Buy me a coffeeDracaenae Echidna
“the goddess fierce Echidna who is half a nymph with glancing eyes and fair cheeks, and half again a huge snake, great and awful, with speckled skin, eating raw flesh beneath the secret parts of the holy earth. And there she has a cave deep down under a hollow rock far from the deathless gods and mortal men. There, then, did the gods appoint her a glorious house to dwell in: and she keeps guard in Arima beneath the earth, grim Echidna, a nymph who dies not nor grows old all her days.” (Theogony, 295-305).
An immortal who mated with the monstrous giant Typhon and bore a brood of the most fearsome of monsters. She is a titan, a daughter of Uranus and Gaia She appears as a beautiful woman from the waist up and like a serpent from the waist down.
When she and her mate Typhon, attacked the Olympians, Zeus beat them back and punished Typhon by sealing him under Mount Etna. However, Zeus allowed Echidna and her children to live as a challenge to future heroes. She was an immortal and ageless nymph, but was killed where she slept by Argus Panopes, the hundred-eyed giant.”
“Echidna, was a goddess of sea-slime, mud and rot (from which she was born), and presided over the slimy inhabitants of salt-marshes, swamps and mud-flats: eels, worms, and blood-sucking lampreys. She was also a goddess of plague, illness and disease, the wife of Typhon, Daimon of violent storms.”
With Gaia being her mother, having Echidna preside over things in the mud makes a lot of sense, especially since her husband presides over storms .
The offspring of Typhon and Echidna were
- Nemean Lion the first labor of Hercules was to slay it
- Cerberus three-headed dog of Hades
- Orthrus two-head dog that of Geryon who guarded the cattle that were stolen by Hercules as one of his labors.
- Ladon the dragon who guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides (generally 3 nymphs associated with sunset) and who tormented Atlas as he held up the heavens on his shoulders. He was slain by Hercules and became the constellation Draco.
- Chimera
- Sphinx
- Lernaean Hydra (Hercules’s 2nd labor)
- Ethon the giant eagle sent by Zeus to punish Prometheus for stealing fire
Originally Posted by Khisanth the Ancient of the En World forums.
Echidna has the rear body of a large constricting snake and the upper body of a nymph. She is a great power of evil and is said to have been the mother of many legendary horrors. Some consider her to be the ultimate example of evil’s power to infect and corrupt, the queen of disease and poison.
| Echidna | |
| Large outsider | |
| Hit Dice | 40d8+273 (488 hp) |
| Initiative | +4 |
| Speed | 40 ft. |
| Armor Class | 47 (-1 size, +20 natural, +8 profane, +10 unearthly grace), touch 27, flat-footed 37 |
| Base Attack/Grapple | +30/+46 |
| Attack | Large +5 keen frost longsword +47 melee (2d6+17 and 1d6 cold/18-20) |
| Full Attack | Large +5 keen frost longsword +47/+42/+37/+32 melee (2d6+17 and 1d6 cold/18-20), sting +39 melee (2d6+9 and poison) |
| Space/Reach | 10 ft./10 ft. |
| Special Attacks | Blinding Beauty,Confront sin, Maddening gaze, frightful presence, spell-like abilities, spells,poison, plague, stunning glance |
| Special Qualities | DR 15/epic (3/-), cold resistance 20, fire resistance 20, acid resistance 20, touch of darkness, unholy tenacity, regeneration 5, keen senses, immunities, unearthly grace, wild empathy +13; |
| Saves | Fort +26, Ref +17, Will +22 |
| Abilities | Strength 35, Dexterity 10, Constitution 29, Intelligence 19, Wisdom 21, Charisma 30 |
| Skills | Appraise +38, Bluff +43, Concentration +42, Diplomacy +43,Intimidate +11,Knowledge (Arcana, Nature, The Planes, Religion) +38, Listen +40, Spot +40, Survival +38, Swim +45 Use Magic Device +11; |
| Feats | Ability Focus (stunning glance, maddening gaze, poison), Alertness , Endurance , Improved Initiative , Improved Natural Attack, Power Attack , Run, Toughness, Weapon Focus (longsword) |
| Epic Feat | Damage Reduction |
| Environment | Any land or underground |
| Organization | Unique (1 plus 3-18 fiendish constrictor snakes and 1-4 Erinyes) |
| Challenge Rating | 30 |
| Treasure | Standard |
| Alignment | Always chaotic evil |
| Advancement | — |
| Level Adjustment | — |
Combat
Any non-evil creature approaching Echidna will be attacked viciously. She usually begins combat with a disintegrate, then hurls fireballs . If given time to prepare, she casts haste and mage armor on herself and summons monsters. When she must enter melee combat, she carves up her foes with her terrible sword and venomous sting.
