Nightmarchers
CREATURE 14While smooth roads remain a traveler's blessing, walking them after sunset risks nightmarcher attack. The ringing of conch shells and beating of drums herald the coming of these spirits as they walk the royal highways, unfettered by walls or barriers.
Nightmarchers react violently to those in their path. If a bystander is fortunate, an ancestor's spirit might call out to spare them. Those who refuse to show proper deference might be reduced to little more than ash on the wind come sunrise.
The troop chooses one of the squares it currently occupies and redistributes its squares to any configuration in which all squares are contiguous and within 15 feet of the chosen square. The troop can't share its space with other creatures.
Nightmarchers can detect creatures who are their kin, whether by blood or bond, as an imprecise sense. If they focus their senses on a creature by Seeking, they learn whether they are related to that creature, and how.
A constant spell affects the monster without the monster needing to cast it, and its duration is unlimited. If a constant spell gets counteracted, the monster can reactivate it by spending the normal spellcasting actions the spell requires.
90 feet. DC 31 Will
A creature that first enters the area must attempt a Will save.
Regardless of the result of the saving throw, the creature is temporarily immune to this monster's Frightful Presence for 1 minute.
Critical Success The creature is unaffected by the presence.
Success The creature is Frightened 1.
Failure The creature is Frightened 2.
Critical Failure The creature is Frightened 4.
Thresholds 160 (3 segments), 80 (2 segments)
Troops are composed of many individuals, represented by four "segments" on a battle grid. Each segment is 10 feet on each side and as tall as the individual members of the troop. Segments must remain contiguous. Each one has to share at least 5 feet of one of its edges with another segment—being adjacent on a diagonal isn't sufficient! You can measure flanking, cover, and the like using the center of any segment.
A troop has two Hit Point thresholds in its HP entry and loses segments as it crosses thresholds. Typically, the higher threshold is at 2/3 of the troop's maximum Hit Points and the lower is at 1/3 of its maximum. Once the troop drops below the higher threshold, it loses one segment, leaving three segments (12 squares) remaining and setting the first threshold as the troop's new maximum Hit Points. This repeats when the troop drops below the lower threshold, leaving two segments (8 squares). At 0 Hit Points, the troop disperses entirely, with the few remaining members surrendering, Fleeing, or easily dispatched, as determined by the GM. Typically the creature who caused the troop to lose a segment decides which to remove, or the GM decides when a specific creature wasn't responsible. To restore lost segments and maximum Hit Points, a troop needs to spend downtime to use long-term treatment on casualties or recruit new members to replace the fallen.
Troops are typically immune to non-damaging effects that target a single creature, such as a Charm spell or the Demoralize action. An ability that can target 5 or more creatures can target an entire segment, increasing to two segments if it can target 10 or more creatures and to the entire troop if it can target 20 or more creatures. An ability that affects all creatures in a certain range affects all segments in range (make any checks or saves separately for each segment). As examples, an 8th rank charm spell (with 10 targets) can affect two segments, and an ability that Demoralizes all creatures within 30 feet of you would affect all segments that are fully within that range. A non-damaging ability that would prevent a segment from acting, cause them to flee, or otherwise make them unable to function as part of the troop for a round or more removes the segment entirely. The troop loses a number of HP required to bring it to the next threshold. If an ability both deals damage and has a non-damaging effect, apply the damage then the rest of the effect.
Heat scorches those who lay eyes on the nightmarchers. All creatures in a 60-foot cone take 15d6 fire damage (DC 34 basic Reflex save).
Prone creatures and the nightmarchers' kin are unaffected as long as they have not taken a hostile action against the nightmarchers.
The nightmarchers can't use Blazing Admonition for 1d4 rounds.
The nightmarchers fling a hail of spears and stones, dealing 5d6+9 damage to creatures in a 10-foot burst within 20 feet (DC 31 basic Reflex save).
When the nightmarchers are reduced to 8 or fewer squares, this decreases to a 5-foot burst.
to
2d6+2 damage
4d6+12 damage
6d6+12 damage
Whenever the nightmarchers Stride, they first Form Up as a free action to condense into a 20-foot-by-20-foot area (minus any missing squares), then move. This works just like a Gargantuan creature moving; for instance, if any of the nightmarchers' squares enter difficult terrain, the extra movement cost applies to the whole group.