Azter (3.5e Elder Evil)

Created By

Eiji-kun (talk)
Date Created:	6-15-10
Status:	Complete
Editing:	Please feel free to edit constructively!

Azter

Background

Summary::Azter, The Blood Emperor, He Who Swims Time and Space, the Time Devourer and Scion of Hopelessness. The creature known as Azter is known by many epithets, and those which know of him know to fear him as well, for while most Elder Evils are mindless alien beings performing actions beyond any hope of simple morality or sanity, Azter's motives are still grounded in ineffiably sinister thoughts. For once, Azter was a normal creature of its kind, the ancient race of aboleth.

Through a twist of fate this lone aboleth came upon the sunken corporeal body of a long-dead elder evil named Yad-Soth, which had crashed upon the planet of Haven in ages long past from places unknown. Though dead, the nigh-diefic beast's corpse did not rot or age, and over the course of 40,000 years young Azter researched the creature, discovered its powers, its past, the ways it worked.

Perhaps it was a result of researching into things which should not be known, or perhaps it was his own ambition, but it came to pass that Azter would use the body for his own means. Long had it been known that the aboleth were spawn of Piscaethces the Blood Queen, an elder evil of ancient times who swam through the folds of possibility, not believed to be the distant Far Realm. The birth of the aboleth was a mere accident, caused by her blood spilling upon the still-hot material plane, and from this one aboleth spawned many. For Azter, the first aboleth was a symbol of ancient perfection, a creature immortal and ageless which would remember everything from the creation of the material to the end of time. That aboleth reproduce, can perish, and thus lose strands of memories and tracts of history to the fell blades of uppity adventurers or natural disasters was a tragedy. They try to regain their unified memories through the act of feasting, where memories of other races flash through their ancient brains during their meals, but it is not enough. The ultimate form of the aboleth race is to be unified, a single godly being, and therefore Azter decided to make this so. His ambition spread beyond simply remembering all the aboleth race had to offer, and spread out to absorbing all the experience and all the memories in the world.

Yad-Soth allowed him to do that. Through mystic arts honed over the thousands of years, he found a way to revive Yad-Soth and bind his mind to the Elder Evil's body, becoming its will. Yad-Soth, whose power was domination over time and space, who would allow him to reach through the fabric of the universe and devour everything from the first creature to souls and memories yet unborn, from countless timelines and countless worlds. He used the last 500 years of his still normal existance to create the perfect scenerio, to sacrifice the world's population in great number and use the resulting psychic screams to attract the attention of the Blood Queen Piscaethces to the material plane. There, getting her attention but for a moment, he would harvest her life-giving blood and use it to revive the long-dead Yad-Soth. Heroes were set out to stop him...

They were too late.

The world of Haven died, and Yad-Soth was reborn as Azter the Blood Emperor. As he devoured the minds and souls of the world of Haven from early beginning to final moment at the end of time, he looked out into the heavens for other planets and worlds to devour...

Goals

Azter desires the memories and experience of all other life forms, believing that doing so would bring him closer to a more true sense of godhood and utter impossible perfection. Whatever other goals he had in life have been absorbed into this one overwhelming feeling. He knows not what will happen when he succeeds in consuming the universe and all of the timeline, but he waits for that day with baited breath.

Azter in the Campaign

Azter has already succeeded in consuming one world, and is likely traveling unto another. While a master of time, Azter is less of a time-traveling creature arriving where he pleases and more a chronological event. When Azter arrives in full, the local time for that world effectively ends, and there will be no more days, no more nights, and no other events until that world is dead. With that said, the heroes often begin to notice Azter's effects long before he ever arrives, as he begins to invade their current timeline, devouring minds bodies and souls. It may be a plot point to discover a way not only to secure the present time, but actually time traveling to the future where Azter appears and attempting to defeat him. If by some impossible means they drive him off from their doomed future fate, they may yet be able to secure a future for their planet where the world does not end in a bloody maelstrom of horror...

Azter may be found in the Far Realm, the Temporeal Plane, or when near the end of time, outer space approaching the planet physically.

