Creature Codex

Underlords are far from mindlessly obedient maintenance workers. The ritual to create one invests a partial imprint of the primary caster's mind and personality within it, allowing the Underlord to better understand its master's aesthetic desires and the overall shape, function, and mood of the dungeon. It is not a full copy of the caster's mind in order to prevent the construct from simply supplanting its creator in the belief that it is the original (or superior to the original), but rather the mind acts as a trellis of beliefs, desires, ambitions, and ideas which the Underlord's OWN consciousness can grow along like vines. A "basic" Underlord, freshly created and getting its bearings, is a patient and calculating entity with a deep understanding of engineering and self-sufficiency, entirely devoted to the idea that its dungeon must exist for as long as it possibly can, as any being wishing to keep themselves alive would.

In addition to its engineering and construction prowess, an Underlord begins its life knowing more about magic than some practiced mages and has the capacity to learn even more. Combined with its various other abilities, this means that, while there are numerous safeguards in place to prevent it from backstabbing its creator, some Underlords born from the prideful can begin to develop superiority complexes of their own, if not towards their creator then certainly towards any and all other beings that walk their halls, and grow prone to expressing these feelings in dangerous ways.

In most cases, Underlords typically consider themselves as "second in commands" of the dungeon and/or the greatest minion in service of their creator, with or without saying it aloud. They will always only consider themselves second in command, as the safeguards built into the ritual to create them prevents them from ever considering themselves the true lord of a dungeon and attempting to wrench control from their creator, and they will follow any order given from their creator (sometimes with "creative interpretations") regardless of any danger it may present to themselves. A creator may indeed order an Underlord to destroy itself if they believe it has gotten too powerful or free-willed... though in the case of such willful constructs, they will often have backup plans in place to allow them to survive in some form or fashion as their ability to predict their master's desires and sways of mood is turned into a weapon rather than a tool.

If an Underlord's creator perishes, this is not the end of the threat, as the construct will utilize the imprinted memories and ambitions to continue their master's legacy. Sometimes, the obedient construct will work towards resurrecting its creator if it believes it can, utilizing its abilities and connections secure the aid and/or resources it requires for such a task, though in most cases an Underlord will seek to complete its master's "final project" for them... but there have been times where an Underlord simply seals the entrances to its dungeon and exists in quiet perpetuity, alone with its thoughts (whatever they may be) and whatever minions still linger in the area, only lashing out when some new stimulus interrupts its pondering. These 'quiet' Underlords are most often encountered when their dungeons are acting as prisons, tombs, or vaults, while more active and threatening Underlords are usually found in dungeons which served as laboratories, bases of operation, or homes for their former master and their minions.

----- CREATION AND CONTROL -----

The ritual to create an Underlord is known as the Grand Servant of Mendechaus, named for its creator, a short-sighted archmage who had lost his previous lair to a series of escalating catastrophes which began with his minions being dissatisfied with their inability to regularly sleep in clean beds or eat proper meals and ended with the entire lair falling to a group of heroic adventurers who simply walked past traps that hadn't been re-armed and guardians who weren't paid well enough to bother stopping them. Mendechaus vowed he would never suffer such a humiliating failure again, and sought to create the ultimate servant and dungeon guardian. After numerous further failures (which resulted in free-willed, ambitious, and conniving Underlords, many of which still exist to this day in sealed-away chambers), he finally perfected the ritual to create an obedient and faithful construct which would oversee the upkeep and defense of the dungeon while allowing him to focus entirely on his own wicked ambitions.

The eventual fate of Mendechaus is not known, but the fact that his painstaking research project has ended up in the hands of numerous other dungeon lords over the years points towards him meeting a terrible fate and having his works stolen. Still, some believe that the ritual was willingly taught to well-paying associates by Mendechaus himself in the twilight of his life, while others believe his creation impressed a higher power and allowed him to become some fiendish demigod, most likely an Infernal Duke, to spread his creation through his servants... but if he IS some sort of new divinity, he is terribly obscure on his home world of Golarion.

The Grand Servant of Mendechaus is a 8th level Occult Ritual which takes no fewer than 8 days to complete, requires a wide variety of expensive and obscure focus materials, and demands the sacrifice of over 80,000 gp worth of materials. Despite the undoubtedly evil nature of its creator, the ritual itself is not an evil act, and the Underlords begin as True Neutral aligned, though they eventually grow to reflect the alignment of their creator. Whatever alignment they end up being, their duty is to keep themselves alive, their dungeon functioning, and their minions and master content (if not happy), which often leads to lawful behavior, such as their drive to fairly pay their minions for their duties.

