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LOTRfan
2014-01-29, 11:24 PM
Acheri
Small Undead (Incorporeal)
Hit Dice: 3d12+9 (28 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: Fly 30 ft. (perfect)
Armor Class: 16 (+2 Dex, +1 Size, +3 Deflection), touch 16, flat footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/---
Attack: Incorporeal Touch +3 melee (1d4 plus cursed disease)
Full Attack: Incorporeal Touch +3 melee (1d4 plus cursed disease)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Cursed Disease
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., Rejuvenation, Unholy Toughness, incorporeal traits, undead traits
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +6
Abilities: Str ---, Dex 15, Con ---, Int 11, Wis 12, Cha 16
Skills: Listen +7, Perform (Dance) +9, Sense Motive +7, Spot +7
Feats: Ability Focus (Cursed Disease), Iron Will
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually Neutral Evil
Advancement: 4-6 HD (Small); 7-9 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: -----

In the darkness ahead of you, you can see a small girl floating between two trees. Her face is hazy, and a ghostly cough seems to be emanating from behind her. She holds up her clawed hand, and you feel a sudden cold in your lungs.

Life is not always easy at the farthest reaches of civilization, and death is something that must be accepted. Of course, the death of a child is never easy, but it can become a hundred times worse when the child angrily lashes out from beyond the grave. Those children who are killed by disease sometimes return to this world as violent spirits known as acheris. These incorporeal undead, taking the form of floating gray-skinned children, wish to inflict their fate upon others.

It is said that acheri visit nearby towns in the dead of night, dancing in the center and inviting other children to leave their beds and dance with them. It is only then that the spirits reveal their true nature, digging their shadowy claws into the tender flesh of their victims and infecting them with a plague. Acheris often let their victims live, allowing them to run bleeding and crying back to their parents. They delight in watching these children inadvertently spread the disease, becoming engrossed in the resulting misery with an appropriately child-like glee.

Acheri are very strongly tied to this world, and as a result it can be very difficult to finally put such creatures to rest. The most reliable way to do so is to find out who the acheri was in life, and tying red ribbons around their necks and ankles. Red is a symbol of purity, and it is said that by purifying the corpse you cut the link that keeps the monstrous spirit here.

Combat
Acheris prefer to use hit and run tactics, hoping that surviving enemies become infected by their disease and go on to affect others. Should they decide to kill their enemies, they use their shadowy claws to gut their prey.

Cursed Disease (Su): If an acheri uses its claw attacks on a living victim, the creature must make a Fortitude save (DC 14), or come into contact with the disease that killed the acheri in life. Different acheris have different diseases, but common ones include dysentery (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/afflictions/diseases/dysentery), cholera (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/afflictions/diseases/cholera), filth fever (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/afflictions/diseases/filth-fever), tuberculosis (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/afflictions/diseases/urgathoa-s-breath), or typhoid fever (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/afflictions/diseases/typhoid-fever). In addition, once per day may curse a victim within 60 ft. of itself, forcing the target to make the save even if they have not been hit with the acheri's claw attacks. Regardless of whether or not they succeed on the save, all victims of this ability are immune to this ability for 24 hours. After becoming infected, the victim must beat the disease's normal DC rather than the DC of the acheri's ability in order to be cured. The save DC of this ability is Charisma-based.

Rejuvenation (Su): In most cases, it’s difficult to destroy an acheri through simple combat: The "destroyed" spirit will often restore itself in 2d4 days. Even the most powerful spells are usually only temporary solutions. An acheri that would otherwise be destroyed returns to its old haunts with a successful level check (1d20 + acheri’s HD) against DC 13. If someone were to cast remove disease on the acheri and then kill it within an hour of performing the spell, the acheri cannot rejuvenate. Otherwise, the only way to reliably kill an acheri is to find its corpse and wrap red ribbons around its neck and ankles (at which point the spirit ceases to exist immediately).

Unholy Toughnes An acheri gains a bonus to its hit points equal to its Charisma modifier x its Hit Dice.

