Rusty Mae

Rusty Mae adds Earthbind, Magic Passage, and Spellwrack to her coven's spells. This monster can form a coven with two or more other creatures who also have the coven ability. This involves performing an 8-hour ceremony with all prospective coven members. After the coven is formed, each of its members gains elite adjustments, adjusting their levels accordingly. Coven members can sense other members' locations and conditions by spending a single action, which has the concentrate trait, and can sense what another coven member is sensing as a two-action activity, which has the concentrate trait as well. Covens also grant spells and rituals to their members, but these can be cast only in cooperation between three coven members who are all within 30 feet of one another. A coven member can contribute to a coven spell with a single action that has the concentrate trait. If two coven members have contributed these actions within the last round, a third member can cast a coven spell on her turn by spending the normal spellcasting actions. A coven can cast its coven spells an unlimited number of times but can cast only one coven spell each round. All covens grant the 8th-rank Cursed Metamorphosis spell and all the following spells, which the coven can cast at any rank up to 5th: Augury, Charm, Clairaudience, Clairvoyance, Dream Message, Illusory Disguise, Illusory Scene, Scouting Eye, and Talking Corpse. Individual creatures with the coven ability also grant additional spells to any coven they join. A coven can also cast the Control Weather ritual, with a DC of 23 instead of the standard DC. If a coven member's departure or death brings the coven below three members, the remaining members keep their elite adjustments for 24 hours, but without enough members to contribute the necessary actions, they can't cast coven spells.

Once per day, Rusty Mae can cause a cage built of cold iron fingernails to spring out of nothingness at a range of up to 30 feet, attempting an Athletics check to Grapple against the target's Fortitude DC; if the target has a weakness to cold iron, Rusty Mae gains a +2 circumstance bonus to this check. Unlike a normal Grapple, Rusty Mae doesn't need to be within reach and can move as she pleases, and a successful attempt lasts until the creature Escapes, causing the cage to crumble into rust. Any creature can attempt to destroy the cage by attacking it. It has an AC of 25, Hardness 14, and 56 Hit Points.

Rusty Mae can take on the appearance of any Medium female humanoid. This doesn't change her Speed or her attack and damage bonuses with her Strikes but might change the damage type her Strikes deal (typically to bludgeoning). The monster changes its shape indefinitely. It can use this action again to return to its natural shape or adopt a new shape. Unless otherwise noted, a monster cannot use Change Shape to appear as a specific individual. Using Change Shape counts as creating a disguise for the Impersonate use of Deception. The monster's transformation automatically defeats Perception DCs to determine whether the creature is a member of the ancestry or creature type into which it transformed, and it gains a +4 status bonus to its Deception DC to prevent others from seeing through its disguise. Change Shape abilities specify what shapes the monster can adopt. The monster doesn't gain any special abilities of the new shape, only its physical form. For example, in each shape, it replaces its normal Speeds and Strikes, and might potentially change its senses or size. Any changes are listed in its stat block.

Claw A Rend entry lists a Strike the monster has. Requirements The monster hit the same enemy with two consecutive Strikes of the listed type in the same round. Effect The monster automatically deals that Strike's damage again to the enemy.

Rusty Mae's claws cause metal to rapidly rust and corrode. If she succeeds at a claws Strike or Disarm attempt, she deals 2d6 untyped damage (doubled on a critical hit) to a metal item the target is wearing or holding, ignoring its Hardness, in addition to the damage she deals to the target with her claws. If she hits an unattended metal item, the item takes 2d6 damage automatically. If a creature uses the Shield Block reaction with a metal shield against Rusty Mae's claw attack, the shield is automatically Broken, but no other item is affected on that attack.

Requirements The monster's last action was a successful Strike that lists Grab in its damage entry, or the monster has a creature Grabbed or Restrained Effect If used after a Strike, the monster attempts to Grapple the creature using the body part it attacked with. This attempt neither applies nor counts toward the creature's multiple attack penalty. The monster can instead use Grab and choose one creature it's grabbing or restraining with an appendage that has Grab to automatically extend that condition to the end of the monster's next turn.