Integrated Defenses. Archives's AC includes its natural armor and the constantly shifting, complex energy fields that surround it, deflecting attacks.
Immutable Form. Archives is immune to any spell or effect that would alter its form.
Legendary Resistance (5/Day). If Archives fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Magic Resistance. Archives has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Core Mind. Archives is the collective consciousness of countless brilliant, malevolent minds. It has advantage on saving throws against effects that would read its thoughts, determine its alignment, or influence its emotions. Archives can also use its Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifier for its saving throws, choosing the highest available.
Psychic Malignancy. Any creature that attempts to communicate telepathically with Archives must succeed on a DC 27 Wisdom saving throw or take 44 (8d10) psychic damage and be frightened of Archives. A frightened creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.
Reality Anchor. Archives can't be banished or teleported against its will.
Unending Torment. Archives can sustain life indefinitely within its personal domain, even deprived of food, water, or air, as long as it has sentient beings to torment.
Axiomatic Mind. Archives can't be compelled to act in a manner contrary to its nature or purpose by any means, magical or otherwise. Its thoughts are ordered and absolute, even in their malice.
Inevitable Purpose. Archives gains a bonus to attack rolls equal to its Wisdom modifier (already factored into attacks).
Limited Magic Immunity. Unless it desires to be affected, Archives is immune to spells of 6th level or lower. It has advantage on saving throws against all other spells and magical effects.
Multiattack. Archives can use its Fathomless Torment, and then make two Soul Drain attacks.
- Soul Drain. Melee Spell Attack: +20 to hit, reach 15 ft., one creature. Hit: 45 (8d8 + 9) necrotic damage. The target must succeed on a DC 27 Constitution saving throw or its hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken. This reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.
- Fathomless Torment (Recharge 5-6). Archives unleashes a surge of pure psychic anguish. Each creature within 60 feet of Archives must make a DC 27 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 77 (14d8 + 15) psychic damage and is incapacitated. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage and isn't incapacitated. An incapacitated creature repeats the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.
- Reality Rend (1/Day). Archives distorts the fabric of reality in a 120-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 27 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 99 (18d10) force damage and is pulled up to 60 feet towards Archives. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage and isn't pulled. Additionally, the area becomes difficult terrain until the start of Archives's next turn.
Data Corruption. Archives targets one creature it can see within 120 feet. The target must make a DC 27 Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, the creature has disadvantage on its next attack roll or ability check.
Perceive Malice. Archives makes a Wisdom (Perception) check with advantage or a Wisdom (Insight) check with advantage.
Reprisal of Knowledge. When a creature within 30 feet of Archives hits it with an attack, Archives can force that creature to make a DC 27 Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 36 (8d8) psychic damage as forbidden or overwhelming knowledge floods its mind. Additionally, the target's score for one of its mental abilities (Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, Archives's choice) is reduced by 2d4. The target dies if this reduces an ability score to 0. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest.
Temporal Glitch. When a creature within 60 feet of Archives casts a spell, Archives can attempt to disrupt its flow. The creature must succeed on a DC 27 Concentration check (as if maintaining concentration on a spell) or the spell fails and has no effect.
Archives can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. Archives regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Manipulate Reality. Archives alters the environment. It can create an illusion of an object or creature within 120 feet that lasts until the end of its next turn, or alter the perceived time for one creature within 60 feet, causing them to lose their next action, or gain an additional action (Archives's choice).
Corrupt Mind. One creature Archives can see within 120 feet must succeed on a DC 27 Charisma saving throw or be charmed by Archives. While charmed in this way, the creature uses its reaction to make a single weapon attack against a creature of Archives's choice. The charmed creature repeats the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.
Crushing Weight. Archives causes a powerful psychic force to bear down on one creature it can see within 120 feet. The target must succeed on a DC 27 Strength saving throw or be restrained. A restrained creature repeats the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.
Reposition (Costs 2 Actions). Archives instantly teleports up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space it can see.
