Byakhee

> This nauseating winged creature combines the features of a carrion bird, an ant, a bat, and a decomposing human in a most hideous manner resembling an arthropod with a bloated abdomen. It has huge claws, wings, and an insectoid head.
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## Description

Byakhees are a race of interstellar decomposers, fulfilling a similar role in the interstellar ecology as corpseflies do in the terrestrial one. Vaguely humanoid in shape, their bodies combine elements of the forms of carrion birds, insects, and mammals, giving an outward appearance that, while horrific, might at first glance seem possible in the earthly world. Yet, those who have studied dead byakhees know this to be a lie, for the creatures’ bodies hold bizarre organs and masses of unknown tissue that seem to serve no purpose; the further into a byakhee’s body one explores, the stranger its entrails become. The fact that portions of its body appear to be decaying or rotting away even as it lives only adds to the mystery of the creature’s peculiar anatomy.

A byakhee is 6 feet tall and weighs 160 pounds.

A byakhee’s bloated abdomen contains the byakhee’s hune organ, which enables it to fly through space at faster-than-light speed. It also allows the creature to issue a shriek that reverberates across vast distances and even backward in time to arrange for allies to arrive almost instantly.

## Ecology

The larval form of the byakhee is well-known to even the most unlearned person, for it is the humble dwarf. Obviously, byakhee can reproduce in both their larval and their adult form. Dwarfs don't actually die of old age ~ what is treated as a death by age in teh rules is in fact the process of entering a pupa and emerging shortly thereafter as a byakhee. This often, but not always, instigates a horrific slaughter before the byakhee flies off into the sky in search of another planet-sized corpse to eat.

Byakhees’ bloodlust is a powerful driving force; once a byakhee has bitten a foe, it has difficulty thinking of anything other than latching on and drinking its victim dry.

Byakhee are sometimes called upon by spellcasters who use rare or forbidden magic to take advantage of such transport, yet unlike shantaks, who can impart some of their defenses against the depths of space to those they carry through the gulfs between worlds, byakhees can offer no such protection. The creatures delight in carrying ignorant spellcasters into the cold, airless void when foolishly commanded, as they feel no need to warn their would-be passengers of the dangers of interstellar travel.

After pupation, byakhee can live for centuries, although most perish from violence before attaining such an age.

## Habitat and Society

Byakhee young are hatched from noxious, leathery eggs and grow to maturity over the course of only a few weeks. Yet, once a local byakhee population reaches a few dozen, it is abandoned by the adult byakhee and continued by their dwarfin larvae. Byakhee can crowd a fresh corpse with hundreds of such colonies.

Despite their bestial appearance, byakhees are as smart as the typical human and much wiser and charismatic than most. As such, it isn’t uncommon for leaders among their kind to grow in power by gaining class levels. Byakhees can excel in most classes, although they tend to avoid taking levels in classes that grant companions, mounts, or familiars ~ they find the presence of creatures from the terrestrial world unpleasant at best. Most byakhees that take class levels do so as barbarians, clerics, psychics, or sorcerers with the aberrant or starsoul bloodlines (Pathfinder, 1st edition).

## Combat and Tactics

In combat, a byakhee summons an ally and then relies on its claws and proboscis to drain blood from its foes. It cannot be injured by extreme cold or thunder attacks, and its wholly alien mind renders it immune to mind-affecting effects.

## Pathfinder, 1st edition, Statblock

Source: *Pathfinder #110: The Thrushmoor Terror*, pg. 82

* **Challenge Rating** 4 (1,200 experience points)
* Chaotic evil Medium aberration
* **Initiative** +7**; Senses** darkvision 60 ft., see in darkness; Perception +11

### Defense

* **Armor Class** 17, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+3 Dex, +4 natural)
* **hit points** 42 (5d8+20)
* **Fortitude** +5**, Reflex** +4**, Will** +7
* **Immune** cold, confusion and insanity effects, critical hits, hunger, sneak attacks, thirst

### Offense

* **Speed** 30 ft., fly 50 ft. (good)
* **Melee** 2 claws +7 (1d4+3), bite +6 (1d6+3 plus grab)
* **Special Attacks** blood drain (1d2 Constitution), bloodlust

### Statistics

* **Strength** 17**, Dexterity** 16**, Constitution** 18**, Intelligence** 10**, Wisdom** 17**, Charisma** 15
* **Base Attack** +3**; Combat Maneuver Bonus** +6**; Combat Maneuver Defense** 19
* **Feats** Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (claw)
* **Skills** Fly +15, Perception +11, Stealth +11, Survival +11
* **Languages** Aklo
* **Special Qualities** low metabolism, no breath, starflight, Yellow Sign affinity

