Thread Severer - CR17 Construct
It's been so long since I tasted battle...
Artwork by NishatIDK on Zedge.
Thread Severer is an intelligent magic weapon that yearns for honorable combat. An ancient samurai's spirit was sealed inside this blade as a dying curse when an oni took the samurai's sword and killed him with it.
This works as a standalone boss, but if your PCs are really high level you could use it as a minion alongside a blade-wielding boss.
The weapon itself, after being defeated, is a +2 flying shock katana that has the Purified Steel ability listed below, and for which the blade itself (but not the wielder) is protected by a constant lightning shield spell. It has a caster level of 16 and a strong evocation and transmutation aura, due to the flying and shock properties. It can't be crafted and refuses to be sold, but for the game-balancing purposes of calculating a PC's wealth, you can treat it as if it were worth 134050 gp (the same as a +8 mithral katana).
As an intelligent item, it has stats of Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 10, has an Ego of 18, and its purpose is to battle honorably. It has darkvision and lifesense to a distance of 120 ft, and can understand and speak with the languages listed in its stat block. It's of lawful neutral alignment, and can inflict 1 negative level on wielders of other alignments, but it suppresses this ability against those who defeated it. It will force its wielder to make a DC 18 Will save any time they attempt to talk a foe down from combat, and if the wielder fails, Thread Severer becomes dominant for 1 day or until a critical situation occurs, typically compelling its wielder to challenge any apparent foe to honorable battle.
Fun fact, you can use a sunder maneuver during a bladed dash spell. Sunder maneuvers against magic weapons are generally a pretty bad idea compared to disarming or just killing the creature holding them, but considering that this monster is an intelligent magic weapon who is presumably interested in proving its superiority, I think a sunder maneuver is perfectly fitting. And it's a nice way to inflict a longer-term effect on the players that they might not be able to immediately fix just by sleeping for a day.
XP 102,400 LN small construct Init +7 Senses darkvision 120 ft., lifesense 120 ft., low-light vision.; Perception +20
DEFENSE
AC 27, touch 23, flat-footed 19 (+4 deflection, +7 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 natural, +1 size) hp 147 (18d10+48); force field (80 hp, fast healing 16) Fort +12, Ref +17, Will +14 Defensive Abilities enhanced deflection, hardness 14 (only when force field depleted) Immune construct traits Resist electricity 50%
OFFENSE
Speed fly 50 ft. (perfect), swim 50 ft. Melee (defensive stance) +2 katana +30/+25/+20 (1d8+12/18–20 plus 1d6 electricity) Melee (offensive stance) +2 katana +30/+25/+20 (1d8+17/18–20 plus 1d6 electricity)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 15; concentration +15) Constant—lightning shield At will—greater bladed dash 1/day—greater bestow curse (target cannot recover hit points) (DC 18)
STATISTICS
Str 30, Dex 25, Con —, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 10 Base Atk +18; CMB +27 (+33 sunder); CMD 43 (45 vs. sunder, cannot be tripped) Feats Arcane Strike (+4), Combat Expertise (see Wielderless Stance text), Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Great Fortitude, Greater Sunder, Improved Sunder, Iron Will, Mobility, Power Attack (see Wielderless Stance text), Sidestep (see Wielderless Stance text), Toughness Skills Acrobatics +25, Fly +38, Knowledge (history) +20, Perception +20, Swim +18 SQ katana attacks, wielderless stance Languages Common, Draconic, Giant
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Challenge (Ex) Once per day, Thread Severer can challenge a foe to combat, as a samurai. It gains a +9 bonus to damage rolls against that foe, but takes a -2 penalty to AC against creatures other than the target of its challenge. The challenge remains in effect until the target is dead or unconscious, or until the combat ends.
Enhanced Deflection (Su) It gains a deflection bonus to AC and a resistance bonus to all saving throws equal to twice its weapon enhancement bonus (+4). These bonuses are already included in its statistics.
Force Field (Su) Thread Severer is protected as though by a technological force field, granting it 80 temporary hit points. These temporary hit points regenerate via fast healing by 16 each round to a maximum of 80. When the force field's hit points are depleted, it ceases fast healing, but the force field is not destroyed and continues to regenerate temporary hit points via fast healing each round until Thread Severer is defeated. While the force field has at least 1 hit point, Thread Severer is immune to critical hits. The force field is automatically reduced to 0 hp by disintegration effects. This is a force effect.
Thread Severer's hardness does not apply until its force field is depleted. If an attack fully depletes the force field's hit points, excess damage is dealt to Thread Severer, but is reduced by its hardness.
Katana Strikes (Su) Thread Severer is considered to be a +2 shock katana sized for a Medium creature, which affects its attack bonus, damage, hit points, and hardness. It effectively wields itself in combat, making katana attacks instead of natural weapon attacks.
Purified Steel (Ex) Thread Severer's attacks counts as silver.
Wielderless Stance (Ex) Thread Severer can shift between an offense stance and a defensive stance. While in its offensive stance, its attacks are treated as two-handed katana attacks, and it gains Power Attack as a bonus feat. While in its one-handed stance, its attacks are treated as one-handed katana attacks, and it gains Combat Expertise and Sidestep as bonus feats. Shifting stances is a free action that Thread Severer can choose to do at the beginning of its turn.
