EDIT: This is an old post and, as such, it is against the forum rules to respond to it. If you have comments, then please PM me, or start a new thread with a link in it to this one.
Have put in the rules about turning them, and made it possible for the controller to designate subordinates for doing the grunt work of reviewing what a given eye saw. I am considering further changing the way these report in, which might involve giving them INT 1. Reposting the Dark Hearts after them since they got ZERO feedback the first time around.
Three Quarters straight creature, and One Quarter Template, rolling eyeballs are the mindless scouts, spies, and watch-things of necromancers who take the time to do things right.
Rolling Eyeball
Fine Undead
HD 1/16d12 (1 hp)
Speed 20 ft. (4 squares); Swim 15 ft
Init: +5
AC 23; touch 23; flat-footed 18
(+8 size, +5 Dex)
BAB +0; Grp -21
Attack None
Full-Attack None
Space 1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft
Special Attacks Residual Gaze Attack(s)/Eye Ray(s)
Special Qualities Evasion, Report Mode, Limited Undead Traits, Residual sensory qualities, One sense, Square-Cube Law, Hardy Turning
Saves Fort +0 Ref +5 Will +4
Abilities Str 1, Dex 20, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1
Skills Hide +31, Jump +9, Move Silently +15, Spot +15, Swim +13
Feats Dodge(B), Iron Will (B)
Environment Any
Organization Any, but usually solitary (otherwise however many the master thinks are necessary to make sure one escapes to report)
Challenge Rating 1 + 1/5 CR of source creature if the source creature had a gaze attack or eye-rays (Development Note: this needs work, the gaze attack of a medusa should count more than that of a beholder since the beholder gets many more, but in either case the rolling eye only gets one)
Treasure None
Alignment Always Neutral Evil
Advancement 1/8 to 1/2 HD Diminutive (Giant Squid, Central Beholder, and such Eyes only)
Limited Undead Traits: Many Rolling Eyeballs lack the Darkvision of most undead, they only have this quality if the creature they came from had it, but they also retain low-light vision, "See in Darkness", and any perminant Divination spells from a racial or template source effecting vision that the creature had in effect on it such as Detect Magic, True Seeing, and Detect Evil. The traits that are not already contained in the statistic block above are as follows:
Spoiler
- Immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).
- Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, and death effects.
- Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, or energy drain. Immune to damage to its physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion effects.
- Cannot heal damage on its own, although it can be healed. Negative energy (such as an inflict spell) can heal undead creatures.
- Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless).
- Uses its Charisma modifier for Concentration checks.
- Not at risk of death from massive damage, but when reduced to 0 hit points or less, it is immediately destroyed.
- Not affected by raise dead and reincarnate spells or abilities. Resurrection and true resurrection can affect undead creatures. These spells turn undead creatures back into the living creatures they were before becoming undead.
- Proficient with its eye rays, if any.
- Not proficient with armor or shields.
- Undead do not breathe, eat, or sleep.
Hardy Turning (Ex): For determining how many undead may be turned, rebuked or controlled a rolling eyeball counts as its actual HD, HOWEVER, for determining if it is turned, rebuked, destroyed, or commanded in the first place (including the difference between rebuked and commanded, and the difference between turning and destroying) a rolling eyeball counts as having the same HD as the creature from which it was take.
Example: John, a 2nd level cleric who channels positive energy comes across 15 skeletons, each of 1 HD, and a 1/16 HD rolling eyeball that was taken from a 4 HD cow. He rolls his turning check and gets enough to affect undead of up to 3 HD. He effects some of the skeletons, but the rolling eyeball counts as having 4 HD for that purpose, and thus remains steadfastly observing the battle as it was commanded. He rolls a total of 10 for his turning damage and 10 of the skeletons flee before him. The next round he tries again, and rolls high enough on his turning damage that he effects 4HD creatures. He rolls a total of 6 for the turning damage, and turns the remaining 5 skeletons and the rolling eyeball. The rolling eyeball is not destroyed because it counts as having 4 HD for determining if it is turned vs destroyed.
Evasion (Ex): A rolling eyeball can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If it makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the rolling eyeball is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless rolling eyeball does not gain the benefit of evasion.
