DRIFT MALLARD

If you are able to get this close to a Drift mallard, it is probably already too late for you.

Drift Mallard

CR 25

                                                                                                                                              

XP 1,638,400

CN Tiny magical beast (extraplanar)

Init +12; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision., blindsight 60 ft.; Perception +41

Aura alluring aura (300 feet, DC 28)

DEFENSE

HP 600

                                                                                                                                              

EAC 41; KAC 42

Fort +23; Ref +23; Will +26

SR 36

OFFENSE

                                                                                                                                              

Speed 30 ft.

Melee wing attack +37 (12d12+25 B, plus impossibly downy; see below)

Ranged laser eyes +35 (11d6+25 F; critical burn 5d6)

Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.

Offensive abilities gaze

Spell-like Abilities (CL 25th; ranged +35)

6th (1/day) - ethereal jaunt (DC 32), plane shift (DC32), interplanetary teleport (DC 32), subjective reality (DC 32)
5th (3/day) - call cosmos, greater synaptic pulse (DC 31), holographic terrain (DC 31)

4th (at will) - confusion (DC 30), dimension door (DC 30)

STATISTICS

                                                                                                                                              

Str +0; Dex +12; Con +8; Int +0; Wis +15; Cha +0

Skills Intimidate +46, Mysticism +46, Acrobatics +41

SPECIAL ABILITIES

                                                                                                                                              

Alluring Aura (Su) The surreality of seeing a Drift mallard is capable of stripping the mind bare of everything except a compelling fascination to investigate. Any creature within a 300-foot spread of the Drift mallard must succeed on a DC 28 Will saving throw or become captivated. A creature that successfully saves is not subject to the same Drift mallard’s aura for 24 hours. A victim under the effects of the alluring aura moves toward the Drift mallard using the most direct means available. If the path leads them into a dangerous area such as through fire or off a cliff, that creature receives a second saving throw to end the effect before moving into peril. Captivated creatures can take no actions other than to defend themselves. A captivated victim within 5 feet of the Drift mallard will attempt to pet the duck, which the duck never avoids - though it may have unintended consequences for the petter (see below). This is a mind-affecting charm effect.

Impossibly Downy (Su) To touch a Drift mallard is to know precisely how soft a duck can be, and other secrets of a strange multiverse. Creatures who come into contact with a Drift mallard are mentally assailed by a flood of disjointed memories, sensations, and experiences; this happens if a creature is struck by the Drift mallard’s wing attack, if a creature strikes the Drift mallard with an unarmed attack or natural weapon, or if a creature attempts to grapple the Drift mallard. The target can attempt a DC 28 Will saving throw; this ability has no effect on creatures without an Intelligence score. If the target fails its save, the Drift mallard deals 17d10 damage to the target, and the target is exhausted and stunned for 1 round. If the target succeeds at its saving throw, it instead is affected as if by the spell vision, using their character level as their caster level for the purpose of the caster level check and negating the requirement of a computer or similar device, and are fatigued for one round.

                                                                                                                                              

Stories that come out of the Drift are always a little bizarre, but no tales are as strange as those of the Drift mallard. The creature’s contented existence in the Drift defies logic, sanity, and foundational ideas about the fabric of the universe - especially for those who have approached the duck too closely or raised it’s ire in any ways. The crews lucky enough to meet the duck and escape whisper of friends drawn inexorably to pet the duck, only to collapse dead upon doing so; others tell of being teleported by the duck to worlds or planes beyond imagining. Those who have touched the duck and lived to tell the tale speak of absolute knowledge that the creature can provide, if you’re strong enough to ask the questions. Every Drift mallard tale agrees on one thing: if you’re lucky enough to find it, brave enough to face it, and strong enough to resist it, the Drift mallard can reveal the closest-held secrets of the cosmos; but if anything goes wrong, the duck has no qualms about driving you insane or stranding you in another reality.

Theories about the Drift mallard’s origin are as strange and varied as the tales about the creature. Leading religions theorize the duck is a creature of chaos sowing madness in its wake, while scientists contend that it is a multi-dimensional entity able to waddle between dimensions as easily as it’s terrestrial kin waddle between land and water. Small cults worship the creature as a god of adventure, chaos, and infinity, while biotechnicians and physicists have ruined careers attempting to synthesize their own version of the duck. No one has been able to explain why the creature has laser eyes, though most people agree that they’re awesome. It remains unclear whether there are many Drift mallards, or whether the creature is singular in nature; some theories even posit that every Drift mallard is just the same Drift mallard, paddling up and down the streams of time and reality on it’s own inscrutable mission.

                                                                                                                                              

Special thanks for this idea and entry to L Pellazar (@Mahousloth) for the tweet that inspired the Drift mallard, and the excellent Starfinder Monster Builder) for helping hit an absurd self-imposed deadline by providing easy, quick tools.