[PF] What CR would this template be?

[Stux]

I've created a template for a campaign I am running. The campaign is post-magical apocalypse. The result of the apocalypse is a magical contagion that is represented in game by this template. The party are so far in the relative safety of a city that is possibly the last bastion of civilisation, but will before long have to venture out in to the wastes where they will encounter these blighted creatures.

The main advice I am looking for is in terms of CR. The party will probably face quite a lot of these creatures from time to time, so its important that they are reasonably challenging, but not rediculous. But if you have any comments about the actual mechanics then please give them! Particularly with regards to the Contagious Blight trait, which I'm not totally sure I'm happy with.

EDIT: By the way, this is for a Pathfinder game.

Blighted - Acquired template.

Allignment: A Blighted creature becomes Chaotic Evil. If they somehow lose this template then their alignment returns to whatever it was before it was applied.

Appearance: A Blighted creature appears as the base creature, except they ooze a thick black oil like substance from all over their body. This is even more pronounced from the mouth which pours the ooze continuously. Their eyes are also totally black.

Type: The Type of a blighted creature changes to Outsider (Evil, Native).

Damage Reduction: A Blighted creature gains DR/magic equal to half their HD, minimum 1.

Senses: A Blighted creature has very limited sight, but reacts violently to noises and smells. A Blighted can only see within its reach, but has Blindsense 80ft. Additionally Blighted creature always knows whether another creature it is aware of by any of its senses has the Blighted template.

Blighted Rage: A Blighted creature can Rage, as the Barbarian class feature, with the following exceptions. There is no limit to the number of rounds they can rage in a day, and they automatically enter a rage if they sense a creature without the Blighted template within their Blindsense range. They cannot voluntarily stop raging while they sense any creature without the Blighted template.

If a raging Blighted creature senses a creature without the Blighted template then if must do one of the following:

Attack such a creature
Use its breath weapon on such a creature
Charge such a creature
Move close enough to use its breath weapon against such a creature


If it cannot do any of these, then it must simply move as close as it can to one creature it can sense that does not have the Blighted template, even if doing so provokes attacks of opportunity.

Light Sensitivity: Blighted creatures are dazzled in areas of bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell. In these conditions they also howl and scream constantly as if in pain.

Speed: When the Blighted creature is not raging treat its speed as the base creature’s -10ft, (minimum 10ft unless the base creature’s speed is less than 10ft, in which case it retains the speed of the base creature). While it is raging treat its speed as the base creature’s speed +10ft.

Breath Weapon: Blighted creatures can spew out a gush of the black ooze that covers their body. They gain a breath weapon:
30-ft. cone, 1d4 evil damage for each HD of the Blighted creature, Reflex DC 20 for half.
This breath weapon may be used at will, but only when the Blighted creature is raging.

Contagious Blight: One hour after a creature is wounded by a natural attack or Blighted breath weapon they must make a fortitude save, DC equal to the highest HD out of all Blighted creatures that wounded that creature within that hour, or they gain the Blighted template within 1d4+1 days. After the first day the character is treated as sickened until they acquire the template.

Before they acquire the template this may be prevented with a spell to remove disease or a heal check used as if to remove disease, DC equal to the initial save DC. It is not apparent whether the heal attempt is successful until a day has passed, at which point another heal may be attempted. If it is successful the creature does not gain the Blighted template and after 1 day from the heal attempt they lose the sickened condition. If the heal check is failed by 5 or less then add 1 day to the time until the Blighted template is acquired.

Once a creature acquires the Blighted template it may only be removed with a Wish or Miracle spell.

[XionUnborn01]

A couple things off the bat.

The speed section has a typo,

Speed: When the Blighted creature is raging treat its speed as the base creature’s -10ft, (minimum 10ft unless the base creature’s speed is less than 10ft, in which case it retains the speed of the base creature). While it is raging treat its speed as the base creature’s speed +10ft.

I'm assuming it's supposed to be slower when not raging.

The breath weapon doing "evil" damage is weird to me. There's vile damage which is about as evil as you can get, so it might make more sense to change it tat but that's a matter of preference of course.

Overall it doesn't seem too overly powerful but I could see a group of blighted causing major problems causing a bunch of saves per round. Oh, and is that DC supposed to just be equal to the creature's HD? or is it 10+HD? because for most the population, it would be a DC under 5, and usually only 1 or 2. This would make it almost a non-factor for PCs, so there's that.

I wish I could help with giving your a CR but that's definitely not my strong suit.

[Stux]

Thanks for the pointers!

Yeah thats a typo on the rage speed. Faster when raging, slower when not!

Yeah the DCs might be a bit borked too.

Oh, this is PF by the way. Forgot to mention that, I'll change the OP. Is vile damage a thing in PF? Anyway, this blight is the result of an evil spell, it is essentially evil planar energy infecting these creatures which is why I chose evil damage.

[Raezeman]

question: what happens to the person's soul after infection and then after death? Does the soul's alignment stay the same, trapped in an evil body or does it change to evil as well? Or does the soul leave the body as if death after infection and the body get's a new soul created out of pure madness, or vileness or something like that? Also, do blighted spellcasters still retain their casting ability?

Only remark: the breathweapon, isn't that a bit too much for being able to be used every turn, with 1d6 per HD? Would the infected even try to do something else with that? Also since only creaters with evasion would be able to avoid infection without a save throw when used on them.

I really like the idea!

[Stux]

question: what happens to the person's soul after infection and then after death? Does the soul's alignment stay the same, trapped in an evil body or does it change to evil as well? Or does the soul leave the body as if death after infection and the body get's a new soul created out of pure madness, or vileness or something like that? Also, do blighted spellcasters still retain their casting ability?

The soul remains the same, essentially severed from the body. If the template is removed using a wish or miracle then the soul is able to return and the original alignment returns. This has now been explicitly stated in the description.

They retain their casting ability, however they likely won't be able to use it in combat very much. I've made some big changes to the Rage ability to this end.


Only remark: the breathweapon, isn't that a bit too much for being able to be used every turn, with 1d6 per HD? Would the infected even try to do something else with that? Also since only creaters with evasion would be able to avoid infection without a save throw when used on them.

I've reduced the damage to a d4. Not sure if that is enough though, I do kind of agree with you.

I have changed how the contagiousness works though, so there wont be too many DC checks. Now you only make a maximum of 1 check per hour.


I really like the idea!

Thanks! Blighted Terrasque anyone?