Creatures Creature Families Creature Abilities
Creature Adjustments Creature Templates

SFS Standard Deh-nolo Creature 14

Deh-nolos are the Dominion's foremost engineers, seamlessly and deviously merging technology and biological systems to create any device imaginable, from sinister weapons to massive starships to shipmind oozes. These creations are grown, not built, but they're neither cybernetics nor biotech—rather, something in between. Deh-nolos seek to understand all technology they encounter, and they believe it's their right to consume the brain of anyone they think might help them better understand an unfamiliar device. Then again, deh-nolos have no qualms about consuming brains for nearly any reason, seeing all forms of life outside the Dominion as lesser beings.

While mostly organic, deh-nolos can concentrate their shimmering liquid metal secretions into foul crystals that they can use as projectiles or mechanical components for their twisted inventions. A casual onlooker might assume these creations are biotechnological in nature, as they often look like atrophied organs and mutated body parts held together by seemingly crude or incomplete circuitry. Those who attempt to incorporate deh-nolo technology into their bodies as augmentations typically experience terrible pain and grisly deaths, even if they somehow manage to isolate or drain the toxins naturally produced by a deh-nolo's alien flesh. Even less intrusive experiments with deh-nolo technology are unpredictable and dangerous, and the results of a “successful” outcome are disturbing at best.

Elite | Normal | Weak

Elite Weak Deh-nolo Creature 14

Image of a deh-nolo
Source Alien Core pg. 43
Recall Knowledge DC 31 32 34 •
Aberration (Occultism)
Perception +27 (darkvision, thoughtsense 120 feet)
Languages Aklo, Chthonian, Common; any four others (see brain sacs); telepathy 120 feet
Skills Acrobatics +25, Arcana +28, Athletics +25, Computers +28, Lore +28, Medicine +25, Occultism +28, Stealth +25
Str +5 Dex +5 Con +8 Int +8 Wis +5 Cha +5
Thoughtsense The deh-nolo senses a creature's mental essence as a precise sense with the listed range; they can't sense mindless creatures with thoughtsense.
AC 35
Fort +26
Ref +23
Will +27
+1 status on all saves vs. magic
HP 260
Immunities confused, disease, poison
Weaknesses brain loss
Brain Loss If a deh-nolo takes 60 damage from a critical hit or takes 50 mental damage, they must succeed at a DC 34 save (Fortitude for critical damage or Will for mental damage) or one of their brain sacs is destroyed.
Brain Sacs A deh-nolo snatcher has four brain sacs that they use to store harvested brains. A deh-nolo knows one additional language for each brain they have stored in a brain sac, chosen from the languages that the creature knew when its brain was harvested. A deh-nolo without all four sacs full is stupefied with a value equal to the number of empty sacs.
Open Pustules When the deh-nolo takes damage, pustules on their body burst, spraying foul poison. Each adjacent creature is exposed to dominion bile.
Speed 25 feet, fly 40 feet
Melee [one-action] jaws +29 , Damage 4d12+5 piercing plus dominion bile
Ranged [one-action] synthesized projectile +29 (range increment 40 feet), Damage 4d8+5 piercing plus dominion bile
Occult Innate Spells DC 34, attack +26 (+2 damage to cantrips, +4 damage to other spells) (-2 damage to cantrips, -4 damage to other spells); 6th
5th
4th
translocate (at will)
 3rd
discharge (at will)
instant virus (at will)
Dominion Bile (poison) Saving Throw DC 34 Fortitude; Maximum Duration 6 rounds; Stage 1 4d6 poison damage and enfeebled 1 (1 round); Stage 2 4d6 poison damage, enfeebled 1, and slowed 1 (1 round); Stage 3 6d6 poison damage, enfeebled 2, and slowed 2 (1 round); Stage 4 death
Harvest Brain [one-action] (manipulate) The deh-nolo harvests the brain of a creature that's been dead for no more than 1 minute. They can then use an Interact action to secure the brain in one of their empty brain sacs.

All Creatures in "Dominion of the Black"

Dominion of the Black

Before the Gap, the Dominion of the Black had a strong presence on Aucturn and would occasionally invade other planets, such as Lost Golarion, in search of brains to devour and in pursuit of other mysterious agendas. Now, the people of the Pact Worlds understand that the Dominion has secret bases across the galaxy—the Pact Worlds might draw their attention from time to time, but their missions take them to many worlds and many star systems.

The Dominion creatures most commonly seen by others are mere scouts, while more powerful members of the Dominion conglomeration emerge only rarely to terrorize society. Stories of these creatures are as few as the scant number of people who survive such encounters—most spacefarers know to immediately flee any ship or territory with signs of Dominion presence.

Other Dominion Creatures

Jah-tohls, known as mind snatchers, are similar to deh-nolos: both harvest brains and store them in their bodies, though deh-nolos are more powerful and more likely to remain in Dominion space working on new technologies than to explore other planets. Gosregs and xoarians infiltrate humanoid societies as spies, while rhu-chaliks serve the Dominion as scouts. Chyzaedus are strange beings that joined forces with the Dominion rather than be destroyed; now, they act as a sort of “priesthood,” though the Dominion's focus on entropy and destruction as divine forces makes their teachings quite unpalatable in most societies.

Deh-Nolo Desperation

Deh-nolos without four full brain sacs take great pains to harvest their fill, obeying their twisted addiction to gray matter and the precious information it contains. A deh-nolo with no brains at all becomes desperate and uneasy and viciously attacks any creatures they can find in their search for brains, even if those brains come from animals, beasts, or similar creatures. A deh-nolo with a full complement of brains might be dangerous, but a desperate deh-nolo is both dangerous and entirely unpredictable.