Returning to Suicide Squad this week (Spoilers here, so if you care about that and haven’t seen the movie, stop now), I wanted to look at the Starro fight a bit. Team comic books, and by extension team comic book movies, generally have a multi-tiered threat as their set piece. This allows multiple character power levels and hero styles to contribute to the fight, so both Hawkeye and Thor can fight in the big Ultron confrontation even though Hawkeye wouldn’t last very long in a one on one fight with the big bad robot. Everyone has a chance to shine doing what they excel at, and the victory is a cooperative one. In a game like Stafinder, where your players are a team of varied abilities and play styles, this makes a fun encounter as well.
Starro the Conqueror is a great single foe encapsulation of this – it is both a gigantic monster of considerable physical might, but also a horrific creature from the depths of space that is capable of turning a city of bystanders into an extension of its will. So you have the central monster, plus a horde of Starro zombies, as well as a cloud of slaver-starfish that if unopposed will continue to turn innocent bystanders into more foes to be fought. That makes for a great encounter, if not several sessions of a game to take the kaiju from outer space down. The Conqueror makes for a complicated stat block though, so let’s get started.
STARRO THE CONQUEROR
CR 14
XP 3,8400
NE Colossal aberration kaiju
Init +0; Senses see through slaver stars 5000 ft., darkvision 600 ft.; Perception +30
DEFENSE
HP 250
EAC 28; KAC 30
Fort +16; Ref +16; Will +16
Defensive abilities fast healing 10, void adaptation; DR 10/magic; Immunities cold; Resistances acid 10, fire 10
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., swim 30 ft.
Melee slam +28 (8d6+22 B)
Space 30ft.; Reach 30ft.
Offensive Abilities hurl foe, slaver swarm
STATISTICS
Str +8; Dex +0; Con +6; Int +2; Wis +4; Cha +0
Skills Athletics +25, Bluff +25
Languages Common, Aklo
Other Abilities demolish structures, massive, recovery, see through slaver stars
ECOLOGY
Environment depths of space
Organization solitary
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Demolish Structures (Ex) Starro’s natural weapons ignore the hardness of all structures not made of adamantine alloy or a harder material. Against structures made of such materials, Starro’s natural weapons ignore half of the structure’s hardness.
Hurl Foe (Ex) When Starro damages a Huge or smaller foe with one of its natural attacks, it can try to bull rush the foe as part of that attack. Starro only has to hit KAC +4 for the bull rush to succeed. If an obstacle stops the hurled creature before it travels the whole distance, the hurled foe and the obstacle struck each take 1d4 points of bludgeoning damage per 5 feet of distance remaining and the foe is knocked prone in the space adjacent to the obstacle.
Massive (Ex) Because Starro is so massive, uneven ground and other terrain features that form difficult terrain generally pose no significant hindrance to Starro’s movement, though settlements or areas of forest are considered difficult terrain to Starro. A Huge or smaller creature can move through any square occupied by Starro, and vice versa. Starro can make attacks of opportunity only against foes that are Huge or larger and can be flanked only by Huge or larger foes. Starro gains a bonus for being on higher ground only if its entire space is on higher ground than that of its target. It’s possible for a Huge or smaller creature to climb Starro—this generally requires a successful DC 30 check, and unlike the normal rules about Starro and attacks of opportunity, a Small or larger creature that climbs on a Starro’s body provokes an attack of opportunity from the monster.
Recovery (Su) Whenever Starro fails a saving throw against any mind-affecting, paralysis, petrification, polymorph, or immobilizing effect, it can attempt a new saving throw at the end of its turn to remove the effect. Doing so does not requires an action. Starro can attempt a new save to end the effect as often as it wishes, but can attempt to remove only one such effect per round.
See through slaver stars (Su) Starro sees through all of its slavers or star-zombies as an extension of itself, and is able to guide them while continuing to act.
Slaver swarm (Su) Once ever 1d10 rounds as a full round action Starro is able to generate a cloud of 1d8x10 slaver stars. These stars can live for 1d4+1 rounds without finding a host, then fall to the ground and die.
SLAVER STAR
CR 1/3
XP 200
NE Small aberration
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +3
DEFENSE
HP 6
EAC 10; KAC 11
Fort +1; Ref +1; Will +2
OFFENSE
Speed 5 ft., fly 30 ft. (Su clumsy)
Melee face hug +4 (1d4-2 B plus attach)
STATISTICS
Str +0; Dex +3; Con +1; Int -4; Wis -2; Cha +0
Skills Acrobatics +7, Athletics +3
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Attach (Su) A slaver star that hits with a face hug attack automatically initiates the attachment process. The target gets a DC 8 reflex save to remove the slaver before it can sink its cilia into the flesh, and on a success ends the attachment process. On a failure, the target then makes a DC 8 Fortitude save. If they succeed on the Fortitude save they are staggered one round. On a failure they take 1d8+2 Constitution damage. Regardless of the outcome, they make another DC 8 Fortitude save the next round on the slaver’s turn with the same possible outcomes, until the slaver star is dead or they reach 0 Constitution. Any creature that goes below 0 Constitution while a slaver star is attached becomes a host for the slaver and is turned into a star zombie.
STAR ZOMBIE GRAFT
A star zombie is any living creature that has been slain by a slaver star’s attach ability, rising as a satellite aberration guided by Starro’s will. It has no mind of its own, instead it is guided telepathically by Starro.
Required Creature Type: aberration
Required Array: Combatant.
Traits: Has 20% more Hit Points for its CR; DR 5/magic (increase to DR 10 at CR 8 and DR 15 at CR 14); mindless; staggered (see AA page 114).
Suggested Ability Scores: Strength, Dexterity.
As always, if you like this or any of the other content here on Solo Run Studio I would welcome a little of your support through Ko-fi. Until next time Starfinders!
Jeremy Corff
Artist and Writer