Hoi-oi
It’s Tropical Week here at Necromancers of the Northwest, and today I have a high-CR tropical threat for you. Is it a hurricane elemental? A troop of flying sharks capable of creating a swirling vortex of doom? A massive animated tree that drops coconuts to shatter its victims’ skulls?
Nope. It’s a tiny lemur.
In my defense, it is a highly magical tiny lemur, based on real-world myths about the strange and exotic aye-aye, a lemur found only on Madagascar, which many locals believe can inflict death with a point of its finger, superstitions that have led to widespread killing of the creatures. While aye-ayes may not have mystical death powers, their fantastic cousins, the hoi-oi, are the source of today’s Exotic Encounter, and it may not be long before they start inflicting just as much fear as the creatures that inspired them.
Hoi-oi
This small lemur has black fur and huge, glowing yellow eyes. Its body is emaciated and wizened, and each of its hands bears a single long, crooked pointer finger, easily three times the length of its other fingers.
HOI-OI CR 22
XP 614,400
NE Tiny magical beast
Init +12; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent, see in darkness; Perception +27
DEFENSE
AC 39, touch 29, flat-footed 30 (+8 Dex, +1 dodge, +10 natural, +8 profane, +2 size)
hp 379 (33d10+198)
Fort +24, Ref +26, Will +18
Defensive Abilities armor of night; DR 10/epic; Immune ability damage, ability drain, curses, diseases, energy drain, fear, paralysis, petrification, poison, sleep; SR 33
OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.; climb 40 ft.
Melee 2 claws +43 (1d8+4 plus 4d6 negative energy)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks claws of death, evil eye, gaze of death, rend (2 claws, 1d6+6 plus 6d6 negative energy), slaying gesture
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 20th; concentration +28)
At Will—bestow curse (DC 22), deeper darkness (self only), finger of death (DC 25), insanity (DC 25)
3/day—soul bind (DC 27)
STATISTICS
Str 18, Dex 27, Con 22, Int 13, Wis 21, Cha 26
Base Atk +33; CMB +35; CMD 62
Feats Ability Focus (gaze of death), Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Greater Vital Strike, Improved Initiative, Improved Iron Will, Improved Natural Attack (claw), Improved Vital Strike, Iron Will, Mobility, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Intimidate), Skill Focus (Perception), Skill Focus (Stealth), Spring Attack, Weapon Finesse, Vital Strike
Skills Acrobatics +24, Intimidate +34, Perception +47, Stealth +58
Languages Aklo
ECOLOGY
Environment temperate and warm forests and jungles
Organization solitary
Treasure incidental
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Armor of Night (Su): In areas of dim light or darkness, a hoi-oi gains a +8 profane bonus to AC, as it surrounds itself in semi-real shadows that protect it from attacks. This bonus is already included in the creature’s statistics.
Claws of Death (Su): As a swift action, a hoi-oi can cause its claws to become wreathed in negative energy, causing it to inflict an additional 4d6 points of negative energy damage with each successful hit, and causes its rend to deal an additional 6d6 points of negative energy damage. This effect lasts until the hoi-oi uses another swift action to end it. This damage is already included in the creature’s statistics.
Evil Eye (Su): As a move action, a hoi-oi can turn its baleful glare on a single creature within 30 feet, forcing that creature to suffer a –4 penalty to one of the following (hoi-oi’s choice): AC, ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, or skill checks. This effect lasts for 1 minute, or 1 round, if the target succeeds on a Will save (DC 34). A creature can only suffer one penalty from this ability at any given time. This is a mind-affecting curse effect. The saving throw DC is Charisma-based.
Gaze of Death (Su): Any creature within 30 feet of a hoi-oi that makes eye contact with it must succeed on .a Will save (DC 33) or suffer a terrible curse. Such creatures do not heal naturally, and any attempt to heal them magically fails unless the caster succeeds on a DC 31 caster level check. Additionally, each night, while the affected creature sleeps, it is affected as though by the spell nightmare. The curse cannot be removed by anything less than a miracle or wish spell, although slaying the hoi-oi ends the effect automatically. Treat this as a gaze attack. The saving throw DC is Wisdom-based.
Slaying Gesture (Sp): As a full-round action, a hoi-oi can point the long, narrow index finger of each of its hands at two different creatures, affecting each of those creatures with its finger of death spell-like ability. If it does so, the DC for that ability is reduced by 2.
Ecology
A strange creature said to have been birthed by dark fey, the hoi-oi is a malicious harbinger of death and destruction, although it seems to reserve all of its hatred and evil for intelligent species. Left to its own devices, in the wilderness, far from humanoids and other sentient creatures, the hoi-oi behaves much like any other animal, spending its time searching for small grubs and insects inside of dead trees and logs. Their intense hatred of intelligent creatures, especially humanoids, leads them to stalk and murder such creatures when they find them, however, often toying with their prey for some time, using their incredible stealth and deeper darkness ability to appear before them and afflict them with its gaze of death before disappearing to a safe distance. By using similar tactics to deliver bestow curse, the hoi-oi can torment and weaken its prey for days before they eventually succumb. It is only when they encounter foes powerful enough to threaten them that they make use of their more potent spell-like abilities, although they always use soul bind to steal the souls of those they slay, trapping them in small stones which they use to decorate their lair.