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Silva Stormrage
2011-05-09, 09:20 PM
For necromancers of all classes the feat Corpsecrafter is a common pick as it gives your minions a strong well rounded improvement in stats and is comparable to augment summoning. It also has a variety of feats that require it as a pre req which give various other bonuses to the undead you raise. However, those feats are dramatically lackluster and I personally rarely see them discussed or even more rarely taken. Destructive retribution which causes your undead to explode in a burst of negative energy when killed is suggested as an option from time to time but often more for the amusement or if you can find a way to mass animate a bunch of low HD kamikaze zombies to send at your foes.

The goal of these feats is to revamp the corpse crafter feats to make them more appealing and solve a few minor issues with them in general. Only applying to necromancy spells means things like fell animate don't always trigger them and similar issues. If any feat shares the name of an existing feat it is meant to replace that feat. This is an update to my previous feats which I had written in high school and had some balance and editing issues.

Corpsecrafter Feats
New Feat Descriptors
Corpsecrafter: These feats all require the Corpsecrafter feat and apply whatever bonuses they grant to any undead who benefits from the Corpsecrafter feat. If you gain a corpsecrafter feat it's benefits don't apply to previously reanimated undead only undead animated in the future. A necromancer can chose to not grant the bonuses of a corpsecrafter feat to one of his animated undead if they wish.

Some Corpsecrafter feats have a saving throw DC for their effects. For these effects the DC is 10 + 1/2 the undead creature's HD + the caster who animated the creature's casting ability score modifier. For the purpose of this DC the feat only cares about the caster's ability score modifier at the time of animating the creature, if it later improves or decreases the DC does not change. If the creature animating is not a caster or does not have a casting ability score use their charisma modifer.

Lastly Necromancy focused wizards can select a corpsecrafter feat in place of a metamagic feat when selected a bonus feat at 5th, 10th, etc.

Corpsecrafter Focus: An undead creature can only benefit from one of these feats at a given time. If a necromancer has multiple Corpsecrafter Focus feats they chose which one applies to an undead creature when it is created or summoned and this choice can't be changed later.


Updated Feats
Corpsecrafter [Corpsecrafter]
Flavor text: Undead you create are more powerful and durable
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter
Benefits: Each undead you raise, create or summon gains a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength and +2 hit points per Hit Die.

Hardened Flesh [Corpsecrafter]
Flavor text. You can enhance the flesh of undead you create make it more durable.
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter
Benefits: Every undead creature affected by your corpsecrafter feat gains a bonus to natural armor equal to 1/3 their HD (Minimum 2, maximum +5).

Destructive Retribution [Corpsecrafter]
Flavor text. Undead you create damage those attacking them.
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter
Benefits: Every undead creature affected by your corpsecrafter feat releases a burst of negative energy upon its destruction, dealing 1d6 points of negative energy damage plus an additional 1d6 points per 2 Hit Dice to every creature within a 10-foot spread. This damage heals undead creatures.

Deadly Chill [Corpsecrafter]
Flavor text. Undead you raise or create deal more damage than normal.
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter
Benefits: Every undead creature affected by your corpsecrafter feat deals an additional 1d6 profane damage anytime it attacks a living creature with a natural or manufactured weapon. Undead with ranged weapons apply this bonus damage to their projectiles. Creatures with cold immunity negate this damage.

Deadly Plague [Corpsecrafter]
Flavor text. Undead you raise or create spread diseases and pestilence.
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter
Benefits: Every undead creature affected by your corpsecrafter feat causes a living creature to be sickened for one minute if they confirm a critical hit on the creature. If the creature is already sickened they have to make a fortitude save or be infected with Ghoul Fever.

Nimble Bones [Corpsecrafter]
Flavor text. Undead you raise or create are quicker and more agile.
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter
Benefits: Every undead creature affected by your corpsecrafter feat has a +20 bonus to their movement speed and a + 2 profane bonus to attack rolls and + 4 bonus to Initiative. If they could fly than their flight maneuverability increases to average or whatever their flight maneuverability was when they were alive, whichever is worse.

Bolster Resistance[Corpsecrafter]
Flavor text. Undead you raise or create are much more resistant to turn attempts.
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter
Benefits: Every undead creature affected by your corpsecrafter feat gains +4 turn resistance. This bonus turn resistance does not apply to your own attempts to rebuke or command these creatures.

Backdoor [Corpsecrafter]
Flavor text. Undead you raise or create are susceptible to your own rebuke attempts.
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter, Rebuke Undead
Benefits: When you attempt to rebuke undead creatures you have personally animated they are treated as if their HD was 2 lower than normal for the purpose of determining if you can command them and how many HD they take up in your Command Undead pool. This feat can't reduce their HD to below 1.

