Chemosit

Bestiary‎ > ‎(Bestiary) By Type‎ > ‎Magical Beasts‎ > ‎

This massive, shaggy beast uses long and muscular forearms to raise itself onto its hind legs and beats its chest like a gorilla. Despite its ape-like stance, its frame is far heavier and its features more primitive, its powerful muzzle and gnashing canines bespeaking terrible, bestial savagery.

Chemosit	CR 4

XP 1,200
N Large magical beast
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +2

DEFENSE

AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (+3 Dex, +6 natural, –1 size)
hp 47 (5d10+20)
Fort +8, Ref +7, Will +3

OFFENSE

Speed 40 ft., climb 40 ft.
Melee 2 claws +11 (1d6+7), 1 bite +11 (1d8+7)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks pounce, rake (1d6), terrifying roar

STATISTICS

Str 24, Dex 17, Con 19, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 8
Base Atk +5; CMB +13; CMD 26
Feats Improved Bull Rush, Improved Initiative, Power Attack
Skills Climb +15, Stealth +15; Racial Modifiers +8 Stealth

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Brain Eater (Su)

Should a chemosit kill an opponent with a coup de grace attack, it breaks open the creature’s skull and devours what’s inside. If the creature killed is of one of the following classes or creature types, the chemosit gains the associated benefit. If the creature killed falls into multiple categories, the chemosit chooses a single benefit to gain. With the exception of healing, the effects provided by this ability affect a chemosit for a number of minutes equal to 5 times its Hit Dice.

Animal: The chemosit regains a number of hit points equal to the victim’s Hit Dice, and the DC of its terrifying roar increases by +2.

Arcane Spell-Caster: The chemosit regains a number of hit points equal to 1d4 times the victim’s Hit Dice and gains SR 15.

Divine Spell-Caster: The chemosit regains a number of hit points equal to 1d8 times the victim’s Hit Dice.

Humanoid: The chemosit regains a number of hit points equal to 1d4 times the victim’s Hit Dice.

Outsider: The chemosit regains a number of hit points equal to 1d4 times the victim’s Hit Dice but is confused for 1d4 rounds.

Monstrous Humanoid: The chemosit regains a number of hit points equal to 1d4 times the victim’s Hit Dice and is affected as per the spell rage.

Undead: The chemosit takes 1d4 points of damage and is sickened for 1d4 rounds. In addition, the chemosit detects as undead for the purposes of spells like detect undead, though it is in no other way treated as an undead creature.

Terrifying Roar (Su)

The terrifying roar of the chemosit unnerves even the bravest souls. Any creatures within a 300-foot spread must make a DC 15 Will save or become shaken for 1d4 rounds. This is a sonic mind-affecting fear affect. Whether or not the save is successful, an affected creature is immune to the same chemosit’s roar for the next 24 hours. The save DC is Wisdom-based.

ECOLOGY

Environment warm forests
Organization solitary, pair, or troop (3–6)
Treasure standard

From the time their children are young, tribesfolk tell them chilling tales of the savage, child-eating chemosit. While most believe these stories hold little truth and serve only to keep children from wandering too far from their villages, others know better. Few who have witnessed the gruesome work of the chemosit survive. Bearing terrible scars, both physical and mental, they recall the creature’s utter savagery and inhuman strength. Tribes living in close proximity to chemosits believe them to be the living embodiment of wrathful gods or nature spirits, and pay them grisly sacrifices. In such places, those who suffer the beast’s attacks are often blamed for the violence and exiled. In other regions, evil shamans capable of summoning or commanding these beasts gain great power and infamy. It is a common practice for warring tribes to pay such shamans to summon a chemosit to plague the villages of their enemies. Chemosits stand over 9 feet tall on average and weigh upward of 750 pounds.

Real-World Chemosits

“Chemosit” is an alternate name for a Central African cryptid known as the Nandi bear (named after the Nandi people of Kenya). Its numerous descriptions vary greatly, though in all accounts it is described as an ape-like beast sharing the features of other animals, usually a bear but sometimes a hyena, aardvark, or even humans. Though chemosits are documented primarily in the tales of indigenous peoples and dozens of written accounts by British colonists and explorers during the early half of the 20th century, modern cryptozoologists continue to pursue the chemosit, with many investigators suggesting it fits the physical description of a chalicothere—a large, knuckle-walking herbivore that lived during the Early Pleistocene era.

Section 15: Copyright Notice - Pathfinder Adventure Path #38

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