Page 124 - Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

damage as described above) or a heal or limited wish spell (which gates between the tsochari world and the Material Plane to send
automatically succeeds and causes no damage to the host). their agents into humanoid cities and kingdoms.
Inhabit: The tsochar leaves its victim alive and aware. Any Tsochari revere a deity known as Mak Thuum Ngatha, the

time it cares to, it can inflict indescribable agony on its host Nine-Tongued Worm (see page 177). Tsochari clerics are rare,
as a standard action, dealing 1d6 to 6d6 points of damage and but not unheard of, and have access to the domains of Destruc-
requiring the host to succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or be tion, Knowledge, Madness, and Travel.
nauseated by the pain for 2d4 rounds. The tsochar chooses
how much damage it deals with this attack.
The tsochar can take no physical actions while inhabiting TSOCHAR ANATOMY

a host, but it can use purely mental actions (such as com- The tsochari are products of an alien world. Tsochar flesh is
municating with its host by means of its telepathy power and freakishly strong and tough, more like iron cable than the
threatening to injure or kill the host unless the host does as bodies of creatures of this world. This accounts for their damage OF FLESH CHAPTER 7
the monster wishes). reduction and their surprising strength. THE WEARERS
When the host takes damage (other than damage the tsochar A tsochar is not actually a single living creature, but instead

inflicts on it), the inhabiting tsochar takes half that damage. an aggregate being. Each of the dozens of coiling tentacles
For example, if the host takes 28 points of cold damage from a and limbs that seem to comprise its body is, in fact, a living
cone of cold spell, the tsochar takes 14 points of cold damage. creature in its own right, known as a strand. A strand has its
A tsochar inhabiting a humanoid’s body feeds on the own nervous system and organs of respiration, digestion, and
creature’s blood and tissues, dealing 1d3 points of Constitution reproduction. Carefully detached from the rest of the body, a

damage per day. A successful DC 15 Fortitude save reduces tsochar strand could live on indefinitely, but it would be virtu-
this damage by half. Over the course of days, frail humanoids ally mindless. Only in close association with twenty or thirty
carrying tsochari sicken and die, although tsochari are clever similar strands, linked by nerve ganglia and blood vessels into
enough to direct their hosts to acquire curative magic to keep a tangle, do the tsochar strands achieve a collective sentience

themselves alive indefinitely, if the situation calls for it. and sense of self.
Replace: The tsochar bores out the victim’s nervous system, Like some of the simplest animals found in the mundane

killing the victim. It then animates the body, effectively acting world (such as jellyfish), the tsochar strands show a degree
as the nervous system of the dead host. The body remains alive, of specialization for certain tasks. For example, the creature’s
hosting the tsochar. lampreylike mouth (labeled 1 in the diagram on the next page)
This functions like a polymorph spell into the victim’s exact is actually a specialized structure composed of the mouthparts
form, except that the tsochar can remain in the victim’s form of four to eight strands, fused together in common growth.
for up to a year, and it leaves the victim’s corpse behind when it Fighting and motive limbs are another specialization, as are
chooses to end the effect. The tsochar uses the victim’s physical the sensory limbs with their dark eye-structures (2) at the tips.
ability scores in place of its own, as described by polymorph. Since they share nervous tissue, blood vessels, and sentience, the

The tsochar can remain in this form indefinitely, but once it tsochar strands collectively form a single entity, just as vulner-
abandons the form, it cannot reanimate the body. able to physical damage as a more mundane form of life.
Tsochari that have replaced a humanoid slowly devour their A tsochar strand is about 3 to 8 feet in length and averages
new shell from the inside out. A replaced body takes 1d4 points about half an inch in diameter, but it commonly coils and
of Constitution drain per month, which does not heal naturally tangles with other strands close to the center of the body.
and can be restored only by magical means. A successful DC 15 Tsochar strands are strikingly strong and tough for their size
Fortitude save reduces this damage by half. Naturally, tsochari and weight, armed with numerous sicklelike barbs (3). The
imposters choose to abandon bodies they have replaced before barbs contain small grooves or channels through which the
they become too weak to be serviceable. tsochar can inject its poison, but each barb administers only
Telepathy (Su): A tsochar can communicate telepathically a tiny dose. It takes numerous tentacles working together
with any creature within 100 feet that has a language. to administer a dangerous dose of venom, which is why the
Skills: Tsochari have a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and tsochar only poisons creatures it is constricting.

use their Dexterity modifier instead of their Strength modifier The internal arrangement of a tsochar is minimal for such
for Climb checks. They can always choose to take 10 on Climb a complex creature. Within each strand, the vital organs are
checks, even if rushed or threatened. Tsochari have a +4 racial concentrated within a foot or so of the “front” end, the part of
bonus on Use Magic Device checks. the creature that binds itself to the other strands. The brain
(4) is a studded string of nerve ganglia resembling a string
TSOCHAR CHARACTERS of pearls. The digestive tract (5) is an undifferentiated gullet
Most tsochari advance by Hit Dice. The leaders of the race, the that absorbs food from the collective “mouth” of the monster.
tsochari nobles, add class levels in arcane spellcasting classes. Each strand pumps its own blood through a constriction of
The most powerful tsochari wizards are capable of opening its motive muscles, which is why a tsochar at rest coils and

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