Aeon, PleromaWithin the shadows of this vaguely humanoid figure stir swirling colors and spheres, as if it encompassed all the night sky.
Pleroma CR 20Source Bestiary 2 pg. 12
XP 307,200
N Large outsider (aeon, extraplanar)
Init +12; Senses blindsight 120 ft., darkvision 120 ft., true seeing; Perception +41
DefenseAC 36, touch 24, flat-footed 27 (+6 deflection, +8 Dex, +1 dodge, +12 natural, –1 size)
hp 324 (24d10+192); fast healing 10
Fort +24, Ref +18, Will +26
Immune cold, critical hits, poison; Resist electricity 10, fire 10; SR 31
OffenseSpeed 0 ft., fly 60 ft. (perfect)
Melee touch +30 (20d8 energy)
Space 10 ft., Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks sphere of creation, sphere of oblivion
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 20th; concentration +27)
At will—create food and water, mending, rusting grasp (DC 21), stone shape, wood shape (DC 19)
7/day—fabricate, plant growth, sculpt sound, shout (DC 21)
5/day—break enchantment, daylight, deeper darkness, freedom of movement, major creation
3/day—disintegrate (DC 23), horrid wilting (DC 25)
1/day—mage’s disjunction (DC 26), wish (DC 26)
Cleric Spells Prepared (CL 20th; concentration +30)
9th—astral projection, gate, implosion (3, DC 29)
8th—cloak of chaos (DC 28), holy aura (DC 28), shield of law (DC 28), summon monster VIII, unholy aura (DC 28)
7th—blasphemy (DC 27), destruction (DC 27), dictum (DC 27), holy word (DC 27), word of chaos (DC 27)
6th—banishment (DC 26), forbiddance (DC 26), geas, legend lore, repulsion (DC 26), veil (DC 26)
5th—contact other plane, dispel chaos (DC 25), dispel evil (DC 25), dispel good (DC 25), dispel law (DC 25), teleport
4th—chaos hammer (DC 24), holy smite (DC 24), order’s wraith (DC 24), restoration, scrying (DC 24), unholy blight (DC 24)
3rd—clairaudience/clairvoyance, magic circle against chaos, magic circle against evil, magic circle against good, magic circle against law, suggestion (DC 23)
2nd—align weapon, detect thoughts (DC 22), enthrall (DC 22), make whole, see invisibility, undetectable alignment, zone of truth (DC 22)
1st—detect chaos, detect evil, detect good, detect law, identify, magic aura, true strike
0—create water, detect magic, guidance, read magic
StatisticsStr 24, Dex 27, Con 26, Int 26, Wis 31, Cha 25
Base Atk +24; CMB +32; CMD 57 (can’t be tripped)
Feats Alertness, Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Improved Iron Will, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Lightning Stance, Mobility, Wind Stance
Skills Appraise +30, Bluff +32, Fly +16, Heal +30, Intimidate +27, Knowledge (arcana) +47, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +44, Knowledge (engineering) +44, Knowledge (nature) +47, Knowledge (planes) +47, Knowledge (religion) +47, Perception +41, Sense Motive +39, Spellcraft +30, Stealth +27, Use Magic Device +27
Languages envisaging
SQ extension of all, void form
EcologyEnvironment any (Outer Planes)
Organization solitary or tribunal (1 pleroma, 3 akhanas, and 2–5 theletos)
Treasure none
Special AbilitiesEnergy Touch (Su) A pleroma’s touch deals 20d8 points of damage from positive or negative energy, depending upon which type of energy would harm the creature touched. A pleroma’s touch never heals damage.
Spells A pleroma casts spells as a 20th-level cleric, but does not have access to domains. A pleroma can cast certain sorcerer/wizard spells as divine spells.
Sphere of Creation (Su) Three times per day, the pleroma can manifest a 2-foot-diameter sphere of white energy that hovers above its left hand. By concentrating, the pleroma can control this sphere, causing it to fly slowly at a speed of 10 feet per round. The sphere can travel in any direction, but must remain within 300 feet of the pleroma or it immediately dissipates. Wherever the sphere travels, it leaves behind a 5-foot-wide path of new matter, creating either new terrain (such as swamp, tundra, desert, or forest) or a 10-foot-square wall composed of a single natural substance (such as clay, wood, or stone). Any existing matter, either living or nonliving that comes in contact with the sphere must make a DC 30 Fortitude save or be absorbed and incorporated into the new substance (only freedom, miracle, or wish can rescue creatures so trapped). Creatures that save are pushed to the nearest unoccupied location adjacent to the newly created substance. The sphere is highly unstable and only lasts 1d4 minutes before exploding with a blinding flash. All creatures within 30 feet of the flash must make a DC 30 Fortitude save or be permanently blinded. The save DCs are Constitution-based.
