Home >Bestiary >(Bestiary) By Type >Outsiders >Empyreal Lord >

Empyreal Lord, Black Butterfly

This living silhouette of a graceful woman has white hair and eyes. Her butterfly wings shimmer with twinkling stars.

Black Butterfly CR 28

XP 4,915,200
CG Large outsider (azata, chaotic, extraplanar, good)
Init +19; Senses blindsense 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft., detect aberration, detect evil, detect law, low-light vision, see in darkness, true seeing; Perception +50
Aura primal aura (30 ft.)


AC 46, touch 34, flat-footed 31 (+4 armor, +15 Dex, +10 insight, +8 natural, –1 size)
hp 676 (33d10+495); regeneration 30 (deific or mythic)
Fort +26, Ref +33, Will +28; +8 vs. mind-affecting effects
Defensive Abilities freedom of movement, mind blank; DR 20/epic and evil; Immune ability damage, ability drain, charm effects, cold, compulsion effects, death effects, electricity, energy drain, petrification; Resist fire 30, sonic 30; SR 39


Speed 40 ft., fly 150 ft. (perfect)
Melee Voidsedge +52/+47/+42/+37 (1d6+20/19–20/×3 plus 2d6 fire and 2d6 cold), touch +42 touch (10d6 cold plus steal breath)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks Voidsedge bond
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 28th; concentration +39)

Constantdetect aberration, detect evil, detect law, freedom of movement, mind blank, true seeing
At willbreak enchantment, deeper darkness, dimensional anchor, greater dispel magic, hasteM, holy smiteM (DC 25), holy wordM (DC 28), interplanetary teleport, wandering star motes (DC 25)
3/dayantimagic fieldM, quickened healM, reverse gravityM, quickened wandering star motes (DC 25)
1/daygate, implosion (DC 30), mage’s disjunctionM, moment of prescience, time stopM

M Black Butterfly can use this ability’s mythic version in her realm.


Str 28, Dex 40, Con 40, Int 27, Wis 30, Cha 33
Base Atk +33; CMB +43; CMD 78
Feats Alertness, Blinding Critical, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus, Deadly Aim, Flyby Attack, Improved Critical (starknife), Improved Initiative, Improved Precise Shot, Point-Blank Shot, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (heal, wandering star motes), Skill Focus (Stealth), Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +51, Bluff +47, Diplomacy +44, Fly +57, Intimidate +44, Knowledge (arcana, nature, religion) +41, Knowledge (geography) +44, Perception +50, Sense Motive +50, Spellcraft +44, Stealth +53, Use Magic Device +47
Languages Aklo, Celestial, Common; telepathy 300 ft.; truespeech
SQ celestial grace, interstellar mastery, no breath, seed of life, silence between, starflight


Celestial Grace (Ex)

Black Butterfly adds her Dexterity modifier instead of her Strength modifier to her damage rolls with all melee and ranged weapons. She gains an insight bonus to her Armor Class equal to her Wisdom modifier. She ignores any effect that would reduce her movement speed or prevent her from taking a 5-foot step.

Interstellar Mastery (Ex)

Black Butterfly never suffers any harmful environmental effects from outer space. She gains a +4 sacred bonus on attack rolls and saving throws when in such an environment, as well as the benefits of a ranger’s favored terrain (+10 bonus).

Primal Aura (Su)

No sounds pass through Black Butterfly’s primal aura except those she allows, and even then, she can choose to block a sound in some portions of her aura while allowing it to pass through other portions. When blocking sound, this aura functions similarly to silence. This ability is suppressed for 1d4 rounds whenever Black Butterfly is affected by a vision-based effect created by an evil creature.

Silence Between (Ex)

When Black Butterfly takes a 5-foot step, instead of moving 5 feet, she can ride the spaces in between breaths and thoughts, disappearing and rematerializing anywhere within 150 feet and attempting a Stealth check to hide as a free action. She can hide even when being directly observed, and her Stealth can defeat any sense (for example blindsight, lifesense, and tremorsense) as long as the result of the check exceeds the result of the observer’s Perception check. She gains an additional +20 bonus on Stealth checks (+40 when immobile), which doesn’t stack with the bonuses from invisibility, and she can’t be outlined by spells like faerie fire or glitterdust. If she is hidden when she begins a full attack, any creature that wasn’t observing her is denied its Dexterity bonus to AC against all attacks in the full attack, not just the first attack. Black Butterfly loses access to her silence between ability when she is in an area of bright light.

