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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
~
Dark Heart, Fine
Dark Heart, Diminutive
Dark Heart, Tiny
Size and Type
Fine Undead
Diminutive Undead
Tiny Undead
Hit Dice
2d12 (13 hp)
4d12 (26 hp)
8d12 (52 hp)
Speed
Fly 10 ft. (Perfect)
Fly 15 ft. (Perfect)
Fly 20 ft. (Good)
Initiative
+5
+4
+3
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
BAB
+1
+2
+4
Grapple
-18
-11
-5
Attack
None
None
None
Space/Reach
1/2 ft./0 ft.
1 ft./0 ft.
2 1/2 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks
Negative Energy Pulse
Negative Energy Pulse
Negative Energy Pulse
Special Qualities
Dark Vision 60 ft., Undead Traits
Dark Vision 60 ft., Undead Traits
Dark Vision 60 ft., Undead Traits
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
Advancement
3 HD (Fine)
5-7 HD (Diminutive)
9-15 HD (Tiny)
Level Adjustment
~
~
~
Open Spoiler below for main stat block for Small, Medium, and Large Dark Hearts.
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.
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
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:
Spoiler
Assuming 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
After learning about a quirk of the forum rules, I have decided to bump this thread for feedback (I would say "more feedback", if it weren't for the fact that in never got any in the first place).
Not bad, makes undead even harder to kill. One of the ppl in my group is a Necromancer to the core so I'll have him look at this and have him give his 2 cents on it. I'm sure he'll have more then enough thoughts about it.
Not bad, makes undead even harder to kill. One of the ppl in my group is a Necromancer to the core so I'll have him look at this and have him give his 2 cents on it. I'm sure he'll have more then enough thoughts about it.
Thank you kindly, and if you feel like it, have him ALSO check out the rest of the series (except for the Bladders w/ Kidney's, because those are just a vague sketch of a concept right now)... but make sure that if he does any, he does this one, because, as I said before, it was strangely lacking in commentary up until now.
Given the actual size of a human heart, i'd say they were more of a diminutive size [potion bottles being diminutive].
If i were to use one, i'd almost automatically just stuff them into a zombie. Only reason i'd use this over the more utilitarian and formidable necrospex [the silent hill looking thing from MM4] is the fact they're easier to hide.
Funny use of a diminuative one is to cram it into the head of a zombie with instuctions to stay on a specific altitude so that you have a dismembered, regenerating cadaver whose head stays on the same lefel even as bits get hacked off.
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Mine is not so much a Peter Pan Complex as a Peter Pan Doom Fortress and Underground LairTM! Fae-o-matic Want a fae from folklore stated? Give me the lore and I'll do it for you! Le Cirque Funeste Evil Fairy Circus! Ray Bradbury, refined down to snortable powder!
Funny use of a diminuative one is to cram it into the head of a zombie with instuctions to stay on a specific altitude so that you have a dismembered, regenerating cadaver whose head stays on the same lefel even as bits get hacked off.
That was the thought I had on it, just start stuffing them into various limbs of undead, and in the case of half my groups chars, ourselves. that way they're well hidden and heal/hurt everything on the field. (Most of our chars end up as either undead or have the Tomb-Tainted Soul feat)
Given the actual size of a human heart, i'd say they were more of a diminutive size [potion bottles being diminutive].
... I think I can fix that without TOO much problem... also I wonder if my saves are off. EDIT: Fixed the sizes (I don't THINK there is anything else I need to change to get that right, since I skimmed over the Creation section).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mulletmanalive
If i were to use one, i'd almost automatically just stuff them into a zombie. Only reason i'd use this over the more utilitarian and formidable necrospex [the silent hill looking thing from MM4] is the fact they're easier to hide.
I don't have MM4, so I can't comment on that. I can easily imagine just about anything being more "formidable" than this, since this thing's strengths are actually its AC, hp, effective fast healing, and the fact the energy type and "save for half" mechanics. So attackers flail wildly at it, and it plinks away at them slowly but surely.
But how are necropexi (sp?) more "utilitarian"? Is it simply that they might have opposable thumbs?
I will note that they fall under the Animate Dead control pool, rather than the turning pool, and being mindless means you can Command Undead them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mulletmanalive
Funny use of a diminuative one is to cram it into the head of a zombie with instructions to stay on a specific altitude so that you have a dismembered, regenerating cadaver whose head stays on the same level even as bits get hacked off.
A few thoughts:
1.) Sounds like a good training dummy?
