The Wheel of Life and Death (3.5e Monster)

Author: Eiji-kun (talk) Date Created: 7-23-18 Status: Complete Editing: Clarity edits only please

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	The Wheel of Life and Death
Size/Type:	Colossal Outsider (Extraplanar, Maita)
Hit Dice:	20d8+220 (310 hp)
Initiative:	+0
Speed:	5 ft, climb 5 ft, swim 10 ft
Armor Class:	32 (+30 natural, -8 size), touch 2, flat-footed 32
Base Attack/Grapple:	+20/+50
Attack:	Tentacle +26 melee (3d6+14, 20/x2)
Full Attack:	Eight Tentacles +26 melee (3d6+14, 20/x2) or Great Tentacle +26 melee (30d6+140, 20/x2)
Space/Reach:	30 ft/30 ft
Special Attacks:	Devour Soul, Empower Minion, Extend Lathe of Fate, Gaze of Awe, Realm Mastery, SLAs, Summon, Tentacles
Special Qualities:	All-Around Vision, Darkvision 60 ft, Deathwatch, DR 20/hyperdimensional or starmetal, Immunities, Low-Light Vision, Mind Blank, Negative Soul, Regeneration 20, Soulless, Telepathy 100 ft, SR 28
Saves:	Fort +23, Ref +12, Will +22
Abilities:	Str 38, Dex 10, Con 32, Int 30, Wis 30, Cha 30
Skills:	Concentration +34, Intimidate +49, Listen +33, Knowledge Arcana +33, Knowledge Engineering +33, Knowledge Dungeoneering +33, Knowledge Geography +33, Knowledge History +33, Knowledge Local +33, Knowledge Nature +33, Knowledge Nobility +33, Knowledge Psionics +33, Knowledge Religion +33, Knowledge The Planes +33, Move Silently +33, Search +30, Sense Motive +33, Spellcraft +33, Spot +53
Feats:	Power Attack, MindsightLoM, Swim Through Fog, Deep Divination, Direct Undead Control, Uncanny Eyes, Unforgotten
Environment:	Ethereal Plane
Organization:	Unique
Challenge Rating:	20
Treasure:	Standard
Alignment:	Neutral Evil
Advancement:	21-40 HD (Colossal)
Level Adjustment:	—

This is the fathomless truth. I am the agony of birth and death and rebirth, I am the Wheel of Life and Death, the purifying cycle which sustains all life. The Wheel must turn. Death is inexorable and cannot be denied. Least of all by you.

A maita drawn from the afterlife who feasted upon so many souls its body warped and figure bloated. It lost whatever semblance it had and transformed into a colossal sack of ethereal rubbery flesh, thousands of eyes peering in every direction to observe the flow of souls, and tentacles which grasped ever-outward for more food. With its size its ego grew, and soon it forgot its original name and took up a title fitting of its divine status: The Wheel of Life and Death, the Devourer of Souls and Mother of Wraiths, the Great Manipulator at the center of creation. Its power was enough that it actually gained worship, and some suspect this foul abomination may one day achieve its unholy prospects to become a god and to become the new afterlife so that it may feast eternally.

The Wheel of Life and Death thus appears vaguely as some giant cephalopod of dark green color, though the exact hue seems to shift and pulse with mood and personal experience. Eyes cover its body, with usually one oversized eye around its core. Its core itself is a massive tangled knot of tentacles itself and damaged eyes are merely absorbed into the body to be replaced by new ones. Supposedly each soul it eats forms a new eye, and every so often an eye bursts naturally hatching some new fell soul eating monster into the world. However its immense terrain-like bulk of fleshy tentacles causes it to be lethargic and slow, barely able to move its core within the snaking mass of tendrils that coat the ground and worm across the walls. For this reason it is actually quite vulnerable and usually only communicates by proxy via the Lathes of Fate.

As a would-be god, it commands fear and respect and often takes advantage of a situation to turn creatures to service of its needs. It is an expert diviner, and uses its foresight in combination with telepathy to manipulate those serving it in real time. In addition it nearly always has veil cast upon itself so that it may appear to be something more innocuous that a great soul devouring squid, often something more befitting of a deity such as an ambient glowing mass of light.

