Heartsblood
When a creature is hunted during mid-winter celebrations soley for sport and is left to die in the bitter snow there is left an echo in the natural order. Angered by the injustice and waste on this sacred day, a chill deity or spirit of death gifts them with a false life during the cold months and instills within them wisdom to understand the deed done to it while living. It seeks out and follows hunters, observing them from afar to watch their actions with a jaundiced eye.
During the summer months in temperate lands a heartsblood creature weakens and dies only to rise up the next snowfall. In permanently chill locales however it remains active year long.
A heartsblood creature's hide, fur, feathers, etc take on the black and grey hue of a frostbitten corpse, but only the coloration. The fur and feathers are sleek and the hide healthy in appearance. Their eye sockets however are empty and surrounded by veins of frozen white ice. The only bit of color about them are their death's wounds from which scintilating dark red ice crystals protrude.
Sample Heartsblood Creature
Heartsblood Boar
Medium Undead
Hit Dice: 5d12+3 (35 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares)
Armor Class: 21 (+1 dex, +10 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 20
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+7
Attack: Gore +7 melee (1d8+6)
Full Attack: Gore +7 melee (1d8+6)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Chilling gaze, crimson retribution, ferocity, unholy fury
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., hide death, immunity to cold, low-light vision, rebirth, relentless ferocity, scent, turn resistance +6, undead traits
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +2
Abilities: Str 19, Dex 12, Con -, Int 3, Wis 13, Cha 10
Skills: Listen +8, Spot +6
Feats: Alertness, Toughness
Environment: Temperate forests
Organization: Solitary or herd (5–8)
Challenge Rating: 4
A heart's blood boar appears as a coal-black brute with splotches and freckles of dark grey. Its bulk is tremendous, with a broad back and mountainous muscles supported by thick legs ending in cloven hooves. Razor sharp tusks sprout from below a wide bristly snout. Above are empty eye sockets surrounded by veins of frozen white ice. The only bit of color about it is the deep puncture wounds caused by spear and arrow that bled and froze in scintillating dark red ice crystals.
Heartsblood boars understand the language of the race of its killers but cannot speak any.
Combat
If a heartsblood boar finds a hunter hunting for sport alone it goes into an unholy fury and will not stop fighting until it or its opponent is dead. It tends to approach them slowly with a chilling gaze, weakening them before rushing with an angered roar.
Chilling Gaze (Su): Exhaustion and 1d6 cold damage, 30 feet, DC 17 Fortitude save negates.
Crimson Retribution (Su): When a heartsblood boar is struck in combat while within a snowfield its blood soaks within, acting as the Blood Snow spell (Frostburn, p. 89). Those within 10 feet must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 17) or take 1d3 constitution drain each round they remain within the area. This blood snow lasts for 5 rounds. A heartsblood boar that shares the same 10-foot section of blood snow as its opponent heals a number of hit points equal to three times that of the number of ability points drained. The boar can retain up to twice its normal total for an hour before they fade away.
Ferocity (Ex): A heartsblood boar is such a tenacious combatant that it continues to fight without penalty even while disabled or dying.
Hide Death (Su): A heartsblood boar cannot be identified as undead by divination spells or clairsentience powers.
Rebirth: If a heartsblood boar would be killed by positive energy it's undead self is destroyed, but returns back to life as the normal animal it was before the template was applied.
Relentless Ferocity (Ex): A heartsblood boar can only be defeated with great difficulty. It is not destroyed when it is dealt enough damage to reduce its hit points to 0 or lower. Instead it may make a DC 20 will save to continue on. If it succeeds it may continue to fight without penalty until its hit points are reduced to -10 or lower. At this point it may make a second will save (DC 25) to continue fighting. For every 10 additional hit points received the DC increases by 5.
Unholy Fury (Ex): Once per day a heartsblood boar may work itself into an unholy fury similar to the barbarian’s rage (+4 Strength, +2 morale bonus on Will saves, –2 AC penalty). The fury lasts for the duration of the encounter, and the heartsblood suffers no ill effects afterward. While in this fury the heartsblood creature's natural attacks are infused with negative energy that deal an additional 1d6 points of damage on a successful hit. The heartsblood creature cannot end its fury voluntarily.