Description

Azter takes parts of both Yad-Soth and his original abolethian form, appearing as a truely titanic aboleth made of swirling thickened blood that rotates around at high speed. Within the blood a million souls and faces scream as they are thrashed about. Three eyes glow burning gold, appearing as if stars themselves, and a cloud of dull red mist surrounds his body. He lacks the typical fish tail of the aboleth, instead his tail end trailing on to a point which typically swirls upon solid land like an angry tornado.

Sign

Sign::Time Paradox

The presence of Azter introduces a time paradox, where important events in history are changed to fit the new fate of the world, one which dies at the hands of Azter. The closer the world gets to the End of Time where Azter arrives, the more pronounced its effects are.

Faint: Small time glitches appear, minor causes of deja vu, remembering places you've never been before, and similar vague effects. Spells which handle the flow of time (such as Slot, Haste, and Time Stop) are cast at +2 CL. There is a 5% chance that corpses of recently slain creatures will spontaneously vanish upon death, as if they were never there.

Moderate: As faint, but the chance of a corpse vanishing after death rises to 20%, and they leave stains of blood where they were standing, even if the creature in question had no blood. In addition, the entire campaign setting gains the erratic time trait, speeding up or slowing down where a day may pass in half normal time, or take two days for one day to pass. More obvious glitches appear and deja vu becomes more common.

Strong: As moderate, but the change of a corpse vanishing increases to 50% and players may actually witness tentacles coming out of thin air and spiriting the corpse away instantly with a DC 30 Spot check. Each day a creature has a 50% chance of starting out with the effect of slow or haste upon them, lasting for 24 hours or until dispelled (caster level 20). The erratic time trait of the plane advances so that an hour may pass over one day, or an entire day may take only a single hour. Permenant spells have a 5% each day of winking out of existance as its time ends. Strange time paradoxes appear which baffle the mind and casuality, yet somehow exist anyway.

Overwhelming: As strong, but any creature which dies has its corpse spirited away to where Azter waits. Azter appears within the heavens, and time becomes so that each day which passes may randomly age you or make you youthful by a year, possibly killing you through old age or reducing you to an age so young you haven't been born. Permenant spells now only have a duration of 24 hours, and the CL of time based spells rise by +8. Permenant magical items have a 5% chance of not functioning each day, as their magic winks out of existance (these however may return the next day). Time is completely warped, and as Azter draws near the heavens redshift and the stars begin to go out one by one, as the players witness the heat death of the universe...

Malefic Properties

Due to Azter's unique time-bending properties it is possible for the range of the malefic property to be messured not simply in distanced, but time. Instead of miles, use months (or years to make it more difficult) to determine when the malefic properties apply. Those with a result of Worldwide (51+ HD) can be felt at any point in history's timeline.

Anathematic Secrecy: Immune to all divine divination spells and effects.

True Death: Dead creatures can never be raised, as Azter plucks the spirit out of time and devours them.

Encounter Information

	Azter
Size/Type:	Huge Outsider (Abomination, Aquatic, Evil)
Hit Dice:	30d8+240 (375 hp)
Initiative:	+16
Speed:	35 ft., fly 90 ft. (perfect), swim 90 ft.
Armor Class:	41 (+22 deflection, +1 dodge, +22 natural armor, -2 size) , touch 30, flat-footed 30
Base Attack/Grapple:	+30/+42
Attack:	Tentacle melee +40 (1d8+14, 19-20/x2) or Bite melee +40 (2d6+7 plus Lifeshaver, 20/x2)
Full Attack:	Four Tentacles melee +40 (1d8+14, 19-20/x2) and Bite melee +40 (2d6+7 plus Lifeshaver, 20/x2)
Space/Reach:	15 ft. /15 ft. (30 ft. with tentacles)
Special Attacks:	Enslave, Lifeshaver, Slime, Spell-Like Abilities, Summoning
Special Qualities:	Abomination Traits, Aquatic Subtype, Blindsight 500 ft., Chronoportation, Damage Reduction 20/good and epic and timewarped (see text), Darkvision 60 ft., Energy Resistance Cold/Fire/Acid 30, Fast Healing 10, Immunity to Electricty, Low-light Vision, Mucus Cloud, Spell Immunities, Spell Resistance 40, Telepathy 1000 ft., True Seeing, Warp Aura
Saves:	Fort +24, Ref +18, Will +28
Abilities:	Str 32, Dex 10, Con 24, Int 18, Wis 21, Cha 32
Skills:	Bluff +44, Concentration +40, Decipher Script +19, Diplomacy +26, Intimidate +44, Knowledge Arcana +37, Knowledge Dungeoneering +37, Knowledge History +37, Knowledge The Planes +37, Listen +38, Sense Motive +38, Spot +38, Spellcraft +37, Swim +19, Use Magic Device +14
Feats:	Improved Initiative, Multiattack, Improved Multiattack, Combat Reflexes, Extra Reflexes, Improved Critical (Tentacles), Iron Will, Superior Initiative, Spellcasting Harrier, Epic Toughness, Epic Will
Environment:	Temporal Plane
Organization:	Unique
Challenge Rating:	CR 24
Treasure:	None
Alignment:	Neutral Evil
Advancement:	31-60 HD (Huge), 61-90 HD (Gargauntuan)
Level Adjustment:	—

