Shining Child

Shining Child Creature12

CE Medium Astral

Senses Perception +23; darkvision

Languages Aklo; telepathy 120 feet

Skills Arcana +18, Deception +23, Diplomacy +21, Intimidation +21, Occultism +18

Str +2, Dex +5, Con +6, Int +2, Wis +5, Cha +7

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AC 33; Fort +22, Ref +19, Will +19

HP 215; Immunities blinded, dazzled, fire

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Speed 30 feet, fly 50 feet

Melee [one-action] fist +25 (agile, finesse, magical), Damage 3d4+5 bludgeoning plus 4d6 fire and 2d4 persistent fire

Melee [one-action] fire ray +25 (arcane, evocation, magical, range 100 feet), Damage 3d10+3 fire, plus 2d10 Positive damage if the target is undead

Occult Innate Spells DC 33; 7th spell turning, sunburst; 6th dispel magic, vibrant pattern, wall of force; 5th dimension door, false vision, hallucinatory terrain; 4th dimension door (at will; self only); 2nd illusory object (at will); Cantrips (6th) light

About

Shining children are wicked, enigmatic monsters that roam remote planes and untraveled corners of the universe in search of esoteric lore. With their abnormally gaunt frames, long white hair, and unnerving, four-fingered hands, shining children are both strangely familiar and otherworldly in appearance, though they are barely visible within the shroud of blinding Light they continually emit. Their faces are truly horrible, however, as their overlarge eyes and distended, gaping mouths reveal their heads to be voids filled with unnatural Light. Shining children use this Light as a weapon, weaving illusions and focusing beams of fiery brilliance.

Because of their reputation as scholars of the alien and the eldritch, shining children are sometimes summoned by powerful wizards or occultists in search of rare knowledge. The creatures never give away their lore without some price, though, and typically demand in return the performance of contemptible deeds that further their inscrutable, far-ranging plans.

These mysterious beings are natives of the Astral Plane. In that vast plane, accretions of metaphysical matter gradually accumulate and eventually coalesce into demiplanes. During this tumultuous process, sparks of living Light sometimes shear off the newly formed planes, and these sparks of raw planar energy somehow transform into shining children. Every newly formed demiplane leaves a different mental imprint on its shining ” offspring,,” making it easy for shining children to telepathically recognize their brothers and sisters. Forever trapped in apparently adolescent bodies, shining children dedicate themselves to scholarship and violence with equal measure in a futile effort to understand their roles in the multiverse and the burning injustice of their births.

Shining children confuse most other creatures with their refusal to use individual names in favor of alternating between referring to each other singularly and collectively.