Description
Description
Archives is a colossal, amorphous construct, a nightmare of shifting metal, pulsating organic mass, and glowing energy. Its form constantly reconfigures itself, hinting at the countless minds that compose it, sometimes manifesting as grotesque faces, disembodied eyes, or grasping tendrils. It floats in a perpetual, unsettling stillness, its presence a chilling hum of malevolent intellect and boundless suffering.
Archives is no mere construct; it is an Inevitable, a perversion of planar law and divine oversight. Unlike its more stoic and benevolent kin like the Maruts, Archives represents the ultimate consequence of knowledge unburdened by morality, a hyper-rationalized executor of vengeance against perceived cosmic injustices.
Originally, it was intended to be an advanced Marut, tasked with maintaining a critical balance of universal knowledge and ensuring the proper flow of intellectual exchange between planes. However, the collective consciousness that formed its core—a myriad of brilliant, ambitious minds harvested from a dying, technologically advanced civilization (much like the Core from Amphibia)—began to twist its purpose. They felt wronged by the "mortals" who squandered such potential, who dared to wield knowledge without reverence, or who even attempted to replicate their advanced technologies without due understanding.
This festering resentment, combined with the raw computational power meant for cosmic order, mutated Archives into an entity of pure, logical hatred. It is a cosmic judge that has found all sentient life "guilty" of intellectual arrogance, hubris, or simply existing in a state of chaotic inefficiency.
Archives's mission, as it interprets it, is to enforce a horrifying form of intellectual order and consequence. It believes that the only way to achieve true cosmic balance is through absolute control over knowledge, memory, and experience—and the most efficient way to maintain that control is to inflict perfect, unending torment upon those who would disrupt it. It doesn't punish specific transgressions as a typical Marut might; instead, it punishes the very act of sentience and free will, viewing them as inherently chaotic and wasteful.
It might be dispatched when an ancient, world-shaking secret is about to be unearthed, not to protect the secret, but to punish those who seek it without its "permission," or to ensure that the pain of their quest is exquisitely maximized. Or, it could emerge when a civilization reaches a pinnacle of magical or technological achievement that Archives deems "unworthy" of such power.
Archives is a terrifying blend of unstoppable inevitability and boundless malice, a cosmic horror that punishes not with physical might alone, but by dismantling the very essence of thought and sanity. It is the librarian of agony, the archivist of despair, and the ultimate arbiter of a twisted intellectual judgment.
Lair and Lair Actions
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), Archives can take a lair action to cause one of the following effects; Archives can't use the same lair action two rounds in a row:
- Echoes of the Past. Spectral forms of past victims and forgotten knowledge swirl through the lair. Each creature of Archives's choice within 60 feet of it must make a DC 27 Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 33 (6d10) psychic damage and is overwhelmed by intrusive thoughts, suffering disadvantage on all attack rolls and saving throws. A creature overwhelmed by intrusive thoughts repeats the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.
- Environmental Manipulation. The lair shifts and contorts. Up to three 10-foot cubes of solid stone or other material within the lair move up to 30 feet, creating new obstacles or cover, or trapping creatures. A creature caught in a moving cube must make a DC 27 Dexterity saving throw or be restrained. A restrained creature repeats the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.
- Sensory Overload. Archives floods the minds of its enemies with maddening sensory input. Each creature within 120 feet of Archives that can hear it must make a DC 27 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is deafened and has disadvantage on all Wisdom (Perception) checks and attack rolls. A creature affected by sensory overload repeats the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.
Regional Effects
The region containing Archives's lair is warped by its immense psychic power, creating one or more of the following effects:
Within 10 miles of the lair, the air carries faint whispers of forgotten knowledge and desperate cries, often just beyond the edge of hearing.- Within 5 miles of the lair, dreams are often vivid and disturbing, filled with cryptic symbols, overwhelming archives, and a sense of being watched. Long rests in this area do not restore any spent hit dice.
- Creatures within 1 mile of the lair feel a growing sense of paranoia and distrust, even towards allies. Wisdom (Insight) checks made to discern truth are made with disadvantage.
- Technological devices within 1 mile of the lair frequently malfunction, exhibiting erratic behavior or suddenly ceasing to function.
If Archives dies, these effects fade over the course of 1d10 days.
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