Tanar'ri, Hezrou

Strength 7x

Agility 4x

Intellect 4x

Willpower 8d

Hand Size: Edge:

5 (30) 3

Origin:

The horrific, toad-like hezrou are tanar'ri, fell inhabitants of the Abyss who thrive in its endless, chaotic and evil reaches. As a true tanar'ri, each hezrou possesses startling physical, mental and spiritual powers with which to corrupt everything it touches.

Powers:

Tanar'ri Physique: the teeming masses of hezrou are true tanar'ri, powerful demonic creatures that hail from the infinite planes of the Abyss. Like all true tanar'ri, the hezrou are planar entities, and possess these dangerous, tanar'ric capabilities:

* Darkness (a): all tanar'ri have the ability to share the inherent darkness of their very souls with the world at large. This rudimentary power functions only at intensity 4, but basically 'blacks out' everything within near missile distance of the hezrou.

* Dimensional Transit (i): in addition to being able to teleport, tanar'ri can transition between planes of existence. They may do so with intensity 5 ability, though on a failed action dimensionally transiting tanar'ri may be subject to error, per a failed teleport. *

* Infravision (w): many of the Abyss' countless layers are dark beyond mortal ken, and have never seen the light (physically or otherwise). As such, all tanar'ri have evolved the ability to see by heat as well as by visible light, and can do so with intensity 5 skill.

* Invulnerability to Fire, Electricity, Heat, and Poison (s): the tanar'ri are hardy creatures - they have to be to survive at all in the endless, horrific wastes of the Abyss. Their forms have evolved over time to give them complete immunity to fire, electricity, heat, and poison.

* Portal Sense (w): planar beings all, hezrou have the ability to perceive the various rifts that dot the planescape of the multiverse. Most of these doorways are invisible to the naked eye, but all hezrou can spy them with ease, doing so with intensity 8 ability.

* Resistance to All Attacks (s): hezrou are particularly tough, where tanar'ri are concerned. Any damage they are not outright invulnerable to will be resisted as if the hezrou possessed intensity 8 (+2) protection against it, no matter its source or effect.

* Telepathy (w): almost all tanar'ri are able to communicate directly from mind to mind - a vital skill when so few speak the same tongue. They can usually broadcast and receive thoughts with intensity 5 skill, enough to get their point across when necessary.

* Teleportation (i): chaotic creatures all, the tanar'ri can bend space itself to their will. All tanar'ri possess the power to teleport with intensity 10 ability, and can avoid teleportation's usual side effects while transporting themselves within the same plane of existence. *

Claws (s): like almost all tanar'ri, hezrou possess claws at their fingertips. They may wield these deadly implements to inflict their Strength +2 damage in melee, which is helpful for rending their opponents... if they haven't already done so with their immense jaws.

Danger Sense (w): the endless numbers of hezrou are rarely, if ever, surprised by anything in their environment. They possess this supernatural awareness of their surroundings at intensity 10, which informs them of any dangers, active or passive, that threaten them.

Dimensional Displacement (i): a hezrou can shunt any one of its three spatial dimensions elsewhere, allowing it to seem two-dimensional. When passing through objects in this state, a hezrou inflicts unmodified melee damage - but ignores body armor.

Dimensional Interface (i): hezrou, if on a plane where it is accessible, may interface their bodies with the ethereal plane. This allows them to affect entities there or on their current plane, depending on which 'direction' the interface is currently pointing.

Dimensional Transit (i): in addition to the above ability to shift planes, hezrou can go on a 'Dark Walk' at certain points in each century, without the benefit of outside aid. They may do this at the same intensity as is listed above, doing so to form dark pacts with foolish mortals.

Eldritch Blast / Evil (a): all hezrou may give off a blast of pure, undiluted evil. This intensity 9 power inflicts karmic damage upon non-evil beings, and may blind, deafen or paralyze those the hezrou can pass an easy difficulty Eldritch Blast (willpower) action against.

Fangs (s): hezrou all have incredibly large mouths, replete with sharp, needle-like fangs. They can inflict grievous harm with these teeth, causing their Strength +2 in slashing damage with each terrible attack - which is often a prelude to consuming their victims whole!

Fire Generation (a): for those foes they cannot reach in melee, hezrou have the ability to produce large amounts of fire. They can generate intensity 9 fire and heat, which inflicts like SD energy damage with each attack, and can manifest as a blast or a veritable wall of flames.

Object Animation (i): while many tanar'ri are telekinetic, hezrou take this one step further and actually imbue objects in their vicinity, however temporarily, with a semblance of life! They may do this with intensity 9 ability, letting them wield their very surroundings against a foe.

