Sard
Description
The sard is an ancient elm, oak, or pine tree that has been infused with lightning and raw life by one of the strange gods of the fey realm. One of the legendary beasts known as the Tane, a sard has “sap” that consists of red lightning—all of the sard's electrical attacks manifest with this same eerie-colored energy.
A sard can pass for an old dead tree—especially when the creature uses its tree shape spell-like ability. Yet despite its enormous size and ungainly shape, the sard is in fact a swift and agile monster. It can move with unsettling grace and speed, crawling across the ground on long spidery roots like an immense insect. It attacks either with a single slam of its immense trunk or by launching volleys of foot-long thorns that inject the creature's poisonous, electrified sap.
Sards are nearly as intelligent as most humans, but few actually use this intelligence for productive purposes—the first sards were created as a form of living siege engine, and they quite enjoy this destructive role, often seeking out fortresses or even towns to systematically destroy.
Combat Stats
- Melee
- 2 slams +25 (4d10+16/19-20 plus 4d6 electricity)
- Ranged
- 4 thorns +17 (2d8+16 plus poison)
- Space
- 30 ft.
- Reach
- 30 ft.
- DR
- 15/cold iron and slashing
- SR
- 30
- Defensive Abilities
- death throes, electrical jolt
Ability Scores
Special Qualities
Planar Acclimation — A sard is always considered to be on its home plane, regardless of what plane it finds itself upon. It never gains the extraplanar subtype.
Feats
Awesome Blow, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (slam), Improved Lightning Reflexes, Improved Precise Shot, Improved Sunder, Lightning Reflexes, Point-Blank Shot, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (lightning bolt), Vital Strike
Special Abilities
Universal Monster Rules
Special Abilities
Feats, Traits & Items
As a standard action, the creature may perform an awesome blow combat maneuver. If the creature's maneuver succeeds against a corporeal opponent smaller than itself, its opponent takes damage (typically slam damage plus Strength bonus) and is knocked flying 10 feet in a direction of the attacking creature's choice and falls prone. The attacking creature can only push the opponent in a straight line, and the opponent can't move closer to the attacking creature than the square it started in. If an obstacle prevents the completion of the opponent's move, the opponent and the obstacle each take 1d6 points of damage, and the opponent is knocked prone in the space adjacent to the obstacle.
You do not provoke an attack of opportunity when performing a bull rush combat maneuver. In addition, you receive a +2 bonus on checks made to bull rush a foe. You also receive a +2 bonus to your Combat Maneuver Defense whenever an opponent tries to bull rush you.
When using the weapon you selected, your threat range is doubled.
Once per day, you may reroll a Reflex save. You must decide to use this ability before the results are revealed. You must take the second roll, even if it is worse.
Your ranged attacks ignore the AC bonus granted to targets by anything less than total cover, and the miss chance granted to targets by anything less than total concealment. Total cover and total concealment provide their normal benefits against your ranged attacks.
You do not provoke an attack of opportunity when performing a sunder combat maneuver. In addition, you receive a +2 bonus on checks made to sunder an item. You also receive a +2 bonus to your Combat Maneuver Defense whenever an opponent tries to sunder your gear.
You get a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at ranges of up to 30 feet.
You can choose to take a –1 penalty on all melee attack rolls and combat maneuver checks to gain a +2 bonus on all melee damage rolls. This bonus to damage is increased by half (+50%) if you are making an attack with a two-handed weapon, a one handed weapon using two hands, or a primary natural weapon that adds 1-1/2 times your Strength modifier on damage rolls. This bonus to damage is halved (–50%) if you are making an attack with an off-hand weapon or secondary natural weapon. When your base attack bonus reaches +4, and every 4 points thereafter, the penalty increases by –1 and the bonus to damage increases by +2. You must choose to use this feat before making an attack roll, and its effects last until your next turn. The bonus damage does not apply to touch attacks or effects that do not deal hit point damage.
You can shoot or throw ranged weapons at an opponent engaged in melee without taking the standard –4 penalty on your attack roll.
Choose one of the creature's spell-like abilities, subject to the restrictions described in this feat. The creature can use the chosen spell-like ability as a quickened spell-like ability three times per day (or less, if the ability is normally usable only once or twice per day).
Using a quickened spell-like ability is a swift action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. The creature can perform another action—including the use of another spell-like ability (but not another swift action)—in the same round that it uses a quickened spell-like ability. The creature may use only one quickened spell-like ability per round.
The creature can only select a spell-like ability duplicating a spell with a level less than or equal to 1/2 its caster level (round down) – 4. For a summary, see the table below.
A spell-like ability that duplicates a spell with a casting time greater than 1 full round cannot be quickened.
When you use the attack action, you can make one attack at your highest base attack bonus that deals additional damage. Roll the weapon's damage dice for the attack twice and add the results together before adding bonuses from Strength, weapon abilities (such as flaming), precision based damage, and other damage bonuses. These extra weapon damage dice are not multiplied on a critical hit, but are added to the total.
Skills
Climb +24, Perception +32
Spells
- Type
- Plant
- Alignment
- CE
- Size
- Colossal
- Environment
- any forests
- Organization
- solitary
- Treasure
- triple
- Senses
- blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, tremorsense 30 ft.; Perception +32
- Languages
- Aklo, Sylvan
- Source
- Bestiary 2