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Living Idol Template Graft

The living idol must be an extraplanar outsider that has been trapped on the Material Plane.

Type Remove the extraplanar subtype and add the native subtype.

Traits: The living idol gains spell resistance equal to 5 + its CR (if it doesn’t already have higher). The living idol gains the following traits:

Entrapped Rejuvenation (Su)

After a living idol is killed, it leaves a powerful impression on the ethereal plane for one week. After this time the living idol begins to rebuild its body, a process which takes 1d10 days. During the revival process the imprisoned outsider’s body begins to rebuild itself from coagulated essences of the ethereal plane and is considered helpless. If the creature is slain again before its body fully reforms, the process begins again.

After the rebuild time has elapsed, the imprisoned outsider is reborn on the Material, fully healed. The only way to permanently slay an imprisoned outsider is with a carefully worded miracle or wish or by transporting it back to the Outer Planes by means of a powerful spell like plane shift and killing it there.

Living Idol Powers (Su)

As living idols gain worshipers, they also obtain unique supernatural abilities that grant them special power over their worshipers or additional strength for themselves.

Spell-Like Abilities: The living idol loses access to any spell-like abilities with the summoning or teleportation descriptors.

Living Idol Powers

A living idol gains one of the below powers when it gains its first worshiper. At each following threshold the living idol gains one additional power. Once chosen these abilities may not be changed, and if the living idol’s number of worshipers fluctuates, so too does its number of powers. A living idol may choose which powers it loses if it loses worshipers, though some require a minimum living idol rank.

Some of these abilities require Resolve Points. The living idol gains Resolve Points based on the resolve column. If it already has Resolve Points from another source, use the higher total. Regardless of their source, Living Idols only regain Resolve Points due to sacrifices (see below).

Each rank has a minimum CR listed. If the base creature’s CR has not reached that point, adjust its statistics to be in line with the new CR. Creatures advanced in this way, at your discretion, may also lose the benefits of their new CR as their rank decreases.

The living idol’s saving throw DCs are determined by their array and CR. For quick application, use 10 + twice the living idol’s rank.

Bestow Resolve (Su)

A living idol may transfer a Resolve Point to a worshiper it is touching as a standard action. A single worshiper may gain one Resolve Point this way each day.

Blessed Connection (Su)

When a worshiper prays to the living idol for ten minutes, which may be done as part of a rest to regain stamina, the living idol hears them as long as the worshiper is on the same plane. If the worshiper can cast spells as a mystic, the living idol can spend a Resolve Point to restore one of that worshiper’s exhausted spell slots. A living idol must be of at least greater rank to gain this ability.

Blessing of Agility (Su)

A living idol may grant a blessing of protection to a worshiper with a touch as a standard action by spending a Resolve Point.

This blessing grants a +2 divine bonus to AC and Reflex saves. The blessing lasts 24 hours per living idol rank, but a living idol can revoke this blessing at any distance.

Blessing of Arms (Su)

A living idol may bless a worshiper’s weapons with a touch as a standard action by spending a Resolve Point. Any weapons that worshiper uses are treated as magical and the living idol’s alignment subtypes for the purposes of bypassing DR. The weapons also ignore the energy resistance of any outsiders of opposing alignment subtypes. The blessing lasts 24 hours per living idol rank, but a living idol can revoke this blessing at any distance.

Blessing of Power (Su)

A living idol may grant a blessing of power to a worshiper with a touch as a standard action by spending a Resolve Point.

This blessing grants a +2 divine bonus to the worshiper’s attack rolls and weapon damage rolls. The blessing lasts 24 hours per living idol rank, but a living idol can revoke this blessing at any distance.

Conceal (Su)

The living idol is warded from divination spells, as if under the effects of nondetection with a caster level equal to the living idol’s CR. Each day the living idol has this protection active costs a Resolve Point.

Destructive Channel (Su)

The living idol can channel a pulse of destructive divine energy to damage all non-worshipers within 30 feet as a full action. This costs a Resolve Point and deals 2d8 damage per living idol rank. Those harmed may attempt a Will save for half damage.

Enthrall (Su)

The living idol can trigger subtle reverence in the minds of those around it. All creatures within 60 feet must make a Will save or become fascinated by its majesty for up to one hour. Threats and allies can shake victims out of the effect as normal for the fascinated condition.

This is a mind-affecting charm effect.

Feast or Famine (Su)

The living idol can reward its followers by exerting its influence over the weather. The living idol can spend three Resolve Points as a full action to change the local weather for the next month, affecting an area one mile in radius per living idol rank. The living idol can choose any weather that could naturally occur in that location and it persists for one month or until it cancels the effect as a move action.

Healing Channel (Su)

The living idol can heal itself as a move action, a worshiper it can touch as a standard action, or itself and all worshipers within 30 feet as a full action. Any use of this ability costs a Resolve Point and heals 2d8 hit points per living idol rank.

Locate Worshipers (Su)

The living idol is constantly aware of the precise location of every worshiper on the same plane. A living idol must be at least intermediate rank to gain this ability.

Possess Worshiper (Su)

A living idol with this ability can possess a worshiper. The living idol uses its own mental ability modifiers, languages, Resolve Points, skills, and Will, but otherwise uses the worshipers statistics.

A living idol may only possess worshipers within Line_of_Sight”>line of sight unless it also possesses the share senses ability. Then it may possess any worshiper it is actively sharing the senses of. A worshiper outside of this range may not be the target of possess worshiper, but moving outside of this range does not eject the living idol. A living idol may end this ability as any time.