(This creation ritual will not be given further stats, and thus will be entirely at the DMs discretion, but suffice to say not every mad mage or maniac cult should have access to one!)

At the conclusion of the ritual, the Underlord is created in the center of the dungeon in which it was cast. The Underlord is a massive, immobile construct that takes up a 20ft square of space and is 20ft tall, and a "fresh" one resembles the arcane core pictured above. The Grand Servant ritual creates a room capable of supporting the Underlord if one does not already exist. Over time, the Underlords will reshape themselves to better fit the aesthetic of their creator, becoming such things as a churning geometric shape, a many-ringed angel, a large gemstone, or a gigantic beating heart.

Once created, the Underlord will swiftly connect to the dungeon. Its awareness spreads across the entirety of the structure in a single minute--it cannot spread through unworked terrain or destroyed portions of the architecture, however, only unbroken lines of the dungeon's structure, an intentional flaw/safeguard to potentially allow the dungeon's master to have areas the Underlord cannot see or reach. In most cases, the Underlord will see these as errors and will try and correct them, letting its awareness spread into the disconnected section by having its Underlings work the soil or stone, something it must be explicitly instructed not to do.

An Underlord fully connected to a dungeon will quickly take note of any faults or mistakes, even ones thorough engineers may have not spotted. Whether it be something grand like a dangerous terrain feature being too close to an important hallway, or something moderately hazardous like two room features being too risky to place closely together, or something as lowly as a weakened fastener holding a beam together, it all registers to the construct as flaws in its body that it must correct, just as a human may steps to alleviate aches in their body or blemishes on their skin. The construct swiftly creates and dispatches its Underlings and utilizes its magic to fix problems great and small as the Underlord reaches its senses into the surrounding area to get an idea of all the directions it may be able to grow in, all the environmental resources it has available to use, and how it may exploit natural features to its advantage in some way.

An Underlord is treated as an object or piece of terrain in every case in which it would be advantageous for it, though it has a mind and many stats; it has 300 HP, and a hardness of 10, a further 20 points of Resistance to all forms of elemental damage, and all resistances and immunities afforded to the Construct creature type. When required, it has 10 AC, a Fortitude and Will save modifier of +14, and automatically fails all Reflex saves, as it is immobile. The Underlord cannot make Str and Dex checks, but has a +6 to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma checks. Underlords have +16 to Appraise, Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Linguistics, Perception, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, and Use Magic Device checks, as well as to three of any Knowledge skills (one of which is always Engineering) and up to three of any Craft skills, determined at their creation. Underlords start knowing Common plus all languages spoken by its master, and can speak telepathically with any being inside of the dungeon which allows it (a creature may revoke and reinstate the construct's ability to speak to them at will). During combat, the Underlord is treated as though it has an initiative count of 10.

The abilities common to all Underlords are as follows:

Arcane Assimilation (Su): A basic Underlord can cast spells as a 14th level Wizard (no bonus slots for high Intelligence) and has a +19 to concentration checks, though some can become more powerful over time. An Underlord has no Opposition Schools and knows all Wizard cantrips and all level 1, 2, and 3 spells on the Wizard spell list by default. An Underlord requires no components to cast its spells except for focus components or costly material components, the latter of which it can create spontaneously as a free action by sacrificing an equivalent amount of gold and gems from specialized vault chambers in the dungeon. When casting a spell, it may cast the spell directly from its core, from its Underhand, or from one of its Underlings, treating them as the origin point for the spell. The save DC for the Underlord's spell is 16 + the spell's level. An Underlord can learn new spells by absorbing scrolls and spellbooks; this destroys the scroll or spellbook but infuses the spells within the Underlord, allowing it to use them with its own magic. They can learn any spell on the Bard, Summoner, Witch, or Wizard spell lists in this way.