Redolence (s): the skin of a hezrou is coated in a slimy, foul liquid. It gives off such a vile stench that, if it can pass an easy difficulty Redolence (strength) action against foes within close combat distance, it will render them unable to act, due to their retching and vomiting (intensity 10).

Revival (s): like other true tanar'ri, hezrou can sometimes give death the laugh. Unless killed inside the Abyss or eaten, hezrou may attempt to reconstitute themselves on their home plane with this intensity 5 power. The difficulty involved, of course, depends on how they died.

Summoning (i): as the managers of the tanar'ri Blood War armies, hezrou have many summoning powers, all of which function at intensity 5. They can summon a swarm of insects to do their bidding, which inflicts power intensity damage for an aura duration to all unprotected foes.

Secondly, they can put out a call for lesser tanar'ri three times per day. An easy difficulty result will call forth from four to forty least tanar'ri, an average difficulty result will summon from one to ten lesser tanar'ri, and a challenging difficulty result will bring from one to four greater fiends.

Finally, hezrou can attempt, once per day, to call a true tanar'ri to aid it in whatever means it deems necessary. This also requires a challenging difficulty result, making it somewhat unreliable. But when it works, it can readily turn the tide of most battles a hezrou gets itself involved with.

Natural Psionics:

In addition to the above, considerable array of supernatural powers, hezrou are also equipped with natural psionics. These capabilities will vary from hezrou to hezrou, but will usually be of either a metapsi, psikinetic or psipathic bent, most often being destructive in nature.

Hindrances / Augmentations:

Monstrous: it should go without saying, but hezrou are monstrous entities - just look at them! A hezrou is at Willpower 0 to prevent Edge 0 humans from fleeing at the mere sight of them - not that they would ever really bother, for such creatures see humans as playthings.

Susceptibility: like all tanar'ri, hezrou are weak against the use of cold-wrought iron weapons, as well as holy water and weapons. Their supernatural defenses are ineffective against such assaults, which inflict at least a quarter of their maximum Health in damage.

Equipment:

Whips (s): hezrou typically carry mundane whips with them when commanding their inferiors. They rarely do much damage against their underlings, but the sound is often enough to cut through the cacophony of their incessant chatter. Not always, but most of the time.

A hezrou can use their whip to either engage in a grappling attack, or to inflict +2 damage upon any target within close combat distance.

Skills:

Tactics (w): while they're not inspiring by any stretch of the imagination, hezrou have the innate ability to lead others. When in charge of a group, it should receive a +1 to any actions undertaken while explicitly following the hezrou's lead - something of a crapshoot with tanar'ri.

Calling:

Demolisher, tinged for good measure with a bit of Greed: petty and fickle, the hezrou tend to enjoy their place in the tanar'ri hierarchy, as they're usually the ones dishing out the pain instead of receiving it. They happily enjoy the advantages that come with their station.

Characteristics:

Cruel and capricious, the hezrou manage the armies of the Blood War with an iron fist. They may torture their underlings for failing, or even for succeeding - it all depends on their whims. Their minions tend to achieve an equilibrium of competence that lets them avoid notice if possible.

At the same time, hezrou have a certain docility built into them. Perhaps they, in general, feel at the top of the 'heap' given their general autonomy to run their superiors' armies as they see fit, it's hard to say. But they readily take directives since they're allowed to 'interpret' them considerably.

Appearance:

The horrific hezrou are large, typically standing at seven or so foot tall. They resemble sinister green toads, save for the spines running down their head and back, terrible claws and fangs, and humanoid arms instead of forelegs. Their skin exudes a foul-smelling liquid glaze at all times.

Ecological Niche:

The true tanar'ri known as hezrou act to manage the countless Blood War armies the chaotic fiends field throughout the planes. They fill this role well due to their natural administrative capabilities, as well as a surprising acceptance to the following of orders from other true tanar'ri.

The odd thing is that a hezrou doesn't actually do all that much fighting in and of itself. By keeping the Blood War armies in line, hezrou manage to avoid front-line duties - though if one fails miserably in their assigned job, this may not be the case for very long.

Hezrou are not natural creatures (if any tanar'ri ever was). They don't form spontaneously, nor do they arise as a result of tanar'ri inbreeding. No, a hezrou can only be formed through the endless suffering, both given and received, a lesser tanar'ri endures for countless years.

Notes:

* Depending on which version of the Planescape lore you wish to use, hezrou (along with the rest of the tanar'ri) may not have access to teleportation any longer, having lost this power due to yugoloth meddling. Its presence is at the discretion of the individual Narrator.

Mind you, hezrou have the ability to dimensional transit during their Dark Walk regardless of which version of lore you accept.

Extra Goodies:

Return to the Bestiary main page!

Interested in using Technoholic content in your own project? Please read this beforehand!