Angel, NinkondaThis golden-winged humanoid wears sturdy armor, including a crowned helm with a blank faceplate and a gleaming mirror on their broad chest. Large metal spikes pierce the creature’s arms, hands, and shoulders.Ninkonda CR 17Source Pathfinder #108: Hell Comes to Westcrown pg. 86
XP 102,400
LG Large outsider (angel, extraplanar, good, lawful)
Init +4; Senses blindsight 120 ft., darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, true seeing; Perception +31
Aura protective auraDefenseAC 32, touch 14, flat-footed 27 (+4 Dex, +1 dodge, +18 natural, –1 size); +4 deflection vs. evil
hp 270 (20d10+160)
Fort +20, Ref +12, Will +16; +4 vs. evil
Defensive Abilities reflect rays; DR 10/evil; Immune acid, cold, petrification, poison; Resist electricity 10, fire 10; SR 28OffenseSpeed 40 ft., fly 60 ft. (good)
Melee +4 axiomatic spiked gauntlet +28/+23/+18/+13 (1d6+12/19–20), +4 axiomatic spiked gauntlet +28/+23/+18 (1d6+8/19–20)
Ranged 4 +4 axiomatic darts +27 (1d6+12)
Space 10 ft., Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks nailed fists, soul reflection
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 20th; concentration +25)
Constant—discern lies, true seeing
5/day—break enchantment, dimension door, freedom of movement
3/day—atonement, mark of justice, plane shift (self and willing targets only)
1/day—discern locationStatisticsStr 26, Dex 19, Con 26, Int 15, Wis 18, Cha 21
Base Atk +20; CMB +29; CMD 44
Feats Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Critical (spiked gauntlet), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Lightning Reflexes, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (spiked gauntlet)
Skills Diplomacy +28, Fly +29, Heal +17, Intimidate +28, Knowledge (history) +15, Knowledge (planes) +15, Knowledge (religion) +15, Perception +31, Sense Motive +31, Spellcraft +25
Languages Celestial, Common; truespeechEcologyEnvironment any good-aligned plane
Organization solitary, pair, or squad (3–6)
Treasure standardSpecial AbilitiesNailed Fists (Su) A ninkonda fights with the heavy spikes driven through their arms and hands. These attacks are treated as a pair of +4 spiked gauntlets. At will as a standard action, a ninkonda can grant these attacks the axiomatic, holy, or merciful weapon special ability, but must select the same special ability for both hands. Their hands retain the selected special ability until they choose another special ability to replace the previous one. These weapons cannot be removed or sundered. They fade away when the ninkonda dies and cannot be used by any other creature. As a standard action, a ninkonda can fling a volley of four spikes from their arms. Make a separate attack roll for each spike—all targets must be within 30 feet of each other. The spikes have a range increment of 20 feet. The spikes are treated as +4 darts with the same weapon special ability as the ninkonda’s fists. Whether the attacks hit or miss, these spikes immediately disappear and reappear back in the ninkonda’s body.
Reflect Rays (Su) Rays and ranged touch effects that strike a ninkonda but fail to overcome the angel’s spell resistance are reflected back at their source, using the original attack roll to determine whether they hit. The ninkonda must be aware of the attack and not flat-footed.
Soul Reflection (Su) A ninkonda can angle the mirror in their chest to reflect the weaknesses of creatures’ souls. Each round as a swift action, the ninkonda can project a 60-foot cone of contrition. All creatures in the cone fall prone with grief and remorse, taking no actions for as long as they are within 60 feet of the ninkonda (Will DC 25 negates). A lawful creature gains a +4 bonus on this saving throw, and a good creature gains a +8 bonus on the saving throw (these bonuses stack). Sightless creatures cannot be affected by this ability, nor can creatures that cast no reflection (such as vampires). This is a mind-affecting compulsion effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.DescriptionNinkondas, or “nail angels,” are stoic, remorseless hunters of the celestial planes. At a distance, a ninkonda appears to be a winged knight wearing full plate armor. Up close, the creatures present a more intimidating and bizarre appearance: dozens of iron spikes impale their arms, shoulders, and hands, and the faceplates of their helms are smooth and featureless. Ninkondas hunt once-honorable mortals who have committed heinous sins, such as treason against good nations or betrayal of celestial confidences. Ninkondas don’t slay their quarry; instead they wordlessly encourage redemption by reflecting the creature’s soul in the mirror inset in the angels’ broad chests.
