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Derro

CR 3.00 Humanoid CE Small HD 3
This pale blue humanoid has bulging white eyes, wild hair, four-fingered hands, and a large hooked club.

Though derros dwell deep under most of the surface world's cities, very few know of the sadistic creatures' existence. Descended from mysterious fey that once dwelt deep underground, the derros lust for the comforts of the surface, yet the light of the sun causes them to blister, burn, and die. Derros often abduct surface dwellers to perform hideous experiments on them in their never-ending quest to divine what protects those who dwell above from the burning death, yet the intrinsic madness that plagues all derros dooms these experiments to failure every time. In the end, traumatized victims are returned to their homes, memories not quite completely wiped of their ordeal, to live the rest of their lives in vague fear of a nightmare they can't quite recall.

A typical derro fights with a short sword or a repeating light crossbow with plenty of poison bolts. Some derros also carry an aklys—a hooked throwing club attached to a 20-foot- long cord. This cord limits the club's range, but allows the derro to retrieve it as a move-equivalent action after it has been thrown.

Derro leaders are typically sorcerers of at least 3rd level, although they also make excellent rogues. Many derros wield strange and unusual weapons like hooked polearms, eerie whistling aklyses, long hollow spears that can be filled with toxins, or crystalline throwing wedges that shatter on impact to create horrific bleeding wounds.

A derro stands 3 feet tall and weighs 70 pounds.

HP
25 (3d8+12)
AC
17, touch 13, flat-footed 15 (+2 armor, +2 Dex, +2 natural, +1 size)
Init
+6
Speed
20 ft.
Fort
+5
Ref
+3
Will
+6
BAB
+2
CMB
+1
CMD
13
Melee
short sword +5 (1d4) or aklys +5 (1d6)
Ranged
repeating light crossbow +5 (1d6/19-20 plus poison) or aklys +5 (1d6)
SR
14
str
11
+0
dex
15
+2
con
18
+4
int
10
+0
wis
5
-3
cha
16
+3

Weapons: Simple

sneak attack +1d6

Madness — Derros use their Charisma modifier on Will saves instead of their Wisdom modifier, and are immune to insanity and confusion effects. Only a miracle or wish can remove a derro's madness. If this occurs, the derro gains 6 points of Wisdom and loses 6 points of Charisma.

Poison Use — Derros are not at risk of poisoning themselves when handling poison. They use Medium spider venom to poison their crossbow bolts, and generally carry 10 pre-poisoned bolts at all times.

Universal Monster Rules

Poison (Use) Ex from Universal Monster Rule
A creature with this ability can poison those it attacks. The effects of the poison, including its save, frequency, and cure, are included in the creature's description. The saving throw to resist a poison is usually a Fort save (DC 10 + 1/2 the poisoning creature's racial HD + the creature's Con modifier; the exact DC is given in the creature's descriptive text). Poisons can be removed through neutralize poison and similar effects.

Special Abilities

Madness from text
Derros use their Charisma modifier on Will saves instead of their Wisdom modifier, and are immune to insanity and confusion effects. Only a miracle or wish can remove a derro's madness. If this occurs, the derro gains 6 points of Wisdom and loses 6 points of Charisma.
Sneak Attack +1d6 from text

Feats, Traits & Items

You get a +4 bonus on initiative checks.

Calculated: +4 Initiative
Weapon Finesse from Feat

With a light weapon, rapier, whip, or spiked chain made for a creature of your size category, you may use your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier on attack rolls. If you carry a shield, its armor check penalty applies to your attack rolls.

Perception +0, Stealth +9

spell-like abilities:
At will—Darkness, At will—Ghost Sound (DC 13), 1/day—Daze (DC 13), 1/day—Sound Burst (DC 15)
Details
Type
Humanoid
Alignment
CE
Size
Small
Environment
any underground
Organization
solitary, team (2-4), squad (5-8 plus 1 sorcerer of 3rd-5th level), or band (11-20 plus 30% noncombatants plus 3 sorcerers of 3rd-8th level)
Treasure
NPC Gear (leather armor, short sword or aklys, repeating light crossbow with 10 poisoned bolts, other treasure)
Senses
darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0
Languages
Aklo, Undercommon
Source
Bestiary
Source

Bestiary

Attribution

Seeded catalog content, attributed to Paizo Inc. by catalog provenance — not an individual Open Game License attestation. Licensing for reproduced SRD content is covered by the site's Section 15 register.

Sources Used in This Record
6 House/Core
  • Uses feat: Improved Initiative (Feat) — core content under OGL 1.0a
  • Uses feat: Weapon Finesse (Feat) — core content under OGL 1.0a
  • Knows spell: Darkness (Spell) — core content under OGL 1.0a
  • Knows spell: Ghost Sound (Spell) — core content under OGL 1.0a
  • Knows spell: Daze (Spell) — core content under OGL 1.0a
  • Knows spell: Sound Burst (Spell) — core content under OGL 1.0a
View references and cross-links for Derro

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