Take-Two Terror Tuesday - The Five-Crowned Prince

A screech tore through the night air, an inhuman shriek that made the very earth tremble in terror. The ground tore asunder and a great hand, its hide rotted and flesh hanging loosely. It came down with the finality of a guillotine, claws tearing into the dirt and digging furrows in the dark soil. As they rent deep trenches in the earth, the fingers twisted and trembled, transforming into serpentine necks that ended in rotting, fang-filled skulls. Limbs sprouted from the limb that dragged itself forward as the limb dwindled into a whipping tail. Thunderous steps struck the earth as the hissing monstrosity crawled forth, its putrid flesh adorned with extravagant gold and jewels that were stained with its grime. Five heads rose as one, baleful gazes fixed on the unfortunate victims before them, before striking out in a downpour of fangs.

The Five-Crowned Prince, Illustrated by SethMonster

Decidedly dedicated to its deadly deity, this decapitation-deterring demon doles out disease and disaster in dual doses, drowning do-gooders in a deluge of dastardly dentition that deprives them of their days.

Hellboy has fought a little bit of everything, so he gives me a little bit of a free space when it comes to making monsters! You can check out the masterful artist of this piece over here and the video on it here.

Much like Desolation, this is another herald for my setting and where the former served my god of fear and terror, the Five-Crowned Prince here is a herald of my goddess of undeath. Being a herald, we have a level to work off of since all heralds are level 15 I did follow the hydra design a little bit with a few big changes. The Prince uses a high pool of Hit Points as it doesn't have regeneration. Its undead flesh isn't exactly conducive to such matters. As a hydra, you can target its head specifically as detailed in its Crownkiller ability, but just like the Prince lacks regeneration, it can't regrow its heads. Instead, it can Command them as a separate creature, based on the likes of the amelekana or the recently published caypin, which is found in the Starfinder Alien Core. The heroes need to stamp out these heads though because the Prince can simply use its Command and reaction to reattach its heads, which should be a fun twist for players expecting more a more traditional hydra.

With the Prince being this immense, undead monstrosity that channels the power of a god, I felt like it should have Frightful Presence but went for a moderate save since it is an aura effect. Along with this, the Prince's Strikes inflict a Kiss of Death, depending on the head that does the attack. A major concept behind this was that the Prince could carry out its master's will by inflicting other creatures with undeath. To that end, each of its heads can inflict a different form and I tried to get some classic types in there while also keeping them distinct from each other - this is why I don't have a wraith and a wight as one of its heads, since both inflict drained. Ghoul and zombie maybe end up being a bit closer than I would like, but I felt like zombie was mandatory so that it could make the most basic forms of undead to let loose as a plague. The diseases spread by these two bites use a high DC since it isn't something that will happen during the course of combat while its other effects use only a moderate DC so that the heroes have a better chance of not being turned on their allies in the midst of combat. The Prince does have another unique ability in the form of Death Walks, which I mostly like visualizing, with every one of its steps loosing jealous spirits back upon the Material Plane. This deals limited use area damage at a high DC, and I enjoy the concept of the persistent damage it might afflict as specters that continue to cling to their chosen victim.

Along with that, the Prince does have some abilities that are pretty directly pulled from other creatures, such as Focused Assault and Storm of Jaws, which are both baseline hydra abilities that I felt fit it. Aside from those, I'm honestly a huge fan of the mukradi, which led to the inclusion of Tear Apart. This deals some extra damage, akin to a Rend, but doesn't take the extra action, bypasses MAP, and forces a high DC save against this damage. However, if the target critically fails their save, they are torn apart and immediately killed. This might seem like a bit much, but the mukradi has this effect and it's a level 15 creature just like the Prince, so I'll trust Paizo on this.

The Five Crowned-Prince, Page 1

The Five-Crowned Prince, Page 2

ENCOUNTER HOOKS

I talked about this back when I first posted Desolation, but I wouldn't really call a herald a creature that just has an 'encounter hook.' They should be a major component of any campaign they appear in and planned accordingly. Obviously, the Prince serves best in an undead-based campaign but might function in other ways for your story. The Prince also has the potential to serve as a repeat antagonist since heralds can be reconstituted by their deities so that they can serve endlessly.

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Have a monstrous Monday!