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Heartsblood
"Heartsblood" is an acquired template that can be added to any animal from a cold or temperate environment, hereafter referred to as the base creature. A heartsblood creature uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Size and Type: The creature's type changes to Undead. Do not recalculate base attack bonus, saves, or skill points because of type change. Size is unchanged.
Hit Dice: Advance the base creatures HD by +2 and increase all current and future Hit Dice to d12s. This may increase the heartsblood to another size category. If the base creature is already at maximum advancement they may still be increased by 2 HD.
Armor Class: A heartblood creature gains a bonus to their natural armor depending on their size, listed below.
Code:
Size Natural Armor Bonus
Fine -
Dimunitive +1
Tiny +2
Small +3
Medium +4
Large +6
Huge +10
Gargantuan +14
Colossal +18
Speed: All of a heartsblood creature's movement types increase by 10 feet.
Attack: A heartsblood creature retains all the natural attacks of the base creature.
Special Attacks: A heartsblood creature retains all the extraordinary attacks of the base creature and also gains the following attacks.
Chilling Gaze (Su): Exhaustion and 1d6 cold damage, 30 feet, Fortitude (DC 12 + Heartbloody's HD) negates.
Crimson Retribution (Su): When a heartsblood creature is struck in combat while within a snowfield its blood soaks within, acting as the Blood Snow spell (Frostburn, p. 89). Those in this radius must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 12 + Heartblood's HD) or take constituton drain each round they remain within the snow. The area and ammount of drain are dependent on their size.
Code:
Size Area/Drain
Fine 5 ft./1 Con
Dimunitive 5 ft./1 Con
Tiny 5 ft./1 Con
Small 10 ft./1d2 Con
Medium 10 ft./1d3 Con
Large 20 ft./1d4 Con
Huge 30 ft./1d6 Con
Gargantuan 40 ft./1d8 Con
Colossal 50 ft./2d6 Con
This blood snow lasts for a number of rounds equal to the heartsblood's HD. A heartsblood creature that shares the same 10-foot section of blood snow as its opponent heals a number of hit points equal to three times that of the number of ability points drained. A heartsblood creature can retain up to twice its normal total for an hour before they fade away.
Hide Death (Su): A heartsblood creature cannot be identified as undead by divination spells or clairsentience powers.
Relentless Ferocity (Ex): A heartsblood creature can only be defeated with great difficulty. It is not destroyed when it is dealt enough damage to reduce its hit points to 0 or lower. Instead it may make a DC 20 will save to continue on. If it succeeds it may continue to fight without penalty until its hit points are reduced to -10 or lower. At this point it may make a second will save (DC 25) to continue fighting. For every 10 additional hit points received the DC increases by 5.
Unholy Fury (Ex): Once per day, a heartsblood creature may work itself into an unholy fury similar to the barbarian’s rage (+4 Strength, +2 morale bonus on Will saves, –2 AC penalty). The fury lasts for the duration of the encounter, and the heartsblood suffers no ill effects afterward. While in this fury the heartsblood creature's natural attacks are infused with negative energy that deal an additional 1d6 points of damage on a successful hit. The heartsblood creature cannot end its fury voluntarily.
Special Qualities: A heartsblood creature retains all the qualities of the base creature and also gains the following qualities.
Immunities: A heartsblood creature gains immunity to cold.
Rebirth: If a heartsblood creature would be killed by positive energy it's undead self is destroyed, but returns back to life as the normal animal it was before the template was applied.
Turn Resistance (Ex): A heartsblood creature gains turn resistance +6.
Undead Traits: A heartsblood creature is immune to mind-affecting effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save unless it also works on objects or is harmless. It is not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage to its physical ability scores, ability drain, energy drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or death from massive damage. It cannot be raised, and resurrection works only if it is willing. It has darkvision out to 60 feet.
Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +4, Dex +2, Cha +6. Intelligence is increased to 3. As an undead creature, a Heartsblood creature has no Constitution score.
Skills: Same as the base creature.
Feats: Same as the base creature.
Environment: Any cold.
Organization: Solitary or same as Base Creature.
Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature +2.
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral.
Advancement: -
Level Adjustment: -
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[Template] Revenge is a dish best served COLD
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