Residual Gaze Attack(s)/Eye Ray(s) (Su): A rolling eyeball retains a weakened version of any gaze attack or eye-ray the creature it was taken from could use that eye to perform as a Supernatural ability unless that attack is SPECIFICALLY described as requiring more than one eye to perform. Reduce all save DCs and caster levels by 3. SPECIAL: The central anti-magic eye of a beholder still projects an anti-magic cone, but its range is halved. This cone can not be negated without destroying the eye.
One Sense (Ex): Rolling Eyeballs are totally deaf and can't smell or taste. They can read one language their creator speaks, and can be telepathically commanded by whoever controls them at a range of 5' or less. Despite the name of this ability rolling eyeballs have a normal sense of touch, as well as balance and kinesthetic sense.
Residual Sensory Qualities (Ex): Rolling Eyeballs retain, Darkvision, low-light vision, "See in Darkness", and any permanent Divination spells from a racial or template source effecting vision that the creature had in effect on it such as Detect Magic, True Seeing, and Detect Evil. Rolling Eyeballs never have All-Around Vision.
Square-Cube Law (Ex): Rolling Eyeballs are immune to falling damage.
Report Mode(Su): While in Report Mode, a Rolling eyeball is considered flat-footed with a a dexterity of 1 and loses all movement speeds and its Evasion special quality. It reports back via a 2-D dimensional Silent Image (DC 1) which looks the same no matter what angle it is viewed from projected above it. This image shows exactly what it saw since the last time it was in this mode. Note that when rolling along it has to see where it is going, so it can't point its pupil to the side. This means that a lot of the time the image will show the ground, the floor, or the ceiling rather than anything in front of the eyeball. In can be ordered to jump forward or backward a stated amount of time, but can not otherwise vary the speed (No "pause" or "slo-mo" functions). When the images reach the end, the image temporarily vanishes, but the mode is not exited, and the eye may be commanded to start again from the beginning. Once report mode is ended the information in obtained prior to that point can never be accessed via it in that way short of a {i]Limited Wish[/i], Bend Reality or greater magic/psionics.
The controller may designate up to his caster level in individual who can command a given rolling eyeball while it is in report mode. To add or remove an individual for a given rolling eyeball, all three of them (the eyeball the controller and the designated reviewer) must be within 5' of eachother.
Skills: A rolling eyeball uses its Dexterity modifier in place of strength for Jump and Swim Checks. They also get +10 racial bonuses to Hide, Jump, and Move Silently, and a +15 racial bonus to Spot. A rolling eyeball has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.
Creating a Rolling Eyeball
First the eyes of one or more creatures must be harvested, each requiring a Heal check with a DC of 18. The eyes must be reasonably undecayed and mostly whole and the creature must (obviously) had spherical (rather than compound eyes or simply photo-sensitive skin-patches). Then Silent Image (or a more powerful spell that can duplicate the effects of that spell) must be cast once over each eye. Finally, either Animate Dead or Create Undead, Lesser must be cast. The material components for the spell must be ground to a powder and sprinkled over the eyes. Each such casting (regardless of which spell is used) may create up to 2 HD worth of rolling eyeballs per caster level (The desecrate spell doubles this limit).
The remaining corpse is still suitable for animation into most types of undead. Especially note that with the right skill checks, spells, etc it is possible to generate a Skeleton, a Dark Heart, two Rolling Eyeballs, Hopping Stomach,an Empty Skin, a Gut Snake, and a set of Floating Lungs from a single corpse.
EDIT (August 24 2009): Someone has pointed me to a similar concept taken in a very different direction: I am posting it here for cross-referencing purposes. I, ball.
Spellcasting:
Add a standard Rolling Eyeball to the Summon Undead I list, however the base duration of the spell is doubled if only standard rolling eyeballs are summoned with a given casting (and multiple rolling eyeballs for later levels).
Add a Beholder Eyestalk Rolling Eyeball to the Summon Undead ??? list (and multiple for later levels).
Dark Heart
Open Spoiler below for main stat block for Fine, Diminutive, and Tiny Dark Hearts.
