#hellwasp

Hellwasps, also known as hellwasp devils, were insect-like fiends that inhabited the warmer levels of the Nine Hells.

Hellwasps were large insects with a tough carapace and strong legs that ended in natural piercing weapons shaped like scimitars. The wings were thin and appeared to be made of metal. At the tip of the abdomen was a large stinger. Colony guards were somewhat smaller than the "devil" variety.

Hellwasps were vicious, hateful, and aggressive creatures.

The carapace of a hellwasp was susceptible to cold and the creature's metabolism required a warm climate to function properly, so they avoided places in the Nine Hells that were extremely cold, such as Cania and Stygia.

In addition to feet sharp as talons, hellwasps could sting a victim, injecting a fiery poison on a successful attack. This venom not only burned like drops of alchemist's fire but could slow or paralyze a creature for up to a minute, allowing the hellwasp to carry the victim away to be devoured later. If colony guards were available, they swarmed a group of enemies, attempting to sting them into paralysis for the larger devils to carry off.

Hellwasps lived in colonies, typically with ten to twenty adults that all shared duties equally. They communicated via their own version of telepathy that had a range of 300 ft (91 m). Some sages believed there was a queen that all hellwasps would serve with unswerving loyalty if called upon.

Hellwasp colonies built nests for communal protection, food storage, and for raising their young. Adults regurgitated a sticky bile that typically contained fat, bone, and sand that was light, strong, and the color of amber that they used in construction. A nest had multiple chambers connected by twisted tunnels, each dedicated to a single purpose. One chamber contained octagonal cells for individual adults, another (centrally located) chamber was the hatchery where the larvae were tended. Also, there was usually a larder room for storing food (victims, alive or dead). Hellwasp grubs were placed inside the bodies of victims stuck to the walls to feed.

In Avernus, hellwasps preferred to embed dead angels or other magically buoyant corpses in the walls of their nests. When enough bodies were attached, the nest lifted off the surface and had to be tethered to the ground to prevent it from drifting off. Once this was accomplished, the hellwasps made the underside of the nest the only entrance.

In the World Axis view of cosmology, sages believed that Glasya, the daughter of Asmodeus and Lady of the Sixth Hell, Malbolge, was responsible for bringing the hellwasps to the Nine Hells from one of the other Lower planes. The theory states that they were a type of fiend, similar to mezzodemons, that followed a wasp-like demon lord. After she defeated their lord in a Blood War battle in the Abyss, they hailed her as their new queen and followed her back home. She transformed them into devils and let them nest in her Garden of Delights. These hellwasps served Glasya willingly and would only take orders from others if she allowed it.

Fallen angels are meat for hellwasps. Steer clear, lest you nourish their young with your flesh.

 Just as barbarians and bloodragers moved to the city, so too did the skalds, but they have discovered a new weapon.

Not content to merely sing the praises of themselves, their allies, and their ancestors, these skalds have learned how to disrespect their foes, becoming hecklers, protest leaders, and satirists.

Whether they developed this ability in response to the cutthroat attitude of city folk, or in response to authority figures treating their immigrated communities unfairly, they specialize in calling out failings real and imagined, using them against their enemies when not bolstering their allies.

 Much in the same way that their barbarian and bloodrager counterparts have more focused rages, so too is the rage-focused performances of an urban skald able to focus in on bolstering a single physical aspect of allies.

Where they really shine is infuriating their foes instead, making them lose focus on mental and magical tasks, not to mention defending themselves.

Going beyond mere insults, these skalds can outright ostracize a foe, shredding their confidence and even causing their allies to hesitate to help them physically or with beneficial spells alike.

Aware of the dangers of speaking out, they have also learned to use their allies as cover to avoid direct reprisal from those they viciously detract.

More debuff-centric than the standard skald, you’ll probably be using their various heckling performances to debuff sentient foes while using more traditional buffs to aid against others, all the while sticking close to allies to strike while benefiting from their protection.

