The fighter trudged through the rushing winds and swirling snow, tugging his cloak tighter around himself. Behind him, he could just barely hear the conversation between the rest of the party, reminiscing on past exploits. He smiled at the exchange, remembering the past alongside them even as he silently forged ahead, carving a path in the snow banks for them to follow. Suddenly, their voices fell silent. The world became muted save for the abruptly eerie whispering of the wind. Pausing, he straightened and turned to regard his friends - and found them entirely absent. A creaking, clicking sound reached his ears and he turned again for found a hideous abomination looming over him, a multitude of pupil-less eyes glimmering with wicked glee as a drool leaked from its nest of fangs.
Illustration by SethMonster
This monster is probably the most tied to the lore of my own setting out of any monster I've presented, but I was encouraged by my players to share it and I hope you can find a way to use it in your home games. Desolation is the herald of the god of terror and the void in my setting and is largely designed as a spellcaster with lower defenses and Strikes but it has a fairly powerful defense in the form of its All In Your Head. This ability is inspired by the concept that this creature formed from the fear of being alone and this ability makes it always so, even when its surrounded. Frightened creatures are intrinsically linked to Desolation and others of its kind, revealing it to them, but it can inflict a state similar to its own on other through its Draw Into Desolation. This uses a high DC and dangerously isolates the target - though the other players can still see their companion and can direct their attacks in the same direction and try to help them.
Aside from entrapping them with Desolation, it makes them susceptible to its Despair aura, which deals unlimited use area damage at a moderate DC and then keeps a creature frightened while they are alone. This effect is enforced by both its Desolation effect isolating a creature and a number of its spells - most particularly, paranoia, which might be the most powerful spell in its arsenal. Desolation can follow up the damage from Despair with Feast on Fear, a reaction that provides it with some extra durability as it is honestly a rather fragile creature. With its number of two-action activities, it uses Ravage to slip in attacks once he's closed in on an enemy. Finally, as a source of fear that is used to inflicting that state on others, Desolation is Foreign to Fear, leaving it highly vulnerable when the players are able to make it frightened.
Pathfinder 2e:
There were less spells that felt appropriate for Desolation in 1e, so I took the ones that felt appropriate and then had it take some feats to enhance these spells, such as Quicken Spell-Like Ability and Scarring Spell-Like Ability. It could probably use Spell Focus as well, likely for enchantment, and if you want to go that route, I would swap out Skill Focus or Terrifying Assault. It felt natural to include the traditional frightful presence for Desolation in part because it's a little harder to inflict the various stage of frightened on creatures in 1e. The 1e Desolation lacks the healing properties of the 2e's Feast on Fear, but has slightly more potent defenses in return, including a slightly lower spell resistance.
Pathfinder 1e:
Blue's D&D 5e:
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
As should be the case for the herald of a god, Desolation is not a creature to use lightly. I have tested this monster, which you can check out in the Monster Mash, as well as used it in one of my campaigns. This caused the first player character death in my campaign and may have led to some deaths based on the paranoia spell that we simply didn't play out. Desolation disrupts parties by isolating its members and while I've ran it frigid environments based on my campaign, this could be a fun creature to use in an urban setting where all the crowds suddenly disappear from around its intended victim.
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Have a monstrous Monday!
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