The Wheel speaks all languages, but technically can only communicate through its inherent telepathy. Its size is massive, the above monster stats only covering the important core of the body. The Wheel does not need to eat, sleep, or breath but hungers for souls at all times.

Combat

The Wheel of Life and Death rarely engages in a fight, preferring to break the will of would be attackers with its Gaze of Awe and threats. It doesn't take opponents seriously until they can show that they are capable of harming it in any serious manner, in which case the Wheel becomes either craven in fear or aggressive. Depending on how it thinks how well it can take on an opponent, it may attempt to retreat instead of fighting. However its mobility is much to be desired and if it is unable to fall back as it often cannot, it will fight to the death focusing on eliminating key targets first.

All-Around Vision (Ex): The Wheel of Life and Death is covered in eyes. It has a +20 racial bonus on Search and Spot checks and it cannot be flanked.

Damage Reduction and Regeneration (Ex): The Wheel of Life and Death has damage reduction bypassed by starmetal^CW, as well as any weapon with the hyperdimensional enhancement.

It also possesses regeneration bypassed by starmetal and by aetherion damage.

Deathwatch (Ex): The Wheel of Life and Death is under a constant extraordinary deathwatch effect. In addition it can identify a creature's exact HD and hp totals as a standard action out to 100 ft.

Devour Soul (Ex): As a move action touch attack, the Wheel of Life and Death can consume the soul of a creature which has perished within 1 minute, storing it within themselves. They automatically do this as a free action with no touch attack if they are the one who slew the creature. A devoured soul remains with the Wheel of Life and Death in the form of a new random eye on its body and the creature cannot be revived by anything short of true resurrection, miracle, wish, or a limited wish to release the soul followed by any valid revival attempt. Alternatively the death of the Wheel of Life and Death releases all consumed souls. If the soul is not recovered within 3 days, it is consumed and reborn as a new monster under the control of the Wheel. The monster is anything of equal or lower CR of the outsider, elemental, fey, or undead types and they come with the soul-devouring template for free (see Empower Minion) as well as a loyalty to the wishes of the Wheel. At this point only wish and miracle can recover the old identity, and its new reborn self must be slain before an attempt at revival is made.

Empower Minion (Su): As a standard action with a range of touch, the Wheel of Life and Death can grant the soul-devouring template to any creature of any type. When said creature devours a soul, after 24 hours the soul is transported into the Wheel of Life and Death and begins to undergo digestion there as if it was just freshly plucked by the Wheel itself. Through these minions it can feed from afar by proxy. The creature gains a new hunger, a hunger for souls. While they do not need souls to live, to deny feeding brings discomfort as one was starving. It can only apply this template to the willing or helpless or to any creature reborn via its Devour Soul ability. Wish and miracle can remove the template off an unwilling creature.

Extend Lathe of Fate (Ex): As a 1 round action the Wheel of Life and Death conjures a Lathe of Fate anywhere where it can observe (even long distances over scrying) as long as it is on the same plane. In truth the Lathe is actually one of its Great Tentacles extending through dimensional rifts. When acting as a Lathe of Fate they can act independently to the core mass that is the Wheel of Life and Death, and if the Wheel dies so too all Lathes of Fate. The Wheel may have up to 4 Lathes of Fate active at any one time, and if a Lathe is destroyed it cannot extend a replacement for 1d4+1 rounds.

Gaze of Awe (Su): The Wheel of Life and Death is surrounded by eyes, and they have a hypnotic and terrible effect on the minds of both the living and the dead. As a standard action its eyes glaze over with unspeakable energies that seem to draw you in, and all creatures within 60 ft must make a DC 30 Will save or become fascinated for as long as the Wheel maintains concentration, save negates. Each round a creature remains fascinated they must make another Will save or take 1d4 daunt levels (save negates) as their will to resist is sapped away. When they reach a number of daunt levels equal to their character level they are daunted permanently and left in a listless state of hopelessness. A creature must have break enchantment or higher cast upon them in order to cure this permanent daunting. Creatures with more HD than the wheel and deific creatures are immune. This is a mind-affecting effect, and it bypasses the natural immunity to mind-affecting of the undead type. These daunt levels go away naturally after 1 hour if they have not otherwise been made permanent or cured. The saving throw is Charisma based.

