Worlds Apart - The Aboleth in Avremier

In an effort to make this unsteady blog-thing more useful, I'd like to share more development notes and material. Because my current project is the Parateva supplement (the marshy delta region of Avremier that lies to the west of Dhavon), I've been clarifying and expanding a few related concepts. While some monsters are appealing to me, they don't always suit my vision of the Avremier setting. This inspires a great many variant monsters, or setting-specific analogues that aren't always recognizable from the source material. Though I enjoy creating entirely new monsters, giving a new twist to a classic favorite can be just as rewarding - and far less demanding.

Yesterday, the focus was on the aboleth. The Avremier version has some differences.

Aboleth	# App	AC	Move”	% Lair	Treasure	# Att	Dmg/Att
HD: 8	1-4	4	3/18	20%	F	4	1-6/tentacle

This amphibious creature combines the physical features of fish, crustacean, and cephalopod into a single, nightmarish form. Its massive body is fish-like, but built more along horizontal lines within the carapace of a shrimp or lobster. The “face” is dominated by three black, slit-like eyes, set one above the other. Its manipulative appendages are four, powerful 10’ long tentacles that frame its head, much like a nautiloid. An aboleth is usually a mottled blue-black or green-black, with a lighter underbelly of pearly-gray.

The tentacles are used in combat, each striking for 1-6 damage and prompting a save vs. spells. A failed save results in the victim’s skin becoming a clear, slimy membrane in 2-5 rounds. The process can be reversed by a Cure Disease spell. Otherwise, the transformed skin membrane must be kept cool and damp or the victim suffers 1-12 damage per turn. The transformed skin can be restored with a Cure Serious Wounds spell.

Through intense concentration, the aboleth can create realistic illusions with audible and visual components. 3x/day, it can attempt to dominate a creature up to 30’ away. The victim saves vs. spells or falls under the control of the aboleth. The slave follows the aboleth’s telepathic commands, but will not fight for the monster. If separated by more than a mile, the enslaved creature can make another saving throw, once per day, to break the aboleth’s control. Otherwise, the victim can be freed by Remove Curse, Dispel Magic, or the death of the aboleth.

The aboleth can secrete a cloud of mucus up to 1’ from its submerged body. Creatures within the cloud must save vs. poison or inhale the cloudy suspension and lose the ability to breathe air. Suffocation occurs in 2-12 rounds when the victim tries to breathe air. The aboleth’s mucus is used to allow slaves to breathe water, as Potion of Water Breathing, for 1-3 hours. The mucus can be dissolved by soap or wine.       

Dwelling in hidden subterranean grottoes, the existence of these alien monsters is not generally known, though some individuals and organizations have studied and researched the aboleth as best as they could. What follows is an overview of these studies.

The aboleth comes to Avremier from another world – possibly another plane. Evidence suggests that these creatures once inhabited the world of Ouroboros, but it is not their place of origin. It is possible that the aboleth came to Avremier from an unrecorded Radial Plane, from a civilization countless centuries old. At least one other alien race claims that the aboleths were once a more humanoid species, but purposely evolved into their current form in pursuit of knowledge and the exploration of all reality. While the aboleth can supposedly “swim” the planes of their own volition, those found on Avremier are somehow trapped upon that world. As such, they are resentful of their plight, and hateful of most other living natives of their worldly prison.

Those aboleths trapped upon Avremier cannot enter the Ethereal or Astral Planes at will, but they are able to Dimension Door once every three rounds.