Succubus (Hastur.Net)

Succubus
Characteristics
Alignment	Generally Evil
Type	Shapeshifting Fiend (Succubus)
Stats	Hastur.Net
Publication history
Source books	Hastur.Net
First appearance	Hastur.Net
Mythological origins	Succubus

For other uses of the word Succubus, see Succubus (disambiguation).

Succubi are a type of creature that appears in the d20 Modern Horror role playing game at the Hastur.Net role playing game site. The d20 Modern Horror role playing game is described as being similar to the World of Darkness role playing game without the angst.

Description

A succubus (pl. succubi) or succuba (pl. succubae) is a shapeshifting fiend. All succubi are female, though many have the ability to shapeshift into male form. Although their true forms are obviously demonic, they are still strangely attractive—and most mortals never see their true form, but only one of the idealized humanoid disguises. Less oriented toward physical combat than other demons, succubi are still powerful creatures with many abilities at their disposal.

Succubus Origins

There are two main kinds of succubi, the succubi spawn and the umbrood succubi. The latter are true fiends, originating somewhere deep in the shadow world, and are immortal and immensely powerful. Like most fiends they find our world an inhospitable place, and few reside here for long. While they do, they spread dissent, empower the wicked, and seduce the innocent. They do this both for sport and amusement, and to replenish their demonic energies. When these energies finally run out, they discorporate, presumably to return to their origin.

Some of the umbrood succubi have the ability to spawn, by transforming humans into succubi. They are the umbrood mothers. Spawn are much weaker than true succubi, but still very powerful. More significantly, most spawn retain enough of their previous personality and memories to be able to relate to humans, and interact with them in some other capacity than as prey. Powerful spawn can eventually learn most abilities of the umbrood, including the ability to spawn themselves. Thus, succubi families are created.

Population

There could be any number succubi in their native realm, but no one knows for sure. Only a few have made it to Earth, never more than a dozen umbrood succubi in the whole world at any one time. Spawned succubi are of course more common, but still no more than a few thousand.

Relations

Succubi have a superb ability to blend in the local human population, and have few real disadvantages. This helps them keep under the radar of most of the supernatural population. No hunters target them specifically, and to keep it that way most prefer not to mingle with supernaturals.

Spawned succubi might not even be aware that supernaturals exist, but this is rare. Sooner or later, every hunting succubus will encounter a hunting vampire, being after the same prey.

Reproduction

A succubus with the Create Spawn ability can reproduce by transforming (spawning) humans into younger (approximately teen-equivalent) succubi. If more than one or two succubi are encountered at once, they are certain to have been created in this way. Spawning is fast and can be done repeatedly in a short time-frame. Humans with weak personalities lose their previous selves when converted, and form a new one that roughly reflects that of their mother. Others retain memories, skills, and basic traits, but it is impossible to go through such a change completely unchanged.

In their native realm they lack humans to convert, and reproduce through some other unknown method.

Sexual reproduction with human males is not possible, but an incubus can impregnate a human female. The child always have some fiendish traits, depending on the power of the father.

Loners

The vast majority of succubi that make it to Earth are loners, either outcasts or explorers of the wonderful playground that is Earth. To a lone succubus, the world is truly her oyster. Vast numbers of willing prey, modern entertainments, and good food make life on Earth a party. Succubi tend to gravitate to high society, where they drain life and money from the rich and famous.

Broods

The basic unit of succubi society is the brood. It is a brood mother, or a mated pair of mothers, and their children and created spawns. A brood functions as a tight-knit family, with members that usually love each other even if they were originally converted to succubi against their will. This is a function of the conversion process, which resets the emotional state of the newly created succubus to that of a young child. Like any child, she cannot help but to love her mother and sisters. After an acclimatization process that sometimes is as short as a month, the youngling will become more independent, but unless she is severely mistreated, the family bonds remain for the rest of her life.

Language

The succubus native tongue is called Abyssal by human scholars. It is an agglutinative language without a native written form. Ancient Abyssal had some glyphs for key concepts, but these were used more like road signs are used today, as markers.