Enduring Undead [Corpsecrafter]
Flavor text. Undead you raise or create are enduring.
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter
Benefits: Every undead creature affected by your corpsecrafter feat gains an additional +1 hit point per HD.

Recyclable Undead [Corpsecrafter]
Flavor text. You can reanimate destroyed undead.
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter
Benefits: Every mindless undead creature affected by your corpsecrafter feat can be reanimated even if destroyed. This process takes 10 minutes to prepare each corpse and costs 10 GP in onyx per HD of the creature to be reanimated. You have to pay this cost even if you are reanimating them via a spell like ability or other method that doesn't normally have a material component.

Expert Mortician[Corpsecrafter]
Flavor text. You can combine corpses together for added benefits
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter
Benefits: Every undead creature affected by your corpsecrafter feat can gain additional movement modes. If you use the corpse of another creature as an optional material component when reanimating another creature you can give the resulting undead any of the movement types the sacrificed creature possessed. Thus if you wished to reanimate a dire wolf as a zombie and you sacrificed the corpse of a giant eagle you could give the dire wolf a fly speed of 80ft (Average), which would then be reduced to clumsy maneuverability due to the zombie template. If the necromancer sacrificed a Large Shark they could have granted the dire wolf zombie a 60ft swim speed instead. Each undead can only gain one movement mode via this feat. The sacrificed creature must be the same size or larger as the undead animated. The sacrificed creature's corpse also can not be animated as an undead creature after this, but can still be raised or resurrected even without destroying the reanimated undead first.

Infused Undead [Corpsecrafter Focus]
Flavor text. By infusing creatures with the essence of necromantic black sand you can cause them to regenerate incredibly quickly.
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter, Caster Level 11
Benefits: Every undead creature affected by your corpsecrafter feat gains fast healing 5. In order for a creature to benifit from this feat you must sacrifice one ounce of Black Sand (Sandstorm) when animating them. The temporary Black Sand created by the spell Black Sand can be used for this purpose despite being temporary.

Swift Undead [Corpsecrafter Focus]
Flavor text. Your undead creatures are agile and quick.
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter, Nimble Bones, 1 other corpse crafter feat
Benefits: Every mindless undead creature affected by your corpsecrafter feat gains an additional move action every round. However, if they move more than half their move speed with this move action than they can not full attack for that round. Zombies also still can not full attack, but they can move and then attack despite their Single Action Only ability.

Crippling Undead [Corpsecrafter Focus]
Flavor text. By infusing creatures with the essence of necromantic black sand you can cause them to regenerate incredibly quickly.
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter, Nimble Bones, 1 other corpse crafter feat
Benefits: Every undead creature affected by your corpsecrafter feat cripples creatures upon striking them. The first time such a creature damages a living creature that creature takes a -1 penalty on saving throws, attack rolls and skill checks for 1 round. This penalty stacks with other undead you control striking them to a maximum of -5 if 5 different undead strike the creature. This is a negative energy effect and is blocked by effects like death ward and similar.

Empowered Undead [Corpsecrafter Focus]
Flavor text. By infusing your undead with your own power you grant them great power.
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter, Caster Level 15
Benefits: Every undead creature affected by your corpsecrafter feat gains a +4 enchantment bonus to all of their ability scores except for strength. They gain a +4 untyped bonus to their strength score. These bonuses unlike other corpsecrafter feats are only granted while they are under your explicit control and fade if they leave your control. Spells such as command undead which simply charm undead are not sufficient for this feat. If you reanimated yourself somehow you count as being under your own control.



Sacrificial Undead [Corpsecrafter Focus]
Flavor text. By sacrificing undead you create you can empower yourself and your spellcasting.
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter, Caster Level 10, 1 Metamagic Feat
Benefits: Every mindless undead creature affected by your corpsecrafter feat can sacrifice itself to empower your abilities. By spending a swift action you can sacrifice HD from an undead creature within 30ft under your control for a variety of effects. HD lost in this manner can never be restored. You can not sacrifice class levels in this manner, only racial HD. You can't sacrifice more HD than a creature has.

By sacrificing one HD the next spell or spell like ability you cast within the next round has a +1 bonus to CL and saving throw DC if applicable. If you sacrifice 3 HD you boost these bonuses to +2 and if you sacrifice 6 HD these bonuses increase to +3.
By sacrificing 5 HD the next spell or spell like ability cast benefits from one of the following metamagic feats. Silent Spell, Still Spell, Sculpt Spell, Extend Spell, Fell Energy Spell
By sacrificing 5 HD you siphon the lingering life force of the undead to heal yourself. You heal 5d8 HP and recover 1d4 points of ability damage from any given ability score and one point of permanent ability drain from any given ability score.


If you reduce an undead creature to 0 HD than they are destroyed and can't be revived as an undead creature or reanimated again even via the Recyclable Undead feat.

