Fraz-Urb'luu (3.5e Monster)

Information About Fraz-Urb'luu
Alternative Names and Titles: Master of Shapes, The Turned One

Symbol: Subject to change.

Portfolio: Deceit, paranoia, preparation, and time.

Domains Granted: Chaos, Corrupt, Evil, Time, Trickery

Favored Weapon: Composite Longbow

Fraz-Urb'luu's Statistics Block


''The person you thought to be your trusted comrade swiftly transforms into a hulking, 20-foot tall beast resembling an oversized gargoyle. Wings sprout from his back, and his skin darks an ashen gray color. His presence seems to drain the very air of its warmth. Of all beings in the Abyss, none but Fraz-Urb’luu the Deceiver are capable of such an immaculate act. In his claws he clutches a bow carved of charcoal-colored wood that could only come from the Outer Planes, but as he nocks it you see no arrow in sight. It doesn’t stop one of your companions from keeling over at its release.''

Fraz-Urb’luu is known throughout the Abyss as scum, his name reviled by any demon powerful enough to oppose him openly. Even his servants loathe him, but are either too afraid of his wrath to speak of it or not in control of their own actions.

Fraz-Urb’luu’s origins lie in another plane altogether: the Nine Hells. Once a devil of tremendous power and the equal of Baalzebul and Mephistopheles whose ability was only matched by his vanity, he constructed an iron tower on the Second Layer as a testament to his own strength and declared himself ruler over all below it. From its purportedly impregnable summit, he gloated his superiority in a magically amplified voice that was heard across the Hells. This proclamation infuriated Asmodeus, who ordered another devil (who would soon become the Iron Lord Dispater) to infiltrate his lair and usurp him.

Fraz-Urb’luu’s power lay in the construction of the tower itself, a complex network of intricate traps and puzzles that granted its master total power within its walls. So great was it that Fraz-Urb’luu could not contain mastery of it in himself; it had to be placed a separate receptacle. In order to obtain it, Dispater requested from Asmodeus five brigades of Baator (essentially the collected armies of the first five demon lords excluding those of Fraz-Urb‘luu himself), which remains to this day the largest force the Nine Hells have ever mustered. Awestruck by the array of power rallied at his doorstep, Fraz-Urb’luu sent all his forces out to meet it. So focused was he on the events that transpired outside his tower that he ceased paying attention to what was happening inside. After having received a boon of power from Asmodeus to allow him to successfully navigate the tower‘s labyrinth, Dispater scaled Fraz-Urb’luu’s fortress and took the key that held the secrets of the Iron Tower.

Possessing control over the tower, Dispater claimed it in the name of Asmodeus and cast Fraz-Urb’luu from its top, sending him plummeting through the Hells bound in thick brimstone chains to meet the Archduke of Nessus. During his fall, all that saw the cursing, howling Fraz-Urb’luu mocked him for his failure, mounting millions of jeers on him so that by the time he met Asmodeus he was absolutely mad with rage. With Fraz-Urb’luu having already lost his status in Hell, Asmodeus banished Fraz-Urb’luu from the Nine Hells, marking him with a seal that would prevent him from ever entering Baator again.

Fraz-Urb’luu next found himself in a place totally unfamiliar to him, a jungle where rivers ran red with blood and the air buzzed with insects the size of men. As teams of demons began following his devilish aura and ambushing him, he quickly recognized that he was in the Abyss, in the thick of the battle between the tanar’ri and the obyrith. Using his peerless shapechanging skills, Fraz-Urb’luu disguised himself as a tanar’ri and quickly took command of the force in the area, recognizing the opportunity to gain stature if he took a side in the conflict. His devilish powers, unable to be fully taken by Asmodeus, and tactical knowledge allowed him to achieve victory and attracted the attention of the leaders of the tanar’ri forces, a pairing of demons that would later become Orcus and Demogorgon. Alongside them, Fraz-Urb’luu established himself as a dominant force in the rebellion and a key figure in the plan to assassinate the Queen of Chaos.

