30
Legacy of the Dragons
Chlorthek Medium Aberration Hit Dice: 4d8+16 (34 hp), dying/dead –5/–19 Initiative: +4 Speed: 30 feet AC: 14 (+4 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 14 Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+10 Attack: Slam +6 melee (1d6+3 plus 1d8 acid) Full Attack: Slam +6 melee (1d6+3 plus 1d8 acid) Space/Reach: 5 feet/5 feet (Face/Reach: 5 feet by 5 feet/5 feet) Special Attacks: Acidic touch, burst of rage Special Qualities: Immunity to acid, low-light vision, regeneration 2 Saves: Fort +5, Ref +1, Will +8 Abilities: Str 16, Dex 10, Con 19, Int 8, Wis 15, Cha 7 Skills: Climb +6, Listen +6 Feats: Improved Grapple B, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Resistance to Magic Environment: Any Organization: Solitary, pair, or mob (3–12) Challenge Rating: 4 Treasure: Standard Advancement: By character class or 5–8 HD (Medium), 9–18 HD (Large), 19–30 HD (Huge) Level Adjustment: +1 These miserable abominations resemble short humanoids with patches of melted, baggy skin hanging from their bodies. The dramojh created these twisted humanoids by subjecting captives to a horrific combination of acid baths, preserving salts, and magical rituals. Chlortheks are coated in acid, making their slightest touch deadly. This acid burns and warps their skin, but their regeneration ability allows them to heal these injuries before they become life-threatening. In battle, they draw strength from their state of endless pain. Were chlortheks any less violent, they would perhaps find succor and pity from giants and men. Unfortunately, the dramojh cursed them to find relief only when they channel their agony into destructive acts. To a chlorthek, each blow it lands on its enemy drains away the pain it feels. These creatures leave a wide swath of devastation in their path, as they topple buildings, fell trees, and seek to slay or destroy anything they come across. While chlortheks are potent enemies, their overly aggressive actions make it difficult for them to survive for long. Invariably, they push the folk of the areas they despoil to hunt them down. Years ago large bands of chlorthek marauders ravaged the countryside, but over time their numbers have dwindled. They persist in a few small, isolated groups. While these groups pose a lesser threat than in earlier times, they are still deadly enemies. Their depredations
may be less extensive, but their urge to slay and pillage remains intact. Most chlortheks speak Common, though they rarely communicate even with their own kind. Most of the time, their speech is limited to low, agonized moans and shrieks of pain.
Combat Chlortheks employ simple, direct tactics against their enemies. They prefer to charge forward in large numbers. They rarely use weapons and armor, since their acidic nature weakens or destroys such gear. Instead, they grapple opponents and allow their strength and acidic secretions to carry the day. Chlortheks gain Improved Grapple as a bonus feat. Their squat, strong bodies and melted, viscous flesh make them adept at closing with an opponent and grabbing him in a powerful hold. Chlortheks almost always fight to the death. If battle brings them a reprieve from their miserable condition, then the empty oblivion of death is the final reward they can hope to reap. Acidic Touch (Ex): Due to the acidic film that covers their bodies, chlortheks smear caustic fluid on their opponents with a successful attack. They deal 1d8 points of acid damage with each attack. In addition, they automatically deal 1d8 points of acid damage each round they successfully initiate or maintain a grapple against an opponent. Burst of Rage (Ex): The chlortheks’ ceaseless pain drives them to seek release in battle and destruction, granting them temporary reprieve from their agony. In combat, this ability to channel their emotions allows them to fight on despite horrid injuries. When a chlorthek is reduced to fewer than 0 hit points, it gains a +2 bonus to Strength and continues to fight until it is slain. It does not fall unconscious while dying, though it suffers the other drawbacks as normal. Regeneration (Ex): The chlortheks’ ability to heal wounds swiftly is the only thing that prevents them from succumbing to their state of endless pain. They do not regenerate fire or electricity damage.
Chlorthek Society Some sages believe that the curse laid upon the chlortheks can somehow be broken and these poor creatures returned to their true forms. While many warriors see such talk as evidence of a soft heart and cloudy vision, those who believe the chlortheks can be saved point to their crude culture as proof of their worthiness. When chlortheks gather in small numbers away from civilization, they tend to erect crude settlements that bear faint echoes of the architecture and governments used by humans, giants, and other creatures. Those who study chlortheks call this tendency evidence that these beasts retain some distant memory of their former states. Other, more militant observers believe that the dramojh simply preserved memories and impulses that could