Frightful Presence (Ex): The ability takes effect automatically whenever Echidna attacks or charges. Creatures within a 150 ft radius are subject to the effect if they have less than 18 HD. On a failure, creatures with 4 or less HD become panicked for 5d6 rounds and those with 5 or more HD become shaken for 5d6 rounds. The save DC is Charisma-based. Any potentially affected creature which successfully saves against this ability is immune to Echidnas frightful presence for 24 hours.
Maddening Gaze (Su) Any creature within 60 feet meeting Echidnas gaze must make a Will save (DC 37) or suffer the effects of a confusion spell at 20th caster level. Any creature which successfully saves against this ability is immune to Echidnas maddening gaze for 24 hours.
Stunning Glance (Su): As a standard action, Echidna can stun a creature within 30 feet with a look. The target creature must succeed on a DC 25 Fortitude save or be stunned for 2d4 rounds. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Blinding Beauty (Su): This ability affects all humanoids within 30 feet of Echidna. Those who look directly at her must succeed on a DC 23 Fortitude save or be blinded permanently as though by the blindness spell. Echidna can suppress or resume this ability as a free action. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Unearthly Grace (Su): Echidna adds her Charisma modifier as a bonus on all her saving throws, and as a deflection bonus to her Armor Class. (The statistics block already reflects these bonuses).
Spell-Like Abilities
- At will, bane, blight, bulls strength, darkness, detect good, detect magic, dimension door,dispel magic discern lie, doom, fireball, gust of wind, haste, invisibility purge,magic circle against good, mage armor, magic missile, poison, ray of enfeeblement;
- 3/day, chain lightning,confusion, crushing despair,deeper darkness, greater magic dispelling, silence, slay living, slow summon monster VI (as evil spell only), touch of idiocy;
- 1/day , earthquake, dimension door, disintegrate insanity, plane shift, mass suggestion, song of discord summon monster IX (as evil spell only)
Saving throw DCs are 20 + spell level.
Echidna casts divine spells as a 7th-level druid
druid Spells Prepared (6/5/4/3/1, DC 13 + spell level): 0flare, guidance (2), resistance (2), virtue;
- 1st endure elements, entangle (2), obscuring mist, pass without trace;
- 2nd bear’s endurance, chill metal, fog cloud, owl’s wisdom;
- 3rd protection from energy, spike growth, wind wall;
- 4th freedom of movement.
Poison (Ex) Sting, Fortitude DC 36, initial and secondary damage 1d10 Constitution. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Plague (Su) Once per day, Echidna can infect one creature within 60 feet with a peculiarly vicious disease, the melts. It has no incubation period, the Fortitude DC is 35, and the damage is 1d6 Constitution. Victims in the later stages of the disease melt away into maggot-riddled pools of ooze.
Touch of Darkness (Su) Echidna can infuse any evil being with great power at will. This requires Echidna to touch the being. It receives a +2 profane bonus on all saving throws and attack rolls for 24 hours.
Unholy Tenacity (Su) As an embodiment of evil, Echidna gains a +8 profane bonus on Armor Class.
Regeneration (Ex) Good-aligned weapons, sonic attacks, and electricity attacks deal normal damage to Echidna.
Keen Senses (Ex): Echidna sees four times as well a human in shadowy illumination and twice as well in normal light. She also has Darkvision out to 120 feet.
Blindsense (Ex): Echidna can pinpoint creatures within a distance of 60 feet. Opponents that Echidna cant actually see still have total concealment against her.
Immunities (Ex): Echidna is immune to sleep effects and Paralysis effects.
Confront Sin (Su): Echidna is made stronger by the sin of her opponents. All physical attacks do bonus damage equal to +2 damage for each step the target’s alignment is away from lawful good.
Wild Empathy (Ex): By making a successful wild empathy check, Echidna can improve the attitude of an animal as if making a Diplomacy check to improve the attitude of a person. The ability normally takes 1 minute to use, and Echidna and the animal have to be able to study each other (within 30 feet under normal visibility conditions).