Songbird race! (And other stuff.)

[Beni-Kujaku]

More seriously, that's sad in a way more wholesomely melancholy than what I'd expect of anything Demonspawn( or Beaver)-related. I'm all for it to be a thing!

Ask, and you shall receive:

Elder Beaver

The Bihi-vurrs were tanar'ri demons who got stranded on the Material Plane after being tricked by devils. The lower ambient level of magic of the plane and the lack of powerful creatures to sustain them killed most of the stranded Bihi-vurrs, and most of the rest regressed to a form more adapted to the plane: that of the common beaver. However, some Bihi-vurrs desperately clung to their former power even as it escaped them. Through sacrificial rituals and cannibalism, they maintained an intermediate form, now known as that of an Elder Beaver. The Elder Beaver is not an Outsider anymore, as the very rituals it performed to absorb any ambient magic merged its very being with the natural power of the Material Plane, giving it an understanding of something akin to druidic magic, but rooted in the remains of its original power rather than in a divine source like regular druids. Tapping into this source of power progressively weakens it, up until it is dried out, at which point the Elder Beaver loses its ageless body and becomes just another beaver. Elder Beavers call this process "falling".
Elder Beavers surround themselves with regular beavers, a constant reminder of what they could become if they keep their guard down, coercing them with strength and magic to build great dams from which the Elder Beavers rule colonies up to a few hundred beavers, often choosing a select few as lieutenants by using their Awaken ability. They act as leaders of these feeble troops and sometimes try to attack nearby settlements for food, materials and sacrifices, in a sorry mockery of the great battles of the Blood War that they once took part in.
Some Elder Beavers live in the constant fear of their inevitable fall. Anxious and paranoid, they rarely leave their dam and sacrifice their underlings for any slight, eventually leading to the fall of the colony as a whole, as well as their own.
Others see their fallen brethren as still worthy of living, sometimes more than themselves. These Elders act generally as overprotective parents, protecting the colony with all their might, and seeking humanoid mages rather than their own as sacrifice fodders. Those Elders may attract the attention of adventurers, and do all that they can to drive them away from the dam.
Elder Beavers with Int 3 or more speak common. Those with Int 10 or more speak abyssal as well.

Size/Type: Medium Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 10d10+20 (75 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 feet (6 squares), swim 30 feet
Armor Class: 18 (+2 Dex, +6 natural armor), touch 12, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+12
Attack: Bite +14 melee (1d10+5)
Full Attack: Bite +14 melee
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Powerful bite, spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, Darkvision 60ft, Amphibious, Beaver Leader, One with Everything, Antimagic vulnerability
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +9, Will +5
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 15, Cha 13
Skills: Craft (any) +6, Concentration +8, Intimidate +9, Listen +6, Spot +4, Survival +4, Swim +12
Feats: Alertness, Blind-Fight, Dodge, Improved Natural Attack (bite)
Environment: Temperate and cold forests and rivers
Organization: Solitary or colony (1 and 10-20 beavers and 1-4 darkenbeasts) or possee (3 and 1-10 beavers and 1-6 darkenbeasts)
Challenge Rating: 7
Alignment: Usually evil
Advancement: 11-15 HD (Medium), 16-25 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: –

An Elder Beaver looks like a giant beaver standing on its two hind legs. The tip of its hair is pure white, and seems to shine faintly in the dark. Its tired eyes look much too intelligent for a beaver. As you approach, you hear a near-inaudible voice from inside your head.

Combat
An Elder Beaver never enters combat alone if it can avoid it, but always stands in the frontline. It tries to bite spellcasters in priority, hoping that melee fighters could be subdued through its insidious whispers alone. It tries to avoid using its spell-like abilities, but knows about their power if need be.

Powerful Bite (Ex and Su): An Elder Beaver's bite is imbued with the remnants of what it once was, and cuts through flesh and materials alike. The bite attack of the Elder Beaver counts as adamantine for the purpose of bypassing hardness and DR, and continually has a +2 enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls.

Spell-like abilities (Sp): Using spell-like abilities drains the Elder Beaver's already shallow magic reserves, and accelerates its fall. Casting a spell-like ability drains 1 point of Int, Wis and Cha from the Elder Beaver per level of the duplicated spell. This drain can only be reversed by drinking the blood of a dead beaver or creature that was once capable of casting arcane spells or spell-like abilities (a full-round action restoring one point of drain for a beaver, or one point per two caster levels of another creature). The Elder Beaver casts its spell-like abilities as a 10th level druid (levels of the duplicated spell are in parenthesis):
At will: Detect Magic (0th)
3/day: Entangle (1st, DC 12), Impeding Stones (1st, DC 12), Legion's Snake's Swiftness (2nd), Wood Shape (2nd)
1/day: Freedom of Movement (4th), Awaken (5th), Create Darkenbeast (5th)

