Dretch
Dretch (CR 6)
Even the lowest demons of the Abyss are dangerous and filled with a driving need to spread ruin and dismay. The lowly dretch is as hideous and foul as it is cruel, even if it lacks the strength and power to realize its need to brutalize others in its native realm. The lot of the dretch's existence is to serve more powerful demons as victims, and only the lucky few survive long enough to evolve..
The dretch is a favorite target for dabblers in Abyssal summonings to call forth. Relatively weak and easy to bully, dretches can often be pressured into long periods of servitude with only vague promises of the opportunity to vent their frustrations and anger on softer foes. Yet the prospective dretch-summoner would do well to remember that these demons are as craven and untrustworthy as they come. A dretch faced with a more powerful foe is only too eager to trade what it knows for its pitiful excuse for a life.
Unlike most demons, a dretch's slovenly personality and disdain for prolonged physical labor rarely result in success. Advanced dretches are rare, but those who do find it within themselves to be more than they were at creation often become the pauper-kings of the Abyss, cruel and bitter in their rule over vermin, broken souls, mindless undead, and other dretches. Their empires are confined to abandoned stretches of sewers under backwater cities, unstable reaches of swampland avoided by more sensible minds, and other undesirable corners of the Abyss that even demons find uncomfortable or foul. Yet to the dretch lords, these realms are their empires, and they defend them with a pitiful tenacity.
A dretch stands 4 feet tall and weighs 180 pounds. Dretches typically form from the souls of slothful, evil mortals—yet it only takes a small fragment of a soul to trigger such a hideous birth. A single soul can often trigger the manifestation of a small army of dretches, and the sight of a horde of fresh-birthed dretches pulling free from the heaving protomatter of the Abyss is a nauseating and terrifying one indeed.
GENERAL
CR 6 Hit Dice 9
XP 2,400
CE Small outsider (demon, chaotic, evil, extraplanar)
Init +3; Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Perception +9
DEFENSE
AC 24, touch 15, flat-footed 19 (+5 dex, +9 armor)
hp 82
Fort +9, Ref +3, Will +7
Aura: -
SR: -
Special Defenses: DR 5/cold iron or good, ER 10/acid, ER 10/cold, ER 10/fire, ER 10/negative energy
Immunities: electricity, poison
Weaknesses: -
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Space / Reach: 5 ft. / 5 ft.
Single Melee Bite +10 (1d8+3/x2)
Full Melee Bite +10 (1d8+3/x2), 2x Claws +10 (1d6+1/x2)
Ranged -
Special Attacks Summon Dretch, Wretched Demise
Action Points 0
STATISTICS
Str 12, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 5, Wis 11, Cha 11
Base Atk +6; CMB +12; CMD 24
Feats -
Skills -
Languages Abyssal, Common
SPECIAL ABILITIES
- Summon Dretch (Sp)
Once per encounter as a move action, the Dretch may attempt to call forth another Dretch from the Abyss to aid him in combat. Roll 1d10, and on a result of a 9 or 10, a new Dretch appears in a square adjacent to the Dretch that summoned him. The new Dretch may not act until the next round as it orients itself to the material plane. The new Dretch is mistrustful of everyone including other Dretches, but will defend itself if attacked, and most likely attack anything its fellow Dretches are attacking. A Dretch may only use this ability once per encounter, even if he fails. Summoned Dretches may also use this ability if they wish. Note that summoned Dretches provide XP and treasure when slain just like normal monsters.
- Wretched Demise (Su)
When the Dretch is slain, he explodes in an oily black fire of terrible bile and abyssal essence. Any non-demon creature in the 3 x 3-square area centered on the Dretch when it dies takes 3d6 points of fire and negative energy damage. Furthermore, the area affected by the Wretched Demise remains toxic and does not dissipate until the end of the encounter. Any non-demon creature who passes through one or more squares of the affected area takes 1d6+1 points of fire and negative energy damage for every square entered. If multiple zones exist, their effects do not stack, but obviously they present a larger obstacle.
TREASURE
sell value of approximately 1,875 gp
COMBAT TACTICS
Dretches are, above all else, lazy and eager to continue living. They prefer not to fight, and usually run from any encounter unless forced to stay by a power greater than them, or due to limited escape options. Of course, Dretches are also pretty stupid, and have a tendency to hide in the nearest dead end, hoping no one will find them there.
In combat, a dretch's first priority is to call in some other dretch to do the fighting instead of them. Once that's done, dretches will try to get as many full attacks as possible, as moving around is a huge bother.
Needless to say, while the Wretched Demise is a horrible ability, the Dretch has no real desire to have that happen. When it inevitably does, any remaining Dretches in the area will make use of the 'blocked' terrain to make it harder for multiple foes to come at them.