Kyton, CantorAll the skin has been scraped from this childlike humanoid’s frame, revealing cords of gray musculature. Its eyes burn with a red glow.Cantor CR 9Source Occult Bestiary pg. 30
XP 6,400
LE Small outsider (evil, extraplanar, kyton, lawful)
Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +18DefenseAC 24, touch 16, flat-footed 19 (+5 Dex, +8 natural, +1 size)
hp 105 (10d10+50); regeneration 5 (good spells and weapons, silver weapons)
Fort +12, Ref +10, Will +12
DR 10/silver; Immune coldOffenseSpeed 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +16 (1d3+2 plus grab and lingering touch), bite +16 (1d4+2)
Special Attacks lingering touch, oneiric invasion, unnerving gaze (DC 18)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th; concentration +12)
3/day—ego whip IOA (DC 16), nightmare (DC 18), paranoiaOA (DC 15)
1/day—shadow bodyOAStatisticsStr 14, Dex 21, Con 20, Int 13, Wis 21, Cha 16
Base Atk +10; CMB +11 (+15 grapple); CMD 26
Feats Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Run, Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +18, Bluff +16, Climb +15, Intimidate +16, Knowledge (arcana) +14, Perception +18, Stealth +22
Languages Common, Infernal; telepathy 100 ft.EcologyEnvironment any (Plane of Shadow)
Organization solitary, pair, or expedition (3–6)
Treasure standardSpecial AbilitiesLingering Touch (Su) The touch of a cantor is supernaturally toxic, lingering in its victim’s mind like a poison. Any creature damaged by a cantor must succeed at a Will saving throw or vividly feel the pain of the kyton’s claws. The memory is so real, the victim continues to take damage. Multiple attacks increase the DC of this effect, as with any other poison. Any form of magical healing or spells like psychic surgeryOA end this effect immediately, but remove poison has no effect. Creatures that are immune to mind-affecting effects are immune to this ability.
Lingering Touch: Claw—injury; save Will DC 20; frequency 1/round for 10 rounds; effect 1d3 damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Wisdom-based.
Oneiric Invasion (Su) Once per minute, a cantor can unleash a soundless scream. All foes within 30 feet must succeed at a DC 20 Will saving throw or be affected as per the spell oneiric horrorOA. Those who fail believe the cantor has grown even more terrifying and is making a direct assault against them. At the same moment, the cantor becomes invisible, as per improved invisibility. This invisibility lasts for as long as at least one creature is affected by the cantor’s oneiric horror effect. If no creature fails its saving throw, the cantor remains visible. Those who succeed at their saving throws are immune to the same cantor’s oneiric invasion for 24 hours. Creatures that are immune to mind-affecting effects are immune to this ability. The save DC is Wisdom-based.
Unnerving Gaze (Su) Those who fail their saves are telepathically wracked by agonizing pain that imposes a –4 penalty on their attack rolls, skill checks, and ability checks. This penalty lasts for 1d4 rounds. This is a mind-affecting fear effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.DescriptionFew can imagine what atrocities bring kyton cantors into being. Like all kytons, cantors arise in pain, but theirs is of a more deliberate sort. Just as its skin is stripped away, a cantor’s consciousness is shattered and reforged, making it a weapon against reality and a scalpel to excise sanity. Among their brethren, cantors serve as scouts, guides to more brutish kytons, and, along with their teeming brethren, throng the ruined halls of Shadow Plane fortresses.
A cantor stands a mere 3 feet tall and weighs less than 50 pounds.Creatures in "Kyton" CategorySource Bestiary 3 pg. 170
Despicably cruel and equally horrible to gaze upon, kytons are evil fiends who feed on the fear and suffering of mortals through painful supernatural means. Their monstrous appearances vary, but their stoic and amoral dispositions are universal, for no kyton cares anything for the plights typical of the creatures they prey upon. They are beings wholly dedicated to metamorphosis achieved through horrific trials of self-mutilation and the mystical power provided them by their sapping of mortal anguish.
