Black smoke and tarry sludge poured from the clanking monstrosity that shuddered to a stop before the party of heroes. A figure coalesced from the smog as a velvety chuckle emerged from it. The smog humanoid slicked back the whisps of smoke flowing from his head as he presented the party with a greasy smile. Sludge dripped from his body, splashing upon and spoiling the ground beneath him as he coiled about the construct he had previously inhabited, languishing across its fearsome frame. As he slid around it, his chest swelled with an orange glow before a gout of fire roared from his yawning maw, scorching the earth as it swallowed the heroes.
I loved watching Ferngully as a kid but hadn't considered building anything from it until it was suggested to me by somebody over on Discord. In particular, it was a request to build Hexxus, the main antagonist, as a monster. After some debate, I opted to build Hexxus as a mid-level creature based off of what we see in the movie instead of his backstory in which he seemed to be even more powerful. A supernatural entity beyond the understanding of mortals, Hexxus is dedicated to the eradication of nature and both produces and feeds off of pollution. He demonstrates a body that exists in several different states, ranging from slime to smoke and growing in size as he wreaks havoc. In his final form, his body is filled with a fiery glow that he can unleash in a gout of flame. Most notably, Hexxus was able to seize control of a vehicle known as the Leveler that he used as his instrument of destruction. However, what Hexxus might be best remembered for is his voice, attitude, and singing capabilities provided by Tim Curry.
Reliant upon the Leveler for a portion of the movie, I felt like this version of Hexxus was good at challenge rating 9 and outsider felt like a good way to go for his creature type. Given his hunger for senseless destruction, NE felt a good fit alongside other world enders, like the Horsemen of the Apocalype and their daemons. His blight aura is representative of him being an avatar of pollution surrounded in sickening smog. I really liked the idea of a machine he's possessing with infest machine producing even more smog and pollution, so it offers a range increase when he's doing so. I referenced the omox demon and slimes for some of his abilities and immunities, but I kept his Fortitude intentionally low because Hexxus was defeated by being turned into a tree - an effect in Pathfinder that would target a Fort save. In the movie, Hexxus isn't very reliant on melee attacks, so I just went for some simple slams that deal acid damage for his corrosive nature. He also has the ability to fling globules of himself, which naturally deal acid damage. He doesn't have too many special attacks - there's the aforementioned breath weapon but I also included the ability to create acid rain for more representations of his pollution powers. Finally, there's the important ability of infest machine to mimic the power he used to seize control of the Leveler. This was actually a little easier to build in Pathfinder 1e as I could reference greater possession for it. This ability is one of the reasons that he has a slightly lower hp than normal for his CR because he can mitigate damage by taking shelter inside a construct, which he can do without cooldown. I also wanted to give him a few thematic spells and am only now realizing that I named his aura the same as one of his spells (dammit). Naturally, he has Skill Focus (Perform) for his singing and ranks in Deception given his ability to manipulate the original workers of the Leveler. Finally, he has his smog sight to see through any pollution he might be fought within.
Pathfinder 1e:
This is another creature where I built the 2e version first though I made some more recent changes to it. Originally, this version of Hexxus could inflict a poison with his Incendiary Fumes, but between that and the damage dealt by his Smog Cloud aura, it was too much. As a compromise, I split the damage for Incendiary Fumes between fire and poison damage and then moved some of the statuses of the original poison into his aura and added the effect that you can't retch while breathing in the cloud. In this edition, acid storm was already a spell, meaning that I didn't have to make something up for it, which is always nice. On the other hand, I had to put a bit more work into Infest Machine to make sure all the rules for it were clear, but me and my playtesters were happy with it. Instead of using the sidebar for more made-up lore, I decided to include an option for GMs who want to offer Hexxus as a deity that can be followed!
Pathfinder 2e:
Blue's D&D 5e:
ENCOUNTER HOOK
Assembly Fine: An ancient structure that’s original purpose has been lost to time is awoken by the machinations of a recently released Hexxus. As black smoke clouds the sky in its vicinity, the heroes are asked to investigate the mysterious place. They find that the country side around it has been overrun with ancient constructs that are spreading ruin across the natural environment. As they draw closer, they discover that these constructs are emerging from this mysterious structure. Infiltrating the factory, they find more constructs, oozes, and even some daemons. But the true mastermind behind the scheme is Hexxus, building himself a construct army to bring ruin to the natural world with as well as a shell worthy to serve as his chariot.
Sorry for the late post, I went out to see Bullet Train with the family last night and got back a little late, so I was dead this morning. Anyway, if you're interested in joining the discussion on what creatures I'm working on or just discussing your own homebrew works, check out our Discord! If you want to get some teasers or help us get to our yet unlisted milestones for extra content, check out the Twitter.
Have a monstrous Monday!
Thank you!