Asura, Shaukeen

Shaukeen Creature1

LE Tiny Asura Fiend

Senses Perception +8; darkvision

Languages Common, Infernal; telepathy (touch)

Skills Acrobatics +7, Deception +9, Performance +7, Religion +7, Stealth +7

Str +0, Dex +4, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +3, Cha +4

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AC 16; Fort +4, Ref +9, Will +7

HP 22; Immunities curses; Weaknesses good 2

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Speed 25 feet

Melee [one-action] jaws +9 (finesse), Damage 1d8 piercing plus fire jackal saliva and 1 evil

Melee [one-action] thorn +9 (agile, finesse), Damage 1d8 piercing plus 1 evil

Divine Innate Spells DC 17; 2nd charm, spider climb, touch of idiocy; Cantrips (1st) read aura; Constant (3rd) magic aura (shaukeen and its items only), nondetection (self only)

Change Shape [one-action] (concentrate, divine, polymorph, transmutation) The shaukeen takes on the appearance of a Small humanoid. This doesn’t change the shaukeen’s Speed or their attack and damage modifiers with their Strikes, but it might change the damage type their Strikes deal (typically to bludgeoning). The asura typically loses their jaws and thorn Strikes unless the humanoid form has fangs or a similar unarmed attack. This alternate form has a specific, persistent appearance, which the shaukeen can change by performing a 1-hour ritual.

Fire Jackal Saliva (poison) Saving Throw DC 17 Fortitude; Maximum Duration 6 rounds; Stage 1 1d4 poison damage and clumsy 1 (1 round); Stage 2 1d6 poison damage and clumsy 2 (1 round)

About

Asuras are, above all, proof that the gods are not infallible. These fiends arose as physical manifestations of divine accidents, taking form when the gods themselves stumbled and blasphemed on a cosmic scale. As a result of their own divine genesis, an asura loves above all to undo the workings of the divine. They eagerly travel to the Material Plane, seeking out temples, congregations of faithful worshippers, and religious orders of all stripes to sow doubt and destroy what the gods seek to build.

Perhaps the most perverse asuras of them all, shaukeens particularly delight in causing the downfall of those who give them succor, shelter, and most of all, schooling. Many a teacher has come across a shaukeen disguised as a small child of exceptional talents or curiosity and taken them under their wing, only to be beguiled into ruin. This diminutive asura’s cleverness is disproportionate to their size; they ask probing questions and coax their prey into decisions that lead to heresy, furthering the collapse of order and decency. When the world turns on the shaukeen’s mentor, the asura is gone-but not very far, for they love hiding unseen and watching the torment and destruction of their mentors.

Asuras command vast empires in the corners of Hell. While their realms are tiny compared to the massive hierarchy of Asmodeus and devilkind, they exist in a tacit agreement of coexistence with their diabolic neighbors.