The fifth in my series of "undead you can get from a single corpse and you get a skeleton too".
If you want to comment on this thread, PM me first so I can "legally" bump it.
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 piece 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 (emphasis: always from closest, starting with itself if it is damaged, to furthest away) living and/or not-at-full-hp-undead targets with the radius and up to the maximum 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| Tiny or Small
Diminutive| 30 feet | 1d4 (12) |Full Round Action |4| Medium
Tiny | 35 feet | 1d8+1(14) |Standard Action |6| Large
Small | 45 feet | 2d8+3(18) |Swift Action |9| Huge
Medium | 55 feet | 3d8+5(26) |Free Action |12| Gargantuan
Large | 70 feet | 4d8+7(42) |Free Action |20| Colossal
[/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 piercing 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 Shield, and have it take full Defense (If it is intelligent 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 Dark Hearts
First the hearts of one or more creatures of at least tiny 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 as 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 3 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, plus 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, a Slithering Liver, Hopping Stomach,an Empty Skin, a Gut Snake, Zooming Brain, 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).
Tactical notes for spellcasting:
SpoilerAssuming the maximum number of targets are available, for large number of undead, this causes Summon Undead to surpass Inflict X Wounds of there spell level at the following caster levels:
Spell level 2: Caster level 5 (Single Target at level 13).
Spell Level 3: Any caster level you can actually cast it at for 4 targets, hypothetically as low as CL 2. (Single target at Level 9)
Spell Level 5: Any caster level.
EDIT: Linking these for cross-referencing purposes, although I am not sure if the Spell is a good idea at all since it reduces the flavor by bypassing the skill checks.
Gut spell by The Vorpal Tribble
Cat Skinning Blade by DM-Ninja
