Purple Bwarn

Description

A gruesome creature of evil, the purple bwarn's upper torso is of vaguely humanoid shape, resembling a disproportionately small, frail human torso with six long, purple arms ending in large claws. Atop this torso rests a very large, insect-like head, with strong vertical mandibles and two large, faceted eyes. Behind these, seemingly unprotected, sits the convoluted lobes of the creature's brain, a grey, noisome organ covered with short, slime-covered tendrils of flesh. Beneath its torso, the creature's lower body resembles that of a giant purple slug.

A purple bwarn is always accompanied by a horde of purple beetles that crawl across its body apparently unnoticed by the huge, hideous creature. If these beetles are removed from the bwarn’s body, they die in 2d8 rounds; only the bwarn may use them as special missiles as described below.

Combat

A purple bwarn attacks with 6 clawed arms, a vicious bite (5d4+8), and a small, needle-like spike that is on an invisible 15' long tail. This tail can reach around to attack in front of the bwarn, although it is usually reserved for flank or rear attackers. The tail’s first attack gains a -4 bonus on its initiative roll. The damage done by the tail spike is minimal (1d2+1) but a successful strike injects a lethal poison into the target’s skin. (Characters who successfully save vs. poison suffer no effects from this poison.)

Purple bwarns are mages of 15th to 20th (d6 + 14) level. Their torsos, arms, tails, and heads are AC 0, their lower bodies are AC 4, and their braincases are AC 6. Aware of their vulnerabilities, purple bwarns often take extra effort to protect their lower bodies, including using specially crafted armor, spells, or magic items designed to ward off potential attackers.

While the bwarn’s braincase is its most vulnerable area; it is also dangerous. Any weapon striking the slime-covered brain must save vs. acid or become immediately corroded. Corroded weapons suffer a to-hit and damage penalty of 1d4. Any character who strikes this area with exposed flesh must save vs. poison or take 4d8 damage from the acid; a successful saving throw means the attacker takes only half damage. Note that characters making multiple attacks to the bwarn’s braincase in a single round must make a saving throw for each attack.

Once every three rounds, the purple bwarn may take one of the purple beetles which crawl over its body and throw it up to 50 feet. When the beetle strikes a target (usually the ground), it bursts open and spews tiny purple maggots in all directions. Anyone in a 5-foot radius must make a saving throw vs. paralyzation or be struck by 1d6-1 of these maggots. The maggots will immediately begin burrowing into the victim’s body, reaching the heart in 5 rounds. During the first round, the maggots may be easily killed with a sharp edge, such as that of a sword or dagger. During the second and third rounds, the maggots will be under the victim’s skin and must be burned or cut out, doing 1d4 damage to the victim. Thereafter, the maggots are unreachable through normal means, and at the end of the fifth round the victim dies as the maggots eat his or her heart. At any time, a cure disease spell will destroy all maggots in an individual.

A purple bwarn is immune to poison, acid, death magic, and all spells from the enchantment/charm school. Purple bwarns can only be hit by weapons of +2 or better enchantment. A notable exception to this is that they can be struck by the natural attack forms of avian creatures, such as aarakocra and kenku. Bwarns regenerate at a rate of 1 hit point every 2 rounds; however, they cannot regenerate damage done to them from a weapon with a +4 or higher enchantment, electricity, or avian creatures. Additionally, avian creatures do double damage when using their natural attack forms versus a bwarn.

Bwarns generally have available an array of magic items that they will use against adversaries. Most of these items are specially crafted for use by the bwarn and cannot be used by humanoids, although they are still valuable and it is possible that some of them could be magically adapted for humanoid use.

Habitat/Society

There are seven purple bwarns known to exist, and these are commonly encountered in the service of a powerful fiend. Typically, each purple bwarn populates its lair with a variety of minions that it then sends on missions throughout the Prime Material Plane to gather magic and slaves. Reportedly, in addition to the several purple bwarn who live throughout the Lower Planes, there is one whose lair is within a pocket dimension in the Ethereal Plane. Infrequently, purple bwarns have traveled to the Prime Material Plane themselves in pursuit of some mission.

Ecology

Purple bwarns recognize that without the acquiescence of the powerful lords of the Lower Planes, they would not be able to survive. In turn, these lords recognize the usefulness of the bwarns and utilize them for missions they do not wish to handle personally, often because they do not want to be responsible if the mission fails. Purple bwarns are known for their tenacity, and if one should fail in the pursuit of a commission, then there is an 80% likelihood that another bwarn will learn of the failed mission and attempt to complete it itself. No one on record has observed the creation of new purple bwarns, and thus little is known about them biologically. Some have speculated that they exist in a finite number and do not reproduce at all.