Orthon (3.5e Monster)

''This hulking humanoid, covered from head to toe in plated armor, appears to move in a forced and jerking manner. You quickly realize that its armor is in fact bolted into its flesh, held fast by metal spikes penetrating the bone. Blood occasionally drips through the cracks of the grafted armor, but is then quickly stemmed by an oversized maggot that fuses the skin over the bolt until the creature moves, causing the blood to flow as the wounds open once again.''

Each rank of devil is said to be a form of training on the way to becoming a legionnaire; if this is so, becoming an orthon is likely one of the most grueling phases of training. Surgically grafted to suits of metal armor, orthons are the epitome of personal suffering for a greater cause. As compensation for their pain, they are intentionally made hosts to symbiotic maggots that constantly heal their re-opening injuries, essentially making their entire existence suck. Once they have undergone this experience, devils learn true pain and shed the fear of battle they may have possessed as etezu. If they were already courageous, then they're just unlucky enough to have to do the same thing as everyone else.

Orthons are the heavy troopers dispatched to the Prime by the baatezu. They are perhaps the most defensive-minded of all devils. As with most of their kind, they operate more effectively in formations, possessing the ability to share their health and live or die as a team.

Combat
Orthons are slow and strong combatants, lacking the versatility of more superior baatezu. Their extremely heavy armor makes them extremely resilient foes, perhaps making their persistence their most terrifying attribute.

Orthons are always considered to be in the Heavy Body stance; the bonuses of this stance are reflected in the stat block.

 (Su): An orthon’s aura of cold logic deals 2 points of cold damage every turn, operates out to a distance of 30 feet, and has a save DC of 9.

 (Ex): The maggots that infest the crevices of the orthon’s armor cauterize and heal their wounds with injections of infernal energy, granting the orthon fast healing 2.

When the orthon is slain, these maggots creep through its armor, granting fast healing 2 to any living creature that resides in that square. If no one inhabits the square for an entire round, the maggots disperse and the healing effect is lost.

In addition, the orthon may ready its spear against a charge as an immediate action.

 (Ex): The armor on an orthon's left arm  is particularly thick and sloped, allowing it to deflect blows in the same fashion as a shield. This grants the orthon a +2 shield bonus to its Armor Class, but does not an any way impair its ability to use two-handed weapons.



Initiator level 2nd.

In addition, orthons next to each other have the ability to pool their hit points as long as they are forming a single contiguous unit, creating one cumulative hit point value to replace their individual hit points. Creating this pool of hit points requires an immediate action on the part of each member of the group and lasts until each orthon dismisses themselves from it (a free action) or moves away from the group.

Creating this pool of hit points negates the fast healing of all orthons taking part in it, but also prevents any of them from dying until the pool is exhausted, at which point all affected orthons die. Separating from the pool divides the hit points remaining equally amongst the orthons.

 (Ex): Orthons can see perfectly in darkness of any kind.