[Creature]And you thought your dog had a cold nose...

[Fako]

In spite of our best efforts, we were unable to reach Tindomerel in time. From what my trackers tell me, the massacre happened shortly after sunset the night before our arrival. This makes the fourth town that has fallen to the Undead Army that accursed Lich has set upon our kingdom...
After an unsuccessful search for survivors, we dug a mass grave to bury the townsfolk. It’s the least we could do after what they must have endured last night. The usual assortments of lethal tortures were present: flayed corpses, flattened corpses, corpses that were torn apart limb by limb, etc. However, there was a new form that worried me – some of the people had been frozen to death, and some were even shattered after being frozen. The leaves are just barely starting to turn; it’s not possible for someone to be frozen alive in the early fall. I fear that yet another new abomination has been sent to destroy us, but what it is I cannot say, as we found no remains of it...
Also, by my estimation, roughly half of the townsfolk are unaccounted for. Granted, its hard to get an accurate count with all the "partial" bodies...
Tonight, we ride back to the castle. I just hope nothing has happened during our journey…
-Excerpts from the diary of Aradel, Lord Captain of the Queen’s Guard

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Reaper Wolf
Medium Undead (Cold)
Hit Dice: 6d12 (39 hp)
Initiative: +7
Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares)
Armor Class: 15 (+3 Dex, +2 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple +3/+6
Attack: Bite +6 melee (1d6+3 plus death’s chill)
Full-Attack: Bite +6 melee (1d6+3 plus death’s chill)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Call of the grave, death’s chill, frigid soul, trip
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., bloody paws, immunity to cold, scent, vulnerability to fire, undead traits
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +6
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 16, Con -, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 14
Skills: Hide +12, Jump +11, Listen +5, Move Silently +12, Spot +5, Survival +2*
Feats: Ability Focus (death’s chill), Improved Initiative, Lifesense, Track^B
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary, pair, or pack (7-16)
Challenge Rating: 5
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral evil
Advancement: None
Level Adjustment: -

Before you stands a creature that resembles a wolf, but with blue-black fur and no eyes. Ice crystals rim its eye sockets, nostrils, and mouth. Its howl sends chills down your spine as it charges towards you.

Reaper wolves are created from wolves that were killed by being encased in ice, usually through arcane means. They are usually used at the beginning of undead invasions to weaken the opposing forces with their Death’s Chill ability. Alone, they are stealthy and cunning. They prefer to take down weaker prey, and take particular delight in killing children.
Reaper wolves don’t speak, but they understand Common.

Combat: Reaper wolves don’t have much killing power, and they know it. Cold and calculating, they will attempt to weaken their enemies to make them easier to kill. They are also highly suicidal, preferring to attempt to flash freeze an enemy with their Frigid Soul ability rather than retreat.

Bloody Paws(Su): A Reaper Wolf can choose to leave a trail of blood wherever they step. This doesn’t provide them with any particular bonus, and is simply a trademark of their creator’s undead. Turning this ability on or off is a swift action.

Call of the Grave(Su): As a standard action, a reaper wolf can release a mournful moan to demoralize their foes. All creatures within 30 feet who can hear the Reaper Wolf must succeed on a DC 14 Will save or become shaken for 1 minute. Once it moans, a reaper wolf can’t moan again for an hour. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Death’s Chill(Su): Any creature struck by a reaper wolf’s bite must succeed on a DC 17 Fortitude save or suffer a -1 cold penalty to attacks, AC, and saves as sections of their body partially freeze over. A creature can only be affected by Death's Chill once per round, but multiple failures against Death's Chill stack, up to a maximum of a -6 penalty, with the penalties disappearing at a rate of one per minute. However, should anyone be unfortunate enough to fail the save by ten or more, they die as their body is frozen solid.
Creatures that are immune to cold are immune to this ability. Creatures with cold resistance get a +1 bonus for every 5 points of cold resistance it possesses. Creatures with Cold Vulnerability take a -5 penalty against Death’s Chill. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Frigid Soul(Su): As a standard action, a reaper wolf can overcharge itself with the magical energy animating it, turning it into a wolf-shaped cloud of icy blue energy. In this form, the reaper wolf loses the ability to interact with solid objects, but its movement doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity and any creature whose space it moves through is affected by reaper wolf's Death’s Chill ability.
The reaper wolf reverts to its normal form at the end of its turn. If it ends its turn occupying the same space as another creature, it is instantly slain, and the creature whose space it occupies must make an additional save against Death’s Chill at a -10 penalty. This is an exception to the normal situation of only being affected by Death's Chill once per round.

Trip(Ex): A reaper wolf that hits with a bite attack can attempt to trip the opponent (+3 check modifier) as a free action without making a touch attack or provoking an attack of opportunity. If the attempt fails, the opponent cannot react to trip the reaper wolf.

Skills: *Reaper wolves have a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks when tracking by scent.

My Thoughts

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I don’t have access to many books, and I imagine something like this might have been done in Frostburn… if so, please let me know…
I don’t think this is as good as the Skinshred Swarm personally, and I have no clue what to name this puppy. Any suggestions of names would be greatly appreciated.
As mentioned, this creature is meant to weaken the enemy before the real force hits them… I think it does that well…

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As always, any comments/recommendations/criticism would be greatly appreciated!

[SurlySeraph]

Nice. I'm not a good judge of balance, but these are very flavorful; they'd make great pets for an evil Druid. Their abilities seem fairly balanced to me.

[DracoDei]

Interesting mechanics... I like it at first glance. When analyzing for balance realize that you have given them Spring Attack/Mobility on CRACK with Frigid Soul since they are strongly resistant to AoO's (would ghost touch help here? Would just magic be needed as it is against Gaseous Form? What is the DR or miss chance.) and can attack as many creatures as they can move through (or one creature up to 5 times by moving off and then back onto its space).

Sidenote: Even evil druids loathe undead.

[Fako]

Interesting mechanics... I like it at first glance. When analyzing for balance realize that you have given them Spring Attack/Mobility on CRACK with Frigid Soul since they are strongly resistant to AoO's (would ghost touch help here? Would just magic be needed as it is against Gaseous Form? What is the DR or miss chance.) and can attack as many creatures as they can move through (or one creature up to 5 times by moving off and then back onto its space).

Sidenote: Even evil druids loathe undead.

The idea for Frigid Soul was to let it inflict Death's Chill on a large group of enemies in a single round. I added in that a creature can only be affected by Death's Chill once per round, that way spiteful DMs can't do what you suggested...
I figured that by having it revert at the end of its round that it would be vulnerable to being attacked when it wasn't its turn, that way it can still be killed. It's a CR 5 with roughly 40 HP, so it's meant to hit fast and die faster...
I meant to include that its movement wouldn't provoke AoO's in that state...looks like I overlooked it... added in as well.

Edit: I think my wording may be misleading... while using Frigid Soul, the Reaper Wolf doesn't deal bite damage to creatures whose space it moves through... rephrasing.