Vanth

Vanth

(Creature)

2E1E

Common

Medium

Monitor

Psychopomp

Level

7

Adjective

Vanth

Images of vanths

Source: Monster Core, pg(s). 275

Legacy 2E: Vanths additionally had the

N

trait in Bestiary 2 210.

Type

Outsider
(extraplanar, psychopomp)

CR

7

Environment

Any (Boneyard)

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Images of vanths

Source: Ashes at Dawn, pg(s). 88–89

Ⅰ

Ⅱ

For other meanings of "reaper", please see reaper (disambiguation).

Vanths, or reapers, angels of death, or amzranei, as they are variously known, are stern, skeletal creatures that serve as guardians of Pharasma's Boneyard and watchers of the River of Souls.

Appearance

Vanths resemble eight-foot-tall, jet-black humanoid skeletons with long, bony tails, and the black-feathered wings of a giant raven. As with most psychopomps, vanths conceal their faces behind dark masks of either carved stone or ceramics that resemble carrion birds such as ravens, crows, or vultures.

On rare occasions of grand battle, vanths clad themselves in ancient ceremonial brass armour.

Vanth scythes

They are rarely seen without their badge of office: a black scythe that is magical, adamantine, and able to harm incorporeal creatures but only while wielded by the psychopomp. The scythe can sever the silver cords of astral travellers carved with the letters of the long-forgotten language that graces the most ancient tombstones of the Boneyard. A vanth may instead infuse their scythes with the properties of cold iron or silver instead of adamantine to better combat the particular enemies they fight. The scythe may also be used to impart a stupefying curse on a target.

This choice of such an awe-inspiring weapon coupled with their bony appearance often confuses superstitious mortals who might associate the vanth with the Grim Reaper or Urgathoa. Vanths consider such assumption as ignorant or even as an insult.

Ecology

Vanths lack a conventional ecology. They instead have their assigned role as a psychopomp, dedicated in service to the death goddess Pharasma. Vanths serve as relentless foot soldiers of death who face anything that interrupts the natural cycle of life and death, from plagues of undeath to temples that use resurrection magic too freely. They often serve Pharasma by harvesting souls from sites like plague pits and the most brutal battlefields to prevent them rising again as undead.

There is great speculation on the fundamental nature of vanths, as, unlike other psychopomps, they do not seem to graduate through the ranks to their positions. Some whisper that vanths pre-date Pharasma's claiming of the Boneyard, and that all other psychopomps were subtly modelled after them, which would make vanths unspeakably ancient. Others claim they come from a world of death-worshipping soldiers who spent their lives in glorious contemplation of their mortal end and revelled as their entire planet died.

Habitat and society

A vanth battles a wihsaak sahkil to defend the souls of the dead.

Vanths dwell primarily in Pharasma's realm of the Boneyard atop Pharasma's cosmically tall Spire, where they serve as guardians of death and watch over the infinite flow of souls through the Boneyard to their final judgement. They also often fulfil these guardian duties along the River of Souls, and sometimes protect forgotten cemeteries and other such domains of death in the Universe. Despite their fearsome reputation and unquestioned loyalty to Pharasma, vanths are rarely summoned by members of her faith as there is something about them that mortals find fundamentally disturbing.

Vanths are looked down upon by almost every other class of being, from demon and devil to angel, for their suspicious nature and obsessive, almost mechanical adherence to their duty. While most other types of psychopomps retain some mortal proclivities, vanths seem utterly emotionless and obsessed only with fulfilling their duty and rarely speak. Even to other psychopomps, vanths seem distant and fundamentally alien.

They suspect any visitor to the Boneyard as a potential troublemaker.

During times of war, vanths are front-line soldiers, often used for the continuous patrols that stop daemon raids on the River of Souls. They are unstoppable and fly in perfect formation together, which can be a weakness, as this order can reduce their individual adaptability.

Vanths are comfortable with the company of the near-bestial esoboks and are the only psychopomps that can train them. They sometimes recruit packs of the vicious creatures to assist them when facing soul-stealing threats like astradaemons and night hags. While capable guardians of souls, vanths are not renowned for their interest in the living and have injured or killed mortal bystanders in their conflicts with soul thieves and the undead.

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.