2a.)
2b.) Sounds like something straight out of "Army of Darkness".
3.) EDIT: Due to size and strength, it wouldn't be QUITE as effective as you are thinking since the zombie has GOT to weigh more than the heart's Max. Load, or even "Lift over Head" which might be argued to be the more important number by some.
4.) EDIT: And it is effective Fast Healing, not effective Regeneration.
I specifically state in my work that you can extract all of the series from a corpse, and still animate the skeleton... I am not sure what the Playground's take on how much you can gut a corpse, and still animate it as a ZOMBIE, rather than a skeleton. I was implicitly assuming that any major organ removal would render the corpse not zombifiable, but I could be easily talked into providing some increased skill-check DCs to allow it. I guess you definitely shouldn't have a zombie without muscle, and I was working on the assumption that those would go towards a sinew golem (Dread-Mire).
On zombification, it need not be the same corpse, but given how fast the internals rot on a corpse, i'd assume that only muscle, sinew and bone was all that was needed for a zombie.
On utility, i like to include a living lieutenant to direct mindless undead; the mm4 things have a smaller blast [a 1d4 rounds Swift action thing] allowing him to stand off without wilting, a touch that it could target using its limited intelligence to keep the big guns up and running and they have an explosive death rule, meaning they have this hillarious terrain control aspect in massed battles.
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Mine is not so much a Peter Pan Complex as a Peter Pan Doom Fortress and Underground LairTM! Fae-o-matic Want a fae from folklore stated? Give me the lore and I'll do it for you! Le Cirque Funeste Evil Fairy Circus! Ray Bradbury, refined down to snortable powder!
With ALL of the undead organs removed, it would be significantly more difficult to see it as a Zombie. Personally I like the Skeleton bit, because it feels like the Skeleton fits flavor-wise as another 'Animated Anatomy' creature. I also want to see a Necromancer with an entire corpse gutted teaching children basic anatomy like on Sesame Street.
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Thanks to PersonalSavior for the resplendent Monk and Eyes Avatar.
I play Legend.
My D&D 3.5 Homebrew.
With ALL of the undead organs removed, it would be significantly more difficult to see it as a Zombie.
The problem I am getting at is the concept of what people suggest with removing the brain, and replacing it with a Dark Heart (the source of which is utterly irrelevant to me), and still calling the resulting outer undead a zombie, instead of a skeleton.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChumpLump
I also want to see a Necromancer with an entire corpse gutted teaching children basic anatomy like on Sesame Street.
Or come up with Deathless versions. Deathless in my philosophy implies they have INT scores, although any from the same person might qualify as vaguely hive-minded in the way of an arcanist and their familiar, with the brain as the leader. Anyway, the point is that the necromancer would simply instruct the deathless gestalt in anatomy (AKA give them 1 or 2 ranks in Heal) and then send them off to "pay it forward" for being returned to the mortal plane (if not the mortal STATE), by going around teaching anatomy for a few decades...
Spoiler
"Good Morning Children! We are Mr Sanguine!"
*Skin peels off, slithers to the left 5 or 10 feet, then stands up, the back of the scalp visible through the eye and mouth holes"
"I'm Sloughy Sanguine, the skin! You skin does many useful things, for instance..."
*5 minutes later, the intestines fall out, then crawl 10 feet to the right*
"I'm Slithery Sanguine, the intestines! Intestines are what gets all the good stuff out of the food you eat, like water and the energy that keeps you moving! Why without us you would..."
*3 minutes later, the stomach drops out, rebounding like a rubber ball to land in its own place in the line up.*
"All true Slithery! But without me he wouldn't have gotten very far! I'm Sloppy Sanguine, the stomach! Your stomach helps you by..."
*3 minutes later, the liver wriggles out*
"Good morning boys and girls! I am Stalwart Sanguine..."
*5 minutes later the heart floats out, moving upward and to the left 5 feet*
"Step-in-Time Sanguine is my name! Pumping is my game! We hearts keep your blood moving good stuff through you! Did you know that..."
*4 minutes later the lungs move to a position up and right of the skeleton*
"Good morning children. I am Screechy Sanguine. Sorry for speaking so softly, but I have to play it safe and be very careful not to speak too loudly, because I could really hurt your ears. But enough of that... lets talk about breathing and... well, talk about talking."
*6 minutes later the eyes fall out*
"We are Stare-y and Stan Sanguine!..."
