Library / Bestiary

Thriae Queen

CR 18.00 Monstrous Humanoid LN Huge

This towering, shapely, purple-skinned woman has an insectile lower body, antennae on her brow, and the wings of a bee.

Description

The most powerful individual within any given thriae colony, the queen is a divine soothsayer, a provider of life, and a destroyer of those would seek to disrupt the order of the colony. Viewed by her children as a benevolent matriarch rather than a mother, the thriae queen is the only fertile member of the colony, and thus the sole reproducer should the colony's population meet a devastating blow, whether through plague, famine, or war. A queen is revered by soldiers and seers alike, both for her physical might and her divine power, and she exemplifies the very best of thriae society in terms of strength, insight, and magnetism. While a queen is often too busy to entertain guests of a thriae hive, those intruders who do catch a glimpse of her are captured by her beauty and grace, and many would follow her if only to be by her side. But those who are allowed to enjoy the queen's company are few, and those few are carefully selected from among the hive's greatest warriors and priestesses, soldiers and seers whose powers have shown them to be skillful as well as loyal.

Most thriae colonies only have one queen, though particularly large or far-reaching hives have been known to have as many as three at any given time. Thriae queens are the ultimate authority within a hive, and make most of the major decisions regarding the colony's growth. Only the wealthiest and most respected outsiders are granted an audience with the ever-busy queen, whose numerous duties around the hive are analogous to those of any other ruler of a small kingdom. They grant only audiences regarding matters of the utmost concern, matters that stimulate the curiosity of a thriae queen and require not merely the cryptic readings of seers but a true divination as only a queen can provide.

When not divining or performing governmental tasks, a thriae queen can often be found in her private chamber, where she lies with male consorts, lays eggs, cares for her larvae, and creates the vast stores of merope used every day within the hive. Consorts are chosen carefully, as they are constantly within extremely close proximity to the queen, who is far from vulnerable in her own right but nonetheless often prefers to avoid conflicts with would-be assassins or burglars.

A thriae queen lays fertilized eggs in one of the waxy, golden cells of her chamber walls. Thriae eggs go through several stages of growth before becoming fully formed thriae—the longest stage of development is the larval stage, which is a crucial point in determining the formation of a thriae. Most larvae are fed merope while they grow, but in the height of her power, a thriae queen selects a single larva to be her successor, and she feeds that individual a special substance secreted from her merope gland called royal merope. This thick, jellylike substance strengthens the larva and causes it to grow greatly in size, and when it pupates and hatches, it does so as a fully grown thriae queen.

The mother queen teaches its successor in the ways of divining as well as ruling a colony. The successor then faces a choice—either remaining in the colony she was born into and furthering the growth of the hive, or setting out on her own to establish an allied colony. If she does the latter, the remaining queen must birth another successor, which is not considered so much a bother as it is an unavoidable circumstance. Queens do not look upon successors who leave as deserting daughters, instead viewing them as future allies for the colony down the road.

Ability Scores

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

Combat Stats

HP: 312 (25d10+175); fast healing 10
AC: 33, touch 8, flat-footed 33 (+25 natural, -2 size)
Speed: 30 ft., fly 50 ft. (good)
Init: +4
Melee: +2 axiomatic light mace +35/+30/+25/+20 (2d6+11/19-20), sting +27 (2d8+4/19-20 plus poison)
Space: 15 ft.
Reach: 15 ft.
BAB: +25
CMB: +36
CMD: 46
Fort: +15
Ref: +14
Will: +21
SR: 29
Defensive Abilities: merope coat

Proficiencies

Weapons: Simple

Special Attacks

Launch Merope — A thriae queen can launch a stream of merope from a gland in her lower body in a 60-foot line as a standard action. A thriae queen using this ability can control the purity of the merope she launches, which makes it either harm those it touches or heal them. If a thriae queen chooses to make her merope harmful, all creatures in the area of effect take 20d8 points of acid damage (Reflex DC 29 for half). In addition, any creature in the area of effect is also staggered for 1d4 rounds (or 1 round if it succeeds at its Reflex save). If she uses it to heal, the merope heals all living creatures in the area of effect for 10d8 points of damage. A thriae queen can use this ability once every 1d4 rounds. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Spawn Soldiers — Three times per day as a standard action, a thriae queen can spawn a large swarm of wasps. This functions as four separate wasp swarms (Bestiary 275) that occupy all of the squares adjacent to the thriae queen. These swarms do not harm any thriae, and while they move with the queen as she moves, the swarms cannot leave her side. The swarms last until they are destroyed or 1 hour passes, at which point the swarms die on their own.

