Bizzare and unnatural: The Achlodoch [Archive] - Wizards Community

Bizzare and unnatural: The Achlodoch [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Perilanku
07-10-03, 04:27 AM "Let's just say it wasn't an easy, or forgettable battle" Lidda explained.

The people of the Rusty Griffon all huddled around the 4 wary adventurers, listening to thier tale. Few believed all the details, but few could deny them.

"Krusk was the first to go," the little halfling explained. "We were fighting our way through the Lost Forest when all of a sudden he stopped. The worgs we were dealing with fled as he fell out of his battle rage ..."

Krusk nodded. "Suddenly, I didn't feel like fighting anymore. The fire in my gut turned cold. I didn't think the worgs needed thier skulls cleaved."

"We all tried to figure it out, when he was suddenly attacked." Lidda continued.

"I can't really describe what it looked like, but it scared the hell outta me ... or, rather, I think it would of, I didn't feel as cold as a dead fish. I just stared at it as it beat me into submission." Krusk finished.

"Then I went" Lidda explained. "While me Jozan and Mialee went to see what happened to ol' Krusk, I suddenly found myself absolutely terrified of elves."

Mialee smiled. "Booga" she said across the table, and Lidda flinched.

"Not funny" she said. "I couldn't stay around her, so I tried to flee, which is when I ran into it."

"We observed the combat" Jozan added, "but neither me nor Mialee could understand. She looked like she was fighting nothing."

"So I cast see invisibility, and, Corellon above, was that a mistake. I was instantly stuck dumb with visions or horror and pain." Mialee explained, holding her head in memory. "I couldn't shake it off ... it felt like my mind was rebelling against me."

"Then," Jozan added, "I remembered the legend of the Achlodoch, the Insanity Elemental. One had to be mad to effect it with spell or sword. I shook Mialee and explained the situation. Ever the brave one, she accepted the challenge."

"I strode towards the battle between the air and Lidda" Mialee said, "And challenged it to harm my iron clad sanity. Within a few moments I was singing my favorite tune from childhood and sucking on my thumb as I cast a few spells at the beast."

Jozan nodded. "I avoided losing my sanity. Someone needed to heal the party of thier madness after the battle."

"Luckily," Krusk explained, "I came to right about then, and walked calmly towards the battle, not caring either way, and saw an opening."

"You pushed me aside" said Lidda angrily, "and stabbed it through the head."

"You were in my way, halfin'" Krusk explained. "I didn't care, you were blocking me"

They all sighed. "Luckily" Mialee explained, "Jozan had the foresight to avoid the madness so he could heal us all. Right Jozan?"

Jozan stood straight up, and all the crowd in the tavern gasped as he drew his mace and smashed it into the table, breaking it in two. "I am not Jozan!!" he cried, in a voice full of rage and hate. "I am Dethek, Dark Elf master, and Groom to the Spider Queen!! Feel my unholy wrath!!"

Before he could finish the spell, Krusk smashed him over the helmet with the blunt end of his axe. The cleric promptly fell to the tavern floor, unconcious. "Wacko." he said, and took a swig of his drink.

ACHLODOCH (Insanity Elemental)

Medium Sized Outsider (Extraplanar, Chaotic)
HD: 6d8+36 (76 hp)
Init: +6
Speed: Fly 50 ft (perfect)
AC: 20 (+6 dex, +4 natural)
Attacks: 4 pseudopods +12
Damage: pseudopod 1d6+2 plus 1d6 Wisdom damage
Face/Reach: 5 ft by 5 ft/5 ft
Special Attacks: Spread Madness, Spell Like abilities
Special Qualities: SR 15, Maddening Visage, Immunities, Kingdom of the Mad, Insane, Fast Healing 3
Saves: Fort +11, Ref +11, Will +1
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 22, Con 22, Int 4, Wis 3, Cha 20
Skills: Hide +13, Move Silently +13, Concentration +14
Feats: Combat Casting, Weapon Finesse (Pseudopod)

Climate/Terrain: Your Head
Organization: Single, Bedlam (42, 69, or 666)
CR: ?
Treasure: None
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Advancement: 6-12 HD (medium); 13-18 HD (large)

An Insanity Elemental exists as a being of pure madness. It can only be fought by those whose minds have been infected with madness to begin with. To deal with the creature, you have to allow it to drive you insane (which doesn’t naturally go away afterwards), or be insane to begin with. Otherwise it floats about, neither in this reality or the next, without rhyme or reason, and spreads it’s cursed state.

No-one who looks at a Achlodoch is sane, or remains sane for long, so exact descriptions of these beings are scarce. They are roughly the size of a wold, but made of swirling, twisting, jumbles of fear, tension, anxiety, childhood terror, twisted glee and jello. They attack with long strands of solidified maness in a sort of tentacle-hand dealy, often called a pseudopod.

