The Smiling Thing
Fiend · Crown of Deceit
T4d10Sovereign
No one has reliably described its true form - mages with True Seeing report a tall, emaciated humanoid with smooth bronze skin and a seam where the mouth should be. It appears as the person each viewer loves most, and the illusion persists even as it attacks.
Tier 4 · Role Sovereign · Pool Vigor 10 / Vitality 26 · AC 14 · ATK +7 · Save DC 17 · Dmg d10
| Stat | Score | Mod | Die |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body | 8 | -1 | -d3 |
| Mind | 18 | +4 | d8 |
| Sense | 20 | +5 | d10 |
| Heart | 22 | +6 | d12 |
| Cunning | 20 | +5 | d10 |
| Fate | 20 | +5 | d10 |
Passives
Beloved Form
Each viewer sees the person they love or miss most, down to voice, warmth, and smell. A creature attacking it while it wears that face makes a Heart save or the blow is pulled and misses. True Seeing or its death reveals the seamed bronze thing beneath.
Death Rattle
When killed, it screams in every borrowed voice at once; each creature within 30 ft makes a Heart save or is frightened for 1 round.
Maneuvers
Embrace
After hitting a creature, it folds them into its arms: the target is grabbed, takes 1 Vigor damage at the start of each of the Smiling Thing's turns, and must make a Heart save each round or make no attempt to break free, lulled by the embrace.
Declarations
Declared in the enemy tactical window and resolved at the start of its next turn. Any Vitality it loses first forces the disruption roll: on a 1 the telegraph is lost.
Homecoming Aura
It opens its arms and the air fills with warmth, safety, and the smell of home. Each enemy within 30 ft makes a Heart save or takes 4 damage as the longing hollows it and must move toward the Smiling Thing on its next turn; on a success it takes 1 Vigor damage.
Reactions
Beloved Shield
When attacked, it turns the beloved face full on the attacker, who makes a Heart save or the attack strikes an adjacent creature of the Smiling Thing's choice instead.
Tactics
GM tactics
The Smiling Thing approaches openly, arms wide, wearing the face of whoever the strongest party member loves most. It uses Homecoming Aura to prevent initial hostility, then Embraces the most emotionally vulnerable target. It keeps the beloved face turned toward whoever swings hardest, so the blows pull or land elsewhere. Its Death Rattle ensures that even killing it comes at a terrible cost.
Running it
Rules
- Shield of Tier + Heart mod over a Vitality pool of 10 + 4 x Tier. Full Vigor at combat start; at the start of its turn it rolls 4 exploding d4s and regains 1 Vigor per 4. Dead at 0 Vigor and 0 Vitality.
- A hit rolls d10. A crit rolls two: 2d10.
- Crits on a natural 15+ (Cunning 20).
- Two or three attacks in a normal turn: multiattack is the threat scaler, and one swing a round makes it a mook.
- Sovereign: 2 Sovereign Actions a round, spent after other combatants' turns, on top of its attacks.
- Any Vitality lost while a telegraph is pending forces its disruption roll; on a 1 the telegraph is lost.
- Never checks morale: it fights to 0 Vitality or to the exit written into its lowest phase.
- NPCs never take wounds.