When the trio of generals defeated the Queen and Demogorgon fused with her obyrith form, each of them accepted a portion of her essence as a means of balancing her power with theirs. But for Fraz-Urb’luu, this action had the opposite effect, causing him to grow weaker due to conflict with his infernal powers. Now unable to continue his façade in the face of the two strengthened demon lords, Fraz-Urb’luu once again fled in disgrace.

Although he has lost his status as one of the most powerful demon princes, Fraz-Urb’luu still possesses enough strength to maintain his current status. With his identity out, but his ability to perfectly disguise himself from most beings still intact, Fraz-Urb’luu remains a constant threat to both demons and devils alike. He schemes most of all to find a way to remove the seal that bars him from reentering Baator, and then to take back the iron tower that is rightfully his.

Combat
In almost every conceivable way, Fraz-Urb'luu remains more devil than demon; he is only a demon lord by virtue of possessing dominion over a layer of the Abyss and possessing sufficient power to be considered a threat to other lords. When forced into battle, Fraz-Urb’luu prefers ranged combat to melee, flying constantly and keeping foes at bay with his deadly longbow. That said, his greatest ability is his power of deception and transformation, allowing him to perfectly impersonate any other creature.

 (Sp): Fraz-Urb'luu has the ability to advance his portfolio. This is considered identical to the wish spell, but may only be used to produce effects appropriate to Fraz-Urb'luu‘s portfolio or goals. Fraz-Urb'luu may only use this ability once per minute.

He can grant spells to clerics, and gives access to the Chaos, Corrupt, Evil, Time, and Trickery domains. His favoured weapon is the composite longbow and his portfolio is deceit, shapeshifting, tricks, and time.

Additionally, Fraz-Urb'luu is immune to any attack that changes his form, mind-affecting effects, ability damage, ability drain and energy drain, unless such an effect comes from a creature that has a caster level or character level (or CR, for monsters) over 20.

Lastly, Fraz-Urb'luu can burn off some of his essence to stop magic dead in its tracks. As a free action that can be used outside of his turn, Fraz-Urb'luu can lose 50 hit points to counter any spell, supernatural ability or spell-like ability in Medium range, as if by greater dispel magic (although it can counter supernatural and spell-like abilities as if they were spells). This ignores temporary hit points, and can be used any number of times. For any ability with an ongoing or permanent duration, this merely suppresses it for 6 rounds.

 : Fraz-Urb’luu is the ultimate master of deception, able to fool any magical effect that depends on the alignment of the target into affecting him (or not affecting him) as though he were the most favorable possible alignment. He may also use magical items that depend on the wielder’s alignment as though he were the most favorable alignment, and spells that detect alignment indicate him as an alignment of his choosing.

 (Su): As an former Lord of the Nine and one of the leaders of the tanar‘ri against the Queen of Chaos, Fraz-Urb'luu’s power is capable of matching all but the strongest of his peers. He receives a +8 enhancement bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls, a +8 resistance bonus to all saves and a +6 deflection bonus to AC. Fraz-Urb'luu also has maximum hit points per hit die.

Additionally, the Abyss itself protects Fraz-Urb'luu from any attempt to scry on him. Anyone that uses a divination effect on Fraz-Urb'luu or the area within 1 mile of him must make a DC 34 Will save or become dazed for 1 round, and ending the effect automatically. Additionally, if the save is failed and Fraz-Urb'luu wishes it, he can use an immediate action to transport himself over to the location of the user of the divination effect, even if it is on a different plane.

He automatically can speak any language that creature is capable of speaking (if applicable) or communicate with any creatures of the same kind. Even more significantly, Fraz-Urb’luu can gain the class features of any character class that he wishes while shapechanged into a playable race (under Monster Level Equivalency Theory, no race has LA, only racial HD) up to the maximum number of levels he can gain while not pushing the effective CR of the form past 20. While shapechanged, he loses all benefits of his natural form, but he can remain in this form indefinitely, and his façade can never be seen through by any creature with a Challenge Rating of 20 or less. Any spells he gains from impersonating class features are limited to their normal per day limits regardless of how many times he shifts back into a particular form, and cannot be replenished unless he rests 8 hours or reverts forms and does not assume the form of that class again for 8 hours.