Create Rooms (Su): The Underlord can fill existing chambers by generating items and furniture made of common materials (wood, stone, wool, iron, etc) to fulfill nearly function it desires, such as a simple forge for a smithy, shelves for a library with paper or blank books and ink for writing, decent blankets and clothing, chairs and tables for a dining area with an accompanying oven and stovetop for a kitchen, etc. The Underlord can freely generate upwards to 500gp of items daily, typically enough to let it furnish and decorate at least one room a day, and/or arm multiple minions with common weapons and armor. Unless instructed otherwise, it will only ever create items as-needed and will not create and store raw material. Any items created with this ability are fully functional and will never disappear, though they visibly tarnish and gain the broken condition while outside of the dungeon; this does not affect anything made with items created by this ability, such as weapons made in a created forge, scrolls crafted in a scriptorium, or food made in a created kitchen. Underlords are only able to create simple weapons and light or medium armor with this ability, and cannot create anything magical. Some Underlords learn the Fabricate spell via their Arcane Assimilation to help alleviate these limitations, though most simply seek to employ actual craftsmen.

Create Traps (Su): Once per day as a full-round action, the Underlord can spontaneously create one trap of CR 2 or lower anywhere within the dungeon that can support the trap. It can only have six such traps in existence at a time, and creating a seventh causes a different one of the Underlord's choice to disappear. These generated traps never spring on the dungeon's inhabitants, and if disarmed, the Underlings are drawn to re-arm them. The Underlord and all Underlings sense whenever a trap is sprung, disarmed, or destroyed. This ability does not affect traps set by anyone else in the dungeon, though the Underlings may still re-arm those traps.

Create Underhand (Su): Once per day, the Underlord can conjure a unique Construct known as an Underhand to directly enact its will. This process takes 1 minute of concentration. At the conclusion, the freshly conjured Underhand appears in a space adjacent to it. The Underlord can only have one Underhand in existence at a time; using this ability while it already has one instead restores that Underhand to full hitpoints, removes all conditions and effects from it, and returns it to the Underlord's side from across any distance. If the Underlord is destroyed, the Underhand is simultaneously destroyed.

Create Underling (Su): Underlords immediately create four Underlings upon their creation. Once per hour, the Underlord can perform a 1-minute ceremony to create a new Underling in a square adjacent to itself or its Underhand, to a maximum of 10. Attempting to create a new Underling while at the maximum number does nothing. Underlings are utterly subservient to the Underlord and obey its mental commands without question or complaint, and obey commands from other dungeon inhabitants with some questions and complaints. If under no orders, they perform all construction, renovation, and maintenance needed in the dungeon. The Underlord has a permanent Status spell on all of its Underlings. If the Underlord is destroyed, all of its Underlings die simultaneously. An Underlord may will an Underling to die as a swift action. Any Underling that dies vanishes in a plume of smoke, its possessions dropping to the ground in its former space.

Dungeon Sense (Su): An Underlord can easily see and hear the goings-on in its dungeon through its minions, and feel what is happening as if the structure were its body. It can focus its will on its Underhand, any of its Underlings, or any willing creature in the dungeon at any time as a swift or standard action to form a magical glyph over that creature that allows it to see, hear, and audibly speak from creature's space for as long as it desires, using its +16 to Perception checks to examine the dungeon. If it focuses on a different target, the sensor disappears from the previous one. The Underlord feels whenever a surface or structure within its dungeon is destroyed, potentially allowing it to sense intruders who are breaking down doors, destroying traps, or digging through walls.

Payday (Su): The Underlord slowly but steadily generates wealth. Each day, it creates 300gp worth of coins and/or gems, arranged in stacks and piles in spaces adjacent to it or within a designated vault chamber. Subtly lawful programming drives the Underlord to use this wealth to benefit the dungeon, prioritizing tasks such as paying its minions' wages (which it cannot be dissuaded from doing so long as the hireling is doing its job, going behind its master's back if it must), seeking out new minions to hire, or purchasing goods required for the dungeon's continued protection and function (or, as is often the case, making arrangements to do so through a liaison). Coins created with this ability bear the dungeon master's iconography. This created currency never disappears.

Possession (Sp): At will as a standard action, the Underlord can seize control of an Underling or its Underhand as if using the spell Possession without offering a saving throw, letting it interact with the dungeon, the items within, and its inhabitants more personally. This version of the spell reaches anywhere within the dungeon and lasts until the Underlord dismisses it.