Real writing was introduced two millenia ago with some converted Roman scholars that were brought back into the shadow. Thus, all writings by umbrood succubi are in Latin. Spawned succubi are usually unable to read or write Latin, but then again they can't speak Abyssal either.

Since it was adopted, their version of the Roman alphabet has become influenced by the script known as Draconic, and looks quite different from human norms. This difference is just skin deep, like a child's cipher that exchanges letters 1-for-1 with symbols. In addition, it only affects the cursive forms used in hand writing.

Template

This template only applies to spawned succubi. The umbrood mothers are significantly more powerful, not created with a template, and too alien in outlook.

In their natural form, succubi are voluptuous females with striking coloration and features, as well as some demonic parts. The demonic parts varies in size and obviousness, and occasionally one of them is missing altogether.

All succubi have horns at the temples, or rarely a single horn in the forehead. The horns are small, useless for combat, often concealable with the right haircut, and very sensitive in an erogenous way. Nails are long and sharp enough to do lethal damage, but not enough to give actual claw attacks.

The eyes are sometimes slit like a cat's, without whites, without pupils, or just of an unusual colour, such as red, purple, or leaf-green. The ears can be pointed elf-style, or normal. Skin tends to be very pale, and perhaps tinted blue or green, or a darker and more vivid orange/red. As they gain power, many develop skin patterns resembling arcane tattoos, iridiscent scales, or both.

They have a pair of wings mounted fairly high on the back. These are usually in the demonic/lizard style, but angelic/feathered wings are not uncommon. The wing size varies from small decorative appendages, to large and capable of gliding flight. Flight-capable wings are too large to be hidden under clothing.

Most also succubi sport a tail with a spade-like tip, while only a rare few have cloven hoofs or talons instead of feet.

Template Traits

Succubus is a bestowed template that can be added to any human, except to a mage. It is gained when another succubus uses its Create Spawn ability.

• Type: Shapeshifting fiend.

• Size: Medium, as before.

• Speed: As before. Succubi with large wings also have a gliding speed of 50 feet (10 squares).

• Ability Modifiers: +2 Dexterity and +2 Charisma. Succubi are lithe and very charming.

• Advancement: Advancement is by class, and usually include levels in the malkuth class.

• Allegiance: Lust, or more rarely Pride/Vanity, Greed, or Envy. As fiends, this primary allegiance is an integral part of their being, and cannot be eliminated. In addition, each succubus starts with an allegiance to her "mother".

• Taint: Succubi have a permanent corruption score equal to 2 + one-half their Charisma, rounded down. They tend to collect depravity like candy.

Special Qualities

• Alien Metabolism (Ex): You are immune to normal poison and disease.

• Consume Foe (Su): If you spend a full round flat-footed ripping a freshly killed foe open and eating his entrails (mainly the heart and liver), you get an immediate free Second Wind. To benefit, you must be below half hit points, and you cannot have used a Second Wind previously in the same encounter.

• Energy Drain (Su): If you have sex with a human, you give him (or her) a -1 persistent condition, as you drain some of his life energies and leave him exhausted. If 48 hours pass in which you leave him alone, the condition is removed. Otherwise the condition worsens one step with each consecutive day, so that the victim becomes unconscious after 5 days. Once unconscious, the victim must make a Constitution check to wake up, just as if he had become unconscious from damage. You get an action point every time you kill a victim this way. If the situation permits, you can use this ability on several victims at once.

• Fangs (Ex): You have extendable fangs that deal 1d4 + 1/2 your Strength modifier damage. You can only bite a grappled or helpless target.

• Innate Power (Ex): Each time you get to pick a talent in a class (including the Malkuth class), you may pick a talent from the Bloodline Talent Tree that matches your primary allegiance (for most succubi, that is the Lust Talent Tree).

• Transcendent Beauty (Ex): You can reroll Persuasion and Deception skill checks in any situation where sex appeal could apply (which is most of them). You must use the second roll even if it is worse, unless you have another ability that also grants a reroll. In that case, you can roll twice and take the best roll.