### Ecology

* **Environment** any air
* **Organization** solitary, pair, or flock (3–12)
* **Treasure** standard

### Special Abilities

* **Bloodlust (Ex)** When a byakhee successfully bites a living creature, it is swiftly driven to a frenzied bloodlust. For 1 minute after it bites a target, it gains a +2 morale bonus on attack and damage rolls against that target. A byakhee has no limit as to how many simultaneous bloodlust targets it can have at any one time, but it generally focuses on the same target once its bloodlust is engaged. It also gains these bonuses on attack and damage rolls against creatures taking bleed damage from any source.
* **Low Metabolism (Ex)** While a byakhee craves blood if it hasn’t fed within the last 24 hours, it doesn’t suffer any negative effects from starvation, and it can, in theory, survive forever without drinking or feeding. It is immune to effects that induce magical starvation or thirst, yet it still seeks to drink blood whenever it can to sate its desire. Its strange metabolism and body also render it immune to critical hits, sneak attacks, and other forms of precision damage.
* **Starflight (Su)** A byakhee can survive in the void of outer space, and it flies through space at incredible speeds. Although exact travel times vary, a trip within a single solar system normally takes it 3d20 months, while a trip beyond normally takes it 3d20 years (or more, at the GM’s discretion)—provided the byakhee knows the way to its destination.
* **Yellow Sign Affinity (Ex)** A byakhee is immune to the effects of the Yellow Sign, and by concentrating, it can locate the nearest active Yellow Sign as per discern location (CL 20th). When an active Yellow Sign is visible, a byakhee gains fast healing 2 and a +4 enhancement bonus to its Dexterity. An active Yellow Sign is either one that was created by Hastur or by the Yellow Sign spell (see page 72). Inactive Yellow Signs, such as the unholy symbols carried by cultists of Hastur, do not bolster a byakhee, but these creatures generally treat those who openly wear such symbols as allies. A character who displays a Yellow Sign in this manner gains a +5 circumstance bonus on all Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate checks against a byakhee.

## Dungeons and Dragons, 5th edition, Statblock

* **Source:** Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos 5e, pg. 287
* Large aberration, chaotic evil
* **Armor Class** 15 (natural armor)
* **Hit Points** 102 (12d10 + 36)
* **Speed** 40 ft., climb 40 ft., fly 50 ft.

### Statistics

* **Strength** 17 (+3)**, Dexterity** 19 (+4)**, Constitution** 17 (+3)**, Intelligence** 9 (-1)**, Wisdom** 16 (+3)**, Charisma** 8 (-1)
* **Skills** Perception +5
* **Damage Immunities** cold, psychic, thunder
* **Condition Immunities** charmed, frightened, any other condition originating from a mind-influencing effect
* **Senses** darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
* **Languages** Aklo
* **Challenge** 4 (1,100 experience points)

### Special Abilities

* ***Accelerated Star Travel.*** The byakhee’s hune organ allows it to survive and fly in space at incredible speeds. Travel times vary, but it can generally arrive within the same solar system in 3d20 hours, or to another star system within 3d20 days.
* ***Unbreathing.*** The byakhee doesn’t need to breathe.
* ***Unknowable Form.*** The byakhee’s form cannot be grasped by sane mortals’ minds. The byakhee is considered lightly obscured by all creatures with Intelligence scores of 3 or higher that are not aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, or suffering from some form of insanity or confusion. Attack rolls by affected creatures against the byakhee have disadvantage.
* ***Void Sight.*** Magical darkness doesn’t impede the byakhee’s darkvision.

### Actions

* ***Multiattack.*** The byakhee makes two attacks: one blood drain and one with its claws.
* ***Blood Drain.*** Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 4) piercing damage and if the target is a Large or smaller creature other than a construct, elemental, or undead, it must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be grappled (escape DC 13). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the byakhee can’t use blood drain again. When the creature begins its turn grappled by the byakhee, the creature loses 8 (1d8 + 4) hit points from blood loss.
* ***Claws.*** Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage and if the target is a Large or smaller creature, it must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be grappled (escape DC 13). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the byakhee can’t claw another target. When the creature begins its turn grappled by the byakhee, the creature loses 8 (1d8 + 4) hit points from blood loss.
* ***Shriek (1/day).*** The byakhee issues a horrific shriek that penetrates both space and time. At the end of the byakhee’s turn, another byakhee is called from another place and time, appearing within 5 feet of the shrieking byakhee. It rolls initiative immediately and takes its own turns. The newly arrived byakhee cannot shriek when called this way. The called byakhee returns from whence it came after 24 hours or when it is reduced to 0 hit points.