The First Blade
Level 15Attacks
Abilities
If the First Blade is disarmed, he takes 8d6 mental damage (DC 36 will save, plus Stunned 1 on a critical failure). He also can't Conjure Weapon for 1 round.
Each time the First Blade is critically hit, he attempts a DC 17 flat. On a success, it becomes a normal hit.
Trigger A creature within the monster's reach uses a manipulate action or a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it's using. Effect The monster attempts a melee Strike against the triggering creature. If the attack is a critical hit and the trigger was a manipulate action, the monster disrupts that action. This Strike doesn't count toward the monster's multiple attack penalty, and its multiple attack penalty doesn't apply to this Strike.
The First Blade can detect metal weapons and metal heavy armor as a precise sense to a range of 60 feet.
Requirements The First Blade has a free hand
The First Blade extends an arm and makes a fist; as he does so, a common +2 greater striking greater astral melee weapon made of cold iron or silver appears in his fist. If he drops a conjured weapon or it is disarmed, the weapon vanishes. If he throws a conjured weapon, it vanishes after it is thrown and potentially damages its target. The First Blade prefers using a greatsword for melee Strikes and a light hammer for thrown ranged Strikes, but cannot have more than one conjured weapon in his possession at any time.
The First Blade is highly skilled with all melee and thrown weapons, and gains the advantage of any such weapon's critical specialization effects. He inflicts an additional 1d6 persistent bleed damage with all melee Strikes made with melee weapons.
Frequency once per minute Effect To the faint sound of fell warhorns, the First Blade transforms into a Large cloud of whirling metal shards, then Strides twice. This movement doesn't trigger reactions, and while he can move through occupied spaces, he must end his movement in an unoccupied space, at which point he resumes his true form. All creatures who the First Blade moves through at least once during his Strides take 10d10 slashing damage (DC 36 reflex save).
Description
The Herald of Gorum, God of War, is said to have been formed from an unthinking sliver of steel splintered from Gorum's blade eons ago. As a living tool of war, the First Blade has been reforged countless times by Gorum as the face of war evolves. The First Blade does not identify as any particular ancestry; a mirror to his master, the armor and weapon themselves serve as his body—only emptiness lies within. Also like Gorum, the First Blade identifies as male.
Heralds
Heralds are specific representatives of the divine. Most deities maintain a herald, whose task it is to serve as a messenger and agent for the god or goddess among mortal kind. A creature with the herald trait is always unique and typically 15th level (although exceptions sometimes exist). When a herald is slain, their associated deity might restore them to life, replace them with an entirely new creature, or in rare cases, go for a time without maintaining a herald at all.