Starfinder: Conduit
Conduit CR 3 XP 600
Neutral medium undead
Init -2; Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +4
Defense HP 13
EAC 8; KAC 9
Fort +1; Ref +0; Will +7
Defensive Abilities DR 5 /+1 or energy
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee Punch, +2 (1d4 B)
Offensive Abilities Create spawn, death gaze, seductive gaze
Statistics
Str +0; Dex -2; Con -; Int +0; Wis +2; Cha +0
Skills Bluff +4, intimidate +2, stealth +2
Feats Iron Will
Languages Common
Gear None
Ecology
Environment Any
Organization Solitary, small groups (1d6), medium groups (3d6), or mob (5d10)
Special Abilities
Create Spawn (Su) Any humanoid creature slain by the Death Gaze will rise as one in exactly two hours. They will appear desiccated and zombie-like and must feed within two minutes of reanimating or they will die again, this time permanently. Once the creature has fed, it will then regain a normal appearance and can act normally for exactly two hours, at which time they must feed again in two minutes or face the consequences.
Death Gaze (Su) The Conduit must be within five feet of a target to initiate this attack. The target of the attack is allowed a Will save (DC 13) to avoid the effects. If the save fails, the victim is paralyzed and the Conduit begins to draw out the victim’s life-force, which can be seen with the naked eye as a blue shimmering cascade of energy. The attack inflicts 1d6 points of Constitution damage per round (the victim is allowed a saving throw every round to break the death gaze. Once the victim reaches zero Constitution, it is dead and will rise within two hours as a new Conduit. If at any time the victim can break the gaze, they can fight back or escape. The only way to regain the lost Constitution is through any type of restoration, Miracle or Wish spell.
Seductive Gaze (Su) Even in their horrific state before they feed, the creatures are able to gaze into the eyes of any humanoid within ten feet. The target is allowed a Will saving throw (DC 13). If it fails, the target is paralyzed for two rounds, which is enough time to allow the Conduit to use its Death Gaze ability.
Conduits are the unfortunate victims of the vile and feared Drinkers. Created through the Drinker’s death-gaze ability, they appear to be desiccated corpses – except these corpses can move and attack. They have one mission in their unholy unlife, and that is to collect the life force of other creatures and either uses it to maintain their forms, or to be transferred to the Drinkers. These creatures will actively seek out others of their own kind and will attempt to siphon their life force. Note they will only hunt and try to drain humanoids.
If the attack succeeds, the victim is restored to their former vitality and appear as if nothing has happened. The only thing is that they have to feed like this once every two hours. They will have exactly two minutes to track down a target and inflict the same fate on them. If they are incapable of doing so, the life force they have consumed will automatically be transferred to the nearest Drinker, or it is lost. As such the Conduit always tries to remain within 1000 feet of the Drinker which created it. Needless to say the Drinkers want to keep them nearby to prevent the loss of the precious life force energy! If they are incapable of finding a victim to drain, they revert to the desiccated form in 1d4 rounds and are forever dead.
Any victims they produce as a result will likewise rise in two hours and will actively hunt down more victims, increasing their numbers exponentially. Just one victim can wipe out an entire community in a matter of hours.
The monster gains benefits from the creation of more of these creatures – if they were injured. For every victim that it’s ‘spawn’ creates heals the creature one hit point per point of constitution or hit dice. They cannot use these to create a pool of hit points. The Drinkers do not like it when the Conduits use the energy to heal damage. The energy is lost in doing so, and as a result the Drinkers will often destroy any Conduits who have sustained any damage.
As long as they appear to be normal, they are fully capable of speech and retain the memories they had before becoming a Conduit.