Undead Traits: Immunity to all mind-affecting effects, poison, disease, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, and death effects. Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, energy drain, or anything requiring a Fortitude save. Use Charisma score for Concentration checks. Immediately destroyed upon reaching 0 hp, and cannot be affected by raise or reincarnate. Darkvision 60 ft.

Incorporeal Traits: Immunity to mundane weapons, 50% miss chance from magic weapons, not immune to force effects or positive and negative energy effects, deflection bonus equal to Charisma modifier, cannot be heard with a Listen check, ignores armor and shields when attacking, cannot make/be affected by trip/grapple attacks, can pass through objects so long as they are adjacent to the object's edge.

Debihuman
2014-01-30, 12:07 PM
I am not a fan of the draining claws ability, even if they can't heal other undead. The attack needs to be written correctly in the stat block.

Attack: Semi-corporeal claw +3 melee (1d4 half slashing and half negative energy plus cursed disease)
Full Attack: 2 semi-corporeal claws +3 melee (1d4 half slashing and half negative energy plus cursed disease)

Isn't DC 16 a little high for 4th level PCs? See Cursed Disease.

It's missing an ability to steal children from their beds and force them to dance with them. This is a creature that specifically targets children so it should probably be a bit weaker. I recommend that it only cause filth fever in children or you'll have a lot of dead kids in your campaign,

Debby

LOTRfan
2014-01-30, 01:14 PM
I'll swap the Ability Focus feat for another.

Do you have any recommendations for the draining claw ability? I was thinking about having it so that each attack grant them a negative level, but I figure that it may be too powerful.

I'll try to think of an ability that puts its Perform (Dance) skill to good use.

And as for the disease thing, though, I sort of like it the way it is. The main purpose of the monster is to cause a lot of death from its plague, and it gives a bit of variety to the acheris too.

Debihuman
2014-01-30, 02:28 PM
The problem with an incorporeal creature is that it can't give anyone a disease unless it can manifest. I am not sure why you made this creature incorporeal at all.

Debby

LOTRfan
2014-01-30, 05:08 PM
I don't get that reasoning at all. There are several incorporeal creatures sprinkled throughout 3.5e that deal damage and use special attacks with natural weapons. I'll change it from claw to incorporeal touch, but I don't get why its ability to curse people with disease would make it inappropriate for the creature to have the incorporeal subtype.

I'll edit the creature now.

Debihuman
2014-01-30, 07:03 PM
Incorporeal things are like ghosts. They have no physical bodies so having them carry a disease (like a bacteria) is sorta weird. Like I said, I wasn't crazy about the mechanics. I have no problem with new special attacks or abilities but they shouldn't break a suspension of disbelief right off the bat.

I actually have more of an issue with 3 HD and CR 4. They tend to be glass cannons.

Debby

Admiral Squish
2014-01-30, 07:35 PM
Incorporeal things are like ghosts. They have no physical bodies so having them carry a disease (like a bacteria) is sorta weird. Like I said, I wasn't crazy about the mechanics. I have no problem with new special attacks or abilities but they shouldn't break a suspension of disbelief right off the bat.

I actually have more of an issue with 3 HD and CR 4. Generally that shows an imbalance. You should recheck the CR of this.

Debby

I think you're thinking about disease in an overly-rational sense. In this case, they're not physically carrying the disease, they're magically replicating it. Think of it as though the touch carried a contagion effect.

LOTRfan
2014-01-30, 07:38 PM
The disease ability itself is supernatural in origin; itsnot so much that the acheri is carrying it than it is that the acheri happens to create it. Some of the diseases mentioned on that list involve parasites rather than viruses, for example.

Should I bump up the HD? The reason that I have it as CR 4 is because the Shadow (another 3 HD incorporeal undead) is considered overkill for its CR of 3.

EDIT: Seems that Admiral Squish beat me to it.

Debihuman
2014-01-30, 08:18 PM
Possibly. I may just be over thinking this a bit. I like it a lot better now.

Debby