This comely young man is clad in fine silken robes and gold thread, with hair the color of sunbeams. He smiles slyly, and his eyes smolder with Hellish flames and the suggestion of power and terror beyond mortal reason.
Herald of Hell CR 15
XP 51,200
LE Medium outsider (devil, evil, extraplanar, herald, lawful)
Init +10; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, see in darkness; Perception +23
AC 28, touch 16, flat-footed 22 (+6 Dex, +12 natural)
hp 200 (16d10+112)
Fort +12, Ref +18, Will +16
DR 10/good; Immune fire, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10; SR 26
Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (perfect)
Melee touch +19 (1d8+8) or 5 slams +24 (1d8+8 plus grab)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (15 ft. with slam)
Special Attacks terror, terror shape
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 16th; concentration +23)
At willâcloudkill (DC 22), false vision, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), mirage arcana (DC 22), persistent image (DC 22), scorching ray
3/dayâcrushing despair (DC 21), dimensional anchor (DC 21), ethereal jaunt, greater dispel magic, greater invisibility, legend lore, nightmare (DC 22), phantasmal killer (DC 21), true seeing
1/dayâgeas/quest, grant 1 wish (to mortals only), summon (level 5, 2 bone devils 75%)
Str 26, Dex 22, Con 25, Int 26, Wis 19, Cha 25
Base Atk +16; CMB +24 (+28 grapple); CMD 40
Feats Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Deceitful, Improved Initiative, Improved Iron Will, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Persuasive
Skills Acrobatics +22, Bluff +30, Diplomacy +38, Disguise +30, Fly +14, Intimidate +38, Knowledge (arcana) +24, Knowledge (history, nobility) +16, Knowledge (planes) +27, Perception +23, Perform (oratory) +23, Sense Motive +23, Sleight of Hand +22, Spellcraft +27, Stealth +25; Racial Modifiers +8 Diplomacy, +8 Intimidate
Languages Abyssal, Aklo, Aquan, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Elven, Giant, Infernal, Undercommon; tongues, telepathy 100 ft.
SQ veil of forms
Death (if 6 HD or less) or 6d6 damage and panicked for 2d4 rounds (7 HD or more), range 30 feet, Will DC 25 negates the death or panicked effect. This gaze is a mind-affecting fear effect that causes its targets to perceive him as the most terrifying thing that it can imagine. The save DC is Charisma-based.
While using his gaze ability, the Herald of Hell manifests one to five monstrous limbs that can make slam attacks.
All creatures see the Herald of Hell as a powerful and attractive member of their own race. While using this ability, His gaze ability is suppressed. He can activate or suppress this ability as a free action.
Environment any (Hell)
Organization solitary
Treasure double standard
His appearance is always appealing, with subtle illusory alterations that differ from viewer to viewer. The Herald is not aware of the specifics of his appearance to other creatures, though he may alter specifics as per the spell alter self. This is an illusion that is in effect anytime he is not using his terror ability, and grants him a +8 racial modifier on Diplomacy and Intimidate checks. Should a creature be able to see past the illusion, the Herald does not gain this racial modifier on opposed checks against that creature. An infernal paradox at once wondrous and terrifying, tempting and blasphemous, the entity called the Herald of Hell serves as the harbinger of Hellâs will. Few who have faced the messenger of the Lord of Hell survive the experience unchanged, for he is the very word of Hell. Typically appearing as a youth of stunning beauty and of the same race as those who look upon himâeven when appearing before those of multiple racesâlittle in the heraldâs comely appearance, finery, or proud bearing sets him apart from the vainglorious princes of countless mortal nations. In his radiant eyes, though, dance hellfire flames and a hint of the power he bears himself and often offers. To encounter the Herald is to know the interest or ire of the lord of Hell himself. Like his master, the herald knows no love for mortalkind, striving only to fulfill the worlds-spanning master schemes of the Lord of Hell and draw souls into the grip of Hell by the legion. As such, he most often serves as an envoy between his lord and other deities and extraplanar figures of note, rarely deigning to set foot upon the raucous and uncouth Material Plane. When his masterâs will dictates he travel to the mortal realm, though, his words bear all the weight of Hell, and typically offer temptations few souls can hope to refuse. Occasionally his master bids him answer the summons of the few mortals who hold the Lord of Hellâs favor, but even these forays typically prove subtle steps toward some greater infernal goal.
In his humanoid form, the Herald appears as a 6-foot tall mortal of surprising but unnatural beauty, with a languid voice like warm wine over silk. Although typically of male gender, this is not always the case, though he always appears before his lord in masculine form. Much of his form is an illusion, though, and a highly subjective illusion at that. Those who can see past the Heraldâs shrouds of innate deception find a human-like figure resembling the idealized form he presents, though still appearing somehow hollow.
Yet even after his past heraldsâ march of disappointments, the Lord of Hell holds the Herald as the most perfect of all his emissaries, for rather than elevating the messenger from among the ranks of his diabolical legions, the lord of Hell personally crafted his servant to meet his every expectation. An infernal automaton of sorts, Hellâs herald is a being zealously devoted to the Lord of Hell, even beyond the allegiances of devilkind, archdevils, or the Pit itself. Many among Hellâs infernal hierarchy have whispered of their lordâs heraldâs true nature, suggesting that he is a terrible amalgam, drawn from the painwracked nightmares of past emissaries; a being shaped from the deepest proto-stuff of Hell itself; or even a vaporous being distilled from a measure of Hellâs collective suffering. Regardless, the ever-changing physical nature the herald and his unwavering loyalty to his master are widely known throughout the planes and beyond.
On the Material Plane, the Herald has become a legend in his own right. Although rarely visiting the worlds of the mortal realm, wherever he treads he takes the form of the greatest terror of the age. Such leads to highly varied reports of the heraldâs form and nature, even among the Lord of Hellâs worshipers, and the confusion and apprehension seem to please both the Herald and his master greatly. Among the his lordâs enemies, the Herald is a thousand horrors known by a thousand names.
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Gods © 2014, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Sean K Reynolds, with Amanda Hamon, James Jacobs, John Ling, Mark Moreland, David N. Ross, F. Wesley Schneider, Amber E. Scott, Tork Shaw, James L. Sutter, Jerome Virnich.