Spread Madness (Su): As a Full Round action, an Insanity Elemental can drive any being with an Intelligence score above 3 that it can hit with a touch attack absolutely crackers. This can be resisted with a DC 18 Will Save, but if they fail, one of 6 possible forms of insanity are visited upon the victim. Roll a 6 sided die to determine the form of madness. The victims also never notice that they have gone mad. They always assume they are sane, and resist all attempts to tell them they are insane or to cure them. This is a mind-effecting ability.

1 - Masochism - any time a Masochist recieves damage in an increment under 1/4 of their HP, they will do nothing but moan in ecstasy for 1d3 turns. If the damage is over 1/4 of their HP, or they are actually at 1/4 of thier HP or lower, they still feel good, but realize the danger to thier continued survival and can act normally. In thier own free time they will hurt themselves.

2 - Multiple Personalities - 1d4 other personalities of random Alignments and character traits (Roll on the random character trait table in the DMG) manifest themselves. In times of stress, or during activities indemic to thier nature (during combat for a cold-blooded NE killer for example) the person must make a Will Save, DC 18, or the other personality takes over for 1d10 hours. Every time they wake up, they should roll randomly to see which personality is dominant.

3 - Phobia - Something in the area as of the Insanity Elemental’s infection becomes imedeatly terrifying to a phobic character. It could be the inclosed areas they were fighting in, it could be wide open outdoors. It could be cats, it could be wizards. It could gnomes if you have a gnome partymate. When confronted with the thing of thier phobia, phobics have to make a Willpower save, DC 18, or flee from the thing. If they cannot flee, they will attack it.

4 - Desensitization - All emotion flees from the character. They do not feel friendship for thier former friends, or hatred for thier former enemies. They find nothing funny, and very little scary. They simply have no attachment to any emotional things anymore. They will fight to protect themselves, but any attempts to convince him to help others will be met with “So?” or “Why should I care”. They gain a +4 to Fear or other emotion-based saves, but thier alignment changes to Neutral, and they lose the ability to Rage if they had it.

5 - Manic - The opposite of desensitization, manics have no control over thier emotions. They suffer a -4 to saves against Fear or other emotion-based effects. They are always yelling, crying, shouting, and overreacting about everything. Simple little things will hurt thier feelings, and when they get angry enough to fight something, they won’t stop till that something’s dead.

6 - CrazyMan - As the Insanity spell. They do stuff randomly, and no-one will know what.

This effect is permanent. The only way to remove the madness is a Remove Curse, Limited Wish, Heal, or Wish spell. Without these spells, they will remain mad forever.

Kingdom of the Mad (su): To creatures not insane, either from this power or their own madness, Achlodochs are permanently invisible and they cannot be harmed by anyone who is not mad, not even by spells or magical items. They also cannot deal normal damage or physically effect sane opponents, though they can use Spell-like abilities or their Wisdom drain on such folk, not to mention Spread Madness. Against insane opponents, Achlodochs are fully corporal and visible. They exist in their own world of madness, and cannot be accessed by the Ethereal or Astral Planes, and you cannot Plane Shift to where Achlodochs exist. They live in the minds of the insane, and nowhere else. Beings able to see the Achlodoch while remaining sane see it’s basic outline, and a swirl of light but those who do for more then a turn suffer the effects of it’s Maddening Visage.

Maddening Visage (su): Anyone looking at the Insanity Elemental who can see it is effected by a Confusion Spell as if cast by a 5th Sorcerer, DC 18 to resist. This is a visual effect, and those who are blind do not suffer the effects. Those who are already Confused are not effected.

Immunities: Insanity Elementals are immune to all Mind-Influencing effects. Anyone stupid enough to use Detect Thoughts, or attempt to communicate Telepathically suffer the effects of Spread Madness as describe above. They are also immune to any attack, spell, or item used by a sane being, as described under Kingdom of the Mad above.

Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day - Dream, Nightmare, Fear, Hallucinatory Terrain, Emotion, Phantasmal Killer all as a 6th Sorcerer

Insane (ex): As beings of Madness, it makes sense Achlodochs are crazier then a catbox. They constantly suffer under the effects of an Insanity spell, and if anyone ever Healed, Removed Curse, or Wished them to be sane, they would wink out of existence, their animating madness dissipating.
Perilanku
07-11-03, 01:03 AM Anyone wanna help me tweak this, or help me get a good challenege rating? Or at least tell me what they think about the creature or the fiction?
Rothgar Skullsplitter
07-11-03, 01:31 AM Hey, cool concept. :D
Hmmm, as for a CR...how about any where between 8-10?

