Faceless WhaleA deep groan at the edge of hearing precedes the appearance of this sightless leviathan, whose pallid body breaks the surface of dark waters without as much as a ripple.Faceless Whale CR 15Source Pathfinder #60: From Hell's Heart pg. 82
XP 51,200
N Colossal magical beast
Init –2; Senses blindsight 150 ft.; Perception +19DefenseAC 30, touch 0, flat-footed 30 (–2 Dex, +30 natural, –8 size)
hp 248 (16d10+160)
Fort +22, Ref +8, Will +7
Immune sonic, gaze attacks, sight-based attacks, visual effects and illusions
Weaknesses blindOffenseSpeed 0 ft., swim 40 ft.
Melee bite +25 (6d6+17), tail slap +20 (4d6+8)
Space 30 ft., Reach 30 ft.
Special Attacks capsize, resonant song, swallow whole (4d6 acid damage, AC 25, 24 hp)StatisticsStr 45, Dex 6, Con 30, Int 4, Wis 11, Cha 5
Base Atk +16; CMB +41; CMD 49
Feats Awesome Blow, Diehard, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Overrun, Iron Will, Power Attack
Skills Perception +19, Swim +25
Languages Aklo (can’t speak)
SQ blind, hold breathEcologyEnvironment any water
Organization solitary, pair, or pod (3–16)
Treasure noneSpecial AbilitiesBlind (Ex) A faceless whale sees and senses exclusively through its blindsight ability, which is based on sound and movement—beyond 150 feet, the whale is considered blind. A deafened faceless whale is effectively blinded as well. It is invulnerable to all sight-based effects and attacks, including gaze attacks.
Resonant Song (Su) As a standard action, a faceless whale can focus a 60-foot ray of sonic energy on a single target that deals 8d6 points of damage. This ray deals normal damage to objects, but is still subject to hardness. Alternatively, a faceless whale can blast this resonant energy in a 60- foot cone. Creatures in this area must succeed at a DC 28 Fortitude or be stunned for 1d4 rounds. Any submerged creature holding its breath must succeed at a second Fortitude saving throw at the same DC or it has its breath knocked out of it and instantly begins drowning.DescriptionCalled “ansiktsloshvals” in Aklo, and sometimes called “Darklands whales,” faceless whales are enigmatic predators of the Sightless Sea rarely encountered elsewhere on Golarion. Like cavefish, faceless whales lost their eyes and pigmentation from countless generations spent living and breeding in the lightless depths. The lack of pigmentation leaves the creatures’ skin little more than a transparent, blubberlined film, with pulsing veins and churning organs visible beneath the silvery membrane. Sailors’ lore from the Sightless Sea claims a faceless whale’s most recent meal shows through the taut skin of its belly.
It is unknown precisely how long faceless whales have inhabited the Sightless Sea. Some legends claim faceless whales began their lives as normal toothed whales that washed into the Darklands during the cataclysm of Earthfall, if not long before. Darker tales contend the faceless whales were driven into the realm of Orv by a coven of powerful sea hags, who robbed the faceless whales of their sight when they refused to teach the hags their potent song.
An adult faceless whale is 70 feet long and weights 90,000 pounds, though some specimens stretch these averages and grow half again as large.EcologyFaceless whales resemble the toothed whales common to the Arcadian Ocean in body structure, possessing a tapered mouth lined with stubby, conical teeth and a streamlined body. Lacking eyes, faceless whales depend totally upon their keen blindsight to navigate, seek prey, and avoid the predations of the Sightless Sea’s most horrific inhabitants. Faceless whales prefer to hunt near the bottom of the Sightless Sea, where crushing pressures and freezing temperatures nurture large, sluggish organisms with few places to hide, and where the whales find safety from other menacing predators. Because of the unusual and outright alien composition of the creatures found within the lowest depths, faceless whales developed indiscriminate appetites. A hungry faceless whale consumes virtually any living thing it can gulp into its jaws, including the plentiful aquatic aberrations. Faceless whales can remain submerged for hours at a time, diving to depths of over 7,000 feet. Faceless whales that survive to adulthood in the harsh conditions of Orv live 80 years or longer.
As predators that spend the majority of their lives in the deepest waters, Darklands whales are rarely spotted. Those who sail upon the dark currents of the Sightless Sea and Lake Nirthran see these beasts only when the whales surface to breathe. When surfacing, a faceless whale breathes for minutes at a time, exhaling and inhaling massive volumes of air in great misty spouts.
When a faceless whale finds prey it can easily outswim, it plunges downward with its mouth agape, snapping up the morsel before it can react. When pursuing larger or faster prey, the faceless whale becomes a persistence hunter, hounding its quarry at a deceptively leisurely pace. After what often proves to be days of dogged pursuit, the whale’s prey becomes too exhausted to swim further. Before the quarry can marshal the last of its strength to defend itself, the faceless whale renders it helpless with a resonant song. When the faceless whale is not in combat, it uses this sonic attack to break through rock and gain access to new hunting grounds within Orv and beyond.Habitat & SocietyFaceless whales typically hunt and swim alone, except when prey is abundant. When hunting is favorable, faceless whales organize into pods led by the oldest (and typically largest) female. Pods are short lived, often forming only a handful of times within a faceless whale’s lifetime. As such, males compete fiercely for breeding rights during these gatherings. Pods last only as long as prey sustains them. Once food becomes scarce, the pod disperses into the Sightless Sea, and individual whales brave the chill waters alone in search of richer hunting grounds.
Mated pairs of faceless whales remain together only long enough to raise their first calf. This period of nurturing typically lasts no longer than 5 years—just enough time for the parents to teach a calf basic hunting strategies and witness its first unassisted kill. Afterward, the parents part ways, leaving the calf to mature to adulthood or perish in the uncertain depths of the abyss.
A faceless whale spends the majority of its life in isolation, plumbing the depths of the Sightless Sea in search of prey, the occasional mate, and hunting grounds rich enough to support a temporary pod. When it makes such a discovery, a faceless whale circles the boundary of the new territory, calling out to its fellows with a groaning, dirge-like song that carries for leagues. Whalers who ply their trade upon the Sightless Sea listen for this dirge with fanatical obsession. Faceless whales provide numerous alchemical ingredients, and their bones and teeth make excellent weapons and armor. An adult faceless whale possesses enough of both to make a crew of whalers rich, provided they have the courage and skill to slay the creature.
Though faceless whales prefer larger meals, they eagerly prey upon humanoids when other food is scarce. A sailor fallen overboard makes an easy snack for an adult or a full meal for a juvenile. Conventional wisdom claims that faceless whales consider seagoing vessels indigestible, but serpentfolk hiss tales of faceless whales of exceptional cunning that capsize or fracture ships and feast upon the drowning crews, plucking them from among the flotsam.
On rare occasion, a faceless whale finds its way into the oceans of Golarion. Some believe the creatures possess an instinctive knowledge of hidden waterways linking the Sightless Sea to the world above (perhaps all that remains of the migratory instincts that once drove their cetacean ancestors). Those few faceless whales that venture beyond the Darklands typically do so only briefly, breaching the surface on moonless nights just long enough to take in a breath of air free from the fetid staleness of Orv.
Many sages postulate that the Sightless Sea is bottomless, its deepest trenches connecting to planes of primordial darkness where the pressure is capable of crushing living beings into stone. It is possible that the Sightless Sea is just one of many faceless whale hunting grounds. If this is the case, there is no telling what a faceless whale might bring up from the ebon depths.
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