Ninkondas stand 12 feet tall with wingspans of just over 25 feet. They weigh about 1,200 pounds.EcologyAlthough ninkondas resemble stout, armored humanoids with feathered golden wings, the armor is the creatures’ thick skin and their cumbersome appearances bely their natural grace. Ninkondas have no faces; a blank helm topped with a golden crown sits atop each ninkonda’s thick neck. Despite lacking facial features, ninkondas have supernaturally sharp senses and can speak in a deep, somber voice (although they rarely choose to do so). Ninkondas are good at recognizing truth and find dishonesty particularly repugnant.
The iron spikes that impale ninkondas’ arms and shoulders are physical manifestations of their past misdeeds. These spikes cause ninkondas a constant dull ache rather than a sharp pain, but ninkondas embrace this discomfort as an ever-present reminder of how wickedness can be overcome. The reflection in the broad mirror across a ninkonda’s chest is always hazy and inexact, as it shows spiritual truth rather than physical reality.
Ninkondas watch for evidence of wicked mortals who might harbor a spark of goodness within them. A ninkonda who identifies a candidate for redemption pursues this quarry tirelessly, dispatching the mortal’s irredeemable lackeys (such as undead and fiends) with nail-studded fists and confronting the mortal personally. In the ninkonda’s broad chest-mirror, the quarry sees not only the stains on its own soul but the repercussions of all its past transgressions. For those who are truly repentant when confronted so directly with their wickedness, the ninkonda offers atonement and helps them back onto the path leading a righteous life.Habitat and SocietyNinkondas are few in number. Though they originate from the ranks of archons, only the most erudite scholars of Heaven can describe how ninkondas come into existence. Many archons begin as virtuous mortal spirits who are transformed into lantern archons or other lesser servitors, then ascend predictably through the hierarchy of Heaven. Some of these virtuous spirits, however, have not always been so: some lived mortal lives of startling wickedness before repenting of their evil ways and joining the ranks of Heaven. Although the archons do not fault each other for mortal wrongs, a rare few archons dwell on their own dimly remembered misdeeds. These transgressions vex their thoughts like splinters. Eventually, some of these archons decide that redeeming other mortal wrongdoers is a higher calling than the service of Heaven’s hierarchies; when such archons advance, they slip from the usual ranks and are reborn as ninkondas. Their mortal misconduct takes physical form in the spikes that pierce their flesh.
Ninkondas prefer to work alone, but form small squads against groups that fell into wickedness together (such as a band of desperate revolutionaries or a couple of accidental murderers). The ninkondas hope to redeem all the members of such groups together, so that they can find strength and courage in each other’s company once the ninkondas have gone. Ninkondas working together rarely confer, instead deferring automatically to the most experienced among their number.Beyond GenderOutsiders do not reproduce sexually, and have existences that transcend the understanding of mortals. Some types of outsiders, especially angels, are genderless in their natural states. While some angels may choose to adopt a gender, whether it is one reflected in the real world or otherwise, most do not. A genderless creature has no gender entry on the race and class line of their stat block, and is referred to with the singular “they” in running text and ability descriptions.Creatures in "Angel" CategorySource Pathfinder RPG Bestiary pg. 10
Angels are a race of celestials, beings who live on the good-aligned outer planes.
Angels can be of any good alignment. Lawful angels hail from Heaven, neutral angels from Nirvana, and chaotic angels from Elysium, though the majority serve one good deity or another and call their patron's realm their home. Most mortals assume that angels never lie, cheat, or steal, are impeccably honorable in all their dealings, and are the most trustworthy and diplomatic of all the celestials; while this is generally true, there are exceptions, especially as some angels serve good-aligned trickster gods and other chaotic entities.
