Undead Cannibal Pygmies

OK. So here's a little monster I asked Adam Daigle to make me. See, I felt Razor Coast lacked one thing: undead cannibal pygmies. That one missing thing left Razor Coast less than perfect. I had a concept, but my hands were full; so, I asked Adam to help. In addition to the monsters, he created magic items: an artifact cookpot, a septum fetish and a shrunken head. All magical. Here's some of what he invented for Razor Coast. ~Lou Agresta

ANTHROPOPHAGI (FAH-JEE)
“Do we dare grant them humanity, these shrunken fiends who devour man’s flesh, by calling them cannibals?” – Alexandre Grevo

Though more civilized races call these foul creatures anthropophagi, most of the Razor Coast knows and fears them by their shortened moniker – the fah-jee. As Grevo translated, fah-jee self-identify as “People Who Beat the Grave”.

Some sages claim cannibal tribes feasting on undead flesh gave rise to the first fah-jee by dark happenstance, while other experts claim the existence of complex and wicked incantations that transform entire aboriginal tribes into these savage undead abominations. Whatever the original cause, today’s fah-jee populate – and often swiftly depopulate – isolated jungle islands, particularly among the Pearl Eye Atoll, the Darkols and other archipelagos of the Razor. Always a threat to ships taking shelter in their jungle-lined bays, fah-jee also leave these island sanctuaries to raid neighboring peoples for fresh bodies to twist, modify and induct into their undead community. Recent whispers tell tales of humans who seek out the anthropophagi to learn their secret rituals of undeath and transform themselves into fah-jee. If the fah-jee do not simply eat them, these converts become respected additions to the tribe and the fah-jee hunas (shamans) claim them as omens from the whispering gods.

Fah-jee pride themselves on their undeath, often performing strange rites of passage wherein they prove their ability to live chained to the bottom of the sea, consume foul poisons or fast for eternity. Anthropophagus hunas – the chiefs of the tribes – claim the passage into undeath is the surest way to escape the grave. To create its tribe, the fah-jee hunas butchers living creatures, boils them in a necromantic iron cooking pot and stitches the shrunken pieces back together, mixing dozens of different parts throughout individual bodies. Sages who have studied the fah-jee and escaped with their lives claim the hunas regard this mixing of body parts as a religious sacrament representing the essential equality and unity of undeath.

Fah-jee
Short in stature and long in savagery, this small primitive humanoid reeks of death. A too-wide mouth, choked with filed teeth, splits the creature’s face.

FAH-JEE CR 3
XP 800
NE Small undead
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +8
DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+2 Dex, +3 natural, +1 size)
hp 30 (4d8+12)
Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +5
Immune undead traits
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +7 (1d6+3 plus latch), slam +6 (1d3+2)
Special Attacks latch
STATISTICS
Str 14, Dex 15, Con —, Int 11, Wis 13, Cha 16
Base Atk +3; CMB +5 (+9 grapple); CMD 18 (22 vs. grapple)
Feats Defensive Combat Training, Weapon Focus (bite)
Skills Acrobatics +5, Climb +8, Intimidate +8, Perception +8, Stealth +13
Languages Common, Tulita
SQ savage bite
ECOLOGY
Environment jungle
Organization solitary, pair, band (3–10), or tribe (12–24 plus one Fah-jee hunas)
Treasure standard
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Latch (Ex) With its oversized, detachable jaws, a fah-jee can lock itself onto a foe and grapple the victim. The fah-jee receives a +4 bonus on checks to grapple an opponent and a +4 bonus to its Combat Maneuver Defense when the victim attempts to break the grapple. In addition, when fah-jee assist in a grapple, they provide a +4 bonus (instead of the normal +2) to the fah-jee who first initiated the grapple. Finally, fah-jee grapple as though they were one size category larger than they actually are.
Savage Bite (Ex) A fah-jee’s jaws are powerful and deadly, and as such, the creature’s bite damage is increased as if it were one size larger. In addition, the fah-jee can latch onto its victim as a swift action on a successful bite attack.

Tactics: Fah-jee always hunt in packs, swarming along the jungle under its darkened canopy, raiding nearby villages or defending their territory from aggressors. Considering their small size, fah-jee use numbers to their advantage and know their chieftains can always add to those numbers by creating new members of the tribe. Fah-jee in combat are fast and headstrong, fully confident they can take down any opponent. The strongest fah-jee in the group attacks first, using its latch ability. As soon as it is grappling the opponent with its strong jaws, other fah-jee join the struggle. The creatures remain latched onto their victim until the creature expires.

Fah-jee stand just under 3 feet tall. Withered and dry, their compact bodies weigh between 20 and 40 pounds.

Fah-jee Huna
A tattered headdress adorns the skull of this withered humanoid. Teeth filed to points fill a wide mouth stretching from ear to ear. Festooned in animal bones, dangling bits of dried flesh and vine, it is hard to tell where the creature’s dead skin ends and its foul jewelry begins.

