Demon, Vepar

This creature appears as a giant-sized merman with dull gray skin and silver scales. An irregular crown of coral atop his balding head and it carries a menacing-looking trident.

Originally from The Book of Fiends

Designed By Aaron Loeb, Erik Mona, Chris Pramas, and Robert J. Schwalb

Master of Angry Waters

Layer: Kolopan, the Seething Passage
Areas of Concern: Mercantile trade, ocean voyages, slavery, drowning
Domains: Chaos, Evil, Travel, Water
Favored Weapon: Trident

To get anywhere worth going, you’ve got to cross water. When seasoned mariners encounter a storm on the open seas, they call upon the dread lord Vepar in hopes that the demon prince will quell his wrath and calm the violent waters. Below decks, chained ‘savages’ curse his name. They blame Vepar for allowing rapacious slavers to come across the ocean and cart them away from their homelands. Lower still, beneath the frightening waves, massive, many-tentacled sea creatures keep pace with the
ship, thanking the Master of Angry Waters for delivering them yet another tasty meal.

Vepar appears as an immense humanoid figure with the lower body of a giant fish. His dull gray skin hangs loosely from his powerful skeleton, seemingly awaiting the day when it will slough off as he swims through the depths of the sea. Vepar wears an irregular crown of coral atop his balding head. The headgear pulls and tears at his scalp, releasing thick amber blood of a pus-like consistency. The Master of Angry Waters rarely surfaces, preferring to dwell in the watery depths of his home layer, the Seething Passage, alongside the Slithy Brood, a school of seventy-two hezrou who serve him faultlessly.

Immediately upon their arrival at his home layer, souls sworn to Vepar or those harvested in his name from the Howling Threshold find themselves packed into leaking vessels with torn rigging, adrift in a nightmare seascape of typhoon winds and hurricane waves. Worse, they usually manifest chained in sweaty, cramped holds, their only companions the screams of other damned souls and the slowly rising pool of water coming in through small holes in the deck. Most drown within an hour of arrival, fueling Vepar’s unthinkable demonic power. The strongest manage to fight their way on deck, wrestling the vessel to a semblance of safety by navigating into the relatively calm eye of the storm. Within the eye, which has a radius of more than ninety miles, those who survive the storm get the pleasure of fighting off ships crewed by other survivors, all in constant battle for the only food available on the entire Abyssal layer; soulflesh. Below, Vepar and his companions squeal with piscine laughter.

Very few serve Vepar intentionally, though most who live on the open seas know of him and occasionally toss an offering into the waters in a half-hearted attempt to stave off his villainous attentions. But when gales tear the mainsail from its moorings and waves pound crew off the deck and into the inky waters, lip service often shifts to wholehearted prayers and desperate promises. Vepar isn’t picky, however, and takes his followers wherever he can get them. He’s been known to manifest aboard a ship in the minutes before it goes under, proffering its crew safety in return for their cargo. Sometimes he tells them that they must offer up three of their own to the Abyss before he will calm the waters’ Vepar delights in watching formerly tight crews fall upon each other to save their own hides. Rarely, he even allows the three sacrifices to live, casting their betrayers into the seas as snacks for inhuman servitor creatures that dwell below the waves.

Slavers honor Vepar as patron of their cruel trade, praying to him to reveal the best naval routes to new lands rife with material and human riches. Vepar in turn thrives on the suffering of the slaves in disease-ridden, filthy cargo holds. He delights in the eradication of ‘primitive’ societies, seeing this as necessary to spread cultures that depend upon sea travel for their sustenance. Once they dominate the world, the Master of Angry Waters intends to visit it personally, demanding tribute from all while holding the trade of every nation in his clawed, rubbery fingers.

Obedience

A thaumaturge dedicated to Vepar always carries the decaying severed head of a humanoid he has personally drowned. To regain his spell complement for the day, the thaumaturge conducts a ritual in which he holds the head under water while chanting prayers to his infernal master. Alternately, he may empty a vial of holy water into the mouth of the head, letting the liquid spill through the open throat and onto his boots. In either case, the ritual takes a full hour. When all of the flesh and hair rots away from the skull, the thaumaturge must replace it by drowning another victim.

