White Ethergaunt

Actions

Etherblade. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +9 1d20+9 to hit, reach 5 ft. or +11 1d20+9 range 40/160 ft, one target. Hit: 7 1d10+1 slashing damage, or 4 1d6 piercing damage on a ranged attack.   Stupefying Gaze. An ethergaunt can open and close its vertically bisected mask as a free action, revealing a horrifically alien morass of facial organs and orifices. On its turn, the creature decides if it wants its mask open or closed. Anyone within 30 feet of an ethergaunt with an open mask who meets the creature’s gaze must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw DC16 or immediately take 1d4 points of psychic damage. A creature that successfully saves against this effect cannot be affected by the same ethergaunt’s stupefying gaze for one day. Ethergaunts are immune to their own gaze attacks and to those of others of their kind.   Material Jaunt. Ethergaunts dwell on the Ethereal Plane. While in their natural state of etherealness, they can perceive but not affect creatures and objects on the Material Plane. However, an ethergaunt can transport itself from the Ethereal Plane to the Material Plane as a standard action. It can remain on the Material Plane for up to 1 round per Hit Die it possesses. At the end of this time, or when the ethergaunt chooses, it becomes ethereal again. An ethergaunt must remain on the Ethereal Plane for at least 1 hour after a material jaunt before it can use the ability again. Ethergaunts who wish to remain on the Material Plane for a longer time must use plane shift or similar magic. Most white and black ethergaunts know the plane shift spell and use it for this purpose.

White ethergaunts, who serve the race as scholars, philosophers, diplomats, and bureaucrats, occasionally parley with the Material Plane races in order to serve the greater goal of planar domination. Cunning schemers, whites attempt to purge all emotion from their dealings, instead dedicating themselves to an objective (in their view) pragmatism. Whites seldom give an inch, and “negotiations” generally boil down to suggestions that fighting off inevitable genocide will only result in unnecessary struggle and needless destruction of material resources. White ethergaunts are the tallest of their race. They often clothe themselves in robes and skirts of an organic material resembling rubber. They care nothing for red ethergaunts, viewing them as worthless pawns (but still a thousand times more valuable than a hundred Material Plane creatures’ lives). Most white ethergaunts respect their black overlords, but a few of the most ambitious secretly plan to usurp their authority and take over ethergaunt society. Such irrationality, when discovered by the highest caste, is eradicated immediately.   Though skilled at the use of the etherblade, most white ethergaunts avoid melee, preferring to rely upon spells or the fantastic technological weapons developed by the black ethergaunt caste.   Etherblade: Resembling a short glaive topped with a hollow barrel, this favored weapon of the ethergaunts can fire a ray of force as a ranged attack 1d6 piercing damage. The etherblade ray has a range 40 ft., long range 160 ft. The weapon can fire 50 times before it is exhausted. It cannot be recharged. An etherblade can be used as a two-handed weapon in melee combat to deal 1d10 slashing damage. A fully charged etherblade has a market price of 800 gp.   Doubt Bomb: This small ceramic sphere contains a chemical mixture intended to overstimulate the “doubt centers” in the brain. The bomb can be thrown as a grenadelike weapon. A thrown bomb shatters on impact, creating a cloud of poisonous gas in a 10-foot spread (initial and secondary damage 1d6 psychic, Wisdom DC 15 negates). Ethergaunts are immune to the effects of doubt bombs. A doubt bomb has a market price of 500 gp.

Ethereal Plane

White ethergaunt by Puddnhead