Inevitable, LhaksharutThis six-armed creature appears to be made of stone. Its lower torso is a collection of whirring rings of metal.Lhaksharut CR 20Source Bestiary 2 pg. 164 XP 307,200 LN Huge outsider (extraplanar, inevitable, lawful) Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., detect chaos, detect magic, low-light vision, true seeing; Perception +34 Aura shield of law (DC 23)DefenseAC 36, touch 18, flat-footed 35 (+4 deflection, +1 Dex, +5 insight, +18 natural, –2 size) hp 337 (22d10+216); regeneration 10 (chaotic) Fort +25, Ref +12, Will +22 Defensive Abilities constructed; DR 15/chaotic; Immune energy spells; SR 31OffenseSpeed fly 60 ft. (perfect) Melee +2 wounding spear +32/+27/+22/+17 (3d6+17/x3 plus 1 bleed), +2 wounding longsword +32 (3d6+12/19–20 plus 1 bleed), +2 wounding morningstar +32 (3d6+12 plus 1 bleed) or 4 slams +30 (2d8+10) Ranged 2 energy bolts +21 (10d6 energy) Space 15 ft., Reach 15 ft. Special Attacks cunning reflexes, multiweapon mastery, perfect prediction, wounding weapons Spell-Like Abilities (CL 22th; concentration +27) Constant—detect chaos, detect magic, shield of law (DC 23), true seeing At will—dispel magic, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), sending 3/day—dictum (DC 22), dimensional anchor (DC 19), dimensional lock (DC 23), disintegrate (DC 21), dismissal (DC 20), greater scrying (DC 22), plane shift (DC 20), wall of force 1/day—imprisonment (DC 24)StatisticsStr 31, Dex 13, Con 26, Int 14, Wis 21, Cha 20 Base Atk +22; CMB +34; CMD 50 (can’t be tripped) Feats Blind-Fight, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Greater Bull Rush, Greater Vital Strike, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Vital Strike, Power Attack, Vital Strike Skills Fly +30, Intimidate +30, Knowledge (arcana) +24, Knowledge (geography) +24, Knowledge (planes) +27, Perception +34, Sense Motive +30, Spellcraft +24; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception Languages truespeech SQ perfect predictionEcologyEnvironment any Organization solitary Treasure double (+2 longsword, +2 spear, +2 morningstar, other treasure)Special AbilitiesCunning Reflexes (Ex) A lhaksharut uses its Wisdom modifier, rather than its Dexterity modifier, to determine how many additional attacks of opportunity it gains with the Combat Reflexes feat. For most lhaksharut inevitables, this benefit equates to 5 additional attacks of opportunity per round.
Energy Bolt (Su) A lhaksharut can fire bolts of elemental energy from two of its six arms—it never wields weapons in these hands. These attacks have a range increment of 100 feet and deal 10d6 energy damage of the inevitable’s choice (acid, cold, electricity, or fire, chosen for each bolt as it is thrown). It can throw two bolts of energy as a standard action, and cannot attack with these hands when it makes weapon or slam attacks with its other limbs.
Immunity to Energy Spells (Ex) A lhaksharut is immune to any spell or spell-like ability with the acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic descriptor that allows spell resistance.
Multiweapon Mastery (Ex) A lhaksharut never takes penalties on its attack rolls when fighting with multiple weapons.
Perfect Prediction (Su) A lhaksharut gains an insight bonus to AC equal to its Wisdom bonus.
Wounding Weapons (Su) Any weapon wielded by a lhaksharut gains the wounding weapon quality as long as it remains in the creature’s grasp.DescriptionA typical lhaksharut is a six-armed construct that appears to be made of a mix of metals and stone. Where a human would have legs, it instead possesses a complex orb of spinning rings similar in shape to an orrery—it is this whirling machine that grants the lhaksharut the ability to fly. Though a lhaksharut has huge, metal wings, they serve as little more than stabilizers when it’s in flight. Four of the construct’s arms end in functional hands that it normally uses to carry a mix of weapons. The lhaksharut’s lower two arms hold large, flaming metal spheres in their hands—it uses these spheres to generate elemental bolts of energy that it can hurl great distances to damage foes.
Lhaksharuts are tasked with maintaining the separation between different planes of reality, especially the elemental planes. They do not concern themselves with petty trespasses by visitors from one plane to another, nor even the occasional creation of a pocket plane or hijacking of a chunk of one reality to serve as a base within another. What does trouble a lhaksharut is anything that represents a permanent link between planes, or an effort by the denizens of one plane to invade and conquer another. They often find themselves in conflict with the machinations of powerful outsiders who seek to create beachheads on other planes to serve as launching pads for massive incursions.
When possible, a lhaksharut enforces the separation of planes through the simple expedient of smashing any device that creates a dangerous breach, or killing any creature that seems determined to mix or blend realities. The inevitable does not care why such infractions occur, and is often deaf to any excuse suggesting even a temporary linking of planes is a good idea. However, while singled-mined, a lhaksharut is not mindless or incapable of reason. They are emotionless, but can be negotiated with if a problem cannot be solved by smashing and killing violators.
Rarely, a lhaksharut can even be convinced that maintaining a planar link is important enough to let the gate stand, if only temporarily. In such cases, the lhaksharut always volunteers to guard the portal until the time comes to shut it down. These arrangements must include a detailed explanation on how a desired course of action will directly lead to meeting the lhaksharut’s goal. Only when facing the most overwhelmingly powerful foe does a lhaksharut agree to assist in a task not related to its primary function, and then only to win allies to help it achieve success in an area where the lhaksharut has already met with failure. Even if convinced to undertake such an alliance, a lhaksharut is likely to insist its mission be accomplished first. A creature of pure order, a lhaksharut is incapable of defaulting on a promise made in good faith, but it is aware that not all creatures are so bound. If for some reason the needs of its allies must be put first, a lhaksharut insists on guarantees that its allies will meet their commitments to it once they have what they want.
