Planar Bestiary
A shechnyku is a bizarre creature that looks like a large, levitating cluster of internal organs. Although many of these organs are familiar and common to humanoids (heart, lung, liver, and so on), others are completely inhuman (glowing spots of deep-sea fish, insect ovipositors, venom glands), and others are duplicates (extra hearts, brains, or stomachs). Most of these organs are unconnected from each other, tumbling about randomly. As the cluster floats, they sing, filling the air with strange and haunting melodies.
A shechnyku hails from a strange, remote dimension of darkness, noise, and terrain made of living flesh.
Motive: Sing, experience new sounds
Environment: Anywhere in the multiverse music plays
Health: 27
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (5 points)
Movement: Immediate; short when flying
Modifications: Speed defense as level 6 due to large size; perception as level 9
Combat: The shechnyku attacks twice each round with a bludgeoning slam.
The shechnyku can also create a variety of magical effects within short range, including the following: target a single creature with damaging sonic energy that also frightens them for a few rounds, blanket an immediate area with damaging sonic energy, heal a target, confuse a target for a few rounds, or hold a target in place so they can't take actions. Once each day, the shechnyku can magically suggest a course of action to several creatures at once, shatter an area of magical silence, or stun several creatures at once so they lose their next few turns.
Because their mass includes several redundant organs, the shechnyku doesn't take extra damage from special rolls on a d20 attack (i.e., 17–20). Points of damage from a sonic attack heal the shechnyku instead of harming them.
Interaction: Although they can speak and understand any language, a shechnyku's motives and thoughts are inscrutable to most creatures. Their "conversations" are usually just strings of words, syllables, and sounds with no apparent intent or meaning, and they may repeat themself or mimic the voices and words of those trying to talk to them. An encounter with them might include a dialogue, sudden violence, and then a retreat.
A singer or musician who uses these skills tends to provoke a friendly response in the shechnyku, with the creature making similar and complementary noises and perhaps even using their magic in a helpful way, such as healing the character or defending them for a short while. The shechnyku inevitably loses interest with these interactions but usually leaves peacefully.
Use: A festival is disrupted when a horrific aberration appears during a noted bard's performance to a large crowd. Guards attempt to drive them off, but this only enrages the horrific being.
GM Intrusion: The shechnyku splits into two independent creatures. Each has half the health of the original, and is free of any harmful effects on the original, if any.