Fiendish Creature
Fiendish creatures dwell in the infernal planes, realms of evil, although they resemble beings found on the Material Plane. They are more fearsome in appearance than their earthly counterparts.
Fiendish creatures are often mistaken for half-fiends, more powerful creatures that are created when a fiend mates with a non-celestial creature, or though some foul infernal breeding project.
Creating A Fiendish Creature
"Fiendish" (or "Abyssal") is a template that can be added to any corporeal creature of non-good alignment (referred to hereafter as the "base creature"). Animals with this template become magical beasts, but otherwise the creature type is unchanged. A fiendish creature uses all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Special Attacks: A fiendish creature retains all the special attacks of the base creature and also gains the following.
Smite Good (Su): Once per day the creature can make a normal attack to deal additional damage equal to its HD total (maximum of +20) against a good foe.
Special Qualities: A fiendish creature retains all the special qualities of the base creature and also gains the following.
- Darkvision with a range of 60 feet.
- Cold and fire resistance (see the table below).
- Damage reduction (see the table below).
- SR equal to double the creature's HD (maximum 25).
| Hit Dice | Cold, Fire Resistance | Damage Reduction |
| 1-3 | 5 | - |
| 4-7 | 10 | 5/+1 |
| 8-11 | 15 | 5/+2 |
| 12+ | 20 | 10/+3 |
If the base creature already has one or more of these special qualities, use the better value.
Saves: Same as the base creature
Abilities: Same as the base creature, but Intelligence is at least 3.
Skills: Same as the base creature
Feats: Same as the base creature
Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground
Organization: Same as the base creature
Challenge Rating: Up to 3 HD, as base creature
4 HD to 7 HD, as base creature +1.
8+ HD, as base creature +2
Treasure: Same as the base creature
Alignment: Always evil (any)
Advancement: Same as the base creature
Sample Fiendish Creature:Abyssal_Dire_Rat.
The Fiendish Creature 2nd level
By Sean K Reynolds
Fiendish creatures are evil versions of creatures from the Material Plane. Drawn to the world of mortals by magic, they do the bidding of their summoners for the most part, though some simply wreak havoc on their own until they are slain or banished to their native planes.
"Fiendish" is usually an inherited template, but it could be acquired through special magical rituals as well. Through powerful evil ceremonies or exposure to strange energies from the home planes of fiends, a non-fiendish character can acquire the fiendish template. Such beings can advance in the fiendish template class, just as natural-born fiendish creatures can if they wish to develop their powers more slowly. Since all fiendish creatures are evil, the DM is free to require that a good or neutral character who advances as a fiendish creature become fully evil by the time she has completed the class progression.
Because the fiendish template and the celestial template differ only in alignment focus, the fiendish template class can easily be used as a model to create a celestial template class. The book Anger of Angels (also by Sean K Reynolds) from Malhavoc Press presents the celestial template as a template class.
| The Fiendish Template Class | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fiendish Class Level | Character Level | CR | Special |
| 1st | 1st-3rd | +0 | Darkvision 60 ft., extraplanar subtype, minimum Intelligence, resistances (cold 5, fire 5), smite good, type change |
| 4th+ | +1 | ||
| 2nd | 1st+ | +1 | Spell resistance |
| 4th-11th | Damage reduction 5/magic | ||
| 8th+ | +2 | Resistances (cold 10, fire 10) | |
| 12th+ | Damage reduction 10/magic | ||
Fiendish Template Class Features
All of the following are class features of the fiendish template class. Many of these features are gained only at certain minimum character levels. When the character gains a new level in any class, consult Table SP-9 to determine whether she gains any new benefits from the fiendish class.
Darkvision (Ex): At 1st level, the fiendish creature gains darkvision to a 60-foot range.
Minimum Intelligence (Ex): If the base character's Intelligence score was below 3, increase it to 3. Do not recalculate her racial skill points (if any), but skill points derived from future Hit Dice use the character's Intelligence score at the time the new levels or Hit Dice are gained, as normal.
Resistances (Ex): At 1st level, a fiendish creature gains resistance 5 to cold and fire. At 2nd level, each of these resistances increases to 10, provided that the fiendish creature has 8 or more HD. The resistances of a fiendish creature with 7 or fewer HD do not change.
Smite Good (Su): Once per day, a fiendish creature may attempt to smite a good creature with one normal melee attack. This attack deals extra damage equal to her character level (maximum +20) against a good foe. If she accidentally smites a creature that is not evil, the smite has no effect but is still used up for the day.
Extraplanar Subtype (Ex): At 1st level, a fiendish character gains the extraplanar subtype.
Type Change (Ex): If the base creature is an animal or vermin, its type changes to magical beast, but otherwise the type is unchanged. If the type does change, do not recalculate the character's Hit Dice, base attack bonus, base save bonuses, or skill points.
Spell Resistance (Su): At 2nd level, a fiendish character gains spell resistance equal to her character level +5 (maximum 25).
Damage Reduction (Su): A 2nd-level fiendish character has no damage reduction if her character level is 3rd or lower. She has damage reduction 5/magic if her character level is between 4th and 11th (inclusive), or damage reduction 10/magic if her character level is 12th or higher. A fiendish character with damage reduction treats her natural weapons as magic weapons for the purpose of bypassing the damage reduction of other creatures.