The Underlings are the primary servants of the Underlord. Like their creator they are not entirely mindless and may, in time, develop personalities of their own... not that many inhabitants of the dungeon will notice. They are utterly without ambition and entirely devoted to the dungeon's wellbeing, finding joy in ceaseless labor and being directed to work by the dungeon's inhabitants, no matter what that work may be. They handle the mining and renovation work to expand the dungeon over time, as well as all the small, annoying jobs around the dungeon--stocking, cleaning, hauling items from one room to the next, and all other inglorious works--to keep the inhabitants from ever needing to worry about things like laundry, lit lanterns, and cleaned latrines. About the only thing they don't do is cook, though they'll at least fetch food when asked.

Underlings begin their lives looking like squat, spindly imps with enormous eyes, their figure hunched over by their ponderous backpacks. Like the Underlord, their appearance changes overtime to reflect the whims of the dungeon's master, though they will always appear to be small and somewhat pathetic or harmless.

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UNDERLING CR 2

Neutral Small Outsider (Native) Init: +7; Senses: darkvision 60ft; Perception +8

------ Defense ------

AC 16, touch 14, flat-footed 13 (+3 Dex, +2 natural, +1 size) HP 20 (3d10) fast healing 1 Fort +1 Ref +8 Will +5 Defensive abilities Evasion, Needless; Immune disease, exhaustion, fatigue, sleep; Resist Cold 5, Fire 5

------ Offense ------

Speed 40ft Melee Light pick +5 (1d3+1) Spell-like Abilities (CL 5th; Concentration +6)

Constant--Ant Haul, Expeditious Retreat 3/day--Expeditious Excavation, Mending 1/day--Dimension Door, Stone Shape

------ Statistics ------

Str 12 Dex 17 Con 10 Int 11 Wis 14 Cha 13 Base Atk: +3; CMB +3; CMD 16 Feats Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes Skills Craft (Stonework or Woodwork) +6, Disable Device +9, Escape Artist +9, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) +10, Knowledge (Engineering) +10, Perception +8, Stealth +10 Racial Modifiers +4 to Knowledge (Engineering) and (Dungeoneering) checks Languages Common plus any one spoken by the dungeon's master SQ Compression, Contact Underlord, Workhorse

------ Ecology ------ Environment Underlord's dungeon Organization solitary, pair, crowd (2-4 plus dungeon denizens), gang (5-10 plus dungeon denizens) Treasure incidental

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Combat: Underlings are meant for maintenance, not combat. They retreat from any battle that breaks out unless forced to engage by their Underlord or the dungeon's master. The only real contribution they tend to make in a fight is bringing supplies to or retrieving weapons for their more powerful allies, though they can be ordered to use their Expeditious Excavation and Stone Shape spells offensively.

Morale: Underlings flee as soon as they even vaguely feel like they might be in danger, but if ordered to stand and fight, they will do so to the death.

------ Special Abilities ------

Contact Underlord (Ex): Underlings are in constant telepathic contact with the Underlord on a different "channel" than the telepathy it uses to speak with other dungeon inhabitants, allowing them to instantly alert the construct to important events they see.

Needless (Ex): Underlings do not breathe, eat, or sleep, and are immune to any effect that would cause fatigue, exhaustion, or sleep.

Workhorse (Su): Underlings have several small magical augments to assure they can accomplish their duties. They can conjure mundane tools such as pickaxes, hammers, shovels, and knives at will, though these tools vanish if they leave the Underling's hand. They have a constant Ant Haul effect on themselves that resumes at the start of their turn each round if it is ever dispelled. They also have a constant Expeditious Retreat effect on themselves, though this spell deactivates for 1 minute if the Underling takes any damage.

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The Underhand is the primary tool through which the Underlord personally interacts with the dungeon. It controls the Underhand as easily as a normal human would their own hand, to the point that the Underhand may suddenly begin performing gestures for no apparent reason because the Underlord is having an animated conversation in another part of the dungeon.

Left to its own devices, the Underhand autonomously patrols the halls of the dungeon, responding to requests by the denizens to move objects and creatures from one part of the dungeon to the other and attacking any intruders it comes across, but its primary purpose is to act as a vessel for the Underlord's will. The lord may easily control the hand via its Possession ability at any time, allowing it to not only combine the hand's physical strength and its spellwork to its advantage, but use the hand's built-in abilities to better control the dungeon and its inhabitants.

When first created, the Underhand looks like a simple stone hand with an eye-like pattern of markings on the palms and/or the tips of its fingers. Over time it changes shape and becomes more elaborate, often reflecting the hand of the dungeon's master covered in arcane tattoos, decorative jewelry, and gemstones.

