Deh-Nolo

Source: Alien Archive

CR: 14 XP: 38,400

CE Large aberration

Init.: +4 Senses: darkvision 60 ft. Perception: +30

Defense

HP: 214

EAC: 27 KAC: 28

Fort: +12 Ref: +12 Will: +19

Offense

Speed: 20 ft., fly 40 ft. (Su, perfect)

Melee: bite +21 (6d6+17 P plus dominion bile)

Ranged: synthesized projectile +23 (4d8+14 P plus dominion bile or spell-slot sacrifice)

Offensive Abilities: brain collection

Spells Known: (CL 14th; melee +21)

Statistics

Str: +4 Dex: +4 Con: +6 Wis: +4 Int: +8 Cha: +4

Skills: Computers +25, Culture +25, Engineering +30, Life Science +30, Medicine +25, Mysticism +30, Physical Science +25

Languages: Aklo, Abyssal, Common, up to 4 other languages as determined by brain collection; telepathy 100 ft.

Ecology

Environment: any

Organization: solitary

Special Abilities

<p><b>Brain Collection (Ex)</b> A deh-nolo can store up to four brains of Small or Medium creatures and use them to enhance its knowledge and power, learning a single language known by the former owner of each stored brain. A deh-nolo can extract a brain from a helpless opponent with a coup de grace action that kills the opponent, or it can do so as a standard action from a body that has been dead no longer than 1 minute.<br/><br/> <b>Brain Dependency (Ex)</b> A deh-nolo that has fewer than four collected brains gains 1 negative level for each missing brain. A deh-nolo’s caster level is reduced by 2 for each negative level it gains from missing brains, and a deh-nolo with no collected brains can’t cast any of its spells. These negative levels never become permanent, and they can be removed only by adding brains to the deh-nolo’s collection. The statistics presented here assume a deh-nolo with a full collection.<br/><br/> <b>Open Pustules (Ex)</b> When a deh-nolo takes more than 20 damage from a single attack, each creature adjacent to that deh-nolo must succeed at a DC 22 Reflex save or be sprayed with a foul poison as the pustules all over the deh-nolo’s body erupt. Creatures hit by this spray are exposed to dominion bile (see below).<br/><br/> <b>Synthesized Projectile (Ex)</b> Once per round as a standard action, a deh-nolo can concentrate the crystallized, metallic discharge it produces and expel it through a tear in its flesh. This attack deals 1d4 damage to the deh-nolo. A deh-nolo can fire the projectile at a target up to 60 feet away as a ranged attack that deals 4d8+14 piercing damage. A deh-nolo can augment the projectile in one of two ways. It can coat the projectile in dominion bile (see below) to poison its target, or it can sacrifice a spell slot to charge the projectile with energy. A projectile charged in this way deals an additional 1d6 acid, cold, electricity, or fire damage (deh-nolo’s choice) for each level of the spell slot sacrificed in this way.<h3 class="framing">Dominion Bile</h3><b>Type</b> poison (injury); <b>Save</b> Fortitude DC 22<br/> <b>Track</b> Constitution (special); <b>Frequency</b> 1/round for 6 rounds<br/> <b>Effect</b> progression track is Healthy—Weakened—Debilitated—Dead<br/> <b>Cure</b> 2 consecutive saves</p>

Description

Just as the neh-thalggus and yah-thelgaads among the Dominion of the Black make use of organic brains to power their magical abilities, so do deh-nolos extract and use other creatures’ brains to slake their never-ending thirst for knowledge. This shared penchant strikes well-deserved fear into the hearts of all thinking creatures in the universe, and many spacefarers know it is best to avoid ships with Dominion markings altogether.

Deh-nolos are brilliant engineers and inventors among the Dominion of the Black, merging technology and biological systems in twisted and devious ways that are stunningly seamless. These creations are unlike cybernetics, in that they are often grown rather than built, and they blur the lines between living organs and complex machines. Using vulgar ingenuity and their surprisingly adroit singular “arms,” deh-nolos designed and built the first Dominion starships, which are hybrid vessels with both organic and technological components. They also cultivated the first shipminds—oozes that pilot these biomechanical starships. In addition to these marvels of engineering, deh-nolos are adept at repairing most technological devices, no matter what civilization built them. When presented with a device with which it is unfamiliar, a deh-nolo attempts to collect the brain of a member of the species that produced it in the hopes that doing so will provide the aberration with some flash of insight.

Mostly organic beings, deh-nolos secrete a metallic discharge that shimmers with disturbing beauty in natural sunlight. Deh-nolos can concentrate this liquid to form foul crystals that they either use as ranged projectiles or work into components for their mechanical devices. Such machine parts are malformed, resembling incomplete living organs and atrophied body parts, and many have common technological connectors and partially completed circuitry. Some reckless scientists have harvested these bits from deh-nolos and plugged them into their equipment or their own bodies, with varying and unpredictable outcomes. Most of the time, the result is horrendous—and even deadly to the experimenter—but the practice occasionally creates functional, albeit macabre, technology. Installed in sensors and other devices with video or audio output, these components cause the images on their screens to appear disturbingly fragmented or amplify and distort sound into mind-shattering cacophonies. Implanted in a living creature, these parts horrendously mutate the host body and often wrack it with unceasing pain.

Like many other creatures among the Dominion of the Black, deh-nolos fabricate and weaponize their own toxins. Poison-filled glands grow in patches across these creatures’ bulky bodies, and anyone who ruptures one is exposed to the purulent fluid that sloshes within. Deh-nolos can also apply this toxic pus to the projectiles that they eject from their bodies, infecting those they strike.

Deh-nolos are not only extremely competent engineers, but also formidable spellcasters, weaving magic that, like their inventions, blurs the line between flesh and machine. With a thought, a deh-nolo can commandeer nearby technological devices, create a cloud of burning acid, or temporarily overwrite the DNA of a living creature to turn it into a twisted reflection of a robot. A deh-nolo uses its more offensive spells only in response to direct attacks, preferring to catch a single target unaware and render it helpless. From there, the aberration proceeds to carefully (and painfully, if the creature is still alive) extract its prey’s brain and store it in one of its four brain pods. Deh-nolos with even one empty brain pod often go out of their way to procure a fresh replacement, almost as if they were addicted to the knowledge stored within the gray matter. A deh-nolo with no stored brains is jittery and desperate, lashing out at any non-Dominion creatures it can find, even those with animal intelligence. Once it is able to use its full complement of abilities, such a deh-nolo seeks out more sophisticated brains to replace the simpler ones, unless a more pressing matter is at hand.

Deh-nolos use their psychic potential, which is inherent in most Dominion of the Black creatures, to fly with incredible dexterity. The eerie sight of their alien forms gliding silently through the air with no obvious means of propulsion is usually enough to send most sane onlookers fleeing for their lives.