Joseung Saja
Level 14Attacks
Abilities
A monster with darkvision can see perfectly well in areas of darkness and dim light, though such vision is in black and white only. Some forms of magical darkness, such as a 4th-rank Darkness spell, block normal darkvision. A monster with Greater Darkvision, however, can see through even these forms of magical darkness.
Lifesense allows a monster to sense the vital essence of living and undead creatures within the listed range. The sense can distinguish between the vitality energy animating living creatures and the void energy animating undead creatures, much as sight distinguishes colors.
The monster can cast its at-will spells any number of times without using up spell slots.
A constant spell affects the monster without the monster needing to cast it, and its duration is unlimited. If a constant spell gets counteracted, the monster can reactivate it by spending the normal spellcasting actions the spell requires.
The joseung saja looks into the eyes of a creature within 30 feet and removes inconvenient or painful memories that are preventing it from moving on to death. The target is aware that the joseung saja attempted to alter its memory and can attempt a Will save to resist. Willing targets receive the effects of a critical failure. Critical Success The target is unaffected. Success The target takes 2d10 mental damage and is Stupefied 2 for 1 round. Failure The target takes 4d10 mental damage and is stupefied 2 for 1 week. Critical Failure The target loses all painful emotions and memories, leaving an indistinct haze. If the target is an ijhyeojin, then all of their memories are reaped and they become a joseung saja.
Trigger The joseung saja brings a target to 0 Hit Points or successfully Strikes a target with the dying condition Effect The target must succeed at a DC 34 will save or immediately die. A reaped creature can't be return to life or become undead except by a 9th-rank or higher ritual.
The joseung saja is incorporeal until the end of their next turn. While they're incorporeal, they have resistance 10 to all damage (except force, void, and ghost touch weapons).
A joseung saja's Strikes all have the effects of a ghost touch property rune and deal an extra 3d6 void damage to living creatures and 3d6 vitality damage to undead.
Description
Joseung saja (jo-seung sah-jah) is a name sometimes bestowed on creatures in the afterlife who have committed grave sins in their lifetimes. Known also as reapers, these pale and sunken-eyed creatures are psychopomps—beings who guide the souls of the dead to the Boneyard. No one knows the specific criteria for one to become joseung sajas, but those who are selected have their memories erased and must work as joseung sajas until they've been deemed to have fully atoned for their sins.
Joseung sajas from different eras wander the world, and when a creature nears death, one will appear and await the target's demise as their afterlife guide. When needed, they even alter their target's memories to remove painful emotions that might chain them to the mortal world, easing them into a peaceful death. This duty prevents those who die tragic or violent deaths from becoming bound to the world as ghosts—a mercy, though one often unappreciated by the wards of joseung sajas. If a creature targeted by a joseung saja becomes undead or otherwise cheats death, the reaper must fulfill their duty of granting the creature a true death.
Because joseung sajas linger among mortals in order to perform their duties, they're one of the most commonly seen psychopomps.