General Rules: Monsters - Celestial, Harmonious Choir of the Words

Celestial, Harmonious Choir of the Words (from Dragon Magazine #353)
Small Outsider (Extraplanar, Good, Incorporeal)

Hit Dice: 10d8 (45 hit points)
Initiative: +9
Speed: Fly 120 feet (perfect)
Armor Class: 26 (+1 size, +5 Dexterity, +10 deflection); touch 26, flat-footed 21
BAB/Grapple: +10/-

Attack: Light ray +17 ranged touch (2d4 Strength and 2d4 Wisdom, 20 x2)

Full Attack: Light ray +17 ranged touch (2d4 Strength and 2d4 Wisdom, 20 x2)

Space/Reach: 5 feet by 5 feet/5 feet
Special Attacks: Bardic music, incarnate vessel, spells, spell-like abilities, turn undead

Special Qualities: Bardic knowledge, damage reduction 10/evil, immunity to acid, electricity, mind-affecting effects, necromantic effects, and polymorphing, dispel silence, glyph mastery, incorporeal, outsider traits, protective aura, spell resistance 23, words of creation

Saves: Fortitude +7, Reflex +12, Will +12
Abilities: Str -, Int 20, Wis 20, Dex 20, Con 10, Cha 20

Skills: Appraise +5 (+7 with related Craft skills), Concentration +13, Craft: Any Three +22, Diplomacy +22, Knowledge: Arcana +22, Knowledge: Any Two others +22, Knowledge: All Others +5, Listen +18, Perform: Singing +22, Sense Motive +20, Spellcraft +2, Spot +18

Feats: Improved Counterspell, Improved Initiative, Skill Augmentation (Diplomacy and Sense Motive), Weapon Focus (Ray)

Environment: Any

Organization: Solitary

Challenge Rating: 12
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually neutral good
Advancement: 11 - 30 Hit Dice (Small) or by character class

These small, glowing oblong balls of light bear a faint and alien face with runes coming from their mouths. The text streams outward constantly, fading as it reaches the periphery of the celestial's light. The creature's voice is that of dozens of beings speaking in perfect unison. The voices speak an endless stream of gibberish in a mesh of dozens of languages. The colors of the face within the sphere of light and the runes floating from the mouth vary by individual, although most exhibit cooler colors such as blue, green or violet.

A harmonious choir of the words is a living embodiment of the Words of Creation, the words used to create all things at the beginning of everything.it is, in fact, made up of many words, which, like a sentence or a paragraph, come together into a single structure. They are voluble and often friendly, loving nothing so much as deeply intellectual conversations whether among peers or more like tutorials. To a harmonious choir, the wrestling of ideas, the enjoyment of learning, and the beauty of language are their own rewards. They sing frequently, compose poetry, and constantly seek out knowledge, no matter how trivial. Harmonious choirs gladly share their knowledge, but keeping them on topic often proves difficult. Getting a complete answer from a harmonious choir requires a successful DC 15 Bluff or Diplomacy check.

Harmonious choirs of the words speak all known languages.

Combat
Harmonious choirs are creatures of language and song and prefer to avoid combat. If pushed, they do not shy from defending themselves or those under their protection. A harmonious choir usually begins combat by targeting spellcasters with its own spell-like abilities and spells before turning to its light ray.

A harmonious choir's natural weapons are treated as good-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Harmonious choirs often take levels in the bard class. Their bard levels stack with their racial bardic knowledge, bardic music, and spellcasting abilities.

Bardic Knowledge (Ex): As a 10^th level bard, with a total bonus of +15.

Bardic Music (Ex): A harmonious choir can duplicate the Bardic Singing abilities countersong, fascinate inspire courage, inspire competence, suggestion, and inspire greatness, up to a total of ten times per day as a 10^th level bard.

Dispel Silence (Su): The harmonious choir may dispel magical silence, such as a silence spell, at will. Caster level 10^th.

Glyph Mastery (Ex): The harmonious choirs can automatically bypass (with no effect) or dispel any magical glyph, rune, symbol, or writing, including explosive runes, glyphs of warding, and symbols as a 10^th level caster. It never suffers from the negative effects of magical writing unless it chooses to.