In combat, a lhaksharut uses its speed and mobility to get close to targets. A lhaksharut sees groups as imperfect machines, and knows that the best way to overcome them is to disrupt their smooth functioning. While creatures able to directly harm the inevitable are dealt with if necessary, it much prefers to first eliminate healers, scouts, and shield-bearers before tackling powerful fighters or spellcasters. A lhaksharut cannot be taunted or baited into changing its course of action—it is completely emotionless and only cares about the efficiency of its battle plan. It also fights without care for its own survival, trusting that either its regeneration will restore it to life, or a new inevitable will be created to replace it.
When unaware of a threat to the sanctity of the division of the planes, and not threatened, a lhaksharut can be a surprisingly good conversationalist. They are as likely to be found floating through a void as maintaining any kind of stronghold. Lhaksharuts are aware that the domains they wish to patrol are too vast to be directly viewed with any efficiency. Some lhaksharuts thus forge networks of informants who can patrol the many planes, and send word to the inevitable to alert it of any apparent breaches. The constructs have no other need for the treasure that they gather from transgressors, and sometimes even pay for tips that might lead to a planar infraction. Anyone who might prove to be a valuable informant is treated with respect, and may even be able to gain insights into the planes from the lhaksharut’s vast knowledge on the subject, as long as questions never wander into the dangerous territory of combining two planes.Creatures in "Inevitable" CategorySource Bestiary 2 pg. 161 Originally invented and forged in the Outer Planes by the axiomites, inevitables are living machines whose sole purpose is to seek out and destroy agents of chaos wherever they can.
During the height of the first war between law and chaos, while the Outer Planes were still forming from the raw chaos of the primal reality, inevitables were constructed by the axiomites as an unflinching army—soldiers powerful and devoted enough to march on the madness-inducing hordes of proteans who sought to unmake reality and return it all to the primal chaos they so adored. While this war has long since cooled to a simmer, and the reality of the Outer Planes is now not so easily threatened by the entropic influence of the proteans and their home plane, the defense of the axiomites' home plane remains the inevitables' primary goal. Despite the proteans' subsequent adaptation and study of how best to make themselves more resistant to the inevitables' attacks, these constructed soldiers remain imposingly effective.
Today, many inevitables—almost all of those encountered on the Material Plane—pursue a new aspect of their original mission: tracking down those who flagrantly flout the forces of law and redeeming them or, more often, eliminating the threat they present to the ordered nature of the multiverse. Matched on the side of chaos by the manipulative imentesh proteans, new inevitables awake to find themselves locked in a proxy war, knowing that losing the Material Plane to chaos would place their masters in a dangerous position.
Genderless, incorruptible, and caring nothing for power or personal advancement, inevitables are cunning and valiant shock troops in the service of law. Though they regularly interact with their creator race on their home plane, they have no society of their own, and are almost always encountered singly on other planes, each more than capable of pursuing its own mission. These individual crusades range from enforcing important or high-profile contracts and laws to forcibly correcting those mortals who would seek to cheat death. How they deal with the guilty varies according to the transgression: sometimes this means a simple geas or mark of justice to ensure that the target works to right his wrongs or never again strays from the path of law, but just as often an offense worthy of an inevitable's attention is severe enough that only immediate execution will suffice. Such decisions are not always popular—for the kindly priest who transcends mortality and the freedom fighter who battles the evil-yet-rightful king are every bit as guilty as grave-robbing necromancers and demon-worshipers—but the inevitables are always just, and few dare stand in the way of their judgment. Those inevitables who have completed a given mission often wander through whatever society they find themselves in, seeking other lawbreakers worthy of their ministrations. Brave souls with a worthy cause are always welcome to approach an inevitable and present their case, but should be wary of invoking the help of such powerful, single-minded beings—for an inevitable may not see the situation the same way they do, and though all inevitables do their best to preserve innocent life, they're not above sacrificing a few allies or innocents in an effort to bring down a greater villain.
Physically, inevitables often have humanoid forms or aspects, but their bodies appear somewhere between clockwork constructs and fine statues in the greatest classical tradition. Constructed of stone, adamantine, and even more precious materials, each inevitable is brought to sentience in the axiomites' forges already programmed with the details of its first target. Though they know that all beings outside of the lawful planes harbor chaos in their hearts, inevitables also understand that such conflicted creatures may yet be forces for law as much as for chaos, and thus overlook all but the most flagrant offenses. The most commonly recognized types of inevitables are as follows.
Arbiters: Scouts and diplomats, often assigned to wizards as familiars in the hopes of directing such individuals to the cause of law.
Kolyaruts: Cloaked and stealthy humanoid warriors who track and punish those who break contracts.
Lhaksharuts: Juggernauts who search for permanent breaches and links between planes and invasions from one dimension to another.
Maruts: Towering beings of stone, steel, and storm who bring a fitting end to those mortals who try to cheat death in attempts to live forever.
Zelekhuts: Winged, centaur-like constructs who track down those who flee just and legal punishment, returning them to their rightful judges or carrying out the sentence themselves. Primal Inevitables While the lhaksharuts are generally thought of as the most powerful caste of inevitable, there exist others of even greater skill and strength—these are known as the primal inevitables. These goliaths were among the first weapons of war forged by the axiomites to fight the protean menace—the methods to create more have long been lost to the axiomites, and those few primals who remain alive to this day have become legendary. None have been encountered in living memory, but the possibility of a primal's emergence is enough to give the proteans second thoughts when ideas of invading the inevitables' home plane arise.
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