Anyway, I really like this outsider; very fresh and creative. :)
Adrez Nesnsid
07-11-03, 11:31 AM This is a cool concept
Ob_Deamon
07-13-03, 10:54 AM Well, it seems that my pencient for playing insane charecters is paying off!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Perilanku 07-10-03, 04:27 AM	"Let's just say it wasn't an easy, or forgettable battle" Lidda explained. The people of the Rusty Griffon all huddled around the 4 wary adventurers, listening to thier tale. Few believed all the details, but few could deny them. "Krusk was the first to go," the little halfling explained. "We were fighting our way through the Lost Forest when all of a sudden he stopped. The worgs we were dealing with fled as he fell out of his battle rage ..." Krusk nodded. "Suddenly, I didn't feel like fighting anymore. The fire in my gut turned cold. I didn't think the worgs needed thier skulls cleaved." "We all tried to figure it out, when he was suddenly attacked." Lidda continued. "I can't really describe what it looked like, but it scared the hell outta me ... or, rather, I think it would of, I didn't feel as cold as a dead fish. I just stared at it as it beat me into submission." Krusk finished. "Then I went" Lidda explained. "While me Jozan and Mialee went to see what happened to ol' Krusk, I suddenly found myself absolutely terrified of elves." Mialee smiled. "Booga" she said across the table, and Lidda flinched. "Not funny" she said. "I couldn't stay around her, so I tried to flee, which is when I ran into it." "We observed the combat" Jozan added, "but neither me nor Mialee could understand. She looked like she was fighting nothing." "So I cast see invisibility, and, Corellon above, was that a mistake. I was instantly stuck dumb with visions or horror and pain." Mialee explained, holding her head in memory. "I couldn't shake it off ... it felt like my mind was rebelling against me." "Then," Jozan added, "I remembered the legend of the Achlodoch, the Insanity Elemental. One had to be mad to effect it with spell or sword. I shook Mialee and explained the situation. Ever the brave one, she accepted the challenge." "I strode towards the battle between the air and Lidda" Mialee said, "And challenged it to harm my iron clad sanity. Within a few moments I was singing my favorite tune from childhood and sucking on my thumb as I cast a few spells at the beast." Jozan nodded. "I avoided losing my sanity. Someone needed to heal the party of thier madness after the battle." "Luckily," Krusk explained, "I came to right about then, and walked calmly towards the battle, not caring either way, and saw an opening." "You pushed me aside" said Lidda angrily, "and stabbed it through the head." "You were in my way, halfin'" Krusk explained. "I didn't care, you were blocking me" They all sighed. "Luckily" Mialee explained, "Jozan had the foresight to avoid the madness so he could heal us all. Right Jozan?" Jozan stood straight up, and all the crowd in the tavern gasped as he drew his mace and smashed it into the table, breaking it in two. "I am not Jozan!!" he cried, in a voice full of rage and hate. "I am Dethek, Dark Elf master, and Groom to the Spider Queen!! Feel my unholy wrath!!" Before he could finish the spell, Krusk smashed him over the helmet with the blunt end of his axe. The cleric promptly fell to the tavern floor, unconcious. "Wacko." he said, and took a swig of his drink. ACHLODOCH (Insanity Elemental) Medium Sized Outsider (Extraplanar, Chaotic) HD: 6d8+36 (76 hp) Init: +6 Speed: Fly 50 ft (perfect) AC: 20 (+6 dex, +4 natural) Attacks: 4 pseudopods +12 Damage: pseudopod 1d6+2 plus 1d6 Wisdom damage Face/Reach: 5 ft by 5 ft/5 ft Special Attacks: Spread Madness, Spell Like abilities Special Qualities: SR 15, Maddening Visage, Immunities, Kingdom of the Mad, Insane, Fast Healing 3 Saves: Fort +11, Ref +11, Will +1 Abilities: Str 14, Dex 22, Con 22, Int 4, Wis 3, Cha 20 Skills: Hide +13, Move Silently +13, Concentration +14 Feats: Combat Casting, Weapon Finesse (Pseudopod) Climate/Terrain: Your Head Organization: Single, Bedlam (42, 69, or 666) CR: ? Treasure: None Alignment: Chaotic Neutral Advancement: 6-12 HD (medium); 13-18 HD (large) An Insanity Elemental exists as a being of pure madness. It can only be fought by those whose minds have been infected with madness to begin with. To deal with the creature, you have to allow it to drive you insane (which doesn’t naturally go away afterwards), or be insane to begin with. Otherwise it floats about, neither in this reality or the next, without rhyme or reason, and spreads it’s cursed state. No-one who looks at a Achlodoch is sane, or remains sane for long, so exact descriptions of these beings are scarce. They are roughly the size of a wold, but made of swirling, twisting, jumbles of fear, tension, anxiety, childhood terror, twisted glee and jello. They attack with long strands of solidified maness in a sort of tentacle-hand dealy, often called a pseudopod. Spread Madness (Su): As a Full Round action, an Insanity Elemental can drive any being with an Intelligence score above 3 that it can hit with a touch attack absolutely crackers. This can be resisted with a DC 18 Will Save, but if they fail, one of 6 possible forms of insanity are visited upon the victim. Roll a 6 sided die to determine the form of madness. The victims also never notice that they have gone mad. They always assume they are sane, and resist all attempts to tell them they are insane or to cure them. This is a mind-effecting ability. 