New Psionic Oe/1e/BX Monster: Ghaozeg

This is an adaptation of the guardian creature from Robert E. Howard's story The Fire of Asshurbanipal. The creature is unnamed in the story (and is referenced only as the "guardian"), so I created something to that lived alongside some of the other things in the campaign world I've been developing over the last few years (to support the BX Psionics stuff I've been running off and on).

If you've never read it/heard of it, check out this blog post from Black Gate.

Originating from the Beyond, a ghaozeg is gigantic, black and shadowy thing—a hulking monstrosity that walks upright like a man, but like a toad too, winged and tentacled. Borne of the eternal chaos of the Beyond, ghaozeg are primordially tied to the Elemental Plane of Sand. When these things are encountered in the Material Plane, it most often in lost desert cities, guardians of soul gems and jarred demons. A chill hangs in the air about this atrocity. Even unseen, its mere presence is detected up to 60' away as a drop in temperature of approximately 5°. In shadow, this creature is near invisible, surprising on a 1-4 (on 1d6) when emerging from or encountered in shadow or low light conditions (even if the drop in temperature has been discerned). Ghaozeg are immune to damage from both heat and cold. The loathsome visage of a ghaozeg causes stark black madness. Creatures looking upon such a thing must save vs. death or fall into a coma-like state for a number of days equal to the difference between the target number and the result of the saving throw (e.g., a result of 9 when a 12 or better is needed results in 3 days of the coma-like state). This state cannot be removed or negated by any means. After the victim awakes, an additional save is made vs. paralysis: on a successful save, the victim is conscious but stunned for a number of hours equal to the number of days spent in the coma-like state, then returns to normal; on a failed save, the victim awakes but indefinitely remains in the conscious-but-stunned state. At any time after the victim emerges from the coma-like state, the woken catatonia may be negated with a remove curse spell or the psionic discipline psychic surgery. A ghaozeg has soul-shakingly foul breath. All caught in its 30' diameter cloud must save vs. breath or have their sleep filled with nightmares for 1d6 days’ worth of restless sleep. After such nights, spells cannot be memorized and PSPs cannot be restored through meditation. Remove fear will cause the nightmares to cease (restoring restful sleep), but remove curse will not. It may use this breath weapon once every 3 rounds in lieu of its bite attack. The touch of each ghaozeg tentacle drains 1d6 hp (on a successful “to hit” roll), and its bite does 1d4 damage. Surviving the unearthly horror of a ghaozeg bolsters one’s resilience to the horrors of the world and the chaos beyond it. For 24 hours after encountering such a thing, survivors make their saving throws vs. fear as if 1 level/HD higher.

Oe/1E STATS FREQUENCY: Very rare NO. APPEARING: 1-2 ARMOR CLASS: 3 MOVE: 12"/24" HIT DICE: 6 % IN LAIR: 65% TREASURE TYPE: Q×3 NO. OF ATTACKS: 5 DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-6/1-6/1-6/1-6/1-4 SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below SPECIAL DEFENSES: Immune to heat and cold MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard INTELLIGENCE: Average ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil SIZE: L (10' long) PSIONIC ABILITY: 100 Attack/Defense Modes: C,D/F,G,H BX STATS ARMOR CLASS: 3 HIT DICE: 6** MOVE: 120'(40')/240'(80') ATTACKS: 4 tentacles/ 1 bite or breath DAMAGE: 1d6+special (×4)/ 1-4 or special NO. APPEARING: 1 (1-2) SAVE AS: Fighter:6 MORALE: 11 TREASURE TYPE: L×3 ALIGNMENT: Chaotic PSIONIC ABILITIES PSIONIC LEVEL: 5 (25 PSPs) Attack modes: ego whip, id insinuation Defense modes: mind blank, mental barrier, thought shield