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Shub-Naddar, Caustic Terror

Appearance

The Caustic Terror is a horrifying creature of fiendish malice. It delights in successfully deceiving other creatures and then cruelly slaying them at some moment of weakness and betrayal. The Caustic Terror is the only Shub-Naddar that can leave the Ooze for indefinite periods of time. Like other Shub-Naddar, the Caustic Terror can quickly meld into Ooze until it is indistinguishable from it. Terrors frequently use this ability when engaging in combat with other creatures in the presence of Ooze.
    Appearance is what makes the Caustic Terror so terrifying. Of all the Shub-Naddar, the Terror is the most adept at camouflaging its appearance, or at assuming the guise of other creatures. It is skilled at mimicking voices and is quick to learn the habits of other beings. It can shape its invertebrate-jelly like body into the guise of any other creature, and can even imitate multiple textures and colors simultaneously, allowing it to appear to wear clothing, fully functional armor, weapons, and even intricate facial expressions. The trick is that it cannot adjust its mass, so extra body material that it is not using as part of its disguise is cunningly made to appear as if it is part of the floor that the creature is walking upon. This is the only flaw in its otherwise perfect disguise and a sharp eye that is looking out for the right thing might spot that a Terror's feet may appear to leave the floor but that in actuality they never do.
    Caustic Terrors can be found acting as scouts, or guards for the larger hoard of Shub-Naddar, or as terror agents within civilizations that the Shub-Naddar war with.

Combat

A Shub-Naddar typically forms weapons from its body, though it can pick up and use weapons if it chooses to; it can control how caustic its flesh is, allowing it to manipulate objects without harming them. An exposed Caustic Terror simply lashes out with pseudopods, sometimes forming their tips into steel-hard slashing or piercing instruments. Caustic Terrors are typically well traveled and experienced in combat, able to use all simple weapons and wear medium-class armors if necessary to maintain their disguise.
    An undiscovered Caustic Terror is a cunning assassin, attacking when its victim is alone and circumstances will allow for the corpse to go missing for some time. They relish the thought of horrifying their victim and making them feel betrayed, conducting their murders with exceptional cruelty and then completely disposing of the body and evidence of the murder through enzymatic dissolution.
    Acidic flesh (Ex): Weapons striking a Caustic Terror and penetrating its natural armor suffer 3d6 points of acid damage. Creatures grappling with a Caustic Terror take acid damage each round without save. Caustic Terrors can buffer their acidic touch at a whim if they wish to not deal acidic damage.
    Dissolution (Ex): A grappled creature, or one who has been otherwise engaged in body contact with a Caustic Terror for one full round can be subjected to the Terror's enzymatic dissolution. After one round of continuous contact, material eating enzymes begin to damage the creature (or object), dealing 2d6 permanent damage each round. This damage cannot be healed naturally; it must be magically repaired. Dissolution damage is dealt in addition to the Caustic Terrors acidic flesh. A creature that has been entirely dissolved cannot be brought back to life by any means short of a wish or miracle spell.
    Paralysis (Ex): As a standard action, a Caustic Terror may attack a creature with a paralyzing attack. If this attack hits and causes damage then the opponent must successfully make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 24) or become paralyzed for 1d4+1 rounds as their body suffers from chemical shock. Constructs, elementals, and creatures lacking a nervous system are immune to this effect.
    Envelope (Ex): While grappling, a Caustic Terror can opt to envelope a creature of Large or smaller size within its body, flowing over the creature. The target creature can make an opposed grapple check to avoid being enveloped. An enveloped creature is grappled, though the Caustic Terror can opt to take a -20 to its grapple checks to attack as though it was not grappled.
    An enveloped creature cannot breathe, but suffocation is the least of its worries as the Caustic Terrors acidic flesh burns them and its dissolution attack begins.
    Shapechanging (Ex): Caustic Terrors are true masters of shape shifting. They can imitate not merely shape, but texture, hardness, and color with such skill that they can effect changes nearly instantaneously. They are able to imitate both creatures and objects, blend with their surroundings, or change different parts of their body into different things. A Caustic Terror has such fine control over its form that it can easily mimic voices any kind. A Caustic Terror can change its form or portion thereof as a free action, once per round.
    The only limitation to their shapechanging ability is that they cannot change their volume. Therefore, a Caustic Terror who is imitating a Medium sized creature must hide its remaining body volume somehow. They achieve this by blending their remaining flesh into the floor, walls, and objects that they touch. Their consummate skill at mimicry allows this to go unnoticed. A Hide check opposed by viewing creatures Spot check may detect something is amiss; if the viewer beats the Caustic Terror's hide check by 5 or more it actually catches sight of a small part of the Terror's flesh changing, otherwise they just feel as though there is something odd about the Terror. Allow one opposed check per change in environment (indoors to outdoors, forests to open plains, road to rugged terrain, and so forth).
    A Caustic Terror can use its shape shifting ability to hide in plain sight, even while being observed. Some Caustic Terrors use this ability to blend with their surroundings while engaged in combat so that they gain concealment (20% mischance). A Caustic Terror never uses this ability unless its true nature has been discovered.
    Shub-Naddar Traits: Immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and polymorphing. Cannot be flanked and immune to critical hits. The entire surface of a Shub-Naddar is a sensory organ, thus granting them blindsight 80 ft. radius. Unless manifesting eyes, ears or other sensory organs, all Shub-Naddar are blind and deaf. Shub-Naddar do not breathe or sleep.
    Skills: Caustic Terrors have a naturally superior ability to disguise themselves and have a +10 racial bonus to all Disguise and Hide checks.
    Ooze Environment Traits: A Caustic Terror surrounded by an Ooze colony becomes more dangerous. It gains regeneration 3 (takes normal damage from fire, cold, and electrical attacks, though normal resistances apply) and the ability to take shelter in the ooze, allowing it to make spring attacks (as though it possessed the spring attack feat) by emerging from the ooze, attacking once, and returning its form into the ooze before the end of its turn. A Caustic Terror that is fully merged with Ooze is indistinguishable from its surroundings, cannot be specificaly targeted by weapon attacks (or spells which require a specific target), and takes one-half damage from area of effect attacks. Shub-Naddar that are merged with Ooze gain an awareness of all that the ooze touches and of any creature within 60 feet of ooze with an accuity that negates effects such as invisibility. Shub-Naddar in contact with the Ooze also gain a +4 circumstance bonus to Will saves due to their mind being in constant contact with the rest of the colony.

