Monster Dossier

Shining Child

Shining Child ANCIENT GUARDIANS The practice of conjuring and binding shining children to serve as guardians of important locations was a popular one in...

Level 12

Traits

cemediumastral

Rules & statistics

Monster Profile

Perception

23

Senses

  • Name
    darkvision

Languages

Languages
  • aklo
Abilities
  • telepathy 120 feet

Skills

Arcana
18
Deception
23
Diplomacy
21
Intimidation
21
Occultism
18

Ability Mods

Str
2
Dex
5
Con
6
Int
2
Wis
5
Cha
7

Defenses

Ac
33
Saving Throws
Fort
22
Ref
19
Will
19
Hp
  • Hp
    215
Immunities
  • fire
  • blinded
  • dazzled

Speed

Walk
30
Fly
50

Attacks

  • Range
    Melee
    Name
    fist
    Attack
    25
    Traits
    • agile
    • finesse
    • magical
    Damage
    3d4+5 bludgeoning plus 4d6 fire and 2d4 persistent damage||persistent fire
    Types
    • bludgeoning
    • fire
    • persistent
  • Range
    Melee
    Name
    fire ray
    Attack
    25
    Traits
    • arcane
    • evocation
    • magical
    • range
    Damage
    3d10+3 fire, plus 2d10 positive damage if the target is undead
    Types
    • fire
    • positive

Spellcasting

  • Type
    Innate
    Tradition
    occult
    DC
    33
    Entry
    0
    Level
    6
    Spells
    • Name
      light
    2
    Spells
    • Name
      illusory object
      Amount
      at will
    4
    Spells
    • Name
      dimension door
      Amount
      at will
      Notes
      • self only
    5
    Spells
    • Name
      dimension door
    • Name
      false vision
    • Name
      hallucinatory terrain
    6
    Spells
    • Name
      dispel magic
    • Name
      vibrant pattern
    • Name
      wall of force
    7
    Spells
    • Name
      spell turning
    • Name
      sunburst

Abilities

Top
  • Entries
    • The shining child is flat-footed while in areas of darkness.
    Name
    Radiance Dependence
Mid
  • Traits
    • arcane
    • aura
    • incapacitation
    • light
    Entries
    • 60 feet. The shining child sheds bright light. Any creature that starts its turn in the aura must succeed at a Fortitude 29 save. If it fails, it is blinded for 1 minute, and if it critically fails, it's permanently blinded. A creature that succeeds at its save is temporarily immune to this effect for 24 hours.
    Name
    Blinding Aura
  • Activity
    Number
    1
    Unit
    reaction
    Traits
    • light
    Trigger
    The shining child enters an area of magical darkness or begins its turn in an area of magical darkness.
    Entries
    • The shining child attempts to counteract the magical darkness (as a 7th-level spell).
    Name
    Overwhelming Light

Background

Lore

Shining Child

ANCIENT GUARDIANS

The practice of conjuring and binding shining children to serve as guardians of important locations was a popular one in Faliakreinound. Even today, thousands of years after this empire's fall, adventurers can still encounter shining children in ancient ruins, guarding treasures and forgotten lore from the distant past.

Shining children are wicked, enigmatic monsters that roam remote planes and untraveled corners of the universe in search of esoteric lore. With their abnormally gaunt frames, long white hair, and unnerving, four-fingered hands, shining children are both strangely familiar and otherworldly in appearance, though they are barely visible within the shroud of blinding light they continually emit. Their faces are truly horrible, however, as their overlarge eyes and distended, gaping mouths reveal their heads to be voids filled with unnatural light. Shining children use this light as a weapon, weaving illusions and focusing beams of fiery brilliance.

Because of their reputation as scholars of the alien and the eldritch, shining children are sometimes summoned by powerful wizards or occultists in search of rare knowledge. The creatures never give away their lore without some price, though, and typically demand in return the performance of contemptible deeds that further their inscrutable, far-ranging plans.

These mysterious beings are natives of the Astral Plane. In that vast plane, accretions of metaphysical matter gradually accumulate and eventually coalesce into demiplanes. During this tumultuous process, sparks of living light sometimes shear off the newly formed planes, and these sparks of raw planar energy somehow transform into shining children. Every newly formed demiplane leaves a different mental imprint on its shining "offspring," making it easy for shining children to telepathically recognize their brothers and sisters. Forever trapped in apparently adolescent bodies, shining children dedicate themselves to scholarship and violence with equal measure in a futile effort to understand their roles in the multiverse and the burning injustice of their births.

Shining children confuse most other creatures with their refusal to use individual names in favor of alternating between referring to each other singularly and collectively.