Crimson Worlds

Phantom Beast

5 min read

columns: 2
forcecolumns: true
layout: Basic Pathfinder 2e Layout
source: "Pathfinder Monster Core"
name: "Phantom Beast"
level: "Creature 8"
rare_03: [[Uncommon]]
alignment: ""
size: "Medium"
trait_01: [[ethereal]]
trait_02: [[incorporeal]]
trait_03: [[phantom]]
trait_04: [[spirit]]
modifier: 18
perception:
  - name: "Perception"
    desc: "+18; Darkvision"
languages: "Telepathy 100 feet"
skills:
  - name: "Skills"
    desc: "Diplomacy: +16, Intimidation: +18, Occultism: +14, Thievery: +18"
abilityMods: [-5, 6, 1, 0, 4, 6]
speed:  fly 35 feet
sourcebook: "_Pathfinder Monster Core_"
ac: 26
armorclass:
  - name: AC
    desc: "26; __Fort__ +13, __Ref__ +18, __Will__ +16; -1 status to all saves vs. death effects"
hp: 120
health:
  - name: ""
  - name: HP
    desc: "120; __Immunities__  disease,  paralyzed,  poison,  precision,  bleed; __Resistances__ all damage 8 (except force, ghost touch, or spirit; double resistance vs. non-magical)"
abilities_top:
  - name: ""
 
  - name: "[[Bestiary Ability Glossary/Telepathy|Telepathy 100 feet]]"
    desc: " (aura,magical,mental) A monster with telepathy can communicate mentally with any creatures within the listed radius, as long as they share a language. This doesn't give any special access to their thoughts, and communicates no more information than normal speech would."
 
  - name: "Walk the Ethereal Line"
    desc: "`pf2:2`  The phantom walks the thin line between the Ethereal and Universe in order to exist on both planes simultaneously.\n\nThey can shift back to solely the Ethereal Plane by using this ability again."
 
abilities_mid:
  - name: ""
  - name: "Susceptible to Death"
    desc: "  Though phantoms aren't alive, neither are they undead, and they are uniquely vulnerable to the effects of death.\n\nA phantom whose Hit Points are reduced to 0 as a result of a death effect (such as from a spell like [[Spells/Execute|Execute]]) is immediately whisked away to the River of Souls, where their soul resumes the usual path to the afterlife."
 
attacks:
  - name: ""
 
  - name: "**Melee** `pf2:1` Phantom Horn"
    desc: "+18 (agile, finesse, magical)\n__Damage__  2d8 + 8 piercing"
 
  - name: "Occult Innate Spells"
    desc: "DC 28, attack +20; __4th __  _[[Spells/Phantom Pain|Phantom Pain]]_, _[[Spells/Sleep|Sleep]]_, _[[Spells/Spiritual Armament|Spiritual Armament]]_\n__Cantrips__  __(4th)__ _[[Spells/Daze|Daze]]_, _[[Spells/Telekinetic Projectile|Telekinetic Projectile]]_"
 
  - name: "Phantom Touch"
    desc: " (spirit) Each time they make a Strike, a phantom can choose to deal spirit damage instead of the normal physical damage type."
 
  - name: "Grab Item"
    desc: "`pf2:1`  The phantom beast attempts to [[Actions/Steal|Steal]] one item of up to 1 Bulk from a creature, even if the creature is in combat, though the object still must not be one that is actively in use. If they succeed, they carry the object along with them telekinetically."
 
name: Phantom Beast
creatures:
  - 1: Phantom Beast

The River of Souls, alongside the souls of dead sapient humanoids, also carries the spirits of monsters, animals, and other creatures. Likewise, it draws souls from across reality, and thus human and elf souls mingle with those of far stranger creatures from untold worlds. Like any others, these far-flung spirits of strange creatures sometimes wash up on the shores of the Ethereal Plane, becoming phantoms far removed from the humanoid forms typically associated with ghosts and other undead.

The phantom below is one such entity: a strange beast from a distant world, echoing their behaviors from life as they search for their postmortem fate. Their unfamiliar appearance might lead observers to assume they’re a monstrous being and attack, finding the phantom beast entirely willing to fight back. More compassionate adventurers might instead seek to help the phantom find their way back to the River of Souls to complete their spiritual journey.

The typical trajectory for souls passing to the afterlife is fairly straightforward, according to most theologians. When a mortal dies, their soul enters the River of Souls and eventually reaches the Boneyard, where it is judged by Pharasma. The judged soul moves onto its appropriate domain of final rest—Heaven, Hell, Abaddon, and so forth—where it becomes a shade.

Complications arise, however, when a soul in queue for judgment prematurely departs from the River of Souls and is shunted into the Ethereal Plane. Whether as a result of nefarious interlopers like daemons or hags, malignant planar magic, or even fate, these souls become dislodged from the natural order of life and death and linger in a sort of purgatory. Unlike petitioners, these ethereal phantoms retain memories of their life before death, and unlike spirits such as ghosts, phantoms aren’t tinged with the foul influences of undeath—at least, not at first, though the threat of corruption hangs heavy over a phantom’s existence. Some eventually succumb to that fate, while others eventually rejoin the River of Souls. Until then, these wandering souls are a kind unto themselves—one without a true home, agenda, or purpose.

Many phantoms have no desire to remain in their strange state of purgatory, either because they seek to continue their journey through the River of Souls or because they fear the corruption of undeath. In order to complete the natural spiritual cycle and become judged so they can continue to the afterlife, a phantom must find a way back into the River of Souls. Such a quest is no easy feat, however—the hazy mists of the Ethereal Plane can befuddle even the most experienced traveler, and numerous predators prowl the realm in search of stray souls to bind or devour.

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