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UNDERHAND CR 11

Neutral Medium Construct (stuff) Init: +6; Senses: darkvision 60ft, low-light vision; Perception +4

------ Defense ------

AC 24, touch 16, flat-footed 18 (+6 Dex, +8 natural) HP 100 (14d10+20) Fort +4 Ref +10 Will +8 DR 10/Magic and piercing; Immune Construct traits; Resist Cold 10, Electricity 10, Fire 10; SR 20 Weaknesses Dungeon-Bound

------ Offense ------

Speed 30ft, fly 60ft (average) Melee Slam +22 (2d6+12/19-20/x3 plus grab) Ranged Elemental Ray +20 touch (4d8+4) Special Attacks Constrict (2d6+12), grab (Large), Elemental Ray, Powerful Slam Spell-like Abilities (CL 14; Concentration +20)

Constant--Fly 3/day--Cure Serious Wounds, Dispel Magic, Fireball (DC 19), Heroism, Inflict Serious Wounds (DC 19), Lightning Bolt (DC 19) 1/day--Create Food and Water, Haste, Make Whole, Nap Stack

------ Statistics ------

Str 26 Dex 23 Con -- Int -- Wis 18 Cha 1 Base Atk: +14; CMB +22; CMD 38 (can't be tripped) Feats Improved Critical (Slam)(B) Languages Understands Common plus one language spoken by the dungeon's master (cannot speak) SQ Helping Hand, Selective Intangibility

------ Ecology ------

Environment Underlord's dungeon Organization Solitary, party (self plus 1~10 dungeon denizens) Treasure Standard

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Combat: The Underhand is a simple creature in combat due to its lack of intelligence. It fires its elemental rays at distant foes but attempts to get close as quickly as possible to slam, grab, and crush its enemies until none remain. It is only when being possessed by the Underlord or directed by the dungeon master that they can use their spell-like abilities to assist their allies and destroy their enemies. The Underlord typically keeps its hand out of the reach of its foes to rain down spells from a distance, delivering support and healing to its allies as needed. It can also, when commanded, act as a platform for allies to stand on and attack from afar.

Morale: As disposable as it is, the Underlord tends to make its hand retreat and potentially repair itself with Make Whole if it is reduced to 25 or less HP, usually grabbing a downed or gravely wounded ally and using Swift Transport (see below) to escape. If the dungeon's master or the Underlord itself is in danger, or if the Underhand is not controlled or commanded, it will fight to the death.

------ Special Abilities ------

Dungeon-Bound (Ex): The Underhand is inextricably bound to the Underlord which created it. It cannot move or be moved further than 100ft past the closest boundary of the Underlord's dungeon through any means, stopping as if impacting an invisible wall if physically forced to move. If it would be teleported or otherwise magically moved out of the dungeon, it is destroyed instantly.

Elemental Ray (Su): At will as a standard action, the Underhand may fire an elemental ray as a ranged touch attack at any target within 60ft. The elemental ray deals 4d8+4 damage, and it can choose whether the damage is Cold, Electricity, or Fire each time it fires. As a full-round action once every 1d4 rounds, the Underhand can fire up to five rays at up to five different targets (one ray per target) within rage. Each ray fired in this way must deal the same type of elemental damage.

Helping Hand (Ex): The Underhand is a mindless construct that the Underlord can control and give commands to from anywhere in the dungeon, effectively acting as its avatar. On the Underlord's turn, it may use its otherwise useless move action to command the Underhand to immediately move up to its speed in any direction, make a single slam or elemental ray attack, or use one of its spell-like abilities. If the Underlord is directly controlling the hand via its Possession ability, it may use all of the Underhand's abilities, ignoring the Possession spell's normal restrictions on what actions and abilities the caster may access. The Underhand's spell-like abilities use the Underlord's ability scores to determine their saving throws instead of its own; this has been calculated into its spell list already.

Powerful Slam (Ex): The Underhand attacks by crashing the entirety of its stony body into its targets like the fist of a furious god. Its slam adds 1-1/2 times its Strength modifier as damage. It has Improved Critical as a bonus feat, and its slam has a higher critical hit damage than normal.

Selective Intangibility (Su): The Underhand may move through solid objects as if they were difficult terrain. If it ends its turn within a solid object, it is shunted into the closest available empty space, taking 1d8 damage for every 5ft it moves.