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Shub-Naddar, Overlord

Appearance

The Shub-Naddar Overlord is a creature that rules over, and is capable of creating, all lesser forms of Shub-Naddar. The Overlord never leaves the colony of Ooze that it dwells within except under the most dire of circumstances which threaten its existence. An Overlord typically makes its dwelling at the deepest and most protected central point within the Ooze.
    Though an Overlord prefers to remain a formless hill of fleshy jelly it is able to quickly (as a move action) manifest its alternate form should it be drawn into combat. This second form is a towering cylindrical worm-like column from which extend a multitude of pseudopods. Most Overlords are 80 to 120 feet tall when they assume this second form, with a base that may have a diameter as large as 40 to 60 feet across, depending on the size of the Ooze colony which it controls.
    Shub-Naddar Overlords are capable of telepathically communicating with any other Shub-Naddar in the colony and may also communicate with other Overlords in other colonies as well. It is also possible for an Overlord to take control over the form of a lesser Shub-Naddar, such as a Cetephipid, and control its actions or speak through it. Overlords are incredibly intelligent and are capable of speaking the language of any creature that it has consumed.
    Overlords crave knowledge and influence. By consuming intelligent creatures they grow in knowledge of the underworld above them and grow in power over the Shub-Naddar which they rule over. Further, by consuming more creatures they are able to create more Cetephipids, Terrors, and support a larger Ooze colony.

Combat

Overlords are often aware of intruders long before they engage in direct conflict. The Ooze and hive mind shared by Cetephipids and Caustic Terrors allows an Overlord to be aware of anything that any of its colony experiences. Further, an Overlord can telepathically control and issue orders to any Shub-Naddar that is in contact with the Ooze can then be manipulated by the Overlord, allowing the colony to fight intruders as though it were almost a single organism.
    Overlords "clothe" themselves in living Ooze slime, which they telepathically cause to harden into a carapace-like armor. This, combined with their thick and durable protoplasmic hide makes them very difficult to harm.
    Overlords use all resources available to them, including magic items in their possession. They are fond of grappling enemies and flinging them great distances where they can be isolated and dealt with by hoards of minions. Sometimes Overlords use their minions to shepard enemies towards it, while it hides in the Ooze. Then when its victims are close enough it rises up, grapples anything it can reach, and consumes them.
    Acidic Flesh (Ex): Weapons striking an Overlord and penetrating its natural armor suffer 3d6 points of acid damage. Creatures grappling with an Overlord take acid damage each round without save. Overlords can buffer their acidic touch at a whim if they wish to not deal acidic damage.
    Paralysis (Ex): The touch of an overlord can induce chemical shock in opponents with susceptible nervous systems. Constructs and elementals are immune to this effect. Touched creatures must succeed a Fortitude save (DC 40) or become paralyzed for 1d4+1 rounds. A creature that is grappling with an Overlord must make this save once each round they are grappled.
    Stamp (Ex): As a full-round action, an Overlord can strike a solid surface with its great mass and cause a shock wave that radiates out 190 feet (5 × Overlord's Hit Dice) from its position. The Overlord makes a single attack roll. Every non-Shub-Naddar creature in the affected area compares its Balance check result to the Overlord's attack roll. Those who fail this opposed check are knocked down. Structures and unattended objects that are at least partially within the shock wave take damage equal to 1d6 + 18 (Overlord's Strength modifier) + the object's hardness (maximum 5).
    Swallow Whole (Ex): An Overlord can try to swallow a grabbed opponent of Huge or smaller size by making a successful grapple check. Once inside, the opponent takes 2d8+9 points of crushing damage plus 2d8+10 points of acid damage per round from the Overlord's digestive juices. Acid damage caused by an Overlord's digestive juices cannot be naturally healed, only magic will restore flesh thus lost. A swallowed creature can cut its way out by dealing 50 points of damage to the Overlord's digestive tract (AC 25). Once the creature exists, oozes and protoplasm quickly close the hole; another swallowed opponent must cut its own way out.
    An Overlord's protoplasm body can hold 2 Gargantuan, 4 Huge, 16 Large, 64 Medium, 256 Small, or 1024 Tiny or smaller creatures.
    Regeneration (Ex): Fire, cold, and electricity attacks do normal damage to an Overlord. Normal resistances apply. An Overlord loses its regeneration ability if it is removed from its ooze environment, however no Overlord willingly leaves its colony.
    Shub-Naddar Qualities: 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.
    Telepathy (Su): An Overlord can telepathically communicate with any creature that is in contact with Ooze or that is within 100 feet of it. The Overlord can telepathically speak with creatures, even if they do not share a common language.
    Fling Enemy (feat): An Overlord can pick up an opponent and fling it. To use this action, make a grapple check at a -20 penalty against an opponent of size Huge or smaller. If successful, on its next action the Overlord can use an attack action to fling the held opponent. The range increment for the thrown creature is 120 feet.
    A creature may be thrown horizontally or vertically. if thrown vertically, it takes normal falling damage. If thrown horizontally, it takes damage as if it had fallen half the distance thrown (rounded down). For example, if a hurled orc is thrown horizontally 170 feet, it takes 8d6 points of damage.
    The Overlord may also fling the creature at another creature. To do so, it makes an attack roll at a -4 penalty, with appropriate range penalties, against the target creature. If it hits, both creatures take the amount of damage that the thrown creature would have taken otherwise, as given above.
    Greater Multigrab (feat): An Overlord takes no penalty to maintain the hold on grapple checks when maintaining its hold with the part of its body that made the grappling attack.
    Ooze Environment Traits: Overlords are too big to fully merge with Ooze and so they tend to remain in one place as a large hill of fleshy jelly. Overlords are aware of any creature that comes within 60 feet of the ooze and can target attacks against these creatures as though it could see them with blindsight. Overlords gain a +4 bonus to their Will saves due to the insulating hive mind that surrounds their consciousness.

Habitat/Society

Overlords are the undisputed rulers of Shub-Naddar society. They spend their lives lurking at the center of their Ooze colony, manipulating their progeny against each other and sending their minions to explore the underworld for new life to absorb and consume.
    Overlords are formed when several powerful Cetephipids depart from an existing colony and merge to create a new Overlord. Fortunately this is a rare occasion, but the Shub-Naddar are an ancient and strong race with many colonies populating the lowest depths of the underground. By consuming other creatures an Overlord can gain enough mass to birth any other the other Shub-Naddar breeds. Usually they simply create more Ooze so that their territory is expanded, and then create other kinds of Shub-Naddar as needed. Overlords can survive by eating stone or any other material, though they savor flesh since it allows them to grow in power. They are also said to be able to absorb the memories of creatures that they consume. This does not confer new abilities to the Shub-Naddar, but it does help explain why they possess an incredible knowledge and intellect.
    Like other Shub-Naddar, Overlords view other life forms as food for consumption. That some of the creatures that they eat are intelligent is merely a benefit.

Ecology

All Shub-Naddar live in the deepest parts of the underground where the earth is warmed by nearby mantle. Overlords carve out wide, low-ceilinged caverns for their dwellings, often accessible through tiny tunnels that only other invertebrate Shub-Naddar can pass through. It uses its minions to bring the broken, half-digested bodies of those they defeat to it so that it can feed.

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.