Maera (3.5e Monster)

These elusive fey have the body of a centaur; the torso, face and upper arms of a beautiful, strongly built female human or elf with leaf-green hair, standing vertically atop the front shoulders of a majestic, auburn horse. Brandishing ornately engraved wooden spears that emanate powerful disruptive magic, maeras are an arcane spellcaster's worst enemy. They stand roughly 5 feet at the shoulder, and 7 and a half to 8 feet head to toe, weighing in at around 900 pounds.

Combat
Maeras are fierce warriors and protectors of nature, and will respond violently when their woods are desecrated. Their magical spears are especially effective against creatures that have turned away from nature, such as lycanthropes and certain undead, and carry disruptive energies that greatly harm arcane spellcasters. Predisposed against users of arcane magic who seek to corrupt the pristine glades of the ancient forests in the world, the maeras' powerful eyesight allows them to distinguish magical aurae, and even see when a creature has the innate or learned ability to cast spells.

A maera's spear attacks are treated as silver for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

While a maera is Large sized, it uses manufactured weapons as a Medium creature owing to her human upper body and arms. Maeras are also proficient with bows, lances and simple weapons. For the sake of charging with a lance, a maera counts as mounted.

 : A maera can take the shape of a female human, elf or half-elf at will. This is a transformative effect and cannot be dispelled or suppressed when the change has taken effect, but a true seeing spell reveals the maera's true form overlaid with her currently assumed form. The new form has the statistics of her normal form, except as follows: a shape-changed maera becomes Medium sized, losing all size bonuses and penalties, as well as all spell-like and supernatural abilities except for this one. A shape-changed maera has the base land speed appropriate for her new form (usually 30 feet). The maera's spear disappears upon using this ability and cannot be summoned until she changes back to her original form.

 (Su or Sp): The spear of a maera is fashioned from her own magical essence. It is effectively a +3 ironwood spear with the distance and returning enhancements, flying far when thrown and magically rematerializing in her hand at the beginning of her next turn. A maera's weapon is treated as silver for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction as well as bane against creatures with arcane spellcasting. A maera can produce or dismiss her spear at will as a free action, using her own life force to do so. The spear is a supernatural effect.

When a maera throws her spear, it creates a dispel effect in addition to dealing regular weapon damage. A maera's spear creates a targeted dispel effect upon a creature hit directly, and an area dispel effect in a 20-foot-radius around the creature. If the spear misses its target or if no target has been specified, only the area dispel occurs. This functions like the respective targeted dispel and area dispel abilities of the greater dispel magic spell (caster level 11th). The dispelling power of a maera's spear is a spell-like ability that is usable effectively at will, and uses the maera's druidic caster level. A maera that takes levels in druid also increases the caster level for this ability.

Magic Immunity : A maera is immune to all spells and spell-like abilities that allow spell resistance. A maera can ignore her immunity with her own spells and spell-like abilities, as well as with spell effects taken by the use of her spell steal ability.

 : A maera can fire a coruscating ray of purplish disruptive energy from the tip of her spear as a standard action. Creatures hit by this attack are burned from within by their own arcane power. Any arcane spellcaster so affected loses a prepared spell or a spell slot and takes 1d6 points of backlash damage per spell level lost. The level of the spell lost is determined by a roll of a d6, ranging from 1 to 6. Cantrips or spells of higher than 6th level are not affected, though if the number rolled exceeds the target spellcaster's maximum arcane spell level or if it has exhausted its complement of appropriately leveled spells for the day, a number of spell slots are drained whose combined spell level equals or exceeds the roll result, starting with an unused spell slot of the highest level that is still available. Creatures without arcane spellcasting are unaffected by this ability.

 : As a move action, a maera may transfer an ongoing spell effect from a target creature within 30 feet to herself. This ability may be used once every 1d4 rounds.

SRD:Special Abilities Overview: At will&mdash;continual flame, invisibility, nondetection, remove curse, remove paralysis. 3/day&mdash;cure moderate wounds (DC 18), displacement, hold monster (DC 21), restoration; 1/day&mdash;baleful polymorph (DC 21), control weather, geas (DC 22). Caster level 11th. Save DCs are Charisma-based.

The following spell-like abilities are always active on a maera's person, as the spells (caster level 11th): greater arcane sight, pass without trace, speak with animals, speak with plants. They can be dispelled, but the maera can reactivate them as a free action.

SRD:Spells: Maeras cast divine spells as 11th level druids. This includes the ability to spontaneously convert to summon nature's ally spells.

Typical druid spells prepared (6/6/5/5/4/3/2, save DC 16 + spell level): 0&mdash;create water, detect poison, know direction, light, purify food and drink, read magic; 1st&mdash;calm animals, charm animal, detect animals or plants, entangle (&times;2), obscuring mist, ; 2nd&mdash;animal messenger, bear's endurance, gust of wind, soften earth and stone, summon swarm; 3rd&mdash;daylight, plant growth, quench, remove disease, wind wall; 4th&mdash;command plants, freedom of movement, giant vermin, scrying; 5th&mdash;animal growth, commune with nature, tree stride; 6th&mdash;mass bear's endurance, mass cure light wounds.

Maeras and Summoning
A chaotic or good-aligned druid may use a summon monster IX spell to summon a maera. A summoned maera enters the field with its typical spells prepared (see Spells, above). Summoning a maera gives the summoning spell the Chaotic and Good descriptor.