Broken Soul
Description
A broken soul is torment and pain made manifest. Tortured to the extremes of both physical and mental endurance, and then taken beyond those barriers, a broken soul gains extraordinary reserves of fortitude and resilience as well as the ability to inflict a measure of its own terrible suffering on others.
Each broken soul has a unique appearance, the torture it has endured plainly visible on its body. Its skin is a mass of scar tissue, marred with bruises that do not fade and scored with countless scars. In some cases, a broken soul's flesh has been flayed away, revealing the musculature and bone underneath. Weeping sores and open cuts cover a broken soul's body, wounds that never fully heal. Its limbs are often twisted, the result of broken bones that were never set properly, and it might be missing fingers, toes, ears, or other appendages. A broken soul's existence is one of unending suffering, and the constant pain often drives the creature irrevocably mad. In their insanity, these unfortunates hate all other creatures and seek to inflict their wounds and their agony on all they encounter.
The creation of a broken soul can happen in a number of ways. Some broken souls arise spontaneously, the result of horrific treatment at the hands of cruel abusers. With no way to escape their torment, these creatures embrace the pain and anguish and transcend them, making them a part of their very being. In so doing, they become something both more and less than they were. Other broken souls are purposefully created out of helpless prisoners by sadistic torturers through a harrowing gauntlet of mental and physical torments. By breaking a creature's mind and body, these torturers hope to create guardians or servants whose loyalty is ensured by the constant pain they must endure. Even more harrowing, some broken souls take it upon themselves to create more of their kind, fashioning gruesome works of living, mutilated art in an effort to share their suffering. These "artists" often turn on their own torturers first, perfecting their skills on those who created them before turning their attention to any other unfortunate creatures they can find.
"Broken soul" is an acquired template that can be added to any living creature with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher (referred to hereafter as the base creature). A broken soul uses all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Combat Stats
- Melee
- +1 longsword +12/+7 (2d6+8/19–20), tail slap +6 (2d6+2 plus grab) or<p class="stat-block-2">torturous touch +11 touch (2d6 plus 1d6 Dex damage and convulsions), tail slap +6 (2d6+2 plus grab)</p>
- Space
- 10 ft.
- Reach
- 10 ft.
- DR
- 5/-
- Racial Modifiers
- +8 Intimidate, +4 Survival
Ability Scores
Proficiencies
Weapons: Martial, Simple
Special Attacks
Feats
Combat Casting, Diehard, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Hover, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Toughness
Special Abilities
Universal Monster Rules
Special Abilities
Feats, Traits & Items
You get a +4 bonus on concentration checks made to cast a spell or use a spell-like ability when casting on the defensive or while grappled.
When your hit point total is below 0, but you are not dead, you automatically stabilize. You do not need to make a Constitution check each round to avoid losing additional hit points. You may choose to act as if you were disabled, rather than dying. You must make this decision as soon as you are reduced to negative hit points (even if it isn't your turn). If you do not choose to act as if you were disabled, you immediately fall unconscious.
When using this feat, you are staggered. You can take a move action without further injuring yourself, but if you perform any standard action (or any other action deemed as strenuous, including some swift actions, such as casting a quickened spell) you take 1 point of damage after completing the act. If your negative hit points are equal to or greater than your Constitution score, you immediately die.
You gain a +4 bonus on the following checks and saves: Swim checks made to resist nonlethal damage from exhaustion; Constitution checks made to continue running; Constitution checks made to avoid nonlethal damage from a forced march; Constitution checks made to hold your breath; Constitution checks made to avoid nonlethal damage from starvation or thirst; Fortitude saves made to avoid nonlethal damage from hot or cold environments; and Fortitude saves made to resist damage from suffocation.
You may sleep in light or medium armor without becoming fatigued.
A creature with this feat can halt its movement while flying, allowing it to hover without needing to make a Fly skill check.
If a creature of size Large or larger with this feat hovers within 20 feet of the ground in an area with lots of loose debris, the draft from its wings creates a hemispherical cloud with a radius of 60 feet. The winds generated can snuff torches, small campfires, exposed lanterns, and other small, open flames of non-magical origin. Clear vision within the cloud is limited to 10 feet. Creatures have concealment at 15 to 20 feet (20% miss chance). At 25 feet or more, creatures have total concealment (50% miss chance, and opponents cannot use sight to locate the creature).
You gain +3 hit points. For every Hit Die you possess beyond 3, you gain an additional +1 hit point. If you have more than 3 Hit Dice, you gain +1 hit points whenever you gain a Hit Die (such as when you gain a level).
Skills
Bluff +15, Fly +11, Intimidate +13, Knowledge (nature) +9, Perception +9, Perform (string) +17, Sense Motive +9, Stealth +9, Survival +10
Spells
- Type
- Outsider
- Alignment
- CE
- Size
- Large
- Environment
- any
- Organization
- solitary
- Treasure
- standard (+1 longsword, masterwork harp, other treasure)
- Senses
- darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +9
- Languages
- Celestial, Draconic, Infernal; truespeech
- Source
- Bestiary 4