 While I’ve really talked a lot about the theme of culture clash and political unrest in this past several entries, particularly this one, because it’s impossible not to in this current day and age. However, it is entirely possible to run one of these characters without that theme if you are not willing or comfortable in exploring that, so keep that in mind. Remember that tabletop rpgs are just as much about escapism as they are about recontextualizing bad things in a way that can be easily dealt with.

  While not as struggling as much as other aquatic refugees, the cecaelia that fled the thalassic behemoth Ocean-Drinker have had it just as bad dealing with bigoted authorities in the shallows of their new coastal city homes. Some have turned their frustrations into protests and heckling of the surface leaders, turning to bardic magic and warrior fury.

 Normally a rabble-rouser and braggart, Mogan has grown quiet and secretive recently, avoiding the usual drinking halls and taverns to ply the alleyways after dark. In truth, the poor man has been taken over by a hellwasp swarm, intent on working a great evil through him.

Gears & wings, cogs & stingers, millions of tiny shards of clockwork magic shimmer forth with a singular purpose: Consume and Control for the Maker.  

Inspired by Beckon Forth the Clockwork Swarm by Clinton J. Boomer.  Specifically, if you get to use that feat, this should, to the best of my ability, provide the stat block you need for your clockwork hellwasp swarm.  If you find any errors, please leave a note or send me a message.

Clockwork Hellwasp Swarm        CR 9

XP 6,400

N Diminutive construct (clockwork, swarm)

Init +12; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +0

 DEFENSE

AC 29, touch 23, flat-footed 20 (+8 Dex, +1 dodge, +6 natural, +4 size)

hp 66 (12d10)

Fort +4, Ref +14, Will +4

DR 15/adamantine; Immune construct traits, swarm traits, weapon damage; Resist acid 10, cold 10, fire 10, sonic 10

Weaknesses metal body, vulnerability to electricity

 OFFENSE

Speed 5 ft., fly 40 ft. (good)

Melee swarm (3d6 plus distraction and poison)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 0 ft.

Special Attacks distraction (DC 16), inhabit

 STATISTICS

Str 5, Dex 26, Con –, Int –, Wis 11, Cha 3

Base Atk +12; CMB +16; CMD 23 (can’t be tripped)

Feats DodgeB, Improved InitiativeB, Lightning ReflexesB

Skills Craft (clockwork) +5, Disable Device +5, Fly +18, Stealth +15; Racial Modifiers +5 Craft (clockwork), +5 Disable Device, -5 Stealth

SQ created mind, creator bond

 SPECIAL ABILITIES

Created Mind (Ex) A clockwork creature only accepts commands from its creator or designated surrogate. A surrogate can be designated by the creator for any length of time and be rescinded by the clockwork’s creator.

Creator Bond (Ex) A clockwork creature can instinctively detect the location of its creator within 100 ft., regardless of magical and natural barriers. Within this range the clockwork gains a +10 circumstance bonus vs. Bluff checks, Disguise checks and any other effect made to impersonate the clockwork’s creator.

Inhabit (Ex) A hellwasp swarm can enter the body of a helpless or dead creature by crawling into its mouth and other orifices. Inhabiting a body requires 1 minute, and the victim must be Small, Medium, or Large. The swarm can abandon the body at any time as a full-round action. Any attack against the host deals half damage to the hellwasp swarm as well, although the swarm’s DR, resistances, and immunities may negate some or all of this damage. When a hellwasp swarm inhabits a dead body, it effectively transforms the corpse into a zombie of the appropriate size under the swarm’s control. If a hellwasp swarm inhabits a living victim, it can neutralize the effects of its own poison and control the victim’s movement and actions as if using dominate monster. (Note: if summoned via Beckon Forth the Clockwork Swarm, the swarm’s master has direct control of a creature thus dominated.) Hellwasps quickly consume a living victim, dealing 2d4 points of Constitution damage per hour.

