This creature is a sleek, pale-skinned humanoid with leathery white, semi-translucent flesh. It is a bit taller than an average human. Its features are delicate and precise. The creature’s arms and legs are spindly, and each ends in four digits. This creature is completely hairless and its eyes are small, with nictitating membranes.
Encephalon Gorger CR 8
XP 4,800
CE Medium aberration (extraplanar)
hp 65 (10d8+20); fast healing 5
Fort +5; Ref +6; Will +9
Melee 2 claws +10 (1d6+1 plus grab)
Base Atk +7; CMB +8 (+12 grapple); CMD 22
Feats Dodge, Improved Initiative, Mobility, Skill Focus (Perception), Weapon Finesse
Skills Bluff +15, Diplomacy +10, Escape Artist +11, Intimidate +15, Knowledge (local) +18, Knowledge (planes) +18, Knowledge (any one) +18, Perception +21, Sense Motive +15, Stealth +11, Survival +10; Racial Modifiers All Knowledge skills are class skills for encephalon gorgers
Languages Common, Encephalon Gorger, plus four additional languages
Environment any land
Organization solitary, crowd (2â5), or array (4â7)
Treasure standard
Encephalon gorgers (sometimes known as cranial vampires) are malevolent creatures from another dimension or plane of existence. They are greatly feared by intelligent creatures for they use such beings (their brain fluid to be exact) to power their great cities. Many of these creatures have constructed strongholds or outposts on the Material Plane, though it is unknown when they first appeared.
Encephalon gorgers dislike direct sunlight, though they are not harmed by it. When traveling above ground in daylight hours, they usually cloak themselves in robes of gray or black. The gorger’s leathery, whitish flesh is nearly translucent and in older encephalon gorgers one can faintly see veins and other organs pushing grayish-brown blood through its body. This creature is completely hairless and its eyes are small with nictitating membranes. Its mouth is lined with short, needle-like teeth, with the canines being most pronounced (perhaps the reason these monsters are sometimes called cranial vampires).
Encephalon gorgers advance by character level; many have levels in wizard or psionic-oriented classes. At least one such gorger capable of interplanar travel is always present in any Prime Material Plane outpost.
Encephalon gorgers refer to themselves as Silians and they make their homes deep beneath the surface world or hidden far away from prying eyes (cloaked by natural occurrences such as fog or mist or hidden by magic). Underground lairs resemble great domed cities, while those on the surface resemble iron fortresses of exquisite craftsmanship. Each lair, regardless of its location, has dozens of slave pits and breeding pens filled with captured, intelligent humanoids (or other creatures). The slaves are maintained by a specialized group of silians called the Breeders. It is their job to tend to food supply of the city at all times and to gauge the relative worth of each and every humanoid used by the gorgers for feeding.
Encephalon gorgers sometimes trade with other races, usually trading for slaves, which are taken to the Breeders. Other slaves are kept by particular encephalon gorgers and assigned menial tasks. Once such a slave has exhausted its usefulness, it is ârecycledâ in the food pens so long as it isn’t dead. Dead slaves are discarded, ground up into a bland paste that is fed to the other slaves.
Little is known of particulars regarding the gorger’s society; such as reproduction, lifespan, aging patterns and so on. A few things that are known come from a group of adventurers that saw one of the iron fortresses and lived to tell about it. They spoke of large vats filled with cranial fluid maintained by the Breeders and of young silian being grown in these vats. They also spoke of the horrid squalor of the breeding pits and the slaves kept in them.
Encephalon Gorger from the Tome of Horrors Complete, Copyright 2011, Necromancer Games, Inc., published and distributed by Frog God Games; Author Scott Greene.