Sphere of Oblivion (Su) Three times per day, the pleroma can manifest a 2-foot-diameter sphere of complete and utter darkness that hovers above its right hand. The sphere is an empty void similar to a sphere of annihilation. Any matter (living or nonliving) that touches the sphere must succeed on a DC 30 Fortitude save or be sucked into the sphere and destroyed. Larger objects (such as ships or buildings) are destroyed at a rate of one 10-foot cube per round of contact with the sphere. By concentrating, the pleroma can control this sphere, causing it to fly slowly at a speed of 10 feet per round. The sphere can travel in any direction, but must remain within 300 feet of the pleroma or it immediately dissipates. The sphere is highly unstable and only lasts 1d4 minutes before harmlessly imploding upon itself. Alternatively, the pleroma may hurl the sphere as a ranged touch attack (with a 10-foot range increment) against a single creature. When thrown in this manner, the sphere implodes immediately after the attack is resolved. The save DCs are Constitution-based.
DescriptionThe pleroma is the most powerful of all the aeons. As a manifestation of the opposing acts of creation and destruction, a pleroma exists in a state of flux, its very form shifting between creation and oblivion within the ebon folds of its vaporous cloak. One who gazes upon a pleroma could spend days studying the continual changes of its form, which most resemble the shifting of celestial bodies within the universe sped up to a pace at which the swirling of galaxies and the tumble of planets form a strange dance.
Pleromas view the concepts of creation and oblivion not so much as separate processes, but rather as two parts of a cyclical passage that everything in existence must explore. Pleromas guide this progression, ensuring everything remains balanced, such that whatever is created can be destroyed, and that nothing becomes so static that these two processes slow to a halt. For everything that attains a state of semi-permanence, there must be many more things that do not, or rather that cannot ever be reformed into a state of permanence. While pleromas believe in eternity, they understand that eternity is cyclical and infinity is something that repeats itself. Therefore, eternity and infinity are states that can be changed, or altered, if only slightly. Pleromas maintain such changes are necessary to keep the cosmos from becoming static and unbalanced, a state they refer to as apocalypse, or the end of everything.
Of all the aeons, pleromas possess the strongest connection to the entity or concept they refer to as Monad. All aeons believe themselves to be extensions of this entity, and while they act freely and independently of the entity, they always act within the constricts of its will or needs. This behavior is not so much a state of servitude as a symbiosis in which the actions of the pleromas are universally beneficial to both themselves and the entity they are part of. Pleromas describe Monad as the sentience of the multiverse, from which all things are created through the recycling of everything that ever existed.
Pleromas typically travel alone. Their arrival in a region almost always heralds some sort of dramatic change. They pay little mind to the wants and needs of other creatures, and remain entirely focused upon their primary task. They avoid conflicts of ethics, wars, and similar pursuits, save when manipulating such events would help to restore the balance between creation and oblivion. Should any be so foolish as to attempt to interfere with or sway their work, pleromas immediately retaliate by bringing all of their significant powers and devastating abilities to bear until the intervention is destroyed.Creatures in "Aeon" CategorySource Bestiary 2 pg. 8
Beyond passion, beyond mercy, beyond reason, the faceless caretakers of reality toil without end, silently struggling to preserve the tenuous balance upon which all existence depends. These voiceless forces are the aeons, inscrutable shapers and eliminators of the multiverse. They exist beyond the understanding of most mortals, endlessly striving toward goals unfathomable even to many of the planes' eldest inhabitants. Aeons build order from the chaos of the Maelstrom, seed new life upon barren worlds, and halt the rampages of forces grown overbold. They rend nations to vapor, dismantle planets into cosmic dust, and pave the way for calamities. Their ways are at one moment beneficent and in the next utterly devastating, but always without ardor, compassion, or malice. Every aeon dispassionately but determinedly strives toward the same objective—an ever changing, amending, and readjusting pursuit of multiplanar equilibrium. United in this eternal and perhaps impossible pursuit, aeons embody the planes-spanning hand of a metaphorical omnipotent clockmaker, endlessly tuning and adjusting the myriad gears of reality in pursuit of ultimate perfection.
The balance aeons seek in all things begins with themselves. Most aeons embody a powerful dichotomy sustained in equilibrium. From the potency of birth and death meeting in akhanas to the philosophies of fate and freedom embodied by theletos, the workings of existence take on form and will within their living manifestations. Even the lesser paracletus unite diverse elements of creation in their intricate orbits. Such stability reaches beyond the shapes of aeons to inspire and direct their minds, imbuing each with a singular purpose and area of control. Thus, each embodies the realm of reality it would seek to balance, attempting to enforce a harmony as perfect as that of its physical form upon all things. The forms of various types directly suggest their abilities and objectives, with pleroma aeons, for example, exhibiting the power to create or annihilate, and using such influence to alter that which has grown either too abundant or sterile.