Incarnate Vessel (Su): Once per round, a harmonious choir can merge its body with another creature on the same plane as itself. This ability is similar to a magic jar spell except it does not require a receptacle. To use this ability, the choir must be manifested and it must try to move into the target's space; moving into the target's space to use the incarnate vessel ability does not provoke attacks of opportunity. The target can resist the attack with a successful DC 20 Will save. A creature that successfully saves is immune to that harmonious choir's incarnate ability for 24 hours and the celestial cannot enter the target's space. If the save fails, the harmonious choir vanishes into the target's body. Protection from good and similar effects ward a creature from this ability. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Protective Aura (Su): All allies within 20 feet who can at least see or hear the harmonious choir (including the harmonious choir itself) gain a +4 sacred bonus to Armor Class and a +4 resistance bonus on saving throws against an evil creature's attacks, spells, and supernatural and spell-like abilities. The harmonious choir can lower or reactivate this aura as a free action. In addition, this aura produces the following continuous effects: Arcane sight, detect evil, know direction, light, speak with animals, speak with plants, tongues, and true seeing. The save DC's are 15 + spell level and are Charisma-based.

Spells: Harmonious choirs cast spells in a manner similar to a sorcerer that has become a bard, as a 10^th level caster. They typically know the following spells. The save DCs are 15 + spell level and are Charisma-based:

• 4^th Level: (1 spell slot) Modify memory, rainbow pattern.


• 3^rd Level: (3 spell slots) Confusion, good hope, remove curse, slow.


• 2^nd Level: (4 spell slots) Blindness/deafness, calm emotions, eagle's splendor, mirror image.


• 1^st Level: (5 spell slots) Animate rope, lesser confusion, remove fear, sleep.


• 0^th Level: (3 spell slots) Daze, ghost sound, lullaby, mage hand, mending, prestidigitation.

Spell-Like Abilities: At will - analyze dweomer, commune, daylight, detect thoughts, discern lie, enthrall, flare, legend lore, message, read magic, speak with dead, stone tell. Three times per day - dispel evil, dispel magic, glyph of warding, major image. Once per day - erase, hold person, shatter, shout, suggestion, summon monster V, teleport. Caster level 10^th. The save DC's are 15 + spell level and are Charisma-based.

Turn Undead (Su): A harmonious choir of the words can turn undead eight times per day as a 10^th level cleric.

Words of Creation (Ex): A harmonious choir can use Words of Creation (see the Book of Exalted Deeds) without taking damage. Using the Words of Creation doubles the effects of the bardic singing abilities inspire courage, inspire competence, inspire greatness, and inspire heroics. For bardic singing abilities that require a Perform check such as countersong or fascinate, the Words of Creation grant the choir a +4 sacred bonus on the check. The Words of Creation also increase the saving throw DC for the suggestion and dominate abilities by +2. The Words of Creation increase the choir's effective caster level for the song of freedom by +2.

The Words of Creation can enhance any process of creation. If the Words of Creation are spoken as part of the casting of a Conjuration (Creation) spell, the duration of the spell is doubled. If they are spoken while using a Craft skill, they grant the crafter a +4 sacred bonus on the Craft check.

The Words of Creation help energize good magic. If used in conjunction with a good spell that has a verbal component, the Words of Creation increase the spell's effective caster level by +1.

If the harmonious choir has discovered a creature's true name, by means such as through the use of legend lore or commune spell-like abilities, it can exercise power over that creature in a number of different ways, each of which requires a full round action. it can impose a -4 penalty on creature saving throws to resist a specific compulsion spell or effect. it can reduce the creature's spell resistance by 4 or reduce the amount of its damage reduction by 5. This reduction lasts for 1 minute. It can cast teleport or greater teleport on the creature without including itself as a target of the spell. It can gain a +6 bonus on its opposed Charisma checks to compel service from the creature after it summons it with a planar binding spell.

Outsider Traits: A harmonious choir of the words has darkvision with a range of 60 feet. It cannot be raised or resurrected.

Incorporeal: A harmonious choir can be harmed only by other incorporeal creatures, +1 or better magic weapons, spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities. The creature has a 50% change to ignore any damage from a corporeal source except for force effects or attacks made with ghost touch weapons. A harmonious choir can pass through solid objects, but not force effects, at will. Its attacks ignore armor, natural armor, and shields, but deflection bonuses and force effects work normally against them. A harmonious choir always moves silently and cannot be heard with Listen checks if it does not wish to be.

Skills: Harmonious choirs have a +4 racial bonus on all Craft, Knowledge, and Perform checks and the ability to use all Knowledge skills untrained.

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