The original and most powerful angels predate the mortal races. They were among the first creations of the gods of good, and those that survive to this day are among the more powerful non-divine beings in the multiverse. While new angels are still periodically created by the gods, most modern angels were once good mortals, their souls transforming into something greater upon reaching their destination in the planes. Often an angel's true form is reminiscent of its mortal self, only taller, brighter, and more powerful. The relationship between good mortal soul and angel is common knowledge, and many mortal religions assume that all members of the faith in good standing become angels of some type in the afterlife. Others confuse the issue by conflating famous mortals (such as saints and martyrs) with preexisting angels that have similar names, or suggesting that angels take human form to perform great deeds as mortals, returning to the heavens when their duties are over.
All angels are blessed with extraordinary beauty, though their actual appearances vary widely. Their natural shapechanging ability means they may appear to mortals as male or female, depending on their personal preference or the will of their deity. As they are spiritual creatures given a physical form rather than creatures of flesh born of other creatures, their gender is mutable; some angels always use a male form, some strictly a female one, and others use either or both, or prefer an androgynous or sexless shape.
Technically, the word “angel” refers to several types of humanoid angels—solars, planetars, and devas (of which the astral deva is the most common; other types exist as well)—though many mortals use the term loosely and apply it to any celestial, whether an angel, one of the guardian archons, fey-like azatas, beast-like agathions, or any other creature of the good planes. The angels do not take affront at this, as they have more important things to deal with than mortal nomenclature.
Angels speak Celestial, Draconic, and Infernal, though they can communicate with almost any creature because of their truespeech ability. All angels possess a number of similar traits. Most angels also have additional powers beyond these traits, depending on the role their deity assigns them. For example, an angelic guardian of volcanoes might have the fire subtype, or the protector of a sunken city might be aquatic, amphibious, and able to use her wings to swim. Fallen Angels Many religions include stories of angels rebelling against a creator or becoming corrupt and evil. Sadly, this is indeed possible, though thankfully rare, and only the proudest or weakest-willed angels succumb to this fate. Fallen angels are exiles of the good realms, hunted by their former brethren and easy targets for fiends as well. The fallen lose some of the grace and light of their untainted kin, though many are said to still be tragically beautiful. Rarer still are those fallen angels strong and clever enough to join the legions of Hell, and who are often transformed into some type of devil, or those who become demons of the Abyss and carve out a niche in that horrible realm or come to serve a greater demon. Angelic Choirs Whereas there are evil and cruel counterparts for all the other good races, the legions of fiends do not possess a clear analogue for the race of angels. Many scholars have debated the reasons for this strange lack of symmetry among the good and evil outsiders, and while most have come to believe that this is simply an example of good's inherent willingness to rise above specific alignments for everyone's benefit, the exact reason may never be known.
Since angels can be of any good alignment, they represent the needs and desires of all three major good outsider races. While some angels devote their energies to all three, most have a particular favorite among the races in keeping with that angel's particular alignment. While their true forms never vary between alignments, angels will often use their change shape ability to appear more like an archon, agathion, or azata as the situation and the angel's personality demands.
Angels are further subdivided into their own specific hierarchy known as the Triad of Choirs. The bulk of the angel race consists of the devas—these are the most common angels, and numerous different specialties exist, with the astral deva presented here merely the best known. Devas of the third choir have two wings. The second choir consists solely of the four-winged planetars, while the rulers of the angelic race are the six-winged solars. These are the mightiest of all angels, and the most powerful of them can directly oppose even the will of a demigod if the situation calls for it. Angel Subtype Angels are a race of celestials, or good outsiders, native to the good-aligned outer planes. An angel possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature's entry). - Darkvision 60 feet and low-light vision.
- Immunity to acid, cold, and petrification.
- Resistance to electricity 10 and fire 10.
- +4 racial bonus on saves against poison.
- Protective Aura (Su) Against attacks made or effects created by evil creatures, this ability provides a +4 deflection bonus to AC and a +4 resistance bonus on saving throws to anyone within 20 feet of the angel. Otherwise, it functions as a magic circle against evil effect and a lesser globe of invulnerability, both with a radius of 20 feet (caster level equals angel's HD). The defensive benefits from the circle are not included in an angel's statistics block.
- Truespeech (Su) All angels can speak with any creature that has a language, as though using a tongues spell (caster level equal to angel's Hit Dice). This ability is always active.
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