New Monster: The Xaoclost

The past and present are separate places. The timestream is constantly turning Now into Then, but they have no influence on each other after that’s done. It might be possible to travel from the present to the past, but it is impossible to change the Now with your actions in the past. You can travel to the past to kill the mother of your greatest enemy, but as the murder happens in the past, it doesn’t have any impact on the present. If you return he’ll still be alive, and so will she.

That is, if you return.

For the past is the domain of the Xaoclost, a species of nightmarish reality-defying creatures. These 50-feet-tall monstrosities roam the past, ever looking for ways to break into the present. With difficulty, they can come within milliseconds of Now, but they can never fully reach it. The Xaoclost are always just behind you.

Unfortunately, people go into the past all the time: Chronomancers have their spells, Time portals are known (like the one below the city of Vulture), and ancient dungeons like the Library of the Death Speakers are often so old the Now no longer has a grip on them. The Xaoclost cannot come here, but they lie in waiting for adventurers to come to them.

No. Enc.:	1 (1)
Alignment:	Chaotic
Movement:	90’ (30’)
Armor Class:	3 (base)
Hit Dice:	10 (base)
Attacks:	1 claw or weapon/1 whip/1 bite, or breath weapon
Damage:	1d8 or by weapon/1d8+poison/3d8, or 2d8 (base)
Save:	F10
Morale:	10
Hoard Class:	XV
XP:	2100 (base)

The stats above are the weakest possible Xaoclost, one more than 1,500 years in the past. When they move closer to the present, they grow stronger and more powerful. However, it costs them a lot of effort and it does hurt them terribly. When a Xaoclost moves close to the present, use the table beneath to determine changes to his stats.

Years in the Past	Hit Dice	AC	Breath Weapon	XP	Special Abilities
0 – 5	20	-7	22d8	8250	Suggestion once per day
6 – 15	19	-6	20d8	7250
16 – 25	18	-5	18d8	7250	Hallucinatory terrain once per day
26– 50	17	-4	16d8	6250
51 – 100	16	-3	14d8	5100
101 – 250	15	-2	12d8	5100	Half damage from normal weapons
251 – 500	14	-1	10d8	4200
501 – 750	13	0	8d8	4200
751 – 1000	12	1	6d8	3600
1,001 – 1,500	11	2	4d8	3600
1,500 or more	10	3	2d8	2100	Breath weapon, fear aura, poisonous whip

Breath Weapon: Xaoclost have powerful breath weapons. Every individual Xaoclost has a different kind of breath. Usually, the breath weapon of a Xaoclost other effects besides the damage it does. All breath weapons are usable every 3 rounds. All victims of a breath attack may attempt a saving throw versus breath attack for half damage, and maybe an additional saving throw for the secondary attacks.

Breath Weapon Examples:

1 - Cloud of Hate: 50’ long, 40’ wide cloud of black smoke. In addition to taking damage, all chaotically aligned characters must make a save vs. spells or instantly attack lawful and neutral characters. Lawful and neutral characters must make a save vs. death or suffer an additional 2d8 damage.

2 - Mud Stream: 80’ long, 30’ wide cone of mud. In addition to doing damage, the mud stream contains 1d4 small earth elementals. These have 6 hD, AC 4, and do 1d8 damage.

3 - Napalm: 70’ long, 20’ wide cone of napalm. The napalm does normal damage on the round of the attack, and half that again the next round (save for half).

4 - Negative Fog: 50’ long, 40’ wide cloud of grey mist. The Xaoclost’s breath weapon is a living creature from the negative plane that feeds of the warmth of its victims: Move 90’(30’); AC 2; hp 25, #attacks 1 per creature; attacks as a ten HD monster; Dmg 1d6; M n/a.

5 - Phantasmal Killers: 100’ long, 5’ wide line of terrifying illusions. In addition to suffering damage, the victim must try to disbelieve the illusion once by succeeding in an INT attribute check, or die from fear.

6 - Rat Swarm: 80’ long, 30’ wide cone of living rats. There’s 4d10 rats in the pack. In addition to normal damage from the breath weapon, the rats get to attack. They get 1 attack per 10 individuals, inflicting 1d6 hit points of damage per hit. If a character is swarmed by a whole pack, he must make a save versus death or fall to the ground under the horde. The victim can make no attacks until he gets back on his feet.

Fear Aura: Xaoclost have a fear aura of 250 feet. Creatures of fewer than 1 Hit Die within the aura flee automatically. Others may save vs. petrification or are stricken with fear (-2 penalty to attack and damage).

Whip: These creatures also attack with a stinger-tipped whip for 1d8 damage. Victims must additionally save versus poison or fall in a coma for 2d10 days. Unless the victim is very lucky, the Xaoclost will probably eat the victim before he gets out of his coma.