Originally posted on Pathfinder SRD

Vepar CR 21

XP 409,600 CE Large outsider (aquatic, chaotic, demon, evil, extraplanar) Init +12; Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +45 Aura unholy aura (DC 27)

DEFENSE

AC 37, touch 26, flat-footed 29 (+8 Dexterity, +11 natural, –1 size, +9 profane) hp 363 (22d10+242) Fort +26, Ref +21, Will +15 DR 15/cold iron and good; Immune electricity, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10, fire 10; SR 32

OFFENSE

Speed 20 ft., Swim 60 ft. Melee +2 trident +35/+30/+25/+20 (2d6+13/19-20) or 2 claws +33 (1d8+11 plus hypothermic touch) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Spell-Like Abilities (CL 20th)   Constant – unholy aura (DC 27)   At will – blasphemy (DC 26), control weather, control winds (DC 24), control water, detect good, detect law, fear (DC 23), greater dispel magic, greater teleport (self plus 50 pounds of objects only), polymorph (self only), water breathing (others only, DC 22) 1/day – ice storm, implosion (DC 28), summon (level 9, 2d6 shrroths, 1d4 hezrous, 1d2 nalfeshnees or mariliths, or 1 balor100%)

STATISTICS

Strength 33, Dexterity 26, Constitution 33, Intelligence 27, Wisdom 27, Charisma 29 Base Atk +22; CMB +34; CMD 61 (can’t be tripped) Feats Alertness, Blind-Fight, Cleave, Deceitful, Great Fortitude, Improved Critical (trident), Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (ice storm), Weapon Focus (claw), Weapon Focus (trident) Skills Bluff +38, Diplomacy +31, Disguise +35, Escape Artist +30, Intimidate +31, Knowledge (arcana) +30, Knowledge (geography) +30, Knowledge (planes) +33, Knowledge (religion) +30, Perception +45, Sense Motive +37, Stealth +29, Survival +30, Swim +22, Use Magical Device +31; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception Languages Abyssal, Aquan, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal, Undercommon; telepathy 100 ft. SQ amphibious

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Hypothermic Touch (Ex) Those hit by Vepar’s claw attack must make a successful DC 32 Fortitude save or be overcome with bone-numbing cold that deals 1d8 points of Dexterity damage. A successful save reduces the ability score damage by half. The save DC is Constitution-based.

ECOLOGY

Environment any (Abyss) Organization solitary or troupe (Vepar plus 2-5 shrroths) Treasure double standard

Unique Item: Demonbrand

Vepar’s unique weapon is a Large +2 trident that can cast magic missiles seven times per day as a swift action (CL 15th). Additionally, the wielder can cast waves of fatigue once per day (CL 15th).

Vepar is an Abyssal duke in the service of Aegir, God of the Oceans. He leads 29 battalions of shrroths in service to his master. He is a brooding and malevolent demon that relishes in the torture and death of others, particularly mortals (whose very existence he disdains). His loyalty to Aegir is questionable at best, for behind the scenes, Vepar is quietly amassing an army of demons to one day lead against his current lord. But for now, he waits and serves.

Vepar’s citadel, Kolopan, the Seething Passage, is built into an underwater mountain range that sits several miles below the surface of his watery Abyssal home. The citadel is guarded by scores of aquatic demons, fiendish merfolk, and fiendish tritons, led by a fiendish Merfolk 15th-level sorcerer named Anaunon. Most visitors (those that can actually reach it) avoid this place.

Vepar resembles a 12-foot tall merman. His upper torso is dull gray while his lower torso and fins are silver and scaled. Vepar’s hair is balding an irregular crown of coral atop his head . His eyes, usually blue in color, burn with a silvery fire when he is angered or excited. Under his crown, two small copper horns can be seen just above his eyes. Vepar’s hands end in wicked claws with silvery nails.

Vepar relies on his trident, spell-like abilities, and ability to deal ability damage when combating foes. Before entering combat, he often raises a storm (using control weather or control winds) to herald his coming, though he is just as likely to attack from ambush or surprise as he is to ‘announce’ his arrival. He enters combat with unholy aura active and follows it closely with ice storm.

Section 15: Copyright Notice – Tome of Horrors Complete

Vepar from the Tome of Horrors Complete, Copyright 2011, Necromancer Games, Inc., published and distributed by Frog God Games; Author Scott Greene.