Colour out of Space

Source: Alien Archive 2

CR: 10 XP: 9,600

CN Huge ooze (incorporeal)

Init.: +8 Senses: blindsight (vibration) 120 ft. Perception: +24

Aura: lassitude (300 ft., DC 19)

Defense

HP: 140

EAC: 23 KAC: 24

Fort: +11 Ref: +11 Will: +7

Offense

Speed: fly 60 ft. (Su, perfect)

Melee: disintegrating touch +20 (1d10+10)

Offensive Abilities: feed

Statistics

Str: +0 Dex: +8 Con: +3 Wis: +3 Int: +2 Cha: +5

Skills: Acrobatics +24 (+32 to fly), Life Science +19, Physical Science +19, Stealth +24, Survival +24

Languages: Aklo (can’t speak any language)

Ecology

Environment: any

Organization: solitary

Special Abilities

<p><b>Aura of Lassitude (Su)</b> A creature within 300 feet of a colour out of space (even when the colour is hiding within a solid object) must succeed at a DC 19 Will save or become overwhelmed with listlessness and ennui. While under this effect, the creature takes a –4 penalty to Will saving throws and doesn’t willingly travel farther than 1 mile from the area where it failed its saving throw against that colour’s aura of lassitude. If the victim failed the saving throw while on a starship, it instead doesn’t willingly travel farther than 1 mile from the starship, nor does it willingly pilot that starship. A <i>break enchantment</i> spell (DC 19) ends the effect, as does moving the victim more than 1 mile from where it failed its save (or from the starship where it failed its save. Every 24 hours, a creature affected by an aura of lassitude can attempt a new DC 19 Will save to cast off the effects of the aura. A creature that succeeds at this saving throw is immune to that colour’s aura of lassitude for 24 hours. A creature under the effects of an aura of lassitude from a colour out of space can’t be further affected by this ability from other colours. This is a mind-affecting effect.<br/><br/> <b>Disintegrating Touch (Su)</b> A colour’s touch can disintegrate matter. This attack targets EAC and deals untyped damage; a creature that succeeds at a DC 19 Fortitude save takes half damage. A creature reduced to 0 Hit Points by this attack must succeed at a DC 19 Fortitude save or be immediately slain and reduced to a pile of fine ash.<br/><br/> <b>Feed (Su)</b> As a full action, a colour can attempt to feed on a living creature, a natural region of plant and animal life, or a Drift engine. If it feeds on a creature or a Drift engine, the colour must have line of sight to and be within 300 feet of the target. If it feeds on a region of plant and animal life, it needs only to be within that region. It can feed on a region once per week, a specific Drift engine once per day, and a specific living creature once per day.<br/><br/> Feeding on a region or a Drift engine is automatically successful. When the colour feeds on a region, it causes plant life there to grow brittle and sickly; undergrowth in a blighted region doesn’t provide concealment or function as difficult terrain, and small animals grow larger and deformed. When the colour feeds on a Drift engine, the ship becomes sluggish and awkward; all checks to maneuver the starship (including pilot actions during starship combat) take a –4 penalty, and the duration of travel through the Drift is doubled. A colour never completely consumes a region or a Drift engine. A region of nature recovers from these effects 1 year after the colour leaves the area, while a Drift engine recovers 24 hours after the colour’s feeding.<br/><br/> A creature can resist being fed upon by a colour out of space by succeeding at a DC 19 Will save, in which case the colour can’t attempt to feed on that creature again for 24 hours. If the victim fails this saving throw, it takes 1d4 Constitution drain and 1d4 Charisma drain. A creature whose Constitution score is drained to 0 this way immediately dies, crumbling into a mass of desiccated tissue. A creature whose Charisma score is drained to 0 this way gains the colour-blighted graft (see below).<br/><br/> <b>Susceptible to Force Effects (Ex)</b> A colour out of space takes half again as much damage (+50%) from force effects, and it takes a –4 penalty to saving throws to resist force effects. A colour out of space can’t damage targets protected by force effects with its disintegrating touch, and the aura of lassitude and feed abilities of a colour that is completely entrapped by force effects have no effect.</p>

Description

The deepest reaches of space hold truly bizarre terrors, and few among them are more feared than the colour out of space. This entity is composed only of a malevolent hue that defies classification and eludes identification by most sensors. A colour’s presence manifests as an unsettling shifting of colors as it moves through an area. This distortion is enough to allow for targeting of a colour out of space, but the creature’s natural defenses and immunities still make it a high-risk target to engage.

A colour out of space arrives on a planet or other celestial body in embryonic form, infusing the inside of a dense meteorite. After the meteor lands, it crumbles, and the colour seeps out and begins to feed. Once it has fed sufficiently, often over many months, it launches into space again and seeks new feeding grounds. Sometimes, it leaves enough of itself behind to form a new embryonic colour, and the bizarre life cycle continues.

The energies Drift engines exude can nourish a colour out of space. Scholars are only starting to explore what this feeding implies about the nature of the Drift itself.