Starflight (Su)

Although she can use interplanetary teleport at will, Black Butterfly enjoys flying between the stars. When she does so, she travels at an incredible speed. Although exact travel times vary, a trip within a single solar system should take 3d20 hours, while a trip beyond should take 3d20 days (or more, at the GM’s discretion). Black Butterfly knows the routes to all destinations among the stars.

Steal Breath (Su)

Black Butterfly’s touch attack deals 10d6 points of cold damage and draws the breath from the target’s lungs as she subjects the creature to the racking conditions of deep space. The creature struck can resist having its breath drawn out with a successful DC 37 Fortitude save; otherwise, the target is knocked unconscious by the sudden loss of oxygen. Steal breath does not harm creatures that do not breathe, but her touch attack can still deal cold damage. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Voidsedge Bond (Ex)

Voidsedge is a +5 aberrationbane ghost touch holy starknife that exists as one of the stars in Black Butterfly’s wings until she calls it to her hand as a free action.

When she throws Voidsedge, it returns to her hand instantly upon striking a target, allowing her to make iterative thrown attacks. Her range increment with Voidsedge is 120 feet.

Attacks with Voidsedge deal an additional 2d6 points of fire damage and 2d6 points of cold damage on a hit when Black Butterfly wields the weapon.


Environment any (Elysium)
Organization solitary (unique)
Treasure triple (Voidsedge, other treasure)

Black Butterfly, the Silence Between, arose from the spaces between the stars. Solemn and serene, she never acts rashly, relying on the wisdom of the cosmos to guide her to the appropriate solution.

She believes that the true nature of the multiverse lies in the gaps and silences between thoughts and ideas, so she never focuses on one topic or idea for too long, lest in narrowing her view she should lose sight of the space beyond the idea’s edge.

Her realm is relatively simple for an empyreal lord, with no grand palace or bright colors. Instead, it is a quiet respite from a plane of riotous passions, a gentle void, breathable by creatures of all sorts, with pockets of solid shadow for those who prefer ground beneath their feet and dotted with simple shelters. Her realm is so difficult to find that even planar scholars and other residents of Elysium can’t agree exactly where it lies, though travelers through silence and darkness, even on other planes, sometimes make their way into her realm in times of desperation, able to find momentary succor so long as they are respectful and quiet.

While few beings can match her knowledge of the alien monstrosities that dwell in the deepest reaches of interstellar space, Black Butterfly refuses to share much of it, as she worries that widespread knowledge of her greatest nemeses, the Outer Gods and the Great-Old-Ones, would serve their interests rather than hers. She often journeys from her home in Elysium to subtly battle the interests of these foes and other forces of evil, or to assist those in need without revealing her presence.

Black Butterfly’s Faith

Black Butterfly is the patron of distance, silence, and space. The Silence Between’s worshipers include those for whom distances are essential, such as parted lovers or explorers (particularly those who brave the unfathomable depths of outer space), as well as those who appreciate her connection to silence, such as the deaf and the mute. Worshipers of Black Butterfly are encouraged to perform anonymous acts of charity without speaking to the recipient of their kindness, for the reason that such unseen gifts help foster the perception that good things sometimes happen to good people for no other reason than that they deserve it. Black Butterfly’s most sacred spaces are isolated monasteries and shrines high atop mountain peaks, deep underground, or even floating on asteroids in the void of space—these latter redoubts typically have potent magic to enable her worshipers to live and breathe with ease. She teaches her followers that the greatest good lies in performing quiet anonymous acts, and her faith abhors loud spectacles on holy days.

Black Butterfly’s holy symbol is a black-winged butterfly with a white star for a body on a field of purple.

Her favored weapon is the starknife. She grants access to the domains of Chaos, Good, Liberation, and Void, and access to the subdomains of Azata, Freedom, Revolution, and Stars.

Section 15: Copyright Notice