*5 minutes later a voice is heard through the eye-holes*
"Hello, sorry I can't come out to talk to you beautiful children better, but I have to stay safe inside my friend Skelly. I am known as Smarty Sanguine, Brain, Esquire. Today I would like to talk to you about..."
*5 minutes later the skeleton speaks*
"I am Skelly Sanguine, and I am glad to lend my support to these guys each and every day! So... who likes MILK! Raise your hands!..."
.
.
.
Kid-1: "Best. School. Lesson. Ever."
Kid-2: "Are you JOKING!? That was HORRIBLE. Remind me to make sure to do my homework EXTRA good so I NEVER have to see them again!"
Before I go on, the undead everyone was talking about is the Necrosis Carnex. It has a 1d6 +1 per 2 HD negative energy touch that heals undead. While they dont have a damaging aura effect like these guys do, living creatures within 30ft take a -2 to attacks and saves. Their explosion only does the same amount of damage as their touch in a 30ft radius spread. They're medium and 4 HD and require a CL of 11, specially prepared cold-hammered iron bands costing 200gp, and 3 corpses from medium creatures to make, using the Animate dead spell.
Stat-wise, the carnex and the diminutive heart are a close approximation of each other, so that's cool. They seem to be balanced as well based on their HD at higher levels too. Carnex has a CL limit, but I guess that's the price for having an Int score. Overall, I like these. I think the Size needs to be bumped up a little, as mentioned. Human hearts are about the size of a fist, which strikes me as diminutive, 3 sizes smaller instead of 4.
I've skimmed over some of the other entries in this series in the past, but havent given them a thorough read yet. A lot of them seemed... well, a little silly, to be honest. But this particular one, I like. The rolling eyeball and empty skin look promising too, I'll have a look and get back to you on those as well.
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Quote:
"To play a fighter is to play the game.
To play a wizard is to understand the rules.
To understand the rules, and play a fighter, is to understand the game."
-Lycar
As I already said, I changed the sizing chart to basically bump everything up a size, although I might also add "Tiny" to the first row, so would read "Tiny or Small" instead of just "Small". In other words, human hearts now ARE diminutive. Halfling hearts are Fine, and I am considering allowing cat hearts to also work the same as halfling hearts.
The only one that I MEANT to be silly was the brains. People seemed find the gut snakes silly though, and maybe the hopping stomachs (but hey, if hopping vampires can be taken seriously, so should undead hopping stomachs that melt your arm with acid). Suggestions for seriousing up the fluff (including changing ability names) for everything but the brain are welcome if you have them.
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).
I was more referring to the text actually.
Yeah, the gutsnakes were grossfunny and the stomachs, while horrifying, make me smile when I imagine an acid-spewing stomach hopping toward someone.
I dont really have any suggestions, since their basic concepts are what makes them funny. Might just be my morbid sense of humor though.
Edit: Skulking bladders... not even going to go there. lol
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Quote:
"To play a fighter is to play the game.
To play a wizard is to understand the rules.
To understand the rules, and play a fighter, is to understand the game."
-Lycar
Yeah, I found that after your previous post, but before I saw this one... we mutual ninja-ed eachother, with me editing, and you explaining.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarrick
Yeah, the gutsnakes were grossfunny and the stomachs, while horrifying, make me smile when I imagine an acid-spewing stomach hopping toward someone.
GM: You see something down the corridor, about 70 feet.
*Splut*
*Splut*
*SPLUT*
PC:
*SWOSH!*
PC: "AAAAA! MY EYES!"
Yeah... I guess that is kinda funny.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarrick
I dont really have any suggestions, since their basic concepts are what makes them funny. Might just be my morbid sense of humor though.
Ah, Ok. Nothing I can do about that then, and... morbid humor works too. I don't mind humor (or else I never would have created a martial art that is powered by the primal energy of slapstick).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarrick
Edit: Skulking bladders... not even going to go there. lol
I realize that... but at the same time, they are physical embodiments of what are generally agreed on (including by RAW) as being Evil tactics (poisoning wells, or the King's cup).
"Now wait just a second! I do believe I am unliving proof that Evil can be funny!" "Huh?" "Bouncing Ball of Insanity much?" "NOOOOOOO!" "Search your feelings... you know it to be true." "Yeah... I guess... but you are still a big meanie-skull, even if it was pretty funny."
[Bartles and James]Thank you for your support.[/Bartles and James]
Quote:
Originally Posted by blackjack217
why so few feats?