One with Everything (Su): An Elder Beaver's soul is unstable and only loosely attached to its material body. In effect, it subsumes everything in a 30ft radius in some capacity. In that area, the Elder Beaver can communicate with every natural thing, and has a constant Speak with Plants and Stone Tell effect. Intelligent creatures in that radius also hear the Elder Beaver's thoughts as if they were theirs, making a Will save each turn (DC 16). Failing a Will save means the creature fascinated for one round. Failing another while fascinated subjects the creature to a Suggestion to protect the Elder Beaver (or similar depending on the Elder Beaver's thoughts). A third failed Will save means the creature is charmed by the Elder Beaver for 24h, at the end of which they make another save at a -4 penalty to avoid being charmed for another 24h. A successful save means the creature cannot be affected by this ability for 24 hour and removes the Suggestion, but does not suppress the charm for the day nor does it preclude making a Will save after 24h to avoid extending the charm.

Antimagic Vulnerability (Ex): An Elder Beaver concentrates at all time to maintain its own magic power. Losing access to all magic makes their body and mind wither away frighteningly fast. When in an antimagic or dead magic zone, an Elder Beaver is nauseated and is drained of one point of Int, Wis and Cha per round (this drain can be reversed as the one from using spell-like abilities)

Beaver Leader: All beavers and beaver-based darkenbeasts in a 30ft radius from the Elder Beaver gain the benefit of Powerful Bite and share their vision with the Elder Beaver. If one is not flat-footed, none of them are. None is considered flanked unless they all are.

Terminus

One Elder Beaver, in an attempt to save the spirits of his unfallen companions if not their body, gathered many Elders and welcomed their souls in him in a massive ritual. The combined magic power liberated finally stabilized his body in an existence that could persist on the Material Plane. The one who now calls himself Terminus believes that it may be possible to reverse the fall, and puts his now considerable power to the task. He rules an immense colony of thousands of beavers, more than a thousand of which are awakened, with dozens having class levels. Along the centuries, Terminus started wondering how much what he was doing was helping beaverkind as a whole, if it really is possible to bring back the Bihi-vurrs, and if it would really be a good thing to do so, and instead seeks to create a whole new species that could act as guides for the fallen beavers on a much larger scale than what the Elders are doing. To that end, he tries to find a way to make the Awaken effect be passed down to one's offspring. Though he has not yet succeeded in his task, some sages believe his experiments are the origin of the creation of anthropomorphic animals, notably due to the higher-than-average concentration of anthropomorphic bats in the region around Terminus's dam.

Combat
Terminus loathes fighting, and will rather talk with uninvited guests than strike them down. If forced, Terminus fights as an Elder Beaver druid 6 with no animal companion. The multiple spirits in him allow him to concentrate on any number of spells at a time, and to continue casting spells while doing so. Contrary to other Elder Beavers, he does not incur any penalty for casting his spell-like abilities.

Size/Type: Medium Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 10d10+6d8+64 (146 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 20 feet (6 squares), swim 20 feet (base speed 30 ft land, 30ft swim)
Armor Class: 20 (+1 Dex, +3 Hide armor, +6 natural armor), touch 11, flat-footed 19
Base Attack/Grapple: +14/+18
Attack: Bite +20 melee (1d10+8), or quarterstaff +19 (1d10+6)
Full Attack: Bite +20 melee, or quarterstaff +17/+17/+12/+7 and bite +15
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Powerful bite, spell-like abilities, spells, Wild Shape 2/day
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, Darkvision 60ft, Amphibious, Beaver Leader, One with Everything, Antimagic vulnerability, Nature sense, Wild empathy, Woodland stride, Trackless step, Resist nature’s lure
Saves: Fort +16, Ref +10, Will +13
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 20, Cha 12
Skills: Craft (any) +7, Concentration +16, Diplomacy +14, Intimidate +5, knowledge (Nature) +11, Listen +9, Spot +9, Survival +7, Swim +14
Feats: Blindsense, Improved Natural Attack (bite), Lion's Pounce, Power Attack, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (Quarterstaff)
Organization: Solitary or colony (1 and 1-200 awakened beavers and 1-20 awakened beavers fighter 4 or cleric 4)
Challenge Rating: 13
Alignment: True Neutral

Spells: Terminus casts spells as a 6th level druid (5/5/4/3). An example of prepared spells is as follows:
0: Create Water, Cure Minor Wounds, Guidance, Resistance x2
1: Shillelagh, Obscuring Mist, Goodberry, Omen of Peril, Lesser Vigor
2 : Animal Trance, Summon Swarm, Bull's Strength, Brambles
3 : Poison, Wind Wall, Stone Shape