Facetal Branch
Facetal branches are elder facetals whose gemstone bodies have grown into large glowing crystals. Instead of donning humanoid guises as facetal nodes do, facetal branches use hardlight to project insect-like bodies in the image of their deity, Sairazul.
With minds capable of revisiting their memories with crystalline perfection, facetal branches can both move and communicate across space and time. They're named after the constant improvements they make to their past selves, navigating branches of alternate histories to achieve crystalline perfection.Rare Huge Earth Elemental
Source Pathfinder #225: Vaultlines pg. 229
Recall Knowledge DC 43 (includes +5 from Rare) • Elemental (Arcana, Nature)
Perception +15; darkvision, tremorsense (imprecise) 120 feet
Languages Orvian, Petran; telepathy 300 feet, temporal telepathy
Skills Acrobatics +13, Arcana +17, Athletics +17, Planar Lore +17, Sairazul Lore +19, Stealth +13, Temporal Lore +19
Str +9, Dex +7, Con +7, Int +9, Wis +9, Cha +7
Temporal Telepathy The facetal branch can communicate telepathically with themselves at a specific moment in the past, provided their past self occupies the branch's current space.
AC 24; Fort +15, Ref +12, Will +18
HP 310; Immunities bleed, blinded, dazzled, disease, paralyzed, poison, radiation, sleep; Resistances fire 20
Gem Form When a facetal branch is reduced to 0 Hit Points, their hardlight body is destroyed, leaving behind the branch's true form, a Tiny glowing gemstone. In this form, the branch's Speed is 0, they're immune to damage, and they're deactivated. While deactivated, they can't take actions or speak, use temporal telepathy, and their luminescent aura is deactivated, although they can use telepathy. The branch remains deactivated until it reactivates at a time determined by the GM (usually after decades or more).Luminescent Aura (aura, light, primal) 30 feet. The facetal branch's glowing gem fills the area of the aura with bright light. The branch can deactivate or activate its aura as a single action with the concentrate trait.
Speed 35 feet, climb 35 feet
Melee [one-action] mandibles +16 [+11/+6] (force, reach 10 feet), Damage 3d8+24 force plus Improved GrabRanged [one-action] gem ray +16 [+11/+6] (force, range increment 40 feet), Damage 3d10+24 force plus Blinding AttackBlinding Attack (light) On a critical hit with a gem ray Strike, the target is blinded for 1 round.Blinking Strobe [two-actions] (concentrate, light, primal, teleportation) The branch's gem coruscates with light. Enemies within a 30-foot emanation must attempt a DC 22 Fortitude save.Critical SuccessThe creature is unaffected.
SuccessThe creature is
dazzled for 1 round.
FailureThe creature is
blinded for 1 round.
Critical FailureAs failure, and the target is teleported to a space of the branch's choice within 30 feet that the branch can see.
Hardlight Projection [one-action] (concentrate, light, polymorph, primal) The branch projects a new Huge, insect-like creature with its gemstone embedded in its abdomen or thorax, changing its appearance but not its statistics. The branch's projected form is a solid body made of hardlight. While using a projected form, the branch's true form, a Tiny gem, is always visible somewhere on the projection. The gemstone is the facetal's sensory organ, and if the gemstone is covered, the facetal branch is blinded.Temporal Skip [two-actions] (concentrate, incapacitation, primal) The facetal branch can pluck creatures from the very flow of time. One creature the branch can see within 30 feet must attempt a DC 22 Fortitude save. The branch can target themself, automatically failing their save.Critical SuccessThe creature is unaffected and becomes temporarily immune to Temporal Skip for 24 hours.
SuccessThe creature is
stunned 1.
FailureThe creature winks out of existence for 1 round (or for up to 1 hour if the branch targeted themself). Until the creature reappears, time doesn't pass for the creature. When the effect ends, the creature returns to the space it occupied when it disappeared or to the nearest space if the original is now filled.
All Monsters in "Facetal"
Source Pathfinder #225: Vaultlines pg. 228Formed under immense geological pressure over untold eons, facetals are intelligent, eloquent elemental gemstones. While facetals can't affect the world in their true gem forms, they can focus their inner radiance to create corporeal bodies made of hardlight.
Everpresent Gem
No matter what form they project to the world, a facetal node’s true body—their gem—is always visible somewhere on their hardlight body. Since a facetal node senses the world through this gemstone, they often go to great pains to hide the stone’s significance, disguising it as an ordinary piece of jewelry, the crystal on the tip of a walking staff, or some other mundane jewel. A facetal’s gem is functionally unbreakable, requiring the will of a god or similar force to shatter it.
Gathering Moss
While their younger cousins, facetal nodes, travel to accumulate knowledge, facetal branches turn their explorations inwards, scrutinizing past actions for minor imperfections that could stunt their slow, crystalline growth. When they identify a flaw, they can reach backwards in time to alter their past—but only if their past self occupies the same location as their present one. For this reason, facetal branches tend to stay put.