FAH-JEE HUNAS CR 5
XP 1,600
NE Small undead
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +15
DEFENSE
AC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 16 (+2 Dex, +5 natural, +1 size)
hp 59 (7d8+28)
Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +8
Immune undead traits
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +8 (1d6+1 plus bleed and latch), slam +7 (1d3+1)
Special Attacks bleed (1d4), latch
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th; concentration +12)
At will⎯bleed (DC 14), cause fear (DC 14), detect magic, inflict light wounds (DC 14), message, pass without trace
3/day⎯greater magic fang, inflict moderate wounds (DC 16), shield, speak with dead (DC 17), spectral hand, vampiric touch
1/day⎯bestow curse (DC 17), desecrate, poison (DC 18), tiny hut
STATISTICS
Str 13, Dex 15, Con —, Int 15, Wis 16, Cha 18
Base Atk +5; CMB +6 (+10 grapple); CMD 20 (24 vs. grapple)
Feats Alertness, Combat Casting, Defensive Combat Training, Weapon Focus (bite)
Skills Acrobatics +7, Climb +8, Intimidate +14, Perception +15, Sense Motive +13, Spellcraft +12, Stealth +16
Languages Abyssal, Common, Tulita
SQ create spawn, savage bite
ECOLOGY
Environment jungle
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure standard
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Create Spawn (Su) When a fah-jee hunas kills a living humanoid of Medium size or smaller with its bite attack (or when using its latch ability), it may prepare the body to be transformed into a fah-jee. A fah-jee hunas must begin the process within 1d4 days of killing its victim. While some suspect other forms exist, a fah-jee hunas can create either a fah-jee, a fah-jee hunas, or a fah-jee totem warrior. A fah-jee hunas can create up to 4 Hit Dice of fah-jee undead each day; each Hit Dice worth of a creature created takes one hour of butchering, boiling and reassembling the pieces to suit the desired form. Any creation must be finished within a week’s time or the hunas’s effort collapses in a pile of putrescence. Once finished, the newly created fah-jee can act on its own accord, yet created fah-jee show great reverence to their creator and often form tribes around the fah-jee hunas.
Latch (Ex) With its oversized, detachable jaws, a fah-jee can lock itself onto a foe and grapple the victim. The fah-jee receives a +4 bonus on checks to grapple an opponent and a +4 bonus to its Combat Maneuver Defense when the victim attempts to break the grapple. In addition, when fah-jee assist in a grapple, they provide a +4 bonus (instead of the normal +2) to the fah-jee who first initiated the grapple. Finally, fah-jee grapple as though they were one size category larger than they actually are.
Savage Bite (Ex) A fah-jee’s jaws are powerful and deadly, as such, the creature’s bite damage is increased as if it were one size larger. In addition, the fah-jee can latch onto its victim as a swift action.

Notes: Fah-jee hunas hold sway over their tribe not only as leaders and tyrants, but also as their creators. Ordinary fah-jee tribesmen see their creator, in the flesh, every day. Without the fah-jee hunas, the tribe would not be. Fah-jee hunas use their ability to manufacture undead and their powerful cookpots to expand the tribe, spawning more fah-jee hunas and forging fah-jee totem warriors or other variants. As a rule Hunas despise the creation of mindless undead, but if forced to it they will raise zombies, skeletons, and the like in defense of their tribe. Once the threat passes, the entire fah-jee tribe turns on their undead assistants and slaughters them.

Fah-jee hunas claim to hear the dead whispering from the night sky, often claiming atmospheric disturbances and weather patterns reflect the mood of the dead. The hunas follow the movements of the stars and other celestial bodies closely, interpreting heavenly perorations as messages from their alien gods beyond the stars – messages the dead alone hear before whispering them to the hunas. When sky-listening, fah-jee hunas enter a form of trance divination, sometimes abetted by chewing the hallucinogenic residue that cakes their unwashed cook pots. The hunas claim this trance opens them to the whispering spirits. Later, minds awash in the incoherent and inconceivable ramblings of their trances, the hunas interpret and relate the whispers to the tribe. Some sages report that fah-jee hunas blame any failures in the predictive value of the sky whispers on the failure of the dead to properly carry the word of the star gods.

While under trance, the strongest warrior in the tribe wears the huna’s headdress and acts in its stead. Fah-jee hunas claim that during the trance ritual a portion of their psyche leaves their body and transfers to the warrior, temporarily transforming the warrior into a true huna. True or not, reports indicate the chosen warriors act as if they were true hunas, and Grevo reports witnessing elevated warriors employing hunas abilities. A tribe usually supports only one huna, though Grevo also reports an obscene alliance of husband and wife hunas leading his study group. Of course, since Grevo vanished into the Pearl Eye Atolls with the avowed intent of becoming a fah-jee, his testimony remains suspect.

Fah-jee hunas stand just under 3 feet tall and their withered frame weighs between 20 and 40 pounds.