Weaknesses

• Bane: A bane may be a substance, a condition or even a word. Some demons cannot stand the touch of salt, or rum or silver. Some cannot cross water, or bear the light of the full moon or see their reflections in mirrors. Some grow nauseous at the sound of the word “yellow”, or weaken at hearing “molecule” or collapse in pain when someone shouts “Belgium.” Using a bane against a vulnerable demon gives it a persistent condition for 10 minutes. The condition's severity depends on the bane: a common bane imposes a –1 condition, uncommon –2, and rare –3. The bane always has some kind of visible effect on the demon.

• Energy Vampire: While outside the shadow world, you cannot fully replenish your demonic energies. Each day, you must use one of your Consume Foe or Energy Drain abilities. If you don't, you get a –1 persistent condition. After two days abstinence, you have a –2 condition, and after four days a –4 condition. It does not get worse after that.

Malkuth

Malkuth is the lowest Sephirah, the realm of the earth, into which all the divine energy flows, and in which the divine plan is worked out. The material world, and all of its pleasures, is the ultimate seductress, and can lead to materialism unbalanced by the spirituality of the higher spheres. Malkuth is a power class for succubi. Succubi converted with the Create Spawn ability typically have at least two levels of this class.

• Hit Die: You gain 1d6 + your Constitution modifier hit points each time you attain a level in this class.

• Defenses: Your class defense bonuses are +2 Fortitude, +2 Reflex, and +2 Will.

• Class Skills: The malkuth class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Art (Int), Concentration (Con), Deception (Cha), Initiative (Dex), Metaphysics (Int), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Persuasion (Cha), Ride (Wis), Stealth (Dex).

Table: Malkuth Class

Class Level	Base Attack	Class Features
1	+½	Alternate Form, Talent
2	+1½	Shifter, Talent
3	+2	+2 Cha, Bonus Feat
4	+3	Create Spawn, Talent
5	+3½	Shifter, Talent
6	+4½	+2 Con, Bonus Feat
7	+5	Slow Aging, Talent
8	+6	Shifter, Talent
9	+6½	+2 Cha, Bonus Feat
10	+7½	Ageless, Talent

• Trained Skills: 5 + Int modifier.

• Starting Feats: Simple Weapons Proficiency.

Ability Score Changes

The indicated ability score increases by the amount noted. These changes are cumulative.

Alternate Form

You have one alternate humanoid form from Small to Medium size per class level. Your first alternate form is always an idealized version of your previous form. Unless you have Hermaphromorph, it is always female, even if you were once male. It is of a specific age, unless you have Any Age.

To make a perfect-in-every-detail copy of someone, you must have intimate relations with your target. You do not have to select an alternate form immediately that you gain a level.

Talents

At 1st level, and again at 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, and 10th level, you may choose a talent from one of these talent trees.

Fiendish Body Talent Tree

None of these talents can be used while in one of your alternate forms.

• Claws: You gain claws on each hand. These claws can be extendable fingernails, blades of translucent force, cat claws, or even huge scythes extending from your forearms. You decide on one claw type when you first pick this talent. The claws are not visible when not in use. They count as light weapons. Force claws do 1d4 + your Strength modifier force damage. Physical claws, regardless of shape, do 1d8 + your Strength bonus slashing damage. While using your claws, you can reroll Athletics checks made to climb.

• Damage Reduction I: Most of your wounds don't bleed, and heal quickly. You gain damage reduction 5/iron or 5/silver. Which one you get depends on your lineage.

• Damage Reduction II: Your damage reduction improves to 10/magic iron or 10/magic silver.

Requirement: Damage Reduction I, one other talent from the Fiendish Body Talent Tree.

• Darkvision: You ignore total Concealment due to darkness within 60 feet, and all partial Concealment due to darkness.

• Energy Resistance: You gain the ability to ignore 1 point per class level of damage from some energy-based attacks. You can pick 4 energies out of acid, cold, death, electricity, fire, mental, and sonic. You can pick electricity and fire twice, for 2 points resistance per level. You can choose this quality twice.

