Ahu-Nixta Tapper

Family: Ahu-nixta

Tiny aberration, unaligned

Armor Class 17 (clockwork armor)
Hit Points 10 (4d4)
Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft., swim 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
10 (+0)	16 (+3)	10 (+0)	3 (.4)	12 (+1)	10 (+0)

Damage Immunities lightning, poison, psychic
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages does not speak but understands Void Speech
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Clockwork Encasement. The creature within the machine is a shapeless mass, both protected and given concrete manipulators by its armor. The clockwork armor has a few manipulators that the ahu-nixta can use to attack or to interact with objects outside of the armor. Unlike other ahunixta, the tapper can’t live outside its armor and dies when its armor is reduced to 0 hp.
• Electrostatic Field. Once a tapper attaches to a target, it generates an electrostatic field to protect itself while draining its victim. Once per round, the first time something makes physical contact with the tapper, it triggers a 10-foot-radius burst of electrostatic energy. All creatures caught in the burst must succeed a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or take 3 (1d6) lightning damage. The burst doesn’t affect the tapper.
• Immutable Form. The tapper’s clockwork armor is immune to any spell or effect that would alter its form, as is the creature that controls it as long as the ahu-nixta remains within the armor.

ACTIONS

• Psychic Tap. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 6 (1d6+ 3) piercing damage, and the tapper attaches to the target. While attached, the tapper doesn’t attack. Instead, at the start of each of the tapper’s turns, the target takes 6 (1d6 + 3) psychic damage as its brain is tapped. The tapper can detach itself from its target by spending 5 feet of its movement and will detach after dealing 12 psychic damage or after the target dies. The tapper can be ripped free with a successful DC 13 Strength (Athletics) check, though doing so also injures its target, dealing 7 (2d6) slashing damage.

ABOUT

The creature’s clockwork armor resembles the slender, segmented form of a metallic spinal column, ending in an ovoid metal centerpiece, and an articulated arm mounted with a boring drill bit swings freely on top. Metallic appendages dangle from the creature’s ventral region, each tipped with a tiny, barbed claw.

Tappers collect psychic energy from intelligent creatures. They often come in swarms and attack by affixing themselves to a host with their barbed claws and tapping into the base of the skull with their boring bits. Why the ahu-nixta need this energy remains unknown, though most speculate they use psychic energy to create the bond to their clockwork armor.

The creature inside the clockwork encasement, once a larval ahu-nixta, now lacks a cohesive form and fills the encasement as a viscous, jelly-like substance with only enough??