Feats

Alertness, Combat Casting, Combat Expertise, Critical Focus, Greater Spell Penetration, Improved Critical (light mace), Improved Critical (light mace), Improved Initiative, Improved Iron Will, Iron Will, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (regenerate), Spell Penetration, Weapon Focus (light mace)

Special Abilities

Alertness from Feat

You get a +2 bonus on Perception and Sense Motive skill checks. If you have 10 or more ranks in one of these skills, the bonus increases to +4 for that skill.

Combat Casting from Feat

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.

Combat Expertise from Feat

You can choose to take a –1 penalty on melee attack rolls and combat maneuver checks to gain a +1 dodge bonus to your Armor Class. When your base attack bonus reaches +4, and every +4 thereafter, the penalty increases by –1 and the dodge bonus increases by +1. You can only choose to use this feat when you declare that you are making an attack or a full-attack action with a melee weapon. The effects of this feat last until your next turn.

Critical Focus from Feat

You receive a +4 circumstance bonus on attack rolls made to confirm critical hits.

Greater Spell Penetration from Feat

You get a +2 bonus on caster level checks (1d20 + caster level) made to overcome a creature's spell resistance. This bonus stacks with the one from Spell Penetration.

Improved Critical from Feat

When using the weapon you selected, your threat range is doubled.

Improved Critical from Feat

When using the weapon you selected, your threat range is doubled.

Improved Initiative from Feat

You get a +4 bonus on initiative checks.

Improved Iron Will from Feat

Once per day, you may reroll a Will save. You must decide to use this ability before the results are revealed. You must take the second roll, even if it is worse.

Iron Will from Feat

You get a +2 bonus on all Will saving throws.

Spell Penetration from Feat

You get a +2 bonus on caster level checks (1d20 + caster level) made to overcome a creature's spell resistance.

Weapon Focus from Feat

You gain a +1 bonus on all attack rolls you make using the selected weapon.

Skills

Bluff +34, Diplomacy +34, Fly +24, Knowledge (arcana) +30, Knowledge (religion) +30, Perception +37, Sense Motive +34, Spellcraft +30, Use Magic Device +34

Spells

spell-like abilities:

Constant—Detect Secret Doors, Constant—True Seeing, At will—Daylight, At will—Detect Thoughts, At will—Scrying, Greater, At will—Neutralize Poison, At will—Remove Disease, At will—Speak With Dead, 3/day—Charm Monster, 3/day—Find The Path, 3/day—Giant Vermin, 3/day—Cure Critical Wounds, Mass, 3/day—Poison, 3/day—Restoration, 3/day—Slow, 1/day—Foresight, 1/day—Heal, Mass, 1/day—Regenerate

Details

Type: Monstrous Humanoid
Alignment: LN
Size: Huge
Environment: any
Organization: solitary or colony (1 queen, 3 seers, 11-20 soldiers, and 3-30 giant bees)
Treasure: double (+2 axiomatic light mace, other treasure)
Senses: darkvision 60 ft., detect secret doors, low-light vision, true seeing; Perception +37
Languages: Common, Sylvan, Thriae; telepathy 300 ft.
Source: Bestiary 3

Sources Used in This Record

30 House/Core

Uses feat: Alertness (Feat)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Uses feat: Combat Casting (Feat)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Uses feat: Combat Expertise (Feat)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Uses feat: Critical Focus (Feat)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Uses feat: Greater Spell Penetration (Feat)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Uses feat: Improved Critical (Feat)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Uses feat: Improved Critical (Feat)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Uses feat: Improved Initiative (Feat)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Uses feat: Improved Iron Will (Feat)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Uses feat: Iron Will (Feat)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Uses feat: Spell Penetration (Feat)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Uses feat: Weapon Focus (Feat)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: Detect Secret Doors (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: True Seeing (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: Daylight (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: Detect Thoughts (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: Scrying, Greater (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: Neutralize Poison (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: Remove Disease (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: Speak With Dead (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: Charm Monster (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: Find The Path (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: Giant Vermin (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: Cure Critical Wounds, Mass (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: Poison (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: Restoration (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: Slow (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: Foresight (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: Heal, Mass (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.
Knows spell: Regenerate (Spell)

House/Core — covered by the site's Section 15.

Rules