While aeons are not malicious creatures, they care nothing for individual beings or the struggles and emotions central to most life. The ruin of an entire city or burning of a vast forest means equally little in their manipulation of symmetry. By the same right, creating new life or constructing defenses against impending calamities are equally characteristic acts. For aeons, only the final tally matters, and a land overpopulated by humanoids is just as much in need of culling as a land overrun by ravenous fungi. Just as a body's natural defenses have neither mercy nor malice for invading parasites, aeons don't muddy their objectives with emotion. Such impartiality extends to the interactions between aeons as well. Without culture, society, or even memory beyond the immediate needs of the multiverse, they build no relationships and, in general, have no personalities beyond an automaton-like directness. A vague caste system exists, with aeons that hold influence over greater multiversal principles acknowledged as superior by their lesser brethren. This caste system rarely translates to actual direction and obedience, though. Should the acts of a greater aeon jeopardize the works or even lives of a multitude of lesser aeons, the efforts of the more potent aeon proceed without hesitation. Only in matters of great existential concern do multiple aeons cooperate, directed into doing so by the united consciousness of their race and the multiverse itself, and even then rarely for long.
Many mistake aeons for friends or allies of nature and its creatures. While this might be true at times—and is definitely true if reality as a whole is considered a vast, united organism—aeons care no more for the trees of the forest than for the towers of civilization. For them, all life is life and all death is death, to be preserved or scoured regardless of its arbitrary shape.
In rare cases, aeons have been known to deviate from the whims of the multiverse. Such rogue aeons typically arise from interacting with other races excessively, living beyond their intended times, being exposed to unusual ideas, or being forced to perform acts they otherwise wouldn't contemplate. These aeons typically take on extreme personalities, coming to favor one aspect of their being over the other—an akhana is just as likely to become an artist of life as a mass murderer. Normal aeons perceive their rogue brethren as high-priority disturbances in the balance of the multiverse and seek the destruction of such rarities with all haste.Monad, the Condition of AllAll aeons are bound in a state they know as “the condition of all” or “monad,” a supreme oneness with all members of their race and the multiverse itself. Therefore, aeons exist as an extension of the multiverse; in a fashion similar to the way bones, muscle, and the various humors create a mortal, they exist as part of a greater being. When destroyed or upon accomplishing specific goals, their energies simply dissipate and become reabsorbed into the monad. They do not die, but are instead recycled. They have no discernible memories and seem to exist only in the present, arriving to repair balance. Relationships with non-aeons are generally nonexistent, and they feel no sense of affection, remorse, vengeance, or similar emotions. Aeons deal with each task as its own action, independent from all other tasks. Thus, an individual once at violent odds with an aeon may, upon their next encounter, have the aeon's full and undaunted support.Aeon SubtypeAeons are a race of neutral outsiders who roam the planes maintaining the balance of reality. Aeons possess the following traits.- Immunity to cold, poison, and critical hits.
- Resistance to electricity 10 and fire 10.
- Envisaging (Su) Aeons communicate wordlessly, almost incomprehensibly. Caring little for the wants and desires of other creatures, they have no need to engage in exchanges of dialogue. Instead, aeons mentally scan beings for their thoughts and intentions, and then retaliate with flashes of psychic projections that emit a single concept in response to whatever the other being was thinking. The flash is usually a combination of a visual and aural stimulation, which displays how the aeon perceives future events might work out. For instance, an aeon seeking to raze a city communicates this concept to non-aeons by sending them a vivid image of the city crumbling to ash. An aeon's envisaging functions as a non-verbal form of telepathy. Aeons cannot read the thoughts of any creature immune to mind-affecting effects.
- Extension of All (Ex) Through an aeon's connection to the multiverse, it gains access to strange and abstruse knowledge that filters through all existence. Much of the knowledge is timeless, comprised of events long past, present, and potentially even those yet to come. Aeons gain a racial bonus equal to half their racial Hit Dice on all Knowledge skill checks. This same connection also binds them to other aeons. As a result, they can communicate with each other freely, over great distances as if using telepathy. This ability also works across planes, albeit less effectively, allowing the communication of vague impressions or feelings, not specific details or sights. Due to the vast scope of the aeon race's multiplanar concerns, though, even the most dire reports of a single aeon rarely inspire dramatic or immediate action.
- Void Form (Su) Though aeons aren't incorporeal, their forms are only a semi-tangible manifestation of something greater. An aeon's void form grants it a deflection bonus equal to 1/4 its Hit Dice (rounded down).
|