1 - Masochism - any time a Masochist recieves damage in an increment under 1/4 of their HP, they will do nothing but moan in ecstasy for 1d3 turns. If the damage is over 1/4 of their HP, or they are actually at 1/4 of thier HP or lower, they still feel good, but realize the danger to thier continued survival and can act normally. In thier own free time they will hurt themselves. 2 - Multiple Personalities - 1d4 other personalities of random Alignments and character traits (Roll on the random character trait table in the DMG) manifest themselves. In times of stress, or during activities indemic to thier nature (during combat for a cold-blooded NE killer for example) the person must make a Will Save, DC 18, or the other personality takes over for 1d10 hours. Every time they wake up, they should roll randomly to see which personality is dominant. 3 - Phobia - Something in the area as of the Insanity Elemental’s infection becomes imedeatly terrifying to a phobic character. It could be the inclosed areas they were fighting in, it could be wide open outdoors. It could be cats, it could be wizards. It could gnomes if you have a gnome partymate. When confronted with the thing of thier phobia, phobics have to make a Willpower save, DC 18, or flee from the thing. If they cannot flee, they will attack it. 4 - Desensitization - All emotion flees from the character. They do not feel friendship for thier former friends, or hatred for thier former enemies. They find nothing funny, and very little scary. They simply have no attachment to any emotional things anymore. They will fight to protect themselves, but any attempts to convince him to help others will be met with “So?” or “Why should I care”. They gain a +4 to Fear or other emotion-based saves, but thier alignment changes to Neutral, and they lose the ability to Rage if they had it. 5 - Manic - The opposite of desensitization, manics have no control over thier emotions. They suffer a -4 to saves against Fear or other emotion-based effects. They are always yelling, crying, shouting, and overreacting about everything. Simple little things will hurt thier feelings, and when they get angry enough to fight something, they won’t stop till that something’s dead. 6 - CrazyMan - As the Insanity spell. They do stuff randomly, and no-one will know what. This effect is permanent. The only way to remove the madness is a Remove Curse, Limited Wish, Heal, or Wish spell. Without these spells, they will remain mad forever. Kingdom of the Mad (su): To creatures not insane, either from this power or their own madness, Achlodochs are permanently invisible and they cannot be harmed by anyone who is not mad, not even by spells or magical items. They also cannot deal normal damage or physically effect sane opponents, though they can use Spell-like abilities or their Wisdom drain on such folk, not to mention Spread Madness. Against insane opponents, Achlodochs are fully corporal and visible. They exist in their own world of madness, and cannot be accessed by the Ethereal or Astral Planes, and you cannot Plane Shift to where Achlodochs exist. They live in the minds of the insane, and nowhere else. Beings able to see the Achlodoch while remaining sane see it’s basic outline, and a swirl of light but those who do for more then a turn suffer the effects of it’s Maddening Visage. Maddening Visage (su): Anyone looking at the Insanity Elemental who can see it is effected by a Confusion Spell as if cast by a 5th Sorcerer, DC 18 to resist. This is a visual effect, and those who are blind do not suffer the effects. Those who are already Confused are not effected. Immunities: Insanity Elementals are immune to all Mind-Influencing effects. Anyone stupid enough to use Detect Thoughts, or attempt to communicate Telepathically suffer the effects of Spread Madness as describe above. They are also immune to any attack, spell, or item used by a sane being, as described under Kingdom of the Mad above. Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day - Dream, Nightmare, Fear, Hallucinatory Terrain, Emotion, Phantasmal Killer all as a 6th Sorcerer Insane (ex): As beings of Madness, it makes sense Achlodochs are crazier then a catbox. They constantly suffer under the effects of an Insanity spell, and if anyone ever Healed, Removed Curse, or Wished them to be sane, they would wink out of existence, their animating madness dissipating.
Perilanku 07-11-03, 01:03 AM	Anyone wanna help me tweak this, or help me get a good challenege rating? Or at least tell me what they think about the creature or the fiction?
Rothgar Skullsplitter 07-11-03, 01:31 AM	Hey, cool concept. :D Hmmm, as for a CR...how about any where between 8-10? Anyway, I really like this outsider; very fresh and creative. :)
Adrez Nesnsid 07-11-03, 11:31 AM	This is a cool concept
Ob_Deamon 07-13-03, 10:54 AM	Well, it seems that my pencient for playing insane charecters is paying off!