Taskmaster

(From 3.5e Monster Manual I - 2003):

Formians hail from the plane of Mechanus. They seek to colonize all that they see and incorporate all living things into their hive as workers. 

Expansionist in the extreme, formians are dedicated to spreading their colonies until they have taken over everything and their order is unquestioned. To further this end, they attack all other creatures, usually to put them to work building and expanding cities. Formians maintain these “conscripted” workers as well as those mentally dominated by the power of their taskmasters. 

A formian resembles a cross between an ant and a centaur. All formians are covered in a brownish-red carapace; size and appearance differs for each variety.

Formians build fabulous hive-cities in which hundreds of the creatures dwell. They are born into their station, with no ability to progress. Workers obey orders given by warriors, myrmarchs, or the queen. Warriors carry out the will of their myrmarch commanders or the queen. Myrmarchs take orders only from the queen herself, although they have different ranks depending on services rendered. These are not positions of power but of prestige. The most prestigious of the myrmarchs guard the queen. Taskmasters are equal in rank to warriors but seldom interact with other formians.

The Taskmaster: Taskmasters resemble warriors with no mandibles—no apparent mouth at all, in fact. These formians communicate only telepathically and derive sustenance from the mental energies of those they dominate. 

A taskmaster’s duty is to gather and control nonformians for integration into the hive. Put simply, taskmasters enslave other creatures. They do not enjoy controlling others but believe it is the only efficient way to spread the hive to all places, a desirable end for all rational creatures. If a taskmaster can manage to “conscript” a laborer without using its dominate monster ability, it will do so. 

Those few souls who have escaped refer to formian hivecities as “work pits.” While formians are not cruel, they are still emotionless—and pitiless. 

Combat: Taskmasters rely on their dominated slaves to fight for them if at all possible. If necessary, though, they can defend themselves with claws and a poison sting. 

A formian taskmaster’s natural weapons, as well as any weapons it wields, are treated as lawful-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. 

Dominate Monster (Su): A taskmaster can use a dominate monster ability as the spell from a 10th-level caster (Will DC 17 negates), although the subject may be of any kind and may be up to Large size. Creatures that successfully save cannot be affected by the same taskmaster’s dominate monster ability for 24 hours. A single taskmaster can dominate up to four subjects at a time. The save DC is Charisma-based. 

Dominated Creature (Ex): A taskmaster is never encountered alone. One dominated nonformian creature always accompanies it (choose or determine randomly any creature of CR 4). 

Poison (Ex): Injury, Fortitude DC 15, initial and secondary damage 1d6 Str. The save DC is Constitution-based.