It’s Halloween, and in past years I’ve tried to do famous alien monsters from Sci-Horror for the blog in October. This year I struggled though, as there are already fan adaptations of the Xenomorph, Predator, and I’ve already done The Thing. So I widened the net, and like a fevered dream inspiration came to be – The Elder Mythos. The various monsters of the Mythos and the Great Old Ones / Outer Gods they all too often serve are already part of the Starfinder setting, but while PF1 is flush with monsters from beyond space and time, only a few have been updated to Starfinder. Going off the list provided with the Elder Mythos Scholar Wizard archetype, Starfinder has the Colour Out of Space, Hound of Tindalos, Mi-Go, and Yithian.
Working from that list, I’m inclined to the leave the various Dimension of Dreams creatures (denizens of Leng, gugs, etc) for another time. The dream dimension is certainly still present in the Starfinder setting, but how that interacts with the much broader universe and Drift travel hasn’t been hinted at, and could make a full Starfinder Inifinte book if I took it on. So that’s a project for a later date.
That leaves a grab bag of various nightmares from the old Mythos stories, but one stands out to me. Introduced in the Lovecraft story At the Mountains of Madness, the shoggoth are servitor creatures created and left behind by Elder Things, a truly ancient race that once traveled the stars. This would be back in the Golarion Age of Creation (or before) so at least 20,000 years before the current Starfinder year of 322 AG. Elder Things were able to travel through space through their own magic and innate abilities, and fought a war against the star empires of the Mi-Go and Flying Polyps in that ancient time. All of which is to say, ruins of Elder Thing cities could be found on any planet in the Vast (or even discovered on known worlds in Near Space) and where there are Elder Thing ruins, there are likely to be shoggoth lying dormant. Like their creators and many ancient aberrations, shoggoth are sentient but completely alien their goals and perspective. They rebelled against the Elder Things on at least one world, and probably on many, likely leading to the destruction of the Elder Thing empire. Even free they likely revere one or several Outer Gods and may even now be working on some endeavor started by their masters in days long past.
SHOGGOTH
CR 19
XP 204,800
CE Huge ooze
Init +6; Senses all-around vision, blindsense (scent) 120 ft., blindsight (vibration) 60 ft., see in darkness; Perception +32
Aura maddening cacophony (75 ft., DC 24)
DEFENSE
HP 415
EAC 33; KAC 35
Fort +22; Ref +18; Will +14
Defensive abilities fast healing 10; DR 10/-; Immunities blindness, charm effects, cold, deafness, ooze immunities, sonic; Resistance acid, electricity, fire 20; SR 30
OFFENSE
Speed 60 ft., climb 40 ft., swim 60 ft.
Melee slam +33 (15d6+30 B & A or P & A, plus swallow whole)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 30 ft.
Offensive Abilities action surge (1 standard, 2 move), swallow whole (15d6+30 B & A, EAC 33, KAC 31, 104 HP)
STATISTICS
Str +11; Dex +6; Con +9; Int +1; Wis +5; Cha -2
Skills Athletics +37, Survival +32
Languages Aklo, telepathy 100 ft.
Other Abilities hibernation, no breath
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Action surge (Ex): Shoggoth are able to make one standard action and two move actions on their turn.
All around vision (Ex) covered in an ever changing array of eyes, ears, noses, and other sensory organs, shoggoth are immune to the flat-footed condition and unflankable.
Hibernation (Ex) Shoggoth can enter a state of hibernation for an indefinite period of time when food is scarce. After 15 or more days without eating, a shoggoth can curl in on itself and harden into a lump virtually indistinguishable from a large rock. The shoggoth can remain in this state of hibernation until its conditions change, whether that is years, millennia, or longer.
Maddening cacophony (Ex) shoggoth can give voice to sounds and project thoughts sane life was not meant to hear. All creatures in a 75-foot radius must make a DC 24 Will save or be confused for 1d6 rounds. Each round a creature is affected it takes 1d6 points of Wisdom damage. A creature that saves cannot be affected by this shoggoth’s maddening cacophony for 24 hours.
TEKELI-LI!
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Jeremy Corff
Artist and Writer