~~~ ENCEPHALON GORGER XP 4,800 hp 65 (Tome of Horrors Complete, âEncephalon Gorgerâ) YERLITHA CR 13 XP 25,600 Encephalon gorger psychic 9 CE Medium aberration (extraplanar) Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., mindsense; Perception +22 AC 26, touch 16, flat-footed 22 (+4 armor, +2 deflection, +3 Dex, +1 dodge, +6 natural) hp 123 (19 HD; 9d6+10d8+47); fast healing 5 Fort +8, Ref +9, Will +16 Resist cold 10 Speed 30 ft. Melee 2 claws +14 (1d8+1) Special Attacks dark half (2 bleed, 9 rounds/day), phrenic amplifications (defensive prognostication, overpowering mind, undercast surge), phrenic pool (6 points) Psychic Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th; concentration +17) 1/dayâdetect thoughts (DC 15), telepathic bond Psychic Spells Known (CL 9th; concentration +17) 4th (6/day)âblack tentacles, dimension door, mind thrust IV (DC 24) 3rd (8/day)âclairaudience/clairvoyance, deep slumber (DC 21), excruciating deformation (DC 21), mind thrust III (DC 23), slow (DC 21) 2nd (8/day)âalter self, mental block (DC 22), mind thrust II (DC 22), oneiric horror (DC 20), paranoia (DC 20), share memory (DC 22) 1st (8/day, 1 used)âcharm animal (DC 19), charm person (DC 19), lesser confusion (DC 19), mage armor (active), mind thrust I (DC 21), mindlink, ray of enfeeblement (DC 19) 0 (at will)âdaze (DC 18), detect magic, detect psychic significance, lullaby (DC 18), mage hand, open/close (DC 18), read magic, telekinetic projectile Psychic Discipline Abomination Str 12, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 26, Wis 16, Cha 15 Base Atk +11; CMB +12 (+16 grapple); CMD 28 Feats Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Greater Natural Attack (claw), Mobility, Skill Focus (Perception), Skills Acrobatics +7, Bluff +15, Diplomacy +10, Escape Artist +11, Fly +7, Intimidate +15, Knowledge (arcana) +21, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +21, Knowledge (engineering) +21, Knowledge (geography) +21, Knowledge (history) +21, Knowledge (local) +21, Knowledge (nature) +21, Knowledge (nobility) +21, Knowledge (planes) +30, Knowledge (religion) +21, Linguistics +21, Perception +22, Sense Motive +16, Spellcraft +30, Stealth +11, Survival +11 Languages Aboleth, Abyssal, Aklo, Celestial, Common, Dark Folk, Dreamspeak, Elder Thing, Encephalon Gorger, Giant, Infernal, Mi-go, Necronomus, Protean, Reptoid, Tsathar, Undercommon, Yithian SQ adrenal surge, mind screen, mindfeed, telepathic bond Other Gear headband of vast intelligence +4, ring of protection +2 Adrenal Surge (Ex) Twice per day, an encephalon gorger can create an effect on itself equivalent to a haste spell (caster level 10th). Dark Half (2 bleed, 9 rounds/day) (Su) Dark side grants spells bleed damage to one target. Defensive Prognostication (Su) 1/2 pool: gain +2/+4 defl Mind Screen (DC 23) (Ex) The mind of an encephalon gorger is an alien and dangerous place. Should a creature attempt to scan the mind or read the thoughts of an encephalon gorger (with detect thoughts, telepathy, or the like), it must make a successful (DC 20) Will save or be driven permanently insane (as by an insanity spell, caster level 15th); if the save succeeds, the creature is instead confused (as the spell) for 1d4 rounds. The save DC is Intelligence-based. Mindfeed (Su) If an encephalon gorger begins its turn grappling an opponent, it can attempt to suck its brain fluid with a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains cerebral fluid, dealing 1d4 points of Intelligence drain each round the pin is maintained. On each successful mindfeed attack, the encephalon gorger gains 5 temporary hit points. This ability does not work against nonliving creatures or creatures without a central brain John Reyst (order #29707975) 20 Frog God Games mass. The encephalon gorger must be able to reach the head or neck of the target creature to use this ability. Mindsense (Su) As a move action, an encephalon gorger can gauge the relative intelligence level of any creature within 60 feet as follows: unintelligent, animal (Int 1-2), low (3-8), average (8-12), high (13-16), genius (17-20), or supra-genius (21+). Overpowering Mind (Ex) 2/4 pool: increase Will save DC of linked mind-affecting spell by +1/+2. Telepathic Bond (Sp) Cast telepathic bond, or expend 4th or higher spell slot to do so. Undercast Surge (Su) 2+ pool: Undercast spell counts as higher-level version. Yerlithaâs throne is encrusted with moonstone gems worth 2,400 gp. A platinum-tooled chest in the throne room contains the following items: 3 sapphires worth 500 gp each, a velvet cloak spun from the webs of lunar spiders worth 500 gp, a bloodstone brooch worth 250 gp, a potion of bullâs strength, 2 potions of cure serious wounds and a suit of +3 leather armor