves through their catalog of potentialities. The ancient one teleports themself and the triggering creature into empty squares within 10 feet of their respective positions, though the triggering creature can't be moved into hazardous terrain or to a place it can't stand. An unwilling creature can resist the teleportation with a successful DC 22 Will save.
Speed 60 feet, fly 60 feet
Melee [one-action] wretched claw +18 [+14/+10] (agile, magical, reach 10 feet), Damage 4d8+16 slashing plus 2d6 voidRanged [one-action] annihilation ray +15 [+10/+5] (occult, range increment 30 feet), Damage 6d8 persistent voidOccult Innate Spells DC 22, attack +14; 9th detonate magic, disintegrate; 8th confusion, harm (×3); 7th interplanar teleport (at will; self only)
Dismantle All Life (occult, time, vitality, void) Time and entropy end all things, even the undead. When the ancient one's Strikes hit a creature with void healing, they deal vitality damage instead of void damage. The ancient one can't use their Strikes to restore Hit Points to living or undead creatures.Mythic Power 3 Mythic Points
  • Recharge [one-action] (concentrate) Cost 1 Mythic Point; Effect The ancient one regains an expended spell.
  • Remove a Condition [one-action] (concentrate) Cost 1 Mythic Point; Effect The ancient one ends one condition affecting them.
  • Reroll [free-action] Cost 1 Mythic Point; Trigger The ancient one fails a check; Effect The ancient one rerolls the check.
  • Undying Myth [free-action] Cost all of the Ancient One's Mythic Points; Trigger The ancient one would die and has at least 1 Mythic Point; Effect The ancient one remains conscious, and recovers 50% of their maximum Hit Points.
Slither Between Worlds or [free-action] [one-action] (concentrate, manipulate, occult, teleportation) The ancient one instantly transports themself and any items they're wearing and holding from their current space to an unoccupied space within 100 feet they can see. Once per turn, the ancient one can spend 1 Mythic Point to slither between worlds as a free action on their turn.Vision of Lost Meaning [one-action] (concentrate, emotion, mental, occult) The ancient one speaks without sound, contacting a creature within 120 feet telepathically to send out waves of visions that fill its mind with fragmented thoughts, unrealized chaos, and futures where its choices are never consequential. The target attempts a DC 22 Will save.
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The target is disoriented by the visions and is dazzled for 1 round.
Failure The target is overwhelmed by the visions and is confused for 1 minute.
Critical Failure As failure, but the target is also stunned 3.
Load Spell Descriptions

Sidebar - Advice and Rules How Old Is Time?

Lying in parallel with the Great Beyond with a presence felt on nearly every plane, from the Inner Sphere to the Outer Rifts, the Dimension of Time holds too many secrets for a reality so seemingly omnipresent. Can a world truly be said to begin before time is there to start? Scholars say Pharasma is the oldest being in the Great Beyond, a survivor of some previous multiverse’s collapse, but does the Lady of Graves predate time, or did she bring the Dimension of Time with her so history could begin everything anew?
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