Because mindless creatures doen't get feats for hit-dice. They only get bonus feats. I gave them two that seemed to fit with the nature of a heart. Skeletons and Zombies only get one bonus feat.
Awesome to see this idea still has some life in it! (ahem)
The bonus Endurance feat seems out of place, however. As an undead with no Con score, does the Endurance feat actually do anything? Aren't Con-less creatures already pretty much immune to the effects of failing a Con check vs. environmental conditions, and to relevant Fort save effects?
The dark heart and whatever the brain was going to be called I think are my favorites, although I like the skin, guts, blood and bones as well.
"Good Morning Children! We are Mr Sanguine!"
*Skin peels off, slithers to the left 5 or 10 feet, then stands up, the back of the scalp visible through the eye and mouth holes"
"I'm Sloughy Sanguine, the skin! You skin does many useful things, for instance..."
*5 minutes later, the intestines fall out, then crawl 10 feet to the right*
"I'm Slithery Sanguine, the intestines! Intestines are what gets all the good stuff out of the food you eat, like water and the energy that keeps you moving! Why without us you would..."
*3 minutes later, the stomach drops out, rebounding like a rubber ball to land in its own place in the line up.*
"All true Slithery! But without me he wouldn't have gotten very far! I'm Sloppy Sanguine, the stomach! Your stomach helps you by..."
*3 minutes later, the liver wriggles out*
"Good morning boys and girls! I am Stalwart Sanguine..."
*5 minutes later the heart floats out, moving upward and to the left 5 feet*
"Step-in-Time Sanguine is my name! Pumping is my game! We hearts keep your blood moving good stuff through you!"
*4 minutes later the lungs move to a position up and right of the skeleton*
"Good morning children. I am Screatchy Sanguine. Sorry for speaking so softly, but I have to play it safe and be very careful not to speak too loudly, because I could really hurt your ears. But enough of that... lets talk about breathing and... well, talk about talking."
*6 minutes later the eyes fall out*
"We are Stare-y and Stan Sanguine!..."
*5 minutes later a voice is heard through the eye-holes*
"Hello, sorry I can't come out to talk to you beautiful children better, but I have to stay safe inside my friend Skelly. I am known as Smarty Sanguine, Brain, Esquire. Today I would like to talk to you about..."
*5 minutes later the skeleton speaks*
"I am Skelly Sanguine, and I am glad to lend my support to these guys each and every day! So... who likes MILK! Raise your hands!..."
.
.
.
Kid-1: "Best. School. Lesson. Ever."
Kid-2: "Are you JOKING!? That was HORRIBLE. Remind me to make sure to do my homework EXTRA good so I NEVER have to see them again!"
Awesome to see this idea still has some life in it! (ahem)
Glad you like it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Set
The bonus Endurance feat seems out of place, however. As an undead with no Con score, does the Endurance feat actually do anything? Aren't Con-less creatures already pretty much immune to the effects of failing a Con check vs. environmental conditions, and to relevant Fort save effects?
Might help with forced marches, not sure. Even if the only mechanical effect is qualifying for a PrC or other feat in the rare case that someone spends an Awaken Undead on them (or even if that doesn't work for some reason), I think it is worth it just for flavor.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Set
The dark heart and whatever the brain was going to be called I think are my favorites, although I like the skin, guts, blood and bones as well.
I haven't done blood. Probably because there are about three different blood-based ooze-likes I know of I think, one I heard about, one by The Vorpal Tribble and one that ran against the gut snakes in one of VT's contests.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doggie_arf
This made my day.
Glad to know that educational programs still have a following.
Yeah, I may have to find some place more prominant to include that, perhaps with more detailed write-ups of Mr Sanguine's history when he was a mortal human, and explainations of why he was selected for that particular brand of second chance. Perhaps some discussion of his/their "off stage" personality(-ies).
P.S.: It was suggested in another thread (actually something over in the RP section) that being mobile magic items, that a lot of these should have additional GP costs to create. Given that you can off-load them from your Animate Dead pool by using Command Undead (although you have to renew it every few days), I am not sure either way about that general concept. In this specific case, they actually have a lot of HD for how much damage/healing their pulses can do, so I don't think that having them in your Animate Dead control pool is the greatest idea in the world...
RSS Feeds: 
[Creature] Dark Hearts [3.5]
Re: [Creature] Dark Hearts
).
But this particular one, I like. The rolling eyeball and empty skin look promising too, I'll have a look and get back to you on those as well. 
"Now wait just a second! I do believe I am unliving proof that Evil can be funny!"
"Huh?"