• Flight: Your wings are strong enough to fly with a speed of 60 feet (12 squares) and good maneuverability. If you normally have small wings, they expand when in use.

• Poison Resistance: You have a +5 bonus to Fortitude defense against poison, and always take half poison damage, rounded down.

• Tail: You can use your spaded tail to attack for 1d4 + your Strength bonus slashing damage. If you are flanked or in a grapple, you can make an extra attack with your tail as a swift action.

Fiendish Mind Talent Tree

• Breech Barrier: You can pass through solid objects, like a ghost. As a move action, you can pass through 1 square (5 feet) of solid wood, plaster, sand, or stone for each action point you spend. If the barrier contains sheet metal (not just reinforcing bars), it costs an additional action point. You must end your move outside the barrier, or you will be forcibly discorporated until a friendly mage can give you a new body (by using the Create and Summon arcana).

Requirement: Int 13.

• Breech Space: As a move action that costs an action point, you travel instantly to another location. You can bring along objects and creatures, as long as their weight don't exceed your medium load. If you are unfamiliar with the target location, you must make a Wisdom check to successfully teleport (Studied carefully, DC 20; Seen casually, DC 25; Viewed once, DC 30). If you fail the check, you remain at your initial position.

Requirement: Int 13, Breech Barrier.

Shapeshifter Talent Tree

• Adjustable Form: You can, as a move action, make minor adjustments to your current form. You can do things like change eye or hair color, hair length and style, adjust bust size, and change length and weight by up to 10%. These adjustments last until you next change shape.

• Adjustable Garments: Your shapeshifting powers extend to you clothes. You can make the same kind of adjustments to whatever you are wearing, as Adjustable Form allows you to do to yourself.

• Any Age: In any and all of your forms, you may appear to be any age, from before the onset of puberty up to old age and decrepitude as experienced by members of whatever species you're currently masquerading as. This does not affect your abilities or other scores in any way. It takes a move action to make the change.

• Any Form: You can assume the form of any human you see, or imagine (but it must be a female unless you have Hermaphromorph). The change requires a full-round action, and lasts up to 5 minutes per Malkuth level. During this time, you may use your Any Form ability as many times as you like, provided you don't return to your natural form. When the duration is up, or when you return to your natural form, you must spend twice the time spent in Any Form (but no less than 10 minutes) in your natural form. Just as with your normal Alternate Form ability, you can only make an exact copy of someone with whom you've had sex.

Requirements: Adjustable Form, Any Age.

• Hermaphromorph: Each of your alternate forms gets a male version. The resemblance between the male and female versions of the same form is strong, but not unnaturally so. Onlookers will assume your forms are siblings. You can copy a male exactly in the same way you would copy a female, in which case that male form gets a female version. A male succubus is known as an incubus. When male, you can impregnate human females with your fiendish spawn, though it requires an action point.

• Integral Garments: You can form clothing directly out of your body. These clothes look and feel normal, but are a part of you, and cannot be removed. Since you are in fact naked, you receive no protection or other normal bonus for wearing clothes. You can change or reabsorb them as a move action.

Requirements: Adjustable Form, Adjustable Garments.

Temptress Talent Tree

• Confess: Once per encounter, you can convince a mortal to tell you her secrets. You speak a few words and make a Persuasion check. If you equal or exceed her Will defense, she tells you things she would normally keep secret. Exactly what depends on your words and actions while using this talent. If you were talking about fear, she tells you her fears, etc. The target gets +5 to her Will defense if she considers you her enemy, and a further +5 if you have been violent to her within the past day. You can continue to use this talent in consecutive rounds, making a new Persuasion check each time. The target gets a cumulative +1 bonus to Will defense for each round after the first.

• Creation: You get access to the Create arcana, enabling you to "fulfill wishes" for the material-minded, and to create things for your own use.

Requirement: Tantric Magic.

