ScriveniteThis humanoid-shaped figure of folded paper and silken ribbons hovers gently in the air. It wears the open cover of some great tome like a metal- and leather-bound mask.Scrivenite CR 4Source Pathfinder #97: In Hell's Bright Shadow pg. 86
XP 1,200
N Medium outsider (extraplanar, lawful)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +10DefenseAC 19, touch 17, flat-footed 16 (+4 deflection, +3 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 37 (5d10+10)
Fort +3, Ref +7, Will +8
Defensive Abilities clever defense, DR 5/chaotic; Immune poison; Resist cold 10, sonic 10; SR 15
Weaknesses vulnerable to fireOffenseSpeed 30 ft., fly 30 ft. (good)
Melee 2 ribbon lashes +8 (1d4 plus 1 Int damage)
Space 5 ft., Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with ribbon lashes)
Special Attacks ribbon lash
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 5th; concentration +9; save DCs are Charisma-based)
3/day—comprehend languages, daze monster (DC 14), detect thoughts (DC 14), protection from chaosStatisticsStr 10, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 19, Wis 15, Cha 14
Base Atk +5; CMB +5; CMD 22
Feats Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Weapon Finesse
Skills Craft (books) +12, Fly +7, Knowledge (arcana) +12, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +12, Knowledge (history) +12, Knowledge (nature) +12, Knowledge (planes) +12, Linguistics +9, Perception +10, Profession (scribe) +7, Stealth +11
Languages Abyssal, Aklo, Aquan, Auran, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Ignan, Infernal, Terran
SQ ambient knowledge, soul tome, tome formEcologyEnvironment any (Axis)
Organization solitary, pair, or collection (3–12)
Treasure standardSpecial AbilitiesAmbient Knowledge (Ex) As long as it is within 60 feet of a library or a soul tome, a scrivenite gains an insight bonus on all Knowledge checks equal to its Hit Dice (typically +5 for most scrivenites), and it can attempt Knowledge checks untrained.
Clever Defense (Ex) A scrivenite adds its Intelligence bonus as a deflection bonus to its Armor Class. Any condition that causes a scrivenite to lose its Dexterity bonus to its Armor Class also causes it to lose the benefit of this ability.
Ribbon Lash (Ex) A scrivenite’s primary weapons are its silken ribbon bookmarks. Each ribbon lash deals 1d4 points of slashing damage and 1 point of Intelligence damage. A successful DC 16 Will save negates the Intelligence damage. The save DC is Intelligence-based.
Soul Tome (Su) Whenever a scrivenite deals Intelligence damage, the stolen knowledge manifests as a soul tome in its possession. A new soul tome is created for each different creature that a scrivenite damages in this way, and further Intelligence damage dealt to that creature causes the soul tome to swell and become more elaborate. This Intelligence damage can be restored naturally over time, by magic, or by a creature reading from its own soul tome in order to restore the stolen memories. Every 30 minutes spent in study heals 1 point of Intelligence damage.
A creature who takes an amount of Intelligence damage equal to its Intelligence score in this way falls comatose. Once comatose, the victim doesn’t heal ability damage naturally and must be revived using magic or by destroying the soul tome. A break enchantment or restoration spell cast on the soul tome restores the stolen memories imprisoned in the book and restores any Intelligence damage affecting the victim.
Any creature can spend 30 minutes reading a soul tome in order to learn the secrets and knowledge that the target once possessed. A soul tome is always written in the target’s native tongue. No check is necessary to read the book. The contents of a soul tome can vary wildly. Some may contain only minor trivia about the creature’s life, while others might contain important secrets. Soul tomes have hardness 0 and 5 hit points. They crumble to dust once the stolen knowledge within them has been reclaimed or restored. The soul of a creature whose memories are recorded in a soul tome is not prevented from going on to the afterlife.
Tome Form (Ex) As a swift action, a scrivenite can retract its body back into its book cover mask; it then appears to be a large, sturdily bound, but otherwise mundane tome. In this form, a scrivenite can take 20 on Stealth checks to hide in plain sight as a normal book. A scrivenite in tome form can still use its spell-like abilities, but it loses its ribbon lash attacks and the deflection bonus granted by its clever defense ability, and its speed is reduced to 5 feet.DescriptionHailing from Axis, scrivenites act as the historians, cartographers, and archivists of the multiverse. They are literally woven together from knowledge, and every scrivenite contains a deep need to record anything and everything around it in excruciating detail. Terse and introverted in the extreme, scrivenites eschew the frippery of emotion and poetic license in order to preserve objectivity, and they detest the bias and constant revisions applied by fickle mortal minds to stated history. Most scrivenites refuse to see the big picture, and instead focus on minute details, only later collecting the individual facts in their vast libraries. They rarely measure the human suffering or triumph in any particular event. To them, the what, when, and where is more important than the who and why. By scrivenites’ estimation, weather can have as much impact on a nation’s ultimate fate as its leader, so both factors must be given equal merit.
Simply existing around information feeds and empowers a scrivenite; they take in the written word as effortlessly as a human breathes. Their understanding of memory and knowledge is so intuitive that scrivenites can extract whatever information they please from the minds of living creatures, binding these facts into elegant tomes unique to each “contributor.”
Scrivenites can manifest as large, sturdily bound books. Perusing their pages reveals swirling, ethereal wisps of text covering their forms. When active, they craft humanlike bodies from their own folded pages and can use their silken bookmarks as weapons. Scrivenites wear the open covers of their tomes as expressive masks. Though their sizes can vary greatly, most scrivenites stand taller than a halfling, but shorter than a human. Though they are made of pages upon pages of dense paperlike material, they weigh less than 50 pounds.EcologyScrivenites are outsiders, forged from souls in the strange crystalline monoliths of Axis. While similar conceptually to the axiomites they serve, scrivenites are partially woven from written words and recorded events rather than abstract mathematics, tying scrivenites to the past while axiomites contemplate the future. Only the most pedantic souls, mired in the past and endlessly obsessed with objectivity, eventually become scrivenites. Ironically, because coming to Axis as a petitioner wipes away all mortal experiences, many scrivenites obsess over their previous identities, tracking whatever information they can as personal projects even if they no longer feel emotional connections to these past lives.
Effectively immortal with no need to eat or rest, scrivenites fill their time making notes about everything they observe, from the movements of great armies to ambient temperatures across a city. What moments they don’t spend recording the world are instead invested into organizing that information or reviewing the work of other scrivenites for accuracy.
Scrivenites visit other planes with a mix of excitement and loathing. They find the chaos of other worlds deeply upsetting. But keeping to their routines also breeds ignorance, and travel exposes a scrivenite to vast swathes of unrecorded experience that it can eagerly absorb. They answer summons and make forays into other worlds because they need (and secretly relish) these unexplored places.Habitat and SocietyLess a society of their own and more a client race of axiomites, scrivenites work to support the infrastructure of the Eternal City of Axis. Left to their own devices, the awkward outsiders form sprawling libraries and scriptoriums to collect and organize their ever-expanding works. While such libraries gather limitless knowledge, mortal scholars find the collections dense and impenetrable. Scrivenites’ records are written in a cold, passive tone lacking any flourish or interpretation. Although scrivenites hate the interruption caused by visitors, they nonetheless welcome guests—or more specifically, new knowledge—and allow newcomers free access to their libraries so long as these visitors donate more information than they expect to learn. Those unfortunate scholars too foolish to bring any additions to the collection may instead find themselves a part of it.
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