Spoiler{table="head"]~| Dark Heart, Fine | Dark Heart, Diminutive | Dark Heart, Tiny
Size and Type |Fine Undead|Diminutive Undead|Tiny Undead| Size and Type
Hit Dice |2d12 (13 hp)|4d12 (26 hp)|8d12 (52 hp)| Hit Dice
Speed |Fly 10 ft. (Perfect)|Fly 15 ft. (Perfect)|Fly 20 ft. (Good)| Speed
Initiative |+5|+4|+3| Initiative
AC |23 (+5 Dex, +8 size); touch 23; flat-footed 18|18 (+4 Dex, +4 size); touch 18; flat-footed 14|15 (+3 Dex, +2 size); touch 15; flat-footed 12| AC
BAB |+1|+2|+4| Base Attack Bonus
Grapple |-18|-11|-5| Grapple
Attack |None|None|None| Attacks
Space/Reach |1/2 ft./0 ft.|1 ft./0 ft.|2 1/2 ft./0 ft.| Space/Reach
Special Attacks | Negative Energy Pulse | Negative Energy Pulse | Negative Energy Pulse | Special Abilities
Special Qualities| Dark Vision 60 ft., Undead Traits | Dark Vision 60 ft., Undead Traits | Dark Vision 60 ft., Undead Traits | Special Qualities
Saves | Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +3 | Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +4 | Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +6 |
Abilities |Str 4, Dex 21, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1|Str 8, Dex 19, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1|Str 10, Dex 17, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1|
Skills | Move Silently +15 | Move Silently +14 | Move Silently +13 |
Feats | Great Fortitude(B), Endurance(B) | Great Fortitude(B), Endurance(B) | Great Fortitude(B), Endurance(B) |
Environment |Any|Any|Any|
Organization |Any|Any|Any|
Challenge Rating |2|3|5|
Treasure |None|None|None|
Alignment | Always Neutral Evil | Always Neutral Evil | Always Neutral Evil | Alignment
Advancement |3 HD (Fine)|5-7 HD (Diminutive)|9-15 HD (Tiny)|
Level Adjustment | ~ | ~ | ~ |[/table]
Open Spoiler below for main stat block for Small, Medium, and Large Dark Hearts.
Spoiler{table="head"]~| Dark Heart, Small | Dark Heart, Medium | Dark Heart, Large
Size and Type |Small Undead|Medium Undead|Large Undead| Size and Type
Hit Dice |16d12 (104 hp)|32d12 (208 hp)|64d12 (408 hp)| Hit-Dice (Hitpoints)
Speed |Fly 30 ft. (Good)|Fly 40 ft. (Good)|Fly 50 ft. (Good)| Speed
Initiative |+2|+1|+0| Initiative
AC|15 (+2 Dex, +1 size, +1 natural); touch 14; flat-footed 12|13 (+1 Dex, +2 natural); touch 11; flat-footed 12|11 (-1 size, +2 natural); touch 9; flat-footed 11
BAB |+8|+16|+32| Base Attack Bonus
Grapple |+5|+19|+43| Grapple
Attack |None|None|None| Attack
Space/Reach |5 ft./0 ft.|5 ft./0 ft.|10 ft/0 ft.| Space/Reach
Special Attacks | Negative Energy Pulse | Negative Energy Pulse | Negative Energy Pulse | Special Attacks
Special Qualities| Dark Vision 60 ft., Undead Traits | Dark Vision 60 ft., Undead Traits | Dark Vision 60 ft., Undead Traits | Special Qualities
Saves | Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +10 | Fort +14, Ref +13, Will +18 | Fort +23, Ref +21, Will +34 | Saves
Abilities |Str 12, Dex 15, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1|Str 16, Dex 13, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1|STR 24, Dex 10, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1| Abilities
Skills | Move Silently +12 | Move Silently +11 | Move Silently +10 | Skills
Feats | Great Fortitude(B), Endurance(B) | Great Fortitude(B), Endurance(B) | Great Fortitude(B), Endurance(B) | Feats
Environment |Any|Any|Any|
Organization |Any|Any|Any|
Challenge Rating |7|12|20| Challenge Rating
Treasure |None|None|None|
Alignment | Always Neutral Evil | Always Neutral Evil | Always Neutral Evil |
Advancement |17-31 HD (Small)|33-63 HD (Medium)|64+ HD (Large)|
Level Adjustment | ~ | ~ | ~ |[/table]
A strawberry shaped peice of flesh, the color of clotted blood, hangs in the air.
