While traveling, the characters come across a town celebrat- ing a harvest festival. At the height of the dancing, song, and revelry, a fire breaks out in one of the tents erected to house the celebration. As the fire rages, a gang of brigands attacks the town in the confusion. After extinguishing the fire and fighting off the bandits, the characters discover that a small child was responsible for the blaze. If the PCs investigate, they find that the child sometimes plays near a cave just out- side town. By exploring the cave, they can discover that a hypnolox colony has dwelled there for many years, manipu- lating criminal gangs and innocent commoners to orches- trate a series of attacks and disasters in the region.
This eight-limbed creature walks on four legs and uses four arms for battle, which is its sole preoccupation. The kahrn literally feeds on conflict and uses physical strife to reproduce. Kahrns once roamed the Central Plains as a fairly peaceful omnivore, albeit one quite capable of defending itself. Nevertheless, the kahrn herds grew thin, and the species faced extinction, unable to compete with other, more successful types of creatures.
Then came the dramojh. Experimentation by the dragon scions centuries ago transformed the remaining kahrns into very different creatures. While their appearance remained similar, the kahrns became creatures that thrived on combat. Bred to be soldiers, the kahrns were given minds greater than those of simple beasts, plus entirely new reproductive and digestive systems. Now kahrns do not eat flesh or plant life, but subsist on combat. The act of battle—the strife, the danger, the anger, the pain, the challenge—magically nourishes them. To gain sustenance, they must be involved in the combat; their feeding cannot be a passive act.
Moreover, combat fertilizes embryos within the creatures, allowing them to reproduce asexually in the midst of con- flict. A bud forms on a kahrn’s back, growing quickly with a cracking and snapping noise (the sound of bones and tissue
rapidly expanding). The bud bursts, spraying fluid and blood everywhere, and a kahrn larva spurts out, landing on the ground behind its parent. It’s an unsettling display to behold, but it inflicts no real harm on the parent kahrn— its natural rapid healing takes care of it well. A kahrn can reproduce only once every six months.
The creatures love to fight, and they like combat to last a long time. With supernaturally fast regenerative abilities, they enjoy a remarkable capacity to stay in a fight. Sometimes folk in an area frequented by kahrns use the phrase “heals faster than a kahrn” to refer to someone who recovers from an injury or illness quickly. Further, and even stranger, their venom possesses healing qualities that keep their opponents alive and fighting. Kahrns hate it when foes run away or die too quickly. Sometimes they attempt to antagonize creatures that otherwise would not fight them: They strike their foe, give chase, and even make belligerent, bleating, and annoying noises. Kahrns may even observe another creature for a while to discern the best way to anger or provoke it—attacking the young or weak members of a group, damaging or stealing an important item, and so on. They also like to corner foes or trap them in an area from which they cannot easily escape.
Adult
Larva
Large Magical Beast Small Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 10d10+50 (105 hp), dying/dead –6/–20 2d10+6 (17 hp), dying/dead –4/–17
Initiative: +5 +2
Speed: 30 feet 30 feet
AC: 20 (–1 size, +1 Dexterity, +10 natural), 18 (+1 size, +2 Dexterity, +5 natural), touch 13, touch 10, flat-footed 19 flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+19 +2/–2
Attack: Claw +10 melee (1d8+5) Claw +2 melee (1d4)
Full Attack: 4 claws +10 melee (1d6+5) and bite +8 melee 4 claws +2 melee (1d4), bite +0 melee (1d6) (1d8+3 + poison)
Space/Reach: 10 feet/10 feet (Face/Reach: 5 feet by 5 feet/10 feet) 5 feet/5 feet (Face/Reach: 5 feet by 5 feet/5 feet)
Special Attacks: Improved grab, rend 2d6+10, spawn, poison Rend 2d4
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, fast healing 5 Low-light vision, fast healing 2
Saves: Fort +12, Ref +8, Will +5 Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +1
Abilities: Str 21, Dex 12, Con 20, Int 7, Wis 15, Cha 14 Str 11, Dex 15, Con 17, Int 5, Wis 12, Cha 9
Skills: Listen +8, Spot +9 Listen +3, Spot +4
Feats: Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Light Light Sleeper, Multiattack* Sleeper, Multiattack*, Power Attack
* Denotes a feat from the MM.
Environment: Any Any
Organization: Solitary Solitary
Challenge Rating: 7 2
Treasure: Standard None
Advancement: 11–15 HD (Large); 16–20 HD (Huge) 3–6 HD (Small); 7–9 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: — —
Kahrns once roamed in small herds but now are solitary creatures, as they no longer need one another to reproduce. Kahrns are immune to their own healing venom, so they dis- like fighting each other.
Adult kahrns stand about 8 feet high and are about 6 feet long. They have broad heads and muscular arms and legs. Their bodies bend in the middle of the torso, with the arms connected to the upper part and the legs to the lower. Coarse yellow-brown hair covers a kahrn’s body. Their eyes are large, bulging, and white. Kahrns are usually Unbound.
Combat
For obvious reasons, the kahrn seeks out combat. Yet it enters into a fight carefully. It has no interest in fighting an opponent it cannot defeat. In combat, it usually refrains from using its bite. However, if a weak opponent appears to be faltering, the kahrn uses the healing poison in its bite to restore and sustain it, so it can continue to fight. The kahrn will never use its bite on an obviously superior foe.
Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a kahrn must hit
with a claw attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can immediately rend.
Rend (Ex): A kahrn that successfully grapples with one
claw or hits with two or more claw attacks latches onto the
opponent’s body and tears the flesh. This attack auto- matically deals an extra 2d6+10 points of damage.
Spawn (Su): After 4 rounds of continuous com-
bat, the kahrn can, as a full-round action, attempt to reproduce. The spawn forms as a bud on its
back, which spurts open the following round, producing a larval kahrn. The creature can
use this ability only once every six months.
Poison (Ex): The kahrn’s bite carries
a poison that actually heals 2d8 hit points of the creature it affects.
Injury, Fortitude save DC 20, no sec- ondary effect. The saving throw DC
is Constitution based.
Fast Healing (Ex): A kahrn
with this ability rapidly heals damage, allowing it to recover
quickly from even the most grievous wounds. Adults enjoy
fast healing 5, while larvae gain fast healing 2.