Reanimate Sacrifice (Su)

When an intelligent creature is sacrificed by a living idol’s worshipers, the living idol may spend a Resolve Point to reanimate the creature’s corpse as an undead minion. A living idol can control creatures this way with a total CR equal to its own.

Table: Living Idol Worshipers
Rank Worshipers Powers Resolve Minimum CR
1 (Least) 1-10 1 3 1
2 (Lesser) 11-50 2 3 3
3 (Minor) 51-100 3 4 5
4 (Intermediate) 101-200 4 4 7
5 (Major) 201-500 5 4 9
6 (Greater) 501-1,000 6 6 11
7 (Eminent) 1,001-2,000 7 7 13
8 (Paramount) 2,001-3,000 8 8 15
9 (Transcendent) 3,001+ 9 9 17

Sacrifice Worshiper (Su)

A living idol can instantly kill any worshiper that is on the same plane as the living idol as a swift action. The targeted creature must succeed a Fortitude save or die. On a successful save the target instead takes 3d6 points of damage and is staggered for 1 round. A living idol that successfully slays a worshiper within 30 ft. with this ability gains a Resolve Point. A living idol can only use this ability once per day per follower. A living idol must be of at least Intermediate rank to select this power.

Share Senses (Su)

As a move action a living idol with this ability may share all of the senses of one worshiper that it knows by name. A living idol may end this ability at any time. A living idol must be at least intermediate rank to select this power.

Supernatural Presence (Su)

The living idol’s presence is supernaturally unsettling or captivating. The living idol may spend a Resolve Point as a move action, forcing all non-worshipers within 60 ft. make a Will save or be shaken for 5d6 rounds. Creatures with CR or level lower than the living idol’s rank are frightened for the duration instead.

Living Idol Entropy Power gained by living idols is not permanent, and worse yet, forging a connection with worshipers creates an dangerous vulnerability in the living idol’s divine spark, causing the entity to hemorrhage power over time. Once a living idol accepts its first worshiper it enters into an unending parasitic relationship with the adoration and faith of its worshipers. Worshipers must maintain the semi- divine power a living idol has achieved through offerings. Without sacrifice and veneration, living idols eventually become inert vessels for a trapped, frustrated entity, relying on whispered promises to entice the weak-willed to rebuild their congregations.

A living idol that doesn’t receive monthly sacrifices whose sacrifice values total at least 500 credits per living idol rank loses a Resolve Point at the end of that month. If it does not have Resolve Points to lose, it instead enters a torpor state where it is treated as unconscious except that it can use telepathy (if it possesses the ability). If it spends a full month in torpor, it becomes indistinguishable from a statue and can only use telepathy with creatures touching its rock-like surface. In either state, the living idol is conscious and can gain Resolve Points from sacrifices normally. The living idol can rouse itself from either state by spending a Resolve Point.

Sacrifices

Sacrifices come in a number of forms—sacred feasts, magic items, the weapons of slain enemies, and the blood of slaughtered creatures are just a few possibilities.

For a living idol to benefit from such offerings, it must be offered up in the living idol’s presence— typically within a 20-ft. radius of the living idol— and can’t be removed or disturbed for 24 hours.

Sacrificed items or bodies disappear after this time (although artifacts cannot be destroyed this way).

Sacrificed items are worth their sale value in credits, while sacrificed creatures are worth 250 credits per CR or level. For every 500 credits of sacrifices a living idol receives, it gains one Resolve Point. A living idol cannot gain more Resolve Points in one day than its maximum Resolve Points.

Ecology

No matter the good intentions they may possess, living idols are little more than spiritual parasites clinging to the immortal souls of living creatures to justify their presence on the Material Plane.

Living idols themselves do not fully understand the means by which they are able to enact such change on both themselves and their followers, or how they can become so entangled with mortal souls to begin with. Each living idol has its own notions, and each one is colored by the living idol’s personal outlook and is equally as mercurial.

Living idols often indulge themselves in mortal pleasures and behaviors once ignored in their planar residences. Creatures once obsessed with death become fascinated by life, and the more forbidden the fruit the more tempting it becomes to the idol, leading them down anathema orgies to discovery and excess.

Habitat & Society

The fiefdoms of living idols vary between clandestine monasteries located far from civilization, to seditious cults lingering in the shadows of great arcologies, to decadent churches of worship drifting in great asteroid colonies and everything in between. These is little rhyme or reason to a living idol’s choice of surroundings, short of convenience and accessibility to followers. Each habitat is as unique as the living idol that inhabits it, and equally likely to be torn down and changed when the living idol experiences a fitful shift of morality on their journey of personal discovery. Each cult that venerates a living idol is equally unique and as likely to be subtle and insidious as they are bombastic and performative.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Alien Bestiary (Starfinder) © 2018, Legendary Games; Lead Designer: Jason Nelson. Authors: Anthony Adam, Kate Baker, John Bennet, Eytan Bernstein, Robert Brookes, Russ Brown, Duan Byrd, Jeff Dahl, Robyn Fields, Joel Flank, Matt Goodall, Robert J. Grady, Jim Groves, Steven T. Helt, Thurston Hillman, Tim Hitchcock, Nick Hite, Daniel Hunt, Mike Kimmel Marshall, Isabelle Lee, Jeff Lee, Lyz Liddell, Jason Nelson, Richard Pett, Tom Phillips, Alistair J. Rigg, Alex Riggs, Wendall Roy, Mike Shel, Neil Spicer, Todd Stewart, Russ Taylor, Rachel Ventura, Mike Welham, George Loki Williams, Scott Young.