Sword Archon (CR 11)
Large Outsider (Archon, Extraplanar, Good, and lawful)
Alignment: Always Lawful Good
Initiative: +7 (+3 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative); Senses: darkvision 60 ft. and low-light vision
Languages: Tongues SA
AC: 26 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +14 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 23
Hit Dice: 11d8+22 (71 hp); DR: 10/evil
Fort +9 (+13 against poison), Ref +10, Will +9
Speed: 40 ft., fly 90 ft. (good)
Space: 10 ft./10 ft.
Base Attack +11; Grapple +22
Attack: Armblade +20 melee
Full Attack: 2 armblades +20 melee
Damage: Armblades 1d8+9/19-20 plus 2d6 holy plus 1d6 fire
Special Attacks/Actions: Armblades, discorporating dive, spell-like abilities
Abilities: Str 25, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 17
Special Qualities: Aura of menace, immunity to electricity and petrification, magic circle against evil, outsider traits, SR 26, teleport
Feats: Cleave; Flyby Attack; Improved Initiative; Power Attack
Skills: Balance +14, Concentration +13, Decipher Script +12, Diplomacy +17, Disguise +14, Gather Information +15, Hide +12, Knowledge (religion) +12, Knowledge (the planes) +12, Search +12, Sense Motive +14, and Survival +2 (+4 following tracks or on other planes)
Advancement: 12-21 HD (large); 22-33 HD (Huge)
Climate/Terrain: Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia
Organization: Solitary, pair, or squad (3-5)
Treasure/Possessions: No coins; double goods; standard items
Source:
Book of Exalted Deeds
A sword archon's natural weapons, as well as any weapons it wields, are treated as having the good and lawful alignments for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Armblades (Ex): As a free action, a sword archon can mold the flesh of its forearms, hardening and sharpening organic matter into the form of powerful magic blades. The archon wields the blades like longswords, and they gain the properties of +2 holy flaming longswords.
Sword archons can shift back to their "normal" hands as a free action. The armblades cannot be disarmed or sundered, and they automatically assume limb form upon the archon's death.
Discorporating Dive (Su): Three times per day, a sword archon can attempt to destroy a living enemy with a powerful dive attack, literally flying through its opponent armblades-first, tearing its body and sending its soul apart to imprisonment in the Seven Heavens.
Resolve a flying charge as normal. If the archon fails to damage its opponent, the discorporating dive attack is wasted. If damaged, however, the target must make a DC 17 Fortitude save. Those who succeed on the Fortitude save suffer no further effect beyond the damage of the attack.
If the save fails, the attack utterly annihilates the victim's body, killing it instantly. Further, the victim's soul is bound to a great prison in the Seven Heavens of Celestia, where it remains until the archons that manage the celestial donjon see fit to release it. Release generally involves bartering with a throne archon, with some quest for the cause of law and goodness being the most common price. Such agents of Heaven never release the soul of an unredeemed evil creature.
Spell-like Abilities: At will - aid, continual flame, divination, locate creature, locate object, message; 3/day - commune, dispel chaos (DC 18), mark of justice, wages of sin(DC 19); 1/day - touch of adamantine(DC 19). Caster level 11th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.
Aura of Menace (Su): Will save DC 20.
Skills: A sword archon's innate understanding of law, detection, and the taint of sin grants it a +8 racial bonus on Gather Information and Sense Motive checks.
Archons never attack without provocation. They avoid harming other good creatures if they can, using nonlethal spells or subdual attacks if possible. An angry archon can be wrath incarnate, however.
Archons prefer to meet a foe head-on if it is prudent to do so. If outmatched, they do what they can to even the odds (often employing hit-and run tactics or standing off and engaging a foe with magic before moving into melee).
Archon Traits: An archon possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in a creatures entry).
Darkvision out to 60 feet and low-light vision.
Aura of Menace (Su): A righteous aura surrounds archons that fight or get angry. Any hostile creature within a 20-foot radius of an archon must succeed on a Will save to resist its effects. The save DC varies with they type of archon, is Charisma-based, and includes a +2 racial bonus. Those who fail take a -2 penalty on attacks, AC, and saves for 24 hours or until they successfully hit the archon that generated the aura. A creature that has resisted or broken the effect cannot be affected again by the same archon's aura for 24 hours.
Immunity to electricity and petrification.
+4 racial bonus on saves against poison.
Magic Circle against Evil (Su): A magic circle against evil effect always surrounds an archon (caster level equals the archon's Hit Dice). (The defensive benefits from the circle are not included in an archon's statistics block.)
Outsider Traits: An archon cannot be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected (though a limited wish, wish, miracle, or true resurrection spell can restore life). Darkvision 60 ft.
Teleport (Su): Archons can use greater teleport at will, as the spell (caster level 14th), except that the creature can transport only itself and up to 50 pounds of objects.
Tongues (Su): All archons can speak with any creature that has a language, as though using a tongues spell (caster level 14th). This ability is always active.
Extraplanar Subtype
A subtype applied to any creature when it is on a plane other than its native plane. A creature that travels the planes can gain or lose this subtype as it goes from plane to plane. This book assumes that encounters with creatures take place on the Material Plane, and every creature whose native plane is not the Material Plane has the extraplanar subtype (but would not have when on its home plane). An extraplanar creatures usually has a home plane mentioned in its description. These home planes are taken from the Great Wheel cosmology of the D&D game (see Chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master's Guide). If your campaign uses a different cosmology, you will need to assign different home planes to extraplanar creatures.
Creatures not labeled as extraplanar are natives of the Material Plane, and they gain the extraplanar subtype if they leave the Material Plane. No creature has the extraplanar subtype when it is on a transitive plane; the transitive planes in the D&D cosmology are the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane, and the Plane of Shadow.
Good Subtype
A subtype usually applied only to outsiders native to the good-aligned Outer Planes. Most creatures that have this subtype also have good alignments; however, if their alignments change, they still retain the subtype. Any effect that depends on alignment affects a creature with this subtype as if the creature has a good alignment, no matter what its alignment actually is. The creature also suffers effects according to its actual alignment. A creature with the good subtype overcomes damage reduction as if its natural weapons and any weapons it wields were good-aligned (see Damage Reduction).
Lawful Subtype
A subtype usually applied only to outsiders native to the lawful-aligned Outer Planes. Most creatures that have this subtype also have lawful alignments; however, if their alignments change, they still retain the subtype. Any effect that depends on alignment affects a creature with this subtype as if the creature has a lawful alignment, no matter what its alignment actually is. The creature also suffers effects according to its actual alignment. A creature with the lawful subtype overcomes damage reduction as if its natural weapons and any weapons it wields were lawful-aligned (see Damage Reduction).