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View Full Version : [Template] Mornavilanus



Avicenex
2006-12-15, 01:51 AM
I used this for the template contest in november, but never really got any responses to it. I'm interested it what people think--perhaps something that could be added, if its balanced, all that good stuff. Have at it.

Prerequisites
The Mornavilanus template can be added to any corporeal undead. It most often is applied to zombies, ghouls, and wights. The undead retains all abilities of its type with the following additions.

Size/Type
Size remains the same. The creature’s type remains undead.

Hit Dice
All current and future hit dice become d12s

Armor Class
The Mornavilanus' natural armor increases by 2.

Full Attack
Unarmed Coldtouched use their natural weapons. If they are armed, they generally will use the equipped weapon.

Special Attacks
Cold Attack: A Mornavilanus undead does an extra 1d6 cold damage with their natural weapons.
Gaze of Despair (Su): Any creature that sees the raging blue eyes of the Coldtouched must make a will save (DC 10 + 1/2HD + Cha modifier) or be paralyzed with fear for 1d4 rounds.

Special Qualities
Fast Healing 2: Mornavilanus can reattach severed appendages by reattaching them. If the creature has 0 hit points, it collapses, as if dead. However, if its body is not destroyed (such as by fire) it will continue to heal damage until it can rise again.

Turn Resistance: The connection with the elemental plane of water means Coldtouched cannot be turned or rebuked unless the person turning them can also turn or rebuke elementals. This means, however, that a cleric who can turn or rebuke water and cold creatures can use those attempts to turn the Mornavilanus. Against all turning/rebuking, they have +4 resistance.

Cold Affinity: Any spell or effect that would do cold damage to a Mornavilanus undead instead heals it.

Vulnerability to Fire: These undead take half again (+50%) as much damage from all fire. If fire damage puts their hit points at 0, the Coldtouched is utterly destroyed as if by disentigrate, turning into a small pile of black ash.

Abilities
Increases from the base creature as follows: Str +2, Dex +2.
While they may appear slow and degenerate at first, Mornavilanus are unnaturally quick and quite strong.

Skills
Mornavilanus have a +4 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently. Due to the hue of their skin, this hide bonus increases to +8 in snowy areas.

Challenge Rating
Same as base creature +1

Alignment
As base creature.

Advancement
By base creature

Level Adjustment
Same as base creature +2

Uses
These are the undead that just keep coming. Against an unprepared party they can be quite nasty, especially against clerics who think their turning will help. Obviously their weakness warrants a low challenge rating, but the Mornavilanus template adds an interesting aspect to what otherwise would be a fairly boring undead.

Story
The Mornavilanus, or Coldtouched, originated from deep within the icy north. Some say they came from the vile experiments of an ancient lich while others tell of a cursed man who frozen form rose again for vengeance. While their origin is enigmatic, their formation is not. The Mornavilanus are icy undead that can propagate themselves; those they slay rise again as more Coldtouched. Most rise as mindless zombies, but some rise as ghouls or wights. Older Mornavilanus often have degenerated into mere skeletons. While most Coldtouched rise from the fallen, they can be created by powerful casters.
Those Coldtouched that still retain flesh are indigo and ebon, resembling someone consumed by frostbite. All of them have two pinpoints of cerulean light in place of eyes that burn with a sapphire fury.
Coldtouched are special in one aspect; while most undead are merely animated by negative energy (from a connection to the plane of negative energy), Mornavilanus also have a connection with the elemental plane of water. This unique bond grants them many abilities.

Mewtarthio
2006-12-15, 01:56 AM
The Fast Healing ability sounds more like Regeneration (the reattachment, for instance, and the ability to recover from apparent death), neither of which can technically be taken by the undead. Is there already an Extraordinary ability out there that lets the undead recover HP?