Ayan

Description

This creature has the body of an ape and the head of a bat, with pointed ears and large, glowing eyes. Their body is covered in a thick coat of coarse brown hair. The feet point backwards, giving it an awkward, unbalanced appearance.

Ayan are curious, ape-like creatures native to southern reaches of the world. While seemingly harmless, they possess mystical powers intimately linked to their long fingers and glowing eyes.

Ayan appear to have the bodies of apes, and the heads of bats, complete with triangular ears and large eyes. Coarse, brown fur covers their bodies. Their feet point backward and the index finger on their right hand is over eight inches long. Their ribs do not extend to the middle of their chests, creating a indentation on their torso.

The most striking feature of the ayan is their glowing eyes. In the night the eyes of the ayan glow so brightly that they give off light equal to a torch in the direction the ayan is facing. They hide this glow at night by tucking their head into their chest indentation.

The mysterious ayan are not afraid of humans, because humans are very afraid of them. Their powers to curse with a glare or a point of their long finger makes them demons in the eyes of the humans. However, the ayan are very curious about humans, sometimes seeking out humans to hex just to see what their reaction to the freakish creature would be. The only reason more humans are not killed by a small population of ayan is that the ayan are not smart enough to track wandering humans back to their villages, due to their unfamiliarity with the humans' forward pointing feet.

The ayans live an animalistic life, almost like bats. They hide in caves during the day and sleep. At night, the ayan awake to hunt for meat which they bring back to the cave. They are not intelligent enough to speak, but they make noises such as screeches and whines.

Combat

Ayan attack by sneaking up on their quarry with their head in their chest pocket. They may attack for food or out of curiosity. They surprise and instill fear in their opponents by using their menacing eyes, and soon, their dreaded curse. Ayan rarely use their slam attacks until they are strengthened by the curse.

During the day, ayan rarely fight, because their eyes are not as strong. They are simply content to scare off their opponents by sitting on a rock or in a tree and pointing their fingers at them.

Menacing Eyes (Su): The eyes of the ayan burn with a demonic green or yellow light. Anyone locking sight with the creature must succeed on a DC 16 Will save or be filled with a supernatural fear of the ayan's finger of death. This inflicts a -2 morale penalty lasting 24 hours. This ability has a range of 10 feet. The save DC is Constitution-based. A creature that successfully saves is immune to that same ayan's menacing eyes for 24 hours.

Finger of Death (Sp): The ayan's index finger on it's right hand is disproportionally long. When pointed at a living creature, it resonates a necromantic aura that brings about a curse on the opposing creature. The nature of this curse is such that the afflicted creature's death is magically brought on quicker.

Once per round as a standard action, a living creature within line of sight of the ayan can be targeted by the finger of death. This is a spell-like necromantic effect, and the caster level equals the ayan's Hit Dice. The opponent must succeed on a DC 14 Will save or be cursed. The save DC is Charisma-based, and includes a +2 bonus.

For 24 hours, the afflicted creature only receives half affect from any magical healing, and cannot naturally heal damage. (However regeneration operates normally.) It suffers a -2 penalty on all saving throws, and a -4 penalty on saves against death affects. Finally, the creature also suffers 2 extra points of damage from every melee attack that hits it.

Backward Feet (Ex): The ayan's feet seem to be attached on to it's legs backward. All creatures that are unfamiliar with the physiology of the ayan can not track it.

Curse Resistance (Su): Ayan are supernaturally resistant to curses of all kinds. They receive a +4 bonus to saving throws against all enchantment or transmutation spells. They are also immune to the special attacks of other ayan.

Skills: Ayan have a +4 bonus on Climb, Hide, Jump, and Move Silently checks. However, they suffer a -4 penalty on Survival checks to track a creature with feet that point forward due to their unfamiliarity with such anatomy. *They retain their +4 bonus to Hide checks in darkness only while they hide their glowing eyes.

Advanced Benefits

In addition to the standard changes due to Hit Dice advancement, ayan also gain the following special benefits.

• The save DC of the menacing eyes is equal to 10 + ½ HD + Constitution modifier.
• The save DC of the finger of death is equal to 12 + ½ HD + Charisma modifier.
• 8+ HD ― An ayan can choose to take 10 on a Climb check, even if rushed or threatened.
• 10+ HD ― The ayan lose the -4 penalty to Survival checks to track a creature wth feet that point forward.
• 13+ HD ― The finger of death also reduces regeneration by 5.
• 15+ HD ― Creatures that fail their save against the menacing eyes are also shaken for 1d4 minutes.