#krooth

Image © Paizo Publishing

[In this meander through the Monster Core books, I'm going to be covering some monsters I skipped on my initial pass through the 2e "legacy" Bestiaries. First up, the krooth. I think I skipped the krooth because I was annoyed it was an animal rather than a "beast". In PF2e, the distinction between the two is primarily intelligence, allowing for creatures that don't fit into mundane biological categories to still be animals. I like the idea in theory, especially for alien critters, but it sometimes annoys me in practice. That damn biology training. The krooth has scales like a reptile but can breathe underwater, and its hypertrophic anatomy looks more like a murder chameleon than anything else. I stripped the ability to breathe underwater off of it and gave it hold breath, but if you want to reinstate it, my pet peeves aren't gonna stop you.

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Krooth CR 8 N Animal This creature looks something like an armor plated lizard, with a bony crest growing from the back of its skull and spikes studding its long, flexible tail. Its claws are long and curved, and its needle-sharp teeth project forward from its jaws.

Krooths are tank-like amphibious lizards, sometimes called crocodile eaters for their fondness for the flesh of other reptiles and amphibians. Krooths do not hesitate to attack sapient members of those groups, and lizardfolk consider slaying a krooth to be an act of great valor. Strangely, krooths dislike the taste and smell of goblinoids, particularly bugbears. This does not mean that a krooth will not attack one of these, especially if provoked, but it does mean that the krooth will avoid using its bite attack, and will groom itself thoroughly afterwards.

Krooths are ambush predators, and are especially stealthy underwater. Their bodies are bristling with natural weapons, the most feared of which are their hollow teeth. A krooth will snap off one of its teeth into the flesh of a victim, activating enzymes from the krooth’s gums that serve as a powerful anticoagulant. Krooth kills are therefore incredibly messy, and if a creature escapes from the krooth, the beast will track it from its blood trail and devour it when it catches up.

Although there is little physical sexual dimorphism within krooths, males and females behave differently. Males are solitary and peripatetic, moving from one body of water to another and lashing out aggressively at possible threats. Females are social and more stationary, as they creche in order to protect their many kroothlings from danger. In krooth creches, pairs of females will leave to forage and bring back meat to the whole group. Mating in krooths is a raucous and violent affair. After their young have grown and dispersed (a process that takes between 4-5 years), a pack of females will seek out a lone male, mate with him repeatedly, then devour him. The internal organs of krooths contain many strange chemicals, including enzymes vital for the development of eggs and others that convert pain signals into increased aggression. Alchemists will gladly pay 800 gp for the intact organs of a krooth, with the price dropping for conditions such as decomposition or missing pieces.

Krooth as Animal Companions Starting Statistics: Size Medium; Speed 40 ft., swim 30 ft.; AC +4 natural armor; Attack bite (1d6), 2 claws (1d4), tail slap (1d6); Ability Scores Str 12, Dex 17, Con1 6, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 11; Special Attacks pain frenzy, thagomizer; Special Qualities hold breath, immune to pain 7th level Advancement: Size Large; AC +4 natural armor; Attack bite (1d10), 2 claws (1d6), tail slap (1d8); Ability Scores +8 Str, +4 Con; Special Attacks poison tooth

(art by Hideyoshi on DeviantArt)

It’s been a bit, but it’s time for our third, but perhaps darkest of the artifact archetypes.

In the nation of Galt, decades of perpetual revolution, with each new revolutionary council being executed by the organization known as the Gray Gardeners had left the populous living in fear, and perhaps no larger symbol of that fear exists than the Final Blades.

These soul-trapping guillotine blades, on paper meant to prevent loyalists from resurrecting any rightful heirs or political adversaries elsewhere, were in truth terrible weapons of future devastation devised by the true architect of these events, one that would have plunged the nation into utter ruin if it had succeeded.

However, even with the defeat of the conqueror worm and the disbanding of the Gardeners, the shadow of these blades remains. Many have been ritualistically blunted and rendered empty and inert, but a few are left unaccounted for, including the still-potent shards of Silent Lenore among others that were shattered but not rendered inert.

And it is from the shards of such terrible tools of injustice and cruelty that splinters of finality have been created. These slivers of metal can be inserted harmlessly into the neck of a willing recipient to give the bearer a measure of the lethal power of the final blades at full power, becoming a tool only willingly used by the most ruthless figures.

The sliver of metal weakens the body while so embedded, but in exchange it anchors the soul, warding them against spiritual damage, the depredations of haunts and spirits, and resistance against effects that would sap the mind or soul.

With a gesture, the bearer can draw forth a spectral dagger shaped like a crude weapon made from a shard of metal, which can reach into the ether to slash as incorporeal foes, and has a slight edge of spiritual damage to it that flares up when dealing critical blows.

While the blade cannot increase fear itself, some use the spiritual nature of it to further unnerve foes, preventing them from calming down.

The same way a razor leaves bleeding wounds in flesh, these daggers can leave wounds in the soul that leak vitality. Furthermore, the bearer can draw energy from the bleed to improve their own vitality.

Final blades are traps for the soul, and that purpose gives the shard an urge to draw souls in. This can slow nearby spectral dead and keep a living person alive as their soul is hindered from departing their body. What’s more, in the latter situation that hunger for living souls means the projected blade becomes even more vicious while someone nearby lies on the brink of death.

As they grow in power, the bearers can tap into the souls still trapped in the fragment and weaponize them in various ways. One such way is to weaken the body of their targets or distract them with otherworldly whispers, preventing them from reacting to the actions of others. Another feat allows them the option of cursing foes or marking them to be especially vulnerable to spiritual assault.

Eventually, the shards and their projected blades begin to truly hunger for souls, becoming even more lethal to living creatures they have already stabbed.

Those with a more defensive mindset can briefly surround themselves with the tattered soul fragments of those slain by the original final blade, warding themselves against several esoteric damage types. What’s more, they can extend the duration of this ward by slaying foes.

As shards of a guillotine blade, a master of the splinter can invoke that original purpose for a short while, making the spectral dagger sometimes veer unerringly toward’s a foe’s neck with deadly cutting power.

The most powerful and sinister wielders can empower the fragment enough that it can briefly fulfill the original purpose of trapping souls, at least for a day. During that time, the wielder taps into the soul’s energies to heal themselves. But while the soul normally gets free eventually, a cruel wielder can transfer the trapped soul to a fully functional final blade instead.

This archetype is definitely sinister and not for the morally righteous, but it has a lot of potential, able to deal extra damage, have a always-retrievable dagger that can be upgraded, lay down all sorts of debuffs with some defensive buffs as well… In the hands of a rogue, swashbuckler, or ranger or the like, this can be a deadly weapon and archetype indeed.

This archetype is heavily tied to the Lost Omens setting, but it doesn’t have to be. Any sort of sinister metallic shard of an infamous deadly weapon could potentially be the lore basis here. I can even see the argument for creating similar archetypes involving bigger weapons than just a dagger.

They say one of the fragments of the Scytheshards, broken from the weapon of Death Itself, lies somewhere in the ruins of Holjamin rainforest. Unfortunately for any would-be claimants, the ruins host all sorts of deadly reptilian beasts, including ravenous krooths.

It is the first-year anniversary of the invention of the Aetherphone, a device that allows the user of a transmitter to project voice and sounds across vast distances to those that have a receiver device, connecting people to the heart of news and even musical performances from anywhere in the broadcasting range. However, during the celebratory broadcast, a mysterious person invaded the studio and murdered the host on the air. Now the aetheric devices echo with his death cries while the killer remains at large. Who could have done this and why?