Immunities (Ex): The Wheel of Life and Death is immune to ability damage, ability drain, blinding, death effects, energy drain, mind-affecting effects, petrification, polymorphing, and stunning. It cannot be made prone, as all sides are up.

Mind Blank (Su): The Wheel of Life and Death is always under a constant mind blank effect. It can be dispelled (caster level 20th) or suppressed as a free action but the Wheel can return its function as a free action on its turn.

Negative Soul (Ex): The Wheel of Life and Death heals through negative energy and is harmed by positive energy as if they were undead. It is not otherwise affected by any abilities which affect undead.

Realm Mastery (Sp): The Wheel of Life and Death is a demigod of its own realm. As long as it is in its home plane it can create a demiplane over the course of a week as per genesis and may grow this demiplane over time. Within its own demiplane it is able to alter the world as if it were divine in a divinely morphic realm. As a standard action it can duplicate the effects of control weather and reticulating splines, with the changes coming over the course of 10 minutes. The new weather and terrain is the new base weather and terrain for that area if the Wheel chooses it. It can even create structures and flora, but cannot affect creatures. When the Wheel of Life and Death perishes, its demiplane destabilizes and collapses within 2 minutes. Anything still within the demiplane on collapse have a 50% chance of either being thrown into the Astral Plane or destroyed. The Wheel may only have one demiplane active at any one time. This ability is the equivalent of a 9th-level spell.

Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): At will- arcane lock, augury, command (DC 21), crushing despair (DC 24), detect chaos/evil/good/law, detect magic, entropic shield, greater scrying (DC 27), inflict light wounds (DC 21), invisibility (self only), knock, sending, scorching ray, telepathic bond, true strike; 3/day- bestow curse (DC 23), black tentacles, break enchantment, command undead, divination, enervation, greater dispel magic, mass inflict light wounds, viel (DC 26), wall of flesh; 1/day- animate dead, antilife shell, binding (DC 28), contingency, demand (DC 28), destruction (DC 27), discern location, dream, fear (DC 24), foresight, greater arcane sight, greater command (DC 25), greater prying eyes, harm (DC 26), heal, insanity variant (DC 27), legend lore, limited wish (DC 27), mark of justice, mind fog (DC 25), moment of prescience, nightmare (DC 25), trap the soul (DC 28), true resurrection, true seeing. The saving throws are Charisma based. Its caster level is 20th.

Soulless (Ex): The Wheel of Life and Death has no soul itself, and thus it is immune to any effect which would transfer their soul elsewhere or possess the Wheel (even through magic jar).

Summon (Sp): Once per day the Wheel of Life and Death can automatically summon 4d10 nixes, 1d4 kaladraugr, or one mad haunting bluewraith. This ability is the equivalent of a 9th-level spell.

Tentacles: The Wheel of Life and Death is covered in, or perhaps composed of, endless tentacles short and long. Up to eight tentacles can attack in a single full attack, but only three may strike at a single target each round as they crowd about each other.

Beyond its normal tentacles are much more massive thicker tentacles known as Great Tentacles, which act as its feet for mobility and are the body which make up a Lathe of Fate. When not being used as a Lathe these massive powerful tentacles can only move slowly, though certainly speed is no issue against immobile targets and structures. The Great Tentacles possess a strength ten times as strong as a normal tentacle. If used to attack with, a single great tentacle may make an attack as a 1 round action with its position locked in place, and it attacks all creatures in a 15 ft cube. Thus it is easy to simply step out of the way. Unlike its shorter tentacles, it can attack out to (but not threaten) 120 ft away.

The Great Tentacle counts as a siege weapon, and its use provokes attacks of opportunity. As such it is typically only used to crush fortifications. It's effective Strength score is 380.

Soul Stone

On death within its natural plane, the Wheel of Life and Death dies dramatically. Its demiplane collapses and in the place where the gate to the demiplane should be is a unique maita soul stone known as the Amulet of the Everlasting.

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