Petitioner (CR 1)

Something seems strange and disturbingly familiar about this wispy, ghostly humanoid shape

Petitioners are the souls of mortals brought to the Outer Planes after death in order to experience their ultimate punishment, reward, or fate. A petitioner retains fragments of its memories from life, and its appearance depends not only upon the shape it held in life but also upon the nature of the Outer Plane to which it has come.

Creating a Petitioner

“Petitioner” is an acquired template that can be added to any creature whose soul migrates to one of the Outer Planes following its death (henceforth referred to as the base creature). The petitioner uses all of the base creature’s statistics and abilities except as noted below.

CR: A petitioner’s CR is 1. In some cases, at the GM’s discretion, particularly large or unusual petitioners with higher than normal ability scores may begin with a higher CR; compare the petitioner’s statistics to the values on Table: Monster Statistics by CR to help determine an unusual petitioner’s starting CR.

Alignment: A petitioner’s alignment is identical to that of its home plane.

Size and Type: The creature’s type changes to outsider. It loses all subtypes. Its size does not change.

Senses: Petitioners lose any unusual senses they had, but gain darkvision 60 feet.

Armor Class: The petitioner loses all racial bonuses to its Armor Class.

Hit Dice: Petitioners lose all racial and class-based Hit Dice and gain 2d10 racial Hit Dice as outsiders.

Saves: Petitioners have good Fortitude and Reflex saves; a petitioner’s base saves are Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +0.

Defensive Abilities: Petitioners lose all the defensive abilities of the base creature. Petitioners are immune to mind-affecting effects.

Attacks: The creature’s BAB is +2, subject to modification for size and Strength. It loses all natural attacks and gains a slam attack as appropriate for a Creature of its size.

Special Attacks: Petitioners lose all special attacks.

Abilities: Same as the base creature.

Feats: Petitioners lose all feats. As a 2 HD Outsider, a petitioner gains one feat—typically Toughness.

Skills: Petitioners lose all skill ranks they possessed as mortals. As a 2 HD outsider, a petitioner has 12 skill ranks it can spend on skills (with a maximum of 2 ranks in any one skill), and gains bonus skill ranks as appropriate for its Intelligence. Unlike most outsiders, petitioners do not gain an additional 4 class skills beyond those available to all outsiders.

Special Qualities: Petitioners lose all special qualities, along with all abilities granted by class levels (including increases on saving throws and to HD and BAB).

Petitioner Traits

A petitioner has additional abilities and features depending upon its home plane.

Abaddon (Neutral Evil): The “hunted” have bodies that are identical to what they had in life—these petitioners are doomed to be stalked and eventually consumed by the daemons that lust for souls. A hunted that survives long enough eventually warps and twists into a daemon. The hunted gain DR 5/— and fast healing 1 so that they provide a slightly more robust hunt for their daemonic predators.

Abyss (Chaotic Evil): “Larvae” are perhaps the most hideous of petitioners—they appear as pallid, maggot-like Creatures with heads similar to those they possessed in life. Larvae that feed long enough on Abyssal filth eventually transform into demons. They have cold, electricity, and fire resistance 10, and instead of a slam attack gain a bite attack as appropriate for their size.

Elysium (Chaotic Good): The “chosen” have idealized versions of their mortal bodies. In time, after experiencing the pleasures Elysium has to offer, the chosen become azatas. The chosen gain resistance to cold and fire 10 and a +2 bonus to Charisma.

Heaven (Lawful Good): The “elect” appear similar to their mortal forms, save that they possess a golden halo and feathered wings. After spending enough time aiding heavenly tasks, the elect become archons. They gain a fly speed equal to their base speed (average mobility).

Hell (Lawful Evil): The “damned” retain their mortal forms, but are heavily scarred by various tortures. Those who endure the torments of Hell long enough may eventually be approved for transformation into devils. The damned gain immunity to fire (but not immunity to the pain caused by fire—whenever one of the damned takes fire damage, it must make a DC 15 Fortitude save to resist being stunned by the pain for 1d4 rounds).

Limbo (Chaotic Neutral): The “shapeless“ retain their basic forms, but these forms constantly waver and shimmer, as if they were ghosts in peril of dissolving away. After wallowing in the chaos of Limbo for long enough, they can transform into proteans. The shapeless have the incorporeal subtype, an incorporeal touch attack, and all advantages granted by that defensive ability.

Nirvana (Neutral Good): The “cleansed” take on the forms of animals that closely approximate their personalities. Upon achieving true enlightenment, they transform into agathions. The cleansed gain cold and sonic resistance 10 and a +2 bonus to Wisdom.

Purgatory (Neutral): The “dead” appear as animated skeletons but are not Undead—in time, they can earn the right to become aeons. They gain DR 10/bludgeoning and immunity to cold.

Utopia (Lawful Neutral): The “remade” retain the same body shape but have milky white skin covered in dense black script, as if some strange scribe had used them for parchment. Upon deciphering the riddles posed by these complex lines of script, one of the remade can enter an axiomite forge to be transformed into an inevitable. The remade are immune to hostile transmutation effects and gain a +2 bonus to Intelligence.

Creatures who die, become petitioners, and then return to life retain no memories of the time they spent as petitioners in the afterlife. A petitioner who dies is gone forever—its “life force” has either returned to the Positive Energy Plane or, in some cases, provided the energy to trigger the creation of another outsider. Petitioners who please a deity or another powerful outsider can be granted rewards—the most common such reward manifests as a transformation into a different outsider, such as an archon, azata, demon, or devil, depending upon the petitioner’s alignment. In rare cases, a creature can retain its personality from life all the way through its existence as a petitioner and into its third “life” as an outsider, although such events are rare indeed.Section 15: Copyright Notice

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 2, © 2010, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors Wolfgang Baur, Jason Bulmahn, Adam Daigle, Graeme Davis, Crystal Frasier, Joshua J. Frost, Tim Hitchcock, Brandon Hodge, James Jacobs, Steve Kenson, Hal MacLean, Martin Mason, Rob McCreary, Erik Mona, Jason Nelson, Patrick Renie, Sean K Reynolds, F. Wesley Schneider, Owen K.C. Stephens, James L. Sutter, Russ Taylor, and Greg A. Vaughan, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.