Fah-jee Totem Warrior
This tower of body parts reeks of death, the stench filling the jungle. A massive stack of arms, legs, torsos, and dangling viscera looms above. Embedded within this tower of flesh, at least three stacked heads rotate wetly in place, eye different foes, gnash pointed teeth or shout battle cries. The totem warrior waves its amalgam of stitched arms, slamming opponents and bathing them in gore.

FAH-JEE TOTEM WARRIOR CR 9
XP 6,400
NE Large undead
Init -1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +20
DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 8, flat-footed 16 (-1 Dex, +8 natural, -1 size)
hp 110 (13d8+52)
Fort +8, Ref +3, Will +9
DR 10/good; Immune undead traits; SR 20
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.
Melee 4 slams +13 (1d8+5 plus grab)
Ranged fling +7 (1d6+5 plus disease)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks bathed in blood, disease, fling
STATISTICS
Str 20, Dex 9, Con —, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 18
Base Atk +9; CMB +15; CMD 24
Feats Alertness, Blind-Fight, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Overrun, Point–Blank Shot, Power Attack, Precise Shot
Skills Intimidate +8, Perception +20
ECOLOGY
Environment jungle
Organization solitary
Treasure none
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Bathed in Blood (Ex) A regularly fed fah-jee totem warrior stores blood and other mortal juices within its massive body. Every 1d4 rounds, as a standard action a fah-jee totem warrior can erupt in a fountain of blood, bathing all creatures within 15 feet in slippery red ichor. Any creatures in this area must succeed on a DC 17 Reflex save or fall prone. This spray of gore remains slick afterwards, requiring affected creatures to make a DC 15 Acrobatics check every round to move normally within the area. Affected creatures can spend a full-round action to clean themselves off, drawing an attack of opportunity but permitting them to move normally within the area thereafter. Fah-jee totem warriors are unaffected by their own ability, but other fah-jee remain vulnerable to the slick, gruesome mess. The save DC is Dexterity–based
Disease (Ex) Fah-jee rot: Fling—injury; save Fort DC 20; onset 1d2 days; frequency 1/day; effect 1d6 Con and 1d6 Cha damage; cure 4 consecutive saves. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Fling (Ex) A fah-jee totem warrior can rend rotten parts from its body – wriggling arms, kicking legs, mummified heads, and other viscera – and throw them at its enemies as weapons. As a full-round action, a fah-jee totem warrior can make three ranged touch attacks at a range of 90 feet with no range increment. Each attack deals 1d6+5 points of damage and the creature struck risks contracting fah-jee rot.

Notes: This horrid creation serves as both a revered member of the fah-jee tribe and its best protection. Fah-jee totem warriors are only found at the center of a fah-jee tribe’s village. Composed of dozens, sometimes hundreds, of different body parts, fah-jee totem warriors represent the pinnacle of tribe’s passage into the unity of undeath. Fah-jee totem warriors reek of slaughter and rot. Their scent blows through the trees near fah-jee villages, warning living creatures away lest they end up in a fah-jee cookpot.

Tactics: Slow to move, fah-jee totem warriors usually let their enemies come to them. They rely on their many slam attacks to bludgeon and grapple foes and enjoy ripping enemies apart if possible. Against clever foes who keep their distance, fah-jee totem warriors tear their own limbs and non-functional heads from their towering body and pelt invaders. Fah-jee totem warriors display a basic animal intelligence. They follow the orders of their fah-jee hunas with unswerving dedication, though the hunas must be extremely clear in its commands.

Leaking gore and glaring down on all who surround them, fah-jee totem warriors are twice as easy to detect by scent as a standard fah-jee. Fah-jee totem warriors stand 12 feet tall and weigh upwards of 1,500 pounds.

Fah-jee Variants
Fah-jee possess an impressive understanding of their undead bodies and frequently perform modification rituals to enhance their dead flesh with parts from non-human creatures. Apply the following two variants to ordinary fah-jee and fah-jee hunas only, as the fah-jee totem warrior is itself a modification.

Aquatic Fah-jee Flippers from a sea turtle or the sweeping fins of a shark replace arms or legs in this mash-up of humanoid body parts and chunks of whichever creatures swim near fah-jee infested islands. To make an aquatic fah-jee, give the creature a swim speed of 40 ft. The fah-jee gains the aquatic subtype. This modification does not increase the base creature’s CR.

Brachiating Fah-jee Using the long arms of monkeys and apes, fah-jee hunas modify some members of their tribes to better hunt the jungle canopy. To make a brachiating fah-jee, give the creature a climb speed equal to its current land speed. If ape arms are used, increase the damage for the creature’s slam attack to 1d4. This modification does not increase the base creature’s CR.

In addition to these two common modifications, GMs may create more aggressive modifications by using the giant simple template or the advanced simple template. This method works best for a quick variant, but fah-jee typically advance by taking class levels, with warrior NPC levels the most common. Fah-jee hunas never allow fah-jee tribesmen to pursue spellcasting classes, and fah-jee tribesmen who do follow that path face death, their bodies torn apart and embedded in totem warriors or other abominations.