Xutari
From Monsterbook
This creature could be very human-like, but it is difficult to tell as it is covered in strange organic-looking armor resembling a bipedal crab.
XUTARI, 1ST-LEVEL WARRIOR (CR 1)
- Any Alignment Medium humanoid (extraplanar)
- Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +0, Spot +0
- Languages: xutari
- AC 16, touch 11, flat-footed 15
- (Dex +1, armor +3, shield +2)
- hp 5 (1 HD)
- Fort +2, Ref +1, Will +0 (+2 against illusion)
- Speed 20 ft.
- Melee/Ranged mwk battleaxe +4 (1d8+1,crit x3)
- Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
- Base Atk +1; Grp +2
- Combat Gear living armor (mwk battleaxe, hvy shield)
- Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1)
1/day--true strike
- Abilities Str 13, Dex 12, Con 11, Int 9, Wis 11, Cha 10
- Feats track, weapon focus (battleaxe)
- Skills climb 4 (-1), jump 4 (-1)
- Advancement by class level
Living Armor (Ex): Every Xutari of adult age is bonded to a living organism that forms an organic shell around them. This carapace provides the xutari with both armor and melee weapons. The age and experience of the xutari (based on class level) determines the strength of it's living armor. A young hunter's armor is soft and pliable while a veteran's is resilient as steel. The living armor forms arms based on the preference of the xutari host, and can create alien-looking equivalents of any melee weapon or shield. Changing weapons is a process that requires days, so it cannot be done during combat. A xutari in living armor cannot wear any magic items that are worn on the head (hat, headband), eyes (lenses), torso (vest or shirt), body (armor or robe), wrists (bracers), hands (gloves or gauntlets), or feet. The xutari living armor is considered heavy armor with a +3 Maximum Dex bonus, -6 Armor Check Penalty, and a 20% arcane spell failure chance. It can be slept in without causing fatigue.
Melee Weapon Class Level: Armor Bonus: DR: Hardness/HP Bonus Special 1st-2nd +3 - 5/10 mwk cannot be disarmed 3rd-4th +4 - 8/10 +1 5th-6th +5 1/- 8/15 +1 7th-8th +6 1/- 10/15 +1 double threat range 9th-10th +7 1/- 10/20 +2 11th-12th +8 2/- 12/20 +2 13th-14th +9 2/- 15/20 +3 improved damage (+1 size category) 15th-16th +10 2/- 15/25 +4 17th-18th +11 3/- 15/30 +4 19th-20th +12 3/- 20/30 +5 enhanced critical (+1 modifier)
The Xutari are also called astral hunters by those who know of them. They are a humanoid race from an unknown plane of origin, but have been encountered mostly on the astral plane. They travel the astral plane in small hunting packs of 4 to 12 for an indefinite period of time; Then shift to an adjacent plane very briefly (usually no more than 1 or 2 days), just long enough to kill some specific being or creature, then disappear back their home plane.
Strategies and Tactics
Young xutari are single-minded in killing their target and lack any subtlety in tactics. More advanced hunters are much more patient. They will use invisibility to study their target to learn their weaknesses. The xutari attacks at the most opportune time and will not relent until they or their target are destroyed. Those experienced enough to use plane shift will use it to escape only in an emergency, since it could take days to track down their target again.
Adventure Hooks
The PCs are in a pitched battle with some creature. During the battle a pack of xutari hunters appears and joins in the attack on the creature. The hunting party returns to their home plane once the creature is killed. However, since the xutari had the help of the PCs, they are censured and ridiculed by the xutari elders. The hunters return to the prime material plane to hunt down and kill the PCs.
A single, powerful xutari hunter has somehow been trapped on this plane. Instead of hunting and killing a single target then returning home, it has created a lair for itself and has been collecting trophies from many races and species of creatures.
Ecology and Society
Only a few planar-traveling beings have encountered the xutari plane of origin, almost as if it holds a discreet place within the multiverse. They come from a parallel material plane, where they are the dominant race--having subjugated all other living things many millenia ago. It was only when they discovered the astral plane and through it the rest of the multiverse did they realize how small their conquest was.
The xutari world is ruled by a king or queen, reputedly the greatest hunter in the realm. A rival noble can claim their right to the throne by gathering supporters, producing the skull or other trophy of some rare creature, then battling the incumbent to the death.
A xutari without it's living armor is roughly human-sized. Their bodies are pale pink and hairless, with solid black eyes, and three fingers on each hand.
Xutari Lore
Knowledge (Planes)
DC 15: This being is an otherworldy humanoid. This result reveals all explanar traits.
DC 16: The being's weapons and armor are part of a living carapace bonded to the creature.
DC 21: They form hunting groups that strike out from the astral plane.
Xutari Racial Traits:
- +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence
- Medium-sized
- Base move 20 ft. in living armor
- Darkvision 60 ft.
- +4 racial bonus to Survival checks
- +2 racial bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks
- +2 on saves against illusion spells and effect
- Track bonus feat
- Living Armor
- Spell-like abilities 1/day:
- 1st--true strike
- 3rd--invisibility
- 5th--displacement
- 7th--greater invisibility
- 9th--plane shift
- Level adjustment: +1
- Favored Class: Ranger