Habitat/Society

Caustic Terrors are one of the few Sub-Naddar that can survive away from the colony and without contact to an Overlord hive mind for extended periods of time (weeks and even months). Caustic Terrors search out civilizations and organic material for the colony to feed upon. Shub-Naddar can eat most any material if they must, but they greatly prefer and derive the most nutrition from devouring fleshy beings. Individual Terrors infiltrate enemy civilizations to learn who their leaders and what their defenses are. Later, before a Shub-Naddar colony moves to invade the civilization, a small squad of Caustic Terrors are sent to assassinate leaders and sabotage defenses.
    At home, in a colony, Caustic Terrors are the front line of defense for dealing with small groups of intruders rather than calling upon the Ooze to gather itself in and defend itself; this is only done when large attacks are made upon Shub-Naddar colonies. Terrors also serve to gather information on the outside world of the Overlord. Since Overlords cannot leave the colony, Terrors serve as their proxy senses, sharing in complete detail all that they have experienced in their absense when they return and merge with the Ooze.
    Though Terrors are more powerful then Cetaphipids, Terrors cannot control the Ooze and therefore are subservient to the will of the Overlord and the intelligent Cetaphipids. Occasionally, terrors do fight against each other, but it is very briefly and it only occurs when two Terrors are not in contact with the Ooze. While in contact with the Ooze they share too much of a hive mind to become embroiled in conflict against each other as they are too busy laboring in perfect unity.
    On the whole, despite being able to speak and learn numerous languages of the underworld, Caustic Terrors are not social creatures. All non-Shub-Naddar creatures are little more than food to them.

Ecology

All Shub-Naddar live upon can live and thrive upon any organic matter. Caustic Terrors and Overlords can survive on anything, including minerals, if they must. For the most part, Shub-Naddar live at the top of the food chain in the Underhall depths, conducting attacks upon the other races of the Underhalls for food and for sport. Shub-Naddar are one of the deepest dwelling sentient life-form of the underworld.

History

For a long time, Shub-Naddar were only a legend, a creature which was only rarely encountered by Drakher hunting parties or spoken of by wizened beholders to those who dare to seek and pay for such knowledge. Since the Breaking of the Sultan and the arrival of the Silothreni, who were forced to travel even deeper into the earth to defend against the Drakher and other underground races, the Shub-Naddar have become more aware of the teaming life which lives in the upper reaches of the Underhalls and has begun to venture upward. The Silothreni frequently war against the Shub-Naddar for their survival and territory. As of yet there have been no reports of Shub-Naddar appearing above the gates of the Underhalls, in the labyrinth of caverns and tunnels that separate the Underhalls from the surface world.

Variants and Resources

It is suspected that there lurk even more powerful or other varieties of Shub-Naddar which live in the deepest lost depths of the Underhalls, untraveled by even the most daring explorers of the other underworld denizens.