 (Ex): Fraz-Urb’luu is a perfect member of his species. This gives him immunity to cold and poison, resistance to acid 20 and fire 20 and telepathy out to 1000ft. Additionally, his aura of cold logic is so powerful that it affects creatures within Long range. Fraz-Urb'luu can alter his aura of cold logic at will as a swift action to project a permanent dominate monster effect, convincing any creature that fails their save that the only right course of action is to fight for him. The save for his aura is Charisma-based, with a DC of 33.

 (Sp): As a full-round action, Fraz-Urb'luu may bestow his pact on a creature eligible to gain a level. That creature gains its first level in the ravaged by Fraz-Urb'luu racial paragon class. If Fraz-Urb'luu attempts to form a pact an unwilling creature, it receives a DC 33 Will save to resist (Cha-based).

If Fraz-Urb'luu wishes, he can attempt to share the senses of a creature that has at least one level in Ravaged by Fraz-Urb'luu. This works identically to a scrying spell, except it must be centred on the creature in question. The creature doesn't get any say in the matter. Fraz-Urb'luu may use this ability at will. This has a caster level of Fraz-Urb'luu.

Additionally, if any creature with at least one level in ravaged by Fraz-Urb'luu attempts to affect Fraz-Urb'luu or the area within 20 miles of him with any ability, Fraz-Urb'luu may choose to use dominate monster on that creature as a free action that he can use even outside of his turn. The creature receives a DC 33 save as normal. This has a caster level of 22nd, and the DC is Charisma-based.

Caster level 22nd, DCs are Charisma-based (default 33).

 (Ex): Fraz-Urb’luu is far too devious to ever allow himself to truly die in battle. Upon taking a fatal blow, Fraz-Urb’luu immediately replaces his normal form with a substitute, which dies in an extraordinarily convincing manner. This copy of his corpse is perfectly indistinguishable from his normal form, complete with any wounds that he received in the encounter. He also leaves behind a cursed copy of the sentinel of the iron tower, which responds to any form of divination as if were the real thing.

The person who picks up the bow feels no immediate ill effects, but the bowstring is impossible to draw. While possessing the bow, the creature must make a successful Will save (DC 33) or attempt to use it in combat, causing an invisible arrow to backfire on them and strike as an automatic critical hit.

 (Ex): Fraz-Urb’luu sees naturally as though under the effect of a true seeing spell.

Sentinel of the Iron Tower
Although this +6 distance frost composite longbow of speed has its normal enhancement bonus overridden by Fraz-Urbluu's power, it remains an exceedingly deadly weapon, only able to be wielded by the real master of the Iron Tower (currently Fraz-Urb‘luu, although were he somehow to die that event would pass the bow on to the one who killed him). All arrows fired from it are automatically rendered invisible to all but the wielder, preventing them from being deflected. Any opponent attacked with the sentinel of the iron tower is automatically rendered flat-footed against its attack and deals sneak attack damage as a 20th level rogue.

As a full-round action, the wielder of the sentinel can make a single melee attack on every creature within its first range increment (250 feet when wielded by Fraz-Urb’luu). Alternatively, Fraz-Urb’luu may take a standard action to fire a single arrow that forces a creature it successfully hits to make a Fortitude save (DC 32) or die. This save is Dexterity-based. Even if the creature succeeds on the save, the attack is an automatically confirmed critical hit.

Fraz-Urb'luu's Worshipers
Almost no one who worships Fraz-Urb'luu is actually aware that they do; he is known across the realms by many other names and symbols, granting his few truly devout clerics the ability to fake miracles and religious ceremonies through magic. These numerous cult followings have sufficed for now in his quest to regain the power he once had, but if he truly desires to become strong enough to challenge either the demons or devils for supremacy he must unite his followers under his true banner in order to maximize the effects of their reverence.

In the Abyss, Fraz-Urb'luu is well aware of his status and reputation. Hated by all, he takes what he can through a combination of force and deception, only revealing his true identity to servants when they are already permanently bound to him. He has also worked to bring devils from Baator in order to assemble a more willing group of servants, but his attempts to bind devils permanently to the Abyss have thus far been unsuccessful. He also relies heavily on groups of yugoloth mercenaries to maintain his current holdings, so difficult it is for him to acquire useful demonic partners.