Caughnig
HELLO INTERNET!!!! How’s everyone doing tonight?! It’s Rock and Roll Week here at Necromancers of the Northwest, a week devoted to mirth and music. We start things off with our very own rocker: the caughnig, a tiny fey creature at the bottom of the CR scale, perfect to get even low-level characters rocking. They may be small, but don’t dismiss them as just the opening act: the caughnig provides an exciting flavorful accent at any level, and when equipped with bard or skald levels can provide a real threat to even high-level characters.
Caughnig
The sound of chaotic music fills the air as a handful of tiny humanoid creatures descend on black and white butterfly wings. Each holds a strange string instrument and has a large axe strapped across her back.
CAUGHNIG CR 1
XP 400
CN Tiny fey
Init +7; Senses low-light vision, Perception +6 (+10 for sound-based checks)
DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 16, flat-footed 12 (+4 Dex, +2 size)
hp 13 (2d6+6)
Fort +2, Ref +7, Will +4
OFFENSE
Speed 10 ft., fly 50 ft. (good)
Melee Tiny greataxe +2 (1d6-1/x3)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks bewildering song, chorus
STATISTICS
Str 8, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 16
Base Atk +1; CMB -2; CMD 12
Feats Toughness
Skills Bluff +8, Diplomacy +8, Perception +6 (+10 for sound-based checks), Perform (sing) +8, Perform (string instruments) +8, Sense Motive +6; Racial Modifier +4 Perception for sound-based checks
Languages Common, Sylvan
SQ amplify
ECOLOGY
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair or troupe (3-9 caughnigs)
Treasure standard
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Amplify (Su): A caughnig intensifies sounds around her, making it impossible to be truly silent. All silence spells and similar spells and effects have their effects suppressed while within 30 feet of the caughnig. Additionally, all Stealth checks made within 30 feet of a caughnig suffer a -4 penalty. Finally, all sounds originating within 30 feet of the caughnig can be heard twice as far away as normal.
Bewildering Song (Su): A caughnig has the ability to produce a strange and cacophonous music which baffles most other creatures. As a standard action, a caughnig can begin performing this song, either singing or playing his stringed instrument; on subsequent rounds the caughnig can maintain this song as a move action. All creatures that can clearly see and hear the caughnig must succeed on a Will save (DC 14) or become confused for 1 round. A creature who succeeds on this save gains a +2 bonus on subsequent saving throws, and a creature who successfully saves against this ability 3 times is immune to it for 24 hours.
Chorus (Ex): A caughnig can join another creature’s performance in order to enhance the effect. As an immediate action, a caughnig can use this ability to either increase the saving throw DC of any sonic effect by +1, or, if the target whose performance she is enhancing is using the bardic performance special ability, the caughnig may infuse that performance with her own energies so that the target does not expend a use of bardic performance for that round.
Ecology
Caughnig are strange fey creatures, distantly related to grigs, though the two species have a longstanding rivalry which borders on racial hatred. Unlike a grig, a caughnig has very few insectile features, being mostly human-shaped, but with grasshopper legs and black and white butterfly wings. Caughnigs often wear exotic hairstyles, which some humans find disconcerting, and make extensive use of both dyes and tattoos to further augment their appearance. Caughnigs dress in heavy dark leathers and carry large gleaming axes. Most caughnigs also carry one or more string instruments, which they use to play their own strange music, heard nowhere else in the mortal or immortal realms.
The music of the caughnig is fast and dynamic, featuring rapidly shifting harmonies and frequent changes in tempo. While their music makes heavy use of string instruments, it sometimes incorporates percussion instruments, and it is usually accompanied by wild singing in Sylvan. Popular subjects of caughnig songs include romance, depression, and angry protest, though many of their tunes seem to be about nothing at all. Though their music is pleasant enough to listen to, it carries a subtle magic that many find off-putting, and which can drive those unused to hearing it crazy.