• Fiend's Favor: Once per day, you can touch a target to grant a +4 bonus to any one of that human's ability scores. This bonus stacks with any other bonuses the target may have (except other uses of this talent), and lasts for one day. When the effect expires, the target takes a -4 penalty to the same ability for one day. You can reapply Fiend's Favor to negate the penalty and grant the full bonus. Most target's find this talent to be quite addictive. You can pick this talent more than once, each time gaining the ability to grant your favor to another creature once per day.

• Infernal Pact: You can make a pact with a willing, informed human. By giving him something he wants (money, superhuman strength, sex, death of an enemy), you get a deed to his soul, mystically inscribed in a jewel upon which the pact is sworn.

In order to uphold your part of the pact, you can use yourself, any of your normal powers, your personal wealth, and one of these gifts:

• Grant +4 to one ability score.
• Grant +5 to one skill.
• Grant +10 hit points.
• Grant darkvision.
• Temporarily cure a disease or suspend a physical drawback.

Unless you mutually agree to something else, the target doesn't have to do anything special to uphold his part of the pact. The target cannot break the pact, while you can break it at any time. Killing or otherwise attempting direct harm to the target breaks the pact.

As long as the target lives, you gain an action point each week, and your maximum action point capacity increases by one. Once the target dies, part of his soul is trapped in the jewel. It is of no value to you, but some mages collect souls and might be willing to pay or bargain for it.

The mortal immediately loses two points of Wisdom upon swearing the pact. Mortals can have only one pact each, while you may have one active pact per point of Charisma bonus.

• Summoning: You get access to the Summon arcana. You can summon anything (within your power), as long as it is required to fulfill a pact or bargain. Creatures you summon for your own use must have the "demonic" template.

Requirement: Tantric Magic.

• Tantric Magic: You have a natural flair for tantric magic. You gain the Tantric Magic tradition feat without having to meet any other prerequisites.

• Thrallsight: You can project your consciousness and senses to any human with which you have an Infernal Pact. Distance is not a factor, and it is always successful unless some magic against scrying interferes. The thrall is not aware of your presence, unless you make yourself known by whispering into his mind. The effect lasts for as long as you concentrate.

Requirement: Infernal Pact.

• Thrallslave: You can control your thrall like a puppet. When you use Thrallsight, you may possess the target's body, subsuming his will to your own. You control the body, while the thrall looks on from inside.

You keep all skills and abilities, but the body retains its Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, hit points, and natural abilities. You can't activate the body's extraordinary or supernatural abilites, and can't use any of your physical talents. You take the same damage as your host. If the host dies, you return to your body and the pact is broken.

Requirement: Infernal Pact, Thrallsight.

Shifter

You gain greater control over your form. At 2nd, 5th, and 8th level, you can choose one of the talents from the Shapeshifter Talent Tree.

Bonus Feat

At 3rd level, you can pick a feat for which you have all prerequisites. You can choose one of Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Elusive Target, Improved Natural Attack, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Pin, Prone Fighting, Skill Focus (any class skill), Skill Training (any class skill), and Surprise Strike.

You can pick another bonus feat at 6th and 9th level.

Create Spawn

You get the ability to transform a dying human or near-human (but not a mage) into a succubus. Conversion is not practical during combat—you must bite the victim and concentrate for a full minute. While you do, you are flat-footed. When that time is over, the actual transformation takes 1d6 rounds.

While all succubi are female, you can convert a man. He will change sex as part of the transformation, unless he picks the Hermaphromorph talent.

Ordinaries convert two or more of their levels into succubus levels. If they only had one or two levels, they lose all trace of their old personality (you get to pick a new one). Stronger ordinaries retain part of their personality, while heroes are mostly unchanged. All your spawn have an Allegiance to you and a base attitude of Friendly, but are otherwise uncontrolled.

Slow Aging

At 7th level, if you are middle-age or older you count as one age category younger for purposes of penalties to ability scores.

Ageless

At 10th level, you no longer get more feeble as you age. You still acquire the appropriate mental ability score bonuses, but your physical ability scores do not deteriorate, and you will not die of old age. Any previous deterioration is reversed.

External Links

• The original source of this article at Hastur.Net