The air distorts around you, the horizon redshifting and blueshifting at random, and the surrounding time grow erratic.  On one side you witness mountains rise and fall in high speed, on another a raindrop hangs in mid-air, falling ever so slowly or even moving backwards.  From the great rift uncoiled a shape somewhere between fish and eel, leech and squid.  It's surface was thick and runny, like blood-hued syrup which boiled and throbed with unearthly energies.  Four tentacles sprouted from it, four gaping vents bellowing the sounds of some manner of demonic whalesong.  It's head had three vertically aligned eyes which shone like small suns, and its every breath seethed some crimson poison into the air.  Its motions were blurred, as afterimages dragged alongside it, behind it, before it, within it, and suddenly you were surrounded...

Once, Azter was an aboleth who discovered a dead terror from beyond the stars, and dedicated his life to unlocking its secrets.  Through thousands of years of magical and scientific experiments, he discovered not only the power of the fallen abomination but a means to revive it, with its will overwritten.  Tempted by such power, he performed the terrible rituals needed to make it so, and in the genocide of an entire planet the elder evil known as Yad-Soth was reborn as Azter, the Time Devourer.   Though in control, Azter quickly found himself wanting, for the awesome powers of the elder evil were not free.  It was powered by thoughts and souls, the resonant emotions of mortals, and soon Azter found the strongest and easiest emotion to harvest was that of fear and death.  After consuming the death cries of the history of his planet, Azter moves on to devour all of creation, across its entire timeline...

Azter speaks Aboleth, Abyssal, Aquan, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal, and Undercommon.

Combat

Azter retains some semblence of his original abolethian being, both in form and arrogance.  With control over time, Azter firmly believes it is his destiny to consume all minds into himself, thus becoming the aboleth ideal, a being which remembers all of time, as well as an all-powerful godlike being in his own right.  If found, Azter will fight, staying mobile and abusing his chronoportation abilities.  If the battle goes well he is prone to showing off and tormenting his opponents, to harvest more negative emotions before they die.  If the battle turns against him, he will become frustrated and focus on those that are hurting him the most, trying to isolate his opponents one at a time.  He is not above attempting to flee, but only to recoup rapidly and return with a venegence against those would slighted him. He always has a contingency to plane shift or teleport out of harm's way, as needed.

Abomination Traits (Sp):  As an abomination, Azter is immune to polymorphing, petrification, or any form of form-altering attack, energy drain, ability drain, ability damage, and mind-affecting effects. It has true seeing as will and may choose both nonepic and epic feats as part of their feat selection.

Chronoportation (Su):  Azter moves less through space and more through time.  His motion is treated as teleporting from place to place as part of his move actions, even a 5 foot step, none of which provokes attacks of opportunity.  When this happens he leaves a time duplicate behind, which may act on its own, effectively giving Azter the ability to be in two places at once (and for this reason, Azter moves at every opportunity).  After 1 round, one of the two Azters on the field vanishes at Azter's choice, and he often moves again to bring another duplicate and potential future position.  When there are two Azters on the field at once they each may take a whole round of actions as if they were seperate beings, but they share the same pool of hit points, uses per day of any abilities or magic items they possess, and other limited effects.  If both are caught in an area effect or multi-target effect, Azter only takes the effect once. An effect that successfully hits one affects both.