Gamer Girl
2011-05-10, 12:18 AM
Hardened Flesh [Corpse Crafter]
Benefits: Any creature you animate with a necromancy spell gains a bonus to natural armor equal to 1/3 their HD.


Looks ok, but I worry about creating High HD undead with then big natural armor bonuses....




Destructive Rebuke [Corpse Crafter]

Benefits: Any time a creature you animate with with a necromancy spell gets attack the attack suffers 1d6 negative energy damage. If the target is healed by negative energy damage it just ignores the damage and is not healed. Also any living creature hit by this effect must make a fort save, dc equal to 10 + 1/2 the creators caster level + creators charisma modifier, or become fatigued. Multiple applications of this effect does not increase the fatigue to exhaustion.


What? 'An attack' suffers 1d6 damage? What attack? Any attack? Or did you just mean melee attacks? And why would the negative energy not heal(it's negative energy right?). And fatigued might be a bit too much. You can get a whole group fatigued in no time.




Deadly Chill [Corpsecrafter]
Benefits: Any creature you animate with a necromancy spell deals an additional 1d6 cold damage anytime it attacks with a melee weapon. This damage can not be resisted through cold resistance but is still blocked by cold immunity.


Undead 'cold' is not like 'ice cold', it's more 'super natural cold of unlife', not 'brrr, lets put on a sweater'. So don't make this 'cold' damage, you want more 'unlife' damage(or something).



Deadly Plague [Corpsecrafter]
Flavor text. Undead you raise or create spread diseases and pestilence.
Prerequisites: Corpsecrafter
Benefits: Any creature you animate with a necromancy spell has a chance to inflict a disease that deals 2 strength damage and has an incubation period of instant. The target must make a fort save equal to the necromancer's level / 2 +10 + the necromancer's charisma modifier.



Looks, OK.



Nimble Bones [Corpsecrafter]
Special: Zombies created by a necromancer with this feat are allowed to take more than one action in a round. However, they gain no other benefits from this feat.

Er, more then one action is a big vague...can they take 10 actions a round? You might want to say.



Weak Willed [Corpsecrafter]
Benefits: Any creature you animate with a necromancy spell has a - 4 to turn resistance. This penalty only applies when you are the one turning or rebuking it.

Um, why?



Enduring Undead [Corpsecrafter]
Benefits: Any creature you animate with a necromancy spell has a + 1 hp / hd.

+1 hp? Or is that +1 hp per HD?

DracoDei
2011-05-10, 12:43 AM
Have you looked at either version of Katarl's take on this problem?
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57101
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/printthread.php?t=59582


And just for general cross-referencing, let me throw this in since I found it while looking for the other stuff:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72447

Silva Stormrage
2011-05-10, 12:49 AM
Looks ok, but I worry about creating High HD undead with then big natural armor bonuses....

Well to be fair the most common way of animating undead is through the Animate Dead spell which caps out at 20hd.



What? 'An attack' suffers 1d6 damage? What attack? Any attack? Or did you just mean melee attacks? And why would the negative energy not heal(it's negative energy right?). And fatigued might be a bit too much. You can get a whole group fatigued in no time.

Ya good point on the fatigued state I removed it. And yes thanks for the point on clarification. Any melee attack not made by a weapon with reach. The reason the negative energy doesn't heal is because with Tomb Tainted soul it would just be weird if you got an undead with fast healing somehow and had everyone just beat on it for free hp.




Undead 'cold' is not like 'ice cold', it's more 'super natural cold of unlife', not 'brrr, lets put on a sweater'. So don't make this 'cold' damage, you want more 'unlife' damage(or something).
I was just revamping the current feat with the same name that does the exact same thing. The main weakness for the feat isn't its damage but the fact that it is stopped by cold resistance 5.




Er, more then one action is a big vague...can they take 10 actions a round? You might want to say.
You are right on this too. I meant that zombies no longer have their Single Actions Only ability. Changed




Um, why? So you can rebuke creatures you create with Create Undead and Create Greater Undead easier. Situational but rebuking sucks pretty bad right now.


+1 hp? Or is that +1 hp per HD? Per HD I thought thats what 1/HD meant though, changed to be thorough though.

Thanks for your comments :smallsmile:.


@ DracoDei
The other version of Corpsecrafter is interesting but I personally dislike anything that makes animating undead MORE expensive than it already is. There is a reason why most people find a way to get animate dead as a spell like ability.

Thanks for that necromancy project though it looks really cool.

DracoDei
2011-05-10, 01:21 AM
@ DracoDei
The other version of Corpsecrafter is interesting but I personally dislike anything that makes animating undead MORE expensive than it already is. There is a reason why most people find a way to get animate dead as a spell like ability.
Noted, but you can still mine it for other facets, kinda the point of "prior art" (I keep using that term in situations like this... I do hope I am using it correctly).

Thanks for that necromancy project though it looks really cool.
You are welcome.