Despite being often categorized by mortals as shadow-dwelling devils, kytons calmly refute such claims, seeing themselves as above the principles of Hell's denizens. Instead, kytons seek ecstasy through pain in the form of deliberate and violent self-transformation, adhering to the belief that by altering the physical and spiritual matter that makes up their form, they can reach a state of perfect being. Removing aspects of themselves and replacing them with more desirable or powerful pieces one at a time, kytons believe that experiences of heightened emotion and sensation (typically in the forms of terror and pain) lead to greater states of awareness and existence. The dedication with which they practice this belief places them on the level of zealots, their fanatical commitment made all the more disturbing by their eerie composedness and unnaturally cool dispositions.
The original kytons were born of the first truly selfish and depraved thoughts conceived by mortals. These creatures surprised and horrified the early gods with their power and hideous nature, and so the gods chained them in a remote part of Hell. The kytons embraced their chains and, seeking to fulfill their unnatural hunger for pain, escaped to the Plane of Shadow, which lay much closer to their mortal prey. Now, kytons are born of mortal souls that were spiritually and physically tortured in life, victims of their own masochism, sacrifices to gods of suffering, or those promised to the fiends either by their own will or by sadistic cultists. Obscure rituals force the sacrificed souls to bypass the normal judgments of the afterlife and instead become mired in the Plane of Shadow. Over an excruciating and lengthy span of time, these souls are warped and twisted until they emerge as frail new kytons. A kyton's first willing act must be to cut away part of its own flesh, proving it is worthy of its kyton nature—the first step in an immortal lifetime of replacing its own substance with the stronger parts of other creatures. By drawing strength from its new grafts, a kyton grows and becomes both stronger and more terrible to behold. Thus, weaker kytons resemble the mortal creatures they once were, whereas older ones are horrifying patchworks of transplanted material that rarely look like their original forms. Many kytons still proudly wear the chains that bound them (either to Hell or to the torture devices that created them), trophies of their power to defy the gods or mortal fate.
Kytons' need to replace parts of themselves with those of stronger mortals puts them in perpetual danger of attacking creatures that are too powerful for them to kill. For this reason, kytons are pragmatic and ruthless in their battles, scrutinizing all potential outcomes of a situation before taking action. Seeing strength in numbers, kytons often attack or trap a mortal victim as a team, hauling the unfortunate soul to the Plane of Shadow, converting their prey into a new kyton or dividing its body and soul among them for grafting and nourishment.
The kytons of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary are a specific type of kyton (other kytons call them “evangelists”); they have all the traits listed in the kyton subtype (see page 306). The kytons listed here are but a few of the other known types—many more exist on the Plane of Shadow. Kyton Demagogues The powerful kyton rulers called demagogues possess strength hardly fathomable by mortals. They exist within a power structure similar to that of archdevils. Lesser kytons view these overseers as horrid sovereigns among their kind, and though there are many outlying areas on the Plane of Shadow not controlled by demagogues, kytons who find themselves wandering through a demagogue's territory know to show respect for these lords of suffering.
Demagogues are so advanced in their metamorphosis of self-mutilation and augmentation that no two look alike. Some are strangely beautiful, some are horrors beyond sane description. A demagogue's powers are vaster than even many of their kyton brethren dare consider—they construct enormous cities out of the countless bodies of their victims, weaving entire networks of veins and spiritual energy to create breathing, pulsating metropolises. Demagogues seek to control as much of the realm around their organic superstructures as they can, a feat that proves forever challenging in the dark, shifting corners of the Plane of Shadow. Though one rarely finds reason to leave the confines of its home plane, a demagogue's influence is far-reaching, and kytons who value their lives do as they are commanded, lest they incite the awful and calculating rage of a mighty overlord. The following are some of the most powerful kyton demagogues that reside in the Plane of Shadow, watching over their pulsating kingdoms in massive, gory towers. - Barravoclair, Lady of the Final Gasp
- Fharaas, the Seer in Skin
- Inkariax, the White Death
- Morrobahn, the Parasite Seed
- Raetorgash, the Skull-Hoarder
- Sugroz, the Voice in Screams
- Vevelor of the Broken Dream
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