Damage Reduction (Ex):  Azter has damage reduction that is only bypassed by good, epic, and "timewarped" attacks.  That is, attacks from creatures who are under the effect of haste, possess a speed weapon, or otherwise have a positive time-altering effect on them.  Weapons which have been coated in quintessence are also counted as being timewarped weapons.

Enslave (Su):  Azter retains his ability to dominate others. 3/day, Azter can attempt to enslave any one living creature within 30 feet. The target must make a DC 26 Will save or be affected as if by dominate person spell (caster level 30th). An enslaved creature obeys Azter's telepathic commands until freed by remove curse, and can attempt a new Will save every 24 hours. The control is also broken if Azter dies, or travels more than 10 miles from him. The saving throw is Charisma based.

Lifeshaver (Su):  As a touch attack, or as part of a bite, Azter can steal a person's time in this world, effectively aging them without the benefits of greater mental knowledge (or additional powers in the case of dragons).  The target must make a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 HD + Charisma) or be aged to the next age catagory.  They take any associated penalties for their new age, but none of the benefits, and Azter gains 30 temporary hp.  When the target is venerable, any additional failed saves threaten them with death instead, with a +1 increase to the saving throw for each previous attempt.  If the target dies in this method they will have died of old age and be difficult to revive.  Targets which are immortal do not die, but still may be aged and must save or be staggered instead of saves vs death.  The process is reversable with the effect of limited wish, wish, miracle or a break enchantment done by a caster level of 30 or higher.

Mucus Cloud (Ex):  Azter can surround himself in a vicous cloud of mucus while underwater, or a toxic red mist while airborne. Any creature coming into contact with and inhaling this substance must make a DC 22 Fortitude save or lose its ability to breath air (but gain the ability to breath water) for 3 hours. The saving throw is Constitution based.

Slime (Ex):  A creature hit by Azter's tentacles or bite must succeed on a DC 22 Fortitude save or his skin and flesh transforms into a bloody, runny slurry over the course of 1d4 rounds. The new "flesh" is soft and raw, applying a -4 penalty to Constitution and reducing any natural armor bonus by 4. If the victim is not kept moist, the victim begins to dry and takes 1d12 points of damage every 10 minutes. Remove disease and similar effects can restore creatures, but immunity to poison or disease gives no protection against this attack. The saving throw is Constitution based.

Spell-Like Abilities (Sp):  Azter has the following spell-like abilities at CL 30th.  At will - contingency, control water,greater teleport, hypnotic pattern, illusory wall, mirage arcana, mirror image, persistent image, programmed image, project image, slow, telekinesis, veil, wall of force; 3/day - celerity^PH2, fear, greater dispel magic, insanity, meteor swarm, nerveskitter^SpC, plane shift, telekinetic sphere, temporal stasis, time stop; 1/day - implosion, wish.  Saving throws are Charisma based.

Summoning (Su):  As a standard action up to 1/hour, Azter may summon an aboleth mage^MM with a 50% chance of working, 1d4 krakens (with a 20 ft. land speed and amphibious trait) with a 75% chance of working, or 2d6 callers in darkness with 100% chance of working.  Summoned creatures serve Azter for 1 hour before vanishing.

Spell Immunity (Ex):  Azter is completely immune to the effects of the following spells unless cast by himself; sepia snake sigil, slow, temporal stasis, and time stop (meaning he can move within other people's Time Stop effects).

Warp Aura (Su):  Azter possesses an aura of temporal distortion that extends out to 1000 feet.  Azter and any allies of Azter gain the benefit of permenant entropic shield and haste, +8 to initiative checks, and may have their spells cast with either Persist Spell, Repeat Spell, or Quicken Spell metamagic applied, with no adjustment to the spell level or casting time. The aura cannot persist the spell or spell-like abilities of Time Stop or Implosion.  Meanwhile opponent's spells and spell-like abilities have their durations cut in half. Since the benefit applies to Azter as well, he often throws out four spells in a round, two quickened spells and two standard spells from himself and his duplicate formed from Chronoportation.

Skills:  Azter has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. He may always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. He can use the run action while swimming provided he runs in a straight line.

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