Dark Hearts are the hearts of corpses reanimated through dark and sinister magic. (See "Creation" below)
Combat
Because of their utter lack of intelligence, the instructions given to a newly created Dark Heart must be very simple. They are generally end up simply moving into the center of the melee about 15 feet up (lower for the smaller ones) and blasting away with their Negative Energy Pulse as often as possible. If they are within the threatened area of an opponent they may (depending on how carefully they were instructed) take a 5 foot float (or for the ones that can do so and still release their pulse) making withdraw action directly away from it before launching their attack for that round.
Negative Energy Pulse(Sn): The Dark Heart can release negative energy once per round which functions in many ways like Inflict Light Wounds, Mass. It affects the closest living and/or undead targets with the radius and up to the maximium number of targets listed on the following table. Its Deathwatch ability allows it to skip over constructs. A Will save is allowed for half damage.
{table="head"]Size|Radius|Damage (DC)|Action| Max. Targets|Size of Source Creature
Fine | 25 feet | 1d2 (11) |Full Round Action |2| Small or Medium
Diminutive| 30 feet | 1d4 (12) |Full Round Action |4| Large
Tiny | 35 feet | 1d8+1(14) |Standard Action |6| Huge
Small | 45 feet | 2d8+3(18) |Swift Action |9| Gargantuan
Medium | 55 feet | 3d8+5(26) |Free Action |12| Collossal
Large | 70 feet | 4d8+7(42) |Free Action |20| Collossal+
[/table]
Special: Dark Hearts are often returned to the chests from which they came (tied in place with a network of string or rope in the case of skeletal undead). In such a case the larger undead becomes somewhat subject to critical hits, sneak attack, and other precision based damage provided that they are dealt in the form of peircing damage. In such a case a confirmed critical hit may be elected by the attacker to deal its NORMAL (NOT critical hit!) damage to the Dark Heart instead of dealing any damage what-so-ever to the larger undead.
Usage:
Use them alone or mixed in with other mindless undead. For especially nasty effect cram the chest cavity of a skeletal undead with them, put magical Full-Plate on it, give it a magical Tower Sheild, and have it take full Defense (If it is intellegent throwing in the Dodge feat and/or 5 ranks in Tumble is just downright the cruel icing on the cake of cruelty). Put the resulting negative energy source in the middle of a group of beefy undead or just have it move up to targets and let the hearts do the work.
Creating a Dark Heart
First the hearts of one or more creatures of at least small size must be harvested, each requiring a Heal or Profession(Butcher) check with a DC of 15?. The hearts must be reasonably undecayed and mostly whole and the creature must have had a circulatory system that included a heart. Then Inflict Light Wounds, Mass (for Dark Hearts up to Tiny Size) or Inflict Moderate Wounds, Mass (for Small Dark Hearts), Inflict Serious Wounds, Mass (for Medium Dark Hearts), or Inflict Critical Wounds, Mass (for Large Dark Hearts), Deathwatch, and either Fly, or Overland Flight must be cast once over each heart to be animated. Alternatively Wind Walk may substitute for Fly and may fulfill that part of the requirements for an many hearts as targets it could normally effect. Finally, either Animate Dead or Create Undead, Lesser must be cast. The material components for the spell must be be placed inside each heart to be animated via the valves. Each such casting (regardless of which spell is used) may create up to 2 HD worth of Dark Hearts per caster level (The desecrate spell doubles this limit). Animate Dead can not create a Dark Heart of over 20 HD. The size of the Dark Heart is 4 size classes smaller than the size of the creature the Hearts were taken from (Minimum Fine Size). Dark Hearts have hit dice equal to the minimum listed for a Dark Heart of that size, pull extra hit dice equal to 1/2 the number of extra hit dice above the minimum that the creature it was harvested from needed to achieve its size class (up to the maximum listed HD a Dark Heart of the particular size category may be advanced to).
The remaining corpse is still suitable for animation into most types of undead. Especially note that with the right skill checks, spells, etc it is possible to generate a Skeleton, a Dark Heart, Hopping Stomach,an Empty Skin, a Gut Snake, and a set of Floating Lungs from a single corpse.
As is usually the case the CR's are pretty much just guesses.
Spellcasting:
Add 1 Fine Dark-Heart to the list of things that may be summoned with Summon Undead II (and multiples for later spells).
Add 1 Diminutive Dark-Heart to the list of things that may be summoned with Summon Undead III (and multiples for later spells).
Add 1 Tiny Dark-Heart to the list of things that may be summoned with Summon Undead V (and multiples for later spells).
