Imago, Wrestler

Medium construct, unaligned

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 66 (12d8 + 12); Wound Threshold N/A
Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
14 (+2) 14 (+2) 12 (+1) 3 (-4) 6 (-2) 5 (-3)

Skills Athletics* +6, Perception +0, Stealth* +6
Damage Immunities poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered
Condition Immunities deafened, exhaustion, paralyzed, petrified
Senses blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages understands the languages of its creator but can only speak inside of an image
Challenge 3 (700 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

  • Antimagic Susceptibility. The wrestler imago is incapacitated while in the area of an antimagic field. If targeted by dispel magic, the wrestler imago must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against the caster’s spell save DC or fall unconscious for 1 minute.
  • Enter/Exit Image. By spending an amount of movement equal to half its speed, the wrestler imago can enter an image within 5 feet of it or exit an image it is in, appearing in a space within 5 feet of the image.
  • False Appearance. While the wrestler imago remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from an ordinary image.
  • Image Haven. As long as it is within an image, the wrestler imago cannot take damage. If the image’s support is destroyed, the wrestler imago is destroyed with it.
  • Magic Weapons. The wrestler imago’s weapon attacks are magical.

ACTIONS

  • Multiattack. The wrestler imago makes two inky fist attacks and one grapple.
  • Inky Fist. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) bludgeoning damage.
  • Grapple. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one Medium or smaller creature. Hit: the target is grappled (escape DC 12). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the wrestler imago can’t grapple another target.

ABOUT

This fresco depicts an athletic, musclebound wrestler in movement. The painting is properly masterful and seems almost alive… For that matter, it actually starts moving and attacks the intruder, springing forward like a quick, aggressive sheet of paper, suspended between the wall and the air.

Imagos are creatures that usually remain at rest in paintings and frescoes, only springing into action when certain conditions are met. Their aspect is entirely dependent on the artist who depicted them, from crude stick figures to elegant humanoids and all the way to surrealistic beasts; as long as something can be drawn, it can exist as an imago. Imagos can fold, but not stretch, and the set of movements and actions they can perform is based on their form. But no matter how they look or act, they remain flat and two-dimensional. A defeated imago returns to its original picture, its appearance modified in accordance with how it was defeated.

Imagos are very popular and come in many varieties.

Sanctuary Guardians

Imagos are often used as guardians in the Netherworld. For example, a tunnel can be painted with warrior-like figures that will beset intruders. The criteria that determine intruders must be simple: “All forms of life,” “Any creature that does not say the password,” “Any creature that does not bear this tattoo,” etc.

Range of Action

Due to its nature, an imago is bound to its support (wall, canvas, etc.) and cannot venture far from it. However, especially powerful imagos (which are often self-aware) can actually move from one image to another. When an imago’s support or backdrop changes, its appearance is altered to fit the picture’s overall style. Thus, should a stick figure imago from a crude charcoal doodle move to an elven master painting, it will turn into a realistic, exquisitely drawn humanoid. An imago’s appearance (size, colors, features, equipment, etc.) always fits the latest picture it was in.

Caught in a Picture

A creature that has been incapacitated and restrained by imagos can be taken into their picture.

While imagos can easily leave their picture-whether of their own will or as a result of a magic ritual-an imprisoned creature will not find it so simple. Each picture has its own rules, which the creature will have to discover in order to leave it. The inside of the picture is left at the leader’s choice et depends on the work’s creator. It can be an actual domain linked to the Astral Plane in the most extremes cases.

An Imago Familiar

If the leader uses this option, a wizard or warlock can have a tiny imago as a familiar. When the arcanist who wishes to conjure such a creature casts the find familiar spell, they must draw their future familiar on a piece of paper, which the imago will jump out of.

The Picture’s Substance

If the leader uses this optional rule, the peculiar nature of imagos will make for dramatic and picturesque situations outside of the strict context of a fight. Arcanists who create imagos usually let their creativity run free, so the resulting constructs might be full of surprises.

Superficial metamorphosis. Casting a polymorph spell on an imago alters its aspect and apparent size, but it remains an imago-a two-dimensional drawing that can enter and exit pictures.

Sneaky picture. An imago can exit its home picture and return to it. At the leader’s option, an imago can also take shelter within any flat surface that can be painted or scribbled upon (paper, wall, smooth wood, etc.), and which is large enough to contain it. Tiny imagos gathered in a swarm can even split and hide in various supports. Thus, in the midst of attacking a party of adventurers, a tiny imago from a swarm might sneak into one of the pages of a notebook at the bottom of a bard’s pocket.

Ink stain. When an imago inflicts a Wound to a creature, the creature must succeed on a DC 11 Charisma saving throw or turn into an imago. At the leader’s option, this can also occur when an imago grapples a creature, in which case the saving throw is made at the end of each of the creature’s turns as long as it remains grappled. The creature can choose to automatically fail this saving throw. Until it finishes a short or long rest, the transformed creature gains the following traits: Antimagic Susceptibility, Enter/Exit Image, False Appearance, Image Haven, Magic Weapons.

Image’s prisoner. A creature cannot revert from being an imago as long as it remains within an image. To escape the image, the creature must be free to move within it, and so it must not be imprisoned or tied up by other imagos. If 24 hours pass without the creature returning to its original form, it permanently becomes an imago. Restoring the creature will then require powerful magical means, at least the greater restoration spell and up to the wish spell at the leader’s discretion.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

The Creatures Rulebook for the Fateforge Role-Playing Game Copyright © 2021 Studio Agate.

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