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Template Grafts | Universal Monster Rules


Skathoil

Source Starfinder #45: The Culling Shadow pg. 59

Skathoil CR 13

XP 25,600
NE Medium Aberration
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +23
Aura frightful presence (30 ft., DC 21)

Defense

HP 225
EAC 27; KAC 29
Fort +15; Ref +15; Will +14
Defensive Abilities amorphous, void adaptation
Weaknesses light sensitivity

Offense

Speed fly 60 ft. (Ex, perfect)
Melee shadow strike +24 (4d6+21 cold plus energy drain)
Offensive Abilities create darkness, energy drain (2 levels, DC 21), shadow meld, shadowy menace

Statistics

STR +8; DEX +6; CON +3; INT +4; WIS +0; CHA +0
Skills Acrobatics +23, Athletics +23, Intimidate +28, Sense Motive +23, Stealth +28
Languages telepathy 60 ft., truespeech

Ecology

Environment any
Organization solitary

Special Abilities

Light Sensitivity (Su) Skathoil take 50% more damage from lasers and weapons with the bright special property. In bright light, they move at half their speed.
Shadow Meld (Su) A skathoil is invisible while within an area of dim light or darkness.
Shadowy Menace (Su) A skathoil can take a move action to amplify the fears of a creature within 30 feet that’s suffering from any fear effect. The target creature must succeed at a DC 21 Will save or be staggered for 1d4 rounds. This is a fear effect.

Description

Across many star systems, tales are told of “thought drainers,” hungry creatures from beyond the stars who prey on lone travelers, draining a victim’s will to live and ensuring they never return to friends and loved ones. Scholars who study these collected stories have named these creatures skathoil and believe they lurk in shadows and the depths of space. They appear to live solely on the energy they leech from others, and while they’re known to haunt the Diaspora and Absalom Station’s ghost levels, they’ve also been spotted in the Drift.

A skathoil is a patient hunter, lurking in shadows and darkness. They stalk their chosen victim, remaining close enough that the unsettling aura of fear that accompanies them everywhere intensifies the prey’s emotional vulnerability. Once their victim is truly afraid, the thought eater strikes, draining all positive thoughts from the victim until all that remains is a husk of sorrow and pain. Such victims are identified by the horrified look frozen on their faces; the skathoil leave no other trace.

Regions plagued by a skathoil circulate sometimes wild stories of the creature for generations. People who live in these places try to thwart the thought drainer by brightly illuminating all corridors and chambers and surrounding settlements with floodlights. A skathoil will lurk patiently on the outskirts of such a settlement, waiting for a chance blackout or for a careless traveler who accidentally provides it a way in.