Torturer (3.5e Monster)

''Amidst the cacophony of screams one creature stands with dominant bearing. More monster than woman, her claws are etched in the blood of her victims. Brandishing a barbed whip still adorned with bits of flesh torn off from the bodies of ill-fortuned souls, she turns to her next subject. Drinking in the atmosphere of tangible fear and anticipation, the corners of her skin-tight hood tug upwards in a grotesque smile.''

Torturers represent everything sadistic and masochistic that exists within the abyss. They have the form of huge, muscle-bound women harnassed in black leather, whose every square inch of visible skin is heavily scarred, with their faces completely concealed within a skintight black cowl. There scarcely clad forms are festooned with spiked belts and black leather collars, pinned into their very flesh with nails and bolts. Most still bear residual scarring from when they fell and changed into demons, and all have learned to subvert the intense pain it brings to a heightened state of focus fed by the suffering of themselves and those around them. The full-confinement leather hood covering her head constricts the senses, limiting a torturer's perception of her surroundings to her powerful sense of smell, and her blindsight alone.

Torturers stand 6 and a half feet tall and weigh in at roughly 225 pounds.

Combat
As the prospect of battle renders them ecstatic, a torturer flings herself into combat with sadistic glee, eagerly using her powerful attacks and spell-like abilities to inflict maximum pain upon her targets. Tough and nearly indomitable, the suffering of those around her grants her a vicious strength and focus. A torturer uses her immense physical power to dominate, crush, flay and rip her enemies apart, slowly and viscerally, and before they know it, their bodies are knit together again for the process to start all over.

Torturers are skilled at what they do, and do it gladly and in excess. A creature that enlists a torturers to torture its enemies may use the torturer's Intimidate and Gather Information checks for its own if they are higher.

Torturers are generally mute. Their insistent silence tends to only increase their fear factor.

A torturer is blind and deaf. As such, they are immune to any attack based on sight or sound (such as gaze attacks, and light and sonic effects.

A torturer’s natural weapons, as well as any weapons she wields are treated as chaotic-aligned and evil-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

s: A torturer may unfurl a set of scythe blades from their upper forearms. They tear from the skin and extend from her claws like a mantis's limbs. They act like +1 scythes that, together with the torturer's natural reach become her most lethal mode of attack. A torturer's arm scythes are treated as manufactured weapons that are light for the purpose of two-weapon fighting.

 : A torturer can prevent a wounded creature from succumbing to its injuries and dying. A creature so designated by the torturer, brought to negative hit points by her attacks is forced to maintain consciousness and is effectively helpless, only capable of screaming in pain and pleading for mercy. The affected creature gains fast healing 1 while at negative hit points, but can never recover past -1 hit point. A coup de grace can finish off a creature affected by this ability normally.

SRD:Improved Grab: To use this ability, a torturer must hit with a claw attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity.

Their grapple attempts ignore freedom of movement; a creature so protected merely gains a +8 competence bonus to opposed grapple checks against a torturer. They maintain their Dexterity bonus to Armor Class when grappling and are capable of grappling two creatures of size Medium or lower at once, taking a -4 circumstance penalty to any grapple check when they do. While grappling a single creature, a torturer is capable of making an extra move-equivalent or standard action during her turn in addition to any actions she is allowed in her grapple. When attempting a move during a grapple, the creature she is grappling must succeed on an opposed grapple check or be powerlessly dragged along. Finally, a torturer does not have to concentrate to use any spell-like abilities while grappling.

 : When a creature starts its turn pinned by a torturer, she deals double claw damage on a successful grapple check. Instead of dealing more damage, she may instead try to dismember or flay the victim; the torturer and the grappled creature make opposed Strength checks, and if the torturer's check beats the defender's, she may choose to slice, cut and otherwise tear off either an arm or a leg or some other extremity the creature has (such as a wing), or flay them for 1d8 Constitution damage. The opposed creature adds its grapple size bonus (or penalty) to its check result. If the grappled creature is below one-quarter total hit points, the torturer may also choose to crush or tear off the creature's head, provided it has one, effectively killing them.

As such, their weapon attacks are made to maximize pain and suffering. A torturer gains hit points equal to half of all weapon damage she deals up until her maximum. Furthermore, at the end of every turn, a torturer may select a creature that she has dealt damage with her attacks that turn. The creature must be one capable of feeling pain (humanoids, monstrous humanoids, fey, giants, dragons and most aberrations and outsiders). The selected creature must make a Fortitude save with a DC equal to 10 + the torturer's most damaging attack dealt against it, or be nauseated for 1 round and scream out in agony. This grants the torturer a +1 morale bonus to subsequent attack rolls against that particular creature from next her next turn onwards. If the creature saves successfully, the torturer's morale bonus does not increase and the creature is only sickened for one round instead. If the same creature fails its save against this ability multiple times, the morale bonus to attack rolls against it stacks.

If a torturers kills a creature, she gains a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +2 morale bonus to Will saves for 1 minute.

As a standard action, a torturer may extend one of her arms out to 30 feet to grab an object or attack a creature within range with one claw or arm scythe attack.

SRD:Special Abilities Overview: At will&mdash;deathwatch, unholy blight (DC 18), inflict light wounds (DC 15); 3/day&mdash;dispel good (DC 19), fear (DC 18); 1/day&mdash;harm (DC 20). Caster level 10th. Save DCs are Charisma-based.

Skills: Torturers have a +8 racial bonus to grapple and Intimidate checks.

Torturers and Summoning
A chaotic evil-aligned spellcaster that has prior come in contact with a torturer or has studied the abyss from a reliable source of information, such as one of the black scrolls of Ahm, may attempt to summon a torturer with a summon monster IX spell. Summoning a torturer gives the spell the Chaotic and Evil descriptors.