Kyton, SacristanChains and piercings torture this being’s bloodless flesh. The greatest violations invade its face and mouth.Sacristan CR 10Source Bestiary 4 pg. 177
XP 9,600
LE Medium outsider (evil, extraplanar, kyton, lawful)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +17DefenseAC 22, touch 13, flat-footed 19 (+3 Dex, +9 natural)
hp 126 (12d10+60); regeneration 5 (good spells and weapons, silver)
Fort +13, Ref +7, Will +10
DR 10/silver or good; Immune cold; SR 21OffenseSpeed 30 ft.
Melee mwk spiked chain +18/+13/+8 (2d4+7) or 2 claws +17 (1d4+5)
Space 5 ft., Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with spiked chain)
Special Attacks shadow scream, unnerving gaze (30 ft., DC 18)StatisticsStr 20, Dex 16, Con 21, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 15
Base Atk +12; CMB +17 (+19 bull rush); CMD 30 (32 vs. bull rush)
Feats Bleeding Critical, Cleave, Critical Focus, Great Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack
Skills Acrobatics +15, Bluff +17, Climb +17, Intimidate +17, Perception +17, Sense Motive +17, Stealth +18
Languages Common, InfernalEcologyEnvironment any (Plane of Shadow)
Organization solitary, pair, bodyguard (1d4 plus 1 kyton of lower CR [usually an ostiarius]), or entourage (2d6 plus 1 kyton of higher CR)
Treasure standardSpecial AbilitiesShadow Scream (Su) Once per hour as a standard action, a sacristan can burst the bonds sealing its mouth and unleash a cacophony of darkness and soul-shaking howls from the pits of the Shadow Plane. The area within 25 feet of the sacristan is affected by deeper darkness. All creatures within the area are deafened for as long as they remain in the area and must succeed at a DC 18 Will save or be confused. The confusion effect lasts for as long as the creature is in the shadow scream’s area of effect and for 1d4 rounds after leaving.
Any creature that falls unconscious while under the effects of this confusion effect must succeed at an additional DC 18 Will save or be afflicted by a random insanity—roll on the insanity table on page 250 of the Pathfinder RPG GameMastery Guide to determine which. A sacristan’s shadow scream lasts for 3 rounds and remains centered on the kyton even if it moves. The sacristan can end the shadow scream at will. The scream also ends if the sacristan is killed or is affected by the spell dimensional lock, which prevents this ability’s use for as long as the spell in effect. The save DCs are Charisma-based.
Unnerving Gaze (Ex) A creature that succumbs to an augur’s unnerving gaze becomes staggered for 1 round.DescriptionEvery kyton considers itself some manner of artiste, working and reworking its avant-garde visions in various mediums—flesh, minds, darkness, and others both natural and fragile. But for every masterpiece, there are countless failures. Sacristans number among the most useful failures of the kyton race.
Born from scraps of imperfect flesh, bent chain, and scarred minds, sacristans are bound together by kyton sculptor-surgeons. They lack the burden of free will, and their minds are etched with the ability to serve, making them utterly obedient to other kytons. While much more than automatons, sacristans are a potent slave caste, one manufactured to take ecstatic pleasure from serving their brethren. Their other blessing is a miniature, permanent portal to the Shadow Plane sealed within their mouths. Kept restrained, this portal endlessly howls the music of the kytons’ realms of shadowed torture and veiled delights. When threatened, sacristans burst open their mouths and allow the song of their collective race to seduce their foes in a way these brutes never could.
Sacristans vary in their appearance, but always look like tortured and maimed humanoids, often with redundant or absent features. They typically stand between 6 and 8 feet tall and weigh from 80 to 160 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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