A hellwasp-inhabited creature is easy to spot, since its skin crawls with the forms of the insects inside. A swarm can attempt a Disguise check to conceal its inhabitation of a host, with a -4 penalty if currently inhabiting a Small host.

A remove disease or heal spell cast on an inhabited victim forces the hellwasp swarm to abandon its host.

Metal Body (Ex) A clockwork creature is largely composed of metal. It counts as a ferrous creature for the purpose of rusting grasp and other spells that have special effects on metal.

Over time, knowledge can be lost and found. It’s true of every civilization and field of study, including the paths of self-perfection. In an attempt to test would-be applicants, the Monastery of Seven Forms was set up far from Tian Xia on the border of Quadira and Taldor, forcing those who knew of the monastery and wished to join to trek far from their home to do so.

However, placing your monastery between two nations with what can only be described as strained relations can mean being caught up in wars and skirmishes. As such, the original seven forms associated with the monastery’s teachings have been lost, replaced by new styles mimicking the dervish dancers and warriors from Quadira.

Whether you call them Monks of the Seven Winds or the Seven Forms (not sure why d20pfsrd decided to change it), the fact remains that these are monks that blend the ascetic styles of a foreign land with local traditions, creating an entirely new set of skills from them. In your setting, this might not be the case at all, but its certainly fun to think about, the blending of cultures.

The result, regardless of what origin you give, is a monk that blends manufactured weapons with unarmed attacks in a spinning, dancelike combat style.

 This archetype focuses more on mobility rather than combat maneuvers, and these monks prove able to move quickly to where they need to, defying gravity and rough terrain.

Though they primarily attack with their limbs, these warriors learn to integrate slashing, spinning cuts with bladed weapons to their onslaught, dancing in and out of combat, adding extra strikes.

The harsh desert environs of these monks demands a tough body, and so they tend to be especially hardy.

The true blending of dervish combat, however, occurs much later, the monks entering a trance using their ki to begin a deadly mobile dance of strikes. Eventually, they can further improve this state, becoming even more deadly.

So if you’re interested in a monk that adds extra attacks and a thematically appropriate buff, this archetype can certainly be appealing. Since the abilities of this class vary between adding extra attack to flurry of blows, and attacking while on the move with the trance, this archetype has options for both, so build for an aggressive play style.

 In the Golarion setting, this archetype is characterized by having replaced a previous tradition with new ones, but one has to wonder what those traditions actually were to begin with. Its possible they were revealed in a book I don’t have, but that mystery can be the start of a character’s journey or an entire plot line.

 The School of Slicing Winds, a monastery that specializes in strange battle-trances, recently won a martial art competition between schools, winning them much acclaim, and have recently purchased beehives to expand their sustainability and give their students a wholesome reward for their hard work. However, a rival school replaced one of the beehives with that of a hellwasp swarm, hoping to bring ruin to them.

 Created by a misguided grand master seeking to prolong their life to continue teaching, the shabti Panantra was returned to the material plane in a completely different part of the world, vague memories of the ascetic lifestyle and techniques in place, but missing key components. She took that knowledge and filled in the gaps with the practices of the local bladedancers, melding them, hoping that doing so would help her become a separate person from the person she was meant to emulate.

From: Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus

Large Fiend, Lawful Evil

AC 19 (natural armor)

HP 52 (8d10 + 8)

Speed 10 ft., Fly 60 ft. (hover)

Str 18 +4 Dex 15 +2 Con 12 +1 Int 10 +0 Wis 10 +0 Cha 7 -2

Vulnerabilities Cold

Immunities Fire

Senses Darkvision 60 ft.

Languages Infernal, telepathy 300 ft. (with other hellwasps only)

CR 5

Traits

Magic Weapons. The hellwasp's weapon attacks are magical.

Actions

Multiattack. The hellwasp makes two attacks: one with its sting and one with its sword talons.

Sting. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 4) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) fire damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute. While poisoned in this way, the target is also paralyzed. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Sword Talons. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage.