This wriggling and leafless tree moves on spidery legs. Flickering motes of blood-red lightning dance in the cracks of its bark.
Sard CR 19
XP 204,800
CE Colossal plant
Init +8; Senses blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, tremorsense 30 ft.; Perception +32
Defense
AC 34, touch 10, flat-footed 26 (+8 Dex, +24 natural, –8 size)
hp 333 (23d8+230); fast healing 10
Fort +23, Ref +17, Will +13
Defensive Abilities death throes, electrical jolt; DR 15/cold iron and slashing; Immune electricity, plant traits; Resist cold 30, fire 30; SR 30
Weaknesses vulnerable to sonic
Offense
Speed 50 ft., climb 30 ft.
Melee 2 slams +25 (4d10+16/19–20 plus 4d6 electricity)
Ranged 4 thorns +17 (2d8+16 plus poison)
Space 30 ft.; Reach 30 ft.
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 20th; concentration +27)
At will—control weather, lightning bolt (DC 20), tree shape (Colossal tree), transport via plants
3/day—chain lightning (DC 23), quickened lightning bolt (DC 20)
1/day—storm of vengeance (DC 26), whirlwind (DC 25)
Statistics
Str 42, Dex 27, Con 30, Int 9, Wis 22, Cha 25
Base Atk +17; CMB +41; CMD 59 (67 vs. trip)
Feats Awesome Blow, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (slam), Improved Lightning Reflexes, Improved Precise Shot, Improved Sunder, Lightning Reflexes, Point-Blank Shot, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (lightning bolt), Vital Strike
Skills Climb +24, Perception +32
Languages Aklo, Sylvan
SQ planar acclimation
Ecology
Environment any forests
Organization solitary
Treasure triple
Special Abilities
Death Throes (Su) When a sard dies, its remains explode with a blast of lightning into razor-sharp splinters of wood. All creatures within 30 feet of a sard when it explodes in this manner take 12d6 points of electricity damage and 12d6 points of piercing damage. A DC 31 Reflex save halves this damage. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Electrical Jolt (Su) Every time a creature strikes a sard with a metal melee weapon, arcs of electricity deal 1d10 points of damage to the attacker.
Planar Acclimation (Ex) A sard is always considered to be on its home plane, regardless of what plane it finds itself upon. It never gains the extraplanar subtype.
Poison (Ex) Thorn—injury; save Fort DC 31; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Dex and 4d6 electricity; cure 2 consecutive saves.
Thorns (Ex) A sard's thorns have a range of 180 feet with no range increment.
The sard is an ancient elm, oak, or pine tree that has been infused with lightning and raw life by one of the strange gods of the fey realm. One of the legendary beasts known as the Tane, a sard has "sap" that consists of red lightning—all of the sard's electrical attacks manifest with this same eerie-colored energy.
A sard can pass for an old dead tree—especially when the creature uses its tree shape spell-like ability. Yet despite its enormous size and ungainly shape, the sard is in fact a swift and agile monster. It can move with unsettling grace and speed, crawling across the ground on long spidery roots like an immense insect. It attacks either with a single slam of its immense trunk or by launching volleys of foot-long thorns that inject the creature's poisonous, electrified sap.
Sards are nearly as intelligent as most humans, but few actually use this intelligence for productive purposes—the first sards were created as a form of living siege engine, and they quite enjoy this destructive role, often seeking out fortresses or even towns to systematically destroy.
