The Asag (á-sàg, meaning 'disorder'), appears as an antagonist in the ancient Sumerian story lugal-e, also known as Ninurta's Exploits. Asag is a hideous creature of rock chosen as the champion to lead the Mountains in revolt against the Plains. He has sex with the mountains to produce an army of rocks, which he uses to destroy the cities and creatures of the plains. When the gods receive word of Asag's campaign of destruction, they select Ninurta - god of thunderstorms, floods, and war - to defeat him. Ninurta sends his magic talking and flying mace, Sharur (the earliest legendary weapon preserved in myth) to scout out the situation, and Sharur reports back that Asag is a foe beyond even the might of Ninurta. Not to be discouraged, Ninurta goes to face Asag anyways. Asag pelts him with stones, delivers mighty blows that cut deep furrows into the earth, uproots forests, and assails Ninurta with landslides, forcing the storm god to retreat.
With their mightiest champion defeated, the gods despair. The cities of the plains lie open to assault by the hideous Asag, whose very presence causes fish to boil alive in their ponds, and his army of unstoppable stone progeny. Sharur flies off for one last desperate consultation with Ninurta's father, the god Enlil. Enlil suggests that Ninurta soften Asag up with a divine rainstorm. Ninurta turns the full power of his storm on Asag and just barely manages to hold him off while the hard rains do their work. Finally, Asag's body is softened enough that Ninurta can drive his spear into it. He strikes Asag right in the family jewels, delivering a mortal wound and taking away the demon's ability to produce more rocky offspring.
With the revolt of the mountains finally crushed, Ninurta orders the stones of the earth, punishing the rocks that were most loyal to Ninurta (like basalt, which is sentenced to become molds for goldsmiths, and limestone, which must be used as foundations for buildings on muddy ground), and rewarding those rocks which remained neutral (like lapis lazuli, which would be valued and used in art and dyes, or diorite, which would be turned into statues of kings and gods). Finally, he tames the wild streams of the mountains and causes them to flow down into the lowlands and irrigate the fields, filling canals made with the rocks that were Asag's children.
The asag I have statted up below might not pose a challenge for the mighty Ninurta, but it should definitely make for an interesting battle for a group of seasoned adventurers. With spell-like abilities like wall of stone, expeditious excavation, transmute rock to mud, and spike stones, the asag can define the area of battle and shape it to the adventurers' disadvantage. And because it can awaken nearby rocks as earth elementals at will, it will always have an army of rocks to do its bidding and run interference for it while it softens up the adventurers from behind with thrown rocks and stone call.
The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2016 Jonah Bomgaars.
A towering humanoid figure made of solid
rock looms into view,
and each rock it passes begins to move along
with it
Asag CR 11
XP 12,800
NE Gargantuan
outsider (earth, elemental)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense
120 ft.; Perception +15
DEFENSE
AC 22, touch 8, flat-footed 20 (+14
natural, +2 Dex, -4 size)
hp 136 (13d10+65)
Fort +13, Ref +6, Will +10
DR 10/adamantine or +3; Immune
earth magic, elemental traits
Defensive Abilities improved rock catching
OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft., burrow 20 ft., earth
glide
Melee 2 slams +19 (2d6+10)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 20 ft.
Ranged rock +11 (4d6+15) 180ft.
Special Attacks rock throwing
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 13th)
At will – expeditious excavation, shifting sand, spike stones, soften earth and
stone, stone call, stone shape, transmute mud to rock, transmute rock to mud, meld
into stone
3/day – create
pit, wall of stone
1/day – earthquake
STATISTICS
Str 30, Dex 15, Con 20, Int 7, Wis 14, Cha 13
Base Atk +13; CMB +27; CMD 39
Feats Awesome Blow, Cleave, Great
Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Vital Strike, Power Attack, Vital Strike
Skills Bluff +9, Climb +26, Intimidate
+17, Knowledge (planes) +4, Knowledge (nature) +4, Perception +15, Sense Motive
+10
Languages terran
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Animate Rocks (Ex)
As a swift
action, an asag can animate rocks within 200 feet to fight for it. At any time it may control up to two Large
rocks, four Medium rocks, eight Small rocks, or any equivalent combination of
the above. The rocks act as earth
elementals of the appropriate sizes. If
at any time the rocks are no longer within 200 feet of the asag, or if the asag
is incapacitated or destroyed, they revert to their inanimate state.
Earth Mastery (Ex)
An asag
gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls if both it and its foe are touching
the ground. If an opponent is airborne
or waterborne, the asag takes a -4 penalty on attack and damage rolls. These modifiers apply to bull rush, overrun,
and trip maneuvers, whether the asag is initiating or resisting these kinds of
attacks.
Immunity to Earth Magic (Ex)
An asag is
immune to all spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural effects with the
earth descriptor.
Improved Rock Catching (Ex)
An asag
gains a +4 racial bonus on its Reflex save when attempting to catch a thrown
rock with rock catching. This ability
otherwise works like the rock catching ability.
ECOLOGY
Environment any hills, mountains, or
deserts
Organization solitary
Treasure none
An asag is
an ancient being of pure rock, known for recruiting the very stones of the
earth into its army and leaving nothing but destruction in its wake. Asag originally come from the Elemental Plane
of Earth, but some of their race came to the Prime Material Plane in ancient
times to make homes in the mountains and rocky areas of the world. They are occasionally awakened by earthquakes
or human activity and go on city-destroying rampages that leave the surrounding
landscape badly scarred.
-your disordered d20 despot
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