[ Outsiders > Fiends > Orphans ]
Ostovite
Bone Collectors (ostovite CR 1; ostovite nest hazard 2)
Home Plane: Abyss
- Layer 112, Stalkingbones
- Layer 113, Thanatos
- Layer 258, Stygius
- Layer 304, The Battlefield
- Layer 314, Eternal Battlefield
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Themes: Scavengers and artisans of bones
The ostovite is a small, skittering insect-like fiend from the Abyss. Just two feet long, they have chitinous bodies with dozens of grasping limbs. They’re most commonly seen scavenging the killing fields of Blood War battles, hunting for bones and other treasures. While barely intelligent, ostovites are nonetheless artisans when it comes to bone-work. Their most masterful craftwork is the bone chariot, which are macabre contraptions carved from the remnants of the fallen. The ostovites use them as protective shells, and to ride into battle. Ostovite chariots can be individual perfectly sized for a single ostovite, or larger, housing multiple fiends who each control a part of the contraption—creating a threat that belies the diminutive size of an individual ostovite. In this case, one ostovite will have proved itself superior in either combat of crafting, allowing it to dominate its weaker brethren. Until one of them sees an advantage to take over themselves, of course.
Philosophically, ostovites are opportunistic scroungers focused on instinctual survival and salvage rather than any kind of ideology. Typically cowardly, they conversely become recklessly bold when protected inside their bone chariots, believing themselves invincible. Ostovites rely on swarm tactics and ambushes, relying on overwhelming numbers to wear down foes. Their nests are particularly dangerous places for planewalkers, as hatchlings can burst forth spewing acid. Considered little more than vermin by other Abyssal natives, ostovites embody the brutal resourcefulness that more vulnerable creatures need to survive the terrors of the plane, especially ones that are usually too selfish to work together cooperatively.
Canonical Sources: Bestiary 5 [PF1e] p187; Bestiary 3 [PF2e] p193; see also the ostovite nest (Hazard 2) of Pathfinder #181: Zombie Feast [PF2e] p26 and the Daily Bestiary here
Source: Jon Winter-Holt. Canonwatch: Ostovites are from the Pathfinder setting
