New From Elysium: Azatas
Hello everyone and welcome back to another exciting edition of From the Workshop, where new and exciting miscellany from our minds is unveiled each and every week. This time, to close out Azata Week, I thought: what would be better than some brand new azatas just in from Elysium and ready to join your adventures?
Fagari
Standing before you is a man best described as beautiful, garbed in rich cloth of deep midnight black and worked with bright polished silver. He smiles softly, though his liquid-silver eyes speak clearly to a deep mournful sorrow at the core of his being.
Fagari are among the oldest and strongest of azatas, associated with the majestic power of the Elysian night. Fagari are strangely mournful for azatas and have a great love of tragic poetry and emotional ballads. Fagari regard the night hours as a time of blessed serenity and tranquil acceptance, disdaining the notion that the night is somehow evil or dangerous, and thus spend much of their time pursuing vampires and other evil creatures which take advantage of the sacred shelter provided by the cover of night.
A fagari appears as gorgeous human with pale skin, silvery eyes, and dark hair. They nearly always wear clothes of a deep black with a silver contrast, and are often mistaken for virtuous and kind vampires. Fagari are rarely seen, even on Elysium, and only appear at night, often gazing sadly at dazzling full moons. This has led to the belief that the sighting of a fagari foretells some great event. Fagari often impose self-exiles upon themselves in remembrance for their tragic past, the exact details of which are known only to fagari themselves, and they categorically refuse to speak about it, even among themselves.
The fagari are patrons of outcasts and the disenfranchised and will often seek out these fringe members of society and guide them to a virtuous path, extolling the principals of individuality, tolerance, and freedom. In general fagari avoid combat whenever possible, preferring to redeem their enemies; however in the rare situations where fagari have felt a need for a more direct form of conflict resolution, they have proven to be among the deadliest and most awe-inspiring combatants ever seen.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Dark Form (Su): A fagari can shift between its solid body and one made of darkness as a standard action. In solid form, it cannot fly or use dark rays. In dark form, it can fly and gains the incorporeal quality—it can make dark ray attacks or use spell-like abilities in this form, but can't make physical attacks. This ability otherwise functions similarly to a bralani's wind form ability.
Dark Ray (Ex): A fagari’s dark rays have a range of 300 feet and bypass all forms of damage reduction.
Gaze of the Mournful Moon (Su): As a standard action, a fagari can force a creature within 30 feet to make a Will save (DC 27) or become overcome with sadness, losing all actions for one round. Sightless creatures are unaffected by gaze of the mournful moon. This is a mind-affecting fear effect.
Lunar Grace (Ex): A fagari adds its Charisma bonus as a bonus on AC and all saving throws.
Nesoni
The massive creature before you is gangly and appears to have been carved from particularly gnarled beach wood into the form of a human or elf by someone with only the vaguest idea of what those beings might look like. Its eyes are small, jet black beads positioned on either side of its long crooked nose, and its hair resembles an unkempt knot of dead rose vines. Still, its misshapen smile seems genuine and its laugh is both rich and musical.
Nesoni dwell in the fields of Elysium and are among the least human-like of all azatas. Nesoni are incredibly intelligent and enjoy difficult riddles and puzzles of all kinds; they are known to host contests and challenges to determine the most skilled at solving mental challenges and they enjoy a friendly rivalry with the sphinxes over who is the greater riddle smith. Nesoni prefer oversized coats and trousers for garb and disdain the use of weapons, preferring instead to use spells or their own claws in combat.
Nesoni are the patrons of eccentrics and encourage people to embrace their unique qualities and to be tolerant of other people’s quirks. They have a great ability to shapeshift, which they use extensively to explore life in new forms and to travel the mortal realms without incurring suspicion. Nesoni rarely choose to fight; however, they will often bring their considerable might to bear against those who would destroy centers of learning or knowledge.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Spells: A nesoni casts spells as an 11th level wizard but receives no other benefits from being a wizard, such as a familiar or school specialization.
Psychic Shock (Su): As a standard action a Nesoni can assault the mind of a single creature within 30 feet, dealing 1d6 points of Intelligence damage unless they succeed on a DC 22 Will save.
Rend (Ex): if a nesoni hits with both its claw attacks it may rend as a free action dealing 2d6 + 3.
Hericlie
Before you stands a giant three times the size of a man, with skin the color of old bronze, gleaming in the sun. No less attractive for the layers of heavy muscle which supports this being’s frame, its smile and booming voice mark it as friendly and eager for excitement, while its olive-colored eyes smolder with a primal passion.
While hericlie are among the few azatas incapable of flight, they are strong runners with a wide gait and often roam the planes in search of new passions and grand adventures. Creatures of great physicality, hericlie enjoy physical challenges such as foot races and wrestling matches. Like most azatas, hericlie spend very little time in one place, preferring instead to wander in search of the next horizon.
Hericlie are an especially passionate type of azata and they often seek out romance wherever they can find it, which often leads to numerous trysts with mortal men and women. Strong believers in free love hericlie often scoff at romantic institutions and sometimes interfere in arranged marriages and laws that restrict romantic relationships, such as prohibitions against marrying outside of class or bans on orgies.
Hericlie are hot-headed and are quick to draw arms in a conflict, and while they dislike fighting to the death, they aren’t afraid to inflict great damage to those they perceive as enemies, and they rarely show any kind of mercy to those they know to be evil doers.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Golden Form (Su): Once per day a hericlie can double its Strength score (from 18, a +4 bonus, to 36, a +13 bonus) for one minute. While in this state, its natural armor is decreased by 5 and it loses any immunities it possess.