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ShoggothCreature 18


RareCNHugeAberrationAmphibious
Source Pathfinder Bestiary
Perception +34 (darkvision, scent (imprecise) 60 feet, tremorsense (imprecise) 60 feet)
Languages Aklo
Skills Athletics +36, Intimidation +29
Str +10, Dex +6, Con +9, Int -3, Wis +6, Cha +1

AC 39 all-around vision; Fort +33; Reflex +30; Will +30; +1 status to all saves vs. magic
HP 275
Speed 40 feet (climb 25 feet, swim 50 feet)
Immunities blinded, controlled, critical hits, deafened, precision, sleep
Resistances Acid 20, Cold 20, Sonic 20

Pseudopod One Action +35 (+30, +25) to hit (magical, reach 30) 4d10+18 Bludgeoning

Darkvision

A monster with darkvision can see perfectly well in areas of darkness and dim light, though such vision is in black and white only. Some forms of magical darkness, such as a 4th-level Darkness spell, block normal darkvision. A monster with Greater Darkvision, however, can see through even these forms of magical darkness.

Tremorsense (Imprecise) 60 feet

Tremorsense allows a monster to feel the vibrations through a solid surface caused by movement. It is an imprecise sense with a limited range (listed in the ability). Tremorsense functions only if the monster is on the same surface as the subject, and only if the subject is moving along (or burrowing through) the surface.

Scent (Imprecise) 60 feet

Scent involves sensing creatures or objects by smell, and is usually a vague sense. The range is listed in the ability, and it functions only if the creature or object being detected emits an aroma (for instance, incorporeal creatures usually do not exude an aroma).

If a creature emits a heavy aroma or is upwind, the GM can double or even triple the range of scent abilities used to detect that creature, and the GM can reduce the range if a creature is downwind.

All-Around Vision

This monster can see in all directions simultaneously, and therefore can't be flanked.

+1 Status to All Saves vs. MagicFast Healing 20

A monster with this ability regains the given number of Hit Points each round at the beginning of its turn.

Maddening Cacophony (auditory, aura, incapacitation, mental)

60 feet Aura


A shoggoth constantly voices syllables and mutterings that mortals were not meant to hear. A creature entering the aura or starting its turn in the aura must succeed at a DC 38 will save or become confused for 1 round (2d4 rounds on a critical failure). A creature that successfully saves is temporarily immune for 24 hours.

Constrict One Action

2d10+15 bludgeoning, DC 40 basic fortitude


Note: A DC was not provided for this ability by Paizo. The DC present here is a moderate DC for the creature level according to the Gamemastery Guide creature building Tables.


The monster deals the listed amount of damage to any number of creatures Grabbed or Restrained by it. Each of those creatures can attempt a basic Fortitude save with the listed DC.

Eat Away

A creature that begins its turn inside the shoggoth takes 9d6 acid damage.

Engulf Two Actions

DC 40 reflex, 6d6 acid damage, Escape DC 40, Rupture 40


The monster Strides up to double its Speed and can move through the spaces of any creatures in its path. Any creature of the monster's size or smaller whose space the monster moves through can attempt a Reflex save with the listed DC to avoid being engulfed. A creature unable to act automatically critically fails this save. If a creature succeeds at its save, it can choose to be either pushed aside (out of the monster's path) or pushed in front of the monster to the end of the monster's movement. The monster can attempt to Engulf the same creature only once in a single use of Engulf. The monster can contain as many creatures as can fit in its space.

A creature that fails its save is pulled into the monster's body. It is Grabbed, is Slowed 1, and has to hold its breath or start suffocating. The creature takes the listed amount of damage when first engulfed and at the end of each of its turns while it's engulfed. An engulfed creature can get free by Escaping against the listed escape DC. An engulfed creature can attack the monster engulfing it, but only with unarmed attacks or with weapons of light Bulk or less. The engulfing creature is Flat-Footed against the attack. If the monster takes piercing or slashing damage equaling or exceeding the listed Rupture value from a single attack or spell, the engulfed creature cuts itself free. A creature that gets free by either method can immediately breathe and exits the swallowing monster's space.

If the monster dies, all creatures it has engulfed are automatically released as the monster's form loses cohesion.

Grab One Action

Requirements The monster's last action was a success with a Strike that lists Grab in its damage entry, or it has a creature grabbed using this action.


Effect The monster automatically Grabs the target until the end of the monster's next turn. The creature is Grabbed by whichever body part the monster attacked with, and that body part can't be used to Strike creatures until the grab is ended. Using Grab extends the duration of the monster's Grab until the end of its next turn for all creatures grabbed by it. A grabbed creature can use the Escape action to get out of the grab, and the Grab ends for a grabbed creatures if the monster moves away from it.


Although even raving fanatics and doom-saying prophets desperately claim the monstrous shoggoth is nothing more than a drug-induced vision or a thankfully unreal nightmare, the truth is altogether more dire. Shoggoths exist, yet they tend keep to the deepest of ocean trenches or the most remote of caverns and ruins, emerging to spread chaos and destruction in their slimy wakes.

The first shoggoths were created by an alien species to serve as mindless beasts of burden. Their vast bulk, incredible strength, and amorphous nature made them useful slave labor, and their ability to spontaneously form whatever new eyes, mouths, limbs, and other organs they might need made them incredibly versatile. Eventually, the shoggoths developed enough intelligence to rebel against their masters, and now they lurk, patient but potent, in the lightless deeps.

A shoggoth has goals and methods unknowable to humanoid beings. They remember their eons of servitude and, compared to their mysterious masters, humans, elves, dwarves and other intelligent beings are mere specks which crawl upon the surface of the world, indistinguishable from animals. When a shoggoth rolls its immense, hideous body over a band of explorers, engulfing them in a gelatinous press of flesh and gnawing teeth, it is not so much evil as uncaring.

Shoggoths can become the object of worship for humanoid cults dedicated to chaos and entropy. The shoggoth does not respond to this worship, but it can be counted on to consume any hapless victim the cult can capture and sacrifice to it. Rumors of shoggoths that have developed even greater intellects are, one would hope, just that, for the damage a shoggoth capable of reasoning could wreak upon a world is unsettling to say the least.


Traits

Rare

This rarity indicates that a rules element is very difficult to find in the game world. A rare feat, spell, item or the like is available to players only if the GM decides to include it in the game, typically through discovery during play. Creatures with this trait are rare. They typically can't be summoned. The DC of Recall Knowledge checks related to these creatures is increased by 5.

Amphibious

An amphibious creature can breathe in water and in air, even outside of its preferred environment, usually indefinitely but at least for hours. These creatures often have a swim Speed. Their bludgeoning and slashing unarmed Strikes don't take the usual -2 penalty for being underwater.