Crimson Worlds

Shikigami

4 min read

columns: 2
forcecolumns: true
layout: Basic Pathfinder 2e Layout
source: "Pathfinder Bestiary 3"
name: "Shikigami"
level: "Creature 1"
 
alignment: ""
size: "tiny"
trait_01: [[kami]]
trait_02: [[lawful]]
trait_03: [[spirit]]
modifier: 10
perception:
  - name: "Perception"
    desc: "+10; Darkvision"
languages: "Common"
skills:
  - name: "Skills"
    desc: "Diplomacy: +6, Medicine: +7, Nature: +7, Society: +6, Stealth: +5"
abilityMods: [2, 2, 3, 1, 4, 3]
speed: 25 feet
sourcebook: "_Pathfinder Bestiary 3_"
ac: 15
armorclass:
  - name: AC
    desc: "15; __Fort__ +7, __Ref__ +5, __Will__ +9"
hp: 25
health:
  - name: ""
  - name: HP
    desc: "25; __Immunities__  bleed; __Weaknesses__ cold iron 3"
abilities_top:
  - name: ""
 
  - name: "Ward"
    desc: " (divine) Every kami is bound to a ward: a specific animal, plant, object, or location. A kami can merge with or emerge from their ward as a single action, which has the concentrate trait. While merged, the kami can observe their surroundings with their usual senses as well as the senses of their ward, but can't move, communicate with, or control their ward. Additionally, a kami merged with their ward recovers Hit Points each minute as if they spent an entire day resting.\n\nA shikigami's ward is typically a minor work of art or symbol of civilization, such as a milestone, trail sign, personal garden, or tiny statue."
 
abilities_mid:
  - name: ""
attacks:
  - name: ""
 
  - name: "**Melee** `pf2:1` Fist"
    desc: "+7 (agile)\n__Damage__  1d4 + 2 bludgeoning"
 
  - name: "**Melee** `pf2:1` Spade"
    desc: "+7 (agile, versatile s)\n__Damage__  1d6 + 2 piercing"
 
  - name: "**Ranged** `pf2:1` Spade"
    desc: "+7 (agile, thrown 10 ft., versatile s)\n__Damage__  1d6 + 2 piercing"
 
  - name: "Divine Innate Spells"
    desc: "DC 17, attack +9; __2nd __  _[[Spells/Animal Messenger|Animal Messenger]]_, _[[Spells/Invisibility|Invisibility (Self Only)]]_; __1st __  _[[Spells/Cleanse Cuisine|Purify Food and Drink]]_\n__Cantrips__  __(1st)__ _[[Spells/Forbidding Ward|Forbidding Ward]]_"
 
name: Shikigami
creatures:
  - 1: Shikigami

Shikigami are the least powerful of all kami and the most common. Unlike most other kami, which are bound to their wards by a more powerful spirit or deity, shikigami are minor spirits that even mortal practitioners can sometimes bind into a tiny paper form and task with guarding small works, such as garden statues and vases. Landowners delight in having shikigami protect their gardens, whether they paid a wandering spellcaster to entreat the shikigami or simply had the fortune of another spirit assigning a shikigami to their land. Travelers who come across a shikigami-graced milestone or waypost believe that such encounters are good omens for the journey ahead.

For their part, shikigami have mixed opinions on civilization and the humanoids who dwell therein. While shikigami will fight to protect their ward against invaders and desecrators, these kami are just as likely to leave-their ward in tow-if locals begin to despoil the area or show a disregard for nature. Most practitioners capable of binding a shikigami wouldn’t engage in this type of disrespect, but should the kami catch wind of such practices, shikigami across the land might abandon their contracts en masse, leaving an uncomfortable vacuum with their unexpected exodus. In this way, shikigami exemplify the precarious balance between the expansion of civilization and the preservation of the natural world.

Not all shikigami protect gardens, so you can substitute the shikigami’s spade for any sort of mundane tool that’s useful to the shikigami’s task and their ward. The kami wields any such weapon with the same damage dice, modifiers, and traits listed for their spade Strike, but change the damage type as appropriate for the new weapon.

Kami are divine nature spirits native to the lands of Tian Xia, far to the east of the Inner Sea region. They serve as guardians of natural objects and places they protect-their “wards”-and are ancient enemies of the oni. Kami can merge with their wards, allowing them to surreptitiously watch anyone who treads upon their sacred grounds. Kami leave those who they deem harmless alone, but the spirits fight vigilantly to scare away anyone perceived as a threat.

Kami choose their own wards, though many mortals seek to attract them to sites that might require protection, leading to a proliferation of certain trees, statues, gates, and other symbolic elements in areas where kami are known to dwell.

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