Ghonhatine

Ghonhatine
(Creature)
Common CE Large Aberration Level 10 Alignment LG NG CG LN N CN LE NE CE Images of ghonhatines Source: Bestiary 2, pg(s). 119 Type Aberration CR 10 Environment Any underground Alignment LG NG CG LN N CN LE NE CE Images of ghonhatines Source: Endless Night, pg(s). 84

Ghonhatines are the result of fleshwarping conducted on xulgaths, transformed by drow and other xulgaths who seek to reconstruct how prehistoric xulgaths once looked like: hulking, quadrupedal creatures that obey their masters and furiously tear at their foes.

Appearance

Ghonhatines resemble a nightmare-spawned dinosaur dragged from ancient prehistory into modern Golarion. Even when squatting on all four, these creatures are taller than the average human. The ghonhatine barely resemble the xulgaths they were spawned from, with the xulgath's savage speed and agility replaced by vast amounts of muscles and armoured scales.

Even a starved ghonhatine weighs more than 5,000 pounds, and few can consume enough to be considered well fed. Their total length, including their long sinuous tails, can stretch up to 27 feet. If a ghonhatine could be kept well-fed throughout its life it could potentially grow even larger, and whispered rumours throughout the Darklands suggest the existence of such huge beasts.

Habitat and ecology

Ghonhatines are primarily a slave race subservient to the cruel drow whose twisted experiments and tortures created them. The only habitat most ghonhatines know is the sites their beast-masters put them to work in and the slave pens their kept in. As a primitive slave race they have no culture, their rare interactions with other ghonhatines resembling the interaction of crocodiles more than anything else.

At first glance, ghonhatine ecology suggests that they were an incredibly successful fleshwarp, perhaps even on par with the fearsome driders. They are docile, strong, and heavily armed and armoured, but they have one weakness that reduces their effectiveness as slaves: their short lifespan. From their creation they constantly become increasingly ravenous, and most drow find the effort of feeding ghonhatines after they reach a year old to be too much. Some ghonhatines can consume up to half their weight in meat a day. When a ghonhatine reach this age, their drow masters typically either exterminate them or send them on a suicide mission against their enemies as expendable fodder.

Despite their ferocious nature, ghonhatines are more often used as slaves than weapons of war. Their large size and lumbering nature makes them unsuitable for the stealthy methods of drow warfare.

Abilities

By devouring a dead or dying creature, a ghonhatine is instantly invigorated by their meal, making them more dangerous.

Like the weaker xulgath, a ghonhatine can emit a powerful stench that sickens any nearby creatures.

A ghonhatine can regurgitate the contents of its stomach, which is not